The Day of Awakening

Tens of people crowded a large hall, adorned with tall, marble pillars and stained glass windows.

"Did you hear? The first princess awakened a powerful Specialist-type talent!"

"Are you serious? Specialists are extremely rare!"

"It's true, my reliable friend said it himself!"

"I would be satisfied with just a mediocre Combat-type talent..."

These people were all young adults, preparing to awaken their own supernatural talents.

At 18 years old, everyone in this world had the opportunity to awaken a talent. And now, it was Alaric's turn. The ability to command flames, heal the injured, or even resurrect the dead; these were all possibilities.

Some people seemed anxious, others confident.

This scene hardly surprised Alaric. After being reborn in this world 18 years ago, he had plenty of time to adjust.

For the last 18 years, he had studied for the future. What abilities exist, their categories and famous people of the past were all things he studied intensely. This allowed him to become known as a prodigy in his home village.

Alaric smirked, "Today is the day my story begins!"

Right now, Alaric was directly in front of what was known as an "awakening crystal." These spheres, formed in areas of high-density mana, were often used to stimulate the latent talents that everyone had, thus awakening them.

These crystals were almost completely monopolized by the kingdom. As such, peasants such as Alaric had to go to a specific government building, an "awakening station," to gain access to one. Luckily, it was free.

A government employee stood opposite Alaric— holding the awakening crystal.

"Simply send your mana into this crystal, and your talent will be recorded upon it." the employee said.

Mana was a commonplace energy source in this world, and everyone had latent mana reserves. Controlling mana could be said to be as easy as moving one's arm.

Alaric laid his hand upon the crystal, directing his mana inside of it.

It glowed. The originally violet crystal began glowing yellow!

The employee raised his eyebrows, "Oh? A yellow glow means that you have awakened a Lord-type talent!"

A person's supernatural talent could be separated into four different categories! Combat talents, Support talents, Lord talents, and Specialist talents.

The line of people behind Alaric began to murmur.

"A Lord-type has awakened?"

"That lucky bastard! No matter how weak, he can still command a legion!"

"Another prodigy has been born in our kingdom..."

Alaric paused and thought to himself, 'The Lord category contains talents that allow an individual to control a group of entities to do their bidding...'

The employee seemed impressed, "Your parents are sure to be proud! Lords are quite rare! The empire may even try to bring you into their ranks!"

"Well, that depends on the talent itself," Alaric said, unphased.

Looking deep into the crystal, the employee said, "Worry not, the crystal shall record the details of your ability soon."

The crystal soon began glowing again, a set of words appearing within the crystal

[AUTHORITY AMONG SLIMES]

Alaric's eyes widened, 'Fuck!'

The government employee sighed, "Well... it is better than some of the talents I've seen today. Don't sell yourself short."

The murmurs of the other people in line began.

"Doesn't he seem disappointed? He got a Lord-type talent!"

The young man directly behind Alaric exclaimed, "He may have gotten a Lord-type talent, but it's only an authority over slimes!"

"Slimes?"

"The weakest of all magical beasts, those slimes?"

"And it's authority! Not control! The slimes might eat him up if he displeases them!"

Everyone began laughing. Maybe because they were happy to see a prodigy fall, or maybe because they were simply bandwagoning.

"Alright, you may leave the station now."

Alaric pursed his lips and responded, "Yes sir."

Alaric made his way towards the exit, hearing something about a young man awakening the "Water Control" combat talent on his way out.

…

"Well, this sucks," Alaric sighed.

He was walking down the street, to the carriage station. A place where one could buy the services of a carriage driver in order to travel.

Of the four talent categories, Specialist-types are considered the ones with the most potential, while Lord-types are consistently the most powerful. Even weaker Lord-types can become famous within the kingdom.

The goblin-king of the west, the great kobold general, and even the kingdom's great magus is a necromancer.

Alaric seemed to be the exception. His talent was "Authority Among Slimes," meaning that he could issue commands and slimes would feel more inclined to listen. Slimes had little to no intelligence, so, even if he gave them orders they may not understand him.

He'd still be considered impressive if he awakened "Control Over Slimes" or something of the sort, but this was pathetic.

'It'll be fine. After all, weren't slimes in my previous life portrayed as powerful in multiple mediums?'

Slimes were considered the weakest monsters in the world because of their apparent inability to evolve. Every monster had the innate ability to evolve into something more powerful, and even gain the ability to reason... except for slimes.

Alaric had some ideas about this and wanted to get back to his village and try immediately. There was a slime colony very near his home.

"Driver here! I'll bring you anywhere, even to the Great Dragon's den!"

After walking for a while, Alaric seemed to have finally arrived at the carriage station. Here, drivers would advertise their services and riders would find a way to arrive home.

Most carriages available were small and pulled along by horses or mules. Some larger carriages carried families, being pulled by large reptilians, called "False Dragons," instead.

Of course, Alaric's village was far too poor to gather enough funds to afford the False Dragon carriages. He would have to travel by horse again.

Soon, he found a suitable driver.

"Hello, I would like to get a ride back to my village," Alaric said, rather formally.

The driver brought his attention to Alaric, his ragged clothes and uncut hair swaying as he did, "The name's Derk. My babies are a bit on the slower side, but it'll help ya to save some money. Distance?"

To be working such a job as a carriage driver, with slower-than-average mules, Derk must have failed to awaken. Everyone can awaken an ability, yes, but if you are 24 hours later than your 18th birthday when arriving at the awakening station... the awakening has a chance to fail.

"Just what I'm looking for. The destination is about 120 kilometers south. Known as Forger Village."

"About 4 days travel. My price is 50 copper coins per day. Got it?"

'200 copper coins total... I have 300, thanks to the village pooling their money together to support me.' Alaric thought.

"Of course. I'm Alaric by the way, let's have a safe journey."