The owner said after a second," OK that would be 5 Shantis, and do want to look at one of our newest crystal pens."pulling out a case from under the counter, every one of his movements exceedingly slow. Opening it, Jared could see something similar to a nip pen, clear crystal as the handle, and a silvery tip.

He could feel the written word on the pen even if he couldn't see anything, an enchantment most likely.

Seeing his interest, Claus pulled a small scribbled, piece of paper from his pocket and said," As long as you keep injecting mana, you can write as long as you want."

He took the pen from the case and demonstrated, after it shone a light blue for a second Claus started to scribble on the paper.

The pen didn't magically produce ink or even char the paper, no it looked like the pen transmuted the color of the paper itself. But only one side of it apparently, as Jared saw the underside of the piece when the store owner returned the pen.

" Yeah, I'll take one," Jared said.

"That would be 1 Royal and 10 shanties for the book, journal, and pen" Claus droned.

Jared sighed, he could afford everything but he would still need to buy the bag and he didn't know if the courier guild needs an entrance fee.

So he needed to make another decision and for someone who was obsessed with reading his whole life, the decision came rather easy.

He pulled a royal out of his pocket/Inventory and handed it to Claus. " Sorry, I don't have enough for everything just the pen and the journal please."

After the transaction was done, he took his things and left the store.

Outside he willed the pen-case into his inventory, gripped the pen and journal, and started to make his way to the store he saw the bag at.

Jared observed the people around him and appraised everyone he could. Something he only did with people that interacted with him before and it didn't take long to find what he was looking for.

So he opened the journal and readied his pen and wrote.

Jack Tromville Lvl 23

Thief

Male; mid-twenties, black hair, no visible markers (scars/tattoos); First sighted at South-street.

It was a small start for his book, but every journey starts with the first step.

He continued down the street finding another two thieves to write down. And just as he was about to enter the menswear store, he came along something else interesting to write down.

Camilla Lock Lvl 47 -> Charles Rand Lvl 55

Seductress Mathematical Scholar

Female; late twenties, blond, extremely beautiful, small mole under her left eye; possible occupation, gold-digger, mistress, spy.

Male; mid-fifties, grey hair slightly balding, expensive-looking clothes; possible occupation, accountant, banker, city official.

He really wanted to follow them, but today he had things to do so he opened the door to the shop.

Jared didn’t take a lot of time, the bag he saw was still there and for 5 Shanti it was his. A sling bag in dark brown leather, two smaller compartments at the side.

He slung his new bag over the shoulder and pretended to rummage through it, meanwhile placing some clean shirts inside to make it look fuller.

Having finished his business in Shopping Avenue, he continued north to the plaza.

It looked the same as yesterday, the small market southeast with the shoppers haggling over everything, people either moving across or resting and gossiping with friends.

Jared looked for a person he could ask for the way to the couriers guild and found him relatively fast , when he came close to the fountain. Sitting on one of the benches and feeding birds.

Ben Walder Lvl 64

Carpenter

“Apologies sir, but could you point into the direction of the couriers guild?”Jared asked the older gentlemen.

Looking up at him he answered in a gruff voice and said," If you want to send a letter just drop them into one of the courier boxes,"pointing at one at the edge of the plaza,"if you want to visit the city headquarters then you need to go past temple, straight north into the Twilight Well, go until the end and you reached the Guild Street, should be easy to find from there.”

“Thank you, sir, and have a nice day,” Jared said.

It didn’t take Jared long to find the street and he had no idea if it was because it was still relatively early and everyone was on his way to work, but the whole street was packed with people.

He also saw a lot more combat-related classes and noticed the adventure guild a bit down the street to his left.

He managed to ask someone with the Courier class for the direction to the guild and made his way through the crowd.

Unnoticed Level Up!

His skill was working overtime the whole morning so the level up when he reached the guild, didn’t surprise him.

Looking for a place a bit out of the way, he went to a smaller building opposite of the courier guild and leaned against the wall to observe the people going in and out.

Taking out his book, he waited for anybody noteworthy to come by.

The most common people visiting the guild were rank 1 classes like Delivery Boy/Girl, Runner, and Carrier after that was the rank 2 Class Courier.

He also saw one Smuggler that seemed to have the same idea, so he wrote him down.

Phil Luris Lvl 5

Smuggler

Male; Sixteen to seventeen years old, brown hair, possible courier guild member.

Another one that he wrote down was not because of a criminal class but rather his high lvl and seemingly low age.

