January 17, 2019, 6:06am. The right time to shop till you drop.

Okay, let's do this.

"Quest rewards available. Would you like to claim them now?"

"Hell yes," I answer, watching as my rewards manifest. The first is a crystal with small flecks of colour that drift about inside. It's about the same size as the copper rank earth essence I looted from the V'troll.

"Iron grade Mana Essence: A single contained unit of iron grade essence. Can be used for crafting. Can be used to recharge iron rank artifacts. Can be drained for a single iron rank integration point. Please note any use of a mana essence will consume the crystal."

No surprises there, but nice to have. I tuck it in my pack before turning to my next reward.

It's neatly folded. At first, I think my reward is wrapped in leather, for no logical reason. As I unfold it, I discover it's a jacket. A leather jacket. And it's not just any leather jacket. It's an exact replica of the worn leather jacket my aunt Sharon gave me for my 16th birthday. The one my mom 'donated' a couple months ago because ‘it took up too much of my front closet space and was ugly anyways’. The replica even has the patches Sab insisted I sew on.

I’d already suspected Wyonna (or Forerunner Command or whoever) had been watching me from before we arrived here. This pretty much confirms it. That or maybe they scanned my memories. The system clearly has the ability. Which isn’t the first time I’ve wondered what exactly it’s messing with up there.

Fingering the trademark Super Mario Star, I hold the jacket in front of me, focusing.

"Aunt Sharon's Jacket: Not just a replica. This is a painstaking recreation of the original, right down to the crumpled receipts in the left pocket. This is a custom version of the standard leather jacket armour.

Bonuses once bonded: Durable. Improves health edge by 4.0 while equipped. Nostalgic. Improves mana and focus edge by 2.0 while equipped.

Current Bond: none. Cost to bond: two iron rank integration points."

Wow. Two integration points. If bonding this is like with my backpack, I'll never lose it again. At least not permanently. The edge bonuses really sweeten the deal.

There is one critical thing I need to check first though. Dropping my pack to the ground, I slip the jacket on, looking at myself in the mirror. The towel ruins the effect a little, but it's much better than the frankenkitty look I had when I came in yesterday. Most importantly, it fits, just like it used to. The bulge around the middle is even the same.

"Aunt Sharon's Jacket equipped. Would you like to spend two iron rank integration points to bond this item to your core?"

"Yes please," I reply to the mirror as I rotate back and forth, watching to see if there's a noticeable effect when it bonds.

"Bond established: Aunt Sharon's Jacket. Access restricted to Citizen Pandora. Item integrity linked to Citizen Pandora."

As the bond is forming, I can trace a familiar pulse between my jacket and my interface. It connects through the same link as I do with the others.

"First equipped piece of armour bonded. Equipment screen unlocked."

"Item's equipped through a user's equipment screen cannot be taken or used by other users."

"Equipped armour can be resized by the user."

"Equipped armour will not take damage until a resource pool it grants edge to is empty."

Equipment screen. That's great. And bonded items don't take damage until I do? That's pretty cool. But resizing? That’s straight-up amazing.

"Current equipment grade maximum: iron."

"Current number of iron grade armour-class gear equipped: 1/2."

"Current number of iron grade armour-class gear bonded: 1/2."

Damn, only two equipped armours. So much for a complete set of indestructible clothes.

"Wyonna's handy bonus tip: Armour isn't the only type of bonded equipment that is protected. Hope you don't mind me creating a copy of your aunt's jacket."

Okay, so maybe indestructible clothes are still on the menu.

"It's amazing. Thank you Wyonna," I say as I play with the left pocket's zipper, an old habit. One of the best things about the original jacket had been all the fully functional pockets. With some experimentation, I discover that one of the inner pockets accesses my inventory.

With my jacket wrapped tight, I turn to my last reward. Like the mana essence, this dark bar has flecks of elemental colours within. Unlike the crystal, however, the flecks are static, locked in place.

"Iron grade steel ingot: A single unit (0.032kg) of infused steel. Can be used for crafting. Can be used to instantly repair iron rank artifacts. Can be drained for a single iron rank integration point. Please note any use of a mana ingot will consume it."

I wonder if I need these for my crafting quests. It would be useful to have a guide to crafting. Something else to ask Tipan or Raz about, I guess. Rufka seems to know a lot, but she only answers when she feels like it.

Putting the ingot away, I attempt to bring up a menu of all the system access features. Apparently, a Nexus needs to be upgraded to have functions other than the basic return point and reward dispenser. The protection at the standing stones was one example of such an upgrade and I'm about to use another.

