“You can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience until you have a job. Once you solve that problem you are home free.”

Jack Buck

The next day, I was well chuffed with my smuggling skill and actually being able to salvage treasure from a sea wreck. It inspired me to get back out there and see what else might be lying within sight on the seabed floor. When I asked why there was a wreck so close to Wester Levante and why had it not been salvaged father responded with the following, “While we are on the edge of the known compass and far from the compass continent we are also on the edge of the southern current. So, to circumnavigate the continent or at least travel from Tramontana to Ostro it can be quicker to sail out towards the western horizon before catching the southern current south which passes through between us and Wester Levante.” He explained what a ship might have been doing all the way out here if it was not visiting us or Wester Levante. “It could have been passing us by when it fell afoul of weather, monster or man.”

“Then why was it not picked clean before we found it?” I asked as we had been out of the current and nearly in sight of the island itself surely someone would have survived to claim the boat and salvage it’s remains. Or if not, surely someone would have discovered it before us. I had no idea how to judge the age of a shipwreck, but it hadn’t started to rot through, so it had certainly been at the bottom of the ocean for a while before we discovered it.

“Most people can’t see under the water to spot such wrecks.” He explained as if it was obvious why no one had discovered it before us.

“But why did it sink?” I asked. We had not had time to explore the boat fully, but it did not look particularly broken up from what we were able to tell from our very short visit.

“The ocean can be a perilous place for the unprepared. You and I have only ever been fair-weather sailors. If the weather looks bad, we don’t go out. We have never travelled more than half a day’s journey out and turned tail at the slightest sign of monster, man or foul weather. A ship travelling south from Tramontana or Maestro will have spent weeks if not months at sea. A lot of things can go wrong during that time. There could be all manner of reasons it foundered.” He added. “Next time we visit you can have a better look, but we won’t be visiting Wester Levante afterwards, we will be coming straight back to our own island. No need to risk meeting the tax man twice. Or take the pigeons to Wester Levante and visit the wreck on the way back home.” He started muttering to himself planning out the next trip.

I was distracted during the day as I couldn’t wait to get back to shift the chest into my hidden tunnels and explore its contents with my own eyes. The day dragged, but we still had our lessons with Lady Acacia, weapons, languages, etiquette and now that we had horses, horse riding lessons as well. Our days started at sunrise, and we were lucky if they finished with sundown as we also had our own personal projects of pearl farming and growing the wide variety of produce, we had planted. It would have been impossible to do it all without the help of Des and Sinis who continued to step up and help us out with the collection of sea snails, salt and managing our gardens alongside Wanda. We really needed to continue to include more people in our projects if they were ever to run without us. Something that might be more possible after the success of our first ever Silversea games.

. . .

“The games were a huge success. You are viewed favorably among the majority of the islanders though it is questionable as to whether this was due to the games or your grandpa’s open bar at the Compass Edge tavern. Still, as a first impression for the young scions of the Silversea family it was a fantastic start.” Lady Acacia started discussing the impressions she had gathered yesterday.

“That’s not all.” chimed in Aleera, “Lots of people were very interested in the fruits we had for sale. Although some of them were more interested in the possibilities of making their own wine more than anything else.”

“So, what is the next step in your plan of turning us into the legitimate master and mistress of the Silversea House?” I asked intrigued.

I had plenty of plans but over time they seemed to have all become a little jumbled up with me moving from one project to another. It didn’t help that all of my family had been pushing in me in one direction or another since well forever. Mother was happy if I spent my days singing keeping her company and working on the stone faces of our growing home. Father was happy as long as he got to sail with me more often than not. Aleera was keen to harvest my money-making ideas and had not given up on turning me into a merchant yet. Then there was my grandfather who had pushed for me to be some sort of mage assassin. Then Grandpa who had started the entire ball rolling by attempting to gain me the Charisma stat and making me a Lord. Finally, there was Lady Acacia who seemed to have the most plans of all.

“It’s time to get you levelling again.” She spoke.

“I am it is just taking a very long time.” I defended the crawl at which my levelling had been reduced to. After the Silversea Games, travelling between Wester Levante, Little Wester and our own island as well as finding the sunken treasure I was not far off hitting Level 13.

“Kai, you are no longer levelling because firstly the system is exponential. I hasten to add no child generally gets past level 10 in the first place and that by the age of 10 after unlocking their system at 5. Secondly neither of you haven’t visited the Lodestar Church to give you your first métier.”

“What’s a métier?”

“It is your channel through which the system allows you to continue to level.”

“Like a class?” I asked remembering the eternal debate of gamers between skills-based games and class-based games. This reality had always appeared to be based on skills rather than classes.

“No Kai it is not a lesson it is a vocation. Most children do not receive their first until they are between the ages of 10 and 15. Once they have worked in the trade they plan on pursuing and are prepared to commit to it.”

