Jinxor produced a stack of what looked like wet wipes.

  “You have recovery wipes?!” Reina exclaimed, hurriedly taking one and wiping her grimy face.

  Noticing Rook’s confusion, Jinxor cleared his throat. “Recovery wipes, infused with mana, they get the grime off. This batch is one I made.”

  Reina was in pure heaven, wiping her face, neck, and arms.

  “How many in a stack?”

  “Thirty. Well, twenty-nine,” he said, looking at Reina. “At one silver a stack.”

  “Well, take three.” Rook handed him three silver, grabbed a wipe and cleaned himself.

  Essentially mana version of baby wipes, Soldiers lived off these in the field and during training. They become worth more than gold depending on what your leadership had you do during your time in a training rotation. Rook’s mind flashed to unprepared Soldiers forced to use packs of single wet wipes as toilet paper or makeshift baths.

  “Remember, like a duck and the builders guild,” He called before thanking them for their patronage and waving them goodbye, transforming into the tall man once again.

  “This all sounds like a pain in the dick.” Rook closed his inventory and followed Reina out of Mimics. “Walk like a duck?”

  “I’m going to hold you to it, you know?” Reina asked, then gave Rook a quack.

  “I had a feeling you might say something like that. Why the hell would I do that, though?”

  “I haven’t the slightest idea. Let’s continue to the builder’s guild.” Reina said. “I guess we will go back to Briannas’s and figure out what duck walking will do.”

  Rook equipped the studded mace. The handle of the mace was a dark, almost black wood. The steel-capped end had small, rounded studs meant to crush bone. At the end of the mace was a leather grip, comfortable and conforming to Rook’s hand. The mace was a simple design, but undoubtedly an upgrade from his previous weapon.

  The streets of the trading district were alive with the activity that Rook had become accustomed to. Men and women haggled with merchants in nearby vendor stalls that lined the streets. A few children giggled as they were shooed away by the driver atop a clattering carriage. Must be nice. He tipped his wide-brimmed hat at passersby who parted the street for his journey. Rook’s gaze followed the horse and buggy in admiration. The brown and white horse, the size of a Clydesdale, trotted at the urging of a driver dressed in rich red velvet that matched the curtains within the carriage windows. Damn, what I would give to go for a joyride again. Rook thought about all the times he tried and failed to impress the town girls by acquiring the keys to a buggy that belonged to the Amish community. He shook his head and followed behind.

  “To ride in the carriage your whole life,” Rook muttered.

  “Eh?” Reina asked, waving at a scribe vendor selling parchment and pencils.

  “Nothing, it’s just that things seem the same everywhere.” Rook puffed out a breath. “Rich people, I mean.” He pointed at the carriage. “It’s the same all around.”

  “That is one of the many noble families within the city,” Reina responded. “Let’s continue to the builder’s guild.”

  Rook checked out his map. He traveled enough of the city that for the most part, the streets, alleys, and tunnels below Ollar were visible and easy enough to navigate. The builder’s guild was a square black blip on the map twice the size of the surrounding blips. The map within the city reminded him of Monopoly pieces, and this building was a hotel amongst the houses.

  Entering the district of the working quarter, Rook swiped his hand through a pillar of sunlight. Basking in the warmth as they passed by the narrow alleyways of the trading district. His swing narrowly missed catching a fly within his palm. A lot of bugs here. He gazed around at the heaps of trash concentrated in various alleys.

  Reina followed his gaze. “We have cleaners come weekly to collect and burn the trash.”

  “How do they burn it?” Rook was genuinely curious. “Pits or something? Cause you guys don’t have gasoline, I’m assuming.”

  “The cinders come and burn the trash.” She caught his look. “They burn it with pyromancy. It’s actually very lucrative.”

  Rook nodded in appreciation. They thought of everything. A window crashed open in front of him, narrowly missing his head. He sputtered a cough as grey smoke plumbed out the open slot.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Move out the way!” A voice called within the building.

  “Fuck me dead! I wish you called it before you opened the window like a normal person,” Rook responded, waving away the silverware-tasting cloud.

  Reina grabbed him by the arm and pulled him forward. “Come on, you need to keep up.” She stopped pulling as Rook sidled beside her. “You know, most people go around the windows of the smithy.” Reina pointed at the window, then the passersby who eyed him from the opposite side of the street.

  An object passed behind them, leaving them in shadow. He jerked his head around to see an oncoming black Clydesdale, showing no signs of slowing down. He had to quickly sidestep out of the way. Inconsiderate bastards.

  “That’s the second carriage that passed by on this street,” Rook said.

  “They must be here to sign up for the games.”

  Opportunity Quest: Join the circuits

  Find a way to sign up for the Circuit. 0/1

  You have been notified of the city games. Find a way to sign up for the circuit by competing and showing your mettle.

  Reward 5000 experience.

  Rook paused momentarily to read the quest. “Hey, I just got a quest to join the circuit, but we have to join the games?”

  “Not a good idea. The games are great for exposure, not so much for someone who’s trying to maintain a low profile.” She huffed. “What happens if they see that marking on you?”

