The next kill had him hit level thirty, and he grinned, absolutely shocked but also excited in a way that he hadn’t had in a long time. He pulled another goblin, quickly killing it and grinned, but then frowned, as he realized he hadn’t leveled, yet. He frowned, taking a look at his status to find a mind boggling learning just shy of three hundred thousand. That’s not enough to get even one level from thirty to thirty one? He calculated the numbers really quick, then frowned. A million and a half per level… man! Even with this absurd learning, I’m still effectively blocked. Joe took a moment from killing to run the numbers carefully in comparison to what he was getting from the goblins and realized that he should be able to reach level thirty five easily, but being able to get to level forty would still take a day and a half. And going from forty five to fifty would still take almost a month. If fifty’s the max level, then that might not be too much of a problem, but… this is getting… if I didn’t have these insane learning jobs, it would be almost impossible to meaningfully level any job at all!
Joe threw a bit of a temper tantrum silently before drowning his bad mood in goblin slaying. He went through quite a few before the others joined him, and Joe took a break to make sure they could handle some goblins alone in pairs before returning to their typical two groups, each one slicing through goblins quickly and easily.
Quite early in the day, Zilnek was able to go up another level, hitting level twelve thief, and Joe sobered, realizing that Zilnek was growing rapidly in the job as well. They returned to their leveling efforts but Joe found himself distracted by wondering how leveling a criminal job was affecting Zilnek. His thoughts were morbid and dark and by the time lunch hit, he had no desire to continue. Luckily, this insane job proved to be a power leveller's dream and he hit level thirty five by lunch. While Joe had prepared lunch for the dungeon, his bad mood finally grew enough to overwhelm him and he decided to call it a day.
“You know what, let’s relax for the day! Let’s go eat at the guild!”
The other three all whooped in excitement and Joe smiled as he drew on his backpack and lead everyone out of the dungeon. However, his mind was still on the question of what criminal jobs did to people’s mental state or any other effect. Joe had already found one thing affecting mental states: dungeons. They made it out and Joe led them to the closest guild for lunch.
They enjoyed their meal and they had a fun conversation until Joe had all three of them to take off and have a fun day off. Joe made sure to give all three money and insisted they all have a day off, pointing out the importance that each have their own time. The boys took off quickly but Kilniara stayed after, and Joe also insisted she head out on her own.
Her head dropped, worry and sadness on her face and Joe pulled her into his arms and calmed her by saying, “I’m not rejecting you or pushing you away! I would really like to spend time with you and I hope we will spend time with each other a lot… for a long time… for as long as you want. But it is still important that we have our own time and our own life; our own hobbies. We need to support one another, but we are still our own person and have our own thing.
“I’m really happy that you want to spend so much time with me. And I really enjoy it and want to spend time with you as well. But, we do have our own hobbies and things. That means we do have to do our own things sometimes.”
Joe looked at her with some concern, watching her carefully. She didn’t seem satisfied, concern painting her face as well and Joe tried again, keeping it simple, “I’m not ending our relationship.”
Joe watched again and this time just waited for her to reply, “I… OK.”
She didn’t turn away, staring at him. Joe maintained eye contact so she continued looking back. After a bit, she appeared to tear up and Joe stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her.
“Hey. Hey. Hey. If you want to come with me today, you can. I’m not telling you no. I’m telling you to do whatever you want.”
She looked at him and her tears died a bit, changing to consideration as she continued, “So, then… why?”
Joe smiled and chuckled a bit, “It really is what I said it is. We will have our own lives because we are our own people, but we will also help each other as much as we are willing and as long as we are willing.”
Kilniara stared at him a bit, responding cautiously, “Then… it will end?”
Joe smiled, chuckling again, “I’m not like that. I don’t like… I told you…” Joe sighed, then restarted, trying again, “I only like having a relationship if there is a chance that it will be permanent. I won’t… wouldn’t have ever chosen to date you or be with you if I didn’t see you becoming my wife. I’m not promising you that we will marry. Maybe we will grow apart or you may learn something of me which will make you choose to leave me for another. Or maybe I will see or learn something of you that will have me ending our relationship. But I would never be in relationship with you or continue one if I didn’t see a chance or plan for a chance that we would marry and be together until our deaths.”
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Kilniara’s face shifted through so many emotions in that short statement, shifting from despair and emptiness into shock, joy, and finally being overwhelmed in her happiness. She tossed herself at him, wrapping him in her arms and Joe laughed once again while hiding his own relief.
