"PFFFT! GUHAHAHAHA!"
"Hey, Fujiwara, shut up."
"Oi, oi. The knights are looking at us, Fujiwara..."
"Aw come on! Don't you see its funny? Just look at that! 1... 10 Strength!! He wouldn't be able to do shit with that kind of stats-"
"Silence!"
Aiko shouted angrily, her eyes glared onto Fujiwara as if he is her sworn enemy. Fujiwara, whose pride wouldn't back down, was about to tease Aiko.
But he was pressured by Teacher Nakagawa's glare into silence.
He hadn't spoken a word for a while. But his smirk still lingered.
Alas, the tall guy stood in the stage. He stood still in his place wtihout doing any unnecessary movements, his eyes are still locked into the window. Unaverting.
The thoughts of him stepping down the stage is nowhere fruitful to his train of thoughts.
If it was him few hours ago, back on Earth. He would've ran away into the crowd pathetically as soon as possible after presenting himself in a crowd of people. He would've headed into the nearby comfort room and release everything he had eaten on that day.
He felt calmer as if something is possessing him, he is indifferent to his expression. He was not like this few minutes ago.
His head wasn't facing down, He doesn't show a posture of cowardice. He doesn't display anything that would displease the nobles. He kept his body straight and his eyes locked into the present window infront of him. Everything seemed to be unclear around him all except for some things.
His Class.
His Abilities.
And his Blessings.
"What are they?"
That question rang inside Andrew repeatedly. "The Eisenbefreier. What does that mean? From the sound of that word, it seems German... But what does it have to do with me?"
He thought deeper. He even deduced that the word Eisenbefreier is a word from this world if not for the voice earlier this morning in the warp.
"These empty abilities, the unknown Blessing! What are they? What is their purpose? Why was I given a mysterious Abilities and Blessing? Why is it only me?!"
He kept on thinking, and thinking. His questions remained unanswered yet he kept on asking.
"There must be some reason." His lips moved silently without him noticing. His thoughts were endless.
One would say this would be a brainstorm to find hope, a silver lining on his mediocre status.
"There must be a reason as to why they were not displayed. There must be a reason why this class remained mysterious."
"There must be a catch. There has to be."
Andrew breathed a relief after coming to a vague conclusion. He had noticed that the hall that has been on festive uproar due to his class appearance remained silent for the past few seconds.
It was as if their cheers earlier or the confirmed 5 Heroic procession did not happen at all. They, the people of this world, were only focused on one part.
That is Andrew's Class.
An Ascension tier Class! Above all the Heroic Classes, a legend amongst legend. A mysterious class that no one in the entire world would understand.
A tier that is coveted by the Emperors and Empresses all over the world even if it is useless or not.
Just having an Ascension-tiered item as part of your belongings is enough to give you endless reputation and prestige!
For the people of this world, seeing an Ascension tier Class or anything related to the Ascension tier was a blessing, a honor much more important than a Noble being granted the seat of Duke or a knight given the title of a Dragon Slayer after successfully vanquishing an evil wyrm! It is the kind of important tier that even the dead would rip the barriers between the living and the deceased just to witness the birth, the procession, the apperance of a Legendary individual with an Ascension tier Class!
Yet why were they displeased? If it means to have an individual with an Ascension tiered class, it would bring them nothing but benefits!
So why?
It was obvious!
They were looking into bigger numbers.
For the Heroic Procession, they have seen numbers that cannot be gained through hardships and experience alone. Their status was astronomical in terms of their understanding. It was in unimaginable heights that is worthy of being a Legendary Tier. Their status reflect their Class, their Abilities and Blessings are worthy of their Legendary Tiered Class! It's value refutes all shame!
And then a mysterious class with an Ascension tier appear with meager stats.
No matter how much rare the Ascension tier is. For its appearance was both lacking in Heroic Procession and numbers.
They deemed Andrew to be,
Useless.
Trash.
Disgrace to the line of Ascension-tier.
They did not give the importance of Ascension-tier too much.
