Starting to walk back to the village with the adventurers, I watch as the villagers begin to gather and disassemble the corpses. Getting curious I slow down to focus on the closest one and notice that the villager was pulling out a small round ball that’s glowing purple softly and putting it in a bag on his hip before continuing with the meat.
[Skill Aqui….]
I dismiss the notification so I don’t get distracted and walk over someone.
[You have 8 new notifications.]
Later once I get a chance to relax ill read them.
“So... Mr. Allen...”
“Just call me Thomas, I don’t like going by my last name.”
Thank the Defense Force for that.
“Ah…well… Mr.”
“Thomas, I work for a living, I'm not a Mr.”
“Sorry, Thomas….”
“Yes?” Laughing to myself a bit.
“I'm not trying to be rude, but what level and class are you? The way you took down that boss, your beas… companion, and just your air around you. I can get a good bead on you.”
Level? I don’t remember seeing one on my stats window. Maybe something new appeared. Hmmm… Notifications?
[You defeated a Mutated Boss. ‘Golden-Bristle Boar’]
[Level Increase +7]
[All stats increased +21]
[Free Stat Points earned +7]
[New System Interface unlocked]
[New Skills Acquired]
[Companion Level Increase +5]
[New Items Acquired]
…….ummm, note to self, read notifications for now on. Let’s see what I have for stats then. Status!
Name: Thomas Allen
Age: 24
Level: 17
Title: Friend of the Black-Star Wolf
Class: -None-
HP: 8,250/8,250
MP: 7,100 (+1,000)
Strength: 61 (+88)
Intelligence: 61 (+58)
Agility: 61 (+89)
Perception: 61 (+70)
Luck: 10 (+22)
Free Points: 7
Skills:
Dodge (Lv. 2)
Short Weapons Mastery (Lv. 5)
Throwing (Lv. 3)
Sneak (LV. 5)
Threat Perception (Lv. 8)
Conditioning (LV. 7)
Leadership (Lv. 10)
Trainer (Lv. 5)
Intimidation (Lv. 1)
Innate Skills:
[Can’t Be Leveled]
Coordination (+3 Intelligence)
Camping (+2 Intelligence, +2 Perception, +1 Luck)
Hunting (+5 Perception, +3 Agility)
Interrogation (+8 intelligence)
Execution (+5 Strength)
Assassination (+6 Agility, +5 Luck)
Restraining (+3 Strength)
Marksmanship (+8 Perception)
Room Clearing (+5 Intelligence, +5 Perception, +3 Luck)
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
Siege Tactics (+5 Intelligence, +5 Strength)
Governing (+10 Intelligence)
Language Comprehension (+10 Intelligence)
Base Defense/Improvement (+10 Strength, +5 Intelligence, +3 Luck)
Titles/Blessings
Inventory
Map
Titles:
Friend of the Black-Star Wolf
-Encounters with any Black-Star Wolf or lesser wolf will be non-hostile.
-Growth of any Black-Star Wolf companions abilities and levels increased by 2x
Blessings:
Blessing of the Centrial King
-Titum Black-Star gifted you with his blessing. Carrying the blessing all Black-Star wolves will treat you as one of their own and will aid if available.
+1,000 MP, +75 Strength, +80 Agility, +10 Luck, Intelligence, +50 Perception
Uhhh….i don’t know what is normal for stats, but I'm sure those skills are NOT normal. If raising my level by 7 gets me 21 points, then that’s a three point gain per level, with an additional point to put wherever. Let’s check the rest later, for now I better answer him honestly.
“I'm level 17, no class though.”
“Level 17 with no job?!” Aiden looks at me with a surprised and confused look. “Especially with the way you handled yourself there’s no way you’re classless. Didn’t you go to the Association when you reached level 10?”
Starting to get a bit on edge I hesitate to answer, hoping not to mess up anymore and say something else wrong.
“Um... No I’ve never been to the association. I’ve never thought about it.”
Looking suspicious Aiden stops and looks me up and down.
“You don’t look local, or like you’re from the capital. Just where are you from?”
“Pretty far away, I honestly don’t know why I'm here or how I ended up here… i just woke up and bam I was in the plains to the south-east.” Deciding not to lie I give him the watered down explanation.
“Do you have your ID? Or an adventurers tag?”
“No…in all honesty why I'm here is a long story, but I’d rather tell it out of the public ear. Is there anywhere we can go and not be overheard?”
“The village chiefs war room. There are engravings in the foundation with formations to prevent eavesdropping. But for us to bring a person we just met that we know nothing of, it’s not likely the chief will allow it.”
Luna comes up and starts nudging my arm causing the leather armguard to move up and reveal the Black-Star Crest.
“Stop girl no playing right now.”
“What’s that? A tattoo?” Marylin caught a glimpse of the crest and became curious also trying to ask to defuse the tense situation.
“It's just a mark.” I remove the armguard and show them the crest not thinking much of it, but to my surprise Aiden gets a serious look on his face.
