<>(Zack)<>

The Goblin rests lazily against a tree, a short sword laying on the ground beside it, a helmet on its head. It's also wearing some light leather armor, a shield leaning against its side. It has a few pouches on its leather belt.

The thing that catches my attention is its necklace, a black leather cord from which hangs a shiny, silverish skull charm a little bit bigger than the top joint of my thumb, with two sparkling green jewels set into its eyes.

I turned off auto-Appraisal on Monsters as I was passing through here to see if I could judge strengths relatively well, but don't need it to know this guy's stronger. He's actually got less fat than other Goblins, as well as some clear muscle. I'm not even going to bother turning it on to verify that.

This guy's sleepy, and doesn't show any signs of real alertness. Utilizing Conceal and Sneak, I could easily thrust my knife through its eye, making my first kill of the day.

I want that necklace.

At least, I hope thrusting my knife through its eye works. I'll just need its eye open, hopefully, unless its Endurance isn't too great when looking at the thin eyelids.

As quietly and swiftly as I can, I make my way around the side of the Goblin, then towards it, making sure to listen for the slightest sounds around me to indicate a trap, making sure to keep track of it and make sure it doesn't react too quickly.

Once I'm right beside the Goblin, I quickly move my knife. It opens its eyes just in time for the blade to pierce through. It struggles, but by the time its fingers are on my wrist, the blade is buried to its hilt in the Monster's left eye.

Original Ruffian is Now Level 3! +9 Agility! +6 Perception!

The hell? I check it, and it's at 94% to Level 4. It was a little less than 70% to Level 1 when I checked it a few minutes ago, and Levels become harder to obtain as they increase.

Speaking of increases…

I'll have to test my Agility in a minute, but my Perception… I can definitely notice a better boost to it. I can pick out a fair few more leaves by listening, notice finer details, and more. But it's not a big boost, except compared to what I had before. If I had ten times as much as I do now, that six probably wouldn't make a big difference.

Maybe?

I'm not sure. I'll ask Nik that later.

That in mind, I untie the necklace from the Goblin and pull it on, then steal his sword, helm, and shield, putting them into my inventory. They won't be useful to me, judging by their details stating that they can only be wielded by Monsters, but I can probably sell them to the pervert.

Then, I open up the pouches and pull out several herbs, tokens, tainted coins, a series of beads on a cord, like a bracelet, and a couple of small fangs. I send those into my inventory, then sever its ears and nails, adding them to it as well.

That done, I sneak through the forest some more, only managing to kill two more Goblins by the time I decide to head back to town. Ruffian didn't even go up to Level 4 from them.

Why did that one give me so much more? Those were both Level 1, but also decently good. One fought with a knife, the other, with a club, and I actually did fight them, yet didn't get that much Experience from killing them.

That aside, I need thirty-nine more Skill Levels needed before I'll take on Dark Squire.

I return to town and dump my loot on the counter. Jesse stares at me.

"What do you want, Pervert?"

"Where did you get that necklace?" He asks seriously, his facade gone due to his surprise.

"A Goblin was kind enough to give it to me."

"I mean seriously."

"So do I," I state. "All I did was tell it I wanted it, and it just up and gave it to me. Some Monsters really know who their superiors are. Gimme my money."

"The Goblin that wears that necklace," he says slowly. "Is a Bounty Beast, Level 15, the maximum for the woods for Bounty Beasts. A boy of your power wouldn't be able to take it on. It's giving trained Adventurers trouble. How did you get that?"

"I asked nicely," I repeat. "With a knife to its sleeping eyes, buried all the way to the hilt. What's a Bounty Beast?"

"See the wall over there?" He points to the wall with all the papers pinned to it. A moment later, his usual, hyper, perverted facade returns. "Those are all Bounties! System-made Bounties on Monsters that have evolved past the normal limits! A boy like you shouldn't be able to even get near one! How'd you get that?"

"I asked nicely," I look at the board, then back to Jesse. "So how do I collect the Bounty? I don't think the Goblin would mind if I collected it."

He stares at me, then sighs, reaching under the counter and pulling up a device similar to the scale from yesterday and setting my loot on it, messing with the interface pad. A few moments later, he gives me one silver and eighteen copper. It was probably the fangs I found, no doubt.

That done, he exchanges the scale for an orb resting on a clawed tablet, the orb held a few inches above the tablet by some claws.

"Place your hand on it," he instructs, setting a sheet underneath the orb. It looks like one of the Bounty papers from the wall. I do, and he does. "Confirm Bounty!"

Bounty Confirmed: Goblin Knight A'Rui Slain Reward: 20 Silver

"You really did!" Jesse exclaims, eyes widening as he pulls his hand away from the orb. "You really did kill A'Rui!"

