Building a magic system on threat of destruction

The storm did not blow over quickly. Jack spent days hiding indoors, all attempts to protect him from the attention the ducol was giving him proved to be fruitless. The storm clouds overhead only grew in size and darkened in color as time passed. Despite winds and time, the cloud did not budge. Letters and missives began arriving concerning the ominous cloud. Apparently it could be seen from kingdoms away, and the lack of cloud cover or rain in other parts of the world was concerning.

Jack asked after this detail, he was told that populated areas all over the world regularly received adequate rain. The expected averages meant that things like drought almost never occurred in heavy population zones across Drowl. Most people attributed this to the High Deity, but to Jack it only signified that this ducol (or even these ducols) was the one in control of the weather. The clouds overhead meant that the rest of Drowl wasn't getting their weather properly, which could become an issue in the long term.

Unsure what to do with this information, and being locked in a house, Jack did the only two things he could really do with his time. He granted statuses to visitors, and he worked on the system.

Travelers from around the world were flocking into the area. Many either came in small groups, or by themselves. They were carefully searched, then brought to the bore-bot building where Jack and the three others were staying. Jack would carefully explain the system to these people, and then grant them a status screen. The opinions were a mixed bag when it came to the 'reward' that the High Deity was dishing out. There were many people who did not see the appeal of it, while others bowed and scraped in over-the-top thanks. The widest variety of people he saw were animalus, it seemed a great many of them liked to journey and had traveled here from almost as soon as Deis had announced Jack to the world. He saw all manner of animal people, ranging from mammals, birds, and even a few aquatic creatures.

Jack was delighted to meet with more down-to-earth people than the monarchs had been. He talked with and even sat with some families and caravans who came to speak with him. He heard stories and tales from around the world and was struck by the tenacity of these people to travel so far. On the negative side of things, many people asked for his blessings, a topic which made him very uncomfortable. There were those who saw him as something like a demi-god, a power that acted with religious authority. More often than not, he defaulted to something simple and vague, wishing them good health and the like.

When it came to system matters, Jack decided that it was time to begin implementing a class system. He asked the butterflies in the void to create more copies of themselves and to explain the work and restrictions in place to them. He didn't want to travel back to the void to do the work himself, not yet anyway. He hadn't heard from Plexion and he was growing worried about the demon. But even more than that, he was worried about what the ducol might be able to do to him in the white void.

Jack created a template for class structure. He added a [Class] line above stats, then added a [Class Skills] section to the skill list. He had created spell lists for basic professions. Things like [Sword User], [Spell Slinger], and even more mundane things like [Chef]. When people touched the [Class] option, a pop-up would be created by the butterflies, which would have a list of the available classes, and accompanying information on it. Once people selected a class, certain skills would be moved to the [Class Skills] section.

Most [Class Skills] were things that directly related to the chosen specialty, with one or two basic related skills being added to a status screen if they were missing. A lot of the lifestyle skills, and even combat skills would be left alone for the time being. Jack wanted to create more detailed classes later but needed to gather more data on how people responded to the system. For the time being, instead of enhanced growth or anything tangible like that, a [Class] simply became an identifying marker. Jack was preparing for the future though, and created hidden text. Apparently, the butterflies could change the color of their writing to blend in with the screen. Jack used this to create a hidden [Skill Points] text section under the skills. This would later be used to purchase skills related to your class and potentially level up stats.

Every person with a status screen was given a number of skill points that would correspond to their progression in their chosen class and the skills in that class. Butterflies would monitor a person's actions, and give them skill points and class levels when they had met certain milestones. Skills were measured by a person's aptitude and ability to perform actions. Classes would be measured by how much time a person spent pursuing the actions of that class. A [Sword User] who never practiced or fought with a sword would have a very hard time leveling up. In contrast, a [Chef] who cooked things every day and made a wide variety of high-quality dishes would level up quickly.

The process of getting to level twenty wouldn't be fast by any means, especially since the ability to purchase skills and stats was still unuseable. Jack expected that it would likely take more than half a year for the average person to level up a class to the maximum level, assuming they had other uses for their time. The combat classes would likely take even longer unless an individual was constantly involved in real combat.

Jack wrote up a description of Classes, how to pick one, and what would happen with them in the future. He stressed the importance of choosing something that related to a persons lifestyle, as a person would not be able to change their class until they reached level twenty. Once he had typed up something instructive, he sent it to the butterflies. They updated all the existing status screens, as well as Jack's which served as the basic framework for other screens. Jack wasn't sure if new screens would have the changes on them by default, but the creation of new butterflies would mean everything would take care of itself given enough time.

Jack himself didn't select a class. He had no need for it considering he could directly add skill to his status or adjust his stats directly. Most of the mercenaries came to talk to Jack about what they should pick and he gave them advice where he could. Many of them chose combat-related classes, which made sense to Jack, but a few ended up picking things like [Blacksmith] or [Constructon Worker]. These were the more handy members of the mercenary troop, and their focus on making and repairing equipment and shelter was more important to them than combat options.

Riniox surprised Jack by picking the [Administrator] class. The purpose of this class was to help with paperwork, messages, people skills, and other desk work-related tasks. She claimed that her intention was to shore up her weaknesses by focusing on them. Her combat skills didn't need the help right now, and she chose to have her administration skills be the focus of her foreseeable future. After considering that, Jack decided that it made sense. The mercenaries were stuck here for quite some time, and combat would be hard to come by at this point in time.

Jeler chose the [Scout] class after some deliberation. It was meant to focus more heavily on being aware of surroundings and tracking things. He claimed that he wanted to work on some of the related skills, but Jack wondered if it was a decision based around guilt. Jack knew that Jeler still felt guilty about the attempt on Jack's life. Not being there to stop Frox had weighed heavily on him, and the [Scout] class could potentially help him spot those threats ahead of time.

The better part of a week passed while Jack waited out the storm clouds outside. His days were filled with activity, things like meeting people, granting statuses, giving advice, and working on the system. But despite all of this work, he was growing antsy. He wanted to get out of this house, but there was no sign of the clouds dissipating. Finally, he snapped.

"That's it! I'm going outside!" He yelled, throwing himself up and off the couch.

Jeler was there in a heartbeat, holding him back. "Jack, calm down!"

"I'm so sick of being in here. If that dang cloud wants to hit me with lightning, then so be it."

Jeler physically pushed Jack down onto the couch. "Not gonna happen, sorry."

Jack let out a loud groan of frustration. "I just want to go outside. What does this stupid ducol even want with me?"

Jeler shrugged. "No idea. Can you use the system to talk to him somehow?

"No. It doesn't have a status screen. I could talk to it if it did, but I would have to get close enough to use [Status Granting]. I would just talk to it if I could get that close, but that's not really an option."

Jeler looked at him with pity. "Sorry Jack, I know this sucks."

"It's not your fault. At least I have company." Jack smiled softly, not feeling as happy as he tried to look.

Alpha popped off his status screen, the little butterfly flitting around his head before landing again. [Yeah, thank goodness I'm here. If you were just stuck with Jeler you would get really bored.]

Jeler laughed sarcastically. "Maybe we should send you up there you little bug. You can deal with the angry storm."

The two continued bickering, but Jack's mind had frozen. He stared at Alpha, perched on his status screen. His voice was quiet, but full of hope as he spoke. "Alpha...do you think I could grant you a status?"