But for a Slime

“Percent? What is percent?”

“Ah… right. Advanced mathematics. Um. This may prove a bit difficult. I’ll be skipping a lot of basic mathematics to explain it to you. Um. Let’s start … well. Hmm. Do you know how each job grows?”

“No, Joe.”

“Ah. Well. You gain points for each level. How many you gain is based on the job. Commoner gives you one point per level for almost all the stats. Your job is adventurer. It gives much better stats, but still almost half of them only give one point per level. Your job seems to give good points for the physical, like attack and strength. Does that make sense?”

“Yes, it does, mas… Joe.”

“OK. So. If I’m level ten as a commoner, then how many points do I have in strength?”

Garnedell took a moment to run the numbers and replied, “10?”

“Yes. Nice job. OK. Show me your status and let me see your adventurer stats.” Garnedell popped open his stats and Joe took a look at his stats and gave another question. “For you, Garnedell, your adventurer gives you two attack per level. So at level ten, how much attack do you have?”

“Um.” Garnedell actually took a couple minutes to figure it out, his fingers flickered and Joe realized that Garnedell was simply trying to count out the number, struggling. “Um, twenty one?”

“Almost, Garnedell. It is twenty. This is called multiplication. I can teach you this later. But you can see that as you have more basic points, the faster your job will grow. The commoner job only gives one point per level, so at ten you will have ten strength. If you have a stronger job, maybe one that gives ten points per level, then you will have one hundred strength at ten.”

Garnedell didn’t responded, simply nodding, and Joe waited to see if he had anything to add. Garnedell’s silence pushed Joe to continue. “Ah. Well. I guess that isn’t too important, but I can teach you it later, if you want. Anyway, you were asking about percentages. You need to know… many things, such as multiplication and division. I was trying to show you multiplication, but it is very hard. Um, anyway. You get ten percent of a job’s numbers. Ten percent means you get one part of ten.

“So, my commoner job gives me one point per level. At level ten, I get ten points. So I get one part in ten as a bonus. I will get one point from commoner. Most of the commoner jobs like waiter, hunter, inn keeper, and farmer give me a point each. So each of those jobs give me one point per job even if they are only level ten. Do you understand?”

“I think I do, master Joe.”

“So, if I have one hundred points from a job, how many points do I get when I change jobs? Remember, it’s one in ten.”

Garnedell struggled quite a bit, unable to get the numbers and Joe finally interjected, “One in ten for one hundred points would be ten points.”

Garnedell frowned at that point and shook his head, a bit disappointed by the returns, “That does not seem… very useful, master.”

Joe smiled and then replied, “Really? How fast am I growing my jobs right now? How fast am I changing to new jobs?”

Garnedell’s eye’s widened, realization coming to him, “That is how you are growing so fast!”

“Yes, I have gained many bonuses to my learning skill, which allows me to grow any job faster and further than most others.”

Garnedell nodded in appreciation but then grimaced, “But still, only ten points is not… very useful.”

“You may believe so, but I get one in ten points for every job. Even if I only grow my jobs to level ten, and each job only gives me one point per stat, I will have many, many points if there are thousands and thousands of jobs! If there are two thousand jobs, then I will have two thousand points in my abilities. Even with your best skill in adventurer… let me see again?”

Garnedell flipped open his status again and Joe grinned, “Uh… four points per level. Then even if you manage to make it to level forty with your best stat, you will only have one hundred and sixty points. I will have one or two thousand. You will take…” Joe fiddled with some numbers in his head, trying to figure out the time and finally came up with a guesstimate, “You will take about forty five years or something? I’ll take one job per day. Two thousand jobs would take me about six years, even if I only did one job a day, and I’ll have two thousand points. You will have a little over one hundred in forty years. Tell me who will be better?”

Garnedell’s eyes rose at the numbers, disbelief showing, “How? Are you sure, master? Such things seem… impossible!”

Joe smiled and replied, “That’s why it’s so powerful. And even then, I’ll grow faster and faster as I get more jobs and gain more bonuses from each job.”

Garnedell fell silent and Joe allowed him his moment before standing and readying for the continued fight. “Let’s get going, Garnedell. You can think about that some more, maybe tonight.”

“OK. Ma.. Joe,” Garnedell said as he stood, joining Joe on their return journey to the other side of the maze.

Joe clapped Garnedell on the shoulders, “Before we head back, I’ve got to tell you my plan so you can understand. I’ll be losing my language skill soon, so. I already told you a bit, but I want to explain it a bit better.”

“Yes, Joe?”

“I have two character skills. I think you called them growth skills? I can’t use them until I’ve grown the skills they’re attached to. One of them is in commoner with cudgel, and one of them is with hunter linked with bow. My best one is bow. It’s almost at level one. I’ll have to change to hunter to get my bow to level one and then I can change my character skill to my linguistic skill so that I can always speak easily with you. OK?”

“OK, Joe.”

“So, I’ll need you to tell the priest to change my job to hunter so I can level my bow skill up. Then after I finish growing my bow, I want you to change my job back to polyglot, OK?”

Garnedell nodded and repeated Joe’s words carefully, “You will change your next job to hunter. Then you will change back again to polyglot.”

“Yes! Exactly. I will tell you when I will change job, OK? After I change my job to hunter, I’ll ask you to tell me the name of the polyglot job, so I can practice it and learn it. I do not fear that you will not remember, but if I need help from another, I wish to know the name in case I must change my job without your help, OK?”

