First Summon
Lampard was stunned after seeing how easily Makai had killed a Silver Knight and he was convinced that Makai was indeed the Child of Fate who was born yesterday.
Although Lampard was a commoner, when his parents were alive they were Knights Wandering and had the knowledge gained from their adventures, so from a very young age, Lampard heard many stories his parents told about knights.
Among these many stories, their parents also mentioned a few of the abilities that a Child of Fate possesses, and among those abilities was that of providing their sworn knights with both vital energy bonuses and talent bonuses in mastery understanding. There was even a chance to help knights below an Epic Knight's realm to break their bottlenecks.
Back then, Lampard thought his parents told stories that are told for children to sleep, but it wasn't until yesterday after he saw that his son Skar had actually become a Bronze Knight that he began to suspect his parents weren't just making up stories.
Today, after seeing Dahlia's strength, he no longer had any doubts and, ever since he saw Dahlia killing Fogi, his heart began to pound with anxiety and desire.
The more Lampard listened to the stories told by his parents, the greater his desire to become a knight serving the Collins family and he fantasized about becoming a general commanding a cavalry of 1,000 knights. Unfortunately, that dream was extinguished when he failed the Collins family recruitment test at age 10 and had to face the harsh realities of life.
However, today, that dream was again reignited after seeing the opportunity before his eyes that sparkled as he gazed at Makai's straight back who seemed to be staring into the void.
What Lampard didn't know was that, Makai wasn't looking into the void, but he was looking at the system rewards on his dashboard.
[Total Rewards: 16,000 system points, three portions of advanced mastery, four summon cards of 10 random troops, and two random building construction cards]
Makai was thoughtful as he did his own calculations and concluded that the mission with double rewards must have given him 10,000 system points, his first kill another 1,000 based on Dahlia's bounty, and the remaining 5,000 must have been for him killing a knight who was a kingdom above yours. As for how the other rewards were distributed, he wasn't sure and could consult the detailed system information to find out, but since that was irrelevant, he left it as is.
After seeing his rewards, Makai started to think about his current situation.
'Although I was already expecting this kind of attack orchestrated by my older brother, I didn't expect that even before we crossed the first fort, there would already be an ambush waiting for me...'
'If Baron Kirov has decided to follow Ferdinand, it is very likely that he will not let the matter remain as it is. Mainly now that one of his patrol squads has been wiped out and, in his next attack, I believe he will act personally...'
'Although he is a Silver Knight at his peak using 3-star equipment, I have confidence in beating him but it will be very difficult to face him with his 480 knight cavalry relying only on my strength, Lionel, and the others. ..'
'He will certainly not openly attack me in his fort and will wait for me to pass first, or his actions will be exposed and he knows that even if my father allows sibling competition, if his dark ways are discovered, there will be the death penalty. ...'
'Hiding my strength now may seem to make no sense, however, once I show up at the fort with more knights following me than information received, Baron Kirov, who will certainly contact Ferdinand to seek an explanation, will be able to report the number of knights following me and this will alert my brother...'
'So, it's best to wait to summon them after I leave the fort. However, lest they think my father sent other hidden forces, I must still have one or two Silver Knights following me as I cross the fort...'
'The question is... Where should I find a Silver Knight?'
'Although I suspect my summoned troops are Silver Knights, I can only summon them 10 at a time and this is not in line with my plans...'
While Makai still hesitated, he heard the cold voice of the system.
[Ding!]
[A pack of 100 Forest Wolves led by a 2-Star Elite Forest Wolf is coming towards the host and will arrive in a few minutes]
[New Quest Triggered: Eliminate the 2-Star Elite Forest Wolf]
[Reward: ?]
'Damn it! It seems that everything I planned was in vain...'
'Anyway, why do I need to hide my strength?'
'No matter what tricks my brother plays, with my current strength, there aren't many knights within the duchy that can threaten me. Unless...'
'Anyway, it doesn't matter now. I'll have to summon my cards...'
Makai was still lost in thought when Lionel approached, "Young Lord, we've already packed up all the equipment and cleaned up the garbage. What should we do with those 21 horses?"
Looking further ahead, Makai saw the horses that belonged to Captain Harley and his riders that were still tied to trees. All of them are white and muscular horses. Twenty of them are 1-star warhorses and the most muscular was clearly a 2-star warhorse.
After hearing Lionel's question, Makai thought for a while before saying, "These horses will serve the men I'm waiting for..."
Then Makai looked at Lionel and the other youths who were beside him waiting for his orders, "Lionel, lead the carriages and wait for me with the others 5 kilometers ahead."
