Marcus's Territory

After receiving the bloodline power granted by Marcus, Harrot's strength greatly increased.

[Level: 7 Defense: 40

Health: 7777

50 (Base Health) + 27 (Strength Bonus)

Strength 27 (26+1 Ogre Gauntlets), Agility 15 (16-1 Encumbrance), Intelligence 9, Charisma 10.

Skills: [Power Strike] lv7, [Running] lv3, [Weapon Mastery] lv5, [Inventory Management] lv1

[Heavy Strike], [Light Strike], [Dragon Slaying Sword Qi], [Fire Resistance], [Fire Absorption], [Fire Enchantment], [Fire Release]

Two-Handed Weapons 150 (+15% attack speed, attack strength)]

Both Strength and Agility increased by 2 points, his base health cap increased to 50 points, and he mastered four extraordinary abilities!

[Fire Resistance] allows him to be immune to ordinary flames, and [Fire Absorption] allows him to absorb flames to store energy.

[Fire Enchantment] allows his attacks to carry fire energy, and [Fire Release], just like Count Sarik demonstrated, allows him to unleash incredibly destructive fireballs.

The "Elvin" family, to which Marcus belongs, possesses fire-based bloodline power. Whether it's nobles who awaken their bloodline or knights who share in their glory, all can master extraordinary fire-related abilities.

An average knight can only possess two extraordinary abilities, while those with good talent might master three. For Harrot to possess four is truly exceptional.

Sun's Blessing allows people to better adapt to bloodline power, and nobles can even directly awaken their bloodline after receiving the blessing.

This is also why Marcus and Sarik were so eager to bring Harrot over.

Sarik's face turned grim after his attack was blocked. If it had been anyone else, even the chief knight, he would have killed them on the spot! As the son of a marquis and a count with real power, he wasn't afraid of any other noble in this northern province!

Even if Harrot had become a knight and his strength greatly increased, so what? This was his castle, with hundreds of regular soldiers and five or six of his knights on standby. No matter how skilled The Bald Man and Harrot were, they'd be finished here.

But Marcus was his younger brother. The Old Marquis was currently the head of the Elvin family, and if he were to kill Marcus's knight without reason, he would definitely be punished by the Old Marquis.

Although the Old Marquis didn't particularly favor Marcus, only three nobles in the entire family had awakened their bloodline. He couldn't let Marcus be bullied too badly; what if he got angry and left?

Marcus served as a contingency; if Sarik's children didn't awaken their bloodline after coming of age, then Marcus would indeed be relied upon to continue the family bloodline.

Thinking this, Sarik suppressed his anger. The Bald Man hadn't sworn an oath to become his knight, and going to someone else couldn't be considered betrayal. He truly had no legitimate reason to continue the attack.

"Fine, that Marcus boy did well, stealing both of you from me!"

"You can leave now. Go back and tell Marcus not to anger me again. My patience has limits!"

Harrot quickly pulled The Bald Man away. Marcus had probably already taken all the gladiators from the Gladiatorial Arena, which must have pushed Count Sarik's patience to its limit.

They had to get away before Sarik found out! Although Harrot seemed to have easily blocked the fireball, his palm was horribly burned, and he was holding his chest to hide it.

If it weren't for the "+40 Defense" pre-reducing damage, combined with the combined efforts of [Fire Resistance] and [Fire Absorption], his hand would likely have been shattered.

Even extraordinary abilities have varying levels of power. While Harrot had high adaptability, he only barely reached the level of an ordinary awakened noble.

Grand nobles like Sarik, with their exceptional talent and years of consuming herbs and monster flesh to enhance their bloodline, had abilities far superior to Harrot's.

Sarik could unleash fireballs a meter in diameter, while Harrot's would be, at most, 30 centimeters, and the flame temperature was simply not on the same level.

Harrot and The Bald Man quickly arrived at the rendezvous point Marcus had specified. Marcus had already purchased enough horses with a group of gladiators and was just waiting for them to arrive before setting off.

As soon as Harrot and The Bald Man arrived, they began their journey. Harrot's agility was very high, and he easily mastered horse riding. While he might not be reliable in a fight, traveling was no problem.

Marcus's territory was quite far from here, located at the easternmost edge of the Northern Province. It took the group several days of riding to reach it.

The territory was vast, with fertile land and pleasant scenery, including mountains, rivers, and trees. Its total area was thousands of square kilometers—equivalent to five Maldives!

Harrot thought to himself, Such a large and excellent territory is almost the limit for a viscount. What more could he be dissatisfied with? The Old Marquis isn't as biased as he claims!

Marcus saw Harrot's confusion and replied, "My goal isn't to be a country noble. This land is good compared to what ordinary nobles have, but my father's direct territory is ten times larger than mine!"

"Including the lands of the impoverished nobles who are dependent on him, his territory is 40 times larger than mine!"

Harrot silently calculated. The Kingdom of Lucanir's land area was similar to a province in his previous life, about three to four hundred thousand square kilometers.

As the head of one of the four great noble families in the country and the ruler of the Northern Province, it was quite reasonable for Marquis Harlaus to possess one-tenth of the kingdom's territory!

