"Hurry up! The ceremony's about to start!"
"No clue how many people will awaken a high-level talent this month. Our village hasn't seen anyone above B-rank for three whole months!"
A group of newly turned eighteen-year-olds, their faces brimming with anticipation, rushed toward the Awakening Temple outside the city under the guidance of their elders.
Ares opened his eyes right at the moment a clumsy young guy bumped into him on his way to watch the excitement. Almost toppling over, Ares was yanked upright just in time by a quick-witted middle-aged man.
"Hey, you're a newcomer too, right? Why are you still hanging around here? Get moving! If you miss this session, you'll have to wait another month!"
Not giving Ares any chance to argue, the middle-aged man grabbed his arm and hustled him forward, chatting away as they went.
"Seriously, there are always a few confused rookies each month. Lucky for you that you ran into me today—otherwise, who knows how much time you'd waste?"
"Don't you realize every moment in Oracles is precious? This is the golden window where you can pull ahead of your peers. Wasting even a minute is a crime, let alone an entire month!"
"Did no one tell you about any of this in the outside world? With a nutrition pod providing energy, nobody needs to log off to rest; people level up around the clock. If you don't have a decent talent, you'll just have to watch other folks get stronger, not even able to kill a single chicken. Doesn't that freak you out?"
Having his arm dragged along, Ares could only stare blankly.
Nutrition pods? Awakening? Oracles?
Everything rolled around in his head, the middle-aged man's rambling filling his ears. Ares eventually pieced things together: he was inside a massive game called "Oracles." Anyone in the real world who turned eighteen could enter the game and awaken a talent, thereby boosting their actual strength in real life.
That was exactly why this game was so wildly popular—whatever power you gained inside could carry over to reality.
And today, of all days, happened to be the fixed monthly Awakening Day.
Ares wisely kept quiet.
He couldn't recall anything about these matters. In fact, aside from his own name, his mind was a total blank. Everything felt strange to him. Better to speak less and avoid slipping up.
Before long, the middle-aged man led Ares to the majestic Awakening Temple, where a dense crowd of newcomers from all sorts of starting villages was already waiting for their turn to awaken.
Rather than lining up right away, the middle-aged man headed over to a big crate nearby and grabbed a small token.
"Here, take it. This is your class token—you're assigned to Class 3."
Holding the token with a curvy line emblazoned on it, Ares couldn't hold back his question: "Class?"
By now, the man pretty much got how clueless Ares was. Guessing that nobody in the real world had bothered explaining this stuff to him, the man felt both pity and a spark of patience.
"Every month, a new batch of fresh eighteen-year-olds arrives at a fixed time. Everyone materializes in the newbie village closest to them in real life, but that's just your spawn point."
"The world of Oracles is huge. Opportunities abound, but danger lurks in every corner. You need someone to give you the basic pointers, so the Federation assigned teachers for you."
"There are five classes each month, and you get randomly placed by drawing a token. That symbol is your class."
So that's how it worked.
Ares copied what he saw others doing, strapped the token around his wrist, then headed to the line.
At the top of the temple's massive staircase stood three clerics. Their job was to awaken all the newcomers' talents that day. Sitting before them was the Talent Awakening Stone, and the newbies formed a long queue, stepping forward one by one to press their palms against it.
Whenever the stone lit up, the center cleric would hand out a small black device for them to wear, guiding them through opening their panel. Everyone's info would then project into the air, while the two clerics on either side recorded and logged the details.
Ares, curious about the whole process, suddenly heard a burst of commotion in the crowd.
"Holy crap, it's gold!"
"Look at that—it's really gold!"
People's excited shouts made Ares crane his neck. The stone was indeed emitting a faint golden glow, and right before it stood a tall, skinny teen. The swirling light kept flickering between a hint of red and a deeper gold, making everyone's emotions surge along with the glow.
By watching for a while and listening to the buzz of conversation around him, Ares figured out that different colors corresponded to different ranks.
