The other four were deep into their screens, I supposed, as I walked up to the table they were sitting at. All but the Lorekeeper looked up towards me, the dark-haired woman still taking notes. I know I'd only been gone ten minutes or so, but what all… wait, yeah, she's definitely higher level than me and with a title or class like Lorekeeper… she could probably fill a small library.

I started to speak but paused to look at the elf. Who was gone. “Oh, gee… thank you so much.”

Shaking my head, I set the two boxes onto the table. “One of you asked how a ‘Sage’ could be asking some of the things I was…” I started, not quite sure if this was the best way to start. I was about to go against the majority of the fiction I'd read.

For some reason, the two older people paying attention to me looked amused. The young woman was looking at me like I was an idiot. “You are reincarnated from some other world. One most likely without magic or a System,” the Lorekeeper replied, without looking away from her task.

Well, that took all the windows out of my sails. “Uh… yes? On all counts? How..?”

The Baron chuckled, eyeing the two boxes with curiosity. “You are not the first, and probably won't be the last,” he said with amusement at confusion.

“So, I'm not going to get hunted down, kidnapped, tortured or experimented on?” That was sounding much better than I'd expected.

The thunder woman, who I only knew had been referenced as little sun, answered. “No, that is the purpose of the blessing. Outside of you breaking any laws or in general being absolutely repugnant to your sponsor, at least. Otherwise, the perpetrators would have the wrath of whichever god or goddess sponsored a reincarnate.”

Well, that was good news for me. So many stories of people ending up in new worlds and getting shafted. So glad that wasn’t going to be my life. “Okay… The captain there had said Nalura wasn’t expecting me to do any kind of save the world stuff…?”

The Lorekeeper finally looked away from her screen and notebook. “Generally speaking, and not meaning to be insulting… But you’re kind of weak to be going around doing anything like that.”

Ouch? Though, she’s not wrong. I’d spent three days in that tutorial dungeon, killed close to thirty giant rats and giant bats and a rat king that would have given New York rats a run for their money, and only got to level one. I told that story, and asked the question. “Is that normal?”

They looked at each other, then at the Lorekeeper. She was shaking her head, writing things down in her notebook. “No, no it isn’t. Classes are usually offered at sixteen, and if you haven’t chosen one by eighteen, it’s chosen for you. You start at level one…” she said, then paused to think. “Well, we started at Rank E, it went up to Rank A. Though there were rumors of people going above that, but those were only rumors.”

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I thought about that for a moment, then looked at them all. “Okay, so what level are you guys now, compared to the ranks that you were?”

“I was a Rank C Lorekeeper. Now, I am a level nine Wizard, with a subclass of Lorekeeper,” she explained, her head tilted as she thought. “Which actually opened up several options I did not have before.”

The Baron nodded, looking at his status. “I am a Bastion, and was also Rank C. Like Ophelia, I still have Bastion as a subclass, but am now a Fighter, and level eleven.”

I nodded, having a name for her now, rather than just thinking of her as the Lorekeeper. Looking at the Guild Master, I waited as she too returned to looking at her status. “Rank C Duelist, now a level 10 Rogue with Duelist as my subclass. Several options are now available, as well.”

She sounded a little concerned, and it took me a few seconds to understand why. New options. People were going to be getting new options and were going to have to relearn their classes, their livelihoods. Well, crap, now I kind of felt bad.

“I am a Sunsword subclass of Paladin. I was Rank E, but am now level two. Not many new options for me,” the priest, or paladin… Sunsworn… said. “I can see though how this might take more time to get used to. There are things available here that we did not have before.”

“Not to mention that the possible paths to follow have opened up. Looking at my status, I can see where at level twelve, I can become an advanced class,” Ophelia was saying. “Not a very inspired name change, Loremaster.”

“I actually got a class option for Guild Master, at twelve,” the red haired woman sighed, shaking her head. “I’m going to have to go after that.” She looked to the other woman, then to the Baron, grinning. “Looks like we’ll have to grab a fourth. Think Annea could come out of retirement to play healer again?”

The Baron choked back a laugh, his eyes glinting. “Oh, I think she might be able to be convinced.”

I blinked, looking at the older three. They all looked like they’d shed decades. I mean, they had to be in their mid to late forties, maybe even early fifties. Yet, here they were, gleefully plotting to dive into a dungeon to get those levels. The Baron wasn’t too far behind this level twelve advanced class. I wondered what the Baroness’ level and class were?

“Well… I think… That the Sage and I should group up? If we can find a third and fourth?” the young woman said, almost in a whisper. She did get everyone's attention though, the Baron looking thoughtful.

“Now, why would you think that?” the Guild Master asked, frowning a little at her.

“Anderis did say we were to assist her sister with something. And here is a new Blessed of Nalura…” she was saying hurriedly, trying to convince them all. “He’s a Sage and responsible for all these changes…”

Wow, way to throw me under the bus. I had to have had a look on my face, as she hastily apologized. “I didn’t mean that to sound harsh, or judgemental…”

I shrugged. She wasn’t wrong. “Sage, level one, which is a subclass of Warlock… and yeah, I do think I should be one of the first to explore. If this is based on things from my old world, it might be very different from what everyone is used to.”

The ‘adults’ looked at each other thinking. As the Guild Master was going to say something, a gong sounded in the rear of the chamber. We all looked as numbers formed on the wall, reading seventy-two and then ticked down in hours and minutes.

“What is that?” the Baron asked.

“A timer. At a guess, we have three days and then the dungeon will open again…”