Chapter 11: 1.6

David was a friendly enough sort and even helped to clean up the trolley when it was over.  He was glad that he had learned the dismantling skill, even though he didn't take it, and the knowledge on what kinds of parts were most wanted or worth more across most things in general was good knowledge to have.  The extra 300 coins only really made up for the trolley rental but he figured that with the addition of a class that would help his income by quite a bit for the rest of his foreseeable future that it was worth it in the end.  Luckily, the general store was also still open and he was able to return the trolley, even receiving a complement on how it looked even better than when he had taken it out and was offered a small refund due to its condition and quick return of about 100 coins.

Kid thought about all the money he had spent so far and calculated that he had a little less than when he had first arrived but he didn't seem to be losing money as quickly as he feared.  Of course, that was only if he considered his net loss over the course of three days without most of the costs of living that he would normally be spending, like food and shelter.  Since he was at the store anyways he went ahead and bought himself a couple cheap burlap sacks to carry his dismantled parts in the future as well as some simple things he thought might be useful like some canteens, candles, flint, tinderbox, and a simple set of dismantling knives.  His backpack now had some more weight to it and very little room left, while his money had dropped by another 384 coins leaving him with 819 coins.  He spent another 9 coins in convincing the shopkeeper to let him trade out 200 of his coins for large coins to reduce the space and weight they took.  The way he had understood it from the conversation that had sprung up while he was perusing the shelves was:

100 coin(s) or pennies = 1 sil or large coin
10 sil = 1 full silver or silver
100 silver = 1 gold
50 gold = 1 plat
200 plat = 1 diamond coin or star coin
1 star coin = 1,000,000,000 coin

There were a few strange ones there that might make it hard to remember until he got used to it but he also figured that a lot of the types of money from his previous life also had weird coinage rates like nickels and dimes so he wasn't about to complain about it out loud too much.  He left the shop in good spirits and looked at the stars of the evening sky as he stood to the side of the road and considered what he should do next.  He wasn't particularly tired yet and the idea of renting a room at an inn when he was starting to get used to the tree he had basically claimed as his own just felt like wasting money.  The library was always open, at least, so a visit there to learn about some more skills or start learning about classes would probably be both fun and wise.  He did feel that he should get a bath before he went there after having done all that dismantling work, though.  

Before he could start heading in that direction, though, he saw someone approaching him from the other side of the street.  Thanks to his night vision he could make out the features well enough to recognize them as his mentor, Randy.  Randy approached while waving lightly to make sure he was seen and stopped in front of him with a light smile.

"Hey.  I was just looking for you.  Good thing I caught you before you headed back out into the woods or something.  How'd you get so bloody?"

"Learning dismantling..."

"Ahh, that makes sense.  Anyways, I wanted to let you know that I prepared a special little lesson for everyone I'm teaching in the morning.  There's a certain skill among those in the know that can be considered just about the best to have no matter what and I'm going to be explaining it and helping everyone who wants it to get it.  It's a strong recommendation for you to join up, too.  We'll be in the temple yard for it at first light.  Even if you don't pick up the skill it's one that you might be able to use later and it can be a little tricky to get so I really think you should come."

"Alright.  I'll try to be there in time.  Quick question, now that you're here.  Is there a place I can do laundry for cheap?  That or is there a way I can have someone else do my laundry while I bathe or something?"

"Uh.  It's not exactly the cheapest way, but the bathhouse should have a simple laundry service.  Other than that, the cheapest way would be to get your own soap and find a river or something.  I think there's an actually laundry service place somewhere around here as well but I have no clue where it could be so you'd have to look for it yourself.  Sorry."

"No, that's fine.  I think I'll try to see if I can get my clothes washed while I take a bath.  I might need to see about buying some more outfits, though."

"Having at least one set of spare clothes on you while traveling is always a good idea.  Something to look into while you're still short on money might be some treated clothes as well.  It'll probably still seem a little pricey to you, even if it's massively cheaper than enchanted stuff, but getting some nice and well made clothing that's designed specifically for you and treated for things like repelling blood and water is bound to be a good use of your money if you have the coin to spare."

"Oh, thanks.  I guess I'll check out that tailoring shop tomorrow after all, then.  Anyways, I'm going to go take a bath before enjoying some library time.  I'll try my best to make it over to the temple yard in time to learn your skill."

"You do that.  Take care."

They waved at each other as they went their separate ways.  Kid headed immediately to the baths and told the only staff member he could find about what he wanted.  After an explanation on cost and time he was finally allowed to enter the baths after renting a robe as well so that he wouldn't be naked when he went to pick up his clothes.  He left both of his outfits where he had been told along with some coins and proceeded to take as much time as he could to enjoy his bath.  The entire place was practically empty and it was so quiet that he ended up falling asleep as he relaxed.  A glance at his hands told him that he'd been there for longer than he had intended so he finally pushed himself to get up and throw the robe on so he could check if his clothes were ready to be picked up.  

