The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

41 Let's take life one step at a time without rushing things

Vandalieu was finding it difficult to level up. When he had consulted the former A-class adventurer, the【Sword King】Borkus tapped his fingers against his head as he answered.

『It can't be helped. The【Death Attribute Mage】Job is probably a specialized Job. The Dungeon you went to is Garan's Valley and those guys are the ones you brought with you. With that being the case, I'm sure leveling up would be hard.』(Borkus)

This knowledge wasn't something that had been properly quantified, but anyone who had progressed with their Jobs to a certain extent knew certain rules of thumb.

『You know that each Job requires different amounts of Experience Points to level up, right? Apprentice Jobs are easy to level, generic Jobs are moderately difficult and specialized Jobs are harder.』(Borkus)

As their names suggest, Apprentice Jobs are Jobs with the word「Apprentice」at the beginning of the Job Title. Basdia and Zadiris had reached level 100 for these Jobs in a matter of days; they are very easy to level up.

Generic Jobs are Jobs such as「Warrior」and「Mage」that give bonuses to a wide variety of skills.

And finally, specialized Jobs are Jobs like「Swordsman」, specialized for swordsmanship, or「Fire-Attribute Mage」and「Water-Attribute Mage」that are specialized for specific attributes.

『Since your Job is a newly-discovered one, I don't know the details about it either. But judging from the name, I can tell that it's a Job specialized for death-attribute magic. Still, it does seem that it provides bonuses to more skills than Jobs like【Light-Attribute Mage】and【Fire-Attribute Mage.】』(Borkus)

Apparently Jobs such as these required a lot of Experience Points to level up.

『Adventurers and even normal people only take specialized Jobs when they are aiming to become first-class in that field. With a Job like that, there's no way you can become stronger faster than a complete novice.』(Borkus)

Apparently, this is how it was.

Incidentally, the reason Ghouls have a Rank like monsters while Vandalieu didn't as a Dhampir despite both being races created by the goddess Vida is because of the different origins of the two races.

Races like Ghouls that possess the blood of both a monster and a goddess such as Vampires, Lamias, Scyllas and Centaurs have Ranks like monsters while also being able to gain Jobs like humans.

However, Vandalieu was a Dhampir born between a Vampire and a Dark Elf, so only a quarter of his blood originated from a monster. Because of this, he possessed a stronger constitution than humans while not having a Rank.

Borkus and the other Titans who had become Undead originated from the union between the goddess and the Colossus god Zerno, so they hadn't possessed Ranks while alive, either.

Having decided not to be worried about his level increasing more slowly than those around him after consulting with Borkus, Vandalieu proceeded through Doran's Aquatic Caverns.

The majority of the monsters appearing here were aquatic species. Past the fifth floor, fish-people who possessed pale limbs protruding from the bodies of fish called Sahuagin, the Flying Sharks that had been present in Talosheim's waterways, Big Cancers* that possessed pincers large enough to cut a human in half and enormous octopuses called Killer Octopuses would appear.

TLN*: Cancer, the astrological sign, is represented by a crab. So these Cancers are crabs, not diseases.

Sahuagin were Rank 2 demi-human-type monsters that were called the Goblins of the sea, armed mainly with spears, but they were small-fry.