A short test

Thanks to Corporal Keeshan jumping in the next second, Jay calmed down a bit and listened him. The loya man directly spat out the truth about the current situation and how they couldn't handle it themselves. They hadn't meant to trick him, but due to his plentiful successes, the two had seen Jay as something like a last hope before they had to beg their superiors.

Apparently the old fort had back then been taken by orcs in last War and still got occupied by them. All they knew was that the numbers were nowhere near to when it had been taken officially. But not one of the scouts they had sent did make it back alive, so they couldn't be sure.

The same applied to the close by tower and the docks there, so if Jay managed to free either or both of them as well, he'd get a nice big bonus.

When Solomon explained that they had tried to send some men there and never saw them again, Jay gave a vague answer that he might take a look there. Just at that moment, a new series of quest notifications appears in Jay's field of view.

On his way out of the town hall, Jay stated he would inform them and curtly said his farewell. Knowing he had screwed up this time, Keeshan nearly had been late to tell Jay that Brianna had inquired about him the night before, to what he still thanked the Corporal. He would have either way visited the inn, be it only to play picking his belongings, so he went there next.

Like always when he came back to the inn, Brianna asked him if he wanted some company before he left the town. Tempted to reply positively, Jay remembered the small woman waiting outside the town and had to decline.

Just as he wanted to go upstairs and fetch his "belongings", the innkeeper asked him to wait and shoved a note over.

____

Come to room No. 13

W.

____

Had there not been a small rhomboid sign in the lower right corner of the paper, Jay would have ignored the note on the spot. Still irritated not only by the note but the fact a room number 13 existed at all, Jay went up to the first floor and began to look for it. At the far end to the left he found it and without wait knocked on the door.

Careful and without even the slightest noise, a man opened the door just a small gap wide. After mustering Jay once, the completely black clothed man opened the door fully and stepped to the side to let him enter.

Not sure what to make of the situation, Jay stepped inside and the eye-patched man in black closed the door again.

"Sorry to resort to those measures, but I had to make sure not to blow my cover. Call me Wiley, Wiley the black…" W.

"Take it you're my contact to AI:7? Though I still think you're overreacting…" J.

"Maybe, but at least I don't get followed as I tour through town!" W.

"Talking 'bout the pretty redhead? Yeah I noticed her on my fist day here but thought it would be wise to keep her as carefree as possible. As I'm gonna leave for Stonewatch after this, it's no longer anything to worry about anyway…" J.

"Want me to take care of her?" W.

"No need to. If I'm right she's either gonna follow me or leave elsewhere. Whatever it is, like this we at least have a face to look out for." J.

"If you're aiming for Stonewatch, you should stop by at Althers Mill. I have an old acquaintance up there in the vicinity you might want to get in tough with. He had been with the last attack force on the tower a while back and might be of help." W.

"Sure, then how do I find him?" J.

"You'll know when you see him…" W.

Following those cryptic words, Jay said his goodbye and left for his own room. Even though he had been sure not to have gotten followed, he still checked his surroundings once again. The slight paranoia of Wiley seemed to have infected him.

Of course he found nothing and no three minutes later walked back down from his room that already had been empty.

After thanking Brianna once more and stating he'd come by if he'd ever be in the region again, Jay left the inn and some minutes later the town as well. On horseback he rode along the shore of the lake until he spotted a small human figure not far ahead, near a forking on the way.

Sira got a bit baffled by the huge black horse he rode, even more so when it suddenly vanished as Jay canceled the summon. While Jay had no plan of walking along the road, he had spotted a few Murlocs on the shore from horseback and had gotten an idea.

After inquiring if she could use any weapons other than throwing ones and her replying positively, though mentioning she was lacking the skills, Jay was even more sure he had to run his planned test.

He gave her a short-sword and a dagger from his inventory, though both looked sightly big on her, and then together with her got closer to the shore.

Fetching some poor bow for himself and aiming at the closest monsters leg, they engaged combat. As the small fish-like creature wobbled towards him with about sixty percent of it's health gone and once it was close enough, Jay asked Sira to take care of it.

