Adventurers, people who fight against monsters for the good of the people. I was a bit skeptical on that. Generally, the idea of a monster was determined by the people. The Monster was a proper monster. Its sole desire was to kill and nothing else. Even bad people had other desires, none of them pleasant, but at least they had them.

After the war, I wouldn't even call the Goblins monsters. I'd seen enough of their blood and fear that I'd rather find another way to deal with them. I certainly wouldn't want to spend time around them though.

These adventurers, I didn't know much about them, but they certainly had money and practice. The person who'd fired an arrow at me was clearly a woman, but she wasn't an archer. She seemed to be a rogue of some sort, one that wore tight leather armor. I didn't even have to focus on her too much as her Ki flowed in thin lines across her body and even into her armor, mixing with the steady purple lines already there. That was interesting to know, I hadn't even thought about enchantments. The Ki from the person could fuel the magic of the armor...interesting. She wore a large mask covering her face and by the energy coming from it, it was used to block out air dispersed poisons.

There was a mage, it was obvious by the large staff they held, though I couldn't tell their gender by the large robe they wore. More enchantments as well, on both the robe and staff. Possibly to help focus their intent into the magic, or possibly add a bit more kick to the magic itself. Their Ki was well trained also, not a bit slipping out of their body, though looked strange as it neared their extremities.

The next person was another woman and she was probably wearing the least amount of enchanted clothing. From the way the leather armor was designed, I could tell that they moved into leggings, but the real danger I could feel was from her fists where she wore a couple of gauntlets. I could tell in an instant that any blow from those fists would do some real damage, even with my durable skin. Maybe she was a brawler. All speed and strength, focusing on getting in close and getting away fast.

The fourth person was another one who's gender I couldn't tell. They were decked out in head to to plate armor, a shield on their left arm and a long sword in their right. It was probably the nicest sword I'd ever seen, the purple energy that covered it practically caused it to shine.

Then there was me. Shaggy long hair, trimmed beard, tanned skin and a loincloth. My weapon was a staff that looked less like a magical weapon and more like a physical weapon. I did use it that way, but it was meant to help me focus my magic. My right arm probably looked freakish too, sharp claws and fur. I looked like a wild man, more beast than human.

So fancy. I was jealous. I bet their clothes self repaired, or maybe they had people to fix them. I wasn't even wearing shoes anymore! They'd fallen apart a while ago, though my feet were now strong enough that I could walk across glass without a problem.

I really wanted to dent that armor though. I bet it was shiny. That was an affront to my blindness.

They seemed to be talking to each other, but I couldn't hear what was being said. It was like any sound that left their mouths was muffled by the time it reached me. A quick look around and I saw the mage's staff was glowing with purple energy. A silencing spell? Wonder if it was controlling the sound or the air? Without getting closer, I couldn't use my Ki to observe their Magic.

The rouge bent slightly and I watched a cloud of Magic appeared around her as she moved into the surrounding area, moving around to get behind me. I sent Adarna and Vivian away, having them do a similar action. No need for them to know about all three of us. Besides, I was still kind of confused as to why the rogue chick was moving so slowly, the cloud of magic flowing around her.

Oh..wait..was she using some sort of shadow magic? Maybe invisibility? Right...I was so used to my own blindness that I often forgot that other people didn't know about me. Well...might as well see where she is going with this.

I walked towards them, spinning my staff around. They fired at me first and didn't even attempt to make conversation. They even hid their words from me, I doubted we spoke the same language, but maybe people from that world all could understand each other.

If the mage was good enough then I couldn't use magic willy nilly. The Kobold mages could detect magic the moment it was created by feeling for the changes in the surrounding mana. I could feel it as well, a fluttering feeling that my Ki responded to. It was really vague though, I didn't know what magic was being cast or where it was coming from until it had already been cast. It was much better being able to see it.

I tapped my staff on the ground in a challenge towards them and grinned as the brawler moved forwards. The person in the armor worried me, especially that sword, but the brawler was a bit of my bane. I could handle the mage easily and the armored person seemed bulky so my speed could handle them.

The rogue would probably be challenging if I couldn't see her, but alas...

The brawler stepped forwards and suddenly vanished as she activated some sort of speed boost with her Ki. The interaction was strange, but I saw the Ki surge through her legs before she moved. A quick spin of my staff as I turned towards the left and used it to block her first punch. A solid ringing sound entered my ears as she made a surprised gasp.

