As the first light of dawn broke, Isaac leaned against the windowsill on the second floor of the manor, gazing at the peasants toiling in the fields. The golden dawn was so dazzling that Isaac squinted his eyes, and the searing pain brought back memories of the inheritance ceremony three days ago—the iris crest entwined around his brother's sword hilt, the congealed wax tears along the edge of his father's coffin, and the flickering shadows on the parchment as the lawyer read the Primogeniture Decree, with the candlelight dancing over the words.
"Ultimately, it's not meant for me," he murmured softly. On the fifth day since his arrival in this world, the memories of this body had gradually merged with his own. In this noble world reminiscent of the medieval era, despite the scarcity of material resources, the upper echelons still indulged in velvet bed sheets scented with incense. As the second son of a baron, he was born without any right to inheritance. The manor he currently inhabited belonged to Count Perez—his father had sent him here to serve as a knight's squire, merely to keep a fallback option for the family.
The local count, wielding real power, maintained an elite knightly order. Surrounding minor nobles scrambled to send their younger sons here as hostages. After completing comprehensive knightly training, they could either serve under the count, seek other opportunities, or at the very least, return to their fiefs as competent enforcers. The original owner of this body naturally aspired to achieve military honors and a noble title, had it not been for the sudden gift from another world.
"Bring up attributes." With a thought, a semi-transparent screen materialized before his eyes:
[Name]: Isaac
[Occupation]: Apprentice Knight (5/100)
[Experience Pool]: 0/100
The rudimentary data panel concealed a mystery. Over these days, he had figured out the trick: physical tempering could accumulate experience, and daily training would generate overflow values. What was even better was...
After hastily finishing his breakfast, Isaac stepped into the training ground. This estate, a property of the count, was operated by five hundred serfs, with only five standing guards; the rest were temporary conscripts armed with farming tools. His task now was to train a squad of ten men within a month.
The crooked formation of the militia made him frown. A few days of full meals had not yet reshaped their frail bodies, let alone instilled a military spirit. He picked up a short stick and tapped along the line: "Straighten your spines! Keep your eyes forward!" The training was extremely simple: marching in formation, recognizing directions, the essentials of spear thrusting, and then supplemented with physical conditioning. Any knightly apprentice could accomplish this curriculum; the key was in controlling the rhythm.
Glancing at the data page, the second column [Occupation] prominently displayed:
[Occupation]: Militia Level 1 (2/100)
[Experience Pool]: 1/100
He tapped on the detailed information of the first burly man, and the attribute panel followed like a shadow. After ten days of drill, the system finally acknowledged this private troop. The moment the experience bar filled up, the militia emblem solidified completely.
Normal training accumulated 2 base experience points for the militiamen, with an additional 1 overflow point channeled into the hidden experience pool. Perhaps this single point of experience could be allocated to upgrade another attribute?Isaac lightly touched the virtual panel with his finger, transferring the stored overflow experience into "Fork's" level slot. The data panel changed accordingly:
[Occupation]: Militia Level 1 (3/100)
[Experience Pool]: 0/100
The burly man himself was completely unaware, his muscle lines unchanged from the morning training. Isaac caressed the notches on his short stick and pondered, "Without the panel's feedback, this kind of enhancement is indistinguishable from natural growth..."
"There seems to be no special reaction without the panel," Isaac muttered to himself. Of course... if he added a lot at once, there might be some change?
But with his caution, he would only proceed gradually, without revealing the slightest hint. As for using the power of the experience pool to play tricks?
In this world reminiscent of the medieval era, religion was a double-edged sword, and it was likely to backfire. After all, this panel could not make him invincible. It was better to keep a low profile and develop steadily.
The daily training time for the militia was not long, only in the morning. At noon, they were provided with a meal of coarse wheat porridge. Although it lacked nutrition, it was filling. Under Isaac's intervention, they could accumulate ten to twenty experience points a day. With the interference of supernatural power, the training progress was extremely fast. Although it became more difficult to gain experience points as the training progressed, within a month, this group of militiamen had reached levels 3 to 5. According to Isaac's experience, in terms of effect, they were already comparable to militiamen who had been trained full-time for about half a year.
In reality, many village guard units were not as well-trained as this squad of militia. After all, they could barely coordinate their movements, and their skills and physical strength were up to standard. If they had one or two battles and continued training for a few more months, they might even be comparable to veterans with three to five years of experience.
The attributes of the panel also had limitations. For example, a level-five militiaman might be good at spear thrusting, but in a one-on-one fight, he might be killed by a single pitchfork from a peasant. Moreover, becoming a militiaman did not mean that they no longer farmed. So, it could only be used as a reference.
In fact, Isaac felt that the panel's ability was already incredibly powerful. Excluding combat experience and willpower, it had increased the training efficiency by four to five times. After all, normal people would experience fatigue during training. Doubling the training volume did not yield double the results, and there was no panel to reuse the excess experience points.
In summary, Isaac felt that he could take a gamble.