After getting dumped by Karion in the sewers, I had lots of free time, so I asked Mira to guide me to a trustworthy pawnshop. I had some treasures sitting in my Storage that needed to be cashed in.

It is a lucky thing that the adventurer card also works as a bank card. Carrying that much cash on me, even if the value's not that different from when it was literal treasures, isn't good for my poor heart.

"Garami, please tell me again why you needed to become an adventurer." - Mira

"...because of safety in numbers?" - Garami

"Numbers?! Hah! You say that when you have me?!" - Mira

"You mean, because you're here." - Garami

My newfound wealth is enough to allow a big family to party it out for three years. Three years!

"But the only one I wish to pay is you." - Garami

After all, Mira is something akin to my bodyguard while the other members of the Union are closer to colleagues. You need someone you can trust your back to now and then.

Speaking of which, I sent out Bloom to scout for some info regarding Karion. He took off in such a hurry before, so I got curious about what he is planning.

"Aw, you little cassanova~. But what else can you use all that dough on?" - Mira

"For now, equipment. Specifically, alchemy and magic equipment." - Garami

"Alchemy...? I've heard some rumors about it. Isn't it a super-difficult method for crafting that only gives low-quality goods?" - Mira

"Yup, but I got a knack for it." - Garami

Ever since I mastered the requirements for the Alchemist class back during my first night in my secret hideout in the sewers, I've wanted to obtain this class. It also helps that Bloom reassured me, with the knowledge from the Kigal-Note, that the Alchemist class required to be "merged" with a different crafter class if you wanted to evolve Alchemist from an Intermediate-tier class to an Advance-tier one.

Oh, and "merging" classes means that you use 2 different classes to obtain 1 new one of a higher tier. Like, merge a warrior-line and a magician-line class and get a magic-warrior Advance-tier class. That kind of thing.

So yeah, I can easily obtain Alchemist and evolve it by merging it with Weaver. I have 3 outta 5 classes already, but this merging business will allow me to get Alchemist without being worried about having enough space or not.

"If you say so. But what about magic? Do you have any idea what class you want? Rather, you have the AP to get two classes right away?!" - Mira

"I saved them up." - Garami

"Wow...that is some dedication. I always spend mine the second I have enough." - Mira

Typical gacha-addict behavior. The only thing preventing her from becoming one is that there are no gacha in this world unless you count the analog lotteries.

Though I do have that "*doubled AP"-cheat for being a Champion or whatever. I sneakily Identified Mira before, and she has around only 40 skills under her belt. That's half of what I have!! That "Thief" class she owns did make me a little worried at the start, but in the end, she never did anything that would do me harm. I think I've harmed her more than the opposite. I should be careful not to get some weird, judo-related title...

"As for magic, I know I can use Tradition and Creatures." - Garami

"Huh? ...oh yeah. Those "Books of"-things. Right. That says nothing. How about we check out one of those magic shops afterward?" - Mira

"It's a date." - Garami

"Really~?" - Mira

...I should be more careful about my choice of words around this spirit lady. Though, this time, it's not so bad.

---

"Nothing..." - Garami

There were no alchemy goods in the shops dedicated to adventurers OR the shops aimed at crafters.

"Don't sweat it. Alchemy just isn't that mainstream, and they haven't gotten the transport ships done yet. Once they are up and running, they'll get goods imported to the city again." - Mira

I know that. That's the whole point of me giving a half silver to the shop owner so they'd keep a set of the finest alchemy goods for me.

Mira kept on trying to cheer me up as we walked to the magic shop that had been on the Adventurers' Union's list of recommended shops. The place is filled to the brim with magic wands. For real! It reminds me of the wand shop from that famous wizard novel...

"Welcome. You need something?"

The old clerk greeted us from behind the counter with a grin that was missing some teeth as he looked up from the giant book he was reading. Another look at the store revealed that there were lots of those old-looking books placed in rows underneath the display cases for the wands.

"This one is looking aspiring to become a magician, but she hasn't decided for what kind yet." - Mira

"Try the wands on display. If one fits ya, that's the magic you would like to learn." - Clerk

Now I get it. Those wands are like trial versions for spells you could use. They're also color-coded in either red, blue, white, or black, and with explanation plates attached to each display. My types of wands would be the black and white ones, as in the Book of Creatures and the Book of Traditions.

Despite the shop looking extremely up-to-date and well-kept, there are no customers other than us here...wait. One guy is looking through the merchandise in the "red corner", aka the corner filled with goods related to the Book of Styles. He's dressed smartly in a black suit and is wearing glasses. Ah, he looked over here. And now he's approaching. I'm sensing...not trouble? Hmm?

