Brad and his group had a lot of questions about the different races. Zane and the others could only tell them about the basics. However, the group wasn’t satisfied with the basics. They kept asking more questions that Zane and his party didn’t have the answers to. Eventually Zane had to put his foot down.

“Look I’m sure that you have a lot of questions but we don’t have the time or the ability to give you all the answers.”

“We understand,” Sam said. “We’re thankful for the help you’ve given us so far.”

“I just have one more question,” Brad said. “Is there an evil human race.”

Zane frowned when he heard Brad speak. He thought that Shane was overreacting but that was no longer the case. Zane had lost track of the amount of time he heard Brad or one of his friends say ‘I just have one more question’. Either there was a problem with the system’s ability to translate or this particular group of humans didn’t understand what that phrase meant.

“Yes, there is an evil human race,” Sophie said. “A person can evolve to that race by absorbing evil energy or doing evil acts.”

“That makes sense,” Brad said. “I just have one more question.”

“Nope,” Zane said. “Sorry but were done answering questions. We have been practicing our skills or fighting mana creatures since we left our home. We need time rest and recover. Good night and I suggest that all of you get some rest as well.”

“Do you really need to sleep?” Sam asked. “Originally, I felt terrible when I arrived at your world but I’ve felt energized ever since the mana surge passed. I don’t think I could fall asleep even if I tried.”

“We are taught that sleeping is important no matter how strong you become,” Shane said. “If you go without sleep for a long period of time it will affect your ability to move, think and recover energy.”

“Do you know how long we can stay awake for?”

“No clue. It varies based on your stats, skills and how active you are. I remember when I was ten my parents told me I could stay up for the night but I had to stay awake all week. I had fun the first three days but quickly lost energy after that. I felt so tired and wanted to sleep by the end of the fourth day but my parents forced me to stay awake. It was torture.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Sophie said. “It was important for us to recognize exhaustion and appreciate the benefits that sleep brought.”

“Teacher said that you can unlock a skill that deals with sleeping,” Zane said. “If you improve the skill to a high level, it could improve your health recovery and your stats.

“Really?!” Everyone including Zane’s party was surprised to hear this information.

“Can you show us how to learn that skill?” Brad asked.

“No,” Zane said. “I haven’t unlocked the skill for myself so I definitely won’t be able to teach you it. But I can teach you another skill. Have you learned the meditation skill?”

After receiving a no from Brad and his friends Zane excitedly began to teach them the meditation skill. His instruction was similar to what he gave Tianna’s group. He told them the benefits of the skill and that they should keep practicing until they learn it. If they were having trouble learning the skill, Zane suggested they use some of their stamina and mana. The loss of energy would improve their ability to focus on recovering and entering a meditative sate.

“Good job Zane,” Shane said mentally. “I never would have thought to use this method to shut them up.”

“I only thought of it because I taught this skill to another group of humans,” Zane replied. “Plus, it still took them asking to learn a skill for me to realize I could use this method. Alright, let’s head up and get some rest.”

“Shouldn’t one of us stay down here to watch over them,” Shane said.

“I got them to stop asking us questions. I think that should disqualify me.”

“I think I should get some rest,” Sophie said. “I’ve worked my mind a lot while I practiced magic here and at the training grounds.”

“Luna and I came back to relax,” Lana said.

“No way you’re not leaving me down here again,” Shane started to protest.

Before Shane could complain further Shawn offered to stay down. He said that he didn’t mind where he rested. It was fine as long as he would be able to connect to the tree. Everyone else climbed up the rope and entered the shelter.

When Zane entered the shelter, he noticed that he could feel the increase in the density of mana. He already saw that the shelter had increased in size and he thought that was the only changes that were made. Jason explained that he created this with the help of Sophie and Shawn. Given enough time the shelter would turn into a decent recovery area.

“I can finally relax,” Shane sighed. He took a small mattress and laid down.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Sophie said. “Although it was tiring to answer all their questions it was also fun to see how interested they were about everything.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“It was annoying but I think it’s good to give some advice to the humans from other worlds,” Zane said. “Anyways we were able to earn some village points from them so it wasn’t too bad. How much points did you charge them?” Zane waited in silence for a few second before he asked his second question. “You did charge them points right?”

“We were focused on keeping them away from the shelter,” Sophie said. “We wanted Shane to convince them to leave.”

“After watching Shane repeatedly and hilariously fail to get them to leave we went down to talk to them,” Jason said. “Honestly it never crossed our minds to ask for points.”

“I knew you guys were watching me suffer,” Shane said.

“It’s not a big deal,” Zane said. “It’s good to help people without asking for anything in return. I already told you about the group of humans that I helped before. I’m sure that all of them experienced difficulties before they arrived beneath our shelter.”

