What is 'Scheming'?

Herhail walked into a shack with his axe, him seeming a bit older, by about half-a-month.

Inside a skinny man was shivvering in fear, thinking that his life was about to end, as it was.

Herhail, instead of walking into the shack fully, leapt back, and pulled himself up the shack. Then he went above the sounds of fear, then kicked the roof in.

He fell down with his axe swinging down, into the man's head.

[You have killed a human (Tier 4, lvl 6); 210 Exp]

"An honest day's work." He had found out recently that people don't suspect him coming from above. More like the creaks caused by his movement on shacks are a lot like ones caused by wind.

To be honest, they man was weak. But, he had researched to make sure he was an non-combat class. An accountant to be specific.

[Name; Herhail

Normal skills; Running, lvl 5. Poison resistence, lvl 21. Rot resistence, lvl 8. pain resistence, lvl 12. Solitude resistence, lvl 2. Pickpocketing, lvl 7. Stealing, lvl 8. Acting, lvl 5. Hide tracks, lvl 16. Lying, lvl 7.

Innate traits; Cautious, lvl 2. Stratagist, lvl 1->lvl 2.

Aquired traits; Street rat, lvl 6. bootlicker, lvl 1->lvl 0. Cautious, lvl 4.

Titles; Plague survivor (goupar plague).

Paths; <Path of the card-master>, lvl 1, 0/1000.

Path skills; <Deck-building >, <Card-shop >, <Mana pool>, <Card master>, <Card storage>.

Shop skills; <Axe throwing>, lvl 1->lvl 2, 62/200.

Equipment; Dirty rag pants, dirty rag shirt, dagger.

Stats: Strength; 12. Vitality; 12. Dexterity; 12. Endurance; 12. Magic; 12. Intelligence; 12. Charisma; 12.

34122 exp.]

He started to paint the inside of the shack red and then left after summoning rat 3, that muscled abomination.

Herhail was having a great time. He was eating well, he had a pair of rag pants and a rag shirt. This was a sign of status, so he could be slightly arrogant and not be questioned as to why.

Because he had signs of high status.

And people of high status don't talk about high status, they show they're so because talking to inferiors is troublesome.

Of course, he was not honestly of high status, he had just stolen his clothes.

If he gets a pair of sandals he'll be of even high authority.

Like the sandals in his hands right now, he had specifically killed that man for those sandals. Though they were a bit to large, just the fact Herhail weared them meant a lot.

So he put them on.

Then made the straps actually keep the sandals on his feet.

And, tada! He now had sandals of his own.

If slum residents now saw him, he'd be regarded as 'Well off'. And that means he'll be able to prepare the end of times, with his grown up wolf cub. Which costs 3 attributeless mana to summon.

[Wolf, lvl 2, 24/200.

Tier 1. Strength; 7. Vitality; 5. Dexterity; 7. Endurance; 6. Magic; 0. Intelligence; 3. Charisma; 4.

Skills; <Pack tactics>, lvl 1, 0/100.]

Ain't it beautiful? I find it slightly cool, but Herhail likes it alot, just think of what would happen if the dexterity focused wolf in his deck went full on dex based. That's a 15 dexterity creature, and if there's the same kind of healthy progression it'll be a lot more broken later.

It was currently roaming, and killing small creatures to feed itself and sometimes killing a human. That was what it was ordered to do, though it had yet to find a human in it's specified habitat.

[[Wolf] has killed a dog (Lvl 2); 12 exp.]

[[Wolf] has killed human (Tier 5, lvl 3); 320 exp.]

Then the dog leveled-up.

Like usual, Herhail put the point into dex. But he was expecting his little wolf pet to die.

[[Wolf] has died.]

It was so obvious this would happen, tier 5's don't stay in the slums, they are forcefully taken by the noble or the church. That means this was probably a surf that got luckey with their path, hadn't been taken by the church, and had been found by the noble's goons.

And let me tell you, those goons were probably around lvl 8~10. Those are elites. Since lvl 10> means church' servant/noble's toilet cleaner.

Again, that is a valid choice, but not Herhail's choice.

After a moment of thought, Herhail bought three rats, and unleased them in the span of an hour.

"Go my minions! Slay all those before you! If you can kill them. Also make sure to ponder on each battle and improve your approach each time after, and make sure to stop pondering when your in danger."

This was the order given to each of them.

