Standing side by side, Stegar and Viola would have made for a strange sight under different circumstances. The tall northerner with his long pale beard and the short elf with long red locs. Seeing them from behind, you would be forgiven for thinking you were watching an annoyed father and a spoiled daughter having a conversation with how animated the elf was. If you were to listen in however…

“What do you mean we have to stay another week! Just because of some brown-nosed nobody that got golden hairs up the ass. I bet he's a bloody noble. That's why the Guild leaders want him pampered like a little princess. His daddy's paying gold to have us sit here with our thumbs up our asses in case he gets a bobo, and we have to go give him a pat on the head and give him a kiss.” Viola said. Emphasizing her points by stomping her feet.

Stegar did not show much reaction to her tirade. Stegar never really showed any reaction unless there were dice or blood involved. Preferably one followed by the other. Deciding she was done with her current tirade, he said. “You speak too much. We are paid to stand and watch. Like guard. Gold is gold.” A moment later. “Stop kicking me.”

“Well, I'm bored. There are barely any zombies, and all the other teams are out east slowing down the horde.” She kicked his foot again for good measure.

Stegar gave her a measured look before he said, “You are still angry because he kicked you out of his tent when you tried stealing from his bag?” Viola snorted and crossed her arms.

“The troll lover could at least pretend. How was I supposed to know that his damn bag was warded?” She shuddered at the memory. Having lightning shot through her wasn't something she was particularly fond of or wanted to feel again. Besides, the lummox could at least have pretended to be interested when she snuck into his tent.

Stegar gave her another long look. “I have seen. How can you think it would not be? It looks epstesive… ecksressiv… like it cost much gold.” He said.

“Expensive, you ogre turd. I guess. It does look expensive. Just imagine all the loot in it.” She didn't notice her hands were making grabbing motions in front of her.

“It is not good to steal from teammates, Viola.” He said with a frown. Kicking him again, she asked, “Why?” Stegars frown deepened. After a few seconds, he said, “Calvin said so.” She gave him an exasperated look and asked, “So if Calvin said it was good to steal from teammates, you would do that.” He nodded and said, “Yes, leader makes rules. If Stegar is leader, he will take elf's head. Then she stops making so many noises.” Viola just snorted.

“He comes!” Stegar suddenly shouted. Viola almost jumped out of her skin and kicked him again in retaliation.

The duo was soon joined by the rest of the team. “The kid is coming in fast. Do you think something is chasing him?” Harrum asked no one in particular. “No, he has seen us, and he's smiling. He just waved.” Mibra answered. Waving back. Having the highest Mind attribute among them, her eyesight was better than the rest.

It didn't take long for him to reach them. He was practically flying across the ground. When Ambros stopped a few steps before them, Calvin took in his state and said with a smile. “Happy you finally chose to join us, you lazy bum. You have heard of bathing, right?”

Slowly walking to join the adventurers, Ambros had to chuckle before he answered. “Things got a bit hot there for a moment. Yeah, but this is so much more dramatic.” Ambros spread his arms out and did a slow circle showing them the extent of his armor, or lack thereof. “Reminds me. I brought you a snack Viola,” and threw his severed arm at her. He was still a bit annoyed at her for attempting to steal from him, and now that he had the Book Ring to worry about, he wasn't taking any chances. The power of the electric charge was much more powerful on the Book Ring than on his necklace.

Viola staggered but managed to hold on to the arm. It took her a moment to realize what she was holding, but when she did, “Ewwwww, an arm, you disgusting troll turd! A human arm! What sort of sick bastard are you! What are you even doing with it?” When she threw it on the ground, he put it back in his bag and said, “A souvenir.”

The rest of them, even Stegar, was looking at his bare left arm. Mibra asked, “You want to talk about it?” as she gave him a one-armed hug. Making sure her hand was nowhere close to the Book Ring, he answered while giving her a short hug back, “No, it's fine. I just want to get back home and have a bath, good food, and maybe some pampering before Eku decides I don't need food, either. Do I want to know how long I have been gone?” after a moment of silence Calvin said. “Five weeks, we tried going in to find you after four, since your badge claimed you were alive, but it just descended into a wall.”

Five weeks. That was more than he had expected but less than he had feared. In a more somber mood, Ambros gave Calvin a clap on the shoulder and said, “Thank you.” Flashing him a grin and a wink, Calvin answered, “No worries. We were paid exceptionally well.”

