Hello, I'm writing a story called "Core .001", I finished volume 01 and wanted to get opinions. Each volume will have a pretty different feel to it. I highly suggest reading on RRL rather then here, I don't care much about the views or followers at etc at this point, I want opinions good and bad(except grammar nazis), you can post here. The reason I recommend RRL is because I can't post blue boxes here. It gets destroyed because html tables are not allowed in this forum. https://royalroadl.com/fiction/11313 Synopsis: This is a story of Shiro, a 12 year old girl who wished to adventure around the world. Only to end up in an untimely death. When she wakes up, she finds herself in what seems to be a new world, and her body has changed to that of a catkin. Using her knowledge from knowing literature of people in similar situations and adventuring, she tries to make a place for herself in this new world. Only to find out that reality is far crueler than one would imagine. Even with what one would call an OP unique skill and other OP advantages, she finds things quickly fall apart regardless how hard she tries. Thus she seeks more and more power to not only survive, but to protect what is important to her. Unbeknownst to her though, lies within her an ancient power time primordial. A power so vast it can bring anything to its knees. This ancient power can easily be unlocked with just one sentence, but this sentence shall never be spoken. Instead, Shiro will embark on a new path to gaining a new different kind of power as she moves forward in this new world. WARNING: The first few volumes will have tragedy, which will disappear at around Volume 5 or 6. From then on it will be just pure OP-ness and having fun. While I personally like OP characters and don’t like tragedies myself, I think it is unrealistic that a person goes to an unknown and everything just magically go their way via plot armor. So I wanted to build up a more realistic OP reincarnation novel where MC struggles through a new world regardless of their advantages due to gaps in knowledge (despite how prepared she was) and simply not having enough strength at the time. Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Female Lead, LitRPG, Magic, Mystery, Reincarnation, Strong Lead, Tragedy Table of Contents Prologue Chapter 1: Walking out of the box to a new world Chapter 2: All I wanted was a little bit of freedom Chapter 3: A new path forward in the darkness Chapter 4: Reaching enlightenment in all the wrong ways Chapter 5: The path that will forever close Epilogue Interlude #1 - Hero summoning circles in my closet Interlude #2 - Glory and honor is in the eyes of the beholder
Spoiler: Prologue https://royalroadl.com/fiction/chapter/128298 My name is Shiro, I got this weird name from my parents who are just infatuated with Japanese culture. They say they named me after the snow that fell the day I was born. I also have a white cat who so happens to have the name of Shiro. What are the odds? Considering the cat is older than me by a year, I often wonder with their terrible naming sense if they named me after a cat. Of course they franticly insist that I was named after the pure white snow on that day and by no means after a cat. I mean they do realize that we live in the age of the Internet right? I can freakin’ check what the weather was like 12 years ago! And guess what?! There was no snow that entire December at all! Of course good luck bringing that up to them, because the moment I do they always end up in a hurry or busy! Now that is not to say they aren’t busy or in a hurry to go places though, you see my parents are unfortunately rarely home. They travel around from place to place for their jobs. Which often led me to transfer from place to place. Recently though they decided since I got a bit older, it is best if I make some actual friends. So they decided to buy a house near Yellowstone and leave me with a babysitter. Personally I am kind of upset about the whole thing. My dream is to travel around the entire world and have an awesome adventure! Who wants a boring life sitting in one place their entire life? Men were born for adventure! For better or for worse the babysitter they got is fairly lazy, more so than that lazy cat who wouldn’t even lift a paw if a mouse is literally right in front of him! I mean talk about lazy! The babysitter as well just comes over and mostly lies down and relaxes all day leaving me to my own devices. I could probably blow up the house and they wouldn’t care. Which kind of makes me feel a bit dejected. But there are perks because I can go wherever I want and do whatever I want without being hounded day and night like some of my friends. Of course when I say “friends”, I use the term loosely, for you see despite my current enthusiasm I am generally pretty timid around others. Not to mention I am a bit tomboyish, so I have little in common with the girls in my class. Most of them see me as a bit “weird”. So while I do have “friends” which I hang out from time to time, it is more in tune with friendly acquaintances. While I would like to have some true friends, I know it is kind of hard for a person like me. My timid outwards personality aside, my dream of traveling around the world on an adventure kind of makes finding actual friends who are willing to travel with me rather scarce. Despite my classmates being children of the age of around 12 like me, they consider my dream to go on an adventure “childish and unrealistic”. I have a hard time imagining what kind of childhoods these people had... *sigh* Speaking of adventure, I am right now on a mini-adventure. It is now the middle of the night and I sneaked out of the house. Of course when I say sneaked out, I mean walked out the front door. And as expected the babysitter showed zero care! Talk about irresponsible...Seriously! Either way I am in a really really good mood today, because today will be an experience of a lifetime! A large meteor shower is going to take place in a short while. This meteor shower is going to directly hit Earth to boot! Of course the composition of the meteors is made out of ice, so there is no real risk of any sort of extinction event you see in the movies. *lol* I brought my portable telescope along and know just the spot in the park for best viewing away from the crowds. When the first one falls, I am going to wish for a life of adventure! I can’t wait! [2 hours later] Alright! Telescope is fully set up and the meteor shower should begin any minute now! Ooooh! I see it, I see it! Awesome! They have entered the atmosphere and are burning up! ...So cool! Wait...what is this?! They are not burning up at all, what the heck? They should be made of ice and burn up quickly but it does not seem that way, what in the world is going on?! *VROOM* *VROOM* *VROOM* The ground is shaking...oh sh*t one is coming right this way!!!!! OMG! OMG OMG! I don’t want to die! Please god don’t let me die, please, please I’ll do anything! I am too young to die! Argh! I still have a lot of things I want to do! I still have things I want to tell my parents! Is the cat going to be fed properly without me? Argh! What the hell am I thinking, do I really want my last dying words worrying about a cat?! I really want to go on an adventure… *BOOM* …. … ... So..cold… ...Where am I?... ...Who am I?... ...What am I?... ...What is an I?... …. ...What are these questions?... ...What is the concept of a question?… ...Concept?… ...What?… ...Is?… … Language? … … ↈↇꜯⱹⅬⱢʤʣʊʆʘᴥʯʕɯɫɥȾȬȪↂↁ … …. …. “Breaking news!” “The meteors that were thought to be made out of ice were actually made out of some kind of crystalline structure!” “These meteors are not breaking up in the atmosphere as first envisioned and are causing serious damage throughout the world! Authorities are urging citizens not to panic and to stay indoor or go to the local bomb shelter if available. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill!” “We will have further news as soon as...whats that? Hmmm...SERIOUSLY?!?!” “Viewers, it saddens me to inform you all that an unprecedented situation has occurred. Due to the meteors high energy density, it seems to have obscured radio telescopes around the world. I regret to inform you all...that..that a giant asteroid is following right behind the meteor shower. And is scheduled to impact Earth within an hour… May god show mercy... ” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- . …. ... Congratulations! You have awakened as a Level 1 - Dungeon Core … Must expand...Must protect…Must summon monsters...Must cultivate DP...processing… … ……………………………. … … 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 DP… System Error! System is in danger of crashing! Utilizing all available means to mitigate the anomaly.. Isolating area outside system for containment... … Mana … ... … Adventure … Cat ... Anomaly has been neutralized. System has been rebooted. … “Ugh...My head hurts...what happened?! I remember there was a meteor..then I had some important job to do? … then a chalic... ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” * collapse * …
Spoiler: Chapter 1: Walking out of the box to a new world https://royalroadl.com/fiction/chapter/128343 “Mmm..” The first thing I notice when I open my eyes is a strange looking ceiling. Like I am in some kind of catacombs or something. “Where...am..I?” I slowly get up an look around. I remember having a headache for some reason and collapsing but now I feel somewhat refreshed. Well until I notice how eerie the place around me really is… Is this some kind of prank? … Wait I died didn’t I? Don’t tell me it is one of those cases where they take you for dead and bury you and you end up waking up… That would really suck… Speaking of which despite it being so dark I am able to see the details pretty well...odd… * ROOOOOAAAAAAAAAR * * rumble * * rumble * * rumble * Ugh! I quickly grab the sides of my head to cover my ears from the terrifying roar from the far distance only to find that it is not helping at all. Why?! I am covering my ears so it should help reduce the noise rig...MY EARS! WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE MY EARS! MY EARS ARE MISSING! Ok, calm down..deep breath stay calm.. Think logically, my ears can’t possible be missing because then I would not hear any noise at all. So in worst case just my outer ears are missing and not the ears themselves...though somehow that doesn’t make me feel much better… I slowly feel the side of my head as I subconsciously move my hands upwards. I suddenly feel a warm soft fluffy sensation but at same time feel rather ticklish...Quickly I realize there is something sitting on my head and I start to panic, as I try to discern what it is by trying to shake it off, I soon realize that there is something long sneaking right behind me… “S..Snake!” I quickly rush out to distance myself to get away while swerving my head to try to get off whatever is sitting on my head. As I turn around I notice the snake is literally right on my tail! At this rate I am not going to get away from that white snake. I steel my courage and smack the snake with my hand. “Ouch!” Due to the sudden pain I quickly jump and dock for the floor, I turn around to try to see if I could fend off that white snake only to notice it missing with no hint of it in sight. In its stead I see an odd blue box. You have taken 1 damage … Okaaay...I am dreaming ri..ght? This is no time to be in denial...Breath in and out slowly..Lets quickly take in the facts. I know that I died when that meteor hit...And since I am feeling pain, I can’t just shrug it off as a dream...Don’t tell me it is like one of those ridiculous scenarios where I get reincarnated in a different world of swords and magic and get a whole breakdown when I say or think of the word “Status”..hahahaha Status Name Shiro Race Ɓęåśŧķĩŋ - Ċāť Class Level Gender Female Status [Čơƞƒűşëď] Beastkin - Cat 1 Age 12 years Free Points 0 Hunger 100/100 HP 249 / 250 (0.12/m) STR 12 INT 10 MP 10 / 10 (0.01/m) AGI 15 WIS 8 Stamina 48 / 50 (0.6/m) VIT 12 MNT 20 Mental 38 / 70 (0.2/m) DEX 13 LUK 100 Skills [LP] English 5 [RA] Smell Sense 1 [RP] Night Vision 2 ha..ha...* sigh * I guess I can look at the bright side...I think I figured out why my ears are missing and the identity of that “White snake”..I turn around to look at my back and see a wiggling fluffy tail. Yup that confirms it! Setting aside my urge to grab the tail I quickly confirm that I am in a safe spot and begin review my “Status Screen”. A few minutes later I pretty much got the gist of it. To summarize what I learned, as far as attributes go: [STR] gives you more muscle strength which also helps improve your endurance a bit [AGI] improves your speed and reflexes plus flexibility [VIT] helps improve your defense, and reduces consumption and regeneration of [Stamina]. It also helps with overall endurance and HP regeneration. [DEX] helps you with accuracy and control [INT] slightly expands your mana pool, mana regeneration and allows you to solve problems faster [WIS] reduces the mana consumption of spells and helps with memory [MNT] helps reduce consumption of [Mental] and helps you resist psychological attacks [LUK] is a bit odd in that it helps you slightly push probability in your favor. You can not normally raise this attribute. Now there is also consumable stats as well: [HP] is your life points, when you reach 0, you are dead. [MP] is how much mana you have and is used for casting spells and other uses mana is used for. If MP reaches below 10%, it will put a strain on [Mental] [Stamina] is how much short term strength you have. Every action consumes stamina. More so with skills. If your Stamina reaches 0, you will not be able to move at all. [Mental] is one I am not too familiar with from my experience with games. But from my understanding based on the information display about it, any form of thinking or mental stress has an impact on consumption of [Mental]. My Mental is at 38 probably due to all the headaches I had and the confusion state. Casting spells and some skills also reduce Mental. Mental hitting 0 means going unconscious. My race is Beastkin, more specifically a Catkin variant. In terms of level up. It seems that you need to raise your race class to level 10 before you can get a basic job based class. And level 25 if you want a combat based class. Each class gets their own bonuses from leveling up. In my case I get the following: Sentient Creature - +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin - +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin - +2 AGI +1 DEX At every 10 levels a new class skill opens up as well. As far as skills go, not too much information about how to acquire or train skills unfortunately and me doing a few punches in mid air did not seem to grant me a skill in punching. The markers seem to represent as follows: [LP] Language Passive [RP] Racial Passive [RA] Racial Active This has me seriously concerned about a possible language barrier. I doubt people speak english here now do they? Possible god who reincarnated me, where is my language cheat skill? * sigh *...I guess I’ll have to go out to find out.. I currently have 2 actual skills, one is my [Night Vision] racial passive which improves my visibility in the darkness by 200%, which explains why I can see so well despite being so dark here. My other skill is an racial active skill called [Sense Smell]. It helps increase my smell by 100% at the consumption of 0.1/s [Mental]. Of course there is a risk of higher [Mental] consumption in case if it is used in areas with high odor. With all that out of the way it leaves me with one last concern about my “Status Window”. What in the world is up with my Age, Race and Status? Has my confusion somehow caused it to weird out on me or something? Or is it because I was 12 when I died but since I have a new body my age is now in limbo? Same for my race which should have been human but now I am a Catkin? While I would love to spend the entire day thinking about all the possibilities, I need to come in terms with reality and prioritize! I have been preparing for adventuring my entire life despite how short it may have been. And the first priority is to secure food and a safe place to stay. And this place looks to fir neither. “Storage!” “Open Storage!” “Inventory!” “Item Box!” “Open Sesame?” * sigh * As I figured… I have no convenient storage magic cheat either. Which means I have no food or any other survival gear. My only weapon is my teeth and claws and I don’t even have a skill to help assist those at all! And I am under no delusion, if god is too stingy to give me a storage cheat, he certainly did not make my claws and teeth indestructible. So if they break I am so doomed it ain’t funny! And by the way I am pretty sure that it is a god who reincarnated me or something along that lines because it simply makes no sense that I am suddenly a 12 year old in the middle of some catacombs. And considering that I am wearing virtually no gear and level 1 pretty much rules out the awakened memories scenario. So putting two and two together that is the only logical conclusion I came up with so far. Well anyways...enough distracting myself and I need to find myself out of here ASAP! From then I can decide what to do. Since the direction I came from is a dead end, I so far only have 1 way to go. Which in itself is a blessing, because if this place is one of those dungeon like places and I chose to go deeper in, I’ll be totally screwed… Since I have decided on what to do, I proceed to go in the only hallway I see. As I move through the hallway, I see a bunch of exotic creatures. From giant toads to lizards. This so screams dungeon to me but I am still not 100% sure. My biggest confusion is they don’t seem to be attacking me or notice me for some reason. So either god gave me some concealment cheat or maybe just maybe they are herbivorous that just happen to fill up this place? I can of course try attacking one to test that theory, but I am not that stupid. I know in most games and literature you read the protagonist goes “Opportunity for easy expo” and comes up with some ingenious surprise attack to get them by surprise. But in my opinion half of them are crazy! You only live once! I understand that in this world I might have to fight to survive but there is a place for everything and this is not a place for a clueless suicide. If they are going to ignore me, better for me. Once I get out of this place and get some information, then I’ll consider the easy safe way to power level. Maybe that is why god did not give me any cheats, he probably only gives them to those with a few screws loose and entertaining, in comparison, I am just plain old boring, sorry. I continue cautiously walking in the tunnel for what feels like 2 hours, while using my [Smell Sense] skill every 5 minutes or so for a few seconds just in case. I finally end up in what seems to be a big room, and my [Smell Sense] skill is telling me there is a creature in this room that is significantly different than the ones I met in the hallway. Unfortunately even with my improved [Night Vision], I can’t really make out what the creature is due to how large this room is. It also does not help that it seems the creature’s skin color is black which isn’t helping me any,. At best, I can tell the creature is sleeping. Though my [Night Vision] does help me see is the glistering dagger that is lying not too far on a nearby pedestal. Which puts me in my first dilemma since coming here. What do I do? I obviously can’t turn back since its a dead end. So my only option is to sneak past this creature who I am hoping is also a herbivore. Come on [LUK] I am counting on you to make it a herbivore! Pretty please with a cherry on top... With my futile plea out of the way I start considering my other option, to grab that dagger on the way out. The worst possible scenario is if this place is a boss room or if I have some sort of conceal on and the moment I grab that dagger I am forced to engage in combat with whatever that is which seems to be at least 5X bigger than me! I can of course leave the dagger there, but if I do that who knows what kind of things may show up. And if this giant creature does end up attacking me, my odds would probably be better with a dagger regardless of how futile it is. * sigh * I guess this is where the saying goes “You only die twice” or since I am now a Catkin is that nine times? Dear god, please make my cheat that I have 9 lives! Though somehow I have a feeling that even that might not be enough. Coming to a conclusion I decide to make a final judgment if I should go for the dagger or not once I get closer to the pedestal. Which is closer to both the exit and the mysterious sleeping creature. Maybe if I get closer I can make a more sound judgment if I should take the risk or not. With my heart beating like mad drums, I slowly and steadily tip-toe closer to the pedestal. Within less than a minute I get close enough to the pedestal to touch the dagger. And for better or worse, I can now make out the giant sleeping creature… Eeeeekk!!!! What is lying in front a few meters away from me and the pedestal is a GIANT PANTHER! I quickly hold my breath with both hands to prevent myself from squealing in terror! Dear god, please tell me in your world giant panthers are herbivores? Right? Right? Or at the very least friendly to fellow felines like Catkin maybe? A girl can only dream… * sigh * Now is the moment of truth, do I go for the dagger or not? I do a bit of soul searching and decide to go with the most ridiculous option possible. Go with my instinct. Now I know what I said about not taking stupid risks and derailing those less than sane protagonists that needlessly throw their lives into the fire like moths. But truth be told, I don’t think I have much choice here. No matter how you look at it, this is a dungeon, and this is either a mini-boss or a boss of some sort. Why else would a giant panther be just lying there next to a dagger on a pedestal. And if that is the case, then there is a possibility that beyond this room the monsters are going to be aggressive. If I can get my hands on a decent weapon from a sleeping boss regardless how low the odds its better than trying to wrestle a weapon out of a non-sleeping monster. With my mind made up, I decide to go for the dagger, just this once I will be that idiot protagonist, but never again...are you happy god? And then when I grab the dagger I will sneak up on the panther and murder it in its sleep...NOT! I might be doing something relatively crazy but I am not that stupid. If I did that I’d be dead faster than I could cry uncle. It would literally make me into mince meat in one strike. Grab dagger and run, end of story! I slowly reach for the dagger with my right hand, with every inch it feels like my heart is beating faster and faster. With what felt like hours though lasted only seconds, I finally place my hand on the dagger. Looking at the monster, it seems like it is still casually enjoying its sleep without waking up. With a slight sigh of relief I raise the dagger slowly towards myself. At that moment I hear loud snort. With trembling eyes I slowly take a look for my face to become as pale white as my hair! Because in front of me I notice the giant panther moving. OMG! I AM GOING TO DIE! Again… The giant panther started to move around as I stood there frozen solid. Inside my head I am contemplating whether I should not move, hide, or just make a run for it? Though due to my immense fear I could not move even if I wanted to. The panther continued to move little by little and then much to my bewilderment stopped again to sleep. IT WAS FREAKIN’ REPOSITIONING ITSELF IN ITS SLEEP! ARGH! DAMN YOU I LIKE LOST 5 OUT OF MY 9 LIVES ON THAT ONE! Okay, I need to keep it together… I should just be glad he did not wake up, be thankful for that at least. With the dagger in hand I continue to slowly but steadily make it out of the room. Once I made it out of the room I collapsed on the floor breathing heavily. I think my [Mental] went down by half just from that alone! At this rate, my hair is going to turn white from all this stress...oh..wait… Due to overcoming a large mental hurdle: +1 MNT Argh...thanks but no thanks! After taking a minute break by the room exit, I decide to go further down the hallway. As far away from the sleeping giant cat as possible. While I am a bit nervous if there any more dangerous monsters down the hallway, I can’t imagine any of them being scarier than that sleeping panther boss. And now I at least have a dagger to defend myself. I continue down the hallway for at least another half an hour which was mostly empty with the exception of a few giant plants here and there, during that time I tried to identify the dagger to see if it did anything or what kind of dagger it was but no no avail. Trying to use things like “Appraisal”, “Identify” and etc obviously did nothing since I had no such skill. The only hint I got what the dagger did was comparing the status screen before and after. The dagger seems to give: +3 STR + 2 AGI +2 INT. Which is a pretty decent boost to my stats if I don’t say so myself considering how worn out this dagger looks. At the end of the hallway, I come to a room which seems to split into five paths. Using my [Smell Sense] skill, I sniff each hallway to try to see where there is fresh airflow. I was a bit worried on how accurately I’d be able to discern that but luckily it was pretty obvious based on the odors coming from each path. So without hesitation I follow my nose. I travel down the passage for about an hour and a half, and the terrain seems to have changed from catacombs to a large cave. Along the way I met other creatures like large bats and slime like creatures. But strangely enough, none of them have attacked me. Not that I am complaining or anything. Now generally slimes are usually a beginning monster that is east to level up on. But that is only in game theory. In reality slimes are resistant to physical attacks, other than their nucleus they are pretty much untouchable. And trying to kill a slime by attacking their nucleus with a short dagger is like serving yourself on a platter. Personally, even if I meet a low level monster, unless it is half dead lying there I’d rather not fight it at this point. I have no armor at all and if I get heavily injured while knowing where I am, I am guaranteed to die. This isn’t a game where the protagonist takes heavy injuries after a fight and then walks out and collapses on the road only to be saved by a passing merchant. In reality, thieves will pass by, steal all you have an waste you right there. I mean this is a world of swords and magic which generally means middle ages where life was cheap. My plan as far as leveling is pretty simple, realistic, and level headed. When I come to town, I will sell this dagger, find a part time job that provides some housing and slowly build up my stats. Since I managed to get +1 MNT from that incident, I imagine other stats can be trained to an extent. Once I raise my stats a bit, I will build traps and kill weak monsters via traps. You might call me playing dirty or being a disgrace of an adventurer or even a scary cat. But I’ll call you a total retard! It isn’t even about shying away from a fight but simply common sense! I am right now Level 1. To get a non-combat profession you need to be level 10. Which means that an adult in this world is at least level 10 if not more. Even if we assume in the most unlikely scenario that a normal Level 1 Catkin starts out with all stats at 1. By gaining 9 Levels their combat stats should be at least: 28 STR : 37 AGI : 28 VIT : 19 DEX which is a total of 119 combat stats. My total combat stats without the dagger is only 52. Effectively, a new Catkin farmer is over 2X stronger than me right now! And if they have same stats as me at Level 1 they would be 3X stronger than me. Sending me to fight in this condition is like sending a newborn baby with a dagger to fight! If you want to go commit suicide playing hero, go on without me, I am fine as I am thank you very much. Though I really do wonder why the monsters here are so docile. If this was a real dungeon the monsters would be swarming me rather than ignoring me. Maybe this used to be a dungeon in the past but the dungeon died and the monsters just roam free in the ecosystem that existed for a long time? Looking at the worn out dagger, though I am not a specialist I’d estimate it is at least a thousand years old. I also see no indicator of any kind of human traffic. Which makes me wonder where exactly am I? I hope I am not in some place hundreds if not thousands of miles from civilization. That would be pretty devastating. As I was thinking that, I suddenly come to a dead end in the cave. Worried, I use my [Smell Sense] again and pick up air flowing through a somewhat small hole behind the foliage which I may be able to barely fit in. I decide to take a short half an hour break to recover the best I can and then proceed to climb through the hole. As I reach the other side, I hear a somewhat loud hissing noise. As I take a glance I see a giant rat staring right at me making hissing noises. This is the first time that anything so far has made an aggressive motion toward me. Maybe it is just being territorial and if I quickly leave it will leave me alone just like all the others. As I take a step forward, the giant rat quickly jump on top of me and bites me in the left shoulder and I fall to the floor with the giant rat on top of me. You have taken 35 damage. You are now Bleeding. “Ouch! That hurt! Let me go! I don’t want to fight!” Not listening to my helpless please and not willing to let me go no matter how much I try to push it away. I instinctively hold tight on the dagger and stab the giant rat in the neck! You have dealt 15 damage to the [Giant Rat]! Despite my feeble attempts and hitting it to the neck, I barely do much damage due to my poor aim and its tough hide, it also does not help how dull this old dagger is either. In a panic I continue to stab at it again and again! You have dealt 15 damage to the [Giant Rat]! You have dealt 14 damage to the [Giant Rat]! You have dealt 18 damage to the [Giant Rat]! Due to my frantic attacks, the rat seems to have loosened its hold on my shoulder slightly giving me a ray of hope. But to my dismay the rat bit down even harder than ever! You have taken 82 damage. In less than a minute, I am almost half way through death door! Why does he hurt so much while I do so little damage?!?! This isn’t fair! I am a freakin’ cat, being done in by a mouse is like the worst death I can think off! Of course during this time I continue to stab at its neck the best I can but at this rate it is pretty clear I don’t stand a chance! You have dealt 19 damage to the [Giant Rat]! You have dealt 22 damage to the [Giant Rat]! I need to come up with a strategy and quick! Looking at the damage it seems that my damage is increasing little by little over time. And I doubt it is because I am doing better with using a dagger as I am stabbing like mad. Not to mention despite stabbing it in the back of the neck it isn’t taking much damage overall due to its thick skin at the back of the neck. Me stabbing it over and over at same spot is weakening its hide defenses, but not quickly enough. As I was thinking that...the [Giant Rat] sinks its claws into my body. You have taken 12 damage. “Argh!” With that, my HP has officially dropped below half. But it was not done just yet, after sinking is claws it extended it’s left arm and did a sudden slash for my body at high speed right as I stabbed it again in the neck. You have dealt 25 damage to the [Giant Rat]! You have taken 96 damage. