Chapter 18: Chapter 18
Looking at his HP which was almost depleted, Ruben decided to take this opportunity to level up to aid his recovery.
After getting to level 30, he got up and headed back to the dungeon gate.
He felt that he had already gained more than he expected for this trip, therefore, he spent the next few days travelling back to the gate, slaying a few groups of Monkey he met along the way.
He left the dungeon after finding the gate.
Crawling through the gate, he found himself in the familiar attic.
Using his skills, he left the residence unnoticed. He realised that there should be more temporary dungeon left that were never discovered before dissapearing due to how hidden they were.
It was due to the system that he had the ability to find and enter them without worrying of getting trapped there forever since he had the system to inform him of the time limit.
After informing the consellations in the channel, he resumed Concealment.
Like he had done after leaving his first dungeon, Ruben spend the night in his inn after instructing Tommy of the same routine.
Being the overseer for all of his inn and bars in the city, Ruben informed him his plans of opening inns in other cities and towns the next day.
"So you want me to look over all the inns and bars you own in Halum?" Tommy asked slightly confused and continued, "Is that not what I've been doing while you were drinking and lazing these past few years?"
Sighing, Ruben explained, "I'll be away for most of the time. I will still have ownership over them but I will only take 30% of the profits while you can keep the rest."
He felt bad as Tommy was doing all his work so far while only getting a fixed pay of a few silvers, so he decided to let him keep most of the remaining profit instead.
All his businesses in Halum combine makes around 10 gold per month. He would only take 3 gold giving Tommy the rest.
Although it seemed extremely generous to others, he had already earned back the amount he invested on in the beginning.
So 3 golds per month while doing absolutely nothing was a win for him.
After working with Tommy over the years, Ruben knew that he could be trusted and would send him his share of the profit even when he wasn't around.
"That's too much! Even 30% of the profit is too much for me but to ask me to take 70% is just..." Tommy said petrified and speechless.
"You do most of the work managing the inns and bars anyways, I have already earned back the money I invested in so it doesn't really matter." Ruben tried calming Tommy down with a sigh.
'Aren't people supposed to welcome a pay rise? Why is Tommy so hard to please?'
"50/50, that's the most I'll take, I can't do more." Tommy convinced Ruben seeing that he was hell-bent on giving him most of the share.
"Fine, then I'll take 5 gold every month while you keep the rest. You can have the remainder if you make more or reduce my half if the businesses aren't doing well." Ruben compromised. "As I won't be around most of the time, you can leave my share in my bank account."
After a short back and forth argument, Tommy finally agreed and thanked Ruben sincerely.
"I will forever work for you boss, you can look for me if you ever need anything." Tommy said with red eyes and snot leaking from his nose. "It's because of you that I was able give my sick sister a proper treatment and let my family live comfortablely. You are forever my most cherished benefactor."
Shaking his head, Ruben laughed and pat Tommy in the shoulder before finalising everything.
He still had around 350 gold saved up which was a huge fortune for many families while it was just a decent amount for richer household like himself.
He planned to buy an inn or two in the capital if he found one to his liking.
Realising that there may be more Marked among the people, he knew that there would surely be a market for them.
He hoped to get himself more involved in the hidden society while keeping his identity a secret.
He therefore made a plan to leave Halum Disguised and with a new identity, his mark not concealed.
This would help him integrate into the hidden society for the Marked while keeping his family safe.
Ruben then returned home to stay for a few days before leaving for the capital.
After informing his family and added that he might be absent making up an excuse that he is going to travel, Ruben changed and used Disguise headed to the capital.
He altered himself to look between the age of 30 and 40 with his features similar to his previous life.
He was of mixed descendant in his previous life making look dashing with a hint of mysterious danger due to the vibe he was giving out.
Dressed as a businessman with a dark toned suit and trench coat, he bought a 2nd class ticket to Tairon without Concealment.
No one would be able to tell him from Ruben Hilston. Not only did he changed his looks and styles completely, he altered his aura entirely as well.
He was an expert in changing identities, even personalities. In reality, he saw himself as a person without a trademark or trace.
Ruben had lived his life so far similar to a spoiled noble son not because he particularly wanted to but because it fitted his new life and life in retirement.
He wasn't sure if it was because of his previous life or he was born this way, Ruben has always find himself like a blank piece of paper, able to act accordingly to the characters he had seen or learned.
It helped made him an excellent assassin and master of disguise.
Ruben checked into a decent inn after arriving at the capital.
As he would be staying for some time, he figured that it would be more economical to stay at an inn instead of a hotel as it would cost Ruben almost twice the amount more with almost the same services.
The inn he found was also well maintained and satisfied Ruben.
After leaving a suitcase with his clothes in his room, he went to the bar downstairs.
"One medium rare steak and a glass of ale." Ruben said to the barkeeper as he sat at the bar.
