“Well, this is different from how I expected today to go.”
The group sat in a seemingly infinite void of white, each looking around in confusion, or focussing on the robed woman in front of them. She smiled softly, opening her mouth to speak.
“Hello and welcome, future Heroes of Astera, and hopefully of Marl,” her voice sounded like the tinkling of wind chimes in a gentle breeze, immediately sending a wave of relief through the group in front of her, “I am sure you all have many questions, but I am afraid that they must wait for now.”
“Wait?” someone shouted, a young man, probably in his late teens by the look of him, getting up and glaring at the woman, “What do you mean by that? And who are you? Where are we? What’s going on?!”
“As I said, your questions will have to wait, but perhaps my explanation will answer some of them,” the woman hummed, the wave of relief and calm returning, “First, introductions are in order. I am Fiore, goddess of reincarnation and life, and I have brought you all here, to the lands of Marl, to act as Heroes.”
The group murmured to each other as they looked around again, staring off into the infinite void.
“No, this is not Marl itself,” the woman, Fiore, continued, “This is a safe space between worlds, a place for you to better understand and enhance your new powers. You cannot stay indefinitely, but I can hold you all here long enough that everyone should be able to come to terms with what has happened.”
“And what, exactly, has happened?” the deeper voice asked, the rest of the group turning to look at the new figure as he stood up, “I’m guessing this is some kind of Isekai situation, right? Did we die? Or are we being teleported into this new world of yours?”
“Die?” several of the young members of the group muttered, looks of shock on their faces.
“Your original bodies are still very much alive,” Fiore hummed softly, smiling at the group again, “In fact, they shall continue to live as though this never happened. What has been done is that your souls have been taken from your original bodies and brought here, while artificial souls that are an exact copy have been implanted in your bodies to ensure they remain safe in your world.”
“I see,” the man nodded, “And I suppose we’re getting new bodies in this new world? Probably made of magic or something, right?”
“Correct,” the goddess hummed, her smile faltering for all but an instant, “You seem very well informed on this situation. May I ask who you are?”
“I guess I am, comes with being an anime nerd, I guess. And you don’t know already?” the man chuckled, “I would have thought a goddess would be able to read minds or souls or something like that? Anyway, my name is Brian Andrews, and I think I got pulled here by mistake.”
“Mistake?” the goddess blinked, “Whatever do you mean?”
“Look at me,” Brian sighed, waving at his body before gesturing to the rest of the group, “Do I look like I belong in a group of kids?”
“Hey!” several of the group shouted, immediately quieting down when the first boy who had stood raised a hand.
“Right,” he said, “I don’t recognize you, so you aren’t from our class, or one of our teachers.”
“Nope,” Brian shook his head, “I’m just a random thirty-something theme park worker that was passing through your group at the theme park when this all apparently happened. So basically, I’m here by mistake.”
“Oh my,” Fiore hummed, looking at the man in confusion, her eyes glowing slightly as she shook her head, “I am afraid you may be right. All those that are selected by the transmigration spell have a mark placed upon their souls, granting them the special Title of “Hero”. You do not possess this mark.”
“Figured,” Brian chuckled, “But hey, I’m not going to complain. My life was pretty standard back in our old world, so I guess a fantasy adventure would be interesting. So, how does this all work? Do we get classes? Jobs? Special abilities?”
“Yes,” the goddess nodded, “Each of you has a Class and a Job, which can be enhanced by the use of Skill Points, which themselves are earned from levelling up.”
“RPG logic, a classic,” Brian nodded, “And how many Skill Points do we start with?”
“Each of you shall receive a number of special Skill Points equal to your age times ten,” Fiore smiled, “Be aware, this is far higher than most would ever receive in their lives, and these special Skill Points will only last while you are in this space, so make sure to use as many of them as possible.”
“Cool,” Brian nodded, “And how do we check our Class and Job? Do we get a personal menu, or do we have to go to a designated place and touch an artefact or something?”
“You have a personal Menu,” the goddess nodded, “You need only will it to appear and it shall.”
“Got it,” Brian nodded, looking at the air in front of him as the screen appeared with a thought, “Huh, that was easier than I expected it to be. Anyway, you go and continue explaining all this to these kids, and I’ll be over there figuring out my build.”
“Are you sure?” the goddess asked, “I shall be sharing important information.”
“I’ll keep an ear open,” the man grinned, “So just go ahead.”
Brian walked a short distance away as Fiore turned back to the rest of the group, the teens all looking between her and Brian in confusion. It didn’t take long for them to start paying more attention to the goddess, though, as she started to explain the history of the world they were about to enter. Brian, for his part, did half listen in, picking up the basics of the story. A Demon Lord arose every few decades and tried to take over the world, and the Heroes were summoned to fight them off, pretty standard stuff.
