Exploring the Village
Gilmore moved around the village to get a better feel for it. Max was correct when he said they offered many services. He had found all sorts of shops and training centers.
The village was centered around the open square in the center. A long and wide Main Street led north and south with the largest buildings sitting on it. Small roads lead east and west off of it and were covered with many shops. Each road had several alleyways that held small establishments.
He found several buildings were empty and marked that they were available to rent.
Outside of the village he found that plots of land were available for long term rental. It seemed it was possible to even have a home built here.
Gilmore was starting to get a better picture of Max's grand plan. If people started to treat this as a real village and actually moved here, the dungeon Master would have a slow but constant stream of DP.
The assassin poked into a few shops. Some of the things he saw were normal and what he could find in his brothers' territory. But some of the other things… they were amazing. He spent 40 gold on two (low quality) mana stones.
He planned to give one to his niece and another to his sister-in-law. Unlike mana potions, a caster could draw the pure mana into themselves without limit. Mana potions would become less effective if used repeatedly. The body needed time to digest and break down the ingredients in the potion. Whereas the mana stone could be used without limit.
The stone could provide a caster with 10,000 points of mana before it crumbled. They would just need a few moments to leech the mana into their bodies.
Gilmore spent several minutes talking to the gnome who ran the shop. During the conversation he heard something interesting. That was why he was now walking down a dark alleyway 10 minutes after he left the store.
He came upon a narrow store front.
He pushed open the door and entered the cramped and dark shop.
Gilmore was surprised to see a dark elf sitting behind the counter. He had heard stories about the race, but this was his first time seeing one in person.
"What can I do for you?" The young man behind the counter asked.
At least Gilmore thought he was young, it was hard to tell with elves.
"I heard that you sold certain cursed items here."
This got the elf's attention. He closed the book he was flipping through and looked up.
"Oh, what sort of item are you looking for?"
"Tinder, at the Mage Supply told me you might have something that would let me party with my niece and not raise the dungeon level."
"Ah, yes. Even though the level is meant for 10, the creatures can improve up to level 15. I imagine that would make things much harder on them if you joined."
Gilmore nodded. He had wanted to join them but when he found out that it would make things difficult for them, it put him in a bind.
"Follow me." The elf said while moving from behind the counter. He took the assassin to a shelf on the far wall filled with bracelets of all different designs. "These bracelets are designed to hold cursed stones. Find one that suits your taste."
Gilmore found a thin black leather cuff that he wouldn't mind wearing and followed the elf back to the counter.
"I have several cursed stones that will work for what you want. I assume you are aiming for your level to be reduced to 10?" The elf asked. When Gilmore agreed he continued. "This first stone will fix your level at 10 for one hour. Costs 5 silver. I have ones that last longer but cost another 5 silver per hour before they crumble. The more expensive option but better deal is one of these." He said while setting at pitch black stone on the table.
"What makes this one better?"
"Instead of moving you to a specific level it has a variable curse. You can adjust it to remove up to 80 levels from yourself. When it runs out of time it doesn't crumbled and can be recharged. This way you can use it for different levels instead of a single one. Comes with 100 hours of use. Cost 10 gold and each additional recharge cost 3 gold."
Gilmore did the math. The start up price was double. 10 silver per hour. But the recharge was only 3 silver per hour. And if the kids did well he would be able to follow them to the second level without having to get a different item.
"Okay, give me to good one."
"Pleasure doing business with you." The dark elf said after fixing the stone to the leather cuff and showing Gilmore how to turn it on and off.
Walking out of the store, he found Max standing outside.
"Find everything you are looking for?" He asked.
"Yes." The assassin said. "As well as some things I didn't know I was looking for."
Max let out a little laugh at that. "Good. Be careful with that cursed item though."
Gilmore looked alarmed for a moment, but Max waved him off. "There is nothing wrong with it. But when you move yourself back to level 10, your ability scores reflect that. Some skills you have may put more, or too much strain on your body since they are meant for a higher-class assassin."
"Ah, I understand. I will probably use this time to work on my more basic skills." He said.
"Good, good. I actually found you because I had a question."
Gilmore raised an eyebrow when Max didn't ask his question.
"I am trying to figure out a way to ask without sounding like a git."
Gilmore frowned. "I won't divulge any of the Winter Family secrets or other confidential information."
"No, no it's nothing like that." Max said, waving off his worry. "Let's see… I guess I should start from the beginning. Are you aware of the multiverse?"
When Gilmore gave him confirmation, he continued.
"I was born and raised in one of the outer-verses. Far, far, from here. This means I have no class. And when I became a dungeon master, things happened and I don't have a level either. But this isn't a bad thing. I can raise my stats with the dungeon core and access any and all class abilities. But there are so many classes, and each of them has hundreds of development paths and thousands of skills. I really don't know where to start. So what I wanted to ask was, what would your dream assassin skill be?"
Gilmore didn't even need to think to answer that question.
"Phantom Strike. I have seen a man use it once. He was able to teleport 10 meters. His first strike stunned the target. It is the perfect skill to either capture, control or assassinate."
"Oh, I found it. That does seem good. And not too expensive either."
Gilmore stepped back as Max's body suddenly let out a flash of light.
"Did you… did you just learn the skill?"
Max nodded happily. "Yes, thank you for the suggestion. I know it is a bit rude of me to take your dream skill like that in front of you so let me give you a bit of advice."
"And that would be?"
"There are requirements to learn this skill. I will tell them to you."
Gilmore was now paying close attention.
"Stunning Strike is an obvious one. I know you already have it, but you need to get it to mastery level. Besides that, you need to also be proficient in Quick Strike and Ambush. The last 2 don't need to reach Mastery level, but when you improve their proficiency, it will give a minor improvement to Phantom Strike."
"Thank you." Gilmore said sincerely. He then spoke up again. "I noticed that your class trainer building only held the basic classes."
Max nodded proudly. "I thought it would be more fun if the advanced trainers were hidden through out the village in their natural environments."
"Then I need to find the assassin trainer on my own?"
"You could, or you could ask around the village. Me personally, I would probably look for the shadiest bar I could find and then keep my eyes open for a mysterious figure in one of the dark corners. Sounds like that would be where I would find an assassin." Max said with a smirk and then walked away.
Gilmore shook his head. This place was so normal compared to other dungeons, it was easy to forget you were in a dungeon an not some mysterious village, but it also had strange game like elements like this. It was obvious that Max intentionally made it more difficult to find the advanced trainers, but he did so in the name of fun.
Checking the time, he found that the others should be finishing their 1-on-1 lessons soon. He went to the class trainer building to wait for them to step out.