章 11: Choosing a path

Lucky Merchant, Genius Mage, and Genius Swordsman. These were the 3 class selection options Kameron had to choose from this time.

"I need to pick one of these classes, for now, to carve a path for my future. Let's see, though the lucky merchant class has its perks from a business standpoint, I don't want to go down that path. The class seems to compensate for the lack of skills with more stat points. It would be more helpful in the long run but I'm confident that my luck will help me become stronger than those in the same rank as me. Also, Gluttony should allow me to get some nice skills in the future so though I won't be as strong as I would with the extra stat points, I would have skills to make up for it."

After taking a few hours to seriously think about the lucky merchant class Kameron decided to eliminate it.

"Next is the Genius Mage Class... this gives really good bonuses and the cooldown of spells being reduced by half would change a lot of things. The best thing though is the life-saving spell Mana Cloak. With this, I would be able to save myself from death for 3 seconds, definitely enough time to counter-attack or escape if needed."

"The other is the Genius Swordsman which gives me Basic Sword Mastery and Foresight. Sword Mastery will let me use any sword to its fullest extent. While Foresight will help me predict an enemy's attack, combine that with my intuition and it's a pretty crazy combination. I would be able to attack and defend at a high level, only limited by the limitations on my body..."

Thinking back over the two remaining choices Kameron finally decided on a Path.

[You have chosen Genius Swordsman]

[You have gained the skills Basic Sword Mastery and Foresight]

[Your Rank has increased to 1]

[You have gained 10 normal summon tickets for reaching Rank 1]

[The System will begin upgrading]

[Time remaining: 23:59:59]

"Wait! An upgrade? What's going on Ina???" He asked a bit confused as he tried to access the system window but he was just greeted by the time remaining on the upgrade. After some time of trying to get a response from Ina, he gave up.

"What the hell..." Sighing in defeat, Kameron just relaxed inside of the cart as he looked at the tiny elementals resting while huddled up beside his leg. As he looked out of the back of the cart he noticed the sky had begun to darken.

"Young man, we will be stopping for the night if that's fine with you." The old man said as he stopped the horses in the side of the road leading south.

Kameron helped the old man tie the horses to a tree before going to hunt a few animals for food as the old man set up a tent beside the cart.

After 15 or so minutes Kameron returned with a few normal boar corpses. Surprisingly true animals in the current area had no elements to them.

Taking a few minutes to gather logs, Kameron started a small fire a few feet away from the tent. The tiny fire wolf was excited as it dashed into the flames and laid down in the center of it. Kameron was a bit curious about the situation but even after inspecting the tiny wolf multiple times, nothing had changed with its status.

Later, with the old man helping him, he was able to cut out the boar meat successfully with a knife he borrowed. After, he cooked the meat successfully and separated it into 4 pork chop-sized sections. Though it wasn't seasoned at all, Kameron was happy that he was finally able to eat.

It was at this time that he began to reminisce over the food of Earth. Mainly Curry Rice.

After eating and thinking about earth's variety of foods, Kameron and the old man went to sleep. The old man, inside of his tent while Kameron slept sitting against the wall inside of the cart.

Like this, 5 days had passed peacefully and the two had reached the city together. Kameron received his pay outside of the city walls while the old man went inside to sell his goods and rest for a while.

Walking down the road leading to the city, as carts and soldiers entered and exited the gate, looking into the distance, Kameron thought back on the night the system finished its update.

~Evening of the second night~

[The System has Finished Updating]

[The Map Function has been created]

[The Title System has been unlocked]

[ ??? Has been created and locked]

[The Quests function had been updated]

[Daily Quests are now available]

"Finally I get a map! I was going to cry if I had to memorize maps!" He said in his mind as he looked towards the old man driving sitting beside the recently finished campfire. "Mr. Matthew can I look at any maps you have of the southern area of the continent???" He quickly asked, excited to give color to his almost completely blank mini-map.

"Curious about the south huh? Let me get one of the bigger maps I have." The old man, Matthew, got up and rummaged through some crates in his cart before returning to the fire and handing Kameron a paper map. "This is a fairly detailed map of the southern region of the eastern continent."

Taking the map for a second, the map within his system almost immediately began to copy down everything from the map the old man had given him.

Kameron studied the paper map for a minute while also looking at the title function of the system.

[Titles]

None

____________________

"I assumed as much. I'll need to actually obtain a title first in order to see the effects of this function. Though, I can guess it will give me stat increases."

(You're getting smarter, Kam)

"Ina! Are you ok? Why didn't you warn me about a system update? I was worried you would disappear on me..." Kameron quickly asked in his mind.

(Yes I'm ok silly, and to answer your question, I can control some things with the system but, ultimately, I am only a system administrator, I have restrictions too, which is why I can only help you with small things.)

(Also, why did you think I would disappear? My mission is to help you create a kingdom in this world regardless of how you go about it. Don't go thinking I'll disappear so easily~) Ina's voice said cheerfully within Kameron's mind.

(I'll also show you these new quests since you missed my assistance so much.)

[New Daily Quest: Slay 100 rank 0 enemies]

Reward: 2 common gacha tickets.

(Repeatable)

[New Daily Quest: Slay 50 rank 1 enemies]

Reward: 3 common gacha tickets

(Repeatable)

[New Daily Quest: Slay 10 rank 2 enemies]

Reward: 5 common gacha tickets

(Repeatable)

____________________

~Present Day~

"This is a really sad place to be, constant war has people living on edge..." Kameron said as he walked through the forest in the direction of a village close to the border between both kingdoms.

The village he chose was apparently close to a skirmish zone a few dozen miles from the oceanfront, other villages closer to the border were seemingly destroyed by the demons when they were able to take some of the neutral territories in the past couple hundred years, pushing the skirmish zone closer Lennox to the in recent years.

(You are close now...) Ina said softly as if occupied by something.

Ina finally commented after being silent for almost three days, leaving Kameron to fight with wild animals and keep watching over the tiny elementals that were, for some reason, still following him.

During this time, Kameron had been able to increase his level several times, gaining nearly 100 stat points in all. He had also tried communicating with some animals along the way but they refused to listen to him and in the end, they always fought and lost.

(Kam you need to hurry!!!) Ina's worried voice sounded with his mind.

"What's going on? Why are you yelling?" He asked as he quickly stored the corpse of the beast he had just defeated into his inventory.

(Just trust me and hurry to the village! They won't last long at the rate you are moving right now!!!) She said as she urged him to move faster.

Kameron, though he wasn't sure what was happening, was convinced Ina had sensed something somehow. He quickly started to run in the direction of the village, pushing his body to the limit, he ran through the trees of the forest he was currently in, only to see black smoke rising into the air in the direction the village was in.

"Shit!"

(AN: Join the discord! https://discord.gg/NfJGxrzW)