At the edge of a forest, a young man with black hair and eyes could be seen tapping his foot on the ground, seemingly impatient with something; his handsome figure seemed to glow in the sunlight while the trees around him threw shadows across his body that added a mystical visage to his figure.
This young man was me: Leonitus Callen.
Why am I monologuing? Cause I'm bored, simple as that. Though it may also have something to do with my previous profession, I was an Actor after all, or at least I think I was...
Ah! I can already see what you're asking, my dear imaginary audience. How can this dashingly good-looking man not know what his profession is?
The answer is simple. Well, not really, but it is easily understood!
I, alongside what I would estimate to be thousands of others, have been summoned into a place that calls itself 'Starscourge Tower'. We had our memories wiped from our homeworlds, and all that remained were our memories related to how our previous professions worked, any core knowledge that the Tower considered potentially useful, and our names.
Most of the people who have been summoned have already gone beyond the Common 1-Star Rank; all they needed to do was gather some materials to do it, and I'm here to do the same.
I just have an eensie tiny problem...
My Nexus, the thing that represents a person and what they are, is a bit unconventional, to say the least.
You know, it'd just be easier to show you.
---
Name: Lionitus Callen
Rank: Common 1-Star
Job: [Actor]
Nexus: [Psychopathic Tendencies]
Essence: Empty
Skills: N/A
Titles: N/A
Status: Climber
---
The Name was my name, the Rank was my current rank. I hadn't progressed, obviously.
My Job was an Actor, though I hadn't seen any benefits yet, and from what I've gathered, everyone's Job was a reflection of what their profession was before they were summoned here. If you were a fisherman, your Job was [Fisherman]; if your job was being a bodyguard, your Job was [Bodyguard]. If your job were programming? Your Job was [Programmer].
It was an interesting system, but I didn't know the benefits of Jobs were yet; my Rank was too low for those.
I needed to gather some material from the forest beside me, but it required two people, and people didn't want a party member who had a Nexus called [Psychopathic Tendencies].
Why not just lie to them then?
Well, at lower Ranks, it was literally impossible to hide your status from anyone who wanted to look... Yet another reason I want to rank up.
I couldn't really blame anyone for not wanting a psychopath at their party. I definitely wouldn't.
Why am I saying I'm a psychopath when it's just my Nexus?
The Nexus represented a person, their most defining trait established within the system panel.
I was honestly thinking about just heading into the forest alone and trying my luck gathering the material I needed to rank up, but I was suddenly approached by another Common Rank lady.
---
Name: Amelia Astrea
Rank: Common 1-Star
Job: [Executioner]
Nexus: [Trickster]
Essence: Empty
Skills: N/A
Titles: N/A
Status: Climber
---
Apparently, she had a similar problem to me; she couldn't find a party that wanted a Trickster Executioner or whatever you wanted to call her, so now she and I, the two misfits, are forming a party to rank ourselves up.
Honestly? It was a good deal; we both got what we wanted.
Now I was just being my normal self, impatiently waiting for her to get here. Oh, wait, I think she just got here. I'll get back to my self monologueing later, did this even count as a monologue or just talking to myself?
In the distance, walking down the road towards me, I could see a lady with blue hair and eyes walking towards me.
Lady Astrea, or as she asked me to call her, Amelia, has such a weird hair color.
I mean, naturally blue hair? Never seen that before this Tower summoned me...
We were teaming up today to accomplish one goal.
"Let's get some ESSENCE!"
That little Trickster was as loud as ever.
I looked up to the sky in exasperation as she walked towards me.
I mean... I, a literal psychopath, couldn't handle how loud she was sometimes. Though when she wasn't loud, she was actually pretty nice to be around... don't tell her I said that.
"Alright, you little trickster, what kind of Essence are we looking for?" I asked, my patience already thin from months of waiting.
"Of course, the answer is obvious, my little psychopath~, I'm going to grab the first Essence we come across."
I froze for a moment, not because of her stupid plan for her Essence, I had the same one, but because of the nickname she decided for me. Little psychopath. I had taken to calling her little trickster because I refused to call her Amelia, her actual name, and now it seems she had come up with something else as revenge.
Ugh
"Great, I've got the same plan, I'm taking the first Essence I find, I'm tired of waiting, I'm going to rank up to Uncommon as soon as possible," I told her, hoping she'd ignore my freezing earlier.
"Huhuhu," I heard her laugh behind me as I turned to the forest.
It seems she did notice...
Today's gonna be a long day.