He soon left Isabella’s with a massive smile on his face. The doorman looked at him and smiled as he walked out the store and soon made his way to Punbi’s Threads. It wasn’t too far from Isabella’s as he moved inside he saw several outfits that were placed all the walls. He saw a pale man who looked like an white man from earth with his military styled blonde hair as goatee. The man spoke up quickly as he entered.

  “Greetings patron, I am Punbi. Welcome to my shop. How can I help you?”

  “Yes. I am looking to get some clothes and shoes along with commissioning two dresses for two different people “ The man looked at Marcus before pulling out some glasses.

  “Nice glasses.” The man looked at him again and smiled before getting closer.

  “Yes, these allow me to see and mentally record measurements without too much hassle. I am gonna take it, you don’t have the woman who is gonna wear the dress sizes?” Marcus shook his head before speaking. As the blonde man moved over to his desk in the center of the store and grabbed two strange helmets before handing Marcus one and putting another on his own head.

  “This will allow me to get a snapshot of someone you envision to get their measurements. It's quite helpful for a tailor like myself. Just imagine the two women you have in mind and I will tell you when to move on.” Marcus nodded and put it on his head before he thought about Celeste. He didn’t have too much of a frame of reference to her in clothes but he did at least have her in her underwear so she was covered. Punbi nodded before going to he told him to think about the next woman as he imagined Khaliun the best way he could but every frame of reference he had, had her with an apron on.

  “That will work. Thank you. Looking at your current attire it seems like you are looking to impress these women.” Marcus nodded.

  “I actually need a lot of clothes. This is my last actual pair haha. You have all the creative freedom in the world. I am a warrior so I want something that looks functional at least. ” Punbi looked at him and smiled. Before he pulled out a stack of black and tan pants along with several shirts with deep v neck shirts. He also included socks, boxer-briefs and undershirts as well.

  “I can feel you are looking for high quality while being functional. You have a great body and the shirts I have presented here will bring that out to the forefront. Each of these sets of clothing are about one gold a piece. There are about 20 here so you can mix and match in any combination. Each set of boots are about 3 gold pieces each and there are 3 pairs here.” Marcus nodded and pulled out 29 gold pieces and handed them to him as the man led him to a dressing room before he swapped over to his new clothes and decided on all black with the golden embroidery and cuff lengths.

  “The woman’s dresses will be ready tomorrow for pick up in the morning .” Punbi put the rest in a large bag before Marcus began to walk out. He asked him a question.

  “I am looking to get a place with someone on the roots and off the wall. How can someone who is a non citizen get something like that. “ Punbi quickly answered him.

  “You either need to be a well known merchant or be able to invest a platinum mark into the city as you were not born here. They will give you your citizenship mark on your skin which is not visible outside of city officials with special tools. To live on the roots you also need the reference of at least three owners of businesses or homes on that part of the root. You can also get permission from a Lord of the City but that’s rare.” Marcus nodded and returned to Takanka’s rest as he met Jason at the door. He looked at him shocked.

  “Wow, man did you get a makeover or something? You look like a platinum mark!” Marcus smiled and extended his hand to him as he shook it.

  “I have decided to try and get my groove back. Do you think Khaliun has time to talk? “ Jason thought for a moment and spoke.

  “Not until near closing. With all of the villagers coming inside of the walls the tavern is at double the usual foot traffic.” He handed the man 10 silvers and told him to let Khaliun know he would like to speak to her before the end of the night. Jason nodded.

  “Ok and where will you be?”

  “I will be inside of the tavern eating dinner and such.” Jason nodded again and motioned for him to come inside as he went inside.

  As he walked inside he gathered his clothes into his room but as he did he could tell that with his new updated appearance he was beginning to turn heads in a way he could not fathom before. As he really got a look at himself in the mirror in his bedroom he finally truly took in his appearance. This deep chestnut color skin seemed now pretty much flawless, his minor imperfections when it came to his teeth not being as straight or not seeming as healthy all were gone. He had to have gotten taller as well. While he was 6’1 on earth he was pushing 6’5-6’6 at this point. He was not sure if constitution affected height but he didn’t really complain but while he looked like a slimmer Conan before he now looked like a Greek god carved out of marble as his shirt clung to him closely.

