The weeks passed quickly, each day the same. Noah would wake up, have some food then go to patrolling the No man’s land. He would spend the day killing any creatures that came close. By this time, he was fully proficient in killing Quilaxons, and getting to that point with the Caticans, those strange Spider-tigers.

The monotony was only broken by the daily night-time meeting. Every night Noah sat at the campfire and listened. He soaked up as much information that the locals had about the area, the big forces in the universe, and the system in general.

One evening stood out in particular though. Noah asked a question that had been on his mind for ages.

“Hopefully you guys know about this, but I found some ruins on my way here. Do you know anything about them?”

A hush descended on the group and Dakon explained “The past of those ruins has been handed down from elder to elder. We do not share the specifics to the village, as if too many people know, then as history has suggested, a strike force will come and wipe out any that exist.”

“There used to be 4 other villages in this general location, but one by one they disappeared, the survivors coming here and whispering about forbidden knowledge. If you have further questions, please would you talk to me. I must protect this village.”

“Of course, I would never want harm to come this village because of me. Noah exclaimed quietly.

All of a sudden, a loud blaring noise ripped through the village.

“That’s the sentry warning signal, something must be braving the defences.” Dakon shouted

All the warriors enjoying a nice meal at the campfire abandoned their food and rushed to walls. Looking beyond them, Noah relaxed slightly.

“Its ok, its only a Snaitta Horde. I met some on the way here, they must have followed me. They are fairly easy to kill.”

With that Noah jumped down from the walls and charged deep into the lines of Snaitta, swinging the Glavenius as he did so.

The shining blade ripped through multiple Snaitta as he swung, the corpses flung to the side as they were replaced by more Snaitta. The mana blade tore through groups of Snaitta further away. Even all this barely made a dent in the size of the horde facing Noah. As he fought his [Dance of blades] skill activated and he stormed through the horde, ripping and tearing at the never-ending tide of bodies.

Eventually he began to tire, one man against a limitless horde of angry dog-insects proving to be too much. As he slowed down, the Snaitta began to be able to hit him. The blunt claws smacked into Noah as he tried to keep up [Dance of Blades]. Still bodies fell as he moved like a weakening storm through them.

The Snaitta bit and tore at him as he moved slower and slower through them. Each bite fuelling his rage. Rage that he couldn’t protect himself. Rage that he couldn’t protect the village. Rage that he wouldn’t find his family. Rage that this system brought him here.

Skill Gained

Scourge [Level 1]

You have harnessed your rage into an Aura skill. It burns and weakens anything around you. Has Health Drain.

[Scourge] activated and instantly Noah started to feel better as it tore through the Snaitta surrounding him. The health drain quickly filling him up to full. He dived into the closest pack of Snaitta bring his Glavenius to bear while keep [Scourge] on full. In a record time he shredded through the remaining insects.

Walking slowly back to the gates of the village, he was mentally exhausted, and it took him a minute to hear the cheers coming from the walls. When he did a big smile broke across his face, and his lifted the Glavenius in a salute.

Trudging through the gate he was instantly swarmed by villagers, most of them recoiling instantly with minor burns. Seeing that Noah remembered the new skill he gained and turned off [Scourge] so he could walk through the village without burning everything.

“Hey Dakon, sorry for jumping out there, I fought them before so I thought I could take them. There were so many more this time though. Noah paused, with a haunted look on his face. “If I hadn’t got my new skill I wouldn’t have survived.” He explained to an awestruck Dakon.

“You have nothing to apologise for my friend. You saved this village. Undoubtably without you, we would not have survived. Not I, nor my predecessors would have been able to defend us from horde that big.”

“Don’t worry about the bodies attracting more Dakon, give me half an hour, this new skill seems good at incinerating things, I should be able to turn the corpses to ash.”

Noah sat there for roughly half an hour, mana and stamina regenerating. He quickly ran outside, cranked [Scourge] up to full and ran through the Snaitta bodies. [Scourge] was amazingly efficient and quickly turned the bodies to ash. After about an hour all the bodies were gone, and Noah walked back to Dakon.

“There you go, shouldn’t have any problem with the corpses now.”

“Thank you, my friend, Here, Mathias will take you back to your tent, you seem exhausted, don’t worry you will not be awoken unless it’s a matter of life and death.”

With that Mathias took Noah’s Arm and lead him through the village to his tent. As soon as Noah’s feet felt the soft furs of his bed, he flopped forwards and feel into a dreamless sleep.

A few hours later a loud noise crashed through Noah’s system, his body flooding with adrenaline. Stumbling out of his tent, his heart hammering, Noah called out to the nearest villager. A loud rumbling continuing through the air.

“Hey, you, sorry yeah you, what’s going on?”

“Oh of course you are new here, you’ll have never heard this before. The empire is here, its trade day!” the excitable villager told him.

Quickly Noah found Dakon and stood next to him waiting for the rumbling to subside, unfortunately for Noah it only got louder, rumbling through his bones, as if he was on a club floor.

A shape descended out of the heavens, splitting through the clouds, aiming for a vast clearing that the village kept. A giant ship made of some unknown metal tore through the air and extended legs to touch down more softly than it would appear it could. The legs barely digging into the soil.

A ramp fell through the air and merchants came swarming out of the belly of this ship. They set up their stalls with efficiency showing their their years of practice.

As soon as Noah had recovered his jaw from the floor after seeing the ship come floating through the clouds, he started walking away. He was intent on finding his pack, so he could talk to some of the merchants to see if he could get anything identified.

As he returned to the square, Dakon came up to him.

“I know you have refused payment for how much you have done for us, but this is the least I could do for you.”

“What are you on about Dakon?” Noah asked, perplexed.

“I have Chartered you a place on this ship. It will take you to the capital. From there you should be able to find some better work and improve yourself more.”

“I can’t let you do that Dakon, I should earn my own way!”

“Don’t you see? You have. With what you have killed over the past few weeks, not only are we getting a few amazing things from this ship, but we will be able to relax for a while. Nothing living will be near us.

“Well looking at that way, who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth. Goodbye Dakon, you and your village have been amazingly kind to me. Please pass on my thanks.”

“I will.”

With that, Noah walked towards the guarded ramp of the ship. The guards recognising him after Dakon pointed him out, let him board. Standing at the top of the ramp, Noah took one last look back at the village with the oppressing jungle highlighted by the sun behind it. He sighed and walked into the belly of the ship.