Jaclyn woke up in a puddle of her own drool, head resting on her desk, thankfully clear of any papers that might be damaged. She sighed as she pushed herself back into a sitting position, brushing the wrinkles out of her suit as best she could.
Wow, falling asleep at her desk. She hadn’t done that in years. A decade, if she didn’t count the few times she’d done so voluntarily when she’d been forced to wait on one thing or other late at night and decided to take a catnap until then.
She’d had a pint at the pub, but already burned all the alcohol from her system by the time she’d returned to her car, actually tested that with one of the breathalyzer kits out of sheer curiosity. And then, she’d gone straight back to work setting up her branch of the BPA.
Frye had, of course, spent part of his available time to gather people who could go out into the world to make sure the supernatural didn’t endanger innocents.
He was drawing from a lot of branches, but only the cream of the crop.
The least of these groups was the Specialist Firearms Officers, which were basically Authorized Firearms Officers like her, police officers who were allowed to use guns, but had SFOs had more training.
Then, one step further, there were Counterrorism Specialist Firearms Officers, who had been taught even more specialized lessons.
But he’d also drawn on regular officers with outstanding records.
However, he hadn’t limited himself to just the police, also going for the SAS, SBS, the Royal Marine Commandoes, and the Special Forces Support Group, taking, as per a note in the margin, “as many as she could grab and running off with them”.
Frye had likewise carved off whatever logistics personnel he could get his hands on, but that was Foster’s issue to deal with, thankfully. Which meant she “only” had a few thousand names to sort through.
The special forces soldiers were shoo-ins, for the most part, though she’d still looked for and found abbreviated versions of their service records and skimmed them.
It was almost terrifying what kinds of information her new position she now had access to, and what she could look into. In fact, if she felt like it, she could probably dig up some national secrets, though she knew to leave that well enough alone.
Of course, one couldn’t access those kinds of systems from any random old computer on an unprotected line, which was why she was currently in Cambridge, with access to the BPA’s computers.
The police officers were … more complex.
In an ideal world, she’d have stuck with the military as her pool of potential recruits. But that wasn’t how it worked. The military had one set of training, the police another. One was supposed to fight, one was supposed to regulate conduct among civilians, safely.
And countless times, history had proven that those skillsets were not interchangeable and that trying to use the military for police actions was a terrible idea. One that resulted in dead bodies in the streets.
Her Strike Teams might be there to take down villainous power-wielders, but they would still be acting in a police capacity.
She needed to pick the right officers, but all she had was a few files, pixels on a screen. Not the officers ready for an interview
Jaclyn sighed and let her head thump back onto the desk. She needed to mostly trust that Frye, or at least one of his trusted subordinates, had done their job and properly sorted the potential recruits and only added those to the list who were above reproach, hopefully erring on the side of caution.
Before she’d fallen asleep, she’d already selected quite a few people for the first group and was now deciding to either settle on that group or take some more time to fill out the roster.
In the end, she decided that any time she spent here was time not spent training and that she’d stick with the people she’d already contacted, as well as the people Frye had already called. Getting more people was a task she’d leave to others. Foster, maybe, or someone else she hadn’t met yet.
Somehow, despite only having gone to sleep at three in the morning, she’d already woken up at seven and wasn’t feeling all that tired anymore. So she had plenty of time to go ahead and make some more plans.
***
“Good morning, everyone, I am Deputy Director Abrams. I’ll be the one who’ll be guiding you on your path to gaining superpowers.”
Jaclyn let that statement hang in the air for a long moment, sunlight glinting off the cool morning fog. It was early, and the ground was still wet and slightly muddy from last night’s rainfall, but considering that it was summer, it was also bright out, and not overly cold.
Though many people had still opted for warmer gear, showing her a motley collection of various uniforms, workout gear-looking outfits, actual military gear, and combinations of the three. There simply hadn’t been the time to distribute BPA uniforms to everyone. Heck, likely less than a tenth of the needed uniforms had currently been made, and that was based on the current number of members, which was guaranteed to keep growing for quite some time.
Jaclyn herself was wearing a uniform she’d managed to have delivered to her office before heading out here. A short-sleeved version that she was likely going to be wearing out in the field for quite some time.
In the summer, even an English summer, she wouldn’t get cold unless she crawled into a freezer, and wearing long sleeves while punching monsters risked them getting tangled. Plus, with how tough she was, the missing sleeves would not have added an appreciable level of protection.
