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Chapter 366: Uniquer! [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2022-11-06 23:12:56 +0000 UTCEnjoy! Took a bit to outline and iron out the details, but enjoy the new uniques! Uniquer!
Edit: Took the feedback and adjusted the new Unique Job System. Took in account how I could better implement the System into the story and create future drama and plot points. While also keeping it sensible for the world.
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Up, down, back dodge, twi—No! Left! Woah!
“Hahaha, it’s been a while since we trained Hestia! You’ve definitely gotten better, but you’re still a newbie with that [True Spear Technique]! Don’t rely on its predictions and attack paths!” Yorshka lectured me on how to wield my glaive, all while her hands kept moving up and down her spear’s shaft.
Urgh! I groaned as I parried one of her blows using my glaive.
In that moment, the [True Spear Technique] in [Drakonian Sunlight Edge] activated. The System then provided me lines of attack—afterimages of myself—directing me in how I should fight Yorshka. Each presented an opening I could abuse, but when I picked one of the double digit suggestions, Yorshka’s body jerked and the number of moves suddenly were reduced to about five.
When I stopped my body to readjust to the new lines, [Foresight] activated suddenly. In her current stance, she could only do a thrust at my legs, but my skill told me an attack would come at my head. I spent some mana on [Foresight], and apparently Yorshka would twist her body around and smack me with her weapon’s shaft.
And it all came true in a matter of a half-second.
“Hrah!” Yorshka made the feint with a loud cry, before her feet adjusted to turn her body around.
“Ngh!” I was already retracting my spear when I saw her feint, forcing me to just duck my head from the incoming attack. Seeing as it would take too long to think and choose an attack with [True Spear Technique], I just followed my instincts and tensed up my legs. “Hup!”
Using the momentum of ducking, I jumped back, bending my back around to do a cartwheel while sliding my long tail against the ground. The scale-dust ignited with a loud spark sound, allowing me to slash at Yorshka, forcing her to break off her attack and defend herself. Mid-way in my cartwheel, I used [Air Steps] to stomp the air and launch myself forward like a missile.
“Tsk!”
“Damn!”
As elaborate as it was, my attack missed.
“Woo!” Yorshka let out a sigh of relief as I slid across the dirt of Elyonda castle’s training ground. “See? Your battle instincts have already been honed to a razor’s edge. You don’t need to listen to [True Spear Technique]’s fickle suggestions. It’s a trap every newbie falls into. Feints, slight environmental shifts; pretty much anything which changes the chances of hitting things will affect it.”
“… It’s confusing,” I summarized what Yorshka wanted to tell me, to which she nodded with a smile.
She then dug her spear into the ground and then tied her long, beautiful silver hair into a ponytail, swinging it around as she wiped some of the sweat off her forehead. Once she was done, she picked up her spear again and took a defensive stance. “Alright, the warm-up is over. Try it out and then we’ll take the skies like real dragoons!”
“Got it!”
Training, oh, training. Without a doubt, most of my schedule was filled to the brim with training; idol, magical, martial, or whatever it was, it would always take up a large portion of my day. Pretty much whenever I wasn’t busy with something else like providing healing, doing princess or blessed work, or even the occasional much needed rest.
Suffice to say, the moment I was done with my healing duties in Elyonda, I got right back into some sparring. In particular, weapon fighting, since I learned how woefully behind I was when I had to duel a weaponmaster. Vifi’Yok and Larent both humbled me quite a bit.
Sure, I thought I had magic to always help me out, but the war also taught me valuable lessons. During active conflict, either I managed my resources well or got crippled by [Arcane Fever] and [Exhaustion]. I couldn’t rely on the best scenario. Murphy’s Law: always expect the worst. In this case, being able to defend myself when I couldn’t afford to cast or use mana.
As such, the best method to resolve this problem was the reason why I took up spearmanship in the first place: learning to become a master dragoon.
