* * *
Zilnek followed after Joe and his peers, his sister holding his arm and guiding him. He saw Joe stop and speak with the Dungeon Guardians Captain, the words washing over him as an unintelligible wash of noise, then was soon out of the dungeon and walking down the street to the inn. It wasn’t until they were finally on the street that the meaning of his Master’s conversation became known to him, and he felt himself wrinkle his eyebrows a bit. Why would master be so kind as to stop and speak with the captain? It was obvious he was only ingratiating himself. Zilnek always found Joe’s interactions slightly odd, and this was only one example of many, as Master was always so kind and considerate, far beyond the norm of most. Despite this, Master’s oddness was something that he was more than willing to accept since it was one of kindness and consideration for others. Normally, kindness was the path to being taken advantage of, but Master’s great strength made him unassailable.
Zilnek smiled to himself and was grateful at such extreme good luck that allowed for him and his sister to be tied to him. Granted, his current circumstances were less than pleasant, but Master’s considerate response to his failure and efforts to restore him only made him more grateful. And only drove him ever onward to following master. He’d doubted at first, which is what drove him to stealing a bag of cores as he sought strength and knew that most paths to strength, even those who delved dungeons, were long, dangerous, and slow; in all things, they were slow. Yet, master proved him wrong yesterday and today, growing four times in only two days, with another promised tomorrow morning, if master was to be believed. Zilnek was becoming a believer.
He’d always despised those who sought to gain the approval of their own masters by singing praises or passing glory that was a barely passable acquaintance to the truth; some even stretching far beyond truth into the realm of fantasy. Despite his disdain of such apprentices, he wondered if he had been too harsh, seeing the wonders that his master was capable of.
They soon arrived back at the inn, and Joe once again spoke with another; Master Kukurnal this time, who was waiting at a table to enjoy their evening with them. Zilnek was always concerned when meeting with Kukurnal, desperate to hide his sudden loss in capability for surely, the priest would ask what had happened to his growth. His sister and Garnedell did well protecting him yesterday, answering for him quickly or distracting the priest long enough to allow him to hear and be able to respond. But… today?
As always, the conversation was a wash of indistinguishable noise swamping over him, and then Joe was leading them all up to their room. They made it to their room with Master opening the door when the understanding of the conversation finally came to him.
“Ah, Kukurnal. It is wonderful to see you. We will be down soon after our evening ablutions.”
“Certainly, Joe. I will wait for you.”
Joe had smiled and nodded at that point, before nodding and passing the priest with a farewell, “We’ll be back soon.”
The priest had called after them as they crossed the room, “Certainly.”
Zilnek found himself distracted by what was happening in the room after they entered as he was replaying the conversation from downstairs. Suddenly, he felt his sister squeeze his arm and he looked up quickly. He felt his sister slip her hand from him and turned to see his sister leave the room for her own. When he looked back, he saw Joe and Garnedell preparing for their evening worship of the water god. Master is very devout, as always. Zilnek stifled his sigh and prepared for their evening worship. He heard Master speak and when he did not hear Garnedell respond, he looked up at both and noticed that Garnedell was politely staring at him, letting him know that Master had spoken to him.
Zilnek focused, preparing to understand what Master had to say. A few moments later, he heard what Master had to say.
“Zilnek. Why don’t we try to make some kind of sign language.”
Zilnek puzzled over what Master said. He worried about asking Master but then realized Master was kind when replying to questions and decided to ask, “What is sign language, Joe?”
Master replied instantly, although Zilnek needed time to wait a few moments for the understanding to wash over him, “It’s a way to speak using hands or fingers. You can see things and understand them immediately, right? So if I make certain symbols with my hand or arms, you will understand right away, right?”
Zilnek pondered the idea a little before nodding his head, “That seems like a possibility? What would you suggest?”
“We three could reply to you with simple sign language, if possible, for some things. Like, maybe I could do a ‘thumbs up’ for yes and ‘thumbs down’ for no. Maybe waving my arm like this means to follow. Understand?”
