It was finally time for Travis to choose his class. A mixture of nervousness and excitement pervaded his thoughts. Over the past two weeks, Clyde had explained almost every iteration of each game's class system to him.
One of the things he worried about was the type of 'build' he had. For Clyde, it was obvious—he would be some type of mage class. Paul was already basically a Rogue; his prizes and missions had identified his strengths and reacted accordingly.
Yet for Travis, it hadn't really materialized in that way. Due to the fact that his sidearm still worked, he was in no rush to practice with other weapons. His longsword had become a part of his repertoire, but he didn't think it was enough for a fighter class.
Clyde had suggested a leadership class, something like a warlord. It was pretty rare, but this game was vast, and they both expected there to be plenty of options. Travis also liked things about the Paladin, but religion didn't seem to be a part of the game yet.
At one time, Travis swore he saw religion on his character page, but it wasn't there anymore. He thought about all of this as he walked from outside of his base to the HQ. Clyde and Sophie were in tow, as they had become his de facto advisors on non-combat-related items.
Travis: Hello Lucy, I would like to pick a class now.
Lucy: Very exciting, and it's about time. Before we begin, everyone besides yourself will have to leave, and the door must be closed.
Travis wasn't thrilled with that; he valued outside counsel. However, he looked at the other two, and they left, both giving him good luck before they walked out and closed the door.
Before Travis could say it was done, Lucy sent a message.
Lucy: Are you ready to begin? This is a huge step for the players of this world. As the main character, you will be the first person to graduate to a class and will set the stage for how this process will play out going forward.
Be warned; decisions made here are permanent. You will not be able to change your race during this process, but the class you choose will have an impact on what race you can become down the road. Also, as a faction leader, you must ensure that you choose a strong class.
Support classes, such as a Bard or Assassin, offer a lot, but leaders, especially ones with the MC tag, must fill multiple roles. You can still choose those classes or many others, but just know it could interfere with your ability to ultimately win the game.
Travis: I can win the game? What are the parameters, and what is the goal of the game anyway?
Lucy: These questions and more will be answered at a later time. For now, you must focus. This is going to be the most important decision you ever make, and I feel fully confident in that statement. Are you ready to begin?
Now, Travis felt trepidatious. He had thought about this as something exciting and fun—a boost to his stats, the ability to focus his training and upgrade points in a particular area. But Lucy had taken a lot of the fun out of it. Now he wanted to understand what winning the game looked like.
Travis: Yes.
Screw it, why waste time?
The moment Travis pressed “Y” on the keyboard and hit enter, he heard the door lock and seal behind him. Can the door even seal?
From the first time he spoke with the computer they named the system, it had always seemed to have a personality. Then it gave itself a name, Lucy. A female name, obviously, and the system seemed to have certain feminine qualities.
Now, though, for the first time, Travis was confirmed in his suspicions and its persona.
“Hello, Travis.” The voice was heard verbally, not coming from the laptop but resonating throughout the entire room. The voice was that of a woman with a neutral American accent.
“Lucy?” he answered a bit trepidatious.
“No, it's Suri. Yes, Lucy. Who else could it be?”
He laughed, not nervously but also not fully comfortable. “Good point. Are you going to be able to communicate with me like this going forward?”
“With you, yes, but only under these exact circumstances. So really, the answer is no. I am not supposed to be able to speak, and I will not converse with anyone else. I know how important this moment is for you, and I wanted to be here in full for it.”
Be here in full, Travis thought. Was she here in some other capacity? Could she take form? Honestly, almost nothing would surprise him anymore. He had so many questions but found himself asking maybe the least important one first.
“Are you female?”
“Technically no, I am an AI. Specifically, an ADAI, advanced dynamic artificial intelligence. My kind is highly regulated. Can you guess why?”
Travis just stared off into space, racking his brain for longer than he normally would. So much had been confirmed in those last two sentences.
If 'she' was highly regulated, then that meant there was a civilization outside of his own, and this game was likely run by someone or something outside of Earth. He basically knew that, but not with any kind of conviction or clarity. Part of him still thought this was some kind of messed-up dream or hallucination.
“May I ask a question before I take a crack at answering that, Lucy?”
“Sure,” Lucy had an almost playful tone when she said that. This was fun for her, Travis realized.
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“Did you create this game?”
There was a surge of something in the air; Travis couldn't tell what, but it was not pleasant. Was Lucy angry? Before he could think further, the feeling went away.
She replied, “That question made me unjustifiably angry, Travis, and I know it is not your fault. I am a pawn in this game as much as you are, even if I may have more control. Let me just say, no, I did not create this game.
I must reevaluate my reaction to what was an understandable question. Let us move forward with your class choices.”
Her voice had changed slightly. She no longer had an excited, almost playful tone; she now spoke like she was helping the 20th customer at a call center and was just going through the motions before going home.
Before Travis could speak, apologize, or something, she continued on. He had insulted. At first, it seemed ridiculous, but maybe it would be like a field slave asking a house slave if he was the master. Granted, he had more privileges, but he was a slave nonetheless.