The lowest F-rank glowed white. Above F were E, D, C, B, and A, each shining green, blue, purple, orange, and red respectively.
Even higher than A were S, SS, and SSS. S was pale gold, SS a deeper gold, and SSS burned with the brightest sheen of pure gold.
The skinny teen stood there, staring at the stone as though he hardly dared to breathe.
At last, the flickering settled. The faint gold glow stabilized.
"S-rank!"
"Oh my God, that's an S-rank talent!"
"Hurry, hurry, what's his talent called?"
The clerics were just as thrilled. They swiftly fitted the black device around the teen's wrist and guided him to open his status panel. Instantly, his info projected high in the air for all to see:
[Name: Mike]
[Class: 0102]
[Talent Rank: S]
[Talent Name: Lucky Shooter]
[Talent Effect: +10% Damage for ranged attacks, +3 to permanent Luck]
[Description: Harness pinpoint accuracy and extraordinary luck to maintain a constant advantage in battle, effortlessly crushing your foes.]
"Wow!"
"With so many people worldwide, only about 0.01% ever awaken A-rank or above. We just witnessed history in the making."
"And that talent's in the top ten on the rarity index—Lucky Shooter! Talk about insane luck."
Everyone gazed at Mike with envy.
The clerics appeared pretty pleased, too. Suddenly, a teacher from Class 2 stepped forward, bursting with excitement as he gave Mike a big pat on the shoulder.
"Well done! This talent's badass. Don't be fooled by the seemingly 'only' 10% range boost—it's the +3 permanent Luck that's the game-changer. Trust me, you'll see how game-breaking that stat can be. It can easily turn the tables when all hope seems lost!"
Many of the new kids, who had only just realized how crucial Luck could be, nodded in understanding. A bunch of pretty girls started whispering among themselves.
"He's in Class 2, right? I'm in Class 2 too. Think I've got a shot at sleeping with him?"
"Ha, dream on. Mike's looks aren't great—freckles all over, plus that thinning hair—but who cares? His talent alone is enough to overshadow all that. He's bound to get priority treatment, and the line of girls chasing him will be a mile long. Those women will probably be way hotter than us."
"Unless you awaken an S-rank talent yourself, you won't stand out."
The first girl pouted discontentedly. "C'mon, maybe there's a chance. If I could be one of Mike's mistress, that'd be great. Then I'd have his child, and our kid would definitely awaken an S-rank talent."
Ares only shook his head, not understanding why being someone's mistress would be anyone's dream.
That little exchange didn't stall the tests for long, and soon, it was Ares's turn.
He walked up to the Awakening Stone, took a deep breath, and pressed his hand against it. Multicolored lights started flashing.
"Whoa, how's he getting so many different colors?"
This odd turn of events instantly drew everyone's attention. The usual white, green, and blue glows flickered—yet there was also a golden ray dancing in and out of sight. That hint of gold made the crowd's hearts race.
"No way, is this another one? Holy crap!"
"Two S-ranks in one day? That's practically a miracle!"
"What class is he in?"
Someone with sharp eyes noticed the number on the token around Ares's wrist right away.
"Class 3!"
"Oh, this could get interesting. I've heard Class 2 and Class 3 teachers don't get along. We might see fireworks."
The Class 3 homeroom teacher, James, shot a glance at Class 2's teacher, Louis, whose face looked a bit sour as he stared at the Awakening Stone.
Feeling James's gaze, Louis turned around and snorted, "Don't get cocky. You think S-rank pops up so easily?"
James simply chuckled; he didn't say a word.
After all, until the result was set, talk was cheap. But James's excited expression and clinched fists revealed just how pumped he was.
If a student in his class awakened an S-rank or higher, he'd instantly earn at least one million dollars in bonuses! Despite how inflation ran wild these days, a million bucks was still a solid chunk of change.
That money would let James grab some gear he'd had his eye on, dramatically boosting his leveling speed in-game.
…
The Stone's flickering didn't last long. In front of all those eager gazes, the colors began to simplify.
