“Ahh… I do see the screen now… are you able to see it to?” I ask. Rather distracted by the popup that clears away after a few seconds. I doubt something like administrative access is normal. A gut feeling tells me I should keep this to myself.

“Excellent my student,” Ysella said and gave a smile that bordered on the lascivious. “Now, you should be able to navigate through the various sections and set yourself up. Since you are in soul form you likely want to start with creating your body first. No sense in getting a class that can wield weapons if you don’t have hands after all.”

“That sounds like a good idea, but I have a couple of questions. Can others read my status? Can I mold how I look?”

“Others can read what is on your status screen if they have the right skills and aren't opposed by stronger skills or items. For instance, I can see your name is Ehl and your age is set to 14. You can set your appearance, but depending on the race of being you pick you may change more as you get older. I would suggest you set your adult appearance and the system should automatically work backward from there to your age.”

Sure enough, the only things locked in on the screen I can read at the moment are my name and age. It seems the access I was given is recorded in a hidden manner. I concentrated on the race section and a long list came up. Some sections greyed out but many more were lit up. Hmm, I wonder if I can filter this in some way. It seemed like I could. While I was filtering I had a question to ask.

“Ysella, why are some of these race options greyed out?”

“Hmmm…” her eyes seem to gleam a little at my question. “I could answer your question if you agree to answer mine. Seems only fair does it not?” Her voice seemed to have an odd undercurrent to I couldn’t quite place.

“That does seem fair, I…” the world seemed to slow as I was about to say agree. A warning box appeared in front of me.

[Are you sure you want to agree to the Soul Contract’s terms?]

Time seemed frozen as I pondered. Soul Contract? What the hell is that… How could you get that from a simple question and answer… Well, Ysella must be a goddess of something. Argh, I definitely can’t agree without knowing what I am agreeing to. I mentally mark no to the terms of the Soul Contract and time resumes. As it does I am surprised to find Ysella directly in front of my face her bosom pressed up against my body.

“My my, what an interesting boy,” She gently leaned in and gave me a hug while cooing in my ear. “I am so curious as to what my sister gave you. You know I could give you a gift too if you let me know. What say we take a second to discuss these interesting circumstances before pressing on with your System enrollment?”

I gulped somewhat audibly. Now it was obvious that most people didn’t get a chance to reject a soul contract in the way I had. I also knew now having experienced it once that this second question didn’t come laden with that undercurrent of tone like the last soul contract offer. I was a bit worried that the other gods might spy on us the same way Abysia did though.

“I am… willing to discuss with you if you can make this conversation more private?”

Ysella, nodded and snapped her fingers. I felt a twisting motion in my stomach and we were relocated to a bedroom like you might find for engaged couples. Heart-shaped bed, lots of red and pink. Sex toys and lube could be spotted on a counter out of the corner of my eye. I must have given off a look of astonishment or something.

“Mmm… you like?” Ysella flirted with me. “Allow me to introduce myself fully I am Ysella, Goddess of Lovers, Fertility, and Pleasure.”

“Ahh… I see. Umm… what about marriage?” I asked to give myself a second to adjust to my surroundings.

“Bah, who needs such frippery and chains? That goes to someone else. Let’s talk more about something a lot more interesting… you and your present situation.” Ysella gave me a smile tinged with a touch of the feral.

“I can tell you what I can in exchange for your help and whatever this gift might be, but I will be honest I don’t know how useful it will be… Also, can you promise that you aren’t out to hurt Abysia with what I tell you?”

Ysella grinned like a cat with a canary. “My an admirer of my sister? How delightfully unusual… Very well. On my soul as a Goddess, I will not purposefully try to use any of the knowledge I gain here to hurt my sibling Abysia.” I could feel a tang of power in the air as she spoke her oath. I guess that would be the extent of proof. Not really sure I could ask for more and I know Abysia can’t do more from where she is.

“I don’t know what she gave me. I asked her to send a part of herself with me and I think she did. Some sort of essence? Soul goop? Was mixed with me. When I opened the Hero System that first time it briefly said I had administrative access.”

