Sam slowly opened his eyes to a room filled with darkness. He blinked his eyes clear a few times and sat up. It was early in the morning, and the sky was still dark, so dark in fact that it must have been before the farmers are out early. Sam pulled back his bed sheet and swung his legs out of bed. He slowly and quietly walked over to his bedroom door and opened it just enough to peak out into the hallway. Darkness was all he saw, no light coming from the kitchen and no light coming from under his sister or his parents’ bedrooms. The excitement for his birthday must have been too much for him and he’d woken up much too early.

  He gently closed his door and crept back to his bed making sure to avoid the squeakiest of the floorboards. He slipped back into bed and pulled his sheet back up and closed his eyes. For 20 minutes he tossed back and forth attempting to get back to sleep but alas it seemed impossible the excitement proved too much. Sam finally gave up and sat back up in bed. He needed to find a way to distract himself until his parents woke up and his birthday could truly get underway. Sam brought up a mental list of items in his bedroom that he may be able to occupy himself with. The only things he really had were his old schoolbooks. Deciding that he should take the chance to brush up on his information on blood skills in preparation for gaining his later that day. Sam slipped back out of bed and moved over to a small bookshelf in the corner of the room. He pulled out a thin book titled "Everything to know about skills”. He sat back down in his bed and pulled the sheet over his legs sitting back against the headboard of his bed. Leaning over to his bedside table he opened the drawer and pulled out a candle, a holder and a small fire starter. He poked the candle down onto the holder and activated the lighter. A small flame was produced from the stored mana, and he pressed it to the wick of the candle. The flame caught and Sam placed the holder down on his bedside table.

  With the candle lit Sam straightened back up and opened the book, flipping past the first few pages to one titled Blood Skills. He began to read the book carefully not to miss any details that will soon prove relevant. -A blood skill is a person’s unique skill that manifests when a person turns 13 years old. A blood skill is made up of multiple fragments or abilities that are part of the one skill. Unlocking all of the fragments of a blood skill and leveling them to the maximum level will transform the blood skill into a true skill. A higher ranked blood skill will have more fragments than lower ranked skills. The abilities that are part of your skill may have activation or resource requirements that need to be met for them to activate-. Flipping past another page full of filler information on the history of some powerful blood skills he started reading the page titled “Blood Skill Fragments”. – A blood skill fragment can be an ability, an application or an effect of a blood skill. When a blood skill first manifests a single blood fragment is unlocked. Within the system menu you can see next to your blood skill your available fragments and their respective levels. This will also show how many fragments you have or have to still unlock. The details of the locked skill fragments are unknown and cannot be identified with even the best or highest rank of identification skills. Skill fragments have a total of 10 levels; these levels are much harder to gain than general levels as they require the use of the fragment to gain experience. Once the first blood skill fragment reaches level 3 the next skill fragment will be unlocked. This pattern continues until all of the skill fragments are unlocked for the skill. Levelling up skill fragments can also reduce skill restrictions or activation conditions, for example a fireball skill may require 10 mana to activate however upon a level up it may decrease to 9. Once all fragments have been levelled to level 10 then the blood skill will transform into a True Skill. - Flipping another couple of pages Sam started reading again at the heading “True Skills”. – A true skill is formed when a Blood skill has all its fragments reach level 10. A true skill is a solidified version of the blood skill with all the same abilities. On a very rare occasion a blood skill can go up a rank when transforming into a true skill. When this occurs, the skill can gain extra abilities. These extra abilities will start at level 1 and will need to be leveled up to 10-. Satisfied with his recap Sam closed the book and placed it down on his bedside table. Sam slid back down into a lying position and closed his eyes. He once again began imagining what his blood skill would be like, a farming skill like his father or a medical skill like his mother. Breaking away from the thought of the possible skill Sam decided not to think about it again as he wouldn’t need to imagine it for much longer.

