Using a light current of wind, Astor prevented a young cat from falling off the roof of his house. He put it down slowly. The cat hissed at him, went back on the roof, looked at Astor with contempt, then jumped again. It caught itself up midair with a floating platform and “flew” from one platform to another, going somewhere over the clouds.

  “Sorry,” Astor said toward the skies. Maybe he shouldn’t have interfered in the first place, but better be safe than sorry. A voice resounded in his mind.

  1 animal helped.

  10 experience points acquired.

  It seemed like the help still counted. In any case, he had more pressing matters.

  With an inventory full of potions, Astor admired his home one last time before departing. Today was the start of his Journey, a mandatory adventure for anyone with a System access. He was excited yet anxious; about his teammates and most importantly the time it’d take to finish the Journey. For he had the goal of buying off the orphanage he grew in, as fast as possible.

  “Mornin’ Blue-eyes,” Bel, his first teammate, said as he arrived.

  They were in front of the city’s church. “Where is Cayn?” he asked.

  “Not here yet,” she answered, “where is my hello?”

  “Hello.”

  Birds passed by, lured by a nearby [Bard]. It caught Astor’s attention and so did Bel’s. “Do you ever think about flying?” she asked.

  “I can fly for ten seconds,” Astor said, staring at the bird’s wings.

  “Wait, for real?”

  “Are you two planning to capture and eat those birds?” the awaited last teammate, Cayn, said. “Also, good morning.”

  “Do you think they will taste good, soldier Astor?”

  “I recommend them fried, commander Bel.”

  Cayn scolded them, “No joking around, not today.”

  Bel shrugged while Astor remained stoic. The trio went inside the church, where many other adventurers waited.

  “Busy as hell.”

  “Bel,” Cayn said.

  “Whoops, no cursing in church, my bad, my bad.”

  Midday came up as the sun rose. Aligning with the circular stained glass, reflections shone throughout the building. Pictured were the accomplishments of every legendary party and the dominant color was pink.

  Bel pointed at the pinkest image. “Look, its my ancestors,” she told Astor.

  She showed this stained glass many time before. And it was still the same: the Pink tribe, beloved and favored by the System.

  “Pink,” Astor said.

  Bel continued, “Pink, pink.”

  “Quiet—” Cayn was about to scold them again but he got cut off as the city’s [Archpriest] made her entrance.

  “Welcome all. Let’s skip the details and hurry up.” She checked her pocket watch. “I have an urgency.”

  Adventurers lined up in front of her, going one group at a time. The trio’s turn came. “Hey Cayn.” She glanced at both Astor and Bel. “Just press the button.”

  In front of Astor appeared a blue box with the System’s words.

  Join party?

  Yes / No

  As Astor pressed “Yes,” another prompt appeared.

  [Class switch] skill set acquired.

  Bel exclaimed, “Hell yeah!”

  Astor felt the urge to look at the skills he just obtained. Alas, it’d be inappropriate; showing his status screen would be akin to undressing.

  “Congrats,” the [Archpriest] said, “I guess you’re the luckiest of the batch so far.”

  Indeed, you could get a skill set with a stroke of luck. It seems like it was the case.

  “The System is showing its favor upon us. Let’s bask into its holiness,” Cayn, weirdly devout, said.

  Bel rushed out of the church shouting, “Power up! Power up!”

  The other two followed her, and just like that, they were heading to the First Land where every Journey started. Arriving at the Blue Line, representing the separation of the Mainland, where they are, from the First Land, where they want to go.

  Cayn, visibly upset, grabbed Bel by her shirt. “Where are you going like that?”

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  “Well, starting the Journey. Where else?” she answered.

  “You are aware that a Journey is meant to be done as a party, right?”

  “You both followed me, what’s the big deal?”

  “Listen—” he took a deep breath, “Let us take it easy, shall we?”

  Astor was on the verge of collapsing, taking deep breaths at a time.

  Bel noticed. “Yeah, sorry, let’s take a breather.”

  They sat on the ground. And as Astor was allergic to inefficiency, he took this opportunity to dig for more information. “System, [Class switch] skill set check.”

  [Class switch]:

  [Switch: Mage]

  [Switch: Priest]

  [Switch: Warrior]

  It seemed like they had access to each other’s classes. The potential to obtain more skills, and therefore more class, caught his attention. Attention that interrupted when he remembered that showing his screen is bad behavior. He looked at his teammates. They didn’t seem to mind. Did he do it so often that they don’t mind anymore? It’s been a few months since they formed this party, maybe was it enough time for it to be acceptable? Astor had no clue, social skills weren’t his forte.

  “Isn’t it too much power for one person?” Cayn asked with a worried expression.

  Bel flipped her hair. “Not enough, more please.”