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” The pain that I felt was astronomical! At this instant I knew that I was going to die again. With less than 10% HP left I was effectively a goner. But even so if I am going to go down then I will take this bastard down with me! I aim my knife and stab it straight in the eye! “Hssssssss” [Critical Hit] You have dealt 73 damage to the [Giant Rat]! For the first time, the giant rat fully let go of my shoulder and fell ton its back to the floor hissing in pain. I did not lose this opportunity and jumped on top of it and continued to stab it on its soft underbelly. You have dealt 35 damage to the [Giant Rat]! You have dealt 40 damage to the [Giant Rat]! You have dealt 32 damage to the [Giant Rat]! You have dealt 56 damage to the [Giant Rat]! With that the rat finally stopped moving… With the battle done I take a look around to see where exactly am I since I got distracted by the giant rat and check to see if there is some place I can rest. But as I turned by head I finally fully took in the surroundings. I was in a small cave system and about a few dozen meters I could see the exit of the cave to the outside. Of course life is never really that simple because between me and the exit there are five hissing [Giant Rats] staring me down in attack position. “Yup, today is a good day to die...I am totally screwed...” Level up! Sentient Creature: +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin: +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin: +2 AGI +1 DEX “…I finally leveled up but does not change the fact that I am screwed...” System Announcement! You have killed a monster that is stronger than you and leveled up after killing it...condition met You have killed a monster that is stronger than you with less than 10% HP remaining...condition met You have ended up in a situation that has less than 0.01% chance of survival...condition met “No gee sherlock…no need to rub it in my face how screwed I am!...Putting a number on it doesn’t make me feel any better either!” As I was remarking about the system spelling out my death sentence...the [Giant Rats] got closer and closer and began to surround me... System Announcement! Enough conditions have been met, the system will now attempt to analyze your entire being. And will attempt to generate a Unique Skill to reward your achievement. There is no guarantee that a Unique Skill will be generated and is solely depended on analyzing your entire existence as a whole. A Unique Skill is both a blessing and a curse. When one accomplishes an achievement but at same time is put in a scenario with near 0 chance of survival. The system allows the being to value their entire existence and pay an eternal price of their future potential for the slim chance to turn things around. Generating Unique Skill...Please wait... “…” At this point I stare blankly at the window and not sure if I should feel happy or feel worse like salt is being poured on my wound...It is like its trying to give me a shred of hope only to disappoint me in the end... System Announcement! Your existence has been evaluated and has been found qualified to receive a Unique Skill. You have gained a new Unique Skill [All-Observing-Eyes] 1. Passive – You are now capable of learning all skills regardless of race or qualifications. With the exception of Unique Skills. Any Unique Skill that is learned will be turn into a [Neutral] degraded version called a [Special Skill] 2. Passive – You are now able to learn and improve your skills just by observing them being used on valid targets. The probability of learning a skill increases depending on how many times you have seen it during your entire lifetime. The probability decreases depending on the difficulty of the skill which vary from levels to other qualifiers such as racial requirements and etc. 3. Active – You can awaken the [All-Observing-Eyes], when the eyes are awakened, you are able to see all weak points, you are also able to predict moves of your opponents based on your lifetime knowledge of the creature attacking. Probability of skill acquisition doubles. Your perception of time is also distorted and you are able to perceive time 100% + [MNT] slower. Your vision is improved by 300%. For every minute you activate this skill, after the skill is deactivated you will lose 20% (-1% for every 100 MNT) of your total [Mental] and your vision will decrease by 10% for 24 hours. [Overload] When this ability is overloaded, you use up 5 minutes worth of the skill in just 1 minute. Effects of the skill is doubled and all stats are raised by 20%. Once the ability expires, maximums of all your stats are reduced by 50% for 48 hours. 4. Sub-skill – You are able to now use [Identify] Level 5 5. Passive – You are now unable to learn skill books, receive heritages through normal means or train skills normally. And here I was hoping for immortality...Oh well, if I am going to die I am going to take these giant rodents down with me at the very least…I put my free attribute point in [AGI] which will probably benefit me the most in this fight and scream: “[All-Obeserving-Eyes]! [Overload]!” And with that time slows down by 242%. My stats rise dramatically and my vision sharpens so that I can see even the smallest motions. The first to attack is the giant rat from the front, it rushes me at a rather fast speed which I barely dodge even with my improved perception and speed. You have acquired a new skill [RA][Charge] Level 1 Noticing the notification, I quickly activate the [Charge] skill aimed at the second [Giant Rat] behind the first to gain some distance. With my Charge I am my dagger barely manage to stab it in the right eye. Unfortunately the attack was not as solid as the first rat I hit despite the improved stats but still did decent damage. You have dealt 67 damage to the [Giant Rat]! The [Giant Rat] in retaliation took its left paw and began to swipe it at me at a fast speed which I managed to quickly move out by a hair’s breath and spin around. You have acquired a new skill [RA][Claw Swipe] Level 1 Taking this opportunity I use my left hand and [Claw Swipe] the rodent’s soft underbelly. [Critical Hit] You have dealt 112 damage to the [Giant Rat]! As the rat flips over I spin around and then quickly land on the rat stabbing the rat downwards right in the weak spot of the neck! [Critical Hit] You have dealt 165 damage to the [Giant Rat]! With that the first out of the five rats died. Feeling a slight sense of relief I let my guard down only to notice another rat charging at me. I quickly try to dodge and activate charge to attack another rat in the back like I did the first. Unfortunately due to my carelessness the rat that attacked me slightly grazed my arm. You have taken 8 damage. While lowering my guard is definitely a death flag, my biggest concern though is my dropping Stamina consumption. While Racial skills tend to be weaker than normal skills and have lower Stamina consumption as well. That does not mean they are free. Another benefit of Racial skills is you can override cooldowns which can be seen on how quickly I just used [Charge] a second time which normally would not be possible. The downside is that Stamina consumption increases exponentially. Which is why I need to make each hit count! During my charge I position my second hand on the dagger and carefully aim at the weak spot shown to me by the [All-Observing-Eye]. I put all my weight into it and stab the rat right in the eye at the perfect angle that the dagger goes right into its brain. [Critical Hit] You have dealt 320 damage to the [Giant Rat]! Level up! Sentient Creature: +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin: +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin: +2 AGI +1 DEX While the level up and 1 hit kill was certainly very welcome. My dagger getting stuck in the skull was certainly not. This opened up me being jumped by a rat from the side. I quickly activate [Claw Swipe] with my other arm hitting the rat on its chest but unfortunately that did not prevent the rat from knocking me over and landing on top of my thigh. Luckily that was enough for me to pull out the dagger and to prevent it from landing another bite on top of me, despite that the impact still managed to damage me by 15 damage. Of course my [Claw Swipe] did five that at 75 damage. Though this situation would not last for long as the [Giant Rat] prepared to do its own [Claw Swipe]. Of course I wasn’t sitting there doing nothing either as I was already swinging the blade right into its eye. While that was not enough to kill the Rodent or even deliver a critical hit. It was enough to push the rat to the side and get up. Right at that moment to my surprise a rat charged me from the back pushing me towards the floor. Having a [Giant Rat] jump you from the back is worst case scenario! As it would leave me completely defenseless. Noticing that there is another [Giant Rat] a bit to the front, I brace the timing and activate [Charge]. At this point I have long surpassed my limits and my Stamina is almost drained completely. If not for the level up, I would not be able to use any more skills. So I’ll have to make the last one count. As I charge the [Giant Rat] I again aim for its eye as I did with the previous rats. With the added push of the rat from behind I charge at faster speed than normal going for a heavier impact. [Critical Hit] You have dealt 255 damage to the [Giant Rat]! While this may seem like a good amount of damage at first, it is not so great for me. I need to save the last skill for charging the healthy rat from behind. If I don’t do that I don’t stand a chance. And I can’t afford to waste Stamina on a [Claw Swipe] to finish this one off. Which means I have to take a very risky move that might be the end of me. I dock to the ground and do a flip, after the flip I activate [Charge] and rush the last remaining healthy rat, fully expecting a [Claw Swipe] from behind. To my surprise, it does not come. As always I ain’t gonna complain if it is to my favor. For this charge I go about things a bit differently and lift both my feet off the ground in a charge. My aim here was to not only stab the healthy [Giant Rat] in the eye but also to kick it backwards so it knocks into the other rat behind it. This is where my [LUK] stat must be shinning because not only did I succeed in operation “Bowling Rat” pushing the rat to trip the ray behind it while it rolled. I also got a very hit in despite focusing less on aiming this time around. [Critical Hit] You have dealt 329 damage to the [Giant Rat]! You have dealt 10 damage to the [Giant Rat]! At this point my [Stamina] has already hit near zero. I can’t do any more skills or move around too much. My only hope is to kill this rat under my feat and hopefully it will be enough for a level up. I tighten the hold on the grip with both hands and stab down into the eye of the rat who tumbled below my feet. I put all my concentration to insure I land a good blow. [Critical Hit] You have dealt 276 damage to the [Giant Rat]! I barely manage to do enough damage to kill it. That brings three rats down, two injured rats to go. Since the remaining two rats are a decent amount away from me I use this slight second to access the situation. Things are not looking good as I only have 10 seconds left on my [All-Obeserving-Eyes] [Overload]. And I do not have the [Stamina] to use any skills. I look at the rat to the side that I thought would [Claw Swipe] me from the back. Only to realize it is already dead. Ha? When did I kill it I only did 255 damage? Wait... maybe it was lower level than the rest? That would make sense considering that rat was mostly staying to the back. Talk about luck! Maybe things are finally going my way! One more left! I take a look at the last rat who is getting up and glaring at me and slowly take a step forward to shorten the distance… Suddenly my foot gives out and I fall to the floor... You have taken 5 damage. I try to get up but can’t move a muscle. I quickly check my Status only to realize my [Stamina] has hit 0. I can’t move a muscle. I look forward and see the rat limping toward me. It seems to have somehow injured its foot. But slowly and steadily the [Giant Rat] moves closer and closer to me. Within a few seconds he stands towering next to me and ready to [Claw Swipe] me to death. “So this is how it end ha...at least I gave it my all and took four of you out with me...” As I prepare to take in my ever coming death. My [All-Obeserving-Eyes] [Overload] comes to an end and I blackout… … The next thing I notice, I am in a dark place isolated from everything...this dark place feels very eerie but at same time very familiar...I try to move my body but I could not...Am I dead again? I try to look around to see if there is anything of note around me but see nothing...just endless darkness...I should be feeling some kind of feeling from all this but for some strange reason I feel nothing...It is like I have lost all emotion or sense of being...Suddenly a white light begins to eliminate the place..and for the first time in a long time I begin to feel something to the tune of loss, but at same time hope. As I try to reach for the light, the light suddenly explodes and I abruptly awaken. Only to find myself in some sort of cave… “What happened...did I die and get resurrected for a 3rd time?” I take a look around and notice I am in the same cave that I fought the [Giant Rats]. I look around and see that there are corpses of the rodents lying around in blood..I try to get up but find it rather difficult. I look down and see that there is a rat corpse lying on top of me...I struggle and push the corpse off me and get up. Looking around to confirm that everything is safe I take a look at the system messages I see in the corner. You have successfully survived a battle with less than 0.01% survivability. Limit Break 1 / 3 achieved! Level up! Sentient Creature: +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin: +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin: +2 AGI +1 DEX You are suffering from mild Hunger, all attribute maximums reduced by 20%. Recovery reduced by 50% So it seems like I somehow didn’t die and manage to live? “Status” Status Name Shiro Race Ɓęåśŧķĩŋ - Ċāť Class Level Gender Female Status [Ḿḯḻḓ Ḫṹṇᶃᶒᵲ] Beastkin - Cat 4 Age 12 years Free Points 1 Hunger 35/100 HP 75 / 310 -155 (0.063/m) STR 21 +3 -14.7 INT 13 +2 -9.1 MP 10 / 10 -5 (0.0057/m) AGI 27 +2 -18.9 WIS 11 -7.7 Stamina 40 / 80 -40 (0.39/m) VIT 21 -14.7 MNT 24 -16.8 Mental 50 / 100 -50 (0.072/m) DEX 19 -13.3 LUK 100 Skills [LP] English 5 All-Observing-Eyes 35h [RA] Claw Swipe 1 [RP] Night Vision 2 [NA] Identify 5 [RA] Smell Sense 1 [RA] Charge 1 Hmm...my stats have gone up a bunch but despite that I feel weaker due to the penalties of [All-Observing-Eyes][Overload] and [Mild Hunger]. Looking at the cooldown timer, I have been out for about 13 hours. Considering how much time I spent traveling through that catacombs on top and sleeping, it is no surprise that I am feeling pretty hungry. I really need to secure myself some food..The question is where? Before that, the first thing I need to do is rationalize the situation. Right now my stats are terrible and I need to wait 35 hours to recover my stats. By that point I will obviously starve to death. So I am between a rock and a hard place...going to fight means death and staying here means death. That said, it is not all doom and gloom. Since I have been sleeping here for 13 hours and the corpses have gone untouched means that there is most likely no other rats around this part. Adding to it that this place seems like where the rats are nesting, I would assume there is unlikely to be any danger within the vicinity for the time being. Of course at same time it most likely means that civilization is not anywhere close by either. Putting those thoughts together, it should be rather safe to venture slightly outside the cave as long as I don’t go too far. So my best bet right is to make this place my base for now, build some basic traps and secure some food. That said, there is still one big risk with this plan. While I can probably secure some fruits, mushrooms or vegetables outside and I can probably get supplies to make a fire to cook these rats. Since this is a new world, I don’t know if any of those things are poisonous. So effectively, whatever I eat I would be gambling my life. Though even with those risks, I think it is a safer bet than going out there while my stats are reduced by 70%. Even a single [Giant Rat] can easily kill me at this point, and I somehow doubt [Giant Rats] are the king of the jungle around here. With my mind made up, I venture outside the cave and take a peek around. When I reach the end of the cave I see that the cave is located in a burrow surrounded by vast forest. Once I make sure there is no danger in the vicinity, I proceed to collect large branches and begin to cover up the burrow. While I am doing this I pick up any sort of nuts or fruits that I find. I also find a long flat stick and some vines. My goal is to make the burrow into a sort of bunker, than make a makeshift spear which I can attack from the bunker with little risk to injuring myself. While I don’t think I’ll kill anything this way it should be enough to discourage many predictors if they happen to come my way. Unfortunately due to my reduced stats, dragging the branches is harder than it would normally be. After about 2 hours I finally manage to put together the burrow defenses and sharpen a basic spear. Once that is done I go back in and begin to drain the blood and skin the [Giant Rats]. While I am sure that some of this rodent’s materials can be sold for money, I honestly don’t know which parts, and despite my familiarity with working with the knife due to my “adventuring”, I doubt my disassembly is good enough to not damage the materials. My only priority at this point is to procure meat from the rats. This process takes me about 15 minutes and once I am done I again leave the burrow and prepare a fire outside to the side the old fashion way. Luckily I have plenty of experience setting up fire in this way from all my mini-adventures and despite my lower stats I am still stronger than what I was back on Earth which makes the process easier. With the fire started and the meat skewers set up to cook, I quickly run back and hide behind the burrow defense. Who knows what kind of creature would be lured by the smoke. While animal based monsters will probably distance themselves, there is a probability of humanoid monsters with some intelligence following it. Thankfully even after 15 minutes, no monster has shown up. So I sneak back out of the burrow, take the meat skewers and put out the fire. All the meantime I am drooling...but I know that I have to resist these urges despite how hungry I am… Now normally I would find rat meat pretty disgusting...for some reason I can’t think of it anything more than delicious meat. Is it because it looks and smells like any other meat skewer? Or is this my inner-Catkin talking? I use [Smell Sense] on it to see if I can locate any odd odors * growl * ...err...bad idea… hold it in stomach just a little bit more … I build a simple trap using the vines and a few sticks and place it in an area where I have seen a lot of small animals such as squirrels and foxes or at least looks similar to them...probably…I then gain distance and wait for an animal to take the bite. Which apparently does not take long. Within a bit over a minute a bunny like creature takes the bait and starts chewing on the meat. Once I see he is half way done I quickly spring the trap to which the bunny like creature begins to trash violently but ultimately is unable to escape. I pick up a few stones and go back closer to the enclosure to wait out half an hour.. during that time a few foxes tried to approach and snatch the bunny but I used rocks to scare them off. After confirming the rabbit is still fine, I let him go by cutting the vine. I then finally proceed to take a small bite of the meat skewer which has already gotten cold. The flavor is rather bland unfortunately but due to my hunger offsetting my taste buds, it actually tastes better than it is. After the first bite, I wait another 30 minutes while keeping an eye on my health and status screen to make sure I do not get some sort of poison. And after finally confirming it is safe once more, I gobble it all down like a glutton. Of course I make sure to save a few to eat for tomorrow just in case. You are now well fed! [Mild Hunger] debuff removed! Once I am done I feel energy refill myself as some of my stats are restored. Now I know what you are probably thinking. “Why in the world did you eat a [Giant Rat] when you caught yourself a bunny?”. The answer is simple really, and no it isn’t because I developed a new taste for rats if you are wondering. Not only is there little food on the bunny due to it being rather small compared to the rats which will even shrink more once I disassemble it. The biggest issue is I have no clue if the rabbits are poisonous or not. That might sound a bit weird but it is actually quite logical. You see, this is a new world where I know absolutely nothing. For all I know in this world all snakes are non-poisonous and all bunnies have lethal poison. This isn’t my old world so I can’t make any assumptions more than I have to. I mean with these bunnies having 3 ears you can never know... And testing if the bunnies are poisonous is much harder than testing if the [Giant Rat] is poisonous. While the foxes eat the bunnies, those bunnies are part of the fox’s diet, so it is more than possible for the fox to have immunity to a poison the bunnies might have. Just like how a Honey Badger is resistant to venom of a snake. In comparison, I am pretty confident that a [Giant Rat] is not part of a bunny’s diet. So if they had some sort of poison, it would be easily apparent. Now with all the urgent issues out of the way, I can finally start planning on how I plan to proceed in this new world. Alright, first things first. I use my newly acquired [Identify] skill on my dagger. Ancient Mithril Dagger A dagger made out of mithril which has been lying around for many millenniums. It is so old that it began to deteriorate out of old age, which is saying a lot considering mithril is known for its longevity. Due to the deterioration, the properties of the dagger have been significantly weakened. [Unidentified] +3 STR +2 AGI +2 INT [Identified] +6 STR +4 AGI +4 INT +1 DEX Durability: 25 / 15,000 What?!?! Well it seems like in this world things that are not identified are not able to pull out their full potential...Though now it seems I have a new headache to deal with * sigh *. While the increase in stats are appreciated, finding out this is a mithril dagger is not making me happy at all. Now I need to rethink my entire plan for when going to civilization. At issue here is that a Mithril Dagger is most likely something that is very expensive. Even if the dagger can’t be repaired, even just the raw materials of the mithril probably is worth a fortune. Now what would you do if you found out a 12 year old cat girl who is only level 4 is walking down the street with a treasure like that. That is begging to be robbed! Now of course I can sell the dagger as per my original plan, but things are not so simple now. For one, I don’t know the currency of this world or the value of things in this world. For all I know, the place I am selling it to will completely rip me off, and if I say no deal for w\e reason they might take it from me by force. If this was a normal dagger that would be one thing, because even if I get ripped off, as long as I get enough money to last me a day or two, during which I can get myself a part time job. But selling a mithril dagger seems like a loss with added risk. Of course not bringing the dagger has its own risks as I would end up with lower stats to defend myself. Though can I really defend myself if I get attacked? As I said even a beginner farmer should still have stats way above me. At best I could use the [Charge] skill to run away. In comparison, if I have a rare treasure and some thief combat class who has a skill that can detect hidden treasure takes an interest in it, my chance to run away would be 0. I know I am being overly paranoid, but this is a new world. I am not some protagonist who can just wing things through hoping a miracle will prevent my throat being sliced… I guess I have no choice... I will hide the dagger somewhere safe outside of town and then pick it up when I plan to go hunting… The wooden spear should be good enough around town. I will get a feel for the currency and market prices of this world, then once I get some strength, see if I should keep or sell the dagger. Now then, I have well over 30 hours left until I gain back my stats. While I would like to have trained my skills, with the drawback of my Unique Skill...that would prove to be impossible. So my only option of using time efficiently is try to raise individual stats. So lets do some training! For the next few hours I do all kinds of rigorous training from push-ups, to jumping jax to running around the cave back and forth. I do so for over 15 hours, with some breaks for rest and food of course here and then. Unfortunately I failed to get any improvements in any attributes which is quite disheartening. At this point it is pretty tiring and I want to take a nap. Interestingly enough, despite it getting a bit darker, it is no where near night. Is this world on a 24h clock like Earth? I wish I could get a better look at the position of the sun to tell how things are and get an estimate, but the forest is too thick to get a good view. And I am not curious enough to wonder too far away from this cave into a clearing. As the saying goes “Curiosity killed the cat”. I sleep for around 9 hours and when I wake up surprisingly it is still bright outside. Seriously, how long is a day in this world?! Well anyways, lets not get too distracted. In a few hours, my debuff is going to disappear, which means I have to set out today. I have contemplated the possibility of staying in this cave and leveling up until I can get to level 10 and get a non-combat class. But I quickly turn that plan down, because I seriously lack information. I don’t even know how to get a class. Not to mention that a strong monster can come to this cave at any point, more so since these corpses are beginning to rot and smell. Even under the ideal scenario where none of that happens, I don’t know if in this system there is a thing like nutritional value. I can’t imagine an all meat diet for days or months being healthy under normal circumstances. And even if it is not a concern I have no way of preserving the rat corpses and would have to risk experimenting with the fruits and other animals. So I need to get information about what I can eat and what I can’t, which can only be done in civilization. Not to mention... I am starting to feel rather lonely... The next few hours were rather uneventful. I did not bother training because if I did not manage in 15 hours I doubt I’ll manage in a few more. And this day is going to be a long one . So I need to conserve my strength the best I can. I will have to save the training for another day. Instead I spent it preparing the best I could. Finally I got the message I was waiting for! [Overload] debuff removed! With my stats fully restored, I leave the cave. Now of course I am not just going to go walk in a random direction blindly. To find civilization, I need to look for a road, river or some trail. Once I find one of those I can follow them. I climb what seems to be the tallest tree in the area standing on a small hill. With the help of my claws, and my improved strength, I find the task far easier than I remember it. At the top of the tree, the first thing that I notice answers one of my curiosities from the other day. Because what I see there is two suns! I am not sure how life can exist on this planet with two suns around because from what I remember hearing those conditions tend to cause a lot of instability in a solar system, but hey I am not a rocket scientist, so I shrug my shoulders and move on to my main objective. As I take a peak around me, surprisingly I notice that a road from a distance of what I’d estimate to be 2-3 miles away. I get off the tree and cautiously make my way toward the road. Obviously I am using my trusty [Smell Sense] skill from time to time. After about an hour or so I make it to the road. Looking in both directions, I can not make out anything, even after climbing a nearby tree. I tried studying the tracks or using [Smell Sense] to try to see if I can figure out which direction is closer or has more people going. Unfortunately I was getting nowhere fast, so I decided to rely on my “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe” skill and hope my high [LUK] stat pays off. When I pick a direction I proceed, but not directly on the road but a bit away from the road. Because a maiden walking alone on a road is like begging to trigger the kidnapped by bandits flag. And personally I already had more than enough near death excitement for two lifetimes. And while I don’t think there will be too many monsters near roads, on a road I don’t have much cover making myself a sitting duck. So instead I just move parallel to the road a few meter away. I move in this way for about 3 hours. And for the first time I smell the scent coming from behind by the road. A minute afterwards, I begin to hear the sounds of a carriage. My first impulse is to jump out and meet the carriage and see if I can get a ride to town. But I hold myself back and instead watch the situation. I have to remember that this is a new world and who knows what the situation is around here. For all I know they skin Catkins around these parts. Again, better safe than sorry. As the carriage comes closer and closer, I begin to hear some voices of people chatting in some weird language. “????? ??? ?????” “?? ????? ???? ??????” Not being able to make out what they said, I begin to panic. I forgot about the most crucial thing! God didn’t give me no language cheat and I don’t know the language of this world! Crap! I’m a total idiot! While I derail myself, the carriage gets closer and closer, close enough for me to see it. The carriage is being escorted by 4 guards, one on each side. And on front of the carriage are 2 men who are chatting with each other. “??? ????? ??? day...” You have acquired a new skill [LP][Trillan] Level 1 Hooray for Unique Skill cheat! Now I can finally make out what they are saying!! “… ???? tomorrow. Come to ???? ????. Alright?” Or….maybe not… “????. We have a deal then!” Your skill [LP][Trillan] has become Level 2 Or… maybe to?… I tried to follow the carriage the best I could. Which proved rather difficult, because not only were they moving pretty fast for my taste, it was also harder for me to move through the dense forest. I also have to be careful so that I don’t get mistaken for a robber and attacked out of nowhere, so I had to also keep a good distance. I was only able to keep up with the carriage for about 15 minutes, but it was enough to get me [Trillan] language skill to Level 5. I also noticed a quirk in my Unique Skill. I am still not 100% sure as I had little time to check. But it seems there is a limitation where I can only get 1 skill every 5 minutes per person. Which means I should be very careful about revealing my Unique Skill. Since I can’t control what skills I can and can’t learn. An opponent can waste my 5 minutes by throwing me a useless skill to learn. With that dully noted, I continue towards what I hope is a town. After a long and tiring 10 hours of walking. Without triggering any flags. I finally manage to make out a village.
