At least the breakfast was wonderful, even if his stomach was a bit upset about the conversation. Once he was done eating, Muriel guided him to the council room. This time instead of meeting in the testing room, which had looked more like a library, they met in more of a formal meeting room with a big u-shaped table that Charles and the other seven council members were seated around.

The floor was stone and the ceiling high. There were four guards spread throughout the room, but Tim figured if the council members were adventurers themselves, then they probably needed little in the way of protection. Standing behind Charles was Simon.

Once he reached the spot in open space between the prongs of the table, Tim stopped and noticed that Muriel bowed and then left. He looked at Simon and said, Master guardian, I am sorry for what happened in the courtyard yesterday. Err… well, it felt like yesterday to me.”

Simon looked at him strangely. “This is still Timothy Stein? He doesn’t look at all the same.”

Charles said, “Yes, so I have been told, but the Book of Names has listed him as Timothy Stein.”

Simon asked, “What does it say about his class, though? He definitely didn’t look like this before.”

“Well, I am glad you asked. Master Cipher, please show us what the Book of Names tells us about the sojourner Timothy Stein.”

A man in light gray robes to Tim’s left nodded and lifted his hand. A projected screen appeared in the air.

Timothy Stein

World of Origin: Terra

Status: Probationary member of Sojourner’s Guild

Class:?? Warrior??

Level: 19th

Trait: Ephemeral

Currently Equipped Skills/Spells:

1) Grand Master Swordsmanship

2) Heavy Armor Proficiency

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

There was a general whistling around the room as some apparently were seeing the screen for the first time while Cipher and Charles clearly had already seen it.

Charles stood up. “So obviously it is a potential boon to have a level 19 new arrival, but there are many oddities around Probate Stein, not the least of which is the odd designation for his class in the Book of Names. Then, of course, there is the fact that he had a completely different appearance when he entered here four days ago and displayed the abilities of a blood mage rather than the warrior he is now.”

An explosion of conversation opened up around the room as all the council members tried to speak at the same time. This went on for a period of time as some of the members claimed he was too dangerous to be allowed to remain in the guild. Of those, they were split between exile and imprisonment. Hearing that made Tim’s sword hand flinch, but he restrained himself.

Other voices called for training him, and amongst those, he was surprised to hear Simon arguing for that. The one person who wasn’t saying much was Charles. Rather, he sat there with a look of deep concentration on his face.

Finally, after ten minutes of this had worn down to Tim’s last nerve, and he was afraid he was about to do something he might not live to regret, Charles slammed a beefy hand down on the table. All eyes turned to him, and each individual discussion ended.

Then the short but very broad-shouldered guild leader stood. “I will take the advice of the council on options for his training, but I am invoking my prerogative as guild leader to take on an apprentice.”

If Tim thought that the room had been loud before that, now it positively was bursting at the seams with voices, each trying to speak over the other. He didn’t know how much of it he could handle, but again, he was surprised when Simon tapped his shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Follow me. They will be at this for hours.”

Once the two large doors to the council room closed behind them, Tim felt like he could hear himself think again. The otherwise serious Simon smiled as he said, “It gets loud in there at times.”

“Thanks for getting me out of there,” Tim replied.

“Certainly. Now we need to clear the air. First off, I am willing, for now, to accept that you neither know what happened to you to change your body nor did you have control of your abilities the other day. Blood mage is one of the most feared classes, but not because its power is greater than any other but because something about the class makes its holders more temperamental, more prone to being influenced by their emotions. I am willing to believe that your shock at ending up in an ancient body created a great deal of emotional stress. Not to mention you had just been being transported to another world.”

“I appreciate that, and I don’t mean to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why are you so willing to believe a stranger that more or less attacked you a few days ago?” Tim tried to school his voice and keep the skepticism from coming through.

“A what kind of horse? What do you mean? Is looking in my mouth some kind of test of veracity?” Simon asked in apparent confusion.

Laughing, Tim answered, “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just an expression from my world. It means, well, never mind. I was just asking why you are so willing to believe me after everything.”

