Chapter 11: Free Reign.

After being checked in to the most boringly named Tavern in the city, the ‘Brackley Arms’, Tobi said his goodbye’s to Lorry and his dad. The pair logged out right outside the Tavern doors, leaving Tobi standing there alone and feeling a little out of place. The world felt oddly large compared to when he first arrived in Aevitas. Or maybe it was that he had become so very small? Either way, he was alone in an unfamiliar world and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

Turning toward the sky and seeing there were still some hours left in the day, Tobi remembered his deliveries and considered finishing them. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do, and his dad did tell him to check out the library.

Deciding to at least finish his deliveries before considering what to do next, Tobi took out his map to plan the route. Thanks to the unplanned circumstances throughout the day, he’d managed to deviate from Jameson’s pre-planned route quite spectacularly. Still, he wasn’t an idiot, and planning his own route wasn’t really that big of a deal. It’s not like he’d never had to make his own travel plans before.

Having worked out a possibly longer route that finished with a trip to the library before getting back to the Merchant Guild, Tobi stowed his map away and set off. If nothing else, it would pass some time and add another 47 Coppers to his pocket.

Picking up two deliveries from Jasper’s World of Wood in the Artisan district of the city, and another delivery from Joe’s Lumber Yard a little closer to the Western Gate, Tobi gathered the first three contract pickups in a relatively short time. The wood from the lumberyard was to be dropped off at two different locations though, forcing Tobi to detour around the poor quarter in order to make both dropoffs. The temptation to cut through had been high, but Tobi at least heeded Lorry’s warning while he remained alone.

The sets of Quivers and Arrows from Jasper’s World of Wood were then dropped near the Northern Gate of the city—the third and final gate of the city as there wasn’t one on the Southern side. The drop off point was a rather grand looking Archery Training Field, complete with its own Guildhouse and Tavern that was strictly limited to archery based classes.

The second delivery from Jasper’s World of Wood was a collection of Novice Staffs for the Mage Guild. In comparison to every other Guildhouse Tobi had seen, this awkward looking tower structure was by far the worst. It looked to be need of some urgent repair, while also appearing to be the oldest building he’d seen in the city so far. The grounds outside were unkempt and there was nobody guarding the gate outside.

Just as Tobi was wondering if he had the right place, a laughing couple in Mage clothes came walking into the grounds. It took a second for the pair to notice him, but once they did, the middle-aged man clapped his hands gleefully, “My order has arrived?”

“Uh, yeah..” Tobi muttered back, fishing the contract from his satchel, “You’re Galven, I take it?”

“That’s me,” the boyish man cheered back, rushing over and hopping from one foot to the other.

Tobi took the delivery from his pack apprehensively. The man couldn’t be any more different from the military style Mage’s he’d seen before the ‘battle of the Goblins’. The building also felt lacking for such a disciplined group of people.

“Haha, good, give me the contract then and let me sign it.”

Tobi did as he was bid. The man didn’t sign it with quill and ink though, like everyone else had done with his deliveries. The man placed his staff against the parchment and left a burn mark in place of his name. On a closer inspection, Tobi saw that the burn was actually a Seal of some kind.

“Not to be rude,” Tobi said tentatively, “but this building looks a little...lacking, for a Mage Guild.”

“Well, unless you have a Warlock in your backpack, there isn’t much we can do about that,” Galven laughed before glancing back, “You don’t, do you?”

Feeling the the question was actually intended to be taken seriously, Tobi instinctively shook his head. The woman by Galven’s side laughed and pulled him along, “Come on. You have a duel to win.”

Without another word, the two stepped toward the building, Galven waving his hand jovially as the large doors opened of their own accord. Tobi felt stumped when he saw what was inside. The room was extremely large, well-lit and not at all like the exterior. Warm air washed over Tobi as the couple stepped inside. The doors abruptly shut once the pair had entered, leaving Tobi standing in a much cooler wind under an obviously darker sky.

More than a little intrigued, and wishing he could change into a Mage just to step inside and have a look, Tobi hesitated for a few more seconds before turning to leave.

