Logan and Marcus had a quick chat about their next plans, Marcus would settle up things at the church as he had previous engagements to tie off, Logan would finish off his villager quests. The two would reconvene at the Dogslop Inn, it would be cheaper sharing a room and Marcus paying for his own meal. The next few days would go through the same until they eventually left for the capital.

The Spellthief wanted to be as prepared as possible if the next quest threw him through the wringer, not putting much faith in a powerful being that took him from his world to not want to toy with him. While Logan worked, Marcus would also search for a crossbow to add to his arsenal, though this was mostly insisted by Logan who wanted the Devout to not fall behind in levels more than he already would be.

Breaking up, the two went their own ways until nighttime, Logan had some work to do.

Starting off his afternoon work, Logan had a job wholly suited to a spellcaster. The local bathhouse had been having issues with dirty water, a tinge of green and yellow had tainted the hot waters for a few days and while it didn't seem to make people sick it was unsightly. Logan looked over the heated rocks, water tower, and piping. The tower in particular had a strange fungus growing inside of the wooden drums, so he used Force to break them up and Clean on the rest.

Finding the rocks to also be quite old, along with rusted metal pipework, Logan threw in some Clean micks to essentially renovate the establishment. An hour of work later, the Spellthief was praised highly for his thorough work with thrown in cleaning services. He was given a tip, leaving with 5 copper.

3 silver, 32 copper. 13 quests done, 10 villagers.

Following on from a dirty job, though fixed with Clean, Logan's next quest was to help train and assess the local militia. Since he was a classed being, Logan was stronger than most classless, so training with him was a valuable experience no matter his class. Picking up a shortsword and shield, Logan had a window pop up telling him he didn't have proficiency with either, though training with them would grant him such.

Giving a 5-minute sparring match with 10 members of the militia, Logan spent the next 50 minutes sparring with villagers of varying abilities and attributes. During the fights, he would work his words to having them join his party and letting him see their statistics. A few would give him worry, if not for his Agility far exceeding theirs, allowing him to deftly dodge what he couldn't block or parry. The men and women all thanked him for his time, a few seemingly gaining a Strength point from the fights.

“Is this how NPCs spend their attribute points?” Logan observed. One thing that Logan noticed during the sparring and teaming up with the NPCs, none of them had more than 1 attribute point to spend. Aside from the attribute point, each sparring partner gained either 20 or 30 experience, depending on their level, with Logan gaining no such experience. The Spellthief surmised this was to aid the NPCs in training against a PC who gained much more from victories against monsters.

Paid for his time, Logan was given 5 copper, the most he had seen from an hour or less of work not including tips.

3 silver, 37 copper. 14 quests done, 11 villagers. 10% proficiency with one-handed blades and shields.

With his villager quests finished, Logan was disappointed at the lack of titles or skill points, though they were more like cherries on the top since he knew how much people appreciated his assistance. Handing off his contracts to the hall, Rubené thanked Logan for his hard work at clearing the board of long-standing villager quests.

Returning to the Dogslop Inn, Logan saw Marcus sat at a table inside, nursing a tankard of water. His face brightened at the sight of his partner, waving his friend over.

“Work all done, Logan? I'm all sorted myself”, Marcus said, watching his ally sit down.

“Yeah, thankfully they didn't take too long. How'd the crossbow hunt go?” Logan inquired. Marcus responded by picking up his new crossbow and planting it on the table. Logan did his usual routine “Identify.”

“Sharpshooter - Level 2, Common: Often a ranged unit's second crossbow of their career, a step up from the beginner's choice of crossbow. Light enough to fire with one hand and reloads rather quick to compare with its relatively low damage. Deals between 1 and 3 damage on each hit.”

“Good, plenty of bolts to take on the hunt too?” Logan asked.

“Yeah, I got about 40 bolts, was able to get a deal with the trader since I also bought the crossbow from them.”

“Suitable, we can get a lot done with that. Have you worked out the room with Coach yet?” Logan asked, looking over to the counter.

“I said we would be sharing a room, though he said he would need your confirmation on that since you're a trusted customer.”

“Alright, I'll get it sorted. Get your stuff ready”, Logan informed, standing from the table and moving to Coach who stood tall at the counter.

“Evening, Logan. That Devout over there said you'd be shacking up together?” Coach asked, a raised eyebrow showing bemusement.

“Yeah, he's my new party member. Got any rooms with two beds?”

“Room 6 has two beds now”, Coach responded, a smile on his face. He already had the key in hand and was just waiting for Logan to ask.

