Everyone is born with abilities, and with enough training, they can learn more abilities, or make the ones they have better. However, some people, believed to be one in every hundred thousand or so, have abilities that nobody else is born with, and that nobody can train to have or learn to have. Those abilities, and, by proxy, the people who have them, are known as the Unique.
Amongst adventurers, the Unique are either the best, or worst thing to happen to their respective guilds, those who choose to ally themselves with the Unique will tell you how much easier their lives are now that the Unique and their parties are taking on the more difficult quests, those who don't will grumble about how hard their lives are now that the Unique and their parties are taking on the higher paying quests.
Needless to say, being a Unique is cause for unwarranted attention from both your admirers and your detractors.
For that reason, I have to ask: who'd ever want to be a Unique? Isn't life so much easier when you're ordinary? That's how I Darius Crowley, view the world. And yet, like many others my age, My goal is to become an adventurer, not for fame or glory, but to take advantage of the various perks available to adventurers. Free bed and board in any inn, reduced prices on items and books. Provided you stay above your monthly quest quota, all these things and more were available to adventurers, with the perks only increasing as you climbed the ranks.
As everyone must, I took the mandatory aptitude test to gauge my skills and stats, telling both myself and the workers at the local guild which class tree I'd be best suited for, and after a day of silence, I was called back to the guild, where I was met by a crowd of people, and after practically fighting my way through them to the front desk, I was handed my adventurer's ID card, and learned why such a fuss was being made.
Darius Crowley
Class: N/A
LV: 1
Stats
STR: 15
INT: 48
WIS: 54
CHA: 20
LUC: 4
Skills
Spell Aptitude: The user can cast spells and other magical abilities at 1.5 the speed of others.
Fast learner: User can learn new spells and abilities twice as fast as others
Spell Fusion (Unique): Darius Crowley can cast two spells at once to create a unique fusion spell
A Unique skill.
I have a Unique skill.
"There's not been a Unique at our guild for some hundred years." The guild attendant who had overseen my admission told me with a smile. "Congratulations, Ser Crowley."
I don't want any of this. I just wanted to get free stuff.
"With skills like this, I guess I should sign you up as a mage, right?"
If I choose to be a fighter, I could just ignore my Unique skill, right?
"Ser Crowley? I know it should be obvious, but I do need confirmation that you want to be a mage."
Ah, but then people might get even angrier than they already will, won't they?' I can hear their voices now "He's not even the right class for his Unique skill" "He probably thinks he's hot shit and doesn't need to use it" "What a waste of talent."
"Y-Yeah."I finally nodded, cursing whichever god it was that thought this was a funny prank to play on a mere mortal like myself. "Make me a mage."
That was three weeks ago, in the short space of time since then, I have already learned the most basic forms of each Elemental magic type: Fire, Ice, Wind, Earth, Electricity Dark, & Light. I had not, however, done the most basic things an Adventurer should do.
I had not found a single party member.
I had not been on a single quest.
I had not defeated a single enemy.
Adventurers at the lowest rank must complete three quests every month, or attempt five, or else they will have their licence revoked, and be banned from using any of the skills they have until they retake the exam, which is only held every four months. I had been so focused on being able to properly utilise my Unique ability that I'd lost track of the days and weeks that passed since becoming an Adventurer and found myself hurrying to the guild with one week left to make my monthly quota.
'A group of travelling merchants are being held up by monsters in Altri Forest. Reward: 250 G, Rating 2 Star, Healer required to tend to the wounded plus at least one other party member.'
'A Masterless Golem has been sighted on the outskirts of town. Dispatch it before it causes any harm. Reward 340 G, Rating 3 star, Tank required as Golems deal high damage.
'Bandits have taken up camp in the abandoned mines Northwest of town. Reward 200 G, Rating 2 star, Party of two or more required'
"Agh! Why are there no solo quests?!" I curse the board, it's posts mocking me.
"You'd have a hard job taking a quest on your own." A woman's voice comes from behind me, I turn and find myself face to face with a girl with green hair tied into a loose ponytail, wearing leather armour and a matching pair of gloves. With that sort of getup, it didn't take a genius to work out this girl was probably the brawling type.
"Thankfully, I'm feeling generous, so what do you say we take those bandits out together?" She suggests. It wasn't much, but it'll the number of quests I'd need to finish down to two, so I readily agreed. The fact the person offering is a cute girl definitely did not affect the outcome, in case anyone was wondering.
"Good, the name's Emerald by the way, but just call me Em, it's easier on both of us."
"Darius. Darius Crowley."
"Oh, so you're the..." Emerald looks me up and down as if appraising me. It definitely isn't nice being treated like a gold necklace being valued. "You don't look all that unique."
"Don't feel it either, but it's on my card." I shrug. Uniques are given special adventurer IDs, while the normal ranks were named after materials, specifically Wood, Iron, Steel, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, Unique ranks were named after rare gems, namely Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond, Opal, Beryl, Jade, and Alexandrite. As a Ruby Rank Adventurer, I get more perks than a Wood Rank, but less than an Iron Rank.
