Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“I got something called solar flames and spear user.”

“I got earth master, air manipulator, and shield techniques.”

“I got lightning magic.”

“You only got one skill? That sucks.”

“Nah it looks like it's a type of magic you can typically only get if you manage to evolve air, water, and light magic at the same time, so I’ll be able to use all those on top of lightning spells.”

“Oh hell, that’s pretty cool.”

When Ben arrived at dinner everyone else had already gathered. It looked like he was delayed from spending so long verifying that this was another world, and they were already discussing the skills and abilities they had received. It seemed like a few were still pretty down to learn that they had died and there was no going back home, but many were at least ignoring that fact for now with the excitement of the situation.

He took a seat between Steph and his pal Will and chatted with them as a priest brought him a plate to eat.

“How is it?” He asked them, looking at the unusual purple mush beside some far too yellow-looking meat.The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

“Not poison.” Will was quick to say.

“It’s not bad. The taste is a little weird but who knows what it came from so I guess we’ll just have to get used to these sorts of meals from now on.” Steph said a little sadly.

Now that there was food in front of him he was feeling pretty hungry and wanted to dig in, but the looks of it still made him cautious, so he started with a small bite. Steph was right, a little weird but overall not bad. The meat was slightly spicy and the texture was unusual, but he could stomach it. The purple mush with it sort of made him think of berries mixed with mashed potatoes, but not in a bad way. It had a mellow sweetness to it.

As he was working his way through his plate Will popped the question that he was dreading. The question everyone else seemed to be talking about.

“So what skills did you get? I ended up getting unarmed master, tough skin, and advanced enhanced strength, probably because I do some boxing.”

“And I got spacial master, time controller, and high life magic.” Steph chipped in.

“...I got crafting, enchanting, and focus.”

“That suits you to a T.”

“Those skills are super on the ball with you.”

“Thanks guys, but the priest who was talking to me didn’t seem very positive about them at all, not to mention my other stats apparently suck.”

“Well how bad could it be?” Will asked, so Ben pulled out his card to show them both.

“Oof, okay that's pretty bad.”

“Will don’t be so negative, let me see...oh... well your resistances are incredible at least!”

“Yeah, and that stamina is great too, mine’s only four hundred.”

Ben thanked her and then dug into his pile, reading everything that seemed relevant at first before just trying to find whatever seemed interesting or useful. He was thankfully able to learn more about enchanting, finding out that he could attach not just his skills, but also his aptitudes and resistances to items as well. Although how powerful he could make something was dependent on his skill level. Crafting for its part listed all of the known disciplines that fell into it, as well as how learning the best way to level it up was apparently to use it in such a way that it would train multiple of its sub-abilities at once. That made sense to him, if you challenge yourself you make greater progress.

Focus was the odd one out, he didn't see it when he was flipping through the first book looking for it and didn't find it until he made his way through the book of rare skills. Apparently it wasn’t clear on what one would have to do to develop the skill itself, as plenty of professionals would spend hours of each day focusing on their work, only to never get it. On the plus side, once it was acquired it isn’t too hard to level, the method seems to be just doing work that requires focus is all.

With that done he made a mental note to see if the library had any books more specialized in enchanting when he had time and continued to flip through the books around him, trying to make a list of any skills he may want to try and acquire later. The biggest issue was how cool so many of them sounded until he read the conditions to acquire them. Magic was out automatically, while it was technically possible for him to get certain rare magic skills if he improved his attributes, all of them advised not even trying for affinities ones unless he had an aptitude of at least twenty in the skill he wanted to learn, otherwise it would be all but impossible to acquire.

Even ignoring those though he still didn't have the best options just based on how his attributes worked out. His high intelligence and mana regeneration made him a candidate for an okay mage, but again there was the issue of his affinities as well as low mana. His strength and agility made it clear that even if he could use combat skills he wouldn’t be very good at them, and other skills he just didn’t meet the requirements of completing certain tasks for.

In the end he was only able to find two that he wanted to try and acquire. Dismantling was something that could be gained by stripping monsters for parts, it required some practice and training, but it shouldn’t be too hard, plus it looked like different monster materials could be used as crafting items, it would certainly help him with any future work he may get. As for the other one, well it may be useful as an enchantment to put on items, but he would leave it for later.

He was about to flip through the book again to try and find more when he felt two hands firmly placed on his shoulders.

“Ben, I’m sure this is all very interesting to you and helpful for deciding how you want to study and grow, but you’ve been reading without moving for five hours now. There's one more thing we need to do then get some rest before the representatives arrive tomorrow.” The strength in her grip left no room for arguments and Ben briefly wondered if she had been there with him the entire time before she dragged him off, through the halls and corridor before they came to a brightly illuminated room bathed in moonlight from a skylight above, as well as the glow of a crystal within.

“This is the job change rooms you’ll find in any church or town. Ours is a little more grand than a usual one, but the function is the same. Go place your hands on the crystal and select one of the available Jobs that show up in your mind.”

Not feeling the need to test the safety of everything anymore he did as he was told and placed his hands on the crystal, feeling a strange warmth filling him up. He closed his eyes, excited to see whatever options would present themselves to him.

AVAILABLE JOBS

Apprentice craftsman

...Yeah that tracks.

With no other Jobs available to him he selected apprentice craftsman in his mind.

“What the hell was that!” he yelled out, surprised to suddenly have a thundering voice yelling in his mind.

Lehie tried to hide a small giggle as she explained. “That was the system itself explaining the benefits of your new job. Getting a job improves attributes and skills related to it, making it an invaluable resource to improving yourself. So what did you pick?”

“Apprentice craftsman.” Seeing a small grimace appear on her face he quickly explained. “I only had the one option, does that mean I’m stuck with this forever or what?”

“No no no, you can change your new job at any time, the only thing is if you don’t get it up to level 99 you won’t be able to take any advanced version of the job in the future, nor will you be able to keep the skill and attribute bonus after you complete it.”

“How long should it take me to complete then?”

“If you work hard on using skills related to the job it shouldn’t take that long, especially since it uses your blessed skills It should only take about a year.”

“That feels like a long time to me?”

“Oh? Is your race particularly short lived?”

“I mean if I’m very lucky I may manage a century.”

“Then you’re fine. With that sort of lifespan you could reasonably expect to get five or six jobs in your time, they will take longer the more advanced they are.”

Well when she put it that way a year wasn’t too bad at all, he would have to just start using his skills and get crafting. Hopefully whoever ended up grabbing him would put him to work under a decent teacher.

With that done for the day Lehie led him back to his room so he could get some rest before meeting the representatives of various nations.