Each guild claims itself the most prestigious. Without herbalists, there would be no alchemists, without alchemists there would be no potions and special tempering solutions for blacksmiths and artificers, without blacksmiths there would be no weapons, without artificers no precise tools and many other fine trinkets, meaning alchemists couldn’t do their job.

  In reality, the most important guild is the one whose professional you need next. They all wield fiersome influence and even major forces and royal families don’t dare cross them. Since you are reading this book, that means you’re a hedge awakened. If there is one thing you should remember from this brief overview, it’s this - don’t mess with the guilds.

  — Excerpt from the Overview of Imperial Guilds

  Day 84, 1:10 PM

  People approached, murmuring as I stared at the body in horror. The corpse’s last words didn’t belong to a human. An outer god, hopefully one more benevolent than those who ate worlds, gave me a warning.

  They gave me several, in fact. Outer gods infested this world in some form, they knew someone was hopping through time, and seers could work as their agents or they could possess them or something. These implied that the one who possessed the old woman was a friend or at least a neutral party, perhaps someone who wanted me to do something about the invading forces.

  I should redo just before I came to the promenade and skip the conversation with the little old lady.

  As insane and hypocritical as it sounded coming from a man who had slaughtered hundreds, not wanting a destitute granny’s blood on my hands made the current loop a dead end, and for a moment I wondered about jumping all the way back in time before I came to Thunderbluff. I smothered the thought as soon as it arose. I had finally advanced weaponmaster, so I needed to visit Thunderbluff.

  A pair of guards came, spoke with us, and chalked up the old woman’s death to age and poor health before letting us go.

  The rest of the two weeks I spent walking around, advancing weaponmaster, checking out the guilds, taking entrance exams and sucking at most of them, since the majority of guilds required exceptional knowledge or a mindcore to follow the flow of mana. The only thing I seemed to have a knack for was blacksmithing. Most surprisingly, I sucked as a seal scribe. My lines were good, drawings precise, but without manasight, there was no way to join. I had great theoretical knowledge, but failed to pass the practical portion of the exam.

  Soon enough, I was rubbing the phantom pain from my neck, once more heading towards the raging river promenade. I climbed the stairs, but there was already a commotion. History changed without my interference for the first time in the centuries I had lived.

  The old lady lay dead in a puddle of blood. She was dead, and I finally realized that powerful enough outer gods could affect the world directly. Whoever it was that spoke to me, had eliminated the old seer again to ensure secrecy.

  I turned around and headed for the adventurers’ guild. There, I went to the practice yard, reacquired my slingsmanship, and spent a day and a half shooting arrows well into the night before I got Initial Bowmanship.

  My mind was heavy the whole while, I had a routine match in several hours, one which I would win before scheduling the next one. Longshanks would advertise it for an entire week, deciding to use my leveling quirks as publicity stunts. I disliked redoing such an extended interaction, but I needed the woman to find worthy opponents, and the money I got from her wasn’t bad either. Besides, repeating it once was different from doing it dozens or hundreds of times. Or so I hoped.

  The time remaining until dawn I tried to learn how to effectively use a net in combat, but a handful of hours didn’t amount to much. I could throw it, ensnare my target, but I was a long way from mastery.

  “You train with the oddest things.” The old adventurer manning the bar approached me, changing history again. “Archery is seldom used amongst knights.”

  He pointed at the net. “And those things see use even rarer. Why bother?”

  I almost shrugged, but it would have made me seem flippant, and since I planned to continue the loop, I needed to give him a serious answer. The man seemed important.

  “Learning a skill while having downtime is time well spent. Even if you never use the skill, it might inspire you at some point in the future and give you an idea how to do something better or unexpected.” I smiled at him. “Besides, if nets and bows were really useless, you wouldn’t have kept them here, now would you?”

  The old man grinned back. “You cheeky little kid. But you’re right. All skills can become useful under the right circumstances.”

  He looked me over once more. “You’re fighting at the Longshank’s today? One against two?”

  I nodded, he already knew the answer.

  “I’ll drop by and have a look at how you fight. Who knows, there might be special opportunities for those skilled enough.”

  Well, there it was, another change. Me practicing with rarely used weapons grabbed a veteran adventurer’s attention. Another reason not to think myself immortal, even with similar actions, I might flip the world over on its head without really knowing it. I needed to change my strategy. Unlike the other worlds I lived in, this one had an unknown number of ancient monsters, all of whom might be watching me. And that wasn’t even taking into account outer gods and their agenda. Hopefully, people don’t kill me immediately and let me come up with countermeasures.

  At a quarter to one in the afternoon I headed for the pit to get ready for my fight. My opponents were a pair of brothers, both at the third realm, second and third layers. I went through the motions mechanically, and soon enough, I stood on the sand, eyeing my two opponents. They were older than Dandelion, scowling at me, and about to—.

  “You’re very confident to dare set up a duel with the Glassblade brothers!” the older one sneered.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Last time I had stabbed him a bit more deeply for trash talking, but I was a generous man, and there was no reason to hold petty—“I’ll dig your eye out for this insult.”

  Or I could just stab him in the butt again, to maintain the consistency. Both worked. Yeah, consistency was very important.

  Longshanks gave the word, and the fallen nobles lunged towards me. They fanned out like last time, one attacking from the right one from the left. I rushed towards the right one, just like last time, choosing the one who politely remained silent and just glared at me.

