***

The temple was especially silent that evening. Only the sounds of insects and the occasional nocturnal bird broke through the veil of night. Finding your way through the pitch black would be impossible without a lamp, and the only people willing to do that were the ones in need of answering 'nature’s call'.

"Ughh..."

Groggily, Peter cracked his eyelids open. His softly glowing eyes were the only light in the room. He put his palm to his forehead and winced in pain. It felt like he was in the middle stages of having a flu. Intense heat was radiated off of his forehead, and the slightest touch from his hand triggered a small headache. His energy felt completely sapped from his body, and he was so thirsty he felt he could drink an olympic sized swimming pool.

"Crap. Maybe I should have hit 'no' after all," He thought in regret over his current state.

"Status."

|1:41 AM|| |Status| |Backlight: [Off]| Name: Peter Valk Kastell Level: 0 Gender: Male Influence: 0 Race: Human Variant Fame: 0 Class: Arbiter Unspent points: 15 Stats Health 45/150 Stamina 24/150 Vitality 15 Endurance 15 Strength 15 Perception 10 Dexterity 15 Processing 15 Karma -78 M. Resistance 10 Traits [Powerful Soul: Rank X]

[Powerful Mind: Rank X] Evolutions [Enhanced Recovery] Grade: D Skills [Auto Translate] Transcendent level 10 [Student of a God] Adept level 10 [Identify] Adept level 4 [Soul Drain] Novice level 1 [Evolve] Uses remaining: 1 [Exo-Skeleton] Novice level 1 [Momentum] Novice level 4 [Patience] Novice level 1 [Fervor] Novice level 9 [Toughness] Novice level 7

"What the..." Peter said.

"I can't see a darn thing. I guess I finally have a use for that feature."

Mentally, he imagined his status screen lighting up and becoming visible to him again.

|1:42 AM|| |Status| |Backlight: [On]| Name: Peter Valk Kastell Level: 0 Gender: Male Influence: 0 Race: Human Variant Fame: 0 Class: Arbiter Unspent points: 15 Stats Health 46/150 Stamina 25/150 Vitality 15 Endurance 15 Strength 15 Perception 10 Dexterity 15 Processing 15 Karma -78 M. Resistance 10 Traits [Powerful Soul: Rank X]

[Powerful Mind: Rank X] Evolutions [Enhanced Recovery] Grade: D Skills [Auto Translate] Transcendent level 10 [Student of a God] Adept level 10 [Identify] Adept level 4 [Soul Drain] Novice level 1 [Evolve] Uses remaining: 1 [Exo-Skeleton] Novice level 1 [Momentum] Novice level 4 [Patience] Novice level 1 [Fervor] Novice level 9 [Toughness] Novice level 7

"Woah woah! That was wayyy brighter than I expected," The light from his status window didn't make that headache feel better, but Peter read everything anyways. He was extremely surprised to see how low his [Health] and [Stamina] were.

"At least that explains why my head feels like it just got put through a blender," Peter groaned.

He watched his stats for a little while to make sure he was getting better and not worse. He didn't have to wait long though, his [Health] and [Stamina] were rising pretty quickly. Also, he noticed his race had changed.

"Well that's freaky. I'm a variant of the human race now I guess," Peter said with a creeped out voice. It was amazing how uncomfortable it made him feel to not even be recognized as 100% 'human' by the system anymore.

Even though that was a slightly upsetting discovery, Peter decided he wasn't going to make the mistake of letting it wait, so he examined his new 'Evolution'.

[Enhanced Recovery] Type: Evolution Increases the natural rate at which your [Health] and [Stamina] recover themselves by 2 per minute. Recovering your stats naturally or with potions will raise your progress to increasing the Grade of this Evolution. Increasing the Grade of the evolution will enhance the benifits it gives. Grade: D Progress: 4.53%

This was a fantastic boost. Peter was extremely happy with it, even if he was still a little put off by the race change.

In any case, he was extremely tired. He closed his status and laid his head back on his bed and went back to sleep.

***

The next day Peter awoke early to his alarm. He checked his stats and saw that they had fully recovered. Relieved, he ate his breakfast, which wasn't enhanced with potions this time, and walked down to the training arena. On the way he activated 'silent mode' from his status.

Unlike yesterday, Jogun was here already. After a cheerful ‘good morning’, he immediately had Peter start his workout with a long run. Peter was able to push himself extra hard today, and didn't need many potions. His [Enhanced Recovery] made it so that he recovered his missing stats much faster than before. He recovered like someone with 40 more [Endurance] and [Vitality] than he had, so his performance was much more impressive than yesterday. Today's crowd of spectators were all stunned with his progress. Especially Chandi. She knew how hard he was training, and knew this was way more than he should be capable of.

