Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 434 Prestige Stone

It's a new day, and the temperature is starting to drop. Even the mountain winds are getting biting. The lowest temperature this morning must be at least minus five or six degrees Celsius.

Winter is fast approaching.

The good news is that after yesterday's efforts and adaptation, almost all the free people and soldiers no longer need Li Wei to command them.

The soldiers patrolled, hunted, and commanded. The free people, who were originally artisans, found their own help and began preparing for winter, as only the cabins would freeze people to death.

There were also people chopping wood and digging for food. Although it was chaotic, at least the work efficiency was not bad.

“Sir Sheriff, I was originally a blacksmith in the fortress. I think there might still be some tools available in the blacksmith shops in the city, so I would like to go and take a look.”

A middle-aged man came over with several young men to ask for instructions.

"The fortress is still filled with wandering magic. Going there would be certain death for you. It's too dangerous, so I'll go check it out myself. Chris, have someone guard the fortress and tell them that no one is allowed to enter unless they want to die!"

Li Wei shouted and tried to climb over the dark city wall to enter the fortress. Surprisingly, it was warm here, with a faint feeling of being roasted by a furnace hitting him.

That's incredible.

So, did a lot of magic power transform into fire-attribute magic power?

Li Wei carefully made his way through the ruins. All the wooden buildings had been burned to the ground, and even some hard rocks were so hot that they would crumble underfoot.

However, some stones remained very hard. For example, Li Wei squatted down and used his hand to spread out the thick ash, revealing a small stone about thirty centimeters on each side. It had bounced over from the arrow tower and smashed a person's head. As a result, it turned into a fiery red color during the fierce demonic flames and was hot to the touch!

Good guy.

Li Wei's understanding was that the stone was still hot to the touch, meaning it must still be over 90 degrees Celsius. No, in fact, it was even hotter.

The inside of this stone felt like a mass of magma, yet it seemed to have formed some kind of special, stable, natural magical structure. Li Wei wasn't a spellcaster and didn't understand these things, but his senses were very strong, so—of course, he collected the resource card. This thing could be used just like charcoal.

In addition, based on some intuition, he felt that the stone block, whose internal structure had been stabilized by magic, must be at least of four-star quality.

Li Wei looked around and seemed to understand a little. The Gale Fortress was well-built. It was built against the mountain, and the foundation was dug directly into the rock layer. The surrounding walls were built to the standard of a level four city wall.

Because of the four-star city wall, most of the magic shockwaves from the magic mine explosion were blocked by this four-star city wall.

Although a section of the city wall collapsed, it was not a major issue.

In short, the large amount of magic gathered in the city, coupled with the resulting raging fire, certainly led to a tragic end for the survivors, but it also brought a qualitative improvement to some of the very sturdy items in the fortress.

It's like a natural alchemy furnace?
It seems like I made a small profit.

Damn it, what is Earl Windbreak thinking? He's actually treating Gale Fortress like a expendable pawn.

Li Wei was slightly pleased. While searching for the blacksmith's shop, he also scavenged for those red crystal-like stones. There were quite a few, but they were mostly stones that had been thrown down and exposed on the ground, which had been fully burned by the flame magic to become like this.

Before he knew it, Li Wei had filled all five of his three-star resource cards.

One sheet has 500 squares, so five sheets would have 2,500 squares.

Good guy.

That is, during his previous large-scale purchase, just in case, he bought a hundred sheets at once...

Each one is worth a thousand gold coins; hopefully, we can recoup our costs.

However, there are only so many of these fire crystals, and they can't form large pieces or small pieces; only those that are about thirty centimeters long, wide, and high can be formed.

After collecting all the fire crystals, Li Wei suddenly felt the heat in the fortress ruins begin to drop rapidly. Good heavens, this is a real treasure!
He even felt that some corners that used to feel dangerous had started to feel safe. Interesting, what's the principle behind that?
As expected, he then found a large quantity of enchanted steel. Even if it was burned into a lump and twisted into a pretzel, it was still enchanted steel!

Pick it up casually, put it in your resource card, and you can at least make some money.

However, there was no notification because Li Wei was still under the effect of the Five-Star Heaven-Covering Card. In this state, let alone taking a few more pieces of enchanted fine steel, even if he directly robbed the treasury, the kingdom's tax department would be powerless against him.

This five-star "Heavenly Covering Card" truly lives up to its reputation as the king of tax avoidance!
In total, Li Wei scavenged about ten tons of enchanted steel from the ruined fortress. Ten tons is not much, and even if it is refined and forged again, it will probably only be of one-star enchantment quality.

So it wasn't a big deal, and he didn't take it seriously. As for the tools that the blacksmith needed, they were basically all destroyed and turned into clumps.

Li Wei also hoped to find some gold nuggets, but unfortunately, he was too unlucky and didn't find any.

