"I'll take care of him," Alberton declared with finality.

Trying to assertain his authority as the captain, he shot back his request with outrage, "What the hell! You can't just spout shit like that! He could be some criminal on the run and you expect me to just let him go?!" indignation visible within his dark-brown eyes.

Without sparing the raging man a glance, Alberton interrupted the captains words, "Garreth," only to remain completely silent afterwards.

The captain didn't know how to react to that, so he simply walked off, not without turning around, when he was already a distance away, to warn his friend in an annoyed voice, "If anything happens, it's your fault, old man!"

Having known each other for years, he was certain that Alberton would not allow any discussions once he went silent like that. It would've been a futile attempt, akin to arguing with a rock. The wizard might love to discuss every single detail, a trait that sometimes got on his nerves, but he would never change his mind when it was set.

Alex, not knowing what exactly caused the mans change in demeanor, nor understanding why his words held so much weight to tell off the supposed captain of this group, simply sat there, confused. That is until Alberton, suddenly and without warning, bends down, his bearded face only inches away from Alex's own, old blue eyes staring into confused but seemingly even older blue eyes, demonstrating a tiredness only given by old age or long-lasting depression.

Taking his sweet time to analize every detail on Alex's face, the man himself, having similarly needed some time to process his current situation, suddenly jerked back, only to hit his head on the tree that covertly appeared directly behind him. Or maybe it was there from the beginning. We'll never know.

Turning around and starting to move somewhere, Alberton told Alex to follow him, "You'll stay in my tent for now, but you'll have to sleep outside and I wouldn't put it past Garreth to place some guards near you, just to be safe."

Alex simply nodded at that, stood up and followed the old man, noticing that Alberton apparently didn't want to continue their conversation until they reached a more private location.

Once they arrived at their destination, they found themselves inside a large tent, larger even than the one seemingly belonging to the leader of this group. The wizard turned around and, staring at him with a burning gaze, inquired with a fascinated glint in his eyes, "Tell me about your world."

Alex was shocked! Well, not really. He already came to that conclusion when he re-iterated the conversation held with the two men, before his opponents sudden change in demeanor, on his way here.

Not wanting to insult the man further by denying the obvious and not really finding a good explanation for his statement either, he nonchalantly confirmed his suspicions after some deliberation, "There is not much worth mentioning. I have no idea about the differences posed by this world, to begin with. Apart from the System," he purposely did not mention the obvious differences he noticed by now, keeping some secrets to himself, just in case they could be useful later on.

Clearly intrigued, not expecting such an honest reply, Alberton understood what Alex was alluding to. He enthusiastically proposed an offer, one Alex had hoped for. "How about this: I'll answer your every question about this world, to the best of my capabilities, which should prove to be more than sufficient, while you, in return, will tell me everything regarding yours," adding after some contemplation, "and I'll also teach you everything I know about the System, should you so desire."

Amazed by the mans talent to praise himself at every turn, Alex, not considering the attractive offer for long, prompted Alberton to hold true to his side of the deal with a question. The most obvious one, considering Alex's obsession with magic: "Can I learn magic without buying the related Skills and can I use it without actively interacting with the System somehow?"

"So you can indeed not access the System, other than to read it's information?" he questioned, sounding intrigued by the possible reasons, but not forgetting to fulfill his promised, "You should be able to use magic without having to directly interact with the System, since the ability itself comes from a passive Skill, which you are clearly able to use, given the fact that you can only understand me thanks to the Language Skill. The sole question is whether you have the necessary predisposition to aquire the related Skills in the first place. Not everyone is fit to become a mage. That will solely depend on your dedication and knowledge about the fundamental rules pertaining magic, meaning you will have to learn a lot before even hoping to get a slight breeze, not to mention a small flame. First of all, you should start with fo..."

"Sir Grendor! We will be ready to depart in a few hours. Captain Stapler is requesting your presence," came a shout from outside, belonging to a young man, barely an adult, interrupting his explanation. "I have to go now. We're preparing our return to Mezi, so your questions will have to wait for later. We'll have enough time once we're back home and mastery over magic won't be achieved within a few days anyway. For now, just wait here for my return and don't touch anything!" he warned, slowly moving out of the tent.

The first thing Alex did, what anyone would've done in his situation, after being left to his own devices, was to inspect anything he considered interesting. That is to say, not much.

One would expect the tent of a wizard to be filled with manyfold mystical apparati, magical scrolls, or at least some books pertaining the matter, but all he was presented with were some spare robes, stickingly similar to the one Alberton wore, as if mass-produced, lying on a rather simple bed, a locked box with unknown contents, possibly of magical nature, and a table with a matching chair holding a plate with some left-over soup within. Alex wondered why the soup was place on a chair, but thought better than to ask a question he likely wouldn't want to hear the answer for.

After two painfully long hours, spent with boredom, staring at the locked box to force it to reveal its hidden secrets, and random, sometimes disturbing thoughts about soups and chairs, he gave up and groaned. "This is so boooring," Alex complained, not being used to the lack of entertainment his current situation confronted him with and having forgotten that the alternative likely involved running away from tree-sized monsters.

