The heavens shook with anger, and lightning crashed with a vengeance. On this day, a character of uncontrollable ambition was born. In the thriving village of Chippie, a woodworking village, they were experiencing their worst storm to date. The pristine wooden houses could barely contain the ravaging winds.

Here, in a shaking house, screamed a newborn child. Above him stood his new parents: an uncontrollable look of relief and happiness shone on their faces.

"What should we call him?" Asked the Mother.

Looking out into the torrential storm, the Father said, "We shall call him...

Seth."

 

11 years later...

 

The village of Chippie was fairly prosperous, it had a booming workforce that made strides in its nation's woodworking industry. In this village of about 400, was a family of 3 and in this family, lay Seth.

In his bed, as always, was the young boy who was procrastinating about his previous life. The difference between the two was as vast as the great Pacific Ocean or in this world the Great Voydenar Ocean. Laying in a bed of straw was a new experience, one he had been trying to get used to for years now, but it just never felt right.

Yet, as the sun rose higher, and the day began to start; he knew he had to get to work. So, he got dressed in rustic clothing and flipped his black hair over his head, trying his best to at least look presentable to his fellow villagers.

Blue eyes gazed at the sky as he flew out the door, not forgetting to wash his teeth beforehand, which was done using a saltwater solution and a rag. This was barely as helpful as his previous life's toothbrush and toothpaste but alas, toothache was a known threat and he had certainly felt it before, so he thoroughly cleaned his teeth and then spat that awful stuff into a bush. Finally, he was ready for the day.

A dirt road with wooden houses on either side, and the blazing sun drooping over a majestic countryside landscape made this village peaceful, and most certainly, picturesque. Sadly, breaking that thought was the constant sound of shouting and banter, probably from the local inn.

Seth ignored those alcoholics, How they were even awake at this time considering how much they had drunk last night, maybe even The God Of Knowledge did not know. Seth made his way to his father's workshop. Not before dropping by his friend's house for a quick chat.

Finding a peaceful house with long vines climbing around it, Seth found his long-time friend Dion in the backyard, up a tree, reading a book. He was a year younger yet somehow smarter than Seth about the wonders of their current world. Even considering the fact that Seth had been learning at an inhuman pace since he was a child and yet Dion somehow managed to outdo him at every turn, he was just built for it. At least that was what Seth told himself.

"Oi Dio, yuh nerd, stop reading and come down here. I need to chat about the apprenticeship coming up."

Reluctantly looking away from his book and seeing his botherer, Dion's eyes brightened seeing his best friend.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming down. So, what did you want to talk about in particular, also, really? Was nerd the best you could come up with?"

"Alright clown, that better? Anyway, before this continues, I need to ask you about the apprenticeships. I'm kind of on a tight schedule.

(A/ If I don't put an end speech bracket the speech continues through to the next paragraph)

So, from what I have gathered we take a 6-year course to ensure we get the class at the awakening ceremony. I get that, what I don't get is what we actually do in that 6-year course. My parents have already signed me up and won't really talk about what we actually do during the course."

Dion looked unsurprised at the question, "Well, essentially, it's just super boring. I mean you just learn everything there is about woodworking, trying as best as possible to spark up any talent in that area before your soul ignites during the awakening ceremony and you get a class."

Both looked eager at the mention of the day of awakening, especially Seth. As a reincarnator, he had a blazing interest in this supernatural event.

Seth looked so eager in fact he was thinking of just awakening now, though he did not have a clue how to do it, after all, it was a taboo subject. Just to be sure he asked his genius friend, "Damn, why do you have to wait until you're 18 for the awakening? I want a class now."

"Woah their buddy, do you not remember stories of those that did it early? I heard that it's bad for the soul so your talents get limited in their growth and so they find levelling harder in the later levels. C'mon Seth, you must have heard this many times in our basic education."

"Right, damn. Anyway, thanks for your time nerd. Have a good one, I need to run back to my dad. Seems he wants to give me a head start in this apprenticeship thing."

Dion waved his friend off and shouted as he ran off, "Lucky bastard, learn as much as you can. Not many get to learn of a level 48 in their entire lives."

Smiling as he ran off, Seth remembered his family's high position in the local village. Seth's father was a prestigious level 48, and such could probably afford the entire village if he put his hands to work. To put things in perspective the old village head was level 49 before he died and he was 70, Seth's dad was 52 this year and so he had high prospects of reaching the wonderous achievement of Journeyman in a class, (Level 50+).

Seth's goals, he smiled even thinking of them: he wanted to go even higher, reaching Master (level 100) or even the mythical grandmaster level (125+). There was a rumour out there that when a person evolved they gained lifespan, so Seth wanted to live as long as humanely possible.

Walking down the dirt road, the wind caressed the fields of grass that outstretched over rolling hills that surrounded the village, which was itself at the top of one of those hills, Seth found himself enjoying the scenery. This was interrupted by the sound of... fighting?

Walking around the corner, winding around a house that blocked the way, Seth saw a big kid beating up a smaller child. Looking at the culprit, disappointment flashed through his eyes. It was Arabia.

Arabia was a troubled girl having a mean character and uncaring parents which resulted in a dysfunctional family and a troubled child. Arabia was older than Seth, she was 16 and her birthday was in the same month as Seth's. Like Dion, the 3 were in the same generation of newcomers to the Chippie village. Sadly, Arabia never really had a talent for patience so was expected to not get a carpenter class. If she were to get an evil class, then not even god could save her poor soul.

