Chapter 2: Chapter 2. Awakening
Today marks the official transition into adulthood for Myne, and he soon finds himself approaching a temple-like structure where the awaking ceremony is scheduled to commce.
Those on the cusp of adulthood must undergo the awaking ceremony, a pivotal evt that prests an opportunity to unlock up to three abilities referred to as Skills. The quantity and calibre of these Skills are contingt upon the getic makeup flowing through their veins and, to some extt, luck; nothing is predetermined.
The efficacy of the Skills varies, influcing one's ability to combat monsters that pose a threat to ordinary individuals. Those dowed with pott Skills garner respect, wealth, romantic interests, noble standing, and, in certain instances, ev princesses as spouses. Conversely, many are left with mundane and ineffective Skills.
Thus, childr born to parts possessing formidable Skills inhertly joy a greater likelihood of awaking powerful abilities. There was a time wh the fusion of certain Skills resulted in the creation of extraordinary, almost outrageous, capabilities.
Such extraordinary Skills are celebrated as the heroic tales of the past, as individuals achieved remarkable success through the amalgamation of their Skills.
Consider the King, for instance, who was bestowed with two Skills: a fusion of 'One-Handed Blade ( Large )' and 'Physical Strgth Enhancemt ( Large ) '.
The One-Handed Blade Skill is a combat-orited ability with varying degrees of strgth, Physical Strgth Enhancemt ( Large ) on the other hand a skill augmting physical prowess, categorized into four levels: Small, Medium, Large, and Top. In the case of the King, he attained the second strongest variation, One-Handed Blade and Physical Strgth Enhancemt.
Through the adept combination of these two Skills, the King acquired unparalleled strgth. His accomplishmts were myriad, including triumphs over adversaries and the old king's sons, ultimately securing his position as the reigning monarch of the Augusta Kingdom.
The temple host emphasized that the more pott the Skill, the rarer its bestowal, creating a low probability for individuals to receive an ideal combination of powerful and high-battle-power Skills.
Though not truly infinite, the vast array of available Skills is seemingly boundless. Among this multitude, only a select few exhibit godly effects, further amplifying the rarity of such extraordinary abilities.
As the childr approached the brink of adulthood, accompanied by their families, they made their way to the temple, carrying immse hopes in their hearts. Each harboured the desire to obtain pott skills akin to the King's, visioning a life where their dreams could be realized. Yet, if all goes as expected, they may soon confront the harsh reality.
Upon arriving at the awaking temple, Myne sought out a quiet corner and stood alone. Over time, a growing number of people tered the temple, prompting gratitude that the temple forced a rule allowing only those awaking their skills to ter on this sacred day. This rule spared the temple from becoming an overcrowded sea of faces, leaving ample space to move freely.
Having observed over fifty childr, Myne couldn't help but feel a lingering awkwardness. Most of the life he had be dedicated to training and hunting, resulting in a physique that betrayed his actual age of fifte.
His well-built muscles, devoid of excess fat, and a height of an unusually tall .85 meters might lead someone meeting him for the first time to mistake him for an eighte or ninete-year-old.
After a while, half of the childr, or should I say newly become adults, awaked their skills. Some appeared elated, while others wore expressions of melancholy. A few ev broke into tears as if they had just lost their parts. One adult, however, reacted in a way that left everyone speechless.
Faced with the disappointmt of not acquiring any useful skills, he clung to the awaking ceremony host's legs like a desperate spider, tearfully expressing his disdain and disgust for his useless skill and desperately asking the host to give him a better one, which was obviously unrealistic.
Yet, instead of showing sympathy or couragemt, the host, displaying no tolerance for such behaviour, kicked him in the face and ordered the guards to throw that piece of shit out from the awaking temple.
Finally few minutes later, a mysterious mix of anticipation, unease, nervousness, and fear veloped Myne as it was now his turn.
Wh the host caught sight of him, he initially thought Myne was a new guard or something, and approached him to report something.
However, as Myne indicated that it was now his turn, the host glanced at him as if he was seeing a unique animal but he soon came back to his sses and instructed with a stoic expression, "Enter that circle and pray to God for good luck, expressing gratitude for becoming an adult."
Being told that, Myne tered the circle filled with weird symbols and offered prayers to God. These were just normal formalities that every awaking candidate had to go through, ev though most childr didn't ev pray correctly; they simply oped and closed their mouths, and that was it.
After the formation circle activated, Myne's body shone faintly for a few seconds, and three pieces of information appeared in his mind out of thin air.
