[10 Reviews Bonus (2/3)]

She was one of the "talents" that Cassarae was able to trade for. Her profession was an evolution of the Seamstress profession and she was able to make leather armors from beast skins.

There was no doubt that she was the most important "strategic resource" Cassarae had, if you could call a human that… or was this person even human at all? She didn't even know anymore.

---

[Maya Sinclair (FF+)]

[Level: 2]

[Profession: Armored Seamstress (Bronze)]

[Special Talent: Maximize]

[Sacrifice 50% Durability to raise level of treasure to its maximum potential]

[Favorability: 5/10]

---

A double F talent, and one with a plus as well. Cassarae only knew months later how lucky she had gotten on that roll. Though, not as lucky as she wanted, it seemed.

That Favorability stat, though, was Cassarae's greatest annoyance. This woman was hard to please. And unfortunately, unlike in a video game, Cassarae couldn't just gloss over any mistakes she made. Maya wouldn't just magically forget that she cussed her out. What could Cassarae say? She had a foul mouth and wasn't the best at controlling it.

She had learned that the hard way, and it had taken a lot of work, not to mention a lot of bowing and scraping to get it up to a neutral place like this one.

"Yes, Maya?" Cassarae kept the annoyance out of her voice and purged away her worry, giving the Seamstress a smile.

"I only wanted to check to see if you informed the group to look out for quality beasts. I can't make it to level 3 without…"

Cassarae tuned out a large list of requirements. This was already the third or fourth time she had mentioned this list to her.

Professions were different from Classes or Species. Those who chose this route were able to increase their levels purely based on how well their practice was going. This was apparently a route that would only open up to humans of Earth after the Trial was concluded.

Now that Cassarae thought about it, she wasn't even sure when it would. Years, maybe? More?

What did absorbing all these Genes do to their lifespans? She would assume they increased, but how much?

Maya finished talking.

"Yes, there are no worries at all," Cassarae nodded. "Olivia is on the job. We can trust her. But for now, the immediate danger to the village are the Gnolls. Once they're dealt with, we'll have much more freedom to clear out some beasts for you."

Maya shook her head in disappointment, her sternness remaining.

"My advancement is the most important to the success of the village. There is a chance that I can improve my Profession to Silver in the future. If the investment happens too late, then my talent will go to waste.

"First was the Goblin Village, and you said much the same words back then. Now it's the Gnoll Village. This is becoming unacceptable to me."

It took Cassarae a long time to appease the woman enough that she left in a huff.

She rubbed her head. She really wasn't cut out for this. It took everything in her not to drive a fist through that old bitch's mouth.

The unfortunate part was that she was kind of right.

Basically, all of Cassarae's other talents were F-. Maya was undoubtedly the best, and that was by far. Also, the weight of a Bronze Profession was heavy as no one else even had a Fragmented Profession. There were only unranked ones.

But progressing was difficult.

Most of the beast skins brought back to Maya were marred by blade strikes and the like. It wasn't hard to guess why Maya's progress would be so slow, then.

Cassarae looked down at herself and sighed.

---

[Leather Chest Armor (FF+)]

[Level: 2]

[Creation of Maya Sinclair]

[+106 Constitution]

[Ability: Repel]

[Reflect 10% of damage for every one point of Durability]

[Durability: 10/10]

---

[Leather Leg Armor (F+)]

[Level: 2]

[Creation of Maya Sinclair]

[+12 Speed]

[Ability: Refresh]

[Restore 10% of stamina for every one point of Durability]

[Durability: 10/10]

---

Every time the lady pissed her off, Cassarae would take a look at these treasures. Maya was too valuable. She needed to swallow this anger and accept it.

Her life and that of everyone in the village were riding on this.

She suddenly thought of Sylas and those bandages on his hands. But she quickly shook her head.

If she had to rely on that guy for something, her 17-year-old self might actually roll over and die, and what would that mean for her 26-year-old self?

She liked breathing very much.

**

Sylas' mind was moving as they ran toward the village. With their current Physical stats, the distance was only worth less than 20 minutes even given this terrain.

He took casual note of everyone's movement and made some conclusions.

'Olivia's Speed should be quite high, enough that it's skewed in that direction. Morgan is fast and has a lot left in the tank, but his Physical is also the closest to mine overall, and assuming he has the same limiters as me, basically all of his stats should be near 50 or at it already.

'Alex is the slowest, with Lauren in the middle somewhere. Alex definitely has his stats skewed more heavily toward Strength…'

He wished the stat screen was more comprehensive when he was scanning others, but people couldn't even scan him at this point, so he was on the luckier side, anyway.

"There's a beast ahead," Olivia suddenly said. "It's Physical is at 32. Who wants it?"

'Scouting ability?' Sylas thought.

"Oo, me, me!" Alex volunteered, then shot forward.

Basically, all of them were equipped with swords aside from the militiamen who used spears. This wasn't a surprise to Sylas, since the sword was probably the most flexible weapon, though if he had to choose a starter weapon as a human thrown into this world, he would definitely choose the spear.

Olivia shook her head. She wanted to say more, but she waited.