The old elf was clever, very clever. By tempting them with the promise of power, he got them to give him a glimpse of what Fran's abilities actually were.
Well, no use crying over spilt milk.
In the end, this was only letting them guess at her current parameters, without giving them any clues about her style of fighting or her potential for growth. In a month's time, that list would probably be out of date. In fact, the sheer volume of possible jobs only made discerning the types of skills she actually used more difficult. She had the possibility to take the 'Necromancer' job, but it was highly unlikely she would ever be raising the dead. Nor would she often use a spear or axe, even though she had jobs related to them. Her true aptitudes became hidden under a mountain of garbage. It made her attention grabbing, but as far as Archer could tell, it didn't reveal anything important.
As soon as they started to question Fran, Archer told her to go ahead and tell the truth. Simply refusing to answer would have only caused them to try to find out in other ways, observing her moves more closely, and the girl was a terrible liar. The only thing that they really needed to keep hidden was the fact that Archer was the sword itself. Fran was getting attention, something that Archer didn't like, but there was still no reason for anyone to target her. No one threatening, anyways. A young girl on her own attracted a certain type of trouble, and someone walking around with a valuable looking item attracted a similar type of trouble. But the people who might attack her for that would be just individual thugs and thieves, easily dispatched. If Archer's true nature became common knowledge, entire countries might start to take interest.
However, having Archer remain as Fran's unseen teacher had its own perks. Fran was strong for her age, but naive, making her a more tempting target for people to try to manipulation. But the threat of a much stronger and more experienced individual in the shadows would make people more cautious about how they approached the girl. They might be able to take advantage of her, but what would they do when her elusive teacher took offense? Archer could see that very thought pass through Klimt's mind when he managed to deduce that Fran was involved in the goblin dungeon incident.
They were still in uncertain waters, but they would always be in such a position, until Fran became strong enough that no one in their right mind would try to take advantage of her. Such was the life of the strong, you gather more attention and the threats to you become greater, forcing you to become stronger still. It becomes a vicious cycle, and if you can't keep ahead of it, it could consume you. For that reason, they needed to get a job to help their progress. Fran was particularly excited as they listed off all of the cool sounding jobs
Flannel, the guild's receptionist, did her best to explain to Fran what the individual Jobs did and asked her what she was looking for. Fran unhelpfully told her that she wanted something to help her get stronger.
"Sky Knight" was one that caused Fran to perk up her ears, as it gave stat bonuses to STR, AGL and DEX, and had a really cool sounding name, but the level 1 [Air Jump] ability that it gave was something that they already had at level 4.
"Jack of All Trades" was interesting, as it increases one's ability to gain more and more Skills, but it only gave 1 INT a level for its stat bonuses, making it relatively unhelpful.
They were heading towards the bottom of the list, with the two main contenders for Fran's attention; "Warrior Magus", since it gave stat boosts to both STR and MGC and gave a Skill that allowed one to overload their spells for increased effectiveness, and "Chaos Priestess", which rather than having fixed stat growth a level, each time it grew a level all of its stats would have a chance to increase and granted the skill [Tempt Fate] that could attract Demonic Beasts to them, which would be invaluable for luring strong enemies into traps.
Both of them were interesting options, but they were forgotten when they came to a job that surprised the former Servant. ['Magus Killer'!?] Archer shouted in surprise when they reached the near bottom of the list.
(Nn? Something wrong?) Fran asked.
[...No. Nothing at all. I just wasn't expecting to see that term used here.] Archer said. [Where I came from, 'Magus Killer' could both be used as a term for an assassin who makes use of Magecraft, and an individual who uses skills and tactics designed to efficiently kill magic users. ...My father was considered by some to be the first true 'Magus Killer', and when I followed in his footsteps, I was called the second.]
"I want that one." Fran declared, surprising everyone.
"Are… are you sure? I can't really tell you what it does, since I never heard of it before." Flannel said, seeming a little concerned.
"Archer: Magus Killer. Best job." Fran said, nodding her head, her ears twitching happily.
"So… you know what it does?"
"No. But must be best."
[Fran, we shouldn't make this decision so lightly.] Archer cautioned her.
(Won't know unless we try it. Take job. If no good, change.) Fran reasoned.
[...Fair enough.] Archer said with a mental sigh. He wasn't sure how he felt about Fran becoming a 'Magus Killer'. He and his father didn't exactly have happy lives because of their professions. Both of them lost absolutely everything, including the will to fight back. Archer himself had been consumed by such despair that he hadn't lifted a finger to stop his own hanging. He could only hope that Fran didn't suffer the same fate.
"Oh… okay. Just put your hand on the crystal and we will confirm your selection."
