Chapter 1 Gardener Knight
The Kingdom of Rosa on the east coast.

The scorching summer wind of July blew in from the southern plains, along the Wheat River where cargo ships flowed endlessly, and poured into Jianling.

Along the dock, workers in linen shorts were moving goods with sweat on their foreheads.

The crowd was bustling and the shouting was constant.

At this time of year, grain harvested from the Great Plains is flowing down the river and being sent in large quantities to the capitals and important cities in the east.

This is Jianling, a river bay city formed where the Agate River from the north and the Wheat River from the west meet.

It was these merchant ships' first stop as they headed east into the heart of the kingdom.

From the port inward, to the city on the river bank, in the city center surrounded by the Platinum Avenue and the Flower Avenue, there rises a hill shaped like a long sword.

On top of the hill stands a magnificent white marble castle - Jianling Castle.

There lived the owner of the land, Bert Rossdale, Duke of Jianling.

At this moment, the Grand Duke of the kingdom was standing on the platform of the hill, taking in the bustling city scene below.

When he turned and walked towards the castle, he saw the garden was in bloom and the fields of purple lavender in full bloom caught his eye.

However, when he noticed a figure squatting by the garden and loosening the soil with a shovel, his expression gradually became cold.

Rhodes, who was taking care of the lavender, also noticed his father's arrival.

Duke Bert's tall figure blocked the sunlight and cast a shadow over Rhodes.

Rhodes looked at his gardener's apron covered in dirt, then at his father's gorgeous and clean court robe. He blinked and looked a little helpless.

He knew he was probably going to be scolded again.

"Father." Rhodes quickly stood up and greeted him.

Facing the more than two-meter-tall Duke, even after standing up straight, Rhodes still looked thin and small, like a child.

Well, he was sixteen years old and still had room to grow taller. Moreover, compared to ordinary people who were generally short due to lack of nutrition, he was already considered tall at 1.7 meters, and Rhodes felt comforted.

"Do you know what those people in the capital call you? 'Gardener Knight', maybe I should be happy? You are the first noble of your age to be awarded the title of knight."

Duke Bert looked at him with a complicated tone.

After meeting his father's gaze, Rhodes knew that the situation was not good.

A month ago, Duke Bert took his eldest son Anthony to the royal capital, Fuxing City, and just returned three days ago.

It seems that he is not getting along well with the royal nobles.

Knight is not just a title and identity, but also a symbol of strength.

Being a nobleman but being described as a gardener, being called a knight even though one's strength is not enough as a knight, this is a completely insulting title.

Duke Bert stared at his second son.

As the king's younger brother, he defeated the barbarian army in the northern expansion war thirty years ago, made great military achievements, and honored countless military nobles.

His eldest son Anthony inherited the family tradition well and was promoted to knight at the age of eighteen.

He excelled in the knightly tournament and was known as the "White Knight of Jianling".

However, his second son, Rod, repeatedly disappointed him.

The Slack Knight practiced, and spent the whole day either wandering outside or fiddling with people's toys in the garden.

Nowadays, he is even nicknamed the Gardener Knight, and Duke Bert cannot allow his descendants to be like this.

"Go change into your uniform, and then come meet me in the Hall of Honor."

Without waiting for Rhodes' reply, Duke Bert turned around and left after saying this.

Rhodes could only nod to show that he understood.

After taking care of the last remaining lavender garden, he stood up and walked towards the castle.

After changing out of his soiled clothes and washing his body in the bathroom, Rhodes changed into his white military uniform in the room and tied a cavalry belt around his waist.

He adjusted his clothes through the silver floor-length mirror in the room.

Although I don't know what my father wants to do, the Investiture Hall represents the transfer and bestowal of power and is the most solemn place in the castle.

It is no small matter to have him go there in military uniform, and it is a must to dress neatly.

It was the tradition of the Rosedale family that women were not allowed to touch military uniforms, so Rhodes could only carefully arrange them himself.

Looking at the figure in the mirror, under the brilliant golden hair inherited from the royal family, is a handsome young man with three-dimensional features.

The solemn military uniform added a sharpness to his originally youthful face.

This is the sixteenth year since he came into this world, and Rod looked at himself in the mirror.

