Vincent and Gildarts walked down a dirt road that was slowly beginning to give way to a brick one. Of course, each of the bricks were the size and color of a cinder block. "Remember, to anyone besides my family, do not speak about any subject you do not understand." Gildarts lectured. "As a matter of fact it's probably best not to speak at all." The Orc added thoughtfully.

Vincent laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head but nodded in agreement. Gildarts may have accepted him as one of them, but he still had to earn the trust of the common Orc folk.

The duo rounded a peculiar wall of bushes that featured a statue of an Orc in the middle. Vincent's eyes widened and the man stifled a gasp. He wasn't sure what he expected when he came to his first ever Orc Village but this.. Wasn't quite it.

The front portion of the large village contained medieval cabins and huts of varying sizes. Most were made of wood, mud and bone. There were also a few rows of cheval de frise and roughly 10 watchtowers that were all nearly forty feet tall. It was clear thay this was where the poor and sick were made to live.

Roughly a minute of walking into the Orc village was where the unembellished ended and the more extravagant architecture began.

Vincent was taken aback by the sheer size of the Village's stronghold; Something that amounted to an Orc's city hall. Taking up the entire back side, it was a massive stone construct that covered half of the entire village itself. "Wow.. its basically like slaves on a plantation. Barely scraping by while the masters lock themselves away with more than they'll ever need." He said absently. He looked over at Gildarts who frowned at him causing him to look sideways nervously.

"Remember what I said about not speaking?" The tall Orc asked. Vincent scratched his head amd chuckled. "Uhh.. Yeah.. sorry."

Gildarts sighed. "You're not wrong. This is the lord's castle and he has.. more than the rest of us combined. He was appointed by the council five years ago and things.. have gotten difficult since then. But most of the time this stronghold remains relatively empty." He admitted, causing Vincent's eyes to widen in curiosity. "It really only sees use when the village must take shelter from unusually powerful fiends. Or on a much rarer occasion.. when the lord himself stops by for a celebration." He explained.

Vincent frowned. "You don't entirely seem to hate the guy."

Gildarts looked st him and shrugged. "He last came about a year ago and he treats us relatively well when he comes.. He throws a feast for the village and he employs half the able bodied Orcs that live here… For a time.. often at least a few months, we prosper." He said with a small hint of serenity creeping into his voice.

Unfortunately this contentment gave way to a frown as he continued. "But once he reports back to the empire, we must leave the saftey and sell off our abundance, hoping that we have made enough to make it through to the next working season. Make no mistake his loyalties lie with the empire.. Despite his.. generosity. we live beneath the mercy of all royal blood." Gildarts explained.

This time Vincent's frown was one of disdain. It seemed like no matter what civilization it was or in what time period… The strong and rich ruled the poor. Rather than trying to fix anything or better the world.

Vincent hadn't bothered himself with the politics of the old world. He wouldn't get involved here either. Vincent only ever needed enough to get by. Of course there weren't infinite resources in his world… That begged the question.. How could anyone be starving or poverty stricken in the system?

He thought about asking his large Orc friend why they didn't just grow food or something, but he didn't want to risk being offensive or ignorant again. For all he knew peasant Orcs weren't allowed to make money or rise above a certain standing.

The pair made their way over to one of the more lavish of the wooden cabins that was close to the stronghold walls. It was roughly three times the size of the average home. It even boasted a second story, which was rare from what he'd seen.

"This is my home." Gildarts said simply. He reached out and pushed open what looked like a door made of heavy wood, animal leather and bones. As they stepped into what Vincent perceived to be a dining room/kitchen, two startled Orcs spun around to face them.

"Oh! Gildarts you've returned!" Shouted a plump, dark-green female Orc. Though not quite at the ridiculous level of Gildarts's stature, she was still extremely tall by human standards. The Orc woman measured just under seven feet. It was clear by the lady's expression of love and joy that Gildarts was her son.

Vincent instantly got Betty White vibes. Needless to say he was smitten. Beside her stood a male Orc that was just a bit shorter and a fair amount thinner than Gildarts, but the man had a very similar intimidating presence making it clear this was Gildarts's father. It was obvious he was a powerful and experienced warrior in his own right.

The man briefly scanned the trespasser within their midst before aiming a blinding smile at his son. "You've become quite powerful this year, my son. I can see how densely your Aura flows. But what is.. This.. thing?" He questioned looking at Vincent.

"It's energy seems artificially fluent.. Did you create this? Or summon him perhaps?" As he finished his greeting-turned investigation he fixed a frown at Vincent. Apparently the older man had an acute sense for the flows of energy within the Nexus, reaffirming Vincent's suspicion that he was a seasoned warrior.