I glanced at my glaive as I reminded myself of it, gliding my hand across its sharp black blade, made from my corrosive obsidian. It was hardened and fused with eoriant—a metal that any decent weapon in Peolynca needed as part of an alloy at a minimum—so it wasn’t venomous anymore, but it still retained the edge and hardiness of it. After all, it was a material that came from my body.
I then touched the catalyst I had embedded on its head, on the blunt side of this single-edged weapon. I could see the remaining scale-dust inside, before I refueled it with more from my wings. I then touched my chest, where my solar core should be, and tried to scrounge out a bit of solar energy absorbed by my scales, channeling it through my arms and into my weapon.
<Warning. The solar energy inside your solar core is at 0%. [Drakonian Sunlight Edge] will not activate properly>
Just as the System said, the bright light and low heat emanating from my glaive was rather pitiful. Still, it activated. It was glowing, even just barely.
“Nope, test number one is a failure. I guess I can’t use it until my core is back to normal,” I concluded after this one test. I did try if I could continuously absorb and channel the solar energy until my weapon had enough juice, but it never really got over the slightly glowing phase.
“Well, it is connected to your [Solar Core] skill, so no wonder. Unfortunate.”
Indeed.
<Drakonian Sunlight Edge: A skill connected to [Solar Core], and requires a core able to absorb and store solar energy to perform. If the total solar energy is above 1%, allows the user to harness this energy by spreading it throughout their body or anything they touch like mana, although it will dissipate at medium range. The element of this attack will be treated similarly to [White Flames], if the user possesses that skill. In addition, allows the absorption of solar-based energy, reducing any damage dealt to the owner from them. The skills combined are: [True Spear Technique Lv. 10] [Air Walk Lv. 10] [Continental Drake Stride Lv. 10] [Superior Mid-Air Maneuvering Lv. 10] [Superior Aerial Fighter Lv. 10] [Speed Of Sonic Lv. 10]>
<Continental Drake Stride: An improved [All-Terrain Maneuvering] reserved for drakes. An irreplaceable skill for the land moving drakes, allowing them to manage their weight and balance to adapt to the terrain they are traversing. Increases speed and balance while on land>
Since when did I become a drake? I thought when I saw that skill.
It was clear at this point that this was Yeostar’s reward to me. Aside from the levels and the Unique Job, this unique skill was what I got from the Divine Quest of the God of Knighthood, Bravery, and Loyalty. Needless to say, a skill based on melee combat made absolute sense considering he was the God of War of the Pantheon of Light.
Honestly, I did wonder if he would have mixed the skills together if I hadn’t leveled up [True Spear Technique]. If he would’ve, then I wanted a refund, like, right now. Bloody hell, I spent enough SP to level up a Tier 3 skill from level one to ten! That was a lot of points!
… Regardless, this was my Unique skill.
“Arrgh, whatever! Let’s go!” I flapped my wings and took to the sky, followed by Yorshka who [Dragoon Jump]ed into the air. She then stomped the air and twisted her body forwards in my direction like a twister with [Spiral], forcing me to block it.
As my glowing glaive clashed against her spear, I felt my arms numbed from the force of her attack, before I pushed through it. I forced myself through her defence, launching a thin solar slash projectile at Yorshka, creating an opening for me as she dodged. With my momentum, I slammed my tail at her, prompting her to do the same to me in return.
Urk! Hard!
Scale-dust exploded, while silver powder hardened. That was the main difference between the standard Norder dragonkin scales and my mutated scales.
The initial blow of her tail slam felt heavy, but it quickly turned around when sparks from her attack triggered a massive explosion right in Yorshka’s face. She survived, of course, so we quickly resumed our sparring session in the sky. She was my dragoon mentor, after all.
In any case, outside of training itself, I had hoped I could have practiced with [Drakonian Sunlight Edge] a bit more. The solar energy I shot out was pretty much all I could muster, and all my solar energy was consumed when I shot it out. At least, I confirmed I could use it somewhat.