Tobi’s remaining deliveries were far less interesting. Other than seeing the occasional person wearing strange assortments of robes or mismatched armour’s, most people he passed appeared very ordinary looking. It was hard to imagine that each of them would actually belong to oneclass or another. The woman ushering her kids back home could actually be a high level assassin, while the drunkard using a wall for support might actually be a battle-hardened Warrior. The old nanny with her basket of fruits could actually be a high level Mage that retired to the peaceful life. It was quite disconcerting, but also very humbling. To know that everyone he passed was probably dangerous, at least compared to himself, was not something he could easily adjust to.

With the sky beginning to truly darken overhead, Tobi finally reached the building marked with a book on his map. He didn’t actually know if it would turn out to be the library but it was his best guess with the information he had. He could have also asked someone on the street for directions, but he was a guy first and foremost, so asking for directions seemed to be like accepting defeat, everyone knows that men don’t ask for directions. It’s practically written in Guy DNA.

Like most buildings in the city, and unlike every Guild houses and other exceptions, the Library opened directly onto the street it was situated on. There were just a couple of steps leading to the set of doors, open to accept all visitors.

Tobi walked inside slowly. There was something about libraries that always made him move with slow, quiet, deliberate steps. The foyer he found himself in after entering offered two paths. A door to the right leading up some stairs and a door on the left, leading into what Tobi would guess was the library itself. Naturally his interest was drawn to the right, but a dismissive thought pushed his feet toward the library.

Quietly walking to the reception desk that came into immediate view, with a woman seated behind reading an absurdly thick book, Tobi stopped and waited patiently, resisting the urge to lightly cough and gain her attention. The woman didn’t leave him waiting for long either, marking the paragraph she’d just finished with a finger and looking up.

“Hi, sorry, I just wondered…” pausing to find the right words, Tobi just went with the simplestof his thoughts, “Do I have to register to the library to take out books?”

“You can’t take out books.” The receptionist replied blandly.

“Not even if I plan to bring them back?”

“And how do I know you would even bother?” She countered, “Or when you would bother, even if it were your intention.”

Stumped for a second, Tobi looked around the quiet library and saw that it was almost completely empty of people. Plenty of books; no people, “So nobody is allowed to take books from here...ever?”

“Those who wish to take a copy are free to bring writing materials and make a copy of their own. The collection of the library itself is to remain within the building at all times.”

“Without exception?” Tobi asked, not failing to notice how she’d cleverly dodged the question.

“Obviously exceptions exist. You, unfortunately, are not an exception.”

“How about if I make a contract with the library? As a Merchant I will be bound by it. Could that act as a guarantee?”

“What kind of contract?”

Now that contracts were mentioned, Tobi wondered why he’d brought them up in the first place. He’d simply felt affronted by the fact that she specifically said that ‘he’ wasn’t an exception, and that ’he’ couldn’t take any books out of the building. More than that though, he didn’t actually know if there were any books he’d want to take. For all he knew, the library was open 24 hours a day and he could read here anytime he wanted.

With the contracts already mentioned however, Tobi felt his best option was simply to go ahead with the idea and see where it led, “I could write a contract to bring back the books within a specific period of time. Failure to return on time will result in a charge. A late fee. For each day the book is overdue, the price will increase. If the book is lost or stolen, I have to reimburse the library with at least the market value of the book.”

The librarian considered the proposal carefully for several seconds, making calculations of her own. “I agree,” she finally said with a smile, “conditions will be made based on each book, as not all books have equal value and some are rarer than others. What kind of books are you looking for?”

“No idea,” Tobi admitted, turning his attention back to the stacks. Remembering the Goblins from the battle, Tobi wondered if a bestiary book would exist and decided to go with that, “Are there any books describing all the beasts and monsters of Anderon. Or all the non-human races on the continent, stuff like that?”

By the time Tobi left the library again, he was three books heavier and four Silver lighter. The librarian had worried what would happen in the event of his death, or more specifically, what would happen to the books and her late fees. As a compromise, they initiated a rental fee system instead. The value of the books was the deposit, while the rental was 1 Copper for each day he kept them. Upon returning the books, Tobi’s Silver would be returned, minus the charge given for the amount of days he held onto them. In short; he’d receive all his money back minus three Coppers when he returned the books to the library the following day—if indeed he returned them the next day as he promised.