Spoiler: Chapter 2: All I wanted was a little bit of freedom https://royalroadl.com/fiction/chapter/128445 In front of me stands a village. From what I heard from the guys on the carriage, this village is called Diara Village. In terms of size, this village is pretty large, but not to the tune of being one of being a town surrounded by a giant wall and guards. Actually, this village mostly guarded by a fence even I can jump over if I put in enough effort. So it seems like its purpose is more to keep animals in and out rather than to protect against a large monster attack. I am also pretty glad this village is not a huge guarded town, nor a small village. Making this just perfect! The problem with large towns that have guards and all is that I would never make it in. I know in most literature the crazy protagonist walks in, tells the guards he lost his ID or comes from some remote village that has no ID, in a week they would already get a key to the city from the mayor and rescue a princess or two. That unfortunately is not going to work in reality. No country is going to allow random people who might be criminals or spies from another country to just walk in without an ID and assume a new identity. The guards are more likely to just say “too bad, go back and get an ID or get someone to confirm your identity”. It is not like they are under any obligations to help you out while risking their own necks. The problem with a small village is everyone knows each other, so a foreigner coming it tends to get attention which I would rather not have. Since I know very little about this world, I’d rather not get any attention. I can already imagine how things can easily go wrong. ***** [Start Shiro’s Imagination] ***** [Villager A]: “Hey there, I don’t remember seeing you around these parts, are you new here?” [Shiro]: “Yeah, I just came in today from far away” [Villager A]: “Is that so… Which parts do you come from?” [Shiro]: “Oh you know a remote Beaskin village on another continent far away which I am sure you never heard of...” [Villager A]:”Is that so...You mean the Beastkin Country on [Watchamacallit Continent]?” [Shiro]:”A-Ah...yeah thats the one!” [Villager A]:”YOU DARE COME HERE AFTER BEING IN WAR WITH US FOR DECADES?!?! YOU KILLED MY SON! GUARDS! GUARDS! THERE IS A SPY IN THE VILLAGE!” ***** [End Shiro’s Imagination] ***** Well maybe I am exaggerating a little bit. But I can’t imagine me not knowing anything in this world is not bound to easily make people suspicious. You can’t just pretend you don’t know common sense and get away with it that easily. So it is important to minimize dialog and instead collect information indirectly. That said, speaking of war. There is one last thing I need to check. I walk out onto the road and walk in the opposite direction of the town. I pass by another carriage while keeping an eye on the faces of those in the carriage. Once the carriage passes by, I go back into the forest and follow them back to town. My goal here is to find out if Beastkin happen to be at war with humans or not. If they are, the people on the carriage would have started acting suspiciously. While I saw a few twitches when they saw me… it did not seem to the point of panic or anything of the like. So it is safe to say that this country is not in war with the Beastkin. That said, considering the faces, I have a feeling Beastkin may be discriminated around these parts. Which is not something I did not expect, but it may make my job hunting quite a bit harder. * sigh *… Either way I will proceed with the original plan cautiously. The first thing before I make it into the village is hiding my [Ancient Mithril Dagger]. What I am looking for is a clearing in the forest away from the village. I know the most common way to hide a treasure is under a marked tree, and that is precisely what I am not going to do. Precisely because it is too common of a hiding spot, and who knows if some person coming to get herbs is going to accidentally dig it up. And let us not forget places near a tree tend to be difficult to dig due to the roots. A non-conspicuous clearing with nothing there is the best place to hide things, at the very least in the short term. Once I locate such a clearing and memorized the location, I dig up a deep hole. It takes me about half an hour to dig up the hole because I want the blade at least a few inches deep. I then take 25 steps away and leave a few rocks embedded in the ground as a marker. With that out of the way, I finally proceed towards the village. Inside the village I peak my ears and try to pick up as much information as I can. I also use my [Smell Sense] to help navigate myself to the flea market in the village. There not only can I listen in on plenty of conversations, but I can also get a feel for the currency in this country. From what I see in the market, I see copper coins, iron coins and silver coins. Paying close attention to what people are buying and how much change they are getting in return. I conclude the following: 1 Iron Coin = 100 Copper Coin 1 Silver Coin = 100 Iron Coins Looking at the trend I would assume there is gold coins as well but so far I have not seen anyone trade those around these parts. So I have no clue where they fit in and I am not going to ask a vendor either. Again my goal is to be as least conspicuous as possible. And now you are expecting me to say how much these things converts into dollars right?...how about not! Converting currency into a currency of another country let alone another world is an exercise in futility. Sure it works ok if you are comparing 1st world countries with similar economies. But when comparing completely different countries and economies, it doesn’t work that way. Even when comparing commodities, like food, costs between places with manual farming and farming assisted by machines makes a huge difference. These are all things I picked up while traveling with my parents around the world. I also use this opportunity to use [Identify] on people. And here is what seems like a typical adult person looks like: Bob Vallen Gender Male Race Human Class Level Age 34 years Status ? Human 14 HP ??? MP ?? Merchant 5 Which confirms that even a regular person can wipe the floor with me 10X over and have room to spare. By the way, this is what a typical combat class person around here looks like: Andrew Bellard Gender Male Race Human Class Level Age 48 years Status ? Human 20 HP ???? MP ?? Cook 7 Warrior 8 Though this makes me wonder an interesting point. Is the only way to level to fight things? I can’t imagine a Merchant or a Cooking going out in the field to level up by killing monsters...So I am definitely missing something… And I somehow doubt that people are just going to reveal these things in the middle of the street out of nowhere...this isn’t a game where everyone else is an NPC screaming random vital information around strangers. My top priority is gathering information and finding a place to stay. If I can find a way to level up without hunting until Level 10, that would be ideal. So now I will prepare to execute “Operation: Infiltrate the Inn”. Tada! Everyone knows that the best place to get information is the Tavern Inn. When people are drunk, you can get them to spill almost anything without any suspicion at all. On top of that, it is a location that gets plenty of foot traffic and plenty of opportunities to ask random questions. It probably won’t be easy, especially if the beastkin discrimination is very severe. That said my plan is to go to the cheapest looking inn and effectively offer my services for free. All I will ask in return is minimum amount of food and a place to sleep. That place doesn’t even have to be a room, a corner would be more than enough for me as long as it is a safe location. I am used to sleeping virtually anywhere while being on the move. I estimate that my chance of success is about 20% or so, but even then it is well worth it. If I get turned down, oh well, but it does not hurt to try right? What is the worst that can happen? “…” Somehow I feel like I triggered a flag...Don’t mind! Don’t mind! I just have to be prepared for the worst that is all there is to it! I spend a few hours looking around the Inns that have taverns and go for the cheapest looking one. Luckily this isn’t a large town where the cheapest Inn would be in the middle of a slum. Because even if I could secure a job there, I wouldn’t feel safe sleeping there. This Inn is located in the poorer districts, but it is not to the point that screams “crime everywhere”. I get near the Inn and begin investigating it in the least conspicuous way possible, I take note of the owners of the inn and the staff there. And from a distance try to judge their personalities. From the looks of things the middle-aged lady named “Anne Dalton” is probably the best person to approach as she seems to have the most authority in the inn. She also seems to have a decent reasonable personality as far as I can tell from a distance. It helps a lot that this inn is an open door one where you can peak inside, probably to draw in customers to the tavern. Now then I wait until the tavern gets more and more filled up and the waiters can’t keep up with demand. And I choose this moment to strike! At this point I am less likely to get attention if I get turned down and my chances to get hired is increased due to immediate demand. “Principle of Supply and Demand”. Time to start “Operation: Infiltrate the Inn”. The most important thing at this point is “Confidence”. If I stutter or act uncertain, they may think I am suspicious or something. The more confident I am in relaying my message, the less likely I will be suspected of anything. I slowly walk into the tavern inn and head for the middle-aged lady. When I reach her I quickly recite my practiced lines. [Shiro]:“Excuse me. My name is Shiro. I was wondering if you need some help. I just got into town for a day or two and was hoping I can get a part time job around here. I don’t need much, just some scraps of food and a place to...” You have taken 206 damage. You have been stunned for 2 seconds. [Shiro]:“..eh?” eh? eh? EHHHHHH?!?!? I am totally confused what in the world happened! But I feel a numbing pain from the top of my head as I feel blood begins to drip down… I totally zone out and it takes me a few seconds to get myself together and I look down to notice there is a broken spilled mug on the floor covered in blood. It take a look up and notice the entire tavern is staring at me with discusted eyes..Like they are looking at mud...Then the voices begin to flood in as I slowly regain myself. [Tavern Customer A]:”WHAT IS A STINKIN HAIRBALL DOING HERE?!?! ITS GOING TO GET FLEAS IN MY FOOD!” [Waiter A]:”We sincerely apologize, we will get rid of it right away!” The middle aged lady [Anne Dalton]:”Shoo! Go away! We have no scraps for you!”. she then grabs a broom and starts shoving me out of the Inn. “Shoo!” You have taken 3 damage. You have taken 5 damage. You have taken 4 damage. You have taken 2 damage. SERIOUSLY?!?!? I MEAN SERIOUSLY?!?!? This is beyond discrimination… they are literally trying to kill me! Its like they found an icky cockroach on the floor and trying to squash it! I mean I expected to be discriminated and poor treatment and all but this is ridiculous! I mean who just takes a filled mug and throws it at you the first thing they see you!?!? While I would like to give them my two-cents on how completely unreasonable they are being, I get my act together and run! Because at this rate, they will actually kill me! I even activated [Charge] to get some distance as fast as possible! Once I feel like I am in the clear, I take a moment to catch my breath. That was too dangerous...I almost died there for some reason I don’t even know! I am starting to rethink this whole civilization thing! Maybe I am better off in that cave...a powerful monster might come out any time but here I feel like I am surrounded by powerful monsters everywhere! As I was thinking that I suddenly heard a voice of a women from behind me… “Hey, you there, are you looking for a place to work? If so I got a good place, you can work at my place. I know how hard it is for beastkin as beastkin are not really liked around these parts. But that doesn’t speak the same for everyone.” I instinctly take a step back and get a cold sweat thinking someone came after me to finish me off. After processing what she said, I slowly calm down, but do not let down my guard. I may be 12 but with all my traveling I know a thing or two about lowering your guard in hostile places. The easiest time to be taken advantage off is right after you’ve suffered a setback. Like encountering a loan shark after losing big at a casino. Her behavior is simply...suspicious… That said, there is still a possibility that I am over-thinking things and may end up losing my only real chance of getting a place to stay along side information. Lets query about it some more...no matter what I wouldn’t want to offend her either by saying no...this is a world where someone will try to kill you with a mug in the middle of an Inn the moment you come in. So counter to my original conjectures, I doubt people around here will have issue murdering me in broad daylight in the middle of the street either. With my back to the corner I decide to probe some more: “Wh-What kind... of-of...pl-place is it?” I say with a clearly shaken and apprehensive voice. The women notices my fright and responds to me with a more gentle tone “My family runs a stable, as long as you are willing to work I can get you food and a place to stay, maybe even some coins if you do a good job. We already have a foxkin working in the stable, but more help would be appreciated.” Hmm...I take a moment to process that and think things over. Working at a stable is not as good as working at an inn...but it is still a good option. I can get in contact with people, especially merchants and get lots of information. Not to mention if a person is leaving town and I ask them a stupid question that makes me look suspicious in any way, I won’t have to worry about it. So while not my first choice, it is still a good option. BUT! That is one thing and this is another. Can I trust this person? For all I know she will take me into a back alley, chop me up and make me into cat stew! Who knows if some people around here think catkin is a delicacy! I already got one lesson in being complacent. So I need to be extremely cautious like I have never been before! “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”! While there is little I can confirm about how accurate her statement is, there is one thing I can confirm if she is lying or not. I use [Identify]: Mary Zinger Gender Female Race Human Class Level Age 28 years Status ? Human 12 HP ??? MP ?? Stablehand 3 Well she at least is not lying about working at a stable. But still...I can’t let my guard down. But for now, lets accept her offer. Since I walked all over this village during my inspection, I know there are 2 stables here. If I see her lead me in any direction that is not straight to one of those stables, I will bolt out as quick as I can. “Really?...misses?” I ask. “Ah, sorry my name is Mary. Mary Zinger. And yes my offer still stands.” she replied. “Then I will take you up on your offer! Thank you very much!” I reply back enthusiastically. Once she got my confirmation, she began to lead me towards the stable. I kept my guard up to the max and watched both her and the surroundings. We kept walking for a few minutes towards the smaller of the two stables in this village. So far there have been no detours. When we came to the stable, she stopped and told me to wait here. As she went inside to notify her family. While it is possible that this is just etiquette in this world. I can’t afford to risk it when my life is on the line. So I up my caution from 100% to 120% ready to sprint out at any time. I also activate [Smell Sense] to better take in my surrounding. Which by the way was both a good idea and a bad idea. The stench of the horses is pretty bad! But I can’t afford to let up! In a few minutes, I began smelling a new scent which was not that of a human nor a horse. I take a look and an adorable young brown haired foxkin walks out of the house! Not to let the cuteness overwhelm me, I do my best to keep my guard up. I need to take in every possible scenario in this hostile place, for all I know that is a human dressed up foxkin to trick me! Yes, I am that paranoid at this point! Amber Gender Female Race Beastkin - Foxkin Class Level Age 10 years Status ? Beaskin - Foxkin 5 HP ??? MP ? Confirmed! Cutest thing ever confirmed! Wait she is 10 years old and higher level then me?!?! seriously?! How come I feel so defeated?! Okay, focus! This might just be my chance. She is level 5 and a 10 year old...which means she somehow leveled up 4 times which I doubt was by fighting monsters. While asking an adult how to level up might be strange, asking a 10 year old is much easier. I can just trick her by pretending to quiz her to see if she knows. A child would no way find that suspicious. I got this in the bag! While I was busy dabbling in my own little world, the Foxkin girl came up to me and said: “I was told to bring you around and show you where to work, afterwards help you wash up and get you some food” For a 10 year old she sure gets down to business fast..she didn’t even introduce herself or ask for my name..you are making older sister sad… The foxkin brought me around the back of the stables and showed me where we need to clean alongside other things we needed to do. We did so for about 2-3 hours. I tried to strike up a conversion with her to get to know her better and maybe get some conversation going. But outside of work related stuff, all I got was: “...” I guess in this world there is not much room for a childhood...which was the same in the middle ages where everyone works and works from morning to dawn. It probably is even harder for beastkin around here. After we finished up the foxkin Amber who has by the way yet to introduce herself brought me to a well and helped me wash up. I kind of went through mud, blood, alcohol, you name it. So my white hair was already looking more like grayish brown rather then white. While there was no bath or the like and the water was cold, I still felt very refreshed washing myself up after all this time. Not to mention the odor was really getting to my [Smell Sense]. I hope when I level up this skill I’ll be able to eliminate some odors completely. Cause knowing how much I stink does not make feel very comfortable. By the time I finished washing up, the foxkin Amber who I repeat has yet to introduce herself has already come back, she left prior to me since she had far less dirt on her overall. She was carrying 2 bowls of what smells like some kind of soup * growl * After handing one to me she took a look at me and muttered. “White...” This was the first time she ever said anything to me outside of work! I took this opportunity while tasting the soup to strike a conversation. Even if she is strict about working without any distractions, it should be fine while eating right? Right? “Yup! Its all natural 100% white! I got into a bit of a bind getting here so it turned out that way...by the way my name is Shiro! What is your name?” I say in a proud matter of fact tone. “...” The foxkin girl continued eating her food while contemplating something for a while...I hope I was not being too awkward I innerly thought. Social conversations are not exactly my forte… After what felt like a minute contemplating “Amber...” she suddenly said. YES! PROGRESS! Now what? Oh yes, I need to strike up a conversation and get some information! Important stuff like “Can I pet you? Or can I rub your fluffy tail?”...errr..FOCUS! That is not what I need to ask, I need to ask information about this world. After that I can ask to pet her and rub her tail! While I was foolishly deluding in my own world, Amber finished eating and went to put away her bowl. Losing my chance to continue my conversation, I dejectedly finish my soup as well. For the first time in this world I noticed that it started getting darker. With one sun gone and the 2nd one setting, it grew closer to nightfall. Today has been a really long and stressful day...and I can safely say my hair turned white because of it. I giggle at my lame pun as I start to feel rather sleepy from all the work and stress I have done today...I can...hardly keep...my eyes..open… * yawn * I try to get up to follow Amber but strength leaves my body and fatigue gets the better of me. * collapse * ** POV Allen Gower ** Today is a night day, so we will most likely have to close up early. Which unfortunately is not good for business * sigh * Well, overall today was a slow day anyways. Probably an hour or so and we will close up. As I was thinking that I notice someone approaching the entrance. It would be nice if it was a customer, but it is Mike for the 3rd time this week * sigh * He is probably here again to burrow money by pawning his slave until he gets enough money to pay back the loan he took out a month back to try to keep his failing business afloat. Personally I don’t mind since it is very obedient and hardworking. But he simply wants too much for it. There is a right price for everything. As Mike opens the door I greet the enthusiastic Mike with a non-enthusiastically remark. “What’s up Mike? If it is about pawning your slave again, I am not giving you a copper more!” Mike though does not lose his enthusiasm as he takes a large bag off his back and puts it on the floor. “It is not about that! I have a proper slave to sell you this time, and I think it is a rare find!” “Is that so?” I reply still non-enthusiastically…I somehow simply can’t imagine Mike having a rare find. Still he continues and opens up the bag and a sleeping head pops out of it. “Look at this catkin, isn’t it super rare?!?! It has this rare white hair! It was super naive and trusting hahaha! I bet you it is probably a beastkin royalty or something! You can probably easily sell it for 1 gold or more to a noble or something!” I activate “[Appraise: Humanoid]” * sigh * “Mike, do you take me for a fool or something? How long do you think I have been in this business?” Mike looks at me with a dumbfound face and asks “What do you mean Mr. Gower?” “First of all, beastking royalty is not white nor is it a catkin in the first place. Second of all, the catkin you brought is a measly level 4 which is below standard if I do say so myself. An average 12 year old should be at least level 5 if not 6. Third of all, while I have not seen a white haired Catkin before, I have seen other beastkin including Catkin with exotic colors. The exotic colors does not mean they are rare or unique in any way. Quite the opposite actually. Exotic colors are unnatural in beastkin who live and camouflage themselves in the forest. Having an exotic color is like asking to be hunted down. Whenever you see an exotic color on a beastkin, it generally means there is something seriously wrong with it. Considering this one is such low level and is so naive and stupid. I would guess retardation. And even if it was a unique beastkin, not only would I not get a gold for it, I would lose more money transporting it, there is no nobles here for hundreds of miles in this remote village. At best, I can give you 1 silver for it” Finally the enthusiastic smirk disappears off Mike’s face. “Come on Mr. Gower! I really need the money! Give me at least 5 silver for it. My wife told me to sell it no less than 5 silver...” Again with the begging * sigh * “If you don’t like it, you are free to sell it to another slave merchant...oh wait...there isn’t any in this town! Hohoho” I always love pulling out my favorite catch phrase. This village has recently started growing rapidly and I am the first to capitalize it while locking out the competition. Mike looks at me with a dejected face and says: “You know you are going to go to hell for this! I am trying to feed a family here!” To which I nonchalantly reply: “I am just an honest hard working man doing his job. Either way you are interrupting my business so make up your mind 1 silver, take it or leave it.” Mike begins to turn red from anger but calms himself down and gives in. “Fine...1 silver it is” I turn to Rick who has been sitting and reading by me this whole time and ask him to prepare the slave collar and the payment. To which he nods and goes to the back. After less than a minute he brings in the slave collar and the payment. He goes over to the tied up sleeping catkin and attached the collar. He then takes off the command seal and pours a bit of mana to it. When he does that the catkin begins to shrivel up and releases an ear piercing scream. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!” The sudden scream shocks Mike, but to me and Rick it is an every day thing so we already had our earplugs on. The screaming and thrashing continued for about a minute and stopped with the catkin fainting again while foaming in the mouth and bleeding from her eyes. I hate it when they do that… Cleaning that up is such a pain... * sigh * “What the hell?!?! That shocked me” Mike exclaimed. To which Rick replied: “Yes, that is normal. The slave collar directly attacks the slave’s mind, the more they resist the more painful it is. That is necessary to insure full control. Personally if it were up to me I would take out their voice-box prior to placing the slave collar on bait. But despite it having no real use, customers would just claim it now is damaged goods and want less for it. So we have to put up with the annoyance. Since the collar has been placed, here is your 1 silver” Mike receives his 1 silver and grits his teeth. He seem to have remembered his anger and kicks the catkin on the floor while muttering “Damn you for getting our hopes up! Must be nice doing what your told without having to worry about making end meet” At that I exclaimed. “Hey there! That slave is not your property anymore! If you damage my property you will have to pay for it!” To which he jumps back in fright and quickly leaves the shop. * sigh * “Rick, take it to the back and place it with the others” I say. “Yes, sir! I do wonder, if this slave is mentally retarded, why even buy it?” he questions. “And that is why you will always be a greenhorn in this business. Sure if this was a dogkin, I would not buy it since dogkin’s primary use is as a tracker. A retarded dogkin is same as a dead dogkin. But for bait like a catkin, it is another story. The more simple minded they are the better bait they are.” Receiving my explanation, Rick wipes the stains away and takes the catkin in for holding. Today is such a slow day… * sigh * After about an hour passes I get ready to close down when suddenly I see a customer head for the door. But not just any customer. A business like smile appears on my face. “Why if it isn’t my favorite customer Mr. Razer… Do you need to restock on bait again?” I ask. “Yeah, the previous 2 hit the bucket a bit early. So I need a fresh batch. This time though I am hunting a [Hell Boar] so I don’t mind if they are the disposable kind as long as they serve their purpose” He responds. “I see… Then I might just have the right thing for you. I recently got this 12 year old level 4 white catkin which I think would serve as perfect disposable bait” I suggest. “You mean that retarded white catkin that has been hitting the rumor mill lately?” he asks. “Yes, that one. But don’t worry despite being retarded it is more than capable of taking orders. If anything it would be easier to control” I assure. “I see… despite it’s low level it is worth a shot as disposable bait. How much for it?” he inquires. “Only 2 silver” I respond while robbing my hands and smiling. “Hmmm...alright...I’ll take it. Anything else you have?” he confirms. “Excellent choice! We also have a 14 year old level 7 bunnykin with improved jump skill for only 3 silver which should prove useful” I add. “Sounds good, I’ll take that as well” he exclaims. He pays me 5 silver while Rick goes to the back and retrieves the slaves and the command seals. Mr. Razer takes the command seals and his’s dogkin slave picks up the slaves and then carries them out the door. With both of them gone I close up shop. If only more customers were like Mr. Razer... * sigh * ... I suddenly woke up when I felt a splash of cold water. When I looked around I was in some sort of old basement with prison like bars and towering over me is what seems to be a dogkin boy in his late-teens. I try to remember what in the world just happened when I notice the blue notifications and reality hits me. A [Slave Collar] has been forcefully equipped on you. You were exposed to an extreme mental pain: +1 MNT You have taken 35 damage. Suddenly the memories of the excruciating pain that felt like my skull and brain were drilled through resurface and I shiver none stop. I only come to when I hear the voice of the dogkin boy in front of me. “Get up! We have work to do follow me!” I am at first confused but as I slowly calm down and follow the dogkin. I somehow get the gist of the situation. Despite on my insistence on being vigilant and keeping my guard up I messed up big time! Ugh! I can’t believe I was so stupid and fell for the oldest trick in the book! I am so ashamed… I wonder if Amber knew and was in on it…or was she a victim like me…* sniff * ... What is done is done! There is no use crying over spilled milk! I need to think of what to do moving forward, not lament on the past. I take in my surrounding as I follow the dogkin to see if there is anything I can use. Shortly I am brought into a large room which has multiple beastkin standing. And a middle aged man sitting in on a stool. Next to him I see a small dogkin kneeling on the floor. Then a stern voice comes out of the middle aged man. “I am pretty sure I told you to get 10 herbs per day. Why did you only bring back 9?” he asked in a cold tone. “I AM SORRY! I AM SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! T-There was monsters which I ran to avoid and by the time I got away it was too late because of the night day! I AM TERRIBLY SORRY!” The dogkin answered in a panic. “I don’t need to hear your excuses. Regardless the reason, if you do not bring back 10 herbs, punishment is in order.” The middle aged man exclaimed. “PLEASE! ANYTHING BUT THAT..NO! I’LL GET 10 TOMORROW! No, I’ll make up for it and get 11 tomorrow so please, anything but that!” the dogkin pleaded. “Are you telling me what to do? [Slave Collar: Punishment]” the middle aged man exclaimed. A glowing symbol shinned on the middle aged man’s hand. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” The dogkin boy grabbed his head and screamed out in agonizing pain. Suddenly I got cold shivers all over. This traumatizing scene felt all too familiar...So that means if I disobey...I will feel that terrifying pain again? As I was agonizing over what was to come, the dogkin who led me here took out a small basket and spoke up. “Each of you, take 1 small piece of bread, that will be your breakfast. Then prepare to head out in an hour. For those new here, I will brief you on your roles on the way” I follow the other beastkins lining up for bread and take a small piece of bread as well. The portion was slightly larger than the size of a mini-donut. Which part of this is breakfast?!?! * munch * ...ugh! And it tastes bad too... But for now I can’t afford to complain and need to look for an opportunity. There is a total of 4 dogkin including the one giving out orders and the one on the floor. Then there is 2 catkin, 3 foxkin and 1 bunnykin. Once the hour passed, we were lined up outside the house and given small bags, as the middle age man met up with 2 more people. A man and a women around the same age. We then proceeded to leave the village. After about an hour of walking, the 1st middle aged man spoke up. “Alright, start collecting stones, dogkin start sniffing for the [Hell Boar]” he ordered. Hell Boar? Somehow I do not like the sound of that… Your skill [RA][Smell Sense] has become Level 2 Your skill [RA][Smell Sense] has become Level 3 While having a very very bad feeling, I follow the instructions and collect stones in the bag. I also keep an eye on the dogkin while they are sniffing. I finally got my [Smell Sense] to Level 4 after observing the leader dogkin and it stopped going up after that. The dogkin began to lead us on a trail of the [Hell Boar] while I also secretly used my [Smell Sense] to follow as well, don’t want to be the last one to respond to an ambush after all. We then arrived at a scene where a humongous reddish boar the size of a truck who had steam coming out of its body and was currently smashing against a tree. On top of the tree is a panicking monkey trying hard not to fall off the tree. I feel a huge amount of dread at the overwhelming strength of the boar. You have acquired a new skill [RP][Toughness] Level 1 During this time, the 3 humans begin to break down the strategy. “Alright then, we will go with the usual strategy for the [Hell Boar]. We will circle the [Hell Boar] with bait and after it rushes attack it while it is weakened” the middle aged man said. “Alright, you heard the boss. Now go!” exclaimed the dogkin. Not knowing what to do and not wanting to mess up, I for the first time spoke up. “What are we using as bait?” I ask frantically. The dogkin turns toward me with a perplexed look. “Oh, the retarded one. Isn’t it obvious...you” he replied with a casual tone. WHO ARE YOU CALLING RETARDED?!?...wait...wait...more importantly...what did he just say...it can’t be...did I mishear? Suddenly my face became as white as my hair. They want us to act as bait for THAT THING! Are they trying to kill us?!?! I wasn’t the only one to freeze up...the foxkin, bunnykin and the other catkin had similar looks on their faces. The only difference was it didn’t seem like they were that shocked about the whole thing as I was. “We don’t have the whole day here, you have 5 minutes to get in position, surround and start circling the boar and start throwing rocks at it. If you do not, there will be punishment. This is an [Order]” he decreed. At the same time a bunch of symbols began to glow. With terrified faces, everyone reluctantly moved forward and began to surround the [Hell Boar] from a distance then slowly but steadily closed in the perimeter. Fearing the excruciating pain from the collar, I also followed while praying for my life. I put the 2 free points I had saved up for a rainy day into [AGI] in hopes of raising my chance to live if even by 1%. As we got closer and closer eventually the [Hell Boar] who has long broken down the large tree and was eating the monkey noticed us. And began to look around. We began circling the boar in a rotation to try as best we can do divert the obvious upcoming charge if even by a millimeter. All while shaking in fear and throwing rocks at it. The [Hell Boar] suddenly started to become more and more red. And more steam began to come from it. I suddenly got a very very bad feeling about it. As I was watching I suddenly got a notification. You have acquired a new skill [RA][Meteor Rush] Level 1 The [Hell Boar] suddenly looked in our direction and let out a loud noise. “SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” * rumble * *rumble * *rumble * Of course even before that, the moment I saw the ridiculous sounding skill I activated [All-Observing-Eyes][Overload] and [Charge] to move as fast as possible! I mean has anything involving “meteors” ever ended well for me? Due to overcoming your movement limits: +1 AGI Suddenly the humongous [Hell Boar] disappeared and in its place I saw a trail of fire. Before I noticed I was smashed by a large force of burning wind and recklessly flung in the air. Landing dozens of meters away. You have taken 302 damage. You have been stunned for 3 seconds. When I came to, I looked up and what I saw looked akin to a war zone. The whole place behind me was smashed into bits and pieces. Trees shattered, fire burning everything around. Blood all over the place and bits and pieces of body parts which seem to be the bunnykin who was a few meters behind me. The [Hell Boar] itself is standing still in a mini-like crater. I stood there staring in total shock. Even as the 3 humans began to attack it from behind and I was getting notifications left and right, I could not come to. You have acquired a new skill [NP][Spear Mastery] Level 1 You have acquired a new skill [NA][Slash] Level 1 You have acquired a new skill [NP][Dagger Mastery] Level 1 Suddenly I felt something wrong and I came to. I forcefully deactivate [All-Observing-Eyes][Overload]. I do not know why, but something tells me if I fall unconscious here it would be really bad. It seems that if I use the skill for less than 1 minute, the penalty will be proportional to that. As I only used 10 seconds, I will only suffer [Overload] debuff for 8 hours. I slowly get up and do my best to get as much distance as possible while keeping an eye on the situation. Surprisingly, with all 3 humans attacking the boar and doing heavy damage, the boar is not moving at all. Only after about 30 seconds passed from the charge did the boar began to move. But at that point it was severely weakened. The fight lasted about 3 minutes after which the boar finally fell. Level up! Sentient Creature: +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin: +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin: +2 AGI +1 DEX I got another level up, but looking at the scene from hell I could not be happy at all. At this point the leading dogkin gathered all the surviving beastkin and the middle aged man spoke. “Since we found it earlier than expected, all Dogkin, I expect you to fulfill at least half your quota for the day. All bait, go back to base and be there within 5 hours. This is an [Order]!” the man shouted, then turned to his companions and said ”Lets go ahead celebrate our victory guys! I know a good new place!”. With that, the middle aged man and his companions sprinted back to the village. I took one last look around the hellish battlefield. And noticed that there was also a foxkin lying there with missing feet and arm. But he was still barely alive and moaning. “That foxkin is still alive” I exclaim while pointing. The dogkin takes a glance and says “Leave him. He is already useless as bait” I looked at the dogkin with an dumbfounded face. “Weren’t we ordered to all come to base? Wouldn’t that be a breach of an order?” I interjected. “Yes, and he will die for disobeying it. What point are you trying to make retard?” he looks at me bewildered as though looking at a child who said something silly. And then walks away. Totally bewildered and left with no choice due to my powerlessness, I dejectedly follow back to base. …
Spoiler: Chapter 3: A new path forward in the darkness https://royalroadl.com/fiction/chapter/129118 If there is one thing I realized from this event is that I can’t keep going on this way. As things are, I am going to die 100%. I don’t think this is the first time they used beastkin as bait. My original plan was to stay under the radar and find an opportunity to escape, but as things are going I am going to end up dead before that time comes. So there are 2 options for me. First option is I can increase my value and get them to invest resources into my benefit, while not revealing all cards and use that to make my escape. Or raise my benefits just enough that they won’t use me as bait but still stay under the radar overall. Both choices have their ups and downs. The first choice has benefits as it gets me protection from strong people while I increase my strength. But the downside is that I would have to reveal my abilities. The chances of getting out would also be slim because I know very little about this world, so them tricking me is more likely then me tricking them. I can literally end up a slave for my entire life. Which I definitely do not want! The second option benefits is that I can gain some advantages while at same time not revealing my cards. That said there is the risks that they would get suspicious or use me as secondary bait. I really don’t have enough information… Hmmm...wait a second...right now we are heading back to base and the master is not here. Isn’t this a perfect opportunity to collect some information? Particularly, I am interested in the situation of the dogkin. Why didn’t they use them as bait like the rest? And they also got more food during breakfast too... I also want to figure out how levels in this world work. Hopefully they are more talkative then Amber… The problem is...everyone’s mood is pretty down...It feels kind of awkward to start a conversion under these conditions...But I can’t afford to lament any longer, every second can mean the difference between life and death! The question is who do I ask… I take a look around the members walking back to base. And decide to talk to the younger one of the catkin who is 11 years old and level 6. They are the youngest one of the group not counting the dogkin. And maybe as a fellow catkin things would go smoother. I slowly walk up to her and say “Hey..can I ask you something?” She looks at me with a blank and tired expression and replies. “What do you want...retard?” WHA?!?!?!? Okay that started out right away on the wrong side of the road… “I am not a retard! I am Shiro!” I somehow exclaim despite being extremely tired myself. I thought the dogkin might be have a thing against catkin, you know the old dog vs cat rivalry. But this is absurd...even a fellow catkin is calling me a retard..what did I do? “ye...ye...what do you need? I am beat make it quick...” she says. I want to say a lot of things and get to the bottom of this. But right now the most important thing is getting the information I need to live. “I was wondering why we were all used as bait while the dogkin were excluded?” I inquire. * sigh * “...you really are a retard if you don’t know the most basic things. Dogkin start out with a racial of [Smell Sense] at level 3. Which means they are useful for tracking monsters and also for gathering herbs. Since they have value, no one is going to use a dogkin as bait. Especially since Catkin, Foxkin and Bunnykin are faster. So they use us as bait. If you were thinking something stupid like I have [Smell Sense] too so I can do just as good a job. I suggest you give up on it while you are ahead retard, the difference between Level 1 and 3 is huge. Anyways..if you are done...leave me alone...” she responds. GUH! Again with the retard thing...They don’t even know me and they call me retard...But again I need to control myself and focus on the real questions I want to ask. I can take a few insults if it means staying alive. Since they already thinks very little of me, might as well go for broke and ask “that” question. I have a feeling I’ll regret it but what is the worst that can happen? “One more question please!...how does one level up without fighting?” I ask quickly. “...” As expected… but it was worth a shot … “...retard” she murmurs. ...Well if she is not going to answer what I need I might as well get to the bottom of this! It is really irking me! “Why do you keep calling me retard? What did I ever do to you? Call me by my name Shiro!” I exclaim. “Isn’t it obvious? You are called a retard because you are a retard! Do I need to spell it out for you?” she responds. I am really getting nowhere fast...while I was thinking that… “What is going on back there? If you have the time to talk, move quicker back to base!” shouted the dogkin boy leading the group. “Sorry Ryo! The retard wanted to know how someone levels up!” she yelled back. * giggle * * giggle * * giggle * * giggle * All around me I hear the beastkin trying to suppress their laughter… Why do I keep jinxing myself...now I am certain everyone thinks I am a retard...I droop my shoulders in utter defeat. Like this we make it back to base without me getting a proper answer. But it was not all losses. I did get an answer to one of my most important questions. The fact that the dogkin are not being thrown away as bait is already offering me a way to improve my chance of survival. Of course I am not going to reveal that my [Smell Sense] is level 4. But I can pass it off as level 3 just fine. Maybe I can also get some extra herbs and sell them for money secretly. There is the whole [Order] thing, but I come from a society where everything is behind a legal binding contract. I am sure I can find a loophole given time. After we arrive to the base and eat “lunch”, if one were to even call that lunch. I decide to put the plan to action. I am going to first try approaching that lead dogkin named Ryo. I know he does not think highly of me but if he says no, there is no loss. But if I piss off that middle aged man, he might use that [Punishment] thing. I instinctively get a cold sweat and shiver in fear. Alright, begin “Operation: Secure moderate safety”. I walk up to Ryo and say. “Ryo, I heard if you have [Smell Sense] Level 3. You can do herb gathering and tracking instead of being bait. Is that true?” I inquire. He frowns and says “What of it?” “I happen to have [Smell Sense] at Level 3!” I say in a proud voice. “You don’t say...” he says in monotone pretty much ignoring me. “You don’t believe me do you?!?! I can prove it if you want!” I exclaim. * sigh * “Retard, I don’t know who put you up to this….actually...sure have it your way. If you want to gather herbs and act as a tracker all you need to do is see the boss” he replies in with a tired voice which changes mid way to a condescending one.. At that I freeze up for a bit and tremble. “What’s wrong? I thought this is what you wanted?” he beckons. I have a really really bad feeling about this… He grabs my hand and drags me to see the middle age man then throws me there on the floor. The middle aged man is playing cards with his 2 companions and when he notices our presence he asks. “What’s up Ryo?” “This retard here says she has [Sense Smell] Level 3 and wants to be a tracker and collect herbs” he replies with a grin. “Is that so~?” the middle aged man inquires in a playful tone. I suddenly hear laughter coming from his companions...I really have a bad feeling about this… “Hmmm...Since we made a killing on the [Hell Boar] subjugation and have some time to kill...why not...play a little game~? It is simple really...tomorrow you can go out with the other dogkin and gather herbs. Gather 15 herbs by end of the day, if not, not only will you starve that day, [Punishment] will be given.” he exclaimed. I shrivel up at the word [Punishment]...I don’t ever want to feel that terrible pain again...But before that there is something important I need to say. I steel myself and reply. “B-But...T-the d-dogkin only need t-ten...” with a shaken voice. He lets out a villainous smile. “You are a catkin though with a nose of a dogkin right~? So you should be able to gather herbs faster. Or are you saying you lied to your master..if so..then maybe some [Punishment] is in order...” he affirms. I let out a cold sweat and tremble...this is so unfair! But before I voice out my protest I realize there is nothing I can do about it...I grind my teeth and reply. “T-That is s-so unf...P-Please d-don’t p-punish me….I-I’ll do as y-you command m-master...I-I’ll gather 15 t-tomorrow..” with a frightened dejected voice. “Very good!” he laughs “I’ll be looking forward to it. Ryo, tomorrow, show the retard what herbs it needs to look for. And assign another bait to look after them. We don’t want it dying on us while doing something stupid.” he adds. “As you command boss!” he assents. He then takes my wrist and drags me away. While we head back to the beastkin holding area, I hear the middle aged man and his companions beginning to bet on how badly they think I will fail…Good thing I didn’t say my [Smell Sense] was at level 4 or they might have said something crazy like “Your smelling is double that of an average dogkin? Then get me 20 herbs”. Then I’d be totally screwed… Either way, I can’t afford to mess this up...anything but that [Punishment]...I shiver...But this is also an opportunity to get some freedom and find a loophole out! … The next day, Ryo brought me a rusted knife and a box with multiple herbs in it. In the box contained 5 different plants. I make sure to remember their smell and use my [Identify] on them. Dire Milkweed A weed that tends to grow next to high traffic areas and grass fields. Often used in the making of low level health potions. Quality 1/10 Lavender Ginger Roots A herb that grows next to trees. Often used in the making of low level antidotes. Quality 1/10 Violet River Grass A grass that grows by the side and bottom of rivers. Often used in the making of low level mana potions. Quality 1/10 Vile Nightshade A shrub sometimes found in forests and fields. Often used in the making of low level confusion poison. Quality 1/10 Black Lobelia A type of flower that grows in forests. Often used in the making of low level paralyzing poisons. Quality 1/10 Behind Ryo is the oldest of the Foxkin who is standing by. After I confirm that I remember the scents he turns to her and says. “Take care of the retard and make sure she does not get herself killed. Be sure to be back before dinner.” “Do I have to?” she asks while looking at me annoyed. “This is an order from the boss, so make sure you do it properly” he reprimands. “Yeah..yeah...lets go and get this over with retard.” she responds. GRRR! “Why does everyone keep calling me that?!?! My name is Shiro!” I exclaim. “I don’t really care what your name is. Why do I need to remember someone who is not going to live past the next hunt? Especially when you stand out like a sore thumb. If you manage to live through 10 battles, then I’ll ask for your name. Either way lets go, of course if you want to stand here all day I am fine with that too. The one who is going to get punished is you not me retard” she points out. Guuuh! I really want to get to the bottom of this but she is right. My neck is on the line here and I can’t afford to waste anymore time. Not only do I need to get 50% more than a dogkin. I am also not familiar with the area. [Identify] helped a bit in knowing where things usually grow, but I have no clue about the geography of this area. We leave the base and head outside the village into the forest. I first spend an hour making another wooden spear for protection using the rusted knife and then I activate my [Smell Sense] and begin scanning the area. I pick up some scent and begin to move. Like this we walk for half an hour through the forest. I would have liked to start a conversation to see if I could get some information from the foxkin girl. But [Smell Sense] Level 4 takes up a lot of [Mental], if not for my high [MNT] stat I may not have be able to have it last through the day. And I have a feeling any conversation with her at this point isn’t going to end well for my [Mental]. Surprisingly enough she is the one who starts up a conversation first, of course the contents of the conversation though are not so surprising. “So how long are you going to sniff pretending to be a dogkin? I have [Smell Sense] level 1 as well and am well aware you are not picking up anything. So why not just give up and accept your punishment?” She asks in a less then pleased voice. “We are almost there...” I nonchalantly respond. She rolls her eyes and ends the conversation. After 5 minutes we arrive at our destination. Over there are 2 small [Vile Nightshade] shrubs. On one there are 3 bulbs and on the other there are 2. For a total of 5! I start picking them off and placing them in a bag. “That was just blind luck!” said the ticked off voice behind me. I just shrug it off and ignore it, not willing to start a pointless argument. Once I finish collecting, with no help from the foxkin I might add. I continue on in a different direction following my [Smell Sense]. Within 2 hours I mange to collect 2 [Dire Milkweed], 3 [Lavender Ginger Roots] and 1 [Black Lobelia]. I am on a roll! I have already collected 11 within less than 3 hours! Which makes me really happy, contrary to the foxkin following me who seems really irked. There is still about 10 hours till dinner time. At this rate I may be able to get 15 of them and have extra to spare. Maybe make some money on the side and hide it. The question is I do not know the limits of the [Slave Collar], for all I know it triggers if I try to deceive the master or the like. I need to get some information on that as well. Regardless, with the foxkin here, I can’t exactly do that anyways. Even if the collar does not have such options. If that middle aged man asks her to tell him what happened, I doubt she wouldn’t be willing to rat me out. It isn’t like I don’t want to trust her and all, despite how she is acting towards me. But I know all too well how terrifying the collar is. So for now I’ll wait till I am allowed to do this alone. Then figure out a loophole in the collar and make money on the side. As I was thinking that, the foxkin suddenly stopped me. “Stop! We shouldn’t go any further in this direction. Past this point the probability of a monster showing up increases dramatically. Normally, I don’t care if you go there and get yourself killed, but I am under the orders to make sure you don’t get yourself killed doing something stupid” she exclaims. I nod and turn to walk in a different direction. With a plan made up, I on purpose start slowing down the rate at which I find the herbs, finding one about every 2 hours. As time goes on, the foxkin girl becomes more and more smug. And randomly says things like “Told you it is beginners luck”. By the time we get 15 it is time to return for dinner. Of course she was not too thrilled about me making the agreed upon quota. Standing next to the entrance of the base is Ryo who seems to be waiting for us. “I hope you are not planning on making excuses prior to your punishment” he says. For the first time since coming here, my face breaks out into a grin. Just imagining the look on his face is going to be epic! “No excuses! I made my quota just fine!” I say in a proud voice while showing the bag. He makes a crooked astonished face which by the way I make sure to commit to memory and then he turns to the foxkin. “She didn’t cheat by stealing them or asking others for help?” he asks in an accusatory tone. I feel offended… “No, it was just blind luck!” the foxkin exclaims somewhat ticked. It’s like everyone hates me or something...what did I do to them? “Anyways, we will report to the boss, you are dismissed” he says while grabbing me and dragging me to the middle aged man indoors. You know… I can walk just fine by myself without being dragged there...I am more than capable of doing that on my own..no need to get rough! I ain’t scared of him. Especially now that I met my quota. We come to the main room where he is again playing cards with his companions. “Boss, she finally came back” said Ryo. The middle aged man turns around and stares at me. I shrink back and start trembling… “So how did it go, was she able to find at least one?” he asks in an amused voice. “No boss, she managed to somehow get all 15. I asked Kuina if she somehow cheated or something but it was a negative. So she somehow managed to pull it off” replied Ryo. The middle aged man freezes up for a second trying to process the information and his bemused attitude disappears. “How is that possible? You ain’t kidding me right?” he inquires for confirmation. “I don’t know how but it’s right here” Ryo replies while handing over the bag with the herbs. The middle aged man looks over the bag while pondering something. During this time the woman in the group interjects in the conversation. “Maybe she is some kind of mutation variant? She might be retarded but started out with high [Smell Sense] skill” she explains. GUH! STOP CALLING ME RETARDED! I think I use up more [Mental] per day from people calling me that over looking for herbs! That is how pissed off I am at this point! Of course I know better than to actually voice out my complaint here… “That might be the case...” replied the middle aged man then after pondering for a bit added “Alright. I’ll let you be a tracker and see how you do. You will collect 15 herbs per day. If you fail to do so, there will be [Punishment]... Ryo, tomorrow, take the the herbs to the adventurers guild and sell them, bring the retard along as well and get it registered in the guild. You know the drill. Also, make sure Kuina goes as well to keep an eye on the retard” “Yes boss!” Ryo responded. Did he just say adventurers guild?!?! And they are going to register me into the guild?!? While I am totally stunned, this also isn’t the way I imagined to be registered...I mean being registered as a slave...this isn’t how its suppose to be! Wait! Maybe I have this all backwards and this is the reverse route...where a dashing hero will show up wanting to add me to his harem. Listen to my story, free me from slavery while giving me a legendary weapon and lots of other awesome loot. To which I will go “My Hero!”. Then when we leave town I’ll say “Thanks again! I will always remember the favor! Well then...It’s about time we split ways. I doubt we will ever meet again. K thx bye!~ Sayonara~ Adios~ So long and thanks for all the fish~”... a girl can always dream... Anyways, back to reality. If I register for the guild I wonder if more options will open up to me...I also hope I don’t trigger the old fight in the guild flag...I definitely don’t stand a chance if that happens... … The next morning, Me, Ryo and Kuina set off for the Adventurers guild. When we arrived there, the guild was rather empty with a few people here and there. We came over to the desk and were greeted by a 28 year old women wearing glasses who seems to be a receptionist. “Hello, how can I help you today?” she asked. I was a bit taken back as it was the first human I saw in this world who acted remotely courteous towards beastkin. Of course being as cynical as I am, it might be just a show of professionalism. “We would like to register this one to the guild” said Ryo as he pushed me forward. “Alright” she says pulling out a card, then “do you know how to read and write?” she asked. “I do not” I exclaimed. “I see, that is no problem. I will fill in the information for you. I just need your name, age, race, level and proof of identity. I should note that we will be conducting a mandatory appraisal for verification” she added. “Okay...My name is Shiro, I am 12 years old and of the Beastkin - Catkin race. My current level is 5. As for proof of identity, I don’t know what that is” I replied. “Here is her proof of identity” Ryo interjected while taking out a paper. So there is such a thing in this world like I thought...I wonder what happens if you don’t have one… She writes down all the information on the card. Your skill [LP][Trillan] has become Level 6. [Reading and Writing] unlocked. “Alright...[Appraise: Human]…Everything seems in check. Now I am required by guild policy to give you a breakdown and answer any questions you might have that are related. When you start out, you will be a Rank G adventurer. As an adventurer you can pick up requests that are on the board to the right. Once you pick a request you bring it to the counter. You can pick up any request in general, but any requests above 2 ranks would need special approval. So as a Rank G adventurer, you can pick up a Rank E requests or below without issue. There are also cut of points for Rank D, Rank A and Rank S. To take requests of those ranks you need to pass a special test. There are 4 types of requests, normal requests which are your typical request. Continuous requests, which are repeatable and have no limits such as herb gathering. Special requests, which are specifically requested of you in private. And lastly there are mandatory requests in case of emergencies, which often happen when there is a flock of monsters attacking a nearby city which the government can not handle or needs assistance. Not participating in a mandatory request can lead to suspension and in some cases imprisonment by law. When you complete a request you will get points. 