James led them into a different house two blocks away from where they had done their negotiation. They were getting farther from both the graveyard and the tallest tower. Both of which were not exactly an objective for Suna, but they might as well be seen as such. They rotated to the back of the house, a slight gap opening between walls that was just wide enough for Noa to be carried across.

  Suna blew off a cobweb that almost glided to his nose. This place, the whole damn city, needed a massive cleaning project.

  He was the second out of the tight gaps, following James into a small backyard which was walled with low stones. In the middle of the humble backyard was a well. A solid thunk of wood, which held a rope that went down to what seemed like an endless darkness. James took the rope and pulled it twice.

  “Solid enough,” James muttered, then looked back at the humans.

  His offer still stung in Suna’s brain. And it bothered him how Min and Reki were so eager to accept it. Sure, it was a great offer, but sacrificing so much for their sake? Even if the Tiefling was made by the system… It was clear that Suna was not the only one bothered by this. Pito and Slea had been quiet. For now, James claimed he would show how to get their help; they can still decide later.

  James tapped on the well with his knuckle, and the sound echoed off. A second passed, and a similar echo sounded from down there.

  “Let's go, human,” James said, stepping up and beginning to descend at an incredible speed with the rope.

  Suna was next in line. He clutched the coarse rope, looking down at the abyss below. He gulped, but he jumped off, loosening his grip. His Shadow Gauntlet allowed him to descend without burning his hand. He went down at a steady pace and eventually reached the bottom, where only a small shaft of moonlight reached. The moonlight tried to pierce a sudden, open cavern, where it failed to go all the way down. Suna’s world opened up, red light of torches lining the sewer, and they shone on the running water that sloshed calmly like a summer river.

  The rotten scent of the sewer engulfed his nose the moment he let go of the rope. Suna grunted and, by mistake, opened his mouth. A putrid and acrid taste hit his tongue and infused all the way to his body, making him gag.

  “Ugh,” Suna groaned out loud.

  “You will get used to it,” James said as he regarded the rope. “The others have not even left the small well descent. You’re fast,” The one-horned Tiefling stated.

  “I have an advantage,” Suna said, opening his gauntlet for James to see. He scrunched his nose with his shoulder. This must be a horrid place to live.

  “Ow! Ow!” A voice screamed out. Suna looked up to see Reki stopping right in the middle. “How long does this rope go? My hand hurts! And why is this place suddenly so damn huge!” His voice echoed through.

  Suna counted about eight echoes; perhaps each got weaker with each passing second.

  “You said Reki will be the key to winning the support,” Suna said.

  “Yes, I did. It will be much faster for you to see, human, not just him, but the [Mage] and [Monk] too. There are reasons we like having Pito around.”

  “And regarding this depth delving... you’re willing to send them with us?”

  The Tiefling regarded him with a stare, both his eyes glowed green and yellow like a cat. Suna could not make out the emotion behind them. “I might have said, I did not care for them. But I don’t believe your expedition will be a suicide mission either. I need the third faction to solidify the towers and get used to the weapon we will receive from the altar. As for the others—they will help you, I promised. Although things have been quite rough lately, especially with the fourth and fifth, who both even tried to get you humans killed, but still… I will figure it out.”

  After another ten minutes, perhaps, everyone has descended. Since Noa couldn’t come down, it was decided that Min would stay up in the house with him. Slea went down with them because James had insisted, and she was the last one to descend the rope.

  They began walking. The torch lined the huge sewer well enough to light the path they were walking on, but they did not extend to cover the water, which might as well be a river of rot. Water rushed beside him as Suna kept going, his eyes scanned the area, still not trusting the Tiefling fully.

  James led them into a three-way intersection before he turned into an archway built right into the sewer's dark stone walling. Inside was another open cavern, just like earlier; his world opened up once more. Instead of the sewer manmade walling, this was an open natural cavern with smooth rock surrounding the bustling activity inside.

  A marketplace, and inside were perhaps thousands of Tieflings.