"Cool," I say. "Now where's my money?"

Jesse sighs, then hands me twenty silver coins.

"Thanks," I tell him.

"Now you can stop bullying me and buy your own food!"

"I need to buy some new clothes and some equipment, first," I tell him. "Gimme some food."

"No!" He exclaims. "Pay for it, like everyone else!"

"I need to spend my money on clothes and equipment," I say. "I can't afford to spend it on food right now. Gimme food, and enough to sustain me through tomorrow's dinner."

"No!"

"I will stab you in your sleep."

"You don't even know where I live!"

"I'll ask Nik to," I say. "And since he's a fellow Dark Knight, he'll do it."

"That's not how it works!" Jesse exclaims, but gives me plenty of food anyway.

"Thanks, Pervert!"

I eat some of the food as I leave, sending the rest into my inventory. I head home and exercise for a bit, then wash up and make a new fire, adding my latest grabs of sticks and twigs and logs and branches to the pile. Well, what small branches I could find, since I can't cut wood yet.

I'll make sure to get a hand ax tomorrow, for chopping wood. I may or may not have broken the one Jesse gave me.

I curl up in front of the fire and allow myself to fall asleep. In the morning, after my exercise and breakfast, I head down to the shops. There are only a few of them, since there are so few people, but the quality of their gear is excellent as a result of having so few people, and having so many powerful people.

Which means it'll be a little bit more expensive, but since I've been here a few days, they'll hopefully have some things for me to buy.

They'd be fools not to have equipment more on my level of skill and affordability.

I make the equipment shop, where I can buy various armors, as Nik informed me that they sell clothes as well, due to not needing a specific person for that. I don't see any clothes out front, just armor.

"Looking for clothes," I tell the worker behind the counter, and he nods. "Preferably in my size. Start with underwear."

"I have a few pieces," he says. "Give me a few minutes."

He goes into the back, and I explore the shop some more. After ten minutes, he returns with an armful of clothes. I walk back to the counter, and he drops the clothes on it, then pulls out some underwear. He has four pairs of it, the pieces being either boxers or boxer-briefs. Two of each, in two different sizes. I indicate the ones in my size, boxers.

"How much?"

"Forty copper," he answers. "Forty-five for the other. This is your size?"

"Yes," I tell him. "And underwear's vital. Five copper."

"On neither will I give that to you," he says.

"Five copper," I pick up a pair. "This one."

"Forty-five."

"Five."

"Forty-five."

"Five."

"I'm not making it less than that."

"Five."

He refuses to budge, even when I increase how much I'll spend on it to ten. After my third statement at ten, he lowers it by five coppers.

I eventually manage to talk him into twenty.

"Thanks," I smile at him. "Now, you can't expect me to only use one pair of underwear, even if I could just wash it every night and let it dry as I sleep. So I'll buy three of them for fifty."

"No!"

"It's not likely anyone else is going to be buying them," I point out. "Unless there's some other small twelve year-old or other person this size in town that I don't know about?"

He gives in, and I give him fifty copper, then he brings me out two more pairs, and I send them into my inventory. I pick out a pair of black pants, then haggle him from fifty silver to twenty-three, before convincing him to sell me three pairs of them for sixty-five.

The clerk doesn't look too thrilled when I start looking through the tunics. I settle on a red one, a red one with black trim, and another red one. He wants eighty copper each for the plain ones, and ninety for the two-tone one.

After ten minutes of haggling, he agrees to give them to me for only a single silver.

I manage to find a pair of lighter pants and a lighter tunic as well, convincing him to sell them for forty copper total.

Once I finish picking out clothes, he shows me the selection of leather boots he has. I try on a few pairs, finding one pair that reaches up to just under my knees. They're comfortable, and won't need adjustments, even if they aren't made-to-fit. I can't afford that yet.

He wants a silver, fifty for them. I pay sixty copper, because that is ridiculous.

That taken care of, I grab several pieces of armor from the racks, returning to him and setting them on the counter. A leather chestplate that covers my chest and upper back, but not my lower back or stomach, a pair of leather pauldrons for my shoulders, and a pair of leather vambraces.

The clerk wants three silver, two, and two, respectively, for a grand total of seven silver I'm not giving him. He settles at a silver, seventy-eight copper.

"Thanks," I say, sending everything into my inventory. "Now I need a jacket for warmth, since it's only going to keep getting colder."

He sighs, but shows me several styles that would fit me. I pick out a black one with red trim that extends down to my knees, then pay fifty-nine copper instead of the silver and a half he wanted. I add that to my inventory, then thank him and leave.

My next stop is to the General Store. A woman greets me when I enter, and I pick out several items from the shelves, setting them on the counter. A thing of flint and steel, for making fires, some cooking utensils and dishes to eat with, and soap to clean myself and the dishes with.