Reaching the camp, the adventurers spread out and started taking down the camp. Ambros spotted Tesly sitting on a stone and gave a nod which he returned. He didn't trust the halfling, not for a second. He was the reason he had put a guarding rune on his necklace and now the Book Ring to begin with. He had figured that if he could break into them, so could others. Tesly was just the sort of person he had expected to do so, but only after stabbing Ambros in the kidney a few times. His eyes were devoid of anything that remotely resembled empathy. Ambros was sure he would stab his own mother for the right price.

It didn't take long for the adventurers to strike camp. On the way back, Ambros learned that most of the adventurers were now out to the northeast, stalling the horde. It had been larger than anyone anticipated. Borya, the Castellan of the rift settlement, had sent out contract offers to mercenary companies around the free cities after word had come from Burgomeister Jorge of Lemadis that no troops could be spared from the Free City. There had apparently been a massive increase in raiders along the inner sea.

“So adventurers take orders from the Castellan now?” Ambros asked.

Calvin was the one to answer. “No, but with the Guild's agreement, they can set up a bounty on loot the creatures in the horde are known to give. Set the bounties high enough, and… Adventurers will be adventurers.”

They arrived and got processed to enter the settlement in short order. Calvin and his group were stocking up before heading out for the horde, and Ambros was to report to Eku.

Ambros noticed the streets were unusefully quiet and empty. When they passed one of the inner gates, he saw a line of civilians entering.

“Say, Calvin, you don't happen to know if there are any temples in the settlement?” Ambros asked. Giving him a long look before answering, Calvin finally said. “Have you finally decided that they are real, then? No, not inside the rift. I don't think any of the gods have temples inside the rift.” Well, that blows, Ambros thought, remembering the system point payout for destroying the temple dedicated to Moloch.

The system was vast and spanned the multiverse. It wouldn't be biased toward what sort of temple he pillaged and destroyed, right? It wouldn't make sense otherwise. It just rewarded action. “No, I never doubted that they exist. I just don't think they are gods. Just very powerful beings that use us lowly animals squirming down in the muck as a way to gain more power.” Ambros answered.

Promising to celebrate together when the horde was vanquished, they parted ways when they reached the Adventures guild entrance, Ambros to track down Eku and Calvin&Co to report a successful mission and stock up before they headed out. Even Viola gave him a hug. He double-checked all of his pockets the moment she turned around. He had protected the dimensional bags, even the ones he wasn't actively using.

Ambros made his way toward the training hall he had become so familiar with, saying hello to the few adventurers still around on the way. There seemed to be fewer attendants too. To his surprise, it was empty. He had expected Eku to already have received word that he was back in the settlement. Looking around, he spotted a clear blue disk with the corner of a sheet of paper stuck under it with Ambros written on it.

He had to stop himself from dropping it the moment he picked it up because Eku's voice hit him like a truck. He felt like someone had surround and every speaker only had one voice, they then cranked the volume to max. “I'm busy. Come back here in two days. Oh, and you look like you got dragged behind a Stone Ram for a day or two. Go clean up. I'm glad you are alive and well.” Then the disk cracked, so he put it back on the table.

Well, that made things easier. A couple of days of relaxation was not a bad idea, Ambros thought. First, he needed to rid himself of all the trophies, do an inventory, and get his attributes sorted, but after that, he was eating for ten and staying at the most expensive place he could find.

Walking back up to the main hall, he again found it strange how silent things were. Sure, some adventurers still walked around, but it was like watching a public office during the holidays. Finding a free counter for trophies and evaluation was easy enough.

Smiling as he neared the desk, he read the name tag and said, “Hello, Jessica. Hope you're having a wonderful day. I was wondering if you could give me a hand with some merit point exchanging.” By the look and snort she gave him, he should have changed before coming in. Holding out a hand, she said, “Nice of you to notice my name, sweetheart, yet you didn't give me your name. Now. Why don't you give Auntie Jess your badge, and we will get started.” Giving her the copper badge. “Ambros. Nice to meet you. Auntie Jess, I am Ambros” He said. It had been the correct response because she beamed at him. “Well, aren't you a proper gentleman. Let's see what we got here. So you don't have any merit points. First timer, then. Alright, this is what will happen. You send the things there is a bounty on as proof of the kill to the disk here after I have plugged in your badge, and we will get a number for how many merit points you have earned. The proof of kill is mostly called trophies by the adventurers, but it mainly consists of things like ears, small bones, eyeballs, and so forth. Anything you get consistently every time you loot a monster is likely to be one. For a full list, you can find several compendiums on the wall by the benches there. You ready?”