Seth did not disagree with the treatment of Evil classes; you could rescind them, and it usually coincides with character. Sadly, it did cause major damage to both their future and current self if they did rescind their chosen class: a complete level reset and they would find levelling far harder than usual folk. The known knowledge on the subject was released by the police equivalent called the Order in an effort to get people to rethink their class.

Sadly, not many did, Seth suppressed his thoughts now and shouted loud and clear to the surrounding area, "ARABIA STOP FIGHTING NOAH!"

She looked up in shock and even the small child, Noah, looked up in shock at the loud noise. Arabia looked shocked and then angrily at Seth for ruining her little game before she quickly ran off. She did not want to be caught by the guards for beating up Noah just for bumping into her, after all, it could cause her parents to get involved and she certainly did not want that to happen.

As she ran away, Seth helped Noah up and took some medicinal leaves and a cloth out of his pocket. These were meant for himself, but Seth thought his mother would be alright with his usage of them. His family was friends with Noah's so a little help would do no harm.

"What did you do this time, you clumsy thing, and to Arabia? Really?"

Noah was 10 and was a shy guy who held enough clumsiness he could slip on just about anything. Let's just say gravity was in love with the guy.

"She, she was the one who walked into me first," Noah said, with little teardrops in his eyes.

Looking amused at this guy's juvenile argument, Seth lifted the child up, Noah, shaking a bit in pain, stood up but before the two even knew it, they were walking to Seth's father's workshop.

As Seth knocked on the door, his father's booming voice came from inside, "Come in!"

Stepping in, Seth put on his guilty face. He had already prepped his excuse in the form of Noah next to him, so he walked in to be greeted with the smell of sawdust and sweat.

The room was covered in tiny particles that reflected the sun coming from the large window that let countless rays of sun into the workshop. Standing on a wide wooden floor, practically covered from head to toe in sawdust, stood the gruff man named: the most talented Carpenter to ever grace the village, the village head, and the father of Seth.

Oak was his real name and this behemoth of a man stood at 6ft 10 and would likely be named a giant if someone from Earth were to see him.

His deep voice echoed in the confines of the dusty room, "So, late eh? Wait, why is Richard's son here?"

"He was being beaten by Arabia on the way and my chivalrous heart could not stand to see such a tragedy." Said Seth looking dramatic, like he was performing at the theatre.

"Yeah, sure little guy. As if I'm going to believe my lazy boy would do anything like that."

"Ur, ur, actually Sir. He did help me so I ho, hope you don't punish him bec, because of me." Noah barely managed to stutter those words together before he ran away out the door. Seth was not shocked as his father, and many high-levellers did emit pressure on those below them in level. This affected the unawakened much more than even level 1 people.

Seth had gotten used to this though as he grew up in his father's calloused arms.

"Well, that's a bit of a surprise. Seems you managed to do something good for a change son. Still, you did not think showing up with a single excuse could get you away from doing today's work."

Laughter echoed from the giant's chest as he passed his son a block of wood. "I want a ball by sundown, and I want it to be a nice clean ball. We have to play catch with it, so make it that size. See you when the sun goes down, and make sure to be home by dinner time, or else your mother will murder us both."

"Thanks Dad." Knowing that this could have gone a lot worse, Seth grabbed his block and a couple tools before getting to work. Usually for being late, he would have to make something impossible, like a chair or a table that was of rank 2 quality. Today, it was just simple technique training and that was fairly easy: if not extremely boring.

Finding a nice spot to saw; he first took off the corner and then started to chip away at the block until it resembled a ball-like shape. Then with painstaking repetitiveness, he started to shave away the jagged corners with the equivalent of sandpaper.

The hours ticked by, and Seth found himself uncomfortably bored. He hated this kind of task, and it was why felt so uneasy at doing the apprenticeship. `6 years of this` he thought, was hateful and thoughts like `maybe I wasn't cut out for this` floated in his mind.

Feeling deep into his soul, in a meditative-like state, he found himself deep in thought over what he wanted to be. Others would look at this behaviour and from the outside he looked like he was sleeping, no, what he was doing was something many just couldn't do as the conditions were so rare and it had to come naturally.

Enlightenment was a blessing from Heaven to allow those to better live life. Seth here was looking for his role in life and just as he was about to give up, a word flashed through his mind, it was calm, it was clear, but the content was as shocking as thunder.

"[Thief]"

Seth thought it was mad for a moment, he had never heard of the class [Thief]: he had heard of nearly all classes from [Knight] to [Monk], to even [Magician]. Yet he had never heard of [Thief]. He always knew of the concept, it was common on Earth, but here they never really used that word, classes similar to [Thief] existed like [Robber] or [Crook] but [Thief]? Seth had never even heard a whisper.

Seth's mind was ablaze on what a [Thief] was and how he could be such a thing, then something hit his mind like a bombshell. `Was it an evil class?` ran his mind through modern movies and the answer came up clear as day, yes.

Total breakdown. Life as he knew it, years of growing up looking at the evil classes like villains came crashing down on his mind, like a hammer to an anvil, sparks of madness infected his mind.

But, Seth calmed in almost an instant under the alluring thought: `It must be wrong`.

Yes, Seth smiled. That answer fixed everything and why on earth would he feel the need to question it?

That night he played catch with his father, then went home to eat his mother's home-cooked meal. As he ate at the bespoke table, undercurrents of doubt and fear seeped into his deep heart, Seth knew he had changed directions: from a happy, normal life; to one of survival, shame and stealing.

Yet, deep within his heart. At the bottom of that ravine, lay an unmistakable emotion...

Excitement.