Chapter 54. Farm Blood was never drawn by Arthur's sword. He missed on purpose as the sword cut the ground right beside the man's head. He had his eyes closed, waiting for the death that never came. He was relieved to be alive, but now there was fear for Arthur in his eyes. "Last chance, you won't get another one. Does anybody else want to come forward, doubting me?" No one said a word. Luke and Lucy too had not expected such an outcome and were stunned to see Arthur like this. He was always friendly and kind while he was with them. Now, Arthur had a different air about him. "The reason I have to do this is to train all of you. You are a single unit, the first and the senior-most squadron of this army. You all are going to be fighting together and, I don't want one weak individual to drag down the whole group." I smiled seeing that he had understood the small clue and implemented it from their first session. Including the twins was also a great choice. The groups then distanced themselves from each other and started their spars. The three would call one person at a time, while the others surrounded them. They would continue until the soldier surrendered or was knocked out. Lucy took a minute or two more than the boys but she was doing well regardless. The little 'stunt' that Arthur had performed just now was to let the soldiers know that he was stronger than all of them and at a higher standing. They understood that he was the leader and they were the followers. Not listening to his order would be detrimental to them, not Arthur. They were scared of him and more likely to follow his orders from now on. Arthur did have a natural charisma, he just needed to find a way to use it. He now had to change the fear that people had for him into respect. Once recruits were added and they got to know how others respected Arthur, All on their own, they too would start respecting him. It was the same concept as 'monkey see, monkey do.' I observed them for a few more minutes and then headed back to the city, knowing that they had everything under control. "Were the crops grown by craftsmen in the trial?" "No, the normal citizens grew them. You don't exactly need skills to plow the land, and harvest after they are grown." I was talking to Garry in his workshop. There were neatly arranged tools, an anvil, metal bars, and many such things in his workshop. "Why do we need to start growing crops?" Garry asked hearing me a question about farming. "We have two months, one month of rations left if we prepare for the worse. How much time did it take for crops to grow?" "Rice takes time, two or three months to grow. But wheat, potato, and some others can be ready in a month. If the land has 'more' mana present, they grow faster." I thought for a second and a light bulb went off in my mind. "The anthill, They have mana crystals in the walls, which also had the ants mutate. We can try farming a small portion there, and if they come out fine we can turn that whole place into a huge farm/mine area. Farm above, mine underground." "We also need a water source if are thinking about building a permanent farm," Garry said, he didn't reject the idea so it was possible. "We'll try the anthill. Can you assign people to clear out the area and make it flat, also a place we can use for three months as a temporary farm? If the anthill project is helpful, I'll check out the lake or sea that's visible from here." "I'll assign some people to clear to the fields, for the farmer-" "Arthur can manage that, I'll tell him to have it sorted out by the next week." "Perfect," Garry said and rushed out of the workshop to find some people. Not much happened the next few weeks. The area above the anthill was deforested, which would later be used to start building the outer city. The farmers were selected and given their jobs. The first seeds were sown, now all that was left to do was wait. We did not know if the anthill farm project would be successful or not, but I still started clearing out the monsters in the direction of the river. The monsters were stronger the deeper you go, the number of monsters that were nearing the 'ascend' stage was increasing. It was like I was back in the jungle that was littered with chieftains. Every monster at that strength, but none of the above it, matching the hobgoblin. And this was a great thing for me as my second class had finally caught up to the first one. ----------- [Status] Name: Ray Species: ??? Bloodline: Demon of ??? General Skills: Identify lvl 25, Mantra of ??? lvl 25, Demon's martial arts lvl 25, Axe Mastery lvl 25, Dual wielding lvl 25, Sword Mastery lvl 21, Mana Control lvl 25, Focus lvl 23 Strength : 45 Agility : 45 Endurance : 75 Vitality : 75 Dexterity : 45 Intelligence : 45 Wisdom : 45 Perception : 100 Bonus point remaining: 15 ----------- [Primary Class: Demon Fighter] Level: 45 Skills : Active - Bloodlust lvl 25, Sprint lvl 25, Cleave lvl 25, Carnage lvl 25 Passive - Demon's Perception lvl 25, Demon's Control lvl 25, Demon's Sense lvl 25, Demon's Flexibility lvl 25 ----------- [Secondary Class: Blood Mage] Level: 45 Skills : Active - Clot lvl 22, Blood recovery lvl 22, Blood activation lvl 17, Outer blood control lvl 19 Passive - Aroma of Blood lvl 21, Blood Sight lvl 20, Inner blood control lvl 19, Bloodfield lvl 10 ----------- Only the skills from the blood mage had and two general skills had not reached twenty-five. Perception had a hundred points in it, but a problem made itself known right after that.