Kyle looked around as he approached the village walls, noticing that for what Kyle had thought was a farming village, there was a conspicuous lack of fields. He reached the gates, and noticed that Millie seemed to have already gone inside.

"Halt! Who goes there?" a voice called from the top of the wall.

Kyle craned his neck, but couldn't make out the speaker. "Just a displaced locksmith, I hope you'll allow me to come inside?"

"We don't need a locksmith!" scoffed the voice. "Go back to where you came from!"

"I would love to, but I don't actually know where I am. I would just like to come in and find a map, make sure that Millie got back safely, and then I'll be on my way," He paused. "I heard there's an Interface in town, I might use it before leaving."

"Millie is fine. She came in talking about how some Champion had saved her or some such nonsense, and said that they'd be following her. I don't know, but you don't really look much like a Champion. Is there a Champion following you?" the voice chuckled. "As if."

"No, or, at least, I hope that there isn't a Champion following me. That would probably be bad for me, I think we might be in a competition against each other." Kyle said.

"Hah! A locksmith, in competition with a Champion? Is locksmithing their hobby or something? I can't imagine that a Champion would be unable to beat you," the voice said.

"Who are you shouting at?" Millie asked. Kyle almost couldn't hear her.

"Just some low-level Classless human locksmith," the voice growled. "Not worth letting in, after the human bandits that have been roaming around for a while, stirring up trouble."

"May I see? It might be Kyle, though I don't remember him saying anything about being a locksmith," Millie said. A head peeked over the wall, then quickly ducked back. "It's him!"

"Who?" the voice asked. "Wait, don't open it, that's my job!"

"Kyle, the Champion who rescued me. He killed the bandits at level two!" Millie said.

"He what! Quick, open it! I don't want him to be mad at me!" the voice said.

"I thought that you wanted to do it yourself," Millie said in a slight sing-song tone.

"Just shut up and help!"

The gate made a slight grinding sound as it opened, and Kyle walked through. "Thanks Millie!" he said, looking up. "And, whatever your name is, guard, you might want to think about-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please forgive me Champion Kyle, I'll do whatever you ask!" the guard exclaimed.

"I was just trying to say the gate might need to be oiled," Kyle said, taken aback. "That grinding sound doesn't seem like it's something you would want from a gate."

"Of course, Champion, I'll go get some right away!" A door opened atop the wall and a guard stepped out, heading for the stairs.

"You might wait until the gate is closed first!" Kyle yelled. "Safety first, people!"

The guard jumped, stumbled, and caught themselves before heading back to the gatehouse. The gates began to swing closed once again.

Millie ran out of the guardhouse and down the stairs to Kyle as quickly as she could, grinning and a little out of breath. "Sorry about that," She said as they started walking into town.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"Don't worry about it," Kyle said. "If the bandits have been as bad as it sounds, it was a reasonable precaution. Why are the fields on the inside of the walls?"

"Oh, it's to keep the monsters from ruining the crops," Millie said. "Do you not do that where you're from? How do you protect your fields from monsters trying to get at you, then?"

"We don't have monsters where I come from. At least, not the non-human variety," Kyle responded. "The human variety of monster isn't likely to ruin crops, nor to try and kill people as indiscriminately. Why don't we go let people know you're safe?"

"Oh, right."

By the time they got to Millie's parent's house, Kyle had gotten a lot of weird looks. As the only human in the elven village, it was kind of inevitable. Millie knocked on the door, and gave her parents a big hug when they opened the door. Kyle smiled at the sight. They waved him in, and they entered.

Congratulations!

You have completed the Quest: Safe and Sound

Reward: Identify, 5 VP

Kyle grinned. Step One complete. Now I just need to recruit her and I'll get even more victory points for things I would have pretty much done anyway.

"We can't thank you enough," Millie's mom said.

"Let us know if there's anything we can do for you."

"I need someone to teach me the Standard Array, a map, and to use the Interface afterwards. Do you think you can help me with that?" Kyle asked.

"Of course!" Millie's dad said, getting up. "I think we have a map somewhere, let me go get it."

"Would you be willing to stay for dinner?"

"Probably healthier than my car snacks," Kyle said, and grimaced jokingly.

Millie's mom snorted, and stood up and went to set an extra place at the table.

*** *** ***

Kyle woke up and found the map by his bed. He picked it up and studied it for bit, then stuck it in his pocket.

Congratulations!

You have completed the Quest: Civilization

Reward: +1 level, 5 VP

Level Up Available!

Kyle blinked it away. "Kind of forgot about the level up..."

He walked out, and waved to Millie's parents. "Is there anything I can do to help this morning? I'd like to get the Standard Array as quickly as possible, and helping you is the best way to do that."

"Ah, yes," Millie's dad said. "We have some goats that need to be milked, and an extra pail, can you help with that?"

"Of course! Just show me what to do."

Skill Requirements Met! Milking Available!

Kyle followed Millie's dad to the skill shop. Apparently, you could buy skills. Some mage discovered how to encapsulate knowledge in a scroll some time ago, but it was only cheap for the simpler skills, and so Mana Sight and Mana Manipulation, along with ones that simply pinged the system for info, were there, but the other skills were prohibitively expensive.

"Mana Sight and Mana Manipulation please." Millie's dad said to the cashier.

"Mana Manipulation? Why do you need-"

"It's for the Champion here. He's new." Millie's dad interrupted.

"Ah. I only have the one Mana Manipulation, because everyone here is an elf. But If you can pay for it..." the cashier said.

"But of course." Millie's dad said, handing over several coins in exchange for the two scrolls. "Thank you very much."

They went to the Interface, and Millie's dad handed Kyle the scrolls.

"How do I use these? Just read them?" Kyle asked.

"Oh. Yeah, that's how it works. Just read it and you'll absorb it, making the skill available." Millie's dad confirmed.

Kyle sat down and read the scrolls.

Skill Requirements Met! Mana Sight Available! Skill Requirements Met! Mana Manipulation Available!

Kyle stood up and walked over to the Interface.