So, he just turned inward and looked at his notifications. He scrolled through, but each time got the same notification.

  You have slain dir’ursi level 11. XP: 0 (level too low)

  So there it was. Once again he couldn’t get any XP from the monsters because they were not powerful enough. Given how easy they had been for him, it was probably fair. It made him wonder why the Silver Eagles had been so worried about them.

  Armon sighed, and Lacinia cursed at whatever they saw on their screens. Reggie said, “It’s okay. No XP and being alive is better than nothing, right?”

  The assassin reluctantly agreed, but Tim asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “Just a sec. Let me loot these, and then we need to get our horses and catch up. I can explain on the way.” The guardian then walked over to the monster corpses, one at a time. With a flourish of his hand and the command, “Loot,” the bodies disappeared, and everyone in the party got a loot notification.

  Each time he gained the same things:

  Dir’ursi Hide (useful for crafting fire-resistant gear)

  Dir’ursi Teeth x3 (useful for crafting fire power gear)

  Without waiting, Armon had already gotten the three horses they had kept. Lacinia climbed up behind him and left the other two horses for the heavier melee fighters. While they raced down, Tim started to ask some of his questions.

  “So what got you all upset?”

  “We would normally get XP from fighting dir’ursi, but we didn’t get any because you are in the group,” Reggie replied.

  “Can you explain how that works? Oh, and can you explain how every hit I landed in the fight was a critical? I didn’t notice that earlier with the humans we fought.”

  “Oh, it probably happened with the humans, but as flats, they never can gain the equivalent of more than level one in a combat class, even though they might gain levels in their particular class tree. It is thought that is a way that keeps sojourners from having a motivation to kill humans,” Reggie answered.

  Armon obviously wanted to get in on the lecturing because he said, “It goes beyond that. Even killing other sojourners only gives one-tenth of the XP that you would get from killing a monster of the same level. Regular, non-monster animals only give twenty-five percent of the XP that a similar level monster would give.”

  “Sounds like Iocusinte wants us to fight monsters,” Tim said.

  “Yeah, but be careful because if you go too far down that path you end up with the intelligent design argument, and people will start to think you are a Patronite or one of their supporters amongst the sojourners,” Reggie said.

  “Would that really be so bad?”

  “You do you, but most people are of the mind that anyone who believes in the patrons or that there is anything more than pure randomness to how 1st gens arrive here must be an arrow short of a quiver full,” Reggie replied.

  “Fair enough.” Tim nodded and then asked, “But that doesn’t answer either of my questions.”

  “What they are dancing around is that the highest person in the four-man group sets the level required to gain XP. You can’t get XP for killing monsters that are more than four levels below you. If they are your level or one level below you get full XP. Each level after that drops it by twenty-five percent. Same thing with monsters that are more than one level higher than you,” Lacinia explained.

  Tim nodded. “Sorry to keep you from XP.” This just further drove home the point that he couldn’t be part of their team. He would make it almost impossible for them to gain XP. If they fought with him, they could only gain XP from monsters that were at least level fifteen and preferably level eighteen or above.

  “Not your fault, and not sure how well we would have fared without you. I know it felt easy to you, but that is only because we got it over so quickly. In a protracted fight, I would run out of mana, and Lacinia wouldn’t be able to get off all those sneak attacks. Then if one of us got hit, the potions are great but not the same thing as having a healer,” Armon replied.

  “As far as your question about the criticals, you either didn’t notice them against the humans earlier or maybe didn’t get them because they are so far below you as to be trivial,” Reggie said.

  “But how does the critical system work? I know that Grandmaster in Sword comes with a 15% increased chance to land a critical, but I don't know what the base chance is or how any of it is calculated.”

  “Fair enough. Any sojourner child would have these things explained to them by their parents, and normally a first gen is assigned a mentor—as the guild master has become for you. But I suppose there hasn’t been time for him to explain much to you.”

  Reggie continued, “It is really pretty simple. Every level one has a 5% base chance to land a critical strike. As your level increases above that of your target, your chance to land a critical goes up too. For every level you are above the target, it increases by 2%.”

  “But don’t forget to explain how the Rule of Fours applies,” Armon added.

  Reggie shook his head as if that was the most obvious thing. “You have been told about the Rule of Fours, right?”

  Tim nodded, and so Reggie went on, “So once you are more than four levels above something’s level, the crit chance increases to 4% per level, then 8% if you are eight levels above, then 12% per level if you are twelve levels or more above.”

  “Wouldn’t that be an auto crit by that point, and what is the point of going above 100%?” Tim asked.

  “Well, first off, because it increases the chance if your opponent has a skill that lowers critical chances against them. Then it also adds extra damage once the percent is above one hundred,” Armon answered.

  Tim nodded again. “Really seeing what you meant about us being so different from the flats.”

  “Yeah, and I should have thought about your level when planning for this fight. But in my defense, level nineteens aren’t very common. No one but first or second gen can reach that level,” Reggie replied.

