Emptiness. That was the feeling that pervaded his senses. Was it strange that he missed the presence of two women whom he'd only just met? Perhaps. Yet, the truth was that he did miss them. He knew no one in this world. While those girls were not friends, they were at least acquaintances.

Uncertain about the path his life would take, Scott spent quite some time wandering around the village. Outside of the occasional childish giggle, no one paid much attention to the fact that he currently strutted around town in his underwear.

In fact, many people wore little more clothing than what was actually necessary to cover the sexy bits. He walked by a tavern where rowdy music played and loud laughter permeated the atmosphere. Curious, he walked inside to see what the local color would be like.

Dozens of people were seated at various tables and at the stools near the bar. Several sets of eyes took note of him the moment that he walked in the door. Unlike out in the open air, some of those eyes were hostile.

Scott walked past a table where three women sat with one man. The man looked at Scott, then eyed what he wore and frowned.

As Scott walked further away he heard a half-garbled mutter, "Skank." Surprisingly, it was a male voice that lowered the accusation.

Men around the room grumbled and occasionally nodded their heads in his direction while women patted them on the arms and made cooing noises. Scott tilted his head to the side after a moment, and then made his move toward the bar stools.

The moment he sat down, a friendly female bar tender appeared to ask him for his order. Scott did not want to drink heavily, so he ordered water with a bit of lemon.

"Boy, you sure know how to pick the hard stuff," said a buxom woman who sat down next to him.

Scott looked her over and noted that that she wore a brown leather bodice that pressed her feminine assets together and pushed them upward. "Yeah, I can hold my own if I want."

She laughed a little then leaned in close, "I bet you can, boy..."

He tilted his head to the side. Why exactly did she keep calling him boy? He shrugged it off mentally, but noticed that she seemed determined to enter his personal space.

Scott's drink arrived and the bar attender asked for a copper coin. Before he could pull out some of his loose change, his determined companion pulled a sack of coins from her cleavage and tossed it down onto the bar top. "Don't worry, baby boy. I got you."

The bar tender smirked a little, and Scott immediately felt odd. Something about the situation was off when compared to his normal understanding of the world. "Uh, thanks..." he said finally. Hey, if he could get a free drink that was great. It would save money.

"No problem, babe. A woman's gotta take care of her boys..." she said, before accidentally putting her hand on his knee.

His left eyelid began to twitch. An outlandish notion regarding what was going on rose up within him.

"Oh goddess, there she goes again," said a woman from somewhere behind Scott.

"Yeah, the tiger's on the prowl again," said another woman

Scott blinked then glanced side-eyed at the busty woman sitting next to him. She wore an air of casual confidence that would normally be sexy to him. At the moment though, it was a little disturbing.

"So, baby boy... Why ya here?" she asked him while he took a sip of his water.

"I just came in for a drink," said Scott.

"Right... Right, makes sense," said the supposed tiger.

Scott's eyes bulged a little when her hand moved further up his thigh. She began to massage him confidently, while looking into his eyes.

Inane chit-chat continued for a few minutes while the tiger continued to stalk her prey. No actual depth of conversation occurred. The busty woman merely loomed nearly and groped him while asking shallow questions.

"Yea, you got some pretty lips..." she told him after a moment.

It was odd, incredibly odd, but somehow Scott was not turned on by the woman at all. Had she simply sat down and had a normal conversation he would have gladly allowed her to grope and fondle anything she liked. Hell, by now they might be back at his room banging away like a heavy metal drummer. However, her mannerisms and attitude threw him off.

"Do I?" he asked, more as a way to ignore her than to actually continue the conversation.

However, she took it as a sign of interest and leaned in closer, "Hell yeah, boy... real juicy. I bet they taste sweet..."

Scott suppressed an involuntary shudder. Why did this hot girl make him feel so dirty? Seriously, it made no sense. Yet, every time she opened her beautiful mouth he felt the urge to move to a different seat.

He turned away a little and sighed. Should he just leave? He did have a lot to do, and this was just uncomfortable.

"Baby boy, why you tryin' to hide those pretty eyes from me?" she asked with a toothy grin.

It was then that someone else spoke up, "Hey, can't you see the gentlemen just isn't interested?"

The new arrival was a statuesque blond woman wearing what appeared to be a white one-piece bikini with a chest plate attached to it. Chest plate was a generous term for silvery armor that covered the boobs. Her arms and legs were the only other armored part of her body, but she did wear an interesting gold colored belt.

"Eh? What business is it of yours? Can't you see we're enjoying each other's company?" asked the tiger.

"Enjoying each other's company? The poor guy looks like he's about to run away..." said the new arrival, before sitting down next to Scott. She offered him a pretty smile, and continued, "Don't mind her, you can talk to me for a while handsome."

Scott groaned a little and sighed. Was this seriously happening? The background commentary answered that question nicely. "There we go, the tiger's got a wolf on her tail."

