A comfortable bed was all Logan needed when he got back to the guild. Quick hellos and greetings went by as the man made a beeline for the bedrooms above. Finding his room as he left it, Logan plonked on the soft sheets as his head laid on the pillow.
Having kept the rewards on standby so the Spellthief could properly look them over, as well as not visibly change within the eyelines of the populace, Logan finally accepted the rewards awaiting his approval.
“The reward for your quest completion is as follows:
* The following skills have gained 1 tier of mastery: Spell Absorption, Safecasting, and Advanced Micks (Maxed).
* Summon Mastery has increased from tier 2 to tier 5 (Maxed).
* The following skills have been obtained: Stealth Drain.”
“So, the reward for all of that was seven or so skill points? I suppose obtaining a new spell and ally got rolled into that”, Logan thought to himself.
Regarding Summon Mastery, Logan’s summons maximum levels also increased by three more. He’d have to sort out their levels at some point to gain more MP from them, but there was also the case of using the fourth-level variant of the spell to let them rise higher.
Stealth Drain was a skill Logan had looked at previously, a simple skill that let him drain more MP when using the Stealth Attack skill, trading the extra damage for it.
With 192 days under his belt, Logan was quite accustomed to the places he needed to go to get stronger. As well as the techniques he’d need to deploy to make his own gear. One such task was returning to the Gerro Guardhouse at the behest of Jirango.
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“Morning”, Logan called as he closed the door to the guardhouse behind him.
Jirango coughed to remove the morning phlegm from his throat, “You’re up early for how long you were out. Sleep well?” he asked as he drank from a mug at his side.
Logan rotated his arms, “As always. This activity makes it easy to drift off immediately when my back hits the bed.”
“Glad to hear it. Here’s the item I mentioned before”, Jirango replied as he pulled out a piece of folded cloth. Unfolding it, he revealed a simple gold ring that was a bit too large for a finger.
“Quite unassuming.”
“That’s the trick, I suppose”, Jirango replied with a smile before picking the ring off the cloth and placing it on the wooden desk.
Logan leaned over and looked through the centre of the ring, just bigger than a peephole. And acting like one! The inner part of the ring had pierced the barrier of the wooden tabletop and allowed Logan to look inside the desk and its contents, books, paper, and writing utensils.
Jirango placed his thumb and index finger on the outside of the ring, “Turn it clockwise to see further”, turning the ring as he said. As he turned it almost all the way around, the ring pierced more of the contents of the table, until Logan could see down to the floor beneath. “And anti-clockwise to do the reverse”, as he said, he did, the sight of the ring zooming back until it couldn’t look through the tabletop.
“It's got five feet of see-through then”, Logan calculated aloud.
“Around that. I was surprised you were after something like this, but it will help a lot with hunter business. It’s called a throughsight ring.”
Locked picked up the ring and put it within his coat-inventory. “Thanks for digging this out for me.”
“No problem, you have quite a few bonus points saved up after all.”
“I take it there’s not been any development with Drustan and Ratbert?”
Jirango shook his head slowly, “Nope. The man’s been quiet since arriving and the homunculus has yet to learn language.”
“A night isn’t anywhere near enough time. Keep me updated.”
“Will do. You picking up some work?”
“Not today. I need to sort some other things out.”
“Well I hope you get that all done nicer than this business”, Jirango laughed as he pointed a thumb behind him, towards the wall that hid away the prison cells.
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Aside from the usual changing of daggers, which had many eyebrows raised by some merchants when they looked at Logan, probably assuming he wasn’t that strong or that a mage using daggers of that rank was rare, Logan also made sure to check if he could easily change his trinkets.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Where there weren’t any easy upgrades to purchase, Logan instead bought up tomes to increase his spell and skill masteries. The first two on his list were the second volumes for Sig-Immediate Spell and Sig-Clutch Spell, the former being mostly only useful if it needed to be maxed for other skill unlocks.
He also picked up three volumes for the Magic Penetration skill, allowing him some chance of piercing spell immunities.
While picking up spell tomes, Logan was disappointed there was a lack of demon-clan spells on offer. He’d have to rely on his Spell Absorption for upgrading those spells in particular or hope his quest rewards increased them as they had done in the past.
With a tall tower of books, Logan paid for them and had them absorbed into his coat. It was at least a more common sight amongst casters of his rank, so the bookkeeper had little shock in seeing it.
