* * *
Joe nodded upon hearing it, “I guess that makes sense. Even if we have the capability to interbreed, I guess I could see it being harder to impregnate. But… how is that even possible? Doesn’t make any sense. It…” Joe shook his head and turned away from the conversation, knowing that they would likely not have any kind of understanding of genetics, mixed breeding, and fertility. As he moved to dismiss the idea, the breakfast arrived and was set on the table in front of each of them.
But just before he dipped his silverware into the food, he quickly glanced to Zilnek once again, “Wait. How about fertility? Can the children of these marriages have kids?”
Zilnek nodded quickly, after a minute, “Of course.”
Joe shook his head, uncertain how to respond to that revelation, but started to seriously reconsider modern humanity’s understanding of genetics and how it worked. Well… magic? There’s still magic, is that enough?
Joe fell into silence, quite exhausted with the incredibly slow conversation with Zilnek, and the other three quickly began talking amongst themselves, leaving Joe to his thoughts, returning to learning more about each other’s past, though most of it today seemed to be of Zilnek and Kilniara in a war trying to one up each other, telling embarrassing stories of each other. Joe found their interactions intriguing, as Garnedell and Kilniara seemed to easily take Zilnek’s incredibly slow responses into stride, taking long moments to give Zilnek time to process.
But Joe soon found his thoughts gripped by Zilnek and Kilniara’s story “embarrassing stories” war and chuckled along with Garnedell at the two’s antics. Breakfast passed quickly and Joe had them all standing to leave the inn to head back out to the dungeon, leading the way.
On the way out, Joe saw Kukurnal rushing to the inn, but then stopped as his shoulders dropped in defeat, before waving and coming up to Joe.
“I am too late!”
“Sorry, Kukurnal. We are already traveling on to our adventures. We’ll be back tonight, though.”
Kukurnal nodded, and the group offered greetings and goodbyes mixed with a few inane pleasantries for the few moments together before the parted once again, Kukurnal parting with them to head towards the temples.
The waved and moved on, soon finding themselves at the line to enter the beginner dungeon. The line, today, proved to be quite a bit shorter and all found themselves on the first floor which was still relatively empty. Joe breathed a deep sigh of contentment. He looked to the killing field, glanced around quickly before looking back to the safe zone. Hm… probably best time would be now… it’s still pretty empty!
Joe turned away from the killing field and led the others to an empty stretch of the wall, “OK. Before we get to fighting. Zilnek, I want to tell you something. Do you remember what happened to your job last night?”
Zilnek sobered quickly, nodding quickly although he did hang his head with some shame.
“Hey! Hey… enough. Relax. I just want to let you know that I’ve found a new job that might be able to help us out, OK? I didn’t mean to, it turned out pretty lucky, to be honest. If not, I would have changed my job this morning for this anyway, but I ended up doing it yesterday before supper. But I have a new job called the Criminal Theorist. It helps me to understand criminal jobs and study it. OK?”
Zilnek looked up, shock readily apparent but also gratefulness shone through his glistening eyes, even as he nodded his head quickly.
“Cool. So… I’ll try to level that job today and see if I can’t get some skills that will let us know how to help you. But, before we head out there, do you mind showing me your status screen?”
Zilnek nodded, excitement warring with shame although Joe’s revelation seemed to have empowered him quite a bit more, and Zilnek opened his status, although Garnedell and Kilniara crowded around him protectively and Zilnek turned to face the corner of the wall. Garnedell even reached out and guided Joe to crowd in close and guard Zilnek.
Joe responded easily enough as he stepped forward to shield him, a bit confused by the other three’s actions but the quickly understood it when he saw Zilnek’s status pop up; a dead grey black screen that was quite obviously different from their own statuses. Joe stifled his questions and quickly asked him to swap through the various tabs but found nothing unusually different between the colors before he had Zilnek close his screen.
Joe looked to the three then asked quietly, “The status screen changes colors for criminals?”
The other three nodded but Garnedell clarified as well, “Yes, but it changes for all different groups. Mages, priests, fighters, nobles, and commoners all have different colors.”
Joe rocked back on his heels a bit as he considered the ramifications before nodding, “Right then. Zilnek, no more. You keep that shut at all times, got it? Is there any kind of… disease or sickness or… well… anything, that makes it so Zilnek can’t open his status screen?”
The three looked to each other, but then shook their heads in the negative and Joe grimaced.
“Well… not much we can do. Just… don’t open it, got it?”
