The blazing sun, the warm spring wind, these things were great joys for Scott. The simple tasks that he performed were not dangerous and provided plenty of opportunities to enjoy the weather. Over Two weeks prior he had journeyed with Scarlet to the small village of Ervice. Upon arrival they had immediately set about the plan that they had concocted. Important quests would be done for the locals so that he could build trust with them and gain experience.

He pulled another weed from the ground then released a soft, happy, sigh. “This is great! The world is a wonderful place, you know.”

“You think pulling weeds is great, master?” Scarlet did not even bother to look at him. She was too busy pulling weeds of her own.

Scott laughed at her misery then pulled another weed. A sound, a loud Ding!, echoed through the air. A new screen popped up and once again it was a very welcome sight.

Hard work and dedication have granted you improved stamina!

Vitality +1

“Yes! This is great.” Who knew life could be so grand? Since they had moved to Ervice, Scott had gained only a little experience. However, his attributes had increased a little through training. This was even better than training in his opinion.

“What’s great?”

“I just gained a point in Vitality for pulling up weeds.”

Scarlet frowned at him then puffed out her cheeks. “How come I don’t get any stat points for this? I’m working too!”

Scott laughed at the adorable display. “Well, it’s your own fault for not being a pathetic weakling.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and he smirked at her. “You shouldn’t stick it out unless you intend to use it.”

A cheeky grin worked its way onto her face. “Oh I plan to use it... later.”

“Don’t threaten me, woman.”

She stuck her tongue out at him again then tilted her head from side to side in a childish display. Scott tossed a dirt clod toward her and she gasped at him in faux-shock. “How rude!”

They began a war of dirt clods after that. Neither of them threw the dirt directly toward their target, but they did haphazardly toss them into the air so that they would land near their opponent. The playful atmosphere nearly brought tears to Scott’s eyes after a while. He could not help but find the situation to be much better than what he’d had to deal with two weeks ago.

His flight through the Roxi Woodlands had made him feel blind. Now that he had the ability to use his stat screen again, and the power of the salvaged spell bracer, he could at least see his statistics and quick travel. Those factors had worked wonders for his self-esteem and general outlook.

“You do realize that hunting monsters would let you gain a level, right? That’s ten points that you could have right there.” Scarlet pouted at her master. She had suggested that he do quests like this. Unfortunately, she had not realized that he would be so dedicated when he took her advice!

Scott looked over at the dragon. “Sorry, I keep forgetting that you don’t really grow stronger from this level of work.”

Scarlet pulled another weed free of the ground. “Training stats directly is the only way monsters can grow stronger on their own unless a human is involved. We only gain experience when fighting alongside a human master or dominating humans that we capture. I’m no stranger to hard work, but this doesn’t really count as hard for me.”

Something about her statement seemed a little off, but he let it go. A lot of things about this world seemed to be off or inconsistent from one day to the next. It was quite disconcerting. “We should try to raise some of your attributes, too. What would you suggest?”

She patted the earth gently. Replacing the dirt that had been disturbed by removing the weed was part of the job. “I need to do much more difficult work than this to increase my stats. Sadly, anything that I would suggest is beyond you at the moment.”

“Alright, then we’ll try to keep building my stats instead. Once we’ve done enough to allow me to fight weak monsters, we can see what happens.”

“I really don’t mind helping you get stronger, master. I just don’t like pulling weeds.”

He laughed a little then smiled. “That’s fine. We won’t take any more jobs like this then, OK?”

“I wouldn’t presume to ask you to do that.”

“I don’t really like weeding gardens either. I’m just doing it for the experience points. We can do something else and make the same thing happen.”

Scarlet readily agreed. At least he wanted to train. He had not been ready to face creatures well above him in strength, such as the monsters in the Roxi Woodlands.

The day wore on and finally the job was completed. Nine hours of weeding and tending to the fields had produced a spotless area. The farmer was greatly pleased.

“Wow, fifty experience points and two hundred copper just for weeding a field.”

The dragon yawned delicately then smiled at her master. “After taking my cut, you’re only a few more jobs away from gaining your first new level.”

“I wonder what it’s like? I gained a few levels during the tutorial, but everything seems so different now that I’m in the real world.” Scott was excited to see exactly what he could discover about this world. He had always dreamed of living in a place that worked like this, and now he could truly delve into its wonders.

“It feels great. All of your pain and cares flow away. It can be really addictive.”

The man from Earth turned to his pet and grinned. “There is an amazing world out there, isn’t there?”

She could not help but laugh at his child-like excitement. “How old are you again, master?”