Ambros looked through the other dimensional bags too, but nothing like she described. “I'm ready.” He said, and at her nod, transferred the zombie's ears, the shadow fingers, and the horns from those red supposed demons. He didn't want to try the big horn without talking to Eku first. He was happy to note that the items he did feed to the plate were all accepted.

“Let's what you got here, young man.” He could see her left eyebrow go up after a few seconds. “You have been busy, haven't you. Ninety-one fingers of Umbra Stalkers, one hundred and twenty-three Blood Reaver horns, and an impressive three thousand two hundred and twelve ears of Zombie. That makes you the owner of thirty-six thousand eight hundred and twenty merit points.” When she was done reading, she looked at him. The eyebrow stayed up.

“So, that's good?” Ambros asked. He had never been told the specifics about merit points. Since he hadn't had any until now, so he never bothered asking.

Auntie Jess's eyebrow finally lowered. The world was safe again, for now. “How about I tell you what I would do, and you decide if it is something you should consider. Okay?” When Ambros nodded, she continued, “First, make sure you keep ten thousand points. That is the amount needed to reach the silver rank, and in four more months, when your probation is over, you will be able to advance immediately. The amount of merit points you have claimed is more than enough to push you to copper ten. You will see the number on your badge. It is the highest level of copper you can gain before silver. The main difference between a zero and a ten is that you will be given preferential treatment in quest acceptance. It means you will see the quests on the quest board a few hours earlier than those with level zero. You will be prioritized in classes and other services over coppers with lower standing. The prices of Adventurer Guild services decrease for each level and more so for each new rank. Now with the remaining twenty-six thousand eight hundred and twenty merit points, you grab every specialist class you can. Even better, if you find something that suits you, pay for private lessons. Buying the best equipment at your level and Circle is a waste of merit points. Better to pick things up on the market you will outgrow in short order anyway at a low price unless you are some sort of prince in disguise.”

Ambros was nodding along. It wasn't really bad advice, even if he disagreed with the weapon purchase. He needed better equipment and, if he had the time, enchant some equipment himself. Maybe not as good as some of the things he had seen in the shops here yet, but buying a limited fire protection armband for fifty gold seemed a bit excessive to him.

“Thank you, Auntie Jess, for the help and the advice,” Ambros said with his best grateful smile. “Psssh, Helping a fine young man like you? Any day sweety.” She said while handing him his badge.

Waving as he left. He gave another wave to Mathew when passing on his way to the system node, which was returned a little too enthusiastically. Ambros walked faster towards the stairs.

The same procedure with the same annoyed lady to access the system nodes, but this time without a snort, Ambros found himself looking at the stone coffin while waiting in room twenty-eight for the attendant.

When he was done with the attributes, he was heading straight for the fanciest hotel he could find and planned on having everything delivered to his room until he left.

He didn't have to wait long. The attendant that entered was friendly and professional. Despite the smell, was sure he was permeating the air in the room with. As he lay down and closed his eyes, he could feel the lid being closed, and the world turned to darkness. It was so peaceful he almost didn't wish to continue, but the system demanded attention and exploded in a dance of light before settling into the familiar words.

Welcome Questor Ambros Mardux

Attribute distribution

System shop

How could Ambros not look at the system shop first? He could finally afford to buy things. He also quickly realized he wasn't that rich.

Available system points: 23,151,316

After an uncomfortable amount of time scrolling and re-evaluating, it came down to two options. One he almost could afford and one he could afford now, but it would probably take a while to regain the points. Assisted Map or Adaptive Vision. They were both considered passive skills, and both gave him something he really needed.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Assisted Map would create a map he could bring up either as a small square or circle in his vision that would show him everything in an area around him. Sadly he still had to spot possible enemies and allies himself, but the system would place them on the map, and he would be able to see where they were no matter where they moved, as long as it was within his mapping area. He could zoom out on the map to get an overview of the part of the world he was on, it showed in detail the topography of where he had been, and if he saw a map that was considered accurate enough, the system would show the terrain in the area. All of this was at the first rank. Things got more interesting at later ones.

Adaptive Vision did not sound as fun as Assisted Map. Just imagine creating a synergy with someone on the other side of a building complex and a nickel meteorite hurling through space. A small meteorite. It almost made Ambros droll.

Adaptive Vision did have something he wanted now, Night vision that later would upgrade to dark vision. There was also a note of being able to see in different spectrums at later ranks. Heat vision, anyone?

