“Alright, Owen, here’s 4 Silver and 48 Copper. The guild has withheld 1 Silver for your equipment fee and 2 Copper for processing. Now that we’re done here, let’s get something to eat, and we can talk about how you slaughtered 22 Gobbos on your first day.” Laughing, he walked from behind the counter to the canteen area. Shoveling the coinage into his pockets, Owen walked over. He placed his pack and shield down before he sat at the table with him.
“Alright, Murphy, how are you making me broke today.”
“No, if you are sticking around, just call me Todd. I’m Private Murphy to everyone else; it’s nice to just be me sometimes, you know.”
“Ah, alright, Todd, so what’s good here. Did you say that Sergeant Fell was an Alchemist? How does that work if he’s cooking? Does it count as long as it’s in a pot?”
Grabbing his head, Todd groaned out, “God’s dam you, Owen, buy me a drink before you ask such stupid questions.”
“HAHAAH!” Turning around, Owen noticed a tall, lean man standing behind him. “So Todd’s finally got some company, huh. Well, meet Private Grest; I’m Sergeant Fell.” Extending his hand, Fell continued, “Most of my food is pretty okay, but my drinks are to die for. I recommend the seared rabbit today with a light ale since it’s only 30 Copper, but I’ll do 2 sets for 50.”
Laughing, Owen reached out and shook the man’s hand. “Alright, Sergeant, you got a deal.” Reaching into his pocket, Owen brought out the coins he was given earlier. He noticed he only had 12 Copper pieces, but 4 of them seemed different. They had 6 flat sides and were slightly larger. “Hey Todd, I thought I was supposed to be the dumb one. This isn’t 48 Copper.” With that said, the 2 other men began laughing.
“You really are a meathead, Owen.” Todd laughed with tears in his eyes while pointing at the larger coins. “That’s a large copper. It’s worth 10 small copper. So, adding them all together, you still have 48.”
“Ohh.” Owen replied sheepishly, “Yeah, I knew that.” Reaching into his bag, he summoned two other coins into his hidden hand. Placing them on the table, Sergeant Fell snatched them up.
“Alright, Private’s food will be a bit, but I’ll have the ales soon.” With that, he walked away as Todd spoke up.
“Well, at least you can do math. Compared to that, getting the Crealexis skill shouldn’t be too hard. As for your other dumb questions, anyone can get the Cooking skill. It’s just that people with the chef class are just better with it. From what I know, Sergeant Fell was a Chef before he evolved into an Alchemist. Crafting classes are just weird like that.”
“The Crealexis skill? Is that what reading and writing is called?” asked Owen.
“Yeah, according to most books, every unique language gets its own Skill for speaking it and the written form. Then, if you have both, they just combine. Most people learn them at about the same time, but it happens when you learn a new language.”
“Ah,” Owen said, understanding it a bit more. “So how would I start learning the written version then. How could I read a book about it if I can’t read.”
Chuckling at Owen’s response, Todd continued. “Look, leave me like a silver or 2, and when I’m over in the business district tomorrow, I can pick up some teaching books. They are basically picture books that have the word next to it and space to write it. If that’s still too hard for the meathead, I can teach you at night.”
“Hey, I’m not a meathead. I’m a Jarhead.”
“Jarhead?” Todd responded quizzically, “How is that any better?”
“Well, it’s not really better. My head is empty for the most part unless I’m filling it with drink.” Owen laughed heartily when another voice joined in.
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“Jarhead, I like it. It suits you, Grest.” Fell said as he placed down the drinks. “As long as you’re getting your fill here, I’ll fill that empty head of yours.”
“Thanks, Sergeant, will do,” Owen responded as he took a gulp of the ale. “Ahh, this is great. Something has been bugging me, Todd. Why have you and the Sergeant kept saying things like ‘if I stay’?”
“Well, it’s not like you wouldn’t know. Tomorrow or the day after, the local Knight chapter will try to recruit you. It will be a pretty easy job with great pay, so you won’t likely stick around. None of the others did.” Todd said over his ale solemnly.
“Huh? Why would they do that?”