“I don’t care if I seem immature right now. I’m living in a world where people fight monsters, gain levels, and can do amazing things. If you’d lived where I grew up you would understand.”

“Was it really so bad?”

“Bad? No, I wouldn’t call it bad. It just… it’s hard to explain really. There’s no sense of adventure I guess?”

Scott noticed a weed that they had missed earlier. “Heh, it thought it would get away.”

“What?” asked Scarlet.

“That weed, it thought that it would escape its destiny.”

“Seriously? You’re going to go pull it? We already completed the quest.”

“A job’s a job. If I just dismissed that weed I’d feel like I committed fraud by being paid.”

Scott walked over to the field and quickly snatched the offending vegetation out of the dirt. He patted the ground back into place and turned toward Scarlet, but he lost his current train of thought when a familiar sound caught his attention.

Ding! A new message screen popped up. “What? That’s crazy!”

Your diligence has allowed you to develop a greater understanding of responsibility.

EXP + 15

You have awakened a new power:

Diligence (passive)

Diligence allows you to complete routine tasks without becoming mentally fatigued.

“You’re kidding?”

Scarlet was confused. “What are you talking about master?”

“I just gained fifteen experience points and a new power for pulling out that weed!”

Her eyes widened comically then she laughed. “I gained two points from that! Quick, go pull some more weeds for me!”

“No way!” He laughed at her then tossed the weed aside. Strangely, the white glow did not die down.

“Hey what’s going on with this light?”

“You must be close to leveling.”

“Really? Let me check.”

Scott tapped his bracer and checked his status screen. “I’m at 79.87%.”

“Yeah, you’re definitely about to level! You’ll probably get there after two or three more quick jobs. We should do a really short quest instead of building your attributes.”

“Sounds good. Though, I really do want to raise my stats before I level too much. It’s always nice to be stronger than I look.”

Scarlet walked side by side with her master for a while. She hated comparing him to other people, but she could not help it. He was so different from the other humans she had briefly met. Scott seemed content to take things slowly and develop himself before facing challenges. He called his training style grinding, a term that both confused and excited her at the same time.

Humans interested in training typically gathered a lot of people together and tried to kill anything that moved. Sometimes their people died in the process, but it was effective. She had not seen many humans who would train hard to become as strong as possible individually. They were swarm creatures as far as she was concerned.

“Hey, Scarlet?”

“Hmm?”

“How high do levels go?”

She thought about it for a moment then shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never heard anything about who has the highest level in the world. I don’t think there is a set limit.”

“Levels aren’t really that accurate when it comes to determining your opponent’s strength, anyway. I’m a dragon. My innate capacity is much higher than most common monsters. Level twenty-two for me is equivalent to a much higher level for other monsters.”

“How much higher?”

She looked at Scott then grinned. “You’ve seen my stats.”

“Yeah, no kidding! Your mana points are insane compared to mine!”

“Some dragons have much stronger ability. Most of mine is naturally inclined toward defense.”

“Are you really as tough as your augmented defense stat claims?”

“Do you doubt my strength?”

“No, I just wonder if it’s possible for anyone to have a full-body durability rating as high as steel. I mean, even your eyes would be that durable!”

“I know that it seems really high, and for a level twenty-two monster it is. Still, there are humans with a much higher durability than I have currently.”

“Really? How do you train that?”

“You get the snot beat out of you and take damage from strong attacks.”

“That sounds painful.”

“It sounds painful because it is! As a dragon I will always have my durability increase by several points each level. It’s one of my primary attributes. I gain it faster through normal training and combat than anything else.”

“Wow! You know, I just did the math. If I spent every single point that I gain each level on durability… I’d have to be level fourteen or fifteen to match you, but in my late forties to equal your durability modifier. You’re a lot stronger than I will be at twenty-two.”

“Yes, such is the power of being a dragon. Keep doing the math and you’ll see how strong I am compared to a human.”

Scott did just that. He tallied up her total points in all attributes, removed the ten points that would have been hers anyway for being a normal human then his mouth gaped open stupidly. “At twenty-two you’re similar to level three hundred forty nine for a human!”

“Sounds about right. Now do you understand why a dragon would require an army of similarly leveled humans to defeat her?”

“No kidding! Even if you never trained anything or gained a single point through living normally, you’d have been as powerful as someone around level one hundred eighty, due to your modifiers, right?”

“Exactly, I killed a lot of humans to reach my level. It was extremely slow going.”

“Yeah, I’m not as thrilled to hear that.”

She shrugged. “That’s life. Are humans who kill other humans any better than a monster?”

