Alice nearly departed from the church, before she finally remembered why she had come here in the first place. Even though she had already accepted the [Scientist] class, she could definitely do with some advice on her build right now.

“Priest Friedham, would you mind talking about my classes with me? I need some advice.”

“Ah, you have some class slots left, yes? In that case, let’s talk.”

“Well, to start off with, how do people usually go about dealing with their classes? How do people choose what to take?” Alice had looked through the holy book of classes, and there were literally thousands of classes someone could take. Plenty of them were a lot harder to stumble into than the classes she had ended up with, requiring some directed action, but the fact remained that it felt more like she was overwhelmed with choice rather than starved for choices. How did people usually deal with this?

“What do you want to do? The System does not frown upon any specific path – ultimately, what matters is that you work hard at it in order to succeed. What do you intend to focus on?”

Alice hesitated for a moment, before she replied. “I want to learn more about Magic. It didn’t exist at home, and I am fascinated by it. Therefore, I want to spend a lot of time and energy learning about what it is and how it works.” She kept quiet about her intention to explore the System as well. Telling a priest to his face that you intended to study what his god was and what made it work was probably quite rude, after all.

“Hmm…The majority of people start out with a student or apprentice class that they deem their ‘core’ class – usually whatever profession they want to go into. [Apprentice Farmer], [Apprentice Rancher], [Apprentice Blacksmith], [Student Kinetic Mage], [Apprentice Soldier] – that sort of thing, really. They get it to 25, where all [Student] classes max out, and evolve it to a tier 1 class. Along the way, they grab one or two ‘utility’ classes – something that might be a little outside the box, but provides them with something they find useful or that they think their particular aspirations require. For example, many mages pick up [Scholar] in order to boost some of their mental abilities – even though mental stats have no direct effects on magic, [Intelligence] boosts how quickly you can think, which improves flexibility and speed in using magic, as well as making it easier to calculate how much mana you need to spend when you’re in a pinch and need to optimize. Taking a Student class instead of directly getting the tier 1 class gets you an extra five perks, which is incredibly helpful once you get past level 50 and start getting options for combining perks, and people who are more ambitious go for the wider potential a Student class gives.

“After that, most people grab several other classes that get experience from sources similar to the their main class – for example, a soldier who is a scout in the army might grab [Survivor] since they expect to be in dangerous situations and in the wilderness a great deal of the time, in addition to [Hunter] or [Sharpshooter]. They often focus on classes that also provide some useful stacking modifiers for their primary stats, since increasing the effect of a stat can be incredibly useful.

“You said you intend to focus on magic? Honestly, there is a reason mages are valued as highly as they are in the country – a mage at the same level is almost always stronger than a non-mage when it comes to combat, as well as being solely responsible for two of the three major types of enchantment. Even when they aren’t focused on combat, mages are still usually stronger simply due to the influence a magic seed can exert on a battle. [Thermal Mages] are a bit of an exception since they tend to specialize in item creation, but even then, in theory a [Thermal Mage] can put up a good fight against a similarly inexperienced enemy if they need to. And, of course, some [Thermal Mages] specialize in combat as well, although it tends to be more rare.

“I recommend you focus a bit more heavily in combat, though – you need to make sure you have some combat proficiency to deal with people hunting mage cores or any attacks from the Society. I would also keep the [Survivor] class around, since [Survivor] provides a lot of boosts to your ability to perceive danger around you and survive disastrous situations. One of the easiest ways to kill a mage if you’re not a mage is a surprise attack, and [Survivor] can single-handedly remove this weakness. At its heart, the [Survivor] class can specialize in dozens of different directions, but you already seem to be taking it on the route of threat identification, which is exactly what I think you should be focusing on. I assume you’re planning to get some of the endurance boosting Perks a bit higher up in levels, as well?”

Alice nodded. One of the reasons she was still interested in [Survivor] was that a few of the Perks available at level 40 and 45 looked incredibly appealing – there was one in particular that she was interested in at 40 that let her heal a large amount of damaged tissues every day, even allowing her to regenerate an organ if it was damaged. Even if the perk was limited to once a day, being able to quickly heal critical damage was a huge advantage she intended to grab as soon as she could.

