Having dealt with the Water Monitor, Roland returned to Flowing City. As he gnawed on black bread, the thought of the fishing nets ruined by the Water Monitor and the smashed Galen boat instantly soured his mood. The already unappetizing black bread became even harder to swallow...
"I'm having such a hard time..." Roland weakly complained about the damned winter, then casually opened the territory page in the system.
The lonely Flowing City floated on the page. Once Roland directed his consciousness toward it, he immediately received its current information.
Flowing City: Area: One kilometer radius. Buildings: Ruined Lord's Castle*1, dilapidated residences on the verge of collapse*82, somewhat sturdy residences*18, a long-neglected ruined stone wall (currently being repaired), a stone well, blacksmith shop. Troop strength: 303 Population: 104 (trainable civilians: 31) Evaluation: A lonely king leads his remaining people back to their homeland. This ruin, barely capable of sheltering them from the wind and rain, brings them a small measure of comfort. Darkness still threatens the newborn king. Apart from fishing, the town has no productive capacity whatsoever. Its formidable military strength may be the only thing worth praising. Note: The town has no potential for war. A disastrous defeat in a single battle could wipe it out. Abilities: 1. As Lagrange Kingdom's sole territory in Middle-earth, it will attract Lagrange's surviving people. Every day, the system will guide a group of wandering Lagrange Civilians here. The lord is expected to settle them properly. 2. Allows the recruitment of local civilians for training as Swift River Infantry.
"Ridiculous!" Roland casually dismissed the system screen. After all that, he only had a population of 104, with merely 31 male citizens fit for service. Most absurd of all, there was no productive capacity other than fishing...
Roland was terribly conflicted now. The town had no productive capacity at all. Aside from fishing, all it could really do was forge iron... Although it had a Lava Forge, without an alchemist, the thing could only be used for blacksmithing. And when it came to smithing, weren't those Dwarves in Erebor far better than the half-baked ones under Roland's command?
It was winter now, so Roland could not send his people beyond the city to reclaim land. Hunting was risky too, since they might run into Orcs... In other words, he was feeding over a hundred mouths for nothing. Their only use was helping the soldiers build the city...
As Roland passed the blacksmith shop, he saw Ren Xiaoqiang hammering away around the magical forge. Before long, a refined steel longsword had been reforged. This comforted Roland, since his soldiers' equipment truly needed repairs. Iron Armor was manageable... but there was simply no way to replenish the leather inner armor. As a result, most of the Knights who once wore three layers of armor now only had two layers of steel armor left. Aside from the outer plate armor and the built-in chainmail, the leather armor lining had been worn down until it no longer served its original purpose.
Roland only wanted to say that this was nothing like a game... In a game, all he had to do was pay Gold Coins for equipment loss to restore durability. But in reality—damn it, it had to be replaced! Roland finally understood why a Knight Order could be so powerful yet have so few members. They simply could not afford to maintain them! Since the high-intensity battle at Erebor, the Knights under Roland's command had been worse off by the day. Huge amounts of damaged equipment could not be replaced, drastically reducing the Knight Order's strength. And that was without even considering the wear on the warhorses' equipment...
"Heavens, just give me infantry... I've learned my lesson! I won't play Knights anymore..." Roland said listlessly.
"I have to build a leather workshop first..." Roland began planning in his mind. Leather armor was a strategic resource, and only a proper leather workshop could produce it in bulk. Leather tanned by ordinary households could also be made into leather armor, but the efficiency was simply too low.
"Let's browse the shop. Maybe I'll find something useful." After some thought, Roland decided to try his luck in the shop.
"Hmm, Lagrange City Guards? Don't need them!"
"Lagrange Knight... Get lost! Can't afford you."
"A high-tier fire-element staff? What would I need that for?"
