Chapter 661 - The Authority of a Castellan
Chapter 661: The Authority of a Castellan
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Hmm, what a smart kid.” Dinosaurcerer quietly thought to himself as he handed a set of Dark Gold Tier Radiant Swordmaster equipment to Reon. Then, Dinosaurcerer placed him in a team and ordered him to work hard at grinding levels. Overjoyed, Reon dashed to the Warp Portal and stood next to the elderly Portal Handler.
And it was quite odd too…
The old Portal Handler looked much younger before the city was built. The Portal Handler wasn’t coughing profusely like how he did during the city construction. Instead, he looked much livelier and energetic, straightening out his previously bent back. It felt almost like the Portal Handler had rejuvenated from the experience of being the first human city in the Underworld.
As Dinosaurcerer was guessing wildly at the reasons for the old Portal Handler’s rejuvenation, his eyes changed focus to another new NPC who was standing next to the Portal Handler.
This NPC Berserker, clad in a full set of black armor, wielded a mighty golden staff while standing guard next to the old Portal Handler.
Dinosaurcerer secretly speculated that this weird NPC probably appeared right after the city was built… all the NPC Artisans had left Winter Demesne after their work was done. There were supposedly only four NPCs left.
“Old Wu”, the old Portal Handler.
Edgar, the city’s Defense Advisor.
Yaegar, the city’s Alchemy Advisor.
And finally, Raleigh, who was currently missing in action, the city’s Resurrector.
Seeing Dinosaurcerer’s confused face, Old Wu cleared his throat and explained, “Vice Castellan, this is my apprentice–Uno. I’ve asked him and his brothers to come over to help out.”
“Oh.”
Hearing this, Dinosaurcerer nodded as he curiously looked at Uno.
Help?
Help how??
Could it be that this Portal Handler was about to die and he needed a successor?
Oh wait… brothers?
“You said… Uno’s brothers are here too? Where are they?”
Dinosaurcerer looked around but he didn’t see any other NPC around.
“Ah, you meant Dos. He’s at the base of course.”
Dinosaurcerer rolled his eyes at the old Portal Handler.
“I know he’s at the base here. But he’s nowhere to be seen around. You’ve just told me they traveled here to help. But… what help could they provide you?”
“…”
Seeing this, Old Wu nodded at Uno quietly and ordered, “It’s apparent that our Vice Castellan doesn’t understand what’s going on yet. Uno, perhaps you could show him around?”
“Certainly, Master Wu.”
Uno looked at Dinosaurcerer earnestly and lifted his golden staff…
Boom!
In an instant, Dinosaurcerer disappeared from Winter Demesne right under everyone’s noses.
***
After naming the city, Qin Ruo had been busy learning about the various responsibilities and authorities of being a Castellan.
Firstly, he was entrusted with the power to bestow entry through the four city’s gates and the Warp Portal.
The gates were crafted from a unique metal alloy, enchanted with several dozen Demigod Alchemists’ magic runes. The density of the metal alloy had helped increase the gates’ defense and their abilities to absorb magic damage. The total amount of Defense of the gates was over 500,000 points–enabling it to endure a hundred Tier 5 Champions’ all-out attacks for three rounds.
Other than the gates, the city also had a few defensive mechanisms installed. Firstly, there was a highly durable “Dragoon Blockade”. It was so sturdy that it was almost impenetrable. The blockade could be dropped from the top of the city gates, sealing off the city from the inside to buy the defense forces some time during a siege.
***
The four city gates could be assigned to several guards to monitor. These guards’ responsibilities would be to close the city gates and release the Dragoon Blockade whenever a threat approached the city. Of course, if things got dire, the Castellan himself too had the authority to do the same.
After some careful consideration, Qin Ruo decided to grant the authority to open and close the gates to the four Clan Leaders in his League. By doing this, the city could be defended right away so long as there was a Clan Leader online.
***
On the other hand, while the Castellan could bestow the rights to handle the city gates to others, he could not pass down his duty of managing the city itself. Therefore, the Warp Portal, which was a part of the city’s management system, must be managed by the Castellan himself.
This meant that, the Castellan must approve each teleportation that was passing through the city’s Warp Portal or he could set it so that the portal would allow certain individuals or organizations to pass through without any authentication.
Of course, if Qin Ruo so wished, he could also set the Warp Portal to allow just anyone through into the city.
So far, Qin Ruo had only allowed entry to the people who were members of the Five Leagues.
After all, this city was the fruit of labor of every member of the Fallen Angels. Thus, for now, Qin Ruo didn’t plan to open his city to just anyone in the Angel Faction. If he left his city wide open for every player in the game, there would be a huge influx of players flocking into the Underworld, resulting in a huge depletion of resources around the city and increasing the difficulty of maintaining the city’s security.
The Winter Demesne was, after all, still a small city. There was still a limit as to how many players the city could receive. Even the Fallen Angels who were online at the moment had caused major traffic congestion within the city. And to think that he would still need to receive more players from the other Leagues, Qin Ruo couldn’t help but feel a huge burden on his shoulders.
