My vision returns to me standing on the platform before the System Crystal–Status Card in hand. The rapid return to myself leaves me dizzy, and I am disoriented by the flow mana around me that I was never accustomed to. The sounds of the cheering crowd flood my senses and drowns out my own thoughts. My body feels sharper, but my mind is still reeling from the selection’s aftershock. My mind fuzzily focuses on the card.
NAME: CAMDEN DARJEAN
AGE: 20
CLASS: TEA SAGE’S APPRENTICE
PROGRESSION: TIER 1
AFFINITIES:
MAJOR-WATER
MINOR-EARTH AND WIND
INHERITANCES: -NONE-
SKILLS:
TEA SERVICE LEVEL 1
PROVIDES USER AND ALLIES WITH SUPPORT BUFFS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TYPE OF TEA SERVED AND THE PREPARATION METHODS UTILIZED.
TEA CONNOISSEUR LEVEL 1
USER IS ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE PROPERTIES AND POTENTIAL BUFFS OF HERBS AND DETERMINE THEIR COMPATIBILITY WITH TEA SERVICE.
MEDITATION LEVEL 1
INCREASED FOCUS WHEN PERFORMING MEDITATION. ENLIGHTENMENT AND SKILL GROWTH TIED TO MEDITATION RECEIVES MINOR BONUS.
SAGE’S APPRENTICE LEVEL 1
MINOR BONUSES TO LEARNING SPEED. BONUS IS INCREASED FOR ALL SKILLS AND MANUALS RELATED TO TEA SAGE.
A smile breaks through as I make eye contact with Mallorc. A gleam flashes across his pale blue eyes–he knows and he’s proud. At the ushering of the guard I move off the platform and approach the Classes and Skills Ministry table.
The dull minister looks up from his sheet and speaks monotonously. “Congratulations on having awakened, your new life starts today. Please present us with your Status Card so your new Class can be recorded.”
I hand over my Status Card and the minister taps it against the crystal before him. The crystal flashes orange and the minister pauses momentarily before looking at my card. I notice out of the corner of my eye the guards on stage glance over, eyeing the crystal before shifting their focus to me. My nerves tense at the unforeseen situation and I feel a bead of cold sweat run down my back.
“Excuse me for one moment. It seems your Class is unknown to our database and we must confirm that it is not dangerous or needs further research.” He looks over his shoulder, “Minister Charles, we need your clearance over here.”
The minister who gave the address at the beginning of the Sowing Day walks over to the table. He sees that the crystal is still orange and the dull minister before me is still holding my Status Card.
My tongue sits dryly in my mouth and my hands tremble slightly as I wait for judgement. The Old Man told me before that the government is not good with unique cases and I’m worried that they will hold me for testing to understand my Class more. If that happens I will be even more delayed from learning from Master about how this Class really works and it will leave me even further behind Katrina.
Minister Charles reaches over and grabs the card. “Steph, what’s going on?” ‘
“Sir, the crystal flashed orange signifying that the Class is unknown. Upon initial review, the Class does not seem dangerous so I am awaiting official approval to release this young man.”
Minister Charles reviews the card for a few seconds before handing it back to me. He then took out his Status Card and tapped it against the crystal returning it to its original light blue color.
“Congratulations on awakening a new Class. If anything drastic changes with your skills please return to the Classes and Skills Ministry to record discoveries for future generations. You’re officially released, young man. ”
A deep sigh of relief escapes me and I bow as I take my card and the offered leave from the minister. After leaving the table, it only takes me a few minutes to sort through the crowd of hugging Sowing Day attendees and their families to find Mallorc.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
He pulls me into a hug as soon as I approach him. “Those ministers didn’t give you too much trouble did they?”
“No,” I respond. “They were just taken off guard because it is a Class they have never recorded before. That doesn’t make sense though. Wouldn’t they have recorded your Class when you made your selection?”
“What’s your Class’s official name?”
“Tea Sage’s Apprentice… also why is that different than the Class name you told me of?”
He thinks about it for a few seconds. “Let’s talk about this more at the shop. I have a few ideas, but they are just guesses and I would rather not talk about a unique Class too much in public.”
We enter the empty shop and the glowstones are still burning bright at this early of an hour.
