The Beggar's Ring

An examiner of the dead in a Renaissance city finds a unique Class hidden inside a beggar's corpse, which levels up through finding hidden Relics, making him basically Indiana Jones.He soon discovers that their civilization was built on (what is basically) Ancient Rome, and begins to rebuild the empire.He may, or may not, eventually become the Roman Emperor. Marek Vale earns three hundred florins a year examining the dead. There are fortunes buried beneath Varenza. Every winter, the Mandate auctions Classes, Skills, titles and estates to the highest bidder. Noble families purchase power. Merchant houses purchase influence. Relic hunters strip forgotten tombs to supply them—and men like Marek spend their lives watching wealth pass into worthier hands. Then a nameless beggar arrives at Marek’s mortuary with a black ring sewn beneath the skin of his arm. The Mandate cannot identify it. When Marek puts it on, he inherits a Unique Class that should not exist: [Relic Hunter] Now broken masks point toward sealed funerary chambers. Common stones reveal structures buried beneath the city. Objects dismissed as worthless become clues leading to lost vaults, forgotten streets and relics worth more than Marek could earn in a lifetime. For the first time, Marek possesses something Varenza’s richest families cannot buy: the ability to find what centuries of treasure hunters missed. But finding treasure and keeping it are very different professions. To rise from a rented room and a mortuary wage, Marek must follow each clue into the ruins beneath Varenza, survive what was left guarding them, and outwit the collectors, rival hunters and noble houses waiting to take his discoveries. The next fortune is down there. Marek only has to reach it first. What to Expect   - Rags-to-riches progression driven by treasure hunting  - Ruins, sealed vaults, hidden passages, traps and lost relics  - A grounded LitRPG system with evolving Class abilities  - An observant adult protagonist who wins through expertise and preparation  - Rival relic hunters, auctions, merchant schemes and Renaissance city politics  - A continuing rhythm of mysteries, expeditions and discoveries