The Allbright System - A Sci-Fi Progression LitRPG Story

You ever look at the way the UHF treats Class Selection and just think, ‘Really? This again?’

I know I’m not in Research nor in Doctrine. I don’t have a doctorate in Allbright mechanics either.

I didn’t even finish the basic Marine Track, opting into the Civilian sector early after graduation.

But I’ve been watching first-time deployments for fifty-five years now, and I’ve seen far too many green Privates fall flat because they picked their Class way too late—never got a chance to grow into it at all.

The UHF’s standing policy is clear: No Recruit may select a Class until after graduation.

No matter how many Skills you’ve unlocked, how many Abilities you’ve maxed out, how many digital kills you’ve got notched on your rifle—you are locked out.

Why? The official answer’s simple enough. “To ensure optimal selection window, greater access to System knowledge, and maximum Class quality.”

And sure, I won’t argue that it can’t work out that way.

I’ve seen Recruits walk out of their graduation ceremony with freshly unlocked, beautifully synergized, top-end Classes thanks to the several extra months of grinding and unlocks.

You give a kid fifteen extra Accomplishments, a couple of maxed out and finished Ability Alterations, several maxed-out Tier 1 Skill tracks or two, and suddenly they’ve got options the early-pickers can only dream of.

Some of them even unlock never-before-seen Class-Branches or specific Class specializations the System doesn’t seem to offer unless you’ve “proven” you’re good enough for them.

I’ve seen it; seen the theoretical requirements lists that exist among some of the System Researchers. They’re very real.

But the cost? Hoo boy.

You’re locking people at Level 10 for months.

That’s thousands of Contribution Points that just… disappear. No growth.

You get locked out of Class Abilities, too—ones that could be giving you vital bonuses in training or early Digital Missions. Sure, you're still improving your base Attributes at times, and maxing out your other Abilities, but there’s a psychological cliff there.

You start to stagnate, in a way.

That false sense of readiness fades, and you begin to question whether you'll ever be as sharp with your eventual Class as you could’ve been had you picked it months earlier.

Meanwhile, the Stellar Republic and the Celestial Dominion? They let their people grab a Class the moment they meet the prerequisites.

No ceremony, no restrictions—just green lights across the board.

You hit the mark? Boom. Class unlocked.

Class passively levels alongside you as you learn the ropes of the System alongside it.

No time wasted. No wasted CP.

You grow with it, mold to it, make mistakes early while the safety of the DDS environments still covers for you.

Of course, their elite units do flip the script, we have to be clear on this.

They go even harsher than the UHF, in a way—hard-gating entire Class categories behind role assignments, genetics, social rank, and more.

You don’t choose. They assign.

It’s not “Class Selection,” it’s “Class Imposition.”

You’d better hope the officer checking boxes that day actually knows what you’re good at.

Spoiler: They usually don’t.

And so here’s the UHF, caught in between: No early selection, but no forced pick either. Just this long, purgatory-like crawl where you train, grind, earn more advancements, but lose out on Contribution Points throughout the entire time... and wait.

I get it.

I really do.

They want their future Marines to earn their Class, not just stumble into it, to get the best possible Classes out of their investments—maybe even learn something more about the Allbright System in the process.

The more raw potential you show, the more the System rewards you when the lock finally lifts. The philosophy here is clear: Prove yourself, then shape yourself.

But if you ask me? We could stand to meet in the middle.

Let the promising ones defer, sure.

But maybe let the sharp ones, or those without much talent—sorry, everyone, but the truth hurts sometimes!—lock in early if they want to, especially if they’ve hit a wall in their development.

Better to give a Recruit time to train with their tools, than leave them guessing until deployment day.

Because when the safety of the DDS is taken away after graduation and you’re sent planet-side for your first real Battlefield experience, it won’t be nicely worded philosophy that keeps you alive.

It’ll be experience.

And a higher rarity Class you’ve only had for five days won’t save you from a Dominion specialist who’s had their lower rarity one for eight months…

—G.T.

“Not a Professor. Just a guy who’s watched too many die with unlocked potential.”

[Written by: Gavin Tanas, former UHF Auxiliary Quartermaster-Sergeant and lifelong Class theory addict, PFC878]