I used my newly evolved [Adept Stealth] to tread lightly, hopefully not leaving an obvious trail of footprints from the site of my lost equipment to the exit. It also slipped in some information on how to tweak my gait and mannerisms. A way to rumple up my hair, just enough that I would be less recognisable to anyone who saw me from a distance.

  I'd pulled far enough away from the boss that it had stopped chasing me. Maybe it had de-spawned entirely, if that was a thing monsters did. Having the boss on my tail would have rendered any attempts at stealth useless. As it was, the exit was fairly busy with people leaving. Getting out unseen would be a struggle.

  Spending yet more skill points once again left me with a splitting headache and the urge to throw up, but it had been long enough since buying the earlier evolution that I could withstand it. It was tempting to push it even higher, but as many skill points as I had, they weren't limitless, and C rank skills cost two points per stage. I was about to go on the run with nothing whatsoever except the clothes on my back and the few [Farming] crystals I'd shoved in a pocket. [Fishing] may well turn out to be a lifesaver, so I wanted to keep some points back for it.

  This was a beginners' dungeon. Surely the sort of people who hung around here wouldn't have high Stats or powerful detection Skills? [Expert Stealth] would presumably negate rank E or D detection, if it worked in the way I'd been taught Skills tended to work, and it might bend reality very slightly, causing people to overlook details they might otherwise notice, but it still wouldn't make me literally invisible—it took skills of rank B or above to step completely outside the realm of what was humanly possible. It did, however, grant me the knowledge to make a few small adjustments to the lay of my shirt. How to smear a bit of dirt over my face to mask my features. How to rub a bit of grass into my hair to subtly change the colour. How to stand to make myself look a little taller and older. My evolved Skill informed me that I'd withstand a casual inspection even from quite close up, as long as the inspector didn't actually know me.

  Even at rank E, it had also informed me that far and away the most important thing was that I looked confident. Sneaking was helpful if it prevented people seeing you at all, but if you had to walk straight past people, looking furtive made certain they'd notice you.

  And so I walked out of the dungeon, head held high.

  Given the time of night, there was a steady stream of people heading out, mostly villagers who'd popped over for some extra experience after work, and were on their way back, but there were a party of young adventurers standing at the doorway to the entrance cave. They peered at me appraisingly as I approached.

  "On your own?" asked one.

  "Yup, why?" I asked, feigning curiosity.

  "Without a weapon?" he continued, ignoring my counter-question.

  I tapped on a nondescript bulge at my waist where I'd stashed my [Farming] crystals. They went clink in response. Covered by my shirt, it was plausible I was hiding a weapon of some sort there. I didn't need [Expert Stealth] to tell me that being seen unarmed in a dungeon would be suspicious, so I'd been prepared to give that answer..

  "Again, why?" I asked.

  "Some serf stole a spear," answered the adventurer, and my heart fell. I'd been hoping that despite my suspicions, I was simply being paranoid. But no, John really had set me up.

  I probably couldn't get away with stabbing him on the way out, alas.

  "Weird thing to do," I said. "Were they that desperate to hunt rabbits?"

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  "Who knows?" shrugged the adventurer. "The guy he stole the spear from said something about him insisting on fighting the dungeon's boss."

  "Oh well. Hope you find them, and I'll keep my eyes out," I said, and then walked straight past. None of them stopped me.

  John was still there, and the bloody traitor was asleep. After setting me up, he'd curled up on a mat against a wall, blanket thrown over him. The audacity was breathtaking, but again, stabbing him would be detrimental to my future, so for now I had to let him go.

  If I ever gained the power to stop worrying about little things like barons and their armies, though, I was damn well going to come back to express my displeasure directly to his face. Preferably by means of a spear, to maximise the irony.

  Instead, I hurried up the stairs and back out into the camp above.

  Wow, that was a lot of experience. Even including the time spent disguising myself, it was a faster rate than killing horned rabbits. Although, given that spending skill points on skills increased the experience they granted, and I'd boosted [Stealth] all the way to rank C, perhaps it was expected. I didn't know exactly what evolving Skills did to the experience gain.

