Chapter 30 Body Forging
"What herbs have we gathered?" I asked, and went into business mode immediately.
"A bunch," Samuel said. "We haven't begun production yet, but we have been gathering them just like all the other materials.
Turns out a lot of folks had quite a few hidden away and knew a couple of spots we had to farm.
The town is uniting well after the famine.
We will start production soon. My team and I have just been going over how to do it best. I assume you want to keep those herbs that can be used as poison? "
I nodded, "Yes, I need you to deliver the created poison to Gerald. Prioritize the creation of the poison first. I will let him know what we have planned later on. Those beasts will not know what hit them."
Samuel nodded, and I left him alone. The man sprang back into work mode immediately. Quite the sight.
Anyway, with that done and the progress checked, it was time to move on. I took a few seconds to observe all the people working before leaving this part of town. I looked up at the sky. It was late afternoon. Gerald and the guards should be digging right now.
At a brisk pace, I walked through one part of the town to the complete opposite side. People greeted me as I passed them. Most offered surprised nods, but some went as far as bowing. After a few times, I just let them do their thing.
Reaching the edge of the town, I stopped and inhaled sharply.
The sky was mostly clear, and in the distance, I could see the faint outline of a ginormous, jagged mountainside.
Snow covered the highest tips, and some even pierced through clouds before continuing upward.
As far as the mountainside was tall, it was wide.
I looked to my left. Still mountains. Then to my right. Still mountains.
"That's the Titan’s Spine," a female voice said from behind. "A truly marvelous and gigantic sight. It's one of the reasons why Gerald and I decided to stay here instead of moving. I love the mountains, as dangerous as they are."
"Julie," I turned around. I was about to ask what she was doing here, just to see her with a bowl of food in her hands.
"Lunch for my husband," she smiled. "I would have brought something for the other boys, but I don't have enough hands."
I wanted to facepalm. I forgot about this part. Who was even bringing food for my guards as they worked?
Julie chuckled slightly. "Worry not, Lord Ivor. Magret, Jen, and Emily always find a way to feed the boys. I just like delivering my husband's food and eating lunch with him. A little 'us time' in this chaotic period."
I nodded, and we both walked towards the guards in the distance. Multiple holes were dug into the ground. Some were as shallow as a few inches while others could fit two of me. Most importantly, there were a lot of holes. And even more were dug by shirtless young men.
Julie and I stopped a few feet away from the first row of holes.
She squinted her eyes and scanned the people in the distance.
Then her eyes lit up in a sparkling light as she spotted an older, muscular gentleman yelling out commands.
Only now did I notice how buff Gerald was, despite the layer of fat hiding his muscles.
"Gerald!" Julie screamed in a way I hadn’t heard her scream before. "Get your ass over here. Lunch is ready!"
True love.
The man arrived within seconds, sweat glistening on his body.
"My Lord, my wife," Gerald bowed and grabbed the bowl before turning around.
Oh, oh!
Julie scowled and grabbed the man's waistband with her hands. Then she dragged her husband towards the eating area to our side. He didn't even attempt resisting. He and I both knew he would experience a fate worse than death should he do that.
"Why don't you join us for lunch?" Julie asked, as she sat her already eating husband on the ground.
I was about to refuse when my stomach grumbled.
Julie smirked and handed me a piece of bread with some beef jerky. Looks like we made new jerky with the mammals we had been gifted. Hopefully not rat's ass this time around either.
Gerald and I munched on our food in silence. Only after we were done did I bother to speak up.
"How are the applications for the army going?"
"I never had more," Gerald smirked. "Around 700 have applied. Although only half have combat classes. Honestly, it's amazing. The people are motivated and hungry for more. I guess the reward you offered motivated quite a few. That and in addition to the danger we are experiencing right now."
I whistled. "Only take those who have combat classes.
Train the rest into a small militia. And yeah, the reward is great, is it not?
We will hold a tournament so the most qualified person will get it.
Only swordsmen, however. We don't want to gift a Swordsmanship Skill to an Axeman, do we?
Also, none of my Guard will join. They will get their skills in time. "
Gerald nodded. "What about those with more generalized classes using different weapons?"
I thought for a moment before allowing them to join too.
Gerald and I had come up with a plan on how to bolster our numbers to a great degree: the carrot and stick approach.
The stick being the Beast Wave and the carrot being a General Swordsmanship Skill book—the one Minor Simulation was about to give me.
The people here had never even seen a Skill Book, so of course most of the combat classes wanted this opportunity, even if it was 'just' of Common Grade.
Almost nobody here had a General Skill. They were rare for a reason, and why Dungeons or Academies were so sought after.
Dungeons dropped Skill books after you completed them.
Well, rarely, but they did. Of course, one also could learn General Skills on their own, just like I did with Meditation.
However, this usually either required a great amount of talent or a teacher willing to share those skills—which is why most nobles went towards an academy when they were old enough.
I, of course, was not that talented. I assumed it was some class shenanigans? Well, I guess my Class was my talent.
Either way, the people wanted the Skill Book. The Skill Book I didn't have yet. I still needed a few more Skill Shards before the Skill could be formed. When the time came around, I would give it to the most qualified person. Hence the tournament.
