Chapter 1 - Another World

I felt the space around me shift back into a solid state and the light slowly subsided. When I opened my eyes, a fantastical sight lay before me. A white marble room, adorned with evenly spaced what I think are religious murals of varying sizes, the largest one easily passing ten meters in height. Beautiful pillars traced the circular shape of the room, supporting the massive cupola above our heads. The cupola was painted whole in a single massive mural, depicting what I'd wager was a holy war. Mark stood next to me, in the exact spot where he was before we got, uh, teleported?

After taking a look around, a group of people clad in very obviously clerical clothes caught my attention. Pure white cloaks with dark blue embroideries, short golden staves, big pointy hats, similar to the catholic mitre, with the exception that these hats had a thin see-through cloth covering their wearers' faces. Next to them stood a group of people wearing brown robes and holding weird wooden staves with glowing gems embedded in them, probably mages. And lastly, in the middle of this cleric and mage mishmash, a beauty with blonde hair and blue eyes scanned us with a calm demeanor.

Behind this group I spotted the only visible exit from this room, a large iron double door, at least five meters wide and three meters tall, with golden handles and frame. On either side of the door stood a neat line of ten knights in full body armor. From all this information that I collected in the span of about 3 seconds, I could make a quick but probably very accurate assessment about our current situation. I turned to Mark with glee, the excitement palpably rising throughout my entire body.

"Hey, hey, we just got bloody isekaid, we got motherfucking isekaid. Hahaha!"

"Yeah, that's also the first thing I thought of."

Suddenly, the blonde beauty, who was most definitely a princess, if her very expensive looking clothing and jewelry were anything to go by, took a few steps forward. This one single action instantly caught the attention of every student, quickly silencing the ongoing whispering and hectic questioning.

"Welcome, O brave heroes from another world. My name is Alicia Secrux Hosefelie, first princess of the Hosefelian Kingdom. You have all been summoned to this world in order to save us from the despair that is the Demon Lord, who is prophesized to reveal himself to the world soon in order to launch an indiscriminate war of slaughter in order to call down his most evil creator, the Demon God. I beg of thee, O Heroes, please lend us your strength and save us from certain doom."

A very clichéd speech, devoid of anything original. Despite that, I felt there was something strangely off, something felt like it was just the tiniest bit not the way it seemed. Mark suddenly put his hand on his chin in contemplation and turned to me.

"I bet Simon won't let this opportunity to score some brownie points with this obvious honey trap and will agree to her pleas without so much so as asking any questions."

"I know he loves being the center of attention and praise, but even he wouldn't do something this stupid, right?"

My hopes were, however, quickly shattered, as Simon took a few steps forward.

"I will do everything in my power to help you and convince my friends to help you as well!"

All I could do was to stare at him dumbfoundedly, as this has reached novel levels of stupidity, even for Simon. I pinched my nose and sighed in resignation. Suddenly, an idea sprouted up in my head, and I wondered if it would work. This is a different world, after all.

"Haa, no use crying over spilt milk, I just hope this is going to work. Status Open."

A translucent blue window suddenly appeared in front of me, but just as fast as it appeared…

[ERROR #3421 – PREVIOUS SOUL DATA FOUND]

[ATTEMPTING DATA RESTORATION]

[FAILED]

[ATTEMPTING DATA RESTORATION]

[FAILED]

[ATTEMPTING PARTIAL DATA RESTORATION]

[SUCCESFUL]

Philip Cross

Race: Human

Age: 18

Sex: Male

Class: Warrior

Level: 1 (0/10 XP)

Titles: [Common] [Otherworlder]

HP: 100

MP: 20

VIT: 10

DEF: 10

STR: 10

AGI: 10

DEX: 10

MAG: 10

Magic:

[Lifestyle Magic I] [Null Magic I]

Active Skills:

Passive Skills:

[Language Comprehension LV. MAX]

Unique Skills:

[Adaptability] [Experience Boost]

[System update required for data restoration – forcefully initiating update]

[Temporarily setting all VALUES to DEFAULT TEMPLATE 3]

[System Update – 1%]

'???'

