As the patch notes stated the system store mostly had basic items. All the starting weapons were there. Listed for a meager three hundred credits each. A full set of armor would only set you back six hundred. Testing he found that selling a basic weapon only got the seller one hundred credits. His enchanted versions got quite a bit more. A fully refined and enchanted dagger sold for four hundred and fifty credits. He could just buy and enchant them for a nice profit. Out of curiosity, he sold one of the basic wands enchanted with just Empower. It wasn’t fully set up so only netted him two hundred credits. But when he tried to sell an identical one it offered him five less credits. So the idea of just endlessly enchanting for money was a bust.

Worse as he looked he found that enchanted wand for sale in the store now. They wanted six hundred credits too. Dren didn’t want to strengthen the natives with his enchanted equipment. Even if he was sure there were other enchanters out there. Deciding to just eat the loss and buy it back. He found that impossible as it had vanished only moments after appearing. Grumbling inwardly he checked the other options. There were plenty of crafting tools. Some basic resources as well. Most notably there were portable workstations for almost every craft. Dren recalled that Ren could still pick up any one crafting skill of his choice and it would be level ten. He almost bought a portable forge and selected weapon crafting right away.

Instead, he spent some time buying up basic tools and resources for cooking. Then did the same for leather working. The skinning knives weren’t as good as his. Not only did he get a skill bonus but the single blade changed shape while skinning. Fitting the type of knife that would work best for what he was doing at the time. It was even better than he first thought. It turned out Ren’s skewers could do the same. Turning into several tools for cooking. But not all of them. But many.

After that, he checked the local market and found as he expected many people selling basic gear for less than the store but more than the sell price. He picked up two more daggers, he always needed more as he had a bad habit of losing them. Sadly, no one had a Life Bane dagger he could buy. In fact, as he watched the crowd there seemed to be few assassins. When asking about it the same merchant that sold him the daggers grunted. Before explaining assassins had a high mortality rate. He gave Dren several theories. Ranging from personality to the fact they were almost always squishy for melee. As things got more dangerous their mortality rate only went up. Most were a single hit from death. While the same could be said about mages and archers often. They at least could stay at range. Dren just shrugged it off. It just meant he had fewer assassins to deal with. He was well aware of just how dangerous they could be.

The adventurer’s guild should have been called the Guide guild. As every last one of them was a guide. It was odd how many of them were high level, some already past level twenty five. Yet their combat classes were low. He even saw one still a level one. The fact they were an Assassin was interesting to Dren. While the guild was happy to give him all the help he needed with class and professional advice. Which he thought was odd as they all were extremely interested in his Beast Tamer class. As none of them had any information on it. But when he asked for a map of dungeon locations. That was when they balked. Wanting him to join their guild to get the information. Dren almost agreed but then he found out about the guide’s ability for contracts. They could make a binding contract with someone. A sort of oath that both parties had to abide by or face consequences enforced by the system.

Dren wasn’t willing to sign anything like that for fear of it revealing that he wasn’t a native. Or a beast tamer. Or named Walter. So, he did something he never thought he would be able to do. He bribed them. It appeared his stash of credits was on the high end. Even for his level. Still, five thousand credits just for the map was a bit steep. At least Dren thought so. That was enough to buy a portable workstation. All the tools for leather working and cooking had only cost him two thousand in total. Including a number of spices and resources. It was a good thing he could deposit items bought directly into his spatial storage from the system. Map finally in hand he spent a bit longer debating before buying a portable forge. Then fifty of the highest quality ingots there were. Dren winced at that price. They cost five hundred credits each.

But while making his new boots he had hit level twenty enchanter. There had been a new skill available for flesh enchanting. Basically, the ability to enchant living things. Oddly similar to tattooing now that he thought about it. Most of them could be placed on someone and activated for a short term use of the enchantment. These cost three times the normal amount to place on someone and would only be good for one use. While a permanent one could cost ten to fifty times as much as one time use one. While they seemed potentially powerful. They also just seemed too resource expensive for him to really use. Especially if he had to fill them all at once like normal when placing a rune. It wasn’t like refining or imbuing where he could do it over multiple sessions it seemed. So he had taken the dual material imbuement skill. With the hopes of outfitting himself and Ren better.

Finally, he bought one hundred basic ingots for a hundred credits each. All his shopping and bribing done he was now much poorer. But he also didn’t plan on returning to the town. Being in a native town made him nervous. Especially after that failed stealth check on entering. Loaded up and map in hand he finally departed the city. Pulling out his mount for the first time once on the road. Glancing back he eyed the city walls and wondered. Just what kind of person was the Haven Lord of a place called the Necropolis?

*****

Maria placed her well practiced smile on her face before entering the room. Richard looked up from his table and then looked back down when he saw it was just her. Maria used her identify on him.

Human

Necromancer Level Twenty Four

Noble Aspirant Level Twenty Four.

He was still stuck at the same level he had been since before the system patched everything. She peered at him harder using her class ability to gather more information.

Name: Richard Freeley

Race: Human (Native)

Class: Necromancer Level Twenty Four. Experience Capped. Advancement criteria not yet met.

Profession: Noble Aspirant Level Twenty Four. Experience Capped. Advancement criteria not yet met.

Haven Lord of Necropolis.

Active quests two.

Class Evolution: Necromancer.

Discover an evolutionary path for your Necromancer Class.

