Blood Shaper

Seated once again in the comfy chair across from Douglas’ desk, Kay watched as said gnome ran around his office, pulling the curtains closed and locking the door.

“What is going-”

“Wait! Wait!,” Douglas waved his hands around wildly. “One more thing!” He ran back to his desk and pulled out another device of some kind, this one looking much less technologically advanced. It was a small metal contraption that looked like a piece of modern art, with a small crystal sitting in the middle. Douglas pushed at a part of the base, and the crystal began to glow.

The gnome drooped in his chair and sighed. “There, now no one can listen in on us.”

“Can I talk now, then?”

“Sure.”

“What the hell is going on?!?” Kay shouted, fed up with the situation. His life was already going down the drain, he didn’t need more strange things happening!

“I’m sorry!” Douglas waved both hands in front of him. “But we couldn’t have you saying anything where people could hear! Especially that idiot Roctis.”

Kay leaned forward. “Why? Why would anyone give a crap about me and what happened?”

“Because you’re an Outworlder.” Douglas replied.

“More details, please.” If Douglas was going to explain, he could be polite.

Douglas sighed and tapped on his desk. “There’s no real unifying theory on why, most people just accept that it happens. But every Outworlder that ends up in this world gets some boost to their power. Some think it’s compensation for being stuck on an alien world, but the why isn’t important. What is important is that those bonuses make every Outworlder that lives long enough a powerful person. And people that are already powerful will want to learn about people that could become powerful, so they can track future threats or rivals.”

“Alright.” Kay sat back in his seat. If Douglas had a real reason to drag him all the way back here and activate security before they talked, then he could be calm enough to listen attentively. “So what does that have to do with what happened down there?”

“If I’m right about what you got, everything. Tell me, did you get the title ‘Class Creator’?”

Kay nodded slowly. “I did.”

Douglas closed his eyes and sighed. “Alright. You never told me that.”

“What?”

“That’s not the kind of thing you want to share with people you don’t trust. And although I needed to know it to help you, I’m going to pretend I never heard that.”

“Why is it important?”

“Because of one of the biggest advantages that Outworlders get. Class slots.”

“What?” Kay was getting tired of saying that word. “What do you mean?”

“Class slots are almost directly equal to power. More classes is better, period. Remember how I told you that a person with a higher tier class is stronger than a lower tier one?”

Kay nodded.

“Well that’s just comparing one class to another. A person with two tier two classes is going to be stronger than a person with one tier two class. And that doesn’t even count the classes themselves! Just the increase in power from getting to a tier.”

“Okay, I get that class slots are related, but what does that have to do with Outworlders?”

“We get more class slots. The average native person will get anywhere from three to six in total, and usually on the lower end of that. Real geniuses get between six and ten, weighted more towards the lower end again. Outworlders start with eight on average, and I’ve never heard of one starting with less than six.”

I’m doing pretty well then. Kay thought to himself.

“So class slots are important, and Outworlders start with a lot.” Douglas continued. “Then the Class Creator title comes in. You can only get it if you’re the first person to ever get a class. It’s incredibly difficult to get without decades or more of effort, and people spend that time trying to develop new classes and get it.” Douglas leaned in over his desk. “Because it gives you a free class slot.”

Kay’s eyes got wide. “So, it means you can get more powerful?”

“Exactly! The higher tier you get to, the harder it is to get to the next. Tiers three and five are considered bottlenecks because many people can’t get past them. So a lot of people focus on getting their other classes to higher tiers to make up for the fact that they can’t jump that gap.”

“And more class slots mean more classes to raise, which makes you even stronger.”

“Exactly right. People obsess over getting more class slots. There are a tiny amount of ways to do it, and people fight over them constantly.”

“How does that affect me though?” Kay asked.

“Because you now have the opportunity to keep advancing, and get the title more times!” Douglas reached into his desk and pulled out a small decanter and two glasses. “Drink?”

“Sure.” Kay took a sip of the light purple liquid, but barely tasted it. “So, every time I advance my class, I’ll get the title again, and get more slots?”

“Not quite.” Douglass downed his drink in one shot and poured another. The title is called ‘Class Creator’, but you don’t get it for classes that follow the same path. Only new branches can get you the title again. But you’re massively in the lead to discover those new branches, since you’re the first person to discover the class.”

