Luke had never wanted a vegetable more in his whole life. The last few days Luke had been surviving solely on rainwater and monster meat. It was enough to keep him going, but not enough to be healthy. He really regretted not learning about Kalibutan flora and which ones were safe to eat. He saw the dwarven city of Vedastine in the valley below as an oasis from the deprivations of the wilderness. Every rooftop in the green city was covered in crops; delicious, mouthwatering, vegetables. It was calling to him like a siren.

  Sadly, he couldn’t rush in. The viscount would have called ahead and they would be looking for him. He couldn’t enter the city without a good disguise. A human walking into any of the city’s six gates would be spotted right away. Jinx was a little less conspicuous because everyone assumed she was a Night Stalker, an animal that was occasionally used by Beastmasters. It wouldn’t be too hard to sneak her into the city after he had his own disguise sorted.

  Jinx had been having a wonderful time the last few days, eating more monster meat and mana cores than ever before. She was eating the remains of a Chaos Bear now, happily chomping through the meat to get to the core inside.

  He cleared his throat. “Are you even hungry? You ate the last three monsters we ran into. Can’t you just leave it? If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss that caravan.”

  Jinx didn’t stop eating, instead she nommed even faster. The magic that created their bond translated that sound into words. “Hold on a moment. I have a good feeling about this core.”

  “Alright, just be quick. That caravan is the first we’ve seen in over an hour. I want to make sure we intercept it before the city can see us. It’ll be way easier to sneak in if they think we’re one of the merchant guards.”

  She snarled, which was just a snarl because no translation accompanied it. A short while later, she found the core, a tier five core. The oversized housecat trilled and chomped down on it. The metaphysical energy flowed down her gullet, making her glow slightly.

  A shiver ran through her and she straightened up. She used her phase out skill to make the blood fall off of her. She chirped with excitement as she leapt to the side and raced around. Her zoomies were punctuated by excited exclamations. “I did it! I knew I would eventually, but I’m even more awesome than I thought. I passed the fourth threshold! I’m the best there ever was!”

  Luke chuckled. “Did you get a new skill or something?”

  Jinx stopped. “I don’t know. I haven’t checked yet.”

  She closed her eyes and her ears flicked as she concentrated. Luke wisely didn’t mention how adorable she looked.

  “It says I have to give up one of my skills,” she whined.

  “Yeah, that’s the way this system works. It’s all about sacrifice. You gotta give to get.”

  “But I don’t wanna. I like my skills. I have Spectral Claws, Sure Footing, and Phaseout. They’re all too good. I can’t give them up.”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t run into this before. You have to give up skills to get better ones. Your core can’t hold too many active skills at once. Trust me, you’ll like the new skill.”

  She opened her eyes and stared at him for a moment. “I better like it. I’m giving up Sure Footing.”

  Luke felt a sudden movement of mana, like a metaphysical breeze. Then Jinx stretched and hopped in place. She started prowling around the body, looking for something.

  He said, “Well, what skill did you get?”

  He turned around, he had somehow lost track of her.

  A chuffing sound came from right next to him. It was Jinx, laughing at him. “That’s my new skill, Perception Fade. I didn’t move, you just stopped paying attention to me."

  “Wow, that’s fantastic. It’s better than a stealth skill because it works on all the senses.”

  “Yes, of course. I’m wonderful, so the system has to give me wonderful skills. It can’t help it.”

  Luke chuckled. “Alright, great. That will help us even more with sneaking into the city. Come on, let’s go.”

  She plopped down atop a fern. “Nah. I’m gonna stay here. I want to do some more hunting while you do the boring part. Just pick me up after you leave the city.”

  “No, come on, I can’t leave you out here.”

  “Of course you can. I’m safer than ever with my new skill, there aren’t any titans this close to the city, and I want to go hunting.” She slowly blinked her eyes. “I know you are worried about going out on your own without me. But you can do it. I trust you.”

  Luke gave her his own slow blink, for entirely different reasons. “Don’t act like I’m the kid in this relationship. I’m worried about you, not the other way around.” He huffed. “Anyway, I suppose I can leave you out here this close to the city, but promise me you will be careful.”

  “I promise, now go on.” She punctuated the statement by disappearing from his view.

  It was weird, he knew she hadn’t moved, she was still on that fern, but he couldn’t see her anymore. His eyes just slid off that spot. He shook his head and started jogging away. He aimed for the road and put on the speed.

  He slipped through the alien forest, avoiding the grasping branches, and making sure not to get too close to the bulbous ball bushes. He got to the road slightly ahead of the caravan and stood up against the tree. He wrapped a bloodied strip of cloth around his head and made sure his ears were covered.

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  His cover story had involved his cat, but as the wooden wagons rumbled down the dirt road, he made some updates to it. It was simpler this way, which was good and bad. More relied on them believing him.

  Without walking into the road or making any sudden movements, Luke waved to the approaching caravan. The guards were a mix of orcs and dwarves with a cyclops bringing up the rear. He didn’t want any of them to think he was a danger.

  “Halt! Illusion protocol,” the lead orc yelled out.

  The three self powered wagons skidded to a stop a hundred feet away from him. The dwarf near his side grabbed some goggles around her neck and looked at Luke through them. She shouted, “First check clear, requesting second.”

  A dwarf from the rear wagon hopped off the seat and stepped onto the road to get a good look at Luke. “Second check clear. Injured elf on the left side of the road. No other targets in the surrounding area.”

  The lead orc nodded and turned back to Luke. “Sir! Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

  “I’m Samu of Runes. I’ve had a bad day and I am asking you to bring me back to the city,” Luke said and gestured towards Vedastine.

  “We follow the law of the road, we’ll render aid, no problem. Who else is with you?” the orc said.

