King of Passives

My name is Evan Lindel, I had been transmigrated to a modern world of Sword and magic. It was a great change because magic and science had worked together to create a flourishing world. That was, until I found out that I was considered useless by society, because of my lack of combat skills. I had failed to awaken a talent during my coming of age ceremony, which happened when all humans turned 15, and was now considered a wastrel.

I had lost my parents shortly after transmigrating here, so I had to live without them ever since. Now, I had just failed to awaken a talent and would have to start working entry level jobs. I had managed to land a job working as a garbage collector. I would have to begin work at 5 AM, working until 5 PM. Collection trash with a magical device, which was Easy, however I had to collect all the trash from all the buildings in the Lower District of the city I stayed in.

I had lived in a city called Anaheim, that was located on the country of Grigoria, on the Human continent. The Human continent boasted an 80% population makeup of Humans. Other continents were named after their respective controlling races, while the Darklands were unknown. The Darklands were an unexplored part of the world.

Anaheim was one of the largest cities in Grigoria, that was on the Eastern coast of the continent. It was a trade city, and also one was that a little lawless.

It was refreshing living in this world because the quality of living was much higher. I knew I was amongst the poorest group of people in the city, however I still was afforded an apartment. No one was homeless, because the cost of constructing buildings was so low, and people were put to work by the government which meant no one was without a job.

However there were problems with society. Especially the discrimination against people based on their talents, or lack thereof. There was a sort of mystical power that allowed people to see a quantitative representation of their physical abilities, and also their talents. Talents were something that weren't yet understood, however it was agreed that they were a deciding factor of your class in society.

Talents were ranked based on their usefulness.

F-Ranked Talents were Talents to assisted in doing tasks that any human could achieve themselves. Such as a talent for making a broom sweep the ground. It was useless, especially since there were machines that did that already.

E-Ranked Talents were physical enhancements. Such as being slightly stronger or slightly faster than a normal human being. These were used mostly to allow someone to excel in different low end jobs, such as being a fast mailman, or a slightly stronger construction laborer.

D-Ranked Talents started to become more magical. They were Talents that allowed one to be able to kill or help kill other creatures in the wild. These people were expendable, and they were often front line soldiers.

C-Ranked Talents were able to control magic, to cast spells or augment their bodies significantly. These were people who could kill many creatures by themselves.

B-Ranked Talents were able to fill large holes of manpower in a war, doing the jobs of hundreds of D-Ranks. These were people with combat related abilities, meant for large scale warfare.

A-Ranked Talents were the backbone of armies. These people were walking armies, and most had proven themselves in combat. They were hard to kill, and were often regularly monitored. They were heavily controlled by their countries. Most Middle sized cities would have a handful of A-Ranked Talents.

Then there were two final rankings, both shrouded by mystery. S-Ranked Talents, and Unique Talents. S-Ranked Talents were Talents that had to potentials of destroying entire continents, and they were closely guarded secrets of each race. They were the axes hidden up our sleeves, and so their identities were unknown.

Unique Talents were a different characteristic, however, because they were not based on ran, but instead on how they can create large influences with their hyper specialized talents. Such as having perfect sense of taste, which could be used to create perfect dishes of food for the extreme upper class. Or having the ability to sense minerals, that person would be sent to the mines and make them a living sonar system.

However I belonged to a second class citizen group Talentless.

They were people who, for unknown reasons, did not awake any Talent. They were ignored, and often treated with less priority than those with F-Ranked Talents. Which is what was happening to me right now, as I had to wait until everyone else was given their paychecks, and I had to wait until the very end to receive mine. Which resulted in me staying after work for almost three hours.

As I walked up, as the only one left yet to receive their pay, the boss looked at me with indifference. It was this indifference that sometimes hurt the most, as it felt like they didn't even view me as a person.

"You've worked here for a full year now, so you're being given a raise. It's included in your paycheck."

After handing me an envelope, the boss left, and I was then the only person still at work. I quickly left, trying to make it to the bank in time to deposit my check, however, like every payday the banks were closed by the time I got there. I had hoped today would be different, because tomorrow would be the two year anniversary of my transmigration, but also my birthday.

I had hoped to celebrate, even if I was going to spend it alone again, however it seems that fate didn't work out for me this year. I had the next couple days off, so I could celebrate later tomorrow.

'It can still be special.' I told myself, before heading home. Depressed, I trudged back to the edge of city where my apartment was. When I got inside, I called out to my roommate.

"Hey Marley, are you here? Marley? Where are you?"

I then heard Marley behind me. I turned around and smiled, something I didn't so often.

"You're just a little ninja huh? I bet ninjas get hungry too. I'll feed you, and we can eat dinner together."

Marley was my cat. A sweet, small black cat that I found on the day my parents passed away. I had been wandering the streets in a fugue state, however when I saw this little cat bleeding in an alley, I came to my senses. He's been with me ever since, helping to keep me sane.

I opened a can of cat food, and scooped it into a bowl with Marley's name written on it, then I set it down on the table next to a bowl for me. I then microwaved a bowl of canned spaghetti. I had to buy cheap food, since I wouldn't be able to afford my bills and food for Marley if I ate expensive foods.

As Marley and I ate, I began to wonder if I could continue living like this, in this world.

I was alone. Although I had Marley, I knew I was truly alone. I had actually died in my previous world, where my emotions took control of me and I made a hasty decision to jump off a bridge. I wasn't thinking straight, and I was fortunate to end up here. However I was constantly worried that I would make the same mistake, and that there wouldn't be a next time again. It was already impossible for me to get to live a second life, that asking for a third sounded insane.

However my life had been hard in this body. I lacked the opportunity to make friends. I had lost my parents, even though I personally did not grow up with them, I spent a bit of time with them before they passed. They truly loved me, or at least this body's owner before me, and I felt truly pained when I lost those two good people.

Then there was the biggest problem of all: no talent. Without a talent I would never be able to become anything. I would never achieve anything. I would never be anything. It was so frustrating, that even though I got a second chance at life, I still didn't understand how I could be transmigrated here, and have the worst start.

"If only I had some talent, if only I had some sort of talent..."

The clock on the wall struck midnight, playing a small tune. I then saw a translucent message before my eyes.

[Congratulations on host for awakening the King of Passives talent, and successfully binding with the system of Greed.]