My class selection had been a long time coming and was one of the few things I could do to influence my future. My body was clothed in a ceremonial robe, pure purple mixed with patterns made from gold and silver. In the middle of it was a giant golden eye.

The Crijik.

I’d been at the church for two nights now, with the exception of a couple of hours where I’d gone to visit my parents. We’d explored every possibility over the last couple of nights, even skipping school.

Gerial and William had forced me to sleep.

“I don’t want you wasting my hard work because your mind fogged up at the last moment.” William had said.

I let Amanda know I wouldn’t be at the academy today either and received a flurry of excited texts. She knew that it was my class selection day.

We had the arena booked for the afternoon, but she’d told me not to worry about it.

William and Gerial walked beside me through the church corridors, Ophelio leading us to the class selection chamber he had prepared.

Gold squawked happily as symbols glowed around us.

The church wanted me to be completely protected during the process, and also invisible to external eyes and ears.

For that reason, there were also seven familiar figures surrounding us at all times.

My church guards.

There was no smoke and mirrors. I felt like a celebrity.

“This is feeling a lot more formal than I thought it would.” I spoke, breaking the silence.

Gerial chuckled beside me.

“You are a Marked one undergoing class selection. It’s a travesty that they didn’t bring the trumpets and worshippers in here to line the path for us.”

I looked at him to check if he was joking but his expression was a mask, devoid of any emotions. Then the mask cracked as he smiled.

“You’re getting better at jokes.” I nudged him in the shoulder. “Next time open up with something like that when Amanda comes.”

“We should hang out as a group.” William’s voice floated into my ears. “Assuming we can’t all go to Gesti Sky.”

We had spoken about the trip to the immortal house’s amusement park during the odd breaks we’d taken.

Well, ‘amusement park’ was my word for it. There was no English word equivalent for what Gerial and William had described.

Buildings filled with curiosities, spells weaved into the fabric of the air like a tapestry, and magical distractions as far as the eye could see.

It sounded more like a country than a park.

We would need at least three or four days to explore even a section of it, and Gerial said most people stayed in one area when visiting.

Neither of them had seen it in person.

Gerial couldn’t visit without being swarmed by people, and William’s dad had been afraid he’d be poached or kidnapped while his body wasn’t developed.

A justified concern in my opinion.

This week and the next week of school were optional, giving us plenty of time. With tension ramping up at the academy it wasn’t a bad time to get away from it all.

My grandma was excited, and we had exchanged letters on a daily basis.

The group consisted of William, Gerial, Roxxy and possibly Amanda.

The thought put a smile on my face.

“I’m glad to see you’re so chipper.” William ducked under a narrow beam. “You’ve memorised all the class skills and what they do?”

“Right here.” I conked my head. “You name it, I know it.”

William nodded, not doubting my words for a second.

I’d wondered if we were doing this too soon. That was why we had spent an extra day going over everything and preparing.

When you had all the resources of the church and Koshima academy at your disposal, information gathering was as simple as clicking your fingers.

Then having the information parcelled down and explained by a person with [Wisdom] put it all into perspective.

The ability to memorise information easily because of my high intelligence stat was the icing on the cake.

There was nothing else I could do to obtain a better class option except accomplish something beyond being a Marked one, fighting against a monster one on one, and being part of its destruction.

I’d probably need to slay a dragon or something, and that was way out of my comfort zone.

I looked up as a light entered my vision and I saw a giant eye staring down at me, etched into a purple material I hadn’t seen before. Underneath it was a large pair of doors ornately carved from marble.

“Master Silver, we are here.” Ophelio’s voice called out to me. “Please, enter.”

He opened the door and waited for me to pass through first.

William hung back, his footsteps halting as we reached the entrance. Gerial stopped beside him, and they both looked at me.

“This is where I stop. The rest is for you.” William spoke.

Gerial nodded and shot me a reassuring smile. Gold hopped down my shoulder and onto my arm, and the guards also stopped.

From here on out it would be me and Ophelio.

I let Gold off near the ground, scratching the puffer’s neck as he chirped happily. He had put in his fair share of work too, listening to our conversations and occasionally clawing at a skill he wanted to know about.

