The Caravan arrived early in the morning when most people were still asleep. Mark and Donny, who were already training in the yard behind the inn, heard the commotion from far away, the sound of hundreds of horses and carts could probably be heard even from the other end of town.

They did not enter within the walls, when Mark went to check, only a couple of well-dressed people on horseback entered the town, greeted by the guards at the gate, with big smiles and deep bows.

Mark jumped on top of the wooden wall, the guards up top too preoccupied with the commotion to pay attention to him, he entered Stealth, and climbed on top of the nearest watchtower. From here he could effortlessly track the high-profile ‘delegation’ traveling through town, as well as the rest of the caravan now setting up camp outside the walls.

The carts of the caravan were moved into a circle, creating a wall around the camp inside, he even saw the people there move some parts on the carts, and the gaps between the wagons were momentarily filled with little raised platforms, closing the circle, and allowing guards to be posted to look out for any incoming dangers.

There was another thing that happened when the circle closed and all the platforms fell into place. Mysterious runes carved all along the carts flashed with light, and a big transparent dome covered the caravan, if you didn’t pay attention, you would probably miss it.

At the same time, the little delegation arrived in the part of town Mark rarely visited, mostly on some night runs to get to know the lay of the land. They stopped before the one home, Mark could never completely check. He could get into the garden without problems, but every time he tried to get inside the house, his Premonition would blare out alarms at him, warning him not to.

He still didn't get a complete grasp on the exact workings of the Skill, there were many types of danger, and he could never know what type it was warning him about, was it only detection, or were there some traps set inside the house, even he, could not see through.

Anyways, he looked as a slim, well-dressed, young man exited the house, opened the gates, and let the caravan people in, then he led them into the house and Mark lost sight of them. Focusing back on the caravan he saw the people move about with near military discipline, taking all kinds of weird tools and items out of the carts, there were some weird big stone plates, with engravings on them, that they placed every dozen meters or so, they took out tents, benches, pots, and pans.

People were moving everywhere, calling out to each other, just the amount of ruckus and milling about could put the town of Pharia to shame on its busiest days. He realized that there was a very slim chance a caravan like this would actually need a random hired adventurer in their midst.

He had to hope the show with the Mayor later in the day would be enough to convince them, if not then too bad, with the letter from Maria, he could travel to the Capital on his own, though there was much more danger involved this way, he could still do it now.

From his time in the town, he has also come to know a little bit of the surroundings around here. There was a big city not that far from here. If he went left on the first crossroads he met, he would land in another town on the edge of the Megalo Forest, called Otichs. From there led a cross-country high road leading all the way to the Kingdom’s Capital.

The next major stopping point after Otichs is a city named Gauther, located a little more east of the forest, in the direction of the Capital. It is the first major city traveling from The Magical Confederation of Arencia, the country neighboring the Kingdom of Tuerrthia. It is also the major food supplier of the kingdom, the sprawling plains it is situated on are the perfect place for growing crops.

Also, though not many people mentioned it at all, it is home to five different gangs, trying to profit from the city’s importance. They never succeeded much, which Mark was not surprised about. The first rule of illegal business is to NOT step on the lion’s tail.

If you are gonna do crime, you must know not to meddle in the strategic resources of a country, unless your gang alone is enough to suppress anyone in said country from contesting you. And from what he heard the Kingdom’s Enforcers were regularly sent to eradicate a gang or two.

That was also the reason, people were apprehensive about telling those stories, it always happened so, when the Enforcers were involved.

In the end, though the gangs always popped back up for some reason, it was so irrational, Mark was almost certain, another country stood behind this, or a greedy noble of some sort.

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Criminals weren’t completely stupid, most of the time at least. When it came to sticking their neck out for someone, they rarely did. So, to make them risk their life, either the price had to be right, or something scarier than the Enforcers was behind it.

He didn’t intend on stopping for long in the city anyways, so he would not be puzzling out this mystery anytime soon. Though it was a good plan to stop by and interrogate the underworld there, he would be able to ask them his questions and kill them afterward without anyone questioning their disappearance.