1 point for requests of same rank, 2 points for requests of 1 rank above and 4 points for requests 2 ranks above. Once you reach 20 points you will get a promotion in rank. You will be given a guild tattoo rune which will store all information. If the tattoo rune gets destroyed, there will be a fee to restore it. This tattoo can also be used to share information with others. In the case of slaves, you can share information about requests you completed to your owner. We also have a few services available in the guild. The material selling station to the left where you can sell herbs and monster parts and we have a class change orb on the 2nd floor. We also have a library on the 3rd floor but it is not accessible by slaves without supervision from their owner. Do you have any questions? If not, all you have to do is sign here on the card. It can be scribbles or anything of the like even if you can’t write” said the receptionist in a machine like manner. Thinking about what was said, I decide to take a long shot. “Yes, I have a few questions…. How do you level up without fighting and how do you choose a class?” I ask in as innocent voice as possible. “...” The receptionist looks at me blankly as though she does not understand the question. * slap * I suddenly hear a slap from behind, and I turn around to see Ryo face-palming. “Don’t mind her nonsense. She is a bit retarded” said Ryo to the receptionist. How envious I am of those literally works where a protagonist can just come up to anyone and use them as a human encyclopedia as they please. “You want me to reveal top secret information that can destroy the country if known, that I have not even revealed to my own family to someone with no background or history? Hell I knew you for 2 whole days so here is all the details. I even included it on a silver platter for your convenience“..how enviable… * sigh * “… while the question is rather...weird...since it is something even a child should know… guild policy requires me to answer all questions prior to registration as long as they are remotely related...even if they are...odd ones...” she says in a perplexed tone. THERE IS A GOD! Ryo is shaking his head in annoyance and Kuina is pretending like she doesn’t know me but who cares! I am finally getting a REAL answer! It’s not like I have any reputation to lose at this point..so...Bonzai! Bonzai! “When you do any sort of work, you get experience. When you get enough experience you level up. It generally takes about 2 years to get a level doing work. Though you can get more experience depending on how well you do your work, or if you have achievements in your work. When you reach Level 10. You get to pick your first non-combat job. The non-combat job options will be related to what work you did prior. For example, if you do herb collecting. At level 10 you will often get option for [Gatherer] job, and if you are well versed in the herbs you collect you might even get [Herbalist]. Though generally to get [Herbalist] you need to actually work with the herbs. But the chance is there regardless how small. After you get level 10 you will stop getting experience for doing work that is not related to your job. There is also often an option for a Unique Job which appears for those eligible for multiple jobs or meet other criteria. Often times it is called the “Jack-of-all trades” job because it lets you get experience from doing multiple things. On the downsides the bonuses and skills of those jobs tend to be poor. Of course there are exceptions, sometimes you can get a specialized Unique Job like the famous [Sacred Blacksmith] which allows the forging of holy weapons. There are also people who have multiple talents that mix, for example a person can have a talent for [Herbalist] and [Alchemist] to create a combination job which is can do both well. But these are extremely rare. This is why the class change orbs exist. Some people try out jobs like Unique jobs and find it does not fit them, so they change their jobs via the Job Change orbs we have upstairs. And when you reach level 25 of combined racial job and work job, you can get a combat job. Does this answer your questions?” she confirmed. With finally getting the answer I have been waiting a while for and in a good mood I reply. “Thank you very much miss!..” I then feel the impatience and frustration of Ryo behind me and decide to be a bit mischievous… “...That was exactly what Ryo wanted to know but was too embarrassed to ask...” I exclaim while beaming with the best smile I could make. Suddenly I get a cold sweat as I feel blood thirst from behind...EEEK...I think I went a little too far… “Hurry up retard! I don’t have all day! I have other matters to attend to” he yells while losing his cool. “Yes!” I responded by reflex. “If that is all your questions, please sign here” said the receptionist while handing me a card and an odd pen. I take the pen which seems to draw some of my magic power and I sign the paper with my name. Then hand the paper and pen back to the receptionist. “...” After the receptionist checks the card, she frowns and looks at me at a rather strange way while I see temper building up. The professional receptionist facade is slowly but steadily cracking. Did I do something wrong? “I thought you said that you didn’t know how to write...wer..were you making a fool out of me?!?!” the receptionist threatened. OOPS.. I let my guard down again!… I am guessing I can’t get away with saying “I learned it just a minute ago” now can I?… I need to do some damage control pronto! Lets see...maybe the old fashioned knocking on my own head while sticking out a tongue while smiling and going “teehee” would work...sure sounds like a great idea! IF I HAVE A DEATH WISH! While my mind was panicking on how to deal with this situation and coming up with ridiculous nonsense. I suddenly felt a large impact on my head and fell to the floor face first. You have taken 64 damage. Looking up I see Ryo’s fist. “Sorry about that, this one was born a bit retarded. She probably only knows how to sign her name. Can we finish the registration and move on?” he explains. The receptionist looks at him somewhat unconvinced but seemingly not wanting to draw anymore attention decides to accept it. She takes my hand and places a tattoo rune on the back of it. Once that was done, we existed the guild and Ryo instructed us to bring the herbs to the guild when done, then went back to base while me and Kuina proceeded to the forest outside the village. … While we were walking through the forest looking for herbs. I was processing some of the information I got from the guild. Long story short, I doubt I can level up outside of killing monsters. I might be able to speed things up if I start collecting herbs for real. But with Kuina here that is rather difficult. I can try waiting out till I get enough trust to be alone, but I don’t know when that would be. I need to level up as much as I can while looking for a solution to the [Slavery Collar], cause even if I do get out, it does not change the fact that I am too weak. But regardless, I need to start collecting information on the [Slavery Collar] and my best bet on it is Kuina. Though that is hard to pull off when every half an hour Kuina says things like “You won’t be so lucky today”. She is really taking things a bit too personal. After some thought I came up with a solution. I call it “Operation: Two Birds with one stone”. The plan is simple really, I will use my [Smell Sense] to find monsters and identify their smells from a safe distance. Once I know how the monsters look like and their average level. I will on purpose lead us to monsters while looking for herbs. An evil grin appears on my face. Everyone says that companions are born in battle! If me and Kuina fight together and grow stronger together. She will eventually accept me and I’ll be free to ask her anything I want. My very own foxkin encyclopedia! Of course there is a lot of risk in this plan. I really did not want to fight monsters head on. I would prefer to trap and ambush them from a safe distance. But now since I will be “accidentally” leading us to monsters. Not only will we not get the ambush, in some cases the monster will get the head start since I would have to approach from a direction of the wind to get around Kuina’s [Smell Sense] Level 1. The bright side to this is Kuina is pretty strong. She is 15 years old and level 9. So she should be almost 2X stronger than me in theory. So if we hunt solo monsters that are Level 5 and below it should be pretty safe...probably…I’m sure she would be very thankful once this is all over! Now then, lets start the operation. But first lets get a head start by getting some information from Kuina. While she might not be willing to talk about many things, since this topic is related to herb hunting it should be fine. “Hey Kuina, I have a question. What kind of monsters are around these parts and what levels are they? I want to be sure that I avoid them the best I can” I say in the most innocent tone I can muster. Kuina looks at me a bit ticked and says “Who let you call me by my name retard?!?” she takes a moment to ponder while glaring daggers at me then continues “Ugh..fine. The monsters around these parts include [Rabid Squirrels] who range from level 2 – 6. [Stink Beetles] who range from level 3 – 8. [Dire Mokeys] who range from level 5 – 12. [Red Wolfs] who range from level 8 – 15. Just try not to get yourself killed on my watch.” So it seems like the only ones that fall into the acceptable safety range are [Rabid Squirrels] and [Stink Beetles]. Though I somehow have a bad feeling about the later. I wish [Smell Sense] could help me detect a monster’s level but that is just wishful thinking. So first order of business is finding what [Rabid Squirrels] smell like. I try to hone in on all the mammal scents I can’t identify and proceed in that direction. As we get closer, Kuina suddenly stops. “There is a monster near by!” she exclaims as she takes up an alert stance. Playing dumb I ask “Do you know which kind of monster is it and how many?” “It smells like a single [Dire Monkey]” she exclaimed. I see...that is a scent of a [Dire Monkey]...a bit risky but there is still a high probability it is within safety range. I prepared my spear for combat. We both stood there covering each other’s back searching for the monkey. Of course I actually knew exactly where the monkey was due to my higher skill level despite not being able to see it behind the leaves of the tree. The monkey was still a distance away and I was worried that Kuina would insist to run if there was an opportunity to escape. So I let the monkey get closer and closer while remaining vigilant. Once the monkey got close enough we both noticed it, I instinctively activated [All-Observing-Eyes] though at that moment I saw a rock being flung at me. You have acquired a new skill [RA][Throw] Level 1 I barely dodged it by a few millimeters and used [Identify] on the [Dire Monkey]. Dire Monkey Gender Male Race Dire Monkey Class Level HP 390/390 MP ? Dire Monkey 8 A little bit out of my comfort zone but should still be doable. The biggest issue is getting to it since it is on a tree. I guess it is time to try my new skill! I grab rock from the ground and use the [Throw] skill. Unfortunately the [Dire Monkey] flung to the side and I missed but luckily it was enough to get him off balance and he landed on the ground. Not wanting to miss this opportunity I activate [Charge] while stabbing with my spear. In the past my spear thrusts were more akin to a child playing with a stick, but now that I have spear mastery even at level 1 I feel I can probably at least compete in a high school competition. I stab the monkey in the shoulder, not wanting to lost the opportunity while the monkey was off guard, I then raise the spear and use downwards [Slash]. Unfortunately, due to my spear being a blunt weapon due to it being a wooden spear and not a real one, the bonus of slash was limited but still better than nothing. You have dealt 62 damage to the [Dire Monkey]! You have dealt 83 damage to the [Dire Monkey]! Despite my decisive blows, my mastery of the spear and the monkey’s rather low defense the damage I did was rather lacking due to my poor weapon. I then jump back and gain a little distance as a spear is not particularly grand at short range. Since I injured the shoulder of it’s dominant arm, it should have a harder time throwing things as well. I then take a notice of Kuina who is just standing there staring blankly. “What are you doing Kuina?!?! help me out here!” I exclaim. She snaps out of her stumper and yells back “What are you doing! This is our chance to run!”. Somewhat perplexed I question back frantically “What do you mean run?!?! It is injured and alone so we can take it out!” Noticing the monkey making a move to attack head on in rage. I again activate [Charge] and stab the monkey in the stomach blowing it back. This time due to it being a decisive blow at rather close range, the damage was much better despite the poor weapon. You have dealt 136 damage to the [Dire Monkey]! From behind I can hear stomping and and yelling. “Ugh! You stupid retard! Why do I have to put up with this!?!?” Kuina complained. Then she gets in a ready position and… runs away… You have acquired a new skill [RA][Sprint] Level 1 “WHA?!?!” I exclaimed completed stunned. I totally did not see that one coming...wasn’t she ordered to protect me? Since the monkey noticed that its opponents has shrunk down from 2 to 1 and that I was momentarily off guard. It decided to vent its anger and jumped straight at me! I quickly brandished the spear and again thrust forward hitting the [Dire Monkey] by its thigh. Unfortunately, the hit was shallow and not only was the damage low but I was not able to stop its momentum and the monkey landed right on top of me. As a result I ended up falling to the ground and letting go off the spear. With the monkey on top of me it started bashing me in the face with its arms over and over. You have dealt 18 damage to the [Dire Monkey]! You have taken 24 damage. You have been stunned for 0.5 seconds. You have taken 32 damage. You have been stunned for 0.5 seconds. You have taken 28 damage. You have been stunned for 0.5 seconds. You have taken 36 damage. You have been stunned for 0.5 seconds. You have taken 31 damage. You have been stunned for 0.5 seconds. Things were not looking good… In no time at all I lost almost half my HP and I could not pull myself together as the monkey kept bashing me on the head. As I was panicking trying to find a solution out of this desperate situation I heard a loud * thud *, afterwards I stopped feeling being attacked and opened my eyes. The monkey was gone and instead was a blue window. Level up! Sentient Creature: +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin: +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin: +2 AGI +1 DEX I took a look around and behind me was the [Dire Monkey] with its face to the floor and a rusted dagger stabbed in the back of its neck. Preceding over it was Kuina. Who then came over to me and asked if I was okay…oh who am I kidding… “Are you stupid?! Are you a retard!? Wait don’t answer that! Who in the world attacks a monster head on like that? Do you have a death wish?! I don’t care if you die but don’t do it on my watch or I’ll get in trouble!” she complained. Wondering thus far I asked the first thing in my mind “I thought...you ran...so why...” I inquired. “Of course I ran! I don’t have a combat class nor any combat skills, the only thing I can remotely use for combat is an ambush via [Sprint]’s momentum from a long distance. And even then that is pushing it. I am not a suicidal retard like you who rushes in head first!” she bellowed. This is definitely something I did not consider...Since my Unique Skill does not allow me to get or train skills normally, I never thought about how difficult it is to obtain skills. So despite Kuina being Level 9 she is most likely weaker in combat than I am? This is really a bind, I am going to have to reconsider my options and might have to find a way to convince Kuina to fight monsters with me. At the very least provide some cover… So for now I put “Operation: Two Birds with one stone” aside and proceeded to gather herbs at a steady pace. When we collected the 15 herbs for the day we headed for the guild, Kuina seemed to be rather upset that I was able to meet the quota 2 days in a row. ... When we arrive at the guild, I go to the counter to sell herbs and cash in my quest only to find it closed. A bit confused I then head for the reception desk instead. “Hi, I would like to cash in the repeatable Rank G herb collection quest” I say as I place my bag on the counter. This time the receptionist is a rather tall 34 year old man. I am inwardly glad it isn’t that lady… “I am sorry, today is a night day. During night days the herb collection ends early and is sent to the alchemist shop by the supply officer. If you want to cash in your quest, you would either have to wait till tomorrow or go to the alchemist shop before it closes to receive proof.” he informs. Noticing the opportunity to acquire a production skill, I gladly chose to go to the alchemist shop. After asking for directions from the tall man, we quickly head there taking up only about 10 minutes to reach the shop. The alchemist shop was located at the edge of town in a small two floor building. We entered the shop and saw a bunch of shelves with all kinds of ingredients, in there was a man wearing an official guild uniform standing there with multiple bags of herbs. Besides the guild official, sitting on the floor was an old man who was silently grinding some herbs on the floor. You have acquired a new skill [NP][Herb Processing] Level 1 Production skill get! Though I was more hoping for alchemy skill, is it maybe divided into multiple skills? I come closer to the duo and turn to the guild employee in the shop who is already looking my way. “I was told by the guild to bring the herbs here for cashing in my Rank G herb collection quest...” I explain to the man. “Hmmm...that should be fine, give it here and I will inspect it” the man responds. I hand over the bag of herbs and he looks over the herbs carefully. After he finishes inspecting the herbs he places them in the bags. Then he stretches his hand forward and a part of his hand disappears. It then reappears with some copper and iron coins and a piece of paper which he then hands over to me. You have acquired a new skill [NA][Item Box] Level 1 Now there is an unexpected gem! But I can’t let myself wallow in excitement just yet, I need to confirm something important. “Mister, what was that? Is it some sort of rare ability?” I inquire. “Hm? Ah this? It is called [Item Box], it is a heritage skill. So it could not be learned through regular means. It allows a person to use something similar to space magic with much less difficulty and mana cost. Of course this skill is not exactly magic despite the similarity. There are a few [Item Box] heritages in the world, and one of them is owned by the guild. It is a requirement for the guild master and guild supply officer to learn this skill for the safe transportation of documents and items” he explained. Perfect! Now I have a safe way to store stuff without anyone knowing! “Thank you very much mister!” I exclaim with a double meaning. Unfortunately at level 1 I am only able to store about 1 cubic meter of stuff. So things like my spear is a no go, but I should be able to retrieve my dagger and store it as well as fit in a few herbs. It would be nice if I could get him to use it again in 5 minutes to see if I can get another level in both skills or pickup other alchemy related skills. While I was thinking that… “Come on! We are done here, lets go back before the boss gets angry that we are late” Kuina insisted. I hesitate at first but without much of an option, I reluctantly agreed and we left the shop and headed back to the guild. There is always a next time I thought. After I showed the paper to the receptionist, he processed the request and marked it as complete. Making this my first ever quest completion and 1/10 way towards ranking up to a Rank F adventurer. Once we got credit for the quest, we naturally headed back to base. Today has probably been the best day so far! I got registered in the guild, 2 combat skills, a level up, production skill and the famous [Item Box]! Things are finally going my way! We arrive as it started to get darker due to the setting sun and are shown inside by Ryo to the Boss. “You are late, you better have completed your assignment without excuses” the old man grumbled. With a displeased face “S-sorry...we g-got d-delayed. I-I got all 15 herbs...” I hurriedly replied fearing punishment. “I see...very well then show me the guild tattoo information” he asks while looking somewhat in a better mood. I show him the tattoo information which he reviews carefully and then a condescending smile appears on his face. “Now then, hand over all the money and herbs you got. This is an [Order]!” he exclaims. I get a little startled but hand over the coins I got as ordered while somewhat perplexed…He looks over the coins, counts them and turns back to me. “Very good! Very good! You are at least smart enough not to try to steal things behind my back while I ain’t looking...or maybe in your case it might be more accurate to say your too retarded to even think about it? Regardless, it is time to issue standing orders to you. From now on, during gathering days, you are required to get 15 herbs per day. You are required to cash in all herbs you pick to the guild for quest completion unless told otherwise by me. All money you earn is to be handed to me. This is an [Order]!” he announces. Argh! You really had to take a complement and turn it into an insult?!?! I am really getting sick of this treatment! And just when I thought I got some freedom to tinker around I now have to an [Order] to deal with? Talk about ruining a good day...how can things possibly get any worse!?!? “Oh, by the way. Tomorrow we are going on another subjugation. So you will be required to act as a tracker, I will be personally keeping an eye on you so make sure you do it properly..or else...” the middle aged man threatened. I just had to ask… “I-I u-understand! I-I’ll d-do my b-best...” I muttered while shivering. With that I was dismissed and proceeded to have dinner, with the now slightly larger portions. It still tastes bad though…I also noticed that there were 2 new bunnykin during dinner. Most likely to replace the losses during the [Hell Boar] incident. The next day, I was brought to the front of the base. Looking around I notice that I was the only non-dogkin there out of the beastkin. Which made me somewhat nervous that I would be used as bait again. Luckily my fear did not last long as the middle age man came in front and started briefing us with the details. “Everyone is here I see, today we are going to be hunting a [Dire Bear], which should be a simple prey so we do not need any bait. This is what we would be using to track it” he said while taking out a piece of wood with a bear claw mark on it and letting everyone sniff it. With the scent memorized we proceeded into the forest tracking the bear. Interestingly enough, the middle aged man’s companions did not come with us. In about 2 hours since we left, the first ones to pick up the scent of the bear was me and Ryo. So we proceeded down to narrow down the bears location as we got closer the other dogkin also picked up the scent and it did not take long to track it down at that point. When we arrived I saw a large over-sized bear prowling around. It did not take long for the [Dire Bear] to notice us and let out a roar as it headed straight for us. “GGGRHAAAAAAAA!!!!” “Step back” said the middle aged man as he stepped forward brandishing his spear. We quickly followed his advice and took a distance. As the bear approached within a few meter range, the middle aged man pulled back his spear and putting strength into the spear he thrust it forward with great force while taking a step forward. You have acquired a new skill [NA][Thrust] Level 1 Your skill [RP][Toughness] has become Level 2 The spear hit the bear straight in the neck going right through it and splattering blood from the other side. With that one hit, the bear died almost instantly. “Annoying special requests, hardly worth the time...” grumbled the old man in a bad mood. Then added “Hurry up and drag it back to town” towards us. Dragging the bear was no easy task, and it took us 6 hours just to make it back to base. It would have taken longer if not for Ryo who was way above us in level doing most of the heavy lifting. With that, the day ended surprisingly uneventfully. I mean it does make sense that not every event has to end up in a life or death situation normally right? Either way I got the [Thrust] skill which should definitely help with wielding my spear and maybe my dagger. And increase in [Toughness] will help me survive, so other than the difficulty dragging the boar, today ended up relatively well. …
Spoiler: Chapter 4: Reaching enlightenment in all the wrong ways https://royalroadl.com/fiction/chapter/130574 The next day, me and Kuina were back to the usual herb gathering in the nearby forest. During this time I was thinking about what to do about the [Slave Collar] and how to get around the [Order] that was issued the other day. Unfortunately, I do not have much to go by at this point. In conclusion, I need to ask Kuina for more information about the collars. As I was thinking that suddenly my brain froze up for a second and unintentionally I let out a noise that best describes my predicament as I wobble and almost fall unconscious. “Ewwwwwwwwwww….” I squirm as I cover my nose with one hand while holding my head with the other from the headache. The most foul stench I have ever smelled entered my nose and lets just say [Smell Sense] Level 4 did not do me any favors. I quickly turn it off, and after my senses which blanked out for a second returned more or less, I take a look around vigilantly. Kuina picks up that something is wrong and also gets into alert position. Then suddenly her face breaks down a bit as she closes her nose. “Ugh! A [Stink Beetle]! We should get out of here” she complains. Contemplating on what I should do and the pros and cons. I soon notice the sound of footsteps. Looking in the direction of the footsteps, I can barely make out a dogkin running through the forest while panicking. I can still barely make out who it is, but from the looks of it, the dogkin is the smaller one who I first saw being scolded by the middle aged man on the first day I was brought in. Not too long after I saw a rather big beetle the size of a medium sized dog flying after him while buzzing and letting out a yellow like smoke around itself. You have acquired a new skill [RA][Stink Bomb] Level 1 While inwardly swearing to myself to never use that skill even if my life depended on it, I turn to face Kuina. “It seems that dogkin is in trouble, we better go help!” I urge. Not giving a chance for Kuina to respond, I activate [Sprint] and close the distance while preparing my spear. “W-wait! What the hell are you doing! Come back here!...Ugh!” she yells in a bewildered tone. Not willing to lose the justifiable opportunity to get stronger, I ignore her and continue to rush forward. As soon as I get closer, the dogkin notices me. “H-help! Please! I am being chased by a monster!” he wails helplessly while running and stumbling about. I soon pass by him and close in on the [Stink Beetle], when I get in a decent enough range. I activate [Charge] while using [Thrust]. You have dealt 232 damage to the [Stink Beetle]! My momentum from both the [Sprint] and [Charge] while using [Thrust] impales the [Stink Beetle] and pushes it back into a tree. Despite that large amount of damage, my face still had a large frown on it due to the unbearable smell. On the bright side, since I took that critical hit prior with [Smell Sense], my sense of smell has somewhat been numbed. Even still, I could smell the unbearable stench. On top of that, due to the large impact and the poor quality of my weapon, a crack forms on my spear. Noticing the limited remaining durability of my weapon and not willing to be subjected to this smell for long, I decide to hurry this up as quickly as possible. Right as the [Stink Beetle] bounces off the tree I spin around backwards and activate [Slash], slamming into the [Stink Beetle] as hard as I could with the side of my spear. You have dealt 86 damage to the [Stink Beetle]! With that my spear shatters into pieces. While pushing the [Stink Beetle] slightly away. As I prepare to use [Charge] and [Claw Swipe] to land the finishing blow. Suddenly Kuina jumps out and finishes off the [Stink Beetle] with her rusted dagger. With a deadpan expression I rudely wonder if Kuina is doing kill stealing on purpose due to the finisher exp bonus. But quickly put that thought aside. At that moment Kuina glares at me as she yells “What the hell is wrong with you!?!? Why do you keep doing this! Are you a retard!?!?...wait don’t answer that...Ugh! Why do I have to be done one stuck with such a retard?!?!” “The dogkin from our group was in trouble so I went to save him” I explain as I look around in search of the dogkin only to notice he has long run away. Not even a word of thanks I inwardly complain as I walk away to get some distance from the foul stench. “So what?!?! That is his problem, not ours! That is no reason to get ourselves killed! It is everyone for themselves in this world, we don’t have the leisure to be worrying about others! Unless you want to be the first one killed!” she reprimands following right after me. “It is not like we don’t get any benefits as well… We get experience from killing monsters and that helps us survive does it not?” I respond. “What the hell is your retarded brain thinking?!?! You’ll die 100X over before you make any sig...” She counters only to stop mid sentence and stare blankly at the air. “What’s wrong?” I ask cautiously, hoping not to draw in any more ire than I already have. “...I…leveled up...” she mutters to seemingly herself Seeing this as an opportunity to sell her on the benefits of fighting monsters together and getting stronger, I quickly press on. “See! We can kill easy monsters like this one and