Yet another natural advantage that would make more skilled, less valued adventurers dislike me.
"Well, even if you are a Unique, a mage shouldn't be going on quests alone," Emerald smirks. "I mean, you'd take, what, one hit before you're on the floor? Especially at Level 1."
"Well, I mean..."
"So, be thankful, the great Emerald has chosen to party up with you, Mr Unique."
"My name is Darius."
"What, you've never had a nickname before?"
"Mr Unique is hardly a nickname," I argue. "It just sounds like you're flaunting the fact you're partied up with somebody you think is special."
"Somebody I think is special?" Emerald tilts her head. "You're the first Unique Larit's seen in a century, I'd wager that makes you pretty special."
"I'm just a guy who happens to have a Unique ability." I sigh. Was this what I could look forward to as the towns resident Unique? "Can we just... get on with this quest?"
"Alright. What can you do?" Emerald asks, noting my discomfort. "I'm a brawler, so I don't need any special equipment, just these clothes, and my fists."
"I know all the base tier 1 magic," I explain. "Fireball, Ice Shard, Gust, Boulder, Jolt, Shade and Light Ray."
"Guess that's what took you so long." Emerald nods. "What about abilities? Just your Unique?"
"I can learn spells faster, and cast them for half the usual mana cost."
"Not bad, I can attack faster and hit twice per attack," Emerald tells me. "I... think that's everything, I'll register us as a party and accept the bandit quest, so you just sit tight 'till I get back."
"Alright, those are the mines." Emerald held her hand out to stop me at a small outcropping in the mountains to the Northwest of town. "You wanna light 'em up?"
"Oh, right, sure," I say, fumbling through my pouch before remembering I no longer need my tomes to cast. "Wh-what should I start with?"
"You can fuse spells, right? Be creative." Emerald shrugs.
"Oh, o-of course, um... I should probably start with Fireball, but..." I go quiet as I decide what to mix my primary spell with. Ice would no doubt just create a ball of water, wind would be effective, but could put me and Emerald at risk, so that was out of the question, the same issue was present for electricity, which left earth, dark or light.
"Alright, I've decided." I nod as I step out into the path. The two bandits guarding the entrance notice me and start heading over, if only to investigate what I'm doing.
"Brightest of flames, and darkest of shadows, heed my call. Strike upon those who would oppose me with a fury that would rival the gods, enshroud them in blazing death and rend flesh from bone! Black Inferno!"
Upon the end of my chant, a ball of jet black flames bursts from my outstretched palm, detonating on contact with the mine entrance, engulfing it, and the bandits guarding it with dark fire, But because nothing ever goes right for me, I get repelled back by the sheer force of the explosion I created, turning the smug look on my face to one of pain and terror as it slams me into the mountain wall with a dull thud. I guess that's what you can expect when you only have four luck, huh?
"Darius!" Emerald calls out upon seeing me fly backwards, but regardless of how quickly she reacted, there was never any chance to catch me before I fell to the ground, like a marionette with its strings cut I slide down the incline, stopping only when my flailing body collides with a boulder, prompting a pained groan from my seemingly lifeless body.
"Darius? Darius! You can't die here, we've only just started!" Emerald pleads as she rolled me onto my back.
That had been the last thing I heard before my consciousness finally gave out.
"He should be fine, but you should really take a healer with you on quests if he's going to experiment with his ability."
"Y-Yes ma'am."
"Regardless, I suggest he rests for at least a week."
"He can't! He hasn't met my quota for this month!"
I hear a sigh. "Then at the very least, be careful and don't have him test out any weird magic until you can have him healed mid-quest."
Judging from the conversation that I woke up to, Emerald had dragged me back to the Adventurer's Guild, specifically to the infirmary.
"Ah, looks like he's waking up."
"Yo," I mutter. "How long was I out?"
"Two hours," Emerald explains, from how bloodshot her eyes were, it almost seemed as if she'd been crying. But over a guy who she'd just met? Yeah, like that was possible, some dust from the explosion must've gotten in her eyes. I actually feel kind of bad for that, but maybe now she knows what she's getting herself into if she hangs around with me.
Gods above, I sound like a jackass. It's not like having her around is a problem, but if my Ability's this volatile, I don't want some random girl getting caught up in it.
"By the way, you collapsed the mineshaft, so those bandits won't be bothering anyone anymore," Emerald tells me as soon as the medic leaves the room. Despite clearly being worried about me, she tries to lighten the mood by telling me that the quest was, technically, completed. "We only need two more, right?"
"Yeah, I guess," I say, trying to sit up. "Wait, we?"
"Oh, right, I didn't say, did I..." Emerald trails off, clearly embarrassed about something. "I, uh, haven't met my quota, either. So I guess we're sort of in the same boat, Mr Unique."She says with a giggle.