1 A Sketchy Offer
* Beep! * * Beep! * * Beeppepepepepeep! *
The never-ending sound of the alarm clock saturated the air.
"Does this thing ever shut up!? It's like it's built to annoy people", a voice complained whilst yawning.
"What time is it anyway?", the young boy stated whilst looking at the clock. Peering at the clock he could see the digital time, 7:30am. Seeing this his hands started trembling in rage. They quickly shot out from underneath his blankets grabbed the alarm clock turned it off then tossed it across the room at projectile like speed.
The alarm clock zoomed through the air heading towards its impending doom as it crashed into the wall (Poor alarm clock).
* Crash! *
"I could've sworn I set that thing up to wake me up at 9:00am, what sort of witchery is going on", declared the boy as he sighed. Now that most of his pent-up frustrations were gone, he started to calm down.
"Another long day of trying to find a job and not being a NEET. I wonder when you're finally going to get a girlfriend, powers or anything Blake? Oh, wait your powerless! Hahahahaha". The young man laughed to himself.
For Blake today was just another day to remind himself that he was a broke talentless bum. In fact, on his very wall, he had a poster saying, 'broke talentless bum'. Blake looked at the wall and sighed. If only he could be a ranker. To him that was just a fleeting dream.
Blake was just your typical citizen, nothing special. In a world where the majority of people got stat increases, intelligence increases and many other abilities, he had nothing. Every day of his childhood he would wait expectantly for his powers to show up, after all there were cases when powers didn't show up until the age of 16. However, 16 was the final deadline.
Blake was 19 now, he was permanently going to be a suckerfish (name given to non-enhanced people). His dreams, his aspirations to become a high-level ranker, all of them had been shat on by a bully called fate. It was his fate to be weak, bullied and ridiculed after all he didn't have even a spec of power inside him. However, Blake wasn't going to let that stop him, he had to make something out of his life.
Quickly the young adult scuttled towards the mirror. Blake had long blueish scruffy unkempt hair and was about 175cm in height, pair that with the most average of average faces it was if his whole existence was built to be a background character. A person who if was being chased in the crowd would be easily lost, that was Blake's pitiful existence.
After gazing in the mirror and freshening up Blake sat on his bed. He grabbed the phone which laid on his desk and scrolled through his emails. Maybe today he would find an appealing job that was willing to keep him.
Most of the time finding a job wasn't too difficult for Blake because ultimately, he looked like your regular run in the mill guy. Therefore, it wasn't that hard to get the regular run in the mill job. Keeping it was the problem though, once the organisations found that he had no powers and abilities at all, they would quickly replace him with someone with actual powers. That meant that Blake only kept a job for a minimum of two days and a maximum of about a week.
At this stage Blake had cycled through at least 75 different jobs.
Looking through the list today, he hadn't received any comments or replies for most of the job applications that he applied for.
"Guess I'm going to have to take that miner job for later today", he smiled.
'What time was it for again, 12:30 or something like that'. Blake thought to himself
It was during this time, whilst he was pondering that he received a phone invitation. He was just about to swipe delete thinking it was one of those spam posts when he glanced at the sender of the message.
"Japanese Ranker Association, why are they messaging me!", Blake shouted out in shock. He quickly tapped on the email to read more.
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๐๐ฐ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ,
๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต.
๐๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ.
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต,๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐'๐ฎ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ป๐ท๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข. ๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ.
๐ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ.
๐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ
- ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฐ ๐ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ช
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After reading the email Blake stood there in shock for a few moments.
"The Ranker Association, they want to have me as a scout!". He shouted unable to contain his excitement. Well, they did say that they would pay him a massive sum of money and he would get a recommendation from the association helping him find a new job, so of course he was elated.
It was such an amazing offer, a once in a lifetime opportunity that had been given to him. Although, it did seem a bit sketchy. Why did the ranker association need him, a powerless? Surely there were a lot more suitable people for the job?
Well, whatever the reason he was sure to ask them when he met them. This was the ranker association; whatever scouting job they gave him surely it couldn't be that hard.
'This is probably going to be some easy task, maybe a little challenging but hey free money'. Blake thought to himself whilst grinning.
He gazed out of the window only to see a black car waiting outside the neighbourhood. It was exactly where the director told him it was going to be.
Blake's previous expression had now changed into a full-blown smile 'easy money this jobs gonna be a breeze', at that moment Blake didn't know how wrong he was. He didn't know that from the moment he set his plan to follow through on the associations plans, things would change for him forever.
Whether a curse or a blessing. A positive or a negative. Fate or coincidence, who knows?
The only thing known was that Blake's life would never be the same ever again.
