New Land

Jim tried activating Dimensional Travel, "Three Months!?" He wasn't sure what he would do with all that time in this place, it was way too long.

Settling down, he decided not to worry about things he couldn't change. Activating Detection, Jim started looking for which direction to head in. It took a few minutes, but he discovered a dirt trail several hundred miles away. 'This forest is too damn big, just how far does it keep going in the other direction?'

'Come to think of it, the system didn't give me a name for the place this time' Jim decided on calling it the Mana Land, he wasn't very creative. There was no use standing around here, he began traveling towards the trail.

Even with his improved body and skills, it took him over an hour to reach the trail, pushing aside all that foliage really slowed him down. Several creatures had popped out and tried to attack him, they were pitifully weak and died in a single hit without even activating skills.

Eventually he decided to use them as target practice for Water Shot, Soil Shot, and Small Gust. There were apes, large spiders, a strange two-legged lizard, every single life form he ran into was hostile and attacked with no sense of danger.

Storing all the corpses in his inventory, he wondered just how long it would take to dismantle all of them. Now, keeping an eye on what was ahead with Detection, down the road with no obstructions, his speed improved tremendously.

An entire day passed, 'Just how long is this damn road!', he spotted several used campsites to the side of the road, it seems the road was considered long for the inhabitants of this world too. Finally, he caught sight of something up ahead.

There was a group of men on...what seemed to be giant armadillos. The men were human, causing Jim to sigh in relief that he didn't need to copy a different race again. Not far ahead of the men was a wagon, 'Are they guards? No, wait, they're chasing the wagon!' The mounted men were closing distance fast, Jim estimated the wagon would be caught within 2 minutes.

Using Ground Shrink, he closed in to inspect the situation more closely. In the driver's seat of the wagon was a heavily sweating fat man, the contents of the wagon wasn't cargo, it was people! Humans of all ages, shackled in place, it only took a cursory glance to tell what they were for.

Jim slowed down, the mounted men must be law enforcement, they seemed to have the situation under control. He kept an eye on what happened as he leisurely continued down the road.

The mounted men closed in and blocked the wagon's path, the fat man had no choice but to stop. He trembled in fear as the men surrounded him. *Gibberish*, 'Ah, crap, I don't know their language.'

Jim continued to listen in, after a few moments a new skill was generated.

[Borisa General Tongue Skill Obtained]

He started to understand the conversation slightly, the men were saying something about the slaves, the fat man was begging for his life. It went on for several minutes as he gained a firm grasp on the language.

One of the mounted men drew his sword, 'Wait, something isn't right!' Jim activated Surging Thunder Steps and quickly arrived. The men were stunned at the sudden loud appearance of someone on foot.

Mounted Man: "Tch, don't leave any witnesses!"

Jim was wrong, these guys weren't law enforcement! One of the mounted men approached with a disgusting grin on his mouth, he slashed out at Jim. 'Slow, weak swing, no technique, pitiful.' Jim reached out his hand and grabbed the blade. The mounted man was startled and tried to pull back his sword, but Jim had a firm grip on it. A quick tug and the man fell off his mount.

Mounted Man: "This guy is no pushover, surround him and dice him up!"

'Well, thanks for making things easy, I don't even need to come to you.' Jim forced his face to not show a smirk, when the men completed their encirclement he struck out. One quick punch to the center of the chest of each man, each of them exploded into a bloody mist. '...Oops, I didn't check their status.'

Jim was oddly calm for having just slaughtered half a dozen men, was it the desensitization of fighting life and death battles? Serene Mind and his skills forcefully keeping him calm? He wasn't sure, what he did know was there wasn't even a tinge of guilt nor excitement.

Turning his gaze over to the fat man, Jim didn't say anything. His ancestors had fought to outlaw slavery, seeing it in practice made him angry, he was pondering what to do with the fat man.

Fat Man: "Uh...Th-thank you for saving us! My name is Armand Tulisco."

'Us? Hmm...' Jim decided to question the man before acting.

Jim: "Are these your slaves?"

Armand: "What? No! These people and myself were captured by those bandits, I managed to escape and tried to bring them with me. I think I would have reached my end if you hadn't arrived."

Monitoring Armand's heart, he didn't see any traces of lying, it seems this guy was telling the truth. Jim gathered up the armadillos and tied them to the front of the wagon along with the original two which were pulling it. He hopped into the back of the wagon and started fiddling with the shackles on each person. Halfway through releasing them, he noticed something was off about one man.

'Those ears...An Elf!?'

[Name: Intou Da'Ni]

[Species: Lower Wood Elf]

[Level: 2]

[HP: 27/40]

[MP: 0]

[Strength: 14]

[Dexterity: 18]

[Vitality: 12]

[Agility: 16]

[Magic: 11]

[Status: Mana Seal, Starvation, Dehydration]

'Hmm...Mana Seal?' Checking everyone else that was still shackled, they also had Mana Seal applied with 0 mana. I see, binding people would need to seal superpowers like magic too.

Resuming his work, everyone was free after several minutes. Jim passed out some water and began cooking meat and vegetable dishes. Seeing everyone dig in, he brought some food and water up front to Armand and sat next to him.

Armand: "Thank you sir, as a noble I will make sure you are grandly rewarded."

'Okay, that one was a lie.'