The road to the town is not smooth, making one's rear ache from the bumps.
At the entrance of Endland Town, Duke waved goodbye to Uncle Lien, who was heading to the market to sell pumpkins.
He followed the directions in his memory and arrived at the militia training ground, located in an open space on the northern side of the town.
There was a sign hanging at the entrance of the training ground, outlining the recruitment requirements for militia: "Under thirty, physically strong..."
Duke's luck was good; today Captain Wood happened to be at the training ground. He was a man looking to be in his thirties, with a full beard.
Wood glanced at Duke up and down, patted Duke's shoulder, arms, back, and thighs, and nodded, "Your physical condition is not bad, Duke from Yining Village, right? You can start militia training tomorrow."
The whole process was very simple, taking just two minutes, and Duke became a member of the militia reserve team. All he needed to do was pass the training to get the job.
Duke hadn't expected it to be so simple, and he left the training ground, heading to the local grain store to buy some foods.
"Four copper coins per pound for chestnut rice?" Duke frowned.
Previously, chestnut rice only cost three copper coins per pound, but now it had directly increased by one copper coin.
Looking at the twenty copper coins in his pocket, Duke felt a bit helpless.
The shop owner sighed, "We can't help it. The grain prices are rising throughout the Jade Province. In some places, it's even six or seven copper coins per pound. Thanks to Earl Hardy's care, we can still control the prices here."
Faced with this situation, Duke could only choose to accept it, buying five pounds of chestnut rice with his twenty copper coins, carrying them in a small bag in his hand.
Duke glanced at the sky and quickened his pace to leave the town and return to the village.
As he passed by a meat shop, he couldn't help stopping. A big black pig was being butchered, fresh flesh slowly being cut out, along with a large chunk of fat, thick with grease.
At first glance, it was a wild boar hunted from the forest, probably weighing more than three hundred pounds - quite the bounty.
Pity the forest belongs to Earl Hardy, not everyone can hunt there; only a few have permission.
The wild boar might have been a spoils from some noble's hunting expedition, casually given to a servant to handle.
Duke swallowed as he looked at the fat and grease. In his previous life, such fat was not favored.
But in this era, this type of fat is considered a big tonic.
Duke touched his empty pocket and could only carry his small bag of chestnut rice, continuing to speed up on his way home.
...
At night, as everyone else in the village had gone to sleep, Duke was still in his yard energetically wielding his scythe.
He wanted to max out his scythe proficiency before tomorrow to better handle the training that starts then.
Duke was not yet truly a part of the militia team; after training for a while, his spot would be confirmed. For now, he was just in the militia reserve.
If his physical ability could improve further, he could perform better in the militia training.
He looked at the skill tree in his mind, fervently swinging the scythe in his hand.
After this swing, a warm current flowed through his body, and a message appeared in his mind.
[Scythe: LV4 (0/3000)]
[Scythe skill upgraded, 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 attributes increased by 0.5; my physical fitness has already surpassed the standard line for ordinary adult men," Duke thought, looking at his attributes.
He felt as though he had grown a bit taller; the linen clothes and pants he was wearing were now slightly smaller, becoming a bit tight.
He jumped on the spot and felt his body was very light, with a strong strength hidden inside.
He felt that if he threw a full punch now, his former self would have been knocked to the ground and unable to get up.
Duke also noticed that on the skill tree, the scythe branch had yielded a green fruit.
The fruit was still small, only slightly larger than a soybean, barely noticeable.
He had thought reaching the max level would mean the end, but he didn't expect to continue upgrading after reaching level four, just needing three thousand proficiency points this time.
Duke guessed that when he maxed out the three thousand proficiency points, the fruit should mature, but he didn't know what changes would occur.
...
The next day, in Endland Town, at the training ground.
When Duke arrived at the training ground, there were already over a dozen teenagers of similar age gathered here.
Like him, these were all members of the militia reserve team, who would receive collective training together.
Many of these teenagers seemed to know each other, most were childhood friends from town, while some were traveling companions from other villages, forming several distinct small circles.
Duke's arrival drew their attention. A blonde teenager couldn't help but laugh when he saw Duke.
"Look at this guy, dressed like a hobo, don't tell me he's going to train with us."
Levin was the son of a town merchant, from a relatively wealthy family. Several of the town's teenagers usually hung out with him, with him as their leader.
At his words, the others couldn't help but laugh too.
Due to Duke's rapid physical growth over the past few days, his old clothes were now quite short, indeed he looked somewhat shabby.
He himself didn't care, since it was summertime, no need for warmth, as long as the key areas were covered.
As for the children's ridicule, Duke didn't mind; he wasn't a child anymore, and wouldn't get upset over such trivial matters.
Of course, if the other party continued to overstep, Duke would let them know whose fist was bigger.
At that moment, Wood emerged from the room beside, wearing chain armor, holding a longsword: "Kids, come over here with me."
He led them to an open space, planted the sword in the ground, and said, "Today is the first day of your militia training, I hope you pay attention. During your training, I will select suitable candidates to stay."
"Today's lesson: basic swordsmanship..."
Wood briefly explained, then began demonstrating essential movements of basic swordsmanship, teaching repeatedly from different angles, and then said, "Alright, start practicing, I will instruct you."
Duke found that the others either held a wooden sword or a real iron sword.
He couldn't help but speak up, "Mr. Wood, I don't have a sword."
The scene fell silent instantly; everyone looked over. Levin immediately noticed the scythe at Duke's waist and yelled out, "Look at that, he's planning to learn sword with a scythe!"
Others promptly noticed Duke's scythe, and seeing the rusty scythe and his short clothes, couldn't help but burst into laughter.