But for a Slime

Chapter Thirty Two

Joe woke the next morning, once again as excited as when he’d prepared to head to the city. The feeling of completing a plan was multiplied by knowing he would soon be able to speak even though the morning routine was essentially identical. Joe actually enjoyed breakfast this morning as Garnedell was as excited, probably for the same reason. Or at least maybe he’s just sick and tired of trying to translate for me? They spent a bit more time with greater energy on their language lessons and headed off to the dungeon with a bit of a bounce in their step.

Status

Blessings

Current Job

Available Jobs

Current Skills

Available Skills

Log

Joe McConnell

Status

Physical Resistances

Magical Resistances

HP

1.00

Physical:

MP

1.00

Piercing

0.00

Attack

1.00

Crushing

0.00

Defense

1.00

Slashing

0.00

Magic

1.00

Magic Defense

1.00

Strength

1.00

Dexterity

1.00

Agility

1.00

Polyglot

1

Speed

1.00

Endurance

1.00

IQ

12.00

Wisdom

12.00

Learning

15.00

Luck

0.00

Their first stop, of course, was by the temple square where Joe swapped his job to Polyglot at Garnedell’s suggestion, just as Joe had thought. They’d gone through five temples so far, and there were still over a dozen left for Joe to head to for future job changes. Joe dropped his cloak off after they’d left the temple district and took a detour to the smith. It took a bit of a while for Joe to explain the asterisk to the blacksmith that they ended up wasting a good hour trying to have their idea explained to the blacksmith. The smith had been quite resistant to the idea and Joe had to insist. The smith hadn’t really been willing until Joe asked for the smith to make twenty of them simply using bars of iron. Joe was able to placate the smith a bit more by buying two one and a half meter bars of iron. Need to replace my old iron spoon spears… wait! Joe added two spoon spears to the total before they left as well.

The two were finally free to head to the dungeon, and they found themselves lining up to enter the dungeon. Joe was a bit surprised to find a very short line with few adventurers even as late as they were, but he couldn’t have been happier as it meant they would be able to enter rather quickly. Only a few minutes later had them striking the first spark and Joe was able to take a look at what the job polyglot would give him by way of stats, excitement squirming underlying all his actions today.

Joe’s grin turned a bit maniacal when he noticed the learning stat. The wisdom and IQ was also a nice boost and given what those stats were approaching, it seemed that he was over half way to the minimum he’d need for his mental stats. I might even be done with intelligence. At least, I might have breached the hundreds for basic stats, although the rest of my physical stats are really bad! On the other hand, I’ll be leveling really fast!

They made the first major room filled with two dozen or so sparks and Joe tore through the room with a vengeance. Joe hit level two after the first kill and made level four after the second kill. Joe was giggling a bit like a maniac as he watched his levels slip by like lightning. The next kill got him level five and he was well on his way and he hadn’t even cleared the first room. By the time the room was cleared, Joe had almost made ten, going up a level every two kills for levels six to ten. Lunch time came with Joe sitting with a feeling of great satisfaction as he was able to enjoy his meal while being level fifteen.

The afternoon brought a milestone and an event of interest. Joe wouldn’t have even noticed reaching his first goal if the system hadn’t pinged him, inadvertently letting him know by offering him a choice he didn’t know he had.

You have achieved equivalency in your Wisdom statistic. Your base statistic has now reached or exceeded your current imported statistic. Would you like to have your life evaluated by your imported statistics or by your newly achieved local statistics?

Joe blinked with some surprise, pausing their killing spree for a few moments as he considered what this would mean. He clicked open his stats and saw that his main status page showed his wisdom at (190 + 106) (105). When he looked at his job page, his stat showed at 190 and clicking the number on his main page showed his current wisdom added together as 296 (105). Huh. So I beat my wisdom stat by one point now. I get to choose to use my now higher wisdom stat then? That seems… too nice, especially with how the system seems to screw over everyone.

Help. If I switch to use my local stats, will it switch all my stats over?

You may now apply local statistics or imported statistics. Imported statistics may only be used for one year.

Not informative. And not what I asked. Help. Can I use only wisdom local statistic and all other imported statistics?

You may now apply local statistics or imported statistics. Imported statistics may only be used for one year.