"Excuse me, are you the traveler who arrived at city dock 4-B?" - Man in Suit

"Huh?" - Garami

"...let me try that again. Are you the one who was the first to arrive at a certain dock after the lake returned to normal, then got into trouble with the dock guards because of reckless driving with your boat?" - Man in Suit

"Completely unknown." - Garami

Tch. Is he working for the mastermind? Or at least, for the bosses of those guards who packed on the bugged entry pass on me?

"Hmm... Excuse me for that. I have been looking for that person to give them a message." - Man in Suit

"What's that? A fine or something?" asked Mira as she threw herself onto the conversation. Nice, keep it up. Pump that guy for any info!

"Far from it. I would just advise her to get rid of the entry pass she was given. It is a complete hoax after all." - Man in Suit

"Oho~? That doesn't sound nice." - Mira

"Yes, I agree. It seems that someone managed to hand those passes to the dock guards, along with the false order of handing them over to the first 100 foreigners who arrived at the city docks. And the same order was given to all six of them! 600 false entry passes in total. How did such a blunder escape the city guards' careful eyes?" - Man in Suit

"How sloppy." - Garami

"Sloppy indeed. They are usually so careful with their line of commands, so how did this happen?" - Man in Suit

"That's the problem with complicated organizations. Handing orders turns into a telephone game." - Mira

Huh? There are phones in this world!?

"But what's your deal with this incident?" - Mira

Oops. I forgot that important detail. Who is this guy?

"Pardon me. This is my card." - Man in Suit

Another suspicious card. Greaaat. ..."security organization Nequitas vice-chief, Blot Valvalgar"?

"Nequitas!? Aren't you guys working in Solomar!?" - Mira

"Yes. we do. We decided to extend our services to Velantas recently. A former co-worker of mine is now working at the 4-B docks. They are the ones who told off the "reckless speed demon", as they called them, who were given one of these false entry passes." - Blot Valvalgar

That jerk from the docks! Okay, the suspicious-o-meter just went to the roof. If he's working with this Blot-guy, isn't there a chance both of them are part of this "card club" that attacked me?

"That person was suspicious of these entry passes he had not been told of before they were being distributed, so he turned in an old favor to me and requested an investigation of the origin of those passes." - Blot

...or that could happen. Until further evidence is revealed, I'll keep the odds at a 50/50 for now.

"That's diligent of your friend. They must make a good guard." - Mira

"That is debatable. For he is so diligent at his work that he works himself ragged to the point where he becomes so sleep deprived that he sometimes starts sleeping where he stands. There was this one time it almost looked like he had gone into a coma." - Blot Valvalgar

Someone, get the sleep police! We have someone who may die from overwork here! Not exactly here, but at the docks!!

"But that withstanding, with the recent murderer spree that claimed the lives of around 60 people in total when you count all the six cities, even they had to start doing a little extra when something as suspicious as crates with a total of 600 false passes starts being distributed around the 6 cities." - Blot Valvalgar

...600...60...and 6...? Why do those numbers sound so ominous?

"Is it me, or are there too many murders or scams in this city?" - Mira

"You got me there. It's such a pity, considering Velantas is known as the lake city or arts. You two better be careful. Oh, but if you happen to stumble over that person I asked for, or anyone else who has those entry passes, tell them what I told you if you would. Also, I hope to see a pair of brilliant adventurers as you two working for our organization if it's possible." - Blot Valvalgar

After saying that, along with a goodbye, the "vice-chief" left the shop, leaving us to digest all the info we were given. And it's far from what you could call a "mouthful"...

---

"...and that's what happened." - Garami

After finishing the shopping trip with Mira, I returned to the fancy inn I'd moved into after leaving the sewer hideout behind. The place is being sponsored by the Adventurers' Union, so I doubt people would try to storm the place just because little old me has rented a room here.

Anyway, I made Bloom return and we had a little pow-pow regarding what we had learned. Mira went off to spend her pay for today at a blacksmith shop she visits frequently. It's supposedly being run by a lizardman. I gotta see that one day.

"That is some quite valuable information there. Did Miss Mira have anything to mention regarding this Blot-person?" - Bloom

"Nothing other than it seems in that Nequitas organization's book to try and get a leg in a different city." - Garami

Mira didn't know much about those guys, except that despite them being from Solomar, they seemed to favor getting requests from other countries, cities, or even villages, that were not connected with the demon country of Solomar. Weird.

