Kai

Gladys would tell me that it's odd.

Odd to think about things the way that I do, odd to see the world the way I do.

And she's right.

We spoke about it one day, and we (well, mostly Gladys) came to a realization - I don't really have memories. Not just memories from before I showed up at Faerie Beach. That one is a given. I remember information about the world, names of things, how to speak and write and communicate. But I can't remember anything that happened before that day... and, honestly, I can't remember much of what has happened since.

Where Gladys fondly remembers the battle of Faerie War, I can barely remember the spells we cast. She talks about us sleeping under the stars, and I remember the stars, but nothing about the closeness that brings a smile to her face. My memories are tiny shards, devoid of emotion. And when I pick them up, it's like I'm looking at someone else's story. Watching someone else's life. I don't remember anything about Gladys's mother. Almost nothing about her father. Nothing about anyone else who lived there at Faerie Beach... and I couldn't tell you how long I lived there. A week? A few months? It all blurs together.

It's as if I've always been here - in fountain city, with Gladys - always helping Garen on his quest to become the world's best crafter. Or artist. Or whatever seems to float his boat today. If no one else understands me, he does - we show up at Jade's market stall and whatever catches his interest is what he does.

Which is the same as what I do. In the mornings we do quests. Finding lost cats seems to be a consistent problem. Cats are dreadful creatures. Long, sharp claws, willing to strike without notice and seemingly without reason. Picking herbs in the forest. Charging mana crystals. We stay in an inn because Gladys says that sleeping out under the stars isn't proper in the city. Even though I find myself drawn to look up at them each night.

Isn't there... more to life?

What am I accomplishing here?

What am I doing?

And... who am I?

"Kai."

Gladys breaks me from my reverie.

"We need to talk about classes."

"Ok."

"Classes are the crystallization of the world's knowledge. No one begins with a class, but we can choose our classes."

"Yeah!"

Jade interjects a comment into the conversation.

"Teleporters - like Koji and Gabe - always have a class. For them, it's always something to do with their weapons. For the rest of us, we get a class when we've trained or practiced or shown that we're really good at something..."

She screws up her face slightly.

"...though sometimes it works if you're just really passionate about something, even if you aren't that good. When I first was offered a crafting class, I wasn't all that good. I had been working here in the market for weeks, sleeping in the street, trying to do anything to get food when it came. Over time, it's shifted into what it is now."

She flips a portion of her status screen towards me.

Name: Jade Carbunkle

Class: TechnoCrafter

"Some people start getting their first options for classes when they're in school, or apprenticing as kids. Either way, most people take the first class they get offered, then get one or two class changes offered sometime during the rest of their lives. You can also drop your class and completely start over, though I've heard that's super painful... but sometimes people want a new start to life. In that case, nothing you did beforehand has an impact on your new class at all. Just whatever you do after you dropped it. Except for crazy classes. Some of those look at your entire life and if you make just one wrong step you probably can't ever get the class."

Her voice rises and lowers in volume as she explains what is obviously a passionate topic to her.

Gladys smiles.

"Kai here doesn't have a class yet. He woke up without any memories or class, so I'm guessing it would be like when someone drops their class. I just wanted to introduce him to the topic so he can make the best decision when that happens."

"Well, you don't have to take the first class the world offers you. Or the second. It's not like they go away... usually... and some people think that if you wait longer and do interesting things, you can unlock new classes."

"My suggestion," she finishes, "is twofold - if you know what you want to do, and you get a class in that direction, take it! Having a class makes doing stuff a lot easier, as it opens up access to skills and stuff. If you don't know what you want to do, then just see what the world offers you. Wait a bit, try out new things, and then choose a class when you find one that really speaks to you, you know?"

"Or do something absolutely amazing... and the world will create a class to fit your needs. I don't think that happens very often, but it's not unheard of. Either way, things change. Even if you have the same class as someone else, that doesn't mean that you'll have the same skills or even the same stats. The world adapts, and you can take pretty much any class and accomplish your dreams."

"Like what happened to Fruit Boy. He wants so much to be a wizard, to learn and cast big spells, but the world gave him something different. I don't know how it's going to turn out, but I know it will be absolutely epic!"

Something falls off a shelf in the background, and Jade suddenly turns and runs away.

"Well, she explained that exceptionally well for someone with her head in the clouds. Do you have any other questions, Kai?"

"I don't think so. Eventually, the world will offer me a class - based on what I do well, or what I'm interested in. If I do something special, it might offer me something special..."

My voice gets quieter at the end.

"...Kai?"

"But... Gladys... I'm not special."

Her mouth begins to firm and her eyes crease in the way before she is about to correct me for saying something horrifically wrong.

