Chapter 86 – Merits and Demerits

The skill Terrain Mastery leveled up. You received 500 experience points.

"I guess this is fine for now."

A few days had passed and I had gotten bored of staying inside the dungeon during the whole night, so I decided to get some exercise while walking around the area and also get used to some skills and put them into practice.

It goes without saying that clearing this dungeon was easy, but it only granted me useless classes. I didn't need to be an Innkeeper or Bartender… the only option was Explorer, which I already had, so the class evolved into Pathfinder.

Never Lost: Gain additional bonus experience when discovering new locations, charting unknown territories, and navigating difficult environments. You can increase your experience gain by staying longer in places hard to leave.

Terrain Mastery Lv 05: Gain detailed knowledge of specific terrains as soon as you find them to reduce travel time and avoid hazards. This skill allows you to make informed decisions on the safest routes based on environmental conditions. Cost: 30 Mana

Evasion Tactics Lv 03: Instantly avoid environmental hazards or traps while navigating. This skill can be used in dangerous situations to escape without harm. Cost: 30 Mana

The surrounding area was a dark forest in which a normal person couldn't leave from right while walking inside. The sky was cloudy too, so the darkness was really intense. Still, I could move into this place with ease.

I wanted to level up Terrain Mastery because it would help me explore dungeons faster. The higher the level, the bigger the range, so I would have an easier time finding dead ends and avoiding them when I find the paths splitting.

In any case, the sun was going to rise soon, so I decided to gather the materials in the dungeon and then leave. I could guess that the skill Enhanced Bolts would level up in a week and I had enough materials to achieve that goal. Perhaps I should sell the location of the shop and then move on during that time. It was time to put my time in effort into something else and save the projectiles that I had for my personal use.

I put a note in the shop on the next day and people began to pass nearby and talk about it. Some clients decided to look for information directly.

"Are you going to really sell the shop, Mister Fletcher?"

I showed the man a paper with the word: yes.

"Why? Is business doing badly lately?"

I showed the man a piece of paper with the words: not really.

"I guess you must be looking for something aside from money."

I showed the man a paper with the word: Indeed.

I had those saved under my desk and I had to use them a bunch of times before, so I decided to leave them close to me instead of writing down everything I wanted to say all the time. Thanks to the fact that I hadn't talked with anyone recently, I ended up getting into the habit of talking out loud when I was alone. It was for the sake of keeping my identity hidden, but was still a bit uncomfortable.

A few more days passed and eventually, a merchant from another city offered me ten Aqua coins for the shop. It wasn't a lot more than I had used to buy and reform the whole thing, but I decided to sell for him since he was an old client who bought me a lot of products and gave me some decent profit.

His name was Cassius, and he was a merchant who apparently had a bunch of shops in the largest city of the Moredall house… they were the neighbors on the West side of the Dawnshield house. The trip to Grenezi usually takes three days for him, but he still comes every time to buy for me, since he always has a different list of arrows and bolts with different types of enchantments.

"So, are you going to work for someone, or are you going to try to improve your craft somewhere else?"

I wrote down on a piece of paper feeling like sighing since I didn't have an answer to this question: I am going to travel around and look for a place with better materials. I tried to get some of the Elven ones, but they only sell to their usual clients.

"Yeah, they are that annoying… they don't care that much about money, even if offer them a mountain of it. Still, if you want to head to a dungeon with decent materials, you can come to ours."

I showed the man a piece of paper with the words: no thanks.

"Come on, we won't ask of you a contract or anything similar, but you can sell us your products with a discount, since we will grant you the chance to enter the dungeon freely."

I tried to recall the dungeon that he was talking about. If it was the one closest to their main city, then it was the one with battle classes. It wasn't within my plans to explore it. Even if I could pay some guards to enter, it was too risky to get too close to those houses.

In any case, I recalled that the Moredall house was famous for having the strongest army of archers. A good reason for it was their Draconic level labyrinth. A lot of good materials were found there for bows, arrows, and bolts.

They had wood golems as well, but they other many other types of monsters that served a better purpose in terms of materials… I didn't research the classes that could be obtained there, but I could ask, I was sure that Cassius would use everything in his power to convince me.

