CHAPTER TWE

  Requirements for Adva

  “Um…” Hajime raised his hand, drawing the pri of his happy musings of stomping on those old sorcerers who thought so little of him. “Are there no promotions for novices?”

  From the list Bridget had shown them earlier, it was clear that she’d only mao secure 2nd and 3rd tier jobs reted to squires. The reason for this was simple. No one in Bram’s household was dedicated to solving the are mysteries. The ck of advanced sorcerers who specialized in sorcery different from Ser Anthony’s bat magic was mostly due to Bram’s ‘Ill-Fated’ moniker. No self-respeg would want to pledge their services to an ill-fated prince destio be weeded out by the other royals…at least not until now.

  Bram gnced furtively at Ravi whose mouth hung open while he surveyed the floating blue window they’d shared with him.

  “We’ll have 2nd tier jobs avaible for are novices by the end of this quest,” the prince said fidently.

  Ohe of Stargazers pledged themselves to his cause, the Loom would gain the sorcerer, mystid chemist 2nd tier jobs. Perhaps even Ravi’s 3rd tier summoner profession.

  “We might also earn a shaman or divinator job. That would be lovely,” he added, sounding quite hopeful.

  Of course, Bram could ask Rowan to share her a knowledge with the Loom, but he was loathed to do this. He wahe trickster’s power—the unrivaled might of a Blood Champion and the lesser jobs that must lead to it—to be for him and her alone.

  Bridget, who had been transcribing Bram’s words into her journal, asked, “I didn’t get to ask this during my interviews, but we also expect jobs that aren’t in a linear progression?”

  “What my household showed you are merely the first leaves of a burgeoning tree. There will be professions that require experien multiple jobs and jobs that will need you to hold positions in Lotharin’s many anizations for advao bee possible,” Bram expined, recalling for himself that someone like the Grand Sorcerer of the Sn’s court was a master of many jobs before he’d earned his lofty position.

  “Positions…like what?” Bridget pressed.

  Bram’s face turned ptive for a short moment.

  “For a squire to bee a knight”—Bram referred to the status window that showed 2nd tier jressions—“you would o be knighted by a noble or another knight who’s well-regarded by their peers.”

  Chris and Hajime exged looks.

  “Are there many knights or nobles who knight squires?” Hajime asked.

  Bram quickly realized what the otherworlders must have already noticed.

  “Knights are limited in knighting squires, and only to those they’ve personally trained.” Bram began expining. “Oher hand, a fh-ranking ander of the Imperium’s military such as Ser Anthony could knight squires not under his charge, but only up to thirty. This is true for most the rank of Eorl and below.”

  “How about a prince?” Chris asked .

  “There are no such limitations for royalty,” Bram replied, adding, “In her first twenty years on the Burnt Throhe Sn appointed a total of two-hundred-ay-eight knights. First Prialos has a hundred knights in his household…my other older siblings have simir numbers.”

  Thoughts of the other royals caused Bram’s brow to crease because he khat none of them were idle now that the Imperium’s game of succession was afoot. Even his younger siblings who’ve yet to be given the responsibility of g a kingdom were studying hard to eventually usurp their elders’ positions. Like Bram, they were all sharpening their fangs. This was most true of Talos the Magnifit, Governor of the Mountain Kingdom of Shamva, Dux of Uthar, Master of the Sorcerers of the Mystic Eye, Breaker of the Mountain, Lord of Wyverns, He Who Uplifts…

  Will I ever reach the same renown as the first prince…?

  “So, I only met a few of them in my interviews, but how many knights do you have in total?” Bridget piped up, drawing the pri of his musings.

  Bram’s voice suddenly got tinier when he admitted, “Five… I have five knights in my household.”

  The others looked away in embarrassment. Only one gaze remained fixed on Bram.

  “Am I not also a knight?” Rowan cast her usual impish smile. “Then my prince has six knights in total.”

  Rowan did cim to be an errant knight when she’d brought Bram back down from Sundermount. This was a lie, of course, but it was a lie the prince promised to turn into truth ohis quest was finished.

  He and Rowan exged gazes—both staring favorably at the other—when Hajime thought to join in on the encement by saying, “Bram will have plenty more squires to knight soon.”

  Taking the baton from Hajime, Chris added, “More than a hundred… Nah, let’s go for ahousand!”

