Jump-touch blinked, and then there was a list in front of her. She couldn't see it, couldn't read it, but she knew it was there.
The list said:
Scavenger [Uncommon]
Warrior [Common]
Apprentice [Common]
Survivor [Legendary]
Beast Tamer [Uncommon]
Polyglot [Ultra Rare *]
She focused on Scavenger.
Scavenger [Uncommon]
You will be better at scavenging. You will always be able to find firewood, if there is any to be found, and food if it's available. Things you need to survive will stretch just a little bit further. You will know which parts of an animal are useful or valuable, and you will instinctively know if a locked chest is trapped.
"What's a locked chest?"
"It's another word for a box, don't worry about it right now."
Jump-touch shrugged. It seemed like a useful job, but the other options seemed more interesting right now.
She skipped over Warrior. She wasn't a Guardian, there was no point in her trying to take that sort of job.
"If you did take it-" The Stone butted in- "You would form muscles more easily. You're still young, so you would grow taller and stronger over time. You would find it easier to swing a weapon, and you would never be defenceless again."
Jump-touch stared at her for a moment, glanced back at Warrior [Common], and then moved on to Apprentice without another word. Nope!
Apprentice [Common]
The apprentice works each day at their desired profession. Carpenter, Tanner, Builder, Scribe, and so on. This job will allow you to learn faster and easier, it will steady your hands, and it will prepare you for your final profession.
"That one's offered to everyone around your age." The Stone said hopefully. "You can take it, if there's something you really want to learn how to do, but you should be aware that you can't change your mind later. Most people who take this job already have a person lined up ready to teach them."
Jump-touch shook her head and moved on.
Survivor [Legendary]
You have spent your life living in the wilderness, alone with only animals for-
She stopped reading and glared at the Stone. "I have never been alone, and very little of my life has been 'living in the wilderness'. We had houses! A village! I have lived with people my entire life. Animals?"
The Stone made an apologetic face, crossing her paws awkwardly. "You've spent your life living with non-humans, and the system I use has never had to contend with those. It's confused. But, it's a good class! Legendary, even! You should read the description all the way through."
She paused for a moment, "Ah. You should also skip Beast Tamer, here let me remove that from the list."
Something disappeared from her perception.
"Do I want to know why?"
The Stone shook its head. "You do not."
Jump-touch sighed. "Okay. No. Let's move on."
She switched her focus to the next one, Polyglot.
Polyglot [Ultra Rare *]
You have learnt to speak over five languages fluently, without the help of magic. This class will give you the ability to speak all tongues as if they were your first.
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She counted them off on her fingers, Given Tongue, Lower Tongue, Mud-people, SHRIEK, Other? She certainly wasn't fluent in all of them, but maybe quantity counted?
The Stone nodded, "the standards for fluency are rather lax, but I think this one would suit you. Although I will tell you now, I have already given you a skill to understand and speak the language of the other humans who use my pillar, so you don't need it for that."
She felt something sink in her chest. "Wait, so you've changed something in my head and now I speak human?"
"Yes? Did you not notice?"
She hadn't, she had been so focused on getting through this that she hadn't stopped to consider the language they were speaking. She was still thinking in Given Tongue, but what was coming out of her mouth- Wasn't.
It was a sudden moment of nauseating dissonance, and Jump-touch found herself resting her forehead on her crossed knees.
"But I don't want that!" she spoke into her legs, "I want to learn it on my own! I just needed… Classes or something. A helper. Am I speaking it as badly as An-jel spoke Given Tongue? I have no way to tell!"
The Stone shook its head, flummoxed as she uncurled herself. "I had no other way to communicate with you, and what's done is done. But also no. She-" there was a hard emphasis on the word, -"used what humans refer to as a Fragment, and so she got a fragment of a skill. What I've given you is perfect, what she got is a broken thing, that will only cause her damage in the long-term."
It sounded angry, she thought, almost as angry as Jump-touch was at having had a whole language magicked into her brain.
"And if I take this skill, it'll magic all languages onto me?" She tried to keep the anger out of her voice, and tried not to throw up at the sensation of speaking a language she wasn't thinking in.
The Stone pursed her lips. "I see you don't like it. Give me a minute. This is highly unusual."
Jump-touch felt something shift within her.
New Class Option Acquired: Cultural Scholar [Unique Variant]
Cultural Scholar [Unique Variant]
This class will allow you to comprehend languages more easily. It will also help you understand different people and cultures.
The skill included with this class will allow you to create a safe space, where either you yourself, or those you wish to protect, can be safely hidden.
"Okay." She said after a moment of thought, "but what's up with the last bit?"
The Stone winced. "I'm modifying a highly dense magic class, which you don't want any of the magical aspects of. Faster learning costs almost nothing, all classes get it to a certain extent, so I have to put that missing power into something else. Please take Apprentice.
"As for the second bit, this Skill will give you a space within your soul- around the size of a small room- where you can retreat to, where nobody can follow, without your express permission. You can use it to store objects as you travel, or to house people who are in need of refuge. It'll also allow you to travel unburdened, which is always a huge boon. Humans are even more attached to their things than kobolds."
Jump-touch considered it. "A human, or a kobold-sized room?"
The Stone nodded. "The second, for now."
"That sounds awfully cramped."
"It'll grow as you grow," the Stone nodded a second time, getting to her feet and starting to pace around the clearing, claws tearing out great chunks of grass. "One day it may be the size of a city, and you can store whole peoples there, but you're only young now, so the skill is young too."
That made sense. But how did it help the city she was to live in for the next year? Scavenger would allow her to find more supplies, to bring in firewood and meat, but the place was so big, was that still something they needed?
Warrior would allow her to protect the city and the people, but by the time she was even somewhat trained, she would already be preparing to leave. It wouldn't help her at all up on the Mountain either, not more than Scavenger, anyway.
Apprentice was out. She had no teacher, and she didn't want to choose to carve wood or build houses for the rest of her life. Sometimes, sure, but not as the only thing she would ever do again.
Survivor was a joke. She wasn't even going to read it, despite the hopeful look the Stone was giving her as she considered it. Beast Tamer was already gone, and she didn't need to think anymore about that.
That only left [Cultural Scholar]. She could… Talk to humans from different places maybe? Learn about them and help them find safe places to live? That sounded good and helpful. She had seen people travelling in and out all day, arguments must happen. People had to have somewhere to sleep, food had to be organised, and the new person in town had to be told that the kobold a tenth their size and non-vocal was, in fact, a person and not to be eaten. Somebody had to organise all the people organising all of that.
She had trained as a trader, this was as close to an ideal job as she would get.
"Alright," the trees seemed to be looming in now, the smell of the blossoms almost overwhelming, "I'll take it."