I am freaking out.

Why did this suddenly happen?

I became a Blessed!? How? Why? Okay... calm down first... let's think.

Blessed are those who are favored by the Gods. They can rise higher than even the best of Awakened. Blessings were just that good. Usually, Blessings are granted to young children before the age of 10. The reason because children are easy to influence.

Yep, Blessed are meant to embody the God that granted them the blessing. These children will grow up, being influenced by their God's will so they became more aligned with their patron ideals and purposes. That's why Blesseds are dangerous. Blessed children need to be harshly scrutinized, especially their Stigma. The Temple needs to know if the God that granted the blessing is a good and safe God or not. If the God that granted the Blessing is a God of Annihilation or something, then that Blessed child must be executed. It is unfortunate, but it is the only way. If they reach the age when they can awaken, they will automatically do so, causing the dormant Stigma to activate.

And Stigma activation can be very volatile. My Stigma seems to only cause a little light show, but I know about an activation that caused an entire forest to rot and fester, killing all living beings in it. The child was a Blessed of O-mir, God of Decay, and the Stigma's power was too hard for the kid to control.

It caused such widespread destruction that was heard of by the entire continent. The child's parents were afraid that the Stigma would cause their kid to be executed, so they hide her instead. In the end, the Empire had to send an entire battalion of Knights equipped with powerful life wards to be able to reach her and execute her. A tragedy that is known to all, and a cautionary tale about how Stigma could go out of control really fast.

But what is important is that I gain a Stigma. I, an Awakened, had gained a Stigma somehow. I'm already 16 years old this year, so it is really strange. Well, it's not unheard of. When a person, Awakened or not, gains the approval of a God, that God might be willing to Bless that person. But I did nothing to prove myself to a God, but somehow gain it regardless.

I look at the Stigma that is branded on the back of my right hand. It looks like an overflowing chalice of sorts, framed within a complete circle. The chalice and circle are adorned with simple depictions of some vines growing around them. The entire Stigma is colored in gold, like golden threads were seamlessly sown onto my skin. When I touch it and close my eyes, I could almost hear laughter and music emanating from it.

Blessed, since they are influenced by the Gods, have a chance to become a Hero or a Villain. It was the same in the game too. All Heroes that are collectible in the game and all the most notable and notorious Villains are Blessed. Even if one were to be Blessed with a good god, they could become villains if their interpretation of their God's view is twisted. One Villain, in particular, is a Blessed of Seira, Goddess of Mercy, who decided that the greatest mercy one could hope to gain is to return to their Gods, aka dying. So this guy went on a rampage until the protagonist stopped him. But that is extremely rare. Normally, good Gods tend to bless Heroes, while evil Gods tend to bless Villains.

Am I somehow a secret Hero that the protagonist hadn't met yet, or a Villain destined to be destroyed?

This is bad. I don't know now.

I thought I was a mob, but I'm a secret character instead!?

Wait. Blessed have a chance to become a Hero or a Villain. A chance. Not all Stigma are created equal, after all.

I need to calm down.

Yes, my Stigma might be weak or useless. Sometimes it happens. These Stigmas are considered jokes or pranks from the Gods. Even so, this is better. The stronger a Stigma is, the heavier its influence. I don't want to suddenly have all my values and ideals changed because my Stigma is too heavy. If it is just somewhat useful, it will be good. It might be what I need to complete my objective.

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced. Yes, I might still be a mob after all. I honestly don't want to be a Hero. The world in the games is different from the real world. Heroes have to fight desperately against powerful Villains so their chance of dying is high. Even though all the Heroes you can collect in the game won't die, I'm not a character that is collectible. So the chances of me dying as a Hero is high. But if my Stigma is weak, I can rest easy that I'm not going to become some cannon fodder. Well, the only way to know is to check

'Skills'

Welp, I'm dead. My Stigma is A rank. A rank is where juvenile dragons are at. You meant to say that it is that strong! Oh my god!!

Shakily, I willed it to show me more detail.

I am confused again.

Why is this rated A rank? It doesn't even do anything! It just gives me a portable Focus and infinite drinking wine for some reason? Am I supposed to kill my opponent with alcohol poisoning? The Focus is nice, but it uses Presence, a stat that is hard to raise, and it's somehow a musical instrument? I don't know how to play any music. I have been training to be a Knight my whole life, when do I even have time to practice music.

No, wait.

Is it because?

No way right?! No way!

But that was my past life!

I was a musician in my past life. I know this because I had seen 'me' playing music and writing it down. But that was it. I only saw it. I have no idea how to do it myself. Arg!! Curse my previous life self! How dare you influence my blessing like this, 'me'!

Urg... I'm growing madder by the day. Not only am I basing my future plans on some memories about some random game that I played in my past life, but I'm also now even cursing, what, my past life's soul? Or since I reincarnated here, is it, my soul, then? Or could it be that we're not even related and I somehow gain some random guy's memories?

