"What the fuck?" Owen couldn't hardly believe it. All of that experience that had been taken from him by his soul, had actually paid off in the end. Things were beginning to work out super well for him. But then he saw that he still had several waiting notifications. Sighing, he got back to menuing, deciding celebrating could wait a little longer.

*You have gained a personal reward for defeating the Wasteland of the Overgrowth's Hidden Boss.*

Owen watched in awe as energy from the surrounding area seemed to shift and pull at itself, spiraling together creating a ball of condensed energy before, it's shape began to shift. It flattened out and grew longer, until Owen could actually recognize it's shape.

*Piercing Heavens. This spear is a replica of the original Piercing Heavens. This weapon is the embodiment of striving towards the top and defeating impossible foes. Grants bonus damage against higher leveled enemies. Damage increases the larger the disparity between levels 1% - 20%*

The spear was perfection. Even though Owen knew nothing about weaponry, when it comes to using them or making them, but even he could tell it was of the highest quality. The spearhead was made out of a Damascus metal of some sort, with a separate type of metal holding it into a heavily engraved staff handle. It's weight was almost unusable until he grasped it with both hands and the weight itself seemed to adjust.

Taking a few practice attacks, he practiced a part of what he remembered of the flowing waters spear technique and felt like rather than him controlling the spear, the spear was dragging him through each of the steps, forcing him to do them right.

In awe, he forced himself to stow away the spear and his other weapons and looked at the other system messages he had. He was certain nothing could stop the rewards gotten already, but he was fine with that, they were already better than he thought they would ever be, so everything else was just bonus awesome. The next message was good, still not better than the previous messages, but definitely one he was glad to have gotten.

*Your skill Empowered Body has been upgraded to Relentless Fury*

*Relentless Fury allows the user to overcharge their body with mana increasing all physical attributes based on mana charged. Charging your body with 30% of your mana pool increases your physical stats by 30%. Small chance of entering a battle frenzy, when having charged more than 30% into body. *

Suddenly, the fight Owen had had made a lot more sense. He must've upgraded the skill while fighting against the final boss. His feelings of having finally felt alive and other now seemingly crazy thoughts made a lot more sense, but the trade off was amazing. The last notification was underwhelming at best, but it was a good reminder.

*The gate will be closing in 3 minutes*

He waited patiently for his friends to finish their respective notifications and spent the time observing Briar. "What to do with you when we get back." The only solution to people not freaking out that he could think of would be to hide Briar inside of his storage bracelet, but he wasn't even sure it that would work with living beings. What he did do, was fill as much of his storage bracelet with more of the roseborn corpses that Briar had not yet had time to eat. It was funny the despite barely being a day old, he was already a higher level than Owen himself was, but he had yet to see any benefits to his level.

Briar had been mostly passive so far except for when he had eaten the final boss. Which had pushed the monster to level 20, but it still hadn't shown any ability similar to the previous boss that it had originally been planted inside. He pushed the worry from his mind and took a look at his status after throwing his free points in Vitality and Resilience.

Owen: Level 14

Vitality = 12

Mana = 22

Strength = 14

Perception = 11

Agility = 16

Resilience = 16

Dexterity = 11

Luck = 8

He felt really strong in comparison to when he first entered the gate, despite all of the danger they had originally faced in the beginning. To top it all off, he was less than 100 experience away from leveling up again after fighting through the giants and getting all the experience from the boss. With everyone having collected their things, they proceeded through the exit gate that had appeared after the boss died.

Owen felt himself get blinded and heard camera sounds going off as soon as he and his friends had left the gate. Barely able to see the group in front of him. He opened his eyes in astonishment. There were dozens upon dozens of people crowding around the gate with microphones, cameras, and reporters standing at the ready. All talking over each other, making it impossible to make out anything specific said. Right as it was getting to be too much, Briar seemed to be gathering energy for something and before Owen could calm it down, it grew more than 10 times it's original size, sending everyone around it stumbling back.

