Endless Extraction in a Game-Like World-Chapter 30: A Legendary Summoner Card! Manifesting the Golden Knight [Prime]
"Alright, everyone. I am done with my work. What do you have to say?" With the chat with the players completely finished, Caelus turned toward the armored guards.
"Our Town Leader would like to speak with you, Mr. Hero," the guard captain stepped forward and said respectfully.
"Hm? Lead the way then," Caelus nodded.
Since when did the Town Leader contact them? How come he had not seen any of them leave the plaza until now? Could the Town Leader know some sort of communication magic?
It was definitely possible.
Whatever the case was, the quest regarding the allegiance of Maple Town was complete, meaning there was absolutely no sense of danger here.
Along the way, he decided to claim the rewards for completing his quests.
First, he accepted the rewards for completing the Town Foundation quest.
[System: Calculating rewards...]
[System: Complete.]
[System: You have received the following rewards:
1. +1 Level
2. A Profession Card with sufficient EXP to reach Tier 1
[System: Level Up!]
[Level: 3 -> 4]
[Combat Score: 17.75 -> 19.75]
[Level 4 (231/1,000)]
Raw energy crackled through every muscle, bone, and nerve in Caelus’s body. The mysterious power of the Domain flooded his veins, sinking deep into his marrow and sharpening his mind as it steadily forged his flesh into something far greater.
It had to be mentioned that a combat score of 1.0 was already beyond the absolute physical limits of an ordinary, gym-going human being back on Earth.
And currently, he holds a 19.75 Combat Score.
It was terrifying.
If this power was unleashed onto his previous Earth, he would be treated as a literal superhuman. But in the age of players, this was merely considered the starting point.
The Iron I Rank was just the tip of the iceberg. Because 150 combat score points in Iron I only amounted to a single, base combat score point in the Iron II Realm.
He also wanted to extract the essence of the monsters he had eliminated in the plaza. Considering the sheer amount of corpses he had piled up, he would receive a huge boost to his combat score from them. The essence of a beast essentially bolstered all four physical aspects: Strength, Agility, Defense, and Mentality.
He looked forward to it and he asked the guards to gather them around for him as well.
As for claiming the quest rewards for keeping the Town Heart safe, he saved it for after meeting the Town Leader.
Soon, the captain of the guards led him to a rather exquisite, old-fashioned manor in Maple Town.
"Hello, Great Savior." The Town Leader began to speak...
Caelus’s mind went completely blank.
Holy shit, was this dude reading a script from some medieval fantasy?
Caelus maintained a perfectly deadpan expression, though his lips twitched slightly in annoyance. He was not about to stand here and endure a ten-minute, unskippable NPC monologue.
"Let’s skip the pleasantries," Caelus interrupted with a casual wave of his hand, completely ignoring the medieval theatrics. "You guys promised me your allegiance for defending the Town Heart, or rather, the system did. Either way, I held up my end of the bargain. What exactly do you have for me?"
The elderly Town Leader blinked, clearly thrown off by the sheer bluntness, but quickly recovered with a deep, dramatic bow. Behind him, the armored guards who had stood around the plaza perfectly mirrored the gesture.
"Straight to the point, just as a true pioneer should be," the old man said respectfully. He reached into his heavy robes and pulled out a glowing, intricately carved wooden ledger and a card, presenting it to Caelus with both hands. "Maple Town owes you its absolute survival. Take this. It is the heart of our commerce and the physical binding of our strict contract to you."
The exact moment Caelus’s fingers brushed the glowing wooden ledger and the card they vanished and the familiar, crisp sound of the Origin Network drilled into his mind.
[System: Reward Calculation Complete.]
[You’ve received the following:
You have obtained the Unique Item: ’Town Ledger’.You have obtained the Special Blueprint: ’Automated Harvesting Fields’.
[System: 154 NPCs have successfully migrated to your Town.]
Caelus’s eyes immediately lit up. He swiftly pulled up the item descriptions in his interface, his inner gamer rapidly calculating the future profits.
[Item: Town Ledger (Epic)]
[Description: Grants the Town Leader the absolute ability to set a localized tax rate on all NPC merchants. Passively generates a daily yield of Origin Credits based entirely on town prosperity.]
