Chapter 7: Chapter 6

Helena finally managed to drop off into a long and thankfully dreamless sleep. Since she had gone to bed early the sun was just rising when she woke. After a quick wash she got dressed. The new shirt Kiara had left for her was a dark crimson, the bloody irony was not lost on Helena. After a quick wipe with a damp cloth her boots and trousers were clean, and showed no evidence of the previous night's violence.

Helena remembered she had not looked inside the coin purses that she had - there were no other words for it - stolen from the corpses. She emptied all the contents onto the bed and sorted through the pile. There was a mixture of large coins and smaller ones, around a third of the size in diameter, in different denominations; each with a crown on one side and differing designs on the reverse. In total there were around thirty copper coins, fifteen silver, ten gold, and four of the larger coins in a dark grey metal that felt even heavier in her hand than the gold. Platinum? Since she had no idea what things cost she did not know what her pile of coins were worth. Ignorance is my curse.

Inside the [Brute]'s pouch she also found an embossed black metal disc about the size of one of the larger coins, on each side was the raised image of a raven. Apart from the fact it somehow related to The Ravens nightclan, whatever that was, she could see nothing remarkable about the object. Placing everything back into the purse Helena tied it to her belt and covered its presence with the grey cloak that she had also acquired.

Downstairs she found Tamhas and Kellin sitting at a table over finished breakfast plates, the rest of the room was empty so she walked over to join them.

"Good morning Helena," said Tamhas. "Sleep well?"

"Yes thank you," she replied, taking a seat opposite him.

"Any plans for the day?"

"I'm going shopping with Kiara at some point. Madam Jillian has some supplies she wants her to pick up. After that, well, you might be able to help with that. Everyone seems to call you the boss so you must be someone important in the guild?"

Tamhas laughed. "You could say. I have the title of Commander and I am second-in-command of our guild below my brother, Guildmaster Vaddon."

"Great. I was going to ask Eruwen but you seem like the better person to talk to. I've been speaking to Kiara and she has been teaching me some things, but I now have a few new questions." Tamhas gave her a small nod to continue. "Okay then. Firstly she told me that the guild has a library. I know you have done so much for me already but I would like to come back with you all to your home and read about the Interface, and all the other things I have forgotten. I am prepared to do whatever work you want from me to pay my dues if you allow me access."

"Hmm. I don't see that being a problem. There's nothing you can read there that's restricted or would cause an issue. I am sure Jillian could use an extra pair of hands on the journey, and she can find something for you to do once we are back at the guild. Before then, if you have questions about your Interface Kellin is the ideal person to ask."

Kellin said to Helena with earnest, "Please do. It's a passion of mine. You could call me the guild's resident expert and loremaster."

"You may regret making me that offer. Kiara tells me I have a lot to learn," Helena said, teasing the green scaled Komo.

"A challenge! Let us see if you get bored of my long winded answers first or I of your questioning."

"Anyway," said Tamhas, "I think it would be wise for you to come with us to Feymarr no matter what. It is a much safer city than here, a far better choice for you to find somewhere to eventually live and find full-time work. Nodel may never recover."

"About that," said Helena with some hesitation. She had less confidence that the huge man would be as amiable to her next request. "How do I become an adventurer?"

Tamhas was thankful he wasn't taking a drink as he was sure he would have choked on it. "You want to be an adventurer?!"

"I'm considering it. Kiara told me it was a good way to level."

"Good isn't the word. For you it would be beyond reckless and frankly suicidal."

"I understand that my Interface tells me I am currently lacking. I simply wish to better myself."

"A noble goal," commented Kellin.

"Don't encourage her," said a frustrated Tamhas. "Do you even know what an adventurer does?"

"I can't say that I do."

"Adventurers are some of the strongest and most powerful people in the realm. We go to the most dangerous places in the known lands, fight the most dangerous monsters, take the most dangerous quests. It is why the majority of adventurers are mistwalkers. Unlike natives, if we die our souls will return. A native adventurer needs to be supremely careful. They need levels, skills, and years of physical and weapon training before they can consider hunting the local creatures, let alone venturing into the wilderness. I'm sure Kellin will agree with me."

"It is true," Kellin confirmed. "Though that does not stop some people from trying anyway. The wealth, skills and levels that adventurers can gain tempts even the most cowardly. Anyone can call themselves an adventurer but to survive ..." Kellin shrugged. "It is as Tamhas describes."

"I see. Thank you. I now understand." Helena did understand. Even if levelling no longer worked for her it was still useful information to have, and she had still gained skills. Maybe this 'System Error' was a short term problem or it could be fixed. They had confirmed being an adventurer would help her level rapidly and anyone could become one despite Tamhas's protestations. She could find out exactly how to be an adventurer at a later time. For now she had to make Tamhas think she agreed with him.

