Skagos Island, Griffin Keep, on the bridge of the magic guild tower in the main keep.
Marco held a note in his hand. The Swift Hawk that had delivered the message stood on the railing, tilting its head and looking at Marco with seemingly endless curiosity. Marco waved his hand, and it soared towards the living quarters below.
After reading the letter, power surged in Marco's hand, turning the paper into ashes. He muttered to himself:
"Looks like I can take a trip to King's Landing. It's time to retrieve that dragon egg Brynden mentioned, and those Valyrian scrolls he couldn't get."
"Caw!"...
With a series of eagle screeches, Swan and his subordinates arrived near Marco. They circled, trying to land near him, but the area Marco was in was too small, and they couldn't manage it.
"Marcol, did you receive any special news? You seem happy," Maeve, in her angelic form, descended slowly from the sky. Her peerless beauty was as captivating as ever, and her golden eyes were full of curiosity and questions.
"That's because we'll be adding another dragon egg soon. Also, I want to see what the most prosperous city on this continent is like. See if it's really the pile of shit they say it is."
"My Lord! Our warriors are ready. May we begin?"
Henk's voice suddenly came from behind, his tone seemingly laced with excitement.
Marco turned his head and smiled, nodding at him. Then he said, "Let's begin!"
\n\n
A short while later, Marco and Maeve arrived at the plaza in front of the main castle entrance. Two thousand warriors had gathered there, and the surrounding area was filled with curious onlookers from the populace.
These warriors had been handpicked by Henk and the others, their purpose being to become system soldiers.
The soldiers Marco had converted were called "Spears of the Gods" by the Rockborn. They believed it was a blessing from the Gods, a sublimation of the soul.
After the Wildlings moved into Griffin Keep, they also became very convinced of this belief. When they were selecting people a few days ago, many people kept signing up, but the 2,000 slots had basically been filled by Henk and his two companions.
Finally, it was Mance Rayder who pleaded with Marco, securing a quota of 500 places. The Wildlings and Rockborn had always suffered high infant mortality rates due to the harsh weather and poor sanitation on this side of the Wall.
However, since arriving at Griffin Keep, they'd observed a decline in this trend. The Rockborn who became system soldiers, in particular, boasted excellent physical condition, making them highly sought after and the envy of many Wildling warriors.
Once everyone was assembled, Marco habitually opened his attribute interface. Gazing at Griffin Keep, which was nearing its peak, Marco felt a surge of excitement, confident that the future would only get better.
City Owned: Griffin Keep
Crest: Holy Sun
Motto: Light and Order
Owner: Marcol Baelerys
Hero Level: 11
Hero Skills: Basic Offense, Advanced Leadership, Diplomacy, Retribution, Financial Management... [omitted]
Special Abilities: Kingly Demeanor, Omniscience.
Owned Buildings: Congress, Militia Barracks, Blacksmith, Main Base, Tavern, Market, Crossbow Tower, Garrison, Griffin Keep... [omitted]
Building Level: 30
Troops: Brutes 1101, Crossbowmen 300, Royal Griffins 17, Unicorn 1, Mummy 1, Archmage 1, Populace... [omitted]
Resources: Gold 43056, Wood 10, Ore 13, Crystal 19, Mercury 26, Gems 13, Sulfur 30.
"Do you want to spend 40000 gold to convert troops?"
After Marco clicked yes, flashes of light emanated from the main castle. Then, the bodies of the 2000 soldiers began to change. When the light faded, weapons, armor, and helmets appeared on them, along with a vast amount of combat memories.
"Huzzah! Long live!"
Two thousand Brutes warriors roared in unison, paying homage to Marco, which spurred the watching commoners to shout along.
Marco nodded in satisfaction, using his magic to mobilize the blood magic energy within his body, and said to everyone:
"My brave warriors! My loyal people! The future of Griffin Keep is in your hands. In the future, our banner will be planted wherever the sun shines. Glory will be yours, long live!"
His voice was very clear, reaching the ears of the Brute soldiers, who were filled with excitement.
"Long live!"...
Everyone shouted in unison, shouting "Long live" with Marco. The shouts pierced the sky, making everyone present extremely excited.
After this conversion ceremony, Marco returned to the main keep, where he summoned his subordinates.
In the meeting hall on the second floor, everyone took their seats. Moonshadow and Maeve sat on either side of Marco. Seeing that everyone was settled, Marco spoke first.
"Alright! The purpose of gathering everyone today is to discuss some matters after my southward journey. The only threat we still face is the Others. We must hold Hardhome; it's a vital safeguard to restrain them in the future. That's also why I left Jorman there. Does anyone have any opinions on the defense of Hardhome?"
After exchanging glances, everyone unconsciously turned their gaze to the Three-Eyed Raven. As the last Greenseer, he had implicitly become the leader of the Wildlings.
However, due to his physical condition, he spent most of his energy on that strange Others' energy, so he rarely participated in political discussions. He usually spent his time guiding newly awakened Wargs.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, he had no choice but to speak, "I haven't been able to find those fellows' tracks recently. They seem to have become stronger, which isn't good for us. We could easily be ambushed if we're not careful."
"My Lord! I have a suggestion! I think we can imitate the crows and establish a team called 'Rangers' to patrol the Shadow Forest. As long as there are enough people, they can completely warn Hardhome in advance, thereby changing our unfavorable situation."
Mance Rayder's words came from the side, instantly attracting everyone's attention.
Marco heard this and nodded, saying, "Excellent! Excellent! Then this matter will be your responsibility. I believe you can accomplish it well."
Mance Rayder, having been raised by the Night's Watch, was naturally very familiar with their system, so Marco was very confident in entrusting him with this task.
"Yes! My Lord!"
