Chapter 030 - Tome of Mortal Wisdom

The window appeared like its own menu screen. Anna pulled her hand away briefly to test it and found that the menu vanished immediately. She put her hand back on the book and took a breath as the options filled her vision. 

You have activated a Tome of Mortal Wisdom. Contained within are insights that you may choose from as a reward for completing the first stage of your inheritance. Your reward will come in the form of a Title that will provide additional benefits. This Tome is the sole property of Annastasia Flitt and may only be used once.

Would you like to proceed?

She exhaled, “Yeah.”

Please Select your Reward:

The Beast (Mortal - Unique)
You carve your path with strength of arms. Crush your adversaries.
Effect: All physical combat based skills and proficiencies you possess will grow more rapidly through the Mortal-tier and your proficiency skills will be enhanced with clearer tutorials. The chance of acquiring a higher rarity Strength-based class will be increased for your next class selection.

The Maestro (Mortal - Unique)
Your will presses against the fabric. Mana is your tool, wield it.
Effect: All magic based skills and proficiencies you possess will grow more rapidly through the Mortal-tier. You may choose three additional basic spells to add to your list. The chance of acquiring a higher rarity Intelligence-based class will be increased for your next class selection.

The Dancer (Mortal - Unique)
You weave a path through all challenges. Spring into victory.
Effect: All movement based skills and proficiencies you possess will grow more rapidly through the Mortal-tier. A movement based skill of your choice will immediately be promoted to the next rarity. The chance of acquiring a higher rarity agility-based class will be increased for your next class selection.

The Monument (Mortal - Unique)
No one tool is enough for you. You make your own way.
Effect: The minimum level requirement for acquiring your first level in a Profession is voided. Choose a starting Profession, skills related to that profession will grow more rapidly through the Mortal-tier. The chance of acquiring a higher rarity Profession will be increased for your next profession selection.

The Cleansing (Mortal - Unique)
Your body is a temple to yourself. Nothing may despoil it.
Effect: You are resistant to illnesses and poisons of the Mortal-tier. Curative spells, abilities, skills, and proficiencies grow more rapidly through the Mortal-tier. The chance of acquiring a higher rarity healing-based class will be increased for your next class selection.

The Madame (Mortal - Unique)
All eyes are on you. Let them kneel, let them fawn.
Effect: Your aura now bears an unmistakable and attractive component. Presence-based abilities all now have a chance of charming the target. Presence-based spells and abilities grow more rapidly through the Mortal-tier. The chance of acquiring a higher rarity presence-based class will be increased for your next class selection.

The selections were mind blowing. Anna didn’t even know where to begin. She stared at the bottom and worked her way up after some thought. The Madame title was obviously a quick way to power up her bloodline trick. The only thing was that it seemed to have a side effect that made anyone who was targeted by her presence have a chance of being ‘charmed’. She wasn’t interested in charming people, as much as the other benefits were nice. Besides, her only presence-based ability right now was Aura Snap and it didn’t seem very charming to begin with.

The Cleansing was crazy good at the beginning. Hardening up her constitution and making it more difficult to poison her or get her sick was a pretty attractive note. Then she kept reading and frowned. She was the exact opposite of a healer and was even less interested in picking up a healing class. She dismissed it and moved on to the next one as Catherine stepped in close. Anna frowned, “You smell like brimstone,” she grumbled.

“I will take a shower when the opportunity presents itself,” Catherine growled back and crossed her arms. “What does it say?”

“You didn’t read it?” Anna asked.

“It is your property, all I saw was what it is and who owns it, then it rejected me,” Catherine said with a shrug.

Anna pursed her lips. Her old man had suggested not sharing much with the woman early on. While she didn’t trust Catherine by any means, she didn’t see anything wrong with giving this information. She had years of experience and could provide some insight. She started reading them out loud from top to bottom. The Beast was interesting and could prove super valuable for helping her master her fighting a bit more. The opportunity for a higher rarity class later was neat, though that also gave her the information that she would be getting a new class choice later. Finally some valuable intel. 

