"Quite the character you have, don't you?"
Eugh.
"Made half of our guardsmen show up, armed and ready, all because you couldn't wait for either me or Kael."
Please, stop.
"I wonder what would've happened if, during that time, monsters appeared and attacked us."
I had a meeting with Silver after a certain escapade of mine.
Unlike his usual stoic character, he was quite pissed.
Reasonably so.
He sighed, looking at me with a frowning expression.
"Did I not tell you, Grul, to meet with me when you want to make requests?"
I nodded.
"Yet, you didn't. Why?"
"Grul. Want out."
"Yes, you wanted out, but did you have to do it in such a way that caused our physician to micturate themselves?"
I didn't think they'd be that scared…they've known me for three weeks now, so I thought…
Ah, to hell with it.
No excuses; yes, I did scare them to the point of peeing.
I did it—I did it, ya see?!
What are they gonna do about it!?
"I'm not saying that we'll force you to stay in a place that you don't want—but what I am saying is that I need you to do something in order to quell the outrage you've caused in the settlement. Just one, and you'll be let go from the medical room."
Just one?
My eyes pressed him for an explanation.
Silver took out a map of their parts of the forest, circling in red three big spots.
"Since it's been so long since you've kept the animals at bay, they're once again encroaching on our extraction sites, causing a decrease in efficiency and blocking us from getting certain resources. What you need to do is escort the men to these areas and ward off the animals that have started to appear again."
Easy enough.
"In order of where you'll go, you'll be facing Levyat Bears, Ghosekan, and, from the reports of my men, a manticore."
…Nevermind.
"You don't need to clear these areas on the same day—you can take down one each per day. Furthermore, Kael will go along with you."
Silver frowns, his expression shifting to that of something melancholic.
"I understand that I'm requesting a lot from you. Which is why—"
In a swift stroke, Silver lays down a paper on the table.
The paper that's been postponed for an eternity at this point—the contract.
"Along with the written form of our contract, I've added these conditions to our deal, which will ensure your service to this camp will be more than compensated for without undermining the camp's profits."
He adds, in a proud tone.
It looks like he's done a lot of thinking about this.
…
…
…But, there was one problem that I just recently discovered.
"Well, Grul, what do you think?"
I…
"Grul?"
I can't actually…read.
"Grul? …Grul?"
…
…
…
"Hm."
Trekking through the forest felt nostalgic, despite only refraining from doing so for weeks.
Behind me were a bunch of the men assigned to work assigned to work with me; a mixture of guards, lumberjacks, and some alchemists.
I could hear them murmuring random topics with each other, but a returning topic they have was about me.
Mainly, what I am, and why I'm here.
Do they think I can't understand what they're saying?
First off, I am an orc, thank you very much.
And I'm here to get rid of your little pest issue.
Kael, who walked beside me, suddenly called out.
"We're getting close to the first area."
Great.
I can finally face off against old enemies of mine.
Y'know, at first, I was rather perturbed at the thought that I'm fighting hard enemies like big bears and Titanoboa-like snakes they called Ghosekan, but looking on the bright side, I can benchmark myself against them.
We walked a bit more and heard a deep growl.
A big bear that was a lot bigger than the ones I usually fought appeared.
The men—the ones that weren't guards, at least—behind me had scattered and left I and Kael and the rest of the guards to deal with it.
They weren't paid to deal with that.
We were.
As Kael and the guards unsheathed their swords and readied their spears, I motioned my hand to lower them.
The guards were very confused, but Kael, being the very wise old man that he is, understood what I meant and allowed me to solo it.
This is going to be hard.
I thought as I readied my brand-new axe, manufactured locally by the new blacksmith of the camp—or should I say settlement?
It's a settlement at this point.
Anyway, I readied my axe and roared at the bear.
In my previous world, doing this had the chance of making the bear falter and retreat.
But not in this world.
In this world, bears prefer it when you stand your ground and fight back.
They're basically like polar bears but on steroids.
Finding my roar to be quite appetizing, the bear lunged forward, charging at me.
I sidestepped it, and I swung my axe down on its side.
It was cut clean in half.
…
…
…
What the hell?
"It already killed it…"
"What a monster."
"That fast?"
"L-Lord have mercy upon us."
I could hear the exclamations of the people, but I couldn't be bothered to listen to them.
I was surprised by myself—at how strong I had become.
