A translucent image hovered before Leon. It was rectangular with an outline, encompassing words within.

Status

Name: Leon Knight

Race: Lesser Human (0)

Class: ---

Profession: ---

Vitality: 60/60

Mana: 90/90

Stamina: 50/50

Stats

Strength: 4

Agility: 7

Endurance: 5

Constitution: 6

Perception: 8

Intelligence: 9

Wisdom: 5

Charisma: 1

‘This is… interesting,’ he thought as he mentally pulled back. ‘This is kind of like those RPG games I used to play in high school…’ The new information itself was simple enough to understand. There was just the question of… well, why? Leon pinched himself to make sure this wasn’t some weird dream that felt uncomfortably real.

“You’re all not some figment of my imagination, right? We’re all currently here and real?” Drake questioned, pursuing Leon’s train of thought.

“Unless you suddenly got schizophrenia, I think we’re real…” Leon joked as he gestured to himself and Julia. Awkward silence ensuing, he faded back into his own mind. Leon really wasn’t sure of what to make of the situation. He couldn’t tell if this was serious or not. A part of him thought it was really cool to have stats like the games he used to play. Another part of him was questioning why they needed them. ‘All the games that I’ve played with stats and classes were combat games…’

Viewing this game-like status, his attention was drawn to something. ‘One charisma? Seriously?’ It felt like this status window was just making fun of him. Leon knew he wasn’t the best-looking guy but… one just felt insulting… especially after whatever brought them here had gotten rid of his acne and fixed his eyesight. ‘Does this mean I was a zero before coming here?’ Crying internally at the thought, he gradually pulled himself back from his self-deprivation. ‘At least my intelligence is high…’

Drake and Julia had equally confused faces as they stared at their floating screen. Or at least, Leon assumed they were looking at them since he couldn’t see anything in front of them, or in front of anyone for a matter of fact. So, either they were looking at their stats or attempting to give the old lady in front of them a heart attack through piercing stares.

Remembering to blink, Julia turned to her left to see Drake in deep thought. To her right, she saw Leon staring out at the masses of people. Her head constantly shifted to the left and right, confusion enveloping her face. A few times, she tried to speak but couldn’t bring herself to, most times only letting out a single letter in enunciation. This continued for a full minute, with each passing second turning her face into that of a strawberry.

Leon’s eyes met with the beat-red Julia and merely gave her a questioning look.

“Wha- what’s…” she continued to mutter out.

‘I feel like I should say something… but this is quite entertaining,’ Leon thought, welcoming the nice distraction from the copious amounts of information thrown at them.

“What’s a ‘Mana’?” She finally spurted out.

Leon, alongside Drake, just stared at her blankly. With wide eyes and occasional blinks of disbelief… the two mentally facepalmed. ‘How does someone our age, nowadays, not know what mana is?’

Drake went on to explain to her what most people knew about mana. That being that it is similar to someone’s stamina but is for performing magic. As to whether or not it was correct was up for debate since mana wasn’t really real supposedly until now. At least it helped calm them a bit, giving back a small sense of agency over their situation in this weird room valley thing with a disembodied scary voice.

The three began discussing what their floating screens displayed, the rest of the people residing in the valley doing the same. And yes, Leon decided to refer to the place as a valley. ‘I mean… as long as you don’t look up then it’s a valley.’

It seemed like most people had a total of 50 or so stat points based on their own and others’ observations. This put Leon on the lower end at 45 stat points in total. They all also had the class and profession slots empty. Now the interesting part was their race. They were all ‘Lesser Humans’ which didn’t sit well with most of them. It felt condescending as if the floating screen enjoyed looking down on them.

Discussions were broken short as the overwhelming presence resurrected once more. It came and went as quickly as the first time, nevertheless startling the thousand or so strangers residing in the weird valley. In silence once more, the voice spoke.

“Many questions must be filling your minds at this moment, but they will need to be saved for later. You all are in what I believe you’d call a ‘waiting room’ of sorts in your language. Here, I will give you all that is necessary to succeed in the guiding scenario.”

