Fifteen minutes later, the adventurers found themselves in a stone cell with its only exit (the obvious one, anyway), being a locked door of iron bars that led into inky darkness. They'd been walking down the forest path when they were overcome by a queasy stomach and the world devolved into swirling rainbow colors that left them unconscious on the ground. When they woke, they were standing in the stone room.

Waking up in a standing position is disorienting for most people, and James and Sarah were no exception. From their new seats on the stone floor, they surveyed their surroundings. The room was empty save one other prisoner: A grey-haired old man with matching belt-buckle-length beard. He was clothed only in a dirty pair of pants that had been torn legless below the knee and was being supported by a pair of chains that stretched from high on the wall to his wrists.

"Come... closer..." he wheezed.

James and Sarah shot each other a skeptical eye but cautiously moved towards the old man. When they got within arm's reach, he managed to squeeze out a few words more.

"Too... late for me... I can...a-awaken the magic in you... Use it wise...ly..."

A soft glow emanated from the old man's splayed fingers and was echoed the adventurers' hands. Then he sagged down and was gone.

 While James was busy examining his softly glowing hands, Sarah wheeled on him and stuck her hands on her hips. 

"Now come, on, that's just mean!" she exclaimed.

James wrinkled his brow. "What do you mean?"

Sarah threw her hands up and began waving her shield-strapped arm around. "The squirrel said every new person to this world fights the same group of goblins, right? So those goblins get called into existence just to die, over and over, and now this guy! We pop in, he does his plot-point-magic-dealy, then dies!? Over and over? Seriously, that's messed up!"

It took him a moment, but James began to see it soon enough. "Yeah, you're right, that's... not right."

Satisfied that everyone present agreed with her, Sarah crossed her arms over her chest and grunted. After her indignation simmered for a few seconds, she walked over and started checking out the iron-bar door.

"You think this test is to escape the room?" James asked.

She shrugged. "Why not? The hallway doesn't seem to go anywhere. Bet you dollars to doughnuts that as soon as we get out, we're back in the forest."

Nodding, James agreed, but before he had a chance to start helping, the situation changed. The gate Sarah had been inspecting exploded inward, knocking the two of them against the far wall. As they struggled back up, a massive skeleton tried squeezing through a door that was obviously too small for it. The bones of the skeleton gently smoked, with small flames flickering here and there, and it's eye sockets radiated a much more intense fire. Frustrated at not being able to fit, it opened its toothy maw and began spitting bolts of flame around the room. 

Sarah moved first, putting herself between James and the monster. James was up soon after and began throwing his knives from behind Sarah's shield.

Both strategies immediately failed. Sarah's wooden shield caught fire, as wood tends to, and James's knives sailed right through the skeleton's open ribs. Casting her flaming shield aside, Sarah and James now stood without either of the combat gear obtained from their first trial.

Facing another incoming round of flame without her shield, Sarah futilely tried to block the projectiles with her hands, and to her great surprise, it worked. A glowing, blue, ethereal shield hovered in front of her outstretched hands and blocked the oncoming flames. James took a cue from Sarah, glanced at his glowing hands, and tried to throw the glow at the skeleton. A little less surprised now that they understood the trial a bit better, the blue glow launched itself from each hand and hammered the smoking bones. 

The skeleton came apart like it had only been held together with cotton candy and wishes. Before either had a chance to attempt to loot its remains, the air around them blurred, and they were soon back on the trail in the woods. 

Sarah immediately called up her Character screen. "Arcane Protector? I guess that at least sounds better than Shield Bearer, but come on! Both classes are tanks! I wanted to fling fireballs..."

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

James checked his own stats and shared his new class, as well. "Arcane Marksman, I can dig it. Not bad."

"Doubled down, the both of you, eh?" 

The pair began scanning nearby trees for squirrels, but none could be found. Vigat left them on the hook for far too long before giving in.

"Down here, hi."

Sarah covered her mouth with her hand but did nothing to lower the volume of her voice. "Vigat was a squirrel before, right?"

James just nodded as he looked down at the turtle staring at them from the middle of the path.

Vigat sighed. "Ahem. I was a squirrel the last time, but there weren't any nearby this time. Best I could come up with."

"So you aren't actually a squirrel?" James asked.