  Tim was smiling at that point, but the conversation was brought to an end when they caught up to the carriage. The guards seemed shocked that they had survived, but nothing was gonna break his excitement. Being level nineteen had started to feel like being the king. Maybe Iocusinte didn’t totally suck.

  CHAPTER 20

  A NEW CITY

  The rest of the trip was delightfully uneventful, and they arrived at the city of Maresco along the ocean. It was the first time that Tim had seen the ocean here, and he was told that some of the towers in the city had a splendid view of it. He didn’t know how he would gain access to that, so he figured he might have to content himself with walking down by the docks. Maybe even find out if there was a beach.

  They got paid their four silver, and each of them got a voucher for the fifty percent discount in all the associated shops. Tim was more than a little excited about that. He transferred the armor he had looted to Reggie, who assured him that once they sold everything, they would pay him his share. Now, he needed a shower, or if those didn’t exist a bath… and then some sleep. Preferably in a bed. So far in Iocusinte, every time he had woken up it had been on a medical examination table. Time to break that trend.

  “So, boss, is there anything else you need me to do?” Tim asked Reggie after they had collected their rewards and been escorted out of the Draynesti estate.

  “Nah, we will probably hang out here for a few of days before heading back to the capital. I can’t say that we can keep you on because we need a healer, but I can give you a good referral at least. If you want to travel back with us for safety in numbers, then we will leave town at first light seven days from now. Meet us at the front gate. In the meantime, you can stay in our group. That way if you need to find us you can use the group interface,” Reggie offered.

  “Thanks. I don’t know what the future holds. Now, I just wanna get cleaned up and rest. I have a bunch of thinking to do. Can any of you recommend a pleasant inn to stay at? I’ve got money but really just want a nice clean place.”

  Surprisingly, it was Lacinia who spoke up this time. “Best value for your coin will be at the Dungeon’s Respite. It is an inn that caters to sojourners but specifically ones who are guild members and dungeon divers. It would be good for you to get to know some of your people.” Then she sighed and said, “Oh, and they have the softest beds and best baths. The owner’s ancestor came from someplace called Japan. So, they have these special outside baths.”

  Armon added, “What she isn’t telling you is that they have communal baths. One for the men and one for the women. It was weird the first time I went there, but they are so relaxing.”

  Tim laughed. “I’m familiar with Japan. Never been there, but I know about their baths.”

  “Okay, well, if you decide to stay there, we can introduce you to some of the other guild members. Not sure how many will be there because it varies from time to time,” Reggie said.

  “I’d appreciate that, but for tonight, I think I want a quiet meal, a private room, and maybe a hot bath. First, I think I’m gonna do some shopping. See if I can upgrade this gear a bit. Wanna make sure that people are interested in having me on their teams.” Then Tim nodded and started walking off down the street.

  As he took the city in, he realized it was like what he would have expected from a late Middle Ages town. Most of the buildings were wooden, although there were still stone ones. There weren’t as many buildings as possible with walls around them like there had been in the capital. There was more of a rustic Bavarian feeling than the Romanesque style he had seen before.

  Some areas of technology seemed upgraded, including glass windows and what appeared to be an excellent sanitation system. Other things were clearly more based upon magic—like the streetlamps. It was curious because he wondered with sojourners coming from Earth why there weren’t more upgrades in technology.

  But he realized that if the other 1st gens were like him, it made sense. He was an all-too-typical modern man. He knew how to use technology, but not how it worked. And he couldn’t engineer any of it. even if he had the necessary components. It actually made him feel quite inferior, but that ship had sailed. If he had known this was going to happen, he might have made different educational and career choices back on Earth.

  It was a new world, and it might be nice to see part of it where monsters weren’t trying to kill him, and people weren’t trying to put him through a bunch of tests. He still did not know what his place in this world was going to be. It didn’t seem likely that he was going to just up and join a guild group, so he needed to figure out how to solo.

  That meant getting better gear. For now, he was pretty happy with the crossbow, but he needed to upgrade his armor and weapon if he could. Tim didn’t think the fight with the dir’ursi represented what he would have to fight to reach level twenty. Besides that, the soul interface had made it clear to him there were other paths to upgrading himself. The first step was maxing his level, then he could start exploring other things. The gamer in him couldn’t stop when he was so close to level twenty.

  He pulled up his gear interface:

  Head- Standard Combat Helm

  Left Earring-

  Right Earring-

  Neck-

  Shoulders-

  Back-

  Chest- Standard Chain mail Vest

  Waist-

  Legs- Reinforced Leather Pants

  Left Wrist- Toxophilite Bracers

  Right Wrist- Toxophilite Bracers

  Left Ring- Adept Ring of Life

  Right Ring- Ring of Grounding

  Feet- Standard Combat Boots

  Face-

  Main Hand- Razor Edge Long Sword

  Off Hand- Flame Resistance Shield

  Secondary Weapon- Crossbow of Venom

  Eighteen slots in total, and he only had gear in eleven of them. And of those eleven, he wanted to look for upgrades for half of them. Of course, Tim had no idea how hard magical items were to come by. Only one way to find out.

