Chapter 95: Chapter 94: Personnel Arrangements

Of Ronin’s three subordinates—Macken, Elron, and Ridder—Elron was the one most in need of an upgrade.

This Transcendent, the second to join him, was still an Intermediate Mage (212/300) and needed just a bit more progress to reach the Advanced Level.

After completing the achievement, Ronin had obtained a full 160 points of Energy Essence. He split this amount, investing 88 points entirely into Elron to help him break through to the Advanced Level.

“How do you feel?”

After doing so, Ronin asked Elron, “Did you get anything new?”

“Yes!”

A sharp light glinted in Elron’s eyes. He felt fantastic.

“Lord, I’ve acquired two types of Magic: the Holy Shield Skill and the Light Binding Skill.”

“Oh?” Ronin’s interest was piqued. “Tell me about them.”

The Holy Shield Skill was a Third-level Light Attribute Magic. To put it simply, it placed a Light Shield on a target that could absorb damage from Magic and Combat Skills, but it couldn’t block physical attacks.

As for the Light Binding Skill, it was a restraining type of Magic. According to Elron, it used tentacles of light to bind a target’s limbs, rendering them immobile.

With this breakthrough, Elron still hadn’t gained any offensive Magic. Instead, he was delving deeper and deeper into defensive abilities.

“Come, use the Light Binding Skill on me. I want to see how strong its restraining force is.”

Ronin stood up, deciding to experience it firsthand.

Elron extended a finger and began tracing the Magic Patterns for the Light Binding Skill in the air. It was clear this Magic was far more complex than his previous ones; it likely had over a dozen light nodes.

As the Magic Patterns were completed, Elron pointed at Ronin. Instantly, brilliant golden tentacles of light emerged from the empty air beside Ronin’s limbs, coiling around his arms and legs like pythons.

’The restraining force seems pretty strong.’

Ronin tried to move and discovered his limbs were bound, completely immobile.

He focused his strength, tensing the muscles in his arms to try and wrench a hand free, but discovered the restraining force was greater than he had imagined.

He couldn’t break free at his current Intermediate Early Stage level.

’It’s a bit stronger than I expected.’

Ronin opened his panel and allocated all 80 Attribute Points to his Knight Progress, which now stood at Intermediate Knight (133/200).

“Break!”

Ronin roared, his voice low, and suddenly strained with all four limbs. The Light-Touching Hands binding him grew unstable; the Magic was on the verge of being shattered.

But one breath passed, then two…

Ronin’s face flushed red with exertion. Finally, after a stalemate of seven or eight seconds, the light binding his limbs shattered into specks and dissipated.

He rubbed his wrists. ’Good thing I finally broke the Magic,’ he thought, ’or I would have been embarrassed in front of my subordinate.’

“Excellent restraining force!”

Ronin said in praise, “It should be enough to immobilize an average Intermediate Knight.”

He changed the subject. “By the way, when Macken broke through to the Advanced Level, he also awakened some memories. How about you? Did you gain anything new?”

When he had summoned Ridder, the man had claimed to be the Commander-in-Chief of the Flame Expedition Army.

Then, when Macken broke through to become an Advanced Level Knight, he awakened a memory and claimed to be the Leader of the Seventh Knight Order of the Flame Expedition Army.

Now that Elron had also broken through to the Advanced Level, Ronin wondered if he had awakened any memory fragments as well.

“Lord, I also received a piece of information.”

Elron nodded. “The information tells me that I, like Macken and Ridder, am also from the Flame Expedition Army. In that army, I served as a ’Holy Physician,’ specializing in healing and support.”

’The Vitality Skill, Flash Skill, Healing Skill, Holy Shield Skill, and Light Binding Skill he now possesses are all for healing and support. The title ’Holy Physician’ is quite fitting, though ’Holy Support’ might be even more accurate.’

Ronin was finally certain that the three men he had summoned were definitely connected.

Moreover, as their strength increased and their memories returned, they would likely bring him information unknown to the rest of the world.

After Elron departed to acclimate to his promotion, Ronin was finally at leisure.

He had set out on the 21st, and now it was the evening of the 23rd. In just three days, he had effectively conquered three Wilderness Tribes.

Although the Grey Soil Tribe wasn’t yet completely under his control, with the native Babulin and three other Basic Level Knights present, controlling the populace there shouldn’t be a problem.

When the time came, it would just be a matter of publicizing his policies and winning over the hearts of the residents with small acts of kindness.

As long as the living conditions of these Wildmen didn’t worsen in the short term, and he could plant a seed of hope for the future in the hearts of many, everything would be manageable.

