Mash stood in the empty room and felt uncomfortable as his shirt was stuck to his back. He promptly took it off, letting it fall to the floor. He still hadn’t improved his organizational methods. His floor was still a cluttered mess. Except now his toys were replaced with books. It looked like he had been sweating profusely while his body adjusted to the new class. He immediately noticed the effects of some of his skills. Mana sphere had changed his senses noticeably. It felt like he was connected to the mana around him, he could feel the things in the sphere. It was as if the space was always at the edge of his senses, and that his field of view had broadened. The five-foot sphere felt like it was part of his body, that his soul had grown to encompass the space. However, this wasn’t the most noticeable change that had occurred.

His body’s fusion of mana and stamina had changed his body physically. The feeling was surreal. The “core” where his mana had been held was gone, instead it felt like he was made of mana. The mana core had melded into his body and spread throughout it entirely. He could feel the new energy, it felt denser than mana. It urged him to move, to use it. With his mana sense, he got a vague image of the energy within his body. It looked to him like it had woven into his very being, and it seemed to be vibrating. He felt like he somehow had more energy than should be humanly possible. Based on the description, that was probably the case. The skill itself stated that his body had been altered unnaturally.

He wondered if he was still a human, would it be possible for a class to change his race. He hadn’t heard about it happening before but thought that it should be possible. Would the Dragon Observer class eventually let him become a dragon? Did divine classes eventually lead to godhood? Those questions had some heavy implications, and he didn’t want to linger on them right now. He would need to be a lot more powerful before being able to understand the possibilities. It warranted some research though, if dragons and gods were once human, he would need to reconsider his beliefs.

He would contemplate it more later, but there were a few other skills he needed to test. He wanted to use his new energy and only had one real skill for it. It was a creation skill for wood. He had never heard of Mana-wood before but could make an educated guess. The feeling of wood had become familiar to him. He had used it almost daily for most of his life. His hands had the callouses to show for it and he could easily picture a stick that would fit his grip perfectly. He had been able to push mana to a small extent before, but now he tried to grasp it. He used his own body’s energy to forge the mana, to make it take the familiar shape. He could feel it take form in his palms, growing outwards to take the shape of a quarterstaff. The wood had taken a greyish a tint but was streaked with lines of blue and green. He had never seen anything like it. It felt oddly comfortable, but he knew it was not the right weapon.

He had realized that spears and staffs wouldn’t suit his style as the motions worked better with slashing attacks. With the quarterstaff in hand, he imagined it flattening out, leaving him only a small place at the center to grip it properly. While stretching it he imagined it sharpening into wooden blades. He was left with around two feet of space to grip while the other ends were now covered in sharpened blades. He wanted to test it, to see if it could cut. Since it was more of a mana construct than actual wood, he hoped it would work, otherwise he might have to settle for a spear-like design. He was about to try it out on one of his shirts but remembered that his other skill provided healing. He pressed one of the sharpened ends into his palm and was shocked at how easily it had cut him. It was better than some of the swords he had held. Now to try out his last skill.

Dumping his weapon on his bed, he sat down and started meditating like usual. From the first breath he could feel his body absorbing the mana in the air. It seemed to melt into his body, and he stared in awe as the cut on his palm closed. The whole process probably took around a minute. He checked his stats and realized that his energy and health had recovered entirely. He should’ve checked how much health he had lost but had forgotten in his excitement. He could work out the finer details later, for now he wanted to go and eat some food. The changes to his body made him hungry. He got up and headed to the bathroom so that he could clean himself up before dinner. While cleaning himself off in the bathroom, he decided to allocate his new stats, he wanted to raise his strength past 30. His class seemed to give him 5 free stats, which seemed pretty useful.

Name: Mash Class: Wood-Forged Pseudo-Monk

Level: 10

Health: 350/350

Energy: 1000/1000

Fortitude: 35

Endurance: 55

Strength: 27 → 31

Agility: 34 → 35

Intelligence: 45

Wisdom: 38

Charisma: 21

Free Stats: 0

Skills: Endure → Persist, Mana-wood Creation, Artificial Meditation, Mana Sphere, Monks False Core

Persist: Go beyond your limits. Continue current action even after depleting energy. Stats improve while at 0 stamina.

Current Bonus: +100% stats

Artificial Meditation: You have stolen the techniques of mages and monks to form an artificial technique. Meditating will increase the rate at which your body recovers, even healing minor wounds.

