Ryan opened his Profession menu, hopefully choosing a Profession would facilitate the choice of Skill provided by David v Goliath. Pleasantly surprised, Ryan investigated the list that popped up, it was longer than he thought it would be and not quite what he had expected. He was eligible to pick two of the following Professions at this point in time: Alchemist, Leatherworker, Smith, Woodcrafter and Tinker.
A bit confused, Ryan wondered why the System provided such a limited selection of choices, he had cursorily investigated the full list now provided by the Help Menu and it had included a lot of Professions for which he should have qualified given his actions in the past day, one example that came to mind would have been Herbalist. He considered the complaint that had been registered against the Skill List by one John John Johnson and considered whether he should attempt to lodge a complaint. Eventually he decided to go ahead, considering that Alchemy would most likely be useless without Herbalism for example.
“Player Ryan Alexander Hunter wishes to lodge a complaint with respect to his selection of Professions. Although having shown proficiency in several gathering Professions detailed in the Help Menu, none are available to be chosen.” he enunciated clearly.
“DING!” Ryan nearly fell off the couch. “Complaint of Player Ryan Alexander Hunter in respect of inconsistencies with respect to Professions described in the Help Menu and Professions activated under the Games Protocol has been noted and forwarded. Please expect an Administrator to contact you shortly.”
Flabbergasted that the complaint had actually been lodged, Ryan considered the wording of the notice. It didn’t directly correspond to what he had actually said, however, with a bit of a stretch, his words could be creatively interpreted in that vein. All in all, he considered, if this was indicative of the Interfaces deductive Skills, it was either frighteningly sophisticated or there was a massive error in translation somewhere.
Ryan considered if he should even make a choice at this stage, as his options might change in the near future, moreover, he had a decent handle on various crafting activities, and with the proper equipment, could probably complete most basic projects relating to the crafting Professions.
On the other hand, if he didn’t make a choice now, he would lose out on the Skills provided by two Professions until such time as he actually made a choice. Given his experience with training Dimensional Shift, Profession Skills could greatly further his understanding and prove immensely valuable. Specifically the likely skillset provided by the Scavenger Profession might prove useful in the near future.
Further deliberation on the matter brought no solution, except for solidifying his choice of Smith in the event that he pulled the trigger and actually chose a Profession. Eventually Ryan decided that he would need a sounding board for his thoughts and some feedback on or criticism of his conclusions. He would have preferred to discuss the issue with his brother William but that wasn’t an option for now. The only person present who could provide valuable input was snoring on the couch next to him. It was time to wake Johannes.
Johannes didn’t wake easy, struggling to open his eyes and growling from beneath the blanket. Ryan decided to go ahead and make some coffee, both for his sake and Johannes’. The teen should be awake by the time the coffee was ready.
When Ryan returned to the sitting room carrying two cups of coffee Johannes was once again snoring loudly. Setting down the cup of coffee just outside arm’s reach he shook Johannes’ shoulder. “Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey.” said loudly had Johannes opening his eyes blearily. Handing him a coffee got him to sit up. A few minutes later Johannes was coherent and Ryan launched into his description of the Skill training and his possible choices.
It felt slightly awkward to ask the younger man, whom less than a day ago he would have treated as an employee, for his opinion on the matter. Johannes however took the practical approach and just added his two cents worth. “If it was my choice I would choose a Profession now, you can always deal with any changes the System implements when they do happen, that is a bridge to be crossed when you reach it. I would also suggest to make a choice with respect to the Achievements. Even if your information is incomplete, it is better to make the choice when presented based on the information you do have than fail to make the choice while waiting for further clarification that may never realise.”
Parsing that speech for a moment Ryan considered that Johannes advice was on the spot. Nonetheless, he couldn’t help but sarcastically ask Johannes how he’d come to offer such sage advice, especially so early in the morning. To which Johannes just chuckled and said that he had just channelled his inner Yoda.
