For using your class proficiencies, you earned 15,000 Experience points. You reached Dabbler level 11. +1 Wisdom.

Startled, Cless stood up and shouted. "WHAT?"

The other occupants of her room were startled but she calmed them down. "Just a startle. Tehe!" She giggled, faking it.

Class proficiencies. Cless pondered about what that notification meant. The freaking Dabbler class. It gives a tiny proficiency bonus to everything, so anything is a class proficiency. Anything. It meant that any use of any proficiency would give Experience to her. Was that the true power of the Dabbler? What about Wisdom? What the heck does that stat do?

She ought to ask Karen or Balthus. But first things first. She had a duel to win. Venaris had a duel to win. And they had to visit a lot of people.

"Venaris, we are going out for a walk. C'mon boys."

They went to the backyard of the inn, where Bear-Lyle was bored to hell.

"Hey, bear-boy," Cless greeted him. "We are going to Lyle's parents to hand them his body and some money for the funeral. There is the reward from the loot, I'm giving Lyle's share to his parents. Since you are a bear and has no use for money." Before Bear-Lyle could even groan, she was dashing away. "Toodles!"

She decided to give three crowns to each of the eight guild boys and one crown to each of the seven deserters. That's thirty-one crowns, quite a sum of money. One of those gold coins could keep a family of five peasants away from starvation for over a year.

She gathered them and they went to the houses of the four deceased, handing over the money and the condolences. And Lyle's dead body. After that, she gathered the guild members at the inn and brought Bear-Lyle.

"Ok, folks. It was quite an adventure fighting all these orcs. But it is time to say goodbye. You know the circumstances we came together weren't the best, and I'll have to deal with some personal issues soon. I'm releasing you from guild service. I won't hand over the charter and the seven... eight of you have enough coin to start your own guild."

The boys protested but she quelled them. She had to deal with her issues before she could take the lead again.

"Maybe we can party up in the future, who knows? As a goodbye gift, I'll give each of you two stat points, one Agility, and one Health. Lyle, you have to choose one of them to get your points. I'm not giving you unallocated ones unless someone trades with me."

Arnold traded one unallocated for one Health and Shane did the same for Agility. Cless deducted the sixteen points from her unallocated pool and passed the two unallocated to Bear-Lyle. Once again she could do that by just stating her intent to gift the points.

"Our deal regarding not speaking about me, my Skills or harming me will remain forever. Goodbye."

She shook their hands and they went on their way. Only Bear-Lyle remained behind.

"We should go to the constable and see if there's any bandit report around. We should make you human again soon. Let's go."

She took Bear-Lyle, Venaris, and the monster boys with her and they went to the garrison. She had the luck of finding constable George at the front of the complex.

"Constable!" Cless called. "Good to see you."

"Guild master. Your retinue is stranger each day I see you." He looked at each of Cless' companions closely.

"Yes, aren't they lovely? I got really good companions during our orc extermination campaign."

To her surprise, George bowed. "We appreciate the efforts of the guild. I had just returned from the association to get their report on your mission. But did you really kill a thousand orcs?"

"Yes. Six hundred of them were in a larval state, but left alone they would be harassing this very town mid-winter. You know how fast orcs grow. We did kill one thousand orcs."

"I will talk to the mayor regarding some bounty. No promises though."

The promise of money left Cless unfazed. She was more worried about rep. "That is fine. We lost four of our members in the fighting though. If the mayor can't cough up the coin, honors for the fallen would be good compensation."

"Of course. I will speak about them tomorrow morning at the troop debriefing. Thank you again, guild master Cless."

"Constable, we came here not to brag about our accomplishments, but to offer our services. I need to train my new companions in our tactics and see their abilities. Is there any bandit reports or outstanding bounties we might collect?"

"I need to check. Johnson, Kelvin, please guard the guild master's companions here. I'm going inside with her to check."

"Thank you. Venaris, you're with me."

The two girls went inside the garrison and into the bounties office. George sifted through the papers and got one.

"Here. A merchant was attacked yesterday on the way from Glauchester. Four bandits, they took his cargo. Some foodstuffs. The bounty is twenty ducats per head."

"Does the merchant have their description?"

"Only in general. We think their camp is somewhere around here." He showed her the spot on the map. "It is out of our jurisdiction. I'm not sending our guards that far."

The town guard jurisdiction was up to the last farm. North would be Olson's. Anything that happened beyond the treeline would not be even investigated.

"I'll take that bounty. Thank you, constable."

"An honor, guild master."

It made Cless heart fuzzy. She had the constable's respect! She of all people! The girl had to force herself to not skip through the garrison hallways. She gathered her party and they went to the market. Cless needed a new sword. One that wouldn't break with her bizarre Strength. And a sling for Venaris. And armor for Venaris. That's a lot. She bought a sturdy steel broadsword for two crowns and a sling for free with the purchase of one hundred and fifty iron bullets. Five kilograms.

