As I turned onto a nearby alleyway, I tried super hard to hold back a deep smirk that was attempting to rise. My plan had gone off nearly perfectly with only one troublesome part. The troublesome part was when the guard she ran into asked about any distinguishing features of my ‘attackers’. Thinking quickly, I briefly remembered the most common coat of arms designs on high-magic planets, most of which were scaled in one form or another. From there, my tactic changed into simple manipulation via lack of information. I had successfully enticed the crowd to be after Eratos, whatever that was.

I was a little worried going in since it had been a long time since I last infiltrated anywhere, but that was fun. It had been too long since I had done something I enjoyed… maybe I should do this type of thing more often? I never really got to have ‘fun’ in my last life, sadly.

Deep in my thoughts, I continued to walk through random alleyways in the city. I didn’t know where I was going exactly, but I did know what I was doing. It would be pure foolishness to let some random stranger into a city, especially when they brought potentially important information. Assuming that the guards thought the same as me, I also assumed that I would have a tail-not the fluffy kind but the stalkery kind- following me from afar. After walking around enough, I noticed that I did indeed have a tail when they slipped on a pile of refuse lying in the alley that I had previously walked through. From that point on, it was simplicity itself to lose the tail by crisscrossing and circling through the alleys and streets of the city.

With the tail gone, I finally took some time to look around the city. The main road was paved with bricks, finely cut, and placed about for the maximum comfort of the various passersby. Aside from the main street, which I had very briefly walked on when I first came into the city, most of the city roads seemed to be paved with a cobbled grey stone. The footing was slightly uneven, but it was better than the dirt path that the smaller alleys had.

From what I had seen, the buildings were mostly wood with stone foundations, giving a very rustic feel. I hadn’t been further to the center of the city, but I did notice that the buildings seemed to change to complete stone further in. Must be a poor thing. I imagine that stone was a lot harder to obtain in vast quantities than wood, especially since the city bordered a large forest. Speaking of poor, I needed to ‘find’ myself some money since I was completely broke aside from the few silvers that the deceased elf had.

Overall, the city seemed fairly nice. The buildings were in good repair, the roads were nice, and the people seemed to be fairly clean. I just had two problems with the city: The people and the noise. The people seemed to be happy and nice, but over half of the people I saw happened to be slaves, mostly of the elvish kind. That was extremely unsettling due to me being a non-human. On that same topic, my being a wolfkin made the noise nearly unbearable. My ears were extremely sensitive as is and all the chatter and background noise of the city was verging on painful to hear.

As my thoughts distracted me, I heard a very faint whooshing sound from behind me. Relying fully on my instinct, I dropped to the ground of the alleyway and rolled to the side. While I was rolling over, I saw a hooded figure recovering from a slash with a very shiny dagger that they had in their hand. Now with a solid target, I jumped up and slashed towards them with the dagger that I had pulled out from my waist. Right before the dagger could connect, the person flickered away before reappearing a body length away from where I had stabbed.

“Interesting…” the person said as they sheathed their dagger. Based on the sound of their voice and body shape, the person was a male of some kind, though I couldn’t tell race or anything else since they had their features hidden behind a cloak.

The man was at a higher level and stronger than me, so I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. If we had to fight in an outright battle where he wasn’t holding back I would lose ninety-nine times out of a hundred.

The cloaked man came closer to me with his hands held out in a calming motion, “Be at ease, I hath no desire to harm thee,” he said in galactic common, which was probably also the common language for whatever planet I was on.

Yeah, because I would believe whatever he said. Instead of calming down as he had probably hoped, I tightened my grip on the dagger as I started to reach for the other in case the elf decided to attack.

Why did I think he was an elf? Simple, no one else other than an elf would use phrases like “be at ease” or “thee” and “hath”. Only a person as old as a forest would use such old-timey words. I didn’t know what all long-lived creatures lived on this planet, but I for sure knew that there were elves, so it was only natural that I jumped to the conclusion that he was probably an elf.

“If you didn’t wish to harm me, then why did you stab at me from behind?” I asked the elf.

Surprisingly, I got a truthful sounding answer or a really good excuse back, “I was just testing thee to see if thee were as capable as thy seemed. Now I don’t wish thee harm. I even have a job offer that thine might wish to partake in.”

Something about this whole thing seemed off to me. Why would this guy -who was at a higher level than me- need my help? I asked him the same thing, “Why would you need my help? I’m just a level two no class.”

