“Oh, Lord. I’ve died and gone to Hell.”
Father Joseph Lamentation Walker opened his eyes to find himself lying in a field of tall grass. Sitting up, the calm blue skies, fluffy white clouds, and tranquil forest weren’t quite the tormented souls, cackling demons, and copious amounts of fire and brimstone he would normally associate with Hell, but for Father Walker, Hell was the only place this could be.
How in the name of all that is holy could he, a priest with a lifelong commitment to purity and celibacy in pursuit of spiritual matters alone, have been reincarnated in a world that expected him to be a licentious cad collecting a harem?
With a grunt of frustration, Father Walker carefully climbed to his feet. To his surprise, his knees didn’t lock up. His back didn’t twinge. His bladder didn’t try to fail him. He hadn’t felt this good since he was sixty! Maybe even fifty! … Forty? Let’s not get crazy here. Looking down, he was greeted by a body decidedly not the withered husk of the old man he had become.
“Huh. That’s not mine.”
A bit of stretching, bending and a couple of squats later, Father Walker couldn’t suppress a chuckle.
“Okay, maybe there are some benefits to death after all.”
“Master!”
“And some drawbacks,” he sighed.
Appearing as if from nowhere, a ball of glowing blue light zipped through the air, circling around him. Once. Twice. Thrice.
“Master! You’re here! You’re here!”
A gentle thump on the nose revealed a tiny, blue woman hugging Father Walker’s face.
“Uh, it’s nice that you’re glad to see me, but I’m no one’s master.”
“Of course you’re my master, Master! I was born to serve you and have been awaiting your arrival ever since! You’re my whole reason for being!”
“That’s… I’m so sorry,” he muttered as he gently disengaged the tiny woman from his face. “Nobody should have to live that way.”
“I don’t understand. Am I not delightful to you?” she whimpered. “I was made to please you, to serve you, to guide and protect you. If my appearance displeases you, I can change it!”
Her expressive eyes filled with unshed tears as she sniffled with her slightly too large nose. Her mouth which, quite literally, stretched from ear to ear turned down in a heartbroken pout. As her head drooped, her long, wavy hair fell forward to curtain her face. Though only a few inches tall, the quiet sobs shaking her body drew his attention to the slight curves of womanhood muted by a simple form-fitting, knee-length dress that revealed nothing untoward. She might not be considered conventionally beautiful by the standards of his day, but Father Walker had to admit to himself that had he taken the time to imagine the perfect woman, this little person and her somewhat awkward features wouldn’t be far off from his ideal.
He hated it.
Who would shape a person just to suit another’s preferences? Forcing someone to live up to the ideals of another, just to please them? His gut twisted as he futilely tried to suppress the rage building within.
“Oh, child, you could not disappoint me if you tried, but I…”
“Oh Master!” she cried out in joy, wrapping herself around his fingers, hugging as tight as she possibly could.
“Please. Don’t call me master. People usually call me Father Walker or just Father.”
“I’m so sorry! I should have known, daddy!”
“No! Not that! Father is my title! Religious title! It’s like pastor, elder, or rabbai, or uh.. cleric. Not…not… that.”
“Then I suppose you won’t be calling me ‘baby girl’ anytime soon?” she pouted.
“Absolutely not.”
“Drat! I guess you can just call me by my name too. Amygdalae, at your service, Mas… Father. Amy for short.”
“Amy. That works. So…” he hesitated, not really wanting to ask how she was supposed to serve him but having no other idea what he was supposed to be doing. He finally settled on a, hopefully innocuous, “What now?”
“Oh, that’s easy! I’m your guide to The System. I help you understand the details and make the right decisions. We need to get you initialized and select a [System Class]. If you have any questions, it’s my job to answer them! So, please don’t hesitate to take advantage of me.”
Your base Attributes, Aptitudes, and Abilities will now be calculated and assigned.
Before he could react to the innuendo, a blue rectangle appeared, cutting off any reply before it could form.
“Okay, so, there’s that. Now what?”
