Recruiting Talent! Dragon Egg Hatches

Recruiting Talent! Dragon Egg Hatches

Duncan had not expected Anya to bring him another surprise!

When he saw several new attendants at Anya's side, he knew she had succeeded.

What Duncan did not know was that an even greater surprise awaited him.

Anya was tight-lipped.

Before everything was settled, she had not leaked a single word. She was preparing to quietly spring something big on Raven Queen Triss.

From now on, Anya could finally hold her head high!

This time, Anya had paid dearly. She had even given away one of the large estates near the City of Rome.

She might not have been as powerful as Raven Queen Triss, but she was dead serious about competing for her position!

Especially after Raven Queen Triss had gathered the other members of the Witch Coven, the pressure on Anya had multiplied. There was no need to guess—Raven Queen Triss was clearly trying to divide Duncan's attention so he would not remain lost in Anya's tender embrace alone.

Fortunately, Duncan had been occupied with government affairs lately and had no time to spare for the other witches.

Honestly, he could not do without such things entirely, or there would be nowhere to vent his stress. But if he indulged in women every day, where would he find the energy for anything else? Even if he rotated through one woman a day, there were only seven of them. Duncan still knew how to distinguish priorities.

--"Agricultural Expert (Attendant): An expert skilled in agriculture. Can increase agricultural yields and improve the territory's farming techniques."

--"Architect (Attendant): Reduces construction costs, improves city planning, and lessens filth and disorder."

--"Armor Craftsman (Attendant): Improves forging standards. Can build large equipment forges and produce standardized military equipment."

--"Judge (Attendant): A civil official. Once recruited, can improve the territory's law and order, using the law to resolve private disputes among barbarians."

--"Military Instructor (Attendant): A retired Imperial military instructor who can be rehired to intensify training and improve infantry marching and combat capabilities."

There were five attendants in total.

Four men and one woman. To Duncan's surprise, the architect was actually a woman. Perhaps she had never been properly valued within the Empire.

Dear Anya was back!

I missed you so much.

Every time she returned, she brought Duncan some sort of surprise.

There was no need to say more.

He would definitely have to reward her properly tonight.

That very afternoon, when Anya returned, Severus also came back from Gaul. To Duncan's surprise, he had attendants with him as well.

--"Druid (Attendant): Maintains temples and sanctuaries, bolsters our troops' morale in battle, and assists in commanding Celtic forces."

--"Drunkard (Attendant): Strengthens influence. Drunkards can easily spread information in taverns, inns, poets' chambers, and other such places. They all have exceptionally high alcohol tolerance, allowing them to quickly gain a foothold locally and spread whatever information you need."

Put simply, they were braggarts who spread tales of your deeds far and wide in taverns. Of course, you had to pay to keep such people around, though they did not cost much.

The talent recruited by Raven Queen Triss had also arrived.

Aside from three Temple Guards, there was unexpectedly another target marked as an "Attendant."

--"Library Director (Attendant) (One-Star Gold): Formerly a Librarian at Imperial University. Possesses extensive knowledge, can assist in managing the territory, and strengthen influence among the upper class. Those with great learning always earn respect."

Raven Queen Triss either did not act at all, or she struck with a trump card.

This was the first attendant Duncan had seen with a star rating. The man was around fifty, dressed like a scholar, refined and well-educated, somewhat resembling a philosopher of Ancient Greece.

He was extremely respectful toward Raven Queen Triss. When he saw the chaotic state of Southampton, he frowned slightly. He was Greek, after all, and Greece was also a civilized land.

It seemed that after Duncan had taken over the territory, quite a few people on the projection interface could be marked and converted into attendants.

They differed from ordinary people. Most possessed specialized skills.

However, their abilities had to be discovered over time. If a corresponding attendant marker appeared, it meant they truly possessed talent in that area.

There was no way to muddle through.

Those who failed to meet the standard in specialized skills would never receive an attendant marker.

This made things much easier for Duncan.

He even had time to drill the reorganized army. He also discovered that after an army had been reorganized, trained, and fought in battle, it would gradually gain an additional marker—not a star rating, but one labeled "Combat Experience +1."

When he focused on it, the description read: "This unit possesses a certain degree of combat experience. Having been tempered by battle, their fighting skills surpass those of equivalent units. A force of experienced Battle-Hardened Veterans is an asset to the entire nation." [A combat-experienced force is more likely to produce star-rated combat units.]

Combat experience accumulated extremely slowly.

Among Duncan's forces, only the General's Guard and the British Legion led by Kevito possessed 1 point of combat experience. They had also been the main forces in the previous battles.

If the army was reorganized and replenished with new personnel, its combat experience seemed to decline slightly.

War meant people would die.

It was extremely difficult to stack up combat experience, though around a dozen men had indeed recently transformed into One-Star combat units.

Those who survived life-and-death battles could not be without a few tricks of their own.

Night fell.

Anya rode wildly until midnight. After being drilled through several times, even the candle grease had run dry. In the end, she was utterly spent and collapsed to the side, falling into a deep sleep.

Duncan felt it was nothing.

Recently, the effects of the Blood of the Holy Grail and the Power of the Giants had stacked, making his physique stronger and stronger. He was no longer afraid of being drained dry by a witch.

