Walter was the man’s name. Dren learned it as the man explained about the Village of the Lost.

While he spent over a week in the dungeon things outside had changed. The sparse few roaming monsters were hunted to basically extinction. Which explained why Dren and Ren had only found a single of the giant squirrels. Ren had even had to climb a rather tall tree to hunt the thing as it hid out of sight. With the survival biscuits running out people realized all the monsters they had slaughtered before and left to rot were now wasted. While dungeon monsters could be eaten there was a problem. Most groups could carry only a few out with them. At the same time, the higher level a person got the more nutrients they seemed to need. Higher level monster’s meat seemed to give more nutrients pound for pound but such monsters were rare.

So, most of the meat from a corpse brought back from a dungeon went to those that hunted them. For those that didn’t want to or hadn’t hunted there was now a problem. If they wanted to start leveling all the roaming low level monsters were now gone. For a group of level ones who hadn’t been motivated to fight early on. Even the low level spider dungeon was a problem. That is if they hadn’t already traded off their starting gear. Equipment wore down and broke. Something Dren knew quite well.

Eventually, those with higher levels grew tired of the demands of the “weak”. The Village of the Lost was what Walter called a two block section of a suburb dumped into the woods. All the higher levels had left it for the larger settlement to the south. Or later on, headed to the even larger one discovered to the north. Dren determined the first town he talked about was the town he had visited.

After that, those not wanting to level or finding themselves unable to were driven out to form the Village of the Lost. Dren got the feeling that most of those there were the former. As Walter did let slip that anyone willing to fight or devote themselves to crafting could find a place in the southern village.

Now the Village of the Lost did their best to pretend the world hadn’t changed. Starting up vegetable gardens and fishing for food. But even if they were mostly level one. It seemed they still needed more food than before the integration. Thus, they traded their system-provided items for food when possible. Dren asked them about thieves as a few levels could give anyone the strength to overpower someone still at level one. Walter’s expression went stony as he admitted they had had problems. But most people either traded fairly or left them alone.

“We are too low level to even be worth killing for anyone wanting power.” Walter said with an almost self-deprecating laugh. Dren didn’t let him know that was part of the reason he hadn’t killed the man at first either.

“So, can we make a trade” Walter eyed the meat Ren had continued to prepare and cook while they talked. The spider girl just watched him blankly, her hands always moving. Walter had given her a friendly almost grandfatherly smile. Dren asked something that had bothered him.

“She doesn’t scare you?” Ren had her spider limbs tucked under her cloak, wrapped around her torso. But she was definitely not human between that ephemerally white hair and the eight crimson eyes.

“Hmm? Oh, no. I assume as a Beast Tamer she is your…” He seemed to hesitate. “Pet?”

All eight of Ren’s eyes narrowed in anger at the old man. “I mean…” He stammered.

“Companion.” Dren supplied. “For one that doesn’t want to use the system you still use identify?”

Walter gave Ren one more pleasant smile before turning back to him. “Well. It is necessary as the one making contact for trade. If you were a murderer I would want to know. It is convenient and necessary to do my job for the village.” He smiled.

“My class doesn’t surprise you?” Dren asked bluntly. He had been curious how others would take it. The idea of making up a class had been a risk but he didn’t want others to know about the Prime rewards either.

“Oh, I mean it is a bit of a shock. I’ve not seen a rare class before myself. But we have heard of them. There are two in the big city to the north.” Walter explained.

“Two?” Dren finally said instead of asking what he wanted to. What the hell was a rare class? That was a thing?

“Yes. Apparently, two people got offered a rare class instead of one of the basic ones.” Walter said. “Well, three counting you.”

Dren was actually pretty pissed. Why hadn’t he gotten offered a rare class?

“I see. So there are others.” He tried to sound thoughtful as Walter watched him.

“So, again. What are the chances of a trade?” Walter asked, returning back to what he was really concerned with.

“What can you offer?” Dren had mostly decided not to murder this man. As payment for information, he had earned the chance to live. That was the excuse he told himself at least. Mostly trying to convince the system not to intervene again. Killing this man really wouldn’t do him much good. Well, maybe his quest but if the reward was as crappy as the last one for killing natives. He wasn’t too worried about getting it right away.

