The city was a complete change of almost all senses when compared to Tinte. Sounds were amplified several times with an almost thunderous sound of footsteps against cobblestone flooring, clops of horseshoes against rock, and a cacophony of chatter amongst the populace. It was difficult to pick out certain conversations, unlike Tinte where Logan could easily eavesdrop on local gossip if he put in minimal effort.

Scents had a wider array, from the local rival bakeries and butcher shops to the sulfur assault of smithies doing their best to one-up each other. Thankfully the smells of traders trying to hawk their wares covered the undertones of dirt and filth that was able to withstand the cleaning services of magi or sanitation workers.

Gauntlet spread so far that Logan couldn’t even see the end of it, though that was also due to the buildings being much taller than the huts of Tinte. Clay was a rare sight, buildings taking a liking to the more common use of wooden construction, rock, and even fancy brick. Most structures kept the wooden panel windows that Logan was used to at this point, though some fancier buildings spent a bit extra to show off glass windows for both browsing use and to make their shop look that much better.

With such choices for food and mercantile activities, Logan would find it hard to choose which trader would best suit their needs. However, since there were so many traders, the duo could sell more of their gear at a time without too much suspicion. At a guess, the capital possibly housed millions of inhabitants, against the hundred or more of Tinte. They would still have to be careful with using the inventory though, as taking too many items out of a smaller container would raise questions regardless.

Since the pair were making good time, thanks to teleporting, they spent two hours browsing the stock of the local markets and shops. Trinkets seemingly exchanged hands often in the city, with single people handing off a few at a time, so it was no trouble for Logan to unload the hoard of trinkets he had acquired to this point.

Selling all of their accrued trinkets brought in quite the spending money, after Marcus took his share which was a bit heavier than normal due to Logan sneaking in extra, Logan added another 175 silver to his inventory which was close to another 2 gold with the conversion. In total, he had over 11 gold in different denominations, plenty to put towards tomes later or maybe higher-level equipment to replace the old lower variants.

After informing Marcus how much money he had in the inventory, his eyes went wide, obviously not keeping track himself. Logan laughed it off, persuading his ally that it was indeed not a mistake. The Devout stated that it would have taken him close to half a year to make that much when he was working at the church, however, at that point, he didn’t have as much spellforce to sell his spells.

Making some plans on what to buy, the two decided it was time to get a place to sleep for the night and have a shopping spree in the morning. Logan still had to do an assessment at the new hall too, so tomorrow would be quite packed with tasks.

Using the directions given to them earlier, the duo were able to find Madam Ada’s Respite rather easy. The streets did have a few signs to give further directions to different districts, some larger boards housing advertisement posters to even more establishments. Gauntlet had two entrances, one being the large bridge they traversed on its eastern side and the other being the harbour if that could be called an entrance. A lot of the commerce was set up near the entrance, though another commercial district was held within the centre of the city.

The inn wasn’t too far from the entrance, a few minutes of walking had the two adventurers reach the unassuming building. Made of a cherry coloured wood, the inn had the normal wooden panel windows wide open, chatter, clinking of clay, and roaring fires could be heard and smelt from inside.

Pushing open the double doors, Logan and Marcus entered into a much more welcoming resting spot than that of their last. The entrance hall was large, a good twenty or so tables filled with villagers and adventurers alike. Again, Logan spotted a few gashriek in the crowd, though no other uncommon species. Getting to the counter at the far end, which had a few other patrons drinking at the counter stools, they were met by the proprietor.

A stocky woman whose muscles bulked her out enough through her brown overalls that Logan thought her to be a bodybuilder. Long brunette hair was tied into two tails going behind her ears, her skin a paper-white. The pale complexion was quickly answered as Logan saw her eyes, hauntingly shimmering yellow irises hugged by black sclera. As she opened her mouth to speak she revealed long fangs within her maw.

“Welcome to Madam Me’s Respite. Here for rumours, lodging, or food and drink?” she spoke with an inviting and happy voice.

“Lodging and an evening meal, please”, Logan replied, trying to hide his awkwardness at the situation of meeting a vampire for the first time.

“We have space in two rooms, one has six patrons, the other seven so could be a squeeze. Either one will run you eight copper each if you’re grabbing yourself a meal”, she continued with a toothy smile, possibly trying to tease Logan.