  “Not bad.” He chuckled to himself as he went back down stairs as a waiter sent him to an empty table. As he sat down he ordered roasted duck over a bed of egg fried rice and a large coffee. He looked around and as he leaned back in his chair and smiled as several men and women came up to and asked if he was prince or something. He smiled and shook his head. Then he saw Marissa’s group move over to him. All of them looked like they were in pretty good shape. Marissa had her black hair folded in a bun behind her head along with her battle axe on her as the rest of her crew made their way over to him as Marissa spoke up.

  “You seem much different, you look actually presentable.” As she spoke he nodded.

  “Sure, I have been working on myself for the last few weeks. Apart from leveling, I have gotten some new threads and self care. Would you like to sit down, food and drinks are on me.” As he motioned for them to take a seat. As he continued to use his mental band over the last few weeks he didn’t know just how much the battle lust was suppressing his emotions and thoughts. While he didn’t wear it as much in the city he did sleep with it and that helped him gain much better control of his emotions and stave off the bloodlust.

  As they all sat down. He could see that Ila and Marissa looked at him differently than before. As Marissa spoke, breaking the silence after they ordered.

  “What level are you now? You look physically different than the last time I have seen you. That normally doesn’t happen unless you reach a double digit increase in a stat. “ Marcus nodded and spoke.

  “I am level 49. I have gained at least 26 levels since we last spoke.” As he drank his coffee. Jamal looked over at him shocked.

  “26 levels how? That's THOUSANDS of kills.” After several minutes of explaining his journey into the lizardkin territory he also revealed his current stats. Illa and Marissa both looked surprised.

  “It makes sense. If you are that confident that you could kill that many monsters then it makes total sense to go down that route. I am glad that you will be here when we launch the offense. The slayer corps along with the guard and mercenaries and guards from the surrounding cities have come to the city defense. “ Marcus nodded as she continued. “In about a week's time we will be ready to go and meet them as they are roughly a week and a half away from town. We can’t let the flying horde just swoop down and attack people in the town.”

  That made sense to Marcus. Why the undead were so effective against Oakbend was because a cloud of flying undead descended upon them and disrupted all communication chains along with destroying the gate at the same time. Illa spoke up again.

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  “So which group will you be a part of for the attack? The Slayers, Mercenaries or Guard. I am sure any group would be lucky to have you.” Marcus thought about it for a second.

  “I will join the city or guard. I have been working with them recently and it makes sense. Have you all gotten any stronger since we last spoke?” With that Jamal spoke up.

  “We each gained about 4 levels. We are about level 14 now. Your speech last time we spoke kind of lit a fire under our asses. I know you prefer to work alone but we have received a C rank mission that has us killing a Wyvern that has been coming into the fields at dusk and eating Goats before flying off. We plan on doing that tomorrow if you are interested. You get to earn some gold and a bit more experience.” The three all looked at him apprehensively before he spoke.

  “Sure, sounds like fun. You can keep my share of the gold. I am well off enough. Jamal-” He reached into his pocket and pulled out 20 gold marks. “I need my own place, can you get in contact with your uncle and get me a good place on the root. Let's stay 2 stories at least, 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.” Jamal looked at the coins and nodded as he took the coins as he looked around making sure he wasn’t being watched.

  “I need friends. Seriously. While I prefer to work alone I would like to meet up with you all whenever I am in town. “ Marissa nodded and extended his hand to him and smiled.

  “Well if eating free food in front of you is being a friend I can do that. I am excited to see you fight tomorrow. Well we are gonna be off. We have training tomorrow and Jamal has to see his uncle bright and early. See in you near the Northern Entrance” With that the three got up and left. He continued to sit alone and drink tea and coffee as the clock hit around 1am the Inn began to push out any people that were not staying the night. After several more minutes he saw Jason come into and lock the doors and walked over to Khaliun and pointed to him. Marcus pretended not to notice as he saw Jason walk back over to him.

  “She is going to take a bath and she will be out shortly.” Marcus nodded before he left and Guin spoke up.

  “What’s your angle with this woman? If everything pays off I doubt you will see her very often again. You will have your own place unless you all fail and this city gets overrun.”

  “I need friends and I want to make this place my homebase for now. I want people to vouch for me to become a citizen. With someone like Khaliun opening doors to other people in her position it could gain me actual influence.” He could hear Guin chuckling in his mind again.

