Apinsig
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Chapter 145 Homesteading in a fantasy world
🕑 Added 2023-01-13 15:02:19 +0000 UTCPOV Salazar Dragontooth
His armour looks quite shoddily made but still decent for a fight except it was not for his power level. There are no enchantments or upgrades and it's made out of just steel, disappointing. The chest piece is interesting probably a design from his world. I put a little more effort into seeing exactly how it's made, and I have to say I kind of like it. The chest gets good defence but it's flexible so it would be a good midway point for heavy and lighter armour.
I am impressed that he has reached the first stage already although why he is trying to hide that I don’t know, I guess I will find out later. I am impressed that he is actually able to hide the specific form of his energy from my sight. Perhaps it’s more meant for combat which if so, is it’s quite brilliant.
I broke my eye contact with him because I didn’t want to seem too creepy and I had an image to keep but I did think that there are some other hidden things but for them, I would need to start using my real power to figure those out. There was something weird with his skin that I can’t quite put my finger on.
As he gets closer his wondering attention is ended when he sharply focuses on Sandra. Then to my surprise, I saw her furrowing her brows which was extremely rare. She breaks contact and looks a little bit towards me and shakes her head. Well, this just got harder. Breaking into his head seems to be beyond her unless I give her permission to go out. What have you got to hide?
I noticed a silence and that helped me figure out that I was too inside my own head. I once again looked straight at him, and he did the same to me. Oh, those eyes are so interesting it feels like they're trying to strip my defences and find out what secrets I hold. I guess it’s time to start. “I am glad you accepted my request. I’m Salazar Dragontooth the current head of adventuring guilt in this part of the world.”
“Pleasure to meet you Salazar Dragontooth I am Rich Dirt a farmer, fighter and sort of village leader.” He said in a casual tone, but it was a bit whimsical towards the end. I have to respect that as I gave a hearty chuckle in return.
“There are a few reasons that I called you here today but one of the important things it's to make sure you're not a danger to this world.” Usually, after those words, they will threaten me, try to run or attack but it seems he didn't do any of those things.
“And how will you be testing me? And I am reasonably certain that it has already started before I enter this camp.” I had to chuckle again even though this time I did try to hold it back. I nodded back to him, and I could see the small smile on his face.
Shit, I wasn’t supposed to like the person I was about to interrogate. “But first of all, my mages will need to run some tests to determine if everything is how it should be.” I got a nod in return, and I indicated for the mages to start.
I was always ready as I watched him go from mage to mage to finish the standardized testing. Sandra also explained why she couldn’t go through his memories. It was quite interesting it seems that he has quite a lot of willpower but also some ability to help him. She would need to spend quite a lot of time or power to get to his mind. It wouldn't matter for now and if needed we will do it later on.
The first huge surprise I got was that his soul was mostly from this world and only a few bits weren’t. I had not expected that. One by one he passed all the tests a bit too well. It's like he is a part of this world and not some other which is weird.
As the hours passed, he didn’t make any complaints about the tests even the one where we need a bit of his blood. I didn’t know what to make of him. One thing was clear his temperament was certainly something that can be accepted it was even beyond excellent but taking that into account perhaps the best way would be to just ask him.
The first problem arises when he reached the mage that was supposed to figure out what classes he has. When the test failed, I moved from my relaxed position into a proper sitting position and released some of my power. I could see everyone even him starting to sweat. Perhaps I went too far, and I stopped it just in case. I didn’t want anyone to start passing out again I do hate that happened.
“Sir he has stopped me from reading his class information.” The mage declared and I looked towards Rich for his explanation. “I would rather not have that as public knowledge, but I would be more than happy to tell you personally.” I acknowledged the calmness in his voice, but I had to think about this before I answered. Class information is important, very important but I can’t verify it myself just isn’t something that I can do. I looked towards Sandra because she could do that.
Usually, I would just start using force right now, but he has been cooperative, and I will take that into account. “My apprentice Sandra can do it when the rest of the tests are completed but if we find something that we do not like. Well, you already know how that will end no matter who does the testing.” The rest of the testing went with a bit more tension in the air.