She gestured to her left.
“This is Samuel Harper, he’s in charge of medical services for the entire BPA, and he’s a magical healer. He’ll be making sure you all walk out of here perfectly healthy, no matter what happens.”
He was likewise wearing a uniform, the one designed for medics, complete with a utility belt filled with his alchemical cures and medical implements, and a caduceus patch on his shoulder.
Then, she gestured to her other side.
“This Wyatt Granger, he’s our mage. I know for a fact he’s the strongest one in the United Kingdom.”
Granger held out both hands, palms up, and summoned a fireball above his right palm and an orb of lighting above his left, holding them there for a brief moment before dismissing them.
Deciding whether or not to include him in this had taken a long time. On one hand, he was her only mage.
On the other, he was, well, Granger. Young, distractible, inexperienced.
In the end, she’d decided to just massively limit his role in this while including him. Showing spells, demonstrating what his Class could do, and maybe show those who decided to take up his Class some tricks, but that was all.
Though “young and inexperienced” was sadly a good descriptor of this entire organization and this particular setup in particular.
She and her “trainers” were standing at the entrance of a tent errected to protect the projector and screen she’d prepared, while the trainees were lined up in front of her, all thirty of them.
She was going to do this again in a few weeks, when she and her future subordinates would have had the time to process all the applications and find candidates of their own, but for right now, she was going with the sure bets, for the most part. Special Forces, Royal Marines, and a couple of rising stars in the police force purely to have at least a few people here whose training was more focused on safe takedowns than proper combat.
There should also have been a small house where a tent stood, with shower facilities and changing rooms even further behind, a fence around the entire area to make sure no one accidentally stumbled onto here while they were throwing around magic or bullets … but all that had been done by now was the purchase of the land itself.
“You are here because the world has changed, people are gaining magic, and we have a chance to get ahead of the worst consequences. We can prepare structures to make sure that bad actors aren’t free to run roughshod over society, and if we act quickly enough, we can even beat the monsters that have already left the jungle.
“You are here because we believe we have the potential to make that happen, using the magic you are about to receive. To that end …”
Jaclyn let the statement hang in the air while she stepped to the side, revealing the white curtain hanging in the tent, while slipping a hand into her pocket and grabbing the remote to turn on the projector.
“The BPA is currently using the same System as the Worldstrider Tribe, which allows you to choose any available Class and train your skill in whatever you want to the point where they’re practically superpowers in their own right. I’ll be introducing you to them all.”
Another tap on the remote caused a short video to play, or rather, a compilation of even shorter clips that Granger had had ready before she’d even asked him to prepare something, simply because he’d thought it was cool to try and understand magic, so he’d filmed and edited everything purely for his own perusal.
It showed one of the orcs, Margal, show off his Primal Warrior Class. He draped a bit of rawhide over his foot before someone off-camera dropped a keg-sized rock on it, used a vine as a whip that tore through multiple trees, and broke a boulder in half by smacking it with a stick.
Then, it showed the other Primal Warrior of the Worldstrider Tribe demonstrate how he used the Class. Jaclyn didn’t know his name, though she really should have taken the time to learn it. Sure, she almost exclusively dealt with Gula, and remembering twenty-five new names and the faces that went with them when she’d never talked to twenty of those people was hard, but she should have taken the time. And would, but later, since she couldn’t change matters now.
“This is the Primal Warrior Class,” she stated. “It allows you to pick up any natural object and use it as a weapon or armor. After a couple of levels, you’ll be able to pick up a long stick and a vine, make a bow, put a random short stick on the bowstring, and then have that arrow hit harder than a bullet from an antimaterial rifle. And you can get those levels over the course of a single fight.
“It’s a Class geared towards combat, though not a kind of combat any of you will be familiar with. There’ll be a learning curve, but this is a Class that only grows in power as you use it in creative ways, and any tricks you or someone else figure out can be shared pretty easily.”
The video paused at that point, leaving everyone with a still picture of the utter devastation two E-Ranks could unleash using only the kinds of things one could pick up from the ground.
People started muttering at that point, or scanning their surroundings to figure out what they’d be able to pull off with just what they could see in the here and now. And she let them. She wanted them to get invested.
She then played the next video, which showed a more mundane, non-violent, version of the previous clips. Fires being ignited with a flick of the wrist, carcasses being cleaned within seconds, food cooking in maybe half a minute, followed by various resources being found when they really should not have been located that quickly.