Not being able to find any meaning in life anymore and wanting to distract himself from the horrors of chair-soup he decided to take another look through his System granted knowledge, hoping for a message with an excuse about some malfunction, a promise that it was fixed, and compensation for his troubles in the form of a couple hundred Stat- and Skill points. An unlikely event, but a man can dream, dammit!

Sifting through the information provided by the System while still feeling uncomfortable about the foreign information being planted in his mind, he noticed some welcome changes.

You gained [ Skill : [Common] Memory ] Skill : [Common] Memory Lv.1 Requirements : Memorize something Slightly increases the speed of your memory.

Slightly increases the clarity of your memory.

Slightly increases the capacity of your memory. You gained [ Skill : [Common] Thought ] Skill : [Common] Thought Lv.1 Requirements : Think something Slightly increases the speed of your thoughts.

Slightly increases the clarity of your thoughts.

Slightly increases the capacity of your thoughts. You gained [ Skill : [Common] Physical Resistance ] Skill : [Common] Physical Resistance Lv.1 Requirements : Receive physical damage Slightly increases your resistance to physical impacts. You gained [ Skill : [Common] Identify ] Skill : [Common] Identify Lv.1 Requirements : Identify something Allows you to instinctively know certain aspects of the entity you are focusing on. Alexander Weiss Level 10 Experience 204/1024 Classes None Stats Strength 12 Endurance 16 Vitality 12 Dexterity 7 Intelligence 29 Wisdom 18 Free Statpoints 10 Free Skillpoints 10 Skills Active Passive None Language Lv.2 Memory Lv.3 Thought Lv.2 Physical Resistance Lv.1 Identify Lv.1 Titles [Unique] Alexander Weiss [Rare] Statless 1 [Rare] Skillless 1

'At least it seems like I can get new Skills, so that's something, alright. Now I just need Alberton to finally explain to me how to get the Skills necessary for magic,' he thought, frustrated that the man didn't clarify what he had to "focus" on, for that was what Alex supposed the incomplete word was meant to be, and hoping for him to finally show up again.

Checking out his new Skills, paying closer attention, he quickly came to the conclusion that they were very basic. It was even likely that every single kid had higher levels in those Skills than him. 'That's just embarrassing,' he thought, his pride at the thoughts about his future magical capabilities slowly being replaced by dissatisfaction about his current, insufficiency regarding basically any aspect related to the System.

Further analyzing his new Status, hoping for some interesting changes, he noticed a slight increase in his Endurance. It went up by one, although it was rather questionable whether it increased by a full point, or the Stat simply was on the verge of rising since his first encounter with the Status.

'I'll have to ask Alberton about it, once he comes back...' Alex sas gradually regressing back into his previous boredom, when he heard someone enter the tent. He turned around, only to have his lighter handed back to him, not even having noticed it's disappearance. Taking a look at it, he felt grateful again at the fact that he didn't bother, for the past few years since his retreat from the public, to change into his pyjamans when he went to sleep. Even if the lighter didn't prove to be as useful as it could've been, his shoes sure did a great job.

"So, about Skills and Stats..." Alex began, only for the impatient old man to hastily interject, "You can gain Skills and Stats by performing actions related to them, they have no maximum Level, at least none known to mankind, unless they specify one, and they require considerable effort to reach a high enough level for even the slightest enhancements to be noticable. Furthermore, you can evolve individual or multiple Skills into more potent forms but only under very specific circumstances, which vary greatly and are usually kept secret. Did I answer your questions with that?"

Being slightly annoyed at the mans rudeness, but not being able to think of any other question he would've liked an immediate answer for, Alex accepted his explanation as sufficient, "For now," waiting with his questions about magic for when the old wizard was more willing to help out, lest he left out some important detail in his haste, causing Alex to blow up or something like that.

"Good, then help me pack up the tent. We will travel back to Mezi in half an hour and we better be ready by then. The guards may not leave up behind, but there is no reason to antagonize the people protecting you, especially in this situation," he ordered, not waiting for Alex's reply while throwing the left-over soup out of the tent.

While packing up he asked the scholar about Mezi, not getting much more information than, "It's the closest city in the vicinity." Clearly noticing his bad mood, he tried to keep his questions to himself for now, only to get an answer to one he never asked in the first place, "I organized this expedition to collect some rare materials from the abyss, but alas, not even four days later and we have to pack up again... Apparently most of the scouts went missing, and are likely dead, considering the creatures lurking in this forest are mostly carnivorous. Whatever caused this was deemed too dangerous for us to stay in its proximity, so we have no choice to go back for now..."

'Fu... glad I'm not out there anymore... whatever that is, I doubt I can do much against it if not even those scouts had a chance...' Alex shuddered at the thought.

"It is what it is, but that doesn't mean there was no profit from this horrible situation. Without the creature we would've never halted here in the first place. But now, instead of some comparatively useless rocks, I got my hands on a much more valuable resource," he stared firmly at the man in question, his blazing fascination almost palpable, causing shivers to run down Alex's spine.

"I'm not a resource!" he roared in indignation at being treated like some material for study. Apparently not loud enough, for the old scholar seemed to not have heard a word he said, still showing a satisfied expression plastered all over his face, likely fantasizing about the possible secrets his new research-subject held.