  Access to three classes, Astor thought about what it could imply. A harder Journey for them? Perhaps a grander scheme? In any case, the System wanted something out of them; he didn’t believe in coincidence.

  Cayn’s eyes displayed fear. “I don’t think I can handle the System’s burden.”

  “C’mon don’t worry like that, it’s just a common power up.” Bel turned to Astor. “Right?”

  “Maybe,” he answered.

  “Anyways, let’s test the skills, shall we?”

  Astor checked up on Cayn. His teammate was always a little bit on the fragile side and when it came to the System, it felt like something was looming over him. But his curiosity overtook him. “Sure.”

  Bel led the way, as she was familiar with the environment. The First Land’s biomes were mainly rainforests and Astor knew that monsters lurked in every corner.

  Still, he basked into the joy of discovering new things. From the weird textures of the leaves to the vibrant colors of the trees, he intook as much information as he could. Learning was truly a bliss for him, no matter what he learned; he’d be happy in the moment. And he had so much to catch up compared to the others too.

  “From what I understand, we can only have one of the classes at a time,” Bel informed, right as she stopped in an open area.

  Cayn spoke, “Did you just lead the way and test your skills at the same time?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What if we got attacked by monsters?! What was the plan?!”

  “Oh, yeah. I forgot. Whatever we're fine.”

  She got on Cayn’s nerve, and Astor knew to not be around when that happens. He agreed with him though, it was careless of her. That said, he was glad Cayn wasn’t so worried about the System anymore; Bel’s recklessness had some great side effects.

  Getting away from them, Astor tested her theory. “[Switch: Priest].” A little sound resonated in his head, signaling the activation of the skill.

  Now came the results. “System, status check.”

  Astor

  Class: [Priest]

  Level: 10

  Skills mastered: 3

  Mana: 100/100

  Skill sets:

  [Class switch] skills.

  [Priest] skills.

  Astor, previously [Mage], was now a [Priest]. He tried every [Mage] skill, to no avail. That meant he could only use the class’ skills he switched to and none other. So no multiclassing and no access to the previous class.

  Recalling their [Priest], Cayn, use of skills, he decided to test those out. Targeting himself, he imagined a dome covering him. “[Protection].” Golden light spawned above him, shaping his imagination into reality. He punched the barrier. Solid. It stinged. But would it stay after switching classes? “[Switch: Warrior].” Brief clicking noise; he switched class and the barrier was still up. He punched again. Still solid, still hurts. “[Switch: Priest].”

  Skill on cooldown.

  “System, cancel [Protection] skill.”

  Skill unavailable.

  Troublesome. Seemed like he was stuck in the barrier for a bit. It was kinda small too, how long would it take before he ran out of oxygen? Barriers are soundproof therefore it’s pointless to ask for help. How long will it take for his friends to notice? Will the cooldown come off before? Thrilling mystery for Astor, who is counting the seconds and triggering the Switch skill every second.

  Thirty seconds later. “[Switch: Priest].” Light sound. “System, cancel [Protection] skill.” Light sound again.

  “Hey, Astor whatcha’ doing?” Bel asked right after from behind.

  He blinked. “Testing things.” He then explained his few discoveries, which they confirmed themselves.

  “We are capable of the same feats,” Cayn said.

  “And here I was hoping for some super duper unique skill for me only.” Bel sulked a bit then rekindled, “Heh, one day.”

  Astor continued his testing, this time, with the [Warrior] class. First, he checked if his mana would change. “System, mana check.”

  Mana unavailable.

  The [Warrior] class didn’t need mana to cast skills, make sense. He switched back to [Mage] and fired some basic [Element]. His mana depleted normally. Switching back to [Priest] he checked his mana again.

  Mana: 50/100

  Mana use was linear from a class to another. But perhaps there was a way to find a loophole? He switched to [Warrior], a manaless class, and back to [Mage].

  Mana: 53/100

  It didn’t fully replenish like he’d hoped. But at least mana recharged at the normal rate of one mana every ten seconds while being a [Warrior]. It wasn’t exactly underwhelming, as it could have some use, but as a seasoned [Mage], Astor expected more.

  They continued testing things out as a group but it ended up being them instructing each other their respective classes. Mainly the basics, for fun or for more serious purposes. Dusk came up and so did hunger.

  “So…” Bel said, “Where are we?”

  Cayn coughed. “You were the one who brought us here! What do you mean ‘Where are we?’ ”

  “It’s fine, Astor knows the way. Right?”

  He did, and so he led the way back to the main road, which led to the First Land’s city. Or so he thought… Wolves howled. Owls woke up from their slumber, preying in the night. And worse, monsters chased them.

  “Three wolves and two owls,” Bel said while running.