"He rose far to the west, five hundred years of preparation complete as he attempted to dominate the world" there was hate in Tristen voice as he described the man "the civilized races joined in a collation to stop him, the council of fourteen contributed eleven of their members and the legion of astra was hired to bolster their forces".

"Hired?" I asked.

"Yes, the legion of Astra is a well-respected and powerful mercenary force, it also brings most of the wealth to the city" Tristen answered "I won't bore you with the details of the campaign itself, suffice to say that in the process of slaying the necromancer the legion suffered heavily, worse Ulword, commander of the legion and the only forth fold classer the city possesses fell in battle with one of the many risen forth fold classers the necromancer managed to raise" there was a hint of pain in his voice, Tristen likely knew the guy and considering his position that’s not too surprising.

"Wait up a second" I interrupted "you’ve mentioned folds before but I don’t know what they actually are".

"Right, even though I know you're not from this world, I still find it hard to remember that you lack basic knowledge every child in this world would know" I let the child comment slide, he didn’t mean anything by it and he was right, I knew less about this world then a child did.

“The four folds represent four different level ranges, they are called such because the attributes they grant fold over one another, they are added multiplicatively rather than additive, they also cap the skills gained within the fold at a set level, which increases as the fold you reach climbed higher" which would meant that the higher levels are exponentially more powerful than low level guys.

There was one thing that confused me “if the folds are just different level ranges how come I have a fourth fold class while being level one?”

Tristen smiled at my question “honestly?” he said “I've got no idea, never heard of this happening before and while it's been documented that some driven people could gain a more advanced calls as a first fold class, that was all it was, a first fold class, it certainly didn't gain the benefits of being a higher fold not like you have”.

“So why am I different?”

“Is it not obvious” Tristen replied “you are not from this world and Atia has offered you the class in a quest, likely she managed to find a way for you to keep the benefits so you may help her city in turn” grateful as I am to gain a standard isekai cheat I feel no obligation toward her, the threat of a divine curse if i did not act as she wished souring that relationship before it could even begin.

ignorant of my inner thought Tristen cleared his throat and continued “now where were we?” he asked, perking up a second later as he seemed to remember “ah yes, to cut a long story short the necromancer has been slain, his armies shattered and the world saved at heavy cost”.

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“If the necromancer has been defeated, what is the actual threat?” I ask “the orcs I assume?”

“We’ll get to it, let me finish first” Tristen chidded. “Now, I've told you we are a buffer between the empire to the west and the rocs to the east but what does this actually mean? In short we fight and stop orcish raids into the human plains, they are usually small and easily handled but something changed after the necromancer was killed and whatever it was it increased both the frequency of the raids as well as their strength”.

“And battered as they were, the legions had difficulty with beating them back” I interrupted.

“Quite so” he replied “it wasn't so bad at the start we were flush with gold and there were many mercenary companies out of a job and willing to grant us discounts but… with the legion trapped at home and the raids increasing in strength with every month the gold ran out and while friendship and comradery has seen the mercenary companies remain even after, willing to be paid with whatever we could scrounge they could not do so indefinitely and in time left” I'm surprised they didn't leave the moment the money ran out, mercenaries aren't known to be the most charitable souls around.

“And with the strength of the riads, now more like armies increasing, even the refurbished legions had difficulty pushing them back losing more and more experienced soldiers with every battle” he sighed, the breath leaving his body heavy “it all came to ahead a few months back, the legion stuffed a lot of casualties in a battle and many of the injured were’nt healed by the time the next army came, so the baron ordered the militia mobilized to relieve the pressure on the legion”.

I forwend at his words “if the professionals had such difficulty I can't wager that the militia had any easier time of it”.

“They did not, while most citizens of Astra have a combat class as their secondary so they have access to combat skills, against actual warriors they did not hold a chance, they suffered heavy casualties but they did their job and when the next hord came the legion beat them back with ease”.

“But that wasn't the end of it” I said, knowing where this story headed.

“It wasn't, it just began the cycle anew, until the legion almost lost, a lucky strike felling Ronald the new commander of the legion and with him many of the enhancements the leadership archetype provided, you appeared not long after and your actions tipped the scales enough for the battle to be won”.

“That actually is something I'm curious about.” I say “how come I managed to use a skill I didn't have?”.

At my question a smile spread on Tristen face “you prayed did you not? Atia heard your pleas and intervened, the gods are bound to limit their interference in mortal affairs but many of those restrictions fall away when it concerns people without a class”.

He raised a hand to stop me from asking a follow up question -of which I had a lot- “it has been a long day and I'm sure you could use some sleep” he rose from his seat, putting his bowl into a large sink in the corner of the room. “Come, I’ll show you to a room you can use while you're here”. Feeling the exhaustion of the day finally overcoming me I didn't argue and let him lead me up the second elve of the mansion and into one of the rooms there.

It was a large room, with a king size bed in the middle of it. There was a large wardrobe to the side and a wall mirror next to it. Anything else was lot in the haze of tiredness.

I was asleep before I even hit the bed.