“Sir, reporting. I was out hunting a glade deer, b-but I found something…”

Pausing for a moment, the guard looked at him curiously. ‘His eyes look serious…’ thought the guard.

“It’s… It’s hard to describe… It was.. Blood everywhere, the deer’s guts were hanging from trees. It was evil. Horrific. I can show you, it’s not far.”

The guard held up his hand, attempting to calm the man. “I’ll report it to the captain, thank you. Go home and rest, don’t leave the village for a few days.”

“Yes.. I’ll go home… mm.” the hunter sounded emotionless. He was mentally scarred for life.

—

Jay approached the adventurer guild again – this time when he heard the guard yelling out to make way for the rich brats carriage, he didn’t even look back – he simply stepped to the side of the road and kept walking.

As his carriage sped by, a pair of eyes were death-staring at Jay from the luxurious curtains, obviously the noble brat didn’t like this – how could he start the day without making at least one other person suffer?

A superior, smug smile appeared on Jay’s face as he thought “Fucking loser” while the carriage kept moving up the path.

Jay wasn’t a bitter kind of person, nor did he let small-minded people affect him – he simply laughed at how petty others could be.

As Jay was walking, he heard a voice “…little bastard” He looked off to the right.

Spotting another adventurer who had to step down the hill as the carriage went by, Jay realised he had something in common with this fellow, the hate of the carriage douche – he offered him a hand to help him back up onto the path.

“Thanks. Appreciate that. You’re heading to the guild too huh?”

“Yeah. That brats carriage is pretty annoying, why does it have to be so much wider than other carriages?” Jay chuckled._.

“Well, to fit all of his ego of course!” The two laughed together on the side of the road.

“What’s your name? I’m Jay.”

“Jay? Mark. So, are you in the melee group?” Mark guessed since it was the largest group.

“Yeah, but I would like to learn more about the other disciplines too. Which one are you in?”

Doing a half-smile, Mark put his hands in his pockets “I’m in the manacraft group. It’s ok but.. It’s a little strange to train up the manacraft skills… and then the teacher talks right into your mind when he notices you not absorbing the ambient mana” Mark chuckled, shaking his head.

“Well, we better get going. Good to know that brat is pissing off someone else as much as me” smiled mark. “Maybe we can go on a quest sometime”

“Yeah sounds good, thanks for the offer. I’ll let you know when I need some help.” Jay gave a thumbs up, trying not to be awkward.

The two continued to talk while walking.

As the duo approached the gate, Jay noticed something was different. The guard had changed.

“Hey, where’s Dave?”

The guard squinted at Jay “He’s been reassigned. You’re to report to the administration straight away.” He pointed at Mark “You’re to go to your class trainer”.

“Wait, why am I getting singled out?” Jay said as Mark walked off.

“Because those are my orders, kid. Now go.”

Jay sighed as he pursed his lips. The walk to the reception building felt like it took years, as if time slowed down while thoughts rushed through Jay’s head “Am I in trouble? Did I level up too fast? Did they find out about my class somehow? Maybe it’s because that noble brat wasn’t satisfied with me not stopping to wait as his carriage went by? Shit… If I run now it will only make me look worse.”

With each step, Jay felt his heart sink. As he entered the reception, he was almost sweating from nervousness – then a pleasant old lady at reception greeted him from behind a counter covered with different papers.

“Hello there, how can I help?” she greeted Jay with a warm smile.

“Hi… I was told to come here. My name’s Jay. Jay Hart.”

“Jay Hart? Ohhh, yes. Sully wanted to have a word with you. Give me a moment” The old lady left and went into another room behind her. After a moment, she came back out.

“He’s ready. Head up the stairs dear. Last door in the middle.” the old lady smiled.

“Thanks.” Jay smiled back.

Walking up the stairs, Jay walked down the hallway past various doors, then knocked on the door at the very end.

The door opened from the inside as Jay noticed an indifferent smile which quickly turned into an angry pout mixed with a death-stare. “Hey.. I know you. You’re that girl who had the crossbow at the gate?”

Sighing as she blushed “Come in and sit down.”

Jay walked into the room as the girl shut the door. Two leather chairs were sitting in front of a dark-wood desk, while a man with piercing, glowing blue eyes sat on the other side. He was wearing a maroon shirt, with a black tie and a black coat. He had a neutral look on his face, with flowing black hair which went down his shoulders and below the desk – from where Jay could see.

Jay felt nervous as he sat down while the man stared at him.

“Anya, training has started” He addressed the girl who let Jay in. She left with another sigh.

