Dexter held the class gem in has hand, filling his mind with intent to use it. As expected, a menu appeared in front of him.

[Use Class Gem: 1/1]

[Reward: Select a Class]

[Select a class from the following options]

[Paladin - A knight of holy intent. Defend yourself from the evils of your world and cast down those who oppose your God]

[Scribe - Forge mystical runes. Prepare for any situation and unleash a torrent of spells]

[Druid - Nature is your God. Use the very lands themselves as catalysts for various spells and incantations]

Dexter scrolled the list, sifting through around fifty different classes. He never would have thought he’d have so many options.

“What do you recommend, Princess?” Dex asked, hoping she would know whatever the best option was.

“There’s only three to choose from, and you already have a sword. Probably just pick Warrior.” She echoed.

“Three? There’s like fifty, and I don’t even see Warrior.” Dex said, puzzled, scrolled through his options again.

“What the hell? No way... Read me some of the options.” Princess echoed, still keeping a lookout around the ruins.

“Okay, uhh. Ascetic, Pathfinder, Invoker, Berserker-” Dex was cut off.

“No way, those are tier three classes. Why the hell are you getting those options?” For the first time since he met her, she sounded genuinely confused and slightly angry at the same time.

“Fuck if I know. All I know is I have choice paralysis right now.” He continued skimming the list until one class finally caught his eye.

[Weapon Master - Become one with your blade. Gifted in melee combat, Weapon Masters utilize the ability to shift their weapon to any situation.]

“Whoa, that sounds cool. Check this one out.” Dexter read the Weapon Master description to Princess.

“That sounds cool as hell. Do that one!” She sounded excited, almost giddy. She really was his familiar, it seemed.

Having already spent a while trying to decide, he figured it’d there probably wasn’t a devastatingly wrong choice here and went with his gut. Dexter intended to pick Weapon Master, and so he did.

[Class change: Weapon Master (Tier 3) class acquired]

[The following skills and passives have been acquired]

[Level 1 Skill: Inspect Weapon - View the detailed stats and effects of a magical weapon]

[Level 1 Skill: Soulbind Weapon - Choose a weapon and merge it with your spirit. It is yours now, in the deepest context]

[Level 2 Skill: Recall Weapon - Return your soul weapon to your possession]

[Level 1 Passive: Healthy Body, Healthy Mind - You strike a balance between your physique and your mental state. +10 Physical and Cognition stats]

[Level 1 Passive: Weapon Shift - Your soul weapon will change its shape to fit your current needs]

[Level 1 Passive: One With Weapons - You have a basic understanding of the form and function required to properly use any weapon you hold]

[Level 2 Passive: Warrior’s Regeneration - You heal from non-lethal wounds at an alarming rate. Alarming to your enemies, that is]

Dex stared in amazement at the list of skills and passives. This seems OP he thought, completely awestruck. Neither he nor Princess had any idea why exactly he had gotten such powerful options, but he was happy nonetheless. Maybe it was because he had killed the vrakir which was obviously much more powerful than him?

Noticing the “Level 2” in a couple of the abilities, he decided to check his Personal Sheet, assuming he had leveled up.

[PERSONAL SHEET]

Level: 2

Race: Human (Rank 1 - Earthling)

Class: Weapon Master (Rank 3)

- Physical -

* Might: 15 (+10)

* Agility: 14 (+10)

* Vitality: 11 (+10)

* Endurance: 14 (+10)

- Cognition -

* Perception: 13 (+10)

* Adaptability: 13 (+10)

* Intuition: 16 (+10)

* Resilience: 12 (+10)

- Spirit -

* Resonance: 1 (+1)

* Harmony: 0

* Control: 0

“Wow!” Dex couldn’t believe how much his stats had raised. He had gained a lot of points in every category, save for Spirit. The only point he gained there was from completing the familiar quest and bonding with Princess. It also seemed to indicate the changes since he last viewed the page. The boost from the Healthy Body, Healthy Mind passive more than doubled some of his stats. However, he didn’t gain any stats from leveling up, only from the passive.

