The Kingdom of Portoroa was the result of a bet between two brothers.
The elder brother was originally supposed to inherit the imperial throne, but he lost in a magical contest against his younger brother.
According to the terms of the bet, the winner would become the king of the empire. As a result, the younger brother became the emperor, while the elder brother became a grand duke.
The story was supposed to continue with the elder brother seeking revenge and eventually killing his younger brother to become the emperor, a typical and predictable outcome.
However, things didn't go as expected.
The elder brother, using his exceptional abilities, developed the grand duchy into a powerful entity. He then proceeded to annex several neighboring duchies, officially transforming it into a kingdom.
It was at this point that the younger brother finally realized that his elder brother had intentionally let him win in their previous contest, allowing him to become emperor because he was concerned that his pampered younger brother wouldn't adapt well to life outside the palace.
So, he willingly gave up the throne to his brother.
After discovering the truth, the younger brother naturally wanted to reclaim the throne. However, the elder brother refused to agree, leading to a heated argument.
Eventually, the younger brother continued as the emperor of the empire, while the elder brother became the king of the kingdom.
The two brothers then signed numerous treaties for the mutual development of their respective descendants and successors.
That empire is now one of the most powerful on the Miracle Continent, known as the Magi Empire, equally renowned for its magical prowess.
"So, now you know the origin of the Kingdom of Portoroa," Cecilia proudly shared the story of this magical kingdom with Sean, her expression filled with satisfaction.
As a player, especially a seasoned one, Sean was not completely ignorant of the background information of various countries. It often involved hidden quests and relics.
So, he was already aware of the history of the Kingdom of Portoroa that Cecilia was recounting. In fact, he had a better understanding of the kingdom's territories than some members of the royal family.
However, seeing Cecilia's smile, he had to pretend he knew nothing.
Although the Tindes Domain ruled by Marquis Perro de Rois was a prosperous territory within the Kingdom of Portoroa, the de Rois family was not an ancient one. It had only developed over several generations.
Despite the marquis title, their land area was still smaller compared to a count family that had gone through more than ten generations of development, let alone the ancient families that had existed since the establishment of the kingdom.
After all, the royal family of the Kingdom of Portoroa had the support of the Magi Empire's royal family, which made their rule very secure.
All internal conflicts were prohibited within the kingdom, and expanding territory required special management methods, including obtaining permission from the royal family.
In the Kingdom of Portoroa, royal authority was supreme, and even a duke would not dare to oppose the royal family, let alone having their title revoked and their land reclaimed—a stark contrast to the situation in the Kingdom of Serian.
In the Kingdom of Serian, the rule of the royal family has long been nonexistent. They are considered powerful nobles at best, and local rulers in each region have complete authority over their respective territories. Even the royal family cannot intervene in local affairs. Regardless of one's noble rank, as long as they have sufficient power, they can hold equal status with the royal family in Serian. Without power, they are just empty words in the Kingdom of Serian.
However, for players, they naturally prefer the Kingdom of Serian because, with enough power, they can even become rulers of a region.
However, Sean had little interest in the Kingdom of Serian. He didn't even want to go back there if there weren't places he could exploit.
Currently, Cecilia and Sean were in a small city in the Tindes Domain. The city was called Arthur, with a population of only about ten thousand. Compared to another city in the Tindes Domain called Anrola, Arthur was much smaller in terms of development, population, trade flow, and so on.
The two of them were leisurely strolling through the city. Cecilia occasionally spoke about the history and customs of the Kingdom of Portoroa, but most of their conversation revolved around evaluating the magical materials that caught Sean's attention.
Along the way, there were a few unscrupulous merchants who attempted to deceive Sean with subpar items, but they all failed under Cecilia's discerning eye.
At first, they thought they could take advantage of Cecilia being just an apprentice mage, lacking knowledge.
However, after Cecilia made a few simple comments about the medicinal properties and quality of those magical materials, those merchants slinked away in embarrassment.
Although Cecilia was indeed an apprentice mage, she was not an ordinary one.
When it came to theoretical knowledge and magic-related information, she surpassed many formal mages.
Moreover, after wearing the Bloodline Hexagonal Ring, Cecilia's intelligence and willpower soared to astonishing levels of thirty-three and thirty-five, respectively.
She was on par with peak-state formal mages, and her memory had also improved significantly.
Sean had also seen the enormous magic tome that Cecilia treasured.
It contained numerous details about mages, including various materials with detailed descriptions, such as their properties, places of origin, growth cycles, and suitable applications.
Previously, Cecilia could only remember half of it, but after her intelligence attribute soared, she managed to memorize nearly one-third of the content in just a few days, which amazed even herself.
Personal attribute improvements had far-reaching effects in the real world, beyond just the attributes themselves.
