I woke up with my mouth feeling dry. I couldn’t remember anything that happened last night. This was odd, I thought for sure my [Poison Resistance] should have made me immune to alcohol.

Name : Ajax

Level :12

Experience : 7500/12100

Traits: Prodigal Apprentice , Divine Witness

Health: 190/190

Mana: 290/290

Stamina :270/270

Vitality : 19.03

Strength :23.85

Endurance : 28.03

Dexterity :23.33

Intellect : 38.75

Wisdom :30.40

Mind : 29.11

Perception : 21.19

Stat Points : 242

Skills :

Common :[Mathematics Lvl 22] [Stealth Lvl 21][Drawing Lvl 30][Athleticism Lvl 20] [Running Lvl 22][Reading Lvl 20][Writing Lvl 20][Cooking Lvl 20][Sewing Lvl 20] [Cleaning Lvl 13][Haggling Lvl 19][Gardening Lvl 20][Axes Lvl 30][Hammers Lvl 24] [Deception Lvl 16][Sword Lvl 14][Shield Lvl 12][Bow Lvl 10][Spear Lvl 11][Throwing Lvl 10][Persuasion Lvl 10][Unarmed Combat Lvl 13][Knives 21][Skinning Lvl 10][Tanning Lvl 10][Dismantle Lvl 10][Climbing Lvl 5][Tracking Lvl 4][Heat Resistance Lvl 3] [Poison Resistance Lvl 4] Uncommon :[Meditation Lvl 38][Sense Mana Lvl 41][Expel Mana Lvl 39][Sprinting Lvl 13][Mining Lvl 10][Lumberjack Lvl 10][Smelting Lvl 10][Blacksmithing Lvl 10] [Chanting Lvl 10][Mana Farming Lvl 10][Increase Price Lvl 10][Lower Price Lvl 10][Danger sense Lvl 5][Leatherworking Lvl 10][Alchemy Lvl 10][Mana Milling Lvl 6]Precise Cut Lvl 13][Precise Blow Lvl 11][Judge Threat Lvl 2][Piercing Shot Lvl 1] Rare : [Manipulate Mana Lvl 18][Water Aspect Mana Lvl 11][Fire Aspect Mana Lvl 11] [Air Aspect Mana Lvl 12][Earth Aspect Mana Lvl 14][Inject Mana Lvl 14][Spot Weakness Lvl 4][Residue Recognition Lvl 3] [Light Aspect Mana Lvl 1][Shadow Aspect Mana Lvl 1] Epic : [Mana Augmentation Lvl 6]

New :

Light Aspect Mana 0 -> 1

Shadow Aspect Mana 0 -> 1

Upgrades :

Cleaning 12 -> 13

Hammers 23 ->24

Swords 13 -> 14

Shield 11 -> 12

Spear 10 -> 11

Unarmed combat 12 -> 13

Knives 20 -> 21

Residue Recognition 1 -> 3

Sense Mana 40 -> 41

Meditation 36 -> 38

Water Aspect Mana 10 -> 11

Fire Aspect Mana 10 -> 11

Mana Augmentation 5 -> 6

Poison Resistance 4 ->5

I could see the improvement I made all week, even my drinking last night increased my poison resistance. The experience I gained also cleared up for me why levelling happened so much faster with apprentice. The skills I gained would have given me 900 experience but I got 2150 instead. And this was while I was always doing something rather trivial and safe.

At least I didn’t seem to have a hangover from yesterday and I moved to get out of bed hoping I could patch together if something important happened last night. I made my way downstairs, apparently I must have crashed pretty early as I woke up before Tom had to leave.

“Morning” I started off with “ Did anything happen last night?”

“How much do you remember?” he grinned, I could see him try to hold in a laugh.

“Start of dinner, after my third drink.”

“Quite a bit more than I expected. You decided to join Alana and Judy for the auction today so I would start getting ready for that if I was you.” he said “What made you drink so much for your first time anyway?”

“I have [Poison Resistance] thought it would cover it.” I was happy about going to the auction.

“That explains why you aren’t hungover. That's not how poison resistance works though. It doesn’t just make you immune to poisons, it makes your affected threshold and recovery quicker.”

“What does that mean, shouldn’t that mean alcohol is below the threshold?”

“Not like that, it means it takes more of it to affect you. If you would have felt the effects after two cups, you will now only feel them after three. The downside is that while what you feel from the poison is also diminished it's not to the same degree.” he frowned a little. “How do I explain this…”

“ The three drinks that you did have affected you like you would have had two and half without [Poison Resistance]. You need to be careful with poisons, as the skill goes up you might need an entire bottle of a weak poison poured in your wound for it to take effect, a paralysis poison would also instantly freeze half your body the moment it starts working though.”

