The group entered the now completely abandoned bank at 5 Star Road. “Unbelievable,” Emilie muttered. “Unbelievable. Ghosts can be banished if you finish their unfinished business.” She laughed and laughed. “I’ll make sure I tell the church that.”
Victor clapped his hands together. “Shall we ladies?”
Jenora and Serena both looked at him. “Don’t do that again.”
Serena nodded. “Yeah, it’s weird.”
“Alright,” Victor skipped into the decrepit bank and opened the door at the far end. At the back, he walked down the set of steel stairs to the basement. A massive vault with 3 key slots too far apart for any one person to turn all of them he smiled. Three keys are all there in the vault door. “Hell yes. It actually worked.”
Serena followed behind. “I can’t believe this worked.”
Jenora agreed. “Incredible that he was right. I was sure we’d be wasting our time since we had a week to kill anyway, I didn’t care but as soon as we turn those keys we’ll own this place.”
Victor stood at the center key. Serena walked to the right key, and Jenora to the left. “Let’s do it. 3, 2, 1, open.” They turned the keys and the old vault clicked open slowly creaking toward them. Jenora pulled it open. Inside attached to the walls a few hundred glass cases of varying sizes lined the wall. On the floor boxed up a large case almost as though it was ready to move lay half open. Next to the box` a pouch of coins sat half open Jenora picked up both. As they opened the vault Victor noticed something.
Ghost 30 Vanquished: Experience Increase 99%
Current Exp to level 13 100.0%
LEVEL 13 Reached!
Current Exp to level 14 100.0%
Level 14 Reached!
Current Exp to level 15 3.2%
Achievement: Exorcism – Perform an exorcism. Gain 10 stat points. Gain [Lose] 10 luck.
Achievement: On the case – Solve a crime. Gain 1 stat point. Gain [Lose] 1 Luck.
Achievement: Cold Case – Solve a crime more than 2 years old. Gain 25 stat points. Gain [Lose] 5 luck.
He decided to wait and let them relish the victory. “Let’s go this is exciting.” Emilie squeaked joyfully.
The group made its way to the entrance only to find Patricia and Farson in front. Jenora walked up to him and put down the chest in front of him. “I’m sorry about how I treated you. Your actions are punishment enough.”
Phil fell to his knees putting his head on the box. “I should have come to you captain.”
Patricia shook her head. “That was dumb. We’re done here.” Patricia started walking away. “Thanks for the help! If you find more criminals let me know.”
His voice cracked. “With this, I can finally leave Freedman’s Guild.”
“You’re going to sell your father’s armor?” Victor asked.
“It’s probably worth 40,000 maybe 50,000 gold. I can start a business somewhere else. I don’t need to spend the rest of my life directing carts and documenting trade manifests.” He wiped away his tears. “This means the world to me. Thank you. The deed is yours.” He paused quivering to ask. “Did my brother say anything about me?”
Victor knelt. “He said you always tried to protect him. He was enraged when we didn’t believe you, probably because he also didn’t believe you in life.”
“He finally stood up for me after all these years.” A faint smile crossed his face.
Emilie jumped up on Jenora. “YEAH! WE DID IT!”
Serena chuckled. “We did, didn’t we? We’ve got a great guild hall.”
“We also all leveled up.” Victor pulled out Swordie and passed him to Serena. “I bet all of you got a ton of achievement points too.”
Serena looked at the book for a moment before asking “Swordie, I have a lot of stat points. What should I do with them?”
“Your stealth skill is rank 1. Improve it to Rank 3 and use it to repeatedly activate your scout specialization speed increase for becoming noticed. Improve any skill such as your Ricochet to rank 3. You should focus on hit-and-run tactics and skills that complement that. Because your specialization improves your effective rank for skills you should make sure you use rank 3 skills whenever possible. If combating undead or other creatures with skeletal structures bone breaker is a strong skill but scales only off of strength and skill rank. Speed does not affect it.” Swordie clarified.
She tapped her chin. “Thank you Swordie.” She tapped upgrading her skills to rank 3 with most of her stat points. She handed it to Emilie.
“Oh let me ask too. Swordie what should I do with my points.” Emilie asked.
“Physical stats, Endurance, Rigor, and Vitality. You need more of it. You lack the mana regeneration to meaningfully increase your skill ranks and maintain high levels of spellcasting.” He answered.
“Uhg! Boring, but fine. I’ll listen to you too.” Emilie upped her stats
Jenora took Swordie next. “What should I do with my stat points Swordie?”
Swordie made no comment writing something causing her blood pressure to rise. “Alright Swordie I’ll do that.”
Emilie tried to see the book as she held it high only for Swordie to mention. “Those skills are important for you to maximize your strength within the party.”
