I should be able to continue with writing the story. This first week of college was wonky, but that was mostly figuring out how to get everywhere I need to be. All I have to worry about now is eating too much because the meal plan includes an all you can eat restaurant. *rawr*

So the train was a train. More armored though as there are ventilation shafts every so often and sometimes monsters get in but a train none the less. I would like to get back on it and leave this frontier town but I don’t have enough for a return trip. This place makes me think I accidentally fell into a fantasy game instead of a science fiction game. At least I know why the person I am looking for can make a living as a blacksmith here. Better ask around to find his place.

--- A while longer than it should have been ---

And there's his place. Finally. Apparently the guy got tipped off about the Mechanic round up in the city and went to his place out near the forest. It took making about the dumbest oath to find his place. I just had to restate my previous oath but with less restrictions. At that point the locals were okay with telling me where to go. A quick cleanup and let’s see if he is home.

*knock knock knock*

…

*knock knock knock*

Blacksmith? ~ “Ah hear you. Stop with the knocking. Be there in a second.”

*door creaks open*

Blacksmith? ~ “Bah, whats a Traveller doing in these parts. To make it here you're either lucky or sworn against that fool pretending to rule the world. I don’t have guns and I am a sub par blacksmith. Go find another fool to fix your sharp and shinnies or whatever.”

“I heard a story that you were a Mechanic in the past and”

*The man draws back and reaches for something besides the door*

Blacksmith? ~ “So are you here to take me out? I know that rat in the capital would find me but not this quickly.”

“Whoa there, I already made a couple oaths not to join that guy. Dile’s mystery friend pointed me towards you. Apparently Dile liked the oath I made to get out of the scout base.”

Blacksmith? ~ “Ah, you're a brand new Traveller then.”

*He eases back though a sharp glint is barely visible next to the door*

Blacksmith? ~ “Chose the wrong world to end up on though.”

“I sort of left it up to fate. My plan is to get off the planet as soon as possible.”

Mechanic(Blacksmith?) ~ “Guess that is a good decision though for being given the choice of where to go and not using it placed you in a situation. Anyway being a Mechanic is more than just a repair monkey. To advance down this path you need to forge your own way and create your own destiny. Since you come from Dile I will give you extra. You will have a harder time because of it for my way is the hard way and will set you down a road with no shortcuts.”

“Um, melodramatic though I must admit that the hard path doesn’t worry me. I have seen what a hard path is and believe me. For me this isn’t that.”

Mechanic ~ “Good, you look the part of a man ready for whatever the universe might throw at you. One last thing though. Unlike other trainers I won’t just bop you on the head and grant you some skills but rather train you in the arts. This will take time and while you Travellers learn faster for most things you might end up here for a month.”

“That would delay leaving but this seems like it will be worth it.”

--- And so let the Montage of scenes proceed ---

Third day and I know why he didn’t ask for any money to teach me. Stuck me with doing all the blacksmith repair work. On one hand he gave me the smithing skills, on the other I half think this is only taking so long so he can do less work.

---

Tenth day and second time I leave the pod. First time I came back to find my body being used to hold down papers like a damn paper weight. This time I think I scheduled it right so it will seem I am sleeping

---

Eleventh day has me waking up to my body being used to block a draft in his hut. How can he tell when I am logged out?

---

Sixteenth day, I have never seen anything about what I learned today. Looks like I will get a tinkering skill. This definitely looks to be worth it as it will let me improve my stuff, at least on this planet. Once I get to a world with better tech I probably cannot do as much.

---

Twenty Second day was short. He had me make daggers as quickly as possible and without repeating a style. At the end my designs wouldn’t win in a fight against a paper bag but he didn’t seem to care.

---

Twenty Fifth day surprised me. What was by the door that I wasn’t able to spot before was apparently a laser gun of sorts. He came from a different planet with a better tech rating. Didn’t think I would see one on this world in the least bit. Most surprising though is I suspect it isn’t just a base tech laser gun but rather at least TL12 and maybe even as high as TL14. Not going to ask though as sticking my nose into something so many levels above seems like a good way to be reduced to ash. Anyway he taught me how to use it though that can just go on the pile of skills labeled as currently unusable.

---

Thirtieth day seems to be the last. He says by the end of today I should get the class. Also once I get it he will tell me his actual name. Something about “only then will you be worthy”. With my luck he is probably on the run from something big. I suspect though that it will be a while before people could connect me to him. Anyway the plan for today seems to make my toolkit for the job.

--- End of Montage ---

Finally the day is done. Time to see what I ended up with. I didn’t even earn any stat points despite all the work I did though it seems like that might just be a part of the training system.

Mechanic ~ “Okay, you made it through all that. With this your class should officially change to Mechanic though before we get to that let me tell you who I am. My given name is Thar, and I my title is the Mad. You will be my first apprentice ever so don’t disappoint me boy.”

*Ding*

Base Class AcquiredClass NameMechanicPoint Growth+2 MF, +2 Agi, +1 FreeBasic SkillsNameRankTinkerBeginner 3RepairBeginner 7CraftBeginner 5Tool ProficiencyBeginner 4Laser Weapon ProficiencyBeginner 1ScroungeBeginner 3BlacksmithingBeginner 5

That is a few more skills than I was expecting. Time to check what two of them do (including one I knew would be there, didn’t check it out originally).

TinkerAllows modification of equipment one has sufficient understanding of to allow better performance. Higher levels will allow for more specialized modifications at the cost of penalties related to the benefit.

Tool ProficiencyProvides bonuses to combat with tools one uses for production and repair skills. Only counts those you have the skill to use.

Definitely like what I see though I guess I better check my stats.

Status PanelNAMEJadeClassMechanicLEVEL1RACEHumanSUB-RACEFar HumanTITLESInterestingBasic StatsStrength5 ↑8Agility10 ↑11 ↑13Vitality6 ↑9Mental Fortitude11 ↑12 ↑14Unspent Points1Advanced StatsLeadership2Luck13 ↑14Qi1

Health Points16 ↑36Health Regen.05/sec ↑.16/secStamina Points16 ↑35Stamina Regen.08/sec ↑.23/secTalent Points24 ↑42Talent Regen.12/sec ↑.17/secSKILLSNameRankRepairBeginner 7CraftBeginner 5BlacksmithingBeginner 5Tool ProficiencyBeginner 4TinkerBeginner 3ScroungeBeginner 3Laser Weapon ProficiencyBeginner 1TALENTSPrestidigitation15

So how do you like the montage? Never really paid attention to how others did it so I went with something simple. Also you might notice his Luck went up by 1. This isn’t class related but rather the system considered being able to find such a good teacher for his class as being lucky. Might end up with some color scheme for the numbers but that will come later when I don’t have to go to sleep.