Jack could only remember one thing before suddenly opening his eyes – darkness. A suffocating, silent, pressuring darkness that surrounded him from all sides - making it feel like he was inside some kind of box. Thoughts rushed through his mind, clearing its emptiness — had he died? No, that couldn’t have been it. He didn’t remember feeling pain or anything.
Had he fallen into a deep slumber?
But he was walking on the street, fully energised, so that outcome couldn’t be it either. While in that darkness, he remembered feeling weightless – as if floating. Occasionally, he would get a rapid falling sensation, as if he had suddenly started to dash towards the ground. The sensation would last for a few seconds, freak him out, before stopping again.
It was all too confusing.
In this darkness, he then heard a voice speak out – in a language he could not understand. The voice sounded gentle, quaint and warm. It seemed to belong to a female individual, as well as carrying a strangely comforting tone to it – like a mother, speaking to its newborn child. The voice spoke with unfamiliar words, before slowly but surely adjusting itself — slowly becoming more clear and one he could understand.
“Wake…. Brave Heroes…” The voice spoke. Jack then felt his body suddenly hit something – a hard surface below him. The weightless feeling had seized and he once again felt like he was on the ground. He opened his eyes, blinking a few times before rising up, holding his head as a strong headache hit him.
He looked around – the place he was in wasn''t London street anymore. He appeared to be a large hall, the walls decorated with grey and black colours, the windows shaped in the way that cathedrals would shape them. At the back of the walls, there were lines of guards lined up, dressed in silver armour — not an ounce of their skin visible. Around him were many other just as confused people, only they appeared to be much younger than him — as well as wearing what looked like school uniforms, just, not the kind he was used to seeing.
“O’ Brave Heroes, it appears all of you have awoken.” The same, gentle voice that he had heard speak within the darkness suddenly echoed through the hall. Jack and the students around him all turned their gazes up to where the voice came from, seeing a woman dressed in beautiful white veils and a dress, a radiant light around her, standing on an elevated platform, overlooking them with her closed eyes.
The students marveled at her beauty, while Jack sharpened his gaze, getting up onto his feet and sliding his hands into his trousers pockets, while examining the female a bit more closely. Porcelain skin, long golden hair, soft hands and dainty lips… Many would have called her appearance nothing short of ‘divine’ – perhaps some would have even referred to her as a ‘goddess’.
“My apologies for whisking you here so suddenly without asking first. My name is Alicia Divineoak and I have called you all here, because our world is in a great state of worry. We require your aid in the battle against a fearsome enemy, which has begun to push our line back.”
The Lady spoke with a light, caring tone – her facial expression forgiving. The students immediately began to gossip among themselves, many expressing amazement and even excitement about being brought to a different world to fight – though, not all of them did so, as there were those that seemed more sceptical.
“And why should we help? You brought us here without warning and are basically asking us to fight? We’re just students!” A Boy stood up, speaking against the lady. Jack examined the boy, commending his courage to speak up against this despite the others'' acceptance.
The lady remained silent, before exhaling and disappearing, before reappearing in front of the boy and dropping to her knees in front of him, confusing the boy.
“I apologise for that, but I really had no other choice. The power we require to aid us in this fight is one we cannot attain in this world and thus, require us to summon individuals from different worlds to help,” She bowed slightly in front of the boy. “Please, forgive me. I promise that when it''s all over, we will send you back to your world.”
The boy looked taken back, unable to put together anything to say back to the lady as he backed up, sweat building up on his face. The other students looked at him with fierce gazes, as if judging him for not deciding to help the fair lady. After a bit, he exhaled and let out a small cough.
“Okay, I get that you were in a desperate situation… But how are we, regular students, supposed to help?” The boy asked, his tone a bit softer.
The lady, immediately got back up to her feet, a radiant smile across her face. “That is simple! All of you have been granted a special ‘system’ created to train you for the battle. To view it, all you have to do is execute the command to open it; System Start.”
She explained, looking at them all with a cheerful expression.
