The next morning

Cal yawned and rubbed his groggily as he woke up. The heat on his skin from the sun told him that he had slept longer than usual. It wasn’t surprising though; the beating he had taken from Josh yesterday had made him want to pass out on the street. Only the thought of seeing Alia and of course, getting food had kept him going.

Speaking of food, he felt the all too familiar grumbling of his stomach much to his annoyance. It was strange though, he wasn’t normally this hungry after having a dinner like yesterday.

He stretched lightly and blinked his eyes open, expecting to see the glare of the sun only to pause. An unfamiliar transparent blue box floated in front of his eyes, partially obstructing his view of the sun.

‘What?’

At a glance, the box had some text in it and moved with his eyes as he sat up. It took him a few seconds for his mind to finally comprehend what he was seeing.

‘No way...’

Going by what he had heard so far, and the beginnings of the text he was seeing, it could only mean one thing.

“No fucking way!”

Congratulations. You have reached eighteen years of age and have unlocked the class: [World Shaper].

A giddy rush started pushing its way up his body, quickly dispersing his morning lethargy. He pushed his worn blanket away and jumped up. He didn’t try to stop the excited cry that escaped his lips and screamed for the heavens to hear, no doubt scaring some poor pedestrians on the street.

What had just happened took him completely by surprise. He had stopped hoping for a class long time ago and mostly resigned himself to a sad life. He couldn’t have possibly imagined when going to sleep last night, complaining about his misfortune, that he would woke up to a literal life changer.

“I have to tell Alia,” he said to himself. His friend would be so excited to hear the good news.

Recalling what sparse knowledge he had on the ‘system’ as people put it, he willed the floating box to go away and to his delight, the box disappeared as he heard it would.

Not even bothering to fold and stash the blanket to prevent it from blowing away, he quickly scrambled down the building, almost falling down a couple of times in his rush.

He ran through the alley, deftly jumping over the dirt and garbage littered on the stone. Not even the stink of rats and filth bothered him.

He reached the Pearly Flagon in a few seconds. It was a large inn, having two floors and neatly painted walls. It was one of the more well maintained and hence busiest inns in town. He peeked through the window to make sure that Alia was working and sure enough, she was carrying two plates of what seemed like fresh bread and soup to waiting customers.

Cal threw the front door open and made a beeline for his for his favourite girl in town. She was laughing politely at what was not doubt a terrible joke told by the man she had just served.

“Alia,” he called loudly.

It was apparently too loud as a few nearby heads turned towards him. More than one of them sneered and turned their heads away in disgust. Alia looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he caught Neera scowling at him behind the bar counter.

He ducked his head and scuffled to the waiting girl, blushing lightly from embarrassment.

“You’re looking better. The bruising is gone,” Alia observed.

It had? He hadn’t noticed. Now that she mentioned it, the pain in his hand was gone too. Had he healed overnight? He shook his head. There were more important things to discuss.

“I have to-” He looked around and lowered his voice. “I have to talk to you. Alone.”

Alia gave him a sly grin. “My, trying to snatch me away from all these men? I wonder what you’re thinking in that dirty mind of yours.”

Cal gave her a flat look. “I’m serious.”

She gave him a searching look and caught the nervous excitement on his face.

“All right, follow me.” She wiped her hands and led him towards the stairs. “Neera! I’m taking twenty!” She called and goblin woman waved her hand in response.

They entered her room on the first floor and she closed the door behind her. Cal had been to her room a few times, mostly when he had fallen in and Neera allowed Alia to take care of him. It was a modest but comfortable lodging. She had a few posters stuck to the wall, mostly of famous female adventurers.

Cal knew that behind most of them were more provocative ones, hidden in case Neera ever entered the room. He had been amused when he found that he and Alia shared the same taste in women and they would often end up fawning over them together.

A picture of Neera and Alia was placed in a table alongside another one of him and her. They couldn’t look more different in the picture, her beautiful and elegantly dressed while he was dirty and wearing rags. He chuckled at the memory of the look on the photographer’s face when he took that picture.

Eyeing the comfortable bed enviously for a moment, he turned to look at Alia waiting patiently.

“So? What’s up? You never visit me in the morning.”

“Guess what just happened to yours truly,” he said. He fought to keep the grin off his face.

“Your balls finally dropped,” she said immediately.

Cal’s grin froze. “My- what? No! That’s the first thing that comes to your mind?”

Alia cocked her head in mock confusion. “So they haven’t dropped yet? It’s long overdue if you ask me.”

He spluttered, his ears turning red. “That’s not- I mean my balls have dropped. Not now I mean- long ago. I’m a man.”

He stopped when he saw that she was trying to contain her laughter and glared at her. That caused her to let go and she bent down, guffawing. He folded his hands against his chest and waited for her to finish. As pleasant it was to hear her laugh, he hated whenever she did it at his expense.

“You done?”

“Sorry sorry.” With one final unlady like snort, she straightened up. “So what was this important thing that happened to you.”

“I got my class,” he told her. A full blown grin was threatening to split his face in half.

Alia’s mouth hung upon for a second at hearing the news before she rushed forward and glomped him. As usual, the action caused his face to press against her generous bust.

“Congratulations! I’m happy for you!”

“Mffk Muu.”

“Oh sorry.” Much to his disappointment, she pulled back from him and gave him a wide smile. “That’s great news though. You’re very lucky.”

“I know, right? I had just about given up when-” He stopped. Now that he had finally given her the news, he realized what he had just done.

“I’m so stupid,” he muttered. The grin fell off his face and he looked up at Alia with regret. “I’m so sorry Alia. I didn’t think- I was just so excited to tell you that I didn’t stop to think how you’d feel.”

Here he was, standing in front of a classless girl and excitedly telling her that he just unlocked a class. He could imagine exactly he would feel if the situation was reversed. He knew himself well enough to know that one of his first feelings would be jealousy.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Alia said, the smile never leaving her face. “You want to know how I feel? I feel happy; for you.”

Though he had stopped hoping for a class long ago, Alia never did. She stayed up on each birthday hoping desperately hoping her wish would come true. As Cal observer her, he was surprised to see that while her eyes tried to hide sadness, there was no hint of jealousy. That alone spoke volumes about how much she cared for him.

“Thank you,” he told her finally. She gave him another hug before pulling a chair, gesturing him to sit on the bed. He took a moment to enjoy the feeling of the soft bed under his butt.

“Well don’t keep me waiting. What class did you get?”

“It’s-”

“No wait. I know already. It’s [Rogue] isn’t it?”

“No-”

“Don’t tell me it’s [Mage]? I mean, there’s a decent chance but you don’t look the type.”

“Actually-”

“There’s no way you’d get [Warrior]! A runt like you could never get that class!”

Cal ignored the jab at his height and interrupted her. “It’s [World Shaper]!”

For the second time that night, Alia’s mouth hung open in shock and she shot up from her chair.

“You- you got a unique class?!” She all but screamed. If they weren’t on the first floor and the inn wasn’t so loud, everyone would have heard her by now.

“What the hell is a unique class?”

A/N: While I would love to write longer chapters, I think shorter chapter will help me release them more frequently. Also, the smut will come. I promise. Thoughts and comments welcome.