Well, that settled it. Nikola was currently functioning as both an NPC and a PC, counting as both whatever class the computer had decided for her and her Butcher class.

"I can't tell if that's good news," Luke said, "but it does explain why you've been glitching out. I doubt the game is equipped to handle someone being an NPC and a PC at the same time."

Luke wanted to sit down because this definitely felt like the sort of news one would want to 'take sitting down', but the red-haired girl was taking up his rented bed and the others belonged to his missing friends.

"Well, here. Since you can't see what your [Character Info] screen looks like, let me draw out mine." Luke splayed his hand out and used it as a tiny table to balance his notebook on, and started to draw what was present on his blue screen.

Username: Lukeknight64

Level: 2

Race: Human

Class: Warrior

Weapon Specialization: Sword

STR: 20

DEX: 10

CON: 5

WIS: 1

INT: 2

CHA: 2

Class Skills:

Sword Mastery (Passive): 5

Sword Dash (Active): 5

He showed it to her proudly, like a child showing his mother he'd just cleaned his room, but Nikola's face wasn't full of awe, but rather a cloying confusion. Her lips traveled slightly to one side of her face, betraying her lack of understanding.

"Okay, okay. So the Class is just how a Player Character fights, and it governs what skills the Player can use. I'm a Warrior, so I use a sword and use sword-related skills like Sword Dash to fight. STR, DEX, CON and the others are stats that effect how your character performs, so characters with more Strength will be able to pick up heavier stuff. Do you sort of understand?"

Nikola gave a slow nod. The more game-like terms escaped her due to her lack of experience, but it seemed to her like it was a list of a player's experiences and capabilities.

"Cool. There are other Classes like Rogue, Mage, Healer, Bard and Archer, and then when you get to Level 10 there are sub-classes. The ones available to the Warrior Class are Ravager and Guardian, for example. Ravager focuses on knocking the enemy back and attack damage, while Guardian is more defense-based and can buff the Guardian's allies." Luke's hands were balling into fists and rose slowly with each word, quivering softly with his mounting excitement.

The navy-haired male was losing her a bit, using terms she had never encountered, but the more he spoke the more she understood, so she was inclined to allow him to continue speaking. "Do you know which of the two you may choose?"

"Well," Luke sighed out in a puff of air, "my friends and I were going to sit down and shake out a party configuration when we got back from going to see you. The game really encourages partying with other players, so it's usually best to decide on everyone's final Class and build based on what complements the other people in the party."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Upon mentioning his friends, his brethren, his comrades, his shoulders sank. He had come to this inn to find them, and they were miscellaneously absent. Something weird was going on with Nikola's code, so it was entirely possible they were floating around in some kind of glitched-out nether realm, screaming but unable to be heard. But at least in that case, they hadn't abandoned him and weren't dead-dead, so it was kind of his leading theory out of sheer blind hope.

Hopefully, the bug report he had filed would get all that sorted out, but he decided quickly that it was just time to move on. To that end, while he had his blue screen up, he tabbed over to the [Messaging] section.

Lukeknight64: k dudes, I have no idea what's going on with you but message me when you can

Lukeknight64: hope you're all ok

Lukeknight64: til then I'm gonna be teaching an AI how to play the game which is p fuckin dope so I hope you're not just being salty bitches lmao

Lukeknight64: kk ttyl

"I apologize for felling your friends, Luke. However, in my mind, you were making a very poor attempt to murder me and I had to kill them on principle. You are quite lucky I didn't extend that principle to you." Nikola's words were short and even, with not a shred of guilt in them. She reached out to pluck the paper from Luke's hands so she could study it.

"I do not know what a Bard or a Rogue is, but the rest are rather self-explanatory. How might we go about finding which one was chosen for me?" The computer had said it was selecting her class based on 'players like her', so she was eager to find out which one it was. What kind of player was she?

The notion that this 'computer' had stared into her psyche and chosen something based off of it was both a comfort and a concern, but at this moment she was leaning more toward comfort. It had looked into her and seen enough of a personality to choose a Class. She was a Player, a person, not merely a make-believe construct!

All things considered, this was a good day.

"Yeah," Luke muttered distractedly, "each Active Class Skill has a unique gesture associated with it. I remember a couple of them, so we can try those and see if anything happens. If you don't have the associated Class and you use its Class Skill, nothing will happen. So we just have to cycle through em' until one works."

"Okay," Nikola replied with a determined edge to her voice, "please tell me how to do these 'gestures', and we will find out which Class was assigned to me by the Female Voice."

This time, when she said 'female voice', her tone wasn't marred with annoyance, but rather something warmer.

"Some of them are stuff like 'Sword Bash' and they'd put a pretty hole through the wall, so let's go outside to try them out." Luke looked toward the red-haired NPC, who had dozed off and was snoring softly in his bed.

"We should leave her here," he suggested. All she ever did was sleep and eat - honestly, that was p much all he ever did too, but at least he was cool about it. And he was able to walk places on his own whenever he wanted to. As-is, she would probably be safe on her own.

"I do not wish to disturb her," Nikola agreed, rolling her shoulders and starting toward the door. Her back felt a little empty now, without its passenger, and she adjusted her cloak on the way out.

It was time to find out what the Female Voice made of her, back when she had first begun being herself.