"Lloyd Barnes", shouted a man standing on a podium in front of a large assembly of students. Hearing his name, Lloyd stood up and walked to the podium. Standing beside the man , facing a floating blue stone tablet, Lloyd felt a rush of excitement and hope.
'To whatever celestial being that is governing this world I pray for a good talent, please!', was Lloyd's thought as the man told him to place his hands on the tablet.
Placing his hand on the tablet he felt a stream of energy flow into him and unlock something deep within him.
As he stood there enjoying this feeling he heard the instructor by him shout, " Lloyd Barnes, F-rank talent Life Transfer", shattering his thoughts completely.
He couldn't believe what he was hearing. No one below the stage spoke as they were also shocked .
F ranked talents were as rare as S rank talents basically once in a decade and on top of that Lloyd had gotten the most useless of them all, Life transfer.
' Damn, Lloyd is seriously unlucky', was everyone's thoughts.
As Lloyd went back to his seat, his closest friend, Dez, a tall lean guy said, " Don't worry Lloyd, I can help you level up with my A-rank Blazing Knight talent."
Hearing this Lloyd smiled but replied saying, " Bro, I know you're trying to help but I'll do well on my own"
Dez wanted to say more to convince him but Lloyd spoke again saying, " Besides, you already have your Liz and your mom to take care of, I'm not gonna add into your burdens"
Hearing this Dez didn't know what to say mainly as Lloyd would just bring up another excuse and would ultimately refuse any way.
Dez sighed then said, " But if you ever need anything, don't even think about not asking me, I'll always be there for you."
Then they sat in silence for the rest of the awakening ceremony.
After the ceremony Lloyd left for the orphanage he stayed at as he was 18 and legally required to leave there. As he was packing his few things Lloyd began thinking what job he could do in the future with his talent. Talents in this world ranked from F ( lowest) to X ( highest ), and with him getting the trashiest F-rank talent only death slowly awaited him in this cruel world.
When he was done packing he went to see the orphanage overseer, a kind lady in her early fifty's who looked not a day over 40. She basically cried when Lloyd told her that he had to go today.
" Lloyd, why don't you stay here we can still provide for you."
" Sorry aunt Ginny there's no way the government will allow me to stay here. You know how those people are stingy when it comes to giving out money for free." Lloyd responded as tears rolled down his cheeks.
Ginny not giving up said, "But you can work here for a while at least."
"Aunt Ginny, do you not remember what happened to bro Tesd before, you wouldn't want xme in the same situation would you?"
Hearing that she quickly replied saying," no I wasn't thinking straight don't mind me"
"Aunt Ginny, I'll have to find somewhere to stay before the sun sets, I've saved up quite a bit over the years so don't worry I'll be able to live well for some time and I'll have found something to do by the time this money finishes."
" Okay, I believe you," Ginny said still crying, "but you have to give me weekly reports about your life starting tomorrow okay"
" Okay, I will"
After saying that, Lloyd left the orphanage and, standing in front of the gate, began thinking, ' Where the hell would I stay now?'
As he was thinking about that he suddenly remembered,' oh yeah, I have to see old John before I ... you know what, I'll just stay with him '
After hailing a taxi, Lloyd went to an alley near a certain coffee shop to meet his old friend old John.