Going through the row of books, Lucas had a few things he wanted to find answers to: first and foremost, he wanted to know if he could find any information about his class or unique classes in general. He also wanted to learn more about the system itself and what he could discover about this planet. Living in a place you knew nothing about was hard, so that was one his top priorities.
Besides that, he had three more things to look into, one not very important: NPCs, as he was curious about them and wanted to learn more. And the orb, which, while definitely important, he doubted he would find any useful information on the lower levels of the library. There was also the information the ancient tree Silvanox had asked him to look for, but that was a little tricky, since he had no idea what he should be looking for.
Since the whole thing with his class was something more specific and harder to find, he first went to the geography section, and after ten minutes of scanning the spines of books, Lucas found what he was looking for; a book about the general geography of Ponos. It was a very simple book with only a few pages, which made Lucas think it was meant for children, but it was just what he needed. Being completely ignorant of the geography of the planet, he felt kind of like a child after all.
Reading it, he discovered that Ponos had four large continents called Sawes, Usia, Tradris and Volan, along with two poles. Every continent seemed to have multiple cities, too. The planet was slightly larger than Earth and had multiple ecosystems. It didn’t mention anything about the Second Chance program or the current population of the planet. So after that, he went to the history section, and found a book about Zoria.
According to it, Zoria was located in the Sawes continent and had a population of over 20,000 people at the time the book was written. Lucas searched for a publication date but found none. It looked relatively new, however, so that gave him an idea of the place. That was a lot of NPCs… it was hard to believe all of them were created with a purpose.
Suddenly, Lucas had a thought: if the NPCs could get married and have children, would their kids be NPCs too? And if so, how many generations of NPCs were there in this city? He had a feeling this wasn’t something he would find in this library, at least not in the lower levels, so he continued to read the book.
It said that the city was circular-shaped and protected by the mountain. It also mentioned that the city hid many opportunities for those who were paying attention, which he found an odd thing to put in a book, unless it was a hint for someone participating in the Second Chance program…
Lucas thought about the quest he had accepted. Initially, he had taken it because of its oddness and because he could do it while exploring the city. But after reading that, he wondered if he should take this quest more seriously.
The book went on to describe many things that the city had, along with the special dates and events that would be happening during the year, which consisted of almost five hundred days. Another thing that caught his attention was a passage saying that the city had a lot of places to buy and rent and that many people were choosing to invest in the city, seeing it as a growing market.
Lucas spent the rest of the morning searching through books, trying to find more information about the system, his orb, or something about how a tree could switch bodies, but didn’t have much luck. There was a lot of information on the system, but it was spread throughout the books, and he would need to read a lot of them if he wanted to gain more knowledge about it. The issue with his class was the same; he simply couldn’t scan all the books until he found what he was looking for. So after some thought, he decided to go to the librarian and see if she knew anything about it. It should be fine as long as he doesn’t share anything specific.
“Hi, again,” Lucas said, after arriving at the counter. “I was wondering if you have any information about types of classes or any book that has classes as its subject…” Lucas started, unsure of what to say.
“There are a lot of books about classes, even on the lower floors, but what exactly do you want to know? Maybe I can help you,” In his first interaction with her, the woman seemed to be very stern and severe, but it turns out she was quite kind, and Lucas felt more at ease talking to her.
“I want to know what kind of classes a person can be offered after doing the tutorial,” he said. There was no way for her to know he had already done the tutorial, so pretending he was a newbie looking for information seemed like a good way to find out what he wanted to know.
“That is easy. There are four main classes: light warrior, heavy warrior, archer, and mage,” she replied.
“So… there aren’t any other classes that can be offered?”
“I didn’t say that. Yes, there are a few other classes that can be offered. But that will depend on the person’s journey and achievements, so I can’t point out exactly what classes besides the main ones might appear. It’s different for everyone,” she said, and then added, “But something like a class different from the main ones appearing is an extremely rare occurrence, since it is difficult for the person doing the tutorial to have done enough before reaching level ten to warrant the variant class.”
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“Variant class?” Lucas said, trying to turn her attention to the subject he really wanted to know about.
“Yes, that’s what the classes that are outside the main classes are called. But usually they are just evolutions from the main classes. So if you’re not offered a variant class right at the start, there’s no need to worry; as you grow stronger, it is likely that other classes will be offered to you.”
That was very useful information. It meant that even if the necromancer class didn’t appear for him and he had chosen the mage class instead, he would likely be offered the change of class eventually. Nothing was set in stone. However, he had to wonder if the same could be applied to a unique class and if he would be offering other classes later on, and if he did, would those classes be unique too, or regular ones?
