"Did you save any of that popcorn for when you come back to the Bastion?" Compass's voice rang in Davin's mind before the world lit up around him.

"I saved some. I honestly didn't think that you'd be able to eat them…" Davin's thoughts trailed off mildly ashamed that he hadn't thought of offering some to the patron.

"We do still have a physical presence in this world, why would we not be able to?"

The question hit Davin, he hadn't thought of the body of the patron since he'd left the room where they had first met. "Wouldn’t it be too small for you?" Remembering that the last time that he'd seen his patron their head was out of sight higher than anything that he could perceive.

"I do have a smaller form that I can take, but I can see your misunderstanding. When you make it back to the Bastion, Talk with Big Green, He can show you how offerings can be made." The tone in his voice sounded hopeful. "The candy and drinks would also be nice."

"Sure, I can do that." Davin felt an involuntary smile spread across his face. "Did you only come to harass me about snacks?"

"I did no such thing." The tone sounded mildly offended. "I am actually here to discuss your leveling options since when you wake, you will have your condition back to normal. Are you ready? You seem to be dedicated to this idea of being a ranger, and luckily the skills you use have strong synergy with that class."

"Yes, if it's what I think it is, it will offer me a bit more support towards what I want to be. I think." uncertainty edged into his voice.

"I do not doubt it, it is just such an uncommon thing for someone so new to seek, many look to master their current class before moving on to another, and some never with to branch out." A note of concern in the patron's voice.

"I get that, but I think I'll be okay, this is what works for me I think."

"Good, I figured you would be certain in your choices."

[ You have unlocked the ranger class, it will now be an option in your leveling menu. ]

Davin was confused at the pop-up. "You had to unlock it for me?"

"Yes, but I couldn't do anything until your status conditions went away."

"Oh? Good to know." a wave of excitement rolled over him.

"Yes, upon your awakening, you will be able to choose how you level. If you choose another class to add in, we will have to go through this again."

"Why?" Daven felt as though it shouldn't need some kind of cosmic overwatcher in his choices.

"Simply that I have to add it to you, Rogue was an easy one, the first class always is, mixing them is the hard part, we had it free when we started, but too many would get stuck in the choices, this way, we only provide the choices that you are ready for."

Davin felt as though he was being treated as if he were a child, but he then remembered that this wasn't his world, and he was only seeing the choices and options as he did because that was how his brain was processing them. Letting the feelings roll off him, nodding, even though he didn't feel that he had a physical body in this place.

"Pending choices aside, what's next?" Davin asked.

"Ah, it is good that you asked, I have been looking all over the wilds, and It seems that there will be massive spikes and then it will fade, I think there are a few places that may have a wandering anomaly."

"Wandering?" Davin asked before the whole thought fully sank in.

"Yes, the beast you tussled with on your way seems to have been one of these, single creatures that make it out rather than pockets that need to be stabilized."

"That would explain the two heads. So which direction?"

"North, to the edge of the season, there have been a few instances there over the last few days, I just happened to catch one in the act."

"How cold is it going to be?" Davin asked, a chill running down his spine.

"Not unbearably so, but you will want to be prepared, I do not know what awaits you, but after those, I think it will be a good chance to return the Bastion."

"Okay, north to slay some wandering beasts then return home. Sounds like a plan.

"Be safe."

Like every time before, the world faded to blackness as he settled back to sleep. When he finally woke, the pop-up that floated in front of his eyes was impossible to miss.

[ Congratulations, you have achieved level 2, you have unlocked the Ranger class. Would you like to level now? ] [ Yes ] [ No ]

Mentally smashing the yes button as fast as he could.

[ Level in current class? ] [ Level in new class? ]

Thinking about the choice for only a moment.

[ Available new class(es) Ranger. Would you like to gain a level in this class?] [ Yes ] [ No ]

Hitting yes as soon as the option fully appeared.

[ Congratulations. You gain Light armor proficiency (already claimed), Medium armor proficiency, Simple weapon proficiency (already claimed), Martial weapon proficiency, and one skill gained from the Ranger starting skill list. ]

[ Please select from the options below. ]

[Animal handling ]

[ Athletics ]

[ Insight (already claimed) ]

[ Nature ]

[ Perception (already claimed) ]

[ Stealth ]

[ Survival (already claimed) ]

Seeing that there were a few skills that he had wanted on the list, he hit the stealth option.

[ Your class has options for its starting abilities, please choose from the options below. ]

[ Favored Enemy ] : Choose a type of enemy to be favored.

[ Favored Foe ] : Mark a foe you've attacked, they take extra damage from your attacks.

Since Davin wasn't interested in seeking and hunting down a single type of foe, he chose Favored Foe since it had a higher situational usefulness.

