“How could Foxy even figure out I’m a Traveller within minutes?” after all the new revelations, Prof started to have suspicions.

“First of all, she was actively looking for you, there should be a compass or such in her stuff, pointing at you. Secondly, you don't look like a local. I doubt, an Elf would be able to tell the differences, but you definitely don't look like a Bergian, Gerulian, or Halitchian. That would be a clue in and itself, but your original clothes, armor, and weapons all screamed not-a-local too. I don't even know, which style they are, and I know my clothes! All that, and she must have been almost certain you were a Traveller when she found you in the vague area she was looking for a Traveller. Looking at your Character Parchment… Well, you either grew up in a cave or were a Traveller."

“What is the problem with my Skills, that everyone assumes, I grew up in a cave?!" Prof was frustrated. He has read that crap pile of Rulebook and gave a lot of tough about his Skills! Even so, almost everyone ridiculed him!

“It is obvious, you don’t have a clue. Foxy told me, that you weren’t aware of the most basic things, but look at your Character Parchment! Your Stats are suspiciously good! Three Stats at eighteen? No normal Elite has that many, while every other Stat is at least an eleven. Look at my Stats! Here. I have two high Stats, and both Endurance and Vitality got a rise after I became a Vampire! Foxy had three, but as an Elf, she got a bonus to Agility and Perception. If I’m not mistaken, she somehow even cheated the System in her youth.”

“Look at your Perks. True, having a lot of well-thought-out positive Perks without really hard negative ones isn't impossible to accomplish, but it is extremely rare. Munchkin especially is a Perk very few people would choose or get for free in the beginning. It is too expensive for just one Level. Ah, and Levels… You are too old for your Level. With your Skills, you should be much higher Level already, or you would be some pampered snob, which you are definitely not."

“Your Skills? Even now, at Level 5, with that absurd quantity of Skill Points, a lot of Skills, everyone would have at a decent level, are so low, you would be hard-pressed to function in everyday life. It is obvious, that you haven't spent Skill Points on them, and neither have you trained them. A twenty-two years old guy can be expected to have had some training or lessons in a lot of Skills. Even pampered snobs. It's called life experience!"

“You are obviously a melee-type. Or you try to be. Look at those melee Skills! Your [Axes] are fantastic, but that it is. A little bit of [Knives] and [Hand-to-Hand Combat] but [Blunt Weapons], [Swords], [Polearms], [Shields], and all the others are all at the base value. They are relatively high for a base value, but it is obvious, you haven't put Skill Points into them, nor have you had training in them. No one does that. Look at my Character Parchment! I'm not a melee type, but use a crossbow primarily, and I have put more effort into my secondary melee-Skills than you! Before the ritual and me losing a lot of progress, all of my melee-Skills were well over 100%!"

“[Evade]?! Who put you up with that?!? In and itself it isn't even a bad choice, but it is always combined with [Acrobatics], you can get much more out of it that way. Even then, focusing exclusively on only one of the defending Skills is a very bad idea. The common wisdom is to have the other two, in your case [Parry] and [Block], at least at half the value of the best one. What did you do instead? Ignored both completely!"

“[Evade] is somewhat useful against monsters and animals, but as soon as you have to fight in narrow space, you are dead. If you fight against people, having only [Evade] makes you dead. I saw you fighting, you squander a lot of energy to evade, losing out chances to counter-attack. With [Parry] and [Block] at any useful Level you would be much better. You have two weapons, for the System’s sake! On your own, you would be dead within the week!”

Well, that was cruel. Prof was torn down in every way possible. He prided himself on being smart for taking so much time and thought to build his new self, read that piece of Rulebook from cover to cover, made notes, and did calculations, and still. The first person to give him an honest (and Cruel) evaluation practically told him, he was an utter moron (or maybe an Utter Moron?) and despite his study had not the faintest idea how Arcadia’s System worked.

Worse, he just spent all his Skill Points in a pre-planned way, and now he had to wait till the next Level to remedy his mistakes. Getting training while slogging through the Valley was probably out of the question.

Prof did some calculations. Both [Parry] and [Block] were at 24%, in order to get them to around 100%, he would need 76 Skill Points each, so one and a half Levels just for those two. For the other melee-Skill, he would need two Levels, at least. Plus a Level or two for “utility” Skills. Bye-bye [Art: Drawing] and [Art: Painting]!

