Class Acquired: Support

‘That’s… surprisingly normal, all things considered. Huh.’

Leon still sat or rather floated in the middle of the starry void. He tried to get more information on what the class meant, similar to many games he knew, but nothing happened; the status window wasn’t responding. ‘So, what I do know is that the voice gave me a class and, apparently, this class is the most fitting for my soul… ’

Part of him wasn’t shocked that his soul had chosen a support class. Much of his life, after reflection, was him supporting others or just him standing on the sidelines of his own life willingly. ‘Wait… what about Mia? Is she also going through this? I hadn’t even thought to look for her.’ This quickly fell into a cycle of self-blame and trying to justify his lack of thought on the subject.

Going nowhere at all, Leon ultimately decided to snap out of it. ‘I do this too damn much! I’m wasting time,’ proceeding to punch himself. It was about time that he left this dimensional void space thingy. Funny enough, just thinking the thought of leaving instantaneously changed his surroundings to the previous, albeit a bit unpleasant as his eyes reacclimated. ‘I feel kind of dumb for not trying to just leave after the status window didn’t work.’

Glancing around, most people were still in a trance-like state. To his left, Julia and Drake seemed to be as well. Surveying the people around him more closely, Leon didn’t see any similar to Mia. There were a few children, but it wasn’t hard to realize they weren’t her. Attempting to move and continue his search, Leon was met with a strange restriction. His body refused to move more than a meter from his spot.

Pushing more, he felt this invisible barrier budge a bit. Violent energy washed over him in response. Whatever constructed this barrier, likely the voice, didn’t approve of the action. Any piece of Leon that felt the urge to leave his designated area left instantly. Sighing in disappointment, along with a sneaking feeling of fear from this mysterious power, he did what he wanted to do the first time. ‘Let’s see what this class is.’ Appearing before him were a few more boxes of text.

Class: Support

Basic Caster Class focused on a variety of skills to assist those the caster considers allies and the caster themselves.

Stat bonuses: +1 Agi, +1 Per, +2 Int, +2 Wisdom, +1 Free Point

‘That was kind of… anticlimactic. I guess the concept of support in the game sense is simple enough.’ Looking to better things, he moved on to the next floating box of text.

Class items have been gifted to the user as the universe undergoes integration:

Casting Gloves (Inferior) Mage’s Cloak (Inferior)

‘Cool, they gave me gloves, I was worried I’d have to wave a tiny stick around and the fact that I got a cloak instead of a robe is great too. I wouldn’t want to walk around in a giant robe.’

Aside from his concerns that were pushed to the back of his mind somewhat forcefully, Leon had to admit, it was all very exhilarating. As if his dreams of living in a fantasy world of knights and dragons were coming true. It was weird how well he was currently taking this sudden change. Did part of him believe this was a prank? Well, kind of but that was quickly killed off when the status window appeared. Not to mention that it felt pretty dumb to doubt it since it would be pretty hard to kidnap a thousand people and do all of this. ‘Then again… I did blackout so… they could all be in on it and dragged me here,’ skeptically eyeing the unconscious people and the few that had finished their little trip.

Leon ultimately decided to discard the thought. This was either a dream, the afterlife, or real life. The first two meant that he would try to not stress anything. The last one meant that he had to go along with everything anyway since that disembodied voice gave off the feeling that he could kill all of them with the flick of a finger. ‘Alright… just remember… take things as they come, that’s what Nora always said.’ As to whether or not the advice Mrs. Nora gave him to help him mentally through his financial problems would help him here, it was worth a shot.

Deciding to loosen up, he continued on to read the item’s descriptions.

Casting Gloves (Inferior): Gloves made by a novice craftsman. Allows the user to more easily cast spells. Gives +1 Agi, +1 Int.

‘That’s cool. I’m going to assume that the fact it gives agility for a caster means that agility probably affects cast time to some extent. The intelligence is a given, anyone who has played an RPG knows that.’ At least, that was what he hoped the agility was for. If it was for avoiding being hit, he was slightly concerned. The stat itself helps regardless, but what it implied was unsettling. He continued…

Mage’s Cloak (Inferior): A simple cloak made by a novice craftsman. Gives +1 Con, +1 Int, +2 Wis.

