Job Change Quest (4)
"Then, I'll accept Mr. Shin Dong-hoon as a vassal first."
"I look forward to working with you."
Shin Dong-hoon's trust and loyalty were both near the minimum threshold required for registering as a vassal.
His trust level was 50, which is when loyalty becomes available, and his loyalty was at the minimum 30, just enough for vassal registration.
In truth, being able to meet face-to-face today had caused both his trust and loyalty to increase significantly, allowing for his vassal registration.
Cases like this weren't unheard of.
As more people were involved, various scenarios began to appear.
There were quite a few instances where low trust prevented loyalty from being unlocked, and sometimes, trust started off so high that loyalty was already available.
Among them were cases like this one, where trust and loyalty didn't rise easily.
'He was the careful and mentally strong type, if I remember right.'
In cases like this, if a special opportunity arose, their values would often quickly hit 100.
'That's what happened with Ha Dong-geon too.'
Now, he had become one of the rare individuals with both trust and loyalty maxed out at 100.
'Registering Shin Dong-hoon as a vassal.'
Vwoooom!
A bright light formed around Shin Dong-hoon's body and then seeped into him.
Ding!
[Citizen Shin Dong-hoon has acquired a title matching his profession.]
[A synergy effect has been activated.]
'Huh?'
I checked Shin Dong-hoon's citizen info window through the vassal management screen.
[Name: Shin Dong-hoon (Lv. 45) [+]
Profession: {Warrior}
Titles: [Thirtieth Seed] [Knight] [Warrior]
Trust: 50 Loyalty: 30
Awakened Abilities: Time Distortion, Rewind
★ Assign Quest]
I had opened the citizen info window to check the synergy effect.
But what caught my attention first were his newly updated awakened abilities from the vassal registration.
'Time Distortion? Rewind?'
Just the names sounded incredible.
If they were S-rank abilities, he would have reached level 40. Given Shin Dong-hoon is level 45, it meant at least one of these abilities surpassed S-rank.
'Did his Momentary Acceleration ability evolve into Time Distortion?'
It was common for abilities to improve or new ones to be added upon vassal registration.
Even so, this transformation was surprising.
Time Distortion (S-rank)
While holding your breath, you can distort time and move up to 10x faster.
Rewind (SR-rank)
By snapping your fingers, you consume mental energy to rewind time.
The amount of time you can rewind is based on your total mental strength. Current maximum rewind time: (13.07 seconds)
As the skill level of "Eye of the Absolute" increased, descriptions of awakened abilities had become more detailed.
'...So the time you can rewind scales with mental strength?'
Due to the uniqueness of my own awakened ability, my mental strength was on a different level compared to ordinary awakeners.
If Shin Dong-hoon's trust reached 100 and I acquired that ability—
Just how far back would I be able to rewind time?
Just then, Shin Dong-hoon spoke.
"...Jaehyun-nim, is something wrong?"
"Huh?"
"You had a very serious expression on your face."
"There was just something... quite surprising."
I looked at Shin Dong-hoon and said,
"Would you try using your ability once? It should feel a little different than before."
Though puzzled, Shin Dong-hoon nodded.
"Understood."
When he held his breath and activated the ability, something strange happened.
'This is...?'
Everything around me slowed down.
'My time slowed down too?'
In the slowed-down world, I could see Shin Dong-hoon moving around and marveling at what he was experiencing.
The key difference was that, unlike Shin Dong-hoon, who moved freely within the slowed time, I couldn't.
But then-
[What do you think?]
"Huh?"
At that moment, his ability deactivated, and time returned to normal.
[Can you feel what's changed from before?]
Shin Dong-hoon nodded and answered.
"Yes. It definitely felt different from before. Could this be...?"
[That's correct. Before, it was just that your body had become faster, but now, you have the ability to control time.]
"Control time...?"
[Additionally, you have gained the ability to 'rewind' as well.]
"I... didn't hear that right, did I?"
From my observations of other Awakened individuals up to this point, I knew that they would naturally realize their abilities without needing to be taught. However, directly stating the name of the ability would be a faster way for them to recognize it.
[The trigger is a finger snap. Would you like to try it?]
"...Alright."
It was a small curiosity.
'I wonder.'
If he rewinds time, would I be able to notice it?
Snap!
The moment Shin Dong-hoon used his ability...
Whooooosh-
An awe-inspiring scene unfolded.
Since I had been keeping an eye on everything while maintaining the gaze of an absolute being, I was able to sense it even more strongly.
"Ugh!"
Shin Dong-hoon grabbed his head.
He looked around and asked.
"...Did it work?"
"Yes."
He had rewound exactly 5 seconds.
In this conference room, where nothing significant had happened during those
5 seconds, there was no noticeable change. But from a macro perspective, it was clear that time had indeed been rewound.
'This is an incredible ability.'
Above all,
'My memory before the rewind is still intact.'
It was as if my time had also turned back when Shin Dong-hoon used his rewind ability.
Though it was only a few seconds, the things that could be done in that short time were limitless.
'From now on, I should assign only mental strength enhancement quests to Shin Dong-hoon.'
At that moment, Shin Dong-hoon snapped his fingers again.
