When I open my eyes, I found myself and my party members in an open field facing another group of people.

One was a tall man with black undercut hair and black eyes. He was almost as tall as Roy but less muscular. He wore long pants and a V-neck shirt accompanied by a red scarf, and in his hands was a regular short sword.

Another was a beautiful Elf with blue eyes and long blonde hair. She wore white robes with flower designs and held a long golden staff with a diamond carved into the shape of a flower on top of it. I was only able to tell she was an Elf because of her Elf ears.

The final person I saw was another Elf with brunette hair and green eyes who wore a black tank top with a pair of green camo baggy jeans.

A party of three, but who’s the summoner? It’s probably the Elf with no weapons, right?

“Roy, charge that human with the scarf! Liz, support Roy from behind! Hilde, trap that Elf with the staff before she can cast any spells!”

As soon as Isabel gave those orders from behind us, my party members move in perfect harmony.

Roy and Liz charge with incredible speed towards the scarfed man who readies his blade while Hilde throws his chained bear traps towards the Elf with the staff.

I, in the meanwhile…had nothing to do!

As my party members attacked, the Elf in camo jeans smiled.

“Luna, summon tree golems to support Lev by attacking the lady in purple armor. Lev, put your training to use and focus purely on that knight in blue. Leo, you know what to do.”

Hmm, Leo? There’s one more? I don’t see them.

…

I don’t see them! Are they invisible?!

I summon my shield and widen my eyes.

I look around my surroundings as I look for any signs of movement. Since I couldn’t feel any wind and we were in a grassy field, all I had to do was watch for any movements in the grass.

I stared intensely at the battle in front of me.

Roy was fighting the scarfed man who was surprisingly defending Roy’s strikes with ease. Liz, on the other hand, is busy slicing and stabbing with her spear at a tall creature made out of wood. Hilde continues to throw his bear traps at the Elf, all of which are being deflected by another wooden creature identical to the one fighting Liz.

I wasn’t focusing on them since I had picked up on what that Elf in camo jeans said and focus my eyes on the grass around the battlefield.

Did Isabel really not catch what that Elf said? She’s been deadly quiet.

Then, I saw it.

From behind the battle, the grass parts ways as if someone was running across at a quick pace. I ready my shield as I try my best to follow the parting grass with my eyes.

Who is it going to go to? If I were invisible, I’d go for Roy.

I watch the parting grass circle my party members once and come to a stop behind Hilde.

They’re going for Hilde!

Just as I was about to run behind Hilde, the invisible Spirit sprints past Hilde towards me. I regained my stance and focused on where I would directly be attacked from. The invisible Spirit was closing on me with great speed.

Come on then, I’m ready for you!

The grass parts ways past me without me being attacked.

Huh?

I turn around in shock as I realized who the invisible Spirit was aiming for.

They were aiming for Isabel.

“Isabel! Run!” I shout as I run towards her as fast as I can.

“Huh? Why do I have to listen to you?” She gives me a look of annoyance, “What are you doing? Get back on the battlefield and wait for orders.”

No use getting through to her, she didn’t understand what was happening at all.

It was a simple strategy. Distract the main forces with a big battle, and sneak past without them knowing. It even helped that this Leo Spirit was invisible.

I run at full sprint towards Isabel while keeping my eyes on the grass parting ways. To my surprise, I was keeping up with the invisible Spirit, but he was approaching Isabel much quicker than I was. To my dread, he reached behind Isabel and appeared for the first time.

I could see that he was a boy around my age with short brown hair. He wore a dark hooded robe like an assassin, and in his hands were two knives, both of which were raised to stab Isabel from behind.

Come on, I’m so close! Just a couple meters left… I have to jump!

I leap towards the hooded Spirit with my shield in the rectangular shape of the Scutum shield. I feel contact with a body against my shield and the sound of metal colliding against one another.

I had successfully saved Isabel from a painful experience.

I get up and ready my shield in front of Isabel, who was looking at me in shock. Finally, she regains her composure and looks back at the main battle.

