Unknown (3rd person P.O.V)
"Sir, one of our Scout Lizards life signatures have disappeared"
"Hm?"
An old man with strikingly red skin and a hood was kneeling before a man with similarly red skin but also boasted large red horns and scarlet red wings as well. They were in a dark room, only illuminated by the red light's coming from the lamps that were shaped eerily like human skulls. The room was built out of some black stone, bricks stacked upon each other neatly, while the throne that the large man was sitting on was built, or instead perhaps, supported with black tendrils of darkness that were seemingly alive and snaking up the sides of the walls.
The man on the throne shifted his weight, causing the throne to let out a small creaking sound, similar to how a wooden chair would sound. He looked at the man kneeling before him nonchalantly, obviously tired of being woken up just because of something like this.
"So what? Those things are weak, I can easily make more of them anyways, what's the big deal?"
The man kneeling winced a bit, he got up from his kneeling position and read the damage report out.
"At 15:58, a level 75 Lava Lizard had engaged a low-level skeleton mage as it saw it as an easy meal. However, this skeleton was mutated and was dual-wielding two attributes of electricity and wind at the same time, with something else boosting it's powers."
"You're saying a weak skeleton mage took out a Lava Lizard!?"
Though the man knew that Lava Lizards weren't that dangerous, at least to him, they were still large problems for mortal kingdoms and he knew for a fact a small group of low-level adventurers were enough to take a skeleton mage out. They were known as cannon fodder and grinding material, the weakest of the weak, so the Lava Lizard could've just stepped near it and it would've died.
"No sire, it did manage to deal an extraordinary amount of damage for something of its caliber but the connection with the long-range map cut out when a different enemy came into view."
The man on the throne smiled, a sinister, leering smile.
"Do you mean to say another hero has taken it down?"
The man underneath presented him with a picture
"This was the last thing that the camera saw before going offline"
The picture showed a man with midnight black wings and horns slamming his fists into the already weakened lava lizard.
"The other lizards, after witnessing this, had both decided to fall back to here. However, I believe that this is another newly born Demon Lord that has set their hands on your minions"
The man scoffed before standing up from his throne.
"Great! This is fantastic news! The large kingdom that is sponsoring the new Hero was our initial target, but now we can kill two birds with one stone."
He sat back down again, unable to contain his excitement from showing.
Let's see what you got, Infant.
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Artia P.O.V
Ugh...Where the hell am I?
The only thing I remembered was the black void and floating, lot's of floating. Plane crash? Check. Ghost form? Check.
I was definitely dead after that, but as I was contemplating my entire existence in the floating black space, I warm light enveloped my entire body and pulled me into some weird white space, not that I minded but where in the world was I?
"Let us welcome, the 56th Hero Of The Holy Churches!"
I rubbed my eyes as I started to adjust to the white light that was starting to surround me. It had been a long time, at least I think it had been long since I was alive.
CLAP
CLAP
CLAP
The sounds of clapping filled my ears as I finally adjusted to both the light and the completely white building before I realized I was in a chapel of some sort.
The room was painted completely white other than the stained glass panes that lined the sides of the chapel. There were rows of seats in the front with people wearing white from head to toe while carrying golden crosses and other accessories all over them that just screamed religious.
They were all clapping loudly as I looked down at where I was standing, an alter.
Nope, let me outta here
"Can someone tell me what's going on!?"
The man who had previously announced my arrival walked to my side. He was wearing a really long hat with rubies and gold embedded in it, this was probably someone very important but I really didn't care at that point.
"Hero of humanity, we humbly welcome you into our world! Your soul has been chosen from many other's due to your selflessness and morality, you shall be the one who will redeem our country from the destruction of the Demon Lords!"
"....I don't know what you're talking about"
The man nodded, most likely expecting the answer I had given. Maybe he had done this exact ceremony many times, maybe everyone always said the same thing.
