When Shen Mu opened his eyes, it was already evening.
The last rays of sunlight outside the window cast a dim glow over the eastern suburbs of Long City.
From the top-floor bedroom of Vikia Castle, one could vaguely see the horizon stretching into the distance.
And countless small black dots undulating on the horizon.
“Those are all villages.”
Shen Mu’s consciousness gradually cleared at this moment.
Sitting on the bed, he looked out the window at the vast suburbs and the outlines of villages dotted within them.
A wave of emotion welled up in his heart: “It’s a pity that the Blue Star World might become a fantasy world in the future.”
After all, the world was changing.
Of course, it didn’t matter to Shen Mu; he wasn’t from the Blue Star World.
Whatever happened to the Blue Star World was none of his concern; all he cared about now was whether he could survive as these two worlds changed.
Thinking of this, Shen Mu’s mind stirred, and he communicated with the system: “Open the reward panel.”
Then, new dialogue boxes began to appear on Shen Mu’s retina.
“Ding! Congratulations! You and your troops have achieved a resounding victory, completing the mission based on this great triumph.
“And because you repelled two enemy attacks, you received a +60% additional mission reward bonus. Therefore, you have obtained—”,
“① 70,000 dinars.”
“② 140,000 Faith Power.”
“③ Special enhancement effect for Mount & Blade Rules. Effect: After your Mount & Blade Rules absorbed the Hell Rules from that core crystal, your Mount & Blade Rules received ample replenishment and even gained insight into certain special rule effects from the Hell Rules. Your Mount & Blade Rules have now been enhanced; the specific effects require you to explore and discover them yourself.”
“④ Random Civilization Castle (Small) × 1. Effect: This reward allows you to randomly draw a small castle from a civilization to appear and unfold in your current world, becoming a strong and powerful military guarantee for you.”
“⑤ Mind-type skill +5 levels and one rule enhancement. Effect: You have gained an enhancement effect for mind-type skills from the Hell Rules.”
Then, a dense array of dialogue boxes began to appear before Shen Mu’s eyes, all listing the mission rewards.
But there were specifically only these five items.
“70,000 dinars, 140,000 Faith Power.”
Shen Mu raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise in his eyes: “This is truly impressive.” It was his first time receiving such a large quantity of rewards.
Then he looked at the three rewards below.
His tone was somewhat puzzled: “Special enhancement effect for Mount & Blade Rules… and 1 random civilization small castle, plus mind-type skill +5 levels and one additional enhancement!?”
Among these rewards, the random civilization small castle was easy to understand.
It was just drawing a random small castle.
This meant that Shen Mu’s forces would gain another new castle and control a new area.
Shen Mu had already owned a village before, so he wasn't surprised by this castle.
He was already quite familiar with it.
“But for a mind-type skill to directly gain 5 levels and an additional rule enhancement, that’s a bit surprising.”
A hint of surprise appeared in Shen Mu’s eyes.
However, his current mind-type skill was only the special mind-type skill he had obtained before—Mind Codex Gift.
It allowed him to bestow his own skills upon those who opened their hearts to him.
And Shen Mu had already bestowed a skill once.
He had bestowed the Group Powerful Strike skill upon Aleron, that extremely loyal Vigia general, allowing him to cast the skill and enhance the combat power of the soldiers around him.
“To be able to directly gain 5 levels and an additional rule enhancement, this is truly a bit unexpected.”
A sharp glint flashed in Shen Mu’s eyes, and his mind immediately communicated with the system: “Immediately use this reward to enhance the special mind-type skill Mind Codex Gift!”
Shen Mu directly chose to enhance Mind Codex Gift, this special mind-type skill, as he had no other mind-type skills to speak of.
His only skill, of course, had to be enhanced immediately.
Then, as Shen Mu’s mind communicated with the system, a dialogue box immediately popped up before his eyes.
“Ding! You have chosen to upgrade ‘Mind Codex Gift’ as a mind-type skill and perform an additional rule-based enhancement.”
“Upgrading in progress…”
“Enhancement in progress…”
“Congratulations! Your ‘Mind Codex Gift’ has reached Lv6, and the rule-based enhancement has been completed. When your special mind skill ‘Mind Codex Gift’ is cast on a target, it will apply a 【Bewitchment】 effect, making the target more obedient to you.”