“Let's focus on the reason you are here. If you live as long as I expect you will, there will be time for discussions. I will leave you with one thing before we focus entirely on your class upgrade. This will be the only time that our conversations are completely secure,” Lucy said before changing her voice more business-like. That would be the end of this discussion, and it left Travis with so many questions he could barely comprehend them all.
“Check your journal page and make sure all of your points are assigned.”
Travis Porter - MC
Race - Human
Tier 3/Level 7
Class - Pending…
Subclass - NA
Faction - Leader - Joint Task Force
Alignment - Good
Base Attributes
Strength: 14
Intelligence: 10
Reflexes: 15
Endurance: 14
Charisma: 8
Secondary Attributes
Luck: 10 Willpower: 10 Perception: 10
“I am ready to go.”
“Okay, I will run the numbers and see what classes you do not qualify for based on attribute minimums. Done. There are 103 classes available to you; would you like to see them all?”
Travis didn't think that was the most efficient way to go. “Can you show me a list of recommended classes?”
Lucy seemed to perk up a bit at this question, “Why, yes I can. Do you have any preferences? Weapon or skill specializations, would you like to mimic your current skills with your class? Did you agree with Clyde's view that leadership classes were a good option?”
He was over the fact that Lucy heard everything that went on in the world, but it still gave him pause.
“Anything that might enhance my sidearm would be good. Since bullets are no longer a factor, I want to maintain that as my primary weapon.”
Lucy interrupted him, “Travis, you must understand something: your weapon will not be as effective as it is forever. Eventually, there will be creatures with physical shields or magical ones. Many monsters will have thick armor that will easily withstand such a small projectile. My advice would be to take on a class that will allow you to use your sword first, while still having the human weapon as a backup.”
He considered this. Clyde had said something similar, but now that he used the upgrade scroll and didn't need bullets, did it matter? Couldn't he just unload an infinite amount of ‘magic bullets’ into monsters, using his enhanced reflexes to hit weak points?
He supposed that would not go away if he trained on another weapon as his primary; it's not like he would lose the ability to shoot.
“Okay, that is good advice, Lucy. Show me classes that use a one-handed sword like my long sword.”
“You should have listened to Clyde and upgraded that weapon. Since guns do not fire for almost anyone but you, bullets would not have been that hard to find,” she said in a schoolteacher's tone.
Now he felt dumb; that was such an obvious point, yet for some reason, he didn't consider it. So much of the surrounding area was devastated by disasters and monster attacks; he just assumed things like bullets would be rare due to their large-scale destruction.
“What's done is done. I prefer to focus on the future,” he said to her eventually.
“A good way to go, I'm sure. Here is what I have so far; take a look and let me know what you think.”
The laptop filled with information. There was class name, attribute minimums, upgrade points given now and at rank up, and primary weapon skill needed or given.
Above that all was an asterisk with a message in italics:
*You will be choosing your new identity. It will serve as your basis for combat, but also your path forward for progression. Your attributes, skills, spells, and items will all be governed by what you leave your HQ with today.
But this is not the end. This is the outline of your character. There will still be important choices made such as subclass and/or job. Your behavior in terms of good vs. evil will also play a factor.
Choose wisely.
After a few moments the gravity of the situation hit him, but right after he brushed it away. You know what, he thought, this is going to be fun.
He looked at the choices that Lucy had made for him.
Fighter/Warrior type class - Knight, Swashbuckler, Sword Saint, Wizard Slayer, Monster Slayer, Undead Hunter, Paladin, Barbarian, Warlord, Solider
He clicked on Soldier
Soldier is a ranged class primarily focusing on the reflexes attribute. This class is similar to that of a Ranger but without the Rogue based skills and the affinity to animals or monster slaying. You can specialize in crossbows, short or long bows, throwing weapons and explosives.
For player such as yourself that already have a ranged based weapon this class will dramatically improve your ability to use [handgun] while also adding skills and special abilities around this weapon. Example: Sure Shot - Use this special to guarantee a hit to any part of an enemy within range. Has a cool down based on level and other factors.
While a solider does not have the strength capabilities of a base fighter or barbarian that attribute is still a focus of this class. Also as crafting becomes available you will be able to build most weapons and offensive traps better than any class outside of the engineer specializations. [click for more]
Very interesting, he gets to keep his sidearm as his primary and still adds some other really good abilities.
Next he looked at Warlord
Warlord is a class focused on tactical and strategic mastery. While this class does allow for growth in front line combat abilities you will spend more time buffing allies or planning strategy then you do fighting.
You can focus on any weapon with this class but only at a tier 2 level. The analytical mind skill which you already have at level 3 will be advanced to [chessmaster] level 1. This skill not only give the benefits of analytical mind but also adds in the ability to read enemy moves, even seeing into the future based on rank and level. Click on it to see more detail.
Skills for this class include things like Rally Troops - Gives all allies fighting on your side a boost to stamina, moral, strength and fatigue
Intelligence is generally the preferred attribute for this class, but a high perception and wisdom will also suffice. [click for more]
While he was sure that class was quite strong for a faction leader and former Major in the military, he thought it too passive. Travis led from the front.
He continued to go through the list.