After returning from daily trip to gather ingredients, I had delved into the ancient city for the fourth time with Ed’s party. The subsequent times had been easier than the first. We had not been unlucky enough to run into the Dhin Daruhm again. Instead the nodes had been guarded by a platoon of manifested dwarves. The previous run it had been kobolds roaming the halls, meaning we had been seeing a time after the first Rupture. While it cut into my grinding time, it did provide me with another 250 XP to assign as I wanted.

Every time we repaired a node, the number of available daily entries at the Sewer Dungeons fell by eight. Meaning at the moment only 18 entries was allowed per day. When we completed the fifth run at the normal nodes it would be 10. Ilat would not allow us to make a run at the central node, because we were too low level and had not earned his trust. Better known as our reputation was too low.

Fortunately, the lower number of entries did not hinder our second party in any way. There were still almost no other parties going in there. Even if there were they only did it once or twice as far as I could tell. It would seem that none of my guildmates had been talking about the Sewer Dungeon, just like I had asked them not to.

The rest of the day I had spend grinding my skills; butchering, cooking, making potions and lastly I resorted to grinding bones and making glue to grind my Alchemy skill. I had even used Observe instead of imbuing manastones, which was actually something that could generate an income. However, grinding Imbue would be a waste, since I had just raised the skill with a level earlier in the day. All of it was in an effort to raise my skill levels, or at least lessen the amount of XP needed to level up.

When ten p.m. came around, and it was time to log out for the night and endure some of Kira’s physical torture, I went to the inn and rented a bunkbed. Once I had lain down in the bed, I pulled up my skill panel. To level up to 10, I would need seven skill level ups.

Name

Tier

Level

XP

Observe

Beginner

2

1118/3000

Lesser Transmutation

Beginner

0

0/1000

Greater Transmutation

Beginner

2

320/3000

Imbue

Beginner

4 (+)

141/5000

Message

Beginner

0

760/1000

Meditation

Beginner

6

1843/7000

Butchery

Beginner

10

4759/11000

Gem Cutting

Beginner

2

738/3000

Alchemy

Beginner

4

4973/5000

Cooking

Beginner

9

5833/10000

Herbalism

Beginner

9

6117/10000

Mining

Beginner

0

349/1000

Unassigned XP: 8297

Upgrade Points: 3

I did the math and saw that I was able to raise the last seven skill points by increasing my skill levels with the free XP I had. Starting from the top I raised Observe to level 3 and followed it by two levels in Lesser Transmutation, costing me over half my available XP. Next followed an investment in Message, I also raised it to level 2. Leaving me with a bit over thousand XP and still 2 levels to go. I found those by investing a whopping 27 XP in Alchemy and 651 XP in Mining. Raising the level to 5 and 1 respectively. Leaving me with just 497 unassigned XP.

As soon as I invested the last XP I received the first two prompts of many.

Congratulations, you have reached level 10. This unlocks the rest of the features and marks the end of the beginner levels.

You can now choose a class. Seek out the priests or the Guards for more information.

Wounds and Exhaustion system has unlocked. Seek out the priests or the guards for more information.

You have been rewarded with:

1 Skill Slot

1 Upgrade Point

Your actions have caught the attention of the Gods.

You have fulfilled the condition to receive the secret class “Pacifist”. One of the classes that represented the spirit of the ancient Firbolg race.

You have unlocked it by not receiving any experience from hurting or killing any sentient beings. Neither have you learned any combat oriented skills.

Do you wish to learn this class?

(This is a one time offer)

Yes/No

That was a no-brainer. Of course I wanted to learn the class. What followed was a whole cascade of system prompts. Eleven of them to be exact. The first four informed me I was the first person to receive a secret class in Blackport, Astia, the Empire of the Endless Sky and the World. Which was followed by five that informed me of the fact that I had received the class Pacifist, and that I was the first in the world to receive that class.

I quickly dismissed the first nine, and saved the last two for later, because I knew I was about to be teleported. True enough, without warning I was teleported. The queasiness as much an indicator as the change in my surroundings.

