I had to move away from the tent as some of the people that I recognized from examining me started to rush inside looking quite worried. I was quite certain that they were not going to have a good time and whoever was ruling the higher society will have a busy time. They will probably not have any time to worry about someone like me.

I walked towards the market square. Looking at the people I decided to change my camouflage. Only a few warriors were at the silver stage, and I could see that they were not treated that well. I still had to keep my camouflage up so people wouldn't notice my core but now I looked like I was a gold rank or first rank. I guess both would be correct.

My head was honestly spinning from all the information that I have gotten. Originally, I thought perhaps there were a few organizations that consisted of strong people that ruled from the shadows but apparently there was a whole different world hidden from the weak. I will need quite some time to handle this change. I didn’t think this world would have so much to hide.

It all did sound kind of interesting, but I honestly just felt exhausted and wanted to go back to my farm and do some simple jobs. But I was here, and I had a job to do and beyond anything else, this was also an opportunity to understand how this higher society works.

I knew some details and facts but from experience, I knew that this was far from enough to get a picture of the higher society and how it works. But I needed this information and the best place to start was right here seeing how this camp worked.

I first started with the people around here. Everyone was well off and while there were some people that looked dirty they also seem to like it that way. Most people seemed to take good care of themselves. Seems that a lot of the people here know each other at least as acquaintances, perhaps they had run into each other during similar situations.

This was the best conclusion I could think up as many of the new people that came with the portal started to talk with people who were here like old schoolmates that have not seen each other for a few years.

While I did see some rank two people the majority was rank one. Everyone was armed and armoured ready for a fight, and I could see a lot of different races here. What I was glad about was that there didn’t seem to be any dislike of different races. I also quickly started to notice differences in what kind of class built someone was running. Quickly I started to classify mages, healers, tanks, damage dealers and all the different combinations.

There were a lot more tanks here and there seemed to be a good reason for that. From the conversations, I could overhear that this dungeon was well known for having multiple strong opponents that you needed to fight at the same time so multiple tanks were needed. I didn’t stay to listen to their stories because someone stopping, and listening would be noticed instantly. I had already seen one of the silver warriors being escorted out of the market for trying to spy on someone else.

There were some nobles but none of them was above silver and there was a clear divide between them and other warriors. Even the rank ones stayed away from them but not out of fear simply not wanting to get dragged into some stupid arguments.

Looking at the market I noticed a few interesting things that jumped out at me. All the built store stalls had The Thorn Rose Company markings on them and there were none without them. It seems that they have gotten a nice monopoly on the local market but there were other stalls that came out of wagons. These wagons looked like a place where someone could live their entire life and make good business trading.

Stolen story; please report.

Those were the stalls that had the most visitors and the widest variety of items for sale. I looked over some of the items and I have to say that I was impressed. Absolutely everything was special. Most of the items were made of energy-changed materials but there were materials changed by mana as well.

A lot of the items had runes carved onto them and a few items had enchantments added to them. There were weapons of all kinds but other items as well. I could see a cup of endless water, a dagger of returning and so on. This was all proper fantasy stuff. I needed to concentrate to hold back my need to test them all.

I focused more on the items that were for sale and honestly I felt like a common farmer. My items compared to everyone else were basic. Most of the stuff wasn’t even for sale for coins but either they would take item exchange or monster cores as currency.

I kind of felt poor. People around here spent so many cores on weapons or services that fixed items or maintained them. It was all so interesting to see. There were constant uses of abilities to fix items or to make them. Some of the trader’s hands only stopped making items when they were collecting payment.

I went and asked someone for directions to the Thorn Rose Company area of the camp and after a few words, I was able to start heading that way. I pulled up my notifications and was quite happy to see a new skill negotiation. Finally, a new social skill. I also got a few levels of intimidation but I’m guessing those came from my stay with the camp guards.

I was walking down the main street. There were multiple other areas where different guards were protecting the streets that led into someone else’s territory. Most of those were used by city-states that were able to get a slot to delve into the dungeon. I saw some people with the same insignias in the market square looking for fighters to help them delve into the dungeon.

I wondered why the Thorn Rose Company didn’t want to hire the warriors that came from the portals but perhaps those warriors asked for a high price. Perhaps I was being used as cheap labour but if I get what I want in return then it shouldn’t be too big of a problem.

Hopefully, I can get enough value from the delves that I can buy some of the stuff that looked interesting. And of course, I could also sell some of my bows, most likely for a better price than I could get from the company. Well, let's see what will happen.

I finally reached the guards who were wearing the symbol of the Thorn Rose Company and I was thinking that perhaps I would need to wait again but that didn’t happen. They let me through quickly and one of the guards run off to get someone to meet me. It seems that at least they will be treating me with respect.

The person that came to greet me was Bert and I was happy to see him. We exchanged a few quick words but the first thing I asked him was if there was a place for me to sleep. I had been running for quite a long time and the mind-reading session was not the most pleasant thing. I was thoroughly exhausted which I hadn’t felt for quite a while now.

Bert laughed at that but quickly led me to a decently sized tent and told me that this entire thing was to be mine until the dungeon was cleared. I asked him what he meant by that, but he just told me to get some sleep and that everything will be explained in the morning. I really didn't mind that because getting all the information at the same time was a lot more convenient.

I looked around the tent. There was a decent bed to the left. On the other side were some trunks where you could keep some things and opposite the entrance was a modest desk. The tent was tall enough that I could stand without having to bend down and there was a lamp of some sort hanging from the centre of the ceiling.

I decided not to light it as I didn’t need it to see. I laid my backpack down and decided to pull some of the equipment from my tattoo storage. The important thing and expensive things I kept but I was feeling a lot lighter after that. I did some stretching and moved around some of the tattoos so the weight wouldn’t hinder me and then I finally went to sleep.