“I’m seriously getting a spaceship?!” I asked with a mix of excitement and complete astonishment. “I don’t know how to fly a spaceship. I’ve never flown more than a few hours in a regular damn airplane! You people just give out spaceships to everyone that decides they don’t want to sit back and watch their planet die?!” I started to shout agitatedly.
“You people?” Tiff asked with a disgusted tone, turning her head from whatever she was poking at in the air and staring daggers in my direction. “I’m not the entity that created this dungeon, I’m not the aliens that seeded your home world, and I am damn sure not the one who decided to give a naked, ignorant human man-child a piece of advanced alien technology. I told you, Andrew. I didn’t have a choice in this. You at least get the ability to choose to join the crawl or go back to your world. It's not much of a choice now that you know what is going to happen otherwise, but it's still a choice nonetheless.”
“I didn’t get that,” Tiff said, holding her hands together and staring down at the floor. With that being said, I will help you, I will give you knowledge information, and assistance whenever and however I can. At some point I may even be able to physically help you with this enormous, impossible task that you are taking on but if you ever again insinuate that I am somehow a part of all this aside from being assigned as your guardian, I'll just quit and let the fates have you,” she said as she crossed her arms in defiance.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said, holding my hands out in front of me as I tried to defuse the tension, only to realize I had exposed myself. I quickly moved my hands back down to cover my unmentionables. “I’m sorry. This is all coming at me so fast, and I didn’t mean to offend you. Hell, I didn’t know A.I.’s could even get offended. Hell, I didn’t know A.I.s like you were even real until a few minutes ago. Cut me some slack while I try to take this all in."
I walked to the other side of table to try and get some cover for my nakedness, “Look, I’m no warrior; I was a mediocre athlete in school at best,” I shrugged, “the last three years have been literal hell on earth. If I had been presented with this decision right after the drop, I would have run from here screaming and not thought twice, but things are different now. The world is different. I’ve seen people starve. I’ve seen people murder and be murdered just for what few possessions they still had. The people of my world are barely hanging on and truthfully, as far as I know, I have nobody left down there who cares for me. I don’t know if my family is alive, and I only have one real friend, but he will be okay without me. I don’t know anything about what I’m getting into. I mean hell, I probably won’t make it a week if there really are monsters and aliens and other people out there just going murder-crazy, but I can't go back to the reality of the nothingness that was my life. If I’m going to go out then hey, at least I can go out trying to make the bastards that started this whole thing pay, even if it’s just a little bit. So, lets pick a damn class and get this thing started!” I said as I met her eyes with determination from the other side of the table.
“Okay, I’m gonna place my palm on your forehead and then you’ll receive the Codex of Classes. It won't tell you everything you need to know. The program will sort classes based on your physiology, filtering out classes that aren’t compatible,” Tiff said as she reached over the table and held her palm near my forehead.
“Wait, you can touch me?” I asked, “I thought you were like a super advanced hologram of something?”
“I’m real. I’m really here. I was transported into the room with you after you woke up," she said.
“But your clothes changed, how does that work?” I asked.
“Too much to get into right now. Easier to just think of it as magic like I said earlier. We really need to get this done,” she said hurriedly. “Read me the options and we can discuss them together before you make a final decision.”
“Okay,” I said as a wave of information entered my head and appeared on my interface.
Class Selection the interface read.
Option 1 – Space Ninja - System Class
The Space Ninja class utilizes shadow and secrecy to achieve ultimate stealth. Utilizing primarily one-handed light weapons along with the art of deception, the Space Ninja can work in concert with other members of the clan to achieve total victory or complete annihilation if the clan leader’s decisions are not carefully thought out. You will be assigned to a garrison of other space ninjas and begin training immediately. Your weapons and armor will be provided and eligible for upgrade starting at Level 5.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Stats –
+1 Strength
+2 Dexterity
+5 Stamina
+2 Intelligence
Option 2 - Galactic Brawler – System Class
The Galactic Brawler is a melee-focused class. You’re big, you’re strong, why not use that to your advantage? Everybody loves shiny, stabby things and big guns but not you! You choose to face your battles head-on and go toe-to-toe with any adversary that comes your way. You are a lone fighter and choose the road less travelled. Your weapons will not be provided because you are the weapon. Armor will be provided upon completion of your tutorial level and will be eligible for upgrade at Level 5. You will be assigned a small, personal attack class ship in good working order.
