At dinner, Vera asked, "Gerard, I heard you will be going on an expedition tomorrow? How about having my father hire a couple of mercenaries from the nearest town to tag along? It'd take only about a week for them to arrive. You and the other guys would be a lot safer if such work was left to the professionals."

"Vera, you know we can't wait that long. We must leave tomorrow. I too want to play it safe and let mercenaries do the scouting but making haste is very important." Gerard said.

"Father! Father! Take me with you! I want to go to the woods as well! Uncle Justin promised me he'd teach me how to hunt the last time he visited." Ryan pleaded as stars danced in his eyes. He could already imagine his friends fawning over him after showing off the prey he hunted.

"Father can't take you with him, Ryan. How about you come with me tomorrow? I'll show you around the village, and you might help me finish some fun tasks." Zea knocked Ryan on his head in an attempt to divert his attention away from the expedition, but Ryan only pouted and turned his head away from Zea. Showing his clear disapproval for hitting him, but being a bubbly kid, he soon agreed to his aunt's coaxing and discussed how they'd spend the day together.

The dinner was quieter than usual with Ryan being a bit sulky about missing an opportunity to show off. The next day before sunrise, Justin visited them with three other people in tow.

Gerard greeted them with a solemn expression. After exchanging some pleasantries, he gave them a nod and gestured to them to follow him. They walked to the village hall which was located at the village center, right next to where the weekly market was held. They departed after taking out a machete, a massive hammer, two swords, a bow, and some arrows with other necessities from the village storage.

Gerard handed the machete to Euris, a short, rotund person that processed all the meat and acted as more of a butcher than hunter. The bow, and arrows to Zeph, a tall, lanky hunter that usually dealt with furs and the like. The hammer to Wymond, who out of all of them seemed the most athletic, and kept the swords for himself and Justin.

Alaric and Vera traced Gerard and the other hunters' silhouettes for as long as their eyes let them. "The lack of sunlight and the mild breeze makes it feel like a funeral." Alaric chuckled and as soon as the words left his lips he shuddered. Turning to the side, he saw Zera staring daggers at him, and he could've sworn that Zera's staring was way more ominous than any omen the environment could have thrown his way.

Scratching the back of his head, and making an excuse about wanting to use the restroom, he ran back home. Determined to turn the library-cum-bookshelf upside down to fill in the gaps in general knowledge about the world he was sent to. Although the weeks he spent in Pehevell were smooth sailing on the surface, he knew better than to not act suspiciously.

When he was just a newbie tower climber, he made the mistake of being rash and appearing too needy, which led to the rise in the difficulty of gaining information and clearing the trial as a whole.

Therefore he waited patiently to ask for his brother's permission to browse the library. Not wanting to waste any time, he hurried home and shut himself up in the library till night, only making time for a quick bite during dinner.

He didn't see Ryan at the table, and upon asking, he found that Ryan was too tired after accompanying his aunt for the entire day and thus slept early. He ate in silence at first, but seeing that the chatty ladies were also silent, he looked at them. Both of them had somewhat worried faces.

"Vera, Zea, don't worry. Although Gerard and the others are out for scouting, I doubt they will go that far into the forest. And if it's something they can't handle, they will return. Gerard might not look like it, but he's not a fool. He knows he has a family to return to. Unnecessarily worrying about him won't benefit anyone. Be at ease. He'll return in a couple of days." He tried to console them, but his words had little effect. Seeing that consoling wouldn't help, he offered a couple more comforting words and headed to his room to sleep.

His routine continued for a couple of days, and his grasp on the situation grew by leaps and bounds. The library had a wide array of collections including but not limited to the history of the village, the geography of the surrounding areas, speculations about the walls, any people of note present and past, the general culture of people of Pehevell, the Empire it belonged to, religion and more.

He was surprised to see a portrait of his father and another couple of men; next to the picture were words written in what was equivalent to cursive "To the heroes who helped to fend off the calamity in life and death. To the heroes who laid their lives to protect the lives of a hundred others and thousands to come."

Even more intrigued now he thought to himself, 'I must make my brother spill whatever he knows when he comes back.' Taking a mental note, Alaric got up and headed to have lunch. He found his lunch served and covered neatly on the table. He knew that Vera had plans of having lunch with her father that day, and the aunt-nephew duo was having fun at Zea's workplace.

He ate and thought about the information he had gained during the past four days. The Empire he was in was called The Felscathor Empire. One of the strongest powers on this continent. The Empire was named after the last name of its founder, Emperor Galerus Drayce Felscathor.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The Pehevell village was under the jurisdiction of the Hightower house, which was one of the founding houses, and the head of the house was a Duke of Felscathor. The Pehevell village was located in the southernmost territory of the Hightower Dukedom.

He also learned about the names of the nearest towns and cities. One thing that interested him was that his brother's wife Vera was the daughter of the richest man in the village, and her father Edwin Dulleye, owned a caravan that traded between the nearest town and the village, creating a monopoly that raked in money like water compared to other villagers.

He was amused to no end by the name of Vera's father, Edwin, meaning a wealthy friend, and he was surnamed Dulleye but was keen enough to establish a monopoly over a village's trade. 'I should pay him a visit. Maybe there would be something that I can take advantage of.'

