The way loneliness works are that you think you can rely on yourself and breaks you down after you realize your faults and things that others did for you that helped you. Throwing you into a different situation that reflects on yourself instead of the unknown, is scary because you can be more afraid to see your flaws than anything else. Being lonely has its advantages as well.
Being lonely can make one self-reliant, which is a great skill to have for when you find yourself in situations that you would need self-reliance to get out of, or to survive in them. Another pro of being lonely is that you get a different perspective on the world and the people around you and how you perceived them before.
Hypothetically, If I were in a group of friends or at the center of attention, then being alone could change the perspective of how I see others, especially if you are alone because of them. If it is my choice to be alone, then the people who cared for me would seem much more favorable than before.
Before I could dive deeper into thought, I felt the ever-familiar ring of the door, seeing a winded Argas bending over, hands on knees.
"Whew…Whew…That took way longer than I initially thought." He said to no one in particular. I kind of feel bad for what is about to happen, but I guess you can't stop progress, huh. Anyways, Argas started to jog over to the forge and take out all 8 new and improved swords. With all of them in hand, he rushed back outside without a word, leaving me all alone again. I guess this is also a good time to go take a look around the town, and also collect some more spore. Maybe I will find a specimen I can copy. That would be just fantastic, but probably unrealistic, as this place is very kind and I have seen no such danger.
Splitting myself in half, I rolled out the door by sliding under it, instead of opening it. Once outside, I continued on the route that I took before to see if I could go any farther. This time, however, I am looking for specific shops and other things that would have existed on earth, which seems so long ago that I was there.
Going to the town square, I found a dusty-looking medical center, which is probably what needed restocking. From all of the Isekai stuff that I have read, I didn't know why they would need medicine if they had skills or magic that could heal. Then again, I have not seen too many magic skills or even incantations. The only things I have seen that had some semblance of magic are the traps in the temple, the magic locks, the magic circles on the dresser, and other mana crystals.
I could not find any raw and spontaneous magic, and there isn't a spec of magic from any Beastkin in this village either! This was very distressing because I have a system and skills, but there was no magic involved yet, so I don't even know if it is possible to continue anymore without it. Depressed by that thought, I seem to have wandered past the town square, which was not a square, but more of an oval with 4 different roads leading to somewhere else, which I did not know.
The houses around the town square were mostly made out of wood, plaster, and clay. The sheer size of them is what amazes me. There did not seem to be any seams in the plank structure, so that means that the planks that they used are from giant trees. This worried me because that means there could be many things in the trees that Operation Blanket didn't catch, which is scary.
Anyways, although the houses are big, they did not look very pretty. They had cracks, dust, and other foundational failures that could compromise them at any moment. Not all of the houses are like this, as some were small, with more detail to them, and some larger ones with more structural integrity. These were most likely owned by the important officials of this village, as I have not seen any currency that would prove that people are wealthier than others.
With the houses looking like they were in colonial times, I walked on the north road, which was the opposite one I went to last time when I was going out at night. Noticing that the houses were getting more pristine the farther I went along this route, this must be where the end of the village is.
The reason that I think that is because if the exit was in the official's road, which I can only assume that the officials live here, as it was the best-housed place, then the officials could die, making a big internal conflict of who would assume that position when it is lost. So, going to the end of the road, there was indeed a 30-foot wall that stretched to the sky, well, from my perspective. The thickness of the stakes was vast, enough to fit a small jeep inside them. I thought that it was a bit big for a village, but then again, there are over 1,000 animals in this town.
Anyways, the white-painted houses were a little smaller than the common ones, but that might mean it is more structural than the other houses. After exploring the official road, I returned to the oval center of the town, which was very populated at this time. I sucked up all of the new spores that have been created through the wait. Seeing all of the little green dots coming into me made me feel satisfied. The reason for that is that they still haven't found that I implanted an invasive species into the town.
The flow of the spores became steady for a while until I felt a giant jolt of power in a split second, and then it was gone with a ding.
{New skill gained…[Invasive]}
Reminding me of a certain disease game, I needed to check my status to see how much I have advanced. *click*