Chương 19: Chapter 18

The two bandits, faces no longer filled with grins but with intense concentration, stood there glaring at him. Probably surprised that their victim decided to fight back. Not that Sam cared. Compared to the shadow spirit that had possessed the corpse of the bandit leader, they were pitifully slow.

'No doubt their main stat is either strength or vitality, maybe endurance…' he thought, as he danced out of the way of the bandit with the daggers, warned by his Mana Sense of the impending attack. At the same time, he raised his own hand, holding his sword, and attacked the one with the ax, while using his other hand to simply shoot a small ball of mana at the man with the sword. Lucky, in the background, was finishing off the archer. At this point in the game, mages were rather rare.

While unlocking mana was an easy and simple affair, making proper use of it was a different thing altogether. Plus, learning spells cost money. And the stronger (or rarer) the spell was, the more it cost. And at the beginning of the game, not everybody had the money to spend on spells that they can't fully make use of.

Granted, there were already a few gold farming guilds, as with every game, but while it was not known to the populace at large, Sam knew that the game's system, the very same one, that would chase people out of the tutorial towns was doing its usual machinations to hinder the gold farmers and sellers. The developers didn't officially ban gold farming, but they sure as hell made sure the gold farmers would suffer. The moment the mana ball hit the criminal, he cried out in pain and confusion.

"What the hell! He's a mage!" Sam just smirked and took a step back, his sword up in a guard position, eyeing the three bandits, while they stared at him with one eye and with the other they watched Lucky, who, after finishing with the archer, kept stalking around the group, ready to pounce.

"I thought he was a ranger!" called out one of them with slight panic.

"I don't care! Just kill him!" exclaimed the one with the daggers, then tensed his body, and with a small roar, launched one of his blades at him.

"Dagger Strike!" Sam just focused more mana into his Mana Shield and tanked the hit. At this level, it was rather easy to calculate the damage it would cause, so he was confident he would be able to take it. The three bandits watched with sheer disbelief as the dagger hit Sam squarely in the torso, and then with a quiet clink, bounced off and landed on the ground. For a moment, there was absolute silence.

Even the forest surrounding them seemed to fall silent, the bandits looking between the dagger on the ground and Sam. Sam smirked at them, raised his sword, and then charged. One strike upwards removed the ax-wielding bandit's weapon hand, the strike following that as Sam turned cut the sword-wielding criminal's throat, and Sam finished the movement by impaling the gaping dagger wielder with his sword.

Lucky, taking the opportunity, jumped on the back of the bandit with one less hand, and soon the only sound that could be heard was the chirping of the birds and the movement of the trees as the wind shook them. Sam cleaned his sword and took a look around to see if his attackers dropped something, but it didn't seem so. Shrugging, he motioned to Lucky, and continued his journey towards Ironwood, leaving 4 cooling corpses behind.

"Boss, we found something awesome!"

"What is it?"

"A guy with magic swordsman class!"

"There're no classes in the game, you idiot!"

"I know, but he used a sword and magic at the same time! And he had a wolf pet!"

"And where did you meet the guy?"

"Er… we were going to ambush him, but it seems he was higher leveled…"

"How much higher?"

"Dunno. None of us had the skill to check."

"Damn. What's his name?" By the time Sam left the forest, his inventory had a few more animal carcasses, mostly made of animals that decided that Lucky and Sam looked like a nice snack. They violently disagreed. And his messages were blowing up from several people who seemed to be after the secret of the 'magical swordsman' class. He received everything from offers for in-game gold to real-life money and some in between. Apparently, the bandits spread his abilities far and wide.

Thankfully, he made sure to only use the basics. Sam also received several invites to guilds that he knew wouldn't amount to anything, based on the fact that the other Sam never heard of them. And so much spam… Thankfully, the mail system was rather robust, so he could set up folders and filters for his mail. For now, he didn't block anybody, as he didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but neither did he want to answer them. For now, he had better things to do…

Cresting over the last hill, finally out of the forest, the small group of man and wolf finally beheld the city of Ironwood. It was much like the town of Greenwood, medieval but bigger. Its houses were mostly made from its namesake, ironwood. A famously hardy and durable wood that can be harvested near the city. Granted, they were extremely protected and under constant surveillance, as over the years, the city and people of the kingdom almost caused the extinction of the tree.

