Rob awoke to darkness. Trying to recall how he got here, his mind was hazy with confusion. He realized he was in a void, and heard a monotonous voice:
"Welcome to your new life. This is a SYSTEM intercession due to deific error. You have recently been reincarnated to account for the error; karmic debt has been assessed for the cost of this transaction against the offending party. You will be refunded a life in a new world, and granted a class and abilities."
Wait what? Where was the truck?
He startled and stared out into the darkness; it was an unsettling experience. There was nothing, including himself, but the sensation of space was VAST. When he flailed his arms around, he was unable to locate his own body.
The voice continued:
"Your timeline is currently being woven into this world. A 16 year old body has been generated, and your sex has been kept constant. You do not have parents, but neither do you have complications. Natives are DISALLOWED from digging into your past - they will not even think to do so, anonymity is not a concern. This is a new life, and a clean slate.
Normally, the awakening of a class is a sacred event, but you will be awakened before joining the world. If you have any questions, the answers will probably become clear in time.
Stand by for awakening, and system interface."
At that, the area in front of his face began to shimmer, and a blue box menu appeared before Rob, floating in the emptiness. The box read, "SYSTEM AWAKENING... CLASS ROLL INITIATED". A slot full of cards appeared - it began to spin rapidly; as it slowed, he saw that each had a colored border and displayed a series of randomized cards that labelled with different classes and abilities. Rob watched with bated breath, his heart racing as he felt the weight of the moment. The box slowed to a halt, displaying the word "SUMMONER" in a flash of light. Reality shifted, and Rob felt a sudden surge of power and knowledge rush into him. The rainbow border on the card was probably a good sign; the other cards tended to have bronze/silver/gold borders.
The box resolved into a simple character sheet. Some sections appeared collapsed:
----------------------
-Status Screen-
----------------------
# Name: Rob
Class: Summoner
Level: 1
...
-Traits
*Aura of Command (Persistent. 60 seconds cooldown.)
*Innate Magical Resistance (Passive)
*Unknown (Pending Trio Selection)
-Abilities
*Summon Familiar (60 minutes cooldown)
*Inner Realm
*Unknown (Pending Trio Selection)
…
|Cancel| |Confirm|
----------------------------
The box had raised "Confirm" and "Cancel" buttons. He hesitated for a moment; who in their right mind would cancel an awakening? Would you just be some pleb in magic-land?
Startled, he noticed that he now had hands reaching toward the screen. He stopped immediately, and took stock of the situation as he noticed a tingling sensation throughout his body. He looked down and saw a blurry form taking shape, his clothes appearing and fitting perfectly around him. The blue box menu remained floating in front of him, now displaying his new abilities and traits. He thought about the gravity of the situation and the vast potential of his new class. He probably had to choose wisely, as he was likely stuck with them.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
His new body seemed kind of gangly, but he wasn’t complaining. He’d been gaining weight since high school, it would be nice to undo the last 10 years of missed sleep and stress.
Nothing else was visible, so he reached out to see what his trait options were. Some of it was intuitive, magic resistance made sense. But what did [Aura of Command] do? Seemed pretty generic... he tapped the skill, and a description appeared underneath: "[Aura of Command]: A continuous passive ability that empowers nearby allies to follow a specific action. Effectiveness increases with class level. 60 seconds cooldown to change focus." Sounded useful.
Summon Familiar's description read: "[Summon Familiar]: Invokes a creature from the Inner Realm to serve and protect you for a short duration. The type of familiar is chosen from those available(or at random), and grows in power with your summoning skill. The summoned creature is scaled to half the threat of the current tier, and will last until death, banishment, or another familiar is summoned." Rob, eager to understand his new abilities, tapped the "Summon Familiar" button on his status screen. Nothing happened... but he felt a resonance from inside. Almost like the knowledge of where ones wallet was, it was intuitive. He grasped it, and a swirl of colorful energy formed before him, and out of it emerged a creature that looked like a cross between a ferret and a fox, about as large as a leopard. It was small and agile, with a mischievous twinkle in its eye, and it took a moment to get its bearings before it looked up at Rob and chirped(?) happily. The familiar looked ready to explore the void alongside him.
It looked so adorable he wanted to hug it... but the needle-like teeth noticeably protruding from its lips dissuaded him. Future goals.
