The first thing Daz did was head to the training area. On his list of skills to improve were; Throw and Retrieve which was his ranged melee skill, Shovel Smash, his signature move, and finally, he wanted to learn a new skill related to shooting since he felt like a pistol would be exceedingly useful against other people.

Daz was surprised to see the training area so empty when he arrived. Not a soul was in sight. He knew that most people spent their time in the outer layer of Fort Skip since the shop, the mine and the other cabins were there, but the only training ground that allowed them to learn skills for free was here.

"Does no one realise that we have a crisis right around the corner? Not even mentioning the General and his men, do my Citizens expect me to carry them through this apocalypse with just myself and a select few?" Daz frowned.

"Oh well, it is still only day three and people are adjusting. Not to mention the gunshots from earlier. I can't really blame anyone for not thinking about training right now," Daz sighed.

He then spent two hours on his shovel skills and levelled them both up once, increasing their damage ever so slightly.

Shovel Smash [D-Rank (Middle Tier)] Description A skill said to have been created by the God of Shovels himself to grant those that dedicated their lives to the way of the shovel a chance to protect themselves or advance on their conquests via the way of the shovel. Level 8 Abilities Allows the host to channel one type of their own energy into the flat side of a shovel's blade as a form of attack. Increases attack power of shovels used by the host by 14% when the skill is active.

Throw and Retrieve [C-Rank (Middle Tier)] Description A skill that allows the host to throw any object with their own strength and retrieve it from wherever it lands. Level 4 Abilities Thrown objects fly back to the host's hand. Increases max throwing distance of the host by 11.5%. Makes the action of throwing feel 11.5% more natural and 11.5% easier to do for the host.

A single level wasn't enough to satisfy Daz, but there was little he could do with the time he had. He did try to level up his Basic Slash and Shovel Mastery skills, but unfortunately, he wasn't successful.

Daz took one of the military pistols out of his inventory and looked at it with uncertainty. "I really should have learnt how to shoot at some point before the apocalypse happened. I mean, America was the damned motherland of firearms."

Thankfully for Fort Skip's Residents, the pistol that Daz was using actually had a muffler. While not as silent as a silencer, it was enough to not alarm Daz's already startled Citizens while he practised.

Daz had been busy switching between using his shovel, Hamson, and the pistol before finally, a smile of content washed across his face and he wiped away the sweat on his body with a towel. Currently, he was standing shirtless in the training area and he was looking at his latest skill.

Basic Aim [D-Rank (Lower Tier)] Description A skill common in most ranged classes. It is a fundamental skill for most ranged weapon users and thus has very little history to it. Level 1 Abilities Increases the host's shooting accuracy with any ranged weapons, thrown included, by 5%.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

While this slight increase in accuracy might have seemed minuscule compared to the time spent on training, Daz couldn't be happier. 'It's great that it includes thrown attacks. That means it should affect my Throw and Retrieve skill, making it slightly more powerful.'

Daz suddenly heard a high-pitched and young voice from his back. "Is this the effect of stats?"

Turning around, Daz saw his younger sister, Rose, sat in her wheelchair still wearing her pink pyjamas and behind her was Lyle. Rose was unabashedly staring at Daz's muscled torso.

"Interesting. So Daz, is this one of the reasons you insist that stats are worth the merit points? Admittedly, it has improved your lacklustre body by a large margin." Rose smiled mischievously.

"It's just a bonus. You know I never cared about my looks before," Daz dismissed his sister and slowly put his tank top back on. "Anyway, what brings you two here? I assume you need something."

"Mr Middleton here was very kindly explaining everything to me since you decided to leave me alone back there and hide in your little house," Rose expressed with a look on her face that would make one think that Daz had hurt her feelings.

"It's a busy job, being a Lord. Good thing my sister is such a capable and independent young woman who can take care of herself without needing her brother to babysit her, right?" Daz replied sarcastically.

"Naturally," Rose grinned.

Lyle raised an eyebrow at this odd interaction between siblings, but considering Daz's personality, it wasn't an entirely alien notion to him that Daz's family would be similar to him in at least some regards.

"Anyway, like I said, you two need something?" Daz asked while he gazed at the night sky. it was getting late, and Daz was excited for Rimmy's summon cooldown to disappear in roughly five hours, so he was naturally a bit distracted.

"Mmm, that's right. I used my skills and did a bit of research. I think we can safely conclude that the Military base won't be in any position to be a threat to us tomorrow," Rose said with a confident tone.

"Skills?" Daz asked with an interested look. Just as he was about to use his Higher Identification on his sister's class and skills, the girl looked at him with annoyance on her cute little face.

"Don't even try it. It won't work. Unlike some of the idiots here, I know where you've been getting all of your information and I can block it if I want to. The skills I used let me power my laptop with stamina and allow me to access a database set up by the system. It's a bit primitive, but it had some... interesting information on it," Rose declared with a prideful expression.

"... Is that so?" Daz asked before he immediately put his sister's words to the test.

Denied. The host's attempts to view host [Rose Hamilio]'s skill sheet have been blocked.

"Like I said, It's useless. Look at my status all you want, but everything else is off limits. A girl needs her privacy," Rose giggled.

Lyle was shocked by what was happening. Naturally, he had assumed that Daz's almost omnipotent ability to learn about people was related to a very powerful skill, but for Rose to be able to block it... didn't that mean that she must own a similarly powerful skill? How? Lyle didn't know, but his initial impression of Daz's sister had changed at this moment.

Daz placed a hand on Rose's head and tousled her hair roughly. "You should just let me see for myself. You know how I can get at times if I'm not sure about things."

Rose took a second to enjoy Daz's affection until she replied with, "Nope. My privacy is my own. Anyway, like I was saying, this database, it tells me about certain system related things that are linked to the real world, for example, the location of wild events, available bases nearby and, most importantly, a vague warning about the danger level of the next day's attack for not only this base but even other bases."

"Now that certainly is interesting," Daz commented. How could his sister have such a powerful ability without having earnt many merit points? The only thing Daz could think of was that her class was special or that she had received a power from a God somehow, which was also what he had suspected had happened to Ellie when he thought about her mysterious skill.

"Right? There are five different threat levels. From least threatening to most threatening, they go like, easy, normal, hard, expert, impossible," Rose said.

It was at that point that Lyle finally contributed to the conversation. "How... simple."

Daz looked at his advisor and nodded. "I'm pretty sure the system is designed to make its interface as easy to understand as possible. That's why skills are labelled like they would be in a game since most people can understand that format. Hell, it could even look different for people that don't know how games work so long as it's simple and comprehensible."

Rose clapped her hands at this. "You got smarter all of a sudden, Daz. I concluded the very same thing. Well, what's important is that by using all of my stamina, I was able to find out that this base's danger level for tomorrow should be set to hard while Camp Waterford's is set to expert."

"What? Why? Shouldn't I have a harder attack considering how much stronger I am and how better suited Fort Skip is for a monster attack?" Daz asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Exactly! You're so prepared that the attack is easier! What threat level do you think the military base would be facing tomorrow if they still had to deal with the same monsters, but their General had your skills?" Rose questioned with a knowing tone.

"Ah. I see now. Probably normal?" Daz responded.

"Almost. If I'm right, it would be 'easy'. And this is why you don't need to worry about Camp Waterford for now at least. They'll have far more to worry about than a loopy grey-haired man sitting in his castle on the hill," Rose chuckled.

Daz flicked her forehead making her wince in pain slightly. "I'm not loopy."

Lyle's lips twitched slightly. 'I'm sorry, my Lord, but even I have to agree that you have a few screws loose, however, that is what makes you so perfect...'