The Outlands

When they got back to the guild, it was much emptier. Gramps had them line up in Graham’s queue, which was only a couple of people long. A few minutes later, they were at the front, and Thomas and Ellie looked towards Gramps, who shooed them onwards.

“Um, we’re…selling monster materials?” Ellie hazarded, looking at Graham.

Graham caught Gramps’ eye, seemed to reach some sort of understanding, then began to speak. “Sure thing. Are they in a magic bag or do you have them on your person?”

“Bag.” Ellie replied.

“Would you like to sell everything in the bag or just some of it?”

Ellie looked back at Gramps, who shrugged.

“Everything, I guess.”

“Excellent.” Graham replied, taking out a scale-like instrument from below the counter. “If you would go ahead and place the bag on here, I can confirm the contents.” Ellie and then Thomas placed their bags on the scale, while Graham typed something up in a computer on the side of the counter.

“Looks like the missus’s bag’s worth is about…1.21 silver, not including the coins already present. The young man’s is…” He paused, then had Thomas put his bag back on the scale. “Wow, I’ve never seen someone come back that fast with that many cores. That’s an even 50 silver for you.”

He typed in a few more things, then turned back to the two. “With the size of the contents in your bags, we could just empty them here and transfer the worth of the contents to your bank if you would like.”

“Bank?” Thomas asked.

“The guild acts as a bank for freelancers, it helps keep them from needing to carry large amounts of currency everywhere. It’s totally safe, you even get a nifty magic-based credit card.” Gramps said, “It’s your choice, though.”

“I’ll take the bank option.” Thomas said.

“Then I will too!” Ellie added.

“Go ahead and empty the bags, but don’t bother trying to transfer anything.” Gramps instructed. “I haven’t officially set up their licenses yet, so you won’t be able to. I’ll just transfer the money to them once I finish.”

“Got it.” Graham said. “Your bags, then?”

The two obediently handed their bags over, and Graham walked over to the back of the counter area, where he unloaded the bags into a large trolley. He then walked back and handed the bags back to them.

“Thanks, Graham.” Thomas said.

“Just doing my job.” He replied. “Now, is there anything else I can do for you?”

“That’ll be all.” Gramps said. “Excellent work as always, Graham.” With that, Gramps grabbed the teenagers and once again dragged them off, heading back towards his office.

Once they were inside, Gramps had them sit again, and began to talk. “So, Classes.” He began, “Are a little different. You can have as many Classes as you can get, but only one can be active at a time. They level up just like you do, but instead of boosting your stats, they help your Skills. At certain levels they’ll give you a new Skill, and they also boost the growth of Skills that have levels. A Skill has to fall within the general umbrella of a Class to benefit from this, and the bonus is a percentage increase equal to the level of the Class.

“In addition, some Classes will give side bonuses, or are prerequisites for using certain Skills or equipment, so make sure you look over each Class you get. If you want to change your Class, you can do so at any Party Crystal or use a Class Crystal. Class Crystals are basically just Party Crystals that only change your Class, but they can be brought outside of dungeons, so they’re pretty handy. Most guild branches will have one lying around, and they shouldn’t charge you to use it if you’re a member. Usually Classes will auto-equip if you don’t have one already, so Ellie shouldn’t need to use a crystal right now. Your Class did equip itself, right?”

Ellie nodded. “Yup!”

“Perfect!” He said, standing up and walking over to Thomas and Ellie. “In that case, I’ve got a party that’s agreed to teach you two some real fighting, so let’s go say hi and get you started on your first lesson!”

He once again grabbed them and began to lead them elsewhere. Thomas was beginning to remember why outings with Gramps were always hectic; the man never seemed to run out of energy, and he was always pulling the group along at his own pace, never quite giving them time to breathe.

As they walked, Gramps pulled out his phone and made a call. There was some short discussion, and then Gramps hung up and turned to the two. “They’re going to meet us at the dungeon we were just at. I’ll bring you to them and then I have to make my way back and finalize your registration. They’re nice people, so I’m sure you’ll get along great!”

