He read through the descriptions of each class in order.
Mage: Your skill gained has allowed you to truly dawn the hat and robe and enter the world as an offical Mage. +3 Int +2 Wis +1 Will +1 Per +1 FP
He had lowkey been calling the caster class the mage class so he was a little embarrassed.
Prodigious Mage: Your talent and skill let you stand out among millions of peers. Your connection to magic was strong from the beginning. You've created powerful constructs normally only possible 10s of levels later. Unaware of your own talent you breeze through arduous tasks. The future is bright and with your natural connection to magic you must make the most. +4 Int +2 Wis +2 Will +2 Per +2 FP
These descriptions were almost poemlike and were beginning to scare him. It was certainly misinterpreting what he was doing.
Fire Mage: Your fire magic has burned many and is powerful. Become further attuned to fire and become a fire mage. +3 Int +2 Will +1 Wis +1 Per +1 FP
Prodigious Fire Mage: Your talent and skill let you stand out among millions of peers. Your connection to magic was strong from the beginning. And your pivot into powerful fire spells was necessary to survive. You've created powerful flame constructs normally only possible 10s of levels later. Unaware of your own talent you breeze through arduous tasks. Spread flame with the most efficiency and power and become a Prodigious Fire Mage. +3 Int +3 Will +2 Wis+2 Per +2 FP
Not much to say about both of these. If clearly merged a few sentences from the Prodigious mage but Jaycee would've done the same.
Passion Mage: Inspired by the recent death of a warrior, who's story was cut short, you dive into the spectrum of emotions and harness their power to become powerful. Fueled by your own passions you set out to conquer your new world. +3 Int +2 Wis +2 Will +1 Per +1 FP
This one was quite interesting, not because he wanted to choose it, but he found what it entailed to be interesting. First is this connection between Omari and his class. He showed up twice technically, and Jaycee was a little confused.
Don't get him wrong he was happy to see it, but a part of him was confused. There was no talk of all the other people who died as a result of his actions directly or indirectly. And they were just two random people who had known each other for a day. But somehow it made enough of a mark on Jaycee that the system gifted him the token.
And then it also gifted him a potential ability and potential class. But if Jaycee had to guess what was happening, he would say that these parts of Omari that had gotten into his class were a result of whatever Omari had contributed to the system through his accomplishments.
There's no other reason he could think that all those average people who weren't anything impressive had no effect on him. They had no effect on the system. They were weak, uninteresting individuals who had died in the first day of the tutorial.
They had no mark to make. But Omari was impressive and if he had been allowed to live for longer would've become a powerful man. And the effect he had on the system manifested itself in Jaycee's class.
Him and Lady were the only ones still alive who had any interaction with the man post system. He guessed that if he and Lady had died as well, then Omari's skill or his 'effect' would go to some random person who was similar enough to him or something.
Something that Jaycee noticed was that the system did things with purpose. But this was probably the last of Omari's effect. He would stop showing up as the effect runs out. He bet if he died some other person would somehow get some sort of skill or something that was related to his magic.
The second thing he found interesting about this mage is what it even entailed. What does a passion mage do? Sounded like it could've been anything but it's because of that uncertainty that Jaycee moved over to the Prodigious choices.
They were just the better options and the stats were much better. The final choices between being a fire mage or not being a fire mage. The only visible difference was the fact that the fire mage seemed to favor the willpower stat.
He still wasn't completely sure what each stat did but he imagined it had some effect on mana control. Though he enjoyed the power that came with his flame magic, it was ultimately just a stepping stone to defeat his enemies.
He would much rather experiment with all kinds of elements before settling, if that was even something he wanted to do by then. By picking the normal Prodigious mage he left his options open.
He felt energy rush into his body as his class was refined and improved inside his soul. Jaycee opened his eyes as his stomach rumbled. He hadn't felt the need to eat the whole day before which he contributed to the integration.
