Hero's Water

Inside Marquis Prague's castle, the King sat facing dozens of nobles and the nobles of the Pioneering Alliance. Harrot and the other knights stood behind their respective nobles.

The Pioneering Alliance nobles were all somewhat puzzled. What was the King doing here?

Marquis Prague was a Legendary Expert, qualified to be elevated to grand duke and establish a duchy. He would never give the King any face.

The King could only stop the Pioneering Alliance's journey east by going to war, but against Marquis Prague at the Legendary Level, even victory would come at a terrible cost. It was better to let them reclaim the Eastern Lands.

Looking at the tense crowd, the King said, "I am not here to stop you. On the contrary, I represent the Kingdom of Lucanir in offering you aid and supporting your reclamation efforts!"

As the leader of the Pioneering Alliance, Marquis Prague asked, "Support? How will you support us? Haven't you always opposed reclamation?"

The King smiled bitterly. "Would my opposition do any good? Your legs are your own. Once you have made up your minds, there is no point in me trying to stop you!"

"I opposed you because I had my reasons. Humans are not a powerful race! The natives of the Eastern Lands will not be easy to deal with. If you rashly go there to reclaim land, one misstep could even endanger the entire kingdom!"

Prague replied, "So we should just hide with our heads in the sand? For centuries, the kingdom has had fewer and fewer nobles. This land does not have the herbs needed to make Hero's Water. We cannot stay here forever!"

Hearing this, the King made an extremely generous promise. "In the name of the Kingdom of Lucanir, I can ask the elves for help and contact the dwarves for you. You can use the mineral resources of your new territories as payment to invite them to reclaim land alongside you!"

"I will summon the Sun Priests under our kingdom to depart with you. Finally, I will provide the basic supplies free of charge!"

Marquis Prague was tremendously excited after hearing this. With that, the odds of successful reclamation would rise greatly. He said eagerly, "Why didn't you say so from the start? Tell us, what are your conditions?"

The King took out a scroll of parchment and read from it. "After establishing a new country, all of you must relinquish your territories in Lucanir and sign an alliance treaty with the Kingdom of Lucanir!"

"No problem. That was what we intended to do anyway. What else?"

"If you discover herbs used to make Hero's Water, you must set aside some to sell to us!"

"Fine, but if there are no such herbs, there is nothing I can do. Is that all?"

The King added, "One final point. You must give us a portion of the land gained through reclamation!"

Marquis Prague immediately responded to that condition. After a moment of silence, he sneered. "So that is the real point! You provide neither men nor effort. You just contact the elves and dwarves, send a few supplies, and expect to take a share?"

"Don't even think about it! We risk our lives while you sit back and divide the land? Do you take us for lowly mercenaries?"

Marquis Prague glared furiously at the King. There was no way he could accept that condition.

The King tried to persuade him. "We can discuss exactly how much land. If you want other forms of support, you can ask for them as well!"

Prague waved a hand and refused outright. "There is nothing to discuss. If you want new land, come reclaim it with us. Otherwise, forget it. And let me warn you—if you dare cross the border again and harass the Eastern Province, then prepare for war!"

The negotiations broke down. The King raised the parchment in his hand and said, "This offer will remain valid. Once you run into a wall and come back, we can talk again!"

The King left with the group of nobles. They had completely given up on stopping the reclamation effort and instead began considering how to profit from it.

Humans were not a powerful race. Only a very small number of nobles and knights possessed formidable transcendent power. Ordinary soldiers and Commoners were extremely weak compared to other races.

Claiming territory in the Eastern Lands would not be easy. Otherwise, the kingdom would have gathered forces and begun reclamation long ago.

However, with Marquis Prague at the Legendary Level, it was not entirely impossible for them to seize a foothold.

What the kingdom's nobles wanted was for Marquis Prague and his people to establish an outpost first. Then they would carve out a piece for themselves, send reinforcements, and seize even more territory.

If Marquis Prague failed and was driven back by the natives of the Eastern Lands, they would not have to bear the losses. Instead, they could take the opportunity to annex Marquis Prague's Eastern Province.

Of course, Marquis Prague knew exactly what those nobles were plotting. He could never agree. If he gave them even a sliver of territory, most of the gains from reclamation would likely be swallowed up afterward!

The nobles all supported Marquis Prague, shouting for the King and his lot to go to hell. Marcus, however, had another idea.

Marcus proposed, "Though we will not accept the King's conditions, we can contact the elves and dwarves ourselves! With them joining us, the reclamation expedition will go much more smoothly!"

Marquis Prague did not accept Marcus's suggestion. He refused, "First, we will see just how difficult it is to reclaim the Eastern Lands, what race controls that territory, and whether we can take it ourselves. If we truly cannot manage, then we can ask for reinforcements!"

After breaking through to the Legendary Level, Marquis Prague was extremely confident. Among the three human kingdoms, there were only two Legendary Experts in total. One was Grand Duke Lance of the Kingdom of Qiat, and the other was himself.