He would have liked both, but he decided on immediate gains and paid the eighteen million seven hundred thousand points for Adaptive Vision.

Besides, wasn't there a horde on the way? He just needed to slaughter a big enough chunk of it to get Assisted Map. Now there's a valid reason for genocide if there ever was one.

After choosing to accept them, there was a slight sting in his eyes, a burning sensation that lasted all of two seconds, and that was it.

Available system points: 4,451,316

He almost wanted to cry when he saw how few points he had left, but in the long run, this should be fine. Going back a step in the menu, he chose Attribute distribution.

Attribute distribution

Unspent attribute points: 36

Body: 22 ( E )

Mind: 17 ( E )

Spirit: 5 ( E )

He wanted to try something, and since he had two variants, he gave it a good chance to work. He kept adding points to Body, which didn't stop at thirty-five but at forty.

It would seem he was further away from Adept than he first had thought. Neophyte life was the life for him for a while yet. He did have eighteen points left, though. He brought Mind up to thirty and Spirit to ten.

He wanted to see if his mana control would improve with a higher Spirit or if it only worked on Energy. He was getting sick of hiding his spells just because some noble house or clan would take offense that he didn't belong to them and, in all but name, turn him into a prisoner. He was working on a plan to keep that from happening, maybe more of an idea, but it was a start, he thought as everything went dark.

Opening his eyes a short time later, he felt like his body was vibrating with energy. Carefully he put his palm against the lid and pushed. It was still too much since the lid almost flew off. Looking at it with more than a bit of concern, as he carefully got out of the coffin, he concluded it would be fine. He also spotted the startled attendant staring at him.

“I'm sorry. Getting used to the new attributes. I didn't mean to do that.” Ambros said. The attendant still looked a bit wide-eyed, but he didn't seem frightened, just startled. “No apology needed, Adventurer. I have seen similar things in the past. Just not with such an… abrupt removal of the lid. Do you require any assistance?” The attendant said.

“No, everything seems to be in working order. No worries, and thank you for sticking around.” Ambros said while stretching and twisting. He also noticed he had grown a bit again. It was becoming a concern. He already had trouble with not hitting his head on the door frame when entering shops, and getting mattresses his size had been problematic.

“Then I shall be off. Good day, Adventurer.” The attendant said. Before he reached the door, however, he turned and said, “My name is Nicolas. If there is anything, ask an attendant for me by name, and I will strive to meet the request.” Looking Ambros in the eyes, he continued. “When you gave my sister a gold coin after your organ strengthening, it was enough to pay her part of the remaining debt our father had put us in and almost mine. I expect to be free within a year. You have my sincere gratitude.”

Ambros had a flashback to the horror show that had been his organ strengthening but still managed to answer, “I'm glad I could help. Honestly though, if she was part of the attendants that day, I think she more than earned it.” He finished with a shudder. Then he wondered where Talia had taken off too. Maybe he should see if she was up for dinner later.

“As you say, but you still have my gratitude. Thank you.” The attendant said as he slipped out the door before Ambros could say anything more. Taking a sniff at his armpit, he almost hurled. He couldn't blame the guy for taking a runner. He thought he had gotten used to his smell by now, but apparently, the increment to his Mind attribute had increased his sense of smell even more. The room stank almost as much as he did at this point. A trip to the showering facilities may be needed before he starts on the pampering part of the day.

Being a bit concerned after he managed to rip his chainmail while trying to take it off, he decided to be extra careful when dealing with people in the near future. Sure, the people in the Moloch temple arena, or what it was, had seemed to be around his level of strength and speed then, but they were supposedly the best of their temple, cult, or whatever madhouse they belonged to at their Circle rank. He had also noticed he was a lot stronger and faster than Calvin&Co.

During the trip from their camp to the settlement, he had to constantly pace himself to not accidentally outrun them, and that was before his latest upgrade. He tried to not let it become too obvious, though, so hopefully, none of them noticed. Giving his stats a once over, he was almost afraid to see what would happen next.

Name: Ambros Mardux

Race: Human, variant: Grafted Primus modus, Sanguis Kronos,

Titles: Eques

Class: Arcanist

Level: 34

Experience: 660/7,805

System rank: Questor*

System points: 4,451,316

Circle: Neophyte

Step: 6/6

Body: 40 ( E )

Mind: 30 ( E )

Spirit: 10 ( E )

Unspent attribute points: 0

Active Skill: Analyze ( E ), Meditation ( F ), Arcane Sight ( D ), Sanctum ( F )

Passive Skill: Mana Core ( F ), Revitalize ( F ), Omnilingual ( A ), Giant Slayer II ( F ), Toughness II ( F ), Adaptive Vision ( F )

Spells: Arcane Bolt ( F ), Arcane Shield ( F ), Control Heat ( F ), Control Earth ( E ), Control Wind ( F ), Control Water ( F ), Stasis ( F )

If he understood things correctly, he was becoming something of a monster. Damn, twenty more levels before he could attempt to find his first Meridian. It would push him over into the next Circle, according to Eku.