Mance Rayder replied, somewhat excitedly.
"Alright! Let's move on to the next topic then! Naxus..."
Over the next while, everyone reported their work progress to Marco in turn. Naxus was currently in charge of the inscription and study of Rune Magic. He himself was a magic soldier from the academy faction and was innately very sensitive to magical power.
It was just that there were far too few people who had awakened Rune Magic. Wolf Fang and Mance Rayder had always been his research subjects. Marco seriously suspected that Mance Rayder came up with this method because he was afraid of having his blood drawn.
Naxus told Marco that inscribing magical runes was actually quite simple. However, apart from Mance Rayder and the others, no one had succeeded in the experiment so far. Although many wargs had successfully sensed the flow of magic, these powers would slowly weaken over time.
Naxus believed that this might be related to Marco, the "source of magic." Of the five people who had successfully sensed the magic, Wolf Fang, Mance Rayder, Jon Snow, and the recent Gode, almost all of them had been personally handled by Marco. Naxus believed that they only completed the inscription of Rune Magic because of Marco. Moreover, although the rune on Dominic was inscribed by Naxus, he also left after Marco injected him with magic.
"My Lord! I have a rather…unrefined idea. I could concoct a potion from your blood, which those who haven't Awakened could then consume. This might allow us to study the source of magic. Of course, this would require a continued supply of your blood. In return, I could guarantee you a magical army within a year.
And, to be frank with you! Over the past period, I've observed that Wolf Fang's Rune Magic power has been steadily increasing. However, don't think this is necessarily a good thing! Once this power reaches a critical point, it will slowly wane. At that point, you'll need to re-infuse it with magic from your side."
Naxus's words made Marco's heart skip a beat. The first part was very tempting, but Marco still felt that his health was the most important thing. Although his body was strong, donating blood for over a year was something he found a bit unreliable.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to let Naxus take some blood to experiment with. He had initially treated this guy as a mana-saving tool, and gradually, Marco had forgotten about his origins and his true strengths.
As the only humanoid unit in the academy's forces, mages have always been a cornerstone unit. They were also among the stronger Tier 4 units in the fifth installment of the game. Moreover, Naxus's control over magic was far superior to Marco's, who was just a fake mage.
But when Marco saw the old man pulling a dagger from his chest with a smirk, Marco thought he was so lecherous and didn't have the bearing of a master mage at all.
Wolf Fang and Mance Rayder swallowed subconsciously when they saw the dagger in Naxus's hand, seeming a bit afraid.
Marco didn't indulge him either. He snatched the dagger and glass test tube from his hand, sliced his finger, and under Marco's shallow manipulation of magic, blood flowed out until he felt enough had been drawn. Marco estimated he had probably released about 100ml of blood this time.
Naxus was a little excited, and he took the test tube of blood with trembling hands. A slight smile played on his lips as he happily placed it in his pocket.
Then, Marco turned his gaze to Gode. Ever since Marco had extended an olive branch to the fur merchant from Braavos, Gode had found Marco that very night and sworn his allegiance.
Marco had also bestowed upon him the final "Earth" rune. In fact, the main reason Marco had wanted him to pledge allegiance in the first place was because he could sense a fluctuation of magic within him.
It was just that this fellow's talent was a bit lacking. After these few months, he still hadn't managed to activate the rune. He almost needed Marco to infuse him with magic every day. Marco thought this might be because of his mixed bloodline.
Unlike Mance Rayder and the others, who had the blood of the First Men, this fellow had a lot of messy bloodlines due to his family. This made it impossible for the faint Valyrian bloodline in his veins to be activated. It also meant that he had to rely on Marco to use magic to keep the rune functioning.
After finishing these things, Marco called him over. After so long, he had gotten used to Marco infusing the runes on his back with magic.
But today was destined to be his lucky day. After Marco finished infusing the rune with magic, the rune on Gode's back instantly lit up.
This time, Gode clearly felt the sensation of magic flowing, as Wolf Fang and the others had described. He also clearly felt the power in his blood appearing bit by bit, then flowing along his blood vessels to a certain part of his head.
"Try it. See if you can conjure a stone spike in your hand," Marco said to Gode, hoping he'd succeed this time. He was almost numb from the many failures.
With a flash of bright yellow light, a stone spike, the size of a dagger, appeared in Gode's hand. He excitedly said to Marco: "Thank you, my Lord! I finally did it! Thank you for your help!"
Marco nodded in satisfaction. Just as he was about to talk to Henk and the others, a system notification flashed before his eyes.
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the full construction of a new magic system. Your control over magic has reached a new level."
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the mage's special skill, 'Artifact Crafting'."
Artifact Crafting
Primitive: Allows the crafting of Tier 1 treasures, each treasure with only one additional effect.
Beginner: Allows the crafting of Tier 2 treasures, each treasure with two additional effects.
Intermediate: Allows the crafting of Tier 3 treasures, each treasure with three additional effects.
Advanced: Halves the resources needed to craft treasures.
"Ding! The host's current ability is at the Primitive level. Skills can be upgraded later by constructing a Mysterious Foundry."
Mysterious Foundry
Construction Requirements: Level 5 Magic Guild
Town Level Requirement: 30
Resource Requirements: Gold 5000, Wood 1, Ore 1, Crystal 1, Mercury 1, Gems 1, Sulfur 1 (1x for Basic, 2x for Intermediate, 3x for Advanced).
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the hidden quest! All-Around Hero! The hero must master the exclusive skills or magic of 8 faction races. (Completed, 8/8) Rewards: Gold 10000, Artifact 1."
"Ding! Congratulations to the host! Obtained artifact, The Ring of Sa-Yisus. This treasure can halve the hero's spellcasting cost."
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