Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

Ayemon continued his narration as if he didn't notice Aldrich's doubts.

"It's not like Crestmasters get a bad deal, most Crestmaster could pay off their debts in a few short years. At least most of them won't be debt ridden for more than five years.

Being sponsored by a noble house is a blessing that people kill for, Crestmasters that show great potential get married into those families. It's not an exaggeration to say that they have assured their line's prosperity for a few generations, in a way."

Indeed, there were more than one way to look at this issue, and most of the time the Crestmasters don't lose out. Otherwise there would be many more Crestmasters that turn adventurers.

But of course, paying off debt while risking life and limb or paying debt while being pampered by the nobles were two different things. So what if it took a few more years? As long as they had a life they could wait!

But what if they died? Then everything was over.

Of course Aldrich understood all this but he just didn't like the idea of debt, ever since he was little he was paying off debt.

Aldrich had decided that he won't live like that ever again. The risk of adventure? That was a small price to pay for freedom.

Besides it has always been his dream to become an adventurer, he didn't care about the lukewarm reputation of adventurers, he didn't care about the dangers that came with it.

Even if the Wakefield massacre never happened he was still going to become an adventurer if his crest awakened, and it did.

If it didn't then that's another matter altogether and he had prepared for such a possibility.

Aldrich picked up the monster codex and departed for the academy he had a class in the morning as usual. The class was informative and it was a favorite of Aldrich's.

It was getting better when the professor announced that the next chapter was about several expeditions into three particular dungeons and it will delve into the best clearing tactics depending on the party you were in.

This is definitely a very vital topic, he wanted to see how these theories were applied in reality. Not to mention that dungeons were interesting and very mysterious to the world.

Aldrich was beginning to understand why Crestmasters needed to operate in parties of four or more on their quests.

No wonder, since equal grade monsters were typically stronger than counterpart Crestmasters.

Add to that a trap-packed dungeon and you will have a very challenging quest.

Crestmasters were pressed to team up if they wanted to contend with monsters, a team of four will generally have some injuries and almost no casualties when they went against a monster of similar grade.

Even if you didn't count dungeons since they were relatively rare, most of the time it was Crestmasters that venture into monster lairs.

This meant that monsters usually held the home-ground advantage and adding that to it's superior strength, and unusual abilities, that would definitely mean that Crestmasters had to make up the difference in numbers.

After the class Aldrich had his regularly scheduled training session with Gazeff. During this session, Aldrich repeated the three parts, starting from stamina to hand-to-hand combat.

On this day Gazeff even praised his reaction and reflexes. Aldrich inwardly thanked his level four agility attribute.

The combination of his high perception from the intelligence and the agility attributes was terrifying.

Aldrich thought that he was definitely was getting the hang of the twenty eight sword forms and the bone breaker style.

By the end of the training Aldrich actually managed to hunt a water leaper that tried to ambush him when he went to refill his waterskin from a nearby stream.

The water leaper was like a mutated frog, it had grown snake-like scales and a jagged sting at the end of a long scaly tail.

From the shrubs of the stream it tried to sting Aldrich, alas it failed the initial attack and Aldrich finished it off using the bone breaker style.

The water leaper could have hurt him badly but Aldrich's perception had become too high. Even the crafty ambusher husks were no longer a threat to him.

Unfortunately it was only a level one monster it only yielded two essence orbs, the poor bastard.

After he found out that it was worthless in the market, Aldrich was even more pissed at the water leaper. Eventually he found someone to buy it and it sold for three coppers.

On the way back to his place Aldrich passed by a newspaper stand. In front of the stand there was a man who was holding one of the papers and hollering.

"Breaking new! Breaking news! A village in the Drnain region called Wakefield was slaughtered by gnolls and kobolds! The deputy governor has issued a statement! Read it here first! The Yongar Weekly brings the hottest news on the clock! Here! Here!"

Aldrich froze in place. He heard the man repeat his lines twice more before he was sure that his ears had indeed not deceived him.

He knew that this was coming, Ayemon told him about it a while ago. And yet he was still shaken when he heard it. Aldrich quick regained his composure and brought the news paper from the man.

His face did not betray his inner turmoil. He knew that it was better for him if he didn't read it, he already knew what's in it. He did not need to agitate himself any further.

But, he still decided to read it. In all caps the in the first page it read:

[An unforeseen tragedy! The death of more than two hundred villagers! The deputy governor Seinalt Enthelmyre was enraged and heartbroken at this news he has officially requested the governor to allow the lords of the Drnain region to draft soldiers to form a defensive regiment to protect the imperial populace in the region!]