They went to visit Zoe next.

"Cless!" The sales girl almost jumped in joy. Then she jumped in fright at the sight of Vic.

"Hey, Zoe. Meet Vic, Kurt, and Provisional Bear, my new tames. And this lovely deadly lady is Venaris, my heart-sister."

"Oh, welcome, Venaris. You are so cute! We need to outfit her, Cless!"

"Yes. I want to order a brass-iere for her. Actually, could you order two for me and three for her? Get her measurements and give me a quote."

Zoe squealed in pleasure. "I KNEW IT! I knew you would love it! Very comfortable, right? We can make them, of course!" She ran to the back door and put her head in, "DAD I'VE GOT AN ORDER FOR FIVE BRASS-IERES!!!!!" She skipped back.

"Do you have any armor Venaris can use available? Something light, she is a slinger."

"I don't think so... Maybe a padded leather, but we don't have them that small."

"It's fine, Cless. I'll take care." Venaris was annoyed because she felt excluded. Wasn't it obvious that humans wouldn't have stuff for gnomes?

"I believe Zoe here wouldn't let this slight go unpunished. RIght, Zoe?"

"Of course not! The guild master's sister is our most valued customer! Please, please. Miss Venaris. Let me take your measurements, I'll have something ready for you in... three days. Tops. I'm going to chain my dad to the forge if I have to. I'll weave my lifeblood in the leather."

"I... I don't think I want your blood, miss Zoe." Venaris said, apologetical. Maybe she knew as much about humans as Zoe knew about gnomes. Cless would have to look deeper into this segregation.

Zoe did a double-take but then chortled. "It is a way of saying that I am going to do my best. There is no way to make armor stronger with blood." She paused, did another double take. "That I know of."

Cless waved for the monster boys to come and showed them. "Zoe, I'll need armor for my other companions, Vic and Kurt."

Zoe was on cloud nine. "Anything. For my best customer, anything." ]

She diligently took measurements of everyone. She took a deposit of two crowns and they went away. Cless looked the sun's position, it was a little past noon.

"Shall we hunt some bandits? The sooner we deal with the bear situation the better. We can come back at night if we hurry. And by the way, donate all deferred pool for Agility, Health, and Intellect to Venaris."

Deferred stat points transferred. 28 Agility, 16 Health, and 13 Intellect given to Venaris.

Cless winked at the astonished gnome. "Now we can go."

They departed on the road to Glauchester. All of them had improved stats and they just jogged down the road, at about one and a half the pace of a horse-drawn wagon. After two hours they reached a place with a wrecked wagon. Apparently, it was the site of the latest bandit attack.

"Silverfang, can you track the bandits?" The wolf sniffed and dashed into the woods. They followed.

Cless pumped Protection on everyone. She could cover four targets with each casting now so with two she shielded everyone. They were going for speed, not subtlety. It was no surprise the bandits tried to do an ambush as they crashed into their camp. Arrows flew from the trees on the other side of the camp. The divine shield deflected them. Cless noted the strongest one and shot a Holy Bolt where it came from.

The tree exploded and Cless couldn't see if she hit anyone. Venaris readied her sling and let it fly too. She hit a bandit and he crashed down from the tree.

"Incapacitate them. We need the bandits alive!" Cless ordered. "Silverfang, hamstring. Vic, paralytic poison. Kurt, do your thing. Bear, don't get your fur pierced."

Bear-Lyle glared at Cless and she smiled. She had one job. Cless readied her composite longbow and stopped in the middle of the camp.

"Hallow!"

Bandits came from the tents with axes, clubs, and swords. Cless shot their knees. There was nothing better to end a career than an arrow to the knee. With her Strength, pulling the string all the way was child's play. Her rate of fire was almost as fast as with the short bow during the first days of the orc expedition. Her accuracy was completely different, though. There was a significant difference in quality when a Stat surpassed a hundred points. the Skill [ Nimble Feet ] was a progressive one. It was crap at earlier levels but would become stronger as she leveled. Eventually, it would more than double her Agility.

The bandits had no chance. After almost half of them were incapacitated, Cless halted the Hallow and shouted.

"Surrender or the ones still standing will die. We got our quota already."

It was a bluff as well as to intimidate them. Cless wanted the bandits alive. What she was going to do next was rather unfitting for a hero that avenged the gnomes, but the bandits were murderers. Turning them in alive in the town would only give George more work. They would be hung. She hugged the sophistry of thinking they were dead already.

