Year 5007 after the system, day 4 of the flowering season.

Through my room window, I could see the vast night skies filled with a tremendous amount of stars. Beautiful they were with their sparkles, whose shine aimed at our lowly selves. In its wide scope, it allowed me to look at any passing animal. After all, I could find nature on every side of our house. Such skies illuminated us with their celestial bodies along with the moon, who gleamed the most out of them all. At times, I noticed a shadow or a scarier silhouette, whereas my body would mingle deep within my bed, hiding under the sheets, but not before closing the black curtains in a rush. I would often hold my knees close to my chest while embracing them, becoming a little ball at the center of the bed. Yet, tonight, that wasn’t the case.

Today I had a fun day, as such, excitement resided deep inside my heart, sheltering it of such peculiar details. There was a particular piece that I noticed from a certain conversation with my parents, a little fragment of information that had escaped me before. Therefore, my mind focused on a certain cute, paltry word: Job.

Job decided:

Current: <None>
List(+)

‘It truly does have a list to it, to think I didn’t notice it before!’

Without hesitation, as it was a common thing for me to do, my finger touched it, causing my eyes to focus on the beginning of the list. Which to my surprise, it felt like it extended quite a lot.

List(-)
Baker (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Chef (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Fisher (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Farmer (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Rancher (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Lumberjack (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Hunter (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Explorer (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Miner (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Blacksmith (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Herbalist (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Alchemist (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Merchant (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Maid (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Butler (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Artist (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Performer (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Clerk (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Scholar (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Researcher (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Secretary (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Librarian (0/5)Achievements cleared.
Cleric(0/5)Achievements cleared.
Page (0/5)Achievements cleared.

I was speechless as anyone would have been in my place, focused on the yellowish screen while passing my finger, scrolling through the list. I read it one by one as I checked the multitude of jobs that the screen showed.

‘To think there would be this many...’

I gulped, believing that an equal, if not a bigger amount of classes in a similar window like this one, would be in wait. Without knowing what some of them were. Hastily, I tried to touch the first one hoping for my mother's words to come true.

System: Rancher is someone who owns an adequate amount of land to raise animals, and works toward their needs along with a skill set that’ll make such tasks better.

‘Taking care of animals sounds like a lot of fun.’

I giggled as there was this one memory about me attempting to take a little chick home, due to how cute it was, and the little sounds it made while I patted its golden feathers softly. From what dad told me, the hard ones like scholar referred to those who studied to a certain degree. Such figures were later appointed towards diverse jobs like advisors or teachers of high-born, whilst researchers were those who sought to keep learning and mastering a specific subject. After touching a few more, my knowledge soon broadened towards the diverse jobs. Artist for one indicated various variations, such as sculpting different animals, to sing, dance and perform, out of all of them, it was the one that felt the most versatile and lighthearted.

To my amazement, a cleric was the initiation of one who wished to become part of the white robes, also known as those who worked for the church where the religion of the goddess Aria belonged to, deeply rooted in its core. The system even went as far as to indicate her heavenly name and title while I checked it. Page, on the other hand, was the startup job towards those who aspired to partake in the military, eventually reaching a knight or something with a greater status.

If there was anything interesting in this world, it was that jobs evolved depending on the extra achievements that were cleared and on specific conditions related to them. This meant that a cleric could potentially raise to become a priest upon graduating his training, this included the ability to diverse services that the church acknowledged them as necessary.

The system worked its way through, in order to adapt itself to the different races, and contained enough elasticity to accommodate the times and changes that happened throughout the world. Thus, it was common to realize that in the past, religion began with those who followed and one or two that led. Through the years, new cargos and ranks appeared to fit new needs, and to establish the hierarchy within the religious power who grew infinitely thanks to the existence of not only the goddess but the saintess.

‘Parents said jobs have a one year cooldown before I can pick another one, the same doesn’t happen to classes. Upon changing, I’d lose every skill I got from it.’

My dad told me that, since classes diverse a lot from one to another, there was no issue towards changing them, however jobs, the knowledge of doing something for a long time remained, even if the abilities from it vanished. After all, someone who was a merchant for five or ten years would still know how to trade and could use their vast knowledge and experience to continue such an occupation.

‘Which one should I aim for...’

My finger waved up and down as the possibilities were countless, and by all means could draw a line towards my future. 

‘I wish above all to become strong enough to protect my parents, so there should exist something that would make that easier...’

I muttered for a while as many thoughts roamed my mind, and uncertainty reached its climax. I grew tired of the window, feeling like I wouldn’t be able to get to a consensus right away. Not that it mattered too much as I didn’t have any unlocked, and it only needed to unlock five achievements or even to complete specific ones to get it. Mother told me that each job had tons of them, in other words, once I chosed one, there’d be a long list of things to work for.

‘Yes... it would last a lifetime...’

The screen disappeared as I thought about it and then remembered the other thing I wanted to have a look at. An ordeal that had lasted through the entire day. As I concentrated on another peculiar word, eventually touching the list option once more. 

My eyes gazed upon the new information while my heart remained full of curiosity, even going as far as to beat faster from anticipation and excitement.

Class decided:

Current: <None>
List(-)
Basic Grade:
Swordsman (0/1)Achievements cleared.
Piercer (0/1)Achievements cleared.
Crusher (0/1)Achievements cleared.
Fighter (0/1)Achievements cleared.
Enchanter (0/1)Achievements cleared.
Apostle (0/1)Achievements cleared.
Conductor (0/1)Achievements cleared.
Archer (0/1)Achievements cleared.
Natura (0/1)Achievements cleared.

“Oh, look!”

My finger pointed at it excitedly, noticing something amusing while opening my mouth and eyes wider in surprise.

“It’s mother’s class! Swordsman!”

I clapped happily while smiling brightly, realizing something important.