‘Now… how do I wear them?’ Thinking this, another transparent box appeared.

Would you like to receive your items now? [Yes/No]

Without hesitation, Leon pressed his finger against the floating ‘yes’. Appearing on the floor before him were his highly anticipated pieces of gear. The gloves laid atop the folded cloak. Leon bent down to pick up the gloves. They were white in color and he was fairly certain they were made of some sort of silk based on the smooth texture.

Putting them on, a feeling overtook him… a comforting warm sensation flowed up his arms from his hands and spread throughout his body. Leon stared at his gloves in amazement for a while. He knew they were ‘inferior’ quality which was probably the lowest possible quality, but the feeling remained the same.

Excitedly, he bent down again and grabbed the cloak. The cloak was interesting in design. The cloak was primarily a verdant green shade with sections of it being white. On the right shoulder, a small brown padding was found sewed in. The cloak only covered from the middle of the abdomen to the base of the neck. The left side didn’t have padding, but the cloak reached down further, creating a sort of slope when you looked at it from one side to another. The left side also had two layers, one covered the shoulders with the right side but another laid underneath it, covering more of the arm.

The same sensation came once more as Leon put it on. In all honestly, it did look a little strange over his work clothes. His button up shirt, dress pants, and shoes were luckily black, so he didn’t end up with some weird color scheme. ‘If it looked anymore strange, I’ll lose my one charisma point,’ he thought, reminding him to check his updated status window.

Status

Name: Leon Knight

Race: Lesser Human (0)

Class: Support (0)

Profession: ---

Vitality: 61/70

Mana: 92/110

Stamina: 50/50

Stats

Strength: 4

Agility: 8 (1)

Endurance: 5

Constitution: 7 (1)

Perception: 8

Intelligence: 11 (2)

Wisdom: 7 (2)

Charisma: 1

Skills

[Mend (Inferior)] [Disarray (Inferior)]

The stats weren’t that big of a deal, he now had 51 stat points in total which put him at average based on his and his coworkers’ earlier observations. Looking over it, Leon made a few observations. For one, constitution did affect his vitality, it seemed like it went up 10 points per constitution stat. Secondly, the same could be said about mana and intelligence. This probably meant that stamina was determined by endurance and scaled by 10 based on the 5 and 50 he saw.

Lastly, he noticed that even though his cap for those resources went up, the amount he currently had didn’t just fill up. ‘I guess this means that I can’t just take gear off and on to regain my mana or whatnot. That makes sense, I suppose.’ Leon had to constantly remind himself that this may look like a video game but this was very much real.

After feeling satisfied with his detective skills, he took notice of the new category on his status window. He had skills now and still hadn’t looked at them. It hadn’t really crossed his mind since he started at level zero for his race and the same for his class. ‘I don’t think I’ve played a game that gave skills at level zero… or even started at level zero.’ Yet another difference to help draw the line between game and reality.

‘Let’s take a look at these skills.’

[Mend (Inferior)]: A staple skill of any successful support. Allows the user to minorly accelerate the natural regeneration of a target by converting a source of mana into vital energy.

Unsurprised, Leon continued onto the next one.

[Disarray (Inferior)]: A support’s best friend in a pinch. Causes minor nausea and dizziness to a chosen target, disorienting them. Effect weakens based on target’s constitution.

This was interesting, not what Leon associated with a support but a much-welcomed gift. As to how effective they were, he had yet to find out. ‘I’m definitely not going to hurt myself to test out [Mend] and I’m DEFINITELY not going to make someone throw up with [Disarray].’ Leon rested his head on his hand as he continued thinking about all of this. Excitement and fear currently clashed within him. No matter how he looked at it, logically, he should be scared or at least concerned but the excitement won out.

“Pfft” a muffled laugh sounded out from behind him.

Turning around Leon saw that Julia was back from her stargazing. Confused, he tilted his head at her. ‘And I thought I was weird for enjoying this peculiar situation…’

Julia’s face practically blew up with laughter at the sight of Leon’s lack of understanding. “Just what- just what are you wearing?”

Glancing down and looking back up at her, it struck him. “Oh…”