"Citizens of the Great Nocezia Dynasty, today marks a joyous occasion as we gather to celebrate our annual Crimson Feathers Festival. May this day be filled with happiness and may feathery blessings shower upon us all," announced the commanding voice.

Melvin followed the sound to behold a tall, well-built man with a luxuriant mane of hair, standing prominently upon the platform amidst the assembled figures. As the man concluded his address, he gracefully descended from the platform and settled into the exquisite throne awaiting him.

'How was he able to speak so loudly without a microphone?' Melvin thought with confusion evident in his eyes, but he knew it had something to do with magic. He then turned towards an older gentleman by his side who seemed to be on his own and uttered, "Uncle, who's that man?"

When those words escaped his mouth, he couldn't help but feel slightly awkward. Decades had passed from the last time he called another Uncle, but he knew that he was required to.

He had been paying much attention to how people greeted themselves here, and he noticed that most young people addressed those older than them with the terms Uncle and Aunt, even though they didn't even know each other. Needless to say, he was very surprised by such a tradition.

The older man, clad in a simple yet dignified grey robe, possessed a mane of thick, vibrant black hair that contrasted sharply with his sharp features. As he turned to address the speaker, his surprise was apparent when he saw a youthful face. For the youth to ask him such a simple question implied he wasn't from the city, but to be alone in a foreign city at such a young age suggested a measure of wealth and power. With a faint smile, he replied, "This is the Prince Consort, husband to Princess Leyla, and the City Lord of Nightmond."

'Royal family then,' Melvin thought, and so he quickly thanked the man, "Alright thank you, uncle."

He still felt weird saying uncle as a grown man, but what could he do? It would be too disrespectful for him not to say it in this younger body of his, but he found the whole situation rather amusing.

Suddenly, the previously well-lit plaza in the afternoon sun began to gradually darken. Melvin who was caught off guard by this change, immediately glanced up, and the moment he did so his mouth and eyes both widened in disbelief at what he was seeing.

A colossal scarlet bird, spanning hundreds of meters in both length and width, soared gracefully above the city. What was even more astonishing was that the bird was enveloped in swirling flames, casting an intense heat that Melvin could feel even from a considerable distance.

His steps unconsciously retreated in shock, and the old man who noticed his peculiar behavior couldn't help but exclaim, "Have you never seen the royal guardian beast? Could it be..."

Melvin composed himself as he realized the man must be thinking of something dangerous, and he quickly comforted, "No, no, uncle. It is just that its beauty and power are too overwhelming. The question is why aren't you so shocked?"

Feeling that it made sense, the older man replied, "Well I've seen it more than 40 times now, so you do get used to it." But by then Melvin was no longer paying attention to him as he intently followed the bird's graceful maneuvers in the sky.

Before long, Melvin observed a procession of individuals clad in resplendent red garments, each adorned with circular hats and accompanied by drums resting at their sides. They made their way toward the center of the plaza, their synchronized drumbeats creating a captivating rhythm that echoed throughout the area.

The bird's majestic flight seamlessly synchronized with the rhythmic drumming, as if it were responding to the beat with graceful movements.

The crowd erupted into a cacophony of cheers, shouts, and applause, their voices blending into a symphony of excitement and jubilation. Their eyes fixed on the unfolding spectacle before them, and the air was electric with anticipation and delight.

'What in the world?' Melvin thought with amusement as he watched everything unfold, to say he wasn't having fun would be a lie. Thus, he continued watching everything with a smile, and he couldn't help but think, 'I was just in the grocery store looking for bread a couple of hours ago, now I am vibing to the music of another world and watching a gigantic bird of fire dance.'

It was at this moment that Melvin truly grasped the essence of an advanced world. The profound sense of wonder and delight that magic brought forth made life feel infinitely more enjoyable and enriched.

After a while, he turned to the man by his side who was also enjoying everything in front of him, and asked, "Uncle, do you know how much money I would need to go to the closest city?"

The man had long stopped analyzing the logic behind the young man's questions, and so he just said with a loud voice amidst the music, without even turning to look, "Eh, you'd need around two gold coins, but the road will be closed for seven days in the festival."

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Just as Melvin started considering the implication of that, the old man added, "If you're an adventurer you can find a way for free." This time he turned around with a smirk, "But I doubt that."

Noticing the subtle mockery in the old man's tone, Melvin thought that maybe he was annoying him with questions and he just wanted to listen to the music, thus he looked at him and said, "Alright, I appreciate the help uncle.", and turned around to change places.

The old man seemed to quickly grasp that and added, "Wait, if you have any more questions I don't mind answering."

Melvin's steps stopped and turned around with a smile, "Really? I thought I was bothering you."