I made my way through the marble doors, the eye staring down at me as I moved underneath it.

Then I stepped through the door.

There was a single chime, and my body froze.

The space around me shifted into an endless void, held back by a single blank space. It was the mental construct I had developed in my mind.

I looked down at my hands and my body stretching further above the ground than usual, completely transparent.

It was my adult body from Earth.

The sky was empty, my elemental attunements nowhere to be seen. My mask wasn’t present either. This wasn’t the same section of my mind I usually visited.

I was at the precipice that connected my mind and the system. I could feel it instinctively.

The system was a part of me. A metaphysical limb. My mind was connected to it, but normally I could only access it on a conscious level.

“Ophelio?”

I called out and waited.

There was no sign of the bishop.

I activated my mana sense, but all it saw was the dark surrounding me.

No. That wasn’t all. As my voice echoed into the void there was a ripple across the space. A light appeared above me, shining splendorous white across my body.

I gazed up at it in confusion.

This was the start of the class choosing process.

Gerial had told me this would happen, but only once I was doing my class selection.

A single structure appeared in the air before me, shimmering and transparent. It was carved from white material and jutted into the air.

In seconds the darkness of the void around me enveloped the light, but the construct remained. It looked like it was both here, and not here. A ghost born from my mind.

The first pillar.

I moved towards it cautiously, but nothing felt out of place. In fact, it felt natural. Like it was a part of me.

The system was a limb like any other, and now I was unlocking its full potential.

Well, that was what I told myself.

“Ophelio, I’d love some confirmation please.” I spoke again.

There was no reply.

Everything felt safe, and familiar. In the same way it did whenever I was meditating and withdrawing into the comfort of my mental self.

This area was my domain.

I felt certain of this one fact. It enveloped my thoughts and soothed my emotions.

I reached the pillar, my body ready to dart back at the first sign of a problem. A glance at the material it was carved from made me pause.

Paper?

No. It couldn’t be paper. My mind had made it look that way to comprehend what it was seeing.

I reached my hand out and I touched the pillar. It was solid, and a faint layer of frost formed over my transparent body as my skin pressed against it.

A notification entered my mind.

[You have unlocked the class option: Scholar.]

This was the first common class that Mr Black had said I would receive.

I was definitely in the class selection, even if I couldn’t remember entering it. I pushed the notification away and a new set of words entered my vision.

Scholar (Common):

Stat bonus: +3 Intelligence stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +3% to mana.

Mana bonus: +300 mana.

Skills: Meditation rank up +3, Mana Sense rank up +3.

I’d gotten some good options for the scholar class.

According to Mr Black I should expect one skill, with a rare chance of two. I’d gotten the best of the draw. However, it wasn’t enough for me to consider the class seriously.

The world rumbled around me, and I braced myself.

More pillars were appearing,

My eyes scanned the area around me as transparent pillars appeared one by one. There was no fanfare, or trumpets, it was as though they had always been a part of me.

All around me constructs shimmered into existence, giving off comforting light that dissolved into waves of power.

The classes were waiting for me to accept one of them.

The second, third, fourth and fifth pillars all glowed a radiant white, just as the first had. They were my common classes.

One by one blue lights appeared, five waves of power washing out of five separate pillars, each one taking its place next to the others.

They formed a semicircle around me.

Then there was a shift in the world around me.

It was a single ripple that started in my heart and flew forth through my mind.

Above me the clouds of darkness parted, the clouds of the void giving way to a force that threatened to break them.

Then an orange light breezed through the air around me, bathing me in its glow. It wasn’t earth mana, or a shield.

It was something new. Within the light a structure appeared, a single block.

An eye was carved onto it.

I shuddered as the class descended from the sky, the eye within watching me closely. Familiar unease emanated from it. My mind was trying to grasp something it inherently could not understand.

This was the legendary class my Mark had influenced.

Its power promised to bring me to my knees, and I pulled away from it instinctively.

The eleventh pillar.

Under its might I almost didn’t notice four more pillars filling the gaps of the circle surrounding me. Their blue lights faded into pale glows under the crushing pressure of the eleventh pillar.

Then, the pressure stopped.

