Life Professions

Aperria commissioned the blacksmith Gamelia to forge a set of armor for each of the two Chosen Ones, with the price being that she would go to the underground later to collect crystals for Gamelia.

Then, she took off her own armor, asked Gamelia to maintain it, and left the village blacksmith shop amidst Gamelia's complaints.

Walking on the road home, Aperria smiled and shook her head slightly, silently cheering for the blacksmith in her heart.

The Gamelia she knew was the most impatient person in this world.

The fact that she praised the Chosen Ones as "learn instantly" meant they were truly formidable.

She wondered if it was because these Chosen Ones had extraordinary talent, or if they were originally master blacksmiths.

After all, the Lord had told her that these Chosen Ones came from the future and knew everything.

As for the person with the strange hair that Gamelia was willing to teach patiently... Gamelia was already 28 years old, and there were rarely any outsiders in the village. Although that person's hairstyle was a bit ugly, he was actually quite good-looking, and Aperria could feel that he was a good person.

She hoped Gamelia would succeed.

Arriving at her small house, Aperria felt a sense of relief after taking off her full armor. She went inside, changed into a nun's habit, and prepared to go to the church in the center of the village to make up for the prayers she had missed during this time.

Crystal Seal Village was just a small village, visible from end to end at a glance.

However, after leaving her room, Aperria suddenly realized that she hadn't seen any other villagers.

An ominous premonition arose in her heart, and she couldn't help but quicken her pace.

The not-so-large church was already crowded. Seeing that everyone from the village was there, Aperria breathed a sigh of relief.

She quietly walked into the church and surveyed the people inside. Her expression suddenly froze, and it took her a while before she dared to ask:

"Where are Uncle Enri and the others?"

From the crowd, the village chief, leaning on his cane, looked at Aperria, sighed deeply, and tapped the crystal coffin beneath the idol, saying:

"They are all here."

Aperria walked to the village chief's side and saw five human figures lying inside the transparent crystal coffin – three men and two women, who were the Knights who had left the Knight Order with her.

"What... what happened to them?" Aperria's pupils constricted.

"Their souls were severely injured and need to recuperate in the crystals for a period of time. If a cure isn't found, they might wake up with amnesia," the village chief said without hiding anything.

"Then how can I..." Aperria took half a step back, and the whole picture suddenly dawned on her.

So I'm the same?

It was "Sister" again, she had...

"He Who Seeks His Own Demise," who was mixed in with the villagers, nudged "Three Stages of Fighting Spirit" beside him and asked:

"How did she win the revival match?"

"Isn't it good that she won the revival match? If the Saintess responsible for upgrades dies, do we have to travel 600 kilometers back to Iron Wall City every time we upgrade?"

"But the online guides said that NPCs can't be resurrected after they die?"

"It means she's not dead." The fire elemental explained impatiently, "The ones in the coffins are the same. Once my Apothecary level is high enough, I can casually make a couple of [Soul Repair Potions] to save them."

The quiet exchange between the two players did not escape Aperria's ears.

She took a deep breath, walked up to the two Chosen Ones of Fire and Shadow, and asked:

"Excuse me, could you tell me what [Soul Repair Potion] is?"

Seeing that the two players didn't react, Aperria bit her lip and extended her hand, saying:

"If you are willing to answer, I can offer a reward of 1000 experience points for each question."

She only had over 20,000 experience points, and she didn't know if she could get the answers she wanted.

The two silent players weren't being stingy with the experience points.

They just hadn't processed it yet.

Who would have thought that such a purely observational cutscene would cause the NPC protagonist to break character due to the players' idle chat and approach them, the foot soldiers, to ask for a solution to the crisis?

The level of engagement was too high!

"Three Stages of Fighting Spirit" reacted first. He had intended to deliberate and explain in character.

But after running through the lines in his mind, he felt it was too troublesome and decided to just slack off, saying:

"It's one of the potions made by the sub-profession [Apothecary]. It can instantly resolve mental control and also put a shield on the soul. It's basically a counter to all sorts of hypnosis apps, and only Magical Girls buy it."

Hearing this, Aperria's eyes lit up.

Although she didn't understand what this fire elemental was saying, she understood that these all-knowing Chosen Ones really had a way to cure Uncle Enri and the others.

The village chief on the platform also heard their conversation and slowly walked down, asking the Chosen Ones, "Respected Chosen Ones, how can we obtain the divine medicine you mentioned?"

"At least you need to find a [Master Apothecary], which is roughly equivalent to a Gold Rank sub-profession. I have the recipe in my mind, and the materials shouldn't be difficult to obtain. I can directly concoct it then," the fire elemental replied instantly.

When facing the elderly village chief, "Three Stages of Fighting Spirit" became much more proactive.

It wasn't because he respected the elderly, but because two of the five Knights lying in the coffins were brought back by them.

The two of them were lingering in the church, actually waiting to receive their reward.

"Apothecary?" The village chief shook his head, his wrinkles clearly visible. "Our village doesn't have an Apothecary."

"A [Cook] would also work."

He Who Seeks His Own Demise, who had been stunned for a long time, suddenly spoke up.

After hearing Three Stages of Fighting Spirit's bragging, he had switched to the backstage encyclopedia to look it up.

There were indeed potions that could heal souls, and the added resistance was laughable. It was no wonder only Magical Girls bought them, and that products from other sub-professions with similar effects weren't only made by [Apothecaries].

In Crystal Seal Village, there were two sub-professions: [Blacksmith] and [Cook].

As one of the most popular and least popular sub-professions, [Blacksmiths] could produce armor that resisted soul attribute attacks, while the [Cook]'s menu had seven dishes that could heal soul injuries.

In the first playthrough, the dishes produced by [Cooks] were actually not inferior to the potions from [Apothecaries] in terms of effect.

Unfortunately, because the dishes could only be used after leaving combat and requiring a casting time, the [Cook] sub-profession had been ignored.

As it was now, among the Players who had arrived at the village, several had unlocked the [Blacksmith] sub-profession with NPCs, but not a single one had gone to learn [Cook] yet.

He Who Seeks His Own Demise suddenly thought of something: the game's taste system was basically no different from reality.

So perhaps [Cook] would change its fortunes and become one of the most popular sub-professions in the future. After all, not everyone was a combat-focused player. Trading high-rarity dishes for soft currency might even be more profitable than being a chef in reality.

But these were all digressions; he needed to solve the NPC problem now.

The Shadowfolk person feigned thought for a moment, then cleared his throat and said to the two of them:

"The dishes from a Cook can also heal damaged souls. I know three viable recipes: [Spicy Soul Chicken], [Vitality Soup], and [Dream Healing Broth]."

"These dishes only require a [Master Chef]-level cook. The problem is the ingredients are a bit troublesome, and the origin of some spices isn't even on the Bountiful Continent."

"However, I can help collect these ingredients. After all, I (emphasis) saved these Knights, so I have every reason to be responsible for them to the end."