The situation on the Southern Continent was getting stranger by the day. The expansion efforts were going well, and the latest of their conquests had reached the mountain range that separated a small portion of the eastern edge from the rest of the Continent, plus they had managed to make alliance deals with dozens more Guardians in the area who had been selected before the group from the farm had arrived.
The Darklight Host now held almost all of the Coastline closest to the Central Continent, and a small portion of the cities that were inland in the region. But the appearance of people and creatures that weren't monsters was becoming a growing concern.
Victor, the Echo had sent out groups every day this week to go look for new arrivals, and every day they had come back to the farm with at least one group that had apparently been thrown through time. But this morning the single person they found was even more of an oddity, they didn't seem to belong to this world at all.
At first, Victor thought this person was an Echo, but they didn't have a class. They had the possibility of a class, but the System still showed [Undetermined].
[Boss, I think we have an issue with the Summoning. We just found a Dragonkin with a pending class assignment. I think that the damage to the Dungeon spell affected the Transfers, and that might be what is causing the random appearances.] Victor informed Cain.
[Do you think it might be related to the Goddess of Reincarnation? We found a Bunny Cleric yesterday who mentioned the Creators, and from what I could gather in her thoughts, I think that the Reincarnation God is working with the Laughing God to make the Transfers happen.
If that Goddess is just sending souls through whatever separates their original world from ours, it might be possible that the destroyed dungeon spell might have affected the targeting and now it's just making people from this planet's past appear.] Cain suggested.
[So, you think she might be from a nearby world and was simply pulled in by accident after death? That isn't impossible. The Transfer spell should have some sort of deliberate targeting to it, and if a God of Reincarnation is involved, those who followed their pantheon in the past would naturally be on the list to be sent back for another life.] Victor agreed.
[See if you can find out something about her past life. The people from the past and the Dragons themselves have both mentioned that one of the other worlds in this solar system had Dragons and Monsters on it in the past, so there is a chance she is from nearby and might know a thing or two about what is going on. If she is too weak to survive the Southern Continent, feel free to send her to me and we can see about getting her going on a class.] Cain instructed his Echo, who only gave a single thought of agreement before turning to the task at hand.
"Now young Miss Jin, can you tell me anything about the world you came from? This world has changed a lot in the past, so it might still be here, or it might be the other world in this solar system. My boss suspects that the Goddess of Reincarnation might have something to do with all of the time-lost appearances, but we don't have proof of that yet." Victor explained.
"The last thing I recall was playing in the caverns, near an underground lake, when my friends and I decided to make a stop for lunch. Now, I'm here." The Dragonkin shrugged, her dull gray scales making a soft noise as they rubbed together.
"Underground lakes, a world of Caverns, and Dragonkin? That sounds a lot like the neighboring world, but I couldn't say for certain. Those who are Transferred here always lose a portion of their memory before the transfer, so we don't know if they died, or were affected by a spell, but they used to all arrive with a level one class from the Laughing God's System." Victor explained.
"It must be the same plane at least, I don't think I've heard of another Laughing God but ours." Jin agreed, wondering what in the Mortal Plane was going on.
"If you focus hard enough you might be able to sense the Dragons on the other world right now. The full-blooded Dragons say that they can when the planet is close in the sky like it is now." Lou, the second Echo suggested.
"I can sense something. Maybe the War Goddess, or the Nature Goddess? Both of them were dragons, but I can sense the planet as well. But what does it mean? How long was I gone for?" Jin asked, but nobody had an answer for her.
"We could send you to the Ancient Cain, our boss, and see if he knows something. We all share the same abilities, but he has an uncanny knack for attracting the Laughing God's attention." Victor informed her, trying to convince the Dragonkin that it was in her interests to go to the Central Continent.
"One place is as good as another. I will stay with your boss for now, and we will see what he can find out. Will he tell me about this Class thing that you all have mentioned, or is it something personal, like a Cultivation Path?" She asked, confusing the Echoes again.
"This world doesn't seem to have Cultivation energy. At least, the Humans who arrived here and Claimed they were Cultivators didn't find anything that they could use, and turned to Mana instead." Victor told her, and the Dragonkin frowned.
"Is it all Mana here? That shouldn't be right. If there are Dragons there should be both types of energy. Perhaps one is blocked off for a reason? I will start looking into it once I get settled in. Does he have a Library? If Ancients are the Creator's living tools the way you appear to be, then they should still have books in this world." Jin said with some certainty.
"Yes, there is a wonderful library, and the boss can teach you Inscription, so you can make Skill Books to empower your class." The Echoes told her in unison.
