The Insider System

Chapter 13: Boring Cart Travel

Lake decided to go for the tragic background, it would make anyone feel bad for asking about it and shut down any further questions. Putting on a sad face, Lake said, "I'm not really sure, my village was destroyed when I was a kid. I only came here because I heard your village had a corn festival like mine did."

Lake could feel the awkward silence and knew it worked. He smiled on the inside as the ride was quiet for nearly 40 minutes before anyone said anything. "We'll be there soon." Everyone looked relieved, sitting in the cart had been very awkward since Dan had asked Lake where he was from. One of the men who had not introduced himself yet said, " We made good time today. We might be the first cart through the gate." Lake wanted to ask about the gate but decided to just wait because everyone would think it was okay to start talking to him again if it looked like he was over what happened earlier, and he was right to wait because a few minutes later they had come to a stop.

Dan nudged him and said, " Look outside and tell us if there is anyone in front of us." Sticking his head out, Lake saw a massive wall Lake guessed it was 200 ft. tall but he really had no idea. After taking in the wall lake did what he had been asked and looked to see if anyone was in front of them, seeing no one he put his head back inside and said, " We're the first in line. But why are we going in there to hunt? surely it would be faster to go somewhere else."

Dan spoke up to answer " The forest we're going to is next to a town with a lot of fighters and adventures, so the forest is usually pretty clear of monsters. It's safer to go here even though it's a little further."

This made sense, Lake wouldn't want to run into monsters if he was just trying to get food either; this sounded like a good place to go for now. Soon he would want to go somewhere with a lot of monsters to level up faster, but not yet. Last night he had done some math and found he had stats equivalent to someone with a level 10 job, only his stats were more spread out. He wasn't sure how strong that made him but once he found a good source of Exp it wouldn't be long before he started to surpass regular people. Each level of Thief was like five of a normal job, and with the Exp multipliers it wouldn't take long.

Thinking of this, made Lake think about what allowed the past holders to change the system like they did. Looking at the only mission he currently had Lake realized the writing was gold which meant it was probably related to the insider, the only problem was he had to level a job other than thief to 10 so he could join, unless there was some sort of criminal guild but how would he find them.

Lake guessed criminals needed a way to switch jobs to, so somewhere there had to be some underground guilds. Thinking this made Lake realize why one of the pass holders had made it possible to switch jobs anytime, there was probably a way to tell if someone had a criminal job where people switched jobs. " The gate's opening!" Lake heard Stan call out and a few seconds Later the cart started moving slowly and then came to a stop again. " Looks like the guards are checking for someone again."

After Dan said this, Lake saw the sheet on the back of the cart be pulled open, and a guard holding a wanted poster look inside. While the guard was studying everyone's faces, Lake tried his best to get a good look at the poster. If Lake ever saw the guy he could mark them and possibly follow them to a secret guild, it was hopeful thinking but better than nothing.

Memorizing the name Nat Green, Lake moved on to the face. It was pretty easy to remember because the guy had an odd scar on his lip, Lake guessed from being punched. Lake hoped to be Lucky enough to run into this guy in the future. " What's this one wanted for?" Asked the woman Dan had called Mandy, " Murder and theft, he's the prime suspect for a crime in the capital. Alright Stan, you can go." Said the guard as he left. nove(l)bi(n.)com

Feeling the cart start to move Lake thought about murder and wondered if there was a job associated with it, maybe like killer or assassin, Lake had been wondering if Thief was the only job that had been tampered with. He would put his money on that it wasn't; if he had any that was. Turning to Dan, Lake asked, "How much longer till we get to the forest?" " Less than 10 minutes we'll be there soon." Lake was getting antsy, he wanted to get stronger so he could unravel some of the mysteries surrounding The Insider.