Hailey jumped, her chair jolting backwards. The sound of a burning log crackling in the hearth disturbed the focused silence in the inn’s common room. The eyes of the town were on her, as was the tradition.

  I can’t wait for this to be over. Why does this have to be such a big event anyways? Hailey thought.

  Hailey felt uncomfortable with everyone’s attention on her. Tonight was no different than any one of these gatherings had been over the years. The uneasy silence of so many people was always unnerving, even when she wasn’t the focus of all the attention.

  I wish I could speed this process up and be done with it. But there's nothing I can do. It’s already been, what, five minutes?

  “Are you sure you got the right time?” The gathering shifted their attention to old man Jacobs in the corner of the room. Hailey sighed with relief as most of the room’s focus shifted to the interruption.

  “Yes, I’m sure,” Sarah, Hailey’s mother, replied. “I was there after all. Eighteen years ago, almost to the minute. Hailey was born just after midnight.”

  “Like just, just after midnight, or do we have time to get another drink?” Old man Jacobs asked.

  Meave, an all-too familiar elderly woman, stood up from her chair. “Somewhere between four to six minutes after the hour, depending on when the System registered her birth, of course. Now shut up, it’s almost time.” She sat back down at her honorary seat at Hailey’s table.

  Meave was never one to mince words. And now everyone’s back to staring at me. When is this going to happen? I swear, I should have –

  Her thought was interrupted as she was suddenly blinded from the white light that began to shine out of every pore of her body. She was forced to close her eyes hoping to lessen the pain in her retinas. The light subsided, and when she reopened her eyes, she was somewhere else entirely.

  The inn, and all the familiar people that had gathered were gone. Everything had been replaced by the sheer nothingness that now surrounded Hailey. A nothingness that somehow had a floor, which Hailey found herself falling backwards towards, as the chair beneath her had vanished along with everything else.

  “Oww,” was the only thing to come out of Hailey’s mouth after hitting the ground.

  Hailey was quick to get back on her feet, as she rubbed away the pain in her backside. The world of nothingness around her was a light grayish-blue color, but it lacked any definition.

  Does this place go on forever? Or…

  As if answering Hailey’s thoughts, a black shadow began to rise from the ground. Small wisps of black began to coalesce as the entity began to take shape a few feet in front of her. The mass swirled and bulged as it grew denser, eventually taking a more humanoid appearance.

  Hailey stood there, her jaw hanging open slightly as her face froze in puzzlement of what she was seeing before her.

  This isn’t right. This doesn’t match any of the stories I’ve been told. There should just be a table with my choices on it. Or something simple like that. Could I be cursed? There is no way I should be cursed. I did everything right. I-

  The shadow had stopped growing, instead its features became more defined. Within a couple of seconds Hailey recognized the form it was taking. It was her, a complete mirror image of herself, complete with her signature mid-to-high ponytail.

  The shadow stood motionless for a minute before raising both closed hands. It turned one hand over, then opened it. A bright marble-sized yellow orb of swirling energy was revealed.

  Yellow. A dexterity-based class. Fuck me. That is the worst outcome. I was hoping for strength or endurance so I could fit in with the village. Perception or Intelligence would have been better. I can just see me getting stuck with house-chores for the rest of my life.

  It’s okay, It’s okay. That’s just the first option. If the stories are correct, I should get some more choices.

  The shadow opened its other hand revealing … Nothing. Hailey's eyes narrowed as she looked for the missing marble of energy.

  No. No no no no. That can’t be right. Where are my other choices? I can’t be stuck with only dexterity classes to choose from.

  While Hailey had yet to move a muscle, her panic intensified. She looked at the shadow, searching for an explanation, but it remained emotionless and unmoving.

  Why even offer me an empty hand. Is it seriously offering me the choice of nothing? What happens if I pick it? Would I be fucked for life? What classes could I get with no stat specialization?

  The shadow began to move, taking both outstretched hands and bringing them together, pressing the contents of both hands together. A moment later the shadow opened both hands, revealing the same yellow dexterity orb as before.

  Hailey stared at her sole choice. She took a deep breath, steeled her resolve and reached out for it. As she contacted the orb, bright, golden-yellow light filled her world, causing her to close her eyes once more.

  When Hailey opened her eyes, she was greeted by the disappointed faces of the villagers. It was no secret that she had chosen a dexterity-based class, the color of light had betrayed that detail to the world.

  Hailey could remember watching the System awakening process in the older villagers. The light would always start of white, then transition to the match the color of their chosen stat specialization. Red for Endurance. Orange for strength. Yellow for dexterity. Blue for intelligence. Green for perception. And rarely purple for being an all-rounder, but Hailey had never seen anyone have purple light before.

  While it had felt like it had been a small eternity to Hailey, to the rest of the gathering it had been only fifteen seconds or so. The experience of bathing in the light of the System felt amazing, to put it mildly. A System awakening more so, and most gathered to experience that sensation, rather than to see the outcome.

  Some of the crowd turned away, returning to their previous conversations and reverie, breathing life back into the room that Hailey had stolen all of the oxygen out of. A good portion of the village were in the process of making their exit, as they looked forward to finding their beds.

  “Hailey, honey, why did you pick dexterity?” Sarah asked. Seated around Hailey was her small collection of friends and family, who were particularly interested in her awakening. And then there was Meave, the mid-wife and resident healer, who was busy making notes in one of her record books.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “I didn’t have a choice. It’s all that was offered to me,” Hailey said.

