Otherworld Volunteer - Chapter 102 (Patreon)

The mist was made of the same frost power it Noah had to fight against. From the stinging pain stabbed into his flesh, he was aware of how powerful it was.

He stood at the ready, prepared for whatever may come next, but his shoulders deflated when the mist swept away from the slight draft of wind within the throne room. Revealing the streamlined helmet, and the weapon that it used to almost take their lives.

Although now it was smaller than it once was, presumably so that it was more wieldy for smaller races such as humans, elves, or dragonborns.

However, even despite the rewards laying on the ground, ripe for the picking, everyone stood within their Systems. Shocked.

Noah himself obtained new notifications, but he warded them off in fear of someone stealing the rewards. That didn’t seem to be the case. Whatever they were looking at, obviously was of great importance.

Curiosity grabbed hold of him, yet he retained his awareness of the others. Or well, Krall, and Gluttony did as they protected the chest, and the fallen rewards.

Area mission complète.
| Enter the Dungeon and defeat the Lord.
| Reward: Epic Pathstone Fragments, Rare Skill Essence for Class, Grace Coins.

Quickly putting them in his pocket, he turned his focus onto the other, latest notification. It was the one everyone was stuck on.

Birthright Castle complete.
| Granting Unique Reward:

| Title gained - Lord: Become the ‘Lord’ of your property. You have the chance of carving out a piece of land for yourself, and gaining the rewards befitting a king. Gain bonuses with your house, and grants the ability to craft unique buildings/rooms, to further build upon your Lorddom. You are entered into the Council of Lords. Convene with other lords to face problems you may not be able to handle on your own.

Choose your Lord Path.

War Lord: Focus on the Path of War. Wage wards with other Lord’s and take their kingdom and its rewards for yourself. You gain bonuses while leading from the front toward war. Raise your troops morale.

General Lord: Focus on the Path of the General. Lord over the battlefield, leading your troops, or help other Lord’s dominate warfare. You can talk directly to a select few followers. Your followers are granted bonuses to battle, and morale.

Profession Lord: Focus on the Path of the Professional. Your kingdom will become a sanctuary for those wanting to focus on professions. Those who focus on professions are granted boosts to production.

Expansion Lord: Focus on the path of Expansion. With you as the centre, your land will be blessed by Expansion. Within your territory, Expansion, and gaining insight is increased.

Mercenary Lord: Focus on the path of a Mercenary. You are born for adventure, and won’t be tied down to one location. Your house will be converted into a caravan that is able to be moved if you so desire. Low defensive capabilities. You can offer your services to other Lords; whether it’s to slay monsters, their enemies, conscript into their army, or delve into ruins.

Monster Lord: Focus on the path of Monster. Your sanctuary will become home to monstrous races. Your monstrous allies will receive bonuses for being with you. Grants unique access to mole tunnel systems, and other buildings.

Growth Lord: Focus on the path of Growth. Your crops grow better than other lords, and their yield is increased greatly. A happy kingdom is a powerful kingdom.

If before Noah’s eye was twitching, now it was spasming uncontrollably. He didn’t know what to expect, but this was definitely not it.

Noah wasn’t going to lie. He had forgotten about his house, albeit only slightly. Sure, the monster tamer room was the only reason why he was able to have another tamed monster in the first place. The only other use he could think of was that it provided a nice shelter, and the ability to build walls.

Shit, the protective barrier. Thinking of his house awakened him from his reverie. The hub walls should be falling soon, and that meant that whatever wild monsters craved their flesh could do so.

Noah glanced at the options once more, and for him, the decision was obvious. Not only because the Monster Lord sounded cool, and it matched his theme to a tea. But it was a bonus to monsters, to Krall, and Gluttony. Whatever made them stronger, transferred to him.

Although the Mercenary, and Expansion Lord also seemed good.

Expansion Lord would help him with everything related to Expansion, but it was a big risk. Noah felt like banking on the fact that it would help him reach an epiphany was a big risk. Sought after, not to be gained.

