Once again, Nathan found himself retracing his steps through the sewers, making his way to the entrance. He had not taken the same route as yesterday, opting to turn left this time. No undead or other creatures had appeared today, only slimes and the obligatory rodents.

He had even been forced to kill one rat, a vicious beast with a scar-riddled body that seemed convinced it could take out the hunter who had so callously invaded its domain.

I might have actually done the rat population a favour, Nathan thought. I doubt that thing would have shied away from killing its own kind. If it had actually killed me, it might have even developed a beast core.

Any organ that gave a creature access to ephemeral energies was generally called a core. Normal animals could potentially develop a core by killing enough creatures that were technically stronger than themselves. It happened rarely, but due to the inherent ferocity and bloodthirstiness of these developed creatures, they were often a bigger problem than monsters that had naturally occurring cores.

Nathan himself would develop a core too, though the Spearman class specifically gave no access to ephemeral energy. This was deliberate on his part, as any being could only gain access to one form of ephemeral energy, and he planned to develop mana once he obtained the Sanguinomancer class.

In his last life, Nathan's core had allowed him to control qi, the energy of the body. This life, he planned to obtain mana, the energy of the soul. The third energy, and the one most rarely used, was psi, the energy of the mind.

He had kept count of the slime cores collected, and without having to fight any undead, alongside his superior perception that allowed him to navigate more freely, the count was up to 42.

I will have enough credits to get my class in about a week. That will leave me with enough of a head start to get both Identify and Inspect.

Those two were perhaps the most important universal skills in existence, meaning they could be held regardless of class. They allowed the user to scan beings and items, respectively.

Information truly was power, Nathan had learned, and nothing in this tower could provide more consistent information than those two skills.

Finding his way to the ladder without interruption, Nathan climbed up and once more stood before the gate. He was about to knock before lowering his hand and instead inspecting his equipment.

He made sure to put on his bracelet, put away his timepiece and light, and picked up his spear.

I might very well be paranoid, but there is a reason I'm still alive.

Finally, he knocked on the door, and it opened slowly. Nathan walked out as if unconcerned, taking in the view of the village, letting his gaze wander around.

Something about the guards caught his eye, but he didn't linger on them, instead looking towards Brand, who waited for him while his mind raced about what exactly seemed out of place.

“Brand,” he said, “I came across a damned rat with a beast core down there. Can you believe it? Scratched up my leg something fierce.”

Nathan made a show of wincing as he put his weight on his left leg.

“Won't be able to make it down there tomorrow, maybe even a couple of days after that.”

Appear weak when you are strong and strong when you are weak, Nathan thought. That should be enough for him to underestimate me if he actually plans something.

In that moment, he realized why the guards seemed different. Their equipment was average. If they were actually stationed here, the brokers would pay them enough to afford better stuff. They must be in on it.

Mentally thanking his perception, Nathan positioned his spear to lean on it, further selling the story about his leg wound, while preparing for the fight that was about to occur. I was just to tempting of a target, Nathan guessed. New guy in town, without any friends, willingly letting a stranger cast a spell on him in the bad part of town. And the sewer is right there, they don't even have to clean up my body.

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Even if Nathan hadn't already expected what was about to happen, the smile that grazed Brand's lips right then would have clued him in.

“Truly tragic,” the mage commented. “Here, let me get that grime off.”

Just before Brand had finished speaking, Nathan suddenly lunged towards the guard on his left, his pretend injury forgotten. The guard was entirely relaxed, secure in his knowledge that Nathan was a new hunter and wounded to boot.

Before the man even knew what was going on, Nathan's spear had found the hole in his armour next to his armpit and sank in several inches. It took a second before anyone reacted, with the wounded guardsman letting out a scream while his colleague lurched to attention and Brand started casting a spell.

Nathan wrenched his spear out of the man, who fell to the ground while blood spewed from his wound, still too shocked to regain his senses. In the same motion, he fired off a counterspell toward Brand, one of the gems on his bracelet crumbling to dust.