"This gonna be good!" said another woman.

"That hoe-bag should put some pants on," muttered a petulant male voice. Somehow, Scott did not think the man meant either of the women.

Another male voice snickered and said, "Yeah, ain't it the fat ones that always come dressed like that?"

Scott frowned, his eyes narrowing in the process. "I think it's time I left."

"Yeah, boy. I feel ya," said the tiger. "We should go back to my place and talk some more."

"Only if he wants every disease in the book," snarked the blond woman. She looked up at Scott and offered him a bright, friendly, smile, "I'm getting a little hungry, though. We could go grab something to eat."

"We serve food here, you know," said the bar tender while pointing at a bar top menu. She grinned a little when the blond woman snorted at her.

"Sorry, I've got things to do," said Scott with more heat than he actually felt. If anything, he felt dirty.

"Hey, now... I bought you that drink. The least you could do is talk to me a little, boy," said the Tiger.

"I've already talked to you a little," said Scott in a flat monotone voice. "It wasn't worth the copper you spent."

"Oh damn!" called out a woman's voice from behind.

"He told her!" called another, before her laughter degenerated into a mad cackling noise.

The tiger blinked then snorted. She eyed what Scott was wearing then smirked, "Oh, I get it. Fine. How much for an hour?"

Scott's eyes narrowed and he rose up from his seat. In a fit of annoyance he turned to the blond woman. "I'm heading back to my room. If you want a good time follow me."

The blond woman's eyes widened hysterically and she hopped up from her seat. She nodded her head rapidly while quickly downing her drink.

"Oh, hell no," said Tiger, before grabbing Scott by the arm. "You're not pulling that shit with me, boy. You owe me."

Scott glanced at the hand that currently held his arm in a vice-like grip. "Bitch, get your damn hand off me."

The blond woman moved in to protect her possible sex encounter. "Yeah, let him go. Right now."

"Look, if you two idiots are gonna fight then do it outside," said the bar tender, before pulling cracking her knuckles.

Both women shied away a little. It became obvious to Scott that they were afraid of the woman behind the bar.

Scott ripped his hand free of the Tiger's grip, much to her surprise then stepped clear. Wordlessly, the Tiger and the Wolf glanced at each other then followed him out of the bar.

The moment they left, several bar patrons went to go see what would happen. The two women immediately began shouting and drew weapons. However, Scott merely sighed and walked away. He was done with both of them. They were more interested in fighting over him than hooking up.

"Fuck, man. All I wanted was a drink," he muttered before ducking into an alley. After he exited the alley, though, his bad mood transformed into a high-spirited one. "On the other hand, if I walk around in my underwear I can get free drinks and score easy sex with hot bar sluts."

He'd been disturbed by her predatory nature, but it was easy to see that if he wanted to have sex it would be as simple as letting it come to him in the future. "Hell yeah! Gonna be awesome..."

While he walked through town, a few warrior women took note of his chest plate, but nothing else about him caught their fancy. A few whistles did echo behind him, however. The difference between a warrior and a common person was quite obvious even at a glance. Every single female warrior who he saw looked quite remarkable. Each of them was beautiful in their own way.

The counter to that was that every man he saw, and even every woman who was not decked out in armor, seemed like ordinary people one might expect to find in a rural village. There were old people, young people, and everything in between. A few men wore what appeared to be simple armor, but most of them wore clothes similar to the rest of the people in town.

Scott eventually found his way to the general store. There was only one in town, and it was in the center of the village. He passed it earlier when he first arrived, but did not know what it was at the time.

Inside, he found several women in gleaming armor looking around at the wares. Most seemed dissatisfied, but a few seemed happy with the occasional find.

He began to search through various shelves and racks, but noted a disturbing trend early on. Most equipment was designed to be worn by women. He already had a chest plate, so that was not much of an issue. Still, there was a highly feminine cut and design to most things.

"Hello, sir. How might I help you today?" asked a man with a scraggly beard and a minor pot belly. He wore a dark green leather apron and looked like he actually worked for a living.

"I am just looking to replace or repair a few things," said Scott.

"Ah, very good." the scraggly bearded shop owner made a gesture for him to follow.

Scott did as directed, and the apron-clad man led him into a backroom. "We don't get many men who seek out armor and the like, but you can find a few things here. I can also repair any items that need it for a reasonable price."

"How about this chest plate?" Scott asked curiously.

"I'd have to see it closer, but from the look of it even now I doubt it would cost more than a handful of copper to fix. Broken items cost more."

"You can repair broken items?" Scott found something about that concept to be strange. The fact that when items broke they tended to fly apart in dozens of pieces made it seem odd that broken equipment could be repaired.

"Of course! We are a full service establishment despite the fact that we are a small town shop," said the man cheerfully.

"How do you fix such things anyway, broken items tend to fly apart..." said Scott.