  Another hour passed and Sam finally heard the sounds of movement beyond his bedroom door. He sat back up tossing his sheet over the other side onto the floor and quickly jumped out of bed. He snuck back over to his bedroom door and opened it up so he could once again peak through. Sat at the dining table were his mother and father. He quietly closed the door, took a step back and opened it up and walked through into the hallway. Good morning, Mum, Dad he greeted. “Morning Sam, Happy Birthday” his mother greeted. “Happy Birthday Sammy” his father echoed. “Once your sister has woken up, we’ll have breakfast and then you can open your presents, okay?” his father told him. “Okay, thanks dad” Sam replied as he took a seat next to his father. Before long, his mother began to make breakfast, and the smell of the sizzling sausage, eggs, bacon and beans filled the house. The delicious scent leaked through the cracks of the door to his sister’s bedroom and before long she had woken up and was sitting at the table waiting for the morning feast.

  Five minutes later a heaping pile of steaming hot food was sat upon the plate in front of him. “Your 13 now Sammy, you’ll be growing a lot soon so will need plenty to eat.” His mother said as she placed the plate in front of him. “Well, I’m not quite 13 yet” Sam replied to her. “I suppose you’re not; you were a real pain and didn’t come out till sometime past 11pm. Your sister was so much easier”. “Eww gross” Sam and his sister both complained at the same time. Before long Sam had cleared his plate and was about to help his mother with the dishes “Not today birthday boy” his father said. “You get a break from chores just for today”. This hadn’t happened before on his birthday, he thought. Maybe it was a special 13th birthday tradition or something. Sam patiently waited at the dining table for his parents to finish cleaning up. Once they had they both went off into their room before returning bringing over some presents wrapped in a light brown paper.

  Before he began opening them, he remembered there was one more and ran back to his room and collected the present sitting on his dresser that Barlow had given him. Placing it on the table he counted the presents. In total there were five of them. He had never had this many presents before on his birthday. Normally he just had one from his mum and one from his dad. “Okay, Sammy where do you want to start?” his dad asked. Sam surveilled the presents, one was placed in front of his father, one was leaning against the table next to him with one that was sat next to it. It almost looked like they went together as a pair. There was one in front of his mum and then there was Barlow’s sat in the middle of the table. He decided to open the one in front of his father first as he seemed to have two. Slowly he reached out and grabbed the present.

  It was quite heavy for its size. It was about 30 centimetres long and about 10 centimetres wide. He carefully pealed back the paper to reveal a plain wooden box. Likely what his present was stored in he thought. He slid the lid of the box back to reveal a shining dagger. The dagger had a shiny mirror like steel blade and a wooden handle wrapped in leather with a small blank pommel on the end. He carefully lifted the blade up and gave it a closer inspection. He noticed once he lifted the blade out of the box that there was a leather sheath hidden underneath it. “I had the blacksmith leave the pommel blank so that you could get it turned into something of your own choice.” His father said. “I had it ordered from one of the best blacksmiths in Pexicon” he said as he smiled down at him. Wow Sam thought, it couldn’t have been cheap coming from the capital of the Baxton Dutchy. Sam gently placed the dagger down on the table and pulled out the sheath. It was a plain leather sheath however it had its initials S.F.H written on it. Even F for his middle name Fredrick which came from his grandfather was on it. Carefully Sam picked up the dagger and slowly slid it into the sheath. The blade made a satisfying click noise as it fell into place. This gift alone had been better than anything he’d ever received before, and he had 4 more. His excitement was uncontainable as he beamed a huge smile.