  “It’s just me,” Luke said and looked down. “The others went back hours ago.” He twisted his toe in the dirt.

  “They left you alone in the wilderness, this far from the city?”

  Luke rubbed his shoulder and said, “I asked them to. It was... a mistake.” He slashed a hand down. “Listen. The full story is rather embarrassing. I don’t want to talk about it. Can I please just get a ride back to Vedastine?”

  The orc glanced to his partner and they had a wordless conversation. Luke held his breath. Hopefully they would fill in the details for his story themselves. They couldn’t catch him in a lie if he was too embarrassed to tell them anything. Whether they thought he was an overconfident hunter, a jilted lover, or an annoying jerk that someone played a prank on, it didn’t matter. They would add details that fit in with whatever their prejudice was and he wouldn’t have to do anything to sell it.

  They came to a decision and scraped the wood of the wagon, making it rumble slightly. The door opened and an elf poked his head out. He was wearing heavy robes with golden threads woven top to bottom. He looked like a very successful merchant.

  The orc gave him a respectful nod and said, “This man said-”

  “I heard, we’ll take him on in the front wagon. Samu of Runes, please join me and we’ll get moving again. This close to home and the guards get antsy. We don’t want to keep them waiting.”

  Luke gave him a little bow and said, “Thank you, glorious sir.”

  He hurried over and hopped into the wagon. It was much larger than a similarly designed wagon from Earth. Ten feet tall and almost twenty feet long. Most of that room must have been taken up with cargo though, there were only two bench seats inside the wagon, both of them fairly close to each other.

  Luke took a seat facing backwards and nodded to the merchant and the snooty looking lady by his side. They started moving as soon as the heavy wooden door closed.

  “Glad to have you aboard, Samu of Runes. I am Ojeaga of the Swift Company, and this august lady by my side is Notayo of Grains.”

  Luke gave them both nods, being more respectful for the lady because he remembered that farmers were higher up in society than craftsmen or merchants. “Thank you for allowing me to travel with you. I wasn’t confident I could get back safely on my own.”

  “How did you end up alone in the wilderness?” Ojeaga asked. “I know we are in the city’s shadow, but it's still dangerous.”

  Luke sighed and said, “It’s a bit embarrassing. Let me just say that I have learned a valuable lesson and I won’t be doing that again.”

  “Do you need a healing potion?” the merchant asked. He started rummaging through a nearby drawer.

  “No, no. I already took one,” Luke said and pulled out an empty bottle from his bag. “My head wound must look atrocious, but fret not. I’m sure I’ll be healed completely by morning.”

  Stilted conversation continued all the way to the city gates. The city was on a gentle hill, with the center of the city peeking up over the walls. It was easy to see why they called it the Green City. Not only did every house have a garden atop its roof, the houses were made mostly of wood. Some of them even seemed to be growing with leaves of their own.

  As Luke expected, the guards at the front gate were carefully inspecting everything and everyone entering the city. Luke bit his lip. This would be a lot easier if they could be bribed. But since everyone had a glory sense, the guards wouldn’t risk it no matter how greedy they were. Betraying their job like that would result in a dip in glory. They couldn’t risk it.

  That meant in order for Luke to get inside, he would have to do the risky part himself.

  “All those that wish to enter the grand city of Vedastine must register with the guard. Please exit the wagon. In order of your exit, please state your name, your business, and your associations. Don’t lie, I have the Truthteller skill.” a bored looking elvish guard said. He didn’t even look up from the wooden tablet he was inscribing with a smoking stick.

  “You know me, Elo, do we have to go through this rigmarole every time we return home?” the merchant said.

  The guard gave him a flat stare. “Yes.”

  Luke glanced around while the other two gave rote answers. There were guards at the front and the rear of the caravan, along with a half dozen along the top of the walls. The city gates were open, but getting through them would require finesse, not force.

  “And you, sir? Your name?” the guard said, looking up for the first time. “And you’ll have to take that bandage off. We need to see your full face.”

  “I’m Samu of Runes,” Luke said, and meant it. As far as he was concerned, Samu was the Kalibutan version of Luke. He leaned forward to whisper, “I can’t take the bandage off. It’s hiding my shame.”

  The guard narrowed his eyes. He didn’t look like he was in the mood for any bullshit. “I promise it’s not anything I haven’t seen before. Take off the bandage. I’m only being kind because you came in with Ojeaga of the Swift Company. Otherwise I would have ripped it off already.”

  “Is there any way we can talk instead of showing the world what’s under here? I promise to make it worth your while. They’ll be talking about you for years after this.”

  The guard put a hand on his waist where a stun baton hung.

  “Whoa, whoa. I’m telling the truth,” Luke said. “Didn’t your skill tell you that? Don’t be so quick to jump to violence.”

  The guard left his hand on his baton and squinted at him. “What are you hiding?”

  Luke lowered his voice. “I’m a good runewright, but I don’t have the class yet. This bandage is on my head because I tried something new and failed. I can’t let everyone see that or I won’t be able to try again. Please let me enter the city and I promise I’ll make you famous. I wasn’t joking when I said that earlier.”

  The elf patted his baton while he thought about it. He looked around to the other guards. “My name is Elo of the Vedastine Guard. When you get your crown working, come back and give me one, alright?”

  “You got it. You’ll get the first crown I make.”

  The guard wiggled his hand in assent and made a few marks on his wooden tablet.

  Luke didn’t have to hide his sigh of relief as he was let into the city. He hurried away from the gate and didn’t stop until he was a few blocks away. Then he stopped and oriented himself. He needed to meet up with Kruro and get his Black Mamba mech back. Too bad he hadn’t set up a meeting time or place. He would have to hurry through the city and hope he could find her before someone else wanted him to take his bandage off.