Hyro’s day continued on, his welcome to the System class was one of his favorites for sure as it came with some helpful tips, thinking the word Experience to show how much you needed to level up was one helpful example that actually made a permanent change to the character sheet, always showing that information. Valda, who taught the class, also stressed the importance of controlling one's thoughts. He simply wrote the word system five times on a board behind him and nearly the whole class, which was all of the new enrollees again, had their systems pop up from unconscious thinking, Acadeles was the only one who seemed to not fall for it. Since getting the system not long ago and only having classes no one thought they would be anywhere near leveling up, but apparently Knowledge did equal power and, while everyone mentioned they had different levels of experience, nobody was at zero. To his surprise, Hyro had the most currently, and since it popped up during Valda’s thought controlling test, Hyro thought he would look over his Sheet quickly and see what was different.

  CHARACTER SHEET

  It appeared as though Hyro not only had the experience listed, but he had a new achievement that led to more Contribution and his first skill, Sanctuary. Going from having nothing to where he is now, Hyro felt pretty good and could not wait to learn and gain more experience. Valda spoke up in class after everyone got their Systems closed. “Since some of you are close to level two let me go over the level progression at least until level five, that should be a good while for most of you. As you can see, to get to level two it will be one hundred experience. The Contribution store will also open for all of you at level two. For level three you will need two hundred experience, three hundred for level four and five hundred for level five.” He paused for a moment to allow those taking notes to write that down. “For now the only thing you need to know, if you happen to Level up before Adventuring 101 later in the day do not even open the contribution store, many of you saw how it is easy to accidentally think of something and activate it in the system, so to avoid accidental purchases or going into Contribution debt, wait until you learn more about it later today.” Hyro raised his hand and was called on by Valda, “What is Contribution debt?” Valda gave a quick answer in reply, “It is a bit much to go into with our time left but think of it as cutting off your access to the system until you are out of debt.” Hyro vowed then and there to never go into contribution debt, he could not afford to lose his system.

  Welcome to the System ended shortly after that and the class walked together to their next class, Traveling the land. It seemed they all had the same classes with the exception of their last class, which was specific to each person's abilities. Gribby was quick to let everyone know that he was going to be in Magic and you, no one else mentioned where they were going to be as they did not have that long of a walk to where their Traveling the land class was. Upon entering everyone took a seat and waited for whoever was teaching this class to come in. A dwarven looking fellow with orange hair that braided into his two foot beard entered the room, “I am Himel, third year scout at your service.” Himel went through the class material pretty quickly. To Hyro, this was the most boring of all the classes so far. Himel went over basics of how when they became adventurer’s very few areas would be off limits to them, especially in the line of duty. Every government has agreed to allow any Adventurer through their lands while on a mission for Orabis, as adventurers fight off threats no one else can. He went through all the details on the subject everyone already knew from the time they could talk. I really wanted to learn more of the survival aspect but I guess most people or teams would have skills or spells to take care of that. Almost as if he heard Hyro’s thoughts Himel ended class with, “In future classes we will discuss certain plants and wildlife to look out for as well as traversing different terrain. For the next class we will meet in the outdoor arena. That's all for today.” With that Himel walked out of the room.

  As they started walking to the cafeteria, Hyro rushed up to Cynthia’s side, “Uhhh, Hey Cynthia, I do not know if Enris and the other will have lunch at the same time as us but did you want to eat together again?” Hyro could feel the heat rushing to his face but could not turn back now. He felt a wave of relief when he saw her smile, “Sure, I’d like that.” The two continued walking to the cafeteria, unlike dinner time this seemed to be more of a quick meal, grab, eat and go to the next class. Hurley and Buck were eating at the teachers table, while a few students scattered around, Hyro did not see Enris, Dreeva or Paul. Himel, the student instructor they just had, was sitting eating with a couple of others but not too many other people were in the area. After grabbing a salad and some fruit Hyro and Cynthia found a spot to sit and eat until they had to get to Adventuring 101. “So, I have what is Utility after Adventuring 101, how about you?” Hyro asked, trying to get a conversation started. “I will be with Gribby in Magic and you.” Cynthia answered shyly. They continued with small talk, Hyro did not want to ask too many personal questions the first time they were alone, and they did not have that much time as it was. After they finished eating Cynthia stood up to dispose of her garbage, “Thank you for eating with me Hyro, I do not like eating alone. I have to run back to my room before Adventuring 101.” She started to walk away, Hyro stood up to dispose of his garbage too and called after her, “I… I had a great time! I hope we can do it again.” Hyro stood in place and watched her walk away, once she was out of sight he was able to snap out of his little trance and then realized he was standing after he just half shouted in the cafeteria. As embarrassment washed over him he quickly grabbed his things and left.

