Awakening & Running- I
"Ark you know it'll become dangerous once you awaken a class, especially if it's a strong one, it's best to stay in the village and work on the farm". My mom was lecturing me in front of the door, about to send me off to work on the farm, but my dad told on me. The day before I asked my father if it would be possible to go to a dungeon or kingdom, and he told me…
(Flashback)
"Listen son when I was 13 I also wanted to go out and explore the world and get a class so when I awakened my strength enhancing class I was extremely happy. After about a year of convincing my mom to leave home and go to Warland Kingdom to discover new opportunities and try out many things.
The very first thing I did is sign up as an adventurer. I already had experience in fighting since my uncle who was a royal knight taught me how to weild a sword for two years. So, I joined a group of adventurers who was taking on an E-rank dungeon, and we were confident in clearing it. We came across two goblins…and those goblins wiped out my entire team, leaving only me".
Ark looked at his father with a mix of confusion and surprise. To think, his father went to Warland Kingdom when he was just 13 and also went inside a dungeon. But just thinking about how only two goblins wiped out almost an entire team is scary, but it somehow doesn't make sense.
"Dad, how did you escape?" Arks father sighed at his question. "Well, before I became an adventurer I met your mother in Warland Kingdom, and we started talking for two months. The day before I was going inside the dungeon, she was the one who gave me a sword and a return stone…she was also the one that helped me through my trauma". Now this was even more shocking news to Ark! His mother who he knew for all his life and never saw leave the village was from Warland Kingdom.
'Why has she never told me this?' though Ark was curious, he would rather not keep questioning his father and bring up not so good memories back. "Ark be certain not to bring this conversation up with your mother, she wanted to talk about this once you were a bit older".
(Flashback End)
"There's no way two goblins wiped out an entire team, it makes absolutely no sense". In the books, it said a single person with basic fighting capabilities could take own two goblins. Plus once you awaken your strength pretty much triples! I hate to say it, but dad must've been weak.
"Hey Ark, stop daydreaming and get to work!" I look over to see Hendrix, the village chief, and he was looking my way. Hendrix was born half orc, so a lot of people looked at him weird, but I heard his parents were mutated because of their ability. He is also the strongest in the village because the class he holds called 'Combat Mage' I personally never seen it but others say its good in short and long range. But other than him his daughter also has a mage related class which I never seen before.
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*Clank clank*
"Why is this rock so hard to break" Ark was trying his best to break a blue colored rock, but it wouldn't break, no matter how many times he hit it. Ark was trying to place some seeds, but the rock was in his way. He didn't exactly need to break the rock, he could just pull it out since the rock was slightly bigger than a pebble. Ark pulled the blue rock out of the ground and was about to throw it, but it suddenly started emitting a bright blue light.
"Wait is this a-" Ark cut himself off and stuffed the bright rock into his pocket, looking around making sure no one saw. Luckily, the sun was out, so nobody saw the rock shining brightly. Ark's heart was beating fast! "It has to be an awakening stone, it matches everything that was said in the book" Ark took a quick peek back at it to confirm his suspicion. Ark was delighted but also confused, but he quickly ran off to his house in excitement to show his mom and dad.
*Huff Huff*
"I made it! Mom and dad will be surprised when I show them the awakening stone" Ark hurriedly opened the door looking for his parents. He went into the kitchen, and they were there, so with a big smile on his face he reached into his pocket grabbing the awakening. "Ark, what are you doing back home? Aren't you supposed to be helping the village chief?" His dad calling him out made him freeze up. His mom also had something to say, "don't tell me you came back wanting to talk about becoming an awakened". Hearing his mom say that ruined his excitement and confidence, so instead of taking out the awakening stone he removed his hand and left it in his pocket.
"No, no I just came back home because my hand was hurting anyway I'll be in my room if you need me" Ark waved and quickly walked upstairs.
••••••
"What do I do with this? They never explained how to use it in the book. Even if I knew, would I still do it? Mom and dad really dislike the idea of awakening. Is it really that dangerous?" Ark was on his bed laying on his back contemplating if he should or shouldn't use the awakening stone. Even if he currently doesn't know how he could easily get answers by asking a random villager. But jokingly he put the awakening stone in his mouth forgetting not too long ago it was in the ground covered in dirt.