Of course, outsiders in the Mythical Continent too understood Fallen Angels’ reasoning in limiting the city’s entry. The Fallen Angels had spent over twenty billion gold coins to construct their mighty city and they had spilled sweat and blood for a whopping seven days to build it too. There was no way that they could demand the Fallen Angels to simply share their hard-earned labor for free.
Back to the Castellan’s duty and authorities…
Other than the Warp Portal and city’s security, the Castellan had to manage the city’s economy, shops, the services that the Advisors providing. Then, there was also the duty of developing the city and maintaining the city’s HP (the barriers and city walls) …
Not being able to handle the headache of managing all of these, Qin Ruo decided to delegate some of the duties that the system allowed him to withdraw from. He couldn’t enjoy the game if he were to face these systems all day long.
Luckily, Ace of Spades, Little Rice, and Helga were all used to taking care of Qin Ruo’s duties in the Clan. So, this time they carried his burdens without any complaint.
Being relieved of most of his duties, Qin Ruo let out a huge sigh of relief.
Suddenly, Dinosaurcerer’s voice was heard in the League’s chat channel.
“Everyone! Come to the Warp Portal and talk to Old Wu and Uno! Quick!”
“There’s something you’d love to see.”
***
Several seconds later, a huge flock of Fallen Angels had gathered around the Warp Portal. Qin Ruo could only see a sea of people congregating below as he and his friends glided past the crowd in the sky.
There was no place for them to land at all.
Following Dinosaurcerer’s guidance, they quickly talked to Uno and then they were greeted with a prompt asking them whether they would like to “teleport into the base”.
Qin Ruo looked at his peers with surprise.
But…
Wasn’t the city their base?
Why was there a need to teleport?
Thus, they started to realize why Dinosaurcerer was so eager in asking them to come…
There must be something peculiar in all this.
“Yes, please teleport us there.”
Qin Ruo replied Uno. And then, a huge tremor was felt on the ground.
In the next second, the crowd in front of Qin Ruo suddenly vanished to thin air. And a surge of relaxation was felt in his heart.
Looking around, all Qin Ruo saw was endless amounts of peach blossoms. And there was a ten-meter wide road made of lime stones below his feet, extending far into the distance.
Then, he noticed there was another huge Berserker, who looked identical to Uno, greeting him with an earnest smile… that was Uno’s little brother “Dos”.
Seeing this, Qin Ruo too greeted him with a gentle smile.
Then, he quickly extended his Elemental Perception…
All he could see from his Perception was a huge majestic palace and a wide training field surrounded by beautiful peach blossoms. And the surrounding areas extended endlessly outward, beyond the reach of even his Elemental Perception.
A base!
A secret base!
It was quite a surprise! Qin Ruo didn’t think that there was a secret base within his city.
And it seemed that Uno and Dos were the ones handling the teleportation into this base.
As he was deep in his thoughts, Qin Ruo noticed a huge amount of people from his League too had entered the base. They too were entranced by the majestic beauty that lay before them.
“Oh wow! It’s so beautiful!”
“League Leader, what is this place?”
“Oh my, this place is so stunning! This place is heaven compared to the Underworld out there. Haha! I’ll call everyone over and have them admire the place too!”
Qin Ruo quickly stretched out his wings and flew towards the palace as more and more people showed up in the wide open field.
After locating the main entrance using his Elemental Perception, Qin Ruo swiftly landed and entered the palace and there he was, the Radiant Priest NPC Raleigh, sitting in the middle of the palace’s lobby next to a small Resurrection Portal.
The Resurrection Portal was surrounded by four blue magical radiant runes, emitting serene blue light around the portal.
“Hmm, there appears to be a lot of secret mysteries surrounding our base huh?”
As Qin Ruo landed next to Raleigh, he suddenly heard Dinosaurcerer’s voice speaking loudly in the League’s chat channel, “What the hell? How did I get here?”
“Oh fuck, I’m sent straight to the city gate! This thing’s connected to the city gate.”
“…”
“Dino, what you’re on about? First you say you have something interesting to show us. Then, you leave without saying a word.”
“Fuck, haven’t you entered the base yet? I’ve just been teleported out from there and straight to the city gate. Oh shit, there are so many people… the city’s already overcrowded and yet there are so many brethren who haven’t got to enter the city yet.”
Hearing this, Qin Ruo frowned and asked Raleigh what was going on. The latter told him that the four blue radiant runes were in fact one-way portals that led straight to the four city gates.
After learning this, Qin Ruo quickly announced in the League chat channel.
“My brothers and sisters! You are now officially free from the duty in defending the city. From now on, let’s work our hardest in levelling up. Let’s use the resources of the city wisely. And more importantly, let’s do our best to advance to Tier 6!”
“Now, you can all enter the city and talk to the NPC Uno. Then, teleport into our League’s secret base. This should allow more of our brethren to enter the city.”
***
Over hundreds of Winged Champions from the four other Leagues were shocked as they saw the originally congested Winter Demesne was suddenly able to allow more people through its city gates.
There was no traffic congestion anymore. On top of that, an increasing number of Fallen Angels had started to move into the city.