"Just let me finish. I'm sure I have potential. Everyone has potential. But does that really mean much? I've been crafting here in the booth as much as the kid apprentices, and I haven't been offered a crafting class. We traveled across the forest for weeks, and there was never a class there. Using a puppet master connection, I cast incredible spells and even won a battle of Faerie War. I've done dozens of Adventurer quests. And I'm not great at any of it."

My eyes dip to the ground.

"But, more than that... none of it speaks to me."

I look back up at her eyes.

"I look up at the stars at night, and I feel something calling to me, Gladys. Like I'm supposed to be doing something. Like I'm supposed to be someone else. You know? And every moment I spend not doing whatever it is I'm supposed to do... it makes me feel so small."

I sit down on the ground this time, my hands curled into fists as I look up at the first and maybe only friend I've ever had.

"I know I'm holding you back, Gladys. I know you could do so much more if you were with someone else. I mean, you charge mana crystals. Merchants pay you so much money that we could live for months in an inn on what you accomplish in an hour. What am I when compared with that? I have no skills, no belongings, nothing that makes me special. Nothing except my name, and a desire to do something but no idea what it is supposed to be."

[Congratulations! Prolonged introspection and soul searching has deepened your sense of connection to the world and your ability to determine truth. +1 WIS]

"Maybe... maybe it's time that we part ways. I think you'd be happier without me. Maybe someday when I'm better..."

"I'm going to interrupt you, Kai."

Gladys is suddenly on the ground next to me. I blink because my vision is blurred. Her eyes are wet, too, and tears stream down her face.

"I don't follow you because I want you to do something special Kai. Not because I want you to be someone specific. I love you. And I don't think anything will change that. If you want to be a crafter, I'll be right next to you. If you want to be a mage, I'll teach you everything I know. And if you never get a class and spend the rest of your life wandering, trying to follow a feeling you get from the stars, I just hope you'll let me come along for the journey."

"But..."

She presses a finger to my lips.

"I know. Maybe it doesn't seem like I could, but I get it, Kai. You look at Jade and her skills, at Gabe and Koji with their custom classes, at little children who get offered a class by the world by picking up a needle and thread... and you feel different. Lost. Alone. You wonder if life will ever work out for you. If you'll spend the rest of life feeling this way, or if somehow the world will make it all right somehow."

I nod. Yeah. That's how I feel, if you add to that having a devoted genius in love with me when I can't return the love.

"So what do I do? How do I fix it?"

Gladys purses her lips slightly, then speaks.

"There's no guarantee that it will change, Kai. We aren't living in a fairy tale where everyone lives happily ever after. And..."

Her voice breaks and suddenly cuts out, and I look up, to see her eyes wide open, blank and white. As if she had no inside part of her eyes at all - just white. I reach out to her and suddenly the color returns to her eyes, and she shakes with what looks like fear.

"Kai! You... I..."

Her eyes gloss over as she looks at a prompt that must have appeared in her vision, then she looks back at me with newfound tears.

"One day. Focus on living one day at a time, Kai. The future will bring what the future will bring. Do the best that you know how today, and then tomorrow do the same."

"...and, as much as I can be, I'll be with you along the way."

----------------------------------------

Gabe

I make my way through the crowded city streets, with a heightened sense of awareness due to my dark red clothing.

At least it's an even red, so people could potentially assume that it's supposed to be this color, right?

Right, Gabe. Sure. Just assume that no one is staring at you wondering why you are coated from head to toe in blood, and no one will.

I mean, I've done worse. At least this time I have clothes.

The walk to fountain square from the church isn't all that long, and I find myself reminiscing about all that's happened in Dungeon Quest since I started playing. Getting into the game through what was most definitely a glitch, bug, or AI-mediated adaptation. Losing the clothes I worked so hard to get from dying. And dying. Over and over and over again. The worst one was when I passed out outside the city. And then there were the kind people who helped me figure stuff out. Fred, who listens to my issues even when he makes fun of me for my playstyle. Koji, who convinced me to play in the first place. Miyoko and Jade and Maribel and Grace and Lucia, who is back inside my backpack, calmly watching the world go by. I need to learn a monster communication skill.

Wait.

Wait wait wait wait! I can learn a monster communication skill! If the skill exists, I can learn it! There's gotta be a way to talk to Lucia - either telepathy, or... something right? Dungeon Quest does everything. There has to be a way.

Well, let's add that to the list of things to do. First, get my clothes cleaned / unbloodied. Next, figure out how to un-curse a Mana Mithril amulet without letting anyone see it, or touch it, or know what it's made of. Finally, learn a skill to communicate with Lucia.

Oh.

And learn Meditation. That was what started this whole thing, right? Wanting to learn Spark and realizing that mana and other costs are going to be huge for me. I haven't given up on that. Dungeon Quest adapts everything. Maybe there isn't currently a skill like Meditation - to increase mana regeneration or something mystical like that - but if I try hard enough eventually the game will just create it for me... right? It might be a legendary tier skill that requires enormous amounts of information to learn though if that's the case.

