The elderly women were shaking as they got up from the ground, and for a few seconds, their eyes were empty. The old Mage touched her chest where she had been impaled and felt her clothes. Several holes riddled her garments, all while her very own blood drenched the area around them.

“Y-you…”

David felt the bond shift and grow weaker. He knew that if he remained silent or said something wrong, the Trusting bond would change, possibly forever. But he did not justify his actions right away. He healed them up and pushed pure Blood—created with more lifeforce than necessary—into them and augmented it with [Unyielding Vitality]. Then he watched them for a few seconds before turning to the monsters, trying to locate the bonds of Conflict, only to find none.

It doesn’t work for all monsters, does it?

There had been a frail bond of Conflict when they fought the Gnolls. It was lackluster and ceased once the Gnolls died, but there had been a trickle of power, even if it had been barely worth mentioning.

“Are you dead?” David asked them calmly as the elderly women continued to shudder.

He didn’t receive an answer—not that he needed one.

“Good.” He nudged his head to the right, forcing the new Classers to stare at the deer as the chains restraining the injured monster dispersed again.

“You said you would make a difference for Orhain’s future. That gaining a Class would change your town’s fate.” David smiled at the elderly women, but his eyes remained cold—heartless, even.

“Or was that just your arrogance speaking? Did I overestimate your determination?” He shook his head in disappointment. “I was trying to help you, to push you further when I felt your determination to make a change. Was I mistaken?”

Had he been too ambitious? Maybe, but their bonds had been clear about their true feelings. They’d shown him all he needed to know about the elderly women… or so he thought.

They were arrogant—worse than he had been in the past. David was certain they were even worse than he was right now. At least he could tell that they were stronger than him in the cosmos. Sure, that didn’t mean much, depending on the situation, but he wouldn’t face a Minor God head-on when he could weaken them using different methods.

David would charge into armies of Voidlings, but if the situation allowed it, he’d definitely avoid groups of Voidre. Maybe he’d fight one Voidre now. He was stronger than ever and in possession of enough Vitae to do considerable damage, but he could heal himself. He had the means to escape and recover.

The elderly women did not. They were old and fragile, yet they thought they could achieve what their grandchildren and Frey couldn’t. Thus, David gave them a chance—the opportunity to kill a weakened Bronze monster with [Herald’s Blessing]'s massive boost at their disposal.

“You darn brat!” one shouted.

“Fuck you,” the second granny muttered, her hands trembling, while the Warrior remained silent. She shuddered occasionally and looked down at her hands, grimacing.

David could only smile in response. “The deer is stirring. Bloodlust’s effect is wearing off.”

“It will be angry, so be careful,” he added cheerily.

This was just the first of five monsters to slay, but it was bound to be the hardest—physically, for one, as he pushed their bodies beyond their limit. Being able to heal them was good and all; however, there were also limits. Using enough lifeforce to create pure Blood pushed those limits, but it was still not possible to heal someone infinitely—especially not at the Iron Rank.

Their minds struggled to accept that they had been on the verge of death one moment, only to be fixed—and possibly better than before—a moment later. The pain and suffering were another thing.

The mental burden was another thing: fighting with their lives on the line, using supernatural abilities, wielding mythical energies, escaping death by a hair’s breadth.

Nearly all of this was new to them. Even if it wasn’t new, it was different than it had been in their past. They had to get used to it to get stronger.

Thus, feeling the bonds stir and resonate with his intentions, he watched in silence as the wounded deer charged the grannies a second time.

And as the fight resumed, the old Mage’s bond changed forever. It grew stronger, firmer, breaking past the next threshold.

Even if the Mage was cursing at him, hating him from the bottom of her heart, deep down she registered the favor he was doing her.

Interesting. David smiled, feeling the power of the fourth Loyal bond settle.

***

The grannies treated him like the worst kind of villain as he pushed them further, but he ignored their curses until the last deer collapsed dead to the ground.

“That wasn’t too bad, was it?” David smirked as he walked over to collect the bodies and system drops.

“I hate you,” the old Mage growled.

He inspected the system drops after attaching a [Healing Sphere] to each of the three elderly Classers.

“Looks like you were quite lucky. A Blood Fragment and a Skill Slate.”