  The next gift he decided to open was the one from Barlow. He unwrapped the cloth around the present and was once again presented with a wooden box. This time, however, it had been carved and decorated and had a lid with small hinges with a clasp holding it closed. He undid the clasp and looked inside; there were 3 individual items inside the box. Sam lifted out the one on the far left and used identify on it ~ Multi Tool: This multitool contains a small knife, a file, a small saw and a pair of scissors~ the system message read. He’d never seen one before but had heard about them, mainly from Barlow when he visited his store. He gave the multitool a once over and placed it back in the box. The second item he immediately recognized. It was a lighter like the one he had for the candle in his room except this one was twice the size and had his initials S.H engraved on the bottom. He flicked the top of the lighter and a small flame burst into life. After watching the dancing flame for a short moment he flicked the lid closed and snuffed out the flame. He placed the lighter back into the box and pulled out the next item. It was a long thin blade, not sure what it was he used identify ~ Filleting Knife: This thin knife is used for filleting fish~ that was handy he thought, all the boys in the village liked getting together sometimes and fishing down in the stream. This would make it easier to fillet the fish they caught instead of using his larger work knife. Sam carefully put the knife back in the box and closed the lid. He would have to thank Barlow for the gifts next time he was in town, he thought. “Where did you get that one from?” his sister questioned from across the table. “Barlow the blacksmith in Rimour. He gave it to me when I visited his shop the first day we were in town” he replied to her. “That was awfully kind of him. You better make sure to thank him” his mother said. “I sure will” Sam grinned back.

  Sam next grabbed the present his mum had sitting in front of her. He stared down at it as if trying to look through the brown paper wrapping. He flipped it over and ripped off the paper at the seam. Once he took off the paper the present was revealed to be a book. The book looked vaguely familiar. He turned it around to look at the front and was shocked to see the title “Jumping Jack”. He couldn’t believe his eyes; it was the skill book from the shop he had visited while in town. Looking at his parents with questioning eyes his father spoke up “I asked Betty what you had been looking at when you visited the store and she said you had been eyeing that skill book. It was a bit pricy but as it is your 13th birthday I decided you deserved it” he said. Sam gently stroked the cover of the book with his hand as he questioned whether this was real or a dream. He now had the chance to get a Pseudo Skill. It would take some work but the method of getting the skill was all in this book and would drastically reduce the need for trial and error. Caressing the book one final time he placed it back down on the table. He was down to his final two gifts. His father lifted the two gifts and placed them onto the table. One was a weird shape, a thin kind of triangle and the other was round. “Open the big one first” his father finally said to him as he looked back and forth between the two gifts unable to decide which to open first.

  Taking his father’s advice, he lifted up the large gift and brought it over and placed it in front of himself. It was heavy, very heavy. He carefully unwrapped the gift and not halfway through did he realize what it was, a sword. He finished unwrapping it and looked down at the sword. It was a medium-sized sword like the ones the Rimour guards carried. Carefully he lifted the sword in his left hand before grabbing the handle with his right and pulled it a fifth of the way out of the scabbard. “Use identify on it” his father said. Sam complied with the request and used his item identification skill. ~ Holdridge Family Sword: This sword has been passed down from father to son. This sword is a medium length broad sword forged by the Baxton Dutchy Great Smiths for the war between two neighboring kingdoms~. He looked over at his father and smiled. Thanks dad. He said and he walked around the table and gave him a hug. He held the hug for a few seconds before walking back over to his seat and sheathed the sword.

  He grabbed the final present on the table and quickly opened it up. Inside it was a dark leather belt. “That belt is designed for your sword and dagger” his father quickly said explaining the item. Sam gave it a quick once over and placed it down with the sword. Thanks for the presents, Mum, Dad. He said with a bright smile. This was already the best birthday he ever had and there was still more to go. He knew that there was a tradition in the village that when a child turned 13 each family would give them a gift. The village believed that gifting a useful item on their 13th birthday would set them up for a successful life ahead. As per the tradition Sam would head to the village hall just before noon where the rest of the villagers would come by to wish him a happy birthday. Finishing that thought Sam made a few trips back and forth between the dining table and his bedroom, transferring the gifts to his bed. He set them out neatly and spent a few minutes admiring them and thinking about what he would use them all for.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  It was still a few hours before he had to go to the town hall for the village traditional gift giving ceremony, so he decided to begin reading the skill book. Sitting at the desk in his room Sam took the key belonging to the skill book and slid it into the keyhole in the small lock. Once it was fully inserted, he turned it and with a ‘click” it unlocked. He removed the lock from the latch and placed the book down flat on top of his desk. Sam placed his hand on the cover of the book and took a deep breath, his first time ever using a skill book, he was excited and nervous. He moved his hand to the edge gently wrapping his finger around the leather cover and then opened it. As the cover lifted from the page beneath it he felt mana pour into him from the book. It only lasted for no more than 3 seconds, but he immediately felt a jolt of energy that made him want to get up and jump. Forcing himself to stay sitting in his chair, he read the first page. ‘Table of contents – Page 3-25 Long Jump – Page 26-44 High Jump – Page 45 – 112 Power Jump’. Power Jump must be the most difficult to learn of the three natural skills as it has more than double the pages dedicated to it than the other two skills Sam thought. He supposed it made sense since long jump and high jump were both skills you could fairly easily figure out yourself whereas power jump seemed like it must be harder to learn. Maybe it used mana to boost the jump or something and that’s why it was longer. Either way, Sam decided to start reading about Long Jump.

