A hulking young man moved between the demon carcasses, excitedly pulling them toward the carrier pulley as if he were injected with dragon blood.
His long platinum hair mingled perfectly with the falling snow, while his own body seemed to be almost the size of the demons he hauled.
A thick beard covered his face, and his blue eyes glinted with determination. He looked ready to pull every carcass on the field by himself.
Sergeant Kael nodded his head in appreciation.
"Look at that young man. He's already pulled twice his target and is still going. Now look at yourselves. Are you worthy to be known as Bastions?"
When one joined the Last Bastion, their surname was changed to Bastion. It was to prevent people from misusing their backgrounds.
Trying to coerce a soldier in the Bastion by using one's background was a crime that granted capital punishment.
Once someone took Bastion as their surname, they forever became the Carriers of Frost, a title that held the same power as nobility.
Despite the scavengers being the lowest rank in the army, they weren't mistreated. In a sense, their work was less dangerous than combat, albeit physically demanding.
Every scavenger had a target of hauling twenty carcasses to the carrier. If they reached that target, they could return to the fortress.
So, seeing the young man tirelessly pulling demon after demon, Sergeant Kael thought he deserved praise.
Noah, meanwhile, had made a small hole in his gloves. He moved between the carcasses, sneakily touching them and happily collecting the unassigned attributes.
'I can also use them to improve my attributes. Not bad.'
For now, he was satisfied with his stats. He had enough strength to pull an ordinary demon carcass without breaking a sweat.
He just wanted to reach one hundred attribute points so he could try to craft a skill card. That was his first priority.
[You have touched the corpse of an ordinary demon. One unassigned attribute has been collected.]
'If the ranks of the demons increase, will I get more UA?' he asked in his mind.
[Correct.]
'Then what if I touched a living demon?'
[You will die.]
'Why?'
[First, you have to have at least fifty points in defense for your body to not become corrupted by the demonic energy. Second, you can't fight it without a skill.]
Noah went silent.
[You should add a few UA to your intelligence.]
'Are you indirectly saying I'm dumb?'
[No. The intelligence attribute increases your MP. That way, you can use skill cards more often without draining your mana quickly.]
'Oh…'
[Regarding your earlier question: you can get more UA if you kill a demon yourself.]
Noah nodded as he continued farming UA. By the end of the day, Finn had to forcefully drag him back to the fortress.
When he returned to the camp to report, Sergeant Kael was standing with the documenter, old Chen.
Sergeant was a round man with a thick mustache and a bare chin that always made Noah snicker.
What kind of man didn't have a beard?
The Sergeant looked Noah up and down, rubbing his non-existent beard.
"Boy. Not bad. What's your age?"
Noah was confused by the strange question but replied anyway. "Sixteen, Sergeant."
"Oh… younger than I thought." Sergeant Kael was taken aback. The thick beard on the young man made him look far older.
Like all of them, the cold of the north made soldiers here look older than they actually were.
A beard was a simple way to protect the skin from aging, but sadly, Kael couldn't grow an inch of his own, even after using almost every oil delivered from the mainlands.
"Good work today." He patted Noah's triceps, marveling at the muscle density again. No wonder the young man could pull so many demons. If he awakened a deck trait, he would've become a powerful Warden.
It was fine. If the young man continued his performance, Kael would pull some strings to get him a promotion.
That way, he would be able to purchase a skill card of his own.
"Young man, continue the good work. The rewards will surely come your way."
Noah vigorously nodded his head, but inside, he was scratching his hair in confusion. Why is the sergeant acting like I did something worth praising? I just pulled a hundred carcasses, that's all.
If anyone in the scavenger corps heard his musings, they would surely roll their eyes.
Young man, what you did was the work of five men in one day. What did you expect, for the sergeant to act like nothing happened?
Anyway, the praise was nothing to Noah. He just wanted to return to his tent to try out his new deck trait.
Luckily, the sergeant left after a few more words of encouragement. He reported to the documenter and hurriedly left for his tent, ignoring the various prying eyes that followed him.
Attention was nothing strange to him. After all, he was known as one of the most handsome men in the fortress.
He paused for a few seconds as he passed the Lustrous Lounge, then, strengthening his resolve, he ran to his tent.
'Women can wait.'
"Ara, ara… Noaaahhhh~"
'Women are distractions.'
"I've mastered the Dao of Cocksleeves. Care for a demonstration, Noaaahhh~?"
'Women are curses.'
"My giggle jellies are quivering… won't you be the conductor to this symphony of vibrations, Noaaahhh~?"
'I've lost.'
Noah stopped in his tracks, his teeth grinding. Slowly, he turned his head toward the Lustrous Lounge.
Standing in the doorway was a buxom woman, bouncing deliberately with every word. She was blonde.
His glare could have frozen fire. Painfully, blonde's were his weakness.
"I thought you abandoned me, Master!" she chirped shamelessly.
"Shut up," Noah growled. "And get in the damn room already."
*
* *
When Noah returned to his tent, the moon was already high. Laughter and smoke curled around the central fire, where a knot of rough men lounged with mugs in hand.
Their grins widened as soon as they spotted him.
"Oi, Bastion!" one of them called, raising a cup. "Come drown that sour face with us!"
A chorus of jeers and whistles followed, but Noah didn't slow. He slipped past the firelight, jaw tight, ignoring every drunken invitation.
His boots crunched against the frozen ground until he was at his door flap.
Without a word, he ducked inside.
'No one can stop me now…'