A Shallow Understanding of the World

After everyone around him had left one after another, Ang stood quietly where he was, unable to calm his heart for a long time. Jack's mention of Healing Potions brought back many memories about the world he now lived in.

The experiences of Ang's former self serving in the Logistics Regiment of the Grand Duchy of Tan'anster were still vivid in his mind. This was an age filled with war and bloodshed. Ever since arriving in this foreign plane from the duchy proper, every day had been spent hovering between life and death. He remembered the fear and unease of his first time on the battlefield, the helplessness he felt when facing towering Demons, the cries of his comrades and the roars of the Demons echoing in his ears. Smoke filled the battlefield, while blood mixed with mud, forming a grim and tragic scene. Back then, Ang had learned how to seek hope in despair and remain calm in a crisis.

During his time in the Logistics Regiment, Ang had met many people: old soldiers much older than himself, as well as peers his own age serving the duchy's mandatory military service. Jack was someone Ang had met in the foreign plane. Since they were the same age, they had plenty to talk about. Whenever they carried out missions or had free time, Jack would chat with Ang a little. Over time, the two became familiar with each other. Jack was the kind of extrovert Blue Star called an E-person, while Ang's former self had been an I-person. Basically, Jack did the talking every time, and Ang listened.

Ang had also heard plenty of news from Jack—things he normally would not have paid attention to. The price of Healing Potions, the main duties of the regiment he served in, which member of the Logistics Regiment had died, whose strength had improved, who had slipped into the three-colored tents of the merchant caravans traveling with the army... all sorts of miscellaneous gossip. It greatly enriched Ang's understanding of the world and gave the current Ang a certain degree of knowledge about it.

His current environment was relatively safe, so Ang recalled many things, such as Healing Potions. Healing Potions were divided into Lesser Healing Potions and Complete Healing Potions. They were also extremely expensive.

One bottle of Lesser Healing Potion cost 3 Gold Wack, while Ang's annual military pay was only 50 Silver Wack. Even after five full years, he would have earned only 2.5 Gold Wack. Even if he saved every last coin for all five years, Ang still could not afford a single bottle of Healing Potion.

In the Grand Duchy of Tan'anster, 1 Gold Wack equaled 100 Silver Wack, and 1 Silver Wack equaled 1,000 Copper Wack. The average commoner in the duchy earned only 10 to 15 Silver Wack a year. Many people went their entire lives without ever seeing what a Gold Wack looked like.

A year in this world had only around 360 days, roughly the same as on Blue Star. The lower classes mainly ate black bread and thick soup mixed with various beans for their daily meals. Of course, ordinary farmers could not afford three meals a day. They usually ate only lunch and dinner.

One Copper Wack could buy two loaves of black bread. The black bread in this world was baked from ground barley and rye mixed together. It tasted mediocre and had a coarse texture. However, the baked loaves were quite large, and an ordinary family consumed between two and three loaves a day. Including the thick soup, a small family's yearly expenses for food, drink, and clothing were only around 10 Silver Wack.

Ang's family grew rye and barley themselves, and they occasionally caught fish to improve their meals. Ang had parents, as well as a younger brother and sister. As he grew older, his appetite increased as well. Serving in the military happened to ease the burden on his family.

The Grand Duchy of Tan'anster's age requirements for male military service were quite suited to the nation's overall circumstances.

Moreover, Ang lived in a world where magic existed. Of course, not everyone possessed magical talent. Ang had undergone a magical aptitude test when he enlisted, and unfortunately, he did not have any so-called magical talent.

Although he lacked magical talent, Ang's talent as a warrior was fairly good. A coach from the Rookie Corps had even praised Ang, saying that he might have a chance to become a Level 1 Warrior in the future.

Mages were divided into Mage Assistants, Rank 1 Mages, Level 2 Mages, and Level 3 Mages.

Warriors had Warrior Squires, divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Formal warriors, like mages, had Level 1 Warriors, Level 2 Warriors, and Level 3 Warriors.

It was said that the captain of the Logistics Regiment was a Level 1 Warrior. No one knew whether Shamat Mage was a formal mage, since no one had ever seen either of them fight.

Even Jack did not know the strength of the Logistics Regiment's captain or Shamat Mage; he had only heard rumors. Shamat Mage also looked very young, probably not much older than Ang, yet everyone in the entire Logistics Regiment treated him with exceptional respect. It was easy to see how noble the status of a mage was. Even when they retreated from the mountain battlefield, Shamat Mage had been carried by people specially assigned to do so.

