“And that’s pretty much it.” Braun summarized his story. “We went there disguised as ghosts, found out that there’s something suspicious going on, laid a trap by pretending to be exhausted, and bam!” Braun mimicked the motion of pressing the trigger of a nonexistent gun. “We killed those lunatics in one go.”

“I see…” The clerk cleared their throat and quickly scribbled down notes. “While a bit extreme, the evidence you two provided is more than enough to testify to your story. Since it became like this, the quest could already be considered a quest reserved for at least silver plates. If you guys don’t mind waiting, I’ll adjust the rewards and do some paperwork.”

“Will do!” Braun flashed a charming grin.

The clerk then proceeded to talk with the higher-ups in the local Adventurers Guild of the town, while Braun and Bear proceeded to look for some new quest to undertake.

“After two days, we’re finally in Inbur,” murmured Braun. It was the closest town up north of Yurim, the previous town they came from. The travel was pretty much safe and peaceful after the whole haunted house incident, and the two even caught some rare wild beasts along the way which Braun had sold for some sweet cash.

I still have well over ten thousand gold coins in storage, but only a bit over one hundred in my bank. I’d also rather not use those coins and reserve them for later once I consider starting a business in the capital, so for now, we only have a bit over a hundred gold for use.

Braun glanced at the various quests they could take and sifted through the quests meant for silver plates. Once their ranks are adjusted, they’re already silver plates, so it was only appropriate for the two adventurers to take quests of such rank.

Leads are usually for newbies, people who have yet to gain experience, and weak losers in common class.

Reaching copper meant an adventurer had already taken a couple of quests, gaining a bit of experience. Very few would remain at copper, and the vast majority of new adventurers would be copper plates.

Iron plate is for those who are getting good at adventuring. The adventurers here had faced their fair share of quests, facing stronger monsters and doing tons of random tasks. This is where one begins to transition from a greenhorn to a veteran.

Silver is where the fun really starts. Expert uncommon people and rare classes populate this rank and the quests are getting more serious. From hunting magically imbued beasts to accompanying caravans across multiple towns, only uncommon and rare class adventurers would be able to reach this stage.

Gold is when one could already be considered an expert in the field of adventuring. Many of the people here had achieved respectable achievements, had fought powerful monsters and would have at least a year of adventuring under their belt or strength to match their status. Most of the people here are either competent rares, or epics.

Eira was a gold-plated adventurer before she bunkered down at Limen. The last time I received her message though, she said she ranked up and became platinum after doing some quests during her vacation.

When reaching platinum, it either means the adventurer is an extremely skilled and experienced rare class or epics that had spent time mastering their class. People here are true experts and hold the same status as Royal Knights and Royal Mages.

Diamonds are for the elite of the elite, experts among true experts, powerful epics that had developed many of their skills, spending years of training and adventuring to reach this stage. Adventurers at this level are capable of facing a hundred men with ease, and were undeniably strong.

The final rank for adventurers, adamantium, are reserve for legendary adventurers, literally. Only legends and above would reach this stage, and the gap between adamantium adventurers is quite baffling.

One could be a legend, while the other is a mythic on the verge of breaking through and becoming a powerful Transcendent.

After a bit of rummaging, Braun finally found suitable quests for the two that led them closer to the north, but most of the quests he found would need them to stay in town for at least a week to finish.

“You up for staying in an inn for a week?” Braun asked his trusty companion.

Bear pondered for a moment before responding, “Ror?”

“It’s gonna be a good inn, promise.” Braun looked back at the quests and accepted some of them, registering them with his adventurer plate, which was then logged down by the guild network. “Although I do have to leave you alone for a few hours a day considering I plan on studying alchemy.”

“Ror?” Bear was confused as to why Braun suddenly wished to learn alchemy.

“Well, not really learn.” Braun grinned mischievously. “More like doing a hit and ditch.”

…

After persuading the innkeeper that his brotherly kin isn’t a wild beast and is a civilized Bear, the duo entered their room and was greeted by a pretty spacious place. Two beds, desks, chairs, and a nice window to view the town; it was a cozy place overall.