I saw the pillars tremble as a new wave of power filled my mind. It illuminated the sky, the void basking in its gentle embrace, and it caressed my soul as it flew through me.

Within my vision I saw two structures appear, one was a brilliant monument to scribing that wielded a complex series of symbol arrays upon its surface.

The other felt softer and transformed before my eyes into a swathe of golden wings curled on top of each other.

Pillars sixteen and seventeen.

Wait.

Seventeen pillars?

The unexpected addition floated gently in place, its soft presence cascading through the air towards me.

It glowed orange. A legendary class.

I stared at it, A wave of joy and curiosity spreading through me. Then I shook my head.

We had planned out how I would do this. No matter what wanted to distract me, gathering information on all of my classes was vital. I couldn’t allow emotions to sway the process we’d developed.

I started with the common classes.

[You have unlocked the class option: Symbolist.]

Symbolist (Common):

Stat bonus: +5 free stats per level.

Skill: Symbol Inscription rank up +3.

*

*

[You have unlocked the class option: Communicator.]

Communicator (Common):

Stat bonus: +2 stats per level. +1 per level for designated companions.

Stat percentage bonus: static +2% to mana.

Mana bonus: +200 mana.

Skill: Share Perception.

*

*

[You have unlocked the class option: Magician.]

Magician (Common):

Stat bonus: +3 Intelligence stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +3% to mana.

Mana bonus: +300 mana.

Skills: Mana Manipulation Rank Up +3, Mana Pierce.

*

*

[You have unlocked the class option: Earth Magician.]

Earth Magician (Common):

Stat bonus: +4 Intelligence stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +4% to mana.

Mana bonus: +500 mana.

Skill: Earth Grasp.

All of the common class data had been gathered together, and I knew I would reject all of them.

I moved towards the glowing blue rare classes next, but I swept away the notifications that told me I had unlocked the class.

Metal Magician (Rare):

Stat bonus: +5 free stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +5% to mana.

Mana bonus: +500 mana.

Skills: Metal Creation, Metal Construction.

I paused.

The metal magician class had given me metal creation right off the bat. I waved my hand and the system message showing my skills split into two.

Now it had Metal Creation listed as an enhancer skill and Metal Construction as a mixed skill.

I’d keep my eye on the class. It was already extremely tempting.

Silver Magician (Rare):

Stat bonus: +5 free stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +5% to mana.

Mana bonus: +500 mana.

Proficiency: +2 proficiency with silver.

Skill: Silver Manipulation.

Enhancer Skill: Metal Spear.

Mixed Skill: Silver Location.

*

*

Scriber (Rare):

Stat bonus: +5 free stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +4% to stat of choice.

Skill: Low-rank Symbol Inscription.

Mixed Skills: Symbol Memorisation, Material Repairing.

*

*

Celestial Emissary (Rare):

Stat bonus: +6 free stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +3% to stat of choice. Static +5% to mana.

Mana Bonus: +1000 Mana.

Skill: Divine Decree.

Enhancer Skill: Enhance one skill of your choosing.

Mixed Skills: Body Enhancement, Divine Presence.

*

*

Spirit’s Friend (Unknown):

Stat bonus: +3 free stats per level. +4 free stats for spirit companion per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +3% to stat of choice. Static +2% to Spirits stat of choice. Static +5% to mana.

Mana Bonus: +1000 Mana.

Attunement: Connection Element.

Guaranteed Skill: Spirit Companion Communication.

Enhancer Skills: N/A.

Mixed Skills: Mana Transfer, Symbol Bestowal (Spirit Companion Skill), Regent Creation.

Original Skill: Spirit Companion Transformation.

My body slid to a halt as the class information appeared in my vision.

Spirit Companion. Rarity unknown.

The system was influenced by my knowledge and included the information that Mr Black had given me. My mind was automatically assigning rarities to the system messages, but because this class was unknown to me, its rarity was also unknown.

It was listed as a rare class, but it had an original skill and strong stat boosts for me and…

My spirit companion?

I tilted my head in confusion. It clearly meant Gold.

“Guess that means you’re not a monster, buddy.” I murmured.

The new class excited me, although I didn’t know what the skills did. I would have to work them out from context.

