Chapter 92: Chapter 92

The next day.

Ron arrived at the training ground early. The wounded and corpses he had seen at noon yesterday had all vanished without a trace, leaving only the lingering scent of blood that seemed to remind him what kind of scene had unfolded here the day before.

“Karel, morning!”

“Morning, Ron.”

After greeting the companions who had also arrived early, Ron began helping prepare food. As the apprentices trickled in one after another, the aroma of boiled Fire Beef started wafting through the training ground.

It masked the scent of blood that had been so overpowering before.

Before long, Chief Instructor of Apprentices Arnold arrived at the training ground and announced to everyone: “The originally scheduled training for the next few days is cancelled. You will all go to the west of town to help repair roads and build houses. This is also one of the duties of the Territory Guard.”

The most important duty of the Territory Guard was to protect, and protection was by no means limited to combat alone. Helping to repair roads and build houses was also a form of protection.

Ron had already received word from Instructor Morris yesterday, and the other true locals were probably long accustomed to this sort of thing.

After Instructor Arnold finished his announcement, everyone began eating, and then gradually left the training ground. Ron and his companions were among them.

…

Upon arriving at the west of town, Ron immediately noticed an open clearing where hundreds of territorial subjects had been organized. Some were assigned to haul supplies, while others appeared to have been tasked with reciting the Radiant Maxims.

Seeing this, Ron couldn’t help but feel delighted. Last night, he had fully confirmed that the sense of relief brought by the Radiant Maxims was indeed a sensation produced when Pollution Secret Patterns detached from the human body.

And the detachment of Pollution Secret Patterns was truly a thorough removal, not a temporary suppression or transfer.

This was the only method Ron knew of so far that could effectively expel Pollution Secret Patterns!

Whether it was the transfer method he had previously employed or his efforts to ascend toward transcendence, both merely treated the symptoms without addressing the root cause. Neither could reduce the total amount of Pollution Secret Patterns clinging to him.

But now, the Radiant Maxims could actually reduce his total Pollution Secret Patterns.

This alone was enough for Ron to certify the Lord of Radiance as a True God!

Of course, a True God was a True God, but if it came to personally reciting the Radiant Maxims, unless he was left with absolutely no other choice, he was still rather reluctant.

And in reality, he didn’t even need to recite the Maxims himself. He simply needed to be nearby when others recited them, and he could achieve the same effect of reducing his total Pollution Secret Patterns.

That was exactly why Ron was so pleased to see territorial subjects preparing to recite the Radiant Maxims.

It was just a pity that the number of territorial subjects here today was rather small, far fewer than the crowd at the small square in front of the castle yesterday. Moreover, the intensity of their faith wasn’t quite the same.

Yesterday, many people had experienced adverse reactions, and they had regarded the Radiant Maxims as a lifeline. But while the people here today might believe in the Radiant Maxims even more than yesterday’s crowd, the sense of conviction born from an urgent, pressing threat was somewhat lacking.

Soon, Ron experienced the difference between the two collective recitations. Yesterday, the sense of relief had arrived very quickly and was extraordinarily noticeable.

But today, the sensation was nearly imperceptible.

It was easy to imagine that the purification efficiency would also be greatly diminished.

But what was there to criticize about a completely free benefit?

…

“Hey, kid, come lend a hand!”

Ron had been drifting closer to where the subjects were reciting the Maxims, whether intentionally or not. But the apprentices were really just doing odd jobs; the Territory Guard already had a well-established workflow.

Sure enough, after he stood around for a short while, a soldier called him over to help. Ron naturally wouldn’t refuse. Yesterday, Morris had reminded him to explore his body’s limits.

His insufficient understanding of his rapidly improving body was shackling his further progress with Whole-Body Force.

Manual labor was a relatively simple and accessible way to explore his body’s limits.

Ron even wondered whether, at a certain stage of training, the territory would have arranged manual labor for the apprentices even without this unexpected event, to help them explore their own limits.

“Coming!”

Ron called out and sprinted to the soldier’s side. Before the man could say a word, Ron took the initiative to heft a black stone slab off the cart and stack it neatly by the roadside.

Along both sides of the original road, at regular intervals, there were similar stacks of neatly arranged stone slabs.

“Slow down, no rush! We’ll be at this all day today!”

“No worries, I’ve got the strength!”

A single slab wasn’t enough for Ron to sense his body’s limits, so he began trying to carry two slabs, or even more, at once.

Besides hauling stone slabs for paving, Ron also participated in tamping the road. This involved lifting a stone with a relatively flat bottom together with another person, then letting it free-fall, using this method to continuously compact the road surface.

Fortunately, this time they were only repairing damaged roads, not building new ones.

Even so, the process was tedious enough. It wasn’t as simple as Ron had initially assumed, just leveling the surface, compacting it, and laying down stone slabs.

In practice, they first had to dig three feet into the ground, then layer fired earth, gravel, fired earth, and charcoal ash. The so-called fired earth was soil that had been baked over fire. This pattern was repeated in multiple layers, each of which had to be compacted, before stone slabs were finally laid on top.

The two sides of the road had their own corresponding craftsmanship as well. This could be considered Ron’s first hands-on experience with the construction of classical roads.

The reason for such an elaborate process was twofold: on one hand, it genuinely ensured the road’s durability, and on the other, it was to deposit Order through a series of intricate procedures, achieving the effect of dispelling Chaos.

Therefore, in any territorial expansion, the first order of business was always to build roads, constructing roads that extended into the wilderness. Then, using those roads as a foundation, they would gradually push outward, continuously extending the Order of civilization into the wilderness.

…

“Good lad, how is your strength even greater than mine! What’s your name?”

After a bout of silent competition, the soldier finally conceded defeat and asked for Ron’s name. Ron didn’t hide anything and told him.

“My name is Ron, this year’s apprentice.”

“So you’re Ron!” The soldier’s face lit up with sudden recognition. “My brother mentioned you before. He said you’re the most talented among this year’s new apprentices! I didn’t believe him at first, thought my brother was pulling my leg. I didn’t expect it to be true!”

“Your brother is…”

“My brother is Jochi, one of this year’s apprentice instructors. My brother also said Morris just got lucky to have you assigned to him. If he had gotten you instead, he’d be the one strutting around showing off right now! Haha!”

Perhaps feeling that laughing heartily was inappropriate so soon after the territory had suffered so many sacrifices, the soldier chuckled twice before putting on a serious face again:

“Let me introduce myself. I’m Nar.”

“Nice to meet you, Nar.”

“Hehe, once you advance to Knight, I’ll have bragging rights too.”

Ron was momentarily speechless. He didn’t want to stand around chatting with Nar, so he exchanged a brief greeting and got back to work.