NOVEL FROG Chapter 423: The Baron’s Plan
Sir Aldric carefully observed the thirty unknown individuals as they slaughtered a deer in the middle of the jungle.
After being summoned, he became the commander of Leo's military forces, including the city guards and law enforcement, who were also considered part of the overall military. Aldric quickly organized the troops into different groups, assigning the summoned soldiers to more critical tasks like guarding the gates, protecting the lord’s mansion, and scouts monitoring the city's surroundings.
Leo, the lord, could telepathically communicate with any summoned troops close to him. When the scouts outside the city found strangers with weapons, they reported it to Leo telepathically. Leo, in turn, sent Aldric to gather more information.
"These guys are most likely bandits, probably deceived by the false rumours about the lord. They think the lord is weak and easy to bully," Aldric thought with pity to the bandits; they were so wrong he felt bad for them; his lord is the furthest thing from 'easy to bully' he can think of.
"Lord, what are your orders?" Aldric asked Leo telepathically. The telepathic skill was handy, with a maximum range of 10 kilometres. Beyond that, it didn’t work.
"Return to the city and take 100 soldiers with you. Arrest them if possible; if not, you have permission to kill," Leo responded. Although a junior knight like Aldric could probably handle the situation alone, Leo was a cautious man and preferred to play it safe. Besides, there were many idle soldiers in the castle, and this skirmish would be good training for them.
...
Leo glanced at his system panel:
Name: Leo Fitzroy
Age: 22
Title: Baron
Level: 17
Physical Constitution: 2.5
Strength: 1.3
Agility: 1.1
Spirit: 2.5
Combat Power Evaluation: Knight Attendant
Free Attribute Points: 0.3
Skills:
Hidden (Max)
Mental Immunity (Max)
Critical Hit (Lv 1)
Horse Riding (Lv 1)
Sword Skill (Lv 2)
Bow Skill (Lv 1)
Evasion (Lv 1)
Quick Mind (Lv 3)
Photographic Memory (Max)
Power Surge (Lv 2)
Accelerated Regeneration (Lv 5)
Agility Surge (Lv 1)
Skill Store (Open)
Skill Points: 0
Next Draw: 23 minutes away
Leo reviewed some of his skills:
Hidden (Max):
Passive: You are hidden from any supernatural divination methods used to gather information about you.
Active: Increases divination resistance of allies around you by 1500% for one day. It can be cast once per month.
Mental Immunity (Max):
Passive: All supernatural methods that affect your mind or memory are ineffective.
Active: Increases mental resistance of allies around you by 1500% for one day. It can be cast once per month.
Critical Hit (Lv 1):
Passive: Increases your critical hit chance by 15%.
Active: Increases allies’ critical hit chance by 1% for one day. It can be cast once per month.
Horse Riding (Lv 1):
Passive: Increases your horse riding skill by 15%.
Active: Increases allies' horse riding skills by 1% for one day. It can be cast once per month.
Sword Skill (Lv 2):
Passive: Increases your sword skill by 30%.
Active: Increases the sword skill of allies around you by 2% for one day. It can be cast once per month.
Bow Skill (Lv 1):
Passive: Increases your bow skill by 15%.
Active: Increases the bow skills of allies around you by 1% for one day. It can be cast once per month.
Evasion (Lv 1):
Passive: Increases your evasion skill by 15%.
Active: Increases the evasion skill of allies around you by 1% for one day. It can be cast once per month.
Quick Mind (Lv 3):
Passive: Increases your mental calculation speed by 45%.
Active: Increases the mental calculation speed of allies around you by 3% for one day. It can be cast once per month.
Photographic Memory (Max):
Passive: Allows you to recall everything you’ve seen with perfect clarity.
Power Surge (Lv 1):
Active: Temporarily increases your strength attribute by 50% for one minute, followed by a 50% decrease in strength afterward. It can be used every 15 minutes.
Accelerated Regeneration (Lv 5):
Passive: Increases your regeneration speed, including healing from injuries and stamina recovery, by 75%.
Active: Increases the regeneration speed of allies around you by 5% for one day. It can be cast once per month.
Agility Surge (Lv 2):
Active: Increases your agility attribute by 100% for one minute, followed by a 50% decrease in agility afterward. It can be used once every 15 minutes.
Leo had chosen these skills carefully, knowing they would significantly boost his army's performance in battle. The ability to mass-buff his allies would make him a terrifying general in the future, capable of transforming even weak forces into formidable ones. Even now, his skills are already powerful enough to strengthen his troops considerably.
Each skill point could be used to upgrade or purchase a new skill. Leo’s three maxed-out skills had been given to him by the system, which occasionally granted him random max-level skills for no apparent reason. Leo had tried to figure out why but came up with no answers.
In this world, as in the novels of his past life, it seemed like everyone had a system or some kind of cheat. It was almost expected that transmigrators would receive one. However, Leo had no idea who designed his or why.
