Light returned and Zane saw the Messenger sitting on the stone altar. Zane’s group and several other groups were still in meditation. Zane felt a large amount of information flow through his mind, and he opened his system messages to read about the changes in detail.

Congratulations! You have obtained your first class.

Class: Warrior

Description: Capable of affecting the world through physical power and skill.

Rewards: 10 CP, +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 End, +1 Vit and +2 free stat points per level

Congratulations! You have been awarded the title Blood-Stained Murderer

Blood-Stained Murderer:

You have grown from a Killer, Blood Stained, and a Murderer into a Blood-Stained Murderer. You are rewarded this title for taking the lives of more than one hundred system sentient creatures.

All stats increased by +10 and 5%. Damage increased by 25%

Congratulations! You have been awarded the title Well Trained

Well Trained:

You have participated in difficult training in preparation for your first class. For every ten status points above your race’s adult standard, you will receive an increase in Class points from all sources below tier one.

30% increase in CP

Zane looked at the list of messages and felt a mixture of pleasure and disappointment. He felt pleased that he was able to get 30% increase in his stat points but disappointed that the system did not include the stats from his first title when calculating his second title. I shouldn’t be greedy. I should be thankful that the system considered my endurance stat to have reached forty points. It’s a good thing I got those two titles before I chose my class.

Zane saw that everyone was still selecting their class. With nothing better to do he decided to look at his status window. Wait, the system should have given me a skill. Zane checked his messages and didn’t see anything new. Well, when you don’t know what to do you should ask others for help. Zane looked at the Messenger and decided not to say anything. She looks busy and disturbing her would be rude. Its only one skill it doesn’t matter if I don’t get it right now.

Zane closed his eyes and relaxed as he waited for everyone else in the circle to finish. This lasted for a few seconds before his eyes abruptly opened. Why would I think one skill isn’t important? Every skill is an opportunity for more strength. Zane looked at the messenger and saw that she was smiling. He felt that her smile was directed at him. He decided to close his eyes and keep them shut until everyone else was ready.

“It looks like everyone has selected their class.” The Messenger stood up and spoke after a few minutes had passed. “I know that everyone has a lot of questions they would like to ask but I can’t answer them. The mana surge is about to begin, and I have a schedule to keep.”

“Many of you native to this world are probably wondering why the system didn’t give you a skill after you selected your class. The system and the Divine Spirits have decided to allow you to select three skills from a list of all available skills under tier one.”

Zane was speechless. He looked at the messenger in disbelief unable to comprehend what she just said. Getting two extra skills were great but getting to choose what those three extra skills would be even better. Everything seems too good to be true. Why is the system giving our group so many good things? Is it just because were the system’s chosen?

“The rest of you are not from this world and don’t realize how valuable this opportunity is. The system will not be explaining what each skill does before you select it. You should take your time and carefully look over the skills before making your decision. When in doubt trust your instincts.”

“The skill you select may not be suitable for your class. This isn’t a bad thing since everyone is capable of learning all skills from every class. Skills suitable for your class will cost less class points to obtain and give you class quest. Skills unsuitable for your class will not give you a class quest.”

“Finally, I would like to suggest that you pick a skill that will make you more familiar with mana. Two skills you can select are Mana Manipulation and Mana Control. During the mana surge you will be sitting in meditation concentrating on the mana around you and within you. Selecting one of the two skills I mentioned before will make concentrating much easier and bring you a lot of benefits.”

“This is a lot of information,” an elven said. This was the same elven that tried to kill Jason. “You didn’t explain anything about class skills and class quest when you went over the skills section in our status window.”

“I know I didn’t give the most detailed information but that’s because I couldn’t. The mana surge is approaching, and our time is limited. If I try to explain everything those of you who are new to this world would be left with more questions than answers.”

“You say you couldn’t but I think the word you meant to use was wouldn’t. I think you want to make sure the humans of your world have greater advantage than everyone else.”

“Everyone here will have the opportunity to obtain the information that natives of this world have learned while growing up. The natives of this world who have not received the best education will also have the opportunity to acquire more knowledge.”

Zane was pleased to hear this. Although he had a powerful teacher, she was not the best when it came to martial skills. Teacher Isabelle excelled at magic and was able to help everyone at the orphanage gain better control and understanding about mana. When it came to teaching Zane martial skills, the best she could do was tell him if he was making a mistake but, not what mistake he was making. Zane knew that he would benefit from obtaining martial knowledge from experts.

“Those are just your words.” The elven said while angrily pointing at the Messenger. “The truth is you want to see us pick the worst skills possible and purposefully withheld information.”

