Chapter 9
I woke up and it took a few seconds for the thought of my screwup to set in and I couldn’t help but scream out a few cuss words. It was dawn and I didn’t need to look to see but because of the curse, most of my loot had disappeared. I guess it’s more accurate to say that almost all of it had disappeared. I was left with a little over a hundred coins of mixed types, a single sword, two rings and one necklace. The System apparently felt that the remainder was too much “wealth” for me to have on person. I had no one to blame but myself.
Ultimately it really was not that big a deal but what I was truly excited about was the notifications and status updates.
You have defeated a Level 5 Large Rat. You have gained experience.
You have defeated a Level 5 Large Rat. You have gained experience.
You have gained a new Level!
You have defeated a Level 3 Large Rat. You have gained experience.
You have defeated a Level 4 Large Rat. You have gained experience.
…
You have gained a new Level!
…
You have defeated a Level 16 Large Wererat Mother. You have gained experience. Due to significant discrepancy in levels, you have earned bonus experience.
You have acquired a new Title.
…
You have defeated a Level 0 Baby Rat. Due to significant discrepancy in levels, you have earned diminished experience.
…
You have acquired a new Title.
You have gained a new Level!
You must choose a class at Level 10!
The notifications went on for a while. After everything I jumped up to 10. Really actually I had jumped up to level 11, but The System wouldn’t let me go past 10 until I chose a glass. I also acquired TWO new Titles! My skills had advanced too, though there were no notifications of that.
The System also at this point required me to choose a class, so, I looked up the options for the classes that were offered hoping that my titles, and skills would bring me some of the rarer classes or better. True, I would lose some attributes for not having selected the class earlier like most everyone else does, but it was well worth it to develop an exceptional class early on. The rarer and exceptional classes not only offered more attributes per level, but they also offered better skill and advancements later. And if a person did not get offered or choose an exceptional class early on, then the next upgrade would not occur until much later. And the biggest issue was that if a person got set off on a common path early on then it was hard to divulge from it later unless they had some exceptional deeds and Titles.
I brought up the titles first.
Title: Rage against the Titans
Acquired from defeating 5 foes, 5 Levels or higher before obtaining a class.
+3 to all Attributes.
+5% damage to all foes 5 Levels greater than you.
Title: Genocidal for Life
Acquired by defeating 500 or more foes before obtaining a class in one day.
+5 to all attributes
+Intimidation skill
Congratulations, you have learned a new skill: Intimidation.
Intimidation: Novice
Skill Type: Mental Uncommon upgradeable
Requirements: Charisma 15, Strength 15
This skill allows the owner the ability to intimidate an individual. The chance of success depends on the owner’s level and charisma compared to the one being intimidated. Success results in the individual cowering and unable to do anything else or running away.
You must choose a Class to advance further: 5 options available.
1 Mage (Common)
2 BattleMage (Uncommon)
3 Mana Scepter (Legendary)
4 Massacrist (Rare)
5 Wild Mage (Legendary)
I looked at the various classes and was pleasantly surprised. I had hoped for a Legendary class, and I had lucked out and obtained a couple as an option. Getting a Legendary class almost never happened before level 30, and it didn’t happen much with level 30 either. And there was a rare class being offered. I felt that my chance had increased substantially due to the coin, skills, and Titles. It certainly helped quite a bit that I had 3 titles already which also was an extremely rare occurrence. I tried to focus on each and see what the descriptions were to help me decide which to choose. I was going to choose Legendary unless they were a complete dud. I already knew very well what the mage class was as it was nothing special and without any awesome perks. You cast spells and there you were, a mage. Eventually most mages would get their classes upgraded to uncommon and even rare, but almost never did they progress beyond that.
I brought up the BattleMage class description.
BattleMage (Uncommon) – This class is for individuals who want to focus on offensive spells. Offensive spells cost less and are easier to learn. BattleMages also do well against large amounts of opponents. Their damage increases the more opponents they face.
BattleMage earns 4 Intelligence, 4 Wisdom and 2 free attribute points per level.
This was certainly an interesting class. I planned on fighting large amounts of opponents in the future. Really that was the best way to build up experience in wars. And offensive spells were easier to learn based on the description but at the same time I didn’t want to be limited to just being on offense and 10 attribute points were nice but only 2 of them were free. With only two free points to invest in various attributes, I could end up being a glass cannon.
