Gem appears about a half inch off the ground, the slight drop almost causing them to stumble into a pile of trash. A quick look around reveals their location to be some kind of back alley. And boy howdy, did it stink!

  They skedaddled out of there right quick. Though not just because of the smell. Rather, given the warning, they figure they have a limited time before they’re found and so wanted to be somewhere more crowded and witness filled.

  That isn’t hard to find as just a few streets over was a market. There is also a handful of silver in their pocket, which hadn’t been there before they put on the cargo shorts. They had heard about this online, but for a person’s inventory to be accessible only through clothing and equipment was an interesting quirk.

  Gem nods, first thing’s first, they need an inn so they can check their status in peace. Because another “interesting” quirk of SoulDive was that system screens are viewable by anyone close by. About the only limit is that you can’t use an outside assist to view it from a long distance. So no spying with a spygss.

  One inn room for the night, rented ter and they are ready to see how random had panned out for them.

  {

  Name: Gem Paroxysm

  Species: ChaosKin (Chaos)

  Level: 1

  Stats

  Body: BMana: S+Stamina: CResistances

  Air: S}

  Gem can’t help but ugh. “So that’s what the ck of chains was about!”

  They had lucked out and received an alignment locked species right from the start. And their stats aren’t too bad either, with Mana at the cap for their level. Though it is the top rank air resistance that really puts the cherry on top!

  Sure, this is only at a top rank resistance for a level one character, but when most people don’t get any resistances until level ten and then, only from fear? Gem wasn’t going to scoff, no way, no how! Just having it gave enough advantages as it was.

  Now they only had to deal with the next bottleneck. Not in advancement or py, but as in the more traditional traffic bottleneck. They are going to have to get their starter kit.

  Gem gnced out the window of their inn room and hissed, their fur standing up on end, tail out straight. They had found them. It was inevitable, but the multiple guild recruiters standing out in the open could only mean there were ten times more hidden in the shadows.

  And they noticed them. How could they not? Gem might have had an innate resistance at level 1, but they didn’t have a single skill yet. That would come with the starting gear. How to avoid this?

  Well, Gem couldn’t avoid it, at least not forever, but put off the confrontation until they had gotten on their road to power. Gem double checked their room, but there was nothing. That is to be expected, so they went down to the common room.

  There are a couple of recruiters arguing with each other. Because of course there was. And the fact they are the only visible recruiters in the common room meant these aren’t people Gem could mess with. Good thing those idiots seemed to be in charge because they’re important instead of skilled.

  Unnoticed, Gem ducks back into the hallway. In theory, it should be safe as only those with a room are allowed in the back. However, only a fool would assume any free rooms are no longer free.

  Gem looks around, a bit more panicked this time. They don’t honestly care about those idiots and they do understand why it is happening. Anyone that starts with an alignment locked in has become special for some reason or another. That is, if they kept pying that character.

  Gem’s lips curl back as the hair down their spine bristles, they were cornered! And maybe it was their imagination, but it felt like their fangs had extended by a little. Then again, they had also imagined that sort of thing as a kid. For a while, they had even believed that their incisors were unnaturally sharp.

  The incisors were, in fact, not extra sharp. Well, not beyond being retively new teeth, not having been worn down with time. Still, it was a fun little way to think they were different as a kid. You know, instead of having been different in more medical terms.

  Gem crouched down and looked for a way out. It isn’t like this inn is watertight. Wait!

  Over there, a door, but a room wouldn’t fit behind said door. Did the door lead to the basement? Gem slinked over and gave the handle a turn. The door opened without a sound to reveal stairs going down.

  It wasn’t a basement though, likely serving as a way to get goods in without leading directly to the store room. Gem frowned, not going to stay at this inn again. Thieves must love the pce, getting a shortcut to the guest rooms.

  Gem walked down the stairs and yes, there is a celr door that would lead outside going by the light through the cracks. An eye to one of the bigger cracks showed the door led to an alley simir to the one they had appeared in. However, this door was locked. From this side though, so Gem is able to easily get out and being kind they relocked it behind them. Not like Gem was going back in that way.

  The alley wasn’t completely clear of people, but the doors let out behind a prodigious trash pile. Yeah, definitely not going to stay at this inn again. Gem took stock of the area, there is an alley that led into this one at a right angle only a few paces away.

  If they dashed, this certainly would have attracted attention. Gem crouched down in the shadows and this time it isn’t their imagination. Their fur darkened and became dappled, breaking up the humanoid shape.

  Gem slunk between the trash piles, making it to the alley. From there, they managed to navigate through the alleys until finding an outlet near where Gem wanted to go. The training hall. Even better, they couldn’t see any obvious spotters.

  Akhier