At first, everyone looked hesitant and even sceptical, however after the first student did as the lady had instructed, everyone followed suit – windows of different colours opening in front of them.
A wave of confusion, amazement and excitement burst through the students. Jack still looked unphased and even bored, exhaling lightly.
“Something is sketchy about this… Real sketchy.” He thought, before turning his gaze slightly down.
“System start.” He voiced.
A window then opened in front of him, its colour a dark orange one.
The window seemed to be quite similar to classic RPG games he remembered playing and enjoying when he was younger as well as the fantasy stories he used to read, displaying all sorts of stats.
[ STATUS ]
Jack Alfred Gragbone
Gender: Male
Level: 1 (1)
Rank: F
Class: Tamer
Stat Points: 0
Health: 300 / [0]
Magical Energy: 150 / [0]
Strength: 100 / [0]
Defence: 100 / [0]
Agility: 100 / [0]
Skills;
[Interpreter]; Common Skill
[Combat Experience]; Unique Skill
[Battle Hungry]; Unique Skill
[Taming]; Class Skill
[ STATUS ]
“Not the most unusual thing I have seen in my life…” Jack sighed, looking through the stat window in front of him. There were five primary stats, all of them at least a hundred, his gender, level, rank… and class as well.
“ ‘Tamer’ huh? I guess I was always a bit of an animal person.” He commented to himself in his mind, as his eyes shifted down to the skills tab of the window. He had four skills – two unique, one common and one class. While he quite easily understood the class skill and the common one and what their functionalities most likely were, he had a little more trouble understanding the two unique skills.
‘Battle Hungry’? ‘Combat Experience’? He had served in the military as a trained and professional mercenary for eighteen years of his life, however he wasn’t sure whether it was right to describe him as ‘Battle Hungry’...
While he looked through the status menu, the fancily dressed lady moved from student to student, with an attendant following her, taking note of each person''s stats and class. As she walked over to a tall student with slick, black hair, her eyes widened.
“Now those are impressive stats young man! For an E-rank, you have the highest stats of everyone here. And your class… Holy Knight! No wonder you have such great strength already!” The Saintess praised the boy, while the others murmured amongst themselves, some throwing faint looks of envy at the boy. Jack, eyeing the boy as well, simply noted to himself how the boy looked.
Tall, handsome, quiet and looked unphased. If he had to take a guess, Jack would probably describe the boy as the class ‘Perfect Man’ — someone who everyone talks about, looks up to and adores. Someone popular and good at everything he does. Exhaling, he looked away, shaking his head lightly.
“I have never liked people like that. Most of the time, they have an unbelievably high ego.” Jack commented to himself in his mind. As Saint Alicia walked over to him, she looked surprised by him being much taller and more mature than the students. “Oh my, you’re not like the others…” She exclaimed. Jack looked at her coldly.
The students around also eyed the man, all of them seemingly judging him for being an older individual among all of them. Wasn’t hugely surprising – While the students looked like none of them were older than seventeen, maybe eighteen, Jack was already forty – would have turned forty one in just a couple weeks. Alicia shook her head, before looking at his stat window.
“Nevermind. It doesn’t matter how old someone is if they have great power….” Her voice went silent as she saw Jack''s stats. Her eyes widened in shock as she let out a loud shriek that echoed through the room. “Wh-what is this?! Your stats… They’re out of this world! And your rank… F-rank?! How is this possible?!”
She appeared to be utterly unable to believe what she was seeing in front of her eyes right now. The students gossiped, commenting among themselves about whether the man''s stats really were that high for the Saintess to be making such a fuss.
Alicia looked at Jack with amazement. “Th-this is incredible! Despite your older age, your power is incredible! Never in my life have I seen an other worlder have this high stats upon being summoned! Depending on your class, you could very much be one of the key individuals to aid us in this war.” She explained, before looking back down at his status with excitement radiating from her. As her eyes slowly moved towards Jack''s class, Alicia pondered just what he could be.
