Note: This chapter has not gone to my editors and events may change before final release. The below is also unedited and in a raw non-polished form.

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Toaby and his group chased after and finished the remaining three wolves before they got too far. The bodies would provide plenty of leather and food once they were properly dressed and butchered back at the settlement. The experience was also a great bonus. Toaby and Laura both ended up leveling up. On the trek back to the settlement, Toaby investigated his character sheet and the best way to spend his newly earned three characteristic points.

Hmm… I could always put a point or two into constitution. Maybe I should make that a standard thing? Lean on my strengths. But I haven’t learned any constitution based skills and I’m maxed out on wisdom, spirit and intelligence slots. With the new Human bonus to skill acquisition, I should try to leave a free skill slot in as many categories as possible. That reminds me. I need to choose a skill as my chosen path. He pulled up the system text by focusing on it, in order to remind him of the bonuses.

Chosen Path: You may select a skill as your chosen path in life. That skill will receive an additional +10% skill leveling speed. Once a month you will be prompted to select a new skill for chosen path. If you select the same skill, it will receive an additional +10% skill leveling speed for every month it is chosen consecutively up to a maximum amount of +50%.

Looking through his skills, only one really stood out to him at the moment. He mentally clicked on chosen path.

Please select your path in life.

A list of available skills came into view, and Toaby choose enchanting. The skill had intrigued him since the moment he found that magical book. Enchanting was something he could do to give the entire settlement the power boost they needed to fight off the raiders. With that choice over, he selected intelligence, wisdom and constitution as his three characteristics to increase. Constitution was the obvious choice, but adding a point into intelligence and wisdom not only gave him more mana and mana regen for enchanting, it also gave him precious available slots for learning new skills.

Sebastian was waiting for them when they reached the settlement. He was waving them over frantically.

“Hey, Sebastian.” Sam waved as they all dismounted.

“Hey, guys. Do you have the meat? People are getting pretty hungry around here.” Sebastian questioned.

“I still need to butcher it, but we can loot the basic meat off it.”

“Ok. Let’s go to your work area so we can get started.” Sebastian gestured for Sam to walk with him.

“Laura, you should come along. You’ll need to skin the wolves and you have two of them in your inventory.”

She huffed. “You’re lucky I emptied my inventory when we got back to town.”

The three of them walked off together, leaving Hiro and Toaby alone.

“Soooo. What’s it like?” Toaby asked. Hiro raised an eyebrow. “I mean, to be a Dusk Elf.”

“Ah. It’s a little strange looking at myself, but what can I say? Magic is amazing!” Hiro was beaming.

“It looks amazing. Are you…” Toaby shuffled uncomfortably. “Able to teach me magic?”

Hiro shook his head. “I don’t think so. I can feel the mana flowing through me. It's a bit hard to explain, but I can feel a tingling coursing through my veins. Like all my cells are vibrating in a way that only I can see or feel. I wouldn’t know where to even begin teaching how to find that sensation in another.” He paused for a moment before adding, “sorry.”

Toaby waved his hands dismissively. “Don’t worry about. It was a long shot, anyway.”

“I might be able to teach you the basic fire spell if you ever unlock spell casting.”

“I’ll take you up on that when the time comes.”

Hiro smiled. “So, I’m going to go unload my inventory into my tent.” He frowned. “Actually, I’m going to go find Tom to figure out where I’m going to be sleeping now.” He pointed to the remains of a burnt down tent.

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.” Hiro waved before walking off.

Thinking he should probably do the same, Toaby headed for his shared tent with Tom. Entering his tent, he moved to one side and started emptying his inventory. He didn’t have much but the large desk and chair were taking up a lot of slots. Focusing on the desk, it appeared on the ground a few inches away from him. He pushed it to the far corner and added the chair.

Leaving the tent, he quickly spotted Sebastian, Sam and Laura working the wolf corpses. They still hadn’t made their way through a single body, so dinner hadn’t even been started yet. Knowing he had some time to kill, he moved back inside to try some enchanting.

Sitting at his new desk, he pulled his enchanting bowl, mortar and some mana crystals from his bag. When they had a moment to chat, his group let him keep the thirty mana crystals they found since they were only good for enchanting as far as they all knew. Next he needed to find something to enchant. Pulling up his inventory, he looked through his available equipment. Unfortunately, most of his equipment was inside red boxes.

Leather Tunic

Slot: Chest

Rarity: Starter

Armor: 3

Condition: Normal (0%)

Durability: 0/5

Description: A basic leather tunic.

Leather Trousers

Slot: Legs

Rarity: Starter

Armor: 2

Condition: Normal (0%)

Durability: 0/5

Description: Basic leather trousers.

“They’re broke?” Muttered Toaby.

“What’s broke?” Tom replied as he entered the tent. “Woah. You’re really moving in, aren’t you?”

“What?” Tom pointed to the desk and chair. “Yeah, sorry. Thought I could use the desk to help with enchanting.”

“You’re going to have to move it outside. We have to make room for Hiro inside.” Toaby looked around the small interior of the tent. “I know, I know. It’s going to be really tight, but a bunch of us are going to have to triple up until we can build some more tents.”

