Chapter 460: Promoted Again

Roning had always thought his first city with a population exceeding one hundred thousand would be Wu Bei City, but he never expected it would be Zi Lei Territory.

He glanced at the achievement panel.

After completing this tier, the sixth tier required him to possess three cities with populations over one hundred thousand simultaneously, rewarding 8000 attribute points and 16000 energy essences.

Though the rewards were abundant, the difficulty was considerable.

Roning looked at the word "simultaneously" on the achievement requirement. He had initially intended to exploit loopholes, moving populations within his territories here and there to cobble together a hundred thousand.

But now it seemed there were no loopholes to exploit.

"Among the remaining territories, Wu Bei City, with the hundred thousand people sent by the royal family, could form a major city. Besides that, the most promising is Stone City."

Stone City, with over ten thousand migrants from Moonlight Valley, now had a population of fifty thousand, still short by half.

"Wu Bei Port already has over twenty thousand people; I could allocate twenty thousand from the people sent by His Majesty, enter Wu Shan Territory through Denny Port, and relocate them to Stone City."

Having settled on this plan, Roning shifted his attention to the attribute panel.

After several days of accumulation and the recently acquired achievement rewards, he now had 2126 attribute points and 24120 energy essences.

He allocated 1000 attribute points to his Mage level, expanding his mental perception range to about five miles and significantly enhancing his mana endurance.

Now, relying on Shadow Wind Technique, he could fully manage to return to Wu Bei Territory on his own.

However, Roning needed to consider the accumulated twenty thousand-plus energy essences.

Currently, Macken's level progress had reached Silver Moon Rank (9025/10000). Although less than a thousand energy essences would complete his progress, breaking through to become Silver Moon required additional energy essences to enhance his aptitude.

Roning estimated this additional expenditure would require at least ten thousand points.

Similarly, Elron followed the same principle, and enhancing his aptitude would consume even more.

As for Redal, his current strength was sufficient, and even if he needed improvement, it would only require scattered points. Moreover, if Redal's progress were full, he would also face the issue of needing aptitude enhancement.

Among the three men and the dragon, only Calros possessed legendary aptitude. Moreover, the intimidation brought by the dragon was no weaker than that of a Pride Knight.

Of course, dragons also had disadvantages.

Their size was too large; aside from combat, many tasks were more conveniently handled by humans.

Considering that Silver Moon Rank was currently the top-tier strength, after some contemplation, Roning decided to invest these twenty thousand-plus energy essences into Calros first.

Later, when the territory's population reached five hundred thousand, completing the Prosperous Population achievement reward would yield twenty thousand energy essences, and then he would consider whether to advance Macken.

That night, Zi Lei Castle held a celebration banquet.

Roning met Simeon, who mastered both magic and martial arts, and over ten professional knights Macken brought along.

It was said that before the battle commenced, Macken had nearly fifty professional knights under him, and after the battle, almost half were lost.

Recruiting professional knights and quickly forming his own knight corps at the border remained a priority.

After the banquet, Roning separately summoned Macken and Simeon, mainly concerning Zi Lei City's population issue.

The problems brought by over thirty thousand captives certainly existed; Roning allowed Simeon to first disperse these people to various small towns to alleviate pressure.

However, ultimately, maintaining a city population of one hundred thousand was necessary.

For this, infrastructure and land planning needed reconsideration, and spending money to recruit specialized talents from other places should not be spared.

Moreover, wages for laborers should be paid, as only when money circulates will the city prosper.

Besides, Roning now had nearly six hundred thousand gold coins, and magic potions and various goods within the territory were generating substantial revenue, making gold coins practically inexhaustible.

Three days later, on the vast sea, Roning sped swiftly relying on Shadow Wind Technique.

After returning from Zi Lei Territory to Wu Bei Territory, he first went back to Wu Bei Territory.

At Wu Bei Port, Roning saw the pirate ships seized by Simon.

Since Screaming Island had targeted Wu Bei Port, they certainly would not spare Isolated Island offshore.

Thus, Roning hastened to Isolated Island at the fastest speed to check the situation there.

Halfway through, strong winds suddenly arose on the sea surface.

Whoosh~

A massive shadow traversed the blue sky, stopping before Roning, stirring up a storm.

"Master, why didn't you call for me when you came?"

It was Calros, who had come actively.

"I feared Isolated Island might have issues, so I didn't call you."

If Screaming Island were attacking Isolated Island, and Roning called for Calros, with his personality, he would absolutely abandon the battlefield and rush straight to Roning.

"The battle at Isolated Island is already over, Master. I frequently patrol the sea these days and haven't found any suspicious ships."

Calros showed no trace of dragon pride before Roning; he seemed more like a diligent worker.

Roning couldn't help but smile slightly.

He never expected Screaming Island and Vera Principality to cooperate so well, making him appear quite shrewd and foresighted.

"How were the results?"

Calros flapped his wings twice, like a person patting his chest, "With me there, those guys retreated without even approaching the port."

As for the results, Calros didn't know clearly.

He only knew enemy ships were docked at the port, and Karada and Lis captured many people, including the Meteor Knight whom he crushed until his bones were scattered.

"Well done, Calros, you even captured hostages alive."

Roning praised with a smile while checking his strength progress, currently 1647/20000.

"Calros, would you like to become an eighth-level dragon?"

Eighth level?

Calros's eyes, larger than bronze bells, widened suddenly. He had just become a seventh-level dragon recently, and now he was advancing again so quickly?

Roning smiled and invested all 18353 attribute points into Calros.

Instantly, the dragon transformed into a vortex eye like before, with surrounding elemental forces converging toward him.

This massive creature, thirty meters long, surged again, reaching fifty meters!

And its wingspan reached an astonishing one hundred twenty meters!

Even Sophia's Dawnbreaker didn't have a wingspan as long as Calros's.

While picking up thirty-six dragon scales with his mental energy, Roning marveled at the power of dragons.

With such size, even as his master, he still felt considerable pressure before him.

Before the dragon, his physique was far too small.

He checked its level progress:

[ Frostfire Wing · Calros ]: Eighth Level (0/50000)+

"Hiss!"

Roning couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.

From level eight to level nine actually requires fifty thousand energy essences!

Such an enormous amount of energy essences, Ronin estimated, could potentially elevate both Mekan and Elron to become level nine supernatural beings.

Faced with such a demanding progress requirement, Ronin glanced at the remaining 5767 energy essences and decided not to invest further.

He settled onto the dragon's back. "Go, show me your fastest speed."

Karlos uttered a joyful cry, vigorously flapping his wings.

With a burst of explosive sound in the air, the massive dragon body flashed through the sky, leaving a long trail of afterimages.

Although the current speed did not surpass sonic velocity, it certainly exceeded the eight hundred kilometers per hour of commercial passenger planes.

"Too fast!"

Soon, that small island on the sea appeared before Ronin. (End of chapter)