After leaving the plaza, Dane and company walked for ten minutes until reaching a quiet street. Dane walked into an alley and Randwen naturally followed. As for Shera, well, she was still standing on his shoulder. After making sure they could not be seen from the outside, Dane stopped.
"Randwen, remove the disguise, it would be troublesome to be recognized after this." After Dane's command, Randwen did what he was told, but a mindful expression remained on his face.
"My lord, will it be alright for me to stay like this? After all, you won't be recognized, but I definitely will."
"Don't worry about it. I never had the intention of you being hidden, anyway."
"Yes, my lord." After some hesitation, he asked again. "If you don't mind me asking, why is it that you chose not to use a wand from the tower storage? Even though most of the really good ones were reversed, you could find at least a unique one."
Dane smiled faintly. It was true. Hell, he could even get a legendary wand from the tower's storage. Granted, it would not suit him very well, but it could at the very least amplify spell power by 200% and decrease casting time by the same amount. Still, this wasn't the path he chose for himself.
"There is a reason for that. Although this is not the time to talk about it, imagine what would happen if a rank 0 magician is seen wielding a unique-tiered wand. What sort of trouble would it cause…"
"I would protect you, master."
"I'm sure you would, but it still wouldn't matter. It is too much of a temptation. But still, that is not the main reason. Let us talk about it later."
"Yes, master."
After they were done with this conversation, they walked out of the alley. Dane could finally relax and enjoy the scenery of Enas. Although it was not a very beautiful city, it was undoubtedly an important one.
Zeryann was, everything considered, a vrmmo-rpg. And while skill mattered a lot, it was in the end a number-based game. A complete idiot playing a level 200+ character could utterly annihilate an army of world-class players of lower levels. It would be very boring and counterproductive to have all of the players be in a single area without taking their levels into account. This gave birth to level-restricted areas.
This meant that a level 50 player couldn't do virtually anything in an area with a level 40 restriction. They could still enter that area and meet their friends as well as use some facilities, but they couldn't attack, defend, take missions, participate in the auction house, etc.
Then what about the ever-so-common power-levelling? Well, players over the level restriction had their hands tied in lower level areas, but low-level players could enter areas of higher level restrictions.
Enas was one of these higher-level areas. It had a level 50 restriction. It was also one of the places Dane needed to visit before choosing his class in order to walk his already-planned path.
"Well, let's get going. We have a tight schedule."
Dane started walking rather decisively, for he already had a destination in mind. When he was sure there was no one around, he spoke.
"By the way, Shera, why did you make me act like a spoiled young master before? We could have just paid the fee and give them a false location."
Before, Dane was actually willing to pay, but was stopped by Shera. Apparently, she had a plan in her mind that required him to act spoiled. He didn't know what it was, but he was curious.
"Master, I suspected that if you acted like that, things would get messy and Randwen would have to act. And if suddenly a ridiculously strong magician arrives in the city apparently serving a spoiled young master, they would need to report the incident in order to prepare themselves in case of an incident."
Dane thought it made sense. It was not unheard of. The heirs of some families did behave like that. But just what family could employ Randwen? Not even the royal family could, which is why Dane was so scary.
"That's highly possible, but why would we need them to report our presence?"
"Master, it is in order for me to sense the spirit of their tower."
Dane was struck by a revelation. Randwen being a magician as strong as he is, it would not be possible to report him just to a figure with low authority. In all likelihood, it would reach the ears of the court magician, perhaps even the city lord himself. And the fastest way to send reports would be via data transfer using a wizard tower. At that moment, Shera would have the opportunity to infiltrate the tower that sent and received the message with the condition that she had to be a stronger spirit than the one of the tower she was infiltrating.
This was the reason why all wizard towers built in proximity needed to be friendlies, and the same reason why a magician building his tower in close proximity to an already built one were considered taboos, almost a declaration of war.
"Well, that is fine an everything, but why would you want to do that?"
"It is the groundwork for the networks master ordered me and Randwen to develop. Of course, if it is forbidden, I shall not act."
These very respectful words coming from a cat, and a silver-eyed cat, for that matter, were rather shocking. Still, it made Dane feel comfortable.
"It is fine, just don't get caught and be very careful. There should not be a spirit stronger than you in this city, or all of Zeryann, for that matter, but we shouldn't lose precaution because of it."
"Yes, master." After she said this, people started approaching them, so Shera stopped talking, as ordered by Dane beforehand.
The more they walked in the direction Dane was leading them, the more people started appearing. One thing a lot of these people had in common were that they were carrying weapons. Axes, swords, sabres, hammers, clubs, every one of them was present. A lot of people were wearing armour too, but not as much as the ones just carrying weapons. This sort of company continued to increase until they reached a very specific building.
