Keeping at it, Aki spent the rest of the day looking for people, which allowed him to notice that most the other villages that'd been created were of orc origin, except that one farvit clan that'd been able to make one.

All things considered, he'd found four other villages and transported around a hundred fifty people back to his own by using a small sphere like cabin that he kept relatively stable while Lea flew, which was really only a challenge when she stopped to land.

Today had unlocked him a few strange paths though. Mostly on the social and administrative side of things, but an outlier would be 'death knight', which was obviously something coming from the influence of his own Blue skill and Lea.

It was likely also related to him gaining the 'Nobility (O)' Skill however, which had come to be with him politely introducing himself and his domain. Apparently it also covered manners and administration, so at least there was that.

He couldn't always be rude and/or casual.

Then again, he’d found three elves, a couple and their baby, but they attacked him like rabid beasts while cursing him as an inferior creature even as he had them chained to the environment. A complete waste of beauty and resources really. He wasn’t really interested in their thin forms, but there was little denying the fact that they were pretty.

He’d tried actually talking to them, but that ended up with him simply getting shot at with what was likely a glock equivalent, though it packed a punch like a hand cannon instead. The twelve shots didn’t really dent his health, but he ended up killing the couple and taking their baby with him. There was no way such toxic idiots could properly raise a child.

He had not looked at his paths before giving Robert the baby, which he had decided to name Naru for several reasons, so it could be that him creating an outpost with all the races present in the area or having a certain number of people think of him as a noble had something to do with getting the paths in question as well.

Either way, the beast horde had turned a bit different tonight.

Apparently a village could only grant a thousand classes, though that number had already been boosted to the max by Lea’s efforts at killing off special monsters all around, some of which had literally just spawned, and when this happened the beast horde turned much more savage, gaining a commander tipe that boosted all the lieutenants and soldiers. Depending on how long it took to take care of said horde, raid bosses would even be attracted to the battle and enter the commander’s influence.

Perhaps that’d have been a problem to others, but Aki literally just over charged a spear of the four elements and one hit killed the commander before the army even made contact with the now stone walls.

This stunt earned him around a hundred skill points, distributed through several skills, though it was anyone’s guess if the level gain from intimidation had come from the classers or the monsters.

Through some miracle or human ingenuity, whatever people wanted to claim, the day’s battle didn’t actually turn out to be very hard for the defenders. Aki simply thought that people had finally gotten up to speed with their skill levels compared to the monsters sent their way, nevermind that they had a proper support line and a great defensive position.

The fact that they’d have lost without him was the part that actually surprised him. Just how had the tutorial been that it killed off so many while allowing people to be so weak? Everyone he asked talked about several different trials which could be chosen from, accruing points until you were allowed to leave. Had it really just been that humanity was so sedentary so many people would die? Was something messing with these people’s memories?

Had there been a culling or had he just overestimated his species’ capabilities? Honestly, Aki found himself unable to care. Everyone he actually loved was certainly dead, his baby siblings just as unlikely to survive until he got to whatever Osaka turned into.

Right now, he had a few orcs to negotiate with. Whether they'd join him or not was still up in the air, but he didn't really want to kill them off, so he hoped things didn't develop into that.

Maybe his new rings would help his diplomacy more than the numbers indicated?

…….

Karta was trembling. Her instincts and skills were warning her that the human from before was in that small black dot in the sky. She hadn't had the time to get a proper fealing for it, but the ridiculous speed of the bird creature he'd latched on was a great indication that it was likely just as, if not more powerful than him.

"Even if we could win I don't think we should try to pick the fight. This is a barely cohese community, it'd be much better to just run away." She sighed, going back to the only time she'd felt so afraid before the system. The giant reptile had barely glanced at her then childish form, but she'd been paralised, the wave it produced when it's tails hit the great lake hit her, breaking an arm as it knocked her against an old tree. Her brother in law lost his hand distracting the thing while her mother came to scare it off.

These last four days had had her seeing several beings that'd likely rival that alligator. She could hardly say if it was better or worse that the one that was apparently even stronger was a person. Or that they seemed interested in her.

"That could not necessarily be possible either, little sister." Her eldest sister put her big, rocky hand on her shoulder, the troc with a harder expression than usual, which was saying something as she pretty much had rocks for skin “If you’re thinking something stupid at a time like this i might really marry you off to this human, focus little flower.” She chuckled her dry and deep laugh, hitting her back a bit too hard.

They straightened up quickly enough though, the visitors were here. As a small explosion of dust and earth went up in the air, their visage cleared to the image of a metallic figure getting up from a fall that had disturbed the ground far too little for their apparent weight and the height they’d jumped from.

"Greetings honorable warriors, are you alive?” Exclaimed an excited voice of a young adult as the armored figure hit their fist to their heart. She’d have thought it slightly silly if not for the pressure coming from the sheer amount of energy and power of this person. She was also half sure it wasn’t intentional at this point however, as it didn’t particularly feel directed at anything, nevermind them.

