Chapter 148

Chapter 148

Chapter 148 – Job Change Quest (4)

“Very well, I shall take Shin Dong-hoon under my wing as a vassal.”

“I am eager to prove my worth to you.”

The level of allegiance and faith that Shin Dong-hoon held was barely hovering above the absolute baseline needed to bring him on as a vassal.

His faith was marked at 50, which is the exact boundary where allegiance unlocks, and his allegiance itself sat at 30, the bare minimum required for vassal registration.

In truth, it was only because of their face-to-face encounter today that these values had surged enough to make him eligible for registration at all.

Such scenarios were not entirely unheard of.

With a growing pool of followers, all kinds of unique cases were bound to appear.

There were plenty of times when a person’s faith was so low that allegiance remained locked entirely, and other times when someone possessed such immense faith from the very beginning that allegiance unlocked instantly.

Among those variations, there were also individuals whose faith and allegiance simply did not climb easily, much like the man standing before him now.

‘He is typically a guarded and mentally resilient individual.’

In these instances, once a catalyst or specific event occurred, their faith and allegiance would swiftly climb to the maximum value of 100.

‘It went the same way with Ha Dong-geon.’

Now, Ha Dong-geon had risen to become one of the select few whose faith and allegiance were completely capped at 100.

‘Register vassal, Shin Dong-hoon.’

Flash!

A brilliant radiance enveloped Shin Dong-hoon, slowly absorbing into his flesh.

Ding!

[Citizen Shin Dong-hoon has obtained a title corresponding to his class.]

[Synergy effect triggered.]

‘What is this?’

I pulled up the vassal directory to inspect Shin Dong-hoon’s status.

『Name: Shin Dong-hoon (Lv. 45) [+] Class: {Warrior} Title: [Thirtieth Follower] [Knight] [Warrior] Faith: 50 Allegiance: 30 Awakened Trait: Time Distortion, Rewind

★Quest Assigned』

Although I had accessed his status to review the synergy effect, my gaze was immediately arrested by his newly unlocked awakened traits.

‘Time Distortion? Rewind?’

The names alone carried an incredible weight.

Had they been S-rank traits, he likely would have only reached level 40 by now. Given that Shin Dong-hoon was already level 45, it indicated that at least one of these traits surpassed the S-rank threshold.

‘Did his previous speed-boosting trait undergo an evolution into Time Distortion?’

It was quite common for vassals to gain supplementary or upgraded traits upon registration.

Even so, an evolution of this caliber was stunning.

Time Distortion (S Rank) By holding your breath, you can warp the flow of time, accelerating your own movement by up to tenfold.

Rewind (SR Rank) With a simple snap of your fingers, you can reverse time by burning mental energy.

The duration of the reversal is determined by your total reserve of mental energy. At your current capacity, you can reverse up to (13.07 seconds).

With the growth of the Eye of the Absolute, the breakdowns of these awakened traits had become far more precise.

‘…Reversing time based on total mental energy?’

Because of the unique nature of my own abilities, my mental energy reserves were vastly different from those of standard awakened individuals.

If Shin Dong-hoon’s faith eventually reached 100 and I acquired this trait for myself, how far back would I be able to wind the clock?

Before my thoughts could drift any further, Shin Dong-hoon’s voice pulled me back to reality.

“…Jae-hyun, is something the matter?”

“Ah.”

“You look incredibly intense right now.”

“I just witnessed something quite astonishing,” I answered, looking directly at him.

“Would you mind demonstrating your power? You might find that it feels quite different than it did before.”

Though clearly confused, Shin Dong-hoon gave a firm nod.

“I will try.”

As he held his breath and activated the power, an extraordinary phenomenon took place.

‘What is this sensation?’

The world around us ground to a near-halt.

‘Has my own perception of time slowed down as well?’

Within this frozen pocket of time, I watched as Shin Dong-hoon looked around in awe, moving his body to test the boundaries of his altered ability.

The distinct difference was that while Shin Dong-hoon could move completely unimpeded within this slowed reality, I remained frozen.

However…

[How does it feel?]