"So there are Skill Books as well. If there are skill books and Mana, why aren't there any Cultivators? Please, send me over, I need to know the answer." Jin demanded, making the Echoes smile as their plan to send the problematic new arrival away worked flawlessly.
After Merging with a clone of Moana, they simply opened a portal and used their tentacle arm to lift the Dragonkin through it without any more explanation, leaving her in the Garden of the Long Fang Valley Manor near the transport Circle.
"Welcome, I believe you were called Jin, right? I am Laura, your friendly Neighborhood Opal Prismatic Dragon, and I will lead you to the boss. Did you already eat? We always feed new people, it's a great tradition, and it gives me an excuse to have extra snacks every day." Laura welcomed the new arrival, who could only stare in awe at the chaotic bustle of the Manor grounds and the city around her.
"What sort of place is this? None of the architecture matches, and there are beastkin and humans and Dragons all mixed together in one city. Is this whole world like this?" Jin asked.
"There are Demons too, and Fae, and some Youkai. This place is special, since the boss is here, and he attracts interesting things to himself. See the tower there? He made that for people to train their Classes without risk of death, so everyone could get more powerful. He might take some getting used to though since he can read minds." Laura explained, but that didn't seem to help Jin's confusion.
"Alright, Mistress Laura, please lead the way to your boss." Jin agreed, hoping that the servant of the Creators would be able to explain things more clearly.
"Mistress Laura, I like that. I should ask him to call me that too, so everyone knows how wonderful and important I am." Laura declared with an abundance of misplaced pride that made Jin laugh.
"You really are an odd one. But very cute in that Pixie form." The dragonkin giggled, while Laura frowned. So much for making people call her Mistress Laura, her own transformation had backfired on her.
An out-of-control ball came flying their way from where the local kids were playing outside the gates, and Jin instinctively threw up a barrier around herself using Arcane Magic, the simplest barrier to create, and the least likely to damage the children's toy.
The ball bounced harmlessly back the way it came, making the kids cheer at what they thought was an intentional return while they waved their apology and thanks to the Dragonkin before continuing their game.
"This place really is live..." Jin's words trailed off as the System Interface opened in front of her.
[Welcome to the Class Selection Menu]
[Seven Options of Class are available, related to the Initial Skill you activated, Please Choose Now.]
Jin had always preferred being a Fire Mage, and in her past life had an Elemental Fire affinity. That didn't seem to be true in this life, at least not as far as the classes were concerned. They were all mage classes, but only two of them were Fire Elemental. She also had the option of the other elements, including Arcane, as well as a class whose description was highlighted with a Golden Barrier.
[Dragon Archmage] A Fusion of physical growth and multiple elemental magics that will combine to allow the user to obtain a fully Draconic form upon completion of the Class Path.
That sounded like just the thing to her, but Jin took the time to see what else she could learn and found the Skill tree right away, unlike Jessica, who only found it afterward when she was prompted by Nemu.
There were attack and defense spells, improved flight since she already had fully functional wings, and more skills further up the skill tree that she couldn't see yet. It looked like a very versatile Mage class since one of the magics was the Arcane Spell [Cantrip] which let her use Arcane Magic for mundane uses, like sweeping the floor, moving small objects, and creating night lights. It was perfect for her, but Jin didn't know how long it would take to get all of these skills and obtain the Dragon form that was a dream of every Dragonkin in her past life.
[Dragon Archmage] Selected
Cain was watching the Dragonkin activate her class from the front steps of the Manor when an unexpected quest notification came to him.
[All Avatars Active. New exclusive quest activated.]
[Quest: Balance] Obtain knowledge of the Rules that Govern the World. Knowledge may be found at random, in Ancient Tomes, or from Divine Level Beings.
[Quest Reward] 1 Spirit Grade item token, 1 Random Reward, and Bonus Experience for all Avatars involved in the quest.
Cain spent a while pondering what was meant by All Avatars involved in the quest, then realized that some of the Transfers must be chosen by the other gods the way Cain himself was favored by the Laughing God. The only problem was, that he had no idea how to find them. There was a good chance this Dragonkin was one of them, and Cain suspected that Jessica the Divine Bunny was another, but there were more creators, and he hadn't seen anyone who stood out as an Avatar of the other Gods.
It did solve Cain's problem with deciding what to do next though. He had to get these two potential Avatars in top form, and then find the former Puppet who still has the Ancient's Library with her. That was his best bet to obtain the knowledge he needs.
