Kate Green

"It seems they might have had accomplices," Mel Carlo stood up.

He analyzed this because the loot from these five people wasn't much. To avoid attracting attention, Mel had only secretly stored a knife in his System space.

The ability to summon people to act and occupy space showed they weren't new to attacking people.

"Only 300 Orens. If they're frequently killing people around here, it should be more than that."

"Retreating would be too far. If we want to cross this forest during the day, we'll need to leave town at night," Claire voiced her thoughts.

Staying here longer was too dangerous. What if these bandits had accomplices, or even a stronger boss?

Claire was a bit startled but quickly suppressed her emotions, trying her best not to look at the dismembered corpses on the ground.

She carefully stood up and said, "Why don't we just go straight through! Through this forest. It'll be safer than staying here."

"That's what I was thinking too," Freli patted the dust off himself. He was supposed to be on watch, but the approaching enemy was too difficult to detect. The only fortunate thing was that they hadn't killed him outright.

If any more problems arose, they might have their heads chopped off in their sleep.

Judging by the current distance, their only option was to go through the forest. There was a small town on the other side of the mountain.

"Then let's go through! Slow down, watch out for tripwires. Even an Earth Dragon can't afford to fall!" Claire reminded them again.

After the recent bloodshed, everyone dared not let their guard down. The terror of humans was no less than that of monsters.

The group got back into the carriage and slowly drove into the forest. These small mountain ranges originally had dedicated paths, but monsters and bandits also liked to hide in such dense woods.

Inside the carriage, Mel Carlo spoke again, "Since the road is already built, why not cut down all the surrounding trees? At least then we wouldn't have to worry about ambushes from strange things."

Claire laughed, as if she had heard something amusing. "Haha, a noble once had that idea."

"And then what?" Mel Carlo became interested. Since someone had done it, why wasn't it done elsewhere? "Did someone kill him?"

"No, because all the surrounding trees were cut down. Later, it rained, causing a direct landslide that buried that idiot and his territory."

Mel Carlo frowned slightly. He had indeed thought too simply just now. Cutting down trees would open up the view, but it also meant soil erosion. Once there was continuous heavy rain, it could easily lead to mudslides.

The reason roads in his past life could be maintained was the invention of cement, which could be used to reinforce mountain slopes and protect roads.

But even with protective walls on both sides of the road, it didn't mean landslides wouldn't happen 100%.

No wonder Miss Kate found it amusing.

"You're good. Let me reintroduce myself, my name is Mel Carlo."

The moonlight shone into the carriage as the kid extended his right hand.

"Kate Green."

Their hands clasped together, marking a new introduction.

"Your throw just now was very accurate."

"Thanks for the compliment. It's the Thief's [Flying Blade] skill."

Miss Kate stretched her ankles slightly and turned to look at Mel Carlo again, "You learn many things, but don't you know that the more you learn, the harder it is to master? You should focus your energy on one thing."

Mel Carlo thought about it but couldn't quickly come to a conclusion. If it were in a game, level 100 would be the cap, and each level only granted 5 skill points, so the number of skills that could be allocated was limited.

A skill required 30 points to max out. With 495 points, one could at most max out 16 skills. However, if leveling up granted points in the Four Dimensions or Five Dimensions, he could allocate attribute points to [Intelligence]. Every point added to Intelligence would grant an additional skill point. Even so, with 1 attribute point per level, he would get at most 99 extra skill points.

Everything needed to be verified through practice. Without practice, it was just wishful thinking.

Right now, he hadn't even found the correct way to level up.

Could it be because he was too young?

However, these doubts could be resolved once he reached Oak City.

The carriage moved very slowly because they were afraid of ambushes. If the Earth Dragon ran at high speed and there were tripwires hidden in the forest that they couldn't see, it could lead to the carriage being destroyed and them dying.

But this reduction in speed made Mel Carlo even more uneasy. He didn't have any reconnaissance skills and didn't know how to acquire them. He also didn't know what level of reconnaissance was necessary.

The moonlight gradually faded as the dense leaves blocked it, reducing the visibility on the road.

Freli lit a torch, but even with its faint glow, he couldn't see very far.

"Claire, are you scared?" Mel turned his gaze to the girl inside the carriage.

A child of this age, seeing someone die right in front of them, and being dismembered, would likely be traumatized.

"Yes," Claire replied softly. This reaction was normal for a child her age.

Nearly being killed was already nerve-wracking. Seeing someone being cut to pieces would likely turn that tension into fear.

"I see." Mel scratched his head. He seemed to have forgotten what fear was because he had been too afraid when he was very young.

As he grew older, he forgot about fear. Simply surviving took all his effort. Instead of fearing so many things, he'd rather think about what he would eat for breakfast the next day.

He was genuinely afraid of being beaten as a child, but back then, he didn't even know what death was, so he wasn't afraid of it.

An unfortunate childhood could lead to emotional deficiencies, but it could also foster mental resilience. In his past life, he had to live like a scumbag, yet in many ways, he wanted to be a good person.

Thinking about these things, he leaned against the carriage and unknowingly fell asleep again. A young body always felt sleepy.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already in an inn. The woman beside him was Kate, because the muscles in her arm were very firm.

Woken by Mel's movements, Kate slowly sat up and yawned widely, "Ah, Mel, you're awake."

"What happened yesterday? Did I fall asleep?"

"Yeah, we passed through that mountain safely, but you were asleep, so we didn't wake you."

"I mean, why am I staying with you?"

"Heh, you little brat, do you really want to stay with Claire?" As she spoke, Kate tied her hair into a ponytail, simple and quick, showing no hint that she was a noble.

Mel didn't say anything more. He wasn't losing out anyway, and he didn't want to stay with a cunning old guy like Freli.

"Eat some breakfast, we'll be setting off again soon." Kate reminded Mel, standing beside him.

Mel didn't overthink it. He just went downstairs. The inn provided food, after all, and it would only cost some Oren.