"Why don't you test them with that move?" Grand duke smiled.
Alex nodded, he went to the center of the room. He planned to use his Sanguin Sword Art's Fifth Slash again.
"First, Second, Third, Fourth," Alex used the same move and used his Mana to avoid disturbing the Mana in the air.
"Fifth Slash!"
'Swoosh!'
The Sword Wave became a weak wind once again which meant Alex had failed.
The atmosphere became awkward.
"Well... you can practice all you want in here. Ah... I remember I have an appointment soon, so I will leave first," the duke ran away.
"..." Alex was speechless, he then shook his head. "The first one might be a fluke, but the chance is there, I just need to practice more."
Alex trained the Sword Art for another two weeks. He sometimes succeeded and sometimes failed when doing the fifth slash. It took him two weeks to completely master the fifth slash. Now he wanted to learn Spear Throwing Art.
"It's now the time for Power Throwing and Spin Throwing. Power Throwing relies on brute force, while the latter relies on technique. Let's try the Power Throwing first."
Alex followed the instruction from the scroll, hand positioning, which muscle to use, etc. At first, he was unfamiliar with the process, so the throw was weaker than his usual throw without this Art. But soon, the power became stronger and stronger. After a week he mastered this Power Throwing.
"Power throwing!"
A spear flew toward the training wall at super-speed, leaving a shockwave.
Boom!'
The spear broke when it hit the wall. But the power was there to see.
Alex nodded satisfied, "The power is really good, to boost it, this is only a normal spear and this alone might kill a rank 4 monster. What if I throw a good spear, won't the power be much stronger?"
After mastered Power Throwing, Alex learned Spin Throwing. But suddenly someone came to the training room.
"Alex, the spear batch has come just now."
"Uncle, sorry to trouble you for this."
"Haha, don't worry about it."
The grand duke was happy Alex was still in the house, that was why he liked to visit him. His eldest daughter was at the border, he worried about her. His second and third daughter was in the dungeon and he also worried about them. He was lonely, his daughter all traveled. Fortunately, Alex was still in the house, so, talking like this with him made him happy. All he had were daughters and talking with Alex like this made him feel like he was talking with his own son.
"There are still three weeks left before your holiday ends. Are you going to use all three weeks to train?"
Alex pondered for a moment, then he nodded.
"I see. Oh yeah, I remember. Yesterday, the Minister of Agriculture reported to the king for your 'Four Crop Rotation System.' The result is three times higher than usual. He suggests implementing this system on all farmland in our territory. My brother is really happy about this, he wants to give you a title."
"Really? But…" Alex didn't want to be involved with the Kingdom Management for now.
"Don't worry about it, even though he gives you the title, you won't need to do things like a noble's house nor its obligation. This title will give you an easy pass, so when you want to travel, just know that the kingdom will back you up."
Alex was surprised by this treatment, "Aren't they..."
Grand duke only smiled and patted his shoulder, "Although there is only one thing you need to promise."
Alex frowned, "What is it?"
"If the kingdom is in peril, you have to help."
Alex's eyes widened, he relieved, "Yes, I will!"
"That's all about it. I know you wouldn't like any formal ceremony like that, so we will give you the title in private with a few ministers present. It will take place in the castle tomorrow."
"Umm..." Alex hesitated.
"Why? Are you embarrassed with only a few people present for the event? Or do you want a grand ceremony for that?"
"No no no," Alex shook his head furiously, "It just... I don't have any formal attire, my clothes are all like this," he pointed at the clothes he was wearing.
"Ah... ahahaha!" Grand duke laughed happily. He thought Alex had some kind of problem with that arrangement, but he never thought that this was the problem he had. "Don't worry about it, you can use my clothes for that."
Alex was embarrassed.
"Well, meet me tomorrow morning," the grand duke said and left.
Alex went to the garden to inspect the spears. Because of the incident in the dungeon, all his spear stocks in the system were busted, and he was still focused on Techniques Gacha. That was why he could only get spear supplies from outside for his training since he broke many spears for this training.
"What should I do now..." Alex pondered for a moment, suddenly he remembered something. "I haven't finished the other five of my Qi Gathering Pills."
Alex stopped his training and decided to take the Qi Gathering Pills for the rest of the day. In his room, Alex started taking the pills.
After finishing with his first pill, Alex felt so close to a breakthrough.
He ate another pill, but still couldn't break through.
"One more," Alex immediately fed himself another pill. This time, after an hour, "Breakthrough."
Alex smirked, "I reach rank 5." Alex leaped out of joy. He reached rank 5 and inspected his new prowess. "With this, I think I won't need too much time to kill rank 5 monsters. Should I go to the dungeon again?"
He shook his head, "I will finish all these pills first." After deciding, Alex went back to cultivate.
