Awakening Skill

Once the 14th kid walked to the craft guild representative, he was told to put his hands on a similar crystal, the woman barely nodded before she told him to stand behind her 2 followers.

Arnett kept looking between the 4 representatives and remembered the hearings of the drunkards of the only restaurant in the town that he cleaned nightly for a meal that would last him a day.

'The royal family is the most powerful and only recruits kids blessed with exceptional skills while leaving the rest for the 3 guilds.' Now it was more evident when the 20th kid was confirmed to have a skill.

"Your skill is suitable for warrior guild. Step toward the representative of the warrior guild." The man pointed to his right, where the light red armor-dressed man was frowning the whole time from the moment the ceremony began.

The kid walked towards the camp and was told to put his hand on the similar crystal ball that all the forces had. When the red-armored saw inspected the crystal, his frown deepened, dismissively ordering the kid to stand behind him.

Then the 26th kid awakened a skill and was guided toward the craft profession. When the mature woman also inspected his skill, she barely reacted and told him to stand behind.

The line shortened and shortened, and Arnett felt as if his life was getting shorter by the second.

'I have to awaken a skill, without skill, I don't think I can survive, let alone accomplish something in this magical world.!' The pressure was mounting on, and he felt more weak than usual as his legs barely followed the constantly moving line. 

He was second to last, where the hardworking orphan who worked in the mines fidgeting and sweating just like him.

At 33rd kid, the man from the royal family contemplated for a moment before he directed the kid toward the mage guild behind him.

Arnett looked at the blue-robed man who was quiet through most of the ceremony, only slightly raising his slouched head to look at the candidate that the royal family didn't recruit.

Once the man saw the crystal ball touched by the candidate, he nodded dismissively and told him to stand behind him.

Arnett looked at the kid in front of him, the bully who bullied the weaker orphaned kids into robbing food for him. He too used to be a victim until he fought back one day when he was getting robbed of food that without it, would have been his death. 

From that fight, he got the largest scar, while similarly giving the bully a scar with his teeth. From then on they stayed clear of each other.

As the kid put his hand on the crystal ball, he acted confident with a smile on his face. But after 10 seconds, the crystal ball remained the same, and as he became panicked, he looked around, only to find the disgusted looks of the residents who had no hope of the waste being blessed.

"NO! NO, I am blessed!! Where is my skill!? I want my Skill!!" Arnett was shocked when the kid began screaming at the man, taking several steps back in fear that he would be dragged into what was about to happen.

The man barely glanced at him before he was blown away by an invisible force, his figure flying for several meters all the while screaming wretchedly.

Arnett's heart beat with fear, thankful that he was quick enough to back away from the boy otherwise, he would have been thrown alongside him.

With trembling in his legs, he fearfully walked toward the crystal ball without looking at the crying kid who was being dragged away by the town guards. 

'Please! I beg you, Please let me have a skill!' Arnett prayed in his heart, his reaching arm felt like it was leading him toward the abyss while he stood at the edge of a cliff. 

Once his hand touched the crystal ball, the blue light circled his hand, giving him a cool prickling sensation, while he felt a much larger cool wave spreading into his arm and body through the crystal ball.

All Arnett felt in the first second was numbness, dread in the next second, and coldness and death in the 5th second. Feeling like he was about to die on the 6th second, the crystal ball began to shine, and an ethereal feeling exploded deep inside him, one that reverberated throughout his being.

His mind was in euphoria, finally knowing he had a skill. A skill meant endless possibilities, that his future wasn't bleak, that he would survive in this harsh world.

The man looked at the crystal ball, and this time Arnett could see some sort of reflection in the man's eye, like he was reading a page.

The next second, the man frowned slightly before looking at him.

"You have been blessed with a skill, though I am unsure which profession it falls into." The man looked between the 3 guilds. 

"What do you mean? what kind of skill does he have?" The blue-robed representative from the mage guild curiously asked. While the red-armored man and the mature busty woman gazed at Arnett intently.

"It seems to be a support skill that seems applicable in all your 3 professions." The man said with an uninterested expression.

"You! Come here and touch the crystal ball!" The red-armored man shouted at Arnett who was apprehensive about the weird situation. He had never seen the yellow-eyed man unable to decide which profession a skill is suited for.

Coming out of his reverie, he quickly ran towards the warrior guild's camp, touching the crystal ball, which shined. The red-armored man looked at the crystal ball for a few seconds frowning as well.

"'Growth'? What does that mean?" the man said loudly, piquing the interest of everyone. However, the red-armored man looked at the color of the skill, deciding that it wasn't worth worrying about.

"Kid, come here!" The blue-robed mage representative called out once he saw that the warrior representative wasn't interested. 

Arnett felt more confused, they saw he had a skill, and wondered anxiously why they weren't recruiting him.

Touching the crystal ball, he looked pleadingly at the mage representative, who also inspected the crystal ball. He was curious for a second, but when he saw the color of the skill, he lost interest as well.

"Celine, this skill seems to be in your profession." The man smiled and told the woman who was observing everything with a bored expression.

"Come here." She said, and Arnett felt like he was on fire, having been not recruited for the third time. He felt tight in his chest and began to pray, 'Please, recruit me! please!' with a terrified expression, he put his hand on the crystal ball.

She observed the crystal ball, frowning for a second, and gave Arnett a deep look.

"Stand behind your seniors." After a minute of contemplating, a minute that felt like death to Arnett, she said the magic words he prayed for.

Once he was in line, he looked at the last kid, the hardworking slightly muscular orphan who was sweating more than him touching the crystal ball of the royal family representative.

Now feeling elated and the pressure lifted off his mind, he looked at everything with a new light, it felt like the world was filled with new colors, and as he observed the crystal, it began to shine.

Arnett smiled, feeling relieved knowing that the kid who helped him on a couple of occasions was also blessed.

When the yellow-eyed man finished inspecting, he smiled again.

"you have been blessed with a skill that the royal family needs, are you willing to join?" Once he said those words, everyone gasped again, while the red-armored man clenched his fists as he looked at the clearly warrior-built kid who was once again snatched by the royal family.

"I accept!" The kid shouted in a loud voice, and once he stood behind the followers and beside the other kid, the man looked at the town Lord.

"That concludes the awakening ceremony! all the parents whose kids have been blessed, please come to the manor in the evening! All of you go back to your houses!" The town Lord ordered the murmuring residents, who began to leave the center plaza in short order.

Arnett watched as some of the kids who used to beat him up looked at him with crying faces, reveling in their crushed dreams and hopes.