“A Dragon Knight? No, perhaps even a Paladin! With his stats, his class surely has to be amazing—”
Her thoughts were interrupted as she looked at the class. All of her radiating excitement vanished, as she took a few steps back, now appearing in utter shock. Jack looked at her confused. “Something wrong Miss?”
He asked. The Saintess remained silent, before looking furious, tightening her hands into fists. “How is this possible…” She looked up at Jack with pure rage. “How… Why is HIS disciple the strongest?!”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Her fuming anger made the students shed a sweat, while Jack was just plain confused. After a bit, Alicia calmed down - taking in a few deep breaths, calming herself down, before smirking and laughing – looking at Jack with a stare of amusement and even slight disgust.
“It’s such a shame… Such grand potential when it comes to stats… and yet, you’re a ‘Tamer’ of all things.” She stated with pure disgust and disdain in her voice. Jack raised an eyebrow while the students, once again, gossiped among themselves.
“Tamer?”
“That doesn’t sound impressive…”
“Is he strong or weak then?”
“Please elaborate Miss. I am afraid I do not follow your way of thought…” Jack turned to face her, causing Alicia to scuff before turning her back on him. “Then listen to you and everyone else! ‘Tamer’, while not a useless class, is not useful in any way. It’s a worse version of the Summoner and Necromancer classes! It has so many limitations as well, that make it utterly worthless in the fight we’re fighting.” Her tone sharpened as she looked at the man with sharp, piercing eyes. Jack looked at her with a sceptical look — based on her earlier reaction, he wasn’t so sure whether she was telling the truth or not.
“So… In other words, he is useless?” A brown haired boy asked. Alicia nodded, laughing. “Correct! In our war, he is utterly worthless and will not provide a drop of benefit to us!” She looked at him with an arrogant expression. “Someone who will just hold us back.”
Jack sharpened his gaze.
This woman had really just approached him, praised him for being the strongest, but then, upon seeing his class, now had begun insulting him, calling him useless. Something did not sit right with him about this situation – it felt like she was expressing some kind of grudge.
The students exchanged gazes with one another – some sceptical, some confused, some convinced. Then, a boy with bright red hair stepped up.
“Then he should be disposed of. If he’s worthless, then there is no use for him.” The boy looked at Jack with an arrogant, confident expression. Alicia smirked, while Jack threw a glare back at the boy – a warning glare.
“You’re right Young one. Those who are of no use, should be disposed of.” She agreed with the boy. Jack sighed, before closing his eyes and closing the status window. “Then if I am ‘worthless’ to you, just send me back to my world. I don’t see a reason to throw such insults at me like I came in here expecting to be praised like a god, when you could just send me back home.” Jack stated, opening his eyes and throwing a daring glare at Alicia.
The Saintess scuffed before laughing, shaking her head and looking at Jack like trash. “I could do that, but it would be a terrible waste of my power. Spells that connect to other worlds take a lot of magical energy.” She responded, before turning around and thinking for a bit. Jack looked at her angrily.
“What the hell? You whisked me here without asking, insulted me in front of a bunch of students and when I asked to be sent home, you just refused?” Jack''s tone was sharp as he stepped towards Alicia, before grabbing her by her dress collar.
“You better send me back now, or else—” He was suddenly cut off, by a violent shock rushing over his body, before Alicia''s attendant grabbed him by his neck and flipped him into the air, crashing him into the ground. Alicia looked at him with a furious glare. “Don’t you dare lay your hands on me.”
Jack scuffed, before eyeing the attendant. Then, he quickly kicked her in the back of her head, before jumping back to his feet and dashing at the Saintess, about to throw a punch at her. However, right as he neared close, Alicia exhaled lightly, snapping her fingers. In an instant, he was restrained by golden chains, before guards rushed over and encircled him, pointing their weapons at him.
“You ought to know your place. Be grateful that I haven’t taken your head off yet for the disrespect you’ve shown.” She exhaled, before brushing off her dress. “I told you already, my power would be wasted in sending you back. However, perhaps if you genuflect in front of me and beg for forgiveness, I’d be willing to consider it.”
