Novels2Search
Archaic Artisan
Chapter 4: Dude, you might be the protagonist.

Chapter 4: Dude, you might be the protagonist.

Kyle rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression as he made his way back to his friends who looked confused at his reaction, or rather his lack of reaction after gaining his newfound power.

"Hey uh, dude did you get a toilet cleaner job or something? There is no way you don't react at all after experiencing something like that." Ethan asked as Kyle finally made his way back to his friends. He isn't wrong, after experiencing awakening almost everyone would ride that high for a few minutes at least, but Kyle didn't think that he could be so excited over something he didn't understand in the slightest.

"Huh, nah my job is Apprentice Craftsman, I guess it means that I'm like a blacksmith or something like that." Kyle said absentmindedly while mulling over the rest of his abilities, not minding his friends weird expressions as he did.

[Linguistics] made a lot of sense to him, considering his study of as many languages as he could learn in his free time, he felt that it would be a crime for it not to be acknowledged as a defining mark on his status. The problem though, is that he really didn't understand what the skill did in its entirety, there was no description for the skills he had and he could only try to understand them through feeling and instinct, that wasn't very ideal.

As for his other passive [Prime Blood], he was sure he could just ask Freya during their night out on the town.

Then there were his active skills, when his friends went up, they got skills that were certain magic types and a weapon skill to go with it, covering for both long range and short range in an all-around type of way. While he did have [All-Element Wielder], his affinity grades seemed...average. Even if he didn't exactly know what they were graded on, he could easily tell that S grade is on the higher end of the spectrum, maybe even the highest, and his C grade was on the more normal side, and judging by how the rest of the guy's affinities are D grade or lower aside from their S grade ones, it seemed that to acquire a Magic skill a persons affinity for it must be at least C grade.

His last skill was a bit broad, there were many professions that could be considered artisans, did this mean that he could just be all of them at once, or did it mean he would just have an easier time being a craftsman? Kyle didn't know, but he had an inkling that the [Artisan] skill gave him his newfound ambidextrous limbs as a passive bonus, but who knows, maybe it came with the [Prime Blood] passive, he would just have to ask the guys.

After going through his own deductions about his skills, he finally turned his attention back to his friends who were discussing their powers and what teacher they would choose based off their looks. It looked like after Ethan said his status aloud, Freya and the diplomats had seen everything they needed to know that they had gotten the right group of people, so they just let the students awaken and left the sorting for later. Seeing that this was the case, Kyle joined his friends in conversation.

"Are any of guys having the feeling that you've magically become ambidextrous?" He spoke.

The guys gave each other a look and started moving their arms and fingers to see if they had, Malachi was the first to answer giving a negative answer, with Ethan, and Dami answering the same. Only Haji gave a different answer, though not one that Kyle was expecting.

"I think I have, it's probably a side effect of my [Dual-Dagger Mastery], did you end up getting the same skill as me?" Haji responded after doing his various test.

"No, I felt the change and came to the conclusion that it's either part of the [Prime Blood] benefits, or it's a hidden passive from my active skill [Artisan], and I think I've got my answer now that the other guys don't seem to have become ambidextrous. Actually, what are you guy's job, and skills?" Kyle answered and asked in the same breath.

It seemed that most of Kyles deductions had hit the mark, with most of his friends status looking exactly how he had expected them to look.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Haji seemed to be the perfect mold of an assassin with his job being Apprentice Rogue, his highest affinities being Dark and Death at S, and his skills being the [Dual-Dagger Mastery] , [Dark Magic], and [Death Magic]. If there was going to be a poster boy for assassins, then if Haji were to show up for the role everyone else who showed up would probably burst into tears and look for the next best title to claim.

Malachi was without a doubt a mage, his job making that a certainty being an Apprentice mage, his highest affinities being Water-A, Earth-A, Wind-S, Fire-A, and Life-S, and his skills being [Basic Element Mastery], [Life Magic], and [Staff Mastery]. With a status like his, he would definitely be a favorite among the diplomats when the so called "time for solicitation" came. Kyle had a feeling that focusing on training the highest affinities would be the best use of his time though, and he was sure that Malachi understood that as well.

Ethan was clearly a tank judging by the skills that he had said aloud. Not leaving much mystery as to why, though he did have two paths he could take on the tank path, being a paladin using his light magic or he could take the heavy tank route, using the earth to make himself sturdy, thats up to him and his teachers though.

Dami was an odd one though, he was an Apprentice Warrior, his highest affinities shocking them all, being Space and Time at S, and his skills being an even weirder bunch having, [Martial Mind], [Weapon Master], [Space Magic], and [Time Magic]. Kyle didn't even know how to put into words how crazy these skills sounded, especially if Dami found a way to make all of them work in tandem, he might actually pull off a dimensional slash.

Kyle also told them his information, they all seemed a bit confused as to why he wasn't a built to be a war machine like them in terms of skills, but they didn't know how to say it without being rude to their friend and it seemed like they were searching for the right way to say it, well, most of them were.

"Not going to lie to you, that sounds hella wea-" Ethan was almost finished with his sentence before he got three simultaneous slaps to the back of the head. Drawing all attention to their direction for the third time today.

Ethan was too busy holding his head to care, while Haji and Malachi were rubbing their brows in exasperation. Dami was holding his chin while tapping it with his pointer finger like a scholar in deep thought before he turned to Kyle with an unusually serious face.

"Dude..." Dami spoke. "you might be the protagonist." The four turned their heads to look at him with blank faces, as if looking at an idiot, even Ethan gave him a funny look.

It wouldn't make sense for anyone to make that statement after seeing what Kyle's status looked like. Sure, he had [All-Element Wielder] but his affinities weren't anything special at all, especially not protagonist level. Putting that aside though, anyone without knowledge of the world or without knowledge of the rest fo his classmates status's could make the mistake of believing such words. The reason that they looked at him as if he were an idiot is because this sentence came from someone who had the most absurd status that they had seen thus far.

They promptly ignored him and returned to the conversation from before.

"You guys don't read enough novels..." Dami muttered under his breath.

Kyle shook his head and responded to Ethan's earlier statement.

"I agree it does, but how many of you actually understand what your skills do for you or to you?" Kyle asked, and got silence in return.

He was right, what use is having a weapon that you didn't even know how to wield? That argument might seem like grasping for straws on the surface, but his question wasn't asked from a defensive position, it was asked in a way that questioned the skills themselves. What was the limit of their power? What rules did they follow? What rules can be bent or even broken? Pushing the ceiling for what's possible far higher and then some. It was going to take a lot more than not making Kyle a combatant from the start to make him weak.

"There was a commander of an army in history who said a phrase that stuck with me ever since I read it." Kyle continued after asking his rhetorical question.

"And what's that?" A soft voice floated over. Unbeknownst to Kyle and his friends Freya and the diplomats had heard their conversation and had been disappointed in the information they heard, that was until they had heard Kyle's question and saw his lack of care at the demoralizing statement.

"Aut inveniam viam aut faciam." Kyle look over in mild surprise but still answered the question, receiving a crowd on confused faces in return.

Ethan rolled his eyes, "Care to share with the class what that means in English?" he said.

"I shall either find a way, or make one." Kyle responded with a grin. Not at all knowing that he had received the interest of all of the present diplomats. He also didn't notice the smirk that hung on the corner of Freya's mouth.

'Interesting...' Freya thought as she watched a bright light that only she could see flourish from the depths of Kyle's being and cover the students who came with him.

'Maybe this dinner date could be a far better use of my time than I thought.' she mused. She had found a Fate Spark or as Dami called it, a protagonist.