[ Your class has options for its starting abilities, please choose from the options below. ]

[ Natural Explorer ] : Select an environment that you will be adept at traveling through.

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[ Deft Explorer] : Gain additional effects while traveling through all terrain.

Knowing that he was going to be roving all over the afterlife he chose Deft Explorer.

[ Choose your skill to gain the benefit. ]

[ Acrobatics ]

[ Insight ]

[ Investigation ]

[ Perception ]

[ Persuasion ]

[ Sleight of Hand ]

[ Stealth ]

[ Survival ]

This is where Davin had to think, not fully knowing what he was going to be getting into, weighing the options in his mind.

"If I go stealth I would be incredibly hard to detect, but since we are going to be roaming all over the world, I think that survival would benefit us in the long run. "His thoughts said aloud repeating an old habit from his previous life." Selecting Survival.

[ You now gain twice the bonus with this skill. ]

Pulling up his full status to look it over.

Davin O'wild

Human Rogue (1)

Ranger (1)

Patron: Compass

AC: 15

HP: 18/18

Experience

335/900

Condition: normal

Unarmored AC: 13

Temporary HP: 0

Currently: Unarmored

Bonus: n/a

Strength

10

Dexterity

16

Constitution

12

Intelligence

13

Wisdom

14

Charisma

12

Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Insight, Investigation, Perception, Persuasion, Sleight of hand, Stealth, Survival, Light Armor, Medium Armor, Simple weapons, Martial Weapons, Cooking Tools, Basic Crafting Tools, Thieves' Tools.

Expertise: skill specializations grant bonus to Investigation and Insight.

Deft Explorer: You gain bonuses with selected skill (Survival).

Favored Foe: Mark a foe, you deal bonus damage to this foe.

Sneak Attack: You deal bonus damage when you catch a target off guard or when you and an ally are working together, this is limited to finesse or ranged weapons.

Thieves' Cant: You know a select secret way of wording what you say or by using hand signals to be able to communicate other details to those who also have this skill.

Feat(s):

Lucky (feat): 3 times a day, you can alter your luck, when making an action, you can spend one of these points to put things in your favor, when being attacked, you can use this feature to turn an attack against you into a miss.

Spells:

Cantrips: Guidance

Level 1: Guiding hand

"I honestly thought that leveling would have felt more…" Shaking out his hands as if they were tingling with some unseen energy. " exhilarating…" A sign of disappointment on his face, letting out a sigh.

"Hmmm?" Hugh responded, half asleep.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Daven whispered back.

"Eh, you're okay, I was waking up anyway, what was that about leveling?"

"Oh, just I was expecting a little more fanfare, not that it just kind of happens."

"Just happens? My friend, I do believe you are confusing this all with one of your games again." Hugh let out a bit of a laugh.

"And since everyone uses a slightly different system, I doubt that It will ever fully make sense."

"There we go, and it's not all bad, get any new skills?" The excitement rose in his tone as he asked.

"First level of Ranger, stealth, and a few huntery skills."

"Oh, nice you got your Ranger class, you didn't have stealth already?" Hugh's brow crinkled.

"Had other things that I wanted first." Davin shrugged. "The part I'm excited about is the doubling of my health."

"Double? Wow. I was just short of doubling mine"

"What time is it?" Davin looked over to the mage as he made the motions as if he were checking his stats.

"It's late enough in the day, we should hit the adventurers market before the day gets too busy." Hugh let out a yawn as he pulled himself up. "We have a lot of tokens to spend, and there are a few rituals that I would love to get my hand on."

"And Cadence had a lot less stuff than I was expecting, Do they make Travel trunks that are bigger?"

"They do, but at a certain point we'd almost be better off on making a coach or wagon."

"Huh? No I mean, similarly to a bag of holding, or something like that?"

"Ooh, no, bags of holding are usually easier to use and you can put the trunk in some bags, alternatively, you can put the bag in the chest. So there hasn't been a need for a magical trunk, other than its protections."

"Huh, I hadn't thought about it that way."

"Plus once we can afford a bag of holding, we won't need to use the chest, and as such we won't need to use the spell, so it's a windfall all the way around."

"How much did we make yesterday?" Davin remembered the weighty bag that Hugh had stashed in their trunk before they came to bed.

"Oh, quite a lot actually. Having the option of people bringing their own cups was brilliant. With everything that we had, we pulled in roughly three hundred and fifty onyx, it's all in mixed tokens, which is perfect for shopping, people were leery until you told them that animals would love it if nothing else, had a few farmers that bought bags of the stuff."

Davin let out a low whistle. "That’s a lot of tokens…" he left himself repeatedly blinking.

"Agreed and I think that we could get more for it if we had been in The Bastion proper."

"We would need to find a middle man… I don't want to just sell popcorn."

