Ch. 2: Skill Creation

I knew that we had been summoned to another world before I even opened my eyes. The smell was far too different. The sounds more rustic.

The one minute bell had been about to ring. The tick of that stupid clock at the front of the class was gone and, my desk and chair gone, I had fallen to the ground, which was definitely not the annoying school carpet that I was used to.

When I opened my eyes, we were in a room with marble columns, stone walls, and a single, giant wooden door.

I wasn't sure whether the interesting thing about the room was the huge circle drawn on the floor in the center of it, inside of which all eighteen of us were still sitting, stunned, the dozens of robed men slumped to the floor surrounding it, or the beautiful girl standing behind a pedestal, between us and the door leading out.

"So we really were summoned." I muttered, being the first one to fully stand. Everyone else was disoriented, but the great side effect of not caring about Earth was the ability to quickly adapt to most any situation.

"If that's the case…"

[Analyze.]

I figured that language and analysis skills usually came with the package in most stories like this. Honestly, though, I only half expected it to work, though, when I tried using it on the girl. To my surprise, I got an answer.

[Basic Skill: Analyze… Not Found.] [Create Alternative Skill: Examine, instead?]

O-okay… I went with it.

[Unique Skill: Skill Creation invoked.] [Basic Skill: Examine will be created for 10 MP.]

So my unique skill lets me create skills, then? Exactly what I wanted. I smiled as I invoked my new skill again on the girl as some of the mages surrounding us started helping my classmates to their feet.

It felt weird to use MP for the first time to create [Examine], but I instinctively understood how to invoke it once I had it.

[PrincessFemale.]

The same voice that had informed me of my skill blurted out the results of the skill, but it happened so quickly that the words blurred together. Had there been more than two words to the results, I wouldn't have been able to understand any of it.

"Seriously?" I blurted out loud. What kinda skill is that!? It's so useless! I wonder…

[Create Skill: Information Processing.]

[Confirmed. Unique Skill Invoked.] [Basic Skill: Information Processing will be created for 20 MP.]

Creating this one took more out of me than [Examine] did. Judging by how bad the feeling was, I probably didn't have 100 MP in total. Remembering the uselessness of the results when I [Examined] the girl, I [Examined] myself this time.

[GRanCaHmanLel1Strengetydextyone---]

A ton of information slammed into my brain at a stupid fast pace. I managed to catch a few words through the deluge, but most of it was so incomprehensible that it may as well have been useless. Did I just waste MP? I decided to [Examine] the princess again for reference.

Princess. Female.

At least the skill works. Still pretty fast, but at least there was clear punctuation between words this time. If I had [Examined] myself without it, I probably would only have heard a long BEEP rather than actual words. I think that I started with a hundred mana, but I wasn't completely sure. Let's use that as a baseline, because I definitely heard the word OfOHudred somewhere in that long blast of information.

If I had one hundred mana, and I had no idea what would happen if I ran out, then I should probably keep at least ten in reserve just in case you die if you run out of MP. That means that I only have about sixty MP left to use. Easy answer, then.

[Confirmed. Unique Skill Invoked.] [Basic Skill: MP Regeneration will be created for 50 MP.]

That's not good. Since [Information Processing] was twice the cost of [Examine], I figured a skill as useful as [MP Regeneration] would be fairly expensive, but it dropped me all the way down to 20 MP, and I could feel the weariness in my bones now. And since I could only create level 1 skills, apparently, I had the feeling that it wasn't going to be super helpful for me in my current situation. What situation, you ask? Well…

"So you all are now guests of the Amale Kingdom. We will keep you safe, and provide for you until the Demon Lord is defeated. Once that happens, we will acquiesce to any one request that you make, up to and including being sent back to your world.

While you are here, though, you will be given all the comforts, luxuries, and training that we have to offer in our fine kingdom." PrincessFemale explained to our class. There were mixed responses to this. Some just stared blankly at her, unable to process. Others were beaming excitedly. Others were clearly incredibly troubled by it. Parker and I were both in the last group.

"And if we don't want to go home?" I asked. Nobody was surprised at my question. Everyone in my class knew how shallow my feelings for our hometown were, and PrincessFemale and the Boys From Amale had clearly expected somebody to ask the question.

Her answer basically boiled down to being treated like a war hero. We'd get money, land, and noble titles if we so desired.

So basically, they're going to pamper us in their own way, right up until they send us off to kill their enemies, then they'll give us their rewards, in the hopes that as many of us leave or die as possible. Giving just a couple of us at most a real reward wouldn't be too much of a drain, apparently. It was a really pretty bow that they were tying their Hero box with.

"And if we don't want to fight?" I asked. Most of my classmates were shocked at this one, but I had my reasons for asking.

"Our kingdom is currently in a state of war. Each of you has a special power now, and I beg you to use it to help us, your fellow humans. If you do not wish to fight, though, we will not force you. Instead, you will be allowed to live in a fully staffed estate just outside the capitol."

Pulling the "I Beg You, Fellow Humans" Card, huh? I imagine that the ones who do fight will be too busy to ever meet with the ones who don't. From a pure efficiency standpoint, it sounds like they're just going to toss out dead weight.

In fact, there's a good chance that they'll just get rid of the ones that don't fight and lie to the rest. It sounded paranoid, but I had absolutely no reason to fight for these people.

The only thing that I knew about this kingdom was what I had been told right here in this room, and I'd never get reliable information under constant watch inside the castle. If this "demon lord" really was threatening the world balance, I wouldn't hesitate to step in, but I wasn't about to risk my life for someone who only gave me convenient information and nothing more.

I hated being used, and especially by people that I didn't trust at all.

"How much training will we get before we're required to go to the front lines?" Parker asked. What she was really asking was what are the chances that we'll all die out there? PrincessFemale didn't understand Parker enough to figure her intentions out, though, so she gave a straightforward answer.

"We will keep you here until we believe that each of you is strong enough for the task, no matter how long it takes."

"But I thought that this "Demon Lord" was an imminent and vital threat to the world's balance? Training with no deadline involved might not give them the urgency that they need to get stronger fast enough." I had to poke at the hole. Notice that I said the words "demon lord" with an implied air quote, and I used the words them and they rather than us and we.

I imagine that I probably seemed like a coward to all involved. Even PrincessFemale couldn't keep herself from clicking her tongue at me, but she gave the standard answer anyways.

"If we give a deadline, there is a chance that you will not be ready by the time we reach it. As such, we have decided that slow and steady would be the best option." Sounded reasonable, but the answer annoyed me quite a bit.

If they set a deadline, they could revoke it at any time if the summoned heroes weren't ready. This couldn't happen more than a few times before the sense of urgency dies, sure, but the fact remains that mildly tricking them would put the perfect amount of pressure on them. Merely telling them about the places that the demons were destroying wouldn't make them feel much pressure.

"Doesn't matter to me, I guess. I'm not fighting your war, anyways." I decided to gauge her response to that declaration. Her face became like stone, clearly trying to hide her annoyance. Just like I figured.

"Let us start over from the beginning. My name is Ava Amale, princess of the Amale kingdom. I welcome you, heroes." After that, she had each of us go ahead and introduce ourselves.

She also had a few of her conscious court magicians introduce themselves, but I didn't care enough to remember their names. Most of them had family names, though, which told me that nobles had a better chance of becoming mages for the state.