My Skill Is For What Class...

By the time Ethan's family got back to the hotel, he had already gone down to the hotel restaurant and eaten. He was sitting in the living area, the TV on, but not watching it, too busy texting Jill and Andy, complaining about how much the vacation sucked. "Hey, why aren't you in bed resting that ankle?" Ethan's dad asks. Ethan briefly looks up from his phone, and what he sees takes a second to sink in. Actually, prying his nose out of his phone, Ethan takes in the sight of his family. "HAHAHA, what happened to you guys? You're all sunburned and redder than a strawberry." Ethan laughs uncontrollably. Scowling at Ethan and then wincing in pain from scowling, his dad says, "Yeah, we didn't know this cheap sunscreen wasn't waterproof, and by the time we realized it, it was too late. So, since your ankle is messed up and we are too burnt to do anything else, we decide to head home tonight." Ethan jumps up from the couch and bounces on his "bad" foot. "Look, it's all better now. Do we really have to leave? I really wanted to do some sightseeing." His mom eases herself into a chair slowly, the pain from the sunburn clear on her face. "I'm sorry, Sweetie, but all we want to do is go home and bathe in a pool of aloe gel and pray this sunburn is gone by the time I have to go back to work." Liz slowly hobbles to her room, nearly in tears. "I'm with Mom; there is no way I'm staying here over being able to lie on my bed under the A/C while I smear aloe gel on myself." Ethan flops down on the couch with a huff and grabs his phone. "OK, fine, let me text Andy and Jill back, and I'll start taking the stuff to the car." Giving him a quizzical look, his dad asks, "How is your ankle better already?" Trying not to look suspicious, he pulls his phone closer to his face and answers, "I'm in the prime of my life, Dad. Of course, I'd get better quickly." Ethan sends a text to Jill and Andy saying, "Well, we're leaving tonight. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

On the ride back home, Ethan decides to do some more research on his Class. Thinking to himself, "I should probably look into my skill. Now that I have more access to the Power Academy website and forums." Pulling up his status window, he reads the name of his Skill, 'Item Enhancement'. He searches the website for the list of Skills in the Subjugator Class but can't find it. He decides to check the forum and punches the name of the Skill into the search bar. He clicks the top Post: Top Tier Item Enhancement. Reading the post, it's by a group of craftsmen offering to upgrade items for people for a high price. "Are you kidding me!" he blurts out. His mom looks back, "What's dear?" Ethan looks up, startled that he said that out loud, "I was just checking out some of the stuff on the Power Academy's website. It's pretty crazy what you need to do to get a Class." He starts to look at other posts, discovering that the Skill upgrades items over time that are held by the person or items kept in a spatial storage held by that person. His next search is on spatial storage items. He finds that they are pretty expensive, and the largest can barely hold an armor chest plate. "Well, before I get too caught up in all this, I need to check my Power Points and get all my books. I can't believe I got this useless skill," he thinks to aggravated to look further into his Class or Skill.

As soon as the car pulls into the driveway, Jill is running across the road, her long dark brown hair swishing side to side as she runs. "Ethan, Ethan, I didn't want to tell you over a text, but I was accepted to the Power Academy. Can you believe it?" Ethan stumbles back as his friend, whom he has known the longest, crashes into him, squeezing him tightly, nearly taking the wind out of him. "How the heck are you surprised? You got the highest grades out of our whole graduating class. I'm just surprised you chose the Power Academy over some Ivy League College." Jill punches his arm hard enough to bruise it, but he shrugs it off like she merely flicked him. "Come on, ask me what Class I want to get," Jill says excitedly, bouncing on the heels of her feet. "Really? I already know it's all you've talked about for the past two years." Ethan says unenthusiastically as he stretches his legs from the long car ride. Jill crosses her arms and gives an insincere pout. "Jeeze, the least you could do is still ask. Is that too much to ask from your oldest friend?" Ethan starts pulling luggage out of the van and gives Jill a sly smirk. "If you help me bring all this inside, I'll ask you whatever you want." Jill huffs, snatching a suitcase out of his hand. "Fine, but now you owe me more than just a question," she says and sticks her tongue out at him. Ethan pulls a huge suitcase out of the van. "It's a deal," Ethan says as he starts to lug the suitcase to the house. Once everything is brought inside, Jill and Ethan head to his room. Jill flops in his computer chair and spins in circles. "Come on, already ask me. I'm dying to tell you." Ethan falls onto his bed. "Ok, Miss Healer, what Class do you want to be?" A smirk played across his face. "HAHA, wrong, mister know-it-all. I want to be a paladin." Ethan quickly sits up. "Wait, I thought I was supposed to be the warrior type, and you were going to be a backline healer?" Jill continues to spin in the chair. "Well, I was talking to Andy and changed my mind. He should be the backline mage, and you and I can kick butt on the frontline." Jill's phone goes off. After checking the message, she jumps up. "I've got to go, or my mom will lock me out. I'll be eighteen in nine days; you'd think she would let me stay out past nine thirty."

Ethan lies in bed staring at his phone. "I can't believe after buying all my books I only have fifteen hundred Power Tokens left. I even bought used books. Oh well, I might as well see if I can buy a spatial storage item." Scrolling through the Power Academy's online store, he becomes completely shocked. "One thousand Power Tokens for a spatial bag that can only hold a single textbook and five hundred for a ring that can only hold a few pencils." Ethan nearly shouts. He adds both to his cart and opts to pick up at the Academy, unable to pay the delivery fee. His phone buzzes from a message from Andy. When he opens the message, it's a picture of Academy textbooks and some basic hero armor and a basic hero short sword. "Of course, Andy can get all that. Must be nice having rich parents." Ethan messages back, "That's awesome! I'm going to the Power Academy tomorrow to pick up my stuff. Want to come with?" Not even a second passes when he gets a reply: "Call me before you leave, and I'll be ready when you get here." He texts him back, saying he'll call him before he can put down his phone; it buzzes with an email from the Power Academy. He quickly opens the email; it says to be sure not to place an item with spatial storage inside another item's spatial storage, or it will lose its spatial storage properties. "Really? That would have freed up so much space, but it looks like I'll have to save up a bunch of money to buy a large one now." He plugs in his phone and huffs as he rolls over and faces the wall, not even wanting to look at his phone again.