“Huh?”
A man about the age of 25 opened up his eyes. He had fallen down from what seemed to be a gaming chair. He was in a small apartment that only had one room that connected to a tiny bathroom. The whole place looked messy and unkempt.
“What was I doing?”
He stood up, his eyes felt heavy. He felt as if he had been sleeping for days. Dazed and confused he glanced around. The room around him seemed familiar yet distant at the same time.
He looked around, the apartment was badly kept and dirty clothes that were rolled up into a ball were thrown in the corner. A half-eaten microwaved pizza was to the side along with some soda. This drink had long lost its carbonated properties and now would taste like sugar water.
The man rubbed his head as he sat back in his chair. He felt like he was forgetting something, something important. He remembered returning from a hard day's work while almost getting run over by a truck. Then he started playing some games.
‘I must have fallen asleep while playing…?’
He thought to himself while looking at his PC screen. Instead of seeing a game on it, he saw a pitch-black monitor. He leaned forward to his mouse, maybe his computer had gone into sleeping mode after he dozed off. The moment he jolted his mouse the screen flickered and something appeared, something that didn’t look like a game.
“What the?”
He saw an image of an ant, it looked awfully realistic and somehow more monstrous than a regular insect. The image on the screen looked at him as it moved. He moved his head to the left and the large ant's head moved to face him. His first thought was that it was some kind of new gaming feature. Things like eye tracking weren’t new, the strange part was that he wasn’t wearing anything for the program to track his head movement. He didn’t even have a webcam on his computer and he wasn’t wearing his VR headset either.
While he was thinking an odd occurrence took place. He saw that the ants head started pushing through the large flat computer screen as if it was trying to tear through it. He instantly jumped back in panic falling down from his chair yet again.
After some pushing, the monster ant’s head finally burst through the 32-inch screen. The thing gave out a massive loud wail that caused all the windows in his apartment to shatter. He moved up his right hand to protect himself but he spotted something wrong, he couldn’t move it at all.
The man looked to where his arm was and saw it mangled up. It looked as if he put it in a garbage disposal, his fingers were all bent out of shape and the pain was unbearable. Before he could register this the monster ant’s head moved closer, its giant mandibles opened up in front of his face and they chomped down on his head.
“Noooooooooooo!”
A youth in a black robe shot forward, his loud scream alerting the people next to him.
“Hey, calm down.”
Roland’s eyes went wide, he wasn’t sure what was happening. His first instinct was to look to his right arm. He remembered activating the barely tested scroll that he made. It was a yet unreliable product that he supersized after making a smaller version. He used the whole pelt from a monster sheep that was used for regular spell scrolls along with some better magic ink.
He created the runic spell by jerry-rigging as many fire arrow runes onto the pelt as possible. He managed to connect them all together with the magical pathways and fixed it all up with his debugging skill. What was created was a haphazard runic spell scroll that overloaded when you tried casting it, the backlash from activating it was the reason his arm almost exploded.
At least that was what he thought had happened but for some reason, his arm looked mostly fine now. His fingers weren’t disfigured or gone and the burn scars were faint. He looked to the side and finally realized that he was in a moving carriage, his party members were sitting there and looking at him.
“Quite th' girly scream ye git thare laddie.”
Dalrak the dwarf laughed out loud while Orson sniggered on the side. Helci looked at the two men with narrowed eyes and even gave Orson a shove. The young man just sniggered further.
“Hey! Stop making fun of him, he almost died!”
Roland’s face showed lines forming between the eyebrows while he tilted his head to the side. Helci looked to him with a slight smile on her face as she explained what happened after he had used that spell scroll of his.
“After you passed out the Myrmeke Queen…”
Apparently the spell worked and the Queen ant backed away into the mine, due to its size the tunnel collapsed right after the monster retreated. Roland had passed out, Orson carried him to safety over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
The adventurer’s outside were already waiting for them. The two explosions that they caused to blow up the wall alerted them to their presence. Wells the expedition leader was really surprised to see them there all alive with only Roland being injured.
He was then healed by the tier 2 priest that had tagged along on this expedition. The priest had advanced healing miracles which allowed Roland’s fingers to be patched up. The reason that they were in a carriage now was that they were heading back to Edelgard.
