I took one look at the list of my possible classes and promptly wondered if this was a dream. Maybe I had used up all my luck on this, but the options presented to me were something I hadn’t expected. Briefly, I considered if either praying to my stalkers or myself was the cause of this.

[Choose a class. Beware that this choice is permanent.]

Trickster – Amateur

Foot Soldier

Attendant – Requested

Priest – Assistant

Priest

Priest – Ritualist

Priest – Junior Chief

Priest – Assistant Chief

Priest – Shrine Bearer

Warrior Priest

Shrine Maiden

I had stared at my possible classes for a moment. There were way more than I thought there would be, and I had expected a couple more since last time, but this was… slightly excessive. I was spoiled for choice, really.

Except the Shrine Maiden class. Why the hell is it offering me this?! I am male. Can there be male shrine maidens? Wait never mind, my real question concerned why the Attendant class was still there. Amaterasu, I know its you again.

“Why does she keep offering me this?” I whispered, looking up. Akisame and the rest of the children were running around the tails of the male Kitsune. For his part, Utamara didn’t seem too fazed by them as a couple grabbed onto his tails and laughed as they were waved around by the tail-like pieces of stone and dirt.

[Amaterasu denies any involvement]

I sighed at the notification. This god was perhaps the most expressive of all the notifications that popped up in front of me. Almost like I could have a conversation with her. It was a sign that maybe she was different from the others, but I wished there would be more concrete information than my own suspicions.

However, that was a discussion I would have later. With someone hopefully much smarter than me. I was getting caught up in random thoughts and needed to focus on the classes right now.

Now, the only problem was worrying about what to pick. I wondered how people normally looked through their class list. Did they have as many as I did? Surely, this is the cause of something I did unexpectedly. I mean, I had essentially become the only follower of myself. An odd statement that definitely seemed to contribute to the situation here.

I reasoned that maybe because I was the only person who worshiped “David Wyatt” I directly skipped over the intermediary steps and got the highest positions immediately. If I thought of classes as some sort of caste system, then such a theory made a bit of sense. Perhaps there were other people who could do the same if their god had no one else following them, too.

My eyes trailed all the way to the bottom of the list. Priest – Shrine Bearer was my first choice. Yet, I was confused about the Warrior Priest class that was also an option. The Shrine Bearer suffix obviously held a certain amount of weight, and my stat modifiers would be boosted with it by a great deal by itself.

Obviously, there was a catch here.

Just like how the acolyte class was a precursor to the entire Priest classline, I had my suspicions about the Warrior prefix. It wasn’t like the choice would disappear since my previous options were still there, but Minamoto made it clear that one person could only go through a maximum of nine class advancements. A hard cap on how many stat modifiers or other bonuses classes you could stack on top of each other.

The problem I faced was: did I want a potentially good option or an instant boost to my stat modifiers? It was only my second class advancement, so I certainly had options, and I didn’t need to work my way up the Priest caste, too. However, Shizuka’s words from when I fought those bandits lingered in the back of my mind.

Stats, Life Rank, skills, techniques and classes. These were essential to anyone who wanted to be strong. However, even if a farmer had a higher body stat than me, I was the stronger of the two because I had skills, techniques and Life Energy. And I had done that all in the span of a month or so. I was looking at things too linearly; this world scaled not in a steady linear progression but in an exponential curve. Every increase was not a step but a leap to another level.

It shouldn’t have been a hard decision then. Even if I picked the Priest – Shrine Bearer class, there would be other chances to pick the others later. And perhaps this was a better option as I could directly skip steps that might or might not be required had I chosen a different god.

Yet, I couldn’t help but hesitate. I had realized as soon as I killed those bandits and had my revelation that the Priest classline involved how your god looks at you. In my odd case, that roughly translated to how I looked at myself. In some messed up way, it was a physical way for me to monitor my own mental health.

I… wasn’t too enthused about that information. Sure, I knew that I had problems, and I actively knew I wanted to change, but actually seeing that I am changing or haven’t changed is something that scared me a bit.

“What even is this system…” I muttered, squinting at the class advancement screen. I had waved over the details for the most part, but as I got deeper into the [status] screen, I realized that it could even monitor my own thoughts to some degree. After all, that was the only way it would have realized that I had “acknowledged” myself in some way.

“Did you say something?” Shizuka leaned closer to me. Her presence dazed me for a second, but I kept my wits about me to not speak my thoughts randomly again. Twice was already embarrassing enough.

I pursed my lips, looking away from my class options. “I’m just wondering about the system. Why does everyone have a [status] screen? Where did it even come from?”

“Oh that,” Shizuka nodded as if it was a common thing. “Well, I have no clue. I never cared to know. The old hag always said something about it being reminiscent of some super powerful Shikigami, but most of the information went over my head. Do you want me to get you a pass into her library or something?”