Logan spent a few days reading while he brewed potions in his cauldron, spending more nights in Amalia’s room due to the smell of the brewing process. The couple were fine with the arrangement regardless of the reasons behind it.
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After finishing up his time reading books, the sun rising and setting several times, Logan moved on to his next task. Learning all he could about his most recent confrontation with a Player Character. Taking his leave, the Spellthief Teleported straight into Ahren’s shop, his allowances letting him use the spell wherever he pleased, within reason.
Ahren looked up from his desk and sighed, “At least that spell is less disruptive. Congratulations on the level-up.”
“Thanks. That one at least came easy. Had to get through a few hordes since our last visit”, Logan replied as he sat at the shop counter.
“I got the same impression that multiple weaker foes were the way to make hurried progress. It’s grand, but as you know, not exactly the best way to take on System quests.”
“Unless I level up after I get the quest.”
“True, I suppose”, Ahren ended as he flipped closed a book, “What’s the craic? Needing some potions or advice?”
“The latter. During my most recent System quest, I was attacked by another PC.”
“Were they a Below PC?” Ahren asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I got a quest to kill them, so it’s a good guess. Though it called them a ‘rival’ and didn’t mention the below.”
“My quest said the same when I fought mine”, Ahren nodded, “So, did you do it?”
“I tried to. They seemingly gave a quest to a demon we had unknowingly summoned, I tracked the PC down even though they were invisible and attacked them.”
“Cut off the head, let the eejit’s head roll”, Ahren cursed.
“You really don’t like them, do you?”
“I don’t care much for the System giving us quests to hack each other off, the little dossers go through with it more than we do.”
“I can understand that. Either way, when it seemed I had hit her with a spell she yelled at me ‘follow the fucking rules’, any clue what she was on about?”
“Huh. It’s manky business all the same. But, saying you weren’t following some sort of rules? Did your quest say anything like that? Additional objectives?”
Logan shook his head, “I checked the history window and nothing came up.”
“Maybe she was trying to throw you off?”
“Maybe. She left after she said that and my quest was revoked.”
“Revoked? Well. If I knew that was an option I’d give it a shot. Any fights between PCs I know of ended in one side dying. To hear that the below lass fled…” Ahren began to rub his chin.
“Another thing came to mind. The only times I’ve really interacted with below PCs are, I believe, when they command others to do their bidding. Either their partnered monsters or armies that listen to their words. This is the first ‘battle’, if you can call it that, I’ve had with one.”
“You killed, Tille was it? The partnered monster of the PC I killed before. Maybe they are in different camps like we are. I ‘retired’ while you’re taking on as many quests as you can.”
“It seems a few previous PCs also retired from what I gathered or were killed in action on quests. If it was because of below PCs then that changes some things around.”
“You saw the other PCs at the Coliseum grounds, right? Some real ogeous handling.”
“Yeah.”
“They were in their own groups. Maybe some of them don’t care too much for the System quests, like myself. I got outta that garden.”
“There was a pair of men, two women, and a shadowy figure.”
“So, three teams.”
“They could have just wanted to stay separate to not draw attention.”
“Could be.”
“Maybe this woman was part of a group that talked with the above PCs”, Logan theorised aloud.
“None talked with me. Tille had other allies, so doubt it was one of them lot.”
“There’s always a chance their quests are designed differently to ours, and one of their objectives or rules conflicted with what I was allowed to do. To give me an edge?”
Ahren laughed, “You’re really taking this like a game. Getting us to kill each other is minus craic.”
Logan sat up straight in response, “I just want to wrap my head around all of this. If we go off the idea that we’re all taken from Earth, we should try and forge allegiances and fight back against the monsters, not each other.”
“Bang on. That would be nice. Maybe try talking with the next below PC to try and sort this shite out.”
Logan sighed, “Was hoping you’d be able to shed some light on this whole ‘rules’ business.”
“Can’t win them all. I left that all behind anyways.”
“And I accept that. I don’t want to put you out. Though, there is one thing you could help me with.”
Ahren perked up slightly, “What’s that?”
“Getting so close to fighting a PC has got me anxious. They’re all so varied. I was hoping you’d be up for a match so I can get a feel for it.”
“G’way. You want to tussle with an old man?”
Logan tilted his head down as if to say “You serious” to Ahren. “You told me about your abilities, I know you can move like a spring chicken if you wanted.
Ahren smiled, “Alright. You’ll have to wait for tomorrow, though. I need to sort myself out for a fight.”
Logan nodded, “Glad you’re on board. Tomorrow it is.”
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