A/N:This chapter mainly sets up the world. Feel free to skip if you prefer action.
Today was the day most people waited for their entire lives.
If you wanted to live comfortably in this world—no, if you wanted to survive—then you had to succeed today. You had to awaken a high-rank Job.
Yes. A Job.
When I first reincarnated into this world, I woke up in an orphanage. According to the caretakers, I had been found near the building itself. Who left me there was still unknown. The person who discovered me wasn't even from this town—they were just a traveler passing through and sent me to the orphanage before leaving.
That was fifteen years ago.
Now, at the age of fifteen, I didn't even want to meet my parents.
Why?
You could say I had already lost hope.
In my previous life, I did everything I could. I studied hard, tried to improve myself, chased good scores—tried to be better at everything. But no matter what I did, my parents were never satisfied.
Got 70 marks?Why not 100?
That was how it always was.
…Let's not talk about that now.
Right. The Awakening.
At the age of fifteen, every person undergoes the Awakening Ceremony and receives a Job. The Job Rank determines your potential—your ceiling in life.
The known ranks were:
Common
Uncommon
Rare
Epic
Unique
Diamond
Hero
Legendary
Mythical
There were supposedly ranks beyond Mythical, but no one in the last fifteen hundred years had awakened anything higher. Some people even believed those ranks were nothing more than myths.
When a person awakened, they usually received one of the standard Jobs:
Mage
Warrior
Tank
Priest
Alchemist
Blacksmith
There were other Jobs too—farmers, craftsmen, support roles—but most people desired only one thing.
A combat-oriented Job.
Combat Jobs meant power.Power meant status.And status meant survival.
At the moment of awakening, every person also received two skills. More skills could be acquired later, either by purchasing them or through monster drops—but high-rank skills were not sold openly. Those were controlled by the government, major guilds, and powerful families.
Drops were another way, but even then, there were limits.
If your Job Rank was too low, you couldn't learn high-rank skills. At best, you could learn skills only two or three ranks above your Job Rank. Anything beyond that was impossible.
There were items that could increase Job Rank—but those were even rarer than high-rank skills themselves.
In short, the world was cruel, fixed, and unfair.
And today—
Today was the day I would find out where I stood in it.
I took a slow breath and looked ahead.
The Awakening Ceremony was about to begin.