Terra Nova Online: Rise of The Strongest Player

Chapter 318: Hectic Life

( Back at the Baron’s office, Leo’s POV )

Leo felt as if his mind had been cluttered by a thousand different problems at once, as running a Barony proved to be a much more complicated affair than he had first presumed it would be.

After watching the infectious joy of the commoners at getting a decent pay and a decent job, Leo started to feel a genuine connection to the people of Crest-Hill Barony.

Hiding in the shadows, Leo overheard the conversations that the common people had about him, where they genuinely praised him with all their hearts and promised to come to his aid should he ever need it.

Somehow, as Leo overheard such heartfelt comments, his soft heart felt moved as he started to take his job as a Baron more seriously than he would have otherwise.

“14,500 people have registered as factory workers.

10,000 people, which is the maximum army size currently permissible by the Empire has also been filled.

And 1200 people have applied for jobs in the vacant Barony administration” Leo murmured as he read signed off on the final recruitment report presented to his desk.

“These numbers represent a turnout of nearly 75% citizens My Lord, because the total population of Berkshire Town is only 22,000 individuals. While the Barony’s total population does not exceed 30,000.

For you to provide employment to over 25,000 citizens at once. You are naturally being seen as a savior and Messiah in this region” Butler George reported, as he looked at Leo with a wide smile on his face.

Initially, when he was notified that a new Baron would be arriving to Crest-Hill Barony, George did not feel much enthusiasm about serving him, as he expected Leo to be just like the other nobles that were only interested in tea parties and art.

Being an educated diplomat, George knew that his potential was being wasted being a butler that served tea like a maid, as he could act as a very responsible accountant or diplomat, if given an opportunity.

However, Leo turned out to be nothing like he expected and he even treated George like a proper administrator rather than a Butler, which made George feel enthusiastic about serving him.

“George, what we need to start working on immediately now is procuring grain and weapons.

Alleviating the food shortage of the region is a priority and as per my understanding, just procuring grains is not enough. To ensure food safety in this region we need to create proper granaries that can store food for long times as importing them over and over again will be costly.

We also need to immediately start construction for creating a new military training facility, as we need to whip these men we have drafted into proper soldiers.

I’m not knowledgeable on who to contact for this job, or what price to pay to see it done, so I’m thinking about delegating this duty to someone who is knowledgeable in this field and can dutifully see it done.

Do you have any appropriate suggestions for me?” Leo asked George, as he candidly admitted his shortcomings regarding not having enough knowledge about agencies that can construct proper military training facilities or the appropriate market rate to pay for such a project.

“My lord, although I’m not too knowledgeable about this topic either, if you give me a days time, I will surely have an adequate answer for you by tomorrow–” George promised, as Leo nodded his head and granted him the day’s time that he needed.

Once George left his office, Leo let out a deep sigh, before opening the global level rankings, as his mood plummeted once more as he checked the rankings page.

*********

Global Level Rankings :-

1) TheBoss :- Level 180

2) Leo Skyshard :- Level 170

3) PurpleRock :- Level 169

4) Cervantez :- Level 165

5) Spicy Ramen :- Level 165

.

.

.

27) SkyLion :- Level 159

********

Leo had gained 15 levels for winning the Grand Tournament and it was more or less these 15 levels that had allowed him to not level up for close to 10 days and still remain at the top of the leveling charts, however, his monopoly at the top was about to be challenged once again, as Purple Rock, a new challenger was at level 169, which was only one level below his current actual level of 170.

“I really need to start leveling up again… If I don’t continue to level up, the gap between my actual level and the displayed level of ‘TheBoss’ on the leaderboards will only keep widening–” Leo murmured to himself, as he felt stressed regarding the widening level gap between his actual level and the displayed level of ‘TheBoss’, as the difficulty in gaining one level increased significantly as time passed.

The difficulty in gaining a level after 150 was ten times the difficulty of going from level 10 to 15, and it was because of this difficulty, that the shuffling of the leaderboards was much slower when compared to before.

Although Leo had settled into his job as a Baron and was focusing to play that role to perfection while also playing the role of ‘Leo Skyshard’ the merchant, he could not ignore the leveling-up aspect of his game, as his role as the number one player ‘TheBoss’ was a permanent one.

“Gahhh! The second evaluation is also less than 3 weeks away…..

Why is my life becoming so hectic all of a sudden?” Leo cursed, as he thought about how the second evaluation was less than three weeks away and how soon they were going to mark their first year anniversary aboard the Arc-Ship.

While Leo’s concerns were only limited to how hectic his life was becoming, unbeknownst to him, the second year of the humans aboard the arc ship was also going to bring with it a whole new set of challenges, that was sure to make it increasingly harder for him to hide his identity as ‘TheBoss’ in real life.