“What should we do with the prisoners?” Ted asked, his satisfaction, caused by the quest update, visible. Lucas also pretty satisfied being correct about the fact the quest would update for everyone once he recounted what he had learned from captured looters. Not willing to let his minor victory stop him in doing what he set up to do, he focused on the conversation at hand, listening to suggestions his party members were speaking.

“So, we can all agree we aren’t going to kill them?” Margaret spoke, her question answered by a head nod from everyone in the group.

“But I’m not sure we can let them go. They might go and try to sell us out, informing the Aggressive village of our presence and investigation” Chen said, Lucas calling in his head the new nomenclature they had for the villages in the area, organically developed as Lucas explained what he had learned. Aggressive village was the village perpetrating the attacks in the area, Home village was the one they arrived in, Strange village was the one that isolated themselves, the one nearest to the dungeon, Victim village was the burned one they were currently in.

“I doubt it, most of them ran away from the Aggressive village when they started attacking. They would probably be sentenced to death if they returned” Lucas said.

“That means we are letting them go?” Chen asked.

“Why don’t we just send them to Home village?” Margaret injected herself with a pointed question.

“That’s not a bad idea” Lucas answered after a quick mental deliberation, the rest of the party joining in agreement. With that matter settled, Lucas stood up and returned towards the prisoners, all of them now awake and looking on the verge of panic. He calmly started explaining to them what are they ought to do, including the direction to Home village.

“And just to be clear, you are to ask the village leader not to imprison you, but that is not an order. And if you fail to report…” Lucas spoke, releasing his aura and letting it awash the looters. Their eyes widen in terror, as they frantically pleaded understanding, Lucas glad his message got through. He released them from their bonds and they immediately started running.

“Well, let’ get a move on. The sooner this is dealt with, the sooner we can move into the dungeon and do some real work” Lucas thought, before immediately chastised himself, remembering the argument he had with Maggie.

“Yeah, I guess this is also real work” he sighed internally, going back to his party, who were already discussing they potential strategies. Maggie and Ted were adamant that the Aggressive village was hostile and that they should go in weapons blazing, Margaret being their main opposition.

“Just because you personally had bad experiences doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least try to avoid conflict” Margaret said, her voice pleading.

“We will just waste time and leave ourselves open for an attack” Maggie responded, steel in her voice obvious.

“Yea, whenever we encountered a situation like this, it inevitably came to blows” Ted supported his sister words.

“Realistically, how much of a danger will anybody here be to us?” Lucas asked as he took his seat “I’m also open to the idea we should try communicating first” he finished.

“If that is what you want, that is what we will do. But when they turn hostile, I will be the first one to rub it in your face” Maggie said, ending the conversation, frustration in her voice clear.

With their course of action decided, only thing to do was to wait until dawn came out, friendly and diplomatic approach looking much better when conducted during daylight, so Lucas went to sleep, grateful for the chance to get some shut – eye. The morning came to soon, the first rays of sun waking Lucas from his dreamless slumber. Awakening the others, they quickly resumed their journey, arriving at the Aggressive village in about an hour. There, they found armed people already patrolling the perimeter of the village, presenting the first obstacle for the party. In accordance to their diplomatic approach decided yesterday, Lucas approached the patrol.

“Greetings, I’m here on behalf of Camp Hearth and would like to speak with you about the future of cooperation” Lucas said, words coming out of his mouths sounding pretty stupid and sleazy to him. Repressing that thought, Lucas focused on the people in front of him, trying to gauge their reaction. Seeing their gaze was intense, Lucas guessed they were trying to identify him, so he decided to give them a little help, releasing his aura. Satisfied to see a shudder spreading through the guards, Lucas watched as one of the men took a step forward.

“We are not interested” the man spoke, his voice carrying a warning.

“I’m afraid I have to insist” Lucas spoke, his excessive politeness grating him. He steadied himself, knowing that this wasn’t unexpected.

In response, the guards drew their weapons, forcing Lucas to once again unleash his aura, this time not holding back. Pure terror started spreading through the guards, but to their credit, they quickly managed to get themselves under control.

“We are not taking visitors, so leave or we will make you” the man in front of Lucas once again spoke. In response, Lucas drew his falchion, certain that the time for talk was finally over.

“Last warning, stand down” he simply said, but instead of the response, a lighting came his way, slamming into is armor and mildly shocking Lucas.