Today none of the crowd mocked Peter, or questioned why he was here. They watched silently, occasionally commenting about how his progress was unusually fast instead. Peter, having overheard those conversations, was much happier. He was glad he didn't make a fuss over what they said and did yesterday.

When Jogun said it was okay to take a lunch break, Peter sat with him and told him about his Evolution, and what seemed to make it stronger.

"I've definitely never heard of 'Evolutions' before, but your tenacity in how hard you can work without any time for recovery is proof that you're not lying. Your physical strength and running speed haven't improved by much, but you're enduring my training as long as some of the temple warriors. I would suggest you add your last unallocated points to [Strength], [Endurance], and [Dexterity]."

Peter tilted his head, "Why [Dexterity]?"

Jogun shifted his armour a little bit, and replied with a smile, "Cause this afternoon you have a slightly different type of training! You didn't think you would just spend all your time running around and lifting weights did you? There's only so much you can gain from that."

"Ahh, you want to start something more technique based. Like what exactly? My sword work? Foot work?" Peter asked, excited for the change of pace.

"Nope, Archery!" the General said with a chuckle.

***

Peter added the stats as he was told. While he was recovering from the euphoria of his increasing capabilities, he walked with Jogun down a corridor of the large temple until they got to a temple exit. Jogun passed through the doorway into the warm sun light, but Peter paused and walked through slowly.

"Is this really okay?" Peter questioned, "You guys seemed pretty worried about me leaving the temple a little bit ago."

"It's fine. You're here with me after all, and you're not as fragile as you once were. Your one passive alone makes you very tough for the average fighter to kill," Jogun replied confidently.

Peter nodded, "As long as you think it's fine."

"I do! Plus, how else are we gonna see what you can do with some ranged weaponry? The temple isn't nearly big enough for that kind of practice."

The duo walked down the street, passing the regular town folk that Peter saw from the roof two days ago. The people who saw him were very intimidated, as they kept giving both of them a wide berth. A 7' tall, strong looking fellow with glowing eyes and snow white hair was not a normal sight in these parts. Jogun, however, didn't seem to notice the civilians strange behavior at all. He was deep in thought.

Jogun finally popped out of his thoughts to ask, "Hey Peter, do you think the Evolution has something to do with your eye colour changing?"

Peter nearly stumbled forward, "What?! My eye colour changed?" Peter then used a trick he learned the other day before he went to sleep: he cupped his palms over his eyes, and opened them. Sure enough a viridian glow was displayed over his palms.

"Weird. I didn't even notice," Peter was a bit speechless with surprise, "Y-Yeah I suppose what I gained last night must have done this. Applying the Evolution really did a number on me before I woke up this morning."

"Hmm. It seems the saying 'the eyes are the windows to the soul', has a much more literal meaning for you. Changes to your status are changes to your soul after all," Jogun pondered aloud.

Peter was surprised by the change in his eye colour, but he was pretty distracted by the town. Everything looked so much bigger from street level, and Peter was very curious about various shops they passed by. To keep Peter from asking every two seconds, Jogun said they could probably stop at a shop on the way back.

They eventually reached a large clearing between buildings. It was probably the largest area of flat land in the entire 'crater' the town was in. At the far end of the field there were some tables and targets set up already. There was also a medium sized, two storey building off to the side of the field which the two were headed towards. When they got there, two guards at the front door saw who was coming and immediately saluted.

"Welcome General! Is this guy with you?" One of them asked.

"Yes, he is. His name is Peter, and he is to have unlimited access to this building and all weapons inside. Permanently," Jogun said in a commanding tone.

"U-Unlimited? Um.. If it's your order then we'll inform the other guards when we change shifts. We won't have trouble describing who he is at least," The guards said, referring to Peter's size and eyes.

"Haha, I should think not," Jogun replied.

One guard took a ring of keys off of his belt and handed them to Jogun, while the other guard held the door for them both to walk in. When the door closed, Peter heard them whisper; "Do you know who that guy is?", and "I've never seen someone like him in my life. He must be a new arrival."

Peter smiled as Jogun led him to a locked door that reminded him of the armoury. One locked wooden door, then a metal gate behind that which was also locked. Jogun unlocked both and walked inside while gesturing to follow.

It was the exact same setup as the armoury inside the temple, but instead of armour sets it was weapons of all kinds. Short swords, two handed swords, halberds, warhammers, spears, bows, arrows, and several types of small throwing weapons. There were several types of weapons that Peter couldn't name off hand as well, so he identified them instead.

