Merchant Of Yliaster

A week passed in a blink, as they monotonously travelled toward Kralor. Maxwell even got some levels to his athletics skill from the sheer distance they walked.

Due to the presence of so many people around him, he couldn't experiment with magic, but he could be seen among the crowd with a piece of rock or wood in his hand.

Last week, he discovered that he really enjoyed carving beyond its functional use. With his high visualization and carving skill, his only limit was the durability of the material as he carved details most wouldn't even see.

It certainly made him a well-liked figure among the group, as he gave most of the weird gizmos he carved to the people around him. He was careful not to carve anything from Zephyr, though. That would be quite hard to explain.

He even found that he could use it as a pastime for his second mind. In the last week, Maxwell managed to go over all the math he learned in his previous life with it. He was pretty sure that the mind even invented concepts beyond what was known in his previous life.

The group was getting excited as they neared the city. Maxwell learned that they had been on this mission for almost 3 weeks, and they clearly missed being in the city. Most of the soldiers had families, and mercenaries apparently really missed booze.

Maxwell examined his last figurine as they walked. It was a miniature of Felix, carved from a yellow piece of rock he found. The color was a good match, making him decide to carve Felix out of it. It was in a sitting position on his palm, with its expressionless stone eyes staring at him. Some painting would do a lot to improve this… Maxwell thought as he stared at the eerie figure.

He summoned his status to see the changes in the last week. He was hearing some level-up notifications from time to time, but he mainly ignored them in the last week.

Name: Maxwell Aurelius

Age: 15(54)

Class: Prima Soul

Level: 26

Titles: [Expand]

Nobility: None

Traits: Etherium Soul, Merchant of Yliaster, Partial Etheral Body

Stats:

Strength:79

Agility: 80

Dexterity: 83

Vitality:17

Soul:333

HP:2066

MP:4995

Class Skills:

Guide Mana(85), Prima Sense(75), Magic Theory(74), Myriad Mana Constructs(72), Soul's Voice(71), Mana Infusion(68), Infusion Empowerement(60), Elementary Soul Energy Manipulation(17), Magic Carving(58), Runic Formations(20), The Compendium(9), Window Of The Soul(56), Mind Of The Merchant(1)

General Skills:

Physical resistance(8), Gaslighting(12), Observation(65), Atlethics(23), Paralel Thoughts(52), Mathematics(85), Visualization(78), Occult Knowledge(11)

The fact that mathematics was tied with guide mana as his highest skill was a bit disturbing, but it made sense. He was using the skill almost constantly since he reached 100 soul, and he was using most of his mind on the task too. At this point, his mind contained years of mathematics practice.

It really made one think, as this would probably make him a genius back on Zephyr. Here, though, he couldn't even understand how occult arts worked after observing them some more. He could see a path for these skills, though. Like his physical resistance, they could probably form a larger whole if he learned other skills like physics.

His magic carving increased a lot, and the increase, while being pretty big from an objective standpoint, was not that much considering that it's been a week.

On the other hand, visualization was making Maxwell a bit concerned. He really didn't want the skill to reach level 100 as it was. In the last week, after asking a question now and then, he managed to get some information about the system from the others.

While most have not reached level 100 with skills, some actually have with skills that are easier to level up. Manual workers in the city were the first group of people to reach level 100 in their skills inside the city. Skills such as cooking, cleaning, and tailoring reached level 100 even before this party left for the woods.

What happened at level 100 was simple enough. Skills would evolve, reaching tier 2. But the process was like tier advancement, and it used your titles to provide a path for the skill. Also, you couldn't advance skills into tier 2 if you weren't tier 2 yourself.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

This meant that Maxwell would only have a single shot at evolving these skills unless he reached tier 3. And even if he reached that, he would only have as many opportunities as there were tiers. The businessman inside him refused to waste these opportunities by developing subpar skills. He simply didn't have a way to stop these skills from leveling, though. He could only hope that they would readjust before reaching level 100.

On the positive side, he managed to level up the compendium one more time by absorbing decay mana. He was really careful when absorbing the mana in question, though, as it decayed everything in its periphery. With the speed at which this skill leveled, he wouldn't need to be concerned about it reaching level 100 anytime soon.

"We are close," said Erne. He was still leading the group. The forest was noticeably thinner, as they were walking on actual paths instead of jumping around trees. Even the air was lighter as the heaviness of the forest air was diminished.

Maxwell quite liked the change. A semi-tropical forest was not a good place to spend your days if you were not a monkey. He took a deep breath, enjoying the colder air.

Soon, they finally left the forest, entering a clearing. This, though, was not like the other small clearings they found in the forest. Maxwell could actually see some tools lying around, as this place seemed to be used for cutting wood.

In the distance, a city stood. The city had walls made from stone surrounding the core area filled with high buildings, and there were numerous small buildings and twisting alleys outside the walls. On the border of this area stood a smaller wall that surrounded the whole city. Mainly, farms and wood workshops could be seen outside this area, as they took up too much space to be included inside the walls.

