Liam writhed on a soft cushion under his back. He didn’t know where he was but he could tell this was the start of his reincarnation. He was not a baby but with higher consciousness than the first time he was born–no opening fridges by accident or running on rocky roads in his bare feet this time. Soothing soothing sounds bombarded his eardrums.

  Once his eyes finally adjusted he was greeted by a plebian looking woman and man; his mother and father. The woman who would be his mother through his adventure was a light brown skinned lady wearing a beige apron, a red cotton vest, a red bandana with a small hole in it showing her silver hair, and glinting blue eyes matching her happy smile. The man was red haired with a little hair on his chin, green eyes, a white one piece wool shirt with a collar that only had a single button unbuttoned, and brown pants with tears in them.

  They kept leaning close making cooing sounds as if he could understand them. He could but most infant minds don’t process feelings until they are ten months old. They kept doing it for a long while until the man picked up a hoe venturing outside to work on what Liam assumed was their field. Alone with his new mother, Liam was picked out of the cradle, swathed in white sheets that looked clean but smelled like they were doused in dirty water, his mother held him up high giving him that big smile that let him know he was loved.

  And then–she pulled down the right side of her shirt until her right areola was showing. Liam tried to stay calm, but he was awake. She was doing this because it was breast feeding time.

  It felt very taboo to be this self aware of what she was doing, and still going through with it, but as an infant if he didn't get her nourishing milk he was going to die. Closing his eyes, treating this like a life support tube being shoved in his throat, he began with the feeding. All he could taste were the little bumps around her areola at first like rice pudding without the pudding.

  Suddenly a gush of milk was poured into his mouth. Breast milk could only be suckled out which meant Liam instinctively started the process of siphoning her milk with his mouth. Taste was one of the most fleeting senses in memory a person has and by the time a child can walk they forget what breast milk tasted like so Liam never knew what it tasted like in his previous life. It was warm without the risk of carrying bacteria, trickling down after a slosh on his taste buds, but mostly he tasted a cheese mixed with mashed potato fluid dripping down his throat, a bedlam he would have to live with when learning how to speak to his mother.

  She had a jubilant smile on her face not corresponding with the repulsed emotions and inner turmoil Liam felt. She then gently tapped him on his small, wet nose. After feeding him she laid him down in the cradle and left waiting for him to defecate and cry to be changed; something Liam still had no control over.

  While he was alone he tried using the phrase mentioned when he first arrived: escapism. He mumbled it a few times in baby gargle but nothing happened. Eventually, he did have to have his diaper changed, his father returned carrying a rabbit carcass that would be his and his wife's dinner, and his mother used hand signs and a cute voice to tell him a story.

  Before going to bed, Liam tried once again to say the word...

  He was back in the white void with the receptionist. She was perched on an invisible ladder stacking invisible books on an invisible shelf blended in the white light. Upon seeing Liam she made a sound

  "Tsk-Tsk. It's improper to bother someone when they're working, especially when they're wearing a skirt. Please turn around."

  Liam obliged, swerving around and putting his hands over his face for protection of a tsudere's wrath. It was only when he touched his face that he realized he wasn't a baby anymore; he was the man he was before reincarnation. He was soon swerved around by the receptionist with a smile that didn't match her tautness.

  "Hi...err..."

  "Gossamer."

  "Gossamer. How come I came here in my original body?"

  "We may've reincarnated you into a new world in a new body, but that's just transferring your mind to a new body. The rest stays with us."

  "Umm...okay. So how come I only got to come here at night?"

  "Even people in the new world need sleep. That's where your mind is right now--sleeping. If you have any more questions please save them for the archive of books you can read through."

  She left him with more questions than answers, however, at least she was nice enough to transfer him to the shelves of books. Most of the spines were in blue, red, brown and white. He decided to pick up one of the blue books. Skimming through the pages he saw they were completely blank. It felt like this was the hangout's way of telling him he needed to find a seat before he could read the books.

  Making his way to a table with adjacent plastic support he took a seat and started skimming again. At first there seemed to be no changes to the book so he just closed it to look at the cover. It was like a splash of ink when the picture started appearing: a handsome black haired man with blazing blue flames of aura standing above a white fox. Liam recognized him as one of his avatars from Stars of Runes, Christopher Tod. He named him after the fox from The Fox and the Hound and some assassin in a One Piece fanfiction who had toad powers.