“Great, how much is it?”

“For you? 7 copper”, Coach offered. Placing the coins on the table Logan was handed his key.

“Thanks, Coach”, Logan responded, feeling the camaraderie of the villagers grow.

Flashing the key in his hand to Marcus, the Devout followed his companion up the stairs. Entering into a familiar room, Logan saw it was recently cleaned and another straw bed placed on the opposite side of the room. The window was now symmetrical with a bed on either side. “Gonna be a shame when I leave”, Logan dreaded going to the capital where he had to build a reputation again.

Marcus set up shop quickly, laying his 2 bags beside the bed, his crossbow at the foot end. Logan instructed the Devout to get a small table set up with his Trinket Craft tools, Logan needed to buy some last-minute materials to make his trinkets. It would only take a few minutes since Logan knew what he needed, a neat little list floating by his side laying out the items and a final price of 5 silver, putting him at 10 copper left.

From his hunting trip, Logan had a total of 9 shoddy fangs, 1 common fang, 4 shoddy pelts, 1 common pelt, 4 shoddy bastarn eyes, 2 common eyes, and 1 high-quality eye. He would be able to make 3 Wolf Fang Rings since it took 3 fangs per ring, and 3 Bastarn Eye Earrings since it was two eyes per earring, with 6 total chances of getting a good tier trinket. The time he would put in also meant he could sell the trinkets for more money than if he had sold the components.

Starting with a ring, Logan shaved the outer layer from the fangs to reveal a clean underlayer of the tooth. Cutting a precise line in the underside to connect to the ring, Logan infused spellforce into both the fangs and the silver ring he had purchased and used Clean on. Using combinations of solvents, glues, and herbs, he finished off the ring in 1 hour of work. Due to him being a “proper” spellcaster, at least when compared to classless, the magic he weaved was more potent and sped up the process further.

Since he had bought the ring and other components, it was a quicker process than if he had prepared the other parts aside from the fangs. His first attempt landed him a shoddy trinket. Even as a “shoddy” item it still granted a +2 bonus to Agility. Continuing the process two more times netted him an amazingly lucky high-quality ring and another shoddy one. Placing the high-quality ring onto his left middle finger he saw an immediate effect.

At double the effect of a shoddy item, Logan surmised that each tier granted an additional +1 bonus, though this was only conjecture, legendary could be higher or grant more effects like the Harvesting skill alluded to. Handing a shoddy one to his ally, Marcus slipped it onto his right pinky finger. With an agility boost, he would prove more useful with his crossbow.

Next on the list were the earrings. Using a strange spellforce technique, Logan was able to resize the eyes to fit within a thumb-sized adornment, then morphing two into one double-sided eye, which dangled from a piercing to be placed within the ear lobe. Again, the earring was pre-purchased, a dark silver that he used Clean on. Using a quill, he enchanted the writing device to allow him to etch into the metal with red runes. Taking an hour of work, like the rings, Logan had made a shoddy earring that gave +2 to Constitution.

Repeating the routine, Logan made one more shoddy and a common quality earring. Handing one off to Marcus, Logan pierced the spike of the earring through his right ear lobe. “If dad saw this I wonder what he would think”, Logan's thoughts drifted to how his father was doing in this instance. A little blood fell to his clothes from his ear lobe, quickly patched up with Healer's Caress and Clean.

With the crafting work complete, Logan gained attribute bonuses equal to 2-3 levels, a major boost at such a low level. With a high-quality ring, he put his Agility higher than his Intelligence at this point, making it so he wasn't too worried about focusing on it for unlocking the System further. The Constitution increases also gave him 6 more HP and 4 more to Marcus.

The evening turned to night as the 6 hours of crafting passed the adventurers by, Marcus mostly settling up their equipment, giving aid in crafting where he could, and finally drafting up plans of travel to the capital. Logan already had plans for the remaining shoddy ring and earring, since he couldn't go through in open sales, he would have to be a bit underhanded with his trading.

Asking Marcus to gather up information in town about the rumours surrounding people who were able to unlock classed beings' potentials, as well as checking out the quests on offer, Logan spent the rest of the night reading “Magi's Magick Vol. 1” which he had 3 hours in already.

Getting a nightly meal sent to his room, an assortment of sliced meat and vegetables that came the way of a thankful bathhouse owner, Logan read over his tome for another 5 hours, reaching til midnight. A few dozen pages remained but Logan had absorbed all he could in one sitting, the diagrams, explanations, and formulas draining his mental energy. Setting the book back into his bag he was confident he'd complete it the next night.

