The sun rose and another day began, it had been a month since Seth had joined the Deck Of Madness organisation and he was currently in a dusty humid classroom.

“Can someone tell me what an evolution of a class is?” The projecting voice of a Teacher rang out into the room.

Seth had a rough idea of what it was, but he wasn’t sure enough, so he listened for a peer, “It’s when a class reaches the 25-level stage and only happens to those with an already unevolved class. It is harder but it is more beneficial in the long-term. The evolution itself is a process in which the focus of growth changes, taking between the first (0-24) and second (25-49), The first evolution is when they gain a class, and this stage focuses on soul growth and preparation for later stages. I should know the second Teacher, but I have forgotten.”

The person who spoke was the class nerd and it was an extremely fitting description. To be fair to him he was a Scholar so his abilities should be well suited to this sort of thing.

Seth thought that he was a decent guy, the others in the class did not like him so much.

The Teacher liked the guy as he was a great and clear speaker and was great for the flow of a lesson. “Good answer James. For the part you missed, the second stage focuses on Soul Expansion. By that point, they can inspect their soul as a whole and I’m sure many of you will do that soon. Now I believe it is time for us to part. Remember stay safe out there, I hate seeing such talented individuals dying so young.”

As Seth was walking out of the classroom, he smiled at the teacher's kind statement. `This was usually the part where they gave out homework` Seth thought, his teacher was rumoured to have lost his brother when he was young, so he became a little overprotective of those he cared about, so really his actions were quite heartwarming.

Anyway, Seth made it out and walked out of the hideout altogether. He wanted to do some stealing, but before that, he wanted to check his progress:

Name: Seth

Class: Thief/ lvl 24

Skills:

=Deft Hands, (Mastery/ Rookie 85/100)

=Calm Mind, (Mastery/ Rookie 49/100)

Sadly his underuse of his Deft Hands skill was catching up with him. It just wasn’t particularly helpful in a robbery which was his main form of levelling. Level 24 was still great progress, 9 levels in a month at such a level was meteoric but Seth wanted to evolve.

He was sure his class was evolvable; he had been stuck at level 24 for 10 days which was a very good indicator for your class evolving. The requirements for evolving were multitudes more experience and a catalyst which could be anything from enlightenment or a life-threatening moment.

For now, he would learn from his classes and try to practice his skills.

POV Shift: Locke

Locke had been having a hard month. When he was investigating a burglary, he felt through his intuition that the culprit was the same as the pickpocketing which had reignited in the past few days. This same criminal was running rampant in his city, and he just couldn’t catch him.

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That filthy criminal! His mind was full of such righteous fury that he crushed his cup of Bubbletop, pouring the hot elixir all over his lap.

This only made him more mad, but it did eventually calm him down after he cleaned up the mess. His father was always calm, so he tried to channel his inner father.

Locke admired his father, more than any other. He still remembered when he first came down to his department.

It was a cold winter day, and Locke was only a little boy. Bright white hair, which was a family trait, and a beaming smile were holding the hands of a larger, white-haired man. It was a version of Take Your Kid To Work Day, but it focused on stimulating the kid's passion for a certain class, to better carry on the lineage.

The large man was Locke's father, he was an achieved man who had the potential to reach the master level (100-124).

Locke was looking around, gawking at the messy floor filled with detectives: In this madness was a strange rhythm. Like clockwork, they moved in tandem with each other to disrupt the city's rife criminal activity. This was before the kingdom decided to outright ban Evil Classes and so they ran rampant in the city.

Locke still remembered that smell of sweat mixed with Bubbletop, the low chatter of the detectives being interrupted by the loud shouts of the inmates in the holding cells. His father was a man who caught more criminals than any other his age.

A man of justice, who fought for what was right. He still remembered his words on that winter's night, As he was tucked in, and his father sat over his bed he spoke words of wisdom that stuck in Locke's head even today.

“Son, if you do become a detective like you have seen today, then know that there is no black and white: the world is messy grey. I did not become a detective to work for someone, I became one to protect my family from harm, to rid of those that sought to harm it. Justice is perspective, some think for others, but I want you to think of one person and one person only...”

Locke's father pointed his rough hand on Locke's chest, “Yourself. You are my son, the most important thing I have, more than even my own beating heart. So, don’t you dare get yourself killed for some drug addict or an idiot. That may not be what I am meant to tell you, but that is my creed.”

He pulled his arm back and moved to turn off the light, “Now, sleep my little detective. You have your apprenticeship soon.” The door shut, and the room turned dark.

Locke's eyes were filled with questions, a childish curiosity. He decided then that he would become something more than a detective: someone who sought true justice, but for that he would need to live. He would hate to disappoint his father.

Coming back to reality, Locke had returned to his normal calm and conserved temperament. He focused his mind on other cases and remembered that not all could be caught.

POV change: Seth

Seth was back in class, this time learning about geography.

“I assume you all know we live in the lower-level kingdom of Historia. We live on the eastern continent that is separated from the Eastern and Northern by the Great Voydenar Ocean. Those are the 3 continents: the Eastern, The Western and the Northern.

The Eastern continent is a great plain, on which we live. It has the kindest habitat for human living and so is the greatest populated of the 3.

The Western continent is the most mountainous. It is the coldest, yet also the hottest continent with great sand dunes covering half its land.

The Northern continent, also known as the Island continent, is thousands of smaller islands grouped up together. They have the smallest population due to terrible flooding and awful dungeons which plague the islands.

We are the weakest of the 3 continents per person, but because of our large population, we trump this figure through sheer majority. We are peas in a pod though, remember we live in a lower-level kingdom whose leaders are at best Master or Grandmaster level.

You all could become that strong, it just takes time. Don’t die! It would be such as waste of talent. Now scram, but don’t you dare forget what I have just wonderfully taught you, tests are next week.”

Somehow the man managed to be both kind and stern at the same time.

Anyway, he had heard that there was going to be a convoy in the city in the past few days that was rumoured to hold several hundred gold coins. Now Seth knew that he had no chance of getting past that sort of security.

But who said he had to get past it? He would simply do a little impersonation. Seth had his smirky face on and his grin had well and truly returned.

Meanwhile, the Scholar/Nerd, with his rather keen eyes, was rather disturbed by Seth's behaviour. He thought Seth had maybe a couple of screws loose, and to be fair, that was rather accurate.