“Before we bring you to the Church, you must undergo a basic aptitude test,” Archbishop Terris explained to the gathered group.

Liam’s inherent had not gone unnoticed. It had unlocked the rest of his status, which hadn’t shown him much, just an empty list of skills.

Skills (0/5): None

Passives (0/5): None

It appeared that the inherent abilities that some of the others had gained also included the acquisition of some basic skills. All the people with A-rank and S-rank inherents had shown some signs of magic already, ranging from the blast of fire that Andy had released to a dark shadow slithering around the senior driver’s shoulders.

Liam had nothing, which was disappointing. His complete lack of an ability had seen him largely ignored by the archbishop and his companions, though he could hear a few of them whispering and pointing at him.

That part was fine. He was used to getting weird looks anyway. What was less fine was the fact that everyone else had gained a fantastic power to start and he was reduced to a completely useless one.

Also, flies kept on flitting over to him and landing on him. It was getting really annoying.

“You are all level 0, which means that you are F-rank humans,” Terris continued. “Most humans reach E-rank by adulthood. You have the disadvantage of not growing up in our world, but with the powers granted by your… high innate potentials, you will be able to level up faster than most.”

Liam didn’t miss the way Terris had glanced at him partway through that last sentence before looking away, as if he was some inconvenient trash. He clenched his fists, then relaxed.

It was true that he was the only one of them that didn’t carry high potential, if the inherent ranks were anything to go off of. It couldn’t be helped.

“For instance,” Terris said, his kindly old man facade sliding back into place, “I have lived a hundred and fifty years, and I am B-rank.”

That drew a murmur from the crowd, which Liam had to roll his eyes at. It was obvious by now that they were in a situation where magic was real. People who could use magic living longer than an expected lifespan and looking young was the least surprising revelation so far.

The archbishop raised his hands for silence, and the crowd quieted. “However, an otherworld prodigy who has been named only as the Sword Saint achieved B-rank in less than five years. You have great potential, and some of you will prove to be able to grow at rates unparalleled by any others. Of course, this is not the case for all of you. There is no shame in joining the order as one of our own kind and advancing at a steady clip—however, we wish to find those of you who can truly excel early on.

“To this end, we have brought you to the Great Verdant, an F-rank adventuring zone populated with low-level monsters meant for training acolytes. Here, we can observe you and extract you from danger if necessary, though the latter should hopefully not be necessary. I would like you all to accustom yourselves to your new worlds and your new allies.

“With your powers, you will be able to gain skills and develop them through training, meditation, and of course, hunting.

“You will be withdrawn from the borders of the Great Verdant when we see that you have either achieved level ten and evolved to E-rank or if you wish to be taken away. To do so, simply say the phrase ‘evacuate, evacuate’ as loudly as possible, and one of us will come there shortly.

“The aptitude test will begin in five minutes. You will be granted equipment then. Water will be magically provided at this location and three others throughout the Verdant. Good luck.”

Liam sighed as the group broke out with questions, middle-aged men shouting over teenage girls to try to make themselves heard. Despite all their ridiculous powers, they were freaking out over the opportunity to make something of themselves in this world.

Since Terris hadn’t said anything about when they could go, Liam started walking in a random direction. The treeline was about the same distance in every direction, and there was nothing visually differentiating any bearing.

Liam ignored the people talking about him as he left, though he didn’t ignore the hurried footsteps in the tall grass right behind.

He turned around, ready for a fight, then relaxed when he saw who it was.

“Bianca,” he said.

“Liam,” she replied.

Bianca smiled in just the right way to reach her eyes. It was a very practiced smile. Liam knew just how dead those eyes could get when the mask dropped.

“Why are you coming with me?” he asked. “You would benefit from people with better talents.”

“What, I can’t do something nice for my friend?” she pouted.

Liam stared at her flatly. She stared back, then gave up on keeping the veneer up once they were far enough from the others.

“Do you know how to share your inherent?” she asked. “You seemed to get the idea of this system the fastest.”

Liam brought up his stat sheet, noting the menus, then tapped his own inherent.

“Yeah,” he said. “There’s a method to project it when you select into it.”

Bianca paused, waiting for him to show his skill. He didn’t. There was no real point in giving up the fact that his inherent was completely useless. At least by keeping it hidden, he could keep people in suspense about it.

