“Her consort!” she said, not unkindly, but more like talking to a child.

….

She sighed and seeing that he was still not comprehending, Lola spoke again.

“I do not know how her kind sees such things in their entirety, but… I do know that if you have laid with her, you are now hers. And… if she were to grow angry, she might leave. I do not wish for what happened to my village before, to happen again. It can’t- I won’t allow it-“

“Lola!” he said. “I did not… lie… with the nymph. And I’m not her consort. I’m not her anything, really. The only time I’ve ever met her was when she bullied me out of hunting and it didn’t seem very romantic. Regardless of the species involved.” He said, exasperated.

“…oh? I just thought… well, with you seeing her naked, that-”

“What?! I didn’t see her naked! Why… why would you even think of that?”

“Uhm… because you mentioned that you got a ‘pretty good look’ at her? And mentioned that she has green skin, all over her body.”

She seemed to be in a better mood, but her wariness had yet to leave her.

“Oh, that! No, it’s just that… well, she doesn’t wear a lot of clothes. Nearly nothing, really. Just something like a bra and… just her private parts! Nothing else.” He said, stumbling over his words.

She looked at him, for a long moment, before she burst out in laughter. And it wasn’t a pretty laugh either. There were guffaws and belly laughs and she was nearly hunched over.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. Oh, nothing. I’m sorry, it’s just that for a moment there, heh, all I could think of was that I’ve doomed my village and yourself both. I’m just, ahaha, I’m just happy that’s not the case.”

“Well, okay. Weirdo.”

But he had a smile on his face as well.

“Come back, sit down and let me refill your tea. You look like you need something hot, right about now.”

“Yes, I truly think I do.”

While the young man refilled her cup with the now not so steaming brew, he thought about her reaction.

“Lola, can I ask. Was it really that bad, back then? Before she came, I mean?”

“…yeah. Not that many people died, usually, but a lot tended to be injured, by the thieves and raiders. Sometimes, thugs came into the village. And when the last big raid happened, the one I’ve told you about? A lot of villagers died. Including… including my parents.”

“Oh… I’m really sorry! I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s ok. It was a long time ago.” She smiled. “Say, do you have something to eat? All that fright really worked up my appetite.”

As far as distractions go, that was quite obvious, yet he was just as desperate to change the subject, so he embraced it head on.

“Sure thing. Uhm, the fish is done, but it’s from yesterday, so it’s not exactly fresh. Or… hot. I can reheat it, though. And maybe serve it with some… mushrooms?” he said, looking at the basket, filled to the top with them. “With some cheese?”

“Or you could make a soup?” she said, looking at the pots laying around.

Quite a bit of time had passed since he last felt this familiar sensation, but it was just as disturbing as all the other times he experienced it. The feeling of remembering something obvious and thinking that he was an idiot, for not thinking about it before.

“Fuck!” he swore.

“W-what? What happened?” she asked, alarmed.

“I just realized. I could have made soup, all this time! All the way since I’ve first made the pots. I could have eaten soup. Soup!”

“Uh… yes, you could have. I guess you take your food very seriously?”

When he nodded, she continued.

“But it’s ok now, since you can eat soup going forward.”

“Yeah. I guess. I just feel like an idiot. A hungry idiot.”

She didn’t contradict him, but she did laugh. He wasn’t sure how to interpret that.

That said, soon enough he had a pot filled with water, in which he added the deboned fish, herbs, peeled roots and some of the normal mushrooms she had given him. Even a few of the fire mushrooms, as he insisted to call them. He didn’t think either cheese or berries would work that well with the stew… soup… food.

“Right, well, it might not turn out to be the best soup you’ve ever eaten, but at least it’ll be hot.” He said, sighing.

“Oh, you’d be surprised.” She muttered, but in a second, the smile was back on her face.

Before he could ask what she meant, she asked him a question.

“Tell me, what is it that you do all day?”

“Well, not much. I’ve built this shelter and what you see around it. If I’m not gathering or tinkering, I’m usually in the forest, looking for stuff. Or talking to myself.”

“Yes, I saw you have this habit.” She laughed, before seeing the expression on his face. “Oh, don’t worry. I can understand what it’s like, not having someone to talk to. I… do it as well, sometimes.”

“Cool.” He smiled. “Hey, what’s your village like? Are there a lot of people? Or at least, more people our age?”

“I think it’s about… two hundred people? That or just under that number. And yes, there’s quite a few people our age, give or take a few years.”

“Great. Maybe you can introduce me to them.” He grinned.

