After having witnessed Rumble’s battle with the nest guardian, both Brad and Mia were amazed. Not only with the sheer amount of battle prowess that had been on display, but also with how much stronger the companion had gotten. Sure, he took some damage and his resilience didn’t improve much, but with the familiars fighting style, that was not much of an issue once he practiced some more.

“So, do you think we will get that much stronger as well?” Brad questioned Mia during their walk back to the shack after having split from the familiar, whom wanted to hunt some more after having received his congratulations from the fight.

“Oh, we will definitely get stronger. How much so is dependent on your classes though. Combat classes receive larger bonuses related to combat than farmers do. So as a dual non-combat class combination, I will always be fairly fragile… whereas you will be a nice medium in between myself and a full-blown combat class. Rumble seems to be closer to a full combat class though. He might not be as great in any one thing as a specialist, but that’s because they are specialized. But getting back to your original question, as copper tiers, we will one hundred percent be more powerful. In fact, when we finally get both skills to copper tier, we unlock additional skills to learn! And then you also get a bloodline like we talked about before.” Mia explained.

“Wait, so Old Sal… hes pretty old, but doesn’t that mean he is probably high level?” Brad asked.

“That actually did come up on one of my rides into town. He said that he was mid Iron tier roughly. So quite a bit stronger than either of us will be any time soon.” Mia said.

“That is only two tiers above us! That doesn’t seen that high at all. Is there something that I am missing?” Brad asked while quite confused by it.

“That is a similar response that I had to be honest. Sal told me that raising your tier is based on your experiences. I initially thought, and most likely how you are viewing it, that experience was just something that you got from doing a task over and over. But it is more than that, it is the improvement that you make while doing the task. As an example, if you plant seeds one at a time by hand every day, you will get faster at that task, but you will never be as good as someone that learns to scatter a dozen seeds into precise locations with a single throw.”

“If that is the case, then why do people not keep trying new things?”

“Because learning new things is a hard thing to do constantly. The upper level of Iron tier is actually where most people finish their lives at. Adventurers tend to get one higher at steel, but very few ever go beyond.” Mia explained as they passed the shack on the way back to the fields of produce to harvest.

“Are there many tiers beyond Steel? I actually never really got to ask anyone that.”

“Old Sal wasn’t sure on that note, but he did tell me a few. Starting with what you know, it goes Stone, Copper, Bronze, Iron, Steel, and then Silver. He said that he had heard that the king was Gold, but that may have just been a rumor.” Mia explained.

“I wonder if there are ranks beyond that.” Brad pondered aloud.

“Maybe but reaching them would require single minded focus and determination. I really doubt that many people have ever reached that far into the tiers. Could you even imagine what those people would be capable of? You saw the huge growth that Rumble got from the smallest jump of any tier evolution.” Mia said.

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“Oh dang, I didn’t even think about that! The copper jump would be pretty small compared to the later ones. Wow, I can’t even comprehend what an Iron tier Rumble could do… at Silver or Gold he would probably be able to kill a dragon huh!?” Brad said excitedly, while daydreaming.

“I don’t know. Heck, I don’t even know how strong dragons are and neither do you.” Mia laughed, knowing how excited her boyfriend was getting with the conversation.

Laughing and joking, the day continued on filled with good spirits. But as the day finished and supper was being prepared, the night was graced with further reason for merriment.

“I tiered up my ‘Merchant’s Eye’!” Mia exclaimed.

“Wow, congratulations! I didn’t realize that it was so close. I thought it usually took much longer to rank up.” Brad said, putting down the cooking utensils in order to go hug his girlfriend in celebration of her achievement.

“Well, I spend a lot of time browsing new shops every time I visit town and, unlike most new merchants, we don’t just specialize in one type of product. We not only sell our produce, but we also sell quite a few monster parts and forgeable plants. The sheer variety that passes through our home is pretty impressive for our low rank.” Mia said with a lilt in her voice.

“So will your eyes start glowing or… what is going to happen?” Brad asked now remembering what had happened earlier that same day.

“I do not know. They might, but I doubt it. I think Rumble glowing had more to do with your situation with him being a familiar getting an evolution.” Mia said.

“That makes sense. So, what are your options?”

“Some pretty good ones it seems. Oooo, some really good ones!” Mia said teasingly.

“Come on, don’t do that. I really can’t handle staying in the dark on this! I mean, how often will we ever tier up?” Brad pleaded.

“Oh fine.” Mia said with a fake exasperated tone. My choices are being able to sense the general amount of wealth someone possess in order to barter, a more detailed report on an items description, a more accurate pricing estimate on items, the ability to identify someone’s affiliation, or to view the current item auction house listing from my menu instead of a posting board.”

“Oh, that last one sounds useful!” Brad said.

“Sounds that way, but I do not believe that I ever want to get it. In order to actually order with it, it has to rank up a few times… at least from what the class guides say about that skill path.” Mia said.

“Wait, you know what each skill leads into!?” Brad asked in amazement.

“Ha-ha, of course I do!” Mia laughed. “I already told you that I had researched my class trees. Both of my classes are pretty well documented. There will be very few surprises until Steel tier.”

“Oh, well that makes sense. Wait, so you know the farming skills too!?” Brad asked in continuing excitement.

“Somewhat, I mostly focused on researching the ones that could be made into sellable services.” Mia said, calming her boyfriend’s excitement.

“Fair enough. So which choice are you picking for this evolution?” Brad asked, now satisfied with the answers.

“I plan on picking the more detailed item description upgrade.” Mia answered.

“That sounds like a good one, but can I ask what the long term plan is with it? I mean you obviously have quite a bit of it planned out.” Brad asked.

“So, with the better descriptions I can somewhat do more accurate pricing estimates on my own with experience, and it allows me to further benefit by dabbling into a variety of items. In my experience, it is the evolution that will lead me to the highest potential long term. The others have always struck me as short term planning upgrades. That is not even mentioning how scummy the ability to check wealth feels. To me, it seems like only the worst of merchants would pick it in order to scam people.” Mia said with a bit of revulsion filling her voice and attitude.

“It does sound a little sketchy.” Agreed Brad. “So are you about to select it?”

“I will select it now.” Mia said.

A moment later Mia’s eyes flashed a soft green color, matching her own natural eye color.

“Done. And it is as simple as that. I told you that nothing exciting was going to hap…pen.” Mia trailed off. Turning to Brad, Mia started laughing before adding, “Nothing is simple around you is it?”