“That is what inspection says, though it wouldn’t be the first time it had been fooled. As for why I need thine help? It is because thy seem to be skilled in certain acts. I require some assistance and thy met all my requirements if a little underdeveloped.”

Basically, [Inspection] had a few tiers. Most everyone, at least in higher-tech worlds, had the skill to level one. At level one, information would be displayed very loosely and it could cause some problems. For instance, a warrior of level 89 would be displayed as [Warrior - 89]. The problem was that special classes such as the Warrior of the Sacred Flame at level 89 would also show up as [Warrior - 89]. The second problem was that certain skills and items could hide or falsify information. These problems were resolved when the skill had more levels, but it was a very slow and tedious process to level it.

“Why would you even ask a stranger for help? Ever heard of stranger danger, Mr. Stalker?” Yes, I was feeling a little ornery. You know what they say, ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade’. On second thought, that maxim never really made sense to me. After all, the first lemon wasn’t natural but was a hybrid between a citrus tree and a sweet orange tree. I’m getting off-topic...

The man ignored my pitiful attempt at humor and answered my question, “Easy. Thy fits the bill of being both skilled, as evidenced by thine infiltration of the city and thine dodge of my blade, and thy art not human.”

Hearing that last part, my body tensed up as I prepared to fight the elf. My preparations were premature, but I would rather die fighting than be a slave again… it just sucked that my death would happen so soon after my resurrection.

The man didn’t move an inch as he tried to pacify me once again, “Relax thyself. I won’t do anything. If thy decideth to help me, thee will be assisting in fighting for a good cause.”

Again, his requests for me to relax only caused the inverse as I become even more on edge than I already was. “What good cause are you talking about?”

“Slavery.”

“And why would I help you? Slavery is perfectly fine around here, so I’m okay with it too. And would it kill you to use modern language and not that old stuff?” I questioned the elf. I did lie about being okay with slavery. I was not on board with it, but I wanted to see his reaction.

“I will try to follow thi-your request. Th- you don’t believe that, though you are good at lying. I almost believed you for a second. There are three reasons you should help me.” The man paused seemingly for dramatic effect before he continued, “The first reason is fairly simple, I will pay you handsomely for your help. The organization I represent can give you any reasonable sun that you name. The second is that you will have a ride off of this continent of human supremacists, which is priceless for a nonhuman such as yourself. The only other way you would get a ride off would be with a collar around your neck. And last but not least, you will have the privilege of helping one as great as I.”

I kind of wanted to help him even if he seemed insufferable, especially with that last reason of his. What to do? I guess I might as well hear him out, though it seemed a little fishy that he would want my help over someone with experience.

One explanation would be that he couldn’t find a ‘qualified’ nonhuman on the continent that wasn’t a slave, but if he had the backing to offer a free ride, then he would have the backing to have a couple of partners. No matter how much I thought of the various things he said, it came back to one question: What should I do? Well, first off, I should figure out how my disguise failed just in case I needed it in the future again. If he said magic then I would just be out of luck, but if it was something physical, I could attempt to fix what gave me away so it doesn’t happen again.

“I’ll help if you answer some questions. How did you know I’m not a human? And why are you asking me, a stranger, to help you instead of someone you know?” I asked.

The elf pulled back his hood, revealing two sharp ears, the telltale sign of his race. I couldn’t see more due to the poor lighting in the alley, unfortunately. “Good, I'm glad you have decided to assist me in my endeavors. As for your questions, I noticed that your ‘bowtie’,” he put special emphasis on the word, “was twitching while you were standing in front of the guard. I have never seen anything like it, but I imagine that your bow tie is your ears disguised as a bow tie. As for why I would ask you? I won’t tell you more unless you agree to help.”

Instead of answering instantly, I waited and thought more about his offer. The elf was a wrench in my plans, but if I played my cards right, this might turn out to be just what I needed to get a step ahead. For one, I was just wondering how I would get money and start leveling up, so this might be a golden opportunity for me.

The elf pulled his cloak back over his head and told her as he walked away, “I see that you are indecisive over this, that's good. If you do agree to help me, meet me at The Howl of the Wolf, a tavern near the temple district. My room is on the third floor, second room on the right.” Before I could say anything, he vanished. The vanishing wasn’t him just turning a corner, but actual magic invisibility type vanish. Based on his weaponry, apparel, and skill, it was safe for me to assume that his class was some kind of roguelike class.

