The trip to the library turned out to not only be without much hassle but rather enjoyable. Unsurprisingly the library is located in the best part of Trove city, very close to the City office main branch, also called the Office. From certain positions it is possible to see the mystic forest, the unique tier one sub-instance in Trove city.

“There is money to be made in a city.”

Being from an absurdly wealthy family, Rak has never worried about spending coin, and now this habit has begun to crumble. Rak’s little complaints would cause people to faint, as Rak has been wantonly spending his coins.

A few silver coins is already pretty good for the average person but Rak has spent this amount many times over just to travel a bit faster, sleeping at a random hotel, even if he chose the cheapest room, it wasn’t the cheapest hotel. Not to mention the cost of ‘storing’ his carriage and horses safely.

Now once again Rak is met the obstacle that only wealth, renowned or influence can solve. Promptly Rak is relieved of twenty silver coins for the privilege of a visitors pass.

“I can’t take out any books and only allowed to view untiered and tier one books.”

If Rak’s wealth wasn’t in the several hundred silvers he’d have more of a reaction than just ruefully sigh to himself about what can be considered ‘astronomical’ amount to the general populace.

“And I can only stay til eleven.”

Time has always been a very accurate thing in Chaos theory, every person can simply check their user interface and glance at the constantly changing number that represent the passing of time.

Rak takes a few steps into the library, and just the tier one books are already a bit too many to randomly browse through and the untiered ones don’t even have to mention. After glance back to the librarian whose gaze was filled with contempt for some unknowable reason Rak shook his head and focused on the task at hand.

“Worst case, I’ll come back early in the morning.”

A bit dazed Rak begins by going to the tier one collection of books, a small near indeticable shimmer of light separates the untiered and tier one sections. This is not some grand protection shield but a detection formation that ignores whoever has a the right tier pass, Rak’s visitor pass for tier one and below is exactly that pass.

Rak could have just bought the untiered pass as untiered information is very suitable for the the things he wants, after all he’s a jobless person and in that sense untiered himself. After browsing through books at random Rak realizes he won’t get far on his own

The other people inside the library all wear tasteful clothing and are clearly of a rather noble disposition, they similarly see the same thing as the librarian at the entrance saw and look at Rak with unhidden disdain.

This is the first time Rak meets ‘wealthy’ people in Chaos theory, or more specially, wealthy people with culture of being wealthy. This is also first time Rak has been on the receiving end of ridicule in terms of status.

Outside of people's attitude Rak takes note of people waving their hands at a floating screens. Unlike interfaces like the common status window, these floating screens are instead clear as daylight. Acting in accordance to his intuition, Rak begins casually walking towards a similar table with a similar apparatus but no screen.

At the table is a symbol of a pass, Rak immediately connects the dots and takes out his guest pass and swipes it over the symbol. A small sound rings out and a screen flickers into existence, on are multiple options, most grayed out. But the options to select untired and tier one are white.

Selecting both options Rak proceeds to press his finger on what should be the search input box. Upon clicking the box three icons appear, small icons but clear enough to convey their meaning. One is of a traditional keyboard, a microphone and lastly a small cog wheel indicating more options.

“What should I enter? Magic? Merchant? Jobs?”

Even though Rak has show interest in ‘magic’, he is just as curious to find about other jobs that are out there. Ignoring curiosity, there is also the fear of picking the wrong job only to later find out that something better was available.

Unwilling to hesitate for too long Rak shakes his head and types in ‘job’. The moment he pauses a small window pops up

You used a single letter search. You are searching using default filters and there is no exact match to your search but many partial matches.

Alternatively would you like to search by tags?

Yes, change the filter to a tag based one - No, continue using current filters.

The search has already returned a list of books that contain the word job in the title. These books can be pertaining to jobs but they might also be completely irrelevant. For example the many ‘entertainment’ books which are mostly hidden lore have names like ‘A job for the poor’. Which is an endearing tale, is not in any way related to Rak’s search for a job advancement quest.

“I guess tags make sense.”

Immediately the list filters through the database and returns a new list, many of which still remain. This time Rak is not prompted by a window as the tag ‘job’ exists and is properly returning a sizeable list.

“Over hundred matches.”

Just going through the titles starting with the letter a is taking some time but not so much that Rak feels overwhelmed. With the intent of casually browsing through the list Rak slowly skims over the title names.

“Basic occupation requirements, Untiered job, Wilderness job. And Scholarly pursuits.”

After selecting each book and pressing a button named ‘find’ Rak’s map for the library is updated with four new dots, all relatively nearby. Predictably, each dot represents a book Rak just searched for.

“Not bad.”