“Path? Branches?”

He set the decanter down. “Right, a class path is the straight line of progression. For example, Novice Blood Mage to Apprentice Blood Mage to Blood Mage to Experienced Blood Mage to Master Blood Mage to Grandmaster Blood Mage, where it stops.” Douglass held up a finger as he named each step. “That’s the class path for Blood Mage. There are similar paths for a huge number of classes, and the ones that go from Novice to Grandmaster are usually called the basic paths, since almost everyone starts with one of those classes and the path isn’t that hard to follow. You just have to keep leveling one skill more and more to advance. A branch is a new path that starts from one of the basic paths. Like a Baker getting a Pastier class. They have more requirements to get those classes, and progressing with them is harder, but they give more complex and powerful skills. Basic paths and their branches form a line. So people might talk about a class and mean just the basic path with that name, or they could be talking about the entire line.” Douglas took another swig of his drink. “So, since you just discovered a new Blood Mage branch, you’re more likely to discover more of them. There are very few branches that just end, most of them branch off again, or can combine with others to make entirely new ones.”

Kay had a pretty good poker face, at least according to his friends, and he did his best to keep it as tight as possible. He didn’t have a new Blood Mage branch, he had an entire new line. He guessed it was the Blood Manipulator line. Which he didn’t have just a chance to get the Class Creator title again, he was almost guaranteed to get it!

“Is it alright if I don’t give out any more details about my class?”

Douglas laughed. “Damn straight it is! Don’t share things about your class if you don’t have to. Hell, keep their very existence a secret if you can. Skills that can give you information about another person’s classes can only show you their highest tier class, or the first class they got to that tier if they have more than one at the same tier. So lots of people get a simple class that works with their real class and upgrade it high enough that it covers up their real class. Skills like that are rare, though.”

“Huh. Good to know.” Kay made a mental note to look for something like that. If he was right about the advantages he’d just gotten, he would need a disguise so his new secret wouldn’t be discovered. “You’re not mad that I’m not going to tell you, though?”

“Not at all! Protecting yourself is important on this world. You’re going to go and make your own life out there, and making sure that there’s no one who can share your secrets is a good way to do that.” Douglas smiled at him. “I’m not going to get mad at you for making the smart choice.” The gnome grabbed his drink and downed it again. “Now, lets have a quick lunch and go find you a trainer. It might be a little more difficult now, but we’ll get you someone good.”

“So, the Adventurer’s Guild?” Kay asked as they finished up the tasty lunch Douglas had made for them.

Douglas swallowed a bite of his fish. “Right, they’re the best place to get you someone to train you in both working with a class in general, and the important details about being an adventurer.”

“Why would I need to learn to be an adventurer? Can’t I do something else?”

Douglas sighed and pointed at Kay with his fork. “Sadly? No, you’ve really got only one option. With a tier one combat class you can level your skills up enough to hit tier two through just practice, but once you hit tier two you’ll need actual combat experience. Which means being an adventurer, unless you can find someone to hire you to be a soldier or something like that, but most governments or organizations that need to hire fighters require people to be pretty strong already. “

“And I have to upgrade combat class? I can’t do something else?”

“Maybe? If you can find someone to teach you skills and help you level them enough to get a non-combat class you could follow that path, but most people won’t train someone without a connection to them or a whole lot of money. The Adventurer’s Guild specifically gives lower rates for training in order to keep their adventurers alive longer. We can get someone to train you within the BOA’s budget.”

Kay frowned as he chewed on the last bit of his meal. “Wait, what would you have done if my starting class had been non-combat?”

“Oh, it would have been significantly easier and cheaper to get you a teacher for a non-combat class if you already had one. People are generally willing to train up people in their first class for pretty cheap, it lets them get to a position where you can support yourself. But trying to gain a new class so you don’t have to use your old one? Natives get to choose their first class from a few options, so if you do something like that you just look like an idiot who should have picked differently.” Douglass grabbed both their plates, seeing as they were both done, and walked them over to the kitchenette.

“I didn’t choose my class, though.” Kay pointed out.

Douglas turned back with a rueful grin. “True, but most people aren’t going to think about that, they’re just going to default to old habits of thought.”