"It does sound far too dangerous for me. The more I learn I'm sure I will find a safer career I could pick."

"Absolutely," Tamhas said with relief, hearing what he wanted to hear.

Madam Jillian stuck her head out of the kitchen doorway, "Helena! Good morning dear. I thought I heard your voice. Is porridge with jam fine with you for breakfast?"

"That sounds more than fine. Thank you." Helena polished off her bowl when it arrived with gusto. Everything the guild's [Cook] touched seemed to taste better than food should. Even the tea she brought was excellent.

---

Helena sat over her finished breakfast for a while, she was now considering if she should wait any longer for Kiara to show up or if she should return to her room. Tamhas and Kellin were having a quiet conversation together when they were interrupted by four serious looking men in tan uniforms entering the inn, the image of a dark blue crown sewn into their thickly padded jackets. "Who is in charge here?" the leader of the group asked, looking at Helena's table.

"That would be me," replied Tamhas standing up. "Commander Tamhas Griffiths. How can I help the Guard?"

"Last night a group of men from one of the local nightclans were attacked and killed nearby. One of the victims was the leader of the Ravens' brother, and what they did to him was vicious. They tortured him, sliced him open and bled him out, there was barely a drop of blood left inside the body when it was found. The Ravens will be looking for retribution. We might have another clan war on our hands. Thought you should be warned and if it gets bad we may ask for your guild's assistance."

"That's ugly news. I imagine that's the last thing you need right now but they are the kind of scum to see this tragedy as an opportunity. However I am not sure how long we will be staying in Nodel, we have an escort quest for a refugee caravan to Feymarr. It is taking longer than expected to arrange the logistics, more people keep signing on, but it will be leaving before the week's end. In the meantime however, if you need anything, then we are at the Guard's service."

"We appreciate that sir."

As Tamhas and the guardsmen kept talking Kellin said to Helena, "You seem interested in the conversation."

"I am curious about everything," replied Helena as casually as possible. "I know so little. What is a nightclan?"

"A criminal organisation, the lawless underbelly of any large city. Some claim to follow a strict honour code but a group like the Ravens are merely a collection of thugs and thieves that prey upon the weak and the vulnerable."

"Should we be worried?"

"If the clans have started to attack each other it would be wise not to be wandering the streets alone at night. But otherwise it should be nothing to concern yourself with." He looked at Helena with eager curiosity. "I have some free time if you have any questions for me."

"So many," she answered honestly, "but I think I should start with my [Status] and [Abilities], and what all the values mean. What do the scores for things like [Level] and [Abilities] represent, what does a [Strength] of —"

Kellin abruptly put up a scaled hand with its pointed yellow fingernails to stop her speaking. "Say nothing more." Helena froze with her mouth half open before snapping it closed. "My first lesson is never freely give anyone information about your [Status]. It is also very rude, even grossly insulting, to ask someone what their scores and skills are. Knowing such details about someone means you know their strengths and weaknesses, their most personal information. An enemy or adversary can use it against you, it can mean the difference between life and death, which is why skills to view someone's [Status] are so valued."

Helena nodded in understanding, that made a lot of sense. She should have remembered the unknown message author's warnings.

You are reading story eXalta at novel35.com

"As for what they mean ... that is a vast topic, wide and deep, but I'll start with a brief summary. [Level] is surprisingly subtle. It does not represent anything tangible, it is more a combination of everything about your [Status] and your lifetime's experiences.

"Every 25 levels you gain ability points, and increasing in levels becomes more difficult with every jump. Living a quiet, uneventful life does not give you levels while the converse is true if you place yourself in life threatening situations. Even then increasing in levels is difficult and slow. You will often hear mistwalkers complain and act surprised it is so. As if someone can reach Level 100 in only a few months, laughable."

Kellin took a sip of his water and then carried on with his explanation. Helena listened carefully as this knowledge was important.

"[Grade] is how dangerous or powerful the [System] judges that person or creature to be. There is a correlation with your level, so gaining levels will regularly lead to an increase in grade but the threshold can vary depending on race or other factors. Tin is the lowest grade, then Bronze, Iron, Steel, and so on.

"[Abilities] represent your body and mind. There are adventurers who obsess over their scores, about the pros and cons of focusing on certain characteristics, about what each extra point actually equates to. Whilst I am not one of those people, your abilities do dictate what you can achieve and what gear you can use.

"The complication with abilities scores is that the Gods have not created every aspect of the System to be easy to understand. The whims of the Gods are fickle. For example someone with a [Strength] of 20 does not have twice the physical strength of someone with a score of 10. The guide every child is taught is this: 10 is the average for each race, 20 is good, 30 is excellent and 40 is exceptional. We call these your base stats. Some can be improved by training but be aware the pinnacle a rare few can achieve unaided is 100 points. However gear, items, spells and even some quests can more easily increase someone to, or even above, that limit.

