Anna

Anna and the System sat in silence for what felt like hours. Did it stop its explanation early? What about magic? How is that connected to any of this? “Welcome to the crash course, where nothing is explained well and you learn to hate yourself by listening to your doppelganger.” The only bright side to this whole damn mess was what was about to come. Anna had been looking forward to class selection since she saw the quest appear. It was the start of fulfilling childhood fantasies of magic and superpowers.

Eventually, feeling returned to Anna’s limbs and she was able to stand from her seat. She had gotten lighter, as if the gravity of the area had taken a steep decline. While stretching her limbs, she noticed the crisp breeze that burned her throat, the silence of the forest was broken occasionally by piercing cries of birds, the noise making her ears ring.

“As the integration nears its completion, you may feel some disorientation. Your soul, and your vessel left on our newly formed planet, have been opened to The Divine and Dharma in a way that you have never experienced. That opening has allowed your body and soul to grow in base strength, and it may take some time adjusting to it.” The System, still in the form of Anna, began to go through a series of poses and leaps, “Join me, Ms. Pand. These exercises will help you acclimate faster.”

Anna cautiously took up a position in front of The System, not entirely trusting her own legs. It felt as if an incorrect step would jettison her in the direction of her momentum. Clumsily, she copied her clone as she worked through a series of poses. The System, it turned out, was a much better physical teacher, than a spiritual one. It pointed out proper footing, adjusted and held Anna’s body in place until she felt comfortable doing so on her own, and allowed Anna to lead many forms that she was already confident with. By the end, although she was far from perfect, Anna gained a basic understanding of her new physical limits.

“Once you return to your body, the effect of integration will be more pronounced. Routine exercise will not only allow you to adjust to increased levels of power, but also insure that you won’t lose any physical stats.” The System informed Anna as they finished the routine.

“So I have actual stats like a game? You said I have to spend Karma to increase them, can I not do so through exercise?”

“Did exercise not make humans stronger on Earth? The same is true in all universes. The spending of Karma on your stats creates, and then builds upon, a baseline of power that your body maintains. However, there is a limitation to what can be achieved for two main reasons. The first is as your power increases, you’ll need to do increasingly difficult feats to maintain said power. A strong geckite is able to lift several times their body weight, in order to increase their power, they would need to train with heavier and heavier objects. Eventually, there would come a point in which actual training would require absurd regimens that are nigh impossible to sustain. In other words, it is a pragmatic limit, rather than a true one. Spending Karma on stats can offset some of the necessity for training, but without any at all, your body will return to its Karma improved baseline over time.

The second limitation is the capacity of one’s soul. Each soul has limited potential, think of it as an upper limit that it can sustain. Breaking that limit tends to only be temporary, and will often have negative repercussions, such as damage to the body. You can avoid reaching these limits by improving your soul. In fact, all creatures, in order to continue on their path to enlightenment, must improve their bodies, and their souls. These limitations, and the breaking of them are where most Karmic beings begin to separate the weak from the powerful.”

“And I have to meditate to see my stats on a menu?”

“That is correct, your stats will show on your status menu while you meditate.”

“Can I try now?”

“There is nothing stopping you from doing so. However, it is usually helpful to first gain one’s class before attempting to see it. It’s not impossible to see it without a class, simply more difficult. Your class acts as reinforcement to the bridge you’ve created to Dharma, it helps solidify what was once fluid. In fact, that is what we shall focus on next.”

“Alright, to be honest though, you’re a lot more helpful now than in the last two crash courses. What gives?”

“I apologize if my behavior is frustrating. You’ve deduced my intent correctly already, so there is no harm in telling you. Your class, training, meditation, and quests are all principles that support your Dharmic path. Your path itself, however, must be something you find, and explore on your own. You may eventually find a powerful being to apprentice yourself to, but even they would not be able to simply show you the path, they act as more of a mentor that asks the right questions and nudges you towards beneficial answers. You can think of me in the same way.”

Didn’t really nudge me towards anything but boredom before, but sure. “Got it, let’s get on with the magic.” Anna said impatiently, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

The System chuckled and moved towards the center of the clearing. As it moved, the scenery began to change. The area to the east of the clearing, a small pool sprang to life, or at least what Anna thought of as the East as the sun was currently rising from that direction. The pool began to darken and swirl, digging itself further into the ground.

At the same time as the pool being created, the clearing’s center changed into a bricked patio. The far side of which had three large targets. Fences built themselves ten, fifteen, and twenty feet from the first, second, and third targets respectively. Now we’re talking, an honest to goodness tutorial!

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As Anna walked towards the newly made staging zone, The System gestured towards the pool and said, “We’ll start there. Submerge yourself in the water and relax.”

Doing as she was told, Anna at first held her breath. Several moments passed until she realized that no drowning sensation was coming. Makes sense, no body, no need to breathe. After that she was able to close her eyes and relax. She heard the universal voice of The System once again.