“But what’s really interesting is how the progression system will work,” he grinned, sitting down to scroll through the screen in front of him, “Let’s see…”
Name: Brian Andrews
Level: 1
Class: Dark Mage
Job: Scribe
Skill Points: 330
Titles: [None]
“Huh, no stats?” he muttered, “I guess that just makes this easier. Now, about my Class and Job.”
Dark Mage:
A Dark Mage is the bane of his enemies, wielding powerful afflictions and curses. While physically unremarkable, they excel in whittling away the power and health of their foes using their high intelligence and magical abilities.
“So, I’m a caster, and the nasty kind as well,” Brian sighed, “Pity, I would have preferred a hybrid Class, to be honest, but I guess that’ll be for the actual Heroes. Anyway, what’s up with Scribe?”
Scribe:
A recorder of knowledge, a writer of fables, and a maker of contracts, the Scribe is a multifaceted Job. While not particularly powerful in any sense, they are still important to the world and its history.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Vague, but weirdly encouraging,” Brian nodded, “Now then, time to use those Skill Points.”
A quick bit of poking around opened the appropriate menus for both his Class and his Job, Brian reading over the few beginner Abilities he could access. They were simple, like being able to cast basic status magics and curses, or just being able to read and write. Each only cost a single point to unlock, but Brian had the feeling that the Abilities further up the Skill Trees would probably cost more. Nodding his head, he checked his Status Screen again, prodding at the Titles part mentally to see if it would give anything useful.
Surprisingly, it did, opening a third screen with a variety of Titles he could apparently purchase, Brian immediately scrolling to the bottom of the list to check out the most expensive. Many were pretty powerful, but would take up most, if not all, of his currently available Skill Points without providing any decent bonuses to his Job or Class, so he ignored them. A bit of scrolling back up saw him pause, selecting one of the Titles and grinning.
Holder of Forbidden Knowledge:
You possess knowledge that could turn even the gods themselves against you.
Effect: 10x Skill Point Gain.
Cost: 250 Skill Points.
“Interesting,” he muttered, “Would leave me pretty weak to start with, but it would help me grow even faster later on. I like it! Bought!”
The screen flickered as Brian felt a slight pressure and tingling in the back of his skull before it quickly faded. Nodding his head, Brian quickly closed the Titles menu and went back to his main Status Screen.
Name: Brian Andrews
Level: 1
Class: Dark Mage
Job: Scribe
Skill Points: 800
Titles: [Holder of Forbidden Knowledge]
“Wait…” he said as he read over it again, “What?”
He had just spent two hundred and fifty of his Skill Points, right? Which would have left him with only eighty, so why did he suddenly have eight hundred of the things?
“Is the Title retroactive?” he muttered to himself, “Or is it because they’re special Skill Points? Eh, doesn’t matter, I just broke the system, so I’d better make the most of it!”
Brian grinned as he called up the two screens for his Class and Job again, pouring points into the various available Abilities judiciously. As it turned out, each Ability would reveal the next in its tree when unlocked, with the higher up Abilities of course costing more to unlock and level up, up to a maximum of ten levels. Brian poured ten points into each of his starting Abilities immediately, feeling the same tingling pressure in the back of his mind each time. He only had five Abilities in total, so it only cost him fifty points, but he still went over them each, just to be sure.
First was his one and only Scribe Ability.
Literacy (10):
Allows you to read and write in any modern language.
“Short and sweet,” Brian nodded, “I like that. This kind of Ability may be basic, but it can still be useful to understand stuff and gather information. Next up are my Class Abilities.”
Mana Manipulation (10):
Allows for the manipulation of mana and magical energy within yourself and others.
Status Casting (10):
Allows for the casting and control of Status Spells.
Curse Casting (10):
Allows for the casting and control of Curse Spells.
Ancient Knowledge (10):
Grants you access to lost and ancient knowledge.
Brian read over the last Ability again, shaking his head as he did so. While all the descriptions were almost painfully simple, he had a feeling that this particular Ability was because of his new Title. Shrugging, he quickly poured more Skill Points into the next level of the Ability Trees. His Mana Manipulation Ability had two more attached to it, called Mana Regeneration and Mana Drain, which cost two Skill Points per level, so of course he levelled them both up to ten.
Mana Regeneration (10):
You recover Mana at a prodigious rate.
Mana Drain (10):
You can selectively siphon the Mana from those around you.
The next Abilities to get boosted were for his Status Casting and Curse Casting Abilities, each of which had three options costing two Skill Points a level, so he levelled them all up to ten again. The status Abilities were pretty much what he expected, being able to paralyze, poison and put to sleep, but the curses were interesting. They allowed him to essentially steal a percentage of his target’s strength depending on which of the three he used, being Physical, Mental, and Magical.
Brian figured this was because he had levelled them up to maximum, but it was still a great advantage. The last one on his list was, of course, Ancient Knowledge, which only had one Ability, but it cost five Skill Points to level up. Shrugging, Brian dumped another fifty points into it, reading over the description once he’d done so.
