Chapter 1: Stubborn

At the break of dawn in the large town of Initium, located near the edge of the human kingdom of Crestelia, the day began for 18-year-old Sol.

Leaving a small house at the southern edge of town was a young man with short, dark brown hair. With a lean body but an overall strong physique noticeable through his arms and thighs that stood out the most. He had no outstanding features besides a thin scar that started from his left cheek and ended on the bottom of his chin. The young man was heading out the door to do the same thing he had been doing for the past 4 years, wearing cheap everyday clothes and equipped with a backpack and a worn-down sword given as a gift by a shop owner out of pity. He started heading to the Adventurers Guild.

As he passed by a bakery owned by an elderly couple, the elderly woman saw him pass by and sighed under her breath. She turned towards her husband inside and said, "I know we see him do this every day, but it still hurts knowing that such a hardworking young man is given such a fate."

Her husband looked back at her from the oven, shaking his head. "There isn't much we can do except hope he will one day give up and stop endangering his life."

"It's been 4 years since his leveling ceremony, and he hasn't stopped yet. I don't know what level he is now, but he must have already passed level 10, and no one has ever unlocked their talent after that. Even the legendary talent of the princess was obtained at level 5."

"Can't blame him for trying, hopefully he will soon realize his limits before he gets hurt or worse..." her husband replied as he watched Sol walk past their shop.

"Dear?! The bread!"

As his wife called out to him, the elderly man's focus returned to the task he was doing, and he noticed the bread he was baking was in the oven for too long and quickly took it out.

"Phew, looks like it's still good."

Sol, oblivious to the conversation that took place, headed towards the Adventurers Guild with a determined look. Being too focused on his status screen, he suddenly bumped into someone and fell to the ground.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention." Sol apologized as he looked at who he bumped into and immediately regretted having chosen this path to the guild.

The man in full body armor and a tower shield strapped to his back was still standing unfazed. His gaze shifted downward as he looked at Sol and upon realizing who it was, smirked, "If it isn't the man who doesn't know his place in the world. How long will it take for you to understand that you are talentless?"

The man looking down at Sol was Jayce, similar in age to each other; they both took their leveling ceremony alongside other kids in the area. Town guards brought weak monsters that allowed the children to easily kill them and gain their talents. That day Jayce unlocked his talent of [Iron Wall], giving him a stronger body and defensive skills making him an excellent tank. All the kids got their first talent that day, all except for one.

Sol was the only child unable to unlock his talent even when he was helped all the way to level 5, which annoyed the many guards having to keep heading to the forest to find easy creatures for him to slay. This wasn't the first time this had happened; there had been extremely rare cases where children didn't unlock their talent at level 5. Children who couldn't discover their talents were simply regarded as the Talentless, their numbers even fewer than those with the rarest level 5 legendary talents.

People started treating Sol as a lost cause, unlucky to not have any talent, but most didn't go actively out of their way to belittle him, except for Jayce.

Sol stood up and laughed as he said, "Haha, maybe Jayce, now is not a good time, though I have to get to work."

Jayce scoffed, "Work? You mean that same pathetic quest you do every day. Herbalists and farmers can gather ten times more than you in their sleep."

'God, how do I get out of this?' Sol thought to himself as he looked around.

Luckily, he didn't have to look for long as he saw a group of people heading towards them: a wizard, a huntress, and two swordsmen.

"Hey Jayce, let's get going, we don't want to lose that boss to another party," said one of the swordsmen.

Jayce looked back and said, "Yeah, yeah. Let's head out."

He then walked past Sol, bumping him into the ground again as he met up with his party.

The party members noticed Jayce's actions but turned a blind eye to it to prevent conflict before they even headed out.

Sol watched the group walk away for a bit but got up once again and headed towards his original objective, the Adventurers Guild.

As he entered the building, he saw it full of people either drinking with their party members or looking at the quests they could take.

'Drinking in the morning… That's adventurers for you.' Sol thought to himself as he saw a group already wasted before the day even began.

Sol looked around a bit as he made his way over to a short, red-haired receptionist who instantly recognized him.

"Hey Sol. Same quest?" The receptionist asked him.

"Yep, thanks Annabel. Also, you don't have to tell me the details. I already know them."

The receptionist named Annabel grabbed a paper from under the desk and handed it to him, saying, "Nope, too bad, rules are rules. 5 copper per Laturn Herb you find. You need to find 5 at least, and they can be found outside the west gate and a bit north. But Sol, before you go, we need to talk."

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong, but I'm worried about you. Doing this every day for the past 4 years. I admire your dedication, but as you get to higher levels, the disparity of talents and skills become even bigger. Eventually, the monsters will be so strong that no matter what traps or tricks you pull, they can instantly kill you."

Sol took in what Annabel told him and with a determined face said, "I know, but for some reason, I feel it somewhere inside of me that I do have a talent and that if I keep at it, eventually it will appear."

Annabel sighed and said, "But Sol you have been at this for years maybe it's time to consider other paths, you know? What level are you at right now anyways?"

"19, almost 20."

