We had just left the auction house with a heavy pouch of gold after they had tried to cheat us. I half-expected it, but fifty percent? Thinking about it pissed me off all over again.
"Is the pouch going to be too heavy for him?" I asked Phildina as we neared the area's local Pegasus ranch.
"No, Timothy can handle it." She named her Pegasus Timothy? That's... interesting. Powerful Armored Knights stood guard at the entrance to the ranch, their imposing presence and heavy nces scaring off any would-be intruders. For a pce like this, it really was needed. There were crooks everywhere you looked and thieves like that guy roaming around the streets. Who's to say they won't try to steal a Pegasus?
One of the Knights asked for Phildina's ID, which they gave to people leaving their Pegasus in the ranch, and she showed it to them. They allowed her to enter but barred me from entering.
"I'm with her," I tried to expin, but they wouldn't budge on this.
"The rules are the rules. Only one person may enter," The knight answered.
"Sorry, Daphne, but you'll have to wait for me," Phildina added. I couldn't see his face because he was covered from head to toe in heavy armor, but I felt like he wore a nasty smirk behind that helmet. What a jerk, I thought as I waited for Phildina to arrive. On the bright side, I was standing right next to two Armored Knights. It was a safe pce to be, right? Wrong.
"Nice pouch you got there," A thug said to me with a twisted smile on his face. Before I knew it, more and more of them surrounded the area, probably sniffing out the gold like a pack of wild dogs. It was stupid of me to carry the pouch in pin sight, I admit, but really? Did they have any chance of beating these two Armored Knights? But maybe I was jumping to conclusions here. This area was home to dangerous crooks, so what's to say one of them didn't have a rapier equipped?
Weapons like rapiers and crooked-bded armor shredders dealt tremendous damage against armored csses. Still, this damage was rgely based on the unit's strength stat retive to the armored css's defense. So, whoever it is has to be particurly strong for their pn to work, I thought, but their focus was not on the knights. Stranger still, the Knights didn't seem interested either!
"Hey, a pure, innocent maiden is about to be attacked by a pack of thugs!" I turned to them and compined.
"What's that to us?" One of them replied, "If they're not trespassing, it's none of our business." My knees suddenly felt weak. This interaction reminded me of one of the cardinal rules of Everst Dynasty tactics: never count on uncertain variables. I mean, you could if you were after the thrill. I did so many times, too. Sometimes, I paid for it. Other times, I didn't, but it was generally agreed upon that 100 was better than 96. Ugh, I'm finished. I can't win against this many thugs. Not by myself, at least, I thought.
"Daphne!" Phildina swooped down from the skies atop her Pegasus and picked me up like a prince rescuing a princess. You truly are an angel! I thought to myself as a smile crept on my face. Now, I could win and potentially level up, but Phildina had other pns in mind.
"What are you doing? Shouldn't we fight them?"
"It's not worth the trouble," Phildina said with an exasperated look on her face. "We've gotten the gold, so it's time to leave!" She flew away at incredible speed, leaving them all in the dust, and that was how I missed a chance to level up. Oh, well, another time will come, I guess.
"That's not all there is to it, is it?" I asked, sensing there was something more to her decision.
"The Vengeful Lions are a gang you do not want to mess with. If we had killed one of their own, they would hunt us down relentlessly for revenge. Maybe we could handle it if we were stronger, but they have some beasts in their ranks that even I have no hope of winning against."
"R-really? Wow, thanks, then. We really dodged a bullet with that one."
"Bullet? What's that?"
"Oh, sorry, I meant to say arrow!" I ughed it off like it was nothing, but that was a close call. This world didn't have the same level of technology as mine, so they wouldn't know anything about guns, but... It did have stats, and the existence of stats created a massive disparity between combat and non-combat csses. As weak as I was, I could easily overwhelm Gustav, a merchant, because of my superior stats as an Archer. If I could do that, what would a level 100 css look like? I shuddered when I thought about it. One level 100 Sage could probably wipe out an entire army single-handedly, giving birth to a level-based tyranny that would rule the world.
The highest level csses would be rulers, kings, and emperors. They'd make all the ws and do whatever they wanted, and no one would be able to hold them accountable. To hold on to their power, they'd probably prevent adventurers from taking on missions to level up and gain power for themselves, but that was not happening, not to me, at least. Why? Because of the power of money!
The developers were smart and knew that with the amount of freedom they gave pyers, instances like these were likely to happen. High-level pyers could easily bully lower-level ones if there were no regutions in pce, so they implemented a monetary system that counteracted this level-based tyranny. It did this by giving pyers the option to buy the rights to hunting grounds. By doing so, you would become its exclusive owner, giving you ample time and EXP to level up unimpeded, and I truly meant that in every sense of the word. If anyone tried to break this rule and trespass on your grounds, they would receive a level reset penalty. It was a bit extreme, but it worked, as no one dared to trespass once they knew you bought the rights to your hunting grounds. There were probably other checks and bances in pce, but most pyers were familiar with this one.
I had enough money to buy the rights to a hunting ground with leftover change that would st us for months. Things were really starting to look up for me, and with this, I knew I could stand a fighting chance. It may have been naive of me, but I started to think that the game wasn't so unbeatable after all as we flew back to the town.
