Asher stood at the edge of the clearing, gazing at the familiar face of his old enemy. He'd picked out a heavy boar standing far from the rest and was watching it calmly eat away at a particularly lush patch of grass. While the monstrous boar looked passive now, Asher knew from experience the moment it spotted him it would forget everything it was doing and devote its entire existence to ending his life.

Heavy boars weren't really much of a threat to him at this point, which meant they were the perfect enemy to work out the kinks from not having fought for the last week. They wouldn't get his blood pumping, but Asher still hadn't decided what he was going to do moving forward, and they were better than nothing in the meantime.

Not to mention he did have other skills patiently waiting to be evolved, as soon as he gathered the needed shards for them.

Rolling his shoulders, Asher pulled out two of his standard steel daggers as he began approaching the monster. He'd practiced killing the heavy boars enough that he only actually needed one to get the job done at this point, but he missed the weight of holding a dagger in each hand as he faced down a powerful opponent.

It wasn't long before the monster caught wind of his scent, and the heavy boar's head snapped up in his direction. Huffing out a blast of hot air, the boar let out a deep, rolling squeal before it began charging directly at him.

Experiment number one, Asher thought, calmly watching the half-ton monster barreling toward him. What happens when monsters lose sight of their victims?

Just before the boar ran him over, Asher slipped into the astral, allowing the monster to phase straight through him and keep running. He felt a slight strain on his body as he turned around to face the boar once more, but he stayed perfectly still after that, watching the boar out of curiosity.

For its part, the boar seemed to have realized it had failed in its mission to run him through with its tusks, as it tried to slow down and make a wide, sweeping turn back toward him. But the moment it realized he was gone, its eyes widened. Asher watched as the boar gradually came to a complete stop, its head turning this way and that as it tried fruitlessly to find him. But not even the boar's twitching nose gave it any hint as to where Asher had gone, and the monster seemed to be at a loss. Slowly, its eyes lost their animosity, and the boar seemed to relax once more, finding a new patch of grass to eat and getting to work.

Huh. Seeing people really is like an on-off switch in their brains, I guess, Asher thought as he observed the boar become docile once more. Just because he could, he remained standing there in the astral for a few more minutes, content to watch the large killing machine peacefully munch away on grass up close. As the minutes ticked by, Asher was surprised to realize his body was still growing strained, just ever so slowly. It took him a moment, but he quickly realized what he'd missed when first reading over his evolved skill.

Even if I try to stay as motionless as possible, I still have to breathe, he realized, glancing down at the subtle movement of his chest rising and falling. Realizing he'd have to test the skill later and see just how long he truly could stay within the astral, Asher decided to stop messing around. Cancelling his skill, he allowed himself to reappear before the heavy boar.

Like clockwork, the boar snapped back to attention, squealing again as it began barreling toward him once more. Asher merely sighed, gripping his dagger and readying himself. The moment the boar got within twenty feet of him, he struck.

Using Distortion, he created a thin tunnel of compressed space between himself and the boar, slamming his dagger into the boar's eye and cancelling the skill immediately after withdrawing his arm. He knew from experience that if he didn't react fast enough, the momentum of the boar would shatter his arm, and while he was excited to have evolved Eternal Regeneration, he wasn't in any hurry to level it up any higher just yet.

Thankfully, all the experience he'd gained hunting boars before heading to Whikoga came back to him, and he executed his attack flawlessly. The now deceased heavy boar slammed into the ground before skidding a few feet to a stop, and Asher got to work cutting off its tusks. Not only had having one of the heavy boar tusks in his Personal Rift saved his life on more than one occasion, he could earn some extra shards selling them to the right merchant.

Asher spent the rest of the afternoon practicing against the heavy boars. Sadly, he'd already gotten to the point where taking the one-track monsters down was child's play before undergoing his intense training with Moxy in the city. Now, killing the boars without getting so much as a scratch was almost pathetically easy.

On the plus side, he did manage to earn himself close to forty thousand shards for all his efforts, and that was just from the shards that manifested above the boars when slain. Once he found a buyer for his tusks, he'd get a little more on top of that.

He sighed as he stuck yet another pair of tusks in his Personal Rift, blinking at the realization that his rift had grown rather significantly in size over the past few weeks. The last time he'd gone heavy boar hunting his extra-dimensional rift had been about as large as the trunk of his car. Now, he could tell his skill was closer to that of a small bedroom.

Not all that surprising seeing as the skill was nearly three times as high in level as it was back then.

I suppose that's one nice thing about passive skills, he thought, cleaning off his daggers and replacing them in his bandolier. A lot of them seem to just slowly level over time, without me even having to do anything.

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Daggers cleaned and tusks tucked away, he briefly considered fighting a few more boars just for the hell of it before realizing the choice had been taken from him. It seemed without even realizing it, he'd eradicated just about all the boars in the small valley. It would be some time before whatever strange force governed the spawn rates of monsters filled the place back up, which meant he was done hunting for the near future whether he wanted to be or not.

Double checking Samantha's map of the forest that he'd memorized with Incorporate, Asher began making his way back to the cabin. Brian had gone with Samantha on one of her hunting trips into the forest today, so following the Eternal Mark he'd left on him wouldn't do him any good.

