[Faction System Activated]
"[Dúnedain] faction reputation +50."
"Current [Dúnedain] faction reputation: Friendly."
[World Map Activated]
[Territory Claims Enabled]
While feeling troubled, several consecutive notifications suddenly rang out, interrupting Levi's worries.
Factions, maps?
Another new mod unlocked?
Unable to focus on anything else, he hurriedly opened the newly added function interface and briefly browsed through the explanations.
First was the faction reputation system. When he did something beneficial to a certain faction, the corresponding faction would increase his reputation.
However, it wasn't that doing anything would increase reputation. If Levi was too far from a faction's activity range, that faction would be unable to learn of his deeds and thus couldn't give him reputation.
For example, he was currently within the Dúnedain's activity range, and there was even a witness beside him.
Faradon had watched with his own eyes as Levi single-handedly defeated a cavalry squad, directly providing him with maximum reputation bonus and raising his Dúnedain reputation to "Friendly" in one go.
But if he ran alone to some remote corner of Mordor to ambush orcs, no matter how many he ambushed, as long as the matter didn't spread and there were no witnesses, he wouldn't be able to gain reputation.
He would only lose reputation with the Mordor faction.
Faction reputation values weren't just identifiers... they had practical effects too.
Like now, with Levi's reputation with the Dúnedain faction reaching "Friendly," all future Dúnedain he encountered would start with friendly disposition and treat him as one of their own.
After initially understanding the faction system, he turned his attention to the second function: [World Map].
The world map could record places Levi had been and mark which factions were active in each region, with absolute precision.
However, he hadn't traveled to many places yet. The map only showed the area from the Shire to Bree to his castle, with everywhere else shrouded in fog.
"After this battle, your deeds will spread across this wilderness, Levi."
The voice beside him pulled his thoughts back.
Faradon continued, "You've solved a tough problem for us. This assembled squad would have taken more than one night to deal with."
"I want to thank you on behalf of the free peoples of this land."
The Ranger politely offered his respects to Levi.
"Your help was indispensable. Without your timely information, I might have been caught off guard and ended up shamefully fleeing, abandoning my castle."
He nodded.
"I must thank you too, Faradon."
This wasn't flattery but fact. Without advance preparation, facing this squad directly might have resulted in disaster. After all, those wargs' jumping ability really could have crossed that casually built wall.
"My honor."
"From today forward, Faradon, you or your kinsmen may enter my castle without prior permission. You may come and go freely and use the supplies within... consider it my small token of gratitude."
"Then I thank you. I will remember this friendship." Faradon didn't refuse.
Such a sturdy fortress, even if only occasionally used for rest and resupply, would be a tremendous help.
[Dúnedain faction reputation +10]
A notification appeared.
This guy was honest... when there was reputation to be gained, he really added it.
But speaking of which...
Levi suddenly thought of that 40-health elite orc.
On a whim, he looked directly at Faradon's head.
A health bar popped up.
[25/25]
Twenty-five hit points.
The Dúnedain averaged lifespans of hundreds of years, with vitality naturally stronger than humans. Having a higher health limit was within expectations.
Thinking about it this way, that elite orc that emerged from the pile of orcs averaging a dozen hit points probably had some troll blood, otherwise it couldn't have been so thick-skinned.
Shaking his head, he dispersed these thoughts.
Night had grown deep.
After experiencing a nerve-wracking night of battle (ambush), Levi felt somewhat tired. He said his goodbyes and went to rest.
The next morning when he woke up, he found Faradon had already vanished without a trace.
Only the set of iron armor left in the guest room indicated he had indeed been there.
He hadn't taken the armor Levi had given him.
This guy...
He shook his head, suddenly remembering that yesterday seemed to have activated another system, but he hadn't had time to look before being interrupted by Faradon and completely forgetting about it.
[Territory Claims]
"You can claim an unclaimed building area as your own territory."
"Gain one territory claim quota every ten levels. Current claimable territories: 0/3."
This territory claiming reminded Levi of a mod called "FTB Utilities," which also allowed claiming a certain amount of land... very convenient.
Without hesitation, he immediately claimed the castle he'd built beneath his feet as his first territory.
"Please confirm territory name:"
Levi thought for a moment. His castle was located in the wilderness not too far from the main road, so...
"Let's call it Roadside Fort."
[Territory "Roadside Fort" created successfully]
After creating the territory, he felt something was missing. After thinking, Levi crafted a sign and hung it at the castle gate.
He carved the words "Roadside Fort" on it.
Hmm, perfect.
From now on, everything within Roadside Fort's walls counted as his "territory."
According to the description, within his own territory, storage blocks like chests were protected. Without his permission, others couldn't open, destroy, or move them.
This was just the most basic permanent territorial property protection.
Additionally, within his territory, Levi could summon iron golems and snow golems.
Yes, he was now certain that he could only summon golems within his own territory, and the golems couldn't leave the territory either.
He sighed.
Sigh...
His mental plan of summoning an iron golem army to steamroll Mordor had gone bankrupt before it even began.
But this was fine too. At least when he left his base, he wouldn't have to worry about it being occupied by orcs or bandits.
This way, it solved a major problem and he could go adventuring without worries.
After understanding the newly unlocked mod functions, Levi immediately wanted to summon a few iron golems to see what these powerful helpers with 100 health looked like... were they square and blocky, or did they have more realistic textures like the iron armor?
However, after searching through all the chests, he couldn't find one crucial material... pumpkins.
Right, during this time he had only grown one crop: wheat. Only wheat seeds could be obtained by breaking the weeds outside.
For everything else, he still needed to search.
Having made up his mind, Levi opened the world map with a thought and spread out the paper map he'd gotten from Bilbo for comparison.
West of Roadside Fort was Bree... a return journey along familiar routes for him.
East was Rivendell, and further east were the Misty Mountains.
According to the map, he was roughly equidistant from both Bree and Rivendell.
Looking at Rivendell to the east, Levi felt somewhat tempted.
He hadn't seen elves yet.
Moreover, if he remembered correctly, Aragorn was living in Rivendell at this time. Calculating the timeline, he should still be a child under ten years old.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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