He checked the delivery quests with old Andrej. The whole pile. To the clerk’s dismay, Enoch refused most of them.

Barley Delivery | Kingdom Quest | Rarity 1

A battalion of Quon finest soldiers need food supplies. Deliver bags of barley to their head cook.

Location | Drone Shaft – Rapthian Mountains

Reward | 10 XP per bag | 12 SC per bag

“Nah, too cumbersome, even with a mule. I can’t defend the cargo by myself. Would hate to leave it there for the raiders while I run away,” said Enoch.

“Fair is fair, Outsider. That’s too bad, soldiers deserve a full stomach. And food is my best margin,” said Andrej.

They went back and forth for a while. They must be desperate out here. The rewards rose twice before the old guy finally let it go. That never happened to Enoch. Once, a merchant had changed his mind after they’d agreed on a price. Had decided to go for 4 GC instead of 2 for no apparent reasons. Enoch had paid.

He settled for four quests. Deliver two major healing potions. Deliver a bundle of magical wands. Deliver a roll of chainmail. Deliver three bottles of juniper spirit – Simus, a high-end brand apparently. Three cylindrical bottles, glass, short necks sealed with red wax, filled with gin, wrapped in linen for the ride. Enoch packed all the items in his duffel bag.

Strange that Andrej would simply trust him with the precious cargo. Just the pack of wands was at least 12 000 GC. Enoch suspected that the shrewd clerk was high level. Decent chance that he could use Analyse. It would have revealed Enoch’s Aura. Players couldn’t go higher than Justice 11, the scale was out of 10. At 11, Enoch’s “soul”, or account, was considered a true avatar of Justice.

Andrej winked and said that it was good enough to have survived the shopping session with Tatiana, especially outside opening hours.

Enoch spent a handful of Silver Coins, filled his satchels with nuts, dried meat and fresh apples. He emptied the lukewarm water from his leather canteen, filled it with lukewarm beer instead. An improvement. Strange, at first, to use beer while you ran but it wasn’t the same product in this world. Less alcohol, less bubbles. It stayed fresh longer than water. Provided some needed calories. A decent drink for adventurers.

One beer to conclude everything and Enoch went to his room, a tiny box on the second floor. Dust free, clean sheet, cedar sent. Worth it.

Enoch looked by the window, somewhere in the night sky, his Skill Sphere slowly followed her orbit. One thought and he teleported there, surrounded by a growing labyrinth of neon yellow lines. He hadn’t selected his nodes for level three yet. Either Mobility or combat abilities. He had waited to see the available quests.

With an early run tomorrow, his new armor, and the heavy payload, he went with +40 Stamina. The next node was + 1 Mobility. After that, it branched to Persistence, +1 Jump or Sprint. He went on with the obligatory +1 Mobility and continued with Persistence, perfect for a long journey.

Mobility 3 | Attribute | Rarity 3

30% improved Speed

Speed 3 | Jump 3 | Climb 3 | Swim 3

Persistence 1 | Skill | Rarity 4

Saves 25% on spent Stamina.

Passive

Happy with is selection he went on to Choo Choo. There was a mess of options and one empty node, right after the Crafts 2, a wasted skill point if he wanted to progress to Craft 3. Enoch hated going in blind. It drove him crazy. An irrational choice with the limited points, he knew it, but he went with +1 Luck. Almost useless, but it revealed the second row of available nodes.

Choo gave an exited, “oh,” when the new options, Golems, appeared. The Luck vision had revealed Golem Swarm further on the Intellect path and Totem Golem after a +1 Willpower node. One conjured a block from a totem, it leapt around the battlefield to crush enemies and heal allies. The other created a flock of tiny murder balls.

Back to his room. Choo powered down on a tablet. Enoch closed his eye. Went straight to Haven Square.