"I choose [Capture]."

Aeron said.

A ripple spread across the origin and it shrunk. He felt a stirring in his blood as some small part of it awakened. It didn't have any effect on his body, but his bloodline had been altered slightly.

When a village was captured, it would be returned to the first Rank of its size and half of that experience would go to the village that captured it.

After capturing the village, there was a new option in place of [Capture], [Relocate]. Aeron decided to leave the village where it was for now.

Wanting to see what else he had gained; Aeron went into the [Profession Change] building. There were two stone stele there: [Skirmisher] and [Celtic Berserker].

[Skirmisher] F+ grade Military

Receive [Basic Spear Technique] Skill, [Basic Spear Throwing Technique] Skill, +10% agility

[Celtic Berserker] E grade Military

Receive [Basic Sword Technique] Skill, [Berserk] Skill, +10% Strength and Constitution

Both were good professions, though the Celtic one required them to have a Celtish bloodline. Surprisingly, he found that he could choose it if he wanted.

That must be what awakened in his bloodline earlier, the Celtish part of it. And since his villagers’ bloodline was based on his, didn't that mean they could choose this profession too?

Going to the [Village Hall], Aeron went to check the stats of the village only to be surprised that there was a stone stele there also. It had the profession the elder had on it.

[Druid] D- grade Military

Receive [Animal Companion] Skill, [Nature Magic] Skill, +30% intelligence

Limit: 0/5

Seeing this, Aeron changed profession immediately. He kept his [Basic Sword Technique] Skill since he would've gained it naturally through his sparring matches with Edmund, but he lost the [Duel] Skill.

Afterwards, he checked the village stats. It was a Copper Grade village with no special stats and no residents or soldiers.

This was because Aeron now owned the village and none of his citizens were living here. The former residents hadn't submitted yet and so weren't classed as his.

He exited the building to find that his soldiers had rounded up the surviving Celts. Aeron walked over. Two of the prisoners were kept separate since they were S class like his own tailor and blacksmith.

"I'll give you a choice: Submit or die."

He said to the captured masses calmly.

"I'll never follow you, murderer."

One of the captured spat.

A blade flashed and a head rolled.

"Anybody else?"

Aeron's voice cut through the commotion that was brewing.

No one spoke.

Gradually, some of them knelt saying:

"I am willing to submit to Your Majesty."

Aeron gave it two minutes, he then nodded to his followers.

Anyone not kneeling was killed where they stood, causing blood to wash over the prisoners.

They all stayed silent as they knew what speaking up would get them.

Aeron walked over to Edmund, wanting to test his newly gained [Nature Magic].

He chanted in a low voice before placing his hand on Edmund's chest.

"Cure Light Wounds!"

He intoned.

A green light washed over the knight, healing him of any light wounds and chasing away his fatigue.

Whispers started amongst the captured Celts. They had seen their village head do this many times.

"He's a druid."

"Maybe following him won't be so bad."

"His spell is even as strong as the elder's."

The hatred Aeron had garnered from them wouldn't be washed away in an instant, however the Celts saw him as fit to lead them and they truly surrendered to their fates.

It was then that a change occurred in them, changing their bloodline to be more similar to Aeron's. It wasn't as pure or concentrated, but they now truly were his citizens.

The next morning, Aeron left behind Edmund to guard the village and bring over the newly spawned villagers each day and took the Celts over to his legacy village. They took everything of value in the village with them as well, including the profession change steles.

Out of the 164 villagers (not including soldiers), 36 tried to resist, 1 was killed for speaking up, and 22 refused to submit. This left a total of 105 new villagers joining his village.

The Popular Support score dipped below 80 so Aeron took steps to remedy that.

First, he recruited some of the higher loyalty ones into the army, forming two 10-man squads of [Celtic Berserkers] and [Knights] respectively.

Second, he arranged families to stay in the same rooms within the houses and did not separate them.

There wasn't enough housing space, so Aeron instructed some makeshift shelters be set up for them until they could build newer houses for them.

Lastly, he went around healing the injured and reinforcing the shelters with his [Nature Magic].

All of this managed to drag popular support barely over 80 before midday. Just enough to allow the next villagers to spawn in.

After greeting the eight new arrivals, one of which was a D grade villager, Aeron met with the two S grades from the Celtic village.

One was a Shieldsmith. He was the one who had made the wooden shields the skirmishers used.

The other was a Celtic Tattoo Artist. He had drawn the tattoos on the Celtic soldiers' bodies. The tattoos had the effect of boosting stats by a fixed amount depending on the materials used.

When these craftsmen entered the village as Aeron's residents, the corresponding buildings had risen up within Aeron's territory.

He gave them each a task. The Shieldsmith was responsible for mass producing wooden shields for military use and the Celtic Tattoo Artist was given a group of villagers and the spearman to defend them as they went out to search for some of the materials needed for tattoos.

Some were already brought some over from the other village, but they were lacking in the main material, blood, so they could only stockpile the other materials.

With that, Aeron began the selection and equipping of his new military force. The village was less than a hundred experience from breaking through to Rank 2 and Aeron needed a large number of soldiers to get that done quickly.