Emilie groaned. “Awe come on tell me.” She pouted.
“He wanted me to improve my barrier skills and upgrade reinforcement.” She handed Swordie back to Victor.
Victor said. “Status Sheet.” I need to improve my flow. If I maximize my flow soon I’ll be able to maintain two max buffs easily and still regenerate mana.
“I recommend purchasing another skill or spell, Victor. Jolt will serve you well but having another element would be helpful.” Swordie noted.
“Is there a spell that lets me grab things from range?” Victor asked.
“Yes.” Swordie brought up a skill. “It is significantly easier to use as a spellsword.”
Magic Hands Rank 1
Rarity: Common
Requirements: Mage 1, 1 stat point.
Sustained Spell
Mana Cost: 1 mana per 10 seconds.
Allows manipulation of objects from range. Weight and speed increase with prowess and skill rank.
“That is pretty good, I assume it’s 2 points for the second rank and 2 mana per 10 seconds. Is what is the next best element preferably one good against devils and undead.” He scratched his chin.
“Correct that is the cost. As for elements unfortunately the only shared weakness between those two types of creatures is the light element. Mages do not have access to light spells in any capacity.” Swordie explained.
“Ah dang. Ok, what would you recommend as a second element type?” He asked.
“Frost covers almost all cases excluding undead. Given your party composition that seems prudent.” Swordie replied.
Frost Bolt Rank 1
Rarity: Common
Requirements: Mage 1, 1 stat point.
Instant Spell
Mana Cost: 1 mana
Shoots bolt of freezing cold energy at the target. Damage increases with prowess, skill rank, and proximity doing more damage at close range. In cold environments does full damage at any range.
“That seems like a good choice to me. Similar rules I assume where the cost to buy it doubles to 2 points?” Victor asked.
“Correct my student,” Victor said approvingly.
“Well then do it and put the remaining points into flow. I need to be able to sustain more spells.” He smiled.
Selected Title: Angelic Knight
Race Human: Victor Vance Vogal
Class, Specialization: Mage 9, Spellsword 5
Level: 14
Base Health: 190
Stamina: 47
Mana: 15
Vitality: 19
Speed: 59
Strength: 26
Prowess: 37
Endurance: 44
Rigor: 2
Willpower: 17
Flow: 117 (+70%)
Luck: -61
Resistance: 50% Resistance to mind control and manipulation.
Title: Angelic Knight
Skills: Speed Reading Rank 2, Academic Rank 2, Familiar Rank 2, Speechless Spellcasting Rank 2, Improved Buffs Rank 2, Rogue Skills Rank 2, Fighter Skills Rank 2
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Hidden Skills: Memory Retention, Luzuzal’s Delusion Rank 5, Luzuzal’s Devout Rank 2, Luzuzal’s Promise Rank 7,
Spells: Barrier Shield Rank 2, Magic Hands Rank 2, Jolt Rank 2, Frost Bolt Rank 2, Speed Boost Rank 2, Vitality Boost Rank 2, Rigor Boost Rank 2, Prowess Boost Rank 2, Magic Writing Rank 1
Current Exp to Level 15 3.2%
“Confirm.” Victor activated Vitality boost. “I think going forward just walking around with vitality boost running all the time makes sense.”
“Well yeah, but you can only afford 1 buff at a time right? The second one depletes your mana pool, right? Slowly maybe but still does cost mana.” Emilie pointed out.
“Huh let me look.” Victor activated “Prowess boost.” His mana remained at maximum. “Oh wow, it’s still positive. Speed boost.” His mana began to flicker on his HUD he waited a moment and yet he wasn’t losing mana. “Rigor boost.” His mana quickly went to 1 after enabling the fourth boost lasting only about 30 seconds. He disabled them before he hit mana fatigue. “Wow. So I can keep up three of them.”
Emilie sighed. “Angelic knights are amazing aren’t they.”
Victor realized he had just boasted about his Luzuzal skill. “It’s something.” He lied so ineffectively that Serena glared at him.
Phil stood and extended his hand to Victor. “You’re an angelic knight?”
Victor shook his hand. “Well I don’t mean to boast but yes.”
“Somehow that makes me feel a lot better. I’ll never forget you. Thank you for everything.” He picked up the crate and the pouch of gold carrying it on his shoulder. Jenora and the rest of them were shocked by the sudden show of strength. “Oh, I’m a heavy fighter. I can lift most things with ease.” He smiled and slapped the box. “Perhaps one day I will see you again. Until then I wish you well.”
“May you find redemption in the light on your path.” Jenora waved.
The rest of them waved as he departed. After he left Victor turned to them. “Now for the horrible boring part.”
Emilie turned to him. “Wait. What?”
“Cleaning,” Victor answered apprehensively.
