Chapter 22: Upcoming Winter

For the next week, Eren did nothing but kill slimes on the outskirts of the forest and have hours of bedtime with Emily at home. It had been almost two weeks since he had come into this world through the portal door.

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 11

All stats are +1.

You acquired 1 Stat Point to use]

He smiled when he finally heard the familiar and slightly feminine sound in his head.

This time, he truly threw a powerful punch, using all his strength without fear. Although he hadn’t hit anything, a frightening sound came out of the air as the bones in his arm shook with power. It was an impressive sound, similar to the one made when shaking a metal rod very quickly.

He really got stronger. Every time anyone in this Universe leveled up, they improved their stats or body by 1 point. But every time Eren leveled up, he was getting stronger by 8+1. It affected him as if he was jumping 9 levels.

Maybe he was mentally weak as an Earthling from his universe right now. He had never even fought, after all. But thanks to some simple math, Eren’s body was at the level that someone with at least Level 80 or 90 could possibly have.

Although no smart person would distribute all their stats equally. Probably everyone concentrates on a certain path. So Eren didn’t believe he was even half as strong as a Level 50 warrior class.

“Let’s see what the future shows me?”

If he knew how to use his truly empowered body right now, maybe he wouldn’t have to hunt slimes, bunnies, or some foxes like a coward.

He put down the knife he used for almost everything and sat down on the grass.

The weather was getting bad. The forest was getting really cold in the mornings and evenings. And according to Emily, this was nothing compared to the real thing.

For at least a month, the whole forest would be covered in complete white. All water sources would freeze.

The thin clothes he always wore were no longer enough to warm him in the evening hours. Soon they would have to wear winter clothes. And at home, they would be warmed by a wood-burning stove.

Eren decided to go to the house of the elf who was in charge of chopping wood. The lumberjacks’ warehouse was near their house, and he decided to move some lumber. If he carried a small amount each day, they wouldn’t have to deal with it again when winter came.

“The whole village is getting ready for winter, but is there anything I can do? It’s like I’m not doing anything useful to the village.”

Even though Eren didn’t know it, the whole village was grateful to him. He spent all day clearing low-level monsters. And the villagers were grateful to know that this was Eren’s limit for now. Emily no longer had to deal with the weak but abundant creatures.

While Emily drove away powerful creatures, Eren wandered around the village hunting slimes and other simple creatures.

It was the perfect situation in their eyes.

Eren wished they would make that delicious elven soup. He had hardly thought of his old world lately. In fact, thanks to the taste of the food here, he was looking forward to meal times. He didn’t spend any money on food, wood, or even on asking other elves for help with anything.

Elves were a friendly race that shared everything and lived minimally. If someone could do something, that person was assigned to a certain subject and was considered the master of that job in the whole village.

The only exception was Emily and her hunting mission. Regardless of anything, Emily or someone of her blood had to take over this task.

No one could remember why and they didn’t care about the specifics. But it was one of the very few rules of the Elves.

“I guess it’s time to go home if I dream this much already.”

When Eren thought of Emily’s house, he began to consider it as his own. Knowing that a woman like Emily was waiting for him in the wooden house made it “home”.

Eren stood up and took a deep breath as he looked at the land to the northwest of the village. The most urgent thing he wanted to do in this village was to build stone walls on the borders of the area.

A big, strong stone wall would have taken away 90% of Emily’s work. And a beautiful woman like Emily could spend more time with him.

But building a stone wall was difficult for now. Maybe a wall would be possible with large timbers, but not stone. Even if the elves knew what mining was, they were not experienced in it. They knew how to collect stones and ores from natural caves, but couldn’t do more rough work such as construction.

The fact that the entire village was made of wood wasn’t out of the Elves’ worship or respect for the forest.

The main reason was that they had zero experience in making things with other materials.

Eren used the main road to go to the village, and he took the apple-like fruit that a woman named Rabbu-i handed him. He smiled, thanking the middle-aged elf, and walked to the center of the village.

Finally, when he reached one of the first inner houses of the village, an elf carrying logs in the yard set what he was holding on the ground. “Are you going to eat at home, Oldir?”

Hearing Eren, he smiled and came over to the garden fence. “Ah, Eren. Yes, I’m home today. I’m very tired and I’m going to bed early. Say hi to Selena for me.”

Eren knew this man had a thing for the young restaurant owner in the center. She wasn’t young-young like Emily, Nimbo or Mel but considering Oldir’s almost sixty years old age, she was in her late thirties.

He winked and nodded. “Okay. I will. But I’d like to bring some wood to my garden before winter starts. Can I get some from here?”

“Enjoy yourself. We haven’t moved all the lumber yet. There’s so much more coming.”

Eren was relieved to know that winter preparations were going well. “Then, thank you. I’ll come every evening and carry some.”

“If you want, our folks will carry it to your garden. It will be moved to everyone’s house anyway.”

Eren smiled and shook his head. “Thanks for the thought, but I’m a bit stronger than before and I won’t tire you out when I can do it myself.”

Eren chatted some more with the lumberjack Oldir. And as Oldir was about to go home, Eren stared at the wood stacks. He placed one of the largest timbers on each of his shoulders. Then he said goodbye and started walking towards his house.

“Is that just getting a little stronger? Wow…” Oldir whistled.

Eren didn’t hear what Oldir was saying.

Almost everyone was staring at him in surprise.

When he came to his own house, which was very close to the restaurant, Eren left the logs in the empty front garden. He didn’t realize how frightening the sound was when he threw them to the ground.

He went to the front of the house and looked through the open door. It was open like this all day.

“My favorite thing about elves is how safe their society is. There’s no theft or jealousy. I’m in the ideal place to raise children and start a family.”

He muttered to himself, not caring who heard him in this world.

Emily, walking towards him, heard his murmur. She was a lot higher level than everyone in the village and Eren didn’t know her physical limits yet.

She was slightly blushing and looked excitedly into Eren’s calm eyes.

“How was your day? You didn’t go into the forest, did you?”

The first thing that came out of Emily’s mouth was whether Eren was putting himself in danger or not. And her look made Eren laugh a little. “No, sweetie. I leveled up too. I’m level 11.”

“Did the same thing happen? Was a point added to all your stats again?”

Eren nodded his head. By now, Emily had learned the body movements Eren was accustomed to using from Earth. She even used these moves sometimes.

“Shall we test how strong you are tomorrow? Besides, I’ll teach you how to survive against high-level creatures.”

It was a good deal. As a bonus, Eren knew deep down how worried she was every time he went hunting after that day.

Emily would never let him get close to high-level creatures if he didn’t convince her. Maybe she’d be a little more relaxed if she at least saw that he was stronger now.

Deep down, though, Eren wasn’t bothered by this at all. He could see that Emily was being sensitive because she loved him so much. As long as someone worried about him, he didn’t care about taking it slow while leveling up.

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