"Get those damn fish in dry weather, or you're all dead!" Felix yelled.

It had been nearly two weeks since I first started working and I got to experience my first rainstorm in Gloomreach. Well it was more like a monsoon back from Earth if I had a comparison. Sheets of rain battered down on the docks. Funny that, every time I was here I was battered by the sun, now I'm getting battered by torrents of water. Life goes full circle.

"Yui, take this and run it down to the office." Evan said. He handed me the last basket of fish carcasses. "Run back here after your done. Me and Jake will start up the wood stove." He ran back through the door and then turned around yelling after me "Have fun in your first Gloomstorm buddy!"

I pumped my legs and pushed myself further along down the docks. The building where we dumped all the fish carcasses was used by The Guild for something that we weren't being told. The building itself was pretty nasty. Carts were strewn everywhere and the stench was slightly unbearable. That was the thing that I got accustomed to the most quickly while working here. That and the frequent tirades that Felix might have if our work didn't meet what he needed in income for the day. Its only happened twice now, counting the Gloomstorm that was now happening. It was named that by the cities residents.

I swung the door back open and started jogging back to the Hideout. Evan and the rest of the boys shared rent with each-other to live in the same house together. The were practically paying nothing to live next to the docks and it let them save up money. I was getting much closer to some of them. That meant that a few were much more open for chatting and sharing some small talk. I would count my victory's wherever I got them.

Running back in the rain was an experience I wouldn't forget for a while. Sure I was cold. Downright freezing, but I was in a fantasy world getting drenched from a massive rainstorm. I could barely see in front of me. The storm clouds themselves were lit up by a slight glow. fairly unnoticeable unless you stared directly at them. I guess that's were the name Gloomreach came from. The humidity and heat, and the more chilly, mist filled morning days would constantly be around you everyday. I felt the water rush over my nearly bald head. I had cut my mop off after it kept making me irritated during the work day. That much hair in the humid summer just made me uncomfortable. Keeping a steady pace I put a goofy grin on my face and chuckled. Looks like I wouldn't have to pay for the bathhouse for tonight.

I came back to the Hideout drenched and smelling like a wet dog. Evan greeted me at the door and I plopped my wet butt near the wood stove. Jake and Nathaniel were next to me.

"It's pretty cool to see those lights during the Gloomstorm." I said

Jake looked at me. He was the shyest of the bunch. "Makes it hard to tell when the lightning will hit.". He scratched his scraggly beard. "This your first time?" He asked.

"Yes, and it was definitely an experience." I said "well at least we don't have to take a dip in the tubs now" I got a couple of chuckles in response.

"Sounded like Felix had swallowed all our leftover fish today" Nathaniel said.

"Sounded like he was ready to throw in the towel, that's three Gloomstorms in two months" Evan said.

"You really cant blame him, the amount that the fish are selling for at the market have fallen since last year." Jon replied.

Jon lowered his voice "Don't tell anyone else this, but I think that some of the merchants have new some new abilities or class". Evan raised his eyebrows "You really think so?".

"Something has gotten them into a frenzy, they are all haggling with each-other like hobs without a leader." Jon said. "I have been hearing rumors of a supposed [Charm] skill going around in the market".

Jake Shrugged "Every merchant on a bad day blames the system for his losses Jon. You cant expect every rumor to be true"

Jon uncrossed his arms "It's the frequency that has been worrying me and I have seen some weird activity at the south-central market as well".

I piped in "How would a [Charm] power even work? would someone just automatically like you?".

"There is no conclusion to how it would work, but it would happen without the target directly working. If they did know this it would have blown over sooner." Jon said.

Evan looked back at me "Abilities that affect the mind are the most rare. Classes usually give out more combat oriented skills at first"

"Would any of the Classes that are held by non-combatants have that skill?" I asked.

"Most profession based Classes give their holders a small imbued bonus to stats, unlike combatant roles that have specific stats that can be increased through combat" Nathaniel said.

I curiously looked at Nathaniel "You seem to know a lot about Classes.".

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"I spend most of my extra money at the library studying, Classes are the most interesting topic that comes up" Nathaniel said. "But the information on them are very limited, I would say that only 20 books in the entire place have any decent information on them"

Well that was great. The Conversation died down after a little bit. Nathaniel and Jacob still sat around the stove. It was still dark in the hideout, but it felt pretty cozy. Everyone was content to sit around and rest their tired legs while waiting out the Gloomstorm for the rest of the night.

