Jake didn’t find it in a jiffy. In fact, he didn’t find it at all. In his defense, though, he wasn’t really looking that hard. He was walking the city and checking different things out instead. The number of shops was insane, but even more insane was the average level of the people around here. It was quite a bit higher than he would have expected.He saw many above 50, and even a good number above 60 managing the shops. Even more impressive were some of the people looking to be more combat-oriented, where he noticed a few around level 80. A strong party like them could likely escape a weak D-grade alive, making them quite respectable. Granted, they would still get fucked up by a single decent D-grade, but at least they were working hard.Failing to hold back his curiosity, Jake checked out a few more shops. Some sold equipment, and some sold small, interesting baubles. Other places had more regular clothes or food, making it seem more like a normal city. The clash of a large shopping

Message received, over," Jake responded mentally to Miranda. He turned to Chris, who was standing with him before an overly gaudy statue made of what looked like gold. "Another merchant god? How many damn merchant gods are there?""Finally, I was beginning to think the skill didn’t work…” Miranda said through the odd telepathic connection, which seemed to have a hint of karmic magic. “Anyway, hey, Jake, I evolved to D-grade and upgraded my profession, which got me a skill to contact you through some formation for communication. I was lucky I had the ingredients required on hand. It isn’t cheap, but I wanted to test out if it worked.”"For some reason, there seems to be a buttload of gods who do trade and money stuff,” Chris said to Jake. “I heard from some people it has something to do with faith, but I’m not sure. All I know is that, yeah, there are so many. Maybe it’s because they’re more into investing in young talents? That’s business-like, right?"Holding two conversations at onc

Hm, should I go for human-form Villy looking silly?Jake thought as he considered his options while waiting for the two men to wake up. Nah, that would be boring. Small snake eating a mushroom? That could be funny. Oh, what if I added a plaque below saying ‘danger noodle’? Yeah, that could totally be funny.His hands were weaving different figures of stable arcane mana as he tried out a few shapes he thought could be funny.After fifteen minutes, Chris woke up. Felix was still out, as it seemed like being possessed by that god had done a number on him. Without the healing potion, he would have certainly died. Again, that Eternal Servant guy was a major asshole."What happened?" Chris asked as he woke up. He didn’t try to stand up right away, but stayed on the ground as he rubbed his head."Felix got possessed by a god, and the aura knocked you out. I heard that can happen, so no reason to feel bad about it," Jake explained."Oh…" Chris answered. He sighed, sat up, and stared at the fl

It had been a while since the last time he used Touch of the Malefic Viper on an item to transmute it. The last item he had transformed was his bow. Actually, that one could have gone better. Sure, the bow had gotten better overall, but the change from Windsoar Bow to Windsorrow Bow made him feel a bit like a baddie.Before he began the process, he took out the notes Arnold had made on the gloves and read them over. It was a meticulous list of how they had been crafted. What items had been used, what methods had been applied, and which people had been involved.Jake skimmed it mainly for fun, but had to stop as he saw the sheer amount of ingredients that had gone into them. Three different types of spider silk, a couple of uncommon- or rare-rarity metals turned to dust and sprinkled in, crystals containing mana, and even a Beastcore from a D-grade beast.And that was just for the gloves themselves before Arnold really went HAM.After that, Arnold had infused it with some filtered vers

When Jake had asked if the hawk called Sylphie could join them, Miranda had naturally just agreed. Why would she not? It looked cute, and it could sit and listen in when they talked. However… she hadn’t expected it to also eat with them. Alright, even if it would eat with them, it would just get some meat or something and sit off to the side. That would make sense to her. The current situation didn’t.Jake cut off a slice of meat and ate it, having nice table manners. Miranda did the same, as she used her cutlery. The hawk too.A third plate was at the table, and in front of it, a hawk sat on its butt. The cutlery was glowing green as it imitated her and Jake, cutting off small slices of meat and bringing them to its open beak. The hawk even made chewing movements, despite Miranda being absolutely certain birds didn’t need to chew food.Well, by now, Miranda knew she should really just call the hawk “she”… Jake talked to her like a person, and the hawk did act remarkably human. Mirand