It took me about an hour to get out of the more industrial section of the city around our compound. There were two different routes that I could take, one through the more residential area or the more commercial one.
I picked the commercial route as I also wanted to check out what items were for sale. I had only been in the proper commercial section for about 5 minutes when I had to catch a hand that tried to slip into my pockets to find something valuable. The young child who I now held tight looked incredibly scared.
"Nice try, kid, but you should learn more about identifying your targets so you won’t make a mistake like this again. Here, take this and better luck next time." I pulled out a silver coin and handed it to him. The young child was completely dumbfounded. I just left him there while I moved on. That was quite fun. The other thieves seemed to be more observant. They didn't choose to steal from a person wearing full armour and carrying a large tower shield in one hand.
Why was I in full battle gear? The answer was quite simple. I had no idea how safe this city really was and being ready for a fight was a good idea. It also helped that because of my strength, I felt like I was just wearing normal clothing.
The street food here was also quite excellent, and I continued to sample as I walked towards my destination. Every once in a while, I popped into a shop to look at items. One thing I found interesting was a lot of items had different kinds of upgrades like enchantments or runes that would give stat points.
I found them quite interesting and eventually, I made it to a shop that specialized in them. The seller was quite enthusiastic when he explained all the benefits, but I was also able to get him to speak of the negatives.
Having extra stat points was, of course, incredibly good, but they did limit how much ability strength you could use. So, for example, my knife, I could currently put enough energy into it to cut through a large tree. If I were to put, for example, 100 strength stat point runes onto it, I might not be able to put enough energy into it to cut through the tree again, but the extra strength might help me do it. Basically, it’s a balancing act to see if the extra stat points are worth it or not. Usually, they are extremely beneficial at lower ranks, but honestly, it depends on your build.
I could still see myself adding some more specialized stat points to my gear, but currently, I wasn’t worried about it. Also, temporary stat points wouldn't help you to get over a threshold to gain a trait. A few hours later, I was still in the commercial area, but I finally found a shop that had rank two items. From there, I found a shoddy knife that was rank two but it had the shatter enchantment. Roger had given me enough money that I could afford this, but it would still consume over half of it.
Still, it was a necessary expenditure. Now I could test my greatsword and see if it can truly withstand this enchantment. If it didn’t and my sword broke, I would want to rage quit. But I put that out of my mind and continued to walk.
I picked up the pace quite a lot, but even then it took me in total eight hours to make it here, and I even sometimes ran on the streets that were meant for fast travel. When I made it to my destination area, I was a bit repulsed about the luxury displayed here. Everything was so golden and ostentatious. At least the Court of the Young wasn't as bad as some of the other buildings, but it was still bad.
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It had a more simple design, but there were still the columns and tall narrow windows that were all decorated with intricate carvings. To enter, you needed to ascend a wide staircase. I also noticed that as I entered this area, there were a lot more eyes on me. Some were curious, but that was more of the exception as most were, for lack of a better word, disgusted. I did not enjoy being here, but in life, you need to do things that you do not enjoy.
After I ascended the stairs, I was stopped by the guards who were barring the way inside. "Only the members of the Court of the Young can enter. Please present your identification or leave promptly," one of the guards said, and I was actually pleasantly surprised. I had expected something more along the lines of 'you don't belong here, get out.' I pulled out the ring that I had gotten and showed it to them, after which they stepped out of the way and let me go inside.
Inside, there was a hallway made from stone polished until it was a mirror. In the center, there was a carpet that you were supposed to walk on. There were many statues and large, truly beautiful paintings.
All of them were of landscapes, and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. It was quite a long hallway, but at the end of it, there was a larger room with a reception area and many doors leading out of it. I also saw two hallways that went further into the building.
I approached the receptionist and showed my ring. "First time here, and I guess I need to take an evaluation or something like that?" I asked. The receptionist checked my ring with some sort of a device. After that she looked like she was meditating.
"Ah, yes, Rich Dirt, currently rank two. Already had an evaluation with the Adventurer Guild but now has reached rank 2 and is here well before the deadline. Excellent, excellent. It will just be a few minutes before an attendant will come and show you further in. Until then, you can wait here or if you have any more questions, I am happy to answer them."
"How long does this usually take as I have some other commitments in a few days that I need to take care of?" I asked the receptionist. I got a pleasant smile in return. "If it's in a few days, then you truly have nothing to worry about. I have never seen it take more than two days, but normally it’s just one day or even less." I thanked her and then went to sit on one of the luxurious chairs at the edge of the room. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything to read here, but I also didn’t need to wait long as I saw a lanky man approach.
"I assume you’re Rich Dirt. It’s a pleasure. I am Ferdinand the Third, but just call me Ferdinand. We have a busy schedule ahead of us, so please follow me." I got up and started to follow him as he started to explain more about what was going to happen.
Apparently, this was like a college entrance process. I needed to take a few written tests, get interviewed, and take an introduction class as to what is expected of me and what the Court of the Young does.
The tests were quite easy, but I did recognize some of them being personality tests and so on. I didn’t try to lie on any of them, and I was pleasantly surprised that we got the results basically immediately afterwards.
Ferdinand was quite a pleasant person, and the test results were basically just fail or pass. Of course, I suspected if you fail, then you probably won't go on living, but that was never mentioned, and if it came to that, I would fight until I died.
The classes taught quite a lot, and I was quite glad that basically nothing special was expected of me. I could be as active or inactive as I wanted to be, although there were a few exceptions. One, if I reached the third rank, I needed to join an organization or make one.
The second requirement was that if there was a decision to be made that required all members to cast a vote, then I needed to show up. That, of course, surprised me a bit, especially when I learned more about what the Court of the Young actually was.
It was basically the junior version of the World Council. Here, young and promising individuals could start their journey for political power. When you reach rank three, you would not be allowed to actively participate in the lower realm's activities so this is the place you could continue your journey.
Politics weren’t that strict but in some cases, it was, for example, you were part of a Kingdom that declared war on another Kingdom. You simply weren't allowed to take part in any fighting or negotiations and if you did the best outcome would be a heavy fine and worst death.