Harem-Powered Kingdom Building: Empire of Carnal Sin-Chapter 25: Map

Barbara stood in the center of the tribespeople, acting as their leader. She gritted her teeth.

"We of the Shuvlok tribe are proud worshippers of God Korun. We will not submit to a Selune worshipper like you! Kill us if you want. More of my tribesmen are nearby. They will avenge us!"

Barbara tried to put on a brave front.

"Oh? That's interesting. What are your tribespeople doing in the Desolate Lands?" Hiro asked with a chuckle.

Barbara opened her mouth but found no words. She searched for an excuse but found none.

Hiro noticed that as Barbara spoke her defiant words, many of the male tribesmen glanced at her with worried and anxious expressions.

"There's no need to answer me. Death it is then," Hiro said and raised his hand. He prepared to snap his fingers.

The Shuvlok tribespeople stepped back in fear. Some, however, showed more bravery. One of them, an archer like Shuvene, retrieved his bow and moved in front of Barbara.

"Let's fight this bastard! At the very least, we won't die as cowards!" he roared.

His words seemed to have stirred some courage in the others as well. The archer aimed his bow at Hiro and reached for an arrow.

But Hiro snapped his fingers first. The newfound courage of his enemies vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by dread as they braced for their heads to be blown off.

To their surprise, nobody died. Only the archer's wooden bow snapped into two pieces.

The exchange was brief, but it shattered their will to fight. Hiro let them process their situation before speaking again. He ignored the archer in front and fixed his gaze on Barbara. He had deduced that she held the most influence over the group.

Also, he held a personal interest in her. Bringing her into his Realm was something he wanted.

"That could've been your head, or that of your companions. Your determination to resist is admirable. But from what I see, not all of your companions share your willingness to die," Hiro said. "Your decision may doom all of them. I'm in a good mood, so I'll give you one more chance to answer."

Barbara's mind reeled. She led this group and genuinely cared about the lives of the men under her. They had watched her grow up and had shared many experiences within the tribe.

She did not want to die. More importantly, she did not want her party members to die under her leadership.

Her will to live slowly overpowered her pride. She convinced herself that this was only a temporary setback, a moment to gather information before striking back when the time was right.

'This bastard will regret not killing us when he had the chance,' Barbara thought.

With that thought, the matter was soon settled. Within two minutes, seven drops of blood landed on the Citizenship Approval Slate. Hiro's realm acquired seven new citizens.

A notification rang in Hiro's mind from his Status screen.

[The population of your Realm has crossed 10. 'Map' has been unlocked on the Stone Tablet. New items are available for purchase in the Shop.]

He set aside inspecting the Map for now.

Hiro turned his gaze to his seven new citizens, scanning them with his usual easygoing expression in place. They thought he was trying to intimidate them, but in truth, he was just using Citizen Appraisal to assess them.

'These guys sure can fight,' Hiro noted.

All of them were above level 20, with some surpassing level 30. Except for one Scout, the rest held proper Combat Classes.

Barbara's Combat Class stood out the most. Its rarity ranked as 'Elite'!

Common, Rare, Elite, Unique, Epic, Legendary, Divine.

These were the seven possible class rarities. Each increase in rarity granted one additional free attribute point on level up.

Meaning, Barbara's Elite class provided three free attribute points per level, making her stats even higher than Hiro's at the moment.

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Name: Barbara

Level: 25

Class: Feral Spellfist

Rarity: Elite

STATS

STR 55

AGI 45

MAGIC 47

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In comparison, these were Hiro's stats, after taking the "Fake Baron" Title into consideration.

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.

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Name: Hiro Antee

Level: 7

Class: Ruler of Lust

Rarity: Divine

Carna 1550

STR 43

AGI 39

MAGIC 33

CHA 30

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With that being said, stats often did not tell the full story about combat prowess. As the rarity of a Class increased, the Skills granted by that Class became more powerful. Ultimate Force Telekinesis served as a prime example of a busted ability worthy of a Divine Class.