Prof didn't believe in minmaxing, to begin with (although it could be said, he kind of did it when he reinvented himself, but hard, smelly work? No thank you), and the reality of Arkadia didn't lend itself for that time-proven practice at large. Some kind of generalizing was a must, there were simply too many Skills one would need to survive. Prof already had problems with butchering the Dire Bear back when he met Foxy, he had serious problems preparing a meal on the road, he wouldn't even know a trap if it hit him in the face, science, culture, and all the little things one takes as granted… Everything worked with Skills, and obviously, it was recommended to have most "utility" Skills above 80%.

Of course, he could make himself a true, specialized melee fighter with the corresponding Skills at 300-400%, but only by neglecting almost everything else. And finding a mender or servants to do everything else.

Was Prof an idiot?

Maybe.

However, he was not prepared to live his life while everyone considered him a country bumpkin, who grew up in a cave or have to pay a small army of servants to tie his boots.

Mostly, he did not want to pay others to do things he probably could do himself.

Partially, he did not want to look like a country bumpkin.

He also came from a country where every last person was an expert in finances, sports, repairing stuff, driving, laws, cooking, and everything else. Among others.

Getting back on track.

“So, what now?" Prof asked "Should we relocate to the forest? Foxy seemed quite frightened because of the dragonkin ghost and whatnot. We still don't have much in the way of magical weapons we can use!"

“It shouldn’t be a problem. If there are dragonkin ghosts about, they usually attack only Elves, and those are dead already. If nothing else, I can talk to them. We should be safe.”

Well, what could possibly go wrong, when someone with Irresponsible thinks it will be all right?

“You speak Dragonkin? I didn’t know.”

“Of course, I can't speak Dragonkin! That's a dead language, there are probably only a handful of people who can speak and understand it. I speak the dead language Deadian. Before you ask, that's the language of the dead. Every undead speaks it! If nothing else, we feed the new chick to them as an offering."

Fortunately, the "new chick" was currently going through the other mercenary's stuff and was unaware of Mini's plans. She probably would have been slightly offended for being suggested as an offering or sacrifice. But hey, with Ice Queen and Prude (and the medieval custom of not sleeping around before marriage), she was probably still a virgin – every legend said, virgins were more valuable as sacrifices.

But wait! Technically Prof was, at least on Arkadia, a virgin too! He definitely didn't get lucky while arriving in the new world. Did Earth count?

Probably not…

Well, at least Mini was on the safe side. She spoke Deadian, wasn’t an Elf, had two probably-virgin sacrifices and a Kobold in reserve.

Prof was almost certain, leaving the meadow as soon as possible was a good idea.

“Mini, I think, we should leave before dark nevertheless.” he even articulated his opinion

“Don’t you have confidence in my perfect brilliance?!?”

“Oh, I’m sure, you would be just fine! I’m concerned about the mules and the hornless goats!”

“Fiiiiine… Pack up, we move to just outside the meadow for now. We finally can have that orgy you promised me!” Mini was shouting the last part, making sure, Bianca heard it too.

Prof already had experience with how Mini worked, so he had a distinct suspicion, she did this kind of stuff just to scandalize people. Maybe to get attention? Or because she thought it funny? But who knows, she had a lot of mental issues, and back on Earth, she would have been put into a nice room with very soft walls a long time ago. Or made a career in politics or the corporate world.

But again, she was kind of nobility, and rich people everywhere were excentric at worst, and never crazy.

Here, on Arkadia, crazy was just another entry on the Character Parchment, like Alcoholic, Ice Queen, Lazy, or Idealist. Did anyone care?

Probably not, if you had an angry-looking, high-level Scorpionlizard munching on the remains of the last complainer next to you. Being an irresponsible, Sociopath was probably in the job description for any Adventurer.

Prof needed to get an overleveled carnivorous mount for himself too. Just to be sure.

Our main character started to stow the spoils into the saddlebags of the salvaged mules, and observed Bianca, doing the same. He wondered, why was he found only female companions – was he somehow the protagonist of a harem story?

No, he wasn’t. I don’t write harem.