*Ping* *Ping* *Ping*

A flurry of audio and visual notifications suddenly appeared.

40 exp gained Class System Activated Unlocked: God Class (hidden) Scout Class Basic statistics Inspect - level 1 Discern - level 1

Adam gasped in excitement. This was like a game. Not in the literal sense that he was sitting on his computer but there were classes, statistics and what looked like skills. He noticed his feet were getting cold so took them out the water and moved up onto the bank. The notifications seemed to follow him as he did so, remaining in his vision as he turned. They were odd. Like another sense to his normal vision so they could be read while he concentrated but did not obscure things behind them.

Now sat comfortably on the sand he was buzzing with anticipation about what to check first. He concentrated on the main notification dismissing the other two and starting at the top.

"Person, can you explain these please?" Adam asked. Person sat, looked thoughtful for a second and then shook their head pointing up.

Adam growled aloud and thought. Not very helpful. How am I meant to get anywhere with this? Person took a moment; sat up and pointed [Inspect] then rubbed their chin in a thoughtful way. Adam paused to work out what Person meant and then tried concentrating on [Inspect].

Skill List Level Cost Description Inspect 1 0.1 mpps Allows [Inspection] of objects and system Discern 1

Hmmm, Adam concentrated on the entry for discern and the word [Inspection]

Skill List Level Cost Description Inspect 1 0.1 mps Allows [Inspection]* of objects (including plant life) and system Discern 1 1 m Allows [Inspection] of beings and animals *will reveal level, properties and additional information on target of choice

So far, so good. Adam looked around to play with his new found power. He used quick bursts of [Inspect] while looking around and concentrating on different things. River - slow flowing water, drinkable. Reeds - common riverside plants; can attract fish and pondlife; can be used for basket weaving. Pebbles - small stones. River-root - common riverside plant; roots are edible when cooked. Interesting, thought Adam. This would be useful. He also noticed a more general feeling about the area as he used the skill. It was hard to describe but gave him the impression that the area was safe. He concentrated harder. Riverside - low threat, level 1. Yes, [Inspect] would be very useful.

He swapped to [Discern] seeing a small frog hopping around the reeds. Frog - common riverside animal. With no other wildlife nearby Adam concentrated on Person. Nothing happened. After a little internal deliberation on whether it was a good idea; he used the skill once more. On himself. Adam - a notification window opened:

Adam Jones God Class (hidden) - Level 1 Health 100/100 Health Regen 5/hour Stamina 100/100 Stamina Regen 10/hour Mana 4.5/10 Mana Regen 1/hour Skill Points 10/10 Skill Point Regen 1/hour God Power {locked} God Power Regen {locked}

Ok, wow thought Adam. He looked down at his stats wondering what they all meant. More importantly and interestingly - what was God Power and what did this do? The list itself was quite messy to him though. He wondered if he could rearrange things and think of it a different way.

Adam God Class (hidden) - Level 1 Attribute Value Regen (per hr) Health 100/100 5 Stamina 100/100 10 Mana 4.5/10 1 Skill Points 10 1 God Power {locked} {locked}

That was much better. He concentrated on the row for God Power using [Inspect]. God Power - Unique to God Class. Allows user to activate God level skills. Not much information there then. Adam looked, expectations low, at Person. Person shook their head. Fine, limited information about God Power. It was currently locked anyway meaning little help for it now. He focused on Skill Points next. Skill Points - Used in the execution of non-magical skills. His Mana was the only thing not full. So mps and m in his skill list obviously referred to the mana use.

Adam knew something was still missing. He concentrated on the concept of the attributes feeling that the attributes were determined by something deeper and this was just the end result. Person nodded vigorously and seemed to join him in a state of concentration causing another window to appear.

Adam Jones God Class (hidden) - Level 1 Vitality 10 (+) Vigor 10 (+) Intellect 10 (+) Perseverence 10 (+) Recovery 10 (+) Fortitude 10 (+) Clarity 10 (+) Willpower 10 (+) Unallocated Points 10

Adam rubbed his hands eagerly. Characteristics. It seemed the base level of 10 was contributing to his current attributes and he had 10 unallocated points already. Eight attributes and eight characteristics. It would therefore make sense that they were linked. Adam started at the top, concentrating and activating [Inspect]. Vitality - A measure of constitution, increases health. Vigor - A measure of endurance, increases stamina.

When he tried to use [Inspect] on intellect Adam started to feel quite woozy and no additional information appeared. A quick flick back to his attribute page explained why.

Adam God Class (hidden) - Level 1 Attribute Value Regen (per hr) Health 100/100 5 Stamina 100/100 10 Mana 0/10 1 Skill Points 10 1 God Power {locked} {locked}

He was out of mana. The woozy feeling passed quite quickly as Adam was no longer trying to use the skill. Not wanting to sit doing nothing he risked allocating one of his points to check if he was making a permanent change. As he predicted adding a point to intellect caused an increase in his potential mana. Fortunately it didn't seem the change was permanent yet, waiting for him to approve the decision. Using a bit of trial and error it didn't take long to match up the characteristics and attributes and merge the tables:

Adam God Class (Hidden) - Level 1 Attribute Value Characteristic Value Health 100/100 Vitality 10 Health Regen 5/hour Recovery 10 Stamina 100/100 Vigor 10 Stamina Regen 10/hour Fortitude 10 Mana 5.1/15* Intellect 15 Mana Regen 2/hour* Clarity 15 Skill Points 10/10 Perseverence 10 Skill Point Regen 1/hour Willpower 10 God Power {locked} God Power Regen {locked} Unallocated Points 0 *once changes applied Accept changes? Y/N

This was hard. He assumed once the changes were accepted then that was it, they were final. It was clear he didn't have much mana. Not if he wanted to use the skills he had frequently. Boosting this with 5 points in clarity and it would still take seven and a half hours to fully restock. Stamina and health regen was already much more generous and the base level higher - but there might be a good reason for this. How high was 100 health? If he ran out; would he die here too? Without mana he couldn't use [Inspect] and without [Inspect] he couldn't find out more about the system. There would always be more points when he levelled up, right? He looked at Person who looked back encouragingly and gave a thumbs up.

Accept changes.