Ancient Magics (10):
Allows for the casting of Ancient Magic Spells.
“And it’s really vague again,” Brian hummed, noticing that there were no new Abilities shown when he unlocked it, “Wonder why it was so expensive comparatively, though? Probably because it’s from a Title or something. Right, onto my Job Abilities now.”
The three new Abilities Brian had access to from his job were also somewhat simple, being Mathematics, Composition, and Scroll Creation, with the last piquing the man’s interest. So, he poured another sixty Skill Points into getting all of them up to level ten. This continued as Brian progressed up the Ability Trees, becoming more selective as he got higher and higher. What he found was that the majority of the higher Abilities just improved his base ones, so he only chose the ones that he felt would give him the biggest advantage, of course levelling them to ten each time.
Quickly, he found himself focussing more on his Job Abilities than his Class ones, particularly the Scroll Creation Tree, levelling up all the Abilities in the tree. Brian blinked as he saw the lines between the fourth level Abilities of the Tree all converge into one last Ability. Checking it, he grinned, seeing that it only cost five points per level. He quickly checked his remaining Skill Points, seeing that he only had fifty left over. Shrugging, he dumped the last of the Skill Points into the Ability, quickly opening it to read its description.
Soul Contract (10):
Grants the ability to write a Soul Contract upon the souls of any living Being.
“Simple as ever, though I wonder exactly what a Soul Contract can actually do?” he hummed, looking up as the goddess clapped her hands.
“And with that, all of you have selected your Abilities and used all of your special Skill Points. Now that that is done, I shall grant all you young Heroes a final boon!” Fiore said, smiling as the glow enveloped the teens, “May you gain experience more rapidly and in greater amounts than others for the next three months! I wish you the best of luck in the world of Marl! Goodbye!”
There was a flash of light, and Brian suddenly found himself alone with the goddess, getting up and walking over to her as she sighed in relief.
“I pray for your success, Heroes,” she muttered under her breath, “May you save this world from ultimate destruction.”
“Hey,” Brian said, staring at the goddess as she jumped, turning to look at him in surprise, “You forgot to send me down with them. No worries, just give me some basic starting gear and I’ll forgive you.”
“Basic starting gear?” the woman blinked.
“I figure we’re either going to appear naked or in our original clothes after we go down to the world, and considering you only pulled our souls through, I’m going to guess naked,” Brian smiled, “So, send me wherever, but I want some Class appropriate clothes and equipment as an apology.”
“You would so blatantly request that of a god?” Fiore asked, staring at Brian in confusion, before lowering her head slightly, “Such arrogance. But you are correct. Very well, but only the most basic of equipment.”
“Suits me,” Brian nodded as he began to glow, chuckling, “See you around, Fiore. Maybe I’ll leave an offering at your temple or shrine or whatever if the gear is good enough.”
“I do not know what to say about that,” the goddess sighed as he vanished, before the white void around her faded away as well.
“Well?” the stern voice asked as she appeared in the large room, the walls lined with columns and thrones, the other gods all looking at her from their seats, “How is this crop of Heroes?”
“Good, Mother,” she replied to the woman sitting on the massive throne, “They shall surely succeed where the others have failed.”
“They had better,” the woman grunted, “The Darkness is encroaching faster than ever, and it shall be up to them to stop it.”
------
Brian blinked as the light faded, leaving him standing in the middle of a small forest clearing.
“Pretty generic,” he chuckled, “Hopefully Fiore didn’t throw me into the middle of some super dangerous forest or something like that. Well then, better get looking for some civilization. But first, gear!”
Brian looked down at himself, blinking in surprise. He had somewhat expected the simple travelling robes and short staff at his hip, as well as the leather satchel slung across his shoulder, but he had not expected the change to his actual body. Before being pulled out of his world, he had been somewhat overweight and unfit, with a paunch and a chubby face. Now, however, his stomach was flat, and he felt full of energy. He quickly put it down to his body having been remade in the new world, so he was probably now in peak condition or something.
“Thanks for that, Fiore,” he chuckled, stretching out his limbs as he got used to the slightly strange feeling, “Right, I was checking my gear.”
He looked over the clothes and equipment he had, seeing the simple travelling robes again, made of a sturdy material that felt kind of like thick cotton, and the comfortable walking boots on his feet. He pulled the short staff at his hip out of the leather loop on his belt and swung it a few times, before closing his eyes and focusing inside himself. It took mere moments for him to feel the power inside himself, his mana he assumed, easily able to manipulate it into any shape he pleased.
“Probably because of the max level Ability,” he hummed, checking the satchel, finding a few provisions and a water skin inside, “Good. Right then, let’s get moving, and maybe find some stuff I can test my Abilities on.”