As he began to walk back to his main workbench, with Callum in tow, James felt a tug on the back of his blazer.

He turned and saw Dana with an embarrassed expression, blushing slightly.

"Uh, what's up?" James was more than a little confused instead of saying anything, she just ushered his head closer to hers and whispered "bathroom" so quietly he could hardly hear her.

Despite what the message meant, the way it was sent almost made him reach down and cuddle her, but his logical mind overrode his decidedly stupid one and he put some thought to the matter.

"Count me in!"

May yelled from the worktables she hadn't moved from and was instead lying down on it with one of her hands up.

James gave her a grim look, knowing exactly what she thought was going on.

"It not what you think. And even If it was, no."

"Oh, you're not going to find a bathroom that's safe? Because I really need to go then."

May shot him a grin that almost made him throw something at her, but he just darkened his expression more.

"Fine. There's one just two doors down for the teachers. The door is usually locked, and if the storage room is any indication, these lizards can't open locked doors."

Dana looked relieved and ran over to the workbench, picking up the four finished spears, and running back over to Callum and James.

"Let's go then. Shouldn't be too hard with the spears. Everyone got full health and mana?"

"Wait."

James spoke with such finality that even May stopped from getting up.

"What about these two?"

If Annie and Dom were left in the room with no protection, even if they would be able to see something go into the room from outside the bathroom, they probably wouldn't be able to stop it in time.

There was a moment of silence before Callum spoke up with his idea that James presumed would be impractical and border on creepy.

"I'll go with the girls to the toilet, and stand guard, James can stay and guard the others."

James saw several holes in the plan that he didn't like and suggested a compromise.

"Fine, but I'll be standing in the doorway so that we can communicate."

Callum seemed crestfallen at the idea of being monitored, but kicking up a fuss would just draw attention to him, so he let it go.

All geared up, holding their spears, the three to be leaving the classroom looked nervously at each other. The prospect of leaving the room, knowing fully what was crawling around out there, was not appealing in the slightest.

But James expected Callum to put on a brave face to try and impress May. He was brutally disappointed.

Callum looked like he was going to crap himself. James sighed inwardly and gave him a small push towards the door. Callum took it in his stride and kept walking, clutching his spear closer in one hand, and the teachers keys in the other. James was proud that he had found the keys. He had fully expected the keys to be on the teacher they belonged to, and probably in a pile of death somewhere, but James tried not to think of that.

The girls on either side of Callum weren't acting the same way as him at all. Dana looked more impatient to leave than the nervousness she held earlier, and May just looked a little bored at this point, and swung the spear freely In one hand, with a bottle of her Molotov concoction in the other.

Watching them leave through the door and walk towards the toilets, James stood guard at the doorway and scanned his surroundings.

There were no lizards in sight, not even any of the small screaming lizards.

Bored already, James checked his status screen and was surprised to see that the occupation section of his status was different and that some of his skills had levelled.

Status

James Lander (M)

Age: 18

Class: -

Occupation: (calculating multi-occupational selection and efficiency [35.4%])

------------

Health: 58/58 (0.4)

Mana: 62/62

Stamina: 17/17

------------

Strength: 8 (+)

Agility: 10 (+)

Speed: 8 (+)

Endurance: 9 (+)

Vitality: 10 (+)

Intelligence: 12 (+)

Wisdom: 16 (+)

Luck: 0 (*)

Unspent stat points: (1)

Equipped items: (+)

Skills:

• Basic fitness [2] (D)

• Magic resistance [2] (D)

• Faith (D)

• Running strike [1] ©

• Nursing ©

Features:

• Jack of all trades (D)

• Ultimate chance (A)

Spells:

• Mana force (E)

• Divine contract (Lucifer)

His new skills were there too, but like Annie had earlier, he saw no mention of where the xp from his fight had gone. He could only guess that if he had an occupation or a class, then the xp would go into either of them.

