King's Rule: Creating the Strongest Kingdom With My Broken Talent-Chapter 4: Ill-Fated Wanderers

Rovina slid on the ground over a shadow, moving swiftly through the trees while carrying water in four shadow buckets.

Soon, she arrived next to Vesh and dumped water on the small ground tub that Arga created by digging and then blasting it with his flames to solidify the surface.

Rovina poured three buckets into the ground tub while pouring the half of the remaining bucket over Vesh before letting the other half down his throat through a small shadow pipe.

Vesh finally felt a bit alive.

"Your body will take time to recover. I’ll barbecue some fish, so eat and sleep." Arga began setting up a campfire.

Vesh’s eyes were blurry. Fortunately, he didn’t have to bother drinking the water as Rovina was directly flowing it into his body.

He couldn’t remain conscious anymore as his eyes closed and he drifted into slumber.

"I’ll break down food and delivery into his body," Rovina said. "No need to wake him up anymore."

"Alright."

Five hours later, Kayan returned.

But not alone.

With him were sixteen people in tattered clothes. Four kids, three couples, and the remaining six middle-aged and elderly people.

"Who did you bring here?" Rovina raised her eyebrows.

Kayan appeared annoyed as he said. "These people insisted they wanted to follow me and see the village, so I brought them here. They were about to die, so I might as well use them here, I thought."

Arga laughed. "Looks like a cold kid like you has a surprisingly warm heart."

"What warm heart? Shut the fuck up." Kayan clicked his tongue and began walking south. "I’ll go catch some more fish."

The people who came here knelt on the ground as Kayan left.

The leader appeared to be a man in his forties with short black hair and a body that looked like it used be muscular, because the muscles and body looked slightly shrivelled.

"Please give us a place to live. We will work for the lord here in exchange."

The man’s head was firmly on the ground as he continued. "All of us are suffering from a strange illness, but please don’t worry, it is not contagious. Our village was raided by a group of bandits who used strange bombs, and it made our bodies like this."

"Most of those who survived died on the way. None of the lords we met so far were willing to take us, but we can’t just give up." The man looked up at Arga and Rovina, his eyes red. "So we are here to ask you the same."

"Please, we beg you. Let us live here and help us if possible. We will work for you and help you in any way until our death."

Among the four kids, two appeared around ten years old, and the other two were even younger, at around six.

All of them looked malnourished.

"The decision is up to our lord. But he is asleep." Arga smiled. "Stay here until he wakes up and makes his decision."

"Eat well and sleep well first." Rovina smiled.

The faces of everyone lit up.

Rovina and Arga nodded at each other.

They obviously needed more people, and helping them in their desperate situation would also make them more loyal.

The sixteen people went to the corner with their spirits uplifted.

Somewhat able men and women, numbering six, were headed by the leader of the group as they went to Arga and Rovina, who sat around Vesh, preparing a bigger fire to cook more fish for the people.

"Please let us help in any way possible."

Arga and Rovina looked at the gang.

"Take some rest and eat first. Then sleep. And then you will be assigned some work," Rovina said. "You all are tired and won’t be able to work much right now anyway."

Arga laughed and added. "That’s right. Our lord here will likely take you in, so rest up. As you can see, we have a lot to do to develop our place."

Kayan came back with a lot of fish this time, and the trio began cooking.

After an hour, everyone had finished eating and was sleeping soundly.

"You two can sleep. I am not tired, so I’ll stay awake and be on the lookout." Kayan said as he began walking towards the eastern watch tower.

Arga and Rovina didn’t stand on ceremony and decided to catch a nap.

Three hours later, both of them woke up, and Kayan took a nap.

The villagers were still sleeping, and so was Vesh.

His body was healing.

Without him knowing, his body was getting slightly stronger during this recovery period while he rested.

In the end, Vesh woke up when the sun the next day was just rising.

As he groggily opened his eyes, he found his body was no longer in pain.

In fact, he felt comfortable.

And just as he woke up, a surprising notification greeted him.

[New Side Quest is available—Ill-Fated Wanderers]

<Objectives>

—> Take in the people who have lost their homes.

<Bonus Objective>

—> Cure their illness.

<Reward>

—> Blueprint: Cottage House (D-rank).

—> Blueprint: Tailoring Set (D-rank).

<Bonus Reward>

—> Talent Stone: Alchemist.

—> Blueprint: Alchemy Set (C-rank).

He looked around and spotted a group of people.

Around him, Arga and Rovina were sleeping.

Thanks to Rovina’s light orbs, the territory was fairly lit up.

But he didn’t find Kayan anywhere until he used the Builder Option and saw him in the watch tower from a bird’s eye view.

Vesh decided to check his status first.

