“Why are you here?”
Joe blinked in shock, equally surprised, “I’m looking for some boo… uh… information.”
The man looked at him for a long time before he shook himself and actually leaned forward eagerly, “Truly! Excellent! You are my first customer. How can I help you?”
Joe was a bit taken aback by the man’s excitement before smiling with a chuckle, “Well, I can’t fault you for your enthusiasm. So, how could you help me? What information do you have available?”
“We have all the expected information of libraries and I am sorry to say we do not offer any specializations,” the man grimaced with the last comment.
Joe waved away the man’s concerns, “I’m not concerned. So please, tell me what is available. This is my first time to a library.”
“Ah! Then let me assist you. We have all the basic tiers of merchants, crafting, combat, partying and basic citizenry and metropolitan. You may ask for any of these crystals.”
Crystals? Oh! Is that what Garnedell was talking about? Huh… Um… “Could I see a … crystal on the basic crafter?”
“Certainly, sir,” the man cried out with some excitement and disappeared into the backroom. He was gone only for a few moments before he returned with a plain but well-crafted wooden case of some kind and set it on the table before Joe.
“That will be five steel, please,” the librarian said.
“Oh. You have to pay here?”
“Of course. Those of clans may be offered free crystals but we are unable to maintain our stock in such a way.”
They can’t maintain… oh, right… these things disintegrate after one use. Joe sighed at the fleeting nature of these crystals but picked up the case and looked at it before moving to open it, then stopped.
“Is it OK if I open it?”
“Please!” the librarian offered.
Joe smiled and popped open the case to find a rather ordinary looking crystal that glowed slightly. It was nestled in some kind of soft velvet like cloth cradle and he studied it carefully before pulling it out of the case and holding it up to the light. Something about it tickled his memory, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was. He stared at it a bit before he put it back down.
“I have never had or used a crystal before. Could you teach me some about it?”
The man smiled and nodded eagerly, “Of course! As all in this library, this is a job crystal. It is enough to give basic proficiency in the related job, including the basic skills. You will then have to go to the temple and ask for a job change to take advantage of this job, but you will have gained this job as if you were born to it and even slightly more than the Coming of Age Blessing. The knowledge and skills will suffuse you, and become part of you. You will not lose your current job. It is an excellent way to offer a new life and future to any children or even yourself!”
“Although it is quite pricey.”
“Of course! You hold the future in your hands.”
Joe thought a bit before asking the one thing that concerned him since all things with this system seemed to come with catches that were punishing, “What are the negatives with this?”
The man’s eyebrows rose at that even as he quickly shook his head, “None! There are no downsides.”
Joe pursed his lips in thought, “Where do these crystals come from?”
“All known jobs are gifted by the Library and all have access to it.”
“All jobs?”
“Yes!”
Joe felt his eyebrows crunch over his head, “Then why do you have only the common jobs?”
The man’s face fell at that even as he sighed, “The greatest jobs are often quickly taken by any clans.”
“Ah… wealth trumps all.”
The man smiled and nodded, “Power then wealth, as always.”
Joe opened his mouth to contradict him but then realized that in a world were power was physically manifested in the person who had it, it certainly would make a difference. But, the library must not have many of these then, or there would be a lot more of them available. And they’re free from the main library… that doesn’t seem… to match what I know about this system.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Joe sighed a bit before he turned to look at Kilniara and then back around at all the cases that were stacked up in the backroom, the door having been left open the last time the librarian ran into the back room. Joe really didn’t want to test these crystals on himself since everything he’d seen so far killed the learning stat whenever anyone took a shortcut. While he could afford to lose a bit of learning, he’d really rather not. And he wasn’t comfortable at all in testing on any of the other three, killing their futures, as it were. Joe sighed deeply once again before beckoning Kilniara over and turning back to the librarian, engaging the both with his next question.
“What job is greatly desired by most people?”
The man seemed to vibrate in excitement but held back, letting Kilniara speak first.
“It depends, I think,” Kilniara offered.
The other man nodded excitedly before agreeing, “Everyone has their own dream job.”
“So there is no one job held above others?”
The librarian chuckled, “Hero!? Ha! There have been none in many generations. Maybe nobility?”
Joe’s eyebrows shot up at that. Hoo! Interesting. Joe looked to Kilniara and she shrugged and nodded simultaneously.
“Maybe. It really depends on what one would want, but heroes and nobility are impossible dreams for any. Magicians as well, likely.”
“Ha! Magicians are for the greatest and wealthiest of clans.”
“Hmm,” Joe hummed to himself but found himself caught and uncertain before he finally looked to the librarian.
“Then what do you wish for?”
“I’ve always wished to be a story teller… even a novelist! But such a thing is impossible.”
