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1.40 Interlude: School Days

Maevira Reed was the daughter of Ingall Reed, the local alchemist of Bluecove City. She was still rather young yet she was on the brink of her life changing forever. You see, she was in her final year of public schooling with just a few days left before she'd graduate. Now, this hardly meant she was old enough to be considered an adult, but it did mean that it was time for her to make decisive life decisions. Some individuals her age would be sent for higher education at an adventurer school or other higher school of knowledge, others would start seriously pursuing a life as an adventurer or learning how to take over their family farm from their parents.

However, she had been "lucky" enough to awaken a craftsman class as a tailor and would soon be sent off to apprentice in a nearby city. This meant leaving her father, and other family members behind, to live with complete strangers who would, hopefully, teach her how to hone her skills and level up her class. She likely would not see her father more than a few times a year as she wouldn't be allowed to travel until her apprenticeship was completed.

"I think you're overthinking things! I would kill to have a dad as cool as yours. He even promised to fund a storefront for you once you were ready to open your own shop. A few years of apprenticeship under someone more experienced is nothing compared to that!"

Her best friend said. This was a common sentiment that most people she had shared the news with had echoed. However, she just didn't feel ready to go off on her own and it sounded scary to live with complete strangers who might not treat her well. She really wished she could have gotten an alchemy skill, like her father, then she could have stayed with her family. Even being one of the many without a class would have been preferable to this.

"You know, my family hasn't had a single person who awakened in several generations. At least, that's what my father tells me. I doubt anyone was appraised, though, so who knows whether that's actually true or not."

another one of her friends chimed in. Maevira chose to continue biting her tongue, lest she say something to ruin their friendship. It was true that it tended to be quite expensive to get a priest to appraise you and the only other way to find out was to go into a dungeon and risk your life long enough to level up and unlock the system. That was far too dangerous for most people to consider, though, so many people likely went about their lives without knowing what the truth was.

Their school had taught them a lot of basics regarding dungeons and how to be proactive in defending their land and families. However, it wasn't the same to know how to set up tracks and look for goblins tracks as it was to be able to fight off [Monsters] with your own two hands. Maevira wasn't exactly capable of doing that either as her class didn't come with the appropriate skills and stats for combat. She could level up as much as she was capable, but that would never change.

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You see, stats were not something you could choose to assign based on your personal preferences. The system automatically assigned them based on what was appropriate for your class, the skills you unlocked, your fighting style, etc. She could only ever look forward to becoming more proficient and speedy when it came to designing and creating new outfits. Even the intelligence and speed stats for a craftsman weren't applied in the same way it would be for a combat class. She wouldn't suddenly be better at dodging [Traps] and capable of doing high level magic because that just wasn't what was considered best for her by the system.

Sighing, she waved her friends off as she said

"Alright, well, this is my house. I'll see you all tomorrow morning!"

Everyone said their goodbyes and then she walked into her home. She lived fairly comfortably in a larger manor than most, but many places were also in need of maintenance. Due to their city slowly turning into a ghost town after the last dungeon disappeared, her father hadn't been able to make as much income from his business. Her mother did her best to supplement their income with her hobby of sewing, but there were still several mouths in their home to feed. A bit of change here and there from repairing old, worn out outfits or embroidering pretty designs on dresses for special occasions was hardly enough to make a difference.

Still, Maevira couldn't complain about the conditions she had grown up in as she knew her parents were doing their best. She always had enough to eat and her mother always ensured she had proper-fitting clothes to wear. Some creaky, old floorboards and walls that were barely patched up with a board and nails were hardly something worth complaining about, in comparison.

Many of her classmates lived in far worse conditions, as she had long ago learned. Those who had come from farming families for generations tended to live in small homes with only two bedrooms and a main living area. One bedroom was for the parents and the youngest members of the family while the other housed the older children. The kitchen held a few cabinets, a hearth, and a seating area for everyone to eat at. Most nights, people would eat a hard, brown bread with a watered down soup made from whatever ingredients could be scrounged up. Huntings and foraging were common ways of finding food as most of the crops that were grown had to be sold off to more well-off just to afford the basic necessities of life.

Still, even if she knew her own family was doing better than most, she wanted to help her parents and younger siblings to have a better life. Her father was confident that business would improve now that there was a new dungeon in their town, which was the whole reason he had promised to help her open her own shop when the time came. However, she still had doubts on the matter. It was more likely she would have to live with her parents and work out of their home when she returned. She couldn't help but feel certain about that, but she still wanted to do her best to bring in enough money so that everyone could live comfortably. She'd just have to work hard to accomplish her goals.