SwordStaff - Heavy Quality: Superior Damage +13 Strength +5, Dexterity +2 SwordStealer Gloves - Light Quality: Fine Damage +8 Strength +2, Dexterity +3 BillHook Machete - Medium Quality: Fine Damage +9 Strength +3, Dexterity +3

The swordstaff was a two foot long blade, on a two and a half foot long handle. It was as if someone took the head off of a mace, and put a large sword blade on in its place. More power could be gotten out of the blade with the longer reach, and it could be used defensively with two hands. This weapon was powerful in person to person combat, as well as person to calvary combat.

The swordstealers looked like they went ontop of a set of gloves, as they had metal rings to fit your fingers into, and a wrist strap. On those mounts, there was a set of thick 10 inch daggers facing forward with a few inches between each. These daggers had a small pieces of metal poking out towards each other. Peter imagined someone with a sword, and someone with these 'swordstealers' fighting.

If the sword user were to swing at the opponent, the sword could be caught between the blades of the gloves. Then the wearer just needed to twist his wrist to lock onto the blade. The blade could then be wrenched out of the sword users hands.

The first two were very interesting weapon designs, while the machete was much more plain in design. It was a regular machete but with a savage looking hook towards the end of the blade.

"They're beauties aren't they? They're not world energy weapons, but they certainly are beautiful weapons. They were designed by our head blacksmith," Jogun said with pride.

"You mean Chandi?" Peter asked.

Jogun's brows raised a bit, "So you've met her. Aha! It was probably a bit of a surprise to see a cute thing like her working a forge eh?" he said jokingly.

"It was actually. She seems like she should be some daughter to a foreign noble. Not a rough and tough master of smithing," Peter said while shaking his head.

"HA!.. Make sure you never tell her that to her face. She does not like nobles in the least, and would probably make sure you regretted saying it forever." Jogun chuckled for a bit, then walked into the next area with all the throwing weapons and bows, "Never mind about that though, this is what we're here for!"

Jogun grabbed an armful of various ranged equipment, and handed it all to Peter. He then got another arm load and walked outside of the armoury to the field. They set the bows, arrows, and other throwing weapons down on the tables.

"Alright, since you probably have a massive draw length due to your size, I've picked out some large bows for you. Grab any one you like." Jogun ordered.

Peter grabbed one of the shortest bows and an arrow. He held up the bow and pulled back the string, but he couldn't pull it all the way back. It also looked a bit small compared to his body.

"Uhm.." Jogun had an awkward look on his face, "Maybe not that one... Try this instead," He handed Peter a larger bow.

Peter took it, and decided to [Identify] it first.

Long Bow Quality: Average Damage +14 Strength +1, Dexterity +5, Perception +3

"Oh! It adds to my [Perception]. That's really handy," he thought to himself. He nocked the arrow, and aimed down the length of the field at a target. Just as he was about to try it out, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"No no no, not at all. You need to face your body 90 degrees away from your target. Stretch your arm all the way out as far away from your body as you can get it. Now spread your feet a bit more."

Jogun continued making alterations to his stance. 'Raised arm here, lowered elbow there, pull the arrow back farther.'

After about 40 seconds of alterations Peter finally had a decent stance for shooting the bow, then something really interesting happened. Peter's hud lit up, and scanned his environment. He was looking directly at the target out in the field, so the hud recognized it and gave Peter a small crosshair on the projected place the arrow would go in. Currently the crosshair was resting somewhere off to the left of the target.

Peter was surprised by all this, and loosened his draw on the arrow. In his vision, the crosshair lowered and got closer to where he was standing. Realization dawned on him as he pulled the arrow back again, and the crosshair rose until it was back near the target. Peter shifted his aim to the right, and so did the crosshair.

"Jeez, isn't this a little bit much of a cheat?" Peter thought to himself. It really did seem too good to be true.

Peter adjusted himself until the marker was as close to the bullseye as he could get it to stay. He focused hard, and the world slowed down around him. He let the arrow go. The arrow flew fast, and far. It curved slightly and... missed the target board by about a foot to the left.

"Guess it was really too good to be true," He thought, slightly disappointed that he couldn't be an eagle eye right off the bat with no effort.

Jogun was wide eyed though, "Peter! I didn't think you were gonna actually go for the farthest target already! And you only barely missed! That's quite an impressive first shot. Our rangers in training sometimes miss by that much during practice!"

"Really? Well clearly that means I have a good teacher," Peter said with a smirk.

"Hah, funny. I've taught a few people how to use a bow initially, but never got anyone to make a shot like that," He admitted with a smile, "Try a closer one you overachiever!"

Peter smiled at how easily he got to Joguns pride, then went into his H.U.D. settings. In one of the tabs it showed that the projectile guidance system was an automattic tool that was reliant on the archer's skill. There was a small display that said it was 100% accurate to about 10 meters away with his current skill level. Aiming any farther away would decrease how accurate the H.U.D. target was, but it could be improved with practice, and by raising the [Perception] or [Dexterity] stat.

