Kilniara and Zilnek also seemed a bit surprised, although accepted Garnedell’s explanation well enough. Guess they didn’t realize how poorly I would speak… heh. Oh well.
Before they began fighting again, Joe quickly gave Garnedell a cudgel and explained to him in pretty bad common about his new skill. Garnedell seemed a bit reluctant but Joe leaned down and simply spoke two words in common: growth skill. Garnedell’s eyes shot up and he quickly nodded, taking the cudgel and walking over to where Zilnek stood to begin fighting. Kilniara and Gwenvair were already out in their spot prepared to fight, so Joe led the boys out with him.
They shifted back to their fighting again, Joe falling mostly silent and leaving the others to their conversation. Despite all of that, he found himself quite excited and happy for the day. Even his disappointment at his own slower growth in his current Loki job due to the odd new skills did not deter him. The normal bonuses to learning were absent for this Loki priest job, the skills he’d gained being quite a bit different. The skill he gained at level ten and later were related to curing all debuffs immediately and simultaneously. It was certainly a nice thing to have as the previous cure in the Loki monk line only cured one at a time. While Garnedell’s excitement made up for it, he was still just that tiny bit annoyed. So, he decided to focus on growing his job to level thirty as he was currently doing and just fight until noon as normal.
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
All Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
30.00
Physical:
Wind
30
SP
30.00
Piercing
0.00
Water
30
MP
30.00
Crushing
0.00
Earth
30
Attack
30.00
Slashing
0.00
Fire
30
Defense
30.00
Ice
30
Magic
30.00
Gravity
30
Magic Defense
30.00
Loki Cleric
30
Magnetic
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30
Strength
30.00
Unselected
0
Light
30
Dexterity
30.00
Unselected
0
Shadow
30
Agility
30.00
Unselected
0
Space
30
Speed
30.00
Spirit
60
Endurance
30.00
Mental
60
IQ
90.00
Sound
30
Wisdom
120.00
Electricity
30
Will
82.50
Learning
600.00
Luck
0.00
Noon came and he settled into the corner, flipping his char back to language so he could speak and joined in resting with the others for a good five or ten minutes. This allowed the others to recuperate while he took a look at his job’s available skills and the stats he’d gained. He jumped to the skills first, excited to see what he could find and found himself too distracted to notice the stats.
Cure Debuffs – All: Capable of curing most debuffs related to the god Loki at one time.
Change Main Job: Change the main jobs of people a few times per day.
Change Sub Job: Change the sub jobs of people very few times per day.
Sub job!! Sub job! I can change my sub job! Joe clenched his teeth hard, attempting to hide his shock and joy but couldn’t keep the smile from climbing up his lips. Despite that, he was able to remain reserved enough not to gain any attention and almost began to change his sub job when he stopped and found himself reconsidering his options. The skill made it rather blunt that he could only change it a few times per day, so he would need to make sure he could have enough changes to fill in his three sub jobs. Few was limiting. Usually means two or three, right? And if he only had two or three chances per day, any mistakes could cause quite unpleasant delays if he chose a job that he realized wasn’t useful or meaningful. That, and he had to decide if he could maybe find other sub jobs options opened as well, which made him slow and ponder. Ultimately, it didn’t matter right now as the day was done and he had until tomorrow before his next set of experience gains and so there was nothing to lose in simply waiting. He had all afternoon if needed.
The others were talking busily amongst themselves still, obviously still needing rest, so Joe’s sidetrack into considering his sub jobs obvious did not take long so he turned to look at his stats for this job before he would herd everyone on to lunch.
While most of the other stats proved quite disappointing, the boost to learning was very enjoyable. Not as great as he had gained in the scholarly jobs, but still better than the worthless gains he was getting in all the other jobs currently available to him. He let his grin grow a bit before standing to hide his nervous excitement, his shoulders and torso actually shivering slightly at finally figuring out the sub jobs and looking forward to how he could exploit it. But that’s… for later.
“Right! Let’s go to lunch.”
Garnedell grinned to hear Joe speaking perfect common again, but the others seemed surprised.
“You … are speaking well again?” Gwenvair asked with some surprise.
Joe grinned, “Yes. I do not know common. I can only speak it with ease when I have a skill from the system to help me. It is in the education jobs.”
