Chapter 33: Choosing a profession
Billy did feel better after a long sleep both physically and emotionally. There were times when he thought that they would never survive this. The endless battles were wearing. The dark times came when nothing was happening. However, their triumph over the dungeon had instilled hope. Maybe his soul had recovered from the traumatic experiences over these last few days.
There was a certain nostalgic feel when opening the door to Dilchak’s store. The interior had not changed. There were a few more items on the shelves but everything else was a reassuring sameness, including the demon storekeeper himself. He seemed to have not even moved from the counter.
“So you’re fewkin back,” Dilchak said with a huge smile. “I see from your equipment that you conquered the starter dungeon. Some nice solid gear there. Looks like the developers are being overly generous again. Just in time, too. The tutorial will be over soon.”
“What will happen then, sir demon?” Yuki asked.
“Well, for one thing, my prices will no longer be capped. So, no more bargain basement deals for you guys. For another, levels for monsters will not be capped in the area. This is good and bad, because XP rewards will be calculated normally.”
“What do you mean normally?” Now Billy was interested.
Dilchak sank a little. “It’s because of the fewkin’ rush job. They were using the old alpha system. Anyway, the beta will be replacing it.”
“What does that mean?” Billy could feel his blood pressure rising. Just when he had become used to a system, it changed.
“Well it means that you get decent rewards now for killing something. You may have noticed that you only get 10XP for killing something at your own level. The idea was that at lower levels it would push you to hit above your weight category, which is fine until you get past level 5 and then your screwed. Well, it will now be ten percent of the level needs. So if you are level five, which means you need 3200XP for the next level, you will get 320XP for killing a creature at the same level. If you kill a level six creature, you will get double that. And then there are the rare and elite monsters.”
Billy had not thought about it like that before. If the old system stayed in place, they would need to kill so many more monsters just to level. It would make higher levels near impossible to reach.
“What are rare and elite monsters?” Su Li asked.
“Well, the monsters are categorized in four types, common, which are the ones you have encountered, rare, elite, and legendary.” The demon laughed. “If you see a legendary monster, you are dead. I doubt they will introduce that here. Maybe in the more advanced training centres. But you might see rare and elite. The XP there is calculated differently – more danger, more rewards. I don’t know the exact figure.”
“You seem to know a lot for a storekeeper,” Lorna commented.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Storekeeper, entrepreneur, elite businessman and handsome demon. Little human, I am also a much higher level than you and could destroy you on a whim. However, that is poor business. Knowing what the fewk is going on is good business. Speaking of which, less talk and more spending. You all have two gold pieces on credit. How can I take that away from your today?”
“Professions,” Billy replied simply.
“Ah, yes. Here’s the list.”
He put a long piece of paper in front of them.
“The basic profession manual will cost you one gold piece. At the last count, there are sixteen basic professions available, though that will probably change in the next fewkin’ update. These are evolvable to an advanced profession when you get to level twenty in your profession. So for example engineer could become siege specialist or artificer. And then there are expert professions, followed by master professions.”
“How does a tailor profession differ from my tailoring skill, sir demon?”
“Well, my sweet, the profession encompasses a multitude of skills, not just the one skill. When you choose a profession, you get a manual similar to he cultivation one. So, if you chose the tailoring profession without the tailoring skill, you would learn that skill from the manual. Now you already have the skill, you can advance much quicker.”
“Jeweler doesn’t seem very useful,” Trevor said.
“Maybe, not by itself.” He pointed to his medallion. “It is nice to have some bling, though. However, if you know an enchanter, you can create enchanted jewellery, like your spatial rings.”
Billy was a little overwhelmed by the choice and the possibilities.
“And we can only choose one profession?” Lorna asked.
“Technically, you can pick up a second profession after your first evolution. Most don’t, but some do. It does add to the workload, but it can have its benefits. Take your humble servant Dilchak. My first profession was enchanting. When I evolved, I picked up merchant as my second. Now, I am a master enchanter and an entrepreneur.”
Billy looked at the others, “Well?”
“I think I know what I want,” Trevor said hesitantly. “I want to be an alchemist.”
Billy was not surprised by that at all, and neither was anyone else.
“Tailor, for me,” Yuki said.
“I am torn between two,” said Su Li. “Enchanting and bowyer.”
“Both seem solid choices with some use. Enchanting seems obvious,s but why bowyer?”
“It would be good to have some decent range attacks,” she said. “I am never going to be a frontline attacker. Plus, other people can use bows too. We all could have a ranged option.”
Billy nodded. It made sense.
“What about you Lorna?”
She just stood there for a moment. “I was tempted by carpentry. It would be so nice to have some proper furniture but that is just a whim. I thought glass smith would be interesting, but again, maybe not so useful right now. So, I will choose blacksmith. I have always had a desire to pound hot metal. I used to watch programs about it.”
Trevor nodded. “I remember that phase you had.”
“What about you, Billy?” Su Li asked.
He could tell she was still trying to decide. “I did think about enchanting but I am sure it will be quite heavy on resource requirements. I am going to go with wardcrafter.”
“A sensible choice,” Dilchak said. “There may be fewkin hope for you yet, human.”
Su Li nodded. “I can be sensible too. I will choose bowyer. I will pick up enchanting or something later.”
“Ok, done and dusted,” Dilchak said. He waved his hands in the air. “Okay you now have access to your profession manuals in your system menus. I guess you’ll be wanting the starter kit too?”
Yuki’s eyes narrowed. “Starter kit?”
“Yes, you will need equipment for your profession, won’t you? And it will only cost one gold piece!”
After what felt like to Billy like a lengthy bartering session, they left the store with some of their dignity intact. They had got what they came for plus some food supplies and crafting materials. To get those, Yuki had bartered hard to get a discount on the starter kits and Lorna, Yuki and Trevor had traded in their old weapons. While they bartered Billy had glanced at his manual. It was like learning complex mathematics for the first time. He knew he had some studying to do.