“Apparently, the local lord tried to court the Captain, but she refused. Since then, he slowly stole away the company, probably to get her to reconsider.” Owen noticed that Todd was gripping the ale tightly. “I know here in the Westlecian Empire, it’s supposed to be the smart and cunning who rule. Why should that weaselly f-” Before Todd could finish, a dinner plate was placed heavily on the table, followed by another.
“Be careful, Todd. You never know who is listening.” Sergeant Fell whispered, “Here are your meals, boys. Eat up!” He said loud and cheerfully before walking away. Looking over, Owen noticed that Todd was still worked up.
“So you mentioned the Captain earlier; when I first met her, she knew my name and class. How does that work? Is that a skill?” Owen asked, trying to distract him while he began to dig into his dinner.
“Oh, that’s a Skill called Inspect. It tells you a person’s name, class, and level.”
“Wow, that’s cool. What class gets that Skill?”
Hearing another weird question, Todd took another drink before responding. “Well, Inspect is considered a General Skill since any class can learn it. Though that has its own downsides, to compare it with something like a Merchant’s Appraisal. While Appraisal doesn’t work on people, when you use it on an Item, it will tell you roughly how much it’s worth. Skill’s tend to get strange once your Tier 3 or have advanced Skill’s. It’s mostly noticed in Farmers, Crafters, and the like. Say a Farmer had a Tier 2 skill that boosted the yield of all his crops. When it gets to a certain threshold, it may gain something new. Like all his carrots will be larger or something.”
“Oh, so not all Skills can evolve then? They just get something extra.”
“Not in the way your thinking, Owen. Every 10 levels a Skill has, it will evolve slightly. A common example is the Gourmet Skill, which evolves from the Cooking Skill at level 10. Every Gourmet Skill is different, though. One may slightly boost the flavor of meat, while another makes soups last longer. So every Cooking skill will evolve, but that doesn’t mean that the evolved Skill is the same.”
“I think I get it?” Owen answered. “How do you know when a skill is at that threshold then?”
“Ah, that’s easy then. We can use my Mathematics Skill as an example. When I look at my Soul Status, the word ‘Max’ is next to it. Then I know it’s capable of evolving. I just have to figure out how to trigger it.” Curious, Owen Inspected Todd again but this time tried to concentrate on the Skill in question.
Mathematics (MAX): Aid’s the User with basic calculations. The User has used this Skill extensively for budgeting and logistics. User has an innate sense for where to best save and use money for their projects.
“I think I get it now,” Owen said while finishing his food. “So every 10 levels, a Skill gets a bit better. Whenever a skill gets ‘Max,’ it can evolve, but it’s not guaranteed.”
“Wow. Yeah, that’s the basics. You were actually paying attention, Owen.” Todd said, sounding shocked, “I guess you aren’t as empty-headed as you claim, Jarhead.”
“Hey, I got drink in me; I’m plenty smart. Still, you know a lot of stuff, Todd, got to say that’s impressive.”
“Heh. It’s not much. We don’t have much work, so the Captain lets me read. She always says being stronger is good, but being smarter is better. So when I can, I study. I don’t want to let her down.” As he finished, three more ales were placed on the table, as Sergeant Fell also took a seat.
“Speaking of work. What was that walking coin screaming about earlier?”
“Walking coin?” Owen asked, confused.
“He means the merchant from earlier.” Todd replied while laughing, “Sometimes merchants love their coin so much they begin to look like it.” He said while making a circular shape, “The more you look like a coin, the more coin you have to stay that way. As for what he wanted, Sergeant, he wanted us to do the Knights job for them.” Todd scoffed, “Apparently, there has been a Dungeon sighted out West, and he wants it cleared out. So far, the Knights have refused as it’s half a day’s walk with no reported Elite.”
“Out West, huh? I’m heading out that way tomorrow, but why not have our newest Private here go clear it.”
“Sergeant Fell, you can’t really think that Owen can clear a Dungeon by himself.”
“It’s a new Dungeon Todd. With the amount of stones he turned in today, he’ll be fine.”
“Umm, guys,” Owen said while putting down his empty ale. “What’s a Dungeon?”