Now, of course, there was some overlap, right? My [Sunfang Dragon] unique ability [Solar Beam] used up all the energy inside my solar core to unleash either a powerful beam or blast of solar power centered on myself, before it sent my body into overdrive, rapidly heating my body up until it could release all the extra energy as either an explosion or outward blast, usually as flames or another beam. It, along with [Symphonie des Feuergottes], were my two finishing moves.
So, why did I believe this skill was so fitting? Why did it unlock a section in my battle kit I thought I should have had from the beginning? Well, it opened up a fourth resource for me: solar energy.
Health. Mana. Stamina.
These were the three main resources that most people had, not including things like bullets or other kinds of ammo, of course. What this skill gave me was the ability to use solar energy as an offensive tool, instead of just as a regenerative power or as a last resort.
Before I got this skill, I could only use solar energy to restore Health, Mana, and Stamina or with my [Solar Beam] skill. I could shoot out beams of solar energy, or clad myself in it. Now, I could do more. And, one more thing, despite its similarity to mana, solar energy didn’t generate arcane corruption. Meaning, I could continue using “magic” even when I had [Arcane Fever], [Mana Stress], or [Exhaustion].
Sure, it had a short range, since it was a melee skill, but if I were to focus on fighting at close-range, I could literally grill somebody with sun power, instead of relying only on expending scale-dust. I understood it overlapped with some of my skills, but … there was one thing my flames couldn’t do, but solar energy could.
“Lady Hestia! It worked!” My spar with Yorshka stopped as I heard that voice. Panting from what felt like a half hour fight, I looked down as Tasianna and Rita stormed out of the castle with elated faces. “Your solar energy can feed the plants!”
Rita grinned, licking her lips as if she had just finished some dessert. “I confirmed it! You can act as a substitute sun, even in the middle of the night! The plants told me you tasted good! Scrumptious!”
Yeah. Correct. Not only was I a rice cooker, grill, and steamer … I was now also a sun lamp.
… I managed to accept it, but it still felt like I was reducing myself into an item, again. Well, leaving my pride aside, this new ability allowed me to act as a sun for farmland to accelerate food growth. With mana drowning the ground to the point rank Bs were spawning, crops were growing extremely fast; now, they could grow even during the night.
… Life was weird.
After the castle bell rang, an hour had passed since my spar with Yorshka had begun. With my hair and brows drenched in sweat, I splashed some water on my face and wiped it away with a towel. The cold air of autumn immediately began to cool me down, making me feel so much better, albeit, a bit sleepy too.
Taking a break from sparring, I walked over to a slouched Renee. Looking over at Farron running lapses around the field while topless, I concluded he and Renee were done with their training, too.
Put a shirt on, old man. You have a daughter and wife. Don’t try to make the single ladies swoon in vain! I thought when I heard a few of the maids and other female workers stop what they were doing to stare at Farron. Sure, the dude was well-built and hot, but, sadly, ladies, he’s taken.
Offering Renee a hand, I helped her stand up, before Rajah jumped out of my shadows with two bottles of water. We both took them and thanked my little virigress before we took a seat. Rita and Tasianna also came to us, showing us the fragassa plant they managed to grow from a seed inside my subspace, only using me as its “sun.” Experimenting with our skills was what my party did best.
As Tasianna then transitioned into serving Renee and me some tea, we noticed some noise coming from the castle. Nudging my head a bit to the side, I saw a tall scalekin walking through the castle’s windows, followed by butlers and maids running away from him. From the look of it, this scalekin was dragging the corpse of a merfiend into the castle.
“Hmm?” The man in full armor with a scuba diving tank on his back suddenly noticed us and opened the window, waving at us while holding the tail of a bled out giant shark.
“Chahayat, good work!”
“Good hunt, today. I gave your slice to the little dragonewt already,” Chahayat, the merfolk, informed us, probably talking about Priscilla.
The good Tide Watcher merfiend who I fought in my second round of the tournament didn’t have too much of a spotlight during the siege, but that was ‘cause he hadn’t been around at the port. He had been fighting the merfiend summoned by Karhalantheel underwater, and was still fighting them, since a ton of monsters were spawning in front of the coast, too.
