I woke up and I just had a feeling that Vanessa had been awake for hours making a small banquet as aromas wafted into my room trying to pull me towards them like a cartoon character. As I had learned on the ship there were a bunch of [skills] called Auras which could manifest in a number of ways and usually manifested for certain [classes] or higher level individuals. Vanessa was for sure high enough level that her having an Aura that could invite you to breakfast like this wasn't unheard of, and considering her warping through the Anemone tentacles... a lot of her "power" was probably concentrated within the Anemone...or maybe things surrounding her business? It was a general guess, and I just wanted some space so I opened the door and... Got hit with waft after waft of fat, sweetness, saltiness... If this was an actual attack I'd have died at least two times by now but instead I merely partook in the scrumptious buffet. There was actual beef, pork... Foods from the mainland here! I felt Vanessa petting my hair as I gritted my teeth while chomping on a chicken wing so tender the flesh just pulled off the bone, the cartilage was also soft... and the bone itself... was very edible and tasty as well...
"-and with the introduction of our newest member of our little family I gained [Automated Tentacles] I'll be experimenting with them a bit, but if anyone has any ideas I'll be willing to hear them out." Vanessa stated giving our her newest skill out pretty openly. That was something else that was going to take some getting used to, and that was how openly some people were with their [skills], [classes], and [levels]. For sure once you had a certain amount of notoriety or power you could be assumed to be of a highish level. If you were clad in armor and swinging a sword in one hand and blocking with a shield in the other you could assume they were some sort of [Knight]. But the exact knowledge on what someone was or could do could make dealing with them so much easier... especially if you knew their stronger abilities. Be that economically, militarily, socially... In Vanessa's case she didn't seem to rock the boat too much and her services here was very niche, and she was comfortable enough sharing at least some of her [Skills] with everyone. One supposes if it wasn't a trump card type [skill] having it be available knowledge wasn't a bad idea. Similarly Jel basically knows my whole [Medical Assistant] skillset aside from maybe [Aspect of Master: minor]. After eating my fill the grip the Aura had on me diminished.
"Pardon me... I must really be getting to work now." I said trying to excuse myself and I would need to start hurrying to Jel's medical practice.
Vanessa let me out of her embrace and said "Good luck at work." with a smile. A lot of the smothering embrace left and I felt like I could breathe properly again. It wasn't that hard to get out really, just opening the door outside and... Well I could just walk to work. It was odd seeing all the different Merfolk around though. Just considering the variety of fish and probably how many different actual sentient species this world had... You could be hard pressed to find any two individuals in a crowd that had the same mer and species that weren't family members or a couple. When I got near Jel's practice there was... a decent amount of people lined up to see the doctor. It seemed like mostly checkups with maybe a few looking a bit worse for wear. A number of people thought I was trying to cut the line when I was trying to get to the front, there were a few arguments when I had an idea... [Aspect of Master: minor... ownership? employment?] the skill got what I was going for as the people got less grumpy and seemed to recognize me as staff or something.
Getting inside properly and getting prepared with Jel he said "Well, don't you look like you've leveled a bit?"
"...It was a night..." you said back in your male voice that you had met Jel with
"Anything you want to report to me?" ...It wasn't a command nor was there any expectancy like Vanessa sort of had. Still the only thing of note was [Catalyze Change] which... could it be useful here? Probably but... that's a [Shifter] thing and I wasn't sure I was going to want to spread that around.
"I mean I've got [Aspect of Master: Minor]"
"Hm... It'll be interesting seeing how that manifests. We've got some Mers to help." Where we then opened up shop and the Mers came in one at a time unless they were family or friends. Most were routine check ups... occasionally Jel would administer some medicines and prescribe some treatments or sell some crystals. It was more hectic, had more triaging and paperwork to do, was far more profitable for Jel than what we were doing on the ship, and our lunch breaks were properly cooked meals instead of whatever raw stuff was managed to be made in a flameless lightless kitchen. Wasn't a particularly exciting day, but getting some experience with an actual Medical room was doing a lot better for your [Medical Assistant] class than a random room in a pickled ship. Your next paycheck would be in two weeks and you didn't want to spend too much of the one gold and a couple silver you still had. Was there some food storage space you could borrow... did this world have some equivalent to refrigeration? It had magic so was it unheard of or expensive or something?.. Vanessa's bath had magically cleaned and heated water was it THAT out of the question that she had some sort of preservation system?
So many questions were in my mind about this unusual world that the emergency had caught me off guard as some rougher people came in and one said "We'll pay your emergency fees! Fix our guy!" as two more rougher looking mers came in with a fourth on a makeshift stretcher of sorts. A large half minotaur half hammer head shark abomination with an arm missing... that was carried by one of the other Mer... so many minor and major gashes, and it looked like his intestines were nearly hanging out.
"Get him on the table you three, Assistant stand back and make sure you're ready to hand anything at a moments notice." Jel said as he got into... not quite operating time. There wasn't much needle and thread, but a LOT of alchemical stuff was being used... along with a lot of reinforced straps to keep the Minotaur Shark Mer from moving too much. For a moment Jel hesitated when looking at the severed arm, but managed to reattach it loosely using some sort of... flesh welding with a tentacle. Potions and tentacle secretions were Jel's main tools. "You three fetch more healing potions, high grade or your friend's gone!" Jel barked as he expected the other Mer to pay for some tools he was using, and despite presumably a lot of [skills] being burned the patient was fading. Jel was thinking as he let some of his tentacles do their thing.
