Not that it was possible, the Winter Solstice was just 2-3 days from now. The Gaang should be on the way to Fire Sage island to converse with Roku about the Sozin's Comet. We still had time to train and complete [Quest: Raid and Pillage].
I can already taste those two Legendary reward items...
...
(Later that dusk)
Here's a fun fact: Did you know that a single field-dressed deer could feed up to 200 people? Well, I just killed half a herd just to be on the safe side! Twenty-three of them to be exact, their carcasses perfectly preserved in the bullshit that was the Gamer System Inventory. That and a massive amount of assorted flowers, berries, and every suspicious looking mushroom that I came across. I'm glad that I took [Expanded Inventory] then because I don't think this would have fit in the space of a storage shed.
[ Skill Level up: [Herbalism]! Lvl 1 -> Lvl 2 ]
Tonics, poultices and poisons... Here I come!
Speaking of the Gamer System, I suppose I have held off levelling up enough.
..
..
Level up Achieved!
Name: Khan "The Giant"
Level: 1 - 2
Level exp: 174/500
Rank: Private First Class. 41st Division, Fire Nation Army.
HP: 400/400
Strength: 20 - 22
Dexterity: 18 - 20
Constitution: 18 - 20
Intelligence: 0 - 1
Spirit: 17 - 19
* 1 Perk Points Available.*
(Increase Intelligence to earn more Perk points per level!)
[ Strength Level 20 Reached - New Perks Available! ]
[ Power Move (Passive): You don't 'run.' You kick the ground until it takes you where you want to go. On top of your Dexterity, add 25% Strength to your running speed and jumping height.]
[ Furor of Furious Fury (Active): Angry caveman powers, activate! For the next 4 strikes you make, your strength is doubled. )
[ Dexterity Level 20 Reached - New Perks Available! ]
[ Parkour Prodigy (Passive): Running? On the ground?! Like some peasant!? Double your Dexterity bonus while performing parkour. ]
[ Riposte (Passive): A skill distilled from a billion hours in Soulsborne games. Attacking directly after a successful parry now carries a guaranteed crit.]
[ Constitution Level 20 Reached - New Perks Available! ]
[ Iron Gut (Passive): Not to be confused with iron abs. Double your Endurance bonus to resist Poisons, Toxins and illnesses.]
[ Clench! (Passive): Brace your glutes! You gain 10% damage reduction for all attacks that you see coming. ]
* 1 Perk Points Available.*
..
..
Six very useful perks... and I could only buy one of them. This was not a good omen.
If reaching stat milestones made two perks available for purchase, I will definitely not have enough Perk Points to purchase them all. Now I knew for certain that I made a grave mistake crippling the progression of my Intelligence stat with [Dull Mind].
I desperately needed more Intelligence stat for more perk points, and the current rate of increase for intelligence was far too slow. I can easily imagine that my enemies will be scaling with me by level, rather than by how many perks I've purchased. And eventually, they just might surpass me in power. This is just like Skyrim or Fallout 4 all over again! So many perks, but not enough perk points! It's infuriating!
[ The Perk [Power Move] Purchased! ]
[ * 0 Perk Points Available.* ]
For the moment however, the perk [Power Move] seems like the best fit for my current fighting style: Keeping opponents powerless at a distance while I thrash them with my meteor hammer. Moreover, the ability to quickly reposition on the battlefield should not be underestimated. But a part of me still yearned for that [Parkour Prodigy].
"... I could have been a giant flipping ninja." I muttered to myself in dismay. "I need more perk points. Game, where is that quest to remove the [Dull Mind] perk?"
..
..
= Right here, my Lord. =
New Quest:
THE JOURNEY FOR INTELLIGENCE
Main Objective: Impress {Wan Shi Tong} with 100 books for his library.
Reward: Removal of the [Dull Mind] perk
Optional Objective: Impress {Wan Shi Tong} with 20 books you authored yourself
Reward: [Able Mind]
..
