Risen World

Chapter 69: Stats all Filled Out, New People to Meet and More Explanations

Training through meditation had been quite the enlightening process for Joshua. It had already been nearly a year and a half since he started this new training with Ysildea and by now he had completely maxed out all of his stats at this point and was completely focused on strengthening his connection with his aura. It was a long and slow process at first sense each time he meditated he could only slowly try to bring out more and more of his aura. Until he was sure it was all unlocked and able to cycle and flow through his body smoothly he wouldn't try to gain the aura user job. That's why even though a month had already passed since he maxed out on stats for his level he still focused on his meditation.

During that time one major event happened for his family and that was the fact that his little sister had come of age and left to go explore the world. Of course his father had made sure she was completely prepared and took things seriously while Joshua got her a place in Laura's guild so that she would have some support to get her started. Laura was extremely happy to except her knowing full well that anyone related to Joshua could definitely handle themselves in a fight. It didn't take long for Laura to take her under her own wing and help her learn the ends and outs of how things worked.

Now that even his own sister was out their fighting Joshua had to constantly calm himself down every now in then since he knew in the long run completing his training would be the best thing for him to do. Throughout his meditation he would swing his large scale blade in a simple overhead swing with his eyes closed. At first he thought he had to sit cross legged and keep a serene pose to meditate properly, but after Ysildea had proved him wrong by easily doing so while sipping away at her tea or playing an instrument Joshua started to train his body with simple exercises to maintain the state of serenity. The environment around him helped and each time he went through the process he could feel his aura start to cycle through his body more and more smoothly. Whenever the aura built up inside him he could always feel a new strength fill him. It was a pleasant feeling that proved he was on the right track.

Another thing he noticed was the fact that every time he went through the process he could feel a connection with his soul beast that seemed to strengthen. He could tell it was still sleeping comfortably with the occasional snores and slow breathing he could hear whenever he was connected to it, but he could also feel a certain pulse emitting from it whenever he concentrated enough. These pulses only grew stronger the further along he got in his meditation and by now he could tell that the little Fenrir would be waking up soon.

Joshua continued to hack away at the air and feel the aura flow through him when something seemed to just click and all of his aura started to cycle through his body at a faster pace. Joshua was surprised for a moment and dropped the heavy sword causing the ground in front of him to crack a bit. He opened his eyes and looked over his body to see any difference and was surprised to see a faint blue glow surround him. It wasn't nearly as big or powerful as Ysildea, but it was still there and he was able to maintain it without even concentrating. It was a little draining to keep up though so he took a deep breath and allowed the aura to settle down, soon his body was back to normal although a bit more tired than usual. "It seems you've met all the requirements." A voice said causing Joshua to turn around to see who it was.

Nearby at the edge of the forest Joshua could see four people come into his small clearing. Two of them he knew, one of them being Thoren and the other being Ysildea. The two following them he wasn't able to recognize. One was a short women that stood a little lower than Thoren and had long braided brown hair with slightly larger ears that were similar to Thorens. She had a pleasant smile on her face as she looked towards Joshua and seemed to be more in line with Ysildea's personality even if she looked like Thoren. The other person was a tall male elf that was just about the same height as Joshua, but far lankier. He had looks that would probably make even Adrian a bit jealous and kept up a calm facade. He had long blond hair similar to Ysildea, but his was straighter and kept in a ponytail as it fell down his back.

"You've gained complete control over your aura kid, now you can go ahead and gain the job of aura user at the job center at any time." Thoren said with a smile after the group walked over. "I knew training you would be worth it. You've done things far faster than any of us expected."

"Oh please, you act like you've trained him personally. His efforts have been what's gotten him this far and if anything Marlow and I did most of the training." Ysildea said with a smirk as she looked at the short old dwarf.

"Please, if I hadn't been over this planet we never would have uncovered this treasure in the first place. I deserve a claim to his teachings just from that alone. Besides just as you said he did most of the training on his own, so you've got no reason to be acting so smug." Thoren replied while glaring back at his apparent rival. The two of them went into a long tirade that caught Joshua a bit off guard. He stepped away from the arguing old pair and turned his attention to the other two who had arrived with them.

"I'm sorry for how those two are acting Joshua. They always get like that whenever they're around each other. It's been like that since as long as I can remember." The short dwarven woman said with a smile before bowing her head a bit. "I'm Thalia and that old bearded fool is my grandfather." She said while pointing in his direction.

