-... Urg… Why does my head hurt so much…

'Sunlight shone strongly from one of the windows in the room.'

'I looked around and saw that I was now in a run-down house, the wood was old and I could hear creaking from time to time.'

'The bed was as hard as rock, but some sort of plant was below a mattress and this seemed to be enough to not make my back ache.'

-Is this it?... So I really came into another world…

Deep breaths, calm down me, I know you are better than this...

What do I do now?

I should investigate my surroundings first

‘I noticed a bowl filled with water on the corner so I decided to wash my face’

‘But I almost fell on the ground because my legs gave in mid way’

-What the…

And then I noticed…

-I look like a fucking twig of a man!

Jesus!

-This arm… What happened?

My arm was so skinny... It looked pure bone!

If this was an RPG people would think I am some sort of necromancer! Even more when I am wearing this robe!

I quickly went to take a look at the water.

My face was…

-My appearance is… Not bad at all! I would even say I am slightly more handsome than before.

If only I wasn't a twig…

[Synchronization has been successful]

?!

[Jonathan Miranda has fused with his character Jonathan Asmoste]

[Due to some effects, you will have to choose which of the characters skills to keep]

What?... So my “character” also has skills… I thought as much. If after all of that backstory development, this guy didn't even have a Skill...

[You can either choose a Trait or choose 3 skills]

[Some skills are not listed due to the incompatibility]

[Hardworker

Photographic memory

Weak bones and muscles

Comprehension Lv2

Sleep resistance Lv4

Bookworm Lv6

Enhanced memory Lv3

Horse riding Lv0

Dark sight Lv2

Fast writing Lv7

]

Is this all?... This guy was truly focused on his books… Although it was me who did that…

If I am not mistaken, the first three options must be Traits because they don't have levels… That's only an assumption...

From the skills, the ones I liked the most were comprehension and enhanced memory. They are even leveled already.

The others are kind of meh… Dark sight isn't what you think, it's just a skill to see better in the dark, you still need some sort of light.

Bookworm increases your reading speed because it makes you capable of focusing more on books.

-But those first two Traits…

Hardworking and Photographic memory… Those are some good perks…

To be able to be motivated to do most tasks and to have Photographic memory…

If only I could choose both.

…

'I stayed there for a good minute considering my options'

I have made my decision

-I want the Photographic memory Trait

[A choice has been made]

[Synchronization has been completed]

[You may check your Status anytime]

And how the fuck do I do that? Let's go with the obvious choice

-Status?

[DING]

[Jonathan Asmoste, 22 years old > Human

Tier-1 Scholar

Traits:

Photographic memory

Lucky

Focused

Skills:

Communion Lv0

Influence Lv0

Command Lv0

Investigation Lv1

Handcraft Lv3

Analyze Lv2

Medicine Lv 2

]

-WOW!

So these are…

What is that? Those skills and Trait. Where did they come from?

The first three Skills and two Traits are obvious since they were my choices but the rest...

Even Analyze appeared…

'It was then that I remembered what I read a few minutes ago'

“Your intellect has received the praise of your tutor. You can analyze other people's conditions”

Perhaps Analyze came from there. But the rest…

From my past life?... But only two skills and a Trait…

How pitiful was I?

Investigation probably came from the time when I was searching for the truth behind my parent's death. And Handicraft…

From playing video games?

Some Pc games do require a fast hand… And considering I played for pretty much all of life…

I think it is also because of the Class, it said I would gain some proficiency in several arts like Map making...

And medicine was said to come with the Class… Is this even a Class?

-I need to calm my head down...

I think the Status issue is settled.

What do I do now?

/Creeek/

‘As if waiting for me to think that, the door into my room opened’

-... Village Elder?! You woke up!

‘It was an old man with a curved back. He was carrying a plate with some bandages on top of it.’

-Is your head fine? Does it hurt?

My head?

Now that you said that…

‘I placed my hand on my head and...’

-Ouch!.. It doesn't hurt much but…

-That's good! You scared us when that brick fell on your head. When you lost consciousness, we actually thought…

‘The old man looked serious for a moment’

-Wait wait wait… First thing first… What was your name again?

‘The old man seemed stunned’

-Could it be, you forgot my name?... Oh no… Memory loss.

-Wait, old man! I am fine I swear!

-Hum… Do you still remember your name?

-Yes! It's Jonathan Asmoste!

-Your age?

-22!

-Where you are?

-I… Don't.

-... It's not so serious… But it would be bad if others discovered that you lost your memory, things were finally looking promissing…

-I will give you a quick explanation in the hopes you remember some things okay?

‘I nodded'

…

After 15 minutes, the old man stopped talking in order to recover his breath.

As for me, I was pensive.

Long story short, I was in Guepas Vilage, somewhere in the extreme North of the Barony of Carcas. A territory that is also located in the extreme North of the Human Kingdom of Braplidas.

(Prety much, the kingdom is divided into multiple Barony's and each Barony is dived into multiple zones, you will see the name soon)

This village used to be fairly successful 60 years ago, with over 2000 inhabitants. But 40 years ago, the previous Elder took power after the “disappearance” of the other Elder.