With the elf no longer near me, I needed to decide quickly on what I wanted to do. I could ignore him and just carry on with my plans, or I could help him in whatever his goal was. Sure, what he had planned was probably more dangerous, but with danger came reward. Unable to come to a decision, I decided that I would walk around for a bit to clear my head. I didn’t want to rush into anything that will get me killed after all.

After a few hours of walking around, most of which was extremely annoying as humans kept yelling at me for being a ‘beggar’ due to my tattered clothes, I had concluded the problem that had been plaguing me. In the end, my curiosity and my newfound thirst for excitement, something that was extremely lacking in my last life, won out over my cautiousness.

Also during that time, I learned how the coin system worked by watching people in open market trade. The copper piece was the most common currency used by the majority of the populace. One hundred of them made up a silver coin, which was the second most common currency for the middle class. One hundred silver coins made a gold doubloon, which was what the nobles usually used.

Most commoners usually made around five to ten silver coins a fortnight, which was enough for them to take care of themselves since most cheap meals only cost around five copper pieces. Silver was more often the bit broken down into coopers since they were easier to use. Gold wasn’t used all that much unless the merchandise was weapons or armor, and then the price wouldn’t drop below a couple of gold for items of quality.

After asking around, and getting threatened a few times for being a ‘vagrant’, I finally found out that the temple district was in the center of town, near where all of the stone buildings were. The Howl of the Wolf tavern was supposedly a little ways off the main road that led into the temple district. Making my way through the trodden streets of Serias, at least that was the city name that the guard gave me, I noticed something odd about the city. Everyone in the city seemed down like there was an ax hanging over their head. I could investigate and find out why, but I didn’t care, so I continued on my way to the tavern.

Once I knew where to look, it didn’t take me long to find it. It was a smaller place that seemed like it had a small but loyal group of customers that came to it every night. The building, much like the rest of the buildings in the district, was made out of gray stone. Right above the entrance, a red wolf was painted in a howling position, notifying me that it was indeed the correct building.

Just before I left the comfort of the alleys to head towards the tavern, I noticed that [Gambler] was finally off of cool down. With hope for an item better than a light switch, I activated the ability.

Most abilities could be accessed through the Records, but they could also be activated without having to rely on the Records. This was a higher level technique, but using an ability without assistance allowed for the ability to be way freer in its usage. For instance, depending on the amount and type of mana channeled into a fireball, the fireball would grow or shrink whereas if the Records were used, the fireball would always remain uniform and cost the same amount of mana every time.

I said most abilities because some couldn’t be used without the Record’s help. [Gambler] was one of such abilities. If I had to put a word to how using the ability felt as I used it, it would be chaos. Pure chaos, like how the Myzn felt the one time I was allowed into it.

In my hands, a small flash of light shined out briefly before an item appeared, signifying an end to the ability. The item was a wolf mask. It looked like an old plague doctor mask, but instead of using a crow, a wolf was used for inspiration. It was almost purely black like my fur and would cover the entire face of whoever wore it. There were no eye holes, but two dark reddish pieces of what seemed like glass covered where they should’ve been. The mouth stretched out in a long snout tipped with a realistic-looking nose. The only thing missing was the wolf ears, but otherwise, the mask would be a perfect wolf copy.

Although I didn’t have [Inspect], I could still see the stats of the equipment in my hands. This wasn’t something just anyone could do, but it was almost like a passive to [Gambler]. From what I could tell, I could read the statistics of whatever item I got. I had tried with other items that I had gotten outside of the ability, but I couldn’t read their stats.

[Mask of the Wolf Pup(Purple)

Ability: Pup’s Growth: This mask will grow with the owner and their actions.

Ability: Pup’s Blindness: Gives the skill [Falsification] to the owner. Additionally, the mask will be unable to be inspected unless the owner gives express permission.

Ability: Pup’s Agility: Increase the owner’s dexterity by five per level.

Bound Owner: None]

It was a shock to see what I had received. Without a second thought about the item, I sliced my hand slightly on one of my daggers and dripped some blood onto the mask. The blood seeped into it before I felt a draining sensation inside of me. A second later, the mask and the sensation disappeared, leaving a burning feeling just above my heart. Quickly peeking inside my shirt, I saw a symbol of a wolf head on my chest right above my breast.

