White
All around me is an infinite expanse of white. The earth is white, the sky is white. Whether I'm within a white room or an infinite white void I do not know, perhaps that is the least of my troubles.
As I look closer, I notice that the white is faceted like a perfect white diamond, with glittering pinks, yellows, and pastel blues, glimmering throughout the white void like light on glass, though I couldn’t place where these colors originated from, all I knew was that they were beautiful.
But MAN do my eyes burn.
Within the middle of it all, or at least what I’m assuming is the middle exists a floating spectre. Floating surrounded by white faceted void.
It's me! I- I'm the Spectre! What happened to me!
I'm trying to describe the landscape to keep calm… uh.. Me! Ok lets see.. Im..
The ghost maintained a human shape, though mostly transparent, halfway down the torso long strips of flesh colored ribbons flowed in false wind, like upside down fire, they resembled torn cloth. The ghost seemed to become more real up their arms, growing less opaque half way down the forearm. Until only a single segment at the end of the fingers was fully corporeal.
I'm seriously panicking right now! ….. Ok what do I remember, I was in class.. And then I was here, but not like I blinked and I was here, it felt like a more dramatic process than that, but I can't remember. . . well i'm sure it's not that important!
In front of me appeared a dark purple screen, though it looked like more of a pale purple as if it were hit by a ray of light, once again, I could not place the source. The screen appeared to have a golden trim along its entire length, I'd say it's half an inch thick. The screen itself was the size of a school projector, and about double the width. Enough to obscure almost the entirety of my vision save for the faceted void still very visible in my peripherals. It looked like something you would see in a video game. As I was processing what I was seeing something appeared on the screen.
13%
48%
96%
Before me, and pressed against the screen, lay letters of an indiscernible color. It’s hard to describe other than the fact that it’s A color, just not sure which. Despite the screen's dark chromatics, the letters were perfectly visible, and I felt like I could read it without even thinking about it, like I see the words and the meaning just appears in my mind, as if it’s filling a space in my head previously empty, and I can remember the words with perfect clarity.
“What kind of choice are we talkin about?”
The screen changes into one of those card selection screens. One big card is in front with a card on each side minimized and blacked out.
Class: Warrior *
Specification: offense
Rank: 1
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Lv limit: 10
Class Skills: Blade rush | Heavy Strike
The card displays a stats page and a copper colored picture frame bordering an image of a warrior, a chiseled barbarian clad in furs and leather wielding a single-handed axe in one hand and a small round shield in the other, his eyes glint dangerously as if foretelling his murderous nature. In the middle bottom of the picture frame, on the bare copper trim was one, soft, yellow, rounded, 5 pointed star.
I drank in the view in front of me without being too shocked, I mean my situation was already too hard to believe, so at this point I doubt anything could surprise me, I start to go to the other cards that were shaded off to the side. Initially, I'd tap the side of the screen to see the other cards, but then I figured out how to manipulate the screen with my mind. I flipped through the ‘class cards’ taking in their displayed information with just a glance, my eyes would lay upon the card for less than a second before the screen would blur to the next, the information filtering into my mind and organizing into a comprehensive list.
Tank * Warrior * Scout * Archer * Knight ** Ranger ** Fighter ** Apprentice Mage ** Mage *** Sword master **** Shield Saint **** Hero ***** Warlocke ***** Warden ***** Ruler ******
The number of stars ticked up the farther I moved right, the trim changing from bare copper to shining and twisting silver and at the end glittering, interwoven gold. The three stars got silver, the 5 stars got gold. And then, there were the seven stars, that seemed to be the limit, Their trim was composed of multicolored crystal branching in spikes bunched especially around the corners, the color scheme changed with every different class, sapphire for mages, ruby for warriors, green for healers, gold for leaders. Despite the earlier list, I soon found out it was but a fraction of the actual amount of classes presented, and yet, there were only two dozen or so 7 stars, as opposed to the thousands of other classes, and the hundreds of 5-6 stars, a true testament to what I assume is the unbridled power of the seven stars.
And yet… none of them really resonated with me. All of these classes start out with strong abilities, but I've always been a fan of growth. Watching people grow and change, becoming better, I liked to watch superheros take new forms. I loved watching each skill level increase, until the name changed, and the effect looked different. I played games with visible upgrades because I loved watching things constantly change for the better. Growth is my way of life, it's what I enjoy, and I want this ‘class’ to reflect that.
I start to go left, back to the start. I decided to go the direction I didn't go before, and I found something new. Stars of different colors, green, blue and then red. And then i find it.
Class: [Survivor]
Specification: Adaption { Body becomes modular}, [select energy source]
Rank: 1^
LV Limit: 25
Class Skills: N\A
Skill gain interval: 5
Bonus: Additional stat and skill points granted upon level up. Natural skill acquisition increased. Xp needed for universal level up decreased. Permanent access to skill shop. System authority Increased.
Demerit: Skills are not granted when class is initially acquired.
As I read the description of the class, I realized that it resonates with me, I like it, despite the fact it doesn't have any overpowered skills like the seven stars do, it's all about growth, and although it may be a foolish decision, to choose a weaker class due to my preferences, I think this is the right choice for me.
Oh! This is what the class card was talking about when it said; ”Granted permanent access to the skill shop”. So I guess that means most people lose access once they leave this place? Actually, are there others besides me? Or maybe it's talking about the people in the other world, but why would they be here? I haven't even started yet but I already have so many questions, like, why me? What am I supposed to do there? Am I dead? And what the hell does it mean by “modularity’?
Photosynthesis; gain Energy by absorbing energy passively from light | passive
Consume; gain biomass by eating other beings | suitable for lesser beings
Reap: gain souls by killing others and extracting their essence | suitable for greater beings
Evil; gain ire by enraging beings of your own race | good for sapients
Good; gain faith by performing good deeds for your own race | very bad for sapients
As interesting as these choices are, I don't want people to hate me, and being a good person to my fellow humans would be a living hell. I have a feeling photosynthesis would be really slow, and consume sounds economically costly and disgusting. Reap it is, though it seems to need to be used against boss level creatures and maybe people, though I hope it doesn't come to the latter.. Oh who am I kidding? This whole system thing is really messing with me, I couldn't hurt a fly. I'm sure that when I get dropped into the new world I'll be close to a human settlement and can start adventuring right away.
For now, since I have permanent skill shop access, I'll wait until I drop to see what skills I need for the situation. For now, I think I'm ready!
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