One by one, students from the various classes stepped up to the monoliths. An hour dragged by, thick with a growing sense of despair. Not a single monolith had emitted so much as a glimmer of light; four hundred students had touched the crystals, and four hundred had walked away in silence, having failed to awaken.
I could see the irritation etching lines into the Headmaster's face. While forcing an Awakening at sixteen was statistically more difficult than letting it happen naturally at eighteen, the success rate for our batch was abysmally low compared to previous years. It was as if luck itself had abandoned us. I could only hope this streak of failure wouldn't follow me to the stage.
Suddenly, the oppressive silence was shattered when one of the monoliths glowed as brightly as the sun. "ID Number 24-0413 has Awakened!" an official barked, his voice amplified by a skill. "S-Rank Talent detected!"
The hall erupted. The desperate tension broke into a frantic cheer as students craned their necks to see who had finally defied the odds.
"Look! It's Sarah Olston!"
"I should have known. She's top of her class—I heard she even beat Damian Holt in a spar."
"Damian Holt!? From the Holt Family??"
"Yeah, and she also has S-Rank Talent. Damn, some people are just born lucky."
"Dude, we're destined to get S-Ranks as well!"
"Don't jinx it, dumbass!!"
As Sarah walked back to her seat, the students who had yet to touch the monolith looked at her with pure admiration and hope; our batch had finally broken the streak of bad luck. However, the gaze from some of the students who had already failed, and those who had yet to go, was filled with envy and hate. They tried to mask it, but they couldn't hide their expressions from me—and it seemed William, sitting next to me, had noticed those gazes too.
"Kurt, did you notice their expressions as well?" William whispered.
"Yeah, how could I not? Damian and his faction can't hide those vicious stares very well. They're practically showing their dissatisfaction openly."
"Heh. I hope that pompous bastard fails to awaken," William muttered.
As we turned our attention back to the stage, another hour went by. A few more students managed to awaken, and finally, our turn came."ID Number 24-0845 and ID Number 24-0846, come to the monoliths please!"
As we stood up from our seats, two officials came to our aisle and began guiding us. As I approached the monolith, I could only admire its beauty and massive scale. It was probably about eight and a half feet tall, looking like a giant block of quartz. If not for the massive output of Mana it was venting into the air, it could easily have been mistaken for a simple crystal.
As I got closer, I reached out to touch it, recounting the Headmaster's instructions. I placed my hand against the cool surface and closed my eyes. Immediately, I felt it: Mana. It was everywhere, though scattered, and I could feel it being attracted to me, compiling directly into my chest. As the murmurs of the crowd began to drift away, an extreme focus settled over me.
"ID Number 24-0845 has Awakened! A-Rank Talent!"
The loud announcement of the official next to me broke my focus and pulled me back to reality. But as I opened my eyes, all I could see was a translucent status panel hovering before me.
============
[ STATUS ]
Name: Kurt Lyle
Attributes
STR: 12
AGI: 11
WIS: 8
Innate Skill:
[Skill Eater] [Secret Rank]: Allows the user to permanently steal an Innate Skill from a target. By touching the victim, the user releases a black mana shroud that coats their body and forcibly extracts their power.
Skill[Empty]
============
I was dumbfounded by what I saw. "Secret Rank..." I muttered quietly to myself. I couldn't even comprehend what it meant. As far as I knew, there was no Secret Rank—only Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythic, and Transcendental. And the name of the skill... Skill Eater. It allowed me to steal abilities. It felt completely overpowered; there had to be a catch.
But before I could contemplate the mystery further, I was snapped out of it by an official."Hey! Move it! Get back to your seat. There's still a lot more students to go." I decided to put my investigation on hold and return to my seat. When I got back, William was grinning at me excitedly.
"Kurt! Come on, let's spar later!"
"Dumbass, we still have to register at the Awakeners Guild later," I reminded him.
"Then after that, let's spar!"
"No, I still have my part-time job to go to."
"Oh, come on!!"
After another minute of arguing, William finally backed off, and we settled in to wait for the ceremony to finish.