Just as the stony fist of my training partner was about to collide with my face, I backed away.

But Stan wasn't going to give up his advantage against me so easily. He deactivated his skill instantly returning his fist to normal. He used his now once again fleshy hand to grab one of my guarding hands.

Knowing what would come next I tried to remove my hand from his grip. I manage to free my hand before Stan could turn his into stone once more.

Seeing the smirk on his face, I knew I messed up. With my defense now open, he hit me straight in the jaw. At least he didn't use his stone fist skill like last time.

just as I had managed to increase the distance between us I could hear the teacher calling. "ok. that's enough for today."

I was frustrated since Stan has gotten his skill two months ago I hadn't managed to win a single bound against him, but that would change.

Today was my birthday and I could finally use Crystals to gain skills.

I envied Stan a bit his old man got him a rank 3 skill crystal for his birthday.

So I could only hope my old man would get me a rank 3 as well.

All the people in my class that got a rank 3 crystal got some awesome skill like Emily she got the astral weapon skill or Thomas who got his Firebolt skill. Thinking about all the rank three skills I read about I saw as my Buddy Hank walked over to me.

Hanks old man couldn't effort a rank 3 crystal and only got him a rank 2.

From this, he got his bow mastery skill, which isn't bad, but it just isn't magical. Magic skills only start to appear at rank three and above.

my thoughts were interrupted by a hand that was moving in front of my eyes. "earth to Morty, are you still with us? Stan dude did you hit him with your skill in the head again?".

I shook my head to get my thought back under control and said, "No, he didn't"

At the same time as me, Stan said," That only happened once."

Hank smirked at Stan, just as he was about to say something. Mister Zealand's voice was heard Clearly, "That is it for today, Regis, Hanford you too will return the training gear."

Both Stan and I groaned at that. But then something happened that I didn't expect to happen at all.

"Hurry up and get changed dude," Hank said clearly speaking to me. I looked at him wide-eyed, then he continued, " Today is your big day, so hurry up, before I change my mind." before he could even finish his last word I started to sprint towards the dressingroom. I changed as quickly as I could and then left the School.

On the way, I passed by the Crystal store my uncle owned and stopped for a moment. Thinking if I should get myself a crystal with my savings. But Dad already told me that he would get me one and had me promise him that the crystal he got me would be the first one I would use and as dad worked as a oathbinder I couldn't break my promise even if I wanted to so I just hurried home.

When I opened the door, I could hear hurried footsteps followed by my mom coming out of the living room and tightly wrapping me in her embrace," Happy birthday Mortimer." she said to me once more and then continued with," how was your first day as an adult. Do you still want to become a diver?"

I rolled my eyes at the last one, "Mom just because I'm an adult now, I wouldn't change my mind. And we talked about it just this morning. I will use my skills to go dungeon diving. I want excitement and I also want to protect people. So Mom could you please stop asking me if I changed my mind"

"I know honey but, skill choices are final and I just want to make sure that is what you want for the rest of your life, I don't want you to regret your choice." I pondered for a moment If I should tell her my real reason I want to become a diver but decided against it. Besides, it isn't like I will regret getting a skill to shoot fire out of my eyes or creating a whip made out of water. "I will not Mom, by the way, when is dad coming home?"

She shook her head and then said, "he will be home, as usual, you will have to wait a bit longer, but if you can't wait any longer you could open my present first."

She fetched a small box from the living room and then handed it. "Hurry up and open it" she then said to me.

I opened it and inside was a watch with a small digital display. "Mom, is this a portable AS?" "Yes, it is and it is the newest model at, not that old and clunky one. And I already added a call for aid module." she proudly declared it to me.

I looked at her and said, "You asked aunt Linda to get me one, didn't you?" "Yes, you're right," she said a little disappointed I already figured it out. " So this is from aunt Linda? that isn't like her" I teased my Mom. "No, it is from me, I paid for it." while she was refuting what I said.

I took the PAS and put it on my wrist. My mother looked over my shoulder as I turned on the PAS. the display showed calibrating for the shortest of moments before it showed my basic stats.

Strength 0

Dexterity 0

Agility 0

Reaction 0

Endurane 0

Vitality 0

The Basic Six were shown right away. It didn't surprise me that my stats were all at 0 as that was normal for a skillless person so I quickly switched the PAS to personal information and it showed all my relevant information.

ID: (his id number)

Name: Mortimer Regis

Age: 16

Profession: None

Citizenship: North America

Arrest warrants: None

nothing was out of order I checked the other tabs finances, skills, others. Everything was just as it should be.

Now I just need to wait till dad comes home.

I was waiting way past 18 o'clock when finally the front door opened and Dad came in. Right away I jumped up and ran over to dad while practically shouting, " where is it?". He just smiled at me and was about to take something from his jacket when mom interjected with "Mortimer you should first let your father come in.". I rolled my eyes and answered her with a simple " Yes mom."