He truly had grounds for confidence. Marcus wisely kept silent and did not bring up an alliance again. He was not qualified to tell Marquis Prague what to do.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Lucanir was a pure human nation. The nobles, including Marcus himself, were not particularly willing to establish a country alongside demi-humans.

The kingdom's other nobles no longer interfered with the reclamation effort, but they had no intention of offering any support either. The entire Eastern Province seemed to have broken away from Lucanir.

Harrot successfully finished reading the complete Muscles and Strength. Besides the basic effect of Strength +1, he also gained two skills.

Great Strength: Strength increased by 10%, Agility decreased by 10%.

Muscle Burst: Overload his strength for a short time. Strength increased by 50%. Could only be used once per day.

After reaching level 8, Harrot had not assigned any skill points or attribute points. His Strength had risen to 28 through reading, and with the boost from Great Strength, it rose to 31. His Agility dropped to 13.

Harrot had not allocated points because he was already quite strong. One or two points of Strength or Agility, or one or two levels in skills such as Power Strike and Athletics, would not increase his strength by much.

Instead, he valued the Intelligence and Charisma skills he had previously neglected.

The Intelligence skill Inventory Management could add six slots to his inventory. Of his current six slots, three held two books and a Sun Orb whose use he did not know.

Only three remaining slots were truly not enough. One for food, one for drink, and one for treasure would fill them all. He also wanted to store spare armor and weapons inside.

Trainer was also very useful. It could allow his eight troop members to level up faster and learn some combat techniques from him.

This was especially true for the five Knight Squires. Once they leveled up again and became Northern Rogue Knights, their Strength and Agility would soar to over 20, and their combat power would surpass that of ordinary Transcendent Knights.

Leadership and Trade, which belonged to Charisma, also had their own uses. Especially now that he had superiors above and subordinates below, both Trainer and Leadership were important.

Leveling up was becoming increasingly difficult, so he could not spend precious skill points carelessly. If necessary, Harrot planned to put attribute points into Intelligence as well, converting them into skill points.

So Harrot saved his attribute points and skill points, waiting to allocate them according to the situation. If anything happened, it would not be too late to immediately put them into combat-related abilities.

He also asked Marcus about Hero's Water.

Marcus summoned Harrot and the other knights alone, told them the secrets of Hero's Water and noble bloodlines, and warned them not to spread the information.

Noble bloodlines originated from heroic ancestors, but those ancestors had not been born heroes either. Human bodies were naturally frail, and their strength was inherently meager.

To compensate for this weakness, ancient humans concocted and invented a potion called Hero's Water.

After drinking it, a human could fully unleash their physical potential and gain great strength. However, its aftereffects were severe. Twelve hours after drinking the potion, they would die of exhaustion.

But if, within those twelve hours, the person who drank the potion could accomplish a heroic feat and receive Sun's Blessing, then not only would they avoid death, they would also gain powerful transcendent strength, undergo a bloodline transformation, and become a hero. Their descendants would then possess a heroic bloodline.

Marcus also told the story of his ancestor, Elvin.

Elvin had originally been a warrior from a human tribe. Because there was a volcano nearby that erupted irregularly, the people suffered endlessly.

Guided by a prophet, Elvin learned that a powerful Balrog lived within the volcano. Whenever it unleashed its power, it triggered volcanic eruptions.

Elvin drank Hero's Water and went to subdue the Balrog. After a bitter battle, he killed it through luck and courage, received Sun's Blessing, and became the hero Elvin, gaining transcendent power over fire!

Harrot and the others were filled with fervor. No wonder the nobles were so arrogant—they truly had reason to be proud. Their ancestors had all been extraordinary human heroes!

According to Marcus, even after drinking Hero's Water, Elvin had been far weaker than the Balrog. A warrior who overcame the strong while weak and fought with such tenacity was undoubtedly a true hero!

The Bald Man was especially excited. He was already imagining himself finding the ingredients for Hero's Water in the Eastern Lands, brewing the potion, drinking it, slaying a dragon, and becoming a hero.

Every noble family's ancestor had been a hero, but the power of heroic bloodlines had some sort of limitation. Generally, only one person in each generation of a family could awaken the bloodline.

Cases like Marcus and his brother, where two brothers in one generation both awakened, were exceedingly rare. This also represented the spread and prosperity of the bloodline. Often, an entire generation of a family would have no one awaken at all, and the bloodline would completely wither away, leaving them as Commoners.

When Lucanir had first been founded, there had been 133 noble families. Now fewer than 100 remained, and several of those had branched off from the same family, like Marcus's.

If this continued, no new nobles would be born in the country, and noble bloodlines would sooner or later disappear completely. Thus, Marquis Prague's reclamation effort was not merely for ambition and adventure; it was also necessary for humanity's development.