In a large beam of light, Jia ascended from the Heavens right in the middle of town square, though nobody seemed to even notice. Jia landed on her feet, then feeling around her body, she was finally going to start her dreamed Isekai journey! Clearing dungeons? No problem! She’d figure out how to do that!

“Alright then!” Jia exclaimed, “Let’s get familiarized with things!”

Jia wandered around the city, noting various things that she saw, “Blacksmith, check! Weapons and armor from medieval times? Check! Magic spells being all over the place? Check! Elves? Probably a check, haven’t decided to look too hard on that one… Man, what a dream come true!”

Jia proudly strolled down a road, horse drawn carriages were commonplace and people traded silver and copper coins for various goods.

Jia’s wandering gaze found her not even noticing that she was about to bump in to someone. She stumbled backwards a little before looking forward, ready to shout at the person until she realized that she had just bumped into a 6 foot something orc who looked ready to tear her a new one.

She braced for him to attack, but instead he just bowed his head, “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I probably wasn’t even paying attention!” He exclaimed.

Jia just stared for a moment, “Eh? Why are you apologizing?”

“I was so spaced out I probably didn’t even notice that I was stopped in the middle of the road, so there’s no wonder you bumped into me!” He exclaimed, “Let me treat you to some drinks to make up for it!”

“Wait what?”

With no other words said, the man picked up Jia and slung her over his shoulder, then marched towards the nearest tavern.

Jia nervously shifted around in her seat as the man ordered drinks for the both of them and then looked at her.

“Ah, I didn’t introduce myself! I’m sorry!” He said, “I’m Aijom, I’m an orc in service of the church!”

“I… see…” Jia murmured.

“Ah, what’s your name? I’m sorry, I haven’t asked from you much, just spoken a lot myself,” Aijom said.

“Jia Yinuo,” She replied.

Aijom let out a hearty chuckle. As their drinks were brought out, he downed it almost instantly and set his cup aside.

“You certainly can drink for a member of the church…” Jia remarked, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen members of the church drink,”

“The gods would love if I drank more,” Aijom explained, “The Great Batewel says that alcohol is a divine gift!”

“You have… So much energy…” Jia said, “It’s extremely draining,”

Without even asking Jia, Aijom took her cup, drank it almost immediately, and then made direct eye contact with her. He stared for a few moments before he started laughing.

“Sorry, I just found you fascinating,” He said, “Usually when a ‘Chosen’ is sent, their first instinct is to brag about their divine right to be here and treat everyone like they’re lesser, but you seem more out of your element than anyone else like you that I’ve met,”

“Eh? What do you mean? I’m here to clear dungeons and live out my greatest fantasies! I don’t care what God told me to do!” Jia exclaimed.

Aijom chuckled, “You really said it, didn’t you?” Aijom leaned in closer, “I hope you realize that going against your ‘God’ will have its due consequences,”

Jia snorted, “I’m not worried about anything like that… I’m here to have fun and do things my way! I want to live out my fantasies of clearing dungeons and being adored by all! I couldn’t care less about anything a divine being tells me to do!”

Aijom clapped, “Bravo, what a speech,” He said, “Well, I am a member of the church, so I do think you should care a little bit about what divine beings tell you… But you’ve convinced me more or less about your intentions… Would you like my help to clear dungeons for you?”

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Jia smirked, “Weeeeell, I’m not saying I don’t want help,” She teased.

“That sword is pretty good, this one would suit you better though, I think,” Aijom said, handing Jia a shortsword, “Better for your size,”

Taking the shortsword, Jia slashed it once, to which Aijom instantly stopped her, “Woah, woah, woah! Don’t do that inside, take it to the back if you want to swing the sword around,”

Jia scoffed before wandering to the back. She and Aijom exited through the back door and stood in the middle of a small arena of sorts.

