Chapter 4 Why The Gold Paint?

Isaac got out of bed and stretched. “Morning.” He said with a yawn.

“Good morning.” Lenna replied and rose to her feet from the chair she had placed in the corner of the room.

“Something good happen while I was asleep?” Isaac asked. Usually he only got a grunt or a quiet ‘morning’ in return in the morning.

Lenna nodded. “I leveled up.”

Isaac eyed her with a raised eyebrow. “How can you tell?”

Lenna tilted her head to the side as she regarded him. “I can feel it. A slight increase in the quality of my mana. Can you not?” She asked.

Isaac shrugged. “I don’t know. It seems like it is getting harder and harder to tell. Like every time I level up I am getting the same amount of increased mana regeneration as well as the maximum that I can hold in my body but…” His voice trailed off as he tried to find a way to say what he was feeling.

“Adding one to one is a hundred percent increase.” Lenna began for him.

“But adding one to ten is only a ten percent increase.” He finished. “Yeah, it’s like that.”

Lenna nodded her head in understanding. “We could ask the Court Mage to make a scroll of Identify that you could cast on yourself.” Lenna offered.

Isaac shrugged. “Does it really matter what level I am?”

Lenna thought for a long moment. “I guess not.” She thought for a little longer. “If you stagnate then we should check.” She advised.

Isaac raised an eyebrow in question. “Why would I stagnate?”

“As a paladin, I, am supposed to, get stronger by following my oath. Even so, there are certain levels that can’t be breached this way. Level eleven is one such level. I needed to figure out how to use my aura to strengthen my strikes. Once I figured that out I leveled up.” Lenna explained.

“So you are saying that, if I stagnate then that means that there is something special I need to do to level up but I will have no idea what that is until it happens because there is no one else in the world with my class?” Isaac summarized. Lenna nodded in affirmation. “Great.” Isaac said with a sigh.

Lenna shrugged. “You may not have a level lock like that.” She offered. “Like you said, no one else has your class.”

“Do all classes have a ‘level lock’ like that?” Isaac asked.

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Lenna thought for a moment and went through everything she knew about the other classes. After a long moment she nodded slowly. “I believe so.”

Isaac sighed. “My class is most like a sorcerer from what I can tell. What is theirs like?”

“Level fourteen, they cement their power into their body properly. It is often painful as their body ceases to truly be like their kin’s. Shadow sorcerers’ are usually able to turn their entire form into semi-hardened shadows.” She explained.

Isaac nodded. “If the same holds true for me then I might not even get stuck there. At the rate that I have been converting my mana pathways I should be done in another two months or so. I doubt I am level ten yet so I have plenty of time.”

Lenna nodded and then motioned towards his armor. “I’m hungry.” She told him.

Isaac chuckled and started to change into day clothes. Lenna turned her back to him but otherwise didn’t react. “Tomorrow is the tea party with Sera right?” He asked.

Lenna nodded. “Yes.”

“No matter what, we can't get roped into something crazy until after tea tomorrow.” He told her.

Lenna shook her head. “Not only did you just jinx us, you are the reason we get into crazy things, most of the time.”

Isaac chuckled. “True enough.” He replied. “Let’s go get your badge updated and get me a fancy gold one. You are level twelve now right?” He asked.

“Yes.” Lenna replied.

“What pushed you over from eleven to twelve?” He questioned.

“Fighting against my ancestors wishes.” Lenna not so helpfully explained.

Isaac thought for a moment. “The chimera?”

“Yes. I am now certain it was created by a drow wizard in the employ of my uncle.” She replied.

Isaac nodded. “That is certainly an interesting way to level.” Lenna grunted in agreement but did not say more.

—

“Hello Alice.” Isaac greeted the small woman behind the Adventurers’ Guild receptionist desk.

Her large blue eyes took them both in. “We were worried about you. You never came to check in when you got back.” She greeted them.

Isaac gave her a smile. “It was a long day.”

“Mhm.” She replied evenly. “I have your money. The Guild Master said that you two should get three quarters of the platinum tier bounty. Three thousand, seven hundred, and fifty gold. Now that you have a bank account would you like me to have it transferred?” She asked with a smile.

Isaac returned a flat look. “You mean we could have had that big payout from before directly deposited?” He asked her incredulously.

Alice returned an even more innocent smile. “The bank sends a list of all adventurers with an account there once a week. We didn’t have your account on file so no.”

Isaac sighed. “Yes, can you please just have it deposited?”

Alice nodded. “It’ll take a few days as the deposit, withdrawals, and updated account list all happen at the same time.” She explained.

Isaac waved her off. “That’s fine. I don’t plan on burning through the ten thousand gold that’s already in there before the end of the week.”

Alice’s eyes went wide. “You have ten thousand gold and are still wearing that?!” She asked animatedly while gesturing towards Isaac’s ragged leather armor.

Isaac was taken aback for a moment before he looked down at his armor and honestly had to agree with her. He sighed. “Fine. I’ll go to the general store and order some magical armor.” He acquiesced. “It’s not going to cost me my entire savings will it?”

Alice shook her head. “If all you want is a simple magically reinforced set of studded leather armor it will only cost you like six hundred gold. If you want anything fancy it’ll cost more but six hundred should be pocket change for you.” She chastised even while answering his question.

Isaac stared at her and blinked a few times. “It’s really that cheap?” He asked.

Alice nodded a few times. “Yes. Yes it is.”

Isaac waved her off. “Okay, okay. That’ll be today’s second stop. Right now we need updated badges. Lenna is level twelve now so I’ll need a gold badge that says I’m level eleven and hers needs an update.”

Alice’s eyes went wide again. “You leveled up twice from one mission?” She questioned. “It was a platinum technically a double platinum tier monster but still…”

Lenna shook her head. “No… I forgot to have it updated last time.” She confessed.

Alice nodded sagely. “Yes, that makes more sense.” She held out both of her hands to receive their badges. “Okay, give them here. It’s actually pretty easy to update yours.” She told Lenna. “I will need to make a copy of yours so we can make a gold one though.” She explained to Isaac. The pair handed over their badges and Alice returned with them a few minutes later. Lenna’s now had her level updated and Isaac’s had a stripe of gold paint across the front.

“Why the gold paint?” He asked.

Alice gave him a smile. “You are gold now. Wouldn’t want anyone to think that you were still electrum before you get your new badge do we?”