Chapter 75: 4.18 – Into Noviel

Robin twisted the ring on his finger, pensively staring into the distance as he mentally reviewed the supplies he had stored in there. He’d spent some time engaging Wulfram in conversation about useful items to bring, such as rope, torches, bandages, etc. His [Bardic Lore] got a bit of a workout as well, as he’d used the conversation to prompt all manner of questions about what made a well-prepared adventurer.

It had been a bit hit-or-miss. Ballads, legends, and the like often skipped over those bits (though the more mundane stories and knowledge granted by [Shard of the Shattered Manymind] did fill in a lot of gaps).

He was as prepared as he could be, equipment-wise. In terms of his own abilities, however, there were still a few choices to be made. The sweet sound of hitting a new level had dinged this morning after he’d completed a session of information-gathering on the undercity. He must have been pushed very close to the levelling point by the nonsense with Khavren,

At least the knight was good for something.

That was unfair. He was also clearly going to be an excellent meatshield.

Robin pulled up his character sheet to consider his options. He had a few choices to make. The biggest would be which peculiarity he wanted, but before then, he had some stats to adjust.

The biggest question was where to put the free property rank he gained. It was most efficient to place it in Cunning, where he had placed all the others. That didn’t mean it was necessarily the best choice, however. Several of the peculiarities he’d been looking through were greyed out because he lacked high-enough levels of certain properties to access them.

‘You should invest in making our bond stronger,’ Rerebos said, somehow sensing he was considering improvements to his abilities.

‘I dunno, it’s pretty strong as is. Any more and it might overwhelm people,’ Robin teased.

The truth was, an improved connection with Rerebos was one of the things he was considering. It would allow the little dragon to access more abilities, like limited shapeshifting and the ability to become truly invisible. Though Robin shuddered to think what the little dragon would get up to in that case.

Thefts of small, shiny objects would almost certainly increase overnight.

Rerebos merely hissed good-naturedly at him and went back to preening. They were sitting by the fire in the tavern. The place was empty. Robin didn’t have anyone he trusted to run it in his absence yet, so the place had been sealed up with locks and boards and the few warding spells Drev was willing to cast over the premises for free.

They were temporary, but they were better than nothing.

Robin gave up on deciding which property to increase for the moment. Peculiarities were much more interesting (as were spells, and he was looking forward to quick-learning a new one as part of his level-up process too). He pulled up his short list.

---