The merchant’s guild was a simple building, consisting of only the main floor and a basement area. This made sense considering that Caelis had told him that there were no living quarters, all of the merchants had their own homes elsewhere in the city or stayed at an inn when they were here on a trading expedition. The main floor consisted of a large entry hall with counters and bars extending up from the top of the counters to the ceiling, much as one would have found in an old fashioned bank from the 1800’s. Behind the counters were doors that led to a number of small offices and a stairway that led into the basement.
The basement itself was home to a series of vaults where the guild officials stored the most valuable items that their members entrusted to them. Unsurprisingly, the vaults were stripped completely clean, much to Liv’s dismay. Lanek hadn’t expected to find anything of value considering that the merchants likely had mercenaries on hand to get them out of the city as soon as they detected signs of trouble. In fact, Lanek wouldn’t be surprised if the merchants had not even given a second thought to helping the people of the city.
It turned out that the saurians had been the only creatures residing here and that they had all followed their champion into battle. As a result, the party was able to locate and collect Caelis’ second node and transport it back to the monastery in record time. When they returned, Lanek sought out Ivan and discovered that he had built a pedestal of sorts in the control room and linked it to the wards. Adorning the pedestal were multiple indentations designed to hold Caelis’ nodes with the first one already in place.
As Lanek placed the second node, he looked at Ivan curiously. “What’s with the pedestal?”
“I thought it would be more secure to have Caelis’ nodes down here where I could connect her more closely to the wards. That and the shamans wanted to make use of the meditation rooms, so it was actually Caelis’ idea to move her node in the first place.”
“Works for me, as long as Caelis is okay with it.”
“I am. Thank you for your concern, Lanek.” Caelis’ voice said from behind him. However, Lanek had been prepared for her this time and didn’t react, much to her disappointment.
“Nice try, Caelis.” Lanek commented before filling her in on the results of his expedition. “So, before I head back to my quarters, I have a few questions. First, how many nodes do you need?”
“Originally, I would have needed five, but Ivan has refined the system enough that I should only need one more.”
“Really? We should have a few more days before the matriarch attacks, so I’ll make that my next priority. Next, do you have any idea what these do? The description the System provided is annoyingly vague.” Lanek asked, pulling the reward stones from his pocket.
“Oh, I never expected to see those again.” Caelis breathed. “Those are reward stones, you would present them to whatever higher power you served in exchange for boons. The reason the description is so vague is probably because the rewards would vary depending on your patron power and what they felt like giving you. I know that these stones could be exchanged for skills, increased chances of a higher rarity class, or equipment. Governments and other organizations would also provide money or special perks in exchange for those stones so they could give them to whatever beings they followed. Unfortunately, you’ll have to make your way to Eldros’ grove before you can use them. You might be able to offer them to Harad or Wurgoth, but I don’t know if that will work, especially now that you are actually one of Eldros’ worshippers.”
“Fair point. Well, I’m going to go get this blood washed off and deal with my notifications. Unless you two need anything?” Seeing them both shake their heads, Lanek bid them a good night and retired to his quarters.
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Ograch sat with Reaver, pondering her increased size but lack of evolution. As he considered his option, Nerek walked up and sat next to him.
“What’s on your mind, Ograch? You seem unusually pensive.”
“I’m just wondering if Reaver will evolve, she just reached level 25.”
“Ah, is that what’s bothering you? Well, I believe I can help you then. The last time the tribe had a mounted class was well before your time, when I was still a child. I remember that the boar mount reached their evolution threshold but could not evolve or level any further. However, a few months later, the boar rider returned to camp after a successful battle and both of them had evolved. According to her, the boar hadn’t been able to evolve until she had caught up to it. I imagine that you are in a similar situation. You are what, four or five levels from your next evolution?”
“Two. These expeditions with Lanek have been pushing me hard.”
“This is great news, Ograch! Your strength only makes us all stronger. Be patient, you and Reaver will evolve soon.”
“Thank you, Nerek. I’m glad that you had the answer and I feel like a fool for not seeking you.”
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“As you should.” Nerek replied, but his wink took the sting out of the comment.
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Liv sat down and snuggled Yuri, stroking the not-so-small cub’s head. While she had been out fighting, the little bear had reached level 5 and was now larger than Sanguineus. At first, she had been worried that his mother would be upset, but the feeling she got from the massive bear was pride in her son’s growing strength.
Currently, the mother bear was standing nearby giving off a very dissatisfied aura as several goblins poked and prodded her while taking measurements. At first, she had been furious at the thought of Lanek going back on his word, but Liv had managed to convey that they were measuring her for a future set of riding gear and armor for Yuri and they wanted to have it ready as soon as he reached sufficient size to ride into battle. Grumbling, the big bear had acquiesced, mostly because she liked the idea of her son being prepared to go into battle with every advantage possible.
For her part, Liv was very much looking forward to the day that she could have the bear join her on her adventures. Although, she suspected that his mother would have to join the early trips just to teach him the basics.
At the sound of screeching and goblins yelling, Liv turned and looked across the stable toward Ograch. It turned out that Ivan had sent some crafters to measure Reaver as well and she was taking their actions with even less grace than Yuri’s mother. She chuckled at the sight and wondered just how chaotic things would get in the future, especially if that little demigryph of Lanek’s ever chose to return to the monastery.
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Lanek sighed in his hot bath as he brought up his status screen, eager to see the gains he had made recently. He had already checked on Sanguineus and Kazuma and found them to be well on their way to their next evolutions, having both reached level 12 thanks to the numerous battles they had been in since their last evolution. He had to admit, he was very excited to see their next evolutions, but he wasn’t sure if they would evolve at 20 again or if it would take longer. Either way, the pair of them were getting stronger rapidly and he would happily give them all of the credit for his continued survival.
Name Lanek Solvinsson Species Dranrid Class Soulbinder (Mythical) lvl 40 Subclass Shinobi (Rare) lvl 15, Ranger (Uncommon) lvl 15 Titles Khan of The Hordefather (Caelis), Jarl of the Great Bear (Caelis), Servant of Eldros HP 1,235/1,235 MP 450/450
Attributes
STR 129 CON 247 DEX 290 PER 153 RES 224 SPI 114
Skimming through his stat increases, Lanek was proud of the progress he had made. However, he knew that he still had a long way to go. He had no clue as to the matriarch’s true power, but the presence emanating from her was insanely powerful. Her stats must be crazy…
He sighed contentedly as the hot bath relaxed his body. After a few more moments of relaxation, he turned his attention to his new subclass slot.
Please select your subclass.
Lanek skimmed through the options, most of which were familiar to him. These included what he considered the tradesman classes, such as hunter, builder, fisher, and others of the like. He was a little disappointed to see that saboteur hadn’t returned, but he got over it quickly. It really hadn’t meshed well with his mobility.
He also saw a few familiar combat classes that called out to him, such as fighter and archer. Lanek knew that those classes would help him increase his weapon proficiency and give him more options in battle.
However, as sorely tempted as he was by those classes, he needed to take the fact that he could combine subclasses into account. If he picked the wrong subclass and filled all three slots with classes that couldn’t be combined, he would forever lose one of the biggest benefits provided by his Soulbinder class.