  The beautiful thing about Stars of Runes is it let you play as a human turned beast or a beast turned human; this one a white fox who wanted to be human like a novel he read. In it the fox was the second litter of a mother fox who now couldn't see. He made a truce with a crow telling him where the rabbits were and warn him of predators in exchange for a share of his food.

  One day his mother told him the story of foxes: how they used to have magical powers like humans but a warlock used a spell making future lineages lose their magical essences. She tells him it's up to him to restore foxes to their rightful glory even if he has to explore pavilions, monster dens or the demon lords castle. He refuses of course only for the news no humans were around being wrong with his mother being captured for her tail containing its capitulant glands. But by removing the tail or his mother it awakens the fox with a system that lets him use magic starting with a transformation into a human spell. Thinking he's a human, the human hunters take him back to town where he becomes an adventurer.

  Liam was recounting this playful reading through the pages. The story was like a light novel with its descriptions and character interactions. He was at the part where on an adventure Christopher found a stone filled with latent fox magic when the receptionist called out to him.

  "This club room is closed for the day. Please return to your original world."

  Liam was teleported from the library to a cradle feeling like a turtle flipped upside down on its shell. He was a baby once again, weak and vulnerable. The only good thing was babies take years to grow--he would have plenty of time to go to the club unburdened by the reality of adulthood for a long time.

  Liam aged into a fifteen year old boy named Klavin Adderwood, but he will still be referred to as Liam both because the name doesn't flow as well in the story and it was who he was every time he entered the dimensional library. His reality wasn't much different from other farmers' children growing up--based on a medieval world or even a modern world setting--the only difference was an awakening ceremony where he will receive a skill that will label him for the rest of his life.

  The ceremony itself doesn't tell him what job he needs to pursue, however, it does give him a skill which helps with certain jobs. Despite being a farmer/commoner son of an interracial couple, he was allowed to take a carriage to the church the ceremony would take place in.

  Unawakened children were like unscratched lottery tickets or boxes of trading cards in plastic film: they by themselves weren't special but a little tear and they might actually be worth something. Ergo, the king lavishly paid for transport and nice suits for every child thinking it could help cajole them to pay back that favor joining his empire.

  Liam arrived at the front entrance. While he was staring outside, excited at the prospect of being an otherworlder with opportunities almost no one in this world have, his mother was fixing a ribbon in the back of her head while his father made sure there were no creases on his suit. They were in Liam's eyes feeling anxious and nostalgic being back here dressed in suits and dresses. Only one other time were they here dressed up so extravagantly and that's when they were unawakened kids. They didn't awaken skills that would make them useful soldiers, scholars or heroes so he left them in the small farm as plebians.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Liam couldn't complain though because years after a war broke out causing a genocide of 80 percent of the kings' army; if his parents joined they would've died instead of falling in love and having Klavin who he currently was.

  A butler soon arrived, opening the carriage to let Liam and his family out. Although they were treated like nobles on this day, the butler hurried them out so the coachmen could ride away, letting another carriage with a family take their spot. Liam walked through the front doors of the cathedral all the while his dad was rubbing his shoulders to ease the tension of the multitude of different kids making conversation while thinking about their awakening.

  Some looked smug thinking they were going to awaken a good job while others were shuddering or biting their fingernails. Liam's parents may not understand what went through the mind of their son from another world, but in a social gathering they know to look for familiar faces among them such as a family making their living with skills in taming lions and juggling eight radishes at once. If they came from Liam's world they could make a living in a circus. As it was they helped guide nobles and adventurers through the forest with lions instead of horses pulling the reins and seeing how many rocks the wife can juggle before chucking them at rats.

  They were here for their daughter, Aquina. Despite being fifteen like him she was a petite girl, had tendrils of blue hair from lack of a comb, a red pendant that was the only present her poor family bought for her, and a white dress that looked more like Mormon underwear. She wasn't a shy girl but when it came to speaking to kids her own age she was emotionless and didn't express interest. That being said, Liam was going to try talking to her since they might not see each other ever again.