But he had no idea about how to get class. Well. He had some idea. There was a chance that he could request it like an occupation, but he only had experience using the crappy club, a bow from archery classes he did when he was younger, and maybe a knife. Because who didn't know how to use a knife?

But none of them were things he wanted to do. A club likely required all of his stats to go into strength, and similarly, a knife would require speed or agility. He had no idea what stat archery would require, but he knew he didn't want to do that.

So he just resolved to find a weapon he liked, and learn how to use it before choosing a class for it.

For now, though, he had to focus on surviving the day and making sure the others did too.

James spent the next several minutes practising thrusts and swings with his spear, glancing down the hall every few seconds to check for incoming lizards, or checking up on the bathroom squad.

Thankfully their expedition was executed without issue, and a quick exchange with Callum ensured James' safety while he did his own business.

As Callum and James walked back through the doorway and reassembled the barricade, Annie was just coming to. Her bleary-eyed expression was quickly replaced by irritation as she noticed the floor she was on, which was replaced by major irritation when she felt what James assumed were some horrible muscle cramps, which was replaced by downright rage when she saw James.

"What the shit Lander?"

Her dark tone sent a shiver down his spine, and he got immediately nervous.

"Huh, what did he do? I thought he saved you?"

As usual, Callums lack of ability to read the mood was surprising, but it at least saved James from an awkward explanation.

"Well..."

Annie began while standing and fiddling with the knots on her bandages.

"I've just finished killing that asshole."

While pointing at the still carcass of the Komodo lizard.

"And I'm bleeding heavily, maybe five minutes before I bleed out, so instead of helping bandage me, that dickwad," she said as her accusatory finger swung to point at James.

"Decides to pour liquid fire over my arm, almost killing me. So I repeat, what the shit Lander?"

Tired of being accused, as Callum was looking distinctly more pissed, and aiming it at James. Even May had gotten up from what appeared to be a makeshift nest of aprons and cloth at hearing this.

"You know what? I saved your life. Do you even know why Komodo dragons are so dangerous? Their spit. Their goddamn spit! If that thing bit you and it was left untreated, I can guarantee you would have died!"

James paused to catch his breath. Annie didn't look as angry as she had before and Callum just looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

Annie asked incredulously. She was obviously thinking this over, and James was glad to see that she would accept it if he properly explained why he did what he did. Ha calmed himself forcefully and continued with an even tone. The last thing he wanted to do was aggravate the situation more.

"In the wild, before the change, Komodo dragons hunted by biting their prey once, then following it as it slowly died due to the bio-toxins in its spit. It couldn't have been more than half a minute since it bit you, so I figured cleaning the wound would get rid of the worst of it. You don't have some sort of delayed poison status effect on you, so I can only assume it worked. I'm... I'm sorry I had to do that, but time was short."

Satisfied with his answer, Annie turned away from him, and tore off the last of the bloodstained bandages, revealing soft, unblemished skin underneath.

Annie made a soft sound of surprise, then whispered status to herself.

"I got a mentality skill for that. Levelled it too. It just helps me resist mental effects. Not a great help at this level though. Oh shit. I got an achievement: cold-blooded. It doesn't do anything, but I got it for... finishing a cold-blooded monster over ten levels higher than me. Awesome."

James' relieved mood instantly darkened at the lack of achievement for his participation In killing the evolved monster. But Annie's voice drew him back to reality.

" So. Uh... what's with the holes in the floor."

"I was going to ask too, but assumed James and Dana got freaky while they were waiting."

Callums almost bored statement earned him a disbelieving glare from James and an equally disbelieving, though slightly more embarrassed, one from Dana.

May just flashed a grin at the room, and James decided it best to ignore them. And just explain.

"There's a rare monster down there. A big pink slimeball by the looks of it. Dana was working on breaking through there."

Dom suddenly sat up from his unconscious bundle and looked towards the group with a shocked expression.

"Slime girls? Who said what about slime girls?"

James was tempted to get Callum to knock him out again before he realised Dom's eyes were still shut.