What is a village Elder? Kinda like a mayor of a town.

Back to this guy.

At the start, he led the village well, but in the middle of his rule, he suddenly changed.

For over 30 years, he slowly led the village to ruin, exploiting them to the last bone.

But why wasn't he stopped, you ask me? After all, there were 2000 villagers! They could have done something to stop him.

There was a big problem with this Elder, one that measly villagers couldn't hope to match... He had the backing of the lord of this region

The Carcass territory is divided into many smaller areas, called Lordoms, and we are currently in the Lordom of Tarta.

So it's obvious what happened, the lord of Tarta was supporting the Elder… He was unstoppable.

And for 30 years he continued his reign of terror as the once rich village became nothing but a trash heap with less than 30 inhabitants.

Although according to the Elder, things were pretty decent until 12 or so years ago. At that moment the Elder completely went mad. He increased the Tax and did many suspicious choices.

It was as if he didn't care about this place anymore at all! Something that didn't make any sense, the village produced a lot of riches to the Lord, why utilize such suicidal management?

In the end, the Lord abandoned this place.

As for why he left. Simple in fact. The Lord saw that this place wasn't as lucrative as before and took the Elder away, probably to live in another village.

Although the reasons might actually be another, the Lord of Tarta is as expected, very old, and it was already time to pass the territory to his son. Or even Grandson.

So he might have taken the previous Elder to introduce him to his son? This is pure speculation though.

This doesn't matter anymore. The problem is that I am here now.

Why… Why of all places in the world, I was sent here of all places. To the extreme North of the kingdom, so far away from home, to an abandoned place?!

How many villages are there? Thousands! And I was sent to this God-forsaken land!

Even if I somehow lift this place up… Isn't the Lord going to mess with me?

Unless he dies of old age, but that is unlikely.

The rest of what the old man told me was quite eye-opening.

This world didn't have only Humans, it also had other races. Although they were rather legendary for this village folk that never left their village.

There are also monsters. From their descriptions, they seem like the usual RPG monsters with some caviar of course.

Just because Richard told me there was this green-skinned humanoid beast, I cant affirm they are the Goblins and Orcs I knew off.

Although the old man explained as if they were abhorrent beasts.

As a matter of fact, his name was Richard.

-Oh! I almost forgot!

‘He took out a scroll from his back’

How did you forget such a big scroll old man? Where did you take that from?

-This is the certificate that identifies you as this Village’s Elder.

-Oh… Thank you.

[DING]

[***** Has detected a territory under you.]

[***** Is activating]

What?!

[Territory: Guepas Village (Decaying) (Poor) (Old)

Tier-0 (5) Village

Number of Habitants: 30 (+)

Average happiness: 3

Reputation: 20

Wealth: 0

...

]

A large window appeared in front of my eyes.

But before I could read what it contained…

-Richard, can you fetch me some water? I need time to think over this situation a little.

-Of course Elder.

-Richard, you are my senior. There is no need to be so respectful.

-Hohoho… You are a kind young man. I shall do as such. But only in private. The Title of Elder carries a lot of importance to us villagers. If they see me calling you by your name in public your authority may be challenged.

Authority? Who would have the time to bother with such trivial things?...

But I guess it isn't a problem. Gonna have to get used to being called Elder though.

/Clack/

When Richard closed the door I diverted my attention back towards the window tab.

-... The condition of this village is really poor…

“(Decaying) (Poor) (Old)” referred to the overall condition of the village.

I don't know what Tier means, but as you could see, the value was currently 0 (5). Meaning that at its peak, this was a Tier-5 village, but it's condition is so pitiful that it was demoted to a Tier-0.

‘I decided to click on the “+” Icon, and a long list of names appeared.’

-This is the list of inhabitants…

20 Adults, 6 children and 4 old people.

In this world, one reaches adulthood when they are 16 years old, in some cases it's even earlier.

-But the window is using 18 years as a base for adulthood… Why? Because of me? This is the only conclusion I can come up with.

The youngest adults are a pair of 18 year old guys, while there is one 17 year old that is called a kid by the system.

I clicked one of the names on the list.

It was Richard’s name.

[Richard, 62 Years old > Human

Tier-1 Doctor

]

And that was all.

-So I can't see their Skills… I wonder why.

(I will not play with Stats, I will develop this later on)

-Happiness is something like Morale and satisfaction…

If the villagers aren't happy will they rebel?

Rebel against what? Me? Isn't that only going to worsen their situation?

Although I guess they wouldn't need to resort to that if I am managing things well...

There is no information…

Reputation is pretty self-explanatory, it's how the people see me. Different people have different happiness and reputation levels.

-But it's a pain going through each person… I should stick with the average shown in the System tab.

System? I ended up calling it that out of habit from my gaming days... I will call it that I guess.

And wealth… Are we really that poor? 0? Come on…

No, this is impossible. There must be some money in the village, it's just that it isn't being counted.

And this is all…

-What do to…