The warm spring sunshine bathed Griffin Fortress, filling it with light and making it seem like a legendary holy city, brimming with purity and hope.
The people of the land always looked at the main castle with a hint of reverence. In their eyes, it was a holy city, forever shrouded in mystery!
This year was Yin Geng Calendar 297. Many things happened this year, greatly influencing the future of this world.
The opening scene of the TV series would occur this year, with three rangers, led by Sir Waymar Royce, encountering the White Walkers and being killed. This would lead to the escape of the surviving ranger, and the children of House Stark would coincidentally acquire their direwolf pups.
"Ramsay Bolton" (aka "Ramsay Snow"), poisoned Dominic Bolton this year, becoming the sole heir to the Dreadfort.
This year, Euron Greyjoy, the "Euron Greyjoy", slept with his brother Victarion Greyjoy's wife and was exiled from the Iron Islands by his elder brother, King Balon. This began his seafaring adventures, and in the future, he might bring the Dragon Horn to Marco.
Jon Arryn, who had dedicated his life to the Baratheon dynasty, would die this year from the poison "Tears of Lys," marking the true beginning of the story.
At this moment, Marco stood on the tower of Griffin Tower in the main castle, watching the Swan griffins soaring through the sky. His thoughts were complex. Without realizing it, Marco had been in this world for over a year, his followers had grown in number, and he had a beautiful wife.
This was simply unimaginable for Marco, who in his previous life was just an ordinary person. Marco carefully recalled his experiences over the past period, and it actually gave him a sense of unreality.
"What's wrong? Marco, are you alright?"
Just as Marco was feeling lost in thought, a gentle voice suddenly pulled him back from his reverie. Then, before Marco could react, a beautiful and moving figure appeared before him.
Marco gently embraced the other person, speaking in Chinese:
"Nothing! When I'm holding you, I don't feel anything else. Whether it's real or not doesn't matter. To be reborn, if I don't shake things up, how can I live up to my identity as a transmigrator?"
"Marco! What are you talking about? I don't understand! What you're saying doesn't sound like the Common Tongue either! I'm already learning the Common Tongue with Sister Leaf, so I can communicate with others later."
Marco kissed Moonshadow's small face and whispered in her ear:
"Really! That's great. But I still prefer you to speak in the Source Language to me, especially at night. Do you want to know what I was just saying? Actually, I was saying that I want to taste some honey!"
Moonshadow's little face flushed red. Hearing this, she gently buried her head in Marco's armpit and whispered in the Common Tongue of Westeros, "Okay!"
Marco's favorite thing was drinking Moonshadow's "self-brewed" honey. The Flower Sprite's attributes gave Moonshadow access to a variety of flavors, often intoxicating Marco and making him want to linger.
Near noon, Marco was finally satisfied and left his bedroom. After telling a few maids not to disturb Moonshadow, Marco went to the top-floor building.
After entering the City Hall on the top floor, Marco sat on his throne and opened the long-awaited System Panel. This trip to the Frontier had earned him a lot of resources. Starting today, Marco would begin a large-scale expansion of the castle.
City Owned: Griffin Fortress
Emblem: Holy Sun
Motto: Light and Order
Owner: Marcol Beleris
Hero Level: Level 10
Hero Skills: Basic Offense, Advanced Leadership, Diplomacy, Retribution, Finance... (omitted)
Special Abilities: Regal Demeanor, Comprehension of All Things.
Owned Buildings: Town Hall, Militia Barracks, Blacksmith, Fortress, Tavern, Market, Archery Tower, Barracks, Griffin Tower... (omitted)
Building Level: Level 14
Owned Soldiers: Thugs: 1,000, Crossbowmen: 100, Infantry: 3, Griffins: 5, Priest: 1, Unicorn: 1, Archmage: 1, Commoners... (omitted).
Owned Resources: Gold: 51,510, Wood: 75, Ore: 86, Crystal: 27, Mercury: 24, Gems: 28, Sulfur: 33.
Marco's first choice was the Shipyard. The function of this building in the game was to construct oceangoing vessels by spending resources. Marco's current number of ships was not enough to support a small fleet, so he wanted to see how the system would modify this function.