“This is the Ranger Class. It’s a support-type Class that lets you survive literally anywhere and turn the things you find there into tools and weapons. Your offensive power will heavily depend on your skills rather than your power, but you’ll be on the frontlines of exploring any magical areas we gain access to.”
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Jaclyn had started out strong with the really impressive combat Class but was now going to rattle off the various utility Classes before returning to the ones she really wanted her subordinates to pick up.
“Up next, we’ve got the Nomad and Worldstrider Classes, which focus on traveling. The Nomad can increase movement speed across an entire formation while the Wordstrider can walk between universes through weak points. We won’t need these immediately, however, once we begin to explore widely or even see if we can do anything with the crack in the sky, they will lead the way.”
The next “slide” was just a picture of a contract, next to one of Granger after he’d spent the entire day playing with such papers.
“The current plan is to get some trustworthy lawyers who are better than that profession’s stereotypes to create the magical contracts we’ll use going forward, but if someone here wants to prove how the pen can beat the sword, feel free to go for it.”
Jaclyn had decided to offer it even though she hoped to lose not even a single one of her recruits to that Class, but she decided to go for full honesty for now. Even then, these were men and women of action, who’d managed to reach heights that required grit and determination, they likely wouldn’t sign up for a desk job, especially with all the other available options.
And that was the last of the “boring” Classes. Well, not boring, just ever so slightly useless in the current situation.
The next video was a compilation of Granger casting a variety of spells.
“This is the Logos Mage Class, the first and currently only Class created by humans. It focuses on learning and casting spells either extremely quickly or several at once. We don’t know how this Class will grow in the future, and what powers it will gain, but chances are, it will be extremely impressive.
“However, this Class is about multitasking. Mr. Granger here had his Multitasking Skill at Level 20 when he created the Class, right at the human limit. You will either need to have or learn this Skill to properly utilize Logos Mage to its fullest.”
Once again, Jaclyn waited for the muttering to die down while Granger “slyly” played with electricity arcing between his fingers.
She then followed that up with a brief showcase of Harper’s powers, but she didn’t hype it up too much. There were medics in the crowd, they’d pick the Class because they wanted it.
Up next was a video of Gula in action.
“Despite appearances, this is not a mage Class, but rather one that deals in summoning, allowing you to summon phantoms of monsters you’ve ‘harmonized’ with. It will take some time to fully utilize any of them.”
Once again, it would be nice to have people who wielded this Class properly, and she wouldn’t stop anyone from choosing it, but it took time to get going and required good monsters to copy to be great.
And finally, they’d come full circle, landing on the Worldstrider Tribe’s second melee combat Class. Hers.
If the people here were half as good as they looked on paper, they’d have looked into their new employer and found any of the hundred videos of her fight against Alaxia floating around on the internet, so she’d just thrown up a particularly impressive looking screenshot of one of those next to a picture of Harjaz in his transformed state.
“This is the Anima Monk Class, the single most flexible one available. You can choose an animal and gain the power to fight like it. It should be an animal capable of fighting, settling on a flatworm merely due to its regeneration or a cornsnake because you think they’re cute is not a good idea.
“But for anyone who’s an experienced bare-handed fighter, and feels like being completely independent of any equipment requirements, this is the Class for you. Just remember, this is a Class you need to grow into, figuring out how to combine your training with your power into a lethal combination.”
Just like she’d done, creating an entirely new Skill that allowed her to punch above her weight Class against Fields.
“My bond is with a honey badger, it makes me almost impossible to kill and lets me use devastating counterattacks when the other guy is still stunned by the fact that I’m still alive.
“But there are a hell of a lot of other viable bonds out there, from bears to snakes to birds for the people who want to fly. Sky’s the limit.”
Finally, Jaclyn stepped back in front of the tent’s entrance and shut off the projector with the remote.
“Of course, there is a final option. Creating your own Class. It’ll be the ultimate combination of everything you’ve ever learned over the course of your life, but that won’t necessarily get you something coherent or even useable, since everything will just get slapped together.
“For example, I’m an expert martial artist since I’ve been learning since I was little, but I’m also a parent so the System registers me as having lots of childrearing expertise. Guess what the ability to hit stuff and raising a child combines to?”
Beside her, speaking so quietly that even she barely caught it, Granger whispered “Mr Miyagi.”
That … well, something like that would have probably required some extra teaching skill, Jaclyn certainly hadn’t been offered anything in that vein.
