Evolution Online: Building a Kingdom with 100\% drop rate-Chapter 21: Ch-: Undercurrents (2)
A young man lay shirtless, bound, and prostrate on the floor of a room which seemed to belong to a female. An otherworldly beauty with a face that could infatuate any man and blonde hair cascading down her shoulders gazed coldly at the teenager with her sky-blue eyes. She was currently in the process of punishing him. Her foot pressed his head down into the cold stone floor while her left hand carried a curled whip. Her large bust heaved as she looked at him with disgust.
Olivia Oreburgh was the eldest daughter of Count Pluto Oreburgh, head of House Oreburgh. The other was the cousin of Victor, Andrew Light, the son of his biological aunt whose family had been the ones behind Victor’s kidnapping.
Olivia was one of the top beauties of the kingdom and the fiancée of his cousin. Olivia was also secretly a sadistic bitch known among a select few as a young woman who broke her toys easily. Her father was furious when his plan had failed and Victor had returned alive. He had planned to get the Silvernum territory through his daughter by marrying her to his cousin. Honestly, she was not happy being engaged to this wimp and also resented her father and would often vent her frustration on him.
Andrew shuddered as an intense gaze stared down upon the teenage boy lying prostrate before her as she raised her whip and struck his back; a large cut appeared as it made contact with his flesh, which made him scream in pain. "Ahhh.."
Knock Knock
"What?" Olivia looked at the door in annoyance.
"Miss, the Lord is calling you to the living room," a maid entered and said nervously, and she broke out in a cold sweat when she saw the whip marks and blood dripping from his back.
Bang
Olivia gave a violent kick to Andrew’s chest as he was flung backwards and spat a mouthful of blood.
"Fix yourself. If I see a drop of blood on your body, you will die," Olivia said in a cold voice as she left the room.
As soon as she left, Andrew looked at her with resentment. ’Damn crazy bitch, just wait—one day I will make you whimper under me. And that bastard Victor, why couldn’t he just die?’
---
Olivia entered the room, and the first thing she saw was a bald middle-aged man on his knees as he was sweating profusely. This was Edward Light, the uncle of Victor.
The other was a handsome middle-aged man who had two women on both sides and was playing with them, which caused Olivia to wrinkle her nose in disgust. But her expression quickly changed and a sweet smile adorned her face as she walked up.
"Edward, you trash! You told me that you had everything arranged, so tell me—how did he escape? And heavens... I also heard he became a warlock. Explain!" Pluto roared at the top of his voice.
"I...I don’t know," Edward said in a terrified voice.
Slap
"Useless!" Pluto slapped him on the cheek and a few teeth flew out.
"Dear Father, you called me?" Olivia said with a fake respectful smile.
"Ah, Olivia, my daughter. I have a task for you to do," Pluto looked at her sweet daughter and said with a smile.
"What task?" Olivia asked with curiosity.
"You see, this dog failed to kill his nephew Victor, and he even managed to escape from the Black Church. I want you to go to the Silvernum Barony and learn how he escaped, and if you get the chance, kill him," Pluto said in a cold voice, to which Olivia frowned but then nodded. Pluto remembered something and said, "And also take his useless son with you."
’Hmm, I am anyway bored. Maybe I can find a new toy there to torture,’ Olivia thought giddily.
"Oh, Olivia, be careful. I heard some rumors that Victor Silvernum awakened a mutated Warlock Bloodline. I think it’s a rumor, but there is no harm in being cautious," Pluto warned.
"Warlock?" Olivia was startled hearing this, and her eyes gleamed as a plan began to form in her head.
-----
Next Morning
Currently, Victor was surveying his lands, and he did not like what he saw. Most of the lands were farmlands, but what displeased him was that the lands seemed barren, like there had been no rain for years, and many of the fields seemed to have been trampled by beasts.
"Edward, why are the farms like this?" Victor said as he pointed toward the lands
.
"Young Master, as you know the lands of our Barony are such that there are times when there is no rain for months, and as you know our military is very weak. We don’t have enough people to defend the lands. As a result, sometimes monsters sneak into the lands and destroy the fields... In fact, many residents have left the lands due to this reason," Edward was first startled when he heard this question, as this information was known to everyone, but still, like a diligent butler, he replied to the young master’s question.
Even the houses in which the residents were supposed to live were made out of wood and seemed to be on the verge of breaking apart.
Victor rubbed his temples as he knew that even though this world had advanced technology, it was mostly in terms of the military, while buildings for peasants were still like those in the medieval period.
Then he opened the Mech Shop and looked for blueprints of a few buildings and saw some futuristic skyscrapers which were residential buildings that could withstand attacks from powerful monsters. He even found a special building to grow food, which was a multi-storied building that had automatic weather control.
"Oh right, I forgot about this—these blueprints which involve magic and technology require Magisteel," Victor mumbled as he remembered a crucial point and checked the cost of a Magisteel Smelter.
-----[Mech Shop]
Low Grade Magi Steel Smelter
Unlock Cost: 50,000
Rank: Rare
----------
Magisteel was a special ore made from a combination of various materials and the only known metal that could create Magitech items.
[Ding Dong]
[Fate update of Victor Silvernum]
"Huh?" Victor was startled upon seeing the notification and used his technique on himself. He saw two threads—one black and another gold.
First, he clicked on the golden thread and a row of text appeared on his retina.
[Fate Information:
Day 1: 300 Tier 0 Knights will join after hearing about your Warlock reputation, and your army size will increase.
Day 2: You decide to take your army and go clear the nearby lands of monsters and kill a Minotaur Boss, continuing to hunt until it runs into a dungeon. Because you killed a boss, the land it occupied becomes part of your territory according to the right of conquest acknowledged by the Records, and your lands increase.
You discover that killing the Minotaur monsters provides meat and milk, which solves your immediate food problem.
Day 4: You decide to go to a nearby city to do some quests and level up, and hear some players talking about a special quest offered by an NPC which requires killing a powerful territory boss single-handedly. You take the quest as it gives an insane amount of experience points.
You decide to level up first—you hunt monsters and sell players rare items using experience as the medium of exchange. The legend of the only NPC who sells items through experience spreads throughout the community.
Day 5: You kill normal monsters easily, but when you face the boss monster you break out in a cold sweat as it is far more powerful than expected. Using hit-and-run tactics and nearly dying, you manage to kill it. To your delight, after killing the monster you discover it turns into a dungeon, and the raw materials needed for Magisteel can be found in this dungeon. Not only that, you can also obtain 20 Tier 1 Gunmen Summoning Contracts daily.
Day 7: Nearly 5000 new residents arrive and join your territory, giving a boost to the population.]
Victor raised an eyebrow in interest as he read the description of the fate information.
This pupil technique is more useful than I thought. It can directly tell my future—this way I can avoid danger and be more prepared.
Then he clicked on the black thread, and when he read the information his lips twitched.
[Fate Information:
Day 8: The daughter of Count Oreburgh arrives in your territory with your cousin.
Day 9: She offers you a drink which is laced with an aphrodisiac and forces you to sign a slave contract with her.]