(Fran has become a 'Magus Killer'. Job Skill: [Magic Concealment] has been obtained.)
(Magic Concealment: A skill that conceals the user from magical detection and [Tracking Magic]. The user will not trigger magic based traps. User's Presence Concealment Skill is improved by 2 ranks. Rarity 9)
...That was some Skill. Usually, the most difficult part about going after a magic user was the numerous detection based spells and traps that they had guarding them, making it nearly impossible to catch them unaware. And not only could it be used for infiltration, it could be used for escapes as well. If things turned nasty, they could just disappear into the shadows and start over somewhere else, with no one able to track them.
That Skill alone would almost make the Job worth it. Though they would need to see the stat bonuses that it gave to be sure.
(Good get.) Fran heartily agreed.
Once that was over, Flannel led them back to the front room to complete the paperwork and get Fran her new Guild Membership card, a small bronze colored card that denoted her as being a G-rank Adventurer. "The Guild Card can be used as an identification card. Because it's been registered via the Magic Power of the individual, it's only usable by that person alone. Be careful not to lose it."
"Nn!" Fran said as she took the card, looking down at it with starry eyes.
[Don't get too attached to it. I doubt you will be G-rank for long.] Archer chuckled.
"Nn. Aim for top."
[...How about we focus on getting stronger first, and worry about climbing the ranks later. I doubt you will have any trouble earning recognition once you are the first Black Catkin to evolve.]
"Right." Fran said, nodded her head sharply, her eyes focusing at the reminder of her true goal. As much as she liked the idea of being an adventurer, it was only an aside. She couldn't let anything get in the way of her true objective.
"Wow Donna, what happened to you!?" One of the Adventurer's sitting at bar shouted as he saw the Kijin come in, his armor still a complete wreck. "You look like something the cat dragged in."
"Haha… A fitting choice of words." The man chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "What are they feeding kids these days?"
"Nn…"
"Ah!" Donna jumped as he noticed that Fran had moved up right next to him without him noticing. "Hey… uh… you need something?" He asked as he regained his composure.
"Sparring: not finished." Fran declared.
"Wait, you want to fight more!? Haven't you done enough damage already!?" Donna half shouted, earning confused looks from the people nearby.
"Too short. 3 hours: good length."
"Three hours!" Donna said his eyes widening a little. "Oy, do you want a sparring partner or a punching bag?"
"Hand-to-hand? Could use practice."
[That isn't what he meant. When people say that you are treating them like a 'punching bag' what they mean is that you are bullying them.]
(Nn? Not bullying. Sparring.)
"Good day." Fran said as she dropped herself onto the inn's bed, arms spread out. She was dressed in her night clothes after having taken a long bath to wash off the sweat she had worked up bullying… sparring with a few members of the Adventurer's Guild who didn't take her seriously.
She ended up beating down two whole D-rank adventurer teams, first taking each of them individually, one after another, then all eight of them at once. She became frustrated with them when after only an hour, none of them wanted to get back up.
After that, she tracked down Donna again and overwhelmed him in hand-to-hand combat. This she had found fun, as Donna's [HP Recovery Rate Up] Lv5 kept him on his feet for a while, though the drain it placed on his stamina meant she had to use [Recovery Magic] on him to keep him from becoming too exhausted to continue.
Archer knew this was his fault. That he had broken her common sense with that first week of training in the woods. However… it was just too entertaining for him to want to stop her.
"Tomorrow, take jobs as Adventurers." Fran said as she stared up at the ceiling.
[Then you better rest.] Archer said, using [Telekinesis] to tuck her into bed.
"Nn. Exhaustion: enemy." She said as she made herself comfortable.
The girl was fast asleep before five minutes had passed, a bit of drool hanging out the side of her mouth and soaking into her pillow.
Archer smiled inwardly as he watched his Master sleep, but soon shook himself out of it. While her day was through, he still had much he needed to do. Once again using Fran's body as a blueprint, Archer triggered [Doppelganger Synthesis SP].
([Doppelganger Synthesis SP] parameters set: single duplicate of 40% strength, 8 hour duration. Cooldown: 8 hours)
[Doppelganger Synthesis SP] worked slightly differently than [Body Split] did, where the cooldown had always been 1 day and the clone's time limit and strength had been determined by skill level. Instead, when activating [Doppelganger Synthesis SP], Archer had to decide how long he wanted the clone to last, its strength relative to the original and how many of them he wanted, and depending on those factors, the cooldown would be different.
So he could make a single clone with 80% of Fran's power for 12 hours and the cooldown would be 1 day. Or he could have the clone's power to 40% and have the cooldown be only 12 hours. Or he could increase the number of clones from 1 to 5 and the cooldown would be multiplied to match it.
