Relevant to what brought him before the guild master, Lauri inquired "How does registration work?"
The guild master took out a stack of paperwork. "You either fill all this out or place your hand on that glass table, over at the sitting area, to share your status."
He walks over and sits on one of the two couches, placing his hand on the table. "Share status."
Guild master Harry got up, revealing himself to be much taller than Lauri had assumed, then limped over and sat on the couch opposite. "I thought everyone has phobias about sharing their status."
Lauri shrugged, "I'm lazy. Are you looking at them upside down?"
"Ha! No, the way the System works, everyone sees their own projection."
{
Name: Lauri Vantre
Appearance: Caucasian, blond hair, green eyes, 185cm tall, broad shoulders, slightly chubby.
"Are you sure you wish to share status window with Harry Morin and the registration system of Survivor Guild?"
"Yes" or "No"
}
Lauri was a little taken aback. "My eyes are blue, just look... Maybe I could stand to lose a little weight. Yes, yes, share status."
{
Class: Ritualist (Customised)
Professions:
- Level 1 Seals and Restraints Specialist
Effective Level: 1
Health Points: 80 out of 80
Shield Points: 0 out of 0
Power Points: 100 out of 100
Mann Points: 3 out of 3
Chior Points: Not Applicable
[Attribute]: [Current Value] out of [Max Potential per Level]
Strength: 12 out of 28
Toughness: 8 out of 50
Agility: 3 out of 18
Memory: 14 out of 14
Reasoning: 8 out of 16
Charisma: 31 out of 24
Luck: Not Applicable
Destiny: Not Applicable
[Skill Category]: [Known] / [Max per Level]
Ritualist: 3 out of 10
Healing: 0 out of 1
Any Class: 1 out of 1
}
"First I'll note that your toughness potential is impressive, then I'll ask a question and finally we'll dig into what's happening with your skills. How do you have more charisma than your potential?"
Lauri was a little confused about that as well, "I don't know. I'm not even charming, I don't think."
"Charisma stat is 'force of personality,' most are mislead by the label. Anyway, about your skills, having multiple categories at level 1 is unusual and your class isn't supposed to have access to healing skills. There's few enough that you can display all, please."
"The goddess customised the class a bit. Actually more like a lot. I'd originally asked to be a healer, you see, and..."
"Be more secretive or you'll give me a guilty conscience or, worse, put me in a difficult situation."
"Oh. Display all skills."
{
[Skill]: [Current Value] out of [Max]
Protection Bubble: 1 out of 10
Sleep: 1 out of 10
Drain Level: 1 out of 10
Renew Item: 1 out of 10
}
The guild master scratches his head. "Sleep and Bubble, I've heard of these. They were used back from before I was even a kid and, well, I'm in my nineties now. Nobody has started out as a Sealer in forever."
"Don't skill books drop? I would have thought you'd have these skills."
While just a little surprised Lauri knew that he'd used to have the Sealer profession, he simply continued his explanation. "Drops take into account the level of the monsters slain and the professions of those who fought it. There are no Sealers grinding low level monsters, so you're not going to see it in the System Market."
"Oh? I could sell them for anything I want, then."
"You're not going to find buyers either."
"Drat."
"I wonder what class Renew Item is from?"
Lauri perked up. "Oh, that's apparently from a Crafter class that doesn't exist in our universe. The goddess imported it from her favourite world."
"I've stepped into something I shouldn't know again but this time, I'm too curious and too close to dead to not hear about heaven."
"Not heaven, it's another world with similarities to ours. But monsters don't drop loot or disappear when they die. A class called Crafters make equipment out of body parts of monsters the same as we make houses out of wood."
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
"How strange. Nobody needs a class to chop down a tree or nail wood together."
"Right but, get this, they can take the scale off a dragon and turn it into a shield. Even enchanting it exactly how they want with no RNG."
"But that would ruin market prices. And what happens to the corpses if they don't disappear?"
"Maybe they're stacked into mountains of corpses or maybe they stay where they die and trees grow around them."
"Ridiculous. Do you mind displaying the skill description?"
"Actually the goddess warned me to keep this one secretive. Lest I become a slave worker. Though she hinted that you have lots of old items I could make use of."
"They've no durability left so they'll be of no use to you. I'm just sentimental so didn't have the heart to use them till vanishing point."
"Then can I buy them from you cheap?"
"No, they're sentimental."
"Hmmm. The skill can bring their durability back to max. So will you please let me use them?"
"That breaks the very laws of this world. You can't just say that. Listen to the goddess you fool."
"But what's the point of even having the skill if it can't serve its purpose. Just let me use your old stuff, won't you?"
"Fine." With some inputs to the table from the old man, a guild membership card materialises and he passes it to Lauri. "You're officially registered but healing is the domain of holy men, be real careful about that as well."
"Thanks for the warning. I'll claim to be a holy man."
"The church won't just let you. You're not even a Priest."
"The church knows I'm the first person the goddess spoke to in 70-something years and that I asked to be a priest but she 'chose' another profession for me. Isn't having the ability to heal proof enough that I'm holy?"
"I'll not partake in such games or arguments. It seems you can only learn 1 healing skill per level so pick carefully."
"The status System doesn't handle decimals well, it's actually half a healing skills per level and for 'any skill' it's the minimum the goddess could set it, at a tenth per level. The System rounds up and she only added 'any skill' to facilitate swapping Renew Seal for Renew Item."
For the first time the guild masters shock was apparent on his face. "But you can learn Renew Seal later, yes? It's a must have."
"No, when she customised my class she removed it entirely. Something about fairness and balance."
"But then how will you perform maintenance on the seals over the ancient evils?"
"Oh, um, the goddess said to leave that to someone else. Though I did tell her there was nobody else."
"Yet she didn't change her mind?"
"She got angry actually. Said that if that's true then everyone can fight and sharpen ourselves while we learn a harsh lesson. Then she pointed out that I won't get famous by renewing seals like any level 1 task-boy could. So wait until everyone's suffering, create a new heroes party and then seal them anew."
"New seals? That's high-tier magic against un-slayable foes like these. You can't do that."
"I can't do that yet. Say... If any new Sealer can renew the seals, just get anyone to do it, right?"
"We can't tell people what class to ask for."
"Well, I can't renew the seals. So like the goddess implied, it's either the problem of someone else or I'll need to create new seals." With a sigh the old man saw there was nothing to be said right now that would help. Lauri kept looking at Harry's eyes. "Is that a natural eye colour?"
"I have an emerald dragon sealed in each of my eyes. If you look real close you can see them wrapped around my pupil." Lauri leaned over the table to get a better look and thought that he could make them out. The guild master got a bit annoyed, "that wasn't an invitation. Get to level 10 first and then I'll take you to the second level of our Library Dungeon. That's where I store my collection of old items. It has similarities to a 'live-in' dungeon but it long ago became too dangerous. Reach level 10 so that you don't get instant-killed by a book mimic or something."
Lauri got up and said a "thankyou" as he left. It was still early in the day but could he really start levelling with his current skills and no equipment? He thought to turn around and walk right back in to ask but then the solution became obvious, he simply needed to join a party. As Lauri headed back downstairs to where everyone congregated, the guild master was left with lots to thing about. Least of all was how Lauri's charisma stat exceeded the maximum, yet that's the first for which an idea invaded his mind. Seeing himself alone he chuckled, "That brat must have used Drain Level on himself to downplay his status display."