“Interestingly delightful, and you swear that is all you know at the moment?”

“I…” The time slowed down again but I pressed forward this time. “Do.”

Ysella clapped her hands with delight. “I do believe your time in Yenope will be most unusual and I look forward to watching your endeavors. I will bestow a gift upon you at the end before you leave. Share your status screen with me and I will provide you with what assistance I can, simply think about making it visible to me.”

I opened up my status screen where I left off and thought of making it visible to Ysella as well. She seemed to look over something taking it in for a second. “This appears to be a list of every creature and race within Yenope. These greyed-out options are extinct… though some of the lit-up options I would expect to be greyed out are not. I expect that means they must exist somewhere. I would suggest filtering your list to include those who are class capable unless you want to be a monster of course.”

I filtered the option as she suggested and most of the options disappeared. I was left with a far more reasonable list.

Human

Elf

Dragonkin

Beastkin

Djinn-born

Shapeshifter

Halfling

Infernal-Touched

Dwarf

Heaven-Touched

Gnome

Beyond-Touched

“One of these things is not like the others I mused… can monsters not be classes?” I asked.

“Yes and no. They start out with a sort of default monster class based on their type and if they survive long enough can potentially gain a class. Though that is unusual.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“What about these Touched races? What is special about them?”

“Touched races are one of the other kinds of races that have been influenced by other beings. Angel touched by heavenly dwelling creatures, infernal by devils, and beyond by things from the void. They add on to another race. Abysia’s realm would be part of the beyond if she wasn’t locked away if you were curious.”

“Can I combine races? Like if I pick human and elf would that make a half-elf?”

“Should be able to for some, but not all are valid combinations. Like Dwarf and Beastkin for example.”

I always had a bit of a thing for dragons, so I highly doubted I could pick anything but Dragonkin personally. Though I was curious about the Beyond-Touched as well since they were related to Abysia in some way. Maybe I could combine the two? I tried mentally selecting both and a warning message popped up.

[Illegal configuration attempted. Admin Override Permissible. Attempt to Override could cause instability with the Hero System. Do you wish to proceed?]

Putting that thought on a mental hold. “Abysia what can you tell me about the Dragonkin?”

“Well, they were thought to be extinct. Perhaps they are extinct, but still could be made. Dragons do exist in the world after all though rarely seen and unlikely to breed with mortals. Dragons themselves are exceptional in many aspects, though most especially in magic. Dragonkin as I recall shares that trait though to a lesser degree. Likely you will make some choices as to your specific subtype. Your racial rarity will likely make you stand out though, be that for good or ill.”

Returning my mind to the prompt I select yes to proceed.

[Physical manifestation beginning. Warning. Illegal Configuration. Override Activated. Subsystems merging entities.]

Pain flooded through me as I had never felt before. As though my flesh had been flayed and I had been dipped in vinegar. I felt every inch of my body reconstruct from my soul out. I must have blacked out at some point. I came to on my hands and knees and realized now that my vision was confined to my eyes again. I saw my hands in front of me, gray scales with clawed fingers. I licked my lips nervously and felt it run across the bridge of my nose in surprise. My tongue was much longer than it had been and forked, though my nose still seemed human.

I looked up to see Ysella peering down at me with a look that mixed concern and curiosity. I realized I could smell her, something like vanilla mixed with bourbon, a sweet heady, and enticing aroma. She spoke, her voice seeming a bit louder than it was before. “Are you alright? I assume you did something with that access you had. The system isn’t normally supposed to cause pain during the physical incarnation process.”

I nodded and slowly sat myself down. “How do I look?” I asked. My voice was now a pleasant baritone, far better than what I used to sound like. Ysella snapped her fingers and a mirror appeared in front of me so I could examine myself.

My arms and legs were similar. The upper portions of which were human and the extremities were covered in dull gray scales with clawed fingers and toes. My torso was human though there was a distinct lack of hair anywhere, including the pubic region. It looked a bit like my chest when I was a teen if I had waxed it.