Zilnek waited a few moments, confused slightly by Master’s strange hand and finger movements before understand quickly came to him with his Masters words, “Ah… yes, that would make sense.”
Master then spent the rest of their evening water worship explaining and practicing various symbols and signs and soon Zilnek was able to see the advantage of the language since Master and Garnedell began responding to some of his comments and questions with hand symbols that he was able to immediately understand.
* * *
Joe saw Zilnek struggle with the idea of sign language, and it took a good fifteen or so minutes to set up a basic set of symbols that would be useful. When he and Garnedell started using it, though, Joe saw his excitement suddenly climb, shocked surprise coming over him as he responded to some things that he and Garnedell were saying almost immediately. Nice… at least we can do something decently quick in case of fights or battles, then!
Joe finished up bathing then stepped out, washing himself off and leaving the boys to finish theirs. He asked that the boys stay outside the door and protect Kilniara while she finished her bath as well then spend some time explaining the new sign language to her as well.
“You guys OK with that? You didn’t look too comfortable with Kukurnal before, so I thought I would go down and keep him company so he … well… so you aren’t bothered by him.”
Garnedell quickly replied, obviously grateful for what Joe was doing, and Joe waved goodbye before heading out, although he did leave behind one last comment.
“Come down whenever you are ready and hungry, just come down all together with Kilniara, OK?” Joe ended with a cry and a wave over his shoulder before shutting the door and heading out.
He made it down to the common area, finding Kukunral alone at a table. Joe settled in with him and ordered a meal with Kukurnal also taking one as well to go with his drink already on the table. Hmm… maybe order the kid’s food in about ten minutes?
“So… how’re things, Kukurnal?”
“I’m doing well. Your conversations are fascinating and my god is deeply fascinated by your words and knowledge! My fellow priests also enjoy some of the discussions I return to the temple with. Some even wish to meet you, although I think you might find such a thing troublesome?” Kukurnal ended with a subtle question.
“Mmmmm,” Joe pondered, wobbling his head in consideration as he drew out his hum, “If we had more priests every day, then possibly. I would be fine possibly meeting at the temple once or twice, but having discussions such as this everyday would be… tiresome for me. I am no scholar or deep thinker, as I am more of a martial artist.”
“You say such things, but your knowledge is incredible and your ideas often strange… even alien.”
“Heh,” Joe guffawed subtly, “I could see that, but many people of my world know what I speak of with you. Most of what I give you is considered common knowledge.”
Kukurnal shook his head, a warm smile appearing on his face, “I do not know if I truly believe you!”
Joe said nothing and smiled slightly, not really having any reply to that. But before the silence could get uncomfortable, Kukurnal had already chosen a topic, delving quickly into it and soon the two of them were ripping through the concept of purpose and importance of history. The topic had come up after Joe had offered an off-hand comment on the importance of history as an aid to guide future members. Kukurnal had snapped on this tidbit like a dog, refusing to let it go and began countering Joe’s thoughts, arguing histories purpose as a memory and honor of those great ones before him. While Joe didn’t necessarily disagree, he simply found it to be secondary to the importance of actual application for the current individual, not memory for a long dead one unable to gain anything useful from it.
The argument continued for the rest of the evening, with his three companions joining them later to enjoy their meals. They spent time in conversation with each other, and though there was a short side note when Kukurnal noticed the three using the form of sign language, Joe downplayed it and simply said it was a special form of combat communication that he was training them in. As usual, as soon as Kukurnal learned that it was related to combat, he lost quite a bit of interest in it and the conversation soon was back on the philosophical ramifications on the differing purposes of history. Joe brought the conversation to an end shortly after the other three finished eating, and all gave their farewells before heading back up to their room.
When they arrived back up there, all the other three quickly rushed him and asked him for more ideas about sign language, all three excited while Zilnek was also very grateful. They spent some time before bed going over dozens of new symbols and their meanings, developing a decent set of possibly helpful conversations, although Joe was warning them towards simplicity, which the three quickly took to heart after Joe explained some dangerous scenarios that would require it.