Returning to their room, Marcus seemed quite tired after his nightly investigations. Sitting down at his bed, he did bring some amount of information with him.

“Didn't get too much from the people I could talk to. It seems that those who are able to unlock people's potential are referred to as oracles. I found no mention or trace of them ever appearing or operating in Tinte or Noma. All signs point to Gauntlet. As far as anyone can remember, the last rumoured appearance was about a year or so ago, but nothing is confirmed in writing or reports”, Marcus informed.

“A common name is useful enough, at least now we can properly mention them instead of having to describe them in detail. There's no need to stay here any longer than I had planned, or even to visit Noma, knowing that oracles have only been spotted at the capital”, Logan assessed.

“Right. As for quests, it seems a local troll has made its home in the goblin forests west of here. Since the numbers of goblinoids plummeted it was easy to take over, even more so since the hobgoblin was killed. A large gathering of adventurers have picked up the quest, about 8 in total with 2 Sorcerers amongst them, I was actually invited when I was investigating but said I had other plans tomorrow.”

“A troll? Are they dangerous enough to warrant 8-man teams?”

“Yes, normally they are restricted hunts for rank 5 and above, though if a team is large enough the limit is waived. They have amazing regenerative abilities, regrowing cuts and injuries, given enough time even whole limbs. Fire can halt its regeneration, but it has to be strong and applied regularly.”

“Is the prize worth the risk? Split 8 ways, it's going to be quite a divide.”

“This troll, in particular, is a dangerous foe, the quest offers 100 silver for its defeat and head as a trophy. Aside from the money, troll's blood can be used in alchemy to give a humanoid their regenerative powers for life, it's weaker but still highly prized”, Marcus replied, a bit of haste and excitement to his words.

“So, if they all live, 12 silver and 5 copper each, if equal splitting, though the casters will most likely get less. The regeneration is quite enticing, but I doubt we would be allowed it as a reward, the leader or leaders would probably claim it. If they fail and retreat, we could possibly take it down in a weakened state and harvest the blood, but I have a better idea.”

“Oh? There is a high chance they will win the fight, what is your other idea?”

“I went on a quest to the western forest not too long ago, if it's clear aside from the troll we could circumvent it and the large party, head to the cave of the goblins and loot it for all its worth. My team was badly hurt after clearing it, so their stolen items are up for grabbing.”

“That's great. If it's the previous hold of the hobgoblin then it should contain quite a lot of gear. A few adventurers died to that band, and the goblins are known for hoarding items from their kills. If it's just scouts and muscles, you and me should handle it fine if we're not surrounded, but with the troll, their numbers should be manageable.”

“My thoughts exactly. These trinkets also put us a cut above what I was back then. We will need to act fast and quietly though. I don't want to put much faith in the troll fight taking long, and even if we can handle goblins I want to be able to take down as many individuals on their own as we can. We'll head there first thing in the morning before the main team set off.”

“Got it, they mentioned heading out around 10am, looking to get a few more members if possible.”

“Then we leave at 8, track the troll's whereabouts, and see if we can't get to the cave without him noticing.”

“Got it, this is exciting, I would have never thought of doing something like this before partying up with you”, Marcus said, shaking in excitement on his bed.

“As long as your head is in the game, we've got this.”

The two partners sorted out their route to the forest, plans for whilst in it, and tactics for within the cave for a few minutes more before settling in for bed. Neither got to sleep quick however, the energy for their mission already filling their bodies. Through perseverance, they finally got some rest.

The next morning both Logan and Marcus were up on time, though mostly due to Logan's alarm waking him to wake Marcus. Tinte was bustling with activity, the news of the troll having spread in the night. Several adventurers were lining up around the adventurers' hall to petition to join the raiding party. Looking over them, Logan saw levels ranging from 1 up to 5.

Getting their gear in order, the two enjoyed a quick stew breakfast before making their first stop not too far from the hall. Giving a welcoming pat to Spike, both Logan and Marcus entered back into the Mova household. Punissa greeted her two saviours with a smile, welcoming them inside the house, which still had several components laid across the tables and hooks.

“Punissa, I was wondering if I could impose a little favour. I tried out your trinket crafting and was able to make a few items, though I have some left over. I don't want it getting out that I can do this, so would it be possible for me to sell you them for you to sell on? I am willing to take a lesser price since you might not be able to sell them with all your other items”, Logan pleaded.