They took another short walk to the dungeon, and Gramps once again had them skip the line. When they were inside Gramps scanned the assembled people before spotting the group he was looking for. “Hey, over here!” He said, waving and beginning walking over.

The group spotted him as well and the two assembled parties met up.

“Let me introduce you all.” Gramps said, stepping out of the way so everyone could see each other better. “These fine people are the rank 9 party known as The Rumors.”

“Is ranking better if it’s high or if it’s low?” Thomas asked.

“High.” Gramps replied. “You start at 1 and work your way up. 10 is generally considered the best rank possible.”

“Cool!” Ellie said, “Is there a story behind that name?”

“If you haven’t noticed, we tend to stand out. Rumors tend to spread when we’re out in more rural areas, thus the name.” The girl on the left of the lineup said, smirking. “Name’s Alice, I’m the tank-slash-melee person.”

Alice was a short, skinny girl that would have looked like a normal human, were it not for her short green hair and strangely patterned dark brown skin, ridges and swirls running across it that Thomas found not unlike those on wood.

“The big guy is Ker.” Alice continued, motioning at the man in the middle of the group, a hulk of a man that must have been nearly nine feet tall. He had black hair that went down to his shoulders, and a friendly smile that was only slightly ruined by his piercing red eyes.

“That’s me. I’m technically the healer, but that tends to translate to general handyman. Nice to meet you.”

“And I’m Jin, the party leader.” Said the last person in the line-up, a man clearly belonging to one of the smaller races. He had messy brown hair and eyes, and a mischievous smile that was somehow assuring, like he had everything under control. “I’m the mage ‘round these parts. We’ve got it from here Mr. Los, go on back to your business.”

“I’ll leave them in your capable hands.” Gramps said with a wave. He then extracted himself from the group, leaving Thomas and Ellie with The Rumors.

“If…you don’t mind me asking, what species are all of you?” Thomas asked, “Before this morning the two of us weren’t really even aware that people other than humans existed, so you’ll have to forgive our ignorance.”

“ ‘S all good.” Alice replied, “I’m a dryad, Ker’s a goliath, and Jin’s a halfling. You’re Thomas, and the girl’s Ellie, right?”

“Yup!” Ellie said.

“Cool, cool. What’s the plan, Jin?”

“So,” Jin said, moving towards the center of their small group of people, “We’re going to party up, and then our first order of business is to blitz you two through this dungeon until you have your four extra shots at the Rewards Crystal. This is a really short and easy dungeon, so let’s give it, say, four hours. Sound good?”

---

It was a disheartening four hours for Thomas. His mentors swiftly dealt with everything in the first four floors and left him and Ellie to deal with Big Bertha, saying that she was the only thing in the place that gave any worthwhile drops, experience, and practice. Thomas didn’t even get to pick up his loot on the main floors; they just rushed on through.

His attempts at the Rewards Crystal were similarly disheartening. Where Ellie got cool things like the Light Magic (Basic) Skill, he only got Skills that increased his resistance to status effects, namely Poison, Paralysis, Freeze, and Petrification.

And what was worse, he was rapidly eclipsed in his performance against Bertha. Ellie just…did everything better. She dealt more damage, dodged Bertha’s blows easier, took less if she did get hit, and all-around made him look useless. So, he was in a rather somber mood as he and Ellie accompanied The Rumors back to the guild.

In sharp contrast, Ellie was in high spirits, playing with a dancing globe of light on her palm. “Did you see that last fight, Thomas?!” She said, grinning, “Just wham, and Bertha was dead! Didn’t even break a sweat!”

“That’s cool and all,” Alice said, “But it’s generally considered bad manners to one-shot the boss like that. It denies the rest of the party loot and EXP. You’re lucky you made that mistake while in training, because a stunt like that can harm your reputation and make it harder to get into parties.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“I get it, it’s exciting to get that strong, we were all like that at some point. I’m just letting you know.”

