Chapter 141: Chapter 134:Legendary Quest Complete

The journey back to Estate felt remained quiet,lucien still kept thinking about the offer.

The carriage moved steadily westward while the distant royal palace gates slowly disappeared behind the horizon.

Malen occupied the seat across from him.

Gandalf sat nearby, calmly reading a book.

There was far too much lucien needed to think about and they would give him the time for it.

The thousand-year demonic invasions, Supreme Mage Council, Royal Guardian,Princess Elena and lastly the King’s proposal.

The list seemed endless.

Eventually Malen broke the silence.

"So."

Lucien looked up seeing this the older man smiled.

"It seems the meeting was eventful."

For several seconds he stared then nodded.

Then Gandalf closed his book.

"So what did the king offer"Malen asked

"The king offered me a offer I find too good to refuse"

"And what is it?"Malen continued

He promised me a hereditary duchy, protection and money in exchange for giving them the production lines.

Malen seemed particularly interested in the former.

"A hereditary duchy."

The old knight leaned back and nodded.

"I’ll admit I didn’t expect that."

"Neither did I."

"Will you accept?"

Lucien remained silent for several moments.

Eventually he nodded.

"Probably."

Malen looked unsurprised.

"It solves more problems than it creates."

Gandalf nodded in agreement.

"The King’s reasoning was sound."

That was true.

The offer wasn’t simply prestige.

It was Political protection,the kind Elarion would increasingly require.

The conversation eventually shifted toward more troubling subjects.

The Great Tear and demonic invasions.

The information provided by the Royal Guardian.

For a while nobody spoke then Malen sighed.

"Every thousand years."

The old administrator rubbed his knight.

"I preferred not knowing."

"Most people would."

Gandalf’s voice remained calm.

"The burden of knowledge is rarely pleasant."

Lucien stared through the carriage window.

The landscape continued passing by.

People living ordinary lives.

People completely unaware of the truth.

Eventually he spoke.

"The Royal Guardian believes numbers are the problem."

Both men looked toward him.

Lucien continued.

"He thinks humanity can fight the stronger demons."

"The issue is everything else."

"The millions or billions that follow."

Malen frowned.

"And he thinks our weapons help solve that."

"Yes."

The old administrator slowly nodded.

That explanation actually made sense.

Gandalf spoke"You learned more in a month than most people learn in a lifetime."

Lucien laughed quietly.

The old mage wasn’t wrong about that

His entire understanding of the world had changed.

Everything felt larger now.

The kingdoms,The continent.

The threats lurking beyond it.

And most largest of them the future.

The carriage reached the estate but all three of them seemed engaged in their own world weighing pros and cons of the offer and the coachmen preferred not to disturb them.

After an hour or so gandalf finally spoke"so what now"

"We return to elarion as soon as possible,there is much to do"Lucien replied

"Ask everyone to gather we march to elarion"he continued.

For the first time in weeks, Lucien felt himself relax.

Then—

DING!

The sound echoed inside his mind.

The carriage instantly became silent.

Lucien froze.

Malen noticed immediately.

"What happened?"

Lucien didn’t answer his eyes remained glued to the system’s panel.

LEGENDARY QUEST COMPLETED

Quest: Journey to the Capital

Objectives:

Go to the Capital — Completed ✓

Discover the Truth Behind the World’s Changes — Completed ✓

Uncover the Truth of the your mother death— Partial Completion ✓

For several seconds Lucien simply stared.

His heart began beating faster.

Thus was the first main quest issued by the system and one of the longest quest too.

Finally completed.

Another notification appeared.

Calculating Rewards...

Legendary Quest Reward Confirmed

The carriage suddenly felt very small.

Even Malen and Gandalf seemed to fade into the background.

Then the final message appeared.

Reward Granted

Technology Tree of aetherion civilization Unlocked

Legendary Reward Activated

System full permissions granted.

Lucien stared at those three words.

Technology Tree Unlocked.

For the first time since receiving the system, genuine anticipation flooded through him.

Because if the previous rewards had created Elarion then this Legendary Reward might change the entire world.

The new interface unfolded slowly before Lucien’s eyes.

And unlike previous system windows, this one felt vast,enormous and almost endless.

Countless interconnected branches stretched across the screen.

Thousands of symbols,thousands of names and thousands of possibilities.

For several moments Lucien simply stared at it.

Then the system finally responded.

LEGENDARY REWARD ACTIVATED

TECHNOLOGY TREE UNLOCKED

The display shifted.

Three enormous branches appeared.

Each occupying a separate section of the interface.

