{UNDINE POV}

Undine was happy to see the [Humans] eagerly scarfing down the prepared food.

She was worried, at first, that the food would have been too different from what they were used to, but aside from some passing comment about the color of the poultry, everyone seemed satisfied, including the small one.

What an anomaly he was, to be the first one to wake, and to immediately manifest some kind of [Trait]; that had them downright worried of him being some kind [Mimic] monstrosity, that had caught the occasion to try and infiltrate the [Temple], but a quick [Analysis] from her dispelled every doubt.

The only troubling thing left was that no one knew his name, not even her, but, at the time of their introduction, she thought that the [Human] must have been feeling too nervous to reply properly and introduce himself.

She was going to have a word or two with the [Enchanter] that worked on the [Temple], because that shouldn’t have been possible; the [Pacify] should have made everyone more stable, at least long enough to not freak out at their new environment.

The [Enchantment] should have been bound to the godly [Aether] poring through the structure, thanks to its [Bond] to her mother, so its incorrect working could only have been due to a rushed job from whoever had done it.

But that was a thought for another day, right now she must remain focused on being gentle and charitable, and make the frown that was beginning to appear on her face stop doing so.

After a moment to recollect herself, she started going around the tables, like her brothers and sisters already were doing, so that they could help the [Transferred] in any way they needed.

They weren’t being subservient to them for no reason, but because it was generally known to have an uplifting effect on the morale for those that had just been [Transferred].

But, once again, it seemed to be working the opposite way for the 'tiny' [Human], which she regretted calling so in her mind, but she had no other names for him.

Since both welcoming this strange [Human] and learning his name had the same solution, she started walking towards him with purpose.

He seemed to notice her right away, meaning that his [Insigt] must have been high, or maybe he had some kind of precognition, who knew?.

For a moment she thought about unlocking his [Spirit] statistic, but reconsidered doing so: he already had a lot on his plate and, at least for now, didn’t need more to think about, definitely not [Hidden] statistics.

"Hello there", she decided to break the ice first.

After a moment of staring at her, and his eyes briefly failing to not glance at her cleavage, he responded: "do you do that on purpose, or is my [Cultural interpretation] having a field day?"

Now that was a perplexing thing about [Humans], they were full of little innocent phrases that were some kind of 'faux pas', because they usually looked stunned for a second, after a seemingly innocuous phrase, before asking if she was serious.

It was seriously becoming increasingly annoying.

"On that note: thank you for warning me about that previous turn of phrase, my colleagues found out at their expense what happens when said in front of a less open-minded [Human]" She swiftly recovered.

"Yeah, I can already imagine others thinking about being inside of a [Simulation]; not that it didn’t cross my mind", he amended.

He seemed more cordial and collected than before, so she tried being more direct.

"You see, by questioning the other [Humans] we found that you all have a couple of [Racial Traits], while normally there is only one per [Species], would you mind confirming so?" she asked, hoping that he wouldn’t think that she was being invasive.

"And don’t worry about [Polyglot], every [Transferred] gets it."

He seemed to ponder something for a moment, but he gave a slight nod and started looking ahead, probably perusing his [Status].

"Basing it on their description alone, I seem to have [Fast learner] and [Adaptability], which seem to fit the criteria."

Undine exhaled, because he confirmed that he wasn’t some kind of disguised [Monster]: Even though she already knew so it was nice for it to be affirmed.

"Exactly, glad to see that it seems to be the same for everyone"

That made him flinch, but she had no idea why.

"Something wrong?", she asked.

"Well, you can certainly see I seem to look 'different' from the others, and your question, and reaction to my response, confirmed that at least some of you thought that I wasn’t [Human]", he finished with a sad smile.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Her heart ached at the thought of having emotionally hurt him, and almost hugged him, but she resisted the impulse, because her [Analize] stated that he was 25, and would have probably reprimanded her for treating him like a child.

"At least you were more subtle about it than Jeff" He said, and that earned a scoff from both of them.

She knew that Jeoff was hot-headed, but she never thought that he would be so aggressive towards a newly [Transferred].

But it seemed that [Fate] wanted to prove her wrong.

"It’s Jeoff, you asshole!"

* * *

{JEOFF POV}

Jeoff was fuming.

All he wanted to do was to assess the threat, but, instead, he was reprimanded by the [High Priestess]: Undine.

His Undine.

It was no secret that he coveted her attention, or at least so he thought.

So when this little [Monster], disguised as a [Human], seemed to immediately get chummy with her, he started keeping an eye on him.

And he was glad that he did, because his differences quickly alienated him from the others.

And those damn eyes of his.

Jeoff wasn’t sure what unnerved him more about them, the fact that they were freaky as shit, or that his Undine seemed to lose herself in them.

