Evolution Online: Building a Kingdom with 100\% drop rate-Chapter 18: Ch-: Breaking News and Return
"Sigh, not even an hour and the news has already made headlines... tsk tsk, the government and top families must be panicking and running like headless chickens now that their rule and system are under threat due to this change," Victor thought with an amused look on his face.
He then opened a live interview which was airing.
"Breaking news, everyone! Magic is real! As long as we learn magic skills in Evolution Online, we can become superhuman in this world as well!" the news anchor shouted in excitement.
"For those who are still not aware of the hottest game, Evolution Online, it is a new VR game which was recently released. After the players who tried it lost the ability to log out from the game, it caused massive panic and the game was banned from being played, as players died in real life if they died in the game. But just about an hour ago, we received new information which may change the course of history."
The news anchor shouted in excitement and said, "I won’t say anything more—let’s invite a player who has just returned from the virtual world and agreed to be interviewed..."
The cameras then pointed toward a young-looking man. He nodded and spoke in a clear voice, "Hello, my name is Ellie. I am 24 years old, and I am one of the Awakeners."
"Thank you for coming here on such short notice, Ellie. Can you tell us more about what happened after you came out of the game, and what do you mean by the term Awakener?" the news anchor asked him.
"Instead of telling you, let me show you something," the young man Ellie said, and under the viewers’ eyes a large block of what seemed to be pure steel was brought before him.
"Can you please come here and confirm that this is pure steel?" Ellie said to the news anchor.
The anchor stood up, tapped the cube, and nodded. "Yes, this is definitely a pure steel cube."
"Now watch..." Ellie said as he raised his hand, and a sword materialized in his hand.
This sudden act caused the news anchor to almost fall on his butt, and the audience all looked dumbfounded.
"Haaaa!" Ellie roared as he struck the steel block, and the sword sliced through it like a hot knife cutting through butter.
Bang!
Even the ground beneath the steel cube cracked.
"My God! What a performance! Even though I had already heard about this, it’s still mind-boggling," the news anchor said, as he didn’t believe it at first. Even many in the audience were skeptical, except those who had family members who played the game before, but now there was no denying it.
"Amazing! Can everyone do this?" the news anchor hurriedly asked.
"I don’t think so. I have a friend who also played but failed to use powers in real life... the ones who could, the players started to call them Awakeners," Ellie said proudly.
Then the news anchor turned to the camera and said excitedly, "Now everyone has seen the most unbelievable thing... this game will definitely affect how society works, but the big question is—who made this game and for what purpose? Is it the government or some hidden power?" the news anchor said as everyone in the audience began to draw conspiracy theories, but everyone knew the world would no longer be the same.
In fact, the government was trying hard to ban this game but to no avail. Every organization was trying to hack into the game to find its creators but were met with repeated failures. Not only could they fail to track down the creator, they couldn’t even remove the game.
"Young Master Victor, we have arrived," Edward said as he looked at Victor, who was sitting with his eyes closed. Victor closed the tab and looked at Edward, who stepped out of the vehicle as it stopped and held the door for him.
’I wonder how grand my territory will be. Even though it’s declining, it couldn’t be that bad... right? Of course.’
Victor exited the vehicle with a look of excitement for his new territory, but his smile froze and his lips twitched when he saw the scene in front of him.
The territory was large, there was no denying it, but the buildings were dilapidated and the stone was crumbling. There was only a manor in the middle along with small wooden houses which seemed to belong to the residents, and even the number of residents was sparse.
"Edward, we are really broke, aren’t we?" Victor looked at Edward and said with a tight smile. Edward looked at Victor with a twitch of his eyebrows and nodded grimly.
"Yes, Young Master. Our territory is close to the habitats of monsters and lies at the edge of the kingdom, so we are under constant attack by monsters. We don’t have enough guards or money to increase the defenses. The Baron did his best to keep the territory going," Edward said with a sigh, and then his eyes brightened up. "Of course, Young Master, I am sure under your rule it will flourish, as you have awakened a Warlock Bloodline, and your descendants are destined to become Warlocks as well."
’Sigh... at least I have my cheats. There is a lot of work to do,’ Victor thought as he rubbed his temples.
As soon as Victor walked forward, some of the residents who were working in the fields stopped what they were doing and their eyes widened when they saw him.
"Young Lord Victor, he is back!"
"What? I thought he was dead."
"Of course not—how could the Silvernum Bloodline just die out?"
Victor smiled and waved politely at the enthusiastic crowd.
Victor frowned as he watched some of them using his skill, and his voice turned cold as he said, "Need to clean up the house of rats as well."
After a few minutes of walking, he arrived inside the manor, and from his memories, just as he was about to enter his room, a hand stopped him.
"Edward," Victor said with a raised eyebrow.
"Young Master, have you forgotten you are the only last living person of the Silvernum Bloodline, and that makes you the official Baron, so you cannot use your old room anymore. Now the lord’s quarters are your room," Edward said with a chuckle.
"Oh, it slipped my mind," Victor said with a smile, and he arrived at the lord’s quarters, which were ten times larger than his old room and decorated like the estates of old British aristocracy, exuding wealth and class.
[Ding Dong]
[You have inherited the Silvernum Territory]
[You have become a Baron]
[You have become a Territory Lord]
[You can now access the Territory Panel]
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Territory Name: Silvernum Barony
Territory Size: 20 km²
Named NPCs: Edward
Military: 10 Gunmen, 4 Military Trucks [Expand]
Professionals: 10 Farmers 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
Population: 313
Defenses: Broken Wall
Specialized Buildings: None
Landmarks: None
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Victor grimaced reading the details of the territory and muttered, "When the system said declining territory, I did not expect it to be this severe."
Victor then looked at the new notifications which popped up.
[Ding Dong]
[You have completed a hidden quest: Become a Territory Lord]
[Issuing rewards]
[You have received 5000 Citizen Summoning Certificates (Origin Bloodline Exclusive)]
[You have received 20 Blacksmith Class Change Books]
[You have received 20 Engineer Class Change Books]
[You have received 10 Potioner Class Change Books]
"Perfect timing!" Victor’s eyes widened in surprise as he exclaimed. He was worried about how to solve the immediate population problem, but now the Records had given him a solution.
He then opened his inventory and brought out 200 glowing papers, which were the Tier 0 Knight Summoning Contracts.
[Do you want to use the Tier 0 Knight Summoning Contract? Yes / No]
"Yes," Victor selected the option, and the papers burned to ashes. Then he did the same with the Citizen Summoning Contracts, and new notifications popped up.
[You have used 5000 Citizen Summoning Contracts]
[You have used 200 Tier 0 Knight Summoning Contracts]
[Ding Dong]
[The rumors of you awakening a Warlock Bloodline are gradually spreading throughout the kingdom]
[Some wandering residents and civilians are migrating to your lands]
[Time Remaining for Citizens: One Week]
[Time Remaining for Troops: One Day]