Mana Scepter (Legendary) – Your body is tuned to Mana. Whether it’s inherent or by design, your body has been a channel for Mana and this class allows it to be further controlled and enhanced.
The Mana Scepter class earns 3 Intelligence, 3 Wisdom, 3 Willpower and 5 free attribute points.
Well, this was a fantastic class. It most assuredly was given as an option because of the coin. All spells were run by mana and having a class that can further manipulate or enhance that would be amazing. I wasn’t sure exactly how it would benefit but given that it was Legendary, I’m sure it was going to be great. Also, getting 5 free attribute points was phenomenal. I was pretty sure this was the class for me, but I decided to look at the other ones in detail anyways.
The next class was a class called Massacrist. Just from the name alone, I knew I would never pick this class. This was likely given as an option because I went murder hobo on the rats and even the babies. This was not something I would want to be known for or be associated with. Certainly, what I did was kill a lot of monsters, but I could never think of himself as committing massacre. Well, ok maybe I massacred the rats a little bit but still. The System obviously thought of me as such after I went to such great lengths to eliminate all the Large Rats. Not going to be chosen but I decided to peek at the class anyways to see what it offered.
Massacrist (Rare) – This class is intended for those that wish to seek wars with entire nations or large masses of people. The holder of this class can assign a death marker to one specific class, race, or species. The class holder will receive bonuses to attack and damage against that selected death marker. The class holder will get increased experience from slaying anyone from that class, race or specie. Only one class, race or species can be assigned at a time.
There was no point in reading further. Nice bonuses but never gonna pick it. Moving on…
Wild Mage (Legendary) – This class enjoys casting spells but also loves to tempt Luck with a splash (or more than a splash) of Chaos thrown in. A wild mage is a dancer in the field of chaos and casts spells knowing that there is a chance that spell may change at times for the better or worse. There is always a risk involved and Luck can be a fickle lady every night.
Each Spell that a Wild Mage casts has a chance of change. The change can be positive or negative. The effects can be minor or major. The duration can be temporary or permanent.
Wild Mage earns 2 Intelligence, 2 Wisdom, 2 Willpower 2 Charisma and 4 free attribute points per level.
Not sure why I got this as an option. Too much uncertainty with this class. I don’t like the unpredictable nature of it. Spell casting was tough enough already and it was important to be able to rely on the spell and their effects and with this it would be hard. I imagine at higher levels; I may have more control and likely more favorable effects from the spell change but still there was a chance of it not casting properly.
I stood for a second reviewing the classes in my mind until Jimmy’s voice broke me out of it.
“Can I make a suggestion; I say we select the Massacrist. I mean we will get a ton of xp with that class bruh!” Jimmy said.
“No way. That class even sounds evil.”
“How can it be wrong to have a class that talks about mass and our savior. I mean I’m not religious, but I don’t see how we could go wrong with that.”
“A Massacrist has nothing do with that. A Massacrist is someone who kills a lot of people. You know, like, commit a Massacre!”
“Aww my bad bro, I was reading that all wrong. Yea we don’t wanna be known as world’s Hitler.”
I selected the Mana Scepter class.
Name: Gatsby Lark
Race: Human Avatar
Primary Class: Mana Scepter
Level: 10
Experience to next level: 1
Primary Attributes
Strength: 33
Dexterity: 38
Speed: 35
Constitution: 41
Endurance: 34
Intelligence: 87
Wisdom: 41
Willpower: 38
Charisma: 35
Unused Attribute Points: 24
Secondary Attributes
Health Points (HP): 443
Mana Points (MP): 497
Stamina Points (SP): 416
Psychic Defense (PD): 79
Perception Points: 166
Skills:
Arcanum Studies - Intermediate
Mana Sight - Intermediate
Intimidation - Novice
Spells:
Mass Sleep – Intermediate
Magic projectile – Advanced
Titles:
Amalya’s Blessing and Curse
Rage against the Titans
Genocidal for Life
Perks:
+5% damage to all foes 5 Levels greater than you
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Congratulations, your skill, Mana Sight has progressed to Intermediate!
Choose one of the options below for your skill:
Mana Sight has evolved to Mana Imbue
Mana Sight has evolved to Mana Absorb
Mana Sight has evolved to Mana Thread
Ok great! I got a few different options and no explanations at all as to what they did. I tried to focus on them to see if that would bring up an explanation but, NOTHING NADA ZIP.
