Standing at the beginnings of the outer city, William felt an overwhelming sense of relief. He had made it back, back to his family. Baba and Niko.

He began stalking forward, more determined now with a destination in mind. He paced through the worn down housing, several people looking at him wide-eyed as he paced through the masses. They looked at him first with surprise, then with fear, as they parted from his path.

What's everyones' problem, you'd think I was blood-soaked or something... Looking down he realized he had a few dried splatters of blood acrossed his burlap-covered chest, as well as the sword strapped to his side, its crimson hilt showing. Well that explains it...

It was about this time he found himself standing before the house he'd lived in for the last decade. His eyes began tearing up as he stepped through the swinging front door, made of beaten up wooden slats. There, sitting at the small table was Baba, looking down at a small wooden tablet with charcoal scratchings on it. Some recipe of hers, no doubt. He thought to himself as he felt a grin developing on his face.

Looking up at the sound Baba's eyes immediately went wide, and she shot up faster than William had ever seen her move before in his life. Quickly she gripped onto the table's edge and began hobbling forward, raising her arms as William came forward to embrace her.

"My boy! You've come back to us. My boy...", she blubbed, as William could feel wet tears on his shoulder and chest. "NIKO! Get in here now! William has come back. Your brother is back with us...", she yelled through sobs.

William heard a crash in another room as Niko knocked something over, and came sprinting around the corner and immediately leaped at William upon spotting him. William caught him from the air with his free arm, and Niko wrapped himself around his neck.

"YesYesYesYes YES! Niko knew you would be back! He KNEW that you could do it!", Niko shouted in his ear.

"Yes, yes. I'm back guys.", William said as he set Niko down, parted from Baba, and wiped the moisture from his eyes. "And I've brought you something back.", he said as he pulled out the small knife Niko had given him, now stained a pearly blue from the blood of the spider. "It saved my life, thank you Niko.", he said while holding it out to him.

Instead of taking it Niko just staired into his eyes, frozen. "What happened to Niko's brother, you have changed.", he concluded pointing toward his face and chest.

William, with a frown, lifted his hand to his face and felt around, then, with a sudden realization, blinked his eyes repeatedly. "I found my soulskill, this is part of it!", he said with a small grin.

"Oh, Niko sees.", Niko said as he snatched his knife and lifted it into the air, looking at the coloration in the light, "Seems it is all thanks to Niko.", he concluded as he grinned wide and looked over to William and Baba.

"Indeed it is son.", Baba said with a small grin, that faded when she noticed the sword strapped to William's side. "And where did that come from?", she asked with a nod toward the sword.

"It was in the cave I had to check, I picked it up along with a few other things, including this.", William finished fishing the sack of coins from his bag and handing it to Baba.

Looking inside it, Baba's eyes widened slightly, "This is too much for us, there has to be at least 3 gold here!", she said nervously.

"Yes it should feed you for at least a few years, more if you push it.", William responded with a satisfied look.

"Willaim Crowwww!", he heard from outside.

"Where is William Crow!", he heard again.

"Seems as though it's time to report back to them. Come back when you can.", Baba said, peering past him toward the slightly open door.

"I will", he said as he spun around and pushed open the door, stepping into the afternoon light. What he found awaiting him gave him a slight shiver down his spine. A small squad of warriors stood surrounding Captain Elianne Rush, as she peered around from horseback.

"Ahh! There you are, come with us. We heard you found your Soulskill, and I can clearly see you have. Hurry, the others will not wait much longer, you were the last to return.", she finished as she turned the horse around and motioned for him to get on behind her.

He carefully crawled onto the horse's back, and held on as tight as he could manage without touching Elianne. With a sudden jolt, he grabbed onto her shoulder pads tightly just to stay on the beast. Elianne burst out laughing as the horse sped through the crowds, weaving through passing crowds while Captain Rush shouted, "CLEAR OUT!", repeatedly.

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Five minutes later William found himself standing in a medium sized, stone room of the castle, with three others, one he recognized as Brusk, standing around a softly glowing blue orb. The other two were both women, one large with dirty blonde hair done up in a braid that hugged her head, the other shorter with raven black hair, darker olive skin, and wearing black leather armguards frayed toward the hands. The first was well toned, had a large sword strapped to her back, and was a little boorish looking, but could still be considered attractive. The latter's hands were glowing dimly, much like the orb in the center of the room, but instead purple. Captain Rush had deposited him in the room, completing the small circle and then immediately left.

