Abel was surprised as he opened his eyes. His phone’s blaring alarm wasn’t hammering at his ears. He slowly shuffled under his comfy cover before turning around to grab his phone. The light from the screen was blinding at first but after squinting, he saw the time clearly. 3:02 am.

‘Uh I guess I slept more than usual…’ He was half tempted to just lay in bed for a while longer but he threw these lazy thoughts out of his head and slowly sat up.

After rubbing his sleepy eyes, he went to wash up in the bathroom and stepped outside his courtyard. He passed by the still sleeping chickens and took a few of eggs from their coup before heading to the kitchen. He fried the eggs with some bacon and made himself a cup of coffee, it was a great change to the tasteless and bland nutrient bars. Though if he was being honest, the nutrient bar was still more filling but Abel didn’t care.

After cleaning up after himself, he left a note for the couple simply telling them to level up quickly because he had a special dungeon he wanted to take them to when he finished this quest. He also told them to mention it to the girls they had been partying with. He still owed them one for taking care of the couple so he figured he would take them along. Once he was done, he quickly went back to his room and hopped into his pod.

Whoooooosh

After connecting to his user home, he didn’t waste any time and logged in to Realm Quest. Luckily, the guards from earlier had changed shifts and were at a different spot so he didn’t abruptly appear before their eyes.

“Hey guys, I’m back!” He called out just in case they sensed his presence.

“Red Sky. You look well rested; can you really not sleep in our world?” Trusk asked, he was one of the shield warriors.

“I’m not sure to be honest. I’ve never tried, but I don’t see why not. Though, sleeping in my world is much more comfortable than sleeping in a tent. Especially with Lard’s loud snoring, so I’ll have to pass for now.” The guards chuckled as Abel passed them.

Trusk’s question was thought provoking as it was something Abel had never thought of. He didn’t see why he couldn’t sleep in-game but he wasn’t sure if the Neuro-link would remain stable if his mind fully rested. It was something he should look into as he was sure someone else had posed this question before. Even before the NeuroNex pods were put on sale, he was positive Doctor Orion had tested out such a possibility. There were definitely users that got too addicted and stayed on until they slept, especially among the people that had the wealth to splurge on a high-end luxury pod.

Once he returned to the camp, he went to the central bonfire that was still burning and added some firewood before he got the ingredients ready for breakfast. He made quick work of the grainy porridge and called everyone to eat. The men quickly finished all the food and got ready for a new day of battle. They had already packed up their tents and other belongings, they were used to waking up early after 2 years of military training. Although NPC’s wouldn’t follow the same military routine Abel knew of, it definitely wasn’t easy. Especially with their superhuman stats, their training could only be harder than normal.

Before they descended down to the third floor, the captain called out to Abel and took him to the side. It was evident he had some words to say so the men hung a little further back, none of them dared to eavesdrop on their conversation anyway.

“Red Sky, you’ve been performing real good, I have no complaints so there’s no need for you to look so nervous.” The captain first words eased Abel’s worries. He wasn’t hiding his anxiousness, when the captain held him back for a talk he thought he must have messed up in some way but it seemed to be another matter. Captain Carson looked him in the eyes as he explained “I want you to slow down on your attacks, although your damage is minimal in comparison to Kaelin, it is consistent. I want you to ease off a bit so that more men feel the pressure. By now, around half the men should have advanced but your help in attacking and seeing any traps ahead of us has caused some of the men to get complacent and lazy so I need you to ease up a bit. Guide them like usual but ease up on the attack. Maybe try to experiment a bit with your shooting style, even if most of your attacks end up missing then that’s fine.”

Abel was stunned silly. He hadn’t imagined that he was doing ‘too good’ of a job at this quest but when he thought over the captains’ words, he understood where he was coming from. If what he said was true, then at least 2 more men should have advanced by now. While the figures weren’t absolute, he knew his own involvement in the expedition had eased the mission from the soldiers’ perspective.

“Um, sure thing captain. Actually, there was something that I wanted to test out since last night. I thought I wouldn’t have the opportunity until this quest was over. But now I have the perfect chance to test out my theory. But I’ll say this now, if one of the front-liners gets surrounded then I’ll pick up the pace. I wouldn’t want one of the men to die a silly death because of me.”

“Hahaha, there’s no chance of that happening while I’m here kid.” The captain flared his aura slightly, inducing the surrounding air to quiver, reminding him that he was someone that was qualified to become a vice-commander, at the very peak of tier 3. The monsters in this dungeon were like child’s play in his eyes and he could probably clear it all on his own in less than hour. He looked gratified at Abel’s response and then said “Don’t worry about such a thing and just do as I say.”