“Wait, what?”

The moment his concentration broke, the flow of time snapped back to its natural pace.

[Can you perceive the change from how it used to be?]

Shin Dong-hoon nodded slowly, a look of realization dawning on his face.

“Yes. It was completely different. Could this actually be…?”

[Correct. Previously, you were merely accelerating your own physical form. Now, you are exerting control over time itself.]

“Control over time…?”

[Furthermore, you have unlocked a secondary trait called ‘Rewind.’]

“Did I… did I hear that correctly?”

Based on my observations of other awakened individuals, they would eventually figure out the mechanics of their abilities on their own. However, giving those traits an explicit name allowed them to grasp and master their parameters much faster.

[The trigger is snapping your fingers. Why don’t you give it a try?]

“…Understood.”

A small spark of curiosity flared within me.

‘I wonder.’

If he actually reverses time, will I remain conscious of the shift?

Snap!

The instant Shin Dong-hoon snapped his fingers to unleash the trait.

Whoosh—

A breathtaking phenomenon occurred.

Because I had kept the Eye of the Absolute active to monitor every detail of our conversation, the sensation washed over me with incredible intensity.

“Ugh!”

Shin Dong-hoon winced, clutching his temples.

Scanning the room, he murmured,

“…Did it actually work?”

“It did.”

He had successfully turned back the clock by precisely five seconds.

Nothing visible had altered within the confines of the meeting room during those brief five seconds, but in the grander scheme of reality, time had indeed run backward.

‘What an absolute monster of an ability.’

And most importantly…

‘My own memories of the timeline prior to the reversal remain entirely unaffected.’

When Shin Dong-hoon uses Rewind, my physical self is reverted along with the world, but my consciousness remains continuous.

Even if it was only a handful of seconds, the tactical advantages of such a power were limitless.

‘Going forward, I must assign Shin Dong-hoon specific tasks designed to bolster his mental energy.’

Just then, Shin Dong-hoon tried snapping his fingers once more.

Snap!

This time, absolutely nothing occurred.

A look of disappointment crossed his face as he spoke.

“…Is it impossible to activate it back-to-back?”

“It appears so.”

While it was fundamentally a limitation of his mental energy, no matter how hard he pushed, he would never be able to exceed the maximum threshold of thirteen seconds currently allowed by his trait.

‘Should I bind Shin Dong-hoon with a Contract of Subordination?’

The Contract of Subordination.

This was originally a power inherited from my mother, capable of granting normal humans awakened traits and forcing the evolution of existing traits in those who already possessed them.

For now, I had been utilizing this power to subjugate beasts such as the Kellicans.

Once forged, the contract was permanent until the target’s demise, and with a strict cap of 100 slots, I had been saving these vacancies for truly critical figures.

Right at that moment.

“Excuse me, when do I get my turn?”

Lee Junho raised his arm, calling out to get my attention.

“Give me just one moment.”

That was when the system alert I had glossed over earlier flashed back into my mind.

‘There was mention of a synergy effect, wasn’t there?’

I decided to inspect the warrior class attributes first.

{Warrior}

Melee damage is boosted by 50%.

Temporarily doubles all physical attributes. (Cooldown: 1 hour)

+Synergy Effect+

Melee damage receives an additional 50% boost.

The synergy effect was tied directly to his Warrior title as well.

[Warrior]

Melee damage is boosted by 50%.

+Synergy Effect+

Melee damage receives an additional 50% boost.

Consequently, through the synergy of his class and title, his close-quarters offensive output was amplified by a staggering 200% in total.

‘Very impressive.’

Had I analyzed this from the very start, I would have been ecstatic. However, having just witnessed an ability as reality-bending as time reversal, the impact of a simple stat boost felt somewhat diminished.

‘I should focus on advancing the vassals who hold the Warrior title first.’

Within the Job Research Center, many of the available advancements shared direct ties with the titles my vassals held.

I had been monitoring these connections closely, and given these massive synergy bonuses, it was far more efficient to guide them into advancement paths that aligned perfectly with their existing titles.

