After having spent and indeterminate amount of time quietly getting as far away from the crime scene, and in conjunction Garen, as possible, Sneak had gained another two skill levels.

This doesn't make any sense. You told me the interface doesn't help me gain skills, it just tells me how good I am. Then why has my sneaking gone up so quickly?

It has nothing to do with the interface. Your new connection to the soul of power, combined with the newbie path's skill learning bonus have enabled your soul vessel to adapt more easily. Not to mention the fact that your soul is synchronized to mine and I'm a very sneaky person.

Of course, how else would you have robbed me so easily.

*Ahem* In any case, what's our next course of action? I saw the minister of commerce's goons had already seized your warehouse. Considering the rumors I've heard about him, some shady shit went down didn't it?

Well, he's the reason I didn't head straight to the authorities. I'm not sure what he did, but for some reason I made some incredibly stupid decisions in our dealings. I allowed the son of a bitch to straight up steal my company from me and even turned down any compensation.

The only fathomable way I would let him do that, is if I was manipulated somehow. He must have used mind control or something, if that even exists. It felt very similar to the time Garen spoke to me in that reassuring voice of his. The minister even recorded the entire conversation to "prove" he didn't use any underhanded methods! I have no doubt in my mind he used some sort of magic on me.

I'm inclined to agree. Garen had a lot of Charisma, but once you get to higher levels of Willpower it doesn't influence you as much. I've heard many rumors that the minister was corrupt, but no solid proof. He began making recordings to clear his name, and nobody he dealt with seemed distraught about their terrible choices. They always said something along the lines of "he was extremely convincing" or "he made valid arguments". He probably doesn't use underhanded methods all the time though.

Yeah... I don't know. I definitely don't feel like he made any convincing arguments, but it's his word against mine and the city guard will most definitely side with a noble.

Hearing about your experience, I am certain the minister is a skilled mind magician. I don't know why you realized it though. Must be because he didn't care enough about some random Gemeen merchant to alter your memory.

What about the recordings? How do they prove anything?

To my knowledge, mind magic requires voiced commands. He must have gained some unheard of perk to use it without uttering them aloud.

None of this matters. Unless I can somehow prove the truth of my words, nobody will believe me. There's no realistic chance I'll ever get my company back. But I'll settle with getting back at Garen and that mage friend of his. My savings are enough for me to get back on my feet.

It's not that I don't agree with your revenge plan and all, but there's just absolutely no way for you to beat him. Your max level is 28 for crying out loud! You will have to max out your stats and skills to even put a dent in his armor. That's ignoring his body augmentation.

Goldie didn't doubt what Xander told him. However, he hadn't planned on piercing through Garen's armor in the first place.

I don't care if I won't scratch his armor! I'll get my watch back no matter what! I'll do whatever it takes! Even stabbing him in his sleep and devouring his fucking soul!

Holy shit dude calm down, it's only a watch.

I will not! It isn't just about the watch. He took everything from me! My company, my life savings and my most prized possession! Not only that, because of you guys I'll never be able to happily live here again!

If he was honest with himself, he didn't feel at home in Flousshire anymore. He'd been brainwashed into doing nothing but work his entire life. He had no living family and he had no friends to speak of. There was no place for him here.

Where do you think Garen will go next?

Siellous would be my guess. It's the only somewhat major city nearby.

Siellous it is then.

Having finally arrived at what he no longer saw as his home, he grabbed the biggest bag he could find, and began packing. He needed money, and he needed clothes. Of course food and water as well, couldn't forget about that. And silverware, he wasn't a barbarian after all. Maybe take a pillow and blanket, who knew when he would find another place to sleep. Maybe a notebook? Oh and of course some pens to go with it.

He paused to look at the wall, 3:21. His eyebrows furrowed in consideration.

did lose my watch after all...>

He walked up and grabbed the wall mounted clock.

What the fuck are you doing? Why would you take a gods dammed cock? Why would you take half of this shit?

Because I need it?

You don't need any of this crap! Take an extra set of clothes, a bit of food, some money and be done with it!

If I take food, I should take cutlery! And I need the notebook for complex calculations. The bedding... Well I guess I can sacrifice a bit of comfort. But the clock is the most important of all things! How am I supposed to keep a schedule if I can't keep time?

What do you need a fucking schedule for!? You are jobless. Just do whatever you want, whenever you want!

How will I get anything done like that? I need a schedule to plan out my daily activities. And to uphold the schedule I'll need a clock. Simple as that.

FINE! Do what you want. Clearly, you don't need my advice.

He decided that taking the bedwear was going slightly overboard, but quickly added his fuzzy slippers, a toothbrush and toothpaste to the duffel bag.

Money was the only thing left to pack. Only, there was nothing more than a measly 132 Gold pieces in his home stash.

Is this enough money to hitch a ride? I'm sure I could try selling some valuables if it isn't. I have no clue how much travelling to another city costs.

To the surprise of no one. While 100 Gold or so might be enough to travel to another city under normal circumstances, you're a Gemeen, with no legal documents allowing for inter-city transit. Fret not, however, I, Xander Jefferson, shall uplift your downtrodden spirit.

How do you plan on doing that?

Well here's the best part bud: Remember that cloak you pried from my cold, dead arms? Yeah? Well inside of that is the platinum coin I got paid for helping to rob you.

Goldie quickly fingered through the cloak's pockets and surely enough, he found a platinum coin. The platinum coin in fact.

He felt his anger boil up for a moment, but squelched it back down before doing something rash, like punching another wall and breaking his finger again. A finger which he just noticed had healed in the meantime.

