Regardless, Orhain’s condition was not as bad as he’d suspected. It was bad, sure, but it could have been a lot worse. The townspeople had more than enough food—mostly monster meat—to feed everyone for weeks. Preserving the meat was simple, as everyone with a Mana Core channeled their excess mana into the cooling box that stored it all.

The cooling box with spatially expanded storage was the masterpiece of the two Junkyard Artificers of the town; so were the Artifacts like the fire pit braziers that were both ignited and maintained by mana. Neither the cooling box nor the braziers was compatible with other energies, but they were useful regardless. They were a good way to begin artificing, especially with the resources at their disposal.

Sure, they did not have any proper combat or defense-oriented Artifacts, but now that David inspected their resources and Artifacts up close, he could tell the braziers were made of bones, hide, and similar materials. It was a unique mixture of fire-resistant monster parts, minuscule cores, and some smelly tinctures used to paint runic signatures on them.

It was apparent that nobody had taught the Junkyard Artificers about enchantments. Clearly, they used their instincts and the knowledge provided by their Classes to create proper Artifacts, but the results were… not so great. At least, not when compared to the Artifacts David had seen and procured in the Dwarven Sanctuary.

They don’t even have a proper blacksmith, let alone a smithy. Given their conditions, they’re not doing too badly.

His initial assessment of Orhain and their means may have been too hasty. Spending the rest of the day roaming the town and watching the townspeople showed that he may have been wrong. Not about everything—as some aspects were worse than he initially thought—but most parts turned out much better than he could have hoped.

The youngest generation was being taught by the elderly townspeople. Sure, they did not teach them about the Integration, Classes, monsters, Rifts, or anything related to the System, but they taught the young ones something. That was a good foundation he could build on. Maybe he could teach the elderly residents about the System and everything they needed to know to guide the youngest generation properly.

I should have studied more in Arc and the Dwarven Sanctuary, he reminded himself, ignoring the biggest factor—that he never really studied anything about the Integration, the System, or the Pantheon. Everything he knew was either acquired from experience, experiments, others’ explanations, or taught directly by the System.

Still, his knowledge was more expansive than that of Orhain’s townspeople. He could help them with his meagre knowledge.

But the most important aspect was still combat and training. David trained a little for the rest of the day until one of his avian Echos discovered a lone Warrior fighting with a small pack of four malnourished, scaled wolves. They were tall, nearly reaching a height of two meters, and were still faster than the Warrior even in their miserable condition.

The Warrior was tall and bulky. In fact, she was so bulky that he recognized her easily even though the images forwarded by the Echo were unclear and from a distance. David willed the Echo to forward its location, then jumped to his feet and cast [Phantom Rush] and [Herald’s Blessing] to cross the distance of no more than two kilometers in no time.

The bulky woman was still engaged in combat when he arrived, wielding a Zweihänder in one hand and holding an oversized shield in the other.

Is that a Class Skill or a special Rune? David wondered, watching the woman handle the Zweihänder with ease. She used a Skill akin to [Bash] to smash into the nearest scaled wolf and followed it up with [Aether Slash], which tore through the monster.

The bulky woman was physically even stronger than he had expected, but she lacked agility and flexibility due to her weight and the mass of her equipment. She raised her shield quickly as the other wolves closed in. One leaped at her before her previous attack had even ended, and she only survived thanks to [Block]. Activating the Skill Rune pushed her limits momentarily, creating the momentum needed to deflect the attack.

However, she was not done. Crimson miasma oozed from her skin as she cast [Bash] again. She charged into the wolf like a train at top speed and hurled it into another wolf dashing toward her. They yelped and fell backward, giving her an opening. She rushed forward, the ground beneath her cracking, leaving behind massive footprints until she reached the wolves. They scrambled to their paws and jumped up, but the bulky woman was faster. Her Zweihänder cleaved down and through the neck of one, beheading it cleanly.

Only two members of the malnourished pack remained, yet the woman focused on just one. She didn’t seem to notice the smallest scaled wolf as it reached her back and pounced.

David waited for her to react, to deflect the attack or do something—anything—but nothing happened until the last moment. He sighed and cast [Blood Blast]. A bloody projectile formed in the air before him and barreled forward with an explosive burst of pure Blood. It whipped through the air and pierced the wolf’s skull, ending its attack mid-way.

However, the bulky woman didn’t seem to notice anything. She was oblivious even as the monster collapsed dead to the ground with a thud. She attacked the third wolf instead and killed it after a brief struggle, using Skill Runes when she didn’t need to.

She is strong but uncoordinated and relies way too much on her Skill Runes. Maybe she’s tough enough to survive getting bitten and clawed by the smaller wolf, but that was unnecessarily dangerous. Or did she know I was there? David doubted it. Watching the woman spin around, Zweihänder brandished as she prepared to take on the fourth and last scaled wolf of the pack, told him everything he needed to know.

She roared and attacked the dead monster on the ground, splitting it in two with a deafening yell. More miasma oozed from her as she turned to David, her eyes now crimson.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Don’t tell me you don’t have your Class Skill under control,” he muttered, shaking his head.

The ability she was using resembled [Rage], but it could also be a more advanced Class Skill Rune like [Berserker’s Wrath] or a similar variant. Regardless of what it was, the bulky woman didn’t have the willpower to suppress it after the battle ended. In fact, it looked like her power continued to rise as she pulled her Zweihänder out of the ground and from what remained of the halved wolf.

