JB was immediately hit with the scent of sweat and rust as she entered the adventurer’s guild. This place was somehow even louder than the inn she had been in the previous night. Men and women in armor talked with each other. Others wore what looked to be priest robes, although they had parts of them that had been bolstered for defensive purposes. It certainly went against JB’s previous conception of mercenaries. In her old life, she had known of a very specific group of mercenaries- Slave catchers. It was a well paying profession for those willing to sacrifice their morals. She hated them and hoped that they were all rotting for their sins. The fact that, according to God, the North abolished slavery made her hopeful about that fact.

She made her way up to the counter, wading through the crowds of people who were all noticeably taller than her, only to find a familiar face. 

“Theodore?” She blurted out. The man at the counter looked exactly like the bandit on the road. His bald head looked even shinier, and the lack of a burn on his arm told her that he wasn’t the same man, but the resemblance was uncanny. Instead of armor, he was wearing a rather simple clerks outfit, apron included. 

“Excuse me, but that’s the name of my twin.” He corrected her. “My name is Ted. What can I do for you, little miss?”

JB smiled and placed the note in front of her which she had actively chosen not to read. Taking a moment to scan it, the man’s eyes began to dart between the young lady in front of him and the note. 

“Don’t get a recommendation like this everyday. You must be quite the mage to have perception blocking that high. Last I checked, Sheilah’s Analyze is higher than mine, and I’m considered above average.” Ted nibbled on his thumb a bit as he read over the note. He hadn’t said this, but the note had also mentioned the odd staff that the girl carried and had suggested that Ted ask what it does. 

Unbeknownst to JB, Sheilah, or his brother Theo, who was currently nursing his wounds in the brush of the nearby forest, Ted had a rather extreme crush on the receptionist. He was, as one of the younger reincarnators might have put it, ‘down bad’. This is why he was so readily willing to follow whatever orders Sheilah gave to him in the hopes that he could eventually court her. 

“Miss JB, what exactly are you carrying on your back?” His hand, which was wearing a very well worn glove, pointed at her rifle. Pausing a second, JB decided that now was a good time to lie using the information they had learned earlier to potentially ease the mind of this man. 

“It is my staff. I call it my Sharp Rifle.” She stated it blankly and without any emotion, hoping to reassure the clerk. 

This was not the weirdest name that Ted had heard for a weapon. In fact, he’d remembered and even written down some of the weirdest ones. Storytelling was important at the guild, and the people who worked there often enjoyed telling each other all of the weird information they would hear from day to day. No name could ever top “The Throngler”. He distinctly remembered laughing for five straight minutes at his desk, collapsing out of his chair and rolling on the floor. The worst part is that the enchanted sword turned out to be extremely powerful, and he ended up putting it near the front of the catalog of weapon discoveries. 

“Sure. Since she already paid for you, let’s start with your registration. I just need to set up your guild card. This will help you get into towns and traverse the roads. Since your perception blocking is so high, I’m guessing you’re worried about people seeing your stats, but not to worry. The only thing that the card will show is your overall level and name.”

The information at Ted had just spouted had mostly gone out of one ear and out the other for JB, but she got the essentials. The most important part was that they were about to give her an identification, and this would help her travel. The concept of level had started to become more tangible to hear, and JB had made the logical assumption that it simply defined one’s proficiency in a certain skill. The “overall level”, however, was not something she had figured out yet. 

Ted reached below the desk and pulled out what looked like a large tablet. It was a smooth surface, almost looking like polished wood, but was entirely black. It appeared to be layered and had a few compartments on the side that was facing Ted. After another trip below the counter, he pulled out a small metal card. It looked like scrip, the weird fake money found in the coal mining towns back in West Virginia. It was a lot smoother and made of a similar dark metal to the box. Ted inserted the card into the compartment at the back of the box and gestured towards the top of it.

“Place your hand on top of here, and hold it still. The process won’t take long, although it might feel a bit weird.”

JB followed the orders and put her right palm onto the tablet. It felt as though an energy surged through all of her veins before suddenly converging back into her hand. The area around her hand glowed blue, and Ted promptly removed the card from the box. Upon seeing it, he frowned.

It was empty. In most cases, the card would be filled out with the person’s name, age and level. It should have been a simple process. The only thing the box really did was access the person’s system and copy the information onto the card. The machine had worked last time he had checked, which had been about an hour ago when someone came in to update the information on their card. In fact, Ted had never experienced or heard of one of these machines failing. He looked back at JB, before giving her the best customer service smile he could muster.

