After some hours passed, it was clear for the student, regardless of what we wanted, we must learn the arts of battle. We were just an originally regular high school students from the peaceful Earth. It would be impossible to participate in the war all of a sudden.
As we were leaving this magnificent building, what welcomed my vision was the sea of clouds stretched as far as my eyes could see, the clear blue sky, the brilliant reflection of the sun, and far in the distance, I could see something green, towering high to the sky.
It seemed this building was located at the summit of some mountain, though. . . I didn't find any difficulty in breathing that was often associated with high altitude.
But what really bewitched me was six gigantic androgynous statues, three on each side, approximately 50 meters tall, all made from the white coloured polished stone, lining up at the front of this building main gate.
In order to descend the mountain and go to the nearest town, Grurian Kingdom to receive our training, we walked until we arrived at a white circular pedestal surrounded by beautiful pillars that were made of the same material as the statues behind us.
There was a huge magic circle carved on the ground at the centre of these pillars. And Lambda, who carried himself with pride urged us to go onto the magic circle. Although hesitant, the majority of the students gathered in the centre while looking around timidly. After we and the VIP guests had entered the circle, Lambda seemed to be chanting something.
" Scalan, the one who governs star, the path of guidance for those whose lost, opens the path for the faithful and let this one, your humble servant to borrow your power. 'Heavenly Door' "
Seeing an old man like him saying words like that really made me wanted to laugh, but such thought was immediately gone from my head when the magic circle under my foot began to glint with a resplendent light.
Not long later, we were standing at the bottom of high tower, located near the hilltop. From the window, I realized dazzling sea of clouds scenery had already changed into a big town, no, it was more like a nation rather than a town. The building that was standing at the centre seemed to be a huge castle and radially spreading surround it was the castle town. This was the Grurian Kingdom’s capital city.
It was at this moment I realized that magic or supernatural power truly existed in this world. Lambda's ‘chant’ just now activated the magic circle that was engraved on the pedestal. And seeing ‘magic’ for the first time somehow made me and some of us thought just how cool whatever the thing Lambda just did, some might be sceptical and assuming this was a trick and perhaps others thought about the possibility of us returning home using the same said magic.
Either way, each one of us was suppressing any feeling that we felt in our heart, and silently we took a step away from the tower.
After all of us leaving the tower, some of the VIP guests left with the gorgeous looking carriage with disappointment in their face, some were nonchalantly walking and chatting with us, though what I meant by some was the charismatic boy and the protesting girl from before, the good-looking boy and girl and the one who looked strong.
I personally felt unpleasant with their approach, they didn't even try to hide their hidden agenda or their lustful gaze on their eyes. Though, it might be the best time to offer any kind of help. We were confused, afraid, unsure of what we should do, some of us even looked naive and innocent enough to fall to their sweet words.
Then again, it might be just my wrong way of thinking. At least thanks to my work back on Earth, I was having a hard time for trusting someone. The person that I thought as the buyer might be the cops, the person that I thought as a friend might be selling me out for reducing his sentence, the supplier might be handing me a wrong amount of drug.
But, having some connection with the big guy might not be a wrong move, but not now. As for right now, I only gave the most necessary response to everyone that talked to me; it was only one person though. And silently, I sneaked to the behind of the group.
As we were guided to the palace on a straight path, the VIP guests bidding their farewell just before we arrived at the imperial palace. We walked through a corridor with decorations not inferior to the temple from before. Along the way, we had a brief encounter with people who dressed up in metal armour, the government officials, the servants, and all of them looking at us with the same respecting expression.
At last, we reached in front of a huge and beautiful double red door, made from the metal-ish ingredient rather than wood or stone with an artistic carving of the Six. On both sides of the door, two soldiers stood at attention. They loudly declared our arrival. And without even waiting for a reply, they opened the door.
Lambda just leisurely entered like it was the most natural thing to do with us following from the behind, though unlike him most of the students passed through the door with a face full of hesitation.
After entering the doorway, there was a red carpet that extended all the way to the luxurious throne. A middle aged man with dignified and domineering aura stood in front of the throne and waited for us. The elegant woman beside him, I assumed was the queen. Next to queen was a teen beautiful young lady with blonde hair and blue eyes, presumably the princess. And another 20-year-old young man was next to the King. After that, there were approximately thirty people lined up on each side of the red carpet. On the left side were people adorned with military armor. On the right side were people who looked like government officials.
Lamda directed us to stop and line up in front of the throne, while he proceeded to the King. After that, the King respectfully received Lambda's hand that was extended, and lightly kissed it. At this moment, I was convinced that Lambda or the religious figure had a higher position compared to the royalty.
After that, it was the self-introduction. The King’s name was Leighton Nicolai L.A. De Grurian, the Queen was Lucienne. The prince was named Clayton, and the princess was called Lunara. After that, the prime minister, knight commander, and other people with high status also introduced themselves.
As the representative from the student, the charismatic boy introduced himself as Edogawa Shishio.
