Marko collected all the rewards from this mission, then he opened his panel again to check the situation of the 500 affiliated commoners.
With a "swish!"
A window instantly popped up in the place of "Commoner Names," which said:
"Because the host has completed exploration and missions, the system will now officially begin to merge into the native world. Due to the lack of resource collection points, the system will switch to mission reward mode and gathering mode, with resource quantities uniformly determined by the system.
Since the castle is merging into the world, under the restrictions of the rules, the castle will not produce humanoid creatures. Commoners automatically fall into Tier 0 creatures, unable to gain Hero Skill bonuses. Spending gold resources can convert them into Tier 1 Farmers."
Then several more windows popped up one after another, showing changes to the system and usage methods of related buildings!
From now on, all commoners who swear allegiance to Marko would be automatically listed as Tier 0 soldiers, and Marko had to spend 3000 gold resources to build the entire sequence of Farmer buildings, so that the commoners would have a chance to transfer professions.
The Fortress, Stronghold, and Castle buildings only added protective functions and crop blessings. Fortress allowed one harvest per year, Stronghold two harvests per year, and Castle three harvests per year.
Originally, Marko had planned to build Arrow Towers, but for the sake of his commoners, he gritted his teeth and painfully spent 500 gold to build a Farmer's Shed.
Seeing the building and farmland suddenly appear, Elder Bloodstone, who was still wolfing down black bread, almost choked to death on the spot.
Bloodhand hurriedly patted his back, letting the old man ease up a little. Though they were still wearing long-haired rhinoceros hides, the smell on their bodies had already lessened a lot.
Before entering the castle, at Marko's demand, these "Rockborn" people who had never bathed once in their lives all jumped into the moat, nearly turning the outer moat's water into mud.
At the same time, Marko found 10 strong tribesmen to be apprentices in the Blacksmith Shop. Because the system hadn't provided blacksmiths, it had always been Bobby Li who found people to double as blacksmiths.
The Rockborn's ironware was restricted by the Northmen, so they could only use obsidian (dragonglass) as weapons. These 10 men were originally craftsmen in the tribe who polished obsidian shards, so learning should be quick.
Marko stored away all of their obsidian weapons. After all, being in the North, they would definitely encounter White Walkers in the future, so storing them in advance was no harm.
After arranging everyone, Marko brought Bloodhand and Elder Blackstone to the meeting room on the second floor of the castle.
Because of the influence of his previous life, Marko sought perfection in all things. On the first day he arrived in this world, the first thing he did was thoroughly inspect the inside and outside of the castle.
He made sure he could completely control this castle, and also hoped to infer traces of this world through the castle's structure.
Upon learning that this island had three large tribes, Marko became restless. Tribes with tens of thousands of people could each field at least a thousand troops.
Although he had this castle, there was still risk of being attacked. With a numbers advantage, enemies might still break through.
Moreover, according to Elder Bloodstone, those tribes had long histories. If they learned of the castle's existence, they would definitely try to seize it.
On this desolate and barren land, any bit of resources or territory could become an excuse for slaughter.
The natives of Skagos averaged over 2 meters in height. Though their weapons and armor were backward, their physique completely compensated for that flaw.
In the meeting room, Elder Bloodstone looked around everywhere like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden. The spacious hall was luxuriously decorated, and the solid architectural style made the meeting room especially solemn.
In the following time, with the introductions of Elder Bloodstone and the others, Marko consolidated all intelligence about the clans.
Although a Level 1 Mage Guild had not yet been established, the castle still had some basic daily goods and stationery. In the first-floor storage room, Marko found blank books and quills.
Later, he spent about a day recording the structure and functions of the castle in the books, using Chinese characters for safety.
He opened the book, dipped ink, and began writing with the quill.
The Stern Clan of Driftwood Hall possessed a massive wooden fortress and controlled the largest forest on Skagos. Because of the excessive cutting of ancient trees, there was no more timber suitable for shipbuilding on the island. The Stern Clan monopolized the entire island's shipbuilding industry.
The Magnar Clan of Kingshouse was the most populous clan. Their chieftain, Rope Dan, was the island's strongest warrior, capable of climbing mountains and diving into seas with ease.
It was said he was as tall as a giant and wielded a massive battle axe, splitting a man in half in an instant.
It was his ancestor who led his men to kill the Stark Duke, so their clan's castle was called "Kingshouse."