level up, thus making us stronger and more likely to survive! With my [Smell Sense] at Level 4, finding weaker monsters should be a breeze! By the way, if I remember correctly you should have hit level 10! What non-combat class are you going to take?” I inquire. “Isn’t it obvious? I am going to get the [Runner] class, it is the only non-combat class I can get that increases my comba… wait a second, stop changing the topic! You just got lucky these few times and you think you can just rush in there and kill monsters?! For the last time, if you have a death wish, do it when you are alone! Don’t involve me in it retard!” she yells. From that point on she gives me a whole hour lecture, which felt like an eternity, about how retarded my actions were and etc...etc...frankly speaking it went in one ear and out the other after about 10 minutes or so. Hence I don’t even remember most of it, but I can probably guess the content with ease. After giving Kuina some time to cool off her anger, I think back on my original goal of trying to get information out of Kuina about the [Slave Collars]. And I just have the perfect way to do it. Honestly speaking, I think me and Kuina have gotten somewhat closer these last few days. If in the beginning her glare would be like 100 daggers, now I’d say it is more like 99? Maybe Kuina is a tsundere? I mean how could she not have opened up to me after so much that we have been through together? While thinking that, I decide to implement my plan and turn to Kuina. “Hey Kuina...” I casually beckon. “Again, who let you call me by my name retard?!?” she interjects while glaring at me. …ok...I need to calm down... just remember she is definitely being a tsundere...yup...no need to let it get to me…breath in and out slowly...alright...I got this... “I want to ask you a few questions about the [Slave Collars], in exchange, I’ll swap my larger food portions with your smaller portions for 5 days!” I attempt to persuade her. She looks at me with a somewhat perplexed expression. “You aren’t lying to me are you? There is no take backs or what not...” she asks with some suspicion in her voice. “I swear! All I want to know is how the [Slave Collars] work, and how [Orders] work. I don’t want to somehow mess up in the future and get that terrifying [Punishment]...pretty please...” I beseech. “Alright...fine I’ll tell you what I know...but no take backs! If you change your mind at any time, I am going to get in your way collecting herbs and make sure that you definitely get a [Punishment]” she threatens. “We have a deal!” I say excitedly while nodding my head in confirmation. Finally I can get the information about the [Slave Collar] that I have been trying so hard to get my hands on! And with that information, I can finally plan my escape! Things are getting better and better by the day! … ** POV Kuina ** Amongst the beastkin, there is a story about how from time to time a beastkin is born with an exotic color. Not only is this exotic color unnatural making it hard for the beastkin to hunt in the forest without detection, often times these beastkin are born with deficiency such as blindness, deafness and retardation. These beastkin are referred to as “retards” in our clans. Often times we even isolate them for the protection of the clan. Personally, in the 15 years I have been alive, I have never met these so called “retards”. And while I do not doubt the stories told far back by our ancestors, as these stories have rarely if ever been wrong. But they are not without their exaggerations. Of course with the living example showing up in front of me one day, I’d argue the ancestors were being modest. Originally, beastkin are not native to this continent. We either came here through willful migration or captured and forced here by slave merchants. This continent overall is harsh on beastkin and discriminates against them. Even in the few countries on the continent that have lesser discrimination, it is virtually impossible for a beastkin to live their lives normally in these lands. The majority of the beastkin are slaves and are treated like disposable junk. This has gone on for over 1000 years. Then one day comes this retarded Level 4 Catkin out of the blue, walks into an inn and asks for a job like she is a [Human] or something. Then after being thrown out, she still followed humans with no apprehension. I mean talk about retarded! Where has she been her entire life, stuck in some hole under a rock?!?! And that isn’t even scratching the surface! Every living thing that is born in this world is born with a preset knowledge. That preset knowledge is engraved in our very existence and allows us to know how to level up and gain classes. Even if someone were to lose their memories they would still know how to properly level up. Of course not this retard! This retard didn’t even know something as simple as that! I mean seriously, what world is she from? It definitely isn’t this one... I am used to being discriminated everywhere I go, but the stunt she pulled off in the guild was utterly embarrassing. She might as well have just screamed out “Hey! I am a retard!”. Even worse, I got stuck babysitting this retard! Which has been easier said then done! My job is to make sure she does not do anything stupid, and all she does is stupid! When everyone runs away from monsters, she just runs at them head on! I am surprised how she even lived till 12 years old. It must have been some miracle or some dumb luck. Well she isn’t lacking in dumb luck that is for sure. How she finds 15 herbs by the end of the day is beyond me. I mean even Ryo who has [Smell Sense] Level 4 would not find herbs as quickly as she did on the first day. I wonder what’s this retard’s [LUK] stat at? I would ask, but somehow I get the feeling she would ask “What is a [LUK] stat?”...ugh...my head hurts just thinking about her stupid face… Most people who train for combat do so through 2 routes. First route to advance is to work towards their non-combat class and then level that up to a combat class. The other way is to train in skills, once you attain skills, you go in with groups to level up safely. Those with money even capture monsters to help them level up to a combat class quicker. But this retard just rushes in blindly! I mean I have to admit, she sometimes is pretty fast on her feet...that last time almost made it seem like she used [Sprint]...but that is impossible...ugh! I must have been seeing things and her stupidity is infecting me… I can’t say my life is a good one, but I know I have it better than others. While the master who uses us as bait is often times cruel, he is reasonable. He keeps things professional and rarely goes out of his way to torment us outside of bringing order or doing our jobs. I know many beastkin who are abused on a daily basis and I am thankful I ain’t one of them. The only thing I need to worry about is surviving as bait, and with my experience the risk of dying is rather minimum. Most of the deaths are among the newcomers. And I have seen plenty of newcomers die after their first few assignments. To the point I stopped even caring about their names. We live in a world of survival of the fittest. If they are weak, they die. Simple as that. In that sense, I am shocked this retard is still alive...what dumb luck… The only thing I have to look forward to in this life is breakfast and dinner. It isn’t much, but as slaves even that is a lot. And what is this retard doing right now? She is giving away her privilege of larger portions for 5 days in exchange for information that everyone who is a slave should know. She might as well be chopping off her arm for learning what the weather is like today...But hey, I am not going to complain, more food for me! In this world, everyone is for themselves and anything that benefits me, I’ll take. Your loss is my gain. You can only blame yourself for being so retarded! “I am no expert of [Slave Collars] and I do not know how they are made or the likes. What I can tell you is the basics that every slave should know. Again, you better not take back your word if you don’t like the content...or else...” I threaten again, then continue on “When a [Slave Collar] is put on you, information is usually pushed into your brain. This information includes the preset conditions that the slave merchants have set up, plus custom conditions. The most common conditions include not hurting the master, not to commit suicide unless told to and to follow all [Orders]. When you go against a condition, you will begin to experience pain. In some cases even thinking about going against the conditions can cause pain. Which is why it is nearly impossible to disobey an order accidentally, because any attempt to do so will bring upon pain...of course with a retard like you, I wouldn’t be surprised if you messed up somehow. If you are concerned, you can always check the list of standing conditions and [Orders] in your [Slave Collar]’s menu. Will save me the time of explaining all of them to you” I add. “W-what do you mean menu? Do you mean the Status menu?” she stupidly inquires with wide open eyes. Argh! That stupid face really ticks my nerves! “No you retard! It is under your equipment menu! You know, open up ‘Equipment’ and view the details of your [Slave Collar] ” I yell getting more and more irritated at her blunt stupidity of things everyone should know. “...Eh...Eh?!?! EHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?!??!?!?!?” she stops and suddenly yells. I don’t think you need to over exaggerate about finding out there is an equipment menu...but then what do you expect from a retard… Suddenly she begins to wobble and her knees give out and she falls on the floor. She then grabs her hair and starts messing it up while screaming.. “ARGGGGGGGGGG!! GYAAAAHHH!! GUUUUUUU!!!” she screams. She really has some mental issues… “I AM A TOTAL IDIOT!!!” she screams, then starts rolling on the ground like a maniac repeating “The shame! The shame!” over and over… She then bumps into a tree while rolling, gets up on her knees and starts whacking her head against the tree repeating “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” over and over. At this point, it is getting rather strange even for this retard. Even I begin to worry. Of course my worry lies in the fact that if she kills herself this way, I’ll get in trouble. So I go over to her, grab her shoulder and say: “Stop retard! Are you trying to kill yourself or something?” I reprimand. “Kuina! I am a total idiot! A total idiot!” she conveys while grabbing both my shoulders. “I know” I respond being told the obvious. “No! You don’t understand! I am a total idiot! Ugh!” she screams. “I assure you, if there is one person you don’t need to convince, that is me...” I reply while tapping her shoulder in assurance. This retard really likes repeating the obvious ha…Anyways, I better put a stop to this…because it is getting really annoying, on top of that... “Look retard, I frankly could care less what you do all day. But if you don’t bring the 15 required herbs, then I won’t get my larger portion! We are already behind due to the whole monster incident so hurry the hell up and get yourself together!” I reprimand knowing my priorities. “...eh?...You are right!” she exclaims and gets up on her feet. I sigh in relief that my food increase is safe and sound for the time being. Judging by how shocked she was by the equipment menu, I wonder once the 5 days are up if I should trick her into handing more food for the knowledge of the title menu. Hehe. Not that it would be useful to her anyways, at best she’d have the [Retard] title. Either way, knowing that I’ll have more food when we get back makes dealing with this retard just a tiny bit more bearable... ... [Slave Collar] Details Status: Inactive Locking mechanism: 100.00% [Complete] Establishing link to organism: 100.00% [Complete] Force opening link to mind: 100.00% [Complete] Establishing link to master rune: 100.00% [Complete] Taking over organism via mind to system link: 0.00% [ERROR] - Insufficient mana. Please insert more mana to resume the process - … The shame! The shame! The shame! With my stupid assumptions that when the [Slave Collar] is put on you, you become a slave. I have literally become a slave willingly! Ugh! I feel like a heroine in a harem! How can I ever live with myself?!?! * sob * Suddenly I hear Kuina talking about collecting herbs to meet the daily quota…WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I CONTINUE ON DOING THIS WILLINGLY!?!?! Then I realize something...rushing things is exactly what got me in this situation in the first place! I should for now continue things as-is, then come up with a strategy going forward. If I rush things now again, I’ll get myself in a deeper hole. So I reluctantly agree, and we resume our hunt for herbs. While I try to think of what I should do moving forward, that becomes impossible as all my head is filled with embarrassment and self deprecation. I am stressing out so much that even finding herbs has become rather difficult. By the end of the day, I just barely managed to get the 15 herb quota. After reluctantly surrendering my dinner to the thrilled foxkin, and barely managing to get some sleep with all the floating thoughts of what just happened. The next day I finally managed to cope with it, at least to an extent that allowed me to think properly...hopefully… So while me and Kuina travel through the forest to collect herbs, I come up with a plan on what to do going forward. As much as I would love to leave this place ASAP, I have no place to go. And no way to secure food. And since I am not being used as bait, I can easily stock up on skills from both monsters and the middle aged man’s group. I noticed from Kuina that level is not everything, and skills play a big role too. So the fastest way to get stronger is to increase my skills. If anything, I can run away any time. So all I have to do is pretend I am still a slave...guuuh! So simple..and yet...so hard… Oh I know! I’ve been mind controlled by a super evil magician! That’s right an evil mind controlling magician! And now that I have broke free of his mind control I need to fake still being under control to exact my revenge! That’s right! There is no way I would willingly become a slave without some sort of mind control, damn you evil magician! I’ll get you for this muwahahahahahahaha! As I subconsciously begin to let loose an evil grin. Noticing that Kuina is giving me a strange look...I adjust my posture and move on with my planning. Now that I know that I’ll stick here for at least a short while, until I exact my revenge on the evil mind controlling magician, I can move forward with my plans. Other then gaining of skills, there is 2 things I can do in the short term. The first thing would be retrieving my dagger. Now that I have [Item Box] and can’t receive a random [Order] to hand everything over. The other thing I can do is stock up on herbs. While Kuina is watching me, I can still manage to sneak in a few herbs from time to time while she isn’t looking or claim they have been accidentally damaged. That should be fine for the short term until I come up with more long term plans. With that in mind, I begin to head towards where I hid the dagger while collecting and sometimes secretly snatching herbs as I go along. The tricky part here is how to get the dagger without Kuina noticing. I doubt the old fashioned “I gotta use the restroom” trick is going to work in an open field that I hid the dagger in. Talk about my plans backfiring! So I’ll have to go for the 2nd oldest trick in the book despite it being more risky. But I don’t have much of a choice. When I get to the clearing where I hid the dagger, I pretend like I notice something and begin digging. “What the hell are you doing? Don’t tell me that now that you think you have a nose of a dog, you now also have the urge to bury bones like a dog?” she inquires. * sigh * I knew this was gonna happen...but as long I can secretly sneak the dagger in my [Item Box] without her noticing, I am willing to take a slight hit to Kuina’s high evaluation of me. “No! I think I noticed something an just wanted to check it out! It doesn’t matter as long as I make 15 herbs right?” I retort. She shrugs like she does not care and I continue digging. Though I am careful not to dig out the dagger completely and that a light layer of soil remains. When I get to that point and I confirm the dagger, I prepare for phase 2. Which involves distracting Kuina so that I can quickly take out the dagger and store it. “Look Kuina a monster!” I exclaim while franticly pointing at a direction behind Kuina. Kuina stares at me… “...” She isn’t turning around at all…About a minute passes and my finger begins to lose strength under the pressure… “Do I look like an idiot to you?” Kuina questions while knitting an eyebrow. “Ahmm… No?” I respond. “Do you think I did not notice you secretly stashing away herbs while we are walking here? I am not blind you know! And now let me guess you are trying to bury them right? I don’t know how your retarded brain works, but tell you what. If you surrender 5 more days of your larger food portion, I’ll look the other way.” said Kuina. Somehow I get the feeling my evaluation has dropped to an all time low… Even I know that if herbs are left alone without being processed they begin to lose their quality, and this does not even include things like worms and other insects which eat decaying foliage... I can deny this ridiculous notion here and now, and clear my good name… But I can’t do that without revealing the dagger... So my only option… is to play the retard...guh! I hesitantly nod and Kuina lets out a grin. “I didn’t see anything, you have 5 minutes” she notifies me as she turns around. I quickly retrieve the dagger and store it in my [Item Box]. Then cover up the hole. I finally got the dagger! I should be happy... I really should... But somehow I feel empty... I have this nagging feeling like I lost “something” that I could never take back during this exchange… With my shoulders drooped in feelings of utter humiliation and extortion… we finish up the herb gathering quest and we return to base. When we enter the base, we are greeted by Ryo. “Took you long enough, report to the boss and get ready for tomorrow. We are leaving the base and heading north, the boss plans to do 2 quests from the guild on the way. We won’t be back for at least a week if not more” he announces. Following his instructions, I report to the boss by showing the quest details and handing over the money. Then again reluctantly exchange dinners with the rather pleased Kuina and turn over for the day in mental exhaustion. The next day, we were lined up outside the base and given supplies to carry. This time all the beastkin were brought along, though the middle aged man’s companions were not present. We traveled by the road heading outside the village by foot while the middle aged man drove a horse for about a day. We then set up camp in the forest. The beastkin including me were assigned shifts for night watch in groups of 3. While the middle aged man slept in the tent. The next morning, we were briefed on the subjugation target this time around. It was the [Woodland Ant Queen]. Unlike typical ants that tend to make burrows, [Woodland Ants] build their nests around trees. Though like other ants, when you have a queen, you also have worker and solider ants. Since this is a new colony, the numbers should be relatively small, but still too many for a single adventurer to deal with. Especially if the queen decides to run while the soldiers and workers buy time. Since unlike typical ants which build nest burrows which they guard with their lives, [Woodland Ants] have no issue abandoning their area if need be, making them a tricky target to subjugate. The plan this time around is that the bait will lure the solider and worker ants away. While the middle aged man will sneak in from the side and kill the queen. The role of the trackers is to coordinate the bait with the exception of me who will help the middle aged man avoid conflict before he reaches the queen. Something about me being too retarded to do something as complex as coordination...grrr! With that, we set off into the forest and begin tracking the [Woodland Ant]’s nest… ... It took us about an hour to locate the [Woodland Ant]’s nest. When the nest was found, Ryo did some reckon and found out that we are dealing with about 31 worker and solider ants. With that knowledge, the middle aged man came up with the plan. “Here is how we are going to do it. We have 6 bait and 5 trackers. Ryo will be on point for any stragglers and the retard will come with me. So we have a total of 3 usable trackers. You will divide yourselves into 3 groups of 2 bait and 1 tracker per group. The first group will consist of the 2 foxkin and will head for the ants first. Once you gather their attention, head east. You can use [Sprint] but make sure you do not run away too far and lose them or they will come back to their nest. The second group will consist of the 2 bunnykin, after about a minute passes and the first group of ants are out of immediate sight. You are to run towards the remaining ants and use the [Jump] skill to jump over them. Then run to the north dragging them them along. This is the most important job so don’t mess up! The third group will consist of the 2 catkin, after those get out of sight, you are to use rocks to pull away the elites and few others that happen to remain and drag them away from the queen. You don’t have to worry about grabbing all of them, just get as many as you can and take them east. I will then approach from the south and finish off the [Woodland Ant Queen]. Once she is dead, feel free to bring them in one by one or if they run away that is fine too. When I give the signal, we will commence the operation. This is an [Order]!” announced the middle aged man. We moved in closer and took up our positions. When the middle aged man gave the signal, Kuina and the other foxkin walked towards the [Woodland Ants]. It did not take long for the [Woodland Ants] to notice them and they began running towards them while making hissing noises. When they got close enough, Kuina and the other foxkin activated [Sprint] and ran east. The [Woodland Ants] chased close by after them. Your skill [RA][Sprint] has become Level 2 By the end it seemed like 13 [Woodland Ants] separated from the nest. Once they were out of immediate sight, the middle age man gave the second signal. With that signal, the 2nd group of bunnykin ran forward and activated [Sprint]. Once they approached the ants, they activated [Jump] and flew over the [Woodland Ants]. You have acquired a new skill [RA][Jump] Level 1 The higher level bunnykin seemed to be a bit ahead on both the [Sprint] and the [Jump], thus made it to the other side of the [Woodland Ants] a second quicker. The second bunnykin jumped a bit behind and at lower altitude and accidentally ended up tripping on the head of one of the ants on the way down of the jump. So while the first bunnykin continued running on forward, the later one fell over and rolled. He then desperately got up and reactivated [Sprint] but it was clear to see his legs had injuries which slowed him down. Never the less with will power he trotted forward the best he could as he dragged the ants to the north. “Tch..it better not mess up the plan” the middle aged man grumbled. With the 2nd group out of visible sight, we confirmed that 10 [Woodland Ants] have followed them. This leaves the remaining number of ants protecting the queen at 8. And with that the 3rd signal was given. The 2 catkin ran towards the remaining ants though visibly slower due to lack of [Sprint] ability and started throwing rocks at the remaining [Woodland Ants], then made their way to the west. This promoted 5 [Woodland Ants] to chase after them, one of which was larger than the rest. Most likely the solider ant. After confirming that the ants were out of sight, we began to head for the queen who was guarded by 3 larger ants. These ants already seem to have taken up a vigilant formation around the queen. “Alright, so far it is going well. Retard, your only job is to use your [Smell Sense] and tell me if any of the groups start heading back ahead of schedule...you better not mess this up….or there will be a severe [Punishment]” he threatened. Pfft! Who is scared of your [Punishment]?!?! I want to stick out my tongue and give him a piece of my mind. But I know full well he could behead me with just a lift of a finger. So I keep it to myself...for now... So instead I nod and we proceed closer and closer to the ants. In no time, the [Woodland Ants] notice us and one of them rushes forward while the others stay back to protect the queen. The middle aged man pays it little mind and rushes forward thrusting right through the [Woodland Ant], thus killing it instantly and continues to run straight for the queen and her 2 guards. Your skill [NA][Thrust] has become Level 2 Your skill [RA][Toughness] has become Level 3 At this point both guards begin to rush forward as the queen begins to retreat. Though he pays it no mind and spinning the spear flings both guards to the side as he chases towards the queen. “Hey retard! Distract those with some rocks while I deal with the queen!” he yells. WHA?!?! I thought I got out of being bait! Grrr… Well this doesn’t seem too hard, I can get some EXP and these ants don’t seem to be that fast, at least not anything I can’t handle with [Sprint] at Level 2. So while the middle aged man continues to rush towards the queen, I use my [Throw] skill and fling rocks at the 2 solider ants. Unfortunately due to their rather decent armor, I only end up doing less than 10 damage per throw. The 2 guardian ants only stop for a second to glance at me before ignoring me and continuing towards the middle aged man to protect the queen. But that short difference was enough time for the middle aged man to catch up with the queen and with a sweep of the spear knock her off her feet and tumbling on the ground. The queen tries to get up and face him in combat but right as she gets up, the middle aged man lands on her back impaling her with the spear. She lets out a shrill of pain and tries to shake him off her back. But the middle aged man keeps his balance and again thrusts the spear in the back of her neck, killing her almost instantly. Of course prior to her death, I used this opportunity to also get an “accidental” throw on the queen when the 2 solider ants approached to get some free EXP from her. With the death of the queen, the 2 guardian ants let out a shriek of their own and begin to redden. Then rush at the middle aged man with infuriating vigor. You have acquired a new skill [RA][Berserk] Level 1 The middle aged man pays it little mind and with 2 quick swings of the spear kills the 2 solider ants. He then gives a signal to Ryo which Ryo then relays again with a whistle. Level up! Sentient Creature: +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin: +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin: +2 AGI +1 DEX A short time afterwards, I see Kuina run back with the other foxkin slightly behind her. And with her comes 10 [Woodland Ants] chasing right after. The middle aged man just moves forward and starts massacring the ants. It took him no more than a minute or 2 to quickly slaughter all 10 of them. With them dead, Ryo sent the second whistle signal. And soon came the bunnykin followed by 6 [Woodland Ants], except only one of the bunnykin actually came back. Of course this group of ants was dispatched even quicker. And finally the last whistle signal was sent. With it came the 2 catkin followed by all 5 of the remaining [Woodland Ants]. Probably with a solider ant leading them, they were less likely to split up or lose track. And like the last group, it was but mere child’s play for the middle aged man. Though luckily, the entire exchange took over 5 minutes so I got a last parting present in the last sweep. Your skill [NP][Spear Mastery] has become Level 2 Now that the ants were all cleaned up, we were ordered to use rusted knives to remove the legs of the ants. There was simply too many corpses to drag back to town so we had to be picky on what we could and could not take. The legs were the easiest things to remove from the corpses without the risk of damaging the materials due to lack of [Disassembling] skill. Though I say easy, but in reality it was extremely difficult due to how tough these things were, even at the softer joints. Though it was slightly easier for me then others because I secretly used the [Slash] skill. Ryo and the middle aged man handled disassembling the more expensive materials. Especially the queen. Of course sneaking a peak at Ryo while he was disassembling made things a lot easier for me. You have acquired a new skill [NP][Disassembling] Level 1 Then not too long after, the middle aged man added a cherry on top! Your skill [NP][Disassembling] has become Level 2 Unfortunately 5 minutes later did not yield any more increases from neither Ryo nor the middle aged man. That said, today has been a very delicious skill fest, and I am more than happy for it! It was a good thing I decided to stay for the time being. Of course this is only until I get my revenge on the evil mind controlling magician! Of course it’s not all positive, neither the middle aged man nor Ryo even bothered to ask the remaining bunnykin what ended up happening to the other one. Like they don’t care at all. At one point during the harvesting of materials I managed to sneak out on a restroom break only to find the bunnykin has been brutally mutilated and shred to bits by ants. It was a cruel reminder on how harsh this world really is... From there I hurried back to the rest as my [Smell Sense] picked up some remaining ants lingering around. It took us a few hours to disassemble and pack all the materials. After which we were forced to carry it. How I wish there was a skill for carrying heavy baggage! Well there is [Item Box], but I can’t exactly use that in public now can I? Once we traveled for about 6 hours, we set up camp and were allowed to rest till end of the day. ...