"True, too true. As long as they are equipped, though, we can repair anything. Care to try? I suspect it would cost you around thirty-two copper for everything. Though, it might be slightly higher after the repair work is performed."

"Sure, why not." Scott took out a silver coin from his backpack then offered it to the man. The man's eyes lit up for a moment.

"Right then, stand still." Before Scott knew what was happening the man pulled out a hammer and whacked him on the chest.

"Hey!" exclaimed Scott. However, to his surprise he saw a glowing light radiate outward from his chest plate. That same light then flowed across his body. His destroyed shirt, pants, socks, and boots reappeared as good as new.

"How?" he asked, his surprise growing.

"Repair magic of course. I can repair anything with my repair hammer, though some things require more than one whack. These things have limited usage though, so I have to charge you per whack," said the shop owner.

"So, was thirty-two copper the cost in the end?" asked Scott after a brief moment.

"Certainly, though with the other fifty-eight copper you can chose a few things from this room to help increase your defensive capacity. Few men buy from small village stores, so I would be glad to outfit you," replied the shop owner.

Scott took him up on the offer. He walked around and picked out a set of leg guards that covered his shins and knees in the front. They were the most expensive part of the original purchase, but he was also able to buy reinforced leather gloves. Another two silver bought him the rest of the armor that he needed, a set of shoulder guards for his arms and a leather band for his head. Due to the nature of how armor worked in this world, he did not need to be covered head-to-toe. He only needed to have something fit into an equipment slot. Even so, he liked the overall design. He even splurged a few coppers to have it all dyed to match with his heart serpent armor.

The armor would not be ready for him before noon, so he decided to spend a little time checking out weapons. He could not rely entirely on his shotgun since there were only a few shots left.

"I have no idea what I'm doing in a sword fight," mumbled Scott to himself as he checked the small selection of weapons. He lacked the true skills of a swordsman despite his dream training and his stats. Those factors offered him a decent baseline, but what he truly needed was practical experience.

Due to that fact, he decided that he would need to rely more on power than finesse. He chose the heaviest sword that he could find within his price range. It would take another two silver from his pocket, but he was not completely bereft of options. Scott asked the store owner if he bought items as well. After Scott told him what he'd have to offer, the man nodded and said that he would take a look at them.

Quickly, he raced off toward his room at the inn. Scott gathered up his weapons and hot-footed it back to the general store.

The owner eyed everything critically for a moment then nodded. "Pretty standard stuff. I can give you four silver for the lot."

"Only four?" asked Scott curiously. The owner looked at him then mumbled something and offered five silver instead.

"Five silver, huh?" asked Scott thoughtfully.

The man began to sweat a little then sighed loudly, "Fine, you seem to be a nice lad. I can go as high as six, but not a copper more."

"I'll take it," said Scott. He did not actually try to haggle with the man. He was merely curious about the pricing. Was the end-result due to his high charisma? Was the shop-owner desperate for swords, or did Scott's superhuman charisma sway him? It was impossible to say.

His new weapon of choice was not the one that he originally wanted to purchase. With increased currency, he had enough to spend ten silver on a much better sword. It was a wide-bladed steel greatsword without decoration. The only noteworthy thing about it was that it possessed an innate offensive rating of fourteen. Even the best sword in the lot that he'd sold was nowhere near that level of capacity.

Beyond the armor and weapon, he chose to acquire a few supplies for his trip. Food, water, and bandages set him back another silver. He would have bought items such as a hit point restorative and a repair hammer but they cost multiple gold instead of silver.

After his spending spree, he had enough money to stay at the inn for one more night. However, he had made his decision. Whatever happened, would happen to him while he tried to better his situation. He spent are large amount of his remaining coin on camping supplies.

Once again penniless, Scott set out for the edge of town and entered the field beyond. He spent the next few hours practicing with his sword. Whether or not training would increase his stats did not matter. He needed practical experience on swinging his sword around.

Heavy was the operative word. After a few dozen strikes his arms felt like they were made of lead. He was forced to sit down and rest for a time. "Damn, even with my strength this bastard's heavy."

Scott used that time to reflect on his choice. He planned to head to the tomb mentioned. Amelia told him of its general direction, and that the map would always show him which direction he currently faced due to its enchantment. In theory, he should be able to find the place.

Perhaps it would make more sense to try to live a normal life, but he sincerely doubted that he would be allowed to do so for long. It would be best to develop himself as best he could while his shotgun was still useful.

A few minutes of rest left him quite refreshed, amazingly refreshed actually. The effect of increased vitality seemed to have something to do with that if his implanted memories were correct.

Time passed, and after a short rest he was once again ready to train. Refreshed, he continued his training regimen. Scott swung his sword around in what he felt were controlled motions. In some instances it felt more like the sword swung him around instead. He worked with his blade until he reached exhaustion then rested. Once fully rested, he began again. Hours passed and soon the sun rode high in the sky. It was time to collect his armor. His next journey would soon begin.