It would give him some time to start compressing his mana. According to Gramps' letter, he was probably a bit behind on that. He tried not to dwell on the other implications of the letter just yet.

Since he didn't have anything that fit anymore, his old clothes had already started ripping. He made another toga like Whisper had done for him. Green and black this time. Good thing the dwarf had been a bit on the round side. Ambros really hoped she was alive and well. He hadn't gotten any word from her before he left, which had been over a month ago.

Stepping outside the Guild, he took in the bustling streets of people packing up and heading for the inner ring and probably rifting out. Hopefully, there still were some tailors and armorers around, but if the Golden Razor Boar was closed, he would burn down the outer ring himself.

Trying to look dignified in his toga, some people still stopped to stare. He wasn't sure he could blame them too much. He probably looked like a half-giant or half-ogre. Not many of them about. Mostly both the mother and child died during childbirth. The pregnancy was seldom willingly induced either.

Making his way to the south side of the out ring. The air inside the settlement was free of the taint outside. He had never noticed that before.

Enjoying the sun on his skin, waving at the adventurer that he recognized, and in general, having a nice time just walking. Maybe there was a garden somewhere he could relax in for a bit. He made it to the Golden Razor Boar almost faster than he wanted, but his stomach was already telling him this was the greatest thing since the invention of sliced bread. He wasn't about to disregard his stomach at this point.

Luckily the guard at the entrance recognized him, or he didn't think he would be let in with his current attire. The first floor was almost full, it being around lunchtime, so that was not too strange. Coming toward him was the rotund form of Frank Dietrich, the proprietor of the Golden Razor Boar.

Arms outstretched, he said in a voice he probably thought was meant for indoor use, but it was definitely for parade ground use, “Ambros! Welcome! Welcome! What brings you to my humble establishment.” Ambros couldn't help but chuckle. There was nothing humble about Frank, and he doubted there ever had been. Frank did, however, love it when guests enjoyed the food, and few could enjoy the food as much as Ambros, certainly not the amounts of it he inhaled during a sitting,

“Frank! What is this? Have you been losing weight?”

Frank stopped and stood to the side, showing off his belly. “Maybe some, maybe some. The mistress has put me on a diet. Only five meals a day! Despite my complaints that I may as well be in prison, she persists in forcing me to continue this torturous existence.”

Ambros nodded along. “I'm sure she is only driven by her love for you and her concern for your continued health.” He said.

Giving Ambros a clap-on and leading him towards the second floor, Frank said, “That may be, but who knows what goes on in the minds of these delicate creatures. Especially one as delicate as my flower. Now, come, come. You didn't come here to listen to me løament my woes. You came to eat, and by the looks of things, you have again decided to reach for the sky.”

Ambros had met his delicate flower, and if someone had told him that her job was flattening steel ingots with her fists at the smithy, he would just have nodded and said, “Sounds about right.”

“Yes, I even came here before going to a tailor. It has been far too long since I had a proper meal,” Ambros said as he was led into a private room and seated.

“Say no more. The servers will be here shortly. I hope you enjoy your time at my humble establishment, good Ambros.” Frank said as he took one of the bottles of wine that stood on a corner shelf and poured out a glass for Ambros, the bottle he left on the table.

Holding up the glass, Ambros said, “I always do, Frank, I always do. You run a beacon of delight in this otherwise dreary place.” Frank smiled as he left.

Hours later, Ambros finally left. It had ended up costing him a gold, including the large tip he left, but it was worth every bit of it. That was almost half of what he had spent on equipment on the trip where he cleared the temple.

Making his way over to the building complex on the other side of the street, he staggered into the reception hall of The Peacock. He didn't know if it was the fanciest place in the settlement, but the few times he had gone past the place, the people that stayed there looked well dressed.

The receptionist opened her eyes wide as he entered, and he could see some sort of security starting to walk towards him from the right. Ambros turned and looked at the guy. Well, looked down on the guy. On Earth, the man would have seemed massive, but here? Unless he was an adept, and Ambros got no indication from him that he was, the fellow was about to do something very stupid.

