Alex’s decision to cook, whether done voluntary or due to coercion, seemed to make little difference to Hamlin, the cook hated him all the same. He’d never said as much directly, but made it obvious through his actions. The older man bounced around the kitchen as he worked, literally. Alex didn’t know what the skill was exactly, but it acted like a short-range teleport, allowing Hamlin to both manage multiple dishes simultaneously, and scare Alex. The latter being what he seemed to derive the most pleasure from. After the third attempted surprise appearance, as Sixth Sense began to feed him warnings, he’d stopped visually flinching. But to Hamlin, the annoyance on Alex’s face alone seemed enough reason to continue.

Still, he stuck with it, doing as ordered, when ordered, trying his best to squeeze the most experience possible out of the time; and in the end, he managed to do just that. Everyone in the kitchen was good at what they did, even Hamlin, Alex had to admit. While they were tasked with preparing more food than three people should be able to manage, he doubted they really needed his help. By the end, after he’d watched one of the older ladies simultaneously cook eggs with one hand while chopping a fruit salad with the other, Alex wondered what level their Cooking skills were at. In just the bit over an hour he’d spent, his had leveled twice.

***

Your skill [Cooking] has advanced to Level Two.

Your skill [Cooking] has advanced to Level Three.

***

Hamlin had obviously ended up on the wrong side of a battle with a stick, but even through all his goading, Alex found he enjoyed the task. He hadn’t been much of a chef back on Earth, but the normalcy of the task—when he knew he was in for another day in an alien death city of sorts—was soothing. Raising a skill’s level, and little else to occupy his immediate time, just made for a viable excuse to do so.

Making his way back to Janet’s room; her food and tea in hand, his own sitting in his inventory; Alex wondered how this conversation would go. The one yesterday had seemed to go well, then he’d found out she had forgotten some important information. Alex wasn’t sure how focused on that fact he should be, but accident or not, he’d decided not to bring it up. He still felt that was for the best, but the situation acted as a reminded. Even if she was helping, as far as he knew Janet was as much a part of this tutorial as anything else. Direct malice might not be present, but a system-imposed motive, now or in the future, wasn’t out of the question.

Readying to enter the room, then remembering his manners, Alex knocked. He heard a faint voice in reply and opened it to find Janet sitting on a mat stretching.

“Got your food. I asked them what you normally got, so hopefully this is fine.”

It was similar to his own eggs, bacon, and pancakes, a second helping of which he might have left in his storage. You never knew when you might need bacon.

For a while they ate in silence, and Alex saw no need to break it. Chewing, he ordered his thoughts, it would be a big day.

“So like I said yesterday,” Janet began, finally interrupting the quiet nearly halfway through her food. “My plan hadn’t been to follow you, it just kinda happened. I’m not going to explain how, but it did, you can either accept that or not.”

Alex nodded his acquiesces and Janet continued on as if she never considered he’d say otherwise.

“I think I should go with you today. I know you don’t want to share your plans with the money, but I think shadowing you would be best anyway. I won’t be by your side, or really focusing on what you’re doing, but just nearby if something goes wrong.

“Like yesterday?” he asked, taking her words in stride.

“Yep, but with your permission this time.”

Alex took a moment to think on what she’d said, not activating any skills. Him taking his time would likely be expected, and it wasn’t like he needed any applied objectivity, the answer was obvious. He couldn’t turn her down, Sherlock level mind games aside, they both knew that. If he said no, nothing stopped her from following anyway.

“Sure, I guess, but why?” Up until that point, Alex had mostly been working off assumptions, but now he was sure. Janet wanted something, though even as he asked, he doubted she’d say what. Alex knew he had nothing to offer, at least not at the moment. Which meant helping him benefited her in some way. The situation wasn’t ideal, but didn’t mess with his plans too much. Though, if she did decide to listen in later, she might have some questions Alex would not be willing to answer.

She finished chewing before answering, and Alex took the moment to take a bite himself.

