We continued on toward New Lordaeron. I wanted to wait for the initial Observer's report, but I also felt an increasing sense of urgency. Worse I was slipping into a "let's get this over with" attitude. On a happier note, I could see that the spread of small clumps of the purple grass was beginning to reach as far as the Sunrise Motel. It was nice to see patches of new vegetation here and there. Surprisingly there were even new bushes sprouting up, of an obviously different character than the scrub brush native to the Badlands. A small victory, but I'll take it.

  Each small triumph could add up, and those small positive changes could become larger shifts over a long enough timescale. What kind of timescale? I couldn't begin to guess. Would I even be around to see the changes myself? I'd no clue. How long would I even have to putter around on this world? A very long time, judging by Meadran's lessons. Even Jaina thought that Mages (and presumably Druids) aged much more slowly. Then there was the issue of Regrowth seeming to reverse at least some of the effects of aging. With all of that working in my favor, I could see living at least a few hundred years. Though the meaning of having that amount of time was hard to grasp.

  Looking out at the slowly mixing environments, Earth desert and the alien grasslands of I suppose Azeroth, I pondered what these vistas would look like in a century. Would all of this be forest by then? Would the jealous Corpos scorch it all? The only way to get any of these questions answered to my satisfaction was to keep living, and see for myself. And I planned to.

  As we got closer to home, the increased mana density in the air had me buzzing a bit. Moving back and forth between the differing densities was an interesting experience. Could that be a way to train my mana capacity? Like running in high altitudes to benefit your lungs. Hmm, that was something to explore later.

  We arrived at the newest outskirts of New Lordaeron. So much had changed under Jaina's keen guidance, and even the few days we had been gone gave her ample opportunity to expand. Wait, she'd also snagged a good chuck of my CPoints. Even with the thousand I had gotten from the Quest, I was now down to 4000 total. When did that happen? My eyes bulged, I may have been just a tad upset. "What the hell has she been spending my Points on?"

  John looked over at me, probably wondering what I was pissed about now ."Jaina has used 5000 Company Points for something, or more likely a lot of somethings." I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I wasn't actually mad, but I was fucking shocked. I trusted her, but wow that was a lot of points. I thought back to her reports, did anything in there indicate where all the points went? No, not that I could recall. In the future, I think I'm going to require an itemized list of expenses. So that this odd sensation of being stolen from, wouldn't be as much of a problem. I didn't need more unpleasant feelings, especially right then. "That's a lot?" John asked. Oh right, I hadn't really discussed the Points situation with them. While we were parking the MRAP, I filled all the fellas in on the way CPoints worked, and what kinds of things they could buy.

  Getting out of the vehicle, we all paused to take in the changed view of our Town. Several new buildings were present close by. The obvious ones were the Church, with its belltowers and giant golden rayed sun iconography. It had been placed right by the Town Hall and just in front of the Barracks. The building next to that, billowing out a ton of smoke while creating a clatter we could hear from here, must have been the Smithy. The other new buildings were likely housing for everyone, these were structured some where between apartment complexes and medieval villas.

  Off to the north, I could make out several additional farms. I couldn't yet tell what they were growing from here, but I was certainly interested in new fresh food items. Okay, everything I could see probably explained some of the CPoint usage, but not all. As we got closer to the Town Hall, we could finally see where the rest of the points went. Up on the hill next to my mansion was an ornate tower, its peak was maybe 400 feet high and surrounded by a aura of mana that even those folks with no talent could see. The tower's base was larger around than the Town Hall, making it by far the largest building in the area. What was all that space for? We Jaina expecting to train an army of mages...

  That was not a bad idea. I'd already begun to suspect that most folks with cyberware were more vulnerable to magic. Taking advantage of that was a smart play.

  The fellas and I stayed close together as we made our way from the parking area to the Town Hall. Not quite marching, but remaining wary. Despite this, folks greeted us warmly as we passed them. There were lots of these people with faces new to me. Freshly summoned from the Town Hall I supposed. In fact, I didn't see any of the summoned people I was most familiar with anywhere nearby. Nor did I see any of the Nomads. In further fact, I was beginning to that it was bizarre that Jaina wasn't here to greet us. I reached out through the Psifield, 'Jaina?'

  'My Lord!' I could sense surprise with a tinge of bright joy and recent deep pleasure. Well, alright then, good for her. I chuckled, wondering who the lucky bastard was. 'I'm sorry! I got too caught up in my latest spellwork that I didn't sense you.' Sure, Jaina, that must have been some spell. Maybe I'd have to learn about this alternate form of enjoyable spellcasting.