Luckily for the fellow, the receptionist cleared her throat and did a go-away motion with her head at the security guy. All smiles again, she said, “Welcome to The Peacock. How can I help you?” Almost thrown by the change in mood, Ambros took a moment to reply, but he realized she was probably used to adventures, and her reaction had probably been more to his size. So he chose peace today.

Giving her his best smile, he said, “Thank you, yes. What is the best room you have left? I would like to stay two nights, and I don't plan on leaving during that time.”

Turns out the best room they had free was the best room they had, at forty silver a night. Ambros prepaid eighty silver and stood on the top floor balcony looking out over the settlement. It was beautiful despite its monochrome buildings. They had painted the parapet on every roof red. He knew that if he took the ladder going up to the roof here, he would see the same thing. There would even be a walkway to the surrounding buildings. Yes, there was a strange beauty to it all.

Turns out that the hotel could call in a tailor to his room, so tomorrow, he would be racing a couple new sets of trousers, shirts, jackets, underthings, and foot wrappings. A cobbler had also come to take his foot size. He was promised overnight delivery but at two gold. Most of it would be delivered to the adventurers guild, but he was promised one set of clothes delivered tomorrow before lunch. Another five silver was spent. That still left him with three platinum, ninety-three gold, five-hundred and eighty-seven silver, and three hundred and seventy-two copper. Plus, however much was in the dimensional bags he had looted of the cultist. Looking up at the sun, he guessed it to be around time for dinner.

Hearing water splashing around in the room behind him, he turned with a smile and said, “Ladies,” as he entered. He had been happy to discover there was an en-suite bathroom with a bath, and it was big enough.

A hint of moonlight shining through was all the light he needed as he lay there snacking on one of the last peaches left on the dessert tray. With his new vision watching the three young ladies make their way out of the suite was an event all on its own. They were giggling as they helped each other on the way out, and he found the view enticing enough to let them make their own way. He almost called them back but wished to give them a good impression. They seemed to struggle enough already. Each had two silver clutched in their hands, and tomorrow, they would be back with more friends.

Life in the settlement wasn't all that horrible, Ambros thought as he stretched out on the large bed and closed his eyes.

The next morning was spent on eating and using Analyze. It had been strange not to experience Revitalize when the sun came up.

Using Analyze on everything he had looted finally brought it up another rank. That meant he had to go through what he had already failed to use Analyze on the first time again. He now had three piles of loot in the middle of the suite's reading room, as it was called according to the one bringing him breakfast. He found it a bit perplexing since it didn't have anything to read, but he kept his thoughts to himself while he munched on breakfast. The Peacock received food from across the street at the Golden Razor Boar.

The second round shrunk the unknown pile by a lot, but Ambros was a bit disappointed in the cultist. The Vampiress had more stuff than all of them combined, currency aside. Combined, they had sixty-two gold, twenty-three silver, and six-hundred and forty copper. He guessed that was more than the loot would give him by a large margin.

After the last rank up in Analzye, he got a description of the side effects of taking health points. He saw a low-quality one removing a level if taken. That was insane. The best one he found was just called a Health potion and demanded two hundred experience points if taken. He kept that one, but the rest went into the dimensional bag he called To Be Sold.

There were a few pills but nothing exciting. The best was the cleansing pills. He had still not taken any, so he kept them with the rest and dropped the other crap in the To Be Sold bag. The bow the elf had wielded, a short sword, and sadly the scimitars also took a trip to the To Be Sold bag. To his annoyance, the fire user had nothing that seemed remotely enchanted or anything written down. Just a lot of energy potions that he donated to the To be Sold bag.

The dwarf had a few gems that were enchanted, but he couldn't get Analyze to work on the. It was like they knew they might die and brought as little as possible. Hopefully, the plate armor was worth something.

The tailor and the cobbler returned simultaneously, did some last-minute adjustments, and promised to deliver the rest at the Adventurers guild. When he tried the boots, he asked the cobbler for two more sets, one low cut and one in black. It felt like he was walking on clouds, and they were enchanted to keep dry and clean. It was more than worth the three more gold to Ambros. They would also be delivered to the Adventures guild in a week.

That was how the bath attendants found him, sitting on the floor in boots but nothing else, playing with his loot. They had brought two more friends, to his delight. It was another very good day.

Sadly all good things eventually come to an end, so at sunrise, Ambros stood in the training hall in front of a grinning Eku.