But for a Slime

Joe turned and headed back to the road, following the main game trail… monster trail? Slime trail… ooh… that one’s just gross… that the slimes tended to take on their way north west. They soon came upon another, and Joe staked it to the ground to give the kid so more practice. This time, the kid charged it and was able to pierce the slime’s skin before he began the effort to eject the slime gem.

The rest of the trip back found them taking on another three slimes, and by his third slime, the kid was able to eject the gem with only a bit of ooze on it, only requiring a small whisk to kill it. Joe allowed the boy to take the experience for each of the six slimes he killed. They soon made it to the road, finding another last slime, and Joe looked to the boy.

“Well, kid? Umm… You want?”

The boy looked to Joe, then towards his pointing finger before nodding eagerly.

“Alright, kid. Let’s do this. But it’s the last one. I want to get home and rest! Uh… Inn go rest.”

The last battle to take out the last slime was anticlimactic, as it fell even faster, as the kid seemed to now get the use of the unwieldy spoon spear. They picked up the last gem and turned towards home, Joe jogging at a pretty quick clip to push the kid. Joe left his spoon spear in the kid’s hands for the run, and they made it back to the village in late afternoon. During the run back, Joe thought about his options, and decided that getting the kid his own spoon spear was more than an excellent deal. He came down the road, and when he was passing the inn, he once again noticed several people wandering around his scribbles he had left there when he was fiddling with learning about the ten percent bonus. He didn’t think much of it, but shook his head with some surprise.

Joe led the boy to the blacksmith, then quickly greeted the blacksmith.

“Hey, blacksmith… person. Not trying to be rude, really. But I don’t know your name, but I just want to say hi and hire you for another job!”

The blacksmith looked up quickly at his greeting, then blinked before smiling with a large smile, responding in kind in the guttural language of the area. Garnedell replied back with a half nod half bow thing and the blacksmith entered a short conversation with the boy. The conversation seemed to become especially animated when the blacksmith pointed towards the boy holding the spoon spear, and the kid responded excitedly. I guess he’s talking about his first kills. Joe smiled indulgently and clapped the kid on his back before smiling and nodding brilliantly back at the blacksmith. He allowed the conversation to go on, not really wanting to be rude about ending it. After the conversation trailed off, Joe smiled really big and picked up the spoon spear in Garnedell’s grasp.

“OK… hey… can you make another one of these? But maybe about three quarters this size? I want the kid to have one.”

The blacksmith looked at him even as Joe mimed, pointing at the spoon spear, showing a smaller size, then pointing at Garnedell. About half way through the explanation, the blacksmith began to nod in understanding, then changing to a smiling face as he looked towards the kid. The blacksmith came up to the boy, clapping the kid on his shoulder and seeming to congratulate them. The boy beamed back, glancing back and forth between Joe and the blacksmith before the happy excitement came to a puttering end, the communication barrier too much to continue the conversation. Joe pulled out his coin purse, paying the blacksmith what he asked and the two left the smithy.

Joe took the kid to the local mercantile where he treated the kid to one of his favorite treats then bought a skin of some kind of alcohol, completely unsure of what he was getting, but trying to find something that was considered good. Garnedell helped him through the process, and when everything they needed was in their hands, Joe stepped out on the street before telling him to enjoy the afternoon. Joe pointed towards the shrine priest and then pointed at himself.

“Going to see the priest, kid. Need to change my job again! HA! Priest go change job.”

Garnedell nodded in understanding, replying rapidly although Joe still couldn’t understand much of what was said. They parted ways and Joe decided to enjoy a leisurely stroll towards the shrine. There was still a good chunk of the afternoon left, and Joe was sure he would be able to return and have time to enjoy his forms and a restful afternoon. Joe made it to the shrine priest in about fifteen or twenty minutes, pounding on the door once again. Even as the pounding started, Joe heard the angry cries from inside the cabin and knew this wasn’t going to be a good day. He’s pissed… I hope this will calm him down… Joe quickly held the skin of alcohol forward even as he continued to pound on the door. When the door was yanked open, Joe shoved the skin into the opening, even as he gave a short bow, since he knew of no other way to express gratitude with body language.

