Arthur woke up slowly, and the world was incredibly blurry. 'God, I hate mornings.' he thought to himself, attempting to rub the sleep away. Only the world stayed blurry, and his arms felt strangely heavy. Frowning in confusion, he tries to sit up, thinking, 'The hell?' only to struggle to move an inch.
Now he's starting to panic. 'Was I in an accident or something? Is this a hospital? At least I'm not in any pain, but I think that can be bad sometimes...' Calling out, he tried to ask for a nurse but just made some garbled sounds instead. This seems to draw the attention of someone nearby 'A nurse, thank god.' However, the nurse keeps getting bigger as she walks over. When she leans over to talk to him, he swears her head is almost as big as him.
"--- -- ----- ---?" She quietly asks Arthur as she lifts him from the bed, and it hits him. 'I'm a bloody baby? How I was just... I was just at work, I think, right? Maybe this is a lucid dream; I have had a few before.'
He spends a couple of minutes in the mystery women's arms before being placed back into what he now recognizes as a crib. 'I really had no idea baby's eyesight sucked so much.' He thinks to himself, starting to accept that this probably isn't a dream, as even my most lucid ones don't seem to stay so stable for this long or play out so strangely.
'Well, let's get the reincarnation checklist out of the way. Status.... no way.' Thus, the first thing he can clearly see in his new life manifest before him.
Name Arthur Threat Level 0 Class
'This sure seems sparse, maybe...' He tries to focus on his trait and watches as the window transforms into a new display.
Twin Souled
Whether through necromancy or just pure luck, you have absorbed a blank soul into your own, increasing your aetheric capacity and allowing for more skills to be infused into your being.
Double skill selections
Double natural aetheric capacity
Luckily, the interface is rather intuitive; if he had to speak aloud or navigate it like a touch screen, he would have to wait a long while. He tries not to think about the fact that he appears to have absorbed his new body's soul and instead focuses on the much more exciting news. Magic appears to exist in this world. Brief thoughts or flinging fireballs and summoning armies run through Arthurs's mind. 'Focus, Arthur; grand feats of sorcery can wait until you figure out what's going on.'
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He lays there for a while, trying to come to terms with the enormity of the situation crashing down around him. He worries about his family, friends, and even his dog, hoping they will be alright without him. Despite all of the wonder, he can't help but feel nervous, so he opens up the class selection interface to take his mind off his situation.
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Between a surprisingly large list of starter classes and the difficulty of staying awake, a few weeks pass by in a haze. Arthur also has found out that being a baby is gross. He has gotten used to eating and other unfortunate biological necessities, but he'll survive it; he's a grown man, or well he was.
'Let's run through the evidence again,' Arthur begins attempting to channel his inner Sherlock.
'I think the world is around the medieval era; my mom's clothes have a plain and handmade look about them,' Arthur considers. 'I wish they would take me outside to get a clearer picture.' That's one of the tidbits of information he's managed to uncover. He is taken care of by just one person and has seen what he suspects is his father and a couple of other siblings. His new home is wooden and sparsely furnished. No fancy paintings or gold inlaid furniture.
'Hell, the windows don't even have glass, just wooden shutters,' He laments. 'So we're either peasants or just poor'
The class list wasn't as helpful as he had hoped, either. There were a lot of options, but they were all just so plain. 'There isn't even a swordsman class, just fighter, and the description 'A physical combat specialist' does not give me a lot to go on''
There were classes like crafter, leader, scholar, and other broad fields with equally unhelpful descriptions. 'Well, except for one anyway,' he trails off as he looks at one class for what feels like the hundredth time.
Mage A wielder aether who creates supernatural effects.
Arthur grimaces, remembering the wording of his trait. 'Not the greatest cheat, but at least it's something. Hopefully, there isn't an inspect skill that will get me labeled as some horrible necromancer. On the bright side, more mana, or aether, and by extension, the soul is what you need to use magic. Doubling that might be a huge boon'
Arthur considers the simpler options 'Farmer or crafter would be a safe choice, but I already spent one life working day to day, and getting dirty was fun. I wouldn't have gotten into IT. Scholar could maybe be interesting, but I don't think I ever managed to read through an entire white paper. Lastly, there's fighter, but if my old world is anything to go by, hitting things hard and shooting arrows, or even bullets, doesn't compare to the more inventive ways of fighting.'
One thing all those choices had in common was that they could be done in his old world. 'Adding in magic and skills still won't change the core of what the class would do.' He considers,' And if gaming has taught me anything about mages, it's that they are versatile'
He thinks again about whether he should play it safe and try to learn more, but by god, sitting around staring at the ceiling day after day is boring. Also, the chance to use real magic is just too tempting. He mentally selects Mage and is prompted once again by an ominous warning.
Class selection is irreversible; select Mage as your class? Yes No
He glances around one last time to make sure he is alone in the room. 'Please don't let there be some MMO-style light show, Yes,' He decides.