As I read the description, I celebrated with joy.
Some of these new skills were exactly what I had been hoping for!
First, [Vassal's Eyes] was amazing!
The ability to see whatever a citizen was seeing? Absolutely perfect!
With this, I would finally be able to see beyond the same boring forest clearing, the empty rooms inside my walls, and the gloomy basement I had been staring at for far too long. After 85 days stuck in this place, I had grown incredibly sick of these limited views already!
And not to mention, the skill not only allowed seeing, but hearing too.
Soon, I would be able to listen to the gentle rustling of leaves deep within the forest, the soothing sound of a river flowing over rocks, and the distant calls of unknown birds or beasts.
It would be like having a real live stream straight from my citizens' point of view.
There was literally no reason to hesitate.
[Ding!]
That's the system notification, announced that I had successful purchased it. Only 100 points? That's cheap! Even if it costed 500 points, I would gladly sell my entire stock for it.
Too bad it was already night right now.
Otherwise, I would have immediately issued a quest and had Gopuro run around, giving me a quick tour of the surrounding forest.
Still, it was a little disappointing that the skill had a strict 3 km range limit…
Good thing that I could upgrade the range later. I just hoped that one day, I would be able to remove the limit entirely and explore this world without any restrictions at all.
Now, regarding the second skill — [Ruler's Voice].
Only 100 Points?
(Damn, what's wrong with System's pricing today?)
Cha-ching!
[Ding! You have successfully purchased the Sovereign skill — Ruler's Voice!]
Purchased! Another skill in the bag!
This was also exactly what I needed.
If I didn't know Goblish, then perhaps this skill wouldn't be very useful to me. Because without knowing the language, even if I could speak directly into their minds, it would have been completely pointless if none of them could understand a single word.
But now, with Goblish under my belt, the entire situation had flipped!
No more needing to painstakingly fill out complicated quest forms just to have a simple conversation with my citizens. I could now talk to them freely, whenever I wanted!
(Ahhh… what a wonderful quality-of-life upgrade!)
And for some reason, I also had a strong feeling that this skill could be abused in a few absurdly overpowered ways in the future.
After all, the ability to send messages directly into a citizen's head? That reminded me of some insane technologies!
Radio podcasts! Telephones! Walkies talkies! Exactly!
In times of war, this could be incredibly useful, if not completely broken. Combined with my ability to see and process multiple viewpoints at once, plus the power to send clear commands across great distances in real time without any lag, even coordinating thousands of troops across different battlefields would become easy as cake.
That aside…
That last skill… [Devolution]… left me feeling a little confused.
(If I understand this correctly, this skill would allow me to… devolve my citizens?)
(But why would I ever do that? Why would I willingly take a loss and do something that seems so stupid?)
But as I thought about it more carefully, I began to understand the real purpose behind this skill — and exactly who I might want to use it on.
(Ah, I see…)
(If my hypothesis is true, then it could actually be very useful indeed.)
(But well… there's no need for it right now.)
So I left it alone for the time being and moved on to check my other skills.
****
Just like that, from a rich castle with a net worth of 1100 Points, nearly half of my wealth had been wiped out in an instant.
I had already liquidated some of the wolf fangs and claws for Points, along with my entire Wood stockpile. I didn't want to touch the rest of my materials in case I needed them in the near future.
But then, as I checked the full list of what the upgraded Level 2 Sovereign skills would offer, I was once again stunned into silence for a second at a particular sight.
(Oh god! I really don't want to spend more points…)
(But damn!)
(This skill…. it's so freaking good!)
[Lord's Blessing Lv 2]
Upgrade Prerequisite: Possess the skill [Vassal's Eyes]
Effect: Spend Points to enhance a citizen's attributes or even upgrade their skills.
Additional Effect: The Ruler can now spend Points to grant citizens powerful temporary blessings!
Blessings Available at Level 2:
Blessing of Haste: Grants 50% speed.
Blessing of Strength: Grants 30% Attack and 30% Defense.
Blessing of Life: Grants 20% max HP and 0.1% max HP regen per second.
Blessing of Protection: Prevents any new negative effects from being applied. The effectiveness and damage of existing negative effects are reduced by 50%.
Blessing of Sharp Senses: Greatly boosts perception, night vision, and reaction speed.
Max Duration: Unlimited
Point Cost: varies and will be deduced overtime, depending on the strength of the blessing.
Limit: At current level, only one blessing can be active at a time on any single citizen (though multiple citizens can be blessed simultaneously). Further upgrades to this skill will unlock additional blessings and the ability to stack them.
(The skill shares the same range limit as [Vassal's Eyes]. Upgrading [Vassal's Eyes] is highly recommended for maximum effectiveness.)
Upgrade Cost: 500 Points