Which was a good thing, he thought, as he considered the ramifications of his actions.

The stress that had been dying down for the past few hours had ignited once again. Goodie could already feel that prickly, acidic sensation under his skin, starting to stir. The death of a noble, even in self-defence, even in this city, still held heavy consequences.

Why where they out in the middle of the street at night?

Now that he had time to settle down and get his thoughts straight, that question kept going through his head.

There were adventurers. A lot of adventurers.

Being hired as bodyguards wasn't uncommon as the nobles liked to do it whenever they came to the city as a way of showing their superiority over them; that foreigners where all dogs who would roll over for a bit of coin. But they were all facing that coach, and that woman? From what he could see, she didn't seem to have any in her service, at the very least nowhere near as many as that noble douche had. But the whole thing looked like they were about to…? No, no, that would have been stupid. Absolutely stupid. The council would have had their heads if that were the case. The council would have ‘literally’ have had their heads.

“Fucking politics!” he exclaimed as he lent back. The cold of the brick wall soothing his growing migraine.

Goodie tried to clear his head of all that bullshit, but it just kept switching to some new stress-inducing facet of the night’s events.

Like the possibility that that other one may have killed the royal dipshit entered his mind, but that didn't make sense either, the nobility of this world didn't kill each other off left, right, and centre like they would in the movies. In fact, they would go out of their way to prevent harm from befalling even those amongst their class that they truly despised.

He brought up the system screen to check for kill notifications. Even if the fop died by someone else's hands, he would have gotten an assistance in slaying notice.

He only saw a message that signalled that he had levelled-up, something that would have brought him immense joy a few months ago. But the novelty of reaching level one wears off quickly once you realise that that's the only level you're ever going to reach for the foreseeable future.

All that meant was that the arsehole hadn't been killed, the woman was another matter entirely and he had done nothing to warrant any notifications about her.

He considered sending Her Majesty back to see if there were any bodies left behind. Even if there weren't, there would still have been the scent of blood in the area. But he couldn't, as he realised that in his eagerness to beat Ms Kolsin's curfew time, he had rushed up the first manhole he had come across instead of his usual route, with the frantic run for his life a few moments later completely ruining his attempts to remember the directions. He didn't know where he was now, for that matter.

He wasn’t near the market district. Even with everyone in bed, the merchants of the city liked to operate around the clock. A task made simpler by the city’s electrification of important areas. The lights alone would have been enough to indicate where he was, but the only light present was that of the moon and the stars.

He had Her majesty head up the nearby building, her body disappearing into whatever dimension lay beyond the shadows, to appear on the roof above a moment later.

Unfortunately, their link provided little in the way of information. There were clear displays of artificial light in the distance, but despite the constrain of resources, the market district was far from the only electrified area within the city, and he and her majesty were too far off to be able to distinguish which area was which.

He could have sent her off to investigate, but he wanted her nearby in case those adventurers had been sent to look for him.

Was he near the docks, perhaps?

While it was an important area, with the unofficial embargo on foreign goods, sea traffic was light enough that the city didn’t prioritise development of that area’s infrastructure.

As he couldn’t see much, Goodie instead tried to listen.

There was no foghorn or cry of seagulls to hint at being near the docks, not that he was sure that they had them in this world. He could not recall ever seeing a bird since he'd arrived. Then again, he had spent most days underground. But why would they have rats, but no birds?

He listened for other things, but the night was mostly silent, except for the odd stray animal or person. Which meant he wasn’t near any of the main parts of the city. Even if the areas outside the markets would have shut down by now, there would still be plenty of people about, and the factories never stopped unless something went wrong.

If the city's law enforcement had gotten wind of the incident, they would have had this entire district locked down. A cacophony of whistles flooding the air. A sound that would have carried. So, no one reported anything, or there was nothing to report. Or the cops were in on it.

That last thought had him cup his head in both hands as he tried to groan this whole night away.

Now he really needed to talk to the old man about all of this.

For the longest time, he tried to get to sleep, but it would not come. His nerves raw, his stomach-churning. He didn't do well with stress. Goodie tried to distract himself by reviewing all his messages. Finishing that, he hoped [SACRIFICE] would give him a free heal, or even a satisfy needs, ‘cause he really needed a pick me up right about now.

A moment later, a cry echoed out from the alley.

"FUCK YOU!" he shouted to no one. “Thirteen months of crappy commons, but now, when every thing’s going to shit, you give me something!”

Goodie was about to select [SACRIFICE] when he noticed that the list of available titles had increased. Not an odd occurrence in and of itself, but this was a high grade [TITLE]. Third highest to be precise.

[GOD OF SNAKES] [MYTHICAL]

- You have subjugated the snake. Used them to crush your enemies and bring the masses beneath your heel. But you have also empowered the snake. You have helped them grow. Given of yourself to them. Sacrificed for them. Entrusted them with your very life. You are worthy.

- No snake will ever willingly attack you.

- You can communicate with any snake.

- You may command any snake within your presence.

- All snakes become empowered while in your domain.

— All snakes receive [REGENERATION] while in your domain.

- You may create two of any known species of snake once per day.

- You may create a new species of snake once per month.

- You may alter any snake within your domain.

- Your attributes are boosted for each snake within your domain.

- all damage you receive is transferred to any snake within your domain.

- Your race changes to [GOD].

[SACRIFICE]

Goodie sighed. He wasn’t going to level up for third best.

And now he was aware of a [GOD] race.

Some would think him mad for making that choice. Yes, it probably would have given him power over the locals, or at least enough to keep them at bay. But then what?

He would now have the attention of everyone who wanted to be a [God].

And if he could get that title, a dozen more should have as well. There was probably a dozen [GOD OF SNAKES] he would then have to fight or dominate or some bullshit.

The old man said the [SYSTEM] preferred minimum effort. So, why would it offer him such power unless it got something more out of it?

And he just so happened to get ultimate power on the day he comes under threat from one of the local powers?

Trap. A dirty stinking trap.

It’s all his mind would let him think.

Goodie checked his options from the [SACRIFICE]

The only real viable option was a one-time ability to swap places with a chosen target. Valuable in a certain sense, especially useful in combat if you were into strategy and stuff. He wasn’t.

He leaned back and sighed. Why couldn’t something go his way just once.

He really wanted this night to be over.

NAME: THOMAS GOODWILL

AGE: (16/150)

RACE: HUMAN

CLASS: [SHAMAN OF SHADOWS]

LEVEL: 0

[ATTRIBUTES]

BEAUTY: 6

STRENGTH: 4

AGILITY: 6

DEXTERITY: 7

CONSTITUTION: 24

PERCEPTION: 10

INTELLIGENCE: 5

LOGIC: 6

IMAGINATION: 9

WILLPOWER: 7

CHARISMA: 5

EFFICIENCY: 4

HP: 240/240

STAMINA: 180/180 (162/162)

MANA: 50/50

[TITLES]

FEAT:

[TINY MASSACRE]

[TRAP MASSACRE]

CLASS SKILLS:

[CREATE SHADOW DEMON]

[SUMMON SHADOW STUFF] LV.15

SKILLS

[SPEED READING] LV.18

[SNEAKING] LV.5

[RUNNING] LV.2

[TRAP MAKING] LV.1

[ALCHEMY] LV.1

[THROWING] LV.1

RESISTANCES

[(MINOR) COLD RESISTANCE] LV.2

[(MINOR) POISON RESISTANCE] LV.37

[(MINOR) DISEASE RESISTANCE] LV.7

[(MINOR) FEAR RESISTANCE] LV.8