Ruthless ~ 5!

~ Five ~

“No, I didn't. I was… why am I telling you this?” Boris shook his head and glared at Joe. “What are you doing, youngster?”

“Research.” Joe waved at the table and nodded. “Trying to find out more about my class, get a few lore skills, and find my path to my next Specialization.”

“Ah. Well… I can't exactly kick out a Tenured Scholar.” Boris seemed as displeased by that fact as he seemed happy that Joe had that rank. “Is there anything I can help you with that will get you out of here faster? Only so I can go to bed, but the offer stands. What are your reasons for looking into this?”

“I’m trying to find what I need to do to achieve my next Specialization, and I feel that lore is the way to go.” Joe pushed his notes across the table and tapped his section headers. “As far as I can tell, there are three main categories of structure that I can make. The first is ‘offence’, or seige, which looks amazing. Buildings that can lob projectiles a quarter of a zone? Resonating siege towers that cast and amplify a spell from a distance?”

Joe blinked as Boris’s head bobbed, the older man was falling asleep. “Right, ahh… ‘defense’, which allows things like enchanted walls and traps. Also massive stationary shields or magical auto turrets. Finally ‘utility’, which is mainly used as quality-of-life or support structures that help less directly with combat.”

Boris glanced at Joe’s notes and agreed with him. “These do look interesting, is there any specific one that you are leaning toward?”

“Honestly… if I can find the path forward on one of these… I think that any of them will be valid. My real concern is that I am a class trainer, so if I take something that isn't useful to everyone, there will be a lot of people stuck with my choices.” Joe paused and licked his lips, “I’m actually pretty concerned with what I took for my first Specialization. I’m wondering if steering my class away from war was the correct path.”

Boris nodded and put a hand on Joe’s shoulder. “I think you are doing just fine. You can't decide to be responsible for everyone. If they want a different path, all they need to do is walk it. Now… I think I know of something that may help you.”

Joe looked up, hope filling his eyes. Boris arched a brow and continued, “Don’t get your hopes up too high, what I am thinking of is going to take a lot of research on my end. I don't mind doing it, because I still feel that the Scholars owe you something. I’ll try to have some information for you in a week or two.” 

“Thank you, Boris.” Joe shook the old man’s hand.

“Don’t run off now, I think that there is something you are overlooking.” Boris gave Joe a flat stare over the top of his glasses. “You are a Tenured Scholar, and that is wonderful, but what have you taken for your other professions?”

“So far, I only have the one.”

Boris shook his head in annoyance, “Then you are wasting your talents and throwing away experience and benefits. You have a profession that is currently based on gathering, you should take another that is based on production or refinement now. Or, it seems you are level fifteen, so take both! You can make sure to synergize them well with your class and gain the most benefit from them. My personal recommendation would be something along the lines of paper production or bookbinding. You don't strike me as a blacksmith, for instance.”

“Isn’t blacksmith a class?” Joe quizzed the older man. “What’s the difference here?”

“Easy enough.” Boris cleared his throat and sat down alongside Joe. “You can have a profession, such as blacksmithing, that will give you bonuses such as profession  experience and skills for creating weapons and various metallurgy. Then you have the blacksmith class, which will give you things like weapon blueprints, class and personal experience, and will allow for much faster progression. Now, to maximize the potential, a blacksmith would likely take a blacksmith class and profession.”

“I don't really see the difference there.” Joe admitted. “It seems like they do the same thing.”

“In a way, yes.” Boris nodded, “But have you ever gained personal experience for increasing your profession? Or has it always been profession experience? I don't mean from quest rewards, of course.”

“Honestly… I don't know?” Joe tried to think back, but couldn't remember the details.

“That’s fine. The main difference is that a blacksmith class can reach level twenty by crafting alone. A person with a blacksmith profession can make the same items, the same tools, be very good at it… and be stuck at level one forever.” Boris waved away Joe’s next question and pointed at the door. “My bed is calling, and the midnight oil is burning. I hereby rescind my previous statement that I wouldn't kick you out. Get!”

“Pff.” Joe stood and helped Boris to his feet while chuckling. “Thanks, Boris. You gave me a lot to think about.”

“Yes, yes.” Boris waved his hands at Joe. “Out!”

Joe laughed and left with a wave, now thinking through his next options. His profession was something that he should really look into, something that he should spend a lot of time researching… “Nah. I’ll make Jess do it.”

He chuckled as he teleported to Towney McTownface and found his bed. As Joe was disrobing, he heard a crinkle in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out… a paper crane? Was this a secret message of some kind? Joe pulled the paper to unfold it, and the entire thing glowed brilliantly… before exploding into shards of ice.

There was a concussive blast that pinned him to the wall, and Joe felt strangely lethargic.

