The Next Morning
Guild Hall
"I don't know what else to tell you. The Devil King uses his powers to boost his allies and monsters and has been at war with the human nations of this world for a very long ti. Due to the danger, the planet's population is refusing to be reborn into this world, so we've had to get a little creative in recruiting new souls. We give reincarnated people a boon to both help them survive the monsters and combat him.
Why are you so worried? You haven't even gotten your Adventurers' Card yet to get access to this world's levelling system. It's not like you will go out and kill the Devil King tomorrow or sothing." Aqua said. She was sitting across the table from him, eyeing his breakfast with hungry eyes. She had spent all her money on booze last night, so she had nothing left to buy her own food this morning.
"Because that is the reason I'm even here! So what you are telling is that you don't even know exactly where he is, and other than this one seemingly safe place, the rest of the world is under constant threat of either his monsters or armies?" John asked, gesturing with a sausage on his fork. His normally quiet, sadistic side was enjoying watching her hungry eyes follow the sausage around.
He had woken up before dawn with Aqua drooling on his chest. As long as he didn't think too hard about her attitude, it was a rather adorable scene, and he enjoyed the contact for a few minutes before focusing on moving his Ki around his body. After the sun broke the horizon, he woke her up and dragged her to the guild hall to order breakfast. That's when he found out she was broke already.
"Yep, if I compared this world to one of those Earth RPGs, it would be considered the starter town." She replied, ignoring his irritation.
"Is that a video ga thing? I'm not the best person to use video ga references with, as I haven't really played any for almost forty years, and even then, it was limited to so racing ga the kids had."
"Right. We usually try to only get teenagers when we recruit, as they can grasp the chanics of our system fairly quickly since it is like a ga."
"You are looking for people who play video gas and have almost no life experiences to be your heroes? Aqua... that has got to be one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. Not saying all gars are lazy, far from it, but you might have a better chance if you recruited forr soldiers, police officers, firefighters, etc. You know, the people who actually have to be sowhat fit and work in high-stress environnts where violence is sotis the answer. Knowing how a system works or not, a teenager who doesn't leave his house other than to buy more video gas seems to be a horrible way to find a hero."
"Do you think I don't know that! The problem was that we couldn't convince the more useful people to co here. I was stuck summoning NEETs who thought it would be a great adventure. They were the only ones naive enough to fall for any of our recruitnt strategies. We tried to be honest with people at first, but they decided to just go to heaven and relax instead of saving this world. We had to resort to bribing people with special skills and equipnt. Even that has only had mixed results. I'm really at a loss for what to do here, so I just kind of… gave up."
Well, that kind of explains her lackadaisical attitude.
"Well, now that you're down here, you can do it yourself. I still don't understand why you didn't do that before." He said, taking a bite out of the sausage. He didn't know why, but the food in these fantasy worlds was almost always more delicious than in more modern worlds.
"Because I really don't like violence. Sure, I will purify the undead and fight devils if I have to, but I'm no warrior. Not to ntion that I don't have all of my powers. That magic circle sapped of a lot of my strength to co down here. The Devil King is powerful and could kill a goddess like with little effort in this state."
"So you decided to send shut-ins after him? That sounds like they are still going to end up in your heaven, just with extra steps."
"Yeah...it pretty much is." She said, sounding almost remorseful. If she weren't so manipulative, he would think she was actually being genuine right now. "John, can I have a sausage, please?"
"Are you going to save your money today so you can buy your own als tomorrow?"
"I'm sorry, okay. I just got carried away in the mont last night!"
"That didn't answer my question. You have food to buy and a guild card to get. Or are you just planning to sit here and work at a construction site for the next couple of years, drinking every night away while this Devil King gets even stronger?"
"I don't know what I'm doing. I was dragged down here against my will, my followers don't believe I'm , and now I'm... I'm stuck with a man who is an to , doesn't respect that I'm a goddess, and has done... dirty things to . I'm feeling so really odd things towards you, and it's making confused and nervous, and I'm not sure I like it."
"Well, figure it out, Aqua. Because after the toad spawning season, I'm leaving town. I'm not stuck with just your world's levelling system; I have my own innate powers as well. Not to ntion a giant robot if sothing is beyond what I can handle on my own. I'm just going to build up a little bit of cash, then move on to the next city and keep progressing. You are welco to join , or you can stay here in town and take care of yourself."
He stood up and pushed the rest of his food over to her. "You don't need to make your decision right now, but if you do join , I'm not going to put up with the attitude you showed yesterday. You want to respect you, then show that you are worthy of respect."