The city was bigger, and they were criminals, who would care if a couple more were found dead on the streets, who knew how many the guards already found daily, with this many gangs competing over a single city.

Like that, he could finally get some more information without arousing any suspicion from the people around him. Observing the caravan for a little longer, Mark realized what the stone slabs were, stoves. They were portable travel stoves, they did not require fire to cook.

He now realized this world was much more advanced than he initially thought, they did not have electricity and still fought using martial weapons, but the magic and engravings allowed them to advance their ‘technology’ in different ways.

Most of it had probably to do with the system, it rewarded them for using martial weapons, allowing them to become better and better, so they rarely innovated in that area, but if advancing mana took the same effort it took him to advance Stamina Control, it wouldn’t be that strange this was the area they improved the most.

His Stamina Control training has stagnated as of late, becoming more and more difficult to increase in level. He had to do new and innovative exercises with it to progress at all, like with developing his Eye skill, the moment he got it on his list, his Control jumped almost a full level.

After that he spent hours trying different things he could think of, mostly isolating his Bolster ability, to specific body parts, trying to see if he could momentarily improve just a part of himself, at a decreased cost, if he could improve his striking strength, without sending Stamina to his whole body it would be a minor success.

Mind you the energy still had to be sent to the majority of his body, to balance out the force and not let momentum take control. Also when striking you needed to use your legs and your back, besides just your arms. Using only arms limits the striking force by a lot, though he found that Stab, or rather Pierce now, is a godsend at this.

The Strength multiplier from the ability allowed to strike with practically full force, even from the most awkward positions. It was marvelous, he could have a range of only centimeters to strike out and yet could still deal major damage with it.

He wasn’t sure as to the full extent of the upgrade Pierce got now, he would have to test the additional properties soon. Mark truly hated the feeling of not knowing your boundaries. Not knowing your limits would always lead to trouble, you overestimated yourself and you died without knowing what hit you.

That’s why he increased his training from the moment he read the new Stat Screen.

It was getting late, he hopped down from the walls and moved towards the inn that has been his home since he arrived in this world.

Donny was almost finished with his morning exercise, they both washed up and moved in the direction of the Town Square, where, as he was informed in the letter from the Mayor, the Awarding Ceremony would take place.

There was still about an hour before the time specified in the letter, so Mark took them to the shops situated around the square, till now he was very frugal with his spending, but now with a place to stay in the Capital, and what he assumed would be a giant chunk in expanses for gaining knowledge in this world saved up, he could be a little more nonchalant about money.

He intended to prepare appropriately for the journey ahead of them.

Walking into a tailor, the older seamstress behind the counter immediately brightened up seeing them enter.

“Welcome, welcome, I was wondering when you would find the time to come! You are surely going to leave this place, but I would never let you go out like this, look at yourself, you look as if a bear mauled you. All rugged and torn. What would people from Otichs say about us, if our heroes appeared in their town looking like homeless beggars?

Come, come, let me get your measurements, it is too late to get you anything made, but I should be able to find something close enough, or at least resize it quickly, there is not much time, so quick steps, gentlemen, we gotta get you something presentable before the meeting with the Mayor.”

The woman almost jumped out from behind her counter when she saw them enter the shop. Her small, a little decrepit body moved with an agility that belied her apparently advanced age.

With a flurry of energy, she ran up to them and started measuring, where they stood, they didn’t even get to know the lady’s name. She was so absorbed in her task, that she didn’t even remember to introduce herself, jumping from right to left and back again, taking any measurement she needed, while hemming and hawing along.

In practically no time, she had them both measured and started throwing the clothes that till now were neatly stacked on the shelves around the shop, it looked like a tornado went off inside the building, but not minutes later she managed to grab a few outfits and ran with them to the room in the back.

“Well, she is an enthusiastic older lady, for sure.”

Mark could only sigh at this, the people of this town were becoming crazy and incredibly unpredictable, they had to leave soon, for his own good state of mind.