Chapter 9

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lastly, there was sufficient wide land.

To execute his concept of development, Reed anticipated that he would need at least fifty thousand humans during the early stages and hundreds of thousands later on.

Having several hundred thousand human beings would be more than enough to support a small number of vampires. The vampires, who would be supplied with blood, had top-notch combat prowess and would, in turn, be totally capable of protecting and ensuring the safety of the humans.

All of that required a vast piece of land.

By a stroke of luck, he also met that condition, and he was standing on said land.

The old castle stood on the edge of the cliff, and from the front, it was an easily defensible castle that was extremely difficult to attack.

However, it was a completely different matter at the back of the castle.

The area was a gourd-shaped basin surrounded by high mountains, and the castle was located on the tip of that gourd.

Behind the castle was a fertile piece of land that was 20 km wide and 15 km long.

The terrain gradually shrank toward the end, forming the bottleneck of the gourd.

Its width went from over 30 km wide to no more than 2 km, with towering peaks lining both sides of the pass.

Five kilometers beyond the bottleneck was the second half of the gourd-shaped basin, and the land there was no less fertile than the one right behind the old castle.

More importantly, that fertile land was 150 km in length with an average width of 60 km.

Each and every one of those fertile lands was Reed’s.

The castle was built upon the mouth of the gourd, firmly guarding the rich and fertile land.

That was Reed’s greatest trump card.

In his eyes, that piece of land was literally a holy land for farming.

It was deep within the Farmountains, which made travel extremely inconvenient. Flight would be required to pass through most of the terrain.

In addition, the gourd-shaped basin was surrounded by peaks as high as 3,000 rhents. There was no other way to enter the basin other than through the castle, implying that the area was isolated from a majority of natural foes.

Even if there was a flying monster, only a dragon would be able to fly over such a high mountain.

Moreover, the land in the gourd-shaped basin was fertile, and the temperature mild throughout the year. It was also far away from the threat of war and beasts.

As long as there were humans around, the land could be rejuvenated.

Even with his experience of living in modern society, Reed was still full of praise for the land that the Progenitor Vampire had found.

If it had been back on Earth, the land would have been worthless due to its terrible accessibility. However, in the turbulent and warring world, it was the most suitable site for a base camp.

The lack of accessible transportation meant that it was isolated from the world, which also meant absolute safety.

With him in Grimm, communication with the outside world would not be a problem, and his community would not be left behind by the outside world due to its remoteness.

In the memories of the Progenitor Vampire, it had taken almost ten years of exploring the Farmountains for him to find the fertile land.

It was a pity that the vampires did not know how to utilize the land. Even the original Progenitor Vampire himself only felt that there was potential in the land but had no idea how to utilize it.

The vampire race was not proficient in farming. While the talented highborn vampires were at the forefront of combat prowess in the world of Glory, when it came to agriculture, they would not even have scraps if they were to follow behind humans.

Fortuitously, Reed had arrived and inherited the wealth that the Progenitor Vampire had left behind.

The land would finally have a new lease of life in his hands.

“So, Patriarch, do you plan to raise a group of humans to work for us?”

The one who spoke was the second amongst Reed’s direct descendants–Frey.

He was a vampire with a slender frame and sharp eyes.

His long hooked nose appeared rather sinister, and to outsiders, his blue eyes held an incomprehensible gleam.

Corralling humans was nothing new to him. One hundred years ago, when the vampires had more than three thousand kinfolk, he had managed humans numbering in the tens of thousands. His impression of those greedy and weak fodder was not good.

Reed nodded and spoke his mind without hesitation.

“Yes, our divine race’s current way of life is extremely dangerous. If we continue to plunder humanity to sustain our kind, we will always be hiding in the Farmountains like rats in a sewer. And when Grimm discovers us, we will also need to give up this territory that belongs to us.”

“If you do not want that Transcendent Mage from Grimm to come knocking on our doors and do not want the armies from Grimm to break through our gates, kill our kin, and plunder our wealth, all of you must proceed according to my plan.”

An external threat was the best way to shift focus from any internal conflict.

Plus, the deterrent effect of that Transcendent Mage in Grimm far exceeded Reed’s expectations.