“Hmm.” The man eyed the pile of meat cubes Ren had finished cooking. “For that much, I could get you a potion. Mana or Stamina.”

Dren nodded. “If I had more? What about weapons? Daggers?” Dren wanted all the backups he could get.

Walter made a face. “We might have one or two daggers. Not many assassins with us. We do have quite a few short swords. But if you are planning to hunt down more squirrels, well I’m honestly surprised you found one at all.” Walter seemed to think. “There is a dungeon tho. The closet to the north has wolf monsters. It is level seven but you might be able to kill a few if that is what you are after.”

Dren nodded. “Are there other dungeons?” Walter looked at him.

“We have a rough map.” He said hesitantly. “It shows the three settlements we know of and a total of five dungeons. Would you trade the meat for it?” He pointed to the meat pile.

Dren thought only for a moment before nodding. “Sure. We will trade other meat for your potions and all the daggers as well as short swords you have.” Dren added confidently.

Walter chuckled. “Sure. If you can get more meat.”

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Dren’s eyes sparkled with mischief as he made a motion with his hand. Raw hides piled with mountains of cooked lizard meat appeared to Walter’s shock. The look on his face was worth it.

*****

The Village of the Lost was an odd place. More strange yet familiar houses were lined up on each side of a paved road that just started out of nowhere. Then vanished into the forest just as it had appeared. Dozens of mostly older people dressed in what Dren had confirmed as pre-system clothes moved about. They weren’t just sitting around doing nothing like he had seen before in the town to the south. But they also didn’t seem to actually be doing anything. People greeted Walter and eyed Dren but seemed friendly enough. The highest level he had seen was a level three healer.

Eventually, he was taken to a house where a level two mage greeted them. They were a frost mage and again in a show of hypocrisy for ones not wanting to use the system. His job was freezing foods for storage in a big metal box with doors. Summoning the food got the same response from this mage as it had from Walter. He even asked the same questions to which Dren gave the same answer. It was a rare skill his class had. The lie seemed to work. While he wasn’t too afraid of showing it off. As it really did seem like all these people were truly weak. He didn’t want them to know he had made a spatial storage item.

The only problem making the trade was Ren. She glared at the strangers, looked at the mountain of cooked meat, then glanced pleadingly at Dren. He eventually pulled her aside to whisper to her that it was fine. They would get more meat for her to cook soon. She still didn’t seem happy. But he didn’t think she was going to leap on the nervous mage and rip him apart anymore. Apparently having a small child with the power to murder you, glaring at you. Made the mage nervous. Who would have guessed?

Map in hand and with plenty of backup weapons stored in his pouch Dren left the village. Walter hadn’t asked him outright but had skirted the offer for him to stay. While they all seemed unhappy with the idea of fighting and leveling. They were more than happy to have someone else do it for them. That very mindset angered him more than anything else about the village. Even their hypocrisy. It again made him think of just how much they were wasting the huge benefit that a System Integration was.

Dren did agree to bring more meat to trade later. Though he felt from the way they acted he now had most of what they had to offer. This was made more clear when a woman tried to convince Ren she needed some pre-system dress instead of a dagger. Trying and failing to get the Aranea to take it instead.

Once outside the town and with Ren to watch for followers he checked the map. There was the town he knew of. The spider dungeon and the profane ruins. It also showed a level seven wolf dungeon. A level ten dungeon of some kind of plant monster. Then a level sixteen dungeon of goblins far to the north. Almost to the other town on the map. Walter said it was a true city compared to the others. With thousands of people in it. It would take a full week of travel if he went straight there. At least that was what they guessed. Only a few had come from there and they had taken far longer.

Dren nodded to Ren. “Let's go kill some big bad wolves.” She looked at him with hungry eyes.

*****

The wolf den dungeon was a bit of a letdown. The first fight was against three enemies but they seemed weak. They were called Silver Fur Wolves and as the name mentioned their fur had a silvery metallic appearance. It was decently tough but worthless before Dren’s attack power. He also felt as if he got no experience from killing one. Ren was only level seven, the same as the wolves, and easily soloed the second pack. Her ability to walk around the ceiling while attacking at range with her silk made them trivial. The only real danger they posed was ganging up on someone.

