Chương 10: Chapter 8 — Apparently, Nobody Wants the Jobless Girl

Jack went looking for a different Dungeon because his own had stopped giving him enough excuses. Layer Three was progressing normally. Two more runs had mapped most of the outer forge sections. He had identified the likely route toward the Guardian, learned the Ember Slinger sightlines, and collected enough Mana Stones to make the trips worthwhile. No Guardian yet. No Unique either. Jack was not bothered by that. Statistically. Professionally. At all.

There was also a perfectly legitimate reason to visit public Dungeons. Different monster families. Different Bosses. Different loot tables. Different people. The last category mattered more than Jack liked admitting. His private Dungeon told him what the System could do. Public Dungeons told him what people currently understood about it. So on Day Thirteen, he drove west. GREENVALE ORCHARD Threat Rank: F Recommended Level: 2–6 Status: Active Boss: Active Greenvale had begun life as a commercial apple orchard.

Now a blue Dungeon Gate stood between two rows of trees while pickup trucks, folding tables, tents, and improvised equipment stalls occupied most of the parking area. Jack parked. Before approaching the Gate, he spent ten minutes reading current clear reports. Not old memories. Current reports. That distinction mattered. Physical damage. Fire damage near the Boss. Vine Rats. Orchard Imps. Boss summons adds. Good. Useful. Jack closed his phone. Then saw the sign. He walked past it. Three steps. Stopped. Went back.

A woman sat on an upside-down plastic bucket near the Party board. Twenty-three, maybe. Brown hair tied behind her head. Cheap jeans. Hiking shoes that had clearly not been purchased for Dungeon use. A paper cup sat near one foot. A piece of cardboard hung from string around her neck. The writing was thick black marker. I ACCIDENTALLY PICKED JOBLESS LEVEL 2 PLEASE HELP I WILL SPLIT LOOT The final line had been squeezed into the remaining space at the bottom.

The woman wore an expression suggesting she had spent a very long time reevaluating several recent life decisions. Jack looked at the sign. Then at her.

"How long?" She looked up.

"Two hours."

"What?"

"It took two hours before one person even came over to talk to me."

"Oh." She stared toward the crowd.

"People are terrible." Jack looked at the sign again.

"You picked Jobless."

"I KNOW." Several nearby Delvers turned. She lowered her voice.

"I know."

"That explains some of it."

"That doesn't make them less terrible." Jack considered.

"Fair." The woman narrowed her eyes.

"So are you actually offering, or did you come over to explain why everyone hates me?"

"Considering it."

"That is not encouraging." Jack looked toward the Gate. Then back at the sign. Jobless. He had written guides about defense. Skill Gems. Flasks. Portal Scrolls. Party structure. Equipment requirements. He had barely written anything useful about Jobless. Right. He had accidentally left an entire Job category to Reddit. That was unfortunate. Jobless had experienced the full internet lifecycle in less than two weeks. On Day One: SECRET MASTER CLASS???

Then: JOBLESS IS THE REAL META Then: WHY DOES MY FRIEND'S WARRIOR HIT HARDER THAN ME And finally: DELETING MY CHARACTER WOULD BE LESS EMBARRASSING The actual answer was more complicated. Human baseline Attributes were simple. STR: 14. DEX: 14. INT: 14. Jobless added six to each. Result: STR: 20. DEX: 20. INT: 20. On paper, that was not terrible. It was balanced. That was also the problem. Warrior immediately specialized. Rogue immediately specialized. Mage immediately specialized.

Jobless became somewhat better at everything while becoming excellent at nothing. Then came the Passive Tree. Warrior started near Life and Armor. Rogue started near Evasion and mobility. Mage started near Energy Shield and spell support. Jobless started in the middle. Flexible. Technically. For an experienced player with equipment, Skill Gems, money, and a finished build plan? Very useful.

For someone who had selected a Job twelve days after Dungeons appeared because Reddit suggested there might be a secret evolution? Less useful. The early Jobless area did have three unusually convenient defensive nodes. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Fire Resistance +18%. Cold Resistance +18%. Lightning Resistance +18%. And then the real prize. Three Jewel Sockets unusually close to the starting position. In a mature System, that was excellent.

Jewel Sockets were flexible. A good Jewel could solve Attributes. Resistance. Damage. Reservation. Build-specific problems. Three early Sockets could become the foundation of extremely strange builds. There was only one issue. Jewels did not begin appearing until around Level Twenty territory. Humanity currently had none. So the greatest advantage of the Jobless starting position was currently three empty holes in a Passive Tree.

She had made the single Job choice most dependent on resources that humanity had not discovered yet. Impressive.

