Duncan walked down the Main Street and he considered if it was prudent of him to revel the benefits his class brought him. Wazsh has already warned him once about it.

“I hope this doesn't bite me in the ass.” He thought as he reached Wazsh's bar.

As he came inside, he saw the usual crew was already there. Bolgar was eating a stew, while Elland was chatting with Wazsh, while holding a wine glass.

He remembered an old sitcom show his father liked to watch and even had bought the episodes on DVDs.

“Where everybody knows your name and they are always glad you came.”

That were the lyrics in the opening theme that now strongly resonated with him.

They were a weird bunch. A prisoner like him by an unfortunate choice, a grumpy dwarf with a heart of gold and an elf who tried too hard to be elegant. He could smell the dwarfs sweat and iron smell from the door which contrasted with herbal essences of the elf. The Gormian smelled of nothing or the same as spilled beer and wine. Duncan could not decide.

“Good evening gentlemen,” Duncan announced his arrival.

Their heads turned and returned the greeting, barely.

“Well, they don't exactly seem ecstatic that I came. Ahh, whatever.”

Duncan thought and ordered himself a beer.

“Nothing to eat?” Wazsh asked.

“I already ate.” Duncan replied.

“Where were you? Timor Featherleaf asked about you,” Wazsh replied.

“I was at the barracks. Training my archery skill. What did he want?” Duncan asked after explaining.

“I don’t know but he seemed somewhat distraught. Did something happen between the two of you?” Wazsh asked.

“I asked him to teach me how to make a bow and arrows. He turned me down. I bought a bow and arrows from him, so I don’t know what else he wants,” Duncan replied.

“Did he hurt your feelings?” Wazsh said with a laugh.

“He insinuated I wanted to steal his business. I could try and explain it to him but then I would have to reveal things about my class. Anyway, I can learn bow making elsewhere,” Duncan explained.

“I see. So, what did you eat at the barracks, something good?” Wazsh asked.

“We had Midnight deer stew,” Duncan replied.

“Ahhh. It’s been ages since I had that. Was it good?” Wazsh said, almost drooling.

“Yeah. A lot more flavorful than rat stew. The meat was tender and the spices really enveloped the flavor well. It was the best thing I ate here by far,” Duncan continued to tease him and watched Wazsh’s gulping down his saliva.

Wazsh’s expression turned dour and he kept wiping the already clean bar counter as Duncan turned his attention to the other two.

“So, what have you two been doing?” Duncan asked them.

“I made the death magic antidote potions. That was basically the highlight of my day,” Elland replied as he sipped on his wine. Duncan nodded and turned to Bolgar.

Bolgar downed his beer and replied, “I just pounded out steel ingots so I can start making steel stuff right away when I need to. You know, to skip the annoying purifying process.”

“Ahem. So, nothing new on that front. Do you want something else to drink or can I borrow Wazsh for a while?” Duncan asked.

“Wazsh, another beer if you will, then you can leave,” Bolgar replied in a loud voice.

“Another glass of wine before you leave would be nice,” Elland added timidly.

They soon got their drinks served and Wazsh followed Duncan into the kitchen frowning.

“What’s this about?” Wazsh asked nervously expecting bad news.

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Duncan dropped a Midnight deer carcass on the floor and said, “This.”

Wazsh’s eyes bulged out as he touched the deer making sure he was not seeing things.

“Where did you get it? Did you go outside the village already?” Wazsh hurriedly asked.

“Fenris hooked me up with his archers. I bought it from them and I think I can make this a regular thing. They want 20 bronze coins for each one though,” Duncan said.

“Is this the only one?” Wazsh asked.

Duncan shook his head and said, “I have two more. Show me how to butcher this. I don’t think the knowledge of butchering rats will work on this one.”

Wazsh nodded before saying, “Sure. Let me get suited up.”

“Why would you wear a suit?” Duncan asked, before a leather apron appeared in Wazsh’s hands which he quickly tied around his waist.

Wazsh rolled his eyes at Duncan before he said, “Rats are small creatures. Not much blood, not much internal organs. This is a different. You know you have to pay extra to Clara for bloodstains? First, we have to exsanguinate it.”

“Ex what?” Duncan asked.

“Exsanguinate. It means drain it of blood. I can’t believe I speak English better than you do,” Wazsh explained.

Duncan frowned before he replied, “Well, I didn’t have nanobots stuck in my head when I learned it.”

Wazsh rolled his eyes and said, “Whatever.”

Duncan did as he was told. The whole process was disturbing for him. His only dealings with raw meat before this included a cooler at a supermarket and nice prepackaged pieces.