'He must be some kind of [Incubus]' was his first thought; even though they were known to be tall, burly, and handsome, half-breeds with a [Succubus] could end up looking deceptively pretty, and he fitted that description.

He thought for a moment if his thoughts were biased, because Undine might have preferred guys with more effeminate physiques, like that 'thing', but quickly dismissed the thought.

Who wouldn’t like him? He was too sculpted and nice for that to happen.

Undine was just playing the long game, she would definitely accept his advances, one day.

The fact that she was constantly glancing at 'the [Monster]', and looking anywhere else when he moved those damn eyes of his on her, was definitely to not alarm him of her suspicions.

Definitely.

So the fact that he was told off when he confronted him, was gnawing at his guts.

Why did she speak in his defense? It didn’t make sense.

Unless… those eyes were really affecting her!

Suddenly, Jeoff felt like he had an epiphany: the way that every other [Human] avoided the [Monster], but didn’t question it, nor act on it, besides from passing curiosity; the way that the [High Priestess] was orbiting around him; the way that even he thought that he was cute.

It all made sense now, he was [Charming] people, he must have [Illusion] magic.

He would have indeed been a difficult foe, but he was already making plans for an [Incubus], and this was exactly something that he was prepared for.

He started scanning the crowd of eating people, but his gaze was passing over everyone without seeing him, somehow; that made it more obvious to him that [Illusions] were at play.

So he changed tactics and started looking for Undine, who would probably be close to him, and that thought only made him more angry and resolute.

Jeoff found her in short order, standing next to the short [Monster], which had paused eating.

He started making his way over, pleased by how much uncomfortable the abomination looked.

He was now close enough to hear what they were talking about, and was not pleased: his name, his respected and honored name, was being mangled by his mouth.

The name passed down in his family line, from first son to first son, was so casually disrespected.

And that was enough to make him start seeing red.

He covered the remaining distance in long, furious strides, and then bellowed:

"It’s Jeoff, you asshole!"

* * *

{HUMANS POV}

The [Humans] had underestimated how parched they were and, as soon as they entered the dining room, they descended upon the carafes filled with water, only noticing the chairs and the long tables strewn across the room as an afterthought.

They were glad to discover that the water tasted normal, but they probably wouldn’t have been bothered by it anyway, not much seemed to do so lately.

The unusually green chicken gave them pause, but only for a moment, the most fearless of them tried it and immediately started singing its praises, and that was enough to convince the others to start digging in.

The notion of being in another world was certainly disconcerting, but also exciting, and that second line of thought was the prevalent one.

They obviously felt bad about everyone that didn’t make it, and they certainly would be mourned, but that was the past, and the future held incredible experiences in reserve for them.

And the near future included what to do with the weird little dude that was among them, which, somehow, successfully looked out of place both in another world and amongst them.

The major factor that made them dubious about how to act with him was his 'creepy as fuck' eyes, as some colorfully put it, and his judgmental posturing, which definitely didn’t make him more approachable.

Those that thought differently were dissuaded to act by the crowd, and now it had become some kind of stalemate, where nobody wanted to be the first to interact with him.

Which he probably noticed, which only made him pricklier to approach.

But, thankfully, the woman that was introduced as the [High Priestess] of the [Temple] didn’t seem to have the same qualms as them, evident from her repeated interactions with the little dude.

They still thought that, at times, their reticence in approaching him was unfounded; but every time they found that it wasn’t such a big deal, they just had to find a good moment for some of them to introduce themselves, and everything would be golden.

And yet, they somehow always stopped those brave enough to try and start a conversation, and none were bothered by it.

And like that, a cycle of 'we should probably talk to him', and 'I don’t know, that doesn’t sound like a good idea to me', started.

Unbeknown to them, that was the effect of the [Pacify Enchantment], which wanted to make them remain calm, but couldn’t make them outright ignore the anomalous being, since the [Nexus] had plenty of shape-shifters, and making them ignore the discrepancy and differences would make for a bad precedent.

Something attracted their attention: one of the [Priests] was walking towards the small guy whilst emitting a dangerous [Aura].

Now, they held no enmity for the 'below average height' individual, but they also didn’t think that he would be in peril from a [Priest], and the [Enchantment] just deviated every thought from the concept of conflict, so everyone just started looking his way, with rapt attention, waiting for what would come from it.

He seemed to be lost in his conversation with the [High Priestess], a detail that escaped most, and didn’t notice the approaching angry [Priest], whom some remembered being called Jeff, descending upon him.

Some decided to find a better vantage point to look at what would happen, and so abandoned their meal and started encircling the trio, only to flinch back when the bald man shouted:

"It’s Jeoff, you asshole!"