Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)

Volume 4 - Ch 3.19

(Fuck! I blurted that out loud again! Quickly! I have to find some way to cover my ass or else the situation is going to turn into an even more depressing shitfest than it already was!)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . do you girls know what that is?

Fuck my life, that was too close for comfort once more! Seriously, what the hell is wrong with me and my constant habit of saying things out loud?! Is it an unwanted remnant of my previous life where I had no social life whatsoever which resulted in me often talking to myself out loud when there was no one around? Because of that, I was this close to stepping on another landmine again! And how many of them would that make just today? Three?!

Anyway, the Skill of the Shrine Maiden seems awfully familiar to me, and rightfully so, because it looks like it is similar to the Monks Medical Treatment Skill, the only difference being that Monks Medical Treatment works on one person only, and Shrine Maiden has Group in its name, which means that it is most probably an AoE Healing Magic, so instead of healing only one person, it is going to apply healing effects to all the people within a given radius. Or at least that is how I think it would work.

To put it simply, Shrine Maiden Jobs Skill is Recovery Magic.

Yeah, that sounds about right. So my own guess was right on the money here.

Since it is called a Shrine Maiden, then would it be all right to think about this Job as the Female equivalent of a Monk?

If Shrine Maidens of this world follow the same kind of rules that the ones from old world did, then that would mean that a Shrine Maiden would be a female-exclusive Job. And if they have the same attire in both worlds, then that would reinforce that assumption even further, since I have never seen a man who would go around in shrine maidens outfit while claiming to be one (aside from perverts, but that is a whole other can of worms that I do not wish to open).

But wait a minute, speaking of the Monk Job. . . I have it, but Roxanne has that Job as well, even though she is a girl. And in Sherrys case, she has both Monk and Shrine Maiden Jobs, but that is probably because a monk is not a gender exclusive profession and it has nothing to do with the fact that one of the conditions for its acquisition is to defeat a monster while fighting bare-handed, which is its own special kind of madness that any ordinary Adventurer who has their wits about them would never dared to do.

No, master. Actually, Shrine Maidens male counterpart would be a Priest.

Okay, a Priest then. So to sum up: Monks have Skills that grant HP Recovery to a single target, while Priests and Shrine Maidens have Skills that grant HP Recovery to multiple targets. Got it. Now, the question is: are there any differences or disadvantages to being a Priest or a Shrine Maiden? I mean, logically speaking, there have to be some, like high MP consumption or perhaps low values of the healing received per individual since they have to be distributed between everyone within range, because if these Jobs were all sunshine and rainbows without any noticeable downsides, then everyone would end up choosing these two and no one would even want to become a Monk. Well, even if these Jobs are better than Monk, for the time being none of us ended up in a situation where we would need a lot of healing in rapid succession, so the healing provided by Monks Medical Treatment is more than enough to cover our healing needs.

So, how can people become Priests and Shrine Maidens?

I . . . . . . I really do not know. After all, I failed to become one.

Well, duh. I felt awful for opening up Sherrys old wounds like that, but since I am curious to learn as much as I possibly can about this Job there is nothing I can do about it but to keep asking questions while hoping that she will be willing to answer them and will not end up hating me for being so inquisitive.

Okay, then let us try it this way: was there anything in particular that you had to do when you were trying to become a Shrine Maiden?

Well, when I went to the Sacred Professions Guild, they had all of the candidates who wanted to become priests and Shrine Maidens sit beneath the waterfall located in the Guilds sanctuary.

A waterfall, you say?

So, my initial guess about gaining a Job by means of the training under a waterfall was right after all, but instead of a Monk, it applied to Priests and Shrine Maidens.

They told us that once we stay under the waterfall long enough, we are going to feel a flash of inspiration when our minds connect with the spirits within us. But even though I felt like I experienced something exactly like that, it was still not enough. . .

Sherry looked away from me when she stopped talking for a moment there. No Sherry, since you have obtained that Job, you were not mistaken and your method was certainly the correct one.

It is all right, Sherry. I heard that over half of the applicants cannot become Shrine Maidens, so do not let that discourage you. Even if you did not manage to become one, that will not matter at all in the Labyrinth.

R-Right. . .

Roxanne comforted Sherry once more. It is good that she can have someone like her to cheer her up.

So from her words it seems that becoming a Priest or a Shrine Maiden requires you to unite with the spirit inside of you, which sounds like it would be quite difficult. I wonder if I would be able to pull that off? And if now, I then I would like Roxanne and Sherry to comfort me. In bed.

However, that. . . Sacred Professions Guild or whatever should really work on informing their candidates better, because in order to become a Shrine Maiden or Priest you have to be a Villager Lv.5 or above as well.

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . Huh? What did you say, master?

W-Well, I mean. . . .

Sherry was unable to become a Shrine Maiden even though she did the waterfall training because her Villager Level was insufficient, but once she gained enough levels she got that Job right away, because all of the conditions necessary for obtaining it, a flash of spiritual inspiration and high enough level, have been satisfied. If only she knew about that one additional restriction, then perhaps she could have avoided much of the tragedies that have befallen her in her life.

Master. You may have not known this because you are an Explorer yourself, but only Explorers have Levels. Other Jobs do not have them.

Sherry was keeping quiet without saying a word, so Roxanne looked at me seriously and then dropped the bomb on me.

Eh? Wait, what? Really?

Yes.

As the explorer gains experience, the Item Box available to them will grow larger and larger. That is what we call their level. But other Jobs do not have that indicator. In truth, master, I cannot even imagine that you would even have a Level before becoming an Explorer. . .. . .

In my case, even when I was just a Villager, I was a Villager Lv.1. . . . . . no, wait!

Come to think of it, I can only see the Levels of my Jobs when Using Identify or during Job settings and Character Reset, and those Bonus Skills cannot be used by others. The name of the First Job is also displayed on the Intelligence Card, but not the Jobs level. Does. . . does that mean that the people of this world do not know that everything has a level?!

I see. So that is how it was this entire time?

It is okay, master. Even if you dont know about a lot of things, that lack of common knowledge will not be a problem in the Labyrinths!

Thats right! No problem at all!

All this time, I have been going around like Level this and Level that, so Roxanne was probably just playing along with my crazy antics.

I must have looked like such a fool up until now.

Even if you dont know some things, you are still yourself, master!

Yeah, when you are too smart, it is a given that you may not be understood by others. In fact, the smartest minds are always guaranteed to be surrounded by the people who are not going to understand them!

Is that supposed to be comforting?

W-We should head out again. Let us go back to the seventh floor of the Labyrinth and explore it some more until evening.

Looks like I really was a damn fool this entire time.