The warm light of an early dawn woke me from my slumber, and I stretched and rolled around in the bed for a while just enjoying the feeling of comfort before my bladder protested. As I returned from the out-house I saw Nathlan standing still as a statue, eyes closed and holding out an open palm to the sky beneath an apple tree. I watched for a few moments in silence before feeling as if I were intruding on some strange ritual and decided to head back inside.

Vera and Jorge were seated in the tavern with a map stretched out on the table between them, conducting a conversation in hushed tones over a massive platter of food. As rugged as they had looked when they first met me, they seemed to enjoy the presence of civilisation as much as I did.

I smiled as I walked over, and they returned my greeting with friendly words of their own, and a proffered seat.

"Morning, lad. Tuck in." Jorge gestured at the pile of still-steaming sausages and crusty-looking bread rolls on the table.

I filled my plate with a smile, stomach grumbling with excitement at the feast laid out before me. "Shoe's on the other foot now," I said. "Is Nathlan joining us for the interrogation?"

Jorge raised an eyebrow at my phrasing. "Aye, I'll give him a shout," he said as he slipped to his feet and went in search of the tall scholar.

"What's he doing out there, anyway?" I asked Vera, digging in with a fork and taking a few moments to appreciate the heady flavours of apple and spices in the fat sausages.

"It'll be hard to explain without the requisite knowledge," she began. "But broadly, he's trying to change his class." At my gesture, she continued, "It's not my story to tell, but he's aiming for a combat class this time, and one with a very different emphasis than his current class. It requires a lot of focus and months – years, even – of intent."

"Intent?" I asked.

"Yes. It's…" she sighed, "complicated, I suppose. Look–"

She was interrupted by Jorge's return, Nathlan close on his heels and looking distracted. Clearly, whatever he had been practising moments ago still held his attention. As they sat, I put the matter from my mind. There were more important answers to find, and I finally had my turn in the interrogator's boots. No time to waste.

"Right, first question: Where are we? Like in the world. What country, what continent? Do you have countries here? What political bodies exist to manage and run things? How is your society organised? Is this even your society, or are you guys from somewhere else? And are you high-level people, or just average? How strong is the average person?"

My first question turned into almost a dozen as they bubbled out of my mouth in a rush. Jorge raised his hands for mercy and Vera laughed. Even Nathlan smiled before he replied, listing off the questions as he answered them.

"Trading outpost 17 of the Wandering States territory. On the continent of Tsanderos, with the Unclaimed Peaks at our back, the Salazan coast to the south, the copper canyons to the east and bordered on the west by the Panyera river.

"Yes, we have countries on Tsanderos, although the Wandering States are defined by geographical rather than political structures. However, the lands that lie on the other side of the Unclaimed Peaks are divided into various countries, empires, and kingdoms. Borders are more fluid this side of the mountains for some reason.

"There are myriad political formations on Tsanderos, and it depends on many factors. No, this is not our society – none of us are locals. Jorge and Vera are strong fighters but not unique, and I myself am on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of levels. The strength of the average person varies tremendously and just as your previous question, there are many factors that influence it."

I was staring at him as he rattled off point after point and when he finished, I was no more enlightened than when I started. "Okay, let me try again. I have arrived in the wilderness of this world, and I'm completely lost. Please explain to me what I need to know about where we are and how things work so I don't make some obvious fucking errors."

Nathlan nodded as he remarked, "that's a far more sensible request than I was expecting from you."

Jorge took over before the backhanded compliment could sink in and answered me himself. "So, it's a whole new world to you, and I don't know where you've come from or how it compares, but here are the bare bones: this world is shaped by periodic conflict. The presence of the World Tree and the–"

He cut himself off and let out his breath in a burst. "You know what? This is a touch harder than I was expecting."

Vera chuckled and tried herself. "What Jorge means is that there's a lot of background information that you need to be aware of. It's probably best to pick it up slowly over time rather than trying to cram your head full of knowledge right now. Unless you're like Nathlan, burying your head in a scroll or book will probably just lead to more questions."

She tilted her head in consideration and then amended, "especially if you're like Nathlan."

"Okay how about this, rapid fire round; I'll ask a question, and you say 'yes', 'no' or 'it's complicated'."

After receiving three hesitant nods, I began.

"Does everybody get a class here?"

Nods all around. "Yes."

"Wait, even kids?"

"No," and "it's complicated," were said simultaneously by Nathlan and Jorge, respectively. Nathlan rounded on the shorter man and seemed about to argue but I held a hand up to get their attention again.

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"Is killing the only way to gain levels?"

"No," and "it's complicated," were said at the same time once again. Nathlan turned but Jorge was quicker to speak up.

"Depends on the class," he explained.

I gestured for him to continue, and he did. "Broadly, there are two types of classes offered by the system, categorised by how the class gains experience to level. Most folks you'll meet have support classes. They can be levelled by using the Skills that are granted by that specific class – somebody with a fishing class will gain experience by fishing and using the class Skills related to that profession. Soldiers, farmers, builders, artisans, cleaners, bureaucrats, and even some of the darker professions are usually filled by support classers."

"The other type of class, and the one that you clearly possess given your recounting last night, are the combat classes. They're just as varied - many ways to skin a cat, after all – but they all only gain experience by killing. Be it other people, monsters, animals and even in some cases plants, experience is only given for killing. This is something we'll come on to later, lad, but just know that many cultures heavily regulate who can and can't take a combat class and so they're much rarer to see, especially openly."

