That’s right. With Superior jobs, your level, that was normally maxed out at 500, could be increased as much as you liked.
There was no balance whatsoever to this. But of course, as your level rose, so did the amount of experience needed for each new level. That was why even without a cap, there apparently weren’t many people with ridiculously high levels.
...Which is to say, there are a few players with ridiculously high levels, I thought. Given how there were also those Superior Embryos that came up last night, I feel like the development team is deliberately setting up different levels of strength.
Also, it appeared that there were even cases where tians had Superior jobs.
This is somewhat of a digression, but the terms “low-rank job” and “high-rank job” used their translated versions in each player’s language. The term “Superior job,” however, was unified across all countries and cultural regions.
Given how this overlaps with Superior Embryos, I wonder if the development team is trying to give some deeper meaning to the term “Superior,” I thought.
By the way, when using just the word “Superior,” this apparently referred to a Superior Embryo and its Master.
...Like I thought, it’s confusing.
“What’ll happen if I choose a job that doesn’t mesh well with my Embryo?” I asked.
“If you’re at a save point, you can reset your job whenever you like,” replied my brother. “And even if you reset your job, your Embryo’s growth won’t change.”
So that was why there were apparently some players that would repeatedly reset their jobs in order to try various ones. You could repeat this process until you found a job that suited you. After finding it, your Embryo would have developed due to the time spent up until then, so you’d then be able to level up even easier than before.
“Speaking of jobs... what are the jobs of the ranking players you talked about yesterday?” I asked.
“If they came up in yesterday’s conversation, then they all have Superior jobs,” said my brother.
“I thought as much,” I said. Titles like “King” and “High Priest” certainly seemed like ones only one person could acquire. “Do you know what kind of requirements they had?”
“Oh... The requirements for King of Destruction were: surpassing 100 million total damage dealt, defeating a certain number of high-rank boss monsters solo, and also completing a special quest,” said my brother. “The rest probably had something similar.”
100 million damage... I could use the same skill I used against the Demi-Drag, Vengeance is Mine, 10,000 times and it still wouldn’t be enough, I thought. The jobs for ranking players are as impressive as I’d expect.
“By the way, the stat modifiers stack for all the jobs you have equipped, but you won’t be able to use some skills if the grouping of your main job changes,” said my brother. “So that means you won’t be able to use Gunner skills while you’re a Cook.”
“Oh, really?” I asked. “Being something like a Cook and Soldier seems like it’d work out, though.” Like in that one movie.
“Well, you can also change your main job at save points, and you can still use skills if they’re within the same grouping,” said my brother.
It’s probably best to keep that in mind when choosing which jobs to equip.
“Okay, then what jobs can I equip now?” I asked.
“Ta-daa! The Suitable Job Diagnostics Catalog,” he said in a voice as if he were going to take out some sort of secret tool. What he did pull out, though, was a thick book. “If you read this catalog, you can find the job that best fits you out of all the ones you can equip right now.”
“That’s useful,” I said.
“Since the format is a questionnaire, I don’t know if it’ll really be the best fit, but this’ll work just fine when you’re not sure what to do,” he said. “Because at any rate, there are over a hundred low-rank jobs that you can equip in this town from the beginning.”
“That’s way too many!” I cried.
“Well, you’ll probably be using this going forward, so I’ll give this to you.” He handed me the book.
“Thanks,” I said. At any rate, let’s give it a try.
And so, after five or so minutes the results came in...
“A Paladin?” I thought aloud. It’s certainly a staple in games, but I’m not so sure it fits me.
“Ahh,” said my brother, “Paladins get a boost to their HP, STR, and END. Also, they can learn damage-reducing skills and healing magic.”
I see, I thought. In that case, it’s perfect. As long as I’m using Nemesis, then it’ll probably be a great match.
“That’s strange, though,” he continued. “Paladin isn’t a job you can get from the start. I mean, it’s a high-rank job.”