“Mortal, you’ve reached Tier One of a class, you’ve been brought here to select one skill, spell or ability to learn,” a bored voice informed me. Looking at the source, I saw it was an angel, though dressed in grey instead of white like the last one I had seen. “What class did you learn?”

“Pacifist,” I answered. It was about to say something else, when I quickly added, “But I already know what I want to learn. Runesmithing.”

“Runesmithing is not something a Tier One class can pi—wait did you say Pacifist?” It started speaking in the same bored voice, but at the end it perked up with what sounded as genuine surprise.

“Yes.”

“Interesting, there's very few that takes that path. Because of the restriction on your class, there’s only a few restrictions on what skills you can learn,” it said, and then warned me in a serious voice, “While Runesmithing grants you the ability to create runes, it’ll not teach you any of the runes. You need to find someone to teach you.”

“Well, my answer remains the same,” I said with a smile. I already knew where to find one; Ilat. I was starting to build up quite the reputation with him. It was already at 126, just needed it to get to 500 before I could start learning from him. Or maybe it was 1,000. I was actually not sure if he required Liked or Friend reputation status before he was willing to teach any runes. In any case, it would be weeks before I could learn any runes, but Runesmithing was a spell ability, meaning it would be expensive to learn, if you could even find a skill scroll for it. Better to learn it for free when I had the chance, since the next chance to learn a free ability would not come around before level 75.

“Very well, touch the scroll and you’ll be transported back,” the angel said as a scroll floated down from a far away shelf. Touching it, I received a very welcome prompt.

You have learned the spell ability Runesmithing. Due to the circumstances in which you learned it, it will automatically be assigned to a free Class Skill Slot.

Not even the teleporting back to Blackport could wipe the smile off my face. Not only had I learned Runesmithing, it was also a Class Skill. Which meant I would receive a boost to XP with that specific skill. Ordinarily it was ten percent, but from what I could recall Pacifist received a higher boost. However, I was late for the physical torture session, and I still had a few things to take care off.

I pulled up the first of the saved prompts.

Your class is now Pacifist (Tier 1).

Yours is a special class, in that it is not permanent. It can be lost at any time, and you will lose any Class Skill Slots you have earned at that time.

You can lose it by learning a combat oriented skill, spell or ability. Or by receiving experience from the death of a sentient being. Or by hurting a sentient being.

In compensation for this, your class skills receive a 15% XP bonus instead of the normal 10%. Furthermore you receive a 5% XP bonus to all skills, spells and abilities.

The two values are cumulative.

That was huge. The XP bonus was enormous. Unfortunately it was only XP penalties, and not bonuses, which applied when you assigned free XP. The chance of losing the class was something I had been aware of, but it still meant I had to be careful. It was quite easy to lose the class. One of the best things about Pacifist was that any skills I could learn without losing the class, could become a class skill, unlike ordinary classes which had a strict list.

My next Class Skill Slot would be awarded at level 15 together with an upgrade point. Every fifteenth level would bring about one of each as long as you had a class, in addition to the normal skill slot and upgrade point every tenth level. However, class rewards was not retroactive, which was why it was such a huge punishment to lose the class. If I lost it at level thirty, I would lose 3 Class Skill Slots. Sure I would get one of them back when I picked a new class, but the ones for level 15 and 30 would be forever lost.

I was about to pull up the last prompt, the one with all of my rewards from the achievements when an incessant buzzing started. It was the system letting me know someone were at my door, and pressing the intercom. With a muttered curse I closed my eyes and logged out.

Rolling out of the pod, I grabbed a pair of pants as the intercom kept buzzing. After putting on my pants, I walked over to the intercom and pressed the button that connected me to the outside. “Yeah?”

“You’re late,” I heard Kira say from the other side.

Groaning, I said, “Give me a few seconds, I was still in the game.”