Santier von Aschenbaum Lvl 92

Valor's Blade

Male; Late twenties to early thirties, black hair, tall 2m or over, scar on his left hand; last seen leaving the courier guild

Jared was impressed, normally the older one is the higher the level, or at least that was what he saw until now, but this guy was a monster. He focused back on the guild entrance and continued waiting.

Having seen more than one shifty class walk in and out of the guild, all written down, he got up from his spot and entered the guild.

The inside was less crowded than the street though no less busy, guild members walking hastily to a notice board picking one or more of the notices hanging there and going to one of the counters at the back .

To the left were more counters cordoned off with rope, people with all kinds of classes coming either to hire a courier or to drop off / pick up a package.

Jared went to the customer side to a booth that just emptied.

“Hi and welcome to the Courier Guild what can we do for you today.” the pretty blonde girl behind the counter asked with a perfect customer smile.

Julie Potts Lvl 26

Diplomat

“Hello I wanted to ask if I could join the guild and how do I do that?” he asked and her smile seemed to relax a bit at that.

“Of course you can, but before we continue, joining the guild cost a one Shanti processing fee is that OK for you?” she asked, and seeing Jared nod she continued,” good now before you decide let me tell you how the guild works.”

“The guild works with ranks similar to the level ranks but based on trust and reliability, from Bronze all the way up to Diamond and while the higher ranks require a minimum Level, everyone starts at Bronze.”

Seeing that he still paid attention Julie went on,” OK when you join you will be assigned to a home guild, that would be this one for you. The Ranks Bronze, Silver, and Gold need to complete a certain amount of delivery's within their home guilds city in a month. Every delivery within a city earns you 1 sitch.”

Asking a question before she could continue,” Would I need to get the money from the client directly?”

She shook her head with a smile and answered,” No, to send something within the city one needs to buy a stamp from us to put on their parcel and they can only get these from us. After you finish your deliveries you simply bring the request slip you took to one of the counters at the back and then you get paid. Understood everything?”

“Yes, but what stops me from just throwing the letters away and cash in the request slips?” Jared asked perplexed.

She let out a small laugh and said,” That’s easy, should the deliveries you took get enough complaints, we ask the Inspectors to investigate and you could face high fines or imprisonment.”

Julie smile didn’t look so friendly anymore at the moment and Jared cleared his throat nervously and said,” Of course that was just a hypothetical question, and yes if this was all I would like to join.”

“Lovely, now let us register you, here fill this out please and take note that while the question about your Class is optional the one for level is not, also please update once a month should your level change.”She rattled off with practice ease.

Looking over the form it was all pretty standard, name, age, place of current residence (or how to contact you), and so on.

“Ahm is the age also optional and if not can I just write anything?” Jared asked with apprehension.

Looking confused Julie answered,” Yes age is mandatory and if you lie and it was ever found out the guild has grounds for immediate dismissal.”

Sighing loudly he filled out his form and gave it to Julie.

Looking over the form, her eyes widened slightly and she exclaimed,

” 18 years old and only Level two, is your class so hard to level?”

Seeing how she reacted he was glad he didn’t write his real age of 23, giving a short humorless laugh he said,” No, I just got my class, our village didn’t have a temple, I needed to take care of my grandma so I couldn’t visit the city, she died 2 months ago.” making his voice go small at the last bit. His Sure lie skill came to use, as Julie reaction told him, she believed his story.

Julie was actually tearing up and bowing her head repeatedly said “I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have asked, please forgive me.”

He took on a small smile that just screamed, hang in there, and said” No problem could we go on?”

“Of course now I just need a drop of your blood for identification purpose and we are done,”Julie said.

After giving her hand his hand and feeling a small pinprick, she stamped something behind the counter with the sound of metal and gave him a small bronze shield the size of his palm and imprinted on it was a shoe with wings and a number.

“That’s your memberships badge always have this on you when doing deliveries or you are going to get in trouble with the law and Congratulation you are now a member of the Courier Guild!”

Level Up!

+1 Strength

+1 Endurance

+2 Dexterity

+1 Intelligence

“Thank you,” happy he finished the first step to making a life for himself here,” and can I start now?” He asked pointing to the request board on the other side.

“Eager aren’t you,” she chuckled,” of course you can, good luck.”

The level up probably came from all his lying and maybe deceiving the whole guild pushed his progress over the edge but he ignored it for now and moved from the visitor site to the member side request board.