Noticing the others had seen his lack of vision too, he motioned for them to stay silent, and just observed Dom. But Dom wasn't performing anymore, and his body went limp.

"Nightmare?"

James projected to the room. The entire thing had freaked him out, and he hoped those closer to him might have some insight.

Callum was the first to answer with his ever-present wisdom and a smirk.

"More like a wet dream. If you don't know what slime girls are, you're missing out."

Deciding instantly to drop the subject, James turned to May with an idea.

"Can you just incinerate it from up here with your fire?"

May seemed to mull this over and actually got up from her pile to see what they were dealing with. After a moment of analysis, she gave a slow explanation of her plan as if she was still coming up with the finer details.

"I could just pour fire on It, but I'm worried it will jump up to us and squeeze through the holes. It is a rare monster after all."

James was wholly unsatisfied with this plan. It wasn't even a plan, just a blatant rejection of his. Apparently, though, May was still thinking and described a plan that was beyond James.

"Slime is mostly water, right? So if I pour some of the alcohol over it, it should absorb it, making its outside surface more flammable. Then I throw some TNT solution down there and see what happens."

She grinned at the group and James saw a glint of manic excitement in her eyes. Though he didn't like it in theory, May knew way more about chemistry and Slime, so she would be the best person to try and kill it.

May didn't even wait for anyone to agree with her plan before she pulled out four of her glass tubes filled with the alcohol, pulled out the stoppers, and poured them through the largest hole, all over the slime.

The monster in question didn't seem to react to the alcohol being poured over it, but it didn't seem to be absorbing any of it either. May also saw this and punched the ground in frustration.

"Of course, pink slime is the rubbery ones!"

James had no idea what that meant but guessed it meant that her plan wasn't going to work, and she may have just wasted four of her precious product.

May was reacting badly to this, and picked up the glass flask that was almost full of solution and screamed: "ENHANCE!" At it before throwing it at the slime as hard as she could.

Unfortunately, the slime was very rubbery, and the flask rebounded off the slime at an angle, maintaining its speed.

The flask hit the wall and exploded on contact. The heat produced by the initial blast was enough to ignite the alcohol scattered around the room and spreading fire across the small room. A blast of heat rushed up through the holes, knocking back May. She wasn't injured though, just dazed for a few seconds.

James had backed away as soon as he saw her throw the glass and was glad that he had pulled Dana away too.

Once the sound of rushing air and fire had passed, rapid squelching sounds and a high pitched squealing emerged from the holes. James crept over on his hands and knees while indicating the others should stay back. Callum ignored him, and copied his motions, crawling to one of the smaller holes, a grimace plastered across his face. At least the girls stayed back. Dom chose this moment to wake up and sat up quickly just to see a ball of fire push itself up through the holes, dripping flames across the floor. Dom's bleary eyes widened and his mouth opened in a noiseless scream as fire filled his vision. Callum was too close to the hole, and jumped back, narrowly avoiding losing his eyebrows.

The screeching was louder. Much louder. James fought off a headache as he scrambled back, grabbing Dana by the arm and pulling her back to the forge. He grabbed the fireproof aprons and gloves next to the unlit forge and threw them to Dana.

Adrenaline filled James' body and brain, plans flashed in his mind eye, constantly being rejected and improved.

"May! Throw me a TNT!"

Her neutral expression remained, though she instantly carried out his order and threw a flask to him before throwing another one directly at the flaming slime.

Another rush of fire and heat bloomed from the slime, earning May a large damage counter to add to it's burning damage.

-157hp

-5hp

-5hp

-5hp

-6hp

The damage being done by the fire was increasing, and it took damage every second. But while it was still alive, it could still hurt everyone. Several desks and workbenches were on fire from being in contact with it, and James prayed there was a fire extinguisher somewhere. But he didn't have time to look for one and proceeded with his plan.

Pulling his spear from his workbench, he tore the stopper from the flask with his teeth, a bitter taste filling his mouth, and poured the contents of the flask into the hollow shaft of the spear before handing it to Dana.