[Vesh Auris]

[Life Rank: Seed]

[Combat Power: 370]

[Territory: Unnamed]

— Titles —

— Talents —

[King’s Rule | SSS-rank | Potential 5✧/100✧]

[Swordsman | D-rank | Potential: 2✧/10✧]

— Inventory —

[Karma Summon Ticket]

— Builder Mode —

[Blueprints]

’Oh, nice. My combat power increased.’

Vesh stood up and took out his Wind Sword.

[Wind Sword]

[Rank: D]

[Attack: 100 + 30% Seed Force]

— Effect —

[Wind Blessed: Attack speed +20%]

— Skill —

[Wind Slash]

’What is the Seed Force?’ Vesh asked.

[As you are a Seed lifeform, you have a seed within your life nexus. That seed can absorb energy from D-rank or higher resources to increase its Seed Force, which directly affects your physical and magical parameters. Once you reach 10,000 Seed Force, you may evolve to the next lifeform rank.]

Vesh blinked, eyes sparkling. ’Interesting. So we also need to collect D-rank and higher resources.’

He began walking towards the South Gate with the sword in hand.

The sun had barely risen.

Kayan saw him, but Vesh waved his hand at him.

Kayan pointed at himself and then to him, asking if he wanted him to go with him.

Vesh shook his head and gestured with his palm. No.

Kayan understood, and Vesh also turned around, continuing towards the river.

Arriving at the riverbank, he first took a dip and cleaned himself because he was too dirty.

His body had also excreted some black stuff from pores, and the amount of sweat he had was crazy.

But he felt full and energetic still.

’Rovina or Arga must have fed me some other way after I fell asleep.’

Vesh smiled. ’I got good people with me.’

After cleaning himself and freshening up in the river, Vesh wrapped himself with big leaves of the tree he collected on the way here.

He washed his clothes and spread them on the rocks near the riverbank.

Afterward, he took out his sword and stood in a stance before taking a deep breath.

’King’s Rule-’

Grrrr!

Vesh blinked twice and looked down at his stomach.

’Shit.’

’I was feeling light, but it seems they fed me quite a lot.’

Vesh went to the forest near a bush.

Shitting in the wild gotta be your most vulnerable moment, so he wanted to be safe. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

’That said, I have to build toilets first. Yep.’

...

Vesh returned after finishing his business and stood in stance again.

With the first use of King’s Rule, he did not simply learn the knowledge of the sword. No.

The knowledge of sword moves and their experience was drilled into his body and mind through utter harshness. It was skipping the practice part by making his body move flawlessly automatically, and drilling its experience into his body.

It was like trauma. But if he kept his focus and actively learned while his body moved, his progress would be faster.

’Let’s turn this trauma into a positive experience. It’s not like something bad happened to me. I just trained in sword fighting like a crazed moron. This time, I will train in sword like a sane sage.’

Vesh took a deep breath and used his talent.

’King’s Rule. I will train in sword for one hour. The level of mastery I train will allow me to advance to C-rank swordsman, but if I am about to die during the training, I will stop.’

A tingling coursed through his body.

It was as if his body fully activated its potential. All of his cells danced with joy as they became active.

’This time, I will focus fully.’

He began tracing his movement and kept up mentally and physically with the routine.

Every tap, every swing, every slash, every dash, every lunge, every step, every turn, every thrust...every parry, every riposte, every feint, every cut.

Vesh focused.

And when he was moving, he suddenly saw something. A phantom.

A phantom looking exactly like him, wielding the same sword, wearing the same clothes.

But his eyes were brighter, his face looked thrilled, and a glowing crown rested on his head.

As Vesh saw that phantom, his focus shifted, and he lost that visual instantly.

His body was still moving on its own, but he wasn’t focused anymore. ’What was that?’

’I have to focus if I want to see it again.’

Vesh resumed his focus and began training earnestly.

Soon, he saw the phantom again.

The training mode of this King’s Rule turned out to be that he was basically fighting against a phantom that looked like him, but was stronger.

By fighting against the phantom that constantly got stronger alongside him to push him further, according to the King’s Rule, he was getting combat and technique experience and knowledge, which would advance his Swordsman talent!

Vesh was thrilled to learn this.

As he got absorbed in fighting the phantom, time passed, and suddenly, the phantom disappeared.

A sound rang in his mind.

Vesh blinked.

[Congratulations. Your talent—Swordsman, has advanced to C-rank.]

[King’s Rule executed.]

’How long did it take?’ Vesh saw that the sun had fairly risen and the night was gone.

[It took 48 minutes of training.]

’Oh...’ Vesh was delighted.

Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind.

’What if...I make a King’s Rule that makes me learn an elemental mastery talent?’ Vesh’s eyes glinted. ’Will it work?’