Immediately after the battle, Baara organized the cleanup of the monsters, sorting everything to see who would need what materials, what could just be thrown out, and so on. Josh, Ruth, and Mary didn't need any of that, but they were still nearly dragged under a howling mob that were high on adrenaline and wanted to burn it all up congratulating their saviors. Darius was also the hero of the hour, as everyone knew where their shrouds had come from, but he was better at avoiding the spotlight.
Eventually Josh managed to escape the press of bodies and admirers, and returned to the mayor's office. Once he had a chance to clean up and rest for a few minutes, he brought up his notifications. The choice of his next advancement wasn't quite as simple as he expected it to be. As it turned out, once again he had options.
You have FOUR (4) class choices. Seek out additional class advancement resources to expand your choices.
CLASS OPTIONS: Coppersmith (Crafter). Primary statistics: Perception, Sensitivity. This is a Basic Utility class of the Crafter role. Build objects, equipment, and devices from copper.
Goldsmith (Crafter). Primary statistics: Perception, Sensitivity. This is a Basic Utility class of the Crafter role. Build objects, magic items, and runes from gold.
Metalcrafter (Crafter). Primary statistics: Perception, Sensitivity. This is a Basic Utility class of the Crafter role. Build objects, equipment, and structures from metal.
Steelsmith (Crafter). Primary statistics: Perception, Sensitivity. This is a Basic Utility class of the Crafter role. Build objects, equipment, and structures from steel.
“Uh,” he said. “Darius?”
The man looked up. He was with Ruth, making sure her manaburn didn't cause any permanent damage. He'd already looked over Josh. “What is it?” he said, something sharp in his tone. “Another horde of monsters to throw yourself into?”
“No, that can wait until tomorrow. Just got some unexpected advancements you might be able to help with.” He threw his screens at Darius.
He read over them, and his eyebrows rose. “Interesting.”
Ruth raised her head. “What? What's interesting? Let me see!”
Darius pushed her head back down to the pillow with one finger without looking. “You need rest.”
“I don't, though!” Mary said cheerily, as she walked over to Josh. He rolled his eyes, but tossed her the screens as well. She sucked in a breath in surprise, then burst out laughing. “Ha! Yeah, that's a choice, all right!”
“Steelsmith is the obvious choice, yeah?” Josh asked. “Go up the tech tree and all that.”
“Not necessarily,” Darius warned. “Coppersmith might be the more technologically inclined option. It mentions devices, after all. Goldsmith might lead more towards the magitech you're looking for.”
“But Steelsmith will banger on to all the rot I'm looking for now,” Josh insisted. “Big machines, those earthmovers and such.” Baara had said something about there being manuals in the library, so if he was really lucky, those might count as blueprints and he'd be able to make a tractor or a backhoe or whatever.
Of course, Ruth didn't appreciate being left out of the conversation. “Can somebody please show me what you're talking about!?” To her credit, she didn't get up or flail about in a way that would strain her injuries.
Josh sighed, then threw his screens to her as well.
She paged through them for just a moment in silence. “Well, that's easy,” she said. “Pick Metalcrafter.”
Josh scrunched up his face. “Not sure about another generalist class.”
She shrugged. “Generalist classes can specialize later. Besides, you basically already know that Metalcrafter will give you a Craft Metal skill. You don't know for sure about the others.” She waved a hand, only for Darius to grab it and put it back down. She ignored this. “What if Coppersmith literally only lets you do things with copper? Steel would be even worse. Metalcrafter would at least give you a chance of making any modern technology, even if probably not any specific skills for it.”
Josh frowned. He didn't know enough about [Crafter] classes to dispute any of her points. Pretty much everything he knew came from his own experiences this reset. He knew a lot more about [Combat] classes, but he had never cared much about the other side of the field. It wasn't as though he had much personal experience with [Utility] classes.
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“All right,” he said at last. He wasn't the only one with a [Crafter] class any more; several of the kids had become Woodcrafters, and were passing out bloodstones. That meant he could afford to be a little more cavalier with his build. “All right. Let's give it a go.”