Shipyard
Town Level Requirement: 12
Resources: 2000 Gold, 20 Wood
Function and Requirements: Must be built near a body of water. Allows you to purchase Magic Ships.
Ship Types:
Trireme (Large oar-powered ship suitable for navigation. Resource cost: 3000 Gold, 10 Wood, 10 Ore)
Flat-bottomed Ship (Extra-large oar-powered ship suitable for navigation. Resource cost: 5000 Gold, 20 Wood, 20 Ore)
Large Galleon (Colossal ship built for transoceanic voyages. Resource cost: 10000 Gold, 30 Wood, 30 Ore)
After Marco clicked the construction option, a huge dock appeared in the sea not far from Griffin Fortress. Furthermore, two massive protective barriers emerged in the outer waters, completely safeguarding the sea area around Griffin Fortress.
Now, only a single entrance/exit, about 100 meters wide, remained. This seemed to be specifically designed by the system for ships to pass through. These protective barriers looked triangular, as if they grew out of the sea itself. Their purpose was likely to prevent enemies from attacking Griffin Fortress from the sea.
Then, Marco turned his attention to the ship list. In the game Heroes of Might and Magic V, there were three types of ships. The ship Marco had previously summoned with magic was the first type, a trireme. It was thanks to the trireme's superior performance that Marco was able to sail back smoothly from the icy Frontier waters.
Marco believed that the other two, more expensive types of ships, would definitely bring him different surprises, especially the Large Galleon, which looked just like the behemoth battleships of Earth's Age of Exploration.
In the following days, Marco successively built the Level 3 Magic Guild, Garrison City, Griffin Fortress, Monastery, Stables, and Equestrian Arena, instantly raising Griffin Fortress's building level to 21.
In particular, the Level 3 Magic Guild directly contributed one Adventure Magic and three Level 3 spells to Marco. However, it was a pity that Marco hadn't yet learned the corresponding magic skills, preventing him from learning these three spells for the time being.
There were a few artifacts that could allow Marco to learn all the spells of a certain school directly, but without the support of mana and skills, learning them wouldn't be very useful.
However, Marco's main purpose in building the Level 3 Magic Guild was the "Summon Troops" spell within the Adventure Magic. In the game, this was a god-tier skill for remote troop replenishment. Although it might not achieve that level in this world, Marco could sense that this Adventure Magic was, in a certain sense, a space magic. This time, it would definitely bring Marco a different surprise.
In the end, just as Marco had anticipated, the "Summon Troops" spell, influenced by the world's consciousness, had transformed into a form of remote mental control. Marco could now perform troop conversions and city construction for Griffin Fortress from anywhere in the world.
Marco felt that this spell, like "Sarasas's Boat," had a lot of room for further development. He had previously analyzed the structure of Moonshadow, and now, after building the Shipyard, Marco felt he could summon the Moon Ship again!
The day after the timber resources were exhausted, Marco brought Moonshadow to the market early. Market Administrator Wisher, seeing Marco's arrival, came out to greet him. He had witnessed the changes in the castle over the past few days and knew that Marco must be short on resources.
"Lord! Are you here to exchange for resources?"
Wisher asked with a smile.
"That's right! That's my purpose. By the way, how did you know I was coming?"
Marco said as he pulled Moonshadow inside.
Market Administrator Wisher followed behind, replying to Marco as they walked:
"My Lord! I've been calculating the resources you've used while building the castle these past few days. And since that magical change didn't occur this morning when you built, I figured your resources must be running low!"
After Marco and the others sat down, Wisher brought over a list. Marco took it, and a string of information appeared before his eyes.
Resource Exchange Ratio:
Gold to Wood/Ore: 1000/1.
Wood to Ore: 1/1.
Gold to Rare Resources: 3000/1.
Wood/Ore to Rare Resources: 3/1.
Rare resources exchange, 1/1.