“So the expedition leader ordered a retreat after realizing that there was a tier 3 Myrmeke Queen in the mine?”
“In short, yes.”
Helci nodded while relying on the information. This made sense as the tier 2 team would probably have a hard time against a tier 3 monster. To bring down a monster at that level they would probably need a full party of equally strong tier 3 classes. Monsters tended to be stronger than their human counterparts and the gap widened on the higher tiers.
“Well done back thare laddie, couldnae have made it back witoot ye”
Dalrak said while giving Roland a manly smack to the back, this caused the youth to almost face plant into the wooden carriage floor. He was slowly getting fed up with these people smacking his back all the time.
“Yeah great job kid, what was up with that spell anyway?”
Orson asked while everyone stared. Roland had made quite an impression on the adventurers here, some of them were even thinking that he was a tier 2 in disguise.
“Ah, it was just a spell scroll I bought. It’s not like I can cast those myself.”
From the standpoint of these adventurers, this had to mean that Roland was someone rich. There was no way a normal person would have so many common grade spell scrolls on him of various elemental affinities. He had to either have some kind of connections or be the son of a rich merchant, maybe even a noble in disguise. They would of course not pry into his business but it was something they would remember.
“Hey, if you need advice on some of the shops in the flower district, come find me in the guild. I can introduce you to all the best girls, they’ll take care of ya, just say that big brother Orson sent you.”
Roland had a blank look on his face while he was listening to Orson talking about the flower district. This was how the city's red-light district was called. The warrior was probably thinking that he was giving the youth some sound big brotherly advice. The young boy that was actually a person over thirty wasn’t as appreciative. He could only shake his head while Orson talked about his passion. The dwarf even started butting in, he tried to sell Roland on the dwarf girls yet again. These two were quite the pervy duo apparently and they seemed to be hitting it off together.
“That’s why men are…”
Helci had a big frown on her face as she listened to these idiots talking about the red light district. They were even giving the youth some insider knowledge with her right next to them. She did find it odd that Roland wasn’t interested at all, he wasn’t even blushing as a normal kid his age should be.
Roland just ignored that horny duo and thought back to what transpired today. He had gotten himself trapped in a closed mine and even the people in his expedition were working against him. If they didn’t blow up the exits he might have been able to get out of there without a mangled hand. He believed that the queen ant wouldn’t have noticed them if they weren’t blowing up the wall to the closed-off mine shafts.
Somehow he managed to survive. still, he had to rely on others to get to safety just like before. If he was alone he would have probably died in that passage, if not by the Queen’s hand then by the rubble. He had prepared more this time still, it was not enough. He underestimated the danger yet again and had almost suffered the consequences.
Roland knew that there wasn’t enough data, like the monster type or where they were specifically located. Helci’s team on the other hand did the right thing and stayed clear from this one. He would have to take things more seriously or quit being an adventurer whatsoever. This was a failure in his eyes, with only one good thing coming out of it which was his runic mastery skill level.
There were so many ants there and he had used up most of his runic spell scrolls. He didn’t need to kill monsters to level up his runic mastery, hitting them was enough. He was looking at a maxed out basic rune mastery. He had killed some tier 2 monsters and also landed a devastating blow on the Myrmeke Queen with his unconventional scroll. This was apparently enough to level this tier 1 class skill up really fast.
He wasn’t the only one from the party that had gained a lot from this expedition. Everyone had multiple mana stones in their possessions and they killed a lot of monsters which allowed them to get a lot of experience. Helci had the biggest jump in levels, from a measly tier 1 level 10 all the way up to level 23. She would be soon allowed to get another tier 1 class and join the steel adventurer ranks.
Roland had gained two levels throughout the whole encounter. He might have even maxed out his class if it wasn’t a crafting profession. The rune mastery skill it had was unconventional for the type of class it was. He was banking on it unlocking better job options in the future, them not necessarily being other tier 1 classes.
“Thanks for pulling me out.”
Roland spoke out towards his party members who were arguing about women’s busts again. He at least had to thank them for getting him out of there, he wouldn’t have been able to survive otherwise. The guys laughed a bit, the elf remained in his spot as he just kept looking outside the carriage. Helci blushed slightly, unused to getting thanked by others.