“Congratulations! Because your ‘Mind Codex Gift’ skill has reached Lv6, the number of people you can bestow skills upon has reached 【60 people】. The currently bestowed personnel is 【Aleron (Group Powerful Strike)】.”
Then, on Shen Mu’s retina, as the dialogue box appeared, its content was also refreshed.
“My Mind Codex Gift skill has reached level 6, and the number of people I can bestow skills upon has also reached 60.”
Shen Mu nodded lightly at this moment: “Very good.”
Before, when Aleron used Group Powerful Strike himself, it had already produced quite good results.
He led those soldiers to easily defeat the Hell Devil.
It could be said that the destructive power and killing effect produced were simply equivalent to applying a powerful enchantment spell to these Mount & Blade Soldiers, making their weapons even stronger than mithril weapons.
A single charge directly broke the frontal resistance of those Hell Devil, basically equivalent to piercing through their defense line.
So Shen Mu’s impression was quite deep.
Now, Shen Mu’s special mind magic, Mind Codex Gift, had been upgraded to the ability to bestow a skill similar to Group Powerful Strike on 60 people.
It was simply a qualitative leap for this special mind-type skill, Mind Codex Gift, which had already reached Lv6.
“I’ll wait to arrange the corresponding skills for Lezalit, Bestour, and Fatis, all of them.”
Shen Mu was also a little eager to try at this moment.
After all, after Aleron possessed Group Powerful Strike, this warrior-type amplification skill, he led those Holy Tree Knights and Holy Tree Cavalry to unleash such powerful killing ability.
So, if other generals also possessed this skill to cast Group Powerful Strike, which amplifies warriors, what kind of combat power would they unleash when leading subsequent troops?
Just thinking about it, one could imagine it would be a very spectacular scene.
“But for now, I need to look again at this so-called special enhancement effect on Mount & Blade Rules.”
Shen Mu frowned slightly.
At this moment, his gaze had already turned to the third reward he received, which was also a somewhat convoluted reward.
“Why would it have a special enhancement effect on the chessboard?” Shen Mu frowned even more, looking at the description above.
But the specific description only said that after absorbing the Hell Rules, his Mount & Blade Rules gained an effect similar to having consumed a tonic.
He gained a deeper understanding of time and space.
However, the so-called tonic effect and the kind of understanding of time and space were quite vague for Shen Mu.
And when Shen Mu’s mind communicated with the system.
This so-called reward simply ended like that.
“Ding! You have used this reward!”
“Congratulations! Your Mount & Blade Rules have been replenished by the Hell Rules, gaining full beneficial effects!”
Then a dialogue box appeared before Shen Mu’s eyes.
And after this dialogue box finished refreshing, that was all the content there was.
He knew nothing else about the specific content.
It was as if this reward had passed him by like a gentle breeze, and then everything disappeared.
“Do I really need to explore this specific effect myself?”
Shen Mu couldn’t help but gently pinch his brow at this moment; if that was the case, it truly left him a bit speechless.
God knows what the current Mount & Blade System and Mount & Blade Rules had evolved into after coming to this world and absorbing so much rule power.
And even if it hadn't absorbed rule power, just based on all the mods and DLCs he had integrated when he was on Earth, the Mount & Blade System generated from those data packs, which was similar to a pan-consciousness of mount & blade.
The mount & blade-related rules contained within it were already beyond his easy comprehension or understanding.
“However, since the system has already provided an explanation and said that it has enhanced the current Mount & Blade Rules, it means there is indeed an effect.”
Shen Mu sat on the bed and pondered for a moment.
But in the end, he shook his head and said nothing more. After all, if it changed, it changed. When the time came, he would naturally know what special enhancements there were.
“Now, open the troop upgrade interface again.”
After the battle ended, Shen Mu now had so many Mount & Blade Soldiers who could enter the upgrade state again.
Before, he couldn't complete the upgrade because he didn't have dinars, but now Shen Mu had an additional 70,000 dinars, making him quite wealthy.
Then, a new dialogue box reappeared before Shen Mu’s eyes.
“You have the following soldiers available for upgrade:” “① Steppe Bandit × 115, costs 100 dinars per person to upgrade to ‘Steppe Bandit Elite (Tier 4 Horse Archer).’ ” 11500
“② Vagir Light Infantry × 1000, costs 30 dinars per person to upgrade to ‘Vigia Infantry (Tier 3 Infantry) / Viki Guerilla Shooter (Tier 3 Archer).’ ” 30000
What appeared before Shen Mu were the upgrades for two troop types.