“You said it yourself, you need to set a good example for the others. So hop to it.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said and turned off the intercom. I changed clothes to something more appropriate for the gym, and a minute later I was out the door. Kira was staring up at me from her wheelchair with a frown. I gave her an apologetic smile, before heading towards the gym. “Sorry, I just received my class, and was busy going over my gains.”

“What gains? Don’t you just get a skill slot and upgrade for level ten, and then a Class skill slot and learn a class skill for taking a class?” she asked.

“Well, yes. Normally that is. I got a secret class, and was the first to pick that class in the world, and it was the first secret class in the world as well.”

Kira came to an abrupt stop and stared at me for a few seconds, before groaning. “So you just got two more world first achievements? You’ve already caused problems with the first you got, and now you have two more.”

“Yeah, it was bound to happen. Ed should be getting one soon too, and he would have gotten my second one if he had beat me to the punch. And I don’t think anyone has picked Templar Assassin yet either. So you’ll be getting one as well,” I said with a big smile.

“Ugh, Dawnguard is already a pain with the spy and the Dusts. Do you think Marcus will see this as a threat and step up his aggression?”

“I rightly don’t know. I don’t think so since it’s still small stuff, but we need to be careful. As much as possible we should stay in the hotel, and see if we can get Nise’s and Rose’s parents to join us here. And their extended family,” I said.

“Why don’t we?”

“We can’t just go up and say their lives are in danger, and we don’t really have the resources right now. We should try not to provoke him, but we can’t stop playing the game. We need to keep all of us out of those coffins, and to do that we need to earn coins in the game.”

She looked thoughtful for a moment, before nodding. We resumed our trip to the gym. Inside I saw that everyone was already busy training. Miss Elleby and the kids were not there, but if the previous day had been any indication, they would most likely be in the pool.

I went through the first half hour of training. Mostly walking and infrequent jogging, as well as a stint in a rowing machine. All the while we had to listen to the frequent cursing of Robert, and the grumbling of Philmore. Neither men were happy about the required exercise. Afterwards I migrated to the pool. It was fairly large, but was getting a bit small for all the people in here.

Kira was frolicking in the water with three of the kids, with Miss Elleby nearby watching over them like a hawk. Next to her was the little girl whose mother was in the Coffins. Edward was doing his best to try and swim, something he had never learned before we arrived here. Phil and Denise were also there, swimming laps. Phil informing Denise whenever they were about to reach the end.

“Hey Damian,” Miss Elleby said with her back to me. She always had the ability to know when we snuck up on her. Or tried to sneak out to the food replicator for a midnight snack.

“Hey Miss Elleby,” I said with a smile, suppressing the urge to call her mom. Something she never allowed any of the orphans to call her. She might not be my biological mother, but she had raised me from birth till I was ten. She was the closest thing to a mother I had. Not even my adoptive mom had meant as much to me as this woman.

To the little girl, she said, “Alicia, go play with Tiffany, she needs help in that water fight.”

“I don’t want to,” the dark haired girl stated with the absolute conviction that only children could muster.

“Young lady, remember what your mother told you,” Miss Elleby said in a soft tone. Alicia’s eyes started watering, before she reluctantly nodded and went into the pool. Kira spotted her immediately and came to fetch her. Dragging her into the water fight that was happening in the shallow end of the pool.

When Alicia was engrossed in the water fight, despite her protests, Miss Elleby turned to me. In a low whisper she asked, “When can you get her mother out of those infernal prisons?”

“Should have her out of the Cof—” I started to answer.

“Damian Pryce,” she said loudly, in that voice that meant I had done something wrong and displeased her. Sternly she added in a lower tone, “Don’t be using that word around the kids. Makes it sound like she’s never coming back.”

“Sorry, my mistake,” I said with a grimace. It had been decades since I had last heard that voice. “We should have credits enough to get her here in three or four game days. I hope, depends on what happens. We’ve some expensive expansions coming up inside the game.”

“So two days in the real world?” she inquired.

“Best case scenario.”

“I still don’t see how this can possibly work out, but you managed to secure funds enough for all these people, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt,” she said.