“Safety mostly. You get yourself into enough trouble as is, with me there to help, I can make sure you get out of it.”

He continued to look at the woman, her youthful appearance betraying nothing, Then, slowly, as if what she said was not at all suspicious, he agreed. The words were nice and all, though Alex wasn’t sure he believed the sentiment. Even if it was true, there was still an important question left unanswered. Why did she want him to survive? It couldn’t be all for the agreement. He doubted it had a hold over her like it did Anise.

“Oh right, that reminds me, I think I forgot to mention yesterday that unlike with system granted classes, classes offered via skill combination don’t let you pick new skills. They just grant some improvements to the skill that helped create them. Not a huge difference if they were worth making a class out of to begin with, but something to remember.”

That made Alex pause mid-bite, and he found himself leaning on Acting to keep up. His skill turned the sudden stop into a thoughtful one, his head tilting as slowly he continued chewing.

“That is good to know, I’ll keep it in mind in case I decide to choose it.” Alex took a moment before asking a question. It had been on his mind since he realized he wasn’t getting any free skills with his new class, but now it looked as if he’d just thought of it. “When I took my combat class, there was a list of skills. Does something similar happen, with me just unable to take them, or can I never get class related skills that way?”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Oh yea good question. Well no visible list but the skills do exist, picking the class makes you able to gain them, same with your combat class. If the class is common, or at least publicly reported, you might be able to find its skills in a book somewhere.”

Alex confirmed he understood, asking a couple more benign follow-ups before letting the topic rest. “Oh, I almost forgot, I don’t think Anise got back yet.”

Janet leaned back, plate empty, and waved her hand in a dismissing motion.

“She was called to help with the fighting yesterday, most off-duty officers usually are. Guards receive their rewards first as a sort of perk of service. When she does well Anise normally just stays at the barracks in Cindel the night before.”

“Aren’t they system granted?” Alex blurted out before he could himself. For the barest of seconds, he wondered if that happened for them or if he’d majorly fucked up, but Janet just continued on.

“The big guy in charge,” she added air quotes to the phrase, “likes to be dramatic with stuff like this, ceremony, names, pomp, all that. System doesn’t care as long as the correct rewards are given within a reasonable amount of time.”

Alex filed that information away for later. Two gold was likely one of the smallest rewards being given out for the city quest. There’d been no reason to summon him to the palace for his meager level of impact, but Alex guessed he’d meet the King face to face if he had a good showing during the next invasion quest. Odds what they were, there was a reasonable chance the elusive man was one of his quest targets, this could be a way too him. Taking his last few bites of food, Alex held in a sigh at the mountain of challenges in front of him. In the end only one thing was clear, whatever came, good or bad, he only had one job, to survive it.

Leaving the house with the same level of independence he had the day before; Alex followed his memory towards the entrance into Cindel. He’d activated Aura Control before he left, making himself once again seem like a level one nobody. Having the aura of a low-leveled person had worked in his favor with the old librarian the day prior, so Alex hoped the same would be true today.

He cringed slightly, thoughts of him yelling at the desk attendant filling his mind. The girl had been horrible, and while there was no sense of guilt from his actions, being unable to keep his emotions in check made Alex feel like an idiot. That and he’d ended up upsetting the powerful librarian dude, which was far from ideal.

What was done, was done. Alex knew he needed to just learn from it and move on, so he turned his thoughts outward. He’d walked along the same street the day before, but with everything going on, Alex hadn’t actually seen much. There were shops of all kinds, from cartographers—one of which he’d visited yesterday—to alchemist, blacksmiths, enchanters, and more. He wanted to walk into a few, but knew if he let himself, there was little to stop him from spending money he needed. Instead, he wondered on which profession class to pick.

Alex knew he wasn’t necessarily limited to just one, and wasn’t even sure which classification Planestrider fell under for that matter, but not taking all the martial power he could get in a place like this seemed foolish. It would suck if he lived only to be stuck with a bunch of classes specifically geared to his time now, but at least in that scenario he’d be alive.

