《Auto farming system》 Chapter 0: Intro Somewhere in Europe. The skies were pure blue and clear. A refreshing change since most of the time they were laden with chem trails. The sun shone brightly, and the grass seemed greener than ever. ¡°What a lovely day!¡± exclaimed Gorn. The gentle breeze was caressing his face, bringing a very soothing feeling along with it. The surrounding nature was vibrant with life, making everything else even more beautiful. Gorn walked leisurely towards a nearby wooden bench. Sitting down, he let out a long sigh. ¡°It''s been a long time since I came to this park¡­.¡± The place was a little more secluded, so there weren''t many people around. The absence of human noise made it much easier to relax and contemplate important aspects of life. Suddenly, a loud noise startled the surrounding birds. ''I tolerated that behavior for long enough!'' thought Gorn while slamming his hand on the wooden bench. Sharp pain and a tingling sensation followed. This kind of behavior was rare for him, provided that he was generally a very calm person. Breathing in, and exhaling powerfully, Gorn released some built-up tension. Being a young adult was certainly not easy. ''It is time to change jobs. Surely there is something decent out there.'' Part of his anger came from the behavior of one of his work colleagues. It was toxic beyond words, and to make things even worse, the culprit was a lot weaker than him physically speaking. ''Or I should just beat the shit out of that person to see if I can correct that attitude.'' Gorn tried numerous times to talk things out politely, but to no avail. What remained now was either to use brute force or to avoid the person. The first option was very tempting, and he almost succumbed to it a few times. After more careful consideration, Gorn abandoned that plan, deciding to stick to the second method. ''I want something more!'' Deep down, he yearned for something much greater than a good job. ''I think it''s time to dig deeper into what I truly want.'' Taking advantage of the beautiful surroundings, Gorn relaxed for the rest of the day and at the same time made some order inside his mind and heart. . . . In the blink of an eye, it was already evening. A lot of things were still weighing down on his shoulders, waiting to be solved and fixed. That, however, was something that required more time. Extending his hand, Gorn grabbed his laptop from the nearby bedside. His room was simple and nothing to brag about, having only the necessities. It was after all a rented place that he was currently using for the time being. Browsing through the internet, Gorn read a story that he liked. There were only a few new chapters available, so he finished quite fast. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Can I find something else interesting to read?¡± After half an hour of searching, Gorn abandoned that idea. At this point, he already finished most of the things that he deemed worthwhile. Searching for more became a heavy chore for him, so he stopped. ¡°I''ve had enough of this.¡± Furthermore, after a long period, his interest in fictional stories, mangas, and things of the sort was reaching an end. Thinking back, he was even ashamed of reading, and viewing some of them. ¡°I must have been brain-dead to read and watch some of those things.¡± Thinking about his past actions allowed Gorn to make a real image of himself, and improve. ¡°I wonder what it would be like to live in a world similar to those fictional stories I read.¡± Since it was getting late, Gorn put his thoughts to the side and went to sleep. . . . After an unknown amount of time, Gorn''s eyelids twitched and his eyes opened slowly. ''I didn''t sleep so well since I was a little kid,'' thought Gorn while stretching his arms. ¡°What?!¡± It didn''t take more than a few seconds for his eyes to clear up and see the surroundings. ''Where am I? What happened?!'' He was not inside his room anymore. Springing out of the bed, Gorn got dressed with the clothes that were thrown to the side, not caring if he was or not the real owner. The room had a simple design, very similar to his own, but the shape, and the color of the furniture, plus their location was entirely different. Noticing a nearby mirror, Gorn hurried towards it. Nothing looked out of place, besides the fact that his face seemed somewhat younger. His heart started to beat faster and faster. Eyeing a nearby wooden chair, Gorn took it and smashed the mirror as quietly as possible into multiple pieces. Wrapping his hand in a piece of cloth, Gorn took out a sharp piece of glass to use as a weapon. With utmost attention, he started to inspect his room and then the rest of the place. . . . After half an hour. ¡°I am the only person currently in this house.¡± There were a few other simple rooms with a similar design. By the look of things, the other places were occupied by women. There were signs of recent activity, so he had no idea when they might come back. Gorn sat near the window that offered the best view of the surrounding area. In his hand, he held a photo that he picked up from one of the rooms. Everything looked unfamiliar, making it very difficult to ascertain the situation. Gorn''s brain was trying his best to make sense of the situation. After a few minutes, the photo in his hands dropped to the floor. Inside the photo were six people, him included. A pair of twins, a little girl, a woman, and a man next to her. Last but not least, his mug was also present in the photo, next to the man. He looked even younger, and very timid, judging by his facial expression. ¡°That is a plane, right?!¡± exclaimed Gorn while following with his gaze to something high up in the sky. It was very far away, so he could not see exactly what it was. The more he looked, the more that thing looked like a living organism and not a plane. After a few more minutes, the unidentified object disappeared into the distance. Gorn grabbed the photo from the ground. ¡°What is happening?¡± He had no memories of those people, and they were most definitely not his family or relatives. ¡°It seems like this guy who looks like a younger version of myself has been living with them for a few years already.¡± Beside his room, there were no signs of the presence of other men. Putting the photo back, Gorn returned to the window, analyzing everything with care. The buildings, the cars, the streets, everything had a different design to it. It was like being in a foreign country, and in a different timeline. ¡°What?!¡± Gorn just witnessed a man running on the streets. It wasn''t that unusual for someone to run, however, this person was as fast as a car, something he saw only in movies. ¡°Alright...I see where all this is going....¡± . . . After an hour, he was still alone in the house. Getting outside, Gorn explored the surrounding area, being careful not to get lost from the starting point. After a few dozen minutes, he froze in place. In his line of sight was a huge wall, and far beyond that were gigantic trees and mountains so enormous that the peak could not be seen despite the clear weather outside. ''I guess I will be able to satisfy my curiosity after all,'' thought Gorn while shuddering. At this point, it was clear to him what was happening. Chapter 0.1: Intro part II ¡®This is either some very far away place, cut off from the rest of the world, or¡­¡¯ pausing for a moment, Gorn took a deep breath. ¡®Or I was transported to a different world, exactly like in those novels I used to read¡­¡¯ There were a multitude of similarities in structures, vehicles, clothes, and so on, yet still, everything appeared to be different. ¡®What happened to me? How did I get here?¡¯ The last thing he could remember was browsing on the internet before falling asleep. There were no signs of being kidnapped by the use of force, or drugs. Not even something magical like a portal appearing in his room, and absorbing him to this location. Nothing. Currently, he had absolutely no clues as to how or why he was there. Some wild ideas came to his mind, but there was no real evidence to support any of them. Because his thoughts were quickly becoming a mess, Gorn stopped pondering over something that he had absolutely no proof about as of that moment. ¡®No matter what, I first need to gather some information.¡¯ Clenching his fists, Gorn felt excitement running through his veins. Solid information was a must at this point. Running left and right could allow him to discover a few things, however, that wasn¡¯t the smartest thing to do, and he knew it. Walking around like a chicken, with no real idea about what was going on, could prove to be very dangerous. Taking one more glance at the far away gigantic mountains, and trees, Gorn quickly returned to the house where he woke up. ¡®There is no one here yet¡­good.¡¯ Unlike the guy that ran like a car, his body seemed to be that of a normal human. No extraordinary speed, strength, or anything supernatural. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡®What now?¡¯ The answer to that question quickly came to his mind. ¡®Now, it¡¯s time to act like nothing unusual happened.¡¯ A simple and efficient strategy since he appeared to be part of the family, and no visible signs of hostility could be seen. Cleaning the mess he caused with the mirror, Gorn took a few more glances throughout the small house, then went to ¡®his¡¯ room, waiting patiently. Slowly, but surely, the time started to tick away. While waiting, Gorn prepared himself for various bad situations. ¡®If things will get very out of hand because of my lack of information, telling them that my head hurts, and I don¡¯t feel that well should be a decent strategy.¡¯ If he was really part of the family, this kind of approach was almost surely to work to some degree. ¡®I doubt that will be the case,¡¯ thought Gorn, analyzing some information he already knew. The fact that he had a room of his own, and was present in that family photo, was more than enough information to rule out some worst case scenarios. ¡®Was I adopted into this kind of family? If that¡¯s the case, where was I before? Is this really my body? It appears to be a somewhat younger ¡®me¡¯¡­'' Just by looking at that photo, he was more inclined to go for the ¡®adoption¡¯ theory. Firstly, he knew very well his real family, and secondly, his appearance was rather different from the rest of them. If it wasn¡¯t for the strange situation, such questions would be quite silly. Gorn waited patiently. People weren¡¯t killing each-other on the streets, and he already had a place that could be called a base. In short, there was no need for haste, which could potentially ruin his situation. At least, not at the moment. ¡®What a bizarre situation¡­ Interesting¡­¡¯ a sense of adventure and curiosity built up in his heart, overcoming a great part of the negative emotions. After a few hours, Gorn could finally hear some movements inside the house. ¡®Someone came,¡¯ his heart started to beat faster, and it got a little harder to keep a straight face. After hearing a few more noises, it became quiet once again. A few dozen minutes ticked away, but no one came to his room, nor did he hear anything else. ¡®Should I go check things out?¡¯ Gorn felt that it wasn¡¯t the right time for that, so he waited patiently. The chances of the other party being strangers, or robbers, were very unlikely. There was hardly anything that looked of great value inside the house, not to mention that it was basically in the middle of the day. Just in case, Gorn already envisioned himself going for the wooden chair next to him, and smacking it into the head of whatever enemy might appear. After a few dozen minutes, the sound of the front door could be heard yet again. This time, it was accompanied by a loud voice. ¡°I am hooome!¡± Chapter 0.2: Intro part III The voice seemed to belong to a little girl. ¡®Is she the little girl from the photo?¡¯ Unlike before, this time, the new arrival made a lot of noises. Slamming the doors, shouting and throwing stuff around. ¡°Why not?!¡± Dissatisfaction could clearly be noticed in those words. The loud noises resumed. This time, they were coming towards his room. ¡®This is it¡­¡¯ thought Gorn, trying his best to put up an act. With a loud bang, his door was slammed opened. In front of him was now a young girl dressed in overly large pants and a dark blue t-shirt. She had very long black hair, and her black eyes shined with energy and anticipation. ¡°You will play with me, right, Gorn?¡± Gorn quickly analyzed all the details. The girl seemed to be the same little girl from the photo. Looking at her face, she was obviously not that old, but her height was certainly above what he had imagined her to be after seeing that photo. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m feeling a little tired,¡± said Gorn, his facial expression remaining rather neutral. The girl made a sad face: ¡°But¡­ You usually play with me from time to time. It¡¯s been quite a few days since we last played, so I thought¡­¡± Her eyes became teary, and she looked like she was going to start crying at any moment. Gorn removed the blanket, and got to his feet. ¡°I guess we can play a little bit¡­¡± Hearing his words, the girl¡¯s sad appearance vanished, and was quickly replaced by a happy one. ¡°Perfect!¡± Gorn was a little stunned by her beautiful smile. In the next second, she jumped at him, embracing him tightly. ¡®¡­¡¯ It was rare for someone to be so happy over such small things. Patting her on the head, Gorn asked: ¡°Alright, what do you want us to play?¡± he found it hard not to give her a large, warm smile. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Letting him go, she started to talk with great enthusiasm: ¡°We learned a few interesting games at school¡­¡± Gorn listened to her carefully. Either she didn¡¯t have a decent conversation in a long time, either she was very talkative. Even without asking, Ella started to talk about various things. ¡®This is easier than I imagined¡­,¡¯ thought Gorn while keeping the girl company. Just by playing a few simple games with her, he could find out a ton of useful information. On top of it all, he even thought that the games were interesting. Time flew quite quickly. Before they even realize, it was already quite late. The wooden door of his room opened yet again. ¡°Stop bothering Gorn so much. Come, it¡¯s time for dinner,¡± the girl who spoke was one of the twins. Leaving these words behind, she left. ¡°Stop bothering Gorn so much,¡± Ella started to imitate her words mockingly. ¡°Let¡¯s go eat!¡± turning her head, she said towards Gorn with a smile. It was a little weird seeing her switch her facial expressions so effortlessly. Gorn followed her silently. After a few steps, they reached the first room of the house. It was larger than the rest, and from there, each family member could go to their own room without bothering the rest. Apart from his chamber, there were three more rooms. ¡°Why are you so late, don¡¯t you know we eat at this hour?¡± ¡°Sorry mother, we just had some fun playing some game,¡± her face was without a shred of remorse. Elisa sighed: ¡°Take a seat, let¡¯s eat before the food gets cold.¡± Gorn tried to act as normal as possible. All four women were extremely beautiful, making his task a little harder than it should have been. On top of her beauty, Elisa had a few wrinkles, and her face betrayed exhaustion. Furthermore, the twins seemed out of energy as well. Except the youngest, all of them were going through some hard times. They tried to hide it, but it was painfully obvious. ¡°How was today at school?¡± asked Elisa. ¡°It was fine, nothing unusual. Same as every other day,¡± answered Nora without any enthusiasm whatsoever. ¡°I see¡­¡± Elisa let out another sigh. By the looks of it, she felt that something might be wrong. ¡°What about you, Ella?¡± ¡°Well, today was quite fun, we learned a lot of things, such as¡­¡± Ella started to talk with great passion while eating at the same time. Thanks to her, the atmosphere turned a little livelier. The food wasn¡¯t anything spectacular, but tasted great nonetheless. A vegetable soup, and rice with cabbage. The uncomfortable questions never came. Except for some small talk, nothing appeared to be out of place. It looked like he was indeed part of the family. ¡®What is wrong with these girls?¡¯ thought Gorn. The family was clearly going through some very hard times. After finishing eating, everyone cleaned their dishes then went to their rooms. Gorn did the same. Falling on the bed, Gorn pondered over everything that happened. Thanks to Ella being so talkative, he found out a ton of useful information. ¡®Is this her way of coping with the sad atmosphere?¡¯ It was well hidden, but Ella¡¯s sadness could not escape his eyes. Chapter 0.3: Intro part IV His initial excitement settled down considerably. ¡°A city surrounded by wilderness¡­¡± It wasn¡¯t any kind of wilderness. The vegetation, and the terrain, was vast and majestic, beyond anything he previously saw. Those short moments when he went outside were enough proof to confirm the information he got from Ella. ¡°By the look of things, humanity seems to be on the brink of extinction¡­¡± The reason the city was still standing was thanks to some mysterious power that kept the monsters away. The common people did not have access to detailed information, but this fact was among the first things someone learned while going to school. A world full of wonders, unfortunately, deadly for most people. Despite this, there was still hope. Some people could get way stronger than normal, and were able to fight the wild, ferocious monsters that lurked beyond the city walls. Magical abilities were also a thing. Most of the information he found out led to this conclusion: ¡°A lone city in the middle of nowhere¡­ Surrounded by a mysterious forest, gigantic mountains, trees, and baffling monsters that could kill you before you even manage to blink. How wonderful¡­¡± His body trembled involuntarily. It still seemed a little surreal. ¡®Maybe I will wake up tomorrow back in my room?¡¯ This time, Gorn got lost in his thoughts. There were so many variables, and possible answers, that it drained him completely of energy. In the end, he fell asleep. . . . Gorn¡¯s eyelashes trembled, and his eyes slowly opened. ¡°This is?¡± He was still in that unfamiliar room: ¡°So everything that happened yesterday was not a dream?¡± Happiness and sadness were both present. Even though it was morning, excitement started to surge yet again. ¡°This should be interesting¡­¡± A part of him was very eager to unravel every single mystery that came towards him. ¡°Time to go to school, right?¡± Education was a very important aspect inside the city, and a great tool to potentially change one¡¯s fate. Since he now knew there was some order in place, roaming around a little wasn¡¯t going to be a problem as long as he acted humble, and respectful. Jumping to his feet, Gorn got dressed into a black pair of pants and a thin, violet sweater. The clothes appeared to be made of low quality linen, but were acceptable nonetheless. It was very quiet inside the house. By the look of things, everyone was out already. As he exited the house, Gorn¡¯s heart started to beat increasingly faster. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Once outside, he was greeted by the sight of numerous people walking in all directions, apparently busy with their own agenda. There were also vehicles that looked like cars. ¡°How intriguing¡­¡± The roads were not made of concrete, but from some sort of stone, mixed with a few other things. At least that was what he thought it was. The cars were extremely simple compared to what he was used to, and their design was rather lacking. Some people had huge swords on their backs, and were dressed in what looked to be different kinds of armor. For a moment, Gorn thought he was watching some sort of cosplay. Old and new seemed to intertwine in a weird, but beautiful way. Walking for a few minutes, Gorn was mesmerized by the beautiful nature, as well as the complex ornaments that existed through-out the place. Some houses looked shabby, while some appeared to be out of some sort of fantasy book. ¡®Strong and weak, rich and poor,¡¯ thought Gorn, while carefully observing everything in his path. It took him only a very short amount of time to figure out that the social hierarchy in that place was very uneven. The weather was almost perfect, allowing him to see far away into the distance. The enormous mountain, and trees far away, were a fearsome sight. Some of them were so tall, that he actually couldn¡¯t see the top. Seeing such fauna made his heart tremble with excitement. Just imagining himself exploring that place brought forward a great deal of exhilaration. Hour after hour went by, and Gorn was still exploring, and analyzing everything in his sight. His face was covered with a smile almost the entire time. Eyes glowing with enthusiasm, the journey continued. At this point, it was too late to go to school, nor that he planned on going there anymore. Taking his time, analyzing the location took priority. Before he even knew it, it was already getting late. ¡®Let¡¯s go back for now.¡¯ Without any problems, Gorn found his way back. It wasn¡¯t hard to mark a few buildings as checkpoints, thus making it very simple to keep track of his position. He never had trouble with orientation before, nor was he going to start now. After some time, he reached his home. Just one look at it was enough to see that it was among the simplest houses that he saw. He had no issue with that. ¡®I wonder if it¡¯s going to be a problem that I got home so late¡­¡¯ His concerns soon turned out to be speculative. The house appeared to be empty. At a second glance, shoes that weren¡¯t present in the morning were now neatly arranged at the entrance. Two identical pairs, and one smaller. The girls were home. ¡®How quiet¡­¡¯ It was awfully quiet. The atmosphere was also a little depressing. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ cursed Gorn, his excitement settling down yet again. Going to his room, Gorn sat on the bed, and made some order with the information he found during that day. ¡®In a way, this is just like any other city¡­¡¯ There were striking differences, ranging from architecture and nature to how the people dressed, what they did, and of course, what was beyond the city walls. As he was deeply immersed in his thoughts, one of the twins came to tell him that it was dinner time. ¡°I¡¯ll be there in a moment,¡± said Gorn. Changing into other simple clothes, he exited the room. This time, the dinner was even more awkward than the day before. Ella was also rather quiet, resulting in a stale state of affairs. The hard situations Gorn initially thought about never came. No one appeared to have any doubts about his identity, or have any suspicions regarding his behavior. They were just too busy with their own problems. After a short time, the room was empty. Each one of the girls went to their rooms without saying anything much. ¡®This is too depressing¡­¡¯ feeling the need to do something, Gorn went towards Ella¡¯s room. Knocking gently on the door, he asked: ¡°Want to play a few games before going to sleep?¡± In the next instance, the door was opened, and Ella greeted him with a smile: ¡°I do!¡± Chapter 0.4: Intro part V Just like that, a few days flew away. Exploring during the day, having dinner in the evening, and playing with Ella different kinds of games while also talking about various things. This kind of schedule allowed him to quickly find out the basic information that he desperately needed, including the school he was supposed to attend. ¡°A new morning, a new me!¡± Full of excitement, Gorn washed up, got dressed, then exited the house. Unlike before, he now knew exactly where to go. In around ten minutes, he reached what looked to be a bus station. The vehicle soon arrived, and Gorn, together with other boys and girls, quickly embarked. The others looked just as normal as him, nothing unusual showing on the outside. The ride was smooth, allowing them to reach the destination pretty fast. Getting down of the plain looking bus, Gorn marveled at the huge, and exquisite building that was now in front of him. Such a structure seemed a little out of place. ¡°So this is a school here¡­¡± Entering the building, Gorn felt some nostalgia hitting him. After all, his school days were supposed to be already behind him. ¡®How odd¡­¡¯ his feelings were mixed. The interior was clean, and had a luxurious vibe to it. There were various rooms varying in size, and numerous students walked to their respective classes. Gorn¡¯s gaze shifted to his hand. There was a small, round piece of wood there. His name was on it along with his class designation. Using that, and his good orientational abilities, Gorn was quickly able to come in front of the door that lead to his class. The door was wide open and people went inside while chatting. Stopping for a second in front of the door, he examined the class. The room was very spacious, and had a multitude of chairs, and desks. ¡°Out of the way!¡± At the same time he heard these words, he felt a hand on his shoulder, pushing him away. ¡®The fuck?!¡¯ The force was something that he could not handle. His body was almost sent flying several meters to the side, landing in a very unnatural position. Laughter soon came. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The person who pushed him was a young man with no noticeable physical features. Bland like a door. His action was seen as nothing unusual since it took only a few moments for everyone to continue whatever they were doing, ignoring him, including the guy who pushed him. ¡®I see¡­¡¯ Gorn took a very careful look at everyone involved. After that, he also acted like nothing of great importance happened. Finding a seat at the back of the class, he waited patiently. The commotion died down the moment a teacher entered the class. It was a half bald middle-aged man. The man took his time getting comfortable, then started to talk about certain creatures. Gorn listened carefully. Hearing about certain features of those creatures made him tremble inside. ¡®This shit is for real¡­¡¯ The class was soon over. Gorn was in a strange state. Despite everything that happened, it was still a little hard to accept the facts. All of a sudden, a shadow appeared on top of him. Looking up, he saw a very muscular boy that had blonde hair and blue eyes. Unlike the dude before, he had a great deal of charm. Being almost two meters tall, and having a huge amount of muscles, posed for quite the sight. This new individual was blocking his line of sight. Taking some money from his pocket, he put it on Gorn¡¯s desk. ¡°Go buy me some snacks.¡± After saying those words, he left. Gorn looked at the money, then at the departing silhouette. While the words were disrespectful, the tone was rather calm. ¡®What should I do?¡¯ After some brief consideration, he took the money and went to buy the man some snacks. Since he already saw a shop on his way to his classroom in the morning, the process was quite smooth. ¡®There are little chances I used to stand up to this kind of person,¡¯ thought Gorn while bringing the snacks to the blonde hair dude. As long as things didn¡¯t go too far, being humble for some time could prove to be a smart decision. Gorn put the snacks and the change on the man¡¯s desk. ¡°Thanks, you are free to go.¡± The answer was a little surprising. ¡®Is this what you call a polite bully or what?¡¯ Not wasting a second, Gorn went to the back of the class yet again. ¡®It sure is nice to have power¡­¡¯ . . . Day after day went away. Gorn spent most of his time trying to find out as many things as possible. After all, information meant power. Thanks to his lack of physical prowess and status, Gorn was bullied periodically by his classmates. The bullying varied, but it wasn¡¯t anything that he couldn¡¯t handle. At this point, he kind of understood what the twin¡¯s problem might be. Gorn was currently doing some push-ups in his room. ¡®I¡¯m just too weak. There must be some faster ways to get stronger.¡¯ For the first time since arriving to this place, Gorn felt an overwhelming desire to get stronger. All of a sudden, something popped up in front of his face. Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 0/10 targets. Power level: 15 Abilities: None Equipment: Normal clothes. Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 0 Tip: 1. To access the information panel, say out-loud ¡®status¡¯.
  1. To acquire a target, just say ''select'' while looking at someone.
Gorn¡¯s whole body shuddered: ¡°This is?!¡± Chapter 1: A new place Star city, a city bustling with activity, and life. People moving towards their jobs, kids going to school, merchants selling different kinds of stuff in marketplaces, and much more. A pretty normal city, you would say, except it wasn''t anything like that. From time to time, giant flying monsters would fly in the distant skies, making the surrounding city walls look rather useless. Fortunately, none of them attacked or even got anywhere close to the city to pose a real threat. ''How the fuck did I get here?'' thought Gorn while taking a bus towards his school. It has already been a few weeks since he woke up in this new world. To make things even more complicated, he became eighteen years old again and gained a special ability the previous night. "Status!" Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 0/10 targets. Power level: 15 Abilities: None Equipment: Normal clothes. Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 0 Tip: 1. To access the information panel, say out loud ¡®status¡¯.
  1. To acquire a target, just say ''select'' while looking at someone.
''What a pathetic status,'' thought Gorn, with a strange smile on his face. "Shop!" Power up potion (Lvl1): +10 power. Cost: 1000 gold. Limit: Can increase power to a maximum level of one thousand. Leather armor (Lvl1): A normal piece of armor with decent protection. Cost: 1000 gold. Black sword (Lvl1): Sharp sword made from low-quality black steel. Cost: 500 gold. Skill level-up voucher (Lvl1): This can increase the level of a skill. Only works on level-one skills. Cost: 5000 gold Healing potion (Lvl1): Can speed up the recovery of the body. Cost: 100 gold. Reading all of this stuff brought a big grin on his face. ''Now it''s time to try something new.'' Looking at someone who was on the same bus, Gorn said quietly. "Select!" Race: Human Talent: Low Power level: 15 Abilities: None Equipment: Normal clothes Loot: 15 gold. Confirm target? Yes No After confirming, the screen disappeared. The new target was now present in his auto farming system with the option to ''attack''. Stroking his chin Gorn chose that option. What followed next was the appearance of a timer. 09:59:59...09:59:58... ''So in ten hours, I will be able to see the results. That person has the same power level as me so the chances of winning are not that bad.'' The situation was very similar to playing a simple game. An area Gorn was by no means unfamiliar with. ''If that power-up potion actually works, then¡­'' Just thinking of the new possibilities was somewhat overwhelming. Calming himself down, Gorn looked for additional targets. "Select!" Race: Human Talent: Medium Power level: 55 Abilities: None Equipment: Normal clothes Loot: 55 gold Confirm target? Yes No ''That fucker is almost four times stronger than me...'' After pondering over the situation for a bit, Gorn did not confirm this target, instead, searched for someone weaker. After a few more minutes, all ten of his spots were occupied by people with the same power level as him. Attacking all ten at the same time was possible, so he did just that. Now it was time to wait. Analyzing the other people, Gorn discovered that no one had a power level of over one hundred or any special abilities. ''I guess I''m at the lower end of the ladder momentarily, without anything special. But that might change really quickly.'' The bus stopped and everyone disembarked. A huge, fancy building was now occupying most of Gorn''s line of sight. It was none other than one of the few schools present in the city. From eighteen years old, almost everyone attended such a school. It was free, and it provided precious knowledge and resources, especially to those with special skills and talents. It was a necessary situation for humankind and a great opportunity for normal people to turn their lives for the better. Unfortunately, special talents were incredibly rare. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. After a few quick glances, Gorn proceeded towards his classroom. The first few days were hard. Luckily, that problem was swiftly taken care of with various lies and a few inquiries. One important factor in all this was the great similarities between this city and a normal city that he was used to. In a short time, he arrived inside a fairly spacious room full of desks. "Out of the way!" Without any notice whatsoever, Gorn felt someone pushing him. The force was so great that he was literally sent flying across the floor a few meters away. ¡®This shit again?!¡¯ "If you block my way again, I will beat the shit out of you!" The girl who spoke was none other than Lora. She had long red hair coupled with large brown eyes, beautiful facial features, and a body that could induce desire in most of the men. She was one of the prettiest girls in his school. On the other side of the coin, her temperament was awful. Always angry, and in a bad disposition. At first, Gorn learned the hard way how unreasonable she could be if someone got in her way. Attending a certain minimum number of classes was mandatory for a few years, with very few exceptions. Since he had no real talent, he could not harvest all the resources that the school provided free of charge if you met certain conditions. However, that was different now. Before, he had no solid solutions to such situations, but now, with the help of the newfound system, things were different. He wasn''t completely sure if it worked, but his gut feeling told him it did. ''The time has come for a few changes,'' thought Gorn with newfound resolve and determination. The first thing he wanted to do was swear at Lora. Race: Human Talent: High Power level: 170 Abilities: Fireball (Lvl2); Fire control (Lvl2) Equipment: Normal clothes Loot: 170 gold; Fireball (Lvl2); Fire control (Lvl2) Confirm target? Yes No Looking at her status, Gorn held it in, forcing himself to calm down. Going against her at this point would be like throwing an egg against a rock. ''Well, I need to be patient just a little more.'' Making a decision, Gorn did not say anything. Lora went on her way, ignoring him. On the other side, he now knew that skills could also be looted, unfortunately, he had no way to obtain them at this point. Taking a seat somewhere in the back of the class, Gorn analyzed all of his classmates. Most of them were stronger than him, with few exceptions. Besides Lora, two others attracted his attention. Race: Human Talent: Medium Power level: 50 Abilities: Regeneration (Lvl1) Equipment: Normal clothes Loot: 50 gold; Regeneration (Lvl1) Confirm target? Yes No There were a few others with such a power level, but what this guy had and they didn''t was a skill. Race: Human Talent: High Power level: 200 Abilities: Warrior (Lvl2); Fast learner (Lvl2) Equipment: Normal clothes Loot: 200 gold; Warrior (Lvl2); Fast learner (Lvl2) Confirm target? Yes No This was none other than Sebastian, another class bully, and apparently, the strongest. Even though he was a bully, he had charisma and knew how to talk to make you feel better. In addition, the bullying part was not that severe, mostly sending people to do certain miscellaneous tasks for him. Tall, muscular body, blonde hair, blue eyes, and overall beautiful features, coupled with a strong family background, made him one of the most desired men in the school. Having analyzed all of them, Gorn just sat leisurely. ''What I need now is time...'' With that in mind, Gorn tried to not attract too much attention to him, the same as usual. Unsurprisingly, that was incredibly simple in a way. . . . Ten hours already passed. It was time to check the results of his ¡®farming¡¯. Battle report: 6 wins; 4 losses Total loot: 90 gold Attacking the same people again was possible, so he did that. Doing a few calculations, to reach one thousand gold he would need around a week. Without any other better options, Gorn waited patiently for another week. Going to school, analyzing all the people he could, then going back home. A simple routine. . . . It was now saturday evening. Gorn sat on his bed with a weird-looking bottle in his hands. After taking a sip, no results could be seen. The stuff had a great taste, like some kind of weird juice. Drinking all that, a message appeared in front of him. +10 Power Gorn felt a surge of energy throughout his entire body. Getting down on the floor, he started to do push-ups. ''Shit, I can actually do many more than I could before taking this potion.'' Doing a few more tests, Gorn confirmed that his strength, and endurance increased greatly. Without being able to contain his happiness, Gorn laughed out loud. "Great!" Next, he quickly put the auto-farming system back to work. With his increase in strength, he was expecting a total victory. While waiting for the next results, Gorn played with his inventory, and did various exercises. . . . Battle report: 10 wins; 0 losses Total loot: 150 gold "Fuck yea!" . . . Three days later, he drank another power-up potion. "Status!" Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 10/10 targets. Power level: 35 Abilities: None Equipment: Normal clothes. Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 50 Being able to improve so easily at such a fast speed was a wonderful experience. Since he got stronger, it was now time to be more efficient. Walking around the school, Gorn soon found someone with a power level of thirty. ''I wonder if I can select the same person multiple times.'' To his surprise, he could select the same person multiple times, making his job easier. ''The difference is only five power, I wonder if I''ll be able to achieve a full victory.'' Without much delay, Gorn pressed the ''attack'' option. ''To make things even more efficient, next, I''ll buy myself a sword.'' Having done that, now it was time to go to classes. Knowledge about the new world was also important. Chapter 2: Main teacher Things were more quiet than usual. Paying attention to a few of his classmates, Gorn soon found out the reason for that. Sara, the main teacher that was responsible for their class, finally arrived from a recent expedition outside the city walls. ¡°Hello, everyone, glad to see you again!¡± Gorn remained stunned for a moment, it was the first time seeing her. ''Well, I guess she takes the spot for the most beautiful and sexiest woman that I have ever seen. Let''s see if her capabilities also match.'' ¡°Select!¡± Race: Human Talent: High Power level: 1020 Abilities: Flight(Lvl3); Wind resistance(Lvl3); Lightning bolt (Lvl4); Durability (Lvl4) Equipment: Normal clothes Loot: 1020 gold; Flight(Lvl3); Wind resistance(Lvl3); Lightning bolt (Lvl4); Durability (Lvl4) Confirm target? Yes No ''Man, I almost want to say it''s not fair.'' Sara had long black hair that in combination with her dual-colored eyes and white skin brought a very mysterious aura around her. ''One eye is blue while the other is black. I only saw such a person a single time in my life.'' Unlike Lora, her body was completely developed, and the charm that she exuded was that of a mature woman. Not to speak of their temperament, which was miles apart. Gorn turned his head towards Lora, then back towards Sara, comparing the two of them. His actions were somehow noticed by Lora. ''Shit!'' Turning his head away, Gorn acted like nothing happened. It was not time yet to deal with her. ¡°I''m sure you are curious about the expedition, so raise your hand if you want to ask me something,¡± said Sara with a smile. In the next instant, everyone except Gorn raised their hands. Surprisingly, Sara looked towards him. ¡°You have no questions?¡± She was clearly curious. Everyone''s gaze turned towards him. ''If I knew this would happen, I would also raise my hand...'' Being stared at by so many people, including a couple of beauties, was a little intimidating. Most of the gazes were full of scorn and superiority. ''Ha, a bunch of nobodies, I will leave you all in the dust very soon.'' ¡°It''s not that I don''t have any questions, but I believe that the important things are confidential, as they should be, of course. As for my other curiosities that can be answered, I''m sure someone else will ask them.¡± Sara made an approving gesture: ¡°You are not wrong. But can you tell me one question that I can''t answer you?¡± Gorn grinned slightly: ¡°I can''t.¡± ¡°Why?¡± asked Sara with great curiosity. First impressions were important, so Gorn dropped the facade. Even though it could bring him unwanted attention, he chose to be honest. ¡°Because I don''t want to.¡± Total silence. ''What gives him so much confidence? From what I remember, he is just a normal person with poor talent.'' ¡°Alright then, nothing we can do about that. What about you?¡± Sara''s attention turned to another student, dispersing the awkwardness. Unbeknownst to Gorn, Lora looked at him with some acknowledgment. The situation turned exactly as he said. What followed was a series of normal questions and answers. The questions that could not be answered truthfully were tactfully handled. Nonetheless, it was somewhat captivating. ''So the reason strong monsters don''t approach the city is yet to be known. Furthermore, the same could be said for quite a big area around the city.'' Gorn sank into thought. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ''They still suffered injuries, and someone even died.'' From this, Gorn came to the conclusion that he needed at least a power level of one thousand in order to be somewhat comfortable outside. ''There are always exceptions, and things change constantly, so there is no need to overly trust some information.'' Contrary to his expectations, everyone seemed to avoid him after what happened during Sara''s class. Something Gorn was really happy with. Without anything interesting happening, the day reached its end. Battle report: 8 wins; 2 losses Total loot: 240 gold ¡°So it wasn''t a total victory after all.¡± That wasn''t such a big problem. . . . In the morning, he received another report. Battle report: 9 wins; 1 losses Total loot: 270 gold He now had more than five hundred gold, it was time to go shopping. With great enthusiasm, Gorn purchased the black sword for five hundred gold. The item went directly to his inventory. Taking the sword out, he took a good look at it. Black sword (Lvl1): Sharp sword made from low-quality black steel. Equip As expected, there was an equip and unequip option. After equipping the weapon, Gorn put it back in his inventory. ¡°Status!¡± Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 10/10 targets. Power level: 35 Abilities: None Equipment: Black sword; Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 60 ''Even though the sword is back in the inventory, it still shows in my status. With this, I should be able to achieve much better results.'' After eating breakfast, Gorn headed to school. ''Everyone looks tense at home. There are clearly some problems.'' The school offered free lodging to those that wanted, for the three-year duration of the studies. The reason he returned home was because his house was close to school, and much more comfortable. In that place lived a single mother with three daughters. One was ten years old, while the other two were twins and at the same age as him. They were not blood-related, and he wasn''t even adopted legally. Nonetheless, everyone was nice to him and treated him with love, especially the little girl, whom he was very fond of. ''Soon, I will be able to help them a little, but until then, there is no point in prying.'' The little girl loved to talk, so he found out some information without even asking. As usual, Gorn sat somewhere at the back of the class, far away from the others. ''In less than two days, I will be able to raise my power yet again. With a power level of forty-five and a sword, I should be able to fight the dude with the regeneration skill.'' Without many worries, Gorn raised both his feet on the table, and closed his eyes, planning to rest until the teacher came. . . . ¡°Man, I''d rather go outside the city to explore than be here listening to theories,¡± said Gorn in a low voice while yawning. At the next moment, he saw Lora sitting close to him with a rather peculiar expression. Her sudden appearance startled him. Losing balance, Gorn fell off the chair. Without being able to hold it in, Lora laughed for a short moment. ''So this vixen can also laugh, huh?'' ¡°Then why don''t you go into the wilderness then?¡± Asked Lora. -Gorn was a little surprised by the sudden visitor. ¡°I''m not able to do that at the moment.¡± Lora put her elbow on Gorn''s desk and rested her head inside her palm while analyzing him. She was so close that her knees were actually touching him. ¡°At the moment? Then that means you''ll be able to do it in the future?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± If anybody heard his words, they would laugh. ''What makes him say such things with such ease, as they are just simple facts?'' ¡°Weren''t you scared to talk so rudely to our teacher yesterday? After all, she is the precious daughter of the city lord, not to mention that she can obliterate you with just a finger if she wanted to.¡± This was the reason she came up to him, to ask him this precise question. ¡°I wasn''t scared, but rather a little nervous. After all, it''s not easy, to be honest in such conditions.¡± ¡°I see...¡± . . . The next two days, Lora came and sat next to him without saying anything. During this time, Gorn finally bought another power-up potion. Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 10/10 targets. Power level: 45 Abilities: None Equipment: Black sword; Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 260 Now it was time to try to obtain his first skill. His ten slots were now occupied by the same person. ''Go!'' shouted Gorn inside his mind, face radiating with great excitement. ¡°What are you so excited about?¡± asked Lora all of a sudden. For a moment, Gorn forgot that she was next to him. ¡°I''m excited about the future.¡± ¡°The future you say...¡± Her expression turned sad for a brief moment . . . Ten hours passed in the blink of an eye. Battle report: 10 wins; 0 losses Total loot: 500 gold ''What?! Ten wins, but I did not get the skill?'' Gorn was a little angry, nonetheless, this was an outcome not completely unexpected. ''Try again.'' Ten hours later, another report came in. Battle report: 10 wins; 0 losses Total loot: 500 gold; Regeneration(Lvl1) Regeneration(Lvl1): Stamina, energy, or wounds, everything about you regenerates a lot faster than normal. ''I see, so most probably there is a drop rate for skills.'' Now that the skill was acquired, apart from gold, that person did not have any other loot. The skill was practically useless in a short battle, coupled with the fact that he had a sword, brought him a one hundred percent win rate. Since he had the money, he quickly bought another power-up potion, which he used. Next, he found someone with a power level of sixty for maximum efficiency. At this point, he already knew where to go to acquire these targets. Unfortunately, the next person in line who had a skill was a little too powerful for him. Whistling Gorn went to his class. . . . After approximately forty hours, Gorn''s status changed yet again. Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 10/10 targets. Power level: 95 Abilities: Regeneration(lLvl1) Equipment: Black sword; Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 800 It was time to get his next skill. A skill with no immediate great use, but very useful in general. Chapter 3: Becoming stronger One day after another, two weeks passed, making it in total of one month since he found himself in this new, and bizarre place. Without doing anything different, nothing much changed. Lora being in his presence made him even more avoided by people. Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 10/10 targets. Power level: 535 Abilities: Regeneration(lLvl1); Night vision(Lvl1); Fireball(Lvl2); Fire control (Lvl2); Warrior (Lvl2); Fast learner (Lvl2); Control(Lvl2); Equipment: Black sword; Leather armor; Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 550 Regeneration(Lvl1): Stamina, energy or wounds, everything about you regenerates a lot faster than normal Night vision(Lvl1): Can see in the dark Fireball(Lvl2): Use your energy to condense a powerful ball of fire. The greater the level of the skill, the greater the spell''s potential. Fire control (Lvl2): Can use fire skills more efficiently, and with less cost. Warrior (Lvl2): All fighting techniques that involve weapons, including the body, are learned at a faster speed. Fast learner (Lvl2): Can learn anything a lot faster. Control(Lvl2): You are very proficient in controlling your strength. Sitting on his chair, Gorn analyzed his gains from the past two weeks. Lifting his legs on the desk, he adopted his favorite position. The amount of power that he currently had was something he never imagined he would obtain. Since he was close to Lora every day, even exchanging a few words occasionally, certain rumors started to spread throughout the school. There were quite a few more minutes until class started, when a loud bang resounded throughout the entire classroom. A new figure entered their class. Green hair, short stature, and a face full of freckles. Race: Human Talent: High Power level: 175 Abilities: None Equipment: Normal clothes Loot: 175 gold; Confirm target? Yes No ¡°Where is that motherfucker?!¡± With great anger, that person walked towards him and Lora. ¡°You are my fianc¨¦, why are you so familiar with another man?!¡± Lora''s veins started to bulge. ¡°Stop calling me that!¡± Gorn glanced at Lora and then at the midget in front of them, whose height was not higher than him standing on the chair. It all made sense now. ''So this is why she was so angry all this time, understandable¡­.'' Looking at that man''s face, Gorn couldn''t help himself but laugh out loud. ¡°Bwahahahahaha!¡± He didn''t hold back his laughter in the slightest. At this point, everyone around him considered Gorn somewhat of a lunatic, so they weren''t that surprised. ¡°Why are you laughing like an idiot?!¡± asked Lora''s fianc¨¦. Gorn got up, passed by Lora, and stood in front of that man. The height difference was so big that it was almost like a full-grown man standing in front of a child. Since the intruder was adamant in making things difficult for him, Gorn chose to retaliate this time. ¡°Can''t you see we stay all day together? She is clearly not your fianc¨¦, but my woman!¡± Turning his head towards Lora, Gorn winked with a mischievous smile. Lora was at a loss for words. Soon, the man raised his hand to slap Gorn in the face. ¡°Hey, look out!¡± yelled Lora towards Gorn. Gorn easily avoided the strike, and gave the midget a good slap of his own, sending him over ten meters away. His body was still, not moving at all, a clear sign he was already in the dream world. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Total silence. Gorn jumped in place several times while looking at his classmates that were present: ¡°Time for all of you fuckers to suffer a little.¡± He remembered every single one of them, and how they bullied, laughed at him multiple times. While he had no real resentment towards them since things never escalated past a certain point, the sudden rush in adrenaline he got from slapping the green midget was like a trigger of some sort. He wanted to have a small taste of revenge. Like a ghost descending from hell, Gorn started to beat the shit out of everyone who talked nonsense about him. Thanks to his control skill, and knowledge of everyone''s current power level, he used just the right amount of force. Without these factors, he could have easily killed a few of them, taking into consideration the fact that his power was only recently acquired. In but a few minutes, almost everyone was sprawled across the floor, groaning in pain. He made sure to punch harder to those that deserved more, and softer to those who deserved less. Gorn jumped and arrived in front of Lora yet again. ¡°Mmmm!¡± closing his eyes, he enjoyed the sweet moment. ¡°Initially, I wanted to beat the shit out of you too, but you''ve been quite nice to me these days, so I''ll let you off the hook this time.¡± Taking a seat again, Gorn started to whistle happily. Except for Sara, the principal, and a few other couple teachers, no one could pose a threat to him inside the school. And even that was only temporary. ¡®Will they expel me for causing such a ruckus?¡¯ It was highly unlikely for such a thing to happen, and he knew it, after all, this was a place where strength and potential was king. And even if they did that, it wouldn¡¯t matter anymore. ''His family should have wealth, and some form of authority, however, I have potential and raw power.'' Gorn had certain plans for the city. Even though he acted a little sooner than expected, it was not a big deal. ¡°By the way, when I go outside the city to explore, would you like to come with me?¡± asked Gorn, being just curious, and nothing much. Lora was still flabbergasted by what happened. ¡°I...¡± At this time, Sara stepped inside the classroom. ¡°What happened here?!¡± As a teacher, you wouldn''t see such a sight every day. Gorn got up and greeted Sara respectfully. ¡°Hello teacher. It was me who did all of this.¡± Sara quickly analyzed the situation. Judging by Lora''s expression and known prowess, she couldn''t be the one, much less Gorn. Then who was the culprit? ¡°And why did you do that?¡± ¡°The green midget wanted to attack me first. As for the rest, it was high time I rewarded them for how they treated me.¡± The most bizarre, and puzzling thing was not why but how was he able to do it, since not that long ago he was practically at the bottom of the ladder. Not waiting for his teacher to ask any other question, Gorn said: ¡°Actually, for some reason, I became a genius. I can improve very fast, and also awakened an ability.¡± ''Bullshit!'' thought Sara. Raising his hand, Gorn focused his energy and created a huge fireball. The force of a spell was closely related to one''s power level. Sensing such a powerful aura from that fire, was more than enough proof that Gorn was capable of defeating everyone. As a matter of fact, this thing was not impossible, and very rarely someone would awaken strange powers, and improve very quickly. Finding such people was the school''s purpose after all. Despite all that, such an incredible, and sudden growth spike was something Sara had not encountered before. Gorn canceled his fireball, and continued: ¡°I feel like this is still not my limit, however, at this point, I require a powerful backer to avoid certain troubles; would you like to be that person, teacher?¡± Yet again, the situation took an unexpected turn. As the daughter of the city lord, Sara had a great deal of authority and power. Being under her wing would result in having a great backer. ¡°Do you have other skills besides the fireball?¡± asked Sara while being in deep thought. ¡°No, just this one.¡± ¡°What about your exact power level, I believe you tested it in secrecy, right?¡± ¡°Yes, I did, it''s around three hundred and fifty.¡± Telling her the whole truth would not be wise, so he lied. Sara shook her head. ¡°I''ll be honest with you. Your speed of improvement is extremely fast, but your current level is still not sufficient to be considered among the best in this city. If you can reach a power level of over six hundred anytime during these three years of school, I''ll take you under my and the city lord''s care, and protection.¡± She also had a time of fast growth at the beginning, however, that lasted only for a short period. The higher she got, the harder, and slower it became to improve, even with different kinds of special resources that she did not lack. ¡°I understand,¡± said Gorn, slightly disappointed. ''You don''t want to take any risks, I understand that, but if you don''t risk, you don''t get to drink champagne,'' thought Gorn. ¡°Even though I can''t take you directly under the city lord''s faction right now, I''ll still support you. I''ll go right now to talk with the school director to offer you a special scholarship, and status that only very few people from this school receive. In addition, I''ll also talk with the infirmary chief to take care of this situation for you, free of charge.¡± Even if it wasn''t the best outcome, Gorn was still satisfied. Her honesty was also something to be appreciated. ¡°Thank you very much!¡± Sara smiled, and before leaving, she added: ¡°You two can take the day off. Go and have some fun until tomorrow.¡± Chapter 4: Taking care of some problems "You sure managed to surprise everyone, including myself." Gorn smiled slightly: "It might be a little fun at first, but it gets old fast." Since he was free for the rest of the day, Gorn decided to walk around the city for a bit. "I have a piece of advice for you." "What is it?" asked Lora almost automatically. "Try not to be a bitch to people that did nothing to you. Everyone has problems, not just you." With that answer, Gorn left the school. Everyone that he beat today was someone who ridiculed and talked to him behind his back. Ignoring such behavior was an option, but giving them a good beating from time to time was possible too. In a way, this could be considered as free life lessons. Buying himself a coffee, Gorn got inside a bus. It was almost like having a personal driver. There was quite a diversity of architectural beauty. Many buildings were clearly made by using materials and techniques that could not be found in other places. Tall buildings were not that common, and they did not exceed a certain limit. Even though powerful monsters were flying above the city, they usually flew at a very high altitude. The cause was actually the weather, which could become very violent at times, especially at higher altitudes. Most of the full-grown people had a power level of below fifty, with few exceptions. Their jobs varied, and the pay was sufficient to have a decent life. The stronger you were, the higher the chances to get a better job, and status. City guards were also present throughout the city. The power level of an average city guard was around two hundred. Of course, there were also stronger individuals who occupied leading positions or were responsible for certain areas. They belonged to the city lord faction and ensured that peace was maintained in the city. It was peaceful at first glance, but there were always exceptions. With a certain status or wealth, you could do quite a lot of trouble to the normal public if you wanted. ''Well, I''m not a saint either...'' There were quite a few schools spread throughout the city. Not that far away from his house, but in the opposite direction was the school where Mara and Nora went. Their power level was very low, at only fifteen. Gorn knew very well how hard it was. To make things worse, the twins were quite good-looking, just like their mother. Long black hair, and eyes, oval faces with beautiful features, coupled with an attractive body, and the fact that they were twins, brought quite the envy, and desire from around them. Gorn got out of the bus. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ''As far as I know, it''s been only a few years since I came to this household. Unfortunately, I don''t understand many things, and have no way to discover them at this point.'' He had the current body since he could remember, so possessing someone else''s body was not that plausible. ''Is this another version of myself, or what exactly is going on?'' The more he thought about it the weirder, and more complicated it got. ''Forget it.'' One foot in front of the other Gorn quickly got in front of the school. It practically had the same design. ''Now, let''s see who dares to harm my cute little twins.'' With great swagger, Gorn entered the building. In half an hour he managed to find them. Both of them were sitting quietly at the back of the class while everyone else chatted happily, moving around, enjoying the break. It was clear to see that something was amiss. Blending in the crowd Gorn observed the situation. Soon enough a group of girls surrounded Mara and Nora. They were harassing and humiliating the twins by pulling their hair, slapping them in the head, and even grabbing their assess while saying obscene words. ''Women are sure more cruel than men sometimes...'' There was no point in waiting longer. "Hello you ugly bitches!" said Gorn after arriving in front of the group. "Gorn? What are you doing here?" asked Mara, clearly not expecting his presence. "I''m here to clean the trash, of course." Not being able to hold it in anymore, Gorn got to work. The strongest girl had a power level of around fifty, so it was a one-sided affair. "Quickly call the teacher!" yelled someone from the back. By the point the teacher arrived, the bullies were beaten beyond recognition. Gorn made sure to inflict as much pain as possible. "You there! What do you think you are doing?" Race: Human Talent: Medium Power level: 220 Abilities: None Equipment: Normal clothes Loot: 220 gold Confirm target? Yes No Only a handful of teachers were special, as for the rest, they were exactly like this one. Nonetheless, two hundred and something was a high number by normal standards. "I''m doing your job, you old bastard." It was the first time the teacher suffered such humiliation since coming to this school. Enraged, he attacked without saying anything else. His fate, unfortunately, became the same as the other girls. "As you can see, I''ve become much stronger, so it is high time for a few changes." Mara and Nora looked at him with great surprise. Usually, they only met during the evening and exchanged very few words. Jumping in his embrace both of them started to cry. He could only imagine how much they suffered and endured. "It''s all going to be alright," said Gorn while also embracing them tightly. After a few minutes, they calmed down. "Thank you so much!" Gorn smiled: "Let''s go home!" Taking both of them, Gorn left. Surprisingly, none of the twins asked any questions on their way back. Once home they spoke in unison. "Please help our mother if you can!" Just as he thought, there were quite a few problems in the household. Talking with them, he soon found out additional details. Elisa, their mother was working very hard to pay some debts that her deceased husband left behind. Her boss found out about this matter and used it against her. He had taken a fancy to Elisa for some time already, and used this reason to harass her, becoming more and more daring every day. Luckily, the man owned just a little business, and didn''t have great power. "I''m going to bring Elisa home. Do you want to wait here or do you want to come with me?" "We want to come with you," said the twins in unison. Their little sister was in a place that was similar to a school and would come home only later. Since they didn''t have a car, the bus came into play yet again. ''I''ll need to buy myself a car soon,'' thought Gorn, forgetting for the moment that he was way faster than any vehicle the city had to offer. Chapter 5: A change in status With a clear objective in mind, the three of them soon arrived in front of the building in which Elisa worked. Gorn took the lead while Mara and Nora followed close behind. "Halt! What business do you have here?" There was a guard by the door. He knew already all the workers inside, and the fact that Gorn was not one of them. "I''m here to see someone," said Gorn with some impatience. "You can''t go in. You''ll have to wait until work hours are over." Gorn grabbed the guard by the arm and threw him a few dozen meters away like he was some sort of ball. This action wasn''t to harm the guard but to display enough power so that he would understand some things. No one blocking their path anymore, they entered the building. Soon, they found Elisa''s working place. A small room full of all kinds of papers. "Mother!" Mara and Nora quickly ran to their mother, embracing her. Elisa looked very tired, but that didn''t diminish her charm at all. "Why are you all here? Did something happen?" Gorn smiled gently. "Nora, I''ll count on you to explain some things. I''ll go real quick to the toilet." Without waiting for a response he left. Grabbing the nearest worker he asked about the location of their boss. After finding that information, Gorn decided to pay him a small visit. In just a few moments, his target''s location was discovered. A luxurious, and spacious room, at least when compared to the rest. Gorn entered, then closed the door behind him. A large variety of noises could be heard from inside. After a couple of minutes, Gorn returned, his small mission a clear success. ''Well, this should do the job.'' With that out of the way, he got back to the girls. Since that wasn''t the place for discussing important matters, all of them returned home. . . . Things were rather simple, so after a quick discussion, everything was sorted out. "I don''t want you to be under such pressure," said Elisa with a worried face. "I understand your worries. In that case, just let me handle the situation for a few days. If it''s too much, we will consider another plan then." Elisa''s eyes were a little teary. "Alright then..." If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. At this moment Ella arrived, the youngest, and the most spoiled among them. "You are all home!" she yelled, radiating a great smile. With her playful demeanor, the atmosphere turned cheery almost immediately. After staying with the girls for some time, Gorn returned to his room. ''This world''s currency is also gold, unfortunately, I can''t take out gold pieces from my inventory. Not directly, at least.'' The solution was simple, he could sell something from his shop. After some consideration, he chose the healing potion and the black sword. ''Now I need to find someone to sell them for me.'' After a few moments, his mind drifted to Lora. ''Her family has quite a few shops inside the city... .'' The light of the sun marked the start of yet another day inside Star City. Everything seemed rather peaceful if one looked from above. Gorn was currently at school, inside the principal''s office together with Sara. The principal was a middle-aged man with a power level of eight hundred and no skills. His physique could put to shame most of the men. With big, well-defined muscles, coupled with his tall build the man gave quite an imposing aura. Seeing such a person smile at you while drinking some coffee was a little unsettling at the least. "Take a seat Gorn. Would you like some tea or a cup of coffee?" said the principal. "A cup of coffee please." Sara got up and poured both of them some coffee. "My name is Carl. Usually, I don''t meet with students, except for cases like this one." Taking a sip of coffee Carl continued: "From today onwards you will become a core student of this school. That means receiving more resources, including money, and protection." In the next moment, Carl took out five pieces of what looked to be red gems and put them on the table. "This is your pay for the next five months, I''ll give them to you in advance. These monster cores go for around five thousand gold each. You can use them to increase your strength or sell them for money. In addition, you are free to use all of the school''s facilities, and attendance is no longer mandatory." Gorn was a little stunned by the sweet conditions. "And what must I do for all this?" To receive so many things meant some conditions had to be met. "You don''t need to do anything. However, it is expected from you to help the city and its inhabitants in times of need." Gorn took the gems from the table. If he became incredibly strong, just his presence alone would make the city safer; provided he did not go berserk and try to kill everyone. "All of the teachers, as well as some important people will be shortly announced by the change in your status." Next, Gorn asked about moving the twins to this school, as well as the problems he caused. Carl smiled bizarrely: "No problem. As long as you don''t kill or disable anyone, the school will protect you. That is, of course, valid only for the duration of your studies. However, small fights between the younger generation are only natural, so don''t expect us to jump to your aid for small things." Until now, everything seemed to be going smoothly. "Congratulations Gorn! I look forward to your rate of progress!" said Sara. Just her presence alone made things a lot more pleasant. Wearing tight clothes, coupled with her hair that was masterfully arranged, made for quite the sight. "Thank you!" said Gorn while sneaking a few glances at her body. With most of the important stuff out of the way, Gorn left the room. Sara and the principal remained behind, they had some other stuff to talk about. ''These monster cores solve the money problem quite well.'' The debt was below five thousand gold pieces, so one monster core was more than enough to solve that. Gorn tried to absorb the energy from one core, however, his speed was very slow. Something to be expected, considering his low talent. It was the same situation when doing physical exercises. As a result, he needed to work much more than someone with better talent. Fortunately, Gorn now had other means of powering up. Chapter 6: Taking care of the family debt ''At this rate, I will reach a power level of one thousand in just a few days. The problem is how do I get past that?'' thought Gorn while going to his class. He wanted to talk to Lora about selling some stuff. Having a source of income of his own would be great. ''Hunting monsters for their cores and body parts, collecting herbs, and finding treasures are also options, however, that is dangerous.'' There was no need to rush things. Being in a great mood Gorn walked leisurely towards his destination. His reputation started to build up. Beating Lora''s fiance, as well as everyone who talked bad about him, was something already known in the entire school. When he passed everyone would become quiet and respectful, afraid to upset him in any way, especially those normal students. Upon entering the class, everyone turned their heads toward him briefly. Despite the treatment they receive at the infirmary, some bruises could still be seen. They looked at him only for a moment before diverting their gazes. "Listen up carefully you maggots!" yelled Gorn all of a sudden, his voice being so loud that it could be heard far and wide. "From today onwards I am your big daddy. If any of you dare to bully someone or misbehave I will skin you alive with my own two hands. This applies to the whole school, so make sure to spread the news." Since he had power, it was only natural to impose a few little rules of his own. At this point, Lora also arrived. "Would you look at that?" said Lora with a big smile. Her usual angry temperament was nowhere to be seen. She was dressed in long socks, together with a schoolgirl''s skirt, and a tight shirt. Gorn paused for a moment. Lora laughed mischievously: "You like what you see?" Taking into account her great figure with the clothes she wore it would be a big lie to say no. "Very much," answered Gorn with a little bit of nervousness. In the end, he was still a young man and not a cold machine. Lora blushed slightly: "Obviously, it is not that hard to guess from that gaze of yours." "I want to talk to you about something," said Gorn, turning a little more serious. "Good, I also want to discuss something with you." Remaining in class would be inappropriate so Gorn invited her out. "Let''s go somewhere else, I''m sure no one will complain too much if we disappear for a couple of hours right?" If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "That would be best," answered Lora. Like that, both of them left the school. "Do you know any places with good food?" asked Gorn on their way out. "Yes, I''ll treat you to something good, just leave it to me." Unlike Gorn, Lora got a very nice car. "On top of looking great, you are also filthy rich," said Gorn while looking at her drive. As a response she smiled dejectedly: "You saw my ''fiance'' right?" "I sure did. So who picked him for you?" asked Gorn curiously. Lora''s mood switched for the worse. "It was some kind of agreement between our families a long time ago. It''s nothing official, and it wouldn''t be such a big deal if that pig didn''t insist so much on the matter." Gorn was not interested in all the details, which were not that hard to guess. "So, what are we going to eat?" . . . After some time both of them arrived at a fancy restaurant. Since money was not a problem, all kinds of dishes were ordered. With the help of a few jokes, small talk, and good food, the mood turned for the better. After some time, Gorn talked to her about his two products. Lora happily agreed to test their value and help him sell them. In addition, she wanted to thank him. Since receiving that beating, her ''fiance'' calmed down quite a bit. "You''ll need to be a little careful, Mattew, that pig, might come back for revenge with some help. His family is the same as mine, and actually, they have a very good reputation. Things should not get out of hand, but if you need my help just give me a call." Lora gave him her phone number: "I''ll also text you about the value of the products you gave me." The technology was way inferior to that on Earth. Nonetheless, it was very convenient and made things easier. Unfortunately, most of the things only worked inside the city, or in a certain limited area. Considering this aspect, the main direction of research went towards other areas. Transportation and communication devices were decent, but nothing extravagant or luxurious. For Gorn, it was perfect this way. "Thanks in advance," said Gorn. They spent quite some time together, and it was high time to go pay his family debt. "Thanks for the treat. I now have some other things to do, so I''ll be on my way." "Let me give you a ride then," said Lora. The look in her eyes said that she was clearly interested in him. Something Gorn clearly noticed. ''Her interest in me started to show from the moment I became more confident and peaked when I displayed power as well. Well, I can''t say that is wrong to look for someone strong, however, my first impression of her is not spectacular.'' When he was weak she treated him rather poorly. When he became confident and strong, she started to show interest in him. There were other details to take into consideration, but the bottom line was that he didn''t have a very good opinion of her. If you look from a different angle, it wasn''t that much of a deal, but nonetheless, it was off-putting momentarily. "No need, I''ll go on my own." She was disappointed in his answer, but Gorn did not care and left. Being physically attracted to someone didn''t mean becoming a total idiot. Yet again, Gorn took his trusty ride, the bus, and headed to another area. ''Man, going on the bus is very fun. Maybe getting a car is not that useful after all.'' From time to time Gorn would scan the nearby people for skills. Meeting the same skill multiple times was not uncommon. Unfortunately, it showed only on abilities, and not on the looting category. The most desired skill that he wanted to get at the moment was Sara''s flight skill. Just imagining it brought him great pleasure. Looking around Gorn saw many attractive women. There were various levels of beauty, and currently, Sara took the number one spot, without any serious rivals. Leaving the women aside for the time being, Gorn focused on the present matter. In a couple of hours, everything was solved. ''Well, that went smoother than expected.'' Having money made things a lot easier in certain aspects of life. With that problem out of the way, Gorn could focus yet again on increasing his power. The next step was simple, reach the maximum power level possible at the moment, and gather as many skills as possible. Chapter 7: What it takes to level up the system In a few days, Gorn reached a plateau. "Status!" Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 10/10 targets. Power level: 1000 Abilities: Regeneration(lLvl2); Night vision(Lvl2); Fireball(Lvl2); Fire control (Lvl2); Warrior (Lvl2); Fast learner (Lvl2); Control(Lvl2); Equipment: Black sword; Leather armor; Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 600 At this point, he learned a few new things. There was a maximum number of skills that he could have at a time. That number was seven. If he wanted another skill, there was, however, the option to replace them with new ones. Furthermore, the system could also be upgraded. System upgrade mission: Kill one thousand creatures with a power level of a minimum of five hundred. 0/1000 ''Creatures? Then killing humans should also work...'' He was not a mass murderer, so killing so many humans was not an option. ''It seems I will need to make a trip outside the city pretty soon.'' Lora also messaged him in regard to the items she gave him. Surprisingly or not, their price was the same, respectively five hundred gold for the sword, and one hundred gold for the potion. As a matter of fact, both items were of good quality, and could easily be sold. The downside was, however, that twenty-five percent of the profit would go to their family. Having solved most of the things that needed attention, Gorn headed to school, with another small goal in mind. ''That flight skill could be a life-saving method, so I must have it before I go to fight monsters if possible.'' Apart from that, Sara''s other skills were of a higher level, thus more useful. Taking her skills would be quite an improvement to his prowess. Gorn stopped in front of the school, thinking how much he improved in a short period. It was almost surreal. Entering the buildings he slowly walked towards his class. By now, everyone knew him and treated him with utmost respect. On his way, he did not see anyone getting bullied or harassed. It seemed that his warning worked quite a bit. After a short while, Gorn reached his classroom. Sebastian, Lora, the twin sisters, as well as everybody else were already present. "Hey, everything fine?" "Yes, thank you very much," answered Mara and Nora. Here, no one dared do anything to them. After exchanging a few words with them Gorn headed to his usual place at the back. After a few moments, Gorn turned his head upwards. In front of him was Sebastian. His figure was quite imposing, but that didn''t affect him much. Extending his hand Sebastian said with a rather serious face: "I''m sorry for the trouble I caused you before. I want to leave in the past everything bad that happened between us until now." His face seemed rather genuine. Gorn looked Sebastian in the eyes for a few moments, then extended his hand as well. "My apologies as well, I might have gone a little overboard with my last actions." And so, with a handshake, and a few words, a lot of tension between them evaporated into thin air. Sara entered the classroom, and Sebastian went back to his seat. Gorn was pleasantly surprised by Sebastian''s actions. Without overthinking things too much Gorn looked at Sara and said in a low voice. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. "Select!" Race: Human Talent: High Power level: 1020 Abilities: Flight(Lvl3); Wind resistance(Lvl3); Lightning bolt (Lvl4); Durability (Lvl4) Equipment: Normal clothes Loot: 1020 gold; Flight(Lvl3); Wind resistance(Lvl3); Lightning bolt (Lvl4); Durability (Lvl4) Confirm target? Yes No Gorn did not know how or where the duel with his targets went, but at first glance, Sara had the advantage. ''No matter how I look at it, her skills are superior to mine in a direct confrontation. I hope that from ten matches I will be able to achieve at least something.'' His chances were not high, but he had to try. After putting his system to work Gorn relaxed. ''Personal knowledge such as experience, combat tactics, and maneuvers are also important. There is quite a collection of books in this regard at our school. With the experience I have had with the system until now, I concluded that this aspect is not taken into consideration by the system.'' Even though it wasn''t useful when activating auto farming, it was very useful in real life. A good example was Carl, their school principal. Gorn won all ten matches against him inside the auto farming simulator, however, he wasn''t confident at all to do the same thing in real life. Besides theory, there were also practical classes. "Today we will do combat training. Follow me!" Each professor who was responsible for a class decided how often their students would practice actual combat. Since Sara was away most of the time, what they learned was only theory. Of course, the school had special trainers for the students who had certain qualifications and wanted to improve after classes regardless of theory or combat. "It''s been so long since we did such a thing," said one student to another. Everyone followed Sara in an orderly manner. Gorn was in dire need of practical combat. Luckily he had that control skill otherwise it would have been very hard for him with the quick changes in his power. Since his power reached a stop, it was ideal to be able to fully control it even without the help of his skill. ''I could use that slot for another, more powerful skill.'' His fast surge in power brought a few dilemmas with it. ''I need to use my whole power for a more realistic, and efficient training, but if I do that, wouldn''t I attract the attention of potential dangerous people?'' The weather suddenly turned rather bad. Such a phenomenon was not unusual, and most people did not think too much of it. ''I need some life-saving methods in case someone way stronger than me wants to hurt me.'' Until he got a few life-saving trump cards Gorn thought of being more careful. He wanted that at least, however, with his character, and even in general, it was pretty hard to do that. "Alright everyone, quickly form two lines," spoke Sara. They were already inside a huge empty room. "Good, the person in front of you will be your sparring partner for the next ten minutes, after which you will switch to another one." Gorn looked curiously at his opponent. It was a girl with a power level of fifteen. She looked athletic and seemed stronger because of her height. She was almost as tall as Gorn. "Rebeca right?" The girl responded politely: "Yes." She had a great physique, in rest her appearance was pretty normal. "Can you please not fight back and let me hit you?" Gorn froze for a moment. ''What!?'' "Alright, go ahead!" said Gorn full of curiosity on what was going to happen next. Rebeca did not wait any longer. She ran towards him and started to punch and kick him in different manners. She also used a huge variety of techniques. Gorn was like a rag doll, thrown to the ground, in the air, and beaten in every possible way. ''Wow, this girl sure knows a lot of fighting techniques.'' Her theoretical knowledge and the way to apply it was impeccable. Unfortunately, the difference in power was too massive. "This is like a decent massage." Rebeca stopped, she was breathing heavily and was covered in sweat. She went all out, knowing such a practice dummy was hard to find. Gorn''s reputation was leaning towards the good side, that being the motive she dared make such a request. That, and the fact that she was a little ''wild'', to say it more nicely. Gorn sank into thought. ''I can learn a lot from her... Furthermore, she won''t be able to figure out much. And even if, she is just a nobody.'' Using his power-up potion on other people was also an option, but that was too risky and needed to be done only on people he could trust somewhat, and in a moderate way. For the time being, he left that option to the side. "Hei Rebeca..." "Yes, Gorn?" "Would you like to work for me for a few days?" It wouldn''t be bad to make some use of his ''warrior'', and ''fast learner'' skills before replacing them with other ones. Chapter 8: Training/Lora In the following month, Gorn trained in a variety of styles, and even with some weapons. He was now very comfortable in controlling his power, as well as had some fighting experience. In general, he had a decent base now. Unfortunately, he wasn''t able to defeat Sara in the auto-farming system. Even if it was possible, the chances were rather slim, so he abandoned that idea for later. His current target was Carl, the perfect individual to obtain a total victory every time. The past month Gorn made a little more than half a million gold pieces. This amount of money was enough to bring five people from zero to a power level of one thousand. Of course, he did not do that. Instead, he helped the twin sisters, their mother, as well as Ella, the little cutie of the family to improve their power level to one hundred, respectively fifty for the little girl. He was afraid that if he brought Ella to a hundred too she might have hurt some other kids by mistake. Gorn even trained Ella a little. He did all this progressively, and in secret using different methods such as putting the power-up potion in a juice bottle. It was a form of thanks for them taking care of him, as well as a little test to see if it worked. In addition, two hundred thousand gold were converted through items into real-life gold, for a total of one hundred and fifty thousand gold pieces. That twenty-five percent that the buyer demanded was a little too much from his perspective, nonetheless, he didn''t plan on continuing to sell to them for the time being, or maybe at all. During this time he received quite some help from Sebastian, Lora, and Rebeca in different ways. Sebastian was way smarter and more resourceful than he imagined. Rebeca was very passionate about martial arts, so Gorn secretively gifted her one power-up potion, and some money as a form of ¡®thank you¡¯ for teaching him a few things. She was ecstatic about her increase in power, saying that was a result of her training with Gorn. She insisted on them sparring almost every day, but Gorn just ignored her. He was busy with other stuff too. The same could also be said about Lora. She was still interested in him, but Gorn made himself hard to get. That was by no means an easy feat since she was very beautiful, and attractive. Lastly, as the cherry atop of it all, Gorn spent fifty thousand gold and bought himself a nice villa with a large courtyard. "Status!" said Gorn while being on his balcony, enjoying some coffee. Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 10/10 targets. Power level: 1000 Abilities: Regeneration(lLvl2); Night vision(Lvl2); Fireball(Lvl2); Fire control (Lvl2); Warrior (Lvl2); Fast learner (Lvl2); Control(Lvl2); Equipment: Black sword; Leather armor; Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 350.000 He still had over one hundred thousand gold pieces in his pockets, so there was no need to trade items or depend on others. Unfortunately, real-life gold went into his inventory, and could not be converted to system money. