As Jared walked through the street, he turned all his skills on again, he noticed the temperature had dipped considerably from the mild summer day and the things he was wearing weren't really doing a good job protecting him from the cold.

So he sped up his steps after the duration for his Sprint skill ran out, no reason to fall on his ass now.

A minute passed when he slowed to stop. Someone was following him. His Unnoticed skill didn't indicate anything but his Script Sniffer did.

Normally he didn't pay much attention to it but one of the itches that he felt was behaving weird. Stopping when he stopped, crossing the street when he did, and always at the exact same distant from him, the Script Sniffer skill gave him a sense of how far away a written word was.

And that was the weirdest part, the distance was always perfectly the same, so perfect in fact that Jared would bet all he had that it was with the support of a skill.

When he paid active attention to his stalker, his Unnoticed skill broke whatever he was using to hide from it and Jared started to feel the pinprick of heat at the back of his head, meaning someone was starring right at him.

Pretending to look into the shop window of a men's apparel store and observing his surroundings he tried to come up with something to do.

After about 30 seconds he went to the next store to pretend at window shopping and opened his Inventory looking through he found what he wanted and closed it again.

With everything ready, he started his plan and prayed to whoever listened, that it worked.

Jared started going along the street just looking like a curious shopper, his stalker still on his tail, when he came to a small crowd of people standing next to an alley and gossiping about something or the other.

And just as Jared passed the small crowd, obscuring his stalker vision slightly and making it look like he wanted to go into the alley, he activated his Distract skill. Creating the loudest sound of breaking glass he could, behind the stalker and about the height of the second story.

The sound echoed through the street grabbing almost everyone's attention, including his stalker, as the pinprick of heat disappeared and his skill told him nobody was paying attention to him or his general direction.

As fast as he could Jared willed the red zip-up hoodie out of his Inventory putting it on and covering his head with it.

After that, he joined the small crowd he used to obscure the stalker's vision, standing next to but slightly behind a man wearing a jacket of a similar color to his hoodie.

All that happened in just a short moment and as nobody could figure out what broke they turned their attention back to what they were doing before.

Apparently that included his Stalker as Jared could hear a soft curse and fast approaching steps. he kept his face hidden from the street, pretending to be a part of the crowd and keeping his eyes at the alley.

A short while later a man ran into the alley.

Paul Stich Lvl 16

Thief

Jared couldn't see the man for long but from what he could see he didn't look like a criminal.

Jared only managed to see the site of his face but if he had to guess late teens early twenties. He wore decent clothes, brown boots, and pants with a lightly scuffed and but clean green rough leather jacket.

"I would never suspect him for being a thief if I just saw him on the street," Jared thought astonished," one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, huh."

He couldn't follow the thief down the alley, he would be discovered in an instant. Jared also saw no reason to follow a 15 lvl higher thief into a dark alley. But he had to admit it was kind of fun, tricking his stalker.

So he turned and went down the street in the direction of the Inn he heard a ping and a window opened.

Level Up!

+1 Strength

+1 Endurance

+2 Dexterity

+1 Intelligence

Distract Level Up!

Unnoticed Level Up!

He stumbled for a second before he continued walking, confused why he had leveled up.

"What's happening I haven't smuggled anything as far as I know so why?" He asked himself and remembered what farther Phellum said about leveling.

"He said, one needs to understand the essence of a class, but is smuggling not the essence of a Smuggler?"

He contemplated for a while, trusting his Unnoticed skill to guide him into not walking into someone else.

"But maybe smuggling isn't everything, sure it's the biggest part but there are others, like the essence of crime, stealth, trickery, lie, even something like merchant and barter." He thought seeing the Inn at the next intersection.

Seeming to figure something out he smiled to himself and hurried to get out of the cold.

Jared arrived at the Inn a short time later, the big storefront with the yellow window covered in the iron lattice was hard to miss.

Even before the door opened, he could hear the noise coming from the tavern. Jared opened the door and the first thing he noticed, was the heat blasting him from the open fireplace and warming him through.

Moving inside and closing the door behind him, he heard music playing but looking around he saw no band or instruments.

Apparently record players or something like it was a thing in this world, as he saw one of the old ones similar to his world with the giant trumpet looking thing on top.

The room itself was spacious with wooden floors and walls of uneven bricks, each one colored in a different color of orange, red, and yellow.

A bar sat to the left side of the square room, next to the entrance, and taking up almost all of the wall with the exceptions of a door leading to what is most likely the kitchen if the smell was anything to go by.

In the middle hang a chandelier close to the ceiling, it formed a maze out of leaves and branches made out of polished copper, speckled with a light crystal similar to the ones in the street lamp.

A bit too much red for him but, he was never known for his artistic sense.

