A Command Requirement of 1235 was almost six times that of Butler Kote.
Even with the Old Dominator's special effect reducing the Undead Domination Requirement by eighty percent, Bulaishini would still require 247 Command Value. In other words, even after dismissing all five of his existing Third-Rank Vampire Guards, Hailuot still wouldn't have enough Command Value to control her.
Just how ridiculously powerful was this hero?
Hailuot examined Bulaishini's attributes.
Bulaishini
Race: Undead（Vampire）
Class: Vampire Swift Blade Swordsman
Level: 45
Faction: Scorched Earth City（Within the Scorched Earth City Sphere of Influence, all attributes increase by ten percent.）
Talent 1: Blood Drain Recovery（When attacking, can drain the target's health to recover own lost health）
Talent 2: Psychic Insight（Powerful perception ability, able to detect more hard-to-notice dangers, and can suppress the target's perception to a certain degree）
Talent 3: Spatial Trace（Can enter and exit Subspace at will.）
Specialty: Advanced One-Handed Sword Mastery, Advanced Hidden Weapon Mastery, Advanced Dark Magic, Intermediate Occultism, Intermediate Swiftness, Beginner Alchemy, Beginner Potion-Making, and Flight
Health: 7235
Attack: 865（Affects Combat Technique attack power）
Defense: 423（Affects defense and vitality）
Magical Wisdom: 401（Affects spell effects）
Combat Techniques: Swift Blade, Storm Flurry, Dash, Moonshadow Slash, Raider's Strike, Full Moon Slash, Swift Strike, Poisoned Hidden Weapon, Splitting Throw, Ranged Explosion...
Spells: Functional Burst, Blazing Fighting Spirit, Fireball, Psychic Critical Strike, Focus...
Equipment: Dorothea's Commission（Purple Armor）, Vampire's Elegance（Purple Side Sword）
Command Requirement: 1235（Old Dominator -988）（Warning: 247/15 Command is severely insufficient.）
Hailuot lacked the game knowledge to judge whether Bulaishini's attributes were strong. He did notice that she had three Talents, while Butler Kote, also a Hero Unit, had none.
Hailuot asked Soul Eater for guidance: "What exactly are a hero's Talents?"
No matter how busy he was, Soul Eater answered whenever his son asked a question: "Only heroes with a Command Value Requirement of 400 or more can have Talents. Hero Units with good Talents naturally have higher growth ceilings. Dorothea's Personal Guard is strong, right? Does she have one Talent or two?"
"Three Talents."
"Three Talents? Are you sure you read that right? I'd guess even Dorothea herself has at most three Talents."
Hailuot obediently double-checked: "It's really three Talents—Blood Drain Recovery, Psychic Insight, Spatial Trace."
This time Soul Eater's reply was a bit slow in coming, but it did come: "Son, let's talk about something. This hero—hand her over to me..."
Hailuot asked: "A Command Requirement of 1235—can you even handle that?"
"That high a Command Requirement? It makes sense. As far as I know, no more than ten heroes held by Players have three Talents, and all of them have Command Requirements above a thousand. Your hero has excellent Talents across the board and could definitely compete for the top three.
I haven't invested in Command, so I can't handle her. The Old Dominator reduces Undead Command Requirements by eighty percent. Do you have enough Command?"
Hailuot answered: "It's not enough! I'm level ten right now, with 165 Command Value. Dorothea gave me five Third-Rank Vampire Guards, and that alone took up 150 Command Value. But Bulaishini... she's the Personal Guard Dorothea gave me, and she needs 247 Command Value. Even without those five Third-Rank Vampire Guards, it still wouldn't be enough."
"You're already level ten? That fast! At level ten you should have 180 Free Attribute Points—you haven't used them yet, have you?"
Hailuot checked his attribute panel and answered: "Not yet."
"Put them all into Command!"
Hailuot hadn't expected such an extreme point-allocation suggestion from his father. He asked, "My class is Necromancer. Shouldn't I prioritize Magical Wisdom?"
Knowing that Hailuot was new to the game, Soul Eater explained: "Necromancers have two paths: the Spell-Damage Path and the Summoning Path. I follow the Spell-Damage Path, so I need to stack Magical Wisdom. But your Bloodline is Old Dominator. Not following the Summoning Path would waste its advantages."
Hailuot read through the Old Dominator description again, still puzzled: "The Old Dominator increases Undead-Type Spells' effects by fifty percent—shouldn't I go the Spell-Damage Path?"
"But it also reduces the Command Value Requirement for Undead by eighty percent. That lets one point of Command produce the effect of five points in other attributes and allows you to recruit more powerful heroes. Take this top-tier hero with three Talents. If you lack the Command to control her, you'll have to watch her slip away.
And once you learn a Necromancer's Command-type skills, high Command Value can boost your Summoned Creatures' attributes even further, and the fifty percent boost to Undead-Type Spells still applies. As for Magical Wisdom, that can be boosted with top-tier spell equipment, whereas equipment that boosts Command is extremely rare."
Hailuot understood: "A Summoning Path Necromancer becomes stronger in the late game."
"Exactly! Invest boldly in Command. Leave stacking Magical Wisdom to me."
Listening to his father was never wrong.
Hailuot decided to go the Summoning Path Necromancer route, but...
"Father, even if I put all 180 of my current Free Attribute Points into Command, the remaining 15 points still wouldn't bring me to the 247 Command Value Bulaishini needs."
Soul Eater replied: "If the Command Value shortfall isn't too large, a hero won't defect right away. Leveling is fast in the early game—gain two more levels and you'll make up the shortfall."
"I understand."
"If there's nothing else, let's leave it here—I need to head to the next respawn point."
"Okay."
Hailuot put all his Free Attribute Points into Command.
Bulaishini's Command Requirement changed.
Command Requirement: 1235（Old Dominator -988）（Note: 247/195 Command insufficient, risk of defection exists.）
Hailuot communicated with Soul Eater without interrupting his conversation with Dorothea.
Giving away a subordinate she had just newly recruited, one with extremely high potential, made Dorothea feel quite reluctant. But thinking of the fact that the other party was Soul Eater's younger brother, the pain in her heart eased somewhat.
She needed Bonecrusher's help both to build trust and communication with Laem and to win Soul Eater back through Bonecrusher.
The rift between them needed mending—consider it repaying what she owed Soul Eater in the past... by giving it to his younger brother instead.
Having talked herself into this line of thinking, Dorothea felt a bit more at ease.
Then she said to Hailuot: "Does this satisfy you this time?"
"Satisfied. Very satisfied." Hailuot had learned from Soul Eater what tier Bulaishini occupied among the Players, so he was genuinely pleased.
Dorothea continued: "Then go on and finish the work I assigned you. You know what to do now, don't you?"
Hailuot answered: "Reporting to you, Marquis—I know what to do. I'll find out more information related to the Azure Society from Laem, and report everything I learn back to you."
Dorothea nodded, then said: "There's one more thing... arrange a meeting between me and Soul Eater."
Hailuot grew wary: she still hadn't given up on becoming his stepmother!
Hailuot wanted to object, but "one who has eaten another's food speaks softly, and one who has taken another's gifts acts with restraint." After receiving such a powerful hero, he couldn't refuse outright.
"I'll tell Soul Eater, but it depends on whether he has time. You know, my Older Brother is busy..."