The first night soon came, and the driver set up a camp, preparing food and letting the horses graze and rest.
"M'lord, the food is ready."
Kain sighed being addressed as lord, though it was not the driver's fault he considered him an aristocrat or some high-ranking person, those who unlock Authority Attribute usually are.
"We will cross the state's boundary tomorrow, right?"
"Yes, m'lord, tomorrow afternoon."
Amber Academic City State was a small city-state at the center of various kingdoms, who have signed a non-aggression pact with it as long as the noble and royal children of the said kingdoms can join the academy without an entrance test.
Kain was also one such noble child, though he was a bastard and sent here not to study but to get rid off.
Kain's face turned sour just remembering those people, but soon it turned into a bitter-sweet smile.
At least, I got freedom and they would still think that I didn't gain a lord category class.
Yes, one of the many reasons why Kain was sent away was because they didn't want him to gain a lord class, they were already aware of his intelligence and hence feared the 5 year old's current future.
Pity, they failed regardless.
"You can go ahead and sleep, I will return in a while."
Seeing that Kain was moving towards the forest, the driver hesitated but soon dismissed it under the pretext that nobles could handle the monsters of the forest easily.
After all, Amber city-state was not known for having any region with powerful monsters, it was one of the reasons the state has thrived till now.
Even bandits did not loiter near main roads like these, if even one of them would have attacked the kingdom which this road connected to would have annihilated them.
Not knowing the driver's thoughts, Kain moved further into the forest, calm and cautious.
He soon encountered his first prey, a [Forest Snake], poisonous but only enough to paralyse and not kill.
Kain grinned, feeling lucky his first encounter was not someone who runs away like a rabbit or squirrel.
The [Forest Snake] hissed towards Kain, ready to attack him at a moment's notice with his sharp fangs.
[Conqueror's Suppression]
As Kain activated his primary, the leaves around him fluttered, moving away from his direction.
While the target of his skill, the snake widened his eyes, as invisible pressure fell on his body, causing his high head to crash directly into the ground below.
Kain did not waste any time as he unsheathed his sword without deactivating his skill.
He efficiently stabbed his sword into the prostating head of the snake, killing it in an instant.
Only then did he deactivate his skill, and as soon as he did so he saw a movement near one of the trees causing him to point his sword towards that direction and activating the skill again.
What he saw was a toad, frozen in place under the pressure of [Conqueror's Suppression].
It was a monster similar in strength to the snake he had killed, a [Rodent Eating Toad].
He did the same thing he did with the snake, stabbed him in the head, turning off the skill.
Not sensing any movement around him, he picked up the corpse of the snake and toad, and put them inside his spatial pouch.
They were one of the weakest monsters to be found in the wild but they can still be sold and considering how low Kain's wallet was, they would at least recover a part of the trip.
They were so weak that they didn't even go near the road due to human movement, and just one attribute in Authority was enough for his [Conqueror's Suppression] to actually remove any form of movement.
If I had it completely unlocked with a few more points they would have fainted, or even died on the spot.
[Conqueror's Suppression] wasn't a hard skill to understand, depending on the attribute points in Authority, the target would feel an invisible pressure on him, as if Kain is going to claim their life, killing them.
A suitable skill usable on both monsters and intelligent beings, unlike most lord category class skills.
It also suits the Conqueror sub-category completely, instead of just emitting pressure it takes the form of claiming life.
Though, at 1 point in authority, only these small, pathetic rodents might feel something like this.
I need to concentrate the skills effect on my sword, if I am to survive in [Graveyard of Forgotten Weapons].
Using the skill in the raw form won't be enough for the dungeon he has chosen for his [Tutorial Quest], he would need to practice it and apply it a bit differently.
Though, if any dungeon might be affected by his attribute and skill, then it would be that dungeon for now, hence the reason why he chose it.
Kain looked around the trees for a few more seconds before returning back to the campsite which was near the road, entering the carriage after seeing the driver sleeping outside, he slept for the night.
===
The morning soon came and the carriage started moving early in the morning.
The driver was still on his tip-toes as to not offend Kain, which Kain was perfectly fine with as he can continue reading his book.
It was one of the few he had bought before, containing information regarding Conqueror Sub-Category of Classes, specifically the skills under it.
It was not available to the general public as nobles and rulers liked to keep tight leash on their class related information, even the one he was reading was not original, he had copied it into this book from the academy's library.
After reading for a bit, Kain unsheathed his sword and activated the [Conqueror's Suppression] but this time focusing on the sword, not as a target but as a source of amplification or coating.
He could sense that the sword was surrounded by his [Conqueror's Suppression] but only 20%, the rest was leaking away.
Focusing harder, with beads of sweat on his forehead, he took the percentage to 25%.
Slowly, he kept increasing the percentage up to 50% with utter focus, sweating profusely in the process.
"Uhm…M'Lord…"
Kain's complete concentration was broken by the voice of the carriage driver from the small window.
"What!?"
Frustrated by the sudden interruption, Kain lashed out.
"Forgive me M'Lord, it's just that, the horses were getting fearful…"
Not just the horses, even he was feeling a sudden pressure, as if someone was after his very life.
Though, he was fearing the current moment more than that pressure, sweating profusely for angering Kain.
Kain saw his face and his earlier frustration vanished slightly, before vanishing completely.
"My apologies, I was just practicing my skills."
Kain answered, with a sincere apology.
He could only imagine how scared shitless the driver must be, feeling he had angered a noble but the fearfulness of the horse was much more interesting.
It meant that the foundation of his Authority attribute was just a bit more good than others, if even at one point it could cause fear on cattle even without getting directed.
That also explained how he reached 50% coverage of skill, as most who learned to apply the skill in such a way are at least at level 10-20 to not waste their skill on the whole surrounding.
The driver breathed a sigh of relief, surprised that this noble child was so humble, still he vowed to not anger him further.
Yes, it was surprising, considering how arrogant and egoistic some noble brats are.
After that, Kain continued reading the book, simulating how he would use the many skills of the category if he got them.
Though it wasn't written on stone he will gain them, even if he unlocked the class and leveled it up.
Skill acquisition for the classes were random, with some getting the same skill at different levels of the same class, some not getting any at all.
It was the reason why Kain has accepted the fact that this world's rpg-system is actually a class-centric system, not attributes or skills but class alone.
Soon, they crossed the border of Amber City-State and entered the borders of the kingdom where the dungeon he was going for was located, it was a huge kingdom that even the amber academy's entire surface area won't even cover the borders.
Kain replaced the book he was reading into a file provided by the information guild one year ago, containing all the information about the dungeon he had set his eyes to conquer.
The second and third night of the journey went without a hitch with Kain focusing more on coating his blade with his skill whenever they stopped, and reading whenever they traveled.
On the fourth day, early morning, Kain finally reached the Log Village, with more than half of his journey done.