Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 121 The Hexagonal Consul
"Lord Su Mu, don't just look at us! After such a great battle, you must have gained the most!"

Forrest looked at Su Mu, glancing left and right, trying to discern something, but given Su Mu's level of magical power, how could he possibly see anything different?

The most distinctive feature of the art of governance is that one can gain promotion qualifications through the advancement of the heroes under one's command. In this great battle, almost all of his subordinates were promoted, and Su Mu naturally gained some understanding of this as well.

[Having experienced the Battle of Kuraki, your leadership skills have been greatly enhanced, and you have gained new insights into how to be a qualified lord.]

[+1 Defense, +1 Spell Power]

[Master advanced alliance leadership skills, master basic magic]

[Advanced Alliance Leadership Skill: The morale of the troops led by the hero is increased by 3, and can exceed the morale cap for further bonuses (regardless of how many treasures a normal hero carries, the maximum morale bonus they can achieve with skill and magic is 3, meaning the probability of high morale for the troops is 12.5%. High morale grants the hero a Blessing of the War God, allowing them to attack again immediately after the initial attack).

When fighting with mixed-arms units, regardless of the number of different troop types, morale will decrease by a maximum of -1.

[Basic Combined Magic: Increases the damage of attack magic by 5%. Triggers an additional effect when using area-of-effect magic (for every 5 points of spell power a hero has, the magic effect is increased by 50%, that is, if a hero has 10 points of spell power, the damage is increased by 10%).

Evaluation: You have received a combined magical blessing from the rulers, giving you a stronger effect when casting group spells.

【苏木（执政官）：攻击4（10），防御4（10），咒力6（14），知识4（14）。

Charm 80, no elements.

Characteristics: Qualified Lord, Hexagonal Archon, Elton's Hope Star.

Skills: Advanced Governance, Advanced Earth Elemental Mastery, Advanced Alliance Leadership, Basic Union Magic.

Treasures: Lion King Shield, Crimson Dragon Sword, Dragon Wing Robe (Sealed), Crown of Wisdom, Bone Breastplate

With Su Mu's current abilities, he can control another treasure. He plans to find a treasure to boost morale and maximize the effect of the Advanced Alliance Leadership Technique.

Of course, this is not just a personal matter. When both governance and leadership skills are upgraded to advanced levels, there will be a wave of combined ability enhancements, but buildings are needed to provide these bonuses.

"Forrest, once your magic is restored, prepare for a major battle!"

【The Hall of Eight Kings (Special Building Tier 2, requires a hero with advanced Governance skills to use): Temporarily grants all ruled individuals a total of three highest-level skills (the effects of Governance skills on all currently ruled individuals), with a maximum selection range of eight people. The statue is placed inside the Hall of Eight Kings, and the selection cannot be changed within one month.

Special requirements: Requires 8 sealed treasures to permanently suppress it here, eliminating the need for further sealing methods.

Special effect: The hero who is ruled in the Hall of Eight Kings will permanently gain the ability of a sealed item (which will be lost after the item is replaced).

Additional resource costs: 10000 gold, 20 logs, 20 gems, and 5 of each rare resource.

【Hall of Medals (Supporting building of the Prison Hall, Tier 2, requires an Archon with advanced Governance skills to use): Grants all heroes under Governance in the hall +1 Morale, which is maintained even when they leave the main city.

Next Tier: The ruled party gains +2 morale, requires a council building.

Additional building costs: 20 Primogems, 20 Crystals

To advance to the Advanced Governance skill, you need to coordinate with auxiliary buildings to boost the morale of all heroes. This is a special synergy between two advanced skills, and it's a route that Su Mu had wanted to take for a long time.

Ordinary generals provide buffs to their subordinates, while governors provide buffs to heroes; this is what makes this profession so overpowered.

But now we face a new problem: resources are somewhat lacking.

Upon hearing the lord's request, Forrest could only awkwardly glance at Maggie and force a polite smile.

“After the previous construction, the territory’s resources have been completely exhausted. Starting construction now is probably…” Forrest’s logging master has now increased his efficiency to 600%. With the forest area under full-scale construction, it can produce 12 logs per day, which is equivalent to 6 ordinary lumberyards. The output is quite astonishing.

Because other regions were at war, timber production had basically come to a standstill, so logs in the forest areas were a monopoly business with extremely high profits.

However, since Isildur invaded the Hillin Plain, the market for exchanging timber was disrupted. They had logs but no way to transport them out to sell. Without gold coins, they could not produce new buildings or recruit soldiers, not to mention that new buildings require a large amount of rare resources.

Currently, they are barely making ends meet by relying on Maggie's secret savings. Before, they could say that they were all in the same boat when the enemy was at the gates, but now Forrest is in a much worse position.

Maggie was quite magnanimous: "Since I've accepted your command, I'm considered a member now. Since I joined later, I should naturally show more appreciation."

"Of the resources Longletburg has accumulated over the years, some are under my control, but after previous use, there's not much left."

She gently raised her hand, and a boundary stone gate materialized in the void, containing wealth accumulated over many years.

[54000 gold coins, 160 logs, 180 ore, 85 gems, 90 crystals, 70 mercury, 88 sulfur.]

Seeing such wealth, Su Mu and the others were practically drooling. No wonder the nobles in the castle felt superior; their wealth accumulation was no joke.

Longlett Castle changed hands several times, and by the time Maggie took over, a great deal of its wealth had been depleted, yet it was still incredibly rich, demonstrating just how glorious it had been at its peak.

If it weren't for the fact that each city has a limit on the number of troops it can hold, a county city with so many assets could easily take on an entire county kingdom.

Of course, at its peak, the Marquisate still had thousands of Crusaders on standby. The corruption and greed of the nobility led to complacency among the administrators, and repeated internal strife depleted the nation's strength; otherwise, Elton wouldn't be so weak.

"Once Kuraki's business takes off, we'll definitely repay Miss Maggie double the money we owe her!"

Su Mu was extremely grateful and gave instructions to Forrest.

Forrest clearly didn't listen, muttering, "What's the big deal? Just treat us like family!"

The guy was immediately slapped across the face.

"I'm going back to sleep. You guys decide how to spend the money!"

Maggie was in a daze and seemed not to hear the other person's whispers.

Although the process was somewhat awkward, the result was good.

With the investment from the Marquis's daughter, Kuraki finally had the funds to restart his business.

"This is not a long-term solution; eventually, the resources will run out. We must open up new sources, acquire more resources, and reopen trade channels."

With the Marquisate swept away by Isildur, many resource-rich areas were left unclaimed. With Maggie as the nominal Marquis, Kuraki could acquire even more resource-rich areas.

They just had to wait for the outcome of Conrad's battle with Isabel before sending Maggie back to Longlet Castle.

"First, build the Hall of Eight Kings and the Hall of Medals!"

Following his lord's orders, Forrest began by constructing these two buildings to enhance the effectiveness of his governance skills.

With advanced civil engineering techniques combined with earth and wood shaping, the additional buildings were completed in less than a week.

At this time, news finally broke of the decisive battle at Longletburg.

(End of this chapter)