“I found a piece for every slot,” Maria said proudly. “I even had time to spare to help Anna.” I could tell the two of them had been up to no good, but decided against poking that hornet’s nest.

“We probably have a few minutes remaining,” I said. “Does anyone want to keep looking or should we finish up?” There were a few unsure faces but in the end no one decided to take another trawl through the gear.

Alan rushed to the door and knocked hard, “We’re done in here!” he yelled. The sound of a lock unlatching echoed through the room and the door swung open slowly. Only when I looked at the edge as I passed it could I tell just how sturdy the door was. The door was made of solid metal at least three inches thick, which went to show just how much the city valued this storeroom. I hadn’t noticed it coming in, because I couldn’t look at anything but the potential gear we could obtain.

“I hope none of you have any regrets,” a guard said. “There will be no coming back once you leave.” He pulled a time-keeping device from his pocket, “You have six minutes remaining before you are due to meet your crafting mentors, do you still wish to leave?”

I suddenly had the impression that this was a person who took great care in maintaining the room. It almost felt as if he was offended that we weren’t looking through the gear up until the final moment.

“I appreciate your concern,” Jessica spoke up before anyone else could. “We’ve found all we can use. It will help us tremendously.”

“Very well. I’ll take you to the showing room now then.” The guard turned and lead us out of the armory.

“What’s the showing room?” Lucas asked.

“It’s a place for entertainment. It doesn’t see much use these days, and the prince has decided it will be perfect for speaking with you.” That reply left me all curious, but the guard didn’t expand on it any further. We followed in silence for a few minutes before arriving at a place that was much grander than I had expected for a ‘showing room’. There was a massive wooden stage at one end, no less in size than one a modern play would be held on. The seats extended out and up, with balconies sitting in four spots around the room, providing perfect vantage points.

In fact there was nothing plain in the room, the cushions of each seat were vibrant with colors, and the way the light glistened atop their surface told me they were silky smooth and no doubt comfortable. The entire area screamed of wealth, and yet the butler only referred to it as a ‘showing room’

“Are you sure you have brought us to the right place? Isn’t this a theatre or grand hall?” Glenn muttered, obviously thinking along the same lines as me.

“The grand hall burned down twenty years ago,” the guard said, “This was the replacement they put up on short notice.” Maria looked like she wanted to bop him upside the head for not realizing how extravagant a room this was. “Come wait upon the stage, I have placed chairs for you behind a table. The professionals you will meet will walk along the other side.” He ushered us up the stage and onto some expensive-looking chairs, then rushed swiftly into the wings.

“What crafts do you think we can learn?” Mark asked. “I don’t suppose there will be many options.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Lucas said. “The leatherworker I spoke with definitely alluded to having many friends interested in gaining our business.”

“I can’t wait to find out,” said Maria, “I’m going to get some overpowered profession.”

I leaned forward to look at her. “Patience. It might be a while until they are organized to come in to us. And it might all be a waste of time.”

“Let her daydream.” Jessica gave me a playful nudge. Had I become the fun-killing uncle of the bunch? Funny enough though, we didn’t have to wait long as I said. The steward came back huffing and puffing as if he had run the entire way.

“Sorry to keep you all waiting,” he said hoarsely, “I will bring them in.”

My anticipation was overwhelming. After five people came through the door without stop, Lucas had a smug look on his face. Eventually, a dozen people stood in front of us, each representing a different profession.

It wasn’t guaranteed that every profession was something we could obtain and learn, but the more opportunities, the merrier. Men, women, old and young stood in front of us. Some were elegant and aesthetically pleasing—the tailors, the jewelers—others not so much, such as the blacksmiths and manual laborers.

They introduced themselves one at a time, and the list of possible professions we could learn started to roll in, a long list. Not all of them seemed useful, but most did. It seemed the Red Prince had grabbed someone from every useful job he could think of, as even a banker was included in the lineup.

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Starting from what Lucas already knew, there were craftworkers for: Leatherworking, Blacksmithing, Tailoring, and Jewel Crafting. These encompassed the three basic armor types of leather, plate/mail, and cloth as well as accessories. These were extremely straight-forward and self-fulfilling professions. Eventually you would be able to improve your gear with it, which was the allure.

Magical and crafting professions like Alchemy, Enchanting, Rune Smithing, Gem Cutting, and Jewel Crafting caught the eye of Anna and Maria. I suspected mostly because of their fancy hand movements and beautiful emblems. These professions were best suited for gear augmentation and while it could improve your own gear, seemed to have a much broader implication.