Items that could be bound, such as the mask, sometimes required the bounder to drop blood onto it. Once someone’s blood was dropped onto the item, it would be bound to them until either they died or willingly gave it up. That was why the first thing I did was cut myself and drip blood on the mask.

That wasn’t to say every item was bound in the same way though. For example, the [Creator’s Phoenix Feather] was bound to me as soon as I touched it. There were even some items that needed a person to do specific actions or earn achievements before they could bind the item. After the item was bound, no matter what way it was bound, the bounder would be ‘branded’ with a tattoo and the item would disappear but could be resummoned whenever the bounder wanted.

My new mask was a purple-grade item, which was awesome considering I was still just a level two. Items, some skills, and even classes/evolutions had a ranking system. The system started with white or common, then green/uncommon, blue/rare, purple/epic, orange/legendary, red/relic, and finally pink/divine. People theorized about further ranks, but if anybody found one, I had never heard about it.

As the rank of an item, skill, or class increased, its power would also increase. That was part of the reason why the mask was so good. Since it was a growth-type item, as long as I kept getting stronger the mask would also get stronger and rank up. On top of that, the mask increased one of my attribute points by five every level, which gave me the ability to have ten attribute points per level. It was easy to see how helpful this would be.

The mask would surely make things easier for me. Mainly because the mask added the skill [Falsification]. It was one of the skills I had in my last life and it was a lifesaver in more than one situation. The skill gave me the ability to hide from low leveled [Inspection] and various other detection methods. That was not to say it would give me full freedom to act without worrying about someone knowing my actual stats since there were also quite a few items and skills that could see past it.

After being as prepared as I could with the little money I had, I made my way into the tavern. Upon entry, I almost fell face-first into the ground due to the overpowering stench of stale alcohol and body odor. The stench would have already been bad, but my new lupine nose picked up the scents ten thousand times better. The place was filled to the brim with people drinking and eating; unsurprisingly, every one of the customers was human. I got a few curious gazes, but they stopped fairly quickly after since most of the gazes seemed to just be drawn due to the noise of the door opening.

Remembering what the elf said, I walked through the somber crowd and up a set of stairs in one of the corners. Continuing to go up to the third floor, I walked to the fifth door on the right. Just as I was about to knock on the door, the door swung wide open, revealing the same person as before. Just before I could speak, he retreated further into the room and sat at a table.

I closed the door and followed the elf into the room. Before talking, the elf activated some kind of runed stone on the table. Whatever it was started to trip me out as the background noises from the bar completely stopped, giving me a nice reprieve from the constant annoying noise that I had started to grow used to.

“There, now we can talk without worry about observers. I assume that you agreed to help?” The elf asked, fully pulling off his cloak. He had on a set of black leather armor over top black clothes. With the proper lighting and lack cloak, I also finally got a good view of his face. Aside from the ears, he also had the sharp features and green eyes that most of the elves I had seen so far had. His hair was blonde, but it wasn’t long like the other elves kept theirs.

“Yes, although I will leave if I think your plan is suicidal.”

“That's fair.” The elf reached into a bag that hung off of his chair and pulled out a map of a mansion. “Before we get to the plan, let’s discuss pay. I am authorized to give you ten gold coins for your help. You will also get a free ride to the elven continent just like I had promised.”

I was surprised by the amount of gold that he casually offered to pay me. A gold coin would take an adventurer several life and death missions just to get. I was getting paid enough for months of work. That either meant that this job was extremely hard or important. Based on the fact that he used the word authorized, I assumed it was the latter of two. This also probably meant that he was working under a big organization on the elven continent?

“I am good with the pay, but what are we doing exactly? No amount of money is worth my life.” I asked him.

The elf answered my query, “We are breaking into a lower class judge’s house to free an elf that was captured. The judge’s manor is located outside of the city proper, in the woods near a river. The manor’s defenses are simple enough, but it has a large wall around it to keep out the animals and monsters. The guards are estimated to be right around level fifty but not yet into their class evolutions.”

At level ten, a person would first get to choose their class. This was an extremely important decision since almost everyone would be locked into their class for the rest of their lives. At level twenty, a few more options would open up, but nothing too major. After ten, nothing major happened, but level fifty was when things started to pick up. At level fifty a person’s class could change into something that would give them a massive boost in power. The options were extremely varied, but they changed depending on the person, what they have done, and what they can do. For instance, a [Warrior] that used [Fire Magic] could become a [Spellblade], or if they used axes and got hit a lot, the person could become an [Axe Berserker] of some kind. The gap between someone who had upgraded their class and someone who hadn’t was astounding. While it wasn’t necessarily impossible to fight someone who had upgraded their class, it was extremely hard and nine times out of ten the unupgraded person would lose.