Watching her as she left, he didn’t blink. Then he stared at jay once more.

“So. Jay. My name’s Sullivan. The guild master. I noticed you joined training yesterday even though you aren’t registered.” The man spoke with a soft, silky voice, but Jay could tell there was power behind it – it was if he was speaking to a mountain.

“Oh…. there must’ve been a -” Jay was immediately cut off mid-sentence – it was as if Sullivan hated hearing lies.

“You didn’t register on the seventh of the seventh. I know all my students. And now you’re level five. Jay, why didn’t you show up for registration?”

Sighing as he looked at the ground ‘I can’t lie to this guy. He seems to know everything, a real fanatic for the details…’

“I was coming, but then a carriage knocked me off the road, and it was raining that day so the hill was really muddy and I slipped, then kept sliding. Eventually I hit my head and I was knocked out – when I woke up, it was the eighth.”

“Ah yes, that carriage…I’ve already had some complaints about it… So, you are level five, but you didn’t reach a mana conduit to acquire your class. Is that correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then, how did you acquire your class? And what class are you?”

“I… Well, I was thinking of checking my status and I thought I would be a butcher or something but… I found out that somehow I became a swordsman”

“You’re a bad liar Jay.” He leaned back in his chair, entwining his fingers as he thought – then he pulled out a green crystal. “Margie, can you bring me up a conduit crystal please?”

An older voice sounded from the crystal “Sure sully. Give me a moment.”

Jay and the scary man sat there for a moment – the scary man staring at Jay, while Jay looked around the room, trying not to feel awkward – until the same woman at reception opened the door and entered, a green glowing orb levitating in her hand.

“Here you are, sully.”

“Thanks Margie.”

She left as the orb floated from her hand, passed by Jay’s head, then hovered over Sullivan’s hand.

“You’re definitely not a swordsman. No one gets to level five after some training and one day. So you must have a unique class. Touch the orb and show me.”

“Please, I really-“

“Now.” His voice, again, was soft yet had a commanding power as he stared at Jay with his glowing blue eyes.

Jay reluctantly touched the orb as the cool, calm and collected Sullivan’s mouth dropped.

“Wh—” Sullivan was speechless. It was as if reality itself was lying to him.

“How? What? A nec-“

“A necromancer.” Jay finally got to interrupt Sullivan’s sentence in return.

“But that’s a mon!” Sullivan realised he was yelling and whispered “But that’s a monster’s class…. I don’t even see how this is possible. And I know you’re the old butcher’s boy, so you definitely weren’t born a monster. How the hell could this happen…”

Sullivan was thinking as Jay interrupted his thoughts “Well, I think it was because I have been working as a butcher my whole life, you know – touching the meat of dead corpses, looking at it, analysing it and stuff? But that’s just my theory. To be honest, I have no clue if correlation equaled causation here, but… I’m not a monster.” Jay timidly said.

“Hmm… Yes, obviously you’re human, I’ve known your father since I myself became an adventurer. What I want to know is why you decided to hide it.”

“Well, simply because it’s a monster class. I thought I would be killed and seen as a monster.”

“Mm…. Ok I see. Can you tell me about your skills?”

Jay decided to tell him part of the truth “Well, I have this skill which raises a little mini-skeleton of a small creature, about the size of a dwarf or a goblin. It’s how I was able to level up so quickly – I had some help.”

“I see…. Anything else?” Sullivan sounded incredibly professional through the whole process.

Jay thought about using [Shift] and making his ashen ring into a levitating ring of bones floating around him, but he decided against it. It would only creep Sullivan out even more.

“No. But I think my class is a mix between dexterity and manacraft…”

“Ok I see. Well… I will keep your class as a swordsman for now – at least, that is what the records will show – but you will also be attending the manacraft training.”

“Th-Thank you sir. Thanks Sullivan. I… Please, don’t tell anyone. I think the nobles would kill me if they knew.”

“You’re safe. I’ll register you as a swordsman, and let you attend the manacraft class. If anyone asks, just say you’re part of an experiment for Sullivan.”

“Part of an experiment for Sullivan. Ok. Sure. Thank you.”

“You may leave. Just know that I’m keeping a close eye on you, Jay Hart.”

“Yes sir. Thank you. I-” Jay was cut off once more.

“Back to training. Go.” Sullivan pointed at the door. Jay was dismissed the same way Anya was.

“Yes. Thanks Sullivan. I’ll do my best” Jay said, full of thankfulness as he went to the door.