From Raks current position he is already in range of the book ‘Untiered job’. Which is the second book he highlighted when skimming through the selection. There are numerous other interesting books but considering time limitation Rak only picked the conservative number of four books.

The book is marked on the library map and it glowing slightly, of course only Rak sees this glow but anyone using the search tool will have similar experiences. Touching the book, another message is prompted.

Borrow book: Book cannot be taken out of the library

Copy book: Copied book lasts ten days, cannot be shared, cannot be transferred to another person and any attempt to replicate the book will result in an immediate fine and the copy is destroyed. Charged one silver directly.

It is possible to retain the copied book for longer than ten days but each additional ten days increase the cost by one silver and must be paid before book is copied.

Borrow book - Copy book

“Hum.”

In the future, If Rak’s prestige is high enough within Trove he might be able to buy the book outright. The benefit in this is that the book will no longer be a part of the library. This does not mean every book is unique, but many are. If Rak chances on a book that leads to a hidden job or a valuable quest line, he might want to buy it and sell its content himself over time.

Of course books will not simply grant quests at random but also require the person to have fulfilled certain parameters. If Rak knew what the parameters were, through testing over a period of time, he might be able to gain some advantage out of the book.

“No point in copying the book right now, first I should gather the other three books and find a place to sit.”

There are more private rooms within the library but these are restricted to tier one passes, Rak’s pass is only a guest pass, and even though it is a tier one guest pass it still has limitations. Some things can be bought with coin and others require reputation, astounding person power or ample influence.

After gathering the book Rak begins reading Scholarly pursuits. This is one of two tier one books, the other being Wilderness job.

“The name of the righteous man does not need echoing.”

Scratching his Rak is trying to understand the first line in the book. It is seperate from the text on the page and it stands out in bolded letters.

“We all seek knowledge. A butcher seeks knowledge, a gardener seeks knowledge, the homeless man seeks knowledge, the thief and even the killer seeks knowledge.”

As expected of a book on scholars it reeks of pretentiousness. Of course this pretentiousness might spark the flame of enlightenment with those that resonate with the scholarly arts.

“All knowledge has its place, and all knowledge can be used by the scholar with a righteous heart. Wielding wisdom of the butcher to tend the garden. To slay the beasts with the wisdom of the violinist. This is the way of the scholar.”

As Rak continues to read he can’t help but feel a bit disappointed, this wasn’t at all what he was looking for. After over ten pages of what Rak would call failed poetry, he puts the book down and takes up the other tier one book, Wilderness job.

“Dad said he found a Survivalist job, maybe I can also become a survivalist?”

In the end, Rak, and everyone else, know to little of the options available to them. It is not rare that people take on the first job they find and it is instead a very common thing. There are benefits to quickly finding a job, but there can also be benefits in slowly bettering yourself and finding a suitable or powerful job.

Rak’s current clarity amounts to a total of seven hundred fifty eight. In general, seven hundred is the threshold people reach naturally and that is exactly the threshold most generic jobs require. With the required clarity, seeing as it is traditionally slowest to grow, other attributes should have already met their marks and can be ignored in most cases.

The last piece of the puzzle now comes up to blind luck, careful research or dedicated effort. For example, Rak has met the requirement to become a drunk. This occurred due to his alcohol poisoning event where he eventually succumbed and died. If Rak were to take up a brewer or perhaps stumble onto some brewing literature or similar lore, he might be able to get a quest for the hidden brewer job of a drunk.

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In the case of a drunk he’d gain experience and nutrients through alcoholic drinks to mention a few. It would still be a support occupation of a brewer but one that had a special passive ability to slowly strengthen his attributes through drinking. Such jobs can also come with downsides but they can also come without perceived downsides.

One downside of a drunk could be the exuberant cost, the effect of being inebriated often, not drinking might lead to deficits and so on. But it might also give the person immunity to such things and even a way to accumulate alcohol in a convenient way.

“Patience is said to be a virtue. But it can also be a sin. A veteran hunter may stalk his prey for days and never catch it. To survive in the wilderness, one needs to understand what surviving means.”

Rak tapped his finger on the paper, it is course and not like the machine made paper he can be considered used to, ignoring that Rak hasn’t been around paper a lot. The paper has a faded look to it and doesn’t have one uniform color but a variation of a light, faded yellow.

“Can you sleep? Can you eat? Can you drink? These are the three core concepts of survival. In that exact order. The first part one has to understand about the wilderness, is that it is wild and will not bow demons, saints, beasts or man.”

Again Rak feels that these stories share a similarity of being a bit heavy to digest. It's not that the words are complex only that they seem to lack any proper purpose as its him listening on a conversation that’s not directed at him.

