Chapter 71 (1/2)

Tessa knew that she was going to be late, but it was only partially on purpose; she had told Randidly a slightly later time so she could stop by a friends place and borrow some makeup and jewelry. But she hadn’t accounted for the absolute swarms of people rushing around excitedly, setting up into a place by one of the many viewing screens that the city was setting up, at its own expense, for free viewing.

The concert was relatively expensive in terms of obtaining tickets, and Tessa herself had been straining for the past two weeks, working double shifts every day, just to be able to afford one. Buying two would have effectively put her down to zero resources, meaning she would have to work before she could eat, but for Randidly she would have....

Either way, Randidly had casually obtained two tickets, and backstage passes at that, leaving her shocked. With the money that she had saved, she had gone shopping, acquiring a cute white sundress covered in blooming pink lilies.

When she arrived, Randidly didn’t seemed worried, or rushed. He just seemed focused, his eyes following the hundreds of people that surged excitedly passed, talking and shouting.

“Hey Randidly-” But then Tessa froze, looking him up and down.

For some strange reason, he was covered in dirt. And smelled like he had been on fire. She had thought it strange that he was wearing furs, but had supposed that was just a part of living outside the city. But now, with the furs looking crispy and matted, she couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose. He also wasn’t wearing shoes.

“You….” Tessa struggled to find words to explain to him what was wrong. Sensing her gaze, Randidly looked down at himself, and then chuckled.

“...I didn’t even realize. Yea, this probably isn’t good apparel for a concert,”

Tessa was flummoxed, and then said hesitantly. “...there are bath houses that can clean you up at, but… obtaining new clothes at this hour…”

Now was Randidly’s turn to look uncomfortable. “I… Have other clothes. But they are just a bit….”

“Oh, that’s perfect then. The bathhouse’s does cost some tokens, but I can-”

Randidly held out a hand, which was filled with a dozen tokens, what Tessa would take almost a week to earn. “Is this enough?”

She just looked at him, her mouth hanging open.

****

Breathing heavily, Decklan stood over the cooling corpse of the Tier I Raid Boss, this one a centaur creature that had used a bow. In a frontal confrontation, he was probably extremely hard to deal with, as he and his minions fled from you while shooting arrows towards pursuers.

But for Decklan’s squad, that specialized in assassinations and quick attacks…

The Raid boss had been blasted and sliced up so many ways that it had died with its face locked into a confused expression, barely understanding what had happened to it. While the rest of his crew cut through the few enemies that he had spawned from the Raid Boss before they arrived, Decklan reveled in his stats, boosted by his recent position as Raid Boss Hunter.

Decklan Hyde

Class: Killer

Level: 25

Health(/R per hour): 198/319 (98.5)

Mana(/R per hour): 22/90 (19)

Stam(/R per min): 53/205 (33)

Vit: 25

End: 29

Str: 31

Agi: 73

Perception: 33

Reaction: 39

Resistance: 22

Willpower: 19

Inteligence: 15

Wisdom: 14

Control: 23

Focus: 9

Skills: Sneak Lvl 29, Slash Lvl 27, Dagger Mastery Lvl 25, Backstab Lvl 30, Feint Lvl 17, Dual Wielding Mastery Lvl 24, Sidestep Lvl 28, Decapitate Lvl 23, Shadow Strike Lvl 14,  Obscuring Mist Lvl 8, Sneak Attack Lvl 19, Tracking Lvl 11, Foraging Lvl 9

Luckily his recent killer bonuses had gone to Vit and End, which boosted his survivability and let him focus his stat gains on Agility, Perception, and Reaction.

Unfortunately, he only had two more non-class skill slots remaining due to his class limitations. But he was currently very pleased overall with his kit. Obscuring Mist was his one mana usage, summoning just a little bit of cover for him to approach. Then he chained Backstab, Shadow Strike, and Sneak Attack into rapidly rip through the Raid Boss’s health.

His two direct subordinates, Terra and Ivan, walked up to him, Ivan licking blood off of his knife. Ivan was Decklan’s direct disciple, using a mentor stone to take the Killer class from him. Meanwhile, Terra had obtained the strange class Juggler, which made her a magic based speed class.

She was his…

Decklan frowned. She was his…

“What is it?” Ivan asked lazily. “Another Raid Boss spawn?”

“We shouldn’t go after it. We need to refill most of our potions. Our healer is exhausted.” Terra said, sparing Ivan a glance. He simply snorted. They had settled into an adversarial role, but both of them respected the other’s strength to much to take it too seriously.

“No… We are heading back. The full Council is being called. We… are finally heading after a dungeon.” Decklan looked up at the sky.