Chapter 20 - Gentleman Beaufort, Career Advisor for Aspiring Adventurers

My office is near the adventurer’s guild, though I’m completely independent. In fact, the guild's receptionists are the biggest competitor for my business. Their motto seems to be, “Why pay for advice you can get for free?”

In contrast to the guild, I don’t depend on memory and hearsay. No. My track record is impeccable. My office is filled with books and records of history’s successful adventurers and adventuring parties. I know all the tricks, all the secret careers, the special requirements and job paths.

You want to be normal? Go ask a guild receptionist. Ask around the taverns. You can even ask other adventurers. All you’ll get is normal. You want to be exceptional? That’s where I come in.

When the bell over the door rings, I look up from my reading. I only get a few customers each day, so my pricing is fairly exclusive. Just like my clientele.

Even so, this one takes the cake. Winnifred of the Shadowed Glove. I happen to know exactly which ultra-rare career path she chose. She pays me a bit each month to keep my mouth shut.

Today, she’s wearing a furry orange magician’s robe, including the hat. The brim of the hat falls low over her face, concealing her features. In fact, if I didn’t notice the calico cat ears on top, I might not have recognized her.

“Winnifred! You aren’t due here yet! Surely you haven’t reached your next milestone already? I told you about that secret dungeon you’ll need to clear, right?”

“Heyo Bo! Yer right. I’m not comin’ here fer me today. Got a new client fer ye.”

“Oh?” I look behind her, but there’s nobody there.

“Kinda special sorta situation I got here. Ye know I’m representin’ Truck-chan?”

“Ahh! She’s reached level 10? Ready for her first career change?”

“Yer hittin’ it on the nose!”

“But, she’s too big to fit in my shop. A remote consultation!”

“I was just sayin’ yer clever!”

“Well then… I don’t normally make house calls, but I suppose this is a special case.”

“Yep! Figurin’ ye’d see it that way!”

I pick up some of my books, “Truck-chan is a thief at the moment? Right? You didn’t trick everyone and start her as a warrior in disguise?”

“Naw… she’s a proper thief.”

“She’d like to plan out her whole build, all the way to max level and capstone?”

“Beyond, if possible. Figurin’ we might break the cap the way she’s rackin’ up kills.”

“Good base stats then. All right… I’ll need this one, this one, mmm…. this one.” I select several more books and documents from my shelves.

“Take yer time. She’s not harin’ off just yet.”

I send Winnifred a smile. “Sorry. I’ve never advised a hero before. There are certain career paths that are available only for heroes.”

“Whatever yer thinkin’, I like it!”

The meeting place is just down the street. Apparently, Winnifred prepared everything before even contacting me. It’s a vacant warehouse, a bit rundown, but she’s set up some chairs and a table for me to work. Truck-chan is already waiting on the other side.

“A pleasure to meet you, miss Truck-chan! I’ve heard so much about you!”

Truck-chan blinks her eyelashes at me. More accurately, the yellow highlights around her eyes flash on and off. I’d heard that she only communicated in beeps and bellows, so I’m glad to see that rumor is false.

“Now let’s see. You’ve started as a thief. You’re non-human with completely alien biology. High base stats. You’re a summoned hero from another world. You’ve also beaten quite a few unique monsters. All of those should open up some very special career paths. But, if there’s something specific you’re aiming for, we can always hold you back at level ten until you’ve met all the special requirements.”

This time, she flashes her lights sporadically. Watching, I see that each of her lights can be operated independently, plus her eye-lights can be bright or even brighter. Altogether, that makes twelve different combinations.

Dark. Dark-Right. Dark-Left. Dark-Left-Right.

Light. Light-Right. Light-Left. Light-Left-Right.

Bright. Bright-Right. Bright-Left. Bright-Left-Right.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Looking over to Winnifred, I see that she has a code book in her hand. Even so, she barely glances at it. I suppose they’ve been working together long enough that it’s become a second language?

At certain points, Truck-chan also swishes a recessed pair of arms that scrape over her adamant front shield. However, that is slower than the other signals, so it is used only rarely. Probably to mark punctuation?

Winnifred finishes decoding the sentence, then turns my way, “She’s sayin’ she wants to know all her options jus’ for the next step. She’s not worryin’ about long term. Figurin’ she’s already beatin’ boss monsters, so reachin’ some crazy capstone doesn’t really matter to her.”

“I guess that’s true.” I have to agree with her sentiment, though it’s such a shame. Given Truck-chan’s unique situation, she could reach heights impossible for any other hero throughout all of known history. In fact, she may be able to reach special careers that I’ve never even heard of!

“So ye heard her. What’s her options?”

“Let’s see. You’ve beaten a goblin regiment all by yourself?”

Blinking lights. “Sayin’ she routed them. Some escaped. Does that count?”

“Mmm… yes, it should.” I flip through my books finding the relevant entries. “After that, you fought a mantid?”

More blinking lights. “Now, she’s sayin’ she left em fer dead. Some of em mighta survived.”

“Good enough. All that matters is that she won. Was it male or female? It matters.”

