The warrior leader offered Kayn a dagger to use. It had a wooden handle and was made of stone—very primitive.
From what Kayn had seen while observing the village and its warriors, they did have swords made of better materials, maybe iron or copper. But for that training session, the leader had decided to give him a stone dagger.
Weapons made from better materials weren't something they would hand over to a newcomer like Kayn—not someone they barely trusted yet.
Still, dagger in hand, Kayn showed the leader what he could do.He got his ass kicked.
Well—maybe that's a strong way to put it. Truth is, Kayn couldn't land a single hit on the warrior leader.
The reason was pretty simple: he had only just awakened to the use of mana. Even though the village was more on the primitive side, their warriors meditated and trained their bodies daily. They were far stronger than Kayn.
Noticing that Kayn looked a bit discouraged, the leader said, "Don't take it too hard. I'm a fifth-core warrior, and from what I can sense, you haven't even reached your first core yet. There was no way you were going to win."
Hearing that, and realizing the warrior was actually being kind, Kayn didn't feel as bad.
"Thanks, I guess," he said. "So… what did you think?"
The leader looked genuinely impressed."Honestly? I liked what I saw. You've got potential. The only thing left now is to grow your power—and that might take some time."
The warrior believed it would take a long time for Kayn to make any real progress, mostly because they didn't have access to many meditation techniques.
The only one they did have was something passed down through the village's history—used by all their warriors. But since Kayn wasn't from the village, he didn't seem to have much affinity with that particular technique. Still, that wouldn't be a problem.
"So, do you think the best position for me would be acting as an assassin or scout for the village?" he asked.
Kayn needed to know—this would directly affect which skills he'd need to pursue. The warrior leader nodded.
"Well, that's exactly what we need right now. And judging by your skill with a dagger, I'd say you've got talent. We really do need someone to spy on the neighboring tribes… Every time, they start planning something way before we even notice anything's going on."
That was the confirmation Kayn had been waiting for.
He spent some more time talking with the warrior leader, learning about the village.
The leader's name was Rahka.
"For now, you should focus on getting stronger," Rahka said, "but it would also be great if you could help us with a few other things. What exactly are you good at?"
He wanted to know if Kayn had any experience with taking care of animals, hunting, fishing, or crafting things like clothes or tools. Out of all those things, fishing was what Kayn was best at—at least for now.
He wanted to try hunting magical beasts later on, but only once he felt more confident in his power. At his current level, he was garbage in combat.
The only thing that made him stand out from others was his summon—the Void Slime. But even with an SSS-rank summon, he was still weak.
A summon's power was only one part of a mage's overall strength. The mage had to be strong even without it. Kayn knew that.
And with that in mind, he started looking for solutions to his first real problem: a meditation technique.
He wanted one that aligned more with stealth and subterfuge, since that would be his main role for now. The one he currently had, [Meditation of the One Thousand Suns (D Rank)], wasn't exactly stealth-related.
So Kayn decided to check his System. At first, he figured there wasn't much he could do—maybe just grind more Crypto until he could afford a new meditation technique, which would definitely take some time.
But then he noticed something interesting.
In one of the System's tabs, there was an option to swap his current meditation technique for a different one.
At first, he thought it was amazing.
Maybe that meant it didn't matter if he pulled a trash technique or one that didn't fit his build from the loot box—he could just switch it out later.
But of course, it wasn't that simple.
The System immediately warned him: only some techniques could be swapped, and the list was very limited.
His current technique? It was one of the few that could be exchanged!
[Meditation of the One Thousand Suns (D Rank)] could be traded for [Meditation of the One Thousand Moons (D Rank)].
And based on the description, the second one was much more stealth-focused.
"It's still a D Rank, but it fits what I need right now," he thought.
Kayn confirmed the swap. It worked.
Within seconds, the old scroll vanished and was replaced with a new one.
He could hardly wait to start practicing his new technique.
The best part was that the technique had to be practiced during the night, which meant that in just a few hours, Kayn could start practicing! It was simply incredible.
However, before he could dive into his new technique, Kayn had to meet with other villagers. He had to go fishing.
At first, he thought it would be boring, but that was before he saw who he'd be fishing with: a beautiful woman, blonde, with a toned body. Well, he wasn't regretting it anymore.
In fact, it was the opposite. He could hardly wait to go fishing every day.