The Crowl Clan of Deepdown was the oldest clan on Skagos, with the purest bloodline. Their clan had the most "Wolf Spirits" (skinchangers).
It was said their elders could control unicorns, and their clan raised many man-eating monsters. Falling into their hands meant either being eaten or offered as blood sacrifice.
When Marko wrote this, he already had a rough plan in mind. First, Deepdown would definitely not unite with the other two clans, so he could prioritize dealing with them.
Next was Driftwood Hall, which posed the greatest threat to Griffin Castle. With their shipbuilding ability, building a few siege ladders was the easiest thing.
Marko planned to use the forces from Deepdown to launch a surprise attack on them, securing timber resources and minimizing threats.
Finally, he would unite the two forces and wage decisive battle against Kingshouse. Marko's initial plan was just this. Unfortunately, his task panel hadn't refreshed yet.
He had a premonition that this mission's reward would be very generous. He thought of quickly building the Angel Summoning Altar. The Stark family should not have declined yet.
The Flayed Men were still only Earls, but Marko guessed that the plot's start wasn't far off. At that time, without angels, there would be no way to resist the White Walkers and Daenerys's three dragons.
At that moment, an eagle's cry came from the balcony again. Griffin Siwang pushed the door open and ran in, holding a dead seal in its mouth.
It wanted to offer the seal as a treasure, but Marko stopped it. Since there were no servants to clean, he didn't want his castle filled with blood.
Elder Bloodstone and Bloodhand looked at the griffin in shock, their eyes filled with curiosity and reverence. The impact of seeing a griffin was no less than seeing a unicorn.
After Marko finished recording, Elder Bloodstone pulled the still-dazed Bloodhand to bid farewell to Marko, as they had to allocate housing for the clansmen.
For these Rockborn who had lived in caves all their lives, stone houses were unimaginable.
Now they completely regarded Marko as a god. At his word, they would sacrifice their lives at any time.
Before leaving, Bloodhand-Blackstone subtly suggested letting his three daughters serve in the castle as maids.
For a moment, Marko was tempted, but after thinking of Bloodhand-Blackstone's looks, he dismissed the idea, rejecting it under the pretext of castle construction.
After Elder Bloodstone and the others left, Marko went to the balcony to look at Griffin Siwang. After telling it that it could come inside to sleep after eating, he returned to the conference table to continue writing.
By now, the sky was gradually darkening. The North was at the end of autumn, the weather turning cold. Freezing rain from fierce winds and autumn storms was one of the greatest disasters of Skagos.
Every year at this time, the Rockborn of Skagos had to stockpile food and meat in advance to winter in caves, much like bears hibernating.
Griffin Castle, however, was completely unaffected by the climate. The sun still rose and set, the weather warm and pleasant. This made Marko recall his hometown on Blue Star.
Fortunately, this castle stood isolated overseas, otherwise, Marko thought he wouldn't have survived half a year on Westeros.
Gathering his thoughts, Marko wrote down the plot he remembered, from the War of the Five Kings to the Battle of the Bastards, recording all the information he could recall.
He also marked the key points, including later plans and ideas. To him, memory would fade with time.
Details he once overlooked could one day affect his development. Though the North had no fleet, when Stannis later entered the North, he would surely confront him.
There was also the problem of wildlings. Those hundreds of thousands of wildlings beyond the Wall had to be recruited somehow, otherwise, they would one day become hundreds of thousands of wights.
Unknowingly, time passed into deep night. Griffin Siwang had already curled up asleep beside Marko.
At this time, Marko remembered that his resources were enough to build a new building, so he quickly checked the construction list.
Owned Buildings: Village Hall, Militia Hut, Blacksmith, Fortress, Farmer's Shed.Town Level: 4.Owned Resources: Gold 2500, Wood 20, Ore 20, Crystal 0, Mercury 0, Gems 0, Sulfur 0.
"Level 1 Mage Guild"
Description: Allows Heroes to learn magic, possessing 3 Level 1 spells. One Light, one Dark, and one either Summoning or Destruction.Town Level Requirement: 3Town Resource Requirement: Gold 2000, Wood 5, Ore 5.
Without hesitation, Marko clicked the build option. With a loud "rumble," a tall tower instantly "grew" beside the castle.
A strange energy instantly enveloped the entire castle. Marko went to the balcony and saw the entrance to the Mage Guild was at the top floor.
So he hurriedly went upstairs, with Griffin Siwang waking up, shaking its body, and following after him.