Note: Trying out a new release time right now. Let me know in the comments if this is better.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Requirements for Advancement
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“Um…” Hajime raised his hand, drawing the prince out of his happy musings of stomping on those old sorcerers who thought so little of him. “Are there no promotions for novices?”
From the list Bridget had shown them earlier, it was clear that she’d only managed to secure 2nd and 3rd tier jobs related to squires. The reason for this was simple. No one in Bram’s household was dedicated to solving the arcane mysteries. The lack of advanced sorcerers who specialized in sorcery different from Ser Anthony’s combat magic was mostly due to Bram’s ‘Ill-Fated’ moniker. No self-respecting coven would want to pledge their services to an ill-fated prince destined to be weeded out by the other royals…at least not until now.
Bram glanced furtively at Ravi whose mouth hung open while he surveyed the floating blue window they’d shared with him.
“We’ll have 2nd tier jobs available for arcane novices by the end of this quest,” the prince said confidently.
Once the Coven of Stargazers pledged themselves to his cause, the Loom would gain the sorcerer, mystic, and chemist 2nd tier jobs. Perhaps even Ravi’s 3rd tier summoner profession.
“We might also earn a shaman or divinator job. That would be lovely,” he added, sounding quite hopeful.
Of course, Bram could ask Rowan to share her ancient knowledge with the Loom, but he was loathed to do this. He wanted the trickster’s power—the unrivaled might of a Blood Champion and the lesser jobs that must lead to it—to be for him and her alone.
Bridget, who had been transcribing Bram’s words into her journal, asked, “I didn’t get to ask this during my interviews, but can we also expect jobs that aren’t in a linear progression?”
“What my household showed you are merely the first leaves of a burgeoning tree. There will be professions that require experience in multiple jobs and jobs that will need you to hold positions in Lotharin’s many organizations for advancement to become possible,” Bram explained, recalling for himself that someone like the Grand Sorcerer of the Sovereign’s court was a master of many jobs before he’d earned his lofty position.
“Positions…like what?” Bridget pressed.
Bram’s face turned contemplative for a short moment.
“For a squire to become a knight”—Bram referred to the status window that showed 2nd tier job progressions—“you would need to be knighted by a noble or another knight who’s well-regarded by their peers.”
Chris and Hajime exchanged looks.
“Are there many knights or nobles who can knight squires?” Hajime asked.
Bram quickly realized what the otherworlders must have already noticed.
“Knights are limited in knighting squires, and only to those they’ve personally trained.” Bram began explaining. “On the other hand, a former high-ranking commander of the Imperium’s military such as Ser Anthony could knight squires not under his charge, but only up to thirty. This is true for most nobles at the rank of Eorl and below.”
“How about a prince?” Chris asked next.
“There are no such limitations for royalty,” Bram replied, adding, “In her first twenty years on the Burnt Throne, the Sovereign appointed a total of two-hundred-and-eighty-eight knights. First Prince Talos has a hundred knights in his household…my other older siblings have similar numbers.”
Thoughts of the other royals caused Bram’s brow to crease because he knew that none of them were idle now that the Imperium’s game of succession was afoot. Even his younger siblings who’ve yet to be given the responsibility of governing a kingdom were studying hard to eventually usurp their elders’ positions. Like Bram, they were all sharpening their fangs. This was most true of Talos the Magnificent, Governor of the Mountain Kingdom of Shamvala, Dux of Uthar, Master of the Sorcerers of the Mystic Eye, Breaker of the Mountain, Lord of Wyverns, He Who Uplifts…
Will I ever reach the same renown as the first prince…?
“So, I only met a few of them in my interviews, but how many knights do you have in total?” Bridget piped up, drawing the prince out of his musings.
Bram’s voice suddenly got tinier when he admitted, “Five… I have five knights in my household.”
The others looked away in embarrassment. Only one gaze remained fixed on Bram.
“Am I not also a knight?” Rowan cast her usual impish smile. “Then my prince has six knights in total.”
Rowan did claim to be an errant knight when she’d brought Bram back down from Sundermount. This was a lie, of course, but it was a lie the prince promised to turn into truth once this quest was finished.
He and Rowan exchanged gazes—both staring favorably at the other—when Hajime thought to join in on the encouragement by saying, “Bram-sama will have plenty more squires to knight soon.”
