The minutes slowly tick by with her gaze not once leaving me. The other people who were sitting near us cleared out almost immediately. My uncomfortableness slowly changes to fear. Not regular fear though. One of the few things my father taught me is the differences between the different types of fear. The first type is the natural type like walking in the dark or hearing the sound of a rattlesnake’s rattle. The second type is the mechanical type where you know something is far superior than you and they wish to do you harm. The third is exponential type that is when fear completely overwhelms a person and causes them lose all bodily function. This is type two fear I’m feeling the type I’ve only felt around my father. I show no emotion though, I won’t show weakness.

The minutes continue to tick down until finally her gaze subsides.”You are not a sociopath,” she says. My body is finally released from her pressure giving me a feeling of sitting down really heavy weights.”Your path is open to both sides though I encourage you to pick the right side.” And at that moment her coordinator Mr. Johna walked in calling her name. She leaves instantly not bothering to explain herself. I stare at where I last saw wondering what she meant.

“Don’t worry about it man,” I guy says a few chairs over.”Paladins are always like that. Preacher and saying weird things best to just ignore them.”

I nod at the man going back to my mind. In the end it took over an hour for a coordinator to come to me. In that time I filled out the sheet and gave it to the person behind the desk. My coordinator is a overweight middle age man in a tie and suit named Mr. Kibitzer. I was happy to get out of my head and to follow him. We didn’t speak until we arrived at his office where he began to lecture.

“Adventuring,” he says getting into his chair.”Is a very dangerous profession. For every time you go into the dungeon you face death at every second. I won’t give you the crap about its okay to leave, you would have stopped long before you met me if you believed that. No I’m going to give you the best chance of survival I can give you with the knowledge I have. Now give me your right arm I will show you something,” he extends his arm out. After a few moments of hesitation I give him my arm. He nods.”Good you are untrustworthy of strangers that will be very useful in the dungeon.”

He takes a stone out of his desk and sets it on the underside of my forearm. Marks appear all over my arm. My eyes widen I try to read the marking but they are in a language I don’t understand.

“You are a calm one Mr. Zero,” Mr. Kibitzer says.”These markings are your Statius or stats as they are commonly referred to. They are written in the language of the system and only coordinators can read them and tell you about the specifics of what they say.”

He moves the stone to the right causing them to move off my flesh and into the air. He writes them down in english. After he is done, he takes the stone off my arm which makes the markings go back and disappear. He then shows me the paper explaining everything on there.

“Your level is zero which is because you have no class. You have no titles and no blessings. Your stats are strength: 6, dexterity: 6, endurance: 6, agility: 6, vitality: 6, intelligence: 6. These will change extremely after you first start going into the dungeon, but will level out after about a week. Then you will actually have to start to train in order to increase your stats. The specifics of these stats are going to take a long time to explain if you wish to leave right now and go into the dungeon that is alright.”

My eyes widen again.”No,” I say,”I need to know what each stat represents and how I can use it.”

Mr. Kibitzer nods at this.”Good the people that take that offer are always the ones that die on the first day.” He looks at another piece of paper next to his desk. It’s the form I filled out in the waiting room.”It says here you received all A’s while in middle school, I’m going to assume this is true. Then why didn’t you use the money you used to pay for Kid Killer and try your hand at the america’s state test. You may not have gotten the highest, but you would’ve gotten in.”

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“I thought you were going to explain my stats.” I don’t like it when people question my life.

“I am I just wanting to satisfy a curiosity that I have.” He responds not indicating in the slightest he will continue.

I narrow my eyes at him.”My father paid for half of the cost of the pass to go to Kid Killer then left me with just enough to pay for the rest. He also said before he died that it would be a waste for someone like me to go to the testing. I think he believed that they were rigged.”

He thinks for a moment before asking his next question.”You said before he died. Why would a father in his last moments tell his son not to receive an education then practically force you to go into the dungeon the most dangerous place in the world.”

I clench my jaw.”Because I think he knew this is what is meant for me, even though I hate to admit it. And before you ask yes I dislike my father and no you will not know the specifics on why.”

Mr. Kibitzer is silent for a few moments.”Okay I’m satisfied. Back to your stats you are right to be curious about the stats because they are more intertwined than you think. Take strength and agility for example. Strength is the power a muscle has and agility is how fast someone moves. Agility is primary associated with the legs, but the legs have muscles too does strength not apply to them?”

I think for an answer after a few minutes of being unable to think of one I give up shrugging.

“Yes,” he says,” it does. Agility is how fast the muscle flexes and strength is the power behind flex. So if two stats are combined effientently….”

“They’ll maximize how fast someone can run and how fast a weapon can be swung.”

“Yes,” Mr. Kibitzer says.”The other stats can be similarly combined. Moving on dexterity is the flexibility of the body, endurance is the amount of stamina one has, but do not confuse it with energy which is the amount of stamina you use suddenly. Do you understand?”

I nod.

“Vitality is the amount of damage you can receive before dying. I say it like this because certain injuries are fatal no matter how much vitality you have. And intelligence is the amount of processing power your brain has don’t confuse intelligence for wisdom there is a big difference believe me.”

After that he tells me to regurgitate what he just said. I do summoning down what he said into simpler terms.

He nods.”Good Mr. Zero,” he puts the stone back on my arm the marks appearing in the air again.”This will be the most important part of your day Mr. Zero. Choosing your first class. The options are nomad, survivalist and scavenger. I can already tell you aren’t suited for nomad so I suggest you pick from survivalist and scavenger. A survivalist has higher vitality and endurance, but lower stats all around, a scavenger has higher agility and dexterity, but lower stats all around. The skills each class provide are basically the same with only a few differences that we will take about at another time. I can’t chose the class for you nor can I force the class on you. You may take all the time you need, but from what you said earlier I don’t think you have the money to be thinking.

He’s right my hotel room is over tomorrow and I only have have thirty dollars in my wallet.

“Does the class I chose now decide other classes I can get in the future?”

“No, but they do favor abilities used by specific classes. Many people hoping to get into rogue class start out as scavengers and those thinking of trying their hand at magic go to survivalist. But like I said it doesn’t determine it.”

I nod thinking deeply.

“I choose scavenger.” I say.

“Okay touch this marking right here,” he points to one that appears to be just like the rest.”And say ‘I Have Chosen The Class Of Scavenger.’”

“I Have Chosen The Class Of Scavenger.”

The mark glows bright red then morphs into a new one. Several other marks change but I don’t know into what.

“This completes you first meeting with me. My advice for you is to take one of the pamphlets from the office and go into a dungeon with a good record. I won’t lie to you most people especially ones your age die on their first day. I am not expecting you back Mr. Zero, but I do hope you do return.”

He takes the stone off. I’m almost out the door by the time the marks are completely gone. His words made me realize something. No one is expecting me back.