Strength, vitality, and intelligence? Two of them are heavily important for a melee combatant, more so when you think about a knight. But damn, a penalty that bad just because of being born? That’s too harsh. Hmm, on second thought, do human has some kind of penalty?

A question he was itching for an answer, but the state of this Hamastra took priority.

“You wouldn’t mind telling me about your penalty? I might find a solution for you,” said Kevin.

“Mister…” Streev looked at Kevin with his eyes getting teary. He had never met someone as kind as Kevin. 

Usually, he would have gotten mocked and looked down upon even among the gazanmard. It made sense why the Hamastra was treated like this. The Gazanmard or Beast Folks were known to set ranks and caste according to the strength of a tribe. A simple case of the strong being revered and the weak being trampled.

The little adult wiped off his eyes, hoping not to show any weakness in front of the human. Clarity was seen in his eyes as he looked at the human with a smile. Streev knew to overcome a penalty was impossible, yet being treated like an equal made his heart lightened up. 

“For Strength and Intelligence, we Hamastra need two points to raise it up by one, while for Vitality we need three points to raise it up by one,” said Streev. 

The smile on the Hamastra stiffened a bit. Mentioning his penalty out loud was like telling the whole world of how incompetent he was. Embarrassment was unavoidable.

Hmm, this is more than just harsh. It’s like being chain by an iron ball on your ankle. Throwing two points just to raise a single point is just a waste. 

Kevin felt unfortunate for Streev the handicap was too much to the point of limiting the whole race options. 

Since he had this big of a disadvantage, he might have something that’s the opposite of a penalty, a great benefit.

“How about the other stats? Does any of it has some kind of advantage in comparison to the penalty?” Kevin asked.

“No, everything else normal,” said Streev as his head turned down.

“Are you sure?” Kevin still didn’t believe it. 

“Yes,” said Streev.

What kind of bad curse did the ancestor of the Hamastra got himself into?

It was one of those rhetorical questions he had in mind after hearing such travesty.

But even if this world revolves around getting stronger by leveling up, then do they not practice exercise or any sort of strengthening methods? If the kid follows me on my running, he would have…

His thought trailed off as something came into mind.

That’s it! He just needs to follow my training.

“Hey, have you never try exercising or doing vigorous training?” Kevin asked.

“Exercise?” said Streev. He thought for a while before he shook his head side to side. He had never come across such thought before. 

Contrary to humans, the Gazanmard a race that was born to strength. The Taurian, even at birth, it was stronger than most infants and bigger. But like at one end of the extreme, there was also another end. Some were born the strongest, while some were born the weakest. 

Streev, who had been living all of his life confined in his old small town, saw the same kind of people, living the same kind of life. A town of little people, a town of Magu. They were never the type to pursue strength, and they probably never heard of something called exercise. Streev’s parents and a few of his relatives made a small part of the community of this little town, which right now might probably have ceased to exist.

Then a question came into mind. 

This kid said he wants to be a knight, but he doesn’t even know the most basic stuff. Where the hell did he get such an idea of becoming one?

“Streev,” said Kevin.

“Yes, Mr.Human,” said Streev.

Kevin raised his eyebrows with his eyes turned a bit wider. Being called Mr.Human felt weirder than he thought.

“Call me Kevin,” said Kevin, “and I’ve been wondering, how did you hear about a knight?”

“I’ve never heard about it, but I saw one before,” said Streev. The little Hamastra remembered the time when he fled for his life. 

He and his family running for their lives, hunted by a manticore. It was far before they met with the alvas.

“The huge manticore shadowed over us. There was no hope that day. It swung its horrific claw at us, and then, he came,” Streev smiled, recalling the appearance of that man.

“Back as wide as a bear, wearing full armor, he stood between us and the manticore. A shield in his left hand and a sword in his right hand. He fought with the manticore until the beast fell on the ground till its last breath,” said Streev with his grin never left, his eyes were twinkling as if his hero was right in front of him.

“Then after that, what happened?” Kevin asked. He was rather curious after hearing about this story.

“He left, and he didn’t say a single word, I didn’t have the time to even thank him,” said Streev.

This kid is straight-up inspired by a real-life superhero. I can’t blame him since that knight did save his whole family from impending doom. 

Kevin then delved in his mind with his chin resting on his hand. Although Streev had been badly handicapped, Kevin had more than a thing or two in his mind which could help him. The question was, which one should he choose for Streev?

Hmm, if it's status-related, I can just train him but do I even have the time to do it? I, myself have just started, and I’m only barely at the first step. Should I really help him?

He cast a glance at Streev, and the little adult was still narrating on how valiant the knight that had saved him. This time, Streev was info-dumping about the fight details, which Kevin was already tuned out from.

Ugh, what is this guilt I’m always feeling about? I’m not responsible for some other earthling’s action, even if they are some superstar athletes. To begin with, shouldn’t they be the ones who should be more civilized? 

Kevin was ranting at the fact of how everything that had happened to him was because of his earthling people who couldn’t resist the temptation of having everything in this world. 

Then he sighed as he accepted it. He glanced once more at Streev. The little adult Hamastra had dark orange hair with brown eyes, his complexion was rather tan-like, and his height was at the short side, three feet and two. But the biggest physical feature about Streev was the two rounded floppy ears that resembled a hamster ears on his head. The fur on the ears had an even brighter shade of orange compared to his wavy shoulder-length hair. 

Fine, I’ll guess I’m going to help out this kid then. On second thought, I think rather than focusing on his stats, it might be better to choose an appropriate class for him first. 

Kevin’s vast knowledge about the game brought him numerous options for him to choose for Streev, and going for the normal classes won’t be enough for the handicapped Streev. Since one of the things he gathered about classes that were beyond normal, they had bonus stats included, which definitely could help Streev in the long run. 

What should it be then? Shallot Knight seems to be a good choice for him, although at the beginning of his level he would be so weak and… Scratch that off, I don’t think he could have the luxury of time with those heroes hunting non-human down like rabid dogs.

He thought it would be easy since he had a lot of tips and tricks inside his head but when there were too many, then came to another problem, the problem of choosing.

Fuck, I can’t choose one. There’s too many to chose from. Should I make a list and tell him which to pick? Wait, I shouldn’t be that confident Each unique type of class has specific places and steps that they need to go through. Damn, should I give a shorter list then? The more simpler one? No, no, no, I can’t do that. That’s making me too insincere, I’m helping him out of sincerity here.

Then the war on deciding stopped. Kevin made his choice.

“Streev, what kind of knight you want to be?” said Kevin.

It was better to ask rather than to choose.

“I want to be like the knight that saved me!” he shouted. Streev looks no better than a naive kid that didn’t know about the real world.

“I need specifics Streev, give me the details,” said Kevin.

Streev, who was still smiling was about to say something, but he fell into silence. The smile faded away as his forehead scrunched. For the first time, he thought about what kind of knight he wanted to be.

“I want to protect,” said Kevin. He looked back at Kevin’s eyes with a confident voice.

“I want the strength to protect my family,” said Kevin as he continued, “and to wear a cool armor!”

Kevin smirked at the self-proclaimed adult. The naivety of this little adult was clear for him to see. 

Hmm, since the elves are around, this particular one might be suitable for the runt, the Protector of the Hidden, the Fae Sentinel.