Adrin woke up late while Marla was enjoying herself. The lady said she was sorry to wake him up but there was nothing to be sorry about. No morning was better than to wake up to a beautiful woman being affectionate to you.

It took her a while, and she closed her mouth as she reached her limit.

“Breakfast is ready,” she gasped out while resting on his chest.

She made him feel bad to have to leave her so soon. The woman should know this as a fact too, and she probably had her own reasons. She didn’t say anything about it as she dressed him up in her late husband’s clothes.

They were a little big but his rags were just as baggy. The story she told him after breakfast, however, was quite chilling.

“Jared got himself killed over nothing,” she began. “Don’t you be a stubborn idiot like him, you hear me?” Marla said while leaning on him.

“But didn’t he die during the hunt?” Adrin replied. “Everyone saw his injury from being stabbed by the direboar’s tusk.”

The lady scoffed, “He died right after a huge argument with the chief’s best friend. Like they always say, anything could happen during the hunt. The Jared I know wouldn’t be so slow to be rammed by a boar. He wasn’t easily tired either, he lasted almost as long as you did. Just do what you have to do to survive and promise me to always watch your back.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

“Good, I’ll be in the fields if you need me,” Marla said before she kissed him on the cheek. “See you tonight,” she said before she went out to her designated farm plot.

The situation might be more dangerous than he initially assumed. These men were killing one of their own. Adrin called out his status while walking towards the kitchen for a drink.

Name: Adrin || Age:17 || Villager [level 1]

Life: 25/25 || Stamina: 40/40 || Mana: 7/?

||

Strength: 5 || Intelligence: 5 || Agility: 3

Willpower: 14 || Perception: 3 || Dexterity: 4

||

Bodybuilding [2], Arithmetic [1], Melee weapons [1], Spearfishing [1], Marksmanship [1]

Mana Sense [1], Crafting [1], Cooking [1]

||

Hack [1], Throw [1], Aim Assist [1]

||

1 inspiration point remaining.

Adrin leveled up his Villager title when he killed the giant groundhog. The experience probably had accumulated from his first kill, and leveling up from zero to one should have not required much effort. The level up gave him one inspiration point, but unlike in the virtual worlds, there was no holding hands mechanics telling him what he could do with it.

When he thought about it, ordinary uneducated people probably didn’t have a clue let alone knew how to view their status. Adrin was lucky because his spirit had some experience in it.

Anyone brave enough could take the risk, but not everyone would be able to take full advantage of their awakening. Only the truly thoughtful would try to gain as much ability to boost their attributes and unlock skills to have a better chance of survival. Most would keep their achievement a secret so they could have an easy time ahead.

He could confirm this with either Emi or Marla because, even as women, both were brave enough to awaken. Maybe this piece of information would be his legacy, his heirloom to pass onto Marla’s children. His child.

Adrin shook the thought out of his head. He was getting too far ahead of himself.

Way, way too far.

After planning the day ahead of him, Adrin packed his stuff up and walked to the door. He paused to leave a note behind so she wouldn’t be worried if he got home late. What he got was charcoal and rough brown paper, but it would do.

He was almost at the gate when he saw her. Emi was waiting for him in full gear and he didn’t need to ask what she was planning to do.

“Father wants me to get the plunderer root,” she said as they walked past the guards.

“For what?” Adrin asked.

“So I don’t get pregnant, idiot,” she said with a red face.

“Oh, OH? then- then I’ll help,” he replied.

“Thanks, this means a lot to me,” Emi said and he didn’t need to be told that she wasn’t ready to carry a child yet.

If there would be an independent woman, it would be Emi. He wanted to ask for an extra portion for Marla but he didn’t dare to spoil the mood. She probably knew what had happened last night.

No one needed to tell her that they had to be quiet, and by the looks of it, she was even better than him in many ways. The girl probably learned them from her awakened spirit.

She even used easy-to-understand hand signs as they searched for the herb.

Of course, she never wasted the chance to gather other herbs and anything edible she found along the way. Watching the girl was as enjoyable as it was educational.

After spending enough time with her, Adrin was convinced that she was an expert at sneaking around. She also would pause now and then to listen to their surroundings for any danger.

But something interesting popped out as the girl was digging through the soil.

Spend inspiration points?

Sneak - cost 1 point

Herbalism - cost 1 point

Adrin ignored the new information while he was scanning his surroundings. He couldn’t afford to be distracted, not right now. Two lives depended on him to remain vigilant.

Emi tapped his leg and she pointed at something when he turned towards her. His heart raced as the foliage rustled not far away from them. Nothing small could disturb the foliage like that.

Adrin readied his bow. Emi pulled him down when he was beginning to knock the arrow. She shook her head and signaled him to follow her quietly.

The creature she detected probably wasn’t worth the trouble.

Adrin quickly picked the sneak skill before he even dared to move. He didn’t want to be the cause of their blunder and the skill would still be useful in the future. Herbalism might be nice but he didn’t think he would ever delve into any that part of things.

His steps immediately become much quieter after picking the skill. Adrin didn’t need to focus too much as they scoured the forest while gathering herbs and edibles.

He tugged Emi’s shirt when he recognized the area. The girl was skeptical at first, but she still followed his lead to his camp.

Emi let out a gasp when she saw it. From below, his treehouse was barely visible even when people were looking for it. It was the perfect place to rest and catch a breather.

The girl let out a louder gasp as she got up and found the scenery.

The space on the platform was just enough for two people sitting side by side, but the girl still chose to sit on his lap. Emi enjoyed leaning on him while looking around, absorbing everything into her memory. He also enjoyed her soft and more petite body in his arms.

They both were enjoying making out when something disturbed their peace from below.

Emi and Adrin looked over the edge to see two armed men were arguing with one another about something. He couldn’t see their faces but making noise out here was a very bad idea. He wanted to get down and warn them but Emi grabbed his arm.

It should have been obvious, but Emi was right. Helping them might backfire as they were probably after them. Or more accurately, after him.

Sure enough, something heard the two loudmouths and were coming for the clueless duo. Both screamed and ran in fear when a few goblins showed themselves. Lucky for them, these goblins didn’t chase, as they looked a little thin themselves.

Emi didn’t stop him when he knocked two arrows. [Aim Assist] provided two dots which he had to fiddle with for quite a while before he felt confident to shoot.

The arrows flew true between the branches and stuck on two heads out of the four goblins. One immediately ran away and quickly disappeared in between the trees.

Adrin turned towards the last one before he saw her.

Emi leaped off the tree branch, and she used both hands to stick her dagger into the clueless goblin’s large head. He didn’t even realize when she had left his side. The girl was a natural.

The former tomboy grinned at him as he made his way down to the ground. The sight of blood didn’t disturb her at all. She happily cut the ears off before they made their way back.

They weren’t worried as the animals would clean those corpses off over the night. There was always something hungry in the Wilds.

“Why did you cut those ears?” he asked the girl when they were far enough.

“Every ear worth a few copper coins, the peddlers buy them for some reason,” she shrugged and hugged his arm. “But you are really good, no one in the village could have pulled that shot off,” she added.

“Speaking of skills, I have-”

“Let’s talk at Marla’s place tonight,” she said. Emi then kissed his cheek before running forward leaving him behind.

Adrin was taken aback. He never thought women would work together like this. They never had, especially not over a man, not in the old world at least.