"Where are you going?"
"To the bathroom, then to work. Eat up, Aqua. We have a long day ahead of us."
The next week passed much the sa for John. They worked all day long, then ate with the other workers. He was running his Substance X, so when they started to drink, he excused himself to continue to train. A few hours afterwards, he would have to help Aqua empty her guts again, then put her to bed. She did save a little money, but most of it was wasted on booze every night.
She was a bit of an enigma to him. When she was working, she was diligent and focused, and she kept going until the job was done. However, the mont they finished for the day, it was almost as if she turned into a different person. All that self-discipline disappeared, and she would turn into a lush who liked to play pranks on the other workers or entertain them with so simple magic spells she had.
Speaking of magic, he tried to learn so magic from her, but it didn't go well. The magic in this world seed to be tied to the adventurer's cards, and he hadn't signed up yet, let alone chosen a class. Since the construction site was closed, that was his plan for today.
"Good morning, Luna," John said, stepping up to the receptionist desk. Aqua was still asleep in the stables; if he didn't wake her up, he thought she would probably sleep all day.
"Good morning. How can I help you today?" She replied, a little cooler than the first day they t.
He pushed a silver coin across the counter. "I'm looking to register as an adventurer."
"Okay! Do you understand how this works?" She said, perking up a bit.
"Nope. I know it has sothing to do with a card, but otherwise I'm clueless." John replied, smiling down at her.
"Then allow to explain," Luna said, turning on her custor service mode. "Adventurer is a generic class, and your skills are important, which brings us to your registration card. It keeps track of your level based on all the monsters you killed. When your level increases, you will earn points that you can trade in to learn new skills. Work hard, and you will raise your level in no ti. On to the next step, will you please hold your hand over the crystal, Sir?" She asked, gesturing to the device beside her.
"No problem, darling." He said, placing his hand over the crystal. It started to glow blue, the housing that was holding it rotating and whirling as it seed to be sucking a small amount of mana out of his body. The light in the room seed to dim a bit as the device did whatever it was doing. "And this is doing what exactly?"
"It is evaluating your current stats. Once we have those, we will know which class suits you best."
"I see," John replied. He could already see his stats, but that didn't really matter.
After a few more seconds, the light in the room returned to normal, and the crystal went silent again. Luna pulled a card from the base of the machine and started going over it.
"Alright, let's see your stats. John Suzy Wayne, interesting na. Ahh, here we are. Your stats are fairly high for a novice, with a specialization in strength and endurance, though everything else is well above average. You have a fairly high luck stat as well. You would shine as a crusader, sword master, monk, or rune knight, but really, any path is open to you. You're pretty amazing, John."
"Thank you. So, what do I do to pick a class? And are there any downsides to taking one class over another?"
"That is a pretty long explanation, so let's take a seat, and I can go over your options."
"Sure. Just let grab a coffee. Do you want one as well?"
"Yes, please, black is fine."
"Woman after my own heart. I'll be right back."
A few minutes later, with coffees in hand, the pair of them sat down in a quiet area of the guild, and Luna started to go over the individual classes. There were dozens of classes, though many of them didn't interest John. He looked at the arch priest class first, as Aqua said resurrection magic was possible, but then dismissed it. The rest of its spells seed to be right along what he already wielded from The Great Cleric, and he saw no reason to triple down on other healing magics. Their main difference seed to be a greater range, but he already had Holy Light from Warcraft for that, expensive as it was.
Crusader was interesting, as it had a lot of things to make him even tougher and reduce incoming damage. Sword Master focused on attacks, Monk on evasion, and Rune Knight... that had a few different things that spoke to him, like increasing his speed, strength and reflexes. Still, he wasn't sure what he wanted to specialize in, as there were drawbacks to doing so.
"Let get this straight. If I choose an advanced class, I'm locked into its skill tree and can't take any of these other skills?"
"Almost. There are so general skills that are still open to you, but for the most part, you will be locked into your class. The advanced skills of those classes are powerful, and will more than cover any drawbacks from being locked out of the other classes."
"Is there a class I can take that lets grab whatever I want?"
"Well, kind of. The basic adventurer class. You can grab skills from any of the other classes, but they will cost more points to get, not work as well, and you can't take the really powerful skills in the advanced classes. You do level up faster as an adventurer, so most people use it as a stepping stone, and when they level up so more, they move into a more specialized class. Just rember, when you spend your skill points, you cannot get them back, and you can only get them by levelling up."
"Just to clarify, the only way to level up is by killing monsters?" He asked. That was how it worked in The Great Cleric, though the skills could level up just through use.