"Nice to meet you Thalia. Don't worry about those two I've gotten use to their constant bickering at this point." Joshua said with a smile before turning towards the other man that stood beside her.

"It is nice to meet you Joshua, my grandmother has told me a lot about you as well. It is impressive to see you complete your training in aura so quickly." The man said with a face that showed little emotion even with the praise. "I go by the name Faelar Thevaris and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"It's nice to meet you as well." Joshua said after the two of them shook hands. Faelar looked at him a bit confused at first when Joshua offered his hand, but eventually understood the gesture. "So not to put you guys out or anything, but is there any particular reason why you guys are here?"

"Well grandmother and Thoren are here to explain a few things going forward, but we came to introduce ourselves." Faelar said replied.

"Yes, now that your training is coming to an end Grandfather and Mrs. Thevaris are going to be heading back home to take care of their post as patriarch and matriarch of their people. They've already spent enough time goofing off as it is, especially grandfather." Thalia said as she seemed to glare at Thoren a bit before sighing. "We will be the ones in charge of connections between your people and ours for the foreseeable future."

"I see, that's good to know." Joshua said before turning to look at the old couple who had finally wined down on the arguments and were now looking a bit embarrassed for doing such things.

"Well it's good that you've finished your training kid. Now all you have to do is wait for your soul beast to fully wake up before you can get started on your journey." Thoren said as he scratched his beard a bit. "I suggest you go get your job tomorrow so you can get use to its abilities while you wait for your soul beast to awaken."

"Is there anything else I should know before you two head out? I don't want to hold you up if your people need you back home." Joshua said a little concerned.

"You don't have to worry about that Joshua." Ysildea said with a smile. "This was a good chance to let our children try their hands at handling our affairs. Well at least in my case, Thoren might actually just be slacking off."

Thoren simply snorted before turning his attention back towards Joshua. "You don't have to worry about us kid, but there are two things I want to tell you before leaving. First off it's about jobs in general. All jobs not only can give certain abilities to a person, but also effect the stats of them as well. A good example would be berserker. It gives a stats boost in both vitality and strength in a large amount while only slightly boosting your dexterity while not boosting your intelligence or wisdom at all. Will is also slightly boosted, but you should get my point. Each job gives different stats boost and that will remain the same even when your job upgrades to the next tier."

"Do you have any idea what type of stats boost aura user will give me?" Joshua asked.

"Not a clue. The only known aura user never put out the stats configuration the job gave him sense it was such a rare one to have. There are some jobs out there that are like that, but considering how powerful that man was I wouldn't be too worried about it." Thoren said with a smile.

"The other thing you should recognize when getting a job is that the full potential you gain through levels will change as well." Ysildea said gaining Joshua's attention. "If the job were to make your strength go up by four with each level up instead of one then the full potential you can gain from that level will be forty instead of ten."

Joshua's eyes widened a bit at that comment, but soon he smiled thinking of how much stronger he would become after gaining a job. "I'm guessing for the first ten levels it is the same for everyone, but afterwards your job makes the difference right?"

"Yep, so make sure to keep up your training even after you start to go exploring. Stay and tip top shape kid." Thoren said before he became a bit more serious once again. "Now the other thing I wanted to tell you before leaving is about how the second phase will pan out in the end. For the first ten years things will remain the way you see them now. You human's will be left alone to explore your own world and slowly build up your strength. In fact the system will even help you out with tournaments and other things to assign a ranking of strength for your people going forward. This will take into account the challenges you face while out adventuring your home planet and also how well you fight in the fighting arena. Usually it takes about five years from the start of the phase for the fighting arena to open up. That will be your best bet to catch up in rankings with everyone else."

"I'm guessing that there is a particular reason for these rankings then?" Joshua asked with a furrowed brow.

"Yep, in ten years the inhabitants of your world will be put up against other newly emerging worlds to fight for superiority. I can't tell you any more than that or else the system might put its foot down, but just know that it is in your best interest to come out on top. Otherwise there will be consequences that you won't like Joshua." Thoren said with a frown. All of the others also looked a bit down at something they all knew that Joshua wasn't privy too.

Joshua took a deep breath before smiling back towards them. "Well I guess I've got a lot of catching up to do then."