Noblesse Oblige:

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Garner the true loyalty of five thousand natives to progress your rank to Noble.

Progress: 698/5000

“Unless you have a solution for my class problem. I have things to do Maria. I lost two more loyal followers overnight. I can’t tell if they died while adventuring or just got pissed over something stupid again.” Richard grunted annoyed before muttering. “Take the rare class. It can’t be that hard to find the requirements to advance. It will be worth it.”

Maria just eyed the man sitting at the table. It showed a representation of the town in surprising detail. It was how he manipulated the city. With it, he had raised the defensive walls. Maria still wasn’t sure how that worked. She knew it took credits to raise the walls but there were other costs that he hadn’t been willing to share. Nor had any of her abilities given her the information.

When she said nothing he looked up almost hopeful. “Well?”

Maria shook her head. In response, the robed man snarled and snapped at her for wasting his time. From behind the curtain, she heard the rattle of bones as his temper flared. “What about corpses then? Anyone die recently?”

Maria again shook her head. Richard again snarled annoyed. “I should have never raised the walls. I’d have far more minions by now if I hadn’t. It only got me a few hundred loyal subjects.” Annoyed Richard decided to ignore the Seer.

Maria finally made up her mind. She had been debating on telling him of the path vision she got when meeting the invader boy. But if she did it would ruin her long term plans. Besides, if she said something and Richard acted as he normally did. It was highly unlikely that events would work out as she hoped. Soon enough the invader would meet the Scourge. Then, then she could get him to kill Richard for her.

She smiled. “Richard. You need to send word to White Rock. They need to prepare to be under heavy attack soon.”

Richard looked up when the woman finally got around to talking. “What? Why? If they fall we can just absorb their people. Why that place was made a Haven I don’t understand. The determining factor is supposed to be population based I thought. They have barely five hundred people there. We have ten times that.” Richard grumbled annoyed then turned his eye to a drawn map nearby. His scouts reported that the small settlement of people that had given up was wiped out. Then that other one flat out refused his offer to join them here in the Haven. Despite their little town not being one. Rudely even if his messenger was to be believed.

Richard muttered condescendingly. “Wooden walls.” Pfft.

“I would guess it is due to the Purifier being there. The system seems to favor those with high levels and rare classes.” Maria announced though she knew Richard already knew that.

His angry look confirmed it. “Just because her class didn’t have an evolution requirement to progress.” His bitter response further confirmed it.

Maria resisted the urge to sigh. Richard had been a much better man before he hit his bottleneck. Now he just seemed to grow more bitter every day.

“Of course.” Maria decided to placate the man. “I told you. Classes that have an evolution requirement tend to be far stronger than those that don’t. The Purifier will never evolve beyond that class. She is what she will always be.” Maria noticed that Richard seemed to lose some of his annoyance. “But she is a powerful ally and will be necessary in the future if we are to protect our world when the invasions start. Helping her is investing in your future. I assure you.”

Richard eyed her. “That one of your visions? This will help me personally? Or the world?”

Maria smiled before answering. “Both.” Richard eyed her a moment longer before accepting her lie. When he agreed to send a warning Maria just smiled. Everything was working out just as she hoped. Now, she just needed to wait for the invader boy to come back needing her help. “Do hurry back quickly Dren.” She whispered to herself as she left Richard to his machinations.

*****

Dren double checked the map while riding on the back of his lizard mount. Ren sat beside him weaving threads as they rode. It was a bit of a ride but there was a level twenty nine dungeon on the map. It was the furthest one too. To get there they would pass three other lower level ones. Even though they were high enough he would still get experience in them. Two of the three were for sure cleared. While the other was a level twenty two dungeon the guild had no records of being cleared. Dren wanted to clear the level twenty nine one first since it was the best chance of getting more Prime kills. Then he would do the twenty two one next. Putting away the map he pulled out one of the basic ingots. Holding it in his hand he started imbuing it with the explosive rune.

Chuckling he shook his head at just how quickly and easily using a normal rune was compared to a Profane one. Of course, he had to put a second one on and his mind wandered with the possibilities.

*****

Eventually, they were forced to abandon their easy ride on the mount as the road came to an end. But it really just meant they had to abandon their crafting while traveling. With both of them having high stealth capabilities as well as high agility. Traveling wasn’t an issue. It was also noticeable how few monsters there were once they got away from the towns. Less than a day later they had covered a surprising amount of distance. Dren was in high spirits as they finally approached the dungeon. It was supposed to be a hive of some sort of monster that was a cross between a crab and a lizard. Large and brutal. Dren just heard that it bled and had hides that could be harvested.

When they broached the clearing that lead to the dungeon Dren was shocked. Someone else was at the dungeon entrance. That alone was odd, but not the most shocking thing. What was, was that neither Dren nor Ren had noticed him until they had them directly in sight. Coming to a stop he narrowed his eyes as he activated Identify.

Human (N)

Class Scourge: Level Thirty Nine.

*****

Character Status:

Character Status:

Name: Dren

Race: Human (I)

Class: Assassin (24)

Profession: Enchanter (20)

Health: 2650/2650

Stamina: 2650/2650

Mana: 2050/2050

Credits: 6,970

Agility 78

Dexterity 78

Endurance 98

Intelligence 74

Spirit 74

Strength 98

Toughness 98

Vitality 98

Dungeon Competency 60%

Solo Dungeon Competency 50%