A blue screen popped in front of Brimstone’s face.

Congratulations!

You have reached the age of fifteen and thus are granted access to the System.

Please choose your first skill.

→ Running (Guide)

→ Presence (Passive) (Magical)

→ Crafting (Guide)

At first reading, Brimstone thought the options seemed a little lackluster. Where were the weapons proficiencies, the flashy active skills, or the body-strengthening miracles?

When his eyes landed on the 'Magical', however, he gave pause. Magical skills were usually both rare and powerful. Granted, they wouldn't always be useful for combat - as Bob's father's [Sweetening Touch] proved. Nevertheless, they were rare. Different. Special.

Brimstone wanted to be important. Not because he needed to feel better than other people, but because he felt the compulsion to make his existence felt by the world. He had to rise above his legacy. Reach further than those before him.

When faced with the options of choosing known skills like 'Running' or 'Crafting' and choosing a magical unknown like 'Presence', Brimstone had no doubt about what he preferred.

'Running' was a system guide that would teach him how to maximize his body usage when... well, running. It was something that most city couriers had, as it would allow them to achieve great speeds and maneuverability inside cities with no cost at all.

As for 'Crafting', it was exactly the kind of skill his mom wanted him to take. It would guide him when repairing and constructing basically any kind of object. Every workshop needed apprentice crafters for basic maintenance and small jobs. Eventually, when Brimstone reached his next skill, it would also serve as a great booster to other more complex and valuable crafting skills. Some said it even increased the chances of getting such skill choices, but nothing was proven.

Brimstone really tried to consider the choices carefully, but before he realized it, he had already made his decision. The word 'Presence' glowed softly in his mind's eye and the blue screen closed itself.

Soon, a bigger screen opened.

Name: Brian Stone "Brimstone" Current Level: 1 Exp: 1/100 Total Exp: 1 Titles: N/A Base Attributes: Bonus: Total: Strength: 1 0 1 Dexterity: 1 0 1 Constitution: 1 0 1 Perception: 1 0 1 Mind: 1 0 1 Available Points: 0 Skills: [Presence]

At first, he felt nothing special. But soon after the sensations came. It began with a rush of energy, mixed with pain and pleasure. An unexplainable euphoria.

He had heard about it. It was a sign that his body and mind were being improved by the System, even if only slightly.

It was all going well.

But then, suddenly, he felt something different. As if expanding from the core of his being, he felt a ‘thing’ surging up. This ‘thing’ being an unexplainable feeling. It felt like desire given substance. As if his will was rising to suffuse every inch of his body. It gave him energy and purpose. A clarity of mind that left no doubt about what he wanted or felt about anything in the world.

“Willpower” was the closest word to the feeling, he supposed.

The problem was…

The surge didn't stop when it reached his skin. In mere moments, he could feel it seep through his pores and expand all around him. Although invisible, Brimstone could feel his wants, hopes, feelings, and emotions pour out of him in a deluge. It was a strange and new feeling, but as surely as he could feel the texture of his clothes on his body, he could feel this new energy flooding the little treehouse. It was as if everything around him was underwater.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

For a moment, he thought his friends might be in danger. As soon as the flow stopped, however, he realized that the invisible deluge didn't seem to affect them in any visible way.

Maybe it had been just his imagination...?

‘No way. It was just too real.’

"Woooowww..." exhaled Bob. Surprise and wonder were evident in the boy's face, even though Brimstone could not perceive any visual cue of what he had just felt. Ellen, although silent, also sported wide eyes, as if impressed by something. Just what were they shocked by?

Brimstone looked around the room, but everything seemed the same as before. The wooden walls, the table where the remnants of the cake stood, the poorly crafted chairs they had once become so proud of, and all the colorful decorations they had set for his birthday all seemed to be just like before. Worried that maybe his skill had caused some physical change on his body - as some did - Brimstone also looked and touched over his arms and legs. Fortunately, he did not find anything extra or missing.

"Huh...guys... what is going on with the looks on your faces?" After a few seconds of self-inspection, Brimstone finally resigned himself to ask out loud.

"Wait... what? Err... I am not sure. I just suddenly felt as if something REALLY amazing was happening before my eyes. Thinking about it now, though, I don't know what it was. What about you Ellen?" Bob slowly tried to explain what he felt, before turning to Ellen, whose eyes had already returned to normal.

