Chapter 2

My name is Ryuya.

I don’t know my parents’ names or what they look like. By the time I was old enough to understand, I was already running around the city alone.

I survived by scavenging through garbage with companions who were in similar situations.

If there was a chance to turn my miserable life around, it would be at the Blessing Ceremony held when I turned fourteen, where I could obtain a skill.

Skills are blessings given by the gods. In this country, everyone is considered an adult at the age of fourteen, and regardless of their status, everyone receives a blessing to test what skill they will be given.

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event.

If you are given a skill, you will live on with it, never to be erased.

If the skill you obtain is rare and powerful, you will be recognized as a valuable asset by the country and can advance on the elite path.

Even if you are an orphan without parents.

So we challenged the Blessing Ceremony, our chance to turn our lives around, and I was the only one who lost the bet.

＜No Skill＞.

I was given no skills at all.

And my orphan companions, Riber, Zeta, and Cidroad, apparently got some big wins and were able to advance on the elite path.

That’s fine.

They are my companions who have lived together. If they can be happy, I am happy for them.

Even if I wasn’t given a chance...

...

...Sorry, that’s a lie.

I’m incredibly jealous!!

I can’t pretend to be a saint!

Why did they all get such rare and amazing skills!?

Cidroad, who obtained ultimate magic affinity.

Zeta, who has two skills when most people only get one.

And Riber, who can become a hero with enough effort.

I would have been satisfied with a common skill that would give me some advantages in adventurer registration, but they all ended up with the strongest skills.

If they had given me even a fraction of their luck, it would have been enough!!

And they! As soon as they realized they had hit the jackpot and I had nothing, they abandoned me!

They treated me like a thing of the past right in front of me!

Weren’t we companions who always helped each other to survive!?

Damn it, hit a wall in the next stage!

...But let’s stop there with the venting.

Right now, I need to focus on myself.

Of course, being abandoned is frustrating, but there are more pressing issues at hand.

We have survived as orphans, helping each other when we were on the brink of death.

But now, out of the four of us, three have been taken in for their strong skills, leaving me behind.

If I continue living as I did yesterday, I will surely die on the streets before long.

To avoid that, I have no choice but to take another gamble.

Level up.

I need to raise my level.

Without any skills, the only way for me to survive is to gain strength by raising my level.

It’s not a novel idea, as the priest said.

In the past, many people who were judged as ＜No Skill＞ tried to raise their levels to achieve glory.

However, there are almost no success stories.

To raise your level, you need to accumulate experience points, and to get experience points, you need to defeat monsters.

Without the aid of skills, defeating monsters is extremely difficult.

My level, having grown up in the city, is ＜1＞.

I am completely at the starting point.

Still, I have no choice but to challenge this difficulty.

Without a family or savings, and having lost my companions who helped me, the only way for me to survive is to become stronger.

Without skills, the only way to become stronger is to raise my level and boost my base abilities.

In the past, hundreds... perhaps thousands of people have tried the same method.

I don’t know how many succeeded, but I will follow in their footsteps.

There is no other path for me to take.

And I also want to show my former companions, who abandoned me, that I can make it...

Anyway, I left the city to raise my level.

I headed towards the outside world, where vicious monsters roam.

◆

A few days later...

I was already deeply regretting my past decision.

“I’m going to die... I’m going to die.”

The number of monsters I’ve defeated so far...

Zero.

I haven’t defeated a single one.

I’ve encountered them several times, but defeating them was impossible, and I barely managed to escape with my life.

Even when I tried to find the weakest monsters... even the weakest-looking horned rabbits were too strong for me.

I would encounter them, face them, and realize after one or two hits that it was impossible, and then run away... I’ve repeated this several times, and my body is already in shambles.

Even running away doesn’t leave me unscathed.

I’ve been gored, scratched, and bitten by the monsters that chased me, and my body is covered in blood.

