“Huh”, Rosha puts her hands behind her head and leans back. “That is a question. None of them stick out and I didn’t really have plans of specializing like that. Though I guess that just means I am sticking with the ranger option. So yeah, if I had to choose, I would go with a plain ranger.”
Peter smiles, “I see you are making the mistake most do. The ranger isn’t the middle road without a specialization. They don’t have a favored enemy as you travellers like to refer to it, but they do have something else of equal or greater value. Don’t look down on that connection to the land I mentioned. Many people discount the ability because it always talks about the wilds.”
“Yes, the ability is a connection to nature and similar to a druid except for one detail. Instead of direct communication, the ranger’s connection is all through experience and skill. Now I won’t claim you’re going to be just as good in a city as a forest but the closer it is the more effective you will be. This is part of why Rangers are a popular choice to scout out corrupted lands. We don’t lose any effectiveness in those areas like a druid would. Anyway, since you chose this path, you get a crash course in the basics of being a ranger!”
Rosha tilts her head to the side. “Didn’t I already get that sort of thing already? I had a trainer back in my starter villager after all.”
Peter sighs, “if only it was that easy. Did they teach you about stuff like tracking and surviving in the forest?’
Rosha nods, “well yes. That is a big part of being a ranger.”
Peter shakes his head, ‘no, not really. It is important, but that would fall more under basic woodscraft. Being able to track a deer is nice, but if I showed you a print, would you be able to judge if it was sick? The age? How long has it been traveling? You might get lucky with one of those, but I doubt you could answer them all.”
“Show me some prints of an animal I don’t know and I likely wouldn’t do too much better. However, for any animal I have experience with? I look at the deer print and can tell it is sick by extra drag marks. The age through the size and condition of the foot that left the print. That the deer had been traveling for a short amount of time because of the depth of the track telling me how long it lingered on each step.”
“Of course I can’t impart this all on you. That would be tedious and in the end futile. My job will be instead to guide you towards your own realizations. Maybe you have a sharper eye and note some fine visual details. Maybe your senses towards the mystical are top-notch and you literally see how much power they have left in each print.”
“You are the one who gets to find all these slight details while I guide you. Then later on when you find some odd five-legged half-deer nonsense monster you will be able to do it again but faster. With each new area you will discover the secrets that the land has to tell you.”
“And all of that? Just about what I will teach you on tracking animals. There is still all the rest of nature to dive into. When we get back on the road, you and I are going to roam out ahead of your group. In a larger group you should be doing that anyway to scout. Just as important though less viable in a group as small as yours, but that’s life.”
“Now do any of you want some extra info?”
Courtney raises an eyebrow, “how about what lit the fire under your butt? I was mostly certain we all understood you only planned to put in the bare minimum of advice during this trip.”
Peter suddenly becomes very interested in something off to the side but Courtney doesn’t drop her glare. He sighs, “the System may have gotten one over on me again. I don’t know what the quest said on your side for me there were all kinds of clauses. One of them was related to how much advice I was to give you, and the System connected it to how dangerous the job is. So yeah, the System knew about the mess we are walking into. Guess you get to benefit!”
Courtney shakes her head, “has anyone ever told you that you shouldn’t argue so much with the System?”
Peter laughs and laughs and laughs. “You sound just like my husband! And my teacher, and my parents, and you know what? Just about everyone who knows me, now that I think about it. Maybe someday I will consider it, but for now? I’m going to argue, haggle, and be contrary with the System as much as possible!”
Jason rubs his forehead with his palm, “heehhh, so you’re that type of person. I almost want to go separate ways right this second. I’m sure your antics have gotten no one hurt yet, but then again, I don’t want to be the first.”
Peter shrugs, “I’m strong enough to hold up my end and that’s all that matters. I wasn’t always like this. Straight laced didn’t even begin to describe me. Not because of any outside nonsense, mind you. I just was that way. The teacher’s pet and a hundred other names for doing what I was told and at a high level of quality.”
“Looking back it seems so boring though I know it wasn’t. At the time, getting everything lined up right was my world. Now though, I’ve broken free and have been able to explore what else the world has to offer. I don’t have time to draw inside the lines as it were. Not say I go against stuff for no reason. I can still grind out my work when needed, but this doesn’t really need that sort of thing from me and so here we are!”
So basically Peter is the old curmudgeon who says; ' This is me. Take it or leave it.'...
I can relate to that...