With the books in his pack, Tobi finally made his way toward the Merchant Guild. It was time to hand in the contracts and receive his reward. It was also time to find out what Lyle had to say, if anything, about his uninvited appearance on the subjugation mission.

Tobi’s imagined scene at the guild house never came. He walked into the building with confident steps, marched up to Leesa’s desk and hit the bell expecting Lyle to appear at any moment. Lyle didn’t appear however and nor did Leesa. A new face appeared from the back room and treated Tobi politely. Without any fuss or hassle, he handed Tobi the payment for the deliveries and logged filed the paperwork happily and efficiently.Tobi was back outside the guildhouse within minutes, having the unshakable feeling that he’d been let down somehow.

‘You’ve been watching too many TV drama’s’ Tobi told himself mockingly, imagining all the times where a dirty look meant inevitable conflict in the near future. However, Tobi knew real life rarely worked out that way so why he’d expected different in Aevitas he couldn’t say.

The walk back to the Tavern was equally uneventful. With all the warnings from his “guards” as he’d toured the city, Tobi was half expecting something to happen every time he turned a corner. As things were, nothing remotely exciting happened at all. More interesting things happened to him in the first hour or so than in the rest of the day combined.

Returning to his room and dumping his pack out on the the bed, Tobi sighed, took out the books he’d rented, and pulled up a chair by the window. The evening was darker now, and the room was darker still, but Tobi could still read easily in the given light and prepared himself for a night of reading. If he did indeed get drowsy at all, he’d definitely go to sleep, but the books were just in case he was like other players and didn’t need to sleep. Placing a couple of candles on standby at the windowsill, Tobi grabbed the first book and settled himself down comfortably.

‘Beasts and Kin of Anderon, Volume I’

‘Introduction:’ Tobi quickly skipped the introduction pages and go straight to the beasts themselves; ‘Page 3: Common Game.’

Becoming engrossed in the book far faster than he would have anticipated, Tobi burned through the first five beasts in quick succession. There wasn’t that much to learn for them in truth, but there were some interesting facts he didn’t know about. The first so-called beast in the book was actually nothing more than a rabbit. There were actually dozens of types when it came to rabbits, but the book only spoke of their differences from one another briefly. Mostly it told about rabbits in general, such as the fact that a rabbit, like everything else, could Level Up.

The higher the Level, the smarter they were and the harder they were to catch. On the other hand, their meat was much tastier and their fur much finer. They also had a tendency to drop some rather unexpected items, such as a ‘Pierced Rabbit Ear’. It was very rare, but it did happen. The earring itself is commonly used by Jewellers to make specialized items that boost agility. A very popular item among lower level agility based classes such as the Rogue classes.

Tobi flicked through the book reading about one beast after another, each with their own hidden secrets that had been discovered over time. He also noticed that every creature seemed to be able to Level Up, which begged the question why it was mentioned every time. If all beasts could level up, wouldn’t it be common knowledge? Why not just mention at the start that all beasts can level up just like humans and other races? Why mention it every single time.?

‘Well maybe because idiots like you skip the introduction and wouldn’t know they levelled up at all.’ Tobi mocked with some humoured self-criticism, ‘I suppose there would also be people who only look at the book to find a specific beast.’ he added as an afterthought, imagining a ‘Traveller’ looking up a Goblin in the book without thinking to look at anything else the book contained.

Thinking about Goblins, Tobi resisted the urge to check if any were in the book at all. He wanted to read the full book and so it would be better to read about Goblins when he got to them.

The night progressed quickly and Tobi moved on to the second volume. As thick as the book was, half of it was made up of pictures. The left page always shown a picture of the creature or beast—or whatever else it might be—with a stat window below showing what kind of stats they had. The page on the right was a general summary of the beast along with potential drops; and even a bit regarding how common or rare the drops might be. The Aevitians had really done their homework on this stuff: assuming of course that the books weren’t written by SkeaTech staff or whatever.

Getting as far as three beasts in to the second volume, Tobi finally came across the Goblins. The information inside was the same setup as all the other creatures, but having fought this particular himself—kind of—he read the information twice and studied the picture more carefully.

