Upon opening his eyes, darkness greeted him. Scrutinizing his surroundings, Leon found it to be a room of sorts. The room was cold, but no breeze came. Confused grunts and sounds revitalized around him as once more, Leon found himself surrounded by many people. Unable to see anyone due to the lack of light, he decided to bend down upon one knee and feel the ground.

The ground felt like that of stone, perhaps cobble? It was damp and cold; one would even say it was dank. He wanted to call out to his coworkers but something in his gut suggested otherwise. It was a pitch-black room, if he were to call out to them and hear their replies that was when the hard part began. How was he to get to them or vice versa? Based on the amount of noises around him, he assumed he was in a very large room with likely just as many people as there were on the platform. Besides this assumption, there was also the larger fact that other people tried the same and the latter half of their plans were always filled with “Damn it” or something of the like.

Thinking of it, Leon called forth his status window. This was the first time he saw anything since arriving there. Unfortunately, even though the floating apparatus gave off a kind of light, it didn’t seem to affect his surroundings, leaving it all to oblivion. ‘I guess it wasn’t just a dream… or am I still dreaming?’

Shaking his head, he recalled the last notification received. Looking at his skills, he read the two newly acquired skills.

[Adept Tongue (Rare)]: As a guiding spark of your universe, the system has deemed you worthy and has decided to assist you in your endeavors. Allows the user to learn and comprehend different languages more efficiently.

‘Well, that’s helpful.’ Leon always wanted to learn other languages but normally lacked the motivation due to difficulty, time, or lack of people to practice with. ‘I wasn’t too bad at Spanish in high school.’ A thought surfaced in his mind, remembering the awkward moments of standing in front of his classmates and butchering another language.

“Hola, me llamo Leon -” He recalled saying at the beginning of every presentation. Shivers ran down his spine remembering the looks he got when he pronounced some words completely wrong. Shoving it to the back of his mind, Leon focused more on the fact that this skill would likely make him feel better about speaking and learning Spanish, or any language for that matter, next time.

Leon laid his eyes upon a skill he was somewhat familiar with in games.

[Identify (Inferior)]: A basic skill given to all sentient lifeforms of the multi-verse upon birth. Allows the user to gain a small understanding of any object or creature chosen for observation.

In the past, Leon had played a lot of games during high school. All the RPG games he played had this type of skill in it, albeit the game usually didn’t call it a skill but just something that the player did. Based on the wording, it seemed like everyone had this skill. Leon’s world had studies proving animals were also sentient, so Leon just took this as meaning this was a skill for anything that had a conscience. It was also interesting to see that all beings born into the multi-verse got it. It made his world of Earth an outlier as many there hadn’t ever had this innate ability. ‘I mean, I could see a toilet and know it was a toilet but not a sink… but that was kind of just me going off of what I already knew to be true.’ Going off of games, the Identify skill should give information that even the person identifying wouldn’t know. As if it were an encyclopedia of sorts or even just the internet, giving answers quickly.

Looking to test it out, he focused his eyes on the ground and thought of the skill.

Damp Limestone: A stone

“…” This very exciting revelation sat firmly at the forefront of Leon’s mind. ‘Ah yes, how could I have been so blind? The floor… is made of floor!’ Before sighing and slumping down a bit. At the very least, Leon was mildly ecstatic about the fact that it worked. Besides the rather lackluster description, the name gave him an idea. With the confirmation of it being limestone and the obvious feel of familiar stonecutting, Leon was able to assume that this was likely a man-made building.

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“…” Okay, but seriously… would he have been able to figure it out without the skill’s help? Probably. Was it nice to know that the skill worked? ‘I guess,’ Leon continued. In the end, Leon just broke it down to the fact that it was due to the skill being of inferior quality. That was probably pretty awful based on what he knew about rarities in video games. Unless this system-thing had a rarity tier of ‘dogshit’ he was just going to assume that this was the worst.

This didn’t leave Leon feeling too great about the two class skills he acquired but he couldn’t really test them at the moment still. Not to mention that everyone probably had inferior rarity skills based on what he, Julia, and Drake had discovered.

Murmurs encompassed the room once more, piquing Leon’s interest as he lugged his head up. Within his sight, he saw a silhouette of a man standing within the frames of an arched doorway. With light shining inwards on their darken apparatuses, the man’s hand gestured… as if signaling to something. Instantaneously, the room was engulfed in warm light. One by one from the doorway, torches of a golden hue lit up along the walls. The warmth of the yellow embers challenged the dampness of the limestone.

The appearance of the man was now revealed. He was an older man with gray hair and a fine-looking medium-length beard. His body donned a silk-like white robe, with an ostensibly gilded outline along the edges. Raising both hands to his side, the man spoke.

“Welcome, brave warriors! On behalf of the kingdom of Wroven, we thank you for answering our summons.” The man looked out with a soft smile.

Leon immediately didn’t like the fellow. Not because of how he looked or sounded but because his words made him feel… calm. It reminded him of a voice that he had just recently had the pleasure of leaving. This aura that the man exuded felt dangerous in a way.

On the surface, it was nice to feel calm once more as their environment kept changing rapidly. Underneath though, Leon couldn’t shake the feeling of concern. This type of persuasive ability for one to possess can lead to many problems. Around the cobbled room, Leon noted the numerous people that once more seemed to be in a trace of serenity, as if they were looking at an omnipotent being. These auras this man and the disembodied voice gave off honestly made Leon believe that if they said everything was fine inside a burning building, many of these people wouldn’t even blink with doubt.

None directly near Leon resembled Julia or Drake sadly. He swiftly put the search on pause again and stared up at the robed man once more.

“Our world of Thalan is in grave danger. The resurrection of the demon lord is on the horizon, and we need the help of you brave warriors to save the billions of lives residing here.”

‘Kind of cliché’ Leon internally snickered. It resembled many story plots from shows and books that he used to read. While bashing the unoriginality of the situation, a woman’s voice spoke out.

“Why should we help you? Hell! How did we even end up here?” It appeared that some people had withdrawn from the calm aura and taken that moment to voice their concerns.

The old man’s eyes went apologetic in response.

“I’m sorry to hear of your unexpected arrival here. Unfortunately, we don’t have the means to return you to your home world… It would be best if you all supported us in this dire situation. I guarantee you as the pope of the Holy Church of Wroven, Sean Heathe, we will give you all your necessities if you assist us against the demon lord. Once he is defeated, we will pour all of our resources into returning you all to your world.”

With this said, the quote-on-quote warriors were feeling a bit better. The pope’s words seemed sincere and the ones who doubted him, including Leon, didn’t see much of an alternative. They could always try to leave…

“If you all choose to not assist, I understand. We will grant you citizenship but from there on, I cannot give you any guarantees. You will be free to leave as you wish. However, if you assist, we will provide you with instructors and teachers, to aid you alongside food and shelter. So, once more I ask… will you assist us, brave warriors?” A sound resounded. Ding!

Quest: A great peril befalls the world of Thalan. With the resurrection of the demon lord on the horizon, the Wroven Kingdom has implored you for assistance against the potential disaster. The demon lord was sealed away many eons ago. With his seal weakened, scholars predict his return is inevitable. Help bring this world into another era of prosperity, without fear of a looming danger overhead.

Objective: End the overlying conflict residing within this world.

*Rewards will be determined upon completion.*

It all sounded simple enough to Leon, the quest objective was also very open-ended. It didn’t specify that he had to kill the demon lord or overthrow a kingdom, it just said to resolve the issue. Going over all of this new information, something hit him like a truck as he looked up at the pope.

‘How is he speaking our language right now?’