  'No worries Jaina, just checking in on you. We'll be at the Town Hall when you are ready.' I tried not to let my amusement bubble through the connection. I really did.

  'Yes, My Lord.' I cut the connection. I could almost hear her blush through the Psifield, I could certainly feel it.

  A sharp twist hit my guts, and I couldn't enjoy the momentary amusement any longer. Something was burning in the back of my mind, and it was getting closer. It was all I could manage to keep on task, and wait until I had a clearer picture. I had no doubt something fucked up was going on, but I lacked the insight to locate the problem.

  As we passed the Church a white robed figure, hood raised, exited the large double doors. I just about drew my weapon on him. "My Lord! It is so nice to finally meet you." A man's voice drifted lightly out from under the deep hood. I was immediately put more on guard, not relieved. I could feel the rest of the boys tense up behind me, one step from violence. "Is something wrong?" The voice sounded genuinely concerned about us.

  I reached out with my new senses. His mind was a gentle place, his thoughts truly were full of devotion to his God. I relaxed a little. Golden energy surrounded him. Faith. It put him into the tentatively not a threat pile.

  Something savage growled in my heart before I clamped down on it. The Emperor Class was angered by any Faith not directed towards it. "Sorry our last encounter with a clergyman didn't go very well." I decided to be friendly, once I could tell he was nothing like old Grais.

  "Oh! Oh no, I'm sorry. It is always a terrible shame when a priest loses their way." No condemnation, no suspicion, and no doubt that we were being honest. This man might be the purest adult soul I've ever met. A true oddity that should be studied carefully. Perhaps only observed from a distance to avoid spoiling the subject.

  "It was a shame, indeed." I didn't have the heart to explain more to him. Just the knowledge that such darkness actually existed might damage him beyond repair.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "I am Father Mauris, if you need to talk my door is always open to you. I'll leave you to your work." No pushing, no proselytizing, what kind of priest was this?

  "I might just take you up on that. Good day, Mauris." I meant it too. I felt a need to get to know this person. More importantly, to protect them from this horrid world. Odd, where did that feeling come from?

  We crossed the last few yards to the Town Hall. I reached out to touch the building, then hesitated. My BTC was twitching like crazy.

  "I don't know what's about to happen, but I might be stuck for a while. Please guard my back." I swallowed, trying to keep down the rising bile in my throat.

  "Don't worry Hoss, we've got your six."

  "Uh huh."

  My hand made contact with the building and everything shifted.

  Endless white space in every direction. Oh, this place. I hoped to never see this place again.

  I scanned around until I found the expected desk. All matte black this time. The figure behind the desk a luminous, vaguely humanoid shape of greens and yellows.

  "Well, haven't you managed to create a ton of paperwork." I reached out with my senses. A vast force slapped me to the "ground". It hurt, but not it any typical way. It was the essence of pain, a condensed feeling of pain. It was pure, and nothing had ever hurt me more. Yet, all of the usual reactions to pain were missing. No increased breathing, no sped up heart rate, everything stayed level.

  "How rude. It would be wise to keep your primitive mind to yourself. Unless you wish to find out how much damage your soul can endure." Ah. That would be why. I wasn't here physically.

  "Pardon, you seem different from the beings I met the first time I was here."

  "You've never been here... Oh right, you can't see where you really are. Which means you also can't see who I really am. Bother." The figure seemed to flicker for a moment. The space around us did flutter for a moment, like a candle burning in the wind.

  "No. Well, I guess I don't get to crack your psyche today. Another time then. I am your Case Worker." I remained silent. I didn't see a good way to respond to any of that information.

  A chuckle escape from the Case Worker. "You can restrain yourself. Good primitive. Now listen up, we are going to fix that hole in your soul. so that some stray demon can't violate you through it. You may express your gratitude now."

  I raised my eyebrow. "Thank you?" Doesn't my gratitude come after you fix the problem? Also, shouldn't I be pissed right now?

  It sighed. "I guess that will have to do." It pushed a stack of papers at me. "Fill those out. Might as well make yourself useful. Bugs like you aren't good for much else." Again, I wanted to be angry, but something prevented it.

  I learn a horrible lesson the first time. Knowing that without compliance, I'd just be stuck here, I started looking over the paper work. It was all worded in extremely vague statements. It took almost 25 pages of reading for me to determine that this was ultimately an incredibly detailed description of my time on the New Earth. That's how bland and obscure the wording was. It could have been the excessive details of almost any other person on almost any other world, doing almost anything.

  No telling how long I was there reading. The being had told me to fill out paperwork but, so far, there was nothing to fill out. Not even those little annoying places to initial, that exist on most bureaucratic nonsense. For all that I recognized this as a boring meaningless task, I simply didn't feel any of the frustration that I knew I should.

