Touch of Fate

{Baleaf Flower}

Common Plant (Tier 1, Rank 0)

A common sight in the grasslands of Almir, this white flower is famous for its distinctive aroma. It is frequently used in the Almiran fragrance industry. Known to have minor medicinal properties as an analgesic.

Mike sighed as he used Inspect on yet another plant along the side of the road. He had managed to increase the skill to Rank 3 in the time they had been walking to Dewey Glen, but he was having a hard time moving past that point. It seemed like the only time he made any progress is when he was examining rare of valuable materials. The plants he could find along the road simply didn't make that much of difference.

[I wonder why this skill is so hard to level up. I originally thought it might be due to it being Tier 2, but my healing magic doesn't seem to have the same problem.] He decided to rely on the closest thing to an expert he had access to at the moment.

"Hey Morris, what's the deal with the tier ratings in the skill system?"

The older man blinked at him in surprise. "I'd almost forgotten you had an issue with your memories. The tier system is supposed to be common knowledge." He frowned for a moment, pondering how to explain it.

"To really understand the reason for tiers, you need to know a little bit about how the system works." He paused, squaring himself up as if he were about to deliver an important message.

"It is said that the sacred number is five."

Mike tilted his head in confusion.

Morris hastily explained, "Look there are five creator gods, five foundation elements, five high elements, and five tiers used to classify all things in the system. All living beings have a tier in accordance with their skills. All objects are assigned a tier by the system based on a number of factors. Almost all skills have a tier associated with them, based largely on the effect of the skill."

There was a lot for Mike to process in that bunch, and he felt like he now had more questions than answers. He waited for the other man to continue.

"Each tier is broken down into five ranks meaning that, essentially, there are 25 ranks within the system. Objects and skills both have a definitive rank associated with them, but living beings are more complicated. Typically, their rank is dependent upon the sum total ability provided by their skills. The more developed an individual's skills are, the higher the Tier they fall into. That said, it should be mentioned that we don't have access to all 25 ranks. Tiers one through four are considered the limit for mortals, while Tier 5 is the realm of the gods. "

He held out his hand and started count down his fingers. "Tier 1 is composed of the weakest individuals and most common things in the system. It has been estimated that roughly half of the people and creatures living in this world fall into this category. Everything from a common rock to basic crafted goods also falls into this tier. To put it in perspective, prior to my injury I was a low Tier 2 individual, but now I'm a high Tier 1."

"How do you know when your tier changes?" Mike asked, interrupting.

"When you develop enough to become a Tier 2, the system will begin to display your tier ranking in your status."

Mike checked his [Status], and saw Tier 2 prominently displayed under his class. He must have missed the last time he had looked. Hopefully, this promotion wasn't a product of the skill he had picked up after his night at The Fanciful Maiden.

"Anyway, creatures and objects in Tier 2 compose most of the rest of the world. The creatures are primarily the skilled and competent individuals that have not yet reached the realm of true experts. The objects in this tier are more valuable, more useful, or contain more energy depending on the objects nature."

He put down another finger. "Tier 3 is the realm of the powerful. People like high-ranking adventurers, elite knights, and skilled magic users populate this tier. Typically, they compose less than 10% of all living beings in this world. Tier 3 objects are usually extremely valuable, or contain a great deal of magic."

"Is there really such a large gap between tiers?" Mike asked.

"Keep in mind, each tier is composed of multiple ranks. There is not a whole lot of difference between two ranks of the same tier, but there is a significant gap between Tier 2, Rank 5 and Tier 3, Rank 1. Most experts believe that this is mainly due to the tier ratings of skills. A low ranking Tier 3 skill is much more potent than a high ranking Tier 2 skill."

Mike nodded in understanding. "So going by the rankings so far, Tier 4 is reserved for the paragons of mortal achievement, right?"

Obviously a little annoyed in having his thunder stolen, Morris replied. "That is correct. Tier 4 is the realm in which people like the Archmage of Cadun, the High Guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild, the Sorceress Queen of Mirithia, and the Thief Lord are found. Most true dragons and other similarly powerful creatures carry this designation. Objects in Tier 4 are quite simply legendary due to their rarity or potency."