“What? Is Weapon Master as cool as we thought?” Princess could hardly contain her excitement.

Stolen story; please report.

“Cooler. I can manipulate weapons, heal fast, and...” His attention drew to his pierced hand. It was already working, the wound had begun closing. Dex could still feel pain from the wound, but could no longer see through his hand, and the blood had stopped flowing. Princess seemed to notice, too.

“I’m thinking we might make it out of the forest now.” Princess couldn’t help but laugh, feeling safe for the first time in months. “We still have the matter of why you weren’t affected by the vrakir’s spell. Any thoughts?” She asked.

“No clue. There’s nothing on my Personal Sheet about it.” Dex replied.

“Did you... Did you check your racial passives? That’s the only thing you had going before your class. Wait. What is your race, anyway? I know a lot about you, but not what world you come from specifically.”

“Racial passives? No, I never knew that was a thing. And I’m an Earthling, rank one.” Dex decided to try to pull up his race information.

[Earthling - Rank 1]

[A denizen of the non-magical planet known as Earth. These creatures, known as “Humans” are innately resourceful. Their ability to adapt to their environment and learn from tough situations is unmatched]

[Racial Bonuses]

[+25% Experience]

[Extra Class Options]

[Passive: Earthling Magical Resilience - Earthlings’ homeworld is devoid of magic, thus they are innately resistant to it. Their resistance is not completely impenetrable, however. This also does not hinder their ability to learn and use magic]

“Well, that explains a lot,” Dexter said. He explained the Earthling Magical Resilience passive, as well as the extra class options. The two agreed that the extra class options explained why his list was so big, but not why he received tier three options.

After some more discussion, Dex decided it was time to check out his weapon. He looked down at his sword and used his Inspect Weapon skill.

[Steel Sword - (3)]

[Sharp (Tier 5)]

[Unbreakable]

[Self-cleaning]

Again, this answered a few questions Dex had in the back of his mind. The sword did always seem to shake off the blood and guts, but more important was the Sharp Tier five listed. He wasn’t sure how many tiers there were, or how impactful each one was, but that at least explained why it seemed to slice through everything like butter. He also assumed the (3) indicated how many modifiers were on the weapon.

Without much hesitation, he decided to soulbind the sword.

“Soulbind weapon!” Dex yelled into the night sky. A cricket chirped once in the distance.

“Yeah, that’s not how that works,” Princess echoed. “I can’t believe you haven’t picked up on this yet, but just intend to use the skill, and it will use it.”

Blushing a little, he did as instructed. It almost felt as if nothing happened, except that, in the back of his mind, he could feel the sword. It was similar to how he could feel Princess, but much weaker. He knew the sword was his, but that’s about it. At least now he could recall it, and hopefully, it would shift into cool weapons.

“I feel it too.” Princess echoed. “The power from that sword is immense, and it is part of us now. The fear it will strike in our enemies is immeasurable!”

“Whoa, you can really feel it too?” Dex asked.

“No. It’s your sword, idiot.” Princess giggled like a school-rat.

Dex pointed the sword at her. “Don’t be a di-“ He cut himself off when he noticed what was in his hand. The weapon changing was almost imperceptible, barely even a split second blur. He no longer held a sword, instead, he was holding a spear. About seven feet long with a steel tip.

“Oh hell yeah.” The two said at the same time, both realizing the potential of his class. Hopefully, he wouldn’t just die to some new and terrifying monster before he had a chance to fully learn what he is now capable of it.

It wasn’t completely lost on him that, barely over a day ago, he was back on Earth driving home from his IT job, completely oblivious to the fact that everything was going to change forever. Maybe it was his adaptability stat that let him be sort of accepting of the situation?

“As much as I’d love to see you keep playing with your new toy, we probably need to get moving. There’s no telling exactly how the vrakir found us, and if any others are on the way.” Princess echoed, scurrying towards the edge of the clearing. Dex didn’t wait, following close behind.

