readease Chapter 465 - 438: Promoted Again
Chapter 465 - 438: Promoted Again
Ronin had always thought his first major city with a population of one hundred thousand would be Wubei City, but he never expected it to be Purple Thunder Territory.
He looked down at his achievement panel.
Now that this tier was complete, the sixth tier required him to simultaneously possess three major cities with populations over one hundred thousand, rewarding him with 8,000 Attribute Points and 16,000 Energy Essence.
The reward was generous, but the difficulty was not to be underestimated.
Ronin stared at the word "simultaneously" in the achievement’s requirement. ’I was originally hoping to find a loophole, just shuffling the population around my territory to scrape together a hundred thousand. But now it seems there’s no loophole to exploit.’
’Among my remaining territories, Wubei City can become a major city thanks to the hundred thousand people sent by the Royal Family. Besides that, the one with the most potential is Giant Stone City.’
With the addition of the ten thousand-plus people who just migrated from Moonlight Valley, Giant Stone City’s population had now reached fifty thousand. It was still halfway to the goal.
’Wubei Port already has over twenty thousand people. I could split off twenty thousand of the people His Majesty the King sent over, have them enter Wushan Territory through Dennis Port, and transfer them to Giant Stone City.’
Having made his decision, Ronin turned his attention to his Attribute Panel.
After several days of accumulation, plus the achievement reward he had just received, he now had 2,126 Attribute Points and 24,120 Energy Essence.
He allocated 1,000 Attribute Points to his Mage Level, expanding the range of his Spiritual Perception to about three miles and significantly increasing his Magic Power reserves.
Now, with the Wind Shadow Skill, he was fully capable of traveling back to Wubei Territory on his own.
As for the more than twenty thousand accumulated Energy Essence, Ronin needed to think about how to use it.
Currently, Macken’s Level progression had reached the Silver Moon Level (9025/10000). Although he needed less than a thousand Energy Essence to reach Perfection, breaking through to the Silver Moon rank would require additional Energy Essence to improve his talent.
Ronin estimated this extra cost would be at least ten thousand points.
The same was true for Elron, and improving his talent would cost even more.
As for Ridder, his current strength was sufficient; any upgrades would just be minor point allocations. Besides, if Ridder’s progression bar filled, he would face the same problem of needing to improve his talent.
Among the three men and one dragon, only Carlos possessed Legendary Talent. Moreover, the intimidating presence of a Giant Dragon was in no way weaker than that of a Proud Sun Knight.
Of course, a Giant Dragon also had its disadvantages.
Its body was too large. Aside from fighting and killing, many tasks were more conveniently handled by humans.
Considering that the Silver Moon Level already represented top-tier strength, Ronin, after some thought, decided to first invest the twenty-thousand-plus Energy Essence into Carlos.
He would consider promoting Macken later, when the territory’s population reached five hundred thousand and he received the twenty thousand Energy Essence from the Population Prosperity achievement.
That night, a victory banquet was held in Purple Thunder Castle.
Ronin met Saimon, the Magic and Martial Dual Cultivator, as well as over a dozen Professional Knights that Macken had brought with him.
It was said that before the battle began, Macken had nearly fifty Professional Knights under his command. After the fighting ended, he had lost almost half of them.
The next priority was to recruit more Professional Knights and establish his own Knight Order on the border as quickly as possible.
After the banquet, Ronin summoned Macken and Saimon for a private meeting, mainly to discuss the population issue in Purple Thunder City.
The thirty-thousand-plus prisoners would certainly cause problems, so Ronin allowed Saimon to first disperse them among the various small towns to alleviate the pressure.
However, they ultimately needed to maintain a population of one hundred thousand within the city.
To this end, infrastructure and land planning needed to be re-evaluated. They shouldn’t be reluctant to spend money recruiting the necessary professional talent from other regions.
Furthermore, laborers must be paid their wages. After all, the city would only prosper if money was circulating.