It was a bigger city than Maxwell expected. Medieval cities didn't usually house more than a couple of tens of thousands of people, but this city looked big enough to house more than a million.

"Beautiful, right?" Ellie said, coming beside him. She seemed proud of her city.

They walked towards the city, their group getting lively as they passed through the landscape. They were receiving some weird looks, as their group was far from normal, but Maxwell once again could feel that he was getting the most puzzled looks.

Blueberry once again occupied his head, but fortunately, Felix was walking beside him, making him look only marginally weird.

They passed through the first wall without a problem at a checkpoint. Guards even saluted as they saw Ellie, making the feeling of unreality insert itself once more into Maxwell's mind.

"Were you a soldier before the initiation?" he asked her.

"Yeah, nothing much changed in the army after the initiation. We accept more people now, though. Initiation was hard at the start," she said, pointing towards a specific spot on the stone walls.

Maxwell glanced at the spot, and he could see that the section of the wall seemed newly built. He could actually see multiple spots such as this. Probably, they were attacked by beasts. He thought.

"How did you manage to protect the city?" he asked. In Zephyr, they were lucky to have their usual weapons at the start. On this planet, though, they probably sacrificed a lot of people to hold out against the beasts.

"The beasts were not that strong when the initiation first started. We had many casualties, and the first tier 2's really did a number on us, but our tier 2's appeared not much after. After some point, we surrounded the rifts with bases, and everything returned to normal." Ellie said, her eyes distant. It was apparent that the situation was not as simple as the woman made it out to be.

In hindsight, Maxwell could see that a lot of farms were rebuilding, probably from the attacks. He didn't doubt that the casualties were more than a few soldiers.

"My condolences," he said, receiving a surprised look from the woman before she shook her head.

"Have you fought?" she asked, her meaning apparent. Only a soldier could understand the cruelty of war.

Maxwell didn't answer, smiling sadly. Did I? If you can call it that. He thought, images flashing through his head. Demolished villages, Burning cities, innards covering buildings, as troops of soldiers died without managing to show any resistance. All scenarios had one thing in common: Maxwell was safe in his bunkers. He commanded a mountain of wealth as he watched the world crumble around him, trying in vain to save the world as people died following his orders.

He was interrupted by a peck on the head. Blueberry chirped out loud, the sound releasing a mental wave of happiness. He could sense as the wave moved through the group, making a smile appear on their faces.

"Thanks," he sent the bird, smiling. There was no point in getting stuck in old regrets. He did what he could back then, maybe he would meet the few he managed to save in the future, too.

Ellie, who was watching, also felt the wave of energy spread. She sent a thoughtful glance at the bird before letting the subject go.

They walked through crowded streets, people making way as they passed. The city was very crowded, and the streets were covered with a constant stream of people, probably due to people relocating because of the initiation. Maxwell thought.

"We will continue to the inner city to report. You had some friends around, right?" Ellie said, turning towards Maxwell.

"Yeah, I don't know where they are, though," he answered. He was truly unsure how he could find Gendor and Bob in a crowded city.

Ellie seemed thoughtful for a second before pulling something out from her pocket.

"Take this. If you couldn't find your friends, you can come to the barracks," she said, handing out a badge. It was a plain badge with a seal on it. Maxwell could see some weird looks from the soldiers behind the woman, so it was probably something important.

"Thanks," he said, making the woman laugh at his simple reaction before she started walking away with the soldiers.

"See you later, Merchant!" Audra waved as the group continued on their way toward the inner city, leaving Maxwell and others behind.

"We will be leaving too. You can always join the mercenaries, though I doubt you would like the pay." Erne said, smiling.

"Better than joining the army, but I will pass," Maxwell replied.

"I thought so," Erne nodded, and he turned, leading his group away. The mercenary headquarters did not seem to be located inside the inner city, as they didn't follow the same route as the soldiers.It made sense, though, as for them to increase their members, they needed to be easy to reach. Maxwell really doubted that many people could enter the inner city.

With this, only Maxwell and Neivor were left behind. The man was smiling serenely. He hadn't spoken a lot in the last week. Maxwell stared at the man, waiting for him to say something. The unchanging expression of the man became quite creepy after you spent a week with him.

The man, seeing Maxwell's expectant look, gave him an even more peaceful smile before finally speaking.

"I will be leaving too, then. You can always come to the Church of Heaven for guidance, Merchant. I think we will see each other soon," he said, before leaving without waiting for an answer.

Maxwell sighed, looking at the man's back. He really didn't like these kinds of people. They were so sure of themselves for one thing.

He looked around, looking at the surreal city around him. As a person from a modern world, everything around him seemed incredibly different. He was quite excited to explore the city, though his priorities were different for now.

How did one even find people in a medieval city?