'Not normal wood' I thought chuckling. The appearance of my staff was misleading. It was even stronger than my own skin, she wasn't breaking it easily. I dropped, using the momentum of her strike to bring her forwards as I kicked towards her feet. She yelled as I tossed her through the air.

However, I didn't wait for her to hit the ground as I used a burst of air magic to shoot backwards, pointing my staff towards her stomach as she dropped. She quickly moved her hand and caught my staff before it struck her. The rogue, who I'd been keeping an I on, rushed up towards me while she assumed I must've been distracted.

I quickly let go of the staff, letting the brawler drop to the ground as I stepped forward, bringing my hands forward and slamming them into the rogue, a burst of Ki shooting through my arm as I blew her away. For a moment, I paused as I flexed my fingers. Squishy...oops! I quickly dodged a kick by the brawler as I rolled forwards.

She attempted to snap my staff on her knee before shouting out in pain. I chuckled before she just tossed it towards her two other companions. The mage picked it up. Good.

Lets test some small scale magic. I avoided getting hit by the brawler and as her fist went past my face, I used my knuckles to strike at her arm. Around my knuckles, I focused my Ki interacting with the air, mana curled and twisted around my Ki. It'd taken me a long time to get this spell right.

Small amounts of water were controlled by my Ki, which I then froze into small ice crystals, these ice crystals were quickly rubbed together creating a charge, and then...

Boom! Electricity shot from my knuckles into her arms. Its bark was greater than its bite though, it wasn't fatal. I watched as her body locked up as the energy passed through her body, disrupting her Ki causing her to drop to the ground.

I turned and gave a mental command. In an instant, my staff shot towards me, dragging a surprised mage with it. They hadn't been expecting the staff to move without magic. But it was tied to me. As soon as I grabbed the staff, I dropped the mage with a solid punch to the stomach.

Mages had low defense. I didn't but I expected I was a bit peculiar. I didn't have to spend all my time learning incantations, I had time to improve my body through Ki and physical exorcise.

Oh, the mage was surprisingly soft stomached.

Oh well, looks like I pissed of the armored person. They were moving towards me with a determined air. I grinned and moved towards them. When we reached within striking distance, they swung at me. A clearly masculine voice came out as they did so.

A guy? Someone's lucky. I shifted to the side, avoiding the sword before a shield came rushing towards me. Ki shot through my foot and into the ground before a small pillar shot upwards, knocking the shield upwards before my staff pierced through the ground into his side. There was a solid clang and I frowned. That armor was pretty good actually. I quickly moved away as a sword passed through the space I'd just been.

That was odd. I'd noticed it against the brawler. Their attacks seemed oddly mechanical. Powerful, but without any substance. Very weird. Still, this guy was faster than I figured he'd be, it was like the armor had no detriment to his speed. There was no true skill to his swings, but what he lacked in skill he made up in power. The me of a month ago would have had no chance against these people.

I was suddenly pierced through the side, the knife cutting into me before stopping before it reached anything important. Thank you stone skin.

No time to be a gentleman, I turned and promptly slammed my fist into the rogue's face. I definitely heard a crack as she went tumbling back.

Magic! The armored guy jumped back just as a box of magic surrounded me. I tapped at it with my Ki and cocked my head. It was some sort of barrier. I turned and saw the mage sitting up, pointing her staff at me. Instant cast? Cool. I didn't know that other mages could omit the incantation. Hmm...maybe it wasn't an instant cast, maybe it was a premade spell. Those enchantments were more and more interesting.

I was close enough so I stretched my Ki through the barrier and touched her staff. Oh! There were symbols drawn in Ki, very thin amounts of Ki, but they were there. The symbols weren't much more than flair, but the Ki had a wisp of intent. Another person could fill the staff with their Ki and then the intent would naturally activate the skill. What the hell? I had to do it the hard way and someone could just throw together a spell for someone else to use? It wasn't very malleable but it was effective.

"The barrier will only hold him for a few minutes" the mage said, revealing her to also be a woman. That armored bastard...wait.

"Got it" the guy said as he moved into a stance. I could see the purple energy of the sword flair up as he pushed his Ki into it. Seems like he was gearing up for a big attack...wait.

Hold on.

"Bastard broke by nobe" the rogue was up and moving again. How durable were these people? I mean I hadn't hit them with my full strength, but I'd been sure I hit them hard enough to knock them out...those voices...

I kept getting distracted by own thoughts, but I was even more surprised that I could understand them. They had been blocked by the mage's spell before and they hadn't talked much during the fight, though their team work was pretty good.

