As Alex was walking towards the incapacitated guard an annoying ring resounded in his head, making him drop his smile > Level-up x3

Almost nearing the guard Alex saw him crawl back in an awkward motion, "STAY BACK, STAY BACK YOU MONSTER!" the guard shouted. Alex was not a kind man though, so with a simple flick of his wrist, he hoisted the guard up by holding onto his neck. Alex said to the guard "You better answer my questions or you'll have a horrible death.". Alex continued "Where am I?", the guard, swallowing his saliva answered in a shaky voice "A frontier village called Paracer for its imports. Its farthest from the main city of Galdraxia.". Alex responded with a glare in his eye as he asked again "Wrong answer. What world am I on.", the guard visibly scared replied again "You're on the planet of Halfbloom, I've heard from legends that it is similar in nature to the 'travellers' world of 'Earth'". Alex frowned, this information came as a shock. Not only was this actually a different planet, people knew about Earth, clearly these 'travellers' had made an impact on this world.

Finishing up his questions Alex had no use for the guard anymore, so he licked his lips and expanded his jaw to swallow the guard whole in one gulp. The guard had a horrified look on his face as he went limp, clearly too scared to handle reality. Sadly Alex's meal was interrupted by another dinging sound > Low-grade skill gained

...

Alex was sitting on a chair he found in the room, he was currently looking at the [ SKILLS ] screen to see what he got, after all when he was enjoying his meal he heard 2 more dinging noises.

.....

{ PASSIVE SKILLS | 12 SP | }

> Short-Sword mastery | lvl-1 |

Through determination and practice, you have achieved a higher understanding of the blade. This is the first step to becoming a master.

-You become more skillful with the blade, increases the fluidity of attacks

-A 10% increase to damage with one-handed blades

-A 2% increase to attack speed with one-handed blades

>Shield mastery | lvl-1 |

Through thick, and thin your shield has been a most helpful compatriot. Nothing is stronger than your own hands, and what more to compliment them than a sturdy buckler.

- You become more skillful with the shield, increases defense

-A 2% decrease in damage taken with a shield in hand

-A 2% increase to health when holding a shield

{ ACTIVE SKILLS | 12-SP | }

> Charge | lvl-1 | 50-MP | 10s-duration |

Nothing can beat speed, after all, how can you beat something you can't attack? Better yet when you use that speed to attack.

-Gain a 10% increase for speed when running

-Take 2% less damage when charging

.....

Alex was very curious as to how these skills came to be. Could he gain them by doing hard work? From the skill descriptions this seemed likely but all the skills he had gotten up until now have been gained through nothing. That made him wonder how the guards even got these skills in the first place. Curious indeed, but that wasn't the least of his questions.

.....

[ ATTRIBUTES ]

Alex Naverm | lvl-5 | 40-AP |

> Strength 15 [+] ( Influences physical strength, constitution, and defense )

> Dexterity 15 [+] ( Influences flexibility, muscle control, and overall movement )

> Intelligence 20 [+] ( Influences mana pool, mana regeneration, and overall brain capabilities )

> Perception 25 [+] ( Influences your ability to perceive, otherwordly or not )

> Talent 50 [NA] ( influences your overall growth, and the ability to learn and improve skills )

.....

This seemed pretty straightforward, although he was puzzled as to why he couldn't put points into talent, he figured it must be a skill you can't improve at all. Alex wanted to put some points into some attributes but he didn't feel lacking in any regard. He figured he would save onto them until he needed them, he also decided to hold onto his skill points because nothing needed to be improved. His weapon of choice was a butcher's knife and he never used a shield, plus he was fast enough to not need 'charge'.

Suddenly Alex was shaken by a loud boom. It sounded as if something was blown up. Confused as to what was going on Alex remembered that bitch from earlier saying something about needing help. Was this what she was talking about?

Finding the door outside Alex charged directly towards it. When he slammed open the door he was greeted by a most lovely sight, the sight of war. Houses could be seen set ablaze, people were running like chickens in a coop on the street, ashes were falling, and the scent of blood was thick in the air. Alex spotted some soldiers running up and down the street slaughtering innocents, he noticed they wore a different insignia than the ones he finished off. Alex smiled and figured he'd join in on the fun.

---

different perspective

Somewhere deep in the heart of Galdraxia sat a noble staring out the window of his manor, he thought today the clouds were darker than usual. Suddenly he heard a knocking coming from behind him, it was followed by a voice "Strategist Zach, we have reports the Ventraxians have breached our outer border, it seems they are heading towards fort Carnsworth."