"What's your name?" Jack asked.

"Hannah."

"Last name?"

"Reed."

"Hannah Reed."

"That's usually how names work." Jack ignored that.

"Show me your Passive Tree." She stared.

"You can see mine?"

"You can show it." Hannah opened the interface. Her expression immediately became annoyed.

"I've looked at this thing six times."

"And?"

"It looks like someone dropped spaghetti on a galaxy." Jack studied the branching network.

"Reasonable description."

"Thank you."

"How many Passive Points?"

"One." Good. She had not wasted it. Yet.

"Any Skill Gem?"

"No."

"Flask?"

"No."

"Portal Scroll?"

"Yes." Jack looked at her.

"You bought a Scroll before a Flask?"

"GateGuide said if you could only afford one utility item, buy a Portal Scroll." Jack stared. Hannah shifted.

"Was that wrong?"

"No."

"Then why are you looking at me like that?"

"Professional curiosity." She frowned.

"What profession?"

"How much money do you have?"

"That is absolutely not an answer."

"How much?" She sighed.

"Eighty-three dollars." Jack looked toward the market stalls. Then toward the Gate.

"Planning, then." Hannah stood and removed the cardboard sign.

"Does that mean you're helping?"

"Probably."

"You say probably a lot." Jack ignored that too. The cheapest useful Skill Gem available near Greenvale cost sixty dollars. Jack checked it himself. HEAVY STRIKE Rarity: Common Attack Skill Gem Required Level: 2 Weapon Requirement: Melee Weapon Mana Cost: 3 Effect: Deliver a concentrated melee strike with increased single-target impact and knockback. Good. Basic. Reliable. Hannah looked at the price.

"Sixty?"

"Yes."

"That leaves me twenty-three dollars."

"Yes."

"You say that like twenty-three dollars is enough money."

"It isn't."

"Great."

"Buy it." She bought it. The Gem disappeared into her Skill slot. Hannah flexed her hand.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"I don't feel different."

"You haven't used it."

"Right." Jack looked toward the Gate.

"Now spend your Passive Point."

"On what?"

"Fire Resistance." Hannah hesitated.

"Why Fire?"

"Greenvale's Boss uses it." She looked at him.

"How do you know?" A pause.

"Public reports." That was safe enough. Hannah selected the node. FIRE RESISTANCE +18% Passive Points Remaining: 0"Done."

"Good." Jack started toward the Gate. Hannah followed.

"That's all the build planning?"

"For now."

"I thought this was supposed to be complicated."

"Your Dungeon career is older than some leftovers in my refrigerator." Hannah stared at him.

"That was weirdly specific." Jack kept walking. The inside of Greenvale Orchard looked almost exactly like the outside. That made it worse. Rows of apple trees continued beneath a bright sky that could not possibly exist inside the Dungeon. The grass was too green. The fruit was too red. The shadows beneath the trees were slightly too dark. Jack stopped just beyond the entrance. Hannah nearly walked into him.

"First rule."

"Don't walk into you?"

"That too." He pointed toward the nearest row of trees.

"Don't rush anything because it looks weak."

"Okay."

"Don't chase."

"Okay."

"If I say move, move."

"Okay."

"If I say stop, stop."

"Okay." Jack looked at her.

"You're agreeing suspiciously easily."

"I've spent two hours being rejected by strangers."

"Fair." Movement in the grass. Jack pointed.

"There." A creature crawled from beneath the trees. Large rat. Bark-like growths along its spine. Thin green vines wrapped around its legs. Appraisal. VINE RAT Level: 2 Threat Rank: F Damage Type: Physical Hannah lifted her cheap sword. The Rat moved. Fast. She tensed.

"Step left." She did. The Rat passed.

"Now." Hannah swung. Normal attack. Bad angle. Still connected. The Rat spun.

"Again." She started forward.

"Stop." Hannah froze. The Rat lunged through the space she would have entered. Her eyes widened.

"Heavy Strike." Half a second of hesitation. Mana moved. Her sword came down. The impact sounded completely different from the first attack. The Vine Rat left the ground. It hit the trunk of an apple tree. Gray ash scattered across the roots. Hannah stared.

"Oh." Jack looked at her.

"Three Mana."

"That was three Mana?"

"Yes."

"Why did nobody explain this?" Jack thought about GateGuide.

"…Good question." Hannah narrowed her eyes.

"That sounded personal."

"It wasn't." It was. They continued. One instruction. One correction. No argument. No panic. No attempt to prove herself by running forward. Jack adjusted his assessment. Job selection was terrible. The player wasn't. The next Vine Rat feinted left before lunging right. Hannah reacted badly. Jack intercepted it. The third did the same thing. She reacted better. The fourth feinted. Hannah waited. Then struck when it committed. Jack noticed. So did she.

