"It's time to get up already. There's so much to do, and we can't be wasting the day away in bed."

Lucas regained full consciousness all at once, and found himself resting on his back, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. He didn't dwell on the issue, and instead quickly rose to his feet to get a good look around. He was in a strange, obviously luxurious room filled with naught more than an overly large bed, a strange wardrobe set within one wall, and an accompanying desk. The entire room was done in light and warm colors, apart from one wall that looked to be made of dark glass for som inconceivable reason, and looked exceedingly comfortable and inviting. Lucas didn't recognize it at all.

He took note of all this in passing, however, as he searched for the source of the voice that woke him. It had been a woman's voice, spoken right into his ear, but an inspection showed the bed was empty. Furthermore, the rest of the room was empty as well--Lucas was all alone.

Instead of relaxing, Lucas continued to wait with his back to one of the room's corners. There was yet a chance that whoever woke him remained in hiding, and in this unknown room with no idea how he'd arrived there, Lucas wasn't all that willing to take any chances. His caution took him further, and he tried actively employing his recent sensory enhancement to survey the surroundings. Only, it didn't work, and when he realized why, Lucas was suddenly glad no one was here to share in his embarrassment.

In retrospect, Lucas should have realized where he was as soon as he saw--or rather, didn't see--the state of the ambient mana. He'd grown so accustomed to the constant sight of mana flowing through the air, that it should have been extremely obvious to him when it suddenly wasn't there. The strange lighting that seemed to come from everywhere at once should have clued him in as well. Instead, he needed the failed activation of his Skills to realize he was still undergoing his Class selection within his soul.

To be completely fair, he was supposed to be somewhere he felt most secure, somewhere familiar. He could be forgiven for overreacting when he found himself in a completely foreign place--especially considering whatever that voice had been. The only other person that should be here with him was his guide.

Speaking of which, where is my guide?

There were two doors leading out of the bedroom, one to the left beside the desk, and one in the middle of the wall opposite the bed. Lucas tried the one on the left first, and walked into a pristinely white toilet room with some kind of glass stall taking up most of the far side. This clearly wasn't what he was looking for, and Lucas wasn't about to relieve himself inside his soul, so he didn't waste any time in returning to the bedroom.

The second door opened into a short hall done in the same warn colors. Lucas thought it might be made of some strange type of heavily processed wood, but it honestly could've been stone as well. It just cemented how bizarre this setting was, and his arrival at the end of the hall did nothing to alleviate that. He found himself entering a central room as large as his entire house in the outside world, with two levels and doors leading off in every direction. In the middle of the room was a selection of comfortable looking furniture and several freestanding shelves holding a hoard of books.

The scale of the room was shocking, and so many books in one place was its own surprise, but none of that was what drew his attention most. No, his gaze was immediately drawn to the closest window and the nonsensical sights it revealed.

Towering, artificial structures dotted the horizon, stretching both up above Lucas's elevation, and far, far below. As far as the eye could see--which admittedly wasn't as far as possible thanks to a strange omnipresent, bordering fog--the land was taken up by these structures, as well as their smaller kin. There wan't a spot of green in sight.

"What do you think?"

Lucas started at the sudden intrusion to his silence, but he didn't panic this time. He turned around to face the person approaching, not surprised in the least to find a perfect copy of himself.

"What in the world are you wearing?" Lucas felt compelled to ask.

"Good question," his Guide answered and looked down at the monochromatic grey, seamless suit that encased his body. "I have absolutely no idea," he shrugged and looked back up at Lucas, "why don't you tell me?"

Lucas was about to retort before he caught the Guide casting a significant look down at Lucas's own body. With some trepidation, he looked down and lo and behold, he had his own monochromatic suit. He hadn't even noticed, it felt that natural. Lucas pulled at the thing and found it surprisingly dense and taut, almost like some leather armor he'd seen before, but it was very clearly not leather.

"Besides," Lucas's Guide continued as he walked up beside him before the window, "that is the least of things we should be focussing on right now, don't you think?"

Lucas nodded and turned back to the window. Together, they just stood there in a companionable, yet disquiet silence. It wasn't the Guide that caused the disquiet, of course. He might as well have been Lucas's oldest friend, for how comfortable he felt with him. It was to be expected, since under all other circumstances they were one and the same person. It was the alien world before them that was the source of the disquiet. It didn't make any sense, but the worst thing was he knew it should've.

"I wish..." Lucas breathed, "I wish I could remember."