From what he read, the Goblin was a humanoid horde-type monster and was considered a sub-elven race. The strength of the Goblins came primarily from their confidence when gathered in large numbers. They didn’t seem able to count, but as long as they felt they had a lot of Goblins by their sides they would gain tremendous courage and dare to do almost anything. The greatest weapon to a Goblin was not what they held in their hands; but their teeth and their nails. Each has the capacity to rip through lesser armours such as iron. Only steel and above proved to be effective in dealing with the Goblins natural weapons and abilities. Having been defeated repeatedly by humans and other species thanks to weapons and armours, the Goblins have learned to mimic their enemies by using staffs, clubs, make-shift spears and other weapons; most of which are looted from battlefields and hunts. The weapons are actually a detriment to the Goblins fighting ability, but it is not something they seem to have worked out for themselves.

The Goblins only follow the strong and fight among themselves for their own position within the hierarchical pecking order. Their physical attributes are Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Perception, Health Points and Defence. Their skills mostly revolve around hiding and fleeing, but also include scavenging and fighting abilities that raise their threat level considerably.

The Hobgoblin was found on the next page and was very similar to the Goblin. The primary differences were the fact that Hobgoblins didn’t have a known level cap and that they had ‘demonic horns’ on their heads. The Hobgoblins were still cowardly creatures though and hid behind their Goblin minions. This slows down their levelling but does not stop it entirely. The evolved Hobgoblin had the same physical attributes as the Goblin, but they also shown a marked improvement with their intelligence and cunning.

Hobgoblins furthermore possessed strategic abilities and were capable of showing considerable leadership qualities. Hobgoblins would rarely work together with other Hobgoblins as it could potentially drop their position as a tribe chief, but they still would if necessary. They only fell into submission if a Goblin King ever made an appearance or if an exceptionally strong Hobgoblin forced them into subservience.

Turning the page and expecting to see the Goblin King, Tobi found himself suddenly disappointed. Although the Goblin King was indeed listed on the next page, there was very little information. They had an appearance like a Goblin, not a Hobgoblin and were much larger than either; but that was pretty much all it said. There was no information on the physical attributes, abilities, skills or how a Goblin or Hobgoblin could evolve into being a Goblin King. It also mentioned that a Goblin could simply be born different and be born as a Goblin King through a rare stroke of luck and chance.

Sighing to himself, Tobi looked up from the book and suddenly remembered his situation. It wasn’t that he’d forgot, it was just that his mind expected to see his own bedroom and not the room he’d rented at the Tavern. It was also in that moment that Tobi decided he wanted a cup of coffee. Not because of any thirst, as he didn’t actually feel thirsty at all. It was more out of habit than anything else. It was also in that moment that Tobi thought of his favourite cup at home. A cup that said ‘Keep Calm and Drink Tea’, despite the fact he used it solely for the purpose of drinking coffee.

Getting up from his chair, deciding to go down and see if the Tavern served Tea or Coffee—or any kind of hot beverage—Tobi suddenly wondered what time it was and took a look out the window. The silent and empty streets of Brackley entered his view. There were no streetlights providing any kind of safety measure to the streets below, but Tobi could see perfectly well without them.

Thinking back to what Lorry had told him about being able to see things he shouldn’t, and possibly being able to see in the dark as if it were day, Tobi glanced toward the moon hanging high in the sky. There was still a chance afterall that his eyesight was not anything particularly special.

The moon was bright, but it wasn’t that bright. No more than what he might’ve seen on Earth anyway. Even still, a bright moon was more than enough to see the streets even back on Earth. Especially considering that he didn’t have any lights on in the room; so no reflection in the window blocked his vision.

Thinking about the fact he didn’t have any lights on in the room, Tobi turned to have another look at the room itself. It was then that Tobi knew his vision was definitely better than it should have been. Though the colours in the room were a much darker shade, he could still make everything out as clearly as if it were day. The areas lit up by the filtered moonlight were in almost perfect colour while the rest of the room was slightly shaded, but that was no different than looking at the room through filtered sunlight. No matter how he looked at the room, he couldn’t find a place that he’d consider to be ‘dark’.

Tobi’s thoughts moved slowly, mostly consisting of single words. ‘Cool’ and ‘Night Vision’ repeated themselves several times in the few seconds that followed. The slow-processing of thoughts didn’t last long however and Tobi moved toward the door of his room. No matter where he might be, he still wanted that cup of coffee.