Jin cleared his throat. “Right, right. Now that that’s out of the way, we can start tailoring your training to your abilities. We’ll show you the guild’s training area, and we’ll lend Ellie a practice sword now that she’s got some sword Skills.”

Ker opted not to say anything, instead just looking at Thomas thoughtfully.

The walk was only about a minute more, and once there The Rumors lead the group through the main hallways. Unlike the employee hallways, they regularly passed people or had to squeeze through traffic jams to get to where they were going. Eventually, they emerged into a large courtyard, filled with training dummies and various people hitting the dummies, sparring with each other, and otherwise…training.

“Alright, let’s go find you a sword.” Jin said, motioning for Ellie to follow. “Alice, you know the most about this stuff, come help. Ker, you can get started with Thomas.”

“Got it!” Ellie said, following Jin off to the side of the room.

“Hey, kid, you doin’ alright?” Ker asked, squatting down so he was at eye level with Thomas, “I noticed you weren’t exactly…full of life. Don’t try and compare yourself to Ellie, she’s a prodigy and a half.”

“I…” Thomas hesitated, not sure what to say. “Did you get the rundown on our stats?”

Ker shook his head. “No. I can tell Ellie’s got really good Power, Defense, and Agility, but that’s about it. What’s your point?”

“I have all ones and one two for each of my growths.” Thomas replied bitterly. “It’s not about comparing myself to her, it’s about comparing myself to anyone. It’s like…I’m starting to wonder if I should even bother at this point. My new Skills are underwhelming, and I don’t even have a Class, so I can’t get more Skills without going through another dungeon, which I’m sure are all going to be more difficult than that one, and if this trend continues then I’m not going to be able to do anything but slow Ellie down.”

Ker sighed. “Yikes, that’s rough. Well, you don’t have to work at her pace. You can make a living just fine in some intermediate level dungeons. I won’t sugarcoat things, you’re probably not going to be able to go any further unless you get some crazy Skill or something, but, given some training, you can do just fine for yourself like that.”

“Then…what’s the point? If I’m not able to get to the really lucrative stuff, why shouldn’t I just go make a safe living on Mael?”

Ker shrugged. “Personally, I’d say do it, because it’s more exciting and you get to do some real good helping people, but that’s your choice to make, not mine.” He said, then put a hand on Thomas’ shoulder, “I think it’d be counterproductive for you to do anything more today. Go ahead and head back to your house and take a rest, think it through. I’m not going to judge you, whatever you decide. It’s a personal choice.”

“Thanks, Ker.” Thomas said, then walked off, heading back towards Gramps’ office. It had been a bit of a fun day, but even with the goddess of Fortune’s blessing, things just weren’t shaking out. The best he could really do on a team was just leech off their kills and provide them with increased income.

So, he wandered, lost in thought. Eventually, he found the door to Gramps’ office, and knocked.

“Come in!”

Thomas entered the room, and Gramps frowned. “What’s wrong? You hurt somewhere?”

“No, I…I just realized that I’m not cut out for this. The new Skills I got were all status resistance Skills, so if those were the best possible Skills for me, then that can only mean I’m meant to sit on the sidelines and provide better drops for people. I don’t see the point in that when I can just go back to Mael, win the lottery, and live comfortably for the rest of my life.”

Gramps furled his brow. “What resistances?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes. Which ones?”

“Poison, Paralysis, Freeze, and Petrification. 10% increased resistance to each.”

Gramps’ frown deepened. He stood up, and the atmosphere…changed. He began to chant a magic incantation, and a tense, charged feeling filled the air. Then, a moment later, there was a snap, and a light tingling assaulted Thomas.

“What was that for?!” Thomas yelled.

