Opening his eyes and seeing the rough wooden beams above him, Roger sighed.
It had been four days since he transmigrated into this world. Every morning he woke up hoping it was all just a dream, but reality reminded him every time that he was wishing for too much.
Lying in bed and staring blankly at the ceiling for a moment, the memories of the day he transmigrated resurfaced in his mind.
That day, he had been in an advanced mathematics class. The teacher was lecturing on calculus at the podium, and having stayed up all night to rush his homework, Roger had been nodding off at his desk before finally collapsing onto it completely.
When he opened his eyes again, he was already in the wilderness.
The T-shirt and jeans he had been wearing were replaced by a set of coarse short-sleeved shirts and coarse trousers, and not far away, four green-skinned creatures were peering at him.
Goblins. Anyone who frequently played games or read novels would recognize them.
These four goblins quickly spotted Roger. Grabbing their wooden clubs, they surrounded him while letting out piercing screeches.
At the thought of being dragged back to a cave to suffer R-rated horrors, or perhaps even thrown into a pot to be stewed, rage surged in Roger's heart. He snatched up a stone from the ground, prepared to take these green-skinned bastards down with him.
Then, the system appeared.
There was no tutorial or any nonsense. A screen simply popped up: [Starter Gift Pack has been issued.]
Immediately after, a one-handed sword appeared in his hand, a set of leather armor covered his body, a shortbow and a quiver of arrows were slung over his back, and a strange sensation flooded his mind, as if a warm current had entered his body.
The system interface displayed: Life Energy Lv. 1 Activated, Magic Lv. 1 Activated, Points: 500.
As instructions on how to use the system flooded his mind, Roger turned and ran without a second thought. At the same time, he opened the system shop and exchanged his points for the Bow and Crossbow specialization skill.
The moment he acquired the specialization skill, he felt as though the shortbow in his hand had become an extension of his body, and the motions of drawing the bow and nocking an arrow became incredibly natural. He glanced back; the leading goblin was only five or six paces away.
Roger didn't fight them head-on. Instead, he ran around the surrounding trees. Shooting an arrow and then changing positions, he kited the four goblins to death, earning 120 points.
After dealing with all the goblins, Roger leaned against a tree and panted for a long time. Previously, he had looked down on system-based web novels as cliché, but once the same thing happened to him, he realized just how sweet it actually was.
Cheats were like that—they seemed tacky when you didn't have one, but once you did, you realized how practical they were. Only a fool wouldn't use them.
Once he caught his breath, he gathered the arrows that were still usable, figured out his bearings, and began walking out of the woods.
By evening, he finally emerged from the woods and saw a village, which was the current Salard Village.
Because his clothes had been changed and he had somehow learned the language of this world, Roger wasn't treated as an outsider.
However, because he was carrying weapons, he was stopped at the village entrance by the militia, who claimed he needed the permission of the knight lord before he could enter.
Before long, a man in his late twenties clad in plated chainmail armor appeared before him.
“I am Knight Stine, loyal to Baron Raymond. Due to the recent surge in the goblin population, I have been ordered by the Baron to defend this village. However, because of my rushed schedule, I did not bring enough troops and need assistance. You are a mercenary, right? If you are willing to assist me, I can let you into the village with free room and board, and you will be compensated afterward.”
After a moment's thought, Roger chose to agree.
His biggest problem right now was that he was penniless and had nowhere to go; if he missed this opportunity, there might not be another. Besides, his current points were pitifully low, so this was a perfect chance to kill some goblins and farm points. If he couldn't win, he could always just run.
As for whether the knight would go back on his word, he would cross that bridge when he came to it. If worst came to worst, he could just learn a rogue skill, steal some things, and make a run for it.
After accepting the request, Knight Stine arranged for him to temporarily stay at the village chief's house. He stayed there until the afternoon of the third day, when a small group of goblins attacked the village.
Roger had climbed the makeshift watchtower to provide ranged support as an archer, while Knight Stine, wielding a glowing sword and shield, led his squires and the militia to block the village entrance, engaging the approaching goblins in close-quarters combat.
With an extraordinary knight commanding the field, the goblins were repelled without much effort.
After clearing the battlefield, Roger, as an outsider, had no desire to get involved in tedious matters and returned to the village chief's house early to rest.
...
Roger climbed out of bed, got dressed, and pushed open the door. On the table in the outer room lay half a loaf of dark bread and a bowl of vegetable soup. The village chief's daughter was not around, likely busy with chores.
He finished his breakfast in a few bites and walked out of the village.
Salard Village consisted of only twenty to thirty households, with mud-brick houses lining both sides of the dirt road. As Roger walked along the path, no one came over to strike up a conversation, nor did he expect an outsider like himself to be particularly welcome.
