Xaya jumped down from the dirt slope and skillfully moved through the broken stone walls and gray-white ruins of the ancient buildings. Every piece of ruin in the Cangting Duchy site had been excavated and cleaned by the archaeological team he hired, so Xaya was very familiar with the area.
Of course, in exchange for this, most of the wealth Xaya had accumulated since his reincarnation using knowledge from his past life had been spent. Archaeology, as expected, was a profession that could drain all one's funds.
However, despite the significant cost, Xaya had not left empty-handed. His steps slowed, and he eventually stopped in front of an old black iron door. He reached out, and the door creaked open, its surface covered in dust.
Compared to other ruins that had long decayed with the passage of time, this secret room was made entirely from high-strength alloy, and the five hundred years seemed to have left no visible traces on it. Inside the room, apart from the now ineffective lighting equipment, there was nothing but two bronze-carved stone platforms.
On the left platform, there was a tattered parchment book, while the right platform only had an empty groove. Without hesitation, Xaya walked toward the stone platforms.
Although the system he relied on was quite unreliable, at least one thing could be said for it—it allowed the completion of the beginner tasks in stages, and with each stage completed, there would be corresponding rewards.
The first stage of the beginner task was to [Arrive at the Cangting Duchy]. In the past, before the duchy had fallen, this would have been a simple "run to this location" kind of task, much like the classic RPG tasks of delivering a letter. But now, even finding the rough location of the duchy from the ancient texts, and then narrowing it down with the system's navigation function, had cost Xaya several months of effort.
But, stage one was complete, as arriving at the ruins counted as reaching the target location.
As for the second stage, [Become a member of the Duke's family], Xaya had been at a loss. Normally, that would mean passing certain trials or exams by the Duke's family, completing some tasks, and accumulating enough prestige within the family to gain status. A very standard reputation-grinding process. But now, with the capital gone, where could he join this family?
This stage remained unclear until Xaya's archaeological team discovered the secret room. Xaya glanced at the tattered book on the left bronze platform. The writing on the parchment was largely worn away, but at the bottom, there was a clear line of ink that had obviously been written recently.
It read: [Xaya Egut].
Indeed, as Xaya had suspected, this secret room seemed to have been a place for the rulers of the Cangting Duchy, perhaps a family ancestral site. It contained protective mechanisms that had caused trouble for Xaya and his team when they first began their excavation. The book on the platform was likely a family roster or genealogy, listing the members of the Duke's family.
As long as Xaya could get his name in the genealogy, who could say he wasn't part of the Duke's family? Even though he didn't know the name of the last Duke, no one could forbid a new member from joining, right? Couldn't outsiders even marry into the family?
Xaya's attempt was certainly a bit of a desperate gamble, but after writing his name in the book, the system provided a response after some time, indicating the completion of the task stage with a reward of 5000 free experience points.
Now, the third stage of the beginner task appeared, which was far more difficult: [Raise the Duke's daughter, Sylvia's affection to 30 points].
This task wasn't too difficult on paper. 30 points of affection was like becoming a good, familiar friend. Normally, by joining the Duke's family and spending time with Sylvia, it wouldn't be hard to reach 30 affection points. But the problem was, Sylvia, the Duke's daughter, had long since ascended to legend as the "Silver Witch," a name feared by all Beastmasters. She had been absent from the world for five hundred years, and no one knew whether she was alive or dead. Even top Beastmasters from all over the continent could not find her.
"But I believe there's always a way," Xaya murmured to himself, turning to the empty bronze platform on the right. He took out a secret silver-sealed box from his pocket, which had cost him a fortune to have crafted by a master artisan from the imperial capital. He took a deep breath, ready for this moment, something he had been preparing for over five years.
He had poured 100,000 of Rhine gold coins into this venture, a sum greater than the wealth of some barons and even viscounts in the capital, enough to buy a rich village and make it his territory.
Despite being a reincarnator, even Xaya was nervous. He had considered the possibility of his investment going to waste, but having brought this newbie task to such a stage, he couldn't afford to give up. Besides, despite how annoying the system was, its rewards were indeed tempting. For example, completing the second stage of the task had granted Xaya 5000 free experience points.
While these points couldn't directly raise his level cap due to the restrictions of his Beastmaster's soul bond and growth, they could be used to improve the proficiency of his beast's skills. Without them, it would have taken decades for Xaya's beast, Silver, to improve her skill "Charm" to the level of "Transcendent."
Xaya closed his eyes for a moment, focusing and calming his mind. When he opened them again, his black eyes were clear, devoid of distractions.
He took the stone sculpture from the silver box and carefully placed it in the empty groove on the bronze platform.
Boom!
The room, once dark and gloomy, suddenly lit up in a flash. Amid the deafening sound and twisting lights, Xaya noticed the system's prompt appear in his mind:
[Historical Resonance—"Cangting Duchy" has been activated.]