《Crimson Pervert》


 Chapter 1: The Crimson Pervert enters the Stage

    Author¡¯s note:


    Hello, just want to drop a few lines before diving straight into this novel.


    First and foremost: This novel is heavily inspired by the ¡°Death March¡± web novel. It is one of my favourite ¡°Overpowered MC in RPG-World builds Harem¡± novels, even though there are some things wrong with it (in my opinion). So I decided to just forfeit pretending to have come up with something myself and just declare this a homage or whatever you want to call it.


    The initial setup is similar, but I use my own characters and storyline. I will explain the game functions (which are comparable to the ¡°original¡±, but differ slightly). So no need for you to read ¡°Death March¡± to understand this work, although I recommend reading it because it is fun.


    The main difference will be main character. No offence, but I seriously can¡¯t relate to the (seemingly) typical Japanese male, who gets flustered about every sexual advance from a female and tries ¡°not to stand out¡± or ¡°cause trouble¡± above everything else.


    PS: Me starting this novel does not mean that I abandoned my other novel. I just have a serious writer¡¯s block right now regarding some developments.


    Chapter 1:


    Markus opened his eyes and looked around. The first thing that came into view was a huge, floating blue-ish ball on a black background. Tiny clouds could be seen slowly passing over the surface and a thin layer of gas spread out over the edges. An atmosphere? Was this Earth as seen from space?


    After a few seconds his eyes had adjusted to the lighting conditions and Markus could make out stars on the black background. A staggering amount of them. More than he had ever seen, even during the camping trip in the mountains the night sky did not look as impressive as just now.


    ¡°What a strange dream¡­¡± Markus never had a lucid dream before, but he was strangely aware of the situation right now. He could think clearly, had access to his memories, unlike during any other dream he could remember.


    When he tried moving all that happened was his arms and legs making motions, but his torso did not really change its position. When he stopped moving, he had achieved sending his body into a slow rotation though.


    After several tens of seconds his body had rotated enough for Markus to take a look behind him. The sun came into view. While it was definitely blindingly bright and unpleasant to look at, it did not hurt his eyes. Thinking about it, he could breathe just fine, he was not freezing and his blood vessels weren¡¯t exploding, even though he was obviously in space. So it had to be a dream. Pinching his arm did not hurt either.


    ¡°Ya-Halloooo~¡­¡± Suddenly a high-pitched voice could be heard that made Markus involuntarily flinch.


    ¡°I see that you are awake, Markus. I am Helena-chan desu. Yoroshikun!¡± Looking around, Markus spotted a girl above him, at least from his current position. She was wearing a white summer dress and smiling brightly at him. Her hair was falling over her shoulders, as if it was affected by some sort of gravity.


    ¡°Welcome to my world. I am sure you will do just fine here. I even put some starter gear into your inventory!¡± The girl floated to the front of Markus and her face was now in front of his, just upside down. She was still smiling brightly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really understand what is going on. This is a dream, right?¡± Markus tried to make some sense of this unreasonable situation.


    ¡°Ah, I see you are going with the standard question. Well, I¡¯d say find that out for yourself. Don¡¯t be too reckless though.¡± While talking, she extended her hand towards Markus¡¯ shoulder.


    ¡°And don¡¯t worry, you are protected from any harm until you reach the ground. And I suggest you find a village or settlement as soon as possible, otherwise it will be hard for you in the long run. Yosh!¡± she said so while turning his body around until he faced the planet in front of him again.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Markus was still confused. This dream was getting weirder by the second. As expected of a dream though.


    ¡°Just use the map function¡­ The area of your impact should not be too far away from other people. Although it is a bit of a gamble. You could call that a ¡®random spawn location¡¯ I suppose. Fufufu¡±


    With a weird laugh, the girl gave Markus a strong push and he flew towards Earth at an incredibly high speed.


    There was no air pressure, so he did not exactly feel the movement, but he could see the planet become visibly larger in front of him. The sight was spectacular and with the surface soon the only sight in front of him, he noticed one detail ¨C this was not the Earth he knew. The landmass did not match any part of the world he knew.


    Markus did not have much time to ponder on this for long, after a few short minutes he approached the outer layer of the atmosphere. The ever thickening air started create friction on his body and soon an orange glow spread from his hands. He should be burning up like an asteroid, but he did not feel any heat or pain.


    He tried to spread out his arms and legs to control the airflow, but this just brought an unbalance. This proved to be a mistake. His body became unstable in the air and he started to violently spin around. Earth, sky, sun, earth, sky, sun ¨C the scene in front of his eyes changed several times per second. When he finally gained back control over the situation, he was feeling dizzy and about to break through the clouds.


    After a brief moment of foggy whiteness, he saw the details of the surface he was rapidly approaching. A mountain range, surrounded by lush forests. Markus could make out a river winding through the forest, then focused on the area where he was about to land ¨C or make his impact, as the Helena girl had put it.


    He was rapidly falling towards the central mountain. Through the glowing air that spread out from his body he could make out a plateau near the peak of the mountain with a huge brown rock in the centre of it. While Markus got closer, the rock suddenly raised its head and spread its wings.


    ¡°Huaahh!¡± As soon as he noticed what he was approaching, Markus made a splendid impact right into the upper belly of the dragon. With an ear-drum-shattering mix of ¡°Crack!¡± and ¡°Sploosh¡± his whole body became engulfed in hot dragon tissue. Just a split second afterwards a thundering sound that was even louder was heard. Markus had been travelling at several times the speed of sound, so he himself did not hear the terrible noise he was making while falling through the sky until now.


    He did feel the impact, but not in any unpleasant way. No pain, no feeling of suffocation and his internal organs seemed to have coped with being decelerated from mach 10 to zero within the glimpse of a moment just fine.


    Markus could see nothing at all, but the sounds around him were somewhat startling. He tried turning around. It was hard to get a foothold on something solid. Most of the tissue around him was mushy and did not seem to be attached to anything anymore.


    While swimming around in the hot mud, suddenly the gravity around him changed direction, then a loud ¡°thump¡± could be heard. The dragon seemed to have collapsed. Some time after that, Markus finally dug his way out of the dragon¡¯s body.


    ¡°This is definitely the most absurd and awesome dream ever¡± Markus was mumbling to himself while pulling himself out of the hole in the dragons chest. The beast was massive, at least the size of a small commercial airliner. Markus could tell just from the distance to the ground. It was a good four meters, not a distance he was comfortable to casually jump down.


    Well, he did just fall from space though, so this much shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Feeling brave, Markus pulled his legs out of the dragon and pushed himself off the dragon with his feet.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Unfortunately, everything was covered in slippery gore, so he lost his traction and fell down to the ground like an idiot. Making one and a half rotations in the air, he fell flat on his face.


    The moment he touched the ground, he felt a weird sensation. The dragon¡¯s blood on his skin suddenly felt much ¡°more real¡±, for lack of a better word. When before it was just giving off a lingering heat, now it felt sticky and tickling while running down his body. Gross!


    Markus heard a rumbling sound coming from the dragon and when he looked back, the chest of the dragon visibly deflated a bit. Then a torrent of blood and gore came out of the hole on its chest.


    Sitting directly beneath it, Markus was completely showered in it.


    ¡°Uahhh!¡± he held his hand to his eyes. He got a lot of it into his eyes and they were burning like hell.


    ¡°STOPPPPP!!! I cannot take it anymore! Muahahahahah!¡±


    Suddenly a familiar voice came shouting from right next to him. It took him a few seconds to clear his eyes from most of the grime, but when he looked to the direction of the laughter, he found the little girl from before ¨C Helena¡­-chan ¨C laughing her ass off just a few metres next to him.


    ¡°That was the best slapstick I have ever seen, really¡­ Muhahahaha¡± the girl was literally rolling on the floor laughing, while holding her belly. Markus vision was still blurry, but he could see tears coming from her eyes from the laughter.


    ¡°Hey, that was seriously not funny. I really thought I would go blind there¡­¡± While starting to realize the grave implications that he could actually feel the pain during his supposed dream, he heard a different sound ¨C coming from right inside his head.


    ¡°Pling¡±


    Then a message window plopped up in his vision.


    [Legendary enemy ¡°Barroth the Supreme Dragon Lord¡± has been slain!


    For defeating an enemy considerably stronger than you, gained XP has been increased.


    3,345,500 XP gained.]


    The box came with an [OK] button at the bottom. Markus focused on it while wanting to push the button, a ¡®click¡¯ sound was heard and the message window disappeared.


    ¡°Pling¡±


    [New title: Dragonslayer]


    ¡°Pling¡±


    [New title: Vanquisher of the Dragon Lord


    For defeating a legendary beast that held strong power over the fire element, you have acquired a portion of its power. Your control over the fire element has greatly increased. Your control over the other elements has increased.]


    ¡°Pling¡±


    [New title: Crimson Pervert


    The despicable act of showering naked in the fresh blood of a legendary foe has strengthened your body. Effects of the blood of the Dragon Lord:


    Resistance to harmful magic +100


    Resistance to physical damage +100]


    ¡°Pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pl-pling!¡±


    The sound of an enourmous amount of messages plopping up at once reverberated in Markus¡¯ head.


    [You have gained a level!


    Status Points +10


    Skill Points + 10]


    Luckily he only had to close the most recent window.


    Markus looked towards the girl, who was still on the ground while chuckling.


    ¡°Hey, what the hell just happened? Did you hold some grudge against that dragon?¡± He understood that he was shot into that guy like some human-orbital-kinetic weapon system.


    ¡°Fufufu¡­. No, don¡¯t misunderstand. You landing here was pure chance. But it was really amazing. Hontoni sugoi!¡± Helena sat up und wiped the tears out of her eyes.


    ¡°So you are trying to tell me that you had no intention to shoot me into that fellow?¡±


    ¡°Yes, exactly. I just pushed you towards this kingdom here. Well, it was possible that you might end up somewhere near these mountains, but there was like a 100 kilometre margin, so I did not expect you to actually get anywhere close. You started tumbling already in the upper stratosphere, remember? There was no way I could calculate that far. Fufufu¡± She was still smiling brightly and chuckling.


    ¡°It was the most amazing landing I have ever witnessed, really. You rotating in the sky was already a bit funny, but actually crashing into the strongest living being was just beyond anything I have ever seen. Not only that, but you actually penetrated his defence and destroyed its heart. But even then¡­. Fufufufu¡­ you slipped out of him like an idiot and then got showered in blood while looking straight into it like an even greater idiot. This will be the all-time-favourite landing ever possible¡­. And now you sit there like an oversized used tampon¡­ hahahahaha!!!¡± The girl was back on the floor and rolling around laughing.


    Markus felt the urge to strangle her, just for a little bit. He was also concerned that this dream was feeling so real, despite the fact that everything happening was so absurd. His eyes were still burning and when he pinched his arm again, it hurt, at least a little bit.


    Well, those messages were mostly positive at least. Apart from the strange ¡®title¡¯ he had gained, [Crimson Pervert], it felt like he had instantly gained some considerable power. Dream or not, this seemed to be a positive development.


    ¡°But¡­ you seem to have received a considerable strength by killing that dragon. Let me repeat it, this guy has been the strongest entity living on this planet. It did not do anything apart from terrorizing whatever region it decided to settle in, so it won¡¯t have any major implications, but¡­. You seem to have absorbed some of its power and levelled up considerably.¡± For the first time since Markus met her, the girl was making a somewhat troubled face.


    ¡°Well, not that I can do anything about it, or even want to.¡± With that, she smiled at Markus again.


    ¡°I might have misunderstood, but aren¡¯t you some kind of god? You said that this is ¡°your world¡±, right?¡±


    ¡°More like Chairman of the Board of Gods, but that¡¯s basically true. I have sealed my powers on this planet though. I don¡¯t want to interfere. Look¡± The Helena-girl walked to the corpse of the dragon and slapped her hand against the body. At least that was what it looked like at first, in fact her hand just went through the corpse like she was some kind of ghost.


    ¡°My body is not materialized here. Other beings cannot even perceive me, unless I want them to. I was planning to give you some guidance, in case you ended up in the middle of nowhere, but I don¡¯t think that will be necessary. You won¡¯t really be in danger of dying even if I leave you alone now. See ya!¡±


    After saying that, her body became transparent and finally vanished completely, leaving Markus behind.


    Alone, Markus thought about the unreal development that just happened. A little girl, claiming to be a god, threw him from space, he accidentally used a legendary dragon as a living air-bag and killed it. Now he was sitting on a mountaintop in the middle of nowhere, showered in dragon-blood and naked. On top of that, this world was built like an RPG and the system had already labelled him as a ¡®Crimson Pervert¡¯, among other things. No matter how he felt, this had to be a weird dream.


    ¡°Ahhh, Onii-chan¡± suddenly the girl¡¯s voice made him flinch again. And what was up with her pseudo-japanese way of talking? Neither of them were Asian. It made even Markus feel offended and he was European.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to spend the stat points from your level ups. Otherwise you are about as weak as anyone else.¡±


    Before he could say anything, the girl was gone again.

 Chapter 2: High Seat of the Dragon Lord

    AN: Lots of system explaination at the beginning. It might get confusing later on if you skip it, so please bear with me. The latter part of the chapter has some more vivid and hopefully interesting action to compensate for it.


    Chapter 2:


    Markus decided that there was no reason not to go with the girl¡¯s advice. If this was a dream, it was his own consciousness giving him hints and on the off-chance that this was real, it was even more important advice from some - albeit self-proclaimed - goddess.


    He had interacted with the previous message windows using his thoughts and will and he had played enough video games to know that there should be some sort of status screen in any serious RPG.


    Markus strongly envisioned a ¡®character screen¡¯ and wished for it to open up. Almost immediately, his view changed into something he already seen in many different variations.


    A Game Menu was showing up in front of him, displaying the character details. On top of the menu there were several ¡®tabs¡¯, indicating that there was more to it than just the character information.


    [Log] [Character] [Skills] [Spells] [Map] [Inventory] [Notes] [Interface]


    Markus decided to take a look at every one of the screens before doing anything.


    The [Log] screen displayed everything that had happened until now, from the dialogue he had with the Helena-girl, over the damage he caused to the dragon to the titles and bonuses he had gained.


    It seemed like he could even copy the text and enter it into a [Note]. There weren¡¯t any notes until now, so Markus created one and pasted the complete log into it to test it out. Maybe what the girl said to him was of some interest at some point in the future.


    Next he looked into the [Skills]. It was just empty and so was the [Spells] tab. Very disappointing.


    The [Map] screen was interesting though. Not only did it show his immediate surroundings, Markus could also zoom out and look at the whole area he was in. This map function was already a cheat skill by itself. Left of the actual map screen there were several buttons to toggle information. Enemy, neutral, friendly, structures, roads, he could toggle everything on or off as he liked. On top of that there was even a [Search] field.


    The inventory actually contained some items, certainly the starter gear Helena had been talking about.


    [Leather shoes], [Simple shirt], [Simple trousers], [Sheathed Iron Dagger] and several [Magic Scrolls]. Each item was listed separately and there were sort and search buttons similar to the map screen. When Markus focused on the shoes, an information window opened up.


    [Leather shoes


    Simple shoes made of leather from some animal. Purely functional and of average quality. Clean and unused.]


    Definitely starter gear, nothing special whatsoever. The remaining items were similarly unremarkable.


    When Markus wished for the dagger to be pulled out from the inventory, it suddenly appeared in his hand. Reversely, when he wanted to put it back into the storage, it vanished from his hand and appeared in the item list again.


    He certainly wanted to wear the clothing, but the ¡®clean¡¯ part in the description painfully reminded him of the fact that he certainly wasn¡¯t clean right now. Not wanting to dirty the only clothing he had for now, he decided to first try to wash himself somewhat or at least wait for the dragon¡¯s blood to dry.


    The [Magic Scrolls] numbered three. When he focused on the name, a sub menu opened up, showing the different kinds of scrolls.


    [Fire Ball], [Ice Shard], [Magic Torch].


    Markus pulled the Fire Ball scroll from the inventory. After opening it, something like a magic circle could be seen drawn all over the inside of the scroll, surrounded by strange runes. He could neither read the runes nor had he any knowledge of the seemingly occult drawing, but he just ¡®knew¡¯ that pouring magic power into this scroll would result in some sort of magic to be unleashed.


    Not wanting to waste the scroll for nothing, he put it back into the inventory.


    Next he picked up a rock from the ground. It vanished and appeared in the inventory list as he wanted.


    [Rock


    A fist sized rock. Unknown mineral.]


    He put a few similar rocks into the inventory and they stacked like the scrolls.


    The only other thing of interest on this plateau was the huge corpse of the dead dragon. Markus held his hand against the corpse and tried to add it to the inventory. It vanished and appeared on the inventory list like everything else, leaving behind only a large pool of blood, gore and broken dragon scales. What a truly ridiculous ability.


    Another interesting menu point was [Interface]. Markus could toggle the display of various parts of the interface straight into his normal view so they were still showing with the menu closed. Even when pulling the windows far into his peripheral vision he could still clearly make out all the information displayed.


    He toggled the log to be always showing, excluding dialogue. He also added a small version of the map to show his immediate surroundings and kept his Mana, Stamina and Life Force values to be always showing. On that occasion he noticed that his ¡°life¡± was displayed in percent, without any HP values.


    Finally, Markus opened the [Character] screen.


    [Name: Markus


    Age: 16


    Level: 258


    XP: 5900/25900


    Life Force: 100%


    Titles: Dragonslayer, Vanquisher of the Dragon Lord, Crimson Pervert


    Strength: 2


    Resilience: 2


    Agility: 2


    Intelligence: 2


    Wisdom: 2


    Derived Stats:


    Mana: 4


    Stamina: 4


    Magic Resistance: 126


    Physical Resistance: 126


    Status Points available: 2570]


    ¡°Age 16? Are you kidding me?¡± Markus was already 34. As a woman 16 might be a desirable age, but for Markus 16 did not sound very tempting. In fact he was glad once he was growing a full beard well in his 20s and people finally started taking him seriously. He did not have a mirror available right now, but he was hoping that this was some kind of mistake.


    Pondering over the stats, Markus discovered that focusing on the different stats opened up a short description of the effect. Before spending points he may not be able to relocate, he decided to check each stat.


    [Level: Adds to physical and magical resistance]


    [Life Force: Current remaining physical and mental health. Cannot be raised. When this value drops to 0%, the character dies.]


    [Strength: Physical power. Also adds to stamina pool.]


    [Resilience: Ability to withstand physical and magical damage and harmful effects (resistance). Also adds to stamina pool and recovery rate.]


    [Agility: Physical reaction speed. Also adds to spatial awareness and general body control.]


    [Intelligence: Determines maximum strength of spells. Also adds to mana pool.]


    [Wisdom: Determines mana recovery rate. Also adds to mana pool.]


    Doing a quick run around the plateau, jumping like an idiot and throwing stones, Markus tried to establish something like a benchmark of his physical abilities. He also did some random multiplications and memory tests to find out if intelligence helped him thinking. Doing all this naked made him feel like he was living up to his title as Crimson Pervert.


    He then raised his strength, agility, intelligence and wisdom to 550 each, then put the remaining points into resilience.


    Finally his stats looked like this:


    [Strength: 550


    Resilience: 370


    Agility: 550


    Intelligence: 550


    Wisdom: 550


    Derived Stats:


    Mana: 1100


    Stamina: 920


    Magic Resistance: 162.8


    Physical Resistance: 162.8


    Status Points available: 0]


    Repeating his ¡®workout¡¯ Markus found his physical abilities vastly improved. He could easily jump for a couple of metres, break into a superhuman sprint and rotate his body in the air while still somehow landing on his feet. All this didn¡¯t even cause him to sweat. His stamina dropped a few points over the course of around 20 minutes, but those points were recovered in less than a minute. The stone he threw flew for at least a hundred metres, when before it barely reached the edge of the plateau.


    While doing the more artistic parts of his physical workout, a message showed up in the combat log.


    [Skill: Acrobatics] gained.


    Unfortunately, his mental capabilities did not improve nearly as much. Markus did not really worry about it though, he was confident in his natural intellect. At least he was above average in his normal life.


    After confirming that much, he opened up the [Skill] window and took a look at his newly acquired [Acrobatics] skill. On top of the screen he found his current skill points, currently 2580. Below was the description of his first and currently only acquired skill, with its current skill level at 0.


    [Acrobatics: Skill in executing seemingly body-breaking gymnastics.]


    Markus decided to check the consumption of his stat points using this skill. Carefully raising the skill one level at a time, he figured out that the first 5 levels cost 1 skill point each, while the next 5 cost him 2 points each, for a total of 15. At level 10 the skill had maxed out.


    Confirming his new ability by casually doing some backflips, breakdance moves and running around while jumping and doing some saltos, Markus decided to finish his performance by landing in a full split after a double salto, which was a big mistake. His body could move like he wanted, but he was lacking the actual life experience and still a male, plus naked at that. He perceived the imminent crisis shortly before impacting on the ground, but his hastily outstretched arms could only do so much to cushion the blow to his scrotum.


    While cringing on the ground and hoping that the Helena-girl was currently stalking someone else, he read in the log that the actual damage had been negated by his physical resistance. It still hurt a lot.


    After collecting himself and his dignity, Markus opened the map function. He was currently in the middle of nowhere on top of a mountain, smeared in blood. His first objective should be cleaning himself, then getting to somewhere with other people.


    The map was awesome to the point that it would take a chunk of the exploration fun out of any game coming with this wealth of information from the start.


    Markus first toggled the map markers for enemies and an overwhelmingly large amount of red dots showed up on the map, covering nearly all parts of the region. He adjusted the level strength of the enemies to only show those of level 2 and above, making most of the points disappear again.


    Neutral beings were far fewer in numbers, only numbering a few dozen up in the far north, near the edge of the map. There was also a group of moving dots heading south from that location. Friendlies were absent altogether.


    Turning on roads and points of interest, Markus discovered that there were several paths mostly going from the southwest to the north. He himself was currently on the mountains towards the southeast. The area he was in was separated from the rest of the map by a meandering river.


    Along the roads were several markers, showing [Willsden Village (destroyed)], [Allistor Farmstead (destroyed)], [Brookside Settlement (destroyed)] and some similar markers, indicating settlements that were abandoned or destroyed.


    The neutral indicators were concentrated between two markers, [Springkeep] and [Springkeep Village]


    What struck Markus¡¯ immediate interest was a marker close to him, named [High Seat of the Supreme Dragon Lord]. It was a little up the mountain, on the other side of the nearby peak and not on the plateau he was standing on right now. Checking the place out while he was close could not hurt.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    The area was larger and harder to access than the map indicated, but with his new athletic abilities it was fairly easy for Markus to reach the point indicated on the map. Soon he found himself in front of a huge cave entrance. Claw marks and other unnatural looking signs showed that this place was dug out but the dragon itself, probably as some kind of nest or hort. Markus felt an eerie feeling trespassing into this monster¡¯s territory, although the beast was already dead.


    When he entered the cave, the minimap switched to a view of the cave¡¯s interior. Opening the large map, he could see no other indicators but a single red dot a bit into the cave. The cave went into the mountain for a bit, than forked into two ¡®branches¡¯. One ended in a large oval space, the other, slightly smaller one had several round rooms at its end, one of them containing the red dot.


    Pulling the iron dagger from his inventory, Markus decided to check in on the enemy first.


    Getting deeper into the cave, a strong smell assaulted his nose. It was a mix of sulphur and something rotting away. The smell intensified the further he went, making Markus feel nauseous.


    It was also getting darker and darker, making Markus strain his eyes to be able to see the path ahead.


    [Skill: Low-Light Vision] gained.


    The message popped up in the log and Markus immediately levelled the skill up to the maximum. His vision was slightly grainy and mostly devoid of colour, not that the cave was very colourful, but he could now see everything ahead without any problems.


    Close to the end of the cave, Markus could hear a faint scratching and ripping sound. Taking a look into the empty room to the left of him, Markus saw a pile of various bones. There all kinds of species, known and unknown to him, but most of them looked like domestic animals. He could make out the fractured skull of what must have been a fairly sizeable bull and some goat remains. All of the bones had been picked mostly clean, but the remaining pieces of flesh and marrow seemed to be the main source of the rotting smell wafting from this area.


    Finally Markus saw who, or better what, was making the noise he was hearing since some time ago. A dragon, tiny compared to the one earlier, but resembling it and well over two meters from head to scaled tail. It was sitting on the ground, its four clawed limbs resting on the side of its body and its undersized wings folded on its back. Even lying down it was half as tall as Markus himself.


    The small dragon was ripping apart the half-eaten carcass of what seemed to have been a cow at some point, causing the noises.


    Markus tightened the grip on the dagger he held in his right hand. While pondering whether to attack while having the advantage of the first strike or turn around and leave the dragon alone, the beast suddenly raised its slender neck and turned its head towards Markus.


    Why it suddenly noticed his presence was a mystery for future generations to solve, perhaps it was the smell of its parent¡¯s blood coming from him.


    Letting out a piercing scream that was amplified by the echo within the cave, the dragon got up and charged towards Markus. Lunging its head forward, it snapped at him with its large maw.


    Markus was no easy prey though, and he jumped backwards, evading the attack.


    [Skill: Combat Evasion] gained.


    Markus immediately opened the menu and maxed out the new skill. The dragon closed the distance and repeated its attack. This time Markus dashed low to the right, took a roll over floor and got up immediately next to the dragon. Being close enough for an attack, he took a swing at the dragon¡¯s flank with his dagger.


    A scratching sound emerged, but there was no major damage to the small dragon¡¯s scales. In fact, a glimpse at his weapon told him that he had only managed to dull the edge of his dagger with this attack. The natural armour of this monster was no joke at all.


