My speech did nothing to cheer him up but at least he didn’t look like a nerd trying to shield his face.

  “Fellow students…we will now begin the Awakening Ceremony!”

  I gave Alvin one last pat on the back before the ceremony began. They did it in alphabetical order; five people were called before Alvin. Four men and one girl as follows: Tank, Brawler, Archer, Spearman and Cleric. It was finally his turn to step up and awaken his profession.

  He was shaking nervously through it, so I did the brotherly thing and teleported him to the front of the crowd. Once we made it to the front I gave him a push away from the multitude of students who noticed how scared he was and whispered not very nice things about him. The teachers and committee around the crystal said nothing, only looked at him as if they foresaw him awakening a low-grade profession. Despite their looks Alvin moved towards the crystal.

  He looked at it close enough to see his own reflection: a nerdy boy closer to growing a hump than a spine too scrawny to wield a weapon–if he’s anything like Steve Rogers from Captain America. At last he reached out and touched the crystal.

  The crystal illuminated with glimmering sapphire light charging up its insides before shooting a blue light into the sky. I would hate to be an airplane pilot because a beacon of light would blind me every few minutes today. From the light came the black silhouette of a Ghandi looking man holding a chemist beaker.

  “Your profession is Alchemist.” One of the committee men announced.

  Alvin nervously smiled, swerving his head to the crowd of people hoping one of them would say something encouraging about his profession–he had no idea they were about to burst out laughing and mock him with throngs of pointed fingers. It had to be me to stop that ridicule from happening the only way I knew how. I clapped and cheered as loud as I could. First I smacked my hands against my calves creating a fleshy tempo reverberating through the crowd, followed by a cacophony of clapping my hands together. I thought about shouting some words of encouragement, however, there were no words that wouldn’t look like I was using him for his profession. I was too great of a manipulator to let my prey know too quickly.

  Alvin didn’t smile; just walked back towards the crowd. The sheepish alchemist was standing close to me. He looked like he was too embarrassed to speak to me yet he was happy enough to be around one person supportive of him.

  At least five more people with the first name A were called–B had a main character in it making the wait almost worth it. Her name was Beaz Smage. She was a purple meshed with gray haired heroine–pretty common color next to black and white–in stocklike curls showing only a little view of her blue scleras. She had a purple color with a black dress beneath it and black espadrille shoes with red laces. Unlike Alvin there were a few men cheering for her–curse of being a popular girl and a main character. She touched the crystal immediately causing a blue beacon to erupt from the pillar. From the beacon was the visage slash silhouette of a woman holding a grimoire with tornados, wildfires, geysers and a diagram of a clock turning around.

  Immediately after the committee members' announcement the crowd started speaking to each other. Some were of course thrilled the school beauty was given such a high class, others were spewing a bunch of shit about her out of jealousy, and others were pumped up there was an Archmage class in the Awakening Ceremony. The teachers of course wanted to congratulate her and give her private lessons to ump their own status.

  She followed them instead of joining the coed; was going to miss the Hero class awakening. There was another MC’s name called before me and a few would be called before the protagonist(s) awakening. Let’s skip those awakenings since they’d ruin too much of the fun–maybe even because the author doesn’t have classes or disciplines for the rest of them–and let’s get to the part where my name is called so this story can move at a steady pace.

  “Cooro Rippel.”

  With that, I sauntered to the crystal playing the part of an underling with dreams of grandeur with glares from the rest of my classmates. Skipped a little before composing myself, I stood straight reaching slowly for the crystal, whipped my hand towards it giving it a little slam. When all the other students touched the crystal they probably saw their singular profession before it plumed into the sky. I on the other hand was shown a plethora of blue boxes with interiors like TV/computer screens showing the nigrescent dolllike figurines with only a few corners and items differentiating themselves.

  In school fellow classmates would brag about getting over a dozen presents at Christmas where I only got two. Looking at all these presents…I knew I would get to open them all, but for now I should pick the profession with the most versatility for me and my other self: Vendor.