“Marylin, go tell the Chief were going to need a meeting with him in the war room immediately. Let him know about Mr. Allen and hell understand. Mr. Allen, please follow me to the gatehouse so we can get you some identification.” Having a complete change in personality and posture Aiden began to walk to a building inside the wall without another word while Marylin, looking confused and concerned, runs off towards the village center using some magic to accelerate herself.
I look to Crom for any explanation and he just shrugs his shoulders just as lost as I am. Scratching his head slightly he begins to walk after Aiden and motions for me to follow after. Hoping there would be answers if I do, I scratch Luna between her ears and we follow slightly behind.
Getting closer I can see the wall and defenses are a bit more sturdy than just the couple of sticks and planks I thought it was. The Pillars are thicker than three phone poles put together and the wood planking in between is radiating with magic from the formations carved into it. The formations are faint but I can see them clearly, most likely due to my perception level.
“Don’t touch ‘em, ma pops helped make those barriers 60 years ago. I’ll be damned if a foreigner is the cause of them failing because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.” A grouchy old man yelled from atop the walls down at me. He was fit and looked as if he could solo one of those Black-Bristle boars himself. That is if he didn’t have that missing right arm.
“I'm sorry sir, I was just observing the formations. I’ll leave them be” I apologize and run after Aiden and Crom who are waiting outside the guardhouse for me.
“Smart lad, hope he doesn’t die too fast.” The old man knocks on the wood pillar by him with his good hand and spits off the side as he walks away to look for any damage from the attack.
“Don’t mind him Mr. Allen, That’s just Jacobis Thalin. His family has protected this village since its creation and they take pride in their work. He even threated to throw the Chief off the wall when he accidently dropped his knife and it stabbed into the wood a little bit.”
Starting to smile a little again, Aiden Opened the door to the gatehouse and walked in motioning for me to follow so I do.
Inside the gatehouse there’s a single room with a pedestal in the center with a couple chairs and cabinets against the wall. On the pedestal a floating blue gem and a roll of paper are the only things I could see. As he grabbed a quill, ink container, and a small blade from a drawer to explain the process a little bit.
“On the paper, you’ll first write your name and age. After that you’ll place a drop of blood on top of the gem and it will do the rest.” Leaving it at that Aiden stood back and let me sign my name and age.
C’mon don’t screw me over system.
I put the drop of blood on the stone and immediately it started glowing brightly. In the middle of the gem I could see a black and red ball of light spinning around each other. The light slowly started to focus into two beams of light, one focusing on my heart and the other on the paper.
Name: Thomas Allen
Level: 17
Affiliation: -None-
Title: Friend of the Black-Star Wolf
Crime Level: -None-
Class: Lesser Noble
Marriage Status: Un-Married
Tames: Luna Black-Star (Lv. 30) (Black-Star Wolf)
I let out a sigh of relief after I see that it didn’t show much. Though I did show some extra info that shocked me.
So I'm a lesser noble huh, why do I feel like Midas had a hand in that. Glad to see I didn’t get any crime level for scaring that guy earlier though.
“This is a Stone of Frunia, The Goddess of Truth and Justice. She granted these stones and the method to make more to the first human civilizations after she was helped by a lord at the dawn of time. It takes the truth of the heart and directly places in on the paper with magic. As you improve the paper will adjust to show your status properly. Though you do have to ability to hide information from prying eyes, you are required to show your full un censored status sheets to city lords, gate officials, and court judges if you ever get in that situation where you have to see one of them. Most times going through city gate you just have to show your name and affiliation and that is good enough for them.
Returning to his usual self, Aiden walked back up to be and examined my Info.
“Sorry for being stiff earlier. Usually only high nobles have Blessings from one of the Six Beast Clans.”
“So since I'm just a Lesser Nobel you can risk being normal then right?”
“No, since were the only ones in here I can. Once we get outside I will go back to being stiff. No matter your class, that mark gets you the treatment of a High Noble, just shy of a king’s treatment.”
“Ah….im sorry, I don’t mean to be a burden.”
Aiden waves off the apology and smiles.
“You’re good but we have a lot to talk about in the war room. Let’s go.”
With that we leave the building and begin walking to the larger building near the village center, picking up Crom and Luna who stayed outside while I was getting my ID.
It was a short walk but I learned the basics of this village from Aiden and a bit of the current situation in the country.
Right now I'm in Barun Village, A small hunting village also used as a forward outpost during times of war due to its relative closeness to the nation’s borders. The village is 2 weeks travel away from the capital city Marnias, capital of the nation of Titual. There are three nations on the continent of Libas, Titual, Madura, and Silnad.
There was a territorial war going on with Madura and Silnad that threatened to fall into Titual not too long ago, which is why the adventurers are here. They were a part of a preventive force sent by the capital in order to deter any thought of using Titual as a shortcut into the other country. Since the War was ended a few days ago, most of the preventive force already left for their hometowns, but these three stayed for a bit of drinking and got dragged into the battle earlier today just as they were about to leave.