Temple of the World System

"Greetings, Sir Priest, I brought the child to join the registration process... umm... is he the only one attending?"

Powelialle led Zorey to the Temple and greeted the dark-haired priest in a white robe with a black sash around his waist, waiting for them outside, looking around questioningly.

"There were a few children earlier, but they were all from noble families, and you know how they are..."

"Ah. Got it."

The priest let out a tired sigh and looked meaningfully to the side, making the brown-haired merchant nod his head understandingly.

"This part of my job is over. Kid, remember to wait for me in front of the Temple on a date you will receive in a letter in around a month or so. , Goodbye, Sir Priest. See you, kid."

"May the blessing of the System be with you."

"Bye...!"

Powelialle seemed to be similar to the head merchant of their caravan as he always didn't like to waste any time, and after giving Zorey an encouraging push, he left the Temple with a reminder towards the boy and a word of farewell.

"Well then... Are you excited, my child?"

The dark-haired priest, who seemed to be in his late twenties or early thirties at most, breathed out awkwardly, clearly not used to dealing with children without guardians present.

"Yes, sir, Priest!"

Zorey took a deep breath and straightened his back, regaining some of his usual energy.

"You know, the World System assignees a class according to one's potential, but it's okay to have aspirations even though they might not always come to fruition..."

The priest cleared out his throat and said while taking the boy towards the front of the empty Temple to the altar where the registration process would take place.

The man was doing his best to gently ease the village boy into the possibility of him not receiving his dream class and that it wasn't the end of the world.

Less than two hours ago, he had the displeasure of hearing the wails and tantrums of spoiled noble brats who didn't become either Heroes, Sages, or High Lords like they confidently stated they would, and he honestly didn't want to have dealt with something similar without the shield of the child's parents he could hide behind to wait out the worst.

"Sir Priest! Do you think that I will receive a class that would be a good match to bound guardian knight?! The girl I will marry has that class, and I hope we can stay together as much as possible! Ah, I heard that Chef and Cook Classes get skills that allow for the creation of food that gives buffs to one's stats – it would be good because she likes to eat good food! Oh, but a lumberjack or a carpenter would be good too; I want to build us a house in the future, after all! Ah...! But she gets wounded a lot, so a healer or pharmacist would be good too! And if I get a guard or bound guardian knight, I could make things easier for her!"

Zorey exploded in excitement and started speaking, all hyped up.

"...!"

For a second, the priest didn't know what to say.

The reaction was the opposite – that child sounded so happy speaking about common and low-rank Classes as if they were something equal to the high-rank ones!

"Ah... are... are those Classes uncommon...?"

The boy misunderstood the priest's expression and lowered his head pitifully.

"May the System bless you, my child. I hope you get the best class to fulfill your goal."

"...? Thank you, sir Priest! Tehehe~!"

The dark-haired priest couldn't stop himself and tousled the adorable boy's hair, making him regain his energy.

The most important place in the Temple – the altar of registration – was a rather simple-looking thing.

There was a solid slab of pure white, cleanly cut stone with two obsidian orbs embedded into it.

That's it.

No murals or decorations.

"To start the process, stand before the altar and put your hands on those black orbs. You can start any time you want. You will be so amazed. After registration, you will not believe how it was possible to live without seeing the Status Window."

The priest explained and encouraged him while moving away to the small office on the right of the altar, where he started preparing the large book in which all new registered peoples' data was written, as well as a quill and an empty ink bottle that caused him to furrow his brows as he leaned down in search for a new one.

"..."

Zorey was slightly surprised that it was the whole thing with no ceremony or grand proclamations, but then he shrugged, figuring out that all the blows and whistles he heard about had more to do with the children of nobles undergoing the registration together with the commoners like him, then the actual procedure.

And that's why, just like the priest instructed him, he simply stepped up to the altar and reached out his hands, placing his palms on the pleasantly cool obsidian orbs...

[Scaning...]

[New user detected]

[Updating the System and downloading the missing drivers...]

"!!!"