The Skill Slate was called [Light Life] and was already a Tier-1 Skill. Any Classer at the Iron Rank would be happy to bind a Tier-1 Skill Rune, but [Light Life] was only compatible with the Basic Class, Cleric, and similar advanced healing-focused Classes. David could probably bind it too, but he did not need it. Nor did he have a suitable Skill Slate with which to replace it.

“You can trade [Light Life] for a more suitable Tier-1 Skill, or several Tier-0 Skill Slates. Fighting the Bronze monsters around Orhain will help you push your Tier-0 Skills to Tier-1 within a week or two if you work hard enough,” David proposed, but the old Warrior shook her head.

“We’ll give it to someone who needs it. Trading it is cumbersome and will waste too much time—time that [Light Life] could be used to help others.”

It was their decision to make, so he didn’t interfere. David handed over the Blood Fragment and Skill Slate, and guided the grannies back to Orhain. Fighting five Bronze monsters, one by one, right after accessing their Basic Class had been exhausting. David was surprised they didn’t collapse near the end, though that was a good thing.

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He was satisfied and quite pleased with the results.

Will the other elderly residents be like them? As durable and strong-willed? David wondered, hoping for the best.

At worst, he hoped the older townspeople would be better than the youths had been. They had yet to visit him to request his aid, and David was certain they wouldn’t venture out of Orhain on their own. Not after the bloody massacre they’d caused a few days ago.

David shook his head, thinking about the teenagers, yet he deployed a few sparrow-shaped Echos to check on them—to understand what they were doing and how they were faring.

***

The days after he helped the three elderly women were repetitive. They followed a similar fashion.

David focused on helping more townspeople acquire a Basic Class. To be precise, most of the residents he helped belonged to the older generations. He ensured they would gain a Basic Class and some combat experience.

Sure, not everyone was forced to fight five Bronze monsters on the day of their system induction, but not all the elderly residents were as arrogant as the three grannies. David inflicted wounds and ailments on the monsters and augmented the newly induced Classers, creating a battle with relatively fair odds.

He ensured the residents wouldn’t have it easy. They sustained severe wounds and escaped death by a hair’s breadth more often than they’d like, but that was a necessity. After all, the new Classers should never underestimate their enemy. Never should they get complacent and arrogant.

If anything, David hoped they would overestimate their enemies and respect their power enough to retreat and regroup to fight them.

It was impossible to force anything upon them; however, it should be possible to influence their perception of the monsters outside Orhain a little. As long as they weren’t scared witless and were willing to fight their adversaries, everything would be alright.

Everyone willing to become a combatant left Orhain with David. They acquired their Basic Class and returned with clothes drenched in their own blood. It was like a ritual, which more and more residents seemed to accept once it was clear that nobody had sustained permanent injuries. There were no casualties, and most newly induced quickly grew stronger.

Barely a week had passed, yet the grannies had already advanced to the Bronze Rank. Their Basic Classes had evolved, and they’d selected a Secondary Class, elevating their prowess further.

After some back and forth, David managed to modify [Vital Weaving] to stimulate the old hags’ cells. Their minds and souls were the first to feel younger. Even if it was intangible, they could feel the power of youth spreading through them. And once their minds and souls felt younger than they had in decades, their bodies followed, aided by [True Restoration], [Vital Weaving], [Unyielding Vitality], and a good portion of Vitae devouring the pesky cells that had been unwilling to follow the flow of time back to their roots.

It took a bit of fine-tuning and a lot more energy than expected, but a higher Body stat and the extended lifespan of a Bronze Classer were enough to rejuvenate the old, fragile bodies of some retired Classers. It didn’t work as well for the old Mage, but even she no longer looked like a grandmother in her 80s. As long as she continued to strive, her physique would improve, and she would look like her friends.

One way or another, the Classers were doing well. Even those unwilling to fight on the frontlines chose to accept David’s help and became Clerics. Helping them rank up was a little bit more challenging until the other Classers decided to leave Orhain without him as a safety net. His Echos followed them to help in dire situations, but most structures created by [Bloodlife Echo] didn’t have the means to protect half a dozen Classers from monsters at the Silver Rank.

Sure, the Echos could cast [Bloodbound Bastion] and [Vital Weaving], granting them access to protection and healing, but they consumed a considerable amount of energy. Using pure Blood would weaken their form until they faded away, whereas Aether was not as effective.

