I said nothing as the servants walked in, carrying cages filled with animals.

Animals that I had never seen before. Some looked familiar, rabbits and squirrels — if such beasts ever grow enough to match the size of a dog, and grew spikes that looked intimidating enough to make them a part of a horror movie — while others looked completely unfamiliar.

A ten-legged creature, as woolly as a sheep, bright green… I would have certainly remembered if such a beast actually existed back in my world.

The beasts were angry, unnaturally so. They slammed against their cages with a repetitive fury, with an intimidating rabidness, but neither my handlers nor the servants reacted to their anger.

It must be expected.

I didn't say anything, the guise of obedience was a good excuse for me to stay back and observe as the servants placed the cages on the ground and left. As they did, Toross walked to Falael, and flashed some kind of orb. "Look what I just found?" he said. They were too far away from me to hear, but at this point, I was getting familiar with the way the lips moved.

Enough to allow me to read their lips, another underrated skill of mine.

"What's that? Archery?" Falael asked.

"Yes, and with a significant purity. Do you think it is worth the risk?"

"Why not? He's clearly not the mage type. With his hampered Vitality and his naturally awakened Agility, it's the only natural direction. And it'll be good to have him with some skill. It might help during the auction."

"Good," Toross said with a smile as he walked toward the central tower, and opened the door, using the same rock he had used to open the main door. When he left, he was holding a short spear — one that I hadn't seen where he had pulled from, but I was certain he wasn't carrying with it before.

I kept my attention on the cages, giving no sign of I had been listening to their discussion, but the word auction didn't fill me with confidence about my ultimate fate.

At all.

"Have ever killed before?" Toross asked, unaware their earlier discussion had been heard by me.

"W-well," I said as I looked at the beasts, trying to decide which answer was the safest. Ultimately, I settled on one of the safer options that would allow me to act safely. "I have worked as a butcher for a while, but … the beasts weren't as angry."

"Good, then go and kill every single beast in the cages." I looked at the beasts, and gulped rather visibly to sell them I was intimidated by the beasts, even when they were in cages.

"Go and kill them," Falael ordered, once again with Charisma, even more, impatient after spending a considerable portion of his day, trying to awaken my Stats.

"Yes, sir," I said as I grabbed the spear. The moment I touched it, some kind of energy, like electricity, touched me, giving me a thumping feeling. It was not an ordinary weapon. I stood in front of the first cage, which held a large, blue rabbit creature, though his scary teeth gave no sense of cuteness.

Nor the rabid attitude it displayed as it smashed against the cage repeatedly.

I pushed my arm forward, ready to feel a sense of resistance.

[+138 Experience]

Only for the spear to sink into the creature, as smooth as butter, the magic of its nature making it much more effective.

I ignored the ability it displayed, and instead started killing them one by one, though, even with it, I made sure to give a clumsy display of my activities.

[+146 Experience]

…

[+31 Experience]

The notifications flooded my vision, and I understood why they had gone through such trouble to gather enough beasts to be counted in the dozens. None of the beasts I had killed granted me experience that was remotely near to what was granted by the first beast that I had killed.

Quantity had a quality of its own, however. After finishing with them, I found myself with enough experience to level up, probably more than once.

[Experience: 6790]

"How much experience do you have?" Falael asked.

"Just above four thousand," I answered, another little test, to see if they had any concrete idea about how much experience I would gain. I deliberately kept it vogue, and I could always tell that it was something near five thousand, and I rounded poorly.

"A bit on the lower side, but still, barely enough to level up twice," he said with a frown, but since his gaze was aimed at the beast carcasses that were still in the cages rather than me, I guessed that they didn't know what any beast would be granting in experience, but they still had a general idea.

Another little advantage, if I could leverage it appropriately.

"Should I level up?" I asked.

"Yeah, do it," Falael answered, once again in the form of a magical order. "And assign all of your stat points to Agility."

Now, to another experiment, one that was considerably riskier than the previous ones I had been dealing with, but still not deadly. If they noticed, I could always blame my own limited mathematical abilities. The earlier display must have been sufficiently convincing…

I tried to level up three times.