But now he was hungry. Standing he began to walk away from the group which was still buzzing around him. He needed to go hunt something for meat since he didn't want to interact with anyone. But as he walked away someone called out to him.
"Hey! Where are you going so late?"
Jaycee turned to see Percy jogging to catch up with him. "I'm hungry so I was gonna go get some meat." Jaycee said.
"Oh, well we have plenty of extra meat. We're serving right now, this is a community you don't have to do everything yourself." Percy said.
Jaycee frowned. This was too nice for him, but he still was genuine. "Alright then. I'll eat with you guys." The younger man caved and gestured toward the many campfires.
While walking back to the camp Percy asked Jaycee, "Were you going to go out there by yourself?"
"Yeah."
"Why? It's really dangerous. I don't go out without a full party at least." Percy said.
Jaycee raised an eyebrow, "I'm sure you can go out by yourself." He said.
Percy seemed taken aback by the comment and smiled. "Well yeah but what happens when the rest of the group is weak because I was selfish."
"They become weak. But what happens when the strong are tied down by the weak, while others get ahead." The younger man responded. Percy nodded, taking the words seriously.
Jaycee took what Percy said seriously. He had been selfish during the tutorial so far, but that's what's kept him alive. He knew it would pay to care about the people around him more and try to nurture them.
Jaycee ended up taking a large steak with his bare hands and destroying the over done meat. After a jaw workout, he finished and was going to bed for the day.
After a fruitful night full of sleeping on the rough dirt ground, Jaycee pushed himself off the dirt and stretched. He saw Lady praying/meditating a few feet away.
He quietly snuck through the stirring camp as everyone, started the activities of the day. He had gotten to one of the foremen who were people Percy had assigned the role of taking inventory and distributing tasks.
He wanted to get his chores done for the day so he could spend the rest of it working on his magic in solitude. The foreman told him to help the other casters to set up some magic detection spells that could set off alarms when beasts were close.
Jaycee smiled and began to set off. He hadn't done anything like that with magic yet and if these other mages had their own insights his progress would increase. Suddenly an armored man pulled him aside while talking to the foreman.
Percy smiled as he walked Jaycee to the edge of the camp. "I needed a new mage and I thought you would make the perfect option since you're not doing much else." Percy said.
Jaycee smiled but shrugged, "I'm afraid I've already made plans with Lady to go hunt with her."
Percy tilted his head, "That's weird because she's actually in the group." He said. Jaycee frowned as he followed Percy toward the edge of camp where a group of people were standing. There were 6 of them total now. Lady was dressed in protective garments Percy had gifted to her.
There was a heavy warrior woman as well as two men dressed as light warrior and an archer. "Everyone this is Jaycee. He'll be our new mage." Percy introduced them and made sure they were all ready. "The goal is to find as many groups of people as possible today. I suspect there will be more congregation." Percy announced to the group before leading them off at a light jog.
Sighing Jaycee took off in a jog, his wand clutched tightly in his hand. Lady jogged as well with little difficulty. She seemed to be adjusting to the newness of their universe though and her eyes were more understanding of the things happening.
There was a power in her that Jaycee could feel was godlike or different in nature. It was only budding inside her but he could feel it nonetheless. After a few minutes of jogging they ran into a group of sheep looking beasts.
They were like rams with their wool shaved down to just skin. Their sharp teeth flung off saliva as they smelled the humans. There were 5 of them all being levels 5-8. This group was one of the super threatening things in this part of the forest and could easily wipe out most humans.
Keep in mind Jaycees actual race level was only 5 as well. Meaning the level 8 beast had extra stats in comparison to him, not even counting the fact monsters already have higher stats.
They seemed to be higher quality beasts. He didn't know what level anyone else was as his identify ability didn't work on people. Most people didn't openly share their level. But he did know Percy was one class level below him and had gone through his evolution. His class was a commanding warrior.