Logan had learned about the “shared rooms” back in Tinte, he was lucky to get a private room as they tended to be much more expensive. There was typically too many people to house in inns, it was normal for strangers to share a room and in dire need even a bed. Apparently, bedfellows made for good gossipers with adventurers using the time to learn about new quests or materials to gather.

The time was getting late, so Logan didn’t want to go looking for any other place to rest so he just had to bear it for a night. Using the inventory trick, he picked out 1 silver and 6 copper, placing the coins onto the counter. With the coins in hand, Ada slid a thick sheet of parchment over to Logan to read over, atop which sat two keys with the number 11 on them.

“Sticks 'n' Rud - A meal that consisted of several green celery-like sticks that were wrapped in the meat of a pig-like animal named rud. Sauces came with the dish and it was the chef special.

Tracker’s Bowl - A mess of vegetables that were roasted in a multitude of seasonings and herbs filling a large bowl.

Flank 'n' Flank - Somewhat familiar to that of a mixed grill, this meal consisted of four different types of meat accompanied by potatoes.

Blood of the Day - Today’s meal for vampires was that of a ‘common quarter-man’ that noted it was legally bought from the ‘bleeder dens’ in the capital.”

Aside from the mounting questions in Logan’s head, he was just hungry at this point for a cooked meal. Feeling extravagant, the pair paid an extra 2 copper each and ordered the three normal meals to share amongst themselves. With their order placed, Logan and Marcus were able to find a table that was free of company to sit at and wait for their meals to arrive.

Passing the time by scanning the locals, yet again Logan could see levels sitting at much higher pedestals up to level 14 though none here went above that number thankfully. The innkeeper had a level of 8 and was of the Knight class, though Identification did not detail what she gained for being a vampire nor what her age was so the level was a bit misleading to her real strength.

Logan had still noticed the fang marks on Ada’s neck, not exactly the pinpricks as noted in the Earth fiction he had read. They were quite large, enough to fit a finger in, though they were made from fangs so they had to be quite sizeable. Recalling the information of his Avanar books, Logan was able to surmise that Ada was a relatively recent convert, as fang marks disappeared within a year of turning. That probably explained why her muscles were still so large.

A mouth-watering feast was placed before the two weary travellers, steam rising from the freshly cooked meats and vegetables. It would be apt to call it an assault on the senses if not for how welcome a scent it was, Logan holding his saliva as he looked over it all. Tearing into, splitting up, and generally sharing the food between them, Logan and Marcus dined feverishly on the meals.

Finishing their meals and tankards of ale, the two thanked the innkeeper on their passing to the upstairs portion of the inn. Finding their rooms easy enough, Logan knocked on the door first to make sure no one was inside before barging in, though his knock was replied to by a male voice shouting, “Come on in”, which was somewhat muffled by the wood.

Opening up the door lead the pair into an almost cramped room, six beds were put against the far wall that had an opened wooden panel window. Sitting at a few of the beds were six other people, a male Fighter 6, female Rogue 5, male Knight 5, male Devout 3, female Devout 3, and a classless trader.

“Karn? Lole? A fair wind has brought us back together!” Marcus shouted, moving over to the two Devouts whose faces were full of smiles.

“Oh, Marcus the nightlight! What brings you to the capital?” the female of the two replied. She was rather short, around 5’4”, and had long brunette hair that flowed under the back of her brown robes. Dull green eyes looked between both Logan and Marcus.

“Many a thing, the most important is I partnered up with Logan here. We’ve been questing together for quite some time”, Marcus responded, waving over to the Spellthief.

“Hello there, friends from Tinte I suppose?”

“Yeah, we all grew up in the church together. I’m Karn”, the male Devout replied, holding out his hand for a shake. The man wasn’t much taller than his friend, standing at 5’6”. His hair was also long enough to hide behind the back of his brown robe and was of a dark-ginger colour. His muddy eyes didn’t do much to hide his glee at seeing his friend.

“Marcus was quite the late reader and worker, we didn’t think he’d become a travelling adventurer though”, the female Devout added, shaking Logan’s hand after introducing herself as Lole.

“Things came up, and we were a great fit. What have you two been up to anyways? It’s been a few months since we last saw each other”, Marcus added as he sat next to Karn.

