In Yggdrasill Professions there were 19 total professions one could learn;
Each of these professions carried with it a level from 1-10;
Level 0-1 Novice
Level 2-4 Competent
Level 5-8 Experienced
Level 9-10 Master
The skills were leveled up through repetitive action of the profession itself crafting, or collecting as necessary, starting from 1 your proficiency would rise until you reached 100 at which point your profession would level up, then once leveled up you'd unlock the ability to work with higher level ingredients, or materials.
Level 1 cooking for example would be good enough to make, pancakes or scrambled eggs, but you'd need to be at least level 5 if you wanted to try making a Soufflé, and to make a Crème Brule you'd need to be 9-10.
From what Raisa had told me yesterday however the general knowledge of this world says being a master occurs when you're level 5 so does that mean they don't know real quality of professions or is their growth potential twice as fast as my own?
[Well let's see from what I recall of the professions from Yggdrasill my choices are going to fairly limited at first, so I should probably start with acquiring Herbalism, Alchemy, Inscription, Cooking, and Skinning these should be fairly simple to acquire once we reach town and I re-signup to the guild since all the G rank request back in the kingdom were for herb collecting, and even then if I'm in the forest some small animals or monsters should be simple enough to acquire skinning, and from there I can work on building up Inscription, Tailoring, and Leatherworking in town]
The rest of the journey proceeded normally; the handful of carts we passed on the road bore simple shocked expressions upon passing by having seen a large fox like creature comfortably napping next to Raisa.
As we came over the final crest, a new sight came into view spanning in front of me was a large walled city, the walls were grey stone at least 15ft in height encircling the city, further in a second ring wall could be seen almost twice as large as the outer wall.
The front gate in front of us had queue of carts, and people waiting their turn to enter the city.
Green and white flags hung down from the gatehouse walls fluttering in the breeze.
"Ah"
Raising her hands in a large stretch letting out a satisfying sigh
"It's been so long since I last was home, the city hasn't changed one bit"
"Oh right you mentioned you were from Bobel, how long has it been since you were last back?"
"Hmm would be right around 6 years now I believe"
"Six years…"
My voice trailed off.
[I know there are no cars, trains, or planes here but still to think she's been travelling for 6 years without ever going home]
"Oh don't make a face like that, I'm a merchant remember its customary for merchant children to go out and see the world for the first 10 years once they come of age that way we can gain experience, identify regions with goods, who needs what, and establish our own connections since the ones who work with our parents might chose to stop working with the company once a new head is decided"
"At what age are you, of age here?"
"Well for Joquet that would be 14, but our philosophy is based on achievements right so the ruling class think the start earlier on this path can produce even greater returns"
[14 huh, and she's been gone for 6 so that means she's at least 20 years old right now]
"When are you of age in your world?"
"On earth? Well that kind of depends really there are different levels I'd say, in general you're an adult at 18, but some countries won't let you gamble or drink until even later than that"
"Wha! You're not allowed to drink until your over 18!!"
"Well yeah, I mean we found that alcohol can reduce ones mental growth, and cause other harm until one if finished growing which doesn't happen till about 17-18"
"Oh I see, that's a strange custom but your world certainly is more advanced than us, from what you've told me your goods and things are on the level of the Ancient Civilization here"
"You mentioned it briefly before but what is this Ancient Civilization?"
"They were an empire that spanned the entire world, prosperity for the races and life had never been easier or at least that's what we've interpreted from the ruins, and artifacts that are found. Course the artifacts themselves are on a level we cannot hope to reproduce so copies are made of a much much lesser quality but every few years another artifact is found and new methods produced to increase the efficiency of the copies"
[Artifacts found in ruins from what she's said so far it sounds like she's talking about everyday things, like a fridge or stove rather than weapons]
"If you're interested you could scour the land for ruins, quite a few have been found in Joquet but since their of Ancient Civilization era, there are countless traps, hidden passages, hidden doors, and guardians."
"Maybe some other time haha first I need to get my bearing in Bobel, before I consider anything as grand as archeology"
She tilted her head a little in response before agreeing.
"So what do you think you'll do when we're in the city? Got a job in mind for yourself Satou?"
"Well I'm thinking at the very least I'll register with the guild here and take some odd jobs, then see about making some potions for myself…"
"Potions! You're an alchemist Satou?"
"Uh well not a full blown one but I know a thing or two, so I'll expand my knowledge as much as I can, at least in the meantime I can sell the monster materials I collected along my trip, and then there's the goods from that bandit cave I told you about as well. Oh and then there's the monsters we fought just last night though I need to find someone in the city whose tight lipped and capable of butchering them for me"
"Ah yes right, well if you're willing to continue working alongside me I'd be happy to sell the bandit goods for you, along with introduce you to my families butcher who can deal with monster's you bring and thanks to our contract with him he cannot reveal a thing about you"
"Sounds like a mighty generous offer but what's in it for you?"
"Well I don't know exactly the scale but it's plain to see you and your summons saved my life last night, so I feel I owe you, that and I'm sure you're fine with 5% of the sold value being the merchant fee that goes to me as your Middlewoman"
"Well… I mean yeah I suppose, but still only 5% seems mighty low to me, I'd feel better myself if you'd accept 15%"
"Bwahaha well I'm not one to oppose someone willing to give money away for free to me, just watch out terms like that I might try and lock in with a contract between us"
"Well that would depend I guess on the type of contract you're talking about really"
"True we can discuss it another time, but it looks like it's our turn finally"
Our cart made its way to the guard house at the gate, being stopped only for a moment by the guards who questioned us about Kurama, and myself.
Raisa covered this quickly by saying I was her apprentice and Kurama a rare pet she picked up on her travels.
The only warning we were given was to get Kurama registered to her Guild plate.
After paying the gate toll we set off into the city, Raisa deftly working her way through the city streets until we came to a large warehouse, she got down telling us to wait and walked inside, shortly after the large door opened and she led the horses and cart inside, before releasing the horses and sending them off to the stable.
Once she returned, she led me over to an empty side of the warehouse.
"Alright this should be more than enough room, bring out all the goods the bandit's had, and I'll sort them for you then sell them for a good price"
Following her request I released the entire folder.
<
"You took all of this from those bandits?! The kingdom truly is a terrible place if a band of bandits like that was able to pillage so much without anyone stopping them"
[Yeah that's only partially true, sure the bandit's stuff is mixed in but all the furs, and other goods i picked up from my drops along the journey i also threw in since it would be an easier way of explaining where i got them from]
"For all I know they had even more this was just what I found from where they held me to where I escaped, I had summons who went and attacked another cavern they were sleeping in so the cave itself may have had multiple store rooms and I only retrieve the base goods that didn't warrant being stored further in"
"Well this is certainly going to take a while to dig through, so I think I should introduce you to the butcher first so we can get everything started for you"