“Don’t be so impatient! It takes a few seconds to initialize.”
She thwapped Father Walker on the nose then giggled as he indignantly rubbed at his face.
Notice! You have been automatically assigned the starting class of Mage.
You gain 3 Ability Points and the following Abilities at Rank 0:
• Mage Blast – Expend mana to damage enemies at range.
• Divination – Use rituals to discover hidden information or gain future knowledge.
• Mana Gathering – Gather mana to cast your spells.
“Mage? Seriously, a Mage? I thought told her…”
Notice! You have been chosen as the Champion of the goddess Teelia.
Your Mage Class has specialized into Priest.
You gain 1 Ability Point and the following Ability at Rank 0:
• Faith Healing – Your faith can heal the afflictions of others.
Your Mage Blast Ability has specialized into Spirit Blast.
Numbers, symbols, and unknown characters spun around his vision for several seconds before finally settling into a formatted table displaying information that Father Walker assumed to be some form of character sheet.
| Joseph Walker | Priest 0 | ||
| Might | 1 | Prowess | 3 |
| Fortitude | 1 | Mana | 6 |
| Dexterity | 0 | Psi | 3 |
| Agility | -1 | Spirit | 8 |
| Intellect | 2 | Soul | 5 |
| Guile | 0 | Qi | 1 |
| Presence | 1 | Aether | 4 |
| Luck | 0 | Eldritch | 5 |
| Unspent Ability Points | 4 | ||
| Divination | 0 | Mana Gathering | 0 |
| Faith Healing | 0 | Spirit Blast | 0 |
| Love Master | Harem 0/1 | ||
The block of nearly random words and their associated numbers meant little to Father Walker, though he could intuit a good bit of what they represented. He had experience with games and was at least passingly familiar with the common tropes. So, he figured he had a good grasp of what to expect.
The top section appeared to be basic statistics. Based on the previous notification, he assumed these were his Attributes and Aptitudes while the section below the notice of available Ability Points were clearly a list of the Abilities he had been granted.
“There we go, Father! A priest at level one is really, really good! Now I see why you were so insistent on the title. Mistress Teelia is such a wonderful goddess to serve.”
“Teelia is not my god.”
“Huh? You’re her Champion! How can you say she’s not your goddess?!”
“Let’s… discuss that in a bit. We should finish this up first.”
“Oh! Right! Sorry! So, I need to explain the Attributes to you. Might is an abstract representation of how strong you are. It quantifies your ability to lift, hit hard, and…”
“Sorry to interrupt, but I’m pretty sure I get it. You’ve got strength, endurance, movement, smarts, and other basic things. The second column appears to be power sources or classifications for types of skills. I’m sure I’ll have some questions on the details later, but I get the gist of things. If you infodump it all on me now, I won’t remember it anyway.”
“You truly are wonderful, Mas… Father Walker. Most people who haven’t grown up studying The System are completely lost when they first access their screens! You’re so smart!”
“Eh, different game, same concept. I’ve dealt with this kind of thing before. How do I spend these points? Do I have to tap the screen or just will it to happen? Can I respec later if I regret a choice? Is there any way to change my starting class or pick different options that aren’t being shown?”
“Those are very insightful questions! I can see why Teelia chose you! She’s never wrong! You’re going to make such a great champion!”
Father Walker pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.
“Amy, please just answer the questions.”
“Right! You’ll have to physically reach out and tap the screens to assign your Ability Points. You also can’t access your screens during combat or similarly stressful situations, so you’ll want to assign your points before you need the Abilities.
“I’m not sure what ‘respec’ means, but if I understand your intention, then I can inform you that you can’t change how you’ve spent your points after you confirm the decision, nor is there a way to change your Class after it’s been confirmed. There are quests and boons that can grant a Class change, specialization, or evolution, but those are fairly rare. Having a specialization this early is incredibly rare! You’re so very blessed!
“There are no hidden options, at least none that can be selected. Anything not shown to you is unavailable. New options will become available as your Rank increases, but you must experience that to learn more.” Unable to stay still, Amy spun off into the air, dancing circles around him as she spoke.
