* * *
Joe shook his head as the three kids bumped into the staff bringing in his oak barrel as his bathtub. Joe sighed as he realized what he’d almost done then just ignored the wait staff as they set up his bathing paraphernalia. Seriously? I’ve gotta be careful about what I do. Have to remember their entire survival now depends on me! Joe shuddered as the thought weighed on him and he mulled over what had happened that day.
While he was concerned about how the three were, it had mellowed significantly as he saw how the three had barreled out of the room like pinballs, excitement driving them towards their freedom. His major concern, now, was to figure out how he’d lost himself in the dungeon.
His mind wandered but couldn’t comfortably let himself free to explore while the inn staff came in and set up the bath. After they left, he disrobed and settled with a sigh into the bathtub, finally relaxing.
With that, his mind raced through the possibilities of what happened, but couldn’t find any real answer, or any significant peace, instead feeling a cold clammy fear shiver across his skin despite the burning heat of the bath. Joe pulled away, his legs retreating into his chest as arms wrapped his legs and head fell to his knees, his fear beginning to overwhelm him. What if I become like that again? What if I suddenly lose my mind and start randomly charging anything and everything around me?
Joe’s fears continued to spike, climbing ever upward, paralyzing him in the tub. He didn’t know how long he sat in the tub, but soon shivered for other reasons and realized that the water had shifted from comfortably hot, past tepid, and straight into cold. Joe blinked a few times, his awareness returning to him as his shiver reminded him of the present. He took a deep sigh and washed quickly before he vacated the tub, drying himself off and settling on the bed.
Right. So… maybe ask Kukurnal about this? Find out what’s going on? Or should I ask the … well maybe Garnedell first? This makes me nervous… donno why… So… don’t know what happened. Don’t know why. Don’t know how to stop it. Don’t know how to change it. Don’t know the cause. Wow… gee… awesome Mr. Withers!
Joe sighed in frustration and told himself that he would have to talk with Garnedell first. Maybe not go back for awhile? Or… hmm… is it related to PTSD? But I’m not really… Joe kind of dismissed the last idea, but put it at the bottom of the list just to be safe. He sighed again, a deeper cleansing one. Need to get to Kukurnal anyway. Let’s look at my gains first.
Joe flipped open his stats and went through what was listed, looking through some things. He hadn’t taken the time to look at what he’d gained at the first level of education theorist, but he was able to figure out the numbers simply enough, dividing the total numbers by his current level. That should be thirty if… Joe flipped his page to the current job tab then actually gasped out loud.
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
Available Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
31.00
Physical:
MP
62.00
Piercing
0.00
Attack
31.00
Crushing
0.00
Defense
31.00
Slashing
0.00
Magic
62.00
Magic Defense
62.00
Strength
31.00
Dexterity
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31.00
Agility
31.00
Education Theorist
31
Speed
31.00
Endurance
31.00
IQ
496.00
Wisdom
620.00
Will
434.00
Learning
3100.00
Luck
0.00
“Thirty one! In one day!” Joe exclaimed in surprise and no small amount of glee!
