The Flying Emporium

“Fuck! This is bullshit man!”

After losing just another duel, Miriam let her frustrations out; Once again.

She was still out of breath exacerbated by the dizziness caused by her low health. But that didn’t stop her from throwing a tantrum.

“What am I supposed to do in that situation?”

She wasn’t normally like this; However, when it came to the frustrations she had with her class, she just couldn’t keep her temper in check.

Acquiring a class was supposed to be a dream come true for most people, but so far, she was mostly annoyed with it. Even knowing that things would only get better with a few levels wasn’t enough to mollify her.

Ironically, her outbursts made her look more like a representative of her class.

If it wasn’t for her finding a mentor who was willing to show her the ropes over these last couple of months, she might have just given up and taken over her family business.

“Getting close to you is already a struggle, but when I do, I can’t even deal any damage unless I’m at low enough health to trigger my damage buffs! But how’s that supposed to work. Against a fucking [Chaos Mage]. Once I’m at that low HP, you just burst me down like nothing. And that is IF I even get close to you in the first place.”

Timothy could only smile helplessly.

“You have to manage your health better. Use your regeneration abilities and potions on cooldown. My skills cost so much. Once I’m out of mana, I’m done for.”

It wasn’t the first time they had that discussion.

...

Timothy was another of Samuel’s mentees.

When Samuel met the boy in a small village while on his travels, he decided to take him under his wing. He was blessed with a rare class that deserved nurturing from an early age. But in such a remote place it wasn’t realistic to take a young boy hunting monsters or exploring dungeons. The risk was just too great for everyone involved. Not many of the people there had a class to begin with, and those who did, didn’t have too high a level themselves.

In a bigger city, those things wouldn’t have been a problem. Just on the merit of him being a [Chaos Mage], he would have earned a lot of favors and the support of many people. Eventually, he would make a name for himself.

Any one of the elite magic schools or noble houses would pride themselves on having someone like that as an alumnus or a retainer. However, it would mainly be a prestige kind of thing for them.

When it came to the actual usefulness in battle, most noble houses would prefer a more support-oriented class. Not only would they already have tons of people with more damage-oriented classes in their service, but also the threat in case of betrayal would be more manageable.

The military was another option, and a high rank would pretty much be guaranteed.

But the real place for someone like him to thrive in, under normal circumstances, would be a guild.

With a highly specialized class like his’, he would be wooed by many.

With some investment into his gear and targeted Powerleveling, it would be possible to brute force their way through encounters they usually would not be able to clear.

That was especially true for the weaker guilds that focused on smaller-scaled ventures, where the accomplishments of a single person would carry more weight in comparison.

As for the larger and stronger guilds, of course, they would be just as interested in new talents as they represented their lifeblood.

In the large-scale raid settings those guilds tended to focus on, a handful of strong individuals just wasn’t enough anymore. At that point, everyone needed to be an elite.

Therefore, they offered strong incentives to attract new promising people and to consolidate their own power.

Of course, one didn’t necessarily need a specific or rare class to be successful; No matter the class or their specialization there would always pop up a genius. But the more uncommon and the more specialized the class, the more their success would be basically guaranteed.

Because of those reasons, his situation was very unique. If it wasn’t for him being born in some backwater village, Timothy would’ve already been groomed by one force or another.

...

Miriam’s situation wasn’t that special in comparison. Her parents, regular people with no class of their own, were somewhat successful merchants that managed to get ahold of a [Random Class Coupon] for her 18th birthday.

No matter which class-orb one would receive, it would be highly coveted by every ‘normal’ person.

Still, most would consider [Berserker] to be a blank. Leveling as a [Berserker] was difficult, slow, and dangerous. It was a real struggle and only very few would ever reach a level at which they would be considered an asset.

All the more reason a high leveled [Berserker] would automatically earn the respect of many.

The class seemed to require a very suicidal fighting style that scared off a lot of people, effectively preventing them from unleashing the class’s full potential.

On the other hand, a lot of overconfident adventurers found their doom when they were lured by the temptations the class had to offer. The lower the [Berserker’s] health, the more would their combat prowess increase, with some especially noteworthy combat buffs at certain HP thresholds.

The class required more thought and foresight than most people realized.

It wasn’t a forgiving class. The learning curve was harsh and only really shined in the higher.

As someone who knew the struggles of the class from his earlier days, Samuel was impressed by her spirit and clear-headedness. As long as she only lost her temper after the fight was over, everything was fine. He’d been there himself.

So, when he and Timothy met her on their travels, she was offered to join them.

Recognizing the rare opportunity, she gladly accepted.

Around half a year had passed since she joined the two of them.

The friendly spars between Miriam and Timothy had become an almost daily occurrence, with him profiting just as much as her.

While those fights didn’t give any class experience, not all strengths and gains could be measured in levels and stats. Actual combat experience and the ability to strategize and think ahead were just as important. Some even claimed they were more important.

Miriam was still venting when their mentor returned to their makeshift camp and got off his flying-artifact.

He recognized the sight that greeted him and knew exactly what just went down. In fact, he could already guess what was happening before he arrived, just by the sound of things.

“Master Samuel!”

He waved the boy off.

“Stop calling me that.

Miriam, get a grip on yourself. Here take these.

Tim, you take some of the red ones as well.

Heal up you two and get ready for another round.”

Samuel took the potions out of his inventory and distributed them among the two.

The brownish cubes were naturally for Miriam; The red ones were split evenly between the two.

It was rare for their mentor to actively encourage them to spar like this.

The two of them inspected the received items, squeezing the jello-like things before revealing the tooltips.

Timothy’s reaction was rather subdued in comparison to Miriam’s, whose eyes began to shine when looking at the [Small Alternative Quality Health Potions].

The boy stretched his neck trying to peek at the tooltip but was unsuccessful.

“Alright!” The young woman was rather energetic and her outburst just a moment ago seemed like a lie.

Timothy had a bad feeling about this.

***

Gasp

“Ha! Again! Let’s go for another round!”

Huff

Miriam and Timothy both were panting. While she didn’t actually win and was laying in the dirt once again, she wasn’t discouraged at all. This was one of their closer fights.

There was light at the end of the tunnel.

Timothy was leaning on his staff looking rather indignant.

Just based on their facial expressions one would mistake the winner and loser of that fight.

“What was that. Show me that other potion you got!”

She complied with an exhausted grin on her face.

“Fuck! Are you kidding me? What’s that? How is that fair? Master! What’s the meaning of this?

You…She can’t rely on such a cheat to fix her problems!” Timothy tried to reason righteously.

“They are too valuable anyway! Only 20 of them. 18! Already wasted 2 of them. You should keep them for yourself, Master. Give her one or two for life-threatening situations in a dungeon or so.” He seemed quite honest and full of conviction.

“She’ll soon enough get some new skills to fill those gaps in her kit. Think of it as a way to get used to it already. A preview so to speak. Also, we can always just get more of them if we need to, so...”

The boy was by no means arrogant, despite his rare class and comparatively high level for his age. Maybe because of his modest upbringing, maybe because of the harsh training.

Nevertheless, Samuel felt that the kid might benefit from an occasional loss to keep his head straight.

Besides, he meant what he said. He wouldn’t risk Miriam’s development for such a reason.

“What do you mean we can get more?” The young mage felt like crying.

Miriam also perked up. “More? There’s more than those!? Haha. You’re so done for. Get ready for payback!”