Outside the village was an open space used by the militia as a training ground. A few militia members were practicing with spears there. When they saw Roger approaching, they nodded in greeting. Over the past few days, he had at least become a familiar face.
Roger borrowed some practice arrows from the militia captain, walked over to a target in the corner of the training ground, and began practicing his archery repeatedly. The experience bar for his 【Bow and Crossbow】 specialization slowly grew.
There were no shortcuts to leveling up skills; it relied entirely on real combat and repetitive practice. The system only provided the foundation to use the ability, but to master it, he had to train himself.
However, the advantage was that the lower the skill level and learning threshold, the faster it upgraded, meaning the time investment wasn't too high.
As the sun slowly rose, more and more people gathered at the training ground. There were militia members who came to train, as well as villagers who came to watch the excitement, but Roger remained completely unaffected.
When the 【Bow and Crossbow】 specialization was only a third away from reaching Lv. 3, Roger felt someone approaching from behind. He temporarily put down his longbow and turned to look at the newcomer.
Today, Knight Stine was still wearing that same plated chainmail armor.
“Mr. Roger, I have come to find you today for an important matter. It is not convenient to speak here; let us move to another place.”
Roger did not answer, silently following behind him.
Knight Stine did not mind his attitude. Stopping in an empty corner, he directly stated his purpose:
“Baron Raymond will arrive in the village today to conscript the militia, after which we will rendezvous with the forces of other nobles to reclaim the territories occupied by the goblins. Therefore, I would like to extend your employment. Naturally, the compensation will also increase. I wonder if you are interested?”
Facing Knight Stine's invitation, Roger's first reaction was: Are the goblins in this world really that fierce? They can actually fight humans for territory? Did I transmigrate into some dark, gritty Japanese anime?
As if sensing Roger's confusion, Knight Stine continued, “The goblins in this region weren't always like this. Although they were numerous, they were scattered and weak, easily handled by a village militia. However, starting about two months ago, these goblins suddenly gathered together, displaying unprecedented combat strength and organization. Their fighting power has increased significantly, and they have already captured several villages and castles.”
Hearing this, Roger recalled the bone necklace he had looted from the goblin corpse yesterday. Could the patterns carved into the bone, which boosted strength but caused one to lose their sanity, be related to this?
“How many men are in the noble coalition? Aside from this army, what other forces do you have?” Roger still did not give a direct answer, continuing to inquire instead. After all, the other party seemed willing to explain.
“If we cannot win, we will have no choice but to request aid from Duke Morgan, but we hope to resolve this disaster before reinforcements arrive,” Knight Stine replied, dodging Roger's question.
So you want to keep the whole pie to yourselves, huh? Roger muttered to himself before asking, “Then how much compensation will I receive?”
Knight Stine took out a coin pouch and poured out fifteen gold coins. “It will definitely be more than this.” With that, he handed the gold coins to Roger.
Looking at the fifteen gold coins, Roger thought to himself that this was enough to support an ordinary person for several years.
“The commission is voluntary. Even if you do not wish to accept, it is fine. I will likely be marching out with Lord Baron in a few days, so you still have time to think about it.”
Knight Stine turned to leave, and Roger watched his retreating back as he replied, “I accept the employment.”
It wasn't for any noble reason, but simply because he wanted to farm more points. With the goblins in this area causing such a ruckus, it was a prime opportunity to earn points and gather some information about this world, which was much better than running around like a headless chicken.
Although the goblins were unusual according to Knight Stine—even fierce enough to seize territory from humans—this wasn't Roger's concern.
In his view, if he couldn't win or if things looked bad, he would just run. He wasn't a knight, let alone some honorable gentleman. Unless it was a desperate situation with no way out, he would do everything he could to save his own skin. At worst, he could just abandon the money.
Watching Knight Stine depart, Roger stored the gold coins in his system inventory and returned to the training ground to continue practicing his archery. He caught some of the militia members casting glances in his direction, but he acted as if nothing had happened and continued training his skill.
When the sun was high in the sky, the skill experience bar finally completed its last bit, and the holographic interface appeared before his eyes:
【Bow and Crossbow Specialization Lv. 2 → Lv. 3】
Roger tried drawing the bow and felt that it was indeed more comfortable to handle. The drawing motion was smoother, and his aim was steadier.
Striking while the iron was hot, he continued training, hoping to rush to Lv. 4 in one go. However, even after practicing until evening, the experience bar got stuck at 99% and refused to budge.
Roger couldn't help but suspect that when the creator of this system designed it, they had modeled it after Pinduoduo.
Rate on N.U.
