After a 30 minute break the convoy started walking again, this time every child and soldier had a rope tied around their waist. This was to prevent anyone from wandering off and getting lost.
And it was definitely necessary. When Sam first stepped into the mist he instantly lost sight of the people in front of him. If it wasn't for the tugging on the rope he would've thought he was alone.
Luckily fierce beasts don't like to travel in the hills so they safely travelled for another hour before finally seeing a clearing in the fog.
But Sam was excited for a different reason than the others. He was excited because of the massive castle standing in front of them. It had a beautiful european design with four towering spires and a keep over 100m tall. It was completely surrounded with 30m tall walls made out of an unknown stone.
'Yes!' Sam secretly shouted
'System how do I claim this as my base?'
[The host has to kill all foreign enemies in the castle and deploy his own units surrounding the castle]
Sam didn't immediately kill the surrounding knights and children. He planned to use them to search the castle first. As for caring about the children's lives? It never occurred to Sam to keep anyone alive who could stand in his way.
He might keep some who were nice to him alive, but the rest can turn into his summoning opportunities, after all he needs to summon more staff to take care of his future castle.
[Host doesn't have to worry, after completion of the quest host will unlock 'Legion Function' allowing the host to select the type of unit summoned]
'Nice... that's quite useful.'
Sam was even more excited, having attendants is helpful but if he wanted to look after a castle he would need maids and butlers as well. Not forgetting castle guards.
But that was for him to organise later. First he had to deal with claiming the castle.
Nick looked eager towards the castle, according to the ancient books handed down by his family, there was a powerful person's inheritance left over here. From an ancient force that was headed by a warrior above Rank 50.
'Quickly everyone goes into the castle, if you are lucky you might get a chance in there' This is when Sam realised why Nick brought all the children.
They were all brought by Nick to be used as cannon fodder. Children are easy to trick and while they might be weak they are good at scouting out traps.
*****
''What if we can awaken early'' The children were whispering happily, it's not uncommon for someone to awaken early at the age of 12, of course Sams never heard of anyone who awakened at the age of 8.
With that thought in mind, all of the children quickly funneled through the 10m tall door and it could easily fit them all. Followed by the 50 elite soldiers and finally Nick and the rank 5 elite followed. No one noticed that a black shadow followed behind and watched Sam carefully. Naturally it's the bodyguard who was making sure that Sam wasn't injured.
When they walked into the building, Sam was stunned looking around. Based on a quick scan of the objects around the first hallway all of the artifacts would cause bloodbaths if they appear in the auctions. They each had bonuses like nurturing the body or increasing the life spans of warriors. The decoration was like a traditional european castle. It had a red carpet and the walls were lined with blank flags.
The strange thing was that there were no traps in the entrance. But floating at the end of the pathway there were 10 towering thrones raised by almost 20 meters of steps. But standing with 5 thrones on each side a majestic 20 meter tall throne sat in the very center. It was made out of a spiritual metal but showed off no fluctuations.
'System analyse the thrones'
{Ding}
[Equipment: Lords Throne
Information:Throne only meant for the lord of the Imperial Government, Produced by the power of the heavens.
Ability: Lords Leadership (When the lord is sat on the throne all subordinates gain a 10% increase to all stats), Concentration (Allows the person seated to completely focus on a certain task), Unbreakable (Unbreakable for warriors below Rank 300)]
[Equipment: Dukes Throne
Information: Throne only meant for the most powerful and loyal subordinates of the lord. Produced by the power of the heavens.
Ability: Dukes Determination(When the dukes sat under the throne, all subordinates currently under their control gain 10% to all stats), Concentration (Allows the person seated to completely focus on a certain task), Dukes Loyalty (When all 10 dukes chairs have a duke sitting on them the Lords stats will double), Unbreakable (Unbreakable for warriors below Rank 200)
'Produced by the heavens? No wonder the system wants me to take it over' Sam was excited when he read the information.
Sam was even more determined to take this place over now, after all things created by the heavens definitely aren't common, even if Sam wasn't sure how rare they were.
Nick also saw the thrones and instantly knew they were good things. But didn't dare run forward and grab them.
''You two go and check'' Nick pointed towards two of the village children.
The children walked up cautiously, but just as they were sitting on the throne, a bright white light pulsed and blasted the children away.
They landed over 10 meters away but had already lost their vitality as they flew. By the time they landed they had already died.
''Hiss'' All the guards and children took a deep breath. They didn't even see what killed the children, only a flash and they were dead.
Nick watched it happen with a cold gaze.
''You go and try now '' Nick once again pointed to two people, but this time it was two Rank 3 guards.
The two guards almost shook their heads, but under the heavy gaze of the rank 5 soldier.
They repeated the actions of the previous children, but this time when the light pulsed it didn't immediately push them away, one resisted for less than a minute before they too were blasted away severely injured. But the second one lasted for 3 minutes before finally being fired away, but he only had a slight injury.
Nick's breathing became heavy when he saw this, based on what he saw, he judged that it was testing the people checking, but the basic requirement was for them to be a warrior.
Sam also realised this and finally decided to start his plan. He quietly called the bodyguard over and prepared to summon the steward and his other summons.