Chapter 2: Anomaly

"Gather around, lost souls. You are needed on a grand and dangerous mission to save Verena from the clutches of darkness." Aurelia announced, his voice ringing out with a sense of urgency.

"I knew it," Jean interrupted, her tone tinged with frustration.

"You should probably let him finish," Ryota interjected, his attempt to defuse the tension palpable in his voice.

Aurelia nodded gratefully at Ryota before continuing, "The Verena continent faces a threat never seen before, and you all have been summoned to their aid."

He scanned the room, taking in the varied reactions of his audience, before pressing on. "Half of the world has already been corrupted by the dark lord and his twelve generals of destruction. Your mission is to take up the mantle as summoned warriors and join the fight to stop the dark lord's reign."

As Aurelia paused, he could see unease spreading across the faces of those gathered, the weight of their newfound responsibility settling heavily upon their shoulders.

"Don't be scared, you won't be going empty-handed. I suppose you're all familiar with classes and skills," Aurelia reassured them with a faint smile.

"I hope you're not sending us to a world similar to a video game. I have no knowledge with things like that." a young girl dressed in the same uniform as Ryota spoke up, her voice tinged with uncertainty.

With a deep sigh and a broad smile, Aurelia turned his attention to the girl. "And you are?" he asked gently.

"Emi Suzuki. That's my name. I'm Ryota's classmate," she replied, her tone soft yet resolute.

"It is somewhat similar but not totally," Aurelia replied, his smile lacking its previous warmth.

"Somewhat? Care to elaborate?" Emi inquired, her curiosity piqued.

Aurelia began to explain, but before he could continue, a gothic girl at the back cut in. "We get stronger and level by training and other activities. I presume by hunting the bad guys we'll get points and get stronger. But if we die, we die for real. There's no restart button like in a video game. That world is going to be our lives and there's no turning back."

Aurelia hid his annoyance as he concluded, "Th... That about sums it up... And who might you be?"

"Charlotte. Charlotte Blanc." she replied with a sigh.

"That is correct. But the skills and classes you'll all choose will help you to survive this ordeal," Aurelia assures them, his tone more reassuring now.

"So how do I pick out skills and class? And who gets to choose first?" Emi asks, her curiosity evident.

"I'm glad you asked," Aurelia says with a broad smile, sensing the anticipation in the room.

'Here it comes,' Ethan sighs, adjusting himself in his seat.

"You all get to draw straws," Aurelia continues playfully, as the materials appear floating next to him.

*****

As the proceedings unfolded, Ethan found himself caught off guard as a translucent screen materialized before him, displaying a series of cryptic messages

[Anomaly detected]

[Condition has been met]

[Adjusting compatibility]

[Throne of Life 1/1 , Do you wish to continue? Y/N.]

The sudden appearance of the screen sent a shiver down Ethan's spine, his confusion mounting with each passing moment. 'I'm pretty sure this never happened in the book. What's going on?' he muttered, his mind reeling with uncertainty.

'Throne of Life? What's that?' Ethan wondered, his brow furrowed in confusion. 'How don't I know about it? And what does it mean by Continue?'

The mysterious messages left Ethan feeling more bewildered than ever, his sense of unease growing with each unanswered question. As he sought to make sense of the strange occurrence, Ethan couldn't shake the feeling that something big was about to happen.

With a mixture of trepidation and resignation, Ethan reassured himself, 'Alright, what's the worst that could happen? I'm already dead anyways.'

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he reasoned, 'I guess this window works just like the normal ones in the book, though. Yes.'

Ethan accepted the mysterious invitation and clicked the confirmation button, bracing himself for whatever revelations lay beyond the 'Throne of Life.'

As Ethan processed the rewards bestowed upon him, his disbelief gradually gave way to excitement and incredulity. 'I get rewards for accepting? These are all broken skills, and I'm getting them for free?' he marveled, his eyes widening in astonishment.

[Gluttony EX]

[Skill Forge EX]

[Status Illusion A]

[Checkpoint A]

'A skill that lets me scan and copy others' skills? Too bad it won't let me appraise them, another for making skills by combining already existing ones but there are restrictions, a skill to help hide my real stats, and a skill to create checkpoints for quick transport like in a video game. These are all crazy.' Ethan exclaimed, internally.

But it was the revelation of his maxed-out luck that truly caught his attention, eliciting a grin of satisfaction. 'Maxed out luck.' he murmured, his grin widening. 'I'm basically untouchable.'

As he scanned through the rest of the rewards, Ethan's excitement was tempered by a sense of realization. '20 stat points and I can distribute them as I please? That's convenient, considering that the game distributed our points automatically depending on our class.' he noted, his mind already racing with possibilities.

But then, a nagging thought crept into Ethan's mind. 'Class... That's right, my class is Anomaly, but I've never seen that before. This might be troublesome.' he sighed, a flicker of concern clouding his expression as he contemplated the implications of his newfound abilities.

Ethan began allocating his stat points, carefully considering the best distribution for his newfound abilities.

'Now for distribution. I'll put 7 in both strength and MP, 4 for HP, and 1 for Perception and agility. Let's skip intelligence for now.' he decided, his choices reflecting a balance of offensive power, magical prowess, and survivability.

'I guess I could always rewrite my stats when necessary.' Ethan mused, acknowledging the flexibility afforded by his newfound control over his attributes.

As he finalized his decisions, the window appeared once again, bearing a simple yet profound message:

[Congratulations]

Ethan rose from his seat, a devilish grin playing on his lips as he addressed the gathered souls.

'I think it's time to play along with the story.' he declared, his voice tinged with a hint of mischief.

'Let's draw straws.' he continued, his grin widening as he made his way towards the group, eager to participate in the age-old tradition of random selection.

As he left the seat he had been occupying, Ethan failed to notice the subtle cracks that appeared beneath him.