Fortunately, none of the wounds are deep, but with so many injuries, I might be in danger if I don’t get treatment soon.

“Was it really too much to ask...?”

The words the priest said to me at the time resurface in my mind.

--- “Those who are judged as ＜No Skill＞ usually leave the city to try to raise their levels.”

--- “They fight monsters in the wilderness and forests, and are inevitably devoured.”

--- “That is the reality.”

--- “It’s for your own good to give up on unrealistic dreams and live a simple, ordinary life.”

That might be true.

This is the result of a person with unrealistic dreams colliding with reality.

Monsters are not something that can be defeated one-on-one without skills or sufficient level.

At level ＜1＞, without skills and without any companions to fight with, I was destined to be killed.

I have to return, or I will die.

If I stay here, I will definitely be devoured by a monster.

This thought was pressing on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn back.

Even if I return, I will only face a miserable life or a miserable death.

I might be giving up, but that’s how I feel.

“Since I’m going to die anyway, I’ll die moving forward...!”

With that thought, I ventured deeper into the forest, where monsters roam.

And I encountered it.

The worst possible monster that would surely devour me.

“...A dragon?”

Is that it?

Covered in scales, as big as a mountain, its long, snake-like body swaying through the air.

The scales are blue.

A blue dragon appeared before me.

“...I’m dead.”

I’ve heard stories about the terror of dragons.

Top-notch adventurers who have won countless battles are instantly killed by dragons, and countless towns and villages have been destroyed by them.

Encountering such a dragon in the forest.

What should I do?

Even if I try to run away according to the rules, I probably won’t be able to escape.

I’ve already been injured and exhausted from getting here. I don’t have the strength to outrun a dragon.

I had just resigned myself to death, but...

“...Heeding the call of fate, I came down to the ground.”

What?

What is this ‘voice’?

Who is speaking?

“Thus, to meet such a bizarre destiny...”

“Is it... the dragon?”

Is the dragon speaking?

A dragon that understands human language!?

“You fool. Do you mistake me for a dragon?”

“Huh!?”

“I am not a dragon. I am a dragon.”

What’s the difference!?

“Now, human boy. Your destiny has connected with fate, and fate has brought you to me. What do you wish for from here?”

“What are you saying!?”

“Whatever you wish for, you must grasp it with your own hands. Neither heaven, earth, people, nor gods will give you anything. You must reach out and grasp it with your own heart. What will you do?”

“...”

As I listened, I started to feel angry.

This dragon... no, dragon? I don’t understand the difference, but are you saying that if I wish for something, the gods will give it to me?

But the gods didn’t give me anything.

They didn’t give me the skills I wished for.

So why now!?

“...What I wish for is power.”

I said it with a sense of resignation.

“The skills that the gods were supposed to give me, even without them, I want a power strong enough to make it irrelevant. Can you give me that? If I wish for it?”

“Hahaha... Power. To wish for such a vulgar thing. Very well.”

The dragon’s laughter was both mocking and affectionate.

“However, as I said before, neither heaven nor earth will give you anything. If you wish for power, you must grasp it and cultivate it with your own hands. I can help you with that, perhaps.”

“Can a dragon help a human?”

“Of course. We dragons are both heaven and earth. We do not give you anything, but we give you everything. Whatever you wish for, and whatever you do not wish for, everything...”

I don’t understand what the dragon is saying.

Is it because dragons are fundamentally different from humans? Do they think differently?

“Should I put it more simply? I will train you. I, one of the Eight Dragons, the Blue Dragon Oomononushi...”

“Train me!?”

“Destiny, fate, and destiny.”

With that, the blue dragon writhed its body and lunged at me.

It lunged at me!?

“To put it in human terms, I am like a harsh coach. Don’t give up halfway. If you want to fulfill your destiny, you must...”

“Eeeekkkk!?”

And so, for some reason, I ended up training with a dragon in a deep forest far from civilization.

Five years have passed since then.