I looked over my status intently one more time, seeing if my scowl could change what I saw in front of me.

Name: Luca Piel

Class: Soul Reaper level 10

Xp to next level: 500/1500

Health: 1500/1500

Mana: 2500/2500

Stamina: 2750/2750

Characteristics

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 35

Constitution: 15

Intelligence: 25

Wisdom: 25

Charisma: 15

Abilities

Right Clothes for the Job

Effect 1: conjure a full set a black Reaper robes. Effect 2: caster can become ethereal for a few seconds and negate all incoming damage.

Man on the Job

Effect 1: caster becomes harder to detect physically and magically. Recording/scrying/viewing devices/spells may show distortion where the caster is. Effect 2: caster emits an aura of uncertainty which may cause fear, vomiting, rage, tunnel vision, paralysis and self doubt. Effect 3: Aura ability is able to be turned on or off. Effect 4: if caster attacks all effects are voided and a large taunt is triggered.

Touch of the Reaper *Disabled*

Effect 1: can see the exact amount of damage the target has caused to sentient creatures. Effect 2: damage from attacks is 2n slashing where n is the exact amount of damage from effect 1. Effect 3: once damage has been used up, no more damage may be dealt to the target.

Final Voyage

Effect 1: when a creature with a soul is slain you must escort their soul to its final resting place. Effect 2: for each soul, their last rites will be made known as the journey begins.

Ethereal Step

Effect 1: caster turns ethereal and moves up to 15 ft from original starting place. Effect 2: leaves an after image that slowly fades after 2 seconds or takes damage

Soul Lantern

Effect 1: the soul lantern shelters and holds lost souls safely until a time when they can be put to rest. Effect 2: lantern can be attached to the user’s weapon. Effect 3: Souls can be drawn to the soul lantern from 500 feet away.

Restrictions

Reaper's Purpose: A Reaper is a non-combatant to any creature that possesses a soul. Should a Reaper attack all abilities are negated, the Reaper's Abilities become unusable and a powerful taunt is emitted. The only exceptions are towards creatures with stolen souls or have taken souls from their eternal rest.

Skills

Danger Sense (greater) level 9

Long blades (Master) level 10 (max)

Polearms level 8

Staff combat (Master) level 10 (max)

Combat Grace (greater) level 5

Unarmed combat level 2

Climbing level 5

Swimming level 6

Barter level 4

Hiking level 2

Animal handling level 9

Mana Sense (greater) level 10 (max)

Mana manipulation level 10 (max)

Mana control level 5

Modify spell (greater) level 7

Dual casting level 9

Stealth casting level 2

Silent casting level 4

Danger Sense level 6

Reaping - Wheat level 2

Stealth (greater) level 10 (max)

Crafting level 10 (max)

Carving - Wood level (Master) 10 (max)

Carving - Bone level 2

Tracking level 2

Acrobatics level 5

Spells

Identification (greater) level 9

Message (greater) level 10 (max)

Mage Armour (greater) level 10 (max)

Mage Hand (greater) level 10 (max)

Death Bolt (greater) level 10 (max)

Invisibility level 10 (max)

Charm Humanoid (greater) level 10 (max)

Detect Life (greater) level 10 (max)

Haste level 8

Mage Shield (minor) level 3

Lesser Regeneration (minor) level 9

Detect Evil (greater) level 9

Light (greater) level 5

Empower Attack level 7

I stared at my status screen, my brow furrowed as I stared at the anomaly, Touch of the Reaper was disabled. I wasn't sure what that meant, I had heard of people losing abilities but never one being deactivated. I had a suspicion that it was because I failed to kill the necromancer, that fucker ran after the goblin king died but I couldn’t be sure.

While my Soul Reaper class was non-combat class, I used my stealth skills for the more dangerous scouting amount monsters or defending Taylor and Clair while they killed the monsters. Touch of the Reaper was meant to be for the more unsavoury monsters out there that perverted the course of death. Touch of the Reaper was the guarantee from my class that meant I would kill anything I attacked, did this finally mean that I could gain xp from combat or get involved in fighting now?

I lost track of time while staring at my status, so much so that I didn't notice the rest of my party join me at my table.

"But why? I mean he did as much as the rest of us yet he gets to skip out on the awards ceremony? It's not fair." Clair grumbled sounding like a petulant child.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Because your class doesn't force you into an alternative plane of existence." Harold said, passing a mug of something over to me.

"It wasn't that bad." Raven weighed in, "You got to see Lord Charles make an absolute fool of himself."

Clair grumbled again but it was more in sullen acceptance than anything else.

"How did the ceremony go?" I asked.

"Same as every other congratulations ceremony," Harold replied, "everyone cheered, ladies swooned, gentlemen proposed, babies were kissed, speeches were given."

"The rewards weren't that bad." Raven added, she held up a pair of old, nasty looking daggers that could be used in a ritual sacrifice, "We got gifts from the royal treasury."

"Here is yours." Harold said, handing over a plain brown bag.

