For the second time since dying, Ethan awoke from a sleep that defied reason. First came the soft murmur of voices in the distance, and then the scent of flowers. Finally, there was the dim light, which he saw through blurry vision. Someone nearby said something and rushed off. The light grew more intense within the room and then subsided along with the sounds. All that remained was the pervasive scent of flowers.

  It took him a while to come to his senses, but it wasn’t as bad as the time he had died. Ethan realized he was lying in a bed in a small room. One familiar face stared down at him, while another was unfamiliar. Headmaster Vesper was there, with an excited look on his face, while a lizard person stood next to him, its bright green skin glistening in the low light of the magical crystals. He took a steadying breath and blinked away what little sleep remained.

  “What happened this time?” he asked with a groan, trying and failing to prop himself up.

  Vesper turned, patting the short lizard person on the shoulder and nodding. It left the room without question. Then Vesper turned back to Ethan. “Graduate from Luminarum House, top of his class, of course.”

  “Of course,” Ethan repeated.

  “Well, it looks like your system activated very quickly,” Vesper said, pushing back and shaking his head. He had a sly smile on his face that Ethan assumed was a sign of pride. “You’re lucky you had such a beefy friend with you. Barry carried you to the administration building. After he kicked down the door and threatened the life of the receptionist there, you were whisked away to the nearest church.”

  “Yeah, I’m thinking about keeping that guy around,” Ethan said. He tried again to prop himself up and was successful this time, scooting back and pressing against the headboard. He took a few more breaths, testing how all his limbs felt and finding that nothing seemed too different after awakening. He felt completely fine, as though he hadn’t just passed out while eating the weird sweet sandwich. “What does it mean when my system is done doing whatever it was doing?”

  “That means you should have access to your system interfaces, if you have any. The biggest thing for you is going to be understanding how they work. Unfortunately, since your system is different from ours, your means of progression will also be different.”

  Headmaster Vesper let that long silence settle into the room, giving Ethan time to think. The fact that the headmaster himself had come to check on him meant that this was serious. The original estimate for his system activation was a week, but it had happened in only part of a day. Still, he had absolutely no idea where to start.

  “Any tips on how to get it to work?” Ethan asked. He held his hands out, making various gestures, including some miming typing on a computer, but nothing happened. He couldn’t even clearly recall how he had dismissed the screen before.

  “While it depends on the system, typically, to summon the interface, you think about your class. Now, since you are from another world, you won’t have that concept drilled into your head. So, instead of thinking of that word, think of the thing that makes you, you. Your very essence, if you will.”

  Headmaster Vesper sat back in his chair, watching with interest.

  Ethan adjusted his position on the bed and cleared his throat. Although he intended to do exactly as he was told, he remembered the body of the text he had read before he had passed out. It mentioned something about an error. He focused on the idea of that error, having already been given a template for how to make this system work. If it was a literal system that included screens giving him information, he should be able to summon past messages. It popped up in an instant, flashing into his vision and displaying part of the message he had seen before. This time, however, it had a bit more information. It seemed as though the error had been resolved.

  [System Unfurled Successfully]

  Your system has successfully unfurled!

  Please stand by…

  ERROR detected…

  Contacting Grand System for solution…

  “Ah. About time you arrived. Please get to work as soon as possible…”

  Assigning system, designation: Primary.

  Assigning class based on previous life, soul quality, and celestial potential…

  System Scribe class assigned.

  Initializing, please stand by…

  ERROR contained temporarily. Please resolve at the earliest convenience.

  Well, that was quite a bit of information to parse. Ethan read it over several times, and Vesper picked up on his confused look. Although the headmaster asked something, he was ignored for now. There were many parts of the message to dissect. The first was the line after the error. It contacted something called the Grand System to find a solution. Below that seemed to be a response from the Grand System itself, or perhaps somebody or something in charge of it. Then it gave him a system designation that didn’t align with what he remembered hearing about system designations. After that, he received a class, and finally, the error he had experienced before was noted, which he now had to resolve. Whatever that meant.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Well, which system and which class did you get?” Headmaster Vesper asked yet again, this time leaning eagerly over the bed and staring at Ethan.

  “I was reviewing the message I saw before I passed out.” Ethan stopped himself from blurting everything out. “I’m hesitant to describe the full contents.”

  Vesper pushed back from the bed, a beaming smile spreading across his face. “That’s the spirit. I knew you were right for Gale House. Sometimes somebody stumbles on some magical knowledge, either lost or newly discovered, that can reshape the way we think of things. This information is highly sought after, so soul contracts are employed.”

  Before Ethan could even ask what that meant, the headmaster was holding his hands out and creating some magical symbols in the air, but he still wanted to ask.

  “You’ll have to explain what a soul contract is and why that means I can trust you with this information.”

  “Depending on the strength of a soul contract, many things can happen. When I weave one, those who violate the pact die. Not just a normal death. Of course, their souls are destroyed, which means they have no chance of reincarnating or transcending to another world.”

