Rider
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Entering the town
🕑 Added 2022-08-29 14:40:14 +0000 UTC“Do you want me to help you carry that?” asked his father after three hours of constant walking.
Seth shook his head and said: “I’m fine. I’m a lot stronger than I look.”
His father couldn’t see because of the cloak covering his body, but he had already used the system to increase the muscles of his body. He couldn’t even feel the weight of the sack of bread.
The old man nodded and continued looking forward. At the end of the day, they found a small clearing away from the beaten path and sat down to sleep. There were no dangerous animals, beasts, or bandits around the beaten path, since the guards of town would patrol from time to time, but they still needed the sleep.
“Do you know what to do when we reach the town?” asked his father while munching on a piece of hard bread.
Seth pondered for a moment before saying: “I’ll go around and see if anyone needs help. I don’t really have a plan.”
“You should try to go to the marketplace. There is a place there that gives odd jobs to almost anyone that can work.”
Seth nodded, already knowing about it. He didn’t plan on doing that tho. It will take too long and he had other plans.
The two chatted for a bit more before going to sleep. Seth stayed awake a bit more, working on absorbing even more energy inside his body, before sleeping as well.
The journey towards the town took them three days, and on the morning of the fourth, a decently large town appeared in front of them.
Seth’s father placed one hand on his shoulder and said: “There is no more I can do for you in there and you’ll be on your own. I’m going back now. I’ve left your mother alone for too long. You better not get yourself into trouble, brat.”
Seth turned around and hugged his father while saying: “Don’t worry. Just take care of mom and wait for me to come back. I will not disappoint you.”
Seth could hear his father’s sniffles and continued hugging him a bit more. Once he calmed down, his father told him a few more words and turned back with the bread left in the sack.
After his father was out of sight, Seth took a deep breath and turned back towards the town. After moving away from the beaten path, he walked into the shadow of a tree and quickly undressed.
‘System, it’s time to rob this place clean. Turn me into a bird.’
Since his sources were not formed and stabilized, he could still change his body completely without risk of damage. It would be a shame not to profit while he still could.
<Affirmative>
The system replied and his body started to slowly change until he turned into a small, hand-sized bird. Flapping his wings, he took flight and hovered above the city. He has already practiced at home when no one was looking, so he was already used to it.
<36 minutes until soul sustains damage.>
‘That’s enough.’ Thought Seth as he quickly flew inside the marketplace and surveyed the area.
Noticing a fat man selling high-quality clothes in the center of the marketplace, he made him his target and flew straight inside the carriage behind him. It took ten minutes of searching around until he found what he was looking for.
Using his beak to undo the tie of a small pouch, he found three shiny gold coins and around twenty silver ones inside.
‘Jackpot.’ Thought Seth as he tried to fly away with the entire pouch, only to notice he was not strong enough to lift it completely.
‘System, turn me into a bird large enough to carry this thing.’ As his bird body increased in size, he picked up the pouch in his beak and rushed outside.
The sudden bird that appeared out of nowhere startled the merchant and his guards, but before they could react, Seth was already high in the air.
Making a B-Line towards the place he left his clothes, he undid his transformation and chuckled while throwing the pouch with his spoils up and down.
“Easy money.”, muttered Seth as he felt a wave of red energy slowly coming from the village and surrounding his body. Smirking again, he started absorbing the energy inside his body and directing it toward the place where he would form his perception source.
“Even some negative perception energy to boot. Not even ten minutes in town and I’ve already made so much progress.”
Grabbing his clothes from the ground, he dressed himself up and hid the pouch before walking towards the town gate.
There were two guards at the gate, but they didn’t even give him a second look. The poor quality clothes under his cloak paired with his unkept appearance made him look like a common beggar.
Seth didn’t mind it at all and made his way toward one of the best inns inside the town. He now had the capital to start, but he will still need more money.
As he was about to enter the inn, a new, even bigger wave of negative perception energy hit him again. Chuckling slightly, Seth pushed the door open and stepped in.
‘I guess that merchant finally noticed I stole his money.’
One gold coin was worth 100 silvers and one silver coin was 100 coppers. He stole in ten minutes more money than he could produce doing odd jobs for one year.
The inside of the inn was quite luxurious and everyone inside looked like rich merchants. In compassion, Seth looked like a beggar. Ignoring the looks of disgust everyone was giving him, he walked up to the man at the counter.
“How much for a room?”
The man looked with the same disgust as the others and said: “Beat it, brat. We don’t welcome beggars and peasants here.”
Seth expected this and looked behind the man. Seeing the plaque with the prices, he noticed they charged 1 silver/day.
Throwing ten silvers on the counter, he said: “I want to stay here five days. The rest you can keep it. I also want someone to head to the market and buy something for me.”