I frown slightly, then hear a slight chime from Lucia. I've arrived at Fountain Square and am standing in front of the fountain - I must have walked on autopilot. I've logged off here before when getting ready to party up with Koji or Fred to explore the city. I turn and look inside the tailor shop - the very first shop I entered in Dungeon Quest - and check to see if there are customers. None that I can see.

Well.

I walk towards the shop. What I'm doing is apparently normal, right? That's what Maribel said at least - tailor shops should have someone who can cast a spell to get rid of the blood out of my clothing. But will this tailor shop? And, even if they do have the spell, will they be willing to cast it on me? I don't want Miyoko to lose her job, and I falter as I get to the front door.

There are other tailor shops in town. At least go and ask them if they have a spell like that, and ask what it costs to have it cast, before you potentially make someone lose their job for embarrassing them in front of a customer or their employer.

I turn away, letting go of the door handle as I walk back to the square. I passed a bunch of tailor shops on the way here, so I can just go back the exact same way I came, right?

I get a few steps away and hear another chime from Lucia. I turn back to the door to see Miyoko standing at it.

"Gabe!"

Her face is slightly flushed, as if she just finished running, or was exercising.

"Oh. Hey Miyoko. I was... I need someone to cast a spell to get rid of the blood in my clothing, and Maribel said that's something that they can normally do at a tailor's shop, so I thought of you. But now that I think about it, this is a shop for nobility, right? They probably don't even repair their clothing. They probably just buy new clothes instead if they get damaged or bloody. I was just going to try to find a normal tailor shop."

Miyoko's shakes her head slowly, a small smile on her face.

"No matter what the clientele, Clean is a basic spell for tailoring. Yes, we definitely have customers who would prefer to have new clothing rather than clean the old. But those customers want new clothes anyway. Let me get that for you."

"Clean."

I watch, trying to sense the mana as the spell takes effect, but I don't have anything like mana sight yet. Maybe it's better that I don't, actually, since if there is an associated cost, it would be tripled. Headaches from overuse? Three times faster. Sleepiness or tiredness? Same. Weird effect that sucks your soul after a given amount of time of burning through resources? Three times sooner.

My ripped clothes turn from burgundy red to newbie off-white.

"Thanks, Miyoko. I have some silver that I can pay, if that's ok."

"The cost for casting a single Clean is 1 silver. You probably could have gotten it cheaper at a different store, so I can give you the portion that I earn for casting the spell and make it 60 copper. Then I can also give you my discount and make it 55 copper... or I guess I could take some of it out of my pay..."

I reach into my pocket, then hand Miyoko 2 silver coins.

"Here. For the Clean and also to start repaying for the clothes you gave me."

I gesture down to the ripped clothes, looking ragged alongside the metalcloth bracer, belt, backpack, and other stuff.

"I was going to say... that's metalcloth isn't it? I was a bit flustered the last time we spoke when you showed up at my house and... oh dear... I should be working."

"Is there anything I can help with? If your manager's around I can leave."

"No. He's off for the day at the palace, doing fittings for an upcoming event. He won't be back until later in the week, so I'm running the shop by myself. There's just so much to do."

"Well, I can't promise that I'm good at any of it, but I have higher dexterity than I had when I first showed up. Let's see if there's anything I can do to help."

Miyoko looks down at the ground, her shoes pointing inward and her hands scrunching up the edges of her tailor's apron.

"Ah... well... I guess that would be ok if you are helping. I mean, he only told me to stay away from you if there were customers or work to do..."

She looks up at me with a smile.

"So if you're helping, it's ok!"

----------------------------------------

Gabe

I spend the next few hours helping Miyoko at the tailor shop. At first, it's an absolute disaster. There are so many different types of clothes, and fabrics, and colors, that we struggle to communicate.

"Gabe, could you grab the fuchsia ascot from the Parabellan set and bring it over to me? I need to hold this in place until the ascot is tied properly."

"Uh..."

What's an ascot? What's a Para-bell-in?

Thankfully, some of the stuff is easier.

"The outside patio, alleyway, and windows need to be manually cleaned three times a day."

"Isn't it cobblestone though? Doesn't the city clean the square? Is there magic that could do it?"

"Yes. But the city cleans only once a week or so, and the alleyways don't get cleaned very well at all. The section in front of our store may not be our responsibility, but it still affects us. As the Master says, 'first impressions are the only impressions.' And I feel like it keeps the store cleaner as well."

Oh man. My first impression on him was not good. I was hoping he'd just forget about it, but nope. I think I'm gonna be hiding out from Mr. Royal Tailor for the rest of my life playing Dungeon Quest.

"Why manually?"