In the end, he got a clean bill although there were some weird energy readings, but everything was between the parameters. The only thing left now was to take a look at his classes. He approached and I could see a bit of hesitation at least he wasn’t a soulless golem.
He sat in front of my table in one of the two chairs. I gave a nod to Sandra, and she joined him on the other chair and asked for his hand. But before he gave it, he looked around and then turned to me.
Annoying but I could understand if he wanted to keep some secrets. I indicated for everyone else to move out of the tent and when they were gone, I activated the anti-spying enchantments at full power. They were on before but now there was no one around here that could hear what was being said. And I honestly just wanted to do that to piss off the nobles a bit more.
Then she started and soon we got to see his achievement page. Now it wasn’t the full one and no one would accept a full reading but what the spell did was determine if there was anything bad or forbidden and flag those as either red or black otherwise everything else was unreadable except for the classes. He had three slots which was decent. He has an adventuring class that didn’t have a name meaning his making his own. Ha well, I wish him luck with that one.
Well, that’s impressive all epics already. But the only class name familiar to me was heroic soldier but the rest were unknown to me. I looked towards Sandra. “True Archer is a combination class of combat and crafting. I do not know that homesteader class never heard of that one and probably the reason why he didn't want anyone else here.”
And his already 13 I wonder if he got the achievement or if he was too late. “You can stop the spell, Sandra. You have done quite well for yourself Rich, but I will have to question you about that first class you have. Homesteader is a class I have never heard of and if she hasn’t then this class hasn't been recorded. I can now accept your reason for wanting secrecy but you will have to explain about this class and you will have to let Sandra a bit more inside your mind so she could detect if you are lying or not.”
“Before we start, I was hoping that perhaps we could kill two birds with one stone here.” I took a moment to look at Rich after he asked me that. I was of course going to listen him out but I was so going to use that saying, it’s just brilliant.
I nodded to him and I saw him pull out a rabbit foot necklace but I noticed the ring also there. So, he did get to the first rank before turning 13. Well, that meant more paperwork, son of a bitch. I nodded to him. This will take longer than I expected.
“First things first I am guessing you are not willing to submit do a full reading of your mind.” Getting a nod, I had to hold back my annoyance. It would have made everything so much quicker, but I wasn't going to push him too much. “You will still have to accept a surface-level reading while you answer questions and believe me this is necessary because of that ring.”
I could see him wanting to argue but I hold up my hand and express some of my power. “This is just something you have to accept there's no going around it but you have been extremely reasonable so I will explain something. This is done to everyone that reaches a certain power level but usually, it's done later. Because you have reached the first tier so quickly policy and experiences show that it must be done now.”
“This is not something that comes from the kingdoms or the empires it comes from the true power of this world from the people at the very top. A bit of a history lesson to you there used to be a time when we didn't do this and then kingdoms fell on the whims of mad people that had more power than they could handle. It was a terrible time in history and entire races have fallen because of the cruelty committed by these people.”
“Luckily eventually enough people who had common sense were able to come together and start putting order back into this world. There were hiccups along the way but over the millennia mistakes have been fixed and now we have quite a smooth work procedure on how we do things. The main goal is to find mad people, psychopaths and even narcissists if they are too far gone.”
“What we do with these people is eliminate them. Is this cruel, unjust, perhaps but I have come to learn that in this world it is necessary because one person can destroy it all if they get enough power. You might also ask then why would we let anyone else get power why wouldn’t the powerful just sit on top and rule as they please.”
“Well, that’s quite simple we are at war with this planet itself that's constantly trying to kill us. Perhaps that’s not completely true but it just seems like that sometimes but mostly it’s the monsters so powerful that even the strongest amongst us can’t defeat alone.”
“This is why everyone will have a chance at life. A chance to grow strong so they can try to keep our civilization alive. The little games these kingdoms play are just that games. Anyone close to the top can just wipe entire Kingdoms off this planet in just a day.”
