After Gilbert left, Jack and Samantha also departed.
Jack let Samantha take the lead. She took him by the route that Gilbert had suggested. On the journey, Jack remained vigilant; continuing to observe his radar. He was not sure if the Cult's people would still be registered as red, so he just paid attention to all the dots that moved in groups. He had Samantha avoid them whenever he noticed such a group.
With the several detours they took to avoid suspicious groups, it took them a long time to arrive at the business district. Jack decided to take Samantha back to the bakery shop first. It was already past midnight when they got there. The shop was already closed, but Samantha had the key to the shop, so she used it to get inside.
They thought that Amy would have already fallen asleep by this hour, but when the door bell rang as they opened the door, they heard hasty footsteps coming down from above. Amy soon appeared before them, brandishing a broom. This NPC girl was pretty brave, Jack thought, attempting to fight off an intruder using a broom.
When Amy saw her mother at the door, she burst into tears. She dropped the broom and ran to her mother and hugged her fiercely. Samantha embraced Amy and she soothed her and told her everything was okay. After she let her child vent her emotions, she thanked her; it was only because Amy sent such a capable adventurer that she could make it back.
Amy turned to Jack, she grabbed his hands and she passionately expressed her gratitude. Jack tried to tell her it was fine, that he was only doing his duty, when he heard system notification.
"Congratulations! You have completed the quest, Finding Amy's Mother. Receive rewards of 2 silver coins, 2400 Experience points, and a 30% discount for all purchases at Amy's shop."
When that notification ended, it was soon followed by another notification, informing him that he had reached level 14 of Fighter class. One more level and he could become an Advanced class. He was looking forward to it.
The mother and daughter were doing a catch-up after being separated a few days, so he tried to excuse himself. Samantha stopped him and invited Jack in to stay the night; they had a spare bedroom on the second floor, which served as their living space. From Peniel's info, he knew he would need to spend the night at an inn because camping was not allowed within the city. Since he would have to pay for the inn, he gladly accepted Samantha's offer.
They took him upstairs to the guest room. It was a very small room with only a single bed and a small desk, but it was clean. Samantha apologized for the lack of facilities. But Jack told her he was very happy to be provided with accommodation and was very satisfied with the room. They then left him alone.
Before Jack went to sleep, he took out the Container of Souls. He performed the linking process, which was similar to when he linked with Second Soul Remnant. The process took half an hour.
He then took another look at the technique books.
"So I could learn the skills in these books once I get to the advance class?" He asked Peniel.
Peniel came out of her hiding dimension. She said, "For the Life Burning Art skill, yes, but for the Sword of Light skill you will need to make sure to apply for the Warrior class."
"The advanced class has options to choose from?"
"Of course. Did you think there would still only three class variations after you upgrade your class?"
"What advanced classes are there?" Jack asked.
"For Fighter class, once you reach level 15, you can apply for either Knight class or Warrior class," Peniel answered.
"What's the difference?"
"Knight class is a heavy melee class focused more on defense, while Warrior class leans more towards offense. You can start wearing heavy armor if you become a Knight. If you are a Warrior, the best armor you can wear is medium armor, but of course, medium armor allows you more mobility compared to the heavy."
"So, in order for me to be able to learn the Sword of Light from this book, I will need to go for the Warrior path instead of Knight."
"That's correct," Peniel confirmed.
"What about Magician's advanced classes?"
"For Magician, you can branch out to become a Mage or a Healer. Mage is more damage-dealing oriented, while healer, well, as its name implies."
"I see," Jack pondered the choices. He was close to level 15, so he would have to make a decision soon. If he chose Warrior class to learn the Sword of Light skill, then he thought he might go for the Healer advance class for Magician. That way, he could be a damage dealing melee class while having the Healer class to help him survive in battle.
"So, what's your thought?" Peniel asked him.
Jack didn't tell her about his thoughts. Instead, he asked back, "Will Warrior class be better than Knight? What about Mage and Healer? Which classes are better, do you think?"
"Each has its own specialty," she said. "So no one class is inherently better than the others. It will depend on your combat style. But then again, you are an anomaly with dual-class. There has never been anyone like you. You have more options to choose from and certain combinations can probably yield better results, but I cannot really tell you which combination will be best."
Jack nodded. With these thoughts still lingering in his mind, he laid down on the bed. He was soon lost in a deep sleep.
*
The next morning, Jack decided to go to the Adventurers Association to submit his quest results. Before he left, Samantha asked him if he had found a permanent living place in the capital yet. Jack told her that he planned to stay at an inn for the time being.
"I will have none of that! You come and stay at our place. The guest bedroom is yours," Samantha said.
"I don't want to intrude," Jack replied humbly.
"You are not intruding. I will be disappointed if we don't see you tonight," she said with a stern face.
Jack thought about it for a moment. He decided that this was a good deal. Taking her up on it would save the coins for the inn's fee. And he liked these women.
"All right. I am very grateful for your offer," Jack said.
"That's better," she said. "Now, if you need anything from this shop, feel free to browse. We will give you special prices."
"We will also sell you special wares that are not available to the public," Amy added from behind the counter.
"Special wares?" Jack was intrigued.
Amy nodded, "Here's a list our special wares."
A holographic list appeared above the counter. There were four items listed on it.
*
Cooking Recipe: Baked Cake (Apprentice grade) – 5 silver coins
Cooking Recipe: Milk Bread (Apprentice grade) – 5 silver, 50 copper coins
Cooking Recipe: Homemade Cookies (Expert grade) – 1 gold coin
Cooking Recipe: Mother's Stew (Master grade) – 20 gold coins
*
All of the special wares were cooking recipes. That made sense considering it was a bakery shop. It was surprising that such a small shop possessed a Master grade recipe, but the price was a whooping 20 gold coins! He didn't know how long it would take him to save such an amount. In fact, he didn't have enough coins to purchase any of the recipes; his bag only had a little over 3 silver coins in it.
He then noticed another option at the bottom of the list. The word 'Invest' was written down there.
'I can also invest in a shop?' He asked Peniel in his mind.
'If you have built enough affinity with a shop owner, yes, you will be given the option to invest in their shop,' Peniel answered. 'It is not easy to get the option to invest. You must have really gained their trust when you completed the quest to save the mother. You should try investing once you have the funds. It is one of the good ways to earn coins.'
'Maybe I should just start investing now, then?'
Peniel laughed, 'You won't be able to.'
'Why not?'
'Click on it and see,' Peniel replied.
Jack clicked on the Invest option. Another list appeared.
*
First upgrade: Medium shop – 50 gold coins
Second upgrade: Large shop – 150 gold coins
Third upgrade: Luxury shop – 500 gold coins
*
Jack was dumbfounded; the prices were even more ridiculous than the Master Grade recipe. No wonder Peniel laughed at him.