Chapter 10

The golden light that we had gotten used to being the normal standard for when we leveled up covered those in the new group. The shield warrior that had been injured earlier stood up quickly and looked like he was feeling fine now. We still gave him a once-over to make sure that there wasn't any lasting damage. Reading through my notifications, I was shocked to find that I'd been awarded a massive 500 experience for assisting kill the giant coyote, so I was sure that the new trainees must have leveled up at least a few times.

"Hey, Sena, what level are you now?" The girl's face became vacant as she stared at her own display. Her hand shot up to her mouth in surprise.

"I'm almost level four!" She exclaimed, and yet again, I had to remind her to speak quietly. I understood her excitement, though. It had been a grind for every level that we'd gotten so far, but that was the highest level creature we'd killed.

"How much experience did you get?" I asked her, and she looked back at her display.

"Looks like 1200." That sounded about right to me, but I still rolled my eyes.

"Diminishing returns." I huffed exasperatedly. The newcomers looked at me as if to ask what that meant, so I explained.

"Diminishing returns is a term that gamers use to explain how experience gets rewarded based on your level relative to the level of the monster or mob that you fight." Blank expressions met me, and I realized I would have to explain further. "As you level up, fighting monsters that are the same level as you or lower will reward you less experience compared to fighting monsters that are higher level than you. With the coyote we just fought, I was awarded 500 experience. But I'm level eight, which is much closer to the coyotes level. All of you were a much lower level, so you were awarded a higher balance of experience."

Understanding spread across the groups' faces, and I sighed in relief, not wanting to go further into detail. SSG Underwood told the extra group to go ahead and allocate their newly received stat points and skill points. While we helped them learn how to do that, SGT Turner and Bravo got to higher ground and acted as our scouts. I had to explain a few more things to the group as we were going, and the officers pulled out paper and a pen to take notes. It was surprising to see someone doing something so normal. "What even is normal?" I pondered.

The minutes ticked by, but before too long, we were heading deeper into the forest once again. The roguish scouts went ahead slightly and called out any danger that they could see. It didn't take long before we ran into more scorpions. They were easily dispatched, though, most of their levels only being six or seven. It didn't take a long time for the others to catch up to level eight, but we had killed so many scorpions being out here, so we were also gaining experience. As the latest scorpion fell, I leveled up for the second time since being out here today. Message.

"CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE REACHED LEVEL 10! First, non-combative class is now available to you! Would you like to access options?" "Hell yes!" I thought, and the list sprang up in my view.

Light Armorer

Medium Armorer

Heavy Armorer

Weapon Smith

Potion Smith

Stone Smith

Weaver

Farmer

Jeweler

Cook

Fisherman

Miner

Herbalist

I closed the options for a second to make sure that we had someone on the lookout before delving into each explanation. Once it was confirmed that the slightly lower-level people were on guard, my group could get right into it. I opened each explanation one by one and read carefully.

Light Armorer- Light Armorers are more successful in creating powerful defensive robes out of cloth. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to create items for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding Weaver class as well as Herbalist class.

Medium Armorer- Medium Armorers are more successful in creating leather armor that is both flexible and tough. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to create items for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding Weaver class as well as Leather Worker class.

Heavy Armorer- Heavy Armorers are more successful in creating stone or metal armor with high defense. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to create items for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding Stone Worker class or Metal Worker class.

Weapon Smith- Weapon Smiths, are more successful in creating weapons from any of the combative classes. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to create items for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding any class aside from Fisherman.

Potion Smith- Potion Smiths, are more successful in creating useful solutions, salves, medicines, and poisons. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to create items for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding Herbalist class, Miner class, or Farmer class.

Weaver- Weavers are more successful at manipulating cloth and thread into desired shape and design. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to create items for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding the Herbalist class.

Stone Worker- Stone Workers, are more successful at shaping stone into desired shape and design. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to create items for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding the Miner class.

Leather Worker- Leather Workers, are more successful at shaping leather into desired shape and design. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to create items for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding the Herbalist class.

Metal Worker- Metal Workers are more successful at shaping metal into desired shape and design. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to create items for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding the Miner class.

Farmer- Farmers are more successful at growing crops for consumable or crafting production. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to grow crops for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding the Miner class.

Jeweler- Jewelers are more successful at creating jewelry infused with universal energy. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to create items for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding Potion Smith, Weaver, Stone Worker, Metal Worker, Herbalist, and Miner classes.

Cook- Cooks are more successful at taking ingredients and turning them into something palatable, or at least edible. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to prepare dishes for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding Fisherman, Miner, and Herbalist classes.

Fisherman- Fishermen are more successful at fishing. It cannot be made more efficient—just fish.

Carpenter- Carpenters are more successful at shaping wood into desired shape and design. If you pick this class, you will receive information on how to create items for this class. It can be made more efficient by adding Herbalist class.

Miner- Miners, can pull precious metals, gems, minerals, and other materials from the earth. It cannot be made more efficient.

Herbalist- Herbalists can gather more plants, ingredients, and rare items off of monsters and find these more frequently in nature. It cannot be made more efficient.

I finished reading through the repetitive explanations and sat back. It was a lot of information to take in, and I wondered which one I should choose. Miner or Herbalist seemed like good ones to start with, seeing as they all fed into the other classes. "But what good are they if they can't be used to make anything?" I wondered.

"What are you going to pick?" Bravo asked me. I wasn't sure and shook my head. "Ah well, I'm going to go with the medium armorer one. I think it'll be useful once we start collecting materials and stuff." His words triggered something in me, and I almost kicked myself.

"Hey," I began talking to the entire group. "Have any of you guys been looting the monsters after we kill them?" Everyone shook their heads in response. "Shit!" I thought bitterly. "If I'd known that we were going to get crafting classes too, I would have made sure that we collected all of the monster's bits." The lieutenant raised her hand to ask a question.

"Why is it so important to collect stuff from the monsters?" She asked. In almost the same breath, she also asked how we were supposed to carry anything and still fight.

"It's important because I guarantee that some of those monster parts are going to be crafting materials we could make stronger weapons and armor out of." Something else clicked in my mind just then. "You all know our charisma stat. No one has put anything in it because it's not useful for combat. But what happens when other energized people or whatever they are come here to trade with us. They're gonna bring all kinds of goods from their world, and we're going to have nothing to trade with them if we don't start collecting that kind of stuff."

There was a look of terror as I reminded everyone that other energized beings might be coming here one day. Earth hadn't even had its first confirmed meeting with extraterrestrial life yet, and now we were going to have to get used to the idea of them coming here in droves?

"We need to start preparing for their arrival. We have no way of stopping them from coming. But the system makes it seem like they're only coming for commerce reasons anyway." I pressed on. The others agreed that it would be a good idea to start collecting from every monster we defeat.

"If only to make better weapons to defend ourselves from alien attacks." SPC Roberts interjected. I wouldn't say I liked having to think of it that way, but I did see his point. These would be species from who knows where with who knows what kind of abilities. It was best to be prepared.