The captain of the Logistics Regiment was also a noble baron. This world was made up of commoners and nobles, and the Grand Duchy of Tan'anster was a duchy mainly inhabited by humans. The greatest noble family in the duchy was the Tan'anster Family, which also governed the duchy. The noble hierarchy of the entire Human Kingdom was King, Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron. Dukes could grant the titles of Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron. Titles below Duke could not grant noble titles to others.

The entire duchy was the territory of the Tan'anster Family. The Grand Duchy of Tan'anster had existed for six hundred years, and its current duke was Tananst VIII.

The foreign plane where Ang was currently located was called the Maple Sugar Plane by the Grand Duchy of Tan'anster. As the name suggested, it was a plane rich in maple sugar, though that was merely the Grand Duchy of Tan'anster's name for it. Their Logistics Regiment had arrived at this location only a year ago. It was said that the Maple Sugar Plane had been discovered and its coordinates established during the reign of Tananst VII, and it had already been developed for a long time. However, because native inhabitants existed there, Tan'anster had not brought the entire plane under its rule.

Instead, it remained in a state of partial development and partial exploration. Yet Ang had been in the Maple Sugar Plane for a full year and had never seen any of the so-called native inhabitants.

It was only when the duchy's exploration team encountered Demons during exploration and surveying that the Logistics Regiment was transferred here from the duchy to provide support for the war, clearing paths and cleaning up battlefields.

Demons were the common enemy of the Human Kingdom, bringing endless disaster and terror to the whole world. In the many planes humanity had explored and conquered, almost none had escaped Demon invasions. Whenever the shadows of Demons descended, they were often accompanied by destruction and despair, and countless civilizations had been destroyed because of them.

The Maple Sugar Plane of the Grand Duchy of Tan'anster had once been regarded as a pure land. Since the reign of Tananst VII, this plane had always been one of the duchy's main sources of resources and had never suffered Demon disturbances. During the reign of Tananst VII, the Maple Sugar Plane had flourished, becoming an important pillar of the duchy's economy and strategy. However, during the rule of Tananst VIII, everything suddenly changed. The Demon invasion plunged the Maple Sugar Plane into an unprecedented crisis.

Maple sugar, this sweet food and resource, held unparalleled importance in the human world. Not only was it an indispensable delicacy in people's daily lives, it was also a core ingredient in many Magic Potions and magical alchemy materials. The abundant energy contained in maple sugar made it a precious resource sought after by countless alchemists and mages. For the Grand Duchy of Tan'anster, maple sugar production was directly tied to the nation's strength and economic prosperity.

It was also because the Grand Duchy of Tan'anster discovered the Maple Sugar Plane, and then discovered maple sugar, this vital strategic resource, that the duchy's overall strength ranked first among the many duchies of the kingdom.

As for the reason behind this invasion, there was much discussion within the duchy. Some believed it was the consequence of power struggles within the Human Kingdom. As disputes between the major duchies intensified, certain hostile forces might have deliberately guided the Demons' attack in order to weaken the Grand Duchy of Tan'anster. Another view held that the Demons might have accidentally discovered the coordinates of the Maple Sugar Plane. After all, the movements of Demons were often impossible to predict. Their passage between planes was like a chaotic game, and any plane could become their next target.

No matter the reason, the Demons of the Maple Sugar Plane had dealt the Grand Duchy of Tan'anster a heavy blow. The once-prosperous plane was now shrouded in the shadows of Demons. Countless civilians had been forced to flee, resources faced depletion, and the economy had fallen into decline. The duchy had no choice but to urgently dispatch troops in an attempt to contain the Demons' expansion, but the results were far from ideal.

Faced with this crisis, Tananst VIII appeared especially anxious. He knew well that if the problems of the Maple Sugar Plane could not be resolved quickly, the entire duchy would fall into an even deeper crisis. To deal with the Demon threat, the duchy had no choice but to accelerate research into new magic and weapons while strengthening cooperation with other Human Kingdoms, hoping to fight this common enemy through united strength.

Ang did not know any of this about the duchy and the Maple Sugar Plane, nor did he have any way of finding out.

After gaining a basic understanding of the world, Ang thought to himself, This world has nobles, other races, and magic. People can even wield extraordinary power. Since I've come here, I have to seize this opportunity. I'll make every idea that could only exist in my mind back on Blue Star come true, one by one. I also have to see more different sights. I can't waste such a great opportunity.