His guide nodded and seemed to be of similar thoughts. "It's never really been important to us before, but seeing it changes things, doesn't it?"

It was a rhetorical question, Lucas knew. They were both of one mind, even when separated. Still, he nodded in agreement. His last life had never seemed as important to him as the simple fact that he'd had one, and the way it affected his maturity. Lucas had honestly never expected to know any more about his past--and in all honesty, seeing this place didn't clue him in to much other information--but now he almost physically yearned to know more.

"The books," Lucas realized. He shot away from the window and toward the grand room's center, and the bookshelves that stood there, before his Guide could get in a word edgewise. He wasted no time in going around a couch in his way, instead vaulting over and continuing his approach to the nearest shelf.

"Lucas!"

The shelf was much as he might expect from any shelf in the outside world, unlike so many other fixtures currently around him. It even appeared to be made from wood and not the maybe-stone of everything else. Lucas reached for one of the large, leather book spines around his eye level and immediately brought it close to peruse, which is when he got his first surprise.

Though it had looked like a real book from its place upon the shelf, what he currently held in his hands was far from that. Its majority seemed to be made of glass, from which a familiar glow and even more familiar words shone.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

[Hedge Mage: You have showcased a natural talent for the use of mana and started down the road of magecraft without formal instruction...]

It continued quite a bit further, detailing his exploits and discoveries with mana while emphasizing the fact he didn't have an actual teacher, which Lucas found unnecessary. The strange glass tablet could be scrolled down to show even more, even detailing certain aspects of the Class and Skills Lucas could receive upon taking it. He scrolled down to the very bottom but didn't find anything he was looking for, so he resolved the false book and grabbed another.

[Student]

And another.

[Amateur Cook]

[Apprentice Healer]

And another, and another, over and over. He was so caught up in his furious search that he didn't hear his Guide coming up behind him, and only stopped when he caught Lucas's shoulder.

"It's no use," his guide said, "this place is nothing but an echo. You won't find anything more on our past than what you've already seen."

Lucas slowly deflated and returned the two tablets in his hands to their respective places. He turned and took a seat at the very couch he'd just jumped over like an animal, and he reclined back while rubbing his face. His guide followed behind, taking his own seat and letting Lucas quietly process...everything.

"It's strange," Lucas laughed, though it was questionable if there was any humor to be found in it. "I don't know why this feels so urgent, like I'm missing something incredibly important."

"There aren't exactly any rules for handling knowledge of a past life," his Guide said.

"I know. Or, I guess it makes sense, anyway," Lucas agreed. "It just came over me all of a sudden. Even now," he sat forward and looked straight ahead into nothing, "when I know there's nothing more to find, it's taking everything I have to just sit here."

"We can take a look around, if you like? There are a few rooms accessible down these halls--ones that aren't locked, I mean. But you won't find anything you are looking for."

Lucas didn't respond immediately as he thought it over. Eventually, he nodded and stood. "I need to know I did everything I could."

"Ok," his Guide said softly before standing up himself. He lead the way for Lucas, and they began an impromptu tour of the place.

Whatever the nature of this dwelling was, it had many, many rooms. Only a very small fraction of those were currently open to the two of them, but from the number of bedrooms, it was clear many people had lived here. There were also several toilets, closets, what Lucas immediately recognized as a training and exercise room, and rooms filled with empty desks where Lucas would expect a [Scribe] to be at work.

What there was not, however, was a single portrait, book, or anything else he might have used to learn more of this place. Lucas and his guide returned to that center room with nothing to show for their efforts but a deep disappointment. The guide had told Lucas, but he hadn't been able to help holding out a bit of hope. The intense feelings he was overcome with had all but required him to.

The disappointment actually helped ground him, and Lucas was able to take a seat on another couch and start fully calming down. His guide continued to practice an extremely tolerant patience. The sort of patience that was only possible when the person knew exactly what you were going through, and was in fact going through it themselves, for which Lucas was infinitely grateful.

"Maybe there will be more to see and learn later, when I come back at a higher level," Lucas optimistically suggested.

Unfortunately, his Guide didn't seem as optimistic. "There's no telling," he shook his head, "but it is just as likely that this place will be gone. It's already strange that the form this place took, the place we feel most comfortable and secure, is from a life we don't remember."

He looked Lucas in the eye, somewhat apologetic. "I don't mean to dash your hopes, but it is far more likely that as we grow and mature in Anki, the place we feel most secure will be somewhere else."