The bluff worked. Harried by the monster boys, the bandits dropped their weapons and raised their hands. Cless used Mending on everyone, including the wounded bandits and placed them in a circle in the middle of the clearing. She took special care to make the bear hale. She wouldn't let the pelt go to waste. It was strange knowing she was thinking of making a carpet out of Lyle's current body, but she was. She wouldn't keep it. She was going to sell the bear body. Lyle was going to start a new life and could surely use some coin.

She looked around. The camp had a dozen tents in varying states of disrepair. Some junk piled up, empty barrels, broken crates. It was a fire hazard. There was a covered wagon with two horses tied up nearby, probably belonging to the merchant that was robbed.

"Which one of them you want?"

She asked the bear. Bear-Lyle looked around and examined the bandits' faces and bodies. He picked one blonde guy, young and rather handsome. Not a bad choice.

"Ok. You, blondie. Stand up and come here. I have a wager for you."

The bandit stood up and gave Cless a practiced pose. That was the kind of guy that thought too much of himself. She was sure he had success with the ladies. If the circumstances were different, he even might stand a chance. But she could see the disgust in his eyes. Cless met too many of those glances to recognize them.

"What do you want, girl? I can give you the best time of your life if you want."

"Come here. I have a wager for you."

He came, practically parading. "I heard it the first time. What do you want? I can make you scream so loud you'd summon a dragon."

What kind of scream was that, Cless thought? "See that bear? I'll bet you can't choke it. If you choke it and remain alive five minutes after the bear dies, I'll let you go free and give you five crowns. If you fail to remain alive for five minutes after you choke the bear, I can take what I want from you the moment you die."

"Baby, you can take what you want from me now. No need to fight, unless you like'em sweaty." He winked.

"Really? Would you?" Cless faked a coy smile.

"Yeah. I've never done a monster girl. Here!" He seemed excited. The bandits laughed. They probably knew what was going to happen.

The guy opened the string of his trousers and showed his erect member. Cless looked at it but the only other one she saw was the Chimera-Orc King and it seemed small. Without any human reference, she archived the subject for further research. Well, she had one expert.

"Hey, Bear. Is this thing here small or big?" She could ask Bear-Lyle. He came, took a good look and waved a paw. So-so, then. "Are you sure you want this one?" The bear nodded.

"Touch it, baby. It won't bite." The blonde bandit taunted Cless.

The lure of gaining his Exp was there but she really didn't want to do that. With the Chimera was a life or death situation.

"No. Wager. Choke the bear, stay alive and you walk with money in your pocket. Otherwise, I get what I want without touching your filthy thing. I will control the bear and it won't maul you or anything."

"Fine. If I win, you and I are going to have some fun in my tent, baby." Yeah. A sicko. What kind of guy would bet turned on by Cless' appearance?

Her Skill was going to trigger but she held it. She really didn't want to know what Skill a depraved person like him got.

"Just kill a bear and we'll think about it. Turn around to die, bear!"

The bear obediently turned around. The blonde bandit jumped on its back and gave it a chokehold. Bear-Lyle struggled as it was natural for a creature choking but he tried to control himself. The bear gagged, retched, convulsed, and finally died. The blonde bandit released the body and stood up, checking his body.

"Hey, did it work?" Cless asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." The blonde bandit told Cless.

"What were you before you were a bear?" She asked.

"A butt-ugly greenskin!" The blonde bandit smiled.

"Good. Go wash." Cless went to address the bandits. "Hey, scum. Constable is paying twenty ducats for each of your ugly heads. And my monster boys there are hungry. I'm going to offer you a deal to let you live. Who wants to live, who wants to become a bounty. The 'live' crew, raise your hands."

All of them did, naturally. There were fifteen bandits in the bunch.

"Fine, fine. Now, you must swear to forget what we did here. After we go away, you are going to travel past Glauchester and haunt another set of roads far away. You also promise to not kill anyone for a year. Those that can make that oath keep your hands raised. They will hear my other offer. Those that cannot will be killed. How much is your life worth for you, Mister Bandit?"

All of them kept their hands up. Cless' Skill bound them to her words. She continued.

"You will have to give me your Skills and leave your weapons and everything else behind. You've murdered and robbed. You ruined dozens of lives. Now if you want to live, give me your Skills. Those that agree to surrender their Skills for their lives, you can stand up and run away. Once you leave this clearing, you'll only stop once you are four kilometers on the other side of Glauchester. Don't ever come back this way. If you come less than four kilometers closer to Glauchester, you die. If you stop running before you are as far as I told you, you die." Her Skill usual notification warning of the terms of their contract rang.

"And the monsters?" One of the bandits, a red-headed woman, asked.

"Boys, get back here. Let the bandits go."

Once Vic and Kurt opened a sizeable gap, all the bandits stood up and ran.

