Overlay - Part 16

“Variations?”

“Yes, one person’s job might not grant the exact same talents and skills as a different person’s job of the same name. Most of the effects however are the same. These are called job variations. From what I can tell the differences tend to be regional. Well, not exactly regional, more cultural. People from the same culture generally have the same understanding of what a job is supposed to do.”

“Really? This is the first time that I have heard about this.”

“Truely, the reason why you don’t hear much about it is that people who would normally talk about their skills and ranks usually have the same culture or trainer. Those are what mainly determine what skills and talents people get. The interesting parts is when you start talking about people who are self taught or who are rank 10 or higher in a job.”

“So self taught people are likely to have different skills then people who were trained. I guess that makes sense. And for higher rank people I guess that is more likely to be self taught since you wouldn’t really have trainers for that time.”

“Indeed, the higher rank somebody is in a job the more divergent they are. Their ideas of that the job means are different. This is also why jobs tend to cap at around 10 and instead of improving a job the person gets a specialty job.”

“Ah, that would explain my Fire Elemental Master job. Since my Elementalist job is rank 11 instead of improving that I got a second job dealing with a specialization.”

“Precisely! Speaking of which, do you remember what skills you got at rank 11 in your Elementalist job?”

“Universal Elemental Counter and Elemental Loci Absorption. Do you need to explain what those do?”

“Yes, as best as you can. I’ve had reports about those skills but I haven’t interviewed somebody about them myself.”

“Now keep in mind that they are both very edge case skills and I haven’t had too much experience with them because of that.” Chisomo nodded while I spoke, “Universal Elemental Counter is a counter magic skill which lets me counter elemental spells. It lets me counter elemental spells using elemental opposites. It needs to be combined with a high rank Elemental Sense skill to know what elemental composition the spell you are trying to counter is. Then it lets you create a mirror version of the spell to counter the spell.”

“Elemental Loci Absorption lets me reduce the mana cost of spells depending on my surroundings. More locations do not have enough elemental affinity to effect the spells. However, for example, near a volcano I could absorb fire elemental energy to power my spells, effectively giving me cheaper fire spells. It also seems to not be a percentage but instead a linear discount so cheap mp spells can become free in areas of high elemental affinity.”

Chisomo nodded more while they scribbled in one the books, taking notes. “Do you have a focus on increasing your mp and mp recovery? Elemental Loci Absorption tends to show up on people that like to focus that way.”

“Yeah, I’ve put a lot of effort into improving my mp because it helps me practice my spells more. It is one of the reasons I was able to get my Elementalist job so high.”

Chisomo raised their head to look straight at me for a while. “Your skill growth has been quite high I hear.” I froze for a moment but then Chisomo said, “Do you have any training or teaching related skills which helped you improve them?”

“Traveler gives me a time management skill. That has kept me organized, well, usually.”

“Hmmmm….” Chisomo was deep in thought.

“Um, why do you want to go to the jungle ruins? What do you expect to find there?”

“Oh, right, I haven’t mentioned that. I have a theory that everything on this side of the mountain range is not natural.”

“Not natural? In what way.”

“I think the Sages created it. Well, terraformed is probably the more correct word.”

“You think they made the jungle ruins, and I guess where Dungeoncity stands?”

“Yes, I’ve done what I could excavating in Dungeoncity but too many people live here and too many things have changed. The jungle ruins are comparably untouched. I have gathered all I could about the history of this region before the existence of status magic but it is extremely bare. However I did find a couple of things and all of it conflicts with what currently exists in this region.

“Mainly it has just been lack of records. Since literacy rates were very low before status magic there weren’t many books written about obscure subjects, especially in basically uncharted wilderness. I wanted to visit the ruined city and see if there was any information there that might link it to other locations. That way I can figure out if the place actually was real of just a fabrication of the Sages.”

“Why would the Sages do such a thing?”

“There are several theories. The one I support is that Dungeoncity is supposed to be a training ground for when the heroes arrive. A place for them to fight monsters and gain experience and skills before doing whatever is it they are supposed to do.”

That made a lot of sense. After all I had the hero job and that was basically why I was here. Although it was a bit more complicated than that.

I was pondering the question of if we should bring Chisomo with us. Given their scholarly nature however it was very unlikely that my secret would be able to withstand the encounter. Chisomo felt like the type of person who saw secrets as a challenge to overcome.

Still, Chisomo triggered all the right flags for me. Androgynous, scholarly, enthusiastic about their interests. They were somebody that I shared interests with, more like the type of person I could have been if I remained in my previous world.

I was weighing the options in my head. After much internal contemplation I finally asked, “Give me the most important reason that I should bring you with me?”

I could almost see the gears turning in Chisomo’s head trying to analyze the question, to figure out the true intent behind it. We both knew that their answer to the question would determine whether I would bring them with me or not.

Chisomo eventually smiled and said, “Because it will be fun.”

That was exactly what I need to hear.

** There is a large portion the the story here that was moved to the Epilogue after I finished the book. Because of that Part 16 and Part 17 are shorter than normal **