Shortly after the group of four arrived at the port city of Snubanes, they disembarked the small ship. Selena paid their docking fees and some additional fees to have the ship stored and protected. They wouldn't be sailing again for a while but when they decided to leave the racist country they could just take the ship she already owned instead of booking passage on another. Thomas would just have to make some modifications to it later to make it faster. Much, much faster if the plans he had could be achieved.
With the docking procedures taken care of, Thomas turned to the group, "Alright. I'm going to the nearest inn to get some much-needed rest in a comfortable bed. I'll meet you guys in two days."
Before either of them could complain or ask questions, Thomas and Snowlily were already walking towards the first inn he spotted. He wanted to log off for a bit to do his real-world things. Once he booked his room for three days, just to be safe in case he was late logging back in, he went to the room with Snowlily and relaxed. During the journey away from the pirates, and even now, the two were inseparable. Thomas gently stroked her head while she wagged her tail happily, "Time for a nice nap."
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Two days later, Thomas awoke in his bed and stretched while yawning. He looked around and noticed it was still night time inside of AoG so he quickly rolled over onto his side and went to sleep. During his time logged out, he did nothing special and just went about his usual routine. The only thing he found noteworthy on the forums was that attacks by demonic monsters had increased a bit. It had nothing to do with him so it was merely 'interesting'.
When dawn rolled around, Thomas and Snowlily finally left their room with a spring in their step. It was good to be back together. The incident with the pirates encouraged Thomas to get stronger and he planned to continue to get stronger. If there was a worthwhile dungeon on his way to Kafla then he would stop there for a bit to gain more experience. He also wanted to expand his skills and increase his capabilities as a creator. Newer stronger weapons, better tougher armor, sneakier nastier devices, and more. Next time someone like the pirates came he planned to wipe the floor with them!
As he got down to the first-floor dining room he saw two familiar figures sitting at a table and eating their breakfast. His two personal stalk.... followers. He'd go with that for the time being. He joined them at their table and ordered breakfast for himself and Snowlily. While they waited for it to arrive he turned to look at the two, admittedly beautiful, women, "Either of you know much about this city?"
The disguised Lexiana shook her head while Selena spoke up, "Snubanes is a smaller port city that acts as an offloading point for the items made in Kafla. The products produced by the dwarves are shipped south to here, loaded onto ships, and then sailed to the capitol. It's faster to sail around the peninsula and up the river to the capital than to traverse the rough terrain by foot. The only major city between here and Kafla is Breidset which is located directly south of Kafla and acts as the main trading hud for Kafla. Breidset is known for its auction house where they sell the greatest creations of the dwarves to the highest bidder. It also has a massive dungeon that people like to hunt inside of."
Thomas listened intently while Selena gave him the rundown on the local area. He thought for a bit and nodded to himself. His next destination should definitely be Breidset. It was on the way to his final destination of Kafla and he would be able to not only get supplies there but take advantage of the massive dungeon. With it being so close to the dwarven settlement he was certain there would be plenty of blacksmith shops he could get into and use. Though he would have to try and find a small one that he could just rent and have all to himself for a while. He would need privacy if his creations were going to be flashing bright lights all over the place. Previously his materials looked rather normal despite being impossibly rare and his creations were simply Magical or Uncommon. Now with elemental embryos and rare items, he was sending out big bright signals saying 'look over there!' every time he made something.
After breakfast, the party of four headed into the small city. Thomas wanted to do some shopping and replace some of his lost supplies. He also wanted to find someone that could appraise items and see if he could learn the skill. He was tired of not knowing much about the equipment he could see. Hell, he still had the shortsword from one of his attackers right after he left Ulvstad. He still had no idea what the sword could do. Of course, it was so old now that he was certain it was useless to him. Still, if he got an appraisal skill he could appraise items himself and save a lot of time.
For a small city, it was bustling with commerce. There were stalls everywhere and stores lined the main street from one end to the other. People fluttered about buying and selling items to each other. Just about every kind of store that could be expected was there with items for sale. With a few simple questions, Thomas was easily able to find his way to an appraiser. When he arrived he was a little surprised to find such a run-down building. Once he stepped inside he was greeted by the deadpan stare of a bored-looking middle-aged man.
Thomas approached the counter while pulling out the sword he'd collected way back when, "I'd like to get something examined."
The middle-aged man said nothing and just grabbed the sword from Thomas's hand. He looked it over for a bit, ran his fingers along the flat of the blade. Occasionally, he nodded to himself as if realizing something. He even took out a small metal hammer and gently tapped the blade while listening to the sounds it emitted. After a bit more of his little examination, he set the sword on the counter and looked at Thomas, "Fifty gold."
Thomas didn't feel like that was a whole lot so he quickly passed the gold coins to the man. The man grabbed the gold and slid the sword to Thomas then tapped the crossguard once. The whole sword glowed gently for a moment. When the glow faded the man simply said, "Pleasure doin' business with you."
Once he finished speaking the man went back to his deadpan look and stared at the walls of his shop. Thomas reached down and picked up the sword to examine it.
Weapon Type: Wicked Shortsword Rarity: Magical Quality: Average Description: A brutal shortsword that feeds off of the blood of slain enemies to grow stronger at the cost of durability. Bathe the black center of the sword in blood to increase its power!
+10 Power (Attacks with the sword only)
+Gains +5 Power when bathed in the blood of slain enemies
-Loses durability when Power is increased
-Cannot be repaired
+Current Bonus: +10
Thomas read over the description with interest. This was the first time he'd seen a weapon that could grow stronger. Though it did have a pretty negative downside. Since durability was a hidden attribute on weapons there was no telling when this one would run out of durability and break. Still, given the strength of the players back when he first acquired this weapon, it was definitely a pretty godly weapon back then. Now? He could make a weapon that blew it out of the water in his sleep. He was just glad he learned something interesting from it.
