CHAPTER 6: Survival

I woke up in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room.

A lady sat next to the bed, peeling an apple with a knife.

"You've finally woken up! I have to go tell the doctor!"

The woman quickly left her seat and ran outside the room.

She later returned with an older gentleman that spoke to me.

"You've been asleep for almost a full day there, young man. I would expect you to be tired after taking care of all those demons, though. We've tended to your wounds and let you rest in the infirmary. We were surprised to see that you miraculously healed from all your ailments after just a few hours of rest. Do you have some sort of enhanced healing ability?"

I tried to respond as best as I could.

"Healing ability? I don't think so. Wait, where am I? What happened to the demons?"

The doctor replied.

"Well, you took them all out, young man. Quite the heroic feat you did there. Right now, you're here at the infirmary to rest. The mayor would like to see you, so head on over to the town hall once you're rested up and ready to go."

I laid back down and gathered my thoughts.

I decided that I didn't die since I would've shown up at the entrance of the village instead of in a bed.

I assumed the healing ability might have something to do with the 'system'.

The doctor got up to leave and said.

"I'll leave Natasha here with you. Just let her know if you need anything."

I pulled up the message with the numbers again.

"Open menu."

[Level 7]

[HP: 46/46]

[STR: 16 (+3)]

[DEX: 14 (+2)]

[CON: 10 (+0)]

[INT: 8 (-1)]

[WIS: 12 (+1)]

[CHA: 4 (-3)]

[SP: 20/20]

[MP: 20/20]

[Lineage Factor: HUMAN]

[Class: WEAPON MASTER - ASSASSIN]

[Skills: ASSASSINATE, SHADOW STEP, SILENT WALK…]

[System Alert: Please choose an additional Combat Skill.]

"Those lesser demons must have been strong if I levelled up twice from just four of them."

"I'm going to need a way to take down multiple enemies at the same time efficiently."

"I'm leaning towards Poison Gas or Double Fang."

[Poison Gas]

[Turning the air to a deadly concoction is a sinister way to kill your foes. You release a cloud of toxic gas around you as an Action. Creatures within 15ft of you must make a CON Saving Throw with DC 10 + WIS Modifier. On a fail, targets are blinded and poisoned until the start of your next turn. In addition, you can use the cloud as total cover and take the Hide Action as part of the same Action. The effect lasts until the start of your next turn. This uses 3 MP.]

[Double Fang]

[Both of your hands are denizens of death. Use them to their full potential. You attempt to kill a creature using two weapons simultaneously as a Bonus Action. If you land an Attack with a simple melee weapon, you can choose to Attack again as a Bonus Action without needing to roll to hit the second time. This uses 1 SP.]

"I'm going to need to conserve SP from this point on…"

[System Alert: You have chosen Double Fang]

[System Alert: You are Level 7.]

[System Alert: Please choose an Overskill.]

"An overskill now? What kind of naming scheme is this?"

"Well, if underskill is something that I don't have to activate and combat skills are things that take a little bit to activate… Maybe overskills are something that uses up a lot to activate?"

"And just as I said I wanted to conserve SP…"

The list of skills appeared in front of me.

"Just as I thought. All of these need a lot of SP. I don't enough have enough at my current level to use any of them."

[Death Stalker]

[Dusk Walker]

[Exterminate]

[Omen of Death]

[Piercing Bullets]

"A part of me wants to get Exterminate… but 30 SP is just too much for me at this point."

[System Alert: You have chosen Dusk Walker]

"Dusk Walker seems to be the best for its cost. Hopefully, I made the right decision."

[Dusk Walker]

[Hidden in shadows, you are an assassin that thrives on the darkness of others. You traverse the battlefield in an ethereal form as an Action. For the next 5 turns, you gain advantage to Hit and you can impose a penalty to an incoming attack equal to your DEX Modifier as a Reaction. In addition, you can take the Hide Action as a Bonus Action. This uses 25 SP.]

"It's not like I have the resources to use it anyways."

A voice spoke to me.

"S-Sir? Are you alright? You've been talking to yourself for quite a while now."

