“Kazuki! Come on, it’s almost time to eat!”

“Alright mom, just gimme a second, I’m almost done.”

“Fine. But you better hurry up. Your food is going to get cold.”

Kazuki, a 13-year-old kid who attends the local middle school in his village. Ever since he was classed as Bedrock, Kazuki has been training his strength and improving his martial art skills every day. Despite all this, his rank never increased. Kazuki’s ability is just too weak.

“Thanks for the food,” they all said.

Kazuki looks at his meal and inwardly grimaces. His mom and dad are nice people, but they were never the best fighters.

“Here’s your fruit, Kazuki,” said his mom as she floated an apple towards Kazuki’s plate.

Kazuki’s dad sat down, “Work was tough today,” he sighed. The forks and knives fell into their appropriate positions. Their abilities were barely enough to support the family, so Kazuki always works hard despite how weak he is.

O O O

Katsuo casually walked up to Kazuki. “Hey, where’s the money you promised me?”

Kazuki apologized, “I don’t have it, sorry.”

“Don’t lie to me, idiot. I can see right through your idiotness.”

“That’s not a word, Katsuo.”

Other students started to laugh.

“What did you just say to me, weakling? You lookin’ for a fight?”

“N-No that’s not what I meant,” Kazuki said nervously.

Every day, Katsuo forces Kazuki to give him all of his coins, and no one can stand up to him because of his B class ability, earth magic. So instead, they try to get on his good side.

Katsuo walked up to him and grabbed the collar of his shirt. “I'm gonna beat you up worse than usual this time,” he sneered.

Kazuki always tries to fight back against Katsuo, but he’s powerless against him. His ability is the worst of the worst, F class. Kazuki’s ability has been useless in every situation, and it’s impossible to make it better. Kazuki’s ability increases his strength stat every time he takes damage. This may sound useful, but Kazuki only has 100 health and 1 DMG takes away 1 HP. For every 1 DMG Kazuki takes, his STR stat only increases by 1/100, which means even if Kazuki takes 100 DMG and dies, his stat would only rise by 1.

“You’ll never beat me with that useless power enhancement ability. There’s a reason you’re ranked Bedrock after all,” he mocked.

Kazuki gritted his teeth, “This time I have a new fighting technique. I’m not going to lose again!”

O O O

“You can never beat me Kazuki. I’m the strongest guy in this whole damn school. No matter what kind of stupid martial arts you learn, you can’t compete with my raw magic power!”

As usual, an audience gathers and begins to collect the winnings from their bets.

“Kazuki lost, as expected.”

“No wonder he has no friends.”

“You sure went hard on him this time Katsuo.”

Kazuki, after being beaten to a pulp, was left defeated at the feet of an unharmed Katsuo. “Now give me all your money.”

“I already told you I don’t have any,” he groaned, sitting up from the floor.

“Don’t lie to me!” he roared. Katsuo kicked Kazuki in the chest, knocking the air out of him and sending him backward. “Maybe now you’ve learned your lesson?” he laughed.

Everyone walked to class, leaving a beaten Kazuki on the helpless on the ground.

O O O

“Alright class, going into next semester you will have to pick a school that will train your specific abilities,” said Tamako-sensei, the teacher for eighth-grade students.

“I don’t care about this school or that school. I already know where I’m going.” Katsuo exclaimed. “Straight to the most prestigious school in the world, Nōryoku High! Actually, screw it! I’m leaving right now, See ya dweeps!”

“Katsuo, get back here!!” Sensei yelled as Katsuo dashed away. “Well, the rest of you should think about what schools you’re going to!” Sensei yelled from halfway down the hallway. She sighed before speaking again, “Is anyone else thinking of going to Nōryoku? Or just Katsuo?”

No one raised their hand. Everyone started looking around the room.

“Really, no one? Alright then, class is dismissed.”

All of the students got up and started talking about the schools they wanted to go to. Kazuki was packing up his supplies when a random student walked up to Kazuki, “Hey, Kazuki, what school are you going to?”

“W-Well, I was also thinking of trying to get into Nōryoku,” he stuttered.

It went dead silent. Then everyone burst out with laughter.

“You? As if!”

“You’re Bedrock! You can’t even dream of getting to Dirt!”

“You and that F class ability? I’d LOVE to see that!”

Kazuki slumped down in his chair. “I’ll show you,” he muttered.

O O O

Kazuki headed to the dojo after school to train in martial arts. It’s the only thing he’s good at. “Hello, Sota-sensei.”

“Hey Kazuki, have you had a rough day again?” Sensei said as he was training against a dummy.

“Yeah, just like usual,” Kazuki said as he put his school bag down.

“That‘s why it’s so important for you to keep training,” he responded.

“Well, what’s even the point, I’m not even close to being as strong as guys like Katsuo.” Kazuki sighed, “If only I had a better ability….”

“That’s no way to think about it, kid. Training your body and mind will come in handy one day, you mark my words. Now get to work!”

“Yeah, whatever you say.” Kazuki is very skilled in martial arts, probably the second most skilled in the village. But because of his terrible ability, he can’t utilize any of his training. That doesn’t stop him from trying though. “Man, martial arts is hard work, how do you do it when you’re so old, Sensei?”

“Hey, I’m not old!” Sensei exclaimed, “Kazuki, my ability isn’t very good either. You know it’s an F class ability, I can change the color of my eyes and hair at will. The only things it’s good for is infiltration and looking badass!”

He ignored the latter remark. “How are you so strong with an ability like that?”

“Well, that just goes to show how unimportant abilities really are. Forge your own destiny! Don’t let others belittle you for your seemingly weak powers! Keep training and you can become just as strong as them!”

Suddenly, an explosion went off outside.

“Huh, what is that? A monster?!” Kazuki started to panic.

Sensei’s face became pale. “No … even worse. I can sense that it is one of them.”

“One of what?”

“An entity of death, a Demon Lord.”