Chapter 25: Chapter 25

Darius had underestimated the sheer amount of beasts he had killed with his surprise attack. Still, it was a welcomed surprise to see that it had catapulted him to about halfway through level 3.

However, it was even more valuable to discover that the Supreme System had awarded him EXP based on his level when he had begun his attack. If it had been less lenient it could have counted each EXP one after the other and switched down to a lower EXP gain as soon as he had leveled up, yet that had not been the case.

Instead, he realized he had found another loophole as well as a convenient way to raise his level before he encountered civilization. Darius walked over to some of the prey animals like deer and rabbits, then carved them up dexterously. With his increased Agility, he was much more skilled in this sector, and his increased Endurance meant that he didn't tire as easily.

After about 4 hours of this, he stuffed all the meat into his Inventory. As part of an experiment he had tried to put a carcass into his Inventory and it had succeeded.

Nevertheless, apart from their meat, there was not much else of value these beasts served and since he did not wish to clutter up the space he had, he refrained from storing any of them.

Additionally, he wanted to find out whether the Inventory would keep them as 'fresh' as they had been upon killing them or if it merely slowed down the decaying process.

After he was done collecting a lot of meat he took a look at the things he had been awarded from the system. Apart from the improved potions, meat, and tools he previously had, there were now some additional inferior potions among other weird junk.

Darius took out the most notable ones and Inspected them.

[Strange Gem - Miscellaneous

Durability: ?/?

Description: A lovely red crystal that shines with a strange light. Take it to an appraiser to find out any hidden details.]

Darius smirked at this description. His Supreme Quality Itemancer class made him the King of Appraisers and Item Valuers, so he activated his Analyze skill once more.

[Red Enchant - Consumable

Durability: 1,000/1,000

Quality: Common

Description: A supremely rare and valuable crystal formed in nature when in the presence of intense elemental magic. An Enchanter can imbue an item with the element of fire with this.]

Darius nodded. He had seen those types of rare gems that gave items attributes in the games he had played. Judging by the descriptions these gems had to be used by the top-tier warriors to imbue their items.

Probably mercenary leaders, guardsman captains, high-ranking soldiers, and the like. Its value on the market would be high in that case, since only the powerful could afford to use it.

Not only that, its demand would be extremely high depending on how good the effect was. If it was like Darius' Ember and even provide like 5% fire damage to a spear, bow, or sword, it would be a killer in battle.

Darius could also deduce that the supply should be poor. Something described as 'supremely rare' meant that if it hadn't been a drop from the Supreme System, Darius would have likely never received it normally.

This should be a direct benefit of his mass killing coupled with his above-average Luck. As his electro-massacre had killed more than 50 beasts yet yielded less than 5 item rewards, he reasoned that it should be either that his Luck had rolled badly, or that the few items he got were valuable enough to limit the gross amount.

He had traded quantity for quality. Looking at the other stuff he got nothing was as useful or amazing as the Red Enchant.

As for utility… it didn't have much of it to him at the moment. It could stay in his Inventory until he reached civilization. Who knew, it could even be an important bargaining chip to secure his identity in society.

Darius increased all inferior potions he acquired to the common grade. He also noticed that he got a broken fishing rod, but seeing as he had slaughtered all the fish around, there was really no need for such a thing, especially since it would cost him to repair it first.

Darius ignored the rest of the carcasses as he went downstream. He was trying to kill two birds with one stone, reach the bridge necessary to cross over, and kill some more beasts on the way.

After walking about 700 meters, he came to another 'community pool' area with plenty of beasts and fish in the water. Even better was that the bridge was within eyesight, though a bit to the edge of his vision.

However, Darius was careful this time, because there was a small pride of lions that lazed around the river bank. Their cubs swam and played in the water while the lionesses watched on, occasionally roaring when one of them became adventurous and tried to sneak away.

As for the big boss of the pride, he simply lay among his lionesses and soaked in the sun. Darius inspected them all straightaway.

[Plains Lioness - Level 4 Beast

HP: 25/25 MP: 5/5]

[Plains Lion - Level 5 Beast

HP: 40/40 MP: 10/10]

Although he had just leveled up and felt confident, he just walked across the area, making sure to appear as harmless as possible as he moved towards the bridge. After passing the area with the bathing big cats, he sighed with relief.

There was a fine line between stupidity and bravery, a line many failed to recognize due to their own hubris. The only kind of person who would try those odds would be one aware that no matter the situation, some cosmic force would prevent their death in order to keep the show going.

Despite being one such entity himself, Darius didn't want to test Goddess Vena's fondness for him. There would be many opportunities for him to gain levels in other battles and even return here stronger to vanquish them if he so chose.

The bridge was quite well-maintained, and Darius could see some dried tracks of carts. He wasn't a tracker, so he couldn't tell exactly how long ago it was, but it definitely wasn't recent.

Once he crossed the bridge, Darius broke into a lazy jog. Now that his Endurance had been raised to the standard of the average healthy adult in this world, he found that he only began to tire after reaching 5 kilometers.

He paused and took a break by the roadside, making sure to take off his clothes and air them in case any sweat got in, while he himself rested comfortably as he sipped on the lovely Pure Water.

Darius wasn't a person who loved physical activity, but he felt that he could now better understand those people who did. The feeling of being alive, of being active, was as intoxicating as it was tiring.

After an hour of lazy rest, he resumed his light jog. At his current speed, he crossed a kilometer in 15 minutes, meaning his jogging speed was 4 km/h.

