2 Awaken

Waking up in the morning, Aser felt like he had the best sleep ever. His body was brimming with energy and excitement, and he could feel different from the day before. He felt more active, his thoughts clearer, his senses heightened. As Aser looked around his little room, he felt as if it was a brand new world. He knew that his System was activated, but was confused on how to use it. No one told him the exact process, they all said that he would know when he has it.

[Indeed Aser, you will know how to use it through me!]

"Woah, who's there?!"

[Good Morning Aser, I'm your System. You should be able to hear me, unless your auditory signals have been disrupted due to any unforeseen injuries. Let me run a quick bio-check.]

Aser felt his whole body go cold, as if a soft brush was pasting over each muscle and fibre. He felt confused at first, but quickly ascertained that the person speaking was in his head.

[That's right Aser! I am in your head, or more clearly I am a part of you.]

"So, you're my system? Should I just call you System? Seems kind of weird."

[You can call me however you want, although if you would like my preference, I would like to go by my gene name, Ashes.]

"Hmm, Ashes? Wait, that sounds like a girl's name!"

[Aser, I don't have any particular biology unlike mortals, but I do have my own thoughts. The way you hear my voice is determined by you. If I sound like a girl, then it is because that is how you perceive my thoughts.]

"Alright, I get it. So, what do I do now?"

[Easy, right now we can only communicate via thought because we haven't initialized your mental processes yet. Your genes responsible for viewing System statistics aren't active. To activate them, you need to look into your mind. Don't just see with your eyes, see with your mind and search for the gateway. Once you find it, step into the gate and start controlling it. After you control it, feel the energies surrounding your mind and guide it across your body. It shouldn't be too difficult for you since we can already share thoughts. You have a rather active mind Aser, you are very talented from what my database tells me.]

"Oh really?", Aser grinned from the praise. "Wait, database? What's that?"

[I'm not wholly sure. I seem to be able to access large amounts of information from the essence in the world. From what I can find, normally, Systems are only able to see and feel what the user is, but I can read into the world's essence and read its history on a general sense. From what I can gather, this is a unique ability that you unlocked. We'll know further once you completely activate your genes.]

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan. I'm just really excited, but lets do this step by step." Aser replied as he sat down cross-legged on top of his bed, closing his eyes and focusing on his mind.

At first, he could only see darkness, but then he remembered what Ashes had told him. So he tried to think about what it was like to see with his mind and not his eyes. The moment he thought about finding a gate, the world grew bright. He was in an empty space, with no skies, no soil, no one other than him. He saw himself floating there wearing what he was wearing in real life. It was amazing, he felt so free like he could float anywhere and everywhere in this world.

[Hi Aser, welcome to your mind. That was remarkably fast, but now you need to find the gate.]

Aser tried thinking about this gate again, and immediately he saw a brilliant star floating in front of him. The size of the star wasn't large, it was silver-blue in color, and had five points. He went closer to the star and tried to touch it. The moment his hand landed on top of the star, a sharp cooling fragrance drifted throughout his body as the light enveloped him once more.

After some time, Aser opened his eyes and looked confused. He tried to think back on the star and the sight that greeted him caused him to jump off the bed!

[Name: Aser Sholt]

[System Class: Mind's Eye - Ashes]

[Attributes: Str(6), Con(5), Dex(6), Int(14), Chr(4)]

[Age: 7]

[Race: Human]

[Rank: Unknown Level 0]

Essence to Unknown Level 1: 0/100

Knowledge:

Southern Seas topography

Shelfield Seas topography

General History of the Enlightenment Era

General Descriptions of Aquatic Beasts

Skills:

Mind's Eye (S): Your body has unlocked the mind's eye. Your inner eye allows you to sense the [Essence History] around your surroundings, changing it into knowledge. [+5 Base Int]

Starlight (S): The starlight is your friend, you are blessed by the stars and have gained their trust. [+2 Int per rank]

As he looked over his statistics, Aser felt like he was in a dream. How did this happen, what is [Mind's Eye]? What is [Starlight]? This isn't normal, is it?

[You're correct Aser. This isn't normal. Like I said, you seem to be exceedingly talented. I don't know why, but you have already received a Blessing and an Innate Skill.]

"Wait, what's a Blessing? And I thought most people only get an Innate Skill after they rank up-to Initiate? Why am I different?"

[I don't know Aser, although I believe we will find out as we grow stronger. A Blessing is another type of Innate Skill, but one that was bestowed upon you by World's Essence. For now I believe you should go ask Sister Tully to take you to get your test done. That will allow you to get into the Shelfield City Guild School, where we can learn further information.]

"You're right. No point in worrying about it. I do feel like I can think a lot faster, but I guess that is the effect of the [Mind's Eye]. In fact, if I already have a 14 Base Int, then it must mean that I had 9 Int before the skill got activated!"

[Indeed, it seems like that is what happened. An average human adult should have 8-10 statistics in each of his or her Attributes. But it seems as if you had been naturally endowed with a much higher intelligence than the average adult. Even though you are gifted, let us not get complacent as you have to remember that you are still 7 years old. Reading from the surrounding [Essence History], most children need to go through formal education for at least 5 years before being allowed into a Guild. We have a lot of work ahead of us Aser.]

"You're right Ashes, but this is still incredible! I can't wait!" Aser said to himself as he got off from bed and ran out of his room to find Sister Tully.

Across the hallway from his little room was the kitchen. As he stepped out, he saw Sister Tully baking some fresh bread in the oven. The smell of the loaf drifting across the building had him salivating. As Sister Tully saw Aser poking his head out of the door, she called him over.

