"HAH!" I yelled as my fist hit a tree with a loud thud, before I yanked it out of the 6 inch deep indent my fist made in the tree.
I looked at my hand, and it was like I hadn't punched anything at all. I sighed, and looked up to the sky and cursed. I guess without having any offensive skills, it wasn't bad. Still, what I wouldn't have for a sword or an axe skill.
●●●
Ever since he was a boy, Grayson Tomir dreamed of being an adventurer. He wanted to help people, to be of use to those around him, and mostly, to be accepted and wanted by those around him. Although it seemed that no matter how hard he tried, the Heavens would not listen to him.
For as long as people could remember, the Heavens had given people gifts that help people fight against the evils in the world, whether that be other people, monsters, or to tackle dungeons to prevent the creatures inside from spilling out into the real world. No one knew a lot about dungeons, although it was widely accepted that they existed in a separate space, a different dimension, than the one they existed in. If the dungeons were not cleared regularly, tve entrances would break, allowing the monsters inside to spill out and wreck havok on the surroundings and the people in its vicinity.
To fight this, the Heavens bestowed people with powers and skills, which anyone could view at anytime on a personalized window that only the person in question could see. Sometimes these skills came naturally, other times it was a gift people were given at birth, and other times, like what Grayson was trying to do, it was through hard work and training, which in turn could allow someone to manifest a skill on their own. Grayson wasn't lucky by any stretch, and his prayers were never answered, which to him meant that he needed to try even harder.
You could use weapons without skills, and become quite good at them, but you would never be able to use all of the abilities that came with learning a weapon skill. Sword skills didn't just increase your proficiency with a blade, it also brought with it the ability to learn magical abilities for the weapon as you leveled up that skill. A sword, for example, had many magical abilities such as cutting through the air so fast that it created wind blades that you could use against your opponents, or even infusing your blade with an elemental affinity, such as fire, ice, or lightning.
Yet, no matter what he did, he could not gain any offensive abilities that would help him against the monsters. No matter how hard he swung a sword or an axe, he did not gain any mastery skills. No matter how hard he concentrated, he was unable to cast any spells or use any magic. So now, he took to his usual past time of letting his anger out on the poor trees that surrounded him. It was better than punching someone in the face because he was so angry. That wasn't to say he didn't aquire any skills, but none of them helped him in actually fighting against anything. Grayson sighed as he opened his window.
Name: Grayson Tomir
Race: Human/------
Skills:
Unknown:
-Ajsjrjejwkdjd (shdjfkd)
Effect: ajdjejwndndnmamddmkekskdnenskdnfnekdkdjekwkdmdnfneoweorjrjyyug F yygfftygfthjjkllnnvvcxdrtyhhhj it tghjhfyyhggyuhgyujfryuhh
Offensive:
Support:
-Pain Resistance (Epic)
Effect: Reduces pain felt by 50%.
-Damage Immunity (Rare)
Effect: Reduces damage taken by 30%. This skill also increases the hardness of your body.
-Leap (Uncommon)
Effect: Increases jump strength by 20%.
-Speed Enhancement (Uncommon)
Effect: Increases your speed by 20%. Also increases reaction times .
-Regeneration (Legendary)
Effect: Increases the speed your body heals itself by 80%.
Note: Seriously, stop hurting yourself.
-Physical Enhancement (Epic)
-Effect: Increases the strength of your body and offensive skills by 50%
●●●
I groaned as I closed the window. That last skill always felt like someone ran up to me, and full on kicked me in the nutsack. Seriously, a skill that increases the power of my offensive skills. Nice, thanks a fucking lot. I won't lie and say my skills were bad. Honestly, they were kinda nuts considering I was only 22. I've heard of old grizzled adventurers not even having any of their skills past Rare, nevermind Epic or Legendary. Hell, I was still astonished everytime I saw my Regeneration skill.
Granted, I put myself through hell every single goddamn day to try and develop any kind of offensive skill, and while I still hadn't, my other skills had developed quite nicely because of that. I still always wondered about my first "skill," but I eventually grew to just pay it no mind. I didn't see any benefit or negative from it, and in fact, part of me always assumed it was just the Heavens fucking with me. It had always been there since I was born, yet obviously, it didn't seem very helpful. Didn't hurt me, nor did it help me. The unknown part was still weird though. Something about it....hmm, no idea.
