Milo racked his brain, trying to come up with a skill he could demonstrate that might get him a class. Juggling, maybe?

It was a skill he had. He wasn’t amazing at it, but his father had inexplicably bribed him and his brother to learn when they were young. Perhaps it was a skill he felt every boy needed before he could call himself a man.

Anyway, it had been twenty bucks to keep two balls in the air with a single hand for a minute straight, and another twenty for three balls with two hands. Obviously, Milo would be attempting the first feat now.

He took a minute to locate two suitable rocks from underneath the layer of needly forest loam before proceeding with his first attempt. He had a few false starts, but before long he was back in the familiar rhythm of toss and catch. After he felt comfortable, he began to alternate between a front-to-back circular pattern and a side-to-side pattern where the balls simply rose and fell parallel to each other, not moving left or right.

The system was apparently impressed, because it didn’t take long before it popped up with a message.

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Congratulations! By demonstrating aptitude at juggling, you have gained access to the Juggler class.

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Milo dropped the rocks to examine his new acquisition.

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Juggler: “Come one, come all, and look on amazed as I don’t drop a ball.” In this world of unlimited possibility and wonder, you’ve decided the most rewarding path forward is to chuck balls in the air for the amusement of others. Good for you.

-Gain knowledge and skills in the art of juggling. No class fusions currently available.

Make Juggler your class? (not recommended.) This choice is permanent. If chosen, all future fusions for your class must include this class (or its future variants).

-

Wow. System not impressed. Milo closed the window and thought about what to do next. He really wanted an option for fusion, to at least see how it worked. He considered his three class options thus far: Emergency Medic, Explorer, Juggler. What could he do that might pair with one of them?

The first thing that came to mind was to use the medical book to get something compatible with the Emergency Medic class, but Milo wasn’t sure how long it would take to cram enough medical knowledge in his head to get a new class option. Two of his classes had been pretty quick to achieve, merely requiring he demonstrate knowledge or skill he already had. Explorer, on the other hand, had taken five hours of hiking and a doodle.

Actually, he thought it might be cool to get an awesome class based on exploration. A true Adventurer. But what would he pair it with? A fighting class? I could be a Conquistador. They were fighting explorers, right?

Maybe juggler was the most likely fusion option. Some kind of general entertainer class? What else could he do that was entertaining?

Well, he knew how to make fart noises with lots of different parts of his body. His niece and nephews thought he was hilarious, but he didn’t think it would earn him any points with the system.

Unless…Fartist.

No. He wouldn’t even deign to try it.

…Maybe later, if nothing else works.

It did give him an idea though; he could try to get an artist class. He doubted it would pair with anything he had currently, but it would certainly increase his chances of eventually hitting a match.

Plan settled, Milo got out another piece of paper and began to draw. First was a stick figure cartoon of himself waking up this morning without a hand, with a speech bubble going “Aaahh!”

When that didn’t work, he tried a more realistic self-portrait, but either the system thought he wasn’t good or…yeah, that was probably it. Milo crumpled up the paper with the sketch of his misshapen head and decidedly creepy-looking eyes.

From that point on he abandoned living subjects and focused instead on his surroundings. He drew the stump he’d stood on this morning, trying his best to do it justice in all its crumbly, moss-covered glory. It looked sort of blobby when he was done, but still vaguely stump-like. Maybe he was an impressionist? It was the feeling of the stump he was trying to convey. The system evidently wasn’t buying that, however. He went on to sketch his desk, a group of ferns, his bandaged wrist, and finally, as he was looking skyward and doing his best to recreate the canopy overhead, the system rewarded him with a message.

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Congratulations! By showing your passion and dedication to the craft, you have gained access to the Sketch Artist class.

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Immediately abandoning the drawing he was working on, Milo checked the class description.

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Sketch Artist: You’re no Da Vinci, but you do own a pen.

-Gain skills and knowledge of techniques to aid in drawing. Class fusion available.

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Ignoring, for the moment, the fact that the system was somehow using references from his own world, Milo excitedly nudged the word “available” and was rewarded with a new screen.

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Cartographer class fusion requirements met: any scout class + any artist class. Spend fusion point on Cartographer?

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Milo was disappointed to see the new class was just the name of another profession he could have found on Earth. Still, he nudged the word to open up the class description for it.

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Cartographer: Much more than the simple cloistered mapmakers they may seem, a Cartographer must be capable of fending for themselves far from civilization as they explore, survey, and catalogue new and dangerous lands.

-Gain knowledge and skills related to exploration, survival, and mapmaking.

-Cartographer is a Journeyman Class. Journeyman classes award an additional skill slot and modifier point at level 1 and an additional Legacy Skill slot.

-

Well that was interesting. Milo wasn’t sure how good a single skill and modifier point were in the grand scheme of things or what the heck a Legacy Skill was, but it sounded like not all classes were created equal. It also sounded like fusions were the way to get better classes…so how the heck could he get more fusion points? That seemed like highly important information the system was withholding. Maybe if he gave it a nudge?

System help, he thought hopefully. Nope. Uh…system guidance? Information. 411. Tutorial. Hello? Help?

…hm. No dice. Alright, what’s next?

The answer was fairly obvious: more class options.

Milo spent the rest of the afternoon in pursuit of any class he could think of, prioritizing tasks that he thought might give him some kind of an advantage in what he assumed was a much harsher world than the one he had left.