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“Liz, charge the Elf! Roy, you join too! Hilde, trap this Spirit immediately!” Isabel commands.

Liz and Roy ignore their original target and directly charge towards the Elf with the staff as fear crawls over her face. Hilde turns around instantly and throws his bear traps at the arms of the fallen Spirit who begins shrieking in pain.

The Elf in camo jeans finally starts to show panic on her face.

“L-Lev retreat! Protect Luna… actually, save Leo!”

That proved to be the wrong call as Roy and Liz completely obliterate the wooden creatures defending Luna and hold their weapons against her. Lev in the meanwhile completely ignores Luna and charges straight for me.

I have a shield. This will be easy.

Lev raises his sword and slices downwards. I raise my shield up to block it, but Lev suddenly spins around and redirects his sword towards my waist.

Shit! I’m too slow!

“Okay, Isabel! You win this time!”

Lev’s sword comes to a stop a couple of centimeters from my chest as the Elf Summoner’s voice saves me from being cut in two.

“Tsk.” Lev clicks his tongue in annoyance.

“Tsk”?! This guy is out to kill me for real!

Lev sheaths his sword and walks past my party members as they join Isabel’s side with weapons at the ready.

“Keep your weapons, this was just a spar.” Isabel sighs.

“Just a spar huh?” Rin says as his sword disappears into thin air.

The rest of us follow suit and make our weapons and armor disappear. Liz’s armor turns back into the sleeveless dress, Hilde’s light armor turns back into his butler-like outfit, and Rin’s blue armor grows smaller into the blue tunic.

As for me, I looked down and realized that I wasn’t wearing any armor the entire time. I try to hide the panic from the realization on my face as the other group of people we were fighting approaches us.

“That’s not fair Isabel, you were able to summon 4 Spirits?” The Elf in blue pouts at Isabel.

“I would have been fine with the first 3 I got.” Isabel crosses her arms and closes her eyes.

Hey… I just saved you, and now you’re discrediting me? That’s not fair at all.

I must’ve shown my anger on my face, as Roy and Hilde put their hand on each of my shoulders and frowned.

I wanted to lash out at Isabel but ultimately decided against it.

I couldn’t focus on Isabel as the hooded Spirit, Leo, brought down his hood to reveal a childish face with curly brown hair.

“Man, I was hoping we’d get the advantage if you guys didn’t see me from the start.” Leo brings out his hand, which was still slightly bloody from Hilde’s traps, for me to shake, “Do you have a sensory skill?”

“No, not really, I wouldn’t have realized if it wasn’t for your Summoner mentioning your name in her orders,” I reply as I gingerly shake his hand, careful not to apply too much pressure on the areas where he was injured.

The Elf in camo pants clears her throat, “Excuse me, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself and my party to Isabel’s party.” She stands in the middle of her party and does a bow, “My name is Aquaria, a Summoner from the land of Eskal and the best friend of Isabel.”

My party and I turn to Isabel, who slightly blushes at Aquaria’s final comment.

The scarf man stepped beside Aquaria and bowed formally, “My name is Lev, a Spirit from another world named Igren. Offensive Class, level 16.”

Igren, is that another world?

So, Spirits really can come from other worlds, how cool!

Leo lets go of my hand and steps backward, “I’m Leo, a Spirit from Spirinall in the land of Lastaria. Support Class, level 14.”

“Honestly, you bunch are quite weak even with the man advantage.” The Elf in the robes crosses her arms, “I’m Luna, a Spirit from Earth. Support Class, level 14.”

I swear you got instantly destroyed by Liz and Roy though…

Liz takes a step towards Luna with a “smile”, but Roy and I instantly recognize her anger and place a hand on her shoulder the same way Roy and Hilde did to me. Luna smirks as she seems pleased to have gotten under the skin of Liz.

Roy casually smiles, “Roy, at your service, a Spirit from Spirinall in the land of Lastaria as well. Offensive Class, level 16.”

Hilde jumps in front of us and does a theatrical pose, “The name is Hilde! I’m a Spirit from Spirinall in the land of Lastaria. Support Class, level 15.”

