Arriving at the warehouse, I was met with an unsurprising sight.

“Troublesome,” I sighed, looking at the long line of people in front of the warehouse.

“Aryn!”

Turning away from the end of the line and towards the front, I saw Lan, his gigantic stature distinguishing him from the others easily. He stood a good head, if not taller than them. Shaking my head in amusement, I made my way over to him.

He gestured to the line, “it’d be better if you stuck by me, plus we’re near the front so less time taken.” He grinned, “aren’t I just the coolest, yes I am.”

I chuckled at his sheer boisterous attitude, I had missed him, my oldest friend and closest confidant. My brother in all but blood.

Lightly jabbing him in the bicep, I watched in amusement as he yelped before continuing to chuckle. A jab from me was too weak to do anything against this wall of a man.

The first time Lan had been sent to Gaia, they each had the same gear. Lightly-plated armour, a two-handed sword and a shield they both didn’t use. Empowered mostly by fantasies and misconceptions, really. They thought they would be the Hero like in those old fairytales.

Gaia had woken them up from their ignorance.

“When you go to grab a weapon, grab an iron-tipped spear, and a round shield – the small circular one,” I said watching his confusion dissipate, I continued. “The spear is important, it’s easier to use than a sword and has farther reach. The round shield can be used to defend against strikes that get in through your defences. Plus a sword is much more difficult to work with in tighter situations.”

At this point, I had gotten nearly all the surrounding people’s attention. I recognised a few of them, the boy and the girl from the auditorium, but aside from that? The rest were completely unknown to me. He hadn’t been particularly sociable in his past life, he knew that, but half of these children wouldn’t even reach their first settlement. They’ll either die from the monsters which roam Gaia, or from the environment itself. Torrential rains, massive lakes the size of seas, and miniature earthquakes that caused spear-like earthen formations to form were something all too common on Gaia.

Then there was the issue of being teleported directly into rock, or even the bottom of a body of water.

Turning my attention back to Lan, I watched him nod in understanding before he furrowed his eyebrows. “So why does the spear need to be iron-tipped?”

My smile from a second earlier turned brittle, excuses running through my head. Lan didn’t know he’d land in the [Fairy Forest] whose Fae-type creatures were harmed from iron, for whatever reasons, similar to the old-fairytales from Earth.

Bingo.

“Remember all the fairytales and stories we used to read? Iron was used commonly against fairies and whatnot, it might translate over to Gaia, if they had fairies anyways. You never know,” I shrugged. His eyes narrowed for a second before he let it go, his boisterous grin returning. We made small-talk from there, and I decided to give him some more tips just in case. Most of it would be in the handbook given to us with our armour and rations, but I gave a better, more compact version instead. Lan wouldn’t read the handbook, he was hard-headed and more than a bit of an idiot at times.

Like you’re one to talk. I snorted at the internal jab but let it go.

“When attacking something, the element of surprise will always be your greatest advantage. Sneaking up to and behind an enemy, will allow you at least the ability to get close enough to run them through with your spear.” Lan nodded seriously.

I shrugged, “otherwise? Run. We don’t know enough about things on Gaia to combat them. Also, magic exists, so steer clear of nearly every dangerous looking thing. Including the damn delicious-looking plants,” I stabbed my finger into his chest and narrowed my eyes at him.

Stolen novel; please report.

He only laughed and looked away. I shook my head in amusement, his [Iron Constitution] Skill would give him a bonus to his Poison Resistance, and it would see it increase in spades as he continuously ate more and more poisonous fruits. Though, he would suffer, and I’d rather he didn’t, especially while in the [Fairy Forest]. Lan had never told him exactly what had happened in the [Fairy Forest], always keeping a tight lip.

Eventually, I arrived to the front of the line, and I found myself standing in front of a stall which contained an array of different items which wouldn’t seem out of place from the armoury of a mediaeval castle. A tanned man stood behind a counter, tapping away impatiently at the scarred wooden surface.

Khalid, it was good to see him alive still. Every Adventurer would come to covet one of the weapons he had forged in his short lifetime.

Behind him was mounted an array of different weapons on the wall, and I knew the door would lead to an underground storage facility that hosted even more weapons. Swords of all shapes and sizes, hammers, polearms and other weapons of steel, iron and bronze stood. A few stood out the most, like the compound greatbows and greatswords. The sheer size would draw in the eyes of all onlookers.

“Anything you see here? Crafted by me, kid. Top of the line shit right here,” the tanned man stood with arms crossed.

“They look well-made. Can’t say you don’t have the skill.”

“Damn right, and here they have me giving them to kids of all things…” the last bit was said in a lowly mutter, and I still heard them. I ignored it for now and continued looking.

Skimming through the weapons I eventually settled on something that would work perfectly for the build I currently have. Pointing at the item, a four-foot swordspear, I made my choice. I received an eyebrow raise from Khalid for my odd choice, but I took it in stride.

“The swordspear? It isn’t something a kid like you would know how to use properly.”

What a dick.

I ignored him, and took the item. The weight was perfect, and the balance was second to none. The hilt, if it could be called that, was two feet in length, and ring a foot in from the pommel. The blade itself was of steel and about three fingers in width and symmetrical. The end tapered into a wickedly sharp spear-point.

Placing the guard on my shoulder, I breathed.

The swordspear cut through the air a moment later before I grabbed it by the hilt near the pommel and wound it around me. Like an acrobat I played with the blade, an implement of war.

It felt like home.

Stabbing forward, I frowned as my arms began to ache. I had forgotten how weak this body was. I had subsisted off of the little money I could make from the few places that would hire me, and for cheap at that. Most of it went into looking after my little brother.

My tanned skin was plastered onto my bones, my ligaments and blood vessels popping out even from that little amount of exertion.

“Not bad, kid,” Khalid whistled from behind the counter, “not bad at all. Where’d you learn all those moves from, anyways? Can’t imagine a street urchin like you knowing how to fight with a swordspear.”

“I haven’t touched a swordspear before,” I shrugged, it was true, technically. “Guess I’m a natural.”

I could almost see the way the gears inside of his head turned. Eventually he made up his mind.

“Wait a moment, kid,” he called as he disappeared to the back. I didn’t have to wait for long as he came back a minute later, a simple scroll in his hands.

My eyes widened, was that what I thought it was? How had they gotten it onto Earth?

“This right here, kid, is something I got from Gaia. Though not for free mind you, cost me a pretty penny,” he held out the scroll with both hands, and I had to shiver not to take it.

Unscrolling it, my eyes drank in as much as they could, even as the pounding behind my eyes increased. Without the Origin System, my brain wasn’t able to handle the strain of Antediluvian Hieroglyphs. Though, my experience allowed me to understand that it was some sort of movement skill.

“Tried to get it to work on Earth, but it wouldn’t. You can use it when you get to Gaia, but hold onto it.” I heard the implicit message.

You don’t want anyone to steal it from you.

“What’s it called?”

“Flashfire. Cool name, no? It’ll serve you well on Gaia.”

A name buried in history and memory arose deep in my mind. Agni of the Flashfire.

An Arcanist who carved out his own place in history. The fastest human to ever exist, or so it was said.

And now, my mind supplied giddily, his technique would be mine.