6 George's First Lesson

Hearing George's offer to stay at the Fang Village, Jun sighed in relief. He was still utterly weak and required some sort of assistance before he could become independent. His body strength was utterly nonexistent, and Jun desperately needed to strengthen his body fundamentals and foundations. Power and strength, although with the system would be easier to obtain, still required tremendous effort and time to accomplish.

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The system made it explicitly clear the difference between True Revelation and regular fictions: there were no OP powerups, plot armors, or even any guidance, and everything was reliant and dependent on himself. Finalizing his thoughts, Jun nodded in agreement with George's offer.

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"Thanks George, I appreciate your help. I will definitely repay this favor in the future."

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"You're still young Jon, the least an old man could do. Now, let me teach you the basics about the Fang Village. The Fang Village is under the Wild Barony, or officially as the Bastard Barony of West Glaives, and is led by the Grayhound Family. To explain the power structure, the Baron is the highest authority in our land, and serves under the Viscount of the Burning Lands. Gentlemen, baronets, knights and squires are underneath the baron and although there is no official distinction between their rank, knights and squires are deemed to be socially above baronets and gentlemen."

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George unfurled one of the scrolls on the table and spread it with a few stone paperweights. Pointing to the far eastern portion of the map at a location highlighted with a thick black outline, George further explained.

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"This right here is the Bastard Barony of West Glaives, which was conquered from the Greater Aether Dynasty four years ago and granted to the head of the Grayhound Family due to his merits during the Second Fallen-Aether Conflict."

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Circling a large portion of the eastern part of Fallen Star Empire, a faint dotted outline was labeled as the Burning Lands. Jun discovered that the longer he stared at the foreign words on the map, the greater his understanding of the actual words would increase until he could understand completely. He found that this new language was slowly become his dominant language, with his native tongue from Earth slowly receding to the back of his mind. Although he did not feel any malicious erasure of his understanding of Earth languages, thinking and remembering them took more time than instantly being able to think or remember. As if detecting Jun's confusion and attempts at understanding what was happening, the System pinged a notification box.

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'Note: This world's human language, Common, is being set as the your main language. Your prior languages from Earth are being sealed and can be toggled on or off at any point. You can do so in the Character Menu.'

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Unaware of Jun's internal thoughts, George just continued his explanation about the Fallen Star Empire's power structure.

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"Our village is one of the twelve villages that serve as vassals to our direct lord, Baron Edward I Greyhound. I served with the Baron for ten years until I chose to retire early after the Second Fallen-Aether Conflict and my merits granted me management of this village for my services. I've been the village elder since then, and am also responsible for gathering the taxes from all the villages. I have to warn you in advance about military service: it is not as glorified as the bard tales and recruitment posters make it out to be. As a commoner, you essentially serve as sacrificial pawns unless you have enough talent or survive long enough to obtain a class."

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George sighed and looked out the window in a moment of introspection and sadness. He looked down at the gray streaks in his beard, laughing pitifully at his old appearance despite only being in his early thirties.

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"I was the latter. I started out as a recruit who was handed a spear and drilled for a few weeks before being shipped out here to the Burning Lands to fight the Greater Aether Dynasty. As the Burning Lands is right between the Fallen Star Empire and the Greater Aether Dynasty, it has been the bloody back and forth push in an attempt to gain a tactical advantage to conquer the other. After four years of barely surviving these skirmishes, I was able to granted the Footsoldier class by the Baron, who at the time was the Commander for our thousand-man army. During my time as a Footsoldier, I rose to the position as a hundred-man commander until most of the Baron's army was annihilated during the Second Fallen-Aether Conflict. While we were protecting an exposed supply line, the Greater Aether Dynasty unleashed a Tier II Cloud Beast that the Baron was able to slay but by only sacrificing our entire army. So many died, for what. A..."

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He stopped himself abruptly and his face became more twisted with remorse, guilt and bitterness. George recalled the faces and names of all the brothers that died that day: the few that remained were crippled and traumatized to insanity with only George, the Baron, and a handful of the Baron's trusted aides surviving with their sanity in tact.

