“Raise!”

The knight shouts as he oversees four dryads who were wielding wooden swords practice their swordsmanship. Hearing this, the four dryads all raised their swords with two hands above their heads and paused.

“When striking from above, you must first take care of your posture and balance. Your feet must be firmly planted on the ground, otherwise, once you finally make the strike, there’s a high chance that you would be thrown off-balance by either your own strike or by the enemy’s block.”

He added as he walks around the four dryad that’re seemingly frozen in time in their stance. He eyes them, studying their feet, waist and joints.

“Hmm. Your knees are too straight.”

He said to one of the dryads.

“You need to bend them, lower your knees slightly so you have room to adjust when something unexpected happens.”

The dryad bends his knees slightly in response.

“Right, just like that. Now strike!”

Then the dryads struck the dummies, sending a loud “thud” in the area.

“Conserve your stamina! It’s important to put your strength into your strikes, but putting all of it every time you swing your sword only puts a strain on yourself and consumes your stamina faster. Learn to moderate the force! Besides, if the enemy manages to parry or block off your attack, you’d be the one suffering as they leverage your attack against you!”

“Again! Raise!”

The training continued. Around them, the entire village is busy doing all sorts of things. Some are still reconstructing minor structural damages while the others are hauling things left and right, digging graves and burying the dead knights or are gathering the weapons and armor left by said dead knights. Some knights that aren’t even on patrol are helping with the villagers do those things. There isn’t a single person who is idle in the village. Everyone seems to be on the move… everyone, except for Reinhard.

The past week has been utter hell for him. After inaugurating the Knights of Garden, he thought that he’d finally be able to get some much needed rest, but how wrong he was. Fortunately, Fraenis and the other dryads were there to provide him with support. This ordeal of him wasn’t all that negative though, as this made him realize the logistical flaws and shortcomings of the village. For one, everyone relied on him. Every little thing requires his attention and approval. People may think that having all the power for yourself is a good thing but Reinhard’s experience proved otherwise. If anything, it just made his responsibilities and workload increase more than necessary. Thus, he thought that if he’s going to lead everyone to “greatness”, the first thing he needs to do is initiate a structural reform with regards to administration. A bureaucratic heirarchy that divides the responsibilities would be a big step. This way, the problems in the grassroots level would have to come to their superiors first, instead of jumping all the way towards him. "All those painful years of me studying political science would finally be put to good use" was what he thought.

Reinhard wakes up after a full twelve hours of sleep. This was the most satisfying sleep that he’s had in a while. He felt like all the energy within him has just been reinvigorated and he could do anything. That thought immediately shattered when he looked at the bottom right corner of his vision and sees that his stamina is at 70/70.

Upong seeing this, his stomach began to roar like thunder on a soundless night as if to really shove into his face that he was very hungry.

*Groooooowl!*

“Ugghh…”

So the first thing he did after waking up was eat. A lot. He ate until he was full and his stamina was back at 400/400. Only after he ate did he finally have the most needed free time. He once again thought about all the things that needed to be done, mentally checking them one-by-one if he’s already assigned specific orders and roles to everyone regarding those. In the end, he did manage to sort out everything. Now, all that’s left is for the villagers to actually execute them, meaning that right now, Reinhard is free to do what he wants.

He immediately checked his status, as he hasn’t even taken a single glance at it ever since the fight. Rather, he totally forgot about them due to the sheer number of problems that keep popping up, adding more to his already numerous responsibilities just days after being the Chief and then the Lord of Garden.

“I shouldn’t have looked at the pop-ups back then so they would pile up as notifications, making it easier to review them. Now I have to find them all individually…”

“…”

He sighed.

“Let’s start with my level…”

[SYSTEM]

Level: Human 16 / Arcane Artificer 1 / Ruler 6

HP: 400

MP: 900

“Oh? That’s new… Now it shows my class and race level?”

He then looked at all of his skills.

[SYSTEM]

Passive Skills:

[Arcane Crafting 2]

[Arcane Eyes]

[Charismatic 3]

[Commanding 3]

[Deception 4]

[Dryad Writing 1]

[Dual Wield Staff 3]

[Human Adaptability]

[Human Ingenuity]

[HP Regeneration 1]

[Interrogation 3]

[Intimidation 4]

[Mockery 4]

[Piercing Resistance 1]

[Staff Proficiency 3]

[Stamina Regeneration 3]

[Stealth 3]

[Wood Crafting 2]

Active Skills:

[Craft]

[Subjugate]

“Ugh… That’s a lot.”

“Time to check all their descriptions out one by one… yay.”

[SYSTEM]

[Arcane Crafting] Passive Skill

The user is able to create works imbued with magic or is magical in nature.

[SYSTEM]

[Arcane Eyes] Passive Skill

ăℶÐΩ┱Ăᵹᵯ— ᶘᶇ⏠⏦

“Huuuh? What the hell?”

“…”

“Hold on… is this bugged?”

Reinhard closed the interface and opened it again, but the description didn’t change. No matter what he does, it still stays the same so he decided to just let it go and proceeded to check the other.

[SYSTEM]

[Charismatic] Passive Skill

The user continuously radiates an aura of charisma that inspires positive opinions from others.

[SYSTEM]

[Commanding] Passive Skill

The user’s commands carry more weight and authority, making them more compelling.

[SYSTEM]

[Deception] Passive Skill

The user’s lies and untruthful statements seem real and convincing.

[SYSTEM]

[Dryad Writing] Passive Skill

The user’s fluency in the written language of the dryads.

[SYSTEM]

[Dual Wield Staff] Passive Skill

The user is able to wield two staves at once more effectively.

[SYSTEM]

[Human Adaptability] Passive Skill

The user gains slightly more experience in any area and acquires skills slightly faster.