"Configuring Menu. Please choose from one of the following options.

Access Inventory Change Preferred Spells Class Advancement* Essence Conversion General Ability Shop Personal Room Customization Raz's Repository of Artifacts, Armours and Other Useful Things Set Return Point “

"*Class Selection required prior to advancement."

Opening the Raz's Repository option, I discover a short list of categories. Luckily, the first category is exactly what I was hoping for.

Clothing.

There's a limited selection, all of it mortal grade. That doesn’t bother me though, I've soon purchased two new sets of clothing, including custom-fit bras, for the bargain price of six essence. Four of those were for my underwear alone, but I've never had bras that fit so well after such a short time shopping.

While the bras are amazing, the clothes themselves are only ‘okay’. Setting my towel in the conspicuously convenient hamper, I pull one of the loose, ruddy brown sweaters on. It's a little big, especially around the arms, but comfortable. When I pull on the light beige leggings, I find they are similarly loose.

They may not be perfect, but they're a damn sight better than my poor onesie. Tugging at my sleeves, I adjust the fit by using small metal clamps, which I hide inside my outfit. I tacitly accept the fact that metal manipulation is spoiling me. Which is totally okay, because it's awesome.

Inspecting myself in the mirror, I pull my jacket on, turning back and forth. I could use metal manipulation to create another set of boots but I think I'll check the store first.

And I'm glad I do.

"Work Boots: These practical boots are meant to get you through the day, no matter what comes your way. Leather foot armour.

Foot armour. Sweet. They don't look half bad either. Compared to the work boots I owned back home, they’re downright slick. Dark brown leather with polished brace buckles, they’re simple but classy.

Bonuses once bonded: Durable. Improves health edge by 2.0 while equipped. Comfortable. Improves stamina edge by 4.0 and focus edge by 1.0 while equipped.

Current Bond: none. Cost to bond: one iron rank integration point."

"Price: 8 iron elemental essence."

I take a quick look through the other footwear options, but I don't find any others with special abilities. Checking my essence …. balance? account? My essence stock? Whatever, going with account. Anyway, when I check my essence account, I find I still have 305 mortal essence, even after all the food I bought last night.

Reviewing the essence conversion option quickly, I discover it only allows combining or splitting of essence crystals. No swapping. Which means I can't trade my earth essence for other elements to provide a quick power boost. Which is probably a good thing.

Since it's a flat 10 to 1 exchange, I upgrade the 80 mortal earth essence I need, then purchase the boots.

When they appear, they're big. At least five sizes too large. Once I bond them, I'm able to shrink them until they're snug but comfortable, leaving me properly equipped. For the first time in forever.

With my gear taken care of, since I'm here anyway, I look at the options again.

Checking preferred spells, I discover that while I can exchange my spells with other spells as advertised, I can also empty my spell slots for 1 mortal mana essence. Not really sure what the use of that would be, but it's nice to know. More importantly, I discover I have an unused preferred spell slot. Unlike the other spell slots, this one is specialized. It's restricted to stone spells only.

Wondering what prompted this change, I double-check my skills. Stone Manipulation is over fifty, while none of my other elemental skills have broken that threshold. Yet another reason to work on my manipulation skills. If every skill gives me another preferred spell slot once my related skill goes over fifty, my flexibility will skyrocket with so many quick cast spells available.

But the change room isn't really the place to work on skills, so I'll save it for after breakfast. As if my stomach agrees with me, it grumbles, causing me to giggle as I head over to collect Smoulder. I still want to investigate the general ability store, but it can wait until after I'm done exploring Raz’s breakfast menu.

When I walk back out into the main area, I find Dr Roberts sitting at one of the tables, picking at his bacon and eggs. It looks like he hasn't visited the store yet. He's still in his pajama suit.

Opening the menu, I order my own bacon and eggs (with a generous fruit bowl as a side,) then walk towards him.

"Morning," I say as I reach his table.

"Huh? Oh, good morning Alexis," he replies, barely glancing up at me with a small half-smile.

"Everything okay? Raz didn't give you burnt toast or anything, did he?" I ask as I sit down. Not that there’s anything wrong with slightly burnt toast.

"What? No. The food is fine. Excellent in fact. Almost as good as my wife's," he replies, taking a bite as if to prove his claim. But then he sighs again.

I nod as I sit down across from him, unsure of what to say. It's clear that something is bothering him though. I'm distracted before I can ask him as a plate floats into view sans server. Looking around as the plate sets itself in front of me, there's no sign of Raz. Maybe he's busy. Or sleeping. I guess he has magic to do his serving when he's unavailable. That's kind of cool.

