* * *
Joe sat stunned, staring up at the soldier and what he’d said. So stunned he blurted out in surprise.
“What was that again?”
“Telnia, First in Line for Matriarch of the Grugtrim clan has arrived to join your apprenticeship. She asks that you meet her tomorrow at her place of residence to begin training.”
Joe once again simply stared at the man. The soldier waited a few moments then bowed before turning to leave. Joe half-heartedly raised his hand to call back the soldier to explain and even reject the offer, but then decided to ask for clarification.
“Telnia is my new apprentice?”
“Yes, eccentric.”
“Did she ask?”
The soldier seemed to cock his head, “It is your honor to take her as apprentice, eccentric.” The soldier did well to keep his face neutral, but the arrogance still shown through with that statement.
“My honor.”
“Of course, sir.”
“She believes this,” Joe asked with a smile of wonder.
The soldier seemed a bit surprised, “She told me to inform you of this, yes.”
“Could you give me her exact words?”
“She told me to find you and inform you of her apprenticeship. Then she told me to inform you to meet her at her new accommodations tomorrow.”
“Did she ask a question of you or give you a command.”
The soldier blinked at him, “She is my master. She commands and I obey.”
Joe’s mirth died with each question answered and he simply nodded his head, “Thank you for informing me as you were commanded.”
The soldier left, and Joe looked back at the others. The three commoners schooled their faces carefully, but Gwenvair hid rage behind a cool demeanor. Joe looked at all of them and his smile grew until he began to guffaw so loudly that the quiet in the room was broken by his laughter. No one else in the room laughed, as almost all others quickly backed away from Joe and hid their fear. Even Garnedell, Kilniara, and Zilnek seemed afraid. Gwenvair, however, seemed shocked until a small smile began growing on her lips before she began chuckling with Joe.
Gwenvair sighed after the laughter ended and looked up, “I am surprised that you do not take offense.”
Joe chuckled, shaking his head, “I’m deeply offended, but more offended as if a child or a dog barked at my heels than in any real meaningful way.”
A quiet gasp echoed through the room and Joe quickly realized what was going on and waved away their concern, “Oh, come on. Don’t worry. If she’s pissed, she can come at me. She will do nothing to you. And she can’t do anything to me. If she is my apprentice, I am her master!”
Gwenvair’s eyes widened at that, then she began giggling, “You are?”
“I’ll be her master for wasting time! Pretty cheeky to go around telling me what to do as if she can command me,” Joe shook his head.
Joe then quieted a bit and turned to the other three at his table, “Now you see why I hate rich shmucks. And why I’m quite impressed with Gwenvair,” Joe ended with a glance at Gwenvair before nodding in respect.
“Amongst my people, your status means nothing. You are not important or worthy of respect because of your position or family. For my people, you are worthy of respect because you are worthy. The lowest beggar or the richest person is worthy if they are of good character. Well… we are not perfect, so… yeah, but we attempt to live by this. Those of low character mean nothing and are worthless. And… we have the perfect example in this… Telnia? She’s a … My people have a saying. She’s trash. A worthless being.”
Gwenvair laughed at that while the other three looked at each other, calming to some degree but still cautious of revealing their thoughts.
Joe nodded, “But… it’s probably a good idea to be circumspect about what you say. People like her become… very angry very easily and take it out on those who anger them… so… yeah, maybe be careful. I’m not sure about Gwenvair… do you need to fear her?”
Gwenvair snorted and shook her head, “She’s the first in line for a mere Barony.”
Joe nodded at that although he truly didn’t understand, but grasped that Gwenvair was higher on the nobility totem pole.
“In any case, I’ll take care of her tomorrow… and no… don’t worry, she won’t be an apprentice.”
The other three nodded, seeming to be quite relieved and Joe smiled at that, laughing a bit, “Anyway, let’s head to bed. Tomorrow is a long day. We’ll be heading to the wall and helping fend off the beast tide.”
Excitement and fear twined equally in all three, but courage seemed to rule the day and all three stood firmly. Gwenvair stood and came forward, looking up at Joe.
“Thank you very much for being willing to help my family, Joe.”
Joe smiled at that, “It’s no problem. You have helped me quite a bit as well.”
