It took Cass some time to calm down once he realized they weren’t going to let him go. Images of his friends and family continued to filter through his mindscape, with the only shining beacon being the feeling of Bella still chasing after him.

  Even if we can leave, where would we even go? Dark Guilds? Try to survive for a time in the wilderness? No. What I need to do is get powerful enough that things like this can’t happen again. I won’t let this happen again.

  Ren and Maggie quietly made small talk as Cass stared at the side of the cart. No matter how he looked at things, he was stuck.

  Closing his eyes, he entered his notification screen for the first time since activating the lure that had saved Liora. He’d missed the previous notifications just before reaching the gate between Tiers 1 and 2, and he didn’t want to miss this one.

  [Save Liora Quest Complete]

  Rewards: 100 xp, 51 System Reputation

  Hybrid Quest types: Lure, Bane, Awaken

  Note: Quest-type filed under Experimental

  [SYSTEM NOTICE]

  You have gained minimal credit for slaying 981 monsters:

  3 Grey Beards, 77 Palehides, 271 Skreels, 630 Scroungers

  Total XP gained: +1,962

  You have gained minimal credit for slaying the following Alphas:

  5 Scroungers

  4 Skreels

  4 Palehides

  1 Grey Beard

  Total XP gained: +53

  You have gained minimal credit for slaying a Unique Driftclaw:

  XP gained: +7

  —

  QuestWright Cassio Vale:

  Region: Liora- LIA

  Callsign: CV

  Calling recognition: Junior

  Initiating weekly Reputation review:

  —

  Current System reputation:

  65

  — —

  Weekly quota met: Yes

  300/300

  Failed Quests: 154

  Cascading failures have further reduced your System Reputation

  Details can be found in your ledger

  Total quests completed since last review:

  639

  —

  A reputational wave has occurred due to recent events:

  Various enterprises view you much more favorably.

  Many members of Liora speak of you with great favor.

  Your reputation with the Liora Guildhall has reached the maximum limit possible and entered the Prestige tier.

  Your reputation across all Lioran companies has improved significantly.

  Your reputation with the Liora City Council has increased by 100.

  Your reputation across the Central Guild has increased a small amount.

  Prestige ranks are now available within your Reputation screen.

  —

  Your achievements have been condensed:

  Bonus experience granted for setting a large-scale trap and communicating tactics effectively with a large population:

  480xp

  Bonus experience granted for achieving over one thousand monster kills and slaying a unique monster:

  960 xp

  Tactician Achievement progress:

  7/10

  Combat-adjacent Achievement progress:

  8/10

  Your passive ability, Battlefield Memory, has increased to (Tier 2):

  Your memory of terrain will now be retained for a much longer period of time.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Calling: Junior QuestWright: Cassio Vale

  Level: 13

  Experience Accrued: 5,731.31

  Experience Required for Next Level: 968.69

  Unspent Experience: 5,990.12

  Total Stalwart Tokens: 53

  Total Survivor Tokens: 59

  [SYSTEM NOTICE- TITLES UNLOCKED]

  [Title Unlocked: Bonded Guardian]

  Unlocked for maintaining a successful Companion bond through multiple lethal engagements. Bella's health will recover faster.

  Upgradeable

  Note: This bonus scales with reputational Bond Strength

  [Title Unlocked: Quillbearer]

  Recognized by the System as the holder of the Airscript Quill.

  Access granted to the System Tutorial: Advanced Quest Formatting.

  [Title Unlocked: Prestigious]

  Unlocked for reaching a Prestige level reputation within a Guild-founded city.

  Grants access to the Prestige reputation screen and System.

  A weak headache reared up and planted itself in the back of his mind. The last time it happened was only a few days ago, when Battlefield Memory first kicked on.

  Ignoring the pulsing pain, Cass read over everything twice, committing it to memory so he could close it out. The node holding his name and new level stared back at him as he considered everything.

