This Is Also a Closed Loop

Everything seemed to suddenly fall into place, proceeding along its predetermined course.

This included Sagiyama Castle itself.

Recently, the people in the castle town had all heard that a new lord had arrived out of nowhere. And somehow, their lives suddenly seemed completely different... Regular, efficient, orderly, and well-organized, as if the entire castle town had been seamlessly integrated within a few days.

Broken into parts, scattered pieces were all brought together into a whole!

This way, only one will, one voice, was followed!

Of course, this wasn't about iron-fisted tactics, heavy-handed measures, or harsh governance being worse than tigers. In reality, there were no mandatory measures. Many times, an administrative order would be issued from the lord's manor and would be executed as a matter of course, so smoothly it was almost unimaginable.

And such orders could come out a dozen or so times a day, often concerning specific guidance on a certain aspect, including regulating the market, controlling prices, recruiting people, and so on and so forth, a series of various bewildering administrative decrees.

How to put it, the first impression it gave was of child's play. After all, such a situation made people suspect whether the new lord was a child who knew nothing about governing a city or territory, just thought it was fun, acted on impulse, and didn't consider the consequences.

However, despite many commoners being worried and the local nobles, court officials, and landowners being annoyed, they strangely exhibited a state of "saying no with their mouths, but being very honest with their bodies."

Clearly, at the beginning, everyone seemed to have quite a few complaints, showing a very resistant attitude, thinking this was simply nonsense and absolutely couldn't continue, otherwise, the perfectly good Sagiyama Castle would surely be ruined and decline because of this.

But then again—

Perhaps everyone was hoping someone else would take the lead, perhaps they had doubts but didn't dare to speak up, perhaps they were thinking of letting others make a fuss first and observe the results, not wanting to rashly step forward so lightly... What if the new lord was truly childish and would become enraged and humiliated if opposed?

There were also some noble landowners who were looking forward to the show, their mentality likely one of schadenfreude. They felt that public anger was immense, so they didn't need to step forward at all; they could just let others make a fuss. The bigger the fuss, the better. When the time was right, they and others could then take action.

How to put it, in short, everyone was playing a good game.

It's unclear whether some mysterious force made them all have such strikingly similar thoughts, or if it amplified their pre-existing thoughts, so a very unlikely coincidence just happened.

Everyone felt that the new lord had big problems, and these governing methods were simply nonsense. Everyone had strong complaints, but no one took action. Everyone felt they could wait for others to act... And so, everything was smoothly carried out.

As time passed day by day, another half a month went by like this, and by the time they gradually reacted...

Everything had become standardized. Under the comprehensive guidance of those strange yet efficient administrative decrees, the efficiency of the entire castle town had improved by more than one or two levels. The incredibly smooth execution integrated previously scattered components, turning them into an efficient machine operating at almost full capacity.

Prices, which had remained high due to years of warfare, began to show signs of stability. Small-scale municipal projects began to be implemented, and refugees fleeing the wars in various places, who were everywhere, gradually disappeared from the streets.

However, it wasn't like before, where they would die unnoticed in some corner or be driven to despair and desperation and head for the mountains to become bandits. Instead, they were transformed into laborers... Perhaps some jobs were hard and tiring, but as long as they had something to eat, these unfortunate people could survive instead of being completely hopeless.

It wasn't that everyone felt things were gradually improving. There were always some whose interests were harmed, especially by the measures to stabilize prices and crack down on hoarding. But this was just the beginning, and their losses were not significant enough to risk butting heads with the new lord.

After all, who knew how strong the latter's backing was, and what his relationship with the Viper of Mino was? No one would believe that this suddenly appointed acting lord was really just a whim of Saito Dosan and had no deeper meaning. Perhaps all of this was instigated by that viper?

That's how it was.

Perhaps Saito Dosan's reputation as the Viper was too intimidating, and no one doubted the old man's ruthlessness and poisonous hand, or perhaps some unknown mysterious force was still at work, or even both, with the latter using the former's conditions to exert influence.

In short, no one stood up to oppose someone's three new-official-fires.

"Timber +4..."

"Metal +2..."

"Peasant -1..."

On this day, Gu Mo looked at the mirrored reflection in the basin, meticulously dragging and viewing the bird's-eye view of the entire Sagiyama Castle and the surrounding mountains and farmlands belonging to the extended industries of Sagiyama Castle, looking over it again and again. And the dense values displayed on the left side of his vision were constantly fluctuating and changing.

Every now and then, a plus or minus value would briefly appear next to some of the values.

This indicated that at that instant, the quantity of the item represented by that value had changed. It could be a fluctuation in the amount of timber or grain reserves directly under his management in the castle, some increasing and some being consumed. After all, when people are working, production will always increase, but people also need to eat, so other resources will naturally be consumed.