  Stall without roofs were etched into the stone, forcefully carved into some sort of hollows. Tables sprawled with various equipment ranging from head armor all the way to gauntlets. He also spotted some weapons that were different from those of the Drows.

  Food ranging from fruit to bread was also laid bare. They followed James, and Suna's eyes couldn’t help but wander.

  “Whoa,” Slea muttered beside him.

  Passing Tiefling regarded them with curious eyes, but they were surprisingly not hostile.

  “Chieftain!” A Tielfing called, running with his group. The voice sounded childish. Then Suna saw the source, five little Tieflings clinging to James's legs.

  “My future thief!” James laughed, scooping one of them up.

  They can reproduce?

  “They’re cute, aren’t they?” Slea whispered beside him.

  But Suna asked the more important question. “They’re not built by the system?” He turned on Reki and Pito.

  “You think the system made them?” Pito asked, his mouth gaping like it was obvious they weren't.

  “Well, it’s the natural conclusion,” Reki added. The office worker looked around, eyes wide, taking in the marketplace. “Interesting,”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Pito!” Two of the demon kids cheered and went running to Pito, who crouched and let them feel his bald head. Slea laughed at them, and even Reki gave a slight smile.

  But, this sight did something different to Suna; it gave him dread. They had just killed so many Tieflings, one of the reasons he was able to do that was because he thought they were just well… Npc.

  His eyes narrowed, and his heartbeat got quicker.

  “Don’t do that,” James spoke softly, watching him carefully. “You’re attacked, betrayed. So you had to fight. Come, humans, I will show you to your stall.”

  “Right…” Suna muttered. “Stall?”

  –

  They’re given a stall, it’s an etched rock wide enough for a dozen people. And it faced the might of the marketplace with a wide, long table. They dumped all forty Runes into the table, and James began to command.

  “Please separate the Equipment runes from the stat runes and skills runes.”

  After they did, the Tiefling continued.

  “There are five equipment Runes here, good. Now I want each of you to take the Stat runes and start to trade for Equipment runes and bring them here. For Skill Runes, you should just use them immediately.” James started to separate the Stat runes into two groups, each consisting of fifteen. “We split into three groups. Pito and I will lead one of you to trade so you will get a fair deal… and one of you will stay here and wait for us. I will explain further after we trade for equipment runes and how this will win the Tieflings.”

  “I will stay,” Suna volunteered, drawing a pointed look from James, who regarded him with a nod.

  “Very well,” James said. “Paladin, you come with me. Pito, please take the Mage and get a good deal on the runes.”

  “Of course, Thiefmaster,” Pito answered, and Suna detected that some of the reverence he had for the thiefmaster was no longer there. Perhaps it was because Pito still did not like how they planned to use these Tieflings for the depth expedition. Suna did not like it either; he would need to bring it up again at some point.

  They left, and Suna wondered if he should’ve brought the Cleric Staff with him; he had left it with Min at the house after he recovered it.

  Suna watched the busy market, observing how life moved around him. Tieflings passing by gave him looks; some pointed, and others waved at him. Ahead of him were five stalls arranged in a square with their vendors' backs facing each other; they eagerly called out to customers, advertising their products, mainly armor, with great enthusiasm.

  This brought back some memories. This reminded him of sitting on a bench, just under the flickering light of the park light…, watching people go about with their activity.

  He had some habits. A weird one. Suna likes to blur his eyes, and let motions pass by with light filtered in. It was cool, like his vision had become cloudy. And he did it again here, in a strange way… Those blurring shapes of life flitting, children screaming and running, adults warning them while still keeping talk with their friends. It was all oh so familiar.

  Was the system capable of creating something like this? If so, it was truly wondrous and terrifying.

  Suna leaned against a wooden seat placed just behind the table, and he kept staring, each passing second planting a seed of doubt in their plan. It wasn’t right.

  Soon, James' group returned with thirty equipment Runes. Reki dumped the bright crystal onto the table with a grin. The office worker raised his brow at Suna and opened a palm, making a hand motion.