“Oh, uh, of course.” She said, a tad uncertainly. “Though perhaps you should wait, until after I’ve bought you a shirt.”

“…right. Do you think people would think badly of me, if I just walked into the village bare chested?”

“Well… they’re nice… mostly. But they still might think you odd. Especially if they find out you came from this forest. They tend to be a little superstitious about this place. It’s Helmrest, by the way.”

“What is?”

“The village.” She giggled. “My village is called Helmrest. Before you ask, I don’t know why it’s called that. The old folk say it’s called like that because of a great warrior, who laid down his helm on the plains that were to become this village and rested there for a while, before going forth to battle. But it’s easy to make up legends.”

“Huh. Ok, Lola from Helmrest. So, what do you do there?”

At that question, her demeanor grew guarded.

“Well, you know, this and that. I don’t have a profession and I’m not particularly good at anything. No skills, I’m afraid. So, I just… work. Anywhere I can.” She ended, on a silent note.

“I see. Well then, I’ll give you some more fish and mushrooms before you leave.” He grinned.

She was surprised for a second, before his cheery reply startled a laugh out of her.

“Deal!”

“Good. Oh, look, it’s done!” the young man said, hurrying to the pot.

And indeed, the broth within it was now bubbling and a pleasant aroma was wafting off. Pleasant enough for the two of them, at the very least.

Tenderly, he used the tea cup to scoop out a bit of broth, before giving it a taste.

“Oh, wow. Yeah, I’m going to enjoy this.” He said, closing his eyes in pleasure.

|New Class Available: Forest Cook|

|Class Level and Skills accessible after acceptance. |

|Accept new class? |

“Again? Really? Just from that?” he said.

“…is everything alright? Is the soup not to your liking?”

“No, it’s… It might sound odd, but there’s this thing that happens to me, sometimes. I do things and then I hear and see words in my head.” He realized what he had just said and hurried to provide more details. “It tells me I get a ‘Class’ and asks me if I want to accept it. If I do-“

“You were offered a Class? That was what happened just now?” the girl asked, standing up with energy.

“What are you waiting for? Take it!” she cheered.

“Uh… but I’m not sure if it’s useful. I mean, it’s-“

“Who cares? Take it, before you say no by mistake.”

“Ok, ok. It’s funny to see you all riled up, you know?” He laughed. “Uh, I accept.”

|Class Accepted: Forest Cook|

|Class Level: 2|

|New Skills:|

|Basic Cooking|

|A Fire a Day|

“Done.”

“Yes!” she laughed. “I’ve never been around someone receiving a Class before. What Class did you get? How did it feel?”

“Eh, it was okay. It’s called |Forest Cook|. Doesn’t really feel like anything though. Only, the Skills make you think differently, sometimes.” He pondered.

“What Skills did you get?” she asked, before backtracking. “I mean… sorry, I forgot that it’s personal, I just-“

“No, no worries. I’ve got |Basic Cooking| and something called |A Fire a Day|.”

“Oh, I’ve heard about the first one! It lets you cook simple things, right?”

“I think so. Now that I think about it, I can imagine a few kinds of recipes-“

Like before, it sometimes happened that the young man found himself in a new situation, presented with new information and completely forgot to be surprised. Perhaps the shock he had been through that day had left him too frazzled, yet it so happens that now, thinking clearly, he arrived at the logical conclusion.

“Wait, you know about Classes? And Levels and Skills?” he said, utterly shocked. “I mean, of course you do, you egged me on! How didn’t I realize… Please, tell me all about them! The first time this happened, I thought I was losing my mind!”

“Of course! I just thought it was the first… time. Wait, this happened to you before, didn’t it? You have a second Class?” she asked, in awe. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I thought it was your first. If I’d had known you had a second, I wouldn’t have encouraged you to say yes, I just thought that-”

“Lola, stop, it’s no problem. I don’t mind it, Skills are always good.” He said and saw her relaxing a bit.

“And no, I don’t have a second Class. I’ve got three more classes. I’m also a |Gatherer|, a |Tinker| and a |Gardener|.” He told her, with a touch of pride.

The girl gaped at him for a long while. It wasn’t that impressive to him, but if it elicited this kind of reaction, he imagined he deserved to feel a bit of pride at his accomplishments. He was already grinning widely, by the time he took a second look at her. She had stopped gaping and was now rapidly alternating between being white and red in the face.

“Oh no.” she quietly said.

“W-“

“Oh no, oh no, no, no! I’m so sorry… you… ugh, you really need a name for times like these! Oh, but I am so sorry!”

“So sorry for what? Lola?” he asked, alarmed by her sudden reaction.