My race was also strange, but again, I didn't really pay it any mind. When I asked my mom and dad about it, they just told me that the Heavens made mistakes sometimes, kinda like with my skill. It was easy to accept for me, as the Heavens never had seemed reliable to me anyways. Some help they were, huh? I did always suspect my mom knew more than she was letting on, but at the end of the day, it wasn't worth putting that much thought into shit I didn't understand.
"Fucking assholes." I said, chuckling to myself.
I couldn't honestly give a shit less if the Heavens and all of the Gods hate me. What have they really done for me? I guess I have my own home to call me own out here, and I am kinda close to the city, but I only have this place because my parts are gone. My father died a few years ago from sickness, and the worst part about it is that if mom were here... he wouldn't have died.
My mom was a healer in the nearby city of Malakash, and a damn good one at that too. The best in the city, and quite possibly one of the best on the continent. One day, she was approached by an envoy that was allegedly sent by the Emperor himself, Torvarg of the Imperial City of Novacran.
I didn't really give a fuck about all of that, but what I did give a fuck about was that she had been gone for almost 7 years now, with not so much as a letter. I honestly cried at night sometimes, as I figured she was probably dead. So yeah, as you can see, I have no reason to think of the Heavens in a positive light. Fuck them. She probably died on some mission doing whatever the fuck they had people doing. Fighting A and S ranked monsters, most likely.
That's another thing. Monsters were given letter rankings based on their power level, or how much mana they have off. Even if some monsters didn't use magic, they were comprised of bone, flesh, blood, and mana, and the amount of mana was what determined how strong they were, and the dungeons were given a similar rank based on the strength of the monsters inside. Thankfully, the highest ranked dungeon around for miles was D ranked.
That's what adventurers were for, as they too were given ranks based on their capabilities. And it just so happened that Malakash was full of D-ranks, a handful of Cs, and a couple of B-ranks. Two people stood out the most though. The guard captain, Raheem Goodenbrawn, an A rank, and the town Judge, the so called arbiter of Justice, who was one of very few S-ranks around here. The leader of the Adventurer's Guild was also S rank, but that was a given since he was the head of such an important guild like them.
I sighed as I looked off into the distance. I vaguely remembered someone from the adventurer's guild coming to me and asking if I would go into the dungeon with a party soon. I was training, so my attention span at the time was pretty shit. I couldn't do much in there, but people usually came to me when they needed someone to soak up damage. They knew I had pretty decent support skills, but fuck that if I was gonna tell them exactly how good they were. Some shit was better kept to yourself, afterall.
●●●
Silvia was nervous as she and her group made their way toward HIS house. To be honest, it was more nerve wracking than the dungeon they were about to go in. A lot of people always made fun of him, and joked about him behind his back, or even to his face honestly, but not her. She dared to say that she adored him and how hard he worked.
No one knew what kind of offensive skills he had, but many assumed that he didn't have any at all, and that assumption seemed to be proven right everytime he got into a fight or went into a dungeon. Yes, he could take a hit, and getting hurt didn't bother him as, quite honestly, his ability to heal his own injuries was absurd. Yet, to most people, no one cared about any of that if you couldn't deal any damage.
No matter what kinds of weapons Grayson used, he was ineffectual in combat. His sword strikes were sloppy and didn't cut, his dagger strikes didn't pierce and broke on contact, his axe hits didn't punch into his enemies... you get the idea. Still, the look of determination in his firey red eyes always gave her goosebumps, and made her heart beat like a wardrum.
Silvia was a beautiful young woman, around 22 years of age. Long red hair complete with bright green eyes that could make any man weak in the knees. A face that was seemingly sculpted by the Heavens themselves, with no imperfections to be found. A slim hourglass figure with a chest that bounced with every slight movement. Hips that could birth demon lord complete with a rear that could end wars.
Obviously, she was usually where most guy's eyes drifted, and it truly bothered her. Not only did she not want the attention, but she didn't want it from anyone besides Grayson. However... he barely ever seemed to notice her most days. Sure, he would glace at her, but then he'd quickly look away and avoid meeting her stare after that. It both infuriated her, and saddened her, but at the same time, that's why she liked him.
