Sora sat on the floor with his back against the wall and his legs crossed. The digital clock on the desk blinked through each second at a steady pace. Every changing number seemed slower than the last.
He stared at the screen without looking away.
23:57.
His mother still hadn't come home, though the silence in that apartment was nothing new. It was the kind of solitude Sora had long since gotten used to.
He let out a slow breath through his nose.
In a way, it was a relief she wasn't back yet. Having to admit he'd failed as an Awakened wasn't something he was in any hurry to do.
He also knew it was unavoidable, but maybe tomorrow would be easier.
23:58.
He was uncomfortable, and more than a little on edge. He knew what tonight meant; an event every person his age had to be ready for.
That same night, at midnight, the gates of the Spiritual Realm would open. It always happened the same way. Everyone who had turned sixteen that year, or was about to, would be pulled there for the first time.
No one chose that first entry. It wasn't optional.
The first time set everything in motion. It was where they would awaken their class and their unique skill.
The evaluation at school was just a heads-up for what was coming, meant to prepare weaker people before the moment arrived.
23:59.
The first time someone entered the Spiritual Realm, they learned how to cross over for the rest of their life.
The lucky ones became Players. They gained followers and fame as they pushed through the realm, killing monsters and growing stronger.
Not every Awakened chose that path, especially those with weaker classes.
Though Sora didn't even have that choice. He had no class, which meant he had no way of fighting anything.
When he crossed over, he'd have to run as fast as he could and pray he found a temple to get back to the [Mortal World].
Dying in the Spiritual Realm wasn't permanent, but it damaged the soul. Plenty of Players had lost their minds after dying multiple times in a row.
Better not to risk it. Get in, get out, come back in one piece.
"Well... looks like it's time," he said quietly, with no real enthusiasm behind the words.
Then the last second ticked over.
00:00.
Sora's room dissolved around him as something invisible pulled him in. The edges of his desk and the walls blurred and lost their shape, while a dense, almost liquid current of energy closed around him.
It was like chromatic plasma, dragging him upward. He found himself caught inside a vertical column of violet and emerald light, a torrent of pure power carrying him through weightless, empty space.
The colors flooded his eyes, bleeding together into a low hum that overwhelmed his senses.
Then the column stopped. Sora hung suspended in a luminous white void with no visible edges, and a synthetic voice, completely flat, no trace of human inflection, rang out directly inside his mind.
[Awakening Class... Awakening Failed! The user will be Classless]
[Awakening Unique Skill... Awakening Successful! You have obtained the skill: Akashic Records — EX Rank]
Akashic Records — EX
This skill grants the user access to a library containing records of every skill that has ever existed or ever will.
The user may take a card bearing their chosen skill and absorb it, using it at no cost to [Spiritual Energy]. In exchange, each skill will have a set cooldown.
Each skill will occupy a skill slot until its cooldown has expired.
[Error!]
[Warning ⚠️: The user's skill is too dangerous — the Spiritual Realm is limiting your power]
[Limit: You may only access F Rank skills — evolve your spiritual core to break this restriction]
Then the voice fell silent, and the world around him began to take shape again, though not as the one he'd left. It crystallized into something else entirely, like he'd been brought into a living dream.
Sora blinked. He felt the rough texture of bark against his back and soft grass beneath his hands.
He was sitting, leaning against a sturdy apple tree.
Stretching out in front of him was a meadow of tall golden grass, swaying gently in a light breeze.
The landscape was bathed in warm, clear sunlight, the sun just beginning to sink toward the horizon behind distant mountains that rose in deep shades of blue.
A fresh scent, damp earth mixed with wild fruit, filled his lungs. The air was clean, nothing like the city.
The warmth of the place settled into him, and his muscles relaxed on their own after the tension of the crossing. But the relief didn't last. The sharp memory of the energy column and the robotic message cut through it.
Sora tensed again. He lurched forward, breaking out of his resting posture. His hands pressed into the ground for balance as he looked around, taking in the new reality and everything he'd just been told.
"Wait... did I actually awaken a unique skill? How is that even possible?"
He couldn't believe it. It didn't make any sense.
It was basic knowledge: you couldn't get a skill without a class. Unique skills were tied to a person's class, and their rank matched it accordingly.
That was another advantage of a high rank. Your unique skill would match it.
But if you had no rank, you weren't supposed to be able to have a skill at all, right?
Sora had to see it for himself. He stood up and spoke the command everyone already knew would pull up their status.
"[Status]"
A holographic screen materialized in front of him, gold with black lettering.
___
Name: Sora Sieghart
Race: Human
Age: 16
Level: 0
EXP: 0 / 1,000
Spiritual Core: [Mist — 0%]
Class: Classless
Unique Skill:
Akashic Records — EX
This skill grants the user access to a library containing records of every skill that has ever existed or ever will.
The user may take a card bearing their chosen skill and absorb it, using it at no cost to [Spiritual Energy]. In exchange, each skill will have a set cooldown.
Each skill will occupy a skill slot until its cooldown has expired.
Restriction: Can only be used on F-Rank skills.
Class Skills 0/5:
Passives 0/3:
Attributes:
H.P: 100/100
S.E (Spiritual Energy): 100/100
Strength: 6
Constitution: 5
Speed: 7
Agility: 4
Intelligence: 7
Points to distribute: 0
[Attack Power: 0.9]
___
Sora stared, jaw hanging open, his eyes going over the screen again and again.
He couldn't believe what he was reading. He had done something that wasn't supposed to be possible: awakened a unique skill with absolutely no class to speak of.
And not just any unique skill. An EX rank skill, a rank that was purely theoretical, one that shouldn't even exist.
SSS rank was already considered the stuff of legend.
"I seriously can't believe this..." he said, stunned, before he broke into a wide grin and started jumping up and down. "YES! Let's go! That's what I'm talking about!"
The pure joy in his voice rang out across the open field.
It seemed like fate had given him another shot, and the power of what he'd been given was clear even at a glance.
The ability to obtain any skill he wanted.
Sure, there were restrictions. But did that even matter? The potential was enormous.
And Sora was dying to put it to the test.
"Whoaaa!" he yelped as he went down.
He'd tripped over something. Glancing to the side, he spotted it: a wooden chest half-hidden in the grass.
A common chest, the first item anyone received upon entering the Spiritual Realm.