“Sorry, could we try that again? I think there might have been a mistake.”

Not seeing any immediate problem, JB continued to let her hand rest on top of the weird box until the same bizarre surge went through her veins. Ted pulled out the card, and found it infuriatingly unchanged.

The lack of information was due to a fundamental flaw in JB’s existence- her lack of a system. This meant that the machine had nothing to scan and nothing to print, even though it was passing mana through her system. 

Ted had never experienced anything like this before, and after trying it a second time, he came to the conclusion that it was probably an issue with the young lady in front of him. The letter stated that she had an absurdly high level of perception blocking which she didn’t appear to be willing to share, but after this, Ted figured there was a possible secondary answer to this enigma.

“Are you dead?”

A dead person didn’t have a system, because having a system required a living soul. If this girl was some form of undead, brought back by a very powerful necromancer, that could perhaps explain the inability to get a reading.

JB answered them with an extremely earnest “No”, which only increased Ted’s confusion. 

“Are you sure about that?” He reiterated. 

Part of JB wanted to answer that she technically had already died, but that was a previous life. From what she could tell, this body was very much alive and functional. She nodded, and Ted’s frown grew deeper. To make sure that he wasn’t losing sanity, he decided to double check. He leaned over to his side and grabbed a different black box, placing the card inside it. JB went along with this and placed her hand on it, and the same thing happened again. 

“Damn…”

There was an alternative answer to this problem, and it was more worrying to Ted than the girl in front of him being a rather lively corpse. This perception blocking could possibly be a unique skill. 

Maybe instead of her ability just blocking people looking at her stats through analyze or similar skills, it completely blocked any and all methods of trying to gauge her stats. Unique skills were about one in a million, but not unheard of. However, these abilities never expressed themselves in as subtle a manner as this. Those with unique skills tended to lean more towards the side of walking natural disasters than they did… whatever JB was. 

It was also notable that JB lacked the very distinct smell that undead creatures had. Illusion magic could hide the more obvious features that an undead had, but the smell of rotting flesh was impossible to get rid of. It was rare to find a necromancer that didn’t carry nose plugs with them to deal with the stench of their undead.

To retain his sanity, he decided to go along with the idea that this lady had a bizarre unique skill that made her stat screen completely untouchable. 

“Ok, well this creates a few problems. Tell you what, miss. I’m going to spend a bit of time working on a special card for you. I know you’re a bit secretive, but because our machines don’t appear to work with you, could you tell me your level?” Ted sounded extremely desperate, because he was. JB scratched at her chin, attempting to think of a good response.

“What would you think my level is?”

“I don’t know…twelve?”

“Then that is my level.”

Now that the problem of level was solved, JB decided to go and read one of the quest boards. There were several mundane tasks that had been listed out, gathering ingredients or quelling monster populations. Other people near her who were also taking time to look at quests noticed her and grew curious. At this point, JB had grown somewhat accustomed to the additional stares and simply continued to survey the board.

A few of them caught her eye, specifically the ones about acting as a guard for a caravan. The listing said that food would be provided along with pay, but that definitely diminished what the adventurer would be given. Still, it was clearly her best choice for a job. 

After reading through the questline, she heard her name be called up and ran back to the front desk. In front of her sat a similar card, but it had what looked like rather crude writing on it in gold colored ink.

NAME: JayBee
LEVEL: 12

JB had not told the man her age. In fact, she had no clue what her age was. She’d gotten a glimpse at another adventurer’s card, and the writing was much clearer. The fact that she had a card now was very pleasing and would hopefully make her life much easier, even if it was a fake one.

“Your card should function at border gates normally, but I’d advise against showing it to anyone too closely.”

She quickly stuffed the card away in her left pocket. Deciding to use the current situation to her advantage, she asked the clerk the same question she had asked the receptionist.

“Do you know where any of the reincarnators are? The warriors from another world.”

That last part was a misnomer, as all of them were sent by god, but the man got the general message.

“Ah, you’re hoping to meet the heroes? Are you a fan of them or something?” He smiled as he spoke.

“Yes, I guess you could say that. I’m on a mission to meet all the people who acted as this world’s heroes.” JB also smiled as she lied through her teeth. If she was going to meet with these failed warriors, then it would probably be best to keep a lower profile. 

The man’s smile grew wider as he reached behind him and slammed a piece of paper on the table. In bold font, it read ‘GUARD NEEDED FOR MERCHANT’.