"How long s' this gonna take," Brusk muttered impatiently, "been here for hours alread-." He immediately quieted himself as Elianne strode back into the room, a woman in what looked to be her early 20s pacing in nervously behind her.

"Hello everyone, seems that you are the lot who made it back, and two of you were even volunteers.", Elianne muttered the last bit with a surprised look as she staired at a small board she held in her hands. "Brusk, Sonia Rite, Oru Einsh, and finally William Crow.", she motioned to the respective individuals as she listed them. "Seems as though you're all here and we can finally get started. The woman that is here with us is known as Esme, the Seer, you will respect her, go ahead Esme.", she finished gesturing Esme foward.

Esme was a woman on the shorter side, about 5' 3" tall, had blonde hair, and was outfitted in blue robes to match her eyes.

"Mmm. Mmf. Hi, my name is Esme. They call me the Seer, because I am able to understand soulskills, classify them, see their potential, and ultimately rank them. Today I will be helping you all do just those things. I will start with Brusk, and work down Miss Elianne's list to William, as I suspect his will be something relating specifically to his eyes, and should be the simplest to read. I will stand in the center, place one hand on the orb, in order to draw a large amount of mana from it, and the other hand on each individual's forehead, allowing me to peer inside your soul, seeing the skill. This is a necessary step for every individual who attains a soulskill, so that we are better able to group individuals, or place them in various jobs, so they can better develop themselves and therefore the nation.", she rattled carefully and quickly.

"We will begin immediately, so as not to waste anyones' time.", she said as she stepped to the center of the room and placed her hand on the orb. "Brusk, please step forward."

Brusk nodded with a small smirk on his face as he stepped foward. Carefully, reaching up to Brusk, who was a full head and a half taller than her, she placed her hand on his forehead.

"Bit cold...", he muttered, as her eyes closed and she began shaking, then stilled.

"Soulskill: Blood is Iron, Classification: Combat - Immediate, Potential: Medium, Rank: Rare", she spouted loudly, and mechanically.

"Hmmmm, sounds good.", Elianne muttered.

"Next", Esme said quietly, looking slightly more tired.

Sonia, the larger of the two women, stepped forward, bent down slightly, and allowed Esme to place her hand on her forehead.

"Soulskill: Channel, Classification: Combat - Dependent, Potential: High, Rank: Ancient", she rattled quickly, much like before.

This time Elianne's eyes spread wide with shock, "Channel. This is the first time that's been seen in a long time. The ability to channel various gods and creatures hasn't been seen since... Well since the last Emperor of the Harang...", she said quietly as the second girl stepped forward, Oru Einsh.

Sonia stalked back to her place without any sign of change on her face. Esme, wide eyed, finally looked away from Sonia, and looked at Oru. Oru parted the jet black hair covering her eyes, revealing softly glowing purple eyes, brilliant white skin, and sharp facial features.

Esme looked slightly fearful as she placed her hand on Oru's head. "Soulskill: Eldritch Force, Classification: Combat - Immediate, Potential: Very High, Rank: Ancient", she finished looking almost petrified.

With a slight nod, Oru turned, her hair falling back to cover her face, and slipped quietly back to her place.

"Two... Two Ancients... How...", Elianne's eyes glazed over, she was speechless.

"I'm ready for you I think, William.", Esme said weakly.

He walked up carefully, afraid of what might happen to Esme, she looked very weak and frail after viewing the others.

Placing her hand slowly on his forehead, her eyebrows knit together. The orb began to glow violently, she began to shake, and weaken, slowly slumping to the ground.

Panicked William braced her against himself. The orb began shining incredibly brightly, and William could swear he felt it drawing in all the mana from the area. It began crackling and finally seemed to burst.

The room was suddenly much darker, only lit by the surrounding torches. The orb had completely vanished.

"Soulskill... System. Classification: All, Potential: Seemingly Limitless, Rank: God.....", she said shakily, and then fainted, as the color drained from her face.