In the end, Leo ended with quite a few specialties that he could grow while also trading some of his valuables such as his blue grade seeds or future promises of aid in the form of scrolls. Everyone in the alliance felt that they were satisfied and in the future if one was searching for something, whether it be a cure for an ailment, a blue print or anything really, they could put bounties on those items they wanted and all they had to do was wait for someone to find it and trade.
After selling off his wares and gaining some newfound strength, Leo looked at his gains in this round. He got 3 Green grade Leatherback Sheep turtles, 2 Green grade Female Overgrowth Vine Cows, 2 Green grade (Mutated) Thick Pig, 1 Green grade (Mutated) Thick Boar, 1 Green grade Special Building scroll (Production), as well as 1 final item. He had gotten it on a whim because the other party didn't know what it was, what it did or even how to activate it, if it could even turn on or do anything at all.
Leo realized that he may be able to see into why this relic was not working so he traded a small sum of food and threw in at least 10 sets of green grade armor.
Leo looked at the statue that materialized in his hands, and stared at, trying to see what exactly it was. It was, to be precise, a miniature statue, shaped in the image of a man who looked to be spanish or portuguese. This made sense since Leo had gotten the statue from the leader of spain.
Leo activated his skill [The Lords Eyes] and identified the Item.
[Statue of Brigadier General Ramón Acha Caamaño - (Sealed 1/4) / Effect: When placed in the hall of a lords mansion it will give certain status effects. Host will need to place some blood on the statue to form a contract with the Generals Spirit.
[When placed in the Lords castle hall, or the interior of the main body (highest body) of government, gives the following effects - 1. Technology and Development related to defense will see a 5% likelier breakthrough within the territory and its subjects / 2. (Sealed) Cannon Technology has a +10% breakthrough chance / 3. (Sealed) Martial arts and Fighting techniques used in defense of oneself gives +10% defense / 4. (Sealed) Upon unlocking this seal, the lord shall choose one general, commander or other military personnel to gain the secret innate trait [Genius Defender]]
Leo's eyes bulged when he saw that long notification. This was simply a gift from heaven! Leo guessed that this must be a famous general or something and so he quickly asked a question.
[Leo: Lord Valeria, are you there?]
[Valeria: I am. I was in the middle of a workout, is there something Lord Leo needs?]
[Leo: Yes, I would like to know if you have information on an old general of your spain. The name is… Ramón Acha Caamaño]
[Valeria: Yes, hes a famous general in spain around the early 1900's. Why? Is that what the statue was?]
[Leo:Yes, I figured out the name due to a skill, however it was pure coincidence and I really didn't have a clue that it was a general other than the fact that it gave my troops a morale boost or something of that nature. What kind of general was he?]
[Valeria: Well he's best known for leading his unit, an artillery unit, to successfully defend puerto rico from america]
[Leo: … damn! That's impressive!]
[Valeria: Oh! Leo I need to go! Bandits have been cited near the forest of my territory!]
Leo stopped chatting with Valeria and refocused on the statue, and mentally asked," How do I unseal you?"
[Unlock Seal 1: unlocked / Unlock Seal 2: Defend against an Enemy at least twice your strength / Unlock Seal 3: Defend a 100x100 unit are of land from an at least 4 times your size / Unlock Seal 4: Have your most trusted defensive general and your most viscous defense legion and activate the BattleField Inheritance!]
Leo was certainly surprised at this as these were some very stringent achievements he would need to make. Especially that last one, Leo didn't know why, but he instinctively knew he was nowhere near ready to challenge these seals yet!
However, instead of getting frustrated, Leo smiled and thought to himself,"Well, at least I can have a great future goal to live up to, aint that right Ramón?" Leo then stopped thinking about this and ate with his soldiers before heading to take a short nap. He would need to switch out and let his men sleep a few hours as well after all!
==
The next morning Leo and his men, as well as the newly enlisted Kris packed up there things and started to head out on the water bulls.
Of course while Leo and his men were traveling Leo prepared his first water crystal of the day, ready to use it to breakthrough to Green grade. Leo clutched onto the crystal and started the process, while also looking at the percentage slowly rising.
[97%]
[98%]
[99%]
[100%]
[Congratulations to the host for reaching Green grade in your water elemental tree!]
[System Alert: Lord Leo is the first lord to get the hidden achievement "Elemental Mastery I"]
[Host has been given a (Permanent) Title "Elemental Elementary Master"]
[Title: Elemental Elementary Master - Effect: Your Elemental Senses and Greater Control over the element you have ascended with and its subsidiary elements will be 40% greater than the common Elementalist]
[System Notification: Alert! System has processed a special reward for Host and must force temporary termination of Hosts mind as to not cause stroke or brain damage]
Leo was shocked at all the sudden notifications but then the last one came in and before he could even utter a word, he swiftly passed out on his still moving water bull. His water bull could feel Leo's heart beart still beating steadily and simply informed one of the guards with a whine.