I digested that before asking, "so what are the advantages of each class type?"

Nathlan cleared his throat and began speaking, subtly nudging Jorge with his elbow to create space for his arms. I saw why as soon as he began talking and his arms started flying around with broad sweeping articulations to accompany his rather grandiose speech.

"Combat classes are by far the more powerful class type. They provide more attributes per level and their Skills are often commensurately more powerful than those of a support class. They are also much quicker to level in most cases, as while the Skills need training to be used effectively, there is no competence threshold required to increase their level, and the experience gained from killing stacks up much quicker than the long years and decades of practice required to level a support class.

"It is suggested by many scholars, and I happen to agree with this suggestion myself, that the Skills provided by a combat class are so often more powerful because the system is utilising left over spirit, or 'mana' as you say, from the souls of those killed and using that to create the potential for the changes seen upon levelling up or attribute allocation. Whereas support classers must make those changes directly to themselves through hard work and dedication, the system can step in for the combat classers and–"

A polite cough from Jorge went entirely ignored by Nathlan as he really got into the swing of it, and only a subtle elbow from Vera managed to bring him to a somewhat stilted halt. Jorge raised an eyebrow at the man before taking over again.

"What he means to say, is that the support classes are weaker but much more common."

I nodded along. "So, most people don't take combat classes because they require constant killing and danger? I noticed that I barely received any experience from killing weaker creatures and the biggest jumps by far were seen by fighting those above my own level."

Jorge hummed in agreement. "Aye, and when you add to it the fact that a support class provides life-long benefits related to the profession, it's an easy choice for most."

"But surely there are many desperate people that look for a quick way to lash out. What happens when they get combat classes and start causing trouble?" I rejoined.

"Well, that depends on where you are, lad. But generally, most communities have competent administrators and guards that are on the look-out for that kind of thing. Plus, there are plenty of opportunities for most people with support classes rather than combat ones. Add to that the fact that you need to earn a distinct class in the first place after childhood, and most people end up with choices between multiple support classes only, and if a combat class presents itself, it's usually the result of a single moment versus a lifetime of support Skills being levelled."

He could see that I was a little confused by his last statement, so he amended. "Classes are offered based upon what you do, Runt. Spend your early years fixing shoes and you'll be offered a cobbler class. Clean up after younger siblings and cook for the family and you'll be offered a cleaner or cook variant class. On the flipside, if you spend your entire formative years fighting and killing to survive, you'll be offered a powerful combat class. The system uses what you do as a basis for future specialisation."

That made sense to me, and I thought back to how I had received starting attributes based on only the tiny amount of data the system had gained of my life through my short-term memory. I supposed that compared to most people's ten to fifteen years of living, the month between me arriving and gaining my class would have looked like an absolute bloodbath.

"You said soldiers are support classers. Why not combat classers?" I asked.

"It's not a hard and fast rule, but most are support classers. Think long-term. Soldiers are not fighting most of the time. They're marching, training, digging, cooking, standing guard and helping with disaster relief and so on. There are wars every now and then between neighbouring principalities, and even a few large-scale invasions every few decades, but most political and economic disagreements don't get that far.

"If you have a standing army entirely comprised of combat classers with no wars to fight… well, you have a low levelled army. Also, think about the incentives that breeds for the leadership. You tend to use the tool you have on hand, lad."

He sighed and leaned back, giving me a bit more space to chew through some more of the lovely sausages in the light, fluffy buns.

"So no, the standard model in Tsanderos is to have highly trained, high level support classers forming the core of the force, and then perhaps a small elite group of combat classers to act as champions, settling disagreements through small skirmishes and arenas battles. Sometimes support classers also take on this role but it varies from place to place."

Vera then shared her wisdom around a mouthful of honey-soaked pastry. "Plus consider that combat classers die young, while a good support classer can live for decades, perhaps centuries if they get strong enough. They might have 'commensurately' weaker skills, but the weight of experience and wisdom is a heavy one to balance the scales."

She looked at Nathlan pointedly when using his word, and I couldn't be sure if she was disputing his claim or just mocking his word choice. The grin he sent her way made me suspect it was the latter and done with good nature rather than mean-spirit.

Much like the topic of conversation, I soldiered on, saying "okay, that's interesting and great news and all, but that's brought up more questions than it answered."

Jorge looked at me before replying "Nature of the world, lad. Each answer always brings further questions."

We spoke all through breakfast, with Jorge, Vera and Nathlan giving me a crash course on the history, geography, general knowledge and context of my new world – or at least the continent on which I was currently based.

Apparently, little was known about other continents. Scholars knew there were others, but Tsanderos was surrounded on all sides by large oceans, and sea-travel was not particularly reliable by any measure. There were stories brought back by high-levelled and eccentric explorers, but they were often contradictory, and by the time they trickled down from the seats of power into the awareness of the common man, they were as much myth as factual accounts.

The discussion had been interesting, and I was pleasantly surprised by how gentle Tsanderos seemed. My first impression of the world – being kidnapped by mercenaries, who were themselves brutally murdered, then thrown into a windmill or wilderness survival – had been one of blood and brutality. It was nice to hear that that was the exception rather than the rule, and that most people lived lives of quiet toil and gentle rhythm.

Eventually though, the food was polished off, and things changed. A lot had been said over the last twelve hours, but as Jorge got to his proposition, I finally realised what had been left unsaid. The implications were troubling.

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