Infinite Lives: Volume 3.

Bryan sat in the forest against a tree, wearing full black metal armour.

So, took out various monsters…

Levelled to one hundred and twenty…

Took out the Demon Lord as usual…

Moved east…Can’t waste more time…

I need to try to replicate whatever made that feel significant.

Bryan stood up and stretched, cracking his back as he did.

Looking around, he packed up his camp and placed it all into his item box bag.

Best find the nearest settlement.

He walked for a few hours until he saw some smoke in the distance, so he adjusted his heading towards it.

Once he got close, Bryan peered through the trees, seeing a collection of houses surrounded by a wooden wall, situated next to a river.

That place should do.

Pushing through the brush, he walked towards the village and straight through the gate to the centre.

Bells rang out loudly; after a few moments, people ran from various directions with pitchforks, axes and various other tools.

One man shouted while stepping forward, “Bandit, whatever you want, you will not take easily!”

Why do they assume I’m here to rob them exactly?

Bryan tilted his head at the man before replying, “I am not a bandit; why would you think I am?”

The man eyed him suspiciously, still holding up his axe. He then spoke,

“You are dressed in full armour, in a remote village and enter without announcing yourself…all suspicious behaviour.”

That seems logical…what should I be?...

Bryan bowed before speaking, “I apologise. I am Bryan, a wandering adventurer.”

The people looked at each other, then to the man with the axe.

“What does an adventurer expect to find here? We are not wealthy, nor are there large creatures to slay?” The man with the axe stated.

Well, since I don’t know what caused the feeling, I need to try various things.

“I’m here to help with anything I can,” Bryan stated flatly.

The people eyed him suspiciously before slowly lowering their weapons.

“Ok, I’ll keep my eye on you. Welcome to Mirkah Village. I am Jerroh,” said the man with the axe.

Bryan tilted his head at him and then spoke, “All I need is food and somewhere to sleep. I can do whatever jobs you need.”

Jerroh looked at him for a moment while scratching his head before sighing and replying,

“There is a barn you could stay in. Do you know how to use a hammer? We need various fence boards fixing”

Unlikely, but see if this helps.

Bryan followed Jerroh towards a house. Once there, Jerroh grabbed a hammer and nails and gave them to him.

Walking around the village, each board Bryan found loose he added several nails to ensure it was secure.

Until he came across a loose post, Bryan tested it by shaking it. One of the villagers started to walk over to speak to him.

Before they could speak, Bryan put his hand into a fist and, with repeated downward strikes, he sunk the post into the ground.

Seeing this, the villagers’ eyes widened, and they quietly rushed away.

Hopefully they have more important tasks to do.

After he had finished with all the boards, Bryan brought back the hammer and was shown to the barn.

Sitting on a bed of straw until Jerroh walked over with a wooden plate.

“Not sure what you are used to; we have limited food. So you have bread and some meat stew,” Jerroh said before handing it over.

“Thank you,” Bryan stated, taking the food, he waited for Jerroh to leave before tasting it.

A far cry from the food of the palace in Silvergate… I grew too accustomed to luxury.

Bryan finished his food and lay down to sleep.

Logical for tonight. Threat Detection.

He slept for a while until he felt a presence.

Not strong … But could be an issue for the villagers.

Getting up, Bryan stretched and made his way towards the village gate past the man who stood by it with a torch.

Walking around the outside of the walls until he saw a group of goblins wandering his way.

Physical Enhancement.

He unsheathed his sword and quickly dashed through the goblins, slicing each as he passed.

Coming to a stop, he turned, and each goblin dropped to the ground in turn, clutching their throats until they went still.

Bryan picked up each goblin and put them in his bag.

Well, back to bed I guess.

Bryan walked back to the gate and stopped outside as the man spoke,

“Why did you wander off?”

Bryan reached into his bag and pulled out the goblins and put them on the ground outside the gate.

“Just handled some goblins. I am unsure what you want to do with them. So I’ll leave them here and go to bed.” Bryan said while shrugging.

