Merchant Of Yliaster

"In fifteen days. Nobles already know about it, making them a bit advantageous, but I guess everyone deserving the title would know that levels would be important in the future, nevertheless." Nesha said, looking thoughtful.

"What is the level threshold?" Maxwell asked, being a bit curious about it. Reaching around level 15 for combat classes was easy at the moment, and for the profession classes, reaching even higher levels was possible for the exceptional people.

"The system sets the threshold according to the overall evaluation of the kingdom itself. Our kingdom is a mid-high-level one with a threshold of level 20. I heard there are some with higher thresholds, but I'm not sure how long the chain extends. I have a feeling this is more important than it might seem at first sight," the woman said.

Maxwell was thoughtful. There was a weird feeling about this event. Sure, the kingdom had nobility, and people with high levels would soon earn them, but it felt like this was just a side function for this event. The fact that the system not even mentioning this to the regular person was strange, though.

Maybe it wants to catch people in their natural state? This idea made at least some sense, as people burning their potential to level faster before the threshold would be counterintuitive. The system was probably limiting the amount of chaos by behaving like this.

This also proved that all of this initiation business had an end goal at some point. Otherwise, ordering the population like this wouldn't make any sense.

"Can Mary still go to the usual school you can arrange in the meantime?" He asked. Even if it was 15 days, he didn't want to bring the girl everywhere with him.

"Well, the school is actually on break, so unfortunately, no. She can stay here, though, we can take care of her." Maxwell could feel a feeling of fondness radiating from the thought.

"I would appreciate that," he replied, not being insincere. Other than here, he didn't have many other options.

"Mary, what do you think about staying here for a few weeks?" He asked the girl. The girl was absorbed by Felix and Blueberry, who were eating at the table like before. She was petting Felix, as the dog was friendly as ever, but Blueberry seemed more reluctant to let her. The girl was startled by the unexpected question, as from her standpoint, they had been sitting silently for a while.

"More cake?" the girl asked, completely missing the point. I guess it will be fine, Maxwell thought, seeing the girl's obliviousness. He guessed most places would feel better to the girl, considering her former circumstances. Also, having a female figure she could look up to might do the girl some good.

Nesha had a mundane class like her, but she gave a completely different aura; it would certainly fit a little girl's idea of a cool big sister. And, if he could be honest, he didn't know anything about taking care of a child.

"I will be leaving if it's okay," he said, saying something out loud for the first time in their exchange. Nesha just nodded, but Devon was more vocal.

"Why so suddenly? We have just started!" he said, sounding more friendly than the last time.

"I have some things to arrange," Maxwell said cryptically. This whole business of level thresholds made him want to level up. While there were no rifts he could immediately go into, maybe he could pave the way into some of them with his own methods. He had some ideas to test.

Devon squinted at him for a second before laughing, "What a morbid thing to say. If you ever want to share a drink, I will be around here!" he said, his personality shining more and more through his noble facade. Apparently, Maxwell becoming a friend made the man relax around him quite a bit.

He was soon outside The Nest, and was walking thoughtfully. There were some ways he could use to gain access to the rifts. One of them, and maybe the simplest, was just barging into one of them, completely ignoring the restrictions. This would work, but he doubted that it would be a sustainable strategy. Also, he didn't want to face an angry garrison waiting for him when he eventually got out.

Another option was joining the military, but Maxwell simply didn't want that. He was a laid-back guy, but he was used to not having a boss. Suddenly, having a commander above him didn't feel right.

He could always wait for 15 days and claim a noble title through the system. That would probably make him eligible for a rift entrance, but that was stupid considering that the point of leveling was that deadline in the first place.

Apart from these undesirable options, there was an option he had complicated feelings about. It was joining the mercenary guild. He supposed there was still someone running the whole thing, but he could just leave that place if he didn't like it. But joining that place with his identity exposed would be quite unintelligent.

He turned to a side alley, which was relatively isolated, and placed Felix on the ground. He wanted to try something that would fix some of his problems.

He started with his clothes. He had been infusing it for some time without really thinking about it. Considering the things he upgraded for other people, he doubted that these would remain unchanged. He observed them for the first time in a while.

A Set Of Clothes - Tier 2

A set of clothes for The Merchant, repairable by a specific skill of his. Due to the infusion of excessive amounts of pure mana, the fabric is more durable.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Unlike the mana he was pushing into The Compendium, which came from around him, he had been pushing his own pure mana into his clothes for a long time. He was not sure what would happen, but he didn't want the clothes to have an affinity, so he was careful about it.

The description meant that the clothes were more durable compared to before, but Maxwell wanted to test something else. He was not sure how clothes worked, but he was pretty sure that they needed to have a function to remember the default look. Otherwise, they wouldn't just be able to repair themselves with mana infusion.

He tried to connect to the clothes with Soul's Voice, and he was met with relative success. He couldn't exactly feel a channel form, but there was something nonetheless.

He focused and created a small blade from mana, slicing a part of the fabric on his arm. He slowly started infusing the clothes with mana and watched the process carefully. From the edges of the ripped fabric, new fabric was slowly created, but it was quite beyond Maxwell how this happened. Luckily, what he was trying was something quite different.