’I didn’t expect things to go so smoothly.’

For the near future, as long as the Black-collar Tribe didn’t attack him, he wouldn’t go looking for trouble with them either.

According to his plan, he would first consolidate the territory of the Tripartite Alliance and establish the foundations of local industries. It wouldn’t be too late to plan his next move after that.

This didn’t mean he would wait indefinitely. In fact, the attack on the Black-collar Tribe wouldn’t be delayed for long, likely sometime after next year’s spring planting.

’My progress in breaking through to the Advanced Level with both my classes is a bit slow, though.’

He was currently 67 Attribute Points away from breaking through to the Advanced Level. After that, his Knight Level would require 300 points, and his Mage Level would need 400.

In other words, he still needed a total of 767 Attribute Points to become a Bronze Knight and a Great Mage.

If he proceeded at a normal pace, it would take over five months, which would be right around the time after the spring planting.

Once he broke through, Mountain Forest Town would likely have four Fourth-level Extraordinary Professionals. Even with Sain Territory backing them, the Black-collar Tribe would find it difficult to withstand Ronin’s assault.

’I’ll have Ridder take Tom, Juliet, Sim, and Babulin to garrison the Grey Soil Tribe and monitor the Black-collar Tribe’s movements.’

Ridder was leagues stronger than Sleirein, so having him garrison the Grey Soil Tribe would be perfectly fine.

Sending Tom and the others along would also give Ridder trusted people to command.

’As for the defense of the Cyan Bamboo and Purple Fruit Tribes, with Ridder on the front line, this area is in no real danger. I’ll just have Horn and Jenny stay at the Purple Fruit Tribe and oversee the defense of the Cyan Bamboo Tribe as well.’

With Erin by his side, Ronin didn’t have to worry about the couple having any ulterior motives. Besides, based on recent events, Horn and his wife seemed to have submitted willingly.

As for everyone else, Ronin would take them all back to Mountain Forest Town.

At this point, besides himself, the Transcendents in Mountain Forest Town included Macken, Elron, Erin, David, Wodun, Dandy, and the three as-yet-unnamed Knights who had surrendered from the Grey Soil Tribe—a total of nine people.

These nine were more than enough to handle the territory’s defenses and could even form a Hunter Squad to go hunting in their spare time.

Ronin hadn’t expected that in just two months, he would be able to gather so many Transcendents through his own efforts.

Once the horses, weapons and equipment, Infantry, and Archers were all ready, he could form a proper Knight Squad.

And so, the next day, in accordance with Ronin’s plan, Ridder led his men to the Grey Soil Tribe to take charge of the people there.

Meanwhile, Ronin remained in the Purple Fruit Tribe to show Horn Knight how to reel silk from cocoons.

The process was actually a bit simpler than ginning cotton; one didn’t even need to add plant ash when boiling the cocoons.

The only problem was the lack of a spinning wheel. He only had a spindle, which was inconvenient to use.

He decided that as soon as he returned to Mountain Forest Town, he would have Baal build a few spinning wheels. As for looms, he first needed to see what they looked like in this world.

That morning, the young girl Erin completed her census as promised, registering all 242 members of the Purple Fruit Tribe.

As a reward, Ronin gave her permission to call him “big brother.”

But the little one, whether out of lingering fear from his display of power the day before or simply shyness, hesitated for a long time without making a sound.

She couldn’t bring herself to say “brother,” but just then, Wilson arrived.

Having been separated for so many days, Wilson had missed the Lord terribly and had been worried that some accident might have befallen him. He was therefore exceptionally excited to see him in the Purple Fruit Tribe, offering warm greetings while extravagantly praising Ronin’s power.

Wilson had also brought the results of his census of the Cyan Bamboo Tribe. Including Wodun and Dandy, the tribe had a total of 354 people, all of whom were now registered.

With this, the population of Ronin’s territory had increased to 2,725.

Ronin praised Wilson’s efficiency and gave him a new task—

Train more village heads and dispatch them to the newly renamed Cyan Bamboo Village, Purple Fruit Village, and Grey Soil Village. Preferably, they should be people who had mastered the Ridge Cultivation Method.

As far as he was concerned, Transcendents were only needed for defense, not for civil construction.

When Wilson heard that he was to become the Civil Servant for so many territories, his eyes lit up. He immediately promised that upon his return, he would train and select the most suitable candidates as quickly as possible.

Of course, the first task for the hardworking Civil Servant was to complete the census of the Grey Soil Tribe.

He believed that he would soon complete the [Population Prosperity] achievement.

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