    Regretting his decision to seek out this beast, Markus evaded the next attack of the dragon with a roll backwards. The dragon seemed frustrated with its nimble opponent that evaded both its attacks so far.


    It stopped attacking and glared at Markus with its snake-like eyes. Markus returned its glare, pondering his options to attack.


    While staring at the reptile, a small window popped up underneath it.


    [Bronze Dragon (infant)


    Level 20


    Health 100%]


    For a short moment Markus was glad that none of the dragon¡¯s older siblings were around. If this was only an infant, he certainly did not want to meet any of them.


    The dragon seemed to have made up its mind and attacked again. This time it jumped at Markus like a cat trying to catch a small prey. Markus side-stepped its attack and followed with a kick to the dragon¡¯s shoulder.


    With a small thumping noise, the dragon¡¯s body was pushed away half a meter, breaking its stance. Markus closed the distance and delivered a punch with his right fist that was still holding the dagger.


    Aiming at the same spot he kicked before, a small cracking noise was heard when he broke several of the dragon¡¯s scales and the beast screamed out in pain.


    [Skill: Unarmed Melee] gained.


    Markus jumped back a few meters, then opened the menu and maxed out the unarmed skill as well. The earlier blows seemed to have had an effect on the dragon, its health had fallen to 92% and while it turned around towards him, it looked like it was slightly limping by now.


    The injury did not stop the beast from attacking him again, as it rushed towards Markus once more. Evading by stepping to the side again, Markus prepared to deliver another kick. Before he could launch his counter, he was hit by the dragon¡¯s tail and flung away for a few meters.


    The attack did not cause any physical damage, although it was painful. The dragon seemed to have anticipated Markus evading and was prepared to hit him with an unexpected attack. For being an infant, a dragon¡¯s intellect seemed to be far above what Markus would have thought.


    After pushing Markus away, the dragon immediately jumped at him once more, trying to exploit the situation in which he had to stand up. Due to his body control, Markus managed to roll into a position in which he was prepared to evade or attack immediately though. Before the dragon reached him, Markus jumped up and delivered a hard blow with his knee to the dragons jaw, pushing its head to the side. When the dragon turned his head towards him again, he followed up with a stab of the dagger towards its eye, avoiding the armoured scales.


    The blade was buried inside its head to the hilt.


    [Skill: Daggers] gained.


    [Skill: Critical Attacks] gained.


    The body of the dragon went limp in an instant. Apparently, the blade had severed or destroyed something important inside its head, probably its brain.


    Confirming that the health of the monster had dropped to 0%, Markus pulled the dagger out of its skull. The edge on one side was chipped and dull and the tip had been bent in the most recent attack. He put the damaged weapon into his inventory, then took a look around his surroundings.


    Apart from the meal the dragon had been in the process of devouring, there were several dead and blood-stained goats in the corner of the room. Judging from the smell, they did not look fit for human consumption, even if properly cooked.


    Markus put the corpse of the infant dragon into his inventory and went to check out the last room at this end of the cave.


    The final cave around the corner contained a bunch of giant eggs. They were spotted and a bit taller than Markus. There were half a dozen giant, unhatched eggs, and a few broken shells. Apparently dragons did not stick around for long after hatching, otherwise there should have been more juveniles around.


    Markus stashed the unhatched eggs and empty away in his inventory before turning around and heading towards the large space at the other end of the cave system.


    On his way Markus maxed out the [Critical Attacks] skill and raised the skill with daggers to level 5. He was not a big fan of those weapons in games and it was the only weapon he had right now, but he did not want to waste skill points needlessly.


    The last room was most likely the personal ¡®bedroom¡¯ of the defeated dragon lord. A small opening in the high ceiling shone some light into the room, or rather hall. It was vaguely circular and was about 50 or even more meters in diameter. On the far end Markus could make out a sparkling pile of items.


    What caught his attention was a large pile of remains near the entrance of the room though, mostly because of its smell. There were some domestic animals like before, but there were clearly some human bones mixed into it as well. Why a somewhat intelligent being would keep something disgusting as this near its sleeping spot was a mystery for Markus.


    He tried to ignore the heap of bones and gore as best as he could, then went towards the treasures at the other end of the cave.


    In line with what he knew from all fantasy settings he had encountered so far, dragons seemed to be in love with shiny things. There were all sorts of, mostly golden, items piled up. Coins, nuggets of precious metal, jewellery, even weapons and armour. Some were damaged, other items were in more or less pristine conditions. It looked like the items were a mix of loot and offerings. Perhaps someone had tried to appease the dragon by offering up items it liked willingly.


    Like a vacuum cleaner, Markus pulled everything into his inventory without caring too much about what exactly he was picking up. He would check the loot in detail later, for now he just wanted to get out of this smelly area.


    Making sure he did not leave anything of value behind, Markus inspected the cave one last time before heading outside again. Using the map to confirm that there were no hidden rooms or other things of interest, he stood at the cave entrance overlooking the area in front of him.


    When he stepped outside the cave again, the map changed to the familiar overview of the area surrounding the mountain range. Now that he had entered the cave before, he could switch back and forth between the two maps on the menu screen.


    The next point of interest, a destroyed settlement, was quite far in the distance, so Markus decided to head straight towards the river first. He wanted to wash himself quite badly and finally put on some clothes.


    Making use of his superb body control, he jumped and ran down the mountain in nearly no time without straining himself too much. When he arrived at the foot of the mountain, he noticed an empty feeling from his stomach and encroaching hunger.


    Looking at the map, he searched for some edible animal. The remains in the cave looked familiar to him, at least in part, so he used the search box and entered ¡°cow¡±. Immediately most of the moving red and yellow markers on the map vanished, leaving only a few yellow dots, which were mostly concentrated in the north at the settlement that had not been labelled as (destroyed).


    Changing ¡°cow¡± to ¡°boar¡±, a couple of red dots showed up near him. Picking the one closest to him, Markus walked into the forest at the foot of the mountain, heading towards his prey.

 Chapter 3: Walking through the Woods and Playing with Fire

    AN: Finishing this chapter, I think the mechanics have been sufficiently established. What is left now is filling the story with action and fun. If anyone would like to see certain events or characters, inspired by "Death March" or not, feel free to make suggestions (although naturally I can''t promise to implement every idea).


    Chapter 3:


    The boar Markus had singled out as his target was a kilometre or so away, so he took a look at his inventory while walking towards it.


    He toggled the inventory screen to show on his vision using the [Interface] sub menu and adjusted the frame so he could walk and manipulate the screen without bumping into things.


    It was a mixed forest, with only some needle trees and shrubbery blocking certain parts. For the most part, it was comfortable walk among the trees. Fallen trunks and broken branches littered the floor, distinguishing this wild forest from the commercially used ones Marcus knew from modern Earth.


    While walking, he started sorting the items he had looted from the dragon¡¯s hort. Unfortunately, the inventory screen was not as comfortable as the map. He could only search for words within the item descriptions and create categories.


    Markus made three categories for now: [Equipment], [Valuables] and [Other]


    Going through the list, he sorted the items into their respective sub-folders. Most of the stuff he had picked up were valuables: coins, chunks of precious metal, gems or decorative accessories, like silver bracelets, crowns and the like.


    Some of the items caught his interest. There was a large sword, made for two handed use, which had a gilded hilt and a sturdy blade. While looking ceremonial, it was clearly a well-made item suitable for being used in combat. There was also a full plate armour made of shining metal with ornaments, but it was dented and the headpiece was completely crushed. Markus took a glimpse inside and spotted some dried blood and chunks of something, so he suspected that this set once belonged to a brave knight who challenged the dragon but got killed in the process.


    Other, similarly damaged equipment made up most of the wearable items.


    There was also a dagger with a blade made of nearly transparent crystal that somehow looked magical. It had a large red gem embedded in its hilt and was unusually cold to the touch.


    [Chrystal Dagger


    A mysterious dagger with a blade made of an unknown mineral. The silver hilt has runes carved into it and features a facetted, red gem.]


    The description was vague. Markus figured that the system was only telling him things that he would also know by looking at the item in question. If he had more information, it might show up in the item description.


    Apart from these items there were also some things like a chest and linen bags mixed into it, which had contained coins or gems. Markus put those items into the [Other] category, along with the corpses.


    While walking, he occasionally picked up some unusually straight branches, dry wood and interesting plants and put them into his inventory as well. As he did not have to actually carry the weight, it would not matter if he never had any use for them. He also wanted to know if his storage could conserve items like plants, or if they would wither over time.


    He also tried to put a small snake into his inventory but failed. After he killed it, he could stow it away just fine. A rather large beetle was put away with no problem even while alive. Markus quickly released the beetle again after testing it out. In case his inventory was some sort of room in a different dimension, he did not want to release potential pests into it. Further testing was needed before doing anything unreasonable.


    When he was finished sorting through his inventory, he had nearly reached the place where the boar was currently at. He started to walk quietly in order to not scare it away and gained a [Sneaking] skill, which he maxed out.


    Finally he made visual contact. The boar did not run away from Markus after spotting him and instead started charging.


    [Wild Boar


    Level 5


    Health 100%]


    After his fight with the young dragon Markus was not overly worried about getting hurt here. The charge of the boar could not be as hard as being hit by the dragon¡¯s armoured tail and that attack didn¡¯t even leave a scratch on him.


    He stood still and waited for the boar to come close, readying his fist to deliver a blow. When the animal was within reach, he gave it a horizontal swing using all his power, hitting closely behind its head.


    The impact was tremendous. His fist broke the thick hide and send blood spraying into the forest air, leaving behind a misty fog. A cracking sound simultaneously indicated the breaking of several bones within the boar. The beast was sent flying and grazed a nearby tree, sending it into a violent spin.


    Still rotating, the body hit a large tree several meters away, where it half exploded. The belly burst open and guts came spilling out while the tree was visibly shaking, making branches and leaves rain down from the canopy.


    Somewhat doubting that this boar could still be salvaged for meat, Markus went to collect the corpse anyway. He then went towards the next closest one, which was luckily only a few minutes further away.


    This time he pulled out the large sword. His first, somewhat awkward swing opened a large wound on the flank of the animal. With the second swing he cleanly decapitated the confused and gravely wounded animal.


    [Skill: Two-Handed Swords] gained.


    Judging this skill as more impressive and probably more useful than the dagger skill, Markus maxed it out. Just counting his current skill points, he had enough to max out 150 skills and still have sufficient points to spare. Having some battle skills could not hurt in the long run.


    After collecting the corpse and the head, Markus headed to the river. Using a mix of sprinting and jumping, utilizing both his high agility and the acrobatics skill, he moved through the forest at an amazing speed. While evading roots, trunks and uneven terrain, he gained another skill, [Cross-Country Movement]. Just spending 5 points on the new skill made evading possible hindrances even easier.


    Soon he reached the river, which was about 15 meters wide on average. Crossing it was no obstacle for Markus. He gained a [Swimming] skill along the way, which improved his sub-par natural swimming skills to Olympic levels, making swimming through it a breeze.


    Choosing a spot where the river was especially wide and the water was running comfortably slow, Markus first pulled out the body of the second boar and his dagger. One side of the double edged weapon was still reasonably sharp and he did not want to use a potentially legendary level artefact for something as mundane as butchering a boar.


    He lay the corpse on the ground and started cutting away as he deemed appropriate. After a few minutes of surprisingly hard labour he had gained both the [Hideworking] and [Butchering] skill.


    Bringing both to level 5 made the remaining work much easier. The dagger was an awful tool for the job, but he managed to peel off the skin from the boar rather skilfully. He then tied the skinned and eviscerated corpse to a low branch nearby with a piece of cord from one of the bags in his inventory, in order to drain the blood. Raising his skill level had the effect of Markus just knowing how to prepare the animal to get the best results given the circumstances.


    While letting the boar bleed out, he went back into the river. His earlier swim had already removed some of the dragon¡¯s blood from his body. This time he actually tried scrubbing of the remains. It came off easier than he would have thought. After washing, diving around and scrubbing himself off with sand from the riverbed, he was finally feeling clean again.


    On that occasion he also noticed that he had in fact gotten younger. Not only was his skin smoother, he also had virtually no beard and the body hair that had started to grow in weird places over the course of his life was nowhere to be found. Whether this was due to the fact that his body was shaven or he simply did not grow it was to be determined later, but Markus suspected the latter.


    Coming out of the water, Markus finally equipped the simple clothing he had in his inventory. If anyone saw him now, at least he wouldn¡¯t look like a blood-crazy exhibitionist.


    Cutting off some of the best meat from the dead boar and putting it on a clean, sharpened stick as a makeshift skewer, his next task was one he had no concrete plan for.


    Make a fire. He had no survival skills, so he did not want to try randomly rubbing sticks together like he had occasionally seen on TV. At least not before exhausting every other possibility.


    The first thing that came to mind were the [Fireball] and [Magic Torch] scrolls. First, Markus piled up some dry wood, while using small sticks and dry leaves as tinder. If he had a lighter, this should burn splendidly.


    He then pulled out the [Magic Torch] scroll. [Fireball] sounded more like a pure attack magic, while a ¡®torch¡¯ had a more practical feel to it.


    Opening the scroll, Markus started concentrating on it, while trying to somehow pour ¡®magic energy¡¯ into it. The feeling was kind of weird, like a liquid or gas pouring out from his hands, but while unfamiliar, it was not unpleasant and was instinctively easy to control.


    As soon as he had put enough energy into it to make his mana drop by 1 point according to the UI reading, the scroll turned to ash and vanished completely. At the same time, a brightly glowing, blue ball the size of a small marble appeared in front of his right hand. Gas or slow moving flames appeared on top of it, dancing around towards the sky.


    Markus immediately had the feeling that this was not going to work to start a fire. No heat could be felt coming from the small magic ball. Still concentrating on the spell, he poured more energy into it. This made the ball grow in size and brightness. After his mana had dropped by 5 points in total, the sphere was around the size of a large chicken egg and emitting a very bright light.


    When he tried to pour more mana into, it did not work. The spell was still subconsciously demanding his attention, the ball floating in front of his hand could not be let go yet. It felt like this magic was cast in two stages.


    Markus tried pouring energy into the spell once more. Now his mana was dropping again. After stopping the release of energy, having poured mana worth 5 more points into it, the ball finally started floating up into the air by itself and moved above Markus¡¯, where it started making small circles.


    Picking up a small branch, he stuck the tip right into the centre of the floating ball. After pulling it out, it was not a bit torched. Pressing it against his skin, it even was not warmer than before.


    This magic was clearly designed as a magic flashlight or lamp. It certainly did what you would expect from a torch, namely lighting the surrounding, but it was utterly wasted in this situation where he wanted to start a fire.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Dejectedly, Markus opened up the menu and looked at his [Spells] screen.


    Luckily, the spell now showed up on the list of known spells.


    [Magic Torch


    Two Phase Magic


    Phase 1: Brightness


    Phase 2: Duration]


    The description matched with what Markus had ¡®felt¡¯ while casting the spell.


    He selected the spell from the list and started releasing magic energy again. Immediately a small blue ball like before showed up in front of his right hand.


    This time Markus stopped pouring mana into the ball after it grew just a little bit, then concentrated on filling it with fuel instead of having it grow. Again, after consuming only 1 MP, he released the spell. The small ball floated above its head like the larger one before.


    Both spheres followed Markus around when he moved. He reached out his hand to one of the balls and started pouring out a bit of magic energy. It was not enough to reduce his mana pool, but the ball reacted. Moving his hand away, the light now followed his hand. When Markus stopped releasing energy, the ball stayed in place and did not follow him, even when he moved away.


    Reaching out to the second light above his head, this time Markus tried to use the opposite principle. Knowing the feeling of releasing mana, he tried sucking it in. Immediately after he started to draw out the energy from the ball, it started to shrink and then vanished completely.


    All together it was a very convenient magic, but useless for Markus right now. As he already had the [Low-Light Vision] skill, it might even stay useless. Although only as something like a party trick, it was nice to have.


    After confirming that the scroll¡¯s magic was copied to his spell book and could be used again, he pulled out the [Fireball] scroll. He took a few meters of distance towards his campfire, then started to cast the spell.


    Again, the scroll evaporated and in its place a burning ball the size of a tennis ball appeared. This time Markus could properly feel heat emanating from it. Pouring a bit of energy into it, the ball quickly grew to the size of a large orange and Markus could feel the heat spreading. It was very hot, but not painful at all.


    After confirming that there was a second phase to this spell as well, Markus poured more energy into the fireball. When he stopped releasing mana, the ball was visibly vibrating and making small movements in front of his hand. It reminded Markus of a dog that wanted to be released from its leash.


    Properly taking aim at the stack of firewood, he released the spell. Immediately, the ball shot forwards at high speed, making a swooshing sound in the air.


    When it hit the campfire, it violently exploded, sending wood and splinters flying into all directions. Markus who had been standing a good distance away, was thrown back from the pressure and landed in the sand.


    In place of the neatly prepared pile of wood, there was only a smouldering crater about two meters in diameter left. Markus had not taken any damage, because of the soft landing in the sand it was in fact just a surprising development devoid of any pain.


    Luckily, a large piece of wood that had started burning from the spell landed close to Markus. He quickly picked it up and then built a new campfire around it. Within a few minutes he had a nice fire going.


    Finally Markus could grill his meat. It was somewhat bland and tasted gamey, but it was otherwise filling and satisfying. The fact that he had produced everything involved all by himself made it even more rewarding.


    After he ate, Markus stashed the bled out boar corpse away.


    He decided to play around with the attack magic some more. He shot some fireballs into the river, experimenting with the intensity of both phases. The first phase determined the energy and explosive power of the fireball itself, while the second phase determined the velocity and impact energy of the projectile.


    He also found out that he could fine tune the energy during both phases by pulling out energy again using the same mechanic he had used to extinguish the magic torchlight.


    When he poured as much energy into both phases as possible, he could produce an explosion that looked like a large artillery shell exploding in the river. Due to the water evaporating and creating large rising clouds, he was a little worried about attracting too much attention, so Markus tried to shoot with as little explosive power as possible from then on.


    The [Ice Shard] was similar to the [Fireball] while creating, but did not explode, making it much less likely to backfire. The shard was extremely pointy and could grow from the size of Markus¡¯ index finger to the size of his arm, depending on how much energy he used during its creation.


    When he used a lot of energy to charge it in terms of velocity, the projectile produced a whip like noise, indicating that it could go faster than the speed of sound. Where the fireball was like an artillery shell, the ice shard was like a rifle bullet.


    The attack spells consumed 20 mana each when fully charged. Mana did regenerate when he was not casting and he gained several points per second. Considering his absurdly high mana pool in comparison, he could basically cast spells without worrying about ever running out of mana.


    After playing around for an hour or so, Markus decided to move on. He had made a lot of noise and while he could check the map for enemies, he did not want to make camp here in case someone or something decided to check for the source of that ruckus during the night.


    As an experiment Markus put a piece of burning wood into his storage before leaving, but when he pulled it out again the flame was dead, leaving behind only the charred wood.


    He settled on [Brookside Settlement (destroyed)] as his destination, seeing at is was close to the river and he could just get there by running along the riverbed.


    It was a certain distance away, but with his amazing speed while moving on foot he was certain that even someone on horseback would have a hard time keeping up with him.


    Markus reached the place even before the sun started setting. Brookside was in a terrible state. There were about half a dozen wooden houses, all of which were collapsed and partially or completely burned down. Around the settlement abandoned and overgrown farmland could be seen.


    At the centre between the structures was a well, but even here the small roof above the well had broken down and was now covering the hole underneath.


    A small distance from the central well a few shallow graves could be seen. It looked like someone had come back here after the village had been attacked, likely by the dragon, judging from the damage, and buried the casualties.


    It was highly unlikely that there was something of worth to be found here, but Markus looked around the place anyway. Apart from some broken farm tools in a shed near one of the houses there was nothing even vaguely intact. All of the houses had been stripped of their roofs and set on fire.


    There was one house that had been built of stone, at least partially, so the walls were still standing. After walking around the place, Markus found one room that had not been torched during the attack. A desk was standing in the centre of the room and after digging through some rubble, he finally found a prize. A small book, clad in leather, had been buried among the remains of the collapsed roof.


    After looking through its contents, Markus was quickly disappointed though. Not only was it heavily damaged by water, diluting the ink along the edges of the pages, but what was still legible was written in letters unknown to Markus.


    He tried to make sense of it, but there was no indication of what the contents were about. After flipping through the pages and trying to find a pattern, a message appeared.


    [Skill: Language: Ausalia Empire (Soba Dialect)] gained.


    After maxing out the skill, Markus could determine that this was a ledger considering the various farm products of this settlement. He wondered in how far a written document could confer a dialect, but he was still new to the mechanics of this ¡®game¡¯, so he did not ponder too much about it.


    He did notice however that in order to gain a new skill, he had to seriously make an effort to utilize that skill, no matter how amateurish the result was.


    Stashing away the debris into his inventory made excavating the remains of this house considerably easier. There was not much to find, but he got a few rusty and not at all trustworthy looking tools. He found a dull saw for wood, a hammer and a rusty knife. He also dug out a stone wheel belonging to a rotating whetstone, although the rest of the tool was broken beyond repair.


    Searching through the ruins using his inventory was finished quickly and Markus used the remaining evening trying to build a shelter in the room that had been left partially intact.


    He had dug out the former fireplace at some point, so his first task was making a fire. Using his fireball skill (outside the house) and some of the wooden debris, he quickly had a fire burning.


    With some of the materials he had salvaged, he started constructing a shabby, makeshift roof over one of the corners of the room. While he was working, he gained both the [Woodworking] and [Construction] skills. After putting 5 points into each, he gave up on his plan. Markus realized that without the proper tools all he could achieve was piling up some planks. If there was a little bit of wind or even a storm, it would come crashing down on him during the night. In the end he pulled out a large linen bag from his inventory to use as a makeshift sleeping bag and filled a smaller pouch with weeds to use as a pillow.


    He then grilled some more of the boar over the fireplace for dinner.


    After the sun had set, he crawled underneath the desk and went to sleep. It was a terrible shelter to be honest, but with the stone walls protecting him from the wind, the desk protecting him should it start to rain a little during the night and the fire warming him, Markus was not seriously lacking anything either, apart from a softer spot to sleep on perhaps.


    While he was lying on the floor Markus was seriously wishing that this absurd episode was not just a dream. So far this day had been more fun than he had ever had in his life, even if the day ended with him making camp like an amateur bum.


    On this occasion, Markus notices something else. He had no concrete memory of what he had been doing yesterday. He knew where he was working, the names of his co-workers, could remember his childhood and family, all the important events of his life. But he had no recollection of what he had been doing before.


    He would be hard pressed to say which season or even which year it had been. Sure, he knew his age, but it was like his short-term memory had been wiped.


    Markus did not really care either way. So far his adult life had been boring the hell out of him and he was hoping that tomorrow he would wake up in this world, not to his previous life on Earth.

 Chapter 4: Trouble on the Road

    Chapter 4:


    Checking his mobile phone, Markus noticed that he had overslept. After getting out of bed, he hastily ironed a shirt, dressed himself up, put on his wine red neck-tie and rushed to city hall, where he worked as a low-level civil servant.


    Luckily he did not have to shave, because he did not really grow a beard yet.


    Seeing the citizens waiting at the entrance making long faces because they did not really want to be here, greeting his co-workers who made long faces because they did not really want to be here, Markus thought that he didn¡¯t really want to be here.


    The first person coming to his counter made a terrible fuzz about having to get in line again after filling in the correct form, which Markus had just handed him.


    After getting shoutet at for about a minute, Markus decided to evaporate the guy with a fireball. The resulting, violent explosion woke Markus up.


    The first thing he noticed were the stiff shoulders he had gotten overnight from the hard surface he had slept on. Opening his eyes he was surprised by the low ceiling over his head before realizing that it was the underside of the desk he had chosen as his makeshift shelter.


    Crawling out from underneath the table and putting away the two bags he had used as his bed, he for the first time admitted to himself that this world was most likely not a dream. The dream he just had woken up from had reminded him of what dreams were supposed to feel like.


    Markus was not yet entirely convinced that he was not within a dream, but for now he was glad to have returned and decided to make the best of today.


    Breakfast would be boar, once again and for that he had to get the fire going. He wondered why he hadn¡¯t thought of roasting more meat and putting it into his inventory, but that couldn¡¯t be changed.


    Not wanting to destroy the fireplace, he went outside the house and starting up piling some pieces of wood. He would make the pile explode and then collect a burning piece to start the fire in the fireplace. Unfortunately the spell only acted like a flame after he released it, before it only radiated heat but didn¡¯t actually burn anything.


    When he invoked the fireball and looked at the tennis ball sized flaming sphere, he had an idea. Yesterday when he experimented with the spells, he had found that after pouring mana into the spell, he could pull it out again in case he had accidentally poured in to much.


    Because a spell cost 1 mana point to invoke, he had not tried to reduce its power immediately, as that would just reduce efficiency. Still having the base cost of 1 MP and losing power was not tempting. If he could make the spell more practical by reducing the power however, it would still make sense to try though.


    Putting this into practice, Markus pulled magic energy from the fireball. The fireball shrunk little by little, but then Markus got greedy, pulled the magic power out too quickly and the fireball vanished in the blink of an eye, cancelling the spell.


    Encouraged by the promising beginning, Markus tried again. This time he patiently waited until the sphere shrunk to the size of a ping pong ball, then stopped manipulating its power and went into phase two. After slowly adding just enough magic power to consume 1 MP, Markus released the unusually small fireball towards the dry wood.