  That is a shitload of monsters to give me minimal credit. Honestly, I’m surprised there weren’t more. Then again, a lot of the invaders had already been dead by the time I activated the lure. And now, I can do it again if I need to. Testing Bane and Awaken will be important, too.

  His mind went back to his level as he continued to ignore the headache and small sense of doom that had sneakily crept up on him.

  It looks like the System is done holding me back. So, does that mean I won’t need to meet up with Adya and Bella every three days? He checked quickly. No, never mind. And we’re already a day down, which can’t be good. The System had said not meeting up would affect the contract’s stability.

  Cass shook his head; it might mean I lose access to Profile and the enhanced senses the contracted title granted. I haven’t had them for long, so going without won’t kill me. But losing any abilities, even temporarily, isn’t a good thing.

  Moving on, he thought about his level again. I guess hitting thirteen didn’t give me an upgraded title. He looked at his previous experience-boosting title that had changed at level ten.

  [Experiential Driver]

  +20 bonus experience granted for every five completed Quests

  Upgradeable

  Note: Modified per Calling

  Beggars and Choosers. The original title was at level 3, then it upgraded at five and ten. It probably won’t upgrade again until I hit twenty or twenty-five within some kind of unknown timeframe.

  Not that I need more experience right now. I have almost six thousand waiting for me to use. More than enough for Tactician to be unlocked and Logistics to be finished up.

  Who knows what’ll happen then?

  Thinking about the reputation gains brought him back to the titles again. He’d stared at Bella’s title the longest, as its effect on her was huge. She was his Bonded companion, his friend, and anything that might make her life better was a-ok in his view.

  As for Adya, the marks on the left were glowing, something they hadn’t done before. Just seeing it, with no updates on the link or news of the contract being broken, he knew she was alive.

  He hoped the rest of his friends and family were as well, but that was all it was: hope. He wouldn’t truly know until he either went there and found out for himself, or just as miraculously, got some news from home.

  The last two titles were something else.

  Quilbearer and Prestigious were both things that he would need to take a look at, but when he was alone and didn’t have voices mumbling in the background. Cass was well aware that he was a bit of a self-talker, and he didn’t want anyone to know about his abilities that didn’t need to. Plus, if he accidentally activated the Quill tutorial in the middle of the cart, it might bring up several questions he didn’t want to answer at that moment.

  He resolved there that the first chance he had open to look at the tutorial and the prestige screen, he’d dive in with an open mind full of curiosity. But for now, he needed to play nice with his captors.

  They hadn’t mistreated him yet, and even if the Quest’d kidnapping still put some heat into his chest and made him grit his teeth, they were only following orders.

  Plus, you know, I probably can’t get away from them. Lying here and hating on them won’t do me any favors. Besides, it’s the Sovereign who ordered this. It’s them I have to blame.

  The rest of the trip moved quickly. Now that Cass wasn’t thinking about the past but the future, he found himself more easily recognizing the present.

  With the upgrade to Battlefield Memory, his mind was working at a fast rate as every bump and twist recorded itself. Even Profile started up, the two skills creating a feedback loop that let him memorize the route from Liora to Liberty even as he lay there, chained down to a bench.

  It was a curious thing. He’d thought Battlefield Memory would turn off once the battle for Liora was over. The name and the manner in which it was unlocked implied it would only work during combat situations. But now, as it had been active while he was tied up in a cart, he realized it would activate whenever he felt he was in a certain amount of danger.

  That kind of conceptual awareness of his situation could easily be abused. Cass had no problems with that. He listened in as Noah, Ren, and Maggie discussed the expected goings-on at Liberty.

  Rumors about the Guild Master being from a Dark Guild. That Liberty itself was initially a Dark Guild’s city on its own. Their treatment of citizens was harsh, their philosophies skewed, and there were other nefarious things as well. Profile ran at full speed as the city sketched itself into his mind.

  Then, after a few sharp turns at a speed that he knew to be reckless just by the feel of the cart, they slowed down and stopped. Noah spent some time talking just outside of the cart as Ren reached over and undid the chains across Cass’s body.