“You take 101 points of damage”

As the other guards started charging, a dozen or so arrows flew over the Lucas’s head, Maggie and Chen making them panic a little bit, which allowed Lucas to activate his “Aura severing” finding the aura of the guard in front of him and severing it. The man screamed and fell down to his knees, Lucas already chaining “Blade Spin” and “Inflict poison” and launching his falchion towards the mass of guards. Panicking, they have tried to avoid it, but his skill made his blade relentless in their pursuit and one by one, three guards managed to be hit by it, falchion injecting them with poison that continued to hurt them. Raising his hand, Lucas grabbed his sword from the air and started running, letting his passive build up his speed. Another lighting was fired at him, but his extreme speed meant that the poor lighting wielder stood no chance of hitting him. Lucas veered his course, running at neck – breaking speed at the caster that stood behind enemy lines, activating “Guiding strike” as he approached. His hand automatically went for the throat, but with his momentum, Lucas managed to decapitate his opponent fully.

Flaring his Agility, he somersaulted backwards, landing behind mass of guards. He managed to notice two of them were already on the ground, arrows poking from them before he once again activated “Blade Spin”, chaining it with “Inflict poison”. The falchion left his hand, but this time, Lucas didn’t statically waited for him to arrive, instead opting to start running. After the falchion did his thing and surprised Lucas with the notification about a kill he didn’t expect, he steered himself towards the sword and grabbed it from the air, his speed making him almost teleport on the battlefield. Finding his next mark, Lucas activated “Infused piledriver” with devastating results. Instead of stopping after his falchion shredded flesh, momentum continued carrying Lucas, his whole body going through the unfortunate man. Adrenaline pumping through his vein, he stood up, only then realizing the horror scene he just made. Pieces of flesh and organs were stuck on Lucas who was also completely covered in blood, while the blood curling screams ragged within his earshot. His victim was already on the ground, a man sized hole in his body almost sawing him in half. Shocked and disgusted, Lucas stood there frozen, until a System notification brought him back.

“Title awarded: Brutalizer”

The remaining guards were fleeing in terror after the show Lucas made with his last kill, a stroke of luck for Lucas who was still recovering from the shock of the gruesomeness of it. He opened his System mechanically, his brain scrambling to find something to distract itself with, and navigated to the titles submenu, finding his new Title

Brutalizer

Sometimes your enemies need reminding why it is a bad idea to cross your path and you managed to successfully remind them with a brutal act of murder you committed. +1 to all stats

“Dude, you alright” he heard a voice somewhere from his left and recognized Ted, who was waiting apprehensively.

“Yea. Come on, let’s finish this” Lucas absently said, starting to walk towards the village. The rest of his party fell behind him, Lucas vaguely aware the looks they cast on him. The walk through the village resembled a stroll, no one willing to put up any resistance after the terrorized spread the word of Lucas’s deed, the rare individual who was caught in their path immediately falling to its knees and begging for mercy. Lucas ignored all of that as he approached the biggest building in the village, opening its door to find occupants already cowering in fear, only one woman standing in front of some cages.

“My people say you have come to negotiate. We can negotiate” she started speaking, her voice full of terror cracking the brave façade she was putting on.

“Are you in charge here?” Lucas asked, his tone just a bit above a whisper. The woman gulped and tried to run, but before Lucas managed to react, Maggie shot her in the thigh, making her fall on the ground. Lucas activated “Sharpsight” and focused on the woman.

Melissa Stallworth, Fleshcrafter level 31

“Why?” Lucas simply asked, his voice devoid of emotion

“I just did that to become stronger. You certainly understand that” the woman said from the floor, her voice pleading. Her answer prompted the System to gave him another prompt, this time informing him that the quest updated.

Quest “Countryside tour” updated

As it is often the case, the most atrocities are committed when one searches for power and here it was no exception, one individual breaking the long standing alliance for personal gain. Only thing left to discover is the mystery of the village that isolated itself from its peer

“Release the people in those cages” Lucas told his party. before turning to the woman that was the reason for the recent attack and instability in the region.

“Tell your people to gather around” Lucas ordered and woman barked at two nearest guards who went running after the order was given. The crowd was starting to gather and when Lucas was content with the amount of people present, he informed the people why he was here and what he hoped to accomplish.

“I will not force you to do anything, it’s up to you to decide. If you want to keep your current leader, I will negotiate with her. But if you want anything different, now is your chance” Lucas said, finishing his speech. From there, the things proceeded quickly, the inhabitants of the village quickly replacing the woman who put them into this situation with another. Negotiations went even faster, as the new leader was fully aware of the ire their village has brought on itself with their action and glad to accept protection from Camp Hearth. With a quick oath, the System acknowledged the induction of this village to Camp Hearth territory and with that he was one step closer to completing the diplomatic part of this mission, which meant he was one step closer to being free to enter the dungeon and continue working on improving himself.