"Hey! This guy isn't a fighter, he's a mage!" and now the brawler was back up. Their recovery was nuts!

"No way, his strength is ridiculous, there is no way he's able to use magic and throw those kinds of punches!" the mage stood up watching me. I was too busy thinking to worry about whether or not they understood how I fought. The armored guy's attack was still building up. It'd be completely useless without the barrier.

Well, the barrier was useless against me anyway. I'd already explored the magic with my Ki and it wasn't that well put together. The basic intent was to block off an enemy. I could have come up with something better.

I raised my hand and placed it against the barrier and began to push.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I bink he's trying to break it" the rogue said as she held her nose.

The mage shook her head "That is a mid tier level barrier spell, not even a Kobold Leader could break it"

Really? Wow, that was pretty good actually. I'd practiced against the Leader once while I was resting. His strength wasn't something to laugh at. It was a light spar, but had we'd been serious, I was sure he could have stood up against the Ent I fought.

It was fine, I wasn't using my strength to break it. I pushed my hand against the barrier harder before there was a sudden glass smashing sound and the barrier broke away.

Everyone but the guy seemed surprised. His attack was ready, but I'd already examined the sword a lot since we started fighting. A single press of my Ki into the right place and I was able to completely cut off his Ki flow. But he didn't even seem to notice which confirmed that he didn't have Ki control, despite it staying inside of his body. It was like he was acting on instinct.

"Take this!" he swung the sword towards me. The magic still kind of activated from the remaining Ki left in the sword, a beam of solid plasma shot towards me.

Ooh, that actually looked damaging. But it was in a straight line. Ki shot into the ground and I activated my Magic, a single burst of stone sending me into the air just as the beam hit the stone, vaporizing it. I was glad that it hadn't hit me. I landed lightly behind them and watched in amusement as they turned around, looking at me warily.

"Hey" I said "You are Max right?"

"Wait...Alex?!" the guy pulled off his helmet and I cocked my head observing the lines of Ki that covered his face. Ki lines weren't that good at distinguishing human faces apparently. Still, I'd seen those lines enough in my own body. We were twins, right down to the lines.

"Alice, Mary...Rein ah...sorry about your nose" I said rubbing the back of my head. I'd really given her a good one.

"Umm...sorry about the knibe" I looked at my side and shook my head "It is fine, you didn't hit anything important I said pulling the knife out of my side and focusing my Ki into my side. The wound was easy enough to heal.

"Ah! Stop stop..." I rolled my eyes "Stop!" I commanded in my head just as Vivian came rushing towards Alice from the back. She quickly halted to a stop a moment before she crushed the young woman who jumped away in fright.

Vivian had been waiting for my signal in the off chance that I couldn't handle them. Had they been better skilled, I probably would have needed the help. The smell of my blood when I pulled the knife out had brought her. I walked up to her and gently scratched behind her ear, assuring her I was safe.

"What kind of wolf is that!?" Mary's eyes flashed with intrigue as she removed her hood and stepped closer, stopping when Vivian growled at her.

"She's Vivian" I said smiling. I was pretty damn happy to see my brother and friends again.

Mary nodded before Rein nudged her and she looked sheepish as she held out her staff and began to heal the girl's nose.

When it was finally healed, by the posture of her body, she was glaring at me "You ass. If you knew it was us, why didn't you tell us? Could have saved us all this trouble"

I blinked before nodding "Well...I didn't know it was you until I heard your voices. Someone used magic to block off sounds earlier"

Mary turned her head away from me in embarrassment.

"Well, Max has the helmet, Mary the hood, and I have my mask, but why didn't you recognize Alice? Her face is completely unblocked" Rein pointed towards the brawler.

"Oh..well" I sighed softly as I looked at Alice. I did miss seeing her pretty face, all of theirs "I'm blind"

"Bullshit!" Max walked up to me and moved my hair out of my eyes as he looked into them. I rolled my eyes.

"You aren't going to tell by looking at them, they are still the same as before. But the insides are messed up, something about the retinas" I looked at Mary "You should have some observation magic or maybe healing magic that lets you look at internal injuries" she'd been able to heal Rein's nose easily.

The bookworm nodded and moved forwards, pressing her staff against my forehead. I unconsciously used my Ki to observe the Magic that flowed into my body and into my eyes. It was exactly what I imagined it was. The intent behind the magic was to scan and understand the injury, to then decide what level of healing magic to use.

"He's right...and my magic doesn't know how to fix it" that was understandable, not even a Goddess could figure out how to heal them without destroying me first.