He treated her like a normal person, and while she did want the attention from him, she understood that he was also much different, and had a tough life. Yet no matter what happened, when she saw the look of conviction in his eyes, and the way he went about himself, confident, dismissive, incredibly foul-mouthed, it made her heart skip a beat.
"Am I hopeless?" She asked as she and her group neared his home.
●●●
I stared at myself in the mirror. I wouldn't lie to myself, I was a decent looking guy. I got my black hair and red eye color from my mother, while strangely enough, I didn't have much in way from my father's side besides his normal looking nose. And by that I mean, a lot of people around these parts had big fucking noses. Like, take one sniff and rob the air of oxygen types of big. It was weird, but it was whatever.
I had an above average frame, with muscled arms and legs that weren't too big, buf big enough to make people leave me alone for the most part. They tried to abuse me with words instead, but I didn't give a shit about any of them. It was like my mom said.
"No one but you can tell you what your worth is." She had said, and that memory made me smile.
It was too true, and I'd never let someone else tell me what I could and couldn't do. I would get an offensive skill, or I would die trying. And then, once I did, I could finally make a difference.
I walked out of my bathroom into my living space and sat down on the sofa. I had a towel around my waist, and my chest was exposed. I had just washed up in preparation. I was pretty sure people were coming today to bring me to a dungeon, but I also couldn't fucking remember if they really were or not. Better to be ready just in case.
A knock sounded at my door, and I got to my feet. I wasn't even thinking about my state of undress as I went to the door and opened it up. And there... well, there she was. Silvia, the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on was standing at my door, once again sending my heart into fucking overdrive once again.
"Grayson, we....um...." She said, trying to sound serious with the group of people behind her, but coming up short as her eyes roved my body, her face as red as her hair.
Goddamn it did I love red hair. Not only that, but she was always so kind to me, and treated my like a normal person, and not like a worthless piece of garbage or a tool like most people did. I liked her a lot, I'll admit it, but I didn't know how to handle the feelings she made me feel, so I always shut down and avoided her a lot of the time. She would never give someone like me the time of day anyways. I quickly shut the door.
"Shit, my bad. I'll put on some clothes." I said loud enough so they could hear me.
"You knew we were coming, you worthless idiot. You should have been ready to begin with." A man, the party leader I believe, said.
"ENOUGH!" Silvia yelled outside of the door, and honestly, that made me smile.
She was usually the only one whoever stood up for me. I didn't need it persay, as I truly didn't give a single fuck what anyone else said about me, but I appreciated it nonetheless.
"Sorry man, I don't speak asshole. I'll be out in a minute Silvie." I said, addressing only her with any respect.
She told me a long time ago to just call her that, and I honestly felt honored to do so. I got dressed quickly enough. A simple black tunic, black pants, and boots, black as well of course. I liked this color a lot.
I opened the door, and Silvie greeted me with a smile. She was the only one. The party consisted of, Silvie excluded, 4 men, and 2 women. I didn't really pay attention to anyone else, so fuck me if I knew who they were or what they did. One of the other women had a staff, and a holy necklace around her neck, so I assumed she was some kind of priestess, most likely a healer.
Who cared about any of that when Silvie was here? She was an absolute badass that specialized in fire incantations. Strong ones at that. I believe she had Fire Manipulation of the Epic rarity. God she was so hot, and in more than one way.
"Why are we even bringing this guy with us?" One of the men asked, a dude with a goddamn club. He had impressive muscle in his arms, but he had a gut on him as well.
"Hey now, is that any way to speak to your father?' I asked with a smirk.
This mother fucker actually came at me a lot quicker than I expected and decked me in the face. Everyone looked shocked, and also looked pissed off, and then she too looked like she couldn't believe it. Whether it was the lack of reaction from me, or the sound of his fingers breaking, I couldn't tell you. Probably both. I smacked him like an unruly child, and he immediately fell to the ground.
"I see you don't like jokes. Got it." I muttered as I turned around and looked at Silvie.
I scratched the back of my head as she looked at me incredulously.
"Yeah, that one was on me." I admitted.
She continued to stare at me, and it was the open mouthed dude next to me that spoke first.
"He was C-rank. He was the one we brought to fight. And you..... aren't even ranked." The dude said, eyes wide.
"Hmm. Should've got someone else. Dude is literally like one of those common shitty bandits from a story. All talk and no bite. For a C rank, that barely stung." I said, and the dude looked at me like I was insane.
