Deputy Mayor, Leveling Up

Deputy Mayor, Leveling Up

More than a thousand people raced through the dense forest, leaving behind only hurried breathing and the rustling of feet over the grass.

The Dwarf Race's mood was far from good. They had just been cornered and slaughtered by the Orcs, losing nearly a hundred Dwarf warriors.

They mourned in silence and remembered the fallen, because they could not even bury their kin's bodies. All their grief could only be endured in silence.

Odom Heavyhammer was a Dwarf prince with an Epic Bloodline. Though he was no longer young, he had rarely eaten magical beast meat or used magical potions, and was only level 43. Faced with elite Orc warriors generally above level 30, along with some level 40 Orc leaders, he simply could not fight one against a hundred.

Whether NPCs, magical beasts, Dragons, and so on, all could increase their strength through food and training. They did not need to reach adulthood before attaining the peak of their combat power.

An NPC's Bloodline Potential limited the growth of the battle aura and magic they learned, but it did not impose a level cap.

In other words.

NPCs with Advanced Bloodline Potential could surpass level 100, even reaching level 200, with their attributes increasing alongside their levels.

However!

The battle aura or magic cultivated by NPCs would reach an upper limit.

After level 100, battle aura reserves, power, and quality would no longer improve. Unless something unexpected happened, they would only be able to use high-class battle aura for the rest of their lives.

Restricted by their bloodline—that was, by their talent—NPCs lacked the ability to break through to the next stage.

But as long as they did not die or enter the weakened years of old age, their personal strength, meaning the attributes gained from leveling, would continue to grow.

Simply put, battle aura quality represented one's rank.

Level did not truly represent rank.

[For example, a middle-aged Battle Sect powerhouse would definitely have much higher physical attributes than a young Battle Sect powerhouse. However, the middle-aged Battle Sect powerhouse had reached the limit of his talent. From then on, he could only improve his physical fitness and could no longer break through to become a Battle Emperor.]

The march was swift.

When William led 1,600 Dwarves back to his territory, most of the civilians came out, staring at the little Dwarves with surprise and confusion.

After all, forests were not the sort of terrain Dwarves liked to live in.

They preferred wide-open plains or lofty mountains with rugged ranges. It was hard to imagine why they had emerged from the forest.

"This is my territory, Border Town. You can live here for the time being, or you can choose to join my territory!" At this point, William chose to be direct.

Odom Heavyhammer stood on high ground, gazing over the sparsely populated town. Then he glanced at his tribesmen, whose eyes were filled with hope, and could only sigh. "I will bring my people to join the town. I hope our arrival will not bring trouble to you, my lord!"

William warmly shook his hand. "There will certainly be trouble, but we can face it head-on, can't we?"

Then, looking at the town with barely any vacant rooms, he said somewhat awkwardly, "The town has always had few residents, and there aren't many tree houses either. There aren't many homes suitable for you to live in..."

"I understand. Human houses were never suitable for Dwarves anyway. We will build our own houses!" Odom nodded and quietly pulled his hand back. A man had to bow beneath another's roof, but he still did not want to sell his body.

He was tired...

His people were tired too...

They had been wandering for too long...

They did not dare seek powerful allies...

For example, the strongest presence in Blackleaf Forest, the main city of the Black Leaf Elves. He did not dare ask them for help.

Because Odom knew perfectly well that those Elves would not help him restore his kingdom. They might not sell them off, but living under someone else's roof was far too miserable.

They likewise did not dare contact the other Dwarf Kingdoms.

Because he did not know who else might betray him, a fallen imperial prince.

As for the Elven prince before him?

"What legitimate Elven prince would come to such a backwater to establish a territory, and even occupy the land once held by that human powerhouse?" Odom Heavyhammer was not stupid. A little thought with his golden-haired head told him that the man before him might very well be the illegitimate son of that legendary human.

Their statuses were about the same.

They could build a very solid foundation for cooperation.

At the very least, as long as His Highness did not go too far, he intended to stay here for a long time.

Odom Heavyhammer was truly exhausted and despairing. After years of fleeing, he had long since lost any desire to restore his kingdom.

Because he knew how slim the hope of restoration was. He only wanted to protect his followers peacefully. If they could gain a firm foothold somewhere, that would be best of all.

The prerequisite was—

His followers could not be made to feel humiliated!

Because his surname carried a glorious history spanning two entire eras. They had once defeated Flame Demons and crushed invasions by Dark Creatures. So when William asked whether he had any interest in becoming deputy mayor, Odom's face lit up with surprise, and he took William's hand tightly. "Really? Am I capable of being deputy mayor?"

