Back to The Village

Nolan and Pantoran quickly arrived at the south city gate.

It was late in the night, so the guards were asleep. But still, to pass through the gate with the horse, he would wake up the guards.

'What do I do?' Nolan thought. 'Do I kill them? No, that would be too monstrous. After all, they have done nothing wrong and are only doing their duty.'

Nolan thought for a while, and he finally found a solution.

He got off the horse and walked over to one of the guards.

"Wake up," Nolan shook him.

"What? What is going on?" the guards asked sleepily.

Thud!

Nolan struck him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.

"What happened?" The other guard started waking up too, but being half-asleep, Nolan quickly rushed to him and knocked him unconscious too.

"Now we can pass," He said with a smile. He opened the gate and got on the horse, leaving the city.

His destination, the village.

...

After long and tiresome traveling, Nolan and Pantoran arrived at the village early in the morning. The sun had just started rising.

As the first sunrays fell upon the village, Nolan's eyes trembled in happiness.

Four days, only four days passed since the last time Nolan left the village. And in just four days, Alfred, Kelton, and the others had built not only the storage but several small houses too.

Of course, the houses were still made mostly of wood and little stone, but under the leadership of Kelton, an Excellent Mason, the houses were built more carefully and were more stable and resistant.

Nolan and Pantoran got off the horse.

"One, two, three..." Nolan started counting the houses. "Nine!" He exclaimed, his eyes still trembling in happiness. "They have built nine houses. At this rate... System, how much time do I have till the end of the quest: Village?"

[21 days, 18 hours, 49minutes]

Nolan smiled. "At this rate, we might succeed in building the village in one month. And with this..." Nolan took the Earth Banner out of the inventory. "With this 20 percent building boost from the Earth Banner, we will definitely succeed."

Holding the Earth Banner, Nolan walked over to the storage. And Pantoran remained by the horse, holding it in place.

The storage was almost twice the size of a house, almost comparable to the size of a house in the city.

Creaakk!

Nolan opened the door of the storage.

It was dark inside, without any windows. But since light entered the storage through the opened door, Nolan had no problem seeing what was inside.

Though the storage was not very big compared to the buildings in the city, the insides of the storage were not even half full with items. There was only bags of grain, a few bags of rice, and lots of tools, some broken and some completely new.

"One, two, three, four..." Nolan counted the bags. ". Forty. There are forty bags, of which three are rice bags, and the rest are grain bags. Those forty bags should be able to last us for twenty days." Nolan muttered to himself. "But before the mountain bandits attack us, I will have to go to the city and restock our food supplies. I would also need to buy some weapons."

After seeing the state in the storage, he got out of the storage and closed the door behind him.

Thud!

Nolan put the Earth Banner in the ground before the storage.

[Ding]

A system notification immediately sounded.

[The Earth Banner is in effect]

[20 percent boost in a radius of 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Earth Banner]

With a smile on his face, Nolan walked over to Pantoran.

"Hmm? Boss?" A gentle voice came from behind.

Nolan and Pantoran simultaneously turned back.

It was Stephany. She just came out of one temporary house. Her hair was messy. She had just woken up.

Pantoran's eyes shone, and his heart danced as he watched the beauty with golden silk-like hair walking over to them.

"Good morning," Stephany greeted as she stood before Nolan.

Nolan smiled. "You are up early?"

Stephany nodded. As she was lower than Nolan, she raised her head a little and looked Nolan in the eyes. "I need to prepare food for everyone, so I must wake up earlier than the others." She said.

Staring at her beautiful blue eyes, Nolan lost himself in her eyes for a moment.

"But Boss, who is this?" Stephany asked with a smile, pointing at Pantoran.

"Ahh!" Nolan returned to himself. He looked at Pantoran who was stunned by Stephany's beauty, unable to even introduce himself. "This is Pantoran. I met him in the city, and we became friends. Since he had nowhere to go, I brought him here. He is going to live with us." Nolan introduced Pantoran.

"Pantoran, this is Stephany. She is my..." Nolan stopped as a question rose in his mind. What was Stephany to him? A friend? More than a friend?

'This feeling I am feeling toward her? What is she to me?' Nolan touched his chest. 'If I feel like this, is she more than a friend?'

"She is my best friend," Nolan said.