While being occupied with the books, he made sure that he studied the map extensively. The map had a leathery-skin feel to it. It was skillfully drawn, and honestly, he didn't believe for a second that something like that could be found in Pehevell, no, it was better to say that something like that couldn't be found in any village, or a town even. One would need to head to a city to have something like that made.

It was clean; and as old as it was detailed. Not to mention it was at least six square meters and surprisingly durable for something so old. As he was lost in his thoughts, he heard footsteps. When he looked at the source of the footsteps, he gave an involuntary smile.

Gerard and others were back from their expedition, they looked fine, but their faces were crestfallen. Alaric wanted to know more but he led them to the table and offered them a quick bite along with some tea. Soon, their faces relaxed and they began recounting what they experienced.

"You saw what?" Alaric asked again, incredulous. He was pretty sure he didn't mishear anything but the what he heard stood out so much from the rest of it that he had to confirm.

"Footprints, meter-long paw prints, to be exact." Gerard replied.

"A meter-long paws' print? Where did it come from?"

"Yes"

"We believe from deeper inside the woods." The lanky and the stout hunter duo responded respectively, oddly in sync.

"Maybe that's the reason smaller animals have become scarce recently?" Alaric pressed

"Either that or the opposite." Justin replied, "Either it emerged from the deeper parts of the forest and scared away the smaller animals here, or since smaller animals were getting scarce, it was forced to move, in search of food."

"So, how do we plan on dealing with it?"

"Last time, it was the elders that took care of it. This time, Justin, along with others, will head to report to the nearest town's mayor about it and ask him to send someone strong enough." Gerard answered.

"How strong is that beast likely to be?"

"Its strength is probably Organ tempering's perfect circle or skeletal cleansing's minor circle."

Hearing his brother's words, he remembered this world's power system. It was pretty simple from what he gathered. It was a straightforward system that combined 'Body refining' and magic.

The theory is that you'd have to refine your body with particles present in the atmosphere to make it strong enough to withstand a magic core that would coax and collect mana from the atmosphere for you to use.

Due to the limited collection, he only knew the first three stages of Body Refining: organ tempering, skeletal cleansing, and muscle molding.

Organ tempering made the organs more robust to handle the shocks and not rupture. This increased the durability of organs and survivability of people quite a lot.

Skeletal cleaning had to do with the cleansing of bones so that the framework and body's integrity weren't damaged during further breakthroughs.

The particles from the atmosphere, also known as Aten, strengthened the structural integrity and increased density and tensile strength. The organs were tempered once again and gained a boost at this stage.

Muscle molding had to do with tightening the muscles so that the body could utilize the power bones provided and have more powerful bursts of strength. At this stage, the muscles go through tearing and healing to strengthen the fibers and increase their flexibility. The bones that were previously cleansed and the organs that have been tempered twice also strengthened again.

Alaric saw a pattern here; from what he understood, every stage of cultivation targeted a specific part of the human anatomy, but the body as a whole got more raw power, flexibility, endurance, and durability. An all-rounder upgrade, so to speak.

He wondered what sort of wacky conditions he would need to meet to rise through the ranks. Try as he might, he wasn't able to make his strength budge even an inch since he got here.

"So we will get going, see you around Alaric."

"Huh, what? yeah, of course. See ya." He waved as he saw the hunters leaving. Disappointed that he missed the rest of the conversation because he was lost in his thoughts.

Pinning the conversation in the 'review later' box in his head, he focused on his brother, who had been sitting there for a while. "You have been away for a while, brother. You should meet up with Vera and Zea. They were really worried about you, Vera is at her father's today for lunch, and little Ryan and Zea are out at the village hall. Ryan has been helping Zea manage her receptionist's job there, or so both of them say."

"I just got back from the village hall's storage, and neither of them was there?" Gerard asked.

"Beats me what kind of mischief those two up are to now, but anyway, since you can't go and meet up with them, have something to eat and rest, once they get back, I'd let them know that you came back in one piece."

"The fuck do you mean by 'in one piece’?" Gerard asked with displeasure written on his face.

"Now you're acting all tough. Who was shivering before he left as if he was going to be sacrificed? 'Take care of others while I'm out' heh as if you were going to fight a war, tsk tsk." Alaric tutted with contempt written all over his face.

Gerard's cheeks almost turned red when he heard that. He wanted nothing more than to pummel that cheeky little bugger to death, but he couldn't. Not to mention they were pretty similar when it came to strength, but the furniture would undoubtedly be harmed if they had a go at it here.

Noticing that his brother could do nothing to relieve his anger as long as he blocked the way out, he didn't miss the opportunity and mocked him for a good while longer. At last, when he saw his brother jumping up and down and cursing did he stop.

Gerard went ahead and had a long hearty sleep not before taking a bath though. Gods knew what would Vera do to him if she found out that he forgot bathing.

At dinner, everyone was relieved and happy. Ryan even proudly boasted the achievements he stacked up while he was following his aunt Zea. Alaric even took time to eat not-hurriedly before going to the library to resume his knowledge-hoarding sessions, enjoying the dinner as their entire family was eating together again.