Not hesitating further, Ryan asked Johannes to just watch over him if he fell unconscious again and if the process took as long as previously, which Ryan doubted, to have someone spell him eventually. Ryan immediately selected Smith as Profession. The training process proved similar to the previous time but significantly less painful, he also stayed aware of his surroundings this time. Ryan realised that he did already know a lot of the practical information provided by the training, lacking only the detailed information on various methods to treat different metals throughout the smithing process. A pleasant surprise of the training was that metallurgy, geological knowledge and mining were considered subsets of the Smith’s skill portfolio and that he could thus obtain and refine his own materials and wouldn’t need to obtain the Miner Profession.
Ryan opened his eyes but before he could so much as move a muscle the Interface funnelled him straight into the training as a Scavenger. This proved even less intensive than the previous training and Ryan realised that it could be considered a gathering profession by the metrics of the RPG games he used to play. What proved to be the most interesting revelation was that he received a Skill called Evaluate, which would allow him to determine the approximate value in Crystals of any item relating to any of his Professions. Given the fact that probably most items could be scavenged, this Skill would prove invaluable in the future, and every human would be able to use it.
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Johannes was still sitting next to him and when asked how long Ryan had been out of action replied that it had been less than five minutes. Ryan quickly continued, choosing Imbue as his reward. Imbue allowed him to actively infuse energy into any items he was creating and so enhance their inherent strengths. This time Ryan was out for longer, the knowledge imprinted more significant.
Ryan decided to take a leak and drink another cup of coffee, he had a feeling that his last choice would do a number on him. He had considered his legendary choice in depth but in the end went with what his gut told him when he first understood the meaning behind the choices. He selected the Trait that he considered to most closely resemble his approach to life, the one that allowed for versatility, Protean. And nothing happened. No pain, no unconsciousness, no knowledge being imprinted.
Ryan checked his Character Sheet:
Ryan Alexander Hunter
Level
3
Experience
330
Next Level
460
Statistics
Strength
Muscle Strength
12
Intellect
Speed
10
12,3
Tendons
12
12,0
Cognitive
16
Bones
13
Memory
10
Agility
Muscle Speed
13
Will
Resolve
11
12,7
Nerve Speed
15
10,3
Force
10
Cartilage Friction
10
Focus
10
Dexterity
Muscle Control
11
Energy
Capacity
10
11,0
Proprioception
11
10,0
Efficiency
10
Flexibility
11
Regen
10
Constitution
Resilience
16
Perception
Acuity
13
14,0
Healing
12
11,3
Psy Range
8
Shield
14
Processing
13
Available Points
10
Allocated
281
Affinities
Kinetic (macro)
22
Kinetic (micro)
21
Gravitational
18 > 29
Soul
11
Space
38 > 71
Time
26 > 37
Matter
12
Electromagnetic
19
Biological
19
Psychic
22
Skills
Class Skills:
None
Profession Skills:
798 listed
General:
11 256 listed
(expand)
Special Skills:
1 listed
(expand)
Unique:
None
Achievements
First Kill, Sneaky Bastard, David v Goliath, Hat-Trick
Traits
Protean
The Character Sheet confirmed that he had made his choice, the Trait was awarded. Selecting it gave him nothing. Entering the Help Menu and searching for Traits likewise. Nonplussed, he just gave up. There was no understanding the Interface. Whether it was badly designed, had incomplete information, withheld information or whether the Administration was just messing with humanity was irrelevant.
The only conclusion he could draw at this stage was that the Interface and the System Administration were not to be trusted. They clearly did not have humanity’s best interest at heart, a fact he had forgotten over his excitement at the new game-like reality, but which should have stayed at the forefront of his mind. No benevolent entity would force everyone into a race to survive and by their actions, kill a significant portion of humanity. Using humanity’s “violent tendencies” as an excuse to disable essential services to a majority of the entire population and thus ensuring violent conflict was by any yardstick NOT A BENEVOLENT ACTION.
Ryan realised he was grinding his teeth, getting furious and threatening to spiral into rage. He took a deep breath, holding and slowly releasing it. Then again. Johannes looked confused but wisely kept his mouth shut. Ryan repeated his breathing pattern, slowly calming down. Still growling he ground out: “I got pissed at the injustice of the System and the Administration. They killed a majority of our population. Those that die on earth, fighting for survival, and those that will never be initiated because their saviours died on the way to rescue them. I will not allow myself to die.”
Trait displayed: Indomitable. Trait earned; Indomitable.