A swish of the arms, followed by more lights. “She’s not sure. But there were two body types. Some of ‘em had pointy bits on their butts. Others didn’t.”

“Ah yes, then that means she got both. After that, a minotaur?”

A single flash of both main lights. “That’s a yes.”

“Hmm… I see the straightforward answers are easy enough even for me.”

Winnifred grins, “We tried makin’ the code simple fer simple stuff.”

“Now then, you bested a color-team of metal-plated skeletons. Hmm… does that count as armored skeletons? Or skeletons with jewelry?”

“Yer askin’ me?”

“Well, it matters. Taking out a color-team of skeletons is one thing. But, even more career paths open up if you take out a color-team of armored or jeweled warriors. Unfortunately, those two things aren’t the same.”

“Uhh…”

“Oh! Were they mounted? Then they would count as knights!”

The outer, yellow, directional lights blink once at me. “No horsies.”

“Too bad. I guess the knight-slayer career path is still closed. If you really want it though, we could arrange something.”

The yellow lights blink again.

“No? Not aiming for knights, then. All right, but you’ve still got plenty of choices”

The main lights flash.

“Oh, you killed a granite golem… or ran it off at least?”

The main lights flash. This is getting easier as I go.

“Hmm… I think that covers all the basics so far. So, what sort of career were you thinking about? Did you want to mix in one of the main four? You could be a thief-warrior, a thief-wizard, or even a thief-priest.”

“Don’t ye go pickin’ that last one! It’s a dud!”

“That’s true, but duds like that are how you reach some of the rarest and most powerful careers. For instance, have you ever heard of an ethereal resurrector? Nobody can see it or fight back while it raises your whole party over and over again. It’s pretty much an auto-win sort of build. Completely broken.”

“Ye didn’t tell me about that!”

“It’s not good for much else. It can’t even do basic disguises.”

“Ah, guessin’ that’s why then. Why’re ye even tellin’ us? If it can’t fight, it’s not doin’ the hero stuff, is it?”

I sigh loudly. “I’m guessing there are other hidden careers branching after that, but nobody’s willing to even try it out. Too boring or whatever.”

“Anyways, Truck-chan… ye wanna mix in some warrior skills?”

There’s a pause, then a blink of the outer lights.

“That's a no. Hmm... you’re heading for some sort of advanced thief then. Let’s see… burglar, no. Footpad, no. Pickpocket, mugger, larcenist, conman, spy, no. You’ll want something more combative, right? Something useful against monsters…”

A flash of the main lights.

“Oh, here’s a good one! Bard! We could teach you to play a lute and then…”

Truck-chan lets forth a beep, then another one.

“That was two beeps. That’s a big no! Guessin’ she’s not much fer singin’.”

“Mmm… dancer? It has some interesting combat applications.”

A flash of the yellow lights. Another no.

“All right. For the basic options, that leaves the acrobat, assassin and ninja trees. All of those are almost warriors, but you can still get there without mixing in warrior careers. Acrobat is good at climbing and leaping. Assassin is more focused on poisons and killing strikes. Ninja is … well … the word means ‘persistence’ so it means you never give up.”

A flash of yellow. “Ye noticed she’s learned some climbin’. Turns out, she didn’t like it. For the others, she’s already good at killin’ and tougher than nails!”

I sigh again. All these missed opportunities! Most adventurers understand that min-maxing is the best way to reach fame and fortune. Could Sven the swordsmaster wear armor? No. But his specialist build meant he’d never need it.

“So… the only other thing left is the thief-of-thieves. It means you’d become a little bit better at everything you’ve learned so far.”

She swishes her wipers. “Ye still haven’t told us ‘bout special options.”

“True… but usually those are dependent upon your second career. Let’s see… is there anything that fits what you’ve got so far…”

They both watch as I pore through my manuals. This is a pretty esoteric field. Second-tier careers with unique requirements aren’t common.

“Hmm… this might work. You don’t need air, right? You could take the ‘breathless deathbringer’ path. It would let you sneak around underwater and leap out unexpectedly. Oh, it even includes special skills for pulling people in and drowning them! Sounds good, right?”

A blink of yellow followed by a second blink of yellow. “Uhh… guessin’ that means she DOES need to breathe air.”

“Huh? I thought she was a golem?”

Winnifred just shrugs, “Maybe she is, maybe she isn’t.”

“But! Oh, never mind…” I go back to my books.

There’s not much left. All of her special unique kills don’t count for anything until she reaches the third tier. That’s when things like ‘mantid masher’ and ‘cow crusher’ appear.

“Oh, here’s something! How long has it been since your first battle? It’s less than a month, right? But, you’ve beaten thousands of enemies, and most importantly one of each type: fae counting the goblins, monster counting the mantids, chimera counting the minotaur, undead, and an elemental construct counting the golem. All you’re missing is a dragon. Oh, and you already beat a color team too!”

“What ye got boss?”

“It’s a non-classed career. Meaning it doesn’t fit under any of the main four. But, if you can beat a dragon before the end of the month, you could take the super-rare ‘destructinator’ career path.”

Winnifred opens her mouth, but Truck-chan beats her to it. “BEEEEEEP!”