Abel gulped as he nodded, it was easy to forget the commander was around level 150 when he kept his aura in check. Just like old man rye, the man seemed to be capable of inducing changes in the very fabric of space. Though the captains’ domain seemed to fall short of the old guardian. While the former could barely cause the air to quiver when blaring his aura, the latter was able to unconsciously cause changes in the environment with a change in his mood!

“Good lad! Right, what is this theory you say you want to test out?”

“Uh, I created some skills in the past. I’m not exactly sure how I did that to be honest. So, I want to test out the criteria needed to make a skill. Do you happen to have any idea’s captain?” Abel asked, since the captain was so friendly and even asked something of him, he figured the bear-like man might give him some pointers or something.

“Hmm… well for us natives, you need a fundamental understanding of your actions, how they influence the mana around us as well as the laws of the world to create an original skill. You don’t have to be like those Magi, studying the intricacies of the world in great details. But in general, the deeper your understanding of your weapon, how it interacts with the free-floating mana around us along with the natural forces present in the world, the easier you can make a skill. I don’t think it should be any different for travelers, but who knows? it might be slightly different for your kind so it might be best to take my advice only if your own ideas don’t work out lad.” The captain clapped him on his shoulder before reminding him again. “Oh, and keep this conversation between just the 2 of us, understood?”

“Understood sir.” Abel didn’t dare say otherwise.

*Ding*

Favorability with Captain Carson increased.

‘I guess the captain is starting to like me, this is the first notification about my favorability with him increasing. What a difficult guy to please…’ Abel thought as he trailed behind the beefy, bear of a man.

After they returned to the men, they descended down to the third floor. Abel walked up front to scout out the path ahead for the men and beside him was Freijah, one of the spearmen. The latter kept looking at Abel from the corner of his eye, as though he wanted to ask something but wasn’t sure if he should. Abel ignored it at first, but just like most things you ignore, it tends to get on your nerves after a while so the young man finally spoke up.

“Freijah, if you have something to say then just say it. It’s rude to just stare at someone like that, even in my world.”

“Hahaha… uh I’m not really sure I should ask.” Freijah said as he scratched his head. Eventually, he mustered up his courage and asked anyway. “Did the captain tell you off or something? What did you do though… we all nearly soiled our pants when we felt his aura spike back there! We thought he was definitely going to twist your noggin’ right off its perch.” He tapped Abel’s head to make his meaning clearer.

Abel suddenly understood why he was getting such looks from all the men. Freijah was just the only one next to him which made his gaze more prominent. He chuckled as he replied to shield warrior, but his voice was loud enough for most men to hear him, including the captain.

“Haha, no not at all… it’s nothing like that. In fact, he was commending me for my hard work and giving me some pointers to creating an original skill. He just flared his aura to hammer home his point, that’s why his aura spiked for a moment.” Abel went on to say after seeing the skeptical look from the spearman. “I’m telling the truth! Did the captain look angry to you?”

“Hmmm. Well, now that you mention it, he did look… happy?” Freijah thought back to the impression the captain had as they came back, he realized the man really wasn’t angry. “I guess you’re right. Well, this expedition has been a little easier than usual thanks to you. We all appreciate what you’ve been doing. Just saving us from Roy’s gruel is already enough.”

“No worries, I appreciate all the help I’ve been getting too. I’ve been learning a lot of things from all of you.” Abel responded with a smile, happy that he had deflected the earlier conversation and killed off any wild thoughts the men might be having. He suddenly stopped still as he saw a gathering of kobolds ahead of them and warned the men. “There’s a small group right ahead of us, it looks like archers and scouts so keep an eye out for any traps or arrows coming our way.” He stepped back as Hanson, the only other shield warrior that hadn’t advanced yet, took his place.

Abel was planning to test out the requirements to create a skill. He wasn’t sure if his prior assumptions were correct but now that the captain had given him some words of advice and issued his request, he figured this would be the perfect chance to test out what it took to make a skill. It wasn’t every day he was protected behind a line of nearly tier-1 NPC’s, 4 other bona fide tier 1 soldiers as well as a peak tier 3 powerhouse. He should take this opportunity to test out any and all of his theories and try to incorporate the captains’ advice too.

If he succeeded, then he would be able to get started in making all sorts of useful skills!

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I might not be able to post tomorrow, I'll try my best but we'll see.