Chapter 65: Opening Loot Boxes
After the meeting with the king Lucas had drug Lake all the way back to the cart without a word. Lake guessed Lucas didn't want to say what was so important in front of all these people who were literally all spies. Lake thought him being dragged was telling enough for them to figure most of what happened even without Lucas saying it.
Them being in the cart now Lake thought Lucas would say whatever had been in his mind on the way to the cart but instead they were now just sitting in silence. Lake was too curious about what the rush to get out of there had been about so he asked. "Should I have been less funny?" Lucas had reacted badly to Lake being charming in front of the king.
"I'm not too worried about you, it's just the king has really high Charisma so the fact you were about to engage in a negotiation with him was bad." Lake always forgot he needed to be careful about people with higher Charisma being able to take advantage of him. Lucas was right, Lake had been on the fence about the king's daughter when normally he would have instantly refused. "Man, I didn't even realize it was happening."
"Charisma's effects are unnoticeable. You just have to be ready for them." If everyone was so worried about Charisma why did no one ever try to increase it? The Temple Head had told him it wasn't unusual for someone to have less than 10 in Charisma for most of their life. It made him wonder if they were actively avoiding it.
There was also another possibility. "Are jobs that give Charisma uncommon?" It was also possible most people thought they would be fine as long as they had enough points in their combat related stats but Lake thought it was more likely to be a scarcity related reason. "Yeah it's actually easier to level jobs that give free points and use those to increase your Charisma than to try and unlock the jobs that give Charisma. The only people this isn't true for are shopkeepers, merchants, and tamers."
This made Lake remember he had the Tamer job and just never even bothered to check it. At the time it was because all the monsters that had been around grossed Lake out and it seemed the only way to level it up would have been to tame them. Lake could just imagine the army of goblins he would have now if he had done so.
"Are those the common jobs that give Charisma?" Lucas shook his head and said. "Yes and even they can be hard to max. You can't earn Exp from combat with most jobs that give Charisma so it's hard to predict how long it will take you to earn enough Exp to level up. Though it does get easier as your Charisma increases, For example Shopkeepers get more Exp if they make a good deal which gets easier as their Charisma increases."
"If you were to rank each stat by how important you think it was, where would you place Charisma?" Lake had expected Lucas to already have a list in his head considering his age. With so much time he would have expected Lucas to have had this thought before, but he guessed not. It took most of the ride back to the guild for Lucas to answer.
"I don't think the question has an answer because it depends on someone's personality. If someone is timid their stats won't really change that, so all their points in strength are wasted. They should have put their points in Agility so they could run away faster." This was a really well thought out non answer.
Lake was pretty sure Lucas did have this answer already, he was just waiting till they were about to get to the guild so Lake couldn't keep asking questions. In the time it had taken Lucas to answer, Lake could have squeezed in ten more. "You know if you want me to shut up you can just tell me, I'm perfectly capable of answering my own questions most of the time anyway."
Lucas smiled when Lake said this. "I actually have some questions I'd like to ask you if that's ok." Lake was actually fine with Lucas asking anything because Lucas already knew some of Lake's biggest secrets. If it was someone else Lake would probably lie about anything they asked him about. "Go ahead."
"Were you really planning on killing Solomon?" This was not what Lake was expecting Lucas to ask about. "At the time I thought Solomon was targeting me for some reason, so if I needed to I would have killed him. Now I'm pretty sure I was just being paranoid, and it was compounded by the fact Nia doesn't like him."
"Ok one more, Are you really ok with marrying the king's daughter, because if he's serious about it he will find a way to make it happen or at least find a way to make you really consider it." This question was much more difficult for Lake, because he still hadn't seen or met her. Lake did like women, he was just very picky.
It seemed in this world being attractive was guaranteed, but Lake was looking for other things as well. The main thing was that they weren't annoying, and sometimes it seemed he was already asking for too much. Lake was able to fake getting along with almost anyone, but the truth was he disliked almost everyone as soon as he met them.
Even all the nice people he had met so far in this world annoyed him a little. The best so far was Joy, she reminded him of one of his friends from school. They had also been too tall and good at keeping a conversation going, but he didn't see himself marrying her, he would leave that to one of the freaky Alchemists.
"I don't really care either way, tell me what you think." Lake was sure Lucas had at least seen her before even if they had never spoken. "You could do worse. The only problem would be your in-laws." Lucas was saying getting closer to the king would outweigh any benefits he would get from the marriage.
Lake had been able to tell the palace was a cesspool while they were there, but the king had actually impressed Lake quite a bit. If Lake had to pick between a tv show about Lucas or the king, Lake would pick the king. What was going on around the king was much more hectic and therefore more entertaining.
The fact the king was able to handle everything going on around him was more respectable than then the reason Lake thought Lucas ran the Alchemist guild. Lake was pretty sure Lucas just knew how to move money around. For a company that had fallen apart like the Mage guild had, Lucas was the best bet to get the bleeding to stop, but that didn't make him amazing.
He was just good at conserving what little they retained. He was probably also the reason the Alchemist guild had kept the Mage guilds building which was what solidified him as the leader. The building itself was the most impressive, and the largest asset the Mage guild had at the time, so him providing it to the guild was a good way to make everyone believe he was the one for the job.
In reality his feat was probably much less impressive than it seemed. Lucas had probably been in charge of the Alchemist branch of the Mage guild which was apparently the most profitable part of the guild, so during the collapse Lucas had been able to buy favors from the other powerful people.
He might have just been able to cut people off depending if their department made money or not, and after a while every other group was beaten in a battle of attrition, and they had to move on. Lucas had literally just outlasted everyone else, he didn't really have anything to do with the fact they had the most money.
...
"Grab that bag and, get people to bring the others." Lucas and him were about to see which journal they had gotten from the book store. It didn't really matter but Lake wanted to know if it ended up being the second one Lake would think that was pretty funny. "Are you ok with me sticking around for all the bags?"
He was also interested in what else they had ended up buying. "Yeah, even if something incriminating or secret is in one of the books there's no way you'll be able to read it before I hide it." Lucas was referring to what the thief had hinted towards and the reason Lucas had bought all this. Apparently something the guild would want was in one of these bags, and Lake was looking forward to seeing what it was.
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