After flipping through the book and reading a few paragraphs here and there Rak puts the book down.

“Maybe I should have just picked up a merchant book, seems that’s my destiny.”

Rak’s eyes rest on the two remaining books, Untired job and Basic occupation requirements. These books are considerably smaller and look like new in comparison to the other two books. Rak picks up Basic occupation requirements and flips through the pages, unlike the two other books there are a lot of numbers alongside paragraphs of text.

Before reading Basic occupation requirements, Rak flips through Untired job. The book also strays from the other two books but rather than a bunch of numbers like Basic occupation requirements, it has a collections of names that is followed up by a few paragraphs.

“I wonder if dad knows about this.”

Remembering his discussion with his father, Abalon Devion, Rak thought to the few job names he had heard of. It ranged from normal support jobs like tailoring, which is somewhat related to herbalism as it requires the gathering of certain plants to create the fibres for twin and so on.

Then there are more combat centric jobs, which seem to be in the majority. Things like a generic warrior, a hunter, of course survivalist which Abalon himself discovered. There is also the case of a swordsman, who is supposedly a variation on the warrior class. In this case the person was already a sword practitioner and sought out to fight with swords in Chaos theory.

The case of this swordsman is a good one, this person randomly killed things with his sword and trained incessantly. In chaos theory he only had to worry about fatigue, food and drink was not an issue since he sold his first hunt.

At one point, Chaos theory either decided or the man himself had simply fulfilled the requirements for a swordsman job so he was granted it. This was to the point he only had to accept the quest and then the job.

Once he accepted, his level was set back to zero. Comically he only gained one ability and the rest he’ll have to train at a swordsman, find old scrolls or be directly awarded them through a Chaos theory quest as a reward. Usually the quest would be given and returned to an individual who would then train said person for a few days to until they learn all the ‘beginner’ skills the job comes with. Leaping over this step has its disadvantages.

“The most basic requirements to be eligible for an untired job.”

Rak has already put down Untiered job book and is reading Basic occupation requirements, occupation being a popular synonym with the official title job.

“Is to have over five hundred accumulated levels in constitution, a fatigue level of four hundred, stamina level of four hundred and finally seven hundred clarity levels.”

Here the term level is used to replace points. This is because the actual points are hidden behind the generic statuses. Clarity might seem like an entity of its own but is like stamina, constitutions, hunger and fatigue. They are a conglomeration of various hidden attributes and some overlap.

Constitution and stamina is perhaps the easiest one to imagine having overlapping attributes, similarly stamina and constitution seem to be of the same vein. The points themselves are nearly arbitrary when comparing for example seven hundred points in clarity with five hundred in constitution and means practically nothing.

“There are however cases where having the ‘general’ requirements and still not being eligible for an occupation, this is a case where hidden attributes are unbalanced and do not reach the requirements.”

As Rak flips through the book it goes on to explain that some jobs edge on the extreme, and more often than not this extreme is hidden. The less hidden cases are there ones where an untiered job requires up to seven hundred constitution and still only seven hundred clarity.

In such cases it is still clear what the requirement is, but in cases where two people with the same attribute and yet only one of them is eligible is the difference in hidden attributes. This is assuming they meet other ‘abrir early’ achievements Chaos theory has set up.

“Seems pretty straight forward when you get a little understanding of it.”

After reading the requirements for some generic jobs, hunter included, which incidentally is the generic archetype of the job survivalist, trapper, tracker. While an archer is the generic archetype for something like sharpshooter or more mysterious, elemental archers and so on.

Reading the book also alleviated some feelings of ‘fear of missing out’ Rak has been having. While picking an archer might seem dull in comparison to a sharpshooter or whatever variations of the archer job there is, the book mentions that is common-place to ‘evolve’ into these jobs later. Evolve being the unofficial word for the official term Chaos theory uses, transitioning.

“It definitely seems targetable. Just analyzing the abilities of a job will probably allow me to guess some requirements.”

At this point Rak already whipped out some rough looking paper and a pencil from his inventory, something he had picked up on Alp town when he had began to plan his brewery.

“A sharpshooter probably needs a person to take slow long ranged shots over some period of time.”

Jotting down some of his thoughts Rak continually referred to the book and tried to extrapolate some general requirements for the ‘variation’ jobs. The generic jobs were easier than expected, some even mentioning the small tasks needed be eligible for a job quest. Things like shooting arrows as an archer, it was common sense things, but confirming them is still valuable.

One of the more interesting variations Rak came across, as most were rather generic, is a Tamer variation that became a Rider. Unlike the generic ability, riding, a Rider heavily complements a warrior capable of attacking while on horseback.