I took the bag from him and cast my identification spells, my eyes tingled for a second then I relieved a notification.

Item: Masterful Bag of Holding

Rarity: Legendary

Weight: 1.5lb

Description: Created by a master space mage this bag has a huge storage area and gains no weight from items put inside. Any non living items put inside will enter a state of stasis. This bag will not accept living creatures into its dimensional storage area.

Requirements: soulbound.

"Damn, this is a really good bag." I said appreciatively, I'd seen some good bags of holding but this was on a new level.

A new notification popped up asking me if I wanted to soulbind the bag, I agreed to it and I felt my Mana connect to the bag and knowledge flooded into me letting me know that my new bag was empty.

"They pulled it out of the King's vault apparently." Harold acknowledged. "Raven was tempted to change her request to a second bag like that."

"Well yeah, just imagine all the loot I could stash in there." Raven said, her voice filled with awe.

I smiled as I put the single strap over my shoulder, I picked up my adventurer's pack and brought it to the opening of the bag. I was not sure what I was expecting to happen but watched in awe as my new bag of holding widened so that the pack could fit in it. I heard some of my friends gasping as I released the bag and it vanished.

"I've never seen someone use a bag of holding before." Clair said softly.

"It's quite something, there was this noble I partied up with once who had one," I reminisced, "he said they were the best thing money could buy if you could convince a space mage to make one."

"You partied with a noble?" Harold asked.

"A long time ago, may he rest in peace." I said, my thoughts turning sad as I remembered him.

The conversation died down for a little bit as food arrived and we all began eating. I hadn't realised that anyone had ordered it but I was thankful. The catfish stew with fresh bread was a treat and I tuned out everything while I ate the tender bits of spiced fish and vegetables.

It was only once I had finished did I start to take notice of what was going on around me. Clair was showing off her new bow that she had requested, it was distinctly elven and it was made from dark red wood. She pushed some mana into the bow and the enchantments lit up the side. I wasn’t an expert on enchanting but luckily she said that they were for magic amplification for arrows. Taylor was next to show off her reward, they produced a grimoire raidated cold.

“It’s the tome of the frozen wanderer.” They beamed, “There was a legend of a wanderer who would roam the mountains to the north that would protect the tribes from the frost giants.”

“That sounds like something out of a story book.” Raven said dubiously.

“That may be,” Taylor nodded, “but this grimoire has lots of utility ice spells so it should help me get class levels faster and get better spells." Harold nodded in agreement.

"What did you get Harold?" I asked not seeing what he'd received.

"I got some new boots, they are enchanted to allow me to use a stomp ability that has a chance to knock opponents down."

"That'll be handy." I said I understood his choice. Crowd control had been tricky for him in the fight with the goblin king.

"They're blue." Raven said snickering.

"Oh no." I groaned, "That's what? 3 or 4 pieces of armour that are blue?"

"4." Harold groaned as well.

"It's OK," Raven said grinning, "there's no need to look so blue!" She burst out laughing and Clair snorted.

I shook my head, the poor gnome was going to end up looking like a small ball of ice, steel and impenetrable armour.

"In other news," Harold said, trying to move on. "We have a new quest. Or more like part 2 of a chain quest."

Harold made some hand gestures that I recognised as sharing a quest. A few seconds later a quest notification popped up.

You have received a new quest.

Quest: Kill the Necromancer

Type: Legendary

Description: The goblin king has fallen and the kingdom rejoices, however the Necromancer managed to escape the battle and has fled. The kingdom has asked for your help in eradicating the threat to the kingdom once and for all. Hunt down and kill the Necromancer.

Reward: Peace in the Kingdom, 2 items from the Kingdom's treasury. Reputation increased with the kingdom, a noble title in the Royal Court and lands to fit the title.

Penalties for failure or refusal: Reputation loss with the kingdom, further restriction placed on all Soul Reaper class abilities.

Accept: yes/no

I didn't want the lands or title but 2 items from the treasury did sound interesting, the restrictions on my class abilities however meant that the choice was a no brainer. I accepted the quest and saw that everyone else was looking at the same notification.

"Do we know which way he went?" I asked.

"I've spoken to the mage's guild and they have been trying to scry them. They think that he might have gone north west down to the worm tunnels." Harold said, reading it off a piece of parchment.

"Northwest? That doesn't make sense, that's still contested territory." Taylor said, "he'd have to fight his way through the reinforcements that were coming."

"They must not have known." Clair pointed out.

"Then we need to move fast," Harold decided, "we can ride towards the great slopes, I doubt they would have jumped the cliffs."

"The horses are still in the barn, we can't press them hard, their wounds haven't fully healed, but they'll get us to somewhere with better ones." Clair said.

We left the city shortly afterwards, no one could find a reason to stay for longer and Taylor had restocked our potions after the battle. And just like that the hunt for the necromancer had begun.