"One more day, and the Dragon Egg will hatch."

Duncan's current focus was all on Southampton. It was a port town with an excellent location, so it took priority for development.

He occasionally put the army on managed training, and sometimes trained them himself, but his own training was actually less effective than managed training.

After reorganizing the Foreign Mercenary Legion, Duncan also sent out his scouts.

He had not forgotten Scandinavia.

As a lord, Duncan did not have the time to scour the world for supernatural monsters himself. Naturally, he had to send his men out to gather intelligence.

Who was best suited for the job?

Without a doubt, the Saxon Foreign Mercenary Legion.

He would first have them gather information on monsters—which regions they were in, where rumors of supernatural creatures could be found. Only after confirming it would Duncan set out himself, so as not to waste time searching through mountains and wilderness for half a month only to find nothing at all.

By the Medieval Era, those supernatural creatures had practically become legends.

If Duncan truly searched for them himself, he would probably have to travel across the entire European Continent, all the way to Northern Europe and Eastern Europe, before he had any chance of finding them. They were gradually fading from the age as well.

It was nothing more than spending a little extra money. Efficiency was what mattered!

Britain Island could not be at war every day. For now, he was learning more things—learning a little of everything. Perhaps his Human Forms would be able to use it someday.

Merlin had made no moves.

Perhaps because Duncan had settled Duchess Igraine and he no longer needed to worry about King Arthur's birth, he had become much more restrained. Duncan had heard, however, that King Uther had suffered a small setback on the battlefield recently. If there was anything else, it was that Duncan always felt there was something strange in the way Igraine looked at him—a hint of something beneath her admiration. The last time he went to Cornwall to recruit riders, she had personally led a group of maids in preparing his room, making his bed, arranging his meals, and attending to every detail. She had not put on the slightest airs of a Duchess.

Morgause officially became the Duchess of Cornwall and inherited Duke of Tintagel's estate, but she held no actual power. She only had a dozen or so guards at her side to protect her.

Duke of Tintagel's estate was enough for her to live comfortably for several lifetimes.

Time passed silently just like that.

The next day, Duncan handed the matters in his hands over to others and focused entirely on watching the Dragon Egg hatch, preparing to load the second Human Form.

Dimensional Space.

As Duncan's consciousness returned, information appeared on the projection before him.

"Loading No. 2 Human Form!"

"Breaking through the dimensional barrier. Entering real space."

"Loading complete."

Inside a completely sealed underground ice cavern.

Suddenly.

The Dragon Egg before him began to tremble. Immediately afterward, a tiny dragon claw broke through the shell. A fierce yet immature dragon head emerged, opened its mouth, and spoke its true name in the innate Dragon Language: "Augustus!"

This felt awful.

The moment Duncan loaded in, he understood why the soul compatibility was so low.

He was crawling on all fours now, with wings on his back and an extremely long neck. He was hungry and weak, and it felt as if his soul and body were not on the same wavelength.

The flesh of an alien lifeform rejected the human soul's form. The compatibility was extremely low, making it very inconvenient to control.

"This feels terrible."

"Who the hell could stand crawling around every day?!"

Duncan immediately entered Dimensional Space and used God's Eye View to control the Dragon Whelp, making it gnaw on the Dragon Egg. It was hard and tasted awful, nearly choking the Dragon Whelp to death.

This was an attack. This was defense.

This was?

Dragon Language?

No! It was a Dragon Shout!

Simply put, a Dragon Shout was Dragon Language magic, a kind of language with supernatural power that could produce certain magical effects when spoken aloud.

It was gray right now, but when he focused his thoughts on it, it displayed: "Dragon Language: Frost."

"Does this world seem to have a very high level of magic?"

Duncan waited for the Dragon Whelp's Stamina Bar to fill, then began digging. He had to dig his way out, or he would be trapped to death inside this underground ice cavern.

At that moment.

A line of text appeared on the projection screen—"I should go fishing!" (Dragon Heritage memory)

Dragon Whelps had relatively low intelligence, not much smarter than clever wild beasts.

However, they were born with an old grandpa—namely, their inherited Dragon memories. These contained a certain amount of knowledge and instinct, telling them what they should do next.

Hungry. Catch fish and eat.

This thing was like a quest prompt, telling the Dragon Whelp how to grow step by step and even how to avoid danger.

"Interesting!"

"A dragon's racial talents are seriously overpowered!"

Dragon claws dug through the ice.

Duncan controlled the Dragon Whelp as it dug for quite a while before finally dropping into the water. It was born with Underwater Breathing, and on the projection screen, it moved through the underwater world more smoothly than it walked on land. Duncan realized that if he were controlling a Human Form, it might have drowned already.

Its limbs and wings were completely uncoordinated.

Attack!

Duncan controlled No. 2 Human Form to land a hit, seize a fat fish in its jaws, and swim upward.

--"I should sleep well after eating."

--"Dragon Whelps are very weak."

--"Hide."

Interesting.

Duncan felt that No. 2 Human Form was just like a game character he controlled. The Dragon Heritage memories would even automatically prompt him on what to do next.

But right after eating the fish, a drowsiness icon appeared over the Dragon Whelp. It seemed to need rest.

He had barely played for any time at all, hadn't he?