The sudden feeling of anxiety gradually subsided. There was no sign of danger lurking around the nearest tree or the road turn. Soon, Elanil allowed herself to relax a little.
“This Eleanor mentioned guilds,” Nura asked suddenly. “What did she mean?"
This question surprised Elanil. It seemed to her that the system of professional affiliation permeated this world from head to toe. There probably were no such thing as a Farmers Guild, but as far as any formally organized profession was concerned, its representatives were members of the corresponding guild. Eleanor, for example: Elanil hadn’t noticed it last night, but during their morning conversation, she noticed her badge hanging on the wall behind the bar, indicating that the innkeeper held Eight Bronze status at the Innkeepers Guild.
“Don’t Orcs have guilds?”
“Isn’t it obvious? If we did, I wouldn’t be asking,” Nura chuckled.
“Guilds are associations of members of the same profession, in other words, communities based on common interests. Guilds help their members navigate the world better, share valuable information, and form teams. Take the Adventurers Guild, for example. If you’re a member, you have access to quests of increased value and difficulty. This should be useful for common people, too.”
“How could it be useful for a shepherd that some scoundrels decided to scour the forests and mountains together in search of an adventure?” Nura frowned.
“Let’s say a monster appears near a pasture and steals sheep. Instead of waiting and hoping that sooner or later a hero will pass by this middle of nowhere and defeat the creature, the shepherd simply sends a request to the Adventurers Guild, and they will soon send an adventurer or a squad of adventurers, if the monster is dangerous.”
“So, if I’m not a member of this guild, then I can’t kill the monster if I just happen to be passing by and decide to help?”
“I think you can,” Elanil frowned, trying to remember if her colleagues had even discussed this possibility. “Most likely, you’ll receive an invitation from the guild to join their ranks, and share a percentage of your loot, of course.”
“And what if I decline this generous offer?”
“Then perhaps they could send one of their strongest members who would challenge you to a duel, where you either defend your right to be an independent adventurer or suffer a humiliating defeat… Wait! No, it’s probably much simpler—the contract on your head would be transferred to the Assassins Guild.”
“You have the Guild of Assassins, too? Are there guilds for every occasion?” Nura snorted discontentedly, crossing her arms. “Say, a Guild of Street Beggars, which regulates at which streets and who can beg, and how?” She burst out laughing, apparently imagining how such a process would be organized bureaucratically.
“If my memory serves me right, such a guild exists.”
“These guilds of yours are just plain stupid!”
“Well, that’s understandable, to some extent,” Elanil shrugged. “It’s easier for the Empire to control the processes within it. In the Middle Ages, this was also quite common in cities—unions of artisans of the same profession.”
“In the Middle what?”
“Never mind. How do you orcs structure your social interactions?” Elanil quickly changed the subject. “Phew, almost screwed up!” she thought. “Who among you defeats dangerous monsters or searches for sheep lost in the steppe?”
“A clan of monster hunters or a clan of pathfinders, respectively.” Nura stated this as if it were perfectly obvious. She must have forgotten from times to times that what was obvious to the orcs seemed a novelty to someone a thousand miles away, in the lands of the Empire. And vice versa. “By the way, I’m from a clan of pathfinders, that’s why I’m a ranger.”
“Ah, I see,” Elanil nodded. “The Red Dust clan is a clan of rangers, right?"
“Not the entire Red Dust Clan,” Nura shook her head. “Strictly speaking, the Red Dust Clan is a confederation of small clans that roam the Steppe. Well, not all of them are nomadic. There’s a clan of potters who settled in the Red River canyon area.”
“Ah, so this is how you exchange goods and services?” Elanil nodded. “A clan of potters provides clayware for those who, say, herd sheep and they in turn supply others with meat and wool? And your clan of pathfinders look for animals lost in the steppe, right?”
“Well, not quite that simple,” Nura chuckled. “If the relationships between clans were as graceful as you just described, then perhaps we would’ve had a paradise on earth. We orcs can be, to put it mildly, unreasonable. So, basically, every clan must have those who act as protectors.”
