I woke up with the sun shining in my eyes, I looked around and saw a clock on the wall that indicated that it was only 6 AM, which didn't bother me too much. I was used to not sleeping a lot, but after last night's rest I felt more energetic than usual. I think this had to do with my new positive attitude I noticed I had.
I just felt like everything would be okay if I put the effort into it. I didn't feel like I was destined for a meager life, and I felt there was more to my talent than I thought.
As I wanted to be a different person, I got out of my bed, and decided I would make a routine. First, I made my bed, folding the sheets and putting them at the foot of the bed. I made sure to tuck in my bed sheet, and realign my pillow.
Next, I decided I would exercise. My talk with Lloyd yesterday informed me that there were monsters in existence in this world. A threat I am sure I would have to deal with at some point, even if I tried to avoid them. Rather than being scared of things, I decided to instead be prepared. The first step was getting this body into shape. I began to do push ups, and sit ups. I decided on those because calisthenics were very accessible for at home use. Body weight exercises were a good foundation to establish, I would always find a use for being able to push myself up off the ground, especially in a fight. Strengthening my core would help in all movements, because while almost all martial arts moves begin with footwork, the second step is transferring momentum through your core. I knew this because of all the novels I had read about fighting, and my on/off interest in fighting myself.
Speaking of Lloyd, he woke up while I was exercising, and gave me a strange look.
"Why are you working out so early? We have school in like two hours, aren't you tired?" Lloyd asked me. I could vaguely tell he was genuine with his concern, so I simply told him that I wanted to get stronger, and the first step to that was to build my physical foundation. He seemed to think for a moment before he got out of bed himself, and began to do push ups. "I also want to get stronger. I don't want to lose anyone else while not being able to do anything."
I watched him struggle with his push ups. He had a really weak body. While I could barely do five, he struggled to do three. I looked at him and got lost in thought, that was until a screen popped up in front of me.
[Lloyd]
[Talent: Guardian {Hidden}"Weakened State""Unawakedned"]
[Emotional State: Motivated, and Sad]
************
I guess this must be either part of my [Emotional Manipulation] talent, or a personal gift I had. Maybe it was even part of my transmigration, I wasn't too sure. Either way, I figured this ability was unique because no one had said anything about my talent yesterday.
The weakened state of Lloyd's talent must be why he seemed weaker than me physically, but that also indicates that he would be much more robust than me when he does awaken. I wonder what triggers an Awakening, and what the Guardian talent does. For now, I couldn't see anything else so I stopped focusing on it. Either way, I expect Lloyd to be a valuable asset to have later on.
Lloyd and I finished our exercise, and I instructed him to make his bed before we moved on. From now on, him and I would do this together, it was a nice boost of motivation for me as well, allowing me to stay on track with someone else. He took me to the bathroom, and we both took turns taking a shower. Lloyd told me that it was nice showering before the other kids woke up, because we didn't have to wait for anyone else to shower. There was only one shower for the shelter, and it was to be shared by all the children. Claire had her own, but it was a private one that she refused to share.
Having finished showering, we went to the kitchen and began prepare breakfast for everyone. Typically this was done by an assigned kid, but since we were up we decided to do it ourselves. We also were too hungry after exercising to wait for everyone else to wake up and then for someone to make the food. Breakfast was two frozen pancakes that were provided by the state, they were bland but the nutrition was guaranteed by the government. There were also two powdered eggs, they were awful, however once again they were very nutritious. High in protein and healthy fats.
Forcing myself to swallow the terrible food, I swore I would make money as quick as possible and make a better breakfast a daily thing. By the indifference on Lloyd's face, I knew he had ate this breakfast too many times that it was normal.
Poor kid. I shook my head while looking at him, which caused him to tilt his head in confusion at my look of pity. I walked up to him, and put my hand on his shoulder. "You won't be eating this stuff for long. I will take care of it." I said to him, consoling him for the loss he had to endure daily, to the point where he was dull to the suffrage he was experiencing.
"How are you going to make money to buy food? I feel like if you had a way to make money you wouldn't have been homeless as of literally yesterday." He said, looking at me.