*Knock Knock*
His mom opened the door before he got the chance to take the stone out of his mouth. So, he turned around to face the opposite direction of his mom.
"Here Ark there is something I want to give you" Ark slowly turned around and saw his mom holding a black iron sword. In complete shock, Ark swallowed completely forgetting the stone was in his mouth "ugh!". Ark started coughing as he felt pain surging through his muscles and started becoming lightheaded, but the pain started subsiding and Ark started clearing his throat as if he was just choking.
"Why are you so surprised to see a sword? We are not giving you permission to become an adventurer, we are just giving this to you because we feel bad".
His mom then put the sword on his bed and walked out to go finish making dinner. But meanwhile, Ark was in shock and terrified of what he was seeing.
[Name: Ark Synth
Level: 0 (0/100)
Class: Dark Combat Mage (Novice)
Mana: 68/68
Speed: 9
Strength: 9
Stamina: 12
Intelligence: 11
Stat points:
Active Skills: Black Bolt, Flow State
Passive Skills:]
[Flow State: When activated, your movements become fluid, as if being guided by the wind! Adds 7 stat boost to all stats! Last 8 minutes! Uses 40 mana to activate! 2 hour cool down!]
[Black Bolt: When activated, you dash to your opponent with immense speed like a bolt of lightning! 5 mana per use! No cool down!]
Though he was happy to awaken, he wasn't excited about having a dark class. Anyone who awakens a dark class gets killed or taken away. People who awaken a dark class are bound to go down a dark path full of insanity and killing. "I can't believe this…" Ark couldn't hold it in anymore and passed out on his bed.
••••••
(Late at night)
'I can't stay here, but I could if I don't tell anyone what my real class is, but the evaluation orb could reveal my class'. 'I could just pretend I'm not awakened, but then I can't leave and become an adventurer if I don't reveal I have awakened'. "There's only one thing that I could do and that's running away…but I can't just leave my mom and dad" tears started to form in Ark's eyes just thinking of it. He was only 14, he wanted to avoid dying or getting tossed in prison for something he had no control of.
"How about this, I will make a promise to myself that I would come back when I earned a lot of money and became a well-known adventurer".
Ark put his hands together and promised to himself to return when he made it big, while tears fell down his cheeks. "Alright let's go" Ark reached under his bed and grabbed a satchel and string. Luckily, he was given these items because of farm work. A satchel is given to every dedicated farmer, and it comes with a lightweight rune. The rune pretty much makes the item it's attached to lighter. There's only two different types of runes. Detachable and attachable which are the cheap runes and embedded runes which is more expensive and almost impossible to remove whatever it's embedded into.
Ark grabbed the sword, put it inside its sheath, and used the string to tightly tie around his waist. And grabbed two canteens that were full of water and put it into his satchel. He lightly walked downstairs and looked around for anything he could grab. He saw a map nailed to the wall and since he couldn't take the nail out, he had to rip it off while trying not to mess it up. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a few hard bread…well almost all of it and was about to leave. "Wait, I'm going to need money! But I could make money when I become an adventurer, but I'm also going to need a place to stay when I arrive at the kingdom". Ark kept apologizing in his head as he snuck into his parent's room and saw a cabinet next to the bed. He slowly walked towards the cabinet and stepped lightly on the floorboards and slowly opened the cabinet. There were 12 pouches and Ark took three but thought about it again and decided to take another one 'I promise I will pay it back' he stuffed the pouches in his satchel and left the room.
Ark made just a few more preparations before he left. He had a sword, satchel, canteens, food, money, and he changed his clothes. He was now wearing a black long sleeve top, black pants, gray boots, and a black and gray fur overcoat. He wanted to look older and not appear like a commoner when he reached the kingdom.
Ark double-checked one last time before he left the house. "Alright time to set out" Ark closed the front door and started walking straight as he saw in the map.
*Thump*
Ark dropped to his knees. His throat started to feel tight and tears started to form. He was scared and nervous, but he forced himself back up and started running towards the woods without looking back.