  I touched the box unlocking the Vendor class…my consciousness moving back like I was in a roller coaster hurtling backwards. I blinked; now I was standing before the crystal creating a spire of blue flames before beaming into the sky. From the beacon there was the silhouette/visage of a man wearing a turban holding his hand out for chalices.

  “He has awakened the class…Vendor.”

  There weren’t any applause nor were there any jeers for the class of Vendor. I’ll basically buy and sell from them at one point–not all of them could afford to antagonize a vendor. After a few more calls the female heroine, Elizabeth Canta, was called to receive her profession. A few of the girls were animated to see what a colorful looking girl like her would receive for a profession. They were in for a treat…the teachers and Beaz had no idea what they were missing out on.

  She looked a little peeved–guessing it was what I said to her earlier or that’s just the face she makes when she plays gacha games, and this was the gacha game that would define her career path.

  She was lucky. Most MC’s receive a class everyone thinks is weak, spending their time being bullied or working for a boss that bullies them only finding out what their job can really do after being betrayed by their party or risking their lives to save a cute girl.

  She touched the crystal. Suddenly, the blue light blazed with gold light engulfing the light to its peak. The crowd's eyes were glued and practically exploding in awe with fireworks at the amazing sight. After the gold light reached the pinnacle of the crystal's light, a silhouette of a long haired woman wielding a sword and shield appeared from the pillar.

  The Awakening committee were all speechless of the spectacle before them.

  She has awakened…the…the Hero class.”

  I was fortunate enough to be standing next to Alvin who kept his thoughts to himself gawking in silent amazement–the rest of the students were in an uproar just screaming because they were excited or saying something I’d rather not repeat.

  Elizabeth made her trip back to her brother’s side, however, one of the committee members intercepted her holding out his arm.

  “Please follow one of the committees to a private room. He will discuss your future there.”

  Some students–mostly the ones who already received their professions–were furling their lips and making growling noises towards Elizabeth.

  “I worked my ass off to get here…why should she be the one with the Hero class?” Something they're probably thinking more-or-less; but life goes on and other students have to have their class awakening. A few girls but mostly boys awakened their classes a moment later; some rare while others were common classes. At last it was time for the male protagonist, Shawn Canta, to receive his profession.

  As he approached the awakening crystal a few of the students–mostly female–noticed immediately he was the brother of the girl who awakened the Hero class. They started murmuring things about him.

  “Do you think he’s jealous that his sister awakened the Hero Class?”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “He probably thinks he’ll awaken a legendary house just like her.”

  “Please. There’s always one black sheep in the family and since she awakened the Hero class chances are he’s going to awaken something like a dark mage or a thief class.”

  Shawn stood still for a minute as if their words reached his ears. He couldn’t stand around any longer when a committee member gave him a silent warning not to hold up the line. He walked up and touched the crystal…once again a gold blaze engulfed the beacon of blue. The same silhouette that awakened itself for Elizabeth awakened for Shawn as well.

  This time Alvin made a little noise like a fox trying to mimic a dog. This uproar around me was louder than the first one; risk of them charging towards him to interrogate him. Again, a committee member whispered into Shawn’s ear telling him to go to the other committee member escorting him to a private room. He left just like her; this time he turned to face me.

  He smiled at me while I gave him a nod. Once he trekked his way out of the ceremony the awakening kept going until a Zeke Yarrow received a class of Trap Master. Once he rejoined the crowd a man who looked like the Emperor in the animated Mulan movie but with dark hair and blue garbs instead of yellow with amber eyes made a closing announcement.

  “You all have received your professions hence from tomorrow you’ll be exploring a dungeon together. I expect there to be no belittling no matter what profession(s) were given. That being said, not all of you will make it to the highest floor.

  “Your teachers will do their best to teach you how to defend yourselves but there is a limit to what your professions can and cannot accomplish. Again, congratulations on awakening all your professions. Enjoy the rest of the day to yourself, learning what makes you your profession and resting to face monsters for the very first time.”