Overall, she wants a silver and a half for the dishes, fifty copper for the flint and steel, and sixty for the soap. Two silver, ten copper. I haggle it down to a single silver.

"Thanks," I put everything into my inventory. "Do you have a kit to mend clothes with?"

"Sure do," she says. "You want one?"

"Yes, please," I smile. "Also, do you have any blankets?"

"I do," she heads to the back, returning eight minutes later with several mending kits and four blankets. I pick the thick, black blanket and one of the kits. "Two silver for the blanket, fifty copper for the mending kit."

I haggle that down to one silver, eight copper.

I add those to my inventory, and she gives me a funny look, but I ignore it and leave, making my way to the weapons shop, to buy a new sword and a new knife. The beefy man behind the counter watches me as I look around.

"I need a new knife and a new sword," I walk up to the counter. "My budget is twenty-five silver between the two."

He nods, then goes to the back, returning about ten minutes later with a sword and a knife, both with black and silver blades and grips. A matching set, which he tells me costs twenty-three silver together.

I leave eleven silver poorer, then make my way to the food shop, buying some fruits, vegetables, jerky, bread, and a few other ingredients they carry there that Jesse doesn't have. That done, I make my way back to my home.

There, I go to the room to wash my clothes in and start a fire underneath the tubs, beginning to wash my new clothes. Once they are washed and hung to dry, I heat up water for a bath and take one, then get a fire going for food.

Once that fire's going, I fill a pot with water and hang it over the wood. Ah, crap. I forgot to buy an ax to chop wood with. I'll pick one up after I return tomorrow.

For the next hour, I cook a stew, then devour it with some bread and wash the dishes. That done, I change into the lighter tunic and pants I bought, then start to head upstairs.

"Zack," Nik says, and I turn to face him. He's standing just inside the entrance to the property. "Mind if I ask you something?"

"I have something to ask you, too," I say. "What kind of increases are stats, past ten points?"

"Equal at every point," he answers. "Even if it's harder to gain the next one naturally. So 1 Strength added at 10 Strength is the same as 1 Strength added at 100 Strength."

So the points I earned yesterday were equal in value, then, and that's why my senses seemed to increase about as much as I suspected. That clears up what the rogue-dude was telling me, too.

"Thank you," I say. "What were you wondering?"

"Did you really put all of your new things into your inventory?"

"Yes, why?"

"That's not normal."

"It fit."

"Not that," he says. "It's not normal to be able to put certain things into your inventory. Such as armor and weapons past the basic ones you can acquire at the Trading Post. Not at where you are, anyway."

"Really?" I ask. "They all fit for me."

I pull out my new armor and weapons, and he sighs, then frowns.

"You really did haggle like hell, didn't you?"

"They were overpriced," I shrug. "I simply brought them down to less unreasonable values."

"Speaking of prices," he says. "Once you're going into better equipment, it will be more and more expensive. You can get a discount if you have Soldier Tags."

"Soldier Tags?"

"Yes," he nods, pulling a pair of dog tags out from under his shirt; bluish with a leather border around them, his name and some other information etched into it. "Soldier Tags cost money, but can earn you discounts on certain things, such as potions and other alchemical concoctions, where they're most useful. Certain shops will give you discounts on equipment as well, though it's not as beneficial out here – we get things discounted already. Deeper in, there are shops you can't even shop at without a tag of a certain level.

"You have to buy them," he says. "But for the most part, unless you're someone born here into a wealthier family or something, it's proof you were able to afford the money to spend without needing it for something else, like essentials or equipment, food or shelter.

"They cost," he continues. "Twenty of the currency of its type. Like I said, though – it isn't really needed out here, nor are they useful. At least, it won't be until we start gathering more Adventurers for the war, for when we do our best to change the tide of war."

The tide he believes will never be changed, at the current rate. It's at least six months away, probably, and there's currently no sign of the tide changing.

But I will make sure it changes, no matter the cost. I was given this task, and I'm not going to fail.

Especially not with those visions. I don't know who that mage is, but I am going to make sure that by the time he arrives and makes his way into this part of the Boundary, we have not fallen.

Especially since he seems to know that boy, who will arrive before the battle.

My real question, though, is who is that mage? And why does no one seem to know about him? As powerful as he is, shouldn't someone already know him?

Unless… he isn't around yet. Or he is, but he isn't that powerful yet. But then… who is he? And where is he? And how long before he becomes who he is in those visions? Will I really be needed at the battle? Will he make his appearance there?

I have so many questions, but for now, I wish Nik a goodnight, then head up to a room and wrap myself in the blanket, lying on a bed and allowing sleep to overtake me.