It had been a few days since Nathan had first entered The Tower. He had made good progress both on his journey and on his attributes, reaching the limit of his growth in the forest itself, which put his stats in the mid-twenties. He had long since found the token needed to enter the lower levels, the nuclei of a green slime, but wanted to get to Poland before he entered. His current location was somewhere in south-eastern Czechia. He had seen a fair share of dilapidated municipalities and structures on his way, however what currently filled his sight seemed well maintained. Fields of neatly arranged grapevines in full bloom stretched out in front of him. Never having seen anything like this he was curious, but somewhat reluctant to explore, looking around to see if anyone were around. There were none. This should be a vineyard right? He asked himself, trying to recall what he knew. Cultivating crops and raising animals on old land was still necessary, despite the risks involved. Normal people needed to eat, there was no way around this. With guidelines being taught for escaping the mistlands, and warnings being issued in the surrounding areas should it or any wandering monster appear, some people began feeling safe living in more rural areas again. Should they so choose these people would be granted land to cultivate, and houses to live in along it. There was a need to restructure the production of food. Major deforestations projects took place for areas to grow crops and for animals to graze. However something else that took a major hit was the production of luxury goods, this received even more support as luxuries and culture was the true worth that the people could provide to attract awakened. Quality alcohol in particular. This was the origin of the Cultural Heritage Center, where people of specialized skills and knowledge could apply for grants and resources to continue their craft. Inside or outside of the cities if necessary. ~ Walking through the fields, Nathan eventually came upon a few houses, being lost in thought he only noticed a commotion going on when he got close. He was about to run away when he remembered his grandpa once talking about a certain group of awakened, that would roam outside the cities of earth, raiding places of production for things they couldn't get in The Tower. He had been told they particularly liked alcohol. The man who named himself Dragonsbane had a bad habit of talking to great lengths of his own accomplishments, something Nathan used to enjoy once upon a time. Subduing bandits were one of Walter's many topics, claiming it to be a moral obligation of the righteous to stop the wicked. To Nathan the most wicked person he ever met was his grandpa and the training regiment that he put him through, still his curiosity was piqued. The more rampant the bandits the sooner they got caught. As such anyone in the trade were either the truly skilled in keeping hidden, or freshly awakened who had yet to advance past the first floor. Considering the commotion up ahead, Nathan assumed they were of the latter. Wanting to take a closer look he began scouting from behind the grapevines, looking to see if there was any activity through the windows of the house closest to him. Confirming there was none, he moved in close to the wall, peeking around the corner. There was a small town square laid in cobblestone up ahead, with two distinct groups of people. One group on their knees, with their hands tied behind their backs. The other moving about with crates, loading a vehicle while spouting obscenities through their masks. Their language was new to Nathan. Upon awakening you get a sort of auto-translation. As long as you have a basis for the medium of communication, you will understand any language. Spoken language, written language, sign language or even forms braille will all be understood, as long as you have the foundation of the medium itself. That doesn't mean you can speak in any language however, only understand them. Every language, accent or dialect has a distinct 'feel' to them. The way these people spoke felt new to him. He spotted five bandits, observing the way they handled themselves from posture to vigilance, he felt they were complete amateurs. In pure capability he was confident he could beat them in a straight fight, however without knowing of their exact stats and abilities his approach would have to be different. No longer peeking, he looked around his side of the house, there was a tool shed, a plan formed. Picking up a rock, he threw it at one of the windows of the house, shattering it. The commotion naturally drew their attention. One set of footsteps came his way as he hid behind the shed. He had frozen the door of the shed with momentum, waiting for his target to pass the corner to release it, baiting him inside. Non-magical objects outside The Tower had a negligible mana cost for him. One step, two steps, Nathan counted in his mind, waiting for the right moment to release, and as he did the person