Vaughn decided to leave the poor man to face his own drawbackless multi-classing demons. Although, as a side note, he did find it funny how fixated Dunny was on that particular aspect. Did he expect this new world to follow the rules of the dnd playbook for some reason?

As far as Vaughn could tell, this world had a loose basing in the fantasy and gaming realms of Earth with a splash of LSD. And yeah, he’d know. Staring at a client’s spreadsheet with fifteen #REF errors and rows of hard coded values at two in the morning was equivalent to a bad acid trip involving talking monkeys and swirly mushroom trees.

But the keyword here was loose basing. Dhunnim ‘il Darral didn’t take too kindly to that kind of talk. He turned to face Vaughn, sweeping his arm in a wide arc as if he had a cloak on, which he didn’t of course.

“I must confer with my fellow council chair Archmagus Marcus about this treacherous system. His excellency entered into this world with me. Have you seen him around here anywhere?” Dhunnim asked seriously.

“Errr… what does he look like?” Vaughn asked.

“He got ears? A tail?” Becky Oak asked, her arms crossed across her typecastedly large chest. She clearly wasn’t following the conversation very well, being from the South and not particularly well versed in the ways of archmagi.

“No! Archmagus Marcus is the youngest human archmage of all time. He reached the pinnacle of the seventh magic circle at fifteen years old, and–”

“Is your pardner tall or short, skinny or fat?” Becky rapidfired. “What’s the color ‘ve his hair?”

“A-archmagus Marcus is about five foot six, with hair that is as brown as the dirt of Ashgar, and has a circumference that is quite impressive for his young age!”

So, to translate, Dunny’s dnd table partner was a fifteen year old fat kid with brown hair who went around calling himself archmage. Nobody that met that description was nearby.

“I haven’t seen him here. Maybe we’ll catch up to him if we go through the slime cave,” Vaughn continued, steering the conversation back to the task at hand.

“That may be true,” Dhunnim ‘il Dharral replied. “It is highly likely that Archmagus Marcus has gone ahead already in his search for exotic research materials. Perhaps it is in our best interest to venture forth ourselves, lest we find ourselves outpaced.”

Vaughn nodded absentmindedly as Becky looked absolutely perplexed trying to decipher that speech.

“Alright, so…” Vaughn began, when he noticed that there were a few more notifications about the classes that he missed due to Dhunnim ‘il Dharral’s distraction.

There were class quests for each of the four classes that he received.

[Warrior class quest: Kill a slime with a melee weapon [0/1]]

[Archer class quest: Kill a slime with a bow [0/1]]

[Mage class quest: Conjure a magic missile using a staff[0/1]]

[Healer class quest: Use a healing potion on yourself or someone else [0/1]]

The quests themselves were simple enough, but they were missing the equipment to fulfill their requirements.

“Should we go check out the shop ‘n see if there’s anything before we go into the cave?” Becky said.

Vaughn nodded. “Yeah. Probably would be best to prepare a bit, even if it’s meant to be easy. But first–”

Vaughn dashed into the slime cave, knowing that sometimes there was a bonus given for the first discoverer of a particular area. Unfortunately, there was no such thing this time around, which probably had to do with the fact that this appeared to be a commonly frequented area.

He reemerged to Becky and Dhunnim while out of breath. “Ah, I was just taking a look around. Let’s go check out the shops.”

The party of three went further down the road, bumping past outlanders who were still gawking at the slime cave, uncertain of whether or not they wanted to be the first to venture in.

Vaughn opened his abilities menu, finally having the time to check out the Novice Treasure Sense and Novice Hoarder abilities.

[Novice Treasure Sense (profession-restricted) (common)]

The sense of a treasure hunter is second to none. You have a slight chance to see paths to fortune. Use this ability to uncover more of its functions and allow more paths to be visible.

Note that profession-restricted abilities will be lost if a profession is given up.

Hm. Now that Vaughn read the ability description, he could’ve sworn to god that he saw something back when he ran into the slime cave. He glanced back at the cave, narrowing his eyes.

Suddenly, a faint golden glow blossomed from the center of the cave and began to encapsulate the entire cave entrance, like a scene from a movie.

[Your treasure sense has detected something within the slime cave. Further investigation is required.]

Now this was interesting. A mischievous grin appeared on Vaughn’s face, as he realized that his profession was already starting to pay dividends. There was definitely something hidden inside the slime cave, and Vaughn resolved to find it, no matter what. But that would have to wait for a bit longer.

Now, onto the next ability.

[Novice Hoarder (profession-restricted) (common)]

A hoarder must have a stash–where else would you put your valuables? Designate a stash to begin using this ability. Any ten by ten cubic area may be designated for use as a stash, although the flexibility of this designation is not meant to be a substitute for poor judgement in location choice. Remember, these are your belongings, and you will do well to keep them hidden properly.

Hm. Vaughn wasn’t quite sure what to think about this ability, since the description didn’t reveal how the ability worked, only that he could now designate a stash location.

He read the ability description again, this time scanning it for anything that might be implied through the wording.

Hmm… if he had to take an educated guess, it seemed that this hoarding ability would eventually have a stealth component to it, to better hide the user’s belongings. Pretty neat, but Vaughn needed to beef up his combat skills first or he’d never get a chance at exploring for treasures in the first place.

Speaking of which, they were getting close to their destination. A small town with some gnomes walking in and out was within sight.

You are entering a new area, [Alcove Town].

Your fame in this area is 0.

You do not have a reputation in this area.

Now that he looked at it, there were some additional information tabs accompanying those two notifications. Vaughn opened them, curious about what they had in store.

Fame can be gained through many different methods, including completing quests, helping out inhabitants, and clearing out monsters. Certain inhabitants may be more inclined to help out an outlander if their fame is above a certain level, and new opportunities may arise. Some shops may only be available to those with a high level of fame.

Alcove Town is a beginner town with no fame restrictions.

Good or bad reputations may be earned through your actions in Alvatross. If you steal from a shop and are caught, you may be labeled as a thief! Impact on reputation depends on the local culture and customs of an area.

Vaughn speed-read the legal jargon as fast as he could, noting that fame was something that he’d probably have to focus on a bit in order to get the most out of an area.

“What’re you doing, pardner?” Becky asked, tapping Vaughn on the arm with her elbow.

“Just looking over some notifications…” Vaughn mumbled, as he looked up and realized that they were standing in front of the alcove weapon shop.

Dhunnim ‘il Dharral had already stepped inside, and Becky was halfway through the door, waiting for Vaughn to catch up.

“Alright, let’s see what’s in here,” Vaughn said.

“Welcome, welcome!” a man with a hearty handlebar mustache said in a booming voice, as he waved from behind the counter. “Ah, new outlanders!”

Vaughn Hallows and Becky Oak traded glances with each other, the question written obviously on their faces.

There were other humans in this world???

A few feet to the right, Dhunnim ‘il Dharral was inspecting an iron dagger, treating it gingerly as if it were a baby, completely oblivious of the fact that the whole human shopkeeper thing was a little strange.

“Ah, a dagger of bleeding. As the resident assassin of the Shadow Council, I, Dhunnim ‘il Dharral, halfblood halfling, must have this weapon!”

“Ho ho ho, yes, you have a good eye. That is indeed a dagger of bleeding, and it can be yours for twenty silver!” the shopkeeper boomed, his pectoral muscles bouncing in unison with his heavy laugh.

“T-twenty silver?” Dhunnim ‘il Dharral replied with a shocked look on his face.

Vaughn decided to simply spectate for now. It appeared that Dhunnim was taking in a deep breath, ready to unleash another tirade of a speech.