Samuel Oakley, the tempest. A man that has braved through many dangerous journeys. Yet, never before had he been forced to the pits of despair by an adversary as he had now.
"You lost~" His wife said cheerily in a provocative manner.
"Grrr! This game is nothing like adventuring anyway, otherwise I'd-!" Samuel's excuses were cut short by his wife.
"Hey! Don't show your son how to be a sore loser!" Maya, his wife, reproached him in jest.
Samuel thus darted his son a look, the young boy had grown quite a bit. Samuel hadn't been able to notice this until now that he had gotten a break but his son was rather attentive and smart. He was indeed setting a bad example.
"Yeah alright, but... My point still stands!" Samuel declared. Dungeon Adventure was an interesting board game, it depicted the dangerous randomness of dungeons by making nearly the entire game rely on luck. Was Samuel supposed to NOT complain?
"Wow, what a great adventurer you are. Let's clean up" His wife decided not to waste her breath anymore as she and Sammy began to pack up the board game.
Samuel on the other hand left the wooden cabin to get some fresh night air. He gazed up at the brilliant stars and took in the large white moon.
"It's about time I return…" His skills had improved by bounds and leaps. It wasn't boasting, it was an undeniable fact. Samuel was now also much more confident in his standing when compared to other A-class adventurers.
"I might need to get my strength reassessed" His ranking wouldn't change but he was curious about how his score would hold up. The margins for A-class was rather large, as the current ceiling of strength.
It was only normal, how could someone weaker than yourself properly gauge your power? Increasing one's score, in that case, would be nothing more than curiosity.
Still, it wasn't like the scores were completely baseless. For a magic swordsman such as himself to be properly ranked, three things would be taken into account.
First was strength. The test essentially consisted of doing nothing but heavy lifting. Basic as it was it did help properly gauge one's theoretical combat power. Whether or not one was able to properly use that strength was another matter.
The second was agility and dexterity. Due to limitations, the two were counted as one and the same. This was tested with two small exercises, one being to slice multiple magic devices in certain angles or areas. The time would be measured by a proctor. For agility, a simple track did the work.
The third measure was the amount of mana. Unlike mages, swordsman didn't need to meticulously control the mana they outputted. Of course, Samuel could now easily say such a thing was a misconception. Mana control would prove helpful regardless of profession.
"This world is heading down the wrong path…" Samuel muttered to himself and began to think of the past. Each generation saw an increase in the capabilities of people, monsters, and dungeons.
Having thought of this, Samuel found it curious. Why was it that the dungeons would grow stronger just as humans did? It was simply inexplicable.
Or were the dungeons naturally evolving over time? It was a scary thought as it implied that if humans tripped up once they could risk extinction.
"I need to share this with others" Samuel felt a hidden sense of crisis. As an adventurer, he would have never asked himself why but now, now that he was in a position of power and also had a family, he couldn't help but think of both the future and the past.
Samuel was admittedly tempted to keep the method to himself, he'd be lying if he said otherwise. The ability to protect only came with power. Giving others strength would ultimately mean making himself weaker.
If everyone was rich then nobody was. If everyone was powerful then nobody was. It worked the same way, there did exist power inflation. The mere fact that there was an ever-shifting ceiling meant that power inflation was a thing.
Samuel had lots of things to consider when deciding to teach his methods to others, but perhaps he could start small. As in with a small child, Sammy.
"I wonder how quickly he can surpass me" Samuel said to himself with a smile. Just like that, his itinerary for the rest of his break was decided.
***
Ed and Vorgarag had conversed for nearly a good hour. This was simply because Ed no longer had any intentions to hide his adventures. The only key thing that he kept to himself was his humanity.
Realistically, it had been long enough that he himself sometimes forgot. Being forced to swap bodies meant that his human past only felt like another identity and nothing more.
It was funny. The more time he spent as an orc or skeleton the more he would forget his humanity. The eventual bouts and surges of recovered memories would however undo that progress leaving him in a strange stalemate.
"You are really amazing…" Vorgarag mumbled feeling a hint of admiration. With a mix of both luck and wit, as well as many boosts from an unknown entity, Ed managed to reign supreme.
"Well, I think anyone else could have done the same" Who was Ed? He was your average 18-year-old college student. He was a young man who followed the already trodden path. The lazy ambitions that were instituted into himself by society. One more of the mob.
The two, Ed and Vorgarag, chatted about more personal events from thereon. Like his thing with Shel or Vorgarag with his past.
"My master actually died from eating too much" Vorgarag commented puzzling Ed deeply. Vorgarag refused to expand on it however leaving Ed scratching his head.
"We should probably get back into the settlement" Ed told Vorgarag after hearing some more useless bits of information about Vorgarag's past.
"Sure" Vorgarag replied casually and waited for Ed to turn to leave.
Ed, therefore, didn't wait any longer and started walking away with Vorgarag behind him. Vorgarag tried to follow after him but fumbled before inevitably tripping on the unkempt grass.
"...I need help" Vorgarag said in a hushed tone.
"Hm?" Ed turned around only to find Vorgarag on the ground having tripped up on seemingly nothing.
'I guess he still needs more time to adjust' He already knew that some amount of physical therapy was necessary so he was perhaps too hasty in letting Vorgarag have free reign.
He walked over to Vorgarag and offered him a hand but Vorgarag didn't grab it.
"What? Do you want me to carry you?" Ed asked as a joke only to see Vorgarag nod softly.
Thus, Vorgarag returned to what was now Sanctuary riding on Ed's back as if he were a mount. The sight was very confusing to the orcs inside of the settlement who saw him hop over the settlement wall with the sun as a backdrop.
The epic picture had their minds boggled but it didn't stop them from asking themselves the real question. Why did Ed haul a body outside the settlement only to return giving that same orc a piggyback ride?
Ed didn't mind their questioning stares as he made his way to where he presumed he'd find Sharog. He went into the cathedral.
Sharog was indeed there, she was surrounded by carts of boars and crystals. There were also some orcs dotted around keeping watch. All of these actions ceased however as soon as they spotted Ed carrying an unknown middle-aged orc.
"Ed?" Sharog asked perplexed. Ed simply trotted his way over with the unamused Vorgarag on his back.
"Can you come with me to that room?" Ed said and pointed towards one of the cathedrals many auxiliary rooms. They were usually kind of small but Ed only needed to hold a semi-private conversation.
The resurrection of Vorgarag brought many things into question. For example, would Vorgarag get to lead his own people again?
Realistically the answer seemed unlikely since many would be hard-pressed to believe that Vorgarag had returned in the body of a middle-aged orc. Those that did believe it would still find themselves struggling inwardly given Ed's magnificent performance as of late.
Still, something along the lines of joint leadership was a possibility. Based on what Ed could see, the dawn tribe used to have an arguably similar system. There were multiple heads of the large tribe each bearing a great reputation.
"With this orc?" She asked still confused. The orc was obviously not part of the tribe, he was most likely someone from the sacred tribe. It wasn't that she knew everybody's faces but rather that anyone with more years on their body would stand out among the much younger members of Sanctuary.
Both Ed and Vorgarag nodded. Sharog didn't have any reason to decline so the three of them went to the side and entered a small room. Once in there, Ed placed Vorgarag down.
"This is Vorgarag" Ed introduced the middle-aged orc.
"Hello" Vorgarag said cooly.
"What!?" Sharog on the other hand was completely befuddled.