"I have to say, they have done a pretty good job at almost everything." At the end of a large hall, in the corner, the young girl looked at Eldric before glancing around her.
"Umm..." Eldric whose mouth was full of food nodded in agreement.
"No need to be so happy." Looking at Eldric with disdain, the girl shook her head.
"Tomorrow after you awaken, your free quota of food will be over."
As soon as she spoke, Eldric who was in the middle of the swallowing, paused before giving her a shrug.
"But still..." The girl kept on looking around her "To think they would provide free housing, food, and education to orphans... People here are more humane than I initially imagined them to be."
"And you still have some money saved, right?" Looking at Eldric who was still wolfing down food, she asked.
"Oie..." Gulping down the mouthful of food, Eldric snorted in displeasure while correcting the girl in front of him.
"First of all, I am not an orphan. I have parents and an elder sister." Thinking about a family in this world, Eldric was already having a headache on how to face them.
But he didn't think too much about it. He would have to face them eventually, so it is better to just stay calm and face the situation instead of being nervous.
"Good. You are going to need it in the future." The girl just kept on speaking, completely ignoring Eldric.
It didn't take long before Eldric finished his food and headed home.
Walking down the path, he couldn't help but sigh looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar scenery in front of him.
Aetheria was a big city with a population of more than a million people. And yet even with this many people, the city never felt crowded. On the contrary, it felt like it was always empty.
Perhaps this was due to the fact that the city spanned a radius of more than five hundred kilometers.
If Eldric had to somehow describe this city, he would describe it as a large circular city surrounded by giant walls and divided into four equal parts.
The high school of the city was in the northern section of the town where he was currently residing. The day he completed his education from school was going to be the day he would move out from here to any of the other three parts of the city.
"Sigh..." Thinking about how the previous body owner had been living in this section of the city from his childhood, Eldric couldn't help but let out a sigh.
Looking at the numerous trees and plants surrounding him along with the muffled chattering noise coming from the good court, he took a deep breath.
He didn't know how many things worked in this world. Even though there was no electricity or modern technology, there were extremely fine clothes. There were numerous books along with glass buildings and many other things.
If not for the absence of trains, cars, and airplanes, he would have assumed he just come to a parallel world.
Lost in his train of thoughts, Eldric didn't even realize when he got back home.
It was the voice of the girl floating beside him that brought him back to his senses.
Looking at the sky outside the window which was beginning to go dark, the girl stretched her body before speaking softly.
"You should take a rest now. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for you."
With this, her figure suddenly disappeared from the room.
Eldric who was used to her suddenly appearing and disappearing, let out a sigh of relief. Finally, he could get some rest.
Lying on the bed, Eldric looked at the dimly glowing paper attached to the ceiling of the room which acted as a light bulb before narrowing his eyes.
"Forget it..." Eldric was in no mood to ponder on the subject of electricity and its absence. Tomorrow was going to be the most important day of his life and he needed to be well prepared for it.
Throwing away the distracting thoughts from his mind, he clapped two times loudly. And the moment he did it, the light from the paper began to dim before vanishing completely.
With this, Eldric closed his eyes and slowly drifted into the sleep.
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"Today is a big day for all of you..." Inside the school grounds, a middle-aged man with a mustache wearing a long luxurious robe was looking at the students in front of him with a smile.
This middle-aged man is the principal of the Aetheria High School, Garric Wilder.
Looking at almost five hundred students in front of him Garric constantly had a smile on his face. To him, this was the happiest and most awaited time of the year when the students of his school would go through an awakening.
Unlike the big cities where there were numerous schools, Aetheria had only this school. Hence eliminating the competition and thus regardless of the situation, Garic always had a smile on his face. After all, there would be geniuses with extremely evil talents awakening.
And all those geniuses would come out from his school giving the sole credit to him.
The more Garric thought about it, the wider the smile on his face got.
"Ahem..." Looking at the restless students in front of him, Garric cleaned his throat before puffing up his chest and pointing at the long two-meter black rectangular stele behind him.
"Now... Wait patiently until you hear your name and then go and touch the stele."
It didn't take long before everyone on the ground went quiet.
"Lyra Thornwood."
As soon as the first name was announced, a girl walked towards the stele with some nervousness.
"Place your hand on the stele, child."
Looking at the nervous girl, Garric comforted her with a smile.
"Umm..." With a nod, the girl touched the stele and as soon as her hand touched it, the stele let out a bright light before a row of text was displayed on it.
[Profession: Priest]
Looking at the profession, the girl breathed in relief as a smile ran across her face.
"Finnegan Nightshade."
Soon another name was called.
[Profession: Warrior]
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"Do you think there is going to be any elite or epic professions?"
With the awakening ceremony underway, the sound of a young girl echoed in Eldric's ears.
"What the..." Looking at the girl wearing a pink princess dress floating beside him, Eldric was stunned for a moment before looking around. After realizing that no one noticed the girl, he breathed in relief.
"What are you doing here?" Gritting his teeth, Eldric's eyes were still constantly roaming everywhere around him. Even though he already knew that no one could see her beside himself, but this was still somewhat risky. If there was some powerhouse around here who could sense her presence, then it would be a disaster.
"Of course, it is to watch the ceremony." Furrowing her brows, the girl replied with dissatisfaction.
"Never mind that..." Shaking her head, she continued further. "Do you think there are going to be any elite or epic professions awakening here?"
