Kevin was awake once more and found himself face to face with a small glowing orb. It rested on his pillow, mere inches away from his sharp, pointed nose.

What was this thing?

<I'm not a thing.>

Kevin jerked back when he heard the voice and, in his blind panic, tangled himself in the folds of his blanket. Fighting to free himself―and get away from whatever just spoke to him―he toppled onto the stone floor.

Wait...stone floor? He had wooden floorboards! Was...was he still in the dream?

<No, you idiot,> the voice snapped. <This is real! And before you start panicking again, could you please let me explain what's happening?>

Kevin decided that the voice was right; panicking wasn't going to help him. He carefully managed to get his arms out from under the blanket and pulled his legs out soon after. Then he stood up, cautiously, with his blanket clutched in one hand.

The orb seemed to...beam at him. Weird. He studied it further, finding that it was perfectly spherical in shape; no ridges, no slight imperfections.

At a seemingly random thought, his mind took him back to when he was a dweeb, reading dungeon core stories 24/7. Was that what this thing was? A gemstone capable of bringing down massive kingdoms given enough time and resources? Except, well, it was an orb, but anyway, it was still incredibly powerful.

Did he own this thing?

The orb pulsed again. <For the last time! I am not a thing! My name is Jeffrey and I'm a human, just like you!>

Kevin frowned. That was the thing in dungeon core stories. They were reincarnated losers whose soul was trapped in some sort of gem. He sighed. Well, the wimp inside probably needed a minute or two to get used to its new powers, so he might as well get back to sleep.

He reached down and picked up the core. It was cold in his hands and started to tremble as the voice cried out:

<Hey! Stop that! Put me down!>

Kevin scowled and tossed the orb away. It shouldn't have been taking up space on his pillow anyway!

He heard a thunk as the orb landed on the ground and wondered if the core felt pain from being touched. Oh, well. Wasn't his problem. It just needed to get strong enough to make him rich!

The voice growled from behind him, <We're not going to get rich if you don't stop and listen to me!>

Kevin sighed once more. It certainly was needy, wasn't it? Turning, he bent down so he could flick the core gently.

"Aww," he cooed. "Does the little wittle core need some attention?"

The orb pulsed angrily, nearly blinding him. Kevin cursed and smacked the core away. It let out a strangled cry as it sailed across the room―which he now noticed was quite small, containing only his dresser, bed, and a short pedestal―and crashed into the wall. "Stupid core," he muttered, rubbing the pain out of his eyes. "If I end up dying while blind, I'm coming back to haunt you!"

<We'd both be ghosts, you nincompoop,> the voice said with a strained voice. <A Core can't live without its Manager. Or are you too stupid to know that?>

Kevin grit his teeth and stomped over to the core. He raised his bare foot threateningly over its small form. "I bet I don't need you to keep going now, do I?"

<No,> the voice said simply, without a hint of terror in its voice. <But you'd be left without someone to build up your tower, supply you with monsters, and a host of other things. So you'd be digging your own grave by getting rid of me; the invaders would come and tear you apart.>

Kevin snorted at its defiance. "Oh, please, this is just a dream. If I died, I'd just wake up again."

The voice paused and it's light dialed down just a touch before it let out a sigh. <Please, please don't tell me you think you're still sleeping and that what all you just witnessed is a dream.>

"And what else would it be? Some sort of hallucination?"

<Good Lord, you might as well kill me now. The next thing you know, this idiot'll be taking a crafting class instead of a fighting one and->

"Why would I want to fight?" Kevin interrupted. "Building stuff is cool. What kind of crafting classes are there?"

The voice paused again before it started talking in an increasingly panicked tone. <Wait, wait, no. I was just kidding. Don't make that an order, just take a->

Kevin smirked. "Who's the idiot now? Show me all the crafting classes you have!"

<You still are,> the voice mumbled. Its voice changed, turning a bit robotic in tune. <Checking for Crafting Classes in Core Database...Crafting Classes found. Showing Classes to Manager...> A screen opened up before Kevin's eyes.

"Woah," he murmured. "This is awesome."

He saw so many different classes. [Leatherworker], [Alchemist], [Carpenter], and more. But the thing was...he knew he couldn't pick just one. He looked down at the core. "Hey, you. There's got to be, like, a [Jack of All Trades] class, right? Show me that one."

The voice let out a loud and quite exaggerated sighed. <Your wish is my command...Finding [Jack of All Trades] class in Core Database...Class [Jack of All Crafts] found. Showing [Jack of All Crafts] class information to Manager...>

Class Name: Jack of All Crafts

Class Description: Those who have this class will be able to learn and use the skills of any kind of crafting class. As a result, their skill leveling speed is halved.

Class Skills:

[Fast Learner]-Lets you learn crafting skills 1.5X faster than normal

[Multi-Class Skilled]-Lets you take crafting skills from all crafting classes

Kevin grinned. "I'll take it!"