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After storing the weapon back inside of his inventory he looked at the appraiser and asked, "Can you teach me how to appraise?"
The man turned to look at Thomas. He gave Thomas a long once over before pulling a thin book out from under the counter. Calling it a book was generous. It looked to be no more than ten pages long so maybe it was better to call it a pamphlet? Once he set it down the man said, "Fifty gold."
Thomas looked at the 'book' and read the title 'How to Appraise' on it. Without much thought, he handed over another fifty gold only to have it snatched away while the man once again said, "Pleasure doin' business with you."
Thomas was beginning to wonder if those were the only two lines that the man knew how to say. It didn't matter. He picked up the book and made his way out of the appraisal shop to rejoin his three waiting companions. They looked at the thin book in his hand curiously but he ignored them and started to read it. Such a small book would only take a few minutes to complete. As he read it he started to frown. It was filled with weird instructions and lines such as 'Using a small metal hammer, tap the object and listen to the music it produces. Only then will your ears be able to hear the divine tune of the gods being played.'.
Thomas shuddered as he read the text within the small book. It creeped him out. What was with all the odd flowery text? Couldn't it just be a manual that told him a step by step process or something simple? He grit his teeth and read through to the end of the book. It just got more disturbing and borderline pornographic toward the end. What the hell was wrong with the person that wrote this book? When he finally read the last word he got a pleasant surprise.
System Notice: You have read a skill book. Would you like to learn the skill 'Appraisal'? Y/N
Obviously, he selected yes.
System Notice: You have learned the skill 'Appraisal'. Appraisal // Rank 1 // 0/20 Exp
System Notice: Skill synergy detected between 'Appraisal' and 'All Seeing Eyes'. Would you like to combine 'Appraisal' with 'All Seeing Eyes'? Y/N
Thomas read over the new system notices and arched an eyebrow. Now, this was interesting. Though he had combined skills before, twice, he'd never combined anything with one of his innates before. He saw no harm in doing so. After all, every other time he'd combined skills he'd gotten something better out of it. So, he selected 'Yes'. Once he confirmed his choice, his mana boiled and rushed into his eyes. Selena and Lexiana watched as his eyes began to glow brightly for a few brief moments. When his mana calmed down he received another notice.
System Notice: 'Appraisal' has combined successfully with 'All Seeing Eyes'. 'All Seeing Eyes' may now be used to appraise anything.
Once again, Thomas was surprised by the results of the fusion. The system didn't say he could appraise items, it said anything... Thomas looked up from his musing and focused on Selena. His eyes glowed blue once again but this time something was very different. Floating just above her head was text that any gamer would be familiar with.
Selena von Reykhoten
Half-Demon/Human
Class: King (Low)
Needless to say, Thomas was floored by the information he was seeing. He froze as he tried to process everything he'd just learned about the beautiful woman. First and foremost, she was definitely not just a regular noble with a name like that. She had to be either a part of the royal family or closely related to it. Fuck! She might even be the princess of the kingdom! Then there was her shocking race. Now, Thomas never felt like he was one to judge people by their race. Hell, he himself wasn't technically human at the moment so really, who was he to judge? Her race was interesting but irrelevant. She was still a beautiful woman after all. Lastly, and most shocking of all, she was already King class! That meant that at least one of her attributes had broken through the five hundred mark. If he was forced to guess, he'd place his bets on her Magic attribute. He'd never seen her run low on mana before. Another blind guess was that she was only slightly into the King class given that his appraisal rated it as 'low'. It was only a guess though.
The two women watched Thomas as they saw the shock on his face when he looked at Selena. Before they could ask what he was surprised about he turned to focus his gaze onto Lexiana. He was somewhat curious about his little stalker.
Lexiana Varsenta
Wolfborn (Garou Bloodline)
Class: Lord (High)
Seeing her appraisal, he nodded to himself and deactivated his eyes. There weren't any shocking revelations about her when he appraised her. He did learn her last name as well as the official name of her race. He could also see that she wasn't lying about being distantly related to the Garou. As for her class? He suspected that it put her closer to King class than he currently was. There was a four hundred point gap between the beginning of Lord class and the beginning of King class. With all of his own attributes getting near three hundred, he would place himself as Lord (Mid).
None of that really helped him though. If he focused on a primary attribute he would have reached King class quite a while ago. With his balanced approach, it would take him more experience to reach a class similar to someone who distributed their points unevenly. Even though he was only Lord class it was possible that he had a higher Power attribute than Selena and could, therefore, deal more damage than her, even though she was technically a King class. The problem was, this was all speculation and he had no further information to determine just how powerful they really were. Seeing their class just gave a small hint of what their strength might be.
He dismissed his speculation about his new ability and instead grew curious about something else. He pulled a small green apple out of his inventory and gave it a quick glance with his eyes activated.
Item Type: Green Apple Rarity: Common Quality: Average Description: It's an apple. Eat it when you're hungry.
Thomas chuckled while deactivating his eyes. Even something as simple and plain as an apple had a description. Though it appeared to normally be hidden. After all, who would bother wanting to know more about an ordinary apple? It's just like the description said. It's an apple. Eat it when you're hungry. Still, this made him even more curious so he pulled an unpurified Troll mana crystal out of his inventory and gave it a glance.
Item Type: Mana Crystal Rarity: Common Quality: Below Average Description: A mana crystal collected from a defeated Dungeon Troll. Currently purified by 0.13%.
After reading the description of the mana crystal, Thomas immediately wanted to purify it. However, even a moron like him knew not to do something like that in full view of the public. So with a sigh, he stored the mana crystal away in his inventory. He'd do that later. When he looked at his companions once again, all three of them were giving him funny looks.
"What?"