Adventurer ×! Lord √!

At that thought, Ye Wei'an suddenly began to consider his future.

When he had first arrived in this world, figured out who he was here, and obtained the system, his plan had been simple: use the power of the game system to become a powerful adventurer.

After all, that was exactly what the system was for.

Fight monsters and level up, improve his abilities, accumulate wealth and renown, and eventually become a legendary hero. It might even be possible to ascend to godhood.

But the appearance of the [Mini-Map] and [Companion System] had shown him another path with far greater potential—the path of a lord.

The [Mini-Map] offered far more than a sense of direction or warnings of danger for an adventurer.

At its core, it was a strategic "all-seeing perspective."

It was an ability every lord could only dream of.

The terrain around him, the distribution of resources, potential dangers, and unusual activity were all laid out clearly on the map.

Even better, just like in the game, both he and his companions could uncover the map.

For example, right now he could see not only the area around the camp, but also the map around the main force in the distance.

That meant that as a lord, he could spend every day in his castle. As long as he sent out patrols, no suspicious activity or hostile presence anywhere in his territory would escape notice, and he could deploy his forces in time to wipe out any threats;

Meanwhile, whether it was troop deployment, transport, trade, or public works, his efficiency would far surpass that of his rivals;

And the markers for resources, ruins, and special locations would give him a head start when developing his lands, prospecting for minerals, and planning towns.

If he became just an adventurer, he would never be able to uncover the [Mini-Map]'s full potential.

Only as the lord of a territory could he draw out its greatest value.

The same was true of the [Companion System].

Using the [Companion System] to train a few teammates, as one might in a game, would be a huge waste of it.

How many people could an adventuring party manage?

The truly efficient approach was to use the [Companion System] to divide the land into fiefdoms and establish a nation.

That was because the [Companion System] solved the most fundamental problem facing any leader: people.

It could be used not only to train an elite fighting force, but also to identify people's strengths at a glance. That would let him put the right people in the right positions as he built his administrative, military, and economic systems, greatly improving the efficiency of his rule.

And its loyalty-warning feature was beyond the reach of any traditional political maneuvering.

In short, if he became just an adventurer, he could certainly rely on the system to level up all the way to the top, without a hitch.

But as a lord, he could gain much more.

A powerful territory or kingdom could provide far more resources, information, and manpower than any independent adventurer.

He could send out armies to complete tasks he had no time to handle himself, while he reaped the experience;

He could bring an entire nation's strength to bear against formidable threats that would be impossible for one person to overcome;

He could even gain opportunities and knowledge beyond an adventurer's reach through exchanges and power plays between factions.

The path of a lord might let him advance faster, more steadily, and farther than he could as a mere adventurer.

Of course, all of this depended on his being able to become a lord.

His deadbeat father, Harandir Xiaxing, was only the lowest-ranking Baron, while he was merely the Baron's illegitimate son.

With a background like that, if he had been born in Blue Star's Middle Ages, he would have had virtually no chance of ever becoming a lord.

Fortunately, he was in Cormyr, Faerûn—the legendary Purple Dragon Kingdom.

One of the great human powers on the continent of Faerûn, Cormyr covered a vast area.

It lay at the center of the continent, stretching east to the Thunder Peaks and Marsh of Chelimber, south to Dragonmere, and surrounded to the west and north by the natural barrier of the Storm Horns. These natural defenses allowed the kingdom to hold off foreign invaders at relatively little cost.

Cormyr had a mild, humid climate and was blanketed in lush forests. It was often called the "Forest Kingdom" for this reason. This environment had also fostered vast stretches of fertile farmland, giving the kingdom a solid agricultural foundation. Dragonmere also provided a route to the Sea of Fallen Stars, allowing the kingdom to trade prosperously with much of inland Faerûn.

Despite possessing such a blessed land, the Cormyrean royal family's ambitions did not end there. They continued to pursue territorial expansion.

For example, the kingdom had long claimed sovereignty over the whole of the Stonelands, the Goblin Marches, and the Hullack Forest, with plans to push its borders west to the Sunset Mountains and north to Anauroch.