Zilnek quickly nodded and Joe then turned away, “We’ll do it one more time after you reach level one, Zilnek, but never again after this unless we are in private, OK?”
Zilnek nodded again, a nervous smile of relief playing on his lips. Joe glanced back at him, smiling before clapping his hand on Zilnek’s shoulder.
“Right. Let’s get leveling!”
Joe smiled as they all traveled out into the killing field and Joe found his first goblin, dropping it quickly and easily before excitedly pulling up his new stats for the criminal theorist.
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
Available Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
1.00
Physical:
MP
2.00
Piercing
0.00
Attack
1.00
Crushing
0.00
Defense
1.00
Slashing
0.00
Magic
2.00
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Magic Defense
2.00
Strength
1.00
Dexterity
1.00
Agility
1.00
Criminal Theorist
1
Speed
1.00
Endurance
1.00
IQ
16.00
Wisdom
20.00
Learning
100.00
Luck
0.00
Joe smiled brightly when he saw the stats, grateful for the incredible boost to his mental stats, but much more excited to see that his learning was growing as explosively as it had with citizen theorist as well. He felt the excitement bubble inside him and he quickly turned back to the goblins, excitement suffusing his whole body as he drove himself back into the goblin crowd.
Joe felt the same explosive growth as yesterday, experience overwhelming him and quickly driving his levels from one to six in a single kill, then hitting nine after the second. Joe giggled a bit as he drove himself on, no longer checking his status and just letting the experience wash over him and knowing that he was growing at rates that would leave most people in the world shocked and a bit terrified.
Joe calmed shortly and fell into a focused groove killing the next several goblins while the other three worked together to take out theirs. Joe glanced over a bit later and quickly saw Zilnek struggling, his movements slow, almost impossible to react quickly enough to actually attack the monster. Joe stayed close to keep them protected, but soon realized that Zilnek would not be able to offer any reasonable benefit to the other two and he took over helping him.
“Kilniara? Garnedell? Why don’t you guys fight together behind Zilnek. Keep an eye out to make sure no monsters come to attack him from behind. I’ll fight with him and help him grow as much as possible. Make sure you yell to me if you need any help at all, got it?”
Kilniara and Garnedell quickly nodded before moving behind Zilnek.
“Oh… and make sure to fight slowly and carefully. If you need rest, take it! Don’t let yourself be overwhelmed. We need to go slowly and carefully until Zilnek is ready again, OK?”
The both stopped and turned, listening attentively before crying out a couple of “OKs.”
Joe turned back to Zilnek, “Zilnek. Don’t move or change, just attack the air right in front of you and I’ll hold a goblin for you to hit and kill, OK? Just keep attacking the air and don’t worry. Try to time it for when I come or anything like that, if you can. I’ll hold a goblin so you can hit it, but make sure you hit the exact same place so I can put the goblin there for you to hit, then you just hit as fast as you can, OK?”
Joe waited for the minute and then saw Zilnek nod and reply, “Yes, Master Joe.”
Joe almost called Zilnek out on his use of master but then dropped it, not wanting to take a minute for a simple conversation. They had other more important things to do.
Joe waited for a bit more then saw Zilnek begin swinging his half club staff thing in front of himself in horizontal swings. That’s not… going to be safe. Overhead strikes would probably be better.
“Zilnek. Use overhead strikes. I’ll put the goblin’s head under your strike. I’ll try to make sure your weapon will strike the goblin at about my chest height, so you can stop the strike when it gets close to waist height, OK?”
Joe again waited an annoyingly long time before Zilnek replied, “Yes, Master Joe.”
Zilnek began doing hard overhead strikes, pulling the strikes short about knee height and Joe nodded. That’s going to be about the best we can do, I guess? Joe turned from Zilnek and glanced around for a goblin before finding one that was decently far enough from any meaningful weaponry and he chose that one for their first. He glanced back at Kilniara and Garnedell, watching them fighting against a bare handed goblin before nodding to himself and leaving them to it, comfortable that they would be able to handle it.
Joe then returned his focus back on his chosen goblin and rushed towards it. As soon as Joe charged at it, the goblin quickly aggressively responded, picking up a small goblin fist sized rock as it charged at Joe. Joe came in close, allowing the goblin to swing the rock in its right hand. He swayed back, allowing the right hand swing to pass in front of him before stepping in and pressing his thigh firmly against the goblin’s now useless right hand, pressing it hard up against the goblin’s torso. Joe slipped around behind the goblin quickly even as he smacked the goblin’s head hard, stunning it with a pommel of a dagger.
