[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 165 - Monday Meetings

Before Sam could begin work on the dullahans, he felt it was necessary to talk to everybody. Not just because they had only recently gotten their Professions, but because they needed a plan going forward.

Too many ideas paraded themselves across his mind’s eye, including something ridiculous, like trying to act like a king and addressing his people.

In the end, Sam opted for a fireside chat—literally.

Nobody was too far to begin with, so it was a fairly casual affair with everybody sitting around the large cookfire with its newly crafted benches, courtesy of Kai.

“Man, this is just like Monday’s back on Earth,” Matt groused. “Every Monday, there was a mandatory meeting of managers. I hated it.”

Sam chuckled. “Aren’t you glad you’re just a simple undead now instead of a high and mighty store manager?”

“I wouldn’t give this up for anything,” Matt told him. “Even if it comes with—” he shuddered “—daily meetings.”

“It’s not that bad,” Lenal told him.

“Just you wait until he brings out the quarterly reports!” Matt replied.

“I’m not doing that,” Sam told him. “A lot of what needs to be talked about is what we’re going to be doing now. The Black City is stalled, for now. We can’t fight it, and yes Matt we’ve all heard your idea about launching a Tile at it that explodes like a mine in our wake and I don’t even know where to begin with that.”

Matt motioned to himself and Raiko. “Your resident Alchemists would just need to be power leveled to the moon. I’m sure we could do it then.”

“That’s part of what we need to do,” Sam agreed. “But not just you two. We all need to work on our Professions, if only because they’ll be our largest source of power in such a short period of time.”

“The stats Professions grant are quite good,” Raiko said, petting Komachi’s side. “And they don’t require anybody to go into deadly combat. I suspect at least a few of us have increased Profession Experience, too.”

“Low levels are fast as well,” Komachi added, who snuck over to Sam to get some extra pets from him.

“I’ve already begun working on my Carpenter,” Kai said, motioning toward the benches. “They are not works of art, but they are functional and if you’ll notice, there are now doors on our rooms.”

“Hooray for privacy!” Matt cheered. “Now we just need an outhouse or at least a shed over the holes in the ground.” He looked at Raiko rather fiercely.

She laughed mercilessly at that. Matt put his face in his hands miserably.

“You should just hide your poops like me,” Komachi suggested.

Though they hadn’t been on Sil’mara for long, there was already a rather complicated queue system for the “bathrooms” such as they were. Which were, in essence, little more than holes in the ground facing one another.

“There are facilities in the Academy,” Lenal told them. “They are likely still functional. Though there may be nests of monsters to clear out from time to time. Despite our efforts, some things are still hiding and nesting that were not part of the Dungeon Core.”

“Yeah, well, what if a dino grabs me on my way to taking a dump?” Matt asked.

“That’s just one of the thrills of your new life,” Sam told him. “Now, aside from the bathroom situation, we need to decide what to work on first. We do have a Kingdom to run here.”

“Nice vocal capitalization!” Matt said with a grin. “No, seriously, bravo. As for what we need to do… survive seems like the most obvious thing, no?”

“He is our daddy king,” Komachi interrupted, oozing sass.

Sam tried not to bury his face in his hands. Lenal giggled, and Raiko gave him an appraising look.

“Sam is correct,” Kai said, all seriousness and solemnity. “What we do in the first days of this Kingdom will lay the groundwork for future generations. We have already established a small settlement, but now that we all have Professions, none of us have one that can create buildings, I notice.”

“There is that,” Sam agreed.

“Can’t you just put some planks together?” Matt asked, making the motion with his hands. “You know, like a little upside-down V?”

“Kai does seem more suitable than the rest of us, but maybe it’s like the Mana Engine,” Raiko said, looking over at it thoughtfully. “Takes more than one crafter to build a house.”

Lenal folded her hands gently over her skirt. “There is a Builder Profession,” she told them. “However, it requires complex materials from many other Professions, so Raiko is correct as well. But it is not necessary. As I understand it, a Builder would make the process faster and easier, but we could still make something of our own.”

“Me, correct? All is right with the Worldshard,” Raiko said.

“Well, we do have a Carpenter,” Sam said. “I can… probably make nails? I assume that’s part of Blacksmithing. Nails and other fasteners for use, but it’d be a lot better if we could use stone. We have tons of the stuff below our very feet.”

“We could dig below,” Kai said thoughtfully. “You have a great deal of Strength, and perhaps magical means of moving material would make the process easier. I could shore up the halls and rooms with braces made of wood.”

“There’s always [Glyph: Sculpt],” Raiko added. “But it’d be the equivalent, maybe even less, than Tier 1 materials. I’m sure most of you have encountered that while crafting. It’s essentially the most basic form of a material.”

“So it’d be little different from our present domicile,” Kai said.

“None of us work with stone,” Matt put in. “You feel like switching Professions, Lenal?”

“Not on your life,” Lenal told him. “I’m close to something big for Analyst. I just need a few more levels.”

That got Sam’s attention. He leaned forward. “Any idea what it is?”

Lenal blushed at the sudden attention from everybody and tried to duck her head. It didn’t work.

“You need a hat, like me,” Raiko said, then put it on the elf’s head.

She tried to pull the front down enough to hide her face. “Ahem. As I was saying…. After speaking with some of the Professors, I am close to my Second Order Profession, and there I will likely get the chance to become something more useful to the Kingdom of Sil’mara.”