He ended up using the nearest restroom to change over into one of his outfits before leaving the robe at the front desk and heading out to the library.  He thought about what it was he wanted to look into while there and settled on finally checking on classes.  Since the specifics of what he even wanted from a class were still undecided he thought it might be a good idea to learn about his options more and maybe even find something to try and aim for.

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After asking the man in charge of the library today for some books that described classes and how to get them he sat down at the a table and began going through what was brought to him in no particular order.  He kind of wished he could listen to music while doing reading like this.  Most of the books were a little dry and the way they were organized made it difficult to tell what most of the classes were or did other than by taking a guess based on their names.  One of the books, at least, was less of a list and more of someone's study and helped him learn a few things that he felt were important even if he couldn't remember or understand all of the smaller details.

Every 100 character levels provided an opportunity to either enhance a current class or gain another one.  Class evolutions, though, happened every 100 class levels.  Classes, similar to roles, would give passive benefits based on the idea the class was built around.  The beginning classes and their earliest evolutions were pretty much the same for everyone but as the classes evolved they would become more tailored towards the person using it until they became unique classes.  Out of the basic classes there were some that were rare due to how difficult the initial requirements were and not all classes were necessarily equal.  The more rare and difficult to obtain a class was, the stronger it would likely be.

He felt a little more excited about classes after reading through that book and checked some of the other ones, including the ones he had skimmed through already, to see if he had any lists that had some of those more rare and strong classes in them.  Eventually he managed to find a few classes that he was considering working towards through several of the books and began making a mental list of them and their requirements.

Caster: Have or had a casting method skill and a magic type skill.
Magic User: Have a casting method and a magic as racial skills or abilities.
Ranger: Have or had a skill that allows you to deal damage from further than 5x your natural reach.
Shooter: Have a ranged attack support skill.
Shadow: Have or had a stealth type skill.
Trapper: Have or had a crafting skill.  Used a trap to kill something.
Assassin: Attack and kill something without being detected.
Survivalist: Have access to Shadow and Trapper classes.
Striker: Have killed something at least twice your level and mass without help.
Giant Killer: Have killed something at least five times your level without help either without being detected or without coming within five times of the longest natural reach of either party.

There were many more classes in the lists which seemed somewhat interesting, some of which were even considered more rare than Giant Killer, but he focused on the ones that seemed like they would help him the most.  Giant Killer was the most rare on the list, being difficult to get for most people's first class due to starting off with hunting in safer areas under a mentor's watchful eye and only getting more difficult to accomplish as levels rose.  Luckily, he was still so low leveled that as long as he didn't level up anymore he could just find something that was level 10-15 and hopefully achieve the requirement without too much difficulty.

Assuming he couldn't quite make it, though, Striker was a good backup choice.  It wasn't nearly as good as Giant Killer but if he decided to try and aim for a high damage styled class then it would still get the job done nicely.  He remembered Trapper only because it was a requirement for Survivalist, which had a lot of supporting type stuff that he thought would be helpful to keep from being targeted due to his race and skills.  As for the rest of the classes, he was keeping them in mind more as 'Plan C' material than anything but thought that when the time came for him to pick up a class that it might be useful to have them as options in case he changed his mind about something for whatever reason.

He stood up and went to check outside to try and see how much longer he had until the morning and saw that the moon was still high in the sky and he was only about halfway through the night.  He sighed and considered heading out of town to practice some of his skills but ultimately decided against it since he didn't want to make himself too tired before he headed to the temple.  He went back into the library and saw the man gathering the books he had been reading through to put them back in place.  He went back to his table and asked if there were any books on roles he could see.  If he was going to be staying here for a few more hours then he might as well try and figure out exactly how roles worked.

The man kept a straight face and soon brought him two books, claiming that since roles were so well known already that not many people ever bothered to study them too much or anything.  Kid thanked the man and opened the introduction book to start reading.  He took his time and tried to be interested in as much of what he read as possible so that he could essentially waste time.  Surprisingly, the book had a good amount of information that could be considered common knowledge that he hadn't been taught.

Summarizing most of what he learned, anyone below the age of 15 was a resident and could not gain levels.  Roles became available at level 5 to salients and level 10 to residents.  Although one could swap their roles around if they really wanted to, the choice to do so would make the role still be there for another day after which it would disappear for 29 days before a salient or resident could choose a new one.  Picking a role was similar to picking a class that didn't level or add skill slots.  Roles acted more in the background, providing simple but strong bonuses that were geared towards certain lifestyles or professions and although the roles tended have a decent amount of overlap with one another, there were enough that unless someone's way of life changed in a dramatic fashion that there was rarely a good reason to change roles as long as the role was chosen appropriately.