  Hyro went outside to get some fresh air and walked around the outdoor arena while some people did stretches and simple sparring in the arena. While walking around Hyro spotted odd movement out of the corner of his eye, at first it looked like a normal flower, but then it started to move. Slithering along the ground, almost like a snake. James? Hyro thought as he walked towards the Plant snake, following it. As he followed the plant snake for a short while it went behind a hedge where Hyro could hear voices, “Yes, I know the plan, but I am not supposed to remember anything about him! It would bring too much attention if I approached him now.” The first voice sounded like James to Hyro. The second voice sounded older, and more tired, “Trust me, No one pays attention to the staff here, we might as well be like the plants you tend to, there but not noticed.”

  “Yeah, maybe not noticed unless it's getting in the way.” Hyro could hear some rustling after the voice that sounded like James spoke. Hyro started to stealthily walk away in case he was coming his way, he did not want to be caught eavesdropping. Hyro heard the other man say something else but could not make out the whole thing, just the words Job, and fraud. Rushing away, Hyro made it back to the arena, seemingly undetected, and continued on to the room Adventuring 101 was in. Hyro was not surprised to see Hurly leading the class, already in the front of the room, getting ready to start class. Hyro was the last to show up, so he quickly grabbed a seat and waited for class to begin.

  “Ay! Good afternoon everyone! I’ll be instructing yer Adventuring 101 course for this week. This course sort of goes hand in hand with yer welcome to the system and travelling the land, but focuses more on advice from mistakes and discoveries other adventurers have made in the past. One of the main reasons we have these academies is to help share our knowledge to help ye all, the next generation.” Hurly continued, “First off, how many of you have managed to learn or do enough to get to level two?” Everyone seemed to space out as they all checked their character sheets, Hyro did as well.

  CHARACTER SHEET LEVEL UP!

  I did it! I made it to Level two! Hyro raised his hand and to his surprise he was the only one to do so. Acadeles looked over at Hyro and looked disappointed, not towards Hyro but disappointed in himself. Hurly looked stunned as Hyro raised his hand, “Lad, are ye sure?” Hyro hesitantly nodded in response. “Well lad, good on you! While not unheard of it is exceedingly rare for someone to gain a level in the first day of classes! The rest of ye all are what, twenty five to fifty experience?” The others in the room nodded in agreement with the exception of Acadeles and Cynthia. Acadeles spoke up, “I only have twenty experience! How is that possible?!”

  Hurly gave a sympathetic look in response, “Ah lad, ye see you already had a great deal of power, knowledge and skill when starting, as most do but ye were even further ahead. Later on it will not matter as much, but to start ye will struggle to gain experience, especially in a classroom setting. Ye see, normally completing a quest, felling a creature, most big tasks the System will give ye a message with how much experience you gain as it is usually more experience that sitting and learning, ye all saw Hyro when meditating, he unlocked something in himself and that probably gave him a boost in experience.” Gribby spoke out in return, “So Hyro was lower than all of us at the start so the System is giving him a handicap?” Hyro felt like he was being attacked, being called weaker but did not say anything. Hurly responded to Gribby, “Not at all lad, he simply had less experiences, the rest of ye most likely had more starting contribution which will help ye later on as well, the System always has balances, only Luck can throw that off.” Hurly gave a pointed look at Hyro.

  “How does luck change things?” Gribby spoke out again. “Luck is a fickle mistress, Most have between zero to fifteen luck their whole life, and that is manageable, notice in your Character sheet it is not called Good Luck.” Hyros' heart sank listening as Hurly continued, “Having a high luck you may watch your life burn down around you and the next day you become the heir to a kingdom. Those be extreme examples but I hope gets me point across.” Hurly looked over to Cynthia, “Lass, are ye low on experience too?” She shook her head, “No, I am at ninety experience.” She answered quickly and quietly. Hurly looked slightly shocked again and muttered softly, “This class be a class of monsters.” Then he spoke louder, “That is amazing Cynthia! Ye will surely Level if not by the end of this class then by yer final class!” Looking back to Hyro, Hurly continued, “Now lad, will ye tell everyone what you get for leveling?”

  “I get three ability points, and access to the contribution store.” Hyro said, looking over his sheet. “Very good lad, every level two through nine ye will get three ability points, level two gets ye the contribution store and then level ten, as ye all know gets a Class. Now on the board behind me I have written what ye all will see in the contribution store when you get it.” As Hurly said that he flipped the board around revealing the information of the contribution store.

