“Well. There hasn’t been a new job in… thousands of years… well… there were the new jobs just about five… six months ago. But… before, new jobs are very rare. Like I said, before this… it was thousands of years ago… so it is a large surprise. Many people would really like to get that job, if possible.”
“Why?”
“The Great Library pays well for any who adequately explore and explain the skills of the new job to the Great Library. The Great Library even offers free job crystals to some so they can gain the job. But, those who get the free job crystals usually have connections and friends. So some hope that they already are capable of gaining the job and go try their hand at changing to it.”
“So, they pay people to explore the job for them?”
“Yes.”
Joe stopped, deep in thought for a bit as he thought about his next question, “Has it really been thousands of years?”
“As I know it.”
“Then, what is the Great Library?”
Garnedell looked at him in surprise before he remembered Joe’s background, “I forget how much you do not know. How much is new to you.”
Joe laughed, “Hey. I’m new to here.”
Garnedell smiled at Joe’s comment and continued the conversation, “The Great Library is the source of all new jobs and the main library. All other libraries are tied to and fed by the Great Library.”
“Fed?”
“Job crystals. All job crystals come from the Great Library and are distributed to other libraries.”
Joe frowned, “Only one place for all job crystals?”
Garnedell nodded, confused by Joe’s discomfort, “Yes?”
“That’s a single failure point if I’ve ever heard of one.”
“Single… failure point?”
Joe nodded then shook his head, “Yeah, no. Never mind. It doesn’t matter. So that’s all the Great Library does? Makes Job crystals?”
“That’s the main thing it does. There are other things, too, but I do not work for the libraries and I’m no merchant, so do not know. But anything of jobs and job crystals, possibly other things if they are to do with jobs.”
“Only jobs? Or also the system and status?”
Garnedell glanced at him before looked back at the goblin they were attacking, confused, “How do you mean? The system is the job. The jobs are the system.”
Joe grimaced but nodded, allowing the conflation and didn’t want to argue the differences, “Right. Anything else?”
“About the library or the Great Library?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Heh. Funny. Anyway, then do you know any more about mana or mana emission?”
Garnedell frowned at him but kept his eyes on the goblin, “I’m a fighter, not a mage, Joe. I have given you what I know.”
Joe sighed, “Then I’ll need to ask Gwenvair, I guess.” Joe dropped the conversation and returned to fighting then remembered another question, “Oh, hey. Do remember the guest medallion I have from the clan?”
“Yeah.”
“I give it to the guards to let me get in the inner city and they look at it somehow with their mana. Are they able to feel and recognize mana?”
“That, I believe so. They are called mana keys or mana passes. I only know the name and know that they are basically impossible to copy. So, maybe?”
Joe nodded, “So checking mana signatures, possibly, or maybe checking some kind of mana formation… a mana seal or mana image, maybe?” Joe ended up trailing off in thought, his mind whirling at the possibilities while no longer seeking answers from Garnedell as it was obvious he had nothing else to offer. They continued fighting for another ten minutes or so until Garnedell became exhausted and begged off, heading back to the corner. Joe smiled as he waved them off but continued fighting on his own. He glanced over to see how the siblings were doing, but they were gone and he found them sitting in the corner watching on, Garnedell joining them at their side.
The day continued, Kilniara and Zilnek both joining him for their turn before the cycle began again with Garnedell. By around midmorning, Joe had already gained nine levels for commoner, reaching level thirty, but the next several hours until lunch got him nothing at all. When he sat down for lunch, he did take a look at his status and noticed that he had a new skill for commoner, but not much else of interest. Everything else remained the same.
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He passed lunch around to everyone, the other three falling into easy conversation while Joe listened on, but didn’t really join, simply happy to be in their presence. After a bit, he flipped open his status and took a look at what was new, first looking at his skills as he’d noticed it when he first sat down. Well… that royally sucks! A new skill but … not the sub job one… so… It was an interesting skill called blend in, which Joe thought might actually be useful for certain situations, but didn’t seem like something too significant. He did, however, at least click on it to take a look at it as it might be unusual enough to have a decent description.
Blend In – Blend in while in a crowd.
Joe stifled a groan, not wanting to bother the others but actually rolled his eyes. Granted, it did clarify some things as this wouldn’t work in wooded area or without crowds, but still, while the lack details was expected, it didn’t lessen his intense irritation. He glanced around at the skills a few more times before ignoring it and taking a look at his available jobs, knowing what he would find.
