Inside his room, Lark sat cross-legged on the floor. Since receiving his new body, he never neglected mana training even once. Although the current vessel was severely lacking, with proper training, he knew that it would someday become powerful enough to perform Grand Scale Magic.

With his eyes closed, he began to forcefully move the small amount of mana in his body. He channeled it through different parts, making it circulate repeatedly. Only through this way would his body become accustomed to the existence of mana. It was this simple and repetitive exercise that will help expand his mana pool.

His breathing slowed down and the sound of his surroundings disappeared afterwards. He could no longer hear the sound of pouring snow. He could no longer hear his soft breaths. He could no longer feel the carpeted ground. All that he could feel was the serpentine-like flowing energy within his body – the erratically moving mana.

Minutes turned into hours. By the time he was done, his entire body was drenched in sweat despite the cold weather. His heart was pounding loudly, his temples pulsating. Lark exhaled then stood up. A smile slowly emerged on his face.

“This is quite fun.”

The sensation of slowly expanding his mana pool was something he had long forgotten before. Back in his previous life, his body had already attained a colossal mana pool that it was no longer possible to expand it further.

Just when he was about to go down to grab something to eat, three knocks were heard on the door and Gaston’s voice was heard,

“Young Master, the residents that answered to the job offer has been gathered in the hall.”

That was fast. Lark approvingly said, “Good job.”

After leaving the room, together with the old butler, Lark went towards the hall. The guards and the servants greeted him upon his arrival. The residents, on the other hand, wore nervous faces. Some were gawking at the paintings and furniture, while some were looking on the ground, seemingly afraid of the guards.

“Welcome,” said Lark. “I’m sure you know me already but let me introduce myself. I am the Lord of Blackstone Town – Lark Marcus.”

The residents bowed their heads upon this introduction. Lark quickly counted the number of applicants. Forty-eight. It was less than he had expected.

“I will cut straight to the point,” said Lark. “I am here to offer everyone a job – jobs that will be compensated…jobs that will feed you.”

There was a small pause. “How many of you knows how to read and write?” The commoners looked at each other. As expected, there were none.

Lark simply smiled. He had not really expected them to know of such an advanced skill. After all, you would need at least basic education to know how to do those things. Just right when he was about to continue his speech, to his surprise, a young woman raised her hand.

“I-I know h-how to read and write,” said the young woman. Her blonde hair was frizzy and her face was filled with dirt. Her dress was moth-eaten. After seeing that everyone’s eyes were on her, she hunched her shoulders to appear smaller.

“Oh?” said Lark. His eyes glimmered with interest. “Could you tell me how you learned it?”

There were a few seconds of hesitation. “I… I once worked for a noble in Lion City. During that time, the mistress would let me accompany her to her studies. I learned how to read and write from that.”

Lark felt that she was not lying. He locked eyes with Gaston for a moment, and the old butler seemed to have realized the young master’s intent. He pulled the young woman from the crowd and let her stay near the young master.

“Name?” asked Lark.

“M-Melody, young master,” replied the young woman.

He could see her trembling shoulders. Lark was aware of his vessel’s misdeeds before. Sexual harassment, physical abuse, attempted murder. The previous owner of this body, despite being young, was a total demon. He could understand why she was afraid of a young man like him. For now, all he could do was slowly change the perception of his subjects with the passage of time.

“If you pass my little test, I will grant you an important position later,” said Lark in a small voice, just enough for him and her to hear.

The young woman stared at him in bewilderment for a moment, before nodding once.

Lark cleared his throat. “Anyone else knows how to read or write?” After some time, no one else raised their hands.

“What I need right now are three kinds of people: Farmers, builders, and soldiers,” said Lark. “One month from now, winter will end. Of course, it’ll take at least two weeks before the snow fully melts. Once that happened, I want my farmers to immediately work on cultivating the lands in the north and the west.”

Lark noticed that some of them wore confused looks upon hearing that statement.

“But young master,” said one of the commoners. “The northern and western lands of Blackstone Town are dead. It’s impossible to grow crops in that area.”

“We have a solution for that,” said Lark.

After reading the documents left behind by the wealthy merchant that used to live in this town, he learned that there was a certain area of the town wherein the residents dumped their night soil. This practice had been going on for more than a decade now, and that single fact greatly pleased Lark. Once winter ends, he would assign some farmers to spread those natural composts to the northern and western land. Of course, there would always be a risk for disease when using human excreta, but Lark planned to secretly deal with it using magic. For now, he simply had to wait until winter ends before he could finally start cultivating the lands.

Lark clapped his hands once. “Next are the builders. It doesn’t matter if you are male or female. Under my supervision, you will be tasked to create houses at the eastern part of Blackstone Town. I plan to expand the border of the town at least twice during this year. Payment will be 6 silver coins per month. The houses built will be granted to those without a residence in Blackstone House. Of course, it wouldn’t be given for free. You will be asked to pay a monthly rent of 2 silvers and 25 coppers. The construction project will start right away this winter.”