...
He had been in this world for over 200 days since drawing Aldric from the system. Since then, he had only managed to summon one other junior knight. As it stood, he had only two junior knights in total.
His total forces—including soldiers, city guards, and law enforcement—now exceeded 500, which was quite a lot for a baron with a city of 10,000 under his control. Fortunately, the summoned units didn’t require salaries, but providing them with even simple food was a growing issue.
Leo needed to find a way to generate income.
He had a few ideas for making money.
Gaining experience points was relatively easy; practically everything he did, even sleeping with his 'maids,' gave him experience. However, he had noticed that more novel and risky actions provided better rewards. Staying safe in his castle had yielded fewer experience points. Despite that, Leo couldn’t help but be cautious. He swore he wouldn’t leave his castle until at least one Great Knight was under his command.
In the meantime, he focused on increasing his constitution and regeneration skills, hoping to live a long life.
...
"00:03… 00:02… 00:01... Congratulations! Great Knight card +1!"
"What?" Leo yelled, startling the two women in bed beside him. They woke up, likely thinking Leo had experienced another nightmare.
"Leo, what happened? Another nightmare?" asked Isabella, the red-haired woman who was his second favourite companion, with concern.
Leo had been having nightmares recently, mostly about his gruesome death on the blue planet. At first, he didn’t remember much about it, but over time, vivid memories of the intense pain and despair he had felt after being hit by the bus began to resurface.
"Yeah, Isabella, my dear, I need to be alone. Take your sister and leave. I’ll prepare a gift for you as an apology tomorrow," Leo said, impatient to summon the Great Knight. He didn’t even have a single intermediate or senior knight yet, so summoning a Great Knight would be a vast improvement.
Familiar with Leo’s sudden mood changes, Isabella left without question, taking her 'sister' with her.
"Hmm, I really need a source of income," Leo muttered. His harem wasn’t cheap, and lately, his most significant expense, aside from feeding his army, was keeping his many girlfriends satisfied. In his previous life, Leo had been born into a traditional family that had arranged his marriage. His wife was a simple woman, content with little. As a result, Leo had little experience and never imagined how expensive maintaining a harem could be.
"I’m going bankrupt at this rate. I wish I could find someone like my wife from my previous life," he thought. Although Isabella was his favourite, Leo never considered marrying her—she was far too expensive!
"Summon!" Leo commanded. The appearance of a Great Knight would hopefully solve his financial problems.
With a flash of yellow light, a tall, heavily armoured man appeared. His muscular frame was visible even beneath the armour.
"My lord," the knight said in a surprisingly gentle voice that didn’t match his imposing stature.
Name: Sir Lucan Stonehelm
Physical Constitution: 19.0
Strength: 18.1
Agility: 19.9
Combat Evaluation: Great Knight
"As expected of a Great Knight," Leo thought. Great Knights were on par with official mages, capable of combating powerful spellcasters using just their physical prowess.
"I can finally travel the world with peace of mind. Earning money will be easy," Leo thought, his spirits lifted.
He reasoned that the fastest way to earn money was to steal it—by attacking bandit dens around his and other nobles' territory and looting whatever they had. No one would scold him for it; they’d probably thank him. As for stealing from other nobles, Leo didn’t even consider it. While a Great Knight significantly improved his self-preservation, they weren’t invincible. Even a duke could hire a Great Knight if they had enough money. Leo knew he couldn’t openly challenge the kingdom until he had at least one Golden Knight under his command.
This world wasn’t like the stories from his previous life. The people here were intelligent, and if Leo defied the laws and began attacking other nobles, they would unite against him. Even the king might personally take action, possibly hiring a Silver Knight to defeat him.
Leo understood that playing by the rules gave him the best chance of rising to power. Following the law allowed him to use it as protection while breaking it would leave him vulnerable.
In truth, Leo had no complaints about the current peaceful era. While it made it harder to expand his territory, it also gave him time to grow stronger. On balance, he was content with peace.
As his constitution increased steadily and his regeneration skill levelled up, Leo was confident he could live for at least 100 years, maybe more. However, when it came to longevity, magicians vastly outlived warriors. An official mage could live up to 300 years, while a Great Knight could only live up to 200 years at most despite their very high physical constitution.
The disparity between the mage and knight paths grew more pronounced as one progressed.
Knights can gain power more quickly, but mages have longer lifespans.
One couldn’t cultivate both paths—choosing one meant giving up the other. Leo had no plans to stay on the knight's path long-term. Eventually, he would switch to the mage path. Regardless of how much he cultivated as a knight, he would have to abandon it to pursue magic.
Leo never considered giving up on the mage path. The extended lifespan alone made it worthwhile. While the mage path required greater talent, Leo believed that, with his system, he would eventually find a way to succeed.