CONGRATULATIONS! You are now a level 40 Metalcrafter! You have 3 free attribute points and 3 class attribute points to allocate. Your class attributes are Perception and Sensitivity.
NEW SKILL LEARNED: Craft Metal. Make items from metal, alloys, and scrap.
NEW SPELL LEARNED: Repair. Restore an item to a previous state. Requires physical materials. Requires multiple castings for more advanced damage. Only works on items that you are capable of repairing on your own. Quality of repair is influenced by Power, speed of repair is influenced by Flexibility, amount repaired is influenced by Capacity, and cost of repair is influenced by Sensitivity.
He stared at the notifications for a long moment. The [Craft Metal] skill was, of course, expected, and he couldn't wait to test it out. That new spell, though...
He cast around the room, looking for anything broken. Eventually, he settled on the wooden table. It was still in perfectly serviceable condition, but there were a number of scrapes, cracks, and even a small burn down one side.
He placed his hand on it, breathed in, then out. “Repair,” he said, unnecessarily. He always spoke his spells aloud when he had the opportunity.
Error: Spell failed. No materials available.
That was fine. Better than fine, actually. The spell could have used the material of the table itself, or the wooden chair he was sitting on. The fact that it didn't meant that it could follow his thoughts at least a little, and not use objects that he considered off-limits.
He managed to gather some wood and planks. Or, rather, he found an assistant to do it for him. It was going to be weird, getting used to having people to do things for him again. And these ones weren't here because they were implicitly being threatened with violence, so that was a plus.
When he tried the spell again, he felt the magic take hold of the tools on his belt. He normally kept basically everything he might need nearby, and it was at moments like this that he felt justified. The scratches in the table were sanded down, while a large cracked corner was removed completely and replaced with a wooden block. He tested it, and it felt solid. It didn't look pretty, but was functional. He couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he had brought a full list of materials and tools, like lacquers and stains. Would his spell have prettied it up more?
Still, this alone was huge. He already had a dozen ideas how to use this spell. “Darius!” he called, louder than necessary. “Where's that broken torch?”
Darius gave him a baleful glare from where he was working on Ruth. “If you'll recall, I'm a little busy here. Ruth stacked so many spells and runes on top of each other, she's still in the negative mana range!”
Ruth pushed his hand away. “Oh, stop it! It's not his fault! Besides, I keep telling you, just get me a decent mana potion—”
“No,” he interrupted. “As your Healer, I am telling you not to have any potions until you are fully recovered.”
“You respec again when we weren't looking?” Mary asked, amused. “Thought you weren't a Healer this go-round.”
“Yes, well, I was a Healer for years. I know how to take care of a patient.” He glared down at Ruth. “Stay.” He walked over to his pack and started rummaging through it.
Ruth propped herself up on her elbows, pouting. “I'm not a dog!”
“Clearly. Dogs follow orders better.” He almost threw some items out of his bag, he was so annoyed. Josh watched the whole affair, bemused. “So help me Ruth, if you get up I will tie you down with a plastic cone around your neck—ah! Found it.” He tossed the small plastic torch to Josh. “I'm not sure that will work with your spell.”
“Neither am I.” Josh grinned toothily at him. “That's the point of testing.”
He tried to click it on a few times, to no effect. Good. He didn't know for sure what was wrong with it. Most likely just a loose connection somewhere. Again, that was almost better. If he could only use his spell to repair things that he explicitly knew how to fix, that would sharply limit its utility.
“Repair,” he whispered, unnecessarily.
He felt his magic extending to the materials he had gathered. A spare battery, some copper wire and aluminum. There was a pause, as if the spell wasn't sure that this should work. Then the copper glowed visibly, before fading back to normal. A tiny fraction had disappeared off the end.
Josh clicked the torch on. It worked. He smiled, clicking it off and on a few more times to be sure. He noted that the plastic case of the torch, which was dirty and scratched, hadn't been touched by his spell. Clearly, he wouldn't be allowed to stretch it so much as to touch materials unrelated to his skills.
“All right,” he said, tossing the torch up in the air and catching it. He grinned at his friends. “I think we have some work to do.”