To everyone’s surprise Kent slept like a baby on the rocking and squeaking wagon for the better part of an hour.

Kent too was surprised when he woke, not by his sleep but by what he saw when he woke up again. Instead of a field of tree stumps and the large cleared-of-trees field that he had expected he was surrounded by forest.

“Do you usually go somewhere else for logging?” Kent asked Nikolas who was standing close by.

“No all this is thanks to Marcus,” Nikolas responded. “We pulled several hundred trees from this area like two weeks ago. But he is able to regrow plants that recently got harvested. Works best with trees though, that’s why he is not in a farming village. Ask him if you want to know more.”

“Either way,” he continued. “Go talk to Estes on how you want to take care of guard duty. I’ve got trees to fell.”

Following the advice, Kent got up from the cart and looked for the other man. He knew they had just arrived, because he woke them moment the wagon stopped, but Estes who he had seen moments before was nowhere to be seen. Everyone else was already approaching different trees and just a few moments after arriving he could hear the first axe begin impacting wood. It took some time for Kent to localize Estes, who came striding back towards the group from in between the woods.

Ah, makes sense. Working with an empty bladder sure is going to come in handy. Were his first thoughts and he was about to follow the mans genious. Working with an empty bladder was bound to be better.

But as he made his way off the wagon and towards where the man came from, the guard started speaking loudly.

“Two drop-pigs level eighteen and twenty-one. No surprises, and don’t smell any others close by. But you know the deal. Haven’t seen any turrls yet so we are good to go I’d say.”

Kent just stared at the level fifty-three ‘Insightful Beheader’.

How has he already come to such a conclusion; we have been here for barely half a minute. And killed two drop-pigs… There was a real chance that the man was being honest though. That sort of speed was just bonkers from Kent’s perspective. Sure, he could do the same, but not in such a time frame. That just begged the question. Core skills or Trait?

Probably both, I really need to be able to pack a bigger punch.

Kent pulled his hand of the wagon and walked up to Estes. He hadn’t had a proper talk with the man besides introducing himself earlier, so he was surprised when the man spoke first.

“You see that pup. That’s what you should be able to do when you take on a guard duty. Can you do as much?”

“I’m not quite sure. I’m decent against turrls and that’s what I’m here for mainly. I’ve been told that you don’t mash well with them.”

The other man grunted, apparently not happy with the assessment – which Kent realized a bit to late might not be entirely flattering. In fact, it might have even come across as an insult. Any chance of apologizing was halted when the man responded and interrupting someone could very well be perceived as another insult.

“As much as I hate it,” Estes slowed down talking, before coughing into his fist and beginning anew. “They are not wrong. So how about you show me how you can deal with those tree huggers. You versus me, bring everything you’ve got, and we’ll do some light sparring. If you turn out to not be a disappointment, I might even teach you a thing or two.”

Mulling the offer over he saw no reason to reject the offer. While Estes, apparent by the axe on his shoulder, wasn’t a knife or dagger fighter he would offer Kent a chance to experience fighting humans for real.

And with a bit of luck, he could test one of the applications he had thought of for Accelerate Metal. Well, maybe with a lot of luck, he corrected his internal musings.

Or maybe, if I do it know? But that would defeat the purpose, I’ll try in combat first. With how the skill had grown in the last days, he had noticed more and more of a change. One of the arbitrary restrictions on the skills that had only allowed him to accelerate from his naval region had changed after picking up mosquito and had changed further with every rank after rank five. Now he could choose almost every spot on his body as an anchor point for the skill. Apart from his shin and feet. Something that would be vital for what he had planned.

What Kent thought the most important change would be, was being able to actually choose his eyes as the anchor. Before he had to use his hands in front of his eyes to effectively estimate the trajectory, now it would suffice to place a dagger there and he could still look where he was shooting.

But that wouldn’t help him in this duel. Well, it could, but only if he wanted to show the others all his cards. Which he didn’t. Mainly out of fear of his capabilities becoming know when he was inevitably ousted as a traitless.

Both readied each other, Kent with kitchen knife from home and one of the made from a canteen knife. Admittedly, the latter wouldn’t live for much longer, and the former was also showing drastic signs of wear. And given the worth of his thaumic dagger he wanted to only keep it for emergencies and put less strain on the already damaged blade. An axe sounded like the prime way of destroying what was left of it.

Estes noticed Kent’s poor equipment, based on his disapproving glance.

“One should never neglect their weapons. That’s just inviting them to fail in a crucial moment.”

That was all he did before pulling his axe from his shoulder strap and squaring his feet. Kent meanwhile wondered whether it would be worth responding to that taunt. It really was the best he had been able to do. Once he was in a better financial situation he would be able to afford proper care for them, or maybe first replace them with proper weapons.

“I’ll dull my blade; you won’t have to worry about stabbing me with those things,” the glance he shot at the knives wasn’t making Kent any less self-conscious. “Not that I would expect you to be able to.”

Without any act of warning he charged at Kent. The five steps of distance between them cleared within the blink of an eye and a razor-sharp ax head descending towards Kent’s neck.

At least I’ll know why his class is called beheader now. Was the only thing Kent could think of besides trying to evade.

The steps Kent began taking were too few too late. Yet the impact of the blade on Kent’s neck was barely felt at first. Speaking much for the high control Estes had over his strength and weapon. But instead of stopping his assault the man kept pushing, the blade’s contact beginning to hurt somewhat. A couple of weeks ago he would have certainly been cut from that, Kent figured. Now though it was merely an annoyance.

