Life in community

Ryu led the group in a detour around the spot where the iron skin boar was having its dinner, the group was so terrified that they could barely follow orders, which made the escape rather troublesome.

He wanted to go faster, take the group of six out of danger before the beast finished eating the deer and started walking again.

Time was ticking down and the slow pace was making Ryu deeply distressed.

If he was alone he would like to stretch his head out to see the beast, maybe if he had the opportunity to fight in a condition that he could run if things went bad, he'd use the opportunity to put his strength to test. But in his current situation, he had to set a priority, the villagers' lives come before his selfish desire to fight.

Despite the slow pace, they were making a steady advancement, they had almost skirted the iron skin boar when the grumbling sound began to resonate.

One of the girls shrieked in fear, when everyone looked at her, she covered her mouth and said with a muffled sound from behind her hands, "Sorry.".

The grumbling sound paused, for a few seconds there was no sound.

Ryu grabbed a fist-sized rock from the ground and threw it aside with everything he had, the rock landed on a tree making a hollow sound.

"Now, run." he told Rose with a serious expression.

She wasted no time, she made the six of them clasp hands and went running in a line heading straight for the village.

Ryu, at the rear end, stayed a few steps back, following the group while acting as a shield, if the boar decided to follow them he would stop and fight, otherwise, he would keep following, there was a chance the group would run into another beast while escaping.

Perhaps it was luck or perhaps the boar went to the rock losing the group, but there was no sign of the beast they had fled.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the safety of the village, a quest notification alerted Ryu.

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Quest Complete: Guide the group to the waterfall and bring them back unharmed.

Reward: 450 exp

total exp: 1230 / 1200

Necessary exp to next level achieved.

Level up

You are now level 4

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They reached the safety of the village, the group ran to the houses, and Ryu stopped at the entrance near the wood fence. If the iron skin boar had followed them, he would have had to stop it here until men came to help him.

At least he hoped they would come to his aid. As commoners, they don't have the powers to face the beast, but they must have their own way of sending it away.

He left the system open prepared to distribute the 5 stats points he got for the level up, to fight the rank 1 beast he would need everything he had.

In just five minutes of waiting with no sign of the boar, the village was thrown into a frenzy, people running everywhere yelling at each other. Until things calmed down, a dozen men came towards him carrying bows, long spears, and logs.

They used the logs to close off the entrance, leaving the village isolated on all sides.

Silence ensued, except for these dozen men and Ryu, there was no one at sight. They remained quiet, keeping watch for one hour until one of the men said he could go to Susan's tavern, they will stay behind to keep watch.

In Susan's tavern, some people were waiting with worried faces, they greeted Ryu with food and thanked him for bringing people home safely. Talking with Susan and two old man he learned that this boar lives for over 60 years and appears from time to time scaring them.

The night passed without incident, Ryu went to bed and left instruction they should wake him up in case the boar showed up.

The next day he woke up and went to breakfast, the village's mood seemed to have improved while he slept, it was still closed and a high observation post had been placed in the middle of the village with a person to keep watch over the fence.

It was the first time he realized the difference between commoners and cultivators, these people lived their lives in constant danger. They struggle to acquire the basic resources to survive and have to keep vigilance over the many threats over the world that could bring disaster to their lives.

Still, they don't let these things get them down, they can find happiness with the little pleasures of life in times of comfort and overcome disasters by joining forces and working together. They were completely at the whim of nature and here they are fighting with their lives at stake.

Meanwhile, in cultivators cities, people are fighting over resources seeking strength, not to overcome a threat but to trample others, they cultivate with the sole purpose of reaching the top, to be revered as a supreme.

There is no such thing as camaraderie, it's a dog eat dog world. If someone needs to use others to reach a high standard, he will not hesitate.

Such thoughts made him think about what kind of cultivator he would like to be in the future and gave him light to illuminate the path he would follow in his life, indicating principles he needed to establish.

He went to talk to the leaders, to find out if there is anything he can do to help in this situation. He was there in seek of quests, if they close frontiers and locked themselves at home he would be harmed too.

After an assembly, they decided to reinforce the fence with stone, but in order to do that, they have to go to a quarry, extract stone blocks and bring it all the way back. It was a hard job that not many people wants to do, in fact, no one volunteered to go.

Ryu himself was among those who didn't want to do it, though he was in need of quests, he didn't feel like swinging a hammer to break rocks all day for some measly exp points.

This was beyond the point he was willing to cross, he played the role of a lumberjack and a farmer. He was starting to see himself as a fraud, his life as a cultivator turned him into a peasant. Despite his reluctance at some point, he realized that this would be one of the few quests that would appear in the near future.

If he decided to stay on the sidelines, he would be locked up for days without anything to do, frustrated he raised his hand, offering himself to go.

When others saw that he would be going, they felt much more confident and three others offered to go too, what was holding them back was the fear of the iron skin boar, but with someone like Ryu to provide protection, they overcame their fear.

With everything ready, they left for the quarry, with a hammer on their shoulders, three went to the quarry while another four went ahead to patrol and keep watch.

A quest appeared, but this one gave no joy to Ryu.

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Quest: Extract stone on the quarry to reinforce the fence.

Reward: 300 exp