“Well, we worked with that group that picked us up for a while, we both hit rank 3 and then split up. Currently, we’re acting as healers for hire at the G-Hall. Just barely dodged that goblin eradication army heading south to our luck”, Lole continued.

“Same here, we got out of Tinte before that all started heating up. We saw quite a few people heading southwards to help with that. Heard it was around 500 or so goblinoids?” Logan contributed to the conversation.

“Reports are saying more than that now, a small band was destroyed en route to the south near Fowp but that was one of many smaller bands trying to meet up. The Magi’s Tower was contacted for aid and from what I gathered they’re sending in Traeyo, the rank 26 Wizard, for his mastery of level 4 fire spells”, Lole gossiped, making room on the bed for Logan to sit beside her.

The conversation continued on the specifics of the goblinoids versus the adventurers, with quite a few being above level 10, the Wizard Traeyo gave a bit more insight into how high levels went as well as when higher-level spells became available. Since Gauntlet’s army was busy working on defence, and since this war was against monsters, it was decided that the adventurers would fare much better in the fight than guards or militia.

A basic upfront payment of 10 silver was offered per applicant, with an extra reimbursement for each goblinoid ear handed in from the war. For now, the estimate was that there were 750 goblinoids and 100 adventurers, though the numbers were changing each day as word spread as well as the goblinoids gathering more tribes.

Using the conversation to gather further information about the world, Logan found out that the Magi’s Tower Association held several towers of magic across the land, though the main one was several hundred miles northeast of Gauntlet. The MT houses around 1000 magi within its council and an uncountable number of lesser members. The highest level among them was the archmage Sorcerer Zinzith, at over level 50, who was rumoured to use at least seventh-level spells.

Hearing about what he could be facing, Logan’s fears started to mount yet again, he could barely absorb second-level spells with a 60% chance, let alone anything higher. Praying to whatever deity in the above was favouring him, Logan wished that none in the MT knew of his previous actions. The golden watches were still missing, and even though Darius was an ex-member it didn’t do much to lessen Logan’s woes.

“Either I relentlessly increase Spell Absorption’s tier of mastery to fight back against the spellcasters, or I escape before they have a chance to figure me out. I just gotta hope that these quests lead me somewhere”, Logan thought to himself.

Time passed by quickly with the new conversation partners, so much so that the hooting of owls in the distance was barely audible over the sounds of footsteps outside the window combined with nighttime chatter. Resigning to get some rest Karn and Lole agreed to share a bed, leaving Marcus and Logan to share theirs. While it was somewhat uncomfortable, due to the beds being meant for a single person, the travels had tired out the pair enough to let him pass out quickly enough.

“Logan… Logan… it is time to wake up… Logan”, the System repeated in Logan’s unconscious mind, seemingly finding it hard to wake the heavy sleeper.

Eyes darting open, Logan finally awoke five minutes past his normal wake-up call. The comfort of the bed against the rough sleeping of travel had obviously kept the Spellthief trapped within the land of sleep. Sitting up, Logan saw a few of the other roommates preparing their gear for the day, except for all of the Devouts. Giving a nudge to Marcus, the pair got out of bed to ready themselves for the day ahead.

In case the adventures’ hall of Gauntlet required different spells, Logan made sure to prepare a wide range of his spell list for the assessment. Since he would be assessed as a rank 8 Wizard, he wouldn’t have to worry about roleplaying his spells any longer, as all accounts led to those that could cast second-level spells being able to quickcast in some form.

Going downstairs, getting a quick stew for breakfast, the pair noticed that Ada was still manning the counter in the same attire as last night, seemingly not requiring sleep. To the side of her hand laid a small glass with a red tint to its edges, most likely her morning meal. Karn and Lole eventually met up with the duo, giving a small farewell as they would see them at the hall later in the day.

Travelling across the city streets was so different than Tinte, the ground beneath your feet was sturdy, the air was a few steps cleaner due to magical cleaning, and the range of inhabitants was so wide. Thanks to the signposts the duo were able to find the adventurers’ hall of Gauntlet, named “G-Hall” for easier reference. Several times larger than the hall of Tinte, the G-Hall had a massive training ground at the back for assessments or daily training regimens.