  The thing that hit him was the earring slots. He had never had a pierced ear. It just wasn’t his thing. He liked earrings on women, but the gamer in him said he was gonna have to re-evaluate that.

  He found several stands selling food. They could make change for a silver coin, although it seemed like they were a bit put out to do so. Now, at least, he had some more copper. Copper coins and bits seemed to be the primary means of buying these day-to-day items.

  Either way, the slice of some meat on a piece of fresh bread was well seasoned and reminiscent of sausage. The bread was buttery and baked to perfection. They definitely didn’t slouch on food here so far.

  For the better part of an hour, Tim walked around taking in the sights. He paid as much attention to the social interactions around him as he did to the various shops, although he did mark a couple shops as ones he might want to visit later. For now, he was looking for shops that were affiliated with the Draynesti merchant house because those were the ones he could use his discount at.

  He finally wandered into a part of town where the ringing of metal on metal filled the air. The smell of charcoal fires and sweat added up to convince him there were some blacksmiths here. Upon finding a shop that had the necessary markers on its sign, he proceeded to walk in.

  The actual smithy must have been in the back because up front there was a clerk behind a counter looking at some papers. A few pieces of armor were on display. They seemed to be well made but nothing particularly fancy.

  The clerk was a middle-aged woman. She was pleasantly plump and had her hair pulled back into a bun. The dress she wore was more conservative than the toga’s he had seen in New Rome. She smiled as she greeted him. “Welcome to Gunir’s Armory. You won’t find better armor in all of Maresco. What might you be looking for? Perhaps something to upgrade that standard gear you have. A stout lad like you should have no problem with heavy armor.”

  “I’m just here shopping a bit. Not sure exactly what I need, but I’m looking for some high-quality armor. I just don’t have any idea what is available.”

  “Ah, new to the adventurer’s life. It would help to know what kind of budget we are working with. Not that I don’t trust you to have the coin,” she said with a wink.

  Tim rolled his eyes. He wasn’t sure how to handle this since he didn’t know what goods cost. So maybe now was the time to try a different tack. “Let’s say that I have the means to buy good gear and that I have the power to put it to use.”

  “Ah, so a low gen sojourner but new to the trade of an adventurer. Maybe you should speak to my husband. He is a sixteenth-level blacksmith, the highest in all of Maresco. And if you really have the coin, he has contracts with an enchanter to add that something extra.”

  “I’d be honored to meet your husband but don’t want to interrupt his work.”

  “Bah, that man only thinks about hitting metal. It's a good thing I have a head for business, or he would still be working for the city guard rather than running his own shop,” she said.

  Tim reached into his pouch and pulled out a stack of ten gold coins. “Consider this an investment in my desire to get good gear. Please hold it to create an account for me.”

  Her eyes went wide for a second, then a sly grin crossed her face. “Certainly, m’lord. I will take you to my husband. He can craft you a custom set of armor.”

  She guided him back behind the counter and went through a heavy door into what he would have imagined a smithy to look like. There was the forge, the heat, and a stocky man with arms as wide as many a man’s legs. He was busy pounding away on what appeared to be a breastplate. So busy, in fact, that his wife had to call his name three times before getting his attention.

  “Steven. Steven. Steven!”

  The man finally looked up. He smiled upon seeing his wife, but it quickly turned to a frown as he noticed Tim. “Woman, I told you before, this is my workshop. It isn’t for customers.”

  “But, Steven, this isn’t just any customer. He is a low gen adventurer and has the gold to pay for good gear,” she protested.

  “I don’t care about the gold. Steel is the metal that interests me,” the smith barked back.

  Suddenly, a change came over the woman as she barked back, “Don’t you speak to me like that, you metal head. And to think I could have married Francois and had an easy life as the wife of a grain merchant. But no, I had to fall in love with the only man who’s allergic to coin. If for no other reason, think about what it will do for your reputation if a powerful adventurer is using your gear. And if that isn’t a reason enough, think of your children who like to eat. Metal scraps don’t feed anyone.”

  He looked up from his forge, and his expression softened. It was clear to Tim that while they might be a bit rough around the edges, they cared for each other. He had never really had that with any woman, but he liked to see it in others.

  “Fine, fine,” the smith said as he set his hammer down. “Low gen, you say. Hmm… how low gen are we talking?”

  Tim said, “Let’s just say that I’m a single-digit gen.”

  “Okay, that’s all well and good. You look like a warrior from your stance, and the way you move tells me you know how to handle yourself. Well, I’m a sixteenth-level master blacksmith. I won’t be attaching my work to just some rich boy. So, tell me what level are you?”

  Tim thought about it for a second. Telling his actual level would give away a lot, but he couldn’t help himself. He liked these folks. “I expect you will keep this to yourself. The gold I’m paying will buy your discretion too. If I achieve renown, I will make sure that everyone knows which pieces of gear I use were made by you.”

  “Okay, okay. I ain’t some woman to go around running my mouth,” Steven said, although he had the good grace to look at the floor when his wife growled at his words.

  “I’m a nineteenth-level warrior.”

  Maria said, “Ah, that is wonderful. That is sure to bring fame to your work, Steven.”