The surroundings changed between eye blinks. The surface under his feet switching from hardened concrete to the soft green of fresh grass and dirt.

He stumbled forward for a few more steps and then collapsed onto the soft, cool grass. The sky was dark, with the stars above lined up in impossibly straight stripes.

Jean came through the portal a beat after him and stood to the side. She would wait for the awakening process to be over before approaching him. The first time every traveler went through the portal, they would undergo their awakening. The process mapped out their full status page as well as giving them their class.

On the ground, Zack closed his eyes as he felt a rush of energy pour into his body. In front of Jean, a halo of blue and white energy surrounded his prone form. It was a familiar sight to her. It was the same visible aura that happened to every new traveler.

The energy invaded every cell of his body, inspecting them before moving on. It wasn’t a painful process. Outside of an invisible pressure all over his body, there was no feeling of what the energy was doing to him. The light grew in radiance, forcing Jean to look away when her eyelids were no longer enough to block out the light.

She had never seen the light get so bright before. To her knowledge, the process was always the same for everyone, and that included how brilliant the light would be.

Zack felt the pressure leave his body as the light faded. In front of his eyes, his status page opened automatically and showed him his updated information.

Zackary ??

Level: 1

Exp to next Level: 0/100

Class: Arcane Mystic

Race: Dimensional Child

Titles: Child of the Portals, First to Second

Elemental Affinity: Space

Strength: 07/10

Intelligence: 15/10

Dexterity: 11/13

Magic: 20/35

Constitution: 20/25

Agility: 12/14

Abilities: Life Burner Lv. 5

SP: 0

Spells: Arcane Bolt Lv. 1

He took a moment to take in the changes and what they meant. His class was the same as before, and oddly enough, he had even gained a new title. None of his stats, nor his level from before, remained. His magic and constitution, however, were much higher than when he was level 1 the first time.

New travelers generally started with stats between 1 and 20. With the average being between 10 and 15. Anything above that was regarded as being the top of humanity that could only be reached by the dedicated few.

From there, the class they were given took their initial stats and averaged them out. The warrior class was one with high strength and started with a base of 17. If the traveler only had a 12 in strength normally, then their portal stat would be set to 14 or 15 if they were lucky.

Zack could only sigh at his low portal intelligence stat. It was the stat responsible for the size of his mana pool. The first time around, he had dedicated the first few levels of free status points to increasing that stat. It had been a disaster and had taken him a while to figure out that was one of the downsides of his class.

As an aberration class, Arcane Mystic had extreme power, but little mana. It was the very definition of a glass cannon class. Any points he put into the intelligence stat were only worth a fourth of what they would have been for any other stat.

He wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. Without his ability to make up for that lack, he would have died countless times before.

“How are you feeling?” Jean asked after giving him a minute to review his information.

He closed the status page for the moment and closed his eyes. “Do you have any of those nutrition bars?” He wondered, feeling his abilities passive healing effect begin to kick in, his mind clearing at the same time.

There was a rustling noise as she searched her pockets, handing him the two she found.

“Thanks.” He bit into one of the tasteless bars and watched her. He had yet to review his new title or see if the information on his ability had changed. That could wait until later when he was alone if need be. More urgently, he needed to decide what he was going to tell her. Did he mention how some of his stats had changed from before? What kind of effect would that have?

Trying to guess what repercussions his words could have was making his head hurt. If he said the wrong thing, would they take him and his sister back into captivity, or would they begin new experiments on someone else? He didn’t want anyone else to go through what he and Zara had gone through. Though it was preferable to them being taken again.

After thinking it through, he decided he didn’t owe them any detailed information.

Zack grunted, feeling his ribs shift as they began to fuse back together. His skin tingled as the bruises and damaged skin began to heal faster. It was a speed noticeable in a short amount of time. The dark bruises lightening and then disappearing over the course of the next hour. His ribs would take longer, though not as long as he had led Jean to believe.

Most of his non-life-threatening injuries could be healed with a session or two inside the portal. More serious injuries would, of course, require more time. It was something the researchers had used to their advantage after they learned of it.

“So,” Jean began. “Did you get the same class as before?”

He nodded, “Yup, level 1 mage, right back to the beginning.”

“How did you learn your spells the first time around?”

Zack opened his eyes. “Do you know how mages learn their spells? Besides, why do you want to know?”

She shrugged, “I just can’t see those people spending the money on a spellbook or taking the time to teach you how to form a spell the old-fashioned way.”

Spellbooks were created by travelers who had some kind of mage class. While inside the portal, they would copy down the runed-framework of an original spell as they saw it in their mind. They would then infuse the information with a few drops of their blood and seal the book. It was a time-intensive procedure, and few travelers would take the time to create a book for someone they didn’t know.

Learning a spell from a book was a quick way to have the spell imprinted into your mind. The old-fashioned way involved meticulously studying pre-existing spell frameworks and rune-formations. The last step involved using your magic power to permanently imprint the finished version.

It was a time-intensive process, though not particularly difficult. Enough time had passed by that point, that copious amounts of information had been recorded by previous travelers. As long as someone took the time to learn how it worked, they would be able to create a simple spell within a week or two.

There was, of course, the third, and by far more common way.

“You do know that every mage gets a spell imprinted as soon as they get their class, right? It happens again at levels, 5, 10, 25, you get the picture.”

She shook her head. “I thought the books and learning were the main ways.”

“Nope. The spells we get at those levels are our core spells. They cost less to use and are specifically tailored to our elemental affinity. Spells that are learned in other ways cost far more magical energy to cast and are generally less powerful and effective. The benefit from those other spells is variety and general usefulness. I would rather learn say a light spell from a book, than risk having it be the next one I am given normally.”

“Oh, so what spell did you get then?”

“It’s called ‘Magic Bolt’,” He lied, removing the connection the name had with his special class. “I have no elemental affinity, so my given spells are different from what others would get.” Another lie. His actual affinity was for space. It was a secret that only he and Zara knew.

His class held one more secret that he kept close to his chest. He could create spells without needing to know their runic framework. All he needed was enough magical energy and an idea of what he wanted the spell to do. The idea was easy. The energy cost, however, was not. The temporary, non-imprinted spells created in this way required a lot of energy.

With a grunt of pain, he rolled over and sat back on his knees, muffling a groan as he stood. “Do you want to just stay here, or should we explore while we wait for my ribs to heal some more?”

“It’s dark,” She stated the obvious and pointed across the nearby plain to the trees. “We won’t be able to see much if we enter that.”

Zack frowned and carefully lay back down on the soft grass. “So, how do you like being a teacher so far?”

She laughed and joined him in looking up at the sky. “Rose is nice, though she doesn’t talk much for obvious reasons. It’s different from what I was expecting. The military life is all I have ever known. My parents were military and when I awakened as a traveler, I followed their example and joined right away. I will say this, your class is by far the most well-behaved and less stuck-up of the bunch. Some of those students have been raised by the nobility and believe the sun literally rises only because they will it.”

“Like the Albrights?” He glared at a random star overhead.

“Among others,” She agreed.