“Such a quick learner. Logan, you're an ally of the gashriek, and we an ally of you. I can certainly do this for you, can I see the items? Not the ones you are wearing I take it”, Punissa accepted, her husband walking over to the table to investigate as well.

“It is a wolf fang ring and a bastarn eye earring, both are shoddy”, Logan explained, laying the two trinkets on the table. The couple looked over the items for a few seconds before confirming their quality.

“We can put these up as bargain buys, but you're right we might not be able to hawk them along with our commissioned wares. We could give you 3 silver for each”, Forletta offered.

“That's more than fine with me”, Logan accepted. Taking the two trinkets, Forletta handed over 6 silver to Logan. Marcus had already discussed that all of it would go to Logan for making his trinkets.

“Thank you, if I am able, could I bring more leftovers here?”

“If we're able to sell these, you're more than welcome to bring whatever you find or craft over”, Punissa insisted.

Saying thanks and farewells, Logan and Marcus left the Mova household to make a final stop off at the markets. This time, for the first time, Logan entered into a full-on weapon shop. Items of much higher prices, and levels, were on offer within locked glass cases or wooden cabinets.

The building was made up of both wood and brick, the owner bringing in a lot more money than the other markets due to its higher-level and higher-tier items. The containers were sat atop light-brown wooden floors or dark-brown wood walls. A counter at the far end was trimmed with marble, though mostly composed of a reddish-brown wood.

Logan wanted a better dagger to fall back on, still only holding 3 spells a day. He eventually stumbled onto quite the rare sight, set within a shiny glass display case was a jagged dagger of a black and red design, as if lava ran across obsidian. “Identify.”

Due to its higher level and tier, it was priced at 7 silver, even if it had a bit of use since its durability was at 70%. It was worth the money in Logan's mind, dealing 3 more damage than his current dagger and giving +2 more attack rating. He was close to level 5, but high-quality meant it would keep relevance. Moving to the counter, he started to talk with the owner.

The shopkeep was a burly woman, possibly an adventurer or blacksmith herself back in the day, her muscles were larger than Logan's, though they stood eye to eye at the same height of 6'2". Her hair was blackened and slightly spiked back, tied in a top knot ponytail, dull grey eyes accented her face that made her look to be in her 40s. A deep triple gash went from her forehead to her right cheek, across her eye but narrowly missing her vision.

Using Identification, Logan could see the woman was a retired adventurer, a level 7 Fighter. Though as his skill grew in tiers, the more he felt weird for using it on others, only getting their levels if necessary and more if they were opponents or of interest.

“Excuse me, mam, I was looking at Fangtooth over there. I wanted to purchase it but was wondering if you could come down on the price a bit. I noticed a few nicks as well as wear and tear”, Logan tried to barter.

“You must be a Grasp expert, I hunted with one of those casters before, stab and blast at the same time”, the woman stated.

“Why do you think I am a caster?”

“Word gets around the village, you're that Logan fellow helping the townsfolk out. Wizard, casting micks and delivering items.”

“Ah, can't keep myself hidden here can I. Yeah, I use Grasp alterations a bit. A good dagger helps me take down what my spells aren't able to.”

“One of my old buddies retired recently, sold me Fangtooth as the final nail in his hunting career. He would hate to see it get sold for cheap, but I agree it isn't in the best condition. You seem a good sort, I can do 6 silver and 8 copper, it was already discounted because of its age.”

“I can take that”, Logan accepted, his hand outstretched.

“Deal, Logan. The names Alexia, better know it if you're going to be picking up more of my wares”, the woman replied, clasping hard on Logan's hand.

Handing over the money, Logan followed Alexia who unlocked the case of Fangtooth, sheathed it in a unique black sheath, and handed it to the Spellthief. Placing his old dagger to the lower-black portion of his belt, he moved Tara's dagger to his left hip and put Fangtooth on his right.

With his new weapon, his status updated to more clearly note the quality of each item with stars at the top right, with 1 being shoddy and 3 being high-quality. With all of his money drained, aside from 2 copper, the duo had little left to prepare. Saying thanks to the shopkeeper, the two made their way to the west exit of town.

Passing by the large queues of adventurers signing up for the raid, Logan saw that they now had 10 members, confident they could handle the troll he was happy he landed on his cave looting plan. On the off chance they would need to deal with a loose troll, Logan prepared 3 casts of Flame.

With their gear all in order, the Spellthief Logan and the Devout Marcus made their way towards the west forest, the goblins being replaced with a troll, it would be quite the different locale to when Logan had first gone there. On the way, he would reorganise and make his status a bit neater to look at.

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