I looked at the box for a bit before shrugging and opening the thing. I’m not sure what I was expecting. It wasn’t this though.
Hello Crispin! As a personal thank you for your understanding and compliance with our changes to managing your rebirth we have granted you a few additional gifts.
1. One free System upgrade
2. Tamer Job has been unlocked
3. Tame Skill acquired
4. One free Mercenary
We at Life, Death, and Beyond understand this is a small compensation toward you and others like you but we hope it aids your new life.
Yeah, I wasn’t expecting anything like that. Then again I suppose they did feel a bit bad for forcing these changes on people like me. Even if the number of folks was low in number. I heard a soft little gasp, and I turned toward Tactitia and saw her jumping up and down.
I can be upgraded! Upgrade me upgrade me!
She was pretty adorable. I smiled at her and asked her what she wanted for a System Upgrade. I figured I’d let her choose. “What would you like Tactitia? Whatever you want, ok?” Why not? I did want to change that old status screen but making what amounted to my best friends daughter, and a lifelong companion happy early happy was far more important to me.
Really!? You promise? Too late! I want the Second Version of my system! It upgrades so much and comes with a lot of the cheaper improvements on the screen according to Daddy’s message!
I grinned at her, though my mind was all but sprinting. Frank was actively speaking to Tactitia, that wasn’t what I thought the norm for the Gods was. I had a feeling me knowing that wasn’t a good thing as well. Best to stay quiet about her little slip for now. I had her bring up the System Upgrade box, thankful it wasn’t a bright pink again and selected Tactics System V2
Tactitia was cheering a bit after I confirmed my free upgrade and after two minutes of that, she said that several changes were made and I needed to see them. She was still smiling and doing her little cheer which had evolved into a twirling dance. Adorable little pink girl. I did what she asked and opened my status screen, happy with what I saw.
Name: Crispin
Job: Squire - 1 (Change - Expand)
Zodiac Sign: Leo
Title: None
Exp: 0/100
HP - 90
MP - 65
ST - 100
Str - 3
End - 2
Sp - 2
Mind - 3
Abilities
Passive -
JP Up +10
Active -
Stone Throw
Tame
Defensive -
None
It still seemed rough, but a lot of what made no sense was gone now. There was a Title addition as well which I thought was cool if I was honest with myself. The fact the Zodiac thing stayed behind made me feel it actually was something pretty important or would be anyway.
I even had a stamina bar! Right below the MP one and it was set at one hundred. I wasn’t sure if that was the max and a stat that increased depicted how fast it decreased or if it could be improved. When I asked Tactitia, she confirmed my original guess as correct.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Your Stamina is set at a maximum of one hundred. A combination of Endurance and Speed dictate how quickly it decreases. Strength affects how strong you are, Endurance how much damage you can effectively mitigate or endure, see what I did there! As well as how long you can do it. Speed is your reaction time, casting time, and movement speed. Mind covered your casting time with Speed and affects how fast your MP regenerates and how much oomph you can put into a spell based ability!
She went way into detail on that. I was thankful for it though. Each stat affected something and needed the others to combine them. “How can I increase them?” May as well get into this oddity.
Stats get increased at a random one increment based on your equipped Job when leveling. You can improve them naturally as well as through hard work.
Kind of a let down there but it still seemed fun. So my stat increase depended heavily on my Job when I leveled. I imagined something like Squire giving me a random boost in any of the stats since it was the base Job from the games.
I grinned at the implications behind it. I also remembered one of the most significant pains in the ass functions of the game. Balancing your EXP gain with your JP gain. It was pretty clear I’d get way more JP than I would EXP with my boost in that area but it never hurts to ask. “How about EXP, how is that gained with JP?” She paused, scrunching up her little face in the cutest way before jumping in excitement.
EXP is gained by living! It took a bit because Math is a meanie's head! You obtain it in a lot of different ways. Walking for over an hour can give you anywhere from one to three EXP while fighting another person can increase that a whole lot if they are stronger than you! Killing something grants you a massive boost based on what it was, its EXP, or level, about your own and some other factors that seem silly like if it’s a boy or a girl. JP is your skill and ability with your Job. All actions performed by skills gained from Job will add to your equipped job. So your Throw Stone will give you ten JP based on if it hits the target. With your modifier that increases to over one hundred JP! Goodness that is amazing! Your Job level also apparently changes how much JP you earn with the action. Throw Stone will add JP to the Chemist Job if you have it equipped instead of the Squire Job. I think it’s weird!
That was a lot to take in all at once, but I managed. I was even able to ignore the jumping blur of pink that was Tactitia for a bit while I thought about all of that. I had a broken ability to maximize and master several Jobs and their Skills with the JP boost I have. The fact this upgrade seems to have removed the limitations made it even more busted. I was happy that I had taken it over the EXP boosts back in Frank's office.
The EXP gain was pretty much the same as before it seemed as well. You got it by living. Fighting would gain me the most, and I had only one real way to test that out. It ruined my desire for a peaceful life, but if this World was as violent as Frank hinted at then, I could only have a quiet life by ensuring I was strong enough to secure it. I sighed in frustration at that, patting a suddenly concerned Tactitia’s head. “Alright, so how much JP does it take to level a Job, and how much EXP does it take for me to level each time?”
She scrunched her face at me and pouted like I had asked her to do something awful.
You are making me do Math! I hate icky Math! Your EXP gain increases by double with each level you gain. In the event you delevel due to the purchase from the System Shop then you get triple the EXP needed to regain that level. JP is more comfortable; each Job is set to hit level two at one hundred JP. From level two to level three you need two hundred JP and then it jumps to five hundred and then one thousand. After that, it takes an additional two thousand JP per level until it hits level ten where it maxes out.
Yeah, my JP boost was broken as shit. “How about Skill purchases? How does that work?” She grinned at me and then changed into a box from her little girl shape, showing me the Squire Job.
Job Skills: Squire
Focus - 300 JP
Rush - 80 JP
Stone - Learned
Salve - 150 JP
Tailwind - 200 JP
Chant - 20 JP
Steel - 200 JP
Shout - 500 JP
Ultima - 2000 JP
Counter Tackle - 180 JP
Beastmaster - 200 JP
JP Boost - Learned (Increased by ten with System)
There were a few options mission like the movement abilities, but I guess the System Upgrade got rid of things that didn’t fit in the Final Fantasy Tactics world or something. I had no actual clue, but I was thankful for it.
The JP costs were pretty cheap when you took into account my OP JP accumulation ability. The Squire Job also had fewer skills compared to several other Jobs if I remembered. I tilted my head to the side and contemplated how I wanted to live my life in this world. I knew most of what I wanted if I was honest, how I was going to get to the end goal. I think I should go ahead and let my perfectionist side out here. With my JP Boost Ability, it would allow me to go utterly bonkers with mastering everything with the Jobs.
I grinned a bit, cracking my neck in preparation for grinding by throwing stones at everything I could. “Shall we see where we are Tactitia?” I asked a moment later. She turned back into the overly pink little girl again and cheered out in joy. She wanted to see new things. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit excited as well of course.
I made my way toward the road with confident steps. That was the plan at least when I took three steps from my little hill overlooking all the farmlands with their grain-like crops I heard a loud shout coming from behind me. “Who the hell are you!? What do you think you’re doing on my land?!” I turned toward the voice and decided that caution was the better part of valor and started running like never before. Why do you ask? Because the fucking thing yelling at me was a massive wall of muscle with a bull's head and horns the size of my upper body. I let loose a mighty manly scream while Tactitia yelled Weeeeeeeee as I ran and she was dragged along with me.