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Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Darius crossed the final 23 kilometers in about half a day without any other encounters. He wasn't too sure, but he guessed that it should be around 9 pm and he could already see the homestead in the distance.

Now, he was faced with a choice. Appear before the common folk at this time of the night and try to play a role to ingratiate himself with them, or wait until morning by sleeping out in the wild once more?

Darius didn't need the small Infoblock to know that appearing out of the blue during the night would set alarm bells off in anyone's head, especially in a world like this where superstitions were rampant, although more often than not also justified.

If he chose this option, he'd better think up a pretty good excuse for doing so, one where the situation justified the means and nobody would ask too many questions. A few options came to mind.

Darius considered using the 'injured hero' trope. He'd find some low-leveled beast or monster, allow it to rough him up for a bit before he killed it, then limp towards the homestead pretending to be on his last breath.

A kind farmer's daughter would then rescue him and take care of him, jumpstarting the plot of his journey... or at least that was how it had worked in all those animes he had been forced to watch.

Alternatively, he could use the 'abandoned child' trope. He looked 13 years old, so he could easily pass off as a naive youth who got separated from his noble family and needed lodging until he could make contact with them again.

Finally, he could use the 'revenge story intro' trope. He would claim to be a noble's son who had just witnessed his family murdered by bandits or assassins sent by political opponents, only managing to escape because he either ran away, was smuggled away by his darling mum, or had been let go by the killers because they couldn't be bothered to finish him off.

'Hm, the first one should be the most convenient. It doesn't require too far-fetched a story or too heavy acting that could backfire if it slips my mind for a second.'

However, Darius didn't fancy fighting at night, because it would be harder to control such a battle. The aim of the game would be to get beaten up and slightly bloody, but not really hurt. He wasn't a masochist that loved pain, obviously.

After pondering for a bit longer, Darius ultimately decided to wait the night out. He found himself slightly sleepy after that long jog with the occasional breaks. What he had to do now was find a secure place to rest, unlike last time where he had foolishly plopped to the ground out in the open.

Darius walked around and found a broken cart nearby. Lord, it was dirty and dusty, also smelled a bit funny, but was small enough that nothing predatory could creep in there without making enough noise first to wake him up.

Darius naturally removed his clothes once again and used them to cover his body so that they wouldn't be messed up by the muck. He also fetched some leaves to form a covering from the rotten wood to prevent himself from getting splinters or critters all over his body.

At this time, he was debating getting a water spell for situations like this, or at least some cleanse spell that could clean up stuff like this.

Alas, if the small fireball spell was like the cheapest thing available then it would mean even with all his shortcuts of making a book and an empty spell manual first to make it cheaper, each spell would still end up at around 10.9 Conversion Points, in other words, more than one day's worth.

Darius once more craved to reach a city, but there was a process to it.

Finally managing to make himself somewhat comfortable, Darius spent what little points he had left creating a few empty books. The cost to make an unused spell manual was 5.9 Conversion Points, so he'd have to wait for tomorrow.

Besides, he also had the Spearmanship skillbook to think about, which would cost him 4 more Conversion Points. The next day had not even begun and already all but 0.1 Conversion Points had been booked!

Darius was starting to feel the pressure. Having many skills did not get to him, but the limited amount of Conversion Points was different. The ability to transmute at will was just too versatile and too precious, yet it had been balanced in a way that it was not easy to abuse despite the loopholes he found.

While thinking about more ways how he could further perfect it, his eyelids got heavy, and he eventually succumbed to his fatigue, falling into a light slumber. The next time he cracked his eyelids open, it appeared to be barely dawn.

He could hear the roosters crowing to herald the coming of morning, as well as various sounds of human life as the simple folk of the farm woke up to begin their daily duties.

It was the norm for people like this to be up by 5 am and asleep by 8-9 pm. They were honest, hardworking people who represented the best of humankind.

At least, that's what Darius knew from the basic archetypes in similar settings. Whether these farm folk would be stereotypical or subversive was up in the air, but he was not interested in holing up within this rotten carriage anymore.

Taking his clothes and crawling out of the carriage carefully, he quickly dressed and did what he planned to do from yesterday, which was the transmutation.

[Would you like to change the empty book into a basic spear manual? This will cost 4 Conversion Points.]

[Would you like to change the empty book into an empty spell manual? This will cost 5.9 Conversion Points.]

At just like that, he nearly used up today's limit. However, the tradeoff was that his right hand held an empty spell manual while his left held a basic spear manual.

Putting the empty one into his Inventory, he immediately chose to learn the spear manual.

[Detected skillbook. Would you like to learn its contents?

Warning: The skillbook will be destroyed upon using this method! Continue?]

Darius felt a rush of knowledge enter his mind as he assented to the prompt. He no longer was a clueless rich boy who had never even swung a pole before, but now had the experience of a talented lancer who had received basic training, but forgot it all due to amnesia.

He took out his iron spear and swung it around deftly, twirling and flourishing it with ease. If someone were to see Darius now, they would swear to all the gods that the young lad must have had a spear put into his cradle and been taught spearmanship before even making his first steps.

[Basic Lancer Arts - Level 1 Skill

Cost: Stamina

Description: You have mastered the fundamental of the priceless Lancer Arts long lost to history. With your spear, you can stand above all others who dare to use your own choice of weapon against you. You deal 5% spear damage whenever you wield a pole weapon.]

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