What happened to me?
Remembering about the thing that could help me understand that I had kept in the backburner all this while, I waved my hand and looked at my status screen.
+====================================+
// STATUS SCREEN //
+====================================+
|NAME: Grul
|RACE: Orc
|CLASS: None
|LEVEL: 20
|XP: 430/650
+------------------------------------+
|HEALTH: [███████--] 80% (Darkness Inflicted)|
|STAMINA: [████████--] 80% (Darkness Inflicted)|
|MANA: [----------] -10/0 |
+------------------------------------+
|ATTRIBUTES:
|STRENGTH: 54 (+15 Racial) (Battle trance)|
|DEXTERITY: 32 (Battle trance)|
|VITALITY: 52 (+15 Racial)|
|INTELLIGENCE: 20|
|WISDOM: 20 |
+------------------------------------+
|SKILLS:
|- Unarmed Combat (B+) (Passive)
| ↳"Everybody was kung-fu fighting!" - Carl Douglas … Increases effectivity of unarmed combat.
|- Sprinting (B+)
| ↳ Drastically increases movement speed at the cost of stamina.
|- Orcish Blood (A+) (Passive)
| ↳"Orkz is made for fightin' and winnin'!" - Ghazghkull Thraka … Bestows a formidable constitution and innate combat prowess. Provides a significant bonus to physical attributes and combat effectiveness. Also changes your diction when talking to others. For each battle you survive, increase physical attributes comparative to the difficulty of the battle fought.
|- Throwing (B) (Passive)
| ↳ Increases the accuracy and force of thrown objects.
|- Iron Stomach (B) (Passive)
| ↳ A growing tolerance for poorly prepared, rough, or unappetizing food. Reduces the negative effects of consuming spoiled or low-quality ingredients. Also provides moderate immunity against status ailments like poison, venom, and paralysis.
|- Intimidating Aura (B+) (Passive)
| ↳ Beings feel a sense of pressure when they're around you. Makes people feel more inclined to agree with you or even submit.
|- Roar (B)
| ↳ "THIS IS MY SWAMP!" - Shrek … Potentially cause enemies to be terrified or confused. Probability proportionally increases with level difference.
|- Trap Making (B+)
| ↳ Allows the creation of exemplary traps using raw materials which could incapacitate, severely wound, or eliminate the one caught inside of one.
|- Axe Mastery (B)
| ↳ "Here's Johnny!" - Johnny Torrance … Considerably increases efficiency of axes you are using.
|- Heavyweight (C) (Passive)
| ↳ "Move 'em on, head 'em up, head 'em up, move 'em on, move 'em on, head 'em up, Rawhide!" - Frankie Laine … Causes all things with a weight greater or equal to 10 lbs. to have their weight value reduced by 35% when you carry, hold, or drag them.
|- Survivalist's Instinct (A+) (Passive)
| ↳ Provides a complete, intuitive mastery of fundamental wilderness survival techniques. Also grants a heightened awareness of the environment, allowing for the automatic detection of food, water, resources, and hidden dangers. Gives a huge boost to stamina regeneration and overall perception.
|- Shadow Hunter (A) (Active/Passive)
| ↳ "The predator's silence is the prey's oblivion." ... Seamlessly blends movement with the environment to achieve near-total concealment. Drastically reduces visibility and sound while moving. The longer you maintain concealment and focus on a target, the higher behavioral information you gather, or crit rate, should you choose to strike at the poor victim.
|- Brutal Intuition (B) (Passive)
| ↳ "The head is for thinking, the gut is for knowing." ... Grants an automatic, instinctive reading of an opponent's weakness. Provides a small bonus to critical strike chance and large bonus to perception.
|- Makeshift Fortress (B+)
| ↳ "*Home Depot theme starts playing*" ... Allows for the rapid construction of temporary, sturdy defensive structures, such as barricades and basic shelters, using raw materials with a 50% reduction in required materials and time.
|- Environmental Weaponry (C+) (Passive)
| ↳ "Every tool is a weapon, if you hold it right." … Drastically increases the effectiveness and durability of improvised weapons, such as rocks, tree branches, and salvaged junk. Improvised weapons can also be sacrificed to stun or temporarily disable armored opponents.
|- Trailblazer (C+) (Active/Passive)
| ↳ "Where we're going, we don't need roads." - Doc Brown … Reduces the stamina cost of travel through dense wilderness. Actively allows the creation of temporary marked trails for easier retracing of steps.