“AW COME ON!” Emilie groaned. “That place is huge can we at least just do the first floor and not every single room?”
Serena agreed immediately. “We should just do the first floor until Forala returns.”
Victor just realized. “You know I didn’t think about this but how do I get Cawthorn to return.”
Swordie gleefully answered. “You give him better instructions. You have to be specific with fools as I’ve come to learn.”
“Are you saying I’m as foolish as Cawthorn?” Victor asked.
“Of course not my student, he is far less foolish than you,” Swordie noted.
“Thanks Swordie.” Victor groaned.
Jenora laughed. “He’ll be back tonight. We should just start cleaning.”
“Are there brooms? Mops? Anything in there?” Serena asked.
“I doubt it.” Emilie shook her head. “We should just go buy some. It’ll only cost a few coppers for a mop and bucket. Possibly a silver or 2 with a broom.”
“We should just go do it now. We’ve got what 4 days until Forala returns? We did phenomenally. Everyone here performed well especially you Victor. Your title opened doors that we’d never be able to open without an angelic knight.” Jenora tapped his shoulder.
Victor felt warm inside as a feeling of accomplishment washed over him. “It did work didn’t it.” He turned to their decayed bank, now guild hall, and added. “Let’s go get supplies.”
Emilie scoffed as they jogged toward the center of town. “At least I can keep up at this pace. We should also stop for food.” They approached a massive general store with the Freedman’s Guild logo on the bottom right of the wooden sign.
Inside the bustling shop, two counters and several attendants managing the shop shuffled around. A young orange-haired catfolk girl wearing a collar with the word Cleo on it approached them. “Hello! Welcome to the Freedman’s Guild General Store. Here we stock many essential items. My name is Cleo I’m happy to help you look around or find any items you need.”
Victor immediately noticed that all attending the shop save one were catfolk, mostly women opened his eyes enraged. He turned to her wide-eyed. “Ma’am, are you a slave?”
She hesitated. “Yes sir and as with all the merchandise here I am available for sale as well. My price is 1,250 gold.”
“We’re here for cleaning supplies.” Jenora tried to cut in.
She quickly scuttled around to the back of the shop showing them mops, brooms, dust bins, and other cleaning supplies. “Here are our cleaning supplies as well as soap. It’s scented with fresh pine!”
Emilie sniffed the bar. “It smells so nice.”
Jenora looked around. “Eh, do you have anything in a more flowery scent?”
“We do have rose scented but pine is only 5 copper a bar and rose is 2 silver,” Cleo explained.
Jenora nodded. “Don’t worry we’re adventurers. We’ll take 5 bars of the rose.”
“Pine is fine.” Serena picked up 6.
‘Is every business in this city run by slaves?’ Victor mentally began to tilt his head cracking his neck.
“Splendid! Did you need mops? Buckets? Other supplies?” Cleo asked.
Jenora held up 4 fingers. “4 for each of those, along with brooms dust pans, a dozen rags, and gardening gloves. We’re also going to need a scythe to clear out the foliage and a couple of hammers.”
“Who is your owner?” Victor resumed his line of questioning.
She stood there like a deer in the headlights. A cat paralyzed in fear. “My owner is Caleb Scott as with all slaves here. He runs this store on behalf of the Freedman’s Guild. Every week he instructs us to follow the orders of the shopkeeper.”
Victor turned to Serena. “Just go. You aren’t going to change his mind and it’s not like I want to talk to that asshole again. Just avoid violence okay?”
Victor started walking out. “Fine.” Victor looked down at Swordie.
“Don’t look at me. This is an idea which will backfire immediately.” Swordie commented as Victor walked out.
“Would you have me stop?” Victor asked.
“Hell no. Get running.” Swordie insisted. “You’re instinct is right you cannot just do so. Failing nonstop will at least teach you a lesson about your weakness. Never lose the drive to try.”
“At least you agree I’m on the right track.” Victor smiled.
“Track sir?” Swordie asked.
“Train track? Does this world not have trains?” Victor inquired.
“No sir. What is it?” Swordie seemed rather interested.
“It’s like a cart that runs on tracks. Like a mine cart but it’s enclosed and carries passengers or cargo long distances faster than most people can run without stopping. They are powered by coal or steam.” Victor explained hurrying along.
“Fascinating. Who used these?” Swordie’s voice seemed unusually engaged.
“Well everyone when they were available. It’s a cheap mode of transit that anyone young or old can use. I wonder if I could build one with resources. I did read about the basic mechanics of it once but it’s not like I have a photographic memory.” Victor scratched his chin.
“If you set yourself to it with the power and finance required you may be able to do so. Of all the endeavors you’ve embarked on that would be the least foolish. Helping people happens not just on a small scale but in a large one as well. Saving the slaves at the general store won’t change much. Building that would change the world.” Swordie spoke in a grandiose voice.