  Rook shook his head at the involuntary triangle markings under his collarbone; even without the makeup, it blended in with the rest of his tattoos. At least I can cover it with makeup. I’m not sure Knox has anything similar, or if his people care, for that matter. He didn’t know what the games consisted of, or even what the uniform was. If someone didn’t like him or knew what the marking meant, they could probably report him to the Bloodstone Elves. Why the hell is everyone so afraid of them? They crossed the street and walked up to the builder’s guild, a tall grey stone building overshadowing the nearby businesses. On the left, a tannery was busy placing newly cut hides from unfamiliar species on a string inside. There was a large, blue-scaled hide next to what looked like a deer hide. Knowing this place, the deer is probably 15 feet tall.

  “Are you ready to go in?” Reina asked.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Rook rubbed at the back of his head, staving off the dump of nerves. “Jinxor said that they would have Attramancy spellbooks that they would be willing to sell, let’s go get some.”

  There was a weathered man with a wild crown of grey hair, sitting at the bottom of the stairs in a suit of worn steel armor. He gently rocked in an equally old-looking rocking chair, the whole ensemble long past its glory. He seemed to nod off, gently rocking while he watched the crowd moving about their day. A man and woman walked out of the double-stained wood doors. Letting them close with a slam. The woman jerked her head at the noise and clung to the man as they made their way into the street.

  “Good Sir, we are here to enter the guild.” Reina gave a slight bow to the old knight.

  “Eh?” The knight asked, cupping an ear. “You cannot enter. You have no builder ability.”

  “I said that we plan to enter the guild,” Reina responded with a sigh. “Come on, Rook, there’s no use.”

  “Hey grandpa, it’s great to see you on guard and so vigilant at that,” Rook said, giving his warmest smile. His tone was absolutely oozing with false confidence. “Thing is, we took a wrong turn and got lost following the guildmaster, and he’s expecting us any minute.” Rook inspected the old man.

  He was obviously a little lost here. The armor has more decoration than protection at this point. The metal was long past rusted, and Rook was surprised that he didn’t get a headache from the stale metal smell.

  COMMAND PRESENCE- Silver Tongued Bastard Activated.

  “Y-you’re guests of the guildmaster?” He asked, scratching a patch of hair on his cheek. “I didn’t know we had important guests today.” The old man’s glazed look seemed to steel, and he stood tall, the crooked back turned into a proudly puffed-out chest. “Please tell them that Aaron sent you inside. They’ll take good care of you,” He said, giving a salute to Rook.

  Rook returned his salute, and the man went about his watchful duties. That was different.

  “Can you go five minutes without stirring up potential trouble?” Reina asked, pushing him inside the door.

  “Whoa.”

  It was all his two brain cells could conjure up as he gazed around the room. The great guildhall was easily as big as the lobby of a grand hotel. Above them, metal, sandbags, and wooden building materials floated from one side of the room to the other. There was a gentle grinding of something, almost like the building itself was shifting. The vibrations buzzed through his heels and into his ankles. He stared at the ground, lifting up one foot and checking one of his treaded bottoms. He felt a strange feeling bubble in his stomach as if he had drunk hot soup really quickly.

  New skill gained Echo Location (Passive) (Copper Rank)

  Caster’s Attramancy now reflects the target they want to hit with an echo. Current distance 15 meters.

  “Wow, I got a skill just from entering this place.” He surged his Attramancy, in an instant, numerous objects gave off a pulsing vibration, as if he was watching them through sonar. “Shit…” He focused on a chair, and the echo pulsed as fast as a heartbeat, while all the other echoes slowed. “This is going to come in handy.”

  Reina frowned at him and rolled her eyes. “You seem to be very lucky,” Reina said, through pressed teeth, then sighed. “Location skills are hard to come by.”

  The lobby of the guild hall held multiple long tables full of brawny-looking men and women dressed in simple cloth clothing, eating bowls of stew and drinking from foamy tankards. Rook licked his lips. Curse this metabolism.

  “This is for guildmates only, friend,” A very gruff and ironically unfriendly voice said. “You obviously weren’t at the tryouts or I would’ve seen you.

  Rook pivoted on his heel and found himself at eye level with a very broad chest, he looked up at a tall, dumb, drink of water. He immediately noticed the strong underbite and pronounced jaw.

  Rook gasped. “I didn’t know they hired apes here.”

  “I don’t care if you brought the councilman’s daughter. Daddy is not going to get you or your friend into the guild without Attramancy.”

  The man lifted up his hand lazily and the long dining table hovered, much to the protests of the diners. Reina pulled at Rook’s sleeve, an ashamed look crossing her face. Something about his friend being insulted twisted his guts with anger.

  “We’re eatin’ here! Take a walk, Grud!” Several of the diners called out as the table lowered with a crash.

  “Let’s go, Rook, I can ask my father if he can source another Attramancy skill book from one of the nearby shops,” she said, her voice half pleading.

  “No.” Rook gave her a look of cold determination, then turned back to the big man. “You know, I didn’t know your name, but if Grud was on the list, I would most likely choose it. It is about as dumb and disrespectful as you are, you big bastard.”

  The man flushed, and his upper lip snarled. “I’m going to crush you like a bug.” His hand shot forward and grabbed Rook by the collar.

  Well, this is where my big mouth always leads me to. As Grud cocked his fist back, a steamy bowl of stew crashed into him, soaking the three of them.