Noah came out of the booth with a big smile. Heading straight to his friends, he playfully said to them.

"Wanna guess which Profession I chose?"

Ava's eyebrows raised seeing him all gleeful and decided to entertain him since she was also curious which one he chose.

"Well, if we think about your priorities, you should choose one which is more physical. So, something like Militia or maybe even Explorer. But you could choose either or even something entirely else." Ava said holding her chin thinking over Noah's potential choices.

"I should give you a hint. It is something all fantasy aspirants wish to try once." Noah decided to make it a bit easier for them to guess.

Ava thought about the hint but wasn't able to narrow down the list. When every Profession seemed straight out of medieval fantasy, how could one tell which one people would wish to try more.

Noah was enjoying the sight of Ava pulling her hair out trying to figure out his choice. He eventually decided it was enough and was about to declare his Profession but he caught Shaun in his sight looking at him strangely. Before he could question him why, Shaun said anxiously.

"Don't tell me you chose Blacksmith."

Noah was a bit surprised he was able to guess it that easily but chalking it up to luck, Noah replied.

"Yeah, how did you guess? Isn't it awesome! I can picture myself right now making weapons in a forge." Noah had an excited expression describing about his future blacksmith creations.

Shaun sighed hearing him excitedly talking about creating fantasy weapons. He eventually couldn't handle the sight anymore and yelled at him.

"You dumb asshole!"

Ava and Noah along with all those near them were startled by the sudden voice.

Finding the source of the yell, Noah was confused at the sudden outburst by Shaun. People's gazes turned towards their direction and whisperings started coming from those nearby. Seeing the commotion he caused, Shaun lowered his tone down a bit and whispered his next words though still quite agitated.

"Do you even realize what have you done?"

"Choose the Blacksmith Profession. Is something wrong with my choice?" Noah was nervous sensing Shaun's obvious disapproval with his choice. He wondered if he made a mistake choosing Blacksmith.

Shaun couldn't even get angry seeing him being so clueless but it was no less frustrating dealing with Noah's dumb shenanigans.

"Why do you always make such dumb decisions. Tell me, what made you think choosing Blacksmith was your best option."

"I thought I could learn to make and repair weapons. We obviously would practice with them soon, so I thought it would be better if I knew how to maintain weapons along with their characteristics. Also, the idea of being a Blacksmith and making weapons sounds a bit fun." Noah replied explaining his reasoning behind choosing Blacksmith which in his opinion was quite reasonable.

"Fun, you think forging weapons would be fun. Hah, what a funny thing I heard." Shaun had scorn on his face as if what Noah said was so absurd that he couldn't believe it.

"Why do you say so? I know It would be difficult to learn a new craft from scratch but it shouldn't be too much for me considering I like making stuff." Noah wasn't quite sure why was Shaun behaving this way. He was usually the calmest out of the trio.

"You are being naive, Noah. Making weapons is anything but fun. It would be frustrating, tiring and nerve-wracking. Not fun. I repeat, NOT FUN AT ALL." Shaun was annoyed at how easy Noah was taking Blacksmithing.

Noah could see Shaun was being irrational about all this but he couldn't quite place a reason behind it. Instead, It would just be faster to ask the man himself.

"You sound like you have a bad history with blacksmithing."

"Not Blacksmithing but weapon crafting in general. I told you about my archery days, right. I was not so well off at that time to be able to buy new arrows in batches just for practice. So, I thought to try making them myself. Let's say it didn't go well. I gave up in a week and just made do with second-hand arrows. That was just me trying to make half-decent arrows. You are just going to try doing the full course on that and much more. Do you now realize what you have gotten into!? I say go back there before it is too late and choose something tamer." Shaun felt he had to persuade Noah to give up Blacksmith otherwise he will fall down the abyss of disappointment and failure.

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"I don't think it would be that bad. You are likely exaggerating your experience. If anything, I think you probably suck at anything related to crafting. What do you think, Ava?" Noah wasn't buying it and turned to Ava for her opinion.

"You are right. It sounds Shaun just has a personal grievance with weapon crafting but you shouldn't become lax. Blacksmithing is a very complex profession in our world taking years to only become decent not to mention here where you would be dealing with exotic materials." Ava was also baffled at Shaun's behavior.

Though, despite how absurd he sounded, there was still some truth in his words. Becoming a Master Blacksmith is a lifetime endeavor for most people. Noah would need more than just interest to perform well in this field.