"Fret not, for we will teach you all there is to know and bring you to your full potential! Come now, we shall go back to the Holy Knights headquarters and show the country that you are our saving grace!"
As soon as he finished his monologue, he took my hand and lead me down the main carpet that was set in the middle of the chapel. As we walked past the rows of people, every time I passed a row they would dip their heads down and bow in silence.
I don't even know what's going on at this point
The man led me through the doors and outside of the church, exposing me further to the blinding sun. Maybe it was just me, but the sun felt extremely hot and blistering but the man paid no heed a led/dragged me over towards a larger building. This building was one of three identical buildings that were painted white and gold with intricate designs all over the place. There were men and women alike training with swords, spears, and...pieces of wood?
As I watched, the people chanted something and the wooden tips started to glow and collect minuscule particles before releasing a small beam of blue energy towards a boulder, smashing into it and completely breaking it down into pebbles.
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"Wha- what was that!?"
The man paused his dragging, making both of us stop right in front of the entrance to the giant building.
He turned towards me with a kind smile and glowing eyes.
"Oh yes, I suppose you didn't have magic back in your world. That there was a spell called [Control Water]. It allows the user to control water particles and absorb them from the air or nearby water sources and be used as a weapon. It is quite effective but isn't practical in places without designated water sources."
"Oh"
What did you expect me to say? I just spawned in like a player in a freakin video game, now I'm being told I'm basically in one right now with swords and magic and probably monsters as well!
Whatever the case, both me and the man walked through the doors with the guards on both sides who were carrying spears slam their spear butts on the ground and saluting as we entered the main building.
The outside of the building was very over-the-top but the inside wasn't as bad. Though most of the building was still made of marble it was much more simplistic than the outside, with multiple heavily armored or robed personnel lounging about or doing their daily tasks. All of their armor looked incredibly expensive, if it was back in my old world armor like this would probably cost me months of funds to buy though I wouldn't have much use with it anyways.
"This, Hero, is our humble headquarters for holy knights and trainees. The best of the best are recruited from all over our kingdom to fight against the evils of demons and monsters that plague our country."
"Uh, this is quite extravagant for something humble, no?"
"please, you praise us too much. Here, I shall show you to our master trainer who will give you access to your skill sheet. All of the past heroes skills and proficiencies have been excellent, so I have high expectations for you as well"
"Uhhhhh"
I didn't really have a chance to question this or mention that I was just a normal girl before he dragged me past the crowds of people that were staring at us curiously. I doubted that they were staring at me, so they were more than likely staring at the man beside me. This confirmed that he was definitely some kind of big-shot around here, probably a pope with that big hat if I remember my terms correctly.
He brought me towards a rough-looking man with a grey beard and a scar over one of his eyes who was leaning against one of the marble pillars. Unlike the people who were running around or lazing around, this person had matching roughed-up armor and was quite a bit older than most of the fighters here. His one open eye stared at me as we got closer to him, unlike everybody else he was completely ignoring the guy beside me.
"Whose this youngin Peter?"
"Hey, I'm already 19 I'm not that young!"
I still had to retort that indignantly, I still had some pride left even though I knew that I looked a bit young for my age. I wasn't gonna let myself get pushed around here, so better start now.
"This here is the hero that was summoned from the heavens, she shall be the one who-"
"No Peter, I know what she is. I'm asking, who is she? Or did you not bother to ask for a name before dragging her here?"
"....perhaps I may have left that part out in my excitement. Young hero, what is your name?"
"Err, my name's Artia..."
The person, who was now identified as Peter, spoke again.
"A beautiful name! She will surely be of much use to the kingdom now we have much work to do so-"
The man who was in front of us smacked his hand away from me and put an arm around my shoulder, making my knees buckle from his weight. Even though he didn't look really heavy, he was definitely heavy though it may have been from the gear as well.
"Yes WE have a lot of work to do, you can go back to your chapel for more prayers just like for the last hero, which worked out splendidly."