This was an interesting concept. As he understood it, the H.U.D. took his knowledge of how bows and arrows worked and translated them into a visual crosshair, which could be further corrected by [Perception], and [Dexterity].

"Cool." Peter said out loud. He put down the bow he just shot to try another bow out. He identified the remaining two.

Composite Bow Quality: Superior Damage +21 Strength +2, Dexterity +6, Perception +4 Yumi Quality: Superior Damage +22 Strength +3, Dexterity +2, Perception +7

The composite bow was a really nice bow. It was large, but not too long, and still more effective than the regular longbow. Even the system described the longbow quality to be lower than the composite.

The yumi, however, was a monster of a bow. It was actually taller than Peter by a few inches, and wasn't symmetrical like the other two bows. The grip was placed much lower on the shaft of the bow.

Jogun laughed when Peter looked at the Yumi and said, "That's quite the bow. It even makes you look small, and it packs a punch to match. The arrows for the Yumi are longer and heavier, so they're used for piercing armour. It’s not a good bow for long fights though because the archer will usually get tired quickly. The Composite Bow might be a better bet for you."

"Remember, if things go the way I think they're going to be with the Evolution, then [Stamina] won't be a problem for me. If you guys make me a bow in the future, make it as strong as you can. Like this Yumi," Peter informed Jogun, who nodded and agreed.

For now Peter decided to follow his advice and use the composite.

Immediately after picking it up he liked this one more. The composite felt much stronger and more comfortable than the longbow. He nocked an arrow and got into the proper stance to aim at a closer target. Jogun only corrected one or two things before he was ready. He pulled back the string, and the targeting system came on. This bow was much harder to draw back than the last one, so Peter was shaking a bit from the strain. He had to shuffle around to get the crosshair on the right spot before letting it go.

This time Peter hit within only a few inches of the bullseye, but he didn't stop there. He nocked another arrow and fired again, to a total of 10 times. Two hit the bullseye, 4 were really close to it, and 4 were a little more spread out.

The targeting system definitely wasn't perfect, but boy did it help. This target was about 20 meters away, so the H.U.D. wasn't perfectly accurate, but it wasn't far enough to make it unusable.

"I... I think you might have a talent for this Peter," Jogun was speechless, "That was the 11th arrow you have ever fired, and two were bullseyes. We'll have to order you a real masterpiece of a bow. I'm guessing it will serve you well in the future. Don't worry, I'll make sure it's so strong it'll fire artillery!"

Peter laughed, then continued firing arrows for a while. Due to the high strength needed to draw this bow while aiming his crosshairs, his [Stamina] was dropping quickly. He was happy because it was making steady progress towards raising his Evolution to the next grade. He was currently at 27.19% and rising, but knew there was an even faster way to train this [Evolution].

He turned to Jogun and said, "You're going to think this is really strange, but try to understand that I'm doing this for my own good. It'll train the [Enhanced Recovery] faster if I do this."

Jogun furrowed his brows and tilted his head to the side, "Uhh.. okay..."

Peter reached for an arrow and raised it over his head, then lifted his trousers so a bit of his lower thigh was exposed.

"Wait, Peter what are yo--" But it was too late.

He brought the arrow down hard, right onto the side of his thigh. The arrow met some resistance, but pierced the skin, and the arrowhead buried itself in the flesh of his leg.

Jogun went wide eyed, looking back and forth between the arrow, and Peter's face, then he yelled, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Training myself." Peter said with no emotion. He acted almost as if he didn't feel the pain at all, mostly because it only felt like a consistent tickle. He noticed that he didn't enter combat, but that was likely due to him either having silent mode on, or the fact that it was self inflicted damage. His [Health] was sitting at 126/150, but he also had a debuff called [Light Bleeding]. It made him lose 2 points of [Health] every minute for an hour until he healed for 20 points using any method.

"Peter, even I don't train anyone this hard. Use this please!" Jogun then handed him a [Health] potion franticly.

Peter took it, but just looked at it with a single raised eyebrow, "If I take this, it'll technically be wasted. I'm just going to stab myself again."

"... BUH...." Jogun was so confused by his behavior that he was reduced to baby language. He threw his hands in the air, "Peter. You stabbed yourself!"

"Um. I know that. I'm the one who did it. I'm doing it so I can regenerate [Health] and [Stamina] at the same time to increase how fast I can get my Evolution to the next grade."

"Even still!" Joguns voice cracked a little from stress, "Don't you think this is pushing it a bit?"

"No," Peter said with his usual straight face, "I can't waste any more time being weak. I need to improve myself faster than anyone naturally born on this world would be willing to. That's the only way I'll be able to survive, and repay Adrestia."

