“That’s totally on you,” I said. “Probably, in the future, if we all survive this, there will be a ceremony on the kid’s birthday where he chooses and the family celebrates the choice. Kind of like a Bar or Bat Mitzvah or a Quinceanera. And hopefully, it is the kid’s choice, he or she won’t get bullied into selecting something that he or she doesn’t want, but the here and now, it’s every adult’s choice. Let me tell you what I know or think about the choices you got since the System is curiously silent on the benefits or drawbacks of the classes. Even our imues won’t tell us any more about them.”

Of course, here we had to explain the help system, which we’d forgotten about and the imues and then they had to select an imu and before we knew it another 30 minutes had passed before we got back to classes.

“OK,” I said. “Plumber is not a combat class. I got offered that too. I know I said it’s your choice, but being a plumber stuck in the wilderness is not a wise choice. Nuff said. The Cleric is a type of mage that’s basically concerned with buffing and healing.” Here I had to explain what buffing was. “Janet is a cleric. She’s hoping to be able to transform it into a more advanced class later, something like Druid.”

Of course, here I had to explain both advanced classes and Druids to all of my family of listeners. Baila did not seem impressed until I pointed out that right now, Janet was our main damage dealer, then she looked a little thoughtful. It turned out that Big Mike was active in the church, lead a couple of bible study groups when he had time. That was probably why he got offered Cleric.

I had another thought here that maybe I’d not given my imu a chance to dish on classes. I hadn’t asked him to explain any class other than my two selected classes. Maybe it would give us more information. But no, it didn’t. It didn’t even show up to say no. I asked Big Mike and the girls to check with their imues, just in case I’d been blackballed by the system, but their imues had the same lack of response that mine did. Grumpy little buggers! I’m naming mine Miles. I wonder if he gets more action in a week then me? Probably so, it’s been a dry spell. For some reason, women just aren’t attracted to someone living in a twenty-year-old Cadillac. Even a gold one. Of course, then I had to explain to the two little ones that their imues don’t always answer questions. The disappointed looks on their faces were one more reason to hate the Event.

“Fighter I’m assuming is just the basic class. If it holds true to what I know - which is all based on history and fantasy novels, a fighter probably doesn’t do ranged fighting very well, but equally probably excels in close up melee-type fighting. I have problems using a shield, I’m assuming a fighter wouldn’t. I’m also assuming that like in the stories, a fighter can wear heavy armor and fight with heavy weapons with no penalty, a tank in other words. Unfortunately, I don’t have any armor or heavy weapons to give you. And I guess we don’t get starter gear. At least we didn’t,” and here I gestured toward myself and the two girls.

“Merchant you probably got from your jobs after the marines. Again, a Merchant is not a combat class. I’m thinking the same thing about it that I think about the Plumber. Not a good choice for the wilderness. Maybe a great choice in the cities though. One thing I realized is that the class starts you with some spells or skills or abilities. I got three spells when I took mage, I only got one ability for Monk. I’m not sure why. But in any case, Merchant would probably give you non-combat skills and they’d probably not be that useful in fighting off giant squirrels.

“Builder is a class I would really love for you to take, especially if we were in a city, but we’re not. We’re in the woods and trying to get to a city. Not a combat class, probably non-combat skill-based like Plumber and Merchant.”

“Cook?” I asked.

He said, “I was a Food Service Specialist (MOS 3381) first before I became a Food Service Officer (MOS 3302). I liked being a specialist. I liked cooking. I liked the atmosphere, talking with the Marines I’d cooked for, the Officer was less fun. Paid better though.”

“Same thing as the Builder, Merchant, and Plumber, we’re in the woods and need to get out,” I said. “I don’t think Cook would help us. Soldier is a more advanced class than Fighter, I’m guessing. I’m thinking that it showed up because you were a Marine. It probably has all of the fighter pluses, with some guerrilla warfare or ranged knowledge, you can shoot bows. It might have some strategy or mage type abilities in there as well. I guess it depends on the type of soldier you were, how it translates. But I’m thinking that now that you have mana and Qi, it probably has some magic. If it were your best option, I’d say take it.”

