“What the fuck were you thinking James?” The leader of the rebels, Garrick, was currently scolding me for revealing that we were rebels to the people of the village.

Apparently, those people were a part of the program to train kids for whatever job they were assigned to, and since they got to live on the farm instead of grueling labor, they were content with the empire.

This also meant that they’d be scared of anything that’d take em’ out of their comparatively happy environment. These villagers were the ones that supplied the food to the rebels, now that they knew they were supporting rebels, they had to stop selling. Who knows what the empire would do if they found out?

“Look, you can fix all this by trying to find another one of those villages a part of the program, you just need to promise you won’t say we’re rebels, no, you’re a part of the empire, you work under me.” He said, passing a steel card to me with his face on it and his title engraved under it.

KNIGHT

It looked like I had all the necessary info to convince a village to give over food, but the main problem was that I didn’t know where any of these villagers were, I was guessing they just found one out of pure luck, still, I needed to find a place to bathe, so I would persevere as long as possible until I was able to find a place to wash myself of the hard work of the last few days.

I said my goodbyes to Garrick and left quickly. The sun was setting and the moon was coming into view behind me, I knew it was only a matter of time before my surroundings turned pitch black so I turned on my light bulb and started jogging, directionless.

I had my maces with me, just in case goblins, or any monsters did try to attack me, since I was fighting with blunt weapons I did slip 3 stat points into strength so that the effect of my strikes was amplified, and 3 more into mind to help with technique, balance, reaction speed, etc.

Mind was probably the strongest stat out of all of them, but it only really shined if you had invested in other stats as well, so the strongest people must be the smartest too, which was really bad for me if I had to face any of those people, because I couldn’t outwit them or take advantage of any gap in their skill, they probably have already noticed these things and took precautions so that they couldn’t be exploited.

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I should really think about what I should spec into, I was lucky I had the right choice when I faced the dungeon boss, otherwise, I would’ve definitely died, but sometimes a 3-point stat difference catered against a specific enemy wouldn’t help, I could’ve probably knocked the kobold out if I had invested every point I’ve ever received into mind and strength, and I feel as if that’s the direction I’m going in now, having to fight with a mace n’ all. I might go back to the dungeon and pick up the Gnoll King’s flail, if I become strong enough it may have some use for me.

When I did put points into strength my clothes felt just a slight bit tighter, that was alright when they were a little baggy, but now it hugged me tight, any more and it might rip.

I was wondering where this strength came from, it definitely broke the laws of physics, it had to come from something, but it didn’t. I guess that's a mystery for another time, I’m just gonna chalk all of that up to the system being weird.

When I put points into vitality for the dungeon boss, I had also grown, I grew the slightest bit taller, and a little bit more flabby. When I put points into speed I was leaner, so if these tight clothes are really that much of a worry, I can just invest in speed, but I can probably just find more.

I may spec into strength, but I don’t wanna be stuck swinging dual maces or a flail, hopefully more weapons will become available as I slay monsters and make connections with more experienced people. I’ve always wanted to swing a katana around, it must be the weeb in me talking but I still really wanna do it, Garrick works in the forges so he might be able to supply me with one, but I don’t think I’m on his good side yet, I can’t just ask for one. After I get into contact with another village I might need to do a little favor for him and then he’ll get me one, that is if katanas exist at all in this world.

I could probably get a bunch of things invented, I’m not sure how exactly I would make stuff personally, but I could give someone a sketch or a diagram and they could do it, I could be known in this world for being a great inventor.

Well, I’d be a liberator for the people forced to work under the Dunas Empire first, then I’d be regarded as a great inventor.

After about an hour and a half of walking, most of that taking place in pitch black lighting, I saw a glimpse of light in the distance, many of them, in fact, it was probably just the people of a village lighting up candles and doing the last of whatever they had to do, I was a little annoyed about the fact that I was gonna interrupt them, but I was simply not bothered to walk back, sleep, come back and then interact with these people.

Well, I had gotten used to sleeping outside sometimes, I guess I could just zonk out here, and hopefully, goblins don’t try to murder me, I hadn’t seen any monsters either way.