Noah was happy that Ava was of the same opinion as him at first but rolled his eyes hearing the next part. He also agreed that it wouldn't be so easy, but she could have put that better. Did she not trust his judgment. How would people here choose Blacksmith if it was so hard that you couldn't even hope to master it. He didn't want to extend this pointless discussion anymore.

"Okay, I will take this seriously. Now, can we move on from me? I didn't get what you two chose."

Shaun grumbled at the obvious attempt to evade the topic but he couldn't try to force this anymore on Noah unless he wanted to be seen as an irredeemable jerk.

"I chose Cook as I mentioned before. There were some others that interested me but I was far more comfortable with cooking than trying something like Apothecary."

Noah was not at all surprised. He expected this from Shaun. What he didn't expect was Ava's decision.

"I decided to go with Explorer. The staff told me it provides great skills for survival and exploration. Something which would be necessary for unfamiliar environments." Ava said while fiddling with her appointment letter.

Noah completely agreed with her reasoning. Such skills will definitely come in handy soon based on their current situation. Though, one thing stood odd to him.

"I thought you would choose something like a managerial one because of your familiarity with it and all."

"I told you before. How could you forget it so quickly? I chose to join the Committee and manage events. That doesn't mean I particularly like it. I just put up with it. Instead, I think of myself more of an adventurous type." Ava said pointing a finger straight at him with an admonishing look but everyone could tell she was just teasing.

Thankfully, Noah wasn't dense at taking social cues. He joined her performance putting on a scared face while acting dramatically.

"Oh, how ignorant I am. I should throw myself off the cliff for this."

"Do you also choose the place where you would do your apprenticeship?" Shaun interjected their melodrama with an abrupt question.

Both of them were confused. They didn't recall the staff asking anything related to that.

A look of realization appeared on Shaun's face seeing their puzzled looks.

"I thought so. I was given the option to choose which restaurant or inn I wanted to go to for an apprenticeship. Cooks should be more common compared to other Professions, therefore the options." Shaun presented his thoughts and continued the topic.

"The list given was rated according to the reputation of the establishments and would you know it, Florelle's Inn was near the top so I wasted no time selecting that. It seems I will now be helping at the Inn. Be prepared to face my dishes soon." He added the last bit with a mischievous smirk.

Both of them smiled at his comment. They didn't need to fear his dishes. He was far better at cooking than the two of them to the point he was the one who prepared the dishes whenever they decided to hang out indoors. The trio soon moved to head towards the main entrance to depart on to their separate destinations.

Mid-walk, Ava thought she should also explain her appointment destination.

"I was told to head to the barracks near the outskirts of the town. The guards there would supposedly guide me to the Archers when I would show them the letter. Many of them appear to choose Explorer as one of their Professions. Archers regularly dive into the jungle nearby and know the ins and outs of the place. They would show me the ropes around surviving and exploring. At least, that's what the staff said." She finishing her explanation and shrugged her shoulders.

She didn't think everyone at the barracks would be happy and willing to come forward to help someone who was an absolute beginner at the job. Nevertheless, she would find out how the situation is when she reaches there. Hopefully, she would find someone patient enough to teach her. Though, her interaction with Knight Rylee already gave a bad precedent for the soldiers.

Seeing he was the only one left, Noah also described the location he was briefed about.

"I have to go to a place called Anvil Artisans. Seems to be in the middle of the city. Also, apparently a very reputable place. The staff basically told me I could ask anyone in the town for directions. He informed me that I would recognize it at first sight. Besides that, I wasn't told much." Noah was extremely curious about the establishment. The information he had was far from enough to form a picture of the place. He was becoming impatient slowly and wanted to just rush there at this moment.

Arriving at the plaza, Noah reminded the two.

"We should move now, shouldn't be too late on the first day."

"Yeah, we better get moving. See you both back at the Inn. You two are sure to have interesting stories after this. I will be expecting to hear some good ones." Ava waved at both of them which the two boys reciprocated and sprinted straight out of the plaza.

Shaun also bid Noah farewell and jogged back towards the Inn.

"See you at night"

"You better have made some delicious dishes for us." Noah yelled at Shaun after he started jogging. Shaun waved back in affirmation without turning around.

Noah then turned in the direction of his destination and started walking.

"Let's see, where is this place?" Noah murmured to himself taking out the map given by the staff.