Alec was tapping his fingers together over and over again, trying to relax with clear anxiety written over his face.
While he was not known to travel or socialise much, despite being a prince, he was feeling extra anxious today. As soon as the carriage stops, he would be surrounded by a group of nobles he either didn't know or had just met once or twice.
Alec was unsure how to feel, whether it would be better to awaken his soul skill in a large group of commoners, where people might pay less attention to him, or with a small group of nobles. In reality, it didn't really matter much; no matter what, he was a prince, and people would focus on him.
Right before the carriage stopped, Riley reached out and grabbed his hands.
"Take a deep breath, you will be fine, young master", she said.
She turned over his hand and placed a small, bright red stone in it.
"What is it?"
"It's an old Golem stone. You've been working on them lately, right?" she said.
"Once we get home, we can keep working on your dungeon and add a new Golem. Maybe this time you will make a hydra."
Alec smiled, although he did feel like he was being treated like a child, he was still deeply happy for how much she was trying. Riley, the once slave now his personal knight and best friend. She even bought him a golem stone from a dungeon, which can be fairly hard to find now that dungeons have all but vanished.
A sudden click from the door distracted them, and a voice sounded out.
"Young master, we have arrived"
Alec got out and looked at the large building in front of him, and took a breath. He entered the giant circular building.
"I can do this, I can do this.", Alec murmured to himself over and over as he walked forward toward the center of the temple to join the others.
The families of all the kids who were to go through soul awakening were there. His father, the king, his older brother, the crown prince and his older sister were there.
Despite being there for almost all of his birthdays, his mother, Queen Lilly, was nowhere to be found. His twin sister Grace was absent as well. For some reason, Alec didn't know the king had her soul awakening ceremony before his, despite them being born only an hour apart.
Alec was the last to arrive, and just as he did, all the noble kids who were chatting suddenly became quiet.
A middle-aged man in a white robe spoke out, "Hello, everyone, today we shall awaken these young nobles' true potential... "
He kept talking for a while intill everything finally started. Alec was just zoning out. When everything finally started, Alec didn't even catch the name of the kid who was called up first.
"Now touch the orb in front of the great Goddess Flora."
The orb glowed brightly, displaying the name of their soul skill to everyone in the room.
It said," Noble warriors might"
The kid had a huge grin plastered over his face.
Alec thought,' Really, Noble Warriors Might. The only difference from the common skill of Warriors' Might is the addition of Noble, and it's not even 5 per cent stronger.'
While some people were awakening some rather impressive soul skills, Alec did his best to distract himself from his own awakening.
In a gentle voice, Alec heard, "Young prince, it's your turn. Just put your hand on the orb."
As he walked up toward the orb, he thought of all the way he had read about how it feels to awaken a soul skill.
Some say awakening a soul skill feels like getting up after a great night's rest. Others have said it feels like getting a message from heaven.
But when Alec placed his hand on the orb was vastly different. What he felt was not some kind of warmth but incredible pain.
While the pain started so fast and ended just as quickly that know one noticed. What Alec experienced in that moment could almost be described as feeling out of sync with time and reality itself.
As his brain felt like it was burning, he began to see two very distinct tales. One was clearly out of focus, but giving him a deep sense of familiarity, the other was crystal clear.
While the other was being almost imprinted into his brain, he paid little attention to it. All his focus was on the tales that were new to him, as well as seeing them in a completely crystal clear manner.
In front of him appeared images of a young man in his early 20s wearing very plain clothing, walking into a small room. His eyes glowed in a mesmerising blue and silver light right before returning to normal.
"Hello, sir Gideon Welcome welcome. It's an honour to finally meet you in person.", said a middle-aged man wearing a crown made of silver and gold.
The man who seemed to be called Gideon smiled and said, "You all must be the ones that the king told me about."
Around him was a man who could now best be described as a wizard who came straight out of a kids' book. The only thing that didn't remind him of a stereotypical kids' book wizard was the magic tower's emblem. It almost seemed to be glowing with a faint silver light on his robe.
To the left of him was the Saintess with wild, long golden hair. While she was very beautiful, all Alec could think was 'another robe really'.
'And I thought my outfit looked outdated.'
The king, wizard and now her all wearing robes. 'How popular were Robs back in the day?', he thought to himself.
Finally, the last person was a beast woman in leather armour with some minor scars scattered all over he body. Some small scars on her face, to one that almost covered her entire hand. Her whole body told a tale of many fierce battles.
Despite the many scars over her body, none of them seems to dim her beauty in the least. Her face gleamed with great pride. Her expression almost screamed how proud she was of her scars. Beast-men have always tended to show off in one way or another, special when they are young.
She had short hair, which seemed weird to Alec. Beast-men tend to like longer hair because it increases the difficulty of the hunt. Warrior beast-men usually only cut their hair after it passes their waist or if they have lost a battle.
Alec's curiosity was quickly answered when Gideon's focus landed on her.
With a smile on her face, the beast-woman said, "Haha, don't worry, Mister Hero, I didn't lose any battle. It just got a little burn after hunting some monsters."
'Gideon? Why does that name sound familiar', Alec thought to himself.
What followed was a typical hero saves the world till the demon king seems to be dying. A cursed blade in the hands of the Saintess, now dripping with blood. Blades are embedded in his back, covered in poison that clearly came from the beast-woman. To top it off, burning in blue flames covering Gideon's body.
Despite all the time that Alec watched them getting along and laughing together, Gideon didn't seem the least bit mad.
He simply said, "As expected, I shouldn't have brought you with me. "
Alec finally realised who Gideon was. But from what Alec remembered from what he had read in the royal archives, he never had any companions.
"May I ask why?"
They said, "Sure"
"You are a threat to the kingdom", said the wizard.
"Secondly, you showed compassion to those freaks, the demons", the Saintess said.
"What an ass. Nowadays, one fourth of the people in the capital either demons of have demon blood in them.", Alec thought.
"How long ago was this?"
The beast-woman kept standing there with a face that said she couldn't care less.
As the demon lord was dying couldn't help but laugh.
"Haha, I knew it us demon are just better."
Gideon just looked at the idiotic Demon king and thought," Moron"
His eyes once again let out a silver and blue light.
Everything returned to when he first met them in the small room. Instead of the bright smile on his face, there was nothing but coldness.
After the king once said his greeting, Gideon simply said," No!"
The pain that ran throughout Alec pain lessened. What felt like years to Alec was not even a complete second. His vision once again returned to the real world. Instead of the hero's adventures, what appeared before him was his soul skill.
Before he could even read it, his family's faces changed. His father quickly hid his frown. Alec's brother and sister both share a smile, but the meaning behind them where vastly different.
Alec just stared at the projection.
The orb proudly display his skill as, '&(#&#$!@#$ Uneducated'