Poor Shuvene had no chance to defend himself against it.

After appraising all of them, Hiro summoned the Stone Tablet. As expected, the new 'Map' app appeared on the home screen.

Everyone stood drenched from the rain. Since they could not get any wetter, Hiro ignored both the people and the rain and tapped on the map icon.

The app opened to reveal a mostly black screen.

An irregular white shape appeared on the black background. The map ledger indicated that this shape represented the borders of his Realm. It had a rough hexagonal shape but was not a perfect hexgon.

Only the center of the map displayed any detail. A blue dot marked Hiro's location. Around the blue dot, a circular area appeared in a creamy brown color.

Zooming in, Hiro saw small icons representing the tent as well has his makeshift room. Green patches appeared along the edges of the circular area, marking the surrounding woods.

To the north of his position, the foot of the mountain behind him was became visible on the Map.

'The map has a fog of war, just like many video games on Earth,' Hiro understood what was going on.

Exploration would be required to update the map in the Stone Tablet.

The map did not capture the presence of any living beings except Hiro. The Shuvlok tribespeople stood right in front of him, yet they did not appear on the display.

In the top left corner, a single line of text appeared:

[Area Level:?? (Explore more of your territory to see the Area Level)]

"To you as a Ruler, Area Level is extremely important," Carnalia spoke inside Hiro's mind.

"Care to explain more?"

Hiro had no idea what the term meant or why it mattered.

"The Area Level of a Barony is determined by the World. Nobody knows exactly how. The current understanding is that it reflects the average level of high-level beings in the Barony, including both monsters and civilized species."

"Okay, but does it influence my Realm in any way? Or is it just a statistic?"

"It wouldn't be important if it was just a statistic. You do remember that you cannot gain XP outside the borders of your Realm, right?"

'Aha!'

Things clicked for Hiro the moment Carnalia said that.

"So if my Area Level increases, the level I can reach will also increase, right? Because higher-level monsters will appear, giving me more XP."

"Bingo. Although that doesn't paint the full picture," Carnalia said. "If your Area Level is too high, you probably won't survive for long."

"But wait... what if only my citizens contribute to my Area Level? Let's say I wipe out all the monsters. Don't tell me I'd have to start killing my citizens to level up."

"...There are many issues with that idea. You'll understand more as time goes on. For now, just know that Dungeons exist, and the world can create more as needed. The scenario you're imagining will never happen."

"I see..." Hiro decided to just trust Carnalia on this for now.

"Also... don't get too cocky. Having a Divine Class doesn't mean you'll never meet your match. Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer," Carnalia warned.

She had seen how quickly Hiro adapted to Ultimate Force Telekinesis. He was a genius, which made it even more important to keep his ego in check.

"Okay," Hiro replied simply.

That response did little to reassure Carnalia, but she let it go for now.

Hiro glanced at the Map. There wasn't much else to see. It would become more useful once he explored more of his territory.

Meanwhile, the others stood silently in the rain, getting drenched. They watched Hiro as he stared at the Ruler's Stone Tablet.

They did not interrupt him, partly out of fear and partly because Hiro was also standing in the rain just like them. But finally, Barbara lost patience.

She had a privileged position in the Shuvlok tribe, which led to a more spoiled upbringing than most.

"Uurrgh! How long are you going to keep staring at that thing? What do you want us to do now?" she directly questioned him.

Her question came just as Hiro finished inspecting the Map.

"Ah, thanks for reminding me. I kind of forgot about you guys," Hiro replied nonchalantly.

'He's messing with us! He's totally messing with us, isn't he!?' The Shuvlok members grew even more annoyed.

"Unfortunately, we have a small problem. See this wooden shelter? I'm currently using it. And that tent over there? Bob and Furina will be sleeping in it."

The new citizens sensed trouble as soon as those words left Hiro's mouth.

"As for you all..." Hiro's smile widened. It was the middle of the night, but it was also time to put his newly obtained workforce to work.