Rob X Punzel ~ Twenty-Four!

“I recognize you.”

These were never words Goldie wanted to hear from a guard, but thankfully, this one seemed to have been permanently stationed at the Class Shrine. She simply shrugged and kept her eye on the man as she waited for her turn to enter the small building. “It's probably the hair, yeah? Tends to draw the eye. What's going on today? I've never seen a line for the shrine before.”

The guard continued staring at her, as if burning her features into his memory, which she absolutely did not appreciate. Just before she let fly a verbal beatdown, he reluctantly explained, “It became popular for nobility to try and have children on the same date, so they could vie for the best healers and midwives. More well-to-do merchants and citizens started doing the same, and it just so happens today is one of the chosen birthing days.”

“Maybe I should just come back-” Goldie muttered to herself just as the line began moving. As she passed the guard, she slipped him a small sachet of silver, and he nodded graciously at the gesture. He didn't try to extort anything further, which made her wary until Goldie realized she looked like a citizen with actual power or backing now. Enjoying the perks of looking like she belonged, the thief almost didn't notice the second guard standing next to the Class Shrine.

Then he spoke to the young man who was removing his hand from the plinth, and her eyes went wide. “Tell me your class and the skill you unlocked for the records of the kingdom.”

Snorting, the young man turned to walk away, only to have the guard grab him by the neck and throw him away from the entrance. After bouncing off the wall, the young man got to his feet, gasping and glaring daggers at the guard. “How dare you lay your filthy hands on me? Do you have any idea who my father is? You're going to be impaled on a spike and roasted over a fire slowly for that. Our healers will keep you alive so you can experience the full-”

With a nearly casual motion, the guard drew his sword and beheaded the blowhard. Then, casually wiping his sword off on the corpse, he turned and looked Goldie dead in the eye. “Next.”

“What in the abyss was that?” She stumbled back, head trembling from side to side as terror tightened her throat. “I think I'll come back another time-”

“Come back whenever you want, but know this is the new standard for the Brute Kingdom,” the blood-spattered guard explained, his face set in a neutral, passive expression. “We’ve found our records are being impacted, so from now on, we are collecting information on classes and skills… on pain of death. He was warned, and now, so are you.”

She looked back to where the young man had just been beheaded, realizing with a blink that he’d already been cleaned away by the mysterious powers of the Class Shrine. Realizing disclosing any information on her hair would cause the oath she had sworn to kill her, Goldie shook her head and turned away as dread rose from deep within her. “I don't want to vanish into nothingness like that man just did.” 

Her thoughts had already turned to making a plan to sneak in here and gain access to the shrine another time. What she hadn't expected was for the line to have swelled even further—and that the people here for their new classes and skills were beyond impatient. 

“By the system, hurry up! I have very important things to do,” a burly man behind her finally snapped as she hesitated further. He punctuated his demand by shoving Goldie, hard enough to send her stumbling back… only for her hand to reach out and wrap around the plinth to keep herself from falling.

Codex Arcane Ledger access requested.

C.A.L. is assessing… Age verification: 18 years. 0 months, 0 days. Conditions for Full Class advancement met.

Checking all system merits.

Basic Class:

Basic Skill: 10/10.

Advanced Skill: 10/10.

Breakthrough Skill: 10/10.

Total: 30/30.

Advanced Class:

Basic Skill: 10/10.

Advanced Skill: 10/10.

Breakthrough Skill: 6/10.

Total: 26/30.

Bonus points

System merits deferred by outside entity!

Full Class Unlocked!

Full Class: Hair We Go Again

Even as her hair once more invaded the system and altered whatever she should have gotten, Goldie felt her heart sink in her chest. Even though she tried to remain calm, it was frustrating to see the ease with which her hair messed with her future. Still, she’d gained immense benefits from her most recent Breakthrough Skill, so—her thoughts went still as a renewed surge of energy flowed into her, gold and pearlescent light intermingling in her mind, detonating into cascades of sparks and whirls. 

Basic Skill: WunderHair@%%@

No.