Jogun calmed down at this. Peter's resolve was commendable, and he had to agree. For someone who is supposed to have the fighting potential of a small army on his own, Peter was already too disadvantaged without mana. There was no time to spare, even with his unlimited lifespan.

Peter walked to go grab the arrows from his target and the ground, then brought them all back. He continued to train in archery, and eventually tried throwing weapons too. Throwing knives and hatchets were very difficult and required a lot of skill to be able to use in a fight. He didn't have nearly as much promise in this style of ranged combat, so Jogun convinced Peter to stick to archery instead.

It was especially necessary for Peter to excel in archery because of his lack of mana. It would be his most effective tool against mages, so he kept practicing.

While he was doing that the [Light Bleeding] effect wore off and Peter recovered his [Health], so he twisted the arrow in his thigh and aggravated the wound all over again. It gave him the debuff and lowered his [Health] to 121/150.

It was fairly easy for him to concentrate through the pain of an arrow in the leg thanks to that trait of his, and the combination was paying off. Recovering [Health] must add more to the progress than recovering [Stamina], because after an hour [Enhanced Recovery] was up to 43.97%.

***

After a few more hours of training, Jogun called practice off due to that it was going to be dark soon. Peter asked if he could keep the composite bow, and a single arrow with him. The one that was in his leg. Jogun figured Peter would keep up the training in this crazy way he'd thought up, and almost didn't let him. Eventually he gave in due to the constant begging anyways.

Just as the two of them were about to head back to the temple, a man came running up to them and stopped to catch his breath.

-Huff-...-Huff- "S-Sir," -Gasp-... "We've caught it. We've caught the queen. It's being held in the hole we made for it as we speak sir."

Jogun grabbed the man by the shoulders and spoke in an excited voice, "Are you serious? The bait worked that well! Haha! I guess it couldn't handle the smell and came out just like we thought," He let go of the man and put his hand under his chin, "How does she like her new home?"

"She's taken to it nicely!... too nicely in fact. She's already started her... what was it called?... cycle?" He said through some remaining exhaustion.

Jogun's eyes went wide and looked at Peter, "Looks like we'll be moving up our schedule! You'll begin gaining your levels tomorrow afternoon if all goes according to plan!"

Peter gained a huge smile, "Wha.. really?! That's excellent news! I was about to ask about that again, but what on earth is this queen? I'm assuming it's a monster of some kind right? Don't you think it's a bit early for me to fight a 'queen' anything?" He ended his little rant a bit worried.

"Hahaha, no. You don't have to fight the queen. I have no intention of making you do that. It would take 5 of me to fight her on fair ground anyways. As for what 'she' is, you'll have to wait till tomorrow for that!"

"S-Sir." The man addressed Jogun.

"Yes? What's wrong? You look a little off," Jogun questioned.

"Sir, this man is injured. He should be taken to the apothecary soon shouldn't he?" He said franticly.

Peter looked at him, then down to the leg with the arrow still sticking out of it. He then got a mischievous smile on his face.

"By Adrestia! He's right Jogun!" Peter gestured down to his thigh, "Look at my blasted leg. This sure is beginning to itch!" Peter pulled out the arrow, and a little more blood streaked down his leg, "Silly me, I need to change sides more often or it could get infected." He immediately stabbed himself in the other leg.

The soldier's mouth dropped open in disbelief of what he just witnessed, "SIR.... I-I-Is this.. this fellow okay in the head?!"

Jogun, having seen that the soldier was being messed with to an extreme degree, shook his head slowly, "Sorry Len. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for him. Too far gone, you see," He put one hand on the concerned soldiers shoulder, then spoke in a slow, sad voice, "Go to the barracks and rest for the evening. I'll take him out behind the temple and put him down myself. Come on Peter, let's go. Time to meet your ancestors."

"Sir, yes sir!" Peter saluted and followed behind enthusiastically with one leg bleeding, and the other with an arrow sticking out to the side.

The soldier just watched in complete shock. He didn't move from that place until it was almost dark out.

***

Two men were walking down the street of the small township surrounding the temple of Adrestia. One was bleeding from both of his legs, but they were both laughing like nothing else mattered.

"My goodness, did you see his face?! We should do that on a grander scale. Picture it! I could do something that makes you angry in front of a bunch of people, then you proceed to stab me in the legs with daggers as my punishment. You'll see obedience in the Justicar ranks like there has never been before!" Peter said through fits of laughter.

Jogun wasn't much better off when it came to controlling himself right now, "Poor, poor Len. I fought alongside his father before he passed, and I trained him. Now what on earth did we just do to his mind!? Do you think he'll be able to look either of us in the eye ever again?"

"He'll eventually figure out it was a joke when he sees me alive in the future, but he'll likely still be a bit blown away with the way I walked it off," Peter hypothesized.