"I don't know." Shaking his head Eldric replied nervously while still looking around him. After seeing that no one noticed her presence, he finally let out a sigh of relief before answering her question.
"There should be."
With this sentence, Eldric began to think about the so-called elite and epic professions that the girl just mentioned.
Compared to the usual normal professions like the priest and the warrior, those with elite and epic professions are much stronger and more versatile. He knew some things about the profession due to the textbook's knowledge, but it wasn't complete. He still didn't know how different those professions were from the normal ones.
And just when he was lost deep in his thoughts, the crowd around him suddenly went silent before erupting in exclamations.
Startled by this, Eldric looked at the stele in front of him which was now glowing dark red with a row of text on it.
[Profession: Blood Knight]
"Holy moly, an epic profession."
"Damn it... Why is it him?"
Soon, the crowd burst into exclamation.
"Is it an epic?" Eldric couldn't believe it. One moment he was thinking about those rare professions and the very next moment someone awakened one.
Looking at the stage, it was a boy that almost all of them were extremely familiar with.
"Dorian..." It was a second-generation rich young master from a wealthy family.
"What do you think your profession is going to be?" While Eldric was looking at the stele absent-minded, the voice of the young girl once again echoed in his ears.
"Is it going to be epic? Or Legendary or perhaps the rumored Mythic profession."
The more she spoke, the brighter her eyes got and with her, even Eldric was filled with expectations.
Just as the girl said... Perhaps he was going to awaken a high profession. After all, he was a traveler from another world... It would be a disgrace if he didn't get any benefits.
Amidst the appearance of three more epic professions, Eldric waited patiently for his turn.
"Eldric Stormborne."
Soon it was his turn.
"Gulp." Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Eldric walked forward before standing in front of the black stele.
With some hesitation and expectation along with a tinge of nervousness, he lifted his hand slowly before placing it firmly on the stele.
"Epic... Epic... Epic..."
Muttering in a low voice, Eldric didn't even dare to think about the so-called legendary and mythical professions.
At this moment, just getting an epic profession is a dream.
Soon, under his eyes which were filled with expectations and hope, a new row of text formed on the stele.
There weren't any visions or earth-shattering changes in the stele.
Just a row of text that was quietly formed.
[Profession: Brawler].
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"Pfft...
HAHAHAHHAHAA"
While Eldric was looking at his profession in a daze, a burst of laughter suddenly echoed beside him.
"You..." Looking at the young girl who was now desperately trying to hold her laughter, Eldric gritted his teeth before walking away from the stele.
From the day he arrived in this world, he had been waiting for the day of awakening.
And now that he successfully got a profession, he was somewhat disappointed in his heart.
It would be a lie to say that he wasn't feeling anything. At this moment his heart was filled with helplessness along with a sense of resignation.
"Bwahahahahahahahaha..."
The moment Eldric reached at the end of the crowd, the girl beside him burst out in laughter. It was difficult even for her to hold back her laughter.
"A BRAWLER.... Pfft... HAHAHAHAHA."
The more she spoke, the louder her laughter became.
If not for the fact that only Eldric could see and hear her, her laughter would have disrupted this entire awakening ceremony.
"So what?" Gritting his teeth, Eldric snorted in displeasure. "There are no useless professions... only useless people."
"....." As soon as he finished speaking, the girl went silent for a moment while looking at him before bursting out in another round of laughter.
"You do realize that your profession of Brawler can not use weapons initially right?" There was a tinge of gloating in the girl's voice as if she was taking pleasure in Eldric's misfortune.
"Your profession doesn't have any weapon skills, so you can kiss goodbye to the thought of using those rare powerful swords and bows.
The only thing you can use is your fists."
With a slight pause and a smile on her face, the girl spoke further. "I would like to see how effective your bare fists are going to be against a monster."
The more she spoke, the darker Eldric's face got. He couldn't refute her. Just like she said, weapons were useless to those without suitable professions.
Even if he were to use a knife or a sword... He could only use them like a normal person, without any hint of destructive power.
And it was impossible for a normal person to even harm the weakest evolved creature much less kill them.
Feeling a bit lost, Eldric just stood there in a daze.
Soon, the awakening ceremony was over. By the end, there were a total of ten epic professions that appeared.
"Now that the awakening is successful, you all should head back and take some rest. Tonight your bodies will undergo evolution and tomorrow you will truly awaken the blessings that you received today."
"Like you have always been told that there are a lot of things that you would only understand after awakening.
Tomorrow you will realize what this sentence means.
Also, take your time and think carefully about your future."
With a brief pause, Garric paused for a moment. Before speaking further.
"Even though your basic education is complete, I would still suggest you join the one-week course from tomorrow.
You will be taught everything about the awakening and further evolution. Also, during this week, you will be able to freely challenge the secret realm and based on the ranking, you will gain some great rewards from the school.
Now then... Go and get some rest."
With these words, Garric dismissed everyone.
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"Did you notice it too?"
On his way back home, the voice of the girl echoed in Eldric's ears.
"Notice what?"
After taking such a blow, Eldric was in no mood for conversation. Especially at the moment when he was beginning to feel tired and sleepy.
"Some of the prominent students were absent today."
As soon as she finished speaking, Eldric's steps paused for a moment before he shook his head.
"I didn't notice and even if there were, it is not my business. I have more important things to do now."
Waving his hand, Eldric walked towards his home before finally arriving at his destination and falling dead asleep regardless of the noise the girl was making beside him.