* * *
Joe woke at about midnight as he would judge it if he were on Earth, but he had no markers to make a reasonable guess and simply turned it to a time of meditation and practicing his various magic exercises before exhaustion and the general darkness which deprived him of any stimulation and had him back to sleep.
Some time late in the night, he felt Kilniara slip into bed at his side and he snuggled in to her, pulling her into a spoon before falling asleep again. He ended up waking again later because his back grew cold and he had to pull the blanket to cover his back again before falling into a deep slumber until the dim light of the early morning sun shone through into the room and Joe woke with a deep breath, Kilniara still breathing deeply in her sleep. Joe yawned, but it wasn’t from sleep. He actually woke well rested and the yawn was part of the satisfied stretch of waking satisfied with his sleep.
He began practicing his mana and mana point exercises again, able to put in a good couple hours of work before Kilniara yawned and woke as well, quite a bit grumpier than him. He paused to take in her waking but she simply grumbled, shifted, rolled towards him and then fell back to sleep. Joe smiled then returned to his practice for another thirty or forty minutes before Kilniara finally woke, quite grumpy but awake.
“Good morning, sleepy head!”
Kilniara groaned, turning away and Joe thought that she was trying to fall back to sleep but several moments later, she grunted out a growling morning of her own.
Joe leaned forward and kissed the back of her head, “Waking up?”
Kilniara responded but not in any known language, simply an affirming gurgle of some kind.
Joe chuckled but let her recover as she was wont and returned to his practice. Maybe about an hour later, Kilniara finally roused enough to join him and the two were practicing until they rose from bed and joined the others for a rather late breakfast. Gwenvair actually joined them as well, although her mother didn’t come so Joe found most of the conversation was between the others while he mostly listened in. As usual, the two guys and two girls split off into their own conversation, mostly instigated by the two girls as they tended to want their privacy.
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
All Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
280.00
Physical:
Wind
0
SP
350.00
Piercing
35.00
Water
0
MP
35.00
Crushing
35.00
Earth
0
Attack
210.00
Slashing
35.00
Fire
0
Defense
280.00
Ice
0
Magic
35.00
Gravity
0
Magic Defense
35.00
Consummate Spearman
35
Magnetic
0
Strength
210.00
Meditative Pugilist
35
Light
0
Dexterity
350.00
Loki Primate
37
Shadow
0
Agility
140.00
Navigator
38
Space
0
Speed
140.00
Spirit
0
Endurance
140.00
Mental
0
IQ
70.00
Sound
0
Wisdom
70.00
Electricity
0
Will
52.50
Learning
35.00
Luck
0.00
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
All Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
210.00
Physical:
Wind
0
SP
70.00
Piercing
35.00
Water
0
MP
35.00
Crushing
35.00
Earth
0
Attack
35.00
Slashing
35.00
Fire
0
Defense
35.00
Ice
0
Magic
105.00
Gravity
0
Magic Defense
105.00
Meditative Pugilist
35
Magnetic
0
Strength
140.00
Light
0
Dexterity
140.00
Loki Primate
37
Shadow
0
Agility
140.00
Navigator
38
Space
0
Speed
105.00
Spirit
35
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Endurance
105.00
Mental
35
IQ
70.00
Sound
0
Wisdom
70.00
Electricity
0
Will
52.50
Learning
140.00
Luck
0.00
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
All Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
74.00
Physical:
Wind
37
SP
37.00
Piercing
0.00
Water
37
MP
37.00
Crushing
0.00
Earth
37
Attack
74.00
Slashing
0.00
Fire
37
Defense
74.00
Ice
37
Magic
37.00
Gravity
37
Magic Defense
37.00
Loki Primate
37
Magnetic
37
Strength
37.00
Light
37
Dexterity
37.00
Shadow
37
Agility
37.00
Navigator
38
Space
37
Speed
37.00
Spirit
148
Endurance
37.00
Mental
148
IQ
185.00
Sound
37
Wisdom
296.00
Electricity
37
Will
194.25
Learning
2960.00
Luck
0.00
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
All Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
38.00
Physical:
Wind
0
SP
114.00
Piercing
0.00
Water
0
MP
38.00
Crushing
0.00
Earth
0
Attack
38.00
Slashing
0.00
Fire
0
Defense
38.00
Ice
0
Magic
38.00
Gravity
0
Magic Defense
38.00
Navigator
38
Magnetic
0
Strength
38.00
Light
0
Dexterity
38.00
Loki Primate
37
Shadow
0
Agility
38.00
Space
.38
Speed
76.00
Spirit
0
Endurance
114.00
Mental
0
IQ
38.00
Sound
0
Wisdom
76.00
Electricity
0
Will
47.50
Learning
38.00
Luck
0.00
Joe spent the time privately for the most part going over his gains from the day before then choosing some new jobs. First, he went over his gains for the four jobs he’d had the previous day: consummate spearman, meditative pugilist, Loki primate, and navigator. When he noticed that he’d been able to get the first two jobs up to level thirty five, he stifled a curse, keeping to memory only but quite frustrated. Just … Joe sighed then shook his head. Well… that would have been another thirty levels in two other jobs instead of five in these two. Would have been a much better use of the time… Joe stifled his regret and turned to possible resolutions.
