"I have a hard time believing Microsoft made this." Hugh looked at his menu with skepticism. "The interface in Windows 8 went in a different direction. This just doesn't seem...confusing enough. A stark contrast, really...open menu. Close menu. Open menu. Does Windows even have a menu anymore?"

Roseanne slammed the rickety piece of wood the receptionist had called a 'door' shut. It rattled, threatening to either open again or fall apart, but miraculously did neither. She began loudly. "I have been on the set of many horror movies–although I was only in a few, the good ones," Roseanne made sure to clarify that in case somebody unversed in her filmography was eavesdropping "and the sets were never as horrifying as this." She hoped somebody was listening in, so that they could act on her complaint and find them a new room. This, it couldn't be called a room. It was a dump. And it sure didn't look like her husband was going to do anything about it.

"Oh," Hugh continued talking to himself. "It says here I have five power points...maybe this is a Microsoft product after all. After they put that videogame character into Windows, they've decided to continue giving features strange names. OK." He cleared his throat and addressed the menu.

"What are power points?" He asked. Nothing happened. Oblique interface, check.

"How about...show help." Nothing. Unhelpful help function, check.

"...spend power points?" Hugh thought they may be things you use, like airline or hotel points.

"Ah ha!" The greying sixty-two year old man shouted. For his eyes only, a constellation of spheres with words like 'mage' and 'rogue' appeared and a textbox flashed in front of the spheres. "Before you can spend power points, please choose a class." Hugh read. "Thanks to the Class Controller boon granted to you as a Chosen One...what's a boon? Well, thanks to the boon your stats will be boosted to match the requirements for the class of your choice. All class options are revealed to you. You must, however, choose a class immediately."

"Hugh, what are you doing?" Roseanne looked at him, sadly. "You sound like your son."

"Just a minute, honey." He studied the constellation carefully and read. "Necromancer. Allows you to raise the dead and control dark mana...isn't mana type of bread?" Some instinct told Hugh that what he chose here was important. Formative even, which was funny because he was retired and long-done with the change and energy of youth. Ah, he was probably just getting worked up over Microsoft asking whether he wanted solitaire or minesweeper. Then something caught his eye. "Fisherman! Improves your ability at and patience for fishing."

That was incredibly appealing, but he wanted to keep looking in case something like Golfer appeared. "Black Swordsman. Allows you to transform into a fifteen year old who passively hacks computer games. Huh? Merchant. Improves your negotiating and appraisal abilities. No, I'm retired." Hugh looked through, really hoping for Golfer to crop up, but the nearest he could find was Athlete. "Athlete. Increases your physical prowess while playing games...Well, I think I prefer Fisherman."

"Hugh, really what are you doing over there?" Roseanne sat down next to him, trying to see what he was reading, but to no avail. She could only see the dirty floor beneath them. She tried not to look.

"Oh, honey, you'd like this one. Actor. Increases your ability to perform as characters and captivate crowds." Hugh was getting into this like old men got into WWII. "Just say 'open menu' and then 'spend power points' and you'll see what I'm seeing."

Roseanne looked at him doubtfully. "Are you sure? This is on you."

"Mm. Divine Primordial. Gain ability to speak with Old Gods and use divine mana...again, what's with this manna bread?"

Roseanne swallowed and spoke crisply, calmly. "Open menu." She flinched as the box opened into her vision. After recollecting herself, the famous actress forged ahead. "Spend...power points? AH!" She jumped as the menu changed on her command, but it followed her as she moved back. "I'm too old for this." She shook her head, menu still tracking her sight, and then read the text box that had popped up. "Thanks to Checkpoint boon granted to you as a Chosen One..." Roseanne couldn't continue. The sentence was just the pits, something out of a markedly bad B-movie. She would not lower herself like so.

"Hugh, dear, how do I close this thing?"

"Oh, just say 'close menu.'" He looked up, distracted. "Did you pick something?"

"No, I'm afraid this is below me. Perhaps if it was better written but alas...close menu. I wonder where David is about now? I've been waiting for that water he promised."

Hugh zoned out after the first sentence. Yes, I think I'm going to go for it...System Administrator, Divine Hero, Chocolatier. None of these look good. "I choose the Fisherman class." Hugh said.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

His skin started glowing, and suddenly he was pulled into a kind of trance. Visions of huge trout and bass being reeled in by...him? Hugh watched with fascination as a slightly leaner Hugh reeled in a whale and a dragon–that was sky fishing, he supposed?

Now Hugh himself was sitting quietly on a beach with his familiar rod. He knew each groove of the handle, every tendency of the rod. He had fished every day for his life–Hugh remembered that now–and had been taught by the greatest fishermen of the ages. Once he had even caught a fish that had allowed him to summon the dead.