"Not quite. There are potions you can buy that will increase your levels, but they are quite rare and expensive. Killing monsters is the fastest way to get stronger."
"I see. Well, I need to think about this so more. Can I just take Adventurer for now? I'll probably move into Rune Knight, but I want to look over so of these skills more, maybe ask so people with advanced classes to see how their abilities work."
"Sure. Just place your thumb on the glyph below your picture on the card, then touch the adventurer class. It will do the rest. You can add any skills by repeating the process or finding soone to train you in an available skill. Finding a trainer reduces the skill point cost, so that is another bonus as an adventurer class.*"
John followed her instructions, careful not to fat-finger sothing else by accident. The card flashed, then showed him that he was now indeed listed as an adventurer. Luna took the card from him and looked it over, giving out a low whistle. "You already have ten skill points? Is that because you're older?"
"Is that good?"
"It's like you started off at level ten. Generally, when people get their cards, they will have two or three points. However, most will receive their cards around the age of fourteen. I don't think I have ever seen soone at your age begin their adventuring career."
"Oh, and how do you know I'm not just a really old-looking teenager?"
"If you're a teenager, I'm still a baby and not a spinster who can't seem to get a man." She said with a sigh.
"Really? A kind and beautiful woman like you? Want to go out for dinner tonight?" He asked on a whim. He didn't know how long he would remain in this city, but it would be good to have soone normal to talk to.
"Ahh! Did... did you just ask out on a date?" She asked, sounding confused by the unexpected offer.
"Sure did, darlin. I usually take one day off a week from my training, and since I don't really know anyone in town, I'd love to spend a little ti getting to know you."
"What about that other woman?"
"What about her?"
"Isn't... are you two not together?"
"Hardly. It's a sowhat odd story, but to sum it up, I'm sowhat saddled with her for the ti being. Besides, I'm sure Aqua will end up partying with the boys, and I don't feel like babysitting a drunk again."
"Okay. Well, I get off at supper ti. Do I need to dress up, or will this be fine?" She said, standing up. She was wearing her rather low-cut white uniform, a pair of low-rise blue denim shorts, and a cute pair of soft brown leather boots. It did nothing to hide the curves of the beautiful receptionist's body.
Spinster? She couldn't be more than twenty-five years old, and looks stunning even in her work clothing.
"Wear whatever you like. I have no idea what is even in this town, so I don't even know where I'm taking you yet." He replied. He would prefer if she wore sothing a little less revealing, but from what he could tell, most people, not just won, showed a fair amount of skin in this world. Aqua's dress, which pretty much showed her ass anyti she bent over, was actually fairly conservative from what he could tell.
"Okay then! I'm looking forward to whatever you co up with, John!" She said excitedly, then pecked him on the cheek. Before he could reply, the door to the guild burst open, and Aqua rushed into the room.
"JOHN! HURRY UP! WE ARE LATE FOR WORK!" She said, rushing over to them.
"The site is closed today, or did you forget?" John replied, reminding her of what the foreman told them yesterday.
"It's closed?!? How will I pay for food and drinks tonight?!?"
"Your savings? Or did you blow that, too?"
"No... I have a little bit left." She said, sounding defeated. He didn't keep track of her finances, but given how much she spent at night, he wouldn't be surprised if she had only a few bronze coins left.
"Well, then, you'd better spend it wisely. Maybe you can find so work shovelling the stables out?" He offered. That was also an option given to them when they first started sleeping there, but it didn't pay as well as the construction site.
"Gah, how can you treat this way?"
"Treat you what way? You did this to yourself, and you have no one to bla but you."
"Ahhh!!! *SOB* Please help , John. I don't wanna shovel horse crap!" She grappled onto his leg and started to beg and cry for his help.
What a sorry excuse for a goddess you are.
"Umm... I need to get back to work. I'll see you tonight, John." Luna said, standing up and gathering her things.
"Sounds good. Take care, Luna." He replied, patting Aqua awkwardly on the head.
He didn't know what to do with the bubbling ss he was saddled with, and honestly, he was tempted to just push her away completely. Sothing kept drawing him to keep her around, though, which he assud was the canon trying to control this story.
Sorry, Canon. She is a very beautiful woman, but you're going to need more than that to keep around her. I've got better things to do than babysit a drunken goddess.
* - AU. According to the wiki, skills are learned from the card, but Kazuma had others teach him things over ti. Honestly, the whole skill card thing seed like it was glossed over from what I rember from the ani, at least in how it actually works, and I didn't read the light novels.
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