Maybe I could swap to the combat jobs now, right! I should be able to it thirty easy now if I just… Joe ran the numbers, hoping to find out how long it would take to start growing his combat jobs but then grumbled under his breath, a bit angrily. Seriously! These jobs are OP for leveling! I can hit thirty in less than a day, but my combat jobs would take two days each, and since each job seems to open different weapons, from what I’m hearing when other people talk about me, then I would need to unlock one job, at least, for every one of my weapon proficiencies. Then I would have to raise the skills of each of those weapons to at least one before I could use them, but even then, I would need to equip a ‘char:’ skill, if I’m figuring out this skill system right, before I could use it! Or… maybe leveling the base theorist job and trying to get those skills that help me use my skills…
Joe worried his lips a bit more, but seeing how deep in each of the classes seemed to be down the tree and how hyper focused and specialized they were, Joe worried that he would be unlikely to be able to do what he needed to do. Besides, he’d already figured out that unlocking the combat jobs would take at least three or four other jobs reaching thirty before he even began to get to it. On top of that, if he wasted time trying to get the… Wait! I can get my other stats up, then I can use the end of my time getting the combat jobs unlocked, working on my combat stats. Since they are combat jobs, they’ll give me big boosts to combat stats, right? So I could get my other stats up, then use that last few months to work on my combat jobs, pushing my combat stats up as well, but then my combat stats will have as a big boost as my mental stats have right now because my main job gives me such a huge amount of stats to my mental stats, I mean…
Joe paused a bit to run the numbers before grinning in satisfaction. Yeah! My base intelligence, I mean IQ, and wisdom are both four hundred, but these jobs, just by themselves, double it! Ha! That would do it. Combat jobs at the end because they will unlock a weapon I can use, once I’m locked into this system, and not only that, I can artificially enhance my combat stats as well with the main job, using it to grow my physical stats and my combat skills. If I tried to go for my other stats last, without having any weapons unlocked, I’d be… well… not screwed, but I would have to waste a lot of time trying to raise my weaponry skills so I could be free to go back to my other stats. So… finish off any other high learning jobs here in the educational job. I can come back to this stuff later, certainly useful… especially the high IQ if it works the way I think it does! Then… hmm… maybe do a few crafter jobs and a couple convenience jobs, like cook. That would only cost me a week for all those jobs, maybe, at most. And since I’m going by a four hundred day year, I still haven’t even used half my time yet. By the time I’m done with wringing all the learning out of these educational jobs, I should be able to easily hit level thirty for every job in only a single day… probably! So… hm… Finish learning… find priest jobs for Zilnek, and me! That’ll help a lot! Maybe get healing… unlock mage jobs?... maybe I shouldn’t, I nee… no… magic! I want magic! I can afford just a bit of exploration, right? Just look at the available mage jobs. Don’t need to actually do them… can have them ready! Unless I find healer… so… yeah, see? I need to unlock the mage jobs!
Right, so… get my learning by finishing of the high learning stat jobs in education line… don’t want to waste too much more time on these jobs… but probably really important to come back when I’m not under the deadline, or if I beat the deadline… Then get some crafter jobs… can hide a way to gain wealth, maybe, probably not… cores are… too OP? Also let me build some stuff, if necessary, but just a quick look at what’s available. Only need to do one job to take a good look at everything under it, so can afford it; only one day. Maybe look through the list of jobs after I can see them and reevaluate then. Then open priest stuff and mage, looking for a healer and a job change skill. Think that actually might take the longest time… getting the job change skill… maybe… but definitely gotta get it as an open job skill under my ‘char:’ so I can use it with any job… can change my job back after I’ve been forced to be a criminal… which… hmm… maybe evaluate the criminal jobs after I look at them!
Opening all the jobs should only take about a month, right? Thirty jobs? Another ten or fifteen education jobs, one crafter job plus another two or three… maybe five useful ones? Maybe two or three useful convenience jobs… hm.. using the max numbers.. twenty three… twenty four jobs. So… six jobs to get a priest job unlocked… that would be… simple, right? Maybe? So… I won’t get the healer job unlocked, but... Should I just try to burn straight to healer now? Is that a good idea? But... healing’s gotta be a real high level skill! And once I get it, I can’t use it until I’ve attached a ‘char:’ skill to it… so…
Hmm… ‘char:’ skills… got one more free one: the specialist one, but it only went up about two percent after an entire day… so fifty days to get it to one where I could free up that ‘char:’ skill, but then I’d lose a fifty percent boost to learning! I don’t have any other ‘char:’ skills!
Joe sighed… Frustrated by how convoluted the whole thing was. But… if I get priest and then upgrade my job change skill, attach it to one of my ‘char:’ skills temporarily, then I can change Zilnek to something ‘safe’ and then just hire a healer… then I don’t have to waste time trying to find another char to ‘free’ up, which would require leveling up two skills and however many jobs I need to find another ‘char:’ skill.
Yeah… I think that’s it… finish off the good stuff in the education line, open up the crafter line and maybe the nobility line? Only one job, groom! Only two days… should be able to do that easy and fast, then turn to priest line and get the job change ASAP. I can then go back to going through various jobs. And if I’m lucky and find another ‘char:’ skill, I can use it on my job change skill.
