“Now that we have the unpleasant tasks out of the way, it is time for you to make some choices. First, you will operate the random number generator in your MENU. Please select that option, now.”

“Wait, what? I don’t have anything like that in my MENU!”

“I’m sorry for the confusion. You have new MENU options. Lets begin by reviewing them, I have already been ‘warned’ about how thorough you have been, so I will give you an explanation as we encounter each item.”

I mentally commanded my MENU to open and it opened to my CHARACTER page, which was apparently the default home page. Right away, I noticed that there were new options and some new additions to my STATISTICS and POOL totals:

Spoiler: Spoiler

CHARACTER

CLASS

SKILLS

ABILITIES

SPELLS

INVENTORY

CRAFTING

JOURNAL

MAP

CONTACTS

TOOLS

GENERAL INFORMATION

NAME:

TOM NOBODY

RACE:

HUMAN

GENDER:

MALE

AGE:

16

DEITY:

TITLES:

GRACIOUS TO FORGIVE

CLASS:

LEVEL:

1

EXPERIENCE TO NEXT LEVEL:

250

POOL

AVAILABLE

RATE OF REGENERATION: NUMBER PER SECONDS

LIFE:

124/124

1/10

STAMINA:

131/131

1/10

MANA:

58/58

1/20

SPIRIT:

90/90

1/20

STATISTICS

STRENGTH:

11

DEXTERITY:

10

CONSTITUTION:

9

INTELLIGENCE:

4

WILLPOWER

8

CHARISMA:

3

LUCK:

3

AVAILABLE:

“I could swear some of those are different,” I said, looking at Lachesis suspiciously.

“DING!” She said, with a mischievous grin, “I awarded you one extra point in INTELLIGENCE, WISDOM, CHARISMA, and LUCK based on your decision regarding Stellana. You evidenced above average INTELLIGENCE and WISDOM in coming to that decision, and such an act could not but raise your CHARISMA. The LUCK I added as my way of telling you I hope it works out.

“You also received your first TITLE: GRACIOUS TO FORGIVE. TITLES are awarded by conquest, as quest rewards, or by SCHEMA or a DIETY for exceptional acts. You’ll also notice that completing the BEGINNER TUTORIAL fulfilled all the experience requirements to move you to LEVEL 1.

“Please open the TOOLS list, now.”

I wanted to talk about this TITLE nonsense, but I decided it didn’t matter. I looked at my MENU again. The tabs that I’d had before were all still there, though there were now three extras. SKILLS had been split and ABILITIES now had it’s own separate tab, and two new tabs had been added: CONTACTS and TOOLS. The CHARACTER tab was highlighted, while the others were grayed out. I mentally selected TOOLS:

Spoiler: Spoiler

CHARACTER

CLASS

SKILLS

ABILITIES

SPELLS

INVENTORY

CRAFTING

JOURNAL

MAP

CONTACTS

TOOLS

CALCULATOR

RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR

“Currently, you only have two tools; a calculator and a random number generator. Different tools are available through trainers, the SCHEMA MARKETPLACE, as SCHEMA requires you to use them, like now, or through quests, or the possession of magical artifacts. So, please select the random number generator.”

I selected the RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR and a new screen appeared.

Spoiler: Spoiler

START

MINIMUM

MAXIMUM

“Now,” Lachesis instructed, “Instruct it to put the number 1 in the MINIMUM column and 8 in the MAXIMUM one.”

Spoiler: Spoiler

START

MINIMUM

MAXIMUM

1

8

“Then, I want you to hit the START button 7 times, one time for each of your STATISTICS. Each time you do, the resulting number will appear in your calculator. New numbers will automatically be added, and the total will be the number of AVAILABLE points you have to distribute to your various STATISTICS. You may distribute the points immediately, or wait, as you see fit. However, if you die and are resurrected or allowed to respawn, you will lose all of your undistributed points, so be very careful to remember to distribute them before your life is in danger.”

I did as she instructed and with the first spin (a lucky 6) a standard looking computer calculator appeared to one side with the number already entered. The resulting spins came up 5, 2, 4, 8, 7, 7, and 7 for a total of 40.

“Now, navigate back to your CHARACTER page and you will see that the number has already been entered in your AVAILABLE points slot. As I said, you can distribute these points as you see fit, but I would suggest that you wait at least until you see what CLASS you want. Many CLASSES have minimum STATISTIC requirements that you will have to meet using the point distribution. Additionally, different CLASSES use different POOLs, so you’ll want to know which STATISTIC to raise to maximize the potential of your new SKILLS and/or ABILITIES.

“Before we go on, do you have any questions, so far?”

“Yes,” I answered, “What is the CONTACTS tab for?”

