“What happens when you learn a skill and already have 10 skills?” I asked, seeing if John knew.

“You need to decide what skill you want to keep, and which you want to lose. Sometimes there is also the potential to merge skills together, though you want to really think about that before you do so. Sometimes both skills change in ways you don’t think they will.” John smirked. “Once you unlock a profession, skill management is even harder. You need to balance skills for your class, your profession, and general combat or utility skills. Though, I do have more skills for Engineering than for Piloting.”

“Is that why some folks only focus on their class?”

John nodded. “Yeah, like the hunters usually maintain 7 skills for class and only 3 for profession.”

This was something I’d need to think about, since I had already used 9 skill slots.

"Any other questions before I try to teach you something cool?” John’s question came out jokingly. “You have Crystal Attunement, since you can use them, so this might upgrade that.”

Now that grabbed my attention. I had just been thinking about how to upgrade that skill.

“Watch what I’m doing,” he said, lifting his hand closer to the crystal. “My focus is on making it softer, more malleable, but not a liquid. I want the particles to loosen.”

The crystal glowed and I could feel something from John, though I didn’t know what. He then slammed down on the crystal with the hammer, and it flattened that area.

“How come it isn’t like clay?”

“I can’t get it that flexible. Believe me, I’ve tried. Instead, it's like I’m heating up metal in a forge.” He grunted as he hit it again. “I’d love to make it like clay. Sang can do that sometimes.”

Sang was the Crystal Singer in the Mines. She was the only one who had figured out how to unlock the super rare class.

“Well, I’m not going to get that class at this point,” I muttered.

John shrugged. “You have a class that's working for you, that's all that matters.” He hammered on the crystal one more time. “What is your class anyway? Something with fighting…”

I froze at the question, and then glanced around. No one else was nearby. John caught my look and leaned closer. “What’s up?”

It was time, and I wanted someone else to know. Part of me wanted to brag, the other didn’t like keeping secrets. Both parts agreed that I needed to say something, and that was rare.

“This is for family ears only,” I whispered, staring at John. “My class is Devourer. It's a legendary class.”

John’s look grew confused at my comment. “Devourer, legendary? What does that even mean?”

“I kill things, and eat them…” I blushed at the comment, scratching at the back of my neck.

John broke out laughing. “Oh, that’s a good one. Goes right up there with how you are always hungry.” His laughter fell off as he watched my face. His eyes narrowed. “You're not joking…”

“Nope.”

“Weird.”

“You’re telling me?” I said with a chuckle.

He shrugged. “Yeah, I can see why you’d want to keep that to yourself. You kill and eat things? That’s just a little strange.” He kept quiet for a couple of moments, staring at me. “Are you still always hungry?”

“Yeah, after every fight I need to eat. And… well, the system keeps giving me hints that I should keep my class a secret. That’s why I want it to stay within the family.”

John nodded slowly. “Very weird. Well, no worries, I won’t tell anyone outside the family, and you know we can keep a secret.” He opened his mouth, then shut it again before shaking his head. He motioned back to the crystal. “Do you want to try?”

“Sure.” He handed over the hammer and I turned my focus to the crystal. I focused on it like I was trying to heat the tip up. It slowly began to glow, and John shook his head.

“Don’t superheat it like that, just make it flexible.”

I tried to switch the focus of my thought from making it glow brighter to making it softer. At first, nothing happened, then, slowly, I could feel it respond. Quickly, I hit it with the hammer and it flattened a bit.

[Skill Upgraded: Crystal Attunement: You resonate with power crystals. You have the ability to superheat the crystal point to cut through almost anything. In addition, you can marginally bend, shape, and adjust crystals.]

I hit the crystal again, and it moved, but the energy seemed to flee.

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“Woah, don’t shatter it!” John moved to grab the hammer. “Keeping the skill up takes practice.”

I nodded and focused back on the crystal. “My skill upgraded…” I felt that energy sink into the crystal again and quickly swung the hammer. It moved, but barely. John’s strikes had done more. I got in two more swings before it hardened again.

“How about you go grab a few more shards, and I can finish this one?” John reached for the hammer and I gave it up. “We only need two more, and I’ll call that good enough.” He looked toward the mountains and the sun touching them. "I want to get out of here as soon as possible, get that guy some help."

Soon, twilight would be upon us and we could leave. It would be good to get Denver the help he needed.

I handed over the hammer and went down the ladder. My stomach growled when I hit the ground. I headed inside the shuttle and toward the open cargo boxes. Once out of sight, I snagged a few pieces of Carnitor meat and quickly downed them. It only took two small pieces before my stomach calmed down, yet I ate a few more anyway. If we'd be leaving soon, I wanted to be full beforehand. I didn’t want to be eating raw meat in the full shuttle.