"No worries, lad. Words don't cost me a thing, so feel free to ask whatever's on your mind," the man chuckled, offering his assistance. "As for the festival, I've been around long enough to witness it countless times so I am not missing anything new."

Thus, amidst the bustling noise of the festival and the people dancing around with their friends and families, Melvin sent a barrage of questions to the kind old man. However, he was still a bit careful not to be too suspicious and didn't ask something that would make him seem too weird.

One of the important things he had learned from the man, was the fact that people were only given one single class their whole lives. If they wanted to change it, then they had to have access to classes of higher grades.

However, he recalled that his interface mentioned that he had two classes. One of them Legendary, and the other one was still empty.

***

Name: Melvin Miller(Jacob)

Age: 25(19)

Class: Rune Mythomancer(Legendary)

Class: None.

Tier: Initiate

Rank: 1(0%)

Titles: [The Heretic] | [The Storyteller's Charm]

Health Points, HP: 60/60

Mana Points, MP: 30/30

Stamina Points, SP: 36/36

Mental Energy, ME: 25/25

Vitality: 6

Strength: 7

Agility: 11

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 5

Charisma: 4

Available Stats Points: 0

Skills: [Storyweaver, Lv1]

Ongoing Quest: [Jacob The Snake's Death]

Resistances: None.

***

He was certain that he could choose another class, 'I guess it makes sense because of what that being said in the end...'

Melvin could still remember how the last thing it said was something along the lines of, 'If you want to choose a class, don't use the church's crystal.'

He naturally didn't forget to ask what the church's crystal was, and he learned that it was the simplest way for people to get access to a Common grade class of their choosing.

However, even this easiest method still cost around 10 gold coins, so it was something that most people would spend a lot of money and effort to get.

There were three other ways to get a class. The most straightforward but also the hardest was to just train hard in that particular class.

If you wanted to become a mage you needed to learn the skill Mana control and increase your proficiency in it.

If you wanted to become a warrior, rogue, archer, monk, and the other common classes, you needed to train in their distinct methods of fighting.

Then there was a more elusive method that depended entirely on luck and understanding, epiphany.

If you understood a lot of things about a particular class, you might just be showering or going for a walk and an insight might strike about the class which would result in you immediately getting that class.

Finally, the last method depended entirely on wealth: Class Stones.

The man said to Melvin that in Mana Stone mines, there was a very, very small chance of the gods blessing a certain stone and it would naturally store a class inside of it.

Moreover, it could even store classes beyond the Common grade. Uncommon, Rare, Epic, or even Legendary classes could be chanced upon that way. In this medium even Uncommon Classes were very rare commodities, much less the higher ones.

Needless to say, when Melvin learned that he had the most legendary class, he was both shocked and excited, and his desire to leave the city increased even more.

He turned around towards the old man and asked with a tone filled with wonder, "Is there a class even higher than legendary?"

Throughout their whole conversation, Melvin made sure to keep complimenting the man so that at least he could get some emotional reward out of it, and true enough the man was already feeling very good about himself after all of that.

His face morphed into that of a wise expert blessing their young student with their insight, hands clasped behind his back, and eyes no longer following the dancing figures, but just looking at the sky. He pondered deeply before saying with a sigh, "There are rumors about a class grade called Mythical, but those are only myths. I do not know, lad. Even Legendary classes are but legends now..."

As the two were engrossed in that strange dynamic, the sound of drums immediately stopped prompting Melvin to pause what he was planning to ask.

"Oh, now is the interesting part." The man chuckled mysteriously from the side understanding this was Melvin's first time seeing it, "If you know how to pray, now's the time to do so lad. If you get lucky then you will find yourself with a good amount of wealth."

"Why, what will happen?" Melvin inquired, confusion evident in his expression.

The man just smiled and didn't say anything. Melvin by then was already too distracted to pay attention to that, because at the the drop of a hat, the whole plaza turned deathly still and quiet.

The stark contrast from a minute ago when they were dancing and loudly singing, left Melvin with a profound sense of unease.

Above, the bird engulfed in flames, began to spin rapidly, ascending higher into the air. Just as its figure shrunk to the size of an ant, a small feather descended gracefully toward the city below.

Every person present watched this scene with bated breath their expressions filled with a sense of nervousness and anticipation, and soon the very tiny minuscule feather began to increase in size in Melvin's sight, to the point it became more than two meters tall carrying with it an intense sense of heat.

When the feather reached around 20 meters above the city, its movement began to resemble that of a normal feather as it swayed from one side to the next, but he was sure it wasn't carried by the wind, but by something else.

At some point in its seemingly random dance, the feather flew directly in front of his head, leaving him feeling very warm and energetic. As the feather continued the crowd below became even more impatient as they fidgeted in their place.