"What's the main issue?" I asked
"Not enough blood... Not potent enough potions... If only there was a bit more Clarish weed in those gels and potions."
"What do they do?" I asked more as Jel was patient enough and wise enough to answer these questions. Basic questions for a novice to learn from, and that helped Jel go through the process in his head clearer. His mind had done so much that it skipped so many steps, and occasionally going through them manually helped him get more clarity.
"Clarish weed's a rare herb now that helped with infections... it's used sparingly and... We don't have a great way to get rid of that infection right now."
I leaned a bit on [Clear Communication: Master] as I said "Could I try a skill I haven't disclosed yet?" as the skill filled in a lot of details. It didn't tell him the exact skill, but it did give Jel a LOT of inferences to work with.
Jel bit his elvish lip and said "If you think it CAN'T do any harm try it." I walked a bit closer and without touching directly I tried [Catalyzing change] where Clarish Weed may have been the main Catalyst for routing out infection. [Influence transformation] infected flesh to uninfected... I didn't dare try [quicken transformation] until we could see how the actual transformation would work out. However "...Keep it up as long as you can" Jel said as he noticed something I didn't "The infection is going down... slowly... Don't change anything from what your doing!" Jel said loudly yet softly as his tentacles went harder at work now able to do more with the infections slowly being removed. By the time the Hammerhead Minotaur's friends came back with potion's Jel grabbed one and slowly poured one of the better ones sparingly on the patient and saw as it worked better as expected as the [Catalyze Change] skill had more to work with. By the end of the appointment the Minotaur Mer was barely conscious. Jel looked at the Mer's and said "You know the price and the transfer from the Merchant's guild. He needs some more rest and nutritious food that's more than JUST meat, bread, and beer." The others nodded and instead of walking with their buddy on a stretcher was walking with their buddy on their shoulders. Jel stretched his shoulders a bit and said "We still have a few hours before the day's done." This was a business after all and a lot of people still wanted their checkups... At the end of the workday I could feel that I had stretched my [Medical Assistant] class and maybe got it to another level... or maybe nearly there. [Shifter]...There was something there but it the xp gain wasn't as much as I had expected... I was a little hungry, but... not that hungry and was more tired than anything. Sweet rest sounded good... The anemone accepted me and...damned aura that smelled of freshly baked pastries.
I had grudgingly accepted that good food was my weakness for now as Vanessa had caught me again with her bait, but instead of Vanessa being clingy and motherly her eyes felt a bit more calculating. "Did you not like my preferred persona of the affectionate host? Too strong right away?" this new Vanessa asked
Swallowing a bite I said "...Inviting, but... too strong... It felt like... I was entering a cult."
Vanessa chuckled "I guess it could seem like that... It's been a long time since I've leveled. Unlike most people who have a main class and maybe one or two subclasses... I've had two main classes for too long. A [Mistress of the Clown Mer] and [Disowned Merchant of Legacy]. Now I'm approaching you as the [Merchant] looking to make a name for herself. I can share more if you'd like."
I wondered "Were you disowned beca-"
"I chose to be a Mer... Not specifically clownfish, but knowing what I do now I wouldn't have chosen differently. Order of birth, bloodlines, scapegoats... I was a good [Merchant] on the surface till that name got tarnished, but under the sea the class does me some good. Enough to provide practically free room and board to all the Clown Mer I want that I cherish, and also gives me a skill like [A Secret for a Secret] a skill a girl loved to use on her little siblings." Vanessa grinned as I could feel some secret trying to pry it's way out of my lips. The [Horny] Bonus? The fact that I was from another world?... Both felt dangerous...
"I'm a [Shifter]-" not enough "-and I got it because... I kinda get turned on by it..." I felt embarrassed and Vanessa chuckled
"I felt like you had something else, but... Do not feel ashamed. I've accepted many who have done or held much worse, and now they are good parts of our little Anemone here. I wont tell if you don't... At the same time I want to be open with you like I'm open with the others here. I'm trying to merge my classes, and it's so hard to get that [Mistress] and [Merchant] class to combine when they are so distinct. So I'm mixing my pleasure of the [Mistress] with my business as a [Merchant]. I'm the Mistress of my special contacts that I help foster their [classes]. How many roofs do you think have a high level centaur [Messenger], a high level [Alchemist], and even a retired Adventurer from a top team? You've got a good [healer] to learn from in Jel, I've asked around with some contacts... but what do you need for that [Shifter] class? It's interesting, unique, and potentially very mergeable with that base of a [healer] class you've got as an [Assistant]. Think on it, my love is eternal and you are always welcome... The window of showing potential is limited though." She stopped talking and teleported elsewhere through the tentacle carpeting... and suddenly the fresh baked pastry in my hands felt... Still hot, warm, buttery, but also coated in... expectation... and powdered sugar. Midnight snack over I went to my room which no one had snuck into thankfully and I was able to sleep.
[Medical Assistant] Level up: Level 11