Almost immediately Dex could feel his new stats taking affect. He felt slightly lighter on his feet, thanks to his heightened agility. Catching up to Princess took him only a couple of seconds.

“Maybe I should do the running?” Dex said, offering his hand to her. She didn’t hesitate climbing up his hand and past his arm, settling down under his tunic in the front of his chest, holding on with her little rat hands.

“Giddy-up!” She pointed one arm forward, letting a giggly-squeak out.

Dex didn’t hesitate. He started jogging at first, but quickly realized he could break into a full run without feeling much fatigue build-up. Rushing through the forest, nimbly dodging trees and bushes, the pair made great progress in separating themselves from the ruins.

It only took a few minutes for Dex to realize that, in their haste to leave, they didn’t attempt to loot the vrakir. That monster could have had some cool magical artifacts, or at least some money. If this world had money, anyway.

They continued blasting through the forest, only slowing down in some of the denser parts, but quickly accelerating after it was safe to not crash face-first into bark. Dex had been running for at least thirty minutes by this point, and it was finally starting to get to him. He could keep going, but he felt it. His legs started to burn and his breath became more labored with every step. Compared to last night, he was running much faster, which is probably why he tired out a lot sooner.

Without any notice, a popup appeared in Dex’s vision.

[New Quest: The Gargantuan Falls]

Dex skid to a stop, looking around furiously. The title made him panic, implying that there was a giant creature just around the corner waiting to slice him open and have him for lunch, with a Princess amuse bouche.

“Tired already?” Princess prodded.

“No, I got a new quest just now. The Gargantuan Falls. Did you not get it?” Dex said, continuing to scan the area, listening for any disturbances in the forest.

“No, quests tend to be personal challenges. Also, I’m your familiar, so the rewards would kind of be doubled-dipped.” Princess hopped out of his poncho and began focusing. “There it is,” She echoed, “I hear it.” Princess echoed, moving towards something Dex couldn’t detect.

“Chill out there, we don’t know anything about what this gargantuan creature is.” Dex said, taking a few cautious steps forward. “Let me check the quest rewards, then we can decide if we are going to face this or go around, ya?” He brought up the quest and a popup showed him its information.

[Quest: The Gargantuan Falls]

[Slay The Gargantuan cragtooth: 0/1]

[Reward: Potion Belt]

[Reward: 2x Regeneration Potions (Tier 1)]

[Reward: ??? Scroll (Tier 1)]

Dex explained the rewards to her, asking what the ??? Scroll was. She explained that it is a choice reward. When the quest is complete the victor selects one reward from a list of several. Then he moved on to the most important question.

“What is a cragtooth?” Dex asked.

“No idea, sounds scary tho.” Princess echoed. She perked her ears in the direction of the cragtooth once again. “I think it’s sleeping. I hear some light breathing but otherwise no movement.”

“Maybe you can scout ahead and give me a good path to sneak up on it. I could get a killing blow before it even wakes up.” Dex mimed stabbing a creature on the ground, his Weapon Shift changing his sword into a dagger and then back again.

“Great idea. Hold tight.” Princess didn’t waste any time, scurrying through the trees. She was gone for only a minute when she echoed into his mind again. “It’s just some more ruins, dude. I don’t even see anything, but I can still hear it.”

Deciding to get a look for himself, Dex pushed through the brush and trees, coming out into a small clearing, much smaller than the one with the now-rotting corpse of the vrakir assassin. He stood tall and stepped further towards the ruins. There was a cluster of dilapidated ruins, moss and vines had begun taking them over. Clearly, nothing here had been disturbed in years.

“I still don’t hear anything.” He said.

“Trust me, something is there.” Princess echoed, then sounded panicked, “Oh shit, I think you woke it up.”

One of the buildings, towards the other side of the clearing, began to vibrate. It took only a second for the two to find out what a cragtooth was.