It hadn't been all that long since Adam had last looked at his status window but a lot had changed. A quick thought brought it up before him, however this time, there was an additional reminder that he had six free points to add.

  The first thing Adam noticed was just how much more of his status had been filled in. With the addition of four skills since he had last checked it, the lower portion of the sheet seemed pretty full.

  His stats had increased by a lot, none more so than his vitality which had almost doubled. Adam’s other stats had all improved as well with his Instinct stat gaining almost as much as hit vitality. The fact that magnitude, his newest stat, was already higher than both his dexterity and arcana was interesting.

  If I assume that ten is the highest a stat can be at the start, then I started with it maxed. This was another thing he would need to check in with the others about. Did everyone start with a ten in their class specialty stat? He would find out later when he got the chance.

  Stat changes, additional skills, and the filled out Class portion of his status sheet fostered a sense of accomplishment within Adam. Even with all of those additions, the thing that both confused and excited him the most was the change to his Affinity. He knew that he had a connection to stone from when he had killed the sabercat before but he didn’t understand what the arrow and the question marks meant. Adam would need to check in with Everett and Sylvia. Maybe they would have an idea what it meant? Everett had mentioned that he had a fire affinity and Sylvia was by far the best at understanding mana.

  Everything was different now. He couldn’t pull out his phone for a quick Google search. Information had to be learned through hard work and discovery. Everyone would need to change. He already was changing, and not by a small amount either. Adam was actively growing. It had only been a couple hours and the weak and pudgy graduate assistant was gone, replaced by a leaner, stronger man.

  Adam had always struggled with his sense of self worth. While he never worried if he was smart enough or kind enough, or whether he was a good enough person, he always felt… lesser than others. Too fat, too short, too ugly. These thoughts constantly bounced around in his head, telling him that he would never be as good as other people. Other people like Dante from back home or Otto here at YCC.

  That was why Jessica had meant so much to him. She never thought of him as lesser, and even more than that, she helped HIM see that he wasn’t.

  A lump started to build in the back of his throat as he thought about her. Adam swallowed it down and forced himself not to think about Jessica yet.

  Not now. Distractions are needed. Okay, let’s place these points.

  Arcana and dexterity were the lowest of all his stats at the moment. Unfortunately, without a better understanding of how everything worked, Adam didn’t have any actual direction in how he should place them. All that he knew at this point was that arcana was important. With it being the stat that was tied to mana, he knew he needed to increase it. Now that he had a class that provided points into his arcana, he was sure that it would be important for his future skills, not to mention that it already impacted two passive skills; Flight and Gluttonous Expanse. He didn’t know exactly how big the pocket dimension was but making it bigger couldn’t be a bad thing and having his dexterity increase when fleeing could save his life.

  With that decided, Adam added four of his six free points into Arcana, increasing it from eight to twelve. His last two points he decided to split between his dexterity and vitality, increasing them to twelve and twenty-two respectively.

  The fact that I can’t stand for my stats to be odd numbers must say something about me, Adam thought.

  Now that he had satisfied his curiosity and updated his status for everything, Adam wanted to see what else he could do.

  At first, he went over and talked with Everett and Henry. The three of them talked about their classes and discussed the differences between the rarities. Henry’s Uncommon Adept Swordsman class gave him five additional stat points per level and gave him only one skill. Despite only gaining one skill for his class selection, Henry was excited about it. Swordsmanship was an ability that grew alongside him, allowing him to practice different sword forms and add them to his list of Swordsmanship Techniques. He said that in time, he would be able to add different types of sword play into his skill as “moves” or even create his own style.

  “Eventually, I can create my very own McCoy Sword Style!” he said breathlessly. The whole time they had been talking, he had never stopped practicing his sword drills. Adam could tell that this was the kind of thing Henry was ecstatic about. He started a step above where most others will probably be, and he can build his own abilities.

  Everett on the other hand, got bonuses that were a little more unique. His Rare class, Hearth Shepherd, seemed to be a specialized class as it didn’t have any modifiers on it like Sylvia’s Novice Arcanist and Henry’s Adept Swordsman. As the three of them discussed the class system more, they came up with a general idea for what benefits a higher rarity class grants you. There were four different proposals for the differences. First, the higher the rarity, the more stat points you received each level. Second, the higher the rarity, the more skills your class started with. Third, the higher the rarity, the more likely you were to either have your affinity awakened or an affinity was granted to you. Of the four ideas, this one was the weakest. Adam had received a notification about his compatibility with the stone affinity well before he got his class and Everett’s affinity awakened when he accepted his sponsorship.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  At this point, they weren’t sure but time would tell. With any luck, Michael would be able to provide some more insight once they got to talk to him about his rare class.