"Yeah, you're right. Oh, since you're clearly not alright in the head, should we stop by the alchemists for a cure before we get to the temple?"

Peter perked up, "Oh I do! I have an idea for something I want."

Jogun led Peter to a large store a corner near the Temple, and walked inside. A couple brass bells rang as the door opened.

"Come in! I'll be right with yo-"

The owner of the voice suddenly tripped, and running could be heard.

An old man came around the corner in a rush, "HEY! No bleeding in my store! I have a sensitive nose, and I'll never get the smell out of my floorboards," Said the frustrated old man.

He was a lanky looking man with glasses. His clothing was very high end, with nice dress pants, a purple shirt, and golden buttons on a nice black overcoat.

"My apologies," Jogun pulled Peter outside, ripped the arrow out and put it on a ledge near to them. He then gave the still injured Peter a red vial, which he drank.

A few seconds later the two walked back into the store to see the man had watched them with a very confused look the whole time.

"You two carry an omen of trouble about you. If I didn't know that you were General Jogun himself, I would say begone with both of you right now." The old man sighed, "But, seeing as you're here and you went through so much... trouble... to meet my request of not bleeding... what can I do for you?"

Peter immediately spoke up, "I need a potion."

"Fool! I already know that. You're in an alchemist’s shop for crying out loud!" The lanky old man growled.

Peter tensed up a bit and decided to add more parameters to his request, "Okay.. I'll be specific then. I need a potion that drains [Stamina] slowly, but for a very long period of time. The longer the better. Preferably at a rate of about 2 per minute."

The old man perked up at this, "Well. That is specific. What you're asking for is more of a poison though. I usually don't make poisons. Well, except for ones that are effective against monsters," The old man replied. He then walked behind his counter and pulled out a few supplies, "What is your name anyways?"

"Peter Valk Kastell, sir. By the way, do I know you? You seem familiar," He asked respectfully.

"Hmm. Stone Thunder Castle. A strong name indeed. Despite your need to sharpen up, I get the feeling you'll amount to something... eventually," The old man said while working away.

"Wait, Stone Thunder wha--"

"My name is Fredrick, by the way," Fredrick inserted himself back into the conversation, "The lead alchemist for the temple, and shop owner on the side. I've seen you around the temple before, though that's not much of an accomplishment now is it... Avatar."

Peter's memory was suddenly triggered, "That's where I met you! Kayel walked me to your room. We greeted each other but it was extremely brief. Forgive me for not remembering until now. I met a lot of elders that night."

"Elder?! Bah. I'm no elder! I'm only 98 years old," Fredrick chuckled

Peter's mouth hung open wide.

"Heh, the right tonics can keep you in this world far longer than you're fated to be. Just ask the soldiers who use my [Health] potions!"

Jogun snickered at the cheeky comment while Fredrick continued working. He mixed ingredients, and ground them using a pestle and mortar. Then transfered that to another set of equipment and added water. The old man said a chant and snapped his fingers. A flame came from his palm, but it wasn't gentle like a candle. It resembled a thumb-sized blow torch, almost like he could turn his hand upside down and the fire would continue blowing against gravity.

Fredrick used that magical fire to heat the beaker’s contents. The water inside began to boil, and eventually turned to a yellowy pink. The fire was kept on the contents for about 4 minutes, then he dumped the beaker into a strainer to get rid of the physical contents. The water flowed through a funnel below the strainer and into 3 vials.

"Young man." Fredrick said sternly, "Come here. What does your handy skill tell you about these vials?"

Peter froze and stared at him. "How does he know my skill can work on these?" He thought.

"I've hypothesized about the uses of [Identify] ever since the priests learned of it from Adrestia. It can tell you the system information on almost anything can't it? Even the information on me if you cared to know," Fredrick stared like he saw right through Peter's thoughts, "You know, normal people have to earn a separate skill for everything they wish to 'Identify'. I have 3 separate skills for it; [Analyze Soul], [Botanist's Eye], and [Appraise]. To my knowledge your [Identify] covers all of those and probably the other 9 known identification skills, does it not?"

Jogun went wide eyed, but didn't say a word. He just stared a hole into the side of Peter's head.

Peter narrowed his eyes toward Fredrick, "Tch, Don't be revealing all my skills to everyone you see alright? The less people know about me the safer I'll be, and the safer everyone near me will be." He replied sternly. His polite demeanor was dropped when Fredrick started prying into areas that could get him in danger.

"I would never endanger you, Avatar. To that end you have my word," Fredrick replied very softly.

Peter was surprised at the reply. He figured Fredrick might fight him on how rude he was, but it seemed the alchemist could be reasonable. They both knew that spreading information about the Avatar skills he had could end up giving away a trick up his sleeve to people who wanted to hurt him. Peter accepted that statement, and Identified the vials.