  That I couldn't feel the normal range of emotions almost managed to get through and bother me, but not quite. The faint tickles of remembered annoyances danced hauntingly close. Yet, I couldn't reach them, never mind express them.

  Several hundred pages later, the first actual form to fill out arrived. It was just asking for basic information. I tapped the blanks and they filled in with whatever I wanted to write there. So on and so forth. Countless, pointless forms filled out one after another, between huge swaths of meaningless reports. Worse, the pile kept refilling itself. Adding stacks of new pages just as I thought it was over. Yet, I still felt nothing but I need to get this over with.

  When the last form was filled out and disappeared, I couldn't believe it. I started to look around for more forms.

  "Finally! What took you so long? It was only ten million pages. Hardly an afternoon's worth of work. I've dealt with twenty five other cases since you started. Luckily for you we altered the flow of time a bit." How much time had passed? I could feel another almost flutter of emotion.

  "No matter. Since your class selection was hijacked by several cosmic level beings, we are going to give you a choice." Oh a vague sense of interest stirred in me.

  "We can't remove the offending class without causing permanent damage to your soul. That sucker had dug in deep. We can offer you two classes to compensate. This will help balance out it's influence, while cleaning up the mess left by the broken Paladin class." It laughed. "That still cracks me up. You. A Paladin. They are just handing the good stuff out to anyone these days." Its laughter continued to ring out. My hand clenched. Yup. I almost felt something that time.

  "Alternatively, we clean up the shards of the Paladin class, and then evolve either your Druid or Smith Class. That's actually a better deal than it sounds. Class evolutions are rare. You can still take a new class from the Town Hall, once you return to your disgustingly weak body." This was a question of quality over quantity. At least if I understood the Case Worker's ranting correctly. Actually, It wasn't really a choice at all. I was already annoyed by the influences of the Classes on my mind. At least with the Druid and Smith Classes I'd thought those influences aligned pretty well with who I was before. Or who I'd thought I was before.

  Two more random classes, while they might solve the problem at hand, would cause more problems later. More directions to pull my identity out of shape. Even the thought of taking another class once I returned was troubling.

  "The second option."

  "Interesting! Which class will you evolve?" That wasn't really a choice either. As long as I had a stated goal, I needed to improve my ability to achieve that goal.

  "Druid of Renewal."

  Two sheets of crisp green paper appeared on the black desk. The Being gestured to the paper. "Pick."

  [ Archdruid of Renewal

  +3 to Spirit per level

  +3 to Will per level

  +2 to Intelligence per level

  +4 free points per level

  An evolution of the Druid of Renewal. This forms a deeper connection to the Cycle of Life.

  Spells: Renew the Cycle, Reincarnate ]

  The other page read...

  [ Grove Keeper

  +3 to Spirit per level

  +3 to Will per level

  +2 to Body per level

  +4 free points per level

  By increasing a connection to a Grove, a Keeper gains further understanding of their place in Nature.

  Spells: Awaken Trees, Forest Walk ]

  I picked up the Arch Druid page. The Grove Keeper was likely a very potent evolution, but I didn't even have a grove to begin with. I was beginning to wonder if any of the choices I'd ever been offered, were actually choices...

  "I'll give you a moment to look it over. Then back you go. Have fun, bug." The insulting being vanished, so I turned my attention to the changes in my class.

  Better. I already felt better, even without my emotions. My stats were starting to look rather ridiculous. Good. I would need to be as powerful as possible.

  I had several of my spells evolving. Interesting. Let's look at the new additions.

  Renew the Cycle. This was a doozy of a spell, that took almost ten hours to cast. So, not something to use in the middle of a fight. It also required an array of unusual components. For the sacrifice of these materials, it returned any one living being to it's best state of health, while removing any anomalies affecting them. For additional components and increased mana costs it could alter the target in any number of beneficial ways. The spell would instantly destroy any undead or unnatural target. Fascinating, I could cast it on myself.

  Reincarnation was not a spell in the strictest sense, nor was it actually an ability. It was some hybrid combination of the two. After casting a rather long spell, It would activate upon my death and allowing me to return to life. However, I would have no choice in who or what I returned as. It could only be activated once a century. I pondered that. If classes and abilities carried over, and I didn't die more than once every hundred years, I was now possibly immortal. Maybe.

  I'm sure I could still get trapped in something like a Weasel's body. Which might last two to five years normally. Mana might extend that, but probably not out to a century. So I couldn't count on it. Also the body would likely affect my identity to some extent. A few spins on this wheel and I'd no longer be me.

  Not that I was sure I was me anymore.