You gained eighteen Skills. Check text notification for more details.

The bandits kept running. She muted her notifications. Cless didn't have the stomach to hear her Skill kill more stupid people.

"Okay. Let's loot the camp. Lyle, how are you?"

Blonde-Lyle came. "I'm Ollie Horn now."

"Oh. Does your Skill tell you the name of those you took over?"

"Actually, no. It is rather unknown info but the moment you die, you get a notification saying 'You were killed by >' - not something anyone would know."

"Anyone alive. I can revive people. Something to think about. We have little sun left, let's loot this camp. Ollyele, you can keep all the coin and your choice of weapons and gear. The goods, wagon, and horses we are taking with us."

They cleaned up the place. Ollie-Lyle got a lot of daggers, two longswords, one short bow with two quivers, a backpack with some provisions and adventuring gear, a suit of chainmail, and leather arm guards and greaves. It was an impressive weight but he had One human, half bear stats, a quarter orc knight stats, and an eighth Lyle stats. Plus or minus those ten points she traded with him. He was strong enough. Regarding coins, he had a bag with two crowns and seventy ducats.

Cless loaded the wagon with a dozen bolts of dyed fabric, two crates of metal ingots, the foodstuffs that were still fresh, and some bundles of dried herbs. On the perishables she used Purify. She tied the horses to the wagon and loaded the monster boys on the back. Venaris went with her on the driver's seat.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Cless asked Ollie-Lyle.

"Nah. I have to go on my own way, Cless. I can't stand to see my parents mourning me. Or my friends. I'm a new man. Alive after three deaths. I'm going to Glauchester and maybe become a delver. I'm going to shave my head and try my luck in town. I don't think this kid had a bounty on his head, but if the guards kill me... Maybe living as a guard isn't too bad. I'll make do. I bet you won't be able to recognize me when we meet next."

She waves him goodbye and set the horses on their way back to the road.

"Farewell, man that once was Lyle. May your journeys be fruitful."

Name: Cless (no surname)

Race: Human.

Level: 50 ( 1,224,681 / 1,275,000 Exp )

Class: — Dabbler 11 (56,542 / 66,000 Exp ) — Priestess 25 (975,000 Exp / ** )

Profession — Veteran Warmaster 18 (158,689 / 171,000 Exp) — Crafter 16 (Skill) — Farmer 16 (Skill)

Base Stats — Strength: 63 — Agility: 85 [136] — Health: 85 — Intellect: 96 — Magic: 126 — Charisma: 43 — Wisdom: 17

Available Status Points: 66

Skills:

S-rank: [ Absolute Contract ]

B-rank: [ Succubus’ Kiss ]

C-rank: [ Crafter ], [ Dangersense ], [ Illusionist ], [ Elven Longevity ], [ Eat Anything ], [ Earth Magic ]

D-Rank: [ Trick Shot ], [ Nimble Step ], [ Tinker ], [ Grounding ], [ Dancer’s Grace ], [ Great Leap ],

— [ Tremorsense ], [ Gemsense ], [ Ore sense ], [ Brownie Magic ], [ Courtier’s Charm ],

— [ Singers’ Talent ], [ Spellslinger ], [ Poison Resistance ], [ Merchant sense ], [ Master Miner ],

— [ Heavy Handed ], [ Farmer ], [ Druidwalk ], [ Twin Strike ], [ Curmudgeon crafter ]

E-Rank: [ Gravebreath ], [ Architectural Ingenuity ], [ Coin Sense ], [ Weavertouch ], [ Silk Hair ], [ Wanderlust ],

— [ Giant's Stamina ], [ Hearth’s warmth ], [ Perfect pitch ], [ Seamstress Talent ], [ Lady’s Countenance ]

F-rank: [ Gardener’s touch ], [ Florist’s Wonder ]

Unkonwn: [ ???? ] x 18

Proficiencies (values under 10 hidden):

Appraisal: Status: 22

Magic

Cleric: Mending: 50 — Detoxify: 36 — Light: 44 — Turn Undead: 34 — Blessing: 46 — Holy Bolt: 50 — Purify: 43 (+3) — Protection: 50

— Hallow: 48 (+2) — Flametongue: 30 — Cure: 30 — Uncurse: 30 — Banish: 30 — Heal: 50 (+5) — Warding: 30 — Revivify: 30

General: Prayer: 48 (+1) — Reading: 12

Social: Negotiation: 21 (+1) — Persuasion: 12 (+2) — Bluff: 13 (+3)

Social, martial — Leadership: 34 — Intimidation: 40 (+4) — Tactics: 30 (+4)

Weapon — Long Blades: 27 — Unarmed: 27 — Archery: 34 (+6) — Maces: 32