"Then, I will accept Shin Dong-hoon as my vassal first."
"I look forward to serving you."
Shin Dong-hoon's trust and loyalty levels were just about at the minimum threshold for vassal registration.
His trust was at 50, the point where loyalty unlocks, and his loyalty had reached 30, the minimum required for vassal status.
The truth was, eting him in person today had significantly boosted both, making this registration possible.
It wasn’t unheard of for this to happen.
As more people joined, different cases arose.
So had such low trust that loyalty never even unlocked, while others had exceptionally high trust from the beginning, allowing loyalty to be available right away.
There were also cases where both trust and loyalty were difficult to raise, just like now.
‘He’s the cautious and ntally strong type.’
People like this, however, tended to reach 100 trust quickly once given a strong enough reason.
‘Ha Dong-geon was the sa way.’
He was now one of the few individuals whose trust and loyalty had both reached the maximum 100.
‘Vassal registration, Shin Dong-hoon.’
Wooooong!
A bright light enveloped Shin Dong-hoon, then seeped into his body.
Ding!
[Citizen Shin Dong-hoon has obtained a title matching his class.]
[A synergy effect has been triggered.]
‘Huh?’
I checked Shin Dong-hoon's status window in the vassal managent panel.
Na: Shin Dong-hoon (Lv. 45) [ ]
Class: {Warrior}
Titles: [Thirtieth Bell] [Knight] [Warrior]
Trust: 50 Loyalty: 30
Awakened Abilities: Ti Distortion, Rewind
★ Quest Assignnt
I had opened his status window to check the synergy effect.
But what caught my attention first was the change in his awakened abilities after becoming my vassal.
‘Ti Distortion? Rewind?’
The nas alone were insane.
If one of them were an S-rank ability, his level would have been capped at 40. But the fact that his level had reached 45 ant that at least one of these was beyond S-rank.
‘Did his acceleration ability evolve into Ti Distortion?’
Gaining additional powers or evolving existing ones upon vassal registration wasn’t unusual.
Even so, this was sothing else entirely.
Ti Distortion (S-rank)
While holding your breath, distort ti and move up to 10 tis faster.
Rewind (SR-rank)
By snapping your fingers, consu ntal energy to rewind ti.
The amount of ti rewound depends on total ntal energy.
Currently, maximum rewind duration: 13.07 seconds.
As Absolute Dweller’s Eye leveled up, ability descriptions had beco more detailed.
‘…So it rewinds ti in proportion to total ntal energy?’
My ntal energy was vastly superior to that of regular Awakened due to the unique nature of my ability.
If Shin Dong-hoon’s trust ever reached 100 and I acquired this skill, just how much ti would I be able to rewind?
At that mont, Shin Dong-hoon’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
“…Jaehyun-nim, is sothing wrong?”
“Hm?”
“You look extrely serious.”
“There was just sothing surprising.”
I turned to him and said,
“Try using your ability. You’ll notice a difference.”
Shin Dong-hoon hesitated for a mont before nodding.
“Understood.”
As he held his breath and activated his ability, sothing unusual happened.
‘What is this?’
The entire world slowed down.
‘Even my ti has slowed?’
Within this distorted space, I could clearly see Shin Dong-hoon’s expression shift from surprise to intrigue as he tested his movent.
The key difference was that, while Shin Dong-hoon could move freely, I could not.
However—
[How does it feel?]
“Huh?”
The mont his ability ended, ti resud its normal flow.
[Do you sense the difference?]
Shin Dong-hoon nodded.
“Yes. It’s definitely different from before. This is…”
[That’s right. Previously, your body was just moving faster. Now, you’re actually controlling ti.]
“Controlling… ti…”
[Additionally, you can now use an ability called Rewind.]
“…I must have misheard you?”
Based on my observations of Awakened individuals so far, people tended to understand their new abilities instinctively, even without guidance.
However, directly stating the na of an ability made the realization process faster.
[The trigger is a finger snap. Try using it.]
“…Alright.”
A thought crossed my mind.
‘Will I be able to perceive it if he rewinds ti?’
Snap!
The mont Shin Dong-hoon activated Rewind—
Woooooong—
An astonishing sight unfolded.
Because I had been maintaining Absolute Dweller’s Eye, observing various locations while speaking with them, I could see it clearly.
“Urgh!”
Shin Dong-hoon clutched his head.
After scanning his surroundings, he asked,
“…Did it work?”
“Yes.”
He had rewound ti by exactly five seconds.
Because nothing significant had happened within this eting room during those five seconds, there were no visible changes.
But on a grander scale, ti had definitively been reversed.
‘This is an incredible ability.’
More importantly—
‘I retain my mories from before the rewind.’
That ant when Shin Dong-hoon used Rewind, I was also taken back in ti.
It had only been a few seconds, but even that had limitless potential.
‘From now on, I should assign him ntal energy enhancent quests.’
Then, Shin Dong-hoon snapped his fingers again.
Snap!
But this ti, nothing happened.
A faint disappointnt crossed his face.
“…I can’t use it consecutively?”
“It seems unlikely.”
