There was an old man in her shop... just... standing there. Sheileen could hardly tell if his eyes were opened or closed. And he was so short she had to look down at him, and she wasn't exactly a giant herself.

  "Can I help you...?"

  "I expected you to eat that man."

  "What?..."

  "Hah! I felt for sure he was never going to return!"

  Sheileen remained silent, she vaguely considered hitting the man with her staff.

  The old man rubbed his chin "Who on earth would open up a store back here? I've been telling scary stories to the children about this place." He laughed like it was funny.

  "So are you saying you've been driving away my customers?" Sheileen asked.

  "What customers? The store's always been closed before." the old man muttered.

  "Either buy something or get out."

  "Hold your horses young miss, I'm just an old man! I have nothing else but to do."

  "So it would seem." Sheileen muttered. Sighing she went over and started stocking one of the full length shelves behind her with lesser health potions. The glass botttles were thick glass that got wider towards the base, and were about the size of a shot glass. The bright red liquid swirled inside.

  "You're an alchemist!" The old man exclaimed. Sheileen shot him a glare.

  "Won't find many customers for that in this town, most bruises and scrapes get patched up with some bandage and an herbal ointment! Not enough people almost dying to warrant that."

  "Then don't buy them."

  "What we need is a way to deal with the boar. Aggressive piggies, causes all sorts of problems."

  "Hunt them?" Sheileen suggested.

  "Bah, how? with a forester and a logging axe?"

  "Use boar spears. what's the dificulty?"

  "Our blacksmith's mostly good for repairs, maybe a dagger or something. I'm not saying he can't do it, but it wouldn't be safe. And we'd still need someone to fight the beasties, can't just give someone a spear and call them a fearless soldier. And these are mutts, they got some roughhide in em'. Not quite monsters, but they're tough."

  Sheileen scattered jewelry in the counters inbuilt display. The old man watched with interest.

  "boars charge, if you get the right spear they'll run themselves through." She commented.

  "Yeah, if you manage not to piss yourself, getting charged by a boar! Still better than nothing. If it becomes profitable enough, and enough blood is shed maybe the company will send down able guard, probably not before people die though."

  "Stock up on health potions."

  "Say miss! You don't happen to *have* spears do you?"

  Sheileen raised an eyebrow. "Do you want them cheaper than the health potions?"

  "Just who are you trying to sell things too!" The old man cleared his throat. "But yes cheaper then-" He peered at the shelf containing the potions. "How much you selling those thing for?"

  "11 silver."

  "11 silver?! That's not half bad, but there's no one in town who can afford that." The old man stroked his chin. "Though I was expecting worse. If you can bring the price of spears down to hundreds and not thousands of mer, then maybe it can be done."

  "I only have a few specialized boar spears. If you can provide the materials, then I suppose I can make them cheaply."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "You a weaponsmith?" The old man asked.

  Sheileen sighed. "...and you've still bought nothing." She complained.

  The scent of venison permeated the backroom of the store. Sheileen stirred the pot nestled in the fire of the hearth. She was technically a high level cook at 413. High enough for this stew to smell better than it had any right to.

  The store was a mess, she was cooking in the living room, with her feet on a rug, and a tanning rack in the corner. Not that any of it gave her trouble. But her cooking pot was made out of myrthil, which was probably obscene. It was a moody room with a bright blue cooking pot in the middle of it. There was a horrible clash between the dark, demony decor and whatever trash Sheileen pulled out of her inventory.

  The stew was done, faster than could be expected, even for a level 400 cook. That much was normal for Sheileen. Just like how mana was used in an active skill like [downward slash] passives also used mana when in use, they didn't use much but to a mage like Sheileen who had a bunch of specializations in mana efficiency and efficacy and more, even passives could be boosted to a certain extent.

  Typically the boosts came from stats, so the higher level a character was the more their passives improved. Sheileen was a bit unique in that she had decent levels in a lot of crafting classes, so her specializations synergized to the point where they actually made an impact on her character.

  She called them *strange interactions* but the developers named the feature *synergistic transforms*. It was a very underutilized part of the game. As a character picked up specializations either through class choices or by meeting the requirements for a spec. It was normal to say, get two specializations that both enhanced mana regen. When progressing far enough down a class path, or picking up two different classes that had some overlap, it could quickly become confusing to manage all the different specialization effects. So for that reason specializations could have *strange interactions* and merge into one.

  For example Sheileen's [unending font] spec was the result of all of her mana regen specializations combining. And in any class that granted mana regen, it just simply referred to her [unending font] spec.

  Classes also had *strange interactions*. As a player chose a spec it would bring them down a certain path. If a smith chose to specialize in weapon crafting they would become a [weaponsmith]. If they chose to pick up a jewelry making spec instead they'd become a [silversmith]. But since specs could be picked up by fulfilling the requirements to obtain them, then a player who picked a jewelry making specialization and then crafted enough weapons or armor to get enough of those respective specs, they could become a [mastersmith].

  Often times players would get some strange combination and post proudly on the forums how they became an [arcanist] instead of an [archmage], or some other strange deviation. These were called warped classes, and often times they were ridiculed. The most common way someone got them was leveling up a class and getting a strange spec choice when it came time to choose, then they'd pick the option and become some niche class. *strange interactions* could affect what options were presented, so if someone was an enchanter and a smith they might get the option of [mana metallurgy] which, if picked, then they would become an [arcanesmith].

  This *sounds* good, but if given the option to become a [silversmith], [weaponsmith], [armorsmith], or [arcanesmith]. The [arcanesmith] was considered the worst option. It didn't give a spec for armor, jewelry, weapons, or anything considered useful. Instead it gave a spec for boosting the magical power of the crafted item. So the player would have to do the arduous job of crafting enough armor, weapons or jewelry to get the specs for crafting those items.

  So oftentimes fools got trapped into a weaker warped class.

  Then in the case of a [mastersmith], or [archmage], while it was technically a warped class, usually the player in question just leveled up their class normally, and then later began to branch out into crafting different types of items, or picking up a second school of magic. Oftentimes all you needed for the class to become warped was to pick up a second type of specialization, so for long term players this was seen as natural. [archmage] was almost like it's own progression of [mage].

  Where Sheileen was different was in that she didn't learn her lesson. She had started out as a [mage] and then picked up [enchanter]. Which was reasonable enough, but then she picked up [leatherworker] and [carpenter] and [alchemist]. It was sort of normal to pick up classes that weren't used much. But then she had allocated points to dexterity, strength, and perception to boost her other crafting classes. And even when she leveled up [mage], she became an [arcanist], a warped class that specialized in spellcraft instead of combat power. She was a mess, but over the years she picked up the much needed combat specs that she hardly ever picked out right, and her character becoming... okay. Not especially powerful, although especially broad in her abilities, and eventually becoming decent in a fight.

  Fundamentally though, she was able to pursue everything she wanted in the game with one character. She could craft what she wanted to craft, she could join a party and not drag them down, and she could go explore without really any restrictions.

  So even if she didn't cook very often, and she wasn't insanely high leveled in the class. Her *special interactions* still gave her a nice boost to cooking the stew.

  And indeed it was ready. She ladled some out into a bowl, and drank some of the steaming hot liquid. Doing a little happy dance as she realized it was good. Then she put the pot of stew into her inventory for leftovers. It was different now that it wasn't a game, her inventory was actually a dimensional pocket space that she created and maintained with her magic, part of the spell was designed to preserve food and perishables. It didn't really matter to her, whether it was the game, or this new world, both were second nature to her.