Zilnek grinned, sniggering slightly, “You sounded like a rube.”
Joe shrugged and grinned back, “Everyone sounds like an idiot when they learn a new language. Commoner’s not the worst.”
Gwenvair rose an eyebrow, “You know other languages?”
Joe shrugged, “I think ‘know’ might be a bit much, but I can get by in four or five others. I wouldn’t be able to speak well at all. Barely can, actually, but I can at least live and interact with the people there. I’m… not very good at learning languages. Takes me a bit more time than most on my plane.”
“Others … do better?”
Joe laughed, “Ha! I’m not the best in the education fields. But especially in languages. There are some who can speak and use five or six languages very easily.”
Kilniara frowned at that, “It doesn’t seem so hard to me?”
Gwenvair nodded, “Language is quite easy. Wouldn’t learning another also be easy?”
Joe felt an eyebrow quirk at that, “Then maybe I’m an idiot. But no. Learning a new language is very difficult, especially as adults.”
Both the girls frowned in thought at that but they grew silent and Joe honestly was getting hungry, so called to move out and head to lunch. The others groaned as they stood, obviously still in need of rest and Joe almost felt bad, wondering if he’d pushed the move too fast, but Garnedell leapt to his feet even as Kilniara and Gwenvair also stood, if a bit more slowly. Zilnek followed after, so Joe took that as a sign to continue and hefted the bag to move out.
“Sorry. Maybe I should have let you rest a bit longer?” Joe asked with some concern.
Kilniara quickly waved it away, even as Garnedell agreed with her verbally, “No! We are well rested.”
Joe nodded, “Then let’s eat some good food!”
All proved to be excited at the prospect and Joe led them out to the guild halls for a delicious noon meal. Everyone moved to one of the guild halls with the feeling of a day well finished. Garnedell and Zilnek chatted with one another and Joe listened in on the side while joining in the conversation randomly. Kilniara and Gwenvair strode behind, whispering quietly to each other but the giggles were gone, and Joe quickly noticed the mood had turned serious quite quickly.
Joe turned to look at them, worried as it seemed the issue from this morning wasn’t resolved. Kilniara appeared panicked, speaking quickly Gwenvair while Gwenvair seemed … Not sure what’s going on, but she seems certain of her decision. Both realized Joe was looking at them and Gwenvair quickly flushed red and looked away while Kilniara appeared devastated as she looked up at Joe. Joe smiled sadly, realizing that their friendship was likely at an end and simply hid his sigh while nodding in commiseration to Kilniara, offering a sad frown to try to show he could see how much the loss hurt her. He turned away to give them their time. Well, crap. Looks like Kilniara’s going to lose her friend.
Joe remained silent walking beside the two guys but kept his ears open to listen to the other two, but they still found a way to speak softly enough he could not hear them. Kilniara didn’t seem to be doing well as she whispered urgently to Gwenvair who replied with short monosyllabic responses. That’s never a good sign. Joe sighed and let it go. There was little they would likely be able to do in any case. Joe knew Gwenvair had responsibilities that made it impossible for her to join them, but Kilniara probably wouldn’t be able to understand it; not truly. Joe kept the groan to himself, but knew he would have to spend some time with Kilniara over the next couple days and maybe explain things.
They made their way into the adventurer’s hall this time and sat at a private table in some of the many private rooms available in the back of the cafeteria. Gwenvair, trained as she was, did well in schooling her face and maintaining a pleasing atmosphere throughout the meal. Kilniara did less well.
Joe kept silent throughout it but easily noticed Kilniara’s increasing discomfort and panic. The two girls kept speaking softly with one another and while Gwenvair was polite, she had become incredibly distant, putting on a polite but impervious conversation with Kilniara as Kilniara grew ever more desperate. Finally, she looked to Garnedell, obviously hoping for him to have some solution, but to be honest, Joe really couldn’t think of anything that he could do and Garnedell rather proved it with a soft hidden shrug. Joe sighed, uncertain himself of what was going on or what he could do, let alone if he even should. It was Gwenvair’s choice after all. He offered her a sad smile and a shrug but she seemed to grow desperate and Joe felt his heart wrench and he finally nodded and the look of relief and joy that washed over her face both emboldened and depressed him as he knew that he’d set himself up for utter failure. There was only one thing he could do. Try to fix the impossible.
* * *