Steppe Bandit and Vagir Light Infantry.
“This didn’t surprise me.” Shen Mu looked at these two troop types, his expression unmoved.
Instead, his mind communicated with the system again, confirming this upgrade: “Upgrade all.”
‘Buzz!’
Then, in an instant, white data streams once again surged from Shen Mu's brow, flowing towards the military camp outside the castle and the outer layer of the castle.
They landed on the Steppe Bandits and Vagir Light Infantry.
The Steppe Bandits were once again promoted to Steppe Bandit Elite.
They were still clad in light lamellar armor, wielding long spears and bows, looking like elite mounted archers capable of both melee and ranged combat.
This further elevated the quality of the Kujit Khanate troops Shen Mu possessed.
He now had 315 Steppe Bandit Elite, with only 200 Steppe Bandits remaining.
After a few more battles, all these Steppe Bandits would be upgraded to Steppe Bandit Elite.
Don't be fooled by just the 'Elite' suffix.
In terms of combat power, it was an absolute exponential increase.
Look at the light lamellar armor worn by the Steppe Bandit Elite, and the more robust heavy steppe horses beneath them.
There were also the high-quality Nomadic Bows and even better barbed arrows in their hands.
It was clear that once these Steppe Bandit Elite encountered enemies, they could not only shoot from a distance, but if the situation changed, they could also pick up their three-meter-long spears and launch a fierce charge at the enemy.
And if they were surrounded by enemies, they could even draw their heavy nomadic sabers from their waists and hack at the enemy.
They could be considered a versatile type of medium cavalry.
They could no longer be simply classified as light cavalry or mounted archers.
Therefore, Shen Mu was quite pleased with the upgrade of these Steppe Bandit Elite.
However, he also smiled at the Vagikia Guerilla Shooters who had already been upgraded to Tier 3 ranged archers.
"I really didn't expect all 1,000 Vagir Light Infantry to complete their upgrades."
Shen Mu nodded slightly.
He watched as the Vagir Light Infantry emerged from the white data chains, like breaking out of an eggshell, each one becoming more valiant and robust, transforming into Tier 3 Vagikia Guerilla Shooters.
He was quite satisfied.
Although these Vagikia Guerilla Shooters only wore simple leather armor or even leather vests, when they formed a numerical advantage, wielding Nomadic Bows, they were basically a nightmare for any enemy.
Archers might not have a significant advantage in one-on-one combat.
As long as one got close to these archers, they could be easily dealt with.
But once these archers formed a numerical advantage, the overwhelming and continuous rain of arrows would let any enemy formation daring to appear before them know what a downpour was!
And it was a downpour of arrows formed by the Vagians, the most skilled and professional archers on the continent of Calradia.
Furthermore, it should be known that these Vagians were not only capable of forming a torrential rain of arrows.
If enemies got close, these Vagians could instantly pull out the two-handed felling axes strapped to their backs and hack at the enemies head-on, letting them know the power of heavy armor-piercing weapons.
Two-handed felling axes were weapons that even Swadian Knights had to seriously consider when wearing their sleeveless plate armor.
At countless critical moments on the continent of Calradia, when the Vagir infantry formations faced collapse due to enemy attacks, it was these Vagikia archers, wielding bows, who pulled out their two-handed felling axes and charged forward regardless of casualties, fiercely hacking and slashing at the enemies.
Only then did they stabilize the front line and ultimately gain a chance to see the light of victory.
Therefore, Vagikia archers were indeed a very strong troop type.
And combined with Shen Mu's current defensive counterattack strategy, utilizing city walls and defensive fortifications to fight against the Undead Monsters, Abyssal Demons, and Hell Devil, it was simply a match made in heaven!
After all, no enemy could remain unscathed when attacking Shen Mu's castle walls or town walls in the face of a torrential rain of arrows.
Now Shen Mu had an additional 1,000 Vagikia Guerilla Shooters.
Adding to the previous 300 Vekia Archers and 100 Hired Crossbowmen.
This created an absolutely invincible advantage in ranged lethality.
It meant that if Hell Devil troops were to attack again now, Shen Mu wouldn't even need to send out his mounted archers and Swadian Heavy Cavalry to harass their lines; he could just let those Hell Devil attack his city walls again as they did before.
And the scene that would unfold then would no longer be the precarious, almost-collapsed and breached city walls Shen Mu witnessed last night.