After giving a look of disgust at the silvers, the man didn’t even touch them and said: “Beat it brat before I call the guards. I wonder how you’re going to explain where you got these coins to them.”
Seth kept staring into the man’s eyes for a moment before grabbing his coins and turning to walk outside.
‘I guess I can’t live inside the money pile. No matter. I’ll still rob you guys clean all the same.’
Since they rejected him at that inn, he kept looking through the inns in the area. He saw a small little girl waving a heavy plaque desperately in front of a pretty rundown place. Remembering the sight, he chuckled and made his way toward her.
The little girl could only see the ground in front of her because of the plaque and when she saw a pair of bare feet walking toward her, she excitedly let go of the plaque and quickly said: “Do you need a room?”
She was so excited to have a customer that she didn’t have time to check Seth’s getup before asking.
Smiling at the energetic girl, Seth nodded and said: “Yes.”
The girl finally looked at him and her excitement died down as she asked hesitantly: “Does big brother have copper coins? Father said you need ten copper coins to stay one night.”
Seth pushed one silver coin toward the girl and said: “Is silver alright?”
The excitement returned to the girl as she snatched the silver coin and started dragging Seth inside by his cloak, forgetting about the sign she dropped on the ground. Once they were past the doors, she started yelling: “Father, father, I found one. I found one.”
Seth’s face turned slightly awkward, feeling like he was a fish caught in the net. A middle-aged man walked from a room in the back while saying: “Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? Be quiet or you will bother the other customers.”
The girl didn’t mind getting reprimanded as she jumped on the counter and placed the silver coin in front of her father with shining eyes, waiting for praise.
Her father rubbed her head and turned towards Seth. “I apologize for my daughter’s behavior. Do you want a room here?”
“I don’t mind it, and yes.”
The man nodded and picked a key before saying: “A silver coin is enough for ten days. No meals included. This is the key to your room. The last one on the left, all the way in the back.”
Seth picked up the key and said: “Sign me up for five days and keep the change. Also, I was wondering if you have someone that could buy some stuff for me from the marketplace.”
The man looked at his energetic daughter and said: “Molly, will you go buy something for our customer here?”
Molly nodded and said: “Don’t worry big brother, Molly will help you.”
Seth smiled and gave the girl ten silver coins before saying: “Molly, I want you to go buy two sets of clothes for me.”
Molly looked confused at the coins and then at Seth before asking: “What clothes does big brother want? Also, what if they don’t fit big brother?”
“Just buy whatever you think looks good. As for size, tell them they are for a 15-year-old boy. It doesn’t matter if they don’t fit me exactly.”
The girl grabbed the coins and rushed out the door with a nod. The father looked at Seth with a raised eyebrow. “You will probably not like whatever she ends up buying. Also, where did you get those coins from that you have to use my daughter as a proxy to buy clothes?”
“I stole them from a rich merchant.” Replied Seth as he placed one gold coin on the table. “Coins, even stolen, should still be good with you guys, no?”
The man smiled and pocketed the coin before asking: “What do you need?”
“Some energy vials and information.”
“Energy vials come at 1 gold per vial and their purity is quite low. That’s only enough for an energy vial, not to mention the information.”
Seth placed the other two coins on the counter and said: “Two vials. I also want to know if you guys have any brothels and a list of the richest merchants in the Calibrum Inn, complete with their room numbers.”
The man took the other two coins as well before saying: “I’ll bring the vials and the merchant info to your room this evening. Brothels we don’t have, but there’s a running slave house if you are interested.”
“No, thank you. I’m not interested in slaves. Any other place where I could blow off some steam? Also, I want mature women.”
“Hmm, the servers at the gambling parlor might agree, but that’s not a service we could guarantee. It depends on the weight of your wallet, and or your charms. I doubt they would agree to a little kid, tho.”
“Alright, bring me the address with the other staff. Also, tell Molly to bring me my clothes to my room when she returns.”
“I will. Have an enjoyable stay.” Replied the man as he returned to the room in the back with the coins.
‘Underground guilds. Just as reliable as ever.’ Thought Seth as he made his way toward his room. Once he was inside, he lay down on the soft bed and started channeling the perception energy into his source.
‘It will be tough to keep the balance. Looks like I need to do some good deeds as well.’
Molly brought him his clothes two hours later. They amounted to just over seven silvers and Seth told her to keep the rest. This rented him some good perception, but it was still not enough to balance the negative perception he got from stealing all those coins.
He also planned on robbing even more people, so he needed a reliable source of positive perception energy as well.
When he looked into the bag of clothes, he cringed a little when he noticed they were all red, but changed into one set, anyway. It was way better than the rags he was wearing now. After changing his body to fit them, he laid down on the bed and started planning for the near future.