At that moment he realized that he had never bothered to check his appearance after his body changed. He went over to the bathroom mirror and gaped in shock. Some changes he'd naturally known about. He was now a little bit taller and slightly more muscular.

I haven't been this thin in years!

Thin? You're average at best I'd say. Not quite as flabby as before, but definitely not thin.

The changes his hair and eyes were stranger still. His previously purely blonde hair now had black streaks going through it, his right eye was now green and the golden streak through his left eye's iris now arced outward in a web like pattern. He barely resembled his short and chubby, but dignified self from a few days ago.

I look like some crazed alchemist's test subject!

Well it's only fitting you look like a maniac. You are hearing voices in your head after all.

There was no world in which Goldie could allow himself to look like some murder-hobo, no matter how apt the description now was. After washing himself, trimming his now partly black beard and combing his hair, he looked himself over in the mirror again. Far better than before, if still a little strange. In fact, having lost some of his flab in conjunction with the pitch-black cloak made him appear quite mysterious.

Once you've finished gawking at your reflection like a narcissist, we best get going.

Hearing Xander's comment, Goldie quickly stuffed the comb he held into his pack. Sparing another glance at the comically oversized 'pocket watch', he quit stalling and finally stepped out the front door and onto his new path.

Speaking of paths...

Goldie took another look at his path screen, he hadn't spent all his points the first time around and had even gained another five from "discovering" and leveling his sneak skill.

Open Paths (10p) Intermediate 0/20, Ascendant 0/20, Unshackled 0/??, Soul-thief 0/???; Current Paths -- Completed Paths Shadow Walker, Apprentice (Agility), Newbie; Gained Benefits +1 Agility per 5 levels, +10% Agility

He didn't have enough points to finish any path immediately. Xander mentioned that Intermediate was quite good, but but only after the halfway point, at which you got to choose a certain stat you wanted to focus on raising. The first half only gave some attribute points at level 3, 6 and 9. He would have invested the points anyway to at least get started, but the Ascendant path caught his eye. It needed just as many points, and even though Xander supposed it was probably worthless, Goldie figured such an extraordinary name meant it must give some extraordinary benefit.

He therefore ended up investing all his available points into the path...

...

and got absolutely nothing for it.

"You must be KIDDING ME!", he yelled in the middle of the street, gathering disturbed glances from the bystanding people.

You should have just gone for the tried and true.

"Oh shut up! It'll probably give me something at 20."

His uproar started gaining more attention, and not the good kind.

Maybe you should quiet down a little. You can always yell at me inside your head.

"You could always just keep your comments to your gods dammed self too!", he purposefully spoke aloud.

As it turned out, taunting Xander wasn't a great idea. A guardsman was eyeing Goldie and was about to stop him from causing civil unrest. This was especially bad since the few guards that were stationed close to city limits were all Sahíl.

Oh great, now look what you did!

Xander was furious. This bloody idiot was going to get them caught without any legal documents. There was no way they could leave at that point. Goldie didn't even resemble himself anymore. Xander had to think of something fast, but there was nothing he could do in this state.

Or was there?

He frantically channeled energy and directly transmitted his will to Goldie's mind, commanding him to activate Essence Concealment. After establishing the mental link, something was drained out of him. It wasn't quite energy but something else. Whatever it was it worked. The guardsman instantly lost sight of them and confusedly stared into the crowd.

[Complex skill Acquired: Essence Concealment Lvl 8] [Complex skill Acquired: Telepathy] [Mythical-Unique skill Acquired: Memory Sap (U)]

What just happened? You somehow instantly taught me how to use a skill! Did you also gain some new skills?

I did. I also earned Telepathy, though not the other one. I merely "yelled" at you to activate the skill as a last-ditch effort. You by no means should have been able to do it. It should have taken months of practice before you unlocked the skill, but now it's already at level 8! It must be that Mythical skill you got. Maybe I can teach you other skills like that too.

I don't think I should repeat that too often. I didn't just get the memory of how to use the spell. I got every memory connected to it as well, like your celebration after the first time using it, or the time you snuck into the girls'...

*Ahem* Goldie's cheeks flushed.

I probably shouldn't abuse this.

I'm sure with practice you'll be able to narrow down the memories you get to only those that you need. If you can train it to a high level, it would be an insanely powerful ability.

Goldie decided to wait on training that skill. It likely required an incredible amount of willpower not to lose oneself in the stream of memories. Xander just made it easy for him by thinking of the skill while using telepathy.

Isn't what we've been doing already telepathy?

No, telepathy instantly tells you a message without the need to think in complete sentences. That's also the reason I can't constantly hear your thoughts, you don't always think using words.

Xander demonstrated by mentally guiding Goldie to an especially bribable driver, who would turn a blind eye to his circumstances.

Wow. This way you can explain stuff so much faster!

He tried using the skill to instantly transmit a sales pitch.

Xander was not amused and instantly transmitted this sentiment.

Telepathy has risen to Lvl 2!

That's so weird, but I guess it's easy enough to practice.

While walking towards the not-so-reputable wagon driver, they continued sending each other telepathic messages and Goldie gained another Lvl. His discussion with the driver went surprisingly smoothly. Goldie assumed the 200 gold he offered overrode any caution the driver had. He was merely told to lay low in the back while they passed through the border. The guards seemed more interested in what arrived in Flousshire than what left it.

The sun was already setting by the time the city left his view. His fidgety excitement was replaced with drowsiness and sleep took him shortly after.

It had been a hell of a day.