- Skill Break -
[Axe Handling] attained, [3%] mastery.
[Chop] attained, [5%] mastery.

- Stats Break -
[Body] increased by [1] point.

Cold sweats broke all over his body as the small screens appeared and disappeared. It felt like his muscles and bones were creaking inside while the back of his head was nudged by an invisible hand. After the brief bone-chilling sensation, he felt there was some new but familiar at the back of his mind.

The last time he felt this way was when the spell was written into his mind by the spellbook. The former process felt alien and undisguisable, but this experience was the opposite.

Artus stared at his palms. They were red from the swing and there were some blisters he had completely missed. The pain only came after he saw them but it was nothing compared to what he had just discovered.

‘If I got this skill from sheer focus, why don't I get anything before?’

“Your first skill break?” came a voice from his back.

-

He turned around as he fumbled to put his rag shirt back on. Artus hadn’t noticed it, but Cindy had been watching him. His wide back was gorgeous to behold.

“Yes,” he said. “Well, if we are talking about the same thing.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s your first,” replied Cindy. “I’ve seen that reaction before. No one had told you or taught you anything?”

“No,” he chuckled. “Nusia had been too busy trying to keep me, I mean us, alive. I was dragging her down.”

“I mean you, parents or family, hadn’t they-”

“No, but I’m glad though, as it would have come with a price tag.”

“Was it really that bad, you know, living in the wealth?”

“Not really,” he smiled sadly. “You are safe, warm and well-fed, but as I said, most things came with a price. I barely escaped with my life, and I'm not looking forward to going back. I guess it would be a lot different if my mother is not a servant.”

“I, I could teach you what I learned from my parents,” Cindy hesitated for a bit for some reason, but she plowed through. “I don’t know it would be useful to you, but I won’t ask for much in return.”

Artus looked excited for a moment before he dialed down. He's guarded himself. She was worried about asking him to do the favor, but she had to try. She would endure the pain if she had too. Tilling the land faster would mean everything to her, and asking for mana was just too much for most people.

“A favor for a favor?” he said warily. “I’m all yours if it doesn’t hurt anyone.”

“Then it’s a deal,” she smiled brightly, surprising even herself. “Go wash before lunch, it’s bad to miss it too.”

Artus looked around for the first time. It was already past noon by the time he had done chopping the rest of the wood. He might have not noticed it.

The sight of a young man with a single focus in his mind was mesmerizing. Imagining those purple eyes staring at her with the same intensity brought goosebumps up her spine.

Cindy wondered if this was what Nusia saw in the young man. The girl would give anything to him in the way she looked at his back. Nusia’s burning desire to please the young man made Cindy think that the girl would even kidnap a girl if the young man had asked.

The girl hadn’t gone to sleep with him because she thought it would be a good experience for the young man. Well, despite the hesitation in her voice stating it.

All of this told her that her suspicion towards the boy was a waste of effort. Nusia could easily beat them down and demand anything if she had wanted or asked by Artus.

Kent holding the crossbow wouldn’t change anything. Nusia had the ability to take over but that didn’t mean they were in danger.

It just meant the two of them weren’t that kind of people she should worry about. Lowlives who murder for easy Cores or cruel slavers who sell Core-crippled slaves. They weren’t one of them or something between, that’s for sure.

A massive relief hit her when she got onto the conclusion. She might be wrong but there was no evidence against her judgment. Her caution told her to keep the guard up for a little longer and so she should.

But his build felt like he was shaped by someone only to entice women, and the young man’s genuine shyness only added to the allure. Body shaping is only possible for the rich, but even then they would have needed an expert who knew the human body enough to not screw it up. The stories about disfigured body shapes were everywhere.

At least that's what she had heard the last time she was in the town. It wasn’t herself that she was worried about but those innocent girls.

‘Maybe I should test his intent first,’ she mused as she began to walk back. Cindy shook her head after a few steps.

-

Artus had taken the warm bath to purge the stink from his body. The face Cindy had made told him that while she suggested he take one.

The water was heated up through the slab of stone which was made to be part of the bath area. The bath area itself was an open-air bath that only men might take even with the wall of tightly arranged wood pikes surrounding it.

He wondered why people still lived in poverty even when magic existed in this world. He realized after some thought that it still boiled to human greed.

The unwillingness to share the source of their wealth. Their knowledge.

Artus was sure because he too was unwilling to share what was precious to him as it was in human nature, ugly or not. He was about to leave when girly shrieks echoed outside the wall. They sounded surprised more than in trouble and he might know the reason why.

“Careful on your steps, the stone slabs are a little slippery,” he said to them.

“Yes!” Cheered the girly voices for some reason.

“We brought changes for you,” one of them said. “Cindy said you’ll need them.”

He had his trousers on and so he wasn’t going out like some macho man. The outdoor bath area had an overlapping wall that acted as a doorway, and so he used it to peek his head outside. The geek in him was still uncomfortable to reveal his abs or chest to strangers.

“Thanks,” he said before he was surprised by the audience. Nusia was with the other two.

“You are not coming out?” said Nusia with that smile of hers. “It’s not like we haven’t seen a boy's chest before. Right, girls?”

“Ye- yes!” yelped one of them. “Kent likes to be shirtless when it's warmer.”

Artus sighed inside. The look in Nusia’s eyes told him the whole other story.

She wanted him to show off her art. It might not be hers as he recognized the abs and chest he had now. He had looked at them in envy before in the old world.

Any amount of work out he had done hadn’t shaped him as well as he was now. The perfect V shape and the lean but visible muscle contour above his waist was every man's dream. He felt like he was cheating.

He walked out of the bath area with the mindset of a double-zero-seven agent. Chest up, relaxed, and his back straight. He fought down the itch to scratch the back his head or look down at the ground. He had tried his best, and it might have worked by the look the ladies had.

He swallowed a chuckle as he had to ask twice for the simple cotton shirt. He put it on right in front of their gaping mouths while acting nonchalant. Even Nusia had her eyes opened wide by this act.

He walked past them after saying his thanks, and he secretly let a massive relieved breath out of his chest. It felt like everything had been drained out of him.

It reminded him every time he had to present the latest project in front of everyone. Half of them didn’t even care about it, but it still drained a lot out of him. Those experiences helped a lot.

Nusia who had recovered first before she caught up to him. Her hand squeezed his arm, and if they were still in the Wilds, they would already be all over each other. The look in her eyes told him that she had the same thought.

The lunch was some kind of large birds which tasted almost like chicken. He had a whole giant chicken to himself, courtesy of his babysitter, while others had to share. Regardless of the clear favoritism, there was plenty to go around. Everybody had eaten their fill with some contribution of some sort of tubers from the host.

Nusia was elated with the news of his Skill Break, but she looked guilty learning that he had no knowledge about it. The girl clearly hadn’t the pleasure of raising or taking care of someone before.

The others excused themselves to check the land if it was ready to be tilled. They also had a huge ground to cover. He offered to help, but the pinch from Nusia had stopped them from the need to explain the obvious to him.

“They won’t show you which trinket to do what yet,” explained Nusia in a hush. “Besides, we have something else needed to do.”

Artus didn’t need to be told what she meant as the house was left to just the two of them. Nusia dragged him to the single room, eager to make up for her overlook.

The wooden bed creaked at her enthusiasm but it was easily fixed by her affinity.

He had made sure to keep calm and give his full focus. He was again rewarded by his effort.

- Skill Break -
[Lady Killer] attained [20%] mastery.

The sex was great but he rather kept the skill to himself.