Joe shook his head, “Our people do not… agree with controlling other clans. They are free to do as they wish, for the most part. That said, our people are not… perfect. There are some times that some corrupt or evil leaders and … rich people seek to control or take from other count… clans. There are many evil amongst my clan.”
Joe sighed at that, shaking his head, “Our people have fallen far from who we once were, but many of us still struggle to be good people, even if some of our leadership has failed miserably.”
“It is something… that would be wise to consider,” Gwenvair spoke, looking at her mother.
Her mother looked to Gwenvair and nodded, “Possibly, but it would require great thought.”
Joe nodded, “It really would. And I only offer my knowledge. I really need to remove my judgment. I apologize, but I am shaped by my people’s thoughts and culture. And slavery is something that… is not acceptable.”
“But to replace it would require wealth and ability our people do not have.”
Joe nodded slightly, “Possibly, but our people when we abolished slavery were about equal in ability to what your people can do now, if not even a little behind.”
At this, the Matriarch looked at Joe with a much more thoughtful look before nodding her head, “Something to consider carefully, then.”
Joe nodded, then shrugged, “It is… certainly difficult as my people and their allies were able to fight to remove slavery across the world and not simply only in their clans, so… it would likely be very difficult for a single clan or city to do so.”
She nodded much more firmly at that, but said nothing else. She sighed and then stood, “It is time to return to the wall.”
Joe nodded, “They still attack?”
She nodded, “Yes. Please come as quickly as you may. Gwenvair will join you today as before.”
Joe nodded, “I’m honored by your trust.”
She smiled at that, saying nothing but nodding before turning to go. Joe watched her leave before turning to look back at the others, “Well! Guess we gotta head out soon, too. Did the arrows come in?”
Gwenvair quickly nodded at that, “There are many bundles outside, and we will acquire more for tomorrow as well.”
Joe nodded, “Good. Give me a second, then we can head out.”
Joe turned away from the group, and looked over his jobs. Time to get my jobs lined up, I guess. Maybe… check them out half way through today as well? Make sure they are growing as efficiently as possible… wasted a bit yesterday on some of them when they hit thirty plus… but… I can make sure…
Joe focused on his current task, thoughts fading as he began looking through what available jobs he had. Right, going to need the highest priest job and the navigator still… maybe I can drop the navigator? I don’t want to waste a spot on it… but… Joe sighed, grimacing. I’ll probably have to keep it just to be safe so I’ll be able to aim for the monsters or notice when they’re below my line of sight.
Joe glanced over the skills that navigator had, checking them out more carefully to see if there was anything else useful besides just monster sense. That’s when he saw party locate and magic map again. Huh… what about… Joe activated magic map, party locate and monster sense at the same time and felt his grin grow. OK… definitely… way worth it! The map populated, showing the area he’d explored with green dots which became quickly obvious as the two members of his party: Garnedell and Kilniara. The rest of the map proved empty, although there were some grey dots, which Joe realized were people who were not in his party, Gwenvair showing up as well as a maid or two as they walked through the room. Huh… only seen when in sight… got it… but then, monster sense? Ooh! Maybe monster sense populates the map out of sight? Like party locate does? Too far to catch anything right now, though, but…
Joe was distracted a bit, but the chairs shuffling pulled Joe back to his thoughts and he quickly looked over what jobs were available. Right… need navigator for now, but don’t really need to level it, so I’ll drop it in the fourth slot. And then the priest job… hmm… still Loki Primate, so gotta keep that one… and it’s not that important to level it up. I’ve got what I need. I’ll swap it out when the next one becomes available, but I don’t really need to worry about it. So… two more slots. What… hmm… so… I’ve got … not going to look at in the basic jobs… Rather focus on the others… Hmm… crafter, education, nobility, grouping, faith, or combat… gotta focus on combat for the physical stats, no… wait… I’m fine now so… but really should focus on my strengths, so… and the grouping stuff is very… useful, the education stuff, too… for more learning stats… and I’ve got time too… Hmm… Well, let’s focus on taking a look at other combat jobs.
Joe settled on a couple of combat jobs and took his time looking through the options. So, I have the next in line for mercenary, duelist, gladiator, horseman, warrior, staff warrior, and a bunch of the spearman line unlocked… 1, 2, 3… 8… eight spearman unlocked, and I can unlock the spetum, voulge, guisarme, thrower, swordsman, axeman, war hammer, mace, and pugilist lines. Spearman would be a good… Joe trailed off when he saw that the next spearman in line wasn’t available, still locked behind the latest one. Then… should I put more into the spearman line? Hmm… yeah… should I keep pushing for the spearman line? I’ll have to keep the latest one… Uh… yeah… spearman it is. Then my last job is… Joe perused through the rest of his options and settled on a few what he felt were his two best. Hmm… duelist, swordsman, or pugilist… Probably a good idea to have some kind of combat good for fighting humans… duelist probably wins out against swordsman… so duelist and pugilist… I’ve got spearman so … I’m going to want something that will help in unarmed combat…although how much would it really be helpful… especially with all my training I already have… or… another world’s training?