“I don’t think you quite get how status effects work.” Gramps said, dusting himself off and walking over to Thomas, “Each attack that inflicts a status effect is a chance to activate. That chance almost never goes above 100 percent, and your resistance decreases that by however much resistance you have. I just hit you with a recursive 100% paralysis spell, which would keep casting until the mana I used ran out, and I put in enough for 15 casts. Seeing as how you’re totally fine, I’d say that your blessing works just fine on status effects. Combined with your blessing, those “resistances” are closer to flat out immunity than they are a typical resistance.”

Thomas frowned. “My point still stands. I don’t see the benefit of having near complete immunity to statuses if I can’t deal with the thing inflicting them.”

Gramps grabbed Thomas’ hand gently. “That’s because you don’t have all the information right now. The important thing is that those resistances weren’t random. Not in the sense that they’re the most useful resistances, because they’re not, but because there’s a specific use for that specific set of four resistances. You can go home if you want, but first you have to come with me for one last outing.”

“But…”

Gramps waved at the wall. “No buts. You don’t even know how to make the door appear, so there’s no getting out of this.”

Thomas sighed, but let himself be towed away once more.

---

Thomas looked around the circular chamber that the first room he’d ever seen in the dungeon. “Why are we here, Gramps? I’ve already used all my attempts at the Rewards Crystal, and it’d be more efficient to farm Big Bertha if we wanted money.”

Gramps shook his head. “No, that’s not it. Sometimes, when you’re exploring a dungeon, you’ll find a secret room that’s not always there. These secret rooms have what we call a Challenge, a, well, challenge that’s more difficult that what you would normally find in the dungeon. If you succeed, you get a shot at a Rewards Crystal that offers different rewards than the dungeon’s other Reward Crystals. You get to use each Challenge’s Rewards Crystal once, and it just so happens that this room has the possibility to contain the entrance to a Challenge.”

Gramps reached into a satchel and grabbed a stone, which he threw at the wall. It hit a brick that looked slightly…off. The brick indented, and the wall fell forward, creating a path across the water, ending at a door set slightly into the wall.

“I didn’t show you this before for two reasons. The first is that the Challenge would have been more than the two of you were ready to handle. It’s a group of slimes that, while not physically tougher than regular slimes, have high chances to Poison, Paralyze, Freeze, or Petrify you, and that effect applies if you hit them with anything. The second is that it’s basically pointless. There hasn’t been a single recorded case of someone getting anything from it. But, if it’s you…”

He let the sentence hang, and Thomas nodded.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Gramps said, “This should be a piece of cake for you. They’ll basically just be regular slimes.”

And so, they entered the room, which contained four oddly-colored slimes. A marbled green and purple one, a yellow one, a blue one, and a grey one. And, true to Gramps’ word, Thomas didn’t have any trouble killing them. The uncreatively named “Poison Slime”, “Paralysis Slime”, “Freeze Slime”, and “Petrification Slime” each gave 50 EXP to Thomas (which was not quite enough to level at this point), and they were soon in the next room.

It looked identical to the other Rewards Crystal room, so Thomas went ahead and planted his hand on the crystal.

“Well?” Gramps asked.

“I got the Monster Breeder Class. It…isn’t equipping itself. It says that it will cause permanent physical alterations if I equip it, and it’s asking me if I want to. Should I?”

Gramps frowned. “I’ve…never heard of Monster Breeder. There are a few Classes that are known to cause physical alterations, and it’s never been something that affects someone’s daily life outside of social ramifications and adjusting to them, but they can be rather noticeable. As a tradeoff, those Classes are, generally, more powerful than other Classes. But, with a completely unknown Class like this, it’s going to be up to you if you want to take it.”

Thomas thought about that for a minute. “How much stronger?”

“Quite a bit stronger. And, with a Class that you have this low of a chance to obtain, my money is on it being one of the better ones out there.”

“I’ll do it, then.”

“Not here, thou–” Gramps warning came too late; Thomas had already hit yes and, moments later, Thomas lost consciousness.