  He bowed to us before turning around and walking away. Now that the ceremony was finished, Alvin had his head down facing the reality he was given the supposedly worst profession. I took out my phone and tried controlling my lithe brogue so I seemed friendly and inviting to the best black kid I meet next to my first friend.

  “You want to exchange numbers?”

  His attention flitted to the phone before flitting up to me. “You want to exchange numbers? Why?”

  “As an alchemist your profession relies on materials and as a Vendor I’ll have means of obtaining items better than all those combat professions ever could, way I see it. Why shouldn’t we team up?”

  I was using him for achievements and a MILF fantasy but I would also make him stronger and more confident. We exchanged numbers without saying another word and took our leave. There were probably more things the author could’ve added or POVs of other characters, but sorry to tell you…I wanted to go immediately to the weapon shop.

  I entered to the receptionist using a monocle with 1,2,3,4 and 5 etched in white gold over her left eye appraising a box of items. Remembering how I freaked out the old shop keeper procrastinating and nearly gave him a heart attack, I backed out the door. I coughed into my hand waiting for the moment she would take notice putting her appraising on hold.

  I waited but her attention was so engrossed in her appraising. In my old world wanting to get something done but being stopped by the roadblocks of other people and reality were always there keeping me fettered in my prison of failure. Even in a world where reality was a loose string meshed with the stronger strings of powerful people with professional skills and magic…the receptionists’ appraisal of items was the roadblock keeping me from becoming who I am meant to be.

  I opened the door, coming with annoyance and coughed as loud as possible into my hand hoping the reverberations would reach her ears. At last she noticed me.

  “Oh, welcome to the shop. I’ll be with you in a moment.”

  She had no idea a moment was moments ago. What was another five–yes five–minutes compared to trying to be empathetic. She cleared away the items but kept her monocle on, interlocking her fingers in greeting.

  “What would you like to buy today?”

  I whipped out two gold coins with a triumphant smirk and activated my status screen showing my profession: Vendor.

  “Not buy; exchange. I offer you these two coins for a Resurrection Stone.”

  For a moment I was so high on my own self proclaimed triumph I wasn’t really paying attention to her–when I finally did she had a droopy eye and twitch lip while her mouth was agape. She broke out of that stupor adjusting her monocle on my offering. She was like a cat facing a dog with how unbelievable my offer was. She changed expressions as fast as pressing the off button on your phone stroking her chin trying to ponder a reasonable way to handle my offer.

  After a hundred seconds of watching her give her chin an Indian burn stroking it over-n-over. Tiring herself out she exhaled in a cute way, her cheeks looking chubby as a chibi character before looking at me with slanted cheeks and a glint in her eyes.

  “I have no choice but to accept your offer.” She said sternly.

  I reached out my hand for her. “Then we have a deal.”

  Looking at my hand to her was like finding a raccoon on her front door. She didn’t want to be mean to it but it wasn’t something she was happy to do. She had a ball in her throat closing her eyes looking at the ceiling but she gave in, shaking it.

  Let me tell you something about handshakes and max Dexterity in video games. A firm, strong handshake is a symbol of trust not even max Charm can make you swoon. With max Dexterity my hands had aptitude with anything hands on at S rank, so when I shook her hand it was like a wildfire of aphrodisiac coursed through her body; couldn’t hold back a cooing sound from her mouth.

  It was pretty stupid of me to affect her body that way–like an expert escort knowing how to keep ecstasy going for a whole hour session–but I had to keep her on cloud nine if I wanted to keep getting discounts without being banned from the store.

  At some moment my other self will need to buy from here. After several minutes of her brain being tickled, making a slimy orgasmic face, she finally returned to reality.

  “Right…let me go get that for you…ummm–”

  “Cooro.”

  “Right, Cooro. Always a pleasure to help another Vendor.”

  Skip forward a few minutes past receiving the purple box with the gray lattice around it. I finally left the store. This is it, I had a way to live in this world without any worry. The only concern I had was for my other self. It was a singular item thus if I had it he doesn’t and that put him in danger while I remained safe but if I gave him the Resurrection Stone I could die trying to find materials in a mine.