Joe’s thoughts stuttered, the idea of getting access to another world’s unarmed combat excited him quite a bit more than any armed combat. He was much better with unarmed combat anyway. Pugilist it is!
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
All Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
1683 (138)
Physical:
Wind
112.25
SP
1985 (283)
Piercing
187 (48)
Water
111.73
MP
935 (100)
Crushing
197 (132)
Earth
105.00
Attack
1390 (181)
Slashing
179 (39)
Fire
109.24
Defense
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1472 (158)
Ice
111.47
Magic
1484 (100)
Gravity
105.00
Magic Defense
2079 (100)
Magnetic
105.00
Strength
1503 (148)
Light
105.00
Dexterity
1911 (112)
Shadow
77.11
Agility
1197 (133)
Space
415.87
Speed
1232 (115)
Spirit
205.40
Endurance
1349 (193)
Mental
199.19
IQ
1455 (132)
Sound
108.11
Wisdom
4294 (105)
Electricity
105.00
Will
3134
Learning
195,674
Luck
248
Joe applied the jobs, navigator put in the last place with Loki primate added in the third spot, pugilist put in his second spot and his latest spearman job as the primary job so that it could possibly grow the fastest and allow him to get to his next job. He sighed, and looked at his stats now the jobs were chosen, mentally subtracting the Loki primate stats that were added so he could have his base stats shown.
His grin was quite satisfied, then turned to shock well-seasoned with joy. This is… way too much! This can’t be right? What happened? His thoughts were in turmoil and he quickly struggled to figure out what had happened, diving deep into his stats, but then a soft cough brought him back to attention and he noticed everyone standing, all already to head out. Joe put aside his curiosity and stood, frustrated he couldn’t figure out the insane jump in numbers.
Despite his annoyance at not understanding his growth, Joe felt incredibly satisfied the entire time they walked to the wall, and he was able to join in the conversation with the others a short time later. The rest of the walk was with rather enjoyable banter.
About halfway there, Gwenvair took him to the side and spoke to him softly, “Joe. If I could?”
Joe noticed her serious face and quickly dropped his smile, nodding, “What’s up?”
Gwenvair took his strange colloquialism well and simply replied, “You… can do ranged infusion.”
Joe nodded, “Yes. It worked out pretty well.”
Gwenvair shook her head, “My mother wishes to… offer you some news.”
“Oh? What about?”
“Please be cautious of your ranged infusion.”
“Ah,” Joe replied, nodding, “OK. I’ll make sure it’s … should I stop? Today?”
Gwenvair smiled and shook her head, “No. Mother has made certain of this. Please do not … show or speak of this outside the clan. It would be… unwise.”
Joe fell sober at that, nodding, “I will, then.”
“Just… remember this wisely.”
Joe nodded, looking at Gwenvair with a smile, “Thank you,”
Joe fell silent after that, although Gwenvair turned back Kilniara and they began chatting with one another again. When they made it to the wall, Joe had to stifle a sigh as it came into sight. The sounds of fighting and shouting had come quite a bit earlier but it was the sight of the walls that hammered home the hard work coming for the next ten or more hours. Joe steeled himself and prepared for the day. Game face! His pulsed slowed, heart hammering a steady booming thrum and he felt a strange focus come over him, his field of view narrowing slightly while simultaneously tightening into brighter and more intense awareness of what was actually there… in his vision. His hearing dimmed, then exploded into intense clarity as he seemed to hear everything for a few seconds before massive amounts of the differing sounds quickly muted, disappearing into a haze of sound in the background, still easily discernable, but immediately dismissed. What remained were the sounds of combat: roars of beasts, clanging of weaponry, the almost silent woosh of various projectiles, and the roars, tinkles, crackles, and splashes of various magic, each easily identifiable and placed in relation to him.
The stairs flashed by, left behind quickly as he climbed them and soon the five of them were standing on the back lower wall, watching the current front line flagging, exhaustion easily seen in the line and slump of their shoulders and body. Joe didn’t remove his sight from who he was replacing.
“How do I take over?”
Gwenvair seemed to suddenly appear at his side, invisible before, not impinging on his sense until she spoke, “Go forward and say you are here for the next shift.”
Joe nodded, glancing down to find his buckets haphazardly tossed near the stairs leading up, one of them broken. He noted it, but ignored it, picking up the still whole one and dumping arrows into it from a pile stacked almost half again as tall as it had been yesterday. Carrying the bucket up, he headed towards his spot, calling out behind him as he went.
“Same thing as yesterday, but you’ll need to get another bucket… pretty fast… I’ll be going through arrows real fast to stabilize the line here.”