James woke up on the cold ground of the walkway near a flowering bush as someone shook his shoulder.

"Hey son, you alright?"

James looked up and saw an older black man wearing a janitorial uniform with a look of real concern on his face. And above him he saw the sun. Unfortunately for him, it was in the entirely wrong place in the sky. Bolting upright he began struggling to his feet.

"What time is it?!" He nearly yelled in the janitor's face.

"Almost 9 A.M." The janitor responded, his look going from concern to agitation quickly.

James stood up as fast as he could and began hobbling his way back down the path towards the steam plant, trying to work the sore and cold out of his body that he got from sleeping a night on the pavement.

The janitor yelled out to his quickly receding form "And you're welcome! Don't get so piss drunk you pass out on campus anymore!" After he was gone the janitor continued on towards his building grumbling to himself "Kids these days are rude as all hell. What an ass."

This was about the worst possible day James could imagine. He woke up on the ground on campus after having some crazy vivid dream last night. He thought he must have eaten something bad to have passed out on the ground like that, but try as he may he couldn't figure it out. He showed up late for work in yesterday's stinky clothes and then got chewed out by his supervisor and, for whatever reason, nothing he could say made her any less mad. He couldn’t understand why his usual ability to avoid conflict and slip out of sight seemed instead to further upset her.

He hadn't had time for breakfast, had no packed lunch, and he didn't think he had even eaten any dinner last night. Already hungry before the day started, he found himself in a sour mood as he put on his work uniform in the locker room. An even more unpleasant surprise came as he was putting his day-old clothes into his locker. That surprise came as a familiar leather note he found in his pocket.

"I don't have time for this." He said quietly as he stuffed the letter back into his pants and put them in his locker. His head began swimming with implications as he started his trek down into the boiler room.

As he walked into the steamy boiler room the first thing he noticed was that he didn't break out into a sweat as soon as he walked in. In fact, it seemed much cooler than it had ever felt before. However, the rather angry worker he was relieving late was just as drenched as usual. As soon as he had the room to himself, he tried to put the troublesome thoughts out of his head and focus on his work but that only lasted for about five minutes until…

*Ding*

[Steam Master] +1 EXP (123/1,000)

As soon as the glowing green words appeared with their characteristic *Ding* he swallowed hard, realizing that all that had happened last night really happened. Or possibly that he was well and truly insane. He tried to remember his stats as he was going over the required morning maintenance for the boiler. As soon as he started thinking about his stats a familiar screen came into existence.

Character Name: James

Character Level: [0] EXP:(0/10)

Character Title: [Dreamer]

Character Race: [Human]

Character Age: [22]

Character Stats: (1-20)

Strength: [15]

Dexterity: [8]

Constitution: [13]

Intellect: [16]

Wisdom: [11]

Charisma: [4]

Luck: ???

James let out a low groan when he saw his charisma stat. "I had hoped at least that part was a dream." He dejectedly moaned. However, his sour mood could only last a moment until he heard a *Ding* followed by a small bar of floating text.

[Steam Master] +1 EXP (124/1,000)

He smiled to himself thinking that he could really get used to the feeling of constantly becoming stronger. Suddenly, as he finished the last of his morning routine and began settling in to wait for the close to half an hour it would take until the machine needed any further interference, he had a thought that struck him as he saw another cheerful "+1 EXP" message pop up. He changed his position slightly and reaching up he cracked a pressure valve above his head that pointed straight down over him. Suddenly, he began to sweat in earnest for the first time that day as he tried to relax into the too-hot steam bath he had made for himself. Bordering on extreme discomfort, he fully submerged himself in the steam waterfall he had created.

His idea bore fruit quickly as he began to receive dings and "+1 Exp" messages nearly every 20 seconds. For EXP I can do anything. He thought to himself as he reproved himself for never getting this excited about his school or working out. But quickly he squashed that thought as he remembered his [Student] profession. Now that he would be able to train and gain EXP while going to classes and studying he imagined that he would be a much better student. These thoughts led to questions of if there were ways to train his body or mind to improve his strength or intellect stat in the future. Or were the stats stationary potentials rather than reflections of his current abilities?

Thoughts like these meandered through his head as he spent the day soaking in steam. He decided to entirely forgo taking a lunch break as he didn't have anything to eat and he could see at this pace he was on track to level up his steam master by the end of the day.

