continued - 5/12

Joe ground his teeth, his thoughts turning to Zilnek before sighing and turning back to the dungeon but then paused. But… I… A smile came to his face. Right… I can still go towards priest lines to help Zilnek… and I'm not leaving him hanging… just… I HAVE to take it slow… between each priest job… right? So.. I'm still helping him… and between the week… maybe two? Gotta do at least a week, right? So… I can do the combat jobs there… then … check out nobility… He smiled, relief flooding him even as he allowed the excitement through knowing he wasn't compromising. Mage! I can find the mage lines! Gwenvair had a mage job… just gotta find it! That… maybe I can stretch it out every two weeks… uh… no… would take a month… maybe two months… can't do that to Zilnek… promised him it would be soon… so at least a week then but… no more… but that still gives me… five or six other jobs I can do? More on the weekends if… He glanced to Kilniara and smiled, grateful she was willing to allow him to delve on the weekends. Then… His grin grew and stepped into the fray, a small knot in his heart loosening. Joe, having seen what he wanted and come to a decision he was comfortable with, headed out into the fray with Kilniara, quickly killing one goblin.

Kilniara noticed his changed and looked up at him, "You're… happy?"

Joe smiled, "Yeah… just figured some things out."

Kilniara's smile grew, then fell a bit, "Something… was wrong?"

Joe looked at Kilniara a bit his smile settling and then he frowned, "Are you… OK? Oh… no… It wasn't about us."

Kilniara's relief was subtle but enough for Joe to catch it and he chuckled, "No. We're good. Don't worry. I was worried about your brother."

Kilniara grew serious, "You… cannot help him with… easily?"

Joe's smile grew, "Nope. It's all good. I'll be able to help him… I think. I'll have to check when I get there, but… yeah. Don't worry… it's a good thing."

"It is?"

"Yeah… I was… just pressured to help him and but also worried about … some of my other… things. I'm… feeling better now cause I can kinda do both…"

Kilniara smiled, "You can?"

He nodded, "Yes."

"Then that is good."

Joe's grin grew, "It is… and I hope I can help your brother … pretty soon."

"Good."

They paused at that, staring at one another for a time before a sudden scream and a charging goblin broke them from their moment. They both turned and took out the goblin quickly and easily. After it died, the glanced at one another and then Kilniara burst into laughter while Joe simple grinned. He chuckled with her a bit before turning back to the wide first floor dungeon.

"Back to it?"

"Sure."

Joe nodded, only taking a quick moment to once again flip open his status page but this time to take a look at his current job stats at level one. He wanted to easily evaluate the current job. Joe grimaced at the stats shown, but wasn't too surprised. The learning was a nice chunk of change, but having gotten used to a hundred per level, the twenty seemed paltry in comparison. He sighed in disappointment, but didn't allow it to get to him. Time to get this done pretty quick. Don't want to bother Kilniara too much by how long we stay down here.