    The explosion was much smaller than all those before, and the wood just scattered over a radius of less than a meter. Because of the less violent explosion, the spell even managed to ignite nearly all of the wood and they were still burning.


    Markus kicked the burning wood into a pile and continued to train his spell control. After many attempts, he found out that reducing the sphere to less than the size of a pea would cancel the spell and that he could even reduce the velocity of the spell during the second phase further. At a minimal level, the spell was actually rather tame and could be used indoors without any trouble.


    Repeating the same experiment using the ice shard spell was somehow much harder than with the fireball, but Markus finally managed to shoot a frozen projectile with the size of a cigarette stub.


    After releasing the spell, a message popped up.


    [Spell: Charge Control (Elemental Magic)] gained.


    Markus immediately rose the skill to level 5 and tried it out using the fireball spell. The next attempts were even easier than before and he even managed to invoke the spell with the lowest level of power from the very beginning when he concentrated on it, eliminating the need to reduce the power afterwards altogether.


    He added some wood to the fire he had already started and started cutting and grilling a bunch of boar meat. The plants he had collected yesterday still looked like when he had just plucked them, so it seemed that his inventory did not let things go bad. If it also kept the temperature of the meal, he might be able to eat freshly roasted boar whenever and wherever he felt like it.


    While cooking, he took a look at his map. He still had no concrete plan for how to interact with the locals, but he wanted to meet them anyway. Markus had two options, he could either go west and leave the area he was currently in or go north towards [Springkeep]. As he already knew that there were people and a settlement to the North, he chose the latter.


    After stuffing himself with meat for breakfast, he already felt a bit sick of the boar meat, but that did not dampen Markus¡¯ mood.


    There were some enemies along the road north, but as the goddess-girl had told him that he was not in danger of dying, he felt quite confident. Getting searched by the police or whoever wielded authority here should not be a problem either, because of the inventory. Even if they could somehow access it, all he did was kill a mighty dragon that had apparently terrorized and plundered the area, so they should be thankful rather than angry.


    After having just eaten, Markus did not feel like running, so he took it slow and walked north while playing around with the menu and interface. He noticed a few things, first he could put the spells on his regular vision for quick access and he could create several ¡®profiles¡¯, making it possible to switch between different layouts or disable the augmented view altogether.


    Most interestingly he discovered a tab on the character screen that he had not noticed before. He could switch between [Stats], the screen he had used before to spend his points and [Public], where he could change how his stats would be displayed. Markus did not know to what extend others could see his stats. As he could at least determine the level of creatures himself, it was fair to assume that others could do the same.


    Pondering for a while, Markus decided to set his public level to level 10, with all stats distributed evenly according to his level. He chose to only display the skills [Cross-Country Movement] and [Construction], both with a skill level of 3. All of his titles were suspicious, especially the Crimson Pervert one, so he chose not to use any of them in public for now.


    Walking along the road north, he went off-road to fight wild beasts several times. He defeated a couple of boars by shooting ice shards into their heads while evading their attacks first. After gaining some confidence in his skill and aim, he used the same method to hunt and eradicate a pack of wolves. Markus also experimented on that occasion with how much force he could use in unarmed melee to avoid carnage or even broken bones.


    Although he collected the corpses, it was basically target practice. Markus then accelerated his pace and ran cross country, parallel to the road.


    After crossing half the distance, he noticed several yellow dots intermixed with red dots on the road ahead.


    Slowly approaching the group, Markus tried to make out what was going on from a distance. Squinting his eyes, he could vaguely make out a group of people fighting each other, with sunlight reflecting in their weapons and armour from time to time.


    [Skill: Eagle-Eyes] gained.


    Markus maxed the skill out immediately. Now he could clearly make out what was going on: a group of lightly armoured people was fighting against a group of soldiers in heavy armour. The lightly armoured group was wearing mismatched leather armour or no armour at all, with some covering their faces under hoods and bandanas and outnumbered the armoured group about 2:1. The other side was mostly sporting heavy iron armour that was shining in the sun while wearing matching helmets. All of the soldiers wore a tabard showing a blue castle with three towers on a yellow background.


    Despite their numerical advantage, the scales weren¡¯t tipping into either sides favour. Judging from the people lying on the ground, the fight had been going on for quite some time now and both sides had suffered casualties. Currently there were 4 soldiers still standing and facing off against 9 militia or bandits.


    While Markus got closer, he saw one lightly armoured guy with a short bow who had taken position on a small slope next to the road taking aim at the soldiers who were engaging in melee with his fellow militia.


    Before he could take the shot though, the one soldier who was standing in the back of the formation flung a fireball at him, which detonated on the militiaman¡¯s chest and catapulted him onto the other side of the slope and out of view. The bow which was sent flying as well only touched the ground after the guy had already disappeared.


    Markus decided to take a side and go against the militia in support of the soldiers. He was a newcomer to this country and gaining someone¡¯s trust in battle seemed a reasonable approach to gain easier entry to places he might otherwise be barred from entering. Choosing between a castle and a bandit camp, Markus favoured the former.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Having made up his mind, Markus dashed towards the battlefield, staying out of view. He equipped his dagger, although he was not planning on going on a killing spree. If possible, he wanted to knock the enemies out without killing anyone.


    When got close to the fight, Markus revealed himself. Two supposed bandits were standing on the road a fair bit behind the actual combat and aiming their bows towards the melee combat. With their allies between them and the enemy, they were waiting to take a shot. Markus had seen what happened to the guy who tried to get a clear line of sight, so he could understand why they were staying at their position.


    He snuck behind one of the men, then elbowed him in the solar plexus while avoiding using too much force. The man fainted and even before he hit the ground or his friend got a clear idea of what was going on, Markus hit the second archers shoulder with the hilt of his dagger. He did not use a lot of strength, but the cracking sound testified to one or more of his bones breaking from the impact.


    He would not shoot a bow anytime soon. Markus pushed him off to the side and sprinted towards the bandits engaging in melee. Using a somewhat normal speed, he reached the men before they noticed him. There were 6 lightly armoured fighters remaining.


    One of the soldiers notices Markus and in between blows and parries signalled the knight in the back to turn his attention to him. This was also noted by one of the bandits, who immediately turned around to face Markus. As Markus had just knocked out his friends, the sides were clear.


    Dashing at him with the sword raised, Markus avoided the blow at the last second by stepping to the left side. He wanted to avoid any overly flashy movements for now. When the man hit the ground with his sword, Markus kicked him against the chest with his shin. He did not hear any bones breaking, but the force of the kick knocked the guy over and he landed on his back.


    Not wasting time Markus closed the distance towards the main battle. By now most of the participants were aware of Markus¡¯ appearance. When one of the bandits slightly turned around towards him, the soldier he had been facing off against used the opportunity to stab his sword into his torso. Entering through the unprotected spot underneath the bandit¡¯s arm, the sword penetrated deep and apparently killed the man instantly.


    Now the numbers were even, not even counting Markus. While he knocked out one of the guys who had his back on him, two soldiers ganged up on one of the remaining militias and struck him down.


    Facing two soldiers each at the same time, the two remaining bandits took a step back and dropped their swords, surrendering.


    Without hesitating one of the soldiers stepped forward and knocked one of the guys down with a heavy blow to the head using the hilt of his sword. The other one got knocked out taking a different soldier¡¯s shield to the face. They certainly weren¡¯t taking any chances.


    ¡°You, identify yourself.¡± The soldier in the back was talking to him with a firm voice.


    ¡°I, I am a traveller. My name is Markus.¡± Markus felt intimidated by the unexpectedly aggressive tone and instinctively took half a step back.


    ¡°Why did you interfere in this fight?¡± The soldier continued to interrogate him.


    ¡°Well, I am a traveller. Bandits are the natural enemy of travellers, right?¡± He tried to crack a smile, but it felt awkward.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± The soldier took off his helmet and stepped forward. He was a middle-aged man with black hair that was already showing some grey. Taking a look behind Markus and confirming the three bandits on the ground, he started speaking again ¡°My name is Lieutenant Devon Clements of the Soba Federal Guard, currently stationed at Springkeep. I appreciate your help, but unfortunately I cannot offer you a reward at this time.¡±


    Markus had not helped for a monetary reward anyway. ¡°No need for a reward¡­¡±


    While he was thinking how to continue, he heard one of the other men shouting. ¡°Lieutenant, Newman and Martin have been killed in battle. Guthrie is unconscious but not badly injured. I am worried about Wynn, she is gravely wounded¡­¡±


    Turning his attention towards his squad, the Lieutenant turned around and walked towards a soldier on the ground, with Markus following behind. When one of the soldiers kneeling beside the person took the helmet off, Markus saw the face of a young woman. A small line of blood was running out of her mouth and she looked like she was in great pain. Her blond hair was dishevelled and tied into a knot behind her head.


    When Markus looked for the injury from the side lines, he saw an arrow sticking out from her right flank, a short distance underneath her shoulder. One of the uninjured soldiers placed his hand on the arrow and was preparing to pull it out. Markus instinctively cried out. ¡°Stop! Don¡¯t pull that arrow out!¡±


    The soldier looked up to Markus and asked ¡°Why not? Are you a healer?¡± It wasn¡¯t an accusation. It sounded like he was hoping for Markus to be a healer.


    ¡°Unfortunately not. But if you pull that arrow out right now, she will probably bleed to death immediately. She needs medical attention...¡± Markus responded, feeling sorry for both the woman and the other soldier. Checking the AR reading, the display told him


    [Coraline Wynn


    Level 13


    HP 43%


    (Bleeding)]


    ¡°Our healer is the dead guy Newman over there. I have only one health potion, but that won¡¯t be enough for a wound of that kind.¡± Lieutenant Clements turned his view away from the dying woman. His look gave off the feeling that he had already decided that she couldn¡¯t be saved under these circumstances.


    ¡°Is there anything I can do to help?¡± Markus was asking the Lieutenant directly.


    ¡°You have already done enough. Given the circumstances, there is nothing we can do. Springwell is half a day away and there is nowhere else to go around here. We don¡¯t have the means to transport two wounded, not even speaking of the dead or those scum.¡± He made a gesture towards the bandits lying on the ground. Markus had the feeling that the Lieutenant was not only talking to Markus, but also to his men.


    One of the soldiers was walking around and checking the people on the floor, tying up those who were still alive by the hands and feet.


    Checking his inventory, Markus could not find anything of help. Going over his skills, he had an idea. It might not work, but it was better than nothing.


    ¡°Lieutenant, would you mind if I try something? I will need to borrow some of the gear those men left behind.¡±


    ¡°Do what you must, I don¡¯t mind if you take stuff from those guys. They probably stole it themselves. Just don¡¯t try anything funny, or you might regret it.¡±


    Markus headed off up the slope towards the edge of the forest. He did not really want to search for anything, but pull out stuff from his inventory. He pulled out the large bag and half a dozen long and rather sturdy branches he had collected the day before. Markus had initially planned to use them for making a spear or building a shelter or something, but they came in handy now.


    He then cut the bag into long strips of cloth using the good sword, which was way sharper than his dagger. He then went back towards the road. Over the last few minutes the soldiers had tied up the surviving bandits and piled up most of the corpses. The dead soldiers were lying on the ground a bit to the side.


    Not minding the other people around, Markus went towards the pile of dead bandits and stripped two of them of their pants, shirts and armour.


    Using the long branches as a frame, the clothes and cloth strips as lining in between, he built a makeshift stretcher. He also borrowed some of the remaining rope from the soldiers. With his high woodworking and construction skills, he was done in less than ten minutes while still deeming it as stable enough to actually hold a person.


    ¡°Lieutenant, please take a look. Think you can utilize this?¡± He showed the stretcher to the Lieutenant. Clements carefully inspected the construction.


    ¡°Do you really think this will hold?¡±


    ¡°I am quite confident. I can¡¯t guarantee it, but it should hold a person for a few hours at least. I am willing to help with carrying it as well.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm¡­. Well, do you think you could use some more rope?¡± The Lieutenant was showing a wry smile. Markus had a bad feeling about it, but answered honestly.


    ¡°With more rope I could either build a second stretcher or reinforce this one. I think this one is fine though.¡±


    The Lieutenant turned towards one of the soldiers who were on standby. ¡°Boyd!¡±


    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± One of the soldiers stood at attention.


    ¡°Finish off the bandits. We won¡¯t be able to take them with us. And collect the rope¡± Markus was shocked, but not overly so. Deep down he had understood what the Lieutenant had implicated with his question before.


    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± The soldier drew his sword and walked towards the captured men. Only one of them was actually aware what was going on, the others were mostly unconscious. Before the guy could protest, the soldier, Boyd, had stabbed his throat with his sword. He then systematically finished off the other defenceless bandits in a similar manner. A second soldier came to help him untie and collect the pieces of rope.


    Meanwhile Markus had silently started his work on the second stretcher.

 Chapter 5: Arriving at Springkeep

    AN: Some readers were surprised to see the MC hold back in the last chapter and feel intimidated by the aggressive lieutenant. Well, I admit that I might have overdone it a bit, but let us not forget that we are dealing with a white-collar person from modern Earth, who has been seeing all this as some type of weird but fun vacation. On top of that, the MC just made his very first contact with the local humans. Give him a few more chapters to find his pace.


    PS: This story currently has around 17k words, including this chapter. My word-file is already at 35k words, but I have to go back to change some details from time to time for the sake of plausability. That''s mostly why I did not post last week. I guess release intervalls will tighten again from now on.


    Chapter 5:


    Wrapping a bandage around the arrow sticking out of her torso, the soldiers had somewhat slowed the girl''s bleeding. The female soldier still had 38% life force left when the group started heading north.


    They had stripped the two wounded off their heavy armour to reduce the weight and even left some of the other soldier¡¯s armour behind to reduce the strain on the carriers and increase the travelling speed.


    There wasn¡¯t much talking, so Markus used the opportunity to check on the soldiers¡¯ levels and stats.


    Davon Clements, level 29


    William Boyd, level 19


    Bradley, level 16


    Ashton, level 17


    The unconscious soldier, Guthrie, had a level of 22. His life force was down to 78%, but not falling. A bandage was wrapped around his head. The female soldier was by far the lowest in terms of level.


    Apart from the lieutenant, all of the soldiers were rather young looking, in their late teens or early twenties.


    They had four people carrying the stretchers with one person walking besides them. They regularly rotated the carriers, although Markus refused to take a break. His stamina wasn¡¯t actually dropping that much. The lieutenant was the same. He was taking the front position carrying the stretcher with the female soldier on it. Markus was behind him, taking the rear position.


    The other three soldiers were therefore taking turns carrying the stretcher with Guthrie on it.


    While walking, Markus noticed that the lieutenant was carrying two weapons. A long sword on his back and a short sword at his side. Markus had seen him shoot a fireball at the bandit, so he was probably something like a magic swordsman.


    An hour long march later, they had finished around a third of the distance towards [Springkeep], but the three guys on the other stretcher were getting gradually slower by now and had fallen behind a few meters. Even the lieutenant, who had not taken a break so far, was lowering his pace.


    Wynn, the wounded girl, was drifting in and out of consciousness and was down to 25% health.


    Finally, the lieutenant ordered the group to halt. They had reached the charred remains of what used to be [Allistor Farmstead]. It looked like this was a regular spot to take rest, because the well near the slightly overgrown ruins had been cleared and the remains of a recent campfire were nearby.


    They carefully set down the stretchers with the wounded and then dropped down into the grass next to the road. Boyd was going straight towards the well and used a bucket on a rope to draw water.


    Clements had sat down next to Wynn and was looking at her. She was currently awake, but clearly not totally aware of what was going on.


    ¡°We are going to bring you back to base, Cora. Drink this for now.¡± He held a small flask with some muddy looking, brown liquid in it to her mouth. Pouring a bit into her mouth, the girl fell into a violent cough, spitting blood and making a terribly pained expression. When her cough had settled, the lieutenant wiped the blood from her chin with the hem of his shirt and started pouring the potion into her mouth again.


    The other soldiers were quietly watching while drinking water straight from the bucket that Boyd had brought over. They also passed the bucket over to Markus.


    He wasn¡¯t really comfortable with drinking the questionably clean contents, but for one he was really thirsty, plus he was counting on his resistances to somehow counter any illness caused by germs.


    After the lieutenant had finished administering the potion to the female soldier, she had fallen asleep. The reading on the AR was showing her health to be slowly rising. It was back to 28% when the group started moving again, but she still had the (bleeding) status effect.


    Over the next 15 minutes her health steadily rose up to 38%, then slowly started falling again.


    The short break seemed to have had a positive effect, they were making good progress again and walking at a steady pace without taking breaks or talking. The soldiers were sometimes stealing a glance at Wynn or Markus, but no one said anything. All of them were exhausted, but looking determined.


    Unfortunately, determination could only bring them so far. Less than an hour after the break, the group carrying Guthrie had fallen behind again and the lieutenant was holding back Markus as well.


    They had already passed the halfway point, but if this went on the remaining distance would take way too long.


    Markus decided to make a suggestion. ¡°Lieutenant Clements, if someone went ahead to the base, would they be able to send help here?¡±


    ¡°Probably, but it would not make a difference. Sending someone from here to Springkeep takes over two hours, and coming back, even by horse, will take some time as well. Sending a single person as a messenger is also dangerous by itself.¡± He must have had considered the options already. But he did not know that Markus was not an ordinary person.


    ¡°I am sure I can get there a lot faster. The idea carrying the wounded back was mine, so I feel like-¡°


    ¡°No one will hold you responsible even if we fail to make it in time. Why are you so determined to help?¡± The lieutenant stopped walking and looked back at Markus. Markus did not really have a good answer to that question. At first, he just wanted to gain a favour, showing up like a white knight coming to the rescue. Then everyone would praise him and he gets an audience with the local noble. Something like that.


    Now, due to Markus¡¯ suggestion, the soldiers had killed a group of prisoners and decided to try to save the wounded girl. If that girl died now anyway, it would be a totally underwhelming outcome for Markus, even if it didn¡¯t reflect negatively on him. It had a ¡®Quest Failed¡¯ vibe to it.


    ¡°I already decided to help you when I fought against those bandits. It was on a whim, but I want to see this through.¡± Markus honestly said so, looking straight at the lieutenant.


    ¡°It makes me feel bad to rely on a stranger so much, you know?¡± The lieutenant¡¯s words were quiet, like they weren¡¯t really meant for Markus. After taking a look at the sleeping Wynn, he spoke to Markus again ¡°Well, I don¡¯t see how I have much to lose. Your name was Markus, right? OK then, Markus, go on ahead and inform them about our situation and that they have to send someone as soon quickly as possible. There is an officer by the same name as the girl at the base, Wynn. If anyone hesitates to call for her, tell them that Lieutenant Davon Clement will blow them up once he comes back.¡±


    By that time the three other soldiers had caught up with them. Markus changed places with the guy called Bradley. The three soldiers were making a strange expression after hearing the plan, but it didn¡¯t look like anyone was going to object. They were going to push ahead by themselves, even if Markus was going to abandon them or got killed it wouldn¡¯t make any big difference.


    Markus sprinted northwards and took a look back before the group was out of view. The lieutenant had a slightly pleased look on his face. Seeing Markus running ahead full of energy when the group was already exhausted must have been surprising, but at the same time reassuring that he might actually be able to make a difference.


    After getting out of sight, Markus sprinted on at full speed. The march until now had drained him of 40 stamina points, which was nothing compared to his pool of 920. He raised the [Cross-Country Movement] skill to level 10, then ran next to the road.


    What Clements had estimated to take over two hours was finished in 20 minutes. For the first time since raising his stats, Markus was sweating. When he was getting close to the [Springkeep] marker on the map, he jumped back onto the road and started running normally. The first thing that changed were the fields next to the road. They were actually maintained and growing things.


    Soon the soldier¡¯s base came into view. It was a small keep, not unlike a small scale castle. The two-storey main building, which was made out of stone, was sitting on top of a small hill next to the main road. Surrounded by a wooden palisade, it was overlooking the countryside. Markus could make out a few archers on the roof. [Springkeep Village] was a collection of a dozen houses, maybe a bit more, on the other side of the road.


    For now, Markus¡¯ aim was the keep itself though. While he was heading straight to the entrance, the two guards were eying him with suspicion.


    ¡°Halt! State your business!¡± One of the guards shouted at him when he got close.


    Catching his breath, Markus started explaining. ¡°I was sent by Lieutenant Davin Clement. His group has been attacked by bandits on the road south, they have suffered losses and need urgent support with their wounded.¡±


    The soldier made a troubled expression, then gave a signal to the other guard, who quickly rushed inside.


    Soon he came back with a blonde-haired woman in her thirties. She was wearing the same kind of armour as the other soldiers and walked up to Markus.


    ¡°You are the one with the report from Lieutenant Clement, right? Tell me what is going on.¡±


    Markus repeated what had happened, while the woman was listening with a firm expression. When he gave the names of the fallen and wounded, she made a worried expression for the first time.


    ¡°Follow me.¡± She stated to Markus, then went inside. Inside the palisades there were a couple of additional buildings next to the main building. There was a stable, containing several horses and a workshop, were a young boy was busy sharpening a sword and a man was working a forge.


    Telling Markus to wait near the stables, the woman went ahead and collected several soldiers. As Markus could comprehend from where he was standing, two teams were formed. One group was going ahead on horses, while a second, larger squad was following on foot. Markus wouldn¡¯t have to threaten anyone on Lieutenant Clement¡¯s behalf after all.


    After sending the men off, the woman came back to Markus.


    ¡°My name is Veronica Wynn, Second Lieutenant of the Soba Federal Guard. Excuse me, but I am quite confused. Who are you and what is your connection to all this?¡±


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The name suggested some family connection to the wounded female soldier. Taking a closer look, the woman faintly resembled her.


    [Veronica Wynn


    Level 24


    HP 100%]


    ¡°My name is Markus, I am a traveller. I was on the road towards here when I encountered your comrades. They were attacked by suspicious people, so I decided to help out. That is all.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t see why Lieutenant Clement would accept the help of a civilian, but we can just ask him later. For now, what is your business coming to these godforsaken area? Sure you knew about the dragon plague.¡±


    ¡°I was not aware of the extent. I am currently just wandering around to see a bit of the world.¡±  As it didn¡¯t look like this woman would stop asking questions, Markus decided to go along with it. He didn¡¯t mind talking to her. In fact, she had good looks, even though she was a bit uptight and eyeing him with suspicion.


    ¡°It looks to me like you were trying to join up with some criminals. Who goes on vacation here?¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t insult me. As Lieutenant Clement will most likely confirm, I was helping your comrades in the fight against the bandits.¡±


    ¡°So what, you were trying to join up with the armed forces? There are recruitment offices in calmer regions.¡± Markus didn¡¯t know why, but the woman was losing her cool.


    ¡°I have no intention to join the army.¡± He already had experience with being on government payroll, it was something he wanted to avoid this time around.


    ¡°If everything you said is true, it looks like I owe you thanks. But for now, follow me to the keep.¡± The woman went ahead to the large building and ushered Markus to follow her.


    Inside, it was pleasantly cool compared to the summer temperatures outside. It was clearly a functional building, with no unnecessary decorations or pomp. A few wall-mounted devices emitting light were lighting the windowless hallway. They resembled cube shaped light bulbs, and a small light could be seen moving slowly behind the milky glass. On the upper side facing the ceiling was a low metal box.


    Following Lieutenant Wynn, Markus entered the first room to the right. Inside, a guard was sitting next to a large table. The table had a square surface, on which a large golden magic circle was engraved, surrounded by runes. It reminded Markus of the spell scrolls, but the engraving was more intricate, and the runes much more numerous.


    On one end of the table, facing the entrance, a large facetted crystal stood out from the surface.


    ¡°Place your hand on the crystal.¡± The woman ordered Markus to do so. He had a suspicious feeling.


    ¡°I did not do anything wrong. What is the purpose of this?¡± Markus definitely didn¡¯t want to be put under a spell or something. The device looked like it could invoke some powerful magic.


    ¡°What, are you trying to tell me you have never seen an identification table? If you don¡¯t have anything to hide, place your hand on the crystal. Otherwise I might just have you arrested.¡± The woman made a clearly angry face.


    Markus didn¡¯t like to be threatened. He also didn¡¯t do anything bad. He should be treated respectfully, so this situation was starting to piss him off. ¡®Identification table¡¯ did not sound eerie, but that didn¡¯t mean he would just do whatever that woman wanted. Markus was pondering whether it made sense to get arrested for now and have her apologize when Lieutenant Clement confirmed his help later, or just resist arrest and beat her up in the process.


    ¡°Boy, that table mostly shows your name and arrest record. It is standard procedure to check those things when dealing with people passing by.¡± The soldier who had been sitting on the chair next to the table calmly said so.


    ¡°You stay out of it.¡± Lieutenant Wynn snapped at the soldier. This woman was certainly agitated for some reason and Markus wondered if she was fit for serving as an officer. He decided to have faith in his magic resistance and go along with it for now. He was already prepared to have his stats examined, and there shouldn¡¯t be any other record of him.


    If this developed into some sort of trouble, he was ready to give that woman a beating and then make a run for it. With an expression showing his discontent, he placed his right hand on the crystal.


    The soldier muttered something and placed his hand on one of the runes, then the circle on the table started to glow. Immediately a number of bright blue runes floated up from the surface of the table, then rearranged themselves and changed shape. Finally, something resembling his character sheet was floating a short distance above the surface.


    [Name: Markus


    Age: 16


    Level: 10


    Convictions: Not available


    Reports: Not available]


    Lieutenant Wynn carefully read the information, then faced Markus.