Taking the baton from Hajime, Chris added, “More than a hundred… Nah, let’s go for an even thousand!”
“Yes,” Hajime agreed enthusiastically, “we can make a knight order for otherworlders who—”
“Boys,” Bridget called, drawing the two otherworlders’ gazes to her, “shut it.”
Bridget’s high ‘Beast Handling’ skill may have helped to quiet them down quickly, though she was too late to salvage the warm atmosphere that had grown between the two Aarders because Bram and Rowan had already looked away from each other. Still, the blonde archer must have noticed that Bram’s cheeks were as red as freshly plucked apples before he turned away.
A short while later, the topic returned to rare jobs and the possibility of acquiring one by earning experience through multiple professions. To date, only Blood Champion fit this category, and Bram was adamant about keeping this opportunity to himself…at least for now.
“Even if we earn the qualifications for a promotion, it’s not like we’ll be able to do it with a click of a button, right?” Chris asked.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“There’s no such convenience,” Bram agreed.
He and Bridget had already discussed this beforehand to the point that Bram had already sent out a call for experts through Bastille’s mercenary guild as well as with Ser Anthony’s acquaintances throughout the Imperium. With the promise of a hefty salary and other benefits, they hoped to bring in experts to serve as teachers who could assist otherworlders in reaching greater heights. So far, there haven’t been many responses on either avenue. The mercenary guild was experiencing a drought of experts thanks to the new hiring policies of Lotharin’s northern nobles, while Ser Anthony’s contacts in central Atlan continued to be prejudiced against the seventh prince and his ill-fated reputation.
Despite this setback, Bram insisted on getting the infrastructure ready for when the experts finally showed up.
“We should set up an advancement office in Reise that will screen promotion applications and help connect the players with their teachers,” Hajime proposed.
“That sounds like a tiring process,” Bridget commented.
“Like a day wasted at the DMV,” Chris weighed in.
Though he didn’t know what the DMV was, Bram couldn’t help but weigh in. “Which is why we’ll need you to create a scenario that will make job promotions feel less like studying for an exam and more—”
“Entertaining?” Rowan supplied.
Bram nodded. “Exactly.”
“I’ll handle the scenario.” Bridget’s face lit up with delight. “I’ll pencil it into my to-do list right between our newly planned Red Forest scenario and the first scenario.”
“Yeah, what are y’all calling that again?” Chris asked.
“The Justification for Stopping the Uprising before it Begins…scenario,” Bridget replied hesitantly.
Chris raised an eyebrow at her. “That’s what y’all are calling our first main scenario?”
“I’m still workshopping it!” Bridget protested. “Writing’s not easy, you know.”
“Hey, y’all know I’m on Creative’s side.” Chris raised his hands in surrender for he knew better than to argue with a writer who was passionate about the details. “Writing ain’t easy. I agree.”
“This is all so fascinating…” Ravi, who was waving his hand at the ghostly blue window in front of him, looked like a boy who’d glimpsed a toy behind a storefront’s glass window that he wanted very much. “To think that one’s advancement in sorcery could be achieved with such efficiency… This Loom can’t be exclusive to otherworlders, can it?”
Bram and Rowan glanced at each other. They’d been waiting for him to ask.
“We could share it with our people,” Bram began—to which Rowan added, “But only to those who prove their loyalty to Prince Bram and the great undertaking.”
The Trickster trotted over to where Ravi was standing so she could whisper into his ears. “Imagine the growth your coven could experience should your members also have access to the Loom.”
“That there’s the only incentive y’all need, Ravi,” Chris weighed in. “Y’all should get on board now while we’re still on the ground floor of this thing.”
The Shamvalan gulped as if he was suddenly parched, and Bram guessed that he was this close to drinking what Chris called the ‘Kool-Aid’, but then Ravi let out a heavy sigh as if he were expelling the temptation from his mind.
“I’ll give you an answer once we’ve discovered what’s happened to my master,” he restated.
“Such stubbornness,” Rowan sighed exaggeratedly.
She went back to sit on the log next to Bram who’d begun discussing with Chris what boons he and Bridget received for reaching level three.
“I’m guessing this Fighting Style’s like Sorcery Tradition but for martial jobs,” Chris assumed.
He was right, as Bram would explain. “The style you focus on will determine what weapons you can master and what abilities you might learn through experience while also giving you benefits to match your choice.”
