The grind

You spent several hours repeating what you just did to the cleric. Giving the novice heroes a taste of their own medicine as you repeatedly ganked them from behind. Turns out they aren’t so tough if you just don’t play like your instincts tell you. It was hardly a fair fight straight on so why even give them the chance?

Nevertheless, you managed to ambush about 7 more heroes during your little session. Each one fell down with a single blow to the head except for an exceptionally lucky fighter. You did a low amount of damage for the first strike and you had to engage in real combat against a hero. Luckily, you did enough damage that he had no health to spare and went down like the others. After that you leveled up and retreated to a secluded area to take stock of your situation so far

Earnings: 77 gold, leather boots(3), Leather tunic, Leather bracers, shortsword(2), club(2), and assorted nicknacks.

You also leveled up three times and gained some new skills. One of which you let you examine entities to examine their stats. You could even use it on yourself. Focusing, you used the ability on yourself. This was the current you:

[Ali, level 6 Alley Thug]

HP: 35

Str: 9

Mag: 0

Def: 6

[Abilities: Sneak Attack, Intimidation, Sand Toss, Size Up, Shady Connections]

[Proficiencies: Simple Weapons, Light Armor]

All in all it was a massive step up in power. You had gained lots of stats, especially strength and HP as well as a mostly complete set of light armor from these heroes. It was basic leather but looked great on you and fit perfectly. The tunic in particular stylishly showed off your sizable arms since it had no sleeves!

Some of the skills you gained were less than useful though, like Intimidation and something called Shady Connections. You weren’t sure what that one did yet. But the real MVP of it all is the Size Up ability. It has proven to be invaluable. It let you not only examine yourself, but others too as long as they were somewhat close to your level. Most of the heroes you fought had been level 1 or 2 at most, making things fairly easy. But you noticed that it was getting harder and harder to level up. It may be time to move on to a slightly higher level area.

Suddenly a shadow appeared out of the corner of your eye. Surprised, you sit up straight and try to see who it is. Nobody but a thug should know about this spot!