“They did say they had trouble,” Sophie replied. “It was easy for them during the day but they struggled to deal with the mana creatures when night arrived. They spent most of their time hiding and sneaking around.”

“The humans from the other worlds seem strong and weak,” Jason said “There is a human like Old Saber who’s very skilled and then you have humans that are similar to the group we just left. There is no normal standard to judge them by.”

“That can apply to us as well,” Sophie said with pride. “Nobody would expect us to be as strong as we are based on our backgrounds.”

“Our group is a lot better than average. This would be true even if a talented mage like myself wasn’t here.”

“The strength of the humans from other worlds is difficult to judge,” Zane said. “It actually makes me want to visit their world and see what it’s like. For now, I think we should remain cautious but helpful to all humans we meet. We can offer them advice for free but if they start to annoy us with questions then we can start charging them points.”

“I’m in favor of that plan,” Shane said.

Zane and the others continued to talk for a little while longer before separating. Sophie, Lana and Luna went through a doorway of a newly created wall to a second room. Zane, Shane and Jason each claimed an area on the floor in the first room.

Zane wanted to rest but he had something to do first. Choose a special effect for his skill. Zane’s repeated use of the warrior steps skill pushed the skill’s level to twenty-five. Although it was unexpected Zane wasn’t too surprised. Originally, he thought the next skill that would reach level twenty-five was his Basic Spear Mastery skill. After the battle with the elves, the skill had reached twenty-four and was close to reaching the next level.

The system presented Zane with another three choices to choose from. The first option would gradually increase the skills dexterity up to fifty percent as long as he continued running. The second option decreased the cost of the skill to four stamina per second. The final option gave increased the skills dexterity by one hundred percent for five second and could be used every thirty seconds.

The third option was the one Zane thought would be the best for him. When he looked at the first option, he thought it would be useful when he was using the charge skill or when he was relying on his archery skills. The second option would be useful if Zane was very reliant on the warrior steps skill to fight but he wasn’t and he had never used the skill for an entire battle. The third option gave him the greatest increase in dexterity and other than the thirty second wait he could use it at any time.

Skill: Warrior Steps

Level: 25, 0%

Tier: 0

Effect: Increases the user’s dexterity by one point per skill level.

Special Effect: Instant Speed

Cost: 5 stamina per second

Zane spent some time pondering over the effect of the skill. The skill did increase his dexterity but he found out it did a lot more when he was practicing it. Or maybe it didn’t. Zane knew that his speed would increase and he would learn more about the hidden meaning behind the dexterity stat as he leveled up. The skill was a way of showing him what it would feel like in the future when his dexterity increased. At his current level a change of more than twenty points in dexterity was a big deal.

The last thing Zane did before he went to sleep was look at his status. After carefully thinking about his stats Zane decided not to invest any free stat points. He wanted to increase on of his stats by a large amount to see if he could sense the hidden benefits behind it.

Status

Level 19 Exp: 179,512/190,000

Name: Zane

Age:16

Race: Human Ⅱ

Class: Warrior CP: 339

Health (HP):1380 Health Regen (HR): 6.9/min

Stamina (SP):1494/1660 Stamina Regen (SR): 83/min

Mana (MP):999/1110 Mana Regen (MR): 12.0/min

Stats

Strength:150 (+11)

Dexterity:144 (+12)

Endurance:166 (+46)

Vitality:138 (+21)

Intelligence:118 (+3)

Wisdom:111 (+2)

Perception:121 (+2)

Willpower:130 (+10)

Free Stat Points: 26

Talents:

Identify, Skill Visualization

Skills:

Mana Manipulation Lvl 17, Mana Control Lvl 17, Meditation Lvl 15, Basic Shield Mastery Lvl 26, Basic Sword Mastery Lvl 19, Basic Axe Mastery Lvl 11, Basic Mace Mastery Lvl 11, Basic Spear Mastery Lvl 24, Basic Knife Mastery Lvl 15, Basic Whip Mastery Lvl 13, Basic Archery Mastery Lvl 14, Block Lvl 19, Slash Lvl 19, Charge Lvl 10, Cleave Lvl 10, Smash Lvl 9, Pierce Lvl 16, Stab Lvl 17, Lash Lvl 10, Focused Release Lvl 7, Rapid Release Lvl 12, Warrior Steps Lvl 25, Skill Combo Lvl 8, Final Barrier Lvl 4, War Cry Lvl 3, Warrior Courage Lvl 2

Titles

The Chosen Adventurer, Classless Title, Blood-Stained Murderers, Well Trained, Tier One Killer Ⅰ