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "Hey Lora, want to come to my place and drink a coffee with me?" Lora''s reply to his message came shortly: "I would love to." After giving her his address Gorn waited patiently. Shortly, she arrived in front of his villa. "Hey, welcome to my new home. Do you like it?" asked Gorn while opening the door to his courtyard. Lora smiled: "You have great taste, I like it." She was dressed in tight black jeans and a white sweater. Simple clothes, but of good quality. Lora''s tight jeans were perfect to put her nice legs and ass on full display. Being around her became a pleasure, especially since her temperament made a huge turn for the better. In the recent month, she was of real help to him. After a small tour of his villa, Gorn brought Lora to the balcony to enjoy some coffee and look at the beautiful sky. "You are the first person that I know who drinks coffee in the evening," said Lora with a big grin. "That''s because I can handle it. Want me to bring you something else?" "No, It''s ok." Taking a sip Gorn expressed his thanks for her help during this time: "Thank you for helping me sell those items, and keeping it a secret." Gorn was genuinely very satisfied with this thing. "No problem, my family also made a huge profit with this as well. Unfortunately, I couldn''t bring you a better deal." Lora also drank a mouthful of coffee. "Aren''t you curious from where I got all that?" "I am, but if I needed to know I''m sure you would have told me." Gorn laughed happily: "That''s a very rare quality right there." "Thanks!" There was a certain look in their eyes that made it very obvious that they were interested in each other. Gorn got up and went towards the edge of the balcony. "I wonder how long this seemingly peaceful life will last inside this city..." Lora came beside him, and let out a low sigh. "Who knows..." Saying those words, she got closer to him. Gorn extended his arm on the side of her face and kissed her. His actions were something she desired. They stopped only after a few minutes. Both their faces were red. With galloping hearts and uneven breathing, it was a little hard to say something. "Want some more coffee?" asked Gorn with a weird voice. "Yes, yes, that would be great." All of a sudden the weather turned bad, and it started raining. Gorn and Lora quickly ran inside. "So much for admiring the city," said Gorn. Lora arranged her hair while making herself comfortable on the sofa. "I like it when it''s raining." Gorn went to a nearby window to see what was going on outside. "It doesn''t look like it will stop anytime soon." With a power level of one thousand and his night vision skill, he could see a great distance away. Even without that night vision skill, Gorn''s vision was by no means normal anymore. "You can stay here for the night if you want." Lora paused slightly. "Thanks." Part of him thought she would refuse. Gorn grinned, then jumped on the sofa. "Power, wealth, and a beautiful woman by my side. Well, you could say that I''ve hit it big right?" "You have a rather unique way of speaking." Stopping for a second she continued: "I also have power, much more wealth, and a nice man by my side. Wouldn''t you say I''m in a better position?" "Well, you might have more wealth but I''m certainly stronger." Lora laughed: "Are you sure you are stronger?" Gorn raised one of his eyebrows: "Let''s test it then. The one that manages to pin down the other to this sofa for more than five seconds wins. Do you dare?" "Why wouldn''t I?" said Lora while pouncing upon Gorn. They wrestled on the sofa for a couple of minutes while laughing with great gusto. In the end, Lora ended up on top of him and they kissed again. . . . The night slowly passed, and with it the storm as well. Gorn woke up with Lora in his embrace. They wrestled each other and kissed for a long time before falling asleep. There was a lot of physical contact, but a certain limit was not crossed yet. Chapter 9: Mercenary Guild Gorn slowly got up, being careful not to disturb Lora, and went back to the balcony to get some fresh air. The city was practically surrounded by wilderness, making it a little uncomfortable at times. ''A trip to the outside is inevitable.'' thought Gorn while looking at the gigantic wall in the distance. The place where he was situated was very close to the exit. ''One hundred kilometers long and fifty wide, coupled with a population of around one million people is not that much. Is this all that humanity is left with?'' There was no information about other cities to the general public. ''Even if there are other cities, moving so many people through a wild forest full of monsters and other unknown dangers would be quite troublesome.'' "Good morning! What are you thinking so hard about?" Gorn turned towards Lora, who entered the balcony. "About going outside the city." Lora stopped, and looked at him with weird eyes: "You are serious about this..." She wanted to ask a few more questions but held it in. "Compared to the number of the city''s total population, very few people go adventuring outside the safe zones, but that doesn''t mean no one goes out." Lora nodded: "That''s right, someone needs to go out after different resources, and knowledge. That, however, doesn''t mean it''s much safer." Gorn shrugged his shoulders: "No pain, no gain right?" Lora raised her eyebrows: "Not really." Laughing, Gorn suddenly disappeared. In the next moment, he was behind Lora. Taking her into his arms he did a backflip from on top of the balcony. "Ahhh!" Lora had no real time to react. "Let''s go eat something, I''m starving." She looked at him with weird eyes: "Your house has doors... ." . . . Lora and Gorn were currently eating a lot of good food inside a fancy restaurant. "So, do you think I should join the mercenary guild or go alone?" asked Gorn with a low voice. Letting out a sigh Lora answered: "That depends on what your real goal is. Going with other experienced people would be much safer, however, if you want privacy then going alone should be more advised. Again, depends on how far you want to go, and what your goals are." Gorn nodded, what she said made sense. Since it wasn''t nice talking while eating, they finished eating first. "I would like you to accompany me to the Mercenary Guild, if you want, of course." This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. "Sure, no problem." After paying their bill, the two of them got inside Lora''s car and headed towards the higher part of the city. That area occupied around twenty percent of the city and was available only to certain people, and factions. After driving for some time, the car stopped in front of a wall that had only a small entrance, which was guarded. A guard got closer to the car. Lora took out a badge and showed it to the man, after which they were allowed entry. Parking the car in a special place, they headed towards the gate. Lora looked at Gorn and grinned. He knew that without her help it would take him some time to get inside the higher part of the city. Once they entered, it was like stepping inside a different world. The quality of everything present, being buildings, roads, or even ornamental vegetation was miles apart from everything Gorn saw until that day. It was more like a magical city than a concrete city. Tall trees, tree houses, sparkling small lakes, numerous paths of beautiful flowers, and much more. "Why didn''t we enter with the car?" asked Gorn, a little puzzled. Lora smiled mysteriously: "What do you think?" Looking around Gorn did not see even a trace of cars, buses, or anything of the sort. "Ha, you got me real good... ." Gorn was like a small child, looking left and right with sparkling eyes. "I think I''m going to burn my current home and buy myself a tree house in this place." Lora laughed: "I suggest you don''t do that." "Stop teasing me, and tell me what you know already." "How about you give me a kiss first?" Gorn rolled his eyes and kissed her. Lora laughed mischievously. "Gold is useless here. Monster cores are the real currency. And before you think of exchanging all your gold for monster cores, let me tell you that it''s not possible. The supply is just too low." "Ohh..., so how much a house is worth here?" "The minimum is a thousand low-level monster cores. In gold that would be five million gold pieces, however, gold is useless here as I already told you." Gorn thought he was filthy rich, something far away from the truth apparently. "Do you got a house here by any chance?" "No. The effort is just not worth it. We do, however, handle some business here, thus we are allowed entry. The same could be said about most of the major powers in the lower part of the city." "I see... ." Lora led the way towards the Mercenary Guild, while Gorn looked around in awe. The place occupied around twenty percent of the city, but the population living inside was extremely small. They only met a few people on the way. "The Mercenary Guild is close to the edge of the city. Since there are no cars, we need to run if we want to get there. Twenty kilometers is not much, but walking takes too long." Gorn nodded. To them, twenty kilometers was nothing. As they got closer, more and more people could be seen. Gorn analyzed most of them secretly. ''Not even a single person with a power level below two hundred.'' Most of them had on average a power level above five hundred. ''One thousand and five hundred... .'' Soon, the Mercenary Guild could be seen in the distance. It was situated at the base of an enormous tree. It was partially integrated with the tree, giving off a very imposing aura. "What do you think?" asked Lora. "A nice piece of work, simply beautiful, " answered Gorn with sincerity. When they got closer, he chose not to immediately enter but sat on a nearby bench. "You said that anyone can become a member of the mercenary guild if they had the power, right?" Lora nodded: "Yes. You need at least a power level of five hundred to become a one-star mercenary. Two stars have a power level of one thousand, and so on. The nice thing is that from two stars onward you receive a house in this area free of charge, and other exclusive benefits." Gorn was pleasantly surprised to hear that. "What do I get for being a one-star mercenary?" "You get a badge that allows you free entry in the higher part of the city, as well as the respect of a lot of people. The mercenary guild is known to be like a big family, so very few people dare to mess with any of its members." "And what about the duty of a mercenary?" Lora sat cross-legged and calmly answered his questions: "You have to simply hunt monsters. By doing that it''s only natural that a high number of resources, and monster cores would come to the city, thus raising its overall power. You can also take different missions." Gorn listened to Lora while also analyzing the nearby people for useful skills. ''Fuck! Nothing useful.'' Most of the skills were rather similar, or not that useful. All of a sudden, he got an interesting idea. ''There are lots of monsters with useful abilities. What if I can acquire those as well?'' Chapter 10: A small trip into the wilderness "You have that weird look in your eyes yet again. It''s so hard to guess what you are thinking about sometimes." Gorn grinned: "Nothing much, just got an interesting idea." Lora''s curiosity was off the charts, but she handled that well. "Let me think for a bit... ." After a few minutes, Gorn continued: "Before I join the mercenary guild I want to take a small trip into the wilderness. Just around the outskirts, and not that deep." ''So he is confident in joining the Mercenary Guild, and even exploring outside of the city.'' "What do you think about coming along with me?" "I wanted to explore the wilderness since I was just a little kid," slowly said Lora. Looking at the sky, she continued: "I don''t know exactly how strong you are, but if I remain there alone for whatever reason, I''m dead." She got up, and stretched her legs: "I only have one life, I can''t risk it in such a stupid way can I?" What she said made a lot of sense. Gorn was a little embarrassed: "Well, while I know that I can protect you, I can''t one hundred percent guarantee your safety yet." He knew these things very well, however, he was very curious about what her answer would be. Furthermore, he had some business to resolve there, not just admire nature. "We will leave that for the future then, provided I don''t die until then," said Gorn. Lora grabbed Gorn by the chest and pulled him towards her, kissing him. "Call me when you are back to the city, so we can celebrate!" With those words, she left, without waiting for any reply. Gorn watched her disappearing figure. ''Not bad at all. I like her.'' Leaving those things aside for the moment, he focused on the work at hand. Before bolting towards one of the city exits, Gorn analyzed a few more people. There were quite a few individuals with a power level above one thousand, and even close to two thousand. ''Indeed, I need some life-saving skills, otherwise, my safety is not guaranteed even inside the city.'' Another thing Gorn found intriguing was the way everyone was dressed. He saw multiple types of armor and weapons. It felt like he was at a cosplay party. Changing directions, Gorn headed towards the city exit, which was not that far away from the Mercenary Guild. At this point, he did not want to delay this matter anymore. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Going with other people could be a lot safer in a way, however, that was only valid for trustworthy people. Going alone with his current power was just fine in his opinion. At least if he did not go too far away. In a few minutes, Gorn reached the exit. It was heavily guarded, but no one stopped anyone from entering or exiting. The guards were there to deal with the monsters, and nothing else. Strong creatures did not approach the city for some reason, but the same thing could not be said about weaker monsters. From time to time there were a few of them who came too close, but that happened rarely and was easily resolved by the city''s high walls and the current guards. Gorn stepped outside the city for the first time. Seeing the vast forest ahead of him made his heart beat faster. "Let''s go!" Putting some pressure on his legs, Gorn bolted into the distance and soon disappeared into the sea of green. The terrain close to the city was rather flat, but that changed very quickly. The weather was nice, so countless mountain ranges and peaks could be seen in the distance. Some of them were so big, that the top was shrouded by thick fog, making it very hard to tell just how high they were. Gorn stopped abruptly. Sliding a few meters, dust slowly rose from his location towards the blue sky. Everything seemed to freeze. Now, the only important thing was in front of him, in plain sight. Race: Monster Bloodline: High Power level: 510 Abilities: Madness(Lvl2) Loot: 510 gold; Madness(Lvl2) Confirm target? Yes No Gorn felt like he was facing a t-rex, and it wasn''t just one, but ten of them. Extremely sharp teeth, long claws, and muscular bodies. All of them turned to look towards him. Gorn could feel their bloodlust even from a few hundred meters away. The creatures were two meters tall and a little more than four meters long. That, coupled with the fact that it was ten of them made for quite a gruesome scene. "Reapers!" Just as he finished saying that exact word, the reapers sprang towards him with great ferocity. Gorn felt a cold chill down his spine. For a moment it was like he was rooted in place without being able to react. His instincts quickly set in. Without much thought Gorn conjured an immense fireball, sending it towards his attackers. One reaper was hit squarely in the face. Blood flew in all directions. Creatures killed: 1/1000 A headless corpse greeted the dirt. Gorn had no time to be happy about the perfect hit. Sprinting towards the nearest tree, he prepared another fireball. Smelling blood, the pack of reapers turned even more savage. Their eyes turned red, and their power increased. Without much care for their bodies, the monsters smashed violently into the tree. Gorn''s pupils shrank as he saw the tree trunk obliterated. At that point, he wished he had chosen a bigger tree. Using his overwhelming power, Gorn managed to keep his balance on the falling tree and jump into the distance. But not before shooting another fireball. Creatures killed: 2/1000 His target was not random. He specifically chose the strongest monster. Unfortunately for him, the monsters did not care about the death of their kin and continued to madly attack. By jumping from tree to tree Gorn managed to kill all eight of them. He was much more powerful, however, his lack of experience was very apparent. Gorn sat on a thick tree branch while panting heavily. The amount of force he put into those fireballs had drained him quite a bit. That, coupled with the adrenaline resulted in quite an uneven breathing. Those fireballs were made at a maximum power level, clearly an overkill. Luckily, this forest was no normal forest. The potent fire from his fireball burned the nearby vegetation for some time but stopped shortly after. "Shit, that was intense!" Seeing them in real life was very different from reading about them. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, only two of the reapers had a power level of five hundred. "To think these shits are just juvenile reapers... ." Despite the recent battle, Gorn was all smiles. ''I can also farm monsters and monster skills!'' This was huge news and completed the trip''s objective. Chapter 11: Searching for special skills After carefully looking around to see if the area was clear Gorn took out his black sword and retraced his steps to gather the spoils of the war. Because he was not used to doing such things the process took longer than expected. Nevertheless, it was his first hunt and Gorn felt great joy about his gains. ''Two medium-level monster cores, and eight low-level ones. Plus some teeth and claws that are also useful.'' Gorn grinned happily. He thought about taking some meat as well, however, reaper meat was known to have a rather bad taste so he quickly abandoned that idea. Leaving the corpses behind Gorn climbed the closest tall tree. The reapers were capable of destroying the smaller trees, but trees as big as the one he was currently on could not be destroyed by mere juvenile reapers. ''This is no joke,'' thought Gorn. He was only a few dozen kilometers away from the city, and he already encountered a group of reapers. ''Now I understand why people go outside the city in groups, it''s very dangerous otherwise.'' He knew that even before, but now, after experiencing it, the knowledge fell differently in place. ''These corpses should attract some other monsters. Let''s wait for a bit.'' Gorn decided to wait some time in his rather safe spot. Soon enough, just as he expected, another group of monsters made its appearance. This time there were wolves. ''Fuck, that''s a lot of them.'' Race: Monster Bloodline: Medium Power level: 350 Abilities: Hunt (Lvl2) Loot: 350 gold; Hunt (Lvl2) Confirm target? Yes No The group of wolves was bigger than the previous group of reapers, however, a lot of them were weaker. Their size was very similar to the juvenile reapers, and their fur color varied. No matter how you looked at it, they were intimidating creatures. The corpses were eaten in a matter of minutes. What remained was only a few bones, and nothing more. The wolves disappeared into the forest soon after. Now there were two new skills to choose from, but Gorn was not interested in any of them for the time being. And so, he resumed his search. "What a beautiful forest!" Gorn found himself whispering these words from time to time almost automatically. The wild fauna was very diverse, and numerous life species were harmless or did not attack you out of the blue. ''Here, there is no limit of space and resources. Maybe when I''m strong enough, I''ll make myself a tree house somewhere in the wild.'' Sometimes, the most dangerous place could be the safest. A fact Gorn did not forget. In case the city was full of enemies, coming here was not that bad. A certain area around the city was mapped by the previous explorers. Gorn bought the map and even basic supplies that he put in his inventory in case of emergencies. These actions were done around the time he bought his villa. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The map was pretty useful for someone on his first expedition. In addition, it also had information about the area some monsters liked to roam around. Gorn had a very specific creature in mind, and that was a little monster the size of a weasel. People name it ''jumper''. It was a rather weak, and timid creature, however, it had a very special ability. The jumper''s special ability was teleportation. It was able to teleport for small distances, making it extremely hard to catch despite being weak. Even if you managed to trap it, the teleportation ability could still be used. ''That''s a very useful ability to have.'' The jumper''s diet consisted mainly of plants, thus his location could be almost everywhere. But there was a catch, the creature had a favorite type of plant that grew only in certain areas. Gorn''s plan was simple. Gather as many of those plants as possible and set them up as bait. His purpose was not catching his prey, just getting close enough to it to be able to select it. If he was too far away, the system could not detect anything. Since he had to move with great care, all of this took a great amount of time. Gorn managed to gather some plants, however, it was almost dark outside. ''Should I find shelter or should I continue?'' His power level coupled with his night vision skill allowed him to move freely in the night. While that might be possible, the night was a time when stronger predators roamed these woods, making it a lot more dangerous. ''I''ll wait until morning.'' Gorn decided to play it safe, after all, it was his first time outside. The place adventurers spent their nights at were very rarely around a fire, instead high up on tree tops. Flying monsters were found way deeper inside the wilderness, usually on top of huge mountains, thus making it way safer on top of trees since most predators'' tree-climbing skills were very poor. After finding a comfortable place high in the sky Gorn decided to rest. Easier said than done. It was too scary to stay with his eyes closed for more than a few moments. ''Sleeping in the middle of the woods is harder than expected,'' thought Gorn while being on guard. From time to time terrible noises could be heard from the deeper parts of the forest. It was chilling to the bone and made one feel very small. And so, eyes opened, and nerves stretched, Gorn''s first night outside the city passed. With the appearance of the sun, certain noises vanished completely. It was almost like he was transported to another place. Was it just in his mind or not, Gorn could not tell. Being careful to not go too deep in the wild, Gorn gathered a few more herbs and then placed them in a pile somewhere he could see them. ''Now it''s time to wait.'' Minute after minute Gorn waited patiently. The weather was almost perfect, and the surroundings were filled with life and beauty. After approximately an hour a small herd of wild boars passed through the area. Wild boars were the main source of food for wolves and reapers. An adult boar usually reaches double the size of their predators. Race: Monster Bloodline: Medium Power level: 950 Abilities: Durability (Lvl7) Loot: 950 gold; Durability (Lvl7) Confirm target? Yes No Most of them had a power level below five hundred. They moved in small, and big herds, and usually had an alpha male who was the leader of the group. The leader had many responsibilities, and his mission was by no means easy. Looking at the gigantic alpha boar covered almost entirely in scars, Gorn inhaled slowly. ''What a fucking tank!'' Just by looking at the creature, Gorn knew he had no chance to take it down whatsoever. ''A pity, I read that their meat is delicious.'' The alpha male noticed Gorn''s presence. After looking at him for a few moments, the boar continued his journey. Gorn wiped the sweat off his brows and continued to wait. Being chased by that boar wouldn''t have been a pleasant affair, not to speak about his current plans being ruined. After a few more hours of waiting, when Gorn started to think about how much time he should spend on this ordeal, a small creature appeared out of nowhere, and on top of the pile of plants he prepared. ''Would you look at that¡­'' Chapter 12: Returning to the city ¡°Select!¡± Race: Monster Bloodline: Epic Power level: 200 Abilities: Blink (Lvl3) Loot: 200 gold; Blink (Lvl3) Confirm target? Yes No Gorn quickly filled all his ten slots with this exact creature. Having finished his job, he relaxed. The jumper ate peacefully while looking around. ''That fellow is so cute!'' Fluffy white fur coupled with round black eyes, and his small stature made the jumper look very cute. The creature had a plant-based diet and was not aggressive. There were no known cases of such a creature attacking humans or other animals. After eating its fill, the animal disappeared without a trace. ''What an amazing ability!'' gasped Gorn. He was extremely eager to try it himself. That wild boar ability was also very tempting. There were quite a few monsters with bizarre abilities, however, his slots were limited, and the special monsters were hard to find. ''This blink skill will be incredible for escaping danger, and for moving around. Next, I need something for defense, and something better for offense.'' Sneak attacks or poison could not be avoided just by blinking away. You had to be alive to be able to do that. At the same time, it was pointless to be able to run away only to die later. ''What now? Should I return to the city?'' Going back until he obtained the jumper''s skills would be safer, but Gorn decided to remain. ''I also need to complete the system upgrade mission.'' Being extra careful Gorn roamed the wilderness while not venturing past a certain point. Soon, evening came, and with it the results of his battle. Battle report: 10 wins; 0 losses Total loot: 2000 gold. Sadly, he didn''t obtain the skill on his first try. ''Even though I''m five times stronger than the jumper, being able to win ten out of ten times would be impossible if the creature focused on escaping or used certain tactics.'' Taking this factor into consideration, Gorn could deduce a few important things about how the system worked. As for what he managed to do throughout the day, it was not that much. Gorn killed only one more monster with a power level of five hundred. There was plenty of prey, but most of it had a power level below five hundred. Monsters with special skills were also hard to find under normal circumstances. Then again, it was also just a single day of hunting. With each passing hour, Gorn got more confident in his ability to survive. Confidence, however, did not mean abandoning his careful behavior. In the blink of an eye, three days went by. During this time Gorn managed to hunt three additional reapers with a power level of at least five hundred. In this area, reapers were the main predators. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Battle report: 10 wins; 0 losses Total loot: 2000 gold; Blink (Lvl3) ¡°Finally!¡± Blink(Lvl3): Can teleport a maximum of three hundred meters in a certain direction. If the location cannot be seen, the teleportation place will be random. If wished, the user can also teleport something else with him, weighing no more than three hundred kilograms. Now, after obtaining the much-awaited skill, it was time to test it. What followed were two hours of constant blinking around the area. ¡°This is so satisfying!¡± The energy required to use it was minimal, and the effects were extraordinary. ¡°This skill is wonderful as a trump card.¡± The skill was perfect for a sneak attack or for escaping. Its efficiency also depended on its secrecy, so Gorn decided to try not to use it easily in public if possible. ¡°Status!¡± Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 10/10 targets. Power level: 1000 Abilities: Regeneration(lLvl2); Blink(Lvl3); Fireball(Lvl2); Fire control (Lvl2); Warrior (Lvl2); Fast learner (Lvl2); Control(Lvl2); Equipment: Black sword; Leather armor; Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 422.000 Current mission: 6/1000 creatures killed After some consideration, Gorn abandoned his night vision skill. The skill didn''t make a huge difference at this power level. His abnormal sight was already more than enough to be able to see in the dark decently. During these days, Gorn encountered quite a few reapers. Their madness skill was very peculiar. Luckily, not all of them possessed it. He did not know exactly what it did, but its name and the visible effects were pretty explanatory themselves. Such a skill could prove to be problematic, so Gorn chose to let it to the side for the time being. Having finished his objective, and even more than that, Gorn decided to return to the city. It had already been almost a week since his departure. During this time he learned, and checked quite a few things. As a disadvantage, he wasn''t able to sleep at all during this time. It wasn''t very hard to spend multiple days in a row without sleeping, but it wasn''t pleasant either. One foot in front of the other, one blink after another Gorn reached the city in almost no time at all. He was very happy, and his disposition was great. ¡°Now, I just need to find a comfortable place and sleep to my heart''s content. As for the mercenary test, I''ll do it after that.¡± Upon entering the city Gorn decided to give Lora a call, to tell her that everything went well. It was only polite to do so since she might be worrying for him. ¡°What is this?!¡± As soon as he opened the phone, countless messages started to arrive from Lora. It looked like something might have happened. Gorn quickly called her. ¡°Are you ok?¡± asked Lora in a hurried way. ¡°I''m fine. Did something happen?¡± ''She surely wouldn''t make such a fuss only because she was worried about me, right?'' ¡°Mattew injured your sisters. We are currently at school, in our class. It''s a mess here so you better come quickly.¡± It was like a huge rock suddenly fell on his head. His real family wasn''t here, nor was he overly too attached to the twins, however, the idea that someone dared to attack people close to him made him very angry. The phone broke into pieces under the power of his grip. A huge rush of energy inundated his entire body. Bending slightly Gorn dashed towards school at full power. Wherever he landed a small crater was formed due to the force exerted. ¡°What is that?!¡± It was chaos wherever he passed through. Normal people could not even tell what happened. . . . ¡°As I said before, I acted only in self-defense, nothing else,¡± said Mattew while shrugging his shoulders. Behind him stood two burly men, apparently his bodyguards. Next to him was a middle-aged man, very similar in appearance. ¡°My son has a point. Based on what happened here last time to him, I propose to call things even, and move on.¡± The principal and Sara were also present. They had a complicated look plastered on their faces. ¡°Are you fucking stupid?!¡± yelled Lora from the other side of the classroom. ¡°Just look at these girls. It''s already been a few days, and their injuries still look so bad. Furthermore, it was three versus two, and those two gorillas are not from the younger generation.¡± Mara and Nora were beaten almost beyond recognition. Their beautiful faces looked now more like a pig''s face than anything else. ¡°Calm down Lora,¡± said Carl, the school principal. At this point, the window shattered to pieces, and Gorn landed right in the middle of the classroom. Chapter 13: Angry Looking around he saw the twins and their miserable appearance. Within the next second, he appeared beside them. "Here, drink these, it will help you." Gorn gave them a few healing potions. "Thank you, Lora!" He was very grateful to her. From his swift movements, it was clear that his power level was beyond what he previously told them. Gorn straightened up while laughing weirdly. "Would you look at this?! A group of six animals bullying three girls." "How dare you call us..." retorted Mattew. Unfortunately, he didn''t manage to finish his words. The nearby air started to distort, and it was getting increasingly hard to breathe. Everyone looked in shock at the fireball that was forming in Gorn''s hand. Strangely, the heat avoided the twins and Lora. This was thanks to his fire control skill. In the next moment, without any notice whatsoever, Gorn launched the ball of fire. Sara quickly reacted with a lightning bolt. The Impact of the two powerful attacks caused a thunderous sound, and the force created blew away everything in the proximity. Sara''s lightning bolt was slightly more powerful than his fireball, so a part of her attack went through and hit Gorn. A violent force went through his body but was swiftly suppressed by his energy. It was painful but tolerable. Part of the building started to collapse, the force used was just too much. Gorn took advantage of the chaos and grabbed the girls. In the next moment, they disappeared. ''What in the world is this?'' thought Lora full of incredulity. They suddenly appeared outside the school in the blink of an eye. Before being able to say something they disappeared again, and again. In a very short time, they were very close to the higher part of the city. "Do you perhaps have a spare phone?" asked Gorn. "I...no." She was focused on the present weird situation so his question was too trivial. "I broke my phone so I''ll go buy another one real quick so you can call me if something happens." Nora took out her phone: "Here, use mine." "Thank you, I will buy you a better one after we deal with this situation." Mara also looked towards him. "You saved us yet again." Gorn was a little embarrassed. "I did, but this happened because of me in the first place, so I don''t know..." "Stop, there is no need to say those things. We are a family after all." "Yes, we need to be united no matter what," continued Nora. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Lora also felt bad but did not say anything. Her facial expression and actions spoke more than words. "Listen up girls. There is no point in staying in this shitty place anymore. From now on we will live in the higher part of the city." Pausing a little he continued: "I''ll quickly go bring Elisa and Ella. We will talk about the details later." . . . A few moments later, all of them were gathered in front of the Mercenary Guild. "I''m sorry for the sudden changes. This, however, will be the start of a new and better life for all of us," said Gorn with confidence. "This place is so beautiful. Can we please stay here from now on?" asked Ella with big round eyes. Her reaction was very similar to Gorn''s when he first came to this place. The others were also stunned by the beauty of the place. They had a lot of questions, but the answer to some of them was easy to figure out. "Come here for a moment," said Elisa while going to the side. "Those who did this to my precious daughters...they will pay right?" whispered Elisa. Gorn smiled slightly: "They will!" Her serious face turned calm yet again: "Do what you need to do, we will support you until the end." "Thank you!" It was heartwarming having such people next to you. Without delaying any further Gorn entered the Mercenary Guild while everyone else waited eagerly for him. The inside was very spacious, and a lot of people were moving around doing various stuff. What first caught his attention was the big board placed in the middle. Missions! There were a lot of missions written on top of it and a number next to them. Their difficulty was rated with stars. All around the wall were multiple rooms with special purposes. After a glance, he noticed what he was looking for. Mercenary test! Gorn entered the room. Once inside he saw a man yawning at a desk. "That is the punching machine. You need a minimum of five hundred to become a one-star mercenary." The room had no other people in it. Gorn analyzed the device. ''I''m not that unfamiliar with such a thing.'' Wanting to finish this whole process as quickly as possible Gorn stepped in front of the device. Focusing, he struck with all the might he could muster. The sudden noise from the punch startled the nearby people. They knew what it meant. The numbers kept going up and finally stopped at one thousand and one hundred. It wasn''t perfectly accurate, but close enough. "Congratulations sir!" The worker''s bored expression vanished almost instantly. "I need to go inform my boss so please wait here for a moment." Rushing through the door, the worker disappeared into the crowd. Soon, he came back with another man. "Hello sir, please follow me." Gorn followed the middle-aged man. They got closer to the tree trunk, and using the stairs climbed towards another area under the curious gaze of quite a few individuals. In a few short moments, they entered a room that was situated a few dozen meters above the testing area. The room was very extravagant and had walls made of glass, something that allowed a great amount of light to come inside, and at the same time made it very easy to see what was happening outside. "Congratulations on becoming a two-star mercenary!" The man then handed Gorn a badge with two stars carved on it. At first glance, the item seemed to be made from a certain rare, and durable mineral. "I must inform you of a few rules, as well as tell you about your new benefits." Gorn listened carefully. Thankfully, the whole process didn''t last long. Most of the rules were of a common sense. What interested him the most were the rules about the mercenary''s family. You were able to bring them with you, and their protection was guaranteed by the Mercenary Guild inside the higher part of the city. A very important aspect of that place was that no matter what each member did, their family would not be involved, and their protection would still be valid. In case of the mercenary''s death or disappearance for a very long period, his family would still be protected for a certain amount of time, depending on the individual''s contribution. "Next, I will need some basic information about you, and your family members. Additional information such as skills and abilities are optional." Gorn was satisfied by how things proceeded. "All the missions that you complete will be recorded. If you become inactive for a long time, your status will be nullified, and you won''t be able to become a mercenary for a certain period." "I understand!" said Gorn. It was only natural to do something for all the benefits received. Chapter 14: Wreaking havoc While Gorn was busy with choosing a new home, his enemies were restless. "You stupid little shit!" Mattew flew across the room like a ball being kicked away by a professional football player. "I TOLD you to be careful when doing this kind of shit!" yelled Mattew''s father. After what happened at school he felt like aging at least ten years in just a few moments. To make things worse, the two bodyguards were nowhere to be seen. As the head of the Green family, this was the first time since facing such a danger. Superhumans were no joke. A single one of them could cause massive damage. . . . "The kid got strong so fast. This is unheard of, surely there must be some kind of secret to all this," said Carl while sitting on his chair. Sara frowned: "You might be right. Unfortunately, I don''t know if we can deal with this situation anymore." At this point, she remembered Gorn asking for her backing a while ago. Furthermore, she also remembered how she neglected the twins and leaned towards Mattew''s family despite knowing the truth. Sara started to regret her actions and her lack of decisiveness. ''Since when have I become so soft and undecisive?'' "We can''t, it''s too dangerous now. What a pity...," sighed Carl. Sara looked at him weirdly: "What a pity!? What the fuck are you thinking about?!" "Nothing. Anyway, we have offered some support until now so things should not be so bad." "What support? A few low-leveled monster cores?" Sara got up and left. . . . Gorn walked leisurely towards the Green family. They were wealthy and had quite a villa for themselves. Guards, a lot of land, maids, and many other commodities. Stopping in front of their gate Gorn spoke to the guards: "Do you know who I am?" They didn''t, it was clear from the looks on their faces. With a swift move, Gorn went past them and kicked the gate. The gate flew dozens of meters away, crashing into a nearby building. "Come out quickly before I blow up this entire place!" yelled Gorn. For the guards, it was crystal clear they didn''t have a chance. Gorn''s arrival startled the whole family. Soon, Mattew''s father came out in a hurry. "Shut up! I want everyone from this place to be here in a maximum of five minutes." Gorn stopped the man from speaking before he even had a chance to say something. As instructed, everyone gathered before him in a matter of minutes. Forming a huge fireball Gorn launched it at a nearby tree in a display of power. The tree fell in the next moment. "Do you know what you did wrong?" asked Gorn while looking at Mattew. Mattew started to cry and beg for his life. "Many things that you did were wrong, however, choosing me as your target was your biggest mistake." Clenching his fists Gorn started to beat the crap out of Mattew. After breaking a few bones he took out the sword from his inventory, then cut one of Mattew''s arms. A few of the maids screamed in shock at the gruesome scene. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. "Please don''t kill my son!" Gorn swung the sword to the side, making so that all of the blood on it flew to the ground. "I heard that you have a decent reputation with your business." Gorn swept everyone present with his gaze. They looked pretty terrified. "You have one more chance to properly educate your son. He is to be on house arrest with minimal conditions and beaten regularly for the next year. If I see him anywhere else, or I find out he is misbehaving in any way I will kill both of you and put someone else in charge of your business." "Thank you! Thank you! I will not disappoint you!" Gorn was a little surprised by the situation. He thought they would at least put some sort of resistance. ''Then why did Sara and the principal act so troubled by the situation? Was it because they thought I was less important than them?'' Just as expected the two bodyguards were nowhere to be seen. Preparing to leave Gorn noticed something flying in their direction. It was none other than Sara and in her hands two unconscious men. In a few short moments, she landed in the courtyard. Throwing those two men towards Gorn she said: "Do whatever you want with them." At the same time, a few city guards arrived at the scene. Seeing Sara, they did not say anything but waited patiently to the side. Gorn went to the nearby fallen tree and took out a thick branch. Approaching the two unconscious bodyguards he started to beat them up ruthlessly. The sleeping men awoke in a matter of seconds and started to scream like pigs to the slaughter. Everyone watched in shock and terror at what was unfolding. After venting some of his anger Gorn cut off one arm of each one of them and then looked towards Sara. "I want them in jail for a few years, with ''proper'' care of course!" Sara looked at the nearby city guards. "You heard the man!" "Yes!" The city guards took the two men away. "You are also dismissed!" commanded Gorn to the nearby people. Everyone quickly disappeared from there, afraid something else bad might happen. "A little late," said Gorn while looking at Sara. "My mistake, this needed to be done from the start. Are you still interested in joining the city Lord''s faction?" Gorn snickered then took out his two-star mercenary badge. "Ohh... ." "I don''t get it. You are so powerful yet you hesitate on such simple things," said Gorn with great disappointment in his voice. "I..." She had prepared a few excuses, but could not voice them out in the end. ''Why am I so ashamed...'' "How about YOU come and work under me? I''ll be sure to help you resolve some issues that you are having." With those words Gorn left, not waiting for a reply. . . . A few moments later Gorn entered Carl''s office. Taking out six low-level monster cores he put them on the desk. "I don''t need your support anymore you old fart!" Leaving those words behind, Gorn left without a second thought. Doing all these things made him feel very refreshed. His good mood slowly returned. Walking on the streets he soon reached his home from the lower part of the city. ''What''s this?'' In front of his house was a woman with two small kids resting on the cold stone. "What happened to you, lady?" The woman looked at him, trying very hard not to cry in front of her children. "Nothing serious. It''s just that I need some time to find myself a new job, and a place to stay." The situation seemed way more serious than what she made it look like. "What''s your name?" "Olivia." "It so happens that I''m looking for someone to work for me. Are you interested in a job?" Olivia quickly got on her feet while trying to look as presentable as possible. "Of course sir. I''m a quick learner so anything will be fine." Gorn smiled: "Take your kids and come with me." Taking out his keys Gorn opened the gate to his villa, which was only a few feet away. "Is this your house mister Gorn?" "Yes. Most of the time I''m away so I need someone to keep this place clean. I will provide you with a room to stay, and a decent salary. Are you interested?" Olivia was stunned by the sudden opportunity she got. "Yes, yes, of course!" "Good." Gorn chose a spacious room on the first floor. "This is your room from now on." Next, he took out a great pile of gold pieces and put them on a table together with a spare set of keys to the house. Splitting the pile of gold in two Gorn said: "Half is your salary for the next year, and half is to buy anything necessary for the house." Olivia stumbled: "This...this is a little too much gold..." "If you don''t want it I can go ask someone else." "No! No need to do that, I''ll do it!" Gorn nodded: "Feel free to use everything in this house, I will be away most of the time. Now, please excuse me, I have some other business I need to attend to." Whistling, Gorn headed towards Lora''s place. Chapter 15: Visiting Lora By this time he already had a brand new phone. It was one of the newest models and looked way better. Lora''s family wasn''t that much different from the Green family in terms of wealth. Both of them had various businesses up and going. "Halt! What business do you have here?!" Gorn was, of course, denied entry inside Red''s family residence. In a way, it was funny how both families had surnames based on the color of their hair. This, however, wasn''t something too unusual in Star City. Taking out his mercenary badge, and slowly arranging it to his leather armor that he was wearing, Gorn spoke: "Go tell the family head that Lora''s boyfriend came for a visit." After seeing the badge, the guards jumped in fright. "Of course sir! Just a moment!" One of them ran in the opposite direction, while the other looked weirdly at the ground, avoiding eye contact. "Relax man, I already raided a family today, so I''m not hungry anymore." "Excuse me, mister? I...I don''t understand..." Gorn''s words frightened the guard even more. Such important people weren''t seen under such poor circumstances. Their arrival was known beforehand, and proper arrangements were taken care of. The possibility of the badge being fake or stolen was almost non-existent. Doing such a thing could get you killed in the blink of an eye. In addition, it was easy to notice that the badge was made from extraordinary materials. Even a fool could tell it was real. Gorn waited patiently while looking at the setting sun. ''How beautiful!'' In a short time, a small group of people could be seen approaching from the distance. A cool breeze of wind blew in Gorn''s face, calming him greatly. ''Ha, who would have thought a day such as this would come?'' "Hello young man, my name is Andrew. Welcome to our humble place!" Andrew had a charismatic aura and appearance that was on a completely different level than Mattew''s father. Surprisingly, his hair was black and not red, something Gorn did not expect. Beside him were a group of elegant maids, and butlers. Their appearance and behavior were impeccable. "I''m Gorn, nice to meet you, sir. My deepest apologies for arriving unannounced." While Gorn''s words were a little flamboyant, his sincere attitude was still there. He didn''t come with bad intentions, something, someone of Andrew''s caliber, a man with ample experience could easily perceive. "No problem at all. Please, let''s go inside." The maids and butlers followed behind in order as Gorn and Mattew headed towards the main house. There were a lot of beautiful red flowers carefully and strategically planted all around their big courtyard. Andrew''s power level was close to three hundred while his talent was only medium. No skills to be spoken of. "So many nice flowers you have here," said Gorn while appreciating their beauty. "This is my wife''s hobby, you see, she is quite obsessed with such type of things." There were multiple buildings, each with a specific function, making things easier to manage. They headed towards the biggest one. It was big, but not gigantic. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. "It''s nothing special, but I hope you like our home," said Mattew while they stepped inside the house. Gorn looked around with curiosity. Every single piece of furniture was of the best quality that one could find in the lower part of the city. Nothing was random, everything was carefully put in different places so that the overall look would be better. Flowers were present even here, along with different kinds of trinkets that brought another level of charm to the place. "I like it very much." Mattew chose a nearby table, and they sat. At the same time, maids brought tea and cakes. "May I know how you met our daughter, if it''s not too much asking of course." For a woman, being beautiful was dangerous unless having a certain power level or status. Andrew''s heart jumped in his throat when the guard said that a two-star mercenary was at their gates, claiming to be the boyfriend of one of his daughters. When he saw Gorn, Andrew was relieved not to see an old man before him, or some kind of horrendous-looking individual. "We are classmates at the same school." Andrew made a very weird face. For a moment he could not react. "You reached such a high level of power at such a young age? Your future is limitless young man!" Being praised so highly was very nice. "Your daughter was of real help to me lately, and our current relationship is a little more than friends. My purpose for coming here is to know if her engagement with the Green family is genuine and of her own accord." Before Andrew could respond, someone else spoke. "We had such an important guest and you didn''t tell me anything." The person who spoke was none other than Lora''s mother. "Greetings young man, I''m Amelia, Lora''s mother. Our daughter is not engaged with anyone, that was merely a few empty words, and rumors of some sort of dubious people at best." Gorn got up: "Greetings madam! My name is Gorn! Seeing you I now understand why Lora is so beautiful." The woman before him was more beautiful than Lora, and even a little more beautiful than Sara as well. It was quite the sight. Lora''s red hair was taken after her mother, as well as her fireball, fire control skill, and talent. Despite being more talented, Amelia''s power level was lower than that of her husband. Amelia''s hair was beautifully arranged in a coque with the help of a few silvery long needles. Her face had the right amount of make-up, and her clothes were of the best quality. No sign of wrinkles, body fat, or other clues that would indicate she was already past a certain stage. Amelia wore a long light green dress that looked tight, and comfortable at the same time. The slit on the left side of the dress exposed part of her leg, bringing that extra charm to her appearance. A silvery pearl necklace was wrapped around her neck, as well as a smaller one on her ankle. That with the silvery needles used to hold her hair made for quite the impression. Gorn gulped, losing part of his domineering aura. ''Fuck!'' Amelia laughed coquettishly, clearly noticing Gorn''s stunned expression. "Thank you!" Hearing her answer about the engagement settled things. If her family insisted on the nonsense he was going to kidnap her regardless of what they thought. "I''m glad to hear that those things are just rumors. Well, I''ll excuse myself then. Hopefully, my visit wasn''t too troublesome." Gorn felt a little weird and wanted to bail out. "Leave? Troublesome? Gorn, please don''t say such harsh words. How can we let you leave like this? At least you should have dinner with us." "I..." "I won''t take no for an answer!" ''Well, fuck it then, might as well go all in now!'' thought Gorn. "Ok then!" Amelia smiled sweetly, then ordered a few maids to prepare dinner right away. "What''s all this commotion about?!" yelled someone from upstairs. Soon, another woman made her appearance. "Emma, behave yourself, we have an important guest!" "And who might this guest be?" asked Emma while coming down. "It''s Lora''s new boyfriend." "Boyfriend? Hahaha!" Her laughter stopped mid-way after noticing her mother''s harsh gaze. Looking around she saw Gorn, then his two-star badge, and she froze for a moment. "Please excuse my daughter''s lack of manners." Gorn was amazed yet again. Emma wore a casual crew neck dress that was way above her knees. She was gorgeous and had black hair like her father. Attractive and beautiful at the same time. ''Would you fucking look at this?! This house is full of bewitching women!'' "No problem," said Gorn while analyzing her. At this point, he tried to maintain a neutral expression. Emma stared at Gorn without saying a word, clearly not expecting such a situation. "Alright ladies, take a seat, and stop bothering Gorn," said Andrew while also sending someone to bring Lora, after all, Gorn was here for her. All of them sat at the table while drinking some tea and talking about various mundane stuff while waiting for Lora and the food to arrive. At this point, Lora came. Seeing all of them at a table she froze in place. Chapter 16: Unexpected reactions "Gorn?! Why are you here?!" Compared to her mother and sister, Lora was a little lacking. Normal clothes, no make-up or other jewelry, hair not arranged in any way. That, however, didn''t make her ugly. Her natural beauty and attractive body shape were still there. "I..." Gorn was not expecting such a strong negative reaction. Just by looking at her face, one could tell she was very angry. "You should have told me that you are coming!" Gorn did not know how to react. This kind of situation was a first for him. "Should I leave and come back another time?" Lora was incredibly angry: "Yes, you should!" Gorn was trying to maintain a certain dignified attitude and behavior, but that was not easy. It''s been only a very small amount of time for a lot of big changes he was not used to yet. The situation was very unpleasant. After everything that happened he thought that their relationship was somewhat special, clearly not expecting such a reaction. ''Coming uninvited was a bad idea after all...'' The situation became extremely weird in just a matter of seconds. His intentions were good, but the execution failed gloriously. Gorn felt embarrassed, like wanting to hide under a rock. Not feeling capable of staying longer, Gorn took out six medium-quality monster cores and put them on the table. "This is a little thanks for helping me out recently. Sorry for the unexpected visit!" Without being able to stay a single second, Gorn blinked out. He had no idea how the situation would develop but was in no mood to continue being there. Furthermore, at this point, he couldn''t care less about exposing his skill. "Unexpected visits only to enemies. Noted!" With a few more blinks he was already far away. His family was now fairly safe, and the same thing could be said about him. "I can act more freely from now on. No need to hide my abilities too much or the effects might be opposite from what I want." Gorn sat comfortably on a random rooftop while digesting everything that happened recently. ''Cutting those arms was so easy...'' After pondering for a while Gorn got to the conclusion that there were quite a few things he could have done better. ''Not acting based on your emotions is very hard. I wanted to kill them directly.'' At this moment, his phone rang. It was a message from Lora. "I''m sorry, I didn''t mean what I said. Please come back!" The situation was at the least weird. "It''s a little awkward to do that, don''t you think?" There were many options, but Gorn decided to reply truthfully, after all, she deserved that much. "I know that, that''s why I''m sorry. I can''t believe I acted in such a manner..." This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it "Can you tell me the reason you were so angry?" asked Gorn, wanting to know if it was the same thing as what he thought. The answer came shortly: "I didn''t want you to see me in such an ugly state in front of my family." ''Is that everything to it?'' Gorn thought that might be part of the motive, but he also suspected other things. To make things worse, everyone else was dressed very extravagantly. Everyone except him. "Did you take a look at my leather armor? It''s very durable, but it''s by no means very good-looking." He understood that such things were more important to women, but still. "I know..." After having some time away from everyone, Gorn''s emotions returned to normal. "Let me think for a bit." ''What to do now?'' Gorn glossed over everything that Lora did until now. At first, her behavior was not that great. What followed was a decent time when she acted in a very pleasant and helpful way, and then this. ''Looks like I can''t figure her out yet.'' After putting everything into balance, Gorn concluded that this mistake wasn''t enough for him to just walk away. ''I''ll take it like some kind of emotional training. This should be interesting.'' "I don''t want your monster cores. If you want to thank me for helping you, then forget what I said and come back here." Gorn read her message and replied: "I''ll come in one hour. I''ll use my ability so no one will even notice that I left." "Thank you!!" Gorn could not see any of her body language, but he could guess. . . . After one hour, he appeared yet again inside Lora''s house. This time, he wasn''t wearing his normal leather armor but a very nice black suit. There were certainly better clothes in the higher part of the city, unfortunately, he did not have enough monster cores for that. Gorn wasn''t ugly, and a little care for fashion and appearance made for quite a positive change. This time, everyone was present, and Lora looked different. She wore a body-con mini sweater dress, while a few strands of her hair were braided, and secured with sparkling black-colored accessories. Lora looked marvelous. Coming in front of him she kissed Gorn: "You look great!" Her eyes contained some remorse for her previous actions. Gorn nodded while both of them sat at the table again. Everyone acted like nothing happened. It was a little weird, but at this point, Gorn got used to it. "How was your trip outside the city?" asked Lora while drinking some tea. Gorn started to tell them some of his experiences and thoughts about the wilderness. The Red family listened with great attention. "My little daughter managed to get herself such a capable man. I''m proud of you darling!" said Amelia while looking with affection at Lora. Her behavior was a little strange. "What do you think of my older daughter Emma?" Gorn looked at her for a moment. Since noticing him she didn''t say a single word. "There is a saying from where I come from. Beautiful parents, beautiful children. More than that I don''t know, this is after all the first time I''ve seen her. Andrew''s face twitched slightly, for some reason he started to become a little uncomfortable. Lora had the same reaction. Soon enough, Gorn found the reason. "How about you take Emma as your woman as well?" The tea remained stuck in his throat. Coughing, Gorn unintentionally looked towards Emma. She was staring at him straight in the eyes with an expectant look in her gaze. ''Don''t tell me she agrees with her mother??'' "I can''t abuse my power to force myself onto her, even though she is such a beautiful young lady. It''s against my principles," answered Gorn, hitting the matter right into its core. "I''m willing to become your woman!" said Emma all of a sudden. Gorn remained speechless for a moment. Looking at Lora, and her father he saw two complicated gazes. "Darling, these kinds of things can''t be decided in such a short time." He was trying his best to alleviate the situation. "What do you even know? Just shut up, and let me talk about this matter." Amelia''s facial expression switched between smiling to angry and back in a very scary fast manner. At this moment, Gorn understood Lora and her strong reaction when she first saw him here. ''From the looks of things, I suspect it wasn''t just the clothes...'' "I will think carefully about this." "See? This gentleman thinks more like me than you." Gorn took the initiative and led the conversation in such a way that would allow everyone to feel good. Or at least he tried his best. After several more minutes, it was time for a change. "I forgot such an important thing..." Looking towards Lora, he continued: "I''m in a rush to do some things and I need your help. Can you come with me for a few days?" Gorn extended his hand towards Lora while smiling. She immediately understood his meaning. Quickly grabbing his hand she responded, afraid that he might change his mind. "Yes!" Gorn looked towards Lora''s family and said with gratitude: "Thank you very much for the warm welcome. Unfortunately, there is something urgent I need to take care and I must go." These words were spoken rapidly, not leaving any space for a reply. In the next moment, both of them disappeared. Chapter 17: Surprise! "This ability is so mysterious and useful. I don''t know how freely you can use it but honestly, I''m jealous," said Lora while both of them landed on top of a rooftop far away from her home. Even now she was trying her best not to ask how was it possible for him to have such power and abilities. Lora wasn''t stupid, she knew very well that in these kinds of situations, there were usually some hidden factors in play. On the other hand, it was also very basic knowledge that such matters were kept secret, and even killing people to silence them was not uncommon. ''Will he try to kill me?'' thought Lora while looking at Gorn with a hint of fear in her eyes. ''He is not that kind of person, right?!'' Gorn noticed the subtle changes in her behavior: "What? Are you afraid that I might silence you?" Lora made a very weird face while at the same time backing away a few steps. Seeing her reaction Gorn wanted to laugh, but could not muster even a single smile. What he said was just a joke, never thinking that might be the case. ''Was it a mistake to use my skill in public?'' Initially, he wanted to keep this particular skill as a trump card. However, he changed his mind sometime after that. The skill was just too useful to keep it under the bed, unused. ''No one knows the limits of this skill. I also need to increase my image. It might cause trouble, but at the same time, paradoxically, it could also keep trouble away. I surely wouldn''t want to fight with someone that has peculiar abilities.'' At the same time, this wasn''t the only possible trump card to be had. With seven available slots, other useful skills could be acquired and kept more hidden. "You push me around, then you are very interested in me and want to be together. Next, you push me away, after which you want to be together again, and now, you are afraid that I might kill you." Gorn sighed: "It is alright to be careful no matter what, I understand that, and I don''t blame you. I also understand that you have a very special situation at home." Lora''s eyes became a little teary: "I want to make things work. I want to become that perfect companion, but things are starting to become less and less controllable, and I don''t like that." From the little time spent at her home, Gorn could see that her mother was in charge, and in a rough way at that. It was, however, a different situation. Being together with someone for years versus being together for a short time was a very big difference. Nonetheless, Gorn had a limit on tolerating certain situations. This was such a case. ''I think that, after all, she is still a little far away from being compatible with me. Well, I tried...'' She wanted to be able to control the other person, just like her mother, but that wasn''t something he wanted. ''I don''t need this kind of drama,'' thought Gorn. "If you need my help, feel free to send me a message." This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. "What do you mean?" asked Lora, puzzled. "I mean that from now on we will be just friends and nothing more." It was very hard to say those words to a beauty, nonetheless, it had to be done. ''Taking advantage of such a person could be possible, but I don''t want to become that kind of man, nor do I have the disposition.'' "No!!! I don''t want that!" yelled Lora. "Until you are very sure of what you want and the risks involved, there is no point in continuing." "You are joking right?" Looking at Gorn she went into a frenzy: "How dare you, you piece of shit!" All the accumulated bad emotions started to erupt. Lora started to punch and kick him like mad while swearing at him. ''There were moments when she was so calm and calculated, and now...well, she looks like a different person.'' Her punches were a little painful, but Gorn endured it. The process lasted for a few minutes, after which she calmed down.vRushing some things could work out, unfortunately, this wasn''t such a case. Gorn stayed with her until she calmed down, then walked away. Feeling somewhat tired Gorn returned to his new home in the higher part of the city. On the way, he grabbed a few snacks for his family. The monster cores he gave Lora remained on that table. Despite the fact she told him to take them back, Gorn did not want to do it. Such a thing would ruin his mood, and he did not want that. In addition, she earned them. His new home was built on a big tree fairly high in the sky. The quality of the materials used, as well as the tree being there as a support allowed for the houses to be made at a higher altitude than the standard recommandation. There were multiple houses on a tree, and each one of them could be accessed without invading the neighbor''s intimacy. Furthermore, there were specially protected passages built to make it safe to move during bad weather. The passages were made out of special glass that allowed one to see outside, but at the same time made it very difficult to see what was happening inside. Gorn chose his house with a similar design. There were of course curtains in case you didn''t want the sun to get inside or you felt too weird. There were also a few other big facilities built for everyone''s families like a cafeteria, a private school, a kindergarten, and relaxation places. All these were free of charge and optional. The quality of all of these things was decent, and miles apart compared to what one could receive in the lower part of the city. Of course, the more premium things were not free and needed to be paid for. "What a wonderful system!" thought Gorn to himself while looking around. Except for certain places, this part of the city was not crowded at all, giving off a very pleasant vibe to it, or at least to Gorn, who liked such an atmosphere. Entering inside his new home Gorn was in for quite a treat. "Surprise!" Different kinds of balloons and colored papers flew all around, while four girls looked at him with great love. "Welcome home!" At the front table was a delicious-looking cake waiting to be eaten. Smiling, Gorn closed the door behind him. . . . After a few hours of ''partying'', the family''s little princess Ella went to sleep together with her sisters. It was already late in the night. The house had multiple levels and plenty of space for everyone. "How are you feeling?" asked Elisa while sitting next to Gorn. If it wasn''t for the last few years of hardships Elisa could have blended in among the twins with no problem. The twins looked almost identical to their mother. Long black hair, clean white skin, clear eyes, and an attractive figure. Their clothes were of the simplest, and no fancy accessories or any form of make-up was present. "I''m feeling good. A little stress from all the changes, but nothing serious other than that." "Come here," gestured Elisa, while touching her leg, and indicating he should put his head there. Gorn did just that. Next, Elisa started to massage his scalp with great care. "This feels so good!" exclaimed Gorn automatically. Elisa smiled gently, and after a few minutes she asked: "So, what happened to the people that hurt my girls?" "I beat them ruthlessly, breaking at least half of their bones. Then I cut one of their arm and put two of them in jail, and one on house arrest. They are to receive ''proper'' care for the future, or else I plan to kill them all." He was very sincere with his answer, curious about how Elisa would react. "You did good!" ''Oh?'' Gorn was a little surprised by the answer. He somewhat expected her to say that he went overboard. "What would you have done in my stead?" Gorn''s curiosity was boiling inside him, so he had to ask. Elisa''s hand stopped for a moment: "I would have cut all of their limbs, and their necks after that!" Chapter 18: Encountering a new monster ''What?!'' Looking in her eyes, one could tell that she was dead serious. Gorn was trying his best not to show his bewilderment. Elisa''s smile returned quickly as she was caressing Gorn. "What do you think, would that be too much?" asked Elisa while looking at the stars through the glassy walls. "Hard to say..." She glanced at him with an approving look. A few more moments of silence followed. "Who is the lass with the red hair? Is she your girlfriend?" Gorn sighed. Elisa waited patiently for him to speak. "Well, things are like this..." He then started to tell her everything that happened between them, as well as some of his thoughts. Elisa smiled widely, almost laughing: "Why would you even date a girl that used to beat you up? Are you into that weird stuff or?" Gorn''s face became red almost instantly: "No, of course not!" Elisa raised one of her eyebrows, clearly not believing what he was saying. "I was just kidding. What you did was reasonable, so you don''t have to feel bad." She gave him a few more pieces of advice on the matter, helping him alleviate some of his bad feelings. "These days must have been hard on you as well," said Gorn feeling a little responsible. Elisa sighed: "I''m fine, but as you have said previously, these changes are a little stressful. Don''t get me wrong, reaching this point is a dream come true." After talking for a few more moments, both of them went to sleep. . . . The next day. While the girls explored the surrounding area, getting accustomed to their new home, Gorn decided to earn some money. "Status!" Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 10/10 targets. Power level: 1000 Abilities: Regeneration(lLvl2); Blink(Lvl3); Fireball(Lvl2); Fire control (Lvl2); Warrior (Lvl2); Fast learner (Lvl2); Control(Lvl2); Equipment: Black sword; Leather armor; Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 521.000 Current Missions: System upgrade mission: 6/1000 creatures killed "The next skill I plan on replacing is that warrior skill." Walking towards the Mercenary Guild Gorn thought about a few possible changes he could make to improve his overall power. In the end, the best solution for that was raw power and special abilities like his ''blink''. Entering the guild''s main area, Gorn went directly to the missions zone. For half an hour he scanned through everything. There were different types of missions, ranging from collecting certain herbs to fetching body parts from certain monsters, excavating special stones, and many more. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. After some consideration, Gorn made a mental note of a few of them. There were also a few missions more important than others. Those were highlighted, and additional information about them was given. Hunt Reapers: In the last few months more and more reapers started to appear closer to the city. Their arrival as well as their behavior is extremely dangerous towards every living creature. To avoid creating an imbalance in the surrounding area, hunt as many of them as possible. Take note of their special ability that increases their power, and the fact that they are usually pack creatures. 1 set of reaper claws=10 contribution points Contribution points were on par with monster cores as a form of currency. If you weren''t a mercenary then obtaining them wasn''t possible under normal conditions. One contribution point was equivalent to one low-level monster core. The mission was dangerous, but the reward for it was very generous. There was quite the activity all around him. Various groups were being formed to provide maximum safety and efficacy during a mission. With the help of his ''blink'' skill, Gorn was confident about going alone yet again. Making a few more trips, he bought all the miscellaneous things required. . . . "Please be careful!" said Elisa while looking at him with great affection, and worry. The twins and the little girl offered a few encouraging words of their own. No one tried to stop him for they knew deep down that doing such a thing was necessary. Gorn blinked out. In a matter of minutes, he was very far away already. With his previous experience, things proceeded a lot more smoothly. In a short period, a small group of reapers was encountered. Gorn was the first one to notice them. Using this to his advantage he killed the strongest one between them from afar with a fireball. As for the rest, he used the black sword to cut them up. It wasn''t exactly clean, but the results were nonetheless the same. Taking his spoils, Gorn resumed the hunt. His plan was simple. Go from his position all around the city in a circle while maintaining a safe distance. . . . After a few days, Gorn killed numerous reapers, as well as gathered a few edible fruits, known as a sort of delicacy inside the city. "Ella will love these." The more he killed, the better he became at it. Gorn also encountered a few other groups of adventurers but avoided them. Joining such a group wouldn''t bring him any benefit except the fact that he could maybe sleep a little. Another exception would be if the other people were as strong as him, and had special abilities, which wasn''t the case at this particular moment. The inventory was indispensable and extremely useful. Just imagining carrying so many things brought him a headache. ''What is that?!'' Gorn was currently a little deeper inside the forest, at a higher altitude. He was basically at the base of a gigantic mountain range that started from that place. With his peripheral vision, Gorn noticed something bizarre. When turning around he saw a fox the size of a full-grown male wolf. The bizarre part was that the creature had two tails, and it was walking in the air, towards a nearby enormous tree. The distance was a little too big. Gorn weighed the pros and the cons of the situation and decided to risk by teleporting in the proximity of the creature. The enormous fox froze in mid-air, clearly surprised by his sudden appearance. "Select!" Race: Monster Bloodline: Epic Power level: 820 Abilities: Fire manipulation(Lvl4); Air steps (Lvl4); Fire resistance (Lvl5) Loot: 820 gold; Fire manipulation(Lvl4); Air steps (Lvl4); Fire resistance (Lvl5) Confirm target? Yes No ''So that''s how it is...'' Gorn quickly filled all ten of his available slots while falling towards the ground. The fox looked at him while at the same time emanating strong heat from its entire body. This was a special type of animal found only in the deeper parts of the wilderness. It was extremely smart, and one of the strongest creatures recorded in the bestiary. What was in front of him was a very young specimen with only two tails. Not wanting to disturb or provoke the fox anymore Gorn disappeared into the distance. His face was all smiles. "Nice! Very nice!" A skill that would allow him to walk on air just like that fox was a heaven-sent match to his ''blink'' ability. ''Now, I won''t need to experience free-falling every time I teleport in the air, and I will be able to enjoy the scenery in a calm, unrushed manner,'' thought Gorn with a lot of excitement. It was in a way very similar to being able to fly. Thus, having both abilities would be an overkill. The other two skills were also very good. For the first time, Gorn felt uncomfortable about how to choose and sort out his abilities. Chapter 19: Dangerous creatures Gorn''s inventory was steadily getting filled with reaper claws and other good-quality stuff that he found in the forest. During all this time, his auto-farming system was working without rest. Everything was going smoothly, and potentially dangerous situations were swiftly avoided with the help of his blink skill. . . . While Gorn was busy hunting and scavenging, the girls were also busy with their own things back in the city. Being very sociable and easy-going, Ella had already found her place at the nearby school, which had special classes and activities for children of her age. She even made a few new friends. Mara and Nora also attended a few classes and were surprised to find out that the teaching quality was way better compared with what they were used to. The most important factor was, however, the fact that they could come or leave whenever they wanted, and nothing was mandatory. Leaving school aside for the moment, the twins joined their mother, and the three of them explored the surrounding area. Besides the free facilities offered to the mercenary''s families, there were numerous other stores, and places full of extravagant clothes, food, miscellaneous stuff, and everything else that one could need. They were, however, not free, and some of them were very expensive. . . . After a few days, Elisa stood at the table drinking some tea, while the twins stood in front of her, doing the same. During these days they learned a few new things. "This is even more than what I expected," said Elisa while putting one leg on top of the other. Everyone was polite towards them, and no signs of fighting, yelling, or anything like the sort happened in their proximity. Something possible only due to the many guards present in different locations. Unlike the guards that they were used to in the lower part of the city, these took their job very seriously. The place was extremely beautiful, and everything was of a very good quality. For people like them, who were used to a harsher life, these were quite big changes. The twins nodded, having the same opinion on the matter. Elisa took another sip of tea and continued: "I hope you also understand the fact that our increased power level is not due to our talent, but rather because..." "You mean to say that Gorn..." jolted the twins at the same time. "Be quiet! Some things cannot be spoken so easily. Remember to not talk about this with anyone," said Elisa with a harsh tone. "We know that..." "Good! You are smart girls so I want you to act accordingly. It is better if some things remain secret, so less talk, and less questions about sensible stuff." Elisa spent a great deal of time with them making sure some things were clear. She planned on doing the same with the little one as well. This was something that she deemed mandatory. "All these good changes are possible thanks to Gorn, don''t forget that. Be grateful, and enjoy them while they last. Remember, we are not blood-related, nor is he officially part of the family. As a matter of fact, until recently we barely even spent time together, so don''t expect that all these good things are something that we one hundred percent deserve, or he is in any way compelled to give us something. Paying that family debt was more than enough as a form of gratitude for receiving him in our house two years ago." Neither Mara nor Nora had any objections. What their mother told them was just common sense. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. . . . Gorn kept hunting reapers inside the wilderness, having no idea what was happening in his absence. "My inventory is pretty full. I think it may be time to go back." Today marked a week since he left the city. During this time Gorn hunted sixty reapers of which ten had a power level of at least five hundred. After adding a few wild berries, and the meat of a wild boar he caught wandering away from the main pack, his inventory was rather full. "If I add everything except the meat, and the berries, then my gains during this trip should be around eight hundred low-leveled monster cores or eighty medium-leveled ones. Of course, if I convert the contribution points to monster cores. Sweet!" thought Gorn while making a summary regarding his trip. Of course, five percent of the contribution points gained would be given to the guild as a form of support for the protection, and all of the other free facilities offered to his family. "What the hell?!" Because of his good escape ability, Gorn''s hunting area was a little further away than that of the normal mercenaries. Loud noises could be heard from a few kilometers away. The difference this time was that those noises were becoming clearer and clearer with each passing second. "Something big is coming this way." Gorn immediately moved to the top of the tallest tree in the vicinity. The tree was enormous, and stood at a height of around seven hundred meters, giving off the sensation that everything else wasn''t important. Soon, something big could be seen approaching from the horizon. It was an adult reaper. The animal was gigantic, comparable to a house. "What a beast!" exclaimed Gorn, a little taken aback after seeing something look so threatening. The arrival of the reaper didn''t go unnoticed. Gorn saw a blur descending from the top of the mountain that was shrouded in mist. It was a four-tailed red fox. It stood in mid-air while everything around it distorted from the intense heat. The flames were so hot that their color went from orange to white-blue in a matter of seconds. A horrendous shrill followed. Gorn felt pain in his ears and immediately covered them with his hands. Wanting to see what would happen he stood his ground. As long as it was something he could endure, he was adamant about staying a few more seconds. Each tail signified an increase of around five hundred power. The red fox had double his strength, and the same thing could be said about an adult reaper. The reaper also roared madly but stopped his advance. After such a confrontation, the reaper turned back to the place he came from. The four-tailed fox also disappeared on the top of the mountain yet again. "How savage!" Gorn felt a shiver down his spine while adrenaline was pumping through his body. These kinds of monsters were very rare seen so close to the city. Both of them had a similar power level, but unlike most of the humans, monsters were not that all-rounded. This situation was a perfect example. The reaper was far from being a match to the red fox in terms of speed and skills. On the other hand, its raw power and stamina were incomparably stronger. It was apparent just by looking at how their bodies were built. "I dearly hope that the city''s defense mechanism is not losing its power and that the lord of the city or the guild master can handle such monsters." All of a sudden his blink ability seemed less reliable. "I''m confident in escaping that adult reaper but if that fox wants me dead, then my chances are not that great with my current level of ''blink''." The energy consumption for blinking away was not much, and the skill could be used a lot, however, the distance was small. Furthermore, even if it looked fast, there was still a small delay between each blink, it wasn''t instant, technically speaking. From what he saw, the fox could ''teleport'' three hundred meters without any skill whatsoever. Just raw speed alone. Thus, his escape ability was useful only up to a certain point, and under favorable terrain. "Might as well make that fox the city lord," laughed Gorn while moving towards the city. All of a sudden, certain things seemed less serious. ''I can''t wait to see what lies beyond those mountains,'' thought Gorn while arriving in front of the city gates. Looking at the guards Gorn sank into thought for a moment: "Did you by any chance hear a loud sound half an hour ago?" The guards looked at him puzzled: "We didn''t hear anything." What he said made sense, for all the time spent in the city Gorn didn''t hear anything too loud, at best some distant, unclear noises. ''Whatever stops the monsters from invading, seems to do a few more extra things.'' Chapter 20: Doing some investigations Gorn proceeded towards the Mercenary Guild to empty his inventory and claim the rewards. The claws could be forged into weapons or other miscellaneous objects. ''It is adamant I know as fast as possible what is protecting this city and for how long.'' Seeing those powerful monsters was like a type of pressure that weighed down his shoulders. If one of them invaded, thousands upon thousands of people would die helplessly. Gorn sent a message to Elisa, telling her that he returned, and everything was fine. In a short period, he was in front of the enormous tree that was the base for the guild. From time to time he scanned some of the people that were nearby. There were a few weird skills that attracted his attention, however, their level was either too low or the person too strong for him to be able to win. Shortly, Gorn got to the area that was responsible for receiving all the completed missions. The person in charge was the same middle-aged man who gave him the mercenary badge. Gorn started to take out all the claws he gathered, for a total of sixty pairs. The man looked at him with surprised eyes. It wasn''t because of the claws, but rather because he took them out of thin air. From the man''s perspective, this was a special ability. He knew a few other people with such an ability to store things, but the capacity was very small compared to what he was witnessing. Hiding such information was possible, but Gorn had no desire to go through all that trouble. "Sixty pairs. Is that all?" Gorn nodded. "That would make for a total of six hundred points. Minus the tax of five percent, the result is five hundred and seventy contribution points." All this was recorded on a special type of paper that was very durable. Doing it this way was the best option available after careful consideration over the last few years. "Do you want to receive the pay now?" "Yes." "Cash or monster cores?" The same type of paper was also used to make the points easier to use. "Medium monster cores." His reward arrived shortly. With that being said, Gorn took his leave. After he left, the middle-aged man made a quick call. . . . "I''m home!" Entering the house, Gorn was greeted by the whole family. "Welcome home!" said Elisa while inviting him to eat. She had prepared quite a few delicious-looking dishes. The ingredients used were from the free stuff one could receive. "Did you bring something for me?" asked Ella with an expectant gaze. Elisa sighed, she told her not to do that. Seeing her innocent and serious face, Gorn smiled happily: "Of course I did!" Hearing his words, the twins looked towards him with great anticipation as well, but did not dare to say anything out loud. Elisa sighed yet again, a little unhappy with the reaction of her daughters. Going to a nearby empty table, Gorn took out all the wild berries he collected, as well as the meat from the wild boar. Everything was just as fresh as they were the moment he put them inside. In addition, he also took forty medium monster cores, putting them slightly to the side. The cores shined brightly under the light of the sun. It was like looking at some precious marble. The table was full of good quality stuff that could be obtained only by a very few selected individuals. Everyone stared at the table with mouths open. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. "This..." Elisa was at a loss for words. "Ten pieces of monster cores for each one of you, as for the rest, we are going to have a feast!" Ella was the first to react. Using her agility, which was five times stronger than a normal adult, she swiftly grabbed ten pieces of monster cores. Storing them inside her pockets, she then jumped in Gorn''s arms, kissing him on the cheek and hugging him. "You are the best!" Elisa wanted to say something but stopped shortly. The twins also took ten pieces each while closely examining them. "These are so beautiful! Thank you!" It was their first time seeing something like that. "You can use them to buy whatever you want, or you can absorb the energy inside to get stronger." With their low talent, gaining twenty power per year was possible with some effort. Taking into consideration that the monster cores were of medium quality, those numbers were a little more generous. The limit, however, was around five hundred before the power increase became minimal. To change that, one needed, of course, a monster core of a higher quality. "One low monster core absorbed equals one power, right?" asked Ella. Elisa was surprised: "From where do you know this?" "I learned this at school a few days ago," answered the little girl, feeling very proud. "Then how much power can you obtain from the pieces I gave you?" asked Gorn in a challenging manner. "One hundred!" Her answer was prompt, clearly wanting to show off. "Not bad!" said Gorn while gently caressing her hair. At this point, Elisa cut in: "Let''s talk more after we cook this meat." Just looking at her face, one could tell that she was extremely eager to try the new ingredients. And so, the girls got to work, sorting and preparing everything. Gorn also helped them, even though Elisa insisted him not doing anything. Soon, a great feast was prepared. Everyone was relaxed and had a very good time. . . . The next day. Gorn got up early, ready to do some investigations. His first target was the library. Thanks to his new status, he had access to every book in there. The next week was spent mostly inside the library. There was a lot of useful information, but sadly, nothing on the matter that interested him the most. Meanwhile, the winning rate of his farming system was around fifty percent. This improved drastically the moment he got the fire-resisting skill. His objective was still standing, so Gorn resumed his studies. . . . Another week passed in the blink of an eye. "Still nothing!" He even asked the librarian and a few other people, but to no avail. Gorn''s patience was already exhausted. It was time to look elsewhere. Unfortunately, no matter where he looked or who he asked, no one had an answer to give him. Individuals such as the guild leader or other more important people could not be reached by normal means, and forcing the issue on them was not something he wanted to do just yet. The good news was that, after all this time, Gorn managed to obtain all the skills from the red fox. "Status!" Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 10/10 targets. Power level: 1000 Abilities: Regeneration(lLvl2); Fast learner(Lvl2); Blink(Lvl3); Air steps(Lvl4); Fire manipulation(Lvl4); Fire control(Lvl2); Fire resistance(Lvl5) Equipment: Black sword; Leather armor; Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 700.000 Current Missions: System upgrade mission: 16/1000 creatures killed* (expand to view more information) Warrior, fireball, and control skills were discarded to make space for the new ones. Another huge discovery was the fact that his current gold stopped increasing after reaching seven hundred thousand. ''Sadly, there is indeed a limit...'' Completing the mission to increase the system''s level was harder than expected. Gorn hoped that during all the time it took to do it, his gold would steadily build up allowing him to afford to buy all the new changes that might result, alas there was a limit to that. Fire manipulation(Lvl4): You can turn your energy into fire and manipulate it freely. Air steps(Lvl4): You can walk on air. Fire resistance (Lvl5): Your body is naturally more resistant to fire. After blinking a few times upwards, Gorn remained motionless for a moment before walking around with a big grin plastered across his face. It was just like walking on the ground, except there was no ground. This ability could easily be activated or canceled if he desired to free fall. Next, he used some of his energy to create a fireball by using the fire manipulation ability. This ability was very flexible, allowing him to create fire spears, arrows, and basically whatever he wanted. There were, of course, some limitations. The more detailed or complicated the thing that he wanted to create, the harder it was to accomplish. Extending his right hand, Gorn created a fireball. Focusing, he poured more, and more energy into it while maintaining its size. With each passing second, the flame became hotter. At first, the flame color was orange, however, it soon turned to white blue. Gorn''s clothes were reduced to ashes. A small portion of them survived only due to his fire control skill that helped direct the heat in other directions. The fire resistance skill was also crucial, and Gorn did not receive any injuries. Unlike the previous fireball skill, he could put his entire energy into one attack. That took time and left him pretty much exhausted, however, the force created was massive. Gorn stopped and slowly dispersed the dangerous fireball he just created. His breath was out of place, and his energy reserves were almost depleted. Chapter 21: Sara comes for a visit After a few minutes of recovering, Gorn bought himself a new leather armor. "At this point, I think I have reached the maximum power I can acquire with this system''s present level." His current skills were more than decent and had a special synergy between them. Gorn felt no need to change them with something else for the time being. Looking at the city below him Gorn thought about Sara: "She is the daughter of the city lord, surely she must know something." If he could obtain some information out of her was unknown, and less likely to happen. At the very least, he had to try it. Gorn spent some time recovering his lost energy while enjoying the scenery, and the nice breeze that blew in his face. Releasing his skill, Gorn started to free fall towards the ground. His speed increased with each passing second." This feels so great!" shouted Gorn, excitement flowing through his veins. A few moments later, he was walking towards his home like any other normal human. "Today I will take the day off, all that learning made my head feel dizzy." Whistling happily, Gorn opened the door to his house. After taking a few steps, he froze. Inside his living room, on his comfortable couch stood none other than Sara. Gorn''s pupils constricted while his energy converted to heat instantly, as a form of response to his emotions. The surrounding temperature increased sharply. "Please calm down, I''m here to talk about something important," said Sara while raising both her hands, signaling she had no ill intentions. Gorn suppressed his anger while walking up to her. Grabbing Sara by her right wrist, Gorn sat next to her. Part of her long black hair cascaded over the shoulder, while most of it was tied together with a red ribbon. Sara wore a white camise that showcased her ample bosom. Together with her short black skirt and a pair of stockings made for quite the view. She was dressed like a professional office worker. Great beauty coupled with great attractiveness was a real killer. Looking at her dual colored eyes, Gorn said: "You have my attention." "Can you please let go of my hand first?" It was the first time since she was grabbed in such a direct manner by a man. Furthermore, he was very close to her, making Sara uncomfortable. Gorn got back a little, giving her some space. However, he did not let go of her wrist. "If you need something, feel free to call me," said Elisa while tactfully leaving the room. She was the only person currently at home. "Thank you," said Gorn with appreciation. Looking towards Sara, he continued: "I can''t let you go. If you were to suddenly do anything weird, I must be able to stop you." As long as he had some physical contact with the other person, Gorn could use his blink ability to teleport them away, confusing his opponent and giving him some time to react accordingly. "Do you think I am that kind of person?" asked Sara while her eyes opened wider. She was offended. Gorn felt some anger building up, and his voice became a little louder: "Do I need to remind you what happened back at school?" This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. If it wasn''t for the fact that he also needed her, then throwing her outside his home wasn''t so far-fetched, since he didn''t like unexpected guests. Sara diverted her gaze in shame: "Alright... But can you at least grab my hand instead? Holding me by the wrist is very uncomfortable..." "Ok," answered Gorn while grabbing her hand instead of her wrist. Sara jolted slightly, experiencing a weird sensation. Feeling her soft hand and looking at her face, Gorn had a similar reaction. Silence. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" asked Gorn, diverting some of the awkwardness. Sara made a more serious face: "I''ve heard that you have an ability to store things, is that right?" "That little weasel!" exclaimed Gorn while thinking of the middle-aged man from the Mercenary Guild. Sara jolted again while making a strange expression. Realizing that he was squeezing her hand very hard, Gorn relaxed: "Yeah, that''s right." Getting herself together, yet again, she continued: "How big of an object can you store inside?" "Give me a break with these questions. Just tell me how big is the thing that you want to transport, and I will tell you if it''s possible or not." Sara coughed in embarrassment: "Five meters both in height and width. It is, however, extremely heavy, around one hundred tons." His response was fast and direct: "I''m ninety percent sure that I can do it." He never tried storing something so heavy inside his inventory, so Gorn wasn''t completely sure if it was possible. ''If there was a weight limit the system would have told me most probably.'' "Great! Let''s quickly check it out, then we can leave tomorrow," said Sara with great enthusiasm while getting on her feet, pulling Gorn''s body along with her. Gorn kept quiet while looking at her smiling and being so happy. After daydreaming for a couple of minutes, Sara realized something and then looked towards him with an unnatural face: "You will help me, right?" Gorn started to laugh while crashing onto the sofa again, dragging Sara along with him. She landed next to him in a weird position, but that wasn''t important, what was important for her at that moment was Gorn''s answer. "What do I get for doing this?" "You will, of course, be heavily rewarded!" "With what?" Sara looked him in the eyes: "Monster cores or contribution points, a lot of them." "Not that interested in them." "Then what do you want?" Gorn waited for this exact question: "I want information about the city''s secrets." Sara frowned: "More exactly?" "I want to know what stops powerful monsters from getting close to this place, and everything else regarding this matter." "This... This is very classified information that only a handful of people know about." Gorn grinned and waited patiently: ''She might have information about this matter.'' After a long time, Sara finally spoke: "If you manage to store the device, and agree to help me transport it then I''ll tell you." "I want to know what that device is, and where you want me to transport it before deciding whether to do it or not. In addition, I want my reward paid up front regardless of my decision." Unlike Gorn, Sara started to become a little restless: "You will receive the reward after you complete the mission. That is common sense." "I don''t care what is common sense or not. My reward upfront or we don''t have a deal." Sara gritted her teeth in annoyance: "Fine!" "Lovely!" said Gorn with a big smile, clearly satisfied with the outcome. Getting up, he went towards the kitchen. "Where are you taking me?" asked Sara. "To the kitchen. I want to eat something, then we can go check up on that device of yours." Wherever he went, she had to follow. "Hold this for a second." Since doing certain things with only one hand was annoying, Gorn borrowed Sara''s free hand. She was a little reluctant at first but then became cooperative. "We make quite the good team," laughed Gorn. . . . Half an hour later, both of them left the house. Gorn released her hand. "I don''t like unexpected guests, so next time give me a call before coming." "Understood," said Sara while both of them exchanged phone numbers. "Lead the way!" Sara walked for a few dozen meters, then stopped: "Do you mind if we fly there?" "I don''t." He could walk on air and also teleport. If she decided to drop him from the sky for whatever reason, then surviving was no problem. Agreeing to such an ordeal without a safety measure wouldn''t have been wise otherwise. Sara extended her arm, and yet again they held hands. This time it felt less awkward and more pleasant. Without any further delays, Sara headed towards the sky. Chapter 22: The citys secrets Flying was a wonderful experience for Gorn. Being carried by someone during such a time was somewhat funny. Sara sneaked a few glances at him, curious to see if he was afraid or not. There were no reasons to be afraid so his face was serene, without any negative emotions. The city was way smaller than what he had imagined at first. ''Humans are barely surviving in this hostile place,'' thought Gorn while at the same time comparing this place to Earth. The majority of the population was very weak and vulnerable. One adult reaper was enough to eliminate most of them and bring ruin to the city. While the monsters were outside and could not get inside for the time being, the same thing could not be said about humans. There were quite a few individuals with a power level above one thousand, and even greater. If such a person decided to do bad things then the weaker individuals were in for quite the ugly surprise. A good example was Gorn. He could use his blink abilities and kidnap almost anyone, bringing them outside the city, and practically doing whatever he wanted with them. Living in such a place without much power could be a real nightmare. ''If you look at things from this perspective then Earth is the better choice.'' Even so, a terrible amount of bad deeds were happening on Earth despite the small difference in physical power. Gorn didn''t even want to think what would happen if a part of Earth''s inhabitants suddenly got superpowers. While Gorn was analyzing the city, and at the same time comparing it to a normal one, Sara flew closer to the ground. She didn''t travel at her fastest speed, but they almost arrived. From the sky, and even before arriving closer, one could easily tell that the city was delimitated in three. Roughly sixty percent of the space was used by the majority of people while the rest was used in an even proportion by the Mercenary Guild, respectively the city faction group. The latter wasn''t separated by an inside wall, nor had any fancy house trees, however, the buildings, as well as everything else built by human hands were of top quality, and beautifully organized. This part of the city was in a way the opposite of the Mercenary Guild area, relying less on nature, and more on pure human architecture. Different, but beautiful in its way. At this point, it was more about the taste of each individual. Gorn examined as much as he could until they landed. "We are here," said Sara while arranging her camise. Gorn felt rather strange, the atmosphere was eerie and bizarre. "Follow me," continued Sara after finishing what she was doing. Gorn followed her in silence. There were almost more guards than normal people. ''What is going on here?'' The few people present had fear plastered all over their faces, visible even though they tried not to show it. The same thing could not be said about the guards. All of them had poker faces, devoided of any emotion whatsoever, it was like they were statues and not living organisms. ''I hope I''m not way over my head in some kind of muddy waters,'' thought Gorn while at the same time becoming even more vigilant. The weakest guard had a power level similar to his, so escaping in case of some sort of emergency was possible only by relying on his peculiar skills. ''Thankfully no one I saw can fly, or something similar to that.'' This fact brought some comfort in the uncertain situation. After some time Sara stopped in front of a big villa. Stolen story; please report. "This is my place." Gorn looked around with interest. Everything seemed expensive and spacious. "Come!" There were multiple guards around the place. These people, however, looked normal compared to the other guards he had seen previously. Gorn followed Sara inside without saying anything. She brought him through a few rooms and stopped inside what looked to be a spacious library. Moving a certain book, a secret passage revealed itself. It was a small tunnel that led towards the underground. ''How convenient,'' thought Gorn. After a few more minutes, both of them reached what seemed to be a huge underground cave. Surprisingly or not, the place had various facilities built in, and lots of people working on different matters. Following her even further, Gorn entered a big house close to the cave wall. In the middle of that place was a cube, roughly five meters tall and wide. "This is the device, please verify if you can store it or not." Gorn went closer to the cube. It looked very mysterious and simple at the same time. It had two big buttons on it. One green and one red, except that there was nothing else. Putting his hand on the cube Gorn used some force to try and push it. The thing didn''t even budge, confirming what Sara said about its weight. Next, Gorn tried to store it. In the next second the cube disappeared from their sight. Sara''s mouth opened wide in amazement then she jumped at Gorn, hugging him. "This is so amazing!" she was very excited and emotional at the same time. Her actions took Gorn a little by surprise. Grabbing him by the shoulders she said with serious eyes: "Gorn, this is a great opportunity!" Taking him by the hand Sara brought him to another room without waiting for any reply. Taking out a map she pointed at a certain place. "At this location, there is a huge floating island. This is the spot we must bring the device to." Gorn tried to remain as calm as possible through all these new chains of events. "There is a gigantic mountain located there, but I don''t know anything about a floating island." Gorn read about quite a few matters in the last weeks, so his general knowledge was not the same as before. "No one knows about that place except you and me," said Sara while moving forth and back. Gorn touched his chin: "I want to hear more details." At this point Sara had to go all in, otherwise, things could backfire on her. Taking a seat she started to explain. "Alright. To make things shorter, what protects this city is a type of energy that is harmful to monsters. This energy comes from a special type of crystals that are deep under the city." Taking a deep breath Sara continued with a somewhat trembling voice: "That big cube can store that kind of energy and transport it. Furthermore, it can also use that energy to form a bigger crystal, greatly expanding the area of effect and its efficacity." Gorn looked at Sara with great attention. She was uncomfortable telling him all this. ''She is clearly in a tough situation since she has to tell a stranger like me all these things and rely on my help...'' "How many such cubes are there?" "There is a bigger one under this city, which was built directly on that spot, and the one you stored. Just these two as far as I know, since they require an astronomical amount of resources and time to build." "So you want me to bring this cube to that floating island to do what exactly?" Sara paused for a moment: "That floating island also has this kind of protective energy. I want to take that energy and bring it to our city." "You just want to further upgrade the size of this city or perhaps there is something wrong with the energy here?" asked Gorn in a rather serious tone. Sara stopped and looked him in the eyes: "The truth is that the energy in our city started to diminish sharply since a few months ago. At this rate, the city is going to shrink considerably and possibly..." "And the cause for that is?" "We do not know exactly what has caused such a phenomenon." Loud, and constant noises were coming from outside. People were extremely busy doing all kinds of research in that underground cave. "And how can you be so sure there is such an energy on that floating island?" "I have a special device that can detect the energy emitted by those crystals." Gorn got up, stretching his legs a little: "You flew to such a dangerous place all alone?" "I was accompanied by a team pretty close to that area. But yes, I flew alone, since I''m the only one who has this ability. This happened half a year ago, and I didn''t tell anyone about this matter." ''Good to know,'' thought Gorn. "Isn''t it a little hard to miss a floating island?" "The weather is a little...special there. Furthermore, the island is high in the sky and the energy emitted by those crystals acts like some type of cover, making it very hard to spot that place unless you are close enough... ." "Then how did you discover it? or is the range of that searching device that great?" asked Gorn, wanting to know as many details as possible. "The range of the device is not that great. Long story short I stumbled upon that place by accident." Sara was becoming less and less patient. Chapter 23: A new option Gorn sat down yet again: "I understand. Sorry for all the questions, it''s just that these things are important, and I want to clearly understand the situation." Sara put her hands on the table and leaned toward him: "I gave you the information you wanted, now it is time for you to keep your part of the bargain." Gorn sighed: "The place you indicated on that map is very far away, and the chances of dying are not small...." "It is indeed dangerous, but this is for the greater good. We can''t just wait for everyone to die without doing anything." What she said made some sense: "I can''t trust you so easily, I need to see that cube that is underground and the crystal to confirm that what you said is true." "This again?!" screamed Sara. Gorn remained calm: "If I know about it, why can''t I see it? It shouldn''t take long to do that." Sara started to walk around the room, restless: "Commander Norman blocked all access to that place. Even I can''t go in there at this moment." "Your father is the city lord, I''m sure you can convince him somehow," said Gorn in an even tone. Tears started to fall from Sara''s eyes to her cheeks and down to the ground. "My parents, together with a few other people, left the city a long time ago, and never came back...." Gorn got up and hugged Sara: "It''s ok, they will come back eventually..." A lot of things happened lately for her, and the pent-up emotions exploded at this moment. She cried in his arms for a couple of minutes before stopping: "I''m sorry, it has been a little hard these days." Gorn smiled gently: "Don''t worry, there is a solution for every problem." After a few more moments, things settled down. "This may not be a good time to talk about this, but I think that something is very rotten in all this. I''m pretty sure you figured this out a long time ago." The situation could not be taken lightly anymore. Sara stared aimlessly at the wall. "The city''s protective energy started to diminish at the same time that Commander Norman restricted all access to the crystals. Furthermore, many of the guards from this place look like machines. It''s like they have been brainwashed...." If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "That is surely suspicious. Then what about the people from the Mercenary Guild?" asked Gorn with some concern. "A few strong individuals left the Guild and joined Norman''s forces... The Guild master left with my parents a long time ago, so I''m afraid no one can fully stop Commander Norman at this point." Gorn made an unsightly face, the situation was worse than imagined. "How strong is this Norman guy?" "As far as I''m concerned, he is the strongest person in this city at the moment. I don''t stand a chance against him," answered Sara with a serious face. Gorn started to walk around the room, thinking. "There is a connection between all these things. If what you say is true, then using that device to bring energy to this place would be a bad idea." "Then what?! Leave all these people to die?!" she was concerned about the well-being of everyone. Gorn calmed himself down, then replied: "Why are you in such a hurry? I don''t see any monsters attacking the city yet, so please calm down." Sara breathed in a huge amount of oxygen and then exhaled slowly, calming herself down. "That''s better! If you think carefully about it, then it makes no sense for someone to fully destroy whatever protects this city. What concerns me the most is why those strong guards look like vegetables," said Gorn. Sara didn''t say anything and waited for him to finish his idea. "Unfortunately, monsters are not the only threat to humankind, other people are too. From my perspective, losing your freedom is worse than dying. What is the use of the city being safe from monsters if you are brainwashed or forced to do certain things?" Sara looked at him with eyes opened wide. "If the opponent is too strong, then we will have to run away. That island is the perfect place to build another city. A city where our enemies won''t be able to reach us easily. Destroying such a place would be a bad move." Gorn scratched his head while adding: "With the information that I have, and the current state of things, there is no way I''m going to take the energy from that place and bring it here." "Are you serious?" asked Sara with a rather calm tone. Gorn nodded. "So you want to say that me opening myself to you, and everything that I told you so far was for nothing?" the volume of her voice increased with every single word spoken. Gorn felt rather weird: "It wasn''t for nothing. I will build a new city there. That place will become a new safe zone for many people, including yourself." Sara became speechless for a few moments. "Wait, what?!!" Seeing his serious face, she shouted: "You asshole!!!" Gorn grinned, making Sara even more annoyed. She launched herself at him, wanting to punch his face. The strike was swiftly avoided. "Don''t even dream about leaving this place!" cried Sara. "I will call you in a few hours to discuss further, I hope you calm down until then," said Gorn then disappeared. A short moment later he was already high in the air, above the city. Since his ability didn''t make any noise, and people weren''t usually looking upwards, no one noticed him. After a few more seconds, he left the area. That place had an unpleasant feeling to it, making it hard for him to linger any longer. It was only a matter of minutes until his phone started to ring like crazy. Ignoring the phone, Gorn landed on a huge tree in the upper part of the city. A few moments later, he bought several power-up potions and then headed towards his home. ''I want to test something about this potion.'' More exactly, Gorn wanted to know if the potion could be used to bring another individual to a power level of one thousand, the same as him, or if there were some limitations involved. ''I will build myself an army as well,'' thought Gorn while speeding towards his house. Not abusing such a thing would be a wasted opportunity. Of course, some basic rules had to be followed. For example, he had to be the strongest to ensure everything went his way. Chapter 24: A small kiss In a short time, Gorn was already home. Everything was the same as when he left. "Anyone here?" In the next moment, Elisa came from her room. "Something happened?" She was the only one present. "Yes. Come down, I want to talk to you about some important matters." Elisa felt uneasy after hearing his words. Coming down, she said: "Let me get you a cup of tea before we start." Gorn nodded. Elisa wore some casual clothes. A pair of gray linen shorts and a black T-shirt. Her hair was let loose down her back, and she had no make-up whatsoever. Her beautiful face and attractive body features made her look good with any clothes or hairstyle. Gorn sat down quietly while analyzing her. "You look good." Elisa paused for a second: "Thank you!" Sitting in front of him, she poured two cups of tea, waiting patiently for him to speak. "The situation is like this...." Gorn told her some information about the city and the fact that he knew of another potential safe place. Some information, like the existence of the cube, and other details were omitted for the time being. If nothing important changed, then these things were going to be revealed in the future. Currently, only the general idea is important. "I''m not yet sure about some things, but the near future of this city is bound to change for the worse," said Gorn with a rather serious face. Elisa listened with great attention while nodding her head a few times. "Thank you for telling me all this!" Gorn drank a mouthful of tea and then looked carefully at Elisa. "This is not the important thing that I wanted to discuss with you," said Gorn calmly. "No?" Elisa was a little taken aback. "Then what is it?" This was a rare occasion in which her curiosity got the best of her. "I have big plans for the future. I need loyal and obedient people by my side to help me. I want you to become such a person. It might be very dangerous at times, so think carefully about it." This kind of proposal was unexpected. Elisa got up and came in front of him. Leaning over, she kissed Gorn on the cheek. Then, without any hesitation, she answered in a serious tone. "I''m all yours!" This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Gorn was stunned for a moment, not sure what to make out of the situation. After a short time, he smiled widely: "Good!" He decided not to dwell too much on the deep meaning of those words and actions at this moment. Next, he took out a power-up potion from his inventory and put it on the table. "This liquid can make you more powerful. Previously, I secretly used some of this stuff to help you and the girls get stronger. Go ahead and drink it all." Elisa sat next to him on the couch. Her eyes were sparkling mysteriously, making it very hard to know what she was thinking exactly. Taking the potion, she drank it. After she finished drinking it, Gorn took another one. "Keep drinking." Thankfully, the potion was small and many of them could be drunk at a time. Gorn carefully observed the changes. After she reached a power level of five hundred, the potion lost all its effect. ''So there are some limitations.'' Race: Human Talent: Low Power level: 500 Abilities: None Equipment: Normal clothes Loot: 500 gold Confirm target? Yes No Elisa raised her arms and looked at them. Clenching her fists, she exclaimed: "Amazing!" New power was flowing through her body, bringing a very pleasant sensation with it. Her skin became smoother, her eyes clearer, and her few wrinkles disappeared without a trace. She now had the same look she had in her prime, and even more. "You can have this armor and sword as well. In the future, there will be better stuff, so work hard." Elisa was overjoyed: "Thank you so much! I will do my best to assist you in any way that you want!" Gorn grinned, then he got up. "You now have a power level of five hundred, so don''t bother going to check it up. I want to go and bring another person to our side. Until then, try to get a little accustomed to your new power. When the girls come back, please explain the situation to them, I will also help them get stronger. Also, don''t let anyone leave the house until I come back." "Understood!" . . . The other person that Gorn wanted to bring to his side was Rebeca, his classmate. Despite being very weak, she was very talented at fighting, being almost obsessed with it. After searching for some time, he finally found her in a park, doing various exercises. She looked rather sad. Before going to her, Gorn observed the situation from a distance. Rebeca had long brown hair that was casually tied in a bun. Her face was rather normal looking, but her tall and attractive figure compensated quite well for that. "Hello there," said Gorn, after coming closer. Rebeca turned her head towards him. "Gorn?! I have been looking everywhere for you!" Her listless face suddenly turned more energetic. "Where have you been? Did something happen?" Gorn walked towards her yet again. Stopping only a meter away from Rebeca. "I want you to be mine." Rebeca blushed: "What do you mean? This is so sudden..." "I want you to work for me. I want your loyalty and your skills. In return, I will make you a lot stronger." Rebeca looked carefully at Gorn, the situation being a little weird. "You are not joking, right?" "Do I look like I''m joking?" Rebeca analyzed him even more. She had no real talent when it came to absorbing energy from monster cores, nor had she the money to keep doing that. Her future was rather bleak, thus her sad mood from earlier. "Greetings, master!" said Rebeca while getting on one of her knees. Even though she didn''t know the exact details, his rise in power was no secret. As for him being able to help her get more powerful was something she already experienced in the past. After all, he helped her gain ten more power as a thank you, and as a sign of appreciating her passion. Since then, Rebeca tried numerous times to get in contact with him but failed. Working for him was something she already wanted since long ago. Gorn was pleased by her answer. "Excellent! From now on you will stay at my place for some time. Is there something else you want to do before that?" Rebeca got up, having a face full of excitement. "There is not." "Good, come with me then. What you are about to see and hear from now on is a secret. You are not allowed to tell anyone about these matters, don''t forget that." "Yes, master!" She was eagerly assuming the position of a student, and Gorn didn''t mind it at all. Chapter 25: Returning the device One foot in front of the other, both of them reached Gorn''s tree house, which was situated in the higher part of the city. On the way, he told Rebeca a few things in advance. Upon entering the house, Gorn saw Elisa as well as her three daughters present in the living room, waiting eagerly for him. For a moment, all eyes shifted towards Rebeca. "This is Rebeca, my former classmate." Rebeca assumed a more formal position while politely greeting everyone. "It''s a real pleasure to meet you." Mara and Nora already knew her, while Elisa and the little girl were very sociable, thus the mood was not tense at all. Glancing at her mother, and seeing that she wasn''t paying attention to her, Ella jumped from the sofa and ran towards Gorn, ultimately jumping in his arms. Her round black eyes shined brightly, exposing her mischievous behavior. Gorn took out a power-up potion and gave it to her while blinking with one of his eyes. . . . After a short time, everyone except Rebeca reached a power level of five hundred. As for his classmate, Gorn stopped when she reached the amount of four hundred. "You must all get accustomed to your new power. After a few days, Rebeca will be responsible for training you all." Sensing the massive change in power, Rebeca trembled with excitement. She, as well as the others, had a lot of questions, but the answer to those wasn''t so important at the moment. Gorn gave everyone leather armor, one iron sword, as well as some healing potions. "These potions can heal physical wounds to some degree." Pausing for a short moment, he continued: "While I''m away, Elisa will be in charge. In case I don''t respond to my phone and something is not right, or a great danger lurks around, and you don''t feel safe in this city anymore, then run east for twenty kilometers. There is a huge tree there. Wait for me at that place." Mara and Nora looked concerned: "Let''s hope that moment doesn''t come, or if it comes we will all be together at that time." Gorn smiled: "That would be for the best." Walking towards the sofa, Gorn sat down. "I will now tell you some information about the area outside these walls." He started by recapitulating the possible crises that might befall on the city and continued with what he experienced on his hunts, what he read in the library, and a few of his ideas. Everyone listened without making a sound, including Ella. In the blink of an eye, an hour passed. Gorn got up. "I''ll go outside for some time. We will continue talking when I return." It was high time he called Sara. Things were going south, but not that fast to make him panic or rush some things. Blinking a few times, Gorn reached the top of the tree. Looking at everything from above was a great feeling, like all things were under his control. After a few moments of peacefully looking around, Gorn took out the phone and called Sara. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. "Have you calmed down?" Sara did not know about his ability to teleport away, so she was still looking for him around her villa, trying to find his location, and at the same time any information about his peculiar abilities. "Where are you?!" Her tone was still a little crisp, and unpleasant. Gorn grinned, but no one was there to observe his facial expression. "Maybe I should call you later then?" "Wait! I''m calm now. Let''s talk," answered Sara in one single breath, afraid he might vanish entirely from her grasp. She could not let her emotions get the better of her. "Good. I didn''t have time to elaborate since you attacked me, so I''ll make a few things clear right now." Sara listened with great attention. Gorn was shrouded in a veil of mystery, and his real power and potential could not be measured. If possible, she wanted to make friends with such a person, not enemies. "I said that I will build a new city on that island, but I don''t plan to steal anything from you. That is merely an option. An option I will consider only if you sell the island and that device to me. The price I''m willing to buy them for is one low monster core and not a single penny more." Sara felt another surge of anger but held it in. "In that case, can you please return that device to me?" "Of course. Wait for me inside your villa. I will arrive there shortly," said Gorn then closed the phone. That cube was useless to him at this moment, and it occupied a large portion of his precious space. The device was useful to expand the safe area, but it wasn''t absolutely necessary. In a short time, Gorn appeared at Sara''s place yet again. At this point, he was quite proficient in using his ''blink'' skill, so his arrival was not detected by anyone. After a few more minutes, he found Sara in one of the rooms that led to her secret hide-out. "Hey. So where do you want me to put the device?" Gorn arrived as mysteriously as he disappeared. Sara analyzed him from head to toe, but could not find anything to answer some of her questions. "Please put it at the place you took it from." "Lead the way then," said Gorn while also analyzing Sara''s reaction. She was an impulsive person from what he saw today. Of course, his behavior was at the least annoying, so her reaction could be considered normal if looked from a different angle. After walking for some time, Sara spoke: "What do you plan on doing now, after discovering all this information?" This was a question Gorn already thought about during this short time. "I will, of course, try to help as much as I can." Gorn stopped at this sentence while looking at Sara for a few moments. Surprisingly, even though one could easily tell she wanted to ask him a few more questions, she waited for him to continue. "My way of helping is, however, very different from the way you would like it to be." Sara stopped: "Are you honest about helping out?" "I have nothing to gain from the destruction of the city. It will only make mine, and everyone else''s life harder," said Gorn with a sincere face. Sara nodded: "I see... Then I apologize for my behavior." Gorn smiled briefly: "Apologies accepted. But please remember, if you attack me again, there will be consequences!" Sara trembled slightly and then quickly changed the topic. "We have arrived. You can put it in the same spot it was previously." Gorn did just that. "Before coming up with a solution, you first need to know what the real problem is. I have some matters I must attend to now, so see you later!" With those words, Gorn made himself scarce. Chapter 26: Hunting monsters Sara stared blankly at the nearby wall. ''What is the real problem?'' After pondering for a long time over this question, she left the area, her destination unknown. . . . ''I need to complete the system upgrade mission as fast as possible. If there is a power-up potion level one, there surely must be a level two as well. Hopefully, I''ll be able to unlock it after the system evolves,'' thought Gorn while running on air towards his home. His next actions were evident: hunting monsters. "Status!" Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl1): 10/10 targets. Power level: 1000 Abilities: Regeneration(lLvl2); Fast learner(Lvl2); Blink(Lvl3); Air steps(Lvl4); Fire manipulation(Lvl4); Fire control(Lvl2); Fire resistance(Lvl5) Equipment: Black sword; Leather armor; Shop (Lvl1) Inventory: 10 cubic meters Current Gold: 454.000 Current Missions: System upgrade mission: 16/1000 creatures killed* "Nine hundred and eighty-four creatures to go...." Gorn sighed, the task wasn''t easy at all, provided that the details of the mission specified that the creatures killed had to have a power level of a minimum of five hundred to make the count. While the mission wasn''t easy, it wasn''t that hard at the same time if he took his sweet time, and hunted with extreme care without taking any risks. Unfortunately, he was a little pressed for time. ''I must be careful not to trade speed for risks too high to handle.'' More power would allow him to dictate some rules, and a direction that he wanted the city to go into, but to do that he had to be alive after all. Gorn slowly landed on a nearby branch. The sky was crystal clear, allowing him to see a great distance away. Unlike his first day, he could now plainly see what creatures flew high in the sky. Some of them were unknown types of birds, some looked like dragons, while some had very peculiar forms, bringing a wave of terror to whoever saw them in more detail. Their size varied, but some of them were simply gigantic, thus making it possible to spot them even though they flew at an altitude of dozens of kilometers. Compared to them, Gorn looked like nothing while moving around at a height of no more than a few kilometers. At first, he was afraid not to attract the attention of such monsters, but now he realized that such worries were unfounded. His existence was too small to even be noticed by such leviathans. Moving his gaze from the distant sky, Gorn looked at what was closer to the ground. "How beautiful!" Even though he had been in such a place for quite some time already, the beauty of the place still managed to reach him. What he appreciated was how everything in the higher part of the city was built, and arranged to be in harmony with the surrounding nature. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ''The more I look, the more I come to think that the architecture of this place might be superior to what I saw and knew before coming here,'' thought Gorn while peacefully taking in a mouthful of air. After a few more minutes, he went towards his house. Gorn didn''t want to delay his hunt any further, but he wanted to notify everyone that he was leaving for some time, as well as buy some utilities he deemed necessary for the trip. In a short time, he reached his place. Entering, he didn''t see or hear anyone. ''Where is everyone?'' For a split second, he thought that something bad might have happened. Blinking a few times, he stopped at an altitude of around one thousand meters. Like a hawk, Gorn scanned the area with the help of his enhanced sight. In a matter of minutes, he found everyone. They were at the base of a nearby tree that had no houses built on it and was fairly out of everyone''s way. The perfect place to train. Gorn walked towards them. Everyone was trying their best at training. Everyone except Ella, who from time to time did her own personal training by jumping from place to place while laughing with great gusto. "Big brother?!" suddenly yelled Ella then masterfully ran up the tree, and propelled herself towards him. Gorn caught her in his arms: "I''m glad that at least someone is enjoying the training." The other girls peered at Gorn while being in a daze. Seeing someone floating in the air like it was nothing wasn''t something one usually saw every day. Gorn came down upon noticing their reaction. Putting Ella down, he said: "It''s good to see you all trying your best to get better." Rebeca ran towards him with great excitement: "What was that? Can I learn as well to float in the air like that?" The words came from her mouth almost automatically. Gorn grinned. "Who knows, maybe it will be possible in the future." "Really?! How far into the future are we talking about?" Gorn looked at her innocent face, a little annoyed nonetheless. "Enough with the questions. I came here to tell you that I have some business outside the city, and will leave in a few hours at most." Rebeca was disappointed that he wasn''t in the mood to talk but forced herself to stop questioning him. "Can I come with you?" asked Ella from the side. She was serious, judging by the expression on her face. The twins came to Ella''s side and said: "Why would you want to do that? There are big monsters outside that like to eat little girls the most..." "Really?" asked Ella, her decision to go immediately wavering. "Enough!" exclaimed Elisa. "How long do you plan to stay this time?" Sweat was still dripping from her forehead from the intense training. "What I want to do will take some time. I plan, however, to come back to the city once a month to sell certain stuff and check your situation." "I understand. We will also try our best to improve in the meantime," said Elisa while looking at her daughters. Her gaze made them feel a little uncomfortable. It was like a premonition of the hard days of training that were to come. Gorn talked to them for a dozen minutes or so. They established some simple rules to follow in case something went wrong. Under everyone''s astonished gaze, Gorn blinked out. At this point, it was slowly becoming his second nature to use this particular skill. For the next few hours, he went shopping for simple, miscellaneous items he deemed as useful. After finishing doing that, he departed towards the vast wilderness beyond the city walls. Landing on a tree a few kilometers outside the city perimeter, Gorn looked at the distant mountains with excitement in his eyes. "Let the hunt begin!" Chapter 27: Hunting monsters II A simple individual could easily be overwhelmed by the aura that came from the vast wilderness ahead. Extremely beautiful, but deadly at the same time. Gorn''s hair fluttered in the gentle wind. He was by no means a simple individual. While being far away from the top of the food chain, he was still no pushover. "Work smart, not hard, right?" This was a saying Gorn was quite fond of. His two weeks spent inside the library weren''t for nothing. A plan emerged in his head for some time already. He knew exactly what he wanted to do during this trip. With a steady pace, Gorn headed towards a certain direction. In the novels that he read, the main characters usually went to dangerous places to engage in life-or-death situations. ''Fuck that!'' thought Gorn. Life-or-death situations were something he wanted to avoid as much as possible. With great care, Gorn advanced mile after mile. "This is getting annoying!" The speed at which he was advancing was only a small portion of what he was capable of. The cause for that was simple: too much noise and wind resistance. If he went past a certain speed, the noise resulting from the wind resistance was very upsetting; not to speak that it was also very uncomfortable to his body. All of a sudden, Gorn thought of Sara''s wind resistance skill. ''That skill is a little too specific. I think some type of stealth skill would be far more productive.'' Fortunately, he knew the perfect choice for that. The blue-spotted deer, a non-violent creature that lived in the proximity of the city. Its meat was considered a delicacy, with a taste and flavor that had no match. The bad part was, however, that because of their culinary worth, the creature was quite scarce. To make it worse, it had a very powerful stealth ability that made it almost impossible to find it through normal means. While it was hard, it certainly wasn''t impossible since its intelligence could not compare to humans. Capturing such a creature was, however, very time-consuming. ''How about I issue a mission at the Mercenary Guild?'' Gorn''s idea was very much to his taste. It would cost him a lot of money, but his prowess was much more important than some resources. In a way, it was a kind of investment in the future. The stronger he got the easier it would be to obtain money. This matter was something he would take care of a little later when he returned to the city. In the meantime, Gorn switched to his beloved ''blink'' ability. Using the current level of this skill compared to running at full speed was only around half as fast. The advantage was that it was more inconspicuous. Three hundred meters in a second was by no means a small distance. Of course, he also had to be on guard, so his journey took longer. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ''This is so amazing!'' thought Gorn. In a short time, he traveled tens of miles. The experience seemed surreal. The changing landscape was, however, a testimony that he was not imagining things. Huge rocks and boulders made their appearance among the towering trees. Green made way for another dominant color. The color of stone. Among the rocks, one could notice a lot of spider webs. Some areas had such a thick layer of them that made it very hard, and even impossible, to see past them. "This should be the place." The owners of those thick webs were giant spiders. Their power generally varied from five hundred to a thousand and five hundred. Unlike normal spiders, these lived in small groups. They were the dominant race in a huge area, and they reproduced at a very fast rate. Thankfully, after a certain point, the spiders hunted other spiders for food. This usually happened when their number went past a certain limit or the space became too crowded. "Let''s test out my plan." Being in the air at a safe distance Gorn created a potent fireball. Without much hesitation, the fireball went straight towards what seemed like a cave infested with spiders. Gorn watched attentively, eager for positive results. In a few moments, his knowledge proved to be correct. The cave turned into a blazing inferno. Creatures killed: 17/1000 Creatures killed: 18/1000 Creatures killed: 19/1000 Creatures killed: 20/1000 Reading these messages was very satisfying. In but a few short moments, he killed four enemies with the minimum power level required. There were probably more of them, but weaker or stronger. In response to his thoughts, a giant spider emerged from the cave. It was covered in flames, making it look more daunting than it was already. With a few movements, the spider went to a nearby safe place while looking left and right for enemies. Gorn could not check the power level of the monster since he was too far away. The fire soon died out. It was intense but very short. The nearby rocks made it impossible for the fire to spread in other directions. Seeing such a gigantic spider for the first time was not a pleasant feeling, even though he wasn''t technically afraid of them. Gorn had no desire to get closer, that survivor was stronger than him, most definitely. "This seems like a great idea after all." And so Gorn started to wreak havoc among the spiders. It was like a small apocalypse descended at that place. After a few days of hunting, he was very pleasantly surprised by the results. Creatures killed: 107/1000 Gorn sat leisurely on an enormous boulder that was not infected with any monsters. "At this rate, I might finish the mission faster than anticipated." The spiders didn''t know what even hit them. The match-up was unfair from the start. While the web was highly inflammable, Gorn had to at least use a certain amount of power for it to ignite. Strangely or not, that varied a lot, from nest to nest. The bottom line was that he also had to rest and recover his energy, as well as take notes on how to adapt his power to be most efficient; otherwise, he could have completed the mission much faster. Nonetheless, the efficiency was way better than hunting reapers or other monsters that liked to roam around all over the place. This proved once again that knowledge was power. Sadly, there was a limit to information, and some things had to be found out by personally testing them out. The nights were lonely, and stressful, since he didn''t dare to completely fall asleep. It was hard since he wasn''t used to it, but not impossible since he wasn''t a normal human anymore. Little and bad quality sleep wasn''t a problem for the time being. Chapter 28: Norman makes his move While Gorn was busy with his new-found routine, the city was about to undergo some changes. ¡°Come out!