Teresa Of All Trades (Book 1 Complete)

Questline

Newcomer Tutorial (2/3)

Seize Destiny

You have successfully defended your land, laying claim to it as your own. Monsters will no longer attempt to trespass in this territory without significant motivation. Now that your land is secure, it is time to conquer. Seek out the monster strongholds within the desert and gather the artifacts needed for the upcoming war. Monster strongholds can be located using the <Tutorial Compass>.

You have one month to gather these artifacts. The next stage of this questline will not wait for the completion of the current stage.

Time until next stage: 11 days, 17 hours, 9 minutes, 2 seconds

Strongholds Conquered: 1

The questline now showed a new statistic at the bottom, though it did not have a limit. During the monster waves, there had always been a maximum number of waves and a total number of monsters in each wave. Now? There seemed to be no limit.

Was Teresa supposed to just keep taking out strongholds? What was the end objective here exactly? Was there an end objective? Either way Teresa was still going to conquer more. She needed more levels, though first she needed to take care of something.

Her class.

She really had to change it before she went out again, it would be a catastrophic waste not to. If she understood the rules correctly then she should still be able to level up without changing her class, but she would be losing out on the extra points provided by the new classes. Opportunity cost or something.

There were a few standouts. She kind of liked the idea of Tempest Ranger. It would be kind of badass, wouldn't it? Shooting arrows, redirecting them mid-shot with the wind, maybe getting some fancy magic arrows somewhere down the line? That just sounded sick, she would definitely have a lot of fun messing around with that.

She was actually pretty skeptical about the Mage Of The Twin Arts class. Sure, it focused on having two different fields of magic under your belt, but it really seemed to emphasise the two. What if Teresa wanted to figure a third branch of magic out? Or a fourth? If the System thought she would be content with only two branches of magic then it really underestimated her curiosity.

Though it did seem like it would eventually let her learn how to make a fireball. The class just had that kind of vibe. Sure, fireball was a basic bitch spell, but damn it Teresa wanted her fucking fireball because fireballs are awesome, end of story.

They all had their own charm to them, but there was one wildcard that stood out. Okay, maybe two wildcards, but that stupid masochist one did not count! Teresa was not a masochist! Let the records show that Teresa pleaded not guilty to these baseless accusations from the System, and the System would be hearing from her lawyer the second she figured out how to sue a multiversal entity for libel.

Jack Of All Trades. It was… interesting. It was also the only class that Teresa had seen that did not offer any unallocated points for a level up. Instead, every single stat got a single point, for a total of 8 points. It was 1 less than what Combat Medic offered, but it also came with a perk.

The ability to learn a skill of any type so long as she had a basic understanding of it. What did the System consider a "basic understanding," of something? Basic was a very subjective word, basic rocket science was still rocket science after all.

The System really needed to get its shit together on being clear about these kinds of things, she couldn't just keep guessing about stuff that impacted her life on a major scale because she wasn't provided clear enough information. It was bullshit. First it was the <Magic Wellspring> fiasco, then the <Tutorial Compass> showing up in the description of the quest without giving her one right away, and now it was giving her a vague description of a class perk. Was she always going to have to deal with vague System messages? It needed an update or something.

It also was the class that matched her personality the most, but could she really make a decision like that off something so superficial? Personalities change, maybe in ten years she would fall in love with the banjo or something and would want to dedicate the rest of her life to being the best banjo player ever.

Okay, maybe that wasn't very likely, but she still had reservations about it. Class level ups would take way longer, and most of her skills would level even slower. The whole point of her still being in the Tutorial was to get strong enough for Sarah. This class would not only be completely unrelated, but it would actively inhibit Teresa from saving her friend.

It would still be possible, sure, 5% less experience for non-general skills wasn't too bad. Hell, she got 5% extra experience from one of her titles, her skills would just level up at a normal speed.

It was the class she honestly wanted most, but it went against her current needs. It would be the most selfish pick, but it also meshed with her desires the most. She would never be completely trapped in one thing so long as she was willing to learn something new. If she picked any other class on the list, how long would it be until she got sick of it? She had only been a healer for three weeks now and she was already getting sick of it.

The longer she took to decide the less time she would have to conquer more strongholds. Fuck. She really, really wanted to pick Jack Of All Trades but could she? She had a bit under twelve days before the next stage of the Tutorial, assuming she didn't get attacked by high level monsters. In that case, she would be forced to leave early.

The <Tutorial Compass> pointed in a different direction from Liberty Island than the first stronghold, and who knew how far away this one was. She might as well start heading there while she thought about it. Today would be a scouting mission, nothing more. She might as well bring her full set of supplies, as she wouldn't need to get there super early in preparation for battle again.

Teresa ran off into the desert once she was ready, running faster than any pre-System human. She had put her extra point into Agility again, it was just too useful of a stat at the moment. She had put a total of exactly 10 points into Agility now, and that kind of annoyed her. Most of her unallocated points were going into one stat, it made for a lopsided status screen.

Jack Of All Trades would eventually remedy that. It gave one point per stat. Sure, her stats would still be uneven, but as her stats reached higher and higher numbers she doubted it would make a difference later on. Would it?

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Was Teresa selfish? She had been thinking about that earlier, but cut herself off to try and be more productive. When she had tried to kill herself, that had been a selfish decision. At least, it felt like it. Truthfully, her life still had plenty of potential left. She wasn't even in that bad of a spot before she sold all of her stuff and gave it away, it could have been way worse.

She had always thought about how it could be worse. Teresa had a loving family, didn't really go hungry the way some people in the world do, and she had otherwise been in good health. Why should she have the right to complain when there were so many people who had it so much worse?

