[10 Years Until Awakening!]

Like dropping a pebble into a small unmoving pond Miss Alert has once again torn me from bundled up sleep. I suppose I knew my birthday was coming around once again, but the utter shock of a voice not your own rattling around your empty mind never feels normal. Miss Alert as I've so graciously named her continues to be one of many things yet to be explained to me, despite my very best helpless puppy routine, mom and dad have yet to fully explain its meaning.

I suppose knowing that they have their own Mr. or Mrs. Alert is nice to know. It reaffirms that I’m not just crazy. Usually, I’ll just eavesdrop around our small abode to gather the information I want, but they’ve kept this awakening thing under some tight lips.

Aaron my dad always just throws the conversation about the awakening to the side casually whenever I bring it up. Sometimes when I press the matter, he cracks just a bit before distracting me with my one weakness. Well, one of my two weaknesses, chocolate has become holier than all else in my eyes and I would sacrifice a thousand warm dinners to taste sweet chocolate more than once a year. But alas that will never be, my other weakness however is the metal monster dad calls a forge. No matter how hard I press about the awakening or no matter how loud I threaten to scream dad always gets me with one good trick. I can’t place my small finger on it but something about the forge and the way dad creates these complex shining tools never ceases to amaze me, and just the mention of not being able to see his works or help shuts me up right good. Dame you dad, how could you weaponize my weakness.

Asta, my mother is... less willing to even mention the awakening until I’m “ready”. I don’t know why she just so scared to even talk about it, but any time and I mean anytime it's mentioned in her presence mom shoots a glare that could cut through iron at father and me. Neither dad nor I am willing to fight her in that battle.

Though despite all that, otherwise, life is just perfect. Around three I started speaking fuller sentences and moving around on my own. At which point mom saw it fit to start schooling me at least FOUR WHOLE HOURS! Still, school isn’t that bad, I get to spend a bunch of time with mom without her worrying over every tiny thing. And what's more, I’m a certified superstar when it comes to learning. Both mama and dad think I’m super smart for my age and act like an adult... well they don’t go that far but I know it's true. Whenever I think about it, my enhanced learning abilities probably comes from my [Knowledge of Another] boon which I’ve decided to keep to myself for now. Knowing how much mama dislikes Miss Alert-related things, I’ve chosen to keep it hidden until I’m “ready”.

I’m now six years old and have pretty much learned all there is to know. For instance, I the great Alym of... of... The Grand Forest has discovered that my family and I are not Giants and are in fact known as Humans. Additionally, I’ve mastered the art of number (up to one hundred), colors, shapes, and animals like the mighty chicken that gives us eggs to eat and feathers to practice writing on. Speaking of writing, did you know that writing is hard? Then there is reading, oh don’t get me started on reading. How does mom expect me to stare at all the little words and just know what they mean, let alone read them out?

As the morning sun begins to crawl through my window, slapping its blinding rays across my face, I finally decide to muster up the strength and willpower to get ready for my day. Tossing my thinner summer blankets, I spring up to find my clothes for the day. Scavenging around under my bed where I keep my clothing box, pulling out the box my eyes are drawn to my usual and favorite outfit. Aside from all the summertime dresses lay a plain dark green cotton shirt with an unbuttoned and worn-out set of overalls under the shirt. Quickly discarding my nightclothes, I first slip into my shirt taking time to smell the lingering scent of ash and smoke. Next, I go to slip my overall on; buttoning them in my humble opinion doesn’t look nearly as good as letting them lie loose and flat, so I quickly tie a quick belt around my waist so the overall don’t fall during the day.

“Morning dad” I cheerly sing as enter our one room does all kitchen living room hybrid.

“Ah! Good morning sweetie. How is my big little six-year-old today?” He replied matching my cheery attitude.

“I’m Great! Well... as great as someone who got woken in the middle of the night can be” I didn't want to start the morning by getting into an awakening argument, but I felt the need to complain just a bit. After all, I hadn’t mentioned the awakening in over 5 months, so one complaint is still pretty good.

My dad just chuckles in response clearly not wanting to start the argument either.

“You gonna work the forge today?” I ask hopefully.

“Hmm, I wasn’t going to, but I suppose if you really want me to, I can scrape together some scrap for something." Not exactly the response I wanted but it was fair. The mine dad made to get metal has started coming up dry and he hasn’t had time to start a new one with all the recent house troubles. Dame old wood!

“Aren't you up early my little Alym?” Mom comments as she enters from outside. “I hope you didn’t wake up so early just to dirty yourself self-up in daddy’s forge today. Honestly, I don’t know how you became so obsessed with that old thing, but it just ruins your clothes and hair.”

She wasn’t wrong the only reason I wore my overalls so much was because it was the only clothes mom would let me wear while working near the forge. Plus, yea all that ash and grease doesn’t exactly go well with my snow-white hair.

“I mean it’s not the reason I’m up, but it’s a pretty good motivation to stay up” I respond smiling with a grin stretching ear to ear.