It doesn't mention it in the book but there is indeed already a job variation of a warrior, a second tier job, that will also do this, only better. When transitioning into a Mounted knight, the person in question is recommended very straightforwardly to take up taming and then becoming a ‘Rider’ due to its compatibility.

Higher tier jobs often have some dependencies on support occupations but they are never required, only lacking without them. This is exactly why they are called support jobs, as they are exactly that, support to the main job.

When talking about a support job exceeding the main job, this is when the support job receives benefits from a support job. Some support jobs might become equivalent of a main job without a another job supporting it but in the eyes of normal people, this makes it a main job. Chaos theory itself has none of these classifications, and this is merely people trying to understand and explain such occurrences.

“A mage is actually just an affinity for an element. And that element can mundane things like swords.”

After reading both books in their entirety Rak already understands that there is no ‘mage class’ and that any mage class is a job that excels in a type of energy manipulation. The book doesn’t go into details but it does mention that any job requires energy that manipulates items.

The mage class archetype is called Manipulator, its distinctive quality is focusing on transfering energy to something and then manipulating that item, thing or element. This manipulated thing is then controllable without the Manipulator directly being in contact with it.

The differences in non-manipulation jobs, is that they directly come in contact with items, elements or objects and said thing remains in physical contact with them. This does not exclude these jobs from swininging a weapon and releasing burst of sword energies as a means to attack, only that this attack would not be manipulated further after being released.

One of the reasons why Manipulator archetypes are rare as an untiered job is because it is counter intuitive to attempt to control an item with energy alone. Anyone swinging sword will naturally infuse the sword with energy, even if they don’t know how to actually utilize it.

Similarly, in case of various harvesting events, people naturally infused whatever they are harvesting with their energy, only it will most likely be neutral and do nothing. In the cases that they randomly exert this energy, they will probably do more harm than good. Only in a trained hand does it become a boon.

The Manipulator job is also one the jobs that require five hundred levels in constitution but in an unbalanced way, making it even more rare than it does naturally. Constitution being the conglomeration of all physical attributes. One in this case being a higher number of energy points which are something similar to a person’s blood.

Just like a person’s blood, energy can be enriched, increased in quantity and then concentrated to increase its quality. Blood and energy still differ in some ways, but in the earliest stages they are practically identical in growth.

“In the end I just have to practice energy manipulation.”

Watching is hands solomely for a few moments Rak let out a sigh, he didn’t feel any energy and none of this made any sense. All he felt was a bit of goosebumps and a chill run down his spine.

“I should just look for books on energy manipulation then.”

While reading the Untiered job book Rak found out what a ‘merchant’ is. In general it a job that emphasizes charm. It uses speech and casual movements to conjure an impression in targets. Outside of this it, like all other jobs, has specific abilities created by the Chaos theory system that are ‘additions’ in some sense. It is only in a sense because not everyone can make a distinction between ‘their’ ability and the ‘Chaos theory’ ability.

Some abilities are easy to make out, like a discounted sales tax within cities on large purchases, the ability to buy things only certain people and merchant-esqu jobs can. These are obviously not personal abilities. But there are also plenty of abilities that may seem like their own but is only partially theirs, the rest in Chaos theory supplementing.

After thinking things through, Rak didn’t feel that a merchant was below him anywhere, after all it was just a type of ‘energy manipulation’ like the books described. With this in mind Rak searched for both merchant books and then energy manipulation books.

Not all support jobs have strong benefits to main jobs, and jobs like a merchant might seem like one of the most distinct ‘not a good support job’ for a combat profession. And that is only true if they ignore the monetary requirements for personal growth. A poor person will not become strong fast, unless their luck is astronomical and they randomly find items suitable for their growth.

By the time Rak returned the four books and he found three more, it is already somewhat late and its is clear he’ll not be able to read through even a few chapters before the library closes. So Rak decided to copy the books. He didn’t want to return here tomorrow as he urgently wants to find a job advancement quest.

This feeling of urgency is something Rak hasn’t felt in years, a type of excitement that rivals creating his business. Thought it can’t quite reach those lofty heights it does have the semblance to it.

Once outside and thinking about tomorrow, Rak was hit the feeling of hunger. And as the sensation hit him, it hit him hard, hard enough that Rak couldn’t help but check his status.

Character

Status

Constitution:67/100%

Fatigue: 68/100%

Hunger: 11/100%

Clarity: 49/100%

Stamina: 99/100%

Abilities

Inventory

The fatigue seemed relatively normal, perhaps a bit spent considering he started the day with eighty percent, but not unreasonable. It is however odd that Rak’s constitution has hit sixty seven percent and his clarity hanging on at around forty nine. Hopefully food will remedy this situations, otherwise Rak might have caught some illness and that would require professional help.