"Now having said all that, as a teacher taking on a potential new student, and if you want my professional advice as an adventurer with fifteen years of experience, you can use your Interface to send your complete [Status] to mine."

Reveal nothing. Helena acknowledged the message's unsaid warning but she felt the need for instruction from Kellin overrode any other concerns. It would also look strange if Helena did not accept the offer.

"How?" she asked.

"Just think it," he replied nonchalantly.

Be underestimated. Remain hidden. Helena felt the prodding of the message author again in her head. Okay, fine. Message received. But now what do I do? Helena could accept that if she was being hunted then she did not want to stand out. Even Kellin had immediately warned her to never reveal your skills and abilities. Right now it felt like very good advice, but from what Kellin has said some of her abilities scores were too high to appear normal. Did they reflect her [Status] from before she lost her memory?

"What's taking so long?" Kellin asked her.

Crap. Stall for time. "Have you forgotten I have known about the System for less than a day?"

Kellin chuckled. "Fair point."

"Any advice?"

Kellin shrugged. "It should be simple. I just select the information with my mind and think about sending it to someone else."

Think, think, think. It all came down to the Interface. Kiara had said the Gods created the Interface for everyone. Then didn't that mean the Interface was an integral part of every individual? If the Interface was not some globally shared piece of magic like the System then it meant each person's Interface must be unique to themselves. That is why she had to give Kellin permission to read her [Abilities], without a skill he had no access. If that were true then her Interface must be an innate part of who she was. So why couldn't she decide what her own personal Interface told others? She was in conscious control of her own being, her self. It should be no different to speaking a lie. So how good a liar was she?

Congratulations, through logic or luck you have obtained the [Epic Tier] skill [Obscure].

Status: Obscure - Any voluntary or involuntary access to your Abilities can be masked. This will override any perception based skills of equal or lower tier. You can currently modify the perceived scores of two abilities to between 66% to 133% of their base value. Gaining levels in [Obscure] may provide greater functionality.

Congratulations, through deep or fluke understanding of the nature of the Interface the skills [Status: Mislead] and [Status: Obscure] have merged into the [Legendary Tier] skill [Status: Deceive Scans]. All previous benefits retained except: You can now modify the perceived scores of three abilities to between 33% to 200% of their base value. Displayed level can be modified by a maximum of +/- 50 points. Gaining levels in [Deceive Scans] will provide greater functionality and details about unknown benefits.

Yes! That was exactly what she needed. Selecting her abilities she quickly changed the values with a thought. Helena lowered Perception and Intelligence as low as they could go while leaving Dexterity slightly above average. While her Charisma score was exceptional Helena could admit to herself the only reason to lower it was because it made her self-conscious, right now it wasn't as important as the others. Then as Kellin had informed her, Helena grabbed her adjusted status in her mind and then thought about giving it to the green scaled Komo.

[Status] (Deceive)

  Race: Human

  Grade: Tin

  Level: 1 [locked] (1)

  Primary Class: none

Abilities:

  Strength: 8

  Constitution: 9

  Dexterity: 34 (12)

  Perception: 48 (16)

  Intelligence: 63 (21)

  Lore: 2

  Charisma: 42

"Got it. Thank you." Helena could see Kellin's eyes jumping around as if he was reading something. "Not bad. Not bad at all. It's no surprise that it shows you are both attractive and smart. Decent starting [Perception], that's very useful for an adventurer. Twelve [Dexterity], could be higher, that's a hard one to increase. Your [Strength] and [Constitution] definitely need work but they are the most straightforward to improve if you put in the effort."

Congratulations, the skill [Deceive Scans] has improved: 1 -> 2

"What about [Lore]? I can guess what the others mean to some extent but that one?"

"[Lore] shows how much you know about the world. The different nations, races, religions, history, plants and animals, skills, magic, monsters, the Interface, absolutely everything someone could experience. If anyone had thought you were lying about your memory loss then that [Lore] score would convince them otherwise. That's the lowest I have ever seen."

Congratulations, your Lore has improved: 2 -> 3

I may be lying but not about that.

"My initial advice is obvious. You need to concentrate on improving your physical abilities - [Strength], [Constitution] and to a lesser extent [Dexterity]. Fortunately you are surrounded by a group of adventurers who spend most of their free time doing nothing else. I recommend you join our training sessions once we depart for Feymarr and see how it goes."

"Thanks Kellin. I will make sure to do that."

He smiled with mirth, his sharply pointed teeth clearly visible. "Don't thank me yet Helena, you will end up training with Eruwen."

You can find story with these keywords: eXalta, Read eXalta, eXalta novel, eXalta book, eXalta story, eXalta full, eXalta Latest Chapter