Elanil nodded silently. An orc pacifist would not be an orc at all, she thought.
“But still, experts remain experts,” Nura continued. “No one compares to us in finding the best path, and I’m not just talking about lost sheep; the Steppe keeps many mysteries left behind by vanished civilizations. Just as no one makes jerky as well as sheep herders.”
“In other words, instead of guilds, you have a tribal society, where each clan is a kind of artisanal dynasty,” Elanil concluded.
Nura nodded.
“I have a question. In case with guilds, if you, say, don’t want to be an Adventurer anymore, but want to join the Seafarers Guild, then you just leave one and join another. Or you can be a member of several at once, if the rules allow you. What does an Orc do if they don’t want to fish in the Red River anymore, but to hunt steppe monsters?”
“That’s what we have Dust Storm days for.”
“Please, elaborate.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Nura sighed. “When there are dust storms, there’s not much to do in the Steppe. This season always occurs just before Big Rains. And during these days, we gather at the Red River Canyon. It’s a time of important negotiations between clan leaders, while simple folks celebrate weddings and move from one clan to another.”
“That is, changing professions through weddings.”
“No! You don’t have to get married to move to another clan. Every year, during these days, we communicate with other clans. So, if from childhood you don’t like what your clan does, but you like what the neighboring one does, then you simply wait for your initiation, receive your runes, and move wherever you want. You’re an adult now.”
“Have you ever thought about changing your—”
“By the way, how did you spend your points?” Nura interrupted her with a sudden question.
Elanil didn’t have to be a genius to understand that her last question must had touched upon some deeply personal issues and therefore a change of subject followed, so she played along.
“You mean the ones I use to improve my strength, magical attack, and so on?”
“Uh-huh,”
“I’m still thinking about what build to go with,” Elanil admitted.
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“What’s there to think about?” Nura snorted. “You’re an archer; invest in Dexterity, you can’t go wrong.”
“How simple everything is for you,” Elanil chuckled.
“Or maybe it’s you who likes to complicate things even where it’s not necessary,” Nura countered.
“I still need to remember what depends on what,” Elanil remarked. Since her unique class most likely made the task three times more difficult, she should be particularly picky about point distribution. So she turned to the menu prompts and found the one she needed.
Characteristics (Main)
- Constitution – increases Health, Physical Attack, Physical Attack Resistance; certain levels of this parameter serve as a prerequisite for rare and legendary heavy armor and melee weapons;
- Dexterity – increases Ranged Attack (both Physical and Magic), Evasion, Attack speed; certain levels of this parameter serve as a prerequisite for rare and legendary medium armor, rings and bows;
- Intelligence –increases Magic Attack and Magic Resistance; certain levels of this parameter serve as a prerequisite for rare and legendary light armor, amulets, staves, orbs and poignards;
- Cunning – reduces Ability cooldown, increases Poison damage and Poison resistance, increases stealing and lockpicking skills; certain levels of this parameter serve as a prerequisite for rare and legendary rings and daggers, throwing knives;
- Charisma – increases Ability multiplier, Persuasion, Luck, and Chance, encourages merchants to offer you better deals, and opens access to special shipments.
“Hmm,” she frowned mentally. “What do Luck and Chance mean exactly?” She found and opened the explanations for the applied characteristics.
