My head...

Rory clutched his head. His head was hurting like someone hit him a dozen times with a baseball bat. That would be enough to kill him, but it wasn’t the first time Rory had exaggerated things.

That freaking system. It didn’t tell me it’d hurt this much.

[Would it change your decision?]

“...”

[That’s what I thought. Also, this will be our last communication.]

“Can I ask—?”

[Permission denied.]

[Once I unfreeze the time, all my memories of you will be erased.]

[You might get me as your admin next time. But for your sake, I hope you don’t. Goodbye.]

“...goodbye, I guess. And thanks.”

[...]

And just like that, everything changed. Suddenly, Rory was surrounded by faces he knew. Some he hadn’t seen in ages, but there were also faces he’d hoped to avoid, especially the one standing next to him.

Mira.

Rory’s thoughts went back to the first time he had been inside the chamber.

An unknown entity gathered people from around the planet to a strange place. It was a massive chamber with dim lights around it. He would later find out that it was the summoning chamber.

None of that matters now. I have to prepare for what’s about to happen.

[Please select a class.]

The message flashed before Rory’s eyes. He was about to open the options when Mira linked her arms with him, getting uncomfortably close to him.

“I’m scared,” Mira mumbled before hugging him.

Rory clicked his tongue. He remembered how happy he was in his past life when this happened. It was the first time she had been openly affectionate with him, but now, all he felt was disgust.

In his past life, it was at this moment when he picked the support class to help her. Unfortunately, he won’t make that mistake this time.

“Mira, it’s inappropriate to hug someone so brazenly,” Rory reprimanded her, pulling his hand from her grasp. “Please maintain some distance between us.”

Mira looked at him, stunned. It was the first time Rory had complained about something so trivial to her.

“Rory—“

Before she could say anything else, another familiar figure appeared. It was Gray, the red-haired bastard.

It wasn’t a secret he always had eyes for Mira, but she had always stuck by Rory’s side, so there wasn’t much he could do about it. However, now that Rory was acting out, he quickly swooped in to be the knight in shining armor.

“Mira, what happened?” he asked, acting concerned, and turned to Rory. “You brute! Don’t you have any manners? Is this how you treat a woman?”

“A womanizer like you would certainly know how to treat women, wouldn’t you?” Rory scoffed. “You two can enjoy yourselves. Keep me out of your drama.”

With that, Rory left to the other side of the chamber. In this life, he wanted nothing to do with those two. Not until he was ready to take his revenge. Till then, the two of them could enjoy their time together.

Just like two piles of trash.

As he retreated, Mira dropped the act and clicked her tongue. She couldn’t help but wonder why her beloved doggie was acting out suddenly. Thankfully, she had someone else to take his place. As for Rory, she could teach him a lesson later.

***

Damn it!

Rory couldn’t help cursing his bad luck. He hadn’t been back for even ten minutes and had already made a blunder. When asked to pick a time to return, he said before class selection.

Rory completely forgot about the step before that, the Path selection.

Path selection and class selection were two entirely different things. Path selection represented a generic path in which they might pursue development.

When they got summoned to the Otherworld, they had five paths to pick: offense, defense, support, dark, and control. Only after choosing one of these paths could they select a specific class.

To Rory’s dismay, he reincarnated at a time when his past self had already selected the support path. Now all that remained was to select a class. His elaborate plan for revenge had already failed. After all, as a supporter, he would always have to depend on others, no matter the class.

Rory could keep cursing his luck, but it wouldn’t change anything. With a deep breath, he calmed himself down. At least, unlike the last time, he had five options to pick from instead of three.

That’s good...There’s still a little hope.

Gently slapping himself to focus, Rory looked at the list of classes before his eyes.

+++

Please select one of the following classes:

>> Bard

>> Priest

>> Enchanter

>> Druid Master

>> Tamer

+++

With the list displayed came the arduous task. Rory had to choose a class. The problem was that he didn’t see any class info.

A summoned hero would only get to see the class information after they had selected one. It wasn’t accidental, but the summoners had intentionally placed such a restriction on them.

Elimination through bad luck.

Since no one knew anything about the classes, it was only natural that people would make mistakes. Hence, came the factor of luck. The summoners wanted to test them on every trait, luck being one of them.