Creeping down the stairs, having left his pack back in his room and locking the door behind himself, Tobi made his way toward the bar area. The door to the bar was locked and Tobi could see through a small window to the side of the door that the room was empty. The door leading to the street on Tobi’s right was also locked, which he could see thanks to the several deadbolts lining one side of the door. His only course of action now was to return back the way he came. There was nowhere else left to go.

Staring at the deadbolts, Tobi considered his situation absently. In stories and in the movies, the characters could find an Inn or Tavern at any time of day or night. They could also leave at any time of day or night. In most stories, it was practically guaranteed that they would leave at night, without anybody knowing they were gone until morning. With that being the case, Tobi wondered if he’d just happened to stay at an inn that was the exception to the rule.

‘Even if I could get out, where would I go? I doubt anywhere else is open either…’ No sooner did Tobi think about everywhere being shut at night did he toss the idea out of his mind. He still believed there would be stores open though, no matter what time it was. Players would be active at all hours, normally, so they would be up and about no matter what time it was in Aevitas. They would also be trading at all hours. Mostly with each other, but they’d have stores and shops they would visit at night, surely? There would also be a guard stationed around the city at night, right? And other things going on in the city at night?

‘No, there are probably places I can go at night. The Merchant Guild will definitely be open at night; probably. If the Merchant Guild is open then other places will be too.[i]’

The image of Lyle staring daggers at him on the battlefield briefly entered Tobi’s mind before he swatted it away again. He didn’t give a rats ass about Lyle and didn’t really think the man would do anything anyway. A more pressing problem was the set of deadbolts blocking his path. Unbolting the door would be easy enough, but how would he lock the door behind himself? If the landlord felt the need to bolt the doors, he didn’t exactly want to leave it open when he left. He also wanted to be able to get back in again; who knew what time it was an how many hours were left until morning?

Finally giving up and turning back around, Tobi stepped back with his heart pounding. A figure was standing and staring at him from halfway up the stairs. He appeared to be wearing shadows rather than clothes, with wisps of the shadow drifting away and disappearing like black smoke. Apart from the shadowy clothing, the only parts Tobi could make out clearly was the man’s face and hands.

“You bloody scared me,” Tobi breathed heavily, his hand covering his heart as he tried to calm himself down.

The shock on the man’s face was clearly evident, but he didn’t answer immediately and simply cancelled his stealth ability, “What are you doing down here?”

“I wanted a drink…” Tobi answered absently, his heart only barely reaching a point that it didn’t thump in his ears with each beat, “How long were you standing there?”

“I came out of my room as soon as you reached the stairs.” The landlord answered, his face still full of curiosity, “How did you know I was here?”

Tobi opened his mouth to answer and closed it again. A very quick reminder of what happened with Riley Cobbler flashed through his mind as a warning. Quickly correcting his answer, Tobi shook his head helplessly, “Sixth sense. I knew you were there even if I couldn’t see you.”

“So you didn’t know it was me?”

Tobi considered the question a second before shrugging, “I had a feeling it was you, but I couldn’t see it was you.”

“Is that also part of your Sixth Sense? I’ve never heard of that ability before.”

“It’s not a spell or passive,” Tobi answered slowly, carefully considering his reply, “It’s more like intuition, or heightened senses. A gut feeling. Or instinct. As soon as I turned around, I knew someone was looking at me. I also knew that the likely answer was you, since you own the place. My gut told me I was probably right and not in any danger.”

The landlord cocked his head to the side, contemplating what he’d heard and mulling over the words thoughtfully. The man finally nodded his head, his shoulders visually slumping as he smiled ruefully, shook his head and sighed, “An enviable talent. I wouldn’t tell too many people about it if I were you. There are those that would find clever ways to use it for their own gain. What kind of drink were you after, Mr. Donlan?”

“Coffee if you have it. Or Tea works too if you don’t...”

