"Hurry! The ceremony is about to start, and all the teachers are here!"
"I wonder how many people will awaken high-level talents this month. Our village hasn't seen a genius above B-level in three months!"
The newly-turned eighteen-year-olds, faces full of anticipation, were being led by the village elders toward the Awakening Temple just outside the main city.
As Alexander opened his eyes, he was suddenly bumped by a clumsy young man rushing to join the crowd, causing him to stumble and nearly fall.
Luckily, a middle-aged man nearby reacted quickly and grabbed him.
"You're new here, aren't you? Why are you still standing around? Hurry up, or you'll have to wait another month if you miss this!"
Without waiting for a response, the middle-aged man grabbed Alexander's arm and started pulling him forward, chattering non-stop along the way.
"Seriously, every month there are a few clueless ones like you. Lucky you ran into me today, or who knows how much time you'd waste?"
"Do you even realize how precious every moment is in the Oracle? This is your golden opportunity to get ahead of your peers. Wasting even a minute is a crime, let alone an entire month!"
"Did no one tell you about this outside? With the nutrition pods providing sustenance, no one needs to log off to rest. Everyone's constantly improving their strength. If you don't have a talent, you'll just be standing there helpless, unable to even kill a wild chicken. Doesn't that make you anxious?"
Alexander was being dragged along, completely bewildered.
What nutrition pods?
What awakening?
And what the hell is the Oracle?
His mind was spinning with the middle-aged man's rambling, and it took him a while to piece together what was going on.
He was inside a massive online game called "Oracle," where anyone who turned eighteen in the real world could enter and awaken their talents, gaining strength.
And the strength gained in Oracle could be brought back to the real world.
That's why this game was so wildly popular across humanity!
And today, as it turned out, was the fixed monthly Awakening Day.
Alexander wisely kept his mouth shut.
He had no memory of any of this. In fact, aside from his own name, he couldn't remember anything at all.
This place was completely foreign to him.
The less he said, the fewer mistakes he'd make.
Soon, under the middle-aged man's guidance, Alexander arrived at the towering and majestic Awakening Temple, where a crowd of newcomers from various starter villages had already gathered, waiting for their turn.
The middle-aged man didn't rush to get Alexander in line, though. Instead, he went over to a large box nearby and pulled out a small token.
"Here, take this. It's your class token. You've been assigned to Class 3."
Alexander took the token, which had some squiggly lines on it, and couldn't help but ask, "Class?"
By now, the middle-aged man had a pretty good idea of how clueless Alexander was. He figured no one had explained any of this to him in the real world, so he felt a bit of pity and patiently explained.
"Every month, a new batch of freshly-turned eighteen-year-olds enters the game at a fixed time. Everyone spawns in the nearest starter village based on their real-world location. But that's just your starting point."
"The world of Oracle is vast, full of opportunities, but also dangers at every turn. Some basic knowledge needs to be taught, so the federal government assigns teachers to guide you."
"There are five classes each month, and you're randomly assigned one. That token shows which class you're in."
Ah, so that's how it worked.
Alexander followed the others and strapped the token to his wrist, then joined the line.
At the top of the temple's grand staircase stood three priests, responsible for overseeing the talent awakenings of all the newcomers today.
In front of them was the Awakening Stone. One by one, the young people lined up, placing their hands on the stone.
As different lights flashed, the priest in the middle would hand each person a black cube, guiding them to open their status panel.
The newcomer's status would then be projected into the air, and the priests on either side would immediately begin recording the details.
Alexander was curiously observing everything when a sudden commotion broke out in the crowd.
"Oh my god, it's gold!"
"It's really gold!"
Exclamations echoed through the crowd, and Alexander followed their gazes to see the Awakening Stone glowing faintly with a golden light. In front of the stone stood a tall, skinny boy.
The light flickered, sometimes tinged with red, sometimes deepening into a richer gold, making everyone's emotions rise and fall with it.
From the conversations around him, Alexander quickly learned that different colors represented different talent levels.
For example, the lowest F-level talent glowed white.