Damage taken: 250 (125 x2 sneak attack damage!) Debuff: Chilled. Slowed, movement speed reduced by 25%! You take additional damage from cold damage until ‘Chilled’ has worn off!

Joe’s teeth chattered, and he slowly reached to himself and touched his chest. He rasped out, “Mend.”

Health: 245/330 Debuff: Chilled. Slowed, movement speed reduced by 25%! You take additional damage from cold damage until ‘Chilled’ has worn off!

“I’m really missing Cleanse right about now.” Joe snarled in slow motion. “Mend.”

His health returned to full, and Joe slowly pulled himself out of the puddle of frosted blood that he had been lying in. His door slammed open, and a few guild guards looked around. “Joe! You alright there?”

“Jay? I’ve… never… seen… you… off… the wall.” Joe’s teeth stopped chattering, and his motions became more fluid. The chilled debuff finally wore off. “Was that a twelve second debuff on one spell?”

“Someone attacked you?” Jay pulled out what looked like a riding crop and walked into the room, tossing open the small closet to see if someone was hiding there.

“It was a trap.” Joe informed him. “Someone basically put a grenade in my pocket.”

“There’s a paper on the floor.” Jay leaned down and picked it up before Joe could warn him off. “It says ‘Wolfpack forever. Hope this helps you chill.’ and it is signed ‘S’. Know any people that are after you?”

“Way too many.” Joe admitted stiffly. “Thanks for coming to check on me, but I’m gonna get some sleep now.”

“Fair enough, take care.” Jay stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Joe flopped onto the bed, staining the sheets in an instant. “Ugh. I miss Cleanse. Alright… sleep. Figure this out later.” 

The night seemed to fly by, and far too soon Joe found himself with his group and on the way to an unknown dungeon early the next morning. He explained what had happened to all of them, and made his request for Jess to look at what professions would synergize well with what he was doing.

“I can certainly look into that, no problems there. It aligns well with what I am trying to research right now anyway, but let me know if anything changes.” Jess got more information from him, mainly what he was building, the things he was trying to do, and where he saw himself going. 

When all of her questions had been answered, Joe looked around at the others. “Hey guys, listen. I got ordered to make serious progress toward my next class, and I am wondering if you all need help also. I don't want to leave this Zone without you, so if you need something that I can provide, just tell me.”

“Sounds good!” Poppy was in a strangely good mood today. Joe didn't want to comment, so he focused on the road. “Did I tell you all that my girl learned how to do somersaults last night?”

Ah. That would do it. It was strange to Joe that the steely-eyed Duelist who was driven to perfect his skills with a rapier… was also a doting doe-eyed father that could be put into a fuzzy pink mood for days after seeing his daughter. Joe certainly wasn't complaining though. “That’s excellent, Poppy! How’s everything else going?”

“Mmm. Good. The Pathfinder’s Hall allows for excellent skill sharpening, but I truly need to test myself in combat in order to consolidate my abilities with battle experience.” Poppy gave Joe a dark glance that was much more his style. “Joe, we have seen neither combat nor revelry together for too long. We need to make sure that we are progressing smoothly together.”

“I fully agree.” Joe nodded and glanced over at Alexis and Bard, but they were fully lost in their own conversation. Jaxon and Jess were arguing together, so Joe broke into their conversation. “Jess, will this be a good place for-”

“Jaxon, there are no other people with that skill! How the abyss am I supposed to help you find your next Specialization?” Jess ignored Jaxon’s reply and turned to Joe.

“It has to be a cross between a tamer and a Chiropractor!” Jaxon demanded enthusiastically. “Or a druid of some sort!”

“Joe, we’re here.” Jess kept her eyes locked on Joe. She pointed at a hole in the side of a hill that had two guards from the guild outside of it. “Watch this, guys.”

Jess pulled out a bag and started dumping snakes onto the ground. Bard yelped a curse and jumped back, but Jaxon’s eyes lit up. They dimmed as he looked closer. “Aww. They’re dead.”

“Yup.” Jess touched one on the head. “Slither again. Be my eyes and ears.”

The snake corpse started moving, then coiled up and looked at her. It remained unnaturally still the spell was cast nine more times. Poppy started chuckling, and Jess looked at him with pure confusion. “What? This is super cool! They can scout! I even combined one of my rogue abilities that lets me use them to steal items out of people’s pockets!”

“I’m sorry, Jess… it's just… you raise snakes. Ha! You can steal with your serpents? From people? Is… hee… is that skill called trouser snake, by any chance?” Poppy only laughed harder as Jess turned red. “That you aren't answering the question tells me everything I needed to know!”

“You know what?” Jess started dangerously, turning on the Duelist. He shied away, laughing, and she grumbled as she sent the snakes past the guards and into the open dungeon behind them. Jess pulled out a paper and a pencil, starting to draw a map out for the team while muttering, “I better start getting some respect around here.”