72 Honorary Lackey

The feelings of illness eventually passed and Galahad was able to stomach the sandwich he bought from the Chained-Sun Bar.

After Terra introduced him to the establishment, he would frequently buy his lunches there and eat it on his walk back to the workshop. In addition to saving his break time by walking, Galahad managed to get another side task done as well.

Browsing the market stands for more enhancers.

After discovering he could develop skills from just drinking attribute-enchancing potions, he made it a personal goal to search for more unfamiliar potions. Pop-up market stands were just the place to look. Random potion makers and alchemists would occasionally sell their newest creations during the lunch rush hours in hope of making a few quick credits.

Galahad had managed to find his most recently developed skill, [ Iron Bones ] thanks to a minor berserker potion he bought a few weeks before. It originally gave a temporary boost in someone's strength and adrenaline while fighting in the dungeons. For Galahad, it seemed to increase the durability of his skeleton, which was nice when he earned himself countless injuries while fighting by himself in the dungeon.

Originally, the salesman was happy to find someone willing to purchase his product after it was just approved by the government's testing and approval. He was then shocked to see Galahad had used it to wash down his meal as he resumed his walk.

He wasn't sure if he should be glad someone bought his products so soon, or insulted that the customer used such a pricy object as a simple beverage.

Present day Galahad found nothing new or of interest on his walk. He had an uninterrupted travel straight back to the workshop and continued on Regin's list of tasks.

*****

Midday had already passed and the sun would start to set in an hour or so. It was hard to keep track of the time when there weren't any windows to shine the light of day, but the clock on a karmic plate helped remove most of the discombobulation.

Galahad was currently cleaning out charred fragments of bones from a device that resembled a miniature oven, when Regin interrupted his focus.

"It's bout time to call it quits, I can't start anything else tonight that wouldn't keep me up until tomorrow morning. And I know yur gonna be in the dungeon tomorrow, so go home after that." He pointed at the little oven with a drinking flask that seemed to have popped out of nowhere.

Regin's ability to focus on a project with so much concentration was peculiar in Galahad's eyes. Even if he shouted at the dwarf from five feet away, his mind was always elsewhere. It seemed like the only thing to fully break him away from his experiments was the flask he carried around in his pocket.

"All right," Galahad replied, "not really sure why you blew up cow bones, but nonetheless, they're all cleaned out." Galahad states as he brushed the ashes onto his messy smock. He had a few bone splinters lodged in his fingers, but they were an easier fix compared to messes he had dealt with in the past.

Galahad had only been working one winter season with Regin, yet somehow his apparel would quickly be destroyed in various ways. The last time he came in before finally buying an enchanted smock had resulted in him walking barefoot through the snow because a bit of monster acid leaked out a vial and onto the floor.

'Thank god for the mana orbs rapidly healing the surface of my skin. That walk to the boot shop for replacements had burned the whole trip.' Galahad chuckled to himself as he recalled the unfortunate event. Not even the snow could cool the biting sensation at the soles of his feet, it was like walking on a bed of hot coals.

"Not sure I'd consider that done, but just make sure to be back here earlier than usual. I'll need you to lift something real big that morning." Regin emphasized the last part of his sentence, chuckling at the fact he knew exactly what was coming, while Galahad was only left confused.

Tomorrow was his break day to go into the dungeon, so Galahad wouldn't see Regin until the morning of two days time. He was never really aware about which experiments were starting or ending, so the confusion stemmed from why Regin made a point to talk about the newest experiment. It was certainly a first for him.

"Cool, in that case, I'm gonna start heading to dungeon now." Galahad tied off the smock and grabbed his bag. The bag he carried around now was a replacement to his old one, which still had old burn marks and had a hole running through it thanks to a certain elven arrow.

This new bag was somewhat larger than his old one, designed more for a battle class instead of a magician. It had more places to store weapons and gear suited for fighters instead of potions and crystals; magicians never needed places for weapons since magic, cloth garbs, and lightweight armor was the most commonplace for them. The biggest difference to Galahad's old bag was the straps on the side that now held the sheath of his magic weapon inside.

