The day the calendars moved to another year, I found myself being pushed towards the temple of this town.
Just a while ago, I finally reached the human territory after spending two weeks in the forest with nothing on me.
To think the moment I got to the gate, the guard in front dragged me to the center of the town, talking about being baptized by the priest.
I wanted to run away, but the guard's strength was beyond, something I could not go against.
In the end, I had just started walking on my own, not wanting to be mocked by the people of this town.... And to not embarrass myself anymore.
"Ahh, you're in luck, kid, the baptism hasn't started yet." The guard said to me, slapping my back, pushing me into the crowd of teens near the temple.
The moment I took a step on the invisible line that people won't cross, I felt a surge of energy in me.
It felt warm yet cold, something I wanted to leave behind, at the same time, I did not want to let it go, no matter what.
Before I knew it, the temple gate that was closed started creaking, and there, tens of women in a gallant white robe were carrying a box with them.
Gazing at them, I thought, "Ahh, are they what you call saintness?"
Behind them stood the temple priest, clad in a white robe with gold dragon scale accents. In his hand, he held a staff with a single stone at its tip.
Looking up, I found myself admiring them, just looking at them, and I found something magical within me.
"Before we start the baptism, I would like everyone to congratulate themselves for surviving another year in this world of ours."
The moment the priest stopped talking everyone started to celebrate. Some started hugging each other, some parent kissed their children, others said thanks to each other. Some even started screaming and crying on their own.
I didn't know why everyone was acting like that, but I felt like it was something I shouldn't mind or think badly about.
"Well then, we will now proceed with the baptism of these new adults." The priest reached out his hand towards the direction of the teens in front of the temple.
"From here on out all of you will receive a skill from the God of Knowledge and Wisdom. Each skill will be different, but remember.." The priest paused for a bit, clearing his throat.
"There are no such things as useless and weak skills, only bad users." His voice roared out towards the entire area.
"Each skill has its own strength and weakness. How you use its strength will be based on your imagination, and how you'll deal with weakness will be unique on its own..."
The priest tapped the ground with his staff twice. At the end of it, the stone on it glowed in colors before it released a wave of energy to the teens in front.
The moment the energy touched them, they disappeared completely from my sight. With each lane of people disappearing before me, I found myself next.
With the energy touching me, I close my eyes by instinct, the moment I open them I was in another place I didn't know of.
*****
Looking around the man found himself in a white space, below him was the stable ocean floor. Looking up he found countless stars, even though it was broad daylight.
Opening his mouth to comment on his surroundings, an angel suddenly rose from the ground. Looking at the giant angel rising up, he took a step back.
A couple of seconds later, the angel stood still before him, then...
[Congratulations!! You have gone to the baptism of adulthood.]
A panel suddenly appeared before the man's eyes. Gazing at it he thought..
"A system panel?" Before he could continue, a series of panels began to appear one after another.
[You will now receive your own ★ Skill.]
"A skill..."
[Scanning the potential of yours.]
[The God of Knowledge and Wisdom found your existence delightful.]
[All the Gods have found your existence.]
[A ★ Skill has been given to you.]
[Congratulations you have received your ★ Skill.]
[★ Skill: Distortion.]
[Description: The ability to disrupt anything you want.]
[The system will now proceed with the creation of your status window...]
[Status window has been made..]
"Bilis... (So fast.)"
[Status window
Name: James
Age: 15. Mental: 19
Level: 1
★ Skill: Distortion.
---
Stats:
Strength: 14 (Average)
Agility: 10 (Low)
Defense: 8 (Low)
--
Mana: 10 (Lowest possible)
Vitality: 7 (Lowest possible)
Stamina: 19 (High)
--
Intelligence: 18 (High)
Endurance: 9 (Low)
Luck: 7 (Average)
---
Active skills: None.
Passive skills: Hold breathing Level 10.
Resistance skills: None.
---
Additional points: 15
Skills points: 15
Blessings: God of Knowledge and Wisdom.]
Before James could even read his status window completely, he suddenly felt something heavy on his shoulder before crashing back down to the temple.
"I'm back?" James asked, looking around, finding the teens before him returned them to their original position.
Without wasting a second, James muttered, "Status."
But nothing came before his eyes. Confused, James heard a voice calling him from behind. Turning around, he found the guard again.
"Tough luck." He mused. "You didn't get a class, huh?"
"What do you mean by that?" James asked confused by his words.
"Look, you can only see the system panel if you have a class but if you don't have one..."
"I can't see it." James continued the guard words, understanding what he was trying to send out.
"Well if you need something, just find me in the south gate. See you!!" The guard said goodbye to James leaving him behind alone in the center.
A couple of minutes later, the priest started talking again.
"Congratulations everyone, each and every single one of you is now an adult. From here on out, you can enter the dungeons and gain experience points by killing monsters roaming on both the surface of the planet and inside the dungeon."