She looked at the restrained Jack with a smug expression. Jack looked at her furiously while the students either looked shocked, uncaring or even tried to pay the ongoing situation no attention. Only four students actually looked taken back and concerned for the entire situation.
“Go to hell, you shitty woman.” Jack expressed while glaring at her. Alicia exhaled, before snapping again, the restraints disappearing, causing Jack to drop onto the ground, before a couple golden chains tied his arms up. “How about this – I’ll send you to a place filled with danger and monsters. If you manage to survive, I’ll send you back home.”
Alicia looked at him with a smug expression again, as if her offer just now was some sort of ‘charity’ he had to accept. Jack scuffed at her suggestion. “To hell with you.” The Saintess chuckled, walking up to him and crouching down to his eye level, glaring at him with bright red eyes. “The only one going to hell will be you.” She whispered.
Afterwards, she stood back up, before turning around and walking away from him. “Alright, now, off you go.” She stated, clapping her hands together. A magic circle appeared below Jack, exuding lighting and bright light from itself. Before Jack was whisked away again, a young female student stood up. “Now hold on – This isn’t right! You can’t just force a man to come here and then throw him away like trash! Especially after treating him horribly.”
Jack threw a gaze over at the young female, as did Alicia. The lady had long, light brown hair and emerald green eyes. Though she was visibly nervous, her expression was firm and serious. Alicia laughed. “Now then Young lass, I don''t think you quite understand the situation…”
“Does she? Because to me it seems like she understood it perfectly.” A Male voice spoke up, before a boy with black hair, which covered one of his eyes, walked over beside her. The young girl looked at him surprised, while the others watched in surprise. “She’s right! This is no way to treat someone after being brought here against his will!” Another girl spoke up, joining the duo''s side. This girl had short, blonde hair and light green eyes.
“What they said! You expect us to just stand back and let you treat someone so horribly?” Another boy joined them all – this one tall and with short, dark brown hair. Alicia looked surprised by the four students who had suddenly taken a stance against her. After glaring at them with her bright, blood red eyes, she exhaled, putting on a calm smile.
“Well, if this seems unfair to you, then how about I send all of you to the same place as him?” The students looked a bit shaken. Alicia grinned, glaring at them all. “While he may be able to perhaps survive for a week or so in that place… you’re all much weaker than him. You won’t live even a day there before being turned into food for monsters.”
The four students looked more nervous now, looking at Jack who eyed them back. The situation was a bit more intense than it needed to be – He didn’t expect any of these students to stand up for a stranger like him, however those four youngsters had done so, despite that fact.
However, while he felt flattered, even a bit relieved, that someone had stood up for him, he exhaled. “It’s fine.” He announced. The students looked at him confused, while Alicia looked at him curious. “Don’t drag the kids into this.” He looked at her sharply. The Saintess looked at him with an amused smirk.
“Playing ‘Hero’ now? So mature～” Alicia said teasingly. Jack scuffed.
“I just have to survive, right? Then you’ll send me back?” The Saintess looked a bit less amused upon hearing his question, before exhaling. “In a scenario where that comes to happen, sure, I will send you back to your world.”
Jack looked at the students that had stood up for him, smiling towards them a bit, before looking at Alicia with a determined expression. “Then it’s settled. Send me away, I’ll make sure to fight my way out of that place and come back here and when I do.” A sinister grin spread across his face, as his amber eyes ignited with a glow. “I will make sure to make you regret your own birth.” Alicia looked at Jack with an amused expression, laughing.
“How hysterical. Very well, then I suppose I will await your oh so grand return. Now, begone from my sight.” She stated, before snapping. The magic circle below Jack shined brighter and brighter, as he began to fly up into the sky. Jack kept a sinister gaze in his eyes, before suddenly breaking the chains holding his arms restrained, which shocked Alicia. Afterwards, he threw a middle finger at her with his right hand.
“See you in hell, you shitty devil.” He thought, before his body disappeared – encircled in the golden light of the magic circle. Once gone, the bright light disappeared and Alicia looked a bit nervous.