Joe sighed. Try again? One more time? Help. Can I mix and match imported and local statistics?

No.

Whelp. There’s the trap. Heh. Most would just leap at the chance, then not realize they’d crippled themselves. Only one stat has breached the minimum. There’s another sixteen, although luck seems to not count. Wonder why? Maybe because it started at zero? Or it doesn’t import. Maybe that’s it. There is no imported number. If it imported, even if I had zero luck, I would see the zero in the parenthesis representing my imported stats. Ah well.

Joe felt some relief at feeling like he’d dodged what seemed like an obvious trap, although he felt more ridicule than anything else. The abusive nature of the system was really started to get on his nerves. Despite his anger at the ridiculous nature of the system, Joe didn’t really have time for philosophical arguments that really would only be for himself, at least until he was able to speak the local language. His mind turned back to his task, focusing on his deadline and countering his anger with a deep found sense of excitement, his resolve firming as he took on the dungeon creatures.

Joe returned to the inn after reaching level seventeen on his polyglot job and they made it back to the inn a bit earlier than usual. The streets and inn quite a bit emptier than usual, but much better than yesterday. When they sat down to eat, Joe did something a bit out of the norm, taking the time to look at his status as soon as he sat down. His finger stabbed the current skills and eagerly looked through his skills. A satisfied smile surfaced and he pressed on his skill to look at what he’d gained.

Language Expertise (1): Can instantly learn any language of your choice. Does not count as learned language.

Huh? What does learned language mean? But not something I really care about now… unless it affects my speaking. Anyway, how do I learn it then? Joe considered then decided to just ask the help system. Help, how do I pick a language to learn for language expertise?

Simply state: “I wish to have language expertise in …” and speak the name of the language you wish to learn.

Well… crap! Joe sighed, now realizing that he was stuck at just about the same place he’d been before when trying to change jobs. He didn’t know the name of the language. This is going to … suck… Joe’s mind wandered as he tried to figure out how he was going to get the name of the language from Garnedell. His mind wrestled with the problem but he just couldn’t come to any viable solution when he suddenly had an epiphany.

“Garnedell?”

“Mulkan Zhoe?”

“Language.”

Garnedell looked at Joe with a bit of confusion, not understanding what Joe was trying to say, “Langaje?”

“Um… Hmm… Word speaking. Many words. All words together is language.”

Garnedell thought for a few moments then nodded his head, some vague sense of understanding coming to him, “Many words langaje?”

“Yes. My words language. My language name English.”

“Your words English?”

Joe nodded, a smile coming as he felt that they seemed to be progressing well enough, “Yes.”

Garnedell nodded and repeated the word a dozen times or more, learning it carefully and Joe allowed Garnedell the time to learn it.

After a few moments, Joe continued the line of questioning, “Your words? Your language name?”

Garnedell’s eyes widened and he smiled, but then frowned, a bit of confusion coming over his face, “My langaje name?”

Joe nodded, a smile on his face, “Yes. My language name English. Your language name?”

Garnedell remained silent for a few moments then shook his head hesitantly.

“Your language no name?”

Garnedell shook his head much more firmly, certain, “My language name… um… I… I no know my langaje name.”

Joe’s eye’s cleared after that, feeling a bit better. He just doesn’t know the name of his language… is that normal? Maybe? He is just a villager… Hmm. “Ask man? Ask woman?” Joe asked while pointing around the room to its meager occupants?

Garnedell’s face smiled but showed a bit of embarrassment before nodding in acquiescence. Garnedell first called for one of the wait staff but they proved unhelpful so he stood and went to bartender. After speaking with the bartender for a few moments, Garnedell came back to him with some excitement and gave him a single word. Joe repeated the word carefully before he decided to try.

“I wish to have language expertise in Galga.”

You have set your language expertise to Galga.

Suddenly, Joe felt a subtle shift in his mind and memories; a strange feeling of oddness flickered through his awareness. Something felt different, wrong. Oh… Wait! I can understand everyone around me! Joe listened in on the people around them and found he could easily understand them. Joe suddenly smiled, eyes wide with wonder as surprised happiness settled in along with a satisfaction of completing a task.

“Wow… that’s really cool! I’ve learned Common!” Common? The language is called Common? Hmm…