2.
Name: Dave
Race: Human
Class: Classless
Strength 11
Dexterity 11
Endurance 11
Constitution 11
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 10
Charisma 11
Luck 11
Natural Affinities: Metallurgy, Language, Draconic
XP (Classless) 0 of 0 earned
The void around me began to lighten then glow with a brilliant white light, as this happened I could feel my newly grown hairs standing on end from the energy growing around me. For a moment I felt weightless, and then I could feel cool stone beneath my bare feet.
Once my eyes adjusted from the blinding light of teleportation, it seemed that I was standing in the middle of a small town. I appeared in a small square, maybe one hundred feet wide. Small buildings, with their awning, stood around the perimeter of (what I now realize was) the market square. Each side of the courtyard had a twenty foot wide road leading out the center. They appeared to be, what I as a former American would call, European streets. Looking around I could see signposts on the street corners, Market street and Main street. Main street ended in a huge round courtyard forty feet past the square.
The streets were completely void of life, Garth wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“I am currently elsewhere at the moment Dave.” - Garth.
The words appeared in the bottom right corner of my vision. I attempted to look at the text, and a ten second countdown suddenly appeared above the text. Once the time hit 0 the text box was now perfectly covering my center of vision, I had a feeling if I lost concentration that would change.
“Do I just think the words then?” - Dave.
I thought and the words appeared below Garth’s line.
“Concentration must be extremely important for this method of communication!?” - Dave.
YOU HAVE LEARNED OF THE SKILL “Concentration”.
YOU GAIN 250 EXPERIENCE.
The announcement, for lack of a better word, was enough to break my concentration and the communication box returned to the bottom right corner. All of this was too much, and I fell to my ass. There was already too much, I had gone from exhausted, then varying amounts of pain to confusion and this finally overwhelmed me and I passed into oblivion.
I woke up an undetermined amount of time later, the sky alight with the setting sun. The sky was beyond beautiful. It went from a brilliant red in the clouds to the west then a deep violet open sky with stars (that I did not recognize) beginning to glow through as the light from the sun faded. The beautiful sight along with the small portion of rest was enough for me to pull it together. I opened up my menu and looked at my log. It read:
“I am currently elsewhere at the moment Dave.” - Garth.
“Do I just think the words then?” - Dave.
“Concentration must be extremely important for this method of communication!?” - Dave.
YOU HAVE LEARNED OF THE SKILL “Concentration”.
YOU GAIN 250 EXPERIENCE
YOU COLLAPSED DUE TO CRITICAL FAILURE ON CONCENTRATION CHECK.
Well that is good to know, I guess there can be serious consequences for failures here. I took a deep breath and looked at my character sheet. It had changed slightly.
Name: Dave
Race: Human
Class: Classless
Strength 11
Dexterity 11
Endurance 11
Constitution 11
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Intelligence 10
Wisdom 10
Charisma 11
Luck 11
Natural Affinities: Metallurgy, Language, Draconic
Untyped XP (Classless) 250 earned
Skills: Concentration Level 0
I exited my character sheet and focused on the bottom right corner of my vision, nothing happened. I kept at this for an entire minute before text appeared
“You must focus on our bond and then you may select what you would like to accomplish. Take telepathic communication for example, we are only able to communicate telepathically because of our bond. You may accomplish this with others in a similar fashion, however there are also spells that can accomplish the same.” - Garth.
It seemed like focusing on the text was a shortcut of sorts, I waited for the conversation to disappear, and then attempted to do what Garth had told me. I had no idea how to begin, so I closed my eyes and thought about Garth. I focused on what I knew about him and suddenly a menu with ‘Garth’ at the top appeared. I selected communication and an empty text box appeared with a flashing cursor. I thought and the words flowed. I did have to focus on my message, to not let stray thoughts in. In the end I actually managed something that resembled a complete sentence.
“Where are you?” - Dave
I know, super conversationalist over here. His reply did not take long.
“I am currently in transport. Due to your recent energy absorption you were able to teleport without building up the required energy. I also have the disadvantage of needing to generate a physical vessel, which is required for me to perform any of the minor physical tasks that I am able. This form will also allow others to see and interact with me if you wish.” - Garth.
I stopped the communication as I couldn't cut Garth off, I try to find pleasures in the small things. I contemplated that I was blaming Garth for everything that happened since my death, then I played back our conversations and decided I didn’t care.
I finally sat up and the sky had finished its light show and it was almost full night, with a glimmer of light in the west… Well at least what I would think of as west from all of my previous experience on Earth. There were street lights, but they all remained unlit. Right, I remember that the streets and market were completely empty. I did have one more question, I wanted to find somewhere ‘safe’ I could tuck away and sleep for real. I was able to pull up communication with Garth relatively quickly at this point.
