Enrollment

The road to town was far from smooth, and the jolting made his backside ache.

At the entrance to Enderland Town, Duke waved goodbye to Uncle Lien, who was heading to the market to sell pumpkins.

Following the directions in his memories, he arrived at the Militia training grounds, located in an open space north of town.

A sign still hung at the entrance to the training grounds, listing the requirements for recruitment into the Militia: "Under thirty, physically strong..."

Duke was lucky. Captain Wood happened to be at the training grounds today, a bearded man in his thirties.

Wood looked Duke up and down, then patted his shoulders, arms, back, and thighs before nodding. "Your physical condition isn't bad. Duke from Yining Village, right? You can come for Militia Training starting tomorrow."

The whole process was simple. In less than two minutes, Duke had become a member of the Militia Reserve. As long as he passed the training, he could officially take up the position.

Duke had not expected it to be so easy. He left the training grounds and went to a grain shop in town to buy some food.

"Four copper coins per pound of millet?" Duke frowned.

Millet had only cost three copper coins per pound before. He had not expected the price to rise by an entire copper coin.

Looking at the twenty copper coins in his pocket, he felt helpless.

The shopkeeper sighed. "It can't be helped. Grain prices are rising throughout Jade Province. In some places, it's already six or seven copper coins per pound. We can still keep the price under control because of Count Hardy's protection."

With things as they were, Duke could only accept it. He spent twenty copper coins on five pounds of millet, packed it into a small sack, and carried it in his hand.

Duke glanced at the sky and quickened his pace, preparing to leave town and return to the village.

As he passed a butcher's shop, he could not help stopping. A huge black pig was being gutted, its fresh flesh gradually carved apart. There was also a large slab of fat, thick with grease.

It was clearly a wild boar hunted from the forest. It looked to weigh more than three hundred pounds—a tremendous haul.

Unfortunately, the forest belonged to Count Hardy. Not just anyone could enter to hunt; only a very small number of people had permission.

This wild boar had probably been caught by some noble while hunting for sport, then casually tossed to his servants to deal with.

Duke swallowed as he stared at the fat and grease. In his previous life, few people would have liked such fatty meat.

But in this era, that kind of fat was a nourishing delicacy.

Duke touched his empty pocket and could only carry his small sack of millet as he hurried home.

That night, while everyone else in the village had already gone to sleep, Duke was still swinging his scythe with all his might in his yard.

He wanted to max out his Scythe Skill proficiency before tomorrow so he could better handle the training that would begin then.

Duke had not truly joined the Militia yet. Only after training for a period of time would it be decided whether he could stay. For now, he was merely part of the Militia Reserve.

If he could improve his physical attributes further, he would perform better during Militia Training as well.

Looking at the Skill Tree in his mind, he swung the scythe in his hand fiercely.

After that swing, a warm current flowed through his entire body, and a message appeared in his mind.

[Scythe: LV4 (0/3000)]

[Scythe Skill leveled up. Constitution +0.5, Strength +0.5, Agility +0.5]

[Constitution: 5.2]

[Strength: 5.9]

[Agility: 5.1]

[Spirit: 8.1]

[Free Attribute Points: 0]

All of them increased by 0.5. My physical attributes are already above the standard for an ordinary adult man now, Duke thought as he looked at his attributes.

He felt as though he had grown a little taller. The linen shirt and trousers he wore had both become too small and a little tight.

Duke jumped in place a few times and felt incredibly light. At the same time, great strength seemed to be hidden within his body.

He felt that if he threw a full-force punch now, his former self would probably be knocked straight to the ground.

Duke also noticed that a bluish-green fruit had grown on the branch for Scythe on the Skill Tree.

The fruit was still tiny, only slightly larger than a soybean. One would not even notice it without looking carefully.

He had assumed bearing fruit meant reaching the maximum level, but he had not expected the skill to continue leveling after reaching level four. This time, however, it required three thousand proficiency points.

Duke guessed that once he filled those three thousand proficiency points, it would be time for the fruit to ripen. He did not know what changes it would bring.

The next day, Enderland Town, training grounds.

By the time Duke arrived, more than a dozen youths around his age had already gathered there.

Like him, they were all members of the Militia Reserve and would soon undergo group training with the Militia.

Several of the youths seemed to know one another. Most were childhood friends from town, while some had come together from other villages, forming several clearly divided little groups.

Duke's arrival drew their attention. A blond youth could not help laughing when he saw him.

"Look at this guy. He's dressed like a beggar. Don't tell me he's training with us too."

Levin was the son of a merchant in town. His family was fairly well-off, and several youths in town usually followed his lead.

Hearing Levin say that, those people could not help laughing as well.

Because Duke's body had developed too quickly these past few days, his old clothes had become very short. He did indeed look somewhat shabby.

Duke himself did not care. It was summer anyway, so he did not need the clothes for warmth. As long as they covered the important parts, that was enough.

As for the ridicule from those children, he did not take it to heart. He was not actually a child, so he would not get angry over something so trivial.

Of course, if they pushed their luck, Duke would let them know whose fists were bigger.

At that moment, Wood emerged from a nearby room. He wore chainmail and carried a longsword. "Children, come with me."

He led the group into the open space, planted his sword in the ground, and said, "Today is your first day of Militia Training. I hope you'll all put your hearts into it. During your training, I'll select suitable candidates to stay."

"The first lesson I'm teaching you today is Basic Swordsmanship..."

After a brief explanation, Wood began demonstrating several key movements of Basic Swordsmanship. He taught them over and over from different angles, then said, "All right, start practicing. I'll give you pointers."

Duke noticed that everyone else held either a wooden sword or a real iron sword.

He could not help speaking up. "Mr. Wood, I don't have a sword."

The scene instantly fell silent, and everyone looked over. Levin immediately spotted the scythe tucked at Duke's waist and shouted, "Look! Don't tell me he plans to learn swordsmanship with a scythe!"

The others quickly noticed Duke's scythe as well. Looking at the rusty scythe and his short clothes, they all burst into laughter.