Dan woke up feeling confused. His mind felt slow, taking its sweet time to boot up. He just lay there for a few short seconds as it all started coming back.
Sighing as he remembered last night's ordeal, he sat up and reached for his phone. Even before seeing the time, his mind brought up how he didn't set an alarm yesterday. As expected he was late, it was already almost nine.
Knowing that there was no reason to hurry up now that he was already late, Dan went through his morning routine slowly. They would have called for him if the situation called for it, so he wasn't as displeased as he thought he might be.
20 minutes or half an hour later, he found himself in the Skyline. Entering, he realised that he might not have been the only one who was having a lazy morning, as many others were still having their breakfast. Dan felt that the restaurant had a bit of an oppressive atmosphere to it, but considering what they had been through the night before, it was kinda expected really.
He went and got a tray as he greeted Raymond, who was manning the counter, before getting his breakfast. Looking around, his eyes fell on his chief engineer. The old man was sitting alone with a cup of coffee in front of him and the same necklace as before on his hand, he seemed to be deep in thought as he gazed at it.
"Morning William," he greeted his friend as he took the seat opposite to him, "How are you feeling?"
"Oh, morning Dan." William looked at him. "I'm feeling great. I woke up a few hours ago and I'm just here to rest and think for a bit. What about you? Overslept I take it?"
"You got me," Dan caught the hint of teasing in his friend's voice, "When I finally opened my eyes it was already around nine. I've slept like a baby."
"That's good to hear," William said, "All of you needed that rest."
"What's that in your hand?" Fearing that continuing with that conversation would lead his friend to how he was yesterday, Dan decided to use the necklace he saw William holding as a way to lead their talk, "I saw you studying it quite a few times."
"This?" William passed the necklace to Dan. "It's something Nulara allowed me to have for a bit. It's a magical item that turns her invisible for a short duration. I was studying it, aiming to see if I could glean anything that might help me understand how to take the first few steps in my Class."
Dan studied the necklace in his hands. It was extremely normal, just a silver necklace that might have been mistaken for an ordinary piece of jewellery. There was nothing about it that screamed magical.
"Speaking of which," Dan said as he kept on examining the necklace, "What's the problem with your Class? You didn't get any help with it? I mean, did the system just give you your Class and nothing else?"
"Kinda, not really," William answered in confusion, "I got some knowledge with it. How to control mana and how to feel for it, mana is the magical power that, well, powers everything magical it seems. Also an instinctive sense about materials and how they would handle being injected by mana and similar matters. But other than that, I didn't get anything else that would tell me how to actually turn objects magical. It feels as if my Class is missing something, as if it expects me to either know these things already, or find them out as I go."
"That does sound weird," Dan murmured.
Magical Engineer, that was the name of William's Class. Dan didn't know what to expect from it. Maybe utilising magic to improve things and solve problems. But again he felt that he didn't really know enough to judge anything about it.
"By the way," He turned the conversation to something more urgent, "How is the Voyager? What did you find out last night?"
He meant the hit that the Voyager took, he had sent William to take a look at it. From how he didn't get woken up in the middle of the night about the matter, he guessed that the hit wasn't that bad so it wasn't at the forefront of his mind really.
"It's all good." William waved his hand dismissively. "I was almost sure it was going to be the case when you told me to go check it. The Voyager's body is too strong for a cannonball to do much to her. The only source of my fear was, well, magical attacks. Who knows how we are going to do against those?"
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Dan sighed in relief. He was glad that the Voyager was good. Though even a small hit might be too much for them in their current situation. They didn't really have any port to get back to for repairs after all.
"I'll send the others to take a look at it and make sure that it won't grow to be that much of a problem in the future." William must have seen how he looked, as he added without waiting for him to say anything.
"Thank you for your hard work," He nodded at his good friend.
As his friend waved him off again, Dan couldn't help but remember how dejected he seemed because of his Class. Considering how he might be of help to his friend with this problem, something suddenly flashed through his mind. Scratching his chin in deep thoughts he considered the feasibility of what he had just thought of.
"Do you think we should ask our guests some questions concerning the system and Classes?" he asked. Of course, he meant Nulara and the young man with his words.
He felt that those two had already earned themselves some trust, and showing their ignorance concerning some bits here and there might not turn out that dangerous. They also really needed to ask about a few things straightforwardly, without any smoke and mirrors.
"Hmm." William took his time thinking as he sipped his coffee slowly. Finally, he said, "I do think we need to start asking some pointed questions. Plus, I want to know more about my Class. I won't lie and say that I didn't want to ask Nulara some questions that would paint me as a true beginner. Only the fact that I couldn't make that decision on my own held me back."
Dan smiled lightly at his friend's words, but part of him felt that his friend wasn't really just joking. He must have considered it, feeling useless could make you go for some drastic measures.
"Do you know if our guests are up yet?" he asked, "We can give them a visit if they are."
"I saw the young man walking around a few hours before," William said, "Don't know about Nulara though, she was with you at the stern last night, she might be still asleep from tiredness."
"Well, there's no hurry." Dan shrugged. "We are going to find them eventually."
"That's true." William agreed.
Dan then had his breakfast slowly as they talked about some less serious matters, just as Dan was almost done with his food, he saw the person he had been taking his time for the hope of maybe meeting. Nulara entered the Skyline while yawning.
Dan didn't call the girl straight away, he waited for her to get her food first. Only once she did and was looking around in search of where to sit did he wave her over.
"Nulara!" he called, "Here."
The young mage's eyes fell on them before she made her way over hesitantly.
"Good morning," he and William greeted her, "How are you feeling?"
"A bit tired," she said after returning their greeting, "But I would take feeling a bit tired over being dead. It's not every day that you survive a face-off with a legendary monster from the deep."
"That's true," Dan smiled. The girl seemed to be opening up to them. She wasn't as anxious as she was before when she talked to him. He guessed that fighting for your lives together brought people closer in magical ways.
Dan decided to give the young woman time to finish her breakfast before bringing up the matter of William's Class. But just a few minutes later, he saw Nulara look at him with that same anxious look he thought she had got rid of,
"Is something the matter?" she asked.
It was only then that Dan realised that he had been looking at her while he lost himself in his thoughts, which must have felt quite uncomfortable.
"Sorry, sorry," he apologised, "We had some questions for you but you should finish your breakfast first."
"It's alright," Nulara said as she looked between them, "You can ask me what you want, I don't really mind. You don't have to wait."
Dan shared a glance with his chief engineer who nodded at him to lead the conversation. Dan organised his thoughts first before asking,
"Do you know why the system might not give you as many instructions for your Class as might be needed? As in, your class feels incomplete in some way without all the elements that should have been there for you to use it most efficiently."
Dan had been watching Nulara deeply as he talked, so he noticed how her mouth stopped chewing for a few seconds once he was done speaking. She seemed to be surprised to hear such a question.
"That's quite a rare situation," she said slowly, "There might be more than one reason why it might happen, but I only know of one. It's when the Class someone gets when they are introduced into the system is tiered up already.”

