Factions and Claims

Faction System Activated

Dúnedain Faction Reputation +50

Current Dúnedain Faction Reputation: Friendly

World Map Activated

Territory Claim Enabled

As he was nursing a headache, several prompts suddenly rang out, interrupting Li Wei's troubled thoughts.

Factions, a map?

Had more new mods been unlocked?

Unable to worry about anything else, Li Wei hurriedly opened the newly added interface and briefly looked through the descriptions.

First was the faction reputation system. Whenever he did something beneficial to a faction, his reputation with that faction would increase.

However, it was not enough merely to do something. If Li Wei was too far from a faction's sphere of activity, that faction would have no way of learning what he had done and thus could not increase his reputation.

For example, Li Wei was currently within the Dúnedain's area of activity, and there was even a witness beside him.

Falrodan had watched Li Wei defeat an entire cavalry squad by himself, directly giving him the full reputation bonus and raising his Dúnedain reputation to "Friendly" in one go.

But if Li Wei went alone to some remote corner of Mordor to ambush Orcs, then no matter how many he ambushed, as long as word did not spread and nobody knew about it, he would have no way to gain reputation.

He would only lose reputation with Mordor's faction.

Faction reputation was not merely a label; it had practical uses as well.

For instance, now that Li Wei's reputation with the Dúnedain had reached "Friendly," every Dúnedain he encountered in the future would begin with Friendly reputation and treat him as one of their own.

After gaining a preliminary understanding of the Faction System, Li Wei turned his attention to the second feature: the World Map.

The World Map could record the places Li Wei had traveled through and mark which factions were active in each region. It was absolutely accurate.

However, Li Wei had not traveled through many places yet. The map only showed the area from the Shire to Bree, then to Li Wei's castle. Everywhere else was covered in mist.

"After this battle, your deeds will spread across this wilderness, Li Wei."

The voice beside him pulled Li Wei back from his thoughts.

Falrodan continued, "You solved a troublesome problem for us. Dealing with this gathered squad would not have been a matter of just one night."

"On behalf of the Free Peoples of this land, I offer you my thanks."

The Ranger bowed politely, paying his respects to Li Wei.

"Your help was indispensable. If not for your timely warning, I might have been caught completely off guard. Things could have gone badly enough that I would have had to abandon the castle and flee in disgrace."

Li Wei nodded.

"I should thank you too, Falrodan."

That was not flattery; it was the truth. Without preparations beforehand, he really could have been defeated if he had faced that squad directly. After all, the Wargs' jumping ability might truly have been enough to clear the hastily built wall.

"It was my honor."

"From today onward, Falrodan, you and your people may enter my castle without asking permission first. You may come and go freely and use the supplies inside. Consider it a small repayment from me."

"Then I thank you. I will remember this friendship." Falrodan did not refuse.

Such a sturdy fortress was an enormous help, even if it could only occasionally serve as a place to rest and recover.

Dúnedain Faction Reputation +10

A prompt appeared.

This old brother was an honest man. If there was reputation to give, he really gave it.

But speaking of which...

Li Wei suddenly thought of that elite Orc with forty health.

On a whim, he looked directly above Falrodan's head.

A health bar popped up.

25/25

Twenty-five health.

The Dúnedain lived for centuries on average, and their vitality was naturally stronger than that of humans, so it was only expected that their maximum health would be higher.

Thinking about it that way, that elite Orc who had emerged from among Orcs with an average of just over ten health probably had some Troll blood. Otherwise, its hide could not have been so tough.

Li Wei shook his head and dismissed the thought.

It was already deep into the night.

After a night of tense battle—ambush, really—Li Wei felt somewhat tired as well. After saying goodbye, he went to rest.

When he woke early the next morning, he found that Falrodan had already vanished.

Only the set of Iron Armor left in the guest room proved that he had truly been there.

He had not taken the armor Li Wei had given him.

This guy...

Li Wei shook his head, then suddenly remembered that another system had apparently been activated yesterday. Falrodan had interrupted him before he could look at it, and he had completely forgotten about it.

Territory Claim

You may claim an unclaimed building area as your Territory.

You gain one Territory Claim slot every ten levels. Current claimable Territories: 0/3.

This Territory Claim reminded Li Wei of a mod called Utility Tools, which could also claim a certain amount of Territory. It was extremely convenient.

Without another word, Li Wei immediately claimed the castle beneath his feet as his first Territory.

Please confirm Territory Name:

Li Wei thought for a moment. His castle stood in a wilderness area not too far from the main road, so...

"Let's call it Roadside Fortress."

Territory "Roadside Fortress" created successfully

After creating the Territory, Li Wei felt as though something was missing. After thinking for a moment, he made a sign and hung it outside the castle gate.

He carved the words Roadside Fortress onto it.

Mm, perfect.

From now on, everything within Roadside Fortress's walls counted as Li Wei's Territory.

According to the description, within his Territory, storage blocks such as chests were protected. Without his permission, others could neither open nor destroy them, much less take them away.

This was merely the most basic permanent Territory Property Protection.

In addition, within his Territory, Li Wei could summon Iron Golems and Snow Golems.

Yes, Li Wei was now certain that he could only summon Golems within his own Territory, and the Golems could not leave it either.

Li Wei sighed.

Sigh—

His plan to summon an army of Iron Golems and steamroll Mordor had gone bankrupt before it could even begin.

Still, this was good too. At least when he left the base, he would not have to worry about Orcs, bandits, or the like taking it over.

That resolved another major problem. He could now head out without any worries holding him back.

After learning about the newly unlocked mod features, Li Wei immediately wanted to summon a few Iron Golems and see what these powerful helpers with one hundred health actually looked like. Were they blocky and square, or did they have patterns closer to a realistic style like the Iron Armor?

However, after searching through every chest, Li Wei failed to find one crucial material—pumpkins.

Right. During this time, Li Wei had only planted one crop: wheat. He only had wheat seeds, which he could obtain simply by breaking the grass outside.

For everything else, he would still have to search.

Having made up his mind, Li Wei opened the World Map with a thought, then spread out the paper map he had gotten from Bilbo and compared the two.

West of Roadside Fortress was Bree. For Li Wei, that meant retracing his steps along a relatively familiar route.

To the east lay Rivendell, and farther east were the Misty Mountains.

According to the map, Li Wei was roughly the same distance from Bree as he was from Rivendell.

Looking at Rivendell to the east, Li Wei felt tempted.

He had never seen an Elf before.

Besides, if he remembered correctly, Aragorn was living in Rivendell at this time. Judging by the dates, he should still have been a child under ten years old.