"You can hunt there for as long as you want and we won't force each side to do anything. By the way, you can make bows as well, right?"

I showed Cassius a paper with the word: Yes.

"Great, we had a good supplier of bows in the North, but we lost it in the last year for whatever reason. She said that she lost her best worker, but it was probably a lie."

He was probably talking about Ovelia… it was true. She didn't have that many workers for me to take pride in being at the top, after all. Regardless, the offer was good, but it looked like I would slow down my usual plans again. Still, given that a combat class was around three times better than an ordinary one, it seemed worth the hassle.

Apparently, Cassius took my silence as a refusal, so he let out a tired sigh. He couldn't see my thoughtful look since also my eyes were hidden behind the semi-dark glasses. Truth be told, I wanted to challenge myself again with a dungeon like that. I had trained a lot with my short swords last year, mainly because I needed a new identity, one not related to an archer. If I focused myself, I probably could reach the twentieth floor in less than a month and then I could work in that place for another month to repay Cassius for the help. 

Honestly, it was time to move on, take some risks, and forget what had happened before. I already had prepared the countermeasures if trouble arose and, as long as I kept my distance from others, I doubted that anything would actually happen.

I showed Cassius a paper with the words after writing in it for a while: I have some conditions. First, I will explore the dungeon alone, and if anyone connected with you or the lord of the area, then the deal is over. I can use the materials as I see fit, but I will sell four of them to you per day. If anyone causes trouble for me, I won't take responsibility for what happens.

"I know that you can fight, Fletcher, but the best materials are found deeper in the last section of the labyrinth. I know some skilled and quiet adventurers… even guards can help you stay alive in that part of the labyrinth."

I stayed silent and then Cassius sighed… he should have known by now when it comes to business is my way or the highway. I had to take full control over my life and that was the best way I could do such a thing, not leaving things to chance.

"All right, all right… geez, you are as ruthless as ever when it comes to business. Well then, pack your things. You can come with me."

I showed Cassius a paper with the words after writing in it for a while: I was going to ride my bicycle. In the meantime, you can negotiate with the people necessary. I don't want to deal with them.

"You could make a lot more money if you were a bit more sociable, you know. Very well, I will go ahead and will be waiting for you. Tomorrow, someone will come to take the keys of your shop."

I nodded and then Cassius left in his carriage. I stopped to think for a moment if this was the right call. As far as I was concerned, the merits outweighed the demerits, and I took the necessary precautions to avoid the most troublesome issues. There might be some unexpected things waiting for me ahead that will bother me, but the only thing that I can do is take my chances and learn from those annoying things.

In any case, the few things that I had to pack were easily stored in my magic bags. When morning came, my bike was already outside and the worker that Cassius had mentioned had arrived to receive the keys. He didn't look very pleased, and he didn't say anything. While a lot of people benefitted from my products, it didn't mean that it made me like them.

At the same time, I was pretty blunt when I was writing, so few people could read that and not feel annoyed. Regardless, while I called it a bicycle, it was more like a motorcycle with three wheels. I believed that I could ride well on most terrains with an ordinary one thanks to my dexterity, but I added two back wheels because I might want to use my hand crossbow while suddenly breaking. There was some room in the back too, in case I needed to transport something.

Everyone looked at me while I was leaving the city with suspicion. I looked like a beggar when I arrived, but now I was riding something similar to the new models of an automatic bicycle. That was how people called it…

I had planned to create a simple one at first, but then I got carried away and added all sorts of things that people couldn't see at first glance. The engine was small, and it wasn't potent, but it was good enough for my first prototype of a small combustion engine. The downside was that it consumed a mana core every five minutes, and it only moved at thirty kilometers per hour.

The engine had all sorts of enchantments as well, to produce the steam to make the motor work and make the gears rotate. At best, they could only last for a full month before needed to be replaced, but I used my gains to ask blacksmiths to make a bunch of copies of each part. 

"Perhaps I shouldn't improve this and then make something that can fly later… it will consume a shit ton of mana cores, though. I will call it… the Batglider."

Author's Notes: 

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