He nodded.

“Knight’s generally are the heavy tanks of the battlefield,” I continued. “They can take and give damage. On the giving scale, not as much as a pure damage dealer like a relatively high-level mage could do, but significant. The other thing is they go head to head with boss monsters of equal or slightly higher level. Stall them up, let the damage dealers whittle them down. They’ve got lots of hit points and are strong. You probably got that because I know you’re strong and you probably have a high constitution and a high charisma and were a marine. Knights are like Fighters and Soldiers, you guys like to mix it up. It’s generally a lead-in class to Paladin which is a type of holy knight or Dark Knight which is the exact opposite. I’m thinking you take this, you’ll wind up a Paladin eventually. If Paladin’s a thing. Unfortunately, I don’t have any armor or heavy weapons to give you, so the same problem as with Soldier and Fighter. Oh, and they’re way into horses too.”

** 6/04

“The last four classes use magic. Well, maybe the last one, Alchemist may use Qi. Mage straight up is defined by magic use. You’ll get three spells with Mage, I'd guess a random assortment with one of them being an offensive spell, probably Force Bolt. That’s the spell that both Tanya and I got. It does OK damage. But if you take this class, we can give you a bunch more spells. We discovered how to pass spells back and forth, so as long as you’re with us and one of us discovers a spell, you’ll have it too. Its primary stat is intelligence, secondary stats are Wisdom and Perception. If you have someone to tank for you, this is a great class, even as a beginner, even in the wilderness. If you don’t, then, in the beginning, you're monster chow. Ranger is generally a woodsman. Likes the little bunnies. He generally is a bowman, an archer. I’ve got a bow that I can give you. I’ve been in three fights and haven’t used it yet which is kind of pissing me off now that I think about it. But, he also probably uses a sword equally as well. A shield, I don’t know. You might be in the same position that I’m in, can’t block crap with it. There are all kinds of Rangers in stories, magic users, beastmasters, summoners, trappers, basically, there’s a lot of ways this class can go. I have no idea what the primary and secondary stats for this class are. Since it seems to be a special class, it might even have multiple secondaries. Don’t know.”

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“Spell Blade might be your money shot,” I continued. “I know nothing about it except what the name tells us. It uses spells and uses knives or swords. In the stories I’ve read, it can be heavy on the magic or heavy on the blades. Magic heavy means you’ll be dancing through your enemies blasting them with spells while using your blade to defend or knock them off balance. Blade heavy means that you’ll be like a fighter with a magic sword only your sword’s magic will come from you, flaming swords, ice swords, sword storms, you get the idea. Alchemist is a little bit like a magical cook. It’s probably a mage type class, but it might be a Qi type class. Web fiction and fantasy books are split between having them be tied to Qi or having them be mage types and since you’ve got both now, I have no idea which one is responsible for that class selection. The alchemist usually makes potions that restore health and mana and pills that provide buffs and debuffs as well as, in the stories, he or she can even level Qi abilities such as Jade Lotus Touch with pills that they’ve made. It probably is in the mage family, but may not have access to all of the skills of a mage, conversely, a mage probably can’t do alchemy, maybe. It probably is a production skills type class which usually requires a high dexterity. So you probably need intelligence, dexterity and have been either a cook or a chemist in the old-Earth.”

I finally ended my explanation and looked at him.

He paused for a second and then said, “You were long on explanation there, not so much on recommendations. What would you do if you were me? What could I be that would help us survive?”

“Wow,” I said. “That’s a tough one. Because what you choose now will impact the rest of your life. I’d say choose the one that you’re most drawn too. That said, that might be stupid advice in the apocalypse. Choose the one that will help you and your family survive. It’s what men do. However, you’ve got some good choices to select from: Soldier, Knight, Spell Blade, Ranger, Mage or Alchemist. All of them have some good points to them. Look at your stats. What are your highest stats? Soldier and Knight are probably Strength and Constitution based. Ranger is probably Strength and Agility based. Spell Blade probably Intelligence and Agility based. Mage is Intelligence and Wisdom. Is your Charisma, Strength and Constitution high? You’re probably golden for a knight. I will say that I could use another meat shield on the front lines. The first fight we got into was a little embarrassing. I couldn’t control the mobs. However, it’s your choice.”