As I'm turning back to my food, Roberts speaks.

"We're stuck here. I asked our host, Mr Razalin. His establishment allows entry from any number of worlds. But the system only allows guests to return to rest areas we've been to before. He also informed me that he's only able to connect to places that have used this at a Nexus," he says, nudging the tube I'd mistaken for a pepper shaker. At his motion, I recognize it as the tube Raz was showing us last night.

I don't know what to say to that, so I just continue reading in silence for a while.

"It's remarkable. Magic in the palm of my hand," he says a little while later, as a small globe of water forms over his hand. He's much better than he was yesterday, forming it into a donut, then a disc before returning to the orb.

"But it's so…. empty, without being able to share it with Ethan," he continues, letting the water drop into his drink.

"Ethan?" I ask politely, dipping a piece of my sourdough toast into my sunny-side-up eggs while listening.

"My grandson. He's why I'm here," he offers, gesturing around the room. As he gestures, he looks at me for the first time since I've walked in, which causes him to stop partway through his gesture.

"New clothes I see."

"Yeah. My onesie was pretty done in."

"They look like good travelling clothes. Though your jacket has a lot of character for a recent acquisition," he comments before taking another bite of his breakfast.

"Yeah. It's a copy of one from home. It was a gift. Second time it's been given to me, actually," I reply, glad to see he's eating.

"Excellent. I'll have to browse for proper clothes myself. While I'm quite fond of these, they're hardly made for adventure," he says, plucking at his suit-pajamas. Unlike Josh's robe, which is still immaculate, he's managed to pick up a few travel stains, as well as a couple small rips.

"Once you get more clothes, I can probably get those stains out," I say, almost subconsciously summoning a hand of water which I use to point at his pajamas while I keep eating with my real hands.

"That would be appreciated. I see you've not only grown in power but control as well. It's so lifelike," he says, looking closely at the floating hand I haven't bothered to dismiss.

"Yeah, I've been practicing non-stop since we got here. Plus, I think I have a natural aptitude for elemental magic," I supply without going into detail.

"Have you given any thought to your class? I imagine you've unlocked at least one," he says while I munch on a piece of fruit that tastes like mango but has the crispy texture of an apple.

"I have. I need to check, but I don't think I'm taking the temporary one," I reply. It might be the better choice for the distant future, but after seeing how much higher Rufka and Tipan's resources are than mine, I realized the temporary class might be a mistake.

The real deciding factor is the simple truth that I'd be saddled with Paradox until we return to earth. Or we fail. My vision implies we find a way home, but we still only have the vaguest of leads. And if I've learned anything from Sab's rants about time travel, it's that you can't trust visions of the future. Too many maybes required. Honestly, given the nature of my facet, I wish I'd taken notes during those rants.

"I'm going to talk to Beth and Raz first, but I've unlocked a potentially powerful class already. It's unique, so I'm thinking I'll get the quest from Raz to discover its rating," I add, before asking, "what about you?"

"I believe I'll be taking a unique class as well. Returning home alive seems far more likely with a class named Sanctuary, don't you think?" Roberts asks, creating the familiar steeple with his fingers.

"Really? You have a class that's actually named Sanctuary available?" I respond, reaching for Smoulder after pushing my empty plate to the side.

"It does seem different than the rangers and mancers they were telling us about last night, doesn't it? I unlocked it when I healed you yesterday, though I didn't notice until last night. It appears to be focused around magical shields and healing, a potent and respectable combination," he says, with a genuine smile.

"Yeah. That sounds great," I say.

Holy crap. I haven't seen a single pseudo healing option or ability and he gets a class focused on it. I'm not even jealous. Just having him in our corner is going to be huge.

"I know you intend to talk to the others, but may I give you some advice Alexis?" Roberts asks, meeting my eyes.

"Sure," I reply as that familiar chill shoots down my spine. It seems I'm still not completely over my issues. Maybe I never will be. That's a depressing thought.

"Don't let Beth convince you to choose something that feels wrong. You're clearly a capable person. Trust your judgement," he says, leaving me stunned. That said, he stands, his chair squeaking as he pushes it away from the table.

"Now, I believe it's my turn to find something a little less casual to wear," he says walking away while I consider his words. I don't think anyone has ever called me capable before. Nor implied I should trust my judgement, never mind outright said so.

With his words still playing through my mind, I continue petting Smoulder while reaching for my class. There's something I need to check.