They returned to Edelgard in one piece, the journey back always seemed faster and he also was out cold for half of it. They wouldn’t be needing to make any kind of reports to the guild as Wells was responsible for that. They had to pull back due to the miss report that the mine manager gave them so they wouldn’t suffer any fees for an incomplete job. If they would be getting all of the rewards from the mine owner was unknown, they might have to walk away without getting paid anything.
This wasn’t something Roland cared that much for though. His main profession was a crafter, he had gained some mana stones that he could sell. He also gained a lot of experience and could now evaluate where his strengths and weaknesses lay.
For one this large pelt scroll that he came up with needed some protective measures. Maybe if he attached a barrier spell to cover his body during its activation it could mitigate the damage he would potentially receive to his hand.
He also realized how limited this style of combat was. If they didn’t find an exit and had to wait there, his scrolls would run out eventually. He would have to rely on his regular spells that were much weaker or his own close-range fighting capabilities. He might have to train his combat skills up, most of them were stagnant after he got used to his backline support position.
This and a few other things needed adjusting. He hopped out from the carriage and stretched out his sore body. He was still surprised about the power of healing, his arm felt brand new and he could vaguely tell where the burn marks started. A healer could cast this spell which would normally cost you quite the penny if you bought a common grade recovery potion.
“Well, ah will be seeing ye aroond.”
Dalrak packed up all of his gear and said his goodbyes.
“Been interesting ya bastards. Hey, wait up dwarf!”
He and Orson had apparently bonded over booze and women on the trip here. Maybe they would be forming a party of their own soon.
“Farewell, if destiny wills it, our paths will cross again.”
Selanar said his one-liner and then walked away, his long golden hair dancing in the wind as he strutted away without looking back, his bow over his shoulder. The only ones remaining now were Roland and Helci.
“They were quite the odd bunch…”
Roland muttered out while Helci nodded.
“And you’re not odd at all?”
“Me? What’s odd about me?”
The girl just rolled her eyes and moved forward. She wanted to go to the guild and sell the mana stones she gathered. After Orson ‘took’ that dead adventurer’s spatial bag, everyone agreed on giving it to Helci as she lacked her own. She was now richer and could probably afford better armor and better weapons for her next adventure.
“What?”
Roland raised his eyebrow as the girl didn’t answer and just started walking away. After a while she just turned around and started waving, a smile plastered all over her face.
“See you later ‘mage’ Roland, if you’re ever in need of a scout you can come find me at the guild!”
“Yeah, see you around.”
Roland just nodded, he wasn’t sure if he would ever meet the girl in the future. After working as an adventurer she seemed to not be as bipolar as before. She still sometimes had some angry outbursts but it was mostly focused on Orson that liked to butt heads with her.
He himself went back to his lodgings. He had ditched the old room and found himself something bigger. His bed and mattress were now half decent and he left most of his work-related stuff back at the store.
He laid out the contents of his spatial bag on the table. There were various sizes of mana stones there. Ones the size of fingernails and larger at the size of a marble. The larger ones belonged to the tier 2 soldier type ant while the lower ones to the workers.
He wasn’t sure if he wanted to sell these yet. Supposedly things like magic ink that he used for the scrolls was somehow also manufactured with these as a resource. Some weapons even used these stones as a power source that could be later recharged. He was going to be fashioning weapons like that in the future, so not selling these would probably save him some money in the long run.
Roland glanced at his status screen, he only needed to get a couple of levels and he would be able to switch to his third tier 1 class. There was another path he could take, getting a tier 2 class instead which would give him the 1.5x multiplier to his stats and would make him a lot stronger than before.
He wondered how fast other people got to those tier 2 classes and if it was worth not to gain more levels with the tier 1 classes instead. His future progress might be stunted if he didn’t unlock more skills.
‘Three levels, shouldn’t take more than a couple of months of scroll crafting.”
He nodded to himself, he already spent a lot of time crafting scrolls. This would put him at a year into his contract. There was a bit of a problem he was afraid of. When he switched to a blacksmith class, he would need to drop one of his class bonuses.
He might have to give up the bonuses his scribe class provided. It gave him bonuses to mana regeneration and it lowered his mana consumption while crafting scrolls. He had a large pool of mana as it was but he burned through it quite fast when crafting. His mage class also gave him more mana as well as mana regeneration, which was best for crafting he would have to see.
