Along the way, David focussed on the four dots in the corner of his vision. Immediately a panel opened in front of him.
Stats
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Class: Mage(Aspiring)
Abilities: Vision
Pathway:
Elements: Wind
Tier: I (29/300 soul fragments)
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It wasn't as if he didn't already know his stats. However he was forced to open it so as to have something to distract him from the sharp gazes directed at him from all sides. From the moment he had separated from the group, the people of the village looked at him strangely and cautiously.
Not only was it visible to the people that he was a barbarian but also the pentagonal sign implanted on his neck gave away his slave status.
Not so surprisingly, people avoided him like he was a vector carrying some deadly disease. Some even went as far as carefully dodging the path he had already walked on.
And as such, David found it extremely necessary to open his system panel.
But now that he had opened it, he got curious as a few specific questions arose in his mind.
What counted as a soul fragment? He understood for a fact that to gain these soul fragments, he would need to kill.
Just as he had slain those Tier I and Tier II wraiths.
In fact a rough calculation showed him that 50 soul fragments were required to jump from Tier 0 to Tier I. Luckily for him, he didn't have to kill 50 times as he was awarded all of them from a single power stone.
"By that count, I have killed 29 soul wraiths only..." He muttered to himself, a little disappointed. While he was quite grateful that he had come out alive from the dungeon, he couldn't quite believe he had killed only twenty nine of those punks after all that struggle.
'The last floor...I am quite sure there had been a lot more than twenty nine of those Tier II wraiths in that floor alone. But if I haven't killed them all, then who was it? The princess?'
He was mildly confused with that train of thought. Hadn't she asked him to kill them by himself or he would be rotting there while she escaped?
And yet it would seem she had helped him back there...quite subtly so.
'Or maybe she just wanted to increase her soul fragments as well.' Afterall, people starting from Tier I have this system screen with them which displayed their stats.
And given he wasn't anyone special with all those "isekai mc protagonist powers", he could safely assume people needed soul fragments to level up as well. Just like him.
For a brief moment, he wondered what could be Valerie's tier level. He then looked at the screen again.
'Aspiring hmm...sounds like a rank. And if I had to guess , it's the lowest rank among the mages.'
While thinking of all these, he didn't notice how much time had passed as he reached a small shop. He quietly bought the four loaves of bread.
"That would be four coppers." The bald shopkeeper said without looking up. But David didn't mind that since he knew that the people here were deliberately ignoring him as much as possible. Although it was quite discriminating in nature, he could only let it go.
He took out the few copper coins he had been given. Each of them were marked with the number 1 or 2 - without a doubt representing the value of the currency.
Counting them, David found six coppers with him in total.
A sudden thought struck him as he kept one copper with him and handed over the rest to the shopkeeper.
"Umm can you pack me an extra loaf of bread in a separate package?"
The bald man who was wrapping the loaves of breads in a thin paper looked up at him. Then he slowly nodded.
"Sure."
Within few more minutes, he received his order as he carefully hid away the extra loaf while carrying the main order he was supposed to be buying.
As he was about to go away, the shopkeeper stopped him as he said with a smirk.
"Just for today...four loaves in here cost 5 coppers; just for this day."
David didn't miss the point of the shopkeeper's words. It would seem that wisdom idn't come from white hairs alone but sometimes even from bald heads.
Turning his head, he nodded in gratefulness and started walking back to the caravan.
One might ask how foolish a person could be that even after being given the chance to run away from the soldiers for good, why wouldn't he do it?
'If only things were simple...' He thought inwardly as his mood soured a little. The pentagonal sign marking him somehow tracked his location similar to what Princess Valerie could do. Not only that, it could even command the person to do anything the master would want them to.
After half an hour, he reached the caravan again. He had thought that he would probably be quite late but seeing the almost empty caravan, he understood he was actually one of the first to arrive.
Walking upto the soldiers, he handed over the four loaves of bread and the single copper that had been left.
One of the soldiers cried out, "Four breads for five coppers?!"
David nodded solemnly and made a pitiful expression as if he had been physically harmed by the inflation.
"Indeed, sir. The price has increased a lot."
...Even though he had no idea of their currency, he spoke his bullshit with an unmatched confidence.
The other soldier narrowed his eyes as he asked David, "A17, are you telling the truth? Was that really the price of the breads?"
A sudden itchiness flared at his neck and travelled towards his mouth, his tongue and his gums. The itchiness soon changed into a burning feeling as David quickly answered.
"Yes, that's the actual price."
The burning effect faded away instantly. David realised something horrifying at that moment.
'If I don't speak or if I lie, the sign of slavery shall burn me to death...that is until I say the truth.'
And simultaneously he realised another important thing.
'The shopkeeper had actually predicted this same situation....and seeing my slave mark, he changed the price of the four breads from four coppers to five coppers....which is why even though I lied, it was considered a truth by the pentagonal sign.'
It took David all his effort not to let his eyes widen in amazement. Inwardly he couldn't help but praise the shopkeeper for the witty move.