The thick green foliage was all around the open space around the walls. Keeping the trees away was a daily struggle as they could grow as fast weeds in the old world. The deepest of the Wilds should have trees that lived for hundreds if not thousands of years.

A few guards were stationed sparsely along with the foliage. They were there as assurance more than to watch for any intrusion.

Rows upon rows of vegetation and crops were being worked on so they would grow healthy. Just like the trees, plants are grown on the farm also grew at a much rapid rate.

A small farm was enough to feed the whole village despite the challenges. Complaints about goblins stealing the crops during the night were plenty, but what were the guards going to do about the pest? Hunt the creature in their own turf? It would be suicidal at best.

Traps had done a good job warding off most of them so everyone just took their losses.

When he first walked into the farm, all eyes were trained on him. Some of them were surprised, quite a few adored, and there were as many scoffed. It was hard to work when so many people were glancing and gawking at him. Marla, however, just couldn’t stop smiling.

Adrin knew this was going to happen, but for his own sake, he had to push through it. For a hunter doing farm work was degrading to other men, but he didn’t really care. He was just in for the [Endurance] attribute points.

Tilling the land was just as back-breaking as he remembered. His higher [Strength] helped a lot but he couldn’t imagine what other girls around him felt like. There were so few men dabbling in growing food until he would have blushed if he was still a naive little kid.

The bonus attribute also made sense because farming was more about staying on the job rather than heavy lifting. He had to endure the twin sun’s scorching rays to get something done.

Being one among the few young men who chose toil with the soil, he had become quite popular with women young and old. They all gathered around him to ask questions during break and he tried his best to be genuine with the answers. Thankfully, Marla was always around to help him plaster the holes in his lies and ward the brave few away.

Adrin knew that was too lucky to have affection from two very different women. The motherly Marla just couldn’t help herself to spoil him rotten. The luscious lady would let him have his way with her at any time she caught him staring too much.

Marla was more than amorous when he said he would only judge her based on what she had done to help him rather than her ancient past. According to her, not many would act the same, and he couldn’t disagree.

Her time in the sex trade had rewarded her with the weird ability. The kind of ability he wanted to get by practice or inspiration.

Adrin didn’t really care about others' opinions. Because it was his ass going to be ruined if, somehow, he was caught in that kind of trap. This ability, at the very least, would give him some advantage in such situations.

In the end, he was only doing what he could with what he had because luck was never on his side. The best he could do was planning for the worst while hoping for the best.

Emilia, on the other hand, was a girl who got in the mood only whenever or wherever she felt like it. The girl was totally random and it was refreshing to be around her. One minute they might be hunting giant hares, the other busy going on at each other like rabbits.

Many of the villagers thought the two only felt sorry for the volunteer who probably would never return again. Maybe the two girls were pitying him, but at this point, he didn’t really care what others thought. He wouldn’t complain about being able to plow day and night.

Adrin always ended his work on the farm earlier than others. He had to because he would join the night's watch and guard one of the five posts along the walls.

Because he had the excuse of needing to wake up early on the next day, he always got the less dangerous early watch. No one wanted him to watch while they slept anyway. Not like he needed much sleep anymore but Marla surely appreciated it.

He used this lazy watch time to sneak a kill or two, whether it was a pesky critter or an animal. Goblins were his usual victim and the dead animals were turned into food. He would scale down the walls and secure the kill before handing it over to visiting Emi.

His life fell into this routine of trying to get the farming ability and level up. Two weeks had passed before he scored both farming and endurance, further increasing his stamina with the average of the three main physical attributes. The progress was slow but worth it.

From then on, it was hunting for kills during the day, almost every day. He only got less than two weeks after all.

His [Crafting] leveled up when his treehouse completed, and it became his base of operation. His new objective was thinning the goblins population. It should start tomorrow because it was already getting dark to scour the Wilds.

This goal will benefit both him and the two he would leave behind. Adrin laid on his back on his home away from home and called up his status to confirm his progress.

Name: Adrin || Age:17 || Villager [level 2]

Life: 45/45 || Stamina: 65/65 || Mana: 8/?

||

Strength: 5 || Intelligence: 5 || Agility: 4

Willpower: 14 || Perception: 3 || Dexterity: 5

Endurance: 4

||

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

Mana Sense [1], Crafting [2], Cooking [1], Farming [1]

||

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

The most obvious to him was the pitiful build-up of his mana. The mana vortex was as constant as he breathed, but it felt like it would take forever even to increase only one point.

Maybe he was just not talented at all in that part. Magic might not be his forte.

Adrin decided to continue to work on it while not placing too much hope. Mana could still be useful even if he wasn’t a mage.

Level 2 Villager didn’t give him anything, sadly enough, and he would have to work towards level 3 to get another point. From what he experienced, skills and abilities would only manifest naturally with hard work and deep knowledge/experience.

One had to be really good at something to turn it into either skill or a passive ability.

The best example was [Farming]. He had to spend two weeks of hard work to get it. It was worth it because of the [Endurance] stat he gained.

All of the skills or abilities were mostly level 1 because he was more focused on getting new ones rather than trying to improve them. There were a lot more he fancied like Emi’s [Dodge], maybe dual wield, or something life-saving like a parry.

He had ideas on how to get them but he was clueless about the fine details of it. It was obvious because he had never done anything close to them.

Unless there was something akin to computer programming, electronics, or anything mechanical, then he probably had hit the limit of what he could manifest as skills or abilities. Unless he was forgetting something, he probably had hit the wall.

‘Maybe I should try trapping next?’ he thought. He had never needed to trap anything between spearfishing, his hunting crossbow, and of course, grocery stores.

His life in the past had made him soft with its luxury, but he still missed them. There was a reason he rather lived alone in the middle of nowhere, and it had benefited him in this life.

Adrin sighed while looking at the makeshift rooftop. It probably would leak when it rains. He decided based on the amount of light leaking through, but he couldn’t find any palm leaves or anything alike in the immediate surrounding.

“Why the long sigh?” a voice startled him. He almost jumped before he realized who she was.

“I told you not to do that,” Adrin said while turning towards the widely smiling girl. Emi had slipped into the treehouse through its wooden half walls.

“Do what? I didn’t do anything,” she replied, feigning ignorance.

Adrin swallowed a sigh and leaned on the tree trunk, “are you hiding from your father again?”

“No,” she said with a pout, “I come to see you,” the girl crawled over. A mischievous smile grew on her cute face before she lunged to sit on his lap.

“Are we going to be late again?” he said while the girl leaned on him.

“No, I just want to relax for a bit,” she let out a long breath.

He would be late for night watch, but whatever. Relaxing with a girl in your arms was just as fulfilling as anything else. This would be a good memory to have.