After this, we were called together for an evening meal or banquet. The same amount of food was lining up just as our lunch, the food indeed was delicious and another thing that I found, the prince’s gaze seemed to be drawn towards the protesting girl.
It didn't take long for Prince Clayton to keep finding an opportunity to speak with the protesting girl, whose name was Kurihara Azusa, though... it might be because he was the prince that never got rejected or he was a dense man, but it was clear enough for me to notice Azusa didn't have an interest toward him.
And for our training duration, we would be provided with shelter, food, and clothing. We were also introduced to the military instructors, exclusively handpicked from the Knights, and Imperial Court Mages.
At least this would allow us to develop friendships and teamwork for the war.
After the evening meal, we were disbanded and each person was led to their own room. I was really amazed not just by how well they prepared 243 rooms, but also by the room, it was big and luxurious, the bed that had a canopy over it and the tableware itself might worth several hundred thousand yen. This. . . had been such a crazy and tiring day. After I leapt onto the bed as a fish leapt into the river, I felt as if my entire body was merging with the bed, my consciousness slowly drifted off, while I was half thinking all of this was just a crazy dream, and by the time I woke up I was either in the hospital, or I was just getting high or getting tied up in the chair with beaten face.
But no. . .
When I awoke rather than a wooden ceiling, I saw a marbled one. This wasn't a dream, I, myself, after all, should know the best the difference between a dream and a reality.
With a heavy groan, as if the gravity on the top of this comfortable bed had been multiplied by one hundred, I gathered my will to move and clean my body before heading to our first day of training.
But rather than a standard cardio or warming up, we were given a 13 x 6 cm transparent plate, around the size of the smartphone. We looked at the plates curiously, before the Knight Commander, Jorgen Overbay personally started to explain.
I personally found it unbelievable, they said they were having a war, and yet one of the big shot was personally training a bunch of children.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Though, the commander itself immediately answered my doubt. From the way he said it, entrusting the "Chosen Ones" to some ordinary instructor was out of the questions. I guessed he made himself a good point over there.
"Alright, did everyone already get one? These plates are the Magic Item called the Status Plate. Just as the name implies, these plates will show you your status in numerical value. This is the most reliable identity card. Any questions before I continue?"
Even though Jorgen had a stern and disciplined expression, from the way he spoke in a very carefree manner, it didn't take long for the students to open up to him. "Well, we will be comrade starting from today, no need to call me Sir or Commander, just talk to me and the other knights as you talk to your friend."
After that, Jorgen explained about how we needed to use our blood to register the ownership and use the plate, after that our status would show up and we would be able to see our statuses. As for how and why he only knew it had something to do with Mind Magic.
And that was all, as the rest of the students nodded in understanding and marching forward to take a needle to pierce their finger. Seeing the amount of the line, I bit my own thumb and then smeared my blood on the plate rather than dripping it in. Soon after, the magic circle appeared, flickered with a faint radiance for a split second before it disappeared and slowly changed into the series of letters and numbers.
Karasuma Eiji 15 Year old Male Affinity Time Level 1 Strength 15 Intelligence 15 Dexterity 18 Charisma 18 Constitution 19 Wisdom 13 Skills: Fast Forward (O) Slow Motion (O) Language Comprehension (D)
Looking at my own status, I felt as if I had become a character in a game and thankfully it was more like traditional status rather than a complicated one. Not to mention the ability to instantly show our name and age? If Earth had something like this, I would bet the crime rate would drastically decline. Though. . . I couldn't help but wondered if my status was high or low.
"Has everyone see their status? May I explain now? First, take a look at 'Level'.You can think of level as a way to judge your potential, Level will increase when your other stats increased either by training or by killing Magical Beasts. Of course, the use of magic and magic items can also increase status. The max level for a human is 100. Or in other words, Level 100 signifies one has reached their full potential. No one has achieved level 100 though, but I believe you guys will be the one to achieve this Hahaha!" Said Jorgen.
"Next, Let's see the 'Affinity'. Simply put, that is your "talent", it is interlinked with the "skills" displayed at the bottom of your Status Plate. It is very rare for people to possess an affinity, one that posses an affinity only shows up one in hundred, and sometimes one in ten thousand on will possess two affinities, but I believe every one of you has at least one affinity."
"And about skills, only the holder of the card can see the description of their skills. Skill is categorized into four types: Original (O) for the skill that always exists in your body and mind, Divine (D) for the skill that is given to you, Pact (P) is the skill that you get after making a certain oath, and Learning (L) is for the skill that you manually learn. And remember, no matter how many times you spend on Learning the said skill, if you don't have the affinity, it can't be used on battle."
"Last is the status. Normally the average stats of an adult are around 8 when you are at level 1. Well, you guys should have higher than that! So enviable! Ah, and please report the contents on your status plate to me. This is so we can develop a training menu that fits every individual."
Considering the amount of status that I had, I guessed I was two times stronger than the average adult? Huh. . . even though I could fight against three of four-person at the same time back on Earth.
Silently, I took a look at my surrounding. Almost everyone’s face was gleaming with radiance and breathing a sigh of relief after hearing Jorgen words. Well... Almost, as some of them were breaking out in cold sweat.