  “So you are a schemer? I thought you were a warrior.” Marcus gave an exasperated sigh.

  “I am human. If you want me to be a pillar of humanity. I kinda need to have humanity with me. I can’t just be a bloodthirsty marauder at least not only. I need to be able to create and destroy. If this doesn’t work out here then I will just make my own town in the frontier or something. I am not beholden to Druid’s Grove though I am beholden to understanding this city and places like it. It feels like a good snapshot of the world. “ As he finished up Guin wrapped her presence around him like a cloak and whispered in his ear again.

  “Just don’t get caught up thinking that you are ‘them’. You set the example, not to follow into the dredges of human bureaucracy. You can use the tools of the past but use them to build a bridge into a better future.” As Guin finished speaking he noticed that Khaliun was within a few feet of himself. While he never really paid attention to her appearance outside of noticing that she looked some flavor of asian descendant. This time he really took in her appearance.

  Khaliun looked like a South East Asian woman with skin the color of honey with jet black hair. He wasn’t sure if she was below average height or if he was just tall. She had thick and distinct eyebrows and she had on what looked like caramel lip gloss. She had a slim-athletic build that she could tell was What surprised him the most was that she was dressed in a simple but beautiful flowery rose colored dress.

  “I see you clean up nice. You don’t look like a beggar anymore.” Khaliun looked down at him as she took a seat at his table. “Well I wasn’t gonna accept your offer but I thought to at least give you a shot while you're still living here.” Marcus smiled as she sat down; several waiters and waitresses made their way over to them and poured both of them drinks before Khaliun continued.

  “What made you want to take me out?” He took a moment.

  “I first wanted to say that I haven’t been the most friendly and pleasant person to be around. I have been adjusting to my new environment and it has been a challenge. Secondly I need friends. I need people that are reliable and pillars of this city and community. You fit all of these things.” Khaliun looked at him impressed.

  “So you can actually talk and communicate like you have actual sense. Well I may or not be these things but why do you need them? From my understanding you have money so why not just go wherever you want? Who needs a pillar of a community when you are wealthy and can be anywhere?” Marcus continued after she finished immediately.

  “Do you want the truth? I am not one to hide my intentions.” She nodded before he continued. Marcus took a deep breath.

  “This is gonna be hard to explain. But I am thinking of making a team of capable people and making a push into the Undead Frontier and pushing them back and making a way for humanity. You were an adventurer once. I am not thinking about immediately but soon not too long after the attack. “ Khaliun looked at him intensely before she spoke.

  “I haven’t been an adventurer for over 8 years. I got enough money and resources to open up my place and be successful. That’s the dream of most adventurers. No one wants to be around death and horror everyday.” Marcus smiled.

  “That's if we were only planning on leveling and fighting to grow. I plan on eradicating the undead from the planet. Along with all other monster races. I can’t do it alone. I need a team.” Khaliun pulled out her identity goggles and looked him over with her mouth open wide.

  “You are already level 49? Two different stats at level 70+ is impressive, It would take me having to go to level 120+ to get where you are at.” Marcus held up his hand.

  “What if I told you I could rapidly increase your stats for a one time boost.” Marcus looked at her gravely. With his intense look at her Khaliun took a second to respond before speaking.

  “That would be interesting but I can’t just uproot my life for a stranger that realized after months that maybe he could use better clothes and a haircut.” Marcus nodded and stood up.

  “Listen up Khaliun. I can’t promise you anything other than the promise of power and the freedom to grow with me to save humanity. Oakbend can’t be the only place in the world where this is happening. Do whatever you feel but I am offering you a chance to be able to better defend the things you care about. I assume that Jason and Kenny are family to you? “

  “Fandy as well.” He raised an eyebrow but continued.

  “I have seen these large vehicles traveling around the city. I assume there are house sized ones or war machines versions of them. “ She nodded as she stood up as well.”I am willing to take anyone you would want to come with you. I am willing to invest in people that I think are important. If you need more time then sure. I plan on being level 75 after the attack.”

  “If you actually hit level 75 after the attack then I will think about joining you.” Marcus nodded and good night before he went to this room and went to bed.

  Let's put a team together.