“Do you get special skills for choosing your métier?” I asked excited at what the system might give me for free. Not that I hadn’t worked hard for all the skills I had gained. But who would turn down freebies.

“No Kai. It is the other way round the choice of Métier that you can choose from depends on the skills that you already have. That is why it often takes a couple of years work in the profession before you are able to choose it anyway.” She was beginning to sound a little frustrated with my growing list of questions to which the answer seemed to be no each time.

“Do you get bonus stats for each métier?” I asked doubtful the answer would be positive after the failure of my first questions that this would be the case either.

“No Kai, Wait.” She held a hand up to forestall any other questions I might have had.

“You need at least 16 skills to unlock a métier. It requires a priest of Church of the Lodestar to unlock them. They do not give you extra skills or stats. They have one purpose and one purpose only to allow the individual to continue to level once they have reached the exponential threshold.” She quickly summarized the requirements and purpose of a métier before I could interrupt again.

“So, 16 Tier one skills that support a single vocation?” I asked thinking through the list of skills that I had. I no longer had 16 tier one skills that would support a single vocation unless I wanted to become a soldier with all my weapon skills.

“Yes.” She answered.

“What about 8 Tier 2 skills?” Did it have to be tier 1 skills because if I looked at my tier 2 skills and considered those then a few more options opened up for me. Would it be half the number of skills as they were worth twice the amount of experience?

“Yes.” She replied. Okay could that be extrapolated further.

“So then 4 Tier 3 skills?” Okay this was more feasible.

“Yes.” She answered.

“Would 2 Tier 4 skills work?” I could probably get something along the lines of stone mage with two tier 4 skills. Although that was not where I had ever considered ending up. How close did they need to be to support a vocation.

“Yes.” She anticipated answering before I had even finished asking the question.

“Or . . .” I hesitated, “1 Tier 5 skill to gain a métier.” What métier would my mind fortress skill give me. But would I have to spend the rest of my life in my mind if I did so I had no intention of doing that again if I could help it. It was fun enough for an hour or two to play in my head, but I liked interacting with the real world more then my own virtual one.

“In theory yes although I doubt any child would unlock their first métier with one of those. Besides you would not want to.” She looked at me questioningly but didn’t verbalize any suspicions.

“Why not?” I asked not seeing problem, surely the better the tier and skills to unlock the métier would result in a better métier. Although if its only purpose was to allow the individual to continue levelling then the name of it mattered little.

“Because to continue to advance in your métier you need to use the skills that you used to get it. You have to actively take part in your vocation to continue to level it and you level overall. Someone who unlocked blacksmith as their métier then refused to step into a foundry for the rest of their life would never level again without visiting the church again to change their métier. Far more common métiers based on the skills you have listed would take ones such as a singer, sailor, merchant, mage. These you would be able to take individually one at a time and continue to level through your daily tasks up to level 10 then switch to the next once you have reached a level of diminishing returns. Hopefully by the time you have completed these you will have gained enough leadership skills to qualify for a Lordship métier.”

“Why doesn’t Aleera have one already then?” I quickly noticed a discrepancy. Surely, she had enough skills and was more the appropriate age. If she had one, then she would be able to earn enough levels quickly to complete her cascade regardless of how many new skills she currently required.

“Your parents are not fans of the Church. Have you not noticed that you don’t go each week despite the majority of the population doing so?” she asked.

I had never been overly religious in my last life although I went more often as a child, so I had not really noticed how our family did not really attend the Lodestar Church. Then with me being confined to this island for so long it was not surprising really that I hadn’t noticed in the end.

“Why don’t we go?” I asked Aleera.

“Our other brother my younger your older . . . the one who died in childbirth.” She started. “I don’t remember exactly what happened but the priest basically blamed mother for his death saying that she was unbalanced.” She quietly explained.

I winced. I could imagine how that would not go over well with any grieving mother, particularly my own. I certainly would not want to go back to church if someone said something like that to me. I was surprised she had attempted having me or maybe I was more an accident than a choice. Either way, I wasn’t going to ask my parents that and didn’t want to know.

“Ah, that would make sense as to why your parents are so hostile to the Lodestar Church. There are idiots in all institutions it was not any imbalance of her stats that would have been the culprit merely the strength of them.” Lady Acacia joined in with our conversation.

“Anyway, it is time for the two of you to take up your first métier. With or without your parent’s presence I will be taking you to the Church to unlock them. Obviously, it would be best to do so with their blessing, but it isn’t essential. Honestly, the largest hurdle will be due to Kai’s supposed age. A child of his age would not have access to viewing their status let alone enough skills to qualify for a métier. So, you will need another drop or two of Elixir and another inch or two in height. Hopefully, the idiot is still employed as the priest, and we will be able to exaggerate his age and say that it is due to his noble status. However, if he speeds through the early levels of his first métier much like he did with his current levelling as a child then we will probably have to take up any secondary métiers on different islands at different churches.” She started to explain the next steps of her plan for us.