“I know the guy fairly well, and I can promise he pays well. You seem like you’ve got some strong skills, so I’m sure he’ll appreciate the help. He’s leaving later today, but I’m sure he can fit you into his retinue. He’s headed to the capital, which I’m pretty sure is where one of the reincarnators is located.”

JB’s eyes grew wide hearing those words. She might not have all the power she could ask for, but what she had right now was surely enough to protect a simple merchant. 

“I’ll take it. Where can I find this man?”

“He should be near the western border gate. I’ll write up an approval form, and everything should work out fine.”

The man once again disappeared behind the desk, this time running into a backroom. After a short period of time, he ran back out with a slip of paper in his hand which had been very hastily written upon. In the other he held what looked to be a small leather satchel.

“Here you go. It’s got directions on the other side to help you make your way there.” He extended out the paper across the table, before sliding the satchel alongside it. “And this is for you. Consider it a gift for joining the guild.”

After taking both items and thanking Ted for all the word he had done for her, she jauntily made her way outside and towards the western border gate.

Eric was chewing off pieces of a loaf of bread with his teeth, sitting off the back of his carriage. He was off to the side of the main cobbled road, currently setting up his horses and securing all of his product. The shipment this time was medicine. Since the capital had many ties to the adventuring business and had a strong culture of combat, healing potions were in high demand.

Gar’s culture existed on a fundamental contradiction- It was a violent, yet peaceful city. Street fights and brawls were a daily occurrence. If one were to have a disagreement with another, a common solution would be the usage of fists. Luckily for the citizens and the city guard, these fights were treated with respect and were built around tight rituals. Weapons were strictly forbidden, as were any usage of skills or magic. Killing an opponent in one of these fights for superiority was heavily frowned upon, so most of the combat focused on disabling your opponent. It was extremely common for other people on the street to step in as referees to make sure that the bout was fair. After a fight was over, the winner would help the loser to their feet, and the disagreement would be solved. 

This form of argument, where decisions were based on the winners of physical contests, extended even to the house of lords. Policy Making in Gar was an extremely brutal, extremely entertaining process to watch for any spectator. This meant that the citizens of Gar were uncharacteristically invested in politics. 

Eric always enjoyed his visits there and always made sure to spectate at least one fight, and this visit to the capital would certainly be no different. He was not physically strong enough to partake in one of these fights himself. His barrel shaped body and short limbs left him in a poor position to fight, which is why he had to get so many guards for his time on the roads. Some of them were permanent purchases, but he enjoyed hiring from the adventurer’s guild to meet new people. Those who decided to live their lives on the frontline, killing monsters and doing fetch quests, tended to be odd individuals.

The merchant was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a rather petite “ahem” in front of him. His eyes focused on a young woman wearing rather basic adventuring gear and a cloak which was in desperate need of a wash. Her hand extended outwards, holding a piece of paper. He grabbed it out of her hand and began to read it to himself.

Eric, I’m recommending you take this one with you as protection. She’s hoping to head to the capital to meet the heroes. Her skills are probably pretty strong, since she has the highest level of perception blocking I’ve ever seen in my life. Or she’s dead. 

Either way, Sheilah said she doesn’t have any money, so please be kind.

I’m sure that she’ll be of use.

This surely had to be from Ted. No one would address him like this, or say something as stupid as a young lady like this being dead. No dead person could have as beautiful hair as that. 

“I’d be glad to take you on as a guard.” The man said as he tossed her his half eaten bread. “Just don’t slow us down, and we’ll get along fine.”

JB gave him a smile and gave a small tap to the rifle on her back. “Trust me, I won’t.”

Before JB could move, a presence creeped up from behind him, placing a hand on Eric’s shoulder. It was a slender hand, and the arm attached to it looked small. 

As the person came into the light, JB saw that it was a girl with a feature she had never seen before- Ears on her head. They looked reminiscent of that of a cat, and twitched slightly upon noticing JB. Her orange colored fur on her ears extended to the rest of her head, and the locks flowed down the entire way of her back, and a tail flicked in and out of the light. Her clothes were shabby, looking worn down and only covering the most necessary bits of the body for decency. 

There was one feature which stood out above all the rest. It was a metal collar, tightly latched around her neck. 

“Who is this, master?” The cat-eared girl asked.

JB had just been hired to work under a slave owner.

Spedbop

So the poll gave me back a yes? I don't know, I'm still confused by whatever the hell I'm writing, but it's a lot of fun. My thought process on it is this: If it reaches 800 views within the next 3 chapters and continues to get positive reception, I'll continue it on royalroad alongside my main series. If you enjoy reading this, please read my main work on RoyalRoad, Edge of Freedom.