But for a Slime

Chapter Ten

After arriving back at the village and passing on some coin to Garnedell, Joe dropped off his combat materials and quickly went to the stream to bathe. He decide to take the luxury of a longer bath before returning to his room at the inn and explore his new opportunities in the status and try to find out where to change his job. There was still quite a bit of time during the day, and he could still explore for a couple hours even after the sun set.

After changing and draping his wet clothes around his room, he went back to his now favorite location on the grassy knoll overlooking the lake where he usually practiced his forms. Having already taken his bath and wanting to focus on his status, he decided to forgo his forms and opened his status, still looking for anything to help with his job change.

Joe went through his various status pages, spending some time on each, exploring as much of each of the pages as possible. He pressed everything he could but nothing new seemed to show up, although he did find an unusual change when he pressed the numbers on his main status change where the numbers changed to show (20 + 0). Twenty, obviously my status I’ve gained from leveling my job. Maybe the zero would be from some buffs or other outside help?

None of the other tabs seemed to show anything he hadn’t already seen, so he returned to the available jobs tab and tried to press everything he could find. His frustration only continued as the available jobs screened refused to do anything but show the ridiculous and meaningless short sentence explanations about each job. He had long since stood up and now wandered the grassy hilltop angrily stabbing at the air in front of him. A little while later, he noticed that Garnedell was standing at the edge of the meadow watching him. Joe stopped his mad stabs at the air and turned to look at Garnedell.

“Hey, maybe you can help me. I can’t seem to figure out how to change my job?”

Garnedell looked at him, but said little in return, some confusion on his face. Joe pulled up his status and pointed at his job list trying to explain through mime and visuals. The boy continued to stare at him in confusion, and no matter how Joe explained, the teen seemed utterly lost. The one sided non-conversation continued on for another few minutes and Joe finally gave up as Garnedell seemed no closer than he had been at the beginning. Joe waved to the boy and decided it was about time for supper with the sun hung almost touching the edge of the horizon.

Walking back through town, Joe looked towards the smithy and had an idea. The man had been fairly articulate and seemed able to explain things decently well enough. As he considered the option, he turned towards the smithy but saw the blacksmith come out and began closing the door. Ahh… I don’t want to bother him so close to closing time. I’ll catch him first thing in the morning. Joe simply waved to the blacksmith instead, receiving friendly greeting in return. They headed on to the inn and their meal. The evening had Joe making some meaningful progress on learning the language. There was a major breakthrough and Joe was able to understand some basic verbs and a very simple structure for the sentence. The spent an extra hour or so in the room going over very simple sentences that the two agreed upon. Or, I hope they’re what I think they mean!

Feeling a bit giddy at finally grasping a significant cornerstone to the language, he called their language learning to an end and finally went to their room. Garnedell fell asleep pretty quickly, but Joe stayed up several more hours solidifying the language he’d learned. He went over the sentences several more times, but soon found himself bored and his mind shifted to his main priority; changing his job. He spent about five minutes fiddling with his status windows struggling to find how to change his job. Wait! Maybe the help system?

Joe opened up his help menu, looking at what was available. Again, only the same two commands were available: status and help. But he did remember that he was able to get help when he asked for help on something specific. Huh. Let me try. I need help for changing my job. As expected, a pop up showed and Joe eagerly read over it.

Changing jobs requires a priest.

Huh. OK. I need a priest. Joe felt excitement rise as he considered this new piece of information, which was quickly dampened when Joe realized that miming how to change a job was almost as clear as miming for a priest. How am I supposed to do this! Joe ended his consideration, calming his mind and eagerly sought sleep.

* * *

Kargallen woke as he always did, enjoying an early morning meal with his family before taking his eldest son and heading for his smithy. He came from his home and was surprised to see he already had a customer waiting for him. The tall foreigner stood agitatedly before his shop, pacing slowly but with nervous purpose. He waved to the foreigner before he began fiddling with locked door and shop window awnings. Next to the foreigner, young Garnedell stood and awaited his master’s bidding. A good lad! Glad he found a decent master… too bad about his curse though… I’m surprised any would take him to master. Is he that kind of… Kargallen glanced towards the boy, but saw nothing but determined hope. There was no fear or shame to be seen, and Kargallen felt a small sense of hope. A good master then. Why would he…

Kargallen waved it off after he had converted his shop to accept customers for the day. The foreigner came in and began agitatedly asking questions, arms waving and dancing in strange ways. First, he saw the man seem to place a small hat on his head, then shaped it to be quite large or quite high, its shape amorphous and impossible for Kargallen to guess at. Next, the man pretended to open a small strange box and waved his hands while over acting some kind of oration, although Kargallen was still quite confused. Is he looking for a librarian? This continued for several more minutes, Kargallen shaking his head denying his understanding. The man seemed to deflate then, collapsing into failure before returning with even more fervor and vigor. He began pointing at the boy, himself, the shop next door, even Kargallen, but the confusion only continued to grow.