When Regin first saw the weapon, he forced Galahad to take it out and show him what the blade could do. Galahad entertained his request and explained the weapons ability to change shape and unleash a small lightning strike whenever it was swung fully charged.

The dwarf took note of the array and magic crystal, but his scruffy mood never changed during the process. When Galahad asked why Regin wanted to see the components, he was already back in his super focused state. The event hadn't been brought up since then, so Galahad simply chalked it up to Regin just being odd.

Shortly after packing up, Galahad made his way out of the market district and towards the center area of the city. The familiar stone pillar of the Dungeon Gate had always stood high in the view of the city streets. It was impossible to not see it when inside Diagon walls, a person would have to be blocked in by at least fifty foot tall buildings to not see the structure looming overhead.

Galahad felt the day was productive and what could be done was accomplished, so he decided maybe today he should spend a little extra time in the dungeon and try to exit noon the following day.

The time spent overnight would be no different than just waiting to go in the dungeon all of the next day. At least then he could have a full afternoon to enjoy by himself.

One of the main reasons Galahad was in this mindset was due to the approaching level required to consume the Succubus mana orb he and Solteer kill together. The orb didn't feel like anything special, but he treated it like a small goal set aside in the back of his mind. It may not have seemed like much but it was a way to motivate himself.

'Who knows, maybe there's an unlocked secret reward to achieve when I hit level thirty. But the only way I make another jump in levels would be finding another team I can con into feeding me a shit ton of orbs. Or at the very least another cavern.' Galahad thought as he approached one of the clerk stations by the Gate building entrance.

Ever since his first visit into Diagon's dungeon, Galahad hadn't found a single cavern or warden to obtain a huge collection of orbs again. Caverns were normally rare occurrences, his team had only found thirteen in total to all the time they spent in the dungeons, so it should be too much of shocker he hadn't found one in so long. Yet after a month of not finding any, he was starting to think his luck was just turning sour.

"How goes it?" Asked the relatively young, black-haired clerk at the gate entrance. Galahad path of approach made it clear he was heading inside and so the man had his hand out to grab a Karmic plate.

With the gate in Diagon being so much larger than most cities in the Etherite kingdom, it housed so many newly recruited guild workers that he would constantly see new ones at the gate or near the guild office. So it made sense this was the first time Galahad had met this clerk despite being in the city for so long now.

Instead of handing the man his Karmic Plate, Galahad gave him a silver metal card of the same size and shape of a normal crystal plate. It was surprisingly dense, and the clerk took it with an odd look on his face, having no idea what is was.

At first, Galahad really confused the newly recruited guild worker, but the man was soon awestruck as the lone adventurer clarified that the man just needed to motioned the card against the white crystal cube.

Every dungeon gate had these cubes to temporarily gain access to the information on a Karmic plate. They were simply mana crystals refined and crafted to send out a mana pulse to temporary reveal the information on a Karmic plate.

The ability to do something like that was useful for the kingdom in many ways, helping to prevent impersonations of high ranking officials or keeping reckless youths from breaking into the dungeon. In the end, the usefulness of such devices made the secret of creating such a device a national level effort.

The reason for the newbie's surprised expression was instead of showing all of his stats and class information like his normal Karmic plate; the runes engraved on the silver card glowed a bright blue and a holographic ID float an inch off the surface, showing a blue-lined imagine of Galahad's face and his full name.

The card was a license Regin gave to him that signified him as a certified dungeon associate. Meaning the user was not hired by the guild, but someone who the guild allows to operate independently.

It was known that only businesses approved by the kingdom could contract a card like that out to adventurers, and only a thousand or so were ever permitted throughout the kingdom's history of existence. Making Galahad's license a rare sight to behold.

Galahad had no idea why or how someone like Regin could get his hands on such a high-class item, but he considered it a blessing and chose not to question it. After all, this card was practically a prefect solution to all his current problems trying to get into the dungeon.

Galahad couldn't just sneak into the dungeon every single time he came through alone, and showing his rapidly evolving class off would draw unwanted attention. The solution was the Contractor Card allowed him to enter with minimal questions to answer and it made keeping his secrets within his own hands.