The priest congratulated everyone after their baptisms. He looked around and continued.
"I know I said this every year but I'll repeat it once again. The skills you plan to learn from this moment on, make sure they are skills that will help you. Not something that will entertain you." He pointed at the red-haired man in front.
"I'm talking about you and your group my child. Please make sure you learn skills, will help you. Remember that the skills you learn on the tenth level will only have 3 uses in a day. If you decide to learn strong skills in the beginning they will lose their strength due to limited usage on them." The priest took a deep breath.
"So learn a skill that is actually useful for you in the long run even with limited uses. That will be all. Good luck on you're journey." Turning back to the temple.
Looking at him, James raised his hand and screamed out.
"Temple priest!!! I like to ask something." Hearing the sudden scream of James, the priest stopped and turned around and said:
"What will it be my child?" Waiting for James' question.
"Thank you, temple priest, for giving me a chance to ask you questions." James thanked him first before asking his actual questions.
"Well then, here are my questions. First. If you look around you can see there are groups of people who already know what they need to do and know what they have to do to learn a skill. But if you look closer, more people seem clueless about how they can learn a skill. So here are my questions."
"How can one learn a skill without the proper support of resources. Unlike those who have one, some of us don't have the money or the chance to learn a skill, by using skill books and such."
James asked confidently in his voice. A while ago, when he was walking toward here, he found a store with a display of skill books in its storefront.
"Hmm. That's easy. Just learn the skills from people who already have them." The priest replied.
"And how do we do that exactly?" James inquired.
"To learn skills from another, you need to give them experience and skills points. By giving them the amount of needed skill points to learn these skills, they can then transfer the skill to you."
"But remember this, to receive the skill from the person you buy it from you need to place your status card together."
A second later one of the priestesses from before gave James a card on him.
"That's the card I'm talking about. By tapping the top of your status card together, the system will do the job of transferring the skills to your status. But remember you need to give your experience points and skill points to do the exchange."
"But there's another way. It's hard to do but really good. That is to clear a dungeon. There's a dungeon in this town, the safe floor of it is on the floor 8 in other words, you only need to clear the 7th floor to consider it as a clearing. The moment you get on the safe floor, summon your status card, and in there, you'll see all the skills that the monsters you have fought through the floors are listed on it."
The priest blinked multiple times, surprised at how long this explanation is.
"From then you can choose which skill you want to learn from the monster you have fought with. Like before to learn the skill, this time you only need to pay with your skill points." He sighed.
"Does this solve your question?"
"Many thanks, temple priest I have learned great knowledge from you. From the looks of it, I'm not the only one who learns something new today." James took a deep breath before continuing.
"Here is my last question. This method you have given to us today. How long can we make use of it?"
The temple priest was quiet for a bit, delighted with the seeking of knowledge of this child before him.
"The first method can be used till your level 50, while the second one can only be used till you level 20." Smiling ear to ear hoping for more people like James to ask this kind of question to him.
"Thank you!!!" James roared out. "I won't forget about this lesson you have given to us today." Bowing down.
There in the center of the town, the people who had stayed quiet the moment James screamed out finally erupted. Some went towards him and praised him for his courage to ask something from the temple priest.
While some thanked him for giving them an idea on how to obtain a skill without the need for a skill book. Of course, there are those who hated him, by asking such questions, their business of selling skill books to the new adults would lose too much profit from here on out.
Seeing how everyone is busy talking to each other about what skills they will learn, without wasting a second, James found the moment to leave the center of the town without anyone following him.
"Shit! I felt all kinds of killing intent on me!" He exclaimed running towards the west side of the town. "Maybe it's a good thing that the guard dragged me here; if he hadn't, I wouldn't have received the skills and awakened."
Giggling to himself: "Still... I got most of the knowledge and ideas I need to start my life in this world." Before the temple priest talks again when they return, James listens to all kinds of information around him.
The first thing he understood was about the status card. The moment he returned, James found those priestesses giving cards to everyone with words from the people around him. James got the idea of their worth.
"Status card an artificial artifact created by the temples and churches around the continent. This card acts as a replacement for those who can't see the system panel. Its function is simple, it shows you your level, ★ skill, additional and skill points, blessings, and finally your skills." Putting it right before his face, James flipped the card.
"On the back of it shows you how many times you can use it. Everyone has at least 10 uses. Everyone received 15 points in both Skill and additional points."
Turning to a corner, James rested his back against the wall. "South is where the sea is, it is also where I came from. North is where the capital is located. West is a forest filled with monsters. And the east, where the dungeons are, along with the adventurer guild."
Using the status card, James looks at the blessings, skills, and ★ skill he has. "From here on out, I'm gonna have to survive on my own in this world."