"If it doesn't live up to its tales and legents sang by the bards, then why do we put Ascension-tier in high importance? The Legendary-tier is enough evidence that an Ascension-tier is nothing we had expected of." This line of thought crossed everyone within the room. Including Knight Captain Arthugrand and the King. It wouldn't be far fetched to say that the sages within this room would rewrite their books about the Ascension-tier, to revise all of their documents and papers containing the information or burn the canons that contained all praises about this mythical Tier.
Stolen novel; please report.
. Their dreams and hopes of someone attaining Ascension-tier, ruling under the heavens as the one they call Godking.
It's gone.
Almost all of the students who wanted a skill or a class with Ascension-tier were glad they didn't obtain it. They shivered at the thought of being the one receiving that damnable class.
But that did not affect the person who possessed it. He hung into that silver lining he utterly believes in.
He had reached a conclusion to his thoughts. "If Ascension is much more powerful than the other 3, then there must be a reason as to why it is hidden."
He, Andrew, was sure.
There is a catch. He kept repeating it in his mind.
This Ascension-tier... They might have a mind of their own- a basic understanding that their powers should never be revealed in front of other people- other than him.
He stole few glances here and there but to his surprise, nothing bad happened except for their expressions of disgust and anger.
He was expecting someone to erupt into madness and shout out "Blasphemy! Take him out!!". A kind of development that usually occurs in the novels he had read when an otherworlder receives a subpar class or a 'useless' production class. After all, this is something that is downright shameful. A high expectation shattered for these otherworlders. That is something that not even the pride of these people would allow.
He continued to steal glances...
But he couldn't stop. No matter how much Andrew tried to steady his sights, he would repeatedly steal glances from nowhere.
The King noticed this, it was unusual. An act that only people whose mentality is shattered into pieces. So does the princesses who were beside him. The King couldn't help but sigh ere he stood up and...
Tick.
The king's movements began to appear slower.
No, it wasn't the King being slow.
Andrew, he noticed it too. His eyes widened at the sight.
A window had appeared.
[Commencing ...]
The time had gone slow.
Andrew didn't had a chance to think. His eyes became as sharp as an eagle's eye.
The specks of dust floating here and there, the rays of sunlight.
Everything became clear.
Impurity such as blurs of the vision became non-existent. His vision extended even further to the 4 corners of the Throne Hall, including his back.
He could see the whole 360 degrees of his surroundings.
His vision suddenly split, turning left and right on inhumane speeds. It repeatedly look into every corners, every surface visible to his eyes.
All he had seen within this timeframe were registered into his mind!
His entire body felt numb- No, it felt like everything was cut off all except for his sense of vision and thoughts. His eyes and brains are the only ones working.
The people behind him, their facial features.
Their special traits. Talents. And...
Their hostility.
He had seen them all.
A cold voice suddenly enveloped Andrew's thoughts.
"5 meters South-East. A representative of Hero Class, Nakagawa-Sensei. Reading of status: 100%. Friendly standing. 12 meters South-West."
"Fujiwara with his goons, 6 readings, 1, 2 and 4 meters apart to eachother. Readings of status: 100%. Recommended action for elimination: Long range ▞ ▛ █. Neutral."
"South-East and South-West, 20 meters, Knight Captain Arthugrand, Noblemen and Knights lined up disciplined, engagement not advisable withing status visual, Neutral. 30 meters North. Upfront. King. Engagement not advisable without status visual, Neutral. Left side 3 meters. Status Readings: 40%, all Princesses. Neutral."
"Above floor, on the balcony overseeing the Throne room. 30 Mages lay in wait with their staves prepared to launch devastating magic, recommended action for elimination: use ▜▛ █ ▞▚ ▟▛."
Andrew couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
All he knew that there is something he had to be on watch for.
"2 unknown heat signatures above the mages, unknown affiliation, hostile reading-"
His veins started to show as if they're going to pop up in any seconds.
