Chapter 48. Level up

Through the dunes of the desert, light started to spread, all life was up for another day, while I laid in bed.

*knock knock

My body twitched at that sound.

"Calm down, there's no need to worry, nobody found you."

I got up from the bed and opened the door.

What waited for me on the other side was the same sight as yesterday, the prince with a warm smile on his face.

My breath returned to normal making me realise that my body was tense.

"Good morning Trader, did you manage to level up yesterday?"

"Yes, with your guidance I managed to progress quickly."

I smiled back at him.

"I'm glad to hear that, then today we'll be doing some new enchantments, let's get to work."

He turned around and walked towards the enchanting room.

Why is everyone around here expecting me to follow them without a word, is this expected once you have enough influence?

But I shake my head and follow the prince.

Not too long after we arrived at a door protected by a guard, he gave us a courteous bow while we entered the obsidian room.

"A level 2 enchantment is a little different. In any empty book you can only put five pages, but that doesn't mean you can put five enchants in one book, except for the first level."

"What if we use an anvil?"

"Yes, then you can put more enchantments on an item, but it's also more expensive."

I nodded in understanding.

"What's different about the higher levels it's that they require more pages, so a level 2 would use 2 pages, the next one 3 pages, and on the last level 4 pages."

4 pages? That would mean that level 4 enchantments are the most powerful ones. But in the game, the last level is 5.

Maybe they have it, but it's kept a secret? I can see how that would be possible.

"You worked with three enchantments until now, Unbreaking, Sharpness, and Fortune. It's a good base since those are often used by most people. So which one of them do you want to upgrade?"

"Can't I just learn all of them?"

"Unfortunately it would take too much time for you to learn all of them even with the shortcut."

I'm sure he just doesn't want me to learn too much, just the minimum necessity so I can level up faster. And I can't do anything about it. I tried to look for other enchantments in the library, but there was nothing, I suspect that there are books like those but on the upper levels which I don't have access to.

"Then I'll learn Unbreaking 2."

"OK here are the pages, try to memorize them before you start to practice."

He handed me two pages filled with complex writing. I took them and carefully studied each sentence, it was more complicated than the first levels.

I looked at it for another 10 minutes before I finally tried to copy it. It was like I was learning about enchanting all over again, but this time I had some muscle memory from practicing.

After about 30 minutes of writing and erasing a page was done, the prince started to get bored so he pointed out my mistakes once I started on the second page, it only took me 20 minutes to finish the second one correctly.

With those two finished, I opened an empty book and put the pages at the beginning, then with a casual throw, the book was floating above the enchanting table where the magic happened.

It was a success! I took the book with pride and put it in my inventory.

"Congratulations on succeeding in your first Unbreaking 2 book. Here are the first pages for the next ones, we're going to level up this skill in no time."

That is true, with 10 more of those enchants I'll get to my next level in no time, but I was shocked once I looked at my skill tab.

"Why did I get only 5.000 experience? Isn't it supposed to be 10.000?"

"You're not in the beginner stage anymore, from now on it will only get harder to level up."

The prince had an amused smile on his face.

This made me think, is every skill going to get harder as it goes? I looked at my tab and realized, that while I did craft over 100 pieces of armor, my skill was only a little over a quarter full, and the higher I go the less experience I'll get. How can people get to level 7 in their lifetime, no wonder the prince said it would bankrupt a country if they tried to have more masters without shortcuts.

I envy Froggy now, maybe I should be struck by lightning as well.

"Let's get back to work, you only need to do 19 more books until the next level, and I won't be able to guide you through the whole journey."

With that said, I got back to writing and enchanting, two hours later the prince left and I continued to enchant but slower.

After one more hour, I enchanted another book, in total, I had 7 books and a headache.

"I need to take a break, I won't be able to get any work done if I only exost myself."

With a light stretch, I decided to visit Froggy and see how's he doing. Maybe ask him if Omar acted differently today.

Unfortunately, once I got there, Froggy finished his training for the day and went to do some potions, he'll be back in an hour.

But what truly shocked me is the fact that two guards got injured today, Omar for some reason was extra brutal with the training and when they spared with him they got injured, it was so bad that they won't be able to work for a few days.

"Maybe it was written in the message for him to do that?"

I wouldn't know, as long as me and Froggy are not suspected, I don't care if he gets all the guards in the Infermery.

With that new information, I decided to wait for Froggy in his room to ask him if he knew anything.

An hour later, the door was open, and a surprised witch entered the room.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon. Are they going to keep that promise from the princess? "

"I guess her word does have some power, but as long as it works in our favor, I don't care."