    ¡°Well, for now I have to give you the benefit of the doubt.¡± Her expression was still stern, but she seemed to have cooled down again. ¡°Please follow.¡±


    Noticing the first ¡®please¡¯ he had heard from that woman, Markus went along with her. She guided him to a roofed area in one corner of the yard where there was a large table and some benches.


    ¡°Wait here until Lieutenant Clement comes back. I will have someone bring you a meal. Excuse me until then.¡± With that she turned around and left for the keep.


    A short time afterwards a soldier brought him a bowl of stew and a large wooden mug with water. Markus appreciated the meal, he didn¡¯t have to eat boar for the first time.


    After eating, he laid down on the bench, pretending to take a nap. Markus then opened the map. He wanted to check in on the progress of the rescue party. He found them moving towards the 6 dots heading north on the road. The first group would soon reach Lieutenant Clement and the wounded. Considering that there were 6 neutral indicators slowly moving north, the girl was still alive. Markus was hoping that the soldiers on horseback had a healer or medicine with them, but if that wasn¡¯t the case, it would be strange for them to ride ahead.


    Somewhat satisfied that the plan looked like a success so far, he scrolled around the keep and nearby village. There were not that many people around in the first place, but with the rescue party gone the remaining soldiers in the keep were just seven. Sending that many of the soldiers away seemed like a seriously bad decision to Markus. To him, the female officer was totally unsuited for her job.


    The total number of people in the village and the surrounding fields was not more than a few dozen. It shouldn¡¯t take too long to wrap up his business here and go somewhere else.


    Before long, his ¡®pretending to take a nap¡¯ turned into taking a nap for good. A while later Markus woke up to the sound of the smith in the nearby workshop hammering away on something.


    A quick glance at the map told him that the rescue party had still to return. It had split into two groups, one heading south, the other one heading towards Springkeep. It would take some time until they arrived.


    Markus stood up from the bench and walked towards the workshop. Lieutenant Wynn had told him to wait in the corner, but if he didn¡¯t leave the yard he should be fine. Being treated like a prisoner wasn¡¯t sitting right with Markus in the first place.


    The young boy who had been sharpening a sword earlier, was sitting on a stool and replacing the leather wrapping on a sword¡¯s hilt now.


    The older guy was still hammering something into shape on an anvil. Markus was certainly interesting in getting some skills for tempering metal and maintaining his weapons. He was sure he could gain the skill by getting some hands-on experience, but he wanted to know if he could also get them just by watching.


    After silently watching both of them work for about ten minutes, the smith spoke to Markus while re-heating the metal in the forge. ¡°Got a question? Or are you just watching?¡±


    ¡°Just watching, I am waiting for someone here. Although ¨C ¡°, Markus pulled out the dagger he had in the sheath hanging from his waist. ¡°I kinda damaged my blade. Can I get it repaired here?¡±


    ¡°Show that to my apprentice. We only do free repairs for the soldiers though, civilians have to pay¡± With this, the man turned his attention back to the forge. Hearing the word ¡®apprentice¡¯ suggested that the boy was actually learning how to be a blacksmith, which would imply that he didn¡¯t just raise the skill by levelling up.


    Markus had already figured out that the inventory skill was at least rare. The soldiers had left behind their equipment and the dead, which they wouldn¡¯t have done in case they could just store them away. Something similar was true for the map. Why run into an enemy you weren¡¯t sure to defeat when you could check a map in advance?


    Markus wanted to ask someone about those things, but he did not want to reveal that he was an outsider to this world to just anybody.


    He walked over to the boy, who was about twelve years old and just about done wrapping the leather strap around the sword hilt.


    ¡°Hello, the smith told me to show you this.¡± Markus held the blade in front of the boy, displaying the dull blade. The boy squinted his eyes and examined the blade.


    ¡°Yea, just a second, mister.¡± Markus watched him tying the strap in place. When the boy put the sword to the side, he handed him the dagger. After examining it, the boy handed it back to him.


    ¡°3 copper per side. If you get both sides sharpened, I¡¯ll straighten the bent tip as well.¡±


    Markus checked his inventory, but he didn¡¯t have any copper coins. In fact, he had several different kinds of silver and gold coins, in different sizes and with different motives. Casually pulling out the currency of some faraway country didn¡¯t seem like a brilliant idea.


    ¡°I will get back to it later, thanks.¡± With a shrug, the boy picked up a different sword, a fresh leather strap and got back to work.


    Just watching without understanding what was going on didn¡¯t seem to yield any results, but Markus watched the two of them working anyway. At least he did get a general idea of how things worked. Over time, Markus watched the smith create several horseshoes.


    The smith heated a long formed iron and hammered it into shape, then re-heated it and repeated the process, punched holes into it with his hammer and something like an ice-pick on a stick, all over the course of just a few minutes.


    While he was doing so, the boy picked up a newly made sword and used a variety of grindstones to clean and sharpen it. Afterwards he handed it back to the smith, who heated it up and cooled it down again in a bucket of liquid, probably oil.


    Markus wanted to try it out himself to gain a few new skills. Making and maintaining his own equipment would surely be a good thing.


    Time flew by and soon the rescue group came back to base.

 Chapter 6: The Office and some Shopping

    AN: Just want to say that I have little problems with ¡°Satou¡± (of DeathMarch, the inspiration for this work) himself, he is definitely not the worst of the Web-/Light-Novel style characters, even if he never gets down and dirty with any of his harem-members.


    One large difference I found between my story and the ''original'' is that I always get the urge to flesh out the details, probably more than necessary, but I really want to have a plausible game system in which all the characters'' actions make sense. My writing style is probably more ''regular novel'' than the manga-inspired style of DeathMarch, not saying that my style is any better, or good in the first place.


    Thats just my own feeling right now on what I have so far. On a more practical note, including this chapter I have only released about a third of what I have written. I will go for a binge release at some time in the next few weeks, when the story has reached a point were it is standing on a solid mechanical basis.


    I want this novel to have a few follow up arcs (more like sequels), and if I mess up here it will hamper any future development. Novels with lots of numbers and such are really hard to write for an idiot like me, if they are supposed to still make sense a few tens or hundreds of  thousands words later on.


    TL/DR: slow release speed right now, maybe wait for binge release in a few weeks. Have fun with the new chapter!


    Chapter 6:


    The group coming back consisted of the soldiers in Lieutenant Clement¡¯s group, the first rescue group on horseback and four soldiers on foot from the second rescue group who had taken over the task of carrying the makeshift stretchers. The two wounded soldiers were still being carried, but both were in a significantly better condition.


    Guthrie had woken up and was at 85% HP, while Wynn, who was still pale and splattered in her own blood, was back to 60%. The arrow had also been removed already.


    They were greeted by a surprisingly happy looking Lieutenant Wynn, who, after a brief exchange with Clement, followed the soldiers carrying the young Cora Wynn into the main building.


    Clement gave the soldiers in his group the rest of the day off, then turned towards Markus.


    ¡°I was hoping that you were still around when we got here. I have to thank you, without your support Private Wynn wouldn¡¯t have made it. Please follow me to my office, there is something I want to talk to you about.¡±


    Markus wanted to say that he wasn¡¯t given a choice about staying or leaving, but doing so wouldn¡¯t change the fact. He had intended to wait for them to return either way.


    While following the Lieutenant inside, he was told that the healer who treated Wynn nearly fainted from magic depletion and still had to give her a health potion before getting her into a stable condition.


    The office was in a room on the first floor of the main building. It had a plain wooden floor and was lacking any unnecessary decorations, apart from a large cloth banner on the wall sporting the same three-towered castle as the tabards the soldiers were wearing. A large desk on one end of the room occupied a large amount of the space. Apart from an abundance of letters and documents, a small chest and a fist sized crystal were placed on it. The lieutenant took out a similar crystal from his pocket and placed it on the desk after entering the room.


    He then sat down on a couch and signalled Markus to take a seat on the similar couch facing it.


    ¡°Well, let me get straight to the point. Have you ever thought about joining the armed forces? I know that our reputation is not the very best among the general population, but most of that is based on unfounded rumours. My men were quite impressed with the endurance you had shown and coming up with practical ideas when they are needed can bring you far in the army.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for the offer, but I don¡¯t want to become a soldier. I was just glad I could help.¡± Markus declined politely.


    ¡°I want to offer you a reward fitting your support. Unfortunately, this post here is not doing very well currently. You should already know that this area is within the domain of the Great Dragon since a few years ago. Apart from our main task, which is patrolling the border and give reports on the dragon¡¯s activity, this area is of little interest to the rest of Soba. If you officially joined the ranks of armed forces, I could offer some support at the very least.¡±


    ¡°Thank you again, but joining the army is not something I want to do.¡±


    The man sighed, ¡°Hmmm, I am not happy to hear that, but I can¡¯t force you.¡± Clement said so, stood up and went towards the desk. He opened the small chest and took out a few coins from a pouch. ¡°Then take this. I want to give at least give you a token reward.¡± He handed Markus the coins. ¡°I think it would also be good if you stayed for a bit, you can use the barracks tonight and also get some food from the kitchen.¡±


    He found the last part a little strange, and had the feeling that the man had some suspicion about him but didn¡¯t want to voice it. But his approach was certainly more pleasant than Second Lieutenant Wynn¡¯s blunt approach.


    Looking at the coins in his hand, Markus counted one large silver coin and 5 smaller ones. One side of the coins showed a shield surrounded by 5 runes, the other side had a large crown in the middle of three different, smaller crowns. The large coin was huge in comparison to the tiny, small ones.


    A quick search through his inventory later he found that he had 95 of the large silver coins. He also had a little over 300 gold coins with a similar crown design.


    While Markus was looking at the coins, there was a knock on the door and Lieutenant Wynn entered the room.


    Looking at Markus, she made a complicated face but didn¡¯t say anything to him. ¡°Private Wynn and Corporal Guthrie are resting in the infirmary. Both of them should make a full recovery.¡±


    ¡°That is good to hear. I assume you have already talked to our helper, Markus?¡± Clement sat down on the couch again and signalled the woman to join him.


    Lieutenant Wynn sat down next to him. ¡°Yes. We have talked. I have confirmed that he has no prior convictions, but haven¡¯t gotten any other information.¡±


    ¡°Ahh¡­ I see.¡± Clement was making an apologetic face towards Markus. ¡°I don¡¯t get the feeling that this young man is suspicious in any way.¡± Markus looked at him with a little surprise, the statement was exactly contrary to what he thought earlier. The man continued, ¡°In fact, his actions so far have been anything but selfless.¡±


    Clement then recounted the events so far, from Markus helping in the fight against the bandit group to his actions that ultimately saved the younger Wynn. He didn¡¯t embellish anything, but Markus did have a significant impact, so the accurate account already made him look quite heroic.


    ¡°It seems I have to thank you for saving the life of my niece. I still think that your behaviour is¡­ unusual, but I am ready to deem you as an ally for now. So, thank you for your help.¡± She didn¡¯t apologize for her rude behaviour, but if she left him alone, Markus could live with that. Hearing that the wounded soldier was a close relative made Markus feel a bit more sympathy towards her. Getting irritated in that situation was understandable.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    As the situation seemed to be resolved, Markus decided to ask for a different, more practical reward for his help. He wasn¡¯t sure if Clement or Wynn would agree, but he felt like the situation right now was as best as it could be. If Clement really wanted to keep him close to observe him, it would play right into Markus¡¯ hands.


    ¡°I want to decline the money you have offered me and ask for something else in exchange.¡± Markus placed the coins on the low table between the two couches. ¡°As I have been travelling, I have been thinking about what I should do in the future. I already said that I don¡¯t want to become a soldier right now, but I would like to get some experience in different fields to find out what suits me.


    If possible, I want hands on experience with as many professions as I can.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really understand what you mean.¡± Clement made a questioning face, while Wynn¡¯s expression hardened.


    ¡°I mean, I want to do some things in various professions to get an idea what it is like to work in that field. Cook a meal in the kitchen, spar with a sword and shield, forge something. That kind of thing. Not a real training, just an hour or two of work with a professional. If possible, not only in the keep but also in the village.¡± Addressing Lieutenant Wynn¡¯s likely concerns, he added ¡°I don¡¯t want find out any secrets. Just the very basics.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ that¡¯s a very unusual request.¡± Lieutenant Clement was saying so while thinking about the proposal.


    ¡°I was planning to pay for some training along the way, but seeing that your base has a variety of opportunities, I couldn¡¯t help but ask.¡± Markus added.


    ¡°Let me talk it over with Lieutenant Wynn. I don¡¯t see why it would be a problem though. Come back shortly before sunset, I will have made a decision by then. Feel free to leave the base and go to the village until then.¡±


    Clement then ordered a guard to escort Markus to the gate. He wasn¡¯t thrown out, in fact he had already been offered a sleeping spot in the barracks for the night and free repairs at the workshop.


    The guard was to inform the gatekeepers that Markus was free to come and go for the day.


    Markus decided to follow the suggestion and take a look at the village. Apparently there was a tavern at the village. One of the locals was producing leather products and had a small shop that also offered some other basic items.


    He asked a woman for directions and then headed towards the house of the man dealing in leather goods.


    The house was fairly large compared to the others and the lower floor was divided into a workshop and a sales area with a counter. Stepping inside, Markus was greeted by a heavy smell of leather. The owner, a man in his thirties who was currently cutting a large hide into shapes, greeted Markus and then stepped behind the counter.


    The first thing Markus decided to buy was a bag. He did not actually want to carry heavy stuff around, but he could just put his hand into the bag and then pull out things from his inventory, making it possible to do so in public.


    Markus asked the price of several of the items on display. A hammer cost 2 silver coins, a water bladder could be bought at 1 silver and 10 copper coins. A small metal pot, only a little larger than a cup was 1 silver. The rope was sold at 6 copper coins per meter. A messenger bag with a strap cost two silver coins.


    Buying the bag, the hammer and 6 meters of rope would cost 4 silver and 16 copper. That meant one silver equals 20 copper coins.


    After getting a baseline of the pricing, Markus made some estimations for the remaining items on display, asking the storeowner for the correct values. Of course, those values were subjective and might differ dependent on the region, but after some time, a message appeared in the log.


    [Skill: Value Estimation] gained.


    Thinking that this was a good skill to have, Markus maxed it out. Focussing on an item now showed a window with the name and the value was displayed underneath. Those values differed from the price the merchant had asked for though. The rope and hammer and other general items were significantly overpriced according to the interface information. The leather items were somewhat pricier than what the description said, but already close.


    Markus told the man that he had been offered a hammer and rope for less before. Hearing this, the man visibly flinched slightly and explained that he had to buy them himself, so he couldn¡¯t offer them at lower prices. Considering that his leather items were reasonably priced, the argument seemed to be valid.


    Markus offered to buy the backpack, rope, hammer and pot for 5 silver if the merchant threw in the water bladder for free. The shopkeeper countered with a price of 7 silver coins, but offered a bar of soap on top. Markus wasn¡¯t sure if that was meant as an insult because he looked dirty, but now he really wanted that soap and possibly a brush as well.


    The price for a palm-sized brush was 1 silver, so Markus offered to pay 7 silver and 10 copper. When the man agreed on the deal, a message popped up again.


    [Skill: Haggling] gained.


    Markus maxed it out, although the negotiation was over by now.


    He gave the man one of the large silver coins and got 2 small silver coins and 10 copper coins as change. Out of curiosity, he asked the shopkeeper how much a gold coin was worth.


    Apparently the values of the currency were like this: 1 gold coin = 10 large silver coins = 100 small silver coins = 2000 copper coins.


    Markus¡¯ current funds in Soba currency were therefore worth more than 30000 small silver coins. That much should last him for a while. He also had a lot of gems and metals that should be easy to sell, so he won¡¯t have to work for money anytime soon, if ever.


    Stashing the items in the bag and equipping it, Markus left the store. Outside, he put his hand into the bag and put all the items in it into his inventory, to reduce the weight. The bag was made from soft leather, so it looked empty from the outside. Markus put the rope back into it, to give it some volume.


    He could now just hold his hand into it and make items appear or disappear, which would be useful when in front of other people.


    It was still afternoon and the sun was up high. There would be at least an hour, likely more, before he was to return to the lieutenant. Idling for some time at the tavern seemed ok, but he had already idled at the keep and wanted to explore for a bit.


    He started walking north along the main road. The next region was not that far away, with just a stretch of forest between the village and the border of the map. Even walking normally, it should take no more than an hour to get there.


    As soon as he was out of view from the village, Markus started running through the woods at full speed. He reached the map border 5 minutes afterwards. When he passed into the next area, the map on display changed.

 Chapter 7: Quiz

    The next area was dominated by a large lake in the centre of the map. If the scale of this map was the same as the one before, it should be several kilometres wide. There were a few smaller islands on the lake. Most of the area that wasn¡¯t ¡®lake¡¯ was covered by forest. To the east there was a range of hills or mountains, which marked the edge of the map.


    The road he was currently on went on north, then forked and went west and north-east, towards the lake. The part of the road that went west did so until the edge of the map, the road towards the lake naturally stopped at the water.


    Markus toggled the ¡®points of interest¡¯ mode on the map. The lake was labelled [Lake Wris], the place where the road ended was [Wris Fishing Village].


    Apart from that, there were a few other places with people. [Bale Farmstead], [Wris Logging Camp] and [Vrosa] were located along the road west. [Vrosa] was apparently a small town near the western end of the map, with a population in the higher hundreds. Markus wanted to check it out soon, but not today.


    Searching the map for enemies above level 10, a large number showed up. The closest enemy was not too far away. Markus remembered that the search function was able to discern between different types of creatures if he searched for the name, so the map system had access to the information. He concentrated on the enemy he had singled out. It took him a second to focus his thoughts in the right way, but then a small window popped up next to the red dot.


    [Brown Bear (16)]


    He only had very basic information, but at least he knew what he was up against. He checked the information on a few other red dots.


    [Alpha Wolf (15)]


    [Brown Bear Matriarch (21)]


    [Forest Troll (25)]


    [Bronze Dragon (41)]


    Most of these were rather far away on the other side of the lake, the dragon was a lone red dot in the mountains to the east. From the level Markus assumed it was one of the adolescent dragons that had already left the nest on its own after hatching.


    One group of higher levelled enemies got his attention, mostly because they were in what seemed to be a camp in the woods.


    On closer inspection, they turned out to be all named enemies. [Ryan (14)], [Buzz (15)] and half a dozen others were in a single spot within the forest. It was a little south of the main road, west of Markus¡¯ current position.


    He went to the location at full speed. Markus thought that it should take him around 10 minutes, but the forest was denser than the one to the south, slightly extending the time. He could still see the sun through the canopy, so he figured that he had still ample time left to make it back early enough.


    When he got closer to the enemies, he went into sneaking mode. From the looks of it, it was a group of ragged looking people. Some were wearing bandanas, loosely wrapped around their necks, others wore hooded capes. All of them were pretty dirty. Staying hidden, Markus observed the situation for a while, thinking about what to do. He was frustrated with how little he understood this world. The information he didn¡¯t have would fill a book, while the things he knew for sure were sparse.


    Most members of the group were sitting around a campfire, with a pot hanging above it. Two medium sized tents were set up and a few crates were piled up beside them. He was looking for signs of the men being hunters or soldiers or anything other than just criminals, but there were none. In fact, the types of weapons they used and the clothes they were wearing screamed ¡®bandits¡¯.


    Markus had made up his mind, this was a good enough opportunity.


    Not wanting to waste time after having made his decision, Markus pulled out his dagger and approached them without sneaking. The dagger was a weak weapon, especially in its current state, but he wanted to use it to signal he was willing to fight. His plan was mostly based on intimidation, so acting friendly was only a waste time.


    The first guy spotting him jumped up from his seating position and started shouting. ¡°Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here?¡±


    The other men turned around towards Markus and got up as well, some already brandishing weapons. Markus just continued to walk towards them.


    ¡°Sorry boy, but you walked into the wrong place.¡± The man who said that was bearded, tall and muscle packed. He was wearing pants and a cloak, but was showing his bare torso underneath. After needlessly taking off the cloak as well, he started charging at Markus, holding a mace overhead.


    [Butch


    Level 20


    HP 100%]


    That guy was a perfect target for Markus. It seemed like the others deemed him to be sufficient to deal with a single teenager, no one else was coming at him, but everyone was watching closely.


    After evading his first swing effortlessly, Markus waited for the large man to raise his weapon again. Before Butch could take another swing, Markus dashed forwards and punched him in the chest, breaking his sternum with a loud crack.


    Butch was pushed backwards and fell flat on his back, not moving. Markus looked at the other members of the group. They did not quite comprehend what just happened, obviously everyone had just expected the fight to end with Markus¡¯ head getting bashed in immediately.


    To further shock them, Markus grabbed the large man in front of him by his feet, then swung his body around, making his shoulders and chest collide with a tree trunk. After dropping the body, Butch¡¯s blood-stained head wasn¡¯t heading in a direction that a healthy neck would allow.


    Taking a step further towards the camp, Markus created a large ice shard and shot it into the man in the centre of the group. He didn¡¯t use too much force to shoot it, making the man collapse on the spot, the large ice lance sticking out prominently from his chest.


    Afterwards, the ¡®fight¡¯ broke out for good. Most of the remaining men charged at Markus, while two turned around and ran away.


    Markus sheathed his dagger and started to beat the men up regularly, while trying to avoid further deaths. He knocked out two right from the start by punching them in the solar plexus hard enough.


    Markus accidentally killed one of the men with a blow to his face that not only shattered his jaw but also snapped the guy¡¯s neck.


    He grabbed the dominant arm of the second to last bandit, then started kicking around the last one while leading his friend by his arm. After the guy had collapsed, he squeezed the last man¡¯s arm hard enough for it to make a visible cracking noise, then flung him to the ground next to his friend.


    ¡°If you run away, I will just catch you again and then break your legs, so stay in place.¡±


    [Skill: Intimidation] learned.


    With those parting words and a new skill, he chased after the two men who were fleeing. It slightly surprised Markus to see that their indicators had turned yellow. They had split up, but Markus managed to catch both of them very quickly. He just used force to take them with him. Running at breakneck speed back to the camp, dragging the men behind him, they didn¡¯t even comprehend what was happening.


    [Skill: Abduction] learned.


    For now, Markus ignored the new skill.


    Back at the camp, Markus saw that the guy he had thrown to the ground had actually stayed there. He then lined up the conscious bandits, having them kneel on the ground near the campfire. The unconscious bandits were lying nearby.


    He used his rope to tie all of the men¡¯s feet together to avoid them from getting the stupid idea of trying to run away. Utilizing a knot that didn¡¯t use up much length, didn¡¯t tighten when one pulled against the restraints and could be used on all the men one after the other with a single piece of rope, a message popped up.


    [Skill: Bondage] learned.


    Markus was a bit troubled, but ignored the weird feeling and put five points into the skill to make sure his knots didn¡¯t come lose any time soon.


    The eyes of his ¡®prisoners¡¯ were wandering from their dead comrades towards Markus, showing obvious fear. So far they had no idea of his intentions, who he was or why he was able to overwhelm them in the blink of an eye.


    Markus went to take a look around the camp. The tents contained several bedrolls and some random belongings of the bandits, like tableware, clothes and even the lit for the pot outside, but nothing of special interest or value.


    The contents of the crates were more interesting. One contained cured furs, probably from bears. They were pretty fluffy and of high quality, likely caught during winter and processed by someone who had the appropriate skill. Another one contained textiles of different colours, also of fairly high quality. Jars of honey, more cloth, a bag of salt the size of his head. Using his skill to get the rough value, Markus saw that the items were worth several gold coins in total. Going by the looks of the men, they were certainly not the type who would invest their money into something like this legally.


    As the items didn¡¯t look like they had to be smuggled, his initial guess of the men being bandits seemed spot on. A fancy, bright blue coat with golden embroidery inside a bag was the final nail in the coffin. It had a small hole in the chest area, from where a nasty and large blood stain spread out. The bandits had probably stripped it off the merchant after shooting him, but in its current state it was worthless, apart from being used as evidence against them.


    ¡°Does any of you guys want to bother explaining this to me?¡± Stepping in front of the men with the bloodied coat in his hand, Markus held it in front of them. The men just looked down, no one said anything. ¡°No? Well, it¡¯s plenty self-explanatory to me. I will just assume you are plain murderous robbers then¡­ No objections?¡±


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Markus put the coat on the ground a few meters in front of the men, then sat down on the still clean part of it.


    ¡°So, after we have established that much, let us play a little game. I will ask you questions and you will answer me. If you can answer more questions than your friends, you win and I will let you go. Sounds good?¡±


    The men were looking at Markus.


    ¡°Let us just start. If you know the answer, raise your hand or make some other signal. Who of you guys knows what a ¡®level-up¡¯ is?¡±


    The men had a somewhat doubtful look on their face, then all of them raised their hands. Markus pointed at the one who raised his hand the fastest. Markus had no intention of keeping track of the ¡®points¡¯ in the first place, it was just to motivate the men to talk.


    ¡°It-¡­ It is strength, right? I mean, you get stronger over time, when you fight and get older. Then the soldiers use their table and magic and give you a level, right?¡± Another man interrupted him ¡°That¡¯s wrong. The soldiers don¡¯t give you a level. My aunt could tell a person¡¯s power level as well and she was just a farmer. People came to her all the time to find out if their level had gone up.¡±


    Markus was pleased with the answer. ¡°OK, sounds good. Both of you get a point then. Next question. How do you raise your level?¡±


    All the men raised their hands again. After Markus appointed one, he spoke ¡°Level goes up if you work hard and get older. It also gets up if you go to war, that¡¯s what the soldiers said.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it goes up overtime and if you kill a strong enemy.¡± ¡°My weak brother started to be a bear hunter, then he always beat me up, must have been from the level-ups.¡±


    ¡°OK, enough about that, all of you get a point. Next, what can you tell me about status points or skill points?¡±


    None of them said anything.