In reality, however, these regions had remained undeveloped or even beyond the kingdom's control for a long time. The Hullack Forest had even suffered a brutal rebellion a century ago and had remained outside the kingdom's effective rule ever since.

For this reason, the Cormyrean royal family had always encouraged "pioneering." If a noble was willing to establish a settlement in one of these borderlands and managed to gain a foothold, the royal family was happy to grant him a title and the right to rule, in accordance with the size of the territory he had opened up.

And Ye Wei'an's status as a noble's descendant was just enough to qualify him for such an undertaking.

The only problem was that establishing a territory from scratch in a place like that would cost far too much.

Just look at the sort of lands the Cormyrean royal family was offering to pioneers:

The Stonelands were a barren desert of rugged terrain.

The northern Stonelands were desolate and infertile, unfit for growing crops; the south was riddled with dangerous tar pits, Wild Magic zones, and dead-magic zones. Conditions across the entire region were so harsh that only the toughest, most ferocious monsters could survive there.

The Goblin Marches were no better.

They were a desolate wasteland full of cliffs, swamps, rocky hills, and thorny brush. The region was home to countless humanoid monsters—Goblins, Orcs, Kobolds, Gnolls, Ogres, and every sort of hybrid between them. Ordinary people would struggle to survive there.

The Hullack Forest, at least, had plenty of water and lush vegetation.

But the Tun River flooded year-round, turning vast tracts of land into dangerous swamps. After the Brigand Kingdom collapsed a century ago, the region became a lair for all sorts of bandits and barbarian tribes. They said Hydras and even Black Dragons lurked in the depths of those swamps;

In short, none of these places would be easy to deal with.

No wonder. If these places were easy to settle, why would the royal family leave them to anyone else?

To settle one of these regions and establish a territory, he would need not only a powerful enough fighting force, but also a large sum of Gold Lion Coins as startup capital.

As for the former, Ye Wei'an wasn't too worried.

With the system, he was confident he could assemble a force strong enough to face the challenges ahead.

As for the latter... if the upcoming trip to Firefall Town succeeded, the seed money for opening up a territory would come to him on its own.

Having settled on his path forward, Ye Wei'an finally relaxed and sank into a deep sleep.

His first night after crossing over passed peacefully.

The next morning, Ye Wei'an was woken by the girl beside him, who let out a startled cry.

He opened his eyes groggily and saw that Ailian had already sat up. She was staring down at her hands, her small face full of astonishment.

When she noticed he was awake, she immediately turned to him and whispered urgently, "Young master! Young master! I... I think something's wrong with me!"

"What is it?" Ye Wei'an sat up and rubbed his temples.

"It's just... I feel so much lighter, and I seem to be stronger, too. I nearly tore the blanket just now..." Ailian opened her hands helplessly, then clenched them into fists.

Her petite body seemed to hold some kind of restless energy.

"And everything looks clearer, too. I can hear more sounds as well... I can even hear Renn sharpening his blade outside... I think Harold is complaining that the morning dew has dampened his tobacco... W-what's happening to me?"

Looking at her, startled and frightened, as if she thought she had come down with some strange illness, Ye Wei'an felt most of his drowsiness fade. A mischievous impulse came over him.

He deliberately drew out his words, letting his gaze pass over Ailian's still-disheveled neckline before speaking lazily. "Oh? That might be the result of what happened last night..."

"Last night...?" Ailian froze. In an instant, memories surfaced of what had happened last night in the wooden tub and on the carpet—things that made her wish she could burrow into the earth.

Her cheeks flushed bright red, and even the delicate tips of her ears turned a tempting pink.

"W-what? That can happen? Th-this change... it's actually..."

"What else would it be?"

Ye Wei'an spun a completely straight-faced lie. "According to a rather obscure theory of magic, it's called 'life-energy exchange and reciprocation.' Especially for a spellcaster like me, with such a high Charisma stat, the Weave's energy flows through the resonance between our souls when we're intimate, washing over your body like floodwaters irrigating farmland. You're lucky you happened to be with a Wizard like me, who's mastered 'life-energy exchange and reciprocation.' Isn't it perfectly normal for your physical abilities to improve afterward?"

Ailian listened, completely spellbound.

Even the most lowly magic apprentice would never believe such a made-up theory, but she actually did.