Teresa knew that, but it didn't change how empty life had felt. Like there was no purpose. Live another sixty years miserable so she could die old and miserable instead, why not just get it over with? Why did she have to keep living just for other people's sake?

Fuck… Teresa was selfish. She was a selfish fucking asshole. What was wrong with her?

When was the last time she had really even thought about her family? They were in the Tutorial too. Sure, her parents probably left immediately but her brother likely stayed. Was he okay? Would any of them be okay once they left the Tutorial, possibly too weak to defend themselves from whatever came next? She had avoided thinking of them too much out of shame, but that was just another selfish decision in a long line of selfish decisions. Madeline had wanted to reunite with her family so bad the System gave her a skill for it, Teresa didn't have <Familial Duty>. What did that say about her?

Once Teresa was out of this Tutorial, she would find her family. How? She didn't know yet. Maybe she would get <Familial Duty> on her own, or maybe Madeline's skill would grow strong enough to work with other people's families. Who knew? One way or another, Teresa had to consider other people and stop being selfish.

Which was why she chose Jack Of All Trades as her class.

Yes, just a minute ago she was thinking about how selfish that choice would be, but it was also probably the most considerate of the people around her. With Jack Of All Trades, she might be able to get a versatile enough skill set to find her family without having to rely on anyone. Everyone would probably want to look for their families once the Tutorial was over, she couldn't expect her party members to hold off on their families to help Teresa find hers first.

It would let her be versatile enough to fill whatever role was needed in a party. It would let her allies rest easy knowing she had the capabilities to take care of herself if need be. It would let her train in whatever field was necessary to overcome any obstacles they may face.

She had been worried it was a selfish decision, but as time went on she was sure her party would have new needs none of them would be prepared for. Teresa was effectively shooting herself in the leg in a sense, as she would never be the best at anything with this class. Still, she liked it and it fit her well.

Was Teresa just finding a way to justify this to herself? Fuck off. As a matter of fact, everything could fuck off. Fuck her depression, fuck her self loathing, fuck dying. She made up her mind. Depression wasn't something that just got fixed from a change in mindset, she was sure she was going to experience suicidal thoughts again and again as she slowly worked on her mental health.

Now though? She wasn't going to let depression win. Fuck depression. If depression wanted to kill her so badly, it should give her a heart attack or something instead of this emotional turmoil bullshit. It was a little bitch of a mental illness too scared to get the job done itself.

Besides, she wasn't entirely a selfish asshole. She was risking her life for Sarah's, that was something. To Teresa it almost felt like the bare minimum, like that much was expected of her, but was it really? How many people would be willing and capable enough to even get this far? If Teresa had heard her own story about someone else, what would she think then? She couldn't just feel better about herself but she could at least see how skewed her Perception of herself was.

Teresa opened her status screen to make sure her class had actually changed.

Status:

Name: Teresa

Race: Human (Earth)

Level: 15 (F) (6%)

Class: Jack Of All Trades lv 0 (F+) (0%)

HP: (98/98)

Stamina: (90/98)

Mana: (526/530)

Strength: 9

Fortitude: 7

Endurance: 8

Vitality: 8

Agility: 16

Intelligence: 42

Wisdom: 37

Perception: 23

Unallocated Points: 0

<Skills> {

<Translate: lv 0 (1.3%)>

<Mana Control: lv 7 (69%)>

<Healing Touch: lv 4 (97%)>

<Facilitated Restoration: lv 5 (91%)

<Identify: lv 4 (99%)>

<Totem Of Life: lv 0 (11%)>

<Magic Wellspring: lv 0 (0%)>

}

<Titles> {

<System Newcomer>

<Tutorial: Power Hungry>

<Tutorial: First Stage Completionist>

<Tutorial: Level Pioneer>

}

Three of her skills could probably get a level up by the end of the day if Teresa could find a good fight. She was headed towards a stronghold again, so maybe she would get the chance.

No, that's a bad idea. She probably shouldn't fight an entire stronghold without scouting it out first, she needed to plan again like last time. Getting reckless just because she got a new class would get her killed. Besides, she might not even find the stronghold today.

A few hours later, Teresa found the stronghold today.

Huh. It was about the same distance from Liberty Island as the previous stronghold. Were they all going to be the same distance away? If so, Teresa wasn't complaining.

This one was larger than the last, and had some significant changes. For one, there were a few wooden towers within the camp that reached just above the wall. She used <Identify> on a skeleton in one of the towers, checking its level.

{Skeletal Warrior (F) (lv 18)}

Skill Level Up!

<Identify: lv 4>

Type: General

Peer at the stats of a target, allowing you to view the level and race of any being capable of possessing a level so long as the task is within your capabilities.

----->

<Identify: lv 5>

Type: General

Peer at the stats of a target, allowing you to view the level and race of any being capable of possessing a level so long as the task is within your capabilities.

The archer in the tower was pretty high level, at least compared to what Teresa had been fighting lately. There were also multiple archers, she couldn't just rely on them missing. She also probably couldn't dodge their arrows, this wasn't the Matrix. Wait, was this like the Matrix? Was the Tutorial in a real place or just like a simulated reality or something?

Nope, not getting distracted. Skeletons, archers, battle plan. She couldn't just lead a group of Clubbers to the front gate again, she would get shot. What was the solution here? Maybe she could use that C4 she got, but how? She would have to get close to the stronghold to plant it anywhere, in which case she would be shot.

She considered lumping some C4 onto an arrow and firing it into the camp, but that wouldn't work. The arrow needed to be aerodynamic enough to fly after being shot, putting a heavy wad of C4 with a receiver on it would probably make the range of her bow get reduced drastically. The receiver would probably fall off during the arrow's transit through the air as well.

There was only one real option Teresa had, and it might be a terrible one. She was going to hunt for monsters in the desert past the stronghold.