"Squeeze it... about here, use your mana infusion thing."

Dana grabbed the spear through her thick gloves and effortlessly closed off the inside of the spear, heavily warping it in the process.

Realising her mistake, she somewhat sheepishly took the spear and straightened it as best she could.

James grabbed the spear that was now loaded with a hopefully explosive payload and turned back to the flaming slime that saw him as a threat and started to roll towards him.

"Everyone! Get behind something!"

Dom, who was still sitting on the floor, hadn't moved, so Dana practically threw him behind James' spare workbench and pushed it over to shield them both. The other three did similar things, with Annie leaving the room altogether.

James hesitated here, as he was directly in the splash zone, but he had come this far and had no time to think of another plan.

Lining up his throw, James coiled up his body to jump behind the same workbench as Dana and Dom then threw.

James threw the spear as hard as he could and prayed that this would work.

As he jumped back over his barricade, he saw messages.

[ALL OUT]

Faith action: 4% success chance increase

James had no time to be confused at the meaning of the faith bonus, as he landed heavily on the floor at the same time as the spear exploded.

A muffled boom emanated from behind the wooden workbench, and chunks of flaming goo flew over his head, landing on the wall, before immediately evaporating away.

The heat from all the fire dispersed almost immediately, and James found several burns on his hands and arms. They didn't hurt, but that was likely due to the adrenaline in his system. He hadn't even noticed the damage counter and the status effects.

Health: 53/58

Status effect: burnt(5)

Burnt (status effect):

Damage dealt by fire leaves behind wounds that heal slower. Burnt damage will heal five times slower than regular.

While this wasn't much damage at all, James didn't want to deal with the pain of burnt hands for almost an hour, so he decided to make good use of his nursing skill and heal himself... later though. The still flaming, albeit much smaller, pile of goop on the floor was more pressing.

The damage being done by the fire was down to one hp lost every few seconds. At least it seemed too weak to move.

"Go get Annie, I'll finish this."

James spoke to the room but intended for either Callum or May to do it. Dana joined him from behind the barricade, still wearing her fireproof aprons and gloves. She stood next to him for a moment, let out a deep breath, then panicked when she saw the still burning tables. James was reminded of this too and looked around for a fire extinguisher.

Apparently, Callum had grabbed one as soon as May suggested burning the slime.

He ran around the room putting out all of the rogue fires but hesitated as he approached the slime. James was looking closely at it, and Callum didn't want to remove what might have been the only thing suppressing it.

"Do it."

James spoke softly after analysing the situation. The other four were behind his workbench, which had suffered nothing more than a few scorch marks.

They would be able to handle the much smaller slime, which maybe had the volume of a football. A slowly burning football.

Callum sprayed the slime with powder from his extinguisher and managed to blow away more of its mass while coating the rest of it.

The squeal that had been emerging from the slime for some time stopped and the pink monster in question absorbed the powder, earning itself some health and a little growth.

+5hp

James almost laughed at how pathetic it was. This 'rare' monster had no chance against his team of survivors, and they would only grow stronger at its death.

The slime began to roll towards him, slow and sluggish. But this just made James angry, so he kicked it as hard as he could.

[ALL OUT]

-26hp (critical hit)

James' foot went clean through the slime, coating his leg in gel, but also coating a strip of the room in front of him.

Smoke rose from the areas coated by this slime, and the floor was visibly being eaten away. Having a bad feeling about it, James looked down, and sure enough, thin tendrils of smoke rose from his foot. He hurriedly kicked off the shoe, but the gel clung to the fabric of his trousers around his ankle, so he tore off the leg just below his knee, earning himself a few chemical burns on his hand and leg and 3 less hp. Strangely though, it added onto the burnt damage in his status, adding on another 30 minutes of a dull aching pain.