‘It seems my mother didn’t go beyond basic grade... just how long did she remain as an adventurer?’

I tilted my head to the side while crossing my arms.

‘Could it perhaps be hard to go beyond such a grade? Does that mean that dad's job is special?’

Knowing that I wouldn’t get an answer without asking either of my parents, such a thought ended up in the corner of my mind. Already knowing what the first class was like, I touched the second one to get some information, as the name piercer didn’t amount to much.

System: Piercer is a class for those who are keen to fight in mid range and proficient with spears and lances.

With a bit of confusion, my finger touched swordsman, and then after reading the information it displayed, I came to a more fruitful comprehension of the matter.

‘So there are more weapons than just swords, that's good to know.’

I didn’t know what that class weapon looked like, but compared to the close range sword, it sounded like they were either long or had in any way a method to fight from a more lengthy position. At such a conclusion, I nodded, smirking rather satisfied. It seemed my thought process  was plausible, even though I was planning to speak to my parents about them to make sure I wasn’t wrong. However, that changed when my finger touched fighter class, and to my great surprise, enough to open my mouth wide, I realized the range was very close, and the weapon, as ludicrous as it was, was merely our hands, in other words, our fists. 

‘Wouldn’t our hands simply get cut by a sword?’

Mercilessly as my own question was, it contained some sense in it, proving to the fact that it could very well be an arduous class to aim for, if not the hardest. As I was now, and thanks to my imagination and prior knowledge, from the fabled books of my past life. Including the small talks about war and the system of this world with my parents. Without a doubt, I wouldn’t want to be close to a monster, much less use my own hands. My head swayed to the sides, agreeing with my heart that pulsated faster from such a tense scenario.

‘I’m definitely not going for this one, even if I unlock it.’

Feeling my body hot, I waved my left hand, which sent some air towards my cheek, refreshing it slightly, as an itchiness began spreading at the top of my head.

‘Alright. Need to be positive, I’m sure there are better classes than this...’

Once more, with some expectation, my eyes read the next one, and a finger followed right through.

System: Enchanter is a class for those who are keen to fight mainly from long range and proficient with magical tools such as staff, orb, and even barehanded.

If there was anyone close to me, they would’ve instantly noticed the smug on my face, along with two shining emeralds. It wasn’t hard to understand how much I wanted to be able to use magic. It had been the thing I was most interested in my past life from the few books I read. From a great magician causing the fields to be watered by sudden rain, to one causing waves to drown his enemies. For better or worse, the books, despite looking ancient, they contained all sorts of fantastic stories. It was great how they were often loaded with unthinkable feats. That’s how excited I felt about reading them back then, in a way, not believing in anything that was written in it. But at the same time, a part of me hoping that they were true, and that I could be someone capable of it. All in vain, as I never once used magic in my past life. Without despairing and pushing such negativity away, I could tell that in this world, at least, learning magic was possible. And to that, I was one achievement away, one step further from obtaining one of my dreams.

‘Is there a way to check what I need to unlock this class?’

I attempted to touch the achievement section, but much to my demise, there was only a repetition of the class itself. I sighed, disappointed, seemingly that it wouldn’t be as easy as I wanted it to be, and that was alright. Like my parents told me, I was young. With age, it would surely come as a possibility. They even told me I was going to be taught diverse things, one of them being magic.

“Matter of time, be patient, Iris.”

I attempted to convince myself with a mutter, to bring relief to my heart that hurt from not being able to do what it wanted. Eventually conceding to my own self and grabbing the chance to check the leftover classes, as there could be something else that I could like more. After a while of checking everything it felt quite interesting how apostle was also a class that used magic. If there was something different from enchant, was the weapons it used such as a wand, totems, spell books, barehanded, and the addition of being able to support others.

‘Dad said his class was healer, a rare one, does it possibly come from apostle?’

Similarly to jobs, classes were able to evolve, having different grades were a plus to their rarity, and it directly influenced the things they could do, such as having extra skills. Reminded of the saintess and how abnormal yet in a way powerful she was, dad who compared himself to her the other day, told me the woman couldn’t possibly win a war on her own. To be fair, none could, but at least, healing and support people was fantastic. To go through the same path as my dad and her, it didn’t feel unworthy of me, in fact, it was something I would strive for, if it wasn’t for the fact my element didn’t fit, and he made sure to warn me about it.

‘The ice element... I wonder what class could use it the best...’

My quest of research continued and conductor which came after, brought me once again a diversified option, this one entitled on the usage of musical instruments to support those around you, to be fair, it sounded similar to apostle with the main difference being the tools. Followed by the past principle, and also because I knew such tools were a lot more expensive than weapons, and my element was likely to be improper, my attention moved along to the following one. Akin to the last classes, it also provided with a great range, and the usage of weapons called shortbow, longbow, crossbow, and arrows.

‘This one doesn’t sound bad, but it didn’t mention anything about magic...’

As childish as I was, there was this goal in front of me that I just couldn’t get rid of, to play with magic. It was the toy that appealed to me the most, and anything that didn’t belong to it left within me an empty hole. The last one I checked was natura. At first, I thought it was this amazing magical class related to nature. Most people would’ve conceivably thought the same as me, seeing as the word was so similar. I even smiled faintly when I read it and thought I had it all figured out. However, its purpose was neither to fight nor to support, like all the others referred. Instead, this one mentioned utility and exploring. The weapons for it were any, meaning that it clearly lacked a crucial aspect to master, or simply of combat. At that, I sighed, and for a while my eyes remained still on the enchanter option. Without a doubt, that had been the one that moved this young lady's heart the most, that fascinated me with the greatest intent. 

Before returning inside my sheets once more, I gazed outside one last time at the stars, having at the very least the starting class figured out.

whitesculptor

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