In Jinyoung's time, the Player Society was a community center. As much as it was a resource for experienced and inexperienced players, it was also where non-player citizens went to request help or settle disputes. The Society had no official authority, but they were made up of volunteers who worked to restore balance after the World Break.
But now, judging by the guards and the jail cell Jinyoung found himself in, things had changed.
Jinyoung and Hana only had a few minutes together before five heavily armed players "requested" Jinyoung make himself available to the Player Society for questioning.
The four guards dressed head-to-toe in full armor made it feel like less of a request. Noticing that each guard had a hand on a sheathed (but could be unsheathed at a moment’s notice) weapon spoke volumes.
And before Hana could interrupt, one of the guards placed a hand on Jinyoung's shoulder and [teleported] them directly to a cell. The guards quickly and efficiently removed Jinyoung’s armor and relieved him of his weapon before leaving him alone in the cell without a word.
"Welcome home, huh?"
The cell was wide enough to lie down in, but just barely. The concrete walls had no windows and the only way in was through a set of bars with no hinges, lock or door. A small bulb overheard provided just enough light to illuminate the "room".
The black shrine hadn't been much different. The "sky" had clouds that never moved, a light source that illuminated the environment but never set, and a horizon line that never shifted. While Jinyoung wasn't thrilled to be in yet another prison, he was glad for the change in environment.
The reunion with Hana hadn’t gone at all like Jinyoung had expected. His mind reeled with the revelation that while he was in the dungeon, 20 years had gone by. Though he tried not to think about it, he realized that Hana was now far older than he was. She had to be 35 or near it. Cyrus, Johann and Seah would all be nearly 40 years old. Almost twice his own age now.
He lay on the hard floor and tried his best to focus on his current surroundings. In the black shrine, he'd fallen into the habit of exploring his status menu and imagining what it'd be like to be at a higher level. To allocate stat and skill points into imaginary abilities and unlock new ones. It was a habit, one that he fell back on again.
JINYOUNG KIM
Novice CLASS - Level 11
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Jinyoung sprang up so quickly he nearly jumped into the walls of the cell.
"H-How...?"
Players with No Class were locked to a cap of level 10. In order to level up, he needed to have joined a guild to be assigned a class. Between leaving the dungeon and meeting Hana, he'd barely spoken to anyone, least of all a Guild Master. So, how...?
The quest.
The last thing that happened before Jinyoung was freed from his endless prison was the system message stating he was to be given a class.
“Novice class,” he whispered to no one.
That was peculiar. And unheard of. Of course, he’d never heard of a black shrine either, so who was to say this wasn’t something amazing?
Excitedly, he expanded the menu. Upon each level up, players were given 5 stat points and 1 skill point to allocate however they wished. Without knowing anything about this “Novice” class, there was no way to know where to distribute his stat points. But the class would have opened new skills for him to unlock. But when he navigated his way to the skills menu, his excitement quickly faded.
[DASH] [CHARGE] [SCAN]
These were the No Class skills. There were no other submenus or options to show that Jinyoung had received any new skills.
“That can’t be right,” he mumbled. Jinyoung could feel his hopes crumbling around his feet. “What the goddamned hell.”
His frustration was worse when he realized that not only had he not received any new skills, he hadn’t even received a skill point. Whatever this class was, it was looking worse and worse. And what little of his hopes that remained were dashed when he looked at his stats menu.
Each time a player levels up, they are given 5 stat points. For the first 10 levels, the system allocates the points automatically. It allows for balanced growth, but most players consider it to be the training wheels stage of their career. Once they’ve reached level 11, players allocate the points according to their specialties. Warriors increase their Strength while magic-users may focus on Wisdom. Even more important are high-level skills which can require high amounts of specific stats to be controlled or activated properly.
But instead of seeing 5 stat points to allocate on his own in the stats menu, Jinyoung was greeted with another sight.
STRENGTH: 11
WISDOM: 11
AGILITY: 11
LUCK: 11
ENDURANCE: 11
Each of his stats had increased by 1. Over the course of his life, Jinyoung had lost his family, faced an uncertain future, and been trapped inside a hellscape occupied only by a monster whose sole purpose was to kill him. And yet, somehow, this was worse.
“What in the mother-!”
“Language!” the guard shouted. He had appeared out of nowhere and began unlocking the cell door. Apparently, Jinyoung’s time in this prison had come to an end. He was only glad that it hadn’t lasted as long as his previous sentence.
“Come on, Onion Knight. You made bail.”