Besides, Ronin currently had close to six hundred thousand Gold Coins. With Magic Potions and various other goods from his territory continuing to earn him large sums, he had more Gold Coins than he could spend.
Three days later, Ronin was speeding over the vast sea with the Wind Shadow Skill.
After returning to Wubei Territory from Purple Thunder Territory, he first paid a visit to Wubei Port.
At Wubei Port, Ronin saw the pirate ships that Simon had captured.
’Since Screaming Island attacked Wubei Port, they definitely wouldn’t spare the isolated Rapids Island either.’
That was why Ronin was rushing to Rapids Island at top speed, wanting to check on the situation there.
But when he was about halfway there, a strong gust of wind suddenly swept over the sea.
WHOOSH—
A massive black shadow shot across the blue sky and stopped in front of Ronin, kicking up a storm.
"Master, why didn’t you call for me when you came over?"
It was Carlos, who had come of his own accord.
"I was worried something might have happened on Rapids Island, so I didn’t call for you."
Ronin knew that if Screaming Island had been in the middle of attacking Rapids Island when he called, Carlos, given his temperament, would have abandoned the battle without a second thought to rush to his side.
"The battle on Rapids Island is already over, Master. I’ve been patrolling the seas these past few days and haven’t found any suspicious ships."
In front of Ronin, Carlos showed none of the classic arrogance of the Dragon Race; he was more like a diligent worker.
The corners of Ronin’s mouth curled up slightly.
He hadn’t expected Screaming Island and the Villa Duchy to cooperate so perfectly, making him seem like an infallible strategist.
"What were the results of the battle?"
Carlos flapped his wings twice, as if a person were puffing out their chest. "With me here, those guys were routed before they even got near the port."
As for the specific results, Carlos wasn’t sure.
He only knew that a few enemy ships were now docked at the port and that Karda and Reis had captured many people, including the Meteor Knight whose bones he had crushed.
"Nice work, Carlos. You’ve even learned how to take prisoners alive now."
Ronin praised him with a smile while glancing at his power progression. It was currently at 1647/20000.
"Carlos, do you want to become an Eighth-level Giant Dragon?"
Eighth-level?
Carlos’s eyes, larger than bronze bells, widened abruptly. ’I just became a Seventh-level Giant Dragon not long ago. Am I going to advance again so soon?’
Ronin smiled and poured all 18,353 Energy Essence into Carlos.
In an instant, the Giant Dragon became an eye of a vortex, just like last time, and all the surrounding Heaven and Earth Elements converged on him.
The massive creature, thirty meters long, swelled in size again, reaching a length of fifty meters!
And his wingspan reached a staggering one hundred and twenty meters!
Even Sophia’s ship, the Dawn, wasn’t as long as Carlos’s wingspan.
As Ronin used his Spiritual Power to collect the thirty-six shed Dragon Scales, he marveled at the power of a creature like the Giant Dragon.
With a body this size, even though he was the dragon’s master, Ronin still felt a considerable sense of pressure in his presence.
Before the Giant Dragon, his own physique was simply too small.
He glanced at the dragon’s level progression:
[Frostfire Wings Carlos]: Eighth-level (0/50000)+
Ronin couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.
’Going from Eighth-level to Ninth Level requires a full fifty thousand Energy Essence! With that much Energy Essence, I could probably raise both Macken and Elron to become Ninth Level Transcendents.’
Faced with such a massive requirement, Ronin glanced at his remaining 5,767 Energy Essence and decided not to invest any more for now.
He sat down on the dragon’s back. "Let’s go. Show me your top speed."
Carlos let out a joyous cry and flapped his wings forcefully.
With a sonic boom, the massive dragon’s body flashed through the air, leaving a long afterimage.
Although his current speed didn’t break the sound barrier, it was definitely faster than a commercial airliner’s 500 miles per hour.
’So fast!’
Soon, the small island on the sea appeared before Ronin.