Once more, the valley garnered a communal confusion at the voice’s statement. What was a ‘guiding scenario’? Why were they in a waiting room and the most important question that resurfaced their minds… where were they and how did they get there?

The murmurs resounded throughout the valley. With one voice standing out amongst them.

“The hell do you mean ‘waiting room’? Do you realize who I am? ” An arrogant voice outspoke. Looking toward the noise, Leon saw it to be none other than the Avalon guy.

“I am Felix Ava-” abruptly being cut off as he continued. His lips continued to move but no words left them. He continued to lip his words for a whole minute before he realized a lack of response, gripping his throat in concern. This consequentially silenced the rest of the onlookers.

“With that said… I will now initiate the path-finding ritual,” the anonymous voice resumed.

Immediately following this, the ground began to shake as a platform surfaced in the center of the group. People standing in the middle swiftly made their way from the area in a panic. A platform of, presumably, marble now sat nicely within the valley. A small podium of sorts made of a similar material sat at the center of it. Atop the podium structure, a colorless orb hovered inches above.

“This will assist you in finding a proper path that will fit your soul. Please step onto the platform,” the voice added on.

Some followed the voice’s suggestion without hesitation while others remained unmoving. The voice’s aura that arose whenever it began to talk forced many into submission as if being directed like cattle. Leon stood there in confusion once more, pondering what it meant by a ‘proper path’ and their ‘soul’. The unmoving groups of people did so not out of resistance but because they were struggling to process everything. Without time to think, soon after, a force overtook the remaining individuals outside of the platform. Their feet began to move on their own as they left the familiar grass beneath them.

It was a strange feeling, one that Leon wasn’t fond of. The sensation of your body being out of your control left a bad taste in his mouth. Many others shared this similar sentiment, but none dared speak out.

“May you find your path and it leads you forward.”

This was the last of the voice’s words as the orb began to shimmer. It rose from its podium, spinning slowly. Suddenly… Leon’s vision turned dark.

Leon instantly noticed the disappearance of any light or even a foothold. It was as if he was drifting in a body of water. Scrunching his face and squinting his eyes, he tried to find something of recognition within the darkness.

Eventually, Leon gave in and loosened up, giving in to the drifting sensation. ‘So… am I officially dead now? Was I in some type of purgatory before?’ He thought half-jokingly. He floated about, or at least he assumed he did, with no sense of direction and lack of light, for all he knew, he could have not moved at all despite the supposed feedback of motion.

After what felt like an eternity, a sliver of light caught his eye. It looked like a star. ‘Am I in space or something?’ Focusing on the source of light, his eyes attempted to scrutinize it. This quickly became a bad decision as his eyes were bombarded with light, similar to a certain character that lost a duel in a trading card game show he knew.

With shut eyes, Leon slowly tried to recover from the sensory overload. ‘What is with all these blinding lights recently? I’m going to go blind… and I just got my eyes fixed.’

Reluctantly opening his poor eyes, the dark void that he was in had turned into that of a stargazer’s dream. Blips of lights surrounded him, varying in size and color. It seemed like there were thousands of these star-like objects in the distance.

Taking in the scene, it was hard to put a word on it. It was… beautiful but that felt wrong. It had an unexplainable feeling of mysticism that couldn’t be broken down to such subjectivity.

A force overtook his body once more. This time, it felt much more pleasant. It was as if something was drawing him in. Leon glided through the numerous stars, sparks flickered out from them as he flew past. It felt like an eternity until the aura drawing him in turned into a burning sensation within his chest.

A bright green wisp appeared amongst the masses. It flickered rapidly before it grew in size. Leon realized a little too late that it wasn’t growing in size but actually flying right at him. Raising his arms up in defense and closing his eyes, the two clashed… but there was no impact.

Opening his eyes, he saw that his chest now glistened with the same hue and the pain within his chest had subsided. It was weird to say but… Leon felt complete in a way, not to say that he felt incomplete before, but it was like he was presented with something he didn’t know he was missing or even needed and then was provided it.

With this, another irritating flash of light struck him… a screen appeared.

Class Acquired: Support