“That is so that you can contact people you list via the SCHEMA system. Both you and your potential CONTACT must add your names to the list for it to become active. Once your CONTACT becomes active, you may CONTACT that person no matter where in the galaxy he or she may be. There are some restrictions; you or your CONTACT may turn the service off if you want to sleep undisturbed, for example. Also, if you are in another dimension, like this one, or your BEGINNER TUTORIAL, or a dungeon, the attempt will not connect, but you may leave a message and your friend will receive it once they return to the same dimension. The controls are self-evident. If you have used one of your smart phones, you can use the CONTACT features. Do you wish to review each setting, or are you satisfied with my explanation?”

“No,” I reluctantly answered. “Well, yes, I would like you to hand carry me through the process, but I don’t really think that’s necessary.” Still, I quickly navigated to the tab just to get a quick look to see if there were any surprises:

Spoiler: Spoiler

CHARACTER

CLASS

SKILLS

ABILITIES

SPELLS

INVENTORY

CRAFTING

JOURNAL

MAP

CONTACTS

TOOLS

CONTACT

MESSAGES

ROB COLDITZ

OFF

1

I noticed that the kid’s name was already in my CONTACT list, though grayed out. I looked at Lachesis guiltily and touched it. A prompt appeared: ADD CONTACT? I mentally thought, “yes” and the name cleared, but the ON/OFF still said it was OFF, so apparently we weren’t in the same dimension. I really wanted to check the message, but I wasn’t that rude.

“Are you ready to continue, Tom?” Lachesis asked with a hint of humor, or perhaps indulgence in her voice.

“Yes,” I said, feeling my face flush, “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m a Fate; I knew you were going to do that. Now, as we have no other tabs to fully and completely explore,” she added without blinking an eye, though the sarcasm came through loud and clear in her tone, “please navigate back to your CHARACTER sheet and we will be able to finish up so you can read your message or contact your friend.”

I navigated back to the CHARACTER sheet and noticed that the AVAILABLE points list had been updated with the 40 points I had available. I already knew I was going to wait at least until I had my CLASS to distribute them, so I asked, “What’s next?”

“The only item left that will impact your CLASS choices is DIETY. Would you like to see a list of available DIETIES, or do you already have one that you follow? You may also choose to list yourself as Agnostic if you want more time to think about it, or you can choose Atheist, if you don’t follow or want to follow any gods. I warn you, though, that if you choose that last option, healing and resurrections SPELLS, and all other SPIRIT based spells will not be available to you.”

“Okay, this one’s easy. I’m not big on organizations, so I don’t follow any particular denomination, but I do believe in God. So, I choose him.”

“Him who?”

“Oh, well I guess you’d know him by the name Jehovah, or maybe Jesus.”

“Ah, I see,” she said with obvious disappointment. “A monotheist. SCHEMA has solved the problems generally associated with religions by outlawing all monotheistic religions. Additionally, we did put out a call for all DIETIES particular to your planet, and while several did answer, neither Jehovah nor Jesus replied. The Pope did respond, though, and we have reached a compromise with the Catholic church whereby its members may continue to worship as they have, only eliminating any mention of a sole DEITY. So, which Saint do you, or have you chosen as your Patron?”

I looked at her nonplussed for a minute before finally answering, “Um … well, I’m a very tolerant person. I don’t care who worships what god as long as they don’t force it down my throat. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned my own personal views on the subject unless someone’s asked me a direct question, and since, I have to admit, that nobody would accuse me of being a religious person, that means in situations like this when I need to put something down on some kind of paperwork. So, I’m not Catholic. I really don’t know anything about most Christian denominations, but I’m really not interested in choosing a Saint. I mean, I’m sure they were all—are all—fine people and probably good Christians themselves, but I don’t worship them.”

“Ah, that is going to be a problem, then. I will have to list you as Atheist…” seeing the stubborn cast to my features she quickly added, “I know that you profess a belief in a particular DEITY, and for your sake, I wish he would have answered SCHEMA’s summons, so they could work out some sort of compromise. However, he did not, so unless you choose another one, the only option left is Atheist. As long as you realize that SCHEMA will quickly put a stop to any sort of proselytizing for any monotheistic religion, or any fighting over the subject, then you may continue to believe as you always have. The only problem is that all SPIRIT SPELLS are powered by DEITIES, and so you will not have access to any of those.”

I thought about that for a long while. I honestly didn’t care what other people thought about religion. I’d miss being able to heal myself or others, but I’d lived all my life to this point without it, so I guess I could just continue to rely on potions like I had been all through the BEGINNER TUTORIAL.

“Okay, I guess that sounds like what we’ll have to do. Is there anything else I need to do before we get to CLASS selection?”

Yeah, I was irritated. Sue me.

“No,” she gently replied, making me feel guilty, “SCHEMA has just notified me that they have tabulated the results of your BEGINNER TUTORIAL and the conversations you have had here and with SCHEMA directly, and compiled a list of all the available CLASSes from which you may choose. You still have the option of selecting one that is not in your list, so those will appear after the ones SCHEMA has selected, but grayed out. The only restriction to choosing off the selected list is that, again, you cannot choose a CLASS that requires SPIRIT in order to function. Would you like to see the lists that SCHEMA has for you at this time?”