Just like with the inland hunting party, we were getting a lot of food from the ocean monsters. Chahayat led Jethro’s warrior priests out to hunt the monsters, providing the city with a ton of fish meat. Anything to feed all the hungry mouths.
“How are those Caedhulens doing?” I was talking about the merfolk living under the ocean close to where I fought Vifi’Yok. They hid inside the arena during the siege, but their homes were underneath the spot where Karhalantheel slammed his tail at us.
“Rebuilding. They’re helping out, right now,” the merfolk answered in his usual raspy voice. “Making a new home isn’t without trials. I must go. More work. Take care. Come visit us, young scale.”
“Will do when I get the chance. Stay safe while hunting!”
After he left, I finished my tea and ate some biscuits before I felt mildly rejuvenated, enough for me to take on another matter. A matter that Renee and I had originally planned to do today before Yorshka and Farron told us to train with them. Exactly. It was time. Not only did I have a ton of unique skills and a unique race, I now was the proud owner of a Unique Job.
<Unique Job: Idol Tyrant Fledgling>
Open it up, System Voice. I want information.
<Congratulations for unlocking and acquiring your Unique Job. From here on out, your Job System will now abide by the functions and rules of the updated “Seraphim Protocol.” This new System emphasizes the evolution of humanoids by allowing them to grow their personal Job in any way they wish, allowing them to close the gap between the ever-evolving monsters. While the majority of the world will still experience the old Job System, you will have the privilege, granted by the Origin Gods, to empower yourself now. However, please be aware, chances and events in the future will allow others to claim this chance, before the full integration of the “Seraphim Protocol” to Peolynca>
Well, that was a lengthy introduction. They even threw in a ‘granted by the Origin Gods.’ Laaaaaaame. Sooo, what is this protocol thing? Mana Eyes.
<Seraphim Protocol: A protocol implemented by Origin Goddess Crustacia to renew the Job System in favor of the growth and evolution of the blessed. By combining the gradual progression of evolutions and the free-forming growths of the Job system, the Unique Job System was created>
Hmm, doesn’t say much. But, really, ‘seraphim?’ As in, the angel seraphims? Huh, wonder if Crustacia has any ulterior motives with this. Very weird way to call it, since the word ‘seraphim’ doesn’t exist in Peolynca, so the people here wouldn’t understand it.
<Since you are a monster transformed into a humanoid with [Humanize], you may use the new Job System without any issues while in this form. However, once you transform back, the new System won’t be available to you under most circumstances>
… Wait, what? ‘Under most circumstances?’ Ohohoho, now hold on! What did the gods do? Did they account for dragons like me? Yo? Yoho? Ooooh, anyways, System Voice, explain what is new about this System.
<The Unique Job System’s most important function is the implementation of the three ‘development Jobs.’ Similar to the Main and Secondary Job you should have gotten familiar with, the new System will increase the number of Jobs you may have active up to three. You may change the Jobs freely with any you currently have in your Job list, however, be aware you cannot access the Job skills, spells, or abilities of those not attached to your Unique Job>
… Jeez, three now? So, how many will they add if they rework this System again? Five?
“… Did you get to the whole development Job part?” Renee suddenly brought up, pointing out how I was frowning in confusion. “There are a lot of new words in there. A lot of words you have to appraise. It’s quite overwhelming, if you ask me.”
I nodded. I then did what she alluded. It was time for [Mana Eyes].
<Development Job: A sub-Job related to your potential and gradual progression as an individual. These Jobs are formed around the affinity and preferences of the user, creating a list of Jobs specifically designed to produce evolution points for your Unique Job. The list of development Jobs will differ from one individual to the next>
<Evolution point: The building block of your Unique Job’s evolution. Each development Job may be leveled up a certain amount, allowing the owner to choose a bonus from it before resetting its level to redo the process and earn more rewards for your effort. One of these rewards will be an evolution point. Each Unique Job requires a different amount of evolution points until they may be evolved>
Okay, this is a lot to digest. System Voice, are you done with the explanation? ‘Cause I have more questions.