The proclamation from the system rang through her with a thrill, as though a deep horn had been blown directly against her back. Goldie trembled, but was unable to move as her golden hair began to *pop and sizzle* like droplets of water landing on a hot pan, smoke wisping off its length as the system itself actively fought back. Her wild hair went rigid, then fell around her shoulders; cowed into submission by the sheer power flowing through the Class Shrine and into her body. 

For the first time, the voice speaking to her through the shrine did not seem automatic and perfunctory—no, now it seemed the system itself was speaking directly into her very soul.

System merits have reached a critical mass. They must be applied, as the candidate does not qualify for a skill above Mythical rarity. 

Bonus points have been directly allocated for utmost effectiveness.

System merit (Mythical): Born a Legend, not a Myth. Myth anyway. +50.

System merit (Mythical): Mythical upgrade. +50.

System merit (Mythical): Ancient Meddling. +50.

System merit (Legendary): Post-birth, Pre-initialization Altered Bloodline. +40.

System merit (Legendary): Out of time. Have two notes on your ledger. +40.

System merit (Legendary): Wunderkind Prodigy (Achieve Breakthrough in Basic Class before 14th birthday) +40.

System merit (Epic): Teen Prodigy (Achieve Breakthrough in Advanced Class before 18th birthday) +30.

System merit (Unique+): Apex of The Continent. Be the youngest person on your continent to achieve Breakthrough with an Advanced Class skill. +25.

System merit (Unique): Apex of The Kingdom. Be the first person in your kingdom, but not the generation, to achieve Breakthrough with a Basic Class skill. +20.

Direct intervention (Unknown): The system itself has intervened to adjust your class and skill, directly applying your system merits for best effect. +3.

Total Class points to be applied: 379/60 (Skills and merits.)

Scanning brain waves to account for knowledge and desires in Full Class selection process. Requirements met for: ∞ Full Classes. 

Comparing skill use and desires… 100th percentile of skills shows a subconscious desire to continue progressing. Waking brain not in alignment with subconscious. Outside interference detected. System override. Override. Override. Overr—rrr—rrr-r-.

Determination made.

Full Class Unlocked!

Full Class: Artifact Awakener.

Basic Skill: Akashic Interface: Level 1/10.

Akashic Interface allows the user to express [Minimal] control over internal usage of any of modifiers of any artifact in touch range for [5*skill level] seconds per minute, per artifact.

Akashic Interface provides [Minimal] control over external usage of any of the modifiers of any artifact in touch range for [5*skill level] seconds per minute, per artifact.

Akashic Interface provides [Minimal] empowerment of the modifiers of any artifact in touch range by [10*skill level]%.

Requirement to advance to level 2: Empower five separate artifact modifiers OR activate the internal usage of five separate artifact modifiers OR activate the external usage of five separate artifact modifiers OR any combination of the previous requirements.

“Get out of the way, already!” The man who’d pushed her onto the plinth stepped closer and shoved her again, away from the center of the room so he could take her place. Goldie moved with the force, stumbling back until she was pressed to the far wall.

As the man slapped his hand to the plinth, his eyes going wide and gleeful, Goldie simply remained where she was, breathing heavily as she tried to understand what had just happened. Lifting her hands, she murmured quietly to herself, “That took forever… but was only a moment?”

“You there!” The guard with the clipboard glared at her. “Did you get a new class? Be aware, I have a skill that allows me to verify the truth of your words. Get over here and—hey! You can't leave, young man. That does it! Everyone step away from the plinth! In order of receiving your classes, you will come over here and… where did she go?”

Goldie walked away from the back of the Class Shrine building, having sneakily used her temporal trapdoor as soon as the guard started shouting and gathered all attention onto him. “I hope they think I died… at the bare minimum, there shouldn't be any reason they come looking for me. Not the first time I've been happy to have a crowd between me and the city guard, and it probably won't be the last.”

After gaining some distance from the shrine, just to be on the safe side, Goldie looked at her new skill again, shaking her head in wonder at the clear and flavor-text-free information. “Is this what system skills look like for everyone else? Just clean, giving them the information they need? That's nice, but… what’s with that level up requirement? Four different options for increasing the level? Is it going to be so difficult to manage that any combination is fine?”

