Chapter 204: Treasures, Awakening

To open up a new Territory, the support of the Savile Territory is certainly indispensable; the Lord has already promised a certain amount of supplies, but as for the Princess, since he is not going to Kangqi City, he does not know if the supplies are still available.

Therefore, the location of the Territory can neither be too far from the Savile Territory, so as not to increase the cost of development, nor too close to the Savile Territory, to avoid interfering with the Savile Territory's own development.

Xia Duo lay prone on the map, observing the terrain inch by inch, studying where it would be appropriate to choose; he had never done similar work on Earth.

However, much of the public Knowledge on Earth is a hidden treasure here; for instance, Territory development, which an ordinary Commoner might never come into contact with in their entire life, is something Xia Duo can still speak a bit about.

And likewise, while most people are considering the difficulty of Territory development, Xia Duo is already planning for subsequent growth.

First, the area between Wolf God Mountain and the Savile Territory does not need to be far; it will likely be surrounded by the Savile Territory in the future, so it is better to choose along the river or to the east.

While looking, Xia Duo suddenly rubbed his eyes; his hand had just swept over a piece of terrain, and he felt a strange sense of familiarity.

But he had never been there at all; where did this inexplicable sense of familiarity come from?

Xia Duo used his hand to block other locations, highlighting that piece of land, and looked again; the sense of familiarity was even stronger, but he really could not recall where he had seen it, unless it was—

"The map!"

Xia Duo instantly thought of the reason he had gone to the Library to look for maps earlier and immediately began rummaging through boxes and cabinets in the room.

Finally, he found a Spell Notes he had used during his Apprentice stage; opening it to a certain page and looking at the pattern that was indeed somewhat similar, Xia Duo finally let out a sigh of relief:

"It really is this!"

This was a strip-shaped map two fingers wide and one finger long.

Back when Xia Duo killed Lao Neil, he had taken two Account Books with him, and inside were two sheets of paper recording the secret text of the accounts; these two sheets appeared to be annotations for the secret text, but in reality, when the two sheets were overlapped and held up to the light, one would discover—

The secret text, split into two parts, actually formed a map, just like the yin-yang patterns used for anti-counterfeiting on paper currency on Earth.

When he first discovered this map, Xia Duo went to the Library and looked up a lot of information, but nothing matched, so he slowly let it go later on.

He did not expect that there would be a clue again today!

Xia Duo hurriedly tore off that page from the notes and placed it on the map; after careful comparison, the secret of the secret-text map was fully revealed.

It was a location about 20 li south of the Savile Territory, near the Wolfburg River, but not on the riverbank.

"This is Lao Neil's treasure location?"

Xia Duo expressed great doubt; not to mention the dangers in the forest, this distance alone was very unrealistic—who would hide treasure 20 li away?

How much wealth could an innkeeper have that would make him feel it was safer to hide things 20 li away?

Unless that was not his property at all, and it was something that could not be moved!

If it were Xia Duo himself, if he really knew where there was treasure, he would find a way to get it to his side no matter what!

Xia Duo temporarily put the matter of the treasure aside and continued to study the selection of the Territory location, but as he looked, Xia Duo's gaze lingered more and more on that treasure location.

It was not that Xia Duo was blinded by the so-called treasure, but that the area was indeed quite suitable for a Territory; previously, Xia Duo had lingered there for a long time.

Of course, the treasure was also a certain contributing factor.

However, compared to a Territory on the eastern trade route, Xia Duo still found it hard to decide; one had a trade route that could quickly open up the situation and obtain a return of funds.

The other had the advantage of a waterway, making transportation relatively convenient for the movement of supplies, but the disadvantage was that there would be no income for a long time.

As long as the Territory was not developed to a certain degree, people going to the Basin Lake downstream would not be willing to stay.

Overall, Xia Duo was still more inclined to choose the eastern Territory; after all, treasures and the like were always illusory, and Xia Duo still preferred visible, practical benefits.

After roughly making a decision, Xia Duo rolled up the map again; as for that page of the "treasure map," he put it back into the original Spell Notes.

Time to wash up and sleep!

In his sleep, Xia Duo actually arrived at that magical dream again, once more transforming into a water flow, becoming a great river, and intuitively spreading rapidly from the Kunlun Mountains.

Flowing over mountains and jungles, crossing canyons and plains, Xia Duo felt all things growing within his body, nourishing the civilization on both banks to multiply endlessly.

It continued until it finally merged into the East Sea; the past dreams ended here, and Xia Duo thought that this time he would also return to the Kunlun Mountains, transform into a water flow, and do it all over again.

But this time it was different.

Xia Duo felt his form and consciousness extend from the sea surface to the sky; his breathing formed storms, his trembling turned into thunder, and he felt himself rising rapidly.

Then, there was no then; Xia Duo once again became the water flow streaming down from the Kunlun Mountains, rushing all the way to the East Sea, repeating the cycle over and over.

After waking from the dream, Xia Duo felt that he was still that lively water flow, but immediately after, he let out a sorrowful and angry roar: "Damn it!"

It turned out that during his Bloodline Awakening, he had once again unconsciously summoned a water flow, and this time the volume was particularly large; when Xia Duo woke up, he was lying on a bed that was completely soaked.

Bloodline Awakening is a good thing, but having this happen every time he awakens is really something he cannot stand.

Xia Duo quickly controlled the water in the room, threw it into the Wei Sheng Jian, and then carefully experienced the gains after this Bloodline Awakening.

First, his strength had not increased, but he could still feel his body becoming stronger; this feeling was similar to intuition, just like a healthy person saying "I am fine," only Xia Duo's feeling was more intense.

Second, his Bloodline Ability was indeed able to affect the Second Layer of the Magic Weave, but the storms and thunder from the dream were not reflected at all.

It was still just 【Water Control】.

Of course, it would be wrong to say there was no change at all; Xia Duo could clearly feel that his breathing had become smoother, his ability to hold his breath seemed more persistent, and the sound of his voice seemed a bit louder.

Perhaps these were the precursors to the storms and thunder.

But what Xia Duo could not understand was what the pattern of Bloodline Awakening was; he had already given up hope on it, and he did not expect it to come out and "tease" him again now.

It really makes one both happy and annoyed.

The most important thing today was to go and confirm the location of the Territory with the Lord, but the moment Xia Duo picked up the map, he suddenly remembered the matter of the Bloodline Awakening, which seemed to be reminding him that choosing to be by the water was more advantageous.

Xia Duo was certainly not superstitious, but upon careful thought, he had indeed not taken the bloodline factor into consideration before; being close to a river was indeed more advantageous.

He had already acquired the ability in terms of "water," and as for the subsequent "wind" and "thunder," it seemed he was not far from being able to summon clouds and rain.

A water area was, to a certain extent, his home field; if his consciousness could spread to the entire basin and manipulate the hydrology as it did in the dream, that would almost be the power of a god.

Xia Duo suddenly remembered that since his Bloodline Awakening, he had never been to a river; thinking of this, he was not prepared to go see the Lord, as the Lord had not specified a concrete time anyway.

He wanted to go to the river to see just what extent this 【Water Control】 could achieve.

He put down the map he had picked up, then brought along some essential personal items, and Xia Duo quickly left the room.