He described is as a military leader oriented class that profited off leading people. It seemed Percy couldn't see Jaycee's level either or he surely would've asked him what his class evolution had been. They jogged forward in standard formation with the mage and healer together and being watched over by the archer as the warriors attacked.
The heavy warrior was competent and shoved one of the beasts to the side as she attacked another with her longsword. Her sword slashed decently deep into the beast and caused the creature to lash out. Its nails created sparks on the shield.
Jaycee dove to the side as another one of the beasts ignored the warriors and charged straight toward him. He pointed his wand at the beast as arrows slammed into its body. They only served to slow it as the archer was preparing to pull out his dagger to engage the beast in combat.
But orange spears of condensed flame shot past him blasting the beast several feet backwards. Yet still the beasts stood and charged at them again. Raising his wand he began to develop his magic to smash the beast back once more.
It took a few blasts of fire to kill the beast but it took only 15 or so seconds to Jaycee. The arrows sticking out of it also helped a lot. Percy himself danced with two of these beasts. His shield and sword moved in perfect harmony.
He didn't even seem to be struggling in the slightest as each of his moves did their purpose. The light warrior and heavy warrior were occupying their own beasts as Jaycee moved to help Percy. "I've got this." He said over his shoulder.
He dashed to the side and shoved his sword straight through the chest of one of the beasts, killing it. Jaycee recoiled and turned to blast fire at the light warriors beast. Percy smashed the other beasts head to the ground. His boot pinned its neck to the ground as he cut its head off.
'Jesus.' Jaycee thought.
This was the first time he had seen Percy in action. And it was brutal. His flames quickly consumed the Light Warriors beast and the fight was wrapped up quickly. The strong figure of Percy stood his chest heaving slightly as he wiped the blood off of his sword in the grass.
The sword radiated power and was likely found like Jaycees wand. But the sword isn't what made Percy so scary. His eyes were wild as the scent of blood began to permeate the air. Slowly he lost his fierceness as he settled back into his good natured self.
Jaycee watched the scene with interest. It was clear there was stuff under the charismatic leader look he had. This was the first time he had seen Percy in battle and he had to admit. It was scary.
Jaycee was certain that at this moment Percy would wipe the floor with him. There simply wasn't stopping someone who had the stats to endure his attacks for long enough to get close.
Percy was faster, stronger, and tougher. Those were the stats his class promoted. Of course Jaycee had advantages in other places, but he just wouldn't be able to escape the warrior. If they were to ever fight he would have to come up with something on the spot that could at least put distance between them or kill the man before he reached him.
But Jaycee didn't think he would ever have to fight Percy to the death. He seemed like a lawful good kind of guy and Jaycee was not planning on making the man an enemy. "I don't like that there's such a strong group of beasts so close to camp. I think we'll increase security and hunting groups. If any other group from our camp had encountered these beasts they'd suffer serious injuries at the least." Percy said, running his hand through his black hair.
He was right. The only reason their group was able to dispatch the beasts so efficiently was because Percy had gathered the best of each class in the camp. The light warrior, heavy warrior, and archer were good but nothing crazy.
Jaycee didn't think they had potential that rivaled Omari's. They were more at the level of the woman who killed Omari, Angela. They were very competent and had probably been the best in their group before Percy had asked them to join his group.
Seeing the potential in the man they all quickly left their own people to join him. He was the path to power. Jaycee nodded slightly and looked at the ugly beasts. Their skin was bare and looked gray and gross. He nudged their bodies and felt an incredibly faint mana rise from them.
Tilting his head he squatted down inspecting the corpse. It felt like he was trying to see something but he was almost entirely blind. He chalked it up to his sensitivity with mana being simply not good enough to see or feel this mana.
If he was gonna guess, it was either some sort of soul or death mana he was feeling. But there was no reason to make assumptions. He looked up to see the group waiting for him as they were going to move on. Jumping up he said sorry and fell in line.