The librarian hadn’t mentioned anything about unique classes so far, and he was beginning to worry she didn’t know they existed, so he decided to be more incisive with his next question.
“A variant class is the only thing that could appear?”
She seemed surprised by his question and then hesitant to answer, but after a while, she spoke.
“Well, there is a legend that something called ‘unique class’ might appear, but I can’t confirm this, seeing it is only a legend,” she said dismissively, but Lucas wouldn’t let the subject drop so easily.
“What is that ‘unique class’?” he said, sounding like a curious student, a role he had played too often in his life, so he was quite good at selling it. The woman also seemed to have some teacher instincts because she bit the bait, seeming eager to share more of her knowledge.
“Well, it is said that it’s a class that no one besides that person has. Some say that a few of the most powerful beings in the multiverse have one. But others say that due to no one having walked the same path before, it is extremely difficult to make any progress, making it worse than the regular classes,” she said, almost whispering towards the end, and then with a more natural tone: “But I wouldn’t worry about what class you’ll be offered if I were you. What makes a person achieve greatness isn’t something like a special class or skill; it’s simply hard work,” she finished, now really looking like a teacher.
He thought about what she said, and it really seemed to be the case. If he had chosen the light warrior class instead, his attitude wouldn’t change; he would continue to do his best to be ahead of others and be in control of his life. Now that he had chosen a unique class, he would continue the same way. His path might be harder because no one else has done it before, but he sure wouldn’t let himself fall behind others. Before leaving, he decided to show the woman the orb that he had found in the dark forest. He had doubts about weather he should do this, but she seemed genuine, and he wasn’t sure if there would be a better opportunity for him to learn more about it.
“Can I hold it?” she asked when he showed her the orb. A little hesitant, he handed it to her, and she remained silent for a few minutes, observing every detail before giving it back.
“Sorry, I’ve never seen one of those before,” she said, her eyes still fixated on the orb, and Lucas wondered if he had made a mistake showing her, but her next words surprised him. “However, I doubt it is nature-made, or an object for display only.”
“Why?” Lucas asked. So far, he had believed that one of the possible explanations for the orb was that it was only a decoration object, but the librarian seemed sure that it wasn’t.
“I’ve seen a few similar designs before…” She raised a finger at him and went to a shelf of books. After browsing for a while, she picked up one seemingly very old and thick book and brought it towards the counter where Lucas was standing. Lucas waited while she opened the book to search what she was looking for. As she turned the pages, Lucas saw pictures of various different objects until she stopped on one with an object that resembled a box. She pointed at it.
“You see the designs in gold in this box?” She asked, and Lucas saw what she was talking about; it was pretty similar to the ones the orb had. “Well, even though the shape is different, this one can store things inside of it, like a lock box.”
Lucas realized where she was getting at. He looked again at the orb in his hands and tried to open it, but nothing happened.
“The ways to open them may vary; after all, not all locks have the same key. You just need to find the right key,” she said and closed the book, returning to her affairs after saying goodbye.
Lucas thanked her and left. She had given him a lot to think about, and he was immersed in thoughts when he walked outside the building. To think there might be something valuable inside the orb this entire time, and he hadn’t tried to open it once. But he knew that just knowing that wasn’t enough; he needed to find a way to open it if he wanted to claim what was inside. While he was pondering about that, his eyes wandered around the empty street and the stairs below him. That was when, by chance, he spotted an orange cat with a forked tail on the stairs.
That was a familiar cat. Specifically, because it was the very same he had taken a quest to look for—the one that was lost. Carefully, Lucas approached the cat; it still hadn’t seen him, and it had its back turned towards him. But when he went to catch it, it turned back, and seeing him, it jumped away pretty quickly.
“Hey! Wait!” Lucas yelled, running after it.
The cat was pretty fast, and even with Lucas enhanced agility, it was pretty hard to keep up with him. He ran after the cat for five minutes before it reached a dead-end street. Just when he finally thought the chase was over, the cat climbed the wall, which was at least 10 feet high, with extreme ease. Not wanting to stay behind, Lucas jumped at the wall and, with two powerful kicks, managed to grab the edge of it, climbing the rest of the way. The cat was waiting on the other side, not even looking at him, probably doubting he could climb the same wall. That was its mistake.
Using his stealth skill to the best of his ability, Lucas did the same as he did with all his prey and silently attacked.
“Gotcha!” he exclaimed triumphantly a few seconds later, holding a cat in his hand. “No need to fuss; I’ll only let you go when we meet your owner. Let’s go.” His eyes were shining with the prospect of receiving his reward.