Chapter 3 — Sponsored Professions
Toren was stunned and humbled and maybe even a bit afraid at having drawn the attention of so many of the celestial deities.
Sponsored Professions were usually granted on a person’s 16th birthday but only to those holding the potential to be future elites. Like most common people, he hadn’t received a Profession when his Profession Core formed on his Profession-day. Instead, he had to use Greenvale’s Celestial Mirror to choose his.
As a child and as a teen—ever since his Skill-day when he turned eight and his Skill Core formed—he dreamed of being blessed with a high-rarity Profession, but the [Monster Hunter] he had apprenticed under and the orphanage’s [Holy Sisters] had warned that higher-rarity Professions had XP penalties and would limit his path and employment options before he really knew what he wanted to do with his life.
The common advice was to choose a basic Profession for one’s first and to evolve it at the level 25 tier 2 threshold and to eventually merge it with the second Profession he would choose after becoming tier 2. Under this approach, there were well-known paths to gaining powerful Professions without the risk of encountering unexpected roadblocks to one’s progress.
One of those roadblocks was the rarity minimum for each tier—bronze at level 25, gold at 50, viridium at 75. With the ‘over-tier’ penalty decreasing to match, many considered the approach of staying at the tier minimum more efficient. After all, a person’s aging began slowing upon entering tier 2, and tier 4 brought immortality. Why not take the ‘guaranteed’ path to immortality then take as long as desired to improve using second, third, or fourth Professions?
Toren considered this advice bullshit. Obviously, taking a Profession with an XP penalty that also had limited opportunities to gain employment or earn XP was stupid, but there was a reason for higher mana density required for higher rarities and the increased XP needed per level—the Abilities provided were stronger! Not just the active Abilities, he’d bet the passive ones were as well. And, starting with a viridium or mithril tier Profession meant that his path to becoming a fourth tier immortal was already assured!
That didn’t mean he was going to just jump for the mithril Profession, though. Could his physical body or his spirit really support such a powerful Profession? From the stories of Heroes and Saints, those viridium and mithril Professions often came with severe limitations or weaknesses that could readily be considered curses… and that was before facing the challenges the sponsoring patron would bring their way.
Even so, more powerful and more specialized Abilities weren’t the only advantages to acquiring a god- or goddess-sponsored Profession. The resulting divine connection gave a significant boon by removing the need to use a Celestial Mirror for interfacing with one’s Profession Core.
If he was going to survive in the frontier at a low-level, having the ability to level-up and select his new Abilities as soon as the opportunity came would be critical. Unless all of the sponsored Professions had some unacceptable downside, he would be stupid to not choose from among them.
There was also the matter of accepting a more direct relationship with the sponsoring deity. That wasn’t something to be lightly changed should he become unhappy with the choice later on, and a god’s attention wasn’t always a benign thing, especially for the ones they favor.
He looked again at the names listed. Represented were the Celestial Knight of Unyielding Truth, the Blazing Fire of Hope and Hearth, the Lady of the Seasons, the Wandering Wind, and the Harvester of Souls.
Of the five, there wasn’t one he was particularly opposed to. The Lady of Seasons with her fae origins and indifference toward humanity would be the riskiest, but as a [Monster Hunter]’s apprentice and later as a [Hunter] himself, Toren had spent the majority of his life learning the bounties and dangers of nature as found in the valley he was born in.
He directed his attention to the Profession offered by the nature goddess.
{[Arbiter of Nature’s Fury]
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Having witnessed the terror of nature’s power in the forms of a centennial flood, a devouring swarm, and rushing rapids, wield that power to bring judgment upon those who would defile its splendor for unworthy purpose.
XP penalty: 100%}
Just as when he selected his first Profession of [Hunter], the words imparted an impression of the Profession when he focused on its name. The Profession felt almost druidic in the way it focused on Profession Skills to live and commune with the wild and Abilities to harness nature’s power, but at the heart of the power was the concept of bringing judgment to defilers.
Though not exactly the direction he was considering, Teron had to admit that abandoning civilization to live in the wilds was a valid way to escape his debt should sufficient credits prove too difficult to earn. He could sense that the Profession would give him the chance to become powerful beyond his imagining, but what of the stated duties? Would the Arbiter’s path require him to destroy cities full of innocents? If he specialized in spreading plagues and pestilence, couldn’t even entire civilizations be made to fall? He wasn’t sure he could commit to Elyneth’s ideals to that extent.
{[Oathsworn Warrior]
Take your oath. Live by it. Gain strength from it.
XP penalty: 100%}
As fit a deity of embodying truth, the Profession was straightforward. The power of the Profession came from turning the oath into the truth of one’s existence.
If he used his new trait as a guide and vowed to never let a person under his protection die or to fight until all under his protection were safe, that would become his path and his Profession Abilities would be centered around upholding his oath.
Deciding on a good oath would take time and couldn’t be done lightly, but with the right oath, the Profession had the potential to be very strong when combined with his [Sacrificial Guardian] trait.
Toren put [Oathsworn Warrior] on his ‘maybe’ list and turned his attention to the two Professions offered by Horevi.
{[Guardian of the Torch]
You have resolved to see the efforts and memory of the fallen passed on. Bear the flame of hope, light the hearth of the future.
XP penalty: 200%}
Toren grimaced at the XP penalty. He was level 1 again. Needing thrice the XP of his [Hunter] Profession to level would be crippling at a time when he needed to level up quickly.
His impression of the Abilities was lots of passives to improve his capability to persevere and push on through adversity. It was an almost exclusively defensive Profession. There weren’t any healing Abilities from what he could tell—other than stamina restoration.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to pass up on a mithril-rarity Profession, but if he held onto his resolve, maybe it would still be offered at level 25 and he could take it as his second Profession?
{[Burningblood Berserker]
Your blood burns with passion within, healing your wounds and replenishing your stamina.
XP penalty: 100%}
The word ‘healing’ immediately caught Toren’s attention. He hadn’t ever envisioned himself as choosing a combat style favoring direct combat. Getting wounded was an added expense at best. Why risk death when he could safely hunt from range with his bow or use traps? But with healing, the risk would be lower and the synergy with [Sacrificial Guardian] was strong.
Grudgingly, Toren moved [Burningblood Berserker] to the top of the list.
{[Assassin of the Silent Winds]
Strike unheard and unseen, leaving no trace.
XP penalty: 100%}
If he was going to be on the run, never staying in one place too long, then the Wandering Wind would certainly be an appropriate deity to align himself with. The Profession was also a good match for him, building upon his stealth and archery skills. There wasn’t much synergy with [Sacrificial Guardian], but the path had good survivability, and he no longer had anything to tie him down.
That left the last one. Perhaps the most dangerous of the six.
{[Voice of the Dead]
Having granted death and witnessed the death of a loved one, become the bridge between the living and the dead.
XP penalty: 100%}
Toren quickly realized that this was a Profession that would let him speak with the dead. His mind ground to a halt. What would he give for the chance to speak with Yana again? Could he just let this chance slip away?