Most of the numbers were green, indicating a steady increase. From the fluctuations of these values, it could be seen that Sagiyama Castle was becoming more and more prosperous.

Perhaps in gaming terms, after his wise management during this period, the castle's commercial index increased, the agricultural index increased, and the prosperity level went up?

Of course, these were all achieved by spending real money and resources. Without the initial investment, it wouldn't have been so easy to see results. He was also fortunate that he held great power at the moment and Saito Dosan wasn't here, otherwise, it probably wouldn't have been so smooth to accomplish all of this.

After all, if it were other lords or daimyo, they probably wouldn't be willing to take out the grain and tools from their warehouses or spend large sums of silver.

The main reason was a lack of vision, and not knowing if their "gamble" would pay off. They couldn't see the returns and feedback directly, but the daily expenditure of grain and money was real, like flowing water, which they naturally couldn't bear.

But Gu Mo was different; the Idiot System could provide him with instant feedback.

Even if it was just outlined in the detailed lists about population and work distribution, just simulating clicking a few "+" or "-" signs, without actually pressing the confirm button, the Idiot System would tell him with values what changes would occur.

—For example, increasing the number of peasants, how much the estimated output would increase, how many resources would be consumed, and how long the promotion or demotion resulting from population occupational conversion would take...

—Or for example, what price needed to be paid for choosing a certain policy, how much the basic stability would increase, what changes would occur in overall resource production, how much the demand for daily necessities would increase, and how much the relationship with certain factions or camps would decrease by 5 or 10 points, and so on...

"Life with cheats is just this boring and dull..."

Gu Mo rubbed his slightly sore eyes, sighing with emotion, and then glanced at the two values displayed in the bottom left corner.

—Unemployed Population: 0.

—Basic Stability: 78.

These were the two values he paid more attention to, and they were also a relatively intuitive reflection of the castle's basic situation. After all, if there were too many unemployed people, the resulting problems would naturally be particularly troublesome; as for basic stability, it could also be seen as the overall resident satisfaction.

If this value was high, there might be some rewards, but if it was low, it would definitely be a huge problem... He was also very experienced in this, although it was gaming experience.

However, for now, everything was developing steadily for the better. The people of Sagiyama Castle weren't the kind of difficult commoners who would make his blood pressure soar and anger him to death...

Everyone should still be able to get along well, at least without forcing him to resort to cruel methods and flood the entire city with sewage in the end.

Some unpleasant memories flashed through his mind. Gu Mo shook his head, stood up, and stretched vigorously. After this period of dedicated effort, everything was on the right track. From now on, he wouldn't have to spend a lot of time pondering this management panel every day; he just needed to check it occasionally to make sure there were no problems.

After all, spending entire days adjusting tiny values, trying every possible way to optimize production ratios... that kind of thing is just... toxic.

Time just vanished before he knew it.

Next, he headed to the dojo. Although Sagiyama Castle wasn't as grand as Inabayama Castle, it was easy enough to clear out a space for training. Currently, Abe no Seimei and Raiko were in charge there, serving as the master instructors, or in other words, skill trainers.

During this time, Gu Mo's schedule was actually very regular. Most of his day was spent managing the castle. A large amount of calculation, recording, optimization, and adjustment took up the bulk of his time. As for the remaining part, it was spent in the dojo.

Knowing how rare this opportunity was, he dedicated himself fully to training his abilities.

He primarily studied talismans with Abe no Seimei, and occasionally learned some close combat techniques from Raiko. Although his progress in the latter was slow due to the limited time and effort he put in, and he was constantly being mercilessly ridiculed by Raiko, he had managed to grasp some basic sword and bow techniques, which wasn't bad.

"Lord Gu Mo, you're here."

Under the long corridor of the dojo courtyard, Abe no Seimei, wearing a dark blue Onmyoji hunting robe, put down the fan in his hand and looked towards the direction of the footsteps, revealing a gentle smile.

In the spacious courtyard, however, were Raiko and Hidechiyo, two valiant and spirited Female Samurai, sparring and honing their skills. Their swords clashed and collided, accompanied by clanging sounds, and violent sparks burst forth in the air.

Despite neither of them using excessive force, focusing more on a contest of skill and awareness, it still conveyed a breathtaking sense of beauty.

Hidechiyo didn't know the true identities of these two, nor did she know where the mysterious person had found these masters, but she quite liked this arrangement. And in contrast to Gu Mo, she focused more on practicing various weapons and martial arts, with talisman techniques being a secondary option.

"Yes, today's matters were a bit more numerous, handling them took some time, so I'm a little late... Kuzunoha, let's begin."

Gu Mo retracted his gaze and nodded to Abe no Seimei.

"Alright, let's begin then." The famous great Onmyoji of the Heian period smiled and stood up, nodding readily. "By the way, I've prepared some new incense for you. The ones I gave you before should be running out soon, right?"