“What are we supposed to do once we reach the Bronze Rank? I want to help, but…”

Someone approached David on the street as he roamed Orhain to inspect how much the town had changed. It was a young man with short blond hair and a deathly pale complexion. He nibbled on his lower lip and fidgeted with his hands.

A group of teenagers trotted alongside the young man, their attention shifting from playfully mocking their friend to looking at David with awe—and was that reverence?

“But he cannot see blood,” one of the teens, a young woman, snickered in delight. “That idiot faints whenever he sees blood. How is someone like that supposed to fight?!”

It wasn’t the first time someone approached him to ask a question like that. Since he’d been true to his word before, David was always surrounded by one or more townspeople asking questions. Sometimes they were about the System; other times people wanted to know about the Sanctuaries, the danger outside Kamia, or the ‘aliens.’

However, most of the time, people asked him what they should do—and that was the problem. While he could tell how they felt, to a certain extent, using the bond, David was unwilling to make decisions for others. They should do what they deemed right.

“You’re a Mage?” he asked, and proceeded when the young man answered with a faint nod. “You can avoid fights for a while, sure. But if a stampede of thousands of monsters threatens Orhain’s safety, everyone will have to help. That being said, I’d pick a Class that allows you to grow stronger—to improve your combat prowess.”

The young man looked uncomfortable, and his shoulders dropped even more as a few “See? I told you!”, “I knew he would say that,” and similar remarks resounded from the group of teens behind.

“But while I deem an individual’s strength crucial—that’s my opinion—you should never underestimate the importance of other Classes,” David said, retrieving a Talisman—a Beast Ward, to be precise—from his spatial storage.

It didn’t look special at first glance. After all, how could a piece of hide etched with a few intricate lines be special? Whoever thought like that was an idiot.

“This is a Beast Ward. You’ve seen more of them in the last few days, haven't you?” he asked the young man, but also glanced at the others. Everyone nodded slowly. “That was created by a young woman with the Taoist Class. She picked the Mage Class initially, ranked up to Bronze fairly quickly, and picked Inscriber as Primary Class and Painter as Secondary Class. Their compatibility rate was very high, and she advanced to the Silver Rank within a week. Not only did she evolve both Classes, she also gained several useful Class Skills and a Legacy Skill, allowing the creation of new Wards and Talismans like the Beast Ward.”

The Beast Ward repelled monsters. David was unsure exactly what the Beast Ward did, but most monsters avoided places with one or multiple Beast Wards, and people carrying them. They consumed a tremendous amount of energy, though that could be offset by placing the Beast Wards within a formation of Aether-gathering Talismans.

At this point, Orhain was not in danger of being attacked. Neither were its immediate surroundings, allowing the residents to expand—to consider establishing farms and treehouses outside town.

“If you like botany or agriculture, you can become a Botanic Sorcerer, a Druid, or something like that. You could also become an Artificer and pick Engraver or Inscriber as your Secondary Class. Maybe even Blacksmith or something along those lines. It all depends on what you want to do, and how you want to help the community. Because that is what I consider the most important: to help the community,” David added. “If you do not want to fight, ensure those who fight are well-fed, armed and well-equipped, and that they have something worth fighting for. Dying for, if that’s what it takes to protect Orhain.”

There was a little bit more back and forth with the young man and the group of teenagers. Since he had yet to ask for something in return for his help, they bombarded him with more questions—probably not even realizing that every bit of assistance strengthened the bonds.

David was busy helping everyone, but he didn’t mind. Maybe it would have been annoying before. No, he was certain it would have bothered him tremendously in the past. He’d probably have left Orhain by the time the third person asked him the same question as those before. But that was no longer the case. If anything, he was happy to help others. To answer their questions.

To collect Favor.

The power he gained was minuscule. It wasn’t much, and it was slower than he would have liked, but the trickle was constant. He was still learning more tricks about the Paths and his tasks as an Ascendant, and that was exactly why Orhain was perfect for him.

It was isolated from the rest of the Earthen Union and offered him a myriad of golden opportunities to learn everything he needed to know to ensure everyone emerged victorious.

All he needed was to accumulate Favor to grow stronger.

If he could help Orhain and make a claim of the town and its surrounding territory—possibly Kamia as an entirety—that would be even better.

Surely, ruling Kamia, creating Sanctuaries similar to the Dwarven Sanctuary, would strengthen him too. If not, Fortress never would have created the Dwarven Sanctuary, using most of his influence.

It was definitely worth a try.