  “Yes,” Hajime agreed enthusiastically, “we make a knight order for otherworlders who—”

  “Boys,” Bridget called, drawing the two otherworlders’ gazes to her, “shut it.”

  Bridget’s high ‘Beast Handling’ skill may have helped to quiet them down quickly, though she was too te to salvage the warm atmosphere that had growweewo Aarders because Bram and Rowan had already looked away from each other. Still, the blonde archer must have noticed that Bram’s cheeks were as red as freshly plucked apples before he turned away.

  A short while ter, the topic returo rare jobs and the possibility of acquiring one by earning experiehrough multiple professions. To date, only Blood Champion fit this category, and Bram was adamant about keeping this opportunity to himself…at least for now.

  “Even if we earn the qualifications for a promotion, it’s not like we’ll be able to do it with a click of a buttht?” Chris asked.

  “There’s no such venience,” Bram agreed.

  He and Bridget had already discussed this beforehand to the point that Bram had already sent out a call for experts through Bastille’s merary guild as well as with Ser Anthony’s acquaintahroughout the Imperium. With the promise of a hefty sary and other bes, they hoped t in experts to serve as teachers who could assist otherworlders in reag greater heights. So far, there haven’t been many responses oher avehe merary guild was experieng a drought of experts thanks to the new hiring policies of Lotharin’s northern nobles, while Ser Anthony’s tacts iral Atn tio be prejudiced against the seventh prind his ill-fated reputation.

  Despite this setback, Bram insisted oing the infrastructure ready for when the experts finally showed up.

  “We should set up an adva offi Reise that will s promotion applications and help ect the pyers with their teachers,” Hajime proposed.

  “That sounds like a tiring process,” Bridget ented.

  “Like a day wasted at the DMV,” Chris weighed in.

  Though he didn’t know what the DMV was, Bram couldn’t help but weigh in. “Which is why we’ll need you to create a sario that will make job promotions feel less like studying for an exam and more—”

  “Eaining?” Rowan supplied.

  Bram nodded. “Exactly.”

  “I’ll hahe sario.” Bridget’s face lit up with delight. “I’ll pencil it into my to-do list right between our newly pnned Red Forest sario and the first sario.”

  “Yeah, what are y’all calling that again?” Chris asked.

  “The Justification for Stopping the Uprising before it Begins…sario,” Bridget replied hesitantly.

  Chris raised an eyebrow at her. “That’s what y’all are calling our first main sario?”

  “I’m still workshopping it!” Bridget protested. “Writing’s not easy, you know.”

  “Hey, y’all know I’m oive’s side.” Chris raised his hands in surrender for he knew better than tue with a writer who assionate about the details. “Writing ain’t easy. I agree.”

  “This is all so fasating…” Ravi, aving his hand at the ghostly blue window in front of him, looked like a boy who’d glimpsed a toy behind a storefront’s gss window that he wanted very much. “To think that one’s adva in sorcery could be achieved with such efficy… This Loom ’t be exclusive to otherworlders, it?”

  Bram and Rowan g each other. They’d been waiting for him to ask.

  “We could share it with our people,” Bram began—to which Rowan added, “But only to those who prove their loyalty to Prince Bram and the great uaking.”

  The Trickster trotted over to where Ravi was standing so she could whisper into his ears. “Imagihe growth your could experience should your members also have access to the Loom.”

  “That there’s the only iive y’all need, Ravi,” Chris weighed in. “Y’all should get on board now while we’re still on the ground floor of this thing.”

  The Shamvan gulped as if he was suddenly parched, and Bram guessed that he was this close to drinking what Chris called the ‘Kool-Aid’, but then Ravi let out a heavy sigh as if he were expelling the temptation from his mind.

  “I’ll give you an answer once we’ve discovered what’s happeo my master,” he restated.

  “Such stubbornness,” Rowan sighed exaggeratedly.

  She went back to sit on the log o Bram who’d begun discussing with Chris what boons he and Bridget received for reag level three.

  “I’m guessing this Fighting Style’s like Sorcery Tradition but for martial jobs,” Chris assumed.

  He was right, as Bram would expin. “The style you focus on will determine what ons you master and what abilities you might learn through experience while also giving you bes to match your choice.”