Ok, need to stop now. Existential questions about souls and how it works can be answered later. Preferably not by me.

So. Even though my Stigma is ranked A, it's still somewhat useless? So am I safe after all? Argg! All this thinking is hard. I'm not a smart person. I need to find some help to decide what to do next, and I know just the person to ask.

===

I open the door to my room and peer out. Darkened hallways greeted my sight.

It's still quite early in the morning, after all, so I'll need to be a little quiet unless I want to run into the nightguards.

The Academy has 1 dorm building for each year, and it's all mixed. You can imagine a bunch of hormonal teens living together could lead to many unfortunate 'accidents'. That's why the curfew is very strict, and nightguards roam the halls to keep the student's bits in their pants.

Instead of gender, the dorm rooms are separated by overall grades. The better your academic results, the higher you'll stay and the better your dorm room. This is meant to encourage students to work harder for better accommodations, but there's another way to get to the top dorm. Money. Loads of money and influence. With enough of it, your children can also mingle with the future leaders of the Kingdom, even if their score is the worst possible. Well, some only do it to spoil their child rotten. I myself am staying in a bottom dorm at the Mage half of the building. And I need to get to the top floor of this 5-floor complex.

As quietly as I can, I began to sneak out of my room.

The darkness of early morning became my greatest friend, as I tried to hide among the shadows cast by eternally lit lanterns running along the hallway. I keep my center lowered, my eyes and ears alert to any bit of noise or shadows. I thought about waiting until we're allowed to go outside to meet up with Yermen, but I feel like this is a major issue that needs to be addressed quickly and quietly. Hence my decision to sneak out. I hadn't tried to sneak out here before, but I do have some experience. I used to sneak out to play pranks on my dad and bros at home all the time, and I've never been caught, so I have some confidence in my abilities.

As I crept along the hallway, every minute seems to stretch on forever. Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps echo in front of me, breaking the silence of the early morning. Keeping myself calm, I quickly look around for any place that can hide me. All I see are rows of doors leading to other dorm rooms. The Academy must have designed this place to make it harder for students to sneak out, I realize. The walls are sparsely decorated, and there are no nooks or hovels, or pillars that can hide a taller guy like me.

Hmm. Need to stay calm.

I can feel my heart beating faster, but panicking now means that I'm screwed. I'm too far from my own dorm to sneak past in, so that's a no. There is the boys' communal shower in front that maybe I can hide in, but that will bring me closer to the sound. That seems to be the only choice though.

Decision made, I move faster than before, making sure to keep my footsteps light. Moving forward was nerve-wracking, as I seem to be running headfirst into danger again. Thankfully, the door to the bathroom is slightly opened, so I don't have to turn the door handle. Seeing salvation in sight, I rushed a little at the end. As I swiftly enter the door, I tried to return it to its previous location. That was a mistake, as the door groaned slightly as I did it. Though normally, it would have been a soft, unnoticeable sound, the silence of the surrounding makes the sound feels louder than any alarm. Panicking for real now, I stopped what I was doing and hide in the nearest shower room.

There I wait, cornered and helpless. I held my breath anxiously as the sound of a footstep stopped right in front of the bathroom door.

"Hmm." came a voice of a man. After what seems like an hour of silence but maybe only for a minute, the sounds of a door creaking can be heard again.

"Must be the wind. Need to fix this though."

Hearing the man's grumble, I almost collapse in relief. Letting out the breath I held, I waited as the footsteps move away until I can no longer hear them. Only then did I slowly begin to move out of the shower room and into the stairway right next to it.

Thankfully, the stairs are quite empty, the nightguards seem to only patrol the hallways mostly.

When I reach the top of the stair, I lean myself against the door separating the stairs and hallway to listen for any more patrols. Almost immediately, I hear a set of footsteps walking towards my location from the Knights' side of the dorm. As I'm waiting for it to pass, I hear another sound of a door opening underneath me.

Shit!

A nightguard must have entered the stairway, and from what I can tell, they must be at least on the 3rd floor and are going up instead of down. I'm fucked. If I open this door, I'll get spotted right away, the footsteps in the hallway are already close. I can't run down either. Thinking as hard as I can, I only have one way out of this.

Waiting for the person in the hallways to reach closer, I intentionally rattle the door handle a bit. This caused both the footsteps to pause for a moment, before they quickly converge towards me. This is what I was waiting for, as the moment the person in the hall reached the door, I push it open as hard as I could. The person behind let out a yelp as the door slammed into them, as I belatedly realized that the person was a woman.

Not daring to waste a moment, I bolted towards Yermen's door, my feet pounded on the floor.

Knocking quickly on the door, a voice sounded from within the room

"Who's there?"

"It's me!" I hastily replied.

After but a moment, perhaps sensing my urgency, the door was swiftly opened. I quickly shuffle in, just in time to hear a female voice asking in concern

"Oh gosh! Are you okay?"