Storing his adventurer outfit and replacing it with a more casual white shirt, brown pants, and sandals, Braun stretched his body and glanced at his furry companion.

“Are you gonna take a shower or just the usual magic?” Braun tossed the bear one of his storage rings. “I have plenty of Clean Stones in there.”

Clean stones, a spell-imbued stone that, when activated, would cast the spell Clean on the bear. It’s been their go-to way of staying hygienic during their travels and was a pretty cost-efficient method overall.

The bear shook his head and headed for the door. “Ror,” Bear said, which when translated to the common tongue, meant he was gonna take a shower.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Braun shrugged his shoulders and also prepared for his next scam. A conman never rests when it comes to conning others, and for his own personal gain and wealth, he’s more than willing to stoop to dubious means.

He returned to the mirror, his face as icy as a frozen lake. His form slowly morphed, shrinking down to a shorter frame. His hair grew uncontrollably until it reached his waist. His muscular body, one that displayed the strength of dragons, grew fair and slender.

Soon enough, a beauty walked out of the inn; she had flowing black hair and bright green eyes. Her fair skin was smooth without blemish and her pink lips formed a subtle smile. She wore a casual white shirt, brown shorts, and brown leather shoes. If not for her human ears, others might have mistaken her for an elf, especially with her mesmerizing green eyes.

“Now, where art thou is that famous alchemist?” Braun murmured under her breath.

…

One of the reasons why Braun had chosen to travel to Inbur was because of the rumors he had heard about the expert alchemist who lived in the town.

They had set up a nifty store in town, selling potions to wandering adventurers, with higher quality than the average potions. Not only that, their prices were just a tiny bit higher compared to the market price; with such effectiveness and price, people flock to that store to stock up on their potions for their next adventure.

Braun, a fellow aspiring merchant and expert scammer, of course wanted to delve into the secrets of alchemy. While he could make basic potions like healing or stamina potions, some of the more mystical ones like Strength Potion, which permanently enhances one’s physical attributes, is out of his reach.

Moreover, knowledge about alchemy is a tightly kept secret and held under strict regulation. Unless he joins the Mages uild or Alchemists Guild, which have strict requirements for joining and obnoxious rules that would impede his freedom, Braun would have a hard time learning alchemy on his own.

Luckily, he has a plan in mind.

Arriving in front of a certain bar in town, he opened the door and entered. The smell of alcohol and deadbeat losers filled the air, and among the people inside, he soon found his target.

A man in his late twenties, with dark blue hair and ordinary brown eyes, wearing a scholarly blue robe, sat in a corner with hot babes surrounding him. Some were humans, others were cute dwarves, and some were mermen.

He had a sleazy look on his face as he kept drinking alcohol while treating the girls to alcohol themselves. A casual look and you would think he’s some sort of depraved bastard, and while he is, he’s also a powerful Epic Class Alchemist.

Braun’s eyes glowed green for a moment and the man’s status window was displayed to him, with no secrets to be hidden.

[Name: Percival Perverse]

[Class: Alchemist (Epic)]

[Skills: Alchemy (B), Magic (C), Identify (C) …]

[Unique Skills: Adaptive Liver]

A perverted alchemist indeed. From the amount of alcohol he had drunk, his liver had even learned to adapt to handle the stress.

Grinning seductively, Braun approached the table and grabbed Percival’s glass.

“Oh?” he noticed the new lady, his eyes widening for a split moment before they returned to normal. “Who might you be, lady?”

“Just someone who has a keen interest in alchemy.” Braun took a sip of his glass, licking its edge playfully.

“Really?” Percival took back his cap as he also took a sip. “I know a thing or two about alchemy as well.”

He made space on his seat. “If you don’t mind, we could talk a little bit, maybe I could even teach you a thing or two.”

“Fufufu.” Braun grinned. “Don’t mind if I do.”

…

Bear walked into the bathroom on the first floor of the inn. He ignored the curious glances passersby gave him; after days of receiving that treatment, he had already gotten used to it and simply muted them out of his mind.