Honestly it wasn't all that exciting. We left the city and began riding across the grassland. A few weeks ago it would have been a wonderful ride with picturesque scenes of nature, small clearings in forests with old fire pits, windswept grass looking like a giant was moving it around. Now however, in the aftermath of war it was all churned earth, bodies yet to be collected or burned and the smell of blood.

I watched as the reality of the past few months set in with my party. The war with the Goblin King had taken months and it was only thanks to a lucky break did we even get the chance to confront him. The goblins and undead had swept across the kingdom with almost no resistance. The final battle had lasted days and at any point things could have turned for the worse and we could have died.

It started with Clair, she called out to the wilds around us and nothing answered her call, not even a bird. She sat there thinking over the implications before it hit her, she didn't sob but instead went deathly still. Slowly I watched as all the others realised the implications as well.

"So where are we headed first?" I tried to get everyone to focus.

"Mountain Guard is in ruins, we need to be careful passing through as they haven't cleared the city yet but they have ¾ of a Marines unit." Harold replied. "Soyalls is going to be the first town that we need to check in on, the report said that they came under siege but they managed to mostly defend the town."

"Mostly defend the city?" Raven asked.

"A fifth of the town burnt down but the last message was from just before the final battle. The kingdom is unsure if they survived through the retreating goblins." Harold said slightly grimly. "Either way it should be our first stop and is only about 4 days away."

"4 days?!" I groaned.

I hated horse riding. And horses, fuck horses, horses hated me. I preferred walking, my own feet would not throw me into rivers, hedges, trees, the road, bite me while trying to give it food or shit on my pack purposefully. I may have a few unresolved issues with the creatures.

"Couldn't we find a portal specialist?" I asked, I looked over to Taylor as they were part of the magic society.

"They are busy with the reconstruction effort in the city, we couldn't afford the price to take them away from that." They shrugged.

"Well shit."

"What's wrong? Can the little horsey feel your class?" Raven teased.

"Nah, it'd be freaking the fuck out if it could, actually." I said tapping my chin in thought, "it could be petitioning me to become my deathly steed for my dark bidding."

I grinned for a second before the mother fucker bucked and almost sent me flying. I gripped the saddle horn tighter. Raven burst out laughing at the display and I heard a few other laughs as well. I swore softly that I would turn this creature into a curry when I was done with it.

The rest of that day was uneventful as we rode onwards. Churned ground and piles of bodies turned to burnt out fields and destroyed homes, the dead still lay where they fell but there were work parties slowly gathering them up. They were escorted by the Royal Marines in their shiny armour, the dents from the fighting were still obvious on some of them.

Even then, they were left behind and we continued forward through the destruction. Honestly I could continue on but the shit was all the same. We kept talking through how we were all planning on implementing our rewards into our tactics and plans.

Mostly nothing had changed, Clair's bow just meant she dealt more damage. Raven's daggers dealt a stronger poison damage and Taylor hadn't managed to learn a spell from the grimoire just yet. Harold's boots were a talking point but nothing was decided as we were unsure if the ability differentiated between friend or foe.

The only major thing to come from the meeting was that everyone asked for me to store their large backpacks. Yup, I was now a baggage boy. I did warn everyone that I would be able to see everyone in their backpack, just for disclosure and because I didn't want to be accused of peeping when it was impossible not to.

They all agreed after Raven, Taylor and Harold removed some items from their packs. I looked at Clair who raised an eyebrow as she passed me her backpack. While I was tempted I resisted looking through their items. Suddenly I felt something shift in my connection with the bag and the backpacks seemed to be sealed and I couldn't see inside of them. I drew my focus to the seals and a notification popped up.

Item: Clair's personal backpack

Rarity: unique

Weight: n/a

Description: This is the personal backpack of Clair and contains her items. *this item can only be withdrawn*

Restriction: This item requires the permission of the owner to access it and the contents.

I sat there in confusion, had my bag understood my thoughts? I had heard of items changing to the owner but I'd never owned anything enchanted. I shrugged, I'd have a long time to find out all the item's quirks.

It was nearly dusk when we reached the Marine camp at Mountain Guard. The sun had swooped down low and bathed the cliffs in red, a gentle night breeze brought the smell of death wafting through the area. The city's ruins cast long shadows that seemed to move if you didn't watch them. It felt entirely too ominous seeing as this side of the city's wall was almost completely intact. Two large holes were blown out either side of the large main gate, the door lay shattered on the floor.

"Halt!" A marine commanded as we slowed our horses. "Identify yourselves or head back to the capital, this area is unsafe."

"Greetings, we are The Wanderers and my name is Harold." Harold replied, "I have a letter from the King for your commander."

"Ah, you're the adventurers right? Good to see you all, come with me. The captain is expecting you." The guard said waving us over.

We followed the guard into the camp, he led us to a temporary stable and some stable hands came out and took the horses from us. I frowned at my soul lantern noticing something, when my mother fucking horse decided to bite me. I didn't see it coming and so, I had my leg chomped on by yet another monster in disguise.