Mike opened his mouth to ask more follow on questions, but was halted by a stern look from Morris. "Finally, as I mentioned before, Tier 5 is solely the realm of the gods. It is rumored that living beings that are able to achieve Tier 5 through their skills become a unique type of divine being, an Ascendant Mortal. Supposedly, the system grants these individuals a number of powerful benefits, including immortality, but there have been no recorded instances of someone achieving Tier 5 as a mortal."

"It's hard to imagine that no one has ever achieved it. Ranking up skills isn't that hard."

Morris clicked his tongue in a smug manner. "On the contrary, as the tier goes up, the amount of effort required to improve skills increases greatly. You could rank up hundreds of Tier 1 skills in the time it would take to improve one Tier 4 skill."

"Speaking of which, would you mind explaining a bit about skills?"

"Well, I have already explained the ranking system, but you should know by now that there are four primary categories of skills: Primary, Secondary, Passive, and Inherent. Primary usually refers to skills that require a great deal of focus and effort to improve. The system only provides a limited number of slots for primary skills, typically based on the individual's class. This number can range from a handful to dozens depending on the nature of said class. Fighting styles, crafting skills, and most magical skills fall into this category."

Judging from how pleased he was looking, Morris evidently enjoyed taking on the role of an instructor. Mike filed away this information in the event he needed to cheer the man up.

"Secondary skills are mainly composed of skills that either support other primary skills, or provide some basic ability that doesn't require a great deal of focus to master. They include things like running, basic fighting skills, cooking, musical ability, and the like."

"Passive skills are ones that constantly produce an effect without any direct action from the user. Most of these are enhancement or resistance skills that work to improve your base attributes and tolerance for certain things."

"Living beings have access to their inherent skills from birth, based on their race and bloodline. They account for some of the peculiar racial traits that can be seen in specific individuals. For instance, orcs have inherent skills that provide them greater than normal strength, while moon elves have a natural affinity for arcane magic as a result of theirs?"

"So, what about humans?"

"Humans are pretty much unique in that they have no basic inherent skills save those acquired from non-human bloodlines. In some cases, humans can access the inherent skills of their non-human ancestors. Now I know this sounds like humans are unlucky, but many scholars theorize that there is a compensation of sorts built into the system."

"Oh?"

"Supposedly humans are able to improve their skills faster than other races. It's not a huge amount, but it does explain why a race of people that usually live less than a hundred years can still compete evenly with those whose lifespans are measured in millennia. Also, it's said that there are a number of very powerful human-specific classes."

Mike stopped him there. "Speaking of which, do you mind going into more detail about classes?"

Morris nodded, "Much like inherent skills, living beings are born with a class. It's said that the system assigns a class based on the potential of the child, but this is not to say that you are stuck with that class. So long as you meet the requirements for it, you can change class. This includes advanced classes that are basically more powerful versions of a previous class."

"So what does a class do?"

"A class is kind of like a person's gateway in interacting with the system. It limits and guides what aspect of the system an individual has access to. Basically, it determines what skills you can learn and the number of primary skill slots you have access to. Classes also provide a number of bonuses and enhancements related to certain things. For instance, a Farmer would likely have bonuses to agricultural skills and an enhancement to endurance."

Mike had suspected that his class was broken, but now he knew for sure. "If you don't mind me asking, what's your class?"

Morris replied with a grin, "I should warn you, it's usually considered impolite to ask about a person's class unless they bring it up first. That said, it's not something I'm bothered by."

He drew himself up proudly, "I am currently a Bardic Knight. I was born as an Apprentice Bard and spent much of my childhood at the Bardic College in Almira. It wasn't a bad life, now that I look back at it, but I was always looking for adventure, so when I was old enough to make my own decisions, I left. I joined the Order of the Wheel shortly afterwards in order to avoid starvation. Apparently, it was largely impossible to make a living as an unlicensed bard. After I trained for a few years, I was able to pick up my current class."

"Cool, so does that mean you are good at music and storytelling and all that?"

"Believe it or not, I used to be a fair hand at the lute, back when I had both hands." He laughed at his own awkward joke. "But seriously, I think we should be getting close to Dewey Glen."

Mike looked around and noticed that the sky had grown dark while they were talking.

"If memory serves me right, the village should be just over that hill. We should be able to see the lake it was built next to any minute now." Morris pointed ahead.

[I guess being a know-it-all is just part of the package with bards.] Mike thought to himself as the pair continued to walk down the path.