Waking up James felt drained and groggy but saw Susy next to him asleep holding his hand with tears down her cheeks and her face scrunched up. He could imagine his mother and sister were worried to find him blacked out while drenched with sweat in the backyard. Even though he may have caused them to worry, he couldn’t get rid of the grin plastered on his face when he sensed the mana core inside himself. Checking his gains, he couldn’t believe he was successful and achieved his ideal class.

Lightning was not the only element of his actual class and instead was something completely unheard of in the holy empire.

Class Gained - Apprentice Manaweaver: The elements are yours for the choosing. Mana creates endless possibilities for those who hold the class of Manaweavers. No element can bind you down and instead are at your mercy. (Mana pool doubled with increase of mana regeneration by 25%)

:::Ding: Gained- 1 End

Gained- 1 Wis

Checking his overall stats, James is ecstatic that he was successful with an extra bonus of some stat upgrades. It does make him wonder how it was possible but none the less considered it a blessing.

Class: Apprentice Manaweaver Subclass: N/A

Race: Human

Level: 1

Health: 25/25

Stamina: 25/25

Mana: 60/60

Stats: Str-3 Vit-5 End-5 Int-6 Wis-6 Wil-7

Skills: Mana Sense Lvl 1, Meditation Lvl 1, Mana Weaving Lvl 1

Spells: N/A

Both affinity and being surrounded by a specific element can help steer towards preferred classes. The elemental mana helps to build the core for new mages, but without it may make the process longer and more difficult. His apprentice manaweaver class is the exception to this rule though. He has no limitations and if the class was known to the magic community, it would turn everything everyone believed upside down. Remembering his past life, he still is unable to understand how things turned out the way they did.

When James was young in his previous life, he would beg for change by the nearest baker shop during his time away from the orphanage. The kids in the orphanage were treated terribly by everyone and were given the bare minimum to survive. The baker though a couple streets away was nice and would sometimes give leftovers to James. That was nice of the baker to do, but it was the company he sometimes had that dictated his future.

There was an old mysterious homeless beggar that he interacted sometimes with by giving any spare food he had on hand. The old beggar went by the name Scary Eye because he only had one eye and a scar across the other with wrinkles that covered most of his face. The beggar was old with completely grey hair as he looked like he was on his last years of the life. James would come by out of pity giving the beggar food and keep him company by listening to farfetched stories of the beggar’s youth. He thought it was weird that the old beggar was only ever seen in the alleyway by the baker, but he was too young to pay it any more mind. One day he noticed Scary Eye was in a somber mood and almost detached from his usual mysterious but upbeat personality. It wasn’t until he was told by Scary Eye that he was going to die soon did James realize the truth. Both sad and worried for the beggar he noticed him waving James to sit down next to him. Expecting another phantasmal story of dragons, magic, and fighting James sat himself in the alley next to the beggar with a sad but excited look. The alley smelled like sewage and feces, but James never let that stop him from helping the old man with extra food and sparing a few minutes to spend with the old beggar.

“Young man you have a big heart which isn’t seen too much these days. If you were given power, what would you do?” Scary Eye said with a sense of eeriness that one could expect form a half dying crazy man. It was surprising that James could identify a bit of strength in the air when those words were spoken but chalked it up to his imagination.

Thinking over the question James responded with what any young boy with dreams would say. “I would want to be a hero and fight to put food in my belly.”

“Hahaha, Admirable goals young man. Everyone needs to eat no matter who they are or their background,” the old beggar laughed and responded with a grin.

“I will give you chance but remember to stick to your ideals no matter what and don’t forget who you are. Trust only what you feel is right and fight for the people. Learn the hard way what this world is and hopefully you can make some type of change.”

Forced to close his eyes by a sudden pressure James realized he couldn’t move. Skeptical the old beggar was some type of creep; James could only relent as he realized he was stuck. While he may not have had a choice anyways, he realized he also did not have anything to lose if he was killed.

Suddenly he felt the air go heavy but then almost disappear after causing James to believe he was floating. Noticing the smell gone and noise silenced he worried but kept his thoughts to himself. Taking a deep breath, he heard the beggar start to talk while he flooded him with pure mana. He guided James in the process of building his mana core, but as it was coming together it felt forceful. Most likely what happened was the old beggar forcefully changed his destined class and fundamentally change his mana core. This went against his affinity and the system attached to his stats, but all this was unknown to James at the time.

He couldn’t move but realized this must be what mana felt like from the stories about mages and heroes he heard in the orphanage, and he could only try to contain his excitement.

There was ripping noise James heard for bit all around him while the system fought to gain control of the situation. With what sounded like a whisper from everywhere and a pull from inside him he heard the old beggar say one last thing when something clicked, and the mana could be felt moving inside James.

“Do not tell anyone about your core or what just happened. Instead tell them you felt different one day and noticed something changed about you. Go to get your affinity tested and claim to be whatever type of mage your affinity represents. Learn spells, fight wars, build a family, and live your life the fullest. I was the last of my kind, but the world has changed for the worst. Trust only yourself with your secrets and fight for the those that have no one else. For you are now my legacy…. the last of the manaweavers!”