Different perspectives lead to different desires. In his previous life, Harrot was a commoner living in a house under 100 square meters.

His fantasies of grand villas, private gardens, and swimming pools never extended beyond a few hundred or thousand square meters.

Marcus's goal, however, was to reach or even surpass his father, to possess vast territories and rule independently. Naturally, he could only push eastward, opening up new lands.

Marcus looked at Harrot's yearning expression, pointed to his territory, and said to Harrot, "Do you like territory like this? Good. I promise you, once I successfully conquer territory in the east, I will reward you with land this large!"

In this world, while commoners and impoverished nobles cannot awaken bloodlines, they can still own and inherit land by becoming vassals to awakened nobles.

These families are also the primary source of knights for nobles. Many families have served noble families as knights for generations.

After all, nobles in this world are limited by their bloodlines and are indeed few in number. They can't manage so much land themselves, so granting it to their vassal families can still be considered their own land, and they can reclaim it if displeased.

Upon hearing this, Harrot suddenly felt a sense of unreality. His wildest dreams weren't much grander than this, and now it was all so close? Could his dream come true just by successfully developing the land?

Harrot took a deep breath. It's just a promise, not an oath. Don't get too excited. Any reward I actually receive will depend on how much merit I accumulate!

Nevertheless, Harrot was incredibly excited, unable to suppress the elation on his face.

Marcus was very pleased with Harrot's reaction. He wasn't a stingy person; as long as Harrot worked hard for him, a thousand square kilometers of land was theirs for the taking!

The Bald Man and the other gladiators, having overheard the conversation, were also full of drive. They all fully supported and joined in the efforts to develop the new land.

Others might be afraid, but gladiators like them, who had long grown accustomed to fighting for their lives, didn't care at all. Before, winning meant just a few more days of life. Now, winning came with rewards!

The Bald Man was particularly excited. Like Harrot, he had received a share of Marcus's power, and as a knight, he also had a chance to be rewarded with land!

Marcus didn't spend much time showing Harrot and The Bald Man around the territory, as they were about to head east for reclamation. The group went straight to the castle to rest.

Marcus was quick to fulfill his promise. As soon as he arrived in the territory, he sent 1,000 gold coins and allowed Harrot to choose his own attendants and maids from his territory.

This also unlocked the System's "Troop System" for Harrot. It was very effective; he could view the character panel of anyone willing to become his attendant or maid through the System interface.

He could upgrade his subordinates through the "Troop System"! It was very similar to unit upgrading in games.

Unit upgrading was different from player leveling. Upgrading would change their unit type, and attributes would be automatically allocated. Harrot found that the unit types varied greatly among different people.

Most commoners were Peasant, with terrible base attributes. Even after upgrading, Militiaman and Scout were very weak in combat.

Some obviously well-trained, strong-looking commoners were Lucanir Recruit, who could be upgraded into Lucanir Infantry and Lucanir Skirmisher. Their combat abilities were decent, with Strength and Agility both above 12 points.

The rarest were Newborn Northern Explorer. Harrot looked at nearly a thousand people before finding only two who belonged to this unit type. Based on his gaming experience, their top form was Northern Rogue Knight, with Strength and Agility over 20, making them exceptionally powerful.

Harrot had selected over a thousand people consecutively but still hadn't finalized his attendants. Although Marcus didn't say anything, Harrot still felt a bit strange. He could understand if choosing maids was complicated and lengthy—they were all men, after all!

But why be so meticulous when just choosing an attendant? Couldn't he just pick a few strong and clever ones?

Could it be...? Marcus eyed Harrot strangely for a moment, then quietly moved a few steps away from him.

Harrot wanted to cry but had no tears. He could only endure the strange scrutiny and continue his selection. Finally, he chose 5 Newborn Northern Explorer.

Choosing three maids wasn't as troublesome. His attendants would be his personal guards and subordinates in the future, so he naturally had to choose those with potential. He had to look at their unit types and attributes through the System to pick the best.

As for maids, looks were the most important!

Ultimately, Harrot chose one who was a good cook, one who washed clothes cleanly, and one who was attractive and curvaceous! All three were also Lucanir Recruit.

Female Lucanir Recruit could only be upgraded to Lucanir Skirmisher and Female Scout. Even with the same unit type, their attributes were significantly worse than males. This was understandable, as women's physical qualities were inherently inferior to men's.

Harrot also wanted to choose three beautiful, curvaceous women as maids, but he simply didn't have the means.

The status of attendants and maids differed greatly. Attendants were Harrot's trusted subordinates, who would go to war and achieve great deeds with him—a truly wonderful prospect.

Maids, however, were merely servants who attended to Harrot. Although they would be well-fed and clothed, it wasn't considered a particularly good position.

The number of people willing to be his maids was far fewer than those willing to be attendants. Moreover, common women generally had mediocre qualities, and attractive ones were especially rare.

After all, why would an attractive woman need to be his maid? Wouldn't it be better to be a guard or the official wife of a wealthy merchant?

Harrot could only accept reality. Even if Marcus didn't mind, he himself wasn't willing to forcefully take women from the common folk!

After selecting his attendants and maids, Harrot also began participating in military training, preparing for the upcoming eastern reclamation journey!