<In this new System, each Job will work on a ‘Prestige’ function, allowing you to level up and reset Jobs once they reach their max level. Through this process, the owner may earn the right to acquire Job skills, spells, and abilities and embed them into a Job slot. Each development Job will start out with a single benefit slot, but you may grow them to acquire more Job skills, spells, and benefits. Through the careful selection of which Jobs to level and prestige, you will decide the future evolution of not only your Unique Job, but also your development Job, which will unlock more fascinating and powerful rewards>
<This was the introduction into the new Job System. If you wish to have any information elaborated, you may appraise the information with your preferred appraisal method, or you may inquire all of it at your nearby [Crystal of the Divine System]>
… My gosh, that last point sounded so much like an admin!
It … certainly was a huge surprise. It really sounded like the Job System was completely overhauled, meaning possibly any levels I had in [Idol] and [Champion of Aurena] were now gone? Well … gotta say, that sounded like the System blindsided me. I understood it was to give me access to a, possibly, better power source, but come on!
… Phew. I took a deep breath. Okay, let’s look at this properly now. Objectively.
One thing the current Job System did have was the fact there were sooo many Jobs available that it could become overwhelming. Of course, since you could only obtain three new Jobs per week, it kept it more balanced and less confusing, since you didn’t need to rush your choices. In the end, the Job System was meant to give people the ability to grow and become as strong as monsters, so the more jobs you could take, the better.
However, from the sound of it, the gods didn’t like this “quantity over quality” kinda deal. I hadn’t looked at it yet, but presumably, once I open the Job list, I would have far less Jobs to pick from. Instead, each should be more important for your growing strength. Meaningful choices, as a game designer would call it. I probably had to weigh my options and future paths more carefully while taking these “development Jobs.”
In the current System, new Jobs would unlock according to your skills and which Jobs you had already leveled up. As such, you would one day reach a point where your main Job would fit you like a glove, as if it was made just for you. In a way, you could say this new System was the refined version of that idea. After all, I knew Yorshka had her very own [White-Winged Dragoon] Job, matching the nickname people gave her.
So, I couldn’t tell if the new iteration would become better or not. From the sound of it, it would limit the amount of development Jobs you could take until you evolved your unique one. That meant I couldn’t power farm them for all the small stat boosts and skill proficiencies anymore. At the end of the day, however, what really mattered was how the evolutions would benefit me.
“Hestia, please!” I turned my head around, looking at a drooling Rita with star-speckled eyes. Her hands were holding up a piece of parchment and some charcoal to write things on it. “Please! Everything you read. Information! It must be documented!”
… Well, not like I had a reason to say no, right?
“Thank you!” the dryad cheered.
After I was done appeasing her curiosity, I took out my [Crystal of the Divine System] with giddy hands. It was time to unveil the mystery of this new System.
Open up the Job menu! I thought as I touched the orb, causing it to glow a soft blue color.
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Unique Job Owner: [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]
Category: Monster
Unique Job: [Idol Tyrant Fledgling]
Job List: [Idol] [Mage] [Dragoon] [Tyrant Hatchling]
Job Slots:
Empty
Empty
Empty
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… Four?
I couldn’t exactly remember how many Jobs I had available, but I was pretty sure there were more than just FOUR! I had expected the “quality over quantity” kinda deal, but not this!
Well, my reaction aside, it really looked like I only had four Jobs to choose from now. There wasn’t a list under the Jobs or something, meaning this was all I had to choose from. A bit irritating, but I guess this is what happens when game developers just radically rework an established System. Honestly, it could cause vertigo with how different it was.
Hmm, well, it certainly gave me quite specific Jobs. Even [Tyrant Hatchling] is a reminder that I’m Kramp’s granddaughter.