Ignoring how crazy Shizuka’s informative ignorance was, I found it even more wild that her older relative had some library that needed a pass from the Queen to get into. Or maybe I was just thinking too deeply into it.

Bowing awkwardly, I nodded. “Thanks for writing one, then. It’s been annoying just not knowing a lot of things from this wo- Ahem, this land, I mean. I really need to start reading again.”

Shizuka’s lips pulled into a wide smile. Now that I have the image of Utamara’s swishing tails, I couldn’t help but see a couple of illusory tails swishing behind the queen somehow. I knew it was just my eyes playing tricks on me but it felt a little real.

“I will get on it.” Shizuka said, walking in Minamoto’s direction. I saw the old Exorcist pause after the Kitsune talked to him for a second before he sent me a long gaze.

I promptly ignored him and focused on my list of classes. Now that I was going to get a pass into a fairly good library, I wondered if I should hold off on picking a class so I could see just which one had the best prospects. It wasn’t like not picking now affected me much. I could always just pick Priest – Shrine Beater in case there was a sudden fight. With that thought, I just shifted the screen to just out of my sight.

Turning back to the rest of the group, I found Utamara talking about something with the kids and their parents. He used wide gestures as his tails snapped in every direction in what I assumed to be annoyance. Still, he tried to continue even while I saw how aggravated he was becoming.

I took that as cue to try and listen in, but something distracted me. Well, someone in this case.

A gaunt-looking Yasuda paced up to me. His eyes met mine for a second, and I saw deep bags under his eyes. I know I hadn’t talked to him for a while, and I had only done so because he seemed focused on taking care of the comatose Takamori, but now all I could see was a defeated man.

“Leader,” he started. “Do you have time to talk?”

Utamara cut in before I could respond. “Oi Gaijin, you two can talk in the Transition Torii Gates. I’m gonna activate it now.”

“Uh…”

“Mister David!” Akisame excitedly ran over to my side, tugging on my pant leg. “That uncle said we were going to go real fast real slowly. Do you know what that means?”

I pursed my lips, looking back and forth between Utamara’s amused smirk and the boy. Carefully, I pried Akisame’s hand off my clothes with my uninjured hand and eyed up the massive torii gate that seemed to hold back the Fog Well. My personal exposition friends of either Minamoto or Shizuka were plotting something elsewhere, so I turned to Yasuda.

The older man hadn’t turned away from me despite the distractions, and I felt morbidly curious about what he wanted to talk about.

“Can we talk inside the uh…” I gestured to the torii gates. “That.”

Yasuda nodded. “I suppose. Just remember to not turn around while we walk.”

“Huh? Why?”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Its taboo while inside the gates.” Yasuda said. He pointed at Utamara who had moved to stand beside one of the pillars of the massive torii gate, positioning himself such that he wasn’t between the two pillars. “Were you not listening?”

“I uh… I might’ve been a bit distracted.”

“Did you get a cool class, Mister David?” Akisame piped into the conversation. “You were looking at your [status] for a really long time.”

“I guess I was.” I shrugged. I had been fretting over my classes for a while, but all that led to was more confusion and a laundry list of tantalizing options.

Yasuda shook his head in my peripherals. “You should have paid more attention, leader. Transition Torii Gates are not the safest of places– they’re old relics and are fraught with many problems. Ignorance of their specifics will often result in death. You should… I– I apologize. I was going on for too long.”

“No no, you’re good, man.” I hurried to speak. Whatever had been eating at Yasuda seemed to come out more when he realized how clueless I was. “Maybe summarize the worst parts.”

“I can do that–”

As if on cue, Utamara chose this moment to speak up. “Now that everyone knows what to expect,” he shot me a grin that told me he knew exactly what he was doing. I instantly felt offended for thinking he could be a completely nice guy. “Let’s get a move on. We’ve got a time limit, you know.”

After finishing, he lightly tapped his hand on the pillar next to him, and suddenly, I felt my sixth sense flare up. However, I grew even more nervous when the scene copied itself in the physical world. I had grown used to sensing things in an abstract manner, but I hadn’t expected to actually see it with my other senses.

Like a curtain being pulled, the fog behind the torii gates was suddenly swallowed by pitch black darkness. I felt disoriented as I stared into the black abyss, wondering if it was just a simple surface or it stretched further inside. My sixth sense seemed to show me the same image that I associated with a train before something unfolded from the torii gate’s entrance.

A pure white brick paved road uncoiled from the empty floor, originating from where the torii gates separated the grass from the darkness and extended out into the endless abyss, drawing my eyes further into the distance. Then, I felt my eyes cross as another massive torii gate unraveled out of the darkness. It positioned itself right behind the first, mirroring it in every way.

