Chrome was still ecstatic and lost in his thoughts when the Priest finished leading him to the extra room. When they arrived, Chrome was awoken from his daydreaming and observed the room. Overall, the room was relatively spartan but still much better than what Chrome was used to in the orphanage. There was a bed in the center of the room, covered in white linens. Next to an open window, there was a small, ornate table with three chairs of the same design. On the other side of the room, pressed up against the wall was a velvet red sofa. The afternoon sun fell through the open window onto the furniture and gave the scenery a scene of grace.

The priest mistook his stunned expression for wanting and embarrassingly scratched his head. “I know I said best arrangements, but the church doesn’t emphasize material possessions. I apologize for the lack of decor.”

“Oh! No, I mean I was just stunned, because this is amazing! I’ve never even had a room to myself, never mind one this large and graceful.” Chrome hurried to correct the misinterpretation.

The old priest chuckled and smiled. The praise from the boy evidently pleased him. After exchanging a few more words, the priest mentioned that a couple refreshments would be provided shortly and left to perform the rest of the awakenings.

That left Chrome alone in the room, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. Bracing himself, Chrome burst off in a fit of speed and took a giant leap, ultimately landing on the bed. To think that less than an hour ago, Chrome was worried about getting a beating from Aldo, and now he was getting treated like a king! With his own room! And people bringing refreshments! The excitement that originally died down revived itself, and Chrome rolled around the bed while fantasizing about all the rooms and food he will be able to receive in the future. He paused momentarily when he thought about the curious phenomenon when he awakened and seemingly obtained two classes, but without a way to confirm, he might as well not worry about it now. He proceeded to roll around while occasionally laughing.

After a while, a knock sounded upon the door. “Refreshments” said a voice from behind the door.

Chrome immediately jumped out of bed. All the tossing, turning, and daydreaming really worked up an appetite, and he was starving! It also didn’t help that he missed breakfast in order to arrive early at the church and not meet Aldo. Thinking of Aldo and the look on his face when he realized the Chrome would not be coming back made him smile. He opened the door and was subsequently stunned who was on the other end.

“Long time no see, Chrome.” There, standing there nonchalantly with a plate of crackers, cheese, and salami was the second prince. And behind him, with three glasses and a bottle of some presumably non-alcoholic beverage, was the third princess. The two looked at Chrome with a hint of amusement in their eyes, while Chrome just stood there surprised and not a little dumbfounded.

“Aren’t you going to invite us in? We’ve been standing here for a while already.” The princess spoke up at this moment, and instead of the indifferent amusement she had previously, this time she spoke jokingly as if they were close friends. Chrome hurriedly invited them inside the room, and while they all settled themselves at the table, he was praying to himself to not say something stupid and cut his future short.

“These crackers are made from magic wheat, the cheese is made from milk from a demon goat, and the salami is cured from monster meat. They’re all high quality ingredients and pretty delicious - you should try one!” Prince Riernel gestured towards the plate before helping himself. Chrome was still nervous, but the idea of eating such high quality ingredients and his already hungry stomach won out. When he took his first bite, he was astounded at how good it was and had to momentarily stop chewing in order to savor the flavor more.

Riernel, seeing Chrome’s astounded face, laughed a little and exclaimed, “Yeah, it’s really good right? And judging from your shocked face, you must have noticed the slight boost it gave due to the magical properties of the ingredients, right? As expected of a 7*!” Chrome, of course, was too engrossed in the flavor, so he did the only thing he could do - he nodded his head.

Seeing this, the prince grinned. “So it’s true then, you got a 7* class?” Chrome stopped nodding his head and eating the crackers. After looking at the conspiring duo, Chrome nodded again - the “secret”, if it could be called that, would have been leaked eventually, and even if not, with his mandatory military service of 15 years (1 year for each year he was taken care of by the state as an orphan), there was little hope of hiding it from the royal family that he will be serving.

“Amazing!” Exclaimed Celene. “Can you show us? We heard the news, but didn’t hear the details.”

“Uh, sure. I have the Necromancer and Dark Paladin class. But what do you mean by ‘show us’?” As before, Chrome didn’t mind sharing the information, but he was a little worried on how he could prove it. As far as he knew, there were no visible characteristics that designated him as either of the two classes. The two before him seemed to have a way, so he would be happy to find out how.

“Wait, did you say you have Necromancer AND Dark Paladin class? Actually, it doesn’t matter. Just say ‘Status’ and then ‘Public’. This will allow us to see your status and clarify things.” Surprisingly, the princess became a little agitated at Chrome’s reply - she should have already known that Chrome had a 7* class, so there should have been no need for confusion. Despite his concern, Chrome followed the steps.

“Status. Public”. Immediately, several blue screens popped up out of nowhere, surprising Chrome and almost making him fall out of his chair. After he steadied himself, he looked at the two royalty before him, hoping they wouldn’t laugh too hard. Instead, he found four eyes staring wide eyed at the blue screens and the text on it. Seeing this, Chrome turned his head toward what they were looking at.

Name: Chrome

Age: 15

HP: 100/100

MP: 133/133

Control: 0/11 in use

STR: 10

DEX: 10

CON: 12

INT: 11 (+3.6)

WIS: 11

CHA: 10

Classes and Skills:

Necromancer (7*)

Dark Paladin (7*)

Rank: 1/7 - +1 WIS / +1 INT per Level

Rank 1/7 - +2 CON per Level

Lvl: 1 - EXP: 0/10

Lvl: 1 - EXP: 0/10

Passive 1:

Undead Control

Gain 1 Control every 1 WIS

You gain a passive stat Control which signifies your limit to control your undead.