I had only been able to secure the credits by selling my inherited books. Which was a loss I thought I would never get over. My face must have betrayed what I was thinking, because her eyes immediately narrowed. “What did you do Damian? Something illegal?”

“No, I just had to sell my parents books. It was the best way to get the credits needed for everyone,” I admitted; feeling like the shittiest son ever.

“Oh, honey,” she said as she enveloped me in a hug. It was weird that a woman that only barely reached the upper half of my chest, was able to give such a comforting hug. After a few seconds she confided in me, “I had to sell my husband’s books as well. Only have a few left. His favourites, well some of them, he loved all his books, even the silly ones.”

Her husband had died some forty years ago. He had been a rare book dealer, and had kept one example of each book he ever got his hands on. My adoptive parents had been Mister Elleby’s employees. So I knew a good deal about him from the stories they told, but I had never met the man, on account of him being dead before I was born.

“We do what we must,” I finally said and extracted myself from her hug. Kira was already looking at me with a questioning look. No reason to make more of a scene.

“Indeed. And they’re just physical reminders of those we lost. It’s more important that we hold them in our hearts,” Miss Elleby said. She took a deep breath, looking like she had something important she wanted to ask. “Alicia isn’t doing so well. When they come out of the pods after school, she just sits down in a corner and mopes. She doesn’t want to talk or play with the others. Or join them when they play inside those pods, which you know I’m not a fan of. The only way I can get her to participate in anything is by ordering her.”

“And you want me to see if there’s anything I can do something to occupy her attention?”

“Maybe you know of a game that she would find interesting?” she asked hopefully.

“I’ll see what I can do,” I said, and went into the pool, joining in on the water fight.

After a few minutes, when everyone had drawn a bit away from each other, a temporary truce, Kira swam up to me and said, “You should be swimming laps, not playing with us.”

“Could say the same about you. But I’ll swim them after, right now I’m doing something important,” I said. The kids were close enough that I could not say anything more specific. John, one of the boys were inching closer to Alicia, looking like he was about to set off the water fight anew.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting revenge,” I said. She looked mightily confused for a brief second before it changed to shocked outrage, as I pushed her head under water. Which made Brian and Tiffany break out in laughter. John had been busy inching closer to Alicia, so he looked over with confusion on the sudden bedlam. Alicia had not been oblivious of him, and rewarded his inattention with wave of water.

“I’ll get you for that!” Kira sputtered as she surfaced.

Laughing, I moved away from her, sending a wave of water in her direction. “Come and get me.”

I do not know how the sides got decided, but suddenly it was me and Alicia against the rest of them. For the next few minutes we got pelted with wave after wave of water. When the next lull in the fight happened, I started talking with the young girl, “Hey Alicia, how do you like this place?”

“It’s fine,” she mumbled.

“Haven’t really had time to get to know all of you, but I’d like to start with you. Is that okay?”

“I guess.”

“Good,” I said and then waved Kira off when it looked like she and the other kids were about to start up the water fight again.

Before I could say anything else, she whispered, “I miss my mommy.”

“Of course you do. But we’re working very hard at getting her back.”

“But the police took her. She’s in jail. Only bad people goes to jail, my mom told me that,” she said with a cute serious expression on her face. Her face turned sorrowful, and she asked, “Is my mother a bad person?”

“No she’s not. It was just a mistake, a mistake that we’re working to fix,” I said. After a moment of silence I asked, “What did you and your mom usually do?”

“She read me stories mostly, we only had one helmet.”

“Oh, what stories did she read to you?”

“Fairy tales mostly.”

“What was your favourite story?”

“Anything with animals. When I was little I really wanted a bunny, but mum says only the rich can have one,” she said in all seriousness. I had to prevent myself from laughing at her statement. She was still little, but I guess everything is subjective.

“I like bunnies, they look so cute and fluffy. What’s your mother’s favourite animal?” I asked. The gist of an idea was starting to form.

“She likes cats.”