“Hmph!” The Messenger glared at the eleven. “I have already suggested two great skills for you to pick. The last skill is one you can pick randomly, or you can ask the system to select all three for you. The time for the mana surge is approaching so I suggest that everyone makes their preparations.”

When the Messenger finished speaking, she sat down and closed her eyes. Zane shook his head at the elven’s foolish decision. Offending a Messenger was bad luck and those who have done so received the worst possible outcomes in games of chance. Zane was grateful as well. The Messengers final words helped Zane decide on what skills he would choose.

“This is amazing,” Jason said. He was sitting on the floor and looking into the air. “There are so many great skills and I get to choose three! I’m so glad I came here. My path toward becoming the ultimate mage is guaranteed.”

“Don’t get overexcited by all the skills and pick the cool sounding ones.” Sophie tapped Jason on the shoulder to get his attention. “We need to think of what skills would help us with the coming challenges”

“What do you think we should do?” Shane asked. Shane had the same olive skin as Sophie and was half a head taller than Zane. He had short, dirty blond hair and a muscular physique.

“I’m not sure. Maybe we should pick skills that aren’t for our class.” Sophie looked unsure and hesitant. “That would allow us to save some class points.”

“We would save class points no matter what skills we select,” Lana said. She was a girl with fair skin, dark hair and dark eyes. "We should select three skills that we’re good at so we can quickly level up.”

“I disagree,” Jason said. “We will be able to unlock the skills were familiar with. Right now, we should focus on the unknown cool skills.”

“I think-”

“Hold,” Zane said. When he saw that everyone was focused on him, he continued to speak. “Everyone has great ideas but simply shouting them out isn’t the way to have a proper discussion.”

“What do you think we should do?” Lana asked.

“We should start with something we can agree on. I think we can all agree that we should examine the list of skills and wait until the last minute before selecting three skills. This would allow us to see some skills that we can potentially unlock on our own.”

“That’s a good idea but it doesn’t help us with selecting the three skills.” Shane scratched his head in frustration.

“We all agree that we want the best skills to help us face the challenges of the starting village.” Zane smiled at the nods he received. “The first challenge we will receive is the mana surge and I think we should select skills that will help us through it.” Zane wasn’t surprised to see the look of confusion on anyone’s face.

“Uh, Zane. I think your confused,” Jason said. “The mana surge is meant to help us. The mana will strengthen our bodies and help us improve our race.”

“That’s if everything goes according to plan.” Zane put away his smile and gave Jason a serious look. “What would happen if we were exposed to too much mana or we failed to control the mana we were absorbing.”

“Mana sickness,” Jason said in a surprised voice. “That won’t happen though. All of us have trained with mana and won’t make those mistakes.”

“How much mana was in the air when we trained? The amount of mana that we will experience during the mana surge will be a thousand time more at least.”

“I’m sure the system has protections in place.” Jason started to sound unsure. “The Messenger said there is a barrier that protects us.”

“That protection is from injuries. Mana sickness only affects mana and stamina.”

The more Zane talked the more convinced everyone was. Zane also became more convinced that he knew the best skills to select.

“I think we should choose Mana Manipulation and Mana Control. I know that these skills don’t seem like the best choice but, they are considered class skills in each class. These two skills will be very helpful in preventing mana sickness. The main reason I think we choose these skills is because the Messenger said she thinks that’s the best skills to choose. I think she was saying this to all of us not just the people from other worlds.”

Zane thought what he said made sense and he hoped the others would agree. Teacher Isabelle had taught him to be suspicious of shiny weapons on the street. Zane felt like that about the huge list of skills.

“What you said makes a lot of sense but how do you know if it’s true?” Shane asked.

“It’s true,” Jason said. Jason spoke in a heartbroken tone. “We have to give up on the other skills or we would get a severe case of mana sickness. Mana one hundred times denser than normal would lead to mana sickness after prolonged exposure. Mana during the mana surge would be much stronger. Although the other skills sound cool and powerful, they’re basically useless right now.”

“What should our third skill be?” Sophie asked.

Zane saw Jason’s face become hopeful and he decided not to tell the others his decision. The third skill he picked was not absolutely necessary. It was only more suitable and couldn’t be considered the best skill to pick.

“I think I know the best skill, but I won’t say anything.” Zane said. “We should choose the last skill on our own.”

“I agree! Let’s all focus and start looking over skills.” Jason spoke quickly as if he was afraid others would disagree.

Zane and the others followed his lead. Zane could see some of the skills looked great and would be very useful but he was confident in his decision. He could hear loud and quiet discussions happening all over. There were many groups spaced apart talking about what they should do and only a few groups were like his quietly looking at the list of skills.