  “What?” He rose his eyebrow.

  “Compliment? Gratitude? Anything? We just turned fifteen attribute runes into thirty equipment Runes!” Reki exclaimed.

  “Oh, it's we? James probably did all the work, didn’t he?”

  Reki chortled, snapping his head back in offense. “No, of course not!”

  “I did, the merchants gave us a great deal because of my reputation,” James said, absent-mindedly. The Thiefmaster eyed Reki with obvious disdain.

  Reki snorted, squaring against the one-horned Tiefling. “I negotiated!”

  “To which they just smiled and nodded,” James added.

  “Well, I would not expect someone who has never worked an office job to understand the art of negotiation,” the office worker snorted.

  “Office job?”

  “You’re probably the only one who glorifies office work, Reki,” Suna mumbled.

  “You’re a real bastard, Eyebag. How old are you? Nineteen? Twenty? Experience comes with age, I wouldn’t expect you to understand either!”

  “Comes with age…” James muttered, like he was considering it seriously.

  “James, don’t take him seriously,” Suna almost pleaded, seeing Reki's scowl.

  “That I can agree with,” James continued. “I’m the oldest Tiefling, if they saw it my way, we as a race would be able to attain the altar already”. The Tiefling let out a small breath and leaned against the hollow rock side. Now that breath was something that was building through his entire life, just like Suna’s parents, who kept breathing these annoying huffs every single damn time.

  “Yes, my friend! I get it, youngsters are often too ambitious for their own good. Someone with life experience needed to be there to reel them in.”

  “Yes… I assumed you had a similar experience? Honorable Paladin”

  “Unfortunately,” Reki shrugged.

  “Your boss is younger than you?” Suna asked.

  Reki growled at him, making it obvious that he hit the jackpot.

  Instead of answering Suna's question, Reki steered the conversation away.

  “So, considering that the monk and the girl probably never had negotiation skills, they probably will take longer. Can you tell us now why we would rather have equipment runes?” Reki asked.

  “Yes, I might as well start. We have enough runes. How much do you know about class?”

  Reki and Suna looked at each other. Then Suna answered. “A path to power? As a guiding way to define what your power will grow to,” he winced; he could put that better.

  “It reminds me of profession, but much deeper, it's etched on your soul according to that white creature. Like it becomes your life path,” Reki said.

  “Yes, that's accurate. Your progression has been determined; it was a ladder, as it was a path. But, it is also a shaper. Think of it as a gateway. And these runes, runes are pure power, different from classes that had already been shaped. So if one destroyed a rune while being classless, then the result will be just a mess of shape, like a steel wrought to a random shape without an expert blacksmith to shape it. But, with class, the power shall be shaped, and some classes held more mystic and wondrous power than the others; it doesn't necessarily mean more powerful, just that it was a better shaper,” James explained.

  The Tiefling handed Reki one of the biggest equipment runes, this one almost the size of a palm.

  “Crack it”

  Reki did, and golden light seeped out of the now destroyed runes, forming into a cloak of gold.

  [His Holiness Cloak][Rare] – Blessed by light and loved by it. This cloak shall banish darkness and send searing heat to any enemy wearer deemed as a foe. The heat shall be your defense against darkness, banishing any dark power that threatens you. Sense + 50.

  Reki gaped at the bright cloak in his hand.

  “Another one,” James ordered.

  [Warhammer of Radiance] [Rare] – Wrought from steel of light, this warhammer contains truth and judgement of light. Blinding heat gathered and coalesced into a single point by pushing every light into the hammer point. Light shall eventually return after such an attack is used. Strength + 35.

  “Darkness is something the undead and Drows possess, and they’re the Tiefling's natural enemy. With these light-based weapons in your hand, you can gather so many Tieflings into your cause,” James explained.

  Suna was still staring at the weapon, a great Warhammer that looked even heavier than the greatswords of the Drow. He looked up at Reki. The office worker's face was awe-stricken. And slowly, a chill nettled Suna’s spine.

  Reki smiled.

  “This is wonderful.”