“I’m level two without a class and you want me to fight level fifties? No way.” I instantly started to move to leave.

The elf quickly stopped me by putting his hand on my shoulder, “No, wait! I’m going to be the one fighting. I just need someone to sneak into the mansion and free the captive. With what I’ve seen of your skill, you should be able to do that easily.”

I paused, stopped, and turned back to face the elf. “Why are you so desperate for my help?”

“Well… me and my two compatriots came here on a ship, but we were ambushed by pirates. I was the only one that made it out... I could call for backup, but it would take too long for reinforcements to come, and by then it might be too late… You are the only one that I’ve found around here that fits the requirements of being both a non-human and good at stealth. I would do it myself, but I would take too much time and draw too much attention which might make the full strength of the Serian Empire might crackdown onto me.”

“What is the escape plan then?” I sighed deeply and asked. I was already not wanting to do this -if not for the rewards I wouldn’t even think about it- thing, but I would damn sure get the full plan before I jumped into the already dangerous mission. The elf pulled out another map and laid it on the table. Once I realized it was the map of this planet, I quickly engraved it into my memory.

There were three continents laid out on the map, one to the north, the east, and the west. The northern one was shaded over and had multiple skulls all over it. The east continent was one great land with a huge tree painted onto parts of said land. The last one was a continent divided up into four segments. Each of the four segments had names written on them, Eratros, Roshan, Tiyle, and Licil. The Roshan Empire was the closest to the east on the continent and had a capital named Serias on it near the ocean. A river snaked its way up the continent right next to Serias. Putting two and two together, I quickly realized why he said that I would get a free ride to the elven continent.

“Are we taking the river east to the elven continent as our escape plan?” I asked to see if my conclusion about the escape plan was correct.

The elf nodded and pointed towards a spot on the map, “I have a boat stashed right here, ready for us to board and escape as soon as we get the captive. Aside from that, I already have everything set up for the escape. The worst-case scenario is that we move to plan B. Plan B is that we escape into the Tyroid forest to the west of the judge’s estate.”

I saw the forest he was talking about on the map. Unfortunately for me, the forest had a large skull painted onto it, giving me a less than comfortable feeling about plan B. “Why is there a skull on plan B?”

“Oh, that is just there because a Slayern Spider Queen resides in the forest. It’s nothing to worry about as long as we aren’t caught.” The elf proceeded to laugh it off, but I could see the anxiety in his eyes as he stared at the forest on the map.

His anxiety quickly spread to me, who didn’t even know what a Slayern Spider was, and caused me to chatter out nervously, “Let's make sure that we follow plan A, yeah?”

“Agreed. Any more questions?”

“When this whole thing goes down, how confident are you in drawing all the guards your way? I don’t think the entire guard force will chase you.”

“Yes, they wouldn’t normally,” the elf conceded, “but the judge is throwing a huge party on the day of the heist. The guards will be too focused on protecting the attendees, who are all minor nobles of some kind, to worry about the dungeons.”

“You do have a point… so how are we getting in?”

The elf pointed over to a stack of black and white clothes in the corner of the room, “We will be sneaking in as attendants of a noble. The attendants have a second less-guarded entrance that they are supposed to go through.”

“Nice. How are we going to get out of the manor then?” The most important part of any heist/assassination was the escape. That was where you made it or broke it. Everything else was easygoing, but that was the hardest part of any operation.

The elf replied with an impish grin, “Well, I heard that they had a large number of Firestar's for an end performance… I thought we would go out with a bang.”

I stuck out my hand to the elf with a matching smile. I had no idea what a Firestar was, but my best bet was that they were like fireworks. I’ve always wanted to blow something up with fireworks. “Well then partner, it's nice to meet you. My name is Wy- Kali.”

I almost said my name from before I died. I needed to remember that it had changed, though it was difficult to just up and change something I had used for half of my life. Luckily, I liked the new name better than my previous one since my old name had a ton of bad memories associated with it. Mainly of the torturous kind.

The elf shook my hand and supplied me with his own. “Randal.”