"Wow, sorry I've just never seen one of these before. Even before getting hired." The clerk apologized for his lack of knowledge, he didn't want to upset someone who held such a influential license on his first week of working. Pissing off someone with a Contract card was no different than yelling at his new guild boss to eat shit.

Both scenarios would end with him sitting on the curb with a box of his crap.

"Not a problem, I just still have to show you I have my Karmic plate. You know, since the Return spell is a necessity to getting my ass out of the dirt." Galahad joked as pull his normal plate and walked in without revealing his stats. Informing the new guy now would prevent him from stopping him anytime soon, leaving his entrances unhindered in the near future.

"Of course, carry on." The clerk smile in relief. He was glad his ignorance didn't get such a character upset. He let Galahad carry one without checking the stats or class on the crystal; after all, the license couldn't be changed to make someone else's appear so there was no need.

The most vital part of owning that card was its inability to connect with person's soul. That meant no one could see his growing power or class unless they saw his Karmic plate when he activated it.

Having to use the Contractor card instead of his personal plate made the secret keeping so much easier, leaving Galahad a lot more stress free about his weekly dives through the dungeon.

'Great, now I just need to get a few more monsters in my sytem and I'll have all the leisure time I need tomorrow. Maybe I can think of other ways to level up too, finding new ways besides risking it alone would be nice.' Galahad kept pondering his thoughts, all the way down into the dungeon depths.

*****

After adapting himself to so many changes and struggling to finding a way to rescue his friends, Galahad now only faced two major issues. One was a rumor that went around town, saying a lone adventurer wearing all black armor and a skull mask was tearing about demons. The other was his level progression slowing to a near halt.

Galahad had hit a bit of a wall the last few weeks he went into the dungeon. He had no problem fighting monsters and avoiding other adventurers, he even found it was becoming easier the longer he spent time do it.

Yet after hitting level seventeen, he never had a chance to obtain a large mound of mana orbs. All he could do was kill regular monsters and slowly work his way up the higher levels. Unfortunately every level required more and more monster orbs, making the process stretch from days to weeks, concerning his timeline for saving his friends.

'If I keep going at this pace, I'm gonna be dead before I manage to unlock all four classes. I mean what else could I-Focus!' Galahad had been batting his brain around trying to figure out another way to earn more orbs, but then he reminded himself that now wasn't the best time to be distracted. He was alone in the tunnels, nobody else was around to keep an eye and ear on his surroundings that could turn lethal in an instant.

All the defensive Galahad had was his same black armor from the bandit camp and a few other pieces he bought from resale markets. He now sported a heavy, black pauldron and a small metal plate on his back. Receiving multiple sneak attacks from behind while alone had resulted in him really going all out and finding something more durable for his backside.

'Think about problem solving later, enjoy living in the moment now.' He thought as a familiar buzzing sound filled the halls. His heightened senses immediately recognized the source of the sound.

A small group of Vesplugs were traveling towards him and his scent, giving him the satisfaction of not needing to chase after them. Galahad learned that if given the opportunity to face a weak crowd of monsters; it was best to lure them close and strike all at once, minimizing the remainder's chances of escape.

"Clearly, their friends haven't told them about the nickname I received." Galahad muttered as a smile emerged beneath his mask. A hit of glee always shined in his eyes beneath the mask, any other human being would find it disturbing considering the circumstances, but that's because they don't know anything about the new Galahad.

Along with the rumors going around about his existence, his first appearance involving an entire swarm of a Vesplugs cavern disappearing resulted in an alias people liked to use. They called him 'Dark Breaker,' on account of his black-dyed armor color and rumored skill of destroying mana orbs within demons.

It was a skill no one had ever heard of, making it seem possible that he had a rare or unique class no one had ever heard about. Of course the rumors grew along with the story; soon people talked it up to where he could break a mana orb while it was still inside a monster or that he could rip them out with his bare hands and eat them to survive.

One way or another, the stories told were a fraction of the truth. The truest tale was about his love to watch the monster sludge disappear and reveal a clean, blue orb underneath.

Much like what was about to happen now.