As the building quality rose, many of the blue-collar shops were replaced by higher-end stores, Alex considered what else could be a profession. From tailors, to cooks, to shoemakers, he could probably pick anything. For the moment, what to choose remained up in the air, though Alex knew the most likely answer was whatever gave the best stats, it always was.

Passing through the guarded not-split between districts; he expanded Sixth Sense as he felt the qualitative change in the air. Alex looked past the beautiful architecture, and beyond the simple energies that pervaded the area, letting the feeling of more powerful auras slide off him. It wouldn’t be that easy to sense what he was searching for, Rather than strength, Alex searched for a gap, an emptiness in the surrounding energies. He was looking for Janet. If she was following, she should have been close, maybe not within the five meters he normally kept the skill at, but surely within the eleven he could now perceive.

It was somewhat stressful on his mind still, but Alex didn’t try to intake it all, he let his stats do the heavy lifting while his consciousness only picked out bits and pieces. Finding her now would give him a huge edge in the future, for when she or anyone else with similar abilities, tried to follow without his permission. But after another minute of walking, and still being unable to spot a glimpse of her, Alex let Sixth Sense fall back to its normal state. He would try again later. It could just be a skill difference, but if distance was the problem, she was likely to be closer after he left a building.

Pulling out his map of Cindel, Alex searched for his destination. Smack in the middle of the city, right next to the castle, was the City Hall. He was off to the east somewhat, but Royal Road was, as the name suggested, a main road. If he continued straight, he’d arrive soon enough. Having to go so close to the King’s residence made Alex nervous to say the least. The man’s infamy was so great, few dared speak even his title. But Alex had no plans to cause an issue, he just had to hope none would come looking for him. Seeing as the GPS was just telling him to walk in a straight line, Alex re-stored the map. A day without problems was all he asked for.

This inventory is amazing’, he thought to himself as he walked.

While he had promised himself not to spend any money, he’d passed a bakery with pastries on display and decided to get a few stuffed croissants. Seven gold poorer, and a dozen pastries richer, Alex chewed as he walked. Ever since he had stopped crying in that alley, he’d been doing his best to just go with the flow. Not doing so was liable to get him killed, but Alex was starting to realize how little he’d spent marveling at some of the amazing things he’d encountered.

His storage was one of them, literal magic at his fingertips, even if not the more combat oriented stuff he wanted. It would be a shame when he left and would have to settle for a regular storage space. Even if the skill wasn’t being used to its full Transcendent rating at the moment, the infinite storage alone was worth it enough.

Chuckling at how bizarre being worried about anything after the tutorial actually was, Alex let out a low, impressed curse as the castle came into view.

The building reminded him of ancient Arabian architecture, with hints of Russian influence spread throughout. Gates of gold and silver were at its forefront. The two colors blended expertly before being, shaped into ornate patterns that somehow remained expensive, without seeming garish. Directly behind them, only hints of what lie behind could be seen, though there was a clear view of what towered over them. From his spot along the side, Alex could only see two separate buildings; though the amount of space the grounds seemed to occupy suggested more. Both were made from a smooth sandstone-like material, with graceful arches protruding to mark every window and entryway.

Multicolored gemstone mosaics glittered in the sun, their very presence a representation of wealth Alex couldn’t imagine. He wondered if he could steal some of them. One look at the guards, their bulky silver armor off-setting the gold domed towers that soared above them, and he knew the answer was no. Promising to try anyway if he ever got the chance, Alex focused back on the street as he tried to spot his destination.

If Cindel as a district represented the beauty of a time long-lost to Earth, with the castle being the culmination of that aesthetic. The building he now looked at strived to be the opposite of that. It combined the worst parts of minimalism, modernism, and capitalism to create what was quite literally a gray box. In big bold characters, the font as plain as the structure itself, read: City Hall. For the umpteenth time since arriving in this maddening tutorial, Alex sighed.