  "Hi Aquina." He said raising the lithe to sound friendly but it sounded more like he was shouting. "Excited to receive a skill?"

  "I know my parents have been waiting for this moment since I was born...and for that I'm trying to be excited for them." A good response for someone so emotionless Liam felt.

  He knew she was inwardly excited about receiving the gift of skill--all her studying and hard work would finally come to fruition. He mentioned mundane things that happened around his home...got interrupted by a crowd gasping outside the cathedral. The only ones who were this loud were the people spotting the carriages being delivered by dragons.

  A quick glance back at the cathedral plexiglass showing a brown haired soldier cladded in red armor swinging his sword against a horde of rampaging black orcs showed a white dragon clinging to a carriage letting the noble son step out before taking off with the carriage into the sky. In stepped the noble, a glossy black haired boy in a pure white suit with a purple bowtie encrusted with a red opal. His eyes were amber like the fur of a tiger, and like a tiger they were searching the area for prey.

  He sauntered up to Liam and Aquina raising his hand out. "Hello my dear. Are you a dragon? Because you got fire all over your face."

  "Don't like that," she harrumphed.

  Liam tried being friendly to him by holding out his hand. "Hi, my name is--"

  "I'm not talking to you, commoner. I was talking to the lady. Why don't you go join the rest of your kind while she and I talk privately."

  Now that Liam knew who he was the nicety facade dissipated from his face leaving only a boy who wouldn't take that kind of harsh treatment lightly.

  "On this day all children are to be treated equally; I will not have you thinking this girl should be grateful to a noble like you is speaking to her. Secondly, she's my friend and she's very shy so if you do, I will not leave her alone with someone as superficial as you."

  The boy just looked at Liam with a big smile on his face. He was unarmed and about the same age as him but the way he stood there smiling like he owned the whole world made Liam a little unsettled. The whole time he was clutching his hands together as if waiting for a fireball to materialize so he could hurl it at him. It was a good thing for Liam and Aquina that he hadn't yet awakened his skill yet thus had no magic he could use. That wasn't to say he didn't have a lot of mana on him--most nobles were blessed with high magic and books not many commoners can get their hands on which lead to their unfair treatment of the common folk.

  Just when it looked like he really was going to conjure a fireball to hurt him with, the head priest made an announcement:

  "We are ready to awaken your kids' talents. Please form a line so we can begin the awakening ceremony."

  The kids in the cathedral bounded like rabbits in a line before the altar for their awakening ceremony. Liam was so busy trying to protect Aquina from the smarmy noble he didn't notice she already got in line before him. Swerving his head back he noticed the prick of a noble had also snuck away towards the line. Before Liam knew it he had to take his place in the back of the line.

  The awakening began. Before Aquina a few kids awakened the skills Woodchopping, Bird Taming, and Shield Proficiency. Now it was her turn. Liam noticed how not only her family but his family were holding each other closely in anticipation of her awakening. She raised her arm touching the orb on its alter. A blue light shimmered from the orb followed by a silhouette of a female wizard with a wave beneath her and fish surfing on the wave.

  "She has awakened the skill Water Mage Proficiency; S Rank."

  The crowd of people were quiet for a long moment before roaring in applause. In this world S Rank was the highest skill someone can achieve and she reached it on her first awakening. She still stared with that emotionless expression on her face. She tried walking away from the altar, but the priest grabbed her shoulder stopping her.

  "Please, follow the head priest to the back so we can discuss your future, young water mage."

  Her face was still stone without much expression on her face, yet she clenched her fist trembling from her nerves. Liam felt sorry for her; she only wanted to awaken a talent her parents could be proud of not to become property of the kingdom.

  After her a few boys and girls awakened their skills, but none measured up to the skill she awakened. Then it finally came to the cocky noble who Liam learned was named Sywaldus Scorchheart. He reached his hand touching the orb. It shimmered bright orangish red with the silhouette of a knight with a blazing sword standing next to a dragon.

  "He has awakened the skill Blazing Dragon Knight; S Rank."

  Unlike Aquina who was quiet through her whole celebration receiving an S Rank skill, Sywaldus was rubbing his hand behind his hair with a cocksure smile probably thinking he could now rule the whole world. Liam figured he came from a family of people who can conjure fire in some way; he was practically telling him when he clenched his hands trying to summon a fireball.

