“Ok! Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about elements!” Elements? Ooooh, more cool things! I wanted a fire element! Fireballs!

“Each Class has an associated Element with it. For the most part, any element can go with any class, but most classes benefit from having particular elements. For example, you could have [Courier] be an Earth class, but he’d most likely benefit from having a Wind class instead.”

“Something like a [Blacksmith] could have fire, and have skills related to forges and heat. They could have an earth element, and deal with molds and the furnace. Metal would naturally be one of the most useful, probably getting some direct manipulation skills. Water… is rarely seen with a blacksmith, but it could help with quenching. Wind is also pretty rare with a blacksmith, but they’d move faster, and have sharper weapons.” Elements! Fire. My eyes were blazing with rapt focus.

“The Elements come in four pairs of two, and they’re paired up equal and opposite just like the stats they help. They are: Fire and Water; Earth and Wind; Light and Dark; Wood and Metal. Fire goes with Strength. That means if your class is fire-aligned, for each level in the class you get, you’ll gain a point in Strength as well! Neat!”

“Fire is Strength. Water, opposing it, is Dexterity. Just like how getting points in Strength will eventually lower your Dexterity, Fire and Water oppose each other.”

“Earth is Vitality, while Wind is Speed.”

“Light is Mana Regeneration, while Darkness is Mana.”

“Lastly, Wood is Magic Control, while Metal is Magic Power.”

Fyto spoke up at this moment. “Would you like a demonstration of skills and magic?”

A mad chorus of yes’s came from all of us except Kerberos. A chance to see magic performed for us? Yes please!

Fyto walked over to the patch of dirt, touched it with his foot, and intoned for our sake:

“[Full Field Plow].”

A ripple went over the field, turning the messy mud into neat rows of plowed earth, ready to be seeded.

Arotro only gestured, and suddenly there were dozens of seeds that came from him, floating around the room. They playfully moved along the room, settling into neat rows on the plowed field.

Prasinos lastly walked over, bent over – oh god that beautiful purple tunic better not touch dirt that would be a Major Sin – and spoke:

“[Rapid Growth].”

The field exploded with growth. Squash, squash everywhere. I was amazed at the display of magic – real magic, not the small-time stuff the merchants did every day, and more amazed at how quickly the three of them had turned a patch of dirt into viable, tasty crops. And it was all done inside!

“An amazing example of the Earth, Spore, and Verdant elements. There are a few more elements I didn’t mention, because they’re more advanced. Each pairing of primary elements creates a new, secondary element.”

That was – I did some quick thinking – a lot more elements.

“Let’s talk about classes quickly before I let you run around and play.”

“When the system unlocks, and as you advance, you’ll always have a class. It could be [Baker]. It could be [Soldier]. It could be [House Wife]. It could be bad, like [Thief]. You’ll usually have several options to choose from. You level up by doing things related to your class – in your case, simply being a child will level you up. Doing things outside of your class will also get you experience, but not as much as things inside of your class. Killing mean monsters will always get you lots of experience!”

"When your system unlocks, you’ll get your starter class automatically – it’ll probably be [Child of Remus] or [Child of Pallos], the first being much more common. You’ll gain a few levels, depending on what you’ve been doing since you were born, and when you finally get level 8, you’ll be able to get a new class! Exciting!”

“We’re not sure on everything that decides a new class, but it seems to be based somewhat on your skills, what you’ve picked with them, and how high you’ve leveled them up. You will always have a choice when it comes to your non-starter classes.”

“Lastly, I’m sure you’re wondering why there are so many objects and things around the room. This is because of skills. Each class can have eight skills, and then you can have eight general skills on top of that. What skills you get, what skills you level, and how high you level them help determine what classes you’re offered. All of the things around the room are designed to get you started on various skills – if you start to make a pot out of clay, you’ll unlock the [Pottery] skill, and possibly even the [Ceramicist] class. If you swing a sword, you might get a fighting skill, and maybe even unlock the [Soldier Trainee] class if you’re very lucky! Lastly, trying many different things like this is almost guaranteed to get you the [Apprentice] class when you get to level 8, which will be useful for getting an apprenticeship.”

Sacerdus was saying something. I was too busy looking around. What stations did I want to try? The eight stations near the start made a lot more sense now – there was one for each element. Did that allow me to get some affinity for that element, unlocking the class? A pile of blocks, a block of clay, some dirty strips in a pile – lots of things for me to explore and try! It was clear now that I was supposed to try different things at different places, and pick up skills that way for my eventual leveling up! I chuckled as I rubbed my hands together, eager to start.

“Now, girls, if you’ll leave, the boys can get started on the skills portion of today.” Kerberos leapt up with a happy cry, and immediately ran over to the swords. I just sat there stunned, trying to process what I had just heard.

What. Completely stunned, visions of playing with hammers and blocks falling out of my mind, I didn’t resist at all as mom came over to pick me up. Perhaps sensing my inner turmoil, she picked me up and carried me out as thick, hot tears came spilling out of my eyes into her shoulder.

“It’s not fair” I choked out between sobs. “I wanted to play with all the things… and get skills”

“Shhh shhhh” Mom rocked me as she carried me back. “It’s ok. Hey, listen, let’s get you some food, and I’ll teach you some things that might turn into skills once we get back! Ok?”

I furiously shook my head into her shoulder, sobbing my dreams out. Sensing the mood, mom continued to rock me and make soothing noises at me as we made it back across town to home. Coming inside, she laid me down on one of the recliners, and took my sandals off for me. I would normally complain about being treated like a baby, but I just didn’t care. What was the point of coming back with my memories intact, if I was just going to be stymied at every turn? What was the point of having magic, if it seemed like I wouldn’t be allowed to learn it? Mom picked me up and brought me to the bedroom, where she proceeded to tuck me in. Upset, exhausted, every bit of strength wrung out of me, I went to sleep.

System Day sucked.