Subjobs rock, and if you're playing Final Fantasy XI you simply gotta have one. Properly leveled subjobs give substantial statistical boosts to your main job, as well as access to abilities the main job could never use. In essence, they allow you to play two classes at once. The only restrictions are that the subjob may only be at half the level of your main profession, and that the subjob can only gain experience when it's swapped in and played as your main job.

When I first started playing Final Fantasy XI in October of last year, my first thought was ... well, my first thought was to take off Lythe's clothes and have her star in her own parade all around Windurst. But my second thought was to find my Mog House and pick a subjob. Alas, I did not know that you couldn't have a subjob until you hit level 18.

Well, sort of. In true G.I. Joe style, that's only half the battle.

To earn the right to have a subjob, you also need to pass one of two rather troublesome quests. These are obtained in Mhaura ("The Old Lady") and Selbina ("Elder Memories"), the two small port cities at the Eastern and Wastern ends of the world, respectively. Each quest asks you to gather three odd items and deliver them to an NPC. However, one of the items required for the Mhaura quest just so happens to be dropped by the Bogy, a ferocious, ghost-like enemy that can put an entire party of level 18 adventurers in a state of death or near-death. Not cool.

Hence, it's recommend that most people go for the Selbina subjob quest, which instead asks you to find the Magicked Skull dropped by Ghouls. Ghouls are no walk in the park either, and you'll need a decent party to take one down. Or ... Well, you could cheat a little and get a powerful friend to come out for a little skull hunting. Being a lazy thief, I chose the latter. FFXI could be work enough as it was.

Mining for Magick

That hole is actually a large mine full of nasties.
The sudden dust storm blasted the barren crags of the Konschtat Highlands. My buddy Ravidrath (Lev. 30 Red Mage main / Lev. 15 White Mage sub) had brought me here. I was a little surprised, as the Valkurm Dunes, that infamous mid-teens leveling spot, was widely known to be the traditional Ghoul hunting ground. The Dunes, however, had one very big drawback: the undead only spawn in the middle of the night, and there's intense competition for the paltry few that appear. Everyone wants a subjob, after all. So Ravidrath, in his wizard-like wisdom, had called me to the Gusgen Mines on the eastern edge of the Highlands.

I had no business being at Gusgen at my level, a mere 17. We went in anyway, and it was then that I remembered that I didn't have the relevant map. As you may recall me saying in the inaugural Lost in Vana'diel, maps are the single most important item in the game. If you go into a dungeon without one, it's a good idea to notify your next of kin. Seeing as Lythe was an only child and her parents had died in a freak Chocobo accident, this was not a concern of mine. I did, however, make very sure to keep Ravidrath in sight at all times. If getting lost didn't kill me, a wandering skeleton would.

Luckily, there was a good place to camp Ghoul spawns only a little ways in. The narrow hallway was partially blocked by a wooden barrier, and it appeared a wider area was ahead. I ran forward just to check it out, and found myself near the top of a huge underground cavern. Ghosts of children flickered in and out on the stairs below me, and I saw some spectral horror wisping about on the floor far below. I was clearly at the end of my little exploration. An Elvaan male, though, ran right past, and would do so several times over the next two hours. A hardcore miner, we guessed.