"Of course. I think highly of you!" William said with a smile, patting his shoulder and smoothing his golden hair.

Deputy mayor was merely a title, and William did not care much about it. After all, he would still be the one truly in charge. Giving Odom the position would only grant him some say in matters and, incidentally, increase his sense of belonging toward the territory.

After all, once Odom became deputy mayor, it meant Border Town was his home too. Wouldn't he then properly command those Dwarves and work hard to develop Border Town?

"My lord truly has a masterful touch. Look at how frightened those Dwarves are. Who knows how many years they have been hunted? If they truly have a place to settle and take root, they will surely devote themselves to building defenses." Lotner now greatly admired William.

After all, ordinary lords found it hard to willingly share their authority.

William sat in a chair with Third Bear in his arms, while the adorably cute Big Bear and Second Bear each clung to one of his legs without letting go. Hearing Lotner's flattery, he shook his head. "This is not sharing power. It is handing tasks that were originally mine to the people best suited to do them."

Lotner considered this briefly and understood William's meaning. He then nodded, gave Third Bear's little dick a rub, and left despite Third Bear baring his teeth and claws.

At the same time.

Having finally found some free time, William raised himself to level 15, gaining 6 free attribute points. All attributes increased by 1, including his hidden Charm attribute.

He still allocated the free attribute points with 3 each to Agility and Strength.

"As for the remaining experience, I'll dump it all into battle aura manuals and battle aura skills!" With that in mind, William began leveling up his skills.

There was a ten-level difference between his personal level and his battle aura skills.

Now that he was level 15, his battle aura cultivation method had already risen to level 5.

But his battle aura skills were only level 2. Raising them to level 5 basically used up all his experience.

Status Panel!

William was now level 15.

Title: Lord of Border Town. (No attribute bonuses)

Race: Half-Elf.

Bloodline Potential: Legendary-Class (Level 15 base attributes +15%)

Talent: Handsome (Passive)

Everyone, animals, and plants outside the Dark Faction, excluding enemies, will develop favorability toward you equal to your Charm value. You will also receive a certain discount when trading with other intelligent creatures.

Talent: Beginner Life, 1 point of Stamina = 20 points of Health.

Bloodline Potential: Legendary-Class (Base attributes +15%)

Level: 15

Experience: 2333/15500

Age: 16

Health: 1200 (+300+450)

Stamina: 780 (+100+200)

Base attributes are as follows

Strength: 64+8(+6)

Constitution: 42+8(+10)

Agility: 69+8(+8)

Intelligence: 40+5(+5)

Special attributes are as follows

Charm: 58

Luck: 3

Dawn Sacred Battle Aura

Rank: Legendary-Class

Level: Lv5 (0/1600 Experience)

Battle Aura: 550/550

Recovery Speed: 15 points per second.

Activated effects and skills are as follows

Effect: All battle aura skills gain 5% increased attack power.

Effect: Strength +8, Constitution +8, Agility +8, Intelligence +5

Effect: Health +450

Effect: Stamina +200

Battle Aura Guard: A Battle Aura Shield equal to your battle aura value can be generated over the body surface. Consumes 40 battle aura points per second. Base Defense: 150. Attacks exceeding the defense limit can consume battle aura points and even shatter the shield.

After the shield disappears, it can be activated again after 5 seconds.

Light of Dawn: Infuse a battle aura skill with 50% of your battle aura value to increase its attack power by 210%. Cooldown: 26 minutes.

(Every 5 levels, attributes, effects, skills, and so on are improved once.)

(Attributes added by battle aura receive bloodline bonuses!)

...

Elf God's Blessing (Passive)

Level: Lv5

Skill Effect: Ranged physical attack power increased by 17%. No cost, no cooldown.

Lv3 Effect: An additional 100 points of true damage.

...

Deadly Volley

Level: Lv5

Skill Effect: Consumes 150 battle aura points to fire 3 arrows in succession. If all strike the enemy, the first arrow deals damage equal to Strength x150%, the second arrow deals damage equal to Strength x170%, and the third arrow deals damage equal to Strength x190%.

Has a certain chance of causing Bleeding.

Lv3 Effect: If all three arrows strike the head, the third arrow will definitely deal 150% critical damage to the enemy. (Effect Cooldown: 30 seconds)

Cooldown: 5 seconds.

...

Battle Aura Slash

Level: Lv5

Skill Effect: Consumes 70 battle aura points to swing a sword aura forward. Upon striking an enemy, it deals damage equal to Strength x180% and has a certain chance of causing Bleeding.

Lv3 Effect: The sword aura has knockback and tearing effects, depending on the situation.

Cooldown: 3 seconds.

Thanks to Enchantress for the tip, mwah.

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