Chapter 27

 Du Mingna glanced at Dora, who was willing to share her grass doll generously with other children who were pulled away to play together.

 He then glanced at Jared, who was sitting not far from him.

 Jared had already assumed the posture of practicing perception that he had been taught, staring ahead blankly as if trying to memorize everything he saw.

 Du Mingna had told Jared that when starting to practice perception, he should not close his eyes frequently, but should spend more time learning to observe the world more carefully.

 Most people only notice what they think is important.

 Many times they see things, but they don't really pay attention to what they have seen.

 To improve perception, one needs to improve their ability to observe the world.

 Jared was doing just that now.

 In his mind, Du Mingna added a label of "serious effort" to Jared.

 After assessing the children's condition, Du Mingna was about to submit the task to the system and then check Belinda and Arthur's student records when he heard a respectful voice from Old John.

 "Young master.

" The address sounded very close to Du Mingna.

 Du Mingna was startled.

 He could tell the specific direction.

 It was to his left rear.

 He tried to calm his heartbeat and then turned to look.

 Sure enough, he saw Old John bowing slightly.

 But this was very unusual! He remembered that Old John had been standing further away from him before.

 Although he had not successfully awakened his spiritual sea, his perception ability was not bad.

 When the original body learned perception before, he had been praised for his perception ability being comparable to that of a third-order mage.

 When Du Mingna tried to cultivate, he compared his own cultivation experience with the memories of the original body and confirmed that his perception was even stronger than the original body's.

 Normally, no one should be able to approach him so silently.

 Old John did it.

 Du Mingna once again remembered the scene when he and Old John first arrived at Gray Rope Village.

 At that time, Old John had knocked off the thick dust on the uninhabited stone house.

 Even from a distance, these dust particles made him want to cough, but Old John acted as if nothing had happened.

 Du Mingna quickly suppressed all his emotions.

 With his usual smile, he asked, "Old John, is there something you need?" "Yes.

" Old John bent down even more respectfully, "Young master, I want to talk to you about Housman.

" "Oh?" This time, Du Mingna did not hide his interest.

 "What do you want to say?" Du Mingna did not forget the deep bow Housman had made to him.

 By the standards of knightly etiquette, there was still much room for improvement in Housman's bow.

 But compared to the attitudes of other villagers towards him, he was sure that Housman was different.

 "Nineteen years ago, Housman almost became a reserve member of the Hall family castle guard.

" Du Mingna was surprised.

 He couldn't help but recall Housman's appearance.

 Housman, who appeared with the children outside the first shelter, had sweat on his forehead, and his hair near his forehead was even wetter.

 Sweat could be wiped away, only to reappear in smaller drops.

 Hair wet with sweat couldn't dry as quickly.

 Housman must have been very hot after rushing back from the mountain with the children.

 The children were not dressed properly.

 There were many insects, rodents, ants, and possibly thorns and brambles on the mountain.

 It was convenient to wear long clothes and pants to protect oneself when going up the mountain.

 So when the children returned from the mountain, they were all wearing long clothes and pants.

 But when the children followed Housman to the outside of the stone house, their sleeves were rolled up, and some even rolled up their long-sleeved clothes into sleeveless ones.

 The children wearing pullover-style clothes couldn't open their collars further, but those wearing button-style clothes mostly unbuttoned the buttons near their necks to cool off.

 The boys wearing button-up clothes were even more exaggerated, exposing their chests.

 Du Mingna also recalled other villagers he had seen.

 When they were working, if they felt hot, they would use methods like rolling up their sleeves and pant legs to cool down.

 When Du Mingna and the villagers were making writing boards together, he saw a villager who was originally dressed properly, but after staying by the fire for a while, he was so hot that he almost took off his shirt completely.

 Hausman, on the other hand, was so hot that his hair was almost completely soaked, yet he stubbornly refused to unbutton the top of his shirt.

 Now, when Old John talked to Du Mingna about what happened nineteen years ago, Du Mingna finally understood.

 When the House family recruited castle guard reserve members, they would only recruit children under ten years old with potential.

 However, not all children with potential were eligible to become reserve members.

 Otherwise, Gray Rope Village would not have gone so many years without producing a single reserve member.

 Even as reserve members, they were closer to the Hall family, closer to the lord who held the life and death power over them, the closer they were.

 Many families would pay a great price to get their children into the Hall family.

 They would bribe members of the Hall family responsible for recruiting reserve members.

 This was also an unspoken agreement between the two sides.

 There were so many qualified age-appropriate residents in the Hall family's territory to become castle guard reserve members that far exceeded the recruitment numbers.

 The person in charge would naturally recruit as close as possible and decide on the reserve member list based on their own interests.

 Gray Rope Village was a remote village far from the Hall family castle.

 The villagers here usually did not qualify to become castle guard members.

 However, nineteen years ago, the Ironclad Mercenary Group came to Gray Rope Village to search for something in the Sipu Mountains.

