Niccolo Drake lv 1
Sponsor: God of knowledge
Job: Commoner lv 1
Possible jobs:
Skills:
Titles:
Unassigned points: 0
Health: 47/47 (+2)
Stamina: 79/79 (+9)
Vitality: 2 (+2)
Strength: 5 (+5)
Agility: 3 (+3)
Endurance: 9 (+9)
Resilience: 1 (+1)
Mana Capacity: 0
Mana Bandwidth: 0
Processing power: 0
"Cool, our stats went up! So is nine stat points a lot?"
'Um, one hundred points in any stat is estimated to be about the same level as an adult man.'
"Oh my god."
'I know it doesn't seem like a lot right not but if-'
"That's awesome!" I shout as I jump up from my seat in the library.
'Really?'
"Yeah, it would take any professional athlete years to gain this much progress! Think about it, the more stamina we have the longer we can workout too."
'But it's just going to get harder to gain stats as we get stronger.'
"Then we'll just have to work even harder." I flex my arms trying to feel the subtle difference in strength compared to three days ago. It's hard to really pinpoint any progress as I'm not particularly familiar with this body to begin with.
'Let's do it!'
The kid is much more motivated now that he's seen some progress. I sit back down in the chair at the front of the library and look around. The room is quite small. Only four bookshelves are set on the open floor while the walls are lined with shelves. It's sparse. most of the shelves are basically empty. It reminds me of seeing grocery store shelves being wiped clean before a storm.
I imagine it's been hard on Vincent and Carroll to have to slowly sell off their livelihood. How many arguments have taken place while Nick was curled up in his room reading? I feel like I'm starting to understand the kid a little better.
'Creak'
The door opens and I immediately fall back to give Nick control of our body. He's so surprised he almost falls off his chair.
"No need to panic, I'm just here for some old history books." A man says as he walks into the library.
"Good afternoon, Baron Armstrong." Nick says as he climbs back into his seat. "Let me know if you need help finding anything."
"Oh, so you've read all these?"
"Only the titles, there aren't that many to remember anymore." he says, his voice edging on despair.
"I suppose so. I remember when these shelves were packed with books."
"Wow, really?"
"Yes, it must have been some time before you were born. I was working for my father as a scribe back then."
It would seem Baron Armstrong is a step above Vincent on the Noble hierarchy as he seems to have inherited his title.
"I hope you understand that the misfortunes your family have suffered is not due to any personal grudge. This town has slowly going down hill since the last war with the fairies." The Baron shrugs.
"I understand."
"The Count gives what support he can but we hardly need a library in a town with only a few thousand people. On top of that the Forest doesn't bring in as much revenue as it used to."
Nick nods while looking down at the ground.
"As long as you understand." Baron Armstrong walks up to the table in front of us and smiles at Nick as he places several books down. "I'd like to check these out."
"Certainly, please sign here."
We're left in the room alone after the Baron leaves; the shelves feel even emptier than before.
"It's lonely in here." Nick says into the silence.
'Yeah, it's just you and me.'
"No, I mean the bookshelves. There's a lot of books that I've read that aren't here anymore. It's lonely." He pulls his knees to his chin and hugs his legs as he finishes speaking.
'Well, hey, we can buy back some of those books if we make enough money.'
"How are we going to do that?"
'I'll ask Ashley tomorrow if there's anything we can do for a little cash, maybe she can point us in the right direction.'
"I don't want to do anything dangerous."
'I understand, we're not allowed to go out to the woods even if we wanted to so there's nothing to worry about, okay?'
"Okay." Nick seems to cheer up a bit after our talk so he goes back to reading while I fall deeper into contemplation.
"Money, money, money. It's always money, huh."
The next day on the way to the Adventurer's Guild, I spot Kyle and his gang in a circle by the fountain. They were laughing derisively, which gave me a bad feeling, so I decided to walk over and see what was going on. In the middle of the circle I see the boy I tripped over a few days before; he has dirt in his hair and scratches on his arms. He's rather large and could easily put up a fight if he wanted to but he only keeps his head down and protects his stomach.
"I think you've had enough fun, why don't you leave that kid alone?"