Within seconds, screams began as people ran terrified from the entrance to the small bakery that now was no longer blocked by a gate entrance. Owen was troubled now, he was happy the crowd was no longer gathered, but there was a good chance that they would be seen as attackers now. He was also surprised at the change Briar experienced, it had looked exactly like the second stage version of the hidden boss they had fought, though now it just looked a lot like a dog again. "Briar don't do that again, unless we absolutely need to, okay?" Briar seemed to nod and Owen gave it a good couple pats.

He began to turn to his friends, but realized that one of the reporters still hadn't left. He no longer looked like they were trying to get an interview, but more so like they had tripped and could no longer run. "Are you okay?" Peggy asked, quietly chanting her heal skill. "Thank you.." The man said stumbling through his words. He looked to be slightly older than Owen and looked like he ran marathons for a living. He was in running shorts, with one of those polyester t-shirts or something and had dark black hair with golden eyes. Startled Owen had to pause for a second before looking close at the man.

"There is no way you're a reporter, but there is something familiar about you." Owen murmured. The man seemed to have heard him and smiled. "It is because I have the same skill as you, also you should probably check your system notifications, there is something interesting waiting for you there." Startled Owen quickly looked and seeing the man was right, instantly became suspicious. He still looked to see what the notification was about, but kept part of his attention of the man before them anyways.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

*Congratulations, you have fully completed the tutorial. You have unlocked the class system.*

A list of options opened up before him, but not wanting to lose himself in menus, he closed the system panel without looking at any of the options. "Who are you and more importantly how did you know that?" Owen still heard the gasps from Peggy and Myra as it sounded like they had done the same as him, but hadn't closed the menu like he had.

"Well let's just say, master sends his regards." Owen was confused and then surprised as realization hit him. "You must be his heir then." It was more of a statement than a question, but the man still nodded. "Do you have somewhere more private that we can talk?" The man said, gesturing to his friends and the area they were standing. Owen gave it some thought, but turned to Myra and Peggy. "Can I meet up with you guys in a bit? Also, if it's not too much to ask, could you watch Briar for a short time?" Peggy immediately nodded, but Myra seemed suspicious. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" Owen grinned and nodded confidently. Myra still looked slightly worried, but shrugged. "We will wait at the cafe for a while then, just text if you think it'll take longer than an hour."

Then they walked off, leaving Owen standing with the stranger that was apparently his master's new heir. "So, what can I help you with?" The stranger shook his head and held out his hand. "I'm Lucas," Owen shook his hand and replied, slightly confused. "I'm Owen, nice to meet you?" Lucas smiled warmly and gestured for Owen to lead the way. Confused Owen didn't move anywhere and just stared. "Please just be direct with me, I'm not a fan of you so far as you've barely said anything and just generally been creepy." Seemingly taken aback, Lucas laughed before he gestured again. "Lead the way to the cafe and we can talk on the way." Owen again just stared. "It's a ten minute car ride to get to the cafe, I thought you were going to take us somewhere, that's probably why they decided to wait there anyways."

Lucas had clearly not been expecting that and nervously chuckled. "Okay, then we can take my car and we can drive there." This time Lucas led the way to his car and didn't speak again until they were inside. Owen now realized why Lucas had been hesitant. The inside of his car was a disaster, energy drink cans everywhere and tupperware containers with the remnants of food on the floor of the passenger side. Being a single bachelor himself, Owen just pushed aside everything in the way with his legs and sat down. Lucas seemed hesitant but started the car and Owen gave him directions.

"So, again what did you want to talk about, I assume it's not just to let me know master says hi?" He was being sarcastic but Lucas had just been weird so far and Owen wasn't going to pretend he was comfortable. Lucas let out some nervous laughter, but stayed silent for long enough Owen was beginning to think he was being kidnapped. Finally though, Lucas spoke. "Master did actually send his regards, but he also told me to look for you, since I can learn masters skills from you as you learn the polymath's skills."