"What?!" Annebel exclaimed and in a hushed voice asked, "Sol, you are much closer to that limit than I thought. After level 25, even the most common monster will have multiple skills and start gaining special talents that weaker monsters don't have. You won't be able to defeat them at that point; please don't do anything rash."

Sol looked at the sincere concern on Annabel's face for a minute in silence. He said to her, "You are right, how about this, this level up will be my last, if I don't unlock a talent, then I will give up and do as you say."

Annabel stared at Sol for a minute in silence but eventually agreed, "Okay fine! If you don't unlock anything, you will apply to work here as a receptionist. You have practically spent most of your free time here when you are not on quests anyways and know a lot of the ins and outs better than the average adventurer."

"Alright. If I don't obtain a talent at my next level up, I will apply for the job."

Sol started getting ready to leave, and before he went, he looked back at her once again.

"Thank you for giving me a chance."

Sol made his way through the streets and straight to the west town gates, this time uninterrupted, and handed the quest paper to the gate guards who gave it a quick glance and let him through.

'Can't leave town without a quest or merchant order, thankfully this low level quest can be taken by anyone even if they haven't unlocked their talent,' Sol thought to himself as he walked out of the town.

Most towns and cities implement these measures as it was very dangerous to leave town and venture into the wilderness. Monsters could appear at any moment and if one wasn't strong enough they couldn't do anything but accept their fate. This didn't mean that people were unable to leave if they wanted to, like with the adventurers guild there were other loopholes one could use to gain passage out of the town, this obstacle mostly functioned to prevent children and those unprepared from leaving the town.

Sol headed out on the path and once far enough away from the town, he started going south, towards the forest called Direwood Forest, named after the dire wolves that reside in it. Before entering dangerous territory, he made one final check of his status before going in.

Name: Sol

Race: Human

Talents: N/A

Level: 19 Exp: 19880/20000

HP: 200

MP: 100

Str: 25

Vit: 20

Agi:25

Int: 10

Wis:10

Available Stats: 0

Talent Skills:

Passive Skills:

[Basic Swordsmanship] Lv 2, [Basic Trapmaking] Lv 1

Active Skills:

[Basic Swordsmanship] Lv 2: Increases sword damage by 10%

[Basic Trapmaking] Lv 1: Increases trap effectiveness by 5%

'It took so much effort to gain just these two skills,' Sol thought to himself as he remembered how it took him a full year to learn swordsmanship, and it took even longer to gain trapmaking. If one doesn't have a related talent, the skill grows much slower, and some skills are impossible to attain without a talent for them.

"I'm just a little short of level 20, and if I still don't get a class, then I'll do as Annabel said," Sol told himself as he walked into the forest.

Sol slowly made his way into the woods and searched for a good place to set a trap. 30 minutes later, he found a gap between two trees that looked like they were often used by dire wolves in the area. Sol took out some rope from his backpack and looped it over a branch of the tree above him, then pulled down on the branch to create tension. Identifying where on the ground Sol believed the dire wolves step on based on the tracks, he made a noose and disguised it with leaves and dirt.

"Now all that's left is the trigger."

Sol grabbed another piece of rope and tied it between the two trees so that when stepped over, it would release the mechanism to pull the dire wolf who stepped on it into the air, making them unable to attack.

After setting the trap, Sol climbed up the tree and began to wait patiently. After waiting around 20 minutes, Sol was alerted by the movements of the bushes. Holding his breath to be quiet and not alert the dire wolf, he waited patiently to see what appeared.

What came out of the bushes was, in fact, the dire wolf Sol was hoping to catch, in its mouth a recently killed rabbit, and it seemed to be making its way back to its group. As it slowly approached the trap, Sol got tense and prepared his sword to kill it as swiftly as possible.

'This dire wolf looks pretty big and should be around level 21, maybe even 22,' Sol thought to himself as he got ready.

The dire wolf passed between the two trees and stepped directly over the trap, instantly triggering it, and the rope yanked on the dire wolf's leg, sending him up to the trees. In shock, it dropped the rabbit it was biting onto and looked around in panic, but before it could even howl, a shadow swooped down and slashed at its throat.

The dire wolf, still alive, tried to attack Sol but upside down and tied, making it unable to put up any real resistance and quickly got repeatedly slashed by Sol. Eventually, the dire wolf perished under his blade, unable to get a single attack in.

You have slain a Lv 22 Dire Wolf! Gained 160 Exp (160%)

You have leveled up! +5

"Nice! I thought I would have to kill 2, but luckily, this one was a higher level," Sol exclaimed. For every level under the slain creature, the experience gained is increased by 20%.

Sol quickly checked his talent screen and sighed, "Unfortunately still nothing. Annabel is right; it's ludicrous to think I will somehow gain a talent at this level when no one has gotten a talent after level 5."

He started to pack up the trap he made to prepare to head home. He will head to Annabel later to talk about his future in the guild.

Just as he finished packing up, he heard a loud noise and explosions not far from where he was. Wanting to get away as quickly as possible, he ran in the opposite direction until he heard loud footsteps heading straight towards him—the sound of multiple dire wolves!

"Not good!"