“We the adventurer guild are responsible for the management of dungeons and elimination of weaker monsters. While the assassin’s guild deals with the monsters in person form.”
“So do you understand now why this is all necessary? This is the best way we have found to run things.” I looked into his eyes to see what kind of a man he really was and what I saw in them made me relax. While he would kill if it was necessary, he was no madman. I saw him give a proper nod while not taking his eyes off me.
“Good. I do not know what your future plans are but just in case. How attached are you to your land.” I could see hesitation in his eyes for the first time, but I have to explain it to him he has earned this much and I do not want someone else to blindside him.
“You see there is a law that no transmigrator can claim land that their former body owned. This law came into effect after a pretty bad situation where a king of a nation died unexpectedly but his body got taken over. It was a shit show.”
Oh he did not like that but I don’t think I can do anything to help him but I will listen to him. “Well, that’s bullshit, but, fuck give me a moment. What about if the class gives me that land?” He said in quite the angry tone
“If it was new land that you claimed with the class then yes, but everyone can see that the current land you're living on even if it is now tied to a new class it was still officially land that you got from the former body you took over.” I could see him thinking and I let him continue perhaps he will find something
“Do you perhaps have a book where it is explained how someone would be classified as a transmigrator and perhaps the specific law you were speaking of?” Oh, there was so much determination in him, but I can give him at least some hope.
I indicated for Sandra to produce the relevant books. I sat silently as I let him go through the books. Slowly I saw his determination turn into hope and I was interested to find out what he might have figured out.
“Well Salazar I think perhaps I could argue that this land has no relevance in power structure because I could claim the same piece of land with my class so in the end, this wouldn’t affect anything in the long run, but this could be argued against, and I would suspect that I would lose this fight. But I think more interestingly I do not think that I could be classified as a transmigrator.”
I guess he could argue that and perhaps that would be all that is needed but how could you not be a transmigrated? “I do not understand what you mean about not being classified as a transmigrator you are obviously from another world.”
“Well, you see I am not technically a transmigrator. What I am is a mistake that happened because of a skill. You see I used to have a skill called memories from the void. Have you heard of it?” I had to nod my head I knew of it. It was one of the most interesting skills out there that granted a person a set of memories from a different life so they could learn from them.
He continued. “You see I’m a stubborn bastard and I believe this previous me who was on this world died when the system was activated and me being who I am merged with this person, but my memories were the dominant ones or perhaps he had given up.”
“The act of the system activating most likely brought me back to life.” I had to agree at least there as it is a documented and confirmed happening. “So yeah, I have both world’s memories for good or bad.” I could see the sadness in him in the end, but this will require some further questioning and checking.
It took some time but eventually, it turns out that he is correct. He is a human from this world even if he is running around with different memories and personality. While the three of us were doing research I got to know him a bit better and one thing I learned is that if the boy hadn’t died he would have had a great mentor but now that mentor was the one still alive.
Comments
Talen Drake
I don't think this guy is a piece of shit per se, but a very good look into what a world scarred and aware of transmigrators would have to do to survive. This is a world locked in xenophobic warfare where the traditionally, sapient races have to contend with fallen races and sentient and possibly, non-traditionally sapient monsters. And since the monsters have cores, and the traditionally sapient races apparently don't, they are losing. Now, add in power hungry and possibly xenophobic transmigrators with delusion of grandeur and potentially fanaticism ala whoever started the church of light? I think this is a sane and rational response. It just takes one nazi scientist to transmigrate to a world and gain enough ability to recreate a nuke and it is game over for the whole world. Maybe to put it more bluntly this world is locked in a wartime footing beyond the scale of WWII, and no internal threats can be tolerated.
Alnatura
So this Salazar guy does not have the power to take his land away, he just threatened to destroy him if he doesn't comply . That's a massive difference. And mind reading, testing him... These guys are a bunch of assholes. I hope rich shows us a bit of a backbone. :) (even if the guy is stronger, he is still a piece of shit on my book.)
Talen Drake
This chapter is better than the previous 2, but I still stand by my feedback on those 2. Still love the story.