Liz relaxes her shoulders, “I’m Liz, a Spirit from Spirinall in the land of Udren. Offensive Class, level 15.”

Finally, my turn to introduce myself arrives, “Uhm, I’m Rin, a Spirit from Earth…”

What level and class was I again? Man, everyone is staring at me… especially that Luna girl!

Silence fills the field as I struggle to remember what my level and class were.

Roy comes to my rescue as he clears his throat to get my attention and pretends to hold up a shield. I recall the night when Roy gave me those level-up potions and take out my shield to reveal what my class and level were.

Then, reality struck again.

I had forgotten that I was an unwanted character. As I was reminded how under-leveled I was from my shield, I look down at the ground to avoid eye contact with anyone out of complete embarrassment.

“Defensive Class, l-level… level 7…”

At first, there was silence, no one knew what to say or do about the fact that I was heavily under-leveled compared to everyone else.

Suddenly, a pair of hands roughly grab onto the front of my shirt. “How on Spirinall did you gain levels?!”

Everyone’s eyes widen in shock as Isabel suddenly shouts at me while she angrily drags my shirt closer to her.

“Isabel, please wait!” Roy pleads as he holds on to Isabel’s shoulder, “I gave Rin the level-up potions.”

“You did what!?” Isabel lets go of my shirt and furiously stares at Roy, “Do you realize how precious those potions are?”

“Of course, I do, I just… didn’t feel that Rin should be left behind.”

Isabel stares at Roy some more for a while, before taking a deep breath and calming down.

“Okay, I forgive you, Roy. Just don’t waste those potions again.” Isabel then points a finger at me, “and you, don’t you dare get in the way of our dungeon farming tomorrow. Everyone else needs that precious EXP that you might end up hogging.”

Aquaria and Luna give me a look of concern.

“Isabel, I know your fighting style doesn’t really fit Rin’s class, but I think it wouldn’t hurt to have some defense.” Aquaria calmly instructs.

Thank you! Finally, someone with some common sense!

“No, Aquaria, I can’t. I need to prove myself against my brothers in the next Summoner Games, I need all the attack I can get.” Isabel says through gritted teeth.

“Summoner Games?” I accidentally let my curiosity slip out of my mouth.

Aquaria excitedly zooms in front of me, “It’s a tournament held every year where Summoners around the world gather in Centria, the nation of stadiums, to compete against one another. The current defending Summoner Champion is Isabel’s brother, Luke.”

Unfortunately, I was able to somewhat understand how Isabel felt.

She must see her brother as some rival she has to beat, and so she wants to level up her attacking Spirits to brute force her way to the top. A sensible playstyle, but one that will never always work out. Aquaria had the right idea by using a Spirit who can go invisible to comfortably run past Isabel’s fighting Spirits and directly attack our Summoner head-on.

What would have happened if Roy would have never given me those potions? I was only able to protect Isabel by slamming my full force onto Leo, what would have happened if Leo or even Lev sliced at me? Would I actually have been able to defend with my shield?

“It doesn’t matter Aquaria. I won’t be using this Shielder at all.” Isabel’s voice brings me out of my thoughts.

My patience with Isabel’s treatment finally snaps, and neither Roy nor Hilde was fast enough to stop me. I advance towards the girl with her arms crossed.

“What the fuck is your problem with me?!” I angrily lash out, “I defended you from a sneak attack, and I’m still going to get the same treatment?!”

“Shut up! You’re useless in battle. Even if I had gotten attacked by Leo, I can still hold and fight back on my own! What about you? You can’t attack at all!” Isabel returns my anger with her own anger.

What kind of dumb logic is that?

“You’re going to regret under-leveling me…” I mutter under my breath.

“Whatever, just don’t participate tomorrow when we head to the dungeon. I don’t want you taking up the EXP that could go into Roy and the others.”

With that said, Isabel turns around and heads towards a dirt path, with an arrow-shaped sign that has “Lastaria” engraved on it. I stay behind Aquaria’s party and my own as we walk back to Lastaria, with Roy, Hilde, and Luna looking back at me with concern.