Keiran’s body went cold as he stood panting over the man’s dead body. As the adrenaline ran its course, Keiran's mind caught up with reality. He had just killed a man, a living being. He had never killed before, yet the act came so naturally to him, it scared him. Keiran had had his fair share of bullies but none had made him want to outright murder them. He had never even killed an animal in his old world, even accidentally. His hands slipped from the poker, now jutting out of the man’s skull like a proud flag of victory. Keiran stared at the palms of both of his shaking hands. Before his brain could shut down and fall to anguish, a clear message jolted him out of his stupor. You are still in danger. He mentally pummeled his existential crisis into a box in the far reaches of his mind to deal with later. He wasn’t out of the woods yet. Reaffirming his resolve, he grabbed the poker and pulled it out.

Spinning around, he noticed that the girl had disappeared. He knew she hadn’t left the barn, not with the two henchmen outside. He needed to find her fast. The quiet barn was sure to pique the curiosity of the lackeys outside eventually. He needed to work fast and buy himself more time. Time to plan, time to think, time to check his skills.It didn’t take long for him to find her. She was crouched in a dark corner of the barn desperately trying to protect her modesty. One hand trying to whatever was left of her chemise over her breasts and another to keep the surcote over her privates. Even in the dim light, Keiran could see bloodshot eyes and tears staining her face. Keiran noticed that she cowered as he approached, her eyes darted around looking for escape. He paused to give her some sense of control, however little it was and squatted down. “Can you understand me?” Keiran said. She calmed down a bit, noticing that Keiran kept his distance. She stared at him directly and shook her head. It was subtle but enough for Keiran to understand. He pointed at the corpse, then at the door, and raised two fingers in his hand. A brief sense of confusion dawned her face before clearing up. She responded in a slight nod. Good, at least some sign language was available, he thought. He needed her cooperation for the next part. The sooner the better for both of them.

It took a few more tries, but he was able to convey that if the two guards suspected something, they would eventually enter the barn and attack them. She, however, was not happy about the next part as her face flushed red, from rage or fluster, Keiran wasn’t sure. He needed her to make noise, moaning pleasurable noise for the guards to suspect nothing. Once sure he had convinced her, he walked back over to the body, time to loot and check these skill points. As he approached the body, he realized that Stinky had decided to live up to his namesake in death. With no control over his orifices, Sticky had decided to freshen up the place with the smell of his piss and feces. How come no one talks about his part in fantasy novels, he gagged as he approached. The smell overpowered him and he retched. Luckily nothing came out but it did leave his throat burning. Gathering up his strength he bent over the body all the while wishing he had grabbed a face mask, hand sanitizer, and disposable gloves before his transmigration. The pocket of breeches came up empty. “Inspect” he quietly said, hoping for some way to tell what was useful and what wasn’t. Nothing, all other synonyms came up short as well. Sighing, he separated the mantle from the head to protect it from further damage. The breeches and boots, he wasn’t going to touch. He grabbed the pouch from the belt and the two hand axes. The pouch contained quite a few gold and silver coins. He ignored them for now. There three vials of different colored liquids and four bottles of potion, all different shapes and sizes. He suspected the two red ones might be HP potions but that was make-believe fantasy tropes. He wasn’t going chugg a strange liquid without knowing what it was.

The young woman had slowly appeared near him, she had managed to fix up her clothes enough that they wouldn’t fall off on their own. Eying him still with suspicion, she went towards the body. She started kicking the heads and stamping it. Keiran didn’t mind since her rage and effort created enough noise to draw suspicion away from what was actually happening. She attacked the corpse for a full minute before she got exhausted, even in death, Sticky’s body barely looked scratched from her efforts. While that was going on Keiran decided to check his skills.

He tried mentally thinking about his skill purchase point, SPP and was presented with a list.

Available Tier 0 Peasant Skills

Linguistics

Cost: 1 SPP

An illiterate peasant is no better than an animal. Harness the power of education to broaden your horizon.

Learn to converse in one local language automatically when skill is activated. Expend additional skill points to gain access to more language slots along with a significant boost to learning how to read and write in that language.