[SYSTEM]

[Human Ingenuity] Passive Skill

The user is slightly better at coming up with new ideas, concepts and solutions.

[SYSTEM]

[HP Regeneration] Passive Skill

The user’s HP passively recovers over time.

[SYSTEM]

[Interrogation] Passive Skill

The user’s questions become more compelling to answer.

[SYSTEM]

[Intimidation] Passive Skill

The user’s attempts to fear or frighten someone become more effective.

[SYSTEM]

[Mockery] Passive Skill

The user’s attempts to ridicule or make-fun of someone becomes more effective.

[SYSTEM]

[Piercing Resistance]

The user becomes more resistant to piercing damage.

“I didn’t know what I expected…”

[SYSTEM]

[Staff Proficiency] Passive Skill

The user wields staff/staves more competently.

[SYSTEM]

[Stamina Regeneration] Passive Skill

The user’s stamina passively recovers over time.

[SYSTEM]

[Stealth] Passive Skill

The user’s attempt at hiding becomes more effective.

“That should be all of my passive skills. I’ve already seen wood crafting before so no need to check it out… Now, what about my active skill [Subjugate]?”

[SYSTEM]

[Subjugate] Active Skill

[Subjugate] must be casted on a target before combat with them begins, whereupon the target creature is notified of the challenge. If the caster is able to defeat the creature in a duel, that creature willingly accepts the caster as its liege. Attacks from the caster cannot kill the targeted creature, even if it’s a fatal blow. This spell can only be casted on creatures of the same racial level as the caster or lower.

“So it’s basically demanding that creature to be vassalized?”

“Hmm… I should level up my arcane artificer. I’d assume as it increases, the quality of items that I craft also increases… but then the quality and quantity of ingredients required would also increase… hmm… you can’t really escape grinding after all.”

“…”

Reinhard thought for a while.

“Okay, fine. I’ll bring my arcane artificer’s level up to craft better gear. My classes aren’t combat-type anyway so I could only rely on equipments. Lucky for me staves are incredibly strong even just as common rarity… Well, even the “common” staves are pretty rare to find, so I heard.”

He opened his crafting interface and wondered what he should craft to grind exp.

“I don’t have any orbs so I can’t craft anymore staves… Should I make a bow? But then there’s already a ton of bows here in Garden, maybe even better than what I’d make. I don’t really want to waste those that I craft…”

“Come to think of it, I’ve never looked at armors and accessories…”

He opened the [Armor] tab, but was disappointed to find absolutely nothing listed on it that he can craft.

“I guess armor made out of wood doesn’t exist here. The Japanese used wooden armors right? Then why aren't there any here? Ah, whatever, I should probably learn weaving or metallurgy soon. Should I just use my skill points on those?”

“…”

“Nah.”

He rejected the idea after thinking hard for a while. Seeing as he wouldn’t be able to craft any armor just yet, he opened the [Accessory] tab instead.

[SYSTEM]

[Accessory Crafting]

[Rings] [Necklaces] [Earrings] [Bracelets]

“I’d guess rings would be the cheapest to craft…”

[SYSTEM]

[Common Wooden Ring]

[Common Wooden Ring of Slashing]

“Of Slashing? So it buffs slashing damage? Well, I’ll take a look at the wooden ring first…”

[SYSTEM]

[Common Wooden Ring]

-[Common-Grade Wood x1]

[CRAFT]

“Why doesn’t this one uses mana? Can I look at its descriptions?”

[SYSTEM]

[Common Wooden Ring]

A ring made out of wood.

“Thanks captain!”

He snorts sarcastically.

“…”

“Then what about the ring of slashing…”

[SYSTEM]

[Common Wooden Ring of Slashing]

-[Common-Grade Wood x1]

-[Common-Grade Claw x1]

-[10 MP]

[CRAFT]

“Ah, I see. It only consumes mana if the object I craft has magical properties… That makes sense. I think I can make four of these since I currently have four warg claws but… Should I?”

“…”

“Hmm… I guess it’ll be fine. Wargs are pretty common and are easy to kill anyway. Let me just look at the description…”

[SYSTEM]

[Common Wooden Ring of Slashing]

Increases the inflicted damage of the user’s slashing attacks.

“Riiiiight.”

With that, he began crafting four of those rings, using the Earthwood that he has left.

Instead of lighting up just once, the table where he placed the materials on lit up four times, signifying that the rings are being crafted individually instead of all at once.

[SYSTEM]

[Common Earthwood Ring of Slashing]

Increases the inflicted damage of the user’s slashing attacks.

Unique effects:

[Earthwood]: The increased damage is doubled against creatures of water element.

“Huh, I guess the unique effects changes depending on what equipment it is, even though the material is the same. Now the question is… who do I give these to?”

*Ping!*

[SYSTEM]

[Wood Crafting 2] Leveled up to [Wood Crafting 3]

[Wood crafting 3] Leveled up to [Wood Crafting 4]

[Arcane Crafting 2] Leveled up to [Arcane Crafting 3]

[Arcane Crafting 3] Leveled up to [Arcane Crafting 4]

*Ping!*

[SYSTEM]

You have leveled up to [Arcane Artificer] level 2!

You have leveled up to [Arcane Artificer] level 3!

“I guess some classes are just relatively harder to level up than others…”

All of a sudden, the door of Reinhard’s room suddenly bursts open.

“What’s that light!?”

Fraenis, wielding the longbow of Tylla that they found in the hands of a dead knight, shouted as she enters the room.

There she saw Reinhard sitting on the chair, with four rings adorned with what looks like claws placed on top of the table.

“Erm…”

Reinhard uttered, unsure of what to say.

“I was… making rings?”