I only realized at that moment that the lady was still in the room.

"Huh? Oh! Uh… Yes… I'm okay."

"I'll be tending to the other patients if that's the case then. Just call me if you need anything." She replied.

I think I scared her off.

It seemed I had rested enough, so I set out for the town hall.

As I walked through the streets, some of the villagers called out to me. They seemed to be thanking me.

I saw other villagers tending to the buildings, cleaning the rubble and preparing to conduct repairs.

I reached the town hall building as a well-dressed man approached me.

"You must be the adventurer who came to save the village."

He bowed down in front of me and continued.

"On behalf of Arcstock Village, I would like to thank you for your contributions. Would you like to come inside? I'll prepare some tea. I'd like to chat some more with you."

I agreed and stepped inside with him. I assumed he must've been the mayor.

He led me to an office room and asked me to take a seat before leaving.

Before long, a woman entered the room. I spoke to her first.

"I'm okay with any kind of tea."

"Hm? Oh, I'll tell Wilbur then. I think he's brewing up some earl grey right now. He shouldn't take much longer." She replied.

"It must be nice to have a mayor nice as him. He's even going out of his way to brew tea for little old me." I commented.

The woman continued into the room and sat down in the office chair. She sat in the mayor's chair.

"It is nice to have someone like him as an assistant."

I wondered what she meant by an assistant.

"By the way, I'm the mayor, Helena Evergreen. It's a pleasure to meet you."

She was the mayor.

"What!? I mean! It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Ms. Mayor!"

I quickly stood up to bow down to her. I couldn't believe I had made such a mistake.

"I-I'm sorry if I offended you! I… I just-"

She interrupted me.

"It's quite alright. Wilbur does take care of most of the business around here. It's not too far of a stretch to call him the mayor. If I ever happened to be out of commission, he would be the best person to replace me."

I sat back down. I could feel beads of sweat dripping down my forehead from the embarrassment. She began to explain.

"To get straight to the point, I wanted to talk about the lesser demons. Since you lost consciousness after defeating them, we retrieved the monster shards in your stead. Right now, there in the possession of my trusted banker. Don't worry, we still plan on handing them over to you. I wouldn't want to impede on the honour of the adventurers. However, it is my duty as the mayor to act for the benefit of the village. If you would allow it, we would like to have two of the lesser demon shards. They sell for quite a high price and we wished that it would help with the cost of rebuilding. Of course, it is completely your decision and I will respect whatever choice you make. Only you, I and Wilbur know about this arrangement, so the villagers will have no clue either."

I sat there and contemplated.

The mayor was right in the fact that lesser demon shards sell for lots of money. I vaguely remember the price being greater than 1000 gold.

With that kind of money, who knows what I could do? I didn't really have a concrete plan in mind yet.

"On one condition."

If I planned on getting stronger, I needed to fight more enemies.

If I were barely strong enough to take out four lesser demons, I wouldn't stand a chance against the demon army's stronger forces.

It's not like I really need the money anyways.

"You give me priority on all the high-ranked quests at the guild."

The mayor looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"I-Is that too much? I can make it something else if that's the case…" I asked.

Her expression went back to normal as she replied.

"No… It's definitely something we can do. I would have to speak to the guild master first, but I'm sure he wouldn't object to something like that. The village will be very thankful for your donation. We're forever in your debt."

Wilbur walked into the room with a tray in hand.

"It looks like the negotiations went well. Once again, I'd like to thank you, dear adventurer." He said once again with a bow.

Wilbur set the tea down and sat across from me.

The three of us continued talking for a little longer. It mostly consisted me of asking them questions about the village.

I stood up and politely announced my leave.

They waved me off as I headed to the inn they recommended.

As I walked inside, the innkeeper recognized me.

"Oh! It's the adventurer! I see you have good taste there! Your stay is on the house tonight! I'll make sure you're all well-rested and fed! Don't worry about a thing."

I thanked the innkeeper as he led me to a large room on the second floor.

I laid down on the bed and immediately fell asleep. I've been getting tired a lot quicker these days.