Honestly, after that crazy night, I was expecting to wake up with more insanity, reality-destabilizing shenanigans, and stuff like that.

Instead, when I woke up, everything felt startlingly… normal. Mom was cooking breakfast in the kitchen, Dad was hurrying off to work mining coal, and I was sitting around, because I had finished Mining School years ago, but was not old enough to legally mine coal yet.

I ate a delectable breakfast of pancakes and walked out of the apartment building I lived in to see… normality. Children were running around, as usual, younger children were being hurried to Mining School, as usual, and the fountain was malfunctioning, as usual.

I walked to the Merchant’s District, seeing a bunch of stalls buying coal, selling coal, buying coal futures, selling coal futures, and doing some weird “forex trading” or whatever. I was just walking past, on my way to the Forest to explore, when I saw a pair of rapiers labeled as “Training Rapiers”. They were five gold, which were a bit expensive: however, now I knew I had a future beyond staying here and mining coal, I bought it to try to gain the Basic Rapiers skill. I had plenty of gold, after all.

It took a week to get the Basic Rapiers skill, and it was another month before it got to level 20. It was when I was looking over my status for the hundredth time that I saw I had never spent my attribute points, and I was up to sixty-four unspent Points. I looked at my Class Requirements, and decided to put my points into Strength, Dexterity, and Agility equally since I didn’t know any Spells yet. Speaking of Spells,

“Hey Sarah, how do I get Spells?”

“Spellbooks are the only way.”

“How do I get those?”

“You can buy those. Tier-1 Spells are rare, but they’re not that rare. Tier-2 Spells are the real problem. Those cost about five hundred Silver Marks each.”

“What are Silver Marks?”

“Each one is one hundred Copper Marks.

“What are Copper Marks?” She was getting on my nerves now.

“One thousand Gold each.”

One thousand gold for a Copper Mark meant one hundred thousand gold per Silver Mark, so I needed fifty million gold. Suddenly, the hundred gold that I had did not seem so plentiful anymore.

Attributes (Unspent Points: 0)

Strength (Talent: Average)

Rank: Basic H-22

Dexterity (Talent: Excellent)

Rank: Basic H-92

Agility (Talent: Excellent)

Rank: Basic H-91

Constitution (Talent: Poor)

Rank: Basic H-01

Intelligence (Talent: Above Average)

Rank: Basic H-03

Wisdom (Talent: Above Average)

Rank: Basic H-03

Psych (LOCKED) (Talent: Excellent)

LOCKED: Proceed to Tier 8 to unlock

Meta (LOCKED) (Talent: Above Average)

LOCKED: Proceed to Tier 4 to unlock

I would need a lot more Attribute Points to get the Class. In fact, doing the calculation, I would need one thousand two hundred and fifty points, or a whopping six hundred and twenty five Levels. However, I had an idea that would at least solve the Gold problem.

“Sarah, how do I get Quests?”

“I can give you some if you want.”

“Okay.”

New Quest Received!

Enroll in the Academy

Pass the Academy Entrance Exam in 09:20:10:30 and join the Academy

Reward: 100 Copper Marks, +20 Levels

Failure: -30 Levels

Accept? Yes/No

I clicked Yes, then frowned.

“Sarah, what’s the Academy?”

“It’s a school for magic users.”

“Where is it? I’ve never heard of such a thing in Capres Town before.”

“In Vartur. The entrance exam is there, as well. Here. I’ll give you another Quest.

New Quest Received!

Get to Vartur, Sayamn Plains, Dlamalar

Get to Vartur, a city in the Sayamn Plains within 09:20:09:46

Reward: 50 Copper Marks, +10 Levels

Failure: -20 Levels, -100 Gold

Accept? Yes/No

I clicked Yes to this one as well, then another notification popped up:

Quest Waypoint Found!

Set as Waypoint: (5/5 Remaining)

Vartur, Sayamn Plains, Dlamalar

Yes/No

“Sarah, what’s a Waypoint?”

“It’s a marker that tells you where something is.”

“Should I set one for this Quest?”

“Yes. How else are you going to know where Vartur is?”