clearly took notice, walking into the shed. Nathan snuck around to the entrance, not making a sound as he moved behind the man. Activating Temporal Freeze, he swiftly struck him in the back of the head with a rock, repeatedly. Nathan knew in his heart he would have to kill the man to hide the nature of his ability if he didn't faint, something he felt reluctant to do. However with a thump the man fell to the floor, much to Nathan's relief. Before anyone else got there, Nathan hid in the vineyard while carrying the man with him. He didn't have anything he felt confident could restrain the bandit, and was worried he might wake up sooner than expected. He was familiar with his own anatomy, having had nearly every piece of himself cut or broken in some way. Using this knowledge he cut through the man's tendons and ligaments, rendering him unable to move without surgical or magical intervention. He also gagged the man with the fabric of their own clothes. It didn't take long for the other bandits to take note of their companion not returning, this time two more moved out. Nathan had 19/25 mana left, each point the equivalent to 1 second of holding for a target of the same floor rank as him. The recovery rate was slow, more so outside of The Tower. If he were to ration it, he would have less than 5 seconds of holding per remaining bandit. Unless he could split them up, he would have to take both of the new entrants down in that time if he were to freeze them both. Luckily they did it for him, one approaching the vineyard, while the other searched around the house. Spotting a familiar foot among the grapes, the bandit walked up to confirm the owner, only to meet the same fate as his companion. When the other one could no longer see his friend in the fields, he realized something was up. Shouting towards the remaining two, they gathered up once again. Nathan was spying on them from the bushes, not picking up on much other than the one gesturing towards the vineyard. Soon they walked towards it together. Feeling tense, Nathan genuinely wondered if he should just kill them, but his unwillingness to do so still hadn't left him. However before he could come to a decision something strange happened. A gaggle of geese approached, with a woman leading the herd, they should be the vineyard's bug eating brigade. An awkward stare-down happened between hundreds of geese and the 3 bandits. For a moment only quacks could be heard in the area, the people mute. One of the bandits looked to the others, sharing a few words before walking towards the woman. They didn't think she was likely to be responsible due to her lack of subtlety. As such one of them would 'kindly' inform her of the situation before bringing her to the other captives, geese and all it would seem. The other two shared a knowing smile before continuing their search. As one of the remaining bandits came closer, Nathan felt sweat dripping down his forehead. His situation had improved but the pressure was still high. Taking his chances that the one further away wasn't looking, Nathan went in for the takedown on the other. Tackling him down in the fields, he got busy 'restructuring' the now frozen bandit's skull. #uddenly he felt a strong gust wind overhead, before the grapevines fell down all together having been cut in the middle. The bandit knew. Nathan didn't know how much he knew, but he clearly saw something and had cast a wind related ability in his direction. However before the bandit managed to find whatever hid in the field a gunshot was heard. The captives must have broken loose of their restraints and fetched a weapon, the bandit was unsure of what to do. He had only seen his friend seemingly collapse into the now flat foliage before he acted, he knew it wouldn't kill his friend but wanted a reaction from whatever had targetted them, to little effect. He was now officially spooked. He wanted to leave quickly, as if abandoning the others to their fate he took off in a sprint towards his goose occupied friend, only to share their fate. Nathan felt a sense of genuine relief more so than accomplishment, having somehow successfully dealt with the four of them. He was unsure how strong the wind attack was, but the fact was it could have been deadly, a thought that filled him with dread. He got careless at the end. ~ While guns weren't wildly effective against awakened or monsters due to the magic permeating their bodies, at lower ranks it could still do some damage. Aside from a good hit in the eye, penetrating to the brain, it would be hard to kill one. However it was still possible to subdue them with enough body shots. Only materials of magical properties themselves could bypass this, and guns made of such things were rare due to the scarcity of materials, and the wasteful nature of bullets. Peeking back at the square, Nathan saw that the farmers had the situation under control. Secretly taking a bottle or two of wine as a reward, he left without revealing himself. Adults liked this stuff right?