  I guess we can settle this by making a calendar with red dots and black dots showing who needs to use it. Things would work out…or so I thought until taking three steps away from the store feeling a cold grasp wrangling my neck. Some crazy person with red veins rimmed around his corneas was strangling me with everything he had and I was powerless to stop him.

  Even with max Dexterity, his stat screen flickering through his violent action showed he was level 31. I could take out the coins and shove them into his ears then lob two more to go right through his eyes, but he was holding me so high my arms/hands were having problems reaching into my pockets.

  Before I could find a means of escape he depleted the rest of my health. It was then things were complete darkness, but before you atheists can act all cocky that’s the way it should be a multitude of colorful cylindrical holograms floated in front of me. Without much thought I touched a green one with the silhouette of a centipede in a serpentine curvy posture. And when I touched it I was engulfed in a white light.

  I woke up sprawled on the ground feeling cold spots all over my body, the feeling of someone molesting me. To explain what happened…I was killed and taken to an afterlife where I would get a cheat skill for my next life, but with the Resurrection Stone I was brought back to life with 1 point of health left.

  That killer was down the street running like the police were chasing him. Standing up I noticed the feeling of clothes clinging to my chest and thigh and jingling of coins was absent. Looking down, I noticed my nipples and whites doing nothing to cover my legs. Not only did the bastard kill me but also rob me as well.

  Not wasting another second I used my newly acquired Insect Control skill to bring out ants from the ground letting them crawl up my leg clustering around my right arm. Remembering all the things I never got to do because he killed me I pinched my thumb and ring finger together before flicking an ant in the runners’ direction.

  With two flicks the ants hurtled through the air making their landing on the assailants’ ear stem. And then–they crawled right into his head. Whatever thing they were entrapping in their mandibles seemed to be doing the trick. He looked like he was in a lot of pain the way he instantly put his hands over his ears and bellowed for it to stop.

  What he didn’t know was I was going to Indiana Jones 4 CGI ants crawling into a Russian general's ass. First a small army clamped down so hard on his heels they lacerated the tendons in them causing him to lose his ability to stand. Crouched over and kneeling ants were crawling all over his body. In no time they sank their mandibles right into his eyeballs and then he screamed blinded while experiencing immense agony they went right in his mouth.

  You might be wondering how I conjured so many ants when strength and proficiency was more in Intelligence aptitude. First pat yourselves on the back if you really noticed that error. Second, I wasn’t controlling the ants themselves–I’m controlling the queens in five different colonies who the ants follow unwaveringly. My Dexterity only made them better at doing the job they were ordered to do which they were doing stupendously. At the cost of nearly ten thousand ants I’ll make it up to their queens somehow.

  The killer was choked in the larynx so much he stopped breathing, dying far worse than I did, and I received forty-one SP points for killing someone much higher level than me. It was now safe for me to command the queen(s) to call their colonies back, letting me retrieve everything he stole from me–especially my shirt and pants before people come by and mistake me for a streaker.

  I heard footsteps but I didn’t panic since I could now control insects to cover their feet and I had a lot of items to pick up including my box with the Resurrection Stone. Originally the stone was a one time resurrection item that crumbles when used. Players later found some items can be used over and over if they were never opened. I can keep resurrecting myself and get a new skill so long as it's in a scenario where I don’t take damage from the environment or I fell down a crevice with no way out.

  “Toby Sampson, over here.”

  By the way they addressed me by my earth name it was clear it was me. I slipped on my shirt and pants before doing a ninety degree swivel looking myself right in the eyes. To my surprise/worry the man I saw looked completely different from the bobcut blonde hair and bagged eyed face I was used to seeing. He was red haired wearing a brown vest over a one piece white pajamas and his shoes were crafted wood.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m you,” he replied. “More specifically I’m a copy of you reincarnated into a fantasy world based on a game the same creators of Rainbow Ashes made. And since our author loves a good isekai beginning I will go into details about it instead of just giving a short summary."