But unlike Granger, the others realized what she was getting at. That combination of Skills made for a Class that was quite literally abusive, the same way that fisticuffs and a job as a police officer combined to make a Class that was the embodiment of police brutality and the exact kind of officer she didn’t want to be.
So there were a few winces, some thoughtful expressions, and a handful of people were obviously trying to figure out what their various hobbies added up to when forcefully combined.
“Feel free to see what you get, I certainly did, but don’t grab a Class just because it’s your personal Class, the already registered Classes were designed with great care and they work.
“Now, you have a few minutes to think about it, then we’ll walk over to the Worldstrider’s encampment. Just remember, none of the Classes will be bad, it’s just that there are some that may not be perfect for you.”
She let them talk about it, demonstrated her claws a couple of times when she was asked to, and then led them towards the encampment, which was rapidly turning into a proper town.
Sure, the tents had been magical artifacts that had more amenities than her apartment and could be set up or broken down, but they’d also been the limit of what the tribe had reasonably been able to use for housing before.
But now that they had the land of their own, which was theirs in perpetuity, that they could do literally anything with save for a handful of exceptions such as factories that released hazardous chemicals, they’d gone slightly overboard. Just a little. Teenys-weensy bit.
It was still built up around the tents, but three houses had been completed overnight, a town square had sprung up too, a water tower, well, towered over everything, and Jaclyn could see where it would eventually be hooked up to the national water distribution system.
In all likelihood, the various utilities would be an extension of the ones put in for the BPA training center, since it had been placed next to the new town quite deliberately.
The town square itself was a beautiful area covered in intricately carved cobblestone, with countless squiggles on the various individual stones forming a defensive ward protecting the village nexus in the center. The crystalline pillar looked pretty, and yet, it was a little plain for what it was capable of doing.
Gula was already waiting for them.
“Greetings,” she began, stepping into their path. “I am Gula Worldstrider, the leader of this Tribe, and the one who shall walk you through gaining your Classes. I hope you will all become the champions you have the potential to be, and protect this realm without losing anything that is dear to you.”
That said, she stepped back and to the side, taking position next to the nexus.
“If anyone is certain about which Class they’re going to pick or wants to create their own, step forward,” Jaclyn ordered.
One of the SAS folks was the first to the crystal, confidently advancing. He didn’t choose to share his screens, merely looked it over for a few seconds before he turned around and walked back to the others, taking position right in front of Jaclyn and saluting.
“Sergeant Milo Evans, formerly of the SAS, Anima Monk, stoat bond,” he announced, holding the position for a couple of seconds before Jaclyn nodded and he walked to the far right of the group, a couple of meters away from the others, already organizing it so that there was a clear differentiating between those waiting on their turn and those who’d already gotten it.
Good man, that Evans, Jaclyn thought. And a stoat bond … interesting. A relative of her own badger, but a very different kind of creature. They were small, capable of fitting in her palm even fully grown, but fast and vicious as all get out, capable of taking down prey ten times their side.
Being well used to punching above their weight class was going to be damn useful. Though they did so by dodging, rather than tanking attacks and then going straight for the unmentionables.
The next five people received their Classes without incident, though the orcs were starting to gather and watch. Not because humans getting their powers was interesting, but because they wanted to see if they’d get any personalized Classes and if so, which they were.
Then, a Marine combat engineer by the name of Felix Holmes got his own personal Class. Gearhead.
Looking more embarrassed than Jaclyn felt was warranted, he told everyone that apparently, his hobbies of building model train sets and fiddling around with his car played nice with his job-based skills.
And the first power was awesome too. Arcane Adjustment allowed him to up- or downgrade items to match his rank as was needed, giving it great potential. Though it would also apparently have some hard limitations on how much it could upgrade something. Allowing a gun to operate at F-Rank was very much within the realm of the possible, but the gun would also rapidly degrade.
Jaclyn decided that, in all likelihood, the Class could very much come in handy, but there were better options for raw combat power. Even if it was only for a few shots, having full-power firearms around could be game-changing. Leveling Holmes would have to be a priority since he could become quite the force multiplier.
After Holmes came a mountain of a man who went by the name of Lucas Henderson who’d been recruited from the ranks of the London police department and had likely been compared to a bear many times before today, when he’d chosen to become a bear-bonded Anima Monk. That would be interesting to watch.
One by one, Jaclyn’s subordinates stepped up, gained superpowers, introduced themselves to the world with their name and Class, and walked over to where Evans had set his example.