According to the lore, it was only in the last few decades that the newest leadership of the area decided to properly cultivate and protect the trees. Accordingly, the most important quests in the area had to do with the ironwood and the tree nursery. At least the public ones… As the road from the forest joined the bigger one leading to another city, and Sam walked forward to it, he could see countless people walking and riding towards and away from the city.

Sam joined the throng of people heading towards the city, keeping Lucky close, as the young wolf kept trying to get away from him and smell everything. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. A few guards to bigger carts, either filled with merchandise or important people, gave him and Lucky an odd look here and there, but he was nowhere powerful enough for them to worry about him.

Sam didn't mind, he just simply enjoyed the walk, watching people, taking note of the symbols of the merchant carts, looking through his memories to try to figure out what they might be transporting, practicing with his mana and simply enjoying the game. Almost an hour later, he was standing at the civilian entrance of the city, being greeted by a very bored guard.

"ID please!"

"Here you go, good sir!" he replied, handing over his papers. There was no room to play nice with these guards, Sam knew very well. In his inherited memories, there was a very special fail video compilation about the Ironwood city guards. The guard took the card, took a look at it, then at Sam, then finally he waved some kind of artifact that reminded Sam of the metal finders at the airport in his previous life, over the card.

When the artifact let out a small, almost silent beep, the guard grunted, tossed the card back at Sam, and motioned for him to move on.

"Have a nice day!" he said, with no enthusiasm. As Sam stepped through the gate and beheld his first sight of the massive city, he heard the guard call out behind him.

"ID please!" For the first half an hour, he just wandered around, taking in the sights and smells, making sure to familiarize himself with the map he had seen in his memories, then when that was finished and Lucky and Sam finished their snack that was bought at a roadside stall, he cleaned his hand with his small Clean spell, and headed for the nearest government office. After all, if he wanted to go forward with his goals, he needed to register.

Ironwood was in the same kingdom as Greenwood, obviously, but being a bigger city there were more levels of bureaucracy than back at the tutorial town. Then, when that was finished, he dropped by the local mage tower, which, for a change, was actually a building with a very spiffy tower built on it. Opening the door, he was met with a crowd of people all standing around talking, or standing in line waiting to get the attention of one of the girls standing and sitting behind the counters.

Most of the people that were standing around, and talking, or rather complaining, were, of course, the players. No doubt, they expected the NPCs to make their first priority to serve the players. Instead, they were met with long lines and surly officials. Oh, and Sam could hear them talking to each other about the ludicrous prices that the Mage Association demanded of them for the spells. Of course, they weren't forced to pay for them. There were several alternatives for learning spells.

Number one was finding a teacher outside of the Association that would teach them. The second one was to find spell books, and the last one was to figure it out themselves. But as nobody, at least publicly, had figured out how to get Basic Mana Control, they were basically shit out of luck. Obviously, they could also steal from the Association, but at this level, the thieves weren't good enough to circumvent the defenses of the tower. Probably…

Sam just shrugged and simply stepped into the line, motioning Lucky to stay next to him. The dog wuffed in a low voice in agreement and plopped down next to him. Stepping out of the tower, with a simple booklet in his hands that contained the services offered by the Association, and the spells that were for sale. Actually getting a meeting with one of the masters, would need Sam to reserve a spot for a week in advance. Fortunately, Sam only had one thing he was interested in at the tower, the ritual room.

[Renting the Ritual Room: Renting one of our state-of-the-art ritual rooms, consist of a quick security assessment, then a deposit, and selecting the required room. Materials for the rituals can be purchased at our in-house merchants. We do not take any responsibility for any mishaps with the performed rituals, and…] Happy that his memories were correct, Sam put away the booklet. And began heading towards the commercial part of the city. He had loot to unload, and merchants to make miserable.

Plus, while he was there, he might as well pick up a few unique artifacts. Chuckling to himself, he began purposefully walking towards his goal. At one merchant he unloaded all his unwanted clothing, another one bought all the trash weapons, no doubt after some superficial cleaning and inspection they would be heading towards the same town he had just left, and he sold the artifacts he had no use for at a few scattered merchants that specialized in artifacts.