“And you didn’t even know, didn’t you? Of course, you didn’t, how could you? No memory. …I really just pushed you on the path to becoming a Jack, haven’t I?”

The girl was looking at him, but she seemed to be talking to herself, more than anything.

“Lola, calm down. You didn’t push me anywhere. Now, breathe. That’s it. Breathe. Ok, tell me. What got you so worried?”

“Well… I’ll tell you all I know. You see, normally, it’s not a common thing to be offered a class. Not just in my village, either. Anywhere! You have to work hard at something or be passionate or just be doing that thing, for a long time. When it happens, it’s something to celebrate, because it means you will most likely have Skills, which will allow you to do things that others simply can’t. Or, at least do them better. And also, because it makes you important. If you have a Class, it signals that you’ve proven something. That you’re dependable and respectable, at least in your field.”

“Mostly.” She added, almost as an afterthought.

“Alright, so? That just means I’m respectable in four fields, right?”

“Well, yes. But there’s a downside to having too many Classes. We don’t know who it is that decides who gets a Class or who gets what Skills, but that power doesn’t look kindly to people who squander their gift. If you get too many classes, they’ll merge into a single one. It’s called |Jack of All Trades|. People who get it are called ‘Jacks’.”

“That’s what you said you thought I was! When you first met me, remember?” he asked her, remembering her words.

“I did, but I didn’t mean to say I thought you had the Class. It’s… complicated. Getting that Class is the end. You will not be able to level anymore. You will not be able to change it. All you’ll be left with will be the Skills you’ve already got, by that point.”

“I see. I mean, I can see how it would suck, but it’s not that bad, right?”

“It is. Perhaps not personally, but it changes how others will look at you. You become a pariah. An outcast. You have to understand, most people never get a Class. So… getting one and another after it and finally getting enough of them, for them to merge into the Jack? There’s a reason why you’re allowed to reject new Classes. Because if you become a Jack… it just means that you’re a fool. One who wasted things, others would spend entire lives to obtain. Some villages have Jacks stoned on sight, but that’s mostly the deeply superstitious ones. They all, however, deny Jacks entry, except if they truly need their Skills.”

The young man though about what she had just said, for a moment. It didn’t sound that bad to him, but the way she told it… Perhaps the world was truly superstitious. Or, if Classes were offered to others, so much more rarely than they were being offered to him, perhaps being so foolish with them, as to turn into a Jack, truly meant you were deranged, in one way or another. He couldn’t know.

“I called you a Jack, because I thought you were a drifter. Just that. The word itself, ‘Jack’… I think, at first, it was only used to refer to people who had the actual Class. But now, you can use it for anyone who is unseemly. Looters, vagabonds, w-whores.”

“Right, so it’s an insult. Got it. How many Classes do you need to get, before that happens?”

“I don’t know. No one does. I’ve heard it happens differently for people. Some get seven, eight Classes. Even more. The fewest one man had, before becoming a Jack, that I know of, was four.” She quietly said.

The young man felt a bead of cold sweat on his forehead.

“Exactly how many I have now.”

“Yes. …I’m so sorry. Maybe you could have gotten a new Class, a better one. But now… please don’t accept a new one, if it is offered to you. I know it is selfish of me to ask you this, after I’ve denied you the chance of another Class, but it really is for your own good. Perhaps the nymph would let you stay in this forest if you became a Jack, but… I don’t think the villagers would be content, with you living nearby. At the very least, you would be banned from the village.”

He looked at her and saw her crestfallen face.

“Lola. It’s fine.” He grinned. “I’ve got four Classes. And they’re good ones. Don’t need anything else, do I? I’m a man of prestige now.”

Even in her emotional state, she had to laugh at the silly expression and words, when she heard them.

“That you are. But I still don’t understand how you have gotten four Classes, when you’re so young… I mean, I suppose if you were a nobleman’s son, living in a city and were training from a young age… Did you have them before… waking up here?”

“No. I got them gathering things from the forest and making this shelter. Oh, and planting that garden.” He said, jutting his thumb over his shoulder.

“That’s… unheard off.”

“Maybe, but we’ve already agreed I’m very special. C’mon, cheer up! Just think what the other villagers will think, when you’ll walk back in the village, next to a living legend?”

“Ha! Funny. You know, ‘celebrity’, I meant what I said earlier. You’ll need a proper name to enter the village, not to mention a shirt.” She said teasingly, but he could see she was feeling better.

The young man mulled that over, for a few seconds.

“I don’t know about a shirt. But as for a name…”

He grinned.

“Call me Jack!”