Gamer Reborn

Chapter 489

Everyone looked in surprise towards Lancel. It was easy to forget because the man physically looked just past his prime, looking just like a man in his late forties back on Earth but the man was over four hundred years old and had lived through multiple wars. If his reaction was any indication this time of peace seemed a bit boring to him.

“That’s a problem for the future.” Ajax said as he kicked the problem down the road to his future self. A look around at the groups of crafters showed that they still weren’t done with their discussions so he decided to revisit a topic that had bothered him a bit already. “Are you sure that the rules aren’t too strict?”

The school rules of conduct were very different from what Ajax had been used to back on Earth. Here there was almost no focus on raising the authority of the teacher in the eyes of the students through the rules, there was very little that could even be applied to class time. All of the rules they had come up with referred to how the students interacted with each other in and outside of school.

“I know you haven’t seen it yet, even I have only caught glimpses but this is the best way to make sure some very bad skills don’t show up.” Lexi repeated herself, she had given much more in depth explanations when Ajax had questioned the rules regarding how students could form groups in and outside of school.”

The whole idea of those rules boiled down to trying to make interactions between the students similar to the ones Ajax observed growing up, like kids in a village. Due to the lack of kids of similar age in the village almost all kids of a similar age ended up being acquaintances on good terms if not friends, it was the reason why Tom had been on good terms with Alana’s brother despite his lacking character.

While the crafters were still talking a member of the Healing Union arrived with a message and passed it off to Tom who opened it. “The Healing Union has officially agreed.” Tom said with a smile. “You will have your treatment center in every school.”

The presence of the Healing Union in every school was more than just an emergency healer. Ajax had planned to have the healers there working full time on any non-emergency cases. The whole point was for the healers present to be able to react if a student needed healing but also for them to be casting something throughout the day. By exposing the students to magic like this every day he was hoping to help them at least gain the [Detect Mana] skill early in life as it would quickly become a roadblock for them regardless of their chosen field if they had to waste ten years to unlock it after they hit the road block.

“My Lord.” One of the smiths said and he approached slightly, the rest of the smiths gathered behind him. “We have come to an agreement regarding some changes we would like to make.”

Ajax was glad to hear that, he nodded to his father however. Sam was a smith and he would be a better choice to evaluate the changes they wanted to make. Sam’s Skill level as a blacksmith fell around the high end of those gathered here, the difference was that his skill had grown a lot in the past few years from being able to work with interesting materials whereas most of his experience beforehand had come from being a village blacksmith.

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“You want to push back the learning of the [Blacksmithing] Skill so that they can learn more Common skills?” Sam neatly summed up what most of the changes had been about.

“Yes.” One of the smiths nodded excitedly. “We were initially very upset about how to teach blacksmithing to children so young, it would be very dangerous. But then Johnny here mentioned how he had an apprentice with the [Carving] skill from playing with his fathers tools and wood. A skill none of us have that actually helps.”

Ajax nodded along. He already knew that it was very hard to unlock, not impossible but extremely labor and time intensive, to unlock a skill when you already had one of a higher Rarity that already covered the topic. Despite his already astounding number of Skills he had been trying to unlock more as of late but hadn’t managed to unlock any new Common skills.

“There are plenty of Common Skills that can support [Blacksmithing], crafting skills are way more inclusive than any other Skills. Unfortunately this makes their potency plummet.” One of the oldest blacksmiths said, their explanation now drawing the attention of all the other crafters as well as the room quieted down. “This is usually fixed by obtaining higher rarity skills and focusing towards them. But with Common skills propping it up it would not only make it easier to push for those higher Skills but it would also speed up the rate of leveling with the increased experience from more Skills.”

“Wouldn’t this also slow down the speed at which [Blacksmithing] as a Skill would level?” Ajax asked, he had experience with skills getting in the way of each other. [Empowering Restriction] being the clear lead in this. “Would the trade be worth it?”

“It would absolutely be worth it.” The blacksmiths all nodded, not only them but most of the other crafters did as well. “Forgive my impudence my Lord, but unlike you we are only crafters and not combatants. We are much more limited in our progression by our stats and materials. More skills would mean more experience and therefore more stats as well as better end products that would lead to better materials being given to us.”

Ajax could feel the trepidation that passed over the room, the crafters all slightly afraid that the new Duke would take offense to man’s words, after all they all knew that Ajax was something of an alchemy prodigy who would have had Master alchemists pounding down his door to be their apprentice if he had been just a commoner in the Academy.

Ajax was quick to dispel their fears, with a smile he nodded. “I find your changes to what you want to teach acceptable.” His nod made the blacksmith breathe a sigh of relief and also smile when they thought of the potential new apprentices they would be building up in the next few years. “Your proposed methods of teaching them however need a bit more work.”

Ajax didn’t miss Lexi’s slight frown or the way she pursed her lips when the blacksmiths described the way they wanted to teach the students the Common Skills. “Our method needs work, My Lord?” The blacksmiths were a little surprised.

“While you have correctly adapted to the idea of the age of your new students and the limited time you have to teach them you have not adapted to the idea that your classes would be for all to learn from and not just future blacksmiths.” Ajax explained. “While some competition is healthy it should be so adversarial. You can have them compete as rivals after the first four years.”

Lexi, Alana and Judy took over for him after that as she worked with the blacksmiths to alter their teaching and proposed lesson plans to help foster some cooperation between the children instead of a rivalry. During this time all the other crafters were deep in discussions following the model of the blacksmiths.

‘Fewer than I expected.’ Lancel mused as he monitored the entire hall with hawk-like precision. I wonder if it is because they are still relatively young. The powerful retainer was making notes of all the craftsmen he spotted showing signs of jealousy towards their new students for the opportunities they never got. With his high stats he could easily not only hear every conversation taking place but also follow along.

Out of hundreds of crafters there had been less than a handful that showed jealousy. Once the focus had changed to teaching children Common Skills however that number increased three fold. Still less than Lancel had expected but much more in line with what he knew of crafters over his long lifespan. He hadn’t mentioned this to Lexi or Ajax yet but he was going to after the meeting was finished along with the list he was keeping of who was jealous.

“You’re sure you want to come with me?” Ajax asked Lexi after the meeting had concluded.

“It will be quicker with me helping out.” Lexi nodded.

Ajax would be heading into the mountains to help kickstart the quarry with his Earth spells. Not only that but he was also planning on grabbing the first shipment within his spacial ring so he could restart the concrete production.