"Are we due for a celebration?" I asked once I noticed Terry was too excited to speak, while the rest held their breath. I could have announced his success after watching him absorb mana directly, which was only possible with Essence giving him reserves, but I chose not to.
He deserved to announce his own success.
Still, as he trembled in excitement, I couldn't help but smile proudly. While I always saw myself more as a researcher than a teacher, the unique joy of guiding a student into their own path was hard to replicate any other way.
Then, there were the other implications. While my own experience had shown that the production classes weren't as helpless as the others wanted to believe, it was the first confirmation we had, which was inherently promising.
"I … I succeeded. I … I have both Essence and Wisdom."
"That's excellent news," I admitted. Having both Essence and Wisdom was more than I had expected, as both of my class upgrades only granted one of each. Meanwhile, the lack of physical stats was frustrating, as it meant very limited combat potential until we figured out more offensive aspects of spellcasting. It was not a problem when we considered just Terry, but it meant it wasn't an ideal path to scale and distribute. However, those I didn't mention immediately. "What's the scaling?" I asked instead.
"One point every two levels," he said. "But my Vitality gain doubled."
"That's certainly good news," I said. "Any new skills?"
"No," he said with a shake of his head. "But my Meditation evolved to Common."
"Probably because it has turned into a class skill. We'll experiment on it later," I said. "How about the proficiencies?"
"That's more complicated. Meditation kept the points, but Tend went back to one, but my Perk is still there."
"That's how it works," I said. While further experiment was required, it fit with my own observation well enough. I turned to the rest. "What do you guys think? Our first success and no one had to die."
It was not a good joke, but ultimately, I just wanted to use it to check their excitement. Interestingly, only Rebecca and Ryan seemed truly excited at the idea. Jennifer and Logan were more neutral, while Soren was tense.
I made a note to ask Rosie to tail Soren. While I was confident that he had no ulterior motive that was dangerous to us, there was no harm in making sure.
Meanwhile, Spencer was thoroughly disappointed. "A great occasion," he said, doing his best to hide his disappointment. It wasn't a particularly impressive attempt, but it still worked, if only because the rest was lost in their own concerns.
"No," I replied, which surprised everyone. "Well, not unless you want to," I continued. "While we have found a path to improve, it's not the only path. The lack of physical stats alone is a significant restriction, so you don't have to pick the path if you don't feel comfortable with it."
That made them pause, but then Jennifer cut in. "Why? Isn't this why you gathered us in the first place, to find a way to create mage farmers. We succeeded…"
"We succeeded in discovering one particular path," I said. "It already gives us a potential method to assist the other farmers as long as we can find good candidates, therefore verifying the method" I said. Unfortunately, that was not as easy. While the unintentional selection method allowed farmers with stronger souls — as the others called it, though it still bothered me — to join us, the same didn't apply to the other classes.
My brief test with the blacksmiths had shown that none of them were able to go above Uncommon naturally, which seemed to prevent the acquisition of Mana Forge. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure if my method of teaching was at fault or not.
It certainly seemed to be a possibility.
"What does it mean?" Spencer interjected. "For us, I mean," he added.
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"It means you're free to continue following your own paths, to discover ones that are valuable to you." Then, I looked at Rebecca, who had been excited by the prospect of gaining the ability to use mana. "Or, if you feel like having Wisdom will help you with your path, you can follow the path Terry has validated."
"But, that means losing the opportunity to discover a new path," Rebecca commented sadly.
"Not necessarily," I said. "Having someone else with the same skill, exploring the possibilities will have certain advantages as well." I shrugged.
Jennifer interjected. "Why are you making so many sacrifices for us?"
That earned a chuckle. "Really, am I?" I asked.
"Of course," she said. "You have shared a lot of secrets with us; Secrets that others would kill for, yet you're helping us more. All the material, assistance, the opportunity…" She pointed at the gardening knife Terry used. "This alone. If sold, how many gold coins it will get. Hundreds?"