"Fuck! A divine artifact! The Ring of Glory!" Roland suddenly rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The Ring of Glory was also a mythical-grade item in the Ring System Game, ranked above legendary items. As the first of the Nine Holy Rings of the knights, it possessed the special ability to enhance a knight's initial skill, Glory. It was no less powerful than the Ring of Fire in Gandalf's hand.
The Nine Holy Rings stood opposed to the nine magical rings worn by the nine Ringwraith-level Black Knights. The nine holy rings corresponded to nine different knight skills and represented the noble side of knights. They were: the first, the Ring of Glory, which could enhance the knight skill Glory and make the Knight Order under its command more powerful.
The second, the Ring of Mercy: its ability was to enhance the knight skill Mercy. When a knight wearing the Ring of Mercy used Mercy, the damage he received would be halved from its original amount.
The third, the Ring of Justice: it could enhance the knight skill Justice. After a knight wearing this ring used Justice, the damage dealt to evil creatures would double from its original amount.
The fourth, the Ring of Loyalty: it could enhance the knight skill Loyalty. When a knight wearing this ring used Loyalty, he would ignore all mental attacks.
The fifth, the Ring of Philanthropy: it could enhance the knight skill Philanthropy. When a knight wearing this ring used Philanthropy, the effect increasing the physical and magical resistance of those within the skill's range would double.
The sixth, the Ring of Protection: it could enhance the knight skill Protection. When a knight wearing this ring used Protection, the target would become invincible for the duration of the protective effect.
The seventh, the Ring of Bravery: it could enhance the knight skill Bravery. When a knight wearing this ring used Bravery, he would ignore all control effects.
The eighth, the Ring of Humility: it could enhance the knight skill Humility. When a knight wearing this ring used Humility, all beneficial effects he received would double.
The ninth, the Ring of Sacrifice: it could enhance the knight skill Sacrifice. If a knight wearing this ring died after using Sacrifice, he could be resurrected. The resurrection effect had a one-year cooldown.
Of these, the Ring of Sacrifice was undoubtedly the most powerful. Sacrifice was a knight's ultimate move, burning life and soul in exchange for exponentially increased strength. It could be said that a knight could only use Sacrifice once in his life. When the light of Sacrifice bloomed, it was both a knight's most brilliant moment and the moment he withered away. Yet the Ring of Sacrifice gave a knight the ability to use Sacrifice dozens of times in his lifetime. It truly was an outrageously powerful divine artifact. For the knight class, no other class could defeat a knight during the novice stage. A Novice Knight's skill slots were just as bottomless. What other class awakened with nine skills? Knights were that ruthless. Aside from Glory, which allowed them to form Knight Orders, the other eight skills were all various status and support skills. This also established knights as the backbone of the battlefield. These nine skills were not merely knight skills; they also represented the spirit of Knighthood, a spiritual pursuit much like an assassin's creed.
"500,000 Wealth Points? So cheap?" Roland saw the price listed below and asked in disbelief.
"Uh... right... The Ring of Glory was probably worth about this much..." Roland pulled a long face and sighed. The Ring of Glory was probably the weakest among them... In terms of personal bonuses, it could not compare to the other rings. In terms of group bonuses, it could not compare to the Ring of Philanthropy. Other than increasing the overall strength of a Knight Order, it had little use, and the bonus was not particularly powerful. The reason it ranked among divine artifacts was that it could enhance an unlimited number of Knights. As long as they were under the ring owner's command and used the Glory skill together, they could receive all-around enhancements. Just imagine what it would be like if you had 100,000 Knights and used this thing... Even if the Dragon Knight Regiment came, you could scatter their ashes.
"Wuwuwu... Back to square one overnight. I'll buy it." Roland painfully spent 500,000 Wealth Points to purchase the Ring of Glory. Ah! It hurt! He had only obtained a million Wealth Points by stripping Thorin dry, and after buying a few items, more than half of it was already gone... Then he fiercely slid the ring onto his right index finger.
Readers, send in those recommendation votes. The number of recommendation votes has been pretty bad these past few days.
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