Of course, Xiao Jing knew nothing of what was happening on the forums.
Right now, his attention was completely captivated by the generous rewards the system had given him for establishing his village.
[Trait]: Number One Under Heaven (Pseudo, Blue, Upgradeable): Renown +200, Hidden Attribute Charisma +10, Attraction to vagrants, military generals, and strategists +3%, rate of joining minimally increased.
'What a terrifying trait!!!'
Xiao Jing sighed in heartfelt amazement as he looked at the effects of the system-rewarded "Number One Under Heaven" trait on his panel.
After entering the game, the players had been brought up to speed. They knew this was the world of the Late Han Dynasty, with the Three Kingdoms period as its backdrop.
And in this world of the Three Kingdoms, every player knew just how important renown was.
With low renown, you were nothing in the eyes of the powerful, ruling families, no matter how strong you were.
Conversely, with high renown, some historical generals and strategists would see you in a different light, even if you weren't that strong, drastically increasing the success rate of recruiting them.
Of course, because the renown attribute was so important, it was also extremely difficult to obtain.
Xiao Jing had been lurking on the forums for a long time and had never even heard of anyone gaining any Renown, yet this one trait gave him a direct +200.
Besides the huge renown bonus, the boosts to his hidden charisma and his attraction to vagrants, generals, and strategists were all extremely practical effects.
And all of these were concentrated in a single, small, blue trait—a blue trait that was even upgradeable. It just went to show how terrifying it was.
Xiao Jing marveled inwardly once again.
'Compared to this blue trait, my own purple one seems to pale in comparison!'
He had a guess as to the trait's upgrade condition. 'After all, the name is 'Number One Under Heaven'. The condition must be to become number one under heaven again.'
Calming his racing heart, Xiao Jing turned his gaze back to the other rewards.
[Treasure]: Vagrant Attraction Scroll
[Quality]: Yellow
[Effect]: After use, for a short period of time (3 days), the territory's attraction to vagrants in the surrounding area will be greatly increased (Effective Range: 10-kilometer radius).
[Requirement]: None
[Description]: For you right now, this is undoubtedly a treasure. Please use it wisely.
Seeing this, Xiao Jing nodded, his face alight with joy.
In order to exploit the Village Creation Order's bug—that all unowned objects within a one-kilometer radius of a territory belong to its Lord—and claim the Ancient Qin Secret Realm, he had deliberately built his village in a valley in the barren mountains.
But this also meant he was the only person in the entire village. The surrounding area was desolate and uninhabited, making it very difficult to attract vagrants.
This Vagrant Attraction Scroll, however, would go a long way toward alleviating that problem.
"Use!"
Without hesitation, Xiao Jing decisively chose to use the scroll.
"DING! The Vagrant Attraction Scroll has taken effect. For the next three days, Desolate Mountain Village's attraction to nearby vagrants will be greatly increased. Please prepare to receive them, Lord!"
Hearing this, Xiao Jing nodded, his gaze sliding to another system-rewarded treasure.
[Treasure]: Random Historical General Attraction Scroll
[Quality]: Yellow
[Effect]: After use, for a short period of time (3 days), the territory's attraction to wandering historical generals in the vicinity will be greatly increased (Effective Range: 50-kilometer radius).
[Note]: 1. After the scroll is used, a historical general must be within the scroll's effective range to be attracted. If there are none, the attraction will fail.
2. This scroll is only responsible for attracting the historical general, not for recruitment. Whether or not you can convince the historical general to stay depends entirely on the Lord's own abilities.
[Requirement]: None
[Description]: Feeling lucky, kid? Wanna bet there's a historical general wandering nearby?
He sucked in a sharp breath.
Xiao Jing winced as he looked at the Random Historical General Attraction Scroll.
He had originally thought this scroll would guarantee the recruitment of a historical general. Who would have thought it only handled the attraction part, and that even that could fail?
'Looks like I'll have to hold on to this scroll for a while. I'll wait until I've scouted the area and confirmed there's a historical general nearby before I decide to use it!'
...
Desolate Mountain Village's general location was not good.
On his way here, Xiao Jing had learned from some local commoners that this place was on the outskirts of Shanwu County. Shanwu County itself was a border county within Yanmen Commandery, a border commandery of Bingzhou in the Great Han Empire.