Another torii gate appeared behind it. Then another and another. They kept appearing along the white path, standing solemnly in the darkness. It was like one of those infinite images that appeared whenever two mirrors were placed in parallel.

I swallowed audibly as Utamara stood right in front of the entrance to that infinity. He carefully stepped on the grassy side of the gates, where pristine nature met ethereal brick and darkness, and casually clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Try not to look around much.” He said seriously. “The Transition Torii Gates have been around for longer than even Toshiki, so you might see something from a period that should not exist.”

I found his vulpine eyes locked with mine as he let his words sink in. “Of course, have a pleasant trip. I hope you all make it without any loss of limb– Well, one or two might not be too bad, I guess.”

A resigned sigh cut through Utamara’s closing remarks.

“Just shut up.” Shizuka said, moving to stand at the front of the group. “Just follow behind me and don’t look back. Mothers hold onto your brats and force their heads forwards if you have to. And please, don’t do something stupid like walking off the path. It’s there for a damn reason.”

I hurried to hold Akisame in front of me. For his part, the boy didn’t even look back at me, focusing entirely on keeping his gaze forwards. Smart kid. He could follow instructions from people that knew much more than him.

I immediately didn’t when Yasuda tapped me on the shoulder. Even though I knew I hadn’t even entered through the gates, I still flinched when I looked back at him.

“Don’t worry, we’re not inside yet.” he said calmly. “I just wanted to say that her majesty had already explained what I wanted to stress.”

“So, don’t look back and don’t look around?”

“Yes, exactly that.”

I sighed. “Why can’t you guys have normal transportation? Like, I don’t know, horses or something.”

“The Fog Wells prevent travel to quite a few places.” Yasuda answered easily. “Though, I do understand your annoyance. I too thought it was a bit much for the Transition Torii Gates, but they are much faster and safer than trying to travel through the Fog Wells.”

“I… see.” I did not. “And hypothetically, just wondering, what happens if I look around or wander off the path?”

Yasuda just shook his head as I felt more insecure in walking through the infinite torii gate path. “Best case, you simply come out from a different end point.”

“Wait, let me guess, the worst case is you die.”

“I am not sure.” Ysauda said slowly. He and I paused as the first couple of Samurai and Exorcists walked through the gate. Shizuka spared one glance backwards before turning and walking forward, and I pursed my lips as it looked like they hadn’t moved forwards despite more and more villagers following behind them. “I have heard stories of people simply appearing out of thin air, and even someone who had traveled to a different island by getting lost. Though, I guess those who do disappear might just end up in a place they can’t survive in.”

Oh, so not instant death. That was… still not as comforting as I thought it would be. “Why are you guys still using this thing?”

Yasuda shrugged. “It works.”

“Right… right.” I was growing increasingly certain that everyone’s sense of safety in this world was very low or nonexistent. An affront to Osha regulations.

Finally, it was our turn to walk through the gate. I spared Utamara a glance, and found the Kitsune yokai smirking at me silently. Ignoring him, I kept my hands firmly on Akisame’s shoulders. While the boy seemed serious, I don’t trust kids to make the most rational decisions, and it seemed my actions were copied by most mothers with their own kids.

Did this make me a mom? Oh god, I did not want to think about that right before I entered an unstable form of supernatural transportation.

Carefully, I stepped in after Akisame, awkwardly keeping pace with Yasuda’s assured steps. Instantly, I felt… nothing really. It honestly didn’t feel like I passed through anything. I had expected the feeling of passing through a membrane or some disorientation, but no, it was just one moment I had been walking on grass and now I was on solid brick. In front of me were the rest of the group who seemed to slowly get further away from me as they marched into the infinite pathway.

Honestly, not feeling anything was just as disorientating. In addition, it felt like we were just walking in place after a couple moments as there was no destination nor indication of change. Just the same massive torii gates that framed the black expanse and white-brick path. And after a couple seconds of walking, I was half-tempted to look back to see just how far we had been walking, but I calmed my curiosity quickly.

I kept my gaze forwards as did everyone else. Except, I couldn’t look too long into the infinite void that was in front of us. It seems to twist and bend in my vision, and it was only due to the torii gates and white brick that I realized it was my mind playing tricks on me.

However, out of the corners of my eyes, I felt I saw massive eyes wink in and out of existence. They only appeared just outside where I was focusing on, making me feel like I was slowly losing my mind. I reasoned they were another hallucination that appeared from the darkness. I didn’t really want to think about them if they were real.

“So,” I started, keeping my eyes forward as I attempted to distract myself from my surroundings. I could see Yasuda glance to the side in my peripherals. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

“Yes, that.” Yasuda said. “I think that… Takamori might not come back.”