"Why don't we go to Anrola?" After wandering around for a long time with little to gain, Cecilia couldn't help but feel a bit tired. "The Black Cat Merchant Guild has opened a branch there. If we're looking for magical materials, wouldn't it be more convenient to go there?"
Sean smiled casually and said, "Some things may not be available even at the Black Cat Merchant Guild."
Unintentional words, but they caught someone's attention.
As soon as Sean finished speaking, a young man in his late twenties suddenly spoke with a somewhat cold and hostile tone, "Oh? I wonder what precious materials are so rare that even the Black Cat Merchant Guild may not have them?"
"Plenty of things," Sean smiled faintly, seemingly oblivious to the cold and hostile tone of the other person. "For example, Daromogen Flower, Seven-colored Gem Leaf, Pure White Icebone..."
With each name Sean mentioned, the young man's face grew darker.
Even after Sean listed only four or five types of materials, the young man's expression resembled the bottom of a pot.
However, the materials Sean mentioned were indeed unavailable at the Black Cat Merchant Guild, so there was no way to refute him directly.
The young man could only snort coldly and say, "Even if the Black Cat Merchant Guild has those things, you can't afford them."
"That's true," Sean nodded, surprisingly not continuing the argument. His attitude slightly stunned the young man. "But there is something that even an apprentice mage can afford, yet the Black Cat Merchant Guild doesn't have."
"Oh? Now I'm really curious," the young man raised an eyebrow.
Sean flashed a brilliant smile, showing exceptional charm. "Why should I care about your curiosity?"
"You..." Apparently caught off guard by Sean's response, the young man's face showed a hint of anger.
"Let's go, Cecilia." Sean glanced at the young man but continued smiling.
However, he didn't bother to look at him again. Instead, he walked out of the magical materials store with Cecilia and headed towards the inn they were staying at.
Arthur City was just a small city, and half a day was enough for Cecilia and Sean to explore it. However, it wasn't entirely fruitless.
As Sean had mentioned, purchasing materials, especially magical ones, in the Kingdom of Portoroa was much cheaper than in the Kingdom of Serian. Therefore, Sean did buy several types of magical materials.
However, these materials weren't the commonly used magical materials Cecilia had imagined. They were rather uncommon magical materials that few people would ever use, which meant their prices were incredibly low.
In fact, they were priced similarly to ordinary herbs—one silver coin could buy a large quantity.
While Cecilia couldn't figure out why Sean bought these things, and some of them clearly had conflicting properties, their purchase piqued her curiosity.
But what interested Cecilia even more was something else.
Sitting on the bed in their inn room, Cecilia took off her boots and asked, "Why did you argue with that person today? It's not like your usual character."
Sean was laying out the materials he had purchased on the table, contemplating how to enhance his combat abilities.
If he hadn't discovered the "Skills" system in the Starfall Forest earlier, he would have intended to focus on the path of a warrior.
However, now that he had made that discovery, he hesitated on whether he should lean towards the path of a swordsman, as the mystical swordsmanship brought him an indescribable sense of wonder.
So, at this moment, Sean responded absentmindedly to Cecilia's question, saying, "Because that person is a mobile trigger point."
"A mobile trigger point?" Cecilia looked perplexed. "What does that mean?"
Hearing Cecilia's puzzled voice, Sean suddenly realized his mistake and immediately understood that he misspoke.
The term "mobile trigger point" was actually the players' designation for certain quest acquisition methods in the game. These quests were not obtained through regular means but rather from specific NPCs who didn't stay in one place. They would randomly move around, hence the name "mobile trigger points." However, finding these quest NPCs was not difficult. What was challenging was how to obtain quests or quest rewards from them.
In the entire Tindes region, there were four mobile trigger points, and these quests were unique. Once a player received a quest from them, other players couldn't receive the same quest until it failed.
But now, no one was competing with Sean, and he had plenty of time to carefully choose quests.
And the mobile trigger point in Arthur City happened to offer the best rewards among the four quests, which was closely related to Cecilia's role as a mage.
Realizing his slip of the tongue, Sean couldn't avoid answering Cecilia's gaze filled with curiosity. He pondered for a moment and finally managed to squeeze out a few words, "They are foolish and wealthy."
"Foolish and wealthy?" Cecilia repeated those seemingly odd words, her face growing even more puzzled.
"That's right, they are foolish and wealthy." Sean thought for a moment. Most mobile trigger points were somewhat simple-minded, throwing quests to anyone who met the conditions, and the quest rewards were usually quite good. It indeed attracted many people to desperately seek them out, fitting those three words. "It means they are foolish and wealthy. Let's go trouble them."
"Pfft!" Cecilia burst into cheerful laughter. "So, how do you plan to trouble them?"