|- Juggernaut (A) (Active/Passive) (New!)
| ↳ "I ain't got time to bleed." - Jesse Ventura … Considerably improves stamina and health and their respective regeneration. Grants severe immunity against physical status ailments. Physical effort will continue so long as mental will has not ceased. When activated, gain 50% damage reduction at the cost of severe aftereffects.
|- Battle Trance (A) (Active/Passive) (New!)
| ↳ When in actual combat, acquire battle trance stacks. As more stacks are gained, strength and attack speed continually increase. At ten stacks, ignore one hit for every ten hits.
|- Gambler's Luck (E) (Passive) (New!)
| ↳ "GAMBA GAMBA GAMBA! / Let's go gambling! Aw, dang it! Aw, dang it! Aw, dang it!" … In stressful situations, increases your luck by +1 as you continue to endure. If you voluntarily make it even more stressful for yourself, luck increases by +3.
|- Cockroach (D) (Passive) (New!)
| ↳ Possess an infuriating ability to survive fatal damage. Once per month, if HP reaches 0, will instead stop at 1 and are granted immunity to any damage for 12 seconds. Does not cure already afflicted status ailments.
|- Marksman (B) (New!)
| ↳ Upon hitting an enemy's weak spot, cause a critical strike to occur alongside weak spot damage. Increases critical damage.
+====================================+
Guh—
What is this?
Brother, what—
Answer me this, game, or devs, or whatever the hell is playing with me—why am I becoming a crit tank berserker build all of a sudden?
Brutal Intuition + Marksman is just unholy, and that Juggernaut + Cockroach + Battle Trance is—wow.
That's all I have to say, really.
Wow.
And my Orcish Blood upgraded too…
So, basically, what I have become is, a late-game monster that is unkillable and could probably solo the last boss(eventually)?
I just—
Yeah, I'll just do my task with my mind turned off.
No thoughts, head empty.
…
…
…
"Guaoow…"
*Thud!*
"In just three hits…"
"I can't believe it!"
"Are we sure he really isn't a dark mage's experiment gone wrong?"
"THAT'S OUR BEASTLORD!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOO!"
I felled a manticore in just three hits.
I've well and truly…become a TRPG munchkin.
All I need now is a mentor with a mysterious background and a nemesis that caused my tragic backstory.
*Slap!*
Alright, enough daydreaming.
Think realistically.
Remember the quote: something something is a slow and insidious killer.
All that talk of beating the game without even trying comes in the future—when I've actually gotten that accumulated power.
For all I know I could still get one shot into 1 HP, stunned, and then killed.
Or teleported to the core of the world.
Something like that could happen.
Plus, that darkness inflicted status, I glossed over it because of the skills I acquired, but that seems like something I have to deal with before going back to that Void-Stag and beating its ass.
Silver mentioned a priest coming to the settlement, right?
I guess going back to my cave will have to wait.
And I also have a -10 in mana for…some reason?
I don't know what that implies, but I'll ignore it for now.
There's not enough time in the day to worry about what this game is doing to my 0 mana.
Approaching Kael, I showed intent on returning with them to the settlement instead of leaving already.
If my eyes aren't lying to me, I could see a hint of surprise and subtle joy on the old man's face when he got what I was trying to convey.
But then, as if realizing there's always a reason behind my outbursts, he added another question.
"Is it because of something you need from us?"
I nodded.
Aaaand that joy is gone.
A bit disappointed, he seems to be, but had an 'of course' expression.
After a sigh, Kael looked back at the remaining men who were only the guards, shouting out to them that I was joining them to the camp.
"Hm? You're coming with us, big guy? Does that mean—"
"EYYYY! LET'S CELEBRATE! THE BEASTMASTER'S STAYING WITH US!"
Guys, I'm not—
"WOOOOOOOOOO!"
"TELL 'EM TO BRING OUT THE RUM!"
Seriously—
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but if this monster were to stay in our settlement, starting a family here might not be unfeasible despite how close Quietus Forest is."
"Already ahead of you there, Duncan."
"Wait…Did you and Emily—?!"
"YUP! TO CELEBRATE THE WEDDING AND THIS, DRINKS ARE ON ME!"
"YEAAAAH!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOO!"
…
…
…Ah, just let them be.