The goblin staggered and Joe sheathed his dagger before grabbing the goblin firmly at the torso, trapping its arms against its sides even as he lifted it into the air and returned to Zilnek’s wild swings striking the air in front of him. Joe timed Zilnek’s strikes, waiting for one to whiff and pull back up before shoving the still dazed goblin into the path of the strike.
Zilnek’s strike hit the goblin squarely in the skull, bouncing slightly and obviously shocking Zilnek as he took almost ten seconds to respond. Still long, but obviously he can respond quicker if he’s expecting it. Hmm… wonder what’s doing that?
Soon, Zilnek was striking down hard with his staff-club thing with pretty rapid repetition although he seemed to focus on hitting hard more than fast. Which… is pretty smart given the circumstances. Joe recognized the moment that Zilnek was actually seeing what he was doing, reacting and guiding his staff himself to strike more squarely on the goblin’s head. The goblin died relatively quickly after that, and Zilnek stumbled a bit when Joe tossed the goblin aside and let the thing dissolve on the floor. Joe calmly looked down and brought his foot down on the goblin core left behind, grinding it under foot as he turned to find another goblin.
The day passed with Joe stunning and bringing goblins back for Zilnek to kill, and Joe worried that his leveling would be less, but found that he was still getting a decent amount of growth from this, still gaining kills from the group when he checked his status during the morning break. After Joe realized this, he checked everyone’s status, although Zilnek’s took some cautious hiding, looking at the logs and saw all were getting relatively similar gains, even Joe, who was technically doing very little to actually fight. The rest of the break had Joe lost in thought, letting the other three chat before coming to a conclusion.
“OK. Let’s get back out there, but I have an idea. Zilnek. I’m still getting experience even if I’m not really fighting, so I would like to see if you will still get group experience even if you don’t fight. Fighting like this is not helpful for you. It’s even dangerous for you and for Kilniara and Garnedell since I can’t help them while I’m holding the monster for you. So. I want you to sit against the wall while we fight. Only come out to fight at the end of the fight when I call. We’ll all go to the far corner over there, and I’ll kill one goblin on one wall while Garnedell and Kilniara will take their time killing on the other wall.
“That way, we can keep you safe in the corner while I’ll be able to run to Garnedell and Kilniara if they get in trouble. We’ll do this for a bit, then I’ll check your status to make sure you are still growing. If you are growing quickly, we’ll do this every day until you recover to a higher level. That way, we can grow faster because I can kill monsters much faster, especially if I don’t have to watch for two different groups of people, OK?”
Joe waited patiently for Zilnek’s response, seeing him respond after about ten seconds, then nodding and looking at him for another ten or fifteen seconds. Huh… took him about... ten seconds to process? Maybe fifteen, I guess. Is low intelligence like a very slow buffer between hearing and understanding? Or… well… I guess it affects sight, too. Man… that would… kill… that’s…
Joe focused on Zilnek when he replied, “OK, Master Joe. I will wait in the corner and come when called.”
Joe nodded and smiled, “This won’t be long, OK? You will be fighting and being with us soon, OK?”
The waiting was starting to become frustrating, but Joe kept his patience before nodding with Joe’s response and led them to a corner deep in the killing fields. They settled their bags and equipment there before having Zilnek show his status one more time so that Joe could take some initial readings and see how quickly and well Zilnek was growing.
After, Joe waited for Zilnek to settle himself and relax in the corner while the other two took off to begin their quest to exterminate all goblins on the floor. When Zilnek had settled and Joe had asked if everything was OK or if there was anything he could do, Joe felt comfortable enough to move out and begin his task, although he wasn’t surprised to know that Kilniara and Garnedell had almost killed their first goblin by the time Zilnek had replied and Joe felt comfortable to move out.
They fought for a good hour and Joe took a bit of time to get the timing down to call Zilnek out. He usually fought the goblin, maiming it until it was pretty much defenseless before calling Zilnek back. By the end, they’d gotten the system down pretty well where Zilnek came running out even before Joe called, timing it once he saw the goblin defenseless.
Joe played around a bit once things settled, and found that Zilnek really didn’t even have to do much, just a single blow of some kind with the intent to harm seemed to be enough for the monster kill to give Zilnek some experience. It was an odd setup but not one Joe was going to complain about.