When the next day came and everyone was awake, they set off, they didn’t have anything to gather as everything they did have was stored in their inventories so there was no delay in leaving. Tegan had informed them the night before that they would be walking non stop for a full day at least but closer to two as before they had found the group they had already slept in the tunnels once.
This was fine by everyone as the idea of getting somewhere that was not only safe but full of other people was more than worth it. As they walked Tegan and Mitchell took turns telling them more about Ruin and how it worked, Josh didn’t really speak much, which was fine, Shaun could understand not wanting to have to talk more than he had to.
What Shaun found out during the first few hours of walking was that Ruin had a few thousand people in it, all gathered from the surrounding cave system by the original founder, Alan. Everyone in Ruin had a job as well, there was the hunters, who would go out and look for monsters with the purpose of bringing back food and materials, there was the scouts whose purpose was to explore the tunnels and look for people who they would then bring back to Ruin to help build the population and also to increase the number of hunters available. Lastly there was the three jobs for those who didn’t want to fight at all, the healers who would be on call to look after anyone that had been hurt while out hunting or for those that had been brought in by the scouts, those that helped around Ruin in more mundane ways, like gathering water or cooking and finally, those that focused on their professions.
The last one was what made Shaun the most curious, none of them had professions, they didn’t even know how to get one, so the fact that Ruin had a group dedicated to focusing on it was incredible. Although Shaun stayed quiet, not wanting to draw any attention to himself, he did listen.
“Profession’s are important to Ruin, when the first person unlocked theirs they were helping to fix up one of the buildings and they got a notification that they were eligible to take on the builder profession. It unlocked three skills associated with being a builder, very similar to how we all got the skills when we chose our class. You all would know that you gain a level in your Race for every two levels in your class right?” Tegan asked everyone and in turn got confirmation from those listening. “Well the same thing applies for your Profession, every two levels you gain you get one in Race. To get the levels though it doesn’t involve fighting monsters, it involves using your skills to do something in what your Profession is made for. So for the builder, the more he used his skills to repair the houses and buildings in Ruin the more levels he gained as a builder.”
“That’s incredible!” Richard exclaimed, “I fight because I have to, but having a Profession sounds a lot better than having to risk your life every day. What other professions do people have?”
“We have a few,” Tegan continued “We have a blacksmith who is in pretty high demand fixing up weapons and armour, we have a Chef who looks after a lot of the cooks to feed everyone staying in Ruin, there are also Leatherworkers, Miners and even an Alchemist among us!”
“How did they all unlock their profession?” Jessica asked.
“You have to commit yourself to a task and do it over and over again. It seems the more you do it and the better you get at it the chances of unlocking and being offered the profession are higher.” Tegan answered. “Don’t worry though, you don’t have to accept one just because it is offered. We have people who unlocked a cooking class but didn’t accept it as they didn’t want to have to be stuck in a kitchen for the rest of their lives.” She finished with a chuckle. “Oh, I almost forgot, you also get attribute points for every level in your profession just like in your Class, but these vary depending on what you get, but it's still better to get a profession as soon as possible so you can start levelling it up.”
That gave Shaun a lot to think about, he didn’t know what kind of profession he wanted, none of what Tegan had said about what the others had really appealed to him and he didn’t want to be stuck with something that he wouldn’t enjoy doing. He started making a list in his head of things he wanted a profession to include.
* Something that let him use monster parts.
Why? Because he wasn’t going to stop hunting monsters and he was collecting quite a large store of materials that he wanted to be able to do something with, without having to rely on others.
* Something he could do on the move.
Again, he didn’t want to have to be stuck in one place to be able to utilise his profession. He wanted freedom to be able to move around and go anywhere his heart desired.
* Something he could do alone.
Relying on other people? Hard pass. He had learnt over and over again that people let you down, and if the last few days proved anything, friends could leave you at any moment. He could only rely on himself.
So it wasn’t a big list so far but they were definitely the most important to him at that moment in time. He continued to try and think of different professions that would fit in with each of his requirements but wasn’t coming up with anything. He thought of becoming a trader, like a merchant that he would be able to sell all of the loot he would gather but quickly ruled it out, having to barter with people, that would be a nightmare for Shaun and who was he going to sell to? It's not like anyone had any money here.
“What about Affinities? Does anyone at Ruin have anything on their status sheet for Affinity yet?” Michael asked. This was something Shaun was also curious to hear so he listened back into the conversation, waiting for a reply.
“Not that anyone has said. We have theories as to what it is but nothing for certain.” Mitchell informed the group.
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Shaun didn’t know whether to be happy that no one had gotten one, as if it was a common thing then his group was really behind the curve when it came to the system, or whether to be upset that he wouldn’t be able to learn more about it.
The day continued on like this, everyone would ask questions and Tegan and Mitchell would answer them as best as they could. The only other interesting thing that he found out was that if you wanted to stay in Ruin you had to contribute. They would supply a designated area for you to stay but in return you had to join one of the groups to fulfil a role, you would report into a team leader, who would report into their manager who would then continue to report up the line until you got to Alan.
That did not appeal to Shaun at all, there would be no freedom, you would be taking orders from whatever leader you were assigned to. If you didn’t get along or had a difference of opinion, too bad. The only ones with a little bit of choice were the crafters but even then they were given tasks they had to fulfil.