It was big, at least the size of 9 houses, and it had three floors. Armed individuals were entering and exiting the building on a regular basis, but no one turned to look at them. This was a very normal occurrence. The walls were made of stone and gave a very sturdy look. Even the windows looked unbreakable. This was one of the largest organizations in all of Zeryann, the Warrior's Guild.
It was a very respected and big organization. If all of it's members were gathered, they would instantly outnumber any of the world's armies. Still, they had never done that. If you wanted to become a person of the warrior class, you had to be registered in here. You could do it in the army too, but your data would still be sent to one of the Warrior's Guild branches and your badge would come from it.
This was the very first step in Dane's growth plan, getting an assessment at the Warrior's guild. Of course, it wouldn't be a normal one.
There were three types of main classes in Zeryann. A normal class, a natural class, and an innate class. This order also depicts the rarity of each one of them.
A normal class is, as its name implies, a completely normal person who completed the class-quest and obtained a badge that certifies him as a holder of that class.
A natural class is the title given to an individual who can perform skills or movements above his level in a specific class. For example, a level 1 player executing dual-slash, a level 10 warrior skill. That player would gain the warrior natural class, which was also called a semi-class. It would grant the user the ability to perform restricted warrior skills while holding another normal class. Of course, of your normal and natural classes matched, your growth rate would be drastically increased. This was a mechanic implemented for players starting a new account.
The third and last was the innate class. It was the rarest type of them all. An innate class was, basically, a trait, not something that could be achieved. Some people had special constitutions or bloodlines that allowed them to excel at some type of job without placing much effort into it. For players, this was a paid feature or a random chance with very low probability of occurring normally during the character creation.
This type of class was considered the only way to obtain a dual-class character. For example, a magician with a rogue innate class. Or a warrior with a magician innate class. Of course, it could also be the case of a player with both normal and innate classes, and it would grant additional benefits. There was also the case of two or more innate classes, but this was with a ridiculously low probability.
A class-holder of this type could master skills of any of his normal and innate classes with a very high speed. It may also be possible to gain a bonus stat point for levels depending on several factors. And this was the only way to gain a fused transcendent class, but more on that later.
Dane slowly walked into the Warrior's Guild building and immediately saw a reception desk. He took his place on the queue. There was one person before him, so the wait wouldn't be long.
While he was waiting, Dane was the topic of conversation of everyone present. It was not everyday that a young man with, apparently, expensive clothes entered the guild accompanied with an old, dangerous-looking man with definitely expensive clothes and a very luxurious staff. Of course, the more knowable ones identified Shera on his shoulder as a silver-eyed kitten and were even more surprised.
"Hey, see that lad ov'there? Looks like some rich kid or something."
"What do you think he's doing here?"
"Maybe he is here to get assessed?"
"Are you out of your mind? He's dressed as a magician, so he ought to be one. Maybe he is just placing a request."
"You are the one who is out of his mind, okay? Look at the cat on his shoulder, it looks like no ordinary cat to me, betcha it's a baby monster or something. He must be a ranger."
"A ranger at his age? Please, that is even more crazy. And there are spells that control your mind, y'know? I'm sure he's a magician, or at least an apprentice."
"What about the one behind him? He sure looks like a magician."
"Hey! Shut up! Don't talk about him, he could hear."
"So what? Ain't he just an old man?"
"Shut up! You want to get us killed?"
"Yeah, you should be careful. The gear on that man, staff included, should be worth over 100,000 gold coins."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Man, so, he must be a… transcendent."
"Yeah, must likely."
"Damn, I'm leaving. I don't want no trouble."
"Aye, me too…"
While this conversation was taking place, it was already Dane's turn. On the other side of the counter, there was a young woman, dressed plainly with brown clothing. When he saw Dane and Randwen behind him, she adopted a respectful and fearful gaze. Even more so when he saw that even Dane's clothes were rather expensive and his unusual eye colour.
"Good morning, esteemed guest. What brings you to de Warrior's Guild today?"
It had to be said, she was indeed very polite and experienced at hiding her thoughts. He didn't mistreat them nor gave them special treatment because of her observations. A very professional attitude.
"Good morning. I am here to take the Warrior's test."
"Of course, customer. Here is the form you need to fill to request a mission. After it is approved, you will have to pay the fee and wait for a… team… Eeehh!?!?"
Of course, no matter how professional she was, there was no way she could've expected this clearly magician-looking youth to request taking the Warrior's test.