Mallorc points at an empty table and starts to put together a few sandwiches. “Go take a seat, I’m pretty hungry and I imagine you are as well so let’s talk about this over lunch.”
A few minutes later he sets down a plate and a glass of iced tea in front of me and takes his seat across the table. He takes a bite of his sandwich and washes it down with a big gulp of the chilled tea.
“Listen, you have many questions. Some I will have answers for, some I will have guesses for and some I will have no clue. You’re now on the sagacious path and you will have to get comfortable with there not being an immediate answer to a question–the whole point of adventuring is to find answers to those kinds of questions. Where do you want to start? Also can I see your Status Card, it might clear up a few of my own questions?”
I slide over my Status Card–which he immediately picks up and begins to review. “The most important one first. Why is my Class called Tea Sage’s Apprentice? You never warned me about that and I was panicking that I didn’t get the Class. I almost ended up picking Waterweaver Initiate instead.”
He nods his head appreciatively and slides the card back over to me. “Huh I didn’t expect you to get a Waterweaver mage Class. It makes sense with how well you synergized with the meditation method though. That’s a little off track though. To answer your question, I’m not a hundred percent sure. My main guess is that because it is a unique Class you couldn’t receive Tea Sage while I’m still alive. By my Sowing Day, my master had already met his unfortunate end during the Devil Incursion. I know you’ve done some reading but it was a true blood bath and anyone with any skill in fighting was on the front lines. Before my master’s Sowing Day, there weren’t really any governments established enough to record Classes which is where I think the confusion originated.”
“Because I didn’t get the original Tea Sage Class, will my training suffer? I don’t want all of this hard work to go to waste, and I don’t want anything to happen to you for a long time.”
Master chuckles. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on passing on anytime soon either. As for the nature of your Class–it shouldn’t be too affected by this. Through our recorded history of Tea Sage’s and their inheritances there are many occasions of apprentices fighting by their master’s side. As of now I will treat it more as a naming convention of the System rather than a limiting factor for your Class.”
“Recorded history? I thought you said before your time there weren’t any governments established enough to have a deep record of Classes and their histories.”
He takes the last bite of his sandwich and drains the rest of his tea. “Never said it was the government’s recorded history. Follow me and prepare yourself.”
The Old Man stands up and starts walking to the mana tea storage room without looking back to see if I’m following.
I get up and run to catch up to him. Thinking to myself what could be so special about the mana tea storage room. I’ve been in here a handful of times and sure there’s a lot of expensive tea, but I haven’t seen anything else worth preparing myself for.
As the door closes behind me, the Old Man speaks. “You need to swear that you will not share anything I am going to show you with anyone other than a future apprentice. No matter what the emergency is, no matter how important someone is to you, they cannot see what I am about to show you.”
Taken off guard, I stumble out a simple agreement.”Yeah, of course.”
His voice takes a very sharp tone. “No, Camden, this is very serious. I need you to take your Status Card out and swear it on the System.”
I’m startled by the seriousness coming from the Old Man. A broken System Promise leaves someone crippled without access to their Class or skills at all and anything that is managed by the System will also refuse to work. I know this is not something he would ask of me if it wasn’t important so I take out my Status Card and hold it up.
I hesitate, just long enough that I catch a glint of uncertainty in Mallorc’s eyes. “I, Camden Darjean, swear on the System to not share anything you are going to show me with anyone other than a future apprentice.”
I feel a fluctuation of mana and a sharp twinge in my fingers causing my blood to throb against my Status Card.
The Old Man can’t hold my eyes as I grimace at the sharp pain. “I’m sorry for making you do that, Cam. You will understand more as your training progresses, but for now enjoy the new world that is opening up to you.”
He reaches over placing his hand on an ancient copper teapot. I feel a pulse of mana leave his hands and the copper shines a bright gold.
Nothing happens for a few seconds. Then the floor at the far wall of the storage room slides away a set of stair leading into a dark basement. I feel Mallorc watching me with a small smile gracing his lips–his pride or maybe nostalgia washing the room with an atmosphere of excitement. The smell of old, wet stone lingers in the room and a deep cold burrows into my bones. The soft light of old glowstones barely illuminating the cut stone steps and my new mana sense feeling something ancient and powerful radiating from the depths.