Gwenvair flushed at that and shook her head, “Not near as much as you've helped us.”
Joe chuckled, “Really, it’s fine.”
Gwenvair then darted forward at that and gave him a quick hug before fleeing rapidly from the inn. Joe looked after her in shock, then back at Kilniara in concern, but her bright smile eased him, and her sliding into his arms to give him a big hug eased him more.
“Treat her kindly. You can hug her. I trust you as does she.”
Joe sighed at that, “I am very grateful for your trust but I will still be very careful.”
Kilniara shrugged and stepped back from him as she looked up at him, “You are a cautious person, as you should be. This requires work, as you said, and I truly want to make it work.”
Joe smiled at that and came forward, wrapping his arms around her, “Thank you. Truly.”
Kilniara giggled, “I should be thanking you that you accept one such as I!”
Joe stepped back and firmly took her chin to look her in the eye, “That needs to stop, now. You are worthy in and of yourself because of who you are, of who I see you capable of being! You are worthy because I choose you! I chose you because you are worthy. Believe that of yourself. Why would I choose you if you are not worthy? You are worthy and equal to any I know, including even Gwenvair and some of the other clansmen I know… even better than the latest trash to come waltzing in. And I am worthy of you and being chosen by you.”
Kilniara laughed at that, taking his hand. Joe smiled in return and turned to the boys after, “Yeah. Sleep is probably very important for tomorrow. We should all probably head to our rooms and get very good rest tonight. We won’t practice in the morning.”
That promise brought excited cheers from the other three as all headed to their rooms. Joe smiled, preparing for the bed and the need to look over his other jobs. He’d been able to go through over fifteen jobs the last five days. Things are… getting rapidly out of control! But Joe actually loved that idea. After he finished looking over all his recent new jobs, he equipped all eight priest jobs he currently had that had the job and sub job change skill. He then rapidly changed one of his sub jobs back and forth until that priest job’s skill had run out then did the same with the main job change skill as well. He ran through all eight priest line of jobs, then healed himself, emptying his system mana a good dozen or so times while he lay in bed before he fell asleep. By the time he'd fallen asleep, he had raised the skills several points and was left with three sub jobs full of used up faith jobs and magic healer as his main. He would fix it all in the morning, as he’d done for the last five days when he realized he could power level a few skills each night before bed. He had to spend most of his char: swaps on the priest line of jobs to level them, saving only the last one to use on magic heal. He wasn’t sure if he found it worth it, given how slowly it leveled but the need for a heal and the ease with which he was able to do so motivated him to continue.
* * *
In the middle of the night before the monster tide began, Joe decided to take a look at his recent gains, taking a look at his latest skills. He brought up the list of his latest jobs and their skills. Some of them brought a smile to his face, some made him confused, and others downright proved to be utterly irritating. He sighed, and started going through each one, whether disappointing or not. Don’t get sloppy…
Status
Blessing
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
Available Skills
Log
Cartographer
30
Basic Maps
Advanced Maps
Auto Map
Party-ographer
30
Feel Party
Party Stats
Party Location
Professor
30
++ Party Skill growth
++ Learning to Party
++ Party Skill growth
++ Learning to Party
Researcher
30
+++ Party Skill Growth
+++ Learning to Party
+++ Party Skill Growth
+++ Learning to Party
Faith Healer
30
Cure All
Magic Heal
0.18
Dresser
30
Mob Seeker
Mob weak spot
Dresser - Skin
Mule
30
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Double Strength
BackPack
Double Strength
Transporter
30
Magical Bag
Magic Space
Magic Space 2+
Stacker
Magic Space 4+
Magical Bag++
Leader
30
Group Split -10% EXP
Convince
Group Full Split EXP
Coin Pouch
Group Split +50% EXP
Morale +
Enhancer
30
+50% to Party's Self Buff
EmPhys - 1 1
EmMind - 1 1
+50% to Group Buffs
EmPool - 1 1
Loki Bishop
36
Main/Sub 4x
Chng Extra Sub Job
0.13
Truth Reading
/#&$*
(&$#(*@
Loki Archbishop
35
Main/Sub2 5x
/#&$*
Truth Reading
(&$#(*@
*$&#%
Loki Exarch
37
Main/Sub2/#&$* 6x
(&$#(*@
Truth Reading
*$&#%
Learning +++
Disease Immunity
Hardened Spearman
30
Inherit $.M.&.D.S.G.H.W.
