After the public announcement ended, a talisman suddenly appeared in front of Simon's feet as a system notification rang in his mind.

[Received 1x(B-Tier)[Minion]]

'Oh, so this is the reward?' he thought, glancing at the talisman on the ground curiously.

He then waved a hand, bringing the talisman onto his outstretched palm, before carefully inspecting it under the setting sun.

It was an intricately carved piece of a silvery metal, with a series of mysterious symbols engraved upon it. It gave off a mystical and divine feeling and even emanated a specific type of power that he was very familiar with.

'Great, this should be the token for summoning the B-Tier Minion.' he thought with a nod.

'Summon B-Tier Minion!'

Suddenly, the talisman flew out from his hands and levitated in the air, before gradually beginning to rotate. As it hovered in the air in front of Simon, it began spinning faster and faster whilst emanating gradually intensifying waves of spatial energy, which caused it to glow in an ethereal manner...

Before long, the talisman blurred and turned into a tiny portal, which continuously rotated and enlarged until it was the size of a human.

Soon enough, a figure stepped out of the portal once it was fully formed.

The man that stepped out looked to be in his late forties, who had sharp features and well defined muscles. On top of that, he had stylish graying hair, and was wearing a suit and monocles.

Overall, he looked classy, fierce, and capable, which was a sight that Simon did not expect to see!

'Damn ok, this guy is fancy! I guess "B-Tier" minions are the real deal then!' he couldn't help but think while inspecting the man.

Upon stepping out of the portal, the man immediately set a knee onto the ground and put a fist over his heart, respectfully saluting towards Simon.

"I, Joe, am proudly under your service, sir!"

Simon nodded in acknowledgement. "Good to have you join us! Tell me, what are you specialized in?"

"Sir, I am not your average Joe. I was trained as a military commander and my skills shine when I have troops to command. But if the need arises, I am not averse to doing physical work, as my physique is somewhat decent." he responded with a measure of respect.

Simon stoked his chin thoughtfully.

Although such an NPC was not needed to him right now, in the future, he may very well prove to be invaluable.

"Alright. For now, go and transport the remaining resources laying outside the house into the basement. When you're done, let me know." Simon said with a nod, gesturing to the island core.

Joe bowed, and promptly began the process of transferring materials.

Meanwhile, Simon took a look at the new icons in his vision and checked them one by one.

'Hm, the Hall of Glory is basically empty, so it's quite boring. But the forums on the other hand…' he grinned excitedly.

It was free real estate!

After contemplating for a moment, he finally decided on what he would post.

Soon enough...

Ding!

[Successfully posted an post by the name of "Professional Gamer Advice" anonymously]

The post was very simple. It was just a title and description, which read: Visit the Soaring Celestial Realm sometime! - Owner of the Soaring Celestial Realm, Pro Farmer 69.

This was in fact, an advertisement for his future island. He couldn't think of what to put for the actual message. Hence, he decided to use absolutely no measure of creativity.

'Good. With this, people should be aware of my island in the future.' Simon thought while gazing at the forums page with a singular lonely post. After all, the first post would certainly be eye catching, even when the forums were long since swarmed by other posts.

Then, he turned his attention to the last newly unlocked feature: The Minion system.

After checking it out for a moment, Simon was pleasantly surprised.

The minion system interested him the most out of the new features he unlocked; it listed the stats of his minions and a general description of minions, after all.

He took a look at Jake and Joe's stat's respectively, as well as the information stated about minions.

-----

[Jake] (Human NPC) [S-Tier]

Island Level: N/A

Mining Level: 4 (81%)

Farming Level: 3 (32%)

Foraging Level: 3 (16%)

Swordsmanship Level: 2 (32%)

Acrobatics Level :1 (34%)

Magic Level: 0 (0%)

Nature Lv. 0 (0%)

Hot Lv. 0 (0%)

Cold Lv. 0 (0%)

Dark Lv. 0 (0%)

Light Lv. 0 (0%)

Time Lv. 0 (0%)

Space Lv. 0 (1%)

HP: 115

MP: 63

Strength: 23

Speed: 28

Resilience: 22

Endurance: 26

Intelligence: 63

Vitality: 23

Talent: 94/100

Willpower: 88/100

Loyalty: 82/100

Skills:

[Slash] (I)(Lv. 1)

[Pickaxe Burst] (I)(Lv. 2)

[Glow Aura] (I)(Lv. 1)

[Forager's Instinct] (I)(Lv. 2)

[Nature's Aura] (I)(Lv. 1)

[Agility] (I)(Lv. 1)

-----

-----

[Joe] (Human NPC) [B-Tier]

Island Level: N/A

Main Profession: General

Side Profession: Swordsman

Swordsmanship Level: 4 (12%)

Leadership Level: 4 (9%)

Acrobatics Level: 3 (60%)

Foraging Level: 2 (45%)

Cooking Level: 2 (31%)

Mining Level: 1 (67%)

Forging Level: 1 (33%)

Taming Level: 0 (67%)

HP: 635

MP: 103

Strength: 156

Speed: 127

Resilience: 143

Endurance: 132

Intelligence: 103

Vitality: 127

Talent: 74/100

Willpower: 63/100

Loyalty: 50/100

Skills:

Miscellaneous Skills:

[Slash] (I)(Lv. 2)

[Blade Aura] (I)(Lv. 1)

[Morale Aura] (I)(Lv. 2)

[Call to Arms] (I)(Lv. 1)

[Agility Boost] (I)(Lv. 2)

[Weight Manipulation] (I)(Lv. 1)

[Flavor Burst] (I)(Lv. 1)

[Pickaxe Burst] (I)(Lv. 1)

[Forager's Instinct] (I)(Lv. 1)

[Dexterity Boost] (I)(Lv. 1)

-----

Note: Minions have two sets of stats: True, and Visible stats.