"Hmm", Rob said, "... something seems missing. What would you like to be named?". Bearing in mind its cuteness, and the sharpness of its teeth, he decided on his ex's name: Becky. The creature looked at him with a hint of mischief in its eyes, as if it had understood his jest. It chirped once more, a slightly higher pitch this time, and then shimmered and vanished like a mirage.
The last thing to test was [Inner Realm]. The description read: "Inner Realm: Access to a time-locked personal space within the fabric of reality where you can safely rest, store items, and perform personal upgrades. Costs a portion of your max health to use." Was that a time stop? As a level 1 power? Maybe, but yes, please! It definitely sounded abusable; if only the new world has reddit, some theory crafter could probably think of dozens of exploits for this ability. This wasn't a game though... Was he going to lose a toe or something? Seasonal flu just to pick up some bottle caps? Considering the potential risks, Rob decided to keep his "health" intact for now and postpone using it.
The "pending selection" items were currently highlighted in red. He decided to would tap one, and his screen flashed before his finger reached the screen.
3 traits, and their descriptions, popped up in vertical columns:
*Essence Tap: Steals a portion of the summoned creature's essence to recover health.
*Summoner's Wisdom: Gains knowledge of any creature's abilities and stats.
*Aura of Dominance: Aura of Command evolution. Increases the effectiveness of Aura of Command by 50%, and allows the command to affect hostile creatures as well.
He backed out, and tapped the pending [Ability]. He had a choice between:
*Banish: Attempts to bring a creature into your inner realm. Only works on weakened targets, and may invite contest. 60 seconds cooldown.
*Summon Guardian: Invoke a powerful creature to fight alongside you for 20 minutes. Cooldown 1 hour.
*Enhance Familiar: Temporarily boosts a familiar's power and size. Lasts for 10 minutes. Cooldown 12 hours.
That was... a lot. He tried to break it down into "useful", and "garbage", but letting go of any of these seemed like it would hurt. Hopefully he wasn't locked out of these later.
[Banish] and [Essence Tap] seemed to synergize; he had a way to access his little timestop inventory, as well as play around with whatever powered the summoning system.
[Summon Guardian] and [Enhance Familiar] seemed like strong short term options, and a little boring ... he liked the word "powerful", but it was too vague. He envisioned a massive ferret playing with ogres like they were chewtoys. Becky was already pretty big, she could probably kill a man; if he really NEEDED a giant, his new life was probably already fucked.
[Aura of Dominance] seemed like it might scale with more allies and enemies... he hoped to [SYSTEM] he wasn't walking into a horde situation where it was immediately applicable. [Summoner's Wisdom] looked like a classic MC cheat, analysis powers always seemed to unlock more stuff.
Basically, he viewed the choices as the "inner realm combo", "combat special" with dominance and the temporary summon enhancements, or a decent mix of "analysis with a panic button".
Enemy analysis and exploiting the inner realm seemed like the most "meta" options. He pretended there was a theorycrafter on his shoulder, and that’s totally what the nerd told him that was what he should take... but with his luck, the combat options were being offered for a REASON. How sensitive was the system to his needs and starting position?
He discounted the full combat route. If he was being sent to a hellish battlefield, his best choice would probably be to hide, anyway. Or, you know, die; supposedly that wasn’t as final as he thought.
[Inner Realm] seemed important, and it was one of his early core abilities. He chose [Essence Tap] and [Banish], because he couldn't see himself even trying it without a way to recover. Even if this new life was entirely combative or peaceful... being able to regenerate, access to a pocket space, and what read like a time stop were still wildly applicable.
His full perks now looked like:
- Trait 1: Aura of Command (Persistent. 60 seconds cooldown)
- Trait 2: Innate Magical Resistance (Passive)
- Trait 3: Essence Tap (Toggled)
- Ability 1: Summon Familiar (60 minutes cooldown)
- Ability 2: Inner Realm (Health Cost)
- Ability 3: Banish (60 seconds cooldown)
As he began to ponder what to do next, a low hum began building beneath his feet. It escalated rapidly, to the point he began to feel it in his joints and muscles; it felt like he was about to be torn apart. Suddenly, the darkness was ripped aside and he found himself sitting in a tavern.