“Hey man. I know I’ve been bothering you a lot, and I’m going to be doing it a lot more, too. So here’s my thanks.”

The priest seemed a bit nonplussed, bleary eyes staring down at the wine skin with a bit of shocked surprise. The priest looked back up at Joe, then the skin again. This time he yanked the skin out of his hands, and immediately popped the cork to begin emptying a squirt into his gullet. Joe blinked with some surprise, but shrugged. His life, his liver… Joe pulled out another slime gem and handed it to the priest. Joe watched as the priest again stared at the gem for a few moments, before flickering his eyes up at Joe. Huh… I guess alcohol affects thinking here as much as back at home. Joe held his hand firm, not retrieving the slime gem, but held up four fingers with his other hand before pointing back and forth between the two. The priest narrowed his eyes a bit, but then nodded in agreement, swiping the gem even as he fiddled with his status.

Joe stepped back with some shock even as the door slammed shut, the gem disappeared in the priest’s gown somewhere, and another squirt of alcohol splashed into the man’s mouth. Maybe it doesn’t affect his thinking that much… man… that was… very coordinated. Joe blinked for a few times, then gave up thinking about it as he was much more excited about his next job. He didn’t even think about it, quickly slapping the next job in line as his choice, and then returned to the village. He only glanced over his status enough to make sure he was still getting ten percent for all his jobs before closing the window. There was no point to look, his current job would be level zero, showing nothing, and he had already written down any skills and stats gained from the farmer job when he had made it to level five. He was beginning to be a bit disappointed in what he was getting. Except for hunter, giving him ‘use bow’ at level five, none of the other new jobs gave him any new skills. All he had were commoner’s ‘Use Cudgel,’ ‘Calculate Taxes,’ and hunter’s ‘Use Bow.’

Man… if all the skills are job specific… I wonder how I’m going to keep using my spear as a… Joe flashed up his status again and looked at his current job… waiter? Really? Joe snorted as he dismissed the window. How could anyone level any of these jobs if they can’t even pick up a weapon? Am I able to do it because it’s a part of my ‘Earthly’ skills? Joe shook his head at the ridiculousness of the whole system, but quit thinking about it as he realized there were no answers. At least, not now. Hopefully, I’ll get a … skill that I can use with any job? Is there something like that? Or maybe a job that lets me use other job’s skills… but what good is that because as soon as I change jobs, I don’t have that skill. Joe sighed.

He dismissed the morose thoughts and soon found himself back at the village. There was still quite a bit of time left in the day, and Joe took the remainder to sit on the small knoll overlooking the lake. Garnedell joined him about twenty minutes later as Joe had started his forms, and the two spent their time losing themselves in the work. When the sun started glowing red low on the horizon, Joe packed up their practice session and returned to the inn to retrieve their cleaning supplies before heading to the stream.

The two had only just began cleaning up in the stream when Joe realized that ‘slime guy’ had shown up again. Joe smiled with a wave, even as Garnedell once again showed him the ropes, this time going over how to keep the towels from getting dirty on the ground by draping them over nearby bushes or trees. Joe hummed as he cleaned himself, satisfied that the boy seemed to be learning how to take care of and care for others. Huh… maybe he did understand what I was talking about when he decided to beat up those kids.

With the evening rounded out with some language exchange and excellent meal, Joe settled into his bed for another very long and uneventful night.

Status

Current Job

Available Jobs

Current Skills

Available Skills

Log

Joe McConnell

Magical Resistances

Status

Physical Resistances

Wind

2.50

HP

5.00

Physical:

Water

1.25

MP

5.00

Piercing

0.00

Attack

5.00

Crushing

0.00

Defense

5.00

Slashing

0.00

Magic

5.00

Magic Defense

5.00

Strength

10.00

Dexterity

5.00

Agility

5.00

Farmer

5

IQ

5.00

Wisdom

5.00

Learning

5.00

Luck

0.00