  The disappointed looks on everyone’s faces softened slightly. Everyone knew that dexterity in a mountain town that made its fortunes on mining and smithing wouldn’t go over too well. Strength and endurance-based classes were prized for their abilities to work the mines.

  On the combat side of things, dexterity was a dangerous stat specialization to try and train in the mountains. The local wildlife were heavy hitters, and a class that couldn’t take a blow, or be supportive of those that could, would find themselves dead in short order.

  “That’s… unfortunate, to say the least,” Sarah said. “Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. We'll just have to wait and see what class you evolve into.”

  “Will the guard still take me out? Even as a yellow? I know the wildlife here is not, accommodating for early dexterity-based classes, to say the least,” Hailey asked.

  “That's the deal for everyone, even the yellows, few that you are,” Sarah said.

  “Don't think that being specialized in dexterity means that you are worthless. The world is much wider than this small village in the mountains. Even the world is small compared to whats out there in the universe,” Meave said. She had closed the record books and was standing to leave.

  “It would do many here some good to go see the wider world. There's more than mines and lumber out there. Good night, everyone,” Meave said. She left before anyone could reply in turn.

  “Meave is right, you know,” Sarah said. Sarah coughed once, then launched herself into a coughing fit. It took a moment, but she pulled through, taking a long drink from her mug.

  “I can't leave you, not like this. You need someone to take care of you,”

  “You can, love. I'll be fine on my own.” Sarah said.

  “I know you're trying to be brave for me and trying to do the right thing, but I know just how many times you've managed to leave the house this past month. There's no way that you can make enough money to keep yourself fed, let alone take care of everything else in the house.”

  “I'll manage somehow, now, it's getting late, and if I don't leave now, I won't be getting home tonight,” Sarah said.

  “Let me walk back with you.”

  “No dear, stay and enjoy the party. It's your birthday after all.”

  Without much more fanfare Sarah made her exit. A few of the remaining villagers offered goodnight and well wishes, hoping that tomorrow the village’s resident water mage would be able to help their fields.

  Hailey's night continued to improve as the drinks started to flow. And soon, before she knew it, it was morning. She awoke with a start in a somewhat unfamiliar room. Her eyes shot open as she realized she was in one of the rooms at the inn. The aged linens were almost too warm now that the morning sun was shining through the room's only window, and the mattress, while softer than her own, left a lot to be desired.

  Fuck. I don't think there is room in the budget for a stay at the inn. It was hard enough already scraping enough money together to drink last night. She sighed.

  I can already feel my hands peeling from all of the dishes Mrs. Filch is going to make me wash. Fuck it, I might as well get started. But first, lets see if this works… Status.

  *Ding* Intoxication Resistance Acquired. After a night out on the town your body has been left with an assortment of toxins to clean up. Intoxication resistance lessens the impact and duration of this class of poison. Now you can party harder than ever before.

  Well, that's something noteworthy, I guess. Wait, does that mean that it's going to be harder for me to get drunk? Ugh, that just makes it more expensive, and I already can't afford it. But, I feel fine, so, no hangovers? That's definitely a bonus.

  Hailey got to her feet, finding herself still dressed in her finer set of clothes. A plain white blouse with minimal flair along the edges, and a nice pair of black dress pants that had been refitted to fit her shorter form.

  Hailey stood at an overwhelming height of 5’2”. She was dwarfed by most of the villagers. It turns out that an isolated mining town seemed to attract people who were conventionally strong, even without the system in place. With the system the difference between men and women, and even those of different sizes was minimal. Men typically had a slight advantage when it came to base strength stats, but in the long run it didn’t make that much of a difference.

  It’s almost insulting giving me only 3 strength. I’ve been lifting and hauling shit just as hard as all the other kids. I thought all of that training was supposed to pay off. Intelligence and Perception have come in big though. No surprise there, I’ve always had an easy time in school. I think I have my mother to thank for that one.

  She made her way across the upper floor of the inn, padding her way across the worn carpet, and down the stairs into the common room. To her surprise, the room looked to be back in perfect order, even after the late night of partying. There was nothing fancy about the common room itself, everything from the chairs and tables to the hearth and wooden support beams had remained the same as they always had. Mrs. Filch, the innkeeper, had always said they would be getting new furniture soon, which seemed to be code for some time in the upcoming century, maybe. She was busy working the broom over the well-loved wooden floors when she spotted Hailey.

  “Ah, there you are dear. How did you sleep? You had quite a night last night,” Mrs. Filch said with a smile.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Filch. I’m not sure how I ended upstairs, but I had a wonderful sleep. I haven’t felt this good in a long time,”

  Mrs. Filch let out a small laugh. “Tends to happen that way, dear. It takes a bit adjusting to the System, but thankfully all of that new power and potential somehow makes your body rest better. Well, maybe more effectively. Once you get settled, you’ll be back to having some groggy mornings, I’m afraid.”

  “Ah, well that’s okay, I’ll enjoy it while it lasts. So… How much do I owe you for everything?”

  Mrs. Filch laughed again. “I see you had a really good night then. You must have forgotten our conversation later in the night. The village, as a gift for your System Awakening day, collectively covers the costs of your celebration, which include, but are mostly limited to, food and drink during your party, a night at the inn, and breakfast the following morning. We just don’t tell you about it ahead of time since it's somewhat of a surprise.”

  “Oh, thank you! And here I was panicking about paying you back for everything. That’s a load off of my back.”

  “You’re welcome, dear. Now, let’s get some breakfast into you. You have a busy day ahead of you. Tennison should be here around 9 o’clock to collect you for your first day of training.

  Upon hearing Tennison’s name Hailey’s stomach dropped.