The familiar scene of the training yard appears, but I'm standing in a guard tower, high above my avatars this time, instead of next to them. I’m also standing instead of sitting and Smoulder is gone, which implies this isn’t reality, despite how real it feels.

There are a lot more avatars down there than last time. I can see the familiar form of the pyromancer interacting with avatars I'm guessing are the other mancer types I've unlocked. Their styles of hair and dress vary wildly, but I especially like the wetsuit of the aquamancer and the afro of the voltmancer.

Across the yard from them the Chronodancer is sitting at a table, playing cards with three other versions. All four are in my onesie, only distinguishable from each other by their different hairstyles and the weapons at their sides. And the floating signs next to them of course.

The Chronosniper is the easiest to discern at a glance, the massive rifle a clear giveaway.

The Chronodancer has no weapons at all, just as before, which is how I knew it was her. The Chronoranger has a spear, as well as a pair of automatic pistols.

By process of elimination, that leaves the last figure, who wears a longsword at her waist, as the Chronoknight. It takes me a moment to realize their table is the repurposed shield of the Chronoknight, balanced on some unseen object. Or maybe it's floating via magic.

For a split second, I entertain the idea of what it might be like if I chose one of the Chrono variants. The Ranger looks like it'd be especially fun. But this isn't a game. Looking around I realize there are three avatars on the platform with me, who I decide to refer to by class name.

Okay, technically Primal Elementalist isn't on the platform, so much as floating next to it, but she's close enough I'm counting it. She looks mostly the same as the Firestorm Elementalist, but she's got a few more elements making themselves known in her vicinity. She has broken clumps of dirt, dull orbs of stone, jagged shards of metal and glistening spears of ice all orbiting around her.

She smiles that same fierce but calming smile as when I last saw her as a Fire-Storm Elementalist when she sees me looking her way.

Beside me, staring out over the training yard is Paradox, who looks like I did back before I graduated. She even has the trademark ponytail I used to wear all the time before I cut my hair. She gives a small nod but otherwise doesn't acknowledge me.

Cataclysm Seed is by herself, on the far corner of the platform looking out into the empty void that surrounds the training yard. I can't really tell if she's wearing a dark robe, or if she's just gathered twilight around her. Either way, her details are obscured, her head covered by a cloak of darkness.

Okay. These three are what I'm here for.

I was able to gauge a class' power, just by focusing on them, when I first came into this mind space three days ago. This time I start with Elementalist. She's not unique, so I'm hoping to use her rare status as a baseline.

Switching back and forth between her and the Pyromancer below, I'm able to get a decent read on what a "rare" class feels like. Switching my focus over to Paradox, I'm surprised when she feels more in line with the Pyromancer's level of power. It's a little stronger, but not by a lot.

While I’m at it, I focus on the Chrono party where they’re still playing cards. I can’t be certain, but I think Chronosniper is cheating. They all have that familiar feeling of cost, except for the Chronoranger. The Chronosniper feels like the weakest though her power level is still way higher than Paradox. Chronodancer is the next weakest but is still close to Elementalist. The Chronoknight is roughly on par with the Elementalist, though her sense of cost is also higher than any of the others.

Then there’s the Chronoranger. The Chronoranger doesn’t have any feeling of cost and she feels slightly more powerful than the Elementalist. Looks like she’s in the running after all. That’s kind of cool.

Then I switch my focus to the Cataclysm Seed. The gap between her and Elementalist is wider than the difference between Elementalist and Pyromancer. As I'm focused on her, she turns towards me. Beneath her hood I see my familiar face smiling back at me. But her eyes catch my attention, drawing me closer. Like the Elementalist's they swirl with power.

But instead of a storm, it feels as though I'm looking through the veil of time itself, into a slowly expanding galaxy. As I watch the galaxy spin, I reach towards her, as if to manipulate twilight, pulling it forth. I watch as it streams forward, stars rushing around my fingers, nebulae brushing my skin all slowly gathering into a swirling eddy smaller than the tip of my index finger. For a second it feels as if the galaxy is going to dissipate, but I force it to stay.

I close my hand around it, capturing the swirling power within.

When I look up, meeting her now plain brown eyes, her smile is sad.

Then I hear, as in actual words coming to my ears in a low rich voice.

"Citizen Pandora, thank you for confirming your class as the first Cataclysm Seed."

Sweeping my eyes around, I realize all the other classes are gone. Not even Paradox or Primal Elementalist remain.

Before I can react, I feel a hand on my shoulder turning me back to face her. Holding me there for a moment, Cataclysm Seed runs a hand down my cheek tenderly, before pulling me in for a hug.

Then she starts to cry.

What…? What just happened?