After Jorgen stopped talking, Shishio was the first to step forward to report his status. And his status was. . .
Edogawa Shishio 16 Year old Male Affinity Spirit, Power, Elemental, Time, Space. Level 1 Strength 100 Intelligence 100 Dexterity 100 Charisma 100 Constitution 100 Wisdom 100 Skills: Radiant Wings (O) Physical Resistance (O) Spear Technique (O) Shield Technique (O) Light Magic (O) All Elemental Resistance (O) High Speed Magic Regeneration (O) High Speed Life Regeneration (O) Haste (O) Air Step (O) Featherfall (O) Divine Spear (D) Divine Shield (D) Overdrive (D) Language Comprehension (D)
Huh. . . No wonder he seemed really confident and seeing Jorgen shocked expression, it was safe for me to assume his status was abnormal.
"As expected! This. . . this guy is out of the norm! The skills, the status! You must be the strongest between the chosen ones!"
After receiving the Jorgen's words of praise, Shishio only scratched his head. After that, as the comparison, Jorgen level was 78. His average stats was somewhere between 350-400, and he was the army commander and one of the top-notch fighter in this world. "Hahaha! It seems this is only a matter of time before you completely replace me as the commander!"
"Ahaha~"
. . . Huh, somehow I started to wonder what was the average stats of the Demons.
By the way, in the eye of the other students, Shishio had another plus, not only did he has a cheat-like stats, for some reason this guy also had the Charisma to make others follow him.
Up until now, the lowest status that the students had was somewhere around 30-50, and that number itself was enough to make Jorgen smiling from ear to ear. Maybe he was happy to have received so many super powerful comrade-in-arms.
And after several students had passed, another person managed to amaze Jorgen. It was Kurihara Azusa, though she didn't seem that happy with her result.
Kurihara Azusa 15 Year old Female Affinity Power, Spirit, Space. Level 1 Strength 94 Intelligence 71 Dexterity 79 Charisma 71 Constitution 88 Wisdom 70 Skills: Sword Technique (O) Body Enhancement (O) Wolf Spirit (O) Flash Step (O) Telekinetic (O) Presence Perception (O) Magic Perception (O) Overdrive (D) Language Comprehension (D)
Maybe because she had a lower status rather than Shishio? Or because she had high status and she felt responsible to participate in the war?
Speaking of which, by the way, things moving out, it seemed I was one of the weakest, if not the weakest one in the group huh. . . . Somehow I felt, no this certainly would be problematic.
Although Jorgen might be smiling when he saw the one with the average 20 status, by the time they went back to the student group, some of them somehow started to consolidate if not pitying them. And some even already ignored them.
I guessed. . . sticking with Shishio or Azusa was out of the question huh.
And just as less than ten students, the average status dropped to less than 20. Though, I somehow relieved when I knew mine wasn't the lowest.
Jorgen’s smiling expression suddenly froze when he checked the last kid. “Did I see wrong?” He muttered and shook the Status Plate a few times. Following that, he rubbed his eyes and looking again to the Status Plate, then held it up to the light, and after staring at it for a while, he finally returned the plate to the said student with a very subtle expression.
“Ah... Yes..., You see… Don't worry about this! With the right training, I'm sure you can catch up with your friend!"
Jorgen was tongue-tied when he said that to the boy. Though, the scrawny short boy only gave him a dry smile as he laughed weakly.
And just as I thought we would finally start our training.
"Oi, oi, Jorgen! C'mon! Tell us about Tadano stats! It's not fair if he is the only one with mysterious stats!" Shouted a student with red long hair, from the way he talked, I assumed he knew this Tadano guy, maybe they went to the same Junior high?
"Don't tell us your stats is below average?!" Shouted the student with spiky brown hair.
"Whaaat~? Can you even fight? Still useless just like before, eh?" Shouted the student with a low fade cut.
I could already guess his stats were not very good from Jorgen’s expression just now, but if they still wanted to hear it no matter what, I guessed their Intelligence must be over 9000 or they just really rotten to the core.
I didn't care about their history or if they were the type that liked to bully the weak, but. . . seeing not one, but three people that couldn't even notice others clearly showed unhappy expression at their behaviour somehow really irritated me.
And just as my guess. Shishio walked forward the students that were mocking Tadano, trying to become the mediator between them. However, just a moment before he got there, someone else let out a voice filled with anger.
"You three! That's enough! What's wrong if he can't fight?! Aren't you guys are the weird one to suddenly decided to fight?!" Shouted Azusa.
She tried to express her anger and frustration by lashing out at those three. And perhaps deep inside the trio brain, they remembered about the difference between their stats and Azusa stats, they slowly backed away after they clicked their tongue.
And this time, Shishio walked to Tadano as he tried to cheer him up by patting his shoulders.
"Don’t mind worry about it! Let's just do the training and I promise I'll take us back to the Earth!" Said Shishio.
One might be just lashing out, and the other might be just an act of worry, but thanks to those bullies, I wondered why Jorgen didn't even try to stop their dispute.