Dren eyed the ten meter tall walls from his hiding point in the nearest set of trees. Which was a good three hundred meters away. The walls did not match any building design he had seen in the two previous towns. It just didn’t feel like the same architectural design of this world. They were made of incredibly dark pure black stone with various bleached white skulls of monsters mounted along them. Or embedded into the stone. He even saw what appeared to be human ones mixed in. A set of huge double doors with a droppable portcullis made a formidable entrance to the city. But there weren’t any guards. It looked sinister and frightening. Yet, he saw people coming and going. None seemed sinister or evil. Most seemed just to be going about their daily business. He even saw some laughing and joking. All wore armor he associated with post system integrated humans.

“Think we should go over the wall or through the gate?” Dren asked Ren who just looked back at him. “Yeah. Let's try the gate first. We need a bit of information.” Dren replied to her wordless gaze.

Moving back into the woods. He then came out on one of the actual paths leading into the city Dren checked what his identity was set to one last time.

Beast Master Level Twenty Two

Leatherworker Level Twenty

Dren wanted to be high enough that people wouldn’t bother him, hopefully. Yet still be lower than his actual level. Just in case there was a fight. They might underestimate him. Keeping his fake rare class would draw attention. But it would also potentially add another layer of protection. No one wanted to fight the unknown. The size of the settlement had him nervous. Both the two previous ones could fit in here ten times over. Both in size and number of natives if his observations were even remotely close.

As he approached. A group were laughing with one another as they left. All of them glanced up as he and Ren approached. Most looked back at one another and then glanced right back at Dren and Ren. Ren’s slightly inhuman features having caught their attention. He saw them all squint slightly as they used identify on both of them. Their expressions mostly changed to ones of mild surprise. Dren watched all this closely but none of them seemed to build any hostility. Just curiosity.

“Hey! You have a rare class?” The speaker wore the chainmail hauberk of a defender. Dren had already identified them all of course. Their levels ranged from seventeen to eighteen in their class with professions having a wild variance between level six and twenty. The level twenty one was a leatherworker as well. Dren figured it was one of the easiest professions to get materials for.

Dren stopped a short distance away, enough to be cautious without being overtly rude before answering. “I guess.” Dren did his best to sound mysterious. Yet he felt it mostly came off as sounding unsure.

“Neat! Are you interested in a group?” The defender asked. Dren barely managed to keep from wincing. This guy's attitude and class made him think of Mike. Dren still wasn’t sure how he felt about his last party. Nor was he ready to tempt the system again. If it didn’t want him playing too nice with the natives he wouldn’t. It didn’t seem to mind him interacting with them. At least superficially.

“I’m more of a solo fighter. I get bonuses for being alone with just my companion.” Dren made up the half lie right there. In truth, he got a decent chunk of bonus experience while solo. Just only in dungeons.

“Oh, so a class limit then? I heard rare classes have some sort of progression limit.” This came from a female archer.

“Are rare classes actually rare? Seems like there is a lot of information about them.” Dren asked honestly confused. Even the tiny Village of the Lost had heard of them. So they can’t be that rare.

One of them, a mage in a bright yellow robe, shrugged. “I mean there are only three I’ve heard of before you. But everyone talks about them. Class evolutions are possible supposedly. Lots of us want different classes. Other than just the basic starter ones.”

Dren nodded then changed the subject. Rare classes weren’t really what he was here for. “Is this a Haven? Can I use the system store here?”

Several of them chuckled. “It is a Haven. The walls didn’t give it away?” Again the defender spoke up before waving his hand back at the wall. “The Haven Lord summoned them just yesterday. Welcome to the Necropolis.” He said the last word in an odd tone Dren took to supposedly be spooky.

“Necropolis?” Dren asked, that name sounded stupid.

“Yeah… Trust me we didn’t name it.” The archer spoke.

“I kinda like it.” The mage added and got a snicker with an eye roll from the female.

“Of course, you would.” She chided.

“The store?” Dren asked to pull the conversation back to the topic.

“Oh. Yeah. There are these… I guess you would call them pillars or maybe a pylon.” The defender said then winced right before the archer groaned.

“You must construct additional pylons.” The mage said, his tone odd.

“I told you to stop calling them that.” The archer hissed.

“Sorry.” The defender shrugged sheepishly then gave Dren a wink. He didn’t understand what was going on but it seemed like some sort of joke he was expected to get.

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“Thanks for the information. We need to get moving.” He gave them a nod. Then turned to move toward the city before they could try and continue the conversation. Out of habit, he activated stealth. His form shimmering into his camouflage state. Ren doing so beside him as well. Her own natural stealth was nearly as good as his cloak-enhanced stealth.

“Ok, that was cool.” The mage said. The others didn’t argue.

Dren stepped towards the gate and then hesitantly passed through it. Several messages popped up in rapid succession as he did.

“You have entered Haven: Necropolis”

“You have invaded a native Haven.”

“Your stealth rank is too low to mask your invasion. Haven Lord will be notified.”

Dren nearly panicked right then and there. But the next pop up brought a wave of relief.

“Skill: Wolf In Sheep's Clothing has masked your status as an invader. Your incursion of the Haven: Necropolis has not been detected.”