Weak Stamina Poison (Modified) Quality: ?

"Seems all I can get so far from Adept level 4 [Identify] is that it's a 'Weak Stamina Poison', and that it's been modified." Peter confessed.

"Good enough. The modification is meant to extend the duration. It should take about 3 per minute for an hour and a half, minus your natural regeneration of course," Fredrick explained.

"Perfect. I'll probably need a stronger version soon, so I'll be back," Peter said, "Sorry about getting defensive. I just can't take any risks."

Fredrick nodded, "I understand exactly why, but I appreciate the apology all the same," He cleared his throat, "Any potions you need from me in the future are free of charge. Drop by and ask, I'll make you anything you need."

"Thank you," Peter replied with a genuine smile, "I understand you're doing this for Adrestia's sake and not mine, but I appreciate it all the same," He mirrored back.

The old man smiled and waved them off, "Now out of my shop, you smell from all the training you've done. I can't have my clients throwing up when they step foot in here."

Jogun laughed and said, "You do actually smell pretty badly Peter. Have you bathed yet?"

Peter's face immediately went red, "H-Hey! Nobody showed me where I'm supposed to bathe.. and I have only one set of clothes! My size is a pain for the tailors in the temple," he stammered, slightly embarrassed.

"Hah! We did forget to tell you about the bath house didn't we. Come, the tailors likely have another set of casual clothes you can use for now, and we'll both go to the bath house."

***

The tailors did have another two sets of clothing ready for Peter. They were even better fit for him than the last set. Everything from the last set was also taken from him to be washed over night, then he was instructed as to where he was to bring his dirty laundry in the future. They also took the boots he wore because each of them were soaked in his blood from the previous leg wounds.

Just as they were leaving, the old master tailor Daalia told Peter to come back tomorrow before noon to get his new custom set of armour. Peter got excited and thanked her profusely. He couldn't wait to [Identify] it and see what bonuses he would get. He also remembered that he had a request for towels. Anything good at absorbing liquid was fine. Daalia thought it was an odd request, but complied and gave him a few.

Peter then went with Jogun to the men’s bath house, which was a large shallow Japanese style bath. The mentality of the bath house was the same as a regular men’s locker room: loud, and nonchalant nudity. Peter still felt slightly uncomfortable because everyone was staring at him for his height, but he shrugged it off and got through it. Eventually he and Jogun were done bathing and they parted ways.

Peter's final stop was his room. When he got there his supper was on the small table as usual. He identified the food and found it had traces of recovery potions in it again, but it was wasted on him because he had long recovered from any injuries or fatigue he attained during the day. There wasn't even a mark left on either of his thighs from the arrow.

That was when he put his plan into action.

He removed his clothing, and grabbed the arrow from earlier in the day. He stabbed himself in the leg again, and immediately wrapped his leg in the towels he borrowed from Daalia. He wrapped them loose enough so that it wouldn't stop the bleeding, but tight enough to catch any blood. He twisted the arrow until he was down to about 110/150 [Health], and dropping slowly due to the bleed that would go on for a while.

Peter then uncorked a vial of the weak [Stamina] poison, and drank it all down in one go. He now had the debuffs called [Medium Bleeding] and [Light Wither]. The latter debuff caused his [Stamina] to drop by 3 per minute for 2 hours. Peter's natural regeneration almost countered all of that effect, but in the end he would regenerate a total of 360 [Stamina] because of it.

After 4+ hours of training Peter went through today to raise [Enhanced Recovery], he was already at 86.12%. He was certain that only reason he was that close was because of the arrow idea.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Peter then turned off his silent mode to see his gains for the day.

|Silent Mode: Disabled| [Identify] has risen to Adept level 7! [Toughness] has risen to Novice level 9! [Fervor] has risen to Novice level 10! [Momentum] has risen to Novice level 5!

"Ahh, sparring practice was good this morning. My gains aren't as great as yesterday, but I didn't spend as much time tr--"

Another window surprised Peter.

[Student of a God] has risen to Expert level 1!

"... Wait what? What did I do?... Oh right! This skill levels up when I level up other skills. I guess I finally leveled up enough low tier skills to push this one over the top."

Peter quickly went to his status and looked closer at [Student of a God] to see what changed.

[Student of a God] Expert level 1 Type: Passive Reduces the requirements for learning a new skill by 65%, also assists the owner of this skill in leveling all owned skills 200% faster.