  The fourth and final thought that they had was basically already proven. It was that higher rarity classes required the individual to experience specific things. They knew this because they all had a set of requirements that had been listed along with their class. Henry laughed his ass off at just how outlandish the requirements were to gain Adam’s class. At first Adam thought he was actually laughing at him but then he realized that Henry was doing what he always did. He was trying to use humor to soften the intensity around what Adam had experienced.

  Following their conversation, the three men fell into a companionable silence. While the two of them went back to training and keeping watch, Adam turned to people watching. At some point since Adam had joined Henry and Everett, Tang had gone down to join up with his two friends by the main doors.

  Wherever the man walked he cast a long shadow, metaphorically speaking. There was something about Tang Cook that just drew people to him, which was likely why Emi was so sure he was in charge. Adam watched as he moved from group to group, starting each conversation as a relative stranger and leaving as an ally.

  Following the man's journey through the room helped Adam understand what was actually happening here. While Tang connected with the people and helped organize and calm the groups with his charm, Emi and Chuck Bain were hard at work in their own way. When they had originally gone back to the ground floor, they had been alone, but now, they had found a couple other crafters to join them.

  While Chuck led a group of four in dismantling the auditorium chairs and other materials from the stage, mainly set materials from the school's theater productions, Emi was busy making stuff. It was hard to tell what all she was making but Chuck had his people bring about a third of the materials they salvaged to her so she could keep working. Based on the things he had seen her make in the last couple hours, Adam was pretty sure she was making weapons. Flashes of a bright blue light continued to flare as she summoned a new tool to use every couple minutes.

  The most exciting thing to happen while Adam watched from above was when he noticed Emi stop working for a moment. She nonchalantly sat up and turned to the open space beside her as three chests materialized next to her. One was a common wooden chest but both of the others were Uncommon monstrosities that glowed with green light.

  Henry instantly paused his training, “Oh damn, Emi his level five! I wonder what her options are? We should go down and talk with her since she wasn’t there when we all—”

  A flash of green light lit the room as Emi silently made her class selection. Seeing as the majority of the survivors hadn’t seen someone select a class, they all fell silent as the light slowly dissipated. At this point, everyone in the room had turned towards her. Just as Adam was about to respond to Henry, a high pitched laugh echoed through the room followed by a flash of bright blue and a loud VRRZZZZZZZZZ!! noise.

  Somehow, Emi had summoned a circular saw?

  As they watched, Emi continued to chuckle as she started sawing through the materials Chuck’s people had brought her. Moments later, her saw disappeared before reappearing as a power drill.

  “Well… never mind then,” said Henry. “If we bother her now, she’s going to turn her new toys on us.” And with that, he went back to his sword form training.

  Adam smiled to himself. His friend was completely right, if they had gone down there and started asking Emi questions while she was in the middle of working, she would get pissed.

  Over the next hour or so, the people in the Arts building started coming together. Under Tang’s influence and the general instruction of people like Emi and Chuck, all of the able bodied individuals helped secure the auditorium. Hopefully, their preparations would be enough. As the time passed, Everett pointed out a series of monsters outside their building. According to him, the creatures were all low leveled and seemed to be variants of normal animals you used to be able to find on the Oregon Coast. Things like mice, rats, and seagulls were the most common, though the most terrifying was a massive blue heron that flew over the building. It must have been thirty feet long from the tip of its beak to the end of its talons, with a wingspan that made the creature look like a steel blue Cessna.

  Upon seeing the creature, Everett and Adam both fell silent and slowly moved back into the room.

  “I can’t read any of its information," said Everett, his face paling to an almost human skin tone. Earlier, he had shared that he was able to see the level and name of creatures he used his Identify skill on. So far the highest level thing he had seen was a level ten Canyon Gull, a slightly enlarged seagull looking bird with grey feathers that flew amongst a flock of other seagull monsters.

  The two men exchanged worried glances. If Everett wasn’t able to see anything then… How high was that monster's level?

  However as fate would have it, Adam wouldn’t get the chance to ponder that question as he felt someone approaching the two of them.

  He turned his head and saw Michael standing a few feet behind him with Marissa at his side.

