Chapter Zero: The Recap

When a truck jumped the curb to hit his best friend, Orrin valiantly tried to save the day.

Instead, they both woke up in a forest naked, afraid, and with magic powers. Orrin and Daniel stuck together and did their best to learn how to survive. Orrin gained the ability to buff and heal. He could make a person slightly stronger or quicker and later added amplified magical potency. His spells cost less and hit harder. He even found ways to infinitely loop his health and mana, making his utility near-limitless.

Daniel was the [Hero]. Stronger, faster, better looking. It would have made a lesser man jealous but Orrin was ready to help his friend defeat the [Demon Lord]. Together, they agreed on three simple rules for surviving their own isekai. First, survive. Second, stick together. Third, find a way home.

In Orrin’s opinion, they’d done a shitty job.

Both Orrin and Daniel had almost died multiple times. Within minutes of arriving, Daniel was attacked by a vine monster that tried to carry him away in the trees. Orrin’s abilities to increase a person’s strength and heal had kept them alive… barely. As they made their way to the closest civilized town, a chance encounter resulted in the rescue of a not-quite-a-princess, Madi, and her [Knight], Brandt.

Everything was coming up positive until Madi threatened them with imprisonment and execution. Daniel’s Quests were negotiated to save their lives but further attempts to test their prowess almost ended in their deaths anyway. Orrin and Daniel settled into their new lives of leveling up and working for the Guild when Orrin broke the second rule.

After a fight with his friend, Orrin teleported away, separating their group. His new powers came with a price and luckily, he met Tony, a [Mind Mage], who taught him how to not kill himself with his unique set of spells and skills. Finding his way back to Daniel, the friends reunited and made a deal with Madi’s father, one of the Lords of Dey. The trio battled their first dungeon, drank some coffee, and started to trust each other a bit more.

But then Daniel was kidnapped right in front of them. Orrin and Madi gathered their allies and went on the hunt, discovering a hidden plot and a traitor in their midst. Saving Daniel wasn’t the end, as more pieces of the puzzle were revealed. A daring rescue attempt for a friend’s family members ended up drawing the most powerful leaders of the city out into open warfare. Orrin and Daniel survived the fallout, gaining powerful friends in the process.

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One of those new allies offered the opportunity to destroy a newly found dungeon. The rewards for doing this would be astronomical but Orrin feared it was just an attempt to learn more about their hidden spells and skills. They accepted the challenge but with a secondary goal. A neighboring country, Odrana, had declared war on the elven nation. Daniel and Orrin had a Quest to end the war and the dungeon was close to the elven forest. After they raided the Guild’s storeroom for all the supplies they could take, the two boys and Madi entered the dungeon known as the Crumbling Waste. Two friends-slash-spies accompanied them. The monster battles were fierce but ultimately victorious. The dungeon core was ready to be destroyed. Everything was coming together.

Orrin discovered a new ability. Something that popped up from time to time in the past with varied results. His Administrator power was unlike anything else. Absorbing the dungeon core gave him access to Administrator Points, a secondary set of abilities that even the [Hero] didn’t have. Leaving their new friends, Orrin set out with Madi and Daniel to help the elves rebuff the invading Odranan forces.

The elven council cared little for the new [Hero] but one elf found Orrin intriguing. Stories of Administrators of old brought up new questions but a sudden attack from the leader of Odrana, Lord Sanerris, wreaked havoc with Orrin’s plans to unite the elves and Dey. The elven council sold them out and only quick action from Daniel and Orrin kept Lord Sanerris from capturing the [Hero] for his nefarious plot. The fight was not as one-sided as Orrin thought it would be, leaving him questions about how and why his spells worked better against certain people.

The newly appointed council members helped rebuild relations with Dey, promising to help fight off the Demon Lord on his way. Orrin began using his Administrator powers and found himself used as a shuttle for messages between the two countries. When Daniel and Madi brought him news of an imprisoned Brandt, they raced to save their friend. The mission went sideways from the beginning.

Followed, discovered, and attacked, the trio made their way into the heart of Odrana to rescue Brandt. Their escape seemed within reach when Lord Sanerris returned. Orrin watched Daniel die and come back to life thanks to the use of one of his skills. Quick thinking and a little luck got his friends out of the Odrana dungeon sewers but Orrin was left behind and enslaved.

When he awoke from his beatings, Orrin was shipped off to a remote villa where he met Lady Sanerris, the recently deposed leader of Odrana and mother of Lord Sanerris. Between playing board games and learning the intricacies of magic, Orrin discovers her plan. She means to use him as a spy and pawn within an elite magical academy. To live, he has to make friends with her political rivals and help maneuver her back into power.

Orrin attends class, plots his own escape, and makes friends before stumbling into an assassination attempt. Using every bit of cunning he possesses, Orrin unites his new friends and old for a takedown of the entire rotten Odrana leadership. Finding his way back to Daniel, the celebration is cut short. The Demon Lord is on the move and Dey is not ready. With all his new magical knowledge and little time to rest, Orrin and Daniel must stand with their new friends against the impending Horde.