"Hmm, it seems like you safely received your skills. Please place your hands on this orb," the Host spoke calmly, holding out a blue transpart orb, and Myne placed my hands on it without any hesitation.
As he did that, the three skills information that had previously appeared in his mind were displayed inside the orb: namely, 'Appraisal・Complete', 'Cut & Paste', and 'Invtory'.
After seeing Myne's skills, the Host didn't react much and started to explain their use causally.
"The skill named Appraisal can examine the details of everything. It is quite a rare skill. The ones that we frequtly hear about are 'Appraisal・Age', 'Appraisal・Idtity', 'Appraisal・Animal', 'Appraisal・Gder', etc. It is a rare skill, but there is a catch. You can examine the attribute at the d of 'Appraisal' means what kind of information it will provide you.
For example, 'Appraisal・Gder' for most of time it was a completely usless skill, as we can see other gder with our eyes anyway. You can say that it's a failure, ev though it is also Appraisal, after all what can 'Complete' represt? Don't tell me now we couldn't ev see if anything is complete or brok, anyway," the Host said with a little regret while shaking his head.
I don't know why he looks sadder than me after seeing my first skill because with the 'Appraisal' that I was bestowed, there was a "Complete" at the back, Myne thought confuesdly while staring at the host with a weird expression.
This is probably the top attribute ev within Appraisal because what the Host knows about Appraisal is what he heard or read in books, but Myne had received all detailed information about his skills with awaking directly in his mind. So he know their actual value.
His 'Appraisal' has 'complete' on its back because it can examine anything without limits. Although the Host said that it's a good skill ev though it's a failure in his eyes, Myne know that this is a godly skill.
After all, with this skill, he can know about anything as long as it is in front of him; nothing can hide from him after today, and this is perfect for him, who does most of his work in the wilderness.
"I've never heard of a Skill called 'Cut & Paste', but I have heard of the Skills called 'Cut' and 'Paste'," the Host said after thinking for a while.
"The 'Cut' is a Skill to 'cut down' everything before you. For example, if you use it while pulling out weeds, all the weeds within your sight are immediately cut. Disposing of weeds with this method undoubtedly yields the best outcome. With such an example, I believe it is a wonderful skill. However, this skill is best employed on fundamtally inanimate objects that don't contain life.
It does not work on living things."
"If it were effective ev on living things, it would be the perfect and extremely advantageous skill to bring to a battle against monsters. Naturally, after dealing with monsters, it would be quite convit during dismantling, or so I've heard," The host said with a low voice, expressing a desire to become a hero as well, but the harsh reality definaly had show him his place.
Myne nodded in agreemt each time the host completed a stce, he will show reaction, letting him know he was atttively listing his nonsse.
Dismantling takes a lot of work, inevitably consuming some time. Since time is a factor, there is always the possibility that the blood and stch of the monster during dismantling will attract other monsters.
Advturers would die to invite me in their team with wide op arms because of this skill, as it substantially reduces a lot dismantling time, Myne thought with a slight smirk on his face.
"As for'Paste', it is a skill that 'sticks' anything visible to any place. It can be used like glue, so to speak. However, it differs from regular glue. Once you stick something, the attached object can never be torn apart. A mistake in pasting can lead to a disastrous outcome."
"If you use 'Cut', you can somewhat detach Paste skill effect, It isn't exactly tearing it off; rather, cutting it off, so better be careful. For example, if a person is bestowed with both Cut and Paste simultaneously, which is rare, you can say that it is an extremely inconvit combination."
"Although among producers, called craftsm, the skill is unparalleled in its utilization. I've heard that they can produce unbelievably sturdy tools and furniture, among other things. Depding on your proficicy level, it can be a beficial skill."
"Last is your 'Invtory' skill. This is a storage-type skill with a maximum capacity of to 0 cubic meters maybe," The host said hurriedly, with a hint of jealousy clearly visible on his face.
He probably thinks that having three skills at once is too rare to see, especially since all my skills are supportive and complemt each other. In one way or another, those skills are too good for a low-level person like me. I hope I don't attract unnecessary atttion, Myne thought while wiping sweet from his forehead.
"Hmm, it seems like you are bestowed with wonderful skills. 'Appraisal・Complete', 'Invtory', and 'Cut & Paste' also seem useful depding on how you use them," The Host said, staring at Myne like a pervert while giving him a forced smile, and continued, "That's it for today. May God bless your life."
Expressing his fake gratitude to the Host as well, who definitely had ulterior thoughts about his skills but could do nothing about it, Myne set off toward home in extremely happy mood.