While everyone else was busy and content to nap, I decided to keep playing around with my System.I didn't tell anyone else about what I was doing. I figured that as rare as classes were, It was justified to keep information under wraps and to only ask when I made sure I was completely safe. Could I miss out on crucial information by not asking? Possibly, But Gloomreach wasn't like my hometown. I still didn't trust everyone working for Felix yet, but I was happy that some of the others had decided to open up to me today. I winced, my system started up it usual fare of random sounds.

Whenever I played around with my System menu's I would still get the usual head pain at times. It was more like a tiny stab near the front of my brain whenever I got it wrong. Sometimes I was lucky and only felt a tickle all around my head. I found out that some of my text was able to change color, but I couldn't change it back yet

Name: Yui Yamamoto Tyyuaskektffjj Class: ??? STR - 10 END - 10 CON - 10 INT - 15 DEX - 11 WIS - 11

I guess I would deal with my menu looking like a rainbow for now. It was actually funny to think about it. I couldn't [Summon Meteors] or sling a [Fireball] but I could have fancy colored characters stuck inside of my head. Whenever I took an action with my System I could feel something there. I really couldn't describe it that well. It felt like a fluid at times. Other times it felt powerful and fast. Like electricity. I also figured a way to change the size of my System Menu's. I could only stretch them for a bit before they rebounded and snapped back to position, but it felt like I was going somewhere with all of this.

I just wanted to go out and hunt some more hobs again. I felt something after I killed that first one. It wasn't just adrenaline, I kept replaying those events. My System must have done something to make those Hobs stop attacking me. The way that they grabbed their heads, it was definitely some type of pain that affected their ears. Above anything else I needed power in this world. I'm sure that I was sent here for some purpose. 'why else would I be here?' It just didn't fully make sense to me. It made no sense for some god or greater entity to send me here and not give me anything to actually help. There were still times when my system would make random garbled noises, I was dealing with it as best as I could, but it was just another issue that I was trying to solve. It was like figuring out a computer system. You just had to fiddle around with all the menu's until you were able to find the correct button or procedure to use.

I looked over at Nathaniel "You wanna visit the library tomorrow on our day off?". He pushed his glasses back onto the top of his nose. "Sure, I'll even show you all the secret sections, if you can handle them"

I smirked "sounds like a deal".

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This world was foreign, well I kept realizing nearly everyday I was here. The Library itself was completely against my expectations. It was more of a small monastery that housed more scrolls than books. I guess that books were still too painstaking to create in mass. Nathaniel helped me get through the front door, apparently a lot of people had ripped up scrolls and other items in the past. The Official name for the place was the 'Lower Conservatory of Gloomreach' but everyone in the city referred to it as 'The Nest' it was mostly a spot where different officials and scholars did the paperwork and other administrative tasks that related to Outer Slums.

We passed by the guardsmen at the door.

He was wearing the uniform that every one of them wore while on duty. Purple and green heraldry with a giant crab in the middle. He wore a mixture of plate armor and chain mail. I'm sure they were much faster than the average person, even being weighed down by all their equipment.

"Halt, wh-, oh Nathaniel."

"Its good to see you Markus" Nathaniel said

"You too, I'm glad that you're studying has been working out so far." Markus said.

Markus looked at me for a second and then chewed on his lip in thought for a bit "I can let both of you in for 1 copper"

Nathaniel barely blinked "That wont be a problem"

We passed him and Nathaniel slipped a coin into his hand that he held behind his back.

Nathaniel looked back at me after entering into a quieter section of the building "Perks of the job".

"Is that common here?" I asked

"It helps knowing most of the guards in this section. I wouldn't say that everyone allows bribes, it depends on who you know"

"That sounds both reassuring and a little worrying" I said "but most people here follow the law more than money, right?"

Nathaniel gave me shrug and then a cheeky wink "So you came here to learn more about classes, eh?" He pulled out a thin pair of spectacles and put them on. "Come on then, the Nest was never properly organized anyways, They have rough sections that outline where certain texts may be, but it was mostly haphazard."

Nathaniel found 3 different scrolls that we could look through and I got to work slowly reading through one while he told me about some of his favorite texts here.

It would be a long night.