"So they have no seeming motivation to try and assassinate random people in this city." - Bloom

"Nor do I think they can. As in, being able to send those bugged cards to the dock guards." - Garami

That's the biggest concern regarding discovering who the mastermind is...but it's not our problem.

"Karion seems to have an idea who it is?" - Garami

"From how he is manhandling the Union to prepare for something in three days, I think so, yes." - Bloom

Then let's leave that to his capable hands. Then again, it's frustrating not getting a chance for some payback.

"And that place you mentioned is most likely to be their HQ?" - Garami

"Positively~." - Bloom

Reading over the info Bloom had managed to harvest, I'd say the same. That place is the only possible location where they can perform their plans. It would also explain why Mira and I were attacked the night when we left the Entertainment District, even when we didn't have anything like those bugged entry passes on us.

After looking over what we knew, Bloom deducted that the card guards have to be similar to the golems that Karion makes. There's a slight difference though. The golems he made were under his command with a pseudo-personality, so they were required to be part of a "group" he created through some leadership-type skill. Something like [Party], I mean.

The card guards, however, are probably just "constructions that can move, talk, and attack", if I'm to borrow Bloom's words. They're not part of any "groups", but that would also mean they don't need any LP to be "deployed". It's just a matter of "program those moving statues to attack anyone with a special item on them".

As for the mentioned exception before...well, they slipped up big time back there. Poor idiots.

"For now, we should wait until Karion's trap strikes. Then we'll try to score some goods during the chaos." - Garami

In the meanwhile, let's prepare for the upcoming brawl. I'll have Mira show me more adventurer-focused shops to prepare my equipment. For tonight, let's stick to checking out my status list.

I did obtain some books about a mage-line class that I seem to have some talent with, even if it feels like something akin to an insult, but it'll prolly take several days before I can clear the quest needed to obtain the class, so I'll have to postpone it for after Karion's plans.

Name: Garami | [Migrant] Race: Stygian Executioner Gender: Female Level: 8/50 Traits: 4 Karma Value: -200 Main Class: Arachnid Assailant Lv.24 Sub Class: Weaver Lv.21 Sub Class: Demonic Rogue Lv.15 Skills: 80 Titles: 18 Blessings: 3 Aether Points: 28.2 HP: 269/269 MP: 456/458 SP: 246/268 STR: 340 VIT: 210 MAG: 295 RES: 234 SPD: 522 DEX: 526 INT: 120 LUC: 150 LP: 15

Skill List:

Skill List: Ability Skills: [Extra Health Lv.6] [Massive Mana Lv.8] [Minimized Mana Consumption Lv.7] [Mana Auto-Recovery Lv.38] UP1 [Increased Stamina Lv.6] [Greater Strength Lv.6] [Tougher Vitality Lv.6] [Speed Lv.32] [Dexterity Lv.46] UP5 Attack Skills: [Darkness Bullet Lv.26] [Darkness Daggers Lv.18] [Poison Ball Lv.7] [Demon Claw Lv.8] [Web Bomb Lv.18] UP1 Magic Skills: [Heretic Magic Lv.6] [Healing Magic Lv.6] [Magic Eye of Blindness Lv.6] [Magic Eye of Weakness Lv.11] [Magic Eye of Fragility Lv.1] NEW [Magic Eye of Deterioration Lv.12] [Summon Phantom: Rat King Lv.6] Crafting Skills: [Weaving Lv.21] UP8 [Tailoring Lv.13] UP7 [Dyeing Lv.4] NEW Active Skills: [Liquid Control Lv.1] [Aura of Darkness Lv.27] [Optical Cover Lv.21] [Sticky Limbs Lv.19] [Cutting Thread Lv.21] UP1 [Web Wings Lv.9] [Dreadful Menace Lv.6] [Spatial Storage Lv.18] UP1 Passive Skills: [Dagger Proficiency Lv.11] [Scythe Proficiency Lv.8] [Rope Proficiency Lv.7] [Lurk Lv.43] [Aiming Lv.25] [Evasion Lv.8] [Jump Lv.1] [Parkour Lv.37] [Ambush Lv.22] [Sadistic Constitution Lv.13] [Throwing Lv.28] [Camouflage Lv.29] [Demonic Disguise Lv.7] UP1 [Climbing Lv.24] [Riding Lv.7] [Sleep Lv.48] UP9 [Dreamlike Form Lv.11] UP1 [Fear Reinforcement Lv.7] [Destruction Reinforcement Lv.7] [Concentration Lv.32] UP5 [Prediction Lv.23] [Parallel Thinking Lv.28] UP4 [Vital Point Knowledge Lv.17] [Language Adaptation] Perception Skills: [Gamemaster Lv.19] UP9 [Detect Monster Lv.28] UP1 [Vision Reinforcement Lv.26] UP2 [Auditory Reinforcement Lv.26] UP1 [Olfactory Reinforcement Lv.21] UP1 [Tactile Reinforcement Lv.22] UP4 [Taste Reinforcement Lv.13] UP1 [Nightvision Lv.50 (Max)] UP5 [Tracking Lv.22] [Danger Sense Lv.12] UP2 [Sense of Direction Lv.45] UP8 [Magic Eye of Sight Lv.50 (Max)] UP3 [Identification Lv.42] UP3 Resistance Skills: [Darkness Resistance Lv.12] [Blindness Resistance Lv.3] UP1 Elements: [Darkness Element Lv.1] Monster Skills: [Demon's Strong Muscle Lv.8] [Demon's Spiritual Arts Lv.6] [Demon's Nimble Legs Lv.10] [Glow Web Lv.17] UP2 [Spider's Bite Lv.14] [Spider's Poison Lv.12] [Demon Spider's Thread Lv.4] EVOLVED Extra Skills: [Demon Lord Lv.1]