“I see it,” Bianca said when it became clear he wasn’t going to demonstrate. “Here.”

A window appeared in the air, manifested so that Liam could see it too.

[Life Saint]

Rank: S

Effect: You cannot learn offensive magic. Your healing skills advance at a drastically enhanced rate and ignore rank boundaries. Healing others increases your level at a drastically enhanced rate. You gain access to a drastically increased list of healing spells and automatically gain healing skills at the beginning of every rank.

Liam followed her logic. “You’re joining me because I’m the weakest and therefore the most likely to get hurt a lot, aren’t you?”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Maybe.”

“That’s a yes, then. I can’t fault you for that.”

It was frustrating, but it made logical sense. Besides, if she was able to use healing magic, then she was the best partner for him to be with. Liam hadn’t gained any skills to go with his nigh-useless inherent, which meant he was going to start from a lower base than everyone else. Anybody with a stronger offensive ability would make it impossible for him to get anything done.

They were almost at the treeline when a new system message popped up.

You have been offered the quest [Otherworlder Aptitude Test] by [Archbishop Terris I]. Accepting this quest will grant you two starter items.

[ACCEPT / DECLINE]

Liam hit accept. Though he didn’t trust the archbishop, he needed equipment. All he had to work with was a cell phone that almost certainly had no service, a graphic t-shirt, and jeans. His day pack had some water and a pen, too, but he doubted anything but the water would come in use.

[Otherworlder Aptitude Test]

Difficulty: F

Clear conditions: Reach level 10 and/or E-rank.

Fail conditions: Ask to be removed from the Verdant using the command phrase “evacuate, evacuate”. Die during your test.

Select two starter items.

Beneath the bottom of the quest was a long list of relatively unimpressive items. Liam frowned as he looked at it.

“What can you even do with fifty feet of rope?” he asked.

“I’m sure there’s a lot,” Bianca said, clearly focused on her own list.

“Not if you actually have to carry it around. I’m sure that there’s something you can manage with a thousand ball bearings, but not if you have to dump them out of a backpack.”

Bianca didn’t react to that beyond a faint nod. “I’m going to select my items now. Keep an eye out.”

They both paused at the edge of the woods, briefly looking back to see some of the less intelligent members of their bus group whooping and cheering as they swung around deadly-looking swords like they were children.

Liam had spent most of his high school and college years fencing, which was where he’d met Bianca. Though he’d somewhat fallen out of the practice, his experience was more than enough to tell that none of them had the faintest idea what they were doing.

If it weren’t for their magic, he was certain that at least one of them would have impaled themselves on their blade the first time they used it. One or two of them demonstrated a surprising affinity with their chosen weapons, which he guessed was because of their inherents.

“I’m taking a rapier,” Bianca announced. “It’s the closest to the foils we used.”

“Makes sense,” Liam said. “Keep in mind that we’re not going to be in a fencing environment, though.”

“Of course not.”

Liam sifted through the list of items himself. All the equipment was lifted as F-rank, which sounded right for the quest. He mentally divided them into weapons and utility.

He also selected the rapier. While the reach advantage of a spear was tempting, he actually knew how to use a bladed weapon.

Their new blades appeared in their hands, materializing out of thin air. Both of them startled a bit at that.

Liam tested the weight and balance of it. The rapier was heavier than the fencing epees he was used to, but it was still slender and light compared to the massive, unwieldy greatswords, morningstars, and in one case, scythes that the bus group was using.

“Not bad,” he said. “Second item?”

“Tent,” Bianca replied. “Exposure kills, and I would like a place to sleep. I can’t heal myself if I freeze to death in the middle of the night.”

Now that Liam knew what to look for, he watched the process of her item materializing carefully. Mist seemed to emerge from the air, swirling around and coagulating into the shape of a pack, which appeared once the mist faded.

For his second item, Liam selected a tinderbox. He briefly debated picking a vial of poison instead, but they hadn’t been given any food, and he didn’t want to risk poisoning anything he could hunt. Tools to make a fire were much more valuable.

“You’re aware that there’s someone with an A-rank fire inherent, right?” Bianca said.

“I’m also aware that I’m not going to chance my life on someone else’s goodwill.”

“Fair.”

Without any further direction, they set off into the woods, a silent understanding passing between the two of them. Bianca held the pack and held her rapier by her side, while Liam pushed forward. To make sure they didn’t get lost, they marked a tree every now and again, slashing an X into it with Bianca’s blade as they made their way in.