This was something that he would tackle on a later occasion. He had gone through quite the adventure and he was really tired. The carriage wasn’t a place that he could sleep and he mostly remained awake for the rest of the journey home. He still had some days off and he would use them to sleep it off. After he recovered he would grind till the next class change and finally get his blacksmith class.
Thank you for the chapter.
After Orson 'took' that dead adventurer's spatial bag, everyone agreed on giving it to Helci as she lacked her own.
Good. That was one thing that was bothering me.
When he switched to a blacksmith class, he would need to drop one of his class bonuses.
This is another thing that's been bothering me. It's like living in a world that is not only unfair, it doesn't make much logical sense. Everyone earns their classes and class bonuses through years of hard work. And yet, suddenly, some of them must be taken away... almost as if the person in question forgot how to use them or their body suddenly quit a bodily function.
They wouldn't be needing to make any kind of reports to the guild as Wells was responsible for that.
Ridiculous. If I was a member of this quest/job - especially someone in Roland's party or the other party that lost several members - I would march straight to the Adventurer's Guild and lodge a formal complaint against the mine owner, saying that the misleading info and their reckless and too-eager practice of blowing up mine shafts cost them dearly and needlessly risked lives. I'd also file a complaint about Wells, citing poor leadership.
If they would be getting all of the rewards from the mine owner was unknown, they might have to walk away without getting paid anything.
Can a client really get away with not paying the agreed amount in a contract with the Adventurer's Guild without any sort of consequence? Seriously?! At the minimum, this should hurt their standing with the Adventurer's Guild, making them less willing to accept future requests or charging the client higher fees in the future. Ideally, the Adventurer's Guild would refuse to do any future business with clients that refuse to pay.
Also, I'd think clients would be required to make a deposit (such as for the minimum amount), even if any bonuses might need to be paid later. Otherwise, the trust of adventurers in the Adventurer's Guild would drop, causing consequences like less quests being accepted or adventurers retiring to pursue jobs that actually pay.
IKR, all your points are something I was thinking about, And I seriously don't even think he needs the Blacksmith Class because of his Rune Mastery Skill...
@Adypoker He needs it for crafting Runic Armor/Weapons/other Equipment. HIs Scribe class only let's him make spell scrolls, he needs Blacksmith for actual enchanted equipment.
They are bonuses related to the main class. It is not like they lost skills or knowledge.
As one of the Last groups to survive and actually witness the queen ant, there was merit in reporting into the Guild. Even though most of it would be done by the main party, their testimony would be useful as evidence.
The Mc and his party were declared dead when they missed the deadline to meet outside by several hours. The collapse of the mine tunnels was the right call even if it caused trouble for the Mc's party. It was standard protocol in that world not poor/impulsive judgement.
The lack of pay for the job is because the quest was botched. They were asked to clear out the mines of all the monsters but abandoned part way. Normally this would be a quest failure, but the fault lies on the quest giver's intel. Like having a contract voided rather than broken.
I assume the guild has a listing fee otherwise they don't really benefit from being a mediator. The guild will likely reprimanded the quest giver, and he will not get whatever deposit or quest listing fee back. If the mc gets any pay it would be a percentage of the original reward for services rendered, by cleaning out some of the monsters. Something like a set price per subjugation and proof of kill.
@CraniumAmbiguity
The collapse of the mine tunnels was the right call even if it caused trouble for the Mc's party.
They had all of the mine exits watched by guards. And, as soon as the adventurers entered the mine, they had workers pile the exits back up with rocks. Adventurer teams that came back had to signal and then wait for workers to clear it away enough so they could leave.
The danger of monsters exiting the already blocked-off and guarded exits was low. So, arguably, there was little need to actually collapse all of the mine exit tunnels. At least, they could have left one exit intact. (Never mind that it doesn't make much sense to have so many exits out of a mine. I've never even heard of a mine built like that.)
But the really telling part seems to be something you've either forgotten or missed. I'm talking about an event that was overtly hostile to the MC's party ; when there was a loud explosion immediately preceeding the cave-in that trapped the MC's party. This happened right as the MC convinced his party to turn around and go back.
That explosion and cave-in was only 2 hours or so after they entered, which was far ahead of the 5 hour deadline for when parties are supposed to leave the mine.