The remaining guardsman also held a spear, though his armour presented a distinct advantage. Nathan knew this fight had to end quickly—he only had two counterspells remaining, and it was entirely possible for the first guardsman to come to his senses before bleeding out.

Nathan danced around the guard while Brand dealt with the feedback from a broken spell; a small trickle of blood could be seen falling from his nose. His direct opponent kept screaming at Nathan all the while, foolishly exhausting himself without even fighting.

Just as the man was finishing a tirade consisting of a particularly foul string of insults, Nathan lunged once more. The guard reacted quickly, and despite his sloppy execution, the spear would definitely hit Nathan.

Nathan simply angled his body, shooting out another counterspell towards Brand, knowing this would leave him vulnerable for a while.

While the guard's spear sank into Nathan's shoulder, Nathan's weapon cleanly pierced through his opponent's leather armour, smoothly finding its way through the man's ribs and shredding his heart.

Despite knowing this was coming, Nathan's world exploded. He was unable to feel anything, and his entire field of vision went white.

All he could hear was a scream, and only after a while did he realize it was his.

When he came back, Brand was on top of him, pummelling his face. The mage himself looked horrible, blood pouring from his eyes, ears, and nose. It seemed the second counterspell had disrupted something critical.

The adrenaline reduced the wound to a throbbing ache, allowing Nathan to wrestle Brand to the ground and hold him there. He broke off the spear stuck in his shoulder, letting out a piercing scream at the incredible pain.

Gathering all his might, he rammed the broken spear shaft through Brand's eye, leaving the mage dead in the dirt.

Nathan wanted nothing more than to lay down, his body screaming at him that it was at its limits.

With practised ease, Nathan ignored this, immediately starting to loot the three corpses he had left behind.

Luckily, the first guard had bled out, sparing Nathan the task of putting him out of his misery.

Nathan spent a while collecting their belongings. He left most of their things behind, opting only to take their credits and one ring that Brand had been wearing. Its use was not clear to him, but he was sure that it must have been valuable if the mage was carrying it around.

By the time he was finished, his hands were shaking, his field of vision slowly shrinking. Blood loss, he knew. I've got a while, but not enough time to rest.

He took a swig from a canteen one of the guards had with him. The spear still stuck in his shoulder, he set out. I've collected about 600 credits. Time to see if the brokers are ready to help.

He started stumbling through the streets, finding his way to where he saw the wolfkin before. Nathan was leaning heavily on his spear, leaving a trail of blood behind. In addition to this, he had not cleaned up since leaving the sewers.

Any residents he came across quickly got out of his way, and he saw a few eyeing him suspiciously.

He considered himself lucky that no guards were patrolling this part of town; they would have apprehended him immediately and probably taken his coin to boot.

He felt himself slowing down as he continued on, the sense of urgency making way for bone-deep exhaustion.

Despite all this, he eventually entered the street where he had seen the wolfkin before and, searching for him, eventually found the man.

The wolfkin, too, was staring towards him, and Nathan took out the pouch his credits were in without hesitation and threw it towards him. The man snatched it out of the air before opening it and inspecting its contents.

Nathan hobbled the rest of the way over before opening his mouth. “Angel's tears,” he let out, his voice low and rough in his throat.

The wolfkin let out a dry laugh before producing a glass flask filled with an amber-colored substance. “15 credits for this. I won't need the whole pouch.”

Nathan grabbed the flask before gulping down its contents, a not-insignificant amount spilling over his clothes.

It took a few seconds for the drug to take effect, his energy returning, the pain receding until he felt as if he had just gotten out of bed. A pleasant buzz filled his head, and his hands and feet started to lose their feeling.

“Keep the pouch. I need more,” Nathan said, before producing a cigarette and lighting it.

The wolfkin gave him a curious look.

“A vice from my homeland, keeps the nerves down,” Nathan explained, offering the man one of his own. The wolfkin rejected him while Nathan took a deep drag.

“I trade in drugs. I never take them,” he explained.

““Brokers’ rules, eh,” Nathan mused. “I can understand that one at least.”

The man waited for him to continue speaking. “I need a class-stone.”