The Youngest S-Ranker - Journey to the peak

Two young children can be seen standing face to face, both had their faces down, their expressions unreadable. Heavy grey clouds were covering the sky, blocking what should have been a nice sunny day, rain pouring down, both of the children's faces were wet, however, it is impossible to tell if that is due to the rain or tears caused by what they are speaking about.

"I'm sorry Val..."

A sheepish, downcast female voice struggles to voice out her words.

"..."

The 10-year-old little girl with vibrant red hair and big brown eyes did not get a reply from the 9.5-year-old boy with silver hair, which has streaks of light blue, and bright green eyes, who had more pointy and slightly longer ears than a normal human, who she trying to apologize too. She doesn't know what else to say. She has just told him that she will be leaving with 3 other children to adventure together. This shouldn't have been an issue, in fact, this was very common for kids like them. The two children are orphans from a small town, in a barony, on the outskirts of the Wendishka Kingdom. Orphans are at the bottom of the barrel, they get very small funding from the nobles and do not have access to much education or resources. They have few options to better their lives other than becoming adventurers. There are of course other options like getting regular jobs in town, though they have to be pretty lucky, as many others also go for these jobs, and securing these jobs becomes more about the connections and relationships you have with others, rather than your competency. Therefore orphans often choose to become adventurers when they turn 10 years old and awaken their talent, joining with other orphans or local kids to create beginner parties in the hopes of advancing and creating a better life for themselves.

Flair, the young girl, has just taken her talent appraisal as it is her 10th birthday today. She awakened an A-rank fire talent and a B-rank two-handed broad sword talent. With two high ranking talents, one Magic Talent, and one Martial Talent, she would be considered very lucky and talented for an orphan from the sticks. To put it into perspective, 50% of people only awaken a single talent, with a ranking of 'D' or lower. 80% of people awaken a single talent of 'B' or lower. Only 5% of people awaken with a single talent of 'A'. Only 15% of people awaken more than 1 talent, and to have one as B-Rank and one as A-Rank is very rare.

Flair has always used large swords for her training, as it always resonated with her and she enjoyed using the weapon, so she is very comfortable with this talent and it fits her perfectly.

The reason for this emotional scene between Flair and Val is because Flair has decided that she will be leaving with other orphans who had awakened in the past year and had been waiting for others to awaken so their party would be properly filled out.

This had been a tough decision for Flair because it meant she would have to leave Val, who was her best friend, brother (nonbiological), and the boy she had a crush on. The two of them had always planned for Flair to wait for Val to awaken, which would happen in 6 months, as he was a little younger than her. However, Flair had been offered the position within the party of other orphans, which is being led by a boy named Nigel, who Val had never got along with and often fought with.

Nigel was a year older than Flair and had been waiting for some of his friends to awaken over the last year, however, one of his friends had awoken with a single talent which was F-Rank, the lowest rank, and he decided not to become an adventurer because he would most likely die very early. Nigel had found out about Flair's high talents and decided she would fit their team well, also he knew it would hurt Val immensely.

The reason Flair decided to join the party and leave Val and their plan, was because the other four members had awoken to decent talents and their party was very balanced, with her and another on the front line, a strong magic damage user, a healer, and a ranger. She believed that with this party they could become a B-Rank adventurer party, which would allow them to become rich, strong, and fairly influential (among commoners), which is what Flair wanted most in life.

As someone who had grown up at the bottom, all she ever wished for was the superficial things that those at the top had. She still vividly remembers the day her parents were killed for insulting a noble, even though they didn't do anything that would warrant the death penalty. Her deep desire to climb to the top so that no one could take anything from her again, caused her to abandon the only thing she cares about.

Her short-sightedness would be her greatest regret in the future.

After a minute of silence, Val finally responds.

"... Why..."

"We were supposed to adventure together, that was the plan, you and I fighting beasts, taking down bandits, and climbing to the top."

"That was the plan... So why are you joining Nigel and the others...?"

"Do you think I won't be talented? Do you think I will hold you back? Do you not want to make all those memories with me? Do you not want to experience all the wonderful and exciting things this ruthless world has to offer with me?"

"WHY?"

The silver hair boy finally raises his head, steadily getting louder as he asks question after question to the red hair girl, trying to understand why she is abandoning him, for the guy he hates.

"It's not like that Val, I..?

Flair tries to respond and justify her actions, but Val cuts her off.

"It's your life, and your choice, I cared for you more than anyone, I thought we would spend our lives together, adventuring and becoming strong and rich, but you want something else, you want someone else. Thats fine. I hope you don't regret it when I become the strongest, the greatest, and the richest!"

Val screams, and as he finishes his harsh words, he turns and runs away, as fast as he can, tears and rain pouring down his face. He ran because he didn't know what else to do or say, Flair was the person most important to him, the only person he cared about and enjoyed the company of. He didn't know what he would do but he hated that she had abandoned him and he wanted to make her regret it. He wanted to prove that she had made the wrong choice, that she had chosen the wrong person. He wanted to prove that he was worth more than Nigel and his group.

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After that conversation Nigel and his group, along with Flair left Victa Town, to begin their adventure together and start the next chapter in their lives. It would be a few years before Val and Flair would meet again and many things would have changed.

However, this 'betrayal' would shape Val's life and perspective greatly, impacting his goals and future behavior.

Val trained hard and alone for the next few months, constantly trying to improve himself, to be the best he could be, and after 6 months, it was finally the day, it was finally Val's 10 birthday, the day he would finally awaken his talent.