“You have a point…”

“Your best bet is to get some training from someone at the Adventurer’s Guild and start building up some money. If you really hate it, or can’t hack it for long, you’ll have some money to fund switching your life around. You probably wouldn’t be able to afford any dedicated training, but a few lessons and some hard work can get you going if you have a good enough affinity.”

“That’s something I wanted to bring up actually.” Kay pushed his chair in and started following Douglas down the stairs. “What is affinity? That Roctis person mentioned it earlier.”

“That’s an easy one. Affinity is just what they call your natural talent at something. Like one person is really good at cooking, and someone else struggles with it. The more talented you are at something, the faster you improve, and the faster that your skills in that category level.” Douglas paused by the door.

“Is there any way to measure someone’s affinity?” Kay asked.

“Everyone wishes,” Douglas snorted. “No, the only way to figure it out is to get a skill and start trying to level it. The better your affinity the faster you level, which means that you can upgrade your classes faster. Everyone wants to find skills they have high affinity in because they’ll progress faster.”

“So if you have low affinity in something, it’ll take a really long time to progress.”

“Exactly.” Douglass motioned towards the door. “So, Adventurer’s Guild?”

Kay sighed. “I guess? I’m tired of being in a position where I don’t have any options.”

Douglas chuckled as he opened the door. “That should end soon. Adventurers have some of the most personal freedom on this world. They pick what jobs to do, where to go, what to fight, all kinds of things.”

The walk to the Adventurer’s Guild took them in the opposite direction from the guard station. As they started getting towards the poorer sections of the city, there were less two story buildings, and some of the buildings started to be made of different shades of wood, instead of the otherwise pervasive greyish-brown stone. Which, it turned out, was a kind of marble. It apparently had been a very good building material for a long time.

The Adventurer’s Guild building, once they got to it, turned out to be made of a mixture of materials. A dark colored wood was used, along with the local marble, and some kind of silvery metal. The large door in the middle of the building was wide enough for multiple people to walk through at the same time, and it sat most of the way open. From inside the building Kay could hear a lot of people talking, so it sounded like they were pretty busy.

The first view of Tumbling Rapids had been pretty fantastical, especially with the magical elevators that he saw, but Kay’s first step into an Adventurer’s Guild branch in this world was exactly what he had been expecting from it. The bottom floor of the building stretched out wide enough for a small crowd to mill about doing various things. Against the left side of the building, stretching along the entire wall, was a series of large wooden boards holding various posted notices made of a thick paper. People of all shapes and sizes wearing all kinds of armor and carrying varying kinds of weapon walked up and grabbed them off the boards. They then went to stand in one of a series of lines, where they had discussions with various men and women sitting behind desks that immediately made Kay think of bank tellers, covering the right hand side of the building.

Near the back was an area that took up about a quarter of the space, with a series of wooden benches and tables filling most of the space. There was a bar against the back wall that had a window behind it. Every once in awhile Kay could see someone handing drinks and trays of food to one of the women behind the bar, who promptly took it to one of the groups of people sitting at the tables.

“This way.” Douglas led Kay into a specific line, which only had a few people in it. As each person in line got to the front, they quickly spoke with the man behind the desk, who redirected them to another line.

“Oh, Representative Springcall.” The man’s long dark hair danced around his face as he nodded down at the gnome. “Are you here to seek training for your new Outworlder?”

“I am, but I’ll need to talk to the guildmaster about it, I’m afraid.” Douglas glanced at Kay, then back. “Something interesting has come up, and this one will need something special.”

“Well then.” The man stood up and gestured at another worker to take his spot. “I’ll take you up.”

There was a small spiral staircase that wound up to the second floor of the building, sitting behind the barricade of counters. The employee led them through a small door and up the stairs, then down a hallway into a waiting room.

The man nodded at the chairs. “I’ll tell the guildmaster you’re here.”

They sat and waited for a few minutes before the door opened again. The man gestured into the room as he held the door open. “He’ll see you now.”

They stepped inside and Kay followed Douglas’ lead, walking up to the desk and sitting in the chairs provided. Kay absently noticed that they’d taken the time to grab a chair that had small steps for Douglas to climb up.

The thin, stern looking man with an impeccable goatee looked up from some papers as they sat down. “Well, Representative Springcall. What kind of interesting new Outworlder have you brought me this time?”

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