This skill levels up by leveling other owned skills. Cost: None Cooldown: -N/A-

Peter was a bit disappointed to see that no extra effects were gained, but a buff to an already very overpowered ability was a welcome sight. He also wasn't exactly sure, but it looked like the rate of progress gain for [Enhanced Recovery] increased by a bit. That was interesting information to have. If it was true, that means he also gained the Evolution three times faster than normal as well. Maybe it wouldn't be long until he got his second one.

"Ugh, hopefully the next one I get won't be such a hassle to work with," He thought as he looked down at his leg.

Peter filled his time waiting by thinking of ways to increase in strength. He was extremely excited to start leveling tomorrow so he can get to level 15. He really wanted to use that set of blackthorn bark armour. The stat bonuses unique to him would be incredible for him to take advantage of. The skill that gave him those bonuses was also only novice level 1.

Peter had a feeling that the longer he wore the armour, the more the skill would level. Since the skill used the violent world energy inside of armour to make stats, he figured exposing himself to world energy somehow would be the key. The only way he knew to do that would be to wear world energy armour.

After only an hour of arbitrary future planning and skill speculating, Peter finally got what he wanted.

Evolution [Enhanced Recovery] has risen to D+

"Yes!" Peter shouted in joy. He examined [Enhanced Recovery] to check the bonuses.

[Enhanced Recovery] Type: Evolution Increases the natural rate at which your [Health] and [Stamina] recover themselves by 5 per minute.

Recovering your stats naturally or with potions will raise your progress to increasing the Grade of this Evolution. Increasing the Grade of the evolution will enhance the benifits it gives. Grade: D+ Progress: 0.01%

Now his [Health] and [Stamina] were recovering way faster than he could wear them down. He was super happy with this result, and felt he could now try and get some sleep. He lost the bleeding debuff quickly, and figured he didn't want to sleep with an arrow in his leg anyway. He took it out, and physically watched as the wound stopped bleeding and covered over with a large scab. Within 8 minutes there was no more mark left.

"Incredible. At this rate I'll be able to use active skills that use [Stamina] way more often than anyone else could. [Turtle Stance] might actually be viable! HA."

Peter took another dose of the [Stamina] poison, and finally went to sleep.

***

A dark hooded figure was running through the town that night. At a pace that few regular humans could match, he went straight to the side of the crater that surrounded the town and climbed it. He passed through a barrier of what looked like a rippling pond. The rippling effect seemed to travel up into the air about 10 meters before stopping.

The large figure traveled until he got to the treeline, then waited. From under his hood, only glowing irises could be seen.

Suddenly the sounds of branches cracking, and leaves shuffling could be heard. They got louder and louder until a 3 meter tall ape like creature with dark red fur walked out of the treeline, and stood facing the man.

A broken dialect came in the form of a scratchy, laboured voice, "Why you not answered call, but still meet me? Human fool. Human idiot."

The figure pulled back his hood to reveal his slick black hair, and glowing white eyes, "A decision like that must be made carefully. What do you know of it creature?" He spat out.

The ape snorted angrily and pounded his fist into the ground, causing a low rumble that seemed to travel much farther than it should have. The trees behind it shook slightly.

The figure who had revealed himself to be Mathus took a step back, "Shit. He could probably rip me to shreds right now if he wanted to."

"You not satisfied!" The creature roared, "You disrespected in own temple. They not understand you. We can," The ape patted his chest with his knuckles, "Our kingdom strong. Our warriors... powerful-l-l-l-l," The creature held the 'L' sound in a low guttural growl, then turned around to face the Blood Jungle, "Join us. Become respected. Decision tomorrow or we rescind offer." It said without looking back.

Mathus's clenched fists shook at his sides. His brows furrowed and he clenched his teeth as the red ape began walking away.

"WAIT." Mathus said desperately.

The ape turned back with a large, toothy grin.

Mathus glared back, and waved his finger in front of his face. Bringing a window back that had been sitting off to the side for a while now. He tapped on it, and another window came up.

Warning: Accepting this offer will:

- Renounce all ties with the 'Order of the Justicar'

- Renounce all ties with Adrestia

- Remove your Class

Note: These changes will be seen as a betrayal, and can never be undone. Do you wish to accept?

Yes No

He held his finger over the yes, glaring straight at the great red ape. His finger dropped to the panel.

Congratulations! You have joined the 'Order of the Red Tide'

Your new deity, Shezmu, welcomes you into his fold.

- The [Judgement] Debuff has been removed

- You have been given a list of options for

a new class related to Shezmu.

Mathus dropped to the ground, "Rh--Ahhh!!" He shuddered and screamed in pain, holding his eyes. Slowly a white light leaked out from between his hands and his face. It dissipated to the air, and when it was over his eyes no longer glowed. He stood up, and walked into the Blood Jungle right behind the ape.

"Good decision. Human not fool after all," The ape spoke, then followed up with a twisted, animalistic laugh.

***