I had woken up early Monday so that I could take a look at the new missions that were added to my profile. My heart was loudly beating in my chest as I pulled up the mission list.

{SYSTEM MISSIONS}

1. Acquire an ally at the ball. [REWARD: 500 credits, 1 lucky ticket.]

2. Raise the rank of two of your skills. [REWARD: 250 credits, +0.20 to two lowest stats.] (TIME LIMIT: 3 Weeks)

3. Increase your prestige in the city of Granbell. [REWARD: 500 credits, 1 mystery item.] (TIME LIMIT: 5 Weeks)

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I held my breath as I read the newly updated missions. In terms of difficulty, I would definitely say they went up a notch considering two of them didn't have a clear method of considering the mission complete. I was surprised that the missions had longer time limits, and that one didn't even have one. I would need to thoroughly plan out a way to complete each if I wanted to be successful, but I didn't feel anything but excitement at this challenge.

The first mission I would tackle would be raising the rank of two of my skills. The two in question would be the 'Appraisal' skill, and my newly acquired 'Swordsmanship' skill. Before I had headed off to bed, I quickly copied Reiia's 'Swordsmanship' skill. I did find something odd, however, while copying it. I had received a message from the system that TCUG's rank was too low, and that it would only be able to copy the 'Swordsmanship' skill, this implied that Reiia had other skills I could copy, but due to the current rank of TCUG wasn't allowed to access.

Both my skills are at F rank, but I was planning on discussing with Captain Lloyd the possibility to start integrating swordsmanship in my weekday schedule. I would still need to continue my strength and stamina training, but if I wanted to hasten the completion of the mission I would need more than just weekend training. The 'Appraisal' skill, on the other hand, was quite easy to use and grind up. I could just spend my days appraising anything available to me until it hopefully levelled up.

The other two missions would be more challenging given the lack of information and knowledge I currently had. I would need to learn more about the participants of the ball itself in advance so that I could prepare information on them beforehand. Along with that, I would need to be able to impress someone enough for them to want to ally themselves with me. Luckily, I did have a tutor for noble etiquette so I should be ready in terms of mannerisms. Along with that my father had already found a ballroom dance instructor for me over the weekend per our previous conversation.

Increasing my prestige in Granbell shouldn't be too difficult if I carefully craft a couple of publicity stunts and propose some sort of grand plan. The only problem would be that I need to think of something unique for the city that would benefit it to the level that would be seen as an accomplishment. I had a couple of ideas, but wanted to explore the city more and its history before I committed to any single idea. With these thoughts I headed out to the training grounds to start my day and to discuss with Captain Lloyd my desire to begin implementing swordsmanship during the week.

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The trek to the training grounds was always an enjoyable one. The servants would greet me and the morning rays of the sun gave everything a nice reddish hue. Once outside, the dew would settle on the blades of grass that surrounded the property allowing the soil to give off that earthy scent.

The knights and knights in training weren't as awkward anymore, and would occasionally strike up small conversations before Captain Lloyd gave the morning rundown. Of course Reiia was now part of the crew, and would also show up every once in a while, much to the delight of some of the knights. I didn't see her this particular morning, so I assume she wouldn't be attending today. As usual, there were some who had crushes on her, but everybody respected her strength and capabilities as a leader so far. I was itching to see actual combat in this world, but I knew I wouldn't be able to contribute anything due to my low stats and skills. My goal was to eventually go out with the knights for a hunt or cleanup request before heading off to the Royal Academy so that I would have some experience beforehand.

Eventually, Captain Lloyd came up and gave the morning rundown so that everybody could begin their training regimen. I hurriedly ran up to Captain Lloyd once the others had cleared out a little.

"Good morning Captain, I wanted to quickly discuss with you about changing my training regimen if possible."

His eyebrows raised with interest at my request and nodded his head for me to continue.

"As you have seen, my strength and stamina have improved since I first started training as well as my nonexistent skill with the sword. I want to further develop myself as a swordsman and implement it into the week instead of just keeping it on weekends."

I maintained eye contact with Lloyd as I said this, not feeling pressured at all by my selfish request. He didn't say anything for a couple of seconds and instead just began to look me up and down as if inspecting me.

"Master Ray, I do see the improvements you have made physically and the dedication you have to improving yourself. I will agree to your request and include some swordsmanship training in your regimen. You will be doing extra work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday so I expect you to be here earlier on those days. Your regimen will stay the same for the other days including weekends, understood?"

"Understood Captain! Thank you for your consideration in this matter!"

With new vigor I began my normal training regimen after responding. My scrawny body had finally began to look somewhat decent recently, and I no longer looked like a bag of bones. I still had nowhere near the body of even a knight in training, but seeing the small changes throughout my body strengthened my motivation to continue working. Callouses had begun to form on the palms of my hand due to the sword training, and I knew that with the additional lessons they would get rougher. I would need to wear gloves during the ball since it would look unbecoming of a noble to have such hands openly displayed during such an event. I let out a small laugh as I thought about how ridiculous it seemed to me.

"Oi! If you got time to laugh, you got time to run faster!"

Lloyd's voice bellowed across the grounds as I quickly increased my pace as my face began to heat up in embarrassment.

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The rest of the day went by as normal with me attending my lectures and spending time in the library studying with Ana about various topics. With the ball coming up, I searched for books about the other nobles near our territory to learn about their history and their connections with our family. Ana helped with this by giving me her thoughts on the families that had visited us previously when I was still bedridden.

There were a couple of families that I had to take note of other than Ludile and Hartsford, those being: Vanderland, Ravengard, Eagleson, and Gallowood. They were strong allies of our house, and had worked together multiple times throughout the empire's history. Of course there were others that would be at the ball, but I needed to put an emphasis on our historical allies. Due to me not having much contact with the other heirs and family members, our future ties had weakened and instead they had been getting closer to the other two duchies. I couldn't blame them for this as I would have most certainly died if it weren't for the system. This ball would be an opportunity for me to sway them back towards our family, and to build a reliable network for the upcoming Royal Academy.

These new missions reminded me that strength alone won't get me far, and that I needed to begin creating relationships early on so that I could be ready for the future. Factions will begin to form, and these factions play a role in the demonic invasion that is to come. It may seem early now, but I needed time just as a towering tree needs time to spread its roots.