Above F-level were E, D, C, B, and A, with corresponding colors of green, blue, purple, orange, and red.
And above A-level, there were three more levels: S, SS, and SSS.
S-level was light gold, SS was a deeper gold, and SSS was the brightest, purest gold!
The boy in front of the stone was staring at it nervously, barely daring to breathe.
Finally, the flickering light stabilized.
Light gold.
"S-level!"
"Oh my god, it's really an S-level talent!"
"Hurry, what's his talent called?"
The priests were just as excited, quickly placing the black cube on the boy's wrist and guiding him to open his status panel. A massive projection appeared for everyone to see.
[Name: Sam]
[Class: 0902]
[Talent Level: S]
[Talent Name: Lucky Marksman]
[Talent Effect: Increases ranged damage by 10%, permanently increases Luck by 3 points]
[Description: With precise aim and unparalleled luck, you'll always have the upper hand in battle, easily defeating your opponents.]
"Oh my god!"
"With so many people in the world, only 0.01% awaken talents above A-level, and we just witnessed a miracle today!"
"And he awakened one of the top ten rarest talents, Lucky Marksman! How lucky can you get?"
Everyone was staring at Sam with envy.
The priests overseeing the ceremony nodded in satisfaction.
The teacher from Class 2 rushed forward, excitedly slapping Sam on the shoulder.
"Well done! This talent is incredible. Don't be fooled by the 10% damage increase—it might not seem like much, but the real game-changer is that permanent 3-point Luck boost. You'll understand just how powerful Luck is later on. It can turn the tide in the most desperate situations!"
This explanation made the other newcomers, who hadn't fully grasped the significance, suddenly realize how amazing it was.
Some of the young girls started whispering to each other.
"He's in Class 2, right? I'm in Class 2 too. Do you think I have a chance to sleep with him?"
"Dream on. Sam might have freckles all over his face and be balding a bit, but his talent makes up for all of that. Someone with a talent like his will definitely be groomed for greatness. He'll have plenty of mistresses, and they'll all be way hotter than us."
"Unless you awaken an S-level talent too."
The girl pouted, muttering, "What if I do? If I could just be one of Sam's mistresses, I'd be happy. I'd give him a child, and that kid would definitely awaken an S-level talent too."
Alexander shook his head, baffled by how someone could dream of being someone else's mistress.
The little side conversation didn't disrupt the ceremony, and soon, it was Alexander's turn.
Alexander stepped up to the Awakening Stone, took a deep breath, and placed his hand on it.
Immediately, a kaleidoscope of colors began to flash.
"Huh? Why are there so many colors?"
This strange sight instantly caught everyone's attention.
In addition to the usual white, green, and blue lights, there was also a flickering golden glow, which sent a wave of excitement through the crowd.
"There's more? Oh my god!"
"Two S-levels in one day? This is a miracle!"
"Quick, check which class he's in!"
Someone with sharp eyes quickly spotted the number on Alexander's wristband.
"He's in Class 3!"
"Wow, I heard the teachers of Class 2 and Class 3 don't get along. This is going to be interesting."
James, the teacher of Class 3, glanced at Louis, the teacher of Class 2, who was staring at the Awakening Stone with a sour expression.
Sensing James' gaze, Louis turned and snorted, "Don't get too cocky. You think S-level talents are that easy to come by?"
James chuckled but didn't respond.
There was no point in saying anything until the results were final.
Still, his clenched fists and the excitement on his face betrayed his emotions. After all, if his class produced an S-level talent, he would immediately receive a reward of at least one million dollars!
Even though inflation had hit hard in this era, a million dollars still had significant purchasing power.
This money was meant to motivate teachers to invest more effort into their students.
With that kind of cash, James could finally buy the piece of equipment he'd been eyeing in the game, which would drastically improve his leveling efficiency!
...
The flashing lights didn't last long. Under the expectant gazes of the crowd, the colors on the Awakening Stone began to fade.
The green light disappeared, then the blue, and finally, the purple...
With each lower-tier color that vanished, the crowd's anticipation grew. When only the red and gold lights remained, everyone held their breath.