- Physical attack – the number of physical damage points inflicted by the hero (influences the hero’s basic Physical Attack and Ability Physical Attack)
- Magic attack – the number of magic damage points inflicted by the hero (influences the hero’s basic Magic Attack and Ability Magic Attack)
- Ranged attack – Physical and Magic damage inflicted by bows and staves (depending on the class)
- Ability multiplier – the percentage of additional damage points for the Ability’s corresponding type(s) of attack (Physical Attack, Magic Attack, Poison)
- Evasion – reduces Ranged Attack damage received, all types (Physical Attack, Magic Attack, Poison)
- Attack Speed – the speed of weapon attacks (any types of weapons)
- Poison damage – the number of damage points inflicted by poisoned weapons
- Physical resistance – reduces Physical Attack damage received
- Magic resistance – reduces Magic Attack damage received (except for mind magic)
- Concentration – increase resistance against control abilities
- Poison resistance – reduces Poison damage received
- Persuasion – people around you tend to treat you better; handy for investigation quests, in particular; also accelerates reputation gaining
- Luck – the probability (in percentages) of a Critical hit: doubled damage per basic attack or doubling summoned creatures
- Chance – the probability (in percentages) of disabling/status effects (panic, stun, dizziness)
- Stealing – deft hands, the effectiveness of stealing valuables unnoticed (rogues only)
- Lockpicking – deft hands, the effectiveness and speed of opening locks on chests and doors (rogues only)
As she had expected, the attributes were structured in such a way that it was impossible to say unequivocally that one of them was destined to be maxed-out while another—completely unnecessary to level up, charisma, for example. That’s why she chose not to assign skill points yet. First of all, she did not yet have enough of an idea what type of abilities she would acquire. Also, she was yet to find out what types of foes she would encounter more frequently. Hence, she was unsure, whether she should concentrate more on the power of her abilities or the strength of her bow, her evasion and resistance.
“I assume, you’ve already spent your points,” she turned to Nura.
“Yep, would you like to look at them?”
“If you don’t mind.”
And Nura’s attributes appeared before Elanil’s eyes.
Attributes:
Constitution: 39
Intelligence: 12
Dexterity: 39
Cunning: 15
Charisma: 3
Physical Attack: 39
Physical Attack Resistance: 9.75%
Physical Ranged Attack: 78
Attack Speed: 78%
Evasion: 19.5%
Magic Attack: 6
Magic Attack Resistance: 2.4%
Cooldown reduction: 15%
Posion:15
Poison Resistance: 7.5%
Ability Multiplier: 0.6%
Persuasion: 3
Luck: 1.5%
Chance: 1.5%
Concentration: 0.75%
Level: 6
“You are definitely going to double down on the stereotypes about orcs, aren’t you?” She couldn’t help but tease Nura.
“What do you mean?”
“Just see for yourself. With such a bias towards strength and dexterity, and almost zero charisma, you’ll look to everyone like a typical ferocious and merciless conqueror from the Steppe.”
“Maybe,” Nura shrugged. “But it’s best for a dual-axe wielder. And charisma isn’t practical. I’m no merchant, I’m a pathfinder and occasionally warrior.”
“Everyone always underestimates charisma,” Elanil smirked and looked through Nura’s stats again. “Huh, you don’t have any Magic Ranged Attack at all.”
“Why should I? I’m no mage. I’m a dreamwalker, but it’s not about magic, it’s more of Orcish seership.”
“I somehow have both types of Ranged Attacks. Look,” Elanil opened her stats menu.
Nura carefully examined her characteristics.
“Elanil,” she sighed and shook her head, almost disappointed. “How can you be so inattentive? Do you see what is written in the very first line? Archer-Mage.”
“Yes, I know that,” Elanil grumbled, “I mean—”
“What then seems unclear to you?” Nura looked at her as if she were a person who needed completely obvious things to always be explained. “You are both a mage and a rogue. Two classes.”
“But the class merges never happened before!” Elanil objected. “Don’t you find it bizarre?”
“It never happened before, and now it did,” Nura shrugged. “Times are such that all sorts of bizarre things happen, don’t you think? For example, an Orc and a Wood Elf, both with fateful amulets, get stuck somewhere in the valley of human plowmen and swineherds. Isn’t it intriguing?”
“I’m not sure it is…” Elanil frowned. “But maybe you’re right. Still, some of my additional parameters do not correspond to what they should be, whether for the magic or rogue class. I mean the way they should be based on my main attributes’ stats. Look,” Elanil found in her menu and expanded the tooltip tab, showing which additional attributes would be increased per point spent on each of the main ones.
Nura whistled, looking at the tab. “How generous this System of yours is for the Wood Elves. It shows and explains everything to you.”
“The orcs don’t have it?”
“Nope. The wisdom of Father Sky and Mother Earth is laconic. We have to learn by trial and error. It’s good that we have elders who pass on this valuable knowledge so that young orcs do not stick their heads into the lion’s mouth to test how strong their Physical Attack Resistance is.”
