Chapter 9 : Afternoon Aftermath

The 120000 experience pill had elevated Zhoey from level 3 to level 59. The effect wasn't instant though – every 5 levels a new, seemingly random ability had to be accepted or rejected. Some people would of course insist that abilities were in fact especially chosen for each person. Nobles would often buy expensive pseudo-rational books, such as the popular "Abilities: Methods for prediction and influence, by Rhon. L. Quak". It outlined an overly complex system with such a multitude of nebulous variables that the process might as well be random anyways.

Zhoey had gotten 11 abilities in total but had to reject two, turning them into ability scrolls. There were prisons, orphanages and shady low paying jobs where people were "encouraged" to reject their first level 5 ability and the resulting scrolls were then sold to nobles for a lot of money. This type of farming by nobles did generally not yield powerful abilities but a lot of duplicates of the simple stat boosting minor abilities which were common at lower levels.

Sometimes poor people also rejected abilities which might not be useful to them, either saving the scrolls as insurance for later in life or giving them to their children. Zhoey's mother had gained the Minor Resilience ability at level 5 before she got Zhoey, and thankfully kept it. The increased resilience helped in childbirth, and likely also later saved her during the collapse of the mine.

The reason why Zhoey had to reject two abilities was because one of them was the useless Gauge ability – she should already use the system ring to get more exact data on her targets. Supposedly gauge just gives a vague feeling of weight, sort of like trying to guess the weight and contents of an enclosed urn. Guards with this ability were often hired to work at gates and receptions.

In order to trick the guards that she wasn't a threat while being conveniently escorted to her victims, she had turned on a system ring feature called Spoof. It made her appear as a level 3 to anyone using gauge on her. Now she had switched it off however, as she didn't want to be disturbed.

The second ability Zhoey rejected was the somewhat common Minor Strength. Many abilities come in four grades: Minor, Normal, Greater, and Master. She had the more powerful Strength scroll in her ring. She could opt for merging the abilities, but there was only a very small chance that the two would become Greater Strength given that one was of a Minor grade. It would likely just be wasted and she wasn't much of a gambler.

Still standing there on the town square, she looked at herself.

Name: Zhoey Garnet

Status: Commoner / Prospective City Lord

Level: 59

Profession boosting abilities:

• Master Tea party

... Zhoey sighed seeing that one. She got it at level 55. Getting a master grade ability was extremely lucky, but why would it have to be tea party? She chuckled a bit though, thinking about some big buff knight getting it after decades of grind.

Profession boosting abilities did not make one instantly adept at them, rather, they just made certain things easier to learn and master, some aspects feeling instinctual. She continued going over her information. The next one was more interesting.

• Restoration

According to the system description, this profession ability related to fixing worn or broken items or buildings. While Zhoey might no longer be short on money or the capacity to acquire it, she could see this one coming in handy sooner than later. Looking at the next set of abilities, some of these had already been very useful.

Special abilities:

• Iron skin

• Poison immunity

• Death glare

• Projectile awareness

• Graceful motion

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• Shroud

These abilities weren't supposed to have grades, however, since Zhoey had heard of poison resistance she guessed poison immunity was a more complete version of this ability.

Death glare she had used on the city lord. This active ability was perhaps a variant of the more common oppressive glare which she had been subjected to on multiple occasions. That was a psychological attack which unsettled weaker targets, often making them back off in fear. Death glare had an additional effect – it sneakily inflicted a temporary status ailment which disabled all abilities, passive and active.

One reason why she had used death glare was because she had also gotten projectile awareness and thus there was a small chance that the city lord had it too. This passive ability allowed the user to sense incoming projectiles and take action, assuming they had the physical capability.

She had used graceful motion as well. It was another passive ability, one which made movement transitions more intuitive, economical and measured. Additionally it made the user less likely to sprain an ankle, pull a muscle, fall out of bed and such things.

Finally, shroud was an active ability which could make the user blend into the background and escape indirect attention.

Next up were the basic stat boosting abilities. These just made certain stats abnormally high, scaling them four levels up for minor, eight for normal, and twelve for greater.

Stat boosting abilities:

• Strength

• Minor Resilience

• Minor Agility

Temporary boosts:

• Stamina from bread (4 minutes remaining).

Zhoey was about halfway to reaching level 60 now, which would give her another ability, but the state of her mother was of course the more pressing matter.

––o––

Maynor Rhemott hid behind a roadside barrel, panting and peeking out at the lone figure standing pensive in the abandoned town square.

Once he had made the mistake of using gauge on saint Alana after spotting her at a fancy social gathering in the capital. It made him made drop his plate with refreshments, causing great embarrassment. Saints were the most powerful people in the country, likely around level 42-48. Breaking level 50 was unheard of. A moment ago he had used gauge on this woman and his knees just buckled under the weight.

Now he was doing breathing exercises. What kind of monster was she?

His eyes narrowed. Was she perhaps equal threat and opportunity? Maynor's older brother had been the previous city lord before, but his life ended in the duel which had brought the current city lord into power. Maynor suspected foul play though – his brother had been poisoned ahead of the duel and his wife had also gone missing the night before, likely kept as leverage, then killed.

The city lord manor had previously belonged to the Rhemott family but had been seized, so it technically now belonged to either the Rhemott family or Mavruc Moor's relatives, if not to this ragged looking woman who had in fact issued and won a challenge in front of all. It really depended on who could best enforce their will.

Maynor built up his courage, forced himself erect and walked out towards the scary woman, back initially straight.

––o––

"Salutations, new city lord!"

Zhoey turned and looked down at the little chubby nervous man. He was somehow shorter than her own five feet. He wore fine clothes and an enormous frilly collar. She didn't recognise him.

Maynor Rhemott, Nobleman, Level 18

Not much of a threat, then. City lord huh? That had just been an idea she got in the spur of the moment. She couldn't even imagine being a city lord. She had other stuff to do right now. Growing annoyed at the holdup she frowned at him as he continued.

"May I inquire into what your plans are for the city lord's manor? You see... the, uh-", the man paused and glanced at the grim scene near the wooden thrones, then continued, "...the late lord's manor is in a state of disrepair. If you need a property manager I'd gladly offer up my services to-"

Zhoey had no fond memories of the place, but then again she had only spent time in the dungeon underneath.

"Whatever, do with it as you wish.", she interrupted, having turned to look at a point in the distance where her mother was hopefully safe and waiting.

Remembering the feather-leaf cloak, she made it appear. It was a pristine white, made out of hundreds of featherlike scales. She put in on with a graceful motion, suddenly feeling rather light. Her takeoff was a bit less graceful though, not being used to her strength nor the effect of the cloak.

The man fell on his butt as the slush covered cobblestone quaked from her jump. He quickly got back up, looking for witnesses – not for him falling on his butt, but rather in getting permission to seize the mansion back. The woman had already disappeared into the distance, making fantastic skips across snow-capped rooftops in a bizarre mix of clumsy and graceful.