  Standing outside his house on the flat area out the back of the yard Sam prepared to start his long jump practice. Based on what he had read in the skill book, long jumping was divided up into four parts. 1 was the run up, 2 was the takeoff, 3 was the flight and 4 the Landing. For the run up the key was speed getting a consistent speed on your run up for the jump. Sam had never been much of a runner but understood that to be a fast runner you needed to minimize unnecessary body movement as they slowed you down. For the next 15 minutes Sam practiced running the length of the yard as fast as he could. Each time he did a length he focused on the parts of his body that were moving and causing him to slow and focus on keeping them still and close to the body. He stopped his sprints when he decided his technique was close enough to what the book had described for him to move onto the next step, the takeoff. He took a quick break before starting on the next step. The sprints had tired him out already, he couldn’t wait until he leveled up further and gained some more stamina.

  During the take off the nondominant leg was supposed to be the leg that stayed on the ground while the right was the one he would use mostly for the push off. Sam spent another half an hour practicing running and pushing off with his right foot and flying through the air. Many times, he fell over when landing. Maybe he should have practiced landing first he thought. Either way it was too late now he already knew he was going to have a lot of bruises, might as well keep going. He continued practicing the long jump for the next hour working through the last 2 steps and then bringing it all together. Just when he was starting to get a hang of it and had begun to shorten his run up his mother called out to him “Sam, time to get ready to head to the town all”. He gave her a thumbs up, stopping for a moment to catch his breath Sam began a slow walk back into the house to wash up and get changed.

  Once he was changed he and his entire family walked over to the village hall which sat along the centre square of the village. When they arrived, they were greeted by the mayor’s assistant Caitlyn. “Holdridge family and Happy Birthday Sam, right on time we were just finishing up the final preparations for the ceremony. Head on inside, Paul is in there getting things ready”. The family returned the greeting and headed inside the village hall. It was the largest building in the village and could fit all 97 residents. “Happy Birthday Sam” Paul called out to him. “Thanks Paul” Sam replied. “Okay so, you will be sat on stage, and everyone will file up the stairs to you pass on the gift to and pass on their birthday wishes and then they will take a seat in the audience. Once everyone has been through, I will finish it off with a speech and pass on my gift. That seem simple enough?” Paul asked. “Yes sir” Sam replied. It wasn’t like this was anything new to him. There were a few 13th birthdays in the village last year that he attended. Due to the war a lot of the older children in the village were between 14 and 12 as there was a large gap between those and the ones who were born before them. “Alrighty then, go sit in the chair on the stage, the first people will be here soon, and we can’t have you out of position” Paul stated. Sam did as he was asked and walked up the stairs to the stage and sat down in a comfy padded armchair. Sitting there on stage looking down at those below made him feel important. This must have been what being a king felt like he thought.