The man just stared at Bryan as he walked back to the barn.

Bryan lay back down and went to sleep again.

Waking up to the sound of birds chirping, Bryan stretched and cracked his back.

Best see what I can try today…

Walking out of the barn, he headed to the village centre.

Jerroh was standing, talking to the guard, scratching his head.

“So he just killed them, and left them here?”

“Yeah, I’m not sure he is all there,” the guard responded.

“Ok, well you can go to bed now obviously,” Jerroh said.

“Got anything else you need doing?” Bryan asked as he walked up.

Jerroh jumped, turned around and exclaimed, “Hells, you came from nowhere.”

Bryan stared at him blankly.

“I was going to work on digging a new toilet, but I need to figure out what we do with these goblins,” Jerroh said.

Bryan nodded, turned around and looked for something resembling a toilet.

He walked to the other side of the village.

Well, I’d imagine it’s that terrible-smelling box…

Safe to assume they bury the old hole and move the box over the new hole.

Bryan grasped the side of the box and lifted it and placed it on the ground behind him.

Shape Earth

The earth, a distance from the existing one, began siphoning out and into the existing hole. Once it was done, the old hole was filled, and a new one was there.

Bryan picked up the box and placed it over the new hole.

The menial tasks are not achieving my goal… will need to try something different.

He walked back towards the centre to see Jerroh and a few others dragging the goblins away from the village into the forest.

“Why are you dragging them away?” Bryan asked.

Jerroh looked up at him while dragging and spoke, “They will attract things that want to eat them if left here”

Ah… logical.

“So not eating them yourselves?” Bryan said, tilting his head.

Jerroh’s eyes widened, and a look of disgust appeared on his face before he replied,

“Gods no, we don’t eat monsters like this.”

Meat is meat… hard to guess what different people will eat.

“Fair enough, the toilet is done by the way,” Bryan stated.

Jerroh stopped and looked at him before he spoke, “You are kidding, right? That takes two people like half a day to do…you were gone ten minutes at most.”

Bryan shrugged, then replied, “Check once you are done if you like; I will wait in the centre until someone needs me for something.”

He then wandered off and sat down cross-legged near the well.

After waiting for an hour before a group of a few villagers whispered while following Jerroh over to Bryan.

“Give him some impossible tasks”

“Yeah, I’m curious what happens”

“Shh”

Sounds like they may give something more substantial.

Jerroh approached Bryan and spoke,

“Hey, so you did good work with the toilet, thank you.”

Bryan nodded in response.

“There are some tasks I wouldn’t ask for, but you seem very capable,” Jerroh said before pausing to consider.

“We require some lumber for construction and a new patch of cultivated soil outside the village,” Jerroh said.

“Sure, I can do those,” Bryan stated.

“You don’t have to rush; we don’t want to push you too far,” Jerroh said tentatively.

Bryan stood up and spoke, “Ok, grab me a hoe, please.”

Jerroh walked off to a shed, grabbed one, came back and handed it to Bryan, who nodded before turning to walk away.

“Why didn’t he ask for an axe?”

“Obviously he is only doing the field”

Bryan walked through the village and looked around while making his way to the gate.

Attached to each house was a small fenced garden with plants in it.

Upon exiting the gate, he walked the perimeter until he came across the fields with a small wooden fence around them.

Looking to the left of them, he could see a collection of trees.

Logical to remove these trees and put the field there.

Physical Enhancement.

Bryan walked up to a tree, unsheathed his sword, prepared himself, and with a side slash sliced through the tree. Placing a hand on it he pushed it over.

With a loud crash, it hit the ground away from the fields.

Black steel is a good material; with a plain steel sword, this wouldn’t be possible.

One after the other, he chopped down trees until he chopped a large area down.

He then sheathed his sword, walked up to a stump, and while squatting, he grasped it, digging his fingers into it.

Taking a deep breath, he extended his legs, and the ground began lifting with the roots audibly cracking as he lifted it out of the ground.