True stats are the true strength of minions. When unbounded to an island owner, a minion's stats will automatically revert to true stats. Similarly, when not limited by the island level of an island owner, a minion's stats will also become their True Stats.

Visible stats are the stats that minions have when bound to an island owner. The values of Visible Stats are less than or equal to the values True Stats, depending on island level. Minions who are unproportionately strong relative to the island level of the owner will have their stats suppressed to their visible stats, which are based on island level. Likewise, as one levels up their island level, the suppression will lessen until it is gone.

-----

'Hahaha, my minions are not bad at all!' Simon couldn't help but think, upon seeing their stats.

Overall, from both the explanation of minions and the actual stats of his minions, he could tell that Jake was a gem in the rough.

If he could properly nurture Jake, he would undoubtedly reveal himself to be the most brilliant and eye catching gem of all!

After all, Simon knew exactly how harsh the system was. If the system judged Jake to be a solid 94/100 in talent, and 88/100 in willpower, then surely, Jake was a one in a century genius.

Not to mention, Joe wasn't bad either. With a talent value of 73, he was no slouch. Though, he still couldn't compare with Jake.

On top of that, he noted that leveling up professions such as mining or foraging granted further skills and stats. Without a doubt, he would have to dedicate some time on leveling up his various profession levels in the future.

'Very good! After consolidating the gains from the recent level up, training Jake shall be my first priority!' Simon thought while closing the stat page.

After which, he checked his new shop.

The level 3 shop included a wider selection of runes, materials, crops, livestock, etc.

Naturally, it was good news for Simon. Especially since this would allow him to finally set up arrays to regulate his crop fields.

Indeed, the light and dark runes that he was previously missing were now obtainable!

With all of these new changes, his plans were shuffled somewhat, and he took the time to think it through. At the same time, he tranquilly sat down and absorbed ambient mana...

-----

As Simon was in the midst absorbed in his thoughts, a firm and refined voice suddenly called from the island core.

"Sir! I have finished moving the resources into the basement. What are your new orders?"

Simon opened his eyes and lazily stretched for a bit, before responding. "Alright, head into the house and take a seat. We need to have a talk, after all."

He then opened up his stat page as he leisurely walked towards the island core.

-----

[Pro Farmer#69] (Human)

Island Level: 1 (8%) -> 3 (48%)

Island Altitude: (20,000 -> 50,000) meters.

Mining Level: 0 (81%) -> 4(24%)

Foraging Level: 0 (19%) -> 2(13%)

Forging Level: 0 (4%)

Magic Level: 0 (39% -> 53%)

Nature Lv. 0 (79% -> 88%)

Hot Lv. 0 (48% -> 58%)

Cold Lv. 0 (47% -> 57%)

Dark Lv. 0 (43% -> 55%)

Light Lv. 0 (42% -> 54%)

Time Lv. 0 (40% -> 53%)

Space Lv. 0 (39% -> 53%)

HP: 2705 -> 3315

MP: 1233 -> 1485

Strength: 702 -> 821

Speed: 545 -> 683

Resilience: 578 -> 694

Endurance: 546 -> 685

Intelligence: 1233 -> 1485

Vitality: 521 -> 643

Skills:

Magic Derived Skills:

[Matter Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Destruction Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Appraisal Resonance] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Hot Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Thunder Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Flame Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Cold Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Ice Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Hardening Resonance] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Nature Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 5)

[Summoning Resonance] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Poison Resonance] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Light Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Healing Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Clairvoyance Attunement] (I)(Lv. 7)

[Dark Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Soul Attunement] (I)(Lv. 9)

[Mind Attunement] (I)(Lv. 8)

[Spacetime Manipulation] (I)(Lv. 10)

[Gravity Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Perception Attunement] (I)(Lv. 9)

Miscellaneous Skills:

[Anomaly] (I)(Lv. 1)

[Pickaxe Burst] (I)(Lv. 2)

[Glow Aura] (I)(Lv. 1)

[Forager's Instinct] (I)(Lv. 1)

You will unlock more of your stat page as you progress.

-----

'Mm, not bad. This much progress is about what I expected.' he thought with a nod.

The two men then headed into the island core and took a seat around a table in the living room. Jake was already sitting, so there was no delay before Simon spoke up.

"Let's get to know each other; we'll be comrades in the future! Well then, allow me to formally introduce myself! I'll be expecting you guys to relay this to future residents." Simon said, glancing at the two men sitting besides him.

After seeing them nod, he continued with the aura of an expert. "My name is Simon Ji, and you can simply address me as Mayor, as I will be starting a town soon. I..."

The three men then each took the time to explain their backgrounds and the future plans of the island, and gradually grew closer as time went by.

-----

A couple minutes later. The trio was still engaged in conversation.

"There's really such an organization?" Simon said with a solemn expression.

Jake nodded, and responded with a hint of resentment in his voice. "Every word I spoke was the truth! To this day, my family is still working in their mines, as do countless other families."

Suddenly, a cold glint could be seen in Simon's eyes.

"Tell me more about this Flamelight Organization!" he said with a cold expression.