The Magus was pretty good too and provided a few more spells to add to her arsenal. Otherwise it was pretty much the same as The Beast. The same went for the Dancer but instead of additional spells it promised to push Stealth, her only movement-based skill, to the next level right off the bat. Finally there was The Monument, it would allow her to select a profession early and get into it more quickly. What, like crafting? Why should I spend extra time on that?

Anna cleared her throat after finishing, “I’m thinking one of the first three, the latter don’t really interest me.”

Catherine just stared at her for a while, searching her face before turning away and running her hands over her eyes. She pressed her palms to her eye-sockets and let out a breath through her nostrils. “Who the hell did I get involved with?” she muttered before exhaling. “The latter two do not strike me as appealing for you, I agree,” she began. “Pick The Monument. It is the only choice actually present.”

“Your reasoning?” Anna asked out of curiosity. “What about the others?”

Catherine turned and looked her up and down. “Unless you are some manner of plague doctor I do not see you casting healing spells. You strike me as a brute force fighter like myself. Perhaps with some magical assistance.”

Anna blinked at her, “...how?”

“Experience.”

Tch, brag.

“Okay,” Anna exhaled and set it aside, “The first three?”

“I handled the combat training for my subordinates and led their drills,” Catherine said, “I also studied four years of Arcane magic in school and at least six outside. Do you have proficiency?”

Anna saw where this was going, “In Arcane magic…” she trailed off.

“As I mentioned before I was an Inquisitor, that requires a certain level of skill at movement, navigation, and keeping oneself hidden until the right time,” Catherine added. “The first three, if I am to truly believe I am somehow part of your ‘inheritance’, are a trap. I can give you at least the initial benefits of all three by training you myself.”

Anna frowned, “You want to train me?”

“I will not serve a weak liege. I am worth more than that,” Catherine said bluntly.

“My level-”

“Is higher, for now,” Catherine said and fixed her with a stare. “You do not think I can catch up?”

Anna snorted and ran her fingers through her messy hair, “Alright, you got me. That still doesn’t give me a good reason to pick up this profession thing. I’m not interested in crafting.”

“You should be. It is half of the path to power,” Catherine said. “Bluntly, my shock over your options comes from it, and it alone. Professions are normally accessible at level 25 and only after years of experience and study. From the sound of it, this will put you on the fast-track to getting there far sooner.”

“And?”

“And a profession,” Catherine bit out patiently, “Is a second class, Annastasia. Attributes, skills, abilities, titles, all of it.”

Anna’s jaw fell open, “Oh.”

“Yes.”

Anna looked back at the screen and furrowed her brows. She read the description again and paused part way through the flavor text. Wait, I’ve seen those words before. ‘No one tool is enough’. She frowned and crossed her arms. The initial quest text when I came into this dungeon. Was he hinting at the optimal choice all the way back there? Bastard. She exhaled through her nostrils and rubbed her neck. She was getting a headache and just wanted out of this damn place more than anything.

Her lips formed a thin line. And when I get out, that skeletal bastard will be out there. Wasn’t he level 25? Does he have a profession? She crossed her arms. If he does and he got all the benefits from leveling it up then that’s bad. Wouldn’t that mean that even if I came at him at the same level with only my Warmage class, he’d probably wipe the floor with me? She steeled herself. She only got to use this thing once.

“Curious though,” Catherine said into her thoughts.

“What?”

“The names of the titles it is offering. They are cards from the Tarot of my homeworld,” Catherine said offhandedly. “The first three are reverse cards which generally have bad connotations. The latter of them are faces.”

“I’m familiar with what a tarot is,” Anna grunted. “Any insight from that?”

“Not really. I studied them enough to understand the symbology for my work but it was largely a tradition of a different deity that firmly believed in them, one of the Mad Gods, and not one who you want the attention of,” Catherine said. “They believe that every person is assigned a symbol from the tarot at birth and it influences your course in life. Fascinating, but never proven to be true.”

Anna’s lips thinned, “You broke my train of thought for a lore dump?”

“A lore what?”

“Nothing, I’ll introduce you to video games if society rebuilds itself in a year,” she sighed and turned to focus on the book again. She frowned as she realized the sensation of hesitation and worry had passed. She looked back to Catherine who had conspicuously made her way over to the weapons on the wall again and was admiring them, avoiding eye contact. Anna closed her eyes, Damn it. That’s embarrassing.