After searching the fortress for most of the day, thoroughly examining every corner, he was finally certain that the fortress was safe. He then gave the order for all soldiers and free citizens to enter and check for any usable supplies, such as stone blocks—well, that's about it. Especially the four-star city wall, which had been downgraded to a three-star wall, its magical structures completely destroyed.

However, the stone blocks on them are still intact. If they are dismantled, they can be used to build some sturdy houses before the blizzard arrives.

Chris and several foremen immediately advised, "Sir, this wall must not be demolished! It is the defense of Gale Fortress. In the future, a new lord may arrive, and it may become your territory. With this wall, we can not only withstand the cold but also defend against enemies. If you allow it, I think we can rebuild this fortress, and we can even build our houses in the fortress."

"Alright, since that's what you think, then let's do it this way. I also think it's a pity to demolish this city wall."

Li Wei deeply agreed. This was a fortress built against a mountain. Including the height of the mountain and the city walls, it was at least fifty meters above the ground. So it was no wonder that the Necromancers would send out such a trump card as the Reincarnators to break through it.

If the strategy hadn't changed at a higher level, the Neanderthals shouldn't have lost this round.

At this moment, Li Wei felt that the overall situation was really too difficult to predict.

It's like a region that was developing very well before, a major transportation hub, a port, a pearl on the trade route where merchants gathered, and then suddenly one day the river changed course...

Gee!

Li Wei then stopped participating in the reconstruction of Gale Fortress, but the soldiers and free citizens were incredibly enthusiastic; perhaps this was the driving force behind rebuilding their homeland.

Unfortunately, Li Wei couldn't empathize, because he was destined to leave; he was just a passerby.

"Your Majesty the Sheriff! Your Majesty!"

As evening fell, Li Wei, who was sitting on the city wall enjoying the scenery while chewing on a blade of grass, heard a group of people shouting. He turned around and saw a craftsman running towards him, holding a faintly glowing object in his hands. What did it mean?
"My lord, this is the land deed, our register, the evidence of Gale Fortress's existence, and a crucial proof of our identity. Please keep it safe."

"what?"

Li Wei was stunned and didn't quite understand, but after he took it, he immediately realized that it was a damaged prestige card.

Yes, this is also the core tool for all lords to manage their territories, just like a profession card is to a professional. Without a profession card, you're nothing.
It's nothing.

Similarly, without a prestige card, who will recognize you as a lord!
Similarly, once they lose their prestige cards, the information of the free citizens registered there will be lost, and they will become refugees.

These soldiers and free citizens didn't understand, but Li Wei did. He really hadn't expected that these people would actually find this.

What do you call this? It's all preordained by fate.

He had searched for most of the day but couldn't find it. Even with +10.5 perception, he couldn't find it, which meant he didn't belong here.

But these free citizens and soldiers were different.

[You have received a mutated Prestige Stone as a gift! And it was given to you by a group of native inhabitants of the world who trust you implicitly.]

[Note: Earl Windbreak did not send reinforcements to Gale Fortress, nor did he send anyone to aid the refugees after the disaster. Therefore, the free people and soldiers here have been automatically abandoned. They have become native refugees of this world again. They have regained their freedom without realizing it. Once discovered by Earl Windbreak's soldiers, they will be arrested as refugees.]

[Note: The moment Gale Fortress was destroyed, this Prestige Card automatically severed its connection with the main Prestige Card held by Earl Windbreak. However, a portion of the souls of the 1724 victims who died unjustly within the fortress remained engraved within this Prestige Card. It was damaged and transformed into a Prestige Stone by the magical impact. This Prestige Stone can only be found and used by the direct blood relatives of the victims. But because of your actions and your former status, these free citizens trust you greatly, and they have chosen to bestow this Prestige Stone upon you. From this moment on, you are the master of this fortress.]

[Note: Due to the extremely stringent factors that led to this, you are not the master of this fortress at the provincial or kingdom level, but rather an independent individual outside the Kingdom of Locke. It is recommended that you report this to the kingdom or province promptly, otherwise you will be regarded as an enemy by the kingdom and suffer a fatal blow. Of course, you can also choose to activate the six-star settlement card at this moment, and the Kingdom's Territorial Resources Department will handle the relevant settlement and handover for you. Note: In a sense, this is territorial expansion, although it is meaningless.]

[Friendly reminder: With a Prestige Stone, you can now manage all your subjects!]

-

Wow, this is really great.

Li Wei originally planned to wait until these free people were settled and could get through the winter smoothly before going to Windrise City to find Earl Windrise, or perhaps try to make some more money.

This time he felt he needed to stay here for a while, tsk tsk, expanding his territory, hahaha! What kind of bug is this?

What on earth is His Majesty the King doing right now that he managed to find such a bug?

What exactly happened to this planet?
What exactly happened in the war with the Neanderthals?
It doesn't matter, you guys can continue fighting on the front lines, I'll expand our territory from the rear!
Everyone has a bright future.

Long live the King!

Li Wei cheered inwardly.

(End of this chapter)