"Congratulations to all of you on passing the final exams. Before you leave there is the matter of the awakening ceremony so all remain in your seats while we set up the awakening orb."

The professor places a pillow onto the center of a wooden pedestal at the front of the classroom and takes some time to address the class again.

"Once we are ready I will call on you one by one to come up to touch the awakening orb and awaken. After awakening you may choose to share it with the class or keep it to yourself. When done please return to your seat and remember that there is a time and a place to test your skills so please be considerate of the others that are waiting for their turn."

Finally, I've been waiting for graduation so I can finally awaken but now that the time has come I'm almost sad. All I can hope is that my class is something I find interesting. If i get the chef class then i could help out at home so that would be good, maybe i could get something that pays a lot if i'm lucky. As long as I don't get a weak combat class I should be okay.

The professor continues going over the rules before the door to the classroom swings open drawing the attention of the class. A tall man that has to duck to get through the door enters first. His shirt is stretching to its absolute limit as he holds back the hulking muscles behind them. Next a girl no taller than myself follows behind him wearing a tight fitting suit carrying a metal square case in one hand and a wooden staff in the other, a blue jewel the size of a fist adorns the top.

The class settles down to a silence once they get to the center of the room and they move to open the metal case then the girl goes to speak.

"My name's Evelyn and I'm an ice mage. I'm an s-rank hunter ranked #738 in the world." She gestures towards the man beside her before continuing. "And this is my colleague Dorian, he is a Fighter and also s-rank with a rank of #973." 

Quiet whispers fill the room but die out quickly as Evelyn moves to open the case she has been carrying. Inside is a ball of glass the size of a watermelon which she gently removes from the case and places on the pedestal in the front of the class.

"As you may have guessed, we are from the System Association and this is the awakening orb you will all be using today. I'm sure you heard all the important bits from your professor but please refrain from using your new skills and the status window until after you have left. Combat professions are welcome to come to the System Associations headquarters anytime to apply for a hunter's license." She pauses for a moment and scans the room. The expressions on most faces remain unchanged but some clearly show their excitement causing a small smile to form on her face. "utility classes don't need to register however it would be greatly beneficial if you did as we are always looking for new and useful skills and can offer some great job opportunities."

With this said she turns to the professor and gives a nod, indicating that she is ready to begin.

"I will call you up one by one so come to the front when you hear your name. If by chance you have already awakened your class then raise your hand now."

Some murmurs creep around the class as heads turn looking for any raised hands. A hand confidently shoots up from the place most expected, the back left corner of the classroom where Eli is seated. The obvious smirk on his face says all you need to know about the snobby little show off. Trust someone like Eli to flex his family's wealth like that.

The professor nods in Eli's direction and crosses something off on his clipboard then lifts his head again to look around once more.

"If there's no one else then let's begin. Vorn, you're up first."

The student named Vorn stands quickly, clearly nervous, and makes his way to the front where Evelyn gently guides his hand to the glass orb. His palm presses against the glass and he shuts his eyes tightly, clearly worried about his result.

Inside the orb colors start shifting, swarming with dull hues before filling the orb and combining and suddenly filling the orb entirely with a light gray.

Everyone in the class was silent as they anticipated the result. Vorn peeled his eyes open, hoping his silent prayers were answered and upon seeing the color of the orb he let a large grin out, struggling to hide his happiness. A second later a window appeared in front of him, the same color from the orb seems to fill the window, his smile getting bigger and he almost jumps for joy.

"Congratulations" the girl beside him says with a soft smile. "If you wish, you may share your results with the class. If not then please return to your seat." She gestures back towards his seat.

Vorn returns to his seat after exclaiming that he is a blacksmith to the whole class who gives a short round of applause.

The testing continues. When the fourth student places their hand on the glass orb and another shade of gray appears the smile on the ice mage's face seems to twitch. She is clearly getting annoyed with all these boring classes that are being awakened.

Most people, myself included, don't seek combat classes. The idea of having to fight monsters to make a living isn't as appealing as it is in the movies so most pray that they awaken a utility class as most of the time it guarantees a job and secures your future. I want a job that could help support my family, something like the chef class would be good so i can help out at the family restaurant but any good class that can give a decent income would be good enough. 

Most don't want to awaken a combat class as it's difficult to level up and increase your strength at the earlier levels and the disparity between combat classes is crazy compared to utility classes. For example, someone who awakens as a thief would have a much harder time than someone who awakens as a shadow assassin as the quality of their skills would be vastly different.

"Carter, your turn"

I finally decide to Properly lift my head and watch as my friend stands to take his turn. His stride is proud but he clearly is nervous.

