Tama

A tense silence settled between them, each second dragging as they stared across the table.

"Relax, all's good. Thunder saved me, I heard the king was ready to get rid of you. Also heard that you were so strong he made you a noble on the spot."

Tama raised an eyebrow as she scanned Levi from top to bottom.

"You a mage? Your muscle mass seems lacking," she said.

"Well, it's mainly..." started Levi. 

Levi bit his tongue. Ah, I can't bring up the Goddess...

"Mainly what?" asked Tama.

"Well, Grant and Thunder told the king I had potential, but I've never even fought before."

"Never? Then what are you doing in Sungrove?"

"I'm... an apostle," Levi admitted, the weight of the word hanging in the air.

"huh."

Tama sprawled back on the couch, her arms stretching out lazily. With a heavy 'clunk' she propped her feet on the table.

Her tone sharpened. "What's one of you doing here then?"

Levi's heart pounded.

"What do you mean?... I'm looking for an adventurer card."

"I heard you the first time. Apostles don't need them, the church provides access to the tower."

She sighed. 

"But, I guess if they asked the king to kill you in exchange for releasing me they're not fond of you. Based on that I can probably trust you," she reasoned.

"You can," assured Levi.

"Alright, tell me then, what's your combat style you think?"

"I'm not sure, but I'd say it is close to a mage."

"Do you know any spells?"

With the Goddess I do, but by myself I have no clue.

"I don't know, I arrived in this world fairly recently," replied Levi.

"Open your profile, you know how right?"

"Sure."

Something he hadn't done in a while, but surprisingly still easy to do.

[Leviathan] [Level 1]

[Grade: F]

[Stamina: 1]

[Magic: 1]

[Control: 1]

[Mana: 1]

[Strength: 1]

[Speed: 1]

[Dexterity: 1]

His profile appeared the same way it had before, with the glitches and dark color schemes.

Tama got up and sat next to Levi, their shoulders touched as she leaned over.

"Allow me to see it, what the fuck you think we're doing here," she said, annoyed.

"Ah, right, sorry."

Both her eyebrows raised, and her mouth remained open as a prolonged 'huh' came out.

"Sometimes you can tell generally what a class would be by looking at stats, I can already tell what you'll be."

"Really? I've been told going up a tier increases stats based on the starting numbers, I'm glad to know there's a class for me despite...-"

"-Yeah no totally, your class is 'Worthless'", she laughed.

Levi forced a smile, his face heating up with embarrassment as Tama continued to laugh.

"Hahaha- I've seen 1 in some stats, but 1 in every single one of them??? HAHAHA!!!"

She was hysterically laughing, snorting and choking, leaving Levi speechless next to her.

She started slapping his back as she laughed, moving his whole body with every slap causing a stinging pain with each hit.

How strong's this lady? What the- ouch! Fuck!

"Oh, sorry! Haha! That's a 1 everywhere for ya! haha," she said, after shoving Levi off the couch involuntarily.

Levi got up and dusted himself, turned around to see she was still laughing.

"That's our great 'hope', the stats of someone with great 'potential'!"

"Alright, if you're not taking this seriously I'll just find another way," Dryly replied Levi.

"Alright alright, I'll stop," she said, as she wiped tears off her face, trying to compose herself.

Levi just stood, arms crossed as he silently looked at her.

Eventually, she was composed. She gently tapped the couch so he'd sit next to her, as she tried to contain a smile extremely poorly.

"Alright, alright," she continued as he sat down again.

"So, go to your active effects."

"Yeah, there's only one thing right now."

[Dragged Below]

"Doesn't it say anything anywhere?" she asked.

"No, I've looked before," he said as he tried tapping it again.

"Hmm," voiced Tama.

She brought her hand to her mouth, as she looked up deep in thought.

"Well, I'm not an apostle expert..."

"Any ideas?"

"No. But the way it works is the same for everyone, which is why a lot of people don't pay much attention to their early levels."

"What do you mean?"

"You will unlock new spells as you go up in levels. Some people only get something good when they reach level 20, but the problem is getting there."

"How hard can it be?" asked Levi as he let his profile close.

"For you? Extremely."

Levi buried his face in his hand, rubbing his eyes. "Figures."

"No, the problem is that getting to a higher level for others is easier as they can still utilize their stats. You have none, so what will you be able to do to level up?"

Levi closed his eyes. "Right."

Tama got up, and sat across him again.

"Listen, it's not every day Grant and Thunder vouch for someone's potential. You should give it a shot, even if it's going to be harder. Just know that you'll have to hope your spells trump your stats by a lot."

Levi raised his head and looked at Tama who seemed serious.

"Alright, then let's get this started."

"Sure," said Tama as she took a tool that looked like a dice on the table.

"Hold this," she said as she threw it at him.

After juggling it, trying to catch it, Levi held it in his palm.

"What do I do now?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it.

After a moment, the cube brightly glowed, its color switching constantly.

"Huh, it's indecisive," she said.

"What does it do?"

"That tool compiles some information about you. It'll turn into the card you'll be using. It checks your potential, creates an archetype, and assesses your stats in a general sense..."

The cube stopped glowing, instead of exuding colorful light, it started sucking the light out of the room.

The light sources distorted, funneling the room's light toward the cube, like a whirlpool.

Tama got up, as she nervously looked around the room.

She went to the door, opening it quickly. "KATHY!"

Kathy came through the door a few seconds later, "Yeah, I know, the employee's bathroom is for employees but..."

As she entered the room, she stood still in the doorway mid-sentence.

Tama, next to her, gave her an elbow.

"Hey, you ever seen this happen?" she asked without taking her eyes off Levi.

"I almost went blind from some people's assessment, never seen something like this..."

Levi's attention remained on the cube, as more people accumulated in the doorway, trying to figure out what the commotion was about.

Whispers and murmurs filled the hallway, as the room became darker and darker.

As the room almost reached pitch-black, the light whirlpool stopped, the light slowly returning to how it was before.

In Levi's hand remained a card, pitch black with white text on it contrasting it.

"I guess it worked," he simply said, as he realized a whole crowd was peeking through the door.