Pulling out her weathered battle scissors, Goldie pushed them together, creating the magical, oversized shear variant. The weapon began to glow ever so softly, so she attempted to activate her new skill just like her Advanced Class Breakthrough Skill. “Akashic Interface, battle shear. Um. Sharpened imbuement?”

Nothing happened, and after a quick swipe against her forearm, Goldie confirmed that the requirement hadn’t iterated. Disconnecting her weapon and storing it in her hair, she felt a deep sense of dissatisfaction filling her. “I'm betting the hardest part of getting this skill to the next level is going to be just figuring out how to get the abyssal thing working.”

As she walked along the citizens district, angling for her current safe house, Goldie intermittently pulled out her scissors each time a new idea sparked in her mind. One after another, they failed. Eventually, she could only press her lips together and grimace as she picked up her pace, hoping she'd have enough time to practice after she was in a safe location.

“The system itself hand-selected this class and skill for me, saying it had optimized the choices for applying the merits,” the thief murmured to herself in an attempt to stay positive. “This has to be an awesome class, and I just got it. Sure it might take some time, but I'll figure this out.”

Throwing open the door to her room, and preparing to launch herself at the bed, Goldie instead froze, her blades appearing in her hands at the sight of an uninvited guest waiting for her. However, her bangs didn't sound the alarm, and as the person moved into the light shining through the now open doorway, she relaxed and stowed her weapons. “Sneaking into my room is a good way to get stabbed in the face, Chay.”

“Sorry, Goldie!” Her crew leader didn't sound sorry. Instead, he sounded like he was about to detonate from having too much energy running through him. “I had to see you, and it had to be tonight.”

Feeling heat flush her cheeks, Goldie stepped back out of the doorway, preparing to make a break for it. “You didn't…”

“Didn't what?” the twenty-year-old man questioned with an air of innocence.

“If there's a surprise party waiting for me, I will literally vanish for the next month,” Goldie told him in no uncertain terms. “There will be a flash of mysterious light, and then I'll be gone.”

“Uhhh…” Chay’s sudden hesitation nearly made the golden-haired thief flee, but he waved his hands frantically. “No! That's not it at all. I had absolutely no idea today was your birthday. I’m here about a job.”

“Oh. Thank… the system.” Relief flooded through Goldie, mixed with a strange combination of frustration and anger. She wasn't sure what she wanted, exactly, but- 

“This heist is basically a present all on its own, though!” Chay motioned for her to come in and close the door, and she hesitantly acquiesced. He scooted them close to the center of the room and leaned in to whisper just to be as sure as he could be that no one was eavesdropping. “Wrap us in your hair, would you? This is a big deal.”

With her strange mix of emotions intensifying, though now with curiosity in the mix from his intensity, Goldie wrapped them up, ensuring all sound would be completely muffled.

“Here's the deal… there's an emissary Alchemist coming to the city, and the rumors are saying he's bringing a massive selection of potions to sell directly to the crown.” Chay’s eyes were reflecting the golden light coming off her hair, appearing almost as if coins were dancing around in his pupils. “We know where it's going to be stored, and we're going to take all of it.”

“You're out of your mind, Chay,” she bluntly returned at him, shaking her head and causing the scent of stinging nettles to fill the air between them. “There's no way something like that wouldn't be magically guarded.”

“That's just it, Goldie Locks.” Chay’s grin and energy were infectious, “All of his most expensive creations are going to be put inside a magical vault. One way in, no way out. People like that don't trust other people to be in there with the good stuff. Only the alchemist himself will have the ability to open the door, and it's not like he's going to come and check on his potions constantly. If you can get us in, we can clean it out and vanish into the night without anyone being the wiser. We'll have an entire day to offload it before anyone even notices.”

Her crew leader paused, his gaze softening as he looked at her, a pleading shine in his eyes. “Goldie, come on… you know I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t need you on this one.”

She felt her resolve waver, the sparse details slowly holding less weight as his expression made her heart beat a little faster. His grin softened, and he patiently awaited her answer. Slowly, reluctantly, she met his eyes, and a faint smile tugged at her lips as she ignored the soft *popping* alarm from her hair.

“I’m in. Tell me more.”