Lionel was a little surprised and was about to say something, but Alexia was the first to speak, "Young Lord, our battle just now has certainly attracted the attention of the forest wolves and they won't be long in coming...."
"This place is no longer safe and we must leave together."
Makai didn't mind her stubbornness, as he knew she was genuinely worried, "I understand your concerns, but as I said, there are some men coming and they are not weak..."
"You can go ahead without worrying. It won't be long and I'll catch up with them soon."
Seeing Makai's insistence, Alexia was still reluctant, but could only obey his orders. Although Lionel and the others wanted to stay, they knew they couldn't go against their Young Lord's order.
Soon, everyone took their positions and left at a slower pace than when they came. Not only did the two carriages with luggage become heavier with the addition of the equipment they had collected as spoils of battle, but also, they seemed reluctant to depart.
Butler Jonathan was the one driving Makai's carriage, he also had to leave first after Makai insisted.
Seeing the line of carriages disappearing as they rounded a tight curve through the trees in the distance, Makai opened his panel with a little more urgency, as the forest wolves could arrive at any moment.
He quickly pulled out a purple card that had a picture of an army all covered in silver armor and their spears pointed at the sky. This is a card that can summon 10 troops randomly.
When Makai used it, he was greeted by a system message.
[The host does not yet have a commander and using the random troops summon card will make the summoned troops belong to one of the three civilizations of the Knights World]
[If the host summons its commander first, although it is also random, when summoning troops after having a commander, there will be a second option for the host to summon the troops belonging to the commander's army]
[Are you sure you want to summon 10 random troops now?]
[Yea! No!]
Makai was surprised by these options, but he didn't have to think twice to decide, after all, a commander without troops is not a commander. What's more, even if he didn't want to summon troops belonging to that commander, he could go with the first option and summon them randomly.
Soon, Makai took the purple card that only had a picture of a silver helmet and activated it.
[Are you sure you want to summon a random commander?]
[Yea! No!]
Before proceeding further, Makai noted that there was some information just below about the commanders' origins.
[The summoned commanders belong to one of the three civilizations in the Knights World, the Orthodox Civilization, the Eastern Civilization, and the Western Civilization...]
Makai only read over the top, as he was already familiar with the history of the three civilizations.
In the game, each server was a large continent divided into these three civilizations where players assumed the identity of Castle Lords and needed to develop their territories, expand their armies and conquer new territories until this entire continent was conquered. However, dark forces had high intelligence and grew stronger by the day, and could also destroy human territories and these servers could be lost, forcing players to have their castles relocated to older servers that were not lost.
The commanders of these civilizations were based on historical characters from Earth, and only the Orthodox Civilization was different in that players could summon commanders based on mythological beasts such as dragons, vampires, demons, angels, and another plethora of races.
What attracted Makai's attention was that their commanders would have memories of the worlds they belonged to which they were programmed into in the game and they were devoted to their Castle Lords with a mission to avenge their lost worlds to the forces of darkness.
Coincidentally, in the World of Lazerorth, there are also dark forces that now reside on the Continent of Haoran and their summoned commanders would have as their main objective to help Makai gain strength so that together they can annihilate the dark forces.
Aware of this, Makai was anxious to know what kind of commander he would summon and many fanciful thoughts went through his head, 'If I summon an Emperor Dragon, will my troops be Dragon Knights?'
Eager to find out, Makai quickly activated his card.
After activating it, the card disappeared from his system panel, and 2 meters ahead of Makai appeared a purple wooden door filled with intricate golden rune symbols.
Soon, the door slowly opened.
Makai's heart pounded with anticipation and he felt as if he was spinning a lucky wheel where his prizes were one better than the another.
When the door was fully opened, a layer of black mist seemed to find its freedom as it dispersed along this narrow path.
Makai could only see that everything inside that door was pitch black and there just seemed to be this thick black fog.
Upon waiting and seeing that no one was leaving, Makai had the ridiculous thought that he had to go there and knock on the door while calling for someone, but that thought was extinguished as soon as it arose as he saw that a foot covered in metal boots gold was stretched out. Soon, a 1.90 meter tall, well-built man came out and the door disappeared.
When Makai saw the full figure of this commander, although he was fully covered in golden armor and only his eyes and nose were exposed through the slits in his helmet, Makai still recognized him when he saw him holding a spear in his right hand and, in his left hand, a large, round golden shield and a red cloak covering his back.
Although it wasn't a dragon, Makai was still excited about his first summon.