When I arrived at school, most of my friends were already there. Chetanjeet had become even more buff in the three weeks I hadn’t seen nor talked to him. He was now a hulking mass of muscles, nearly hitting 2 meters in height.

Marie’s changes were less physical, she was a bit taller and sturdier but everything about her just screamed magic. It flowed off her like she was a fountain, at least compared to everyone else here.

Speaking of the others, I realize I haven’t yet taken the time to describe them to you. I have four other friends at school.

To start out, you have Charlotte, she’s a tiny brunette who’s constantly smiling and is overall a pleasant person. She has green eyes and it seems that she has upgraded her agility, she always did love running.

Secondly, there Victor, he is that one bulky guy in school who obviously hits the gym daily and could most probably snap you in half with his bare hands. With the advent of the system, all of that got turned up to 20. He towered over everyone else here, standing at a height of 2.25 meters. His black hair was cropped short and his brown eyes showed how shy he actually was.

Third, there was Simon, he didn’t have any significant talents before, but his tiny build combined with the fact that his entire body had somehow become more aerodynamic showed that he’d chosen to focus on speed. He was shorter than most everyone here, only just reaching 1.73 meters. He had shoulder length blonde hair and soft blue eyes.

Finally, there was Ella. She was the kindest of us, I once saw her try her best to save a bird so far gone it might as well have already been dead. Everyone told her it would die, and when it did, she cried … a lot. She had long black hair, eyes darker than ink and a smile that sent chills through some people.

“Oscar! You’re still alive!” Chetanjeet called out. “Victor was betting you’d jumped into a dungeon with no back up, I know you’d not be dumb enough. I said you’d spent time leveling your skills and summoning weaker monsters to level.”

“You’re half right, I didn’t summon, got enough exp to get to level 13 through an achievement, did level my skills though.” I answered, causing Chetanjeet to turn to Victor and hold out his hand. The fact that they’d bet on it made me chuckle.

Before I could think any further I was tackled by Charlotte and Marie. “You fucking dumbass, talk to your friends when something that has already killled millions has suddenly appeared”

Charlotte was fuming, she seemed to want to run around, dragging me along the floor to get her point across.

“Look I’m sorry okay, you know how I get when I’m excited about something.”

“As if there’s anything to be excited about. People have died Oscar! Get that through your thick skull.” Ella interjected.

“I know, I know. But c’mon, actual magic, you can’t tell me you don’t partly understand how I feel.”

Ella sighed, but nodded in understanding. I got up. “I can feel all of you have been taking my advice, leveling up and thinking about where you wanna go. Anyone wanna share their stats?”

“You first.” Chetanjeet said, I complied.

“Jezus, your stats are ridiculous, and these skills, fucking crazy. Don’t get the whole hope theme but other than that, this is amazing.”

Chetanjeet, it turned out, had chosen to become a high constitution mage, discarding agility and letting strength trail behind a bit, and focusing on constitution, wisdom and conviction. His class was an epic class.

[{Undying Mage

Rarity: Epic

Mages are fragile, they can output immense power but this makes their bodies trail behind. You do not follow this preconception. Your body is built to survive, your path shall lead to immortality and power.}]

Marie had taken up a more conventional, though still powerful mage class. And she’d gotten a legendary one at that

[ {Queen of mana

Rarity: Legendary

You are a queen, all shall bow before you. Even the very essence of mana lives only to serve you. Your magics are power unrivaled, your leadership is unquestionable. May you build a nation everlasting.}]

Charlotte had chosen a class that fit her love for speed.

[{Roadrunner

Rarity: Epic

Speed is joy and joy is speed. You run and can keep running forever and ever. No one can catch you, for you are speed.}]

Victor had most definitely gone for the purely physical route massively boosting his strength and constitution, he’d gotten a rare class that was actually pretty decent.

[{Berserker

Rarity: Rare

You fight not with magic, that's for eggheads and losers. No, you fight with pure physical power and the fury of a bear. You feel no pain, you just feel a rage that needs to be quenched, a fire that needs to be put out.}]

Simon was actually the most surprising, he’d gotten a class that was a rarity above mine, the highest non unique rarity.

[{Disciple of Hermes

Rarity: Divine

Gotta go fast, got lots to do. Messages to deliver, dead to guide, etç. But you, you seem pretty much perfect to take my place. I’ll teach ya if you promise to help me when you get strong enough.}]

The most interesting part about this for me was the fact that this implied that gods actually existed. At least creatures that named themselves after those gods existed.

Ella had taken a pure healing class, which I’d expected her to do in the first place, she definitely wasn’t going to hurt a living creature, weaken it, maybe, but not hurt.

[{Compassionate Saintess

Rarity: Epic

To hurt a living creature is to commit an unprecedented act of cruelty, one you can never commit. But you realize sometimes those you care about must hurt some creatures. If they get hurt, you shall heal them. That is all you can do in this cruel cruel world.}]

It seemed I had found the perfect party for a dungeon run.