As he said this, the smile on Stephany's face vanished for a second. However, as she forced a smile immediately after, no one noticed this slight change.

"Boss, I need to prepare food, so please excuse me." Saying this, Stephany left Nolan and Pantoran.

She went to the river, and after washing her face, she poured water into the large metal pots and started the fire.

While Stephany prepared the meal, Pantoran and Nolan noticed the horse of the village and walked over there. It was tied to a strongly stuck wooden pole in the ground, grazing the yellow grass.

After letting their horse drink water from the river, Nolan and Pantoran tied the horse to the wooden pole. Now the village had two horses.

...

A half-hour later, the food was ready, and the villagers started waking up one by one.

"Boss!" Kelton waved with a smile as he walked over to Nolan. Immediately behind him was Alfred.

"Boss, when did you come here?" Alfred asked.

"I came early in the morning. But never mind that, let me introduce you," Nolan said, turning to Pantoran. "This is Pantoran, a friend I met in the city. He is a scientist."

"I am Alfred." Alfred stretched his hand for a handshake which Pantoran gladly accepted.

"I am Kelton. The mason of this village." Kelton shook hands with Pantoran too.

"Everyone," Nolan spoke. "As we were caught in an unfortunate situation in the city, me and Pantoran had not slept all night. Long story short, I offended a powerful person in the city and was arrested."

As Nolan said this, Alfred's and Kelton's faces turned grim. "Don't worry. I have resolved the problem, but I am tired. I would go to rest."

Saying this, Nolan headed straight to his temporary house and lay on his back.

"Now," He muttered. "System, explain to me everything about the Internal Energy." Nolan finally asked the question that lingered in his mind since he came to know of the existence of Internal Energy.

[Internal Energy is the energy inside the human body. Using different cultivation methods, humans can cultivate, increasing the Internal Energy in them. With the help of rare skills, they can use the Internal Energy outside of their bodies]

"Then why can't I use internal energy?" Nolan asked.

[For a person to be able to cultivate Internal Energy, the sum of his stats must reach 100. Otherwise, the body can not contain the increasing Internal Energy, and it will swell up like a balloon, and at the end, it will explode]

Upon learning this information, Nolan's whole body shook in fear.

[However, there is an exception to this. There is a logic-defying skill that enables the user to use internal energy even if his strength is far from the required strength. The skill, Sticky Hand]

"Sticky Hand?" Nolan fell in deep thought for a moment. "I seem to have heard of this skill..." His eyes widened in shock as realization fell upon him. "Gulliver. Gulliver has this skill, right?"

[Yes. Gulliver, also known as The Endless Gluttony Gulliver within the Black Rose organization, possesses this logic-defying skill]

"System, back then, I remember the level of my Inspect skill was too low to get more information about this skill. Can you tell them more now?"

[The logic-defying skill, Sticky Hand uses internal energy to make the hand stick to anything, or if the item is smaller than the hand, it makes the item stick to the hand. This skill is perfect for stealing]

"I see. System, I have one more question. What is the thing with the color of Internal Energy? I have seen that different people have different colors of Internal Energy."

[The color of the Internal Energy depends on the personality of the user. However, the color does not affect only the visual of the Internal Energy. It also affects its attributes. Different internal energies have different attributes]

"Then what are the attributes of Green Internal Energy?"

[The Green Internal Energy enhances the speed]

"Then what about the golden Internal Energy Nara posses?"

[The Golden Internal energy represents a noble character. Honest, courageous, and generous. The attribute of the Golden internal energy is extreme sturdiness. You can use it for defense or make your weapons even sturdier, increasing their durability]

"Then what about the Red Internal Energy of Guard No.1?"

[Three types of people have this Internal Energy. Bloodthirsty people, extremely cruel people, and people who have killed a lot. The Red Internal Energy is most dominant among the martial artists on the war battlefield. The Red Internal Energy is violent. It makes the user violent, and it makes him feel less pain when using the Internal Energy.]

"Does the black color exist?"

[Only Dark people, evil people, and assassins possess the Black Internal Energy. The Black Internal Energy is corrosive, tremendously enhancing the attack power]

"Thank you, system. That's all."

'Internal Energy, huh?' Nolan thought, closing his eyes. 'I wonder what color my Internal Energy will be.'

After closing his eyes, the tiredness of not sleeping all night caught up to Nolan, and he fell asleep.