Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Cough, cough, cough!

"Arghh!" Frock suddenly started coughing while showing a pained look on his face which alarmed Skullius as he instantly started to think that he was screwed.

'Damn it.. again?!'

"Ah! This is bad," Frock said as he gazed at Skullius.

"What? What's happening?!" Skullius asked as he stood.

"<Cough>. This happens... to me sometimes. My throat gets all parched and makes it... hard for me to <cough> ... speak."

"Huh?!" Skullius confusedly exclaimed.

He was also somewhat relieved at the same time.

It wasn't UNCoddled?

Frankly, he had been starting to get to comfortable. This guy didn't seem like a sockethole at all and he seemed to be genuinely helping him. On the surface at least.

But what was with this situation?

"Gold... gold usually makes it better... <cough>... <cough>..."

The Discount Human narrowed his eyes. He wasn't an expert when it came to trading but he knew there was something fishy going on here.

Did people eat gold or something?

Since he wanted information and there was a lot of coin in his ring, he pushed a few more coins onto the hot fish placed on clay slates.

"Ahem.. ahem! Wow, that worked like a charm. The cough's gone. Thank Quintess. Now, where were we? Right, right!"

'SHAMELESS!' Skullius thought. Deep from within, something clicked.

This guy was a sockethole alright.

"There are three things that are the central focus of power. Classes, mana cores and stages. I'll use examples from the Guilds since you wish to join the Guilds Association anyway."

"Let's start with classes. They have three main categories which dictate difficulty of mastery, power and efficiency. The first and simplest category, is the Arma Users. It consists of every weapon wielding class there is. Swordsman, Spearman, Archer among others. This is a category that most people choose as it easier to learn than most, but the downside is, the ways of advancement to these classes are mostly known, meaning, becoming something special, even with the advanced version of an Arma type class is very difficult."

Skullius nodded.

'I see. Come to think of it, I haven't really met fighters who don't use swords or bows since coming here. I guess those goblins were different though...' Skullius thought back to the leader of the Bloated River clan, Ukur and the other one, Vijak who used spells.

It was weird that he had seen low level monsters that could use magic but not humans. Was there a good reason for it?

"The second category is the Form Users. This is made of classes whose foundation is firmly hinged on the use physical and mental abilities, with classes like Warriors, Blacksmiths, Mind Casters being found here. It is difficult to master these and fewer people with these classes actually manage advance them, but they can be found."

Skullius listened attentively. This was crucial for him to understand what kind of enemies he would be facing, after all.

"The last category is... the Energy Formers. This is by far the hardest class and has very, very few people who even qualify to choose the class for their own usage. There aren't many classes in this category, as the main ones are Mages, Diviners, Tamers, Summoners and Shamans. Anyone with a class like this is a powerhouse that is respected and revered, though some of them have a hard time mastering the spells, especially when they are budding."

Frock looked particularly serious when he divulged this information, searing the caution of these people in Skullius' mind.

This category of classes could change the direction of a war entirely as if a mage managed to gain an advanced class, they would become particularly terrifying on a national level.

"There are only six Energy Formers in this entire city. Two of them are mages from the leading 'Guild', the Ideal Ark, though as I recall they only joined a month ago and were still fresh from some small Academy, probably with the basic mage class. Another, is the leader of the Harem Guild, Tulnas and the rest are Capital Mages, working for the City lord."

Skullius gulped audibly.

Tulnas was an Energy Former?!

With the impression he had been given, he couldn't help but see that sockethole in a different light!

Suddenly, he wanted to replace his mental image of Tulnas in the black and green armour with a robe and staff.

'Maybe I should join that Guild after all. Maybe...'

"What about the mana cores?" Skullius asked.

"<Cough>... <cough>... my throat!"

CLNK!

Skullius begrudgingly threw a few more coins at the dark-haired bastard who instantly 'recovered'.

"Right! Mana cores are an internal storage structure for mana. On a basic level, they take in mana from the world and personalise it. Normal people develop a white core which is the most basic form of a core and by condensing mana, it gets purer and stronger, forming other colours. White, blue, purple and gold are the publicly known colours. With each colour comes a condensing of mana by ten times and a vast improvement in its quality. This also affects the attributes of an individual."

"The blue core is the upper standard for a majority of people though. It's extremely hard to condense mana into purple and gold. That's something you will see with some older and more prodigious individuals. Only one person has a purple core in this city and if you stay you might just see them."

'I already know someone with that kind of core though,' Skullius thought of Elita. In her battle against the Cursed Knight, her core has visibly produced a purple light as she fought. 'That was terrifying. Condensed by ten times. That's insane. But...'

[Depths of the core].

This skill should be allow him to have an easier time. Or so Skullius thought.

With this knowledge, he kind of understood why the stat representation for people with blue cores was different on the guidance field.

"And stages?"

"<Bwaff!>... <bwaff!>... it's killing me!"

"Come on, bro!" Skullius barked.

CLNK! CLNK!

Coins fell on the clay plates, Frock grinning as he looked at his earnings. Who knew that gaining so much gold would be so easy?

This idiot must be some rich kid from a noble family who just wanted to splurge somewhere else.

At this point, he couldn't care less.

Of course, even while scamming the poor fellow, he didn't neglect integrity. At the very least he gave Skullius valid information so his conscience was clear.

"Alright then. Stages. These are undoubtedly the foundation that's necessary before anything else. With a high enough stage, classes can become inconsequential and meaningless as fights can be won without the need for a condensed core. Stages are the result of scaling levels and completing Tasks. The true path to what beasts do superficially..."