The vampires did not react much when they heard about Grimm’s army, but the name of the Transcendent Mage cast a shroud of terror on everyone’s faces.

“Patriarch, your will is our way forward.”

To his surprise, all of the vampires bowed in unison and proclaimed that oath solemnly.

Reed was somewhat relieved to witness the scene because he had overestimated the difficulty of the matter.

No, it was more like he had underestimated the position of the Progenitor Vampire among the vampires.

He was not the just patriarch of the household, he was also their master with supreme authority. Anything that would affect the fate of the entire vampire clan had always been decided by the Progenitor Vampire.

No one could turn their back on the authority of a progenitor, and it was not merely an inherited trait but an imprint in the vampires’ blood.

“All right, here is my order. First of all, starting from today, sort out the area south of the castle to accommodate the arriving humans. If the humans threaten us, we may strike back. But in the absence of any threat to us, everyone is prohibited from harming humans, directly sucking human blood, and plundering their wealth.”

That was particularly critical. To change the mindset of the vampires, he needed to formulate new rules, otherwise. They would simply kill anyone they saw, and if that happened, he could forget about his sustainable development.

On top of that, this rule did not completely hamstring the vampires, as they would still be allowed to fight back whenever they encountered danger.

“Second of all, activate our contingency plan. For the next six months, all of the blood that our sacred kind needs will be provided by the Fount of Blood. Once again, be inside or outside the castle, and do not harm innocent humans, except for those who mean us harm.

“Third of all, everyone must come to the main hall to relearn the history of our sacred kind tomorrow morning. I will be conducting the session myself.”

After Reed issued three consecutive orders, he stopped and gave the vampires a few minutes to digest the information.

“Eudes will handle the clearing of the southern part of the castle, and it has to be completed within five days. After the Fount of Blood is activated, Frey will continue to be responsible for safeguarding it.

“The seven of you, stay. The others, you may leave. Everyone, gather here again at nine in the morning tomorrow.”

Reed waved his hand and kept the seven second-generation vampires behind.

There used to be as many as thirty second-generation vampires, but after the war with Grimm a hundred years ago, only seven were left.

In order to ensure the survival of the vampires and avoid discovery by the Transcendent Mage in Grimm, the Progenitor Vampire suppressed their powers. That was why the number of vampires remained at around two hundred for so many years.

Reed was no longer bothered about the vampires’ various expressions.

Sitting on his jewel-studded throne, he closed his eyes to contemplate.

He had to admit that the framework for his plan was very general. It could even be called crude, and there were many areas that required improvement during implementation.

Nevertheless, he would not let such an opportunity pass him by.

In three years’ time, the players would arrive, and if he did not accumulate enough power before those walking disasters came, the vampires would really be relegated to hiding in the remote Farmountains.

With the players being able to stir sh*t up, the existence of the castle might be exposed. Should that happen, it would be a catastrophe.

The vampires were his beginnings, and his identity as a Progenitor Vampire had determined everything.

Progenitor Vampire: You are the progenitor of the vampires. You possess a powerful bloodline and are immune to sunlight. You can create new blood kin every month, and your kin, as well as his/her descendants, will be absolutely loyal to you. Each blood kin will provide you one point of character experience per month.

There were two hundred vampires in the castle now, and every vampire would provide him one experience point every month.

The amount of experience required for him to level up from Level 10 to 11 was 5,000 points, and even if he did not do anything, it would only take him two years to go up a level.

An outsider might look down on one level, but Reed was very aware of how difficult it was to level up after Level 10.

Despite Grimm’s million-strong population, there were only twenty Level 10 high mages. The higher one’s level, the more absurdly difficult it was to level up.

Glory was not a game where one could level up just by fighting monsters. The game had a very complicated computation system, which Reed had yet to fully understand.

Besides, once the number of vampires increased in the future, other figures would also continue to increase.

If he had five thousand vampires under his wing, how fast would he level up?

It was a massive game-breaking bug.

So, if he were to forsake the vampires, he would really just be a vampire who was hidden among humans.

The advantages he had would shrink by half at least. Hence, the most important thing right then was to grow the vampires so that they would have enough strength to protect themselves in three years’ time.