As the description mentioned, the Jobs offered differed from person to person. Somebody who was more used to crafting would probably get a crafting Job to build up. Considering how flexible and adaptable the Divine System was, it was all feasible.
I did wonder about this “evolving” Job part of this whole System. Not only could my Unique Job evolve, but my development Jobs, too. What did that mean? Would they change names? Could I make a branch and gain a Job for fire and one for holy? I didn’t want to only focus on one of them, after all.
Okay, wanna check this out. Show me [Idol]’s description.
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Job: Idol
Benefit Slots: [Empty]
Level: 0/10
Prestige Level: 0
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Actually barebones, huh?
It felt so empty. Like, there weren’t any words on it. Maybe after I began growing it, it would get to the point that it would bloat things up, but right now, it felt so unsatisfying. I guess I was just taking the changes not too well. A bit of trepidation, really. Well, as long as I was here, I could also look at the other Jobs.
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Job: Mage
Benefit Slots: [Empty]
Level: 0/5
Prestige Level: 0
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Job: Dragoon
Benefit Slots: [Empty]
Level: 0/5
Prestige Level: 0
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Job: Tyrant Hatchling
Benefit Slots: [Empty]
Level: 0/15
Prestige Level: 0
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… Uhm, what? Wait, there are actually differences amongst them?
[Mage] and [Dragoon] had to only be leveled up five times, compared to [Idol] or[Tyrant Hatchling]. I guess this was the System’s way to tell me the importance and the tier of the different Jobs. Was this something important? I guess I could test this “prestige” function with them.
Okay, now, please tell me about my Unique Job. What makes it so unique?
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Unique Job: [Idol Tyrant Fledgling] Evolution Points: 0/30
Development Job: Empty Empty Empty
Unlocked Jobs: [Idol] [Mage] [Dragoon] [Tyrant Hatchling]
Evolution Bonuses: None
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Uhm, what? ‘Evolution Bonuses?’
<Evolution Bonuses: Every bonus gained through evolution will be recorded in this field. You will receive choices upon your Unique Job’s evolution, allowing you to choose into what new form it will evolve and which bonuses it should keep for your continued progression. In addition, bonuses gained from Job Quests received through System Events or any System-based interactions, will also be recorded here>
System Events are a real thing, huh? I thought it was just fluff. Hmm, actually, let’s just ask. I’m curious about the ‘Unlocked Jobs’ field, too.
<Unlocked Jobs: Every Job you have gained for your Unique Job will be recorded here, allowing you to choose them from the List to embed into your development Job slots. Jobs evolved into new ones will have their names and description changed, while any branch Jobs you gained through the prestige function will also be recorded here>
So, you can get new Jobs! I guess this had to be true for normal people, or just newborns in general.
<System Event: A random event hosted by the System similar to the Quest System. Will most of the time only occur inside dungeons, but may also happen through Divine Quests. These Events will challenge every participant, pitting them against each other to obtain the right to obtain prestige rewards for your development Jobs or bonuses for your Unique Jobs>
So, the gods gave even more power to the Divine System, even allowing it to balance all the goodies you could get to increase the strength of your Unique Job? Wow. Now I could just imagine what would happen if the System were to go rogue or haywire. The chaos it would cause would be terrible, so I really hoped the gods had a failsafe or something.
In any case, this should be pretty much it. Which made me question what they would do since there weren't any acquisition bonuses anymore. The old Job System allowed you to gain skills and stats from just acquiring the jobs, but in this one, you couldn’t just get an increase right away. It would surely do so through the prestige System, but I had it test it out first.
In any case, it didn’t seem like the gods intended to make this new System too overly overpowered. Maybe it would be later on, but for now, I didn’t know too much about it. I could probably ask more, but I felt more inclined to just test it out. As such, I guess I should go with the Jobs I wanted my Unique Job to be influenced by for now.