Galdraxia and the Ventraxians have been at each other's throats for a long time. They were once together under a similar banner until conflicts arose and parties split. They were prosperous but each party wanted the others' goods, both kingdoms were shunned by the rest but the conflicts were too much. There was a time they made peace, but that time has gone. And now the Ventraxians meant business, their land was being taken by other kingdoms they couldn't oppose. So their only alternative was to take from theirs. It was only recently the Ventraxians started this war but the end seemed nigh, where Galdraxia was weak, the Ventraxians were stronger. And now all throughout the Ventraxians waged war, their strategy was smart. They split up their army into smaller sections to attack multiple fronts. This both wore down Galdraxia and made them waste resources, you see they never knew where they were going to be attacked from.

Strategist Zach was in charge of the battlements and unit dispersion, but quite frankly they were stretched too thin to do any real damage. Zach had almost given up hope, but recently they actually managed to find out where they were going to be attacked from so their moment of retaliation was about to come. Zach had a genius plan of his own, to lure a part of the Ventraxians army into his trap. On the border where the Ventraxians were attacking lay a village, he figured by sacrificing them he could lure their army into a false sense of superiority and safety, thus allowing for a counterattack near fort Carnsworth. He purposely didn't send any units towards that village to make this plan work, and it seemed like it did.

Zach stood up with power and a glint of calculation in his eye as he said "Let's head out immediately then.". Zach turned around and let his cape billow in the process as he started heading towards the garrison to inform his men. The maid that came to inform him spoke to herself when he got far enough away for him to not hear anything "soooo cool!". She was blushing profusely, clearly this Zach character was truly irresistible to women.

---

Back towards Alex now

Alex was sitting on top of a female in the wreckage of a house, he made her his chair because he liked the way she looked. Around Alex was the body of what looked to be a child and a fully grown man, the grown man had his skin removed and hands cut off while the child had her scalp and nails removed. The child seemed to be breathing weakly but the man wasn't moving at all, suddenly some whimpers came from beneath him, Alex spoke up while brandishing his knife "You aren't doing a very good job of being a chair.". Alex spoke with ice in his voice as he glanced near the child "I would do better for your child, and husband, OH WAIT. HAHAHHAHAHAHAH! He's dead, silly me.". Alex casually tossed his cleaver near the child's head, it almost landed on her neck.

This pretty little damsel caught his eyes as Alex finished slaughtering the village, no one was left beside them and he wanted to sort his thoughts. What does a man do when he wants to think? He gets a drink and sits down, except in this case Alex's drink was the blood of her family, how scenic. Alex was sorting out his gains, he leveled up 9 more times, oddly enough he didn't get any more skills, he figured everyone here was low quality. Alex noticed leveling up got progressively harder, after the first 70 kills it took him a long time to level up. Alex wanted to level up more but there just weren't enough people in this village, even with the soldiers there were only about 320 people. Alex kept on thinking of how dangerous this was, Alex never would've gotten away with 320 kills in one day on Earth, but here he didn't care. He genuinely didn't know the technological level of this planet so he might be found easily, but he didn't even care for that. His appetite was too big to satiate, he was too hungry to care, and now it was making him sloppy.

Alex figured he'd learn more about his environment, he didn't like what this hunger was doing with him. He was usually calm and collected, but honestly, he liked this way of doing things just a little more. But he knew doing what he was doing would get him killed easily. He wasn't arrogant enough to think he was the strongest on this planet, especially with the introduction of skills. Alex actually really cared for his life, after all, how could he slaughter when he was dead? Alex reached up to rub his brow as he pushed his hair out of the way, he said with a tired tone "Tell me, which way to Galdraxia?", "Just follow the path near the village entrance sir. It's about a 2 days walk from here and from there just one more after Fort Carnsworth." the women shakily replied. "Say do you have a library in this town?" Alex asked, "No sir, were too poor for that." the women said. Alex grunted out loud as he rubbed his brow one more time "Useless.". Alex stood up and without another word grabbed his butcher's knife and started walking towards the door.

Just as he reached out to open it he heard crying from behind him, turning around he saw the woman clutching her daughter crying profusely, whispering "It will be alright, It will be alright.". "Well maybe not entirely." Alex said with a wicked smile as he threw his clever decapitating the mother in the process "how beautiful, a mother's love.". Alex walked over towards his clever and stopped to wonder if he should eat them, the scene was honestly too beautiful to destroy. So, he didn't, he grabbed his clever and smiled one last time before walking out the door. Leaving a surprise for someone else to find.

---