    ¡°Status points to raise strength, wisdom, intellect? Or skill points to get better in your skills, like cooking or sword-fighting? Anyone?¡± Markus gave some keywords to find out whether or not they were able to freely spend points like he himself could. Looking into puzzled faces, he asked a new question.


    ¡°Well, fine. Who of you can tell my name or level? I give double points for the correct answer, but don¡¯t guess.¡±


    No hands were raised.


    ¡°Well, then how about this?¡± Markus stood up, then put the bodies of the three dead bandits into his inventory. Walking a bit to the side, he pulled them out of his inventory again, piling them up nearby.


    ¡°Have you ever seen put stuff away and pulled out again like this? Or heard of it?¡±


    All the men¡¯s faces eyes went wide in surprise, apparently they weren¡¯t too attached to their late companions. ¡°That was magic, right? I have never heard of someone ¡®put stuff away¡¯ with magic, but casters can do amazing things right?¡± ¡°Idiot, raise your hand! And that wasn¡¯t magic, he did not cast as spell. For magic spells you need to say something first or have a tool.¡±


    [Skill: Interrogation] learned.


    The questioning was going pretty well, and even while Markus was conducting it in a friendly atmosphere, the system gave him the interrogation skill. The bandits were eager to answer all of his question, especially as he didn¡¯t ask anything related to their crimes. In the end he got a good amount of information out of them, not only about the game system but also when it came to politics and society. They were all more or less idiots, but the basic information they had was helpful.


    What he learned about the game system so far:


    - Apart from the levels, which were routinely used to determine someone¡¯s power, the other aspects like attributes and skills were not common knowledge. Whether that was true for everyone remained to be seen.


    - Everyone could use basic magic power for so-called ¡®tools¡¯, but chanting and casting spells was limited to a small percentage of the population.


    - The menu and interface as well as all things related, like the map, inventory or item descriptions, were nothing the men had ever seen or heard about.


    Markus also learned a bit about politics and society. The kingdom referred to as ¡®Soba¡¯ actually consisted of three small kingdoms, ruled by a High King. The High King also ruled his own kingdom, but there were two other ¡®Kings¡¯. Markus thought this sounded more like an empire, but the size of the whole ¡®Soba¡¯ union was barely comparable to the neighbouring kingdoms.


    This union itself was more or less stable, with open disagreements among the kings extremely rare, but there were often quarrels among the lower nobles who tended to drag the general population into it.


    The area with the dragon was the south-eastern border of Soba, belonging to the kingdom of one of the subordinate kings. Its local capital was a fair bit west, more than a week by foot, the main capital of the union was even further north-west. None of the bandits had ever been to the main capital and only a few had seen the regional capital.


    Society was rather bleak. There was a sharp hierarchy between nobles and the common people, with villagers at the lowest level. They were deemed to live a life of back-breaking labour, always in danger of being drafted or forced to pay or work for reparations in case their local liege lost in a power struggle.


    The only way out for a normal villager without any special skills was to join the standing army of either their liege or the federation, which was difficult because they had to have no prior convictions and often had to pay for their equipment themselves. The entry requirements in terms of physical ability were also quite steep.


    Alternatively one could become an outlaw, living as a bandit or smuggler. Some criminal organizations existed, extorting money, kidnapping people and sometimes even fighting with nobles. Markus¡¯ prisoners didn¡¯t belong to any though, and had no connections.


    Townspeople, merchants and skilled craftsmen were apparently better off, as were magicians. Outside all of this were groups of ¡®adventurers¡¯ or ¡®travellers¡¯, freelance magicians and mercenary bands, but one had to be quite capable to even consider such a life.


    The nobles were a mixed bunch. Some were liked, others dreaded. While slavery was outlawed in Soba, at least on paper, they held full authority over the general population. As they also held legislative and executive power, they could order just about anything and their subjects had to follow suit. It sounded like slavery to Markus, just on a larger and less individual scale.


    Markus was quite confident that just being ignorant about most things would not be that suspicious if he acted like a simple, travelling villager. Only after all of the bandits pooled together their collective knowledge he got an opaque picture of how this country and the basic mechanics worked. Common people were not expected to get a basic education for more than a few years, if at all.


    If children were lucky a suitable person would act as a village teacher, teaching them basic reading and writing skills and a bit of maths. But any knowledge above could not be expected. Birth certificates weren¡¯t a thing and records were only kept for the sake of taxation, limiting them to information about fields and expected yields, not necessarily people.


    Most people only got into contact with the ¡®identification table¡¯ when entering a larger town or getting checked at a military post when passing by. Two of the bandits had told him they were orphans and spend most of their youth doing basic fieldwork and being construction helpers, getting relocated between villages whenever there was suitable work, in exchange for food and lodging. If Markus was ever asked, he would use a similar background.


    He was satisfied with the results of his impromptu ¡®quiz¡¯, but running out of things to ask, he had to wrap it up now. It was already clear what he had to do. Letting the men go free might result in rumours about him getting spread, and they would probably continue to rob and kill people. Handing them over to the military was bound to have them interrogated, making Markus a person of interest, and afterwards they would probably be executed. There was only one choice from the very beginning.


    Markus spoke up in a cheery tone. ¡°Thank you for your cooperation. You are all winners! Congratulations! I will blindfold you now, to protect me while leaving. After I give the signal, count to one hundred before starting to move or talk. Failure to do so will result in harsh punishment.¡±


    He cut the shirt of a dead bandit into small strips to use as blindfolds. After making sure the men could not see anything, he told them to start counting.


    Standing behind the kneeling men, Markus started to cast. He felt bad about it, but he had shown them all of his abilities. He did not want to take any chances. Justifying his actions to himself, he released the ice shard he had been forming and shot the first guy into the back of his head.


    He quickly went around and repeated the action, making sure to deliver clean headshots that killed his victims before they even hit the ground. The lieutenant¡¯s and Boyd¡¯s previous actions had shown him what bandits had to expect, so he just imitated that behaviour while blocking out his own emotions.


    [New title: Executioner].


    All of them died before realizing what was going on. After finishing the unconscious men off in a similar manner, Markus started collecting everything in the camp into his inventory, including the corpses.


    The bandits had been helpful, so Markus considered to at least properly bury the bodies at some point in the future. He would certainly not use them as dragon food if it could be avoided.


    The sun had already started setting by the time he left the forest, so Markus hurried back to Springkeep for his meeting with Clement.

 Chapter 8: The Tavern

    ¡°Yes, I talked it through with Second Lieutenant Wynn and the people involved. I will let you stay for two days and you can work with several of the people here in the keep. Some areas are off-limits for a civilian though, I think you understand.¡±


    Markus was sitting on the couch in the lieutenant¡¯s office, opposite Clement.


    ¡°For the most part you can take as much time as you like with the different people. Tomorrow morning you will be sparring with one of my men until noon, apart from that you are free to just approach people on your own initiative. You can visit the workshop outside, the stables and the kitchen. One of the villagers has set up her alchemical workshop here in the keep, so you can also help her out. I already talked to her and she would even appreciate some help.


    You can also talk to our mage and the healer if you want to, but without talent and specialized training you won¡¯t be able to pursue those careers.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for giving me this opportunity¡± Markus was not too sure about the merits of his idea, but hearing ¡®alchemy¡¯ and ¡®magician¡¯ assured him that this should at least be interesting.


    ¡°I hope it will help you come to the decision to join us as a recruit, to be honest. Well¡­ even if you don¡¯t, Lieutenant Wynn agreed that it would not hurt to let you stay for a bit either way.¡±


    Markus got the feeling that Wynn, and probably Clement as well, just wanted to keep an eye on him, but he didn¡¯t worry that much. After getting some information from the bandits earlier, he was sure that he could avoid being too suspicious.


    Wrapping things up with the lieutenant, Markus decided to check out the tavern. He was planning on getting a room to avoid having to stay in the barracks. There was no real reason apart from him not wanting to share a bedroom with a bunch of other people.


    The tavern was the largest building in the village and closest to the road. A small stable had been built next to it, but it was apparently empty. Upon entering the main building, Markus was greeted by the sound of soldiers laughing loudly, obviously fairly drunk. He recognized two of them as Bradley and Ashton, who had been fighting the bandits this morning. There were several others he had not met yet.


    A large, brown haired woman was standing behind a counter, greeting Markus.


    ¡°Ohhhh, hello, young traveller. What can I do for you?¡± The woman was making a friendly smile. She was very voluptuous, if not to say chubby, but attractive, although already in her late thirties. Her breasts looked like they were currently trying to break out of her dress, that¡¯s how large they were, and how tight the top of her dress was pressing them into position.


    ¡°Hello. How much does a room cost for the night?¡± Markus got a little closer to the counter.


    ¡°It¡¯s only one small silver coin per night, with breakfast. We don¡¯t have many travellers here these days, with the dragons and all that.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good, I will take a room for two nights then. Do you serve dinner as well? I haven¡¯t eaten since lunch¡±


    ¡°Kitchen is already closed, so all I can offer is cold stew and bread. The stew¡¯s pretty good though, even cold. A beer as well?¡± Without waiting for him to answer, she turned towards the door behind her and started shouting, ¡°AAABYYY!¡±


    Immediately a girl appeared in the doorframe. She looked like a much younger version of the tavern keeper, much more slender, but she had definitely inherited her mother¡¯s chest. ¡°What is it? I¡¯m not deaf mom, but I will be if you keep shouting like that.¡±


    ¡°We have a guest, darling. Go and prepare one of the rooms.¡± Saying that, the woman took a mug from behind the counter and started pouring some beer from a large keg behind her. The girl meanwhile looked at Markus curiously, then went upstairs.


    Placing the mug in front of him, the tavern-keeper then went into the back-room where the girl had come from.


    Markus picked up the mug and looked inside. There was barely any foam on the beer, and the liquid was kind of murky. Feeling adventurous, Markus took a large gulp.


    The ¡®beer¡¯ was warm and left a bad taste in his mouth. Swallowing quickly, he also noticed that it packed quite a punch. And there were small chunks in it. Supressing the urge to shudder from the taste, Markus decided to drink the remaining beer slowly, or perhaps not at all.


    The woman returned and placed a bowl with stew and a small basket with slices of dark bread in front of Markus. ¡°And, tastes good, right? Our beer is super popular with the soldiers.¡±


    ¡°Well, it is certainly interesting. Thanks for the food.¡± Markus picked up the spoon and started eating the stew. Compared to the beer, the stew was actually good, even cold. Dunking some bread inside, he judged that this was certainly the best meal he had in the last two days. ¡°The stew is really good. How much do I owe you?¡±


    ¡°The meal is 4 copper, beer 2. Including the room, its 2 silver and 6 copper.¡± Markus gave her a large silver coin from his inventory after putting his hand into his bag. After getting his change, he turned his attention back to his meal.


    While he was eating, one of the soldiers sitting at the table called out to him, ¡°Heyy, boy! Come join us for a bit, will ya?¡± Turning around, he noticed that it was the soldier named Bradley. Markus picked up his food and beer and sat down at an empty chair at the table.


    ¡°So this is the rumoured young traveller? Doesn¡¯t look that impressive to me.¡± One of the other soldiers made that statement and with an uninterested expression.


    Ashton responded, ¡°You weren¡¯t there, otherwise you wouldn¡¯t say that. He has endurance like a horse, or better. The Lieutenant was mocking us after he ran off, yelling ¡®Don¡¯t look so tired, the youngster wasn¡¯t tired at all, don¡¯t embarrass the army, the civilian was so smart and cool and I want to marry him¡¯, all the time.¡±


    Markus doubted that Clement used all of those words.


    ¡°Watch your mouth, or the leader will make you go explode if he hears you.¡±


    ¡°Well, anyway, thanks for helping to save Coraline.¡± Ashton said so to Markus with a serious face. He then raised his mug. ¡°To Newman and Martin! May they rest in peace, poor bastards!¡±


    The other soldiers raised their mugs as well, Markus imitated them. Then all took a big gulp of their beer. While eating his dinner, Markus listened to the soldiers telling stories about how Newman had healed them, apparently he was well liked. Martin was less liked, as he was sometimes the cause of the injury that had to be healed.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    After he finished, the girl from before approached him. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Markus turned around. ¡°Your room is ready. Let me show you to it, ok?¡± Nodding, Markus stood up. Putting a small silver coin on the table, he announced that the next round was on him.


    ¡°Ahhh, he¡¯s even well mannered!? What¡¯s up with you, do you want everyone else to fall for you, too? Get properly drunk with us until you throw up like a real man¡± Ashton was lamenting, obviously intoxicated. The others thankfully raised their mugs towards Markus. He then followed the girl upstairs.


    ¡°By the way, I¡¯m Abigail. I guess you are the guy the lieutenant told me about, the one who wants to help with work?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Markus. Yea, I have asked Lieutenant Clement if I could join some of the professionals at the keep, to get an idea of what everyone is doing.¡± Markus explained while following the girl to one of the rooms.


    ¡°I am feeding the horses and usually prepare the meals for the soldiers, so I guess you want to join me too then. I don¡¯t really understand what you want to do, but feel free to stop by. This is your room.¡±


    Markus entered through the door the girl just opened. Inside the room there was a bed, table and chair. A large bowl with water was standing on the table, as well as a clean cloth.


    ¡°I suppose you want to wash yourself. The toilet is outside, next to the stables. If you need anything, just talk to me or my mom. I did not charge the light a lot though.¡± She pointed at the lamp, which was standing next to the bowl. It looked similar to the wall-mounted lights in the keep, a square box of some sort of glass with a floating sphere inside, emitting light. On top there was a small metal box.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I will go to bed soon. Thank you.¡± Markus sat down on the bed. It seemed rather comfortable, and the sheets were clean.


    ¡°OK, I will leave you alone then. Good night!¡± Abigail smiled at him, then closed the door.


    After she left Markus went over to the table. The lamp was probably some sort of magic tool that could be charged with mana. Putting his hand on the lamp, he decided to try it out. Placing his hand on the metal part on top, he tried pouring some mana inside. His mana pool dropped by a few points, but the light didn¡¯t change intensity. He then reversed the mana flow, pulling energy out. After a few seconds, the light went out, leaving the room in darkness. Pouring some magic energy into it again, the light went back on.


    He didn¡¯t want to break the device by accident, so Markus stopped playing around with it after understanding the concept.


    Looking at the washbowl he remembered the shopkeeper who had offered him soap. He didn¡¯t think too much about it at the time, but now he was feeling a little ill at ease about his hygiene.


    He tried using the reflection on the water to see if there was perhaps something on his face. The bad lighting in the room paired with the wobbly reflection didn¡¯t let him see that much, but this was the first time he got at least a vague look at his face in this new world.


    He was certainly younger and the face looked familiar, but at the same time it was slightly different. Markus was not entirely sure, but he would say that he had gotten a little more handsome. He had to get his hands on a proper mirror to tell though.


    After undressing, Markus pulled out the soap from his inventory and started to wash himself. Judging from the state of the formerly white piece of cloth, he certainly was a bit dirty.


    He didn¡¯t have a change of clothes, so he put on his previous clothes again. He wanted to use the toilet and inform the tavern keeper to wake him up early tomorrow.


    The ¡®toilet¡¯ was terrible. It was an outhouse between the stables and the tavern. It didn¡¯t smell as bad as he had expected, but otherwise it was just a plank with a hole in it, and there was no toilet paper, just a small pile of straw. That wasn¡¯t possibly the substitute, or was it? After he was done with his business, Markus pulled one of the bandit¡¯s shirts out of his inventory and ripped off a piece of cloth to clean himself.


    For the first time since testing it, he opened the [notes] function in the menu. Adding a new one, he wrote:


    - Produce clean toilet paper and wet wipes


    as the first item on his to-do list.


    He then went back to his room after talking to Abigail¡¯s mother about waking him up the next day.


    Markus then turned off the lamp and went to bed. The day had certainly been eventful. It had not been as ridiculous as yesterday, there had not been any falling from space or dragons, but he had for the first time in his life see people get killed.


    Not only that, after witnessing it for the first time in the morning, he went ahead and killed a group of people by himself, most of them just because it was easier than the alternative. It was certainly an act he would not even have considered to do in his old life. Was it because he still unconsciously believed this to be a dream? Was it because it felt so game-like? Because they were a murderous bunch of criminals who had attacked him first?


    Whatever the reason, Markus was aware of one thing: he did not feel as bad about it as he thought he would, or rather as he thought he should feel. Perhaps he was in fact a bad person all along, a sociopath, or a psychopath.


    But if he was, then why did he worry about whether or not the girl soldier survived? Why was he feeling good when he say Lieutenant Wynn be happy when the girl returned and understanding that she was irritated before because she was worried?


    Those were questions Markus could not really answer and honestly had no need to answer right now. He didn¡¯t kill for fun, he had a reason, even if it was a selfish one. Not feeling bad about killing criminals was something considered wrong in modern, advanced society, but here it was probably alright.


    Not feeling remorse should be a good thing. As things were looking, it was likely that he had to kill again at some point and when that time came, he had no need to hesitate. Markus decided to find some people or a cause it was worth killing for. But first, he would train his skills. And for tonight, sleep again in a nice bed.

 Chapter 9: Combat Training

    Chapter 9:


    Markus was woken up by someone knocking at the door. ¡°Excuse me, are you awake?¡± he could hear a female voice from the other side of the door.


    Sitting up in bed, he answered back ¡°Yes, thank you. I am already awake!¡±


    He heard the door opening, then Abigail entered, carrying a bowl with water inside. When she spotted him, she quickly looked away. ¡°Woah, sorry, I didn¡¯t mean ¨C I mean, I just wanted to ¨C I thought you were already up and dressed.¡±


    She hurried to the table, placed the new bowl on it, then turned around and left without looking at Markus. She didn¡¯t even take the old bowl with her.


    Markus was a bit puzzled, maybe because he just got up. He was naked, but all the important parts were covered by the blanket. Looking down, he assured that there were no conspicuous bulges or anything to get embarrassed over.


    After washing himself once again and getting dressed, he went downstairs.


    There was a plate with a few slices of dark bread and some cheese on it, also a bowl with soup and some water in a large wooden cup. Abigail¡¯s mother was standing behind the counter and washing some mugs. Abigail herself was sitting on one of the stools in front of the counter. When she saw him coming down, she apologized again.


    ¡°No need to apologize. Thanks for bringing me fresh water, it was good that I could wash myself before getting dressed.¡± Markus sat down and hurriedly ate his breakfast. The bread was a little dry and the cheese hard, but it was bearable. Markus was looking forward to train with the soldiers. In his previous life he had never picked up any weapons, so he had only a vague idea of fighting. After his experiences over the last two days, he found that it would probably be fun.


    The fights so far had been very one-sided, even when he had only used his bare hands. Markus didn¡¯t expect all enemies in the future to be this easy to defeat though. This was, in fact, a fantasy world and he had only seen a tiny fracture of it. Even then, there were trolls, dragons and magicians who should be harder to defeat than the average bandit.


    Hitting things with his bare hands also hurt, even if it didn¡¯t cause actual damage to him. So if just for that, Markus was determined to learn some weapon skills.


    Entering through the main gate, Markus found Boyd sitting at the table in the corner. When he spotted Markus, Boyd waved him over.


    ¡°Morning. The Lieutenant already briefed me. I¡¯m supposed to give you some training, showing you what it¡¯s like to be a soldier.¡± He didn¡¯t sound very amazed with the idea, but his look was friendly enough.


    ¡°Yea. Sorry for bothering you. I¡¯m basically just curious.¡± Markus saw a large bundle of weapons sitting on the table, wrapped in animal skin and tied with rope. Apart from that Markus saw two shields and a long spear. There was also a leather chest-piece, a pair of gloves and a helmet.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. Also, thanks for your support yesterday. Wynn is pretty popular around here. I mean, the young Wynn, not the Lieutenant. I doubt anyone will feel bad about showing some appreciation for you helping her.¡±


    They carried the equipment to the training ground together. It was an area behind the main building, where a couple of straw puppets were lined up on one end of the area, with a large open area in front.


    Boyd had Markus wear the armour. The professional soldiers usually fought in full metal armour, unlike militia. For the sake of training though Markus would be wearing the heavy leather armour, just to get a feel what it is like to move while being restricted and carrying the extra weight.


    For Markus it was actually not much of a difference due to his abnormally high stats, but he didn¡¯t say that to Boyd. Utilizing the straw targets and real weapons, Boyd showed Markus the correct way in which to attack and defend using the different types of weapons.


    Markus had been a little afraid that he would be taken on patrol or something similar to show him the daily work of a soldier, but the lieutenant had instructed Boyd to show him the more fun facets of the profession. That way, it had exactly the effect Markus had hoped for.


    Over the course of just a few hours, Markus learned an abundance of weapon skills. He also got a feeling for which weapon would be useful in certain types of situations or against special enemies.


    He gained skills with [One-Handed Swords], [One-Handed Blunt Weapons] and [Spears]. While practicing with a bastard sword that could be used either one or two-handed, he noticed that while he held it with two hands, his [Two-Handed Swords] skill was activated, while it would use his untrained one-handed skill when only holding it with one arm.


    Apart from the weapon skills, Markus also gained some defensive skills: [Shield-Block], [Shield-Bash] and [Riposte]. Overall, it was a fairly productive morning. Before lunch, Boyd produced a short bow and arrows and they had a small competition against each other. Being fairly unskilled himself, it was meant purely for enjoyment, but produced results nonetheless. The [Bows] skill came naturally, but Markus also got a [Projectile Prediction] skill, and after Boyd threw some wooden plates meant to practice shooting moving targets, he got [Target Leading] on top.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Because Markus had to concentrate on holding back during the sparring matches, he also got a [Physical Power Control] skill. That was the only skill he raised to maximum level immediately. For the sake of appearing like a beginner, he did not raise the other combat skills yet. His already high agility and evasion skills made appearing like a total beginner hard though, and he got a lot of praise from Boyd for his apparent natural talent.


    For lunchtime, they went inside the keep. The building had a fairly large designated canteen. It had enough space to accommodate all currently stationed soldiers and then some. Because soldiers opted to eat elsewhere and some were out on patrol or guard duty, there was a fair amount of empty chairs.


    Abigail was seen standing behind a counter, handing out food. The meal was stir-fried vegetables with a small amount of meat and mashed potatoes. Markus had a short conversation with her.


    She had already tended to the horses in the morning and would be back in the afternoon, so Markus told her to meet him at the workshop in the yard. He wanted to practice there after lunch and it was right next to the stables.


    Over the meal Boyd told Markus some things about Springkeep and the dragons. Apparently, the outpost had been a fairly desirable job. The local villagers were friendly and duty consisted mostly of checking passing travellers and patrolling along the river, the border to the next kingdom.


    When the dragon decided to move in, things changed rapidly. The villages near the dragon¡¯s nest were destroyed quickly, in a show of force by the dragon. The surrounding lords then pooled their money and somewhat appeased him with a large offering of gold, but there were still sporadic raids for food. Markus was surprised that there was some sort of ¡®negotiation¡¯ with dragons, but Boyd could not elaborate on how this worked. After paying the dragon, it was bearable for a year or so, and the dragon¡¯s presence positively strengthened cooperation among the nobles and even the neighbouring kingdoms.


    Things were quiet for some time, and the merchants still used the roads for travel. There were plans to rebuild some of the farms and settlements the dragon had destroyed and resettle the people there that had fled and scattered around the surrounding areas.


    Then young dragons started to appear. At first the soldiers tried to fight them off, but it became clear that they could not even beat a small dragon without a large group of specialists, and even then losses were inevitable. It was hard hunting dragons on the move, so it did not make any sense of stationing a group of elite soldiers in Springkeep permanently.


    The young dragons rarely caused trouble over anything apart from food, but they saw everything that moved as food. Livestock, horses, carriages, people. Luckily, they went for easy to grab livestock over attacking people in settlements, but that was only more reason for the authorities to not send more soldiers. The area had been basically abandoned with only a minimum force left behind.


    Every few months a new dragon would appear. Usually the young dragons would leave the area after feeding, but some stuck around for several weeks. The soldiers at Springkeep would try to keep track of the general direction the dragons were headed and only go on some basic patrols to defer smugglers and other criminals, not that anyone was keen to come here.


    One main reason Springkeep was still standing was the fact that they kept a large amount of cows near the village, as a source of food that was easy to access without trouble. They had to restock from time to time, but so far it had worked.


    Being stationed here was now seen more as a punishment or bad luck, and a large part of the force was switched out on a regular basis. The annual death toll among soldiers was the highest in the nation, due to regular dragon incidents and criminals who want to exploit the low military presence for smuggling or other misdeeds.


    The light at the end of the tunnel was that the dragon had been terrorizing the continent for centuries and its behaviour was more or less predictable. It usually stayed around a place until there was no more food nearby, but when breeding it would not stay longer than a decade. Currently it was the fifth year after the first sighting in this area.


    After Boyd finished explaining about the dragon and they had eaten, the two parted ways. Boyd went to bring the equipment back to the armoury and then had to return to regular duty. Markus went to visit the workshop in the yard.

 Chapter 10: Smithy, Stables and Kitchen

    The smith already knew what he was there for and Markus could see that he was not happy with it. Unlike Boyd he did not make an effort to make things fun or interesting, but that was OK for Markus.


