image [https://64.media.tumblr.com/94b18607841858f98f066bfbcfbfba35/988a5d00da108e35-32/s250x400/21ea4cfac6af2773f062c5b947f3ae9576835fbd.pnj]
“W-wait!” Sophia whispered as we walked into the hall. “What about Toria?”
Shit, I hadn’t even thought about Victoria. She was in the room just down the hall. She had a cat she let out into the halls sometimes. But it didn’t appear to be anywhere, there wasn’t any blood. She might not even be in. I didn't know if that was lucky or not.
There were too many of those things on the street to go making noise, but.
I pulled out my phone. Still no signal. It was displaying a message.
Instant Messaging Network is still being established. Please wait!
The entities are just going to create the same system for messaging in rpgs, aren’t they? I groaned internally. You could usually only send text messages. I hoped they allowed calls as well. I don't like talking on the phone and prefer texting. But sometimes it's necessary. Sophia was going to need a cellphone and if we got separated, messaging her 'it'll be okay' is not going to be nearly as effective as saying it over an open line.
I pulled Sophia with me down the hall toward Toria's door, then very gently tapped on it.
“Toria…” Sophia whispered loudly. But at least she wasn’t yelling.
The door was flung open in that moment, “Sophia!?”
She'd obviously been waiting on the other side of the door, listening for some kind of activity. She had to have heard the monster attacking us, right? But she likely had no idea where it was or even if she'd be able to fight it, considering she wasn't wearing any gear.
And she looked a wreck, besides.
“Oh god, I need help. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m seeing and hearing things!” she said with tears pouring down her face. Her eyes were already red and puffy.
It baffled me how she couldn’t know what was going on. She had to have found a familiar vessel if she wasn’t insensate on the floor…
The locket which she always wore around her neck had a single jewel eye, now. It was right in my line of sight so It was easy to spot. And it made sense, because that Locket is something her brother gave her. He was younger than her and scrounged up money to get her a real silver locket with some kind of gemstone arranged around the circular top lid. But they were an eye now.
“Victoria, listen closely,” I said. “We’re all going in your apartment and closing and locking the door, okay?”
She sniffled and rubbed her red eyes, nodding silently. She stepped backward and shook while we walked in. Victoria went to her sofa but the cat didn’t instantly leap into her lap. I shut and locked the door, just to be certain it's as secure as possible before following her over.
“Oh god, what is that?” she said as she noticed Valykree riding Phobos, walking around next to us. “I’m seeing it again-”
“It’s Valykree riding my skeleton cat, right?” I asked.
She went wide-eyed. “WHAT!?” It was too loud, but she was shrieking very lowly, like her throat was too raspy to do more.
“You’re not crazy. The world just kind of ended. And restarted. Hang on, I can help,” I said and stepped over to sit next to her. “I’m guessing you grasped that Locket and called for your brother when you were in pain, convulsing because of some unknown force?”
She shook, staring at me in silence, lips parted slightly.
“It happened to us, too,” I said. “Sophia had to bring me my cat skeleton so the Familiar could inhabit it. Our bodies can’t handle them. I thought I was hallucinating as well.”
She started sobbing openly.
“I’m going to help Sophia with something in the bedroom, so when you’re calm and able to talk, just come in and find me.”
Her head shook, but she didn’t respond, face buried in her hands.
I didn’t know if it was despair, thinking she really WAS insane, or if she was relieved she wasn’t. But either way… it was time for the Class Selection. And Sophia was a child who needed entertainment. She'd do it out of boredom and accidentally end up with something very WRONG or very HARD if I didn't help her.
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“Come on, Sophia,” I got up and led her into the bedroom by the hand. Valykree and Phobos followed us.
“Now, I’m going to say something important,” I said. “I want you to tell me what you see when you open your menu to ‘classes’. Just listen to the names, DO NOT think about how cool they are or anything else but telling me what you hear when they’re read off to you, okay?”
“Okay!” she picked up Valykree and opened her menu.
She hummed until she finally made a triumphant noise. “I found them! It says I can only do Hiller, Color Mage, Elmensal Mage and something called a… Beesmaster?”
One of those was a Sub-class. Did they just entirely remove the over-class to make it easier for her?
“Is that first one ‘Healer’?” I asked.
“Yeah! Hiller!” she said.
I wondered why she had such trouble with certain words. She could say other ‘ea’ words just fine… and she can pronounce her t’s usually…
Healer, Color Mage, Elemental Mage, Beastmaster. I remembered that was a class I could get, too. As are all the rest.
They have to be the base classes everyone can get. So they would each have equal chance of helping you survive the new world, unlike the other classes, most likely. I might’ve gotten Beastmaster if I’d been given an actual choice, but… she’s different.
“Okay, put Valykree away so she can’t choose your class for you while we talk,” I said.
She got up and put Valykree on Phobos again. “Go and play with-”
“No no. Poggers is probably scared,” I cut her off. “And so is Toria. Tell them to go and sit and wait in the bathroom.”
Phobos took off before I was even finished, through the slight crack of the bathroom door just to the left of us.