“Then that is a worthwhile question, and I am glad to see that you are not simply taking things at face value but examining things. Please understand, I don’t mean to speak to you like you are a child, but for all intents and purposes, that is what you are in this world. You are a new arrival, and you likely don’t even know how to buy food yet. So, I will try to be simple, but we can discuss it more in the future. For now, I am persuaded by the Book of Names. It has named you, and it has identified that there is something different about your class.”

“Is that all?”

“Well, I also know what the word ephemeral means. I don’t know how it manifests as a trait, and an initial search by the librarians has not turned up anything in our history books. Oh, and I guess there is one other thing. Maybe it is a simplistic thing, but it’s your eyes.”

“What about my eyes?” Tim asked.

“They are the same eyes as you had before. If the eyes are truly the windows to the soul, then I see the same soul inside you as was there before,” Simon replied.

Tim must have let his worried frown slip onto his face because Simon changed his tone at that point. “No, don’t worry. Master Cipher won’t stop digging until he finds something. There must have been an example of ephemeral in all the years of recorded history.”

“Well, Cal-Dakota acted like it was a very rare trait and said it had been many hundreds of years since the last sojourner had this trait,” Tim said.

“Now, see, there is something that I can help you with. Whatever you may believe about the voice that you heard, it is not commonly accepted that the patrons are real beings. I am 3rd generation, and my grandfather used to tell me stories about the voice that spoke to him, but as much as I loved him, I tend to believe that what he heard was just the trauma of being transported to a new world.”

“So, you are saying that I should keep that experience to myself?” Tim asked.

“That is a good way of putting it. Some people will excuse it because you are first gen, and honestly, most of society, sojourners included, believe that 1st gen are a bit crazy. Others will judge you for it, and others still will try to recruit you to their silly Patronite cult.”

Tim wasn’t sure how he felt about it, given how sure he was that he had spoken to Cal-Dakota, but he also didn’t want to alienate anyone over a belief in a being who had so royally screwed him over. “Okay, I think I understand.”

“Now then, if you are willing, I would like to help you out a bit.”

“Help me out? How?” Tim asked. He couldn’t help but feel the suspicion rising in him again.

“I couldn’t help but notice that you only have two of your seven skill slots assigned. I was going to suggest that we get you a couple of basic skills and maybe a defensive or offensive skill, although I will leave the final skill planning to your mentor. By the way, I get along very well with Charles, and you should be thrilled that he is taking you on as an apprentice. You should equally know that he eats, breaths, sleeps, and craps whatever is best for the guild. So, he must see some value in you for the guild.”

Tim paused and thought for a moment. “Okay, but what class are you? Can you even teach me any skills?”

“I’m a monk, and yes, I can teach you common skills. To learn more specialized skills, you will need to go to a warrior trainer. That could be Charles or one of the others.”

“Hmm, is that like a kung-fu monk or a vow of silence monk?” Tim asked.

“Not sure what those terms refer to, but you are definitely convincing me you are 1st gen. Now, what I really need to know is what kind of fighter you see yourself as,” Simon said.

Tim wasn’t sure if he had just been called crazy, but he decided to let it slide. The truth was, he really needed to work up some goodwill. “I’m not sure what you mean about seeing myself? Is there a magic mirror I need to impress with my rugged good looks?”

Shaking his head, Simon spoke with a tone that bespoke of strained patience, “What I mean to ask is what kind of fighting style you will be using. You are wearing a long sword, but I don’t want to jump to any conclusions. Will that be your primary weapon?”

“Oh, I see what you mean. Yes, I think I will use the long sword as my main gig for now. Unless, I get some really cool magic weapon, but it feels very natural there on my hip.”

“Good, and will you be fighting with one blade or two? Will you be using a shield or be more of a duelist?”

“Well, if I had my choice, I guess I would be more of a spellsword. Is that a thing here?”

“Here? As in at the guildhall?”

“No, I meant in this world, but honestly, the name of it is slipping my mind,” Tim said hesitantly.

“It’s called Iocusinte, and no, Spellsword is not one of the 16 adventurer classes. What is it?”

“It’s a fighter who uses one hand for his sword and the other hand for casting spells. I just figured it must be a possibility because I have a mana score. Why would I have mana if I couldn’t cast spells, right?”