She got stunned for a second but still managed to jump in on time and with two weak attacks finished the Murloc off.

Not really surprised by it, Jay got a share of the XP the monster wielded. Then he repeated the same thing two more times until he asked the already panting girl if she could defeat one of the Murlocs by herself. Not sure what her master wanted from her, Sira still replied with a "sure" and directly went to work.

Jay nearly jumped in as he saw how clumsy her attacks looked to him, but held himself back as this seemed to only be the difference by skill.

Even though it had appeared otherwise, Sira got out of it without a scratch and Jay his theory partially confirmed. He got a small share of Experience Points, though less than before.

Then they went to the last part of the first testing stage: Sira had to mostly kill off a monster and Jay killed it off at last second. The XP he gained was back to what they first got, all of it tested with monsters at the same Level.

Satisfied up to there, Jay invited Sira to form a party and had her accept. The small girl looked more confused the longer those "tests" continued but didn't dare to mention her doubts. She repeated exactly what she had done before and so Jay could compare the results.

They were exactly the same!

With this he went to the last step and for that dismissed the party. After opening her Status Screen via his system, Jay killed off one more Murloc – one of the last he could see there – and couldn't help but grin as he saw her getting quite a lot of XP from this.

With this he had learned that at least for his slaves, forming a party was not necessary to help them level up. They would gain the same amount of Experience Points either way and so would he.

The only difference was how the opponents got defeated:

If he killed them or took part in it, his bonus gains from his skills got applied whereas they were a lot less when Sira had killed the monster herself!

But there was one more thing Jay had noticed when he first looked at his slaves Status. Sira had leveled up to 21 and he was sure last night she still had been one Level lower. After a quick glance in his log and not having noticed anything even though he was quite perceptive, Jay was sure her level up had happened even before the testing.

Sira herself also hadn't noticed it, but was quite happy about it since she hadn't gained a level as long as she could remember. To her questioning him if he knew when and how, Jay remained silent even though he had an idea.

It was something he had to see to later.

Before they continued their trip, the two of them rested for a short while and ate a small lunch. While the scenery with defeated monsters surrounding them was not really appetizing, the still hot bowls Jay fetched from his inventory were.

Done with their snack, Jay once again startled Sira by summoning his horse, but in the end he pulled her up onto his lap and they continued their travel on horseback.

As they rode up towards Althers Mill along the cliff, Jay remembered the wild ride through Eldrin Forest with Lilly back then. Tempted to repeat it with the adorable green-skin sitting before him, he still managed to calm himself down again and refrain from it.

After an uneventful travel they arrived at the small woodworking settlement by afternoon. Instead of riding through it and greeting some known faces, Jay directly steered his horse south again.

As far as he had heard last time from some lumberjacks, there was a small hunting camp near the steep cliffs over there and somehow Jay had the feeling he would find his next contact there.

The camp consisted of only two tents and its three inhabitants already expected them once Jay and Sira stepped through the undergrowth. While one of them really looked like a seasoned hunter, the other two seemed more like rogues to him.

A short analyze was enough to confirm the fact that both actually had either the Thieve and Rogue Jobs respectively.

The Rogue called Aranthir looked at Jay with disdain to that as he had noticed it either because of his higher level or him being a Kal'dorian Elf.

Elves in general were said to have a better perception, though Jay didn't know any specifics about his race. Not even trying to hide what he had done from the even taller than him figure with pinkish skin, Jay walked over with a friendly smile.

"Who are you?" A.

"Sorry if we had disturbed you. Wiley thought you might be able to help us a bit…" J.

"I have no idea what you're talking about…" A.

"I'm Jay, working for the AI…" J.

"Shhh!" A.

"Then don't play dumb. I don't need to hide working for the kingdom, even more so out here in the wild!" J.

"Who knows if you are no impostor?" A.

"Dude, really? I bet you already got informed of me, right?" J.

"That should be of no concern for you. Also, I'm not going to help the kingdom but only a certain group.