First the green faded, then the blue, then even the purple disappeared. Each time one of the weaker colors vanished, the crowd's hopes shot up a notch. When only red and gold remained, they all but held their breath.
Then—
In a sudden twist, both the red and the gold vanished, leaving only a faint white glow flickering feebly.
Everyone looked on, stunned.
"What the hell?"
Everyone had been bracing for another big moment. Now they were staring at a plain old F-rank? Could the Stone have glitched out?
Even the clerics stood there, dumbfounded. They asked Ares to try one more time. But on the second pass, the stone's light didn't even flicker. It just stayed white.
"How did it turn out like that?"
"All that buildup for nothing."
Never having seen something like this before, the clerics could only shake their heads. One of them handed Ares the black device. Following instructions, Ares mentally called up his panel, and an enormous info screen lit up in the air.
[Name: Ares]
[Class: 0103]
[Talent Rank: F]
[Talent Name: Basic Attribute Boost]
[Talent Effect: +10 Free Attribute Points]
[Description: You can freely allocate these 10 points among your attributes to increase your capabilities.]
What a garbage talent.
James, who had been seconds away from pocketing a million-dollar bonus, looked downright miserable. Meanwhile, Louis openly wore an expression of smug satisfaction.
Laughing, Louis teased James, "Ah, what a shame. Thought you had a star on your hands, but turns out he's a total F-rank dud."
James let out an angry snort. He glowered at Ares with zero sympathy.
"Ares, you realize your awakened talent is trash, right?"
"No, calling it trash is too kind—it's downright worthless. Your life is basically over."
Ares frowned. He didn't remember ever pissing off this teacher.
But James wasn't finished unloading on him: "Don't assume I'm just insulting you. About ten years ago, I taught two students who both awakened B-rank talents: one was 'Enhanced Strength,' the other was 'Absorb Strength.'"
"The enhanced strength guy got a fixed +100 bonus to Strength. Meanwhile, the absorb strength guy had no immediate bonuses, but whenever he killed an enemy, he had a chance to permanently gain +1 to Strength."
"In the early stages, Enhanced Strength had a big lead, but three years later, he'd been totally overtaken by Absorb Strength. Care to guess why?"
Ares realized James was basically giving a lesson, even if he was using Ares as the poster child for failure. Hearing the question, Ares shook his head.
James sneered, "Of course you don't know. Absorb Strength is a growth-type talent. Sure, it looks weak at first, but give it time and it becomes insanely powerful."
Ares nodded thoughtfully. Some of the other students who'd already finished testing now understood as well.
Growth talents were best suited for the long haul; the more time passed, the stronger they got. Fixed talents might shine at the start, but eventually that fixed bonus stopped measuring up. They'd inevitably fall off.
And Ares's F-rank talent only came with +10 attribute points—much worse than a B-rank's static +100. It was downright pathetic.
After James's explanation, everyone grasped the difference. Several cast sympathetic looks at Ares.
He ignored their pitying eyes, focusing on examining his own status panel. That black device was only for displaying your awakened talent info, so once you took it off, only you could see your full stats.
Name: Ares
Race: Human
Age: 10018
Level: 10 (EXP: 38%)
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Defense: 10
Intelligence: 10
HP: 100/100
MP: 10/10
Talent: Basic Attribute Boost
Talent Rank: F
Unallocated Attribute Points: 10
Hidden Attributes:
• Luck: 0
• Charisma: 0
• Perception: 0
Ares stared at the panel, puzzled. He clearly looked eighteen, so why did the system say he was 10,018? Must be a glitch or something, and he let it slide for now. Turning his attention to the ten free points, he decided to put all of them into Luck.
[Luck: 10 (Reached Upper Limit)]
He wasn't just picking at random; those words from the Class 2 teacher stuck with him. That guy had hammered home the importance of Luck, which clearly wasn't just an empty claim.
On top of that, Mike's top-tier talent literally revolved around Luck. If Ares knew nothing else, at least he knew that copying a person who clearly had a good thing going made sense.