The animated and absolutely confusing conversation came to a head when the foreigner brought up his status and pointed towards it, then began making strange circular motions with his arms, as if he wished to do something, although Kargallen couldn’t understand at all. Curiosity overcoming his boredom of attempting to understand the strange antics, he focused on the man’s status and was surprised to see a status of only two digits. Truly? He is this weak? Kargallen was not amongst the strongest, only being a smith, but he was still proud of his three digits. But an adventurer with only two digits?

“Boy!”

“Yes, master smith.”

The foreigner grew quiet, face looking on expectantly.

“He truly only has two digits?”

“No master! This is another aspect of his status. He knows the arcane ways of the status. I have seen his master status. He has five or six digits, but I don’t know. It was too fast to count.”

“Five! Six! That…. That cannot be true!”

“It is true, master smith.”

Kargallen swallowed quickly, a bit of fear coming to his face before he quickly firmed his expression. Never reveal your cards to a customer. Kargallen steadied, his father’s favorite saying quickly coming to mind as he settled his heart. He still had no clue what the foreigner wanted, but since he seemed to be watching the interaction with some expectancy, and not angered frustration, Kargallen could only hope to possibly find out what he could with his own interrogation.

“Boy. What have you been doing lately? What has he been doing?”

“Monster slaying, master smith.”

Kargallen’s eyebrows rose. It was expected, but still a bit alarming for the peaceful village.

“How many have you killed?”

“Hundreds, master. Each day.”

This admission took the smith aback. He truly must be a great warrior. At least four digits, more!

“Then…”

The blacksmith stopped, stymied and uncertain, but not wishing to lose his momentum and the approval of this foreign master, he opened his own status and directed the conversation down a completely different path. I have no idea what he wants anyway. Might as well learn what I can from his apprentice.

“Show me, boy,” the blacksmith said even as he brought up his own status. When he did so, he glanced towards the foreigner and saw him smile with a pleased nod. He must think I understand what he wants.

The apprentice came forward and pointed at the row of boxes at the top of the status.

“Master Smith, you are able to view other arcane status by pressing these boxes at the top.”

Kargallen looked towards the boy before bringing up his finger and pressed the button. Nothing much at all happened, until he noticed a small change at the middle of the screen. This is worthless! My digits are the same. How are the foreigner’s different? He then pressed the next box and found himself staring at blank screen with only few arcane runes. The next two showed more arcane runes, but he was left absolutely bewildered as he had no understanding of the runes. The last box revealed an absolute deluge of arcane runes littering his status and he drew back with some shock, but ultimately was again flummoxed. There was nothing he learned but that he could look at even more incomprehensible arcane runes. Kargallen finally sighed in defeat, and was uncertain how to offer any more help to the foreigner, but struggled mightily to think of a way. This man, even if he only has four digits, is a man worth having his favor! What can I… Oh! The idea struck with some surprise, and Kragallen turned to the boy.

“Boy, do you have any clue what he is asking for?”

“No, master smith, although he has been very angry trying to find it since yesterday. I still do not understand what he was looking for.”

“Hmm… well boy, my usefulness is at an end then, but you might seek out the mad monk, a pox on his drunken ass. He may be useless to us, but he likely has the greatest intelligence in this village. If any could match this man’s five or six digit intelligence, then it would only be the mad monk.”

The boy looked up in surprise then with delight, a bright smile flashing on to his face, “Of course, master smith! That is a genius idea. Great thanks, master smith!”

The master smith waved off the boy’s thanks and waved them out of his smithy, “Good! Then get out of my smithy! I’m already almost an hour behind and I’ve yet to even light my forge! Off with you and your master!”

“Yes, master smith,” the boy replied with a smile.

“Oh, and boy!”

“Yes, master smith.”

“Congratulations on finding a master! A noble master!”

The boy’s face flickered, joy at recognition quickly swamped by shock as he considered the small addendum the blacksmith had said, “You… think so? A noble?”

The master smith smiled, “Likely. Have you seen his walk? He fears nothing. His arcane knowledge of the status … your master is… something more.”

The young boy thought on this for a time before nodding, “I believe you may be correct, master smith.”

The blacksmith smiled and nodded bluntly before turning away and waving over his shoulders, “Be grateful, lad, and don’t think I may not be a little jealous. Congratulations once again.”

This time, the young boy’s face absolutely erupted into a huge smile and his reply of “thank you” was accompanied by a deep and grateful bow.

The blacksmith waved them out of the shop and the boy then turned towards his master and beckoned him after, the foreigner seeming quite satisfied with the results.

* * *