His diligence was rewarded by the last hour of the day. He had only taken time away to go drink some water to replace the buckets he was losing through sweat.

*Ding*

Congratulations! You have reached level 3 [Steam Master].

You have received new skill [Steam Powered].

James nearly shouted in excitement as he got that message, still letting off a loud "Yes!" and pumping his fist. Immediately he opened his profession information wondering about the new skill he received.

[Steam Master]: One who has immersed themselves in the ways of steam control and steam endurance. You have gained an affinity and understanding of steam and an endurance to its effects.

Ability: [Steam Proof]: Your soul has been steeped in steam. Due to this conditioning, all but the greatest of steam exposure will not result in your harm. This however, does not mean it will be comfortable.

Ability: [Heat Resistance]: X1.3

Ability: [Steam Release] Your body gives off some of the stored steam energy within your soul. Either can be given off in a large low effect cloud or in a concentrated blast. This skill's effectiveness is dependent on character and profession level and is powered by the user’s own energy.

Ability: [Steam Powered] The user can directly absorb the heat energy of any steam in their proximity. This is directly absorbed into the user's energy stores. Once energy reserves are full, excess energy can be slowly converted to Exp. The effectiveness of this directly correlates with the level of the profession and user.

Level 3 EXP (122/10,000)

James nearly had to pick his jaw off the floor after reading that description. Not only did his heat tolerance rise, which he could directly feel, he now could turn steam into Exp. Looking at the giant boiler in front of him he nearly started salivating. "I'm going to be the most powerful Steam Master in the world!" He said to himself with some cheer. But now he really wanted to figure out exactly what energy was. From his poor sleep last night, to his involuntary fasting, and then his nearly eight hour long steam training session, his body was as exhausted as he'd ever felt. Stepping back into the steam bath and turning the valve a little more open to adjust for his newfound tolerance, he began to imagine his body soaking in the energy of the steam swirling around him.

Slowly the aches and pains of exhaustion fled from him as his stiff muscles began to relax. He could feel the tiredness of a poor night's sleep leave him as he quickly went from beat tired to feeling like he had just had the best night’s rest of his life.

Sadly, he was still ravenously hungry. It seemed that the energy was not a direct substitute for food, but he did feel like he could survive just off this energy even if it wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. In all, the process from complete exhaustion to full energy took less than five minutes and during the time his Steam Master continued gaining experience, albeit at a slower pace since he leveled up. Even with the increased steam it didn't seem to make up for the higher requirements for his new level.

As soon as he felt like he had had three shots of espresso and wanted to bounce off the walls he saw a new message pop up amidst the "[Steam Master] +1 Exp" messages.

[Steam Powered] +1 EXP to EXP pool.

What was that? He thought, taken aback. EXP pool? He had expected the experience to go directly into his [Steam Master] profession and didn't know what to think about this message. As he searched mentally for answers, he brought up his stat sheet and saw "EXP pool: +1" on a new line beneath his character level experience. He had figured out how to push buttons "mentally" by simply willing them to activate while messing around reading his abilities descriptions today, so he simply willed the description for his EXP pool to open.

EXP Pool: This is a pool of temporary experience points that will dissipate over a long enough period of rest. These points can be used for any type of advancement that requires Experience points.

Again, James went from shocked to hardly able to contain himself in a moment. Screw strongest Steam Master, I'm going to be the strongest character in the whole world! He thought triumphantly. It was all he could do to not open every exhaust valve in this room and cook himself to perfection for the sake of experience points. But somehow, he restrained himself and simply went back to training under the steam waterfall for the remainder of his shift as he slowly watched his numbers pile up.

Character Name: James

Character Level: [0] EXP:(0/10)

EXP Pool: + 13

Character Title: [Dreamer]

Character Race: [Human]

Character Age: [22]

Character Stats: (1-20)

Strength: [15]

Dexterity: [8]

Constitution: [13]

Intellect: [16]

Wisdom: [11]

Charisma: [4]

Luck: ???

Character Class: [Dream Weaver]

Character Sub-Class: [Empty]

Character Professions:

[Student] Lvl. 1

[Steam Master] Lvl. 3

[Empty]

Character Skills:

[Weave]

[EXP Bonus] (X1.15)

[Skill Transfer]

[Steam Proof]

[Heat Resistance] (X1.3)

[Steam Release]

[Steam Powered]

Character Equipment:

[Work Uniform]

[Steam Resistant Gloves]