Title List:

Title List: Achievement Titles: [Reincarnator] [Titan Killer] [Fearbringer] [Darkness Technique User] [Merciless] [Daredevil] [Destroyer] [Mystic Arts Master] [Rescuer] [Mysterious Killer] [Dungeon Raider] NEW Hunting Titles: [Dread Spirit Genocider] [Monster Slaughterer] [Insect Slayer] [Beast Slaughterer] Status Titles: [Migrant] [True Chaos] [Slayer of the Ultimate] NEW

Mhm. Things are going slower now. Comparing the life inside a dangerous Dungeon and that in a safe city does feel sorta offensive for either party though, so I'll keep that to myself.

I want to evolve more skills now, as their usefulness just skyrockets when they do. The new [Demon Spider's Thread] skill I obtained from evolving [Spider Threads] is a prime example of this.

Skill: Demon Spider's Thread Skill Type: Monster Skill Tier: 2 Attribute: --- Effect: Allows the creation of strong webbings and threads by consuming SP, MP, or both at the same time. The strength of the webbing depends on how much resources one spends on creating them. Allows one to generate magical threads that can be used for attacking. The attacks inflict magic-based damage.

Now I can make webbing by using either SP or MP! That the threads can be used to damage people when I want them to is a nice bonus. It did integrate [Thread Creation], so it must be a higher-and-rarer tier of that skill as well. Bloom mentioned something of an MP-version of [Spider Threads], a "mystical thread" skill or whatever, which I bet is another candidate for [Demon Spider's Thread]'s lower-rank version.

So yeah. Skills with higher tiers are AWESOME! But right now, I can only evolve [Nightvision] and [Magic Eye of Sight], since their skill levels are maxed. How troublesome...

There is also the option of taking more skills, but some hastily acquired skills aren't gonna be as good as those I've practiced with for several years now.

Hmm...let's just evolve what I have and save AP for the mage-line class, or when I reach Lv.50 with some other skills again.

When I went on to ask the World System to evolve [Magic Eye of Sight], I got several options in front of me. The same happened when I evolved [Spider Threads], so I'm not surprised. What caught my attention is that I could use [Nightvision] in addition to AP for one of the new skills: [Evil Eye of Dark Sight].

After hearing Bloom's explanation of each skill, I decided to take this "fusion evolution" of the two skills.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Consuming 6 AP to evolve skills: [Magic Eye of Sight Lv.50 (Max)] and [Nightvision Lv.50 (Max)].

Acquired evolved skill: [Evil Eye of Dark Sight Lv.1]

Yay!

Skill: Evil Eye of Dark Sight Skill Type: Perception Skill Tier: 2 Attribute: Gloom-type Attributes Effect: Allows the user to see past any kind of darkness. Allows the user to visually detect mana and magic. Allows the user to notice hidden forces related to Gloom-type attributes. Consumes MP to get better results and bypass hiding-type abilities related to Gloom-type attributes.

Despite its nasty name, this Evil Eye may be a blessing for most people. "Gloom-type" is an umbrella term for various nasty attributes such as Darkness and Curse. Poison isn't in that category, for some reason, so I think it's less about the attributes being "bad" and more that they are "shady".

So, yeah. This is a pure upgrade of both my skills, combined into one nice package. ...actually, this may be a big player in my attempt to give those card jerks some payback. Things are gonna get interesting in three days.