The independent yard is quite spacious, and the house is big enough for two people to live without worrying about bothering each other. The outside of the yard leads directly to the beach, providing ample space for Aiven and Gary to train, whether for exercise or actual combat training.
What pleased Aiven the most was the independent attic at the top of the house, from where a small door opened to a balcony covered in ivy, a lush and serene retreat amidst the lively surroundings, with a unique elegance.
He plans to transform this space into his alchemy lab. While being an apprentice knight, Aiven is also an excellent pharmacist and can tailor-make many auxiliary potions himself.
Moreover, the elderly landlord couple with their grandson lives next door, which means they can help look after the house while the two are sailing, preventing the property from becoming neglected again.
"Not bad, what do you think, Gary?"
"Hehehe, I'm fine with it," said Gary, having already decided to stay in the house rent-free and naturally having no objections.
"Then let's prepare the contract," Aiven clapped his hands, finally settling his residence for the near future.
Subsequently, both parties signed the lease agreement with the help of an official, settling down in Gabred with a monthly rent of one silver bull.
Aiven is responsible for the one silver bull rent, while Gary handles the labor, cleaning the yard, doing household chores, and purchasing daily necessities, thus sharing responsibilities without unfairly exploiting Aiven.
From what Aiven knows, an ordinary sailor in the Third Fleet earns about three silver bulls a month, equivalent to one golden lion, while Aiven, being a reserve officer, earns five silver bulls per month. One silver bull equals a hundred copper fuer coins, and in terms of purchasing power, one copper fuer could roughly buy two barley loaves considered as staple food.
For crew members, they might indeed have to rely on their monthly salary, and frugal living is inevitable, but officers enjoy a generous spoil-sharing system.
The captain claims a quarter alone, while the ship's officers distribute a quarter, though, in practice, it's not so straightforward, yet the officers' side earnings are indeed substantial.
After all, if there weren't enough benefits, how could the navy attract talent, convincing them to stake their lives on the perilous sea?
The Phaletis Kingdom also couldn't have become a leading maritime power within the Tulip Alliance in just a generation.
Declining the landlord couple's dinner invitation, the two found a restaurant and ordered a variety of vegetables, indulging their greasy stomachs.
Gary often had to endure a month with only potatoes in his hometown, and didn't see the lack of vegetables as noteworthy. But Aiven was different; sticking to habits from his past life, he continually ensured balanced nutrition.
On voyages, fresh vegetables become scarce. On projects like the Silver Wings doing short-range patrols, it's manageable, but in long voyages lacking resupply, it becomes a significant issue.
Although people in this world, influenced by mysterious factors, generally have much stronger physiques than in the previous life, diseases like scurvy still exist. Limited by relatively underdeveloped medical conditions, falling ill at sea could be fatal.
It is said that the loss of personnel at sea, especially during ocean voyages, due to disease-caused non-combat casualties could be more severe than combat casualties.
Therefore, before heading back home, Aiven took a detour to the market, searching for some beans that looked most like soybeans and mung beans from his past life, buying a large bag of each.
He intends to see if he can grow a common dish from his past life. Success would not only benefit sailors but also spare his stomach from some torment.
Moreover, the kingdom has always had decrees rewarding the invention of advanced sailing technology. Achieving the predicted goal could potentially bring him both fame and wealth.
The two, having no friends in this city, with fifteen-year-olds from small places yet to experience the bustling nightlife, spent the next two days of vacation quietly working out at home.
The beach next to the house served as their ready-made training ground.
Most of the training disciplines Aiven originally persisted in at Leopold, such as the breathing technique, weighted training, diving, and swordsmanship, were adequately facilitated by this site, now producing better results with mutual encouragement.
After a fierce battle with a sea monster and several hearty meals of its meat, Aiven noticed changes in his physical constitution once again.
Name: Aiven Galliot
Gender: Male
Military Rank: Sub-Lieutenant (assigned to Phaletis Kingdom Third Fleet, Silver Wings)
Tier: Peak of Apprentice Knight
Attributes: Constitution 0.91+0.02
Strength 0.88+0.01
Agility 0.93
Intelligence 0.9
Skills: (omitted)
Constitution increased by 0.02, and strength by 0.01.
He had already concluded he had reached his limit, but unexpectedly, after leaving Leopold, including a new recruit training period of just over three months, his progress was surprisingly not slower than at the intermediate apprentice knight stage.
Could it be that combat is the shortcut to progress on the knight path for the extraordinary?
Aiven was intrigued and decided to try it on the ship with Uncle Gel. Aiven felt Uncle Gel wouldn't refuse such a request.
In fact, besides Aiven's outstanding talent, the assistance of data visualization ensures every training session yields optimal results, and after unrelenting practice since the age of eight to the current age of fifteen, his body has built a sufficiently solid foundation.