“Yes, Joe. I can do this. I will teach you the word for polyglot when you change to hunter.”

“Good. Finally, in order to raise my bow skill, I must kill monsters with my bow. The stronger the monster, the greater my bow will grow. I am not concerned with the strength of the monsters, however, as my bow is quite high and will require only a short time to be fully leveled to release my character… growth skill. I cannot kill sparks with my bow. Not easily and not well. I need to kill a monster that can be killed with a bow, easily enough. Do you know of such a monster amongst the three dungeons here?”

“I… uh. I do not know the monsters of these dungeons here. My family were adventurers, but we did not adventure when we lived here. I do not know the dungeons of the monsters here.”

“Do you know where we could find such information?”

“We could go to the guild. They will know of such things.”

“The same guild as before? Where we created our party?”

“Yes. The dungeeoneering guild.”

“Does the guild close at any time?”

“The guild is known to stay open quite late but many of its services close for the night.”

“OK. So we will make sure to arrive at the guild before going to bed.”

“Yes, Joe.”

The two had walked about half way back through the dead end they’d cleared when they started finding sparks again. When the spark dropped its beautiful yellow gem, Joe raised his foot but stopped himself before picking it up and turning to Garnedell.

“Hey, Garnedell? What do you call this?” Joe popped up the spark gem he held in his hand.

“We call it a core, Joe.”

“Huh. A core. I’ve been calling it a gem. Oh well. Um… what’s it good for? I know you used it to help gain levels in your job… Don’t do that, by the way! But, what else is it good for?”

“Ah… it can be used for many things. Certain cores can be used to power guides, give enchantments and power enchantments. They can also hold enchantments and increase the abilities of various items. They hold power and they empower.”

“Oh, yeah… you already told me… sorry,” Joe apologized before continuing, “So I can use this to give a weapon an enchantment?”

“Yes, but it requires other materials. The core is only the basis for holding and empowering. After that, enchanting requires materials from dungeon monsters.”

“Not monsters out in the fields?”

“No. Field monsters never drop enhancements; only dungeon monsters.”

“Huh. Well, I’ll learn more about that later. Don’t have time right now,” Joe slipped the core into his pouch and turned back to their spark genocide. The rest of the day went quickly and Joe fell into a trance, a feeling of zen mellowing the day. By evening, Joe had reached level nineteen and Garnedell had made it to sixteen as an adventurer. Joe really wanted to hit twenty, wondering if there were other possible jobs available. Should I keep it and spend tomorrow on it? Or maybe I’ll just go early and get it up to twenty then go out again, change my job, and head to the new dungeon to level my bow?

The two came out of the dungeon at sunset and slipped into the guild. Garnedell led the two towards a different line than the one this morning. The lines in the evening were quite a bit shorter than the morning, and they quickly reached the front where Joe took over questioning, finally excited to be able to actually initiate a conversation.

“May I ask a question about the dungeons and monsters? Are you able to offer advice and knowledge?”

“Yes I am. I am the guild’s dungeon knowledge. I can assist on all three dungeons.”

“Then, I seek a large slow beast or monster that a bow is capable of killing.”

“The best beast for a hunter to strike?”

“To kill.”

The guild’s dungeon knowledge considered for a few moments and replied with several answers, “The beginner’s dungeon has a slime on the fourth floor; easily struck by bows, but there is only one slime. The intermediate dungeon has ratfoxes on the fifth floor which are fast and difficult to strike, but easily killed with a single strike of a bow, if you are good enough to strike them. The advanced dungeon has bugbears on the second floor; large and slow, easy to strike, but strong and will require several arrows or incredible precision.”

“I have seen slimes and ratfoxes, but not bugbears.”

“Bugbears are as bears; large and strong, with the ability to charge quickly for short distances when angered. But they are lazy and slow otherwise with poor eyesight.”

“Do you have advice for killing them well with a bow?”

“Strike the eyes to blind; the rear legs to cripple, and for the truly gifted hunter, the throat to kill quickly.”

“The chest and head are guarded too well?”

“They are too strong. No arrow can pierce the head, and only luck allows arrows to pierce the chest. The abdomen does not kill quickly enough.”

“How about the armpit?”

“The armpit is an excellent but very difficult to strike. The bug bear rarely reveals this weakness for a bowman to strike.”

“Many thanks, dungeon knowledge. I will bid you good evening. Is our business completed or am I to pay for these services. I do not know the correct way of your people.”

Garnedell stepped in at that point and quickly interjected, “Tradition is to offer them ten tin per question, master.”

“Ah. Well… I did not remember to count,” Joe replied with some embarrassment.

Garnedell offered, “I counted five questions, master.”

“There were six, apprentice.”

“The first two were the same question. You asked for clarification.”

The dungeon knowledge grimaced before nodding his head in acknowledgement of Garnedell’s point, “Five questions, then.”

Joe grinned at Garnedell’s actions and pulled out fifty tin, offering it for their services before the two headed home. The day had been long and exhausting, and the two did not spend much in conversation, eating ravenously instead and heading to bed quickly. They cleaned themselves and their equipment before settling for bed since Garnedell was exhausted and Joe had nothing to write for the day’s events. A new day and a new path tomorrow.