The Broken

     'Well, turns out that my day is going to be shit.'  Is what Matthew thought as he was being chased by his friend turned bully.

     "You can't run forever you rat."  James said.

     'Why can't this be a good day.  We are going to be late for the ceremony for fuck sake.'  Was all Matthew could think as he gasped for air.  Trying desperately to reach the school gates where he would finally be safe.

     Unfortunately, that was when the second bully made his appearance, tripping Matthew before he could reach the gate that was about 100 feet way.  The second bully was the real mastermind of all this.  Kirk was a larger kid that stood almost six feet tall with broad shoulders and was well muscled due to good genetics.

     Kirk's family owned the business that James' parents worked at and had befriended James some time ago.  At some point, Matthew had been accused of stealing from the store and getting James' father demoted since he had defended him.  This lead to Kirk convincing James to become his underling to essentially cause untold problems for Matthew and ending their friendship.

     "You should have moved away and never come to this school," said Kirk as he began to kick and beat Matthew.

     Matthew, being much weaker than the two boys could do nothing, but curl up in defense as the beating lasted for roughly five minutes when his bullies finally left him and made their way through the school gates.

     "Fuck that hurts," said Matthew as he got up and began to dust himself off and make his way to the school.

     He made it to the ceremony, albeit a little late.  Just as he took his seat in the back, the announcer made their way to the podium.

     "Good morning students.  I am you Principal, Mage Hardcourt.  You will address me as such when we speak.  Today, will begin a new chapter of you life as your system will be awoken today," said the Principal.

     "We will start at the front and work our way to the back in an orderly fashion.  Let's get to it then."

     As it turned out, this day could get even worse for Matthew even though he had not realized it yet.  Today would mark the long and unending struggle that would be his future.

     Gradually, students began to line up at the stage as the awakening crystal was brought out.  This crystal would cause the system to awaken in a person.  It was discovered that a persons system would naturally awaken at around the age of twenty-five, but through years of research a method had been created to allow a person to awaken that the age of fourteen.  Throughout a persons life up to that point, although they could gather mana and strengthen themselves, the system would only show a page that would be blank except for their name.

     Around thirty minutes passed as one student after another would step forward and place their hand of the crystal in which their status screen would pop up and display their current stats and skills.  Stats and skills varied from person to person with average stats being around a three or four for most values.  Skills tended to be random such as fire mastery for one person or perception for someone else.

     Generally, affinities could be awoken too, but that was far more rare as one could usually only train to gain an affinity or they would have one naturally from birth.

     Time passed and both Kirk and James had their turn.  Kirk's stats were slightly above average for someone his age having all his stats be at four and five values and awakening the lightning affinity.  James had balanced stats with them all being four and having an affinity for water.

     Some more time passed and it was finally Matthew's turn.  He stepped forward and placed his hand on the crystal.  The next second, only the most dismal stats screen one could receive appeared in front of him.  The first thing he could see was; Mana core - Cracked tiny core.