Asher focused on the mark briefly anyway, a small smile on his face as he confirmed Brian was as hale and healthy as ever. The mark was always on the back of his mind, enough that he would notice if Brian was ever truly hurt or in danger, but it was nice to confirm he was doing alright every now and again.

I should probably ask Samantha about placing a mark on her as well to be safe, he thought, stopping in his tracks as he realized what had just gone through his head. Placing an Eternal Mark on her would ensure that he'd always know if she needed help and would give him the ability to teleport to her whenever he wanted, but wasn't that a horrifying breach of privacy? He'd had the same thought regarding Brian, but Brian was still a kid for one thing, and he thought having Asher's skill used on him was the coolest thing ever.

Other than when Asher used it to beat him at robbers versus seekers of course.

Asher thought about it as he made his way back to the cabin. At the very least, he could float the idea past Samantha and see what she thought of it. Even if she didn't want a mark placed on herself, she'd probably be fine with him marking something in the cabin to allow him to Recall home whenever he wanted.

Home…

Asher walked out of the woods with a giant smile on his face as he realized he truly viewed the cabin as his new home. He'd barely been in this new world for a month, but it seemed that was plenty of time to put down roots and find a place where he felt like he belonged. It wasn't really all that hard, as he'd never felt all that attached to his cramped little apartment back on Earth in the first place. Living in a homey, well maintained cabin with Samantha and Brian was a massive step up in that regard.

The sight of a waving farmer pulled him from his thoughts, and Asher blinked as he realized there was someone waiting for him outside the cabin.

[Farmer] - 1/3 Elements

"Hello there!" The man grinned, tipping his straw hat and holding out a hand to greet him. "Name's George! Sorry I still haven't introduced myself, I stopped by a bit ago to say hello, but Samantha said you'd taken off for the big city. I didn't realize you were back!"

"No worries," Asher said, returning the man's smile as he shook his hand. As expected from a farmer, his grip was strong and his skin was hard and calloused. Even the man's aura was clean as a whistle, coming across as a gentle, earthy brown and giving Asher the feeling the farmer had never hurt a fly. "The trip back was… sooner than expected, I'll admit." Asher paused, suddenly realizing he'd seen the farmer before. "You're the one that sold Brian the giant pumpkin-looking thing when we got out of the forest!"

"Oh, you mean after that extra long trip Samantha and Brian went on out of the blue? Yepp, that was me," George grinned, tucking his thumbs into his overalls and looking quite proud of himself. "I'd always hoped I'd be remembered for my rubramelon, so I appreciate the kind words!"

"It was quite tasty," Asher smiled, recalling the juicy interior of the strange melon. "Anyway, is there anything I can help you with? Samantha and Brian are actually out on another hunting trip, though they should be back before dark."

"Nothing that important," George said, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a small parcel. "A courier showed up today with a letter addressed to… The Reaper, with Samantha's address on it," George said, his smile faltering ever so slightly as he read the name off the parcel. "I told him there certainly wasn't anyone in this village that went by that name, but he was adamant that he'd been instructed to deliver it to this cabin, so I pointed it out to him. It seemed he hadn't even been instructed to give it to any one person in particular, because as soon as he dropped it at Samantha's doorstep, he took off. I've never dealt with an actual courier myself, but it still seemed odd to me. I'd already finished up in the fields today, so I figured I'd relax and wait for Samantha to show back up to explain."

"Thanks for taking the time to do so," Asher said, working hard to keep the smile on his face as he accepted the parcel from him. It was the first time he'd heard the moniker, but he had no misgivings about who it was supposed to be addressing. "It's definitely meant for me, though the name is something of a joke," he tried to explain, not sure if George was buying his story.

"If you say so," George shrugged, laying a firm hand on Asher's shoulder. "As I'm sure you already know, those two have been through quite a lot since they lost their parents. I've seen first-hand from afar just how much Brian looks up to you, and I've heard the way Samantha talks about you. I just want to make sure you treat the two of them right, you hear? I won't make any threats and pretend I can take on anyone that's earned the nickname The Reaper, even as a joke, but I hope you'll see it in your heart to do what's right."

"You have nothing to worry about, George," Asher smiled, pleased to see just how much the other villagers cared about Samantha and Brian. "I haven't kept any of this a secret from Samantha," he said, waving the parcel. "Why don't you stop by tomorrow for dinner as thanks for waiting around for us? I'd offer tonight, but I don't want to spring any guests on Samantha without asking her first. I'll need to check with her first of course, but I bet she'd love to have you."

"Let me check with Martha, and I'll let you know first thing in the morning," George promised, clapping him on the back and heading back to his fields. "Glad to see you've already figured out who really runs the households around here! That'll save you a few good arguments down the road!"

Despite the weight of the parcel in hand, Asher couldn't help but grin and wave goodbye as George left. He'd briefly met a few members of the village here and there, but George had to be his favorite so far. As soon as the farmer was gone, Asher sighed, turning over the parcel in his hand and giving it a more thorough look.

Who would want to send him something in the mail?

And more importantly, how did they know where he lived in the first place?

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