Huh… not too bad but still a missed an opportunity. Gotta remember to shift over to another set of jobs… how am I going to remember. Joe spent a bit of time going over how he could possibly set up some kind of reminder to swap jobs at half way through the day. He finally decided that the only real option he had was to ask for help as he would be too busy shooting and keeping an eye on the monsters to really keep track of his time. Well… could just remember to change when I get the meal? But… just in case…
“Hey. Do you guys mind offering me a help? I need you to remind me of something at noon.”
“What do you need?” Garnedell asked.
“Please remind me to check my status at noon, OK?”
Garnedell replied firmly, “Yes.”
The other three agreed with nods and their own exclamations of agreement so Joe then turned to his progress for the four jobs. He looked at what stat gains they had and didn’t really notice too much by way of anything unusual, all gains still the base multiplied by the current of the job. Joe sighed, bored, and turned to the skills. Seems like skills are going to be the main focus after all. The stats gains are all static. So… skills! But… I gotta figure out the big jump in my stats… Can I… Joe sighed and put that aside for another day, knowing he would likely take an entire day just to wrestle through it, if he ever could.
Navigator hasn’t changed… still the same skills. And Loki primate’s skills are all the same as well… So consummate spearmen … hmm… all the same skills as the previous spearman jobs as well, although they seem to be gained at earlier levels. These last skills have just basically been katas or forms for various attacks. Joe pondered carefully. The first skill was an inheritance of the skills from other basic combat jobs. Five were listed: mercenary, duelist, soldier, gladiator, horseman, and warrior. There were a couple other lines listed in the skill description that were gibberish, obviously hidden until further information or jobs were released just like the skills for +1 sub job skills which were not revealed until the gifted job was unlocked. The second skill was a generic skill for wielding spears. Not really… useful.
So then… meditative pugilist. What’s that give me? Joe frowned when he saw the first skills were also basically identical to the spearman’s first two skills, although specific to the pugilist: inheritance of the same five basic jobs listed in the spearman’s inheritance and an inheritance from the basic pugilist line. The other skills were much more interesting and gave a hint what the job was. The skills were increased MP, increased agility, redirect throw, increased endurance, and increased intelligence. All increases were quite extensive, although the endurance was the greatest increase. Huh… lots of interesting stats… obvious ones for physical combat and throws, but it’s interesting that magic seems to be related… although… the title, meditative… maybe a hint?
Joe lost himself in thought going over the stats but ultimately found himself stuck, unable to figure out anything useful. He sighed and dismissed his thoughts on it. He didn’t have time. He had to settle in his new jobs. Two were obvious. He still had to use navigator and a priest job. Maybe the next priest job is available… though? Joe quickly took a look at the available priest jobs to see if the next Loki priest was available. Well… that’s a no… makes sense… I had to wait till forty to get primate unlocked... so should be the same… at least, right? Then…
Joe checked the spearmen jobs but there was no new job available after consummate spearman. The last one… or… higher qualifications… had to get higher for the next one after dancer, so… Joe found himself now at a bit of a quandary. Did he keep pushing for spearman, or should he train in … Wait… What … how has this job… these jobs been helpful? Well… been giving me help with mana flow with use for weapons… so… Still, Joe flipped over and checked out the skills again before realizing that just about the only thing that was useful were the stats gained. Is the mana use with weapons useful? Joe considered with a frown.
He already had significant skills in the use of spears from his martial arts training back on Earth. It had been one of his favorite weapons. He’d been curious to see if there was anything new to learn, just as with the meditative pugilist, but he grew instantly disappointed, then shocked. The next available job under meditative pugilist was Tai chi. Why… why are … where did … how?! How is there… Is there a connection? What… Joe found his thoughts whirling at the implications. Joe spent a lot of time lost in the implications of what it meant to have tai chi available on this planet and really, really didn’t like the conclusions he was coming to. How is…
Joe turned and looked at Gwenvair, thoughtful. She might know?
“Gwenvair. Have you heard of tai chi?”
Gwenvair quickly looked at Joe, thinking carefully before shaking her head, “I do not think… no.”
“It is a job that opens after meditative pugilist.”
Gwenvair nodded at that quickly, “I have heard of such… the job after that, however, we call healing monk. It is a very powerful and rare job. One of the rare and few jobs that are able to fight and heal at the same time.”
Joe cocked his head at that, quite interested, but then shook his head and returned to the point, “You have not heard of another job other than healing monk?” Joe asked as he flipped open his available jobs and took a look at the available jobs after meditative pugilist, but found nothing but tai chi.
Gwenvair shook her head, “Our clan is rather small, but I am fairly certain… there is no other job but healing monk after meditative pugilist.”
Joe nodded to Gwenvair, “Thank you.”