“See? I’m not pushing you away because I don’t want you or I’m ending this. I’m making sure that you can be yourself and on your own. If things continue well, things will end well. Don’t worry. This isn’t a promise,” Joe warned as he leaned back, looking into her eyes, “but it is an explanation of who I am and how I wish us to be. This is who I am. And you are who you are. I don’t know if you enjoy being an armorer or doing armorer work. I have never done it. I don’t know if I will. But if you enjoy it, you should really spend your time enjoying it and doing it well.”
Kilniara seemed to reconsider Joe’s statement in light of his explanation and she began to nod, seeming to understand a bit, although still wasn’t certain that she agreed, “OK. Maybe. Is that something… your people do?”
Joe cocked his head in confusion, “Well, we have learned that people have their own joys and happiness. Married couples do as well and strong healthy couples usually do these things together, both sharing the other’s hobbies. But, they are still the hobby of each person. Sometimes, some couples find a hobby both enjoy together, but even then, there are some things that one enjoys the other doesn’t. It is important that both have time to be able to enjoy their … joys and hobbies. I want you to have your time.”
Kilniara stared at him carefully before replying, “This is important to you?”
Joe nodded but waffled a bit, “Not really important to me personally so much as it is important for a healthy relationship, friendship, and even marriage.”
Kilniara began smiling softly at that before she shook her head and chuckled to herself, “Your people are strange. Very, very strange.”
Joe laughed, “My people are very, very wealthy. With that wealth has come knowledge that has revealed … many new and interesting facts about the world, universe, and people. That new knowledge may seem strange, but it does reveal more about people.”
“You seem to make problems that do not exist.”
Joe laughed at that, nodding a bit, “We have a joke amongst my people. First world problems… which probably doesn’t make any sense to you but if I were to offer it in your language, it would be similar to rich people problems.”
That statement enlightened Kilniara as her face brightened and she began to nod her head, giggling to herself, “I believe I can understand that slightly.”
Joe nodded, “Then, you may be right. It may not be a problem. But if it is, I hope that it will be something that we can solve quickly. I’m not driving you away. I’m hoping you will understand yourself more deeply.”
Kilniara thought a bit on that before she nodded tentatively, “Maybe, with this, I can understand.”
Joe smiled, “So, then do you want to go with me or enjoy the city.”
She smiled in return, “I think I will take your advice. I will see you at the inn before the evening is done.”
Joe laughed, “OK. It will be OK for you to go?”
She nodded and turned away, “I will not stay long on the streets. I will head to home quickly after the bath.”
Joe wanted to interrupt her, arguing that wasn’t the point but then stopped, not wishing to push a point that she may not even want or understand. Joe smiled and shrugged, watching her go before turning to pay for the meal, although he did stay another half hour in the closed room for the privacy.
Remembering how the Matriarch and her daughter had reacted to the perfect cores, he spent that half hour damaging a hundred or so cores and separated them into another smaller purse, shoving his main core purse back into the depths of his backpack with the others. He didn’t want to use cores to pay for things if they were all perfect cores. Given their astonishing wealth, people would start to ask some very intensive questions if perfect cores started popping up everywhere he went.
Once the cores were ruined, he headed to the Mimir temple to speak with Kukurnal. He really needed to get to the bottom of the criminal jobs as he was a bit worried about how Zilnek was acting. Granted, he hadn’t known him very long, but he did seem a bit unusual in his actions, especially since Kilniara seemed concerned. She was very good at hiding it, but the pinch in her eyes and the flinch and stiffness in her shoulders made him nervous. Something was up, and he was concerned.
He arrived at the temple and asked for Kukurnal, who showed up after twenty or thirty minutes later. When Kukurnal saw Joe waiting for him, he was both excited and apologetic.
“Joe! It is wonderful to see you! You should have told me it was you. I would have come sooner!”
Joe waved his apology away with a shake of his head, “Nah! I had time and no urgency. I did not wish to bother you too badly.”
Kukurnal did not accept Joe’s assertion, insistent, “That may be so, but please tell me. I love speaking with you. It is a joy, so please let me know next time.”
Joe almost rejected again, but saw Kukurnal’s sincerity and nodded his head in acceptance, “Ok. Ok. I will let you know next time.”
“Thank you! Wonderful. How can I help you?”
Joe chuckled at Kukurnal’s excitement and launched right in, “I am concerned with my apprentice. He seems to be … a bit erratic and angry lately. I’m uncertain why, but I’m concerned that there may be some issue that may be causing this. He is very angry and becomes angry easily. I have spoken to him, but he does not know and cannot speak to me. Everything seems normal, but I wished to consider this wisely.