Bonehammer was the first to respond, voicing doubt. Snowflake took a long look at the feminine, young-looking dryad and wondered what sort of life they must’ve lived to become so aggressive and outspoken. Not that he disliked them, of course. It was an idle curiosity about the past of someone who could stand beneath the crushing weight of social normality.

“I will go first. You do not have to share if you do not want to,” Honey said, putting a quick end to Bonehammer’s objections. Snowflake could see their concern, especially since Angosin mentioned that it wise to keep your Unique Skill under wraps, but what was the harm? Sure, it might be a little rude, but he was drunk and having fun.

Bonding was going well, to say the least.

“My Unique Skill is called [Ancestral Apathy].”

They waited with bated breath for Honey to elaborate. She didn’t. The silence drew on until it began to grow awkward. Unphased, Honey cocked a dark eyebrow at them and took a drink. Snowflake, finally given the chance to learn about Unique Skills other than his own–he was hopeful that it would give him a glimpse behind the curtain of how this all worked-- was the first to break the stillness.

“Well what does it do!” He half-shouted before realizing how loud he was being. Those drinks were stronger than the small glasses made them seem. In a hushed stage whisper he repeated himself.

“Wait, wait,” Ra’hel grabbed Snowflake’s arm, practically vibrating with excitement. Her faced was flushed. The blush extended to the tips of her pointed ears, peeking out from beneath her purple hair. “Let’s guess first! Whoever gets closest doesn’t have to drink, but everyone else does.”

“Competition,” Bonehammer raised their glass and grinned. Snowflake didn’t know how alcohol usually affected forest spirits like them, but given how their long, thin, grass-like leaves of green hair was turning into the red and orange hues of fall – it started at roots and was growing down with each passing round of drinks—he had a few guesses. “Now that is something I can get behind.”

“Mordai you’re not allowed to guess on this one,” Snowflake said, pointing to the man in question, catching him red-handed, even though he was technically red everything, with a scheming look on his face. “You know Honey’s, so it isn’t fair.”

Mordai put his hands up in mock surrender

“Alright, alright. I won’t drink this round.”

“No,” Bonehammer levelled a finger at him. “You will drink, because you automatically lose due to disqualification.”

Snowflake stifled a chuckle at the sight of Bonehammer telling Mordai what to do. Bonehammer was short, even shorter than Honey, with fine-boned, youthful features and green-tinged skin, and a serious, bordering severe, look on their face. Mordai was massive, colored a deep red, and looked like he had never taken anything seriously in his life. A tiny green person telling a red giant what to do? The contrast was hilarious. At least, to Snowflake.

“That sounds fair! I’ll guess first.” Ra’hel cut in before Mordai could protest. She touched a finger to the corner of her mouth and cocked her head up and to the side, making a show of being deep in thought. “[Ancestral Apathy] is a skill that… numbs your emotions and makes you… less vulnerable to mental attacks?”

“Mmmm,” Snowflake hummed, considering Ra’hel’s guess. It made a lot of sense. So much sense that he was having a hard time coming up with a different guess.

“It allows you to selectively ignore certain sensory inputs.” Correct or not, Bonehammer did not lack for confidence as she delivered her guess in the same manner as a judge might pass a sentence.

Snowflake hid a grimace as he took a sip of his drink. All eyes turned to him. He drew out his sip to stall for time, but he was eventually forced to mumble a forfeit for this round. Feeling a bit miffed at how sluggish his thoughts felt, he began to circulate some rejuvenating energy through his body to combat the alcohol.

“You are both wrong. Everyone drinks,” Honey said with what Snowflake had begun to consider her signature smirk on full display. She looked on with smug satisfaction as they all took a long draught of their respective beverages. Once she was satisfied, she explained. “[Ancestral Apathy] lets me passively ignore a certain amount of damage, no matter the source.”

“Or Source.”

Snowflake choked on his drink at Mordai’s word-play. The rest made it a point to not acknowledge it.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Ra’hel protested. “Apathy means ‘to not care.’ That has nothing to do with damage or defensive measures. There is no way a Skill would let you just ‘not care’ about damage.”

