These five, including Eren, were always together.
They were neither toppers nor bottom feeders of the class.
They stood somewhere in the middle, the kind of students teachers usually forgot after graduation.
"Guys, it's okay… I know him…" Dorian said, trying to assure everyone.
Hearing that, Eren snapped, "Hey! Why are you guys treating me like a jerk?! I was really happy about his job awakening!"
Eren looked at the four of them as if he were about to fight them all.
"What's wrong with lifestyle jobs? Those jobs and their skills are cool! Once Dorian reaches Tier 2, earning a million Alliance Coins per month wouldn't be hard. Come on, guys…"
A collective sigh escaped from the four of them.
Dorian spoke first.
"Listen, Eren. You're right, once I reach Tier 2 as a farmer, I might become rich like you say. But do you think it's easy for a lifestyle job holder to reach Level 10 in a short time?"
Eren immediately shook his head.
"Right. It's very hard for us. We need to cultivate crops again and again. To gain more Life Essence, we must harvest plants with long maturity periods. Rich people can use elixirs and potions to accelerate growth, but for poor people like us… it's a very difficult profession."
He continued,
"I need to buy or rent a field, purchase seeds and fertilizer, arrange a water supply, and set up protective barriers around the field to prevent flying-type monsters from attacking. There's a lot of work, and it requires a lot of investment."
Dorian placed his hand on Eren's shoulder with a serious look as he added,
"But combat-type professions aren't like that. They grow much faster compared to other types. They clear dungeons, kill monsters, level up quickly, and earn huge sums of money in no time."
Another long sigh escaped from the group as Dorian finished speaking.
Eren looked at them strangely.
He still couldn't fully understand their mindset.
He was originally from another world, where having a job wouldn't drastically change one's life.
Only by continuously improving valuable skills could someone earn enough money to become rich.
To Eren, spending time honing skills for long-term growth made far more sense than sudden advancement while risking one's life.
But he didn't voice his thoughts.
He remained silent, watching his friends.
He truly cared about these four.
Not only were they good people, they were supportive of one another.
Right now, Dorian looked sad, while the others seemed nervous.
Eren knew he shouldn't speak during such a heavy moment, but he couldn't suppress his curiosity.
With hesitation, he asked, "Dorian… I know you're sad, but can I see your status panel?"
Dorian gave him a deadpan look before extending his arm dejectedly.
A translucent panel appeared above his palm.
[Dorian Hale]
Job: Beginner Farmer
Tier: I
Level: 1 (0.00%)
Type: Lifestyle Profession
Strength: 1.0
Agility: 1.0
Spirit: 1.0
Constitution: 1.0
Skills:
Soil Sense (Passive) – Level 1
Minor Growth Acceleration (Passive) – Level 1
Seed Vitalization (Active) – Level 1
[Soil Sense: Allows the user to perceive soil quality, moisture levels, nutrient density, and hidden spiritual energy in the land.]
[Minor Growth Acceleration: Advances crop growth rate by 5%.]
[Seed Vitalization: Increases the chance of higher-quality produce by 10%. Cost: 0.3 Spirit points per seed.]
All of Dorian's attributes were fixed at 1.
He had also gained three skills upon awakening, one active skill and two passive skills.
Everything about the system looked exactly like the games Eren had played in his previous life.
It only made him more excited to step onto the stage.
As time passed, students began going up one by one as their names were called.
"Tristan Vale!"
Tristan Vale jogged hurriedly into the magic circle after his name was called.
Once again, a burst of brilliant light erupted.
But unlike before, this time the light was far brighter, spreading across the entire stage.
A faint humming sound echoed through the air.
Someone trembled with excitement.
"Hey, look! A rare phenomenon is happening!"
"Who is that student?!"
"Which class is he from?!"
"Did he really awaken a rare job?!"
The students' voices erupted like a wave.
All eyes were fixed on the boy standing on the stage.
[Lifestyle Profession: Spirit Herbalist]
Headmaster Lucien grinned widely upon seeing the result and quickly stepped forward.
"Spirit Herbalist! He really awakened a rare lifestyle profession!"
The four students standing around Eren looked at Tristan with intense admiration.
Eren simply shook his head at their reaction.
He understood why they admired the boy.
After all, awakening a rare-grade profession was like a one-in-a-thousand chance.
Even if it was a lifestyle job, it would possess job-specific skills that were on a completely different level compared to others of the same tier.
The grades of jobs were divided into eight stages.
From lowest to highest, they were:
Common, Uncommon, Rare, Elite, Unique, Epic, Legendary, and Mythic.
The Beginner Farmer job that Dorian had awakened was of Common grade, the grade most students would typically receive.
Only a very small number would awaken Uncommon or higher-grade professions.
The higher the grade, the stronger the profession.
However, to Eren, Dorian's Common-grade job did not look much worse than the Spirit Herbalist.
He believed that true potential lay within the person, not the job they awakened.
Headmaster Lucien showered Tristan Vale with praise.
But the awakening process did not stop.
"Julian Emberford!"
"Clara Windell!"
"Serena Goldmere!"
One by one, students stepped into the magic circle.
Most awakened lifestyle professions, while some obtained support-type professions. Only a few managed to awaken combat-related jobs.
"Rowan Valcrest!"
Eren's friend Rowan was called next.
After giving one last look at everyone, Rowan stepped into the circle.
[Lifestyle Profession: Apprentice Alchemist]
He, too, had awakened a lifestyle profession.
The same scenario repeated.
Rowan looked visibly dejected as he stepped down from the stage.
"Kael Draven!"
Kael's name was called after while, and he entered the magic circle.
[Lifestyle Profession: Apprentice Blacksmith]
After a while, Lyra's name was also called.
"Lyra Ashford!"
[Lifestyle Profession: Beginner Cook]
Despite the gloomy atmosphere, Eren took a look at everyone's status panels.
Each of them had two passive skills and one active skill related to their profession.
Actually, those weren't bad at all.
"Hey guys, cheer up! It's not over yet. Everyone has a chance to increase their profession grade, upon Tier Up… Did you forget that?"
Tier Up was a process one would eventually undergo after reaching Level 10.
Upon reaching Level 10, a person needed to go through a Tier Up ceremony, similar to this awakening ceremony.
However, unlike awakening, everyone had a chance to upgrade their job grade during Tier Up, depending on how much they had improved their skill levels and achievement.
There were many people who had awakened lower-grade jobs but later increased their job grade to a higher tier simply by honing their skill levels to the maximum before breaking through the level bottleneck.
Everyone knew this.
But doing so required even more effort than simply rushing to Level 10.
For example, if a Common-grade job required 2,700 Life Essence to reach Level 10, then maxing out just one passive skill could require more than 3,500 Life Essence.
Active skills required even more Life Essence to upgrade.
Even though the four of them knew very well how difficult that path was, seeing Eren trying his best to cheer them up made them smile.
The mood lightened a little.
"Yeah, guys… he's right," Kael said.
"What's done is done. There's no redoing it now."
"All of us in our group got Common-grade lifestyle jobs… Only you are left…"
Rowan put his arm over Eren's shoulder and asked,
"What profession do you want to awaken the most?"