Leader: Gain the Mental Map and Tag Ally abilities.  Aura abilities and skills have +50% strength and x200% range.  +5% to Mnd stats.
Scout: Gain +10% to stealth and sense type skills and abilities.  +5% to Dex stats.
Hunter: Gain +5% to stealth and sense type skills and abilities.  Gain +5% to damage dealt.  +5% to Dex stats.
Vanguard: Gain +5% to movement type skills and abilities.  Gain +5% to damage dealt.  +5% to Vig stats.
Defender: Gain +5% to defense and healing type skills and abilities.  Gain -10% to damage taken.  +5% to Vig stats, Will, and Force.
Support: Gain +5% to healing, buff, and debuff type skills and abilities (includes spells).  Gain -10% to damage dealt.  +5% to Mag stats.
Healer: Gain +10% to healing type skills and abilities (includes spells).  Gain -5% to damage dealt.  +5% to Mag and Dex stats.
Assault: Gain +25% to damage dealt.  +5% to Dex stats.
Mage: Gain +10% to magic, casting, and support type skills and abilities.  +5% to Mag stats.
Overwatch:  Gain +10% to sense type skills and abilities.  Gain +10% to ranged damage dealt.  +0.5% to all stats each hour of no more than 1 meter of movement (Maximum of +20%).  
Guard: (Target must be chosen during role change.  Changing targets is considered a role change but will reduce role change penalties by half.)  Gain +5% to sense, defense, and (choose one during role change: healing, movement, stealth, magic, buff, damage dealing) type skills and abilities.  +5% to all stats while within 10 meters of target.  Death or destruction of target results in forced role change.
Generalist: Gain +5% to damage dealt.  Gain -5% to damage taken.  +3% to all stats.
Worker: Gain+5% to support and crafting type skills and abilities.  +5% to Str, Fin, Spi, Wis, and Int.
Teacher: Gain the Experience Boost ability.  Gain +5% to support and knowledge type skills and abilities.  +10% to Mnd stats.
Soloist: When no allies in party or team: +10% to damage dealt.  All skills are considered 5 levels higher.  Gain +5% to all skills and abilities.  +5% to all stats.  When allies in team or party: -10% to damage dealt.  Gain -5% to all skills and abilities.  When allies are within 20 meters: -5% damage dealt.  +5% damage taken.  All skills are considered 1 level lower.  -1% to all skills and abilities.  -1% to all stats.

As he read over each of the roles and what they did he thought that some of them were just way too strong.  Of course, as he thought about it more and more he also realized that there was a good chance that he just didn't have a good frame of reference and that they were all equally strong in their own ways.  Some of the roles were definitely more specialized in order to gain the bigger boosts, after all.  Guard and soloist seemed particularly great as long as their conditions were met.  Assault, although the simplest to understand and having the largest single boost, felt like it left too much behind.  He could clearly see how each role was suited towards its namesake, though.

Some roles he was able to quickly and easily cross out of the list to choose from.  He didn't really have much in the way of auras or anyone to lead so Leader was out. There was nothing for him to protect so Defender, Healer, Overwatch, and Guard were out.  There were several roles based on ideas or skills that he either didn't have or had no plans for in the foreseeable future which took out Vanguard, Worker, and Teacher.  Support and Mage could both help boost his Blood Magic and Dark Magic while Support and Healer could both help boost his natural healing (probably) to help him stay alive through more but since he didn't really want any of that to be his focus he went ahead and dropped them as well.  That left Scout, Hunter, Generalist, and Soloist.

Out of the remaining four, he was completely undecided.  At first he thought that it would be an easy choice to cross out both Scout and Hunter since Generalist and Soloist both seemed stronger at first glance but the longer he thought about it the more he realized that all four had their own perks to consider.  Scout was definitely the best to help him get away from the public eye before he became noticed for his species and skills but Soloist would be the best once he reached that stage.  Hunter was a great middle ground between the two but not as good as Scout in avoiding notice or Soloist in surviving on his own.  Generalist was the worst option for all of those expected situations but was the best when he considered that with less than two weeks of experience in his new life there was no way to avoid the unexpected.

He decided to put the problem on hold for now since he couldn't even accept a role whether he chose one now or not.  He did some light stretching as he stood back up and brought the books on the table over to the librarian.  He gave a quick glance over to where he had been sitting to make sure he hadn't left anything behind and left the library to head in the direction of the temple.  A look at the still dark sky told him that he had successfully used up a few more hours so he thought to go nap by the temple until Randy and his students showed up.

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