Farming in the Magical World

"Castel Ridge Security Guard Training Manual?"

Tim looked at what he was holding, then at Lenny, who was looking very serious, and felt somewhat unconvinced.

Lanny has never received knightly training, nor has he ever served in the kingdom's army. The only time he went to Dragonfall Ridge with August was when he almost lost his life. What does he know about training?

Although judging from his performance recently, this kid has changed his frivolous and impetuous ways and become much more composed, he is still young after all. He is probably still unconvinced by his previous crushing defeat, which is why he created this training manual.

Is he thinking of training a group of people to fight for him without going to the battlefield himself, so as to avenge his previous humiliation?

Haha, how naive!

Is war a game? No, people die!

I want to see what kind of mess this kid is up to.

---Daily Training: Morning Exercise

Every morning, the guards, fully armed with weapons, shields (not yet equipped), armor (not yet equipped), and all other equipment, set off from the castle within one hour, passing through the village west of the river, following the river to the village east of the river, and then returning, covering a total distance of 5 kilometers.

No one may fall behind, trample on crops, or leave the group without permission...

Anyone who violates the "trampling on the crops" rule will be subject to penalty clause three of the "Penalty Regulations".

Anyone who violates the rule of "leaving the team without permission"...

Upon seeing this, Tim smiled, feeling even more that this thing was rather frivolous.

Haha, that's a bit naive. If you could defeat a knight by running, the knights would probably all be dead by now.

However, this method of training physical fitness is worth a try.

He wondered if he should try this method, and then he continued reading.

---Daily Training: Physical Fitness

Breakfast is served at 8:00 AM every morning, and physical training begins at 8:30 AM. Each team member must complete obstacle courses, free climbing, rope rappelling, etc., according to the following standards.

Obstacle course traversal is a mandatory skill for every team member, enabling them to adapt to various terrains and environments during combat, maximize their combat effectiveness, and exert maximum pressure and counterattack against the opponent... Each team member must traverse obstacles such as wooden bridges, earthen walls, wooden stakes, and water pits within 2 minutes and successfully reach the finish line. Those who complete the task within 1 minutes will receive a reward... Those who exceed 2 minutes will be subject to Penalty Regulations Five.

Upon seeing this part of the physical fitness section, Tim changed his previous casual attitude and became somewhat serious.

Regardless of whether these training methods are effective, the regulations are detailed and clear, with rewards and punishments, which can be considered as grasping the essence of training troops.

After imagining what these roadblocks might look like in his mind, he had to admit that Lanny had at least put in the effort in this regard.

---Daily Training: Formation Section

Battlefield situations are ever-changing, but they are essentially about using one's own advantages to encircle and annihilate the enemy's weaknesses. Physical strength is an advantage, weapons are an advantage, and scale is an advantage. However, when the scale is relatively small, forming a formation with multiple people to encircle and attack the enemy in a local area can also be called a local advantage.

Given the limited number of security personnel, large-scale formations are not feasible. For now, a square formation is optimal: one person holds a shield, three surround them, and they advance in succession, a continuous barrage, creating an encirclement in a small area—effective for both offense and defense...

Upon seeing this, Tim mentally simulated it and discovered that this square formation actually had great potential.

At this time, due to the separation between the knights and their vassal armies, there was almost no battle formation to speak of. Either the entire army attacked together, or they relied on their numbers to surround and fight, so there was no real formation to speak of.

However, the opening paragraph of this "Formation Chapter" summarizes these ever-changing wars into four words: "Destroy the enemy with superior strength."

He recalled all the battles he had participated in, from large-scale wars between kingdoms to small-scale duels between knights, and they were all like this.

According to this statement, one can annihilate the enemy if one has an advantage in the overall situation, and one can also annihilate the enemy if one gains an advantage in a local area.

Nodding, he immediately agreed and even admired the kid. How did this little brain of his grow up to be so smart after it opened up?

Then, when he saw the contents of the "Rewards and Punishments Promotion: Guardian Rank Chapter", he was quite shocked.

If rewards and punishments are the essence of training troops, then the introduction of the sergeant rank is almost like a peerless secret manual for training troops.

In this article, Lanny stipulated that there are four levels of security guards: Level 1 Guard, Level 2 Guard, Level 3 Guard, and Loyal Guard.

It was also stipulated that if a superior officer was injured and unable to command the battle, the highest-ranking guard present could take over command and continue the fight.

He wasn't highly educated and couldn't summarize any grand principles like "providing promotion channels, unifying team thinking, and achieving vertical management of the team." But having spent his whole life dealing with combat and teams, he knew all too well just how attractive some intangible differences in rank could be.

Putting aside other things, just take the vague title of First Knight of the North. A dozen years ago, it involved almost every knight in the North who was well-known.

