[Alex Vorgen]

[titles: Otherworldly Soul, Aria's Lover, Freeloader]

[stats:

Health -415

Strength -406

Stamina -542

Essence - N/A ]

[Skills: Booty Conqueror, Basic Weapon Mastery, Basic First Aid, Basic Resistance, Iron Skin]

"I really am weird huh?" Alex joked as he looked at his stats. The first thing he noticed was that his original stats more than doubled! His stats were crazy and the fact that he was able to save all these stats he earned from Aria was even crazier.

According to the things he learned from Alan, his No-Ring stats were on the level of a high 2nd Ring or low 3rd Ring. The borders between each Ring were blurry since everyone had a different body with a different max of stats that it could hold but this was the general average.

Alex had a feeling that Alan could only see one part of his stats and not his overall stats since he had about 200 stats in each category for a total of 630 before evolving. After evolving, he now had a total of 1363! His highest stat was stamina but it seemed like Alan was looking at his strength stat all the time since he commented on his strength doubling at once.

He learned that the average person could have about 50 max stats overall as a No-Ring and that number doubled with each evolution up to around the 5th Ring which was generally the highest an average person could reach.

As for those with talent, it was between 75-100 max stats depending on talent and doubled with every evolution as well. For humans, those talented individuals could reach up to the 8th Ring.

In the world of Nova, humans were the weakest intelligent race but their ambitions and ego were the highest. Because humans had a much higher birth rate than long-lived races such as Elves and Demons, they generally fought wars with numbers rather than having strong individuals to overwhelm the enemy.

This was exactly how the humans won the war against the now extinct Beastmen Kingdoms throughout the main continent. He learned about it in the library that Alicia had taken him to on one of their free days.

He had only seen it once in town, but he was able to see a person with a fluffy tail and ears wear ragged clothes and a collar around their neck. Most of the beastmen who surrendered, as well as the women, children, and elderly, all became slaves for humanity. For those who escaped, it was unknown just what happened to them but it was theorized that they were taken in by elves and/or demons.

Most beastmen slaves became laborers where they died of "illness" or "ran away" whenever the owners could no longer keep them in good shape. For the unlucky women and children, they would be forced to endure unspeakable sexual acts that often ended in their deaths.

The rich and powerful loved exotic things and their ears and tails as well as furry skin and abnormal looks made great "toys."

It was one of the terrors of war and things he read in novels that make Alex sick to his stomach since he came from a world like Earth that had put that era behind them (supposedly). He wished he could help but Alicia assured him that slaves still had rights.

They may not be treated well, but they were still given 3 meals a day, clothes, and shelter. Many of the different kinds of Guilds all across Novanna had helped sign legislation for the Empires and kingdoms of humans to ensure these slaves could live happy lives.

Of course, this was all on paper, and not what happened behind closed doors but he was powerless against the rich and powerful. History was written by the winners so of course, Humanity would paint themselves as the heroes while the Beastmen were just savages out for blood.

He could only wait and meet a Beastman for himself before he made his own judgment. Even if he wanted to help free them, he didn't even dream of fighting an entire Kingdom by himself let alone an Empire that usually had several vassal Kingdoms under them.

As for Elves and Demons Ring rankings, they could reach up to the 10th Ring just fine and sometimes beyond. Legends say that the max was 12 Rings, and at that point, you would have the power of a God and could influence the Panel. It was all superstition but some of those long-lived races built religions out of it.

The next thing Alex looked at was his titles since he got a new one.

"I know the system is just messing with me now." Alex grumbled.

[Freeloader - You're a Freeloader.]

Was it really necessary to make this a title? It only served to frustrate him and it wasn't like he could make money right now. He was working for free and being paid in training which he valued more than money right now.

His meals and room were taken care of for him... and yeah he realized he was still freeloading.

He could only sigh and hope that this Ether forest trip would be the last thing he needed to do. Alan didn't say there were multiple trips, only that he had to get the food they needed.

Next his skills, also frustrated Alex a bit. He liked that Basic Weapon Mastery was now unlocked and that he got Basic First Aid, but why the Resistance skill? And how did he get Iron Skin?

The skills seemed self-explanatory but he still looked into them.

[Basic Resistance - After bringing many harmful substances into the body, you have developed a natural low-level resistance to all kinds of harmful substances.]

[Iron Skin - After being beaten black and blue every day for a long time, you have developed a heavily calloused skin as hard as Iron. You have an increased natural defense to physical attacks and a decrease in the feeling of pain.]

"Although these skills are good in the long run, I don't like that they emphasized the parts where I got hurt," Alex complained again and closed his system.

He was definitely strange since he was a physical powerhouse and now had more natural defenses to non-magical things.

With these stats, he could potentially fight evenly with a 5th Ring with average talent! That was incredible and unheard of! Of course, he couldn't actually do that since he wouldn't have many skills and titles or even ones on the same level of power.

He also currently had the problem of his body not keeping up with his stats, meaning every day he was constantly getting stronger. His current body was probably only able to use around 700-800 of his total stats which was still crazy for a 1st Ring.

His body and soul couldn't keep up with the massive influx of power so, with the help of Aria, he was able to slowly accumulate the stats that belonged to him. It would, unfortunately, take a long time to assimilate the stats, but he was already grateful enough to have any power since essence wasn't available to him.

