Jared went through the packed Guild-street, in the direction of the plaza, when he was out of the crowd he stared with a light jog. His Sprint skill turned that into a run but maybe because of his higher dexterity stat or because he knew it would come, he kept his balance.

Sprint Level Up!

Actively using the skill instead of just letting it run, seemed to push it over the edge to the next level.

Jared grinned and started to pick up speed entering the plaza, and with a bit of help from his Unnoticed skill, he shot across it avoiding the pedestrians.

It was exhilarating that speed and he couldn't help but laugh out loud garnering a few more views but they faded when he ran past them.

Making record time he entered South-street wanting to stay in the better parts as long as possible before he needed to get into the district.

Lowering his speed, he checked his status for the things that changed.

Name: Jared Jotter

Race Human

Titles: Otherworldler; The Strongest of them All; Bibliophile; Two-Faced

Age: 0

Class: Smuggler

Level: 3

Mana: 220/220 M.Regeneration: 6/s

Stamina: 110/110 S.Regeneration: 7.6/s

Strength: 12

Endurance: 13

Dexterity: 12

Intelligence: 24

Wisdom: 8

Willpower: 15

General Skills: Language Translation; Inventory; Appraisal; Everlasting Life (Lvl 1); Script Sniffer;Minor Stamina Reduction; Sure Lie

Class Skill: Distract (Lvl 3.); Unnoticed (Lvl 2.);Sprint (Lvl 2.)

Distract (Lvl 3.)

Create a minor sensory illusion within a 20 meter radius

Cost 28 Mana (1/s Mana)

Unnoticed (Lvl 3.)

Become less likely to be noticed and more likely to lose the attention of others.

Cost 3/s Mana

Sprint (Lvl 2.)

Increase your Running/Sprinting speed and your Running/Sprinting stamina cost by 105%.

Duration 10 sec

Cost 43 Stamina

Nothing much apparently, a slightly lower cost for Distract and Sprint, with the 5% boost in speed for the latter, no visible change for Unnoticed, but the feeling he got from it increased in range to about 3m radius.

Closing the window he turned left into one of the general stores to buy himself some necessities, like toothpaste, that came in a small jar, and brush for 6 sitch having forgotten it this morning on the account of not actually sleeping and two dozen apples for only 1 sitch, Baros wasn‘t kidding when he said fruits were cheap.

Afterward, he went into one of the smaller streets to enter South-district.

At first, there weren‘t many changes, the houses looked the same with the exception of fewer storefronts and the only difference in people he saw were fewer thieves than the shopping street. He didn‘t take his book out here and remembered as many as he could and their description.

But that started to change when he went into what could only be the red-light district though it being late morning there were fewer prostitutes and more hangover customers and some shifty looking guys.

There were some girls having the rank 1 class Street-girl and rank 2 Escorts but they didn’t seem to be working just going about their day.

There was one person he made sure to remember though.

Charlie Thane Lvl 43

Leader

Male; Shaved bald, small about 1.6m, scar on his left cheek, first sighting red-light possible occupation gang boss/upper management

No matter how nice his class sounded, he wasn’t a guard leader or from an adventuring party. He stood to the side and talked to a smiling but uncomfortable looking street girl, watching the people go by.

He even managed to bypass his Unnoticed skill, and Jared felt the pinprick of heat for just a second before it faded.

Making his way past the man he came to his first delivery, one of the smaller and more expensive-looking houses, and knocked.

“Coming.”He heard before the door opened a while later.

She looked so beautiful that Jared had to take a second to remember why he was here, which she seemed to notice.

Amused she said,” I wasn’t expecting guests this early in the morning what can I do for you, honey?”

Meredith Jolth Lvl 62

Courtesan

She looked to be in her early to mid-thirties but Jared couldn’t be sure her class maybe had a skill to keep someone looking younger or even some kind of charm.

He cleared his throat and said,” Good morning miss I have a delivery for you,” and took a letter out of his bag/Inventory.

Looking surprised she took the letter and looked it over before saying, ”This early in the week? It’s still a couple of days before the chicken run.”

Seeing his confused expression she laughed and said,” You must be new, the chicken run is when all you couriers come to deliver a single letter with 5-6 people running around headless and jumping at there own shadow.” she chuckled at the memory and continued,” it is always great fun to watch them with my girls.”

Jared let out a laugh as he imagined the scene and said,” Apologies for my colleagues I will try to deliver you letters on time, sadly at the cost of your entertainment.”

“Aren’t you a charmer and don’t worry about it, I rather have my post in a timelier fashion, here for your courage,”she said and pulled out a sitch for him.

Taking the coin Jared gave her a small bow,”Thank you miss, and have a nice day.”and went on his way.

Meredith Jolth Lvl 62

Courtesan

Female; Early to mid-thirties?, black hair, green eyes, about 1.70m; possible occupation, owner of a brothel

The next few deliveries went off without a problem, the requests he took were apparently in the slightly poorer region and not in the middle of some gang territory. Jared thought doing deliveries was kind of easy and let down his guard.

He ignored the one rule that Chiran repeatedly told him, stay away from the alleys.

Going down one said alley to make better time, Jared felt the pinprick of heat right before something crashed into him and threw him down a dead-end side alley.

Scrambling in surprise to his feet he turned and came face to face with a man holding a knife.

Jarm Cail Lvl 19

Bandit

“Give me your bag and coin brat, before I cut you open”, the obvious drunk man said, waving his knife around.

Jared didn’t feel oddly calm being threatened with a weapon for the first time, like in so many stories he read.