Spear & Skill: Poke
Skill: Head Crack
Skill: Forward Spin Def.
Skill: 360 Attack
Skill: Leg Sweep
Veteran Spearman
30
Inherit $.M.&.D.S.G.H.W.
Spear & Skill: Poke
Skill: Head Crack
Skill: Forward Spin Def.
Skill: 360 Attack
Skill: Leg Sweep
Battle-Scarred Spearman
30
Inherit $.M.&.D.S.G.H.W.
Spear & Skill: Thrust
Skill: Head Crack
Skill: Forward Spin Def.
Skill: 360 Attack
Skill: Leg Sweep
Dancer Spearman
35
Inherit $.M.&.D.S.G.H.W.
Spear & Skill: Thrust
Skill: Head Crack
Skill: Forward Spin Def.
Skill: 360 Attack
Skill: Leg Sweep
Skill: Triple Thrust
Consummate Spearman
35
Inherit $.M.&.D.S.G.H.W.
Spear & Skill: Thrust
Skill: Head Crack
Skill: Forward Spin Def.
Skill: 360 Attack
Skill: Leg Sweep
Skill: Triple Thrust
Joe decided to go through the list one by one, and first up was cartographer. He sighed, was hoping for more from this one… maybe opening up a map of the stars or something… was thinking about mathematician, but then those guys in the alleyway talked about physicist… shouldn’t be in the medic, linguist, engineer, or humanities line, so… His second sigh was as bad as the first and he brought up the list of the three skill explanations even though he was certain it would prove as disappointing as the names indicated.
Cartographer
Basic Maps: Capable of creating basic maps.
Advanced Maps: Capable of creating basic maps maintaining spatial distances with advanced notations.
Auto Map: Skill will automatically generate maps when applied to appropriate materials.
Hmm… OK. Not as bad as I thought… wonder if I could still use it for what I want… maintain spatial distances… I could use that with stars still… heh… maybe, right? Or… Joe’s thoughts wandered through the three skills but couldn’t really understand much beyond what was already basically said. Joe sighed and moved to the next job: party-ographer.
Party-ographer
Feel Party: Capable of feeling very general information about your party members.
Party Stats: Capable of feeling very general information about your party members’ stats.
Party Location: Sense where your party is.
Synergistic Gain: Magic Map – show your party locations on the magic map.
Joe considered the new skills with a frown. Huh… interesting. One pretty good one there… I think… maybe two? Joe decided to try the skills, grinning slightly at the happenstance that he could do so. He used 'feel party,' grimacing at the name. What came back was an odd assortment of emotions, almost all of them rather muted or so ‘dim,’ he couldn’t really tell what there were, with the largest coming back to him as a feeling of rest, or sleep. Huh… ok… telling me kind of a general emotive report on them at this time… not bad. OK… He then did party stats and found all he got back was a general feeling of weakness, as if they were all lesser than him. He frowned at that. Huh… that’s… odd? Wonder what it means. Joe spent some time on it, trying to figure it out but in the end all he got was that general feeling of weakness.
He turned to the last skill, the one he was most excited for, and grinned when he felt it work. Heat radiated off his side pointed directly at where Garnedell lay. Pointing in the opposite direction and down towards the ground, he felt another quite a bit lesser heat and realized that he was feeling Kilniara. Huh… she didn’t go far. Must be at another inn… hmmm… maybe a block over? Seems about right. Huh… should check out the magic map with it.
Joe swapped out one of his sub jobs for navigator to see what magic map would do, and when it came up, he saw two soft green dots on his map. The dots were pretty close and he frowned. Needs to be closer… His thoughts triggered the map and it zoomed in and Joe was able to see the shaded outline of buildings and the positions of Kilniara and Garnedell much more clearly. Huh… can’t see Kilniara’s location other than just a dot. Her dot was also a bit fuzzier somehow, larger than Garnedell’s, and Joe realized that there was some loss to fidelity, her location a bit less specific, either because her being in the fog of war or because of her distance from him. He was fairly certain it was the fog of war. So… interesting… on to the next job.