‘Register vassal, Park Seong-jun, Kim Gi-tae.’

Both Park Seong-jun and Kim Gi-tae had secured the ‘Archer’ title, but I had already set Kim Gi-tae on the path for the Hunter advancement quest.

‘There is no reason to obsess over the synergy bonus in every single case.’

I was confident that Kim Gi-tae’s personal talents were uniquely suited to the utility of the Hunter class, so I chose to leave his path unchanged.

If it turned out to be a mistake, I could always strip him of the Hunter class and transition him to Archer after a month-long grace period.

With that settled, I completed the registration process for Lee Junho.

Ding!

[Citizen Lee Junho has obtained a title corresponding to his class.]

[Synergy effect triggered.]

True to form, Lee Junho, who possessed the Warrior class, gained the matching title and unlocked his own synergy bonus.

And then.

[The total count of your vassals has reached 30.]

I froze for a second as the novel system message materialized before me.

The specific title assigned to Lee Junho was [Thirty-Third Follower].

The reason it had taken this long to officially log 30 active vassals was due to the tragic loss of three of my followers during our bloody clash with the vampires.

[The ‘Title System’ has been unlocked.]

[All prerequisites have been satisfied.]

[The ‘Domain’ feature has been added to your construction interface.]

An entirely new mechanic had revealed itself.

‘Could this be…?’

There was another dynamic linked to the Contract of Subordination.

Normally, vassals who lacked a title would be granted the title of [Knight] through the contract, while those who already possessed the [Knight] title could be elevated further to [Baron] or [Viscount].

‘I never anticipated this would tie directly into the building system.’

I lost no time in pulling up the details of the new construction option.

Domain (Price: ???)

{Domain}

An established sanctuary constructed outside of the primary residence.

The physical boundaries of the domain scale in direct proportion to the noble rank of its designated overseer.

When {Activated}, it temporarily projects the same protective aura and properties as the main household’s territory.

However, this effect only triggers if a vassal holding the rank of [Baron] or higher is present within the boundaries.

This was fundamentally different from an outpost, which would crumble if an enemy force managed to occupy it for more than twenty-four hours.

In essence, it functioned as a slightly restricted version of an annexe, which could otherwise only be built for direct blood relatives.

‘So, while annexes expand based on the main estate’s boundaries, these domains scale according to the personal nobility ranks of the vassals managing them.’

The lack of a fixed price tag was undoubtedly due to this scaling mechanic.

A higher rank meant a larger territory, which in turn demanded a far steeper construction investment.

Since the entry requirement was set to [Baron], it meant the base [Knight] rank was insufficient to anchor a domain.

This placed a massive premium on elevating the noble titles of my followers.

‘Is the Contract of Subordination the only way to achieve this?’

I doubted it.

The Contract of Subordination was not an innate system function; it was a derived power stemming from my mother’s unique lineage.

The reason my vassals were earning noble titles through the contract was likely due to…

‘A systemic anomaly.’

If that was the case, then the system had its own intended path.

‘The Title System.’

Right at that moment, a detailed ledger manifested before my eyes.

[{ Merit Points }]

Choi Hyeong-jun [First Follower] – 1,245 P

Moon Byeong-ho [Second Follower] – 176,342 P

Kang Deok-su [Third Follower] – 75,123 P

Kim Ga-young [Fourth Follower] – 99,388 P

Yu Hye-rin [Fifth Follower] – 87,819 P

Ha Dong-geon [Sixth Follower] – 783,210 P

…

The interface displayed a comprehensive list of my vassals, organized by their accrued points.

Given the title of Merit Points and the massive disparity shown by veterans like Ha Dong-geon, it was clear that these points were calculated based on their contributions and achievements in battle.

At the base of the Title System interface, the progression ladder was laid out:

[Knight] – 1,000 P

[Baron] – 10,000 P

[Viscount] – 100,000 P

[Earl] – 1,000,000 P

[Marquis] – 10,000,000 P

[Duke] – 100,000,000 P

The precise point thresholds required to elevate my vassals to the next Throne of nobility were now clearly defined.