Ok so I can’t see an explanation but imbue probably means that I will somehow place mana into something else like a spell and make it stronger. Of course, I was totally making an educated guess, but it was a guess none the less. Imbue may make something stronger which is actually a pretty good ability if that is what it does.
Mana Absorb likely is me being able to absorb mana from things, maybe spells or objects. Hard to say but what could that do ultimately? Add to my mana pool? Good if I’m short on mana. But how much could I absorb…certainly couldn’t be unlimited amount so would it really help tremendously given that I already had a large mana pool, and I will be making it even bigger in time from raising my wisdom.
Mana Thread was a complete mystery. I have no idea what to make of that skill. There would be nothing educated about since I have never heard of anything similar. Could be a complete dud of a skill. Let’s go with the mystery option. Well, they were all mysteries but the last one even more so. Maybe I will get lucky and win the Bellagio jackpot or I go home crying. I selected the 3rd option.
My stats had become jacked compared to where I was previously. The two titles gave a huge boost to everything, and I loved it. I had gained 8 attribute points from the two Titles in each of my attributes and given that there were 9 Primary attributes, I had gained 72 points from the Titles. That were equivalent to many levels. I could visibly see the difference from the increase in my physical attributes. I felt much stronger and agile with more defined musculature. I had not become larger but just more muscular and defined, which I was glad for because having a large stature didn’t always help in trying to fit through crowds or be in smaller rooms. Sure, a person was much more intimidating in appearance but that could be a bad thing too. I could not see my face as I had no mirror to look into but going by my past experience, I imagined the huge boost in charisma also increased my looks substantially. Charisma wasn’t just about looks; It also created a certain aura around you that others were subtly affected by. They find you more engaging, easy to be around and even easier to trust.
I also still had 24 unused attributes left to assign and I was going to wait on them for now. These were from jumping in levels from 4 to 10. I also noticed I had only 1 experience point left to get to next level which was 11 and that was because I had acquired enough to get beyond level 11 but since I had not chosen a class, my experience was capped to just before reaching 11.
Congratulations! Upon reaching level 10 and selecting a Class, you have been offered a skill congruent to your class type.
Select from one of three skill options.
Mana Blast
Mana Shield
Mana Store
I had an idea what these could be just by their names but I wanted to know the details so I brought up…well the details.
Mana Blast
Create and fire a bolt of Mana to one target in sight.
Skill Type: Intrinsic Upgradeable
Requirements: Intelligence 20 Wisdom 20 Willpower 20
Cost: 50 mana
Damage: Damage done is equal to Willpower + (Mana infused)
Cooldown period: 1 minute
This was an interesting skill. It seemed like a mana-based skill but didn’t use intelligence for the damage but rather will power. Though you could enhance the damage with mana which was a factor of intelligence and wisdom. I could use something like this if it had a wide area of effect. As of now I already had the magic projectiles that were great and did decent damage that was based on my highest attribute, Intelligence.
Mana Shield
Create a shield in front of you that blocks all physical and magical damage. The amount of damage prevented is equal to (Willpower x 10 + amount of mana infused). The shield will cost 1 mana per second to maintain.
Skill Type: Intrinsic Upgradeable
Requirements: Intelligence 20 Wisdom 20 Willpower 20
Cost: 50 mana + mana infused
Cooldown period: 30 seconds
This was another willpower-based skill. I had not seen any magical will power based skills before in my last two centuries, so this was all new to me. This was something I could use though. My defense was subpar and the best I could do was run and hide whenever possible. I may still have to run and hide but hopefully not from the most basic little monster dudes. I still brought up the last skill.
Mana Store
May store additional mana equal to (Willpower + Intelligence). The stored mana will be in excess to your normal reserve and will be used first.
Skill Type: Intrinsic Upgradeable
Requirements: Intelligence 20 Wisdom 20 Willpower 20
Cost: none
Cooldown period: 24 hours
Additional mana storage without a cost. But ultimately not the most useful to me at this time. I already had pretty decent amount of mana and I think I could use the shield more. No surprise, I chose the shield.
My skill, Magic projectile had also increased to Advanced level.
