Lukas exhaled slowly, calming his nerves.
He could hear faint jeers from Kylo's followers behind him, but he ignored them, completely focused on his awakening.
He knew that his concentration or lack thereof would have no effect on what [Class] he would awaken, but it didn't matter. This was the most important moment of his life in this world, and he would treat it with the gravity it deserved.
He walked up the podium, his eyes never leaving the pillar. He stood there, his heart full of hope, then placed his palm on it.
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have gained the attention of the Tower.]
[You have been awarded the Class: Thief.]
Even though he couldn't see it, Lukas could tell what image was currently floating above his head. A purple image of a hand dipped inside a money pouch.
"[Thief]." The host announced.
For half a second, the crowd was quiet, then there was a roar of laughter from a small cluster of the crowd that housed Kylo's cronies.
Inevitably, the laughter rippled through the crowd. Of course, not everyone laughed. Most people were decent enough to stay quiet, but enough people laughed that it was noticeable.
"Trash, as always!"
"I told you! I said he'd get something useless! Now, pay up, pay up!"
Lukas turned to the crowd as there was a smattering of unenthusiastic applause and his eyes immediately met Kylo's.
Kylo had a wide grin on his face, like he'd just been justified by the universe. And so he mouthed the word he'd always reserved for Lukas.
"Trash."
Lukas kept his expression blank as he looked away and made his way down the podium. The host called out the next name.
"Kylo Rivers."
Lukas had nothing else to do here and was about to make his way home when he heard the name. He stopped.
He really wanted to know. Was the world truly unfair?
He didn't want to watch but he stopped anyway, because a part of him still needed to see this.
Some would pray to get his [Thief] class, but for Lukas, it was the worst possible option. At least with a non-combat class like [Cook], he would still be granted skills that would mean a nice paying job, but [Thief] wasn't even a combat class.
It was an utility class, which meant his skills wouldn't be directly helpful in combat. People with his class usually struggled with their leveling speed, as the fastest way to level up was to kill monsters.
Not to mention the fact that people with his class were usually not accepted in parties or guilds due to the nature of their skills.
He turned, watching as Kylo confidently strolled to the pillar and placed a hand upon it. In the next second, a purple image of a sword designed with runes appeared over his head.
"[Spellblade]."
Cheers and applause immediately filled the air.
Lukas could feel bitterness welling up in his gut but he quickly swallowed it. Getting the [Spellblade] class was like winning the jackpot.
He'd read enough about this world's Classes in the two weeks he'd been here to know that this was one of the rarest Classes available at awakening.
It was a class that mixed swordsmanship and arcane magic to become the ultimate offensive entity. The guilds would be lining up for him to give his own terms. After all, his potential was limitless.
Lukas exhaled and turned away before Kylo could find his eyes again in the crowd. As he walked back home, the world felt muted to his senses.
'Is this it?' The question surfaced in his mind. 'Am I destined to live the same life here that I lived back there?'
Back on Earth, he'd worked long hours and received low pay in order to pay off debts that never seemed to shrink no matter what he did.
He'd told himself that things would turn around as long as he kept pushing but they never did. And he'd died of overwork, after a life of working to fatten the pockets of the rich.
And now, in a world with the genuine possibility of becoming something exceptional, he'd still fucked that up too.
He soon arrived at his house, a small building that was on the verge of falling apart. The wooden walls were already rotting in places, and there were a lot of things that needed repairs.
But this was the most valuable thing that had been left behind to the original Lukas by his parents, and now, it was his.
He pushed the door open and entered, the hinges creaking. Closing the door, he crossed the bare living space, heading to his room.
Sitting on his wooden bed, he called up his status.
[Lukas]
[Race: Human]
[Rank: E-rank Awakener]
[Class: Thief]
[Exp: 0%]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 12]
[Agility: 20]
[Constitution: 15]
[Mana: 7]
[Skills: Pickpocket, Lockpick]
He stared at his stats for a few seconds. They were pitiful, but that was to be expected.
Everybody who awakened today would start as E-rank Awakeners, but that was the only place in which they were equal.
They all lived on the first floor of the tower, also known as the Tutorial Floor, where they would begin their journey as Climbers by killing monsters to level up.
And once they become S-rank, they would be granted access to the next floor, and cross over to the next tier as E-rank Adepts.
Adepts operated on a different level entirely from Awakeners, with strength and skills that made them capable of surviving on the second floor of the tower, where the monsters were a different class of dangerous.
From what Lukas had gathered, Havenhart's City Lord was an Adept.
But the gap from where he was now and Adept felt enormous.
He pulled up his skills.
[Pickpocket: You can steal a small item within a range of 1 meter without being noticed.]
[Lockpick: You can instantly open locked doors, chests, or shackles without a key.]
This was the main problem of the [Thief] class, and why people reacted to it the way they did.
These skills were not combat skills, and while they had their uses, in a world where the main path to growth was killing monsters, a skill that lets you pick pockets and open locks without a key was not going to carry you far.
The fastest way to level up was combat, and fighting monsters was safer in a party. Everybody knew the fastest way to die as an Awakener was to go solo.
But the problem was that nobody wanted [Thieves] in their party.
It wasn't just bias, though there was plenty of that. It was practical.
If anything went missing on a dungeon run, and things went missing all the time, the person with the [Pickpocket] skill would be the first person at which fingers would be pointed at.
It didn't matter if he had a clean record and reputation. The suspicion alone was enough for most groups to avoid the risk.
So, his future right now looked particularly bleak. There would be no party, no reliable source of income from dungeon runs, and most importantly, slow leveling.
One thing he could at least look forward to was the fact that his skills would grow with him as he leveled up.
Was he really destined to be weak in this life too?
"No!" Lukas snarled. "I refuse to accept that!"
No matter what, he'd fight! He'd grind as hard as he could, even if everyone distrusted him. He'd become an Adept, and from there, his luck would change.
From what he'd heard of the [Thief] class, the lucky few who persevered and became Adepts would have a chance to undergo a class change and become an [Assassin].
With his new class, he'd receive a new skill called [Shadow Step]. It was a form of short ranged teleportation, which would transform him to become completely deadly in combat.
He clenched his jaw in determination. This was not where his story would end. Sooner or later, he would change his fate!
Ding!
A new system message appeared before him.
[Extreme drive for survival detected. Requirements met.]
[Congratulations, Host. The Gacha Harem System has been activated.]
[Would you like to bind the system?]