"Good morning Aser! How are you feeling? Did you go through your initiation?"

"Morning Sister Tully! I feel great! I feel like everything is so much brighter! And yep, I got through my initiation, Ashes helped me with it!"

"Oh, is Ashes your System's name?"

"Yup!"

"Thats good, now come have breakfast. Once the others are up and Mrs. River comes in, I can take you to the Test Center to have you certified."

Aser nodded as he sat down to eat a slice of bread with some rice gruel. The whole meal tasted magnificent. Sister Tully even gave him a whole apple. As he started eating, the other kids slowly woke up and came into the kitchen.

The orphanage only had children that were younger than 7 years old. After the children awaken their System, they usually live in the Guild School Dormitories year round, and come back during the holidays. For all the children of the orphanage, this is their home. Sister Tully is their mother, father, caretaker and sister. The other children are their brothers and sisters. With such a big family, even if the conditions are poor, most of the children are happy.

Finishing his breakfast, Aser got up and went to clean up. Even though he didn't feel dirty like usual, he still thought it would be best to at least wash up. He washed his hands, feet and face and went to his little room to change out of his clothes. He decided to wear his best clothes today, a nice fitting white button up shirt with some loose brown short pants that he got for New Years last year. He even brushed his hair with his fingers in front of the mirror until he was satisfied. Walking out of his room again, he saw Sister Tully talking with Aunt River. Seeing Aser come out, Sister Tully smiled and waved him over as they headed out into the streets.

Shelfield Coast City was a large city structured according to its geography. The city center where most of the large Guilds and official buildings is located close to the harbor in the east of the island. The orphanage was situated near the south, along with a lot of private residences for other commoners. Most of the people in the South District worked in the city, and thus didn't need to be near the harbor as often. West of the island housed the biggest markets and entertainment for visitors and tourists and North was where the Island's aristocratic and the rich lived. In the past, the whole Island used to be a center for Demonic Beast activities, but as the human population in the Shelfield Seas thrived, the island was cleared and has been largely converted for human habitation. The whole Shelfield Island was akin to a giant metropolitan.

Aser and Sister Tully walked through the picturesque city as they saw the daily workers getting on with their jobs. The milkmen went to each of the residences and delivered a packet of milk, while the porters got their horses washed and ready, and their carriages cleaned. As they got near the city center, they started seeing the office workers hurrying into the stone buildings and the local Enforcement Squad having breakfast at the roadside stalls. Such a lively scene of a bustling and prosperous city would make anyone cheerful.

Approaching the city center, Aser saw a grand tower come in view. Normally, the tower is visible from anywhere in the city, but Aser was only able to see it now due to his height. The tower was triangular in structure, like a thin pyramid from the ancient times. Each of its stone floors went higher and higher, and it was painted silver white to reflect its majesty. At the entrance of the tower, similar aged children were lining up with their parents and guardians ready to be tested. This was a common scene for Shelfield Coast City. With a population of around 800,000 people, and a constant rate of flow of about 100,000 foreigners going in and out of the city, the Test Center would test around 50 to 80 children everyday. Although seemingly not a large number, if counted on a scale of a year, it is close 30,000 children that awaken their system in this single city every year.

Thankfully, Sister Tully made sure to come by early, so they weren't that far in line. Only 20 other families were in front of them and hopefully they would be ushered in relatively soon. Most of the people lining up were commoners. If any of the noble children needed to get tested, their families would usually have the Crystal in their estates.

Aser looked around curiously towards the other children in line and the attendant registering each of the children in front. This wasn't the first time Aser came to the Test Center. He had been here a few times in fact when the children older than him from the orphanage were getting tested. Usually, you would need to first register your name with the attendant, after which they would lead you to a private chamber affixed with a Crystal.

The Crystal, or technically known as the Analysis Matrix Crystal, allowed for the Guild to register System owners into their System Data Matrix. Once a person is registered, the Guilds across the continent can then look up their information (given sufficient rights and reason), allowing for that person to only need subsequent tests when the user wants to update the Data Matrix.

Generally, people would go to the Test Center's update floor located above the testing floor to update their data. The Guild provides this service to all of humanity free of charge, protecting employers and schools from fraud and the users themselves ease of use. After the first time getting tested, the workers at the Test Center would give the children a crystal card containing their System information. Aser didn't know how, but the crystal cards can only be used by the person owning the system due to a System-Bio Authentication Matrix embedded into it. With it, you would be easily able to identify yourself, as well as join various groups such as the Schools and Guilds, as well as different merchant groups and companies.

Aser had learnt that crystal technology was introduced to this world with the Enlightenment of the System, that all of it somehow naturally fell into process. Of course, the Matrices developed from crystals were refined by specialized Crafters in the subsequent years, and the processes further defined by the ruling figures of Gigantis. He had once asked Uncle River (Aunt River's husband) why crystal technology isn't used in more places, and the answer he received shocked him. To produce one crystal card for each individual having their system tested at 7 years old, one of the more simpler products of crystal technology, it costs the guilds 50 Gold Notes. That was an astounding figure! Most commoners wouldn't earn 10 Gold Notes in a year! And as such, even though technology has advanced a lot over the past 3000 years since the start of the Enlightenment Era, it wasn't able to come into the hands of commoners and the general Unknown populace due to its high-end cost.

"Next!" Aser heard someone calling him. As these thoughts drifted across Aser's head, unknowingly it was his turn for the test!