“Yes,” I said, my previous frustration already being replaced by excitement. Finally!

“I’m ready.”

The list that appeared was absolutely mind-boggling. Just the readily available CLASSes that SCHEMA had cleared me for took up 20 closely-typed pages. I looked at Lachesis openmouthed, and I’m sure my face had to be white as a sheet. This was WAY more choices than I imagined in my wildest expectations.

“How can I possibly make it through all of these CLASSes? I’ll be here for years!”

“I understand that it is a very extensive list. However, if you would like, I can sort them for you by type to give you a better idea of what you’re dealing with. Once you eliminate a specific type of CLASS, I can remove all of those options.”

That gave me the ability to breathe again and, remembering what the kid had said, I spoke up, “I don’t want to be a criminal. No thief, or assassin. I don’t want to choose a CLASS that requires that I join a group, especially the military. I did my time and I had more than I could stand of people telling me what to do. Now, I want to be able to fight, so if there’s a freelance version of some of them, you can leave those.

“Very good, that will narrow things down some. Here, now take a look.”

The list was shorter, the “approved” section reduced from 20 to 14 pages. Not as much as I’d hoped, but it was a start. A thought hit me, I can start with just the approved list. That will give me an idea of what kind of things they have on offer, and I can use that to narrow everything down.

I pulled up a seat on the floor and began my research. I started with the first item on the list, which happened to be ARMORER I selected it and a description popped up:

ARMORER: This is a non-combat CLASS which is concerned with crafting armor of all types. The ARMORER may work alone and sell his wares directly or through a MERCHANT, or he may work as part of a noble House’s retinue, a mercenary group, or a military organization.

STATISTICS: +1 STRENGTH, +1 DEXTERITY, these STATISTICS are the major STATISTICS for this CLASS and will be raised +1 at each LEVEL.

Underneath the description was what Lachesis explained was a SKILL TREE. Apparently, each CLASS started out as one thing, but through selecting different SKILLS or SPELLS choose to individualize their CLASS and evolve it at higher levels. I could only see the level above mine, the rest appeared as dots on the tree with no descriptions.

A thought struck me, “Okay, I have another question, it says here that an ARMORER is a “non-combat” CLASS. Does that mean that one cannot enter COMBAT, or are they still COMBAT capable?”

“Anyone can enter COMBAT, and truly, if you wish to advance your levels, you will almost have to. I get your meaning, though, so I will remove all the CLASSes which would make being an effective combatant difficult or impossible. DIPLOMAT, for example. DIPLOMATS do not engage in COMBAT as they consider that a failure in DIPLOMACY. That particular one wasn’t on the list that SCHEMA selected for you, but I’ll remove it and the ones like it from the greater list.”

I don’t know how long I sat there, but eventually, I worked my way through all 8 (after non-combat capable CLASSES were removed) pages of the approved list. I turned to the “unapproved” CLASSes and almost gave up. The list would have made an encyclopedia jealous.

Dear Lord! What am I going to do? How can I possibly choose?

I don’t know if it was an answer to a desperate plea for help, or just my increased LUCK STAT, but I started just skimming through and one of the options jumped out at me:

SCRIBE: A SCRIBE encompasses many possible roles. Basically, a SCRIBE has the ability to learn and then enSCRIBE any language or instruction, magical or mundane. SCRIBES often work in government offices, temples, noble Houses, or travel to places where their services are not normally available. The testimony of a SCRIBE is considered legally binding, and they are often employed as standard messengers or direct messengers of the nobility, speaking with the full authority of those who send them.

STATISTICS: +1 DEXTERITY, +1 INTELLIGENCE, +1 CHARISMA These STATISTICS are the major STATISTICS for this CLASS and will be raised +1 at each LEVEL.

That doesn’t sound very exciting, I thought to myself, but I looked down at the SKILL TREE, anyway. The next branch had an option that jumped out at me: ENGRAVER. I selected it:

ENGRAVER: An engraver can inscribe magical runes on items, including weapons, armor, gems, and even persons, in order to create various magical effects. Magical effects depend on the individual’s knowledge of runes.

I looked at the rest of the SKILL TREE, and I noticed something unusual; I could see all the way to the end. Not every choice, and not clearly, it was like I was seeing them through a blurry lens, but up a ways, one of them jumped out at me: HAND, then near the top: RUNE WRIGHT.

Clicking on these didn’t have any effect. I probably wasn’t even supposed to be able to see them, so why am I seeing it? Is this a hint?

I didn’t know, but I had a feeling of certainty growing inside.

“I’ve made my choice, I said with more confidence than I actually felt, “I want to choose SCRIBE as my CLASS SKILL.