4Durham and the PlayPen were still a day out when Matt felt the final jolt in his spirit that signaled [Cracked Phantom Armor] reached his core spirit.The skill’s structure stuck out to him in his spirit. Like an infinitely complex 3D blueprint, it sat waiting to be used, begging Matt to try out the skill.His first skill.Knowing he couldn’t test the skill was eating him alive. Using a skill outside of designated areas was automatically considered a hostile action. No one wanted a stray [Fireball] to burn down a building or injure someone, so cities enforced a blanket ban on the activation of all combat related skills. Sadly, that included even defensive skills. Matt had checked, twice.Resigned to having to wait until he reached the PlayPen and their training grounds to see what his skill could do, Matt tried to relax. But after the last year and a half at Benny's, he could scarcely remember what free time was. Without another outlet for his attention, he just pondered his new ski

The admin process was easy enough. At one point, the clerk had them fill out identification cards. When giving the forms to Matt and Darius, he stressed that, if anything was wrong, it would be years of work to change, and this information took precedence over any other.Matt noticed Darius inputting a different last name. He didn’t feel it was necessary but assumed there was a story behind Darius’s actions. Not that he would press the other teen on it.Arriving off-cycle, Matt even got a delve slot for the next morning. After being assigned a room, he quickly went to a general store he’d seen on the way to the admin building. The place was massive and seemed to sell anything Matt could think of.With only minimal searching, he found the pads and discovered they only sold a single model. Looking at the specs, it truly was better than anything on the open market. The pad was faster and more efficient than even the latest model on the local markets, let alone his current refurbished pad

A flat voice called out, “Please, hold still. Defensive skill test engaging.” A bladed arm extended from the ceiling and proceeded to swipe at Matt’s chest. The strikes started feather-light and slowly increased in force until Matt was afraid it would pierce [Cracked Phantom Armor] and carve him up. He could actually feel the skills structure in his spirit destabilize as the hits grew in strength.When Matt was about to stop the test, finally, the blade pierced the misty armor and was retracted before it could touch him.“Physical slash testing complete. Analyzing results… Results determined. Skill will protect up to low Tier 2 slashing attacks. Any attacks that break through will have damage reduced by that flat rate. Please, increase mastery with skill or increase mana expenditure to increase the effect.”Matt was elated. One mana a second was a lot of mana for his Tier, and it showed he would be near-invincible in the Tier 1 rift. Even better, the Tier 2 rift would only be half as

This rift also could reward delvers with a few ingots of perfectly pure metals. Usually, only copper and iron, but there was the chance for steel or aluminum. The smiths prized these drops because they were easier to enchant when forging Tier 3 and above blades. Or at least the guide said so. Matt knew nothing about smithing or crafting skills.The iron weapons he had collected along the way were just melted and sold as mundane building materials. The Empire paid for the scraps, believing there was no reason to have expensive mines ruining land for mundane metals when most low Tier rifts created them endlessly for free.Matt approached the area of distortion next to the exit rift. It was a purple color to his spiritual sense. He wasn't sure if that was because of the item contained within or it was just random. The guide had said nothing about that.After taking a deep breath and crossing his fingers for good luck, he sent a pulse of his mana at the small field. It shimmered before a

Matt hesitated to share his failure, but he got the feeling they were honest and kind, so he decided to share a little. “No. Our orphanage was so overcrowded we all got Awakened at thirteen and pushed out.”All three winced. “It wouldn't have been that bad. They did what they could to ensure we got some face time with guilds and corporations even before going to the Awakening Center. I almost got recruited to a guild, but my Tier 1 Talent is—”Sam chimed in, “You don't have to say more.”“Nah, it's okay. My Talent is…limiting. Yeah, ‘limiting’ is the best word for it. It really restricts my cultivation, and that broke my provisional contract. Luckily, the recruiter was a good guy and helped me find a way forward. I just needed to make money, then buy a delve slot. So, I got a shitty job at a shitty inn. Worked there for over a year, then Dena and Eric walked in.”Matt had their attention now. “They were Tier 5s and stronger than anyone I’d ever met at the time. But they were kind.” He