Suddenly!
Both the red and gold lights vanished, leaving only a faint, flickering white glow.
The crowd: "!!!"
What the hell?
After all that buildup, it turned out to be an F-level talent?
Could the Awakening Stone be malfunctioning?
Even the priests were baffled by the sudden change and immediately asked Alexander to test again.
On the second try, there wasn't even a flicker of light—just a steady, dull white glow.
"How could this happen?"
"What a letdown!"
The priests, having never seen anything like this before, could only shake their heads. They handed Alexander a black cube and guided him through the process.
Following their instructions, Alexander silently thought the word [Panel], and in the next moment, a massive information panel appeared in the air.
[Name: Alexander]
[Class: 0903]
[Talent Level: F]
[Talent Name: Basic Attribute Enhancement]
[Talent Effect: Initial +10 Attribute Points]
[Description: You can freely allocate these 10 points to enhance any of your abilities. (Hidden status, visible only to yourself)]
What kind of garbage talent was this?
The million-dollar reward that had been within James' grasp vanished in an instant, and his face turned sour. Meanwhile, Louis was grinning with schadenfreude.
He chuckled at James, "Oh dear, what a shame. I thought we had a promising one here! Turns out he's just an F-level loser."
James snorted angrily, glaring at Alexander with a look of utter disappointment.
"Alexander, do you realize you've awakened a trash talent?"
"No, calling it trash is too generous. It's shit—absolute shit! Your life is basically over!"
Alexander frowned instinctively at the barrage of insults. What had he done to deserve this?
But James wasn't done. He continued, "Don't think I'm just trying to put you down. Ten years ago, I had two students who both awakened B-level talents. One had 'Strength Enhancement,' and the other had 'Strength Absorption.'"
"The one with Strength Enhancement got a fixed 100-point boost to their strength, while the one with Strength Absorption didn't get any initial boost. But after killing enemies, they had a chance to permanently gain 1 point of strength."
"In the early stages, the student with Strength Absorption was at a disadvantage, but after three years, they completely surpassed the one with Strength Enhancement. Do you know why?"
Alexander realized that James was actually giving a lesson, even if he was using him as a negative example.
When James asked the question, Alexander shook his head.
James sneered, "Of course you don't know. Strength Absorption is a growth-type talent. It may seem weak at first, but given enough time, it can grow into something incredibly powerful."
Alexander pondered this, while the other students, who had already finished their tests, suddenly understood.
Growth-type talents were ideal for long-term development. The longer you played, the more they grew.
On the other hand, fixed-attribute talents might give you an early advantage, but as time went on, that initial boost would become less and less significant.
Talents that couldn't keep up were destined to be left behind.
And Alexander's F-level talent, which only gave him 10 extra attribute points, was far inferior to even the B-level Strength Enhancement. Of course, it was shit.
After hearing the teacher's explanation, the others finally understood and began looking at Alexander with a mix of pity and regret.
But Alexander wasn't paying attention to their gazes. He was focused on his data panel.
The black cube seemed to only display talent-related information. Now that it was gone, only he could see his full stats.
[Name: Alexander]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 10,018]
[Level: 10 (EXP: 38%)]
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Defense: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[HP: 100/100]
[MP: 10/10]
[Talent: Basic Attribute Enhancement]
[Talent Level: F]
[Unallocated Attribute Points: 10]
Hidden Attributes:
[Luck: 0]
[Charm: 0]
[Perception: 0]
Alexander stared at the panel, deep in thought.
He clearly looked like he was only eighteen, so why did the system say he was 10,018 years old?
Was it a glitch?
Alexander didn't dwell on it too much. After thinking for a moment, he decided to put all of them into Luck.
[Luck: 10 (Maxed)]
This wasn't a random decision. He had paid attention to what the Class 2 teacher had said to Sam earlier.
The teacher had repeatedly emphasized the importance of Luck, and it wasn't just idle talk.
Plus, Sam's talent was ranked among the top ten rarest, and it clearly had something to do with Luck.
In a situation where he didn't understand much, the experience of those who came before him was invaluable.