The cave-in that trapped them (as well as that other cave-in which trapped another party, at least two of whom died) is more than a little suspicious. Tell me: What excuse did the mine manager have to collapse tunnels several hours ahead of schedule before the adventurers were due to leave? And what excuse was there to collapse tunnels deep underground or far from where the exits are?
The lack of pay for the job is because the quest was botched. They were asked to clear out the mines of all the monsters but abandoned part way. Normally this would be a quest failure, but the fault lies on the quest giver's intel. Like having a contract voided rather than broken.
I went back to reread some of those chapters and... I could not find a mention that they had to exterminate all of them. The details were sketchy. Wells did not explain the contract's conditions for success or failure. (Go back and reread Chapter 28 where they meet and accept the job and Chapter 29 right before they enter the mine. Very little was said about the job.)
In this chapter, we read Roland's thoughts about it, explaining very briefly that because the mine manager misreported the job, they shouldn't suffer any fees for an incomplete job. However, this (what was condition was needed for completing the job) was not explained properly and not even touched on in previous chapters.
Wells even waited until after they left - right before entering the mine - before explaining his plan to split their teams up to explore each exit separately. Had he explained this stupid plan before they left, sensible adventurers should have quit on the spot.
Anyway, the adventurers leaving the job unfinished is hardly an issue if the miners were blowing up tunnels long before the deadline for them to leave.
It was standard protocol in that world not poor/impulsive judgement.
I'd say it was poor/impulsive judgement of the MC and the other adventurers to even accept such a dubious job, especially with so many rules and conditions that were stacked against them. Never mind the fact that they split up the adventurers like that, did not have any communication devices and only the leader's party had a healer.
If that's "standard protocol" and nothing is done to the mine manager or Wells, then I'd either quit adventuring or go to different kingdom to find an Adventurers Guild which takes the lives of adventurers more seriously. This goes double if the guild folds like a stack of cards to allow the mine manager to get away with non-payment.
If that happens, this kingdom's Adventurers Guild must be overly concerned with appeasing quest givers and takes the existence of adventurers for granted, as if there will always be more where they came from. Medieval fantasy world or not, I don't think they could get away with treating those miners so poorly. They'd go on strike or leave.
As one of the Last groups to survive and actually witness the queen ant, there was merit in reporting into the Guild. Even though most of it would be done by the main party, their testimony would be useful as evidence.
It's more than that. They should testify to the mysterious explosion and several cave-ins that happened several hours before they were due to exit the mine. And they should lodge a complaint against their leader, Wells.
Wells did not explain their job thoroughly. And he waited until they arrive before explaining his plan to split them up like that without communication or a healer. He was a poor leader who did not care at all those under him.
Back in Chapter 28 when Roland met to accept the job and heard Wells, his instinct was nagging him that something was wrong. Roland felt that, besides Well's own party, quote, "all of the rest were considered expendable meat shields."
It is not like they lost skills or knowledge.
Whether it is a skill, knowledge or an inherent ability, it is a loss all the same. As I said, it's something that's an inherent part of a class that they spent years of hard work to attain.
An analogy: Imagine that you've spent years working out in a gym to become muscular and very fit. Perhaps you were in sports, such as professional football player. But then an injury forces you to retire. So, you decide to pursue a job in management. You enroll in community college for this. When you wake up the next morning you find that your toned and muscled body has reverted back to an average Joe figure, looking as if you've never been to a gym.
You essentially changed class to become a manager. You did not seem to lose any skills or knowledge, just the toned and muscular body you had built up. Would such an outcome make logical sense? Would you consider the god who made up this absurd rule to be fair?
Granted, there are a few games and fantasy novels (a minority) where changing to a new class results in losing abilities inherent to the old class. However, in all the games and (other) fantasy stories I'm familiar with, changing class means that the character starts over at level 0 or 1. That's in contrast to this story where changing class has the character's level carry over, but without much in the way of benefits. All that does is make it exponentially more difficult to gain new levels in the new class.
Also different is how this story's class system is so complex, with nested levels of PREREQUISITE classes that need to be taken before being able to obtain one's desired 2nd or 3rd tier class. This makes changing class and losing old class abilities a very big deal.
@Xpacetrue I think you are missunderstanding something about the job class.