¡± said commander Norman with a very imposing voice. It didn¡¯t sound like a yell, but more like an order that could not be ignored. Soon, Sara came out. With a quick glance, she could deduce that her place was completely surrounded by experts. ¡°Can I help you with something, captain Norman?¡± her voice was extremely polite, with a hint of fear being present as well. Norman had a calm expression. A huge scar went across his face, ruining his rather good looks. Gently stroking his beard, he said: ¡°You have three options. Submit to me, leave the city or die.¡± Sara swallowed her saliva while a wave of cold went down her spine. ¡°We will leave the city in maximum three days.¡± Her voice was trembling with fear. Commander Norman was not a person known to joke around. If he said it, he meant it. ¡°The option to leave the city is valid only for you. And that is merely because I have some respect for your father.¡± All of a sudden, the scar on his face looked even more ominous. ¡°If you respect my father, then why are you doing this?!¡± Sorrow and anger was visible on her face, and her eyes became teary. Without any notice whatsoever, Norman disappeared. In the next moment, he was in front of Sara, grabbing her by the neck. Lifting his other hand, he gave an order. All his men began their attack. Everything seemed chaotic, but that was far from the truth. Everyone knew exactly what he was supposed to do. The more competent guards under Sara were met with the appropriate opponents, rendering them useless. Some were killed, some were incapacitated, while some tried to flee. It was a complete disaster. Even if all these actions were happening, Sara had no time to worry about others. Norman¡¯s grip hardened, making it extremely difficult to breathe. Looking into his cold eyes, Sara felt death approaching more than ever. ¡®I don¡¯t want to die!¡¯ Panic and despair got a hold of her. No matter how she struggled, escape seemed impossible. Norman¡¯s grip relaxed, allowing her to break free. Like a caged bird, Sara went directly for the skies. She was absolutely terrified, wanting to escape as far away as possible. Everything else was not important anymore. She didn¡¯t try to help anyone, escaping being the only thought in her head. Her men saw her fly away into the vast skies, each one of them having different thoughts. Part of them were happy, while the rest felt anger and disappointment. Even though there were some capable men among Sara¡¯s guards, ultimately they had no chance, being totally outclassed by the opponent. Things were finished quite fast. Sara¡¯s laboratory was no secret to her enemies, and was dealt accordingly. While a few men remained to thoroughly take care of business there, the rest gathered in a group and marched towards the Mercenary Guild, which was situated in the other end of the city. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Norman was leading while everyone else followed. Their speed was not fast nor slow. His men were shouting powerfully, scaring the shit out of everyone inside the city. Like a powerful behemoth, his group was getting closer and closer towards their destination. What needed to be done in secret was already done, now remaining only to handle the finishing details. ¡°What the hell is going on?!¡± thought the normal citizens. The ruckus caused by Norman¡¯s people stopped the entire city in its tracks. Some stared blankly, having no idea what was happening, while some seemed to have a rough sense about what was going on; taking the appropriate measures that they seemed as necessary. The Mercenary Guild, or more correctly what remained out of it, caught notice of what was happening. This was not something unexpected, and the best measures available were already taken. Soon, the two sides clashed against each-other. Unlike what happened at Sara¡¯s place, the mercenaries put up a good fight. Regrettably, Norman had no current worthy opponent inside the whole city. It was to a point that the presence of his men wasn¡¯t even mandatory to ensure success. He was unstoppable! Commander Norman dealt with the strongest opponents while his men took care of the rest. . . . ¡°What the hell?!¡± exclaimed Rebeca. The girls were currently getting ready to go for their usual training routine. It soon became apparent that something sinister was happening. After a few moments of analyzing the situation, someone spoke. ¡°It¡¯s time to execute the plan! Quickly!¡± said Elisa while urging everyone to hurry. Without any delays, the girls grabbed an already prepared backpack, then headed towards the exit of the city. Elisa¡¯s decisive order to leave allowed them to avoid the upcoming chaos. Like previously planned in case of some unforeseen situation, they were headed east towards the meeting point. After arriving at a decent distance away from the city, their pace slowed down. Everyone gasped at the majestic wilderness ahead. ¡°Be prepared for battle at any second!¡± commanded Elisa. ¡°What do you think happened at the city?¡± asked Rebeca, somewhat ignoring what Elisa just said. ¡°Now is not the time to talk about these matters!¡± A nearby bush rustled, and in the next second three reapers dashed towards their group. The attack came out of the blue without any other warnings. Elisa, Rebeca and Mara were the first targets. This was only because they were the closest to the monsters, and for no other reason. Elisa blocked with the sword. In her face was now a ferocious pair of red eyes coupled with rows upon rows of sharp teeth. The reaper was threatening to bite the sword into pieces, then eat her alive. She quickly glanced at the side. Seeing her daughter in the same situation, Elisa overpowered the reaper, kicking him away dozens of meters. Running towards Mara, Elisa decapitated the reaper that had barely any intention on doing anything else than shredding his current target to pieces. Meantime, the reaper she kicked away attacked her again. The timing was very bad, her body being exposed from that particular side. Nora, who was in a daze, instinctively took action to help her mother. She kicked the monster away yet again. She could have used her sword to injure or kill the creature in one swell swoop, however, she was in a state of panic and could not make the wisest decision. Elisa quickly followed with a decisive blow, killing the monster. During all this time, Rebeca barely killed the reaper that attacked her. Her techniques were exquisite, and her power level was no longer low, nevertheless, she could not use them due to fear. ¡°Everyone alright?!¡± asked Elisa while analyzing the situation. Thankfully, those reapers were of the weakest, and their brain almost non-existent. Everyone was safe, not having any major wounds. While their bodies were fine, their minds were in a state of shock. Everyone looked scared shitless; everyone except Ella. Ella just stood there at the back of the group. Her gaze was rather normal, making it hard to tell what she was thinking. Chapter 29: Escape ¡°Get yourselves together!¡± said Elisa in a firm tone. She was also shaken, but as the leader, and as a mother, she could not afford to make too many mistakes or hesitate. "Just use what we learned during training. We are stronger and smarter than these monsters. Killing them should be a walk in the part. " What she said made sense, so everyone nodded, while at the same time feeling ashamed by their poor performance. ¡°Rest for ten minutes, then we continue. Be wary of your surroundings at all times.¡± Ten minutes passed very fast. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± said Elisa, wanting to reach their destination before the night came. The vegetation was very abundant, greatly restricting vision and movement. Thankfully, that changed after a few kilometers. Being in a more open space, Elisa spotted a group of reapers. At the exact time, the monsters also noticed their presence. Eyes turning red, the reapers ran towards them, thirsty for blood. Having seven ferocious looking reapers headed your way was by no means a pleasant sight. Elisa and Rebeca stepped in front, followed by Mara and Nora. Ella was, like last time, at the back. ¡°We can do it!¡± shouted Elisa in encouragement shortly before the monsters arrived. The situation soon became chaotic. Because of their big numbers, one reaper managed to get pass everyone and attack Ella. The monster was hell-bent on devouring the little girl. ¡°No!¡± screamed Elisa, deeply afraid for her child. It was impossible for her to react in any other way at that moment. Like before, Ella just stood there with a blank expression. In front of her was a massive reptile, eager to kill. Just before the creature could take a bite, Ella¡¯s eyes turned fairly cold. With a simple side step, she avoided the fatal-looking attack. Clenching her hand on the sword¡¯s handle, she decapitated the reaper in one clean move. Kicking the enormous body dozens of meters away, Ella turned towards the next closest monster. Swiftly and with great precision, she threw the sword. The weapon pierced the reaper¡¯s eye and got stuck in its skull. Like the wind, Ella pounced upon her opponent. Pulling out the sword, her body started spinning in midair. With each spin, a new slash appeared on the monster¡¯s body. In the blink of an eye, the reaper was hacked beyond recognition. Not losing any of the momentum, she continued towards the next target. The creature opened its mouth wide, wanting to swallow her whole. A flurry of slashes turned the monster¡¯s head into multiple small pieces. Jumping on its corpse, Ella propelled her body high in the air. The force exerted by her jump flattened the reaper¡¯s body to the ground. Ella was tens of meters up in the air. Raising her hand, she threw the sword yet again. The fourth reaper had its head nailed to the ground almost instantly. He was not so lucky as his mate and died on the spot. Doing a few front-flips in the air, Ella landed next to her sword. Pulling the weapon out, she slashed to the side, all the blood present on the cold steel flying to the ground, leaving behind a clean blade. While looking at the corpse in front, still twitching, her serious face turned to a very weird smile. Ella¡¯s entire body was covered in blood, making her appear quite fearsome. Her height of around one meter and fifty centimeters made her look relatively inconspicuous and harmless; something utterly false taking into consideration what just happened. The other three reapers were already killed. Everyone stared flabbergasted at Ella, at a loss for words. Elisa was the first one to rush towards the girl. ¡°Are you alright, sweetheart?¡± Ella¡¯s face turned to normal: ¡°I¡¯m alright. I hope you guys are not too mad that I had more fun than you.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Fun?¡± Elisa made half a smile then continued: ¡°It¡¯s alright, darling. You can have all the fun that you want, but please be very careful not to get hurt. Do you understand?¡± Ella smiled sweetly: ¡°I understand.¡± ¡®What the hell did I just witness?¡¯ thought Rebeca, feeling jealous to a certain extent. Part of those moves were taught by her. Normally, she should have been able to execute them herself without any trouble. In spite of this, she didn¡¯t; the reason being that she was too afraid of suffering any injuries, or even dying. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ ¡°Rest ten minutes, then continue,¡± said Elisa, breathing a bit in relief. While everyone was resting, Ella got to a reaper¡¯s corpse and started to cut it into pieces. ¡°What are you doing?!¡± asked Rebeca in a displeased tone. Ella completely ignored her, continuing with what she was doing. ¡°Hey! I asked you, what are you doing!?¡± Unbeknownst to her, or maybe intentionally, Rebeca¡¯s way of speaking was very rude. At this time, Ella collected a small red gem from the monster¡¯s carcass. Putting it in her backpack, she continued to ignore Rebeca, and did the same with the rest of the monsters, except the one Rebeca killed. Elisa¡¯s eyes turned chilly. She barely controlled herself not to strangle Rebeca with her bare hands. Talking like that to her child, and even in front of her, was simply asking for a beating. ¡®This is not the place to act rashly.¡¯ She said that, but tolerating such behavior had a limit. ¡°Alright! Let¡¯s move out!¡± The enormous tree, at which they agreed to meet up, was getting closer and closer. It was the tallest tree around, at a height of around one thousand meters. An imposing view no matter how many times one saw it. The group moved as fast as possible without attracting too much attention, and without losing vigilance. After being a few hundred meters away from the tree trunk, another group of reapers made its appearance. This time there were only five reapers. An opponent for each one of them. ¡°Attack!¡± Taking the initiative, the girls dashed towards their enemies. Unlike the previous times, their temperament was a lot more composed. A big reason for that was Ella. Her confident actions made them realize that they were stronger than they really thought. Surviving at such a distance away from the city was possible. The reapers had no chance, and were quickly dispatched. This time, everyone dug out the monster¡¯s core from their kill. Seeing them do that, Ella laughed slightly. Coming in front of the tree trunk, everyone looked up. It was an intimidating, and terrifying sight for those afraid of heights. ¡°We must climb at least up to that branch to be able to avoid certain monsters,¡± said Elisa while pointing up in the air towards a thick branch, at a height of about three hundred meters. Mara and Nora gulped, and said at the same time: ¡°I don¡¯t think I can do this.¡± Elisa frowned: ¡°I understand. There is no need then, I will carry you. Just hold tight onto me and close your eyes.¡± Mara got on her mother¡¯s back, trying to contain her nervousness. ¡°What about you, Ella?¡± Ella grinned: ¡°I¡¯m not scared. Though, it¡¯s a pity that we don¡¯t go to the top.¡± ¡°Then I will carry Nora, and we can all climb together,¡± alleged Rebeca. Nora made a peculiar expression, curving towards Ella: ¡°I want you to carry me, Ella¡­.¡± It was a bland statement that she did not trust Rebeca. Ella was a little surprised, but agreed happily. ¡°Sure, hop on!¡± Nora glued herself to Ella¡¯s back. It was a little strange since she was twenty centimeters taller, but manageable. Ella went backwards a few dozen meters. Pausing for a moment, she asked Nora in a rather serious tone: ¡°Nora, do you trust me?¡± ¡°Of course, I trust you!¡± the answer was direct and sincere. ¡°Then prove it by not closing your eyes while we climb to the top of the tree.¡± ¡°The top of the tree?!¡± gasped Nora, swallowing her saliva. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Do it!¡± said Nora with resolution, albeit trembling. After witnessing her little sister killing those reapers with so much skill, her image grew immensely in Nora¡¯s heart. Furthermore, being afraid of heights in such a place where climbing trees was the safest way of living could prove to be fatal. She didn¡¯t want to be a burden to her family, thus using this chance to maybe lessen her phobia was worth a try. In the next instant, she felt the wind wheezing in her ears, while the images in her peripheral vision turned somewhat blurry. Ella charged towards the tree at full speed. Using the momentum, she ran upwards tens of meters before grabbing to the thick tree bark. Her sister¡¯s weight wasn¡¯t an impediment at all for her current monstrous strength. With great agility, Ella propelled herself, as well as Nora, higher and higher. It was an absolute blast. Having front seats at such a trip, Nora¡¯s lips turned considerably violet. She was extremely afraid, but her eyes were opened wide the whole process, barely even blinking. In a short time they reached the tree top. The tree¡¯s design was in such a way that the top wasn¡¯t pointed, but rather pretty broad, with some room for movement. Arriving at that place felt incredible. Everything could be seen in another light. Splendid beyond what words could express. ¡°This is not so bad as I thought,¡± said Nora while getting down from Ella¡¯s back, standing there on her own. All of a sudden, a large amount of her fear dissipated into nothing. Chapter 30: Peculiar occurrence Gorn was slaughtering spiders with greater and greater efficiency. The power he had was by no means small, however, it was barely sufficient when taking into account the whole thing. A good example was his current prey. Some of the spiders that were crawling on the ground could kill him fairly easy. The reason he was alive was the fact that those beasts could not fly, and their intelligence was lacking. This aspect wasn¡¯t the same for all monsters. Furthermore, some situations required a more direct approach, making him lose some of the hard advantages possessed. Taking into consideration the speed of his improvement, then it was good so far. What was worrying, though, was the uncertainty of the next day. ¡®Should I go back to the city and check things up?¡¯ thought Gorn while resting. His original plan was to stay at least a month before doing that. ¡®But then again, if things are going south, do I have the necessary power to act accordingly?¡¯ It wasn¡¯t an easy decision. In the end, Gorn stuck to his original plan. As a quick fix, he sped things up a little bit. After a few days without any incidents whatsoever, he relaxed, totally falling asleep for the first time since coming into the wilds. After an unknown amount of time, Gorn felt very odd. It was like being submerged in some kind of viscous liquid. ¡®Shit! Was I attacked by a spider or some kind of monster?¡¯ He tried to open his eyes. It should have been very simple, but for whatever reason it was incredibly hard to do it. ¡®What is happening?!¡¯ Using a great extent of his willpower, Gorn finally managed to do it. His eyelids trembled, and his eyes opened slowly. Everything was hazy, and very unclear. He had no idea what was happening. Gorn¡¯s heart started to beat faster and faster. This was a serious situation, which could easily result in his death. ¡®Right, I can just teleport away¡­.¡¯ Teleporting to an unknown place was also dangerous, but Gorn thought that it couldn¡¯t get any worse than that. Having set his mind to resort to such an option, Gorn did it. Or at least he tried to do it. His blink did not activate, nor could he use fire or anything else. ¡®I can¡¯t use my skills?!!¡¯ Adrenaline started to kick in. Using every ounce of power that he could muster, Gorn tried to move his body. The results were extremely poor. No matter how hard he tried, or what modality he used, Gorn could only slightly budge his arms and legs. A feeling of panic and helplessness was drawing closer and closer. All the effort used brought forward an unbearable headache. As the pain got more intense, he wanted to scream his lungs out, but his mouth was tightly shut. When everything seemed lost, Gorn sprung to his feet. He was still in the same place where he previously fell asleep. No traces of any monsters or something amiss could be seen. ¡®Was that just a nightmare?!¡¯ His body was drenched in sweat, and part of that unbearable pain took over yet again. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. This time, Gorn started to scream in pain and tremble uncontrollably for a few moments. Thankfully, the intense pain lasted only for a short time before turning bearable. Without much delay, Gorn blinked to the skies. The commotion he just caused was bound to bring trouble to that area. ¡®What was that?!!¡¯ shouted Gorn inside his mind, deeply afraid. He was extremelly confused, having no idea what the issue might be. . . . Ella and Nora admired the beautiful scenery for a few moments, then decided to go back down. Worrying the others too much wasn¡¯t their intention. ¡°Should I try to get down on my own?¡± asked Nora while gulping. ¡°Not yet; you will do that after some more practice, no need to rush,¡± said Ella while signalling for her sister to get on her back. ¡®My little sister grew up so much¡­,¡¯ thought Nora, feeling very proud of her sibling. Going down was way harder than going up, but everything seemed to be under control. Nothing bad happened. While Elisa was ready to go up after them, she saw the girls coming down. Nora¡¯s face was visibly more at ease than it was at the start of all this, a detail Elisa did not omit. Ella landed on the solid branch everyone else was already on. Seeing her mother come towards her, she was mentally prepared for being scolded harshly. Nora got in front while saying with a resolute face: ¡°It was me who told her to do it. I¡¯m responsible.¡± She was adamant in taking all the blame to herself. Ella wanted to say something, but Elisa raised her hand to stop her. ¡°How confident were you in doing this without anything bad happening?¡± she simply asked. ¡°One hundred percent.¡± Prompt and without any hesitation. Elisa smiled mysteriously at Ella¡¯s confident response: ¡°I understand. Go get some rest now.¡± The girls were pleasantly surprised for not being scolded. With wide smiles, they went to rest. Mara rushed towards them, asking tons of questions. The three sisters started to chat happily among themselves, a great deal of stress fading away. A few minutes later, Rebeca came to Elisa and asked her in a quiet manner: ¡°In case Gorn doesn¡¯t come in one month, what will we do then?¡± Elisa paused for a second, then answered: ¡°I already have a plan for that situation.¡± ¡°What plan?¡± ¡°Now it¡¯s not the time to talk about this. I will tell you later.¡± Rebeca boiled with curiosity: ¡°I want to know now, tell me!¡± ¡°I said I will tell you later.¡± Elisa¡¯s patience was growing thinner and thinner. ¡°Come on! Tell me! Tell me!¡± Rebeca¡¯s way of speaking was very informal and tiresome. Her voice was now loud, making the initial silent approach pointless. Everything started to build up, and Elisa could not endure it anymore. She slapped Rebeca squarely in the face, sending her away at least ten meters. ¡°Will you shut the fuck up already?!¡± Rebeca could not believe what was happening. With a face full of rage, she wanted to immediately get up and strike back. Right before doing that, she saw Ella appear twenty meters above her. ¡®Shit!¡¯ She quickly dodged to the side. In her previous spot was now Ella¡¯s sword, which was deeply sunk into the sturdy tree trunk. ¡°Are you trying to fucking kill me?!¡± If she was a tad slower, her head would now be nailed to the tree. Ella landed. She stared at Rebeca with the same eyes she stared at those reapers she killed. It was like Rebeca wasn¡¯t even considered as a human in her eyes. A cold shiver went down Rebeca''s spine, deleting any prior intention of attacking back. Mara and Nora quickly came to their sister¡¯s side, Nora even giving her own sword to Ella just in case. Elisa felt a headache coming. ¡°Enough! Everyone go rest. We will talk about this tomorrow.¡± ¡®Her daughter almost killed me, and everything she says is to go and rest?!¡¯ thought Rebeca, feeling very dissatisfied. ¡°Whatever¡­,¡± said Rebeca while going into a more distant spot, sitting down. The worst case scenario was avoided for the time being. With each passing hour, Rebeca started to realize what a great mistake she did, and how foolish she acted. Regret came at her in waves, especially when seeing Ella¡¯s cold gaze that was directed towards her every time she looked in their direction. Chapter 31: Big changes inside the city Back at the city, everything was already over. A new power was officially in control. This time it was a single person which was responsible for everyone. That person was none other than Commander Norman. Big changes were implemented right away. People were now basically divided into two parts. Those with a power level of above three hundred, and the rest. Every means available were used to implement new things. Right from the start, a big number of people were forcefully taken to special prepared or improvised workplaces. Almost anyone who dared to have any objections was killed on the spot. Every single person with a decent power level was either on Norman¡¯s side, either killed or brainwashed into working. There were, of course, people that managed to escape into the mountains. As things went, resistance was now futile. With each passing minute, more people were killed or sent towards different kinds of labor. In short, the city slowly turned into a work camp; where people had no rights to complain whatsoever. They had to be now content with just necessities while following orders. After a few days. A group of people were now gathered together inside a big hall. They were furiously hammering monster cores, turning them to smaller and smaller pieces. Their jobs were to smash those hard gems into fine powder. A very rough and long process. Among these people were a few familiar faces. Lora, her mother Amelia, and Lora¡¯s bigger sister Emma. Amelia¡¯s once luxurious appearance was now nowhere to be seen. Her face was full of sweat while she was furiously hammering at a monster core. ¡®Andrew, you poor husband, why did you have to die?¡¯ Tears fell down incessantly from her eyes. Her face looked rather twisted, suggesting more anger than sorrow. Her husband¡¯s death was unfair, a nameless guard using him as an example to scare other people; the reason being something insignificant. ¡®You fucking useless husband! Why did I have to marry someone so useless?!!¡¯ the hammer in her hand smashed the red monster core with ever-growing hate. In just a few measly days, her extravagant lifestyle plummeted into the abyss. Working like a slave for more than sixteen hours a day, coupled with very poor conditions, was not easy. Especially for people which were used to an ostentatious lifestyle. Right at this exact moment, someone threw his hammer to the ground and started to run, with the intention of escaping. The poor individual managed to run for a few meters before his headless corpse fell to the ground. A very gruesome scene to behold. ¡°If you want better conditions, then work harder. Maybe in a few years you will manage to obtain a little more food, and a better room.¡± After saying those words, the guard started to laugh like an idiot. ¡°Or maybe you can come under my wing, I¡¯ll be sure to take ¡®proper¡¯ care of you.¡± Great emphasis was put on the word ¡®proper¡¯. Licking his lips, the guard looked at Amelia and her two daughters. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Seeing the guard¡¯s lustful gaze, Amelia wanted to use that hammer and bash his head in. Unfortunately, doing such a thing was impossible with her inferior power. She already thought of using her beautiful appearance to get out of such a situation; after all, her former marriage was not out of love. Despite that, she had a bottom line, and a few strict rules in doing so. Just looking at that guard made her want to vomit. ¡®If that pig is the only option, might as well spend my entire life working like a fucking slave,¡¯ thought Amelia. Glancing at her daughters, she felt a huge amount of pain in her heart. While the guard had a lustful gaze, he did not dare to force himself on them. The reason for that were Norman¡¯s rules. Children, elderly people, pregnant women and a few other categories were also under special rules. It wasn¡¯t anything extravagant, but decent nonetheless. The new city ruler had a bottom line as well. A bottom line he enforced with terror. If any person went past that, he would personally investigate and torture the individual in front of everyone else. Such a case happened in the first day. Norman skinned the said individual very slowly, before cutting him up to a hundred pieces with his sword. His old men were already aware of his personality, but the new recruits had to learn the hard way. This action had a great effect. Furthermore, a few of his selected men could be seen patrolling the city, eyes wide open for any special rules being ignored. Their job was solely to keep under order the other guards and powerful people that were under Norman, and absolutely nothing else. Their power was top-notch, and their equipment of the best quality. Amelia suddenly thought about Gorn, her face turning somewhat brighter. ¡®He will definitely come to save Lora, right? I must be sure not to lose such a chance and¡­¡¯ Lora¡¯s face was rather blank. She was very saddened by her father¡¯s death, and her inability to do anything. Her future also looked bleak. ¡®I¡¯m young, beautiful and talented. My extraordinary life was just beginning. It¡¯s not possible for me to be stuck in such a situation, right?¡¯ With each passing moment being still there, Lora was closer and closer towards a mental breakdown. Her sister had the same thoughts, only worse. . . . Back into the wilderness, Ella was busy teaching her sisters how to climb, and get over their fear of heights, while also having fun in the process. Elisa joined them a few times. As for Rebeca, she was sitting some distance away. She was in quite a sorry state. ¡®Should I run?¡¯ thought Rebeca. ¡®But what if encounter any monsters? Wouldn¡¯t that be the same as forfeiting my life?¡¯ She went through various possible options, trying to find a suitable response for everything that happened. Gorn¡¯s existence and his special potion turned to a curse that was haunting her. ¡®Even if I escape, wouldn¡¯t Gorn come after me to make sure I don¡¯t tell anyone about his secret?¡¯ The worries and the stress started to make her think only of the worst possible scenarios. In the end, she found a solution. Coming in front of the other girls, Rebeca got on her knees and shouted: ¡°I was wrong, please forgive me! I will never do it again!¡± This was the only safe solution she could think of. Doing such a thing was not easy. Seeing the other person¡¯s fear and submission brought a very bizarre feeling inside Elisa¡¯s heart. She liked it. ¡°Do you understand that I¡¯m not your fucking buddy, but your boss?¡± Rebeca trembled slightly, then answered without daring to delay: ¡°Yes, m¡¯am!¡± ¡°Good. Now fuck off from my face, and stay silent until you receive new orders.¡± ¡°Yes m¡¯am!¡± Rebeca did not dare to act frivolous anymore. Getting up, she went some distance away before resting. While doing so, she caught a glimpse of the other person¡¯s expression. Elisa¡¯s face contorted into a weird grin; she took great pleasure in what just happened. Rebeca shuddered while not daring to look anymore: ¡®Crazy! These bitches are fucking crazy!¡¯ Chapter 32: System upgrades to level 2 Gorn resumed his hunting session. Whatever happened to him before was a mystery. The way he acted at that time was not to his liking. ¡®I must not panic no matter what happens. Fear and panic should be discarded as fast as possible in any situation,¡¯ thought Gorn while throwing a blue fireball at a nearby den of spiders. He wanted to become a better version of himself, not a coward or a person that gives up during harsh times. It took him some time to cement this way of thinking deep down his brain. Being able to overcome some difficulties was no easy feat, but no matter what happened, despair was out of the question. With each passing day, the overall situation settled down. The city returned to a more quiet state. The majority of the people conformed with the new changes. At least, openly. The options available to them were rather bad. Those who were weaker could not survive outside the city, while those with a decent power level either had families, either chose to remain for whatever reason. Those with a power level above three hundred formed groups and went to hunt monsters for their cores. The rest were responsible for handling those cores and various other resource in different ways. Some types of jobs, however, remained the same. The reason for that was simple. No matter the power or the regime, everyone needed someone to clean, someone to cook, and so on. The big difference now was that people could not own almost anything, nor had they any free time except the minimum required. Their lives were now ordered by someone else, a large portion of their freedom being non-existent at the present. It was miserable beyond words. Despite that, hope was still strong among many. Like how Norman suddenly came with his people, then one day, it was definitely possible for his place to be taken by someone else; hopefully, a better person. Elisa with her group also settled down, no more incidents happening. The situation was, nonetheless, still pretty awkward. . . . Approximately a month was already over. For some, this period of time was pure nightmare, while for others it was decent, or even better than before. Even though it would have been moderately easy to catch all the people that left the city, and were now living in the proximity, Norman did not do it. Various groups formed in different places. Here, there were no guards nor any kind of law or bottom lines. The stronger individuals did whatever they wanted. Such a behavior made some of the runaways return to the city on their own volition. They gladly got to work in exchange for some food and protection. A dog with decent conditions or a wolf, almost always hungry and hunted, but free. Some had the option to choose, while some did not. Creatures killed: 1000/1000 Mission complete! Auto farming system (Lvl1) has been upgraded to Lvl2. ¡°Finally!¡± exclaimed Gorn, face full of excitement. ¡°Let¡¯s see what new changes there are. Status!¡± Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl2): 10/15 targets. Power level: 1000 Abilities(7/10): Regeneration(Lvl2); Fast learner(Lvl2); Blink(Lvl3); Air steps(Lvl4); Fire manipulation(Lvl4); Fire control(Lvl2); Fire resistance(Lvl5) Equipment: Black sword; Leather armor; Shop (Lvl2) Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Inventory: 50 cubic meters Current Gold: 700,000 Current Missions: None Tip: You can now actively take part in the fights while using the command ¡®Enter the auto farming system!¡¯ Caution: Whilst being in this space, your body will be left without any defense, so precaution is required before entering. Two days inside is equivalent to one day outside. Seeing that he could now have three supplementary skills brought enormous joy. Gorn read everything with maximum attention. The ability to fight himself rather than leaving it on autopilot was a nice change. A change that could allow him to both gain precious fighting experience and eventually challenge stronger opponents. His inventory increased dramatically, providing ample space to store huge amounts of precious resources. A very handy feature to have no matter where you went. An addition of five more potential targets was also pleasant. Conversely, the most anticipated upgrade was the shop. Gorn was nearly trembling with excitement as he said: ¡°Shop!¡± Power up potion (Lvl1): +10 power. Cost: 1000 gold. Limit: Can increase power to a maximum level of one thousand. Power up potion (Lvl2): +10 power. Limit: Can increase power to a maximum level of one thousand and five hundred. Cost: 100,000 gold. Skill slot (2/2): Two extra skill slots can be bought. Cost per slot: 25,000,000 gold. Talent improving potion (Lvl1): Increase talent from low to medium. Cost: 1,000,000 gold. Talent improving potion (Lvl2): Increase talent from medium to high. Cost: 5,000,000 gold. Talent improving potion (Lvl3): Increase talent from high to epic. Cost: 50,000,000 gold. Storage ring (Lvl1): Can store up to five cubic meters worth of stuff. Cost: 1,000,000 gold. Teleportation scroll (Lvl1): When broken, it teleports you towards a desired direction, one kilometer away. Cost: 100,000 gold. Traveler¡¯s house (Lvl1): A portable house that can adjust its size from ten square meters up to one hundred. Luxurious item that brings a great deal of comfort, and protection when being on the road. Effect: Stealth (Lvl*); Durability (Lvl**); Regeneration (Lvl*). Monster cores can be used to speed up the regeneration of the building. Cost: 10,000,000 gold. Leather armor (Lvl1): A normal piece of armor with decent protection. Cost: 1000 gold. Leather armor (Lvl2): An improved version of the normal leather armor. Cost: 10,000 gold. Leather armor (Lvl3): Exquisite piece of armor that combines protection with lightness. Cost: 100,000 gold. Leather armor (Lvl4): One of the finest leather armors. Made from extraordinary materials that bring forth a special effect. Resistance to elements +25%. Cost: 1,000,000 gold. Cloth armor (Lvl1): Offers very little protection. Special effects: Wind resistance(passive); Energy regeneration +20%. Cost: 1,000,000 gold Heavy armor (Lvl1): Made from the finest steel. Extremely durable against physical attacks. Heavy, and movement restrictive. Cost: 700,000 gold. Black sword (Lvl1): Sharp sword made from low-quality black steel. Cost: 500 gold. Black sword (Lvl2): Sharp sword made from top quality black steel. Cost: 10,000 gold. Black sword (Lvl3): Sharp sword made from the finest quality black steel. Cost: 100,000 gold. Reaper¡¯s scythe (Lvl1): A weird looking weapon used for mass murder. Effect: Absorbs blood to sharpen and repair itself. Cost: 500,000 gold. Short bow (Lvl1): Good quality short bow. Cost: 10,000 gold. Long bow (Lvl1): Used to snipe enemies from afar. Power level required to fully draw the string line: five hundred. Cost: 300,000 gold. Arrow (Lvl1): Normal arrow. Cost: 1 gold. Arrow (Lvl2): Top quality steel arrow. Cost: 100 gold. Skill level-up voucher (Lvl1): This can increase the level of a skill. Only works on level-one skills. Cost: 5000 gold Skill level-up voucher (Lvl2): ---level two to level three. Cost: 20,000 gold. Skill level-up voucher (Lvl3): ---level three to level four. Cost: 100,000 gold. Skill level-up voucher (Lvl4): ---level four to level five. Cost: 200,000 gold. Skill level-up voucher (Lvl5): ---level five to level six. Cost: 300,000 gold. Skill level-up voucher (Lvl6): ---level six to level seven. Cost: 500,000 gold. Skill level-up voucher (Lvl7): ---level seven to level eight. Cost: 600,000 gold. Skill level-up voucher (Lvl8): ---level eight to level nine. Cost: 700,000 gold. Skill level-up voucher (Lvl9): ---level nine to level *. Cost: 5,000,000 gold. Healing potion (Lvl1): Can speed up the recovery of the body. Cost: 100 gold. Healing potion (Lvl2): Top quality potion that heals the physical injuries. Cost: 10,000 gold. Healing potion (Lvl3): Can cure a vast number of poisons. Cost: 100,000 gold. Gorn took in a mouthful of fresh air. There was a lot to process. A bunch of useful items appeared abruptly. Everything seemed useful, and he wanted to buy them all. The prices, though, were astronomical. Even with the new five available slots, and on maximum efficiency, gathering gold for some of the new stuff would take him years. Just as he was thinking of this problem, a new message appeared. New available mission: Hunter> kill five adult reapers. Reward: 1,000,000 gold. Chapter 33: Returning ¡°What should I buy first?¡± Gorn had some available gold. It wasn¡¯t anyway near enough to get the good stuff, nonetheless, his power could be improved to a certain degree. This could be effective immediately. Improving his raw power or leveling up some of his skills was a good way to start. ¡°Raw power or skills?¡± Currently, Gorn considered the ¡®blink¡¯ skill, his most useful ability. It provided a stealthy, and efficient way of moving around, as well as a great way of escaping danger. His other powers were also very useful, albeit a little less important than this one. First things first, Gorn used three hundred thousand gold to bring his level three ¡®blink¡¯ to level five. In the next moment, two small pieces of paper appeared in his hand. On the paper were a few small words written. Skill level up voucher (Lvl3): rip to use. After ripping apart the paper, available skills for upgrade were listed. Very simple to use. Gorn used both of them straight away. Blink (Lvl5): You can blink up to a distance of five hundred meters in any direction you want. Can teleport together with you, anything that does not exceed a weight of five hundred kilograms. The bigger the distance, and the heavier the weight, the more energy is consumed. Gorn grinned. At this point, he could travel faster by blinking than by using his current full raw power. He had enough gold to upgrade the skill once more, but he did not do that. Instead, he bought four power up potions, which he drank right away. +10 power! +10 power! +10 power! +10 power! The feeling was, as always; simply amazing. ¡°Status!¡± Name: Gorn Talent: Low Auto farming system (Lvl2): 10/15 targets. Power level: 1040 Abilities(7/10): Regeneration(Lvl2); Fast learner(Lvl2); Blink(Lvl5); Air steps(Lvl4); Fire manipulation(Lvl4); Fire control(Lvl2); Fire resistance(Lvl5) Equipment: Black sword; Leather armor; Shop (Lvl2) Inventory: 50 cubic meters Current Gold: o gold Current Missions: 1). Hunter With that being done, Gorn decided to return to the city. Using his improved blink, and the ability to step on air, traveling was now a real pleasure as well as very efficient. He could teleport to either a place he set his sight on, either towards a certain direction, in a random empty spot. The distance could be adjusted to any length he wanted. In a short amount of time, Gorn traversed a great distance. Even though there wasn¡¯t any real obstacle in his way, a level of safety was not ignored. Next on the menu was to acquire three more skills, as well as complete the total number of targets available in his system. Stealth and durability were two skills he deemed as a good choice. As for the third, he was still not sure. Suddenly, he stopped. ¡°The spiders have two interesting skills¡­¡± During his month he analyzed quite a few of spiders. Their signature skills were ¡®web creation¡¯ and ¡®poison¡¯. The stronger the spider, the higher the level of these skills. The traveler¡¯s house was a good option as a safe place when resting or when using the new feature to intervene in the system¡¯s fights. While he didn¡¯t try it yet, it plainly said that his body would be vulnerable during that time. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°What if I use the web creation skill to secure myself a safe spot?¡± The house was way too expensive for his current funds, so he thought of using the web creation skill to make himself a nest similar to those of the spiders he has slain. He knew very well that such a method was very vulnerable to fire. But then again, using certain levels of heat was not effective. Except for Lora, her mother, and the fire fox, he didn¡¯t know anyone with a fire skill. Furthermore, he had the fire resistance skill. ¡°I must find out a few more details.¡± Gorn was curious if in the case of someone attacking him, and causing him pain, would he notice, or would he wake up from the system¡¯s space or whatever it was. In that case, if his web den caught fire, that could be some sort of alarm for him. Dying by burning up was not very likely considering all the aspects involved. Just like that, one of the weaknesses could turn into a powerful alarm system, and as a cover for a sneak attack or escaping. What was scarier, was in fact being stabbed in the vitals, areas such as the heart, neck or the head. In that case, death would be hard to avoid. It seemed like a good safety measure, so Gorn decided to try it out. That, however, had to wait some more time. Getting the monster with the highest level of skills was desired. That way, he would save a reasonable amount of gold. To do that, he needed to at least have the maximum level of power available through using the potions, as well as getting himself a decent weapon. With that being said, Gorn resumed his journey. The closer he got to the city, the more people he noticed inside the wilderness. ¡°Why are there so many people outside?¡± Quickly changing direction, Gorn appeared on a tree branch, beside a small group of people. A few men and a few women, some of them possessing pretty ugly injuries. The motive for that was a group of wolves that were currently circling around the tree, angry that their prey escaped. ¡°Who are you?!¡± His sudden appearance startled the others. One man, who seemed like the leader, came in front to confront him. Gorn quickly analyzed the man, as well as the rest of them. His power level was below five hundred, and the best among the lot. ¡°Relax, I have no intentions to harm you in any way,¡± said Gorn while adopting a non-aggressive posture. The man let out a breath of relief, however, his vigilance was still there. Only an idiot would completely trust a stranger. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not important who I am. I want to know why are you so far away from the city with your low level of power. It doesn¡¯t look to me that you just want to die.¡± The man took a more defensive posture: ¡°Weak? We are not weak at all.¡± Gorn blinked in front of the man while grabbing him by the neck. Snapping the person¡¯s neck was but an easy task. ¡°You are wasting my precious time. Speak quickly, or I will throw you to the wolves.¡± Using overwhelming force brought immediate results. The man quickly started to tell everything that he knew. Gorn let him go, while at the same time threw a few healing potions towards him. ¡°Here are a few healing potions as a reward,¡± after saying those words, Gorn disappeared from their sight. This kind of action made everyone tremble in fright. Healing potions were not uncommon inside the city. There were multiple options with a variety of potency. Even if the simplest healing potion that the system offered could not compare to a high quality healing option made by alchemists, it was still efficient. Gorn had a high number of them in his inventory. That small group of people left the city in the first days after Norman took over the leadership. Gorn found out that commander Norman was now in charge of the city, as well as the fact that he imposed very strict rules on the inhabitants. Everyone¡¯s condition was unknown. Just as formerly planned in case of emergencies, he went directly towards their meeting point outside the city. ¡°After using those power-up potions, the girls should have been able to reach that place. Hopefully, nothing bad happened to them.