That was not what Lucas wanted to hear, but he had no grounds to object or become bitter. As Lucas's connection to the System, his Guide would know best on this matter. And as part of Lucas himself, his Guide would want to know more as well. Instead of throwing a fit like a petulant child, Lucas absorbed those words in silence.

Some time passed that way, and without any change in the omnipresent lighting, there was no telling how long. Lucas couldn't actually sleep within his soul, but he might have dozed if he could. Eventually though, he had to move on.

"Can you show me the Classes," he asked his Guide.

In answer, the Guide smirked and waved an arm before them, at the shelves full of tablets.

"Funny," Lucas deadpanned. "You know what I'm looking for."

"I do," the Guide answered, "but are you sure you want to skip out on seeing all the options?"

Lucas hadn't thought of it that way. It was sure to be entertaining to see all the paths he could take, and right now that might be the perfect thing to take his mind off his disappointment. He conceded the point with a nod and stood to begin browsing the shelves while his Guide remained seated.

Though it had seemed that way at first glance, not all the tablets were the same. Some were bound in an unfamiliar, smooth material, some bindings had varying levels of embellishment, and many were of different sizes. The size didn't seem to have anything to do with the tablet's contents, but Lucas found the Classes with more embellished bindings quite interesting. He pulled one in particular off the shelf, attracted by its intricate detailing that depicted stylized lightning bolts--something common among the different tablets, but this one was especially tasteful.

[Skybound Sorcerer: You have taken the heart of the storm as your own in a feat of mana previously unheard of, displaying such a prodigious talent that your actions have reverberated across the System. Your connection to mana and lightning has opened a rare path that you might tread down at the cost of all others. Take this Class and embody the arcane storm.

Taking this Class will lock you out of all other paths.

+10 INT, +10 WIS per level]

Lucas whistled in appreciation. This one looked like an all-around improvement to the [Hedge Mage] Class. It sounded quite impressive, and the number of stats it gave reflected that. However, the issue with it was clear.

"Hey, uh..." he looked back at his Guide, who had joined him sometime in the last few minutes.

"Guide works just fine," he chuckled.

"Right, Guide then. What can you tell me about this line?" Lucas pointed at a particular spot on the tablet.

Guide nodded to himself, as if he'd expected Lucas to ask just that question. "Like it says, this Class is strong, but it comes with a restriction. Namely, you will no longer be able to take Classes not tied to mana and lightning, or maybe just nature. It's also strictly a magic-based Class, so physical combat Classes will be removed as well."

Lucas grimaced and immediately returned the tablet to the shelf. "Moving on, then."

He continued slowly browsing through everything, taking time to read through whatever caught his eye even if he knew he wouldn't choose the Class in the end. Lucas found an amazing cooking Class called [Edible Artisan] that also happened to be every bit as restrictive as [Skybound Sorcerer], and he had fun reading through all that would be possible if it was what he eventually chose. He found a few [Avatar] Classes as well, but they were mostly focussed on physical combat. Still, it was a good sign.

Strangely enough, one of the [Avatar] Classes wasn't based on physical combat at all. It was more of a general, multi-affinity magic Class. It sounded interesting enough, but Lucas thought it might suffer in reality for not specializing in any one affinity.

As he was browsing, Lucas came to a shelf enclosed with glass panels, preventing him from accessing the tablets within. Guide spoke up before Lucas could even voice his curiosity.

"These ones aren't available to you. You meet some of their requirements, which is why they are here at all, but not enough that you can actually choose them."

"I figured it would be something like that," Lucas nodded without looking back, "but what about that one?" He pointed out one tablet for Guide that seemed to be made entirely out of a System window. At least, the coloring was right but there was no telling anything more with him locked out of the shelf.

Guide leaned forward to see what Lucas was pointing at, then responded with a shrug. "Can't say."

"You don't know?"

"Not with the glass case closed," he shook his head.

"That's unfortunate," Lucas gave the tablet one last interested look before moving on.

He spent a bit more time browsing the shelves and ran into several more locked glass cases. At that point, the Classes were becoming less and less entertaining and Lucas had started to lose interest. He returned the last tablet to its spot and made his way out of the maze of shelves. He chose a chair with a sturdy table before it this time, then addressed his Guide.

"Ok, I'm ready for the real ones."

"Very well," Guide replied, and with a wave of his hand five different tablets appeared on the table.