“Well, it is your birthday, so I suppose it's fine, but before you go, we need to talk.” Ahh, the winter talk.

“I know I know it’s wintertime soon, we need to start getting the warm clothes and I need to help you gather all the crops from the garden.” I pause trying to remember the last bit about winter. “Oh, and don’t go too far cause winter brings all the nasty things from the forest, right?”

“Well yes, that was all true but there is something more we need to talk about.” Mother begins.

“You see your mother and I think it’s time for you to learn about the awakening and what it is” My dad finishes.

I look to dad then to mom waiting for her to shut it down. When she doesn’t, I look back to dad with what must be the most exciting look from a human he had ever seen.

“Alright but before your mother starts you need to promise to hold all your questions until the end. Ok?” I nod furiously switching my attention back to mama.

“Ok sweetie where should I start?” Mom started to speak before pausing and twirling her finger in her own snowlike hair. “You see everyone has as you like to call them a miss Alert, and you will have it for the rest of your life. Now this age can differ from race to race but for humans, we reach our awakening when we are 14 years old. The awakening is a system of our world that has existed for as long as any race has existed. Although not all creatures get a system, only the main races and certain high-capacity monsters get systems. When you reach 14 Alym you will be given many choices on what you are to become.” Mom pauses while thinking for the best way to explain the next part when dad picks up for her.

“You see honey when you awaken, your system will let you choose a [Class] these classes can be about almost anything and you get them based on what you did in life. Like for instance if you plant food for your entire life and only that you would only get offered the [Gardener] class. But most people don’t get stuck with one singular chore for their whole childhood so you should access to a lot of classes and if you have the talent for magic, you might even get a novice magic class to start.”

Me and my dad had talked a lot about magic in our free time at the forge. Apparently, his sister is a mage adventure whatever that means, and she makes a nice life for herself. He explained to me that a lot of peoples from all walks of life can use magic, but for most people, it is very hard to incorporate with non-fighting related things. He also warned me that being a powerful magic-user can be dangerous if I were in a city and not the middle of some forest, he says a lot of people like to abuse the magic powers of others.

“Once you pick a class your stuck with it until it either evolves, merges with another class, or if you pay to get it removed by a ritual.” Dad continued. “Your classes have a level which shows your expertise in your class, people often also identify themselves based on their highest-level class but now always. For instance, I’m a [Ironwork Blacksmith – level 22] and a [Warrior- level 8]. You get a total of three classes, but they only unlock at certain marks. Your first [Class] doesn’t become available till your awakening. The second [Class] becomes available after reaching level 15, and the third [Class] doesn’t become available until reaching level 30 in [Class 1] and level 15 in [Class 2]. Usually, when people get their first class, they get to choose what they become but sometimes the world chooses for them. A lone survivor of a village might get a class replaced with the [Lone Survivor] class, and sometimes kids will just inherit their parents' class. That only really happens with Royalty though. That being said, you Alym will have access to both mine and your mother's highest level class as a sort of inheritance thing. Most people by the end of their life will unlock all three classes but most people won't reach above level 40 in any one class.” It seems that dad was finally over and was mentally preparing himself for the onslaught of questions he was about to receive.

“So, if your highest class is [Blacksmith] what is mama” I rattle off first.

“Well, sweetie I used to be quite the magic-user when I was younger so I’m sure your gonna get a great beginner magic class to choose, if you want that is,” The look on moms faces tells me there is more that is not being said, but I don’t wish to push my luck right now.

“Ok, so what classes will be available when I’m 14?”

“We don’t know honey, that’s a bit of the fun of it. Perhaps you will follow in daddy's footsteps and become a [Novice Blacksmith]” I can tell mothers not the fondest of that idea but if it's what I really wanted I know she would support me.

“So, when I choose my class that will basically be my life” This question seemed the most obvious to me, but I still had to ask.

“Yes and no, of course, you don’t have to do what your class tells you to do, but you would waste much of your potential by not doing it. Some people get very broad classes like [Worker] which lets them do many things and not focus down one path. There are also general skills to help with that as well.”

“General skills?” I ask mom.

“Yes, general skills are skills you can gain outside of your class. They usually occur from doing things that don’t fit with your class and can help to upgrade your classes. If you were to be an [Alchemist] but also spent much of your time training with weapons, you would get general combat skills which might help to turn you into a [Battle Chemist]”

This all made sense to me, and this “system” really did seem to cover up a loose end, so I suppose I’m content for now.

“Well, if mama is done explaining everything to you how bout I cook up my little birthday girls' favorite breakfast and get going towards the forge huh?” Dad always knows how to get on my best side.

“Just try and stay clean.” Mom begs “We don’t want another hour-long bath time, do we?” No, we most certainly don’t. The last time we did that I has forge gunk practically glues to my hair mama had me sit in that water till I thought it was going to freeze.

“I promise mama” We both know it’s a lie but hey at least I can say I tried, right?

Name – Alym

Race- Human

Age- 6 year

Awakening – 10 Years

Class 1 - [Locked]

Class 2 - [Locked]

Class 3 - [Locked]