Building Blueprint: (Can Build)
Bear Enclosure (Special)
Town Level Requirement: 6
Construction Prerequisite: Rearing Snow Bears
Function: Reduces the growth cycle of young Snow Bears, increases their intelligence and lifespan, and makes them more affectionate towards their owner.
Resources: 3000 Gold, 20 Wood, 20 Ore.
Special Troops: Snow Bear Knight, Level 3 Troop, 500 Gold (limited by the number of Snow Bears), possesses abilities (Armored, Bear's Roar).
Clan Palace (Special)
Town Level Requirement: 12
Construction Prerequisites: Bear Enclosure
Function: Increases the intelligence and lifespan of Giants, allowing them to awaken the ancient magical bloodline.
Resources: 10,000 Gold, 20 Crystal, 20 Gems.
Special Troop: Giant Lord, Level 6 troop, 3,000 Gold (limited by Giant intelligence and quantity), possesses abilities (Armored, Fire Attack, Thunder Attack)
Wolf Lair...
Marco looked at the list of buildings available and was somewhat tempted. However, he knew what he needed to do, and he had a plan for allocating these resources.
So, Marco only exchanged half of his ore resources, converting them into wood resources. Now Marco's resources were: Gold 30,510, Wood 30, Ore 31, Crystal 27, Mercury 19, Gems 28, Sulfur 33.
After Marco constructed the Monastery and Equestrian Arena last time, the system once again prompted him that he needed a Training Ground or Hero Shrine to convert Level 1, 2, and 3 human troops into Level 5 and 6 human troops.
Converting troops required three times the recruitment cost in gold resources. For example, if a game farmer cost 15 gold to upgrade to an archer, it would cost 45 gold. What Marco needed to do now was to convert Sas Ting and his Level 3 troops into Priests, and then from Priests into Knights.
Marco was now Level 10, and his Monarch's Demeanor skill could save him 3% on costs. Moreover, this conversion had both time and quantity limits, just like in the game. Only 7 people could be converted per week, and it couldn't be stacked. (10 people for the Hero Shrine)
After Marco exchanged the resources, he immediately clicked to build the Training Ground. Just like that, a large complex of buildings immediately appeared in the area near the main castle. From a distance, all the facilities and equipment there seemed to be complete, perfectly suitable as a military base.
In the following days, Marco also successively built the City Council and Parliament. This time, it directly cost Marco 15,000 gold resources. Although he felt a little heartache, it was all worth it because Marco could now collect 4,000 gold resources every month.
Not to mention, after establishing the Parliament, Griffin Fortress had already become a super-huge castle. In terms of the main castle's area, it had reached the level of Winterfell, not to mention the building area behind the two city walls outside the main castle. Marco's Griffin Fortress could be said to be the largest castle in all of Westeros.
Golden light shone on Griffin Fortress, making the entire castle look full of a sacred feeling, especially the angel statue on top of the Parliament building, which looked just like the real thing.
"Marcol! What is that statue? Is it a god you worship? But the Green Seer said that you Dragon King families don't believe in gods, right?"
Moonshadow, leaning against Marco, suddenly pointed at the angel statue and asked Marco, seemingly puzzled as to why this human had a pair of wings!
Marco, embracing her shoulders, replied, "That's an angel, a servant of the Dragon God of Light, and will also be our servant in the future. It's a dragon, this is the form they take!"
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the hidden quest, 'Construction of the Parliament'. The host is now rewarded with 5000 gold and 1 Paladin."
Immediately after, the angel statue atop the Parliament Hall flashed, and a huge ball of light suddenly appeared before Marco and the others. After the light vanished, an armored knight revealed himself.
He wore a set of thick knight's plate armor, engraved with Marco's "Holy Sun" emblem. The knight's head was adorned with a giant helmet decorated with angel wings, which, along with the thick shoulder pads on both sides, made him look somewhat bulky.
The knight knelt on one knee, placing his shield beside him. After removing his helmet, his true face was revealed to Marco. The knight appeared to be around 40 years old, with a resolute face filled with excitement and emotion. He said to Marco:
"My Lord! Paladin Godric salutes you! I will become the spear in your hand, to eliminate all enemies who come to attack!"