I woke up several hours later to someone politely knocking on the door. My head felt like someone had split it like a melon and stuffed it with angry bees. When I tried to open my eyes they were crusted shut so I had to pry them open with my hands. Is that blood? I looked at my pillow and yep, that's blood. A lot of it.

  "Cidrakas? It's well into the day. Are you alright?" Thedroe asked from outside.

  "I'm fine. I'll be out in a few minutes." I sluggishly got up and looked around. There was no way I was letting anyone know about the absolutely insane dream. Vision? Whatever that was, and that meant covering this up. The problem with that is that there's no water in here to clean up with. Thinking as quickly as my screaming brain would allow, I formulated a plan.

  I took my shirt off and used it to aggressively scrub at my eyes and ears. I left my nose be. I used as much spit as I could produce quickly and cleaned up my eyes and ears as best I could. After I'd done as good a job as I was going to be able to used my finger nail to scratch the inside of both nostrils until the bled, held my shirt up to my nose, and opened the door to find Thedroe standing there.

  "Halcis's mercy! Were you attacked?" He grabbed my shoulders and began inspecting me.

  "No no! Nothing like that. I get nosebleeds in my sleep sometimes. Ever since I can remember. I'm fine but the linens are probably ruined." It was the best lie I could come up with so quickly.

  "Oh blessed balance. I'd thought you injured by some miscreant for a moment. No worries about the linens. We'll get them changed but let's get you looked at just in case eh?"

  Bless the old man. He was such a genuine soul. "I promise I'm fine. It'll stop in a few minutes on its own. I could use a place to wash though. And maybe a fresh shirt?"

  "If you're sure I suppose. I'll take you to our bathrooms. They're quite nice. One of the benefits of working within the Cathedral is access to a hot bath any time, day or night."

  I started walking with him, glad to have him distracted. He chatted about the Cathedral and the benefits of working for the Church of Halcis. I made positive but noncommittal noises while nodding my head. It took us only a couple of minutes to reach the bathrooms. He was right, they were nice.

  Ten large rectangular stone tubs lined the middle of a large grey tiled room. Along one wall were little closeted areas for changing and along the other were large ceramic basins with mirrors above them. This was far nicer than the bathroom in our home. As the capitol, we had sewers and running water to homes. The water was cold as a wraiths embrace though unless you could afford a heating enchantment. Which we could not.

  "Here we are. You'll find towels over there in that cabinet. Just place them in the basket under the basin you use when you're done. You'll have it to yourself this time of day. I'll have someone bring you a clean shirt. I won't see you again until this evening as I have errands to run before tonight's awakenings. Novitiate Derk will be the one to guide you. He can also answer questions if you have any. Now get cleaned up and get a proper meal. You'll feel right as a ray of sunshine after."

  "Thank you Thedroe. You've been very kind." Hearing this he smiled, gave a slight nod, and walked away. I turned to the basin and took a look at myself. Sure enough, the bleeding had stopped. I retrieved two towels and returned to the basin. Surprisingly, there was a bar of soap on the back of it. No smell to speak of but it was nice to have.

  I set about cleaning all the blood off. Last night was surreal. I'd gained my first skill, thought my life was over, stumbled into a solution even if it were horrific in how that came about, chatted with an actual god, and felt as much kindness from these strangers as I'd ever felt in my life. I was used to my father being callous and my mother being useless. I had friends that I felt more love from. My life was very. well chaotic all of a sudden.

  Rekf had given me more information than necessary. Everyone was taught not to trust him due to his nature, but he seemed to like me. Then again I'd always been a bit naive. I wouldn't give him my trust, but I could at least give him the benefit of the doubt.

  After making myself presentable I looked at the bath. A nice soak would hopefully help with this headache, then I could take Thedroe's advice and get a proper meal. After filling the tub with steaming hot water I stripped. Just as I was stepping into the bath a voice frome behind me asked "Cidrakas?"

  I turned my head and realized I had my bare backside pointed at the young man who spoke. I hopped into the tub with a flushed face that had nothing to do with the heat of the water. The guy was a little shorter than me, probably about 1.6 meters. Medium brown hair, average build with a slightly wide face and round nose. He was dressed in a maroon robe and holding a shirt.

  "Derk I take it. Sorry about the full moon. Haha." May as well rolling with it.

  He put on a smirk. "No worries. We're used to communal bathing here. A few bare backsides are bound to happen. Here's your shirt. I'll be just outside when you're done." Saying this he laid the shirt on the edge of the next bath and walked out.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  I sighed and cleaned up quickly since he was waiting. By the time I dressed the headache was much more tolerable. I found Derk standing just outside. "Sorry for the wait."

  "No apology necessary. I'll take you the the dining area if you're ready?"

  "Sounds great. I'm starving."

  The dining area was fairly plain. Just rows of long tables with chairs. A window to the kitchens allowed for serving. There were quite a few people here. Most looked to be novitiates, but there were a few priests and templars here as well. We got in line and were served what looked like sliced pork with asha greens and a roll. The drinks were water, tea, and spiralberry juice. I hade the tea while Derk got juice. We sat at a table to ourselves and dug in.