Zorey flinched and tried to back off when a foreign blue window with white writing appeared in front of him all of a sudden, but he found his hands to be completely stuck to the obsidian orbs.

[Update and installation complete]

[Begining the registration process]

[Complete]

*TA-DING*

[Welcome, new user!]

The text within the blue windows kept on changing until it suddenly disappeared, and a loud ping resounded in the boy's head, accompanying a welcome notification popping up in the upper left corner of his vision.

[To complete the registration process, say Status Open]

"..."

The notification changed as Zorey stood in place with his mouth ajar.

No matter how much he moved his head and whenever he looked, the notification would stay in the upper left corner of his vision, which meant – it even was there when he closed his eyes! - so the boy thought it must have been something independent from his sight.

He also realized that he could now take his hands off the orbs, so he hurriedly stepped away, checking on his palms, expecting to see them reddened from the strain when he tried to pull them away, but there was no sign of the struggle whatsoever...

"...huh..."

The boy muttered in surprise, opening and closing his fists before acknowledging the stubborn notification.

"Status Open."

He gave a command, and just like it sounded, the half-transparent blue window popped up and opened in the center of his vision.

[Name: Zorey

Race: Human

Class: Priest of Death

Level: 1

HP: 66* MP: 11*

ATK: 2* MAT: 11*

DEF: 11* MDF: 11*

SPD: 11* LUC: 11*

*(Sacred ground buff applied)

Skills: Appease undead (active) (level 1)

Lesser prayer (active) (level 1)

Pact (active) (level 1)

Staff proficiency (passive) (level 1)

Lesser poison resistance (passive) (level 1)

Number of contracted undead: 0/1]

...seemed to be his complete status...

Zorey furrowed his brows, a bit disappointed. He heard from Powelialle that it wasn't unusual for common skills such as arithmetics, cooking, sewing, or even cleaning to show up in addition to the Class-exclusive ones, but none showed up for him.

Maybe his proficiency didn't reach the required amount to actually become recognized by the System as a skill, or he simply lacked the talent for it...

"Hmm? Don't be shy; it only looks intimidating."

Still unsuccessful in his search for spare ink, the dark-haired priest glanced at the boy standing away from the altar, mistakenly assuming that the process hadn't even started.

"You will see, knowing your stats will allow you to make a proper judgment whether it is better to run away or face potential danger."

The priest started talking, doing his best to ease the boy into the idea... even though it was no longer necessary in this case...

"It's normal for the HP to be between 20 and 30 points for all level 1's no matter the Class, but I did hear about some really powerful classes that got as low as 15 in exchange for a boost in other stats."

"...hmm..."

The priest crouched down and began to rummage through the drawers in the office's desk, making Zorey's eyes shake because of anxiety seeing his abnormally high HP.

30 was the highest the nice sir priest heard about, but he got a full 66?

Wasn't that... extremely bulky...?

Zorey gulped down his saliva and looked at his body. He was rather slim, if to not say skinny, even for his age... where the 66 HP was supposed to be...?

"As for all the other stats, they tend to oscillate between 1 to 5 at most for all classes except the high rank and special classes. For example, the Sage or High priest would get as much as up to 10 in either MDF or MAT and between 5 to 10 MP, so they could actually use their starting skills, Palladin would have up to 10 in DEF and between 5 and 10 in ATK, and Hero would have 10's across the board... well besides LUC. That one stat seems to be similar to HP as it doesn't discriminate between the classes and always starts between 1 to 5 points for everyone. Oh, but don't get discouraged if you will have 1's in every stat besides HP. It's actually the case for most of the population. Upon level up, everyone – well, besides the high rank and special Classes once again – receives +1 to every stat. Also, everyone will receive quests from the System – if one complete's it, the System will grant them permanent bonus stats as a reward."

"HMMM!"

The priest leaned down, almost sprawling himself on the floor and looking under the desk and the shelf next to it while continuing to talk, making Zorey's eyes widen as he double-checked his MP, ATK, MAT, DEF, MDF, SPD, LUC... in short... all of his stats were completely abnormal for level 1 no matter how he wanted to look at it.