After that Dad intentionally took his time to enter our home, slowly removing his jacket and shoes and then handed me a small box with a teasing smile and said,

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Happy birthday my son, now you're a grown-up." I didn't even wait till he finished his sentence to open the box. Inside was a single skill crystal, but not the one I had wanted. the color was wrong. It was a clear blue crystal. Blue was the color of a rank 1 crystal, I had hoped for the red of a rank 3 one, maybe even the orange of a rank 4. I had expected to at least get a rank 2.

But dad got me a rank 1. We aren't so poor that we can't even effort a rank 2. Heck, even I with my savings would manage to buy at least a rank 2 crystal. Tears started to well up in my eyes. I looked at dad and only asked a single question, " why?". "Because you mean so much to me," he answered with an evil grin.

I couldn't take it, I pushed dad out of my way and just ran outside.

I just wanted to get away. I could hear dad say something after I went out the door, but I didn't want to hear it, I didn't care.

He knew how much I wanted to be a dungeon diver and always told me that he would support me, was that all just a ploy.

I did run for I don't know how long till I was once again before the crystal store.

I looked inside and saw that mister Kim was about to close the shop I entered the store and uncle Kim looked at me, " Mortimer? what happened to you? you look awful."."Dad, he betrayed me.".uncle Kim looked at me. "what did my stupid brother do this time?"

After I told uncle Kim the complete story he just said "show me the crystal" I handed uncle the crystal and he looked at it intensely. "say Mortimer how much do you know about skill crystals?" " I know the color rating." uncle looked at me and then said, "As I thought. Mortimer, your father didn't betray you. do you see how clear this crystal is." he didn't betray me? I looked at the crystal and indeed it was almost crystal clear.

"Yes, but it is still a rank 1 crystal," I said to uncle Kim

"Mortimer there is more to a crystal than the rank of it, this one may have a low rank but I as an expert can see it with just a glance that this is a crystal with a high number of choices." uncle Kim explained,

"choices don't you just get a skill that you need with a crystal?"

at my answer uncle laughed for a bit and then said," No, not at all, when you use a crystal to gain a skill you will get several choices for witch skill to get but that all depends on the clarity of the crystal. The choices are related to the skills you already have but for the first one, the choices are random. This is why most people agree that the first skill is the most important one. But there are still some discussions about whatever is better more choices or higher rank. But your father and I. We both believe that the first skill sets the path for once live, so we think it is more important that you can choose your path than being forced on one and regretting it. And now I'm drifting back into sales mode. So do you still think your father betrayed you?"

I had listened to uncle and now I was staring at the crystal dad had given me. I wasn't as disappointed anymore, I still wanted a magical skill but if what uncle said is true then it is properly better to have more choices then ending up with a bad skill. I lifted my head and cleared my tears away and then asked, "So how many choices does this one give me?"

"I don't know for sure but it looks to be around 9 or so, but if you want I could use my tools to look it up." uncle said to me and I just nodded. H then just took the crystal from its box and then walked to the back of his store where I knew that some kind of machine stood. After a short while, I heard a sound of paper ripping and uncle returned to me with the crystal and a small piece of paper and handed both to me.

I looked at the paper and was shocked at the worth of the crystal.

Rank 1

Choices 9

Grade 0

Value 16,000$

I couldn't believe it this blue crystal is worth as much as a car. I knew dad made good money but that is still way too expensive. if I remember right the cheapest rank 3 crystal goes for only 1000$. this one is 16 times as much worth. but why. I turned back to uncle.

"why is this crystal worth so much?"

"Ohh, that is because of supply and demand, crystals with more choices are rarer and so more expensive. When your father and I were still around your age and crystals were becoming a thing we didn't know as much about them and not a small number had skills they couldn't use or train then became stuck like your mother. I don't know what skill she has but I know she can't even use it"

I had always wondered why mother didn't tell me about her skills, but if she can't use them that makes sense,

"So, uncle how do I use this crystal?"I asked him.

Uncle explained to me how to activate the skill crystal and after my 7 tries I finally activated the crystal.

it was the strangest experience I ever had. Suddenly my head was full of information and I didn't know hao to comprehend all of it. But I knew

there were 9 different things in my head.

As I looked around confused uncle said," you can use your PAS to better understand your choices." while pointing at the watch I got from mom. So I used it as uncle told me to.