    Exclaiming that they were going to make a simple knife, the man gave Markus commands, when to take out the metal from the forge, how to hold the tongues and where to hit the glowing iron to get it into shape. It didn¡¯t go too well at first, but after heating the vaguely knife-shaped lump of iron for the third time, Markus got the [Blacksmithing] skill after putting it on the anvil and striking it with the hammer.


    He quickly rose the skill to level 3 and managed to salvage the project in a satisfying manner. The knife was a bit shorter and broader than originally intended, but the surface was more or less smooth and the sides straight. He even got the edge somewhat sharp.


    The smith was surprised with the sudden improvement, but he looked pleased. After cooling the knife down, he sent Markus over to his apprentice. The boy showed Markus how to clean and polish the metal and how to use a grindstone to make the edge razor-sharp. While following the instructions, Markus gained the [Blade Maintenance] skill. He only raised it to level 3 and finished with mediocre results on purpose.


    Finally, the apprentice pulled out a piece of wood that was already shaped like a hilt. Squeezing the blunt end of the knife into the hilt, he pulled a thin iron ring over it, tightened it and started to wrap the handle with a leather strap. After starting, he gave Markus the knife to finish the process. Failing to get the wrapping right at first, Markus finally succeeded. Not only was he rewarded with an odd looking but functional knife, he also got a [Weapon Creation] skill.


    He spent the remaining time bringing his dagger back into shape and then Abigail came to pick him up. Markus thanked the smith and his apprentice and followed Abigail to the stables. He wasn¡¯t really aiming for any ¡®animal feeding¡¯ or ¡®horse droppings shovelling¡¯ skills, but he helped the girl diligently.


    Abigail saddled the horses. Because they were rarely used on patrol to avoid attracting dragons, she did so in order to keep the animals used to the process.


    ¡°Well, I also take them for a ride around the walls from time to time, but¡­ those horses are not meant for beginners. And falling off one is really dangerous.¡±


    Markus doubted that falling off a horse would cause him actual damage. ¡°I see. I promise not to hold you responsible if I fall off. I just want to ride for a few minutes, promised.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about the responsibility, but I feel bad if you get injured you know?¡± Abigail said so while tightening strap of the saddle.


    ¡°I won¡¯t be hurt. I am really good at falling, look¡± He made a small jump to the side, then rolled over the ground and got up in one fluid motion.


    Abigail looked surprised at first, then started laughing ¡°Hahaha, Ok, ok, I get it. But look where you are rolling next time, ok?¡± She pointed at a brown spot at his shoulder. Looking down, Markus saw a flattened horse dropping. Luckily horse poop was not as disgusting as many other animal¡¯s droppings, but it was still a lot worse than having no poop on you.


    While Markus was trying to brush off the dirt on his shoulder, Abigail at least consented to his riding idea. ¡°The lieutenant said to support you, as long as it¡¯s nothing illegal or weird. Letting you a ride around the walls is fine.¡±


    She led one of the horses outside the gates. Abigail showed Markus how to mount it. Still holding onto the horse with a rope attached to the harness, she led the horse on a path around the outer palisades with Markus sitting in the saddle.


    While walking, she explained to him how commands are given to the horse. When you push your legs together, how to change direction, what it means pulling the reigns or letting lose and how much effect talking to a horse had.


    It sounded pretty straightforward. Walking a bit away from the palisades, she then let him steer the horse left and right using only the reigns, still holding onto the rope.


    It was not enough for Markus to get any skill related to riding a horse, and he felt like a little girl on a pony rented for her birthday.


    ¡°Can I try riding the horse around by myself? Just for a little¡± They were on an empty field, so it was the most ideal environment Markus could think of. If he couldn¡¯t get the skill here, he would feel bad.


    Finally Abigail gave in as well. Unfortunately, the horse didn¡¯t agree with the plan as much as Markus had hoped for. It refused to start walking at all for a minute, instead eating grass growing from the ground. When Markus got frustrated and his slight kicks into the horse¡¯s flanks became more violent, it suddenly broke into a sprint.


    Markus could barely remain seated in the saddle and would have fallen off if it hadn¡¯t been for his high agility. The sudden violent movements made Markus forget most of the instructions for riding the horse. After reaching the edge of the forest, he started to get used to the motions and started to use the established way of riding a horse.


    He was clinging onto the horse so tightly with his legs that it nearly broke its ribs and pulled the reigns back with some force. The horse finally started slowing down. Markus then released the pressure from his legs on one side, pulled the reigns to the other and the horse changed direction.


    [Skill: Riding] gained.


    What a troublesome skill to learn. Markus raised it all the way to level 10 and made his way back to Abigail, who was looking quite desperate from far away, but calmed down after seeing Markus still sitting on top of the animal and riding at a reasonable speed.


    To reassure her everything was fine, he raised the speed just slightly and cleanly circled around Abigail before approaching her very slowly, then getting off the horse. Riding an animal was something completely different compared to using a bike or car, that was the main issue at first. With the skill at highest level, he had a complete understanding of the animal¡¯s behaviour and felt how he could influence it most efficiently.


    ¡°Moa, that was so scary¡± Abigail was jumping at Markus with an angry expression. When he thought she would somehow attack him, he was suddenly embraced. Luckily he had suppressed the urge to avoid her, having her cling onto him felt surprisingly nice. As suddenly as she had hugged him, she let go of him again.


    Blushing, the girl took the horse¡¯s reigns and led it back to the gate without looking at Markus, or talking. Markus apologized for making her worry and thanked her for letting him try riding. Feeling mischievous, he then patted her head while walking next to her. Abigail let out a surprised voice and her face and ears got even redder, but she did not turn towards him or say anything. This girl was surprisingly easy to embarrass.


    Back at the stables, they got the saddle and reigns off the horse, then went towards the kitchen. Abigail had calmed down again and handed Markus something that looked like an apron with sleeves. Both of them washed their hands properly, then Abigail started preparing the food.


    A young soldier had already peeled a basked with potatoes and washed off a pile of other vegetables. Apparently Abigail was the cook, while the soldiers took turns being on kitchen duty and acting as helpers.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    ¡°Hey, are you good with using magic tools?¡± Abigail then pointed at something that resembled an electrical cooking plate. It did not look out of place in a kitchen, so Markus had not thought much about it, but of course there was no electricity in this world. It was probably running with magic.


    There was also a large iron stove in the corner that could be used with coal, going by the large heap of charcoal nearby.


    ¡°I think so, do you want me to turn it on.¡± Markus said so while going over to the cooking plate, looking for the place where he had to inject mana. Turning around to Abigail, she was looking embarrassed yet again.


    ¡°Yea, I¡¯m really bad with charging tools. If I use the stove, people complain because it gets hot inside. But it¡¯s not my fault, this thing just uses way too much energy.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s true, for me most other people as well. It usually just runs for a few minutes then you have to charge it again. I once passed out trying to keep it going.¡± The young soldier said so, perhaps to comfort Abigail. The kitchen was in the same room as the tables were the soldiers were eating, so it was no wonder that it could get hot. The main building was made of stone, so it was usually cool inside compared to the outside.


    ¡°Leave it to me then. Is this the spot where I charge it?¡± Markus placed his hand on a small extrusion on the side. Getting a confirming nod from Abigail, he started pouring mana inside. Immediately small, red flames came out from numerous holes in the surface. Markus¡¯ mana pool dropped noticeably. After a few seconds, the device had already absorbed 100 mana points.


    The flames did not get any larger, so it was probably just a matter of how long the stove kept going. Markus quickly poured another 100 points into the device, then stopped.


    He helped Abigail put a large pot on top of the metal frame that was attached above the flames, then they filled it with water and potatoes.


    Then they turned towards the pile of other vegetables and started cutting them into small pieces. Markus was watching Abigail and tried copying her as well as he could. It was only cutting though, so his high agility and possibly his skills with daggers made it an effortless endeavour. The bowls in front of them filled and Markus was pleased that he was even faster than the others in cutting the vegetables.


    A hissing sound coming from the potatoes alerted them. Foam was coming from underneath the lid of the pot and dropped onto the flames, evaporating.


    ¡°What, it¡¯s still running?¡± Abigail rushed to the cooking plate and put her hand on the charger, trying to stop the device. ¡°How much did you charge it? Wahh, it¡¯s not stopping!¡±


    Markus gently pushed her aside and drained the remaining energy within a few seconds. ¡°I don¡¯t know, was that bad?¡± he asked her. The young soldier also made a puzzled expression.


    ¡°It normally just turns off by itself after a few minutes. Cooking potatoes does not need that much energy, it¡¯s enough to boil the water, then take them off the stove and let them steam for a while¡± Abigail explained. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not bad though, the potatoes are fine.¡±


    The remaining work was uneventful. Abigail let Markus do some of the work and in the end he got a [Cooking] skill like he had hoped. Abigail was in charge of the details and measurements, so the quality of the finished dish was in line to what he was already used to.


    Markus left the keep together with the girl, who was heading back to the tavern. It was already early evening and he had learned a lot of new skills today. There was only the magician and the alchemist remaining.


    ¡°Are you planning to do anything else today?¡± Abigail suddenly asked him. He actually had some plans, but it seemed like she had something in mind.


    ¡°Nothing concrete. Do you want to do something? Go on a date with me?¡± Markus was just messing with her, but even if she said yes he would not mind.


    ¡°What? N-no, not like that!¡± she was quick to refuse, but he had managed to make her blush again. ¡°The lieutenant said you were a traveller, so I was just wondering if you would stay at the tavern in the evening. I mean, I wanted to ask you if you had any interesting stories to tell or something.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Don¡¯t the soldiers have more interesting stories than me? I mean, I just walked around for a bit, that¡¯s not interesting, is it?¡± They had already reached the tavern by now. Abigail sat down on a bench in front of the building, so Markus sat down beside her.


    ¡°Most soldiers are stupid and some are downright creepy. And I¡¯m not interesting in stories of them bullying villagers or fighting off wild beasts and bandits. Well, sometimes it¡¯s interesting, but I don¡¯t mean those kinds of things.¡± The girl was looking a bit sad, so Markus decided to hear her out at least, even if he did not have any stories to tell.


    ¡°So, what kind of things are you interested in?¡± he asked her.


    ¡°I have never really left the village. The only other places I have ever seen were destroyed by the dragons. With all the dragons and only the army around, I sometimes wished our house would have been destroyed as well and we would be living somewhere else now. I want to know what it¡¯s like to live in a big city. Or how it is to live like a merchant. They had always good stories about nice places, and they had nice clothes and stuff. But they don¡¯t stop here anymore.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, I see. I¡¯ve never been to a large city myself, and I don¡¯t think you want to hear anything about me walking around the countryside. The most interesting story I have is me sleeping outside under a table when I couldn¡¯t find a better place. And that is just sad I think.¡± Of course that wasn¡¯t true, but everything he could tell her was either from Earth or about the unbelievable stuff that happened to him over the last few days.


    ¡°Hmm, is that so?¡± Abigail was looking down.


    ¡°Well, I heard the dragon won¡¯t stay long here. Perhaps it is gone by next year, it might have even left already and no one noticed.¡± That was a fact of course. Things would get better soon, but the girl had no way of knowing.


    ¡°I wish that stupid dragon would have never come. It was so nice here when I was young. There were so many people around and everyone was looking happy¡­¡± Abigail wiped her eyes. ¡°I have already decided to go somewhere else soon, so I had hoped you could tell me where it would be nice.¡± She then stood up, and went to the entrance of the tavern. ¡°Well, thanks for taking some time anyway. I¡¯m going to help my mom now.¡± With that she entered the house, leaving Markus behind.


    He felt slightly bad for the girl, but he had limited options to help her. It was dangerous for a single person on the road. He had already met bandits and wild beasts and there were dragons and trolls and probably worse things around. Even the cities were bound to have some pit-falls. There were likely a lot of ¡®bad-endings¡¯ for a pretty young girl on her own.


    It was ultimately her decision though, and it wasn¡¯t like Markus could just take her with him. He wanted to explore the world and a companion would slow him down a lot.

 Chapter 11: Vrosa

    Chapter 11:


    Markus walked north on the road and out of the village. He wanted to finally visit the town in the northern area. Markus only had one set of clothes and while it had been dirty before already, he had managed to get horse droppings on it today, so he was in dire need of a replacement. The bandits¡¯ clothes were even filthier than his own, so they weren¡¯t an option.


    He managed to get to the town, [Vrosa], in less than an hour. It was still bright and probably would stay that way for some time.


    The main part of the town was surrounded by a low wall. Outside the wall he saw several dozen sheds and tents on both sides of the road, forming a small shanty town. Passing through, Markus noticed that many of the dwellings had been around for some time, judging from the different states of weathered materials and repairs, and some even had vegetables growing in small yards. The inhabitants were haggard, slightly sickly looking people with dirty rags for clothes. Some looked at Markus like they wanted to approach him, but none of them did, so he quickly passed through the slum.


    The gate itself was guarded by two soldiers, but they did not stop Markus from walking through after eyeing him curiously. Their uniforms were different from the ones the soldiers stationed in Springkeep were wearing. They were mostly made of leather and only reinforced with metal on the shoulders and chest.


    Behind the main gate Markus saw a wooden tower, about a dozen meters high. A large ballista, basically an oversized crossbow, was sitting on top. Walking on the main street, he asked a passing woman where he could find a store or merchant to buy some clothes. She pointed him to the market square, which was near the town centre.


    The houses he passed by were mostly of simple design, with some having a stone foundation and utilizing bricks for construction. In contrast to the villages, destroyed and intact, he had seen so far the buildings here were rather densely placed and mostly two-storey houses. From what he remembered from history lessons, medieval towns were dirty, smelly places, but at least the air was mostly clean and he couldn¡¯t see any refuse on the streets.


    He passed by at least two small fountains that were constantly spitting out seemingly clean water. Markus figured that in this world people found ways to utilize magic to solve some of the problems medieval Earth was struggling to cope with.


    Not everything was rosy though. He could see some trash in the alleys and chimneys produced smoke, both sending wafting smells around the place. The painting on some of the houses was fading and cracking, and the people on the street did not look overly healthy. Their bodies and faces were clean, in contrast to the people living outside the walls, but many clothes had obviously been repaired after long use.


    Arriving at the place the woman had pointed him to, he found a fairly large square with market stands. There were a lot of empty spaces and several stands were empty and deserted, so he was probably already a bit late. A few merchants were still present, offering their wares.


    The first stall offered different accessories and a few female customers were looking at the wares. A quick glance revealed that the items were of considerably low value, so Markus wasn¡¯t interested. The next merchant had household tools on sale. Markus couldn¡¯t make out anything magic like the cooking plate, but some items caught his interest.


    Before he went on to the next stall, he bought a pair of scissors, a small washboard with a bucket that was wide enough to fit the board inside, a small metal pan and some basic cutlery. He also bought a sewing kit.


    The only other merchant of interest sold textiles, but no ready-made clothes. The sheets were about 1 meter wide and could be cut to any length. Markus bought about 10 meters of a simple, undyed linen cloth. The quality was a bit uneven, but the texture was reasonably soft. He had a few crates of cloth of higher quality, but he wanted something simple as well. Markus then asked the sales-woman if there was a place where he could get tailored clothing. She pointed at a place at the other side of the square and told him that a tailor had a shop there.


    Carrying the bucket in one hand and the cloth in the other, he made a detour through an alley to stash everything into his inventory before entering the store. So far he had only spent 2 large silver coins, with the cloth being the most expensive item.


    Inside the store it became apparent that this store was not exactly meant for regular villagers. The clothes on display were all of high quality and some were outright gaudy.


    On the other hand, there were also very practical clothes with a large amount of pockets and reinforcements, but still somewhat stylish. Markus approached the old man behind the counter, who was watching him with some suspicion.


    After telling him of his intention to buy one or two full sets of clothes and casually showing a small stack of large silver coins, the man¡¯s expression softened and he called a female employee from the back of the shop, who presented a selection of outfits to Markus.


    She brought colourful and flashy clothes, which were aimed at merchants and the occasional noble, and practical clothes that were made for adventurers, mercenaries and wealthier travellers. The owner also took custom orders, but those would take a few days to complete.


    Markus then went on a minor shopping spree. He bought a pair of green cargo pants and a dark grey shirt with long sleeves. He also bought five pairs of underpants and woollen socks. He switched into his new outfit and instantly felt like a new person. There weren¡¯t any elastics or other parts like rivets or machine-made buttons, but he wouldn¡¯t stand out in those clothes even if he wore them on modern Earth.


    He also bought a green, hooded cape that matched his pants and a black scarf. He wanted some sort of disguise if he needed one and those items would do the job. Markus also added a few plain shirts and regular pants to his purchase, of the cheaper variety. After bringing the merchants price down as low as he could, he still had to pay 4 large silver coins for everything, but felt it was totally worth it.


    Leaving the store he checked the map to see where he could safely stash away the bag with his old and additional clothes into his inventory. He saw a pair of red dots on the map, further away at the edge of the shanty-town. Checking more closely, those were named people. Around them were yellow dots, also named.


    Markus decided to at least check it out on his way. Making his way through back-alleys, he stashed away all the unneeded items, put on his new cape and scarf and equipped his dagger. Not concealing his face yet, he just looked like an adventurer.


    After he went outside the wall, he made a beeline towards the place with the red dots. Now he wrapped the scarf around his face and put on the hood. Passing through the gaps between the irregularly placed shacks and tents, he soon approached the people he had seen on the map and heard voices.


    There didn¡¯t seem to be any fighting. Markus decided to confirm what was going on before doing anything.


    Getting a little closer, he heard a girl shouting. ¡°Get your filthy hands off her! She doesn¡¯t have anything to do with this!¡± There was now just one shack between Markus and the group of people.


    A man then shouted back ¡°Got nothing to do with it? As I see it, you are both in debt with us. Just because you were the one taking the money and worked it off the last few times, she is still as involved as you are.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s right. If you want it so badly, we will take care of you later. But this girl is first.¡± A different man¡¯s voice could be heard.


    There was definitely something shady going on. Now curious, Markus decided to take a closer look.


    Stepping around the corner he saw a group of dirty men in shabby clothes. There were also two girls, equally dirty and in equally shabby clothes.


    Two men were holding back one of the girls, who looked terribly angry and was probably the one shouting. She was a bit smaller than Abigail and in her teens, but it was hard to tell her exact age from the dirty face and her black hair hanging into her face. The other girl was even younger, thirteen at most. She looked frightened and tears were running down her cheeks. Her light brown hair was tied into a ponytail behind her back.


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    A slim but muscular man with a large nose and bad teeth was holding onto the smaller girl. He was one of the men indicated with a red dot.


    ¡°Can you tell me what¡¯s going on here?¡± Markus stepped forward. The group turned around towards him, the girls were looking at him as well. At least he got their attention fast. The other of the two men who were marked with a red dot and was close to Markus immediately stepped forward and tried to grab him.


    Markus simply grabbed his outstretched arm, twisted it slightly and then gave the man a kick with his shin into the stomach. He collapsed on the spot. ¡°Please do not touch me. Who will tell me what is going on now? You?¡± Markus pointed at the next best man.


    ¡°Haah? Who do you think you are? Those girls owe us money, this has nothing to do with you!¡± Before anyone else could say something, the slim man started shouting at Markus. He then forcefully pushed the girl he was holding onto into the arms of the guy standing next to him. She was too frightened to move away anyway.


    ¡°Even if you don¡¯t want to explain, I somehow get it. You gave that girl money¡± Markus pointed at the older girl ¡°then you fucked her in return. And now you want to bang the other girl as well. That¡¯s not OK, you know? She didn¡¯t agree and she¡¯s too young in the first place.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t agree either!!¡± The older girl was shouting now ¡°I just couldn¡¯t pay them back.¡±


    ¡°You shut up already!¡± Yelling so to the girl, the thin man started walking towards Markus ¡°And you don¡¯t think that you can just walk in here and cause trouble. You know what will happen? We will beat you up, have fun with both girls and then have you pay off their debt. And maybe we will let all of you go afterwards. Maybe.¡±


    Some of the other yellow dots turned red now as well. It looked like the negotiations had broken down. Thinking so, Markus made a fast dash towards the slim man and just kicked him so hard in the groin that his feet lifted off the ground. He wouldn¡¯t have fun with any girls in the foreseeable future. The man fell onto the ground and balled into a foetal position, whimpering.


    ¡°Anyone else? I can do this all day.¡± No one came forward. Markus walked towards the younger girl, grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the man holding her. He didn¡¯t resist and just let go.


    The red dots on the maps had turned yellow again by now.


    Half-dragging the girl behind him, he walked to the older girl. The two men holding her quickly pulled their hands away. Markus pulled the girl to the side with his other hand, then turned around to face the group.


    ¡°I will now take those girls with me. The next time you try to rape someone, I will come and give you ten kicks like the one that asshole just got, understood?¡± The men looked at Markus, but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°I asked if you understood. Answer me!¡±


    ¡°Yes, no rape!¡± One man said so, the others nodded. It was good enough for Markus. He left the way he came, dragging the girls behind him. After reaching the main road, Markus let go of the girls¡¯ arms.


    ¡°So, now you tell me what I just did there.¡±


    ¡°You kicked a man in the balls?¡± the older girl said so.


    ¡°I know that, smartass. I mean what was going on. I understand you took money from them, and that they are a bunch of perverts. Tell me the details¡± Markus was acting tough, but he just wanted to somehow solve the whole situation. He could just leave the girls alone now, but he doubted that his thread of kicking groins would help for very long.


    ¡°I¡¯m Tessa and this is my friend Liana. We are from the same village, but both our parents are dead or lost. Probably dead. Whatever. We don¡¯t have money most of the time, and no money means no food. That guy with the large nose, Norton, he sometimes gave me money, or food for the two of us. I thought he was just nice. One day he wanted to ¨C well, you know ¨C and I said no. Then he wanted me to pay back the money he gave me, plus ¡®interest¡¯.¡±


    The older girl, Tessa, was talking while the younger girl, Liana, was holding onto her hand. Now that she had brushed her hair back, Markus could see that she was rather pretty. There was a thin, long scar on her forehead, but that didn¡¯t really make her look bad. The dirt on her face and slightly oily hair made a negative impact on her beauty scoring though.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t pay and then he made me do it with him anyway. We tried working, but we can only earn so little in the town, but I tried to pay him off. He took it but the debt didn¡¯t get smaller, because of the ¡®interest¡¯. Well, then when we had no money anymore he offered me food again, and then his friends, too. That¡¯s what happened.¡± She was stating it calmly, but her face was showing a mix of desperation and resignation.


    ¡°How much do you owe him?¡± Markus asked her.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. 12 silver I guess. I don¡¯t really know what that ¡®interest¡¯ is.¡±


    Markus pulled out a large silver coin. ¡°You mean twelve of those?¡±


    Both of the girls¡¯ eyes went wide. ¡°No, I mean the small ones. He mostly gave us copper coins and food though. Norton said it was 12 silver coins, but it has to be the small coins.¡±


    What a ridiculously small amount of money. Even for villager standards it couldn¡¯t be that much. 120 beers or a dozen nights at the village¡¯s tavern. Markus pulled out two more large silver coins, making sure no one was watching too closely. He then gave the three coins to Tessa.


    ¡°Take those. I don¡¯t care what you do with them. Pay back the asshole with the crushed balls, or don¡¯t. But better don¡¯t take any more money from them if you aren¡¯t prepared to whore yourself out. My advice is to get some clean clothes, a good wash and find a job in town. Perhaps stay a night or two at the inn, but that is your own choice.¡±


    ¡°Thank you! I promise I will take good care of it¡± Tessa nearly started crying.


    ¡°¡­thank you¡± the other girl, Liana, said so as well. It was the first time Markus heard her speak. The two girls looked over to the gate with the guards, then Tessa looked at the coins in her hands with a slightly worried look.


    ¡°Don¡¯t wave that money around in the open. Is there a problem?¡± Markus inquired.


    ¡°Not really a problem. The guards usually don¡¯t let us into the town, or only for a short while to buy things, if we show them that we have money. They don¡¯t want beggars in town is what they say. I wonder if they just let us in with that much money¡­¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ it should work, right? I have to go though, so take care. Bye!¡± He turned around and walked away. Before falling into a full sprint, he observed the girls on the map. After standing at the gate for a short while, they entered the town, so everything seemed fine so far. Markus felt relieved, he had already gotten involved a little too much, and maybe the troublesome men would now behave even worse than before.


    Before travelling leaving the area for good, Markus would talk once more to the girls to see if anything came out of this. After entering the forest, Markus put on his old clothes again. He didn¡¯t really want to, but he had no way of explaining how he got the new outfit if anyone asked. A minor flaw in his plan¡­


    By the time he reached Spingkeep village again it was nearly completely dark. Greeting Abigail¡¯s mom, who was standing behind the counter, he quickly went to his room. After sitting down on the bed, he felt very tired. Not only physically, but mentally. He had a wealth of new experiences today, from sparring with Boyd, over smiting and riding to cooking, not to forget some shopping and crotch-kicking. In comparison, just running through the forest for two hours felt like a literal walk in the park.


    Deciding that it was more than enough for one day, Marcus tucked himself in and fell asleep almost immediately.

 Chapter 12: Infirmary

    The next morning he was, again, woken up by a knock on the door.


    ¡°Excuse me, are you awake?¡± a female voice asked.


    ¡°Yes. Thanks for waking me up.¡± Markus was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.


    After a moment of silence the voice spoke up again ¡°Are you up already?¡± Going by the question asked, it was probably Abigail.


    ¡°No, but you can come in. I¡¯ll stay under the blanket.¡± Markus wanted to ask her something.


    ¡°Good morning¡± Abigail came in, bringing a new bowl with water.