Current Rate: +100% recovery

Mana-wood Creation: You know how deadly sticks can be. Forge your mana into wooden creations.

Mana Sphere (Passive): Your eyes just weren’t enough. Sense the changes in the mana around you.

Current Range: 5 feet

Monks False Core (Passive): An unnatural mana core has fundamentally altered your body. Stamina and Mana combine to become energy.

He used the last point to round up his agility to 35. It wouldn’t make a huge difference, but he didn’t want to leave his stats just laying around. He was already at the point where simple exercises were unlikely to raise his stats. He would still do some exercises, but now he would have to fight to progress his class. Healers could heal, and crafters could craft, but combat classes would have to fight to raise their level. Mash had been prepared for this and had an idea of what path he wanted to walk. He would become an adventurer, it was a more independent path than his brother and sister had taken, but it would be the shortest path to individual power. It would also let Mash meet with others who chose more specific classes, instead of the general classes like knight. He was planning on going to the guild later today, after his birthday celebrations were over. There was still a week before the next entrance test, but he wanted to sign up as soon as he could. He hoped that he would be able to get in for the next exam. Otherwise, he would have to wait an extra month.

He had cleaned himself up well, looking at himself in the mirror he realized that his eyes were somehow darker. It felt like the black color somehow grew denser, and now his pupils were no longer distinguishable from his irises. That wasn’t the biggest change though, across his body he could see streaks of blue and green lines, like scars they streaked down his arms and legs. It looked like the mana had scarred him. Thankfully there were less of the marks across the rest of his body. Only one blue streak had run down from his ear and across his neck to end on his chest. He had seen other people that had been marked by their class with tattoos or scars but had never seen so many before. Honestly, he thought that he looked ridiculous as the colors on his body seemed determined to clash. There was nothing he could do about it though and just put on his clothes.

He headed down the stairs, before getting to the bottom he made sure to call out. He didn’t want them to be surprised by the changes to his appearance.

“I’m coming down, and let’s just say, that I look different.”

He said the words jovially, trying to downplay the changes, but knew that it probably wouldn’t work. He looked like a freak and didn’t doubt that others would see him that way. Strangely though, his charisma had risen. He guessed that he did look a bit scarier. He stepped down from the staircase and heard audible gasps. He looked up as he realized that he heard three people gasp. His entire family was in the room. His siblings were there. He gasped as he saw them.

“What? How are you here?”

Mash couldn’t stop the question from coming out. His brother might be able to come and go but it was still a week’s trip to get here. However, there was no chance that his sister would be able to leave without a military escort, and not the small unnoticeable kind. His brother answered as the rest of his family was still staring at him in shock.

“Happy birthday, Mash. I’ve been ordered to protect Luna, and she just had to come to your birthday.”

His brother grinned while talking, and Mash found himself grinning as he looked at them. His brother’s words seemed to wake the rest of his family, and his sister ran over to hug Mash.

“Happy Birthday.”

She spoke cheerfully, but Mash realized that she was checking him for injuries. His sister must have thought that he was injured. As he hugged his sister, his mana sphere let him notice the present that she had hidden in her bag. He knew it was a present because his sense had outlined a wrapped package. He realized that he could tell that it was enchanted. He contained his excitement since he didn’t want to spoil her surprise, instead thanking them for the wishes.

“Thank you, but doesn’t a princess like you need an army to protect them.”

He had started to call her a princess since everyone in the city had started treating her like one, when she had gotten her class. She hated the name, so Mash made sure to use it as often as he could. She rolled her eyes at him. His mother spoke next.

“Well, don’t leave us waiting, what did you get?”

Mash spent the next half an hour or so explaining to them what class he had gotten, and what had happened to his body. His mother and sister, both being healers, had thoroughly barraged him with questions regarding the changes to his body. That evolved into them testing whether healing still worked on him, and if they could recover his new energy with stamina recovery skills. Thankfully it seemed that his body still functioned normally in that regard. His stomach growled interrupting the examination. They started eating as everyone realized their hunger.

After the meal, it was finally time for him to get his presents. His parents had handed him a simple letter and a very cozy bedroll. It took Mash a second to realize what it was. They had gotten Mash an invitation for the entrance exam at the adventurer’s guild. Mash had told his family his plans, and his father had seemed pleased with his choice. His father would be the only one capable of getting Mash something like this. If not for this, Mash would have to wait in line and go whenever they had a spot for him. Now he could go to the next exam. The bedroll was even more impressive though. It was enchanted to produce a small amount of heat. He couldn’t wait to break it in, and he would probably sleep in it tonight. His brother had gotten him a bracelet. It was made of a white metal and was engraved with black flowers. Mash’s first thought was that this was a joke of some kind, but as the bracelet entered his mana sense, he realized that it was also an enchanted item. Of course, his brother had gotten him something that he would want to use despite its girlish appearance. He put it on but didn’t notice anything.

