Paragon of Skills No Prologue

I am about to fucking die.

I might sound dramatic to you, but I'm not joking.

I'm pretty much dead.

See, so people die in the Ocean of Bones, or maybe in the Cathedral of Steel—heroes, they are, those Knights. Not .

I die here, like a moron.

Where, you might curiously ask?

I'm not about to die in a Dungeon or fighting a mighty foe that threatens humanity.

Nope.

I'm about to die like a dog.

A stupid one.

And that's all because I dared to dream.

I dared to dream that one day, I could be a Knight too. I dared to think that a lowly miner like

could perhaps work hard enough to buy a good Skill, like Lightning Edge, that would allow

to kill a few monsters, finally get a Class and get out of Shit's Creek. I dreamt of fighting monsters greater than life, of conquering Dungeons bigger than the sky.

Is it too much to ask to have a chance at being sothing? Is it too much to desire to be soone?

Or even just to explore the entire world with just a sword by my side and a smile on my face.

Every ti I saw patrols of knights passing by, a part of my heart yearned.

I try to be tough and not care like Benji and Sneeze back in the village. They say that being a miner is much safer than being a Knight. They think that going around Dungeons and Hordes of monsters is stupid and suicidal—and I can agree on the second part.

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It's definitely suicidal.

But when I look at those shining armors and then peer down at my clothes, which look too much like potato sacks strung together—which sotis they are—I imagine myself in a silvery armor that many of those Knights wear.

But let

explain just how hard it is to beco a Knight.

Not only do you need a very powerful Skill in your arsenal, but you also need to reach Level 50 before you can even apply. Usually, that ans hiring people to level you up, hiring tutors who can explain to you how to fight, how not to get killed by this or that monster. It's hard to level up. You need guidance, you need soone to explain to you what to do. That's why nobles and rich kids have it easy, and that's where the majority of Knights co from.

And even though Benji and Sneeze might think that being a Knight is just a stupid risk, Knights are rich. They are rich-rich.

Skill Crystals are the most valued currency one can acquire, and you can only find them in two places—Dungeons and in the bowels of the earth.

Skills naturally spawn in Dungeons just like monsters. Every ti you clear a rare Dungeon, which resets only ever so often, with so only refreshing once every one hundred years, the Boss's Skill Crystal—the most valuable Skill in the Dungeon—appears.

Skill Crystals from bosses usually co in rarities from Silver up. Crystals can be ranked the sa way Knights are ranked: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, True Diamond, Mithril, Orichalcum, Aetherium, Rainbow.

Usually, unless you're in so recess of hell, you'd never find anything above Silver just lying around a mine, for example. Soone might stumble on an Iron Skill every couple of weeks—but those were worth… well, Iron coins. Enough for a loaf of bread or to pay a miner like

a day's work.

Picture my surprise when, treading an abandoned tunnel in search of a better digging spot to find more silver ore, the ground beneath my feet suddenly gave up.

I plumted for about five seconds before realizing that this was going to be certain death.

Jacob Cloud, age sixteen, son of a miner—miner himself—is about to die today.

Sothing, however, illuminates the bottom of the pit.

And its reflections are rainbow.