The [Priest] continued speaking. “Furthermore, sensing your environment is an excellent combination with [Kinetic Mage]. I have no idea what [Explorer of Magic] does as a class, but I would probably keep it around – it seems to be a decent mage class? Maybe? In any case, it’s worth exploring.

“Scholar pairs reasonably well with most mages because it offers a few useful Perks here and there – of course, frankly, the class is quite replaceable as well, and if you get a better option for an intelligence boosting class or just a more interesting option in general, I would probably trade out the class. The class is quite useful, but you already have a ‘utility’ class in [Survivor] and an unknown class in [Explorer of Magic], so whittling down the number of classes you have outside of your ‘core’ build might be useful for you.

“I think you should definitely grab [Kinetic Mage] if you want to expand your combat potential – it’s a class most mages with a kinetic seed have, and that’s for a reason. The class is excellent, even if you intend to primarily focus on ‘exploring’ magic. Kinetic Mages are often referred to as the Mages that specialize the most in combat, because they can outright prevent most physical objects from being a problem for them, once they’re high enough level to track objects without needing their eyes. A high level [Kinetic Mage] is a terror on the average battlefield, and if you want to keep your Mage Core from being stolen it’s an excellent option.

“For your final class… I recommend you pick something that would either help you establish your livelihood, or improves your combat potential some more. Young lady, do you have any affinity for close-quarters fighting or any talent in the subject?”

“No.” Alice didn’t need to think much about the topic – she had basically no talent when it came to fighting. The only reason she was able to fight monsters was because she had quickly learned how to let her magic do most of the work for her, meaning that at the end of the day she was just stabbing helpless monsters after holding them down with her Kinetic Magic. If she got into a real fight with another person, which was what the priest seemed to be referring to, she doubted she would win unless she simply overwhelmed the other person somehow. She gave the Priest the details from some of her fights with monsters that she remembered, and the priest nodded along as he thought over the details. Finally, he spoke again.

“In that case, the [Brawler] class is probably a bad fit, even if it has some Perks you would probably find useful. Hmmm… Not enough [Charisma] for any musical classes, and those don’t really start doing anything combat-related until above level 50 anyway… I suppose it could be trained, but it’s probably not optimal for you to focus on it… Let’s see…”

The priest pulled out the book of classes and began flipping through pages. Alice took a moment to watch, finally realizing that the Priest was somehow flipping through far more pages than the book could have reasonably contained – come to think of it, she had seen detailed, multi-page breakdowns for multiple classes, each of which featured thousands of Perks. The book also recorded thousands of classes. There was no way that could have possibly fit in the book – if she had been paying more attention yesterday, she would have noticed how impossible it was that thousands of classes were contained in a book that was probably only a few hundred pages thick, at most. However, she was starting to get used to seeing absurd things, so after pondering it for a moment, she pushed it out of her mind.

“You know, you could try taking a weapons class as well. [Swordswoman] tend to be weaker than [Spearman] before level 25 due to the difference in the range of spears versus swords, but they get much better perks after 25. Alternately, you could grab [Spearman]. Hmm… actually, scratch that – it still runs into the problem of your lack of talent, and it also fails to account for situations where you don’t have a weapon readily available. If you have no talent in combat classes, it’s best to either abandon the option or spend multiple classes and Perks to make up the difference, but with your current position, you definitely can’t abandon combat proficiency… Hmm…”

