Jane was the first to speak, clapping her hands once again - that seemed to be a habit of hers - and addressing the whole group, “Alright y’all. Ya can see that, despite some differences, y’all have things you’re better at, and things you’re worse at. Rain, dear, come with me.”

She dismissed the group, more or less forcing them to disperse. He could still feel their gaze, though… they’d be talking about him the whole damned night, he was sure of it. Jade placed a hand on his back like a mother to a sad child, “Hey now… I know ya stats weren’t like that when I saw ya at the event. I’m guessing that one skill of yours did somethin’ weird? Ya might not like the attention, but try to see the good side’a this. You’re on the track to have one of the highest luck stats in history. I’m pretty sure you’re the first we’ve seen with that skill. We need to head back n’ get some paperwork done about it, you’ll get paid for it though, don’t worry. I’ll try to be quick about it, too.”

“Try to see the good side?” he grumbled, “My strength is doomed to be low no matter how many push-ups I do. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to get better at things outside of a level up at all! I don’t want to be some stupid good luck charm.”

“Mon cher, with this you can pay for ya sisters t’join much faster than you probably would have expected,” she purred softly, nudging him along back to the main building, “Ya don’t haveta put yourself in harms way, ya know? You could just be a crafter in the city. It’s a very lucrative position… besides, ‘side from that strength of yours, your stats aren’t that bad. One level up and you’ll be able to make it match the others. Ya saw Rhea, she’s already level three… and yes, her circumstances are a bit different from the rest of y’all, but it just goes to show it’s not gonna take that long.”

“I guess,” Rain muttered, not believing her in the least with her chipper ideas about his future. He wasn’t going to be some crafter! Everyone wanted him to be a crafter. Was this going to be a constant annoyance from now on? Sure, he might craft stuff, but he didn’t want that role. He was just ready for the conversation to be over, “Well, it’s nighttime, so after you’re done with the paperwork, can I just go to bed?”

“Of course, mon cher. It’ll only be a moment.”

It was not, in fact, only a moment. He was left trying to contain his disgruntled sounds in an office chair, somewhere in some deep room in the guild. He’d probably get lost trying to find his way back if he tried.

It was intimidating sitting there. Miss Jane had gone off after giving him a tablet to fill out information on. She wanted to chat with someone, and hopped on the phone when she was barely even halfway out the door. Apparently this was a new skill, and even if it was innate, they wanted to know all they could about it. He was unhappy about it, sure, but others would have fought for an ability like that.

There wasn’t much he could say about it, just that he woke up and it had updated his skills - an effect of the level up, apparently? He didn’t look at the skill beforehand, uninterested in the whole event. He wrote that down, but… changed the manner in which he explained it. He didn’t want to be seen as some uncaring jerk.

“Leveled up, saw the skill, but chose not to look into it yet as I didn’t want to waste time on the stage. After that, I got busy and didn’t look at it until after I had woken up the next morning and saw that my stats had changed,” he muttered under his breath as he was typing it out.

It took another thirty whole minutes before Jane walked in, and now with another person beside her. A man that had incredibly dark, short black hair and black eyes, with skin a soft, light peach color. His outfit made Jane’s jeans and tube top look out of place. He was more formal in his dress, a white trench coat nearly touching the ground, a light grey vest on underneath with a black shirt below all that. His pants, black jeans, looked much less formal, but still… he looked so serious.

He stared at Rain as Jane started to talk, “Alrighty. Sorry hon, that took longer than expected. This is Mistah Levon. He’s better known by the name Orbit. He’s a high-level explorer, and he happens ta be y’all’s teacher. Like I said in class, his flight was late, but he got here a couple of hours ago. I wanted ta let him know ‘bout your… unique situation.”

She spoke more clearly when she was serious about something, Rain noticed. It was kind of interesting. Why’d their teacher have to look so creepy, though? And what sort of name was that? Was he supposed to recognize him? His name did sound a little familiar… but he couldn’t place it. Maybe once he could finally leave and go to bed he’d text his sister and ask.

Mr. Levon started talking, and it was kinda hard not to pay attention to the man. His voice was so deep, but smooth, without the gravelly harshness most deep voices ended up having, and his accent was like some strange combination between british and australian. On top of that, he had an air of professional gravitas, like his words were important. “Young man, you’ve got quite an interesting skill,” he said, slowly putting one hand on his hip, “It’s a small class, but I’m happy my time wasn’t wasted by choosing to teach you lot. It’s clear, even without meeting all of you, that it’s gonna be an interesting one. I hope you and the others stick with it.”

