Chapter 27

I've packed the past events into one chapter. Here it is!

One year ago, right after graduating from high school, I obtained an adventurer's qualification and challenged the dungeon. I successfully obtained my status, overcoming the 50% acquisition rate.

At that time, the unique skill I awakened to was [Dungeon Teleportation].

Teleportation skills had never been confirmed before.

If I had to mention something, it would be the teleportation magic used to return from the dungeon, but that is not strictly a skill and cannot be activated by a person.

Due to these circumstances, my skill attracted a lot of attention.

Not only did I receive attention from other adventurers, but I also received invitations from various guilds.

One of them was him—Kazami Shin.

Kazami, like me, had awakened to a unique skill and had received invitations from various guilds.

However, he had no intention of joining any guild.

The reason he told me was as follows:

"I want to create my own guild. In recent years, the top-ranked guilds in the country have hardly changed. I've been lamenting this situation. So, I think we, who possess special powers, should cooperate and overtake those at the top."

For this reason, he was gathering people who, like him, had awakened to unique skills.

The idea was to first make a name for ourselves as a party.

To be honest, at that time, I, like Kazami, believed that I was special for having awakened to a unique skill.

Therefore, I could agree with Kazami's ideals.

While I wasn't particularly interested in overtaking the top guilds, the idea of rising to the top through my own strength without relying on anyone else made my heart race.

As a result, I joined Kazami's party.

And then, right after that, I learned the reality.

My unique skill [Dungeon Teleportation], as I mentioned earlier, was not useful for combat or even support.

However, things were different for Kazami and the others.

At that time, the party consisted of four unique skill holders, including me.

First, the leader, Kazami Shin, possessed the unique skill [Lightning Strike].

As the name suggests, it was the power to freely manipulate lightning, and its performance was extraordinary.

At level 1, it had the power equivalent to a level 10 basic magic.

More shockingly, it did not consume MP when activated.

I think you can understand how extraordinary this is.

Kazami could use attacks several times more powerful than those of adventurers at the same level, without worrying about the number of uses.

He mentioned that there was a slight feeling of fatigue when using it, but this was the same as when using other magic, and it was not a disadvantage.

Among the party members, the other three—Sato Yuya, Tanaka Kousuke, and Takashi Sakura—also possessed unique skills that, while not as strong as [Lightning Strike], were still very powerful.

In their midst, I was clearly out of place.

To be honest, I was more of a hindrance.

After all, the only skill I had besides my unique skill was physical enhancement, which was hardly useful in combat.

Proof of this was that within a week of forming the party, rumors began to spread among the adventurers.

The rumors said that my unique skill was a useless, incompetent skill, and that I was just a hindrance living off the scraps of the other four.

These rumors were exaggerated, but they contained a lot of truth.

I couldn't even bring myself to argue against them.

Kazami and the others tried to reassure me, saying that I shouldn't care about what others thought, but by then I had already made up my mind.

If I couldn't see any improvement in [Dungeon Teleportation] from level 1 to level 2, I would leave the party.

I believed this would be for the best, for Kazami and the others, and for myself.

The result, as you know, was that the activation time only improved from 10 seconds per meter to 8 seconds, which was almost meaningless.

I made up my mind and went to Kazami to tell him I was leaving the party.

However, there, I unintentionally overheard a conversation between Kazami and Takashi.

"Hey Shin, why don't you just tell Amane to leave the party directly? What's the point of spreading the word that he's useless and making him quit on his own?"

"Of course, Sakura. We are going to become a powerful and famous party. During this process, our image is important. The image of cutting someone off after just a week is very different from that of someone recognizing their own limits and voluntarily leaving. You understand this, right, Sakura?"

"...Yeah, I get it. If the latter, it might create the impression that we are a group of extremely powerful adventurers that ordinary adventurers can't match. But I don't really care as long as he's gone. I'll leave this matter entirely to you, Shin."

"Sure, leave it to me."

...So, that was it.

The fact that I was not useful was known only to the party members.

The other adventurers knew this because they had spread the word.

Why couldn't I see such a simple answer?

However, even after hearing this, I didn't particularly blame Kazami.

After all, it was true that I was not needed in their party.

I did think, "If they had just told me that it would be difficult for me to contribute to the party, I would have quit on my own!" but that was a minor issue.

In the end, I told Kazami the next day that I was leaving the party.

He probably didn't realize I had overheard the conversation. Kazami tried to retain me with a hypocritical attitude, but I was so fed up that I left them immediately.

After that, I started acting solo.

A scout from a certain guild, recognizing the potential of my skill, tried to recruit me.

I can't remember the name, but it was a fairly well-known guild.

However, I, who had a strong aversion to the idea of having companions, naturally turned down the invitation.

For a while, I started operating in E-rank and D-rank dungeons.

The looks I received from others were those of disdain for an incompetent person.

I had been called incompetent more than once or twice.

I started recording these instances from the third time, thinking I might sue them when I needed money.

That said, as time passed and many adventurers at the same level moved on to C-rank dungeons, the number of times I was called incompetent gradually decreased.

But that was a minor issue.

So, that's how I ended up where I am now.

Kazami Shin, standing in front of me, is the person who triggered my being called incompetent.

If possible, I would rather never see him again.