Sinatro
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Chapter 107. The Special Profession
🕑 Added 2025-06-29 15:00:05 +0000 UTCHelare came back before the training that afternoon. Well, afternoon was relative. This was a land of perpetual day. Although there was no sun in the sky, it was always light out, except when it was cloudy.
After Helare left, Rafe checked to make sure there was no one watching, then he opened his inventory screen again. He took something out, used his status display skill to study it. He shook his head, knowing it would work for her.
Then he worked. He only had a few hours. He worked as fast as he could. In fact, he was trying out something new with his Dash skill. With his experience, he could do competent work. Competent enough he could pretend he was a real crafter with a dexterity stat.
But he still thought he worked too slow and carefully. Well, it was time to trust the experience he had and just run wild. And he had no stamina to speak of in a few hours, but he had finished two thirds of the work it normally took him about twelve hours to complete.
And that only because of mistakes making him remelt some of the blades and other products and rework them.
More importantly, though, he had expanded how he used his Dash skill. He didn't know if it had boosted his coordination stat a little bit, but it had boosted his hands. He had focused it on his hands. He moved them faster. He could concentrate the effect of his skill on only one part of his body.
Or maybe he could concentrate it on his eyes and see the world faster too. If that was the case, then the skill was getting awfully close to the function of his coordination stat. The stat allowed him to process information faster. It wasn't a stat focused on his eyes, it was focused on his brain.
Whatever the case, he'd almost replicated the use of a stat he did not have in dexterity. And maybe one he did have. Now he just needed the push to get used to the new process. And that was not the only advantage of the new training regimen.
‘Ding’ Your skill blacksmith has grown to level 101
…
Your skill blacksmith has grown to level 104.
Your skill Dash has grown to level 41.
Your skill Dash has grown to level 42.
…
Your skill Dash has grown to level 47.
Pushing his skills in these new and playful ways also helped him grow them. Apart from finding out the extent of the cracks on the skills, using these hidden functions for the first time made the skills grow like they were still level one. Once he got used to the functions, they would slow down again.
Well, as long his work got faster and better looking, he would be satisfied enough.
The next thing on his agenda was his lesson with Hestus. It would maybe take a few days. Or maybe a one off thing? Helare was there as well. She had told Rafe she wanted to come, but he hadn't been sure.
“I wasn't sure you'd come,” Rafe said as a way of greeting.
“I…think you should know enough by now, right?” she replied, looking towards him and then looking away once he tried meeting her eyes.
“Know enough of what?” Rafe asked slowly. He didn't expect an answer.
“I just want to spend time with you,” she answered him after almost a full minute. Rafe was surprised, and not only because she'd answered.
Was she still trying to play with him again? Because it was working this time. It worked better this time because there was a grain of truth to it he could sense.
Hestus arrived just then, saving them both from the awkwardness. Rafe focused on the information like it was some kind of life line.
“So…the merchant system,” Hestus started. “First off, I will say that not all merchant professions are the same. Just as you all know, rarities come into play.”
“Ah,” Rafe said with a nod.
That was interesting. Rafe knew a few of the ways rarities affected classes and even professions to some extent. Stats. And specs for classes.
Still, when one's class evolved, the system would attempt to at least help them catch up, thought it wouldn't bump them all the way. There was a reward of a few free stat and spec points every time one evolved their class. About a third of the points one would have gotten if they had started from the new rarity.
So higher rarity profession holders also had advantages over lower rarity holders? That was a good discovery. Although the merchant profession was a special one, so perhaps its mechanics would be different.
“Basically, merchants are the only way to transfer credits from one person to another. That is the basic function of merchants. Credit exchange.”
Rafe wanted to nod to just get the explanation over with, but he was confused. That went against the definition of what a merchant was in the first place. Hestus probably saw his confusion.
“It's mostly a measure to ensure credits are always moving,” Hestus said. “We are the only ones able to trade. Obviously if we had this advantage of storing credits which one can use to cheat the system, we'd hoard credits until we had enough to buy whatever favour we wanted from the system.”
“Ahh, I get it. And since it is your profession, you have skills to make acquiring payment for your goods easy. Therefore you'd hoard credits, which the system doesn't want for some reason.”