If it weren't for the intervention of the Grand Duke of the North, who knows how many more knights would have died inexplicably.

He looked up in surprise at the young face before him, unable to believe that the sergeant rank system was actually his idea.

He didn't believe that this was something Lanny had come up with by referencing precedents from other noble families or kingdoms, because as far as he knew, not only in the Kingdom of Andrew, but also on the entire continent, there was nothing like this.

Currently, the armed forces of various kingdoms and nobles are basically the same, mainly consisting of knights leading soldiers composed of commoners and slaves to fight against the enemy, and the hierarchical relationship is mainly managed according to the noble rank.

These commoners and slaves were almost entirely separate individuals from the knights, with no possibility of promotion or mobility between them.

Of course, this is also a good method when ordinary soldiers have no command ability at all, since the team's combat power mainly comes from the knights, and ordinary soldiers play more of a supporting role.

However, this also brought about a serious problem: once a knight was injured or separated from his soldiers, the entire force was almost doomed to collapse.

If Lanny's method were followed, and the necessary measures were in place, the entire team would be virtually bound together by this hierarchical system, twisted into a single rope. If a commander was injured, someone could immediately take over command. Such a team was simply... simply... He could hardly imagine how terrifying such a team would be.

"How did you come up with that? It's...it's unbelievable!"

Seeing Tim's surprised expression, Lanny felt a surge of secret pleasure.

Haha, finally Tim has taken his training manual seriously. It was worth all the late nights I spent writing these past few days, even though it was several whole pages long.

“After the battle at Dragonfall Ridge, I’ve been pondering a question,” Lanny said, holding up a finger and frowning as if deep in thought. “Why is it that we outnumber the Grummans and have better weapons, yet we’re as fragile as paper? The moment we realize we’re surrounded, we immediately lose the will to resist and are defeated at the slightest touch?”

Lanny feigned seriousness, his face filled with grief and resentment. "The Grummans are human, but our Caster people aren't? They're just taller and look fiercer, so why can't we beat them?"

“I’ve been thinking about what the real reason is. So, this is what you see here.” He pointed to the parchment in Tim’s hand, indicating that this was the case.

The truth, of course, was not like that. He had never actually seen what a Grumman looked like; he had only heard people in the castle occasionally mention them.

This thing was pieced together from his memories, but he figured it should be pretty effective. Judging from Tim's performance just now, he was even more confident.

Seeing Lenny's sorrowful face, Tim felt a pang of sympathy and patted Lenny on the shoulder, "Don't be too sad, kid. If your dad knew what you're like now, he'd be very proud."

After comforting Lenny, Tim looked down at the rest of the text again.

If the earlier section on formations surprised him and the section on guard ranks excited him, then the later sections on food and daily life left him somewhat bewildered.

Training is training, but why do you have to control what they eat, what they wear, how they dress, and how they sleep? Isn't that going too far?

He wasn't unaware of the impact of food on physical strength; eating well naturally leads to better physical strength. But could the castle afford to feed him like this?

In the end, he just thought it was Lanny's wild imagination, after all, he was only in his twenties. The previous points were already quite good; there was no way to ask more of him.

But what he didn't know was that Lanny valued the latter few points the most, because in his view, training was only one aspect of training, and there was another major aspect, "integration of thought," which was contained in all aspects of life and various small details.

He didn't say much about Tim's indifference when he saw this part, nor did he think he could change the other party's decades-old mindset in a short time. He could only wait and see the actual effect.

After finishing reading what he had in his hand, Tim put the manual back on the table, reached out and rubbed his neck, which was a little sore from looking down for so long, before looking at Lanny with relief.

"Excellent, very good. If they can train strictly according to your manual, I believe the guards' combat effectiveness will be quite good!"

“However,” he looked into Lanny’s eyes, then abruptly changed the subject, “there’s a premise.” He then held up one finger. “How do we solve the knight problem?”

In his view, unless the overwhelming advantage that the knights have over ordinary people is resolved, all of this is in vain and will only prolong the struggle.

Did they evolve from ants into ants that live longer?

Although his eyes held a questioning look, he was also somewhat expectant. What kind of surprise would this kid give him this time? He was looking forward to it.

Lanny didn't answer the question directly. Instead, he tidied up the training manual on the table and put it in the drawer. He stood up and said, "Uncle Tim, come with me. I want to show you something."

It seems that the things that Hammer and Jimmy prepared should be almost done. The thing is not difficult to make, it's just that the materials are a bit hard to find.

If things go as planned, just three or four people should be enough to pose a threat to a knight in full armor.

After all, the iron in this world is far too brittle, even more so than he had imagined. Could it be because it is pig iron?

Tim's concerns were not a problem in his eyes.