"I learned."

"Yes."

"Say it properly."

"What?"

"You're impressed."

"No."

"You paused."

"I pause often."

"Liar." Jack looked forward. This was becoming inconveniently social. The Orchard Imps appeared farther in. Small. Red-skinned. Long arms. Sharp teeth. One hung upside down from a tree branch. Appraisal. ORCHARD IMP Level: 3 Threat Rank: F Damage Types: Physical / Minor Fire Hannah pointed.

"That thing is awful."

"Accurate." The Imp dropped. Jack's greataxe moved once. Ash. Hannah stopped.

"You're Level Five?"

"Yes."

"You could have mentioned that."

"You didn't ask."

"You're very annoying."

"I've heard that recently." Emily had apparently damaged his expectations. The next Imp came with two Vine Rats. Jack handled the Imp. Hannah handled one Rat. The second turned toward her. Jack stepped between them.

"Position." She moved. Heavy Strike. Ash. Better. They continued. Hannah reached Level Three before the Boss. The System light faded around her. She froze.

"Level."

"Three?"

"Yeah."

"Open the Passive Tree." She did. PASSIVE POINT GAINED Passive Points Available: 1 Hannah looked at Jack.

"Cold next?" Jack considered it.

"Leave it for now."

"Why?"

"Because you're not committed to a build yet."

"I thought the Resistance nodes were good."

"They are."

"Then why not take it?"

"Because good doesn't automatically mean spend immediately." She looked deeply dissatisfied with that answer.

"Passive Trees are cruel."

"Yes."

"You sounded happy when you said that."

"Bosses teach through trauma." Hannah stared.

"That was a joke, right?"

"Mostly." The Greenvale Keeper waited in the center of the orchard. The trees opened into a circular clearing. At its center stood something that had probably once been intended to resemble a scarecrow. Probably. It was eight feet tall. Wooden limbs wrapped in vines. A hollow pumpkin-like head burned from within. One arm ended in a rusted pruning blade. Jack focused. GREENVALE KEEPER Level: 6 Threat Rank: F Damage Types: Physical / Fire Specialization: Summoning / Area Control Hannah stopped beside him.

"That is significantly worse than the rats."

"Yes."

"Plan?"

"I handle it."

"And me?"

"Adds."

"What?"

"Small things."

"Oh." The Keeper moved. Jack lifted the greataxe.

"Kill them." Hannah raised her sword.

"That I can do." The Boss attacked. The first pruning-blade swing was broad. Jack stepped outside it. Countered. The greataxe struck wood hard enough to split bark. The Keeper rotated. Fire flashed inside its hollow head. Jack moved before the burst. Heat rolled past. Manageable. His Fire Resistance was already doing its job. The Keeper drove one wooden hand into the soil. Roots moved. Three Vine Rats emerged from beneath the trees.

"Hannah."

"I see them." Good. She moved before he gave the next instruction. First Rat. Normal hit. Second. Heavy Strike. The third circled behind her. Hannah backed toward a tree instead of chasing. Waited. The Rat lunged. She sidestepped. Struck. Jack saw it from the edge of his vision. Good. The Keeper swung again. Jack returned his attention to the Boss. Cleave. Red light crossed the wooden body. The Keeper staggered. Another Fire burst. Jack took the edge of it. Life dipped. Nothing concerning.

He stayed close enough to keep the Boss on him. The next summon produced two Orchard Imps. Hannah did not wait. She intercepted the first. Heavy Strike. Knockback. The Imp slammed into a tree. The second jumped from the side. She turned too late. Jack shifted. One greataxe swing. Ash.

"I had that."

"You didn't."

"I almost had that."

"Better." Hannah looked offended. Then another Rat appeared. She stopped caring. So did Jack. The Keeper was already damaged enough. One more broad swing. One more opening. Jack stepped inside. Cleave. The red arc tore through the center of the Boss. The orange light inside its head flickered. Then went out. The Greenvale Keeper collapsed into gray ash. Jack lowered the axe. Hannah killed the last Vine Rat several seconds later. She turned.

"Did we win?"

"Yes."

"That felt easier than I expected."

"You weren't fighting the Boss."

"You really don't let people enjoy things."

"You did your job." Hannah paused. Then smiled.

"That sounded almost like praise." Jack immediately stopped caring about educational outcomes. Loot appeared. Mana Stones. Materials. A pair of gloves. A sword Base. Then something small landed in the grass. Metal. Chain. Necklace. Jack's heart betrayed him. He moved first. Picked it up. Appraisal. ORCHARD CHARM Item Type: Necklace Rarity: Magic Maximum Life +5 Poison Resistance +7% Jack stared. Personally offensive. Hannah leaned over.

