Nyes Keven stood shoulder to shoulder with seventeen other teens awaiting their awakening in the Grand Cathedral of Halcis, goddess of Balance. It is her that keeps the peace in the heavens and ushers mortals forward on their way in life. Nyes doesn't know any of the others on stage with him despite sharing the same birthday. All of them turning 16 on the same day isn't even noteworthy, considering there were over a half a million people living here in the capitol.

  He'd never even been in the Grand Cathedral before today despite living here in the capitol city of Osan his entire life. It was amazing. A huge arched dome measuring over thirty meters in height marked by statues in a ring around the back of the Cathedral of white marble with accents of gold, each of a different hero who brought peace and stability in times of peril and fear. At the center of the rear of the Cathedral was a fifteen meter statue of Halcis herself, hands held out palms up holding her golden scales and a dagger. Just below her hands hung a maroon tapestry going all the way to the floor almost like a skirt, with her scales on it in gold embroidery.

  Nyes took all this in as he came in but was mostly focused on the object that would begin his adventure into adulthood. The skill stone! There was one in every major temple to each of the gods. They granted mortals their first skill and gave access to their personal status. Any skill was fine as you could gain others via hunting certain monsters if you were lucky, or so he'd always been told. We'll, any skill except one but that thought barely flickered through his head before he pushed it away. No way he got that unlucky. It only went to one out of every hundred thousand or so people anyway so he'd be fine.

  "Come forth." He heard the priest say as he was staring at the stone. The priest was an older man with a slight stoop and silver hair. He was in traditional formal robes of maroon and gold. The girl in front of Nyes moved to grasp the stone. He was close enough now to see details he'd missed from further back. The stone itself was a pinkish gold crystal about 1.2 meters tall sitting on a dais approximately2 meters in diameter. The main body of the stone was a 30 centimeter diameter hexagonal spike with two smallest spikes to either side sized perfectly to grip in a hand. These were what he'd seen others grab.

  He watched the girl approach the stone as the priest said "Begin your journey" with a kindly smile on his face. The girl reached up and grasped the smaller crystal spikes. As soon as she did there was a pulse of light from within the stone and the light seemed to pulse straight into her. For a moment Nyes could've sworn he saw her eyes glow as well. It lasted for only a second and she let go, a smile playing at her lips.

  "Sewing" she squealed. Her happiness with her first skill evident for everyone to see. She was quickly ushered away by some novitiate priests to celebrate with her family as the priest once more said "Come forth" as she cleared the dais.

  Nyes stepped up with nervous excitement, beyond ready to step into adulthood and finally start gaining levels and increasing skills. "Begin your journey" the priest once more intoned. That same warm smile on his face. Nyes grasped the spikes with an eagerness that was palpable. Light pulled from the stone once more and into him. It washed through him body and soul, and in a moment that would haunt his dreams for years to come he heard Skill- Advancement.

  "Oh no." He whispered as he began trembling and tearing up.

  "Is it...." the priest asked from just behind Nyes.

  "Advancement."

  The priest rushed to put his hands on the boys shoulders to comfort him."It's okay. Many are able to live fulfilling lives with this skill". The priest had been around long enough to see the dreaded locked skill given out twice before, so here knew what to say.

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  Nyes looked to his parent in the pews, seated there with dozens of others. Only family was allowed in during awakenings. His parents knew. His father looked disgusted while his mother was sobbing on his shoulder.

  The priest waved them to follow and guided Nyes to a secluded alcove at the side of the Cathedral. "We can help you if you'll let us. I know this isn't what you wanted but it's not the end of the world."

  "Id really like to be alone for a minute if you dont mind." Nyes said as he continued to cry heavily.

  "Of course. I'll go speak to your parents."

  He'd noticed his parents hadn't followed him and continued to make it about them. Typical. Not that he expected anything else from them. His father was a womanizer who broke his mother's heart weekly, and his mother was delusional. It was as if the each new day she had fully repressed anything bad from the day before. Like all bad things in life were just..... deleted from her mind. Either way they were no help.

  In theory it was an amazing skill, destined to catapult it's wielder to a life of power and fame. Except for its restrictions, said to have been placed by Halcis herself.

  The full skill read Skill-Advancement: Allows the user to advance a skill by one level over 24 hours. Time to advance a skill doubles. RESTRICTION: User may not use skill stones or skill shards.

  A skill that, with perks, could level any skill near instantly. You just can't gain any others to go with it. Ever. Nyes began to laugh a bit maniacally.

  "The ultimate skill, if only I could actually use on something. HAHAHA!"

  He sat there for about 5 minutes going back and forth between frustrated tears and unhinged laughter. He just had so much energy built up for today and it was all crashing in on him now. As he was about to really start to lose it, the priest returned.

  "Son, you will be fine. I know from experience." He looked meaningfully at Nyes and gave a sad laconic smile.

  "You got the cursed skill too?

  "I did, though it's not cursed. It is locked. Have you never heard the story of this skill from the church?"

  "My parents aren't very religious." Nyes said with a bitter chuckle.

  "I thought as much speaking with them. By the way, it seems my manners have failed me utterly. My name is Thedroe. Let me tell you the story of the locked skill if you'llhear it."

  I nodded so he went on. "When the gods were building the world, they created the skill stones and all the skills that go in them as well as the skills in all the shards. To make sure each skill was made well, the gods looked to none other than Halcis. Every god had a hand in creating skills, but it was left to Halcis to see that each was fair and not broken. That each skill would give something useful while not being too powerful, follow?"

  With a frown Nyes asked "I do but that makes this skill make no sense. It's too powerful by itself."

  "Exactly. Halcis wanted the god who created this skill to change it so it wouldn't make a mortals into a demigod nigh instantly. The god in question refused. Any guesses as to who that god was?

  "Just one." Nyes said as his face fell.

  ""Thats right. Rekf, god of chaos. Rekf demanded the skill stay exactly as it was no matter who tried to convince it otherwise. Even when Halcis said the only way the skill could go into the stone was to lock it. Essentially cutting whoever got it off from ever gaining more skills. It said 'Fine by me. I just wanted to make something fun.' "

  "So Halcis locked the skill, but altered the odds of it being given so it would be given only rarely. And to those who receive it, she offers a place as a Priest of Balance to oversee awakenings like myself to make sure they have a place in the world."

  "I really never saw myself becoming a priest, no offense."

  "Ha! None taken. You think I wanted to be a priest growing up? Hells no! I wanted the swordsmanship skill, same as most other boys. But each of us has to play the hand we're dealt..... Your parents already left. Why don't you spend the night here in the novitiate's quarters and think it over? A new day may bring with it a new perspective eh?"

  Nyes blew out a long breath, expelling with what felt like a lifetime of anxiety and worries. "That actually sounds nice. Thanks."

  "Right this way."

  They got up and headed to the novitiate dorms.