I clicked Yes. Suddenly, a blue circle appeared in my vision. A screen popped up before I could get a good look at it.

Waypoint 1 Route:

Sub-Waypoint 1: Txald, El’Gurrod Forest, Dlamalar (Estimated Arrival in 7h 23m)

Sub-Waypoint 2: Vams, El’Gurrod Forest, Dlamalar

Sub-Waypoint 3: Slais, El’Gurrod Forest, Dlamalar

Sub-Waypoint 4: Wem, El’Gurrod Forest, Dlamalar

Sub-Waypoint 5: Apled, El’Gurrod Forest, Dlamalar

Sub-Waypoint 6: Gamei, Sayamn Plains, Dlamalar

Hidden(+3 More)

Was I really going to do this? Was I really going to abandon everything I’d known for the unknown? Head to this Vartur and go into magic?

Yes. Yes I was. Ever since I’d graduated Mining School, I’d known I’d have no place here, where half the population were mining coal.

Time to head out towards the unknown.

The first part of the journey was pretty uneventful.

I bought some supplies, and started walking towards the first sub-waypoint, Txald. About an hour in, I realized how surprisingly easy this was. I realized this was probably my Agility near G-Rank. I didn’t want to waste time, so I tried to pick up and level Dual Wielding by swinging both of my rapiers at the same time. I got the Skill around hour 7, and by the time we got to Txald, it was already Level 3.

Txald was a small village, famed for its lumberjacks and lumber, and visited from faraway places for the aformentioned lumber was what the pamphlet said. The reality was about the same, if you replaced famed with kind of well known for, faraway places with about a 5-mile radius, and small village with three huts and an inn.

Nevertheless, it was a place to stay at.

The next five villages had me appreciating how unique Capres Town was, not just for its size and prosperity, but also for its profession. Up until the border between the Forest and the Plains, every single village had been a lumberjacking one. Even Gamei, the border town, has half its economy dedicated to lumber and lumber-related products.

The most interesting thing that happened those five days was that Dual Wielding got up to Level 8, which netted me 8 levels and 16 attribute points. I chose to save them for later.

In Gamei, however, there was a stall selling Fireball and Thunder Shock. Those were tier-1 spells, which cost 50 Copper Marks each.

Luckily, I asked Sarah for some side quests, and she gladly complied, leaving me with an additional 20 levels and 10 Copper Marks, which was enough to apply for a loan of 100 Copper Marks, with a promise to pay a guy in Vartur 120 Marks when I arrived.

I bought the two spells, and learned the spells to a flood of Notifications.

System Function Unlocked! - Spells

Reward: New Status Tab

Congratulations! You learned the Tier 1 Spell Fireball!

Attunement: Fire

Rarity: Common

Requirements: 20 Mana

Attack Type: Single Target

Cast Time: Medium

Fire Damage: 15-24 x Intelligence

Inflicts Burn

Congratulations! By learning the Fire-attuned Tier 1 Spell Fireball, you gained the Skill Fire Magic!

Reward: Knowledge

Type: Unlock

Sub-Type: Skills Tutorial

Note: Since you learned this skill via an indirect method, this skill cannot improve past Level 1 without further guidance

Congratulations! You learned the Tier 1 Spell Thunder Shock!

Attunement: Lightning

Rarity: Uncommon

Requirements: 50 Mana

Attack Type: Area of Effect

Radius: 20-30 feet directly in front of caster

Cast Time: Very Long

Thunder Damage: 15-25 x Intelligence

True Damage: 0-3

30% chance to inflict Stun

20% chance to bypass Defense

5% chance to bypass all magical shielding

Congratulations! By learning the Thunder-attuned Tier 1 spell Thunder Shock, you gained the Skill Thunder Magic!

Note: Since you learned this skill via an indirect method, this skill cannot improve past Level 1 without further guidance

I first looked at my Status. After pondering upon what I wanted to put points into, I decided to raise Dexterity and Agility to G-Rank, then level Intelligence and Wisdom with my remaining Points.