Then he went into his current hiding spot, a shack that was 'Cleaned up' along with a few others close-by.

Then he waited, relaxedly making weapons, cutting up planks from shacks he had taken over to make his own home bigger.

[[Rat] has ki-]

Herhail swiped the notification away before he could decern the amount exp gained, he was not in the mood for looking through an entire wall of notification.

"I summon [Wolf] with 3 attributeless mana!" Though Herhail didn't need to do the whole chant anymore, just saying 'Summon [Wolf]' would work, it was annoying. And more importantly, it was cooler to do it.

Across the wall, a non-see-through wind passed, and while the wall was not seen, a wolf jumped through "[Wolf], you are to kill anything in your path, except me. Now go! Make sure to eat and ponder on your faults."

Herhail made sure to remind his creation of his basic rules, and released it to the outside world. This time worthy to fight openly against the evil establishment of evil and corruption, which is evil.

Though it would probably die to the being who had slain his six rats previously, it would grow stronger! Then it would be alive once more! And then it will repeat it's steps, but better.

Sadly Herhail had not the patience to give the wolf cub the repeated growth evolutions afforded to the rats, which were still trying to gain the [Experienced] add-on.

And those three other rats, those were just getting one 'Growth evolution', then the rat 1 evolution path he had not had the fortune of forcing on to the one of the free-loaders from 'Origin-six'

Those damn free loaders deserved death! But, they would pay there dues! Or Herhail would have to deal with them using some extreme measures, including repeated death.

But in time, they would come around. And later the cost of reviving them repeatedly would be so insignificant he could keep them up until they reach the peak of their current path.

Though this was just conjecture based on what little he know of how paths work, so this wasn't certain.

But the idea of some rat that can slay a drake... That'd be scary.

What about dragons? Well, Herhail doesn't know half a rat's ass about most things, so he doesn't know dragons exist. Their also classified due to the fact that some tamer would get them if they were found, so there hasn't been an 'Official' sighting for a few centuries.

Back to how horrifying it would be for a rat to slay a drake, don't you think the existential crisis that would cause would be great for petty revenge? Herhail thinks that, but it is still a fleeting thought.

Just a fleeting thought caused by the sunk-cost fallicy.

Herhail was currently just sitting there, since he had done everything he could think of to pass the time.

Then suddenly had a candle light within his mind 'What about scheming? The classic thing people of the outside world do!'

Yes, scheming. Herhail had never done it before, actively. But since he had free time unlike before, he could actually scheme properly. But there was one question 'How do I scheme?'

'Like, scheming is about making a scheme. But, how do I do that? And what is a scheme?'

His questions flowed, and he started to build up the pieces.

'A scheme' and 'A plan' were used interchangeably in his interactions with and over-heard conversations from other people. So that means that they were synonyms 'And that probably means schemes are just another form of plan, and that means that 'Scheming' is a synonym of 'Planing'!'

After getting his answers, Herhail started to put down the foundations of his scheme 'I want to dismantle the Blood banners. But how? Systematically, or a slippery slope? Systematically sounds cooler, and is the best way to harvest fear, since everyone realizes they messed up before they die. But I personally find that extreme fear that comes from a slippery slope, just think about it. A day or two ago you walk down the street beating serfs like usual, but then everything starts to crumble down around you, and you can't do anything but despair.

That- that is how to maximize the suffering of those who dare burn my house down.'

Herhail laughed like he had seen those crazed people do when he was younger "Kekekeeke!"

'First I'll take away the roots of the tree! The members of blood banner, the small timers, all of them will either die, or run away to the Hood. A tier 2 lvl 10 would beat them till they cry for mommy.'

And that meant, that when those three rats evolved, it would be a blood bath.

But since he was forced to wait, he would sleuth out a place of attack. Aka; Where in the residential district there are the most goons per meter squared.

So, he resummoned a dead rat, ordered it out, and took the shives that were turned into daggers and spears with him.

Two things to do; Supply the Hood with weapons to mess with the Blood banners, and discover where most Blood banners are hidden from them if possible.

But where is the Hood? It's quite obvious, on the edge of the slums, by the river filled with trash and disentary.

Herhail just dropped his things under the bridge, and then realized;

'I have no clue how to contact the hood, and why would they even talk to me? I'm still twelve, I'll have to do this, personally. At least I won't be annoyed because of my rags and pair of sandals'