Chapter 19 Self Assessment  

The Legion office was more of a tavern than a formal building. A dozen men in legionnaire armor ate at the tables. Another dozen men and women in civilian clothing were eating food and drinking. I could tell most were legion by their well-muscled bodies in the more comfortable clothing. This city was much larger than any city I had been to date, so the two dozen legionaries inside should not have been a surprise.

I followed my mates to the bar, and Firth ordered four ales and paid for them. He handed us each one and took two for himself as we went and sat at a table. We got a few looks, but no one talked to us. I asked Firth, “So what do we do now?”

“After we finish these,” he held up his two mugs, “I will go shower, hit the local brothel, and then I will check for messages from Castille.”

He sipped on his ale, and I was a bit speechless. It seemed like we should have checked for messages first. I asked, “Can I head out and check out the city?”

Wylie said, “No problem. Be back here in four hours. You might want to shower first. You do not realize how much you reek. You smell like shit, horses, and sweat.” He pointed down a hallway, “Showers are that way. They will wash your clothes and treat your leather armor.”

Firth said seriously, “Don’t run off, Eryk. It will not take long for the Legion Hounds to track you down. The punishment is always a public death.” With that wonderful news, Firth was off to the showers. I followed slowly and stripped in front of a boy who put all my things in a box with the number forty-four on it.

He bowed, “Your items will be ready in two hours, legionnaire. You didn’t take your coin pouch,” he pointed at it. It was empty, but I unclipped it anyway and carried it with me. I guessed he did not want anyone questioning missing coins. There was a cold shower to scrub the dirt off to start, then a hot soaking pool, and then you finished with a scented oil rub. I didn’t spend much time in the hot soak even though it felt good because I was anxious to get into the city. I also found it odd to sit in a pool with half a dozen other naked men. They were all familiar with each other and in a deep conversation about methods to fight a hill giant.

After the soak, I dried, and there were three scented oils to choose from—lavender, honeysuckle, and coconut. I went with the honeysuckle. I had not seen Firth, so he must have raced through to baths to get to the brothel. My clothes were not ready, and I only had access to a linen robe while I waited.

I went into a closet, pulled out my simple clothes from my space, filled my coin pouch with my gold and silver, and went out the back door. I walked to the streets, and after two questions, I was headed toward the trade district. My pouch bulged under my pants, and I always kept my hand near it, mindful of thieves.

The city reminded me of something akin to an open market with rows of tents selling everything under the sun. What I really wanted was an essence collector or a stat assessment tablet. I asked and was directed to a small elaborate fountain in a cul de sac. The cul de sac didn’t have tents but actual shops, magic shops. The security was higher, and maybe a dozen city guards milled around the fountain. I had only seen sporadic pairs of city guards in the general market, so the fourteen here showed how important the cul de sac was.

I entered the bookstore first. A few patrons were browsing the shelves, and a middle-aged woman with a distracting mole on her chin asked me, “Can I help you?”

It was hard not to focus on the hairy mole, but I met her dull-brown eyes and asked, “I am looking for a book to teach my niece to read. She just started and needs something intermediate.” She beamed at me, thinking I was helping a young girl.

“I have a few things, although you might want to try one of the general stands in the market as well,” she said as she motioned me to follow.

She pulled out three books she thought were reasonably straightforward to teach a person to read. I negotiated the price to ten silver from thirteen as all the books were old and worn. One book was the history of the Telhian Empire for kids. The second was children’s stories of brave men and women of the Adventurer’s Guild fighting the orc hordes. The third book was an actual dictionary. I just needed to practice my reading of Latin. I thanked the woman and moved back to the fountain. I would have purchased a book on magic, but that would have cost too much gold.

I tried asking one of the guards if anyone sold essence collectors. He curtly responded, “You can only buy them from the Empire shops. Their sale is highly regulated.” I apologized as I backed away, not realizing a collector was that difficult to obtain. I suppose if you could use one on a live person to collect essence, then the restrictions made sense.

I considered getting my dungeon amulet appraised, but I might draw attention to myself if it was exceptionally valuable. Instead, I was able to find a tablet reader to rent in private. I could go into a room, activate the tablet myself, and see how much I had developed. I was more interested in getting my magic affinities assessed.

Tablet readers were apparently expensive to purchase and even to just rent. I paid an entire gold to access a stat and magic affinity tablet. I did both so as to not be too suspicious. My physical, mental, and magical stat reading went incredibly well.

Physical

Mental

Magical

Strength (+2/+0)

/79

Intellect (+3/+0)

/54

Aether Pool (+2/+0)

/22

Power (+2/+0)

/82

Reasoning (+4/+0)

/59

Channeling (+4/+0)

/55

Quickness (+3/+0)

/49

Perception (+2/+0)

/60

Aether Shaping (+2/+0)

/8

Dexterity (+5/+3)

/59

Insight (+3/+0)

/49

Aether Tolerance (+1/+0)

/50

Endurance (+10/+8)

/95

Resilience (+1/+0)

/71

Aether Resistance (+1/+0)

/19

Constitution (+4/+0)

/65

Empathy (+1/+0)

/21

Prime Aether Affinity

Space

Coordination (+2/+0)

/61

Fortitude (+4/+0)

/89

Minor Aether Affinity

Time