The next morning Alex met the duke in his study room.
"These are the formal attire I have in my young days. The size should be similar to you, so pick what you like," said the grand duke.
There were a few clothes lined up. He looked at them one by one, although none of them managed to catch Alex's interest, he was about to choose some random clothes when someone suddenly came in.
"Master, this is your favorite clothes back then."
Alex turned to the voice, he saw Butler Ji brought a white-colored attire.
"Oh!" The duke stood up and took the white-colored clothes and turned to Alex. "Look, how about these clothes? I think this one suits you the most."
Alex only nodded, he grabbed the clothes and changed into them. When Alex went out of the room, the white-colored formal attire made him anew. He looked more gallant and handsome in those clothes.
"Hmm, my choice was the best. You look as handsome as me when I was young," the grand duke said.
Alex scratched his cheek.
"Haha, let's go!"
Alex nodded and followed him. At the house's entrance, a carriage was waiting along with Butler Ji and madam.
"Ara... Alex! You look more handsome than my husband when he was young!" The madam was surprised by Alex's transformation and she couldn't help but praise him right away. She secretly thought that it was a waste that her daughter, Alicia, wasn't here.
"Oi! He is 'as handsome as' me when I was young!" Grand duke corrected her.
Alex could only maintain his silence and looked at Butler Ji.
"Sir Alexander, please," Butler Ji giggled a little looking at the couple. Then he opened the carriage door and invited Alex in.
Alex nodded, "Thank you."
The couple looked at Alex who was already in the carriage, they lost any motivation to debate. The madam looked at the duke and she only smiled.
The duke nodded, "I'm going."
"Have a nice day!
The duke got into the carriage and Butler Ji started to drive it. Alex looked tense in the carriage.
"Don't be nervous, you already met him before," the grand duke said.
"No no no, that's not it," Alex shook his head furiously. This was the first formal meeting he had in his life.
The duke only giggled, but suddenly he dropped a bomb. "Don't be fooled by some Old Fox there alright!"
Alex froze, he confused, "Old Fox?"
The duke nodded solemnly, he didn't say anything further and said, "Just remember that."
Alex was still confused about what he said, but he nodded.
They arrived in front of the castle. The guards already knew about this carriage and they let them pass. Since the duke and the king were blood brothers and their relationship was really good, he often went back and forth from the mansion to the castle.
Alex followed the duke since this was only a private meeting. The duke led him to the back of the throne room, but they stopped when they heard someone complain.
"What? The wheat flour is still not finished being processed yet?"
"I'm afraid so, Sir."
Alex and the grand duke turned to the voice. There were three old men and a young man busy discussing something.
"We need more men to prepare for the war between humans and demons. Even though we won't participate in this war, we might get involved in it. Especially since Zircodina and the Holy Kingdom are allies. This is why the flour is still not processed. Since there is a shortage of human resources," an old man said.
"Haiz, why does Zircodina even start a war?" Another old man said.
"Well, the one that is still unprocessed is the extra yield," another old man chimed in.
"Extra yield huh... yes, today's event is to meet the young man who proposes that idea right? Haiz, you get this easy Rindo. I hope I also have some idea to make a better living environment for this kingdom," the old man sighed, "you can go".
The old man dismissed the young servant.
Grand duke was going to join them. Seeing the duke was approaching them, Alex followed him.
"Haha... Sir Rindo, Sir Leyfon, and Sir Gilian. How are you doing?"
The three old men looked at the man who called them.
"Oh, Young Raymond. You have come! Come here!" The old man called Rindo invited him in, then he noticed the young man that was following him. "Is this..."
"This is today's star," the duke said.
Rindo's eyes brightened, "Haha, you must be Alexander. I will call you Young Alex. Is that alright?"
Alex nodded.
"Haha, Young Alex, your idea is brilliant! We could produce a lot more food than we intended. This way, many people won't die of hunger. Haiz, every year, over ten thousand people die of hunger. Our population is only around a few million lives and look! With your idea, we can minimize that!" Rindo was excited.
"I'm... I'm glad you like the idea," Alex was embarrassed, he looked at grand duke.
"Haha, I will introduce them to you. The old man in front of you is our Agriculture Minister, you can call him Old Rindo or Sir Rindo," the duke introduced him, then he continued, "The one in my right is our War Minister, Sir Leyfon. And he is our Civil Minister, Sir Gilian."
"I... I am Alexander Sirius. It is an honor to meet you, Sir," Alex politely greeted them.
"Haha... we don't bother with that many formalities. You can rest easy around us," Rindo said.
"Haiz, Rindo. Even if your yield is better, if they are unprocessed, we can't feed our hungry citizen," Gilian sighed.
"Well, I need many men to prepare for the war. Sorry for that. I hope we won't get involved."