<Individual [Sunfang Dragonewt, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor] has embedded [Idol] [Mage] [Tyrant Hatchling] as her development Jobs>
<Job benefits have been updated due to Job change>
<Idol Level: 0/10>
<Mage Level: 0/5>
<Tyrant Hatchling Level: 0/15>
It felt a bit annoying to lose the old [Idol] and all its skills, but if I could customize these Jobs for my Unique one, then it should pay off in the future. I could make my own skill combinations without having those obviously hostile skills like the ones in [Champion of Aurena]. Skills increasing your damage against races the humans hated? Ahem, I was an idol. Please keep that away from me.
For [Idol], I was aiming for sound- and music-based skills to complement my current skill set, for example, [Musical Crescendo], which allowed my songs to reach others through vibrations in mana, and not through soundwaves. Those skills weren’t available in the SP shop. The only way to get them was through the Job system.
… Now that I thought about it, couldn’t I use SP on this new System? Like buying those mutation skills when I unlocked them through my dragon Jobs.
<Skill Points may be used to acquire Job bonuses, but their prices will be adjusted by the importance of the buy>
It was pretty much a confirmation, right? Score! Skill Points were still overpowered!
Which meant, I could test things out once I leveled the Jobs up to their first prestige. [Mage] was low level, so it wouldn’t take long, and I could try out what Kramps had in plan with this [Tyrant Hatchling] stuff.
“Tasianna, you need to gain your Unique Job! It seems really interesting,” I hyped up Tasianna, but my maid could only tilt her head.
“I would love to, but how, though? There is no known way to gain Unique Jobs outside of a Divine Quest.” She then turned over to Renee. “How did you gain one, Renee?”
Renee placed a hand on her chin, looking equally as confused as us. So, instead, she just retold everything that happened. “Oh, my [Plumwind Squire]. Well, you see, I actually was surprised when it happened. I got it when I was meeting with the Archerudite. After my initial offer was rejected, I became desperate.”
Renee then picked up her necklace, the memento of her mother. “I prayed to both God Yeostar and my mother, hoping they could grant me some wisdom. Any tidbits worthy to trade. In the end, I had to resort to selling you information, Hestia. Once again, I’m sorry.”
“What’s done is done. I don’t hold it against you anymore, so long as you don’t do it again. ‘Fool me twice, shame on me,’ right?” I patted her back, urging her to continue.
She nodded. “Saying it now probably won’t make it better, but I did feel quite guilty when I said it. Lord Uzerra was filled with glee, wanting to meet you, but I couldn’t help but feel like I backstabbed a friend. So, I clutched my amulet and committed myself to my path as a Sealight. That I would serve either as Yeos’s true princess, or as its mightiest knight. That I would win the tournament and become a Champion, to become a knight everybody would look up to. That, for the cost of my soul and honor, I would bring Yeos’s lost glory back.”
“Ohhh, and you’ll become a true knight in a few days, despite all the murmurs I’m hearing. You should be happy Fargryneill hadn’t cracked her knuckles and punched some of them yet,” Rita joked with her friend, causing Renee to let out a cackle.
“Haha, she might be a hothead and reckless, but she knows decorum. I guess she probably didn’t want to have her little sister hear she was a brute from the nobles, right?” Renee then turned to me, causing me to imagine what Neill’s thought process here was.
“Hmm. Sis is pretty awkward sometimes, but she has a good heart. If she can get rid of her fear of people disliking her cool, awesome, majestic, powerful, amazing kirin-dragon form, she’d be even better!”
“… I didn’t take you for a doting sister, Hestia.” Renee eyed me as if I was crazy, but I simply shrugged.
“Yeah, yeah, praising my sister who has an inferiority complex is soooo being a siscon. What do you know, huh? Single kid?” I grinned mischievously, causing Renee to nod back.
“Point taken … Well, speaking of the dragon.”
“Emergency!” I snapped my head around as Renee looked in the sky, noticing the silhouette of Sis flying over to the palace. “Hey! Yorshka! Get all the remaining knights! Yo, Renee, Sis, Tasianna! Get your asses up! The mana in the area caused a dungeon to spawn in the forest and the coast area! We have a dungeon break!”