All beings have strengths and weaknesses. Some are earned, some are inherent, but none of either is set in stone. With patience, dedication, and willpower, any of them can change. As such, part of my role in this integration process was to dive deeply into your soul, looking for clues into the nature of your being. Having done so, I have come up with three starter classes that you may find suitable. You are not required to pick any one of them, and if you reject the classes I have provided, I am willing to accommodate you. Please relax, and let your mind wonder.

Looking up, Anna saw her clone place a large stone slab above her head, locking her under the surface of the water. Huh, you’d think being stuck underwater with no way out would trigger some sort of survival instinct, but I feel nothing. A moment later, the water began heating up, once it reached a barely bearable temperature, it stopped. Floating in the hot darkness of the pool, and began drifting in and out of sleep. Ah, it's a deprivation tank. Way better than I thought it’d be.

Take your time there. As you get closer to sleep, you’ll begin seeing the class prompts.

Anna felt a presence in the water. It felt as if large eels were coiling around her limbs. Each eel gave off a unique aura that appealed to her. The first, promised safety, like nothing would harm her if she trusted it. The second, thrummed with power. Choosing it would have been choosing strength, ensuring none of her enemies could stand in her path. The third eel emanated life, an oath to care for it, to nurture it. The final eel revealed potential, paths not taken, chosen not made.

System Alert:

New class options are available.

Please select one of the following:

Defender: Novice Class

The defender stands tall in the face of its foes. None shall pass, no one shall harm you. Your stubborn nature shall force enemies into submission.

Striker: Novice Class

The striker is the knockout punch. Who needs defense when you have the perfect offense? Who needs weapons when your magic and fists are the right tools for the job?

Forest Shaman: Novice Class

The Forest is home, friend, and ally to this Shaman. Take advantage of nature's bounty to sustain yourself and others. Call upon your forest friends to aid you in battle!

Note: You may choose to decline all three classes. In such a case, the classes provided will be lost forever, and three new options will become available.

Anna remained still for several minutes, going over and over the options available to her. The fact that all of the classes were novice didn’t mean much. It only made sense that The System provided basic classes to newbies. They probably got better as she got stronger. The defender was out immediately, sure Anna wanted to make sure that she could protect herself. Caution and safety first had been her life motto. However, the class made no mention of magical abilities, and that was a deal breaker.

The second class fit into many of Anna’s daydreams. Who wouldn’t want to be a fisticuffs badass who could punch their enemies into smithereens? Throwing magic into the mix was the cherry on top, she could see it now, a massive fireball flung into a group of enemies, then following up with awesome boxing skills to finish them off. Wait a second, what enemies? I don’t even have any. I didn’t come here to get into fights, and this is obviously a combat oriented class. Leave the straight up fights to the death to morons who can’t strategize properly.

That left Anna with two options, the forest shaman, or rolling for more classes. Shaman meant it was a magic class, so one box was checked. Nature’s bounty wasn’t all that telling however, and she wasn’t sure if that meant using nature related spells, or that she could literally control nature. There was a big difference in her mind. Nature spells meant that she could use them anytime, and anyplace. Controlling nature required Anna to always be in nature itself. It might not work if she was in a house, or a city. Hey, do cities even exist? The system dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, are we supposed to find civilization ourselves?

Rolling for more classes was a definite possibility, but the drawback was that Anna wasn’t sure if she would get something better. The System had said that these classes were chosen specifically for her, but all of them left something to be desired. If she rerolled, she ran the risk of getting classes with no desirable traits.

In the end, Anna chose the forest shaman. The magic was a risk, she knew, but she had the option to call for reinforcements. To Anna, that clearly meant some form of summoning pets to take the heavy hits, and deal the big damage. She was more than okay with taking a supporting role to her friends if it meant she got some adorable pets. Plus, if she summoned an alligator, there was a good opportunity of her getting the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream, specifically, getting to say, “You’re a lizard, Larry!” as she cast spells from a distance. Who could give up that chance?

Mentally, selecting forest shaman, Anna felt all but the third eel disappear. It moved towards the center of her torso, and paused for a brief moment, before sliding into her abs with a slimy chill. The eel exploded, its aura expanded and began to suffuse every part of her soul with life energy. Anna felt her soul begin to react violently to the aura, ripping it apart and consuming every morsel. She spasmed in the water and punched towards the slab above her. No response came as she suffered shocks to her system. Eventually, she knocked her head against the pool wall to knock herself out. It didn’t work, but the fresh pain was enough for her to focus on the end goal. A little suffering for dope magical powers is worth it. You’re not gonna give up now. You WILL get a pet bear! Suddenly, all pain vanished as a new alert popped up.

System Alert:

New Class!

You have gained: Forest Shaman: Novice Class

System Alert:

Take the first step on your path!

Dharma fulfilled, Karma increased by 5!