But for a Slime

* * *

Joe took off after the boy with a sense of satisfaction overwhelmed with eager expectation. They headed out of town out the west side this time, moving up the lakeside. After about five minutes, they escaped the village edge and ten minutes of walking had them following the road as it turned north following the western edge of the lake. About a half an hour later, they came upon what might have been a shrine, if a drunken cottage leaning next to a small stone pillar overrun with vines, weeds, and detritus could be considered one.

The boy led him to the nigh collapsing cottage to the side and Joe grinned with excitement. Definitely a priest, right? He walked up the small porch at the entrance of the cottage and knocked politely at the door, but Garnedell instead pounded on the cottage door and yelled out a loud phrase. Joe looked towards the boy in surprise and pulled him back, shaking his head no.

“Kid! You can’t do that. It’s very impolite! Be nice with how you knock.”

The boy looked at him in some confusion, then shook his head and pointed towards the cabin before finally shaking his head in defeat as he was not able to pass on his idea. Joe looked at the boy, wondering, then realized that this might be a bit of a different situation, and went back to the door to rap on it much more firmly, his knock thundering hollowly through the dilapidated cabin. He waited for several moments, then looked back at the boy who ducked his head and pointed at the door once again. Really? Is the guy that deaf?

Joe pounded on the door once again before walking to the edge to glance around the side. The cabin was quite tiny, likely no more than a single room. His knock should have been easily heard, but the boy simply pointed at the door again. He pounded again, louder and longer, and finally heard a cry from inside, so he stepped back with some anticipation as he waited for the door to open. But even before a few seconds had passed, the boy tugged on a sleeve and pointed back at the door.

“Really? That wasn’t an ‘I am coming’ call? What is he, a cranky old man?”

Joe stepped forward, and pounded some more, glancing back to Garnedell every once and a while when he stopped after hearing the call from inside. Each time, the teen would shake his head and point back to the door, so Joe would start once more. Finally, he heard an angry shout from inside and the boy looked up at him and nodded.

“Finally. What is this guy’s problem.”

Joe found out immediately when the door opened and the wash of alcohol was actually a visible wave the tumbled out and upwards into the air above the doorsill. The smell was so overwhelming that Joe almost got drunk just from the alcohol in the air.

“Great. A drunk priest! That’s just awesome!”

The man came out, waving and shouting at them, stumbling across the porch before throwing a weak punch against Joe’s chest. Joe didn’t move and allowed the hit to land, a hollow thud echoing through his chest. Joe’s eyebrows rose in a bit of surprise when he felt the punch land. The guy can hit pretty hard! Even for a drunken halfhearted throw. He’s a priest? Felt more like a boxer!

Joe watched the man step back from him and glance up at him with some surprise, his eyes blinking in bleary confusion as he tried to clear the alcohol from his body. The man staggered for a bit before he began mumbling something under his breath, waving his arms around with some confusion. He didn’t do much and turned to leave, heading back into the cabin. The boy stepped forward quickly and grabbed at his arm and turned him back around while speaking quickly. The priest ignored Garnedell, seeming mostly confused, but when he saw he was being stopped, started listening. The man attempted to listen but soon became belligerent, repeatedly interrupting and dismissing Garnedell.

* * *

“Enough of your nonsense! I care not for your master or his greatness, nor his questions which you obviously poorly understand!”

“Sire, he is seekin…”

“Look, boy. You say he is an adventurer? Adventurers only come to priests for three things, and he looks in hale health, no diseases and no curses.”

Garnedell tried to interject again, explaining they did not need the priest, beyond his help in understanding his master, but the priest refused to listen and Garendell tried to continue quietly without exacerbating the priest further.

“His health be fine and I refuse to give any blessing. I have none to give! The only other service I provide is those seeking divine guidance to growth.”

Garnedell tried to interject but the priest only grew angrier and flung his arm away and Garnedell stumbled back slightly.

“He wishes to chance the divines? He may!” The priest shouted and turned to retreat into the house.

* * *

Joe growled slightly and stepped forward, grabbing the priest's arm before he would accidentally hit the boy. The man squinted at him angrily, shouting a bit before pushing away slightly.

“Look, man. I just want to change my job. Can you calm down and stop throwing abuse around?”

The man blinked several times, then huffed in unhappy belligerence before bringing up a strange status screen Joe had never seen before. Joe quickly smiled, glanced at the screen, trying to decipher what he was seeing. But even as he looked at it, the strange squirming arcane letters before his eyes did not change, maintaining their mystery as they continue to squirm. The priest looked up at him, then snorted before pressing various buttons and going through several screens. The priest seemed to get more belligerent and angry as he seemed unhappy with what he was finding going through his status. He blinked at the boy, and the priest shouted out an angry sounding sentence, but the boy spoke back while pointed back at Joe. Joe had no clue what was being said, but straightened and tried to smile with a bit of sincerity. The man squinted then flipped through his pages before pushing a button angrily and swiped it towards Joe. A pop up floated up on his screen and Joe blinked in surprise.