After leaving Leopold, several appropriately timed real combat experiences have been like a hammer forging Aiven from an iron ingot into steel, giving Aiven the feeling of rapidly progressing during this period.
Additionally, under Aiven's continual targeted one-on-one guidance, Gary's constitution finally broke through the innate value of 0.7, taking the first step towards enhancing physical fitness through the knight training method.
In terms of a knight's innate talent, in some ways, Gary might be even stronger than Aiven.
After all, it's terrifying for someone to naturally grow to the late-stage apprentice knight level without any guidance. It's a pity he's never received any instruction since childhood. If he had Aiven's learning opportunities, he might already be an official knight by now.
...
The peaceful holiday passed, and the two returned to the Silver Wings to resume their cruising mission.
During this time, Aiven proactively approached Captain Gel and requested practical combat training.
As expected, Gel readily agreed. During non-combat times, Gel, being the captain, wasn't as busy, and there was little entertainment available on the ship, so training Aiven suited him perfectly.
The training ground wasn't chosen to be on the deck. After all, Aiven himself is already reaching the limits of human ability, akin to a small superhero. Not to mention Gel, a legitimate Extraordinary Knight—letting them train on the deck, the destructive power would be too astonishing.
The training ground was easily managed.
Lower some lifeboats and tie them together with ropes, forming a "training ground" large enough for the two to move around. Even if mistakes were made, no one else would be hurt.
"Aiven, use all your means and attack with all you've got." Gel said calmly, still dressed impeccably in a school officer uniform, casually holding a longsword and standing at the bow of a lifeboat.
Although it felt somewhat underestimated, Aiven knew Uncle Gel had the right to say such things, so he didn't dare to be careless. He silently drew his sword and assumed the offensive stance of Sail Up.
At this point, there wasn't much difference in lethality between training swords and real swords. To provide Aiven with enough pressure, Gel directly required using real swords for the training.
The disparity between them was too vast, and he was confident in controlling the situation.
"Clang——!"
Sparks flew as Aiven, who took the initiative to attack, was directly knocked back. In mid-air, he spun around and used his feet to leverage on a lifeboat, amidst the splashing water, he jumped back up.
With both hands raised over his head, he delivered a powerful "Jump Slash."
"Clang——!"
Once again, Gel received it with one hand and smoothly knocked him away with a sword guard.
Actually, Aiven's current way of attacking is vastly different from his previous agile-oriented swordsmanship style. What he's trying to improve now is his physical constitution, not his moves. This kind of head-on combat is more conducive to experiencing the force application at the knight level and sensing the subtle changes in physical confrontation.
Regarding Aiven's attack approach, Gel neither approved nor disapproved; he simply suppressed his strength to the limit of Aiven's tolerance, providing him with real and powerful feedback.
Everything else was left for Aiven to experience on his own.
During the process of data visualization of his attributes, the final list presented before Aiven was just the result after stabilization.
During training, it would continuously provide feedback on the training effects. Even though the figures beyond the decimal point couldn't be displayed, the trend of change could still be sensed by Aiven.
0.93+
0.93+...
"Effective!" Aiven was secretly delighted. In past real combats, it was mostly life and death struggles, leaving him no energy to notice subtle changes. Now, in this absolutely safe environment, Aiven finally discovered the secret of physical constitution change.
His physical constitution seemed like packing snow into a barrel. It appeared to be filled, but actually, by pressing harder, it could hold more. This action of "pressing harder" couldn't be accomplished by him alone; it required external force, and Uncle Gel happened to be the best leverage point.
Aiven verified his conjecture through data visualization and let go of his restraints even more. Striving to compress his barrel of snow to the limit in the shortest time possible, he believed that the moment of qualitative change into ice, completing the Extraordinary Transformation, was near!
"Ting ting tang tang..."
Now was not the time to cherish the sword. Aiven's moves became more direct, abandoning all superfluous movements and the elegance of White Sail Swordsmanship, leaving only increasingly intense head-on collisions!
The swordsmanship style gradually shifted from "White Sail Swordsmanship" to "Phaletis Saber Technique," desperately squeezing his stamina and potential.
"Ha——"
Bang——
He was knocked away.
"Again!"
"Again!"
"....."
Thus, Aiven's fulfilling life onboard began.
He continued to learn sailing skills and various practical navigation skills on the ship, and whenever Gel was available, he would pester him for combat training.
Sensitively perceiving that Aiven had reached a certain critical point, the true peak of the apprentice period was nearly in sight. Gel set aside some unimportant work, dedicating time exclusively to staying on that piece of "training ground" with Aiven.
Fully helping him make the final preparations before transformation, Aiven's physical constitution and swordsmanship level swiftly improved with Gel, the "gold medal sparring partner," aiding him.
Aiven felt he was very close to breaking through that limit...