We saw you use magic as you played around with your little sidekick at the shore. So YES, I do NOT trust you to really be part of them that easily." A.

Not able to hold a sigh back, Jay inquired how he could prove being a freelancer. A small surprise was Aranthir mentioning that he didn't help any agent, but only those following the teachings of their predecessors.

Though those lines were cryptic again, Jay understood their meaning directly.

When he asked the Elf how he was connected to the thieves guild the man got clearly surprised. He kept his mouth shut though and after pondering for a moment came up with an idea.

If Jay managed to find the old seal in the settlement, he would not only speak but help them as well.

Jay agreed without the need to think about it and left Sira with the men. It was more to show them his goodwill than to control them. At least he was pretty sure that if anything happened, his little slave girl would be fast enough to escape.

Remembering the Rogue's last words before Jay left the camp, he was to not get seen by any of the Woodworkers or the likes, Jay activated his [Hide] skill. Then he began his search for the "few boxes" that Aranthir had seemingly hidden all over the settlement. A minute later he spotted a small crate in the growing grass behind one of the shags.

To his own surprise, he didn't have much trouble picking the crates lock, though of course Jay internally cursed that this had nothing to do with "boxes".

Only due to [Analyze] showing them as "Aranthir's test-crate" did Jay even get the idea to open it.

The crate was empty!

Nearly screaming out and cursing the long eared bastard in his mind, Jay looked around to find another one of those "boxes". Just at this moment it dawned him what Aranthir had meant with "a few" of them.

Thanks to his extraordinary sight, Jay had directly spotted more than ten of them. After a round through the settlement, all while keeping hidden, Jay estimated there to be at least forty of those freaking chests hidden everywhere. As for how many more got placed inside the buildings, he didn't even want to guess…

Ten more picked locks later, Jay found what he had been looking for. While two other chests had held an intricate carved coin and a wooden figurine, he was sure the old cloth he then held in his hand was the thing he had to bring back.

The same rhomboid sign with a circle inside he had seen when he first met Shalina Ravencrest and lately on Wiley's note was painted onto it.

Thanking his high LUK for not having to go through all chests – his lock picks wouldn't nearly have sufficed – Jay went back to the small camp.

There was one small benefit though as his (Lock Picking) skill got a level up. When Jay reached the treeline close to Althers Mill he got already awaited by Aranthir and the other three.

The Elf looked a bit astonished at Jay who donned him the small piece of cloth he had brought. His demeanor seemed to make a 180 degree turn at this point when he joked that he Jay didn't need to break any previous record as Aranthir would have guarded his little girl from the other two even if he had taken some more time.

On their way back to the small camp, Jay learned that since ages the Elf used those crates as test for new aspirants and never had one been this fast. That was aside from the fact that he hadn't believed Jay would bring the right sign at all. Latter simply explained that it was the old sign of the thieves goddess he had seen numerous times at Niemira's statue or in the AI:7 throne room.

Nodding to the young man's words, Aranthir continued that he may not look like it, but he had been part of the long forgotten proud thieves guild and hoped that one day they might shine again. To that day, thieves were mostly associated to burglars and the likes by the common folks.

He seemed really downhearted while stating those lines, but all Jay could do was chime in with him.

As Jay had proven his skills and alignment, Aranthir had promised to not only help them, but to personally guide them to the docks and Stonewatch. He got even a little fired up when he heard the reason for going there, so Jay couldn't help but change his impression on the before snobby seeming man.

They arrived at the small camp in the woods while talking, but to Sira and Jay's surprise the hunter and Aranthir swiftly grabbed some baggage and proceeded towards the east. Noticing their guests confusion, the old hunter laughed hoarsely and then explained that they will leave to Lakeview, a small hunter settlement halfway to the docks.

They had to hurry as the trip there took some time and they had to arrive before sunset. As the settlement lay atop the cliff and they had to travel along it, the journey would have been to dangerous at night.

To Jay's surprise Aranthir and the hunter had horses, though when they offered him the third one he declined and summoned his own.

Like this they left on horseback, Jay together with Sira on his own as it was still faster and more secure this way.