Finally, the Priest shook his head. “You know what, actually, I think you might benefit from [Enchanter]. If you’re going to take up Lady Illa’s offer, you’re going to want to prove your worth, both to her and to the town, at least while you’re here. Furthermore, if you’re going to be researching things, you need a way to generate income, and while you’re going to first burn a pile of money learning the profession, high level [Enchanters] can make a lot of money once they know what they’re doing. Furthermore, it could probably level your [Scholar] class as well, since you said there was no magic on your world – just studying the nature of enchanting would probably get you several levels. Unless you study System enchanting, of course, but that’s totally different from the other forms of enchanting. Furthermore, I think it would combo well with your [Explorer of Magic] class, if my assumptions about the nature of the class are correct. And if you apply it right, it could also work well with [Kinetic Mage], since non-System enchanting is pretty magic-heavy work. Getting extra levels in your magic classes would probably be more useful to you than a bunch of scattered levels in classes that don’t match you. Of course, I recommend first checking to see how good of a head you actually have for enchanting, but it’s a thought. If it doesn’t work out, maybe grab another mage class at some point if you have a Perk slot open and you can afford to grab another magic seed? Most Mage classes require that you first have a seed in the appropriate subject matter. I wouldn’t say that’s really optimal, but it’s an option, at least. [Organic Mage] might be your best bet, if Enchanting doesn’t work out – healing and boosting your physical abilities, depending on what Perks and Skills you end up with. Electromagnetic is also a combat option, but I don’t think it offers you anything amazing right now.”

Huh. Alice hadn’t really considered enchanting before, but it would probably provide several unique and interesting insights into the nature of mana. And more importantly, if she wanted to experiment with mana and magic and figure out what made them tick, having more ways to interact with mana would actually be incredibly helpful. The idea lined up with her goals a lot better than she had thought it would. And, although [Enchanter] didn’t directly increase her combat abilities, working with enchanting would level her magic classes, which would give her a much more direct boost to her combat abilities. After all, every 25 levels the Perks a class offered became much better. After level 50, she would get the option to start taking combined Perks, and that would probably make a much bigger difference in her ability to defend herself than a half-baked melee class she could barely use.

“Yeah, all right. I think my final recommendation is to pick up [Kinetic Mage] and [Enchanter] as your two final classes, and see if you can find something more useful than [Scholar] if you were thinking about switching out a class in the near future.”

Alice slowly thought over the Priest’s recommendations, before she nodded and thanked him. She had already accepted [Scientist] after seeing what the class offered – unlike [Explorer of Magic], it was a class that was well-documented, at least before level 75 where the details on most classes started to get pretty fuzzy. However, now that she thought about it, the biggest question was whether she needed both [Scholar] AND [Scientist]. [Scientist] was almost literally a direct upgrade to the [Scholar] class, after all. And given her current circumstances, she suspected the answer was no. She wanted to do research, and she did genuinely consider herself to be a [Scholar] – but in many ways, [Scientist] offered most of the same things [Scholar] did, but was more tailored to her needs. And frankly, she also wanted to not die, and not dying took a lot of precedence when a Society of psychopathic researchers were possibly out for her blood and her mage core was worth a fortune. Even though she felt a great deal of reluctance, ultimately, [Scholar] probably needed to go.

However, it also felt incredibly bad – she had just made a plan for her first experiment, and she had been relying on one of the {Mana Sight} Perks she had expected to get from the class. [Scientist] offered a wide variety of things she would find useful for experimenting and gathering information, but the class didn’t offer a Perk for mana sight as low as level 15 – it would require many more levels. Actually…

“Does [Kinetic Mage] or [Enchanter] offer a good option for mana sight of some sort?”

“Both do, actually – in fact, I’m quite a bit more surprised that [Explorer of Magic] hasn’t offered you an option for it yet. Most [Student] classes related to magic offer it by level 10. If you’re going to be working under Illa, you should be able to get the [Kinetic Mage] or [Student Kinetic Mage] class and pick up the option fairly quickly. It is pretty central to what mages do after all."

Well, at least that was one concern dealt with.

“Is it possible to get a main class removed?”

“Ordinarily, it would cost you a few silver crowns – my Perk only lets me do it twice a week, after all, and most people only swap a class out for some sort of [Husband] or [Wife] variant class when they get married – both classes are pretty critical to cutting down on the child mortality rate. However, I don’t mind if you want to switch one of your classes around. However, I recommend waiting a bit longer first – see how you feel, figure out exactly what you want, and take your steps carefully. After all, you can only change a class once every five years, and so you should have a good idea what you really want before you start messing with it.”

