Observing his blood through the microscope, Robert sighed. There was not a single magic cell to be seen in his blood. This was a bad news as he wouldn’t be able to do any magic now and will have to hunt spirit animals to obtain their blood. But this also provided Robert with an opportunity, he could reset his stats!

Until he finds some high-level spirit animals to obtain their blood for transfusion, Robert could change his elemental affinity to whatever he wants by purging the magic cells on his blood.

Robert took a vial of earth element blood that he had and injected it into his vein. The magic cells dispersed into different parts of his body bringing a warmth with them.

Getting his magic power back, Robert felt something was different. Closing his eyes and concentrating on his mysticle, he found out the reason for the different feeling and his lips curved into a smile. It seemed that the energy brought forward by the purging of blood cells had risen the amount of magical energy within them. Which in turn compressed the energy within the mysticle, making it possible for him to break through the next level, journeyman.

Robert willed and broke through the next level. He was an apprentice no more!

Kicking the ground, he raised up a large boulder, it was three times the size that he could levitate before. Dropping the boulder to the ground, he tried out different spells from the golden grimoire. The difficulty that he had before for practicing the higher level spells from the grimoire was now nonexistent.

Out of curiosity, Robert tried drawing a fire glyph. And the result was nothing unexpected, he couldn’t even summon a candle flame. Being a fire mage, he was not accustomed to not having the power of fire and thus decided to get his hands on some fire spirit animal blood as soon as he can.

He tried out his celestial method of cultivation once, a spiral tornado formed inside his mysticle. This one was at least ten times faster than what Robert could summon before. Robert did his routine of creating another inverted tornado. As both of these tornadoes got to the maximum angular velocity that Robert could impart to them, Robert collided them. Robert knew that this was of no use yet but still hoped some quarks or other hadrons form inside his mysticle. And what Robert didn’t want to happen was what had happened. Nothing.

Robert didn’t want to spend much of his time doing this experimental cultivation and wanted to use his time to develop the town of Greyston.

In front of Robert was a book that was written by the previous town lord. It was actually a yearly report to the Black Dragon clan on all the major incidents in the town. Robert only got this a map of Greyston today as it was sent to him by a messenger from Goldfair city. The report book was written lousy and rushed at most parts. Robert couldn’t blame the previous town lord for that, there was no way the officials at the capital city would read an annual report from this remote town. All they were interested in were the amount of production of goods and the revenue generated by the town. If no one was reading it, then why should he take his time writing it?

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Looking at the map, Robert understood the general geography of the town, it was situated 130 miles from the border of Lorvale and Holton Kingdom. The town was only 9 square miles in area, but the gathering zone, the area from which ores and other materials were obtained was rather large and spread 2500 square miles, almost twenty-five miles in all directions.

The major source of income was from iron mines. Greyston had a large chunk of the nation’s iron mines. There was also a herb garden that situated near the town, which produced many medicines that were then traded to different parts of Lorvale and even Sand nation.

Greyston was a rather peaceful town, the tall town walls kept the spirit animals in the nearby woods at bay. The townsfolk also loved to live a peaceful life and fights inside the town was almost nonexistent.

The town had almost all of the basic necessities. A large part of the town’s population was engaged in mining or smithing related activities. But there was also a large portion of people who were engaged in weaving activities. The black soil of Greyston was suitable for the cultivation of cotton and thus there was a cloth weaving industry that bloomed in the town.

Robert wanted to put his work into this industry and make it prosper. But after considering the state of the world he was in, ruthless and murderous, he decided against it. He had to concentrate on one thing and make this place a powerhouse of that particular industry. And in the short time, he was in this world, he has proven himself to be a rather proficient weaponsmith.

The Lorvale Kingdom as well as the multitude of clans and sects inside were always at each other's throat. This meant that anything he would sell would be a hot commodity. Although large clans like the Black Dragon have their own weapons division. They restricted the selling of many of their weapons and weapon systems.

This was to limit the spread of their secret techniques and methods to the other clans. The smaller clans bought a mass of weapons from the larger clans and had their own weaponsmiths for special weapons. There were truly no go to weapons dealer in this kingdom. the only ones that had the knowledge on how to create the gunpowder were Sophie and some of her confidantes.

Since she was currently not in good terms with the leadership of the clan, Robert was sure that she wouldn't leak the secret recipe. She had more to gain by selling these things on the side without clan knowledge, amassing power, and doing a coup de tat.

Robert was also thinking about how he can boost his army, both in quality and in quantity. Understanding the reasoning of that old Yuuma, Robert was sure he was amassing power. He faced a setback, but it doesn't seem like he will back off. It only seemed like This man, once his techniques were refined, would come back. At that time, It wouldn't just be Goldfair that would be in danger. The whole Lorvale Kingdom might face a trial it has never faced.

Robert didn't have any time to waste, and had to form a plan soon.