Snap!
But this time, nothing happened.
He looked a little disappointed and said,
"...I can't use it consecutively, can I?"
"It seems difficult."
It was probably a matter of mental strength, but no matter how hard he tried, it would be impossible to rewind time beyond the 13 seconds specified in his ability.
'Should I form a binding contract with Shin Dong-hoon?'
A binding contract.
Originally, it was an ability that, using my mother's power, could either grant an Awakener the ability to evolve their awakening or grant an ordinary person an awakening ability.
Now, it was being used to tame monsters like Kellykhan.
Once a contract was made, it couldn't be undone until the target's death, and since there was a limit of 100 contracts, it was a power I had been saving.
It was at that moment.
"Hey, um... when is it my turn?"
Lee Jun-ho raised his hand and spoke.
"Just a moment."
That's when I remembered the system notification I had seen earlier.
'It said there was a synergy effect.'
First, I checked the effect of the Warrior class.
{Warrior}
Melee attacks are 50% stronger.
Temporarily increases physical abilities by 100%. (Cooldown: 1 hour)
+Synergy Effect+
Melee attacks become an additional 50% stronger.
The synergy effect was linked to the "Warrior" title.
[Warrior]
Melee attacks are 50% stronger.
+Synergy Effect+
Melee attacks become an additional 50% stronger.
This meant that the enhancement to melee attacks would be increased by a total of 200% due to the synergy effect.
'Not bad.'
If I had seen this from the start, I would have been more surprised, but since I had already seen something much more astonishing earlier, it didn't hit me as hard.
'I should prioritize promoting the subordinates with the Warrior title to higher classes first.'
Among the jobs in the Job Research Lab, many were associated with titles given to subordinates.
I had been keeping an eye on them, and if they had this effect, it would be best to promote them to jobs that matched their titles.
'Subordinate Registration: Park Seong-jun, Kim Gi-tae.'
Both Park Seong-jun and Kim Gi-tae had earned the "Archer" title, but I had already given Kim Gi-tae the Hunter class promotion quest.
'There's no need to insist on the synergy effect.'
I had a feeling that Kim Gi-tae would excel at utilizing the Hunter class's traits, so I decided to leave it as it was.
If necessary, I could always remove the Hunter class and reassign him to the Archer class a month later.
And finally, Lee Junho, who became a vassal, completed his registration.
Ding!
[Citizen Lee Junho has acquired a title of the same profession.]
[Synergy effect has occurred.]
Likewise, Lee Junho, who had the warrior profession, obtained the same title, and the synergy effect appeared.
And then.
[The number of vassals has reached 30.]
When I saw the first message, I became a bit solemn.
The title Lee Junho had obtained was [Thirty-Third Bell].
It was because of the three vassals who had lost their lives in battle against
the vampires that the number finally reached 30.
[The 'Title System' has been activated.]
[The conditions have been met.]
['Domain' has been added to the list of buildable items.]
A new feature had opened.
'This...?'
There was one more characteristic due to the contract of subjugation.
Specifically, those without any title among the vassals would acquire the [Knight] title, and those who received the [Knight] title would then change to [Baron] or [Viscount].
'I didn't expect this to be related to construction.'
I checked it immediately.
Domain (??? Gold)
A safe zone installed outside the house.
The size of the domain increases in proportion to the rank of the owner's title.
When {activated}, it temporarily exerts the same influence as the area declared by the house.
However, it only {activates} when a vassal with a title of [Baron] or higher resides there.
It was different from an outpost that gets destroyed when an unauthorized entity occupies it for more than a day.
Rather, it was a lower-level version of a 'guesthouse' that could only be constructed for blood relatives.
'In the case of a guesthouse, it grows in proportion to the house's area, but the domain grows in proportion to the vassals' titles.'
The lack of a clear price might be the reason for that.
If the title is higher, the area becomes larger, and the construction cost would likely increase.
From the minimum condition being [Baron], it seemed that the [Knight] rank wasn't even considered.
This meant that the titles held by the vassals would become quite important.
'Does the subjugation contract have to be required in every case?'
I didn't think so.
After all, the subjugation contract wasn't something from the system, but rather a power from my mother.
It was likely that the reason the vassals gained titles through the subjugation contract was.
'It must be a kind of bug.'
Then.
'The Title System.'
At that moment.
[{ Merit Points }]
Choi Hyeongjun [First Bell] - 1,245 P
Moon Byeongho [Second Bell] - 176,342 P
Kang Deoksu [Third Bell] - 75,123 P
Kim Gayoung [Fourth Bell] - 99,388 P
Yoo Hyerin [Fifth Bell] - 87,819 P
Ha Donggeon [Sixth Bell] - 783,210 P
The names of the vassals and the points they held were listed.
With the name "Merit Points" and several vassals, including Ha Donggeon, having especially high points, it became clear that these points were awarded based on their achievements.
And at the very end of the title system.
[Knight] - 1,000 P
[Baron] - 10,000 P
[Viscount] - 100,000 P
[Earl] - 1,000,000 P
[Marquis] - 10,000,000 P
[Duke] - 100,000,000 P
The points required for title promotion were specified.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]