"He also said that you could gain a class from completing a gate for the first time and that if you selected the offered polymath class, you would be able to learn and teach me everything I would need to learn to be his heir when it comes to power." Nodding, Owen waited for Lucas to continued, but he didn't. "So, he wants me to choose a specific class and train you to be his heir... I'm sorry but what do I get in return? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate master immensely and I do think I owe him for all of the help he gave, but this is a lot to ask. It's asking me to not only pursue the polymath's inheritance, but also to train someone I don't know."

Lucas didn't seem like Owen's answer was unexpected and just waited patiently for him to finish. When Owen stopped talking, Lucas waited a few more seconds before responding. "Yes, Master expected this sort of response, but he also gave me some things to give you to try and make it worth your time. You won't need them for a long time, but they are materials for a 1st grade soul temper and 1st grade body temper for once you reach a point where you need to use them." Owen was in awe, but Lucas wasn't done. "He also said that you should always prioritize yourself and that if a better class than the one related to the polymath, which is guaranteed to show up, then you should select it."

Owen nodded, "Alright, I won't make you wait then. I'll take a look through the offered classes and let you know what I pick." Opening up the menu, Owen was excited, he was hoping there would be incredibly overpowered classes offered since he had only really fought enemies that were on paper stronger than him.

*Congratulations, you have fully completed the tutorial. You have unlocked the class system.*

*Your options are as follows.*

*Familiar Specialist

Elemental Swordsman

Polymath's Apprentice

Essence Apprentice

Devourer*

*Warning selecting a class currently will lock you into this class, until another option to select a class is presented.*

"Woah, are there normally 5 options?" Owen said turning to Lucas who smiled uncomfortable. "Sorry, no idea." Owen kept looking at the options and as soon as he began to wonder what each of them did, brief explanations appeared for each of the classes.

*Familiar Specialist is a class focused on empowering your familiars attacks and their ability to grow and evolve. This class gives the ability to learn skills that will buff the user's familiars. Awards 1 stat in vitality, mana, perception, and luck, each time a class level is gained.*

*Elemental Swordsman is a class focused on wielding swords with elemental properties and empowering their effects for increased damage. This class gives the ability to learn skills that empower the elemental effects already found on weapons. Awards 1 stat point in mana, strength, agility and luck each time a class level is gained.*

*Polymath's Apprentice is an inheritance class focused on general mastery of the system. This class gives the ability to learn more of the Polymath inheritance skills. Awards 1 stat point in mana, strength, perception, agility, dexterity and luck each time a class level is gained.*

*Essence Apprentice is a class focused on using mana outside of the body and imbuing it with affinity and essence to turn it into devastating elemental magic. This class gives the ability to learn skills focused on adding essence to your mana. Awards 3 stats in mana and 2 stats in perception each time a class level is gained.*

*Devourer is a class focused on consuming enchantments placed on items and absorbing their effects. This class gives the ability to learn skills focused on absorbing differing effects placed on items and absorbing them at 50% efficiency. Due to the nature of this class, no stats are awarded when leveling your class.*

"Holy fuck dude, that's a lot of stats!" Owen practically shouted. Lucas winced and Owen quickly apologized, but most of his attention was still on the class descriptions. Each one rewarded stats when leveled up and to top it off they made it possible to gain skills directly related to the class itself. Owen immediately started running through the possibilities. He saw that they had also pulled up to the cafe and Owen had to force himself to not immediately jump out of the car and tell Myra and Peggy.

Turning to Lucas he thought for a couples seconds before gesturing for Lucas to follow. "I'm not sure what class I am going to end up picking, but you are more than welcome to join our little group. Then maybe you can come with the next time we enter a gate." Lucas seemed to think about it as Owen hopped out of the car, but quickly followed behind as Owen half ran to the table Peggy and Myra were waiting at.

None of them noticed a man watching from the top of a building in the distance, that only Owen would have recognized easily. Jared was peering at them from the top of a building across the street from the cafe, with a gate closing next to him. Disgust was plastered across his face as he selected his class, The Envy of Man, before disappearing.