"Oh. Well, I guess you could use magic if you have it, but I'm supposed to keep my mana levels above 80% just in case a customer has a rush request. Sometimes a customer has a lot of things to Clean, and they want it done very quickly, and they want me to cast Clean twice or three times on each item to make sure it worked before they're happy. Clean may not take a lot of mana, but it can add up, especially if there's some type of big thing that happens like a rainstorm, or blowing dust, or something like that."

I look at her in shock.

"So you're saying that when it rains, people come to get their clothes cleaned?"

"Oh, no. People almost never come when it rains. But after the rain stops, they'll come in. Most of our fabrics aren't actually damaged by water, but some are, and many of our clients just like knowing that their clothes look as good as new. They also often have me inspect them for minor damages, and do minor repairs if they need it."

Yup. People who go get their clothes professionally cleaned because they had to walk a few steps in the rain. People who own clothes that can be damaged by walking in the rain. I live in a completely different world.

"Well, I don't know the Clean spell or anything similar. But I can handle a broom, a mop, or a cloth as well as the next guy."

I grab the broom and start sweeping, huffing slightly from the exertion.

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah. I just... uh..."

I don't know how to explain that everything is harder for me without appearing like I'm either asking for pity, or trying to explain a skill I'm not allowed to even hint exists.

"I'm good. Just out of breath lately. I talked to someone about it and they said there isn't anything I can do about it. I just have to get used to it."

"Oh! That's terrible! What caused the issue?"

Oh great. Partial honesty definitely did not rescue me there. Well, Miyoko's been nice. And I'm sure not gonna lie for a stupid reason.

"It's actually complicated, and doesn't just affect me... so I can't talk about it much. I just have to $%S#&Q@."

"I didn't get that last part."

"Yeah. I should be totally ok. Thank you for wondering, though - this is just my new normal and it'll take some getting used to. I appreciate it."

I sweep, mop, and wipe the outside cobblestones in front of the store and along the alleyway as Miyoko cleans the windows.

"You do this three times a day?"

"Yes, but not as much as you're cleaning it now. As long as there hasn't been rain or wind or something similar, Master is happy with us touching it up since it gets cleaned so regularly. Deep cleaning like you're doing we do once a week or so, during downtime."

"Doesn't that get tiring?"

"Maybe? It gives me time to think. We don't get as many customers as a normal tailor shop, which means that I can work on personal projects sometimes if everything else is done. Cleaning the store gives me something to keep my hands busy. I sometimes have the best ideas while I'm cleaning!"

"Oh, I was wondering! How did the seeds work? You... you met my mom and my family, and that was a lot. But my mom has been asking about you and I don't really have any way to get in touch with you or to tell her how the plants have grown. I mean, if you hadn't planted them we probably would have known but I..."

Her voice grows quiet at the end.

"...I told you that you could come back even if you didn't need seeds, and you didn't come back..."

"What do you mean you would have known?"

Miyoko looks around to make sure there is no one nearby.

"Normally the Seed Spirit only gives simple seeds, but sometimes she gives seeds that are infused with a portion of her energy. Every seed that is blessed by a Seed Spirit has to be planted to return the energy to the Spirit. If you hadn't planted the seeds... my mom wouldn't have woken up until Spring."

I look at Miyoko with absolute shock on my face.

"What? You trusted an almost total stranger with something like that?"

"I could tell that you were good! We had even talked about you, and my mom had wanted to meet you! It's not like that - it wouldn't hurt her or anything, and you said that you would plant the seeds!"

"Yes, but Miyoko, that could have been dangerous."

She looks down at the ground, yet again scrunching the edges of her apron.

"Yes. It was. But that's just how my family is, ok? We trust people. And sometimes we get hurt. But we're not going to change just to be afraid!"

She looks at me with a defiance that takes me back slightly.

"That... that makes sense I guess. You can either be afraid of the world, or walk forward unafraid. As long as you understand the risks involved, I guess it's your choice."

"So... the seeds?"

I grin.

"Do you want to see them?"

"I work until late, Gabe. I have to run the shop all day today, and I can't leave until we close at night. There are 4 different mending orders, and more organizing that has to be done. Then I need to be back here early tomorrow morning to do it all again..."

She looks down, begins to scrunch her apron, then stops and smooths it out before looking back up.

"7:30. Where should I meet you?"

"You know where the church is? The one with the orphanage, where Maribel works."

"Yes - it's not far from the palace, right?"

"Exactly. Meet me at the courtyard inside the church at 7:30 and we can go see the seeds together. You're free to bring your mom as well if you want."

Miyoko's smile grows until the last part of my sentence, when she looks slightly frustrated. She sighs, then reaches out her hand.

"It's a deal. 7:30 tonight."

I shake her hand, then grab the cloth and get back to cleaning.

"In the meantime, I'll do whatever I can to help."