  CONTRIBUTION STORE: TOTAL CONTRIBUTION: _______

  “This be the standard starting store, depending on purchases and class ye store will change, but everyone starts here.” Hurly paused for a moment to allow those reading and writing to finish. Hyro was looking over all of the options closely, Contribution store, hmmm. As he thought that a popup appeared:

  CONTRIBUTION STORE: TOTAL CONTRIBUTION: 500

  No! I have to control my thoughts. Hyro closed his store quickly so as to not make any mistakes. “Lad, ye opened it didn’t ya?” Hurly asked Hyro. “Yes, but it was an accident, I closed it right away, we were warned about going into debt and I only have five hundred contribution points.” Hurly thought for a moment before responding, “Yes ye need to be careful and control yer thoughts, Meditation can help with that, but ye do not need to worry as long as ye never confirm an option that ye did not initiate. Every option will ask ye to confirm or deny, now since ye opened it already once, can ye confirm fer the class the store contents?” Hyro looked over his store and the store that Hurly wrote, and then he lied, “Uh, yeah it's the same thing.” Hurly continued on, “Now, fer all of our students we have an assist device when they gain access to the store.” Hurly pulled out a small scroll. “Here Hyro, activate this scroll by putting yer power into it.” Hyro was handed the scroll and did as instructed, it was a lot easier now that he has done it before and had access to the System. As soon as he did, a small circle map appeared in the top right of his vision. Hurly spoke as soon as he saw the scroll disintegrate, “Ye now have the map, no use in wasting five hundred points when we have items for such things, ye can do the same with the school map ye have later, that will be the Town and area details added to the mini-map for this area, that one can be purchased for every area in Orabis, but the Mini-Map should be crossed out for ye now.” Hyro checked and confirmed what he said.

  “Well everyone, we are almost out of time for the day, but before we end, as the store is opening for ye I have one more word of advice, while we say do not buy anything until ye learn more, ye should not ever do the Wheel of fate, fate is more fickle than luck and will try to screw ye anyway it can.” With that Hurly dismissed class and everyone went on their way to their final classes for the day.

  Hyro noticed his last class was actually in the same room, and he was not the only one to stay behind, Brutey and Hurly did as well. Once everyone else was out of the room Hurly Spoke up, “Both of you are unique cases, well most of yer class is, but you two especially. Now we can do this class one of two ways, if you want to keep yer secrets that is fine and we can talk about the basics, or if ye two are fine with me and the other one knowing a bit about yerselves we can get into the details.” Hurly let them think it over, Brutey spoke first, “I have nothing that needs hiding.” They responded flatly. Hyro still took a few moments but decided having more help was better than keeping all secrets from a teacher and classmate, “I don’t know if I will share everything, but I am fine revealing most.”

  The class went on, Brutey explained how they could buff their own weapons and weapons of others, they also had small self restoration abilities. All of that combined with Brutey’s strong body and skill, no wonder they were such a powerhouse. Hurly nodded along while listening and let Hurly know that they were on the path to become a type of Paladin, the exact details would end up depending on any deities tied to Brutey and how they build their abilities from here on out. Brutey also mentioned that they had twenty Strength, Vitality and Wisdom, though they did not go into much detail on many other things. Hurly seemed impressed at the spread of abilities for a beginner and told Brutey as much, He encouraged focusing on those three abilities while making sure the others remained balanced. One line that he said stood out to Hyro, “If ye have one hundred Strength and only ten Dexterity ye would be tripping over yer feet every step, likewise if ye had one hundred wisdom and ten Intelligence ye would have trouble keeping yer thoughts and words in sync. Now Hyro, what would ye like to share?” Hyro felt his face go flush as the attention was put onto him, he started just reading out his abilities, that was basic enough, twelve Strength, sixteen Dexterity, ten Vitality, eighteen Wisdom, twenty two Intelligence and twenty two Charisma, Hyro was actually pleased with where he was starting in that aspect, but he did leave out his one hundred luck, especially after what they just heard about luck not long ago. When Hyro started talking about his skills and spells he decided to keep to the truth… somewhat. “My abilities adjust slightly based on my situation, it… it’s hard to explain.” Hurly nodded along and responded, “And ye still have yer three points fer leveling right lad?” Hyro nodded before Hurly continued, “I would recommend, fer now at least, trying to get all of yer abilities close to even, ye never know what ye may need with such versatile skills.” Hyro already had similar thoughts but having it confirmed was a good sign.

  Class continued a bit longer with Hurly going into the role of Utility, it can really be a mix of things, Utility can take a front line for a bit, fall back and heal or give support from the back, it is kind of an area for those that do not fit into one mold. Hyro thought it fit him pretty well for now and when class ended, before going to see Buck, Hyro decided to take Hurly’s advice and start evening out some of his Abilities. He put two into Vitality and one into Strength. Now maybe he can stop passing out so much.