The system refused to give Milo a combat class no matter how many imaginary foes he practiced slaying with his trusty hammer. It did, however, give him a Tumbler class after he tried a few dodge rolls on the forgiving forest floor while being extremely careful to avoid jostling his wrist overly in the process. Milo was increasingly glad of having dabbled in many different sports as a youth. Gymnastics hadn’t been a life-long love, but it had been fun for a couple of weeks. And now he finally had something to show for it!

It turned out Tumbler would fuse with the Juggler class to make Circus Performer, another Journeyman class. Why Circus Performer existed as a class, Milo had no idea. Were there even circuses on this world? How did the system decide what was a class and what wasn’t? Hm. Questions for later, I guess.

He got Lumberjack after cutting down three saplings with the pointy end of his hammer. Milo found Lumberjack could then combine with his Explorer class to make the journeyman class Frontiersman, a class focused on settling untamed lands.

He achieved Primitive Weaponwright after turning two of his little Lumberjack trees into sharpened wooden spears with his whittling kit. That had been a trial with one hand, but, after he figured out how to optimally brace the haft with his feet while he worked, it had gotten significantly easier. On the bright side, with no second hand in the mix it was harder to cut himself—although he did still manage it somehow, and now sported some gauze around his middle finger as well as his wrist.

After his success with the spears, Milo then did his best to make a fire. He failed.

He knew the basic principles, but trying to generate much friction (and therefore heat) to get a spark going to ignite a small pile of flammable fluff he’d gathered was nigh-impossible with only one hand. So, no Arsonist or Campfire Cook or anything of the sort for him today.

Next, he tried exercising. He didn’t have high hopes given that he’d gone on an arduous hike already, but he thought there was a chance. He started with some bodyweight squats before moving onto single-leg glute bridges, followed by crunches. When none of that worked, he went for a one-handed push-up. He couldn’t complete one until he dropped his knees to the ground, but the system was apparently impressed anyway because he accessed a new class.

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Congratulations! By working hard to improve your body, you have gained access to the Strongman class.

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Sweet. Hmm. Why Strongman and not Bodybuilder or Athlete or…Gym Rat or something? Also, isn’t a Strongman another type of circus performer?

Milo was clearly destined for the big top.

He didn’t bother reading the skill description. He’d stopped after the first few, confident he wouldn’t be picking any of the ones he’d accessed so far. Magic. That’s what he was holding out for. Maybe one of these he was getting now could make for a good fusion with a magical class, but the magic came first.

It was getting late. The light would start fading in the next hour or so, and Milo still had something he was intent on trying tonight. He fished the medical book out of his bag and flipped to the table of contents. Then, lacking a better place to start, he proceeded to read chapter one.

The first chapter revolved around how the body was organized. It had a lot of information Milo was already familiar with, such as basic anatomy, but also contained some things he had glossed over during his personal training course, like, for instance, how homeostasis worked. Unfortunately, reaching the end of the chapter didn’t trigger any new classes. Then again, he had sort of skimmed parts of it.

Milo considered just continuing on, but that didn’t feel quite right to him. He knew there was plenty of information in this chapter he hadn’t assimilated, and if he wanted a good medical class option for a potential healer fusion, then he was probably going to need to actually understand all this stuff. Sighing, he found a ‘learning objectives’ page and proceeded to define essential terms and explore key concepts. He got out another of his sheets of paper so he could record his notes and study them later.

About halfway through the list of objectives he was interrupted by a system message.

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Congratulations! By demonstrating literacy, studiousness, and acquiring knowledge of advanced concepts unknown to over 99% of the world’s population, you have gained access to the (Elite) Scholar class.

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Well that was intriguing. Elite. So there’s a normal scholar class and an elite one?

This message told Milo several things. If he was considered elite just from that, this was a world where literacy was low. It was probably pre-industrialized. He had pretty much definitely landed in a fantasy setting and not something sci-fi, though he’d already assumed that. Also, he was in some way competing with everyone else for the best classes. He could potentially leverage his Earthly upbringing to great advantage here. Musing, Milo brought up the class in his interface.

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(Elite) Scholar: Leaving the plebeian muscleheads and power-mad mages to their misguided dungeon diving, you have opted instead for a life centered on the quiet pursuit of knowledge.

-Gain skills and knowledge to aid in acquiring even more knowledge.

-(Elite) Scholar is an Advanced class. Advanced classes award an additional two skill slots and modifier points at level 1 and an additional two Legacy Skill slots. Class fusion unavailable.

Make (Elite) Scholar your class? This choice is permanent. If chosen, all future fusions for your class must include this class (or its future variants).

-

Reading the class description, Milo found himself tempted for the first time. System-aided knowledge acquisition was bound to be extremely valuable, and he wouldn’t say no to the extra points provided by the Advanced class either. Also, he could probably fuse it with a magical class later. Still, he hesitated. He’d been here less than a day, and already he was getting access to a class that appeared to be limited to less than 1% of the world’s population. His gut told him to be patient. He needed more information.

Ironically, the Scholar class would probably help with that, but he was nevertheless determined to hold off for now.

Closing his interface, Milo returned to his studies. He managed to respond to each of the learning objectives, but by the end of it his attention and focus were wavering severely. The light was dimming by that point. It had been a long day, and his sleeping bag was starting to look very attractive, blood-spattered as it was.

With a yawn, Milo packed away the book with his notes, guzzled another Soylent to quiet his grumbling stomach (a non-caffeinated chocolate flavored one he’d reserved for evenings), and clambered into his sleeping bag. Glancing around at the darkening forest, he made sure to leave his hammer nearby and readily accessible. Just because he hadn’t encountered anything so far didn’t mean no terrors lurked in the night.

…And with that thought, Milo was suddenly wide awake.

Dammit.