Homesteading in a fantasy world

Next day after my chores, I started with serious archery training. Had to get all the calluses needed and get muscles that are used during archery.

Back when I was younger, I was able to shoot three arrows a second using the technique of holding the arrows in your other hand so you can get to them faster. I didn’t shoot for my entertainment or hobby, but more for my job when I tested out the bows I made.

Still, I know the correct ways to train and get better at it. I just never put the time in to it back on earth. This time would be different. At the start, everything was going as expected, but as I got more used to the motion of shooting, the bow felt too light.

I had gained too many stats and gotten a lot better at using my energy, making the bow I use too light for me too get proper training out of. This made my bow making brain start to turn on how to solve this solution.

Easiest way to solve it is to make the bow longer than the current short bow I was using. But for hunting bows, I like to have a stronger short bow. I guess it’s time for some design work.

I couldn’t just make the current short bow design thicker to make it have more power, but it would just break. Maybe the solution will have to be composite bows.

I’d have to use different kinds of materials, one that’s excellent for compression and the other for tension. This can make the bow a lot better. There are problems with this. The biggest is I am capable of only making water soluble glue and in an environment that is humid, not the best choice for a bow that requires it.

In the forest beyond the bridge, there were two new types of trees that I noticed one was similar to willow and the other one similar to fir.

I don’t think that they will be very useful for bow making. But, I haven’t gone very deep into the forest and I’m in a relatively new part of it. I’m guessing if there are any new tree types that I can use in this world, they will be in the old forests deeper in.

Hopefully, the hill forest will have what I am looking for. For the current testing, I could just make a bow in the english longbow design, to train my muscles with. Making it was simple. I just used the same wood I made a short bow out of.

But I made it a bit thicker. Will it be a good bow for anything else, not likely. I didn’t have any equipment to measure how much of a draw weight it has. But I think it's over 200 pounds. The current limit for the wood. If I made it any stronger, it will just crack.

Skill increases basic bow making level 5

With this draw weight while properly drawing, I could get a lot of reps in before I get too tired. So, this current weight was good for my current training. However, I would need an even stronger one to keep up training.

I could limit my energy usage and I probably will have to do that later on. This also gave me an idea if I can speed up my energy, can I also slow it down, so the stats wouldn’t help me that much.

Testing it out I found it even more difficult than speeding it up and it didn't seem to have any other bad side effects besides lowering my stat gained strength.

I only got to do with a few cycles of training before my archery training time ended, and it was time for another run. When I was heading back, I almost tripped and fell because I was tired. I think the trait stronger coordination helped me out.

Traits are the one thing that I haven’t really explored, but I honestly don’t know how to. I tried to access them like abilities or my energy or even skills, but nothing happened.

They don’t feel like they are a part of the system anymore they feel more like a part of me. There is no level behind them, unlike the skills and abilities. If there is a way to improve them, I have not found it.

I kept thinking about that even after my run ended. I was halfway through my weight sets when a notification appeared and blocked my vision. Unlike other notifications before, it opened automatically.

Kingdom notification

Resident of Caldron kingdom, your kingdom has fallen, and your residency revoked.

I was quite shocked by this news. I knew the situation was really bad with the plague, but I didn’t know that the kingdom will fall or even that the system recognized it as a kingdom. Before I could think any further, another similar notification came up.

Land notification

Former residents of Caldron Kingdom, all lands formerly owned by the kingdom, are now revoked.

Notice land revoking

You have gotten land in a unique way. It was granted to you directly by a king of the Caldron Kingdom.

please make a choice

I revoke ownership of the land

I wish to become the sole owner of the land in question

All these messages were surprising, but even more surprising was how human they felt. I tried to get more information on my choices and, to my surprise, this time I got a lot more background information on why this was happening and why I got my choices.

I now know that the kingdom system and the land system are made-up with the help of the system but designed by the rulers of the kingdom. Apparently, if some system criteria are not met, the kingdom can lose its right to exist.

In this kingdom, most of the land was owned by the king, so if there is no kingdom, there can’t be a king that can own the land. Most residents were just given permission to use the land they worked and lived on. Only exceptions were in a few cases like mine.

I got the choice to keep my land because of two reasons. One because my great grandfather got this land from the king directly as a gift. As I remembered the story, it was for saving the king’s life on the battlefield.

My great grandfather was just a regular conscript, but he sacrificed his body to save the king and that helped win the battle and the kingdom's war at a time.