Stats –
+5 Strength
+2 Dexterity
+2 Stamina
-1 Intelligence
Option 3 - Interstellar Assassin – System Class
The Interstellar Assassin isn’t popular at parties; they tend to kill at least one person every time they go to one. To be fair, it's part of the job. You will use poison, long rage weapons, and every other deceptive killing ability you can imagine to slowly and steadily creep your way through the dungeon, working your way up the leader board one dead body at a time! Hooray! Seriously though, you work alone, and you kill alone but you're damn good at it. Utilizing small one-handed weapons, small light firearms, and large, long-range weapons, you can kill with a touch or kill from miles away. Armor will be provided upon completion of the tutorial level and a small light, stealth ship in good working order will be provided.
Stats –
+1 Strength
+3 Dexterity
+3 Stamina
+3 Intelligence
Option 4 – Havok Bringer – Universal Council Provided Class.
N/A
Warning: This class will invoke the Rule of Duplicity.
I read the descriptions off to Tiff as they populated on my interface.
“Why are the description in such a snarky tone?” I asked.
“The system Master A.I. probably assigned a sub-mind to populate the class descriptions. They can get a little too into their work,” Tiff said with a nervous chuckle.
“That last class really stands out. A council provided class?” she muttered, “I've seen items, weapons, and armor provided to participants early but not a class,” she looked conflicted.
“I like the Space Ninja!” I shouted. “I can be a damn ninja! HO-LY SHI..”,
Tiff cut me off with a wave, “You’re too big to be an effective Space Ninja,” she said. “The stat increases are okay but, honestly, it’s not a great class unless you want to die on the front lines after some clan leader takes a payoff to ship his entire team of ninjas to a world that will kill them immediately."
“Ookay, no Space Ninja then,” I sighed. “How about Space Brawler? Like you said, I’m big and I’ve won my fair share of fights. Plus, look at my hands; they are huge!” I had always had rather large hands. I got that from my dad; it was kind of a point of pride.
“That class is a real problem in tight spaces," Tiff replied, “if it wasn’t for the fourth option, I would say that is the class we should go for but a provided class shouldn’t be something that we don’t seriously consider.”
“It doesn’t even say what it is. There are really no details at all!” I exclaimed. “I know I have to kind of trust you and all but what even is that class? What if it's something that doesn’t fit me? Will I have an option to choose another class at some point?” I asked.
“No,” she said, “you are stuck with your class once you pick one; for life, even if you survive the dungeon but the title gives me a small hint,” she said as she leaned forward on the table in thought. “Havokium is the first and only planet that staged a rebellion against the universal council. Their war fleet was the most technologically advanced fleet in the universe and their Havok Hounds were a team of orbital drop super soldiers trained to infiltrate and eliminate targets in enemy space. They were defeated by the council who, at the time, had a prestigious battle fleet of their own and armies across the universe ready to defend them. Since then, the Council has fallen out of favor with many of the strongest galaxies that make up its body. The Council is more fractured now than ever in its history,”
“If this class is in any way related to Havokium, or the Havok Hounds, you have to choose it,” she insisted.
“What about the Rule of Duplicity?” I asked, “doesn’t that mean I’ll get a curse or whatever too?”
“The curses get progressively worse as you get farther into the dungeon,” she said, “at this point it probably won’t be something we can't overcome, and the class could far outweigh the curse."
“PROBABLY?! Probably?!” my frustration apparent as I considered why I would take a class that gave me no details. “Deep breaths, Deep breaths,” I whispered to myself.
I sighed, unsure of what to do next. “Once again, artificial intelligence that I just found out existed," I let out a long slow breath and spoke through gritted teeth, "I guess I have to trust you.”
I looked up, feeling defeated, and mentally selected “Havok Bringer”.