¡± After some time, Gorn could finally see the said tree far away into the distance. It was the moment of truth. He helped them as much as he could. At this point, some things could be done only by them personally. Being all the time by their side was not an available option. If something bad happened to them, it was outside his abilities. Chapter 34: Making some things clear Gorn finally reached his destination. After investigating the area, he soon found what he was looking for. All five girls were safe and sound, without any injuries whatsoever. ¡°Good to see you!¡± said Gorn from afar. Like always, Ella was the first to rush towards his direction. She jumped off the tree without hesitation. Gorn caught her with ease. Tousling her long hair, he smiled. Seeing some people, after an entire month of time spent entirely in the company of monsters, was very pleasant. ¡°Next time, please take me with you, idling around is too boring,¡± protested Ella. ¡°We¡¯ll talk about that later.¡± Blinking, Gorn appeared on the tree. Putting Ella down, he asked: ¡°How are you?¡± ¡°Welcome back. We are all fine. Good to see that you are also in one piece.¡± Gorn was very happy, seeing that nothing bad happened to them, and that their little plan was successful. ¡°While I expected things would go south, I didn¡¯t think it would happen so fast,¡± said Gorn while at the same time took out multiple bottles of water, delicious food, and a few snacks. ¡°Please, take whatever you want.¡± The girls had been through a period of fasting, and the food Gorn took out looked rather appetizing. All of them started to wolf down, greatly enjoying the feast. If he didn¡¯t show up for a few more days, Elisa was planning on getting down the tree, to search for food and water. Rebeca previously asked what was her plan, but that was a foolish question. It was only reasonable that they had to look for basic resources before anything else. After everyone finished eating, Gorn spoke again: ¡°Tell me everything that happened.¡± ¡°Thank you for the food. Things are like this¡­¡± Elisa told him what they experienced. It was actually less information than what Gorn found out from the stranger he met shortly before arriving here. The reason for that was simple, Elisa left earlier, and did not know much. ¡°I see¡­ Your decision to leave was the good one. I met a few people on my way here that left later than you did. They told me that new, bizarre rules were announced, rules that turned everyone into some kind of slaves, greatly restricting people¡¯s freedom. Of course, I will have to investigate further for a more close to the truth answer.¡± The girls made a weird face. ¡°But why do such a thing?¡± asked the twins, somewhat puzzled. Gorn smiled slightly: ¡°Simple. Because he can, and because that¡¯s what he wants.¡± His answer was weird, but that straightforward logic could not be contested. ¡°Of course, you must also take into account the consequences of your actions.¡± ¡°What would be the consequences of killing another human being?¡± asked Ella suddenly, startling everyone except Gorn. Gorn was also surprised by the odd question, but if he knew what happened between all of them, he would be even more surprised. ¡°Darling, don¡¯t bother Gorn with such silly questions. What should we do now, since going back to the city is no longer an option? ¡± Elisa tried to divert that subject with another important topic. Rebeca made an unsightly expression. Just by looking at her dramatic expression, one could tell that something was way off. Gorn let out an inward sight. ¡®It would have been too good for everything to be alright¡­¡¯ ¡°Human lives are very important, you can¡¯t kill them easily. Just imagine someone killing you for something trivial, or for no reason at all. How would that feel? It would be very painful and sad. Furthermore, everyone has somebody that cares for them. Those people would be devastated in such a situation. What do you say? Makes sense what I¡¯m saying?¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Ella was deep in thought. After a few moments, she answered: ¡°It makes sense.¡± ¡°Good girl! What do you say, want to come with me for a short walk?¡± Ella¡¯s eyes brightened: ¡°I want!¡± Taking her hand, both of them disappeared. No one tried to stop them. In his absence, everything turned quiet. ¡°Can you tell me what happened when I was away?¡± Gorn was walking on air, high above the tree. Ella was on his back, completely enjoying the experience. ¡°Some time after you left, we¡­¡± Ella told him what happened in great detail. She was very talkative in his presence, doing so was no problem. Gorn listened carefully. His expression switched multiple times in the span of a few minutes. ¡°That¡¯s pretty much everything that I remember,¡± said Ella, being very sincere. ¡°Facing those reapers was very brave of you. Nicely done!¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t hard at all.¡± ¡°Stepping up to protect your mother when you saw Rebeca intending to attack her was also a good decision, however, trying to kill her was wrong. It¡¯s not right to kill someone just for that. Usually, for someone to get killed, they must first do some horrible things. For example, if someone kills others, it¡¯s very probable that he will also get killed. It¡¯s a little more complicated, but I don¡¯t wish for you to kill anyone.¡± Gorn was sad to find out that Ella went through such drastic changes at such an age. All of this was because of him. He was directly responsible for her; after all, he was the one that made her physically so powerful. On the other hand, allowing her to get stronger was also a way to help her survive. Both options were rather complicated. ¡°I understand that killing is bad, no matter the reason. It¡¯s just that, at that time, I acted based on my instincts, not thinking things through. Sorry to make you worry about me, I promise I will be extra careful in the future,¡± replied Ella earnestly. Gorn was pleasantly surprised by her answer. ¡°Great! If you encounter any difficulties, you can always come to me. Every problem has a solution, so we will figure something out no matter what.¡± Talking with her, and explaining some things, was the right thing to do. Ella needed someone to guide her through these harsh changes; at least until she became mature enough to know exactly what she wanted, and to be responsible for her own actions. Gorn spent some more time together with Ella, giving her good advices. In a way, it was pretty hard, since he knew that his behavior was far from what was supposed to be good. Bringing Ella back, Gorn looked towards Rebeca. ¡°I want to talk to you in private.¡± Rebeca gulped: ¡°Sure, no problem!¡± She was very anxious. A few moments later, both of them were on top of the tree. ¡°I want to hear your version of what happened,¡± said Gorn in an even tone. ¡®So it has come to this after all¡­¡¯ She told him her version of things, not daring to lie. While her way of telling was different from Ella¡¯s, the things she said were approximately the same. ¡°First of all, Ella trying to kill you was something very wrong, I understand that, and took some actions in that regard.¡± Rebeca was very surprised by his answer. In her mind, she was expecting only the worst outcome. ¡°Thank you!¡± ¡°Now, please answer me a question. How must a kid act and talk in front of someone older than them? What is common sense?¡± ¡°He¡­ He must be respectful towards them.¡± Gorn¡¯s face turned more serious: ¡°Exactly. That, however, doesn¡¯t mean that all the people older than you deserve your respect. Some people are stupid regardless of their age.¡± Rebeca became confused. ¡°What if someone do you a great favor? How will you treat the friends of such a person when he is not around? What is common sense?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Gorn tried his best not to lose his cool. ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± said Rebeca, not daring to look into his eyes. ¡°Answer the question, please,¡± said Gorn in a low voice. ¡°You must be respectful to them¡­¡± Gorn started to clap: ¡°Good! Very good! That wasn¡¯t so hard, was it? Now, if you only had some of that common sense in that head of yours, then nothing bad would have happened. YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE SHIT!¡± His voice became louder, and mixed with anger. ¡°I gave you a great gift, and in return you had to teach the girls how to fight, and protect them when necessary. I didn¡¯t expect from you to risk your life for them, or turn them into warriors overnight. No, what I expected was just COMMON SENSE.¡± Pausing a moment, he continued: ¡°But you¡­you¡­ I want to fucking strangle you with my bare hands right this instant!¡± Silence. Gorn calmed himself down. All that rage was gone as quickly as it came. ¡°I don¡¯t blame you. This is my fault entirely. While I didn¡¯t take you by force, it was me who approached you nonetheless.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Rebeca wanted to say something, but she didn¡¯t find the strength to do it. ¡°No one is perfect, I understand that. Please think about what is the best thing for you. If you want to go back to the city, or to some other place, then I can bring you there. Consider those potions as a gift, you don¡¯t need to do anything anymore, nor will I hold any grudge towards you.¡± Hearing those words, Rebeca felt a sharp pain in her heart. Even if she thought about it already, deep down she didn¡¯t want to leave. However, she did not dare say it out-loud. ¡°If you, on the other hand, want to continue staying by my side, you can do that as well,¡± added Gorn. Hearing those words, Rebeca started crying. ¡°I want to remain by your side!¡± she said with resolution while tears fell to the ground. Chapter 35: Nora wants some private lessons Gorn came closer. Putting his hand on her shoulder, he said: ¡°You can do it!¡± Rebeca nodded. She felt warmth in her heart. After this discussion, most of her negative thoughts vanished. Passion for fighting and adventure was reignited with the simple words ¡®You can do it!¡¯. She had forgotten the last time someone encouraged her, and how much she needed that. Gorn waited patiently for her to calm down, then went back. Next, he took Elisa for a private talk. ¡°You did a good job safely bringing the girls here.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± said Elisa with a big smile. ¡°Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to avoid conflict between us¡­¡± Gorn¡¯s gaze was towards the far away places. ¡°People are complex beings, it¡¯s not easy to be a leader. While punishing them is alright, please don¡¯t forget to use kindness as well.¡± ¡°I understand. I will try my best in the future.¡± Gorn shifted his gaze to her. It was done discretely. He was carefully analyzing her facial expression. ¡®I can¡¯t really tell what she is thinking¡­¡¯ He also wanted to say that she needed to take greater care of Ella, but doing so seemed inappropriate for him. ¡°Great. Let¡¯s go back now.¡± The mood improved by a whole level. The twins were the only ones remaining. To be fair, he also took them for a private talk. While being way above the tree, Mara and Nora glued themselves to Gorn¡¯s body. It was very apparent that they were very scared of heights. While they managed to improve that to some degree with the help of Ella, this altitude was completely different; with no safety measures available whatsoever. At least, nothing except Gorn¡¯s body. Their physiques were fully developed, so hugging him so tightly brought forward some very normal physical reactions for both parties. Nora firmly hugging him from the front, with her legs tightly wrapped around his torso was a little too much. In but a moment, Gorn got a massive boner. Feeling the huge change, Nora¡¯s face turned red as a tomato, but she didn¡¯t dare to let go. Unlike Mara, who had already been on top of the tree, she had no such experience. Gorn¡¯s face also turned somewhat red. ¡°Uhm, I didn¡¯t know you were so afraid of heights.¡± ¡°Well¡­we didn¡¯t know either, until recently at least,¡± answered Mara. Gorn blinked a few times and arrived at the top of the tree. ¡°I wanted to ask if there is something you want to tell me privately. Like if something bad happened, or something that you are unhappy with.¡± His voice was a little weird. While Mara got down, Nora was still glued to him, with no signs of wanting to let go. ¡°You must already know everything that happened. Other than the incident with Rebeca, there is nothing worth mentioning.¡± Mara was the only one answering. Right about now she noticed the peculiar situation. It didn¡¯t take long to connect all the dots. Suddenly, her face also turned deeply red, not daring to make eye-contact. Silence. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡®Shit!¡¯ thought Gorn, not really sure what to do. Going back with Nora plastered on his body like that was not an option. To make things worse, Mara also saw what was happening. After a few awkward moments, the solution came to him. It was very simple: teleport to another big tree branch. There, it would be spacious enough to even play football. ¡°Since this is still too high with no real room for much movement, I¡¯ll get us at as a lower altitude,¡± said Gorn ultimately. Mara slightly nodded. He did just that. A little lower was the ¡®perfect¡¯ branch. The problem was that every little movement of his amplified certain things. ¡°It¡¯s ok now. You can let go.¡± His voice was very low. She was still holding him tightly for some reason. ¡®What now?¡¯ Nora¡¯s head was fixed to his chest, so Gorn¡¯s beating heart could be heard very well. It didn¡¯t take an expert to know that from how fast his heart was beating, he was also experiencing some strong emotions. With each passing moment, the situation became more weird. After some time, Nora got down. ¡°Sorry, I just¡­¡± Her voice was almost inaudible, and her face completely red. ¡°There is nothing to be sorry about. While I wanted to show you the great scenery, I should have at least asked you first.¡± Like that, the situation was salvaged. ¡°This point is also good enough to see the surrounding area in a decent way.¡± Gorn talked a few more minutes about random plants and whatnot, then brought the twins back to the group. His monologue made it easier for them to regain their cool, making it like nothing interesting happened. Elisa came closer, asking her question again: ¡°What¡¯s the plan from here?¡± At this moment, the girl¡¯s attention was on him. Gorn paused for a short moment. ¡°Good question. For the time being, we must get comfortable living outside the city. Building a shelter, finding food and water, and lastly, protecting ourselves from enemies.¡± A lot of things could be done, but most of those things were not that urgent. Gorn went to the tree trunk, and laid down. Putting his hands behind his head, he relaxed. Lately, he had been living a very tense life, it was high time he slowed down a little. ¡®Unless the sky falls, I¡¯m taking this day off,¡¯ thought Gorn, feeling very pleased by his decision. The girls made a weird face. His actions were unambiguously suggesting that he wanted to just laze around. They had been staying on that branch for days, craving a betterment in their routine. However, now that Gorn returned, that did not happen immediately. A fact that made them disappointed. While the girls expected him to do most of the work, none of them dared say something out-loud. Even if they were stronger, without him, their future was way too uncertain. Not to speak of the difference in raw power, Gorn¡¯s special abilities were wondrous, and extremely useful in a dangerous situation. Minute after minute, a few hours passed. Sitting there calmly, Gorn had time to ponder about a few things while being cool-headed. Remembering how he shouted at Rebeca made him cringe. ¡®Why the fuck did I do that? The same effect could have been obtained with fewer words, and less drama¡­¡¯ Keeping things simpler was something he thought that was the right way to go. Too many comments would just make him lose his time and patience. His power would be useless if he had to argue every time that he wanted something. During this time the girls did nothing, only idling around, achieving nothing of great importance. ¡®Why aren¡¯t they building some sort of shelter, or weaving a few baskets to carry food in? Or anything at all? They also want to relax, maybe?¡¯ Reaching this place from the city wasn¡¯t very time-consuming even if they encountered monsters, so Gorn was sure that almost the entire last month they just sat here doing zero things. ''I guess I''ll have to do something about that very soon,'' thought Gorn, smiling evilly to himself. At this moment, Nora came and sat down close to him. She had been quite restless these hours. ¡°Uhm, I was wondering¡­ Can you use your ability and take me above the tree like before?¡± That was totally unexpected. ¡°Aren¡¯t you very scared of heights?¡± ¡°I am, but I want to use this chance to try and get rid of this weakness¡­ Please?¡± said Nora while her face became slightly red. She was acting strange. ¡®Hmm...¡¯ ¡°I can. Do you want to go now or?¡± asked Gorn. ¡°Yes,¡± said Nora while grabbing his hand in a very discreet way. Gorn immediately used his blink, and in but a moment, they were already on top of the tree. Right away, Nora came very close to him, her breasts touching his body. Her hand¡¯s grip became stronger. Breathing in powerfully, and then exhaling, she calmed herself down a little. ¡°Before we go up into the air, I wanted to ask you how do you want me to hold you?¡± It was an important aspect, so Gorn deliberately stopped here, to let her decide that. Nora slowly turned around with her back to him... Chapter 36: Relaxing/Skydiving Gorn watched with great interest what was happening. Nora got on her toes, her ass perfectly touching Gorn¡¯s crotch area. He looked down, and saw her ass stuck to his body. Round, plump and feeling great to the touch. Good genetics coupled with a decent power level did wonders on her body. Gorn¡¯s body reacted accordingly. In but a few short instances, his manhood went full power. Even if he wanted, he could not stop it. It was impossible not to notice such a reaction. ¡®Did she intentionally get on her toes to obtain a ¡®better¡¯ position?¡¯ No matter how he looked at it, this was the only explanation he could think of. ¡®This feels good.¡¯ ¡°Can we stay here for some time before going even higher?¡± asked Nora in a quiet voice. Gorn totally forgot about that. ¡°Sure thing, you can decide on the place. Everywhere is fine as long as you are comfortable¡­¡± Saying the word ¡®comfortable¡¯ sounded a little bit weird. ¡°Thank you!¡± Nora¡¯s face was completely red, but she tried to act like nothing of great importance was happening. Using his free hand, Gorn grabbed Nora by the waist, squeezing a little and pulling her ass even more towards him. ¡°Ah!¡± A small moan escaped from Nora¡¯s mouth. A few more moments of silences followed. ¡°Is it ok if you stay like this, or?¡± asked Gorn, while at the same time probing her intentions. He wanted to make sure that what was happening was something that she wanted, and something she was totally fine with. ¡°It¡¯s ok!¡± The answer was prompt, and clear. Gorn grinned, while at the same time being pleasantly surprised by the current development. Her answer had multiple meanings for him. Using his hand that was already on her waist, he slightly pushed her ass away, then pulled it back. Since she didn¡¯t say anything in protest, he repeated the same action. Faster and stronger. The sounds of her ass hitting his crotch area became louder and louder. If it increased more in level, that could be a problem. Not to mention the fact that someone could climb to the top and see them. Gorn slowed down. ¡°Can we go to another tree?¡± His breathing was a little haggard, and his voice to some extent unnatural. Nora¡¯s body was trembling quite visibly. She confirmed by nodding her head. Using his blink, Gorn went towards another tree that was relatively far away. Since he could now teleport five hundred meters at a time, that took only a few seconds. As soon as he arrived, both of them went full power. Nora could no longer contain her moans, while Gorn used the appropriate force. While their clothes were still on, it was still a very pleasant mutual experience. ¡°What was that?¡± asked someone, while moving very carefully, not wanting to be surprised by reapers or wolves. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°What was what? I can¡¯t hear anything¡­¡± answered his mate. ¡°Strange¡­ It sounds like a woman moaning.¡± His friend rolled his eyes: ¡°You animal! Can you for once stop thinking about lewd stuff? Let¡¯s go!¡± They left the region shortly, one of those guys having a very wronged expression. After some time. Gorn looked towards his pants. They were now wet for obvious reasons, but he did not care. While he didn¡¯t care, some measures had to be taken. Taking out his sword, he dug a hole into the massive branch. Next, he took out a few huge bottles of water, and poured the water inside. That, plus a shampoo, a towel and a new set of simple leather armor was enough to do the trick. To make things even more perfect, he used his fire manipulation ability to heat the water to a suitable temperature. Nora was puzzled at first, but soon found out what was the purpose for all those actions. She was very embarrassed by what happened, so for the time being, she didn¡¯t dare look directly at him. ¡°These are all for you. I¡¯ll do the same thing for me on the branch beneath this one. In case something happens, just call me,¡± said Gorn after finishing his work. ¡°Thank you.¡± Gorn gave her some privacy. Jumping on the other branch, he did the same thing again. It didn¡¯t take much time at all. Thankfully, he previously bought plenty of water, and miscellaneous items. The same went for leather armors, simple power up potions, and swords. He did that when he reached that seven hundred thousand gold limit; as a way to not waste gold. With plenty of free space, that proved to be a good idea. Taking a nice, hot bath was a game changer. After some time, Gorn took a new set of leather armor. ¡°Do you need more time?¡± asked Gorn in a decently loud voice. ¡°No, I have finished already,¡± answered Nora. Gorn jumped a few times and landed next to her. This time, she looked directly at his eyes. Gorn did the same. In the next instant, both of them smiled widely. That lasted only for a few seconds before Nora¡¯s face turned red, and she looked towards another direction. Her eyes and hair were black like the night. The same thing could be told about her arched eyebrows. On the right side of her face, she had a small mole that was only slightly visible. That mole was something that her twin sister did not have, and one of the few things that could help someone differentiate them. Turning to the side made it very visible that her hair was very long, and that her body had exceptional curves. That, however, was something Gorn already saw, and felt from an even better angle. ¡°I think it¡¯s time we go back,¡± said Gorn with some unwillingness. ¡°I know¡­¡± she also seemed reluctant to do that. Gorn suddenly got an idea: ¡°But before that, what do you say we do some skydiving?¡± ¡°Skydiving?¡± It wasn¡¯t hard to imagine what that meant. ¡°Let¡¯s do it!¡± said Nora while gulping. While she was afraid, Gorn¡¯s abilities were already proven to be very reliable. She also trusted him, after all, he didn¡¯t do anything to betray her trust so far. Gorn got closer, then took her into his embrace. A few seconds later, they were already a few kilometers up into the air. Like before, Nora quickly wrapped her arms and legs around his body, to make sure she wouldn¡¯t fall. He stood there for a few moments. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, I already did this numerous times. Everything is under full control.¡± Nora looked towards the ground. It wasn¡¯t easy, but she was adamant in going all the way. ¡°Do it!¡± She said with resolve. Gorn released his air steps skill and both of them started to free fall. It was a wondrous experience, no matter how many times he did it. Nora was frightened, but surprisingly, managed not to scream too loud. This process was intense, but didn¡¯t last long. In the next instant, Nora¡¯s vision switched a few times and voil¨¤, they were back at the starting point, in a stationary position. ¡°How was it?¡± asked Gorn. Nora was breathing heavily, while at the same time her heart was beating frantically. ¡°Scary! It was very scary.¡± Gorn smiled: ¡°After a few more times, you will grow to enjoy it. Want to do it again?¡± ¡°Two more times, then after I catch my breath we can return,¡± said Nora while swallowing her saliva. ¡°Sounds like a plan.¡± And so, the free diving continued for a couple more times. After that, he waited a few minutes for Nora to calm down, then headed back to the others. Chapter 37: Exploring the surroundings ¡°Where have you been?!¡± asked Elisa just about the same time they arrived. ¡°I helped Nora a little with her fear of heights, while at the same time we looked around for a source of water,¡± said Gorn. ¡°For two hours straight?¡± She was a little suspicious, and decided to question further. ¡°I wasn¡¯t in any particular hurry. Is there a problem?¡± Gorn became visibly irritated by her questions. ¡°Of course not! We were just worried that something bad might have happened to you.¡± She also noticed that Nora¡¯s hair was very clean, but did not continue with her questions. ¡°Good. Let¡¯s rest, tomorrow there is work to be done.¡± It was already getting late. During the cover of the night, the wilderness was multiple times more dangerous, a fact that made most of the peaceful creatures take cover in diverse ways and places. Everyone settled down close to Gorn. With his presence, they could rest with more peace of mind. Frightening, and unknown sounds could be heard from deep within the mountains, remembering them that they were still in a dangerous location. Gorn closed his eyes. He steeled his resolve in case that peculiar situation happened again. He was adamant in handling such an occurrence with calm, no matter the outcome. . . . His eyelashes trembled, and Gorn opened his eyes. The darkness was already fading away, a clear sign that it was early in the morning. Whilst he dreamed about some stuff, this time, there were unmistakably just dreams. Gorn exhaled in relief. ¡®I hope that kind of situation won¡¯t ever happen again.¡¯ The girls were still asleep. Mara and Nora were in each other¡¯s arms, while Elisa and Ella were also close to one another. Rebeca was the only one slightly more to the side. He waited patiently for a few more hours. ¡°Rise and shine!¡± said Gorn while getting up, and stretching his body. It was high time they started to do something. The noise he made was loud enough to wake everyone up. Yawning, Rebeca raised both of her hands above her head. ¡°I slept like a log!¡± For the first time, she could sleep without fearing that Elisa or Ella might attack her. Everyone slept well, and it showed on their faces. ¡°Warm up a little. Then we will go look around the area.¡± No one protested against his words. As a matter of fact, they were itching for this since some time already. Soon, the girls also started to stretch their bodies. It was quite the show since everyone except Ella was fully developed, and possessed very attractive body figures. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Gorn¡¯s gaze stopped on Nora. Her legs were slightly spread apart while her palms were touching the ground. She did that with ease, apparent that her body was very flexible. Seeing him look at her, Nora blushed while adverting her gaze. When Gorn wanted to look away, she saw Nora turning with her ass towards him and bending even further. Gorn grinned. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s move out. If anyone falls while climbing down, don¡¯t worry, I will catch you.¡± These words were more valid towards the twins than anyone else. ¡°Alright, we can do it!¡± said Nora while looking at Mara. Slowly, they started to climb down the tree on their own. Before long, all of them safely reached the ground. The twins were all smiles. This was an incredible feat for them. Possible thanks to their hard work. A small part of the credit went to Gorn and Ella, but the thick of the results were thanks to them entirely. All kinds of birds, and small insects flew around happily, making the atmosphere very lively. It was surreal how such a beautiful place could be so deadly. ¡°Good work!¡± Gorn applauded the twin¡¯s progress. He was proud of them. ¡°Thank you!¡± Being praised brought even more happiness on their faces. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I want to show you what you can eat in this area, as well as bring you to a source of water.¡± Ella jumped next to him, excitement visible on her face. ¡°If monsters appear, can I deal with them?¡± ¡°Yes, but only after I give you the permission.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± Between the enormous trees, there were also smaller ones. Some of those smaller trees had edible fruits that grew periodically. At the same time, there were also a multitude of berries and mushroom. Part of them were, however, poisonous and hard to differentiate. ¡°Look at these blueberries. What do you say, are they edible?¡± asked Gorn all of a sudden. ¡°As far as I know, they should be edible,¡± answered Elisa. ¡°They are indeed edible. But these are not simple blueberries, but a mutation out of the original ones. If you look at the base of the bushes, you can notice some white marks. If you eat too many of them, they can be dangerous, so be careful.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± ¡°Does power level matter when it comes to eating something potentially dangerous?¡± asked Rebeca while coming closer to see the white marks. ¡°It does. The more powerful you are, the smaller the risk of food intoxication or dying due to poison. Despite that, a good number of the poisonous stuff here is very potent even for someone with a high power level. So try to avoid them if possible,¡± explained Gorn. ¡°I see¡­¡± While the girls weren¡¯t clueless about the wilderness, their information was only at a basic level. Gorn knew far more than them, thanks to the time he previously spent at the guild¡¯s library. ¡°Prepare yourselves, a group of five reapers is headed towards us,¡± said Gorn all of a sudden. Soon, five monsters appeared from the nearby dense vegetation. He quickly checked them out. They were some of the weakest reapers, so Gorn stepped back. ¡°Each one of you will deal with one reaper. If any problems occur, I will step in. Don¡¯t be afraid, they are weaker than you.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I kill them all?¡± asked Ella with anticipation. ¡°Not this time.¡± Gorn wanted to see how each one of them dealt with an enemy. Clenching the weapons tightly, the girls assumed a battle position. They were scared, but did not lose their cool. The monsters attacked as soon as they saw them. It was a little chaotic since the reapers weren¡¯t going for a one on one fight. Whereas chaotic, the monsters were ultimately defeated. It wasn¡¯t the cleanest fight, but decent nonetheless. ¡°Very good! Especially Ella. Now collect the monster cores, and we can be on our way.¡± Strangely enough, Ella was the most skilled and efficient among the group. On top of it all, she had no fear or hesitation. ¡®What a talented girl,¡¯ thought Gorn. While they were taking out the cores, Gorn said: ¡°After gaining some experience, everything will be much easier.¡± He had an advantage in abilities and power, but at the end of the day he was also at the start of the road. Not that long ago, he was as clumsy as the rest. Chapter 38: What is that?! ¡°You are right on that. The first time we encountered these reapers was pretty pathetic,¡± said Elisa at the same time she took out the monster core. It was small, shiny, and most importantly: her spoils of war. Unfortunately, its quality was too inferior to use it to further increase her current power level. ¡°Everything is harder the first time you do it, so don¡¯t worry too much, mother,¡± comforted Mara from the periphery of the group. Rebeca let out a long sigh; she was still very displeased by her lack of courage. She remained silent, having no intention of reminiscing about something embarrassing. ¡°If something is harder, that doesn¡¯t mean it is impossible. With willpower, and some external help, everything can be improved. Just like our fear of heights. While it is still present, with the help of Gorn, respectively Ella, plus our efforts, the situation improved greatly,¡± said Nora while looking towards Gorn with a thankful expression. Her words were great motivation for Rebeca. ¡®Indeed¡­ With someone strong by my side, I should be able to easily overcome my fears,¡¯ thought Rebeca whilst keeping a straight face. ¡®I¡¯ll ask Gorn for his help.¡¯ To do that, she wanted to wait for the perfect moment to ask. ¡®For maximum efficiency, it must be just me and him.¡¯ Pocketing the monster core, she got up and came to Gorn¡¯s side. Now, she was only a meter away from him. Standing next to him made it easier to notice that she was almost, if not, as tall as Gorn, who had a height of around six feet (1.83m). ¡®He looks quite nice,¡¯ contemplated Rebeca, after peeking at him from that petite distance. ¡°I¡¯m glad that you are so optimistic,¡± said Gorn. He also noticed that Rebeca was secretly analyzing his looks. She had long brown hair that was tied in a coque for convenience. Her facial appearance was rather normal, and paled in comparison with the other girls present. On the other hand, the attractiveness of her body was top-notch. Being her tall height, the gap between her inner thighs, her minuscule waist, or all of the above, there was definitely something that put her one level above Elisa, and the twins in terms of physical appeal. ¡®Why is he looking so intently at my body?¡¯ thought Rebeca. Her focus turned entirely towards his facial expression. Soon, she got her answer. ¡°Nice body, right?¡± she asked by only moving her lips and barely making any noise at all. At the same time, she also covered her mouth from the side with one hand. ¡°The more I look, the more I want to touch it¡­¡± answered Gorn automatically. In the next second, he realized his blunder. ¡°I¡­¡± Rebeca started to laugh and interrupted him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I like honest men.¡± Gorn also started to laugh. Apparently, he was becoming more and more direct. ¡°What would you like to touch?¡± asked Ella, in a burst of curiosity. Looking at Ella¡¯s unknowing gaze was quite the treat: ¡°Nothing important. Let¡¯s continue.¡± The second affirmation was for everybody. As he started to walk away, everyone quickly followed. Shortly, Gorn stopped beside a small tree. At least, when compared with the gigantic ones. The tree was around ten meters tall, and plenty of fruits could be seen on it. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°These are wild apples. Together with the normal blueberries, they are the most common fruits encountered in the forest. They are also the favorite food of wild boars¡­and the blue spotted dear¡­¡± ¡°Did something happened?¡± asked Rebeca, who was still the closest one to him. ¡°Nothing happened. I just remembered that I want to see a blue spotted deer. While not that strong, they are very elusive, and hard to get. If you can catch one of them, that would be very helpful for me,¡± said Gorn a little louder, making sure everyone heard him. ¡°I heard my former boss saying that the meat of the blue spotted deer is one of the tastiest. He also said that only the richest of the citizens could afford it,¡± commented Elisa. ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind. If I catch one, I¡¯ll be sure to give it to you.¡± ¡°Dead or alive?¡± asked Ella. The corners of Gorn¡¯s lips curved into a smile: ¡°Don¡¯t be so serious when asking such questions. Good observation, nonetheless. Alive, I want one alive. If it¡¯s dead, I don¡¯t need it.¡± ¡°Why do you need it for?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a secret,¡± said Gorn with a mischievous grin. Ella¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. ¡°This is the first time you have been mean to me. I¡¯ll be sure to remember it.¡± She was very displeased by his response. Jumping on the tree, she picked up an apple and started to eat it while turning her back to him. ¡®Kids¡­¡¯ ¡°Let¡¯s have breakfast!¡± Gorn also grabbed a few apples for himself. The rest did the same. After all, they did not eat anything so far since waking up. ¡°I want to eat some meat. Can you give me some?¡± ¡°Bad girls don¡¯t get to eat any meat,¡± said Gorn with a plain face. Ella could not believe what she was hearing. She turned with her back to him yet again. The rest of the girls also wanted to eat some real food, but were too ashamed to ask for it. After what Gorn said to Ella, they were even more reluctant to ask. He could give them food, but that would ruin the purpose of the trip. They had to be able to provide for themselves without being dependent on others. Like that, all of them ate wild apples until their bellies were full. ¡°Food is taken care of. Now, let¡¯s find some water.¡± Gorn was familiar with the area, after all, it was a place where he used to hunt. That, plus the view he got from the air, was enough to know his way around. It wasn¡¯t very detailed, but enough. Before long, the sound of running water could be heard in the distance. Heading in that direction, they came across a river. A few meters wide, and a few meters deep. Not that big, but sufficient for their needs. Everyone froze. In front of that river could be seen the corpses of a few people. Two women, and three men. Some of their body parts were missing, while others were mangled beyond recognition. The stench was nearly unbearable. Everyone except Gorn vomited after seeing that scene. ¡®What the heck happened here?!¡¯ thought Gorn. His stomach also protested heavily, making it hard to resist throwing up. Seeing people in that kind of state hit very different from seeing the cadavers of monsters. Another peculiar aspect was the fact that the remains weren¡¯t completely eaten by any monsters, even though some time seemed to have passed since they died. Gorn inspected the area carefully, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. ¡°Looks like they have been poisoned by something¡­¡± ¡°Look at that man¡¯s belly!¡± screamed Mara while pointing with her hand towards one of the deceased men. Everyone followed the direction in which she was pointing. The man¡¯s stomach bulged, and something seemed to want to get out. A few moments later, a hideous insect the size of a palm came out through the skin. The creature was as black as coal, had dozens of little legs, and a mouth way bigger than normal. It looked it came out straight from hell. Gorn tried to inspect it, but nothing happened. Either that creature wasn¡¯t that strong, either the system malfunctioned or had certain limitations. ¡®Judging by the way it moves, it shouldn¡¯t be that strong¡­¡¯ Even if it wasn¡¯t that powerful, being able to eat something that looked poisoned was no small feat. ¡°What in the world is that?!¡± asked Elisa on behalf of everyone. ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t know. Never heard of such a creature before,¡± said Gorn. The scene was incredibly gruesome. ¡°Let¡¯s leave.¡± Gorn headed up stream. Taking water from that place after what happened there wasn¡¯t an option. He wanted to reach the source of that river to ensure the water was as clean as possible. After a few hundred meters, they encountered a small pack of wolves, quenching their thirst from the river. Chapter 39: Realization In a way, that was a good sign. If the water wasn¡¯t safe to drink, most animals would have avoided drinking from it. There were five wolves. Normally, they lived in bigger groups, but seeing smaller ones or even a few loners wasn¡¯t that strange. Seeing them from up close was frightening. Among the wolves, one stood out more. It was bigger, and its fur color was different. A dark blue, compared with the rest, who¡¯s fur color was only of a pale blue. After inspecting the monster, Gorn ordered sternly: ¡°Hold your hands and quickly get behind me!¡± The alpha wolf started to slowly circle around them. Its eyes were looking only at Gorn, undoubtedly sensing that he was the only threat. It was carefully analyzing his opponent, evaluating if it should attack or not. Silence. Gorn took a step back and grabbed Rebeca by the hand. Like he commanded, all of them also held hands. If they were connected that way, Gorn could teleport them all along with him, since their total weight wasn¡¯t over five hundred kilograms. Race: Monster Bloodline: Epic Power level: 1250 Abilities: Track (Lvl8); Intimidation (Lvl 9); Pack leader (Lvl 7) Loot: 1250 gold; Track (Lvl8); Intimidation (Lvl 9); Pack leader (Lvl 7) Confirm target? Yes No The alpha wolf growled at him, and in the end, decided to retreat towards the deeper parts of the forest together with its companions. From his point of view, fighting wasn¡¯t worth the risk. Gorn let out a breath of relief, but then frowned. ¡®For normal people, the chances of dying are getting higher and higher.¡¯ The girls were trembling to some extent. The aura of that wolf was just too savage. If they were by themselves, the chances of them winning in a fight or running away successfully were almost non-existent. This kind of opponent was totally different from the mindless reapers they killed so far. Rebeca¡¯s hard gain confidence took a great hit. Even Ella was shaken. Her fearless gaze now knew what fear meant. ¡°In case of some emergency, just held each-other hands, so I can teleport us all to a safe place.¡± The mood changed completely. No one spoke a word. Various negative emotions took over. Gorn wanted to encourage them, but could not find the words to do it. His original plan of building an army from scratch wasn¡¯t so feasible anymore. In theory, it was possible, but judging by how things stood, that was a very lengthy project. ¡®Looks like a power level of five hundred is barely sufficient in order to survive.¡¯ Without any special skills, or someone strong protecting you, survival was very uncertain. All of a sudden, Gorn understood why there were so few humans. Without the special protection of those mysterious crystals, probably only five percent of the city¡¯s population would survive. ¡®Just what is going on here? Where exactly was I brought?¡¯ Unfortunately, he did not have any real answers for those questions. After some time, Gorn decided to follow a smaller river that was connected to the main on. It went up a gigantic mountain. Climbing for a few hundred meters, they finally reached what looked like to be a good spot. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. A stream the size of one¡¯s leg was gushing out directly from the ground. There were small and medium-sized rocks all around, and a small pool formed beneath. The water was crystal clear. Gorn took out a sip directly from the source. Everything seemed fine. ¡°This is good water.¡± Taking out all his empty bottles, Gorn started to fill them up. The process went smoothly, and ended with him storing the bottles back into his inventory. ¡°This is very similar to a shower. You can wash your clothes and take a bath if you want. I¡¯ll guard you.¡± His suggestion was something that they already thought about. Giving each-other a glance, they agreed to wash up, taking turns. This way, privacy was respected. It took less time than expected. Gorn also helped them dry the clothes with his fire ability. ¡°Thank you, Gorn!¡± said Elisa, as well as the rest of the girls. The mood became noticeably better. ¡°No problem. We will now return to our tree, but taking another route. So that we can get more familiar with the area.¡± ¡°Can we gather some food for later?¡± asked Rebeca. She was reluctant to make such trips too often. ¡°Of course. I will help you transport it.¡± With that being said, they went on their way. Shortly, they came across a patch of good blueberries. Gorn went towards a nearby tree, and using his sword he cut a big piece of bark. That, together with a few other materials found in his proximity, Gorn managed to build a decently looking recipient. ¡°Here. You can use this. I¡¯ll make one for each one of you.¡± Everyone looked at him with great interest. ¡°You can use your imagination to try to build various stuff. Exactly like these. They look quite crude, but are very useful to transport things if you don¡¯t have any storage abilities.¡± ¡°That seems like fun,¡± commented Ella, eager to try it herself. ¡°You can try that in your free time, not now,¡± said Gorn firmly. It sounded harsh, and an underlying meaning was there. No one dared to say anything in protest. Remembering how they spent almost an entire month doing nothing, they felt rather ashamed; especially Elisa, who was in charge of them. ¡°That¡¯s enough blueberries for the time being. Give them all to me, I¡¯ll help you carry them.¡± One by one, their recipients disappeared from sight. It was truly magical. ¡°You have so many cool abilities,¡± said Ella while closely observing what he was doing, just maybe she could do it as well. ¡°Maybe one day you will have them as well.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Many things are possible,¡± said Gorn while patting Ella on the head. ¡°Let¡¯s continue.¡± The party advanced slowly but steadily. From time to time, they encountered small groups of reapers and wolves. Thankfully, they were manageable. Creatures like that alpha wolf weren¡¯t encountered anymore. ¡°If we don¡¯t encounter beasts like that frightening wolf, then surviving in this area should be within our capabilities,¡± said Elisa, trying to lighten up the mood. ¡°Right, the place of such monsters should be deep within the mountains and not so close to the city,¡± continued Nora. Her sister hesitated for a moment, then asked: ¡°What about other humans?