Rare monster killed

Damage dealt: 869

Exp earnt: 1856

The pain seemed to diminish slightly as he saw his massive exp gains, and was dulled further when he saw what was lying, half submerged in the sorry remains of the slime. Two spheres, one shining gold, and another silver, as well as a small pile of silver disks with a strange seal, stamped on both sides.

There was also a handful of small green crystals, each about the size of James' pinkie nail, but instead of reaching for any of the items, he reminded himself of the acidic property of the goo and held back. In the meantime, he probably had to deal with the hidden room below them which was still engulfed in flame. But as he struggled to look through one of the holes, smoke pouring into his eyes, he noticed the heat was much less than it had been earlier, and he saw the small room below them was closing in on itself, shrinking.

Before long, there was no sign of the room at all, besides the clouds of smoke that hung thickly near the high ceiling.

Thank God the fire alarms are on the main circuit, James savoured the small mercy. The last thing he wanted to do was defend against a horde of monsters with his... 14 stamina!?

Annoyed that he would have to wait before analysing any of the items received from the slime, he occupied himself with using his last battery to turn on the extractor fan, beginning to clear the room of smoke.

"Everyone ok?"

He turned and asked the room, focusing on the group still standing behind the bench. Excluding Callum who had chosen now of all times to start lifting the fire extinguisher in one hand like a dumbbell.

Deciding not to open that particular can of worms, James listened to the long-winded, but mostly positive reports from the survivors.

Tuning them out a little, he quietly opened his status discreetly and was greeted by a message he had been waiting for, for a while.

Status

James Lander (M)

Age: 18

Class: -

Occupation: (calculation complete. Re-request crafters occupation.)

------------

Health: 53/58 (0.4)

Mana: 62/62

Stamina: 17/17

------------

Strength: 8 (+)

Agility: 10 (+)

Speed: 8 (+)

Endurance: 9 (+)

Vitality: 10 (+)

Intelligence: 12 (+)

Wisdom: 16 (+)

Luck: 0 (*)

Unspent stat points: (2)

Equipped items: (+)

Skills:

• Basic fitness [3] (D)

• Magic resistance [2] (D)

• Faith (D)

• Running strike [1] ©

• Nursing ©

Features:

• Jack of all trades (D)

• Ultimate chance (A)

Spells:

• Mana force (E)

• Divine contract (Lucifer)

Intrigued by the vague command, but pleased that levelling Basic fitness had awarded him some stat points, James stood for a moment thinking.

Noticing that the others had stopped talking to him, and started talking to each other, just generally lazing about, he called Dom over for his advice.

"Dom, you know how to build a team in an RPG right?"

"Of course, I've played all kinds of characters. Like Vanguard, ranger, tanking, uh... healer..."

Before he could list any more RPG classics, James interrupted him.

"But what should I do?"

The question was unexpected by Dom, he was taken aback slightly.

"Um, well... since you have the Jack of all trades characteristic, you're probably going to do well in all aspects, but not exceed in any of them. So I guess if you wanted to be more combat based based instead of support, I would suggest making sure you can hit hard and quickly. You can hit hard already, according to Annie, so I guess level your speed and agility when you can."

James listened acutely and had to agree with Dom's logic. He was impressed by Annie's speed that seemed to defy logic.

So he put a point into speed and agility each. Which only left his occupation to deal with.

"Any advice on an occupation called creator?"

"I'm not going to lie. That sounds OP. Stands for overpowered."

"Fine. Can I be a creator please?"

Request acknowledged

Allocating creators occupation:

Subsets allocated:

• Forger

• Armourer

• Blacksmith

• Bladesmith

• Artificier

• Jeweller

• Fletcher

• Leatherworker

Concurrent title: Master Crafter

Occupation acquired: Master Crafter

Occupational stats acquired:

STR +5

AGI +6

SPE +4

END +8

VIT +3

WIS +2

INT +2

LCK +0

James was stunned at what had happened. Not only had he been given eight different occupations in one, he gained so many stats too. He couldn't wait to see how his status had changed. but before he could even think about opening up his status, he promptly blacked out.