After a day of walking they stopped for a few hours so everyone could get some rest and sleep, the three from Ruin taking watch as well as Michael, Trevor and Eric. Soon enough they were all woken up and set back out to get to Ruin as quickly as possible and after a few more hours of walking they were met by two guards at the end of a tunnel. Tegan went up to them and with a few muttered words turned around to the group and announced “Welcome to Ruin everyone, we have arrived!”
When Shaun got to the end of the tunnel what greeted him was something out of his wildest imagination. Below him was a city, buildings as far as he could see. They weren’t in the best shape but it was clear that what was before him would have been magnificent in its prime. The city, Ruin, was in a huge cavern easily spanning what had to be a kilometre across, it was dome shaped and he couldn’t even make out the ceiling, it had the glowing stones throughout its walls. Right at the top in the centre of the dome was a huge crystal, casting light onto the whole city. It was beautiful.
Looking back down on Ruin it was clear that the centre of the city was in the best condition and the further that you moved out the worse it got with nothing but collapsed stone buildings on the outskirts. He could see what would have been roads, or pathways leading through the city and could even make out people moving among the buildings.
As the group moved down a path from where they had excited the tunnel he could make out more details of the buildings. They definitely weren’t designed the way that they had built houses or shops on Earth, these had been pulled straight out of some fantasy world. As they got closer to the centre, Shaun started to see more of the intact buildings, first they walked through what he assumed was the residential area, the houses were small, probably only a room or two inside, he could also see groups of people around fixing up some of the houses that were in slightly better condition than those he had just walked past on the outskirts.
They soon moved into what looked to be a more profession focused area, there were people working on different monster parts, he could see salamander skin being cut into pieces and others using it like rope, tying different skins together. He could smell something cooking not far away and it smelled better than anything he had eaten since being brought into the tutorial.
They walked past people carrying water in crudely made skin buckets, all going into one of the buildings where they seemed to be emptying all the water to just turn around and collect it all over again.
Shaun didn’t even notice when everyone stopped in front of a larger building, too distracted by everything happening around him. Everyone was being gathered together before they all walked inside. When they had all entered there were a few people in the building, each of them with a smile on their face looking happy to see them present.
“Everybody, meet Edward.” Tegan said, now standing and facing everyone. “Edward will look after you from here. Our job is done and we could use a wash, so could all of you for that matter.” She added with a laugh. “I hope to see you all around but we have to finish up with our report and then get some proper sleep.” And with that Tegan and the rest of her group left.
“Hello everyone, as Tegan said my name is Edward and my job is to get you all sorted and assigned jobs and places to stay.” Is this some kind of orientation? Shaun thought. “Before we get started there are some rules here in Ruin.” Yep definitely an orientation. “The rules are pretty simple, the first rule is everyone has to contribute to keep Ruin running. Second, no fighting, if we are going to make something here over the course of the tutorial we can't have it turn into some kind of Lord of the Flies situation.” He said with a chuckle. “Lastly, if you have any trouble in Ruin you go to your group leader who will be assigned to you. If you can’t follow any of these rules you will need to leave Ruin now.” Silence followed for a while with no one turning to leave. The rules were fine with Shaun for the moment but he didn’t foresee himself staying long term anyway.
“Perfect. Now on to the jobs we have available. We don’t usually have such large groups come to us so I think we may be able to do things a little differently, especially with a few of you being at such a high level.” With that he signalled out Shaun, “Shaun isn’t it? I hope you don’t mind me Identifying you, but being level 5 is quite the achievement. I am assuming you picked your new skill, yes? Or do you have both a Profession and Class?”
This caused some issues with everyone else present, he hadn’t mentioned getting a new skill and none of the others had reached level 10 in their class to find out. They had been ignoring him for days so what did they expect?
“I only have my class and yes, I picked up a new skill.” Shaun replied giving no other information as to what he was offered or what he picked.
“That’s wonderful! I’m assuming you will want to join a hunting team then?” Edward asked him.
“I work better alone.”
“Oh, well, that’s not how we do things here. Each hunting party is made up of a group of 3-6 people depending on where they decide to go. There are some areas around here with stronger monsters than you may be used to. I am sure we can find you a party to work with, even some of your fellow group here maybe?”
There was silence from the group but he could feel a few of them looking at him, Gabe was staring right towards where he was standing, trying to catch his eye. Eric, who had ended up standing right beside him, gave him a nudge with his arm but Shaun refused to turn and look at him. They had been ignoring him for days, treating him like a stranger, and now they what? Expected him to just reform their group to go out together, trusting that they would all have his back? No, that was over. He would prefer to be with a group that he didn’t know, at least then he knew the only person who had his back was himself.
“You can put me with another group.” Shaun finally said to Edward.
“Yes, of course. I am sure that we won't have any problems with finding someone to take you in.”
Once everyone had been sorted into what jobs they wanted they were led back outside of the building and shown to the residential area. Some houses fit two people and members of the group decided to bunk together, Shaun however stayed alone in a smaller house made up of only one room but that was fine with him. They were told where they could bathe, the building he had seen all the water being carried to, and were informed to meet back at the building they had met Edward in at first bell tomorrow morning. And with that Shaun was left alone.