“Everyone has mana, even the weakest of sojourners. It is one thing that we all have in common and something which separates us from the rest of the population. That doesn’t mean you can cast spells. Mana is simply the underlying energy that runs through all things. It is the fuel that a mage uses for spells, of course, but it is also what powers a warrior's fighting skills or a monk’s disciplines.”

“Hmm, so I can’t cast lightning bolts?”

Simon crossed his arms. “No, not unless you can somehow become an elementalist just like you changed from being a bloodmage. Trust me, if there was a way to wield a sword and hurl spells then everyone would want to be that class.”

“Bummer. Well, if mana is the fuel for all these special moves, then why was it that when I was in that crypt-keeper form and got all jiggy that people looked like they were pockets of power that were circulating around?” Tim asked.

“Crypt keeper? If you are referring to when you were a blood mage in that old body—” Simon began.

“Yeah, that's what I mean,” Tim interrupted enthusiastically.

“I can only speculate, but I think you were using a higher-level spell, Mass Paralyzing Blood, and that you were seeing things through the innate nature of a blood mage. Again, since I’ve never been a bloodmage, I am only going off the accounts, but blood mages can convert the life force contained in fresh blood into either mana or hit points. The more experienced they are, the better they get at it, and eventually, some can even be decent healers. Supposedly, the strongest of them can see the potential power in the blood of living organisms around them,” Simon lectured.

“That stinks, ‘cause everyone I know back home always played a spellsword, but I guess I will take what I can get. This is definitely better than being old. Maybe you can tell me what a warrior is good at. That might help me figure out how to pick a style. Oh, and can I change the skills that I select?” Tim asked.

“Yes, skills can be changed by touching a training rod.”

“What is a—”

Anticipating the question, Simon had already launched into an explanation, “A training rod is a magical artifact that is about two feet long and has a metallic sphere on one end that is about as wide across as my hand and has slots for sixteen gems. It must have the appropriate gem for your class in it to change skills in that class.”

“I’m sorry. I feel like the more you explain, the more questions I have. If there are sixteen classes does that mean that everyone here picked the class that they wanted to be? Did they get special training or have to pass some kind of test?”

Simon shook his head but answered, “There are many sojourner families who believe that they can influence the class of their house members by providing them with specialized training up to their naming day on their 18th birthday. None of it has ever been proven, and since you are asking me, I will tell you it's just a bunch of superstition. The truth is that choice is a fairytale. You play the cards you're dealt, and the wise or the strong make the most of it.”

“Okay, but what…”

“No more questions. I need to get you ready for your first task.”

“Task? What task? Oh, never mind. I really have to ask one more question. If one of those training rods can just give you skills, then why doesn’t everyone just walk around with the best skills?”

“First off, it isn’t always the skill or spell you have but more how you use it. Second, no single skill or spell is the best for every situation. Third, you must meet the pre-requisites for any skill, by having the appropriate class, level, and stats. Finally, it costs coin to buy skills from a training rod.”

“So, coins power the rod?”

“No, what sort of world do you come from. The rod is a substantial source of income for whoever controls them. They can only be operated by a magistrate or teacher, which are two of the non-adventurer classes. While the rod requires mana from both the wielder and the subject, it also consumes part of the metal of the coins to maintain its structure. The rod begins to break down as it is used, and so those coins are also necessary to maintain it in working order. The first skill slot is almost free, but each subsequent slot increases the strain that it is on the rod and so has a higher coin cost.”

Tim surprised Simon at this point by not asking any more questions. He already had a lot to think about, but since he hadn’t asked, Simon offered another bit of information, “As for how you will get your skills, you already have two but will need to buy the rest. The guild will lend you the coin since you likely don’t have it, but I am told that most 1st gen have at least a bit of coin in their soul pouch.”

“Exactly how much does it cost to add a skill?”

“As I said, it varies based upon the slot and the skill. Skills are broken down into common, uncommon, and rare. There are unique versions of skills that require not only a training rod but a training manual. It isn’t that those skills are truly unique as much as that only one person in the world can ever have them at the same time,” Simon lectured.

Tim just waited again as Simon paused to catch his breath before continuing. While waiting, he took in the hallway that they were walking down. They came to a halt outside of a room that had two guards at it and a heavy metal door versus the typical wooden doors he had seen throughout the guildhall so far.