Year 1567, spring.

[Congratulations ! A good quality [Caraval] of rare rank has been built following the blueprints you drafted with [Shipbuilder] Thirio. You have been awarded 5000 exp.]

It had taken another six months for the first [Caravel] to be built as they had encountered issues during the construction, the most notable of which being a mast breaking down and setting back progress by weeks as they drafted and then crafted another more stable one. They had also expanded the shipyards and were currently building another five [Caravels] on slightly different blueprints. As Thirio always repeated, “A ship was a work of art with a soul, there could be no two ships the same.”

At the same time, the town of Portsmouth continued to grow and now had a stable economy. They had stopped making everyone take an oath of secrecy and though the class of Luca was still a secret, his skills were getting well known. The other heroes of his party had all reached the level 50 mark and their town was pretty much an independent power by now. The kingdoms were trying to hurry them to leave and they had set the date of departure for next year’s spring. At the moment they were stockpiling resources and Luca was making a list of people they would bring with them… As for the other party of heroes, they had already left.

He had made tremendous progress in his drafting of ship blueprints and hoped to make an epic-rated one anytime soon with Thirio. Caravel could transport around seventy people comfortably along with about 200 tons of goods. He hoped they would have fifteen caravels ready for next year along with a major ship that could house hundreds of people. So that they could bring about three thousand people on their first trip.

It was a pleasant afternoon and Luca and Thirio were discussing designs for their future capital ship in the shipyard’s office when Yorru came in. He and Luca had grown somewhat close and by now he was pretty much Luca’s official right-hand man, dealing with everyday problems and bringing up important issues to Luca. After two years with every morning spent in the mental library, Yorru was a very knowledgeable teen, and following his Luca around had allowed him to see all types of things. He didn’t know exactly when his birthday was but it should be somewhere around next year’s spring. Everyone expected him to gain rare class choices for his coming of age and there was wild speculation as to what his class would offer.

“Hi guys, I hope I don’t interrupt anything important?”

Thirio was going to say something as he hated outside interference when he was working; but then, Yorru’s status was about as high as his and he knew he couldn’t have Luca all for himself all the time. So he just grumbled something as Luca went and talked to Yorru.

“No, it’s okay. Is anything the matter?”

“Nothing bad, it’s just that today is Luke’s fifteenth birthday, and got offered class choices. He has a few rare choices but he’d like to have your take on them.”

Luke was one of the orphans that had come to Portsmouth. He had gotten quite close to Yorru and was one of the best mathematics students in Luca’s class which lead to him being noticed by Luca as well.

“Ok, I’ll see if I can help. Where is he?”

“He’s just waiting outside, I’ll tell him to come in.”

Yorru fetched Luke and brought him inside. After they exchanged greetings. Luca cut to the chase, managing a growing town, though it was only a test before the real treat, had taught him to be even more efficient than he used to be.

“So what are your choices?”

Luke was an odd guy by all accounts. His life as an orphan had toughened him up and there was something hard in his traits. To him, as to so many others, life had been tough and it had left some scars. But at the same time, he often had a dreamy look, as if not much could reach him. When faced with a particularly difficult problem or demonstration, he would clap his fingers as his eyes got lost in a world few could tread. There, he could stay for hours, trying solutions and demonstrations up until he found an answer. Sometimes, but that was rare, he would give up and ask Luca the solution. He would then have a slightly regretful tone, as if giving up on his chance to find the answer by himself hurt him.

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“Uhm, I’ve got three rare choices.”

“Yes? What are they?” Luca prompted him

“The first one is [Advanced Teacher], the second one is [Abstract Mathematician] and the last one is [Problem Solver]. Do you want me to project their description?”

“Yeah, if it’s all right with you.”

Luke did, and all three of them looked at the classes’ description. The first two were pretty explicit: the [Advanced Teacher] would help him understand new things and better explain things, probably giving bonuses to students down the line. The [Asbtract Mathematician] would give him tools to help him do maths and strengthen his intuition. But the last one was less expected and more enigmatic, it would help Luke find solutions to problems and shed light on mysteries. What the problems would be was kept unknown and the description was very vague.

“Ok, so here’s my take on this. I think [Advanced Teacher] would be a good class if you want to be a teacher or just generally give your life to forming others. [Abstract Mathematician] would allow you to do mathematical research and would find use in more complex projects. For one thing, we could use here the help of a full-time mathematician. Drafting ships or buildings requires a lot of maths, and there are hundreds of other subjects where I could use your competence.”

“And what about [Problem solver]?”

“I feel it’s more geared toward fieldwork. Maybe to help with concrete engineering or maybe it could be used by an adventuring team? There’s more unknown to it but it could potentially be a game changer in specific situations.”

“Ok…”

Luke was considering each option, not really knowing what to decide. Choosing a class was arguably the most important decision someone made in his life. You could change class, but if wasn’t to evolve your class into a rarer similar class you had to reset your level, effectively making you the same as fifteen year old.

“I think you should take a few days to think about what you want to do. Maybe a common or uncommon class would be a better fit. Just know that if you decide to bet on one of those rare classes, I’ll offer you a job and a place on my team. They all seem like a great fit for what I want to build.”

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Luke took a few days to think and ended up choosing the [Abstract Mathematician] class. Luca appointed him as an advisor and made him work on the shipbuilding projects, improving its efficiency. He also spent some time with him working on more abstract mathematics. With his high stats and the bonus of his class, Luca could do very efficient research on mathematics and even though most of it had no direct applications at the moment, it would eventually find its use as they would have more and more ambitious projects.

He also went on a few trips with the Caravel, taking notes on how it sailed, how it dealt with waves and wind, how fast it could go, and how maneuverable it was. This in turn led him to have better insights for his next drafts and by the end of spring, he and Thirio finished the blueprint of their capital ship.

[Congratulations! You have successfully drafted a blueprint of a [Ocean Galleon (epic)] in collaboration with [Shipbuilder] Thirio. You have been rewarded 10 000 exp. Additional exp. will be given if the [Ocean Galleon] is built with good or higher quality]

They had drafted a four-mast, eighty meters long, and twenty meters wide ship. It would have four levels in the middle, with another two levels in the rear and one in the front for a total capacity of about three thousand people. They had ended up expanding the size much more than they initially planned to accommodate for the different sails. The would-be six different sails, two triangular ones: one for the front of the ship and another for the rear. The middles ones, which were larger, and had more triangular shapes would allow for great speed if the wind came from the sides or the rear but would not be very efficient if the vessel was to go against the wind.

The hold was almond-shaped and would be made with wood that the woodworkers would smooth out, allowing for better wave penetrations and gliding capacity. With an estimated weight of 500 tons without any goods or people on board, they would have to rework the shipyard just to allow for its construction. But it would be worth the work as it should be able to carry more than 10 000 tons weight before becoming too heavy for smooth sailing.

Then there were all the little details, which, as Thirio said, made the soul of a ship. A helm located at the rear and supported by waterwheels to allow for better tractions, winches on the side to help with the furling or the rising of sails, circulars stairs to move to and from the desk, a plumbing system to draw in seawater that would be purified thanks to a runic mechanism… In short, it was a masterpiece in all its details. And so its realization would be both a dream and a nightmare.

Luckily, they had lots of workers who had recently gotten a lot of experience on ship projects, and every other day new rare classes were unlocked by the students who had followed Luca for the longest time. The future was looking bright.