Walking on the ceiling did reveal that Ren was carrying around Dren’s old tattered cloak still. Apparently tucked away under her new cloak. It had fallen while she fought on the ceiling. Dren tsked and again told her to toss the old filthy rag away. But the spider girl was unusually stubborn and since it wasn’t a big deal. Dren shrugged and let her keep it.

Dren let Ren more or less solo the entire dungeon. The second monster type they found was a Howler. It seemed to buff and debuff with howls. Neither Ren nor Dren were affected by the debuffs. And buffed or not. The wolves couldn’t do anything as Ren walked along the ceiling.

Eventually, they met Alpha wolves. Just bigger versions of the basic ones. No more of a problem than their lesser brethren. As for the boss. It was almost more of a joke than the wolves.

Muskin Spore Lord Level Seventeen.

Dren identified the slightly odd looking Muskin. It would have towered over the biggest of riders. Had six arms like a Cutthroat while having the flattish head of a bouncer. It also had three glowing weak spots. All in all. It probably was a dangerous monster for a level seven dungeon. The six stone short swords it wielded could probably shred a level seven defender. On top of that he assumed it had the same strange constitution as all Muskin he had faced. But that also meant it probably had the same weakness.

Ren at level eight used her silk to dismember many of its arms in the first attack. Then she managed to bind the remaining with her silk. Dren in turn charged in and used his level fifteen ability for the first time in combat. Barrage. It allowed him to create multiple copies of a thrown weapon. A single thrown stone knife cost him fifty mana per copy he duplicated. With no limit other than how much mana he wanted to spend. An exploding one cost him one hundred and fifty mana per copy. Making five copies of his last exploding stone dagger. They blew apart the chest of the restrained Muskin. A cloud of Red, Blue, and Green spores erupted from its chest. Dren dove in not even getting a resist check thanks to his mask. Activating Snatch in rapid succession he finished the monster off in under thirty seconds from when they engaged it. Even faster than Ren slaughtering a wolf pack.

They didn’t get a prime reward but did get more competency. They were effectively getting him another twenty percent increase. Yet, even with his growing bonus. The dungeon hadn’t given him a level. Nor had he gotten to use any of the new features on his mask. Still, he got a bit of treasure.

Gaining the Lesser Rune of Frost and even better he got his first bonus reward from his competency stat. A menu had popped up to announce it was being rolled. It didn’t list his class or profession as the pools. But instead had things like his Primitive Leatherworking and skinning. It also had Ren’s Cooking and Butchering skills as well as her weaving skills. It seemed the competency reward wouldn’t pull from the same pools. Dren wasn’t too excited about that. But Ren nearly showed real emotion when he handed her a set of skewers that would increase the quality of meat grilled on them.

Setting up camp for the night he resolved to fully finish his armor in the safety of the dungeon. Ren got to work butchering the last of the wolves and cooking. Just about the time he finished putting the last silk lining in his armor. He was interrupted as Ren was suddenly there patting him on the shoulder. When he looked at her she pointed to the already dissolving remains of the Muskin then her chest then down at his pouch. It took him a moment to understand and pulled out the nuclei from his pouch. She picked the red one and just turned away. He watched as she returned to the campfire they had set up from ever burning torches. Using one of the spare daggers he had traded for she cut open the red fleshy item. Unlike when they were alive it cut and stayed cut. He watched as she carefully sprinkled a grainy looking red substance from within it onto several skewers. Before starting to cook them.

Dren paused his own work to watch intrigued as she intently stared at the skewers. He hadn’t found a use for them yet with his enchanting still. And while he had always thought other professions could use it. He hadn’t considered them a food ingredient. Just as he was about to go back to work. The meat seemed to reach Ren’s satisfaction. She grabbed it before almost sprinting over to hold the skewers out to him. Her face was the same blank expression she normally held but at the same time, he could tell she was excited.

Dren smiled. “Did you make something special for me?” She nodded and so he took one of the skewers. Under her intense gaze, he took a bite of the meat. It tasted amazing. While fire-charred meat tasted good enough. The seasoning added from the nucleus took it to a whole new level. But even better was the system message.

Food Buff:

Mana Regeneration increased by ten percent for twelve hours.

Vitality increased by one for twelve hours.

“Buff foods!” Dren said excitedly. Not sure if the greatly improved taste or the buff were the more exciting thing. Ren actually smiled at his outburst. Making it even more worth it.