I almost flinched at the sheer suckerpunch of a sentence he had just delivered calmly. “I– I’m sorry for your loss. I didn’t know him for long, but he seemed… okay.”

“No, I held as much attachment to him as you did.” He said slowly. “I just thought maybe…”

“Your death could mean something?” I said, recalling how Yasuda mentioned his goals before the fight with that red Oni. “Is that why you tried so hard when I gave you my mask?”

“Yes. But, it seemed I was wrong. I was the only one who survived out of all of us, and I…” I saw Yasuda’s hands wrap around the extra swords on his waist. “I still don’t understand why Takamori so easily threw away his life.”

“Isn’t he just… recovering?” I spared a glance forwards, catching where a couple of Samurai were still carrying the comatose bodies of the Exorcists who didn’t wake up. They had been asleep long enough that I knew something was wrong, but I wanted to keep hope that something good might happen. After all, I felt at fault since Takamori had supported me so easily before.

Yasuda shook his head. “He used too much Life Energy too quickly. His soul disconnected from his body, and now we don’t have hopes that it’ll find its way back.”

“They can do that? How does that even work?”

“I’m not too sure what happens exactly, but I do know its a more extreme version of Life Energy Exhaustion.” Yasuda said easily as if someone disconnecting their soul from their body was like disconnecting from their wifi. “Your Life Energy, while it can be used, technically is also needed as a protection and link for the soul. Use too much and the environment of the Spiritual Realm can move the soul far enough that the mind loses track of the body, and without enough Life Energy, it can’t get the connection back.”

“And since it’s not connected to the body, you can’t produce Life Energy.” I said, putting the pieces together. It was a morbid thought that you can just exhaust yourself enough that your soul simply… leaves.

“Right– it’s what the academy stressed when they were teaching us about Life Energy.” Yasuda continued. “Everything is held within a balance, and disrupting that balance can lead to serious consequences.”

“But his soul is still out there. I won’t say I know how to connect the two, but…” I said quickly. Akisame had been listening, and I didn’t want to set such a horrid thought in his head. “He can come back, right?”

“Connecting is easy— a living body still sends Life Energy into the Spiritual Realm, so all he has to do is get in contact with it. But with how large the Spiritual Realm is…” he didn’t need to finish. I could tell what he was getting at, and I suddenly was more conscious of how Life Energy worked. Just because I used it to make myself stronger didn’t mean it was an energy that just sat around and did nothing until you unlocked it.

“Maybe someday he’ll wake up.” I said but my heart wasn’t in it.

“Maybe.”

Slowly, an awkward silence crept between the two of us. I felt a bit suffocated by the new information, and the present environment didn’t provide me the best of distractions. Carefully, I pried open my lips to fill the air between us.

“And Yasuda,” I started again, feeling like I was threading a needle through this delicate situation. “I don’t really get your need for a ‘meaningful death’ or something, but I am… glad you survived. You’re always helping me even when I don’t ask, so I wanna say thanks. Uh, thanks by the way.”

“Oh…” he didn’t speak for a second. “I see– this is probably what they felt.”

“I’m sorry?”

“No, it’s nothing, leader.” Yasuda said. “Though, I want to ask you what you are planning to do from now on? Will you join Toshiki’s army?”

“I don’t think I can join even if I wanted to.”

“Perhaps, but if it’s an order from her majesty, I can’t imagine anyone saying no.”

I frowned at that. Sure, Shizuka and I talked a bit, but I got more of the impression of curiosity. I doubted she held any inclination for me besides just to keep an eye on me in case I turned out like all the other previous Gaijins.

I swear, those guys really screwed me over without even trying.

“In any case, I’ll–”

And as if the universe had something against me answering Yasuda, I was interrupted once again before I could answer him. I was sure Utamara might have a hand in this because I could see him just wanting to annoy me.

Quickly and slowly, the infinite path we walked on paradoxically disappeared.

Like an accordion being pressed, the infinite pathward seemed to shrink down. The towering torii gates above flowed into each other as the expanse seemed to collapse on itself as suddenly there was a destination that seemed to come right towards us.

A light appeared within one of the torii gates in the distance, marking a distinct difference from the darkness. I instinctively knew it was an exit, and watched as it rapidly approached us as if it was moving towards us instead of the opposite.

In an instant, the final torii gate stood before us, and I reflexively braced myself as the inky darkness was slowly peeled away to reveal bright skylines. My steps stuttered for a moment as I stepped past the disorientating darkness into an open, stone-paved plaza.

A hand rose up to shield my eyes as the sun blazed overhead, and I was barely given a moment of reprieve before a screen popped up in front of me.

[The Infinitely Expanding Library recoils at the abomination that you are]

The locals seem nice at least.