  He could tell I was famished so he waited until we were done before asking "What could you like to do now? Feel free to ask any questions you like to figure it out."

  Thinking for a moment, and glad the headache was finally gone, I decided a little more knowledge would go a long way. "Is there a library here? Or a skill advisor I could speak to?"

  He grinned and said "Yes and they're in the same place. Come on."

  We got up and put our dishes in a large tub to the side of the serving window the headed to the library. It was as impressive as the rest of the Cathedral. Dozens of floor to ceiling bookshelves could be seen from the door and that was only the first floor. The smell of old books filled the air and I loved it. Just inside the entrance was a wide desk with severe looking old man sitting there. He had grey hair with wild eyebrows that looked someone tried to scare them off his face. Lines on his face spoke of a nigh permanent scowl.

  "What do you want?" He had a rumbly voice, deeper than I expected from a little old man.

  "Head librarian Stephens, this is Cidrakas Lasalis. Yesterday he received Advancement and asked to both seek the knowledge of books and speak to a skill advisor. He would benefit greatly from your counsel." Derk said this in as tone one would use to try to calm a stalker just before it pounced.

  The scowl mostly disappeared and his voice lost its edge. "I see. Well you've come to the right man then. I'd challenge you to find anyone more knowledgeable than myself on the subject of skills and the Balance System. Let's have a seat in my office. I'll tell you anything you need to know."

  We entered a large office at the back of the library. In a word it was lavish. Smaller bookshelves sat behind a opulent desk made of dark wood and polished to a shine. Trinkets lined the front edge of the desk that looked to be made of brass and steel. Laying on one corner was a pocket watch made of silver and gold. An ornate pen sat in a holder next to some notes and files. All in all this was the most posh room I'd ever seen.

  After getting settled Stephens got straight to the point. "Tell me what you know of the Balance System, awakening, and skills. I must first see what you already know."

  Fair. "Awakening through a skill stone is what gives us access to our first skill. We may then rank up the skill and gain levels. Levels are gained at each skill threshold, 1, 25, 50, 75, and 100 for a total of five levels maximum from each skill. Most people only ever complete, or cap, 1 to 3 skills in their entire lives. Most people will end up with between 5 and 9 skill, with most ending up no higher than rank 50 to 74, a few at 75 to 99, and 1 to 3 at 100. Classes can be made with complimentary skills of certain minimum ranks. This is heavily dependent on individual disposition and affinity with certain skills. Classes grant abilities in line with the skills used to create them. And most people end up no higher than level 25 over the course of their lives."

  "Exceptional individuals can have as many 20 to 25 skills and the true elite such as our king or the elven imperatoris can have 50 skills or more. The highest level individual ever known was Aleksander Andradis, ancient king and founder of the Mondraste Kindgom, at level 144." Having dumped pretty much everything I knew, I looked at him expectantly.

  Stephens let out a small hmphh that sounded somewhere between satisfied and disappointed. "Not bad for a public school education. Now let me fill that in a bit. Average levels and skills are nearly meaningless. Each individual varies wildly. It's more art than science. The first skill granted at awakening tends to set the tone of a person's life."

  "There are theories that the first skill imparted fulfills a deep need within the individual. There is a great deal of circumstantial evidence to support this. My first skill was Scholar's Mind. It increases the intelligence stat primarily but can also perk into memory and recall. I was always a studious child and craved knowledge, so I couldn't have asked for a better initial skill. The counterpoint to that theory is a big strapping lad who gets Dancing. He claims to have always wanted to be a warrior or a blacksmith, but does he have a secret yearning to dance that he'd never admit even under threat of death? We can only suspect."

  "Classes are what we build with the skills we learn. As you stated they require a certain competency in each requisite skill and have much to do the individual. Why doesn't every soldier gain a class? Say Warrior, Stalwart, Bulwark, Ravager, or Dervish to name but a few. Just you do something, even if you do it very well, does not mean it's something you really WANT to do. Most scholars agree that a person has a true passion to do something will that person gain a class for it."

  "We again take myself as an example. I possess the class Learned Scholar. It has abilities to help me absorb and comprehend information many times faster than most people. It also assists in recall and information gathering. Now if I hadn't had a parrion for learning then I do not believe I'd ever have gained my class. A great many circumstances have to align for an individual to be granted a class is what I'm saying. Now, ask any questions you may have."

  That was interesting and filled in a few blanks for me. I still had questions though. "I've always loved reading and gaining knowledge, although I don't believe I'm particularly intelligent and my stats seem to agree. I can use my mind as best I can however."

  "Sir, I may be a fool but I have to believe that there is hope for me. I'll spend my life trying to overcome my restrictions. I may be doomed to fail, but I'll not quit. I don't want you to feel as if I'm wasting your time however, so let's treat this as thought experiment. If you had Advancement and found a way to gain other skills, what would your wishlist be? If you had all options available and were able to curate a list of skills to make you as powerful as possible, what would that list be?"

  A manic gleam came into Stephens's eyes and he cracked a small but satisfied grin for the first time. "Now you're speaking my language."