Upgrade
[The System Upgrade will last 3 hours]
[The System will be unavailable during that time]
Derrick's heart skipped a beat. This was an amazing announcement!
An improvement to the system meant more advantages that would help him in his future conquests. He turned his gaze back to the villagers who were still kowtowing on the ground.
"All of you go back to work. Once I establish a concrete plan, I'll come find you again. Also, if anyone defects, they'll die"
The villagers furiously nodded, as if scared that Derrick would change his mind and simply kill them all.
After he was satisfied, he invited Lacha's on Io's back, which she gingerly and cautiously did. The creature was now able to carry two passengers after drastically improving its stats.
"Can you bring me to your house? I still don't have a place here, and I know you don't want to go back to the hut"
Lacha flushed before agreeing. Derrick had already listened to her twice, which gained a small part of her trust.
The ride was short, and they arrived at a house located in the center of the village. As a healer, she was one of its key figures and people deeply respected her.
Derrick had to say that the house was cozy and very well maintained. It was obvious that she was a very meticulous person who loathed dirtiness.
They entered, and he sat at a wooden table while she went to prepare snacks. She also poured him some wine.
Her manners were impeccable, and it made him wonder about her origins, since she clearly wasn't a native of this area.
After preparing everything, she sat next to him before starting to feed him.
"Where do you really come from?"
Lacha was surprised by the sudden question, and an unsightly expression appeared on her pretty face.
After taking a deep breath, she told him that she was originally from a noble family in the Empire of Serichi. However, her family'd been purged by an Official after a failed coup d'état in their city.
Fortunately, she had been able to escape before finding refuge in this village. However, she had been the sole survivor of their now fallen family line.
She also mentioned that all of Akata's villagers were refugees as well. They had been chased away by aristocrats on false motives, causing them to run for their lives. This place was the only thing keeping them from dying in the wilderness.
Derrick's mood changed greatly during the story.
"I can promise you they'll be the first ones to fall"
After being abandoned by his regime during the fall of his village, Derrick had grown to despise empires that treated their populace like blades of grass.
He swore he would make them pay with their lives.
"Can you tell me about our neighbors?"
This was the next step of Derrick's plan. Now that he had troops, it was time to rapidly expand.
The humiliation felt when he was killed by those hideous creatures was still vivid in his mind, and it gave him endless motivation to vanquish them, even if they were at the other end of the world.
"I'll go get a map"
Lacha got up and came back a few minutes later with a large scroll. It looked ancient and was quite stained, but the information on it was still clear and concise.
It was a map that indicated hundreds of villages in the forest. The area was truly gigantic, which amazed Derrick.
He already knew that conquering entire empires would be a difficult task, but after seeing their scale, it now seemed Herculean as he quickly estimated their populations to be in the billions.
But even in the face of such weak odds, Derrick's eyes were brimming with excitement. He loved challenges, and this was the biggest someone had ever undertaken.
When she saw his reaction, Lacha became silent. Anyone else would crumble in front of such a task, but he was different. His ambition was unshakable, and he clearly wanted to take everything the world had to offer.
"Who should be our first target?"
Derrick lacked knowledge, so he could only rely on her to make his first moves.
After looking a bit, she pointed at the nearest village.
According to her memories, it had a bit over 40 soldiers and a chieftain who was weaker than the one that Derrick had killed. It was a perfect target, which made him grin to no end.
After settling the matter, they both drank more wine until Lacha became tipsy. Derrick practically couldn't get drunk unless he chugged complete barrels.
"You better treat me well..."
With the alcohols' effects kicking in, Lacha's remaining wariness had gone out the window. She had started acting bolder, much to Derrick's pleasure. He could finally see her true character.
"I already promised you before... Are you saying you that you don't trust me?"
And before she could even answer, Derrick poured a cold shower on her.
"You're not going to be the only woman in my life, but you'll definitely hold a special place as my first"
She sighed and had a slight smile. She already figured that such a domineering man wouldn't settle with only one woman.
"Just make sure you don't neglect me in the future, ok?"
Derrick nodded. He rarely interacted with people during his old life, much less with women.
He was determined to change, and he'd definitely indulge in the pleasures that life had to offer.
Suddenly, a slew of announcements appeared in Derrick's consciousness.
[System Upgrade completed! New functions have been unlocked]
[While the System was down, you acquired a new trait!]
[The new trait is called
[User is now also able to see the villages it has conquered, coupled with their stats]
[User doesn't have to research languages anymore. They have been stored in a pre-established database]
[User is now able to grant various professions. The professions are :
[Would you like to see the village stats?]