“Am I safe here?” - Dave
“As long as you stay within the boundaries of the village, you will remain safe from monsters and those deemed enemies of the town by local authorities.” - Garth
“Local authorities? There isn't anyone here Garth, where is everyone?” - Dave
“The logs show that you are in the beginning village for the Classless. As there has never been anyone of that Class, according to the World logs, the village does not have an official title and no NPCs currently live there. You will need to activate the village in the town hall, until then the town will not appear on any maps or quests and others will be unable to enter. It seems that the town has stood empty since it was created.” - Garth
I knew that I had asked too many questions at this point, apparently the magic number is two with Garth. Now to find out how long until he shows up, and my eye twitch starts back up.
“How long until you are here?” - Dave
“I have four hours, thirty seven minutes and fifty four seconds until my vessel is complete. The teleportation ritual will then take four hours thirty minutes for me to gather and form the mana. Thus I approximate that without further interruption I will arrive in nine hours, seven minutes and fifty four seconds.” - Garth
Nine hours, until I have my annoying bubble back, and the town is safe. Knowing that no one lived here and never had was odd. Though that did mean I had my choice of homes, all in perfect condition.
I started making my way out of the market square towards the large open courtyard that must be where the town hall is located. I took in the town, stone construction was heavily used here. The buildings and streets were both constructed of smooth gray stone, the street lamps though unlit were of black iron. You could see brass and copper here and there, though none of the metal had a hint of rust or verdigre. The small amount of wood that I could see looked to be plain pine with no stain or variation, as though each piece came from the same cut of the same tree. I was baffled until I remembered that magic was a real thing here.
As I was taking in the sights and walking I also noticed one other thing, I was still walking around in my birthday suit. I suddenly felt like a streaker, I started to frantically look around then I remembered that no one else was around. I assumed that this also meant that there were no goods in town, including but not limited to clothing.
With that I decided that I would just continue towards the massive mansion that easily gave the White House a run for its money. This was the only building that I could see that was not the same gray stone as all of the other buildings. It appeared to be marble with gold veins running through it, it stood out to say the least. Though the main structure was marble the doors were a stark contrast, made of a dark almost black wood that I couldn’t even guess at its origin. It was also large, three stories at least and the windows were framed in the same wood as the door with brass fixtures. I don't know who designed the place, but they obviously were the eccentric type.
I walked up the steps to the front door and a prompt entered my vision.
Classless Manor currently is vacant, would you like to claim Classless Manor?
Yes/No
Of course that's what it was called, it matched the look of the place. I selected yes and both doors swung open. The main hall was huge and extended up all three floors. It was boarded by a set of double stairs that went up to the second floor ending on a balcony big enough to play full court basketball. In the center of said balcony was a wide set of stairs heading up to the third floor. Other than the color scheme the place was beautiful, and oddly there was furniture. Tables, coat racks, some of the ugliest chairs I have ever seen (lime green and blue zebra print padding with brass supports). Hopefully if there is a wardrobe the clothing isn't nearly as garish as the house, but at this point I'd take anything. The house was so big I didn't know where to start, but I figured that the master suite had to be on the second floor or possibly the third. I started up the stairs, trying to think on how I could find my new room in my new digs when I remembered that this place was very much like a video game. I went into the menu and a new tab was there labeled Manor House. Selecting it and a laundry list of options began scrolling down my vision; staff, inventory, there was even a remodeling option that I gave a significant glance. Though I was missing all of the required materials along with manpower. One of the options said lighting, I selected it and found that I could effectively make the manor function as a smart house, I turned automatic lighting on and continued my search. I found what I was looking for in short order, a map of the house. I opened the map, and suddenly I had a perfect map of all three stories, an attic and a basement/cellar (that I had previously been unaware of). There was even a marker representing me on the map. I turned on the minimap, and exited the menus. The lighting of the room was completely different, the room seemed as though it was mid-day. I looked up and saw the largest chandelier I personally have ever seen, though every piece of glass was multicolored and somehow it produced a warm white light. I noticed that the semi transparent mini map had taken up residence in the bottom right corner of my vision, I found the master suite and indeed it was on the second floor.
I opened the door to my new bedroom and the horrible decor that plagued this house continued. The bed was obviously the main feature of the room and the comforter was tiger striped with plaid pillows. I didn't care anymore; I could live with this classless place, if I got to sleep in a bed and there was clothing for me to wear. I was tired of walking through town naked. It turned out that it was a waterbed of all things. I fell into bed and was out before my head hit the pillow.