[Current Tax Rate on all NPC merchants are at 5% by default]
Seeing this, Caelus swiftly opened the separate quest rewards for defending the town from the beast tide.
Maybe there might be a chain reaction? It was highly possible.
Immediately, Caelus prompted the system to calculate the final rewards.
[System: Calculating the rewards...]
[System: Complete.]
[System: You have received the following rewards:
Retainer Summoner Card (Legendary)+100 Iron EXP]
[Level 4 (331/800)]
Seeing this, Caelus was slightly stunned.
A Retainer Summoner card?!
And it was at the Legendary rarity!
He swiftly summoned the item. It looked like an exquisite golden debit card, except it bore a glowing magic summoning array symbol and subtly flashed a rainbow hue whenever he moved it.
A Legendary card!
Retainers were loyal followers and top aides in everything. They could manage the town in a player’s place and automatically issue instructions to the populace on their behalf. A player could also summon them using the Command Seal to fight alongside them. They possessed a special ability known as an Origin Skill, which evolved with each distinct rank of the master.
They fed on beast materials to grow stronger. Due to the deep resonance between the player and the retainer, their Combat Score increased alongside their level. They were just like players and evolved right alongside them.
There was a famous saying in the Domain about them. Once a retainer is summoned, it will always be your retainer.
He was eager to see how much Combat Score this retainer would have.
He wanted to summon it immediately!
Excitedly, he went to a quiet place and infused mana into the card.
It burst into a radiant rainbow light. For a split second, Caelus was blinded. Soon, a powerful aura emerged in front of him.
"This..." Caelus’s eyes lit up in pure joy.
Before him stood a humanoid figure clad in shining golden armor, with a powerful yellow cape spreading out from its back. It had a hollowed-out visor on its golden helmet. Within that dark void, two white, energy-like eyes glowed intensely.
The knight stared deeply at Caelus before falling to one knee. A golden sword manifested in its hands, and it planted the blade down into the ground in a formal salute.
"A knight." Caelus could not believe what he was seeing. To think he would receive a knight!
This was way beyond his expectations!
He swiftly opened the Retainer tab.
[Name: None]
[Status: Retainer]
[Race: Knight]
[Rank: Lesser Knight]
[Level: 4]
[Combat Score: 15.8]
[Origin Skills: Excalibur Umbra (Legendary)]
[Origin Skill: Excalibur Umbra: Unleash a concentrated sword light with the Holy Attribute.]
[Holy Attribute Magic/Skill deals +2 increased damage against Undead and Domain monsters. Inapplicable to Fierce Beasts.]
Caelus was over the moon seeing its stats and Origin Skill.
It was Level 4 like him. That was how retainers usually arrived when they were first summoned. They matched their master’s level. However, Combat Score was where the difference in rarity truly mattered.
A Common rarity retainer would have 10% of the master’s Combat Score. A Rare retainer would have 20%, an Epic had 40%, a Legendary had 80%, and a Mythic retainer was said to have 100% of the player’s Combat Score.
To make it continue increasing, one needed to feed it with beast materials, and with each level increment, the Combat Score would naturally rise. There was also a set condition that a retainer could never become stronger than its master, meaning its Combat Score automatically scaled with the master’s own growth.
Having a retainer was a game changer!
"Starting now, you will be called Prime," Caelus spoke softly. "Get up."
The Knight complied and stood tall, its golden armor shining under the sky above.
[Name: None -> Prime]
Caelus nodded in deep satisfaction.
He then swiftly checked the regeneration cost of the Lesser Knight.
[Regeneration Cost: 90 Mana]
"Hm." Caelus tilted his head. It was pretty steep. If the Knight were to die in the middle of a battle, reviving it would without a doubt drain his mana pool dry.
But his primary plan was to use the Knight to maintain the town and execute his orders while he went out hunting and grinding. That was exactly what retainers were built for in the first place.
Managing the town personally was secondary. But of course, he was not going to neglect it either. He already had some grand plans forming in his mind.
He fully intended to make use of his 500 Resource Points to make the town’s basic functions automated.
And with the Automated Agricultural Field Blueprint (Legendary) in his hands, that goal will be easy!
And when that was done, he and his retainer will go on a long adventure in the endless domain, uncovering secrets and getting stronger.