"Who said that?" Kyle whips around and has to raise his head to see me. I silently stare back and wait for him to make a move, which I suspect he has to if he doesn't want to lose face in front of his gang. He scoffs at me and turns his head toward two of the larger boys behind him. "I don't want to get my hands dirty touching filth like you. Harvey, Steven, take care of him for me."
"Clever."
I stand still and let the two beefcakes wail on me until they start to get out of breath. They avoid my face, which i appreciate because it would be hard to explain to the kid's mother. They've got solid punches but it ain't shit compared to the time my brother beat me with a lead pipe. I think it was because I said no to one of his ridiculous demands, or I stole his pudding; I can't even remember anymore.
One of the boys catches me in the solar plexus and it knocks the wind out of me. I hunch over and Kyle interjects to end the 'fight.'
"Ha, that'll teach him. Let's go boys." He seems to have a pretty good handle on how to save face and maintain his position. He didn't actually injure me bad enough for the adults to get involved and moved in as soon as I faltered.
I take a minute to steady my breath and walk over to the kid still sitting on the ground.
"You okay, bro?" He's rocking back and forth slowly while still looking at the ground. You aren't hurt are you?"
"They hit you." The boy finally says.
"Yeah, it happens." I shrug.
"But then they left."
"Well, they kind of had to. I was egging him on to actually injure me so he either had to start breaking bones or walk away."
The boy continues rocking back and forth. His brows are furrowed and he appears to be in deep thought. I look him over while I wait for him to speak but he keeps his mouth shut.
"Well, you don't seem hurt so I'm gonna get going." I say as I begin walking toward the Adventurer's Guild.
"How did you know he would walk away?" I spin around and see the boy staring at me, fire burning in his eyes.
"I didn't."
I continue on my way but notice the boy following me. Even as I walk into the guild he steps in behind me like a shadow.
'Why is he following us.'
"Not sure, but he seems harmless enough so I'm not worried about it."
I walk through the doors at the back and out into the courtyard. Everything is how I left it. I begin stretching before my workout.
The boy stands against the wall and watches as I do some simple exercises before starting to run laps. After two or three laps, he joins in.
While I've only been running for a few days, the stats from the seal system add up quickly. It isn't long before he's huffing and puffing as he tries to keep up. I slow down and run next to him because it would hard to explain to the guild staff if he ended up fainting.
The sky is a deep blue and a handful of puffy clouds are rolling peacefully by. I normally have my head down when I am working out but it feels good to slow down and see the world around me.
"Who's your friend?"
"Jesus, fuck!" I whip around to find the enigmatic Guild Master standing behind me. "Please, stop doing that!"
I hunch over and take deep breathes because my heart feels like it's going to beat out of my chest.
"Stop being dramatic and answer the question."
"Well, I'm not really sure. We talked for a bit in the town square and then he just followed me here."
We both turn to the boy who just stares at the ground.
"So? What's your name?" I can hear the venom in her voice.
"Josh." He says without looking up.
"The Mason's kid, huh?" I throw up an eyebrow at the Guild masters comment.
"Well, Josh, nice to meet you." I pat him on the shoulder and crouch down a bit so he looks me in the eyes. He meets my gaze and quickly darts his eyes back toward the ground.
"Nice to meet you." He parrots.
"I'm glad you two are getting along so well but that doesn't explain why a civilian is on guild property."
"What do you say? Want to join the guild?" I ask.
"Okay."
"Don't think you can just bring anyone on guild property, it has only been a few days since you joined and you've already broken one of the rules." The Guild Master frowns as she pulls a piece of parchment out from her robe and hands it to the boy. He quickly eyes over the contract before signing.
"Right, sorry." I don't bother trying to defend myself and smile wryly. "Cool, now we're both adventurers."
Josh nods without looking up at me.
"I'm keeping my eye on you two." the Guild Master growls as she rolls the parchment into her sleeve and walks away.
"What's her problem?" I ask to no one in particular once I'm sure she's out of ear shot.
'I don't think she likes you.'
"Yeah, can't win 'em all I guess. So, Josh, want to get back to the workout."
"Okay."
"Great! Now, let's do a few more laps and then we'll do some upper body work."
"Okay."
Despite the fact that he only seems inclined to say a single word, I was greatly looking forward to having a workout partner. My misery loves the company.