  “Hey, Adam, you got a sec?” asked the old man.

  Adam glanced between Michael and Marissa. Something about the way the woman was standing told Adam that she was uncomfortable. Well, maybe uncomfortable was the wrong word. Anxious maybe?

  “Sure thing, Michael. What's up?”

  Before he could respond, Marissa spoke up, “He says that there’s something that the two of you need to talk to my husband and I about? He says it's private.”

  Ah…

  Michael imperceptibly tilted his head towards where Ellie, Marissa’s daughter sat with her brother Will. He had woken up at some point and was being distracted from the craziness by drawing on the concrete wall. Where they had gotten crayons, Adam would never know.

  “Are you sure now is a good time?” Adam asked Michael. With everything going on, the news that their daughter could turn into a monster like them had the potential to completely destabilize the forward progress that everyone was making.

  Michael’s face hardened at Adam’s question, “There is no good time, Adam. Don’t you think our experience earlier is enough of a reason?”

  Again, Adam remembered his momentary lapse of control in his beast form. If he had known that it could happen beforehand, he might have used his abilities more sparingly. It was so early, they didn’t know what potential drawbacks there could be to using their skills. He nodded. “You're right. Maybe the two of you could go meet with Chuck then?” he gave Michael a pointed look, “Since this is going to be a private conversation, I could gather some things and meet the three of you in the theater shop behind the stage in five minutes?”

  Marissa looked like she wanted to object to the wait but Michael placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

  She sighed, “If it was anyone but you, Michael, I would fight this harder. Fine. Let's go get Chuck.” She turned to her children, “I’m not very comfortable letting my kids out of my sight right now though so they are coming too.”

  Michael shook his head, “That isn’t a good idea. The information we are going to talk to you about has the potential to be… distressing. Rather than let the kids see you get upset, we should have them stay here so that you both can be calm and strong for them later.”

  She began to object when Henry stepped in, “Hey Professor, I don't know if you remember me, my name’s Henry McCoy, I took your Music Theory class last spring. I don't know what you guys need to go talk about but I can sit with the kids if you want?” He glanced over to where they were drawing, “Will’s about the same age as my little cousin back home. I promise to keep them safe,” he nudged Everett’s arm, “Plus, this guy is the strongest person around! And he is kinda like a bug now. What kid doesn’t love bugs?”

  Marissa considered what he said, worry written across her face.

  Michael gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “If it helps, both Henry and Rett have saved my life already. I trust them.”

  She sighed again, “Alright, but this meeting had better be quick. Ten minutes. Tops.” The small woman whipped around and marched right up to Henry and poked him in the chest, “I remember you, Henry. You’re a bit of a joker. Well, keep this in mind. If anything happens to my children while I am gone, I don’t care how long it takes. I will kill you.” Then she turned around again and stormed down the steps to find her husband, Michael on her heels.

  With her statement, the hair on the back of Adam’s neck stood on end. The intensity of her statement had triggered his instincts, alerting him of the danger she represented. He had no doubt that the small framed woman would follow through on her threat.

  Even without the Instinct stat, Henry seemed to understand the severity of her statement as well. His jovial demeanor faded briefly, revealing the serious man underneath. A steely look in his eye, he sheathed his sword. A moment later, his goofy facade was back in place, “Guess I got a new quest: Babysit the Royal Family,” he joked.

  As he walked to the kids, Adam joined him saying, “Well, it's more of a ‘Protect the Prince’ quest. The ‘Princess’ is unfortunately going to be part of the adult discussion.”

  “What? Why?” asked Henry in surprise.

  “You remember what Michael said to me before? About how I needed to remember my previous experiences and I said I would gather some things?”

  “Yeah? What's that got to do with Ellie?” he stopped in his tracks as realization struck, “Wait, you mean she…”

  Adam nodded, “Yup. Princess Ellie does have access to the system. She lied to her parents for some reason.”

  “And she’s…? Like you and Michael? How do you know?”

  That question had been nagging at the back of Adam’s mind ever since he had first seen Michael. “Honestly? I have no idea. Michael and I haven’t even talked about it yet but I think it's something everyone that chose Path of the Beast can do. We noticed it as soon as we came within a short distance of her earlier.”

  He tapered off as they got closer to the kids. Will looked at Henry for a second before going right back to drawing. Ellie on the other hand, looked straight at Adam and froze.

  Yeah, this is going to be a weird conversation.