Toaby nodded. “It’s going to be cozy.” They shared a laugh. “Do you mind helping me move this?”

“No problem.” The paid moved the desk outside. “Sebastian shouldn’t be much longer. Make sure to join us for dinner. I’m going to be signing your praises after all.” Toaby blushed. “Ha. Don’t worry. You’ll be fine.” Tom slapped him on the back before departing.

Toaby left too. He went to find Laura, the leather craftsman, in hopes she could repair his armor. It didn’t take long to find her. She was with Sam, cutting the skins from the wolf corpses. They were working on a pair of makeshift tables behind a natural bush curtain.

“Hey, guys.” Toaby waved and both Laura and Sam waved back. “Laura, you wouldn’t happen to be able to repair my armor, would you?”

She put down her skinning knife for a second to appraise Toaby’s gear. The sizeable chunk missing from his tunic where Brad hit him drew her attention most. Beyond that, all of his gear had abrasions, cuts, scars, missing areas of protection and was in a general state of disrepair.

“Is that your starting gear?” She asked, and he nodded. “I think I’m better off making you new armor then.”

“Why? This stuff has generally been good to me.”

“Yeah, but its starter gear which means its only normal quality. Currently, I can only make basic armor, but I can make it with a higher quality.”

Toaby slowly nodded. “Yeah, I noticed the quality on the magic items we found was exceptional. What does that mean?”

“I only learned about it from crafting but the quality affects the armor's stats, including its durability. There are seven levels in total that offer a negative fifteen percent penalty, all the way up to a positive fifteen percent boost.”

“Do we have the leather for that? I know Tom wants to rebuild the lost tents.”

She scratched her chin. “That I’m not too sure on, but your gear looks to be beyond repair. Maybe your leggings are ok, but your tunic is a goner. I could fit my entire hand through the hole in its side.”

He frowned. “I guess I’ll have to go without armor for a bit.”

“I didn’t say that. Hand over your gear.” Toaby unequipped his armor and handed it to her. “I’ll cut what's salvageable from this and used the leftover wolf pelts to make something. I can’t promise it will be pretty, but it will be functional.”

“Thanks. I hate to ask, but when do you think you could have it ready?” He pointed at the wolf corpses. “We’ll probably have to go out tomorrow to hunt some more food.”

“Hmm… I can use the leftover rabbit hides I have to patch something together then. It will offer less protection than if I made it from the wolves but its better than nothing.”

“Agreed. Thank you. When you finish it, please let me know. I want to try enchanting again.”

She nodded. “Sure thing.”

Tom’s voice called out from the center of town. “Everyone gather up. I have some announcements to make.”

Toaby and the others started gathering at the central fire, pet Tom’s instructions. As people arrived, Sebastian handed out plates of wolf steaks for them all to enjoy. Once everyone had food and began eating, Tom continued his speech.

“I want to address everyone after everything that happened today. For starters, you can see there have been some changes.” Tom gestured toward Hiro. “These are all good changes.” He held up a hand to stop the chit-chat that was raising in volume among everyone. “Toaby, Sam, Hiro and Laura found a dungeon in the mines and…” Tom went on to summarize the events of the day.

He gave a recount of Queen Anzu and that Hiro was now Dusk Elf, but they would likely see more Elves in the future. Everyone seemed excited to hear about the introduction of magic and magical items. When he got to speaking about the raid, most people deflated.

“It's going to be alright, though. Thanks to Toaby, our arbiter.” Tom gestured with both arms at Toaby, who was mid-bite. “He was able to challenge these new raiders to a trial by combat.”

“What the hell is a trial by combat?” A man Toaby didn’t recognize asked.

Toaby tried out his new investigation skill.

Name: Matt

Status: Neutral

“It’s a magical duel where he and his opponent can set the terms of engagement. Toaby added conditions that not only sent all of today’s raiders immediately to Helheim with increased marks but also forced them to be reborn far, far, far away. We won’t see today's raiders again!” He exclaimed excitedly.

The whispering started again, and most people were pointed at Toaby as they spoke.

“What does that mean? I mean, can we use this as an effective weapon for fighting the Void?” A man that investigation told Toaby was named Nate, said.

“The short answer is, yes. With all the changes were making around here and with the help of people like Toaby, we have a real chance to make a life for ourselves here. Long answer, It means we have a lot of hard work ahead of us. Before the raiders came today, we got a lot of good work done digging our barrier. We need to keep that up, but I also want to start construction on the town hall tomorrow. It should give some of us a place to sleep and unlock more of my town management ability.”

“What about our abilities?” Ed asked, a little perturbed.

“With the added town management abilities, I should be able to help all of us out. It will be the first step in creating a proper town. The first step in starting our new lives. No more fear.” He began walking around the circle of people. “No more hiding. No more losing everything we work for. We will have a safe place to stay. We will be renewed. We will be a community that grows and prospers. I promise each and every one of you that we will make this place great!”

The crowd stood and cheered for Tom. They were all sick of this new life. They were promised a fresh start from Techavant but were given hell. It’s about time they got a little of what was promised to them.