Spoiler: Chapter 5: The path that will forever close https://royalroadl.com/fiction/chapter/131386 The next day, we got back up and were forced to again carry the heavy materials and the baggage. Since everyone here was under [Order], they didn’t even bother doing the material count. Of course it was possible that these materials only had moderate value so the middle aged man did not care much about it, and the expensive materials were carried by Ryo. Either way, I managed to sneak a few pieces into my [Item Box] when I was 1000% sure no one would see. I don’t work for free you know... Even with lightening my load a bit, it still was rather heavy due to carrying both the materials and baggage. After a grueling 10 hours of walking, we ended up coming to a small village. It was about maybe a third the size of Diara Village? There was no adventurers guild here, but luckily there were shops here where we could sell the materials. Which definitely helped with lightening our loads. I was hoping on picking up some sort of merchant skill when we were in the market, but unfortunately there was no luck. Were they not using any skills? Or did I just have bad luck? Speaking of odd things though, I did not get a skill for horse riding either when I saw the middle aged man and others riding a horse...strange... When we started going for the Inn though, I noticed a shop by the side with a man sitting smashing a hammer against a metal object on an anvil. And to my delight... You have acquired a new skill [NP][Blacksmithing] Level 1 Unfortunately I could not stand there for 5 minutes and see if I could get any more levels, so I had to move on. Maybe if I get another chance to pass by I would find out. When we arrived to the Inn, the middle age man bought himself a room, and a few spots in the stables. One spot for the horse, and the others for us. Either the middle aged man is being cheap, or Inns around here don’t even allow us access. Which would really make things difficult when I plan to go on my own. Prior to going to sleep, Ryo gave a bit of a heads up on where exactly we are going and why. There have been some strange sightings and monster attacks between this village and the next village over. Our job is to investigate the forest between the two villages. Considering the distance between the two villages, there is a large area to explore. So this will be our last chance to sleep under a roof for a long while. Since this was a special request, it was hard for the middle aged man to turn it down. And since he was on his way here anyways, he decided to get the [Woodland Ant Queen] nearby. The nature of the investigation it seems is due to the large amount of monsters that have been attacking both villages. The villages previously sent some lower level adventurers but they never heard back from them again. That does sound quite worrying and makes me wonder on what I should do. These kind of vague investigations rarely end well based on my knowledge. But then I probably shouldn’t conflate literature knowledge with real life ones ha? I don’t think anything could kill that middle aged man, but him using us as bait when it gets dicey is something he most definitely could do. I saw it first hand with the [Woodland Ants] subjection where he had me distract those ants despite me not being bait anymore. But on the other hand, there is plenty of advantages here as well. The most obvious advantage is that if we plan on staying in the wilderness for a while, that means fighting a lot of different monsters. And if it is anything as fruitful as the [Woodland Ant] subjugation, I can get both skills and levels with minimum risk. If it gets to a point where he uses the beastkin as bait and runs, I can just run away as well. With my [Sprint] at Level 2, I can probably get away pretty fast, add to it [Charge] and [Jump] and I have a pretty solid escape arsenal. As the saying goes, the greater the risk, the greater the reward? But then lets look at it another way, if I do run away now, where would I go? If I try to go to a village, they will try to enslave me again. This time there would be no guarantee that the [Slave Collar] would be defective. If I go to the forest, I risk being attacked by monsters, especially when I am sleeping. So it isn’t really a choice between going to the wilderness or not, but to be exact. Going into the wilderness with strong protection or going there without protection. Not to mention, the party sent before consisted of Rank F adventurers. In comparison, the middle aged man is a upper tier Rank C adventurer. The difference in strength is worlds apart. It would be safe to say the middle aged man has more levels than the entire Rank F party combined. To put it in some context, the [Woodland Ant Workers] were Rank E monsters. He slaughtered 10 of them in less than 2 minutes. Considering from what I heard prior, he is one of the strongest adventurers in this region, along side his companions. There isn’t a safer spot I can think of to farm levels and skills. When things are put simply like that, I have no choice but to follow… . The next day, we left at around mid-day due to the middle aged man stepping out for last minute supplies. Unfortunately, I was not brought along so I could not get some more of that sweet blacksmithing skill. Blacksmithing is the production skill I am the most excited about because it may allow me to repair the dagger. One can only imagine how powerful that mithril dagger would be once it is fully repaired. But as expected, Level 1 blacksmithing is nowhere enough to repair something made out of mithril. I tried to take a look at it while everyone was sleeping just in case and couldn’t figure out anything at all. There is also a possibility that there is another skill that is necessary for repairing other than blacksmithing. So I am out of luck for the time being. Contrary to how we came to this village by road, this time around we traveled exclusively by forest. Probably as part of the investigation. Which made traveling a bit slower and harder. Though on the bright side, the trackers including me got far less luggage to carry. Since our assignment is to look for monsters. The initial goal is to complete our [Smell Sense] and become familiar with the local monster scents. Once that is done, we will search for the source of the anomaly. Personally, I couldn’t be happier than going on a find monster skill hunt… err.. I mean smell hunt… Of course Kuina and the other non-dogkin are less then pleased about the development due to being forced to carry about 50% more baggage. Taking a quick glance at her, I notice she is already glaring daggers at me… It is not like I am the one who came up with this idea… If you have a problem, take it up with the middle aged man ok? She is most definitely a tsundere! No doubt about it… Though the trackers also have another job as we move along, pick up any herbs we see. Apparently the middle aged man is pretty stingy and does not want to give up the herb revenue while we are passing by. We travel for about an hour and do not come across any monsters so far. Which is pretty normal, all things considering. Only after 2 hours did we finally pick up some scents. To be more accurate 3 scents. We first target one of the scents, which seems to be a mammal scent and head towards it. It took us about 30 minutes to reach where the scent originated from, and standing there next to a tree is a weird looking beaver. According to [Identify] it is a [Terranian Beaver]. It does not take long for the beaver to notice our rather large group and start running for us. I simply can’t wait to see what skills I’ll get! In response, the middle aged man takes out a dagger, and flings it at the [Terranian Beaver] killing it instantly. You have acquired a new skill [NA][Throw] Level 1 Okay… I did not see that one coming… I do appreciate the [Throw] skill despite me already having the racial one as I can combine the two. The bigger issue is that I did not think of a possible downside to being protected by someone who is “too strong”. The fact that the monsters don’t even get a chance to use their skills! If he just kills them too fast, I am out of luck… With that sad realization, we head for the next scent which seems to be some sort of reptile? It takes us about an hour to reach it due to some detours we needed to take due to crossing a river and etc. But we finally arrived where the reptile monster should be. The scent of the monster seems to be coming from the tree. But we see nothing hiding on top of the tree or next to it. Is the tree some kind of reptilian monster? It looks like a normal tree to me... Obviously though we keep our distance from it, just because we can’t identify it does not mean we should carelessly go into its attack range. Though if the middle aged man gets impatient, he might just send one of the beastkin he uses as bait to check it out. To have a better view, I activate [All-Observing-Eyes]. With my improved vision, I look around the tree carefully and notice something. I keep staring at the anomaly for a good half a minute and what I have been waiting for appeared. You have acquired a new skill [RA][Blend Stealth] Level 1 Yey! My survival skills are going up! But as always, fate will never let me have my 5 minutes as the middle aged man begins to get irritated. Since I am not going to get another skill level from it now, might as well as make the best of it… I take a rock and combining by two [Throw] skills, I throw it at the [Terranian Iguana] which blended in rather perfectly with the tree. The [RA][Throw] is weaker than [NA][Throw] but allows for more control, since I am a good distance away I make sure [RA][Throw] is focused on accuracy over more damage. While [NA][Throw] will do most of the damage, in this way I combine the two skills. You have dealt 34 damage to the [Terranian Iguana] ! Since [Blend Stealth] requires a target to be perfectly still, it quickly gets thrown out of stealth on impact. Once spotted, the pissed middle aged man charges forward and with a strong motion impales the [Terranian Iguana] to death. You have acquired a new skill [NA][Impale] Level 1 Ooh! Nice, yet another skill! The skill fest continues! Unfortunately the 3rd smell is all too familiar with me, it was a [Giant Rat]. So there was no skills for me to gain there. The middle aged man again killed it by throwing a dagger, and unfortunately [Throw] skill did not seem to rise. We continued for about 3 hours through the forest and did not find any other new scents while avoiding monsters. Afterwards, the middle aged man ordered that we set up camp. It was somewhat early to do that, but we found a rather safe area and wanted to take advantage of it. So with that we retired for the day. ... With the arrival of the next day, we tidied up camp and continued on towards the next village. After traveling for around 8 hours, we pick up a new scent. We tracked down the source of the scent for a bit more than an hour and came across a [Terranian Deer]. Like most monsters, the moment it saw us, it quickly charged at us. Of course to the middle aged man, something like this was not really a challenge. With a thrust of his spear, the large [Terranian Deer] collapsed. Your skill [RA][Charge] has become Level 2 Your skill [NA][Thrust] has become Level 3 The fact that the middle aged man can just one shot all these things is pretty impressive. I wonder how high his skills really are… so far other than [Throw] I have yet to reach his bottlenecks. Either way, that strength is pretty reassuring to have… Well at least until I steal all of it * snicker * After that we continued on and within about 5 hours, we made it to the neighboring village. This village was even smaller than the one prior. I am not an expert at making estimates, but I would guess no more than 50 people live here? As we entered the village, a young man of 27 years of age who looked like a hunter with a bow on his back and a knife on his pants came to greet us. While staring at him for about a minute… You have acquired a new skill [NA][Eagle Eye] Level 1 “You must be the Rank C adventurer sent by the guild I presume?” he inquired. “Yeah, are you the one who issued the request?” the middle aged man prompted back. “That would be the village chief, I am merely a hunter who acts as the village guard” the young man responded. “I see... were there any recent attacks on the village? On the way here I did a preliminary inspection and I did not see any unusual activity. Can you provide me with any more information about the request?” the middle aged man followed up. “Hmm...The last few days have been fairly quite. The intervals of the attacks tended to vary, but you are going to have to ask the village chief. While I may be acting as a village guard, to be more precise, I am more of a temporary or backup guard. In the previous attack, our guard was injured so until he recovers, I am acting as a full time guard, normally I just hunt game” explained the young man. “Is that so...Then bring me to the village chief” said the middle aged man. “Right this way” replied the young man. We did not travel long until we came across what seemed to be the largest building in the village. Which isn’t saying much since all the houses here are pretty small. The middle aged man was invited inside the house, while we were forced to stay behind. After about 2 hours, the middle aged man came back out and told us to make camp to the side. He will apparently stay at the village chief’s house and obviously no one is going to shelter beastkin. And like that, we retired for the day. The next day, we sold some of the stuff we brought while stocking up on some minor supplies. We were then escorted out of the village by the chief and the young man. It seems like over night they were discussing some sort of plan of action and details, but unfortunately we were not there to be privy of the details, and the middle aged man didn’t seem to be interested in explaining them either, even to Ryo. The only detail I managed to piece together from the conversation while heading out of the village was that they made a time table plan of investigation and mapped the locations where we would be investigating at and at what date. They also agreed that if any new information arrives, to bring it to the middle aged man along side minor restock of supplies. In this way we would save time going back and forth to and from the village. With that out of the way, we went on our way. Now with a vague map, the middle aged man guided us around the forest to investigate. We moved from spot to spot making camp, then we trackers went out to look for anything suspicious and at same time collecting herbs. The middle aged man also did his own investigation and killed monsters from time to time. Unfortunately I was not there since he acted independent. Once we scouted a perimeter for any suspicious activity, we then made it back to camp. Then packed up and relocated the camp to the next spot marked on the map. This went on for 3 days with nothing really out of the ordinary. And there was very little productivity since I did not see the middle aged man fight, and it wasn’t exactly a situation where I could fight monsters either. Kuina has been especially on guard to make sure I don’t do anything “stupid”. The best thing that I managed to accomplish was finding those [Terranian Iguanas] from a distance. Since Kuina could not see them, I was able to find ways “around them”. It would be nice if I could “accidentally stumble” into them, but unfortunately the weakest one was Level 14. They were also pretty rare. Either way, it was enough for me to raise my [Blend Stealth] to Level 4. Unfortunately, unlike the [Terranian Iguana] who already has brown skin and with help of [Blend Stealth] can make itself almost unnoticeable, for me it is not that simple. Aside from human skin tone being nowhere close to the brown of the iguana, my white hair stands out quite a lot. At best, I can stand in a room and if a person walks in, they probably won’t notice me. But if a person walks in a room and starts looking around for me, they would be able to find me with little issue. Not too long after that, we made it back to camp. When we arrived, we began to pack, getting ready for moving to the next zone. About 5 minutes into packing, I smelled a horse and human coming our way. I turned around in the general direction and it seems Ryo noticed it as well. “Someone is coming, from the scent it looks like they are from the village” Ryo notified. “Is that so?” said the middle aged man, “It is a bit early for the scheduled report so most likely something has happened...Just in case, hurry up with the preparations to move” he added. In a few minutes, one of the villagers drove in franticly screaming. “Sir Razer! Sir Razer!” “What happened?” asked the middle aged man. “M-Monsters! The village is under attack!” the villager yelled while barely catching his breath. “Calm down and start from the beginning” said the middle aged man. “Y-Yes! About 2 hours ago, the village was attacked by 7 [Terranian Deer] and about 20 [Giant Rats]. We tried to fend them off the best we could but with our guard still injured, they quickly overwhelmed us forcing us to hide in the village. I was sent out by the village chief to ask for help, please help us!” spoke the villager with a sense of urgency. “Hmm...I see… Though my guild request only asked for investigating the cause, nothing about protecting the village...” murmured the middle aged man while taking a contemplating pose. “Please help us! At this rate the crops will be completely destroyed and our houses might be reduced to rubble. If it is money, we can pay if it is in our ability!” pleaded the villager. “Generally...I don’t take these kind of unofficial requests...the guild is pretty strict on these things you see...but if you are willing to pay five time the standard rate per monster, I may consider an exception...” said the middle aged man mocking a hesitant voice. “Five times?!?! We already barely managed to put up enough money for the investigation! Are you trying to rob us?!?!” yelled the outraged villager. “Not my problem… I am already doing my job for the investigation as you can see… It is already a pretty tiring job. If you want me to do extra work, obviously you have to pay a premium for it” explained the old man now mocking a tired voice. The villager gritted their teeth but eventually had no choice but to give in due to the urgency. “Fine! Have it your way! But no villager better be hurt! And minimize the damage to the village as much as possible!” spat the villager. The middle aged man got on his horse and shrugged his shoulders “I can’t make any promises other then killing the monsters… Unless you are willing to pay more that is...” said the middle aged man with a wicked smile. The villager turned all red and looked like his head was going to explode, but held it in and relented. “I am going ahead to the village! Finish packing up as fast as you can, and as soon as you are done follow me back to the village. This is an [Order]” yelled the middle aged man. And like that, he and the villager made haste back to the village. We hurried up the best we could, but it still took us about half an hour to pack up all the stuff. Once done we followed after them… … We traveled through the forest for about an hour heading for the village. At that point, I noticed something with my [Smell Sense] . I took a look at Ryo and it seems like he noticed it as well, as he began to slow down his pace while contemplating something. After about a minute of contemplating. “Stop for a second...” said Ryo. “What’s wrong?” asked another dogkin. “...” It seems like those with only Level 3 [Smell Sense] have not picked up on the situation at hand. Thus making it difficult for them to resist [Order] telling them to head for the village. But Ryo knows the situation that is unfolding in front of us, or to be more precise, heading for us. What my [Smell Sense] is telling me is that heading our way is 6 presences. One of those is the middle aged man, the other 5 I have never smelled before...But one thing I do smell that makes this situation so tense is the smell of blood… This is definitely not looking good… The problem is that I do not know whose blood I am smelling, as I have never smelled the middle aged man’s blood before. But I am sure Ryo has, but him choosing to keep quite is not helping the situation… In less than a minute, suddenly all the dogkin began to panic. I am guessing they realized the situation. “Ryo!” One of the dogkin could not take it anymore and called out to Ryo to make a decision. But Ryo seems to remain hesitant. I can understand his concern… Technically speaking, we can retreat at this moment. While there is an [Order] for us to go to the village, the middle aged man did not say to go the village even if it kills you. Which means the base condition of not killing yourself takes precedence over the [Order]. They are still pushed to go to the village, but they can now take a different path to the village, even if it is a longer one in order to assure safety. If the middle aged man is running for his life, then that might be the best option. That is of course if he ends up dying here. If the middle aged man finds out that we ran away though, I doubt he will spare any of us. Even if he doesn’t kill us, it would be living hell. On top of that, even if we run, I doubt we would get very far as the rate they are moving is faster than my [Sprint] at Level 2. While my [Smell Sense] is not exactly good enough to detect speed coming towards us, by comparing when we noticed it vs the other dogkin, I making a rough estimate. After plenty of hesitation, Ryo finally comes to a conclusion. “Drop the luggage and hide! We will observe the situation. Prepare some rocks and if necessary, we will set up an ambush!” Ryo urged. For now I do as told and wait a bit. After about a minute. I momentarily activate [Eagle Eyes] and my [All-Observing-Eyes] to assess the situation, with the combination of both eye improvement skills, they are now barely in my view. What I see in my view is the middle aged man and… he is heavily bleeding... There are what seems to be arrows in his back with multiple cuts all over. Chasing him seems to be 5 Orcs, or to be more precise, 4 [Mountain Orc Elite Warriors] and 1 [Mountain Orc General]. Based on their level, the warriors are about mid-tier D Rank monsters and the general is a low-tier C rank monster. Normally, the middle aged man should be able to beat them considering his strength. But considering how heavily injured he is, at current condition I would guess 50/50? Of course I am no combat specialist, but the middle aged man is over 15 levels above the general. And if we join in the fight, our odds would probably be 90/10 in our favor? But again these are just wild guesses. If all the beastkin ran away, I may be able to slip out. But since they chose to stay, me leaving alone would be rather difficult. Even though I am not bound by the [Slave Collar], I don’t have anywhere to go and everything is hostile towards me. And if I chose to run, that middle aged man may hunt me down. Considering he moves faster than [Sprint] at Level 2 means that my chance of escape from him is slim. On top of that, despite the enforcements of the [Slave Collar] not working, my collar still seems to react to his commands. So there may be a function for tracking down the collar. There is also another issue to consider, if the middle aged man decides to fight. That would definitely be in our favor. But what if he just decides to run past us and use us as bait? Frankly speaking, without worrying about the middle aged man, they can probably get rid of all of us in less than a minute. Considering the limitations on stamina and the condition of the middle aged man, he is unlikely to abandon us as he would not get far. Other then maybe Ryo, the Orcs can literally ignore us. So it would be in the middle aged man’s interest to fight with us. But who knows what people will do in desperation. This is a huge risk no matter what option I chose... So here is what I am going to do, for now I will wait here with the others and see what happens while using [Blend Stealth]. If I see the middle aged man retreat or get to the point where he is about to be killed, I’ll use that opportunity to use [Charge] and [Sprint] away, find a hiding spot and [Blend Stealth] until the danger passes. With my mind made up I go to the farthest away tree I can manage without looking suspicious and wait. It did not take long for the middle aged man to come into normal visible sight. Using my [Eagle Eye] I take a closer look and notice his slave ruins seem to be slightly glowing. Which adds more credibility to my suspicion that we could be tracked. I do wish Kuina could have told me these things...or maybe she also didn’t know? Obviously chasing close from behind were 5 orcs. “ATTACK THE ORCS AND ACT AS MY SHIELDS! THIS IS AN [ABSOLUTE ORDER]!” yelled the middle aged man. What in the world is an [Absolute Order]?!?! What’s with all these surprises?!?! I’ll definitely have a word with her when this is over since I paid well for this information! As if on cue the beastkin came out of their hiding spots and began to throw rocks as they moved forward towards the orcs and got as quickly as they could between the middle aged man and the orcs. By the sudden surprise of the ambush, the orcs paused for a second and during this split second the middle aged man turned around and unleashed an attack I have never seen him do before. His spear suddenly blurred and divided impaling 2 of the orcs at the same time. Your skill [NA][Thrust] has become Level 3 I slightly frown...I do enjoy the [Thrust] skill don’t get me wrong but I would have preferred the cool looking skill… One of the orcs took the hit to the throat and died instantly, the other one took the hit in the shoulder and just fell over. But right after an arrow flew out and impaled the middle aged man in the thigh. “Shit!” the middle aged man cursed. You have acquired a new skill [NP][Crossbow Mastery] Level 1 The sudden hit from the arrow threw the middle aged man somewhat off balance. And one of the orcs with a large club tried to run and hit him. Though found himself blocked off as the smallest dogkin got in the way. You have acquired a new skill [NA][Bash] Level 1 In that instant I froze up as I saw the dogkin turn into red paste and blood splattered everywhere. Terror filled my very bones as the realization of what I just saw steeped in. A beastkin of around my level was killed in just one hit! Only one hit! The scene was so terrifying for me that I could not even move, despite wanting to run away, I can’t move due to fear! Thank god I activated my [Blend Stealth] prior… Of course despite my situation, the battle continued on. Ryo stabbed the injured orc that was on the floor with his short sword right in the wounded area. While the middle aged man recovered and stabbed the orc that killed the dogkin in the eye killing him. In the meantime, one of the bunnykin jumped right at the archer. Your skill [RA][Jump] has become Level 2 Only to be brutally shot down mid air and fall to the ground. This is ridiculous, does [Absolute Order] make them like mindless kamikaze zombies or something!?!? They are literally jumping into death! At this time the orc general tightly gripped his great axe and quickly charged at the middle aged man. The middle aged man tried to move his spear, but it got stuck in the skull of the previous orc. You have acquired a new skill [NA][Penetrate] Level 1 You have acquired a new skill [CP][Runner: Accelerate] Level N/A Due to a special action, a new special [SPD] stat has been unlocked Like that, I got my first class based skill… But I had no room to rejoice… That is b-because… ..K….Ku...Kuina was s-shred in half from neck to thigh…protecting the middle aged man!!!! As I watched in complete disbelief, Kuina’s lifeless corpse rolls on the floor...my focus began to blur and my mind became blank as the battlefield slips away from me... ... I was only awakened from my stumper by the voice of that detestable middle aged man… “Guard the perimeter with your lives, this is an [Order]! Ryo, which bag did you pack the potions in?!?!” yelled the middle aged man. I took a brief look around and it seems I somehow spaced out through the remains of the battle. From the looks of things, the orc general and the archer have been defeated, and thankfully no one else seems to have died somehow. Though the middle aged man appears to have taken quite a few new injuries. “It is in the big bag on the left” replied Ryo then headed to the front to take up guarding the perimeter along with the rest. The middle aged man walked up to the bag and began to forage through it looking for the potions. His condition seemed to be pretty serious. He was standing about 2 meters in distance facing away from me...that...that evil magician...the one who took away Kuina… My eyes became sharper and my body began to redden up. If I had any thoughts of taking a step back, with the activation of [Berserk] they were now gone, along with most of my sanity as anger overflowed, all that remained was hatred! The only reason I barely remained sane is due to my high [MNT] stat. Due to overcoming a large mental hurdle: +1 MNT My body began to slightly emit white smoke as my [Stamina] began to fall sharply to almost nothing and the [Ancient Mithril Dagger] appeared in my hands. If there is any reason I remain unnoticed, it is due to my [Blend Stealth]. Soon, the middle aged man found the potion he was