“Well it’s only the first day,” Rain couldn’t help but grumble, “It’s not like I’d quit so easily. It’s just annoying that my skill is like this.”

“Looking a gift horse in the mouth, huh?” he laughed, a grin creeping its way onto his face, “You’re a rather entertaining kid. Very selfish of you to forsake the system’s gift. Why are you so very uninterested?”

Rain looked away, “I’m just… not very interested. I don’t have a good reason for it. Just… the whole thing never interested me much. My sisters are all really excited about going into the MAZE and exploring, though. We aren’t a rich family by any means, however, so I have to make sure to earn enough for everyone else to level up and join in. I don’t have any motivation for myself, though. I don’t even know what I’d want to do to make money in the MAZE, much less know what to do to level up or to have fun.”

“You worry too much, then,” Mr. Levon said with a massive shrug. He was so tall… at least 6’. He wasn’t short, but geez these people made him feel it. He continued, “You don’t need to know what you’re gonna do yet. Your strength is abysmal, yes, but your luck is crazy good. 5 times base luck, and you had a decent starting luck. You got, mind the joke, very lucky. Every time you level, you can focus on putting points into your other stats, and practically ignore luck. You’ll be fine, so stop feeling like you’re doomed or something ridiculous like that. You’ve got a head up on others, in fact. We’ll have to take into consideration your strength in your training, but when you get in the MAZE, that just means you’ll probably want to focus on magic first to level more quickly. That, or team up with someone and power level a little - it’d take longer, but getting that last hit in could do it in time. From my understanding, Juniper has low endurance and agility. You haven’t seen her moping, have you?”

Rain felt like he was being scolded. He just nodded.

“Exactly. Now then… It is unfortunate that that skill couldn’t be for some other stat that applies directly to a role, but it does affect a lot of daily life. Drop rates, crafting success, anything based on chance,” he explained, which actually made Rain feel a little better about it, if not much. The whole thing felt uncomfortable. “Since it’s more of a nebulous stat, it’s not one that people often choose to level up unless they’re going for a treasure hunter sort of build, or if they’re trying to become a master craftsman. Remember though that stats are hardly everything. Skills are the biggest determining factor. Skills and how you use what you’ve got.”

“Don’t worry too much about being bored or having a lack of determination,” he continued after a small pause, a concerning smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, “You and the rest of your class aren’t gonna have time to worry about that.”

Oh great, their teacher was a lunatic. Rain was screwed! He was screwed. Great.

Jane piped up again, thwacking the teacher on the arm with a light tap of her hand, “James stop scarin’ him. Mista Levon is just an enthusiastic sort. He wants as much as any of us for y’all ta have a long, safe career. Wants ta prepare y’all for the MAZE. A month is hardly a long time for such an endeavor, so of course it’ll be fast-paced. I did say it wasn’t gonna be like a normal class, right? I’m no liar. First day is like… orientation, almost. I’m proud of myself for gettin’ stuff done on it! Sorry it was boring though. I could see it in ya eyes, you were bored ta hell.”

Mr. Levon rolled his eyes at her, rubbing his arm as if to remove the sensation, “Yes, yes. Be proud of yourself. It’s a lot easier with a tiny class to get shit done. Rain, I’m not going to kill the lot of you, so I’m a lot nicer than the MAZE will ever be. Stop being such a worrier. You’re too young for grey hair.”

Yes, as though it was that easy. Rain wanted to glare at him, but thought better of it and just swallowed a sigh and nodded, “Okay...”

“Good. Now go get some sleep. You and the rest of the class need to get up early, and waiting here isn’t gonna help with that. It’s not your job to worry about paperwork,” Mr. Levon grumbled, looking at Jane with an annoyed expression. Rain left and could already hear them start chatting with each other, just thankful that he could get the freaking hell out of there already.

He did kind of wonder what Orbit’s abilities were like though. Something having to do with orbits, probably. Otherwise the name was dumb. Like… maybe he could act like a magnet and have stuff fly around him? That’d be neat. Or maybe some sort of whirlwind attack? It wasn’t like he was about to ask his teacher about it, though. As soon as he was outside he was already texting his sister to ask her who he was. She’d be so jealous.