Endless white space in every direction.

Oh, this place.

I scanned around until I found the expected desk. All matte black. The figure behind the desk a vaguely humanoid shape of greens and yellows.

"Well, haven't you managed to create a ton of paperwork."

I reached out with my senses.

A vast force slapped me to the "ground". It hurt, but not it any typical way. It was the essence of pain, a condensed feeling of pain.

Nothing had ever hurt more. Yet, all of the usual reactions to pain were missing. No increased breathing, no sped up heart rate, everything stayed level.

"How rude. It would be wise to keep your primitive mind to yourself. Unless you wish to find out how much damage your soul can endure."

Ah. That would be why. I wasn't here physically.

"Pardon, you seem different than the first time I was here."

"You've never been here... Oh right, you can't see where you really are. Which means you also can't see who I really am. Bother."

The figure seemed to flicker for a moment.

"No. Well, I guess I don't get to crack your psyche today. Another time then. I am your Case Worker."

I remained silent. I didn't see a good way to respond to any of that information.

A chuckle.

"You can restrain yourself. Good primitive. Now listen up, we are going to fix the hole in your soul. You may express your gratitude now."

I raised my eyebrow. "Thank you?" Doesn't gratitude come after you fix the problem? Also, shouldn't I be pissed right now?

It sighed.

"I guess that will have to do."

It pushed a stack of papers at me.

"Fill those out. Might as well make yourself useful. Bugs like you aren't good for much else."

Again, I wanted to be angry, but something prevented it.

Knowing that without compliance I'd just be stuck here, I started looking over the paper work.

It was all extremely vague statements. It took almost 25 pages of reading for me to determine that this was a description of my time on the New Earth. That's how bland and obscure the wording was. It could have been the stripped down details of almost any other person on almost any other world, doing almost anything.

No telling how long I was there reading. The being had told me to fill out paperwork but there was nothing to fill out. Not even those little annoying places to initial.

For all that I recognized this as boring, I simply didn't feel any of the frustration that I knew I should.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

That I couldn't feel the normal range of emotions almost bothered me. The tickles of annoyance danced haunting close.

Several hundred pages later, the first actual form arrived. It was just basic information. I tapped the blanks and they filled in with what I wanted to write there.

So on and so forth. Countless, pointless forms filled out one after another. The pile kept refilling itself. Adding pages just as I thought it was over.

When the last form was filled out and disappeared, I couldn't believe it.

"Finally! What took you so long? It was only ten million pages. Hardly an afternoon's worth of work. I've dealt with twenty five other cases since you started. Luckily for you we altered the flow of time a bit."

How much? I could feel another flutter of emotion.

"No matter. Well since your class selection was hijacked by several cosmic level beings, we are going to give you a choice."

Oh a vague sense of interest stirred in me.

"We can't remove the offending class without permanent damage to your soul. That sucker dug in deep. We can give you two classes to compensate. This will help balance out it's influence, while cleaning up the mess left by the broken Paladin class."

It laughed.

"That still cracks me up. You. A Paladin. They are just handing the good stuff out to anyone these days." Its laughter continued to ring out.

My hand clenched. Yup. I almost felt something that time.

"Alternatively, we clean up the shards of the Paladin class, and then evolve either your Druid or Smith Class. That's actually a better deal than it sounds like. Class evolutions are rare. You can still take a new class from the Town Hall when you return to your disgusting body."

A question of quality over quantity. At least if I understood its ranting correctly.

Actually, It wasn't really a choice at all. I was already annoyed by the influences of the Classes on my mind.

At least with the Druid and Smith Classes I thought those influences aligned pretty well with who I was before. Or who I thought I was before.

Two more random classes, while they might solve the problem at hand, would cause more problems later. More directions to pull my identity out of shape.

Even the thought of taking another class once I returned was troubling.

"The second option."

"Interesting! Which class will you evolve?"

That wasn't really a choice either. As long as I had a stated goal, I needed to improve my ability to achieve that goal.

"Druid of Renewal."

Two sheets of crisp green paper appeared on the black desk. The Being gestured to the paper.

"Pick."

[ Archdruid of Renewal

+3 to Spirit per level

+3 to Will per level

+2 to Intelligence per level

+4 free points per level

An evolution of the Druid of Renewal. A deeper connection to the Cycle of Life.

Spells: Renew the Cycle, Reincarnate ]

The other page read...

[ Grove Keeper

+3 to Spirit per level

+3 to Will per level

+2 to Body per level

+4 free points per level

By increasing a connection to a Grove, a Keeper gains understanding of Nature.

Spells: Awaken Trees, Forest Walk ]

I picked up the Arch Druid page. The Grove Keeper was likely very potent, but I didn't even have a grove to begin with. I was beginning to wonder if any of the choices I was presented, were actually choices...

"I'll give you a moment to look it over. Then back you go. Have fun, bug."

The insulting being vanished.

I turned my attention to the changes in my class.

Better. I already felt better even without my emotions.

My stats were looking rather ridiculous. Good. I would need to be as powerful as possible.

I had spells evolving. Interesting.

Let's see.

Renew the Cycle. It took almost ten hours to cast. So, not something to use in the middle of a fight.

It also required an array of components. It returned any one living being to it's best state of health, removing any anomalies. For additional components and increased mana costs it could alter the target in any number of ways. The spell would instantly destroy any undead or unnatural target.

Interesting, I could cast it on myself.

Reincarnation was not a spell in the strictest sense. Nor was it an ability. It would activate upon my death and allow me to return to life. However, I would have no choice in who or what I returned as. It could only be activated once a century.

I pondered that. If classes and abilities carried over, and I didn't die more than once every hundred years, I was now possibly immortal. Maybe.

I could get trapped in something like a Weasel's body. Which might last two to five years normally. Mana might extend that, but probably not out to a century. So I couldn't count on it. Also the body would likely affect my identity to some extent. A few spins on this wheel and I'd no longer be me.

Not that I was sure I was me anymore.