Chapter 197 - 196 Networking In Lethallan (2)

"It was no problem I just happened to witness his battle with the couatl and when I saw him fall out of the air I went over to help, and did you say you are the guild master?"

Jarek's wife then nodded her head and said, "Yes I have been the Lethallan guild master for nearly four months now since the old guild master moved to another branch. Oh, and where are my manners I have not introduced myself yet. My name is Dahlia and as you know I am the guild master here so if you ever need anything feel free to ask."

Marcus smiled back and said, "Thank you guild master, and my name is Irene Geist gold rank adventure, and I will be in your care for the next two months."

Dahlia looked at Marcus a bit surprised and then towards Jarek before saying, "Only a gold rank but you were in the depths of area six. Are you part of a party Irene, because if not I am sure that I could find a platinum rank party you could join up with should you wish?"

Marcus thought about Dahlia's offer for just a moment, but the memory of his friends from Eternal Queens dying flashed in his mind and Marcus could not bring himself to party up with other people yet.

'Also, it would restrict my and Roxene's abilities to be in a party. Right now, I can do fine on my own. Unless I run into a situation that I absolutely need help with, there is no reason for me to join a party.'

"Thank you for the offer but right now I am working on getting my sister stronger, and I have my beast companions to help me while fighting."

Dahlia simply nodded her head at Marcus' response, while most adventures were part of a party, there were still a decent number of people that preferred to go solo.

"Well, I just came to check up on my husband after I heard he nearly died for the third time this year. Thank you again for helping him out, and if you ever change your mind and want to join up with a party you know where to find me."

Dahlia then left after giving Jarek one last glare basically telling him to get his act together and stop being so reckless.

"Whew sorry you had to see that. She did not use to be that violent, but I guess since she became the guild master and stopped going into the dungeon with me, she has been getting more worried. But enough about that, who did you want to meet first the beast master or forgemaster?"

Marcus thought about it for about a minute but ultimately decided to head to the beast master first.

…

'Is this really the place.'

Currently Marcus was standing outside a small one-story building that seemed completely ordinary and unremarkable.

However, Jarek walked in to the building confidently and Marcus wondering what was going on followed.

Once inside all Marcus saw was an empty reception desk with a bell on it and a single door in the back of the room leading to the rest of the building.

'For a moment there I was hoping it was going to be bigger on the inside, but it just looks like a normal reception area for a small business. Is this really the place that the best beast master in the city operates?'

Moving up to the desk Jarek rang the little bell and just a second later a young-looking halfling girl came out and walked over to the counter.

"Good to see you again Jarek, so have you gotten some rare beast you want to sell to me again, or have you finally decided to get a beast of your own."

Jarek just shook his head and then beckon the halfling girl towards Marcus and said, "Actually the one who wanted to see you is my new friend Irene. She recently captured a pair of golden lion cubs and wants to make them her sister's beast companions."

The halfling girl then turned her head towards Marcus as if noticing him for the first time and said, "A friend of Jarek's hm. Come a bit closer Irene."

Marcus then walked forward as the halfling girl stared at him intently looking him over and even began sniffing the air around him at one point.

'Am I being punked here or something. Jarek is not about to point to one of the walls and go, "your on candid camera" right?'

Marcus was getting a bit uncomfortable as the halfling girl continued to stare him over and wanting to get some information of his own decided to appraise her.

Except when he did, he was unable to get any information due to her high level, proving to Marcus that this girl was not as weak as she looked. And probably the real deal

Another minute went by as Marcus was being evaluated by the halfling girl until she said, "There is something weird about you, your soul is a bit cloudy and far too strong for the level and stats on display. And you have a mutual seal with some type of powerful beast and a seal of dominance with a much weaker one."

Marcus hearing this nearly had a panic attack, he did not know what the halfling girl in front of him just did, but the information she obtained was close to unveiling one of Marcus' big secrets.

However, as Marcus was thinking about bolting, the girl smiled at him and said, "Well it is good to meet you, Irene. My name is Tris and since you seem to be a nice enough that I would not mind working with you."

Marcus looked at Tris in surprise for a moment wondering why her demeanor changed so suddenly and what kind of power she had used.

Yet before he could ask her anything she started talking again and said, "Bring you sister here tomorrow along with those two golden lion cubs and if I like her, I will perform the seal for them."

Nodding his head a bit warily Marcus said, "Okay I will bring her tomorrow, but do mind if I ask what you did to notice that I seem stronger than my stats suggest and that I already have two seals with beasts on me."

Tris then looked up like she was pondering something and after a couple of seconds she looked at Marcus with a devious smile and said, "Sure but a secret for a secret, I will tell you if you either reveal your status to me or show me the beast you have a mutual seal with."

Marcus grimaced a bit when he heard this, he had no intention of doing either of these things and even though he was intrigued he was not sure it was worth giving away one of his secrets.

But as he was thinking about it, he received a mental message from Roxene who must have been watching from the companion storage.

'Under no circumstance are you to show me to her. She is likely to see through me as well and I do not want to be found out by anyone this soon.'

Marcus sent back a telepathic reply to Roxene acknowledging that he would not bring her out and began contemplating whether to turn off his false status unique skill.

"Here I turned off the skill that was hiding my status go ahead and take a look."

Marcus then noticed how Tris looked at him intently again and even Jarek used his own appraisal skill, too curious not to see about Marcus.

Luckily, Marcus already knew that the appraisal skill and items that used it as a base would for some reason still pick up his race as human. This had been the case since the first time he had his status brought up in River Landing and he was pretty sure it had been done on purpose by the administrator.

Tris began nodding her head after looking at Marcus' status and said, "Yes that is more in line with the power I feel from your soul, though it is as if there is still some type of fog around you even if it got a bit clearer. Well, a deal is a deal. I have a unique skill that is called soul reading and I can tell the approximate strength of someone with it as well as see things attached to their soul like beast seals. It also allows me to get a read a person's character which helps me from making deals with unsavory people."

Marcus nodded his head, understanding how useful a power like that is. It did not make her explosively stronger like his embodiment skills, but it provided a great deal of utility.

Jarek who had been silent up to this point finally chimed in and said, "So you are actually level thirty-seven Irene, and your stats are unnaturally high. I did not have stats like those until I reached level forty-five."

Marcus just shrugged his shoulders at Jarek's comment and looked towards Tris and said, "Would it be fine if I brought my sister here after around lunch time tomorrow."

Tris nodded her head in agreement and Marcus then left the building along with Jarek.

"Well, she certainly is interesting." 

"Yes, she is a bit eccentric but is a good person and the best in the beast business around these parts. Though she is only known by word of mouth and will refuse to work with anyone she does not like." 

Marcus then began walking back towards the main road, but Jarek did not follow looking as if he was deep in thought.

"Hey Jarek, are we going to see your forgemaster or not."

Jarek then seemed to snap out of his intense thinking and walked back up to Marcus and said, "Yeah follow me it is not too far from here."