“Well, that’s just great. I don’t have any non-magical options here. There’s really no chance of getting something like sword fighting or pugilism or something? Really, anything but magic would be okay.”
“But, Father, magic is so useful! Your highest Aptitudes are Spirit and Mana, making your Priest class perfectly suited to you. You wouldn’t excel at anything else the way you will with divine magic.”
“I have no desire to use magic, divine or otherwise, but I suppose I’ll have to admit defeat here. Since I’m sure it’s a matter of survival, I’ll make the sacrifice. Early on, I’ll need information, damage, and healing, in that order. You’ve got basic information covered, so I’m thinking we put two points in Spirit Blast, one in Divination, and one in Faith Healing. That sound good?”
“Possibly, Father, but if you’ll need to spend more than two points if you want to advance an Ability to the second Rank. Each new Rank costs a number of points equal to that Rank. One for first, two more for second, three more for third, and so on. Also, you’ll probably want to invest some into Mana Gathering, otherwise you’re stuck with only the smallest mana supply.”
“Right. So, with four abilities and four points, I can have one rank in each or two ranks in one ability and one rank in another. With these scaling rank costs, it seems that I’ll be forced to never excel at any one thing or be constantly saving up points with the plan to specialize in only one thing. Hmm… Do higher ranks have diminishing returns or exponential gains, or is it a more or less linear progression? In other words, is taking an ability from rank nine to rank ten more or less valuable than taking a different ability from rank zero to rank four?”
“Those are the very questions that people have been debating for centuries. I’m afraid that I don’t have a definite answer for you, but I can say with certainty that higher Ranks are definitely more powerful than lower Ranks but mostly in versatility. You also have to consider your overall Level. My best suggestion is to do what seems right for you. I can tell you that most people prefer to specialize in a smaller number of Abilities, increase less useful Abilities to Rank 2 or 3, and ignore any that aren’t immediately meaningful to them. It will really depend on which options you are granted though.
Those with less foresight or who seek an immediate power increase will raise many Abilities to Rank 1 to quickly raise their Level. Your total Level is equal to the sum of all Ranks you have in Abilities, and a higher Level gives additional rewards. It may be beneficial to spread your points out early to quickly raise your Level, or you may choose to specialize in one or two Abilities to keep your Level lower and be able to buy Ability Points more cheaply.”
“That… is a lot of information to take in. At least for now, we’ll just go with the easiest option of taking a middle road. I’ll advance Spirit Blast to Rank 2 and Mana Gathering to Rank 1.
“Divination could be quite useful, but without knowing more, I don’t want to stake my survival on it right now. Faith Healing seems good at a glance, but I notice that it specifically says that it affects others, which maybe implies I can’t use it to heal myself. That should definitely be useful later, but I can’t waste points on a skill that’s potentially useless until I find allies. Information advantage is the best way to win any engagement, so Divination will get the next point I gain. For now, one into Mana Gathering for the mana gain and Spirit Blast gets the remainder, because it makes the bad guys fall down.
“Does that seem reasonable to you, Amy? You’re the expert.”
“That’s very insightful! I’m impressed. You’ll master The System in no time at all. I’m not permitted to give direct advice on how to spend your points, but I think your reasoning is quite good. I’ll admit that I’m a bit surprised that you’re focusing on killing this early. Most priests try to avoid it as much as possible. Most of those who like the killing end up as Berserkers or Assassins.”
“I can’t say I’m happy about it, but sometimes it’s necessary. I served my country in the war when the draft came. I’m not afraid to do what must needs, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Besides, look around,” he indicated the forest surrounding them. “Surely I’m more likely to encounter dangerous animals than people, dangerous or otherwise. I’ll need some way to drive them off if I’m going to make my way out of these woods.”
Before he could second guess his decisions, Father Walker reached up and tapped the screen, assigning and confirming his points.
“It’s done now, so there’s no point in dwelling on it.”