"So, uh, have you heard any strange voices? Talking about classes and voidlings?" Bernard asked the boy awkwardly after taking a minute to level. He was a bit miffed to not get a feat option, but figured that perhaps getting one every single level would be a bit unrealistic. His name was Henry, and his mother hadn't lasted long after making her request. Which left him, a man who would readily admit he was hardly capable of taking care of himself, the temporary guardian of a child.

Henry shook his head then muttered quietly. "Mom mentioned some of the class stuff, but all I heard about was the monsters."

"Huh. I wonder why?" Bernard mused out loud, starting a bit when he actually got a reply.

Children must wait to choose a class until they reach their majority. Exceptions to this rule can be made in extreme circumstances, but any selections must be approved by a User that is both of age, and a recognized guardian of the child.

"How is being dumped in the middle of a hostile jungle filled with monsters and poisonous plants, insects and god knows what else not an extreme circumstance?!" Bernard demanded out, Henry recoiling a bit, either at his sudden increase in volume or because he was having an argument with thin air.

Circumstance recognized, exception made, User Bernard Reinholdt recognized as valid guardian of User Henry Garrett.

"Wait, me?!" He sputtered, forgetting for a moment that he was literally the only possible option and that the boy's mother had specifically asked him to take care of her son. The boy in question was now staring at him in wide-eyed shock. "What did you do?!" He almost squealed.

"Uh, I guess I convinced Aegis to make an exception for you? Any idea what you want to do? I think this is kind of a big decision, like, picking a career only more permanent?" He had only just recently found that out himself. After Henry's mother passed, he stepped away to give the boy a few minutes with her and leveled up. He had tried to change his class on a whim, and found that while it was possible, his class had locked him out of a great deal of the other options.

He could take a number of other forest-related classes, but that was more or less it. Without realizing it, he had shoehorned himself into living in forested areas if he wanted his class to remain relevant. He didn't really mind and had ultimately decided to stick with his current class for the time being as he genuinely found the forest to be a beautiful place.

That being said, he wasn't willing to risk Henry's future on a whim. Children were whimsical creatures and he could only imagine how he would hate someone that allowed him to pick something like a Frog Mage or Mushroom Magician as a kid, forcing him to spend the rest of his life surrounded by frogs or mushrooms. If adult Henry grew to hate the thing kid Henry picked, it would all be on Bernard's head since he had to approve of the choice.

Henry didn't answer right away, his eyes were flicking back and forth and he was waving a hand around in front of himself. Okay, so someone reading invisible boxes looks exactly as stupid as I thought it did. Bernard noted to himself as he watched the kid go through his options. After a considerable length of time he received some messages from Aegis.

Your ward has selected the class Monk for your consideration.

Your ward has selected the class Druid for your consideration.

Your ward has selected the class Pugilist for your consideration.

He blinked in surprise as little windows popped up describing the classes.

Monk: Master martial arts and internal energy. Class abilities vary based upon the Ways User chooses to pursue.

Druid: gain mastery of nature magic. Class abilities will allow User to manipulate plant matter and influence wildlife.

Pugilist: The purest of fighters, the Pugilist uses nothing but their fists to pound their foes into submission.

It was curious that he had been given an idea of what the abilities would be for the first two and not the last, but if he was honest it was pretty obvious that they would involve punching things better. "So why those three?" He asked, genuinely intrigued by the choices. The kid was far calmer and collected than he would have expected from someone that just lost their mother in such a spectacularly brutal way. He was either still in shock, or Bernard's hunch that Aegis was messing with their brains a bit was true.

He certainly would have been a wreck in Henry's shoes.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I've taken karate lessons since I was four and Monk or Pugilist looked closest to what I already know how to do. I picked Druid because, well, we're in a forest?" His eyes flicked over to the cairn he and Bernard had built over his mother's body. "Monks and Druids could usually heal in the games I've played that had them, too."

Bernard nodded in a way he hoped came across as 'wise-adult' and not the 'backwoods-hobo-sitting-in-his-underwear' image he was now sporting since he removed his armor. "Well in that case I think we can rule out Pugilist, right? If you want to have a way to heal eventually? That leaves Druid and Monk. Remember, whatever you pick will affect every choice you are given by Aegis in the future. Both of those classes are likely going to have drawbacks.

Druids are probably going to be like my class, in that it is strongest in certain environments, while a Monk is probably going to have to stick to strange lifestyle choices. I don't know for sure, but most monks have something like a vow or set of beliefs they have to stick to no matter what right?"

"What's your class?" Henry asked, the curiosity in his voice a significant improvement over the mix of indifference and depression he'd shown up to now.