There were eleven of them, each one for a separate district most of them were empty exception for South-district, Murky Crown, The Bridge, The Horn, and the latter three only had 1-2 requests left.

“Came too late today huh?” someone asked him from his right.

Jack Porter Lvl 19

Gypsy

Seeing the confused look on Jared's face, Jack exclaimed,” Ah your are new here, OK let your friend Jack explain,” coming closer and putting his arm over Jared's shoulder,” new request gets put up every morning before opening, and when these doors open it's like throwing a fresh piece of meat into a goblin camp.”

Pointing at the entrance door and facing him again,” You see, you can only take ten intercity requests at once, so everyone wants to get the best and the closes to the guild that way they can finish fast and return to take more request, time is money here literally.”

Understanding the situation and still trying to politely get the arm from his shoulders he asked,” Yeah but what about the South-district ones, they are pretty close or not?

Jack looked a bit closer at him and said,” Wow you really are new, not just the guild but the city too huh, the South-district is a bit shadier or a lot shadier than the rest of town, close to South-street and Crown-street its perfectly fine,” pointing at the board he continued,” as you can see by the missing requests for these parts, but the deeper you go the worst it gets, at least for a delivery boy carrying possible valuable cargo.”

Being somewhat perplexed he asked,” So these letters just sit here and nobody delivers them.”

“Ha that would be it, right,” Jack answered laughing,” but no, every week the guild makes a stink about the unfinished requests so people band together into 5-6 man groups to deliver them, it’s a waste of time but safety before money.”

“Look if you are new you should familiarize yourself with the map and street names they show you one if asked.” patting Jared on the shoulder and without letting him get a word in walked away to one of the counters.

Shaking his head with a small laugh he decided to take Jacks's advice and went to one of the counters to ask for a map.

While looking at the map Jared thought about what he should do, he didn’t need the money urgently so he could just come back in the morning and throw himself at the sharks or goblins as jack said.

But taking the South-district requests should help him fill out his book and get into the good graces of not only the guild but also the other couriers and maybe even make him some connection. On the other hand, it could be dangerous especially for his low level.

He continued to list pros and cons but he already knew what he would do, the chance to fill out his book and to feel that adrenaline again when he evaded his stalker, well the answer was clear.

He took 10 South-district requests, 9 letters and a package that would barely fit in his bag, and went to the counter to check them out, willing them into his inventory when he pretended to stuff them into his bag.

After he left he went next door to the adventure guild and waited until he someone came out with a combat class that didn’t look too busy and asked him where he could buy a weapon.

And coincidentally it was right opposite the guild, the little shop he leaned against to observe the street.

He went inside and yes it was a weapon shop, just weapons no convenient armor section, with the exception of maybe a pair of gauntlets and sheathes that doubled as a small piece of armor.

He went to one of the displays of combat knives and that’s what they were, even had a similar blade to the old WW2 marine ones. Appraising one of them.

Steel Combat Knife

A steel combat knife of medium quality.

Durability (98%)

“As informative as ever.” Jared thought and looked around until he found one of high quality with 100% durability and went to the counter.

At the counter was an older man late fifties maybe, with salt and pepper hair and hands covered in minor burn scars looking bored out of his mind.

Kelp Radings Lvl 82

Steel Singer

Placing the knife on the counter he said “This one please.”

He picked it up and inspected it.” One of mine, you either got a good eye or you're just lucky,” he said eyeing Jared.

He just grinned and said,” The display said 6 Shanti you aren’t trying to raise the price, right.”

Bursting into laughter, he placed the knife back on the counter,” Nah 6 Shanti it is, except if you are an adventurer then you get a discount”

Jared put 6 Shanti on the counter and said.”No adventurer, but you don’t look like a pretty salesgirl either, so what happened?”

“Ha you calling me ugly”, Kelp said with a grin,” wife banished me from my smithy, dropped an anvil.” Lifting a bandaged foot.

“You got a smithy in here? And why not go to a healer,”he said taking the knife and putting it in his inventory, waiting for an answer and hoping that healers were a thing.

“You’re new in town aren’t ya my smithy is the best, down at the West-District by the wall, and why pay an arm and a leg to one of those vultures for a small bump,”he said, with an obvious dislike for the healer.

”If you did, you wouldn't be so bored,"He said grinning," goodbye deliveries to make.”and made his way out of the shop.

Kelp Radings Lvl 82

Steel Singer

Male; late fifties, married, black and white, dislike for healer; occupation, best smith in town?, smithy near-wall west district

Closing his book he took off south.