Joe pondered for a bit, his mind trying to see through all the possibilities before he quit and just let it be. Think it’ll work… for now. Joe nodded and then moved on, his stats from educational theorist proving to not be a surprise, as they were the same as all the other theorist jobs he’d unlocked so far. Habit had him glance quickly at the blessing and titles tab, before he skipped on to the next page, but then quickly returned, eye’s growing a bit wider.
What’s this? Joe grinned to see he’d gained not one, but two more titles. The first one wiped the grin from his face: Dungeon Mad. That… is that… I guess it could be bad? Or good? Maybe I’m like… so good at dungeons that I’m considered mad skilled? Joe grinned but felt a bit disconcerted, not really optimistic that it would be something that Joe would like to find out about. Well… might as well put my curiosity out of its misery. Joe reached up with a quavering finger and pressed it.
Dungeon Mad (Title): You have succumbed to the siren call of the dungeon, becoming mad with power and becoming its minion. Gain double damage while in combat in a dungeon against all foes. You are now cursed with none able to free you.
Well… OK… so I guess that’s… not so bad? Double damage is certainly nice… but becoming a dungeon minion! Cursed! What is the curse? I’m a dungeon thing now? Maybe, is that… Dungeon’s can… influence you? Is that why I took so many chances: the ten core sparks, the double core monsters on the fourth floor and even taking on the boss room with all the monsters! That’s… Joe felt the cold creep of terror flush through his whole body, his spine frozen in a spike of fear while his limbs shivered. He felt his breathing going out of control a bit, starting to pant in worry as he flinched.
His fear, however, was rooted in what had happened in the past, not in the now, as he still felt he was in control of his full faculties, and he didn’t feel any form of overwhelming urge to kill anything around him. Although… in the dungeon today… Joe shivered in a bit of fear as he remembered the bloodthirsty desire to attack… to just continue attacking. Joe took a deep cleansing breath, clicking the Dungeon Master title. This better be… a lot better!
Dungeon Master (Superior Title): You have heard the siren call of the dungeon, succumbed, and became its minion. You have, however, rejected its will and control, wresting your will free of the curse. You are now a free sapient, in control of your own destiny. You no longer hear or succumb to any dungeon’s call, secure in your iron will. You have unlocked the will stat, allowing a portion of your mental stats to be applied to your will which represents your skill and ability to resist outside influence upon your mind (25% IQ and 50% wisdom). You are able to protect your party members from dungeon influence by a percentage of your will stat (10%). You are now capable of reversing the influence of dungeons on you and instead, influence dungeons. Success is dependent on your will stat in conflict with the dungeon’s own will. You are able to influence dungeon minions, instigating them, guiding them, or even communicating with those capable of communication, depending on your will stat in conflict with the dungeon’s own will. You are also able to influence dungeons, to a lesser extent.
Joe sucked in a breath after he finished with the description. OK. That really is bad! Dungeons actually… seduce you to stupidity? Or something? A soft whistle escaped his lips at the thought, but then decided that while it was terrifying, there was little he could do now and no point to worry about it with his new immunity. Right… so… I don’t have to worry about it anymore then! Curse gone?! Nice! And now I get some pretty nice bonuses from … wow. Joe quickly closed his new title explanation and flipped back to his status screen and grinned when he noticed the new will stat. OK… this… kind of changes things… hidden unlockable stats? Dungeons are… maybe intelligent? Maybe? Or at least… OK… never mind… don’t know if they’re intelligent, but they are at least somehow alive, right? They have a will! But I didn’t see or notice anything intelligent about them, yet… more like… programmed… animalistic? Um.. parties are more important than just sharing experience… they can share stats… sometimes… somehow! A new kind of title: superior title. And a new kind of stat… like… secondary or derived stats. Hmm… And lots of hidden dangers… Joe cursed vehemently, quietly, as he realized he’d almost gotten himself killed in the worst possible way and didn’t even realize how. Is that why… parties go in together? Not alone? Maybe… also why people are scared of diving dungeons? Just… I never felt like this before… only when I went in alone, but…
Joe spent quite a bit more time running through ramifications, his mind busy with the joy of just trying to figure the stuff out but also terrified at what could have gone so wrong, his mind fluctuating between the two. When he became aware of the moment and looked around, he was shocked to realize the time had passed quite a bit faster than he expected and found the window now dark. Shoot! Did I miss Kukurnal?