The landlord gave a stiff nod and moved toward the bar door. Fishing the keys out and unlocking it, he glanced back at Tobi once and said that he didn’t have anything called coffee in his kitchen. He did have a drink that he preferred himself though. A rare tea from across the border called ‘Cloud and Mist Tea’ that cleared the mind, relaxed the nerves and gave a small boost to agility for a short time. While the man lead Tobi into a kitchen area behind the bar, he continued to explain about the tea and where it came from; which some place called the ‘Lanshu Mountains’ in Lybernia—a country to the East of Anderon. He also explained that the Tea was expensive and would be added to his bill later.

Upon entering the kitchen, the landlord took a lantern from a hanger at the side of the door and lit it. He then proceeded to collect water from some kind of filtration system and filled up an old-fashioned, metal kettle. After he lit the stove and filled the kettle with water, he collected the tealeaves and started to prepare brewing them. It was only then that Tobi thought of how the man had stared at him in complete darkness and navigated his way through the dark bar without concern. He couldn’t help wondering if the landlord could also see in the dark.

After a couple moments of hesitation, Tobi finally asked, “Can you see in the dark?”

The man didn’t turn around and simply chuckled, “I should be asking you the same thing, right? I saw you look at the bolts on my door without approaching them. You also followed me through the bar without any concern and even looked around the room while we were at it. Don’t you think your ability to see is a little more mysterious than mine?”

Tobi blinked in surprise, wondering how the man knew he’d taken a quick glimpse at the room as they passed through it. The man hadn’t turned around at all and simply navigated his way straight toward the kitchen. With Tobi’s silence stretching on, the man chuckled again and continued.

“Members of the Rogue classes such as myself use the shadows to our advantage. The shadows are like a second home to us. We can’t actually see in the dark, but we can do something similar to that sixth sense of yours. Some shadows are darker and deeper than others. We can feel where our stealth ability will work better and move accordingly. Some shadows can’t be entered though. That is because the space is already occupied. I couldn’t see you in the dark, but your two footprints were as visible to me as stars in the night sky.”

‘[i]So no night vision then,’ Tobi thought to himself, wondering what it would be like to move around in the dark the way the man described, “Does that mean you can sense when other people are nearby, even if they’re invisible?”

“Nobody is ever truly invisible,” The landlord chuckled back, turning to look at Tobi as he waited for the kettle to boil, “but no, we can’t see other stealthed people by simply sensing the shadows. Rogue classes blend shadows together and hide inside them. The ability will mask against eyesight and the shadow-sensing ability of other Rogues. It isn’t flawless though. Different levels of ability will have different results, and some Rogues are capable of sensing when someone is hiding nearby. So will other classes, but for different reasons. Now that I answered your question, will you answer mine? Are you able to see in the dark?”

Tobi considered lying and making up some kind of excuse, but nothing plausible came to mind. He knew a longer delay would only prove he was making something up so Tobi began his answer slowly and quickly made up a truth that would work for him in the future.

“I wouldn’t call it seeing in the dark, exactly. Like you can sense which shadows are darker, I can see which areas aren’t as dark. Look at the door handle over there for example… The part reflecting the light of the lantern is brighter than side that is blocked from view. The area behind the handle has different shades of light too. By seeing those differences in light, I can pretty much see everything.”

The landlords eyes remained focused on the handle for a long time. Whatever he was thinking about, Tobi couldn’t guess. Eventually the man’s eyes narrowed and he turned back to Tobi, “When I was using stealth, I was bending the shadows around me. Normally it would have been enough to hide from pretty much anyone, especially a Merchant. When you looked at me though, you looked directly at me. Not the light around me. Could you actually see where I’d bent the shadow and make out my figure? Was all that talk of a sixth sense a lie?”

Stumped and shocked, Tobi’s jaw fell open. Now that he’d heard the man’s response, it made perfect sense for Tobi to have seen his hidden form instead of sensing his presence. The shock however had come at how fast the man had worked that out. Tobi would have probably continued having the two lies as separate fallbacks forever; without ever realizing the way his second lie could undo his other.

“You shouldn’t act so surprised,” the landlord shrugged, “You didn’t ‘sense’ me being there until you looked at me. If you really had that sixth sense you mentioned, you’d have known I was there before you turned around.”

‘Ah. He has a point…’

The more the man countered his earlier lie, the more Tobi realized how pathetic his lie had been. He was sure the lie would work on most people, but this guy was like Sherlock Holmes or something.