 They had been living in Gray Rope Village all this time.

 The Hall family cast more attention on Gray Rope Village.

 It was mostly because of this that Hausman smoothly caught the eye of the person in charge of recruiting castle guard reserve members for the Hall family.

 Old John glanced slightly and looked at Du Mingna.

 He lowered his eyes respectfully again.

 His tone was calm and steady.

 "At that time, the Ironclad Mercenary Group leader Connor, who lived in Gray Rope Village, discovered that Hausman had exceptional perception.

 Hausman had never learned perception, but he inadvertently mastered some perception skills.

 "Connor also felt that Hausman might awaken as a knight, or even a mage.

" In the Hall family's castle guard, only the captain and the squad leader were knights.

 The vast majority of members were just ordinary soldiers who had undergone rigorous training.

 "At that time, Hausman was already fourteen years old.

 He did not awaken on his own.

 Connor said that Hausman might awaken through potions.

 "The vast majority of knights on the Qingsen continent awaken through potions.

 "The price of the Blood Sea Awakening Auxiliary Potion used by awakening knights is much cheaper than the Mental Sea Awakening Auxiliary Potion used by awakening mages.

 "Connor said that the Hall family could completely sign a magic contract with Hausman, allowing Hausman to exchange three bottles of Blood Sea Awakening Auxiliary Potion for his lifelong service.

 "Connor also said that if Hausman successfully awakened, they could consider giving Hausman the Mental Sea Awakening Auxiliary Potion.

 "Trading a knight for a contract was already a very profitable deal, and they could even gamble on whether Hausman could awaken as a mage.

 "Hausman was tempted at the time.

 When the other villagers in Gray Rope Village found out about this, they also hoped that Hausman would have a better future.

 They all supported Hausman in signing a contract with the Hall family.

" The villagers of Gray Rope Village detested the Hall family, but they hoped even more that their village children would have a better future.

 Old John paused here.

 He bowed his head, bowed his body, and fell silent for several seconds.

 Du Mingna had been observing him all along.

 Old John tried hard to hide his emotions, but Du Mingna saw a slight glimmer of tears in the corner of his eyes.

 "The Hall family finally decided to sign a contract with Hausman first, and then let Hausman become a reserve member of the castle guard.

 But on the eve of signing the contract, an accident occurred.

 That night, the monsters attacked.

 The Iron Armor Mercenary Group's people were still living here.

 Normally, a general level of monster attack would not pose a threat to the villagers.

 But that night was very unusual.

 The number of attacking monsters was more than usual, and their strength was stronger than usual.

 Nevertheless, the Iron Armor Mercenary Group still brought Hausman with them during the battle.

 They felt that Hausman already had a certain combat capability and a bright future, so they could establish a good relationship with him earlier.

 However, that night, Hausman made a fatal mistake during the battle.

 He was then hit by a monster.

 He almost died on the spot.

 Hausman, who luckily survived, remained unconscious for more than two days before waking up for the first time.

 But shortly after waking up, he fell into a coma again.

 It took him nine days to truly wake up and be able to eat independently.

 During those nine days, everyone had to feed him liquid food to barely keep him alive.

 Later, Hausman said that on the night of the monster attack, his perception suddenly failed, which led to his mistake.

 He used to rely on his perception to sense the danger around him.

 When his perception suddenly failed, he didn't know how to avoid it.

 After receiving this news, the Hall family decided to abandon Hausman.

 Hausman was unable to sign a contract with the Hall family or become a reserve member of the castle guard.

 He stayed in Gray Rope Village and, several years later, established a village guard in Gray Rope Village.

" Old John straightened up slightly.

 He looked up and met Dumina's gaze.

 "Young master, I think that's all I have to say to you.

 This is Hausman's past.

" Dumina pondered while listening to Old John and trying to understand the purpose of his words.

 He always felt that Old John actually wanted to tell him something more.

 But Old John's gaze when they locked eyes was too candid, making it impossible for him to uncover the secrets Old John was hiding.

 The two stared at each other for a long time.

 Suddenly, Dumina heard a hoarse and dry child's voice asking, "Teacher, will excessive reliance on perception lead to a significant decline in strength after losing perception?" The one asking was Judd, who was sitting not far from Dumina.

 Before one question was finished, Judd stood up, walked towards Dumina, and continued to ask, "But how do you define excessive reliance? Is perception only about sensing the surroundings? Is perception unrelated to other things? Has Hausman really completely lost his perception? When I went up the mountain with Hausman, I thought he was still very capable and could notice many things that we couldn't.

 Even if there was a snake behind him, he could notice it earlier than those of us who were right behind the snake! Is he really devoid of perception?" Several questions bombarded Dumina, leaving him puzzled.

 But the questions raised by Judd allowed Dumina to grasp something vaguely.

 Dumina's gaze lingered briefly on Judd's face before moving to Old John's face.

 He smiled again.