“Yes, yes,” Hestus nodded. “Well, the higher the rarity of your merchant profession, the longer you can hold onto credits before the system starts to take a small percentage of them every single hour.”
Rafe thought about it for a few moments, then he nodded. It wasn't like he'd understood, but maybe with the full picture, he'd know what was going on.
“A basic merchant is only a middle man. You take your goods to them, they sell them and the credits go directly to you. Because if they spend even one hour with credits, they'll vanish immediately. Taking a basic merchant profession is effectively swearing off credits. Why would anyone do it then? Because who is going to be able to collect a million S grade credits. And by collecting the F grade chump change credits too?
“It's an impossible goal, an impossible dream. Not that everything the system can do requires that much. Even one D grade credit can do miracles. I hear a million C grade credits could buy someone ten stat points into luck to unlock the quest system even though one is past the C grade, but don't quote me on that.”
This time Helare cleared her throat. Rafe looked her way.
“You have mentioned all these things credits can do and that the system prefers to keep them close, but why did it introduce them in the first place?”
Hestus looked startled by the question. Hadn't he noticed Helare was there before? Or maybe was he scared of the question?
“Well…certainly there are theories. You know people deeper in the multiverse believe something was stolen from the guardians to make the system.”
Rafe knew that something was the mantles. The very symbols of their power.
“Well, the quest system is believed to be similar to something the cult of the game mistress used to do. And for every quest they'd complete,” Hestus looked around like he was scared there was some kind of guardian listening who would drop a mountain on him or something. “They would be rewarded by the legendary dragon. He who hoards.”
Rafe frowned, thinking through the implications. The quest system was derived from a mantle belonging to some guardian who used to play games. And apparently they were close enough to some legendary dragon that their systems were this closely connected.
“If you collected enough of the dragon's wealth, he'd grant you any wish of roughly equal value to return his treasures to him. He was a guardian, so he could basically bend reality to fulfill your wish.”
“How do you know so much about guardians?” Rafe asked.
It was his understanding this kind of information was gated pretty tightly by the powerful of the multiverse.
Again, Hestus looked around nervously before leaning in in a conspiratory way.
“This guy is a legend among merchants. In fact, there are rumors he still moves around the multiverse. This guy…well, his personal merchant profession? The system put some limitations on it, like he can't do the whole thing of asking for favours for his credits. He can only buy equipment and skills and stat points, and anything really. As long as he doesn't try to buy an opportunity from the system. But it is the only merchant profession that can hold onto their credits indefinitely. All merchants dream of the day his cult will stop by their star system.”
Rafe considered this revelation. He knew almost nothing about the other guardians. Not their powers, not their names, not what they were doing since they'd lost their powers. He knew most of them didn't get along with Skyholm though. The fact that one of them was randomly popping up in places all around the multiverse scared him a little, if he was being honest.
“So, there is a group of merchants who can hoard credits? So if say someone had such a merchant in their pocket, they could use them as a personal bank, wouldn't they?” Rafe asked.
Hestus looked like he'd been startled by the question. “In fact, his group own an institution called a bank. It's one of the tricks normal merchants like us use to store our credits if we happen to have some lying around. Anyway, I hope you've understood enough to form a clear picture of merchant professions?”
“I don't think you've answered the reason why the system doesn't like credits to be spreading within the multiverse.”
Hestus threw his hands up. “I don't know!” he snapped. “Maybe it's because the system is supposed to be the strongest being in the multiverse. The credits are its weakness, so of course it wouldn't want those just flying around without supervision. How long until someone tells the system they want their old universe or planet the way it was before integration? That they want the system gone? Firm control over the economy is one of the best tools a government can use.”
“Ahh, I see,” Helare answered placidly.
She sounded distracted. So distracted she didn't seem to care Hestus had raised his voice and yelled at her.
They left the merchant and walked together on their way to Collab's compound. Rafe steered them to his own tent area first, and Helare didn't complain at all.
“Here, Helare. This is for you,” Rafe said rather nonchalantly. There was nothing nonchalant about how fast and hard his heart was pumping though.
She broke out of her distracted state and stared down at the spear Rafe had gotten from a race of mermaid people in the tower.
“This is not made of metal,” he said. “And it can double as a wand too, I think.”
