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In the batch I was in, there were a grand total of 20 people, including me, attending it. And out of them, five were girls.
I also spotted someone who appeared younger than me, though the majority of them were still either freshmen, or in their sophomore years like me.
From what I heard, apparently the person Daiki grouped with turned out to have the same reason, chasing after a harem dream, as him. The two hit together so well that they're still in a party.
Not that it matters. I didn't come here with the purpose of becoming popular. It's just that it would be really nice to make some friends who would venture into the dungeon together. I heard it was easy to level up and earn money in a party.
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But, would you know, the reality wasn't some nice fairy that would spin its magic wand and magic-ify the easy way to life.
My demerit skill became the shackles of my leg, dragging me down......
Another fact I learned in the lesson was that apparently those who hadn't awakened any skill could also gain one by raising their level by at least one in the dungeon. And since the challenger would be Level 0, simply defeating one monster was enough to hit that level up. What I am saying was, obviously the skill would become a hot topic among the crowd once it was over.
On the other hand, I already had my skill, so I wouldn't be awakening any other skill. In other words, I would've to reveal the one I already had. I did, and here was the commentary—
"Ah... so you have that~."
"It must be tough. I will pray for you."
"You want to explore the dungeon together? Ah, err, I am really sorry, but I already have someone who has been chewing my ears for ages to join him. I can't."
As soon as they learned I had a useless skill, no one even gave a single thought of partying up with me!
To be fair, if I had been in their shoes, I would've thought of myself as a burden too but, for the love of good, it wouldn't have hurt them to at least pretend like they gave it a thought!
Really, the world was such a cruel place......
I also tried to invite other people from the batch, but some turned me down with the excuse of "I hit off with other people of the party, so I am going to dungeon with them," while others downright called me a burden. At the end, not a single soul came up to join me. The bitter truth in last man's words really pierced through me.
"Haa..." A sigh spilled out of me as I made my way home after training's end, the reality hammering me again with the fact that I was alone. "No crying over what's beyond control. I will just have to try diving into the dungeon alone."
Life might not be kind to me, but I wasn't going to give up just yet. Not until I had changed my skill—until the day I could whale again, no way in hell would I give up!
I renewed my conviction inwardly, glaring at the skill displayed on the translucent board—or Status Board, as they call it.
───────────────
Kashima Souta
Level : 1
HP (Endurance) : 18/18
SV (Skill Value) : 1
Skill Slot (1)
・«Spendlock»
───────────────
Like a stubborn mule, the skill «Spendlock» remained unchangeable as ever, only further aggravating me.
One thing about the status board was it only displayed two stats, familiar and unfamiliar, unlike a RPGs that would've shown things like STR, MP and so on.
HP was just what you'd expect, the endurance quantified, and if it ever hit 0, it was game over no doubt.
However, SV was one thing that was the real head scratcher, or would've been had I not learned about it from earlier classes. To put it short, SV was a value linked with skill, a short form for Skill Value.
As far as it concerned, saving some exceptions, the SV value for every Level 1 individual started at 1. The value increases with the level up, but by how much was unpredictable as it varied with individuals. The rise of SV influences skill growth, increases available skill slots, and allows one to learn other skills too.
You could also say it was the growth value of a skill.
On that note, skill slot expansion wasn't something that happened at mere one level up. And the digit next to it represented the number of learned skills.
"Haa... So I have a useless skill, and I also can't learn any other skill until I get my level up. To sum it up, I was a bum..."
Ugh, it really hurt to say it myself.
"Get a grip on myself, me. The objective is simple—level up until I can learn a new skill. Perhaps then, I would be able to join other parties."
Fortunately, tomorrow just happened to be Sunday. Alright, let's get my level up tomorrow as far as I could!
I pumped my fist inwardly with a hopeful expectation, unaware of the devastating truth I would learn later—unique skill and demerit skill had hard time acquiring more skill slots.
There was no telling when one would even acquire them. It was also another prominent reason why other adventurers kept Demerit Skill holders at bay.
And the difference wasn't mere one or two levels, it could even take as much as ten levels to finally even have another skill slot expansion.