He was afraid, his hands held up in surrender shook as he tried not to panic. He wanted to just throw his bag and a couple of coins at the man hoping he would go away.

But Jared couldn’t, buying the journal instead of a book was for the choice to live a different life. Instead of hiding away reading the stories of others, he wanted to create his own and knowing that if he ran away so early, here and now, he would lose the courage that decision gave him.

So he kept his hands up, not moving otherwise, and started to bring himself cry and snivel, which wasn’t hard being in such an emotional state.

The man lost his patience quickly and went to grab the strap of Jared's bag with his free hand.

With his hands still up in surrender, he willed the knife he bought earlier into his right and stabbed the man in his throat.

Blood sprayed over his face and chest as he watched the man, so close he could smell the alcohol, widened his eyes in surprise and pain.

For a second the two just stood there, Jared wide-eyed and the robber gurgling blood trying to breathe. That’s when he felt a touch on his chest. Looking down in confusion he saw the man's hand with his knife digging into Jared's chest.

Searing hot pain stopped the almost quiet moment and Jared stumbled backward, both letting go of their knife, the man's body collapsing to the ground.

Jared coughed up blood, every second making it harder to breathe as he slumped against the wall of the alley.

Not knowing what to do and being in immense pain and panic he grasped the knife in his chest and pulled.

Jared came to himself on the ground of the alley, having blacked out for a second because of the pain. Lying down in a pool of his own blood, Jared's breathing and consciousness grew weaker.

“So that’s it,” he thought with a chuckle as the panic left him only to be replaced by a cold seeping into his body.” my grand story.” But he didn’t regret his choice, at least he did something or tried to. Being too tired to keep eyes open he closed them and drifted off to sleep for the first time in a while.

But before he fully lost consciousness he started coughing again spewing blood across the alley and with that wakefulness came the pain together with an oddly warm feeling in his chest.

He went to his hands and knees and continued to bring blood out of his lungs. When nothing came up anymore he stood up with the same alertness he always had since gaining his skills.

Confused Jared lifted his drenched shirt and the stab wound he expected to see was replace by a slight reddening that was fast fading away.

Not knowing what happened he noticed a rapid blinking at the corner of his vision and focused on it.

Level Up!

Level Up!

Please choose one of the skills.

Level Up!

Level Up!

Level Up!

Everlasting Life Level Up!

Ignoring all the messages with the exception of the last one he brought the skill description up.

Everlasting Life (Lvl 2)

Grants the User the Ability of a Life Force so strong their Body will always Return to its Perfect State.

x250 Regeneration

He always knew that this skill, or maybe all, had some abilities that were hidden but he would have never thought that this one could save him from almost dying.

Sure he hoped for eternal youth or something like it at higher levels, but this was some form of immortality. While he didn’t want to test it, Jared was pretty sure that as long as he didn’t die instantly this skill would most likely save him, especially after today.

Shaking his head Jared looked around him and saw pure chaos. Blood was everywhere! Two huge pools under him and the man's body, laying on the ground, already soaking into the dirt and grime of the alley floor, parts of the walls bespeckled from his coughing.

He wanted to run his shaking hands through his hair only to stop himself seeing that they were also covered in blood, like almost all of him.

Jared took a deep breath to calm himself and to figure out what he was going to do.

He knew he couldn’t just report what happened, they would most likely believe that he was attacked in an alley, him being a courier and this being South-district.

But how would he explain his blood all over the floor without a single wound on him.

Jared had to stop underestimating this world just because it looked not as evolved as his. Julie the counter girl already told him about Inspectors and they probably have a class of the same name or maybe Detective.

So no, he couldn’t call the authorities, too many questions he couldn't answer, like where he came from.

Jared walked back and forth, avoiding the pools, thinking for a while. After calming down enough for his hands to stop shaking and a plan made, he went to work.

First Jared willed all his clothes except his pants and shoes into his Inventory, afterward he walked over to the corpse still dripping blood.

Just as he was about to lift the body to deposit it into his Inventory a crazy Idea came to him, he didn’t know if it was the shock or something else but he just kept going.

He pulled both knives into the subspace and with a heave lifted the man, no not man the corpse, when it stopped touching the floor he first brought the clothes then the naked corpse into his Inventory.

With that done he pulled out a couple of towels, using some of them to give himself a quick wipe down and the rest to soak up the blood of the man careful not to touch his own.

Finishing that he put all of it, clothes, body, and the soaked towels into another folder marked ”CORPSE”.

Using the rest of the towels, he cleaned up the floor and walls the best he could and it worked somewhat. There were still stains and the ground was wet, but after kicking some dust and dirt over them nobody walking into this alley would scream murder. More like,” Hey look more stains in a dirty alley” and move on.

Now he needed to clean up as best he could, taking the rest of his cloth off, he scrubbed himself dry but still his skin had a red tinge he couldn’t get rid of it without water.

Taking out his old closet door with the mirror he probed it against the alley wall and willed some new clothing on him, and put on new shoes. They weren’t the exact same color but still grays and blacks.

He never cared much about what he wore so he always bought similar stuff which came in luck now. His bag was a shiny dark leather so it was rather easy to wipe clean.

Next, he needed to clean his face and hands better, the only pieces of skin still visible.

Facing the mirror and praying as hard as he could, he willed his old plastic water bottle into his hands. Jared almost cried in relief, the bottle was still one-third full.

Careful not to spill anything he wetted a fresh towel, almost running out of them, and cleaned his face, hair, and hands being extra thorough with his fingernails.

With everything stashed away and his Distract skill up with a stronger floral scent to cover up any blood smell, he took a long look around and seeing nothing out of place, left the alley.