Of course, then I had to explain to pretty much everyone, with the not-so-surprising exceptions of the little girls, that mobs were gamer slang for monsters. Then I had to explain what the stats were and what was a high stat and a low stat is. He wanted to show me his status screen to help me help him make a decision, but I stopped him because already I was having privacy concerns. Because that is ultimately your most private information. You don’t want that information just getting out there. Plus with my new memory, our new memories, once that information was shared, it wouldn’t be forgotten. Suddenly high level identify spells seemed a little bit more invasive.

While he was still thinking about it, I turned to Consuelo and asked if she needed any help picking a class. She nodded her head and then shared her class selection screen with us:

Current Classes

* Scholar

* Tailor

* Merchant

* Cook

* Mage

* Illusionist

* Seer

* Alchemist

“Well,” I said, “You heard what I said about Merchant, Mage, Alchemist, and Cook so I won’t repeat it. Scholar in the stories can be quite a powerful class, but it’s usually based inside of a town or castle’s library or a college, not in the woods. In addition, it generally is focussed on gaining knowledge; however, it usually has some useful spells, things like an advanced version of identity or commune and maybe some debuff or buffing spells. It’s probably some form of Mage. You used to be a teacher, right?”

She nodded her head.

“Then that’s probably why you got offered it,” I said. “Tailor is not a combat class, but useful. Supposedly, a tailor can make leather armor, which beats the armor we’re wearing which is basically not armor, but leather brush gear. The Illusionist is a mage, but one that focuses on illusions and charming and other mind manipulating spells. It can be a very powerful class, but usually, it doesn’t put things down like a mage does. Its spells aren’t usually as damaging. The Seer is probably a magic user with a focus on divination. You probably have to have a high intelligence, wisdom and perception to get offered this class. It can be very useful, think of a fortune teller who can actually tell your fortune, but I’m not sure about their magic, probably debuffs and buffs.”

“What would you select Monsoon?” she asked.

“Lord,” I replied. “That’s a tough one. I got offered Alchemist and didn’t take it because, well, we were in the woods, the party was small and we needed a fighter to block off the monsters from the squishies,” I gestured toward Janet and Tanya. They both made a rude gesture towards me.

“The situation for you now and us then is a bit different. We could use the potions that an alchemist would brew and we have a front line to hopefully keep you safe. However, I don’t know what tools you’d need and if we could come up with them. So it might be a totally useless class until we can find, make or purchase the tools you’d need to do your brewing or pill making. Big Mike that goes for you too. I’m sorry I forgot about Alchemist when I was talking with you about recommendations. The Seer class kind of fascinates me. I think it’s a rare class and potentially a really useful one. However, most of the seers in the books that I’ve read have been a little batty. Something about knowing the future isn’t really healthy for us humans. I have no idea what the class would do to you in the real world, I’m going by novels that I’ve read. The mage class is excellent. Tanya is our main mage and does a decent job of dealing damage; however, she’s out-leveled her spells and needs some new, more powerful ones to really bring out the power of her class or time to rank her existing spells up. She’s about mid-Iron ranked and only has bronze ranked spells. The same goes for Janet, she’s also mid-Iron ranked and only has bronze ranked spells and skills. So, you could choose any of them or since your level three even two of them. It’s up to you.”

“Two of them?” she asked.

“Oh,” I said. “I forgot to mention that. I’m a multi-class. Janet and Tanya a single class. That means that I can do anything either of my two classes can do: Mage or Monk. It also means that my experience points get divided in two. That’s why they are level thirteen and I’m only level ten. There’s good with the bad, bad with the good.”