“It requires attunement.”

His brother’s response was flat. His sister was trying to hold back laughter though. She was probably the one that picked it out. Muttering under his breath he poured some of his energy into the bracelet. It reacted violently, and Mash screamed as he felt a searing pain run through his arm. The bracelet seemed to be melting into his forearm.

“Are you ok?”

He heard his sister speak but could make out similar yells from the rest of his family. She was the closest and grabbed his arm trying to heal him. He felt the magic enter his body and ease his pain. It didn’t stop whatever was happening though. The bracelet was gone, on his wrist was now a tattoo of interlocking black flowers. There were blue streaks that passed through the tattoo, making a truly appalling mess of colors.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen, it was just a spatial bracelet to help you carry your stuff.”

His brother sounded a little panicked and lifted his sleeve revealing his own bracelet. Mash noticed that there were no flowers on his. It was engraved with small rubies. Why hadn’t they given him something cooler, now he was stuck with a flower tattoo across his wrist. Mash realized that it felt like he was still wearing the item. He carefully pushed more mana into it and a small space opened before him. It was about the size of the chest that was in his room, and he instinctively knew that he could open and close it at will. As he put the bedroll and letter in, he realized that his family was staring at him.

“I guess, my weird body means that I probably shouldn’t attune to random items.”

He spoke casually trying to force the situation back to normalcy. His father spoke taking the opportunity to crack a joke.

“Well now you can’t lose it in that mess you call a room.”

This led to them spending the next few minutes teasing Mash for his organization methods. After which, his sister and mother had spent another half hour checking the bracelet to see if it would cause him any problems. They concluded that it seemed to have fused with his body harmlessly, but they didn’t know what that would mean for the item if his body changed again. He would cross that bridge when he got there, and there was still his sister’s gift that he had noticed earlier. He opened the package carefully, because he knew that his sister would get angry if he just tore it apart. It was a plain white shirt, and pure black pants. He just looked at it blankly, then asked the question.

“Does it require attunement?”

“No, but you can use your mana to change the color and design of each piece. This is a set of customizable mending clothes”

His sister’s response immediately got Mash excited. Mending clothes would be perfect for him, and he knew that he couldn’t normally afford them. It was customizable too, meaning that it must have cost her a lot. He must have been gaping like a fish because his whole family burst out laughing at his expression. He ignored them taking a second to look at the clothes. He immediately started styling each. The shirt would block the flower tattoo but wouldn’t hide all the streaks, so he decided to show them on the shirt itself. He was left with a mostly white shirt with green and blue streaks that would seem to bleed onto his skin. He kept his pants black but lightened the shade a bit and added streaks that would connect with the ones that ran down his shirt. His sister was the first to speak.

“This looks amazing! How did you come up with the design so quickly?”

His sister sounded genuinely impressed, and it was Mash’s turn to grin.

“I might have worn mostly hand-me-downs, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have an eye for fashion.”

His sister rolled her eyes at the words. She just kept rolling them waiting for him to elaborate. Apparently, she really wanted to know. Mash just shrugged.

“I just tried something that would work with the mana scars, I didn’t really expect it to look so nice.”

“Next time, I might have to ask you to make me an outfit.”

Mash had to roll his eyes at that but realized that he could actually think of some designs for her. Maybe he did have a talent for fashion. He didn’t know what to make of that information, perhaps he could start a business in the future, but he also wasn’t planning on thinking about it too hard. With presents out of the way the rest of the party went by quickly. Mash spent the rest of the time just speaking with his brother and sister about what had happened since they last saw each other.

It had gotten late; the sun would be up soon. Mash entered his room to get some sleep, he was going to skip work today. He saw his weapon on his bed. It seemed to have decayed, Mash didn’t know how long it had lasted. It was useless now, but still hadn’t dissolved into mana. He didn’t know if it would. He moved it to the floor deciding he would check it in the morning. It had been a good day and he was ready to get some sleep. He took out the bedroll from his space and laid it out on top of his bed. It was bigger than his bed and the bedroll hung off the end. He entered it and felt very warm inside, from more than just the magic. Sleep consumed him in a few seconds.