Of course, I didn't even know if that would actually work, as I didn't know the experience needs of each level in the first place.

I triggered the first and the second immediately, and a thick glow covered me.

[-1400 Experience]

[Level up!]

[Stat Points +10]

[-2100 Experience]

[Level up!]

[Stat Points +10]

Again, I thought desperately, hoping that it would work to trigger another one before the glow disappeared.

It did. Barely.

[-2800 Experience]

[Level up!]

[Stat Points +10]

[Experience: 390]

I waited for the glow to disappear as I looked at them, afraid. However, I noted that my minders weren't looking at me, but outside.

The defensive wards glowed hard, a great number of flying beasts hitting against the defensive scheme.

Their timing was too perfect not to be about my leveling up.

Another interesting detail about the world I had found myself in, but for a moment, I focused on their reaction, afraid one of them would call off about my leveling up.

They didn't, but with the intensity of the glow as I leveled up thrice, I felt that it might be more about their inattentiveness than the impossibility. The glow itself should be enough evidence.

Either way, I moved on to the next little test, to see just how much I could slip through their limited attention.

[Stat Points -12]

[+12 Agility]

I assigned Agility eight less than they expected, keeping the rest in reserve. I was tempted to assign them to Resilience, to make sure no one could actually affect me, but after some consideration, I decided against it.

The sense of security it would grant was comforting, but under the circumstances I was facing, absolute security was not a luxury I could afford to chase blindly, even for my mind and thoughts.

And, I could always add a few more stat points to Agility if my display stayed underwhelming.

A soft sensation spread in my body, but the intensity was much less significant than the spread of Vitality, without filling my body with a great sensation. I didn't feel any notable difference in my body, but I didn't make any move either, watching their steady approach.

"Have you assigned all of your points?" he asked, and I nodded. "All to Agility?" he asked. I nodded again.

Only for a sense of alarm to fill me as I noticed his arm tensing. It was the only sign of movement I had before his hand lashed forward, with a speed that was impossible to react…

Or, was supposed to be impossible to react, but my body disagreed, reacting it even faster than my thoughts. It wasn't that I was moving faster, but the responsiveness…

There was one important thing about fighting that amateur's misunderstood; the deadliness of the delay that occurred between noticing something and reacting to it, only a fraction of a second, but far longer than what a punch required to close in the distance.

Especially, a supernaturally fast punch.

Yet, somehow, I managed to react to it far faster than I could otherwise achieve, twisting my body to pull away from the punch … still unsuccessfully, pain blooming on my ribs as the punch connected, throwing me back.

I prepared myself to roll as I flew back, feeling less like being punched, and more like a full-body tackle. My shoulder connected with the ground, and I let my body roll with momentum rather than trying to stop it forcibly.

But it was also a surprise when, after the roll, I ended up on my feet, far smoother than I should be able to achieve, even back in my youth, tense yet perfectly balanced, ready to lash out.

"Heal yourself," Falael ordered, though I didn't need his order to do so, once again triggering my Health, and the warmth filling my chest, fixing my bruised ribs.

[-4 Health]

"Very good," Toross laughed as he looked at me, not following the attack. "As I said, there's a reason for him to awaken Agility on his own."

"Yeah, not bad," Falael said. "Too bad he doesn't have the Vitality effectiveness to be a warrior."

"An archer that can move around without a problem is also valuable. Maybe costlier, with all those special arrows he would need, but still valuable. Our trip is not for waste."

I smiled, acting like I wasn't aware they were treating me like merchandise to be sold. I had my own little thing to celebrate.

Eighteen points of stats, exactly the thing I needed to create myself an edge. But, before I could make any plans, Toross threw that glowing rock at me. "Here's your reward," he said with a chuckle.

[Skill Spark Detected: Archery

Absorb / Ignore]

With nothing I could do to reject — well, not without ruining everything I had worked hard to set up — I chose to absorb.

The stone turned into some kind of light, and filled my body.

Along with it, a horrible headache…