  The camp looked no different from the last time I'd been there, with no sign of anyone looking for me, so I took the time to sell my few [Farming] crystals. Frankly, I needed the money. Having lost my sack, I had nothing on me whatsoever. I could buy food, but fifteen coppers would only last me a couple of days. Rather, I needed the ability to get my own food. Again, fifteen coppers wouldn't get me much, but I was at least hoping for a good knife. Something that would let me whittle wood to make other tools and dress any animals or fish I managed to catch.

  Alas, while the camp did have someone with knives among his wares—such things being considered tools, rather than weapons—when I asked what I could get for fifteen coppers, he merely laughed.

  "Fifteen coppers? I could sell you a simple blade for fifty, but if you want a good one, you're looking at a couple of silver."

  "Really? I can't get any sort of knife at all?"

  "No, none. I'm not a charity, kid, so buzz off."

  Drat. If I wandered off into the wilds alone and with no tools, I'd starve in days. What else could I do? [Expert Stealth] whispered to me about how inattentive the merchant was being, and how easy it would be to simply take a knife from his store. Maybe more than a knife; I'd been restricting myself to that simply because of the lack of money, but with a one hundred percent discount, there were many things that would be useful for survival.

  I stamped down on the thought. Even if people thought I was a criminal, I had no intention of actually becoming one.

  Another option was to return to the dungeon and harvest more skill crystals to sell. I wasn't sure if the boss would reappear, though, and besides, hanging around here when people were after me would be the heights of stupidity. I needed to be long gone before Tristan returned, because unlike most people around here, he wasn't low level, and given his job he probably had Skills that could pierce [Expert Stealth]. Given John's social status, his word would always be taken over my own.

  But there was no point in getting away if I just starved to death in the wilds somewhere.

  I had [Fishing], but that was little use without a rod or other suitable equipment. I could evolve it, and maybe the reality-bending effects of Skills would attract fish to me, but even at rank C I couldn't imagine it letting me catch them with bare hands. I had [Farming], but I hardly had time to wait for crops to mature. Maybe there was another type of skill crystal that could help? I had [Cooking], but that was useless without anything to cook. What other Skills had people mentioned, back in the village? [Hunting] existed, but again, it would be reliant on equipment. What about [Foraging]?

  "You again?" asked the official who dealt with skill crystals. "Didn't you sell everything already?"

  "Actually, I'm interested in buying this time. Do you have [Foraging]?"

  The man raised a quizzical eyebrow. "What do you want something like that for?"

  "Have you ever tried cultivating mushrooms, even with [Expert Farming]?" I answered, knowing full well that anyone wearing such fancy clothes bloody well hadn't.

  "No," he confirmed. "Huh. I guess I've never really thought about it. That explains why they cost so much. In that case, yes I do have one, and it'll be fifteen coppers."

  "The exact amount that I sold my [Farming] crystals for?"

  "It should be twenty. I'm giving you a discount for doing your part to keep the taste of my meals up to standards."

  I peered suspiciously, unsure if that response was serious or sarcasm, but I handed over all my money anyway.

  "Are you okay?" asked the official as the crystal crumbled.

  "Yeah. Spending skill points always makes me feel a bit sick," I answered, refraining from adding the reason for that was that most of the skill points had been spent over the previous twenty-four hours. It was bad enough that I didn't want to put any more into [Foraging] immediately, but even at the first stage, it was enough to let me know that at this time of year, any nearby forest would have more than enough food for me to survive. A few more points tomorrow would let me find it efficiently enough to travel, rather than merely survive. It was a pity I hadn't seen any maps of the area, but there was a patch of trees visible on the route between home and here. I could head there to start.

  ... Winter was a different story, though. Even if I evolved the skill, I could already tell that I wouldn't be able to forage my way through winter. I had a time limit of a couple of months before things became a problem. If I was lucky, the forest would extend into the next canton, and I could use it to begin my escape. If not, I'd need to find some other way to cross. Hopefully, I could find something over there that would last the winter. Another E-rank dungeon, or maybe even a village if I could come up with a good excuse for why I was turning up alone.

  Once again relying on [Expert Stealth] to not appear suspicious—no-one up here was looking for me right now, but when people started asking questions later, I'd prefer them not to remember me—I left the camp at a brisk walking pace, heading for the forest.