Alice was fairly sure that she would end up following the Priest’s recommendations. She desperately wanted to keep exploring the world around her, but she also needed some real combat ability for when she was thrust into emergency situations, and a way to make money. She did feel kind of bad abandoning [Scholar], but ultimately, she felt that [Scientist] was a much better facet of her identity, and trying to hold on to both classes would probably be overkill. She just needed to get [Scholar] to level 10 first so that she could keep her level 5 {Enhanced Memory} Perk functioning, since the Perk would deactivate if she no longer met the requirements for it and secondary classes were counted as half of their real level.

She thanked the Priest and walked out of the church, putting matters of her classes out of her mind for now. She had the information she wanted, so she would think a bit more before she finalized her decisions. For now, she needed to think about Illa’s offer. For that, she had a few more things she wanted to find out, and the best way to do so would be to just ask around town.

* * *

Alice spent a few hours wandering around the open-air market, listening in on people discussing things. At first, she was nervous that she might be a recognized face in town, for having been dragged off by the guard a few days ago. However, if anything, people who noticed her gave her a wide berth, as well as respectful nods as she went on her way. It took Alice a moment to realize the difference, but after a few minutes, she realized – it was the insignia on her wrist. Previously, she had been a nameless nobody drifting through the town, so most people had ignored her – people had more important things to do than obsess over someone else’s weird clothing style, and apart from the fact that Alice’s physical stats were a bit lower than average nothing else had stood out about her.

However, she was now dressed in new clothes, and more importantly, she had a mage insignia on her wrist. Cyra only had 17 mages in total – 18 now, including her. Most of them were probably recognizable simply by face, and while some people seemed a bit surprised when they saw the insignia on her wrist, people actively gave her respectful nods and moved out of her way once they saw it.

Alice was actually a bit curious now – what would happen if she returned to the inn? Would the owner throw her out, or respectfully bow out of her way? Although she had better things to do with her time than actually testing it, it was an interesting question.

The conversations at the market she was able to listen in on… were not very enlightening. People also seemed to actively note her presence, always remaining respectfully out of her way while she walked around, but that was actually quite detrimental to her plan to pull information about Illa from the townspeople. Finally, irritated after a few hours of trying to gather information with no results, Alice decided to try something different. In truth, once she reflected on the matter a bit more, there was no reason to hide that she was looking for information. So, she simply walked up to one of the passerby as he tried to get out of her way. He seemed surprised for a moment, before turning to her.

“Yes, Lady Mage?” The man gave her a respectful nod, despite the fact that he looked to be in his mid twenties and Alice was unmistakably still a teenager. When it was a much older person actively showing her respect, Alice found the whole situation to be bizarre, although she tried her best not to show it.

“I was wondering if you could tell me any more about Lady Illa? I’m new to the town, and was wondering if anyone knew anything about the local governor.” Alice did her best to project an air of confidence, even though she was really nervous. Even if she wasn’t doing anything wrong, some part of her still instinctually recoiled from actions that brought people’s attention to her, even if she had been walking around the market with a mage insignia for a few hours already. However, now that Alice knew how much fear could influence her actions, she was doing her best not to let it rule over her. She would get nothing but a knife in her back if she tried to cower away from everything, especially now that she knew how many different Perks there were for finding people. The Guards catching her so quickly after she sold the book was just one example – ultimately, she needed to stop underestimating the intelligence-gathering ability of this world.

“Certainly, Lady Mage! I know that Lady Illa doesn’t mind outside mages too much – in fact, she and her husband put forth great efforts to get mages to move south while they were setting up the town. I hear her husband and her children are still recruiting manpower and gathering materials in the capital, actually. If you’re afraid of stepping on her toes, you don’t need to be worried…”

After that, Alice went through a quick interrogation of the man, trying to verify the Priest’s information. As far as she could tell, there weren’t any major problems with Illa – she was known to be hard but fair, had acquired a great deal of fame in the North as a young and powerful [Warmage], retired from the army and taught in a mage academy for a couple years, and then married her childhood friend, who had founded a successful merchant organization centered around enchanting materials. Three years ago she and her husband had founded Cyra, in an attempt to leave behind a proper [Noble] title and class for their children along with a source of income. Overall, a decent person to have backing her up right now.

And so, less than an hour later, Alice found herself standing in front of Illa’s mansion at the center of the city.