“How did he manage to do that… How did he break my constraint spell?” She thought before exhaling and slapping her face - forgetting about it for now. “Anyways, please heroes, follow me. I’ll take you to meet the king and then your masters.” She said with a calm, radiant expression again. As she passed by the group of four students that had stood up for Jack, she glared at them with her blood red eyes, before continuing to move forward.
The students were lost for words, simply standing there and shaking. The girl who had first spoken up, clenched her hands into fists. “Please forgive us Mister…” She thought.
As the students slowly began to follow after the Saintess, Alicia looked smug.
“Send him back… Yeah right, like he’ll ever make it back here. He may be strong for an individual who was just summoned, but the place he will land isn''t somewhere where he can survive.” She laughed to herself, walking up the staircase, leading the students after her. The group of four students that had stood up for Jack looked back at where Jack had been sent away, shedding a slight sweat, before following after the rest of their classmates and moving up the stairs.
.
.
.
Jack awoke again, waking up in a dimly lit cave. Groaning, he lightly rubbed the back of his neck. “I just got summoned to another world like in fantasy stories and I have already been disposed of like trash… Cool.” He stated, before standing back up onto his feet and brushing off his clothes.
He looked around the room he was in. It appeared to be a small, man-made room with a tunnel that led out into a more open and vast space. Inside the room, was a statue of what appeared to be a fox, owl and lion – stacked on top of one another, with the lion on the bottom and owl at the top.
In front of the statue, was an extinguished campfire — most likely left behind by whoever else had been here before him. Jack remained silent, before looking to the right side, spotting a bag, hidden underneath some plants. “Some equipment? That should be useful.”
He walked over to the bag, kneeling down and taking it out from its hiding spot, brushing it off of the dust that covered it lightly. Afterwards, he opened the bag, looking inside it. There were three vials of red liquid, which he took out first.
As he examined them, a sudden menu appeared in front of him, just above the vials.
[ ITEM ]
Healing Potion
Restores 50 Health after drinking.
[ ITEM ]
“Healing potions huh? From my memories of playing RPG games, these should come in handy should I get hurt.” Jack thought, sliding the three vials into his coat pocket, before continuing to rummage through the bag. Next he took out two small stones — one in red, the other in black. Both stones had a strange symbol on them as well.
After a moment, windows explaining what they were opened.
[ ITEM ]
Rune Stone (Fire)
Allows one to acquire the spell ‘Fireball’ upon breaking
Compatible with;
Wizard, Sorcerer
[ ITEM ]
...
[ ITEM ]
Rune Stone (Shadow)
Allows one to acquire the spell ‘Raise’ upon breaking.
Compatible with;
Warlock, Summoner, Necromancer
[ ITEM ]
“So two items I can’t use because I am a ‘Tamer’ – not any of the things listed… Great. They may as well be paperweights.” Jack sighed, placing the rune stones back into the bag, before taking out the last item inside it — which appeared to be a sheathed dagger.
Unsheathing it a bit, he examined its blade. It was black, with a silverish shine to it.
[ WEAPON ]
Black Iron Dagger
Rank: G
A Dagger crafted from Black Iron ore. It is of great quality and deals +15% extra damage to Goblins and Orcs.
[ WEAPON ]
“A weapon. Perfect, at least now I don’t have to face whatever else was here with my bare fists.” Jack exhaled, sheathing the dagger back up before rising up to his feet again. The bag had proven to contain some useful stuff inside it – at least, enough to hopefully get him started on facing whatever was here.
Looking towards the tunnel, his amber eyes shone as he sighed and walked towards it and stopped at the tunnel – a slight hesitancy running through his body.
“Well, time to get to work. I am not about to let myself be murked in a world I was forcefully brought to.” Jack smiled, before beginning to move down the tunnel, a sinister grin across his face. “I will make sure to survive, so that I could rub it into that shit eating grin of that Saintess.”
He thought, as he approached the end of the tunnel, noises coming from beyond.