“Honey the badger don’t give a fuuuuuck,” Mordai murmured into his glass. His body was angled away from Honey in expectation for a blow. After a few seconds, he relaxed. It was a mistake; he shouldn’t have let his guard down. She jabbed him in the ribs, eliciting an audible groan.

“I did not name the Skill. Take it up with the System if you have an issue,” Honey said, far from apologetic.

“Help me understand,” Snowflake said, his thoughts a little clearer. “I was under the impression Unique Skills grow with us. How would a passive damage reduction Skill grow?”

“The current theory is that passive Skill power is tied to level while active Skills are limited by the amount of Source they can use. Specifically, Core tier. Quality and quantity. The fact that the base effectiveness of a given Skill grows with level makes things a bit confusing. It would be easier if these things were assigned with a number value but,” Honey said, concluding with a somewhat lame shrug.

Her casual statement gave Snowflake a lot to ponder. However, it wasn’t anything new to the rest.

“How do we choose who is next?” Bonehammer said, their competitive spirit shining through their usual demeanor.

“Last person to reveal picks the next?”

“Deal. Bonehammer. You are it.”

“Thank you, but I will decline.”

A beat of silence followed Bonehammer’s declaration. Mordai was the first to respond.

“Hey now, I thought we were all gonna-“

“Mordai, it is fine,” Honey said. “Ra’hel, how about you?”

“Sure, I don’t mind sharing a secret or two,” Ra’hel said with hooded eyes and a sly smile. “It is a little unladylike but, my Unique Skill is called [Big Eater].”

“Oh, I got this.” Snowflake was quick to respond and eager to make up for forfeiting the first round. “You can eat whatever you want without gaining weight.”

“Got it one,” Ra’hel said, giving him a playful nudge.

“Hmm, so the System probably breaks your food into chemical energy, then to Source, and diffuses into your body.” It was clear that Honey was talking to herself, trying to figure out the technicalities of Ra’hel’s Skill, but her words caught the attention of the three new Awakened.

Mordai noticed their attention and tried, with as little slurring as possible, to explain what Honey was talking about.

“Don’t mind her. She has this theory that any Skill can be reversed engineered with Source, if it falls in the broad scope of your Class. Ya prove you can do it, and the System might give ya the Skill for it.”

Snowflake, his mind considerably less hazy than it was during the first round of this game, lit up at Mordai’s words. There was a lot to unpack. First, Skills can be learned and not just gained from levelling up. Second, Classes narrow down the number of Skills available. Third, if they can be reverse engineered then they must work on a fundamentally similar level which meant…

“The System uses energy changes to create Skills?” Snowflake aired his conclusion to the group at large.

In response to this question, Honey deigned to rejoin the conversation. She straightened in her chair as she adopted her instructor persona. Even though her gravitas was undercut by a slight sway, Snowflake felt a slight chill at the sight. It reminded him of the brutal training he had experienced at her hands over the last two days.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“That is the operating theory, yes. Everything is made from energy transformations. However, the complex, layered transformations the System can perform far outstrips any cantrips or spells that we can do. That is where Skills come in. But! I have found that if I can successfully mimic a Skill using spells and cantrips, the System will reward me with it.”

Snowflake turned to Mordai for confirmation, but he just shrugged.

“Most people think itsa fluke.”

“How do Classes tie into all of this?”

“You can think of ‘em like paths you walk. Paths might intersect or stop at some of the same points, but in the end, they’re going different places, ya know?”

The looks of confusion on the faces of Snowflake and his fellow new Awakened made it clear that they did not in fact know. With a sigh, Honey took over. She dipped her finger in her drink and drew two wet, overlapping circles on the table.

“This,” she said, taking a swig of her drink to wet her throat. “Is a Venn diagram. You can think of each circle as a Class and inside it are the potential Skills you might get when you level up in that class. Where it overlaps indicates Skills both Classes possess. And this circle-“

She broke off to dip her finger again, drawing a much larger circle around the original two.

“This circle is all of the potential Skills. Not just those limited by the scope of a single Class.” She paused, waiting to see if anyone had questions.

They did.

“Why limit yourself by getting a Class at all?” Bonehammer said. Snowflake was beginning to appreciate their direct approach.