looking for, and like a predator who just found his prey a small opening was created. And in that small opening I closed the distance with [Charge]. When I closed the distance short enough I unleashed [Meteor Rush]! At that point my speed transcended beyond any normal possibilities, this was not only from the combined speed of [Charge] and [Meteor Rush]. Due to the gift Kuina left me [Runner: Accelerate]. All my skills that increase speed were improved. [CP][Runner: Accelerate] Level N/A Increase speed of all skills by 20% + 1% for every level in your non-combat class + 1% for every point of [SPD] With that, my skills like [Charge] and [Meteor Rush] improved by 21%. As I accelerated, huge pressure was put on my body far more than any roller coaster I have ever felt. Due to overcoming a your limits in speed: +1 AGI And as I got close enough, I let out a [Thrust] aiming right at the weak point shown by [All-Observing-Eyes][Overload] in the back of his neck! If the middle aged man was not focused on the potion or was a speed based type, my efforts would most likely be fruitless. But the situation was in my favor as the dagger reached his skin. At that point my [Penetrate] skill activated. This skill helps lower the defense of the opposing target. While humans unlike monsters have weak skin, that is only relative. The middle aged man is so high level, despite him not even being a [VIT] build, his [VIT] stat most likely is higher than all my combat stats combined! This is also why I spent all my remaining free points into [STR] as every little bit counts. Due to overcoming a large hurdle: +1 STR As I barely penetrate through his skin and reach blood, my [Impale] skill activates. And the force I exert increases by a huge margin! That is the power of the [Impale] skill, if you get a solid hit in, and reach blood, it significantly increases your attack power. But regardless of hit or miss, if [Impale] is used, your body is frozen up for half a second. Now that I have reached his softer insides, and with help of [Impale], my dagger quickly shreds through! [Critical Hit] You have dealt 291 damage to the [Bruno Razer]! And just like that… he died... Level up! Sentient Creature: +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin: +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin: +2 AGI +1 DEX Level up! Sentient Creature: +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin: +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin: +2 AGI +1 DEX Level up! Sentient Creature: +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin: +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin: +2 AGI +1 DEX You have acquired a new skill [RA][Hearing Sense] Level 1 Non-Combat class has been unlocked! Level up! Sentient Creature: +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin: +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin: +2 AGI +1 DEX Level up! Sentient Creature: +1 in all unlocked attributes +1 free attribute +20 HP +10 Stamina +10 Mental Beastkin: +2 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI Catkin: +2 AGI +1 DEX You have taken 345 damage. You are critically injured! I force deactivated my [All-Observing-Eyes], and stood there. I could not move even an inch. Not only did the [Impale] freeze me up for half a second, the consequence of [Meteor Rush] is being unable to move for half a minute! And thus I was locked in a prison of my own mind! As the reality of what just happened began to catch up to me… A very terrifying reality that I could never have imagined… While I have already killed monsters in the past… The emotions of killing a person… killing the evil mind magician that has been tormenting me… getting revenge for Kuina… all those emotions… were not there… What I felt was… emptiness… complete emptiness… This emptiness was far different then the emptiness of revenge or the like… this odd emptiness… felt… mechanical in nature. It did not feel like I killed a person or an enemy, it felt more like an automatic can opener opening a can. Like a scripted process… Absolute emptiness… devoid of anything and everything... And this terrified me. I have not met any god when I reincarnated, I do not know anything about myself… Other then becoming a Catkin...was I somehow altered down to my psychology? Am I even Shiro or just a being who happens to have Shiro’s memories? These thoughts flooded my head and in this cage of my mind, that 30 seconds felt like an eternity… Once the 30 seconds passed, I was finally able to free myself and began to move...but my body was shacking and my insides were melting… * bleh * I threw up blood and extreme pain overtook me. You have taken 20 damage from internal bleeding. Due to overcoming a huge strain on your body: +1 VIT I quickly grabbed the [Health Potion] that the middle aged man dropped and chugged it down like my life depended on it! Because it kind of did! The potion did not heal my injuries automatically, but was thankfully able to offset the damage of the DOT from the critical injury to an extent. Just in case, I grabbed another potion and chugged it down. I then put all my free points into [VIT]. I also took off the middle aged man’s mantle which gave +10 [VIT]. I would have taken other gear but they were way too big for me to equip, not to mention some of the gear had restrictions. After maybe 2 minutes, despite still being in tons of pain...I was able to stabilize myself more or less. I then turned around and saw all the beastkin staring blankly at me with wide open eyes and gapping mouths. I got my act together and decided to explain the situation. While things seem calm around now, there most likely are more of those orcs around. There is no way those 5 would have been able to injure that middle aged man to that extent, not to mention some of the arrows in his body do not match the crossbow. So we need to get our act together and move quickly! “I’ll make this brief, my [Slave Collar] was defective and with this we are now all free!” I emphasize with an exited voice. Then I look around for their reactions in expectations...but, so far most of them continue staring blankly without making any noise… “YOU RETARD!” Ryo suddenly shouted. “Eh?” said I stunned in surprise. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?” Ryo continued to yell. “What do you mean what have I done? I got rid of the despicable man who has been imprisoning us and now we are free!” I retorted. “Free? You retard! Who asked you to free us in the first place?!?! In this world there is no room for beastkin! The humans who rule this continent hate us! Unless we are under humans, there is no future for us! Bruno may have not been the best of guys, but he treated us fairly and did not abuse us for no reason like many others do, and now with your retarded “freedom”, you have doomed us all! Because not only do we have no place to go, once the humans learn that we killed our master, we will all be killed!” he roared in fury. “Eh? Eh!?!? But…but...he used us as bait! So many of us died because of him! Kuina died because of him!” I responded the best I could caught completely off guard by the revelation. “Kuina? Hah! You are the one to talk retard! You think I don’t know? I received reports from Kuina about your little “excursions”, on how you put yourself and her in danger facing off monsters and almost getting both of you killed! Weren’t you using Kuina’s high level and experience to help level yourself?” Ryo pressed on with a sarcastic and accusatory grin. I wasn’t using Kuina...was I? Sure I wanted to level up... but it was a mutual benefit was it not? And deep down all I wanted was… * sniff * ... “That is not true! I never put her in danger and leveling ourself was the only way to survive! I wanted to be friends!” I bellowed in a desperate anger. “Friends? Survive by getting a few measly levels? Are you being serious retard? If anything, I’d argue it was your fault Kuina died in the first place! Last I checked the one who forced her into leveling up was you, and got her the [Runner] job. If not for that job, there was no way she would have made it in time to block that attack with her body! The one who killed Kuina was you retard! And now, with your retarded antics you want to get us all killed?!?!” he shouted. Eh?!?! Suddenly with that realization...doubt and guilt began to spread in my mind as I began to feel helpless… Due to being taken aback by the revelation, for the first time since the conversation, I took my eyes off Ryo and onto the other beastkin in hopes of maybe someone providing me something...anything...but all I could see was hostility in their eyes… Inwardly, I begin loathing myself for my foolishness as guilt begins to overtake me. “...” Seeing I had nothing to rebuke him, he turned around towards the other beastkin. “Let’s go everyone! There might still be monsters around so we better get out of here as fast as we can. Grab all the supplies you can carry that won’t slow us down too much” he announced as he began walking towards the supplies. “Oh retard, one last piece of advise from your senior. I suggest leaving this country and heading south east. We are next to the border so the walk should only be a few days at best. You are probably not going to make it...but it is your only choice at this point...Because when push comes to shove, we are going to blame Bruno’s death on you and there will be no place in this country for you as you get hunted down. Good luck retard, you’ll need it!” he informed as he began packing the supplies that fell out of the bag, when Bruno searched through them. I took another look around at the other beastkin who already started taking heed of Ryo’s order while at same time glaring at me with disdain. “What are you waiting for! Scram retard!” screamed one of the other dogkin while the others agreed in murmurs. Feeling completely dejected and helpless...I took one last look at what remained of Kuina… ”I’m sorry...” I lightly muttered as tears began to fall uncontrollably from my cheeks, and just like that I slowly trotted towards the south east all alone… …
Spoiler: Epilogue https://royalroadl.com/fiction/chapter/132605 I have been walking for over a day now towards the south east. Still feeling dejected and glum, regrets fill my heart to the brim. But I realize there is nothing I can do anymore… all that is left is to move forward... I use my [Smell Sense] plus my new racial skill [Hearing Sense] to avoid all monsters the best I can. As I traverse the landscape, I run into a small uninhabited cave. I know it is uninhabited because my [Smell Sense] is not picking anything up… so unless there is a monster who can somehow hide their scent, it should be in the clear. Either way, I am too tried to move for much longer...If there is such a monster...then it will be the end of me… Nothing I can do... I am just glad that I stored some extra food in my [Item Box] from the monsters we killed during the investigation. Luckily that detestable middle aged man was not too stingy on food during the investigation due to all the monsters we killed. Of course it wasn’t from the goodness of his heart either, the meat was going to rot anyways and kept piling up. Since he did not want to waste time going back and forth too much between the village, he just let us take all the remains as we pleased. That was the first time in a long time that I actually ate to full. Using the last bits of my stamina, I put together a few basic traps and methods of alarm outside the cave and lie down ready to collapse. But then I remembered something important. I am now over level 10 aren’t I? Which means I can get my first non-combat class. I am really not in the mood for it now, but I know that I should at least give it a look. Runner A profession specialized in running. You will gain experience from running. Unlock Special Stat: SPD Stat Bonus: +4 AGI +5 SPD Stat Bonus per level: +2 AGI +1 SPD Skills: [CP][Runner: Accelerate] Herbalist A profession specialized in processing of herbs. You will gain experience from collecting and processing herbs. Unlock Special Stat: PER Stat Bonus: +3 INT +1 DEX + 2 WIS +5 PER Stat Bonus per level: +2 INT +1 DEX +1 WIS +1 PER Skills: [CP][Herbalist: Analyze Herbs] Manager A profession specialized in management of materials and personnel. You will gain experience from managing resources and others. Unlock Special Stat: LDR Stat Bonus: +4 INT + 4 WIS +3 MNT +7 LDR Stat Bonus per level: +3 INT +3 WIS +2 MNT +2 LDR Skills: [CP][Manager: Boost Morale] Animal Trainer A profession specialized in the training of animals. You will gain experience from raising and training animals. Unlock Special Stat: AFE Stat Bonus: +2 AGI +3 INT +6 WIS +2 MNT +6 AFE Stat Bonus per level: +1 AGI +2 INT +3 WIS +1 MNT +2 AFE Stat Bonus per 10 levels: +1 LUK Skills: [CP][Animal Trainer: Animal Affection] Unique Job: Creationist A profession specialized in the creation of all things. You will gain experience from producing, building and making things. You will also gain experience based on how “worthy” the user of the produced item is. Unlock Special Stat: PER Stat Bonus: +5 to all unlocked attributes +5 PER Stat Bonus per level: +2 to all unlocked attributes +5 MP +5 Mental +2 PER Stat Bonus per 10 levels: +2 LUK +3 DEX +3 PER 50% Increase in attainment of all production skills Skills: [CP][Creationist: Analyze Everything] “Talk about a sour reminder...” I mutter in sadness as I see the [Runner] job.. No! I need to get my act together and move on! Focus... So from what I remember, the jobs are suppose to be based on what we did prior to hitting level 10. I can understand Runner since that one seems to be common among those used as bait. I can also to an extent understand herbalist since I have the skill and I have been using [Identify] on herbs quite a bit. But why do I have Animal Trainer and Manager? Those seem to be some pretty high level jobs and I don’t remember training any animals or managing anything. I doubt me pocketing some resources into my [Item Box] qualifies right? Or is it the [Item Box] itself that opened the class up? As for Animal Trainer, the only animal I have ever trained even to the slightest was my old cat Shiro. Did that count somehow? And then there is that Unique Job of creationist… I remember the receptionist lady saying something about Unique Jobs sometimes appearing...and she said most of them are crap and it is very rare to get a good one. But WOW...that looks so OP! Beyond OP even! And not only is it crazy OP, it is even more OP with my Unique Skill. Since I can unlock other attributes such as [SPD] from gaining other classes’ skills. Unfortunately it does not work on [LUK], but even then I still get two points every 10 levels! The only thing that is useless is the 50% increase on attainment of all production skills. Since I can’t really attain them through normal means. But it might be possible that higher level skills are harder to get with my Unique Skill, and it might increase the possibility of getting them maybe? I still to this day don’t understand why I did not get [Horse Riding] skill… Interesting enough, it seems that most non-combat classes are pretty poor as far as combat goes, unless you plan to go mage build? Very few give you any attack stats...Of course it is possible that there are some and I just don’t have them. If I remember correctly, the middle aged man had [Trainer] class, that probably had some combat stats on it considering the name of the occupation. Now lets take a look at that [Creationist: Analyze Everything] skill. [CP][Creationist: Analyze Everything] Level N/A Allows the skills that specialize in identification to see other details that would normally not be seen that are specialized for the creationist class. +3% for every level in your non-combat class +1% for every point of [PER] I don’t get it… I guess I would need to find out what it does, but even without it, the Creationist class is definitely pretty darn good… So with no further ado, I pick the [Herbalist] class! Joking! Obviously I go with [Creationist]! It isn’t even a competition! That really wasn’t all that funny was it… * sigh * … I am already tired, I’ll check on that skill tomorrow...assuming I’ll make it through my sleep safe and sound… “Good night..” I mutter and fall asleep… Status Name Shiro Race Ɓęåśŧķĩŋ - Ċāť Class Level Gender Female Status [Ɲǫŕṃḁḽ] Beastkin - Cat 12 Age 12 years Free Points 0 Hunger 100/100 Creationist 1 HP 470 / 470 (0.68/m) STR 57 +6 INT 28 +4 MP 15 / 15 (0.032/m) AGI 70 +4 WIS 26 Stamina 160 / 160 (3.275/m) VIT 58 +10 MNT 41 Mental 180 / 180 (0.41/m) DEX 29 +1 LUK 100 SPD 19 PER 25 Skills [LP] English 5 [NP] Spear Mastery 2 [RA] Berserk 1 [RP] Night Vision 2 [NA] Slash 1 [NP] Blacksmithing 1 [RA] Smell Sense 4 [NP] Dagger Mastery 1 [NA] Throw 1 All-Observing-Eyes N/A [RA] Throw 1 [NA] Blend Stealth 4 [NA] Identify 5 [RA] Sprint 2 [NA] Impale 1 [RA] Charge 3 [NP] Herb Processing 1 [NP] Crossbow Mastery 1 [RA] Claw Swipe 1 [NA] Item Box 1 [NA] Bash 1 [LP] Trillan 6 [NA] Thrust 3 [NA] Penetrate 1 [RP] Toughness 3 [RA] Stink Bomb 1 [CP] Runner: Accelerate N/A [RA] Meteor Rush 1 [RA] Jump 2 [CP] Creationist: Analyze Everything N/A
Spoiler: Interlude #1 - Hero summoning circles in my closet https://royalroadl.com/fiction/chapter/133230 My name is Daniel, I work as a contractor for managing quality control at factories. Due to the nature of my job, it involves that I travel around the world insuring factories are up to the client’s standards. Not only do I have to travel a lot, I tend to have long hours and sometimes even have to stay overnight. I also have a wife and a daughter. My wife’s job also requires her to travel a lot, so we don’t often see each other. My daughter is 4 years old, and is mostly taken care of by the babysitter due to our occupations. The thing me and my wife share as a hobby is infatuation with Japanese culture. More specifically, things like Anime, Manga, light novels and etc. Unfortunately, our jobs even get in the way of that as well. Of course, I always watch an anime while on a plane, or read a manga or light novel while heading to work by bus or train. But even then, time is very limited. Not to mention those environments are not exactly great for enjoyment of content. But today is a very good day! Not only did I get to leave home early today, the newest anime movie of THAT came out! Yes, THAT! The thing fans have been waiting a whole 10 years for is now available for my viewing pleasure! The theater system I put together that hardly ever got used did not go to waste! I can finally enjoy some quality anime time! I arrive home in full excitement at what is to come and open the door. “Daddy~!” screams a little 4 year old girl and runs straight for me. “Hohoho! Haven’t you gotten big Shiro?” I exclaim as I pick her up. “Are ya gonna leave again daddy?” she questions. “Nope, I got the entire day off today!” I reply in excitement. “Yey! Lets play then daddy!” she beckons. “Err...okay...in just a moment...let daddy watch his anime movie, then we’ll play, ok?” I plead in desperation. “NO! I WANNA PLAY NOW! PLAY WITH ME DADDY!” she screams and starts banging against me with her small arms. This isn’t looking good..I have been waiting so long for that to come out! I need to think of something fast! “How about this, want to play watch anime with daddy?” I question in the most sincere voice I can muster. “NO! I wanna play with the dollies!” she insisted. During this time I have already sat down in the theater room while holding her in my arms. “How about this, play watch anime with daddy, then we’ll play with the dollies?” I appeal as I turn on the remote. “No! Play dollies now! You always say you will later and you don’t!” she cries. At this point the anime starts rolling in the credits. “Just watch with me for a few minutes ok? I’ll even get you that ice cream that you like...” I say attempting to bribe her. “Mmnn!” she grumbles. After a few minutes after the anime starts playing, she gives in and she hesitantly watches it with me. By the time the movie ends, she seems to be semi-hooked on it. She is definitely going to end up as a tsundere isn’t she? Though this gives me an idea to maximize efficiency. If I can only interest Shiro in things like anime and etc, then wouldn’t that be hitting 2 birds with one stone? She’ll be happy I am spending time with her and I’ll get to watch my anime and the like. I guess this is why I am one of the best QC managers in the world, looking for efficiency in everything hehehe. Now then, lets start by replacing her bed time stories with light novels… What can possibly go wrong? [2 years later] ~~~~~ ...And with 1 slash, the greatest hero Satou beheads 5 gods all while checkmating the 5th dragon god king in chess. Yes, Satou is that OP! His awesome slashes are so awesome that he can do anything! ANYTHING! Then why is Satou facing off the 5th dragon god king in chess? That is because Satou who is a Japanese is averse to killing due to the peaceful mentality driven into Japanese at an early age. And with the end of the match, he beheads 3 more gods annihilating them in an instant with just 1 slash! Doesn’t make sense? Illogical? All of that means nothing in the face of Satou’s slashes. He can even slash reason itself! HE IS THAT OP! Satou then opens a portal and heads back to his base located on a hidden island. With him are 3 new girls who just joined his party. 2 of which are princesses. “I am back” Satou exclaims. “You just stepped out for like 1 minute and you got 3 more added to your harem? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! I MEAN THIS IS RIDICULOUS! I MEAN JUST YESTERDAY YOU VISITED A VILLAGE AND GOT 50 GIRLS TO JOIN! AND GUESS WHAT?!?! 5 OF THEM WERE SOMEHOW SECRET HIDDEN PRINCESSES!!! WTH! DO PRINCESSES GROW ON TREES OR SOMETHING?!?!? I MEAN HOW MANY ARE YOU PLANNING TO ADD TO YOUR HAREM?!?! THERE IS ALREADY 10,403 GIRLS THERE! AND SOMEHOW 1,582 OF THEM ARE FREAKIN’ PRINCESSES! DO SO MANY COUNTRIES EVEN EXIST?!?!?” Arisa screamed through mind transmission in futility. “Rest assured Arisa, I will make all 10,587 of them happy!” Satou assured with absolute confidence. “Ha...you don’t say...WAIT! WAIT A SEC!?!?! 10,587?!?! SINCE WHEN?!?! WHERE THE HELL DID 184 OF THEM JUST COME FROM?!?!” Arisa bellowed via mind transmission in utter shock. Ignoring the background noise, Satou stared at the sunset and swore. Yes, that OP Satou swore! That same Satou who can do ANYTHING swore! That he would make all 11,023 of them happy! “ARGH!!! WHEN?!?!?! HOW?!??! WHY?!?!? … ARGH! WHATEVA I GIVE UP!” Arisia roared via mind transmission in complete bafflement. Because OP Satou can do anything! ANYTHING! ~~~ “The end...” I say as I finish reading the light novel chapter to Shiro prior to bed. “Alright, time to go sleep, good night sweetie!” I bid my farewell for the night. Only to be grabbed by Shiro. “What’s wrong?” I ask. “Don’t go daddy! Stay with me...” she pleads in a trembling voice. “There is nothing to be afraid of sweetie… Daddy guarantees no boogie-man is gonna enter this household, so go get some sleep” I urge. “...will...the hero come?” she asks. “That’s right sweetie! The hero will come and chase the bad boogie-man away!” I assure. “HIIII!!!!” she screams and gets under the covers, then extends a trembling arm gripping my cloth will all her strength. “PLEASE DADDY! DON’T GO!” she cries while tears come out of her eyes. Ha? What in the world is going on here? “Ahmm...sweetie….what exactly do you find scary…can you tell daddy?” I inquire. “Nh..the hero...is scary” she mutters while shaking. Okaaaay…. “And why do you find the hero scary? Can you tell daddy?” I ask in puzzlement. “Nh...I-I h-heard the scary hero...c-comes to take away little girls c-calling them lolis to add to h-his harem...” she explains while completely trembling. Hmmm...it might just be my imagination...but somewhere, something may have gone a bit wrong… Nah...I am probably just over thinking things...when I was little, I also was scared of strange things...it is probably just a phase she is going through...kids and their odd imaginations… but more importantly...there is a serious issue I need to address. “Okay sweetie, I’ll stay with you till you fall asleep. Though can you do daddy a favor?” I request. “What is it?” she questions. “Can you not mention the word harem around mommy? Or something real scary will happen.” I respond. “S-Scarier than a hero?” she queries. “Yes, much scarier!” I insist. “O-Ok, I won’t say it to mommy...” she assures. Good, that should do it! As for the rest, what’s the worst that can happen? [2 years later] “I am home!” announces my wife as she enters the door. “Hey honey! How’s it been?” I inquire. “The same old same old you know” she responds. “Where is Shiro by the way?” she asks. “Ah, she is reading manga and light novels, she really loves the stuff” I explain. “No I do not!” screams Shiro from the neighboring room. Sigh...she is such a tsundere… “Then why are you reading them?” I respond in a teasing voice. “Cause I am trying to find all of the hero’s weaknesses! Duh! And when I grow up, I’ll become a demon lord and wipe out all the heroes in my dungeon! Muwahahahaha” Shiro boasts. “...you are not having her read anything strange are you?” asks my wife. “Of course not honey...I know better then that...she is just at that rebellious age..” I assure. “An 8 year old?” my wife asks while frowning her brow. “You know...kids...they think of the silliest things...” I explain. I mean what’s the worst that can happen?
Spoiler: Interlude #2 - Glory and honor is in the eyes of the beholder https://royalroadl.com/fiction/chapter/134013 Today has been-ith a great bounty! Thine-self and thine brethren have gloriously vanquished our foes and attained provisions. As we approach-ith our most sacred of dwellings, I seethe a most vile scene! My brozza from another mozza has been-th viciously stabbed to death by the most vicious of creatures! My brozza who wouldn’t even hurt-ith a fly was murdered-th ruthlessly and cowardly! Blast the monster! Me and my brethren shall embark-th on a righteous holy crusade to seek-th retribution against the vile creature! We surround-th the vilest of creatures and bare-th our mighty weapons against its vile horrid presence. My most bravest of the brethren rushes-th to put and end to this vile creature, with a righteous and valiant charge! But the vile cowardly creature fleas-th and assaults-th thee ozzer brozza in the most cowardly of ways! What cowardliness! While injuring my honored brother, he courageously attacks-th back at the vile cowardly monster, only for the cowardly vile creature to avoids-th his righteous glorious blow and like a coward the vile creature claws-th into his belly. How vicious this vile creature is! But this vicious cowardly vile creature was not satisfied-th just yet! It hopped-th on my brozza and tore-th through his neck unjustly killing-th my brozza! Has thee no mercy?!?! This vicious vile creature’s transgressions can not stand-th! And I stand-th for it no longer! Thine honored self charges at the cowardly vicious vile creature and injure its arm, only for the cowardly vile creature to flee-th yet again, assaulting-th another of my brethren! What cowardliness! And like that, another of my honored and courageous brethren fell-th, as the vicious cowardly vile creature shred-th through his eyes! Does thy viciousness and cowardliness know no bounds-th vile creature? While Thine was shocked-th by the overall hatefulness of the creature, one of my honored brethren attempted-th to vanquish its evil presence. But the vicious vile creature quickly countered-th and my honored righteous brozza only managed to knock-th the vile creature over! My honorary righteous brozza attempts-th to finish off the hateful creature only for the cowardly creature to exploit-th him and cowardly attack him in the eye! Thine could take-th it no longer and I assaulted the vicious creature pushing-th it down, only for it again to cowardly escape-th and murdering-th yet another of my brethren in the most cowardly of ways! The vicious cowardly hateful vile creature then charges straight at me and assaults-th me in my eye and flings me into my last remaining brethren. You have taken 329 damage. You are critically injured and severely bleeding When I come-th to barely standing up, I notice the vicious cowardly hateful vile creature has ended the last of my brethren! And my glorious self has been-th critically injured! But gods have-th mercy! The vicious cowardly hateful vile creature has collapsed-th on the floor and is unable to move! I move towards the hateful evil creature and with the last-th of my glorious strength, I prepare-th the final blow to end this monstrosity! Thine has avenged you my brethren! Even if thine shall join-th you and my ancestors in Valhalla, thine will take-th thee vile creature with me! Or so I swear-th in the name of Von Zon Allon Don Ron Zekaron Shon van Dan Jen Mellaren the 32nd Junior Of Vaizaron! As I move-th my glorious righteous hand to finish it off! You have died due to excessive bleeding. … [Non-Canon] “So you wish to enter Valhalla based on the glorious battle you have fought?” said the mighty existence standing before thine. “But of course! Tis was a glorious battle of valor!” I affirm in confidence. “Let us see here … * click * click * click * … According to our records, you and 5 of your brothers... surrounded and mercilessly attacked a level 1 little girl?” the might existence inquired while frowning his brow. “But tis was vile and vicious!” Thine insisted! “You don’t say...” the might existence replied in a dismissive voice. “Next applicant!” he then shouted.