"Yes, thank you for the trouble..."

Gu Mo showed a look of deep gratitude and thanked him. His sleep quality had improved so much during this time because of the incense this person had prepared. Just burning a little before going to sleep allowed him to fall asleep easily, which was a great help to him.

"Don't mention it..."

The great Onmyoji walked forward, and only after moving some distance away from the courtyard did he say casually, "Lord Gu Mo, your eyes are blessed by heaven, but such a natural gift seems to come at a cost. However, when Raiko and I met you, you no longer had this problem."

"That's really good news." Gu Mo nodded. This meant he was always destined to pass the real-name verification.

"So, are we reviewing yesterday's content today?" Abe no Seimei asked.

"Yes, same as before. For now, I'm mainly focusing on practice. I haven't mastered the three I've been learning lately yet."

"Actually, Lord Gu Mo, you don't need to be so impatient. Your speed is already very fast..." Abe no Seimei sighed. Talisman techniques weren't that simple, but the person in front of him always seemed to grasp them quickly, and then rely on extensive practice to forcibly master the basic methods.

No wonder he would become that strong in the future.

"Not at all, you don't need to comfort me. I know I'm still too slow..." Gu Mo said very humbly.

Currently, his skill slots were no longer unique, with the others being empty. Instead, he had additionally equipped two skill emblems: one was "Fire Summoning Talisman" and the other was "Purification Binding Talisman". The former could summon the power of fire, and the latter could bestow the power of purification that could cleanse defilement.

Their uses were quite similar; they could be used directly, but a better usage was as an enchantment method, imbuing weapons and items like swords or arrows with the corresponding elemental power, achieving an effect where one plus one is greater than two.

The reason he chose to learn these two skills first was partly because of his Guardian Spirit, which allowed Gu Mo to receive more enhancements for fire attributes, and partly because he felt that most of the enemies he would face in the future were Yokai from the Tokoyo, so the Purification Binding Talisman was quite cost-effective.

And below his skill page, a new progress bar had appeared.

Currently Learning -
Fire Bullet Talisman, Proficiency: 76/100.
Barrier Talisman, Proficiency: 19/100.
Body Nourishing Talisman, Proficiency: 28/100.

These were the new talisman skills he was currently studying, and they were also basic techniques selected for beginners. The skills recognized by the System weren't only obtained by dropping from monsters; the System also allowed players to master new skills by accumulating proficiency through their own learning.

When the proficiency reached the maximum value of 100, it would condense into a corresponding skill emblem...

It sounded quite simple, but in reality, it wasn't very easy. Sometimes he couldn't even increase his proficiency by double digits in a day, and he didn't know how it was judged, so he could only increase his practice volume to achieve a qualitative change through quantitative accumulation.

Combining his many years of gaming experience, Gu Mo felt that his speed was genuinely too slow. These beginner-level skills took months to gradually master. When would he finally be able to stand on his own two feet?

"Sigh." Abe no Seimei shook his head, but didn't say anything more.

The nearly two hours of Onmyoji training ended, and Hidechiyo also left the dojo at the same time.

So, as was his custom, Gu Mo picked up his sword again and stood in the courtyard, facing the valiant and imposing Raiko.

"Your grip on the sword is wrong. Your wrist needs to be firm. I told you this just yesterday..."

The heroic Female Samurai looked at the man opposite her with cold eyes, her tone full of mockery.

"Oh, oh, sorry, sorry. I've been practicing for a long time and my head is a bit muddled right now, not entirely clear-headed..." Gu Mo quickly corrected himself and adjusted his posture. He was still very respectful of the master instructor who taught him so diligently. The only regrettable thing was that he couldn't withdraw from her repeatedly like in a game.

"Hmph, you're miles behind that demon..." Raiko snorted coldly.

"Isn't that pretty normal? How can I compare to Axiu?" Gu Mo shrugged.

"So just give up. It's good to have some self-awareness. With your half-baked skills, who could you possibly defeat on the battlefield? You'd just be asking for death. You're not suited for using a sword at all..." Raiko still had a full face of displeasure and continued to mock him.

"...Master Raiko, can we start practicing?" Gu Mo was a little helpless.

Everything about Raiko was good. She never held back when teaching him and said whatever needed to be said. But the only bad thing... was that her words were a bit venomous, and he didn't know why she seemed to have such a strong opinion of him.

"What? You can't handle being criticized a little?" The heroic Female Samurai sneered, "You used to mock and put me down like this too..."

"I wasn't like this before..."

Gu Mo twitched the corner of his mouth.

"However, is there a possibility that because you constantly say things like that about me for no reason now, I'll get angry and hold a grudge, and then when I go back to the Heian period, I'll turn around and mock you in return?"

"..."

"..."