We spend the rest of the day kind of just… hiking around.

  There are more places to explore, but the world itself has largely lost its thrill. Sure, there are goblins. Even hobgoblins, but there is some amount of safety in numbers, and with everyone working together, we bring down the overly aggressive creatures.

  Norman stays quiet, mostly focusing on the ground. Because of [Unassuming] he’s easy to ignore, but he hasn’t run off into the middle of nowhere. So that’s a win. Maybe. Probably.

  I feed my shadow a little bit more, using the wound to practice my healing spell. This time, I mess up my focus, and my little shadow-friend gets a suddenly much larger meal as the skin all over my hand cracks open. I don’t mess it up a second time, slowly knitting my flesh back together.

  Another dungeon gets cleared, too. It’s lower level than the Dreadburg, this one being recommended for level eight. Inu gets the final hit on the boss. She gets a class, too, alongside Opal. Thatch got his when the mayor died.

  Sylves, for her part, spends much of our walking time stitching, and by the end of the day, picks up a job. “Oh!” she gasps. “I’m a tailor!”

  “What?” Amelie asks, justifiably.

  “The system has accepted my skill in sewing. I got a job! How wonderful!” she smiles.

  Opal blinks at her. “Would you… mind explaining what that means?” they ask.

  “Why, yes, I don’t mind,” Sylves grins. “I get to make clothing. Enhance it with skills. It adds an experience module for sewing, as well. But they aren’t coupled. A job may feed your supremacy, but your supremacy may never feed your job. Oh! They also enhance stats differently! Rather than going for pure volume, their points feed into control!”

  At that, I raise my eyebrows. “Stats have different expressions,” I say.

  Sylves nods energetically. “Bingo! With free points, you can push them some ways. Defense, offense, regeneration, volume, those kinds of things. Jobs generally prefer control. Letting you do something the best way, rather than letting you do as much of it as possible - though it depends on the job!”

  Amelie nods. “Anything else we should be aware of?” she asks.

  “Right, yes,” Sylves agrees. “Essence. It’s baked into jobs, a little more than classes. See, jobs are generally a little less specific! So, they have little knowledge packets included in them. Milestones. Every five levels, you get some general knowledge about your trade.”

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  That explains what essence does, then. It’s… knowledge. The essence of a craft, of a skill. “It sounds a little like it might raise your talent at something,” I note.

  “Kind of,” Sylves hums happily. “That does work, yes. It’s a bit of that, a bit of perspective, and a bit of like having a teacher explain something. And a bit of intuition, too!” she smiles. “You’ll figure it out!”

  I smile, just a little. With that, my friends and I are kitted out. Four classes and a job, for now. I’m sure Sylves will get a class soon. And maybe I’ll get a job next, if I push my supremacy high enough. Maybe.

  What would I want to do, though? I wonder, I wonder.

  Opal grins. “Well, then. I volunteer to get a cooking job!”

  Amelie grimaces. “Absolutely not. I refuse. Rather would I starve than consume your vile creations.”

  Inu laughs, for the first time today. Sylves and Thatch easily join in, and Opal eventually does, too.

  What precious critters my friends are, I think with a smile.

  - - -

  Eventually, we find a spot to spend the night. It’s a pond, from the Hiy’ht’s homeworld. Clear, large, and with an ethereal sheen to it. There isn’t much travelling to do, and right now, we lack a clear objective, too. But I have this feeling that things may get worse. And soon, too.

  So, I spend my time practicing. Split between my skills, my botched healing spell, feeding and learning more from the shadow skills that I remember my dark friend using, and solidifying more mana… I’ve got plenty to do.

  Opal is swinging their sword in drills, manifesting a slight purple aura about it, practicing their class. Inu, too, is testing out a new skill, smacking her arm and watching her hand bounce away. Thatch, for his part, is doing breathing exercises, and I feel something coursing through his body. Sylves is magically stitching clothing together.

  Everyone is keeping busy with something, be that practice, thinking, or moping, in Norman’s case. The sun slowly sets. People start drifting to sleep. The moon rises, and I see the water start glowing, just a little.

  Curious. I look at Richard, but she’s already asleep, leaning against a tree. I look at Dar, and the large wulven is sprawled across Opal’s lap, who doesn’t seem to particularly mind at all. Sylves, though, is awake, and a lot less hesitant than me.

  “What’s this now?” she asks, curiously floating up to the lake and eyeing it.

  “Don’t eat that,” I say, half teasing and half serious.

  She looks at me. I see her floating over the lake, twirling in the air, and her dress spins, the edges of the leaves catching a bit of water. They spray it into the air, and the droplets sparkle in the moonlight.

  “This is so magical,” she says, smiling brightly, looking at me with a glint in her eyes. “I’m gonna be a fairy, Snow.”

  There is a somewhat sinking feeling in my stomach. I know Sylves. She cannot help herself with this. As soon as she decrees it “magical”, I know she’ll throw herself into the lake. Head-first, too.

  Without hesitation, I step up. The moonlight reflects from the pond, but it glows brighter than that as the night deepens. Sylves gives me a smile. She drops her flight at the same time as I jump from the edge.

  We both dive into the magical lake.

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