Chapter 68: Failure II
A/n: Non privlaged message, please go read the last 2 chaps i messed up the uploading scheme.
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Ryan scratched his head. There was a frown on his face as he stared at the pylon, lost in his own thoughts.
Miles ran through everything he knew about the system, trying to find what made the boy so different from the rest of them.
’Is it something to do with his mind?’
He shook his head.
’No, it might be even simpler. He’s killed ghouls, so it can’t be that... He even has a skill like the rest of us. There—wait.’
The thought of skills made him freeze.
Ryan had a skill just like the rest of them, but it was one he had obtained from killing a ghoul: [Cold Resistance]. Beyond that, he had nothing.
Thinking back to the start, when they’d all done their introductions in the gym, everyone present here had been given a skill by the system at the very least. Hell, Grimm had been given two.
Now, the only person not given a skill back then was the one having trouble awakening his EGO. It seemed increasingly less like a coincidence the more he thought about it.
’So those without inherent skills can’t have EGOs?’
He watched Ryan in silence, hesitant to say his findings. What would the boy think, to have his wings clipped so quickly? If Gaia was to be believed, then he wouldn’t even be able to upgrade his skills beyond level one due to his lack of an EGO.
In his deliberation, Mia beat him to it. She’d walked up to Ryan while he hadn’t been paying attention.
"Ryan?"
The sound of his name seemed to jolt the boy out of his daze. He turned to face her, prompting the girl to continue.
She gently placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It’s going to be fine, okay?"
He blinked, then nodded slowly.
"Y-yeah. You’re right. I mean, it’s not the end of the world. But... why doesn’t it let me?"
His voice still sounded lost.
"I think it’s because of your skills," Chloe replied, shifting everyone’s attention onto her.
’She figured it out too.’
"What do you mean? I have a skill. I got it when I first killed a ghoul."
She shook her head.
"You weren’t given a skill at the start."
Something seemed to click in the boy’s mind at that, but it only made his frown grow deeper.
"So, I can’t unlock an EGO because of that? I can’t progress anymore?"
Chloe scratched the side of her head.
"I can’t be sure. But it’s the only thing different between you and the rest of us."
"That’s... that’s..."
Ryan trailed off before lowering his head and backing away from the pylon.
’That’s not fair.’
He was certain that was what the boy meant to say. But how could he complain out loud about the system, or even Gaia, and its fairness? Nothing was fair in any of this.
Gaia had said she scraped the system together with insufficient resources, that it was hardly balanced. Perhaps Ryan not receiving a skill had simply been a result of that inadequacy; there had been many more in the gym that hadn’t received skills as well.
How she’d chosen to distribute said skills remained completely unknown to him. From what he’d seen so far, random selection seemed like the best bet.
A pure chance. By sheer luck, they had all been chosen, and he had not.
The implications were huge, naturally, and they would only grow larger as time went on. Even now, Ryan would still be feeling the full brunt of the [Cold Resistance] skill. He would have one less trait than the rest of them.
Miles looked at the sulking boy, still lost in his thoughts.
In a situation like this, what would be the point of even hunting anomalies? The points would be worthless to him. He couldn’t use them to level skills or upgrade his nonexistent EGO.
A slap suddenly sounded in the room. It was Ryan.
Mia stepped back in shock as the boy held a hand to his own cheek, a red mark spreading from where he’d hit it. The girl’s surprise only lasted for a moment before she moved forward again, quickly seizing his hand, afraid he’d hit himself again.
She spoke, her tone marred with harsh reprimand.
"What the fuck are you doing!?"
Ryan just shook his head.
"For a moment, I let myself get lost in all these thoughts of doubt, even envy at you all. But I just found out what pylons were yesterday, and even EGOs. I was still the same person before finding them out, and I am still that person now. What I wanted hasn’t changed, so why was I even letting it get to me?"
There was a mix of frustration and something else in his voice. He didn’t sound fully convinced by himself.
He shook his head before looking at Mia again, a bit apologetic.
"I’m sorry."
Mia didn’t let go of his arm yet, scanning him up and down before finally speaking.
"If I see you hitting yourself again, I swear, I’m just going to hit you myself."
"Don’t worry, it won’t happen again."
She still didn’t release it. The boy sighed, raising both hands in defeat.
"I promise. Really."
The look in her eyes softened at that, and she finally let go.
"You’ll be fine, Ryan. I promise."
He stopped rubbing where she’d grabbed him and shot her a wry smile.
"Thanks, Mia."
’Well... they seem close.’
They had been part of the same friend group before the apocalypse hit; it made sense that the death of their friend pushed them closer.
The rest of the group watched the interaction go on, either intrigued or not caring much for it all. Miles found himself in the latter camp.
Ryan took some time convincing Mia to head back to her spot before facing the rest of the group, still a bit dazed.
"Our... our plans haven’t changed much at all. We still need those points if we’re going to level the rest of you before we leave. We still have to hunt."