  They were now at the last child of the line, and that child was Liam. He was neither anxious nor nervous to be approaching the stone to receive his skill. He didn’t care if it was good or bad; what mattered was he would still have parents who loved him and villagers who he could rely on. Of course with Aquina receiving an S rank ability it was unlikely he would ever see her again unless he also awakened an S rank ability–though the last thing he wanted was to be taken by the soldiers to join the army. He finally reached his hand out and touched the altar.

  And then–everything around him turned dark.

  He was in a black void where the only thing he was certain about was he was floating in it. He floated through the dark space wondering where he was and how this was supposed to awaken his skill. Suddenly, he came across glowing orbs stenciled with black ink of certain pictograms. Among those pictograms he found a skinny white haired boy only a little older than him floating with his hands wrapped around his knees.

  Liam wanted to approach the boy to wake him up. For some reason he seemed vaguely familiar to him–a name for him muffled in his head just trying to be heard: Coo… Rip…

  He tried breaking through the barrier keeping that name out but the harder he tried the more his headaches loomed inside him. First he only felt a migraine only for the headache to feel like a boulder just fell on his head. That headache was replaced with sudden panic as black roses with scarlet thorns appeared tightening around the boys’ body.

  Liam could only watch in horror as the thorns kept tightening more and more around the boy’s body to the point the thorns were lacerating through his skin. Liam could take it anymore; although he couldn’t move freely like he usually could he could dog paddle with his hands through the dark void.

  He put both his arms together, waving them out to push forward, thrashing his legs like a dolphins’ tailfin, breathing in and out like a swimmer taking a short breath doing a front crawl. Despite his best efforts the thorns completely encumbered the boy inside a ball of thorns. Him being stuck didn’t deter Liam from freeing him–he just felt the tension heavy in the void unsure if he could free the boy inside the thorns.

  Ever since Liam(Klavin Adderwood to everyone else) turned 10 he has been helping his parents out in the field. This included pulling out thorns from the field to plant seeds in the hole made. Even that was not enough to prepare him for the sharp pain coursing through him just by gripping his hands on the ball of thorns. It was like grabbing an electrified door, his eyes bulging and his teeth rattling through the searing pain. Despite that, maybe because he had a little protagonist energy in him, he gripped the thorn as tightly as he could trying to pry it away from the boy.

  Although he didn’t pull it with much muster, the thorns unraveled letting light brim out. The light brimmed so brightly the thorns withered away from it and the pentagrams shimmered as the light refracted off their surface. Then it all ended with a white veil with the silhouette of a treasure chest.

  Liam blinked looking at the visage. Through that blink he was now standing back in the halls of the cathedral once more. He was staring ahead seeing the same treasure chest in a silhouette with a hue of violet. Liam was waiting for the moment when his skill would be told for everyone to hear; all he could hear were the murmurs of startled people and some even gasping in shock over it. Eventually the priest told everyone what his skill was.

  “Auto-Looting; Rank Unknown.”

  Liam looked around the room waiting for one person to give him a cheer for awakening an unknown skill, but all they did was stare at him like he was a venomous snake. Finally the priest spoke in a guttural tone.

  “Heretic. You have awakened the heresy skill of Auto-Looting. You will steal from all of us.”

  All the quiet staring turned into angry shouting at Liam like he was already a thief, even if he only awakened a skill with ‘looting’ in the name and has never stolen anything in his life. Maybe in his previous life he’d steal games he didn’t have, food from people’s lunches and money from a food stand his grandmother had him work over his summer vacation but ever since he reincarnated in this world he has resisted the urge to steal anything.

  Before Liam could explain himself, Sywaldus manifested a fireball in his hand with a malevolent smile on his face.

  “You heard them. Leave now. Not even the library will allow you back.”

  ‘Library?’

  Liam realized just from that word that Sywaldus was a reincarnator just like him. Before he could ask him a question, he hurled the fireball towards him. Liam was frozen by the lingering thoughts of Sywaldus’s words and how people were turning on him, he was hit directly by the fireball. Through that hit a voice echoed in his head.

  “Yo 2, wake up!”