The spices and food, and most importantly the alcohol, were not sold, as Sam had other plans for it. For now, he was ready to hunt. Walking through the winding streets of Ironwood city, he headed for one particular shop. And this time, it wasn't because some big brain type bragged on the internet about something awesome they picked up. No, he was here, because, in his inherited memories, there was one assassin that was too good.

Nobody could find them, nobody could spot them, and nobody could prevent them from reaching their target. Thus, a few guilds pooled their resources, both in-game and in the real world, to figure out how it was done. And when that happened, the details inevitably leaked… Spotting the alley he was looking for, Sam walked in, his eyes on the board spelling out the shop's name.

Rick's Rickety Racket Chuckling a little at the name, he opened the door, ignored the bell that went off in the back, and stepped into the shop. The shop itself was old, and chock full of even older things piled up on each other and on shelves around the room, and in the middle, several metal baskets were holding a truly staggering amount of random items. Across from the door was a small counter, and as Sam finished his survey, an old, stooped-over man, with an honest smile, stepped out behind a curtain.

"Welcome, sonny! I'm Rick and this is mah Racket!" he exclaimed with a cackle as if laughing at his own joke.

"Tell me if ya find something interesting, young man!" And with that, he sat down on a stool and turned his attention to something that Sam couldn't see. He just shrugged and activated his Mana Sense. Instantly, his senses lit up with a multitude of items that radiated mana. But Sam discarded all of them, as he knew that what he was looking for was almost inert. Though, to make a show of it, he started walking around and examining the items that his senses marked.

To his shock, and maybe a little surprise (and a lot of disgust), most of these items were sexual aids and not anything that he was currently interested in. Though, he managed to find a box that seemed to hold something that had a similar signature to one of the skill books he had used recently. He examined the box in his hands, noting that it was very well made, but there were no seams on it. Finally, he held it up and called out to the owner.

"Yo, old man. Know what this is?" The old man looked up, squinted a little, then shrugged.

"Haven't the foggiest, sonny. I told ya, this is a racket. You buy what you buy. Nothin' more, nothin' less." Sam snorted, but he didn't put the box back. He might as well try his luck with it. Then after a few minutes of browsing, and a brief argument with Lucky, who wanted to really gnaw on something unsanitary, he finally found it. A generic off-white mask under a pile of fur cloaks. The only thing special about it was a small, stylized chameleon drawing on the bottom of it.

Sam was careful to hide his smile, then, as if nothing happened, he continued to browse. He picked up an old bag of holding that was able to hold a mountain's worth of materials but sadly had no weight reduction on it. Probably why it ended up in the shop. Then, finally, he stepped up to the counter and placed his haul down.

"I want these. How much?" The old man took a look at the items, hemmed and hawed for a minute then, raised three fingers.

"Thirty." It was Sam's turn to snort.

"Don't be ridiculous. Ten at max!" Rick gave him a big smile, his eyes shining with a predatory gleam.

"Twenty-five."

"They are rather scuffed up. Fifteen."

"Twenty." Sam thought about it, then nodded.

"Twenty, it is." The smile on the old man's face grew, and suddenly a hand was thrust into Sam's face.

"Then, mah payment, sonny!" Sam grumbled a little, but forked out the required silvers and watched as the man carefully counted them, finally nodding.

"Alright, they're yours, young man. No complaints and no buyback!"

"Understood." Sam swept the items into his inventory and turned around, Lucky dutifully following him.

"Thank you, and have a nice day!" Outside of the shop, he stepped aside, and in the shadows of his cloak and the alley, he took out the mask, placed a finger on the chameleon symbol, and began channeling magic, while watching with anticipation. Sam didn't have to wait long, as, after a minute of channeling, the chameleon symbol flashed in a rainbow color, and the mask changed from the dirty off-white color to pure white, shining with an inner light.

[Chameleon Mask: Created by a hidden master, it allows the user to craft a new face for themselves. Can store a maximum of 3 different faces. After activating, the mask can stay active for an hour, unless charged. Creating a new face has an hour delay.] It was extremely hard not to break into evil laughter…