Instead, he focused on the beautiful bathroom ahead of him. It was a normal bathroom like any other, but Bear had a certain fondness for human technology, especially after living years in the wild. It had a sense of novelty to it, especially the hygiene stuff.

He turned on the water and let it drip down onto his fur. The water dripping down from the water stone above him was warm, probably due to some magic mumbo jumbo. It was a comfortable temperature that soothed his tired muscles, and he let out a fearsome draconian growl.

“Ror!” The bear washed his body, scrubbing himself with shampoo to cleanse his fur. Bubbles and foam begin to cover him whole, making him appear as some sort of bubbly cloud. The water then rinsed off the shampoo, revealing his wet and muscular frame.

Bear grabbed his conditioner and slapped a handful of it to his hands, before proceeding to spread it all throughout his body.

“Ror.” Bear nodded approvingly. The conditioner smelled great, and soon enough, he had spread it all across his body’s fur. Now he just needed to wait before another wash, and he’s done.

The bear waited patiently, humming a song Braun had taught him a while back on their way to the town of Yurim. He was nothing but a mere beast back then, an uncivilized runt, but he was now a cultured bear!

“Ror.” The bear decided to peek at his status out of boredom to check his progress.

[Name: Bear Berry]

[Class: Martial Artist (Uncommon)]

[Skills: Aura Mastery (A), Martial Arts (A), Unarmed Combat Mastery (A) …]

[Unique Skills: Adapt, Evolve, Hero …]

He stared intently at the Hero unique skill for a moment, wondering just what kind of sorcery his blood brother has done that a normal bear like him out in the woods became a fucking hero. That unique skill was honestly an overpowered unique skill, granting him an extreme rate of progress, better class access, and most of all, according to Braun, accursed luck.

His partner in crime did say that he had fixed the ‘calamity magnet’ part of his hero unique skill, which lowered his luck in the process, but overall, he was happy to have that skill.

“Ror…” Bear hummed. With all the help Braun had given him, he wondered just what he could do to repay that man.

“Ror?” Perhaps a gift? But what kind of gift?

Black nanites formed on the surface of his skin. Although he had seen Braun use those ‘nanites’ to create all sorts of magical objects, the bear could only rudimentary use them to create simple objects like boxes or spheres, nothing of the same level as those ‘guns’ his blood brother loves to make.

Maybe he could learn to create a gun?

As he pondered deeply over the subject, his dear blood brother was having his own problems.

Namely, overpowering the alchemist.

“GO TO SLEEP YOU BASTARD!” Braun can’t believe that the alchemist was this strong, to resist his neck chop and remain awake. He grabbed the alchemist’s neck with his bare hands, choking him to sleep.

“Y-You damn bitch!” Pelcivar resisted with all his might, his muscles popping with veins and unordinary strength. Years of drinking his own potions had pushed the man’s body to an extreme level, capable of contesting even with the likes of Braun.

“You want to remain awake, huh?” Braun’s face began to morph, with black nanites reshaping his face. “Then why don’t you remain awake, knowing that you slept with me!”

His face changed, revealing the appearance of an ugly bastard from the deepest pits of useless wastes. The alchemist lost all the colors in his face, shocked by the harrowing truth—that the girl was no girl, but an ugly motherfucker in disguise!

“AHHHHH!” he shrieked, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

Braun collapsed on the bed, breathing heavily. Finally, that bitch is unconscious.

Not wasting his time, he quickly scoured around the room, and soon found his desired loot.

A full bookshelf of books. Books about plants, herbs, magic, and most importantly—alchemy!

I don’t want to use this that much since it feels like cheating, but… Nanites swarmed out of hsi hand, and covered the entirety of the bookshelf. I’ve sacrificed my dignity for this! Fuck my ethics!

And so, the two continued their own misadventures into the night.

One acted as a prostitute and stole precious knowledge from a famous alchemist.

One pondered in the shower, wondering what kind of gift they could give to their dearest friend.