"You dare-"
But before Peter could say anything the man, with me under his arm, walked off towards another door while Peter was left behind. I swore I could almost see physical smoke rising out of his ears from the anger, but I was too confused and tired to care about it. To be honest, I was already kind of pissed with that Peter guy since he kept on saying "hero" this and "hero" that. How in the world was I a hero?
We walked into a large room that was built similarly to the white chapel, except it didn't have the rows of seats and instead had many steel racks. A multitude of different weapons were set on the racks, swords, spears, bows, great-swords, if you name it they probably had it.
The man let go of me the moment we entered what I assumed was the armory if it couldn't be more obvious. I was really going with the flow here, though I definitely needed a explanation ASAP.
"Thanks for that, but who are you. And what in the world am I doing here!?"
The man scratched his head while wincing, probably trying to find a good answer for me.
"Well, the name's Ross. I'm one of the kingdoms three Master Trainers and have trained heroes for our kingdom and other's for years. Peter, who's the pope if you haven't figured it out, has been summoning heroes for just as long as I've been training them. You were all deceased souls in other worlds that were brought back to life with holy magic for the sole purpose of defeating your designated Demon Lord."
"Do I have a choice?"
At this, Ross shook his head.
"I don't agree with it, but when a hero refuses to do their hero work or kill the Demon Lord then the whole countries military mobilizes and hunts the hero down so we can summon a new one since each kingdom can only summon one hero at a time."
The hell is this? Actually, no more Ms. nice girl what the fuck is going on!?
"You're telling me if I don't succumb to this places whim's I'll be executed!?"
"Precisely. As I told you, I hate the rule. However, the church has more power than me so I cannot prevent this from ever happening."
I leaned back and stared at the lamps that were hanging on the ceiling of this place.
I really don't have a choice here.
"Alright, whatever. I helped people in the past, I'll help em now as well. No biggie"
I didn't really remember much about my past life, but I remembered a lot of laughter. I remembered helping people and having people thank us for changing their lives, this wouldn't be any different.
Ross smiled.
"That's the spirit lad! Though, I do need to warn you that you won't see me around much so you need to adapt to this place. However, let's get you your skill sheet first"
He opened up a scroll that he had in his hand, facing towards me as the blue glowing letters came of the screen and wen directly for me. The letters swirled around me before I somehow absorbed them.
Suddenly, something popped up right in front of me, it was a glowing blue screen with my name on it.
STATUS
Name: Artia Leventi Level: 1 Species: Human Rank: S Class: Hero
Title(s): 56th Hero Fatigue: 0
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Health [1000/1000]
[/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////]
MP [850/850]
[/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////]
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Strength: 100 Vitality:200
Agility:350 Sense:300
Intelligence: 500 Points Available: 80
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Effects Active:
Hero's Lament - when a friend or ally is in danger, the hero is overcome with extraordinary powers that increase all spell strength by 50%
Eye Of Justice - The Hero will be able to identify all lies and can sense wrongdoings and malicious intent towards innocent people.
"Uh, what does this stuff mean?"
The man perked up at this. He grabbed a quill and parchment from a nearby table and handed it to her.
"Can you write whatever you see down?"
Not really seeing a downside in this situation, I wrote everything down though the writing was extremely rough because I've never written with a quill before. Though it seemed it was still legible since he grabbed it and scanned down.
"Incredible. I see the stats of heroes all the time yet I am still constantly surprised by them. At level 1, you are equal to a level 100 Rank B mage. Your intelligence score and mana capacity is exceedingly high, you're definitely more fitted for magic than physical weapons but that's not a bad thing, magic in most cases is stronger than any weapon crafted by man."
He reached for one of the staves on the racks and brought it down, handing it to me.
"However, a B rank level 100 mage will always beat you despite this. As I always say, experience is key."
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And there's our new character!
She's a bit rough around the edges, unlike our timid Damon, but she'll fit nicely into the story.