"Arboreal Warden, I protect the forest. The description was a bit vague when I saw it, but it's worked out for me so far. Only downside is I get the feeling I'll have problems if I try to leave the forest for too long."

"I don't know if I want to stay here forever." Henry was back to sounding rather down. "What do you think I will have to do for the Monk class?"

Bernard shrugged. "No idea. I'm just guessing at this stuff kid. I don't even know for sure I can't leave the forest for long, it's just a feeling. Instinct. I also suspect that by the time I have the option I won't even want to. Pretty sure this thing is messing with our brains. It's why I was telling you to be careful, I don't want you to pick something you might eventually regret.

"Or worse, something that affects your decisions and actions the way I think mine has been doing. I'd feel horrible if I let you pick something that turned you into someone or something you would have hated to become. It's your choice though kid, I don't know you well enough to do more than offer the advice I already gave you."

"Monk then." Henry said firmly. Bernard approved the selection for him and a silvery black cloud enveloped the kid. A few minutes later he received another message from Aegis.

Your ward has selected Way of Mercy for your consideration.

Monks following the Way of Mercy bring mercy in all its forms. Healing those that can be healed and ending the suffering of those that cannot.

"Well that doesn't have any dark implications at all." Bernard said with a grunt. Still, it was the only one the kid selected. He waited a few minutes longer just to be sure, but no other Ways were presented to him. "I guess the kid is really determined to be able to heal. Defend himself too I suppose, since he didn't pick a pure healer class." He reluctantly accepted the choice and before long the cloud dissipated and revealed a much more muscular and toned Henry.

Bernard snickered a bit when he saw that Henry's hair was gone. "I guess one of the drawbacks is not having hair?"

"Hair is dangerous. If my hair were to get too long something might be able to grab hold of it in a fight and use it against me." Henry said in an annoyed tone. "It will grow back, but I chose to remove it when Aegis let me make changes during my first level up."

Bernard cocked his head slightly. Henry seemed… more mature than he would have expected from a kid his age. He wondered if Aegis had something to do with that or if Henry was just a more serious kid. He had met a few of those in the past. Then again, it wasn't like this was a situation that inspired whimsy and imagination either. Time would tell, he supposed.

"So what did you get?" He asked after a minute.

"It's hard to explain." Henry eventually replied. "I… know how to fight better than ever? I'm stronger and faster, and I have a feeling that I need to sit and think quietly every now and then?"

"Meditate is probably the word you were looking for there. Meditating is something a lot of monks tend to do, so it's not surprising you have to."

"It's not that I have to. It's more like, doing it will help me follow my Way. If that makes sense."

Bernard shrugged. "Makes more sense than me being able to talk to trees."

"You can talk to trees?" Henry gave him a dubious look.

"You just watched me beat down snake monkeys with a big thistle and wooden armor, then came out of a cloud with bigger muscles and no hair and that's the thing that you find unlikely? It's how I found you, the forest didn't like the snake monkeys and wanted me to get rid of them, I only heard you screaming when I got close. Of course the forest didn't tell me what it wanted me to get rid of. I probably wouldn't have resisted so hard if I knew I was going to be fighting monkeys. Little vermin." He muttered the last couple words with an angry glare at the canopy.

"I wanted to ask about that. Why a thistle?"

"Hey, show some respect for the Thistle of Mass Murder. That thing is way more dangerous than it looks, and it looks pretty dangerous." He glanced over at the still-sorry-looking thistle. "Well, when it hasn't been horribly abused it looks dangerous." He amended. "Also, I didn't get much choice in the matter, I got it and my armor from the Store as big acorns. They grew really fast after I planted them and if I did get a say in how they turned out I was too busy getting concussions to take advantage of it."

Henry's stomach rumbled, interrupting their conversation. "Yea, I'm kinda hungry too kid. How are you at climbing? Those berries up that palm tree are safe to eat." He paused for a moment as he tried to figure out how he knew that. He decided it didn't matter. Knowing what was safe to eat was better than guessing by far.

Henry gave him a slight grin. "Much better than I was a few minutes ago, and I wasn't bad at it then." Bernard gawked at him as he practically flew up the tree, only stopping once he reached the spray of slender branches that were coated in dark blue berries. A few snapped off limbs later Henry descended the tree at a pace that almost made Bernard wince.

"Kid, I think this is going to be the beginning of an excellent partnership." He said, popping a berry into his mouth and biting down. "Gagh!" He choked a bit and spit out the unexpectedly tough pit. "Watch out for the pits."