"Likely thousands," I admitted, which seemed to shock some of them. I shook my head. "You're thinking it wrong. Yes, technically it could be sold for that much money, but ultimately, it's nothing more than a minute of my time. Nothing I had shared with you except the information is." I sighed. It was something that annoyed me.
For the first time in three years, I finally had the opportunity to act as a professor, only to be forced into endless battles.
"As for the information, I admit that they are valuable, but ultimately, I plan to make it public. It's just about finding a safe opportunity. So, from that perspective, nothing I give is something I can't part ways with. And, in return, what I learn from you is equally important. I have managed to upgrade my own repair skills partially based on what I learned from you about how to utilize Nurture. So, no. Giving you a few extra days to make some more discoveries is not a great sacrifice on my part."
"Still," Jennifer said, insistent. "Even if you don't want to; isn't it better for you, for all of us, to work together and explore the class?"
I smiled. "That's a better question," I said. "However, we're working on something we barely understand, both in terms of potential and application. So, it actually works for me that you feel passionate about and understand, instead of blindly copying another path just because it can generate quick results. Especially when this class upgrade offers so few results."
And, that was not an understatement in the slightest. Yes, it was amazing for him to receive two magical stats at once, but it was nowhere as impactful as it would have been if he had physical stats to support that development. It was problematic, considering that upgrade was only possible with the assistance of the Legendary variant of a skill.
The System was really determined to screw over the farmers, even worse than the usual poor treatment of the production classes.
"So, what does it mean for us?" Jason asked again.
"It means that you need to start working on how you want to evolve your class and find a way to transform Nurture into it," I commented. "Naturally, I'll do my best to help, but ultimately, with everything going on, most days, the best I can do is to drop my notes about my new discoveries and answer a few questions."
"That's more than enough," Spencer commented.
"So, have you had any choice on how to change your classes?" I asked.
"Something suited to combat," Jennifer replied immediately. "Something that provides better than half a point of Strength that Advanced farmer gives out."
"Me too," Jason added.
I understood where they were coming from. I had certainly benefited from my own close combat focus more than once.
"I'm determined to discover if an Intelligence variant is possible," Spencer said. "As an accountant, it fits better the way I think. More importantly, I know you need an assistant to help with all those calculations, more than another spell caster."
"I can definitely use someone like that," I said. I understood where he was coming from, as while Wisdom had its incredible perks when push came to shove, I would have preferred to get Intelligence as well.
All that remained was whether such a transformation existed for Farmers, but spending a month exploring that possibility was certainly worth it.
"I think I'll go with the Wisdom variant," Rebecca commented. "I want to become a healer, and the ability to transform the nature of mana seems like a good way to achieve that."
"An honorable call," I said, then I turned to Ryan and Soren. "How about you two?"
Ryan turned to Soren questioningly before he sighed. "I don't know, and my brother doesn't either. We were so focused on finding a way to use mana that we didn't even consider having a choice."
"That's fair. After all, before Terry's success, we didn't know for certain that such a transformation was possible in the first place. It's the nature of true research."
"It's challenging," Ryan admitted.
"It is," I replied. "Research is not a path for everyone. Either way, with the disaster of the beast horde finally solved, we have some free time until the next disaster. It should be enough for you to think."
"Speaking of having time, where are we going to go?" Jennifer asked.
"You have two options. You can go outside and join the new settlement, or move back to the third floor," I said.
"Which one do you recommend, professor?" Rebecca asked.
"I think that, despite everything, the third floor is safer," I replied. "Outside, you'll make a good target for any enemy that wants to hurt me."
"Third floor, it is," Soren cut in, sharp even as he threw a subtle worried glance my way, no doubt afraid that his determination would alert me to his secrets. I acted unaware of it, busying myself to open a portal. Five of them left, leaving only Terry and Rebecca behind.
"Now, we have another class change to induce, before the real work begins."