The further they got from the edge of the forest, the more they could start to hear the sound of soft footsteps. Following that sound led them to the point where they could both hear animal growling.

Liam listened closely, holding up a hand to get Bianca to stop making sound, and crept forward.

In a small clearing, a coyote was gnawing on the bloody remains of an animal that had been rendered unrecognizable.

He stared at it until a system pop-up appeared.

[Coyote (F) - lvl 4] - A common, non-magical coyote.

Liam stepped into the clearing, determined to get closer without it noticing him.

A loud, buzzing fly flew past his ear, and he jerked his head over in surprise as it settled onto his arm. He looked at it, irritated.

[Fallen Fly (F) - lvl 1] - Seemingly a basic fly.

Seemingly? Liam wanted to look into that more, but he had more prescient concerns. The motions he’d made while shooing the fly away had alerted his companion in the clearing.

The coyote looked up, its snout matted with blood, and it snarled at him.

Years of practice meant he could get into the fencing stance quickly, but like he’d told Bianca, he wasn’t fighting against another fencer. The basic principles of maintaining space helped him, but he was used to swordfighting as a sport against other humans, not when he needed to use it against a coyote.

Liam was quick on his feet, getting out of the way of the startlingly fast animal as much as he could, but the coyote was quick, and it made up for its missed charge by leaping onto his leg.

Pain flared as warm blood spilled down the side of his calf, throwing off his balance.

Focus, he told himself. Focus or you die.

Being dealt a shitty hand was no excuse to slip up.

Liam kicked the leg that the coyote had gotten its teeth on, worsening the pain but shaking it loose in the process, and he jabbed down with the rapier. Fencing was a sport based on getting light taps in on your opponent, but Liam couldn’t afford to just lightly tap this animal.

He put all his weight behind his stab. The blade encountered resistance, but it slid into flesh with surprising ease, hot blood spurting out over the coyote’s fur. It howled in pain, and Liam pressed his advantage, yanking the rapier out and jabbing it in again.

Pain coursed through him as he took a step forward, and he nearly collapsed, his injured leg buckling under him. Liam cursed.

“One second,” Bianca called out from behind him.

He didn’t turn to look at her, but he felt a warm impact from behind, and the pain faded nearly instantly. Without questioning what she’d done, he pushed forward and engaged the coyote again.

It was a messy battle of attrition. Liam inflicted more wounds than he took, but he wasn’t used to fighting wildlife with a rapier, and he couldn’t avoid taking another hit to the same leg and one particularly worrying one where he had to fend it off with his off hand and it sank its teeth into his forearm.

Liam didn’t feel any sense of battle mania fill him, nor did he have a sudden revelation that made this brutal, drawn-out brawl enjoyable, but his mind shifted into crystal clear focus, as if being in a simple, animal fight to the death had cleared a fog that he hadn’t even known existed.

In a word, he felt alive.

Maybe this was what he’d been made for. His mind focused on the coyote, analyzing each of its movements and factoring its rapid attacks into account as he danced around it, shaking the rust off of his skills.

With the help of Bianca’s healing spells, he gained the upper hand. Eventually, the coyote slowed down, and a few more jabs finished it off entirely.

New achievement: [First Blood] - You have taken your first life.

Reward: You have gained experience.

Level up!

[Vitality] has increased to 4.

2 stat point gained.

A pleasant, cool sensation filled Liam’s body as if he’d just woken up from a refreshing nap in a soft bed, sharply contrasting the scent of shit and blood coming from the messy corpse he’d made.

Just like a game, he thought. I can work with this.

“I leveled up,” Bianca informed him. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks,” he said drily. “I did as well.”

It looked like he could increase his stats by fighting. The stat points he’d gained from leveling were easy to allocate from the stat screen as well, responding to mental commands as well as physical gestures. He moved them into Dexterity, since that seemed to be what was keeping him alive for the time being.

A jolt of energy shot through him, and Liam stretched. It felt like he’d just downed a coffee and gone for a morning run. That additional points could be felt immediately in how his body seemed to be even more responsive to his orders.

“It’s probably going to be harder to level up as we continue,” he said. “This is pretty fantastic so far, though.”

“I agree,” Bianca said. “We should keep moving.”

Liam wiped the blood off his rapier. “Of course.”