Sewing

improves your abilities to sew

attributes dexterity concentration

peeling

improves your abilities to peel

attributes strength dexterity

fucking

improves your abilities to fuck

attributes endurance vitality

stepping

improves your abilities to take steps

attributes agility reaction

sleeping

improves your abilities to sleep

attributes vitality endurance

coughing

improves your abilities to cough

attributes vitality reaction

brick making

improves your ability to make bricks

attributes strength dexterity

shoveling

improves your ability to shovel

attributes strength endurance

flying

improves your ability to fly

attributes agility reaction

As I saw one choice after the other I was shocked, I just couldn't believe that some of those choices even existed. There was even a skill for coughing.

I looked up at uncle and asked him, " wouldn't my choice be better if I had used a Higher ranking Crystal" uncle just looked at me and shook his head, "No, it is commonly believed that you will get just get choices that are similar to those you could choose"

"So it is possible that I would just have gotten some kind of magical sewing skill if I had used a rank 3?" I asked uncle skeptically.

"Yes it could be, but as it can't be verified. it would also be possible that your choices could be different entirely. Who knows"

"My choices are all crap, so what should I take?"

"Oh, then aren't you glad that you have that many choices. Just pick the one that you think is the best or has the most connection to what you want. Choose the start of your skill Path" uncle teased me.

I remembered my dad and then just hurridly and full of guilt I stared at my PAS.

what should I take? There are no fighting skills or other essential skills for exploring a dungeon. Then I need to choose a skill that has the most possibilities to be related to such skill. I don't think any of them have any chance at all. My face darkened and I was about to give up, but then I decided that If I would pick one then the best one out of the bunch.

The first one was sewing. As I thought about it I found only one way to make it maybe into a dungeon and that was by an old technique for sewing wounds and then maybe into a healing skill.

It wasn't my favorite way but at least I found one way for this skill.

As I went over the skill I found a way for most of them to connect to a skill category that would be useful. For peeling It could relate to cutting skills, brick making and shoveling could relate to earth magic. Fucking could relate to teambuilding and moral skills, Stepping could relate to movement skill. Sleeping to recovery skills, even coughing I could think of a way for it to relate to Breathweapon like skills. The only one I could see no point in was the flying skill as I couldn't use it at all.

Having reduced my options to 8 I hadn't progressed much so next I removed the skills I just didn't want at all or would rarely use, that removed coughing sewing and brick making.

After a moment I also removed peeling I didn't see myself peeling my monster it was just too gruesome.

Now with only Fucking stepping sleeping and shoveling left I decided that I wanted a skill I could use Inside a dungeon reducing my options to stepping or shoveling.

Thinking about what possibilities both skills had I thought that shoveling would most likely become something Construction related while everything I could think about for stepping would be helpful in some way for a dungeon so my choice was made.

looking around I saw that uncle was entering the room with two cups in hand before he could place even one of them on the table I asked, "Uncle how do I select the skill I want?"

"Ohh, you already made your choice, selecting a skill. The easiest way is to try and think about everything you know about the skill. Another is to remove the other choices by denying them but most have problems with this way." Uncle explained in his usual tone while putting the cup on the table and taking a sip from one of them.

I took the other cup and also took a sip before I said, "Ok" and concentrated back on my skills.

Thinking about the skill wasn't hard. It was as if I was defining what a step was for me.

Form me a step was a motion a way to move forward a way for me to reach my goal and

with that thought, I felt an unnatural heat rising in my body. The heat wasn't painful no it was more like the heat of a soft embrace not like mom's bear hugs. It felt just like, I just don't know how it felt it was just wonderful. When the heat left me I knew I had gained my first skill.

Wondering if the skill would feel the same when used I wanted to try it out, but as I opened my eyes I saw that uncle was talking to someone. Looking closely it was dad and he didn't look happy.

Once Dad saw that I had opened my eyes he turned to me with an angry and hurt expression on his face. Then, he asked with shivering in his voice," Mortimer did you really think I betrayed you? am I that bad of a parent to you? "

It was then that I realized that it wasn't anger but the disappointment that he felt.

Realizing how much I must have hurt him I started with, " No, dad I just, " but before I could finish he spoke his voice still shivering and the corners of his mouth started to twist "You just what.."

dad looked at me, as I wanted to say something else dad suddenly started laughing.

The look of disappointment and sadness removed from his face confused I asked, "Dad?"

he needed a bit to stop his laughing fit then said," I can't believe you didn't know about clarity. You that always is talking about how much of a great diver you're going to be, that is reading up about skills almost all of the time. You know Mortimer, we were worried about you. You stormed out of the house just like that without even putting on your shoes. We thought you had entered the dungeon and I even drew to the closest on. When I got the call from Kim I was just glad you didn't do anything stupid."

While talking dad had put both of his hands on my shoulders. I looked at him and asked," Dad did you really forget that I couldn't enter the dungeon. Isn't It part of your job to register new divers and reminded them about this?"

At that uncle, Kim burst out into loud laughter and we soon Joined him.