There was one more thing that had been unlocked when I upgraded the System Shop.
The Sovereign Shop!
Based on the name alone, I had no idea what kind of things this shop would offer.
But when I opened it, I quickly realized that it was essentially a skill shop dedicated to managing and utilizing my future citizens!
At Level 1, there were four skills available for purchase:
[Eye of the Overlord]
[Type: Passive]
[Description: A passive skill that allows you to observe the basic status of any citizen under your rule. You can also view general information about any creature or item within your territory.]
[Cost: 20 Points]
***
[Lord’s Blessing]
[Type: Active]
[Description: Spend Points to increase a citizen’s level or upgrade their skills. Higher levels and more powerful skills require more Points.]
[Cost: 20 Points]
***
[Quest Creation]
[Type: Active]
[Description: Grants you the ability to assign basic quests to your citizens.]
[Cost: 20 Points]
***
[Tax Collection — Level 1]
[Type: Passive]
[Description: Each citizen under your rule will periodically generate Points for you. Stronger citizens generate more Points. Upgrading this skill increases the amount of Points generated.]
[Cost: 20 Points]
****
More skills would become available after upgrading the Sovereign Shop:
[Vassal’s Eyes]
[Ruler’s Voice]
[Devolution]
****
As I read through the available skills, my mind once again filled with endless possibilities.
I could give my citizens quests to hunt monsters outside my territory, have them bring back the loot, earn Points from those rewards, use those Points to upgrade my shops, then spend even more Points to level up my citizens and give them increasingly difficult quests!
It was like I was suddenly playing a full-blown kingdom management game!
Sure, I wasn’t exactly the best when it came to RTS, grand strategy, or deep kingdom management games. I was more of a hack-and-slash and waifu-collector gacha kind of guy.
But even so, this sounded incredibly fun and full of potential.
So... Citizens.
I need citizens ASAP!
Still, one big question remained.
How the heck was I supposed to get actual citizens in the first place?
Well, I’d failed to grant citizenship to that goblin earlier, but that didn’t mean I was going to give up so easily.
I once again sunk deep into my own thoughts, thinking about how I could somehow get these goblins to accept me as their ruler.
First...
Affinity.
That part should be easy.
Based on their reaction earlier, a single piece of juicy steak was apparently enough to make goblins go crazy. If I could somehow make them realize that the food was coming from me, they would probably develop a very strong impression of me.
Hell, if I fed them enough, they might even start worshipping me as their god!
Who knew?
But there was one problem.
Before I could make them accept me as their Sovereign, I first had to make them aware that I even existed.
And that was much easier said than done when I was literally a castle.
I couldn’t speak to them.
I couldn’t walk up to them.
I couldn’t even point at myself and say, "Hey! I’m the guy you should be worshipping!"
....
...
Then, suddenly, an idea struck me.
Right!
A statue!
I need a statue!
The statue didn’t actually have to look like me.
In fact, it could look like anything.
What I really needed was a symbol. Something the goblins could associate with the mysterious entity ruling this place. Something they could look at and think, That’s our lord.
If I could make them believe that the statue represented the being responsible for all the food and other miracles happening around the castle, then I could essentially use it as my avatar.
Thus, if I saved up enough Points, I could make a large, intimidating statue and place it right in the courtyard.
Then, when a goblin eventually came to my castle, they would see the statue and naturally assume that the figure depicted was the lord of this place.
After that, I could bribe them with food.
Once they became friendly enough, I could try asking them to become my citizens.
At least, that was the plan. I had absolutely no idea whether it would actually work, but it was worth a try!
However, there were two major problems with my brilliant plan though...
First, I needed more Points.
A basic statue already cost 50 Stone, and if I wanted to create a custom statue, I’d need even more.
And of course, I wasn’t going to settle for some boring default statue of a plain knight holding a sword.
I wanted something impressive.
Something majestic.
Something that would make a goblin look up at it and immediately think:
Yep. That’s definitely the boss!
Something so imposing that they’d drop to their knees and tremble the moment they saw it!
So, judging by the material cost, I might need more than 100 Points.
Maybe even 200.
In any case, I needed to start saving.
And secondly...
What the hell should the statue actually look like?
For maximum effect, the statue needed to be large, imposing, intimidating, and radiate an undeniable sense of authority.
Perhaps a mighty king?
Or maybe a mythical deity, like an angel or a demon?
Luckily, I had one major advantage.
I used to play a lot of gacha games in my previous life, and if there was one thing those games had in abundance, it was awesome character designs.
Surely, I could borrow a little inspiration from them, right?