This time Wazsh took Duncan to a different part of the kitchen which was hidden behind a shelve rack which acted as a hidden door. Behind it was a cooler room. The temperature didn’t feel below zero Celsius but there was another room on the other side of this one.

“What’s there?” Duncan asked.

“The freezer room,” Wazsh replied as he tied up the deer’s hind legs.

It had a chain hanging from the ceiling on which he attached the deer’s legs and pulled it up. The ceiling here was around five meters high. The floor was tiled in white tiles with a drain in the middle.

“Turn your skill on here we go,” Wazsh said as the deer was dangling.

Wazsh took out a bucket and slid it under the deer before he cut its throat. Draining the blood in a bucket took forever under the Observation skill, before Wazsh removed the skin and started cutting it up into smaller pieces. He put the smaller pieces of meat into containers and put the rolled-up skin into his inventory. When it was finally over Duncan leveled up his Butchering skill to level 4.

Duncan was holding on to his dinner as he finally asked, “What do you plan to do with the blood? You had a drain right here.”

“Oh. I picked up a recipe while I was on Earth. It’s called Black pudding. The blood is its main ingredient. If I remember correctly, I picked it up in Scotland,” Wazsh explained.

Duncan frowned with disgust before saying, “I bet you learned the recipe for Haggis too, that’s why the organs are all in containers and not in the thrash.”

“Oh, you know Haggis?” Wazsh asked not picking up on the disgusted look on Duncan’s face.

“I won’t eat any of those,” Duncan said.

“No one will force you, but don’t knock it till you try it,” Wazsh said with a happy expression.

After a few grimaces on Duncan’s face Wazsh asked, “You want to do the other two?”

“Not today. I had enough gagging for today. I will keep them in my inventory so they remain fresh. Tomorrow maybe,” Duncan replied.

“You can do them alone but don’t throw anything away,” Wazsh said sternly.

“Yeah. Yeah. You can keep your blood and organs,” Duncan replied.

As they walked outside the cooler room Wazsh suddenly said, “You remember I told you about that adventurer that was atomized in the bar? Duncan nodded before Wazsh continued, “Well, he was not the only one who died that week like this. There were a few cases around the village. I think someone was hunting adventurers on your side.”

Duncan asked, “What does that have to do with me?”

“Right now. Nothing. But as you will eventually move to where the adventurers still are I would be extra careful who you give your full name to. Best you make one up. Like Duncan the Destroyer or something,” Wazsh explained.

“So, I need an alias?” Duncan asked.

Wazsh nodded before saying, “Yeah. But don’t forget to set it up in settings also or the nanobots will introduce you to someone with a higher Identify as you have with your full name.”

Duncan thought about it and nodded.

“I noticed the guards sayings things like forever and over 150 years. Like they have been there. Are they as old as you are?” Duncan asked.

Wazsh thought about it and said, “I think they are much older. I met Fenris when I came here. That’s almost 400 years ago in Earth’s time. If you think something is normal, you don’t question it. I guess the nanobots that are implanted in everything or should I say infecting everything are keeping them from aging. They probably also control the demographic situation; limiting birth.”

“That sounds extremely BLEEPing crazy!” Duncan said.

“What do you think would happen if people could give birth at 20 something and lived for 400 years. The population would explode,” Wazsh said.

Duncan nodded before saying, “Yeah, I guess. On Earth we live to 100 and women have like thirty good years for having children and we have problems.”

“Did it reach 4 billion yet?” Wazsh asked.

“I think it’s around 7.5 billion,” Duncan replied and saw a surprised look on Wazsh’s face.

“Maybe you can bring home a nice virus to cull the numbers somewhat…” Wazsh muttered.

Duncan remembered the last two years of his life before he yelled, “Don’t even -BLEEP-ing think about it.”

“Well, the more of you there are, the harder they will be to transport when something like what happen to my system happened. We had 2.3 billion people and had to leave 800 million behind. It is only a matter of time… before the Universe finds your planet to play with,” Wazsh said with sad misty eyes.

As they came back into the bar, they saw the two guests with glasses, probably long empty from waiting for them.

“Duncan brought us a Midnight deer. It will be on the menu tomorrow. We just butchered it,” Wazsh told them as he saw they were eager for any news.

“Arrgh. I can go sleep now. I thought something horrible happened with all the mystery,” Bolgar said.

“Same here,” Elland replied nodding.

“Sorry,” Duncan and Wazsh replied in unison before the duo made their way out after paying.