TT:E C9 (Patreon)

Edit: Missed one line where I changed the number of Classes she got offered.

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They walked for hours into the grasslands, the sun slowly setting behind them as time passed and if shifted from afternoon to the beginning of the evening. They weren’t attacked as they walked, which was good, because even with the comparatively limited weight on the three girls’ backs they tired quickly. The two guys were tired too, because just as Ed had said, this was a whole new level of effort for all of them. There were the sounds of occasional animals moving through the grass and now and again they saw deer bounding past them in the distance, but nothing came close.

At one point during their march there was a sudden rustling as a barely noticeable shadow behind the grass darted after another shape that tried to run away. There was a bestial cry of pain and the sound of fighting, and then it all went quiet. The group slowly moved around the unseen predator, weapons ready to fight, but it never attacked them. They had no way of knowing if it hadn’t noticed them, had just made a successful kill and couldn’t be bothered with them, or saw them as too tough to fight. After a few tense minutes of slow movements they decided they’d gone far enough and went back to walking normally.

It was when it was transitioning into actual night time and Maeve was getting worried about sleeping out in the open that they got lucky. Sitting on top of one of the gentle sloping hills that were everywhere around them was a gas station convenience store. It looked like a giant hand had plucked it out of its original home and dumped it in the middle of nowhere. There was no sign of the pumps or anything else that would sit outside the station part of the gas station, but the building looked intact, with a pile of broken asphalt sitting at the bottom of the hill where the small section of parking lot that had been taken with the store had fallen off.

Ed stared at it for a moment with his mouth hanging open. “… That is a weird sight.”

“We’re going to have to get used to weird sights.” Alex said as he scanned for movement around them. “Who know’s how often we’ll run into strange things that resulted from all this change.”

“That’s not an American gas station,” Maeve commented, ignoring the semi-philosophical discussion the boys started up over whether or not strange events still counted as strange if they became the new normal. “The signage is in Russian or something and those gas prices don’t make sense.”

“Could be Russian or any other Cyrillic language, but more importantly, is anyone there?”

“Let’s get closer before we shout.”

They slowly climbed the hill, keeping an eye for movement inside as they got close. There was no light inside the building, the cause of which was easily traced to the sliced power cables connected to the back of the building that were hanging loosely on the ground. As the least injured of the two armored people Ed went first, and gently knocked against the closed frosted glass door. No one heard or saw anything move inside, so he carefully opened it and moved in. Hand on his weapon he gazed around the cramped space of the convenience store.

“Seems to be empty. There’s a few closed doors to check, but nothing I can see at the moment.”

Everyone else moved up, and with reinforcements at his back Ed checked the doors. They’d checked earlier and while their phones were on, they had no signal. The flashlights still worked though and Scarlet held hers pointed over Ed’s shoulder while they quickly explored. One door led into a small break room with a similarly small office attached, one led to a bathroom that had seen better days, and the last led outside. Relieved that nothing was there to jump out at them, everyone pitched in and grabbed some of the heavier furniture in the building and used it to barricade the two doors to the outside world.

Panting from recent effort and exhausted from the long march, Maeve dropped roughly to the ground and tried to relax. “Finding this was a lucky break.”

“I’ll say.” Scarlet sat down next to her and tried to get comfortable without taking off her armor. “It’s no five star hotel but sleeping in an actual building beats camping out there with no tents or anything.”

“And food,” Ed grabbed a random bag of snacks and popped it open. “It’s not the healthiest, but we can add this with the stuff we already got from the vending machines. None of this will last us forever but this will be enough for longer than I was worrying about.”

“What are we going to do about the long term, though?” Amelia asked, she was sitting up against Alex but was being careful not to jostle his injury. The hard metal armor didn’t look comfy to lean against, but Amelia looked happy just being able to be close to her boyfriend. “The country’s food production wasn’t set up for this kind of disaster.”

“We can’t worry about other people right now.” Maeve replied sternly, although not unkindly, “There’s nothing we can do to help other people at this moment, and we can’t help anyone if we die. Our focus now needs to be on the five of us. Later on if we ever get the capabilities we need to do something, then we can worry about it. I wouldn’t start panicking about it though, the System said it’s main priority was the survival of as many sapient beings as possible or something along those lines. Food is obviously a necessity, so there has to be something it can do to help or at least give people options.”

“What it’s doing is a lot like the novels and games I’ve been into,” Alex spoke up, “It’s talked about classes and we’ve been earning experience points. I’d be really surprised if there weren’t farmer classes or something that can make food grow a lot faster than we’re used to. It won’t be enough for the entire world, but if enough spots where people gather get farmers or something similar, things should be alright. I hope.”

Speaking about the System and classes might have prompted it to speak up, or maybe it was unrelated, but just then a screen popped up for each of them.