“Greetings?” Her sister intoned with no small amount of confusion. “I apologize, but I am not aware of how to reply to this human greeting.” She shrugged while scratching the back of her head.

“That’s ok, I said it on the chance that you guys had something similar or equal, but i guess not. Nice to meet you, i am Aki Ocissus, founder of the village now named Ashen barrow.” He waved her off, gracefully bowing with his introduction.

“Well, I am Chief Karlim Mor, leader of the Morkaivan conclave, and it is an honor to meet you."

"Likewise. If you excuse my administrator however, he is unable to land down like me, so Lea will have to come over to drop him instead. I apologize for the inconvenience, but we come from rather far away and are unable to reach this place in good time without my summon's help." He apologized, though even she could more or less understand his implications.

That summon was extremely dangerous and he was warning them, though it didn't seem to be a threat. Apparently he expected them to NOT feel a natural dread by looking at it.

Even without the monsters she was used to, Karta could not fathom how a species with such a weak danger sense could flourish. Did they stub their toes to the point of breaking until something clicked perhaps?

Then again, her family had a much more acute perception, and it'd been reflected in her skills and stats when the system began it's tutorial. At this moment it was simply screaming at her to run though, so she had to fill her mind with inane thoughts like these

She could not tell what disturbed her more about the bird. Whether it was the wrongness of it’s presence, it’s unblinking, flaming red eyes, the lack of heat to create the distortions in the air around it, the power in it’s gray wings…

“....AND I WILL ENCASE YOUR TESTICLES BETWEEN YOUR KNEECAPS BEFORE I UP AND SHOVE THE WHOLE THING INTO YOUR ANUS! NOW FUCK OFF!” Or perhaps the fact that it had a fouler mouth than anyone she’d ever had the displeasure of listening to. Luckily the flaming avian calmly went up in to the skies again after letting off a completely pale and shaking older human.

“I swear she’s normally more well spoken than even me, but our bond has frayed some of her reservations to such vocabulary, and Robert here spoke some things he shouldn’t have, but that will not happen again, will it?” Aki explained, directing the later question to the other human, who just repeatedly shook his head with a look of terror. “And since you have learned sensitivity in uncertain circumstances, you will have no problem properly introducing yourself to chief Karlim, right?”

What followed was a rather direct, if worrying, explanation about Ashen barrow as they toured the conclave. They had more people, more classers, better facilities, pointed out possible upgrades for certain facilities they’d come across as they walked, were situated right besides a mountain with a great mine inside, but worst of all, they couldn’t even use further village tokens to strengthen themselves!

That indicated that Ashen barrow was the likely culprit for the lack of special monsters in the surroundings, which was an irritating prospect at the very least, but also led her to believe that either that the flaming avian from before was a hunting bird or they had something else capable of tracking and killing several of those hardy monsters.

Neither were very pleasant possibilities. For all that it was worth it however, Aki did not complain at all about waiting while the conclave reunited to discuss their ‘alliance’, even briefly exchanging that ‘conclave’ had a more religious meaning in the human’s languages.

“What is your assessment of them?” Immediately asked the Kai patriarch as the soundproofing of the room was turned on by the opened door closing.

“Powerful enough to destroy the conclave and resourceful enough to hunt down any stragglers. If you want to understand what I mean just ask your seers to look upwards, the monster the man outside controls has been circling the place for a while now, and I doubt their bond is that different from the other summoners we’ve seen till now, meaning they can certainly communicate.” Karlim laid it out flat before the old man, the upstart and their retinues. Even her wives and the sister that’d not been there thought it strange, but those did not doubt her words.

“Did you perhaps fall for one of those social skills? There is no way that is the case.” The Van upstart snorted, but the old man simply looked skeptical, asking his seer to look at the sky. The woman’s face lost blood, her opening wide as she fell to her knees.

“Mo, monste….” She babbled, voice growing softer and cold sweat suddenly maring her whole body. That silenced the whole room even as other retainers went to help the woman. Karta and Karlim did not think it strange that the seer now looked much like Roberto.

"He’s also offering village upgrades, good deals for the mining and purchase of minerals from a mine of their territory, open trade and aid in times of need, all that while asking for very little.” Karta sighed, the whole room having turned to her. “The worst part? 'Whenever you decide to accept, you can have this token which allows the construction of a communication hub, which unlocks a part of the system used to send instantaneous messages to anyone who you have met post integration and is considered a registered citizen of any outposts, though the later restrictions will only drop when the zone opens into the wide world.'"

The use of such token was immediately obvious to all present, each having their own ideas of how to use it. Yet the wording of the whole thing…

"You know Karta, I think this is the first time I would be happy to hear some important person propositioned you, but this guy just had to be interested in knowing your personality as well…" Grumbled the half troll while massaging her forehead with a hand.