  “So, if I chose archery,” Bridget tapped the bow resting on the log o her, “I’ll still be able to learn how to fight with swords?”

  Bram nodded.

  “But we only be masters in one Fighting Style,” Chris restated.

  “For now,” Bram answered, adding, “Over time, you should be able to grow however you want with the Loom’s help.”

  The progression of the Loom’s users wouldn’t be limited to a straight line. As an example, Hajime, an are novice, could switch to a squire at any point in his career so he could learn martial abilities if he wao. The opposite was true fet and Chris as well, assuming they reach the mana threshold required to bee an are novice.

  “So long as you meet the requirements for job ges, you switch as many times as you want. Though eaew job will begin at the first level,” Bram remihem.

  Here roof that the prince had been thhly studying the instruanuals the Loom gave him every night. Though sounding like he was an expert who’d experienced growth with the system’s aid was simply Bram’s inborn charisma at py. Like the others, the prince was also a, as Hajime called it, “noob,” when it came to the system that could alter one’s fate.

  “But not every spell or ability we learn be usable with every job?” Chris guessed.

  Bram nodded again. “As you’ve learoday, there are a variety of factors in successfully casting a martial spell. From your choice of gear to ges in your enviro, you’ll have to sider many things in your development.”

  “Well, this was a nice lesson on jobs, Prince…” Bridget pulled out a pocket watch from her coat’s pocket. “…But it might be good for us to log out now and e back refreshed in a few hours.”

  ‘Logout’ was the gamer term the otherworlders used for the moment when their souls returo Earth. This was a necessary invenience because Rowan taught them that a soul could not stray too long from its body lest that soul fet its sense of self and vanish into nothingness. Alternatively, a body that’s lost its soul would slowly waste away in a vegetative state that would eventually lead to its demise. So, it was agreed between both sides that a maximum of sixteen hours a day was the allowable pytime for the otherworlders to ensure no harm would e to either body or soul.

  “Certainly.” Relut as he was to dey the quest, Bram had no choice but to agree. “We’ll meet back here i hours.”

  “You mustn’t fet to save,” Rowan remihem.

  “Right.” Chris, who’d been lounging on the ground with a stick of sage between his teeth, got back up, dusted off his pants, and then walked over to the . “Wouldn’t want to e baewhere y’all ain’t in.”

  He pressed his palm to the top of the pile.

  Attuo his wishes, the Loom raised a notification in the air. [Would you like to save your progress?]

  YESNO“Yep,” Chris answered.

  ALERT! Progress saved. You will arrive at this designated oint when you return to Aarde.Chris ined his head to the floating message. “Much obliged.”

  A week ago, the otherworlders had no choice but to appear at Rowan’s side whehey returo Aarde si was Rowan who had first summohem. However, through a lucky act—one where Hajime had iently returo the first oint during a day when the rest of the party had already moved oherworlders discovered they could use oints to save their progress.

  With this discovery came a new possibility, and the prince was already pnning on having the of Stargazers spread these ‘save points’ across Lotharin for the otherworlders’ venience as well as his own. Indeed, with a oint located at key locations, moving an army behind enemy lio ambush their rear could bee a possibility. More importantly, if they could only save their progress within Lotharin’s borders, the otherworlders would have no choice but to stay ahe kingdom rather thaure into other nds. Eventually, Bram po expand his influen the other kingdoms as well, but su endeavor—what Hajime called ‘Expansion tent’—would only occur after Lotharin’s many troubles were dealt with.

  “The Loom guide your fate.” Bridget uttered the phrase she’d ied for the game—to which Bram answered with the prepared response, “It guides us all.”

  The prince pulled out the lute strapped to his bad then strummed a tune. Ohat harkeo the grand adventure he and his panions were on.

  “Far away, the mount of Sunder cries,” he began in a deep, resonating voice, “Beyond the sight of men, as far as the crow flies…”

  The otherworlders gathered around the while serenaded by their prince’s song.

  “To e and see with thy own eyes,” he strummed his lute with practiced hands, “a quest to cim the shiny prize or a lie that leads to one’s demise.”

  Then, as Bram strummed his lute, Hajime, Bridget, and Chris were engulfed in brilliant light that dissipated like stardust carried in the wind, taking the otherworlders souls along with it.

  GD_Cruz