“You aren’t over level 10 already?” Sam asked, confused. “I took it that your Analyst was quite a bit higher as your Job was fairly low.”

Keeping the hat down to protect her blushing face, Lenal went on, “Well… yes, you’re right. My Profession is Level 22. However… Analyst works differently. I need to meet certain criteria to raise it. Not all Professions work like this, but it is not as uncommon as you think.”

“Professions don’t evolve as fast as Jobs…” Raiko said in realization.

“So, I’m not suddenly going to get a better Alchemist at level 10?” Matt asked. “Bummer.”

Raiko cursed. “How much longer will it take for me to enchant?”

“Meh, I’m fine with staying as Merchant,” Komachi added.

Lenal waved her hands erratically, trying to calm the rising chorus of concern among the group. “No! I didn’t mean that every Profession is like that! Just some and it is different per person. Take Analyst, I do not create things. There is nothing for me to make with my hands that will progress my Profession. I have to analyze and study, but that is not the same as making a potion, carving wood, or smithing tools.”

“Does that mean Merchant will be like Analyst?” Komachi asked curiously.

“Very likely,” Lenal told her. “It is an outlier Profession, one that is not only rare to acquire, but difficult to raise and so it has unique requirements placed upon it in exchange for the benefits we receive. Analyst is one of the rarest Professions, but it is difficult to grow even with dedication and time.”

“How would you grow it?” Sam asked, intrigued.

“By exploring new areas, places, encountering monsters and items that I can use [Analyze] on in depth.”

“That’s easy enough to achieve without poking around on other Skyshards,” Sam said. “The [Forest Tile] transformed into a [Cinderwood Tile], and there’s a whole opened up underground to explore below.”

“Plus, anything we make, you can use [Analyze] on,” Matt told her. “You have… one… two… four people who can make things that you can use that ability on. Surely, as we make new things, we could set them aside for you?”

Lenal shifted uncomfortably.

Chompers scooted by and licked the fire.

Everyone went silent.

The mimic panted, flames curling out of his lid.

Sam reached over and put out the flames without taking his gaze from Lenal. “What aren’t you telling us?”

“The… item would be destroyed,” Lenal told him. “When I use [Analyze] on most physical objects, they are destroyed. There is no getting it back, and due to my level, it would take a lot of items I have never used that ability on to raise my Analyst’s level further. And since you are all relatively low level, it will take even more items.”

“Please don’t [Analyze] me,” Matt muttered.

“Not too dissimilar to making a tribute to a celestial,” Raiko pointed out. “You effectively lose whatever it is you’re offering to them.”

“Wait, you can do that?” Matt asked.

Lenal looked like she wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear after Raiko compared what she did to offerings to a celestial.

“It’s okay,” Sam told her, using his best soothing voice, “no god is going to strike you down while we’re around. Raiko and I are kind of like lightning rods for the gods’ anger, anyway. If one of them is mad, they’ll likely take it out on us.”

“It’s time for morale cat.” Komachi pranced in front of Lenal and began to dance on her back paws. Compared to her earlier flossing and the like, she actually had considerably more rhythm and fine motor control.

There was a brief moment as Komachi froze and stared into the middle-distance and Sam knew she had gotten a notification.

“Komachi just learned Dancing skill,” she told them. “Komachi can now… dance to improve her songs. Heck yis!”

Mat laughed. “Komachi is the best.”

Lenal smiled down at her and gave the cat her due praise. “Thank you… everyone. I will, of course, do my best to level up my Analyst as fast as possible. So, if you make anything you don’t mind being destroyed, please see me.”

“That brings up what we all need to progress our Professions,” Sam said. “I need a ton of metallic ores. Kai, I presume needs raw wood to work with, and both Matt and Raiko need herbs and other things, I presume?”

“I need soft woods,” Kai said, keeping a straight face while Matt snickered into his hand. “The [Ironwood] that we used to build the palisades is far too difficult for me to deal with. My tools are not strong enough for one, though perhaps you could make better ones soon, Sam?”

“So, you need a Smith to craft a saw that will let you tackle non-limp wood. Sure, I could do that. I have no idea how to yet, but I can work towards that.”

“My [Simple Alembic] and [Simple Mortar and Pestle] are both made out of relatively soft metals, maybe copper or brass,” Matt said. “Not sure if that’s something in your wheelhouse, Sam, but I bet both Raiko and I would benefit from superior tools as well.”

“It sounds like what we need to do is get our resident Blacksmith King all the materials he needs so he can level up his Profession, which in turn will provide the rest with superior equipment to more quickly level their own Professions,” Lenal summarized.

Matt eyed Sam. “Pretty sus, dude. We all suddenly need you, eh? You’re going to get all the goods and then pay it back later, eh? Eh?”

Sam looked at him. “Stop saying ‘eh’, Matt.”

“Eh,” Komachi mimicked.

“It goes further than that,” Raiko brought up, sounding thoughtful. “It’s no secret among those here that Sam is an Incarnate of War. By focusing our support on leveling his Profession, a portion of his incredible potential can be awakened.”

“Sam will be unstoppable!” Komachi proclaimed.

Sam chuckled at the irony. He wasn’t sure whether Komachi even knew he had the [Unstoppable] trait.

With that out of the way, the discussion turned toward what they should build and where. The Skyshard wasn’t exactly massive, but if they built underground, they would have far more room than they would be able to use in the foreseeable future.