Think of the job class like an Enchanted Key with Regeneration increase and it unlocks a chest with an aoe healing skill scroll. The Regeneration property is PART of the key.
But if you have used the key to unlock the chest(i.e change classes to unlock a set of skills), it would be unlocked forever.
It is much beneficial to change keys(i.e. job class) to unlock another chest(i.e set of skills) than to hold unto it for the small Regeneration increase.
Also, your physique is connected to your stats, NOT your job class. It is more on the other way around. Your physique and stats dictate your job class.
@Fightingcarp
Think of the job class like an Enchanted Key with Regeneration increase and it unlocks a chest with an aoe healing skill scroll. The Regeneration property is PART of the key.
In your analogy, the key represents the prerequisite class that must be obtained before the chest of treasure - the desired job class - can be unlocked. That's what makes it a prerequisite. However, whenever someone uses a key to unlock a chest, that key does not simply cease to exist. Indeed, it should still be usable.
However, life itself is not a desired goal (aka, the chest with a skill scroll or job class). Life is a journey. Even if someone has a target class that he or she is aiming for, to reach it will almost certainly require many years of perseverance and hard work. In the meanwhile, he or she will be stuck with their current class(es) and whatever abilit(ies) they provide. Over the years, many will have come to rely on them (Roland, included).
I'd even argue that many people in this world do not have a specific target class they aim for. Most would certainly have a general idea of the type of class they want to aim for or even have an idea of what they may settle for if they can't find something better.
Aiming for a specific class may or may not be pointless due to how common it seems for one or more rare classes to pop up. This is due to how easy it is for certain, completely unknown skill requirements or hidden conditions to be met without someone's knowledge. There even seems to be certain classes that are only available to certain races or only to descendants of nobles. (And I'm sure some people in this world are bastard children who don't even know they're descended from a noble.) These complex, unknowable conditions is just one more aspect of absurdity in a highly unique, highly complex class system. Like other LitRPG novels I've read... this is not!
Just wait: This becomes apparent in later chapters. When Roland uses more class change orbs in the future, there are several new job classes available to him that are either rare or he's never even heard of, despite all the people he's analyzed with his skill, despite how much he's talked about classes with certain people and despite how many books he's read.
I'm saying that this whole convoluted prerequisite business makes things far too complex for most people in this world to even plan for very accurately.
Also, I mentioned how in the majority of fantasy games I've played and in the majority of fantasy stories I've read or watched, a character does not simply lose a significant ability they've had after they've obtained a new class. (Well, there are cases where, for example, a Paladin or Priest type falls from grace or changes religion and they lose most or all of their skills, spells and abilities as punishment or as a result.)
But then, I've never played a game or read or watched a story (regardless of genre or style) that involved a class progression system even remotely as complex, or as UN-intutive and cumbersome as the one in this story. I've not even seen a tabletop game system even close to this and I am familiar with a few of the more hated and cumbersome systems.
@Fightingcarp
Also, your physique is connected to your stats, NOT your job class. It is more on the other way around. Your physique and stats dictate your job class.
My analogy with losing a muscular body overnight may be flawed. But even if it's not perfect, I believe the point I was trying to make is valid. My analogy was made merely to make a comparison.
A character has spent years to obtain certain skills and abilities - something which should be considered an investment of time and effort, much like working out in a gym (and sticking to a certain diet and lifestyle) to build up muscles. To be forced to give that investment up seems wrong to me. A body does not work like that. Similarly, it rubs my common sense wrong that old abilities must be traded away merely to make room for new ones.
Granted, your argument seems to be that I'm just looking at it wrong: The investment was not towards obtaining said abilit(ies), but to serve as a key to unlock later classes. Indeed, that is one way of looking at it and I'll admit that there's nothing wrong with looking at it like that if someone wants to.
However, losing abilities like this feels too contrived or arbitrary to me. It's like the universe of this story is following it's own value of common sense - or like the author is trying too hard to create game balance in the background of what is not a game at all, but a story.
One last thing... I wrote:
Can a client really get away with not paying the agreed amount in a contract with the Adventurer's Guild without any sort of consequence? Seriously?!
I wanted to point out that in a recent chapter - Chapter 205 - this is explained in a bit more detail:
...But they would not get any coin unless they arrived at the last destination and had the merchant sign it.