GROUND FORCES

NAVAL FORCES

AIR FORCES

Lucien Adam’s apple bobbed down slowly seeing the rewards.

Even the names alone carried enormous implications.

The system continued.

NOTICE

Technologies must be researched sequentially.

Higher-level technologies cannot be unlocked without prerequisite developments.

Industrial requirements remain mandatory.

Infrastructure requirements remain mandatory.

Resource requirements remain mandatory.

Current development (Rudimentary)

Lucien immediately understood immediately now there would be no more miracles.

The system would provide knowledge only now and not perform magic anymore.

Finally lucien clicked at ground forces.

The Ground Forces branch expanded first.

Hundreds of interconnected technologies appeared.

Infantry equipment,machine guns,logistics,vehicles,artillery,armor,communications,engineering,anti air guns,rpg,mortars,multi barrel rocket launchers everything imaginable or possible tech was there and

each connected to dozens of others.

Lucien quickly noticed something interesting.

The landship appeared at top followed by Warhound within the tree.

Their icons glowed golden while the rest either dim or total black like some fog preventing him from seeing them.

Warhound Mark II

Status: Researched and in production phase.

Lines extended outward from the tank.

New vehicles branched from it.

Medium tanks,Heavy tanks,Main battle tanks,Self-propelled artillery,Tank destroyers,Armored personnel carriers.

Entire families of vehicles.

He first scrolled to the next tank requirements

Medium Tank Development

Requirements:Advanced Metallurgy,Improved Engine,Enhanced Suspension Systems,Industrial ecosystem of minimum Tier III.

Another appeared.

Heavy Tank Development

Requirements:

Advanced Armor Manufacturing,Large-Caliber Tank Guns,Heavy Industrial Infrastructure,Industrial ecosystem of minimum Tier IV.

He kept scrolling down.

Thousands of designs.

Thousands of future possibilities.

In the rifles section first appeared flintlock then mauser98k followed by Ak47 then more modern rifles after it the same black fog.

The Ground Tree alone looked capable of occupying generations.

Then Lucien noticed something else. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The technologies weren’t isolated.

Every weapon possessed dependencies.

A better tank required better metallurgy.

Better metallurgy required improved steel production.

Improved steel production required industrial machinery.

Industrial machinery required precision manufacturing.

The entire tree connected together.

Nothing existed independently.

The system wasn’t teaching making weapons anymore.

It was teaching how to build a civilization.

The Naval Tree expanded next.

Lucien immediately understood why the system separated it.

Its scale was absurd to the point it even consisted of experimental ships containing only missiles or projects large enough that they were considered impossible according to his old world’s standards.

Destroyers,Cruisers,Battleships,Submarines,Aircraft carriers,Radar systems,Fire-control computers,Naval aviation.

Entire technological revolutions hidden behind countless prerequisites.

Even viewing the tree felt overwhelming.

Then the Air Tree appeared And at this point Lucien stopped breathing.

Because unlike the previous branches, almost every icon remained dark.

Locked and Waiting to be unlocked.

The earliest sections showed primitive aircraft.

Observation planes, balloons,Training aircraft,Early fighters,Early bombers.

Then came more advanced generations.

Jet aircraft,Supersonic aircraft,Missiles,Airborne radar,Strategic bombers.

The branches continued beyond that.

The deeper sections again disappeared into endless darkness.

Even the system refused to display them.

INSUFFICIENT PREREQUISITES

Lucien slowly leaned back.

The implications were staggering.

The technology tree wasn’t a collection of rewards.

It was a roadmap.

A roadmap stretching centuries into the future.

And for the first time since arriving in this world, he finally understood the true purpose of the system.

It had never intended to help him build a city.

It always intended to help him build a civilization slowly.

Slowly lucien looks away from the interface finding both malen and gandalf looking towards him

"What now" both said at the same time.

"We unlocked something big" lucien replied

"And this big is how big exactly"

" Enough to keep us busy for decades to come and maybe more"lucien continued

The old mage looked more hunched within few seconds of hearing it.

"The system"

"Finally after a brief pause he continued it gave me entire technology tree necessary for civilization development"

" It consists everything needed for the development of ground forces,naval forces and air forces"

"Air forces"Even malen looked focussed on that world.

" You mean to say flying mechanized units"

Lucien nodded at this"yes flying mechanized units, you can call them aeroplane and they are much faster than you are thinking or imagining and way deadlier too"

Both Malen and gandalf kept quiet after hearing this.

"We should probably reach elarion first, i can’t carry this burden of research alone anymore " said the old wizard looking teary eyed.

Lucien simply nodded at this and asked everyone to prepare for departure at the earliest time possible..