Inside the assembly hall, hundreds of students waited for their awakening ceremony to start. I sat at the way back with my black hoodie slouched on the chair, trying my best to draw as little attention as I could.
I watch as the principal gives his little speech, talking about how they are about to become productive members of society, no matter what skill they have, going on and on about how any skill has its uses.
Eventually, his speech comes to an end. Principle Bobby unveils a crystal ball glowing in a royal blue aura. Principal Bobby places his hand on it as he addresses his students.
" Now my former students start imagining what kind of skill you want, even though it is not a 100 percent chance. Through repeated testing, we have determined that awakened skills are based on your emotions. Now I'll count down from 5, so start thinking about what skill you want.
After hearing this, I looked up to think, only to see a spider making a web, catching flies without much effort. It would be great to have a skill that I could use all the time, like how spiders can use their webs.
"Wait, why would I want to go the passive route when I could have a kickass skill that summons a flaming bird?" As I realized how having such a skill wouldn't be of much use as a flaming bird, the principal shouted.
"FIVE" principle Bobby did not wait the time he said he would, and immediately pressed his hands on the crystal orb, causing a royal blue aura to spread across the assembly hall, giving a warm feeling to everyone's bodies. After everybody bathed in the aura for 5 seconds, a translucent panel appeared in front of everyone.
Name Alex Rex
Stats
vitality 10
Strength 10
Agility 10
Intelligence 10
Unique stats
None
Skills
Spiderweb lvl 1
Skill description allows you to produce spider webs from any limb. It's an incredibly sticky and tricky base for your stats.
I glance at my system panel, not knowing what to think for a second ." fuck" I whisper after the second. I was about to get up to leave with me graduating from high school, my obligation to talk to anyone ended, but before I could go, the principal made another announcement.
"My dear graduates, it would seem like the tiger guild has decided to sponsor this year with the new skill orbs. These orbs not only grant you a new skill, but also give the skill most suited to your awakened skill."
This announcement made me stop. I turned back to see the principal rubbing his teary eyes while a woman and a man in business suits brought out a cart full of smaller-looking orbs. Each one has a yellow-looking aura coming from it.
As I look at this, I get a disgruntled look, knowing I'll have to talk to someone. 'Fuck it.' I turned and walked out of the assembly hall, not caring about the skill orbs. I begin to walk home. My family lives in the middle-class section of the city. It's about noon, so everyone at school, working, or hunting, so walking down the streets was easy. When I was about halfway home, I realized I hadn't tested my skills yet.
'It said I can make webs come out of lime, but it never said if it costs mana or stamina to make them. "fuck it," I pull my hand and look at a wall, and think about a spiderweb coming out of my hand. Lo and behold, a spiderweb shot from my hand and connected to the wall, as well as my hand; it's about the size of a decent-sized stick.
"I mean, it is not that bad. It probably has a couple uses like I could use it as a long-range." I do a bit more testing and realize it doesn't just have to be the palm of my hand; it can come out of my fingers or even my feet, even though it just goes into my shoes. 'Falling apart anyway.'
I make my way home and open the door to see my father still just sitting on the couch watching TV. "I'm ome," I say, but he doesn't give crap and just keeps watching TV "whatever " i say while walking pass him to my room i take my shoes of and throw them in some corner that ill never care about and grab a beaten sword that i found in the trash one day i lean it on my shoulder and start walking to a dungeon.
Dungeons are manifestations of mana; they come into existence as soon as humans gain the system. They only appear when a large amount of mana appears in a tight area, which births a dungeon core. These cores then draw mana from space and use it to create monsters we fight so that we can get stronger.
The monster parts also sell for a reasonable price, and the government buys the monster crystals in their chest. They do this so they can grind it into powder and generate electricity to power the world.
As I get near the goblin dungeon, also known as the noob dungeon, I see a bunch of military cars surrounding the dungeon gate, making sure no monsters get out. This is pretty much what the military has become: the watchdogs. Of course, they also get the most respect because of this; they are the last and only line of defense for the people, while we hunters only go in for the riches.
As I was about to pass the first gate, a soldier stopped me.
"This isn't someplace for kids to go home," he said, not even giving me a chance to explain as he walked away. I just shrugged and kept heading for the dungeon gate, which was guarded by soldiers in tactical gear from head to toe, armed with M16s. One of them came up to me.
"Ki," before he could finish his sentence, I showed him my ID proving I'm over 18 and can enter the dungeon. The soldier took the ID to check out to make sure it was not fake. Apparently, when the first dungeons appeared, a lot of people faked IDs to enter higher-ranked dungeons. The death toll increased to the point where the government issued a new strict law that every ID must be handed over to be scanned.
As the soldier finishes scanning my ID, he hands it back. Before he goes back to his post, he gives me some advice.
"I recommend you wear some shoes, the nooo, I mean the goblin dungeon is a cave-type dungeon, also don't swing that sword often, the dungeon is the biggest, there are plenty of closed-off spaces in there. You don't want to knock your own weapon out of your hands accidentally.
I nodded and headed straight into the dungeon. The soldier just shrugged and went back to his duty. He tried that all he cared about. As I was about to enter the dungeon, the other soldier caught my attention.
Here, kid," he tosses a sheath knife my way. "It'll be better than that sword of yours.
"th a a a nk you," I stutter as I thank the soldier. He laughs it off, and I keep entering the dungeon to see a jagged cave. I could still hear the sounds from outside the dungeon where the two soldiers were guarding.
"Mike, you know you can't just give him military-issued equipment," the soldier who scanned my ID chastised Mike, the one who had given me his knife.
I pulled up the knife Mike gave and started heading deeper into the dungeon to find my first goblin. They look like little green, ugly little things. As I was sizing it up, it noticed me. I unsheathed the knife with my right hand and raised my left to shoot my spiderweb at it. It managed to dodge it, but I wasn't done. I shot it again with my webs, hitting it in the face. It tries to grab the web of its face, only for its hand to get stuck, leading to it struggle. I shoot my web, hitting its chest. This time, I plan on using it like a robe. I start running towards the goblin with a military knife in hand. The goblin, after getting hit, refocuses on me with only one hand free. It started running at me just before we were in striking distance. I used the web rope-pulling with all my might; I pulled it off the balance, giving it a good kick to its face, making it lie on the ground.
I step on its arm and chest, where I begin to stab it repeatedly in the head, only stopping when it stops moving. The feeling from the stab ran a shiver down his spine; the shiver only stopped when the system panel appeared.
[You have gained 0.1 in strength]
I look at my hand, not really feeling anything different.'I'll just have to increase a stat by a full point before I can feel the difference.'
"Gugugu," as I was focusing on my stats, a sound came from behind me. I immediately ran forward to hear someone running behind me. I do a quick spin with my hand raised, shooting at the goblin that snuck up on me, hitting my face instead of just letting me shoot the end of the web against the wall, stopping it.
"GUGUGU, G" I thrashed against the spiderweb, trying to break free. I unsheath my sword in my right hand, and in my left, I do a thrusting motion, stabbing it in its chest.
"guguguggu, " it screams in pain before succumbing to its wound.
[You have gained 0.1 in agility]