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You have reached a relatively safe area and may begin the procedures necessary to reach level one and select your first class. Your current location is not in a safe zone, however you are located in a shelter and are in a group. While not impossible, due to the interaction between Quezeuq Energy and sapience, it is unlikely that monsters will spawn directly on you or within a few feet, making your location fairly safe. Due to the possibility of spawning occurring in range to reach you and the mental and physical strain created through your first level up, it is highly recommended that you begin the procedures in groups no larger than two, with your remaining allies keeping watch for safety. Your level up and class selection may begin at any time you remain in this shelter, just call up the necessary prompt to begin

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They all had the same message and they quickly discussed who should go first.

“It’s right, unsurprisingly, about the dangers of all of us doing this at once, and no offense to anyone, but I think Amelia and I should go first.”

Alex nodded, “Definitely. You two are, copying Maeve in saying no offense, our weakest links when it come to combat right now. Having you two hopefully power up so that you’re hopefully stronger when you’re watching over us.”

“Okay. What class should I take?” Amelia asked, “Or like, kind of class, I guess? We don’t know what the options are yet.”

“System, do we go into picking our classes blind?”

No. The System will not make choices for you, and some information is limited or has attached costs, but recommendations, assistance, and clarification will be provided if asked for.

“Alright, so it’s not shoving us off a cliff to see if we can fly. We don’t know enough to really try and tell each other what to do. Just pick what you think is best and we’ll make it work. And I hate to say it but don’t pick anything that won’t help us fight. The world has monsters in it now and we can’t afford to be bakers or bricklayers when a troll comes at us.”

Amelia nodded. “Right.” She leaned over to kiss Alex before her eyes glazed over in what Maeve was coming to recognize as someone looking at their screens. “Here goes nothing.”

Maeve quickly pulled up the prompt the System has mentioned and mentally replied “yes” to the energy of a question rolling off of it.

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Beginning Class Selection

Everything faded into a gentle gray color and between seconds Maeve found herself standing in an empty space of the same color. Immediately a new box flashed into view.

Welcome to Class Selection! This is an important step for all sapients with access to the System, but is a vital step for continued survival for all newly integrated sapients. Please pay careful attention to the following explanations in order to help ensure your future survival.

Classes are the means through which the System regulates Quezeuq Energy inside a sapients body. Pre-System, Quezeq Energy would run wild in all sapients and extreme willpower combined with countless years of study was necessary to have any control over the effects of the introduction of Quezeuq Energy into the body. Uncontrolled mutations and death were common. By directing and controlling how Quezeuq Energy reacts with your body via Classes the majority of side effects are prevented.

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“What side effects aren’t prevented?”

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While not generally refereed to as such, increased strength, stamina, abilities granted, and the possible use of ‘magic’ are side effects of Quezeuq Energy being introduced to an individual, though the positive nature of those side effects mean that they are rarely refereed to as such. Most of the prevented side effects are negative, although some may be deliberately applied if desired, under specific circumstances.

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The System uses a scale of rarities to describe many things, including classes. While there is some level of correlation between rarity of a class and its power, due to the difficulty of acquiring many powerful classes making them rare, many classes exist outside that paradigm. The scale is as follows:

Base

Common

Uncommon

Unusual

Rare

Epic

Fabled

Legendary

Mythic

Again the rarity scale is used to describe how likely you are to encounter something and is not directly linked to power or value.

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“That’s pretty close to how a lot of video games do rarity. Do each of the rarities have an assigned color to indicate what they are?” Maeve chuckled.

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While not standard, settings of that nature may be applied and customized.

It is important to state that Base rarity classes are not useless, trash, or any other derogatory term used to belittle those that have them. Base classes are found as often as they are because of widespread usefulness and utility. Farmer is a base class, as is cook, and janitor. Without these types of jobs, civilization cannot thrive. However most, though not all, Base rarity classes are unsuited for combat. Due to your current circumstances, it is recommended that the System filter out all Bases classes you have access to to speed up your choice of class.

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“How many classes do I have access to and how many of them are Base?”

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Out of a possible 147 classes, 142 of them are of base rarity.

Would you like to filter out Base rarity classes? This is not permanent and your full class list may be accessed at any time before selection ends.

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After a brief moment of consideration, Maeve nodded. It was exactly what she’d said to her friends before she’d gone into this, after all. “Go ahead and filter them.”

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You have five options remaining. In order to facilitate your optimal choice, familiar elements have been added to your Class Selection process. This is standard, although elements added are unique to each individual.

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The blank gray space swirled around like mist, blocking out Maeve’s view for a few seconds. When it cleared, there were five figures standing in front of her, all wearing different clothing or armor, some of them with weapons, and all of them in different poses. Maeve shook her head and laughed as she noticed that all of the figures were her.

“Familiar elements, huh? Alright, let’s see what kind of character creation the apocalypse has for me.”