  It wasn’t long before Caitlyn entered back into the building and alerted them to the first family arriving. Once alerted, Paul joined him up on the stage standing just behind him to the left. Sam sat there waiting to see who would be the first to enter. Surprisingly he started to feel a bit nervous. He wasn’t normally bothered by being the centre of attention but this time being sat up on stage must have elevated it to a new level as before he knew it, he felt his hand grow sweaty. He took a deep breath and wiped his palms on his trousers. Not 2 seconds later did the first people enter the hall. This here marked the beginning of his village coming of age ceremony. Over the course of the next hour villagers entered through the large double doors of the hall and filed up the stairs, handing him their gifts. Most of them were handy everyday items he would need in his future, but the occasional one was different. For example, James, one of the village hunters, gifted him his old hunting bow and a quiver full of arrows. He had told him that he had just gotten a new bow made out of some special wood from the elven forests in the Kingdom of the Palmforth Forest and decide to gift Sam his old one. He also offered to give him some archery lessons as well later in the week to get him familiar with using a bow. At last, the final villager was here to give him his gift. Abbott, the blacksmiths apprentice walked up the stairs and over to him. He took out a slip of paper and handed it to Sam. He looked down at it and read ‘IOU one item’. Looking up at him quizzically Abbott smiled expectantly and said “I wasn’t sure what to get you, so I decided an IOU was the best option. Next time you need something made, use the IOU and I will do it for free”. “Thanks Abbott, I appreciate it” Sam replied to the young man.

  Abbott walked off the stage and Paul stood forward. “The final gift will be from me, the mayor of Kait. As per tradition, the gift I bestow upon you like any 13-year-old young man in the village is a 1 Acre plot of land. Do you accept this gift?” As Paul asked him a system notification appeared. ~Paul Osfleed: Mayor of Kait has offered a Land transfer of 1 Acre in the village of Kait to you. Do you want to accept this land transfer? ~. Sam read the system message and replied, “I accept”. ~Land Transfer Accepted. Land Gained, 1 Acre of land in the Village Kait, Nouman Viscounty, Baxton Dutchy in the Kingdom of Keivania is now under your control. The Land Management module has now been unlocked. The land management module is only available when standing in your owned land~. The hall filled with clapping as he accepted the land, and he looked down upon the smiling villagers. Some of the younger children looked up at him, excitement shining in their own eyes as they imagined themselves sitting in his place. “Thank you all for attending the coming-of-age ceremony for Sam Holdridge. I look forward to seeing you all for the next one later this year” Paul finished.

  Once Paul had finished his speech the villagers began to leave the hall. As they left some of them came by for a final chat with Sam and he thanked them for their gifts before they finally left the hall. The next hour was spent transporting the many gifts from the hall back to Sam’s house. Once they were done Paul walked up to him “Okay Sam, tomorrow I will come by around 9 in the morning and will show you where your plot of land is.” “Thanks Paul, I appreciate it “Sam replied. “No problem, just doing my job as Mayor is all” he said back to him. “Anyway, I best be off, it’s getting late after all, and we still have to pack up the hall. I’ll see you in the village square 9 sharp.”. Okay, thanks again Paul” Sam replied as Paul set off back down the hill towards the village hall.

  Sam walked back into the house and realized he was it was empty leaving him alone. His mum had taken his sister to the clinic to do some cleaning, and his dad had gone to give his fields a once over before dinner. Sam walked into his bedroom and flopped down onto his bed. He felt exhausted, both mentally and physically. His Long jump practice had taken a lot out of him but the ceremony in the village hall had worn him out much more than he had expected it to. As he lay there, he thought back upon his birthday. It had been a great day, the best day perhaps. But it wasn’t over quite yet, he still had dinner and then they were going to play some games before bed and when he woke up in the morning he would have his blood skill. He closed his eyes briefly, allowing the softness of the bed to wrap around him.

  He opened his eyes a moment later and his room had gone dark. He got up and walked out of his room to find his family talking at the dining table while dinner was cooking in the kitchen. “Good morning sleepy head” his sister called out to him. He studied her for a few seconds before concluding that he had accidentally fallen asleep. “How long was I asleep for” he asked. “Over two hours since I got back from the fields and you were asleep by then” his father replied. Slightly annoyed at himself for sleeping through some of his birthday he joined his family for a chat before dinner.