Rak fished up some dried snacks, their taste is still alright but they aren’t filling. This type of snack is long lasting but only temporarily subdues the feeling of hunger and delays its decay.

“First I’ll find a place to eat.”

As Rak had already stored his carriage and horses away he casually walked about and glanced at the restaurants. This part of town is considered the next most expensive, rivaled only by the mansions owned by the top few people in the City. the high positioned officials and people who own larger businesses.

Strolling about Rak noticed that the City office main branch was still open for business and after some thought he decided he should probably get some information about prominent Manipulator’s in the city. If by chance he could get in touch with them, perhaps he could get them to train him like Alley did.

When he thought to this point he suddenly remembered his deal with Alley, that shifty hunter. At the beginning of his journey to Trove he expected her to pop up out of nowhere and scold him for not training diligently. None of that happened and he slowly let it slip his mind.

“Where the hell did she go?”

The advanced hunter Alley has her own aspirations and goals. Rak’s gold infusion gave her the means to accomplish some minor things in preparation for something she had been planning for a long time. After her tussle with Rak in the bed she solidified her understanding of Rak, both physically and mentally and decided it would be for the best to guide Rak in a different direction.

With Rak no having hunting experience, not really practicing archery or any of the optional requirements for a hunter job advancement quest, it became difficult for him to proceed alone. And like everyone his thoughts were fluid, slowly he lost interest in a hunter’s occupation and the recent books he read cemented this mind set.

“If I don’t become a hunter I save three gold. As for the other costs, I can only assume she’ll take full advantage of it and I’ll have to consider it forfeit.”

Rak was right in this, Alley indeed allocated everything, except for the hunter completion part of her contract with Rak. People might look at Alley and see a helpful person but she entirely exploited Rak for a large sum of coin. In no world was all that gold worth her tutoring.

Perhaps if Rak could keep her training bow, it might instead be Rak who made a profit. The bow itself contains invaluable training method for increasing constitution, clarity and even fatigue if viewed from a certain point of view.

In addition to this, Rak was allowed sleep on a high end bedroom, and drink a valuable concoction Alley herself made. Of course Alley didn’t put a price on the concoction but through inspecting the materials and the act of creating them, it is possible to estimate its value.

“How could I forget about Arlina. Isn’t she here in Trove with her son? I should also try and find out about some alchemists.”

After dealing with Trove’s City office Rak bought information costing him twenty silver coins. Four new dots were littering his map. All of which in areas he hasn’t travelled to yet. Thankfully all of them are in the north-western area.

It is already dark outside but the streets are illuminated by either electricity or some magical constructs. These are far more impressive than the common products Rak encountered his first night in the city. Then he had little mind to pay attention to it, but now he can’t help but to admire it a bit.

Magical contraptions for mundane things are nothing new, only they are nondescript and commonplace. Lighting up a room is nothing magical and majority of people wouldn’t flinch at the sight of streetlights.

However it might change people perspective that electricity is considered a ‘subpar’ source of power. Just like people wouldn’t imagine using a fire and a candle to light up a room, using electricity is similarly an absurd idea. Of course there is room for ‘strange´ things in solemn affairs like religions ceremonies, but that is not the norm.

In the Untiered book, Rak saw many jobs he couldn’t conceptualize. Things like an Electrician seemed a bit strange. It was like seeing a plumber being a job. But an Electrician is a subset of a Witch, which in turn is a subset of a Manipulator and heavily relies of support jobs like formation crafting and the like.

Rak’s thoughts were mostly on the various jobs, it was all a bit overwhelming and the potential of it all left him very excited. It was to the point Rak wasn’t sure what he wanted to pursue anymore.

Who knows, Rak might stumble onto some job prospect and just run with it. He might also slowly digest all the information at hand and make a well informed decision. But in the end, there is no harm in practicing untiered job methods without taking the job.

Rak can stroll into the nearest specialty store and buy tools to practice woodworking, flower grafting, glass runes or traditional formation crafting just like he could go and train archery, swordsmanship or whatever springs to mind.

One of the things that Interest Rak was the inverse of a Manipulator. A person that focuses on internal energy manipulation. This practice can evolve into things like shape shifting or druid like abilities that alter the body into that on animal.

It is possible to practice both, but spreading focus in both directions will cause one to reach neither apex. There are always exceptions and it is important to understand that few things in life are absolute and so are there few absolutes in Chaos theory, in fact, it is possible to say that there are fewer absolutes.