Another has offered you control of their commands. Do you accept?

Joe read the screen with some slight trepidation. Joe saw Garnedell head towards the drunk priest, but then stopped him with a wave as he considered the popup before him. It was a bit nerve racking, considering that this was the first time he had seen being able to interact with another’s status screens. Are there such things as viruses contacted through this kind of ‘unsafe’ status interaction?

Joe wasn’t sure what to consider, but looked at it with some trepidation before nodding. Joe was a bit surprised when his nod was accepted and Joe realized that the thing was tied, mentally, somehow, and didn’t need physical interaction. What came next was even more confusing than the last popup.

Speak the name of thy wish!

OK. Maybe it does need physical interaction… sometimes? Joe’s thoughts skittered at what he was seeing, uncertain of what to do. His mind wandered a bit before he finally decided to do what the thing said, taking a moment to clear his throat.

“Hunter,” Joe spoke carefully.

Nothing happened and Joe frowned, a bit of consternation flooding through as he thought then decided that maybe he had to say more but was interrupted by the returning grumpy priest. The door opened again with a slam and the priest came to him angrily waving his hand in front of his face.

Joe looked at the man with some confusion, then looked at the boy. Garnedell quickly understood his confusion and dug out a small coin to show to Joe before nodding to the priest.

“Right… gotta pay for services rendered. OK. Makes sense.”

Joe dug around and pulled out the same coin that the boy had pulled out, and the priest shook his head angrily, shouting at him even as he batted at the coin, knocking it away. Joe felt a bit of anger come over him, but was able to hold onto the coin. He looked towards the boy, and he nodded, pointing a finger up and pushing ‘higher.’

“OK. More. Got it.”

Joe pulled out the next denomination while looking at the boy, but he again shook his head in disagreement. This continued until Joe had pulled out his highest coin, and the boy continued to shake his head no and Joe sighed with resignation even as the priest’s ire continued to rise.

“Whelp. There’s only one thing that I have that’s worth more. Gotta give that a try.”

Joe pulled out a slime gem and offered it towards the priest. The priest almost immediately silenced, looking at the gem before ripping it from his hand and looking at it carefully through drunken beady eyes. The priest finally grunted in acknowledgement, then back at the gem. He pointed at the gem then rattled off a long sentence of which Joe had no clue.

Joe looked towards the boy, and the boy pointed at the gem, holding up one finger, then pointed at him and the status screen while holding up two fingers. Joe smiled in understanding then gave a questioning look asking of the deal was good, something that the boy and Joe had worked out a few weeks ago when Joe had joined the boy in his pillaging of the candy in the local merchant's shop. When Joe saw that the priest was trying to rip him off, a bit of a shrewd look came over him and he shook his head no, then pointed at the status screen with one hand and holding up four fingers before pointed at the gem and holding up one finger.

The priest growled unhappily, then countered with one for three, but Joe held firm, demanding one for four. The priest finally turned away with a growl and disappeared into the depths of his alcoholic cabin. Joe looked at the boy with some confusion, then shrugged his shoulders upwards while holding his hands out.

“So, what does that mean? Is it a deal,” Joe asked Garnedell while shifting his questioning shrug into a thumbs up.

The boy smiled and nodded, his thumb also going up. Joe smiled himself and then showed four fingers while pointed at the status screen before pointing out his gem pouch and holding up one finger. The gesture was completed with a questioning thumbs up, and the boy nodded happily while giving two thumbs up.

“Alright! That’s great! OK. I got three more job changes then, right?”

Joe then returned to the popup and thought once again, carefully. Right, it says to say what I want, and I said hunter. Nothing happened. But I … want to change my job to… Ooh! Realization slapped Joe hard and he grinned, much more certain. Once again clearing his throat carefully, Joe enunciated carefully.

“Job change to hunter… please.”

Joe frowned towards the end as statement was a bit blunt, and his time in the East, Earth East, had been deeply ingrained into him, and the please kind of slipped out. Hope that doesn’t… oh, never mind. Cool! He felt his status update, a strange feeling swam through his body, different than any other update he had felt. A feeling of both loss and change swept through his limbs then, nothing. Joe blinked his eyes with some surprise as the screen disappeared with the change, and nothing else seemed to happen. He quickly brought up his status screen to look at what was available to him.