F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 373: Growing One’s Territory

[Would you like to establish territory at this location? Y/N]

The moment Rafhan rooted himself, a prompt appeared in front of Daru. He naturally tapped on [Y].

In the next moment, a rather complex interface appeared before him.

The first thing Daru did was press the minimize option. He didn’t even take one look at anything, fully knowing his head would only hurt if he didn’t prepare his heart first.

Taking a few deep breaths, he opened the interface again.

Daru then took the time to slowly analyze the complicated, game-like options, realizing that there were options to build, recruit troops, and power-up troops, though one had to pay for them using a few types of currencies: water, vigour, sunlight, and Life Saps. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

There were also some options he had to unlock before even knowing what they were.

Thankfully, there were only a few that were available right now, and the one that looked the most enticing to him right now was Rafhan’s innate ability.

He could enthrall two Runebarks below level 80 for free before having to pay 10 units of water, 5 units of vigour, 5 units of sunlight, and one Life Sap.

Daru rubbed his temples.

’Alright, for starters, let’s look for Runebarks below level 80...’

It shouldn’t be too difficult.

There were a few close to their location, so he wasn’t worried about being gone for too long while leaving Rafhan with no protectors.

Daru wanted to lure only two, but three detected him.

’Whatever...’

His Royal Sapling would enthrall two, and he would only have to fight one. He brought all three back to Rafhan’s Territory.

The level 79 Oak and Birch Runebarks were rather slow compared to him, so he waited until they arrived, then activated the Enthrall Innate ability.

Two golden streaks shot towards two of the Runebarks, causing them to freeze as they were enveloped in bright, golden light.

Daru, meanwhile, charged at the last Runebark and engaged it in battle.

He was faster and now slightly stronger than it, so the fight wasn’t too challenging.

But then, mid-battle, he felt two new connections in his mind, along with the options that came with them.

Daru ordered the two Runebarks to help him in battle, more so to try controlling them than actual help, as he didn’t need any assistance to defeat the enemy.

He straightened his body after the battle, swiping the notifications to the side.

Daru then turned his attention to the command options in his mind.

He could order the two Runebarks to gather either water or life energy or build the few available buildings.

Choosing a glade with a small pond close to it turned out to be a wise decision.

A Sunroot required both water and life energy, though, so that was what he ordered the two thralls to do.

The Oak Runebark was tasked to collect life energy, while the Birch Runebark, slightly faster than the former, was to gather water.

The latter suddenly began walking to and slipping its roots into the pond.

A few moments later, it ran back to Rafhan and watered the Royal Sapling.

Daru noticed that the water unit counter increased by one.

The Oak Runebark, on the other hand, went over to a beech tree and linked roots with it.

Then, like the Birch Runebark, it ran back and handed over the unit of life energy to Rafhan, though the process took considerably longer than gathering water.

Daru had to wait a few minutes before the Sunroot option became available.

The moment it did, he ordered the Birch Runebark to build it somewhere close to where Rafhan was rooted.

He felt the Royal Sapling’s delight through their connection.

The entire process took around fifteen minutes, and by the time his first Sunroot was completed, he had a small surplus of life energy.

So, Daru reallocated manpower to the Sunroot.

The Oak Runebark linked its root with the Sunroot and began gathering sunlight.

Everything was confusing at first, but he was slowly getting the hang of how to help the Royal Sapling attain Sovereignty.

In fact, he was enjoying it quite a bit.

A few more building options became available the moment he gathered enough sunlight, water, and life energy.

Daru read their descriptions, and his brows rose at one of the buildings.

The Wargrove.

He immediately tapped on it in the special interface, and to his surprise, he needed to build it in a sizable cluster of trees.

Daru selected a part of the nearby trees in his mind.

A few moments later, the Oak Runebark headed over to build it, but the interface indicated that the building time was over three hours.

That was way too long for his liking.

So, Daru decided to have both his thralls build the Wargrove. He was pleased that the time was reduced to half.

He decided to go out there and scout the surroundings in the meantime.

Daru set both Runebarks to Garrison Mode, so he was not worried at all that Rafhan would be destroyed while he was venturing into the periphery of their territory.

They would immediately drop what they were doing once an enemy entered the borders.

Taking one last look at his developing territory, Daru left.

He could live off his remaining Limbo Carrots and Hellberries for a while, but he was running low on those, too.

While he had a water source now, food was still an issue.

Daru wanted real meat.

’Ah...I should’ve collected more spider meat...’ he shook his head while wandering.

This time, he didn’t have to put X marks to find his way back, as he could easily sense where Rafhan was.

’Is this how directionally talented individuals feel?’ Daru mused in astonishment.

It was then that the sounds of what seemed to be flapping wings snapped him right back to focus. He hurriedly turned towards the source.

There, in the distance, was a half-bird. Not exactly humanoid, but an underdeveloped pheasant.

It was a bit shorter than even him.

It looked malnourished, yet it was still quite plump in all the right places.

Daru’s eyes sparkled.