The orb stirs under his palm, generating a cloud just like the others. The colors in the orb keep spinning around each other but as they speed up they brighten, indicating the potential for a combat class. The ice mage keeps her composure but the large man clearly has less tact as his eyes widen and he grins, clearly happy to see a combat class.

Carter's face stiffens a little but he quickly calms himself, waiting for the clouds to converge inside the orb and reveal his type class.

The colors swarm around each other, as if they are fighting. One color overwhelms another and again until only a rosy red color remains, ultimately filling the orb.

Dorian seems more than satisfied so he asks without hesitating "Congrats kid you got a combat class, a melee one on top of that. Tell me what class it is"

I can clearly see the ice mage scowl at Dorian, her eyes telling him to hold back his excitement but he clearly doesn't care as he ignores her strict gaze.

A window with the same rosy hue appears before Carter and he takes a moment to read the information on the screen. Carter's hand approaches the window and grabs onto it with a soft grip. Pulling up the window he turns it to show Dorian the text displayed on the screen.

The information on the status window is private to the owner unless they wish otherwise and most people would never show their status window to someone they don't trust but since we just awakened i suppose it doesn't matter too much to show it off like this. The other thing about the status window is that you can still see the screen itself, even if you cant see the information on it meaning anyone can tell if you're looking at the screen and what kind of class you have based on the color it shows. Utility classes are somewhere between white and black, normally a shade of gray so that they are easier to tell apart from the combat classes.

Combat classes on the other hand are a variety of colors. Melee classes tend to be some shade of red while mages are green and ranged physical attackers are blue. Of course there are lots of special exceptions and you shouldn't guess someone's class entirely based on the color of their status window.

Dorian looks at the information that Carter shared with him, taking a moment to read it, then smiling wide and patting his shoulder. "Do you want to share it with the class or keep it to yourself?" 

He wouldn't be the first to keep their awakened class to themselves as one student kept their utility class hidden for whatever reason.

"I awakened the monk class." He forced a smile as he spoke to the class before returning to his seat, clearly thinking deeply about what he will do now.

The awakenings continue, one after another students nervously go up to the front of the class and place their hand on the same orb and one after another they return with expressions of excitement, contemplation and a few return sad.

Of the 43 total people in my class only 2 await their awakening. 3 People have awakened a combat class so far, all choosing to keep it to themselves aside from Carter but from the color of the orb it seems that one of the guys in class i had never spoken to awakened another melee combat class as the color of the orb was a deep dark red while the other person to awaken a combat class was a tall studious girl with glasses who was always at the top of her class. A light blue color filled her orb so she must be some kind of ranged fighter, maybe an archer.

As I lose myself in my thoughts I hear someone shuffling as the girl next to me stands in a hurry, her name clearly was called while I was distracted.

She's a very quiet girl, I didn't even know her name but when she placed her hand on the orb and I saw the colors begin to brighten I felt a knot in my stomach.

Another combat class? How unfortunate.

The orb began filling with red but before the orb could finish filling her eyes began to fill with tears. Such a quiet girl like her is not fit to be in a combat role, especially as a melee fighter. Her tears quickly roll down her cheek as she tries to hold them back.

After being comforted by the ice mage for a moment she drags her feet back to her seat beside me, burying her head in her hands as she starts sobbing again.

"And last but not least, Miles please come to the front."

Finally it's my time. I need to get a good utility class, something that can make lots of money. Crossing my fingers I step up to the front with confidence and place my hand on the orb.

Dull swarms of all colors appear, battling for victory but as they fight the colors begin to brighten and fear sets in. I watch the red cloud as it ties itself around the blue, trying to eliminate it. The colors brighten further as they fight without a clear winner so far. A green cloud, small in size, seems to swallow a yellow cloud then it grows in size. The cloud dashes around, devouring other colors and increasing in size until the final red cloud is devoured and an emerald green permeates the glass orb.

"Mage…" The word barely escapes the orb before Evelyn gestures for me to remove my hand from the orb. She gives a wide smile and a quick wink before slyly handing me a card. Looking at the card shows the address and phone number for the System Association. I don't bother looking at my Status window to discover my specific class before I turn and begin walking back to my seat. I slip the card into my pocket and see Eli on the other side of the room, clearly scowling at me but I pay it no mind.

I sit back in my seat with a dull thud, the girl beside me surrounded by tissues is still crying softly as her friends try to calm her.

Taking a moment to breathe I finally let it sink in that I have a combat class. About 1/10 people awaken a combat class and about half of those are able to make it past level 10, even less are able to make enough money to support their families. If my class isn't strong enough then i won't be able to support my parents at home, i will be a disappointment.

I noticed everyone standing to leave and realized I ignored the rest of what the professor had to say and missed the 2 hunters from the System Association leaving, taking the orb with them.