Status:

HP: 10/10 (0.1/min)

SP: 2030/2030 (20.3/sec)

DEF: 2

MP: 170/170 (1.5/sec)

Rank: Bronze

Advancement 0 Stage 0 Tier 0 Level 42

Attributes (Unspent Points: 0)

Strength (Talent: Average)

Rank: Basic H-22

Dexterity (Talent: Excellent)

Rank: Basic G-00

Agility (Talent: Excellent)

Rank: Basic G-03

Constitution (Talent: Poor)

Rank: Basic H-01

Intelligence (Talent: Above Average)

Rank: Basic H-17

Wisdom (Talent: Above Average)

Rank: Basic H-15

Psych (LOCKED) (Talent: Excellent)

LOCKED: Proceed to Tier 8 to unlock

Meta (LOCKED) (Talent: Above Average)

LOCKED: Proceed to Tier 4 to unlock

Skills:

Dual Wielding

Uncommon II

Level 15

Basic Rapiers

Common IV

Level 20

Inspect

Common IV

Level 3

Analyze

Common III

Level 1

Fire Magic

Common II

Level 1

Thunder Magic

Common II

Level 1

Mining

Unranked

Level 10

Quests:

The Legacy Of The Eviolodons(Locked)

(Locked)

Unlock Quest: “The Legacy of the Eviolodons”

Advance to Tier 11 (Level 12/1000)

Get to Vartur, Sayamn Plains, Dlamalar

Get to Vartur

Enroll in the Academy

Pass the Academy Entrance Exam in 03:14:20:32

Location:

Macro: Subspace - Aggressive Realities - Tier 12 - Instance #434

Micro: A’dreya - Dlamalar - Sayamn Plains - Gamei

A waypoint can be set anywhere within the current Macro Location (Waypoints Active: 1/5)

Inventory:

Unknown Location - Chaos White Items:

The Guide To Ascending(Quest Item)(Locked)

Uncommon Items:

Multi-Use Analyze Skillbook(Uses: 4/5)

Multi-Use Inspect Skillbook(Uses: 4/5)

Common Items:

Water Bottle (780/1000 mL filled)

Storage Backpack(7/8 slots filled)

Unranked Items:

(Hidden. Show Unranked Items?)

Magic:

Affinities Unlocked:

Fire, Thunder

Potential Affinities Dormant:

Water, Air, Earth, Life, Death, Light, Dark, Wood, Metal, Nature, Spirit

Affinities with No Potential:

None

Spells:

Thunder Shock

Tier 1

Uncommon

Fireball

Tier 1

Common

3 more tabs locked - Gain something that modifies those tabs to view them

12 more tabs locked - Advance System to a higher Level to view them

I felt the difference, alright. My arms and legs felt a lot more… mine. It’s hard to describe the sensation, but think about it as when you wake up lying on your arm all night, then you get up. That was what it felt like, only ten times more intense.

After two more disappointing tiny little villages, I finally arrived at Vartur.

The towering bronze gates with dual-headed dragons was not what drew my eye. Nor was it the system notification that popped up when I used Inspect on it, informing me it was of Unique rarity. What did draw my attention, however, was the huge towering 20-storey castle that twisted and turned, making up at least ninety percent of the actual town. Five more percent of that was a huge obstacle course, that stretched as far as the eye could see, featuring a rock wall almost the height of the castle and jets of fire that you had to jump over as they rotated periodically. The other five percent were actually normal houses and inns and shops and everything that a town needed in order to survive.

The Level 306 Iron Knight guarding the gate let me pass when I said I was going to go to the Entrance Exam, with a rather ominous message of, “Good Luck”.

What exactly needed luck, I didn’t know. It turned out pretty much everything.

Signing up to the Exam was no simple affair. I had to put my hand on this machine that averages out your talent for everything, and I got White, the second highest grade.

That was when the whispers started happening.

At first, it was no big deal. Just an occasional glance at my direction, and some whispering covertly between friends.

However, as the Exam neared, I heard whispers of “Fraud”, “Cheat”, and, worst of all, “Blank”. Wherever I walked, people started whispering and falling back, muttering about how “being near him when he inevitably gets kicked out” was “bad luck”.