  After a dinner which was a mountain of meat, potatoes and other vegetables piled high upon his plate, they sat around playing a few games before retiring to bed. “Goodnight Sam, I look forward to hearing all about your blood skill in the morning” his mother said to him as she and his father went to bed. Charlotte had already been put to bed earlier as she had fallen asleep during a round of princes, knights and castles. He looked out of the kitchen windows as he filled up a cup of water to take with him to bed. He looked up at the bright moon shining down on them. It was a full moon, and he could see every possible detail on the surface. What would it be like to travel to the moon, has anyone ever done it before he thought as he pulled his gaze away and headed for his room. Putting the wooden cup down on his bedside table, he climbed back into his unmade bed and lay back down. Once again, he did a recap of the day in his head. He smiled and said to himself “The best day” before closing his eyes and falling to sleep.

  Sam jolted up in agony as his body burned. Pain surged through his body like a wildfire on a windy night. He opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out. The excruciating pain lasted for what felt like hours but in reality, was maybe no more than 30 seconds. His body was locked in place as the pain slowly began to subside. He gasped for air as he finally regained control of his body and lay back down on the bed. He breathed heavily as the pain left him and just as quickly as the pain had flared up it was gone as in its place was a boy lying in bed gulping for air with sweat pouring off his body. When Sam had finally recovered enough to put a thought together, he realized what it must have been, his blood skill. He had never heard of anyone experiencing pain when they got their skill, well except for that unfortunate few who got skills that turned their body into completely different creatures. Suddenly, fearing the worst, he bolted out of bed and looked at himself in the mirror. He spent a few seconds studying himself before he was satisfied that he still looked the same as he had earlier in the day.

  Once he had finally calmed down he noticed the system notification in his head. Sitting back down on the side of his bed he read the notification. ~ Blood Skill Gained: God of the Reapers (Mythic)~. He froze, had he just read that right? He read the notification over and over and over again in his head. Mythic, but that wasn’t possible. How was his blood skill Mythic? There was no such thing as a Mythic blood skill. Suddenly a pang of excitement began to flow through his body. There was no such thing as a Mythic Blood skill, until now. He was the first, the excitement at that thought was overwhelming but then came the sudden realization that this was bad. Very very bad. If people found out, he had a mythic blood skill he wouldn’t be left alone, he would be taken away to be studied. Wait, stop panicking Sam, he said to himself. Only those with top tier legendary identification skills can view other legendary skill holders’ skills. All he had to do was say his skill was legendary. Sure, it was rare for legendary skills to form in someone with parents with common and uncommon skills, but it wasn’t unheard of.

  Finally calming down he realized he hadn’t even looked at more than the title of his mythic skill. He opened his status and looked at his skill again. ~God of the Reapers Mythic. Skill Fragments 1/10. Reaper of Strength Lv 1. ~ Reaper of Strength was his first skill fragment he thought. Using the system, he looked at the Reaper of Strength skill fragment. ~Reaper of Strength: Reaps 1% of an opponent’s strength stat upon slaying them. Leveling this fragment will increase percentage number of stats reaped. When an opponent’s strength is below 100 there is a percentage chance to gain a stat point. When fighting in a party you must do damage to the opponent before it is slain for stats to be reaped.~. Fucking holy shit Sam yelled before covering his mouth cringing. Hopefully he hadn’t just woken the whole house up. Holy Shit he thought to himself again. My skill can take status points from my opponents and make them my own. That is insanely powerful he thought. He would have to conceal this though he thought. He wouldn’t be popular if people thought he was going to try to kill them to consume their power. He would have to think up a cover story, but that can wait until tomorrow. He was exhausted and needed to sleep. He could worry about it in the morning and since no one could see his blood skills he could say it was whatever he wanted. With that thought settling his mind he lay back down, closed his eyes and fell back asleep.