Situated on the border between Han territory and that of the "Hu" peoples, it was frequently subjected to raids by the Alien Races.
In addition, the location where he built the village was in a valley amidst a mountain range.
Although there was a large plain in the middle of the valley suitable for farming, it couldn't be denied that this place was too desolate, practically uninhabited.
If the system hadn't luckily rewarded him with a Vagrant Attraction Scroll, he would have been prepared to develop the village all by himself.
'Now, let's see what this Ancient Qin Secret Realm is all about. If all it produced was one Village Creation Order and one Nine Dragons Array Plate, then it really wasn't worth the trouble!'
Xiao Jing thought with a growing headache as he looked at the desolate environment around his village.
Deep down, however, he was secretly excited. After all, an "Ancient Qin Secret Realm"—the name alone was enough to make his imagination run wild...
He clicked open the Ancient Qin Secret Realm panel from the village panel.
[Secret Realm]: Ancient Qin Secret Realm
[Grade]: Gold (Extremely Dangerous)
[Inheritor]: Xiao Jing
[Guards]: Floor 1: 67 Ancient Qin Soldier Terracotta Warriors (Tier Two), 322 Ancient Qin Soldier Terracotta Warriors (Tier One, Weakened), 1800 Conscripted Laborer Soldiers (Tier One)
Floor 2: 200 Ancient Qin Soldier Terracotta Warriors (Tier Three), ???
Floor 3: ?????
...
Floor 5: ???
[Secret Realm Resources]: Floor 1: Conscripted Laborer Soldier Summoning Token, ?????
Floor 2: Nine Dragons Array Plate (Lost), ???
??
...
Floor 5: Village Creation Order (Gold, Lost), ???
Note: Due to your malicious occupation (i.e., not through a legitimate show of strength), the Ancient Qin Secret Realm guards' affinity for you has plummeted (Current: -50). Therefore, although you have occupied the Ancient Qin Secret Realm, you are unable to command any of its guards or obtain any of its resources.
[Affiliated Structures]: 1. ?? 2. ?? 3. ?? 4. ?? 5. ??? (Unviewable, Undetectable)
[Occupation Output]: Troops—100 Ancient Qin Soldier Terracotta Warriors (Unranked)/week, 1 tael of gold/month, 100 rusty iron spears/month, 20 terracotta helmets/month.
[Comment]: Despicable occupier! Take these things (the output) and get out of the Secret Realm! Do not disturb our slumber, or I, the General, will show you the consequences of angering us!! —The Ancient Qin Garrison General.
...
Staring at the long list of stats on the Secret Realm's panel...
Xiao Jing fell into silence.
The Secret Realm producing resources and treasures was one thing...
...but it also came with five affiliated structures! Although he couldn't investigate their specifics, he figured their quality wouldn't be low. This was a Gold-grade Secret Realm, after all, and most likely related to the pre-Qin era. At that moment, he was well and truly shocked.
But when he saw the -50 affinity from the Ancient Qin Secret Realm guards, a bitter smile appeared on his face.
'As I thought, the consequences of exploiting a bug like this are severe!'
'As the master of this Secret Realm, I can't even see most of its information, let alone command a single one of its guards.'
'I must be the most pathetic Secret Realm master in history!'
From what little information he'd gathered, he knew that once a Secret Realm was occupied, its master should have been able to command at least some of its guards.
But in his case...
Sigh. It was all because he'd used the Village Creation Order to exploit the Secret Realm's bug.
But if you asked Xiao Jing if he regretted it...
He could only answer that if he had to do it again, he would do the same thing!
After all, the payoff was just too sweet.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have had nearly enough strength to even think about touching a Gold-grade Secret Realm like the 'Ancient Qin Secret Realm,' let alone become its master.
He probably couldn't even defeat the low-level soldiers on the first floor in a one-on-one fight.
It was nothing like his current situation, where he had become the master of the Gold-grade Ancient Qin Secret Realm easily, without lifting a single finger. No wonder the guards' affinity for him had plummeted so dramatically.
Who could blame them? Anyone in their shoes would be furious!
Whether the Secret Realm's guards recognized him or not, Xiao Jing now considered himself the master of the Ancient Qin Secret Realm.