There were gathering professions too, which included Herbalism, Farming, Mining, Skinning and Witchcraft. Witchcraft was the only one I had not been familiar with, but after a very basic explanation it seemed to revolve around harvesting even the bones and organs of creatures you killed, which may have come in handy for some demonic class types, of which we had none.

All the gathering professions paired well with another profession except witchcraft. Mining with Blacksmithing and Jewelers, Skinning with Leatherworking, Herbalism with Alchemy, and Farming with Cooking. Cloth for Tailoring seemed to be a random drop from monsters according to what the instructor said.

There were also professions that went well together on their own. Gem Cutting and Enchanting were two such professions. Gem Cutting was just the base form of Jewel Crafting, which was the act of enchanting a gemstone to be embedded into gear. Jewel Crafting was not, however, related to the practice of jewelers making equipable accessories. It was slightly confusing, but still understandable. You could be a Gem Cutter and sell raw gems to enchanters for them to enchant and sell as Jewels. While those Jewels could potentially be put into rings and amulets, the actual crafting of those accessories was not related.

This pairing made it much easier to decide what route one should take after picking a main profession. Alan didn’t have to think much at all, instantly requesting to learn Blacksmithing, and in turn also Mining. Everyone else took a bit longer, and carefully watched Alan’s experience play out.

Each of our crafting mentors in front of us had brought several books with them, which were clearly notes they had taken over the years. If we were in the mode of old Earth, Alan would have needed to study hard under the tutelage of his mentor. Instead, he took the book of notes and information in his hand, and said, “Yes.”

“What was that?” asked Maria.

“I was prompted by a message: Do you wish to learn Blacksmithing?”

“And did you get the skill?” Lukas was eager.

“It’s not like I’m suddenly an expert by any means, but I now have a profession tab showing my level in Blacksmithing. The book has become an inventory item which outlines the different types of ores I will need. as well as how to compose them in crafting: How to smelt and wield a hammer, those types of things. They are all gated by my Blacksmithing level.

“The mining profession works the same. I learned it as simply as placing my hand on the booklet. Information filled the profession tab: where certain ores are best found; how to mine them efficiently; even what materials were best to use in recipes; when to upgrade my mining pick; and how to forge tools like that as a Blacksmith.

“I have a third profession slot as well,” Alan added. This was an amazing surprise for me and, to judge by their expressions, everyone else. With the professions working so well in pairs, I was expecting there to be only two slots. This welcome news meant I could take two main professions plus one gathering profession. Meanwhile, Alan announced that he had learned to be a Jeweler as his third. His brief overview showed that Mining paired well with Jewelry Making as often bands and chains were made from gold, silver or some other rare metal material.

Anna went next, and her choices were also not very surprising. She was our only caster, and her mentor had urged her to choose Enchanting and Jewel Crafting. According to her mentor, those apt in magic were much more adept at these two professions, as they were mostly caster-based. Runic circles and magical hand signs were required, which she was familiar with already. Her third profession ended up being Tailoring, as none of the gathering professions interested her. I suspected she might not want to get her hands dirty.

Jessica went next, choosing Leatherworking and Skinning, she chose Cooking as her third profession.

Richard followed and chose a similar combination to Alan, except he selected Rune Smithing as his third profession instead of Gem Cutting. We were quickly covering all the bases of available professions. While I didn’t think this was every possible profession learnable in this new world we found ourselves in, it was a great start.

Everyone put a good amount of thought into their decisions, which was nice to see. Eventually I was the only one left.

Do you wish to learn Alchemy?

After talking to the appropriate mentor, I was given a prompt and swiftly said ‘yes’. My character sheet now had a new tab to access, my professions. Clicking on the Alchemy tab allowed me to see my level, which was 1, and a few basic potions I could make, which all turned out to be some grinded herb and water mixed in a bottle—as basic as it could get.

After that, I selected Herbalism. Maria had also taken Herbalism, but I didn’t want to depend on anyone to obtain the things I needed for my main profession. Maria hadn’t selected Alchemy, only I had done so.

My third profession was what had me brooding for so long. “Is it possible that materials obtained from Witchcraft would be usable in Alchemy?” I turned to the instructor for Witchcraft.

He was a decrepit old man late in his years. His back hunched and a can held him upright. His grey eyebrows were long and twirling and his entire demeanor was somewhat menacing. “It’s not uncommon, but they are mostly used as substitutes to bring out different Alchemical affects.”

I didn’t need to hear anymore, swiftly learning Witchcraft.