Soon, the three were busily going through extra options for their new pseudo language and Joe left them to it as he pondered over his options. Right, what do I need to do? Ooh! Change my job for tomorrow? Joe stood, grabbing another cloak to offer some confusion to his identity but then stopped before sitting on his bed with a sigh. Stupid! Need to look at my job’s skills first.
Joe brought up his status to look at his new theorist jobs, bringing up his right hand to fiddle with some of the tabs but then grunting as his arms were bound by the sleeves of his loose clothing.
Sighing, he sat up and quickly disrobed, dropping his shirt on the bag but leaving his pants on as Kilniara was still in the room. He laid back down and began going over his new party theorist skills. But, as he’d already seen from the other two jobs, his skills were the same and he learned very little else, although he did spend some time playing with his party guidance trying to learn more about this new set of jobs. Ooh! That’s… that’s kind of nice! Joe soon found himself lost in thought and his mind pondering question after question to go over, trying to find his best options, ignoring the excited conversations of the other three, interspersed with a good deal of giggling.
It was in the middle of his thoughts that the moment slammed home, and he grinned in a relief from tension he didn’t know he had. He felt the warmth of camaraderie in the room and turned to look at the other three, the two boys giggling excitedly and Kilniara blushing with a slightly turned head. I miss my family… but… this isn’t so bad!
Joe watched the interactions for a bit, then turned back to his thoughts and his exploration of his new job and its skills while also taking a look at his current base stats, even if they were affected by his current job.
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
Available Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
109.7 (138)
Physical:
Wind
3.81
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
MP
150.2 (100)
Piercing
2.5 (48)
Water
3.31
Attack
109.7 (181)
Crushing
3.25 (132)
Fire
0.50
Defense
109.7 (158)
Slashing
3.5 (39)
Ice
3.06
Magic
150.2 (100)
Magic Defense
150.2 (100)
Strength
123.7 (148)
Dexterity
117.2 (112)
Agility
113.2 (133)
Speed
110.7 (115)
Endurance
126.2 (193)
IQ
782.2 (132)
Wisdom
915.7 (105)
Learning
32133.98
Luck
28.63
* * *
Kilniara flinched when she saw her Master remove his shirt, and almost stood to leave the room but saw that he’d left his pants on. Her worry settled from a panic to a subtle curiosity which soon had her lost from the conversation, eyes pinned to his torso in a way that she found disconcerting. A few moments later, she felt a touch on her arm and saw her brother looking at her with a bright grin; half humorous and half encouragement. She felt a blush come to her cheeks, quickly proving her thoughts to her brother.
Her blush only grew when he chuckled and Garnedell joined in. The two soon offering whispered jokes and comments that brought a burn to her face, cheeks flushing. Her brother was kind, his jokes subtly humorous and even bringing some chuckles from her despite her discomfort. Garnedell, as all humans did, was much blunter and soon was growing crasser, her blushes growing with each comment. As always, humans truly are willing to speak of the hidden and inappropriate. She held her calm, as did her brother, as they both knew what the base did, so they were calm, but she did feel grateful when her brother stepped in to calm him and warn Garnedell of when he’d stepped too far.
She grinned both in relief and gratefulness as her brother did well to protect her, but Garnedell, despite his human penchant of pushing things subtly too far, still graciously accepted her brothers guidance and had enough self-awareness to know his races own failings. He smiled slightly and turned away, allowing the conversation to end and she stood, no longer willing to remain in Master’s presence with what her brother and Garnedell had been speaking of. Besides, I think we are done with Master’s remarkable idea. I cannot think of any other good words to add to our ‘sign language.’
She waved goodbye to the others, offered a good night to master to which he offered a distracted reply and wave, then headed to bed. She prepared herself for evening, comfortable in her bed and comfortable in a safety that she had not felt for a long, long time. Thank you, Master, for taking my brother and I in.
Sleep came quickly and easily that night.