My head though was what drew the bulk of my attention. My hair was short and spiked, a sort of black-purple in color. My eyes were green, though instead of whites around it was black. I had human-like ears but the edges were coated in small gray scales. I had two horns that grew from my temples and curled up slightly that were ringed with runic tracings in a vivid luminescent green.

“You should be able to adjust anything you want. Give that a try.”

I mentally attempted to adjust my eye color but received a failure notification. Race and Physical changes are locked, and unable to revert. I relayed that to Ysella along with the override warning message from before.

“Must be a consequence of that override you did. Well, there are spells that could help you in the future or items too. Though you should check out your racial abilities and your stats before you pick your class.”

Name: Ehl

Race: Beyond-Touched Dragonkin

Class:

Stats:

Str: 13 Mnd: 14

Agi: 15 Spi: 16

Bod: 18 Cha: 15

Racial Abilities:

Beyond-Touched

Your heritage was touched by the outer realms. You are more resistant to mental and soul attacks than normal.

Runic Eyes

You can see in natural darkness. With effort, you can see the runic symbols inherent in natural elements.

Dragon Tongue

You have the ability to speak any language you have heard.

Interesting, the racial abilities seemed very broad which makes sense. No one is born with skill at using a sword or I guess magic. The stats seemed interesting I could loosely figure out what they meant but I wasn't really sure how they compared to anyone else, maybe Ysella could clue me in on the human average.

“Hey Ysella, what’s the adult human average for the various stats?”

“Hmm, generally between 8 and 12. If they are a hero, closer to between 10 and 16 with fewer high numbers than low. Stats rarely change throughout your lifetime, maybe a few points of increase and maybe a few decreases across the lifespan of a human. If you would like to share your updated screen with me I would be happy to help you pick a class.”

I certainly felt more comfortable with Ysella. Though I was curious about something I thought of. “Does a class define what skills you can learn? Like if I become a mage would I never be able to learn a sword?” I asked as I mentally shared my update screen with her, like I was refreshing a web page.

Ysella looked over the information with interest as she responded. “Not exactly, a fighter could learn magic if they are willing to dedicate themselves and have a strong enough connection to the Source. It’s just that a class predisposes someone towards certain skills for the most part. Though there are rare class-exclusive skills or even rarer personal skills. Some things can grant skills as well. Hmm, these stats though…”

Ysella pondered my stats while I looked over the class options. There were quite a few, I felt like I would be a bit more predisposed to using magic though not useless in a fight. I didn’t really like the idea of being what I thought of as a mage, somebody who hurls fireballs from a distance. Some of the classes caught my eye, the ones with Rune in them though I didn't have long to look at them before Ysella spoke up.

“I think a magic-using class would be most appropriate, though it seems a shame to waste that strong body. There are a few magic-using kinds that can also use weapons if you are interested.”

I filtered the classes by those that were magic capable. Quite a few remained, and I was pleased to see the Runic ones remain.

“What can you tell me about the Runic classes?”

“Runic knights wear armor they inscribe with runes. Runic mages cast spells from runes. Runic adepts inscribe themselves with runes. Those are the broad differences, runic magic tends to be stronger than other magic which is made up by the fact that it usually needs to be prepared in advance or takes longer to cast. Also Runic knowledge isn't as easy to learn as spells for a variety of reasons.”

“Are Runes Enchantments?”

“No enchantments are magically imbued into an item usually by an enchanter, but a highly skilled craftsman is also capable of it. Runes would be in addition to enchantment, not instead of.”

I pondered this information while looking over a few other classes but I kept being drawn back to the Runic Adept. It didn’t seem as tied to the need for arms and armor as the knight and was not so focused on the casting of spells from a distance. In short, it seemed exactly what I was looking for.

[Class Selection Complete. Setting Initial Skills.]

[Skill Acquired: Runic Body D]

[Skill Acquired: Runic Magic F]

[Skill Acquired: Evasion D]

[Skill Acquired: Unarmed Combat D]

[Skill Acquired: Weapons D]

[Spell Learned: Rune of Speed]

[Spell Learned: Rune of Mind]

[Creation complete. Departure in 15 minutes.]