“Anyone want to guess before I answer?” Honey was in full instructor mode now; slight sway and unfocused eyes be damned.

Snowflake took a few moments to consider the diagram and what he had been told by both Angosin and Honey. After a few, he began to speak. At first, he chose his words carefully, sounding out the thoughts as he said them, but as he gained confidence the words came faster.

“Well, it seems like having a Class is a prerequisite to levelling. The System doesn’t award you Skills unless you level. However, that wouldn’t stop someone from having a multitude of Classes and levelling them all to gain as many Skills as possible. From what I understand, most people believe that levelling a single Class is the best way forward which implies… having a smaller pool of Skills to draw from is better.”

Honey nodded along as he spoke, only speaking up to correct him after he finished.

“The size of the pool of available Skills may have some impact. However, the issue here is focus. For example: If your goal is to climb the Dungeon using martial might, a skill like [Basic Cooking] will not help you.”

“When you say a ‘pool of available Skills’, what do you mean?”

“There is a huuuuge variety of Classes. Each one has a different pool of Skills to draw from, but the even same Class doesn’t mean the same Skills,” Mordai explained. When his explanation was met with blank expressions, he elaborated. “Take two level 10 [Warriors]. Same level. Same Class. For arguments sake, let’s say they’re both the same species with the same Core type and tier. All that’s the same, but! If one focused on attacking and the other on defending, they’d have Skills that reflect that. The System rewards Skills based on desire and need, both of which are best shown through action.

“So, Mr. Attack spends all his time wailing on stuff, he’s gonna have Skills like [Power Strike] and [Crushing Blow]. Ms. Defense will be more along the lines of [Iron Skin] and [Deflect], ya know?”

Snowflake understood but was not entirely pleased. When he first came to this world, he felt this formless pressure to ‘live well.’ The vagueness of such a generic request, coupled with a deep sense of responsibility, frustrated him. He had no path forward and struggled with his lack of direction.

Since finding out that he could reclaim his lost world, things had been easier. Sure, it was only a day ago, but he gained motivation. There was a task, an epic quest of the sort he was used to, to complete. But learning about Classes and Skills made it all seem so, so… Murky.

There were too many options. Endless ways forward, each with individual variation, meant that it would be that much harder for him to find the right way. How was he supposed to know if the Class he chose would give him the Skills he needed to rescue his world? What it was the right Class to get him there but the wrong Skills? Or vice versa? Should he gamble on multiple Classes or gamble on his first pick working out?

Feeling the familiar pull of a mental spiral, he took a deep breath and fed his disjointed thoughts and emotions to the flame he conjured in his mind. He tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Honey explaining Class prerequisites.

“Mordai should have explained this to you by now, but I will go over it one more time. After you form a Core, Classes will begin to appear in your Soulspace. They only appear if you have the qualifications for them. The most basic qualifications are need and desire as demonstrated by actions, which are also Skill qualifications as Mordai pointed out. You can take or reject any given Class in your Soulspace.”

Snowflake was not sure if that explanation put him at ease or gave him more anxiety. Probably a bit of both. His actions would determine his path. No pressure.

“That makes sense,” Bonehammer said, nodding along to Honey’s explanation. “But how do Cores factor into the Class and Skill system?”

“Cores change the body to be able to process more Source. Aspects, gained at tier intervals of 3, are permanent transformations to aid in this endeavor,” Mordai said, using a higher pitched voice and air quotations as if miming something or someone. His voice dropped to normal and he continued. “Its all in your Starter Manual.”

“Yes, I know all that,” Bonehammer had to visibly control their frustration. Snowflake got the impression they felt talked down to. “But how do Cores relate to Classes and Skills other than being fuel? It seems like a needlessly complicated system where the Classes themselves could function as Cores. Source and Cores operate outside of each other and are almost an entirely different process than Classes and Skills. So, why put all of that together into one?”

Honey and Mordai exchanged a glance before they both shrugged, almost in sync.

“It is needlessly complex,” Honey agreed. “Even the Unique Skills seem extra considering the unique combinations of Skills each person will end up with.”

“Nobody knows why,” Mordai said. “Some people think the System integrated multiple advancement systems because it liked ‘em but had no way to merge it into one seamless way to do things.”