  “We’re almost there, young Vale. Just a few more minutes.”

  The armored man leaned back as Cass sat up and looked at him. Turning his head, he caught Maggie’s eyes, who began to adjust her glasses when she caught his stare.

  “Why so intense, Cassio?” She asked, pulling her glasses off to clean them. She rubbed a perfectly clear lens twice before saying, “We’re not going to kill or imprison you. The moment we’re within the Guildtower, you’re free.”

  Bullshit, he thought as Noah hopped back into the front. This is a prison, just one with open air.

  Cass tapped his chin twice as if he was really thinking over what Maggie had said while the cart began to move again.

  “So, the moment I’m handed off to people I don’t know, in a city I don’t know, everything’s peachy? I should be grateful to be alive?”

  “I saved your life, ya git.” Noah yelled back.

  “So would most people with the ability to do so! It doesn’t make you a god damn hero when you kidnapped me after!” Cass yelled back at him, heat flushing his cheeks. “Why do you all think I would be okay with this? Why would anyone be okay with this?”

  Maggie looked at Ren, and they shared another long look before the big man sighed and reached into his armored chest from the side. Removing his hand, he pulled out a black letter, Cass’s name printed in calligraphy on the top.

  “Our Quest says to give this to you when we’re in the city, so now is as good a time as any. It’s keyed only to you, so you know it hasn’t been opened or tampered with.” He reached out, and Cass looked at the letter for a moment.

  The last time I opened a letter, it declared me as the Guild Master and set Liora on a path to destruction. I lost my eye, was kidnapped, and barely had time to meet a girl who I’m probably supposed to be training right now with Kara.

  He continued to look at the letter as Ren held it out, the stoic expression on his face saying more than anything else that he would do so unless told otherwise.

  Avoiding bad news doesn’t make it any less bad. I just need to rip the band-aid off.

  With a breath, he took the letter, watched it flash as it touched his skin, then opened it up.

  To: Cassio Vale, QuestWright of Liora

  From: The Office of the Sovereign

  QuestWright Vale,

  It has come to our attention that you have recently learned forbidden knowledge. All information concerning Vocators is meant to be kept from the general populace until they’ve reached a Tier and standing deemed acceptable. As such, we have decided to relocate you to a new city where other parties with such information are not available for discussion or instruction.

  Concerning your forced transfer, this is not a punishment. The Sovereign understands that you were not exposed to the restricted Calling voluntarily; therefore, there are no negative marks on your record within the Central Guild.

  You are hereby reassigned under order of the Sovereign to the Guildtower of Liberty, where your unique attributes and leadership may be better utilized under controlled conditions. After arriving in Liberty, report immediately to Under-Guildmaster Martin for placement.

  Any and all attempts to speak of Vocators as a Calling will be made aware to the Office of the Sovereign, and punishment will be meted out with equanimity. While you now possess partial insight into this historical identity, you are advised not to act on, repeat, or disseminate any references to it.

  QuestWright remains the official and authorized designation for all Quests and orders within the Central Guild. The functionality of all Guilds depends on such terminology to ensure global continuity.

  Further steps have been taken to facilitate your successful integration into Liberty’s Guild structure. Do not attempt to contact Liora for the next 15-day cycle. Your correspondence privileges will resume upon finalization of the Liberty Guild’s forthcoming internal audit by Accountant Margaret Jim.

  Continued service to the Guild will result in reinstated privileges, expanded Guild access, and potential mentoring by the Sovereign themself.

  -The Sovereign

  “These bastards,” Cass said offhand. “They think they can-”

  “Careful what you say, boy.” Ren admonished with a stern look. “Without the Sovereign, most of the world would still be on fire. They were one of the first to walk out of the dungeon in the north and built a great deal of the world that keeps you safe.”

  “Safe from kidnapping?” Cass said with a snort. “I’ve had enough of people telling me what to do.”

  “Well, get ready for more.” Noah called out, “Because we’re here.”