She roared at the top of her lungs and charged at David, casting [Bash] and another Skill Rune that seemed to increase her movement speed temporarily. David shook his head again and cast [Archaic Shackles]. Grayish-white chains burst out of the ground around the charging Berserker. She slashed at the chains and bashed her shield against them, but they didn’t budge. They coiled around her legs first, forcing her to a screeching halt, then climbed upward. [Archaic Shackles] wasted no time, wrapping firmly around her waist before spreading to her arms. The chains pulled and coiled around them several times until they engulfed her entirely—except for her head.

“Can you hear me?” David asked, but no one responded.

He sighed deeply and waited for a good minute in silence before his plan shifted. Maybe that wasn’t the best way to dissolve a Berserker’s rage, but it was simple. All he had to do was drain her until she had no more energy left to sustain her Skill Runes. With that in mind, David manipulated the chains and cast [Blood Blast].

He applied [Lifeweaver’s Bond] and [Vital Weaving] to the first projectile and released it with just enough energy to pierce her skin and flesh. Regrowing bones or fixing severely bleeding intestines was far too annoying, so he avoided all vital areas as he continued, releasing a barrage of blood projectiles at the bulky woman.

She roared in pain and thrashed within the confinement, but she could not free herself no matter what she did. She tried hard—harder than he had anticipated—but [Archaic Shackles] wasn’t something she could escape. Not when it was created using the pure Blood of a Transcendent Soul. Regardless of her efforts, David riddled her with holes and watched as the crimson miasma finally began to subside.

Her blood poured over the chains, coating them, but it was not until she was on the verge of death that he cast [Healing Sphere]—three times. He released her from the chains and watched her collapse to the ground.

“This may take a while,” he muttered, retrieving a chair. Then he stored the four malnourished, scaled wolf corpses and waited patiently.

The Berserker was outraged. She accused him of stealing her prey and interfering with her battle. David remained silent and watched her make a fool of herself until she was too tired to continue the tirade.

“You used an advanced version of [Rage], didn’t you? It’s one of your Class Skills, isn’t it?” he asked, his voice steely. “Or did you use an Intent? No, that shouldn’t be it. I guess it’s a Class Skill Rune at Tier-3. It shouldn’t be a Basic-grade Skill.”

His voice didn’t give the bulky woman any leeway. The urge to submit to David and answer the question was overwhelming—too intense.

“It is a Class Skill. Tier-3. And it belongs to my Primary Class, Gargantuan Berserker, which is a Rare Class that gives me two points in Body for every rank-up, and an additional point every other rank-up.”

That was more information than he wanted, but it was interesting nonetheless. He’d never heard of Gargantuan Berserker, but the distribution of her Attribute Points explained everything he needed to know. The Berserker probably focused on her Primary Class and either wasn’t in possession of a Secondary Class yet or didn’t like it enough.

“You don’t know how to control it, do you?”

“What does it matter to you?” the woman snapped.

David cocked an eyebrow at her outburst. “It doesn’t really matter to me. To be honest, I’m not quite sure why I want to help you all in the first place. But I feel like I have to help. If I don’t, every single one of you will be dead within a few weeks.”

The Berserker’s lips parted, but David lifted his hand and stopped her midway.

“My Echos, like this one,” he pointed at the small crimson hawk hovering above them, “have been scouting the adjacent regions. More Rifts are spawning, creating more competition among the monsters. They fight each other, and the strong will consume the weak. They will grow stronger and stronger, while you’re out here, unable to control your fucking Tier-3 Skill.”

“I don’t give a shit about you, but your physical strength is high enough to make a difference. You could be strong enough to help the town, yet you’re out here, nearly falling victim to a pathetic pack of malnourished wolves. If I hadn’t interfered, you would have been severely wounded and forced to fight the hyenas by yourself—injured and exhausted—since you’ve never learned how to use your Skill Runes properly either.”

The Berserker glared at David, only to turn around when she noticed he wasn’t looking at her. She turned and was faced with a group of more than a dozen hyenas of Bronze Rank.

“Fuck,” she muttered, brandishing her Zweihänder… or she tried to.

Too exhausted to lift her Zweihänder and shield properly, she couldn’t do anything as the hyenas inched closer.

“Fighting alone is great. You don’t have to split your attention to guard others, and you can do whatever the fuck you want, but that’s only possible if you have the means—if you’re strong enough to fight your enemies alone,” David pointed out, getting out of the chair. He stored it away and stepped up to the Berserker.

“But you and the others shouldn’t fight alone. You should learn how to wield your Class Skills without endangering your allies. You should team up with others who can further strengthen you—people who can give you the strength needed to wield your sword and shield longer. People who can help you fight above your weight class.”

That being said, David pressed his hand against the Berserker’s back. She flinched and glared at him, but he ignored her antics and channeled pure Blood into her. He cast [True Restoration] and [Vital Weaving] on the woman and applied [Herald’s Blessing] on her and the Zweihänder. A moment later, he cast [Unyielding Vitality] on her as well, forcefully elevating her life force to another level.

[Unyielding Vitality] was normally a passive ability that worked only on David, but he’d tweaked the Class Skill a little—creating the trace of a Spark—to be able to use it on others, to force their bodies, minds, and souls to go on and fight longer than they would normally be able to.

“I don’t have to care about you all, but I do. Don’t ask me for a reason, as I don’t have one. Just… think of it as my desire to see humankind survive the integration,” he muttered, slapping her back with some force, pushing the Berserker closer to the hyenas. “And now kill them all.”

The Berserker glanced back, her earlier fury and suspicion replaced by confusion and flickers of determination.

“You’re odd.” She shook her head but turned back to the hyenas. “But maybe we need an oddball.”