It caused the skill to be fair more versatile, with Archer being able to keep up a duplicate 24/7 if he so chose. But by doing so, he would be keeping the skill forever on cooldown, robbing him of the ability to use it in a fight if the near arose.
Right now, his sword body would be enough to keep Fran safe while she slept, and while she did, Archer could make full use of his [Independent Action].
After creating Fran's color swapped double, Archer walked it over to a mirror. As walking around like this would be too easily connected to his Master, some changes would need to be made.
[Transformation]
[Transformation] was the upgrade of the [Shape Shifter] skill that Archer had unlocked by reaching rank 10 of his Self-evolution.
A few experiments with [Shape Shifter] had proven it to be a rather limited skill, as it couldn't alter Archer's mass or basic properties. So he could shape shift into a spear, but it would be a spear with mass equal to his sword form, and with the same kind of metal used, making the weight poorly balanced. It also consumed Mana at a rather large rate.
Hoping that he might be able to use it as another trump card, Archer spent the 10 Self-Evolution Points to specialize it, turning it into [Transformation]. This fixed a few of its problems, and he could now change his mass, his coloration, and his density. The mana cost was still a little much, but could be balanced out with [Automatic MP Recovery]. Sadly, while he could change into the shape of a Noble Phantasm, he couldn't take on their special properties.
This would be his first time testing [Transformation] alongside the [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] skill. It was a good thing that Fran was asleep and not watching as the way the flesh twisted as he grew wasn't something pleasant to watch. However, after a minute of experimentation, he managed to transform the silver duplicate of Fran into something resembling his old form.
"Hm… seems to have worked just fine." Archer said as he examined himself. The body to a bit of focus to maintain, but with [Split Thought] he could manage it while still functioning normally. It would make keeping track of things going on around his sword body a little more difficult, but he had detection spells set up around the room. If an intruder came close, he would know before they reached the door.
Other than that, the only downside was a steep drop in the doppelganger's stats, going from 40% of Fran's natural stats to only 4%. Now his stats were all down in the single digit range, not even .5% of Archer's true parameters.
Oh well. He wasn't planning on fighting in this body anyways.
And so, he slipped out of the inn and started to head back into the marketing district, to Gallus's shop.
[Gallus, it's Archer. I'm at the back door. Could you let me in.] Archer sent to the old dwarf, using his telepathy. Archer heard movement from inside, involving some clattering and heavy swearing before the dwarf opened the door.
"Archer?" He looked at Archer up and down.
"Yes, it's me." Archer said, chuckling at the man's surprise. [I am an intelligent weapon. Did you think I had no tricks up my sleeves?] He said through telepathy. "Mind if I came in?"
"Wow… I mean sure!" Gallus said, holding the door and letting Archer enter inside before shutting it. "What kind of skill is this? How does it work?"
"It's just a skill that allows me to make a temporary body. It isn't anything to be impressed by." Archer said as they entered into the man's inventory. "I came by because there has been a few change of plans. Originally, we were going to grab whatever resources and maps we could before jumping town and heading somewhere else. But my Master has decided that she wanted to become an Adventurer here."
"She wasn't already an Adventurer? I mean, I didn't ask to see her ID, but she sure had the air of a talented young Adventurer around her." Gallus said, seeming a little surprised.
"...Yes, young and talented." Archer said with a smile, wondering what the dwarf would think if he knew that the girl had been using several members of the Adventurer's Guild as her own personal punching bags. "But, since we are going to be sticking around for a little, I was hoping that you would allow me access to your forge, and perhaps a letter of introduction to the Blacksmith's Guild."
He still remembered the fight with the Demon, where he was forced to merely provide support because the weapons at his disposal were too weak to cut through the Demon's defenses. How even his own blade, as superior as it was to the standard, left little more than cuts without the use of Fran's full strength and some [Skills].
At the moment, Archer had only a few Magic Weapons at his disposal, which he had gathered that day from around town, the strongest of them having an attack of 1500, when reinforced to its limit. Too weak to deal with anything that would prove to be a true threat to Archer's master. It would only be enough to leave small wounds of the Dragon, even with Archer's inhuman strength behind it.
If they were going to be dealing with more such creatures in the future, than Archer would need to be equipped to face them. He needed weapons that could at least damage threats using nothing more than the strength of his [Telekinesis]. He needed weapons that were at least as good as his own blade, which could currently produce an attack power of 3500, when pushed as far as safety would allow.
Besides, crafting magic swords could bring in good money that he could invest in the material they would need in the future.
"You know how to smith?" Gallus asked.
"You could say that." Archer said, unable to keep a cheeky smile for his lips.