Magic Projectile – Advanced Level 2
Cost: 50 MP
Cast time: Instant
Duration: n/a
Cooldown Period: 4 seconds
Effect: May Imbue a small stone or metal with Mana and shoot it as a projectile towards the target. Dexterity determines the chance to hit. May Imbue 1 small stone or metal/Each level of caster. Damage done is equal to Intelligence of the caster.
Upgrade available: Please choose from one of the following options.
Option 1: Reduce cost to 40 MP
Option 2: Each stone may be fired with up to 1 second lag and in different directions.
Option 3: There is an addition Impact damage of + 20 points.
Option 4: No upgrade.
Magic Projectile spell explanation and choices popped up. Option 1 was the same as it was previously offered and option 3 was the same but with increased damage. Option 2, however, was new and the most appealing. From what I was reading, I could shoot each individual stone projectile 1 second at a time. One could be fired to the left of me and the other to the right. This would have helped a lot against the rats, when they were coming from different directions. Plus, the 1 second lag could create like a rail gun effect instead of a more like a shotgun effect. And if I wanted to use the shotgun effect, I could still do that by firing them all at once. Though the damage had increased in the 3rd option, it was not that much more and really in the end, firing the projectiles in different directions and with a lag gave the spell much more versatility.
With my level being 10 now, I could now shoot 10 projectiles with just one spell which was fantastic especially considering the damage had also increased substantially given the increase in intelligence. The choice was clear, and I selected the second option. The only bad thing now was all the pebbles I would need to carry. I will need to see if I can find another smaller option other than the pebble. Perhaps made of metal
As I stepped out of the Town hall building, I half expected that Rogger would still be outside waiting. It had been a long day, so it was not unexpected that he had left. I wondered if the wormy politician maybe thought that I had died in there and that was why he had left. I wouldn’t have considered anyone staying for all this time, but the man did seem very eager to have this placed be looked into and cleaned out of the infestation. Probably a good thing I didn’t run into him. I really didn’t want to deal with his annoying slimy self anyways.
I was starving. I had eaten some dried rations that I had brought with me but there was nothing that didn’t increase your appetite like leveling and adventuring. Especially successful adventuring! I had hoped that I would feel less of an urge to eat and drink over time as my endurance went up but I wasn’t quite there yet. From my previous life, I remembered that those effects really don’t come into play until the endurance attribute was in triple digits.
“So, what now broski? Head back to Boss babe’s house?” the familiar voice of Jimmy sparked up again in Mason’s mind.
“Yea but I would like to make a couple of stops first. I need to find a way to get these projectiles smaller and more durable than just pebbles. Also, I want to see if any of the items I got are magical. I can see faint mana emanating from them, but I can’t tell if that is because they are magical or another reason.”
“We going to The Cursed coin? You think he may have changed its name now that we have the cursed coin instead of him?”
“Maybe, depends on whether he was making money with that name or not.”
I did not know the exact location of The Cursed Coin, but I shouldn’t have much difficulty finding it between my boots and my intelligence which helped me remember things more accurately. I had considered asking for directions but then I didn’t want to be considered the first man in the world who had done such a terrible act.
It wasn’t long before we reached The Cursed Coin. The name had not changed but Theon had painted it white over the ‘s’ in Cursed.
Theon came immediately towards me with a big grin on his face when he saw me walk into the store.
“My friend, where is your lovely lady? Are you looking to buy or sell? Before you ask, I would like to let you know that I have no interest in taking the coin back.”
I gave a polite smile back, “Its fine. I wondered if you may be able to identify a few things for me and tell me if they may be magical?”
“Well, it’s not a service I normally provide for free. Each of those would require 10 silvers but for you, I will gladly do it for free,” Theon said and then quietly added, “this one time” with a wink.
I brought out the sword, rings, and the necklace. Neither the rings nor the sword was magical. The necklace, however, was and Theon identified it with a certain wand.
Chain of captivation
Item type: Magical Jewelry – Rare
Material: silver
Durability: 23/50
Description: This chain improved the resistance to mental attacks, commands, and subtle suggestions. 2x/day the wearer can cast Revealing Light
Spell
Revealing Light
Cost: 100 mana – can be cast 2x/day
Cast time: 30 seconds
Effect: The spell will negate all illusions, mind control, or mind-altering spells within the area of 1 foot/intelligence radius of caster.
I wonder who the chain may have belonged to. Likely it was someone that was in some type of authoritative type of a position which required him or her to be free of influence from other people.