Turtle-Vigat shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't have a body at all. Guides can temporarily inhabit the body of any creature that isn't a playable race. Given the time limit, we generally choose something quite close by."

Sarah crouched so that she sat on her heels and crossed her arms. "Here to tell us to watch out for another test you can't tell us anything about?"

"Nope, the base class selection is done. Now comes the fun part." If turtles could smile, James was sure Vigat was giving it a try. "Time for you to pick your final class. Options coming... now."

A new window opened up for each adventurer. Each had a trio of possible true classes that required the specific combination of base classes that they had been awarded. Each class was accompanied by a brief description and a rendering of her in typical class gear. 

Sarah made her choice immediately, without even reading the descriptions of the other two classes. After tapping the floating icon and confirming her choice, she was greeted with a message.

Congratulations, PLAYER! You have been assigned a class!

Class details: BULWARK, The impregnable defense!

Damage? We don't need no stinking damage! Bulwarks specialize in defense. While many classes use a shield as a secondary equip, shields are the primary equip for bulwarks. Bulwark skills are designed to help them hold the line and protect others, not just themselves. Bulwarks are able to equip all armor types, from light to heavy. While bulwarks are able to use all shields, they alone are able to equip the massive scutum, or tower shield. They are only able to equip weapons that can be wielded in the off hand. 

James looked incredulously at her. "Seriously? Did you even read the descriptions?"

Sarah stood firm. "Nope. Changed my mind about shields. This class? The picture showed me holding a shield as tall as I was and twice as wide, can you flippin' imagine? Who's going to mess with a gal that carries around a bank vault door as her shield? No one, I can tell you that."

James spent a little more time looking his options over while Sarah looked on with a smug look. GRENADIER looked promising. It allowed him to infuse magic into thrown items that basically became magic grenades. SPECTRAL WEAPONSMITH would let him instantly create thrown weapons from magic energy: knives, throwing stars, javelins, etc. 

While those classes looked promising, James's finger kept coming back to the last class as if drawn by magnets. With a hesitant tap, he selected his class.

Congratulations, PLAYER! You have been assigned a class!

Class details: ARSENAL, The weapon master!

If it cuts, smashes, stabs, or whatever else a weapon can do, the ARSENAL can equip it! Unlike melee classes, the ARSENAL wields weapons of all types at range by controlling them with magic. The ARSENAL is a mid-range class, needing to be closer to their target while still staying out of melee reach. Usable armor includes both light and medium class. Primary equips include all types of physical weapons while bows, shields, and magic weapons are unequippable. 

As after their first class assignment, James and Sarah both glowed blue for a moment, then the outer layer shattered, revealing the new players beneath. Sarah's gear had upgraded from leather to a simple metal plate, though the pieces all remained the same. Her lost shield was replaced with a larger, wood and metal-reinforced kite shield. James's armor remained the same, but his bandolier of throwing knives had been replaced with a pair of blades strapped to his thighs. They were either really long daggers or really short swords. 

"You know, you two are a bit different, you know that?" Vigat asked after they'd chosen their classes. "Both of you picked one percent classes."

"One percent classes?" James asked. 

Vigat explained, "Sure, even though there are... a lot of classes to choose from, some are chosen much more frequently than others. What other ways could you have dealt with the goblins?"

Sarah ticked responses off on her fingers. "Rushed them with fists, picked up a tree branch to beat them with, run away, hidden behind the tree, talk them down... and a lot more when you really think about it."

The next question was directed at James. "And the skeleton?"

James had to think a little harder. "Well, could the magic have done anything?"

"Within reason."

"Oh, wow. Yeah, when you think about it, there are tons of responses: Shoot fire back, ice, lightning, other elemental attacks, make an illusion, enchant your weapon, push it back, and way more."

Turtle-Vigat nodded. "Now take the dozens and dozens of responses for each scenario and pair them up. At one to three True Classes per pairing, there are over a thousand class possibilities. Yours aren't the rarest, not by a longshot, but one percent classes mean there's a maximum ten people per thousand with your class. The most common classes are ten percenters, meaning a hundred people to your ten."

"Okay, one more milestone before we head to town!" Vigat announced.

Sarah almost rolled her eyes. "And that is?"

"Why, Avatar customization, of course."