Julia sat down on the couch—or fell into it, more like. She had both the urge to look at her class options and pretend they didn’t exist.

  She was nervous, obviously.

  Braden walked over with a glass of water and Trixy in his arms. He set the water down on the coffee table in front of Julia and placed Trixy in her lap before sitting down on the couch next to her.

  “I know it might seem daunting, but remember that most people are only offered the standard, Apprentice-level classes. So, at the very least, you will have those options. Nothing you do or have done will put you behind anyone else. At the very worst, you’ll be at the same starting line. And that’s the worst-case scenario.”

  Julia nodded while she petted Trixy with one hand and drank with the other. That did reassure her a bit, but her nervousness wasn’t exclusively due to her desire for a good class. This was the culmination of everything she had worked for over many years. There was no way to completely settle the tightly bundled nerves other than to get on with it.

  She took a deep breath and opened her notification before she lost the will.

  Julia stared in wide-eyed wonder at the list of Classes before her. She knew several of these already. Braden had explained that most people were offered the basic Classes at Level 1. For the Professional Classes—Classes that were specialized for some kind of profession outside of combat—that meant the Apprentice class.

  Apprentice would give bonuses to experience earned doing professional work and studying under someone with at least a Journeyman-level Professional class. It was the de facto class selection for most everyone not planning on being a combatant at Level 1. It would give a bonus to learning any Skills related to a Profession, so it was—by far—the most common Class out there.

  It would also give a single Attribute point (automatically assigned to Constitution) each level, as well as a free Attribute point that could be assigned at will.

  Fledgling, Scout, and Novice were the same as Apprentice—just the combat-equivalents.

  Fledgling was a physically focused combat Class that boosted experience gained by training and fighting with Strength-based weapons. It gave a single Attribute point in Strength as well as one free point per level.

  Scout was similar to Fledgling, just with a focus on Dexterity-based weapons and its assigned Attribute point in Dexterity.

  There wasn’t a distinct divide in weapon categories. Braden said it wasn’t as cut-and-dry as one weapon being a Strength weapon while another was Dex. There was some overlap. For example, a one-handed sword could be used as either Str or Dex depending on how it was wielded. Braden even said his staff utilized both stats when he fought with it physically.

  Novice was the magic-focused of the basic Classes. Its Attribute point was assigned to Intelligence, and the Class offered a boost to experience earned towards anything magic-related. Interestingly, this seemed to include things like Runes and Enchanting, despite those two being considered Skills of the Professional archetype.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  As a result, you would sometimes see people with a Professional class like Enchanter who started out as a Novice rather than an Apprentice. Magic of all types—not just runes—was still valuable in enchanting, after all.

  Julia was surprised to see two Uncommon Classes offered. She knew it was possible but exceedingly rare for Classes to be offered beyond the basic ones, especially ones with advanced Rarity.

  She was unfamiliar with the two, so she concentrated on them to expand their details.

  That’s…pretty ominous. She was surprised to see something as analytical and cold as the System being so…expressive? She couldn’t find the right word for it, but it definitely didn’t read like the usual, dry explanations for the things on her Status page.

  And what was with that warning? “...you tread in Nature’s domain.” Was that a threat—from the System? Or was it a warning to avoid letting power go to her head? She had no idea, but it was uncomfortable to consider. She decided she’d ask Braden after examining the other two classes.

  Julia liked the sound of this one. The threat was more clear-cut in this description. Braden had warned her plenty—and she had seen firsthand—how destructive lightning could be.

  Would it be as dangerous to her as the System claimed, though? She already knew the Faraday’s Cage spell thanks to Braden, so lightning shouldn’t be able to harm her.

  She even had it active most of the day at Braden’s instruction. He claimed that it would train her mental stats as well as always ensure she was prepared. “Hard to prepare for something you can’t even see coming, so the key is to just always be prepared,” he’d said.

  Regardless, she had another class to look at before thinking harder about that one. And, boy, was it a doozy. She’d never heard of anyone being offered a Rare class at level 1!

  And a hybrid class? She had only even heard Braden mention those a couple of times in passing, always followed by something like, “We don’t need to complicate things by talking about those, yet. You won’t have to worry about them for a while, anyway.”

  Well, now she’s worrying about it.

  Julia released the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding while reading the description. What a Class! Six Attribute points per level is outrageous! That said, she noticed a lack of transparency on what the class actually did.

  It was well known what the basic classes did. They provided boosts to experience in learning relevant skills. Julia could also infer that the two Uncommon classes likely did as well. Perhaps with a larger boost to learning those Classes’ relevant skills since they’re more specialized.

  But what did Seeker do? The description was vague and mysterious. Talking about her ‘foundation’ and…actually, who is this “Higher Being” that’s supposed to be beside her?

  “Braden, I’ve looked through my classes and have a few questions.”

  “Hmm?” Braden looked over from where he was—apparently—looking out the window, lost in thought.

  “Oh, sure. Why don’t we start with you just reading them all out to me, then we can go through their descriptions. Once we know what we’re working with, you can start with your questions. I should be able to better answer them that way.”