The expected availability of the new job did bring a smile to his face, and he saw a new column listing new jobs. The group of jobs was called combat and its initial opening job was called adventurer but there wasn’t anything else interesting listed and Joe turned back to looking at the jobs available to him, evaluating them carefully. He’d been so surprised that he hadn’t chosen his job carefully in advance and ultimately reacted. It wasn’t a bad choice, and Joe was not upset. It was about time to start focusing on some combat jobs in any case. Already got… Joe stopped and went back to his available jobs page, counting out the jobs he had, and made it to fifty five. Which meant that over half his jobs were already in the basics of life jobs and intellectual jobs. This didn’t bother him at all, as ultimately all of them would still be useful for raising his base stats, but it was about time to get some more combat stuff under his belt to hopefully increase his combat stats and maybe even his physical resistances. Besides, the only two things left in the educational line of jobs that he was really interested in was professor and doctor, neither of which seemed that useful at the moment, going by their opening jobs.
He fiddled around for a bit before shrugging and making the choice to continue onwards into the combat jobs, making the choice of adventurer for tomorrow. Once decided, he perused his status more out of boredom than for any real purpose, spending time looking over his available jobs and skills carefully before flipping through each sheet in utter boredom. The other three were still speaking excitedly and Joe didn’t want to interrupt them as there was still some time for lunch.
He flipped through his statuses aimlessly for a time before finally escaping that to rejoin their conversation for a bit, offering some comedic comments every once and a while. After another five or so minutes, lunch came to an end, and Joe stood, too bored to continue lunch but also too restless to get back to the fight. He decided to call it a day. There really was no point to continue on now, the cost of pushing into the thirties being a bit high.
“So. Is it OK if we just head out now? Or do you guys want to fight more?”
The other three actually grinned at this, shaking their heads no and Joe laughed, packing up their things and shifting the bag on his back, standing.
“OK, then. Let’s head to the bath.”
Zilnek and Kilniara both nodded enthusiastically, looking forward to the heated water, and Garnedell seemed to appreciate it as well, smiling happily. They exited the dungeon quickly and headed out into the light, turning down the street towards the baths.
By now, they’d come enough that they were waved in a perfunctory manner and the four split up into their sides. All agreed to spend a nice long time enjoying the baths today and Kilniara asked the guys to send a runner for her when they were done. Joe agreed and all disappeared into the depths of the heated pools.
The afternoon passed rather quickly, and Joe was turning into a prune by the time he called it an end, sending the runner about ten minutes before they planned to get out. Even with that buffer, all three guys ended up out in the main entrance earlier than Kilniara and waited for her for another twenty minutes before they could leave.
The way home was free and clear until they made the main thoroughfare where a great crowd was gathered, craning their necks to see someone passing. All four ended up stopping, crowded in and unable to continue on. They ended up there for around twenty more minutes. Right around then, a ripple passed through the crowd and Joe was able to see over the heads to some degree and saw people lining the edges of the main road all bowing as an entourage passed. The whole crowd of people quickly bent over, laying down so fully as to press foreheads to the ground while on their knees. Joe saw Zilnek, Kiliniara, and Garnedell do so as well, and Joe found himself stuck. Don’t really want to bow down like this… but… yeah… not in the mood… should stand out though. He sighed deeply and quickly faked a bow, just kind of bending over and almost touching the ground. He kept his head down but did look up though his bangs to see what was going on. After about five minutes, the parade of workers, soldiers, and personal staff passed and the crowd on the immediate road all stood while those trapped in the side roads began to shuffle in irritation, pushing for traffic to begin moving again. It only took another few moments until the crowds were walking and they found themselves rapidly arriving at their inn.
“Huh. Wonder what that was?”
Garnedell shrugged, uncertain, “Donno. Some clanner though.”
Kilniara nodded, “It was the Second In Line for the Patriarch.”
“Patriarch?”
“Hmm. The second born son of the Matriarch and second In Line to take leadership of the clan.”
“Are patriarchs and matriarchs the same?”
Kilniara looked at him, shock and concern on her face, “No. One’s a man and one’s a woman.”
Joe snorted, laughing, “I know that. No. What I meant was is it the same position in power. Are they leaders?”
Kilniara nodded at that, understanding coming, “Ah, right. The name changes if it is a man or a woman but essentially the power is identical. The name will be given as appropriate once they have taken the clan seat of power. Hmm… I guess it also affects their name while they are In Line as well, so…”
Kilniara trailed off in thought but Joe immediately understood, nodding, “Ah. My people use prince or princess. Although, it’s not quite as detailed as the clanner’s way of doing things.”
Kilniara nodded, accepting Joe’s statement but not reply. Joe fell into silence and all headed into the inn. When they arrived, Joe dropped everything off in the room before turning back to Garnedell.
“Could we have a talk, Garnedell?”