Limitations: Current Location.

Peasant Way of Life

Cost: 1 SPP

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A peasant alive is a peasant who understands the invisible rules of his station. A peasant sees, hears, and understands nothing. At least, if they know what’s good for them.

Gain 1 rank in one ability of your choice when activated. Expend additional skill points for more abilities.

Limitations: World: Knowledge, Perception, Diplomacy, when skill is activated.

Hearty Peasant

Cost: 1 SPP

Death follows a peasant at each step of life. Only those with a strong heart live to see the next morrow.

Gain 1 point in damage reduction of your choice when activated. Expend additional skill points for more choices.

Limitations: Fire, Cold, Disease, Poison

Simple Weapons Training (Prerequisite achieved)

Cost: 1 SPP

A peasant that can’t fight is a dead man walking. Sail the winds of destiny and test yourself against the world.

Penalty for wielding a single simple weapon is removed when skill is activated. Expend additional skill points unlock more simple weapons.

Limitations: Daggers, Shortbow, Spear, Shortsword

All of these seemed pretty important to Keiran. He wished he had more time. Simple Weapons Training and Linguistics were both useful right now. He realized he had been lucky to even kill Stinky with the poker since likely had a weapon penalty. Was the poker a spear? He was suddenly aware of his foolish gambit and less confident in his plan. Linguistics could help him talk with the woman and plan out things better. It was a tough decision. He needed more information so he turned to his other skills.

Mana Battery and Perfect Recall didn’t seem useful right now, so he discarded them. That left four skills. He deliberated if Savant’s boosted intelligence could help him come up with a better plan. It wouldn’t help him fight or anything though. He wished he had more information about his skills when suddenly a new screen appeared in his mind.

Available Skills

Savant

A paragon of knowledge, a savant is able to quickly learn and process new information using their higher intelligence.

Tier 0: 5 SP (+10 Intelligence)

Tier 1: 10 SP (+10 Intelligence)

Tier 2: 20 SP (+10 Intelligence)

Tier 3: 40 SP (+10 Intelligence)

Tier 4: 80 SP (+10 Intelligence)

Eye of Graeae

The three sisters claimed they knew the fate of an individual, they lied. They simply read the character sheet and updated it.

Tier 0: 1 SP (Unlocks the ability to view your character sheet)

Tier 1: 2 SP (Unlocks the ability to view character sheet of party members)

Tier 2: 3 SP (Gain knowledge about your character sheet)

Tier 3: 5 SP (Manipulate your skills, abilities, and resistance points)

Tier 4: 8 SP (Update active class)

Multiclass

Break the class mold and achieve greatness. Cover your weaknesses and bolter your strengths by dipping between multiple classes.

Tier 0: 5 SP (+1 classes)

Tier 1: 10 SP (+1 classes)

Tier 2: 15 SP (+1 classes)

Tier 3: 20 SP (+1 classes)

Tier 4: 25 SP (+1 classes)

Respec

Retrain yourself from the ground up without losing your progress. All level ups are retained.

Tier 0: 10 SP (Respec yourself - 30 days)

Tier 1: 20 SP (Locked)

Tier 2: 30 SP (Locked)

Tier 3: 40 SP (Locked)

Tier 4: 50 SP (Locked)

Mana Battery

It’s dangerous to go alone, take this mana battery

Tier 0: 2 SP (Regain all mana after a short rest X2 every day )

Tier 1: 4 SP (Increase multiplier to X3)

Tier 2: 8 SP (Recharge your mana once instantly)

Tier 3: 16 SP (Remove short rest restriction)

Tier 4: 32 SP (Increase multiplier to X4)

Perfect Recall

Replay your memories, access your vast knowledge, never miss subtle cues.

Warning: Intelligence below 20 will cause backlash

Tier 0: 2 SP (Recall a memory from your POV - 1 hour)

Tier 1: 4 SP (Locked)

Tier 2: 8 SP (Locked)

Tier 3: 16 SP (Locked)

Tier 5: 32 SP (Locked)