The man's senses may not have been as precise as Zar-Rah's nor as dominant as Vincent's but they were sharp enough to understand and measure basic energy levels at least. That must have been invaluable with no window.

"This is a human. The first of it's kind here within the Nexus. Their initial capabilities are minimal but.. they adapt quite quickly, I assure you." He explained, waving the human man over. "Vincent, this is my father Drigk-ah and my mother Marfu-ah. They are the only ones in this wolrd I would give up my purpose for."

Name: Drigk-ah

Race: Orc

Level: ???

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Class: Mystic Warrior

Health: ???

Mana: ???

Stats: ???

Name: Marfu-ah.

Race: Orc

Level: ???

Class: Medical Brawler

Health: ???

Mana: ???

Stats: ???

Gildarts's mother beamed. "Oooooh! come Here!" She exclaimed, breaking Vincent from his scrutinizing observations. Before he could react the man was swept up in a bone crushing death grip of a hug and found he was unable to breathe or respond.

"A friend of my son's is a friend of ours! Oh and how cute you are!" she wailed, crushing him tighter while flinging his limp body side to side. Trying not to turn as green as his hosts, Vincent Shadow stepped to safety. He was now thoroughly convinced that the strength of Gildarts's own attacks were vastly eclipsed by the hugs of his mother.

He even gained several levels worth of pain tolerance experience and damn near evolved to the next stage of will to survive just from surviving the embrace…

Mar, as Vincent decided to nickname her, insisted on cooking a large feast for dinner. Vincent thought this would be an excellent time to show off some of his more.. Diplomatic skills. "Please allow me to do the sides while you prepare the main course madam. I promise my skills in the culinary arts have not been neglected." Vincent insisted.

"Oh!?" The woman squealed. "A man what can cook and is skilled in battle? Praise Garkan, he still knows how to make em." She laughed with a wink. "You wouldn't know it by his gruff, ungraceful attitude but my dear husband knows his way around the kitchen almost as well as he does around the battlefields hehehe!"

The three men present sweat dropped at the Orc matriarch's antics. Drigk-ah was the first to break the awkward silence. "Ahem.. excuse my wife. We so rarely get guests, especially ones so well mannered. It's refreshing from the typical brutish Orc, come to challenge our son." He said with a sigh before puffing his chest.

"A fool's plight. Our son shall be the strongest to ever live, save Garkan himself. I have foreseen this on the field of battle when my death should have come. It was Gildarts, Standing no higher than my knees, what saved my life that day. He is truly one of a kind." The man said with a beaming, proud smile.

Vincent would have thought the man was exaggerating more than a bit to put his son on a pedestal before the days of the system. However, as it were, he simply laughed and nodded while taking the story in stride. Gildarts's confidence was easily attributable to his parent's own demeanors. As they spoke they made their way into the kitchen and began working as a collective unit to prepare the large meal.

While Mar and her family worked to make the main dish, Vincent began prepping a large variety of fruits, vegetables, seasonings and sauces. He honestly wasn't even sure what some of the ingredients were but his plethora of perceptive abilities granted him a near precognitive sense of what was correct or incorrect in the culinary arts.

His senses and abilities ensured that his creations would be the most potent and succulent as possible, granting the best possible outcomes for each dish he prepared.

The beings watched the man with abject fascination having never seen someone with so man different abilities and such an inherent talent for multitasking. He used telekinesis, gravitation and others to carry, mix, stir, and guide a multitude of ingredients and tools all at once.

Rather than creating a fire in a cauldron and having to mix everything, he created a few fires of his own in the space above his open palm. He began to control each flame with such expert precision that the onlookers were sure he was secretly some sort of flame deity in disguise.

"So tell me human from the world Earth, with no system…" Drigk-ah began with a cautious/curious look. "...What is it like to live in a place that is so?"

Vincent frowned at the strange manner of speech exhibited by the man but he supposed not every translation within the Nexus could be flawless. "Umm.. I'm not sure if you're asking what the planet itself is like or what life on said planet is like but essentially.." he paused, looking thoughtful. Eventually settling for a shrug he said, "Everything is fragile. The planet, it's people.. Everything." He explained.

"Nothing heals. At least not the way it does here. People died.. all the time. But not from fighting like this place.. well there was a lot of death in that regard too actually…" He backtracked. Vincent sighed in frustration trying to think of how best to describe the mess that was his home world.

"Look.. Humans were complicated. But we appreciated what we had because everything was so fragile and fleeting. Nothing was certain. Its not like people here don't appreciate life just.. our priorities were different. We just wanted to survive and be right about things. Over there everyone fought about ideas and having the world be their way. Here, everyone just fights to fight." He concluded.

