Marcus looked at the forest sector contracts. Read the details properly.
Three postings. Forty, forty five, and fifty coins respectively. One hundred and thirty five total if they completed all three.
He took all three off the board.
Corvan watched him anxiously "Multitasking already?".
"Bye. Thanks for the help." Liz offered it genuinely while ignoring he's statement as they turned to leave.
They were heading toward the exit when a voice came from a corner table they hadn't noticed before.
Not loud. Just present in a way that cut through the general noise of the room more effectively than volume would have.
"The eastern sector contracts have a Tier 2 Brute cluster near the second harvest marker. The posting doesn't mention it because the coalition assessment is two weeks old."
A woman sat alone at the corner table with a cup in front of her that had gone cold from neglect. Dark clothing, unremarkable at first glance, with the kind of stillness that came from someone who had learned to take up as little space as possible and had been doing it long enough that it had become natural.
Her eyes when they found Marcus were sharp in a way that her posture didn't advertise.
"Sable," Liz muttered, remembering her from a previous conversation she had with someone that she was talking to".
The woman looked at Liz with mild surprise, the expression of someone not accustomed to being recognized.
"The Brute cluster," Marcus said. "How recent is that information."
'Sounds like a fast level up and quick cash opportunity don't come once they say'
"This morning," Sable said. "I came back from the sector two hours ago."
Marcus looked at the three contracts in his hand.
Then at Sable.
"You available for a stroll."
She felt mysterious but atleast sound useful for now.
She looked at him for a moment. Something moved behind her eyes that wasn't quite agreement and wasn't quite refusal.
"Depends on the terms,"
"Equal split on the contracts," Hie does that sounds. "You provide the sector intelligence. We handle the heavy work."
He had the ick she might lead him to something more promising even if he needed money badly.
Sable picked up her cold cup and looked at it and set it back down.
"Fine," she said and stood.
Renn appeared from somewhere behind Marcus like he had been waiting for exactly this moment.
"I heard equal split," He buzzed in the conversation . "I'm in."
Marcus looked at him with disdain.
"Buzz off pal Nobody invited you,".
"You didn't uninvite me either," Renn said. "Which in my experience means yes."
Liz pressed her lips together against something wanting to spill words but decided to keep chill.
Marcus turned and walked toward the exit.
"Suit yourself. But you're not with me." Over his shoulder. Already moving.
He left with Liz in order, pace steady, not looking back.
A beat of silence in the guild hall.
Then Renn grabbed his sword belt off the table and followed.
Sable picked up her coat and followed.
Corvan watched them all leave with the expression of someone watching a prediction come true ahead of schedule.
*******
The eastern forest sector sat twenty minutes outside the city walls on foot, less on horseback, a stretch of dense woodland that the city used as a buffer zone between its walls and the open territory beyond. The creature density inside it was consistent enough that the guild posted regular culling contracts there and experienced enough that the creatures inside it had learned to be aggressive toward anything that entered with a weapon.
Marcus, Liz, and Sable were ten minutes down the road when they heard footsteps behind them.
Heavy ones. Familiar ones.
Marcus did not turn around.
"Where is your party," he said.
Renn fell into step beside him with the easy confidence of someone who had decided the answer to that question was not relevant to the current situation.
"Between contracts,".
"So you followed us?." Rin replied in a oddly calm and harsh tone.
"I prefer accompanied." He looked at the sword at Marcus's hip and the general state of their equipment and the three contracts Marcus was carrying and did the math with the particular speed of someone who had been doing similar math for two years.
"You're not getting paid," Marcus replied distastefully.
"Neither are you getting a cut. She's here because her information is worth the company. You're here because you won't go away."
Renn put a hand to his chest like he'd been wounded.
"That's harsh."
"Do we look like your babysitters?."
"Fine." Renn shrugged with the ease of someone who had expected this outcome and had already moved past it. "No pay. But you're buying me a drink after. Two actually. I want to see how a two man guild handles their first contracts." He glanced at Sable. "Three if you count her."
"Then two drinks and dinner," Renn said.
Marcus ignored and kept walking.
A notification appeared in the corner of his vision, quiet and unprompted, the system offering something he hadn't asked for.
[PARTY SYSTEM: ACTIVE]
[PARTY MEMBER DETECTED: LIZ]
[VIEW STATS? YES / NO]
Marcus selected yes out of curiosity.
[LIZ]
[CLASS: BLADECASTER]
[LEVEL: 20 / 100]
[HP: 100 / 100]
[MP: 100 / 120]
He stared at the MP cap.
120 total. Higher than his own base cap of 100.
Does that mean there are ways to increase the MP cap. The thought landed and stayed. If hers is naturally higher than mine then the cap isn't fixed. It can be pushed. The question is how.
He read the class name again.
Bladecaster.
She told me she was a swordsman. The thought sat there quietly. Does she even know what she actually is. Or did she just describe what she sees herself doing without knowing the system has a name for it.
He clicked the class details.
[BLADECASTER: A hybrid combat class that channels magical energy directly through blade technique. Spells are not cast independently but expressed through physical strikes, footwork, and sword forms. Magic enhances existing technique rather than replacing it. Rare classification.]
Then the level display pulled his attention back.
Twenty out of a hundred. He looked at that number and then at his own status which still read
Unclassified where a level should have been.
[LEVEL SYSTEM: Level determines the ceiling of a fighter's developed proficiency. Maximum potential is fixed at birth. Level represents how close a person is to reaching that ceiling. An undetectable level is an abnormality to the system.]
So everyone has a limit they were born with. The idea settled uncomfortably. And level tells you how close they are to hitting that threshold .