"I hope you don't think that's a disguise?" I comment as I sit on the stool next to him.

In elven form of course. I wasn't as stupid as the other player in the room.

The kobold glared at me as Philly denied it fervently. "You think I'm hiding?"

"You weren't dressed like this earlier."

"That's cause they stripped me earlier! This is how I normally dress." he said, flaring his nostrils, as a hint of smoke emerged.

That only made me look at him even weirder. Perhaps all eccentrics were like that.

"Why would I hide anyway. Didn't do nothing wrong. No rule against kobolds in this town." He said confidently, and indeed, despite the three kobolds having been exposed earlier at the gate, nothing serious had happened as a result. They merely became a funny story at the bar.

"Hmm." Well he wasn't wrong. Technically, nothing would stop me from walking around as a turtle, or paying the entrance fee to the town as a turtle, save the possibility of being caught and dragged away, like how these silly kobolds were.

After all, although some monsters can live as citizens in the Romana empire, there's the word of the law, and then the reality of it.

Philly waved at Dudley. "Hey, mind raising the privacy barrier?"

Dudley didn't look over,calmly demanding. "One silver."

Philly complied, tossing over a silver, and Dudley pressed a button, causing the magic circle beneath us to light up, creating a sound silencing barrer.

Yeah, he had one apparently. Guessing it's only available to those willing to pay for it.

The big kobold turned to me and asked.

"So are you also about to evolve?" Philly asked, and I shook my head.

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm not-"

[Oh yeah, by the way, you've reached your max level.]

What? Why didn't you say it earlier?!

[Well earlier you were under the threat of death by an S-rank cultist elf. ANd prior to that, running from a suicide bombing by another elf.

Forgive me if I thought you'd want to wait a moment and catch a breath before finding out.]

Seeing my change of expression, he chuckled. "Thought as much. Found out a while back that some guides don't tell you unless you ask."

"Really?" I asked in disbelief. WHat use was a gide if it didn't guide, especially such important subjects at hand.

Philly shrugged. "According to mine, they're often busy behind the scenes. Something about the system working behind the scenes to prepare new features. In fact, we just got one earlier, no?"

"The chat?"

"Yeah, turns out that's a secret feature, one that only unlocks once you encounter a player. And prior to that, they have to prepare it for us." He said casually, yet it left me in disbelief.

Really? My guide, working hard?

[Hey, don't look too surprised. 0 said we had to, so I had to do it. Otherwise I'd be running flappy bird right now.] The system grumbled and I couldn't help but ask.

Is there more?

[None I can inform you about currently. I will tell you that right now all guides system wide are pretty damn busy. All I can tell you is that it's a big thing]

With that, he disappeared without an explanation, and I could sense a barrier, as if he'd shut himself somehow.

Wait, then how was I going to evolve?

Philly coughed awkwardly, catching my attention, as he waived around something quite important, something that even Dudley had to look at for a good minute before looking away

The root of the usurper.

"So let's get to it. Who should get it?" he said gruffly, and I responded without a hint of hesitation.

"You can keep it." No question.

"Seriously?" He said, looking surprised. "Thought you'd fight me for it. I was going to offer you some stuff and drive a hard bargain" he said, sounding a little upset even. Dwarves do love arguing. They make good traders.

"I already have too much on my plate. The last thing I'd want on my hands is a hot potato like that. No, you holding onto that will benefit me more than me holding onto it."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Well they're not going to know which of us has it, or if it even exploded.

"It's a root belonging to a would-be-god. I'm sure they have ways of knowing where it is and that it's not destroyed. And you did give me a B-rank weapon weapon with great potential." More convenient than the S-rank spear at least.

"... alright, fair. In that case, don't mind me keeping this then." He grunted as he put his root away.

He began to say something, but this time seemed much more cautious as he asked him. "So, uh about the spear..."

Hearing that, I had to respond immediately. "Sorry, I'm not selling it."

He waved his hand frantically, clearly trying to avoid being misunderstood, seeing the suspicion on my face.

"That's not it. I was going to ask where you got it?"

"It's a relic of the family. I recently recovered it from a friend of my grandfather's. Why do you ask?" I asked still cautious. After all, a S rank weapon is often at the core of disputes.

"This thing... I don't quite know what it's origin is, but what I can tell you is that it resonates with the weapon I gave you."

"Pardon?" I asked, now clearly curious.

You mean that the fragment of ryu jin bang is resonating with the spear?

"It's resonating with the other thing, The shell fragment. Though I doubt they're from the same species, they must be from similar species, and most definitely from a similar age." The former dwarf speculated as he scratched his head.

"Mind taking both of them out?" he asked, and I reluctantly took both out. Looking at the two, he sighed.