“Well that’s stupid,” Bonehammer said, their mind clearly made up on the issue.

“Cheers to that!” Ra’hel said, raising her glass. She was growing bored of the discussion. It was beginning to feel a lot like the training they did every day. She hoped to steer everyone back to the task at hand, drinking.

Unfortunately for her, the others were too engrossed in the conversation to notice her efforts. Snowflake, who she considered her staunchest supporter in terms of drinking, spoke over her, as if he didn’t even hear her.

“No, I think I get it. Levels effect the number of available Skills as well as the quality. Say Mr. Attack was able to level up to 20, their [Power Strike] would be stronger even if they put the same amount of Source into it. If Ms. Defend was still level 10, but with a higher tier Core, they could potentially still manage to [Deflect] the [Power Strike] by providing more Source for the Skill to use. It promotes fairness.”

“Howdya figure?”

“Well, if you think of Classes as magic disciplines, Skill as spell matrixes, and Cores as mana, it all sort of falls together, right? An experienced mage, advanced in their field, could use simple spells to devastating result with just a touch of mana, while a novice with raw talent might be able to match them by outpouring a massive volume of mana to compensate. It evens the playing field for those who take longer to choose or earn their Class. What I’m not quite understanding is how the different Core types play into all of this. Are they like an elemental affinity?”

Everyone, except for Ra’hel of course, did their particular variation of a thoughtful nod in response to Snowflake’s theory. He waited for an explanation about Core types; it didn’t cross his mind that they might not be familiar with elemental affinities. Luckily for him, guessing that it meant ‘talented with one element over the others’ was not hard to piece together with context clues.

While the others considered his theory and question, the rhythmic tapping of Ra’hel’s nails against the table and general hubbub in the background lulled Snowflake into a sense of ease. Tonight was turning out to be much more fruitful than he had expected. Although the formless dread of an uncertain future still haunted the edges of his mind, he was beginning to feel like he could find a path forward. Knowledge and understanding had always proved to be the most useful weapons against fear. He couldn’t lose sight of that just because the options provided by them were overwhelming.

Besides, if he couldn’t find a path, he could always make his own.

That conviction echoed inside him, causing a memory to bubble up. He remembered words, ones he’d spoken just a few days ago. They seared themselves in his mind, in case he forget once again.

‘Even if the gods, or reality itself, stand in my way.’

He closed his eyes and tried to remember how he felt in that moment. Invincible, unstoppable. Everything in his life led to that moment. Sure, he may not deserve as much credit for it as he once thought, but it was still him that did those things… right? He did it once; he could do it again.

Honey interrupted his remembrance.

“Elemental affinity is not a good analogy. Your Starter Manual, which you should really read, has a list of Cores and how they affect you.”

Mordai mistook Snowflake’s conflicted expression and took compassion on him. As a fellow lover of metaphors, analogies, and word-play of all sorts, he couldn’t just leave his protégé without a comparative explanation. If Snowflake knew he’d been labelled a fellow pun-lover, he may have objected.

“Its more like you get to pick your evolutionary path for those of us that make it demi-god, ya know?”

“Demi-god?”

“Yup. Become one with your Core and re-forge your body to become a demi-god, then one with your Class and re-forge it to become a-“

“Enough!”

Ra’hel slammed her hand on the table, cutting off Mordai mid-sentence. She levelled a no-nonsense glare at him, before turning it to each of them in kind.

“I came here to relax and drink. If you want to be a bunch of magic nerds, you can do it on your own time. Now, I heard this place has music and I think I saw some people setting up instruments. You four are going to help me clear a dance floor and by all that is holy, we are going to have a good time. Or else.”

Despite knowing that Honey and Mordai must be stronger than Ra’hel, Snowflake couldn’t help but shiver at her threat. The conviction in her words left no doubt in his mind that she would find some way to make them all pay if they didn’t heed her orders.

Mordai was the first to buckle. He stood up, murmured something about finding out when the music would start, and wandered off. Snowflake took his que and offered to get more drinks, leaving the girls and Bonehammer to make a dancefloor.

He pitied any table of people that might refuse be moved.