    Staying under the blanket like promised, Markus asked her ¡°Do you know if the man with the leather ware shop sells shirts? I only have the one with horse crap on it.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ I think so. But it¡¯s still very early, I guess you should wait for a bit before going there.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. Could you bring me the breakfast to my room today? I don¡¯t really want to spend much time in the dirty clothes.¡± Markus was used to changing his clothes on a daily basis from his old life, and after getting his new outfit he felt like he wanted to avoid wearing the dirty clothes as much as possible.


    ¡°Sure. If you¡¯d like to, I can wash the dirty shirt for you. ¨C But I suppose they won¡¯t be dry until tomorrow. I heard you will leave today.¡± She was cheerful until now, but somehow sounding a little different when saying the last part.


    Right, he had already been here for two nights, so he should move on afterwards. It wasn¡¯t a long time, but Markus somehow felt comfortable having the tavern as his ¡®base¡¯.


    ¡°Yeah, that was the plan at least. If you could wash the shirt either way, I would appreciate it.¡±


    Nodding, Abigail left the room. A short time afterwards she came back, carrying a tray with a similar breakfast like yesterday. ¡°Mom said the shop should be open in an hour or so.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, see to you later then.¡±


    After Abigail left, Markus got up. He put on his underwear and the new pants and shirt after giving himself a quick wash. As long as he remembered to switch the outfit before going outside, everything was fine.


    Not having anything else to do, Markus wanted to complete the sole item on his to-do list. Pulling out the linen cloth and scissors, he cut up a bunch of small sheets to be used as toilet paper. He soaked one half in water and then put them all into his inventory.


    Markus then pulled out the sewing kit. He already had the cloth in front of him, so perhaps getting a new skill wasn¡¯t a bad way to spend his time. Markus cut and then sewed, producing what was meant to be a pair of indoor shoes made of linen. He had good intentions, but the result was terrible. The material was thin and he had nothing to use for the soles, so he had sewn two additional layers of cloth at the bottom. It was basically a pair of poorly made socks. He got a new skill when finishing them though, [Tailoring].


    After raising it to level 5, he had much more confidence in his ability, so he tried again. His stitches were much better, the design actually functional and the result looked like a real pair of slippers. Perhaps rather like ballerinas, but that didn¡¯t matter. The material was still a bit unsuitable, but wearing them felt comfortable.


    Judging that it was time for the shop to be open, he changed into his dirty clothing and went outside.


    The shopkeeper luckily had a few shirts on stock. They were of poor quality, but that did not matter to Markus, as they were clean. He also bought a pair of pants while he was at it. Both together cost him 3 silver coins. After going back to the tavern and changing, Markus gave his shirt and pants to Abigail, who promised to wash them before lunch.


    He was looking forward to working with the two people at the base he had not met yet, the magician and the alchemist. Greeting the guards at the gate, he went straight into the main building. Asking around for the location of the two people, he was told that the alchemist was on the first floor, while the magician was upstairs, next to the infirmary.


    The infirmary¡­ - Markus had nearly forgotten to stop by there. He had not seen the young Wynn girl after she had arrived here two days ago, so she was probably still there.


    When he arrived at the infirmary, he saw the door standing open. After knocking anyway, he entered the room.


    There were a few beds lined up on the walls, most were empty, except for one. A blonde haired girl was lying in it. In contrast to when he saw her the last time, she was looking a lot better. Not only was she not soaked in her own blood, but her complexion was back to normal.


    [Coraline Wynn


    Level 13


    HP 91%]


    When she saw Markus, she smiled and tried sitting up, but was struggling. Markus walked over to the bed.


    ¡°Need help? Don¡¯t strain yourself, you can just lie down if that¡¯s better¡± He handed her a second pillow from the bed next to hers and put it behind her back.


    ¡°Thanks. I¡¯m OK though, my side is just still hurting a bit. You are the young man who helped carrying me back here, right? I don¡¯t really remember much from that day¡±


    ¡°Yea, my name is Markus. I came across your group on my way here, so I was just helping out a little. Good to see that you are recovering.¡±


    ¡°My name is Coraline Wynn. Everyone said that without you things would have ended badly for me, even Lieutenant Clement. So, thank you very much for your help. I don¡¯t know how I can ever repay that favour, but I will do anything in my power.¡± She was looking up at him with big eyes full of gratitude. The ¡®do anything¡¯ gave Markus some improper ideas, so he quickly assured here it was fine.


    ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it. The lieutenant has already allowed me to stay for a bit and annoy the people working here, I am very happy with that as a reward.¡± Markus was looking around the room. There was a cabinet and a small desk, but nothing else that would indicate that this room was a medical facility.


    ¡°Mind if I ask how your injuries are treated here? No offense, but two days ago you were in a terrible condition. You look much better now.¡±


    ¡°As I said, I can¡¯t remember much about what happened on that day I¡¯m afraid. When we arrived here at the base, I was already wrapped in bandages and had been stabilized. Since then, Sergeant Hendrix has regularly performed healing magic on me, but I am basically just recovering. I heard they will bring a healing potion soon, but I think it¡¯s wasted on me.¡±


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°If you make a full recovery, then it should be fine.¡±


    ¡°Well, I will probably keep a small scar, but that is OK. Every proper soldier has one or more of those.¡± The girl smiled, then continued ¡°Hendrix said there is a danger of some internal injury remaining, which is why he is still casting his magic every few hours.¡±


    Then a man¡¯s voice could be heard ¡°That¡¯s right, and also why I told you not to sit up as much as possible.¡± The source of the voice was a soldier coming from the door. He was in his late twenties and already balding. Markus remembered seeing him before, he was one of the soldiers who were in the first rescue group on horses. Not wearing any armour today, he did not look very impressive. The man was rather short and slender.


    ¡°I suppose you are the fabled ¡®young saviour¡¯ then. I am Sergeant Hendrix Ruthby, in charge of this place.¡± By this place he probably meant the infirmary. The man¡¯s tone was neither friendly nor outright hostile, but the sarcasm wasn¡¯t lost on Markus.


    ¡°My name is Markus, I was just checking in on your patient. You must be the healer who spent so much effort on rescuing Private Wynn that he himself fainted. Thank you very much!¡± The lieutenant had said he only ¡®nearly¡¯ fainted, but Markus couldn¡¯t help but annoy him a little.


    ¡°I only got a little dizzy, don¡¯t misunderstand. Do you need anything else? Because I have to treat my patient now.¡± Hendrix was getting a slightly red in his face, but kept his tone professional. If it was anger or embarrassment, or both, was hard to tell.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ If possible, I want to stay and watch you perform your healing magic.¡± Markus said so. He had not seen anyone cast a spell from up close, so he was certainly curious.


    ¡°Stay and watch?!¡± It was Wynn who said so with a slightly shocked expression.


    ¡°I see. I was expecting you to stop by yesterday. But you waited until Guthrie left, so you could exploit the lieutenant¡¯s favour¡­¡± Hendrix didn¡¯t seem pleased for some reason. ¡°Unfortunately, it would be troublesome for Miss Wynn. Even the lieutenant won¡¯t go as far as allowing you to harass her.¡± Markus didn¡¯t understand, but if it wasn¡¯t possible he would not fuzz over it. The army magician will be a better source of information anyway.


    ¡°N-No, it is OK for me. If you really like to see the treatment, I even want you to stay. There is nothing else I can do to repay my debt to you.¡± Wynn was looking determined, but her cheeks were gradually reddening


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you owe me, but I have never seen healing magic performed, so I am curious.¡± With all the discussion around it, Markus wanted to know what the big deal was. Perhaps healing magic was very pleasurable and she would be making weird noises?


    ¡°Then please stay. Hendrix, you can go ahead.¡± Wynn carefully raised her arms. It seemed like the movement caused her some pain and she was clenching her eyes shut, but she finally had both arms over her head.


    Hendrix looked at Markus with reproachful eyes, but then turned his attention towards Wynn. Grabbing the hem of her shirt, he pulled it up and then off altogether. Wynn then put her hands on her head. It happened quickly, but Markus understood why there was objection to him staying here.


    There were no bandages. The goods were in full view, and they were looking good. Markus noticed a small, purple scar underneath her right arm, where the arrow had penetrated the skin, otherwise her upper body was quite perfect. His eyes were automatically drawn towards her chest though. They were a perfect C-cup and defying gravity splendidly. The raised arms only made it look more sexual and with Wynn still clenching her eyes Markus felt a mix of guilt and arousal.


    Hendrix meanwhile pulled a long rod from a sheath on his belt. It was made of silver metal, had a small blue gem above the hilt and was otherwise just a cylindrical object with a rounded tip. From the context, it was a wand, although a bit thicker than Markus would have imagined one to be. In fact, in the current situation it reminded Markus of a sex toy.


    Extending his arm, Hendrix closed his eyes and started mumbling gibberish in a low voice. The words had a slurred and weird pronunciation. After a few seconds of mumbling, a swirling, green sphere appeared in front of the wand¡¯s tip. It was slightly larger than a golf ball and nearly transparent. Hendrix opened his eyes, then moved the wand towards the scar while focusing on the wand. The sphere followed with a miniscule lag.


    When the sphere made contact with the skin, Hendrix closed his eyes again. Markus tried looking closely at the wound to notice if anything changed. It was hard for him to focus on that spot though, with other interesting things in close proximity. He saw the green sphere slowly shrinking. Then Hendrix moved wand closer to her skin, making the ball disappear inside Wynn¡¯s body.


    He moved the tip of the wand around the front of her chest, then back to the scar and finally along her back. When he pulled the wand away, the sphere was noticeably smaller, only around the size of a pea. Hendrix cancelled the spell and put the wand back into its sheath. He was looking a bit pale and had beads of sweat on his forehead.


    The small scar on Wynn¡¯s side had lost a bit of its colour and became less noticeable, like what normally happens over time. Hendrix helped Wynn back into her shirt, while Markus turned his head away. The healer then left without saying another word.


    ¡°Well¡­ thank you for letting me watch. It feels like I am now the one owing you though¡± Markus said so, smiling at Wynn.


    She buried her face into her hands. ¡°Uhhh, don¡¯t say that. It was more embarrassing than I thought.¡±


    ¡°It was very interesting. If I had known what to expect, I would not have asked to watch though.¡±


    ¡°Please promise me to forget about everything that was not the healing magic¡± That was an impossible request. Markus decided to wrap things up.


    ¡°I need to leave now, I only have the rest of the day to meet with some people here. Do you need anything? I can ask someone to bring you water or something.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine, my aunt will stop by soon I guess. Thanks for stopping by though. I really wanted to meet you.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I hope you get back to full health soon. OK, bye then, I hope we meet again.¡± Markus was smiling at her. Wynn seemed to have gotten over the situation and smiled back.

 Chapter 13: The Magician

    Markus headed to the magician¡¯s office next door and knocked. A voice coming from behind the door allowed him entry, so Markus got inside the room.


    Inside was a large desk, with writing utensils and empty papers strewn over the surface. The opposite side of the room had a large open cabinet, containing book, flasks, small boxes and several items Markus could not identify. A large chest that would not look out of place in a pirate cave was in one corner of the room and a bed in the other.


    Sitting at the desk was a white-haired man with a full-beard. His hair was in disorder and most of his body was covered by a large cape draped around his shoulders. Currently the man was studying the contents of a tome that was resting on top of the desk.


    He fit the image of ¡®the magician¡¯ Markus had in his mind perfectly. At the same time he somehow reminded him of his old physics teacher back at school.


    [Alvin


    Level 33


    HP 100%]


    ¡°Hello, I am Markus. The lieutenant said it was fine for me to visit you.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t you see I¡¯m busy right now? Get lost¡± The man said this with an annoyed voice, then looked up to Markus. ¡°You aren¡¯t one of the soldiers. Why are you here?¡±


    ¡°As I said, my name is Markus. I have an agreement with Lieutenant Clement, I thought he had already spoken to you about it. I want to learn about magicians.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ I think there was something like that, but the lieutenant talks a lot sometimes. Well, magicians use magic. Currently I am familiarizing with a spell. At least I was, until someone turned up and broke my concentration.¡±


    ¡°¡¯Familiarizing¡¯? Would you mind explaining what that means?¡±


    ¡°Now that you have already interrupted me, I could just do so, that¡¯s right.¡± The man¡¯s annoyed expression softened a bit. ¡°I am Alvin, Senior Invoker of the Soba Federal Armed Forces¡± he then pointed at the tome in front of him ¡°Even a villager should have seem something similar to this here at some point. A simple version is used to test children for magic talent.¡±


    Markus stepped closer and looked at the pages. On closer inspection, the ¡®tome¡¯ turned out to be just two plates joined together. On the left side there was a long text written in the usual runes he had first seen in the destroyed village¡¯s ledger, although what was written didn¡¯t form any words and there were strange marks on some letters. It looked like something that comes out if a person just randomly rolls his face over a computer keyboard, with a lot less vowels than one would expect.


    The right side resembled the scrolls or identification table he had seen before. There was a magic circle in the middle and strange runes around it.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I have not seen this before, could you explain?¡± Markus said so, pretending to know wouldn¡¯t help in the long run.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s surprising... The magic association pays the nobles for bringing suitable people, so they tend to send every oaf they can find. Can you read?¡±


    Markus nodded. Then the man stood up and started looking through the contents of the cabinet. ¡°The amount of people who can naturally cast spells is about 1 in 5 among humans. Of those, many don¡¯t have enough magic power to cast any spells above a very basic level or fail to sufficiently familiarize with invocations. Ahh, there it is¡­¡± He pulled out a book that was a little larger than his palm then gave it to Markus. After pulling a spare chair next to his own, he took a seat and ushered Markus to sit down as well.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see if you belong to the ¡®1 in 5¡¯ group. First, take a look at the chanting tome.¡± Markus opened the small ¡®book¡¯. It was basically a smaller version of what was sitting on the magician¡¯s desk, two plates joined by a leather cover. The writing on the left side was a lot shorter and the magic circle and runes on the right plate was simpler as well.


    ¡°The actual chant is written on the left. A ¡®chant¡¯ is a method that uses your voice in order to form a spell, made from the magic energy within your body. All intelligent races use the same basic system of chanting. That said, even a perfect chant will result in nothing if your body is lacking a magic circuit that can form a spell.¡±


    ¡°A magic circuit?¡± Markus was not sure what that was supposed to be.


    ¡°It is a theory we took over from the elves. They say that beings who can form spells by chants have a ¡®magic circuit¡¯ inside their body. Elves are seen as the magic authority among the races, nearly all of them can chant and use magic very well. If an elf tells you something about magic, just treat it as a fact, no one could ever prove them wrong so far.


    Anyway, the tome you have in front of you also has a specialized amplifier on the right, that¡¯s the drawing there.¡± He pointed at the magic circle.


    ¡°When you form a spell, that circle supports the forming magic and forces it to materialize. It does not work on its own, but even an imperfectly chanted spell is formed after it reaches a critical mass. It also takes its toll on the power though. Forcing the magic through that circle makes it lose a lot of its potential. You get half the effect at the best of times, often much less. But forming the magic at all is important to learn a spell by heart, so it serves a purpose. Understood so far?¡±


    ¡°Yea, I think. Put hand on right side, read left side, correct?¡±


    The magician nodded. ¡°For the test, that is enough. Now, I will perform the spell first, so you know how it is supposed to look.¡±


    Alvin pulled out something that looked like a short rapier from underneath his cloak and held it in front of him. It had a slender, dark hilt and a long cylindrical ¡®blade¡¯ made of a bronze-coloured metal. The tip was made of the same material as the hilt. Between the hilt and blade was a tennis ball sized silver hand-guard, studded with several gems and runes in between the gems.


    ¡°This is a wand, it helps me conserve energy or pour more power into spells. Like the circle in the tome, it serves as an extension of my magic circuit, but it has a positive effect on the spells I form. Unlike the circle in the tome, it does not help the creation, in fact, it only works with spells I can form perfectly on my own.


    Now, watch and foremost ¨C listen.¡±


    Alvin held the wand in front of him, then spoke some gibberish. Markus tried to remember it as well as possible.


    ¡°?????????¡±


    A small glowing ball appeared at the tip of the wand. Then it floated above Alvin¡¯s head. It was the same magic Markus already knew, the ¡®Magic Torch¡¯. After giving Markus some time to admire the ball, which was less impressive because he had already seen it, Alvin pointed the wand at the glowing sphere and made it disappear.


    ¡°Now it¡¯s your turn. Put your hand on the circle, then read the letters on the left. It is the chant I just used.¡±


    Markus was a bit worried about performing too well, so he hesitated. He already knew he could form spells using the menu, so it was likely he could succeed. Given his high stats, he expected the result to be good.


    ¡°Prrrf-gmuu-chakk-pfliu¡± He deliberately messed up a little, hoping the spell would come out weakened.


    ¡°Hahaha, how pathetic. Are you really able to read, boy?¡± Alvin wasn¡¯t holding back his amusement. He quickly got serious though. Going through each individual part of the chant, he told Markus how to pronounce it. After going through the process a few times and having Markus repeat the parts until he somehow got close enough, he made him try it again.


    ¡°??¡­??-??¡­???¡± His pronunciation was far from perfect and he hesitated between the syllables, but he could feel the spell form, then a glowing sphere the size of a small marble formed in front of his right hand¡¯s fingertips.


    [Skill: Spell Chanting] gained.


    [Skill: Illusion Magic] gained.


    He even got two skills. Like when he had been using spells before, the spell still needed further input, so Markus released it after pouring the minimum amount of mana into it during the second phase, then the ball floated above his head.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Stealing a glance at Alvin¡¯s reaction, Markus found him to look neither amazed nor shocked, just satisfied.


    ¡°Very good. There is a lot of room for improvement, but I can see that you formed the spell using quite a bit of magic power. That is a good start, you might even have talent. I can write you a certificate that allows you entry into the Federal Magic Academy based on that.¡±


    ¡°You are not trying to force me to join the army?¡± Markus was a bit worried, so he just asked.


    ¡°Huh? No, magic training is not compulsory. Most people would jump at the chance though. But it doesn¡¯t make sense to force people. Having people learn dangerous spells when they are unwilling only causes problems, who wants a weapon that could literally backfire and throw a large explosion into your own ranks?


    That said, it is of course strictly forbidden to teach attack spells to someone outside the military. Even here, I am not allowed to keep anything too dangerous, if I want to learn an offensive spell, I have to go to the Academy myself.¡±


    Hearing Alvin explain it so plainly, it made sense to Markus. If 20% of the population could potentially learn chanting, it was impossible to control every person, it was easier to control the distribution of spells.


    There was still one problem ¡°So there are no magicians who use attack magic outside the army?¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s not true as well. First, many spells not classified as attack magic are still dangerous. Magic that corrodes rocks can be used in mining, but also to destroy a castle wall. Or kinetic magic used normally in transportation, it can also be used to drop a rock onto someone. The Magic Association runs a university where they teach all of those and more to anyone willing to pay.¡±


    ¡°Then there are people who left the army regularly. Or came from outside the kingdom. Of course, there are also those people who somehow got taught magic they were not supposed to learn. But just being able to fight with magic is not illegal, using it for something illegal is what makes you a criminal.¡±


    Markus felt somewhat relieved. Even if was caught using magic, it seemed to not be too much of a problem. And that university was somewhat tempting.


    ¡°In the end, magicians are good for the economy and for society. No one benefits from removing those who can do much good with their power. And those who abuse it can be dealt with, being a magician does not make you invincible, remember that. Getting surrounded by a group of soldiers is something most casters cannot handle.¡±


    The topic was interesting, so Markus and Alvin spent some time discussing it. Markus was mostly asking questions, but Alvin seemed pleased to be able to talk about his experiences and magic in general.


    What Markus learned was that while 20% of the population could potentially chant, or had a magic circuit, the vast majority did not become magicians. First, some simply had a low mana pool and ran out of magic power when casting just one spell. Many others could not master chanting without the help of a tome and could therefore not use magic in the field.


    The tomes were made of copper mixed with precious metals, so they were relatively expensive and heavy. Carrying them into potentially dangerous situations was not appreciated, and because they could not be used with a wand, the efficiency was much lower than what a regular magician could achieve.


    Failure to remember the complicated chants in the heat of the battle or over a longer period of not using them also rendered many people unable to become full-fledged magicians.


    Alvin estimated that out of 100 humans, 80 could not chant at all, 10 would fail to chant anything without tomes, one would become a healer and only one or two would join the armed forces and be able to somehow fight using magic. The remaining people would only learn magic that was valuable for the economy or their communities, but not for the military.


    The latter group would diversify greatly. Some would stop using magic due to circumstances, some would do a regular job that required magic use and some would adventure and try to get rich by various legal and illegal means. Those were the ones who were prone to seek knowledge of offensive spells, but also risked dying prematurely.


    While Alvin himself was a magician specializing in strategic magic, knowing and practicing a large amount of spells, Lieutenant Clement was someone who had only perfected the use of a few spells, with his fireball spell being the most notable one. Markus was pretty sure that this was a detail he was not supposed to learn here, but he did not plan to exploit Alvin¡¯s carelessness in giving out classified information.


    Markus would have loved to learn some new spells, but Alvin had put away the tome on his desk before he could take another look at it. Alvin had also said that tomes for attack spells were not kept here at the base, so it probably wasn¡¯t worth starting a fight over it.


    It was a little tempting, but before openly robbing or stealing those tomes, he wanted to get his hands on some by less shady means.


    Finally, when Alvin suggested it was soon time for lunch, Markus practically begged him to show him another tome, just one that was not prohibited to be taught to civilians.


    ¡°Sure, but don¡¯t think that it will work that easily. Healing spells are generally considered to be free for all. Here, this is the one Hendrix practices with.¡± He gave Markus a book lying around in the open. ¡°Hendrix is diligent, but just between us two, he is a third-rate magician. Barely enough magic energy to qualify for the army.¡±


    That went easier than expected. Markus was a bit surprised, to say the least. He also regretted not asking for it earlier. He raised the [Chanting] skill all the way to level 10, then opened the book. The chant was twice as long as the magic torch one, but otherwise written in a similar manner. It was still gibberish, but Markus could perfectly read it out in his head.


    Unfortunately, just reading it didn¡¯t make the skill show up in his spells-list. He put his hand on the circle to the right, then prepared for casting. At the last moment, he reconsidered. Alvin has been helpful and didn¡¯t seem to be interested in forcing him to join the Magic Academy, but he would certainly report it if Markus just started chanting spells on his first attempts after claiming that he had never seen a tome in his life before this morning.


    Instead, Markus focused on remembering the chant. He then thought of the note function in the menu and copied the runes into a new note. Luckily, it could cope with the local language as well.


    For the next few minutes, he made a show of getting the pronunciation just wrong enough to make the spell not activate. Alvin was nevertheless satisfied.


    ¡°You are doing much better than I thought. I really advise you to join the Academy. It would be a shame if you didn¡¯t use your talent.¡± Alvin was praising him, but then ushered him out of the room so he could get something to eat before lunch time was over.


    Markus followed him to the kitchen. Abigail was behind the counter handing out food, and she smiled at Markus when she saw him standing in the line. She quickly told him that his clothes were waiting for him in his room.


    During lunch Markus thanked Alvin for the lesson in magic he had given him in the morning. He also tried to extend it, but Alvin¡¯s response was rather blunt. ¡°See, boy, I really enjoy talking about magic, but it is my job to stay prepared, so I have to study myself. I am not getting any younger, you know? I will be glad to meet you again after you have learned some magic from someone more qualified to teach.¡± It seemed like the lesson was over for good. As if trying to underscore the point that he was busy, he quickly went back to his office after finishing his lunch in a hurry, but not without wishing Markus good luck on his travels.

 Chapter 14: Alchemy Lab

    After Alvin left Abigail joined Markus at the table. Lunch time was officially over and she was free to leave now. Markus gave her a quick overview of what he was doing this morning, namely visit the infirmary and get a magic lesson.


    ¡°Maybe I should also ask the lieutenant for the same favour. I thought it was weird, but it sounds like a lot of fun.¡± She lay her head on the table, like she had lost the energy to sit up straight. ¡°I only ever do cleaning, cooking, feeding horses and then repeat it. It¡¯s so dull¡­ I never get away further than 15 minutes from our house. One day a dragon will eat me and I will not have done anything interesting ever.¡±


    ¡°You will have seen a dragon up close though. Also, don¡¯t be so pessimistic.¡± Markus thought that it might be a good idea to hire the girl as a maid once he got a house somewhere. She was diligent and nice to look at. ¡°Something else, remember how I rolled through horse droppings yesterday?¡±


    ¡°Sure, I was the one who cleaned your shirt, just a few hours ago.¡±


    ¡°Yea, and then you laughed and said I should watch my surroundings. Well, you got potato in your hair now.¡± Markus smiled. Abigail quickly raised her head from the table and started combing through her hair with her fingers.


    ¡°Let me get it out for you.¡± He pulled out the small piece of food and showed it to her, it wasn¡¯t a joke. Abigail was looking adorably embarrassed, yet again. It would certainly be a good idea to hire her as his maid.


    After he finished his meal, they left together, Markus was headed towards the alchemist and Abigail wanted to go back to the tavern. Before parting ways at the entrance, Abigail turned to Markus.


    ¡°Sorry, I nearly forgot, but Lieutenant Clement said you are to meet with him before leaving.¡±


    ¡°Ah, thanks for the info. I guess I would have visited him either way.¡±


    ¡°Also ¨C¡° Abigail was looking embarrassed again, making Markus smile ¡°don¡¯t go without stopping by at our place.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I wouldn¡¯t do that. I have to get my clothes and say goodbye to your mom as well, right?¡± He said so, prompting a smile from the girl. ¡°That¡¯s right. See you later then!¡±


    Standing alone in the hallway, Markus decided to finally try out the spell he had copied into his notes earlier. Extending his right hand, he started chanting. It was a lot harder to invoke the magic without the support-circle in the tome, even after he had raised his chanting skill to maximum level. He had to concentrate, but he got it right on the first try anyway.