Aijom led Jia to a training dummy, “All yours,”

Jia slashed at the dummy. Once. Twice. Thri- She stopped halfway through, dropped the sword, and leaned against a pillar, “Wow, that’s tiring,”

“Your aptitude with a sword is incredibly low, isn’t it…” Aijom commented before sighing, “That’s fine, we’ll check with your magical aptitude…”

“No! I’m gonna fight with a sword! Like a true Isekai hero!” Jia exclaimed, “I can’t quit like that! It’d be shameful!”

Aijom folded his arms, “Is that so…” He said, “Let’s compromise then… Let’s get you a dagger and then check with your magical aptitude, how’s that?”

Jia grumbled to herself before nodding and following Aijom back inside. He led her around and felt a few daggers before finally settling on one.

Jia glared at the dagger as Aijom bought it. What an awful weapon! No self-respecting woman such as herself should ever have to use a dagger! This wasn’t part of what she had planned for her great Isekai adventure!

Aijom finished speaking to the clerk and wheeled around to face Jia, smiling as he walked towards her.

“I know you aren’t too happy about it, but this is for the best,” He said, “Now then, let’s get to the Mages Guild,”

Jia grumbled under her breath as she followed Aijom out of the weapons shop. The two began walking down the street with Aijom commenting on every little thing he saw.

Aijom stopped in front of one building, knocked on the door, and then promptly entered, pulling Jia in along with him.

“Hey! Careful there, you’re gonna rip off my arm at that rate!” Jia exclaimed, “I’m delicate, okay?”

“Then why do you want to be a warrior?” Aijom asked.

“Because I’m ferocious too! You can be delicate and ferocious at the same time!” Jia retorted, “Sure I flunked out of all my Physical Education classes in school, but I’m up for it!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

I bet Aijom is one of the normies I would’ve hated back home, Jia thought to herself, I hate this…

A woman seemed to just appear in front of Jia and Aijom, but it looked like Aijom had been speaking to her for a while, so she just shook it off and assumed she spaced out too hard.

Aijom nudged Jia to which she focused on the woman, “Ah, sorry, I spaced out a little bit,” Jia said, “What did you say?”

“No worries,” The woman said, “If you’d just follow me, I’ll test your magical aptitude,” She explained.

“R-Right!” Jia said, following closely behind her, “Aijom are you coming?” She asked.

“He’s not allowed to, magical aptitude tests are held in private- It’s a matter of personal privacy,” The woman again explained.

“That’s… Weird…” Jia replied, then leaving Jia behind and following the woman again, “So what’s your name?” She asked.

“Oh, I’m Lalline,” She replied, “Yours?”

“Jia Yinuo,” Jia said, “How will we do this magical aptitude thing? I just wanna get everything over with as soon as I possibly can…”

Lalline giggled before leading Jia into a small room, “All you’ll have to do here is cast a spell on that target over there,” She said.

“Err… Right…” Jia moved over in front of the target, “The thing about that is I kind of don’t actually know any spells…”

“Eh?”

Lalline stared awkwardly at Jia for a few moments before clearing her throat, “No worries! Here’s what we’ll do!” She exclaimed, “Just look to the target, wave your hand like this!” She motioned, “And shout incinerare!”

A large ball of fire escaped from in front of Lalline’s body and launched right at the target, then fizzing out and displaying a number just above the target. 3082.

“Woah!” Jia inhaled deeply, “I-I’ll give that a try…”

Jia waved her hands around as she was told and shouted, “Incinerare!” But nothing happened, “Incinerare!” She shouted again, “Incinerare!”

“You’ve waved your hands incorrectly, it’s like this,” Lalline motioned again, “You’ve been putting your hands out too wide so the spell has been fizzing out,”

“I see…” Jia murmured. She inhaled deeply once more and motioned just as she had been taught, “Incinerare!” She exclaimed.

This time, a huge ball of fire escaped from her and hit the target, just as Lalline had done, though this time, instead of fizzing out, her fireball exploded, blowing both Jia and Lalline off of their feet. A number was displayed just above the target. 9999.