In his senses, he could actually feel a framework form from mana, predetermining how the fabric would grow. This meant that, if he could change the framework, he could change the clothes as he liked. He mentally grabbed the framework with his mind and visualized it diverting away from its intended course. He smiled as the two sides of the fabric failed to connect and continued to grow in different directions.

Now, he would do something more drastic. Blueberry seemed to understand his intentions, as she flew away, sending him a weird look. "Chirp!" She said.

"I'm not killing myself, don't worry," Maxwell answered, and let a giant but contained burst of fire mana out of his body. His body was infused with the same mana type, on top of it being his own mana, so it didn't harm him. This couldn't be said for the clothes, though. With a brief flash, the clothes almost immediately turned to ashes. The only part that remained was three pieces of fabric that Maxwell intentionally didn't destroy.

He knew he was gambling with the clothes' ability to reform themselves, but he doubted that a system-created item would be simple. He infused a small amount of mana into the fabrics, and as he thought, they started growing as if nothing had happened.

He grabbed the framework as before, and this time, completely changed its shape. He imagined loose pants with a hooded jacket. As before, the fabric would stay completely black, but this time, the clothes would look much more ominous.

It didn't take long for the new clothes to completely take shape, as they saved Maxwell from the awkward nakedness he found himself in. They were still simple, he supposed, but at least no one would know him like this.

Item Upgraded.

A Set Of Ordinary Clothes → Garments Of Change

Garments Of Change - Tier 2+

Garments created by The Merchant by modifying the repair function already present on them. Due to an excessive amount of pure mana inside, their fabric is more resistant than usual fabric.

The design of the garments can be changed by mana infusion.

Garments can be repaired by mana infusion.

Huh? I guess that will help when I need them to change back. He made his sleeve get tighter and looser as an experiment. He was still limited to the same fabric, but this certainly opened many possibilities for fashion in the future.

He was not done yet, so he stopped playing with the new function for a moment. He wouldn't be able to buy such a suspicious-looking set of clothes without drawing attention, and the same was true for what he planned to create now. This time, he chose a different mana type from the ones he was used to handling.

Actually, this was a similar affinity he hadn't had any opportunity to use before. When he saw Gendor's affinity for the first time, he actually memorized it to try to understand what it was later. Now that he had the Compendium, it was not hard to understand what it was. It was actually the darkness affinity.

Maxwell could guess that this was an amazing affinity for an assassin, but until now, he didn't have reason to use it. Gendor's affinity certainly suited him well, though.

He pulled out some wood from his satchel. He always had some with him recently due to his new carving hobby. It was roughly the size of his face, as he usually just separated a small part before carving it.

He quickly got to work and started carving the block of wood. Soon, he was holding an ornate-looking wooden mask in his hand. He just copied an ancient cult mask he saw when he was a child back on Zephyr. With his increased soul and visualization, it was getting easier to remember old memories.

The said cult apparently thought the universe's ultimate god was darkness itself, so it seemed fitting for the task. The mask looked eerie, giving the impression that the wearer was smiling despite it being an expressionless mask.

The effect was so bad that it made Maxwell a bit unsure about using an ancient cult's symbol, but he was never really a superstitious person. What was even the name of the cult? Dra- something? He thought, searching his memories in vain. Ultimately, though, he was done with the carving part.

Now that the base was complete, Maxwell started to infuse the mask with darkness mana. While this respective mana type was quite inefficient due to not having a level in the Compendium, Maxwell had time, and he patiently kept to his task.

As he infused the mask, whenever he felt its integrity drop due to incredible amounts of darkness mana, he infused some wood mana to keep the mask from breaking up. Still, the mask was starting to look like it was made from darkness itself, as the ratio was simply too skewed.

The mana types related to concepts and less physical aspects were quite different compared to physical elements when using them. Maxwell simply couldn't create fire from nothing for now, but darkness existed everywhere, as it was a spectrum. The mana could just enhance this already existing aspect. The same could be said for decay, too. Those were probably the types of mana that were better suited for him. Maxwell was too stubborn, though. He would have his fireball, whether the system made it easy or not.

After a couple of minutes of infusing, he was starting to feel that the material was simply reaching its limits. Her supposed he could try to increase its capacity by trying other things, but he felt that this was enough for now.

He focused on the mana as he prepared to give his last touch to the mask. He long observed a strange phenomenon when he was upgrading items. The system definitely interfered with the creation process, and not in a bad way, as it made it more controlled and better. If nothing proved this, his new clothes proved it. He never changed his clothes in a way that would allow him to change them as he wanted without first destroying them, but the system simply said that he could do that from now on.

Maybe he would be able to take advantage of the function. He connected to the mana inside the mask with guide mana and sent a message with Soul's Voice.

Hide me.

He kept the command simple to avoid confusion. The function of the mask was simple anyway, so he was pretty sure that this would work. He finally let his control relax around the mask, finalizing his creation.

To his surprise, he could actually sense a faint energy around the mask for a fraction of a second. The energy reminded him of the time he had seen the world cease to exist around The Traveler. Of course, it was on a much smaller and weaker scale.

Was that the system's influence? He didn't expect to be able to discern something like that this early, but he couldn't really see anything anyway. This just worked in proving his theory right. Now, though, it was time to see the fruits of his labors.

Artifact Created: The Dark Mask Of Drakhabgar