“No, I guess not.”

“Exactly. Humans try to kill or claim us. We kill or claim them instead if we can. Whoever wins gets to become stronger. The loser just dies horribly or becomes property.”

Scarlet was so matter-of-fact about that nugget of truth that Scott began to lose his excitement for this world once more. It was true. He would have to blatantly kill a lot of things to become truly strong. It helped his sensibilities a bit when he remembered that monsters respawned, however.

“Hey, tell me something?”

“Yes, master?”

Scott stopped and looked at her. She turned to look at him as well.

“How do humans actually capture and bond monsters. Hell, how are there even any left alive? Your special enhancements make you like sixteen times higher in capacity than your level compared to me!”

“Not all monsters, even queens, are enhanced to the level that I am. Dragons are S class monsters. Other monsters have their own enhancements. Queens are all stronger than normal humans on a per-level basis, though.”

“No kidding! Even at level one, if my math is right... you’d have been like a level seventy-three human.”

She shrugged then tossed her head from side to side. She was obviously superior, why did he keep bringing it up?

Scott thought back to the men who had easily been captured or killed during his flight through the woods. He shook his head then asked, “Then how are humans alive and able to build towns?”

She shook her head. “Monsters are territorial. Humans tend to build in areas where weak monsters are located. Plus, they are masters of technology. They create specialized weapons and training programs. This in turn allows them to develop professions that give them abilities that work together against the monsters.”

Scott rubbed his chin, she had said quite a mouth full there. He chose to ask a different question. “Why did you accept me, Scarlet? With your level of power you’d have easily crushed me.”

The dragon smiled at him then gently clasped his hand. “Ah, you want to know why I allowed a pathetic and lowly human to lay claim to my majestic womb?”

“Sure.”

She kissed him on the nose then said, “You seemed nice. You didn’t attack me. You didn’t threaten me. Instead, you apologized and invited me to a picnic. I had never met a human who could face down a dragon and offer her a sandwich.”

“So, basically... I offered you free food and it made you horny?”

Scarlet looked at him with a flat expression. However, her cheeks reddened suddenly and she looked away. Yep, he’d hooked her with a sandwich.

Scott remembered their first meeting and his face reddened slightly as well. He nervously ran his free hand down the back of his head, smoothing his hair in the process. “Well, I didn’t see a horrible monster. I saw a pretty girl that I didn’t want to fight.”

She snorted at him. “That will get you killed.”

“I know. I saw that sort of thing in the woods.”

“Good, at least you learned something.”

Scott squeezed her hand gently and she smiled once more. He was a rather nice human. It was really too bad that he was such a pathetically weak creature.

She noticed that he seemed down about something, so she offered him some advice. “Don’t take the numbers to heart so much. Humans do alright.”

“Really?” He turned his head to look into her eyes and she nodded in response.

Scarlet took his other hand and they shared a moment before she explained what she had said. “You see my stats and think that I have power equivalent to a level three hundred human, right?”

“Yeah, something like that.” That was how he read the screen.

“Humans make up for their naturally frail forms with their equipment and technology. For instance, a simple copper bracelet or ring, when properly crafted, can grant a full-body defense similar to being made of copper.”

His eyes widened. “I see, and compared to a human who is buck naked, the guy wearing the bracelet would appear to be much stronger.”

“Exactly! My defensive rating is equivalent to steel. It multiplies my durability by ten. Copper is rated at three, and multiplies durability by three.”

Scott did the math then nodded. “So, if two guys had durability of one hundred, and one wore a copper bracelet, he would have the equivalent of three hundred durability points? He’d be similar to someone twenty levels higher than the other guy, at ten points per level?”

“That’s right. A naked human of the same level would usually have no chance of surviving a fight with me. However, if they had powerful equipment, the skill to use it; and equally well-outfitted allies, the fight might end differently.”

“So, that’s how humans survive. They create incredibly strong equipment to make up for their weaknesses then join together in groups to fight monsters?”

Scarlet leaned forward and kissed him on the nose. “Yep!”

Scott smiled. “Then let’s get up a lot of money and buy some equipment.”

“Not a bad idea, but good equipment is expensive.” She stopped then eyed him critically. “Anything is better than what you are working with, though.”

He lowered his head for a moment then sighed. She had reminded him of how pathetic he still was. At the rate he was going it should be months before they could even try hunting weak monsters. They would give it a try, soon, however. He really wanted to see how his training had paid off.

Silence fell upon them then, and for the remainder of the short trip back to town, neither of them spoke. There was a lot left unsaid, but they still needed to think about what had already been learned.