She made her choice.

You have selected: The Monument

New Title Acquired!

The Monument (Mortal - Unique)
No one tool is enough for you. You make your own way.
Effect: The minimum level requirement for acquiring your first level in a Profession is voided. Choose a starting Profession, skills related to that profession will grow more rapidly through the Mortal-tier. The chance of acquiring a higher rarity Profession will be increased for your next profession selection.

She expected to feel some kind of rush or something, but nothing happened right away. Instead, a new window popped up and she looked it over.

Please Select a starting Profession to work towards:

Alchemist
A fundamental profession. Alchemists focus on utilizing various natural and manufactured materials to create medicines and tinctures that can be used for healing, enhancement, or even to poison others. Talented alchemists even master methods of transmutation.

Architect
A fundamental profession. Architects focus on utilizing various techniques and methods to craft and build structures that can provide passive effects for settlements. Talented Architects can even learn how to create prefabricated structure tokens.

Chef
A fundamental profession. Chefs focus on utilizing various materials and skills to prepare food and drink of a quality higher than an ordinary cook can prepare. Talented Chefs can emulate magical effects with their meals and even provide healing and boosts.

Engraver
A fundamental profession. Engravers focus on utilizing various materials and techniques to instill enchantments on items and armor, some talented engravers can even modify enchantments, providing additional effects.

Scribe
A fundamental profession. Scribes focus on utilizing the written word and their knowledge of various forms of magic to create scrolls, tomes, and magical contracts. Talented scribes are able to create documents that can even teach skills and abilities to others.

Smith
A fundamental profession. Smiths focus on utilizing various materials and techniques to produce weapons and armor for themselves and others. Talented Smiths can produce masterworks on rare occasions that have unique and unusual powers and traits.

Tailor
A fundamental profession. Tailors focus on utilizing various cloths and techniques to create fabrics and clothing for themselves and others. Talented Tailors can produce items of curious utility and power such as storage bags.

Tamer
A fundamental profession. Tamers focus on utilizing techniques and intimate knowledge of wildlife to shepherd, educate, and foster creatures in their charge. Talented Tamers can turn a wild beast or monster into a permanent familiar or create familiars for others.

Anna clicked her tongue and read through the list a few times. Some of them were fairly standard for what she was familiar with. Some of them were really weird, like Architect and Chef. She understood it to a degree but she was honestly surprised about how short the list was. She glanced back at Catherine who was clearly giving her some space and not doing a good job of hiding it.

I got on fine without her, I don’t need to ask her for help all the damn time, she thought irritably and looked through the list. Alchemist, Smith, and Tailor were the ones she was most familiar with and honestly she couldn’t see herself mixing potions or hammering on an anvil for hours on end. The idea of sewing was even less appealing. Tamer was cool and all but the idea of making half of her identity for the foreseeable future based on playing nice with wild animals and monsters was a huge turn off.

Scribe was really interesting, making magic contracts and even creating spell scrolls. She wasn’t sure about it though, she tried to imagine herself sitting down and hashing out details of a contract in some quiet lounge. Her hand twitched and grabbed for the club that was currently in her inventory and dismissed the thought out of hand. She checked out Architect, it wasn’t a bad deal if she was being honest. Being able to build structures easily was a huge benefit and with so much open space around the old precinct and the dungeon, she had room to expand and set herself up a nice place.

She put that one in the high possibility pile along with Chef, though that was mostly because she hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks and was craving anything that tasted better than the sawdust flavored food pills. Finally there was Engraver, it read like some sort of enchanting skill but there seemed to be more to it than that. It also offered her the chance to modify her existing gear in the future. A good benefit.

Setting aside the Chef profession and being realistic, both Engraver and Architect were the most unique and appealed the most to her sensibilities. It boiled down the most to which would help her survive longer outside the dungeon. Architect probably took a while to get up to speed and you still had to physically build the buildings. Engraver sounded more practical.

She nodded to herself and made her decision and the room around her changed as light flared from every shelf.