Passive 1:

Dark Energy

+1/3/5 INT for every 3 CON (rounded down)

The stronger your body, the more dark energy you can use to empower your attacks

Active 1: Summon Undead

Summon:

100 * Rank MP

Upkeep:

Rank MP per Hour

Rank * 10 Control

Summon an undead from the underworld. Undead may have their own skills which will require MP from you.

You cannot summon an undead with a greater rank than you

If the corpse already exists, then you do not pay the summon cost

Active 1: Dark Sword

10 MP per Sword

Conjure swords of dark energy to impale the enemy. Swords can explode on impact.

Swords do 10/15/20% of your INT

Explosions deal an additional 0.3x of original damage.

“Thi- this is insane.” For the first time since Chrome met them, which admittingly wasn’t that long, the cool expressions of Riernel and Celene were broken in utter shock.

At this point, Chrome remembered how the elder priest responded when his first class was discovered. Apparently, the Necromancer class was “the ruler of the battlefield”, and that could potentially explain why the two were so surprised. “I know. The priest told me that the Necromancer class was really good for the battlefield.”

Chrome’s words jolted the two from their stupor, and the looks they gave Chrome were … pity? Jealousy? Neither of those words were correct. Instead the feeling their expressions gave was ‘what is this fool saying?’.

“You don’t understand how impressive AND rare this is?” questioned Riernel cautiously.

“I know that 7* classes are rare, and Necromancer and Dark Paladin seems to be a very good class on top of that?” Chrome knew that the classes he had were pretty impressive, after all they were both 7* classes, but the two before him already knew he had a 7* class. Were the effects that outstanding? He didn’t really have any comparison to go off of.

Riernel and Celene exchanged a glance again, and some unknown communication passed between them. Must be a twin thing. Celene got up to close the window while Riernel answered, “That’s not the point. I mean, yes, a 7* class is rare. On average, you only see one every ten years in our country. And on the battlefield, Necromancer is probably one of the most desired classes to have on your side, but it’s not like we haven’t seen a 7* class before as children of the Emperor.” Riernel looked at Chrome.

“We’re all children of the emperor.” Chrome quipped and immediately regretted his smart mouth. The humor was lost on the twins as they just continued staring at Chrome. “Haha… so what’s the big deal then?”

“Chrome. You have TWO classes.”

“I guess I’m really lucky?”

“NO ONE has TWO classes.”

“...Oh.”

The two spent the next hour explaining exactly how impossible it is that Chrome had two classes, and by the end of it, Chrome was concerned that lightning would strike him from the heavens, because of how anti-everything his very existence was. While he was inwardly sweating at the fear of sudden death, the two royalty had calmed down, glanced at one another, communicated with their eyes, and simultaneously turned to Chrome. There was a look in their eyes, a hunger, that made him gulp. Then it disappeared and was replaced by the familiar calmness, so sudden that Chrome wondered if he had imagined it.

“Chrome,” Riernel began, “we’ve treated you well right? I mean even before we knew that you had awakened a 7* class.”

Chrome blinked. “O- of course. I’ve never expected nobles to treat a commoner so well. And I’m grateful that you stepped in to help me with Aldo when you did.” He finished with sincerity.

“Aldo?”

“He was the one that punched me from behind.”

“Ah. I’m glad that that helped,” Riernel stood up and opened the window. He gestured to the outside where the city lay beyond. “Chrome, to be honest, the world is not in a very good place right now. This capital is seemingly peaceful, yes, but there is a prevalent culture where the strong, the lucky, and the ones born into fortune prey upon the weak, unlucky, and destitute. I’m sure you’ve felt this in your orphanage.” He said the last statement after turning back. Chrome nodded, unsure where the prince was going with this.

Celene continued, “Don’t you think this is wrong? Why do the strong have to oppress the weak? Why can’t the nobles use their strengths, abilities, and good fortune to empower the commoners to greatness?”

Chrome nodded, eyebrows furrowed as he thought of his own circumstances. As an orphan, it was not just once when he would ask himself why others couldn’t be more generous and help those clearly in need. When Aldo would beat him, how many times did he wish that one of the orphanage directors would step in? Too many.

The twins smiled upon seeing their words affect Chrome. “Chrome, our vision is to create a world where the weak don’t need to fear the strong. Instead, people will be empowered to be their best selves. However, to do that, we need power. Enough power to change the current system. Enough power to end this 200 year long period of war and slaughter and give people hope again. Can you lend us your power?” At this moment, the sun peeked through the clouds and illuminated the royal duo - the inspiring scene left Chrome awestruck. At the same time, the last words he heard left him a little confused.

“Of course I will help! But I’m already helping? I have 15 years of mandatory military service.”

“No Chrome, we’re not referring to that. We want a whole-hearted devotion to a cause instead of a mandatory repayment of what the country has already given. Can you do that?”

Chrome wanted to answer right away, but he paused - it was a lot to promise. To try and change the very culture of the warring states period would be an enormous undertaking, with only the first step being the unification of the 5 warring states. But then he thought about his own life. About the bullying. About how he could improve the life of the next orphan boy in the world, and he felt inspired. He took a deep breath and looked at the two.

“Yes. I can.”

“Great! We’re looking forward to working with you! We have to leave now in order to prepare our luggage - see you at school!” Riernel and Celene smiled and left the room.

“...School?”