Using a lot of Mana, will need to rest once this is done.

Once the stump was out of the ground, he placed it on the ground and moved onto the next.

After he finished doing this, he piled the stumps up and, using the sword, chopped the tree into log segments before piling those also.

Now the field…

Walking over, Bryan dug the hoe into the dirt and grass and, while moving backwards, scraped a few inches of dirt with grass in it.

Doing a row at a time until he reached the end, he collected the grass strips and piled those among the trees.

Bryan then knelt and focused.

Shape Earth.

The ground began moving around until it looked like a field of loose dirt in mounds.

Bryan wiped the sweat from his brow before walking back to the village gate.

That will do, though I’m hungry now… hopefully they have food.

He walked through the gate to see Jerroh directing people carrying buckets of water.

“Do you have some food I could have?” Bryan asked.

Jerroh turned and smiled before replying, “Sure, I can get you something. Are you taking a lunch break?”

Bryan shook his head and spoke, “No, I am done. Will rest in the barn for a bit.”

Jerroh squinted at him and stared for a moment before speaking,

“I will get you something to eat and bring it to the barn”

Bryan nodded before turning to walk to the barn, hearing some others comment.

“He is joking, right?”

“Of course, he can’t possibly be done in just over an hour”

“I mean, there was a lot of bangs?”

Bryan entered the barn and sat on the straw; he leant into it while he waited.

A while later, Jerroh came in, handed him a bowl of stew and some bread.

“Thank you,” Bryan said before digging into the food.

Afterwards, Bryan lay down and napped.

The sounds of mumbling outside woke him up.

“How did he do that?”

“No idea, but he is inhuman”

Bryan stretched and shuffled forward before standing.

“Stand away from the barn; he is helping us. Don’t be rude”

Walking to the door, Bryan pushed it open and stepped out to several villagers crowded around.

Well, Mana is back; hopefully they have something bigger for me to do.

“You have something else you need doing?” Bryan said.

“Only thing left I can think of is something we couldn’t do,” Jerroh said before pausing.

“Further up the river are large rocks forming a dam and reducing this side of the river to a lower trickle; not sure it’s possible, but if that was sorted, it would help us a lot,” Jerroh said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Sure, I’ll go do that,” Bryan said before nodding and walking past them towards the gate.

Making his way to the left, he followed the river until he reached several large boulders in the river with water flowing from a hole at the bottom.

Hmm, likely won’t work but worth a shot.

Bryan fired three Fire Bolts one after the other, which exploded on the boulders.

Once the smoke had cleared, the boulders were scorched but otherwise undamaged.

I’ll try something more complex.

Bryan fired a very compressed rock shot at the rock; the cone embedded into the boulder. Using this, he fired more and more until each boulder had a cross of spikes in it.

Physical Enhancement.

One at a time, he punched the flat of the spikes, forcing them into the rocks more. After hitting enough, the rocks split along the crack.

Lifting the ones at the top first, he cleared them until the river flowed freely.

Well, shall see what they think…

He walked back to the village and entered the centre.

Jerroh bowed deeply before speaking, “I don’t understand why, but you have helped us greatly, stranger. We can’t thank you enough”

Bryan thought for a moment.

This does not produce the feeling I am after…

Perhaps I need to try more impactful things…

Don’t think I can do that here…

“You are welcome. If you could give me some bread, that would be great. But I will be moving on now,” Bryan said.

Jerroh’s eyes widened before he replied, “Could we not convince you to stay a little longer?”

Bryan sighed and said, “No, I need to move on to a different village to continue my experiment”

Jerroh tilted his head and spoke, “ Your what?”

“Don’t worry about it. May I have bread?” Bryan asked.

Jerroh bowed again, ran off, and grabbed some from his house and handed it to Bryan.

“It is the least we can do. If you ever come back, you are free to stay here,” said Jerroh before smiling.

Bryan nodded and headed for the gate, walked through it and into the forest.

The next place… I should focus on requests with more meaning… menial doesn’t work.

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