    A transparent, green sphere started swirling in front of his hand. His mana pool had dropped by 20 points right after invoking it and trying to pour more mana inside did not work. Instead, just maintaining the spell drained his magic power continuously, at a rate of around one point per second. He moved his around and the sphere followed like he had seen before when Hendrix was using the same magic.


    Markus moved his hand close to his left arm, and the sphere moved disappeared into his arm. It was a pleasant, warm feeling. He tried to pour more energy inside and the magic consumption intensified, but there was no other effect. Having no actual injury to use it on, Markus cancelled the spell. It had been copied into his spells-menu successfully already.


    The alchemist¡¯s room was on the lower floor, close to the room with the identification table. After knocking, Markus entered. The first thing he noticed was the smell. It was a horrible mix of public restroom and a dumpster during a hot summer. His reflex was to get out of the room again immediately, but he fought the urge to escape and took a step inside.


    A large wooden desk was standing in the centre of the room, with various flasks, bowls and unidentifiable items on it. A small box was standing on one corner of the table, with a flame coming out of it. A large flask was currently resting on top a metal tripod, right above the flame.


    A woman was currently focused on observing the contents of the flask, a red-brown liquid, while white smoke came out of the flask¡¯s opening. The woman, probably in her late thirties, was wearing large, round spectacles and had her black hair tied into a ponytail behind her back. Her right hand was resting on the box producing the flame.


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Markus. I came to meet-¡° The woman raised her free hand, signalling Markus to wait. He closed the door behind him and silently watched her. He saw the flame getting a bit smaller, then larger, then smaller again. From the looks of it, the woman was in charge of its intensity. After a while, she removed her hand from the box and the flame disappeared.


    The woman then moved her hand close to the flask and concentrated. Markus saw the dark liquid become gradually more transparent while the colour shifted a bit towards red. Finally, the woman dropped her hand and relaxed.


    ¡°Phew¡­. Sorry, you just arrived at a critical moment, I couldn¡¯t take a break.¡± She turned towards Markus with a friendly but slightly tired expression on her face.


    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind. The lieutenant said I could stop by and watch you perform your alchemy a little, maybe lend a hand.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I was in fact already waiting for you. My name Maryella. You are Markus, right?¡±


    ¡°Correct, nice to meet you. What were you doing just now?¡± Markus pointed at the flask with the liquid. Now that there was no more smoke coming out of it, the smell in the room had lost a lot of its intensity.


    ¡°Ahh, very good question. I was preparing an ingredient, you see. Inside this bottle is a troll¡¯s blood. It is an ingredient that is critical in the type of healing potion I produce here, but it is poisonous in its natural state. Heating it, but not boiling it, then pouring magic energy inside, neutralizes the poison and amplifies the regenerative properties.¡± The woman was explaining so while raising her finger, reminding Markus of some kind of teacher.


    ¡°Interesting. So drinking this can restore your health?¡± Markus stepped a little closer and took a close look at the blood inside the flask. Against the sunlight coming in from the open window, it was clearly red, but also murky. It vaguely resembled the healing potion he had seen the lieutenant administer to Wynn.


    ¡°Well, it probably does not do much good all on its own. A small effect is possible though.¡± The woman, Maryella, started rummaging through a cabinet, then pulled out a box and placed it on one of the few empty places on the table. ¡°For a proper potion, we are going to mix it with a few other ingredients. For the next step, I will need some help.¡± She opened the box and Markus saw that it was filled to the brim with parts of broken bones.


    ¡°These are the bones of magical beasts, more specifically, fire lizards. Those guys can create fire with magic and their bones contain a lot of residual magic energy. We need to make them into powder. They have already been dried, but unfortunately, they are still as hard as rocks. So we need some teamwork here.¡±


    She put some of the rocks into a stone mortar, then handed Markus the heavy pestle made from the same material. ¡°I will use magic to soften them, you will grind them into small pieces. When they harden again, stop and I will re-cast the spell. They won¡¯t stay soft very long. And when I say soft, I mean they are still hard, so give it your best effort right from the start¡±. Maryella pulled out a small tome, similar in size to the magic torch one.


    ¡°So you are going to use a tome to cast? I heard the effect isn¡¯t that good.¡± Markus asked her bluntly. Markus already had an idea why she did it, and going by the woman¡¯s complicated expression, he was spot on.


    ¡°Well¡­ that may be so, but it can¡¯t be helped. ¡­the magic won¡¯t form without the tome...¡± She said the last with a slightly smaller voice and refused to look directly at Markus. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s start! Let me worry about the magic efficiency, you worry about crushing monster bones.¡±


    Maryella put her hand on the magic circle within the tome, then chanted the spell. A vapour like stream of red energy started flowing out from her fingertips, disappearing into thin air after travelling straight for a few centimetres. Maryella moved her hand, still resting on the tome, closer to the mortar and directed the stream inside it, so it hit the bone fragments. After a few seconds she cancelled the spell.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°Start grinding now.¡± Markus hit the bone parts with the pestle and they broke apart like pieces of chalk, then he started grinding. The bones gradually started to harden again, and finally they started to make scratches inside the mortar, signalling that they had again solidified to the point where they were harder than the stone the tool was made of.


    When Markus stopped his movement, Maryella took a glimpse into the mortar and raised her eyebrows. ¡°That was seriously good. There is already some dust at the bottom. See, my magic isn¡¯t that bad, am I right?¡± She broke into a smile, but then quickly positioned her hand on the tome again.


    They had to repeat the process two more times, but then all the bone shards had been broken down into a fine dust. Maryella was critically examining it. ¡°Really now, I don¡¯t think I have ever gotten such a fine powder out of it. Fire lizard bones aren¡¯t that good of an ingredient, but with this grade of powder, I might produce a nice batch of potions.¡±


    While Maryella was watching over a mix of herbs she was boiling in a beaker, Markus examined a pile of books that was sitting on a table. The tome she had used earlier was on top of the pile.


    ¡°Are those all of the chanting tomes you use?¡± Markus asked her while opening the topmost tome with the ¡®soften bones¡¯ spell.


    ¡°Tomes, but also books. Alvin, the magician, has lent me the tomes, but the books are mostly my own.¡±


    ¡°Mind if I take a look?¡± Markus had already quickly copied the chant for the softening magic into his notes while she was talking.


    ¡°Suit yourself, but don¡¯t get them dirty. And I will notice if anything ¡®disappears¡¯, just saying.¡± Maryella was still watching over the flask and the burner, but she turned her head to Markus while saying the last part.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am just curious, not a thief.¡± Markus started looking through the books. Three of them were tomes, so he copied the chants written in the other two as well. Four were actual books. Markus opened the first one and started reading. The passage he picked described how a certain Lord Greyam was fondling his bound and blindfolded maid¡¯s bosom. Markus then opened the first page and looked for the title ¨C ¡®Behind Closed Doors¡¯. It was fiction, and rather steamy.


    ¡°Does this have any relevance for alchemy?¡± Markus held up the book. Throwing him a quick glance, Maryella laughed. ¡°No, but it is a book, correct? Look, I often have to wait in between doing things, don¡¯t judge.¡±


    Markus¡¯ eyes wandered to a golden rod lying on the table and wondered if that wasn¡¯t related to alchemy as well.


    The next two books were similar to the first, but the last one was actually dealing with alchemy. It was a book describing different plants and how they could be used to create potions. Next to some descriptions were handwritten annotations, describing were they were found locally.


    The descriptions also contained some drawings of leafs or roots.


    Markus went over to the table, the open book still in his hand, and started comparing the plants in some of the bowls with the descriptions in the book. Starting with the ones that had notes next to them, he finally identified one. It looked just like a weed, but the triangular leafs were a good thing to look out for. After reading the description in the book, he used the UI to examine the plant in front of him.


    [Peddler¡¯s Grass


    Common plant often found next to roads. Can cause dizziness and sometimes vomiting when consumed raw. Boiled, it reduces the metallic taste of potions that contain blood.]


    He had somewhat expected it, but the information given by the menu was at least partly dependent on his own knowledge.


    [Skill: Herbalism] gained.


    Nice. Markus put the book back and raised the new skill to level 10. Then he picked up a different plant on the table and inspected it.


    [Knave¡¯s Bell (dried)


    Dark purple flower, often found near water. The parts above ground are edible. When boiled in water, the resulting solution slightly enhances recovery of stamina and has a positive influence on regenerative effects of other ingredients after alchemical fusion. Roots can also be boiled to achieve same effect.]


    This was a great skill. Not only did it give away the correct name of a plant, it also gave practical information on how it could be used. With this, he might be able to get other, related skills all by himself.


    Maryella had already turned the flame off and was now waiting for the solution to cool down.


    She had already lined up a few tools on the table. A small cauldron, scales and measuring spoons. The golden rod Markus had suspected to be a sex toy was also nearby, so there probably was a legitimate use for it.


    ¡°What about human parts? Do they have a use in alchemy?¡± Markus asked so spontaneously.


    ¡°Better don¡¯t think about those things. Not only is it gross, but potions made from humans have serious side effects.¡± Maryella was making a serious face.


    ¡°Side effects?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and quite terrible ones. It makes your magic go wild and drives you mad. You get like one of those magic beasts. Slightly more powerful, but only driven by instinct. Nothing desirable. It¡¯s also illegal to use human parts for experiments.¡±


    ¡°What if you get one of your hairs into a potion by accident? Or your blood?¡± Markus was just curious, he wouldn¡¯t want to risk transformation into a monster.


    ¡°That¡¯s something else. Human blood does not have an effect, that much is common knowledge, just like hair. Some people think that there are love potions that can be made with those or¡­ other body fluids, but I think it¡¯s bogus. I am talking about bones or certain organs that contain magic energy in large quantities, those are bad. Don¡¯t even try it.¡±


    ¡°OK, got it. Thanks.¡±


    Having prepared all the ingredients, they started mixing the potions. They mixed the troll blood with an equal parts of the filtered herbs solution, then added the bone dust. Markus was stirring the cauldron containing the mix using the golden rod, which was actually just gilded and acted as a catalyst, while Maryella was heating it carefully. After a while a fine foam showed up on the surface, signalling that the mix was ready for the final step.


    Maryella was letting Markus pour magic energy into the concoction, while she was observing its state. Shortly before she told him to stop, Markus saw a message pop up in his log.


    [Skill: Alchemy] gained.


    This skill was bound to be useful, so he maxed it out right away. They carefully filled several small flasks with the content of the cauldron and Maryella made sure to seal the lids properly, to prevent further air exposure.


    After they had emptied the pot, eight freshly made health potions were sitting on the table in front of them. Maryella picked one up and held it against the light coming in from the window.


    ¡°Look Markus, the potions are of really high quality. They usually turn out brown and murky, but this time you can say there are rather red, with only a hint of brown. And you can see the light shining through them.¡±


    Markus watched her examining the finished potions, but then thanked her and left the alchemy lab. It was still early afternoon, but he had acquired two potentially amazing skills and three spells, there wasn¡¯t much more to get out of this. Closing the door behind him, Markus thought that the training over last two days went a lot better than he had hoped for.


    Sure, he might have been able to get many of the skills without actually having someone teach him, but he also got a better feeling how the skills were used and a lot of background knowledge about the world.


    First, he would head to Lieutenant Clement¡¯s office and see what he wanted, afterwards he was wanted to test some of his new skills out in the field.

 Chapter 15: Starting a Campsite

    Markus knocked, then opened the door to Clement¡¯s room. The lieutenant was currently alone.


    ¡°Markus, good to see you. I hope people are showing you around like planned. Or did you run into any trouble?¡±


    ¡°No complaints. In fact, I already met with everyone and learned a lot of new things. It was a nice opportunity you gave me, I am quite happy with how it turned out.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. Everyone I talked to so far was telling me what a talented person you are.¡± The lieutenant smiled at Markus. Of course Clement would get reports, Markus had already expected that much. That was why he held back and tried not to show his true powers to anyone here.


    The lieutenant asked Markus to take a seat, then sat down himself.


    ¡°Well, I am not going to ask you again to join the army. In fact, there is a problem we have right now, and I want you to at least listen to it. Do you have any concrete plans now that you have finished your ¡®tour of our facilities¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Nothing certain for now. I will leave here today, maybe tomorrow, but I will probably stay in the area for a few days.¡±


    ¡°Then stay at least until tomorrow. I want Lieutenant Wynn to brief you on the topic, as it concerns both her and her niece. She is¡­ on an errand right now, but will be able to meet you tomorrow, I suggest meeting here again after lunch. Of course you are free to sleep at the barracks tonight.¡±


    It sounded rather dubious, and the lieutenant wanted him not to talk to any of the other soldiers about their planned meeting. After agreeing to come back tomorrow and at least hear them out, Markus had the remaining day for himself.


    He already had a small selection of tools and resources, but he still had to greatly improve on that front. Markus also needed a base of operations, even if it was only temporary, where he could work and experiment without worrying about anyone else noticing.


    He hurried north, out of the village. When he was out of view, he opened the menu and cast the three spells he had not learned yet. Going through his spells list, he was satisfied. The new spells did not seem useful in battle, but it was somewhat satisfying to have learned four new spells in a single day.


    [Repair Organism


    Continuous Cast, Single Phase:


    Intensify Effect]


    [Soften Mineral


    Continuous Cast, Single Phase:


    Intensify Effect]


    [Soften Organic Material


    Continuous Cast, Single Phase:


    Intensify Effect]


    [Drain Moisture


    Continuous Cast, Single Phase:


    Intensify Effect]


    All of the spells had a single phase in which the spell consumed mana until it was cancelled. Deliberately pouring out more mana while casting made the spell stronger, that was just about it.


    While the first spell would be useful in case Markus encountered an injured person he wanted to help, the other¡¯s looked like they were mostly meant for alchemy.


    There were also two other messages in the log.


    [Skill: Restoration Magic] gained.


    [Skill: Material Manipulation Magic] gained.


    He had already noticed with the magic torch spell, but when he actually chanted a spell, he also got the skill for it. Markus maxed out all three of the new magic skills, then casted the light spell from the menu. He could now make the sphere several times bigger and brighter than before, even when using the same amount of mana.


    [Healing Magic:


    Affinity for casting magic of the ¡®Restoration¡¯ category. Improves efficiency and maximum effect. Scales with ¡®intelligence¡¯ stat.]


    While dashing through the forest towards Vrosa, Markus wondered how strong his attack spells would become if he had the skills, and a proper wand. He would have to get one at some point, but so far he was doing more than fine without using one.


    Markus had gotten used to just rely on his stats and skills for navigating through the vegetation, and was basically flying through the dense forest, and his speed went up considerably compared to before. It was earlier than the last time he entered the town, and almost everything was still open for business.


    Asking a few of the townspeople for directions, he approached a large workshop near the edge of town. The attached store was dealing in forged tools of all kinds, although many of the things on display were meant for woodworking and lumbering. Buying saws, an axe, a wood plain, but also tongs, a heavy hammer, chisels and a box of nails, he left the store with enough tools to fill a crate.


    He tried to make it look like he was struggling to carry the crate out of the store, but once outside, he quickly hurried into a back alley and put the items into his inventory. Going into the store again, he purchased even more things. A shovel, pickaxe, some metal sheets and plates, everything that he felt was needed or useful in the future.


    His next stop was the market square. There were no stands specializing in alchemy supplies, but he got a suitable household scale, a cauldron and a mortar with pestle from one of the merchants. One stalls that had a food stand attached also sold spices, and he bought a small bag of peppercorns and something that looked and smelled vaguely like curry powder.


    He was pleasantly surprised to see the older one of the girls he had ¡®rescued¡¯, Tessa, working at one of the other food stalls. Markus walked over the market and bought a few smaller items that might come in handy. He hurried though, he had no time for sightseeing.


    Markus then entered a store that dealt in higher priced items. There were two armed guards at the door, but Markus had already changed into his good clothes before entering town and was let through without trouble.


    The store had many different kinds of goods. Watching over the items on display, he saw high quality textiles, decorations like small statues and paintings and also a small selection of weapons and armour. What he was most interested in at the moment were magic tools though, so he approached the man standing behind the counter directly.


    The tools they had in stock were few and overpriced according to the UI reading. When Markus asked why it was so expensive, the man first said things like his items were of very high quality and almost never broke, that¡¯s why they were in fact cheap. Markus pressed the issue, and in the end the merchant admitted that the region had lost much of its economic appeal because of the dragons, so business was slow. He also gave Markus a small discount, but it was still expensive.


    Markus bought two small ¡®fire plates¡¯. One that produced a continuous flame like the one at Springkeep¡¯s kitchen, just smaller, and one that could produce a flame based on the magic energy used, very similar to the one in the alchemy lab. Overall he had to spend one whole gold coin, 8 large silver coins for the cooking plates and two for a set of two magic lamps, similar to those in the tavern.


    He had no urgent need for the lamps, but he wanted to take one or both of them apart to see how they were made. They were surprisingly pricey though, so he wondered why they were available in abundance at the base and the tavern.


    His last stop for today was something like a pharmacy next to the local hospital. The hospital was only a regular looking house, where two healers did their best to heal as many wounds as possible. The pharmacy was more like a shop dealing with potions, but the shopkeeper also doubled as some sort of doctor who would hear out the symptoms of his customers before selling a suitable remedy.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Markus was not really interested in buying medicine, he wanted to get empty phials and flasks, so he could dabble in alchemy himself. After buying ten phials with a cork lid and two large flasks, Markus left the town.


    He was still missing some items he could not just buy on the market, like building materials and large items like an anvil or a functional grinding wheel. Those items had to be ordered in advance and were either delivered or loaded onto carts. Markus planned to scour the destroyed villages near the ¡®dragon mountain¡¯, as he had dubbed it, for these things, or to make them himself if he had to.


    On his way south, he stopped by the tavern to rent the room for another night. When he asked about Abigail, her mother made a happy expression, but said that her daughter was currently at the keep to serve dinner, then promised that she would tell ¡®Abby¡¯ that Markus had stopped by and asked for her. To avoid having the girl wait for him in vain, he told the woman that he would probably be back late tonight.


    Opening the map, he took a closer look at the destroyed settlements, in particular the amount of ruins left standing. Having selected a few promising targets, Markus roughly planned his route, then ran south at top speed.


    He avoided taking anything large that would be noticed along the main route south where the soldiers seemed to patrol regularly, but once he had reached a more secluded place he used the inventory function freely. Broken and half burned roofs, withered tools and bricks, everything vanished when Markus touched it.


    He could not take things that were still ¡®attached¡¯ to the world and showed up as a structure on his map, but once he broke it off or pulled it out of the ground, he could take it without any problems.


    Markus finally came across a destroyed metal workshop. He made sure to collect all of the broken tools, the anvil and even broke apart the forge and took as many of the materials as he could.


    When he got hungry, he took out the boar he had roasted a few days ago. It was still as warm as it was when he had put it away, so there was no risk of it having gone bad.


    Finally, Markus had to decide on a location. He did not plan to make the place his permanent home, so the requirements were quite lax. He wanted it to have a water source somewhere in the vicinity, be away from any road or settlement and have at least partial protection from the elements, so he didn¡¯t have to spend much time on building something he would soon abandon again.


    Using a mix of his map function, his skill boosted vision and high movement speed to get a good overview, he settled on a small mountain on Soba Kingdom¡¯s side of the river near the ¡®dragon mountain¡¯.


    There was a shallow cave on one side of the mountain, more like a dent that was 10 meters deep and high, but the ground was reasonable in the centre of the cave. It was only a few hundred meters away from the river and a few kilometres away from the next settlement, so it fit all of Markus¡¯ criteria.


    The first thing he did was fell a few trees to clear the space near the cave entrance. Utilizing his wood-working skill, it was a pretty easy job. While hacking at the trunks, he got a new [Two-Handed Axes] skill after a few well-placed swings, which he raised to level 5 to get the job done even quicker.


    Sawing off the tree crowns from the trunks and removing protruding branches, Markus left the trunks out in the open, near the cave. He would need dry wood at some point, keeping them in the inventory all the time would only keep them fresh.


    Going a little into the cave, he built a square low-walled fireplace with some damaged bricks he had gotten by breaking down some of the ruined structures in the destroyed villages. He wanted a place to let a fire burn unattended without risking a forest fire that could draw attention. It was pretty shabby, but he was satisfied with the quick results.


    Markus then emptied the large pot he had found in the bandits camp, which still contained some stew with questionable ingredients. Drying some a pile of the fresh branches with the new spell [Drain Moisture], he filled the pot with broken down wood to the brim, then put the lid on it. He wanted to punch some holes into the matching lid, but when he put it on the pot, he saw that it was poorly made and there were some very small gaps already.


    Placing the pot on some bricks he had put into the fireplace, he stuffed a bunch on dried wood scraps under and next to the pot until the fireplace was filled as well. After putting a few bricks on the lid to make sure it stayed in place, he lit the up the fireplace with a few tiny, low energy fireballs.


    If everything worked as intended, the wood inside the pot would be heated without burning, the resulting gas escaped through the gaps and after a few hours Markus would have a pot full of charcoal. If that happened, he could then repeat it easily as many times as he wanted.


    The sun was still up, but it would become dark in an hour or so. The final thing he could hope for today was find one crucial material for the construction of the base, which could also prove useful for other things. Starting near the river, he dug a hole in search for a source of clay.


    Digging was apparently influenced by the construction skill and his high stamina and strength allowed him to work at a high pace already, but he decided it was finally time to max out the construction skill, which he had kept at level 5 until now.


    The first hole he dug out yielded no results even after he went as deep as he was tall, so he moved to a different location a few hundred metres away. Finally he found some material that was usable. It contained small pieces of stone and was a bit gritty, but when he formed it around in his hands it generally kept its shape.


    He marked the location of both his ¡®clay-mine¡¯ and the cave on the map, then went to the river and washed himself off, before rushing back to the village. By the time he got there, it was already dark for some time, but there were still some soldiers in the tavern drinking. Abigail wasn¡¯t awake anymore, so he just greeted her mother and went to his room.


    Sitting on the bed and undressing, Markus noticed something happening on the map. As soon as he took off his pants, some of the markers inside the village and military base changed from yellow to red. At first he was a little worried that something sinister was going on, a spontaneous vampire transformation or similar.


    When he checked again, he found that the red dots were all regular villagers or soldiers, mostly females though. He had a vague idea, then put his pants on again. Most of the indicators went back to yellow. Apparently, the colour of the marker indicated the initial reaction a person would show him. If he busted into a bedroom naked, they would attack him outright, which was somewhat understandable.


    They would probably be startled and not be very friendly if he was dressed as well, but it seems like most would be willing to exchange a few words before deciding whether or not to fight him. After his little ¡®experiment¡¯, Markus turned off the interface information for the night, then went to bed.

 (Not a Chapter) Good news, authors thoughts, probably bad news (also: an apology)

    (TL</img>R at the end, but please feel free to read everything)


    Hello,


    it has been a while. This is the author. Obviously.


    First, the apology. I don''t want to justify things or push blame away from me, but there was a reason for my rather abrupt and unexplained hiatus; my external hdd on which I stored all my fiction drafts, notes etc (also some other things which are missed ;_/ ) suddenly broke, due to gravity. Not my fault for knocking it off the computer case, but physics''.


    That led to a lot of frustration, and writing reminded me of the loss, so I stopped and tried to forget. Pathetic, I know. I restarted writing a couple of months ago actually, and now I have around 80000 words for this fiction.


    This is the good news, because you can expect updates pretty soon. Now my thoughts on what I have: I am not really happy with it, for different reasons.


    My writing style has some flaws, of which I became painfully aware. First, it has too much exposition. There is a lot of describing going on, some fights are rather well coreographed and stuff along those lines. But I feel like I could scrap 60% of the novel and would only stand to gain from that.


    I don''t really like my characters much as well anymore, and if the author says so, it stands to reason that this is a problem, I think.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    And last but not least (when listing the major flaws): a lack of perspective. I stuck with the protagonist, to let the reader experience and explore the world with him, but now I feel that there is something severly lacking. This also contributes to the former two problems, as the lack of insight into other characters makes them less sympathetic and it could be a lot more interesting to have someone else interact within a part of the world that I want to describe, instead of the MC oberserving or brooding over it and just describing it in detail.


    So, in the end this story feels like a sloppy first draft to me, and is in need of a rewrite. Now, the bad news. The thought of rewriting and rescuing this dumpster fire does not fill me with happy anticipation. I do this for fun, and rewriting it doesn''t sound like fun. Just continuing does not, either. At least for now.


    I also admit that I had a lot of notes and ideas for this, and am currently in the process of recycling it into a new story on the side. With all the experience points I got from the first two attemps of writing a novel, I feel like I can defeat some of the minor bosses (problems) I ran into before. It won''t be a pure litRPG, so no pointless calculating, excel-sheets and remembering/re-reading just so most of the readers can just skim over the character sheet anyway. There are multiple interesting characters and perspectives (although it has a main-character). And I wont release anything before I have a satisfying arc/first book ready.


    TL;DR: new chapters ahead, they kind of suck (I think), I might rewrite or abandon this novel (or even just continue), and I will release something at some unspecified point in the future, but only after it has some sort of ending/satisfying arc. Can take a week or two, or half a year. Sowwy for being so unreliable.


    Thanks for reading this, and anything I posted before and hereafter.