“YES!” Renee shot up from the bench, rocking her hand into a fist. She then shivered for a moment, causing her helmet to materialize over her reddening face. “Ahem! I mean, this is a problem! We need to handle the matter now! Protect the citizens! Those dungeons are now under ownership of the royal family of Caimlace!”
From what I understood, while the mana in the ground was a serious threat to everybody, the Divine System would intervene if there was a large amount of mana in the area and quarantine it. Just like how a dungeon was nearly created when I fought the onnikais in the Greenveil Duchy. A dungeon, while dangerous to handle since monsters could break out of it, was also a gold mine for a city if its rank was high enough.
And Elyonda just gained two dungeons. Renee was obviously excited, as this was what she, Princess Anasthasia, and Duke Alberstien had gambled on after the battle.
I heard dungeon ranks were technically random, but you could predict it somewhat from the monsters spawned in the area. As such, this was a risky, although lucrative, method of dealing with the mana problem. After all, if you didn’t take care of the monsters inside, they could wander out like the giant spider queen I fought in Cedaraille. That would be an apocalyptic event for any city.
As such, if it was any higher than C rank, then it would be better to just break the dungeon core and sell them for funds. After all, Elyonda was not in a state where they could attract rank B or A adventurers and manage them. Opportunity cost, in other words.
Urgh … I couldn’t help but be reminded of how buying a single [Crystal of the Divine System] nearly bankrupted me, and that was with us supplying the dungeon core pieces. 90% of our funds just went poof, and we were technically considered as rich as a lower noble house before I bought it. In any case, our squad mobilized after Neill’s warning.
Let’s go! Grinding time! Woooo!
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I went through and tried to keep things balanced and so on, but maybe I got the Game Design stuff wrong. If you guys have any feedback, or questions for the Unique Job System, shoot! Some brain storming wouldn't hurt.
Comments
Skia Elafris
Everyone with job system access will get unique job once the trial period is over
Diego Rossi
"However, please be reminded that outside of the growths and stats gained from the Job, you will not have access to Job skills, spells, and abilities while you are in monster form" Intelligent monsters with "Humanize" and variants will have access to their evolutions and some of the benefits from the Jobs: growth and stats. The main balance problem is what is required before for high Rank monsters to get access to their Unique Job. If Melloxtressa needs to do something special to get access to it, it becomes difficult, as she is already a SS Dragon, and something "special" for her will be a nation-ending catastrophe, like Karhalantheel getting free from the seal. That could be a problem, as high Rank monsters will stagnate. Another problem will be the need to access a [Crystal of the Divine System] to change Jobs. Not all intelligent monster will have an easy access to them.
Diego Rossi
I could shoot out beams of solar energy, or clad myself in it. - I think it is meant to be: "I couldN'T shoot out beams of solar energy, or clad myself in it." 3 resources: "Health. Mana. Stamina." Scale dust isn't a resource? From what I recall Hestia use it in a few ways and she has a finite but regenerating quantity of it. the gods didn’t like this “quality over quantity” kinda deal - Shouldn't be "quantity over quality"? The number of available Jobs has decreased, but the qulity has increased.
Point taken, however, don't forget that as long as mana exists, monsters cannot go extinct due to monster spawning. It would endanger intelligent monsters, though, and possibly even lead into the destruction of monster infested areas like the Belzac forest. Hmm, a cap would make things easier, but it would go against the whole "customize your Job" fantasy of the Unique Job System. The more you evolve your Unique Job, the stronger it gets but the more experience your need. It would lead to people challenging even stronger monsters. It would be a had thing to regulate with only a cap. There has to be another way. Still, feedback taken. I had overlooked that part! Thanks!
Paradox
It seem to put the dragons and monsters at a severe disadvantage because of them being powerful though a long timespan if they don’t adapt quickly all but s-rank and above could be killed in a century from bonus stats and Humans severely outnumber them. You should put a cap on how many times or how hard it is to evolve the job.