“Okay, Blissy is a Sigilrant,” I tell her. “It’s a class that means I can draw spells on Cards to save them for later, and I can draw spells on stuff to make effects. What we need are a ‘Tank’, ‘Healer’ and ‘Damage Dealer’ for a full party, and I'm not any of those. So you could be any of those four classes, maybe. But the best would be Beastmaster, Elemental Mage or Healer.”
I explained what each one was.
She looked incredibly stumped. “Why can’t I just learn everything?”
“I think it was implied you can change your class later, so maybe you can,” I said. “But we need to assume you have to keep this class for the next ten years, so you can really grow into it and get a lot of skills.”
“Ten years!?” her eyes boggled at me. To her it must've seemed an eternity. She can barely wrap her head around 'one' year.
“You’ll only be sixteen, you won’t even be an adult yet,” I said. “You’ll have at least another sixty years to do whatever you want, then.”
She thought that over. “What’s best for fighting monsters?” And started kicking her feet against the bed.
“Well, you could pick Beastmaster and befriend a bunch of the monsters,” I said. “Or Elemental mage to throw fireballs and lightning bolts at them. Or you could be a healer and fix me up whenever I get hurt.”
“Hmmm…” she hummed to herself as she thought it over. “Can beesmaster and Elmensal mage do healing? Or can Hiller do fighting?”
“No, I don’t think so,” I said. “But who knows what kinds of skills you’ll get in the future.”
“I’m gonna pick… uh, what’s a Valykree?” she asked.
She’d obviously forgotten the original word was Valkyrie. It was very cute. But I had to stay focused.
“A Valkyrie is an angel who guides the souls of warriors to death. So I guess you could say it’s a lot like a Healer. But not exactly-”
“Then I’ll be a Hiller!” she said triumphantly.
And then Valykree came rocketing in, rushing up to her. Like it sensed she needed it.
“Now, pick it up and tell it you’ll be a Healer. Then do the same thing as before, reading off the subclasses to me and then putting her down.”
She did so and told me, “Uhhh, it says I can be a Fegbomis, an erbist and a generator.”
They must be big words.
“Try sounding out the first one for me,” I told her as she put Valykree down.
“Uhh… Feg… Flem… Flehg,” she tried very hard.
“Phlebotomist.”
I jolted and looked down. Valykree was looking up. “Herbalist. Regenerator.”
It wasn’t a voice. More like a sound that issued from it, like an AI reading text.
“Ask it to tell you all the abilities of each one,” I told her.
“What are those?” she asked the doll.
“Phlebotomist: Create blood from mana or take it from a willing participant, then transfer the blood to a patient. Herbalist: Learn to create basic tinctures and creams for ailments such as infection, itching, swelling and fever. Learn to make bandages. Regenerator: use mana to encourage the body to heal naturally, faster. Learn techniques such as stitching, stapling and splinting.”
“Okay,” I sighed. “So you can either be a blood healer, which is very useful and can help people survive long enough to get to another healer… but you probably can’t heal wounds closed. Or if you can, that skill comes later and you have to unlock it with Skill points.”
“Ew, blood,” she was making a face.
“Yeah, I know,” I replied. I’d still have probably picked it if given the choice, considering that sounds really fucking vital... and I tend to like blood-themed things. “Herbalists can mix things like… remember when I showed you how to use honey to make your scratches stop itching? And for your chicken pox when we used calamine lotion?”
She nodded furiously. “Can I make candy!?”
It was mentioning honey that made her think of that.
“I don’t know, but you could only make it if it were medicine, I think,” I said.
Sophia huffed and crossed her arms.
“A Regenerator helps the body to heal on its own. But part of that is sewing shut wounds and stuff… we could probably just buy you the skill to staple and a staple gun and you would just staple it like you do paper. And you’d learn to splint, which helps with broken arms and legs.”
“The Generator’s not icky or hard,” she said.
True. Using magic to encourage healing after stapling a wound shut is probably easiest. But…
“It will still be a little icky,” I said. “You’d have to hold together the wound while you staple it. That’s blood and sometimes you might see bone. Though you’d likely be wearing gloves so you wouldn’t get it on your hands…”
“Ugh… I don’t like it,” she gripped her dress in her hands. “Why can’t I just be a magic healer like in the games?”
I’d introduced her to those when she hit five by mostly letting her watch me play and doing what she asked me to do here and there.
Those healers just waved their hands and a light shone on people and suddenly, they got up.
“That’s what a Regenerator is,” I said. “But you aren’t powerful enough to close the wounds by yourself yet, that’s all.”
She pouted. “Fiiinnneee.”
After her class and subclass were finalized, I had her look at her starter skills and starter set.
I was able to upgrade her starter set, and when asked, the system allowed her to dye it purple with gold details. Thank god it allowed me to pay for her things as her guardian. Maybe they HAD some consideration for kids and just decided not to let the adults in for a reason.
Thank god this didn't happen while she was with mom and dad. I can see now, why them accessing her inventory would be horrific.