I blinked, feeling a strange energy coming from above and looked up. I saw an Eye. A single golden eye and it did not give off the same feeling I got from Artemis. I felt something like...like...Rejection.

I frowned "Alright guys, lets head to my place and we can get caught up" I said turning and heading forwards, my staff returning to it's normal use a walking stick.

Alice moved up to my left side and took my arm "I'll help you" she said.

I laughed "Did you forget that I just kicked your butt? I can move around just fine" I looked at her "But I appreciate the sentiment, nice to see that you haven't changed much...Rein could have changed a bit though" I laughed when Rein ran up and punched me in the shoulder.

She flinched slightly "Damn Alex, what are you made of?" she asked.

"Stone" I said "Took me a long time to get my skin this way" I looked up as Adarna flew in and landed on the tip of my staff. I smiled and rubbed the bird's chin.

"Seems like you have become quite friendly with these animals" Mary said softly as she looked warily at Adarna's beak.

I nodded before shrugging "They like me for some reason" Vivian walked passed me and Adarna flitted to her head "And each other, they seem to have gotten much closer" I wondered if that was because of my Ki, both were tied to me and by extension each other.

"You seem very...confident." Alice said softly "What exactly happened after we vanished?"

"Oh man, you have no idea. First of all, your stupid summoning circle is what blinded me" I looked up at the eye when I said that and I could swear it became even more menacing "Then I met this creature called a Gaian and it introduced me to a...mage who sent me here. I spent a lot of time trying to learn magic and I just got stronger as a result" I chose to omit a few things, mostly because whatever Deity was watching me was clearly trying to figure out who was responsible for this place being connected to their world. I wasn't going to sell out Artemis and I wasn't going to give it much information about myself. Besides, I couldn't tell them I'd personally met a Deity when they'd just been sent to another world.

It didn't just rip open my mind so it must have been wary about the Deity behind all of this. That was good, let this bastard think I was some other Deity's hero being trained.

Mary shook her head "We had no idea that had happened. One minute we are talking to you and the next we are standing in a big cathedral like church" as we walked, they began to tell me of their adventures these past two months. Fortunately time seemed to flow the same between the two universes. I'd been afraid of meeting a sixty year old Max if he ever came back.

After they'd been given the whole 'You are our hero' spiel, they'd been asked to help fight off the monster hoards around the world. The monster population had grown rapidly as most of the creatures reproduced much faster than the five big races.

Of course, the four of them had fun adventuring. One day, they'd been called to speak to the head priest who'd claimed to have gotten a mission straight from their God. Max and the girls were to go scout out a new dungeon that had appeared near the capital. Thus, they came here.

So this was what Artemis meant by a surprise. This was certainly awesome. Meeting my friends and brother made all of my struggling to survive even more worth it.

We eventually reached the hall that had been my home these past two months "Sorry if it isn't something you are used to, oh great Heroes"

Rein rolled shook her head and went into the building "Please, I was roughing it when we were kids remember? This is as good as any hotel" she said.

Max nodded "You know how she is" he chuckled "Even when we had inns and nice places to stay, she preferred to stay outside" he pointed towards Mary "She on the other hand needed the fluffiest bed possible" he shook his head.

"Princess and the Pea right?" I grinned at my brother making him laugh. Mary was a book worm, but she always loved being comfortable above everything else.

Alice nudged us both as she passed us. Alice had always been a weird one, she didn't care where she slept as long as she could be well rested and up before everyone else.

Max began to take off his armor, which looked complicated but he seemed to pull it off easily. It looked like he'd done it a lot. I walked over and tapped his stomach "Hey, nice muscle build bro" I laughed "I thought you were lugging the armor around a little to easily"

"Not like you are any worse" Max said chuckling "You've gone Tarzan here"

"Yeah, well, I don't have fancy Hero money to buy nice armor here" I laughed "So, tell me about your fighting style, it was like you were a robot or something"

Max looked at me, clearly confused "What do you mean? We are easily the strongest group in the entire Kingdom. It is you that is weird, you moved like a snake or something. Let me see your stats"

I cocked my head to the side. Now I was the one confused "Stats? What do you mean?"

"You know, your screen, the little blue screen that pops up and lets you see your stats" Max was acting like this was normal. He waved his hand and Ki streamed down from the ceiling and appeared in front of him. I could see various things such as his name and class, as well as several status numbers.

Looking up and see the eye near the ceiling looking smug, I realized something. Of course, this Deity had pulled regular humans from a very unmagical world. There as no way untrained people would be better than soldiers or veteran adventurers, especially not in just two months, this Deity had done something to them.

