Rivington District, Outer City of Baldur's Gate
Today was the Annual Awakening Day organized by the district council.
It was a ceremony to connect the soul to Yogomaya.
Yogomaya was the mental plane, where all universal events, thoughts, words and intents ever to occur in the past, present and future were encoded. It had its own consciousness developed through eons.
An unique account would be created for every awakened individual with six core stat points assigned randomly. The individual's race would affect the stat points and background would affect the skill proficiencies.
1. Strength (STR) : Indicates Physical Power
2. Dexterity (DEX) : Measures Agility and Balance
3. Constitution (CON) : Determines how much one can withstand
4. Intelligence (INT) : Measures how much information can be retained and understood
5. Wisdom (WIS) : Determines a person's intuition and common sense.
6. Charisma (CHR) : Determines how well one influences others.
During the awakening, they could choose the skills with the guidance of Yogomaya.
The growth of Awakened Beings was bloody. They could increase their skill proficiency with training; but improving their core stats needed a completely different way. It needed soul energy which could only be gained by killing others. Every living being had soul energy. Stronger the being, higher the soul energy.
When an awakened being killed another, a portion of the soul energy was absorbed by the awakened. The rest energy returned to the world. The absorbed soul energy was termed as XP in the status window of the Awakened's account. Enough accumulation leaded to the improvement of stats and proficiencies. This was called level up; each advancement strengthened the connection between Yogomaya and the awakened.
This resulted in constant wars - between clans, races, kingdoms, empires and even realms . Strong wanted to be stronger , and war was the only way.
In the known history of over 10000 years in the Faerûn Continent, the awakened persons had been being valued more and more. Only one in thousand might be awakened. They had been playing crucial role in survival and growth in the everlasting wars and conflicts among different races.
Due to this , even commoners would look forward to their children becoming 16 year old and awakening. Because if their children became awakened - it would benefit the whole family.
It was dawn, the street infront of the District Council was flooded with teenagers and their guardians.
Many parents and teens were exiting the district council. Most of them looked disappointed, but occasionally one or two seemed overjoyed. Obviously their awakening was successful - making others jealous.
A guard walked out from the Council Building with a list in hand and shouted, "Xiao Fang "
"I'm here," a teenage boy raised his hand with excitement. He had a pair of large eyes filled with longing for future. His head was full of short black hairs, but if looked closely, some white hairs could be noticed. His stature was slightly smaller and thinner than others of the same age. With the commoners outfit, he didn't stand out at all in the crowd.
"Follow me," The guard said apathetically and quickly turned around. He looked tired dealing with all the participants.
Xiao Fang hastened to catch up with the guard.
The guard took him to a small hall. Fang noticed a complex magical circle drawn on a pedestal that looked portable. A middle aged man in black robe was standing near it. A round ornate badge with silver hue and golden background was attached to his robe on chest . Two letters A and G was engraved in it indicating the man was from Adventurer's Guild.
Rivington District was underdeveloped, it lacked own facility to perform awaken ceremony. And the District Council would invite personnels from Adventurer's Guild Branch in Baldur's Gate each year to perform the ceremony .
The Adventurer's Guild was a distinguished organization with branches throughout the Faerûn. Little was known about it's origin. It would take contracts and jobs from various people, governments and entities ; and assign their members to take care of them. Many odd yet capable awakened individuals joined the organization
"Hello," Xiao Fang politely greeted.
The man said with a gentle smile, "Come here, boy ! Hold this orb in your right hand and stand on that arcane circle. Concentrate on the orb and try to see through the smoke inside it"
Xiao Fang took the orb, it was quite big, transparent, and seemed like filled with smoke which was circulating slowly. He nervously stood at the middle of arcane circle and focused on the orb.
The Elder directed his hand to the arcane circle, a gentle golden light shone from his hand. The lines in the circle became more vibrant - a strong and revitalizing energy crept through Xiao Fang's feet to his body and entered his heart . His body trembled, he struggled to hold on, as he felt like being electrocuted . His vision got blurred , no matter how much he tried to see through the orb, it didn't reveal anything.
After sometime, the arcane circle dimmed, and the energy flow stopped gradually. Xiao Fang could clearly see again.
"Sorry Child, your awakening failed ," the Elder said in a disappointed tone.
Xiao Fang's lips quivered, his tiny heart was filled with intense sadness and frustration.
"Thanks for your effort , Venerable Elder," he bowed , then turned to exit
He exited the district council area and started walking along the road . After fifteen minutes of walking, he reached a shabby orphanage, located just by the River Chionther. He was living there from age 6, his father dropped him here and promised to be back soon and take him home . It had been 10 years, his father didn't come back .
Xiao Fang entered his room and closed the door. He went under the bed and removed a tile from the floor, which would go unnoticed even in open place if not checked specifically.
He took out a Wooden Jwellery Box from the hole. It was given to him by his father, Fang Yuan. He said that it was from Xiao Fang's mother . And to not open it before the awakening ceremony.
Xiao Fang, opened the box, there was a letter, a silver ring and a pouch containing 200 gold pieces. He opened the letter -
"Xiao Xiao,
Forgive your mother, I couldn't be there to see you becoming such a handsome young man. Mother loves you a lot, just helpless . I had to leave to ensure your and your father's safety.