It was likely an issue of ntal energy, but no matter how much he tried, he would never be able to exceed the designated 13-second limit.
‘Should I consider forming a Subjugation Contract with him?’
A Subjugation Contract…
Originally, my mother’s ability allowed ordinary people to awaken abilities and Awakened individuals to evolve their existing powers.
But now, I was using this ability to ta monsters like Kellikans.
Once a contract was ford, it couldn’t be undone until the target died. Additionally, there was a hard cap of 100, making it an ability I used sparingly.
At that mont—
"Um, sir, when will it be my turn?"
Lee Jun-ho raised his hand, speaking up.
"One mont."
That was when I recalled the system notification from earlier.
‘There was a synergy effect, wasn’t there?’
First, I checked the Warrior class effect.
{Warrior}
lee attacks deal 50% damage.
Temporarily enhances physical abilities by 100%. (Cooldown: 1 hour)
Synergy Effect
lee attacks deal an additional 50% damage.
The sa synergy effect was also attached to the Warrior title.
[Warrior]
lee attacks deal 50% damage.
Synergy Effect
lee attacks deal an additional 50% damage.
This ant that with the synergy bonus, lee attacks would now deal a total of 200% increased damage.
‘Not bad.’
Had I seen this first, I would’ve been more impressed. But after witnessing far greater surprises today, this seed relatively minor in comparison.
‘I should prioritize advancing vassals who hold the Warrior title.’
Among the available classes in the Class Research Lab, many were closely tied to vassals’ titles.
I had already been keeping an eye on this, but now that I knew synergy effects existed, it made even more sense to assign classes that aligned with their titles.
‘Vassal registration: Park Sung-jun, Kim Ki-tae.’
Both Park Sung-jun and Kim Ki-tae had acquired the Sharpshooter title, but I had already assigned Kim Ki-tae the Hunter advancent quest.
‘I don’t need to force the synergy effect.’
I had a strong feeling that Kim Ki-tae would make excellent use of the Hunter class, so I decided to leave him be.
If necessary, I could always remove the Hunter class and let him transition to Sharpshooter a month later.
Finally, I completed Lee Jun-ho’s vassal registration.
Ding!
[Citizen Lee Jun-ho has obtained a title matching his class.]
[A synergy effect has been triggered.]
As expected, since Lee Jun-ho had already obtained the Warrior class, he also gained the corresponding title, activating its synergy effect.
And then—
[You have reached 30 vassals.]
For a mont, I was silent as I read the ssage.
Lee Jun-ho’s newly acquired title was [The Thirty-Third Bell].
It was a painful reminder.
Because three of my vassals had perished in battle against the vampires, only now had I finally reached 30.
[The ‘Noble Title System’ has been activated.]
[Conditions have been t.]
[A new construction option, ‘Territory,’ has been added.]
A new function had been unlocked.
‘This is…?’
There was another unique trait associated with the Subjugation Contract.
Any vassal without a title would receive the [Knight] title, while those with [Knight] would advance to [Baron] or [Viscount].
‘I never expected this to tie into construction.’
I checked the details imdiately.
- Territory ( ??? Won) -
《Territory》
A safe zone that can be established outside the Sanctuary.
The size of the territory expands in proportion to the noble rank of its ruler.
When {Activated}, it temporarily exerts the sa influence as a declared Sanctuary zone.
However, {Activation} is only possible if a vassal with at least the [Baron] title resides there.
Unlike forward bases, which were destroyed if occupied by unauthorized individuals for more than a day, Territories were closer to a downgraded version of the Annexes that only blood relatives could construct.
‘Annexes grow in proportion to the Sanctuary’s size, while Territories grow based on vassals’ noble ranks.’
That likely explained why no exact price was listed.
The higher the noble rank, the larger the Territory, which in turn ant higher construction costs.
The fact that the minimum requirent was [Baron] ant that [Knights] weren’t even considered.
This made the noble titles of my vassals significantly more important.
‘Does this an Subjugation Contracts are absolutely necessary?’
I doubted it.
The Subjugation Contract wasn’t part of the system—it was originally my mother’s ability.
The fact that vassals were automatically receiving noble titles was probably…
‘A system bug.’
If that were the case—
‘Noble Title System.’
The mont I activated it—
[{ rit Points }]
Choi Hyung-jun [First Bell] - 1,245 P
Moon Byeong-ho [Second Bell] - 176,342 P
Kang Deok-soo [Third Bell] - 75,123 P
Kim Ga-young [Fourth Bell] - 99,388 P
Yoo Hye-rin [Fifth Bell] - 87,819 P
Ha Dong-geon [Sixth Bell] - 783,210 P
…
…
The nas of my vassals were displayed alongside the points they had accumulated.
From the na rit Points and the fact that people like Ha Dong-geon had disproportionately high values, it was clear that this system rewarded contributions.
At the bottom of the Noble Title System window, I found the requirents for title advancents.
[Knight] - 1,000 P
[Baron] - 10,000 P
[Viscount] - 100,000 P
[Count] - 1,000,000 P
[Marquis] - 10,000,000 P
[Duke] - 100,000,000 P
The rit points required for each rank were clearly listed.
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