Froggy nodded understandingly .

"So what happened to Omar this morning?"

"Oh, you heard about it already? For some reason Omar was very energetic today, he was even happy if I dare say so, and it was very hard to get any emotions out of that professional man. Anyway, we started the day with harsher training than usual, even by their standards, and while everyone ran he came to ask me if I knew how to make an invisible potion, which immediately put me on my guard."

I froze when he mentioned that.

"And what did say?"

"I said that I know how to make one but I haven't tried to make one since the ingredients are hard to get."

That made me raise an eyebrow, from what I know you only need a golden carrot and fermented spider eye to make that potion, it's not cheap but not impossible.

"From your expression, I can guess you know the recipe, which is impressive in its own right, but you have to remember, that the only people that know all the potions are the witches and the nobility in the Stone Kingdom. It's not some common knowledge."

That makes sense, I sometimes forget that my knowledge about the game is pretty vast but also lacking in this world.

"How did he react after that?"

"He just nodded his head in understanding and got back to the training. But for some reason, he was especially harsh on two guards, they ended up in the infirmary, and that rarely happens in training."

"I'm glad he isn't too interested in us, I thought after last night he'll start digging tunnels all day."

Froggy looked confused at me, so I had to explain to him what happened last night. Once I finished my story, he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Trader, you have to realize nobody can break or place blocks faster than you. So people don't think to check for long tunnels, especially when you were invisible, at most he must've thought you broke a few blocks beside his window and got under his floor."

That calmed some of my worries that I still had from last night. From there we just talked about more normal topics, until Froggy had to leave.

With my mind more relaxed I went back to work, not forgetting to stop at the kitchen to get some food. The pie started to grow on me.

POV: Prince Amun

I was furious, that unworthy head guard Omar managed to badly hurt two of the most important guards that I have, the ones that guard the obsidian factory. I spend a fortune buying their loyalty from my father, and it's already starting to hurt my pocket.

But it didn't matter, once I became the Sultan I could get rid of everyone that I wanted, and if they tried to get in my way, I'd get rid of them like I got rid of that annoying bug Aisha.

She and her group are pretty powerful if they want to, me and my father knew about its existence even if it's a secret.

As for why isn't my father taking care of them?

It's because he doesn't see them as a threat to his position, they don't work for the royalty they work for the country.

And that's stupid! How can a nation be great without a great leader, they shouldn't waste their resources on the common villagers and instead help us gain more influence over the other countries.

But it didn't matter anymore, ever since I locked the head of that group in the obsidian prison, they weren't that much of a threat anymore.

I entered my office with hurried steps but stopped once I saw someone else in the room as well.

"I thought the meeting was later tonight."

I said with anger in my voice.

"Looks like someone is angry that their lapdog got injured today."

The man responded with a smirk on his face, he looked like any Nobel I'm the desert, he wasn't too handsome nor too ugly, it was a smiling face that could be lost in a crowd.

"My people want to know how's the progress with the plan."

"The plan is going well, you don't have time to worry about it."

"Don't play this game with me, prince, last time when we trusted your word only, a cat snuck into our base and found out about our dealings, and you know who will suffer more if people find out you have contact with the Pillagers."

Indeed, the man in front of me was a Pillager, even if I didn't see his gray skin from under the mask, I could still feel his corrupt core oozing out.

But I needed them to get on the throne faster, so I had to endure.

"The armor is almost done, and I already secured that my men will have access to it after it's done. I found out a man that I'm currently teaching enchantments, next week I'll have the curse of binding enchantment. When the show it's going to start I'm going to pin the blame on him and his friend the witch."

The man nodded his head in understanding.

"Isn't he a hero of the country, and also a master in alchemy?"

"He is indeed, but it's a necessary sacrifice for our future, plus I'll still have access to your witches aren't I?"

The man started to laugh loudly.

"This is why we get along so well prince, our way of thinking it's too similar not to be friends. I'll go now and tell my superiors about the good news, keep up the good work, and don't mess this up."

Once he said that he took out a firework and threw it out the window, several seconds later an explosion was heard and he disappeared.

Everyone was panicking but the prince stayed in his place unbothered by what just happened.

"I'm not like any of you suicidal cult monsters, I'm someone who will steer the nation to greatness, and once I'm up there, the first thing I'll do is a crusade against you."

The door was forcibly opened and a panicked guard came in.

"Sir, are you ok? There was a firework explosion outside."

"Yes I'm fine, go back to your work."

I didn't even bother to see the man leaving, I just got back to my papers that sat in a chest.

One day closer to ruling this nation.