The guards came over and checked on Leo, made sure he was alright and then, thinking he was just tired and fell back asleep, kept moving towards the target they were aiming for.
==
When Leo woke up it was starting to get dark outside again and he quickly shot up and checked how far they had traveled. Yesterday was 1800 after 12 hours, and as Leo looked at the distance remaining he calculated it and was suddenly shocked! Nearly 12 hours according to his estimates and the total traveled today was 3600! They were currently sitting nearly 600 units away!
Leo quickly shot up to ask what happened when he nearly jumped up 5 feet in the air! Leo landed back on the ground with a "Thud!" and then massaged his sore butt.
"Well… that was.. Odd.." Leo thought to himself. Leo then remembered all the notifications he had gotten before and quickly pulled them up and read them again!
Leo sucked in a sharp breath of air to calm his nerves as he read the effect of the title. Leo knew that such heaven defying power on top of his already broken mana pool will make him near untouchable in terms of damage or dps.
Leo quickly sent a message in the family group chat that he was only 600 units away and he would be there tomorrow. He got alot of support from his family who cheered him on in the comments of the family channel.
After sending out the message of his arrival, Leo slowly got up and started to walk around try to get a grip on his strength once more. To Leo it felt like his entire body had gotten stronger, lighter, denser and more energy efficient. It felt like he had a whole new body after the upgrade.
Leo saw one of his soldiers turn the corner near him and Leo shouted out,"Hey! Help!"
The soldier whipped around upon hearing his lord voice and ran over to Leo while shouting out,"The Lord is in danger! Emergency!"
Leo wanted to correct him, but his sense of balance felt totally off and he accidently tripped and fell, watching as all of his soldiers rushed to his side.
Kris ran forwards and asked Leo,"What is the matter my Lord? Are you poisoned? Maimed? Mental attack? Spirit Attack!?"
Leo quickly shot up his hand and said,"Hold! I am fine! I needed help because I just got a small blessing from a god! It improves my element, but the problem is I am not used to the newfound strength of being a Green grade! That is it!"
The soldiers all looked at Leo with admiration and sincere respect as Kris said,"The Lord is so great that he is already being recognized for his effort! As expected of my great Lord!"
Leo waved his hand and had the soldiers lift him up again. After they helped him up he finally asked one of the more burning questions in his mind,"Report. How have we crossed almost double the distance in the same amount of time?"
Kris walked forwards and replied with a salute,"Lord! Only a little bit after you fell asleep, Me and Chekic found a field of flowers that REALLY attracted the bulls. So we let them eat the flowers, however this made the bulls extremely.. Er… active? Basically they got really energized and needed a way to burn it off. After seeing this, I gathered a good portion of the flowers there and had the bulls run at about 70% of their full speed. The effect lasts for about 4 hours!"
Leo nodded his head and said,"You and Chekic have done extremely well, I will see to it that you are rewarded for your efforts when we arrive back at the territory!" Kris and Chekic saluted and stepped back into formation with the rest of the group. Leo suddenly had a thought and asked,"Do you still have the flowers?"
Kris nodded and took out a medium sized animal fur pouch. He offered the entire bag to Leo and Leo then took out a few of the flowers and activated [The Lords Eyes].
[Scarlet Vitality Flower - Effects: +30% Vitality Regeneration Buff / +2% Strength + Agility / -45% Rational Thought]
Leo was at first thinking this was a miracle drug, however when he read the last effect he wondered how sometimes the good and the bad have to come together at the right time! Leo chuckled and thought about giving this to Xia and his farmers to grow more. If they do enough research and gain enough resources it wasn't entirely impossible that the debuff would be completely gone!
Leo smiled and asked his men if anything else happened while he was out. While they each gave a run down on what they saw that may be worth investigating later, Leo pulled out another crystal and started absorbing it.
The soldiers looked a little nervous upon seeing him do this but reasoning that he did get blessed by a god, he should be alright. And Leo was alright! In fact he felt better than ever!
Leo actually got up in the middle of his soldiers report and started to slowly walk around the room they were in, which looked like a white grade house from Rus's territory. His soldiers looked on with confusion and surprise written on their faces!
Leo finally got to the end of the reports and then slowly walked over to the window. He stared out at the trees a few feet away and said aloud,"These were some good leads, we will definitely come back to this area and do everything we can in these lands, however for now we need to finish picking up my family. If we hurry, we may be able to get it all done tomorrow!"
The soldiers saluted as Leo looked out at the trees and said,"It's a pity, these trees are so beautiful.." The soldiers didn't know what Leo meant by that, but then Leo dropped the empty crystal to the ground and raised his hand out the window. Suddenly a torrent of water came out from his palm!
Boom!!
The forest in front of them was gone..