¡± Her questions attracted everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Sadly, humans are the scariest¡­¡± He could get into detail, but they most probably knew what he meant. ¡°That¡¯s why, please, be very careful with strangers. Don¡¯t trust anyone,¡± said Elisa imperatively. While they were talking, sounds of fighting could be heard from up ahead. Everyone¡¯s eyes turned to Gorn, waiting for his orders. ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look. Just stay close to each-other.¡± With Gorn in the lead, they sneaked closer and closer to the source of the sounds. Before long, they could see a group of ten people fighting a few reapers. Analyzing their actions, and how they struggled, it was obvious that they were very weak. It took them some time to kill all the reapers, even though they outnumbered the enemy. Unexpectedly, a man turned towards their location and shouted: ¡°Come out, I know that you are there.¡± Gorn got up, and came towards them. That man kept glancing at his arm while at the same time extending it in his direction. When Gorn was only a few meters away, the watch on that person¡¯s hand showed a number. 1040 ¡°One thousand and forty?!¡± Hearing those words, everyone became frightened. The reason was simple, their own power was just around three hundred. Their lives were now practically in Gorn¡¯s hands. ¡°That¡¯s an interesting device you have there,¡± said Gorn with a straight face. ¡°Greeting sir! I am the leader of this small group of people. I¡¯m extremely sorry for being rude earlier, please forgive me.¡± Chapter 40: Forgiveness Gorn analyzed everyone carefully. They wore basic armor, and had simple weapons. Around their necks was a strange collar, and only the leader had that special watch. Gorn¡¯s silent gaze made everyone very uncomfortable. At this moment, the other girls saw Gorn signaling for them to come out as well. Their arrival shocked the lot even more. ¡°What¡¯s with these people?¡± asked Ella, after coming to his side. ¡°Good question. Let¡¯s find out.¡± Turning his eyes towards their leader, Gorn asked: ¡°Who are you people and what are you doing here?¡± ¡°We are from the city. A group formed from random people sent out to gather monster cores,¡± said the man while trying to keep his cool. ¡°Sent out? Not here on your own volition?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you know what happened to the city?¡± asked the man, puzzled. Gorn extended his arm, and using his fire manipulation ability, conjured a big fireball. The temperature in the immediate area increased drastically. ¡°Am I asking the questions here or you?¡± The middle-aged man fell on his ass: ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry!¡± Gorn cancelled the fireball, and looked towards Ella: ¡°See? If you don¡¯t like someone, there is no reason to kill them immediately. Scaring or beating the crap out of them works just as fine.¡± Ella looked at him with eyes wide open. ¡°That makes sense¡­¡± She then turned her gaze towards Rebeca, staring at her unblinkingly. Rebeca felt a jolt down her spine. Remembering what happened not that long ago made her feel very uncomfortable. ¡°She is one of us now. No matter what happens, we must stay united. That way, everything will be much better,¡± said Gorn with great resolution. Ella nodded, and at the same time came in front of Rebeca, extending her arm. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for trying to kill you. I hope you can forgive me.¡± Rebeca was not expecting such an outcome in that state of affairs. All of a sudden, Ella¡¯s face seemed more pleasant to look at. The little girl was rather direct with her feelings. A behavior she deemed as a great quality. Sensing the honesty in the girl¡¯s words, and looking at her face that showed remorse, Rebeca also extended her arm. ¡°I forgive you. Please forgive me as well for my previous rude behavior.¡± ¡°I forgive you as well!¡± Both of their face turned into beautiful smiles while they shook their hands. Looking at that scene, Gorn felt exceptionally happy. Such occurrences were quite rare, but very necessary, no matter the people and the place. Elisa was also happy, but at the same time deeply ashamed on how she handled things. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡®Why couldn¡¯t I do the same thing?¡¯ though Elisa to herself. At this point, she acknowledged some of her temperamental behavior. ¡®Not abusing power is sure very hard¡­¡¯ Seeing everything that happened, Nora¡¯s admiration towards Gorn grew significantly. Everyone had the same feeling, but in her case, it was somewhat different. Her relationship with him, was, after all, a little more special after what happened not that long ago. Biting her lower lip, her mind rapidly drifted to certain memories. ¡®What is going on with my sister?¡¯ Mara was keeping a close eye on Nora, and her peculiar changes did not go unnoticed. ¡®She seems to like Gorn¡­¡¯ Recalling how she coiled around his body, and how, after that, both of them disappeared for a few hours brought forward all kinds of thoughts. ''Just what in the world happened during those hours? Is it possible that they¡­'' Mara¡¯s heart started to beat extremely hard, while her face turned notably red. With the arrival of the girls, the watch on the man¡¯s arm displayed additional numbers. 1040; 500; 500; 500; 500; 400 Even though the numbers were smaller, they were still pretty visible. The strangers kept glancing at that watch, as well as to what was going in front of them. The situation seemed very peculiar to them. Everyone on the opposite team was stronger, and had weird expressions on their faces. They did not dare make a sound. After what happened lately to them, humans were even more dangerous than beasts in their eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have no intention of harming you. Just want to know some information.¡± Gorn finally resumed his dialogue with the strangers. ¡°Please ask away, sir!¡± ¡°I see that your watch can show how much power we have. Elaborate on that.¡± Gorn¡¯s words attracted everyone¡¯s attention towards him yet again. ¡°This is a special device we received from Norman¡¯s men. It helps us locate other creatures that have at least a power level of one hundred. It works on a distance of a few dozen meters; and if the opponent is closer, we can see their exact power level.¡± Such a device was truly remarkable. ¡°What about the collar?¡± asked Gorn. At that question, the man, and his group, became increasingly sad. ¡°This¡­ This is also a special device. If we don¡¯t return to the city after a certain time¡­it will explode, killing us. The same thing happens if we try to remove it forcefully.¡± No one heard about such things before. It was a very cruel method of controlling someone. ¡°Not only that, but our families are also in danger if we don¡¯t return¡­¡± Gorn frowned: ¡°I know that the situation inside the city is bad, but I never expected it to be so dire¡­¡± Not being able to control his emotions, the middle-aged man spoke yet again: ¡°Everything turned into pure nightmare. A vast majority of people became no different from slaves. Working eighteen hours a day with minimal conditions. As for the stronger ones, some disappeared, and some were sent to gather monster cores.¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough,¡± said Gorn, coolly. ¡°This is for your trouble. Better times are sure to come, so don¡¯t give up.¡± Throwing a few monster cores, he then looked towards his girls. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± The middle-aged man was delighted seeing the monster cores, and quickly went to pick them up. He had no intention on stopping Gorn from leaving. The current situation was the best he could hope for. Just like that, the two groups separated from each-other. The girls were deeply shaken by what they heard, and saw. ¡®If it wasn¡¯t for Gorn, then me and my daughters¡­¡¯ Elisa¡¯s gratitude towards him grew more and more. ¡®Shit¡­¡¯ thought Rebeca. All of a sudden, living in the wilderness didn¡¯t seem as bad as before. With each passing second, they got closer and closer to their temporary home. A few more fruits and plants were gathered on their way. Since everyone sunk deeply into thought, words became scarce. ¡°We are back,¡± said Gorn, his head facing the gigantic tree which was now in front of him. ¡°Climb higher this time. Somewhere at the middle of the tree would be good. I¡¯ll be right behind you, so don¡¯t worry if you fall.¡± With his presence, everyone climbed confidently. The twins weren¡¯t comfortable yet, but they did it anyway. In a short time, they arrived somewhere at the middle of the tree. ¡°As a home, I thought about carving some caves inside the tree. We need, however, to find a more inconspicuous place.¡± Chapter 41: Looking for a new skill ¡°Caves inside the tree?¡± asked Elisa in surprise. Such an idea did not cross her mind. ¡°Yea, but nothing too fancy. A few beds, a table, and maybe a curtain to camouflage the entrance. There are plenty of materials around, I¡¯m sure it can be done. Do you understand my idea?¡± ¡°I understand. It¡¯s not a bad idea at all. So, when do we start?¡± ¡°Good. You can start whenever you want,¡± said Gorn, after which he threw a few more simple swords at his feet. ¡°Here are a few more swords in case the others get dull.¡± ¡°So, what should be done first?¡± asked Rebeca. ¡°Whatever you want. I have some business to resolve, so I won¡¯t join you.¡± Gorn had to find suitable targets to get the full benefits out of his system. A few skill slots needed to be filled, as well as other stuff. ¡°Oh¡­¡± Rebeca was disappointed by his answer. Gorn put down all of their berries, and a few big bottles of water. ¡°Hopefully, I¡¯ll be back in a few hours. See you then.¡± With that, he vanished from their sight. ¡°Alright then¡­ Any ideas on how we should proceed?¡± asked Elisa while looking at the rest of the girls. . . . Gorn was swiftly moving through-out the mountains and valleys. His objective was to find a blue spotted dear, and wild boars. The day was not over yet, with enough time to spare for a small search. Being able to walk on air brought an immense advantage when searching for something. From a high altitude one could spot things fairly easy. A big herd of wild boars was not that hard to find. In under twenty minutes, Gorn spotted what he was looking for. It was a pack of boars. It consisted of around fifteen specimens. The leader of that group was visibly larger, and more intimidating than the rest. Gorn blinked on top of it, at a sufficient distance. ¡°Select!¡± Race: Monster Bloodline: Medium Power level: 900 Abilities: Durability (Lvl8) Loot: 900 gold; Durability (Lvl8) Confirm target? Yes No It was exactly what he was looking for. He quickly filled all fifteen slots with this particular opponent. Looking upon the group of boars, Gorn searched for a weaker target. ¡°Select!¡± Race: Monster Bloodline: Medium Power level: 350 Abilities: Durability (Lvl3) Loot: 350 gold; Durability (Lvl3) Confirm target? Yes No It was among the smallest out of the ones present, but nothing to scoff at, nonetheless. It appeared to have at least eight hundred kilograms. Thinking of all that meat, Gorn licked his lips in anticipation. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. All of this was done in a few short moments. Since his teleportation did not make any noise, and the wind blew in a favorable direction, the boars failed to notice his presence. Hardening his grip on the metal sword, Gorn vanished from his spot. In the next moment, he was next to that unfortunate boar. Swinging with great power, he aimed for the neck. The sword pierced the boar¡¯s skin and flesh, but it snapped in half without managing to cut all the way through. The wound was rather small, nowhere enough to threaten the boar¡¯s life. The pig started squealing in fright, gathering everyone¡¯s attention in a large area. The alpha male was quick to respond. Unfortunately for him, Gorn just teleported away. Being a few hundred meters above the ground, Gorn looked at the alpha male. It tried to find the attacker, but failed to do so. After a few short moments, the male led the other wild boars away from that spot. Gorn stalked them from above. Since his normal swords were not effective, he thought about another method. Extending his arm, Gorn conjured a thin but powerful blade of fire. It extended from his fingers, up to around two meters. Pouring a great deal of energy into it, the flame quickly turned blue-white. It was hard to notice in the light of the day, making it even more dangerous. With his new weapon, Gorn tried again. Teleporting next to the same wild boar, he swung with his new toy. The boar¡¯s head was cleanly cut off without any resistance. The commotion alerted the alpha male yet again. Gorn had no intention to kill more of them, so he stored the carcass into his inventory, and disappeared. This time, without the intention of coming back. Appearing on a random tree far away into the distance, Gorn quickly dismantled the boar into fine pieces of meat. He used both his fire ability and a sword to make the process as swift as possible. His skills were not that great, but sufficient nonetheless. After taking out the finest out of the carcass, Gorn threw the remains towards the ground. Reapers or wolves were going to make short work of it quickly. That way, nothing was wasted. ¡°So far, so good. That stealth skill will be, however, a lot harder to acquire than this.¡± Finishing with the boar, Gorn resumed his search. In the case of the blue spotted dear, he had to be on the ground, at a very close distance to the creature in order to be able to spot it. Looking from high above brought him virtually zero chances to find one. Reapers, wolves, wild boars, and a few more groups of people were seen in the span of a few hours. Munching on a wild apple, Gorn approached a group of people. His presence was soon discovered. It was partly because of his loud munching noises, partly due to that special device that helped locate sources of power. Seeing him walk on air towards them coupled with the big number displayed on the watch brought forward a wave of fear in their hearts. ¡°Hello guys,¡± said Gorn, displaying no intention of hostility whatsoever. ¡°Hello sir! Can we help you with something?¡± Under everyone¡¯s careful gazes, Gorn landed on the tree branch. The group was preparing to spend the night at that place, far away from the dangerous ground. ¡°Can I join you for some time?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Gorn came closer, and laid down, while at the same time discreetly analyzing everyone. None of their power levels went above three hundred and fifty. Taking out a few more wild apples, he asked: ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to sit down?¡± At his words, everyone sat down as well. The distance between them was very small. In front of him were now ten pairs of frightened, and slightly curious eyes. Five were male, and five were females. Their armors and weapons were nothing fancy. When the women saw Gorn analyzing their bodies, they shuddered, afraid for the worse. Their appearance, and body shapes were, however, very lacking compared with his girls. Shifting his gaze to his apple, Gorn took another bite. ¡°How is the situation inside the city?¡± Their leader spoke, but his words weren¡¯t anything new from what he knew already. ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°I also heard a weird rumor¡­ Someone said that there is a mad scientist by Norman¡¯s side. He kidnaps random people from time to time to conduct weird experiments on them. I don¡¯t know if it is true, but the mere thought of it makes me feel cold¡­¡± Gorn¡¯s eyes flickered slightly. This kind of information was something new to him. While it¡¯s veridicity was questionable, it wasn¡¯t impossible to be true. Chapter 42: Not bad at all ¡°That¡¯s an interesting rumor¡­ Any other such rumors?¡± asked Gorn with anticipation. ¡°That¡¯s it. We hardly get any free time at all, so¡­¡± ¡°I get it,¡± said Gorn. Leaving some wild apples behind, he prepared to leave. ¡°Better times will come again eventually, so hang in there.¡± With those words, he vanished from their sight. ¡®I doubt that these kinds of people know any important information. I¡¯ll have to make a trip into the city after I get stronger,¡¯ thought Gorn while being on his way back. That blue spotted deer¡¯s stealth skill could come in handy for such an ordeal. ¡®Do I even really want to go back?¡¯ On a second note, it wasn¡¯t absolutely necessary to go back. He had all the necessary tools to keep himself, and a few other people, relatively safe even in harsher environments. ¡®Other than Lora and Sebastian, I don¡¯t have any special ties with anyone¡­¡¯ He was in this new world only for a few months. Everything seemed strange, and distant. His real family was somewhere else entirely, so Gorn wasn¡¯t too attached to anyone or anything here in particular. Elisa, and the other girls made him feel comfortable, but still, the relationship between them was only at the beginning. ¡®I look forward to finding out the answer to some questions.¡¯ He had no idea what happened. Gorn just woke up in this different place without any prior warning or information. He just found himself here, with no idea how, or why it happened. ¡®At least I got some awesome abilities.¡¯ Gorn grinned, pleased by the fact that he could evolve at a relatively fast pace compared to what he saw until that moment. ¡®With power comes great responsibilities right?¡¯ It was getting harder and harder not abusing his powers, or using them for wicked things. ¡®I wonder what will happen to me in the future¡­ Will I become a good person, or will I turn into a psychopath villain?¡¯ With these thoughts, Gorn arrived at his destination. The huge tree stood there proudly, without any care for what happened in his proximity. Blinking, Gorn appeared on the same, familiar branch. Elisa was startled upon noticing the presence of a silhouette in the background. Seeing that it was Gorn she breathed out in relief. ¡°Shit! You really scared me¡­¡± ¡°How is the project going?¡± Elisa¡¯s facial expression switched quickly. Now, a smug was plastered across her face. Noticing his arrival, the other girls made their appearance as well. They came from within the tree trunk. The entrance wasn¡¯t too big nor too small, it was just enough for a person to walk through. ¡°Ohh¡­¡± The opening was concealed by a pretty common type of plant found attached to certain trees inside the forest. Nothing fancy, but very practical and efficient. ¡°You have returned? Please come inside,¡± said Rebeca. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Gorn went through that small opening, and quickly found himself inside a slightly bigger chamber. It was just enough space for them to fit in. ¡°The tree is very hard to cut through, so we only managed to do this much,¡± said Elisa with a smiling face. She was clearly pleased by their work. ¡°Good job! You did great,¡± complimented Gorn while glancing at all of them. ¡°Well, better later than never, right?¡± asked Elisa. ¡°Exactly. Now let¡¯s celebrate by having a feast.¡± Gorn proceeded to take out a variety of snacks, and food from his inventory. His reserves from the city weren¡¯t out yet. On top of it all, he even took out a bottle of wine and a few glasses. ¡°Wow! You sure know how to lighten up the mood!¡± exclaimed Rebeca, very eager to drink some wine. Elisa also made a delighted face. ¡°Adults only, kids should not drink.¡± She looked at Ella and the twins while saying those words. ¡°What?! That¡¯s not fair! We are not kids anymore,¡± complained the twins at the same time. Ella did not look so affected, after all, she never drank such a thing before. ¡°Got any juice?¡± Gorn took out three bottles of juice, and threw them towards the twins and Ella. Seeing Mara and Nora¡¯s faces, he couldn¡¯t help himself but laugh. Rebeca laughed as well, but a bottle of juice also flew her way. This time, it was the twin¡¯s turn to laugh. Gorn opened the bottle of wine and poured a glass for Elisa, and one for him. After taking a sip, he said: ¡°Let¡¯s eat!¡± Everyone gathered around him and started to take bits of everything that laid before them. All was delicious, without any exceptions. With each passing minute, it was getting darker and darker. ¡°With your abilities, you could be a very successful thief,¡± joked Elisa, after swallowing the food she had in her mouth. ¡°You think?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid he might do it if you give him the idea?¡± asked Rebeca from the side. Elisa raised one of her eyebrows cutely. ¡°The ability to teleport, and store things. Do you think he didn¡¯t think about it already?¡± Hearing that answer, Rebeca turned her gaze to Gorn. ¡°Did you?¡± ¡°I sure did,¡± said Gorn. ¡°Steal from the rich and give to the poor, is that something bad?¡± Elisa pondered over his question. ¡°Doing a bad deed for the sake of a good one. That¡¯s too hard of a question for me.¡± Rebeca also shrugged her shoulders : ¡°I don¡¯t really care. But if you steal something with that mind set, please remember that I am a very poor girl.¡± Gorn erupted into laughter, almost chocking with the wine he just drank. ¡°What?¡± asked Rebeca with an innocent look on her face. Gorn wiped the wine off his mouth, then grinned: ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to remember that.¡± Rebeca smiled coquettishly: ¡°Great! I wouldn¡¯t mind a few donations at that time.¡± Ella was busy with the food, not bothering with their conversations. As for the twins, they were not that talkative to begin with. A curtain of darkness was slowly taking over the wilderness. With Gorn¡¯s presence, the frightening sounds that came from deeper within the mountains didn¡¯t have the same impact as before. Little by little, everyone ate to their heart¡¯s content. The sky was clouded, making it hard to see any stars whatsoever. ¡°I guess it¡¯s time we go to sleep,¡± said Gorn after carefully analyzing if everyone finished eating. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯m eager to try our new little house,¡± said Elisa while getting up. ¡°I will sleep on the edge!¡± yelled Ella whilst running to be the first one inside. ¡°Me too!¡± Mara and Nora were quick to follow. By the time Gorn entered, both sides were taken. He had to use his fire ability to be able to see clearly inside. He didn¡¯t care that much and sat in the middle with the face upwards. Elisa and Rebeca sat by his sides. All of them laid on the ground with little space between them. Deactivating the fire ability, everything turned dark. ¡°Good night!¡± said Ella. Everyone responded with the same words. Elisa and Rebeca leaned over and put their heads on Gorn¡¯s chest almost at the same time. Thankfully, it was room for both of them. Feeling their heads on his upper body, as well as their hands on his abdomen felt nice. In the next moment, he also felt their legs on top of his. Gorn grinned. Extending his arms, he grabbed them both by the ass. ¡®Not bad at all!¡¯ Chapter 43: Uncanny shadow ¡®This is weird¡­¡¯ thought Rebeca while feeling her ass tightly grabbed. Using one of her hands, she took Gorn¡¯s arm and pushed it away, to the ground. Gorn¡¯s expression turned more serious. ¡®If you don¡¯t like it, then I won¡¯t do it.¡¯ He moved the hand that Rebeca pushed to the side, and put it between him and her. Using some force, he pushed Rebeca¡¯s whole body off of him, to the side. It wasn¡¯t much space, but there were still a few inches to spare. ¡®I don¡¯t touch you, you don¡¯t touch me,¡¯ thought Gorn. Rebeca felt embarrassed as she suddenly realized that she was the one to first invade his personal space improperly. ¡®I hope he won¡¯t be too mad at me¡­¡¯ Gorn squeezed and released Elisa¡¯s ass multiple times. If she wasn¡¯t happy with it, she just had to act like Rebeca, or do something similar, to show her displeasure. None of those things happened. Contrary to that, Elisa actually brought her leg completely to the other side, and got on top of him entirely. Gorn¡¯s grin returned to his face. ¡®Nice. A woman that knows what she wants.¡¯ Before falling asleep, Gorn played wholeheartedly with Elisa¡¯s ass. She didn¡¯t seem to mind it at all, so he was determined to try more at another time and place. Night was quickly replaced by day. Gorn teleported outside their little room, with Elisa still in his embrace. Waking up, she looked him in the eyes like nothing happened: ¡°Good morning! Have you slept well?¡± Gorn put her down gently: ¡°I slept extremely well. How about you?¡± Elisa smiled beautifully: ¡°Me too.¡± He looked carefully for any unusual behavior or words, but Elisa was still acting like everything was rather normal. ¡°Unfortunately, I have quite a few things that I need to do today,¡± said Gorn with some reluctance. The fight with the wild boar inside his system did not go too well. It was a complete defeat. He could not gain even one win. ¡®I guess that level eight durability skill is too strong¡­¡¯ He had yet to enter the auto farming system, but it wasn¡¯t hard to deduce some things with all the information he already had. The fights seemed to be pretty simple, and direct, thus, overly complex abilities could not be utilized to their fullest potential. ¡®I currently don¡¯t have enough attack power to break that boar¡¯s defense. Seems like I underestimated that ¡®durability¡¯ skill,'' thought Gorn. ¡°I understand. We will also try to finish a few more rooms until tonight,¡± said Elisa, a little sad that he had to leave so early. Gorn left a few things for them. ¡°I¡¯ll leave right away. Probably I won¡¯t be back until tonight, so stay safe until then.¡± ¡°We will! Please be careful as well!¡± Concern was visible on Elisa¡¯s face as well. Gorn nodded, then disappeared from her sight. A few moments later, he appeared on top of the tree. Closing his eyes, he breathed in powerfully. ¡°Another day, another adventure!¡± Exclaimed Gorn while opening his eyes wide. The scenery was amazing as always. As he took a few moments to admire the nature, something peculiar happened to his shadow. Gorn¡¯s shadow trembled slightly, and a bizarre looking mouth made its appearance in the middle. It wasn¡¯t a real mouth, but the shape of a mouth made from his shadow. It was extremely black, and ominous looking. Its form was not that of a human, resembling more the outline of some sort of other creature. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Gorn had no idea what was happening to his shadow, nor did he feel anything amiss. After a few more moments, his shadow trembled again, and that peculiar, and frightening shape vanished. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go!¡± Gorn started his day from really early in the morning. He had to find another suitable target for farming. One option was to choose a weaker wild boar, but that implied obtaining a lower leveled skill, and much less gold. ¡®If I plan on farming gold, then something with no skills, and a slighter higher level of power compared to me, would be ideal.¡¯ At this point, what he needed the most, was yet again time. There was also the option of completing the mission that implied killing five adult reapers. That, however, was something that didn¡¯t look like it was doable at the moment. He still remembered clearly that four-tailed fox, and the adult reaper. They weren¡¯t creatures he could hope to defeat at this stage. Thanks to his ¡®blink¡¯ ability that he recently upgraded, the escape chances from such monsters were a lot higher, but defeating them seemed far-fetched. Atypical tactics could be used as well, but that also inferred certain risks. ¡®I must keep a good balance between taking risks, and not doing enough,¡¯ thought Gorn while moving further and further away. He saw several groups of people, some smaller, and some bigger, but he chose not to interact with them. The same thing applied to monsters. ¡®I wonder what happened to Sara¡­¡¯ Sara, Lora, and Sebastian were the few people with whom he had a somewhat closer relationship. If possible, he was going to lend a helping hand to them. Teleporting, and running on air, was a very convenient way of moving around. As long as he didn¡¯t want to interact with something, he could just walk away very easily. In roughly one hour, Gorn traveled approximately one hundred kilometers. By blinking, that distance could be traversed in a few minutes, however, he wanted to inspect, and analyze a few things. ¡°Stop right there!¡± Reaching the base of another gigantic tree, Gorn was stopped by a few armed men. They wore some kind of armor that looked to be a combination between leather and iron. The quality was better than what he used to see, and the same thing applied to their steel swords. Some of them had bows, arrows, and even shields. ¡°Who are you?!¡± There were over ten such individuals. By the looks of things, they seemed to guard the tree. Taking a glance upwards, Gorn could notice the presence of quite a few people on the tree. It was like a small community. ¡°If you don¡¯t respond, we will be forced to attack you!¡± None of them had any collars on their necks, and their power levels were above five hundred, a few reaching even seven hundred. Some of them also had some skills. ¡°Calm down. I¡¯m not an enemy. Just passing through the area,¡± said Gorn without being intimidated by them. Fighting so many opponents at once could prove to be a little challenging, even for someone with a power level of one thousand. Unfortunately for them, Gorn had multiple abilities that drastically decreased their chances of defeating him. While they didn¡¯t have collars, they had multiple of those special watches. Gorn was not yet in their action range, so they had no information on him. With precaution, half of those guards came closer towards him. ¡°We need to inspect you. If you resist, we will use force,¡± warned one of them. By the looks of things, they had no intention of letting him go freely, since he found their location. Their attitude was understandable, but Gorn did not like their tone and their choice of words. ¡°You will use force?¡± It sounded incredibly funny when it came from someone way weaker than him. Gorn laughed: ¡°A little shit like you will use force to inspect me?¡± At this moment, the man was close enough for his watch to work. When he saw ¡®1040¡¯ written on it, his face turned pale, and he jumped backwards instinctively. His comrades followed his example. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Weren¡¯t you going to inspect me ¡®forcefully¡¯?¡± The man¡¯s face turned unsightly, but did not panic. ¡°Everyone! Adopt battle formation!¡± This signal had a clear meaning behind it. Each one of them took a certain stance, and position. ¡°Even if you are a little stronger, you can¡¯t defeat all of us.¡± Gorn sighed: ¡°You are not that bright, are you?¡± His remark made them frown. Gorn continued: ¡°That watch of yours can accurately detect power, I¡¯ll give you that. Unfortunately, it can¡¯t detect special abilities. Do you know what, and how many special abilities I have?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°The answer is simple: Enough to slaughter every single one of you, regardless of the battle formations you use. So please, stop with the bullshit. Go call your boss, and don¡¯t waste my time,¡± said Gorn with great confidence. His words were definitely having an effect. One of them quickly went up the tree, presumably, to bring their boss. ¡°Good! Looks like you are not that stupid as you look, after all.¡± After a few intense moments for the guards, the man that left came back. With him, was one additional person. ¡°Gorn?!¡± Chapter 44: Meeting Sara yet again In front of him was none other than Sara. She looked great as always. Unlike the others, she wore normal clothes. Black jeans, and a black sweater. Her dual colored eyes could mesmerize almost anyone. With the wind picking up, her long black hair fluttered in the wind, adding to the mysterious aura that seemed to surround her. ¡°Honestly, I wasn¡¯t expecting you here¡­¡± Gorn had to admit, she was still the most beautiful woman he had seen in his life. Looks, body figures, demeanor, she had them all. But what intrigued him the most were her eyes, something inexplicable seemed to lurk behind them. ¡°I¡¯m glad that you escaped the city as well.¡± Gorn quietly looked her in the eyes for a few moments. Her gaze was different from before. Sara seemed colder, a feature he did not see before. But then again, he barely knew her. ¡°I wasn¡¯t inside the city when Norman took over,¡± said Gorn with a serene face. He wasn¡¯t overly concerned with what happened. ¡°I see¡­¡± Sara appeared to be reminiscing about something. That lasted only for a short time. ¡°This is a temporary base formed by people that ran away from the city. You can rest here whenever you want.¡± Gorn took another look at the towering tree. ¡°Thank you. Do you perhaps know the whereabouts of Sebastian and Lora?¡± ¡°Sebastian is in here, along with his family. As for Lora, she must still be inside the city,¡± Gorn was pleasantly surprised to find out that Sebastian was there. Before doing anything else, he was curious to see if Sara progressed in the past months. ¡°Select!¡± Scratching his nose, Gorn covered his mouth with his hand while saying this word. After all this time, he could do it in an almost inaudible manner. Race: Human Talent: High Power level: 1100 Abilities: Flight(Lvl4); Wind resistance(Lvl4); Lightning bolt (Lvl4); Durability (Lvl4) Equipment: Normal clothes Loot: 1100 gold; Flight(Lvl4); Wind resistance(Lvl4); Lightning bolt (Lvl4); Durability (Lvl4) ¡®Oh?'' Her power level increased by eighty, and her flight, and wind resistance skills by one level. ¡®This is faster than it should have been normally. I guess everybody has a few secrets, or perhaps, there are more details about powering up that I do not know of yet,¡¯ thought Gorn. ¡°Good to hear that. Can we talk in a more private place?¡± asked Gorn, not very fond of the nearby guards. ¡°We can. Meet me up at the top of the tree, we will talk there.¡± With those words, Sara flew ahead. This time, she didn¡¯t offer to ¡®transport¡¯ him as well. Gorn scanned everyone present with his eyes one last time, then disappeared, leaving behind a dumbfounded group of people. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡®Shit! He didn¡¯t lie about having special skills¡­¡¯ thought the man in charge of the guards. A lot of details were not known, but still, he was very happy a fight did not occur between them. ¡°Alright, everyone move out to your places! Next time, let¡¯s try to be a little more polite with people, at least until we know their power level. Special skills, and a higher level of power is not a combination that I want to face.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± . . . In a few blinks Gorn was already at the top. The tree was roughly the same size as the one where he made camp at. Sara arrived shortly. She made a very surprised face after seeing him there before her. While she didn¡¯t use her full speed, it wasn¡¯t slow either. ¡®How strange, is he able to teleport or something?¡¯ though Sara at the same time as she landed next to him. ¡°This is good enough for a more secluded place. What do you want to talk about?¡± Gorn sat down slowly. ¡°You must have more information about what is going on inside the city. Can you share them with me?¡± Sara also sat down. She was now only a meter away from him. ¡°What do I gain if I do that?¡± Gorn made a weird face. This was similar to what happened the first time she came looking for him. This time, however, the roles were switched. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°I want information as well. More exactly, I want to know how you disappeared from my mansion last time,¡± said Sara, a little anticipation showing on her face. Gorn was planning on using his ability to teleport to the fullest, so it wasn¡¯t such a big secret. From his point of view, as long as the specific details of his skills were not leaked, it wasn¡¯t mandatory to use too much effort to hide them. ¡°I can teleport.¡± Sara laughed: ¡°Don¡¯t joke around with me.¡± Seeing his serious face, she continued: ¡°You can¡¯t be serious, right?¡± She didn¡¯t exclude that possibility entirely, nevertheless, she tried to seem as surprised as possible in order to maybe obtain more information out of him. ¡°Does it look like I¡¯m joking?¡± Sara paused for a moment: ¡°It is a little too hard to believe. Unless I see it, I won¡¯t believe it. For example, you can teleport to that branch over there and back. We will talk more after that.¡± ¡®How cunning of her,¡¯ thought Gorn. If he did that, Sara could find out additional information about his ability. Like distance, time, and the fact that he could use it multiple times. He could act, and deceive her to some degree, but that was something he was in no mood of doing. ¡°No. This is not how I do things,¡± said Gorn, unfazed by her little tricks. ¡°Then I won¡¯t tell you what I know about the city. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to find out more about that?¡± Sara seemed displeased by his lack of cooperation. Gorn gave her a look: ¡°From my point of view, what I told you is enough to obtain that information.¡± Doing what she asked of him wouldn¡¯t be much, but he didn¡¯t feel the need to prove himself to her in any way. A gentle gust of wind blew into their faces, pausing the conversation for a short moment. ¡°Then I won¡¯t tell you anything.¡± ¡®I wonder if she even knows something important¡­¡¯ ¡°The same applies for other questions as well?¡± asked Gorn, curious to hear her answer. ¡°Depends on what types of questions you have,¡± answered Sara calmly. She appeared to not care that much. ¡°Questions like what are your plans with these people, and if you plan to bring them to that floating island?¡± Sara smiled dryly: ¡°Plans? I don¡¯t have any plans at all. They chose me as their leader, but that decision was something unilateral. Except helping them with a few things to kill boredom, I don¡¯t really care¡­¡± Her face started to express sadness, and misery. Gorn watched attentively: ¡°Why not? Is there nothing you want to do at all?¡± ¡°What would be the point of doing that if everything can be so easily destroyed? Wouldn¡¯t that be just a waste of time¡­?¡± Gorn remained silent for a moment: ¡°Well, you have a point¡­¡± The sour mood partially affected his emotions. What she said had a very deep meaning, and was something that he thought about quite often, even before coming to this world. Silence. After some time, Sara turned her head towards him. Gorn was looking far away into the horizon, still deeply immersed into the words she said. His face was sad as well. Seeing this, Sara¡¯s expression softened significantly. Chapter 45: Meeting Sebastians sister A few more moments of silence followed. ¡°Then we should invest our time into something that can¡¯t be destroyed or taken away from us no matter what,¡± said Gorn, his face a bit more peaceful. Sara looked at him with some interest: ¡°Like what?¡± Gorn smiled: ¡°Good question. You must find the answer to that on your own.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± Silence again. ¡°I¡­¡± Sara wanted to say something but stopped shortly. ¡°I¡¯m going to talk to Sebastian,¡± said Gorn at the same time as he got up. Sara was in no mood to talk so he left discreetly. After jumping a few times, and scanning everyone with his gaze, he finally saw Sebastian. ¡°Hey, long time no see¡­¡± said Gorn while casually walking towards him. ¡°Gorn?!¡± Sebastian was surprised by the sudden, unexpected visit. ¡°How are you?¡± Gorn arrived next to him: ¡°I¡¯m fine. After all, I have plenty of ways to keep myself safe.¡± ¡°Good to hear that¡­¡± Sebastian¡¯s physique was as imposing as ever, unfortunately, his power level did not improve that much. A few of the nearby people gave them a curious glance, but soon minded their own business. People came and left quite often from that place. ¡°What happened?¡± asked Gorn with interest. Sebastian walked to a more out-of-the-way place. ¡°As you probably know, Norman took over the city, changing it for the worse. My family always keeps an eye on the important events around us, so after observing the situation for some time, we decided to run away from the city. Seems like it was a good decision¡­¡± Gorn nodded his head: ¡°I would have done the same.¡± ¡°What about you? I tried looking for you, but could not find you.¡± ¡°I was outside the city hunting monsters when all of this happened.¡± Sebastian smiled widely: ¡°Man, I also wish to get stronger as quickly as you do.¡± Gorn laughed: ¡°Who knows, maybe that time will come some day.¡± Sebastian made a weird face, knowing that was not likely to happen. In comparison to him, Gorn looked rather small and weak. ¡°Is it me, or you got even bigger since last time we met?¡± asked Gorn while analyzing Sebastian. ¡°Maybe I got a few centimeters taller, nothing much really.¡± ¡°At least you look strong, right?¡± joked Gorn, comparing his body with the muscular built of the person next to him. ¡°At least that,¡± laughed Sebastian. . . A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. . ¡°So this is where you have been!¡± exclaimed someone from the distance. Sebastian was still talking with Gorn, when this particular person disturbed them. ¡°Elena? Why are you here?¡± In the next seconds, a girl arrived in front of them. ¡°Don¡¯t ask stupid questions, or I¡¯m going to beat you up!¡± threatened Elena, with a fist raised, and aimed towards him. Gorn was a little speechless at this scene. In front of him was now a beautiful girl that resembled Sebastian quite a lot. She was very tall, had shoulder-length blonde hair, and blue eyes. Her eye-lashes were very long and thick, and their color, the same as her eyebrows, were also blonde. It looked very uncommon, and rare. Even though Sebastian¡¯s hair was blonde, and his eyes blue as well, his eyebrows, and eye-lashes were dark. Elena was dressed in a sleeveless short dress coupled with a pair of black steel gauntlets. Her legs were wrapped in black bandages a little above her knees, and she had no shoes. ¡®Another beauty¡­ Is this supposed to be some kind of armor?¡¯ Gorn doubted the level of protection one could receive from such clothes. ¡®Well, at least it looks very cool.¡¯ Elena was very beautiful and attractive. Her blonde eye-lashes and eyebrows coupled with her deep blue eyes made her charm explode. Long, slender legs, and a very generous bosom complemented her striking facial looks quite good. ¡°What are you looking at?! Want me to bash your face in?¡± Gorn¡¯s scrutiny did not go unnoticed. In fact, it brought a very unpleasant feeling to the other party. Gorn got to his feet. In comparison to Elena, he looked rather small. ¡®Shit, she must be least two meters tall¡­¡¯ ¡°Your appearance is very unusual, I had to take a closer look,¡± said Gorn in a normal tone. His gaze then turned towards Sebastian: ¡°This is?¡± ¡°I¡¯m his sister,¡± butted in Elena. ¡°I told him to stop hanging out with random weaklings, but it seems he just doesn¡¯t want to listen to me.¡± She looked quite pissed. Sebastian smacked his face, feeling a headache incoming. Gorn raised one of his eyebrows. ¡°Select!¡± Race: Human Talent: High Power level: 250 Abilities: Regeneration (Lvl2); Blur (Lvl1); Warrior (Lvl3); Enhanced strength (Lvl4) Equipment: Steel gauntlets Loot: 250 gold; Steel gauntlets; Regeneration (Lvl2); Blur (Lvl1); Warrior (Lvl3); Enhanced strength (Lvl4) ¡®Blur and enhanced strength? Interesting¡­¡¯ She had two skills he did not see before. ¡®Unfortunately, their level is low¡­¡¯ Upgrading them was possible, but that required gold. If the skill was abnormal, investing resources to upgrade it was a viable option. ¡®Should I check those skills out?¡¯ ¡°Can you stop looking at me like that?!¡± Elena was not in a great mood. Gorn snapped out of his thoughts. He wanted to say something, but chose to ignore her instead. ¡°I have a few things that need my urgent attention right now. I¡¯ll come for a visit later, see you then,¡± said Gorn to Sebastian. ¡°Sure thing. Next time I hope you join my family for dinner,¡± answered Sebastian with a smiling face. Both of them ignored Elena. As Gorn casually walked away, she made a very unsatisfied face. ¡°I know that you like socializing, but shouldn¡¯t you spend more of that time getting stronger, or at least making some connection with more important people?¡± Sebastian smiled: ¡°I already told you that I¡¯m not wasting time, so stop bothering me already.¡± ¡°How is this not a waste of time?! Please enlighten me, otherwise, I won¡¯t stop bothering you.¡± Elena was adamant with her attitude. Sebastian sighed: ¡°Fair enough¡­¡± Pausing a little he continued: ¡°The name of the man that just left is Gorn. He is one of my former classmates¡­¡± ¡°And?!¡± ¡°Guess what he was doing when Norman took over the city?¡± Elena made a weird face. ¡°I don¡¯t know, hiding away in some corner?¡± Sebastian made a more serious face: ¡°He was hunting monsters outside the city.¡± Elena paused: ¡°Really?¡± She didn¡¯t seem to believe what her brother was telling her. ¡°I suspect that he might be among the strongest people here.¡± ¡°I think you are just spouting bullshit,¡± said Elena, thinking of forcing Gorn into some kind of sparring match to prove her point. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Sebastian left with those words and a mysterious smile. Elena was left yet again in a bad mood. ¡°How many times did this shit happen during these past few weeks? Forget it, if he doesn¡¯t understand that I want the best for him then I won¡¯t waste my time anymore.¡± She was the kind of person that appreciated power more than looks or social status. After all, their current situation was enough proof to her about what had priority, and what not.