You have seen the ring, right ? It's an artifact that connects your soul to Yogomaya. Whether your awakening ceremony is successful or not, you should equip it. Drop your blood on the ring, it will be bound to you.
Remember , if you were not awakened in the ceremony, you will be awakened after equipping the ring. And don't reveal this, as it will create suspicion and invite unwanted troubles.
We will meet soon, Xiao'er. Give mother some time. Take care. Love you
/Your Mother"
Xiao Fang closed the letter carefully, as if he was handling with a delicate treasure. He then pricked his finger and let a blood drop fell on it .
Connection Successful
A blue screen appeared in front of his eyes. And string of words written in it.
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Name : Fang Hao
Race : Human
Class : Undetermined
Level : 01
XP : 0/299
Armor Class (AC) : 13
Hit Point (HP) : 10
Strength (STR) : 13
Dexterity (DEX) : 16
Constitution (CON) : 14
Intelligence (INT) : 15
Wisdom (WIS) : 11
Charisma (CHR) : 9
1 Destiny Point : Every adventurer had a destiny. Destiny Points represented the twists and turns of fate that allowed adventurers to be heroic, or to escape danger by the skin of their teeth. It might be the only thing that could save an adventurer's life in a challenging situation.Destiny Point (DP) : 05
What class do you want to choose ?
A list of classes appeared in the screen. There were 10 classes with short description. Fang read the information carefully and found out that he had only four viable classes to choose from considering his low wisdom and charisma. The classes were - Rogue, Fighter, Ranger and Barbarian.
"Rogue," Fang made his choice
"My dexterity stat is highest. I have to keep my awakened ability hidden. My parents have background that they can't share to current me. It's better that I walk in Shadows ," Xiao Fang thought.
Rogue class is selected. Updating account (25%) ...
Torrents of information started to appear in Xiao Fang's mind.
Armor Proficiency : Light Armor
Weapon Proficiency : Simple Weapons, hand crossbows, rapiers, long swords, short swords
Tools : Thieve's tools
The individual is abandoned by family and grew up in orphanage.
Skill Proficiency from the Background : Athletics, Perception
Select 4 skills from Acrobatics (DEX), Deception (CHR), Insight (WIS), Intimidation (CHR), Investigation (Int), Performance (CHR), Persuasion (CHR), Sleight of Hand (DEX) and Stealth (DEX)
Fang smiled bitterly; four skills were related to Charisma.
"Acrobatics, Investigation, Deception and Stealth," Fang selected four skills after some thought.
Updating (75%) ...
Select two expertise - either two of the skills you are proficient or one skill and thieves' tool proficiency
"Stealth and Thieves' Tool."
Updating (90%)...
Senses :
Perception 12,
Investigation 14,
Insight 11.
Skills :
a) Sneak Attack (level 1) : Can strike subtly and exploit Foe's distraction. Damage : 1-6
b) Thieves' Can't : Ability to hide messages in seemingly normal conversation with a secret mix of dialect, jargon and code. Only another creature that knows the skill can understand such message. It takes four times longer the time to convey such message. Also ability to communicate via short simple message with secret set of signs and symbols.
Updating Complete.
You are successfully awakened.
He checked his stats :
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Name: Xiao Fang
Race : Human
Class : Rogue
Level : 01
XP : 0/299
Armor Class (AC) : 13
Hit Point (HP) : 10
Strength (STR) : 13
Dexterity (DEX) : 16
Constitution (CON) : 14
Intelligence (INT) : 15
Wisdom (WIS) : 11
Charisma (CHA) : 9
Destiny Point (DP) : 5
Skill Proficiencies : Acrobatics (level 5), Athletics (level 3), Deception (level 1), Investigation (level 5), Perception (level 2), Stealth (level 7)
Senses : Perception 12, Investigation 14, Insight 11
He started thinking about his next course of plan. "I should leave this place. Here, I'll be restricted with all this secrets. I should go to a place where nobody knows me, then I won't have to walk on such thin line"
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Fang read the information carefully and found out that he had only four viable classes to choose from considering his low wisdom and charisma. The classes were - Rogue, Fighter, Ranger and Barbarian.
The MC has almost ideal stats for a wizard, but the author doesn't know it. And this is only the beginning. Nah, bye.
hello author, is the world influenced by Chinese civilization? To be honest, I've never read Chinese novels, so I feel weird about the names.
No , it's Forgotten Realms - campaign settings of D&D role-play. You know, the world of Baldur's Gate game series
The Character Names are influenced by Asian Origin. MC's name - surely influenced by Chinese Wuxia. Its same as the MC of I Shall Seal The Heavens by Er Gen. You can try the novel, a masterpiece. Well all of the Er Gen's works are considered master piece and greatly influenced CN novels
@Roktobiz hmm I don't hate Chinese Novels, I just don't like the world background which is all about China. I will try to read your novel. Will mc ever have a harem?
@yb48 Yeah, I planned for few arcs and MC will find new love in each.
@Roktobiz good to hear that, i hate mc who only has a goal to be strong and don't care about women.