“I like cats too. Especially the cuddly ones, the way it purrs when you pet it.”

“You’ve seen a cat?” she asked excitedly.

“Not in the real world, but in a game.”

“Oh.” She sounded dejected.

“But you’ve seen how you can better feel things while in the pods compared to the helmet, right?”

“I guess.”

“What if I told you there was a game where you can raise bunnies, and cats. You can even hold and pet them.”

All excited she started to bounce in place. “Really?”

“Yes, how about I come help you set it up after dinner?” I asked, happy to have found something that might be able to take her attention away from her missing mother.

“Can we go eat now?” Was her only response.

“Unfortunately not. I’ve to swim some laps first.”

“Hurry then,” she said in a bossy tone.

“Yes Damian, hurry up, or you’ll eat alone,” Kira called with a laugh.

Miss Elleby decided to join in when she added, “I raised no slackard, so why aren’t you moving?”

Taking a quick look at the three ladies who were staring at me, I groaned and started doing my laps as the trainer had ordered. Not in anyway able to keep up with Kira, who could be swimming in circles around me and still complete a lap faster than me.

Over an hour later I was finally done with being tortured, had eaten a hasty nasty NutriShake and spent a great deal of time teaching Alicia how to play Pet Breeder. A game where you raised pets and sold them from your farm. The game was pretty easy, you just needed to activate the different tools, and they would perform the job. What was great about the game, was how real the pets behaved and felt. I knew that because I had played it in the previous timeline to destress, and in the hopes of winning one of the Minor Challenges.

It was one of the hundred games that would be a part of the Minor Challenges the first year, but I knew that none of the first five winners would be from playing Pet Breeder. I might not be able to remember the title of each of the games that contained the Minor Challenges, but I knew Pet Breeder was not one of them.

It still left me with around an hour and a half for training my shooting. I might not be training every time it was night in Carn Online, but I always trained my marksmanship after every one of our mandatory workout sessions.

Logging in, I was surprised to see a request to join my session. Not just one request, but four of them. Debating for a moment to reject them, I eventually accepted them with a shrug. Four avatars manifested; Edward, Kira, Ainsley and Sarah.

“Took you long enough,” Kira complained. She was in her wheelchair. The shooting simulation did not offer the option to change your avatar.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked, a little confused. Especially because Sarah was there.

“We decided that if you’re really from the fu—” Ainsley started.

Hearing what she was going to say, I immediately shouted, “Woah, hold it right there.”

“Don’t worry, she told me everything,” Sarah said.

“She did what?” I asked, my voice maybe a few octaves too high.

“Listen here, I don’t care if you’re bonkers or are telling the truth. You prevented me from turning into Sleeping Beauty for all eternity, so I don’t care. My love thinks she believes you, and that’s all I need,” Sarah stated.

I stared accusingly at Ainsley. She stared back with an impish grin. After five seconds or so, she said, “I didn’t break the NDA, it’s all about preventing us from sharing secrets outside the guild. Not with others inside it who has signed the same NDA.”

“Yeah, and like I said, I don’t care. As long as I can be with my lovely girl here, I’m up for anything. And if you really have future knowledge, think about all we can accomplish,” Sarah said, throwing an arm around Ainsley’s waist and pulling her close. She then got a thoughtful look on her face. “Well I don’t care as long as you don’t kill people, eat babies, force us to attend mass. And don’t you dare spoil Ga—”

“Honey, you’re rambling again,” Ainsley interrupted her girlfriend. Sarah stopped, and looked a bit sheepish.

“Please don’t tell anyone else without asking me first,” I said. “But that doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

“We decided that if you’re telling the truth, we should prepare for the next game as well. I might be good in a fist fight, but I’ve never held a gun,” Kira said.

Thinking it over, it was actually a relief. Sure some of them might not believe me fully, but for now they were giving me the benefit of the doubt. Smiling to each of them, I said, “Okay, I hope you guys are better at shooting a rifle than I am, because I still miss more than I hit.”