..
Wan Shi Tong? The Owl Spirit of Knowledge curating his personal library in the Si Wong Desert?
Hmmm... That's a very generous quest seeing as I just need to pillage 100 books from various libraries around the Earth Kingdom and deliver them to the library.
As for the 20 books that I need to write myself however... It would be difficult, but doable. I will need to tackle that problem with a bit more creativity since I did not have much in the way of worthwhile knowledge, but I'm sure some smart and learned people out in the world will let me borrow theirs. I just need to find them, imprison them, and conduct a few interviews at knifepoint... and voila- I have memoirs and biographies and first-hand accounts of events. And who said writing books was hard? But first things first...
I glanced up at the sky that was soon turning into night.
... I needed to go back to the encampment, and teach the men how to sing 'I'll make a man out of you.'
Training the troops to a good standard... my own power levelling... The [Quest: Raid and Pillage] to earn the Fire Nation's continued support and some legendary loot... and now, the [Quest: Journey for Intelligence] to stop myself from being stupid, I certainly had my hands full, didn't I? Getting the ball rolling on this 'Take over the world' master plan was certainly a lot more work than I expected it to be. But when the alternative was letting stubborn backwards morons keep running the world, I couldn't begrudge it at all. How unfortunate it is that one couldn't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs.
Such is life, I suppose. If a little not-so-voluntary labour is what's needed to bring about a less stupid world, then I'm all for it. We already know that there are at least four other villages in this area, who knows how many others are there for us to... recruit to our cause?
I guess there was only one way to find out...
...
(Two weeks later)
The setting sun was just touching the western peaks in the horizon when Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors reached the third village on their journey to Omashu. The neat little village with its green and white buildings nestled on a wooded hill made for a picturesque and welcome sight for Suki- she was getting tired of her sisters' whining.
"Why did no one tell me that the mainland was so... big? My feet hurt."
"I feel like we've walked the breadth of a hundred Kyoshi Islands by now."
"I bet we walked a thousand Kyoshi Islands!"
"I hope they have a working bath, you all stink like week-old cabbage."
"Hey! You're not smelling like a bed of Silver Lillies either, you know!"
So much for the proud Kyoshi Warriors...
"Quit your yammering, all of you!" Suki groaned with a long suffering sigh, "Let's just go find a place to rest. Focus together, sisters!"
Exhaling in sync, they all managed to dig into their second wind: pulling their shoulders back and holding their chins up high in an air of stoic confidence as they strode into the local watering hole. The Kyoshi Warriors had a reputation to uphold after all. Also, they were much less likely to receive lewd propositions from drunkards when they looked every bit as the 'tough-as-nails elite fighting force' that they were. Dressed feminine enough to let people know they were women, and formidable enough to show they were Kyoshi Warriors.
One of the pub's patrons, a muscled red-haired man, took a single look at them and immediately excused himself from the establishment.
It never stopped being a good feeling.
That feeling when every pub goers' eyes are drawn on her and her sisters, and they see nothing but stoic expressions on immaculately painted faces, heavily-armoured dark green kimonos and how they were armed to the teeth with war fans and katanas. Because even if no one in the mainland had even heard of the Kyoshi Warriors, they at least knew without a doubt that Suki and her sisters meant serious business.
"Do you have a room free?" asked Suki as soon she reached the counter where a wizened old innkeeper with a livespotted face was sizing her up.
"You're the fanciest merc outfit I've ever seen, and that's saying something." He replied with a shake of his head before getting right to business, "I've only got three rooms free. Yours for 12 coppers each."
"We'll take them." Suki calmly replied- not bothering to correct the assumption that they were mercs. That misconception will correct itself when word of their deeds spreads after they lend their services to the Earth king.
"Can I interest you all with a drink? Tea? Wines?" the innkeep naturally offered.
"Some tea is fine."
"Very well... Please have a seat, I'll bring it over."
....
Don't forget to throw some power stones :)
...
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