Two days later, while Ruth was still working on puzzling out the rune circles under the citystone, the mayor brought people over for bloodstones.
They had all known this was coming, of course. Josh and Ruth could do some interesting things, but what really made them invaluable was their ability to make [Crafter] bloodstones. That ability was useless if they didn't use it. The mayor had wanted to wait until she had people ready for advancement.
Four of them showed up at the plot of land that the mayor had gifted them. She hadn't given him or Ruth any warning, which annoyed him a little. In fact, he suspected that she had waited until they had returned from studying the citystone for the day. She didn't want anyone to see them give people bloodstones. There were probably enough questions about the two of them as it was.
None of the people were unclassed, and Josh hadn't expected any. He doubted there were even any unclassed kids in the City by now, much less adults out here past the Burn Line. In addition to the mayor herself and her bodyguard, who were both level 24, there was a mousy young woman who scanned as a [Level 16 Attacker], and a grouchy, middle-aged woman who was a [Level 24 Attacker].
“What's the big secret, Vashti?” the older woman asked. She had a sharp, no-nonsense voice, and was dressed in a reclaimer's set of light armor with a compound bow slung over her shoulder, with matching quiver. She reminded Josh of his mother, before she got hurt. Caring, but rarely gentle. “You have an overdeveloped sense of drama. If this is important, we should get it over with.”
The other woman was much younger. Josh almost assumed she was a teenager, but on second glance she was likely just a bit small and mousy. She wore light, functional white robes with wide sleeves, the kind common among magic classes who didn't have to actually see combat.
She smiled, the calm and gentle smile of someone who trusted everything will work out. “Judith, please be patient. We have new friends to meet.” She bowed deeply to Josh and the others. “Thank you for welcoming us into your home.”
The older woman, Judith, sighed. “Sorry.” She gave a quick, not unfriendly nod to the others. “I was in the middle of something, but I'm sure this is important.”
“It is.” Vashti stepped forward, hands behind her back, projecting an air of military dignity. “Neither of you have chosen your class advancements, correct?”
Judith smirked. “Yeah, though I don't know why. There's no way you have an achievement so that we can get an Improved-tier advancement.”
Lydia cocked her head to the side. “I can think of a few that might be possible. Especially for you.” She looked around. “Are there any monsters left inside these walls?”
Josh ignored the question. He raised his eyebrow at Mayor Vashti. “You lot haven't given them any scratch or scrap?”
She shook her head. “I wanted to keep a tight rein on any information. Rumors will spread, of course. Even so, I wish to keep everything under control for as long as possible. Now, please.” She made a gesture for him to get on with it.
Josh paused, then removed his mask. Next to him, so did Ruth. He thought he heard Darius and Mary doing the same behind him. Judith and Lydia took the cue and examined them all.
He could see the exact instant when they realized what they were looking at. Judith flinched back, her hand reaching up to her bow. Lydia smiled as bright as the sun and almost rushed forward. She settled for staying put and flexing her hands, as if she wanted to grab them and prod them all over.
“Crafters,” Judith whispered. Her eyes flicked between them, and she drew her bow, though she didn't ready an arrow. “You are the ones who stole the bloodstone.”
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Josh scowled. “Oi! You think maybe there's more to the story, yeah?”
Ruth stepped forward. “I'm Ruth Moore. My father was the one who issued the world quest.”
The story came out quickly. They had gotten used to telling it by now. By unspoken agreement, they didn't mention the dragon. Not yet. Josh did explain that there was a reason they needed to get strong quickly, but he let them assume it was because they needed to be able to survive Jonah's assassins. Which... well, that wasn't wrong. They couldn't fight a bloody dragon if they knives to their throats by some level 40 with a stealth class.
“Oh, you poor dear!” Lydia said, eyes filled with tears. They were all sitting around the cook fire, though they weren't eating. She reached out and gripped Ruth's hand. “It must be so hard for you, turning against your father like that.”
Ruth's smile was shaky. “W-well, yeah, but the others have it worse. Especially Josh!”
“Yep,” Josh said.
Everyone gave him a look.
“Wot?” he asked defensively. “I've got assassins after me and the whole bloody world thinks I'm a thief because I tried to do the right thing. I'm entitled to go a bit spare.”
Darius sighed and adjusted his glasses. “I do not disagree in principle. I'm sure you can understand our need for secrecy.”
Judith nodded slowly. Her face was stony, her jaw clenched. Josh got the impression that she wasn't mad at them—quite the opposite. “Operatives have a duty to the City and the human race. He's endangering all of that for personal gain.”
Ruth flinched. Lydia squeezed her hand tighter.
“Politics aside,” Darius said, “I believe our course is clear. We need to spread the [Crafter] role to everyone we can. As we have already said, Josh is a Stonecrafter now, and Ruth is an Enchanter. I am a Shroudcrafter, but that is a [Defender] class with [Crafter] elements. While it has been more than helpful, I can only make so many shrouds with the materials I have available.”
“And you?” Judith asked Mary. She eyed the guns on her waist. “Some sort of Gunsmith class?”
Mary shook her head. “I previewed my advancement, and yeah, I'd get the Gunsmith class. It's still an [Attacker] though, and that means it's a right bitch to get any sort of auto-build.” She shrugged. “Doesn't seem worth it for party comp, you know? Think it's best for me to go for a pure [Attacker] class.”
“She has six Gunner spells already!” Ruth added. “She just needs two more to qualify for Mage Gunner at her next advancement!”
Judith looked surprised at that. “Six spells at level 29? Not bad at all. How'd you manage that?”
Ruth opened her mouth, but Lydia interrupted. “Oh, oh, I know!” She smiled at Ruth. “It was you, wasn't it? You enchanted her guns and she learned from there?”
Ruth grinned back. “Yep! Well, her bullets, but still!”
Judith frowned. “Does that mean you only have six runes? Don't you gain a library when you first take the class?”
Ruth shook her head. “Nope and nope! I have to learn every single rune individually, but I have more than six. Those are just my elemental runes. Those seem to be the only ones that give spells Mary can learn.”
She had used some of the other runes to enchant bullets, and it had worked. Josh was especially impressed with the Attack rune, which gave the bullet a small piercing effect. However, Mary hadn't been able to learn a spell off it. Whether because it was too far from the Gunner skillset or because she just wasn't experienced with anything besides elemental spells, she'd tried almost twenty times before giving up.
Lydia brightened. “I think I have a few runes in the library that you might find useful. Well, I have quite a few runes, and I think at least a few should be elemental runes. What do you have so far?”
Before Ruth could answer, Vashti raised a hand for silence. “While I appreciate your enthusiasm, Miss Piper, perhaps we should accelerate the process.” She nodded at Josh. “Are they ready?”
“Yep!” He pulled out a small wooden jar he had made. He had wanted to use clay and ceramic, but there wasn't a kiln in this town. He needed to make something the normal way at least once to earn a blueprint. He couldn't use [Hands-Free Crafting] to skip the kiln before that. Well, probably. “Four bloodstones for the Woodcrafter class, as requested.”
He smashed the jar without ceremony. He hadn't designed it to be opened.