"Yeah, golden boy... It was just like Bob said. I am assuming it is something related to the skill you got, right? What was it?" The glint in Ellen's eyes made it clear she had already figured out that Brimstone had taken something magical. Those were precisely the kind of skills that caused strange occurrences like what had just happened.

"Err... I also don't really understand what has just happened. I got a skill called 'Presence'. It was the only magical choice I had, but now I am not sure if I made the right choice. I have no clue what it is supposed to do." Brimstone said, annoyed. Although the initial feelings were surely pretty magical, he had no instinctual knowledge of what that 'substance' he felt was supposed to do. As boring as the other skills had been, at least he knew what he would have been able to do with them.

Usually, magical skills were either so widely known that their users could easily find information on them or they came with magical knowledge of their functions. He suspected now that [Presence] was outside both cases.

Before Brimstone could drown in his doubts, however, Bob tried to come to his rescue.

"Well Brim, don't you worry about that! We can always hit the guild's archives and find some information on your skill. There is no way there has not been at least a single adventurer that got your magical skill! I am sure it will be something really cool!" He said with a wide smile and soothing voice.

"Yeah... Bob's right. From what happened earlier, we know it at least does SOMETHING." Ellen contributed with a funny face.

Brimstone was not sure about going to The Adventurer's Guild. His mom was the Receptionist Head, and despite what one may think, that title carried some weight there. After his argument with his mother that morning, he was not ready to tell her that he had gone against her wishes. He was pretty sure she would be absolutely livid once she knew.

"All right... but we can't just barge there asking for my skill's description. My mom wanted me to choose some boring skill and I don't want her to know I've picked something that I don't even know the effect..." Brimstone’s voice was fearful. It was obvious he was afraid of what she would tell him once he got home. Ellen let out a laugh and jabbed at him.

"Serves you right for being so freaking dumb! You have spent so much time hearing those fantastical tales my dad tells you that now you think the real world is one of them. You know that just because a skill has a 'Magical' tag attached to it, doesn't mean that it is any good, right?"

"Bah! Now you are sounding just like my mom! Of course I know that! But between getting some stupid shit like [Crafting] or [Running] I would rather bet on awesomeness!" Brimstone exclaimed, clearly getting baited into Ellen's game again.

"Hah! As for me, I am betting that your skill will probably only be useful to make magical cakes or something. Maybe you will be able to apprentice to Bob's father?! I am sure he will love someone to share his recipes with!" Somehow, Ellen's ingenuity always managed to make Brimstone angry. He prepared a retort, but before he could...

"DON'T TALK ABOUT MY FATHER!" Bob's yell resonated on the wooden walls like an earthquake. Both Ellen and Brimstone looked at their friend, shocked. Bob's usually gentle face was distorted with anger. Coupled with his huge frame, it was a frightening visage.

But then he blinked and it was gone.

"Oh... sorry... I... am not sure what just happened." Replacing the rage, was once again confusion. "I just felt really mad out of nowhere and when I heard my father being mentioned it just burst out of me..."

They had never seen Bob like that, so the event was even weirder than the previous astonishment of Brimstone getting his skill.

"Errr... sorry Bob. I did not mean to insult or father or anything. I actually think baking is very cool. I just wanted to make fun of Brim..." Ellen apologized.

"Oh! It is okay Ellen. I know that! I am already used to your guy's flir... I mean, teasing." Bob's slip did not go unnoticed, so he just looked at the closest wall as if there was something really interesting happening on that particular wood grain.

Ellen blushed and looked at the ground while Brimstone just coughed to fill the void of conversation.

"Okaaaay... We really should focus on finding out what my skill is doing. I am worried it might be affecting you guys..." There was always talk about skills that could actually harm you, instead of aiding. It was just one of the many reasons common people tended to avoid unknown skills when leveling up. Experimentation was for adventurers and vagabonds.

"I actually have a suspicion..." Ellen slowly said. She seemed to have thought of something.

"What?" Brimstone himself didn't have a clue.

"Well... We were jabbing at each other when Bob became angry. And the skills calls "Presence", doesn't?" Her voice started small but the words came faster and louder as she made her point. "Also, before, when you got your skill, the feeling we got could be described as 'wonder', no? Can I assume that was what you felt when you got your skill too?"

Brimstone started to see where she was going and he didn't like it one bit. "Are you saying...?"

"I think your emotions are affecting us. That your 'presence' is making us feel things we normally wouldn't..."

As she said it, Brimstone immediately knew she was right.

'Oh no...'