"I wish I was a better blacksmith. I'd offer to merge the two of them, but currently that's beyond my skills." he muttered eyeing the two of them regretfully, before turning to me.

"Well? Feel it now?" he asked and I did as he suggested, holding the two weapons carefully..

Voom

voom

voom

There was... a sense of familiarity between the two things, and the hammer expressed as such, ringing clearly in the mind.

'I sense the presence of an old friend!

But I have no friends!

No friends but Ore of course!?" It shouted confusedly, but not upset, more curious about the sensation.

When I mentioned this to Philly, he hemmed and hawed thoughtfully.

"Like an old friend you say? The relationship between these two may be more complicated than I thought. Perhaps instead of the same species, they were acquaintances which causes the resonance between the two weapons."

He shook his clenched claw in frustration as he complained. "Damn this vague system! Why can't it give me a straight answer!?"

"I mean, as long as you raise the appraisal to a higher level, more info may be revealed to you yet?" I suggested, but that only made him more upset.

"And what are these conditions by which appraisal goes up, huh? It's too damn vague!"

Not something I think a dwarf should say, *cough* gleipnir *cough* but knowing dwarves, he'd never agree.

Can't disagree with him. It is pretty arbitrary. At first glance, the answer is pretty clear, just keep appraising things and the level goes up, but how many? How many is needed to the next level?

Is there other conditions required? The system makes no note of other conditions, or any conditions at all for that matter, but it is clear there are conditions set that we have not been made aware of.

Doesn't look like Stolidus is volunteering any answers.

Personally, I'm not that curious, but you have to admit that it's a real flaw of this system.

Perhaps it's subjective?

The kobold seems to have made up his mind about something as he shouted.

"Alright, you know what? How about this. Once I've reached the right level, I'll contact you about forging the two together. That should make up for the trade today, right? I'll send you a message over chat and meet you for that moment"

I mean, yeah, that's probably the best deal I can get out of this. That root was never going to be much use to me unless I tried to absorb it, which carried its own risks.

I only fused with ore under the understanding that it was a rather innocent being, and harmless even as I absorbed it.

But a root from a would be god is a very different story.

I'm not willing to gamble on the systems security, or more importantly, its willingness to protect me.

Ignoring the fact that he'd make a good diversion he's also the one who could make the best use of the thing. As a dwarf he'll be able to mold the thing according to his will into a weapon appropriately.

Any threat of the root corrupting him will be minimized for sure.

The promise is a very valuable thing in this scenario, unless he dies.

And even then, skilled dwarves tend to enter the dwarves pantheon, and become gods in their own right, learning from the best and making the best weapons in exist.

I don't really lose here, unless he's the dishonest type, which is unlikely given he has a god vouching for him. A good one too.

This is a winning deal.

"Deal." I agree as I shake his hand, and he chuckles.

"Great, well if you don't mind, I'll be on my way. I need to get moving and get that head start on the damn knifears. Guys!" He shouted as he left, followed by three kobolds and a skaven, all dressed in mini trench coats and hats as they left rather conspicuously.

Wait...

He left me the bill!

Dudley looked at me sympathetically, but ultimately still held his hand out, expecting his due payment.

I feel less secure about that promise now...

----------------------------------------

As I walked back to the hotel where we were residing before planning to leave, something caught my attention.

I dodged quickly, grabbing the object that had attempted to leap at me.

An ant?

Yes, it was an ant, an ant queen to be exact.

I was holding it between the tips of my fingers, observing as it squirmed, struggling to escape my grasp.

Hmm?

Where'd this come from?

[It came from the basement where you broke the slaves out of.]

Oh now you want to talk.

[Sorry, can't talk about certain things. They're classified.] He said it deftly

Fine. So why would you speak up in this case?

Because this can affect your evolution from here on out.]

Oh, so like ore.

[Yeah, kind of]

Well ore was one thing, but why is this one so eager?

[It's an ant queen looking for a place to set up its nest. Why do you think it came looking for you?] He said in a sarcastic matter and hearing that nearly made me squash it.

It wants to turn me into a nest?

Why wouldn't I squish it now?

[I mean, ore basically turned you into a nest right? You don't seem that bothered by it now.]

That's because he's become part of me.

Ohhh.

[When you evolve again, this lil ant will become part of your next stage of evolution. If you choose to keep it of course]

Mmm.

So it could be good.

[could be. Though, it's worth noting that though it won't affect your upcoming stage of evolution, it will affect the stage thereafter. Since that next stage will be the one that "absorbs" the ant queen into your evolution, with her accumulating energy during your next stage.]

So it won't be important in the short term, but in the long term, this can affect how quickly I get to my next evolution. Considering how dangerous the next period of time will be protecting the high elf, a quick evolution would be quite useful.

But I shouldn't sacrifice quality for efficiency...

What to do...