I looked at the remaining items again as I didn’t have a chance to closely look at them in the infested town hall building. I regretted that I had lost the other items especially if there was a chance that one or more of them could have been magical. Even if I couldn’t use the magical item, perhaps I could have given it to Demira or one of her kids or maybe even sell it.
The sword didn’t look particularly interesting except for an engraving on the hilt which itself was plain in appearance. One of the rings appeared to be like a basic wedding band and the other seemed more ornate. The other ring likely belonged to a man given its large size and appearance. It seemed to have a jewel of some type set in the middle and on the bottom, there was some writing. On the sides of the beset jewels were 2 small etchings which appeared as if they were a scroll.
“Well one is better than none.”
“One is most certainly better than one!” Theon echoed my words sympathetically.
Theon provided me with directions to the nearest smithy which was only two blocks around the corner. The Smith’s Smithy was owned and run by a man named Smith who happened to be the smith as shocking as that was. He told me that his family had always been making weapons and other such items for the empire and its citizens. Apparently, one of his ancestors was being called smith for an unfathomable reason and eventually the ‘Smith’ just stuck as their name and their actual last name forgotten over time.
Smith was a pleasant man to talk to and always spoke in earnest and without any large or complicated words. When asked by a man once if he had been dropped on the ground accidentally, Smith could only look down at his feet and say how that would not be possible since his feet were on the ground. The great thing about Smith was how talented he was at making weapons and he made them with incredible efficiency. People claimed that a god must have blessed his hands to be able to forge such beautiful and reliable pieces of weaponry. He had married young and had two children that were near adulthood. The two boys would help their father with building such weapons but due to the concern for their father, would often ask him to not talk to any customers or people in general especially when they were nearby. I personally liked the guy a lot from the brief interaction I had with him. He was genuine and honest, and those things were not always easy to find in a person in a world such as this.
I asked the Smith if he could make some small beads made of iron. I had figured that instead of using pebbles for projectiles, I would try and get some small iron beads made. The size and their shape would allow me to carry a lot more. And even though they would be made of iron as opposed to stone, their smaller size would provide less weight as well though weight wasn’t as much of an issue any more for me due to my recent increase in strength. After a good thirty minutes of trying to explain what I wanted, I was finally able to arrange a deal with the smith. The price was not substantial, and I was able to place an order for a thousand of these beads at the cost of nearly my entire sum of money except for some 20 silvers. I asked him to make more for me if he could on credit and he agreed.
I arrived back at Demira’s residence. I wanted to start practicing and learning meditation skills. The one important thing I had a problem with during the rat infestation cleanout was running out of mana. Now although I had much more mana and faster regeneration of the mana, I wanted to avoid having to waste unnecessary time in trying to stop and replete it. With the Meditation skill, an individual was able to not only regenerate their mana at a faster rate but also their health points and stamina. The skill had been a huge help in my previous life. The bad part about it was that it did require the user to stop and focus to get the meditation bonus, but I knew that once the skill was raised enough and upgraded, there was a possibility to be able to use it without having to stop.
I sat down and closed my eyes, letting all thoughts go. Not an easy task but I had experience with it in the past and given my high willpower, I was able to in time develop a deep enough focus. My high intelligence also helped develop the skill at a much faster pace than most other individuals. Having high Intelligence allowed a person to learn most new skills at a faster rate than someone with less intelligence. The Intelligence allowed the steps in the skill to be rationalized and broken down. And if the steps were followed appropriately, it increased the speed of learning substantially.
Hours passed and nothing happened until there was a soft chime in my mind. I smiled and I was secretly glad that Jimmy was able to stay quiet or in the back during that time as it would have been hard to focus with someone talking to me.
Congratulations, you have developed a new skill.
You have learned Meditation!
Meditation: Novice
Skill Type: Mental – common upgradeable
Requirements: Constitution 14 Intelligence 14 Wisdom 14
This skill allows the user to enter a state of balance and focus between the Body, Mind and Spirit. This skill cannot be used during combat. External disruption will force the individual out of the Meditative focus. Health Points, Mana Points and Stamins regenerate at a faster speed based on the level of the skill.