Hugh's brows wrinkled again. "Middle man?"

Davin shrugged. "The person we sell this stuff though, so we don’t have to, they would be the ones that handle all of the hype and we just move the stuff."

"This is a job in your world?" Hugh asked.

"Less a job specifically and more a part of the system, products go from maker to distributer, to vendor, there are still plenty of places that sell directly, we usually just call them whole sellers."

"That seems like a lot of steps to sell things…" Hugh said as he was stretching.

"I guess, just depends on how far-reaching you want to be. It's not any different than you going to fetch alchemy ingredients, in that, you're the middle man."

"Hmm, I guess you're right. We just didn't have a specific word for it." Hugh shrugged. "Are you going to stay in bed? Or are you going to go shopping?"

Davin realized that while they had been chatting, Hugh had gotten dressed and ready for the day. "Yeah, give me a minute."

Davin grabbed his backpack before heading out, expecting to be able to fill it with their new gear. Heading down into the common room, the fresh smells of baking bread that he'd grown accustomed to were accompanied by one of his favorite smells, the savory smell of bacon hit him and a smile instantly spread across his face. Davin headed directly to the front counter, smiling wide as he kept taking slow deep breaths through his nose.

"By any chance do you also have eggs and cheese to go along with the fresh bread and what I hope is bacon?" Davin asked the barkeeper, this one different than the one from yesterday.

"Hmm? Yeah? Want me to fry up an egg or two?" The thick bearded man asked.

"Yes please, and can I get that bread sliced in half at the widest point and put back in the oven until it's crispy?" Having pulled out a few tokens, and sat them on the bar.

The barkeeper eyed Davin. "Yeah, I'll have it ready shortly." Scooping up a single Rhodes.

"Thank you kindly!" Davin shot back excitedly.

He luckily didn’t have to wait long, the bacon was a thick slab, perfectly caramelized, and the bread that he'd asked to be toasted was a little burnt at the edges, but he doubted that they had toast as his world knew it. The large sunny-side-up eggs were cooked a little too long, but he didn’t mind. He began layering his sandwich, having to slice the cheese the best he could with the knife that the inn provided. Giving the whole thing a few moments to melt the hard cheese slightly, cutting it in half a little of the egg yolks spilling out.

Hugh stared as Davin took his first bite, letting out a soft moan of pleasure. "It's a little unfair that you didn’t make me one too." Hugh whimpered.

"I've already shown you how to make them…" Talking between bites.

"I know, I just don’t think about them." Hugh had only ordered 'breakfast' which was still a few thick slices of bacon and fresh bread.

"The fact the sandwich isn't an adventurer staple seems odd to me," Davin stated as he admired his sandwich.

"Why adventurers?" Hugh asked through a mouth full of bacon.

"Dunno, I guess that for me, in my world, sandwiches are hand foods, they're convenient and easy, perfect for road trips and picnics."

At that point, Cadence joined them.

"That looks amazing, and you call it a sand-which?" Their stomach let out a low gurgle of hunger.

Davin chuckled. "Yup, here, you can have this half." Davin slid over his plate, the second half over to Cadence.

"Why is it called a sand-which?" They picked up the sandwich sniffing it before taking a large bite, a barely audible moan came from them as they chewed.

"Some believe it was named after the Earl of Sandwich. No one actually knows the truth, but it's so widely believed that no one argues against it. And now that we're all here, we have some shopping to do.

We need to get some potions, and I think a scroll of Identify, I got some spider silk rope yesterday." Davin held up his fingers as he counted off his wants.

"Potions would be helpful, especially on the road, but why the scroll?" Cadence asked.

"So Hugh can learn it, which that alone uses up a good chunk of our tokens, but will be super helpful in the long run." Glancing at Hugh who was focused on his bacon.

"Ah, yes, since he is a wizard, adding more spells to his repertoire is as simple as writing it down." Cadence nodded.

"Pfft, the ink for that gets expensive." Hugh smiled widely.

"You told me that you don't need ink for Leaf." Davin shot back.

"Leaf?" Cadence asked.

"Hugh's book companion."

"He has a book companion?" A hint of excitement in their voice.

With that, Hugh undid the clip that held his book, which began to flutter the instant that it was free. To which Cadence squealed, an odd sound coming from the normally stoic bard. Hugh and Davin laughed as the book fluttered over to Cadence, letting her touch it before flapping back to Hugh.

"It's normally better behaved when it meets new people." Hugh smiled as he shook his head, caressing Leaf in its holster.

"Okay, everyone has met, now on to business." Davin took a more serious tone. "North, to the edge of the season."

Hugh nodded. "Another one?"

"Another one?" Cadence echoed, her tone curious.

"Not quite, this one is more of a wandering monster problem."