"Actually, my dear Watson, I have a very simple answer for you. It's elementary: I awakened my talent last night. I actually have an idea of how we can use it to make a ton of money, by scam- I mean giving life advice to people. Now listen, we just need to go to the subway and you will advertise for me that I am an oracle who can see into their worries, and that I can give them advice on what to do to change their lives for the better. We will mostly be looking for gullible teens or perhaps middle aged women with romantic problems-"
"YOU AWAKENED YOUR TALENT?!" Lloyd suddenly yelled. It was almost 8 AM, so quite a few people were awake, and his shout drew the attention of everyone who heard it. Including Claire, who bolted out of the office. She ran straight up to us at the dining room table, almost leaping over the table and chairs to get to me.
"You awakened a your talent?!" she asked me, a crazed look in her eyes.
"Yes... Is that a bad thing?" I asked. I was starting to feel like this was a much bigger deal than I expected, and perhaps I would even become restricted or closely monitored because of the potential of abuse of my talent.
Claire's eyes upturned at my answer. She slid across the table and grabbed my hands. Pulling me up to my feet, while she danced around me. "This is wonderful! You have a talent! This means you can be enrolled in the academy for the talented, and your future will be much better! You'll have so many more opportunities presented to you! A graduate from the academy is guaranteed a job by the end of their schooling, in a field related to their talent or given the opportunity to apply for a field they are interested in that isn't directly related to your talent."
"Can you tell me more about talents? My talent is [Emotional Manipulation], as of right now I can only vaguely grasp the emotions of people, but it's nothing really past what I can infer from body language or tone anyways."
"Sure! But it's going to be a bit of information, so be ready to listen." Claire sat down, and began to explain. "Talents are innate, meaning people are born with them from birth, and there is no changing your talent. There are many different types of talents, and ways to categorize them, the most broad one being: Combat and Non-Combat. Combat talents are just that, useful in combat. These include another set of categories which include the role you play in combat. There are tanks, supports, ranged damage, melee damage, and healers. The names were adapted from video games, to make it easier for youths to correlate the roles to their preexisting definitions of them. There are many different sub-categories in those, which are more so just small cliques but don't really matter. Non-Combat talents are everything else, talents that aren't useful in combat, but have their own uses elsewhere in society. Allowing for those talented people to be able to perform much better in certain areas."
Dejected, I said, "So I have a Non-Combat talent, which means I won't be able to fight or defend myself."
"Not necessarily, your talent is very broad, in its name. Emotional Manipulation can be used in many different ways, depending on how it ends up developing, it could be a potent weapon in combat. Your ability to affect morale of your enemies, and even your allies could be a large boon. There is a group called Mesmers. They are people with talents similar to yours, who are able to influence enemies in many different ways allowing them to disrupt and control the battlefield. If you aren't able to perform those kinds of feats, and your talent develops in a non-combatant way, you would make a great therapist, psychologist or even counselor. You could work for the police and even help in interrogation. As I said, your future paths have increased significantly. We have to enroll you into the academy, however there is just one problem... Money. The enrollment fee is $10,000 upfront, and it's another $18,000 a semester. We can apply for scholarships, but they are only available for after you have paid the enrollment fee."
At this moment, I smiled and put my hand on Claire's shoulder in a reassuring way. "I was just telling our dear Lloyd here about my plan to 'Advise people on their lives for a fee, helping wayward youths who aren't sure of their next step in life'. I was planning to go to the subway today to try it out."
Claire quickly brushed my hand off her shoulder, and contemplated. "Morally, this is wrong. As your caretaker, and someone who is supposed to be your moral advisor, this is deception. However, as someone who wants what's best for you, I have to say you're pretty ingenious for thinking of using your talent like this." Sighing, Claire shrugged her shoulders and said, "As long as you are not conning people, but actually giving genuine advice I can turn a blind eye to it. Just be careful creating too much of a scene, otherwise people might complain to the police department and try to have you removed from the subway."
I nodded my head at her warning, and I also agreed that I didn't want to harm anyone. Taking advantage of people, and lying could be two different things entirely. I would only give advice that I believed would benefit others. After getting the go ahead from Claire, and Lloyd getting permission to skip school, I headed to the subway to make money for my enrollment fee.
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Author's Note: HI, I am clearly an amateur writer, and I only do this in my free time. However I would be happy to receive your thoughts and opinions on my writing, so as to improve myself. I have my own style of writing, and I am open to constructive criticism, however at the end of the day I write for enjoyment. I don't wish to diminish the value of your opinions, however I won't change just because of your opinions. Happy Easter, and I hope you all continue reading.