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"Sorry for getting off topic, but I know that you are aware of how cruel the world can be, cruelty paid in the price of the blood and tears of its commoners. Never forget Jon, that only with absolute power, can you escape your destiny and fate."

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Jun and George sat there in silence, one contemplating his future and other his past. They both sighed, with one affirming his determination and other his regrets, before Jun asked.

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"What exactly are tiers?"

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"Tiers are the measures of power for people and creatures: the tiers go from one all the way to five. There are sub-tiers--Low, Middle, Upper--within each tier, and do not underestimate the differences within these sub-tiers: the Cloud Beast was a Upper Tier 2, while the Baron just managed to break into Low Tier 2 during the battle. Only after sacrificing countless soldiers and Tier 1 knights and warriors, was the Cloud Beast barely killed."

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The System abruptly spoke, further explaining about tiers.

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'Tiers are the representation of one's level. Levels are extremely hard to gain, and so the difference of one level is significant, not to mention the multiple levels between tiers. Those with no tiers are also referred to as tierless. Here are the tiers:'

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The System opened another display box detailed with the following information:

- No Tier: Level 1-10

- Tier I (Knight-Tier): Level 10-19

- Tier II (Noble-Tier): Level 20-29

- Tier III (Lord-Tier): Level 30-49

- Tier IV (Royal-Tier): Level 50-69

- Tier V (Protectorate-Tier): Level 70-90

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Rising from his seat, George left the shack and guided Jun to a small courtyard in the backyard. A tall fence surrounded the courtyard, with trees planted around the perimeter for additional privacy. While the courtyard itself as barren dirt, there was an empty stone pit off to the side along with a few training dummies made from stone. Standing in the middle of the courtyard, George closed his eyes and his entire body immediately tensed up as his muscles become more defined and leaner. Opening his eyes, he explained.

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"This is the skill I talked about yesterday, Iron Body. Through years of dedicated practice and training, I have trained my Iron Body to allow me to fight on equal grounds with a Low Tier 2. The limits for poor-ranked classes is Upper Tier 1, but their limits can be broken through hard work and determination."

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George went up to one of the training dummies and immediately struck it. The training dummy immediately broke into pieces from the sudden impact, falling onto the ground before he brushed off the stone dust that was sprinkled on his clothing. George held up his head high and said proudly.

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"That was about 5% of my strength. In the ranks of Tier 1, this is equivalent to the full power of a Low Tier 1 or the strength of 10 men. A Middle Tier 1 has about the strength of 25 men, while a Peak Tier 1 has the strength of a 100 men. The strength of Tier 2s begins to vary significantly as the differences between classes within the Warrior class become more distinct and prominent, although the strength of 200 men is average within Low Tier 2."

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From the very beginning, I focused on vitality and endurance which was essential in surviving on the battlefield while in perpetual combat. In addition, although in direct confrontation, the different between subtiers and tiers is immense, always remember that your combat strength is not the only thing that matters. If your wits, knowledge, and cunningness outclass your opponent's, you could defeat those immensely stronger than you. But the reverse is true as well: if you fall into an enemy's ploy, you could easily die to someone you considered an ant."

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The trees around the courtyard swayed as the cool summer breeze whistled through their leaves, as if the world was acknowledging George's statement. The courtyard's air was cool due to the numerous branches seemingly closing off the area to the sun's touch. As Jun looked up at the cracks of blue skyline that peeked through the branches, he noticed a soft glimmer. Looking back at George, the System suddenly gave another notification before Jun could question George.

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"Due to minimum affinity reached, System will allow you to access their character sheet."

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The System suddenly displayed a lengthy character sheet similar to his own:

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Name: George ???

Class: Footsoldier, (???)

Level: 19???

Race: Human

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Skills:

Iron Body (Passive, Master)

Channeled Iron Body (Active, ???)

Spear Proficiency (Passive, ???)

Recovery (Active, ???)

???

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"What are all these question marks for?"

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"System is unable to validate Name, Class, Level or additional Skills."