The Mercenary Lord on the other hand was a perfect fit for him. It allowed him to move as he wanted, without being constricted by a property to manage. The only downside to it was that it didn’t offer him any offensive perks at all.

And then there was the added caveat of it being a moving town. Anyone, or thing, could assault him at any given time, destroying all of his hard work.

On the other hand, monsters were always territorial. Noah was already having ideas of how to implement his town if it was just monsters.

Monsters were already territorial, he just needed to tame a king of the area, or have Krall beat everything into submission. If that was the case, gathering soldiers would be a hell of a lot easier compared to recruiting humans who wanted equipment, wealth, and other things.

Hell, give Krall a nice juicy fish, and he’d wage into war for someone.

Shaking his head, he decided on the Monster Lord.

You are now a Monster Lord.

| You gained a new title - Monster Lord: Monsters in your town and its vicinity deal 15% extra damage. Your tamed monsters deal 10% extra damage anywhere. Select a Follower, granting it 25% extra power and intelligence. Communicate with Followers from afar. Current Limit 2/2
| Grants the ability to build unique buildings.

Standing next to his tamed monsters, Noah could instantly feel the power increase course through his frame. Grinning, he was about to select Krall, and Gluttony as his new followers, but stopped himself.

Pinching his chin in thought, Noah calculated the future. Or at least attempted his best, anyway.

He would need someone to look after his property. Someone, or something to stay back and defend, and deal with the inner goings of the town. Krall wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, and Gluttony would be his premier mount from now on thanks to his stealth capabilities.

Does Thraz count as a monster? Noah wondered what made something monstrous. Somehow, he doubted he did indeed count as a monster, but maybe he would be surprised.

Regardless, Thraz didn’t have reliable intelligence either. All he wanted to do was fight, and prove that he had the right to be one of Bor’s descendents.

So that meant he had to tame something that had high Intelligence. The stat kind, and one that could actually talk.

Noah wasn’t exactly walking blind in that regard. He had seen a few sentient monsters while watching the multiversal broadcast back on earth. They could talk, think, plan, strategise, and even one of them was a commander in a human army.

There was a lot of backstory to that, of course, but the fact remained. There was intelligent life out there for him to tame. For that, he would need to upgrade his taming room first.

Mind thrumming in pain from the amount of thinking, he roused himself from his thoughts, and sauntered to the loot. He picked up the sword with his foot, and without looking at what it was, kicked it over to Thraz. He used a two-handed sword, while Noah had no interest in it.

It was unwieldy, inaccurate for thrusting, and generally would be an awful weapon for him. However, he was hoping Thraz would go back to being a bipedal creature so that he could use offensive equipment, but that was just a pipe dream.

Next up was the helmet, and Noah had no intention of sharing if it was good.

Epic - Level 50 - Vanquishing Helmet: Grants sight of the Vanquisher, allowing the wearer to see the lifeforce of their enemies, and any minor weaknesses they may have.
| Added stats: Str+50, Con+50, Dex+30, Will+20

Smiling in glee, Noah placed it on his head, and the added stats became apparent. More than that however, was the ability that it had given him.

Looking over to Declan and the others, a red hue shone from the centre of their chest. It’s their heart. Next up was the weakness, a little blue mark sparkled, but it was faint, and in the next instant, it disappeared as the host moved.

Declan and the others noticed that Noah had taken the lord's loot for himself, but they were currently standing over two dead bodies. One was Cai, the other, a girl. Noah didn’t recall her name, or much of her presence.

Finally, Noah moved to the diamond chest. Thraz and Krall walked over with him, both peering at the jewelled box. Then Declan, Lorena, and the others walked over.

“We deserve something,” Declan said.

“What if everything is designed for me?” Noah asked with a faint smile.

“Then it’ll be shit luck.”

Noah agreed. Without further ado, he opened the box. Eyes widening, his hands trembled at the sight.