I walked towards the next set of pillars.

Divine Conqueror (Rare):

Stat bonus: +6 free stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +3% to stat of choice. Static +5% to mana.

Mana Bonus: +1000 Mana.

Skill: Divine Decree or Divine Decree (Offense).

Enhancer Skills: Offensively enhance one skill of your choosing.

Mixed Skills: Mana Shield, Mana intrusion.

Original Skill: Celestial Wisdom.

*

*

Mana’s Friend+ (Unknown):

Stat bonus: +6 free stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +15% to mana.

Mana Bonus: +2000 Mana.

Attunement Unlocking: Attune to two basic elements of choice, one combined element of choice, or one mid-rank element of choice.

Skill: Manapool Enhancement.

Enhancer Skills: Mana Manipulation +4 Ranks Up or Mana Communication.

Mixed Skills: Mana Enhancement, Mana Harmony, Mana Vitality.

Original Skill: Mana Affinity.

*

*

Ethereal Elementalist (Rare):

Stat bonus: +6 free stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +3% to intelligence stat. Static +5% to mana.

Mana Bonus: +1000 Mana.

Attunement Unlocking: Attune to one basic element of choice (limited to elements the class taker possesses affinities for).

Skill: Enhance one elemental skill of choice or Unlock low-grade mixed elemental magic.

Enhancer Skill: Enhance one elemental skill of choice.

Mixed Skills: Elemental Shield, Element Destruction.

*

*

Regent Creator (Rare):

Stat bonus: +6 free stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +4% to stat of choice.

Skill: Regent Creation.

Enhancer Skill: Low-Rank Symbol Inscription.

Mixed Skill: Array Inscription.

Original Skill: Regent Blueprint Generation.

All of the rare class options were now listed and memorised. A system table filled with their information was displayed in front of me.

I wanted them all.

My lips parted into a grin as I saw the skills I had been offered. The Regent Creator class offered me Array Inscription and Regent Blueprint Generation right away.

Combined together, those two were a scriber’s dream team.

Mana’s Friend+ also excited me. It offered me three mixed skills and Mana Affinity. That was crazy.

Why had it added an extra skill?

I had to tear my eyes away from the information before I selected a class based solely on what I’d already seen.

There were still three options left.

The legendary classes.

Vessels of the Cosmos (Unknown):

Stat bonus: +8 free stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +12% to stat of choice. Static +10% to mana.

Mana Bonus: +2000 Mana.

Skills: Mark of the Crijik (Rank Up +5), Divine Decree, Celestial Connection.

Enhancer Skill: Enhance one skill of your choice.

Mixed Skills: Mana Vein Enhancement, Celestial Body.

Original Skill: Celestial Wisdom.

*

*

*

Transcriber of Reality (Legendary):

Stat bonus: +10 free stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +8% to stat of choice. Static +5% to Mana

Mana Bonus: +500 Mana.

Skill: Summon Inscriber Box, Scriber’s Library.

Enhancer Skill: Mid Rank Symbol Inscription.

Mixed Skills: Regent Enhancement, Elemental Array Blueprint Creation.

Original Skills: Regent Cloning.

My hand left the pillar for Transcriber of Reality and I turned towards the last pillar.

Number seventeen.

Now that I was close to it I could see the spreading feathers that drifted gently in an invisible breeze. The waves of power coming from the pillar caressed me and beckoned me closer.

What class lay within its depths?

I placed my hand onto the pillar, and the feathers gave way, a golden glow enveloping my hand.

Second Chance (Unknown):

Stat bonus: +10 free stats per level.

Stat percentage bonus: static +10% to stat of choice. Static +15% to mana.

Mana Bonus: +2000 Mana.

Skill: Manapool Enhancement.

Enhancer Skills: Mana Communication, Spirit Communication.

Mixed Skills: Mana Sanctuary, Mana Vitality.

Original Skills: Mana Affinity.

I stared at the class for a long time.

Second Chance.

The one achievement I hadn’t told Mr Black about was my reincarnation. I hadn’t even known if it would be counted towards my class options.

Clearly, it had.

The information of all my classes was displayed in front of me, and I sat down.

It was time to choose my class.