The place was full, not crowded, but the tavern was obviously popular. Moving to the bar he tried to get the attention of the woman behind it.

Amanda Danall Lvl 21

Cook

She was quite beautiful, the early to mid-twenties with long fire red hair and a curvy body. She held herself with confidence with a smirk that seemed to be nailed to her full lips.

Noticing Jared and approaching the bar she said to him with a smile," Hey, welcome to the Autumn Inn what can I get you?"

" Hi, I wanted to ask if you have a free room and how much for a night," Jared asked the bubbly barmaid.

" Sure thing we have a couple open, a room costs you 10 sitch and comes with free breakfast, if you want to use bath that would 2 sitch 1 extra for soap, and if you break something you pay for it. So what's it gonna be handsome." Amanda said and leaned forward on the table with a smirk.

Jared didn't mind the view of her impressive cleavage and took a nice look for a second. When his eyes focused back on Amanda's face he saw her blush and pout a bit.

"Ha you are no fun to tease." she said only to be followed by the boy about 16-18 standing next to her also behind the bar and with the same fiery red hair."You shouldn't tease customers, Amanda that's the reason you aren't married yet."

Barry Danall Lvl 16

Brawler

And Jared could believe the brawler class, though he was the same height as her, he was twice as wide and all muscle.

"Shut up, Barry!" She yelled in his ear and turned to him, customer smile back in place." So what can I get you."

" A room for two nights and a bath with the soap for today please," Jared said with a slight smile amused at the sibling antics.

"Okay, that makes 1 shanti and 11 Sitch, and do you want to use the bath now or later."She said receiving the money from Jared and after motioning for her to keep the change he said, "Right now would be good, I had a long day and want to go to bed"

"Sure thing, follow me." She said and motioned for him to follow him through a door next to the fireplace.

They went to the second story and down a brightly lit corridor, she pointed to the second to last door on the right and said," This is your room, one further is the bath, and do you see this little box here," pointing at a box hanging next to the bath door it had a small opening at the top and lock on the front.

She handed him two keys she took out of her apron when he nodded and said," One is your room key the other is for the bath, once you are done just drop the key into the box, would that be all?"

"Yes that was all and thanks," Jared smiled. Amanda smiled back at him and went back to the bar and he couldn't help but himself look after the redhead as she went down the corridor swaying her hips.

Shaking his head, he went to the bath and was pleasantly surprised, the bathroom was clean but what really caught his attention were the faucet and drain in the round copper tub.

"Nice plumbing confirmed." he thought and touched the red crystal next to the faucet. Only to flinch away from it a second later, when his hand came in contact with the crystal he felt like something tried to leave his body only stopping to ask for permission.

Mounting his courage he touched the crystal again and gave whatever the feeling was permission. The second he did so steaming water exited the faucet.

He took his hand off the crystal and opened his status. Just as it opened he could see his mana gauge tick full again."So the faucet cost mana but not overly much." He thought.

He tried to will his clothes into his Inventory and as a pleasant surprise, it worked, well for everything but his shoes. It looked like touching the ground doesn't count as carrying.

The tub finished filling, having to give the crystal another dose of mana, he got in with a huge sigh of pleasure.

Doing nothing for while but laying in the hot water and relaxing, his thoughts sooner rather than later drifted back to his situation.

He doubted he would ever find a way back and even if he could, that was probably into the far future. So he needed to make himself a life here in this world, the only question is how.

He thought about his class and while he had no moral reason against smuggling normal wares, like alcohol or raw material for example.

He needed a lot of information and connection to make it as a smuggler, the best way would be to find another job in the meantime.

Jared also had an idea about that, the Courier Guild, delivering things will give him the perfect opportunity not only to learn more about the town and its surroundings but also to meet a lot of new people and should he get deliveries out of town Jared could simply bring some smuggled wares with him.

OK, first thing tomorrow morning a visit to the bookstore and after that to the Courier Guild.

Having a plan for the future, Jared washed up with the piece of soap he bought and afterward dried with a towel from his Inventory willing his sleepwear on to himself, sports shorts, and a shirt with underwear, pulling out his slippers by hand and putting them on.

He opened the drain of the tub and left the bath putting the key into the little box and entering his room.

His room looked clean and keeping to the autumn color theme everything was in red, orange, and yellow even the single bed.

Next to the small desk was another door that opened up to a toilet and a small sink.

Jared laid down covered himself with the blanket and went sleep.

Only for him to remember that he couldn't sleep, sighing he sat up. It wasn't like he was exhausted both mentally and physically, he just wanted to not think for a moment, so he took a book out of his Inventory and started reading.

He never liked reading the same book twice but beggars can't be choosers.