  He swung his greatsword at my neck, and I met his blade with mine. The man grunted and staggered back, while I ducked under the sweep of his big brother’s greatsword. They really should’ve called themselves the Greatswords instead of the Glassblade brothers. Sounded cooler. Manlier. Less fragile.

  The weapon whistled above my head, its wielder controlling the bulk with ease. The blades we were using must’ve weighed thirty-forty pounds, and yet we swung them like sticks. Classes with access to magic really were crazy.

  The insult-thrower flew past me. I twisted my spine like a cat, taking a stance which would have broken a regular human, and stabbed him in the ass. He yelped and fell, his brother rushing at me, his eyes crimson. The younger one was much better with the blade than his brother, but I was stronger, faster, and more skilled. I disarmed him in a dozen moves, the greatsword’s edge pressed against his neck.

  “The winner is Just Dandelion,” Longshanks used the same corny joke as last time, and even if she thought it was her first time saying it, I had to roll my eyes. The only thing going in her favor, other than money she was paying me, was the notification hovering before my eyes.

  [You have defeated two combatants with their favored weapons

  You have leveled up.

  Select a skill within sixty seconds or a random one will be assigned to you.

  Piercing Weapons Master - Your skill with all piercing weapons you are proficient with increases by one grade.

  Slashing Weapons Master - Your skill with all slashing weapons you are proficient with increases by one grade.]

  The skills were good, but horrible for me, since I knew Blunt Weapons Master existed somewhere in some universe, and I was denied the skill.

  I chose piercing, because of the number of slashing versus the number of piercing weapon skills, and because I had an inkling about some level up conditions later down the line.

  Another level up notification appeared, I had met the condition without even trying.

  [You have achieved expert proficiency with a weapon.

  You have leveled up.

  Select a skill within sixty seconds or a random one will be assigned to you.

  Battlefield Mastery - Your control over the battlefield is uncanny.

  Fearsome Presence - Wielding weapons you are proficient with intimidates your opponents.]

  That one was identical to the one I got on Everrain. I chose Battlefield Mastery, fearing someone of a higher realm might notice something off about suddenly being afraid of me. Worse they might think me a Ghost Cult member.

  With those two notifications, my leveling spree ended for a week, and I focused on the world around me.

  “Here are your winnings.” Longshanks passed me a pouch with thirty-two third realm crystals and twenty second realm ones. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I can find any more opponents for you. Even one against two, you won handily.”

  She looked me over from head to toe, and the insult was about to land.

  “I do have another line of work for you, though. It doesn’t pay quite as well, but it’s much more pleasant.” I almost interrupted her to say no, but I had to let her finish. “Several of my clients, standing at the precipice of becoming questors, have expressed a desire to have children with you. It comes with food paid, a place to stay for a month, and other potential bonuses.”

  “Thank you for your consideration, but I’m not a gigolo.” I was much calmer about the whole thing, the last time I found it insulting, but then she explained it, as she was about to.

  “You wouldn’t be a gigolo. This is lineage planning and bloodline enrichment. It’s obvious you will reach the fourth realm one day, and your descendants stand a good chance of inheriting your superior bloodline.”

  “Thanks, but no thanks.” I smiled, my mood considerably better than last time. “I have a handicap in mind for my next match. How about, I’m unarmed with weapons lying around the arena? I can use any of them, but I have to drop them after a single attack or parry?”

  Longshanks rubbed her chin. “An exhibition match? That might work. But I will need some time to work up a crowd. And consider my other proposal, if you were available for such casual encounters, your following might grow by a non-trivial margin.”

  [Name - Dandelion Blackfist

  Class - weaponmaster level 4

  Health 25/25, Strength - 25, Agility - 25, Physique - 25, Wisdom - 25, Intellect - 25, Willpower - 25, Presence - 25, Charisma - 25, Composure - 25

  Abilities - See Abilities for more information.

  Attribute points remaining - 0

  To level up, defeat an enemy by using weapons of three different weapon categories with which you have proficiency.

  Statuses - none]

  [Abilities - Initial Appraisal, Initial Forest Ambush, Advanced Looting, Literate, Inferior Heartcore, Initial Mana Gathering, Initial Mana Circulation, Initial Black Fist Arts, Advanced Body Reinforcement, Master Rider, Initial Fast Reader, Initial Reference Checker, Expert Calligraphy, Initial Arithmetics, Initial Persuasion, Initial Photographic Memory, Initial Time Optimization, Initial Logical Deduction, Initial Steady Hand, Initial Eye For Detail, Initial Seal Deconstruction, Initial Seal Prototyping, Expert Staffmanship, Advanced Swordsmanship, Advanced Spearmanship, Initial Clubmanship, Initial Flailmanship, Advanced Knifemanship, Initial Axmanship, Initial Macemanship, Initial Slingmanship, Advanced Bowmanship, Piercing Weapons Master, Battlefield Mastery]

  [Anarchist Level 7

  Abilities - Rage, Redo, Blunt, Heavy Handed, Direct, Insightful, Precise, Amicable, Visionary, Godly ??, Gate Sealer ??, Vengeful ?, Grandmaster Rider ?

  To level up, force the authorities to impose justice upon a party they had previously ignored.]