This agreement favored the job giver quite a bit. If the merchant decided that the adventurer didn't do their job properly they could withhold the money. Then a long process of back and forth with the guild workers would start to see if the claim was valid. Luckily the guild could blacklist a merchant like that if they abused their right to withhold money.
Yet if the merchant was still unwilling to fork up the silver coins, they could not be forced. The blacklisting wasn't the end of the world but the adventurer in question would not get paid. Sometimes the guild covered some of the expenses but that also depended on the adventurer's rank. This was also one of the perks of having a better rank as the guild tended to side with their high rankers over the merchants.
So, whenever a client like this greedy mine manager tries to scam his way out of paying adventurers after the job is completed via excuses, it might give the client a bad reputation with the Guild or even get the client blacklisted - as in, being unable to hire any adventurers at all in the future.
While the story does not make it clear how often this happens or how likely the mine operator believes he can get away with this, I'd imagine that if it does come to pass, then the mine operator would very much regret this decision. That said, if the mine operator decides to withhold payment, then they would just have to go unpaid... probably all except for Wells the gold-ranker, who would probably get paid something by the Guild due to his gold rank.
Speaking of the gold-rank party leader who was supposed to be responsible for all of them and who acted anything but:
In the latest chapter - Chapter 208 - Roland is going through his gold-rank test and is being observed by a Guild examiner. And it seems like this examiner is putting high standards and expectations on Roland for being eligible for Gold rank - standards of behavior which seem much higher than the behavior Wells displayed throughout this whole mine expedition fiasco.
I suppose it's not unusual for a fantasy story like this to heap upon the MC expectations and situations that are unfair compared to how others are treated. Still, I find it irksome that Wells seems to have gotten away this B.S. situation without punishment or even a warning - even more so since he seems to be a throwaway bit character that never appears again throughout the story.
@Xpacetrue whew boi, ok first thing,
Thank you for making this a very constructive and eye opening conversation.
Think of the job class like an Enchanted Key with Regeneration increase and it unlocks a chest with an aoe healing skill scroll. The Regeneration property is PART of the key.
What I meant here was not really about pre-requisite but more on, the thing inside the chest(skills) is usable to the person even if he/she loses the key(i.e replacing the job class). Because it is now 'unlocked'.
From what I have read till chapter 42(when Roland changes his main class to Rune blacksmith), it seems to be implied that when replacing one of the classes(main and secondary) you have, you won't lose the skills you got from that class, only the inherent passive ability it gave.
This meant that if you equiped a class on main or secondary, it's passive would be activated.
An example of this was when Roland exchanged his main class of Mana scribe for Rune blacksmith. (His secondary was Mage, which had the passive of increased Mana capacity and Regeneration.) He lost the passive ability of using less Mana when making Runic scrolls and got the passive of using less Mana for making Runic equipment.
He could still use the skill Rune scribing and make Runic scrolls tho it would be in-efficient without the passive buff. And now he could get into Runesmithing much faster with the buff
From this we can infer that job classes are also like a helping hand for your desired lifestyle while also a bit of a gate keeper. You could still fish for food with the right basic skill but obviously be not as good as fishermen class.
This was also what I meant in my analogy. The healer could still use the aoe healing skill but without the passive it's not as buffed.
Too make another analogy(hopefully a much less confusing one), it's like hiring a tutor to learn the violin then after mastering it, replacing said tutor(because you don't have enough money for two) for another one for learning piano. You lost the ability of improving/maintaining your violin skills but now you can play two instruments.
Now for the stuff with about how unintuitive the class change is. I'm going to agree with that. It's quite confusing and not really explored tho it's quite interesting.
For the Wells stuff I also agree. I like to think for now in my head cannon that he got disgraced for being such a bad expedition leader that he lowered a lot of ranks and that's the reason he will never appear again.
Anyway what really mattered was how chill and intellectual this discussion was. Prob the most chill I have been on a comment section in the internet.
PS: while editing this comment I remembered that there was a couple of lines in the previous and next chapters that said something about being able to equip/unequip a class to secondary/main once a day.
This meant that those classes and passive would not be lost forever and you can still use them. Tho you are limited to only using two classes/passive and changing only once a day.