It was time for the Exam. I lined up, ready for the first elimination stage, which was the obstacle course.

I first had to balance on a narrow balance beam with pendulums swinging around me. Then, I had to duck and dodge fireballs that were coming at me from four directions at once. Afterwards, I had to climb an extremely high wall while boulders were falling down at me from above, then jump down into water, and swim while magical fire was swirling around. Finally, I had to run as fast as I can through a mile of hurdles. Needless to say, I passed that round with flying scores.

Then came the pain tolerance test. That one I miserably failed at.

With my measly one point of constitution, the first test - the ice water one - broke me. While watching other people swim in a sea of fire like it was nothing, I wondered not for the first time what people in the highest Tier would be like. If somebody with Basic attributes was like this, what would a person with Bronze, Silver, Gold, or even Platinum attributes be like?

After the torture came the physical/magical combat test, where we were to fight against waves of progressively stronger dummies using no magic and only magic respectively. I got to the fifth wave in the physical test and the fourth in the combat test.

In the breaks between tests, I again heard whispers of “Contraband”, “Cheat”, and “Impossible”. Slowly, however, the crowd was turning in my favor.

The last test was something called a “Mixed Cooperative Environmental Combat Test”. Basically, you and four other people had to kill progressively stronger waves of monsters in a simulation.

I waited with bated breath to see who my teammates were. Displayed on the screen on bright blue letters were, “Team: Everlon, Francine, Chad, Waras, Hary”. I had no idea who any of them were; however, I hoped that they would turn out to be good teammates.

I was the first to stand in the glowing blue circle that said “Team Everlon”. Just as I thought my teammates had all given up on the exam, a short, chubby red-headed man who had the face of a boy strode in.

“Hello, I’m Chad. Nice to meet you.”

“Hello. Nice to meet you too. I’m Everlon.” I used Analyze on him.

Chad Riding

Level 24 Fighter

Reputation: Neutral (200 to Inclined, -200 to Disliked)

Temporary Attribute - Team: Friendly

Level up Analyze to see more

Seems like a nice guy.

The next person that walked in was another fat guy; this time, he appeared Asian in nature, and he was a stereotypical Asian slouch, fat, slow, and with glasses.

“Hello. I’m the leader of this team now, I’ve decided.”

“Why?” Chad asked.

“Because I’m the strongest one here, “ he puffed.

I used Analyze on him as well.

Hary Chew

Level 36 Classless

Reputation: Animosity (500 to Disliked, -1000 to Hated)

Temporary Attribute - Team: Friendly

Level up Analyze to see more

Okay, not so nice a guy.

First of all, how was I already at animosity? We had literally met thirty seconds ago. Secondly, he did not seem like a nice guy to have around.

So, politely, of course, I told him to “get out of here or I’ll shove a pencil up your butt“.

He started muttering about “Underappreciated Talents”.

Your reputation with Hary Chew dropped by 200 points.

Your reputation with Chad Riding grew by 200 points.

Your reputation with Chad Riding is now Inclined.

At this moment, a fourth person walked into the room, followed by a fifth person.

The fourth person was clutching desperately onto the arm of the fifth person, whining.

“Why won’t you be my girlfriend! Please!”

“Stop stalking me, you pervert!”

The fourth person sniveled, then spotted us and said: “Guys! Help! I’m trying to-“

What exactly he was trying to do was unknown, as Hary threw herself at the girl and said: “M’lady, may I-“

“First of all, my name is Beatrice, not ‘M’lady’. Secondly, NO, and thirdly, will everybody stop stalking me!” Beatrice snapped.

“Lady Beatrice, I will protect you from this-“

“STOP!” I bellowed. Everybody instantly paused. “Chad, good job. Hary, weirdo-“

“Actually, my name is Waras.”

“Hary and Waras, stop being creepy,” I continued.

Hary snorted. “What makes you able to order me around?”

“Actually, nothing. You can go, if you wish.”

Knowing that he’ll never actually leave, he continued sulking in a corner. Waras started sulking in an opposite corner.

Suddenly, a large number appeared on a wall. It read five. Then four. Then three. As it ticked down to one, my surroundings began to fade to black.