  Ethan felt his heart skip a beat as a small amount of adrenaline was dumped into his system. He hadn’t expected the headmaster to go nuclear, but he appreciated the sentiment all the same.

  “That sounds favorable, I think.”

  Vesper cracked a smile. The magical symbols before him grew more complex. Some of them floated, hovering over Ethan or lingering nearby.

  “I, Cassius Vesper, headmaster of Gale House, swear never to reveal the secrets concerning the messages Ethan Walsh has seen. I shall not divulge information about his class, abilities, and so on unless given his express permission. I shall help him in every way that I can to accomplish a mission he doesn’t yet understand.”

  The air stung with something Ethan assumed was magic. The floating prismatic symbols stopped moving and they all aligned to a deep hue of glowing blue. Vesper sucked in a breath as his eyes flared the same color.

  “Let it be sealed.”

  The headmaster’s words carried a weight that pressed down on Ethan’s chest like a gorilla. He gasped as all the magical sigils burst into light and then vanished. Although no system message appeared to denote the contract, he could feel that something had settled over his very being. He didn’t quite have the words to describe it yet, but he knew it had been set in place and that he could tell everything to Vesper.

  “Let’s see where to start.” Ethan released a nervous chuckle. “That was a bit intense.”

  “It normally is when you’re experiencing rank 10 magic. Now, start with the message. Read it out to me if you don’t mind.”

  Ethan did exactly that. He didn’t hesitate to read the entire contents of the message aloud to the headmaster. His brows rose and fell depending on the content, and by the end, his brows had furrowed deeply.

  “I like to think I’m fair to each of my students. I thought I’d put together what you would be based on my initial tests.” Vesper paused, stroking his beard and pursing his lips. “Everything in that message is fairly normal. Even getting a message from the grand system itself isn’t outside the bounds of what we expected. But the system you have been assigned… it’s impossible. If I had not bound myself by contract, I would’ve been tempted.”

  “Why?”

  “Think of it like this, like the branches on a tree. My system, X-13, is one of many branches. We’re somewhere in the middle, sprouting off from the main part and creating many other branches that represent our classes. Your system, designated Primary, is the trunk. You’re as close to the ground as you can possibly get. As close to the source as possible.”

  Which meant almost nothing to Ethan right now, but he thought about it. He tried to put things together in his mind, segmenting the concept of the Grand System from individual systems and coming to a conclusion. If the source was the Grand System, and his system didn’t branch off from it, that meant his system was the governing body of everything. Although he didn’t understand the implications, he put it together.

  “That sounds heavy.” Ethan’s thoughts swam. He was now an interesting thing in a world of interesting things. He was out of his depth.

  “That’s one word for it. I can’t even imagine. And your class combined with the system… This is going to be interesting to watch your progress.”

  “What about the class itself?” Ethan asked. “How do I check that one out?”

  “Easy enough. Just follow the instructions I gave you. Focus on the thing that makes you, you. It might be easier now that you know the name of the class. You should also be able to access some kind of attribute screen since you received a message from the Grand System. I assume your class isn’t one based on cultivation, which requires a lot of introspection and is generally annoying.”

  Ethan nodded, doing exactly as he was told. He focused inward and found some strange light in his chest that he could now view in his mind’s eye. It wasn’t just his imagination. When he focused on it, it was there. The light pulsed slowly, as though following the rhythm of his heartbeat. But he looked past that and focused on the class. A moment later, a new screen popped up.

  [System Scribe]

  ERROR

  ERROR

  Abilities:

  Primordial Scribe

  Description:

  System Scribes are agents of the Grand System. This is an adaptive class, meaning that features will develop as you progress. Check this screen often for changes.

  Naturally, Ethan read the text aloud for the headmaster to hear. He clicked his tongue at the first error and groaned at the second.

  “At least there’s an ability. Otherwise, we’d be playing a guessing game to figure out how to get you to advance. If I had to guess, the first two errors are something like attributes, skills, titles, achievements, or something like that. I’m betting at least one of them is attributes, though. Now, let’s see what that ability does.”

  Ethan took a moment to appreciate the wisdom of the headmaster. He had expected to receive instruction in an academy, people telling him how to live his life in this world. But Headmaster Vesper was knowledgeable. Those were some interesting, educated guesses. He summoned the ability, finding that it was quite easy for him to do after he had conjured the class screen. He read it aloud for the headmaster to hear.

  [Primordial Scribe]

  Description:

  Write the laws of the universe.

  Effect:

  Grants access to system magic.

  Grants access to adaptive features.

  Grants access to [Emulation Mode].

  Grants access to [Celestial Pen] soulbound item.

  “Perhaps permanent death is worth screaming this aloud.” Vesper’s eyes shifted from side to side as he weighed his options. “Things are about to get very interesting.”