She was surprised how many people chose her own Class, but there was still a wide spread of Classes.
For example, a demolition expert by the name of Zachary Cook from the SBS picked Gearhead, though it’d probably take a bit to prepare something he could use. Modern explosives had safeties built in so that they would only go off if triggered just right. For example, you could light a stick of TNT on fire and be perfectly safe until the flames started licking at your fingers. And those electronic triggers likely wouldn’t work with his power.
Or maybe there were mechanical triggers, Jaclyn didn’t know. Her knowledge about explosives was limited to “don’t use your radio when next to a bomb because that might set it off” and “if you find a bomb, call the bomb squad”. Certainly, it was his job to figure out how to make his power work.
But the big surprise came with the last person to go.
A young woman who Jaclyn knew to be 29 though she looked maybe 25 at the most, a police officer with a stellar record who’d come from a long line of cops.
She stepped up to the crystal and her eyes went wide, then she turned around to Jaclyn with shining eyes, looking even younger than Granger at that moment despite being almost a decade older than him.
“Director, I know you’re looking for people to beak the dragon lady, but can I get the police officer Class I just got offered?”
“This is a choice that’ll stick with you for the rest of your life,” Jaclyn said. “Your choice. But can you show me?”
“Oh, sorry,” Murray hurriedly followed the suggestion, showing her the window in question.
Personal Class: Police Officer
This is a Class formed for a person who spent their childhood dreaming of fighting injustice and their adulthood bringing that dream to fruition.
It is focused on granting its wielders the ability to enforce the law and prevent people who have power from victimizing those who do not, creating an orderly society.
“A society without rules is a society in anarchy, and human nature means that anarchy will lead to misery and death.”
Starting Power: Force of Law (Enforce the law even in a society of superhumans)
Would you like to accept this Class?
It took physical effort to not facepalm.
They had been looking for veterans without hobbies to create this Class, when all along, they should have been looking for youngsters like Murray, who were young enough to not have long-term hobbies influencing things, and for whom becoming a cop had been their hobby when they’d been young.
“What about the power?” Jaclyn asked, sounding hoarse.
Murray obeyed.
Force of Law
No one is above the law, even literal gods among men.
This power embodies this idea, ensuring that one does not need great personal power to hold those with impossible strength accountable for their actions.
When taking legal action, or a law enforcement action in line with the spirit of the law, the wielder of this power uses not only their own power, but the power of every other person who holds this power, is within range (3/4 mile per point of spirit) and a member of the same nation’s law enforcement apparatus. The amount of power that can be gained/donated grows with the Spirit Statistic.
This power increases strength, durability, resistance against hostile powers, actively suppressing them over time, and strengthens means of restraint such as handcuffs. Overall, under optimal circumstances, this power allows its users to fight a full Rank above their own.
Well, wasn’t that something?
Largely, no, entirely useless while she was the only one who had the Class, but damn, that was an impressive power. Might be tricky to train, but … this was the answer to everything. The entire law enforcement dilemma presented by superpowers.
Granted, as a strike team that would have to, in all likelihood, occasionally operate in the middle of nowhere, they might not necessarily be able to make full use of it, so more standard Classes were still the name of the game but still … just incredible. And then there was the “small” issue of only being able to fight a single Rank above them. Regular cops were unlikely to have anywhere near the ranks of the elite BPA force.
Though how much of a stick did one have to have up one’s rear to create a Class whose power sounded like it had been written by a lawyer?
Jaclyn chose not to comment on that, however, or even think up more things to say.
Instead, she just went ahead and started sorting people into groups. Who could go straight to the Dungeon with her, and who needed to do certain things before they’d become useful.
“Logos Mages, Spiritcallers, you’re with Mr. Granger, he’ll teach you how to use and control your mana.
“Healers, Rangers, you’re with Mr. Harper. Explore the woods, figure out what your powers work best with for your own, create something you can work with.
“Primal Warriors, you have fifteen minutes to find some objects to work with, then head to the training ground.
“Anima Monks, follow me.”
And while everyone else scattered, Jaclyn led her Class mates back to the original gathering spot where she went through a few simple exercises while figuring out what martial arts styles everyone was best at, while they waited for the other group of melee warriors to have gotten ready.
***
The jungle came alive with noise in the middle of an otherwise calm afternoon. Just when Thomas had been starting to win at chess.
Though what he was seeing put an immense grin on his metaphorical face.
Fresh meat!