CH 16

The year 1005 of the Holy Calendar: the month of Germination.

It has been a few days since Levi’s breathing method hit Level 3.

During this time, Levi carefully studied every book that mentioned wizards and books related to animal taming that Knight Fred brought him.

And soon, his proficiency in animal taming improved rapidly.

He was surprised he could improve his proficiency simply by reading.

It didn’t take long for him to level up.

Levi Synder

Beast Taming: Level 2 (1/5000)

And it wasn’t like he read a lot of books either.

There are many circuses in the Emerald Kingdom, and different circuses have different experiences related to animal taming. Every time Levi opens a book, he gains knowledge: about different nationalities, those in urban areas or the wild parts of the countries—every single one of them had different methods of taming animals.

In addition to reading, he would apply some of the theories he learnt to his three bears, increasing his proficiency.

As for his breathing method, this month alone, his proficiency has only increased by the hundreds.

If he were to reach the 10,000 mark under normal circumstances, it would take about two years.

“I need to get the Black Snake Medicine on the agenda soon…”

Levi began to have a headache regarding this. Now, the cash flow of Blackwater Valley is only a few dozen gold coins.

The hundreds of animals are worth no more than one hundred gold coins, but they will never be sold. They are a great source of dairy and meat.

And Levi wouldn’t dare to fish anymore.

“How am I going to get rich quick? Rather, how can I use my proficiency panel to get rich?”

At this moment, Knight Fred walked in and whispered with a frown, “Master Levi, Milan asked about his father again.”

“His father is doing fine in the Wild Boar Gang,” Levi simply replied. “He’s the chief blacksmith for them now; we’ll save him soon enough, but with our current situation…”

It was as if something tipped off in Levi’s head. He beckoned Knight Fred to follow him, and the two of them rode the only horse straight towards Milan’s house.

It has been more than a year since Milan’s father was kidnapped, and his Lord has yet to keep his promise.

“Milan,” Levi greeted as he stepped off the horse, dusting off his black cloak. “Are you still worried about your father?”

“Yes, my Lord,” Milan cautiously said as he knelt on the ground.

Levi helped him up.

“I understand how you feel, but your father is safe in the Wild Boar Gang. We simply do not have the resources to start a fight with them; if we had fifty sets of armour for our knights, I would’ve led an army of men straight into the Wild Boar Gang and rescued your father.”

“F-fifty sets?” Milan trembled.

In this world, fifty sets of armour are incredibly difficult to obtain. Even the Earls, who are richer than Levi, may not be able to afford this.

Moreover, Milan’s blacksmithing experience isn’t enough to craft armour. Only his father had the experience to do so, and even then, he could only craft two sets of armour per year. Fifty sets of armour are simply unachievable.

“But do not fret; I shall do my best to help you,” Levi smiled. “Starting tomorrow, you will move into the castle and teach me the techniques of forging and smelting.”

“H-huh? B-but, my Lord, how could I possibly burden you with something so dirty?”

Levi simply smiled at him.

Milan led Levi inside and watched his forging process carefully. He took the only book on forging from the blacksmith’s store and left with Knight Fred.

“Are you really planning to learn how to forge?” Knight Fred seemingly made fun of Levi.

“Yes.”

In this world of war, most territories have self-sufficient economies sustained by small farmers.

Levi thought about it: if agriculture is the main economic driver, then Blackwater Valley simply cannot compete with them.

However, there is definitely a good prospect in blacksmithing—forging anything from agricultural tools to weapons or even armour.

And as a lord who leads his people, he knows how valuable weaponry is.

If this goes through, then he will not be short on money.

And he was confident because of his proficiency panel—an extra skill appeared on his panel.

Levi Snyder

Forging: Level 1 (1/1000)

For the longest time, Levi was limited by how nobles worked in this world, where all physical tasks were taken care of by servants, so he never thought of using his proficiency panel to practise these tasks.

Now, he is short on money, and his territory lacks talent and resources.

When he was observing Milan working, it was no surprise when a new skill popped up in his proficiency panel.

And as long as it can appear on his proficiency panel, anything he does is easy.

In the next few days, Levi sent people to move the blacksmith shop into his castle. He also tasked them to build a personal blast furnace, so he could learn forging in his downtime.

Milan was flattered; he never expected that the Lord would be willing to be his apprentice. He seems in touch with the people.

Levi needs to cultivate himself; he needs to become stronger.

In just a month, Levi’s forging skills have reached Level 2.

This was much faster than he imagined and much easier than combat.

In his previous life, Levi once heard that if someone were to focus on one thing for a thousand hours, they could easily master many things. After all, time is the best teacher, and the potential of human beings is far greater than imagined.

Combined with his proficiency panel, everything he sows, he reaps instantly.

Three months later, he successfully forged a high-quality sword, which was about the same quality as the one Milan gave him.

Of course, these high-quality goods could only be regarded as garbage in his previous life. This is because there is no high-quality iron to forge the sword from.

And Levi has no idea how to fix this. His proficiency panel cannot change the quality of raw materials.

This made Milan taste the difference in skill between him and his Lord.