Darius crossed the final 23 kilometers in about half a day without any other encounters. He wasn't too sure, but he guessed that it should be around 9 pm and he could already see the homestead in the distance.
Now, he was faced with a choice. Appear before the common folk at this time of the night and try to play a role to ingratiate himself with them, or wait until morning by sleeping out in the wild once more?
Darius didn't need the small Infoblock to know that appearing out of the blue during the night would set alarm bells off in anyone's head, especially in a world like this where superstitions were rampant, although more often than not also justified.
If he chose this option, he'd better think up a pretty good excuse for doing so, one where the situation justified the means and nobody would ask too many questions. A few options came to mind.
Darius considered using the 'injured hero' trope. He'd find some low-leveled beast or monster, allow it to rough him up for a bit before he killed it, then limp towards the homestead pretending to be on his last breath.
A kind farmer's daughter would then rescue him and take care of him, jumpstarting the plot of his journey... or at least that was how it had worked in all those animes he had been forced to watch.
Alternatively, he could use the 'abandoned child' trope. He looked 13 years old, so he could easily pass off as a naive youth who got separated from his noble family and needed lodging until he could make contact with them again.
Finally, he could use the 'revenge story intro' trope. He would claim to be a noble's son who had just witnessed his family murdered by bandits or assassins sent by political opponents, only managing to escape because he either ran away, was smuggled away by his darling mum, or had been let go by the killers because they couldn't be bothered to finish him off.
'Hm, the first one should be the most convenient. It doesn't require too far-fetched a story or too heavy acting that could backfire if it slips my mind for a second.'
However, Darius didn't fancy fighting at night, because it would be harder to control such a battle. The aim of the game would be to get beaten up and slightly bloody, but not really hurt. He wasn't a masochist that loved pain, obviously.
After pondering for a bit longer, Darius ultimately decided to wait the night out. He found himself slightly sleepy after that long jog with the occasional breaks. What he had to do now was find a secure place to rest, unlike last time where he had foolishly plopped to the ground out in the open.
Darius walked around and found a broken cart nearby. Lord, it was dirty and dusty, also smelled a bit funny, but was small enough that nothing predatory could creep in there without making enough noise first to wake him up.
Darius naturally removed his clothes once again and used them to cover his body so that they wouldn't be messed up by the muck. He also fetched some leaves to form a covering from the rotten wood to prevent himself from getting splinters or critters all over his body.
At this time, he was debating getting a water spell for situations like this, or at least some cleanse spell that could clean up stuff like this.
Alas, if the small fireball spell was like the cheapest thing available then it would mean even with all his shortcuts of making a book and an empty spell manual first to make it cheaper, each spell would still end up at around 10.9 Conversion Points, in other words, more than one day's worth.
Darius once more craved to reach a city, but there was a process to it.
Finally managing to make himself somewhat comfortable, Darius spent what little points he had left creating a few empty books. The cost to make an unused spell manual was 5.9 Conversion Points, so he'd have to wait for tomorrow.
Besides, he also had the Spearmanship skillbook to think about, which would cost him 4 more Conversion Points. The next day had not even begun and already all but 0.1 Conversion Points had been booked!
Darius was starting to feel the pressure. Having many skills did not get to him, but the limited amount of Conversion Points was different. The ability to transmute at will was just too versatile and too precious, yet it had been balanced in a way that it was not easy to abuse despite the loopholes he found.
While thinking about more ways how he could further perfect it, his eyelids got heavy, and he eventually succumbed to his fatigue, falling into a light slumber. The next time he cracked his eyelids open, it appeared to be barely dawn.
He could hear the roosters crowing to herald the coming of morning, as well as various sounds of human life as the simple folk of the farm woke up to begin their daily duties.
It was the norm for people like this to be up by 5 am and asleep by 8-9 pm. They were honest, hardworking people who represented the best of humankind.
At least, that's what Darius knew from the basic archetypes in similar settings. Whether these farm folk would be stereotypical or subversive was up in the air, but he was not interested in holing up within this rotten carriage anymore.
Taking his clothes and crawling out of the carriage carefully, he quickly dressed and did what he planned to do from yesterday, which was the transmutation.
[Would you like to change the empty book into a basic spear manual? This will cost 4 Conversion Points.]
[Would you like to change the empty book into an empty spell manual? This will cost 5.9 Conversion Points.]
At just like that, he nearly used up today's limit. However, the tradeoff was that his right hand held an empty spell manual while his left held a basic spear manual.
Putting the empty one into his Inventory, he immediately chose to learn the spear manual.
[Detected skillbook. Would you like to learn its contents?
Warning: The skillbook will be destroyed upon using this method! Continue?]
Darius felt a rush of knowledge enter his mind as he assented to the prompt. He no longer was a clueless rich boy who had never even swung a pole before, but now had the experience of a talented lancer who had received basic training, but forgot it all due to amnesia.
He took out his iron spear and swung it around deftly, twirling and flourishing it with ease. If someone were to see Darius now, they would swear to all the gods that the young lad must have had a spear put into his cradle and been taught spearmanship before even making his first steps.
[Basic Lancer Arts - Level 1 Skill
Cost: Stamina
Description: You have mastered the fundamental of the priceless Lancer Arts long lost to history. With your spear, you can stand above all others who dare to use your own choice of weapon against you. You deal 5% spear damage whenever you wield a pole weapon.]
