You agree to the terms set out by Sir Eumol. Namely,
1. Each party is responsible for treatment of their own injuries,
2. Victory is considered if the opponent yields or is otherwise incapacitated by the other party,
3. Witchdoctor Exill will sell his slave, Envy to Sir Eumol for the initial purchase price of 15,000 Denars upon his defeat,
4. Witchdoctor Exill will be compensated a token sum of 1,000 Denars upon his victory and Sir Eumol will put the dispute permanently to rest,
5. Death of either party nullifies the entire contact – including Article 1.
Exill channelled mana through the [Notarized Contract] to agree to the terms. The duel would be held in the morning a week from now. He was happy to see that killing the opponent was severely disincentivized. From what he understood, in the event of his death - Eumol would not be able to purchase Envy, and the Knight would also have to compensate his family… if he had one.
“Now, I just need to collect two locks of your hair, and it would be great if you could channel mana into them.” The Clerk passed scissors and a length of twine over to him.
“What do you need this for?” Exill asked as he cut the hair.
“It is standard registration procedure, and that will do just fine.” The Clerk filed away the bundle of hair and paperwork into a pigeonhole receptacle behind him.
“What would happen to my slave if I were to die?” he asked out of morbid curiosity.
“Just like any asset, the slave would be transferred to your next of kin or those specified in your will. If no such entity exists, the Kingdom will lay claim to all assets.”
“I see,” Exill thanked the Clerk and left the office. He headed towards the nearby Royal Library, an ostentatious three storey building next to the Arena. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts on who he could bequest Envy to in the event of his untimely death.
He had no plans to die anytime soon, but neither did anyone who took out life insurance. It was best to be prepared for all scenarios.
‘I should chase up the Guild for information on Verill. He is the only person I trust to fulfil my promises. Otherwise… it would be Luna… actually, no… just no.’
Exill had witnessed the cold stares the elf-maiden directed towards the Vampire. Leaving Envy in her care upon his hypothetical demise was a bad idea. He bitterly shook his head and crossed the courtyard to enter the large entryway of the Library protected by stone gryphon statues on either side.
The entryway led to a reception area floored with polished sandstone tiles and dark wooden panelling along the lower half of the wall. Behind the counter stood an elegant middle-aged woman inspecting the bindings of worn books piled to her left. She looked up at the sound of the swinging double doors and shot him a warm professional smile.
“Welcome sir, would this be your first time at the Royal Library?”
Exill nodded, and the matronly woman withdrew a velvet lined tray from under her desk and pushed it in front of him.
“A deposit of 1000 Denars will be returned to you when you leave. Although the Library is funded by the Royal family, we ask that patrons donate a small amount to maintain the vast collection of our archives. Please do not be offended if we search your belongings when you exit the premises.”
“…How much do people typically donate to the library?” he asked edgily.
“We only ask that patrons give what they can afford, we recognise that not everyone is blessed by wealth.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Exill carefully examined the Librarian’s face as he first lowered a gold coin on the velvet tray, followed by two large copper coins. He was impressed with her professionalism as her expression didn’t betray judgement.
Exill thanked the Librarian and walked through the double French doors separating the lobby from the Library. A quiet hush fell on him as he crossed the doorway. Curiosity drove him to examine the doorframe, and spotted a rune inscribed metal plate affixed high above.
‘Huh… so it can be used like that?’ he mulled over the utility of the silencing enchantment.
Turning around, he was impressed by the vaulted ceilings and the long interior of the building, reaching far into the distance. Just ahead, a statue on a plinth depicted the first King of Fayth sombrely holding a sword pointed at his feet. The walls were lined with ornate bookshelves two storeys tall and there were interspersed alcoves with private seating and desks where patrons quietly examined their books.
Spotting a well-worn ledger on a lectern in front of the King’s statue, he walked over to examine it. His eyes widened in surprise to find it was a directory of jobs and the shelves they could be found on.
‘What is a xylographer… and what is a colporteur? I don’t recognise half these job names!’
Exill abruptly realised how extensive the World’s system of job categorization was. There were easily hundreds of jobs with many subspecialisations. A lifetime wouldn’t be enough to absorb all this information.
Something caught his eyes in the ledger. It was titled [Job Acquisition] and it indicated the books could be found in Annex I. He walked up and down the hallway, examining the shelves until an unobtrusive door caught his eye. ‘Annex I’ was carved into the dark wood and Exill tried the door to find it was locked. He returned to the reception area to ask about this locked room.
“Excuse me, how can I gain entry to Annex I?”
The Librarian raised an eyebrow at his question. It was rare for commoners to request access to the room since it was difficult for them to afford job transfers.
“Entry costs 1,000 denars and must be booked in advance. You will be permitted to inspect the ‘Spirit Guide’ for one hour.” The woman spent the next five minutes explaining the various restrictions while calmly inspecting the condition of books put under her care.
Satisfied with the information, Exill thanked the Librarian and walked away. The key takeaway was that the room held a single large tome that was incredibly valuable to the Kingdom. Access was strictly controlled and limited to one hour a session. It purportedly held entries on how to obtain every single job in the World.
‘Damn, I would like a copy! But no-one is allowed to take notes while in its presence.’
Finding no obvious way to work around the restriction, he returned to the central lectern and looked up Diviners. Just by their proximity in the ledger he could guess what jobs were associated with which. For example, the next entry after Diviner was Oracle. He decided to also check it out.
Exill spent the next hour reading an introductory guide to Divining, detailing the various tools and methods of the trade, while taking notes on the clay tablet. He was starting to grow tired when he heard a [Ping!] indicating a new job had been obtained.
Job Scribe Level 1 Description Arcane - Tier I Passive Buff Faster reading and writing (scales with level)
‘Huh, I remember seeing [Scribe] in the directory, it stood out because it had a lot of sub directories associated with it.’
Exill returned to the central lectern to investigate. The [Scribe] could progress to various writing related progressions such as [Teacher], [Notary], [Jurisconsult], [Librarian], and [Archivist]. He was familiar with the first three but investigated what unique skills the last two jobs provided.
Investigating various books for the next hour, he came to several hypotheses. [Librarian] granted some kind of spatial awareness of a book’s category and location, it functioned similarly to divination. [Archivist] was an obscure job, but anecdotes of notable archivists reciting books word-for-word suggested it had something to do with memorization. If the job provided a skill similar to photographic memory, it would be perfect to obtain this and read the Job Tome in Annex I.
‘But how do you obtain [Archivist]?’
It was a catch-22, where he needed access to the Job Tome to fully exploit the Job Tome. Feeling tired from his blood loss, as well as the mental exertion, he continued to study the books for several more hours, searching for hints on how [Archivist] could be obtained.