Novelist? I thought writing… “Novelist? What is a novelist?”
“A professional story teller, the epitome of great story telling.”
“Oh, like a gleeman.”
“Gleeman? I have never heard of such.”
Joe thought for a bit before looking at the man, “Do you have a novelist crystal?”
“Of course,” he smiled, excitement and melancholy warring on his face.
“How much?”
“Seven steel.”
Joe pulled out his core pouch and dropped fourteen or fifteen cores on the small rail counter between them and while the man was surprised by the cores dropping on the rail in front of him, he immediately began shaking his head.
“I apologize, but we cannot accept cores as payment.”
“Ah… then do you know where I might trade in cores for some coin?”
The librarian considered for a moment before nodding, “The only place who could meet your demand for such great coin would be a bank. There is one lining the park just on that way,” he offered as he pointed back the way they had come.
Kilniara saw the way his pointing, and interjected, “Oh, back by the tailor?!”
Joe smiled at her and then turned back to the librarian, offering the tailor’s shop as a land mark and the librarian quickly nodded.
“Yes! That is the park.”
Joe chuckled at having to head back, and the two turned to leave, “We’ll be right back, maybe twenty minutes. Please wait for us.”
The librarian nodded with a smile, “Certainly.”
They left the library and Joe’s smile dropped as he shook his head, “Kind of depressing. That was a useless library.”
Kilniara looked up at him, but said nothing, only offering a quick side hug in commiseration and Joe smiled at her, patting her on the back as he slipped his arm around her. The two traveled back to the park they’d left before and easily found the bank, entering it to exchange for some coin. When they entered, as in all the other places in the inner city, the workers there rejected them but the true issue came in the guards that worked there. The service representative that was manning the doors stepped forward, blocking their way.
“Excuse me, sir. This is not a place for you and your kind.”
Joe stopped, blinking in stunned shock at what the man said. His eyebrows rose before a smirk showed on his face, hiding the mild but potent indignant anger.
“You mean a bank is not for the wealthy?” Joe asked as he pulled out his core pouch and dumped it on the ground at the man’s feet, “I don’t have time dealing with petty and small minded morons. Pick up all my cores. Do not miss one, and Get. OUT. OF. MY. WAY!”
The man stared at him in shock, wonder and horror playing across his face in equal measure before he quickly slid backwards, his feet sliding on the floor so he didn’t accidently step on and crush a core beneath his feet.
“Where… where did you get these!?”
“Killing monsters in a dungeon. Now. Get. My. Cores. Now!”
Joe’s voice did not raise as he kept it within polite levels of volume, but he had projected quite well with each of his statements as his anger at the utter disdain of the inner city citizens had truly rubbed his patience raw. His statements had caused almost all in the large entry way to turn towards him, and many people gasped at the many cores littering the ground. With his raised voice, the two guards at the entrance had turned towards him and started walking but the stopped when they found all the cores littering the ground in front of them. The obvious display of wealth left them uncertain of what to do, and they found themselves looking towards any authority figure for guidance.
Joe hadn’t really noticed any of this at the time simply because he was so frustrated by now and his anger had now finally risen to the fore. Joe ignored all else and continued to harangue the man who’d interrupted him.
“Pick. Up. My. Cores. NOW!” Joe shouted, tossing his pouch at the man.
The man fumbled to catch the pouch before quickly bending over to pick up the cores scattered around his feet. He spent a bit of time clearing out the cores around his feet before finally making enough space to drop to his feet and begin sweeping up vast swathes of cores towards himself before he grasped handfuls to drop into the pouch. The several thousand cores tinkled across the floor as he brushed them closer, easily heard in the dead silence of the hallway. As the man worked at clearing up the floor, an obvious higher echelon manager rushed into the hallway and made a beeline for Joe while nodding meaningfully at one of the guards at the door. The guard at the door nodded back in respect and slipped out of the bank.
“Sir. Can I ask what you are doing here?” asked the manager.
Joe looked up at the man, clenching his jaw to contain his anger as he returned to polite volume, “Please, be cautious. My cores have spilled around the floor here.”
The manager immediately stopped and looked down at his feet, shock registering when he noticed the now hundreds of cores scattered around the floor. He stepped back then blanched when the telltale crunch of a broken core echoed around the room.
Joe sighed and waved his hand, “Don’t worry. I dropped the cores, one breaking can only be considered my fault, but please stop moving until your man has finally picked them all up.”
The manager immediately stopped, a bit uncertain as to how to continue on as he obviously wished to greet Joe, but was now stuck a good half a dozen meters away unable to approach. Finding nothing else to do, the many finally bowed his head slightly by way of greeting and continued the conversation.
“How may we help, sir?”