“Well, now I know the truth, I’m satisfied.” The landlord smiled, turning to the tea and pouring two cups, “Almost enough to give you this tea for free.” He added with a chuckle.

Tobi remained silent, only speaking enough to thank the man as he took the offered cup.

“I have another question, if you don’t mind my asking,” The landlord began, smelling his tea and blowing on it gently, before lifting his eyes to Tobi’s, “Is your ability to see in the dark a skill or passive ability? Or was the part that it isn’t either true?”

“It isn’t either,” Tobi admitted, no longer daring to make his lies any bigger.

“How did I appear to you, on the stairs? I always wondered what it would look like if someone could see my stealthed form.”

Tobi considered the question and thought of a creature in the books he’d been reading, “In Beasts and Kin of Anderon, the first volume, there is a creature known as a ‘Spook’, have you heard of it?”

The landlord shook his head so Tobi continued, “It appears as a human-like figure wearing a dark, rotten cloak. It belongs to the undead class and is considered to be a ghost or spirit of some kind. It has a vampiric-like ability to turn the living into an undead that is similar to itself. They don’t have a physical body though so they aren’t nearly as dangerous as vampires. They do have their own abilities though, and most people would rather face a vampire than a spook—due to the spook’s ability to ignore physical attacks. Anyway, you kind of looked like a Spook. Dark shadows swirling around you with only your face and hands being somewhat visible.”

His explanation over, Tobi finally took a drink of his tea. The sound of a bell chimed quietly beside his ear as a fresh, sweet flavour filled his mouth and his muscles relaxed. A rush of energy bubbled up from his chest, filling his muscles and making him feel a lot more energetic.

‘No, not energetic.’ Tobi corrected, ‘Stronger.’

Quickly opening his stat window, Tobi checked to see what had changed.

Name: Tobi Donlan

Level2

Health: 200/200Fortune: 22,312

Energy: 41/100Satiety: 33/100

TITLES

None.

STATS

Luck0Charisma1

Endurance11Dexterity1

Agility11+5Mind6

“The tea boosted my agility?” Tobi asked aloud, quickly answering his own question after casting appraisal on the tea in his hand.

Cloud and Mist Tea.

Calms the body and clears the mind. Adds a boost of agility to those able to benefit from it.

* +5 Agility for 5 minutes.

* Removes minor negative effects placed on the drinker’s mind.

* Improves stealth abilities and reduces aggro range for 5 minutes.

Stone of Wealth value: 15 Coppers.

“Good tea,” Tobi remarked absently, closing the appraisal window and looking at the warm drink in his hand. With the mention of aggro range in the description, Tobi also realized that he could use aggro range for his excuse with his sixth sense ability excuse. He’d have to be more careful with his lies in the future though, so the thought was put to the back of his mind for whenever he might need to lie again. Even without the landlord warning against making his ability something the world knew about, he still didn’t plan to tell people. Riley and Lorry had both given him the impression that he shouldn’t spread the news around, even if they didn’t say as much specifically. Especially Riley’s implied promise that he ‘wouldn’t tell anyone about the eyes of Mother Aya’.

Closing all user window, Tobi looked back to the landlord who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, quietly sitting there with a peaceful expression on his face. Tobi sat in a more relaxed position too and decided to quietly enjoy the tea as well. He did plan to drink in his room while reading the rest of the books, but sitting in companionable silence wasn’t bad either.

The night hadn’t turned out too bad really, all things considered. He didn’t get the ‘if it can happen it will happen’ setting that was common on TV, which he kind of expected after the way his dad and Lorry protected him and repeatedly warned him about taking risks, but he did find there was more to this world than just fighting monsters and completing quests. Perhaps his few days of being trapped wouldn’t be that boring after all.

Advertisement A note from Aspirer

Special shoutout to Xuzo and J.D. for their efforts in helping me proof and edit.

Another shoutout to LLUCAS1, thanks for the comment review. — This chapter wasn't supposed to be released until Saturday, so I'm giving this early release to you. Thanks for following old Aevitas, waiting a year, and then following this rewritten version.

~Aspirer

P.S. Title chapters are getting a bit random and less 'informative'. The title predicting the chapter is like an unfair spoiler, so I will be stopping that soon. ^_^

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