For the first time ever, I got a flurry of notifications.

Welcome to the System, Awakened!

You have been assigned a Legendary Class!

Your class is: Rebounder

You receive 5 more active and 5 passive Skill slots!

Passive Skill: Rebound, is available. Do you wish to accept it? Y or N.

Startled, I mentally clicked Yes, just as my mom’s claws reached my throat.

PHYSICAL REBOUND CHECK MADE.

And then, her throat, instead of mine, began to bleed as a red smile was carved into it.

MAGICAL REBOUND CHECK MADE.

I felt my strength, which had previously been drained, return to me as my mother’s body withered in front of my very eyes. I stood there in shock, ignoring the ever-angrier notifications beeping angrily at me in the corner of my vision. I didn’t hear the thumping sound my mom’s body made as it fell to the ground, her red smiley face spreading its joy, its essence, slowly spread over the carpet as it was absorbed. I didn’t feel myself fall to my knees, shaking as it felt like my very world was ending.

And, to a certain extent, it had.

I was alone in the world. I had no one and nothing, except for a Legendary Class that I even if I did know how to use it, I still didn’t have the prerequisite strength required. And that also acted like an arrow pointing to my exact location with the words “Easy xp for monsters (of both the sentient and the normal-monster variety!)” hanging over my head. While I was in a decaying tent in the middle of nowhere, with only my mothers corpse, whom I had just killed, for company.

Things were not looking good.

And, just as I have seen you mortals do countless times when the reality starts sinking in and becomes overwhelming, my 12-year-old self did the most responsible thing possible.

I fell asleep.

••••••••••

I woke up to the sound of my notifications beeping at me. They were simply not content to let me rest and wrap my head around the previous night’s events.

Hello, Awakened!

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Passive Skill: The Wave Crashing Against the Mountain, is available. Do you wish to accept it? Y or N.

Passive Skill: Deflection, is available. Do you wish to accept it? Y or N.

Active Skill: Mirror, is available. Do you wish to accept it? Y or N.

Hello, Awakened!

You have earned the Title: Survivor of Betrayal

You have received the Passive Skill: Steadfast, that does not require a Skill Slot!

-Because this is the last Survivor of Betrayal Title available, and you have betrayed and irreparably weakened your dying System, you get the Curse: Perpetually Backstabbed. People will betray you more easily! Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it?

You have earned the Title: Mom Murderer

You have received +25% Skill advancement rates when alone, and -50% when you are with people. Enemies of the law and people of questionable morality will think you're the bees’ knees, while do-gooders and rule-followers will have the unshakable urge to have you arrested.

You have killed an Epic Adventurer! You have reached Level 1!

And so began my first day as an Awakened. This, ladies and gentleman, is one of the true worst parts about a System Failure- if you get the last of something, the System curses you for, in it’s own words, “Irreparably” weakening it, stealing a part of its essence that cannot be given or earned back. The Backstabbed Curse would prove to be a nuisance for the rest of my never-ending life. It is, of course, why trusting people is a recipe for disaster. And why I never do it. For my first few years as an Adventurer, I didn’t let Backstabbed get me down and completely destroy my hope in my fellow humans. Of course, Backstabbed combined with the massive skill advancement rate penalty for when I was with people ensured that I wasn’t exactly the most extroverted dude.

But, I digress.

I, despite not really knowing what any of the offered Skills did, accepted them all. I had assumed that they were replaceable, but, of course, they were not. One would think that knowledge about Classes and Skill slots would be widespread, especially from parents to children, but one would be wrong (to the surprise of no one- the unspecified assuming individual is almost always wrong). My parents had always told me that they would tell me everything once I was older- of course, I was never quite old enough, and then they died. However, they had told me enough (or I suppose a more honest version is to say I had overheard enough) for me to know how to focus on a Skill’s description.

(A) Mirror

Creates metaphorical “mirror” in which all attacks are deflected.

(P) Rebound

Completely redirects the effects of any physical, magical, spiritual, or mental

attack with the according strength of Skill level at its caster(s). Requires getting

hit in order to trigger.

(P) The Wave Crashing Against the Mountain

Sword/shield combat technique.

(P) Steadfast

Resolve grows stronger in the face of difficulties.

(P) Deflection

10% chance of deflecting physical attacks within sphere of influence. Sphere of influence grows with levels.

And such was my beginning set of skills. Contrary to popular belief, passive Skills are, in the long run, often more powerful than active. I was truly lucky in this regard- most of my first Legendary Skills were passive, which didn’t require mana to activate or use, and would happen automatically because they were always activated. While I didn’t know it at the time, I was only screwed, in the beginning, by my combat technique, The Wave Crashing Against the Mountain. It was meant as the natural progression of a technique I should've been learning since the age of 3, taught in the long-gone Sravi Clan. But because I had first gotten it at the Legendary rank, I didn’t have the basics the technique required. Nor did I have anyone to teach me… until I did. But that is far, far later in my story.

I had been through enough in my 13 years to know that the best way to move on was to keep moving. I swallowed the grief of losing my mom, even though she had been trying to kill me, and tried to ignore the implications of Backstabbed.

For the first time in my short life, I was truly alone- and if the Skill advancement rate was anything to go on, I had plenty to do.