That was a scary thought. That was a lot like not feeling pain. It was there for a reason, to warn you something is wrong.

“Is that all the skill does?” I hoped there was more to it to make up for the downside.

“No, it also helps you recover” he pointed to the jug of water I just emptied. “You might have the dehydration that comes with heavy drinking but you skipped the hangover. It makes you process the poison faster.”

“You woke up pretty early” Kate said as she was coming down the stairs.

“So I’ve been told.”

“Well you better go get ready, your sister should show up any minute.” she said as both her and Tom headed for the door.

I took that chance to go wash up, get some of the better clothes I had on and grab something to eat. I hoped I would at least get to see a few of the elemental ores at the auction. If I could get a read on one of them I might be able to find them in the mines back home, though it was a bit of a long shot.

After Judy and Alana picked me up we headed off in the direction of the market quarter. A quick stop at their headquarters let us know that most of the items at today’s auction were going to be expensive bobbles for nobles. Definitely not something I was looking forward to.

“Entry token” a short man with a protruding stomach said as we got to the venue.

“Here” Alana responded, giving the small stone her boss had given her earlier. It was to signify that we were to have a private booth.

The man's eyes widened seeing it and he took another look at us.” Please enter through the main doors and take a seat in one of the back rows of the main hall.”

“We’re meant to be in a private booth.” Judy said, some annoyance creeping into her voice.

“What are some kids going to do with a private booth? Go enjoy the auction.” he tried to wave us away.

This was quite the problem. Sure for me being in the hall or in a booth made little difference, but for Judy and Alana it mattered a lot. All the merchants got private booths to ensure anonymity, nobody wanted their identity known when bidding against members of the nobility.

It seemed this was not the first time something like this has happened as both seemed to be pissed but not surprised.

“Morning Ajax, didn’t think I’d see you here.” I heard from behind me.

I turned and saw Cadmael, though he was dressed in very fine clothing as opposed to the armour I was used to seeing him in.

“Morning Cad. Are you here for the auction too?”

“Yeah my brother dragged me along.” At this point he notices the argument between my sister and the attendant, as the latter mentioned rather loudly that he suspected that the token might have been stolen. “Is this your sister? The one you said was a merchant?”

“Yeah, this is Judy.” hearing her name she turns around and takes in the newcomer.

“Yes, I am Judy.”

“It’s nice to meet you, I am Cadmael Flameheart. I trained with your brother for the past week.” Cad said before turning to the attendant. The attendant also took in the newcomer and his jaw dropped before he went pale as he heard the name.

“Milord, welcome to the auction. Would you like me to get you a booth?” he was starting to sweat.

“I am fine, my brother already has one. I was just saying hello to a friend. Is there some issue with their entrance token?” his voice grew cold with the last question.

“None at all, I was just about to let them go to their booth.” he quickly said as he opened the door.

“Cadmael, come on.” We heard from a distance. The voice came from someone who looked like a bigger, slightly older Cadmael. It must have been his older brother, the presence of Sir Lenford by his side only reinforcing my conclusion.

“I’ll see you tomorrow for training.” he said as he started heading towards his own group.

We had no more problems with the staff for the rest of the day after that small interaction, a manager even sent us a complimentary lunch to make up for the inconvenience.

“Why are you bidding on everything?” I asked in the break. So far there has been nothing of interest for me. Surprisingly Judy and Alana bid on almost every single item, despite this they hadn’t won a single one of them.

“Our company has an arrangement with this auction house. We get lower fees on anything we put up for auction here. In exchange, any time one of our members is present they try to bid up items.” Alana answered me.

“If you have a deal like that how come we still got held up at the entrance.”

“Because the deal is between the management of the auction house and us. He can’t go telling everyone or else the arrangement will leak.” Judy said.

Towards the end of the auction we finally had something interesting show up. It was a fire aspected ore. I could feel the fire mana emanating from it before they brought it out on the stage. The price it went for however made it pretty clear that it was not something I could afford. One hundred gold was far out of my price range, and this was just for the ore, someone would also have to smelt it.

The next item however really caught my interest. The mana I could sense off the sword seemed stronger, a little like the Holy mana I felt from the higher ranked healer. The only difference was that this mana resembled water instead of light.

“And for our final item we have an ice attuned blade.” The presenter said. “Bidding will start at 400 gold coins.”

The price the blade sold for was a whopping 1350 gold coins. Way more than my entire village would make in a year. But seeing the blade did give me an idea. Were there stronger versions of the elemental aspects of mana I already had? Holy seemed to be the one for light and ice for water. Were they something I could get skills for? What were the rest of them? Coming to this auction certainly proved useful.