Chapter 2: Cheat

Open my character sheet, Roy thought, and a slew of weird messages flooded his mind.

'Character Sheet:

Roy

Age: Thirteen years and seven months old

Gender: Male (This detail will not be shown in the future)

Status: Civilian

(You are the child of a farmer. Up until now, you have received no professional training, nor have you studied in any field. You have not mastered any skills yet, and your talent is still hidden.)

HP: 40 (Healthy)

Strength: 4 (5). Strength decides the attack power of some physical attacks. Increases the weight you can carry, enabling you to wear heavier but stronger protective gear, as well as using heavier weapons. Affects your endurance to an extent.

Dexterity: 5 (5). Dexterity decides your movement speed, attack speed, reflexes, and balance. High dexterity enables you to dodge, react to, and block attacks. Also allows you to perform difficult movements.

Constitution: 4 (5). As a base for your endurance, constitution decides how many hits you can take, your run speed, and your battle prowess. Affects life regeneration to an extent.

Perception: 5 (5). Perception includes your five senses. You have a chance to predict incoming danger, as well as increase your efficiency in assessing your surroundings. Perception increases your chances of finding buried treasure. Someone with higher perception also has a better chance of sensing incoming danger. They can notice the secrets hidden in the void as well.

Will: 4 (5). Will decides your resistance against mental attacks and your recovery speed from psychological debuffs, such as pain and sadness. The higher your will, the calmer you can stay in dangerous situations, leading to a perfect execution of your movements. If your will is great enough, you will be able to affect physical objects.

Charisma: 5 (5). Your looks, aura, and speech skills factor into deciding your charisma. Charisma plays a role in communicating with the same species. High charisma can win someone's affection easily, and those from your species will be invariably drawn to you.

Spirit: 6 (5). Spirit decides the level of your concentration, making you focus on the task ahead of you. Can also increase your absorption rate, amount of acceptance, and control over the four elements, which is also known as chaos energy. Affects the strength of spells and pseudo spells.

PR/N: From what we've understood, (5) refers to a healthy adult. So 4 (5) means slightly below a healthy adult, 5 (5) means the same level as a healthy adult, and 6 (5) means better than a healthy adult.

Skill: None

Inventory space: 1 cubic meter

Misc.: Unknown

EXP: 1/100 (Once the EXP bar is filled out, you may level up. Each level shall grant you one attribute point and one skill point.)'

The character sheet was Roy's cheat in this world. Thanks to it, he stayed under the sun for three days, for absorbing its energy would help him clear his confused state. At the same time, he gained one EXP from staying under the sun.

"So the sun gives me 0.33 EXP per day. In that case, staying under it for 333 days would fill my EXP bar and level me up." Roy calmed down. Staying under the sun to level up was a stupid idea, but it was the safest way to do so.

Hm, if the sun can grant me EXP, can the food here do the same? That was a nice idea, but unfeasible in reality. Roy only had enough food to stave off starvation and keep him healthy. The energy in it wasn't enough to be converted into EXP. "So if I want to increase my stats, I'll have to find a way to earn some crowns and fill my belly."

A/N: Crowns are the currency of the game. The only currency in the northern kingdoms are Temeria orens, alternatively known as orens, while Aedirn's currencies are ducats and marks. That'd make the exchange rate too confusing, so from now on, we'll be using crowns and orens. The exchange rate for the currency is one to one.

If he could make enough crowns, Roy could even hire mercenaries or reputable witchers to escort his parents as they left for the city of freedom, Novigrad, located in Redania, which was northwest of their village. Redania was involved in the Northern Wars, but the nation wasn't affected. At least the civilians could live their lives out there in peace.

"Money aside, I have to see if there's any other way to gain EXP."

Considering the game and Roy's experience with it, killing monsters would be the most likely way to gain EXP, and the world of "The Witcher" was filled with all kinds of creatures. If he were to wander around in the wilderness beyond the village or rivers around it, he might just bump into a drowner if he was unlucky.

Roy was just a frail, feeble boy who had no combat prowess. If he were to go out and hunt, he'd be torn to pieces by the dogs and wolves on the way. Then he'd have died for nothing.

Obviously, he couldn't respawn in this world, unlike in the game. "I have to be careful. Legends start from the unlikeliest of places. I should start with a smaller creature."

He went into the yard and threw a glance at the big, white goat that stood out from the rest of the animals. No. That goat can provide milk, and it's too big for me to handle. He gave up on killing the goat, and a few roosters leaped happily in front of him. Roy gritted his teeth and went back in to grab a knife. "Dad's going to kill one tonight for me anyway. Why don't I do it myself?"

Roy set his murderous gaze on a big, fat, grey rooster. Noticing the impending danger, the rooster crowed shrilly and leaped around the coop, trying to escape murder.

If anyone were to pass by, they'd come across a hilarious scene: a scrawny young man chasing after a majestic grey rooster. The creature continued cawing and running for his life, while the boy wouldn't stop pursuing it.

Roy kept falling and getting up, unwilling to give up. When he was already drenched in sweat, and his legs turned to jelly, he finally caught the rooster's wings. Roy held the knife under its neck, but he didn't make the kill.

"I haven't even killed anything up until now. Not even a chicken. Didn't expect my first kill in life to be a big, stupid rooster."

That reminded him of the legendary witcher, Geralt of Rivia. Geralt had many titles, some of which included "The White Wolf", "The Butcher of Blaviken", and "The Giant Slayer". Roy thought those titles were cool and menacing.

"Nobody can know of this. What if I become a legend someday, and the bard calls me "The Rooster Slayer"? That'd be dumb."

That thought made Roy pick up the pace. He made a clumsy slash across the rooster's neck, and blood spurted into the sky. Some of it even splashed onto his face.

At the same time, the rooster extended its claws and crowed for the final time in its life. A short while later, it lay on the ground, convulsing and taking its last breath as Roy grinned.

2/100! It worked! "I knew it! This works!"

He was glad that nobody saw him kill the rooster, but then a panicked scream reached him, "By the gods! R-Roy the fool's possessed by a monster! He killed his family's chicken!" A snotty, eight-year-old brat had a horrified expression on his face as he shouted out the "murder" of the rooster. Roy swore the whole village could have heard his scream. He was just like the screaming groundhog meme Roy saw in his past life.

The boy's appearance made Roy's eyes shine, and he was obviously not concerned with the accusation the boy made. That boy's Brandon, the son of the butcher.

As the official butcher for a backwater village like Kaer, every villager had to ask for his help whenever they needed to slaughter their livestock. "If I manage to become the butcher's apprentice, I'd have loads of EXP to gain."