While Drake and his colleagues were still clearing the farmlands, they began to notice something extraordinary.

The same farmland they had once seen withered to the ground, the very land all the farmers had deemed cursed and infertile, now showed signs of life as seeds began to sprout. And not just any natural sprout, it was a miraculous one.

It was so extraordinary that all of them began to wonder if they were sick. Nonetheless, the same thing continued to happen again and again across many areas.

Small plants like beans and vegetables began to grow at a visible rate.

Within just a few hours, some plants reached stages of growth they would normally only achieve in days or even weeks.

It was divine.

By the time they came to their senses and decided to inform their Baron, it was already late in the evening.

Floki coincidentally arrived at the farm before they left.

He was elated to see the growth taking place, though he was not entirely surprised. After all, he was the one who had learned the skill that made it happen.

Even so, it was more extraordinary than he had expected.

He quickly realized that with this kind of growth rate, instead of two or three seasons per year, he would only need a single planting season and the right crops.

Their growth would be complete in less than a month, and according to the effects of the skill, even plants that would normally die after their harvest would continue to live and yield more.

With this, his market would be filled with food supplies.

’I hope Thalia and Tania really help me advertise my market a little bit,’ he thought.

If not, his town would be flooded with harvests, and with no one to buy them, they would spoil. A great loss.

Floki returned home quickly that night.

Garrick and Breeze were already there.

Garrick handed Floki the list of weapons he needed, and Breeze made a request of his own.

"Mana core awakening crystals? What are those?" Floki asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

"It is already in the name. Do I have to explain?" Breeze replied lazily.

Floki hummed. The name was self-explanatory.

Still, he could not suppress his curiosity.

"But why do you need them?" he asked.

Breeze leaned back slightly, sounding as uninterested as ever. "Two of them are already reacting to mana. Pretty strongly too. Give them crystals, they wake their cores. After that... they become mages or whatever."

"Mages?"

Floki had not expected that his people would awaken as mages so soon. Even if there were only two, it was still a great development for a territory that had never had a mage since its founding.

"I will find a way to obtain them as soon as I can," he said after a brief pause.

"Master Floki, since Breeze has requested something so valuable, I would like to request additional resources as well. If possible, can you obtain as many combat skill scrolls as you can? I can wait for however long it takes. Still, the faster, the better. The growth rate of your forces will suffer without the right skills to develop them," Garrick added.

Floki agreed.

Yet he knew it would not be easy.

He could not give anyone anything from his system shop, especially items as valuable as weapons and skills, without first assigning them quests.

And he had three hundred and fifty soldiers who would need those items.

Quest Provider now allowed only three active quests at once. If he assigned quests to three people at a time, each taking at least ten minutes to complete, it would take him close to a full day.

It was more tedious than he had expected.

Still, he did not lose hope.

He assured Garrick and Breeze that he would fulfill their requests as soon as possible, then made his way to his room.

Garrick headed to the training room inside the manor, making use of its magical effects to reduce stamina consumption while he trained. Meanwhile, Breeze fell asleep on a comfortable chair in the living room.

Floki entered his room.

Tonight, there were two major things he needed to complete from his mental checklist.

’The last time I went hunting alone, I obtained the serpent queen’s egg. I have not been able to work with it due to the lack of a proper path,’ he muttered as he equipped it from his inventory.

A faint shimmer passed through the air, and then it appeared.

At the center of the room sat a single egg.

Large and smooth, with a faint brown gloss, its darker patterns subtly echoed the serpent queen’s scales.

There were still no cracks on its surface. The hatching had not begun at all.

Yet now, he had awakened a path that could change that.

╔════════════════════╗

Tamer Path

A path that walks alongside beasts. Tamers form bonds with creatures, growing stronger together. Their true power lies not in themselves, but in what fights beside them.

Stat Growth:

Intelligence ×2

Vitality ×1.5

Benefits: -Beast stat sharing 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

-Summon scaling

-Evolution bonuses

Special Trait(s):

Primal Incubation – Greatly accelerates the hatching and growth of bonded beast eggs by channeling the tamer’s vitality and mana into them

Soul Link – A portion of damage and stats are shared with contracted beasts

Do you want to switch to this path?

╚════════════════════╝

’Yes.’

The moment he agreed, his body underwent a series of internal changes.

As the transformation settled, he found himself perceiving the egg in a completely different way.

He could now see and feel the faint magical aura wrapped around it. It carried the presence of its mother, the serpent queen, yet hinted at something stronger, something unique.

Without wasting time, he carefully picked up the egg and activated [Primal Incubation].

At once, the egg began to crack.

Yet as it started to hatch, a being that had been lurking within the town finally broke through its camouflage.

HISSS