Baptism

"Uhh, the Mage class."

'MAGE CLASS?' Charles internally screamed.

A web of veins popped out on his temple. If Elijah was his son, Charles would have stripped him to the knees and belted him. He was going to let countless people die because of his idiocy.

"Mage class? Why of the Seven Seas would you choose that! The hero class is the strongest!" Charles yelled.

Elijah wasn't sure what to say, and he wasn't comfortable about telling him it was for a girl. He knew it was a stupid decision from the perspective of personal survival.

"Elijah, you want to see her again, don't you?" Nia asked.

"Yes, I do."

"Have you lost your pearls, lad! If you don't succeed in this mission, bad things might happen. This universe might perish! Hell! The multi-verse might collapse!" Charles rebuked.

"This isn't just about you and your sappy love story. LIVES are at stake. Did you think that through you brainless flapdoodle!"

(Flapdoodle 1800s: A sexually incompetent guy who is too young to have sex or too old to try it).

Elijah's eyes opened wide. He was committed, but he didn't think about the innocent lives involved if he failed. He was supposed to be a hero and that meant having responsibilities and making sacrifices.

'Dammit! Why me!'

He clenched his fists and cried for the first time about his death.

Charles was fuming. He even thought that he might have made a mistake, but then he remembered when searching for a suitable candidate, Elijah's named shined so bright that it was burned into his eyeballs. He could see Elijah's name for a full minute even with his eyes open. Not only that, but he had absolute faith in the System's omnipotent power.

Nia looked at him with pity.

"Elijah, the world-class teleportation spells are extremely hard to use. Much harder when the destination and the place of departure are magicless worlds. The hero class can also use magic. With the Hero's magic, it may be that easier to create a gate between the two worlds, more so than a mage. Will you reconsider?" Nia said soothingly.

Elijah looked up with hope.

This way, he could make a compromise, no it was even better!

He wiped his tears before answering.

"The Hero class please," Elijah said resolutely.

"Tch," Charles scoffed. "Alright, alright, send him through now. The timeline is about to be set in stone."

Nia wanted to brief him on other things, but she could tell from Charles' tone that there was no time left.

She selected the Hero class and a beam of light from above captured Elijah in a spotlight. He floated up along the pillar of light.

"Good luck, Elijah. I believe you will find your way back to Alyssa. I truly do."

Elijah has never heard such heartfelt words from a stranger he had just met. It touched him. Elijah stuck out his thumb and smiled.

Then Nia saw something changing on her screen.

[Hidden class: True Hero]

"!"

"Elijah!"

By the time she called out to him, he was already gone.

***

[Let the baptism commence…]

"What?"

A chill went down his spine.

"Baptism? What baptism?"

He couldn't imagine what the System's baptism could be. It might not be comfortable.

Elijah was floating gently in space. There were stars, galaxies, planets, and even strange glowing lights and indescribable shapes around him. He didn't know how he was breathing and not turning into an ice block or exploding from the negative pressure.

"RRRARRRRGH!"

Elijah flinched at the roar and turned around to see a huge black ball flying towards him. It had two indents in the rock which looked like eyes. There were 2 mandibles each at the corner of its mouth, and countless sharp spikes protruded out in its mouth for teeth.

"What the F**K IS THAT!"

The truth was Elijah hardly swore. He had good habits. He was just that terrified.

In just five quick seconds, the black ball creature had traveled 1 km.

"SYSTEM HELP ME!!! I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

Just as the creature was about to eat him. An invisible force flew him so incredibly fast that the creature blinked out of existence.

He stopped before a field of asteroids.

No wind resistance or inertia was affecting his body, so he felt nothing or get hurt.

Elijah was relieved but then he realized something. Didn't the system just dangle him in front of a predator and made him beg the System for help so that he would do anything?

"What the hell! Did you do that on purpose?"

There was no answer.

"Hey, that wasn't fair!"

[You are eligible for a hidden class. Baptism is necessary.]

"Hidden class?"

It surprised Elijah. He didn't think he was special, but that depended on the hidden class. From some comedy novels, it was a joke class.

"What class?"

[You will know in due time. Good luck Elijah Whitlock. Master System signing out.]

"Hey! What! The System can't just sign out? What kind of System does that!"

Elijah didn't know if it meant it would just stop talking to him or hibernate, leaving behind a skeleton System.

Suddenly, Elijah was flying through the asteroid belt. He went through tens of asteroids and one of them nearly hit him.

"Whoa! Slow down! You're going to get me killed."

As if in response, he sped up through the field of black rocks. Elijah was terrified because he was flying in a straight line, not dodging any of the asteroids.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh! Stop! Stop!"

Elijah was flying at 100 m/s, the asteroids were whizzing past his vision in a blur. He was afraid that he would smack into one, eventually.

This wouldn't happen. The System had calculated a perfect straight-line path at the right time and speed so that he wouldn't get hit.

It took a while for Elijah to notice this.

'Is the system torturing me?'

Elijah reached light speed. He couldn't even see the asteroids anymore. Past the ring of asteroids was a giant caramel-colored planet. It accelerated him up to 1000C (c = speed of light).

Then when it got closer, the speed slowed down so that Elijah could see the planet hurling towards him. It was like the System was torturing him.

From his perspective, he didn't slow down at all. He rapidly approached the surface.

The ground was coming up to meet him.