"700 is a lot, though," I said. "Is the Town really that large? We will need to run a census soon. Also, we probably shouldn't allow the veterans to join the tournament, even if there aren't many."
Gerald sighed. "We will need to, indeed.
We, of course, had a census, but you know.
The famine and the mining incident happened.
And I bet now with the Beast Wave and the pests, even more will die.
A shame. As for the veterans, I agree. They will be mad, but it is what it is.
If we want the skill to go to the most qualified person, we can't just let a few early Stone Ranks overpower those 18-year-olds. "
"Anyway, there is another reason why I came. Well, the main reason, actually," I grinned. "Tell me, what is an effective way against fighting an adversary that is larger in number?"
Gerald thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. "The topic has far too many nuances for me to be able to answer that question properly. Who are you fighting? Where? Are you defending or attacking? Or do you meet at an agreed-upon location to fight?"
I sighed, "Anyway, I had Samuel create a bunch of poison. And seeing your eyes, I think you know where I am going with this."
"Guerrilla warfare," Gerald nodded. "I had already thought about it too, but I found it too risky for too little reward.
But with poison...yeah, this changes things.
The archers could lace their bows with some kind of slow-acting paralyzing poison while the rogue poisoned the food they will be eating. "
"That's what I thought too," I said. "For now, it's only a plan since we don't have enough information; however, how large would you estimate the Beast Wave to be?"
Gerald stayed silent for a moment. "At the least, five thousand animals.
My gut tells me closer to ten. But depending on how deep the pest runs, the more beasts could potentially be affected.
Theoretically, however unlikely, the greens could have started somewhere in the middle of the forest and grown from there.
Over the years, they could have slowly driven out the beasts until now it all happens at once. "
"Gradually then suddenly," I nodded. "Let's prepare for ten thousand or more. Animals and beasts are all within Wood Rank, aren't they? Only at Stone Rank are they categorized as monsters. Do you think we will meet any?"
"I doubt that there will be a lot of monsters," Gerald said. "But yes, you are right, animals and beasts are Wood Rank. Some animals don't even have levels; that's how weak they are. So it doesn't seem as bleak as it is. Anyway, let's get back to the plan."
Over the next course of the hour, Gerald and I discussed what we were going to do when Sebastian finally came back.
His task was pretty simple: tell us how many beasts there were, what kind, and how spread out they were.
In addition to that, he would provide us with an estimate on when they would arrive.
Our plan was pretty simple, but I liked it a lot.
There were a couple of stages, and for now, we would begin to cut down trees to keep the forest safe from what we had planned.
It was an exciting if a little frightening talk.
After all, the whole Town depended on whether or not we would succeed. And that was scary.
Once we were done, Gerald and his guards got back to work. They would finish up digging a few more holes, then rest and get back to training.
"I think it's time," I said to Julie. She looked at me, confused, then her eyes lit up in excitement.
"Time for some Body Forging?" Julie popped a grin.
I nodded. "Some good old Body Forging."
We practically sprang up from the sitting position we were in and sped back to the mansion.
I didn't quite understand why Julie was as excited as I was.
Turns out the reason was really, really simple.
She didn't even know this was possible. To use herbs to permanently increase stats?
Yeah, not something she had thought of despite it being her job.
And that's where the excitement came in. She wanted to learn, to watch, and later maybe optimize the Manual. However, she made sure to tell me that it would likely take a long time before she could do so.
We arrived back at the mansion. Magret, Jen, and Emily were nowhere to be found, but we didn't stay to search for them. Instead, we went up to Julie's office, grabbed the herbs, before running back to my room.
Then we arrived in front of my bathtub. Realizing we had forgotten to boil water, we went back down into the kitchen and boiled a good amount of water. Then we poured it back into the bathtub.
Looking at the hot, steaming water sent shudders down my spine. I missed warm showers, but not boiling ones. We really needed to get some good plumbing installed. I knew old Ivor was able to take hot showers back at his mansion.
I shook my head and pushed all the thoughts away.
"Strip naked," Julie said from behind.
"What?"
"Strip naked. Do you plan on jumping in with your clothes on?
Did you not read the Manual yourself? Section Five, third Chapter.
'Person Subjected to the Body Forging process is vehemently advised against keeping their clothes on. They may not only incur lesser results but also potentially deadly side effects’," Julie said, her eyes glued to the Manual as she read me the section.
I simply sighed and began taking my clothes off one by one.
I decided not to bother with modesty. Only once I was completely naked did Julie look up from the Manual.
She paid me no mind. She walked over towards the bag of herbs, poured them on the ground, and picked up a couple of vicious-looking herbs.
They were red in color, with roots jagged in ways that made them seem like spikes. Black spots covered the herbs, and dirt and earth clung to their body.
"Do you not want to wash them first?" I asked.
"They would lose their potency," Julie said.
"Anyway, I will drop the herbs inside all at the same time, but you need to jump in immediately.
Do you understand? Every second you stay outside, the herbs will lose their effects.
If you want to get the most out of this, you need to jump in immediately. "
"Yeah, I have read the Manual too. Thank you."
Julie didn't say anything and simply dropped all five herbs into the bathtub at the same time. They plummeted to the bottom, and the water began to bubble. It turned a red so bloody I thought she had dropped a corpse inside instead.
I stopped thinking and jumped in.
Oh, what hell that was.