The crystals were laid out near the other cargo container on what looked to be a blanket. Hammering echoed through the ship as John got back to work. I crouched down and picked up one of the shards. It sliced into my finger, drawing blood. I whistled at the flash of pain.

The shard glowed at the sound, and I almost dropped it.

I whistled again, this time louder, and all of the shards glowed. A slight humming flashed through my head.

[Profession Available: Crystal Singer. You can find, shape and unlock various abilities within crystals.]

What the fuck? Crystal Singer was a class, not a profession. Right?

I didn’t close the notification as I grabbed the second crystal and headed back to talk to John. It took a few seconds to climb up the ladder and join him, just as he finished hammering the crystal in place.

“I just got offered Crystal Singer as a profession…” I couldn’t stop the words as they tumbled out of my mouth.

John froze for a moment, and I could almost feel the wheels turning in his head. His lips narrowed into a thin line before he shook his head. “Sang lied,” he growled. He slammed both his hands down on the wing and his shoulders shook. “We didn’t even have anyone try to unlock it as a profession, since she said it was a class…” He let out a harsh breath. “Fucking politics.” He held a hand out toward me for the crystals. “Did you take it?”

“I’m thinking about it. I know Dad thought it would be a great option.”

“It is. We need someone at the colony with it, but it's not like we could force her to leave the mines." He shook his head yet again before steadying. "I just can’t believe she lied.”

"She might have her own reasons. It's not like everyone loves Alexander." Hawk and Greg had made that clear enough. I shrugged, not caring. “I mean, it works in my favor. I don’t want to share what my class is. I can use this instead.”

“Yeah, but you can only have so many skills, and right now you only have one related to crystals. You’ll need more.”

“I can see what happens after I accept. Can I change my profession after the fact?”

“You can…” John let out another deep breath and started on the next crystal. “I want to finish before we leave, which should be soon. Can you start packing up the cargo boxes in the ship?”

I nodded and hurried down the ladder. I waited until I was on the ground before accepting the Profession.

[You have accepted the Profession: Crystal Singer. A resource specific class using crystals found across the universe. What will you create? +1 to Int and Wis Stat Points per Level]

[Skill Unlocked: Crystal Singing. You can find crystals by singing or whistling.]

[Skill Merge Available. Merge Crystal Singing and Crystal Attunement?]

I quickly agreed.

[Skill Upgrade: Crystal Singing and Attunement: By singing you can find and resonate with power crystals. You have the ability to superheat a crystal point to cut through almost anything. In addition, you can marginally bend, shape, and adjust crystals.]

The skill hadn’t changed by much, though now I could potentially find crystals. That was only marginally useful while out in the jungle, but it would be nice while in the mines.

Maybe I could fix the crystal tip on my knife.

I headed first over to where my clothes were drying. They were still slightly damp, but I tossed them into my inventory anyway. Next, I headed inside the shuttle and put away various tools into the cargo crates. Moving the full crates into place was easy, along with strapping them down. I made sure that each of the straps was nice and tight.

It suddenly hit me how far I’d come since we’d left the colony. I couldn’t have shifted one of these crates before, now I could move them fairly easily. For a second, I stared at my hands.

“Finally, I can get out of here,” said Doc.

I turned to face the man as he stepped onto the ramp. “You guys gonna be moving Denver?”

He nodded and glanced around. “Hawk’s talking to Jimmy to see if he’s gonna come, or watch the fort until he’s back.”

“Who all’s leaving?” I asked. For some reason, I hadn’t thought Doc was serious about heading to the mines.

“Me and Denver, for sure.”

“You’re only staying if I can find someone to take your place,” said Hawk as he approached as well. He carried the man who had been on a cot into the shuttle. “Doc, go grab that cot so I can strap him down in the back."

Doc rushed out of the shuttle and back toward the dropship. Hawk held Denver like he weighed nothing at all.

“I’m not coming back here, I’m telling you," said Doc as he carried the simple cot into the back of the shuttle. He set it near the left cargo crate.

Hawk chuckled. “The miners aren’t gonna want a drunk there, either.”

Doc mumbled something to himself and Hawk placed Denver back on the cot. They both worked together to strap the cot into place on the side wall. Hawk and Doc both strapped bags under the cot.

“This is going to be a tight fit,” I said.

Hawk chuckled louder. “Yeah, cause Jimmy’s coming as well. He didn’t want to stay behind on his own. We’ll have to hope the fence keeps the place safe while we're gone for the day.”

“I’m staying longer than a single day,” argued Doc. Hawk just rolled his eyes and moved away from Denver toward the front of the shuttle.

The pounding on the wing stopped, and a few moments later John appeared holding the ladder. “Good, is everyone ready to go?”

Hawk nodded. “As best as we can.”

“Don’t forget me!” Racing across the fenced-in area was Jimmy. He waved his hand, drawing everyone's attention as he rushed towards us.