Class was clearly dismissed so I grabbed my things and quickly made my way to the door, hurrying to make it home. A hand reaches out and grabs my wrist before I make it too far, stopping me in my tracks.

Carter's soft smile brings relief when I realize it's just my friend.

"So are you going to tell me what class you got? I saw that green so you must be some kind of magic based class right? I wasn't too sure what to do when I saw the red but I think this class is pretty good so I hope I can level up and become strong fast."

I see Carter open his status window again, scanning over it even though I saw him read over it half a dozen times during class.

"I haven't looked at what class I got yet." I replied, my voice sheepish.

Carter closes his status window and jogs a few steps to catch up to me as we walk.

"Well why not? Aren't you curious? Even if it's not a good class, mages can make good money pretty easily since it's rarer than other professions and it's a lot more powerful."

The words do little to comfort the fear in my heart.

"I will check it out when I get home."

I can see the sympathetic smile on Carter's face as he accepts what i say and nudges me with his elbow.

"Make sure you text me what you get, we can go hunting together some time!"

With this final remark Carter runs ahead, clearly excited to get home and begin his new life.

Sneaking into my house I creep past the living room, hoping no one hears me. I don't want to be questioned on what class I awakened just yet, not until I see for myself.

Settling down on the edge of my bed I feel the card in my pocket so I take it out and give it a quick glance over. A business card for the System Association. Without giving it too much thought I toss it on my desk and lay back on my bed, breathing deeply as I prepare myself.

I close my eyes and think about the status window opening, willing it into existence. Slowly I peek through my eyelids and confirm the deep green emerald of my status window, the words still too blurry to read.

After giving my eyes a few moments to adjust I focus on the status window.

Name: Miles Ires

Class: Wild Mage

Level: 1

Titles: None

Skills: Long Range Spell

Stats:

Strength - 8

Stamina - 11

Defense - 4

Intelligence - 16

Luck - 14

Mana 160/160

Unassigned points: 0

Wild mage? I combed over my memories looking for any mention of a wild mage in news reports, online social media or anywhere else I might have heard of the class but nothing comes to mind. I reach my hand forward shakily, pressing my index finger against the 'class' section of my status window and it expands, giving further explanation.

-Wild Mage: A mage that controls wild magic to create spells-

That doesn't give much of an explanation so for now i will look at the rest of my status screen and come back to this later. I have no titles which is to be expected since I just awakened, one skill just like everyone else too. The average stats for having just awakened are 10 in each stat so even if my defense is quite low i more than make up for it in my intelligence. It sucks that so many points are wasted in luck.

Luck is the only part of the system that doesn't make sense. Researchers have done countless tests to see what luck does and it has no effect on things like rewards from dungeons so it was deemed useless. There are of course people that are still looking into the effects of the luck skill but having been over 50 years since the system arrived in this world and no progress being made, they are giving up hope.

Finally let me look at my skill 'Long Range Spell'. Seems pretty vague…

-Long Range Spell: Shoots a long range spell-

How useful…

I don't get it, why is this class so vague?

I take a moment to consider what my ability could do while moving to sit at my desk. I suppose I should have a look at the class registry to see what it says about my class. Booting up my computer, I slide the card that the ice mage handed me off the desk and hold it between my fingers, scanning for a website URL.

Giving the site a quick once over I spot a few things that seem helpful. I scroll a little to read some more information about the Association.

'The System Association is a worldwide organization that has the highest authority over all system related activities. We manage the hunters and their ranking, the handling of all resources found beyond the gates and research into furthering our understanding of the gates.'

Seems like pretty standard stuff. I scan the website a bit more, seeing sections on the history of gates, the live hunter rankings that update in real time and an encyclopedia containing all publicly known information on different monsters, classes and other various bits of useful information.

I don't waste anymore time, the curiosity about my class eating away at me. Clicking into the section on classes I move my mouse to the search bar and begin typing my class name. 

'No results.'

You mean… I have a new class that hasn't been seen before? It isn't impossible for someone to have a class that has never been registered but it's quite rare to see. With so many classes known to the world it's hard to imagine there can be many classes that are yet to be revealed

I wonder if anyone else has this class but has just kept it hidden? The thought makes me stop and think about what I should do. I will need to register as a hunter but I don't think I should reveal my class to anyone, instead keeping it private and only stating that I'm a specialized mage of some kind.

There is no requirement for hunters to reveal their exact class, only the role they fit into like mage or support so i shouldn't have any problems, even if i become a hunter.

The only requirement to become a hunter is to be a combat class so I shouldn't have any issue when I go register. For now though i suppose i should get some rest as tomorrow i will have to explain to my family.

END OF CHAPTER 1