Taking a swig of the ale, he gave the barkeeper an extra copper and asked, "Tell me all the latest news."
It is common practice for people to get the latest gossips and daily information from the bars at a price.
As Ruben has only just arrived, it would more convenient for him to get the latest news while he ate.
From the barkeeper, he was told of the common news he would find in the newspaper such as the latest scandals, obituary and such.
He then gave the barkeeper two more coppers for insider news.
Looking at the extra coppers and studying Ruben, he then lowered his voice and continued.
"There has been some deaths that were ruled out to be suicides recently in the capital. Everything seemed normal at first but I heard from a source in the law inforcers department that it might not be some simple suicides in the end." The barkeeper then paused and looked at Ruben for a reaction.
"What do you mean?" Ruben asked slightly curious.
"It seems that all of the suicide victims had the same kind of tattoo on their chest. Although all their deaths were different, drowning, hanging, etc. It's odd that they would all end up having the same tattoo of sort on their chest. That's why they thought that it could be a serial killing targeting a specific group of people."
"The enforcers however found that all their cause of death were really suicide with no external interference. Other than the strange tattoo, they didn't seem to be linked to each other." The barkeeper said in a whisper.
Scrunching his eyebrows, Ruben thought of what the barkeeper just told him.
"Was there any connections between the victims?" He asked hoping to get more information.
The barkeeper then put his thumb and index finger together as a way to ask Ruben to pay more if he wanted the answer.
Sighing, Ruben slide a few more coppers towards the barkeeper.
Satisfied with a smile, the barkeeper continued, "Their age varies between 23 to 56 of both genders while working in different jobs. All of them didn't seem to know of each other based on their daily lives. However, according to their friends and families during investigations, all the suicide victims seemed to have dissapeared completely for a few days, returning a month before the suicide started."
"So it seemed that their suicides much be linked to what happened during their dissapearance. It's odd however that nothing could be found during that period, it was like all of them vanished completely during that time."
"How many of this suicides have been found so far?" Ruben asked.
"So far, seven has been found."
Ruben wondered if they were in a dungeon during their dissapearance, that would mean that all the victims were Marked.
Remembering that the star mark dissapeared after death when he killed the human traffickers in the cottage, there was no way to could confirm it.
"What did the tattoo on their chest look like?" Ruben asked.
"I was told that it was a tattoo of some kind of an eye. My guess is they were all part of a secret organisation." The barkeeper then eyed the star on Ruben's palm as he ate.
"I've seen and heard a few of some stuff related to those like you. It's best not to be involved but people like myself who trade information find it hard to not know a few things. I reckoned those suicides have something to do with them." He said while tapping his thumb to show Ruben what he meant.
Ruben was honestly not surprised that the barkeeper knew of the Marked.
The star marked on the hand is not able to be concealed with him as an exception making it visible to others, so regular people would naturally question when a number of people with the same tattoo at the same place that couldn't be hidden appeared.
It's just that he had been living his life in oblivion so far and avoided anything abnormal as a retired assassin.
Nodding his head in understanding, he continued his dinner leaving the barkeeper, Hague to his work having learnt his name after receiving all the information.
In his room, Ruben took out the energy core he got from the Jungle Golem.
He had not taken it out and studied it since he left the jungle.
With a greenish glow, he held and studied it properly in his hand, he could feel a faint energy from it.
Just like when he first got it, Ruben had the feeling of wanting to absorb it which was slightly different from the from the feeling he had from holding a Consellation Gem before becoming a Marked.
The Consellation Gem gave an inviting feeling of wanting him to absorb it while the core made Ruben feel an uncomfortable hunger making him want to absorb the core himself.
Thinking of Shapeshifter Who Loves Pranks' instruction on how to use the core, Ruben had a hunch that what he was feeling might not be normal as nothing of what he was feeling was mentioned.
'Could it be because of the system?'
Looking at how the system isn't giving him any respond or sign, he became dubious.
'Is there something other than the system from the gift The Forgotten Ruler gave me that is causing this?'
Resisting the urge, he decided to wait and see. He currently had 5 Consellation Gems, 2 from the vault left by Theodore and 3 he got from the creatures he had slain in the dungeon.
Taking them out as well, he could feel that the feeling he had when he first held them were no longer there. It just felt like he was holding 5 ordinary gems.
It seemed that after becoming a Marked, the feeling to absorb the gem dissapears.
Ruben now had a choice to either risk the unknown and try absorbing the core or use it to reinforce one of his weapons with a formation map he could buy from the Stream Store.
As he wasn't in a hurry or in danger, Ruben thought that he could make the decision later and kept everything back into his space ring.
'I should look for a weaponsmith that could help me make the 10mm bullets while I'm in the capital.'
A single ordinary 10mm bullet would cost Ruben 200 Stream Coins, although it wasn't much, he felt that he would prefer to save them for other things in the Stream Store as he could get them made by a weaponsmith instead.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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