His memory before the age of ten was hazy and confused. After he completely recovered his memory at the age of ten, Rhodes looked at the new world in front of him, feeling strange and confused.

In the ancient Middle Ages, the royal power stood firm and the nobility was hereditary. In the backward civilization, there were legends of gods that seemed true or false. As the son of a duke, he did not need to worry about life, as everything in the future had already been arranged and destined.

Just as Rhodes was hesitating whether to lie down and enjoy the manipulation of fate, a book in his mind broke his confusion.

The Wizard's Guide

As the name suggests, this is a textbook that guides readers on how to become a wizard.

Rhodes guessed that he was brought into this world by it.

After flipping through the book, Rhodes found that it was somewhat different from the wizard he had imagined.

In this guidebook, wizarding knowledge is divided into three parts.

Crop planting, livestock breeding, mineral alchemy.

Rhodes returned to the cover to confirm that he was not mistaken. There were indeed two big words "Wizard" written on it.

Rhodes understood the full content about farming, plus the familiar words he could understand.

I can only say that this manual chose me for a reason, and there is some hometown connection involved.

In the first year after opening it, Rhodes learned two pieces of wizard knowledge about crop planting: [Seed Transformation] and [Magic Harmony].

[Seed Modification] allows him to interfere with crop seeds as needed, allowing it to show the desired traits after growth.

[Magic Harmony] allows him to use his magic power to blend the medicinal properties of different medicines and create highly effective magic potions.

Rhodes was very excited when he first came into contact with wizard knowledge and couldn't wait to try it out. However, after practice, he found that it was far from being that simple.

The wizard's manual only contains theoretical knowledge but no practical guidance.

It is equivalent to providing only formulas without specific drawings.

Rhodes could understand that. After all, the crops in different worlds were different, and the wizards in the manual were obviously not limited to a single world.

Therefore, he could only try to explore it on his own.

Fortunately, these two items of wizard knowledge are at the entry level, and the difficulty is equivalent to telling you that alloys have better performance than single metals, and then figuring out the alloy formula.

Rod moved away from the mirror and looked at the wooden shelves in the room.

There was a shelf of neatly arranged flower pots, which contained plants that Rhodes had collected from various channels and planted after transformation.

Most of them had disordered growth and were failures in his experimental records.

But with persistent attempts, some individuals always stand out.

It was a shrub about one meter tall, with a string of thumb-sized black fruits hanging from its branches, emitting a faint fragrance.

[High-grade black wolfberry/first-level intermediate magic plant]

[It starts bearing fruit two years after planting, and its life cycle is unknown. 】

【The fruit can effectively strengthen the body and promote blood regeneration. 】

This is Rod's record of this plant.

The predecessor of high-quality black wolfberry was a kind of mixed fruit called blackthorn fruit in the south of the kingdom, which Rhodes discovered accidentally when picking it in the mountains.

Wild black wolfberry was considered a good nourishing medicine even in his previous life, so Rhodes included it in the list of transformations.

Finally, among all the herbal transformations, it successfully survived and evolved into an advanced black wolfberry.

Rod picked one and put it in the mortar, added the other herbs, and crushed it with the pestle.

During the grinding process, subtle magical power flowed from his palms along the pestle and into the medicinal mud for blending.

The medicinal mud eventually melted into a light green liquid, which was crystal clear and shining with charming color.

Pouring it into the cup, Rhodes drank it in one gulp. He could feel the heat rising from his lower abdomen, wandering throughout his body, strengthening his physique.

From the successful transformation of seeds to now, the magic plants that have been planted for two years finally reached the harvest time half a month ago.

"Now, I am also a real knight." Rhodes felt the power in his palms.

He used a strengthening potion made from high-grade black wolfberry and drank it for half a month, which successfully enabled him to acquire the physique of a knight.

Compared to the advanced method of ordinary knights who constantly exploit their bodies and replenish energy through almost binge eating.

The potion transformation method is more comprehensive and gentle, and will not leave any hidden injuries to the body.

But there are corresponding disadvantages. The rapid advancement made Rhodes lack the honed fighting skills that other knights had trained day after day and memorized by their bodies.

This is something that potions cannot replace.

But Rhodes didn't care. As a wizard, he had other alternatives.

(End of this chapter)