“Are you only allowed one métier at a time?” I asked thinking that with my wide range of skills I could possibly have more than one functioning simultaneously.

“You get one at a time and the levels acquired get added to your overall level. So, for example if you have 10 levels before gaining your vocation then gain another as 7 as a singer you would be level 17 overall. Then once you reach the point of diminishing returns for your time you return to the church to gain a new metier and continue your levelling.”

“Can I take up merchant?” Aleera asked excited to be able to gain more levels and power through her cascade.

“That should not be a problem provided you have sufficient merchant skills to make you eligible for the career.” Lady Acacia allowed. “Although you must not neglect your lessons in favour of progressing it too much.

“Do the early levels require just a little experience?” I asked remembering back to my initial successes levelling.

“It only takes 100 experience to unlock your new metier but then every level afterwards doubles in experience requirements. The first 10 levels are achievable enough but after that it becomes exponentially harder especially if you need to be using the skills for the job you have chosen. Remember this experience can only be gained by completing the job you have chosen. A singer won’t level sailing boats and a sailor won’t level selling salt.”

“But what about all the different types of experience. Do you just lose that?” I asked worried that the hundreds of thousands of experience I had been collecting for my latest level might disappear or the fact that my broad and balanced curriculum of skills and experience gain would be wasted if I was to choose a single Metier.

“No that still happens but it will simply be added to your original level which as I said once you go past level 10 it is going to be giving you diminishing returns.” She explained. “With your broad base of skills there is no reason why you cannot take a different metier each year level it up to level 10 then move onto another.”

“How do I know what I can choose from?” I asked.

“The Lodestone will show you when you touch it officially. But unofficially you can generally work out what your options will be before you ever step foot inside the church. While you need 16 skills they don’t have to be all tier 1. You can have a combination of skills so long as they fall under the umbrella required. For example, 1 tier 4 skill, 1 tier 3 skill, 1 tier 2 skill and 2 tier 1 skills would also be effective in unlocking a metier.” She qualified.

I lost myself looking at my status to try and work out my options.

“I can give you my suggestions on what is likely to appear but it is simple for you to touch the stone and see.” She brought us back to the room. Aleera likewise had been clearly looking at her status in consideration. However with her focus on becoming rich it looked like she was also focused on takin the merchant metier.

“I have a request though.” She stated.

“Yes?”

“I would like you to both seriously consider taking something musical as your first metier.”

“Why?”

“While simply starting her metier is likely to provide sufficient stats for Aleera to hit her cascade. You on the other hand are still unable to assign the stats so need to focus on picking a metier that will continue to help your Charisma level. That is going to be a bard like metier, either musician, drummer, singer or something similar.”

I considered her advice and nodded in acceptance.

“That being said something similar for Aleera would also be advised after gaining the first 10 levels in being a merchant less she seem terribly drab when going to the capital.” She shrugged her shoulder while telling a bitter truth.

“Money has a beauty all of its own.” Aleera argued. “I’m not saying no but we will have to wait and see what is offered before I commit to anything.”

“Of course, of course.” Lady Acacia returned.

. . .

We brought up the next step in our training plan during dinner. It did not go over well.

“You don’t need a metier yet. You are just a child. If and when you need it you will not be entering that church to do so.” Was mother’s visceral answer to our request.

“Would you hamper their growth?” Lady Acacia asked undeterred by our mother’s response.

“No but I do not want them to interact with that man.” She underlined her real reason for objecting.

“Many houses have their own chapels of the Lodestar church on their own grounds. I’m sure that we will be able to request a replacement priest in time and that merely threatening such will allow the children and I access to the stone of the Lodestar without his presence or interference.” She postulate a possible work around.

“It is time dear.” Father intervened. An occurrence made all the stronger by its rare occurrence. “You don’t have to meet or talk to the man but you are only harming yourself with your insistence on avoided the stone of the Lodestar. We are all due another metier the last couple of years have been exceptional for my growth as I am sure they have been for you too. If we are to face the nobles in a decade we will need the extra levels to stand tall. We cannot allow our injured hearts to be the cause of greater harm in the future.”

“Very well but he is not to be there.” She reiterated.

“I’m sure that can be arranged.” Lady Acacia commented. “The under priest can arrange things and with sufficient political pressure I doubt the priest will be able to object to the requests of the local lord and lady. Most positions out here on the edge of the compass are filled by one of two types of priest. The first is enthusiastically keen to be spreading the faith to the furthers boundaries of the civilized compass. The other is posted here as a punishment for minor sins or poor political judgement. With the history you have described so far it isn’t hard to imagine which was the case here.”

“It will be good to pick a new metier.” Grandfather chimed in. “I have outgrown mine as well.” He nodded his head to me and I wondered whether the relaxing of the blood bound restrictions meant that he had more choice than he had before.

. . .

A week later we were stood in front of the Lodestar Church as a family ready to walk in. I was excited to see what awaited us.