Once everyone finished choosing their classes, they’d finally realize their mistake. But by then, it would be too late, as the monsters would already come for them.

But I already know about these classes.

Taking the first three classes was out of the question. With no one’s support, he wouldn’t make it out of the chamber, let alone take revenge. Taking the druid class was out of the question as well.

Druids shine in nature’s presence. Such a class had no place in the closed-off chamber.

It left him with one choice.

Gambling... is injurious to health. I hope this decision doesn’t come to bite me later.

[Select Tamer class?]

“Yes.”

[Class selection successful!]

[You’ve become a <Tamer>]

“That’s it?” Rory stared at his empty hands.

Usually, after selecting a class, the user is given a weapon suitable for that class and a stat boost. Unfortunately, Rory received nothing.

He immediately wanted to check his stats but held back.

She isn’t here yet.

Rory knew they were being watched. It would be strange if he opened the status window without help. After all, he was an Outworlder, unknown to the ways of the Otherworld. For now, he acted clueless, like everyone else.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long.

The only door to the chamber flung open, and a woman stepped inside. Without sparing a look at anyone, she scratched her head and yawned.

Never change... Alana.

Rory sighed and looked at the woman in a fitted leather outfit that tightly hugged her curves, leaving little to the imagination. Her hourglass shape and long, toned legs were enough to demand anyone’s attention without saying a word.

Her green eyes lazily shifted through the crowd before she clicked her tongue. Then, with a slow stretch, she raised her arms over her head, arching her back and causing more than a few guys to gawk at her.

“Who is she?” one guy murmured.

“I don’t know, but I hope she’s sticking around,” someone grinned.

Appearances can be deceiving. Soon, you won’t want to be anywhere near her.

Alana’s appearance wasn’t the only thing deadly about her. After all, she was one of the Otherworld’s best assassins. Not once had she failed to kill her target, but that wasn’t the only troubling thing about her.

I don’t want to be her toy...

It might not look like it, but Alana was selecting her toys. When her eyes fell on a guy, he would be ecstatic, unaware of what she would do to him. Right now, she was there to help them. She could play with them later.

“Alright mutts, listen carefully,” Alana announced, placing a hand on her hip. “I’ll only explain it to you once, so don’t start yelling and disturb my beauty sleep later.”

A man in his forties raised his hand, but Alana ignored him and continued.

“You all have been summoned here for a cause. There is only one rule inside this chamber: Survive. As you might have noticed, you have received a blessing called ‘class’, and along with it comes stats.”

After saying that, Alana pressed her right thumb on the left palm. Instantly, a holographic screen appeared before her. However, no one could see her stats, all they saw were some (?) marks.

“What you see before is a stat screen,” she yawned. “Your stats reflect how strong you are. It’s like the games you people play on your planet.”

She continued, “Check your stats. If you’re weak, try not to die too fast. I hate cleaning up the blood.”

As if on cue, people repeated the action and screens appeared before them. Rory did too, but what he saw only added to his confusion.

What is this?

Everyone had stats like strength, stamina, and agility, but he had none of those stats which took him by surprise.

+++

Name: Rory Aurelia

Class: Tamer

Level: 1

EXP: 0/200

HP: 110/110

Mana: 150/150

Species: Human (Primitive)

Core Stats:

— Domination: 18

— Empathy: 6

— Resonance: 7

— Control: 10

— Spirit: 8

— Persuasion: 11

Max Bonded Creatures: 2 (Please increase control to increase the limit.)

Max Creature Level: 5

Special Tame Type Bonus: Wild and Domestic (up to Level 5)

Basic Skills:

1. Capture: Allows the tamer to attempt taming a weakened creature up to Level 5. Upgrading this skill increases the level limit of the creatures, and gives additional taming bonuses.

Mana Cost: 50

Cooldown: 1 minute

2. Release: Releases a bonded creature from the tamer’s control, returning it to the wild and granting a slight boost to the Tamer’s Taming Affinity.

Mana Cost: 10

Cooldown: 5 seconds

3. Inspect: Allows the tamer to see key stats for each newly captured creature or human (without capturing), including health, mood, and loyalty. Provides insight into the creature’s basic abilities and strengths.

Mana Cost: 5

Cooldown: 10 seconds

+++

What do these stats mean!?