Indeed, he was great and wise and had he had almost lost himself in musings on deep, complex aspects of fishing that you couldn't comprehend when the line went taut. Immediately, he flew into action like the old hand he now was, reeling with a skill he never remembered acquiring. But this catch pulled back like nothing else. Even with his mastery of fishing, Hugh fought with the line for an entire day. He reeled in furiously, ceaselessly. He invented new techniques and perfected them, but his catch matched him at every turn until at last, as the sun sank, he triumphed. The fish was reeled in. It was but a small sardine. Hm? Hugh the Fisherman was confounded such a small fish had almost triumphed over him.

"Ah, that was a good chase." A deep voice came from the lips of the sardine. It unhooked itself, floating in the air. "I am Pish, god of fish, and you are the best fisherman I have ever met. None have caught me before." The fish wriggled. "I can't say I'm particularly fond of fishermen, but I'll make an exception for you. May we meet again, friend." The fish leapt back into the water with nary a splash and then Hugh was alone as the sun sank below the horizon.

He burst awake, back into the room at the inn. Another textbox clouded his vision. He coughed and read it. "Honey." Roseanne said. "You passed out. Are you alright?"

Fine? He was better than fine. Before he had thought he knew how to fish but now he knew how to fish. "Thanks to the Class Controller boon, which raises your first class to level 100, Fisherman class is now level 100, granting you the title Real Fisherman. You have mastered all skills in the Fisherman class."

"Hugh, you were glowing there..." Roseanne looked into her husband's eyes and saw every body of water within them. Swamp, fjord, river, estuary, inlet, lake, pond, ocean, sea, puddle, seep, tide pool, kettle, reservoir, moat. They were all there, and she knew that her husband had fished in every one of them. It was a somewhat spiritual experience. "Oh my..." She was awed, confused.

Her husband was leaner, more muscular and his wrinkles had become handsome and rugged. He clicked his tongue and a golden fishing pole materialized into his hand.

____________________

The Ifeldi palace was frenzied, servants and underservants running about. A report had just come in that four isekai had been found in Malto-Erma. Pottens Starburrow rushed to the throne room and knelt before the king.

The Ifeldi king was not a man, but a metalian, skin gleaming gold in the twilight through the crystal windows. He raised a crooked finger to the north and commanded Pottens Starburrow. "Go unto the northern reaches, until you are upon the fringe of the hallowed grass and enter into the crouched city which was once home to the children of the Yault and which the people now call Malto-Erma. There wilt you search for four humans, and wilt know them immediately, for they came from another world and glow with the radiance of the Daughter's legend.

"Leave at once and do not tarry, for I envision great danger before the moon has risen fully. This I command you!"

Pottens Starburrow bowed and rushed out of the palace, taking flight and speeding across the land faster than he ever had. As a level sixty three mage, he was the kingdom's finest. With his incredible powers of flight he passed rivers, cities and woods in minutes. He arrived in Malto-Erma within fifteen. The voyage would take an ordinary mage at least two days. Even the hope of four isekai in this time of great need, when the demon king was encroaching further east with each passing month, warranted the quickest response possible. And even this may be too late–how long did it take for the report to be filed, for the clerk at court to read it because even though it was marked top priority the clerk felt reviewing the payroll was an even higher priority? The demon king worked in dark ways, after all.

Indeed, it was too late. Starburrow's heart sank when he entered the Malto-Erma guild, detecting a monstrous demonic mana all around him. Only Starburrow with his extensive training, the guild receptionist with her talismans, and a young man with his isekai radiance appeared to be unaffected. The demonic mana was mind controlling the rest of the guests.

It was beyond Pottens, the power at play here. And yet, there was an isekai standing before him! The report had been true, or at least partly true. The radiant mana told him so. Starburrow didn't know whether to cry out in joy or scream with frustration. So close. He had to at least try. Yes, this would be his final mission.

Pottens closed his eyes and fingered his last resort, a talisman that held the mana of five generations of the Starburrow family. He would have added his own power to it, had he lived. Just let the isekai live...

The door swung open and suddenly an immense mana presence dominated the room. Everybody froze in place. Pottens shivered. He'd never felt anything like this. Is this the demon king? He thought wildly, frenzied.

A handsome sixty-something man walked in with some kind of divine instrument...a fishing rod? No, it couldn't be. Whatever the instrument was, he rested it on his shoulder. Pottens couldn't help but think the man looked like he was in incredible health. He'd seen thirty year-olds look worse. Behind him entered a woman of about the same age. "David!" She said, addressing the young isekai man...was she also an isekai? It was hard for Pottens to tell with the incredible mana that was flooding the room, but he believed he could make out a faint telltale glow. "Where's the water for our room, lazy boy?"

A scarred man grabbed a knife and lunged for the boy's throat. His entire being was infused with demonic mana.

"No!" Pottens cried out.

Lazily, the old yet young man with the divine instrument stepped forward. The world seemed to pause as he spoke. "Roseanne, is that man trying to krill our son?"