I had not realized but it was already eve. Demira had asked me to meet her in the den so we could share a conversation and some wine. I had not been to the den before, and it was very similar to most dens that a rich person would have back on earth with multiple sitting areas and a giant fireplace with some animal hides on the ground being used as a rug. It had a warm homely feel to it. Made me miss Christmas quite a bit from the days when I was young. We would go to my aunt’s every year to celebrate, and she had a big house almost the size of a mansion. Her husband had died years before, and she never had any children, nor did she ever remarry. She welcomed us all, especially the kids during any and all visitations. We would only go there during Christmas time due to it being almost a fourteen-hour drive to Florida. I missed Christmas with my wife and my daughter. We didn’t have a big place or even a fireplace but it was perfect.
Demira sat on a sturdy wooden rocking chair in front of the fireplace. She was smoking a pipe of some sort staring into the dancing flame until she heard me and turned to look.
“How did you fare with the rats...I’m glad you were able to overcome such great odds? I had been concerned for your well-being but I’m glad to know you proved me wrong,” asked Demira.
“It was not easy but not difficult either. It helped me obtain a couple of titles,” I said and then gave a slight grin. I sat down next to her in an adjacent rocking chair.
“Titles! Those are not easy to come by. And you somehow managed to acquire two. You continue to impress me.”
I told her about my adventure with the rats and how I had found a half human Rat creature which was often called a wererat. Wererats were creatures that were able to transform from the form of a man to that of a hybrid. She was surprised to hear this as it was very unusual to find such a creature in a city and even more, she was surprised that it was a female giving birth to rats. This was again something that was not possible for a hybrid creature to do. What was even more shocking was the number of rats I had found and fought off. The infestation had only started maybe in the last few weeks which was not enough time for that many creatures to have been birthed or have grown so much. Another thing that was a mystery was that we were told that the rats had appeared from the undertunnels, which was clearly not true from what I had found.
I told her the specifics of my Titles. Most people chose not to reveal such information to others along with their specific classes that they may have but I felt as if I could trust her.
“This wine is really terrible by the way,” I said after having drank two glasses already.
Demira laughed out loud, “Yes, it most definitely would not be a drink of choice.”
“Well, I have had worse. Just to satisfy my curiosity, why are we drinking this terrible wine again?”
A slight sadness overtook Demira, “I guess for me it’s just a memory of my husband that I like to hold close. He had the worst taste, and this was something of a favorite of his.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be insulting in any way.”
She smiled and stared at the fire, lost in thought.
“He would sit here in this chair and lift the glass up and make this face like it was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. I did wonder for a long time if he was testing me a fool,” Demira continued, “but no he really did have an atrocious taste.”
“You must have loved him very much.”
“I loved him dearly, for all his flaws and eccentricities. And sadly, he is gone, and we are all at a loss.”
“What happened to him if you don’t mind me asking?”
“He opposed the powerful selfish men of this city in their treatment of its people, and he was slain for it,” She said as a tear rolled down her cheek, “I have sworn to do all in my power to bring these men to their knees, and to justice, that has been kept from us.”
I did not want to get involved in the city business, but I considered Demira a friend now. She and her family had helped me and let me stay at their place. I may have saved her daughter’s life, but I felt like I still owed her and not only that, but I WANTED to help her. I wanted her to have the justice she needed. I didn’t know anything about her husband or what kind of man he was. I didn’t know anything about these men that had wronged her. But what I did know was that she was a good, kind, and honorable person and if she felt wronged then I would support her and help her.
“What can I do to help?” I asked Demira.
“This is not your squabble friend, and you already have much to worry yourself with...”
I interrupted her before she finished, “You may think this is not my fight Demira, but you are a friend and where I come from, friends support each other and have each other’s back. So, this is my fight as well.”
“I got your back too girl!” said Jimmy in my mind knowing full well that Demira would not be able to hear him.
We had been talking for hours and knowing that the sun would be up soon, I finally decided to retire for the night in my room. I had planned to work some more on my meditation skill as well but before I could leave, Demira excused herself for a moment and returned back with a gift.
Demira had brough me a book on Alchemy.
“Thanks, Demira, how much do I owe you for this?” I asked while looking at the book.
She held up hand, “It’s gift. Think nothing of it.”
I had asked her daughter for any other skill books they may have had but I was not expecting little Danica to tell her mother. I certainly was not expecting Demira to go out and buy one for me. I didn’t know how much skill books cost around here but I knew that they were not cheap anywhere. Learning a skill from simply reading a book and without a teacher, even if that skill was at the novice level, was a much-desired thing. Given its high demand, the skill books were usually quite costly.