The dude I just laid out groaned. Yeah, I could take a hit, and my strikes did hit pretty hard due to my physical enhancement skill, but that still didn't hold a candle to an offensive skill. If this dude was a B-rank, things wouldn't have played out like this. I should be happy that an unranked person like myself could stand up to a damn D-rank, nevermind C-rank. Although, if this guy actually had better support skills, it might not have gone this way either. Since people didn't really talk about their skills, it truly was a toss up most of the time.
"H-how are you this strong without any offensive skills?" The dude I hit asked from the ground.
Yup, and there is was. When I said people didn't talk about their skills, it usually goes both ways. Anyone who awakens an offensive skill is pretty much required to have it tested by the guild as a mandate from the Heavens. Everyone has a role to play in this world, and if your skill is strong enough, it must be used in service of the people for the Heavens. Since I've never had an offensive skill awaken, I've had no reason to go to a guild, which means everyone pretty much knows that since I've never been there to have myself appraised, I must not have one yet.
That wouldn't be uncommon weren't I as old as I am. Usually, the latest an offensive skill activities for most people is around 17 to 18 years of age. I'm 4 to 5 years past that now, which means I'm just another worthless guy with a dream to most people. I opened my mouth, ready to give a witty response that would make me sound like an asshole, when the most surprising thing happened.
"Grayson works diligently everyday." Silvie said, and she caused my mouth to drop open as she continued, "He trains and pushes himself to the limit everyday in the hopes of gaining a skill. Yet, even if he hasn't yet, his hard work has paid off in other ways. He hasn't relied on using skills to get as far as he has. Most of you gain these skills, and then become complacent, thinking that's all you have to do to win your fights. It's the difference between having actual skill, and having A skill." She finished with a proud smile aimed at me, and her cheeks were surprisingly rosey.
No one said anything, and surprisingly, this group of assholes actually seemed to be truly thinking about her words. The fucker on the ground actually seemed to be the one doing this the most, although I think the fact that I laid him out is playing a part in that.
"Um. Thank you, Silvie. It actually means a lot." I said, and I paused for a second there. I was actually being sincere...then again Silvie had always been nice to me, so she doesn't deserve any of my ire.
Silvie looked shocked at my words for a moment, until ahe broke out in a radiant smile. I paused at the sensation it gave me. I didn't find myself feeling that way much anymore. Not at all, in fact. The only time my chest felt this warm, and my mind at peace, was when mother was still around. Most days I just felt angry, or pessimistic about where my life was going. What was I doing? Where was I going? Did I even have a set path to follow? I didn't know.
"So, are we just gonna stand here and do fuck all, or are we gonna go to this dungeon?" I asked, ready to get this over with. At the very least, I'll increase my skills some more.
"Oh, yeah. Yeah sure. Hey, Herman, get up. And don't mess with the guy again, please." The guy next to Silvie said.
The asshole, Herman, got to his feet, took one look and me, and must have seen how I reallt felt about him in my eyes. He began shaking, then he nodded to the guy that spoke, and walked to the back with a limp. So, he's now terrified of me. Neat.
"You're the party leader, I take it?" I asked, and the guy nodded.
"Y-yeah. Nolan Brand, at your service." Nolan said.
"Brand...Brand... hold on? As in, the son of the Adventurer's Guild leader, Norman Brand?" I asked stupidly, because who the fuck else would it be?
"Well, fuck me." I muttered, knowing full well what would happen if anything happened to that man's son.
"I... don't think that would be wise." Nolan said, and I rolled my eyes. Silvie had gone red in the face again, as my words had caused her eyes to bug out for a second there. Odd.
"Really? It's a figure of speech man. I'm just annoyed... well, fuck it, nothing to be done about it now. Which dungeon are we heading to?" I asked, bringing us back on topic.
"The one next to Malakash falls." He said, and I sighed in relief.
Good. The one next to the waterfall was only D-rank, so there shouldn't be any issues. Strangely enough, I got a strange feeling in my gut as we set off towards the dungeon. I was unsure what it was, as I didn't feel ill or anything, nor was I hungry. I also had already taken a shit before we left, so it couldn't be that either.
"It'll be fine." I told myself, following behind Silvie, and I gotta tell you, the sight was fucking incredible.