'But always people fight..' He thought internally.

The Orcs had listened with abject fascination and patience. Vincent quickly took advantage of the silence as they processed everything he said. "Now I have a question for the three of you." The man said, steepling his fingers.

The Orc family looked at him with raised eyebrows as if to say, "go on?" Vincent inwardly chuckled and asked the question that had been on his mind since meeting Gildarts's family. "It makes sense to me why my name is only one word. The system let me pick my own when I entered this world.." He began.

Although Gildarts knew somewhat of this, it was news to the other two. They more or less knew nothing of Vincent's intimate relationship with the Nexus and the blue window. Even still it didn't take a genius to see where this was going. It was Drigk-ah that spoke first, finishing Vincent's sentence. "You want to know why my wife and I have two names while Gildarts possesses only one?"

Vincent blinked several times. "Actually uhh.. yeah. I dont fully understand it." He said surprised, scratching his head. He wasn't going to admit to his hosts that his master happened to be an Orc outcast who also had a second addition to his name, but it certainly piqued his curiosity.

Gildarts chuckled and finished the explanation in his father's stead. "For those of us who were born in Garkan.. we are given only one name at birth.." He began slowly. Vincent waited patiently for his friend to continue.

"Any Orc with a secondary addition to their name has reached the peak of their power; the level cap as you call it. Once the system grants our final evolution we may choose another title. This can change based on our feats, such as in the case of my father." He gestured with an arm to his dad.

"He was originally named Drigk, and only earned the 'ah' after reaching his final evolution and proving himself on the battlefield in service of the king. My mother on the other hand.." He continued, gesturing to Marfu-ah. ".. received her's when she reached her prine and took my father's hand in marriage. Only after a man and woman have reached their peak potential can they marry and bear children."

Upon finishing his explanation, Gildarts stared stone faced at Vincent, waiting to see if he had any further questions. Vincent nodded and after a while he finally said, "You know, that's probably the most I've ever heard you talk." The human said simply. The family of Orcs and Vincent burst into a fit of laughter as they finished prepping dinner.

The group spent several more hours conversing, and sharing stories over their meal. The main dish was a wild alligator-type beast. This being the first real social gathering Vincent had been a part of since being abducted by the system led to there being several pregnant pauses and silences in conversation.

Nobody really seemed to mind though, everyone was comfortable in one another's company. Truth be told, Vincent barely seemed to have a presence at all unless you really focused on him.

When you looked away you had a tendency to forget he was there almost immediately.. Yet at the same time he had a capable and confident Aura. To the Orcs, he was a welcome and mysterious anomaly to their family for the evening.

Gildarts's parents did most of the talking, and Vincent discovered that they were rather wealthy. This was due to Drigk-ah's extremely successful career as a soldier in the empire before his retirement.

Beyond that his mother also crafted rather powerful healing remedies that the warriors would buy in large batches from time to time, so they did quite well within the Orcish economy. That also explained why their housing was so large and close to the stronghold. But though they were well off, it appeared most of the majority of Orcs were vastly less fortunate.

Gildarts's village was one of the closest to the jungle and the mobs of Garkan. The threats they faced became increasingly more powerful and consuming by the day. If some of the more powerful factions of the Nexus were forced to migrate closer to this village or any other…

Only the capital and the strongholds were safe. Unfortunately, the royal family cared little for the struggles of peasants, and the king had long since lost his passion for truly running the kingdom.

As the sun began to set the duo of Gildarts and Vincent made to leave. Gildarts gave his mother a hug of course and Vincent bowed to each of his new acquaintances. "It was nice to meet the two of you. Thank you both, for being such gracious hosts this evening. And for teaching me so much about things I was ignorant about before."

"Come back any time dear! As far as I'm concerned youre one of us now!" Bellowed the mother. Drigk-ah nodded in agreement. "And thank you for being a friend to my son. He will not admit it but.. he has troubles fitting in. Even with the outcasts. I tell him there is no shame in this. His strength makes him unique. But perhaps one such as you can understand."

Gildarts flushed and made to leave quickly. Vincent for his part couldn't help but feel as if a piece of the puzzle had clicked. He'd always felt a sort of kindred brotherhood with Gildarts that he knew must have gone beyond him simply being the first intelligent person he'd met within the Nexus. It's because they were especially both losers.

Vincent nodded happily and bid one final farewell before making his leave.

Gildarts threw open the door and practically ran down the brick road that brought them here. Vincent pushed himself to keep up with his friend as he bounded through the village at over 100 meters per second.

Though they caused a ruckus, the two of them didn't stop until they reached the edge of the village. It was there that they were greeted by a sight they certainly did not expect.

End of chapter 39