That was why their skills were so mechanical. This screen Max was showing me was shown by the Deity.

"Show me a skill" I said, observing him as he waved the screen away. He still looked confused but picked up his sword. I watched as Ki he stepped back and swung his sword. Ki ran from his body into the sword, releasing a small flash of energy before a blade of wind appeared, striking the far wall.

"How do you use them?" I asked, trying to understand how it worked. He clearly did something with his Ki, but I wasn't completely getting it.

"Well, when we first showed up, we had to actually say the skills before we used them but after we practiced for a bit, we learned that we could just think the skills name and it'd activate, it is pretty cool"

Oh bull! That was it. Their intent was tied to what they imagined the skill was. When they intended to use a particular skill, their Ki reacted and led them to perform the skill perfectly. But, because they didn't actually practice the skill, it was very stiff and unmoving.

I shook my head "How do you learn these skills?" this was getting worse and worse.

Mary was the one who responded, standing up from where she'd been sitting and walking over to us "It is actually very interesting. We had different people show us their skills and then asked if we could be taught them. It took a few tries and experimentation, but then the screen popped up, telling us we'd acquired the skill. Energy passed through us and we just knew how to activate it"

Sighing, it was my time to glare at the eye. The stupid Deity was coddling them. They didn't understand their abilities, it just gave them whatever they were trying to learn. The only reason they probably had classes was because it was hard to just alter Ki too much.

I continued to probe before I had the whole picture. Leveling up in the screen was the same as when I meditated and grew my Ki. As they fought monsters, a small piece of the Ki that vanished would be redirected by the Diety to their bodies, growing their Ki by a fraction. They'd reach a certain point and be given 'Points' to place in their chosen attribute. My brother chose strength and agility as his main skills. Each time they picked those skills, the Deity would alter their Ki to focus on those attributes.

My way was much better. I had more freedom because my Ki was my own. I changed Mana into my own Ki and then distributed it across my body. My strength, speed, reaction times, all of it was enhanced.

Their Ki was a patchwork of different Ki sewn onto their original Ki. It was disgusting. They were imbalanced. It was why their personalities hadn't changed much when mine had. Their brains were less affected by their Ki than mine was.

Intelligence and Wisdom on their screen was just an altering on how much Ki they used when activating skills like magic. It wasn't even that efficient, I could fling fireballs by the dozen with the amount of Ki they wasted on three.

Sure, after a few years of 'Leveling Up' they'd be ridiculously strong, but anyone like myself who'd practiced on their own and reached that same amount of strength could defeat them. It was like having an entire maze to explore, with treasure and other amazing things at dead ends. Except they were being lead through the maze along the best route, missing everything else.

Later that night, after everyone was sleeping, I stepped out into the night air and looked up at the eye "Come down" I said "My Deity isn't around right now"

A flowing river of golden Ki came flowing down from the eye, forming into a rather masculine and handsome man. Long flowing hair and chiseled cheeks. Geez, it was like this guy had altered his own body to some ideal image.

I shook my head "What are you doing to my brother and friends? That...game system...of yours is screwing them all up, they have no understanding of their skills"

"My methods are not for a mortal to understand. Especially not a Reject. Why you were chosen as another's Hero is beyond me"

The big booming voice of a Deity. Artemis had only used it once before, every other interaction with her had been with a normal voice. It was a show of force, an intimidation. It basically didn't have any care for what he was doing.

"I guess I should thank you. If you hadn't blinded me, I wouldn't be here right now. I was chosen because of my lack of sight. It improved me in other places" I glared at him "If they meet another Hero like myself, they might be killed"

"Should they die, I'll just pick another, from a better world"

I grit my teeth at that. This stupid Deity didn't care about those he picked, he just wanted some tools "This is my Deity's area, a training zone for her Heroes, you have no right to be here and impose your will on those within. Until they leave, they are just as bound by her rules as I am. No outside help"

I didn't know much about Deities and their conflicts, but I was sure they wouldn't want a grand fight. It'd be devastating to their worlds. I was betting on this Deity being too much of a coward. He didn't know who my 'Deity' was and most likely wouldn't risk getting in a fight with someone stronger.

"A month. They will be allowed to spend one month here. Then they will be recalled" and then he was gone. Properly gone too, no eye. I was right in my guess. Unfortunately, that meant no status screens either. If I wanted them to survive long enough to get home, I'd have to do what Artemis did to her Heroes.

Break them down and build them up.