Elanil thought that it was likely that the Wood Elves did not have such a detailed menu of hints as she had. Still, for the NPCs, as this world’s indigenous inhabitants, the whole System was really something like the wisdom of the ancestors, passed down from generation to generation. Players were spared of such luxury. Or deprived of it—depending on how much lore nerds they were.
“Why don’t you try it?” Nura continued. “You seem to have enough points to spend, so you can allocate at least one for each attribute and see where your estimates don’t match your actual stats.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Elanil noted.
“Are you kidding? It’s a brilliant idea!”
Elanil opened the skill leveling menu.
At the very top was a notification:
12 unallocated stat points
“You’d better go bottom to top,” Nura suggested. “The lowest ones are the same for all three classes—will be easy to check something fishy.”
Elanil nodded and after a moment of hesitation invested one point in Charisma—a pleasant chill ran through her entire body, as if she had pulled an electrified sweater over her head.
[System Notification]
Elanil spent 1 point on Charisma
+ 0.2% Ability Multiplier,
+ 1 Persuasion,
+ 0.5% Luck,
+ 0.5% Chance
+ 0.25% Concentration
“So far, so good,” Nura commented, her eyes moving between the points allocation tooltip and Elanil’s stats.
Elanil allotted the next point to Cunning.
[System Notification]
Elanil spent 1 point on Cunning
+ 1% Cooldown Reduction,
+ 1 Poison,
+ 0.5% Poison Resistance
“Yep, nothing unusual,” Nura confirmed.
Elanil sent the next point to Intelligence. She was already beginning to get used to the tingling goosebumps-like sensations with each stat increase.
[System Notification]
Elanil spent 1 point on Intelligence
+ 2 Magic Attack,
+ 0.5% Magic Attack Resistance
“Well, apparently you’re a mage,” Nura noted. “Intelligence gives different levels of Magic Attack and Magic Attack Resistance upgrade for different classes. You’ve got the best upgrade here. But let’s prove it, do Dexterity.”
[System Notification]
Elanil spent 1 point on Dexterity
+ 1.75 Physical Ranged Attack,
+ 1.75 Magic Ranged Attack
+ 1.5% Attack Speed,
+ 0.4% Evasion
“Wait a minute,” Nura frowned. “That’s odd. Not a rogue’s update, nor a mage’s.”
“See, that’s what I told you.” Elanil also stared at her stats and the hints menu. “Not only do I have both types of ranged attack, but their growth rate is neither like that of a mage nor that of a rogue. Something in between.”
“As well as Attack Speed and Evasion,” Nura added. “Well, let’s do the last one, Constitution.”
[System Notification]
Elanil spent 1 point on Constitution
+ 0.75 Physical Attack,
+ 0.25% Physical Attack Resistance,
Moderate Health Increase
“Well, you really do have a rather unique build,” Nura concluded. “I even envy you a bit. Your stats may grow a little slower than a mage’s or rogue’s, but you’re still growing them for both classes at once! Cool!”
“I don’t know whether such versatility is good,” Elanil muttered uncertainly.
“Let’s consider it a good omen,” Nura laughed cheerfully then suddenly lowered her voice. “Elanil?”
“Yes?”
“Let’s start a guild!”
1st chapter as well as Skills Points Allocation memo from the .
Character:
Class: Archer-Mage
Origins: Wood elf
Core: Support (Healer)
Attributes:
Health: F-medium
Constitution: 22
Intelligence: 22
Dexterity: 22
Cunning: 14
Charisma: 8
Physical Attack: 16.5
Physical Attack Resistance: 5.5%
Physical Ranged Attack: 38.5
Magic Ranged Attack: 38.5
Attack Speed: 33%
Evasion: 8.8%
Magic Attack: 44
Magic Attack Resistance: 11%
Cooldown reduction: 14%
Posion:14
Poison Resistance: 7%
Ability Multiplier: 1.6%
Persuasion: 8
Luck: 4%
Chance: 4%
Concentration: 2%