After dismissing all the messages he examined the inside of the walls. Within the walls, there were buildings of pre-system Earth design. Paved roads and setups he had seen in both of the other towns. There were definitely a lot of people. Most seemed to be doing something or another. He saw armed and armored people moving around, mostly in small groups. While others, many wearing pre-system clothes, managed shops of one type or another. There were obviously newly made signs advertising a wide variety of businesses. Crafters of all kinds. Weapon and armor stores. Restaurants and general stores. It seemed that even those that didn’t want to spend their integration fighting were at least being productive. Dren could respect that more than those that simply sat down and gave up.

It was only when someone almost walked into him that he realized he had stealth active again. It had already been on his priority list to level. But after the last batch of messages it had gone up a notch. That said, it probably wasn’t best to use it in town. Considering the person that almost walked into him drew a sword in shock. Flipping back his cowl and dropping stealth to appear out of nowhere seemed to draw even more attention. Soon enough others had identified him and were now moving to talk to him. While Dren had missed conversation… a lot. He didn’t like dozens of people crowding him while trying to talk over each other. Just as he was debating on using stealth again or starting to stab people, a voice cut through the cacophony.

“What is going on here?” The female voice wasn’t raised, but it clearly cut through the sound. Bringing silence in its wake. People parted around him and he got a look at the speaker. She was tall for a woman, nearly two full meters. Her skin was a bronze color and her dark eyes were stern yet kind. She wore a robe of off white like a healer. Yet her robe had markings on it that reminded Dren a whole lot of runes. He identified the woman.

Human (N)

Seer: Level Twenty Two

Guide: Level Twenty One

A Rare class! Dren did his best not to tense up too much. Their level combined with their unknown class made him cautious.

“Oh, I see. Beast Tamer. No wonder you garnered so much interest.” She smiled and then glanced at Ren. “Isn’t she adorable!” She cooed. “That armor though.” She tsked.

“What is wrong with the armor?” Dren bristled some. He had worked hard on that armor. It was several skill levels ago. But he was planning on making her something new. But he had been busy. Leveling. Killing hordes of monsters. Clearing dungeons. Yeah, he had been busy.

“It looks like something a child with safety scissors put together.” Someone in the crowd said loudly before another hushed him. Dren heard someone mutter something about Leatherworker.

Dren’s expression darkened but before his mood could sour too much the Seer gave a small light chuckle of mirth. “No offense. But she would be so adorable in… more feminine attire. That hair and her pale complexion. She would look like a porcelain doll!” She looked at Ren again with a small smile then seemed to shake off whatever she was thinking. “Sorry. I have a soft spot for children.” She smiled. “I guess even spider ones.”

She turned her gaze back to him and seemed to straighten some. With a gentle smile, she gave a small curtsey. “Forgive me. My name is Maria. What can I do for you?”

Dren hesitated. He hadn’t been expecting someone to ask him what he needed. “Are you the Haven Lord?” It was the first thing that popped into his head.

Maria shook her head with a small smile. “No, I am not. But I do help the Haven Lord. As well as most in the city that need any sort of guidance.”

Dren eyed her for a moment then nodded. “I’m just here to do some shopping.” After that, he hesitated just a moment before adding. “Also, if there is a map of dungeons nearby. Preferably ones around my level or higher. Ones that haven’t been cleared yet would be even better.” Might as well go for broke while they were offering.

Maria raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “Straight to the point. Well, the bazaar as we are calling it is that way.” She pointed deeper into the city. As he looked he could see a strange pointed stone pillar above the buildings. Dren instantly realized that was the pylon the others had mentioned. “It is around the system store. So you can check that as well. As for the map of dungeons. That is something you can buy there as well. Make sure to stop at the adventurer’s guild.” She gave a small chuckle at his expression. “Yes, some of our residents have founded it. They gather information and even issue quests. Mostly for various materials needed by the crafters.”

Dren just nodded. “Thank you for the help. Very generous of you.”

She again gave a small chuckle. “Not really. I get experience for my Guide profession giving it out. Most of those in the adventurer’s guild have the same profession. It helps to level it.” Her eyes seemed to grow intense and her gaze sharpen so much it made Dren’s flesh prickle. In response, he nearly drew his weapons. “My Seer class isn’t that different from a Guide Profession. It helps me divine the best path for everyone.” Her voice sounded wispy as she spoke. Then her gaze seemed to return to normal. Yet, she stared right at him. Or more likely through him as she seemed to be in thought.

“I’m going to go on ahead.” Dren was nervous by her sudden change in attitude. His words seemed to snap her out of her daze and she nodded.

“Of course. Enjoy your stay here. Just come see me when you need help, Dren. Just ask for me and I will be available.” She gave him another curtsy. Dren turned and shuffled through the loose throng of people around them. They had backed up surprisingly far and it was only when he started pushing through them that he realized that he hadn’t heard the sound of the crowd while talking with Maria.

Politely yet firmly declining multiple party invites and other questions he moved away from the crowd. Glancing back he couldn’t see Maria or where she had gone. So, flipping up his hood to block most identify attempts. But leaving stealth off he moved towards the market before stopping. Had he told her his real name?