It would absolutely be a torrential rain of arrows from the city walls, directly turning those Hell Devil troops into pincushions from two or three hundred meters away, resulting in their complete annihilation and turning them all into corpses.
After all, thinking about it now, those Hell Devil had no equipment or armor that could effectively defend against arrows.
The Hell Devil that came in the second wave only had a small round shield the size of a human head, and it was a low-quality round shield made of pieced-together wood.
It was even inferior to the most common and simplest rawhide-covered round shields used by Khergits, being merely a crude round shield made of wooden planks!
Generally speaking, such crude round shields were mostly made by ordinary farmers to defend against Bandits.
They were not considered proper military supplies at all!
Therefore, as long as the distance was close, even ordinary feathered arrows used by the Khergits could directly pierce through all these round shields!
Not to mention the Vagikia Guerilla Shooters who were equipped with medium-to-high-grade bows like the Nomadic Bow from Tier 3.
As long as the distance was close.
They could easily pierce through the shields of those Hell Devil!
Letting these Hell Devil know what a torrential arrow rain tactic, used by the Khergits from the snowy highlands, was!
"Oh right, there are still three gold-tier treasure chests to open."
Shen Mu's smile widened even further at this moment.
Without hesitation.
His thoughts once again communicated with the system.
Then, on Shen Mu's retina, the dialogue box immediately began to refresh, displaying new content.
Only this time, the content was not about troop types.
But his three gold-tier treasure chests!
【You have opened Gold-tier Treasure Chest × 3, and received the following rewards—】
【① Evening Breeze from Sunuo Plain (Enhanced Environmental Rules). This is the Evening Breeze from Sunuo Plain, which will blow across areas filled with Mount & Blade Rules as night approaches. Effect: mount & blade personnel bathed in this evening breeze will gain +30% Morale, +30% Mental Toughness, +30% Fighting Spirit. At the same time, it will have a slight promoting effect on plants under Mount & Blade Rules.】
【② Natural Food Gift (Special Production Rules). After using this item, you can consume Faith Power to accelerate the ripening speed of ordinary crops in your fields.】
【③ Caravan Acceleration (Special Time Rules). After using this item, you can consume Faith Power to accelerate the arrival time of your caravans.】
...
However, as Shen Mu looked at the content, his expression slightly became astonished.
The reward items brought by these three gold-tier treasure chests this time were a bit too... abrupt, weren't they!?
That's what Shen Mu thought.
He really didn't expect that opening these three gold-tier treasure chests would bring such unexpected rewards!
Before, Shen Mu knew that gold-tier treasure chests always yielded rule-related items.
They were all rule-type items!
It was just these three rules that appeared now that made him involuntarily swallow: "An evening breeze that can directly affect the entire territory covered by Mount & Blade Rules, thereby enhancing the environment..."
Shen Mu looked at the first reward and instantly thought of the special reward from before, the Gentle Breeze from Sunuo Plain.
Every twenty minutes, a special gentle breeze would blow across the area where Deherim was located.
Although that breeze was faint.
Its effect was quite strong, able to increase morale and courage, and also improve mental toughness.
Making his Mount & Blade Soldiers tougher in combat.
And now.
It was no longer just a gentle breeze affecting the town area of Deherim.
But a genuine Evening Breeze, whose effect applied to the entire vast area within his active Mount & Blade Rules territory!
Shen Mu could understand it just by thinking about it now.
If his territory grew larger and larger in the future, and the area covered by Mount & Blade Rules became more and more extensive.
Then wouldn't this Evening Breeze be able to blow across all those areas?!
This was truly too useful!
And Shen Mu swallowed again at this moment, looking at the two rule reward items that followed: "Rule rewards that can accelerate the growth of ordinary crops and the arrival time of caravans, simply by consuming Faith Power!"
Now, Shen Mu suddenly understood where the amplification effect generated by his Mount & Blade Rules absorbing the Hell Rules was applied.
Before, he could only use Faith Power to speed up construction time.
At most, he could apply Faith Power to construction work.
To build his towns and castles faster.
Now.
Not only could it accelerate the construction of towns and castles.
It could also allow the ordinary crops within his territory and the caravans he sent out to enjoy this time acceleration!
Ordinary crops represented rapid ripening and harvesting of food.
Caravans represented sending out caravans, which could then quickly complete transactions and return.
"This... this really surprises me!" Shen Mu muttered to himself.