Attached to the side was a similar component shop for handing off items gained from kills, alongside other buildings for G-Hall affiliated smiths for repairs and trade. Entering inside, the pair were treated to the sight of a large main hall, countless tables set up with adventurers making plans, playing cards, to going over their equipment. Large boards were set up on the right side, around 12 in total, with several staff members making notes of who was taking what quest.

A new addition to this hall was that of a sort of leaderboard on the opposite wall, noting adventurers above rank 10 and the number of their completed quests. His curiosity piqued, Logan wandered over to investigate the range of adventurers. Scanning the board, it seemed the majority of adventurers were below rank 30, a few went into the 40 range and only four in the 50s.

The highest-ranked adventurers were a grouping of four heroes.

“Woevenk: Hero Knight 56. A human man hailing from Helm.

Kasilee: Hero Fighter 54. A gashriek woman born in the capital of Gauntlet.

Zeronax: Hero Sorcerer 53: A human man raised within a diglaeta settlement.

Cla-ves-kos: Hero Devout 53: A saeben orphan who was raised in Noma.”

A note was attached to the four heroes that stated they were all sent through a portal 13 months ago to battle an incoming force of demons, though when they went through the portal it closed behind them. They are presumed dead but hope still lingers they will return. It seemed like there were previous adventurers of higher rank but were removed from the board, possibly due to dying in combat.

“Logan, the counter is free”, Marcus alerted his ally.

“Oh, right.”

Moving past a multitude of adventurers to the counter, two of which were Lole and Karn, Logan had a new update window popped up to tell him about his Identification ability but now wasn’t the time to read it so he had it minimized.

The counter of the G-Hall was much longer than that of Tinte’s, a good dozen receptionists helping with adventurer tasks. Meeting a short gashriek, around 5’6”, the man wore a tan suit and workman’s gloves, their red hair pulled back into a short ponytail to reveal blue eyes above wide ridges of his face.

“Hello there, no signet? Are you here to sign up or hire the hall, sir?”

“Joining, my last hall lost my documents in a goblin attack and our items got raided along with my signet. Do I need to get an assessment set up?” Logan lied through his teeth.

“Understandable, we’ve had other reports of storehouses and smaller halls getting assaulted. Please fill in these forms and return them to me”, the man replied as he handed similar documents to Logan to the ones he had in Tinte, though seemingly on higher-class paper and more formal. Fate shined down on him that the goblins were causing similar issues, making his lies more believable.

Finding a table, Logan filled it in rather quickly as he already had all the information in mind, as well as having done it once before. Marcus simply handed over the documents he ferried over from Tinte, setting up a reassessment to formally join the G-Hall. Looking over the form, Logan was confident in his answers. Alongside the notes of having done 16 quests with 11 of them being villager quests.

It would have been a low number of quests to have completed for his rank, but thankfully the forms had areas for writing if the adventurer had done any outside training or education. Logan could continue his background as training with several different magi, which would lead him to be such a high rank. Since his spell slots couldn’t be identified either, he was able to fudge the number to be more acceptable, 17 first-levels and 7 second-levels.

Talking with the Devouts last night helped to get a better gauge on slots and MP, along with the System instructing Logan further with every piece of data given to it. The numbers were much higher than what Logan could pull off, however, quickcasting required extra slots or MP to do so he didn’t think he would have to worry too much about that.

Finishing the documents and handing them over, the gashriek had an inquisitive look on his face.

“Looking at your gear, Grasp expert I take it?”

“Correct, it helps to save on slots in the day.”

The gashriek continued to look over the documents, his face turning to have a tinge of sadness, “Slots are on the low side, but with second-levels, you should do fine here.”

“When would the next assessments be held and what is the fee?”

“We have some happening around late-morning to noon, so you can come then. It’ll be 10 silver, do you have a range of spells prepared to show off?”

“Yes, I should be able to show all they want, would I be allowed to summon in the assessment?”

“That is fine, the training grounds aren’t beholden to those rules, but please dismiss them before you leave.”

With the assessments all set up, the pair headed back into the city to sell off the rest of the gear they had accumulated. For the first time in a while when entering or exiting adventurers’ halls, their movements were not spied on by watchful magi. For now, they had the privacy of any other adventurer, working alongside so many they could blend in better. Until such a time a new quest would appear.

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