The information continued to be processed within his brain, his eyes grew red swollen and the nevers extended until it reached his pupil.
That is until an alerting crimson red window popped up infront of him.
"WARNING. INFORMATION OVERLOAD!!"
THACK!!
A quick, but little spark exploded on each of his pupils.
It was clear in his eyes.
Yet people around him never noticed.
He fell down to his knees, covering his eyes immediately with both of his hands.
"URGH!" He groaned in pain. Subconsciously tearing up upon the meager pain inflicted in that short amount of time.
The nobles went up in uproar. His knees hitting the white marble floor rang all across the hallway, immediately silencing everyone's spoken thoughts and snapping their attention from the Status window into Andrew.
"Huh..?"
"He fell down? Why?"
"Oi..!"
"FUHAHAHAHA! The poor guy couldn't handle the sheer disappointment! BOOO!"
Unknown to what happened, Andrew panicked as he breathed for more air. He thirsted for water. He breathed in air vigorously and sweating profusely as if he had just ran a five thousand meter sprint twice. This was the first time he felt his heart beating fast when he arrived to this world, even if its only hours ago.
His eyes swollen and red, it was smoking akin to a malfunctioned electric transformer.
His eyes, it was hot to the touch. Tearing up due to stress.
He kept holding it as to cool them off but the steaming hot temperature never ceded. It kept on burning.
Yet he felt no pain, It was as if his pain receptors for his eyes were cut off once again as to alleviate his burdens. his instincts told him to never open his eyes or remove the palm that's blocking them.
In the darkness, he sees blurry pictures of a glowing and flowing circuits. But he was focused entirely on recuperating his eyes to notice this little detail.
A cold and monotone narrative rang into his mind as he tried to take a step upwards.
[... Can not be used for next 8 minutes. Cooling down. Time left, 7:59.]
His body was stunned midway to this surprise, causing him to meekly fall down again.
This sight of him struggling to get up, face full of sweat, eyes covered with visible tears flowing out. His entire body is shaking.
"Look at this poor sod go."
"Eughh... To think he would act like that. Is he looking for sympathy? It's creepy."
"I don't want him in our group..."
It was a perfect sight for his classmates to berate his existence even further.
The rest of the people were also visibly surprised to his reaction as well as curious as to what happened. Ignoring the words of the Otherworlders, they set their eyes upon the figure knelt down while trembling.
For students, it wasn't visible. But for the residence of this world.
There was a mana manipulation at action when Andrew knelt down.
A small one at that yet its properties were profound.
A hooded figure in the corner of the hall squinted its brows.
"Mister Gerald..?" Nakagawa-sensei called out and approached Andrew slowly. Andrew tried his hardest to locate her direction, attempting to stand up without letting go of his eyes. For a person whose knees are visibly trembling, the lack of visual acuity that's added to the difficulty, getting up without a support of arms would be practically impossible.
Nakagawa felt her conscience weighing down upon her shoulders. She never liked this kid yet she felt the guilt, responsibility as their Teacher hanging.
She couldn't help but help him stand.
"Are you alright?"
"No... I just feel tired... Really tired, teacher." Andrew subconsciously replied, his hands tightened even further, seemingly unwilling to open his eyes.
He knew something bad might happen if he opened his eyes.
That is what his instincts are telling him.
Seeing the sight of Andrew covering his eyes, Teacher Nakagawa exchanged looks with the King. The disappointing results must've depressed him to the point of having an outrage and as his Teacher, she felt guilty for not taking action immediately after processing his status.
The King nodded to Nakagawa's reply.
"It seems like the Otherworlders are tired." The King said solemnly as he raised his hand and smiled. "We shall have a big banquet prepared for the Heroes while they rest, as to welcome them to our World! Be it the serfs, the middle class or the esteemed Nobles. We shall have a huge festival prepared!"
"This will be the biggest Banquet that our Kingdom may have to offer! Glory to Aldebaran, Glory to the Five Heroes! Glory to the Humankind's future!"
"Ooooh!!!"