Alex got the feeling there were very few people who could actually jump Ring levels and that was only at the very beginning of their Ring journey.

Overall, Alex learned that he barely scraped the surface of what this fantasy world had to offer. Nobody could claim in this world or on Earth, that they could discover every inch of their planet.

The more he learned, the more excited he felt about exploring new places and felt that adventuring would be a good start to learn more about the place he was in.

As he daydreamed of his future, the door clicked open.

Alan paused for a second and the two looked at each other before he descended.

Alex felt like the old man came down the stairs slowly to make him more anxious but in reality, he was going down normally.

Alex cleaned up what he was using but didn't put his shirt back and waited for Alan's next directions. The latter walked in front of him and looked at him for a few seconds.

Alex looked completely different than the Alex two months ago. That Alex was still like a baby chick who had no memories and couldn't make any real decisions for himself. But now, the Alex before him looked older and more mature.

His hard work allowed him to learn many things and it reminded Alan of some of his old adventuring buddies. Some had retired like him but several also left this world too soon. He didn't want Alex to end up like that even if he didn't like him.

He had a long journey ahead of him and Alan felt like an old man the longer he looked at him. He finally looked away and spoke calmly.

"This is going to be the last test. We'll be using real weapons so choose what you'd prefer to test in." Alan said as he went and grabbed a steel alloy Claymore and a small shield like he always used.

Alex still wasn't sure if that was the actual weapon he preferred to use, or just what he used for his training, but it was still difficult to fight against someone using a heavy double-handed sword as a single-handed one.

His strikes always shook his organs and numbed his body but he slowly got used to the pain and learn to deflect and parry his attacks better.

Alex also went up to the assortment of steel weapons. They all had the same silver sleekness to them that allowed him to see a slightly blurry reflection of himself.

He went and grabbed a Heater shield and single-handed long sword like he used during his sword training. Although he could have used a chain weapon or some gauntlets, he had a feeling it would be better if he had some defense.

He could only imagine how tough this test would be and a chain weapon wouldn't be very good against someone way out of his league. He was still only in his first evolution but his constant workouts helped to bring out his full potential more, however, Alan was still way above him.

There was no way he could bridge the gap right now.

Alex psyched himself up and jumped around lightly to warm up his feet. He may not have any specific movement skills listed by his system, but it didn't mean he couldn't move around with his footwork.

That was something Alan taught him since he had none originally. Alan had also told him that there were many talents or skills he had, but the system may not register. It's not that it isn't there, but doesn't have enough importance to be displayed.

Alex positioned himself low with his knees bent and his sword up against his shield in front of him. His heart continued to race as he waited for his not-so-friendly mentor to beat the shit out of him for one last time.

Alan had his sword resting on his shoulder as he spoke,

"The test is simple. Survive. If you can survive 30 minutes of combat you pass. I will be controlling my strength to a high 3rd Ring and may possibly increase it at any point in time during the test."

His words made Alex's heart beat faster. It was a known fact between the two that Alex usually couldn't last more than 20 minutes before going down exhausted and taking a short break before continuing again.

On top of that Alan was going to fight harder. It would be an uphill battle for sure. Alex was ready to question him but Alan already answered for him.

"Before you ask there is a reason for the jump in strength. In the Ether forest, you never know what creature you will come across.

"Although there are specific beasts that live in specific areas, this is a territory thing and territories change all the time.

"You never know when you will run across a wandering 2nd or 3rd Ring monster in the outer regions.

"Heck, you could even run into a 4th Ring creature if you were really unlucky. If you want to survive, you have to be prepared for any sort of enemy, even the human ones."

Alan's face darkened as he mentioned humans.

"Humans are probably your worst enemies since they are smarter and less predictable than monsters.

"Bandits take refuge in the Ether forest so it's imperative that you camp out discretely.

"Now most won't live directly on the border of the forest like where you will be going but they have to get supplies in town somehow or rob people so they will be in the outskirts as well.

"No mercy, is what I say when it comes to sketchy characters. If you don't like the look of them, then kill them. It's better to be safe than dead.

"These are all things that you don't learn when you first join as an adventurer. You learn these once you've already lost a friend or two."

A bit of melancholy appeared on the old man's face but he didn't stop talking.

"I don't care what you do after this debt has been paid, but it wouldn't sit right with my conscious if I didn't give you advice first.

"You're pretty lucky, kid, to have been trained by a 6th Ring, ex-adventurer, and ex-colonel of the Sorketh Army.

"Don't let your pride cloud your judgment and lower your head when you need to. The nobles of this country are ruthless so obey them or you'll end up like me."

Alan lifted up his leg and tapped on it. The ringing of metal echoed and Alex narrowed his eyes.

Alan had a peg leg?! And he lost it because of some noble? He could be considered lucky that he wasn't killed. Alex could also assume that the noble got off scot-free while Alan was discharged for a "wound in battle" or some bs like that. It was a story and a half that he probably wouldn't get to hear.

"Now get ready the time starts now!" Alan said as he threw an E-stone into the air and a thin membrane-like barrier surrounded them in a 30m diameter circle.