“Would you have me ignore the suffering in front of me to help others? There’s only so much I can do with what I have.” Victor stared at the ground as he ran.
“You can’t do this, but watching you try is entertaining. I mean… No entertaining is the right word.” Swordie smugly answered.
Victor grimaced. “I’m glad my failure entertains you.”
He arrived at the gate of Caleb Scott’s estate. After a few moments, Winton emerged and opened the gate. “Tolerable to see you again sir. The master of the house will see you momentarily.”
Victor entered the same room following Winton. Scott wasn’t there. “Please wait here, sir. I will be right back with the matter of the house.”
A few moments later the man clad in black entered the room. “What an unexpected return.” He reached out his hand.
Victor shook it and sat down. “Sir it’s come to my attention that you use slaves to run your general store.”
“Well, I use slaves for all of my businesses.” He shrugged sitting down. “Typically I hire one person to keep measure of them and I make sure they are all priced above purchase making my stores able to bypass the fees at the auction house. Why did you want some?”
Victor’s blood pressure skyrocketed. “I was hoping I could convince you to free them.”
He slapped the desk and curled over laughing. “Oh, I knew angelic knights were something else. You’re funny too.” He laughed for a few more minutes before breathing in and asking. “You’re serious?”
“I am.” Victor firmly looked directly into his eyes.
He paused for a moment and leaned back in his chair. “Why would I?”
“It’s the right thing to do.” Victor stared directly at him.
“My boy, do you have any idea how much money I’d lose by freeing them?” He asked rhetorically.
Victor answered immediately. “Something like 100,000 gold or more at least, especially if you have multiple shops. You’ll lose a fortune.”
He scratched his forehead. “I’m trying to process if you are serious or not.”
Swordie piped up. “He’s entirely serious. He wants all slaves freed everywhere.”
“I can’t just free my slaves.” Caleb Scott shook his head.
Victor countered calmly staring directly into his eyes. “You can do this. Now, right now. There is an alternative of course. You don’t.”
“And what pray tell would happen if I just didn’t? I’d get up tomorrow and live my life as normal.” He held out his hand in confusion.
“That huge explosion to the south a while ago, do you think you could survive it?” Victor glared at him.
“Are you threatening me?” He leaned forward taking him much more seriously.
“That depends. When I reach tier 10 will you still own slaves?” Victor asked.
“Tier 10!? HAH!” He laughed.
“If I was tier 10 which do you think would result in you being safe? No slaves or a massive slave estate?” Victor leaned forward. “There are people in this world who are tier 10 and one day I will reach that level.”
Swordie ominously added. “He eventually will. I will see to it.”
Caleb Scott thought for a moment frowning and shifting his mustache back and forth. “How about this.” He raised a single finger pointing to Victor. “I gift you one slave of your choice. If after all that time you feel the same way I’ll release my slaves.” He snaps his fingers. “Do you have the enslavement skill?”
Victor glared at him answering with a low growl. “No.”
“Ah well, Winston! Bring a slave ring.” Winston entered the room with a box of rings each labeled with a name. It was only when he looked at this he realized there had to be at least 80 rings in the box. “Do you have a slave in mind?
Victor tried not to growl loudly. “No. I spoke to Cleo in your general store. Her and Winston are the only two I’m aware of.”
He rummaged around the lives in the box like he was sorting through a junk drawer before pulling out one that had the name Cleo on it. “Ah! Here we go. All you need to do is put it on and speak the phrase ‘With this ring I dominate Cleo Mia’ and she’ll be yours.”
Victor wanted to vomit but knew he had no choice. He choked back his rage and took the ring donning the cold silver ruby ring. “With this ring, I dominate Cleo Mia.”
Luzuzal overwhelmingly disapproves.
Luzuzal’s Delusion was Deactivated for 7 days.
Luzuzal’s Devout Deactivated for 7 days
Luzuzal’s Promise Cannot be activated for 30 days.
Kokoxol takes an interest in you.
The chair Victor sat in immediately broke causing him to fall backward and scratch himself.
-12 health.
Mana Fatigued.
“I’m sorry sir! Winston! Get another chair.” Caleb shouted.
Victor stood up disgusted by what he had done. “I’m going to go.” Victor tripped on the carpet getting up.
“Are you sure you’re alright Victor? I couldn’t hear you very well. ” He ran over to help him.
He nodded. Victor wanted to vomit as those words left his mouth. His boosts dropped immediately. He hurried out the door. After reaching the road and getting out of sight he knelt over and vomited. He looked down at the ring. “I hate this.”
“Somehow that went worse than I expected.” Swordie sounded disappointed for once.