“So, if I chose archery,” Bridget tapped the bow resting on the log next to her, “I’ll still be able to learn how to fight with swords?”
Bram nodded.
“But we can only be masters in one Fighting Style,” Chris restated.
“For now,” Bram answered, adding, “Over time, you should be able to grow however you want with the Loom’s help.”
The progression of the Loom’s users wouldn’t be limited to a straight line. As an example, Hajime, an arcane novice, could switch to a squire at any point in his career so he could learn martial abilities if he wanted to. The opposite was true for Bridget and Chris as well, assuming they reach the mana threshold required to become an arcane novice.
“So long as you meet the requirements for job changes, you can switch as many times as you want. Though each new job will begin at the first level,” Bram reminded them.
Here was proof that the prince had been thoroughly studying the instruction manuals the Loom gave him every night. Thought sounding like he was an expert who’d experienced growth with the system’s aid was simply Bram’s inborn charisma at play. Like the others, the prince was also a, as Hajime called it, “noob,” when it came to the system that could alter one’s fate.
“But not every spell or ability we learn can be usable with every job?” Chris guessed.
Bram nodded again. “As you’ve learned today, there are a variety of factors in successfully casting a martial spell. From your choice of gear to changes in your environment, you’ll have to consider many things in your development.”
“Well, this was a nice lesson on jobs, Prince…” Bridget pulled out a pocket watch from her coat’s pocket. “…But it might be good for us to log out now and come back refreshed in a few hours.”
‘Logout’ was the gamer term the otherworlders used for the moment when their souls returned to Earth. This was a necessary inconvenience because Rowan taught them that a soul could not stray too long from its body lest that soul forget its sense of self and vanish into nothingness. Alternatively, a body that’s lost its soul would slowly waste away in a vegetative state that would eventually lead to its demise. So, it was agreed between both sides that a maximum of sixteen hours a day was the allowable playtime for the otherworlders to ensure no harm would come to either body or soul.
“Certainly.” Reluctant as he was to delay the quest, Bram had no choice but to agree. “We’ll meet back here in eight hours.”
“You mustn’t forget to save,” Rowan reminded them.
“Right.” Chris, who’d been lounging on the ground with a stick of sage between his teeth, got back up, dusted off his pants, and then walked over to the cairn. “Wouldn’t want to come back somewhere y’all ain’t in.”
He pressed his palm to the top of the pile.
Attuned to his wishes, the Loom raised a notification in the air. [Would you like to save your progress?]
YES NO
“Yep,” Chris answered.
ALERT! Progress saved. You will arrive at this designated waypoint when you return to Aarde.
Chris inclined his head to the floating message. “Much obliged.”
A week ago, the otherworlders had no choice but to appear at Rowan’s side whenever they returned to Aarde since it was Rowan who had first summoned them. However, through a lucky accident—one where Hajime had inadvertently returned to the first waypoint during a day when the rest of the party had already moved on—the otherworlders discovered they could use waypoints to save their progress.
With this discovery came a new possibility, and the prince was already planning on having the Coven of Stargazers spread these ‘save points’ across Lotharin for the otherworlders’ convenience as well as his own. Indeed, with a waypoint located at key locations, moving an army behind enemy lines to ambush their rear could become a possibility. More importantly, if they could only save their progress within Lotharin’s borders, the otherworlders would have no choice but to stay and help the kingdom rather than venture into other lands. Eventually, Bram planned to expand his influence on the other kingdoms as well, but such an endeavor—what Hajime called ‘Expansion Content’—would only occur after Lotharin’s many troubles were dealt with.
“The Loom guide your fate.” Bridget uttered the phrase she’d invented for the game—to which Bram answered with the prepared response, “It guides us all.”
The prince pulled out the lute strapped to his back and then strummed a tune. One that harkened to the grand adventure he and his companions were on.
“Far away, the mount of Sunder cries,” he began in a deep, resonating voice, “Beyond the sight of men, as far as the crow flies…”
The otherworlders gathered around the cairn while serenaded by their prince’s song.
“To come and see with thy own eyes,” he strummed his lute with practiced hands, “a quest to claim the shiny prize or a lie that leads to one’s demise.”
Then, as Bram strummed his lute, Hajime, Bridget, and Chris were engulfed in brilliant light that dissipated like stardust carried in the wind, taking the otherworlders souls along with it.