"Good?"

"Useful."

"That wasn't what I asked."

"Useful." He handed it to her.

"Why me?"

"Because you need it more."

"You don't want it?" Jack looked away.

"No." Technically true. They divided the remaining loot. Hannah stared at the Mana Stones in her share as though they were the first proof that the last several hours had not been an elaborate prank.

"I actually made money."

"You bought a Skill Gem."

"Don't ruin this." Jack did not. They were halfway back toward the Gate when Hannah spoke again.

"So." Jack knew that tone. Nothing good followed it.

"What?"

"You know a lot about Skills."

"Enough."

"And Jobs."

"Some."

"And Passives."

"Yes."

"Can you tell me if my Unique is any good?" Jack glanced at her.

"Maybe."

"I knew you'd say maybe."

"What does it do?" Hannah thought.

"Something with Auras." Jack kept walking.

"What specifically?"

"I don't remember." He stopped. Hannah took two more steps before noticing.

"What?"

"You don't remember your Native Unique Skill?"

"It's long." Jack stared.

"How long?"

"Really long."

"You spent two hours wearing a cardboard sign because nobody wanted a Jobless."

"Yes."

"You didn't know Skill Gems were this important."

"Correct."

"And you did not finish reading your Unique Skill." Hannah winced.

"When you say it like that, it sounds bad."

"It is bad."

"I read most of it."

"Name."

"I don't remember exactly." Jack closed his eyes briefly.

"Approximate."

"Something of the Soul." His attention sharpened.

"What?"

"Maybe Soul was in it."

"Anything else?" Hannah frowned in concentration.

"Song?" Jack felt something cold settle behind his ribs. No. Soul was not an unusual word. Song was not an unusual word. They meant nothing together. Probably.

"Open it." Hannah blinked.

"Now?"

"Yes." She opened her Status.

"Can you read it from there?"

"Not your full private Status without permission." Hannah looked at him.

"Is that legal?"

"With permission."

"Without permission?" Jack paused.

"Let's stay with permission."

"That's not reassuring."

"Do I have permission?" She hesitated. Then shrugged.

"Fine." Jack focused. Appraisal opened. HANNAH REED Level: 3 Job: Jobless STR: 20 DEX: 20 INT: 20 Passive Points: 1 Active Skill: Heavy Strike — Level 1 Native Unique Skill: ANTHEM OF THE SOUL — SSS Type: Passive / Law Dominion The bearer possesses complete dominion over the laws governing Auras they sustain. All equipment and Attribute requirements for Skills with the Aura tag are ignored.

After all other Reservation Efficiency modifiers are calculated, the final Life or Mana Reservation cost of Aura Skills is reduced by 50%. All non-Curse Aura Skill effect is increased by 50%. Flavor Text The gods cast dice on a whim. Heroes rejoice or despair according to how those dice fall. They call this fate. They call this fortune. They call this the game. But she is different. She is no piece upon the board. No hand waiting for permission to move.

She is the conductor who gives voice to the laws of the battlefield itself. Where others obey the rules granted to them, she may rewrite them. One soul. One anthem. One divine authority. Jack stopped breathing.

"No." Hannah's expression changed.

"No what?" Jack read it again. Once. Twice. Same result. ANTHEM OF THE SOUL — SSS That Skill belonged to the Saint. Japan's Saint. One of the most famous support Delvers in the world. Jack knew the Skill. Everyone who studied high-level Party builds knew the Skill. The Saint's Guild affiliation had been public. Her build had been analyzed. Her Aura coverage had been discussed in documentaries, training courses, and endless forum arguments. Jack knew her name. Her face. Her Job. Her Skill.

And this woman was not her. Hannah Reed. Twenty-three. American. Jobless. Standing in an F-rank orchard with a sixty-dollar Heavy Strike Gem and twenty-three dollars left in her wallet. Unique Skills could repeat. Theoretically. No rule said every Unique Skill in existence had to belong to only one human being. But Jack knew of perhaps twenty or thirty publicly confirmed SSS-grade Unique Skills across the entire world in his old timeline. An exact duplicate among that population? Possible.

Possible was not the same thing as believable. Worse— Jack knew Emily Miller. He knew the Saint. He knew famous Delvers. Major Crafters. Guild leaders. Government-backed teams. People whose names had survived because their Skills mattered. Hannah Reed? Nothing. No memory. No connection. No explanation. Hannah watched his face.

"Is it bad?" Jack looked at her.

"No." That was the problem.