An expression of disapproval was clear as day on Estes face. Seemingly reluctant he began to speak.

“First, never stand still after being hit. That’s just stupid.”

“Furthermore, you use daggers right,” it wasn’t a question at all and Kent could see a lecture incoming.

“You gotta be quicker on your feet. Use the strength and agility you get from your levels and class to move,” Kent could already tell that the other was winding up for some long winded speech on utilizing his stats – stats he didn’t possess in the first place – properly. That was bound to be annoying.

“Ah dung. Please tell me you aren’t one of those dullies that puts nothing into senses and mind. All your physical might does nothing for you, if you are lacking in comprehension and reaction. And now, with your class affirming that… you are screwed… Great. This is pointless.”

Estes was already walking away, when Kent had understood everything the ax wielder had said.

“No, wait a moment,” he yelled. “I just wasn’t ready yet. I’d like to try again. And I do get stats in mind and senses. In a way that’s my problem. It’s not my mental attributes that are lacking. It’s my physical.”

There was some truth to that. The skills commonly associated with the mental aspect were Mind and Senses and he did gain some mind with each level. Which was more than the zero total he gained per level in his physicals, Agility and Strength. He also gained some of the vital stats, Vitality, Toughness, and Endurance, but those weren’t relevant until time actually passed in combat.

“Why are you using daggers or knives or whatever then? You need to switch your weapon if you still can. Hammers work good with strength, axes too, though they have a few downsides if you don’t have a proper trait. Wait, did you say you have too much mental and too little physical?”

Kent considered whether he should keep the man talking or just half-explain the situation he was in. He went with half-truths again.

“I don’t get stat points from investing into my Trait stat,” he considered whether he should say as much, but he knew that it was a somewhat uncommon condition. People that had traits that diverged to a large degree from what their parents had were common, and those afflicted by such a disadvantage were a large part of that group. Those would need a few generations until they would offer the bonus allocation into Trait other traits gave.

“Ah shit. I didn’t think of that kiddo. Alright, we will see if we can hammer your skill into shape. How about that. But you’ll have to tell me how you are planning to fight against the turrls, and you should tell me what your stat allocation is.”

But as Estes talked, stumbled on the last words.

“Wait, you said you’ve got you mentals right. And you can withstand the turrls well. Is it because of you mind? In the systems name boy, how high is your mind?”

“It isn’t. It’s well sort of just what I’m good at I guess,” Kent responded. Trying to not give away that he was actually a magic user. While not rare, they were often on the weaker side, due to the scaling that magic and willpower had on mana pool size and mana regeneration.

Kent considered what he should tell the man. He would display his vitals and mental attributes a bit lower than what they were in truth but stay somewhat close to the truth and give a value between the base gain and the effective gain.

“My Vitality is decent; I gain three per level. Then there is two in Endurance, two Mind, one into trait, and also one willpower,” Kent claimed. Throwing the last one in there because it was his highest stat, so not including it felt like an even worse lie. Though the trait part was just a blatant lie.

“Depths boy. What sort of messed up allocation is that. Only supportive attributes? That’s a bummer. You need to find yourself a good niche boy. Because guard duty is not what you are made for. Nine without trait harmonization is pretty good though.”

But contrary to what Kent expected, Estes was now again interested in at least helping him a bit with combat. The man claimed that any sort of training didn’t phase him any longer, and he could keep going for a good while, so there was no danger to the work crew. Apparently it was a decently enough distraction from the monotony of guard duty. The man poked a bit about Kent’s skills, and he made something up which he felt was fairly reasonable and he could display well enough.

He sold his trait as an affinity that crossed Daggers and Metallic Insight. He had taken all the skills those trees offered, two each he claimed. And was now waiting to rank one of the associated skills up to ten so he could gain access to the core tier skills.

His trait he claimed was the ability to softly push metallic weapons away from him, if he had previously been in contact with those. Something that Accelerate Metal allowed for.

It was a persona he liked. It was an interesting and unique skill set that would work decently well with a pure dagger combat style. He explained his trait as though developing into being able to push projectiles away and slowly Estes came around. Going as far as saying he could see an application or two for his abilities.

The one he was most excited about was a sort of bodyguard for a single person. With a high enough level, the man claimed Kent would be able to make anyone with him basically immune to metal projectiles.

The man was uncannily sure that Kent would unlock a skill that would allow for the detection of metallic objects around him. A skill he already had but not told the man off. Small things like that really impressed Kent and made him wonder what the man would recommend for Kent’s real build.

But telling the man more would be silly and just asking for trouble.

How the overarching theme of daggers fit in Estes couldn’t say though. But that didn’t surprise neither of the two much for different reasons.

Estes said it was instances like these where some traits just didn’t make much sense and that Kent should be happy that he ended up with something remotely useful instead of extra toes or a different haircolor.

Kent on the other hand knew why he had access to daggers. He had chosen the tree because it was what he had available at the time. Stamina and knives. And if he was honest the final skill of the foundational trees still called him. But there was no point in telling Estes that.

Occasionally Estes had to abandon Kent to quickly dispose of monsters that were approaching. And occasionally he instructed Kent to fight incoming turrls. The noise they were making was apparently an agitating factor for monsters. Combined with the high energy density of some of the crews’ members it attracted monsters to act even during the day.