“A high-rank job?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “You can’t get it unless you meet certain conditions.”
“What kind of conditions?” I asked.
“First, you need to defeat a boss of a certain strength... a Demi-Dragon class monster, while also doing more than half the damage to it.”
“I did that,” I said. I cleared that in the battle with the Demi-Drag.
“Next, you need to donate 200,000 lir to the church.”
“I can do that,” I said. Right now I have around 400,000 lir.
“And last, you need the recommendation of a key person related to the knights,” he finished.
“A recommendation... that I don’t have,” I said. I just started playing Dendro, so I don’t think I’ll be able to get a recommendation.
“Wait, wait. Didn’t something along those lines happen just yesterday?” Nemesis, who had been quietly listening the whole time, suddenly cut in.
“I see,” said my brother. “So that was the real reward from yesterday’s quest. Well, of course they wouldn’t display such a tactless message as, ‘Your relationship with so-and-so has deepened.’”
“Huh?” I asked. Somehow, the two of them seem to have gotten something I didn’t.
“Master... have you forgotten just who it was you helped yesterday?” asked Nemesis.
“...Ah.”
We then made our way over to Liliana’s house. Liliana was the Vice Commander of the Knights of the Royal Guard, and likely because of what had happened yesterday, she was at home with Milianne.
We received a warm welcome and thanks for the day before. After we chatted with the two, I mentioned to Liliana that I wanted to become a Paladin. She readily agreed and wrote a recommendation letter for me right away.
I took care of the donation at the church as well, and within the day, I had become a Paladin.
And with this, I was finally prepared to go grind levels.
✦ ✦ ✦
“All right, then this is where I’ll take my leave,” Bro Bear struck up his hand and said.
“What? You’re not going to help us grind levels, Brother Bear?” asked Nemesis.
“I had planned from the start to go separate ways after the welcome party was over,” he said.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“If you do power leveling, then a gap will develop between your status and actual playing skill,” he said. “A player’s skills and ingenuity are beary important in Dendro, so you need to set out on your own to develop these as well.”
“I’m here too, though, so it’ll be the two of us,” said Nemesis.
Power leveling was a method of easily grinding levels by getting help from a stronger player. An example of this would be letting the stronger player take all the hits from a strong monster, during which you would chip away at its health, defeat it, and then instantly gain levels.
Yeah, I guess if I did that, my level would go up, but my skills wouldn’t improve.
“Also, Dendro has the Embryo system,” said my brother. “If you constantly ask fur others to help you, your Embryo won’t develop in a good way.”
“Is that how it works?” I asked.
“It’s possible,” answered Nemesis.
Since Nemesis was born this way as a result of my play style since starting, I guess it is possible.
“And so, I’ll say adios to you here-,” said my brother. “But if you get into any serious trouble, contact me.”
“Yeah, if I get into serious trouble,” I agreed.
“That’s all right, but for starters, try to do your best on your own,” he added.
“Got it,” I said. “And, um, thanks for all your help since yesterday.”
“Don’t worry about it. I bearlieve it’s only fair to help you out a bit. Oh, and also...” Bro Bear brought the head of his costume closer to me. “If anything happens with a ranking player, make sure you contact me right away.” His voice had taken on a more serious tone again.
“Bro?” I asked.
“Well, that thing from yesterday might’ve been just an anomaly. But crazy things shouldn’t happen that often, so just relax and enjoy Dendro.” Bro Bear said this and left, leaving just me and Nemesis behind.
At the same time, a message was displayed saying, “The party has been disbanded.” My brother’s status, which had been showing the whole time, also disappeared.
“Well then, Master,” said Nemesis. “It’s finally time for you — no, for us — to stand on our own feet, but have you decided on where to go?”
“Bro told me about some low-level hunting grounds, so I think I’ll go check those out,” I said.
“I’m looking forward to grinding levels,” said Nemesis. “Heh heh heh! Tonight I starve for blood.”
“It’s still noon, you know?” I said.