In the story, my great grandfather had lost an arm saving the king, but the king was so grateful he had it healed and gave him the land I currently live on. The second reason is my frontier farmer class.

Apparently, this class has a feature that I can own my own land. Apparently, not every class has such a feature. I chose the second choice and immediately I could feel a better connection to the land around me and I got new notifications to see.

Level up frontier farmer

frontier farmer now level 9

strength +2

dexterity +1

vitality +2

endurance +1

Level up animal husbandry

Animal husbandry now level 5

Strength +1

Dexterity +1

Vitality +1

Empathy +1

Level up handyman

Handyman now level 6

Strength +1

Dexterity +1

Vitality +1

Intelligence +1

You have gained a new skill landowner level max

New trait gained

strength reaches 40 trait upgrade minor physical boost to major physical boost

The connection I had with my land was minimal at best. I guess I will need to level my class a lot more to get a better connection with it, the new skill seemed to be just to see that I own land.

I wonder if it’s possible to get some information out of the connection in the future. It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

Now the kingdom falling has interesting ramifications, but most likely they will not affect me for some time if ever. The current world politics doesn't affect me and my current goal to make it to the next spring and after that the next one and so on.

I remember all the stories about this kingdom well. Told by my grandfather and father many times and I still felt a loss of that. They held this kingdom in high regard.

This Kingdom was a good one. Of course, its nobility, let’s just say, was unpleasant, but at least the royal family kept them in line enough. So that the common people wouldn’t suffer, making this a thriving Kingdom with no other threats than the occasional goblin horde.

The royal family was good with politics and was able to keep peace. When war did come, they were usually able to win by leveraging politics in their favour. Now the 8 generations of this kingdom’s legacy was gone.

As I understood from the little information I got, if you have land, you must build it up overtime and this kingdom has worked on that for a long time. The royal family and the kingdom were still quite young compared to some kingdoms out there.

Apparently, kingdoms in this world need to be made over time and all the building and gathering of resources are undone by a plague. I guess you never know how or when everything gets turned on its head.

After some time of just absorbing everything, I went back and finished my weights, now easier because of my trait improving. I got a skill level in basic fitness enhancement for my work, bringing me to level 8.

After that I went for my swim and then came my energy training. I made my regular food, making sure I get enough calories to keep up with my extremely heavy expenditure during my training.

I couldn’t keep up the training with my current food supply, so I will soon need to go hunting in the hill forest or I will run out of protein.

POV adventurers. A few minutes before the Kingdom notification.

I watched as my assigned partner sneaked out of the village unseen. It was one thing that I had to admit he was good at, even when I wished he paid more attention to his hygiene.

When he got closer, I asked. “Did you get the map and the adventures orb or do I need to fix another one of your mistakes.”

“Yeah yeah, I got them. No need to give me your high manners bullshit. What’s our next destination, anyway? We’re quite at the end of civilization here? Is there some other village further on?”

“No, as I said before, this was the last one. Do you listen to anything more than the information about your current task?”

“Never do. Sparkly, you should already know this. So, about our next destination.”

Why was this rogue so annoying and why am I stuck with him for the foreseeable future.

“This was the last village, but further on we have dungeon to clear and then we will go ahead back on a different route until we get back to the headquarters.”

Kingdom message

You are currently in the territory of Caldron Kingdom. This Kingdom has fallen.

“Well, shit”. We both said at the same time.

“Hey sparkly, I thought this wasn’t supposed to happen for another few months."

“Stop calling me sparkly my name is Meredith and yes, this was supposed to happen a few months later. Now give me the map and the orb. I will store them."

He handed me both, and I put them into the bag of holding that was given for that very purpose.

“Wait Meredith, what’s the use of our collecting of the maps? If the Kingdom has fallen, wouldn’t they now just be blank? I mean, they are the kingdom maps for the surrounding areas."

“Well, you're kind of right Richard, as usual. The maps will still work for the area they were made for. It would just be blank until people start claiming their own land."

"So, the maps will still be useful to see where the pockets of living people are. How was the situation inside the village, anyway?”

“The usual. I personally think this will turn into a raiders village. But there is a possibility it still might become another undead one.”

That was another depressing piece of news, unfortunately a common one during this trip. Pretty much all we have gotten.

“Well, let’s start to move. We will finish this dungeon and start to move back. I want to get off the road as fast as possible and get myself properly cleaned once again."

“As you say sparkles.“