…a stream of messages popped up in front of it. What the hell does 'previous soul data found' mean? What is the 'default template'?? Why is it updating???

"Hey, uh, I just tried saying Status Open and instead of the status window a bunch of error messages appeared right in front of my eyes and my values are now set to 'default template 3,' whatever that means."

"Hmm? Let me try it too. Status Open."

Mark stared at empty air for a second and then his yes went wide.

"I've got the same problem, but instead of default template 3, it's 21." Mark answered as he lifted his gaze from the to me invisible window.

Our short conversation was halted by the princess's voice resounding throughout the room once more.

"I'm truly delighted to hear that, and I hope the rest of you will find it in your hearts to be willing help us just like Sir, uhm, what might be your name?" The princess looked at Simon with a hint of embarrassment.

"It's Simon, princess Alicia. Simon Holtz."

"A lovely name. As I was saying, I hope the rest of you will find it in your hearts to be willing to helps us just like Sir Simon. Naturally, we do not expect you to defeat the Demon Lord as you are. If you say 'Status Open,' a translucent window should open up in front of you. On there, you'll find your stats, class, known magic and skills. Do not fret, you'll hear a proper explanation on those later by your assigned teachers."

The princess walked into our midst and approached a pedestal with a football sized crystal orb. She snapped her fingers and one person from the mages, clerics and knights also walked towards the orb, positioning themselves to the left, right and behind the princess.

"For now, please approach this Status Crystal and merely place your hand upon it. It will display your status so that we can assign you to a suitable department based on your class. Classes determine the growth rate of your stats and unique skills are powerful and versatile skills that synergize well or enhance fighting styles or other professions."

Something within me rubbed me the wrong way about all this, as they could've simply asked us about our statuses, and publicly revealing our information like that felt rather invasive, but that's probably just my twenty-first century common sense speaking.

Simon approached the orb first and placed his hand on it. It glowed in a brilliant golden hue for a few moments and then displayed Simon's status window.

Simon Holtz

Race: Human

Trait: Humanoid

Age: 18

Sex: Male

Class: Legendary Hero

Level: 1 (0/10 XP)

Titles: [Legendary] [Otherworlder]

HP: 200

MP: 40

VIT: 20

DEF: 20

STR: 20

AGI: 20

DEX: 20

MAG: 20

Magic:

[Lifestyle Magic I] [Null Magic I] [Light Magic N] [Holy Magic N] [Barrier Magic N]

Active Skills:

[Blade Arts N]

Passive Skills:

[Health Regeneration LV. 1] [Mana Regeneration LV. 1] [Sword Proficiency 0%]

[Sword Mastery LV. 1] [Language Comprehension LV. MAX]

Unique Skills:

[Adaptability] [Divine Protection] [Knight of Light] [Experience Boost]

The princess' eyes opened wide in surprise and then her shocked face turned into a satisfied grin, but she quickly collected herself and her smile returned faster than anyone could notice. If I wasn't watching her due to the uncomfortable feeling I was getting, I would've completely missed it too.

"Oh my, it appears we're off to a great start. Your status points are already double those of a Common class. Huhu."

The princess let out a light chuckle and then continued with her explanation.

"I will now explain further. Under general information such as race and age, you can see [Legendary] in the 'Titles' section. This determines the rarity and overall strength of your class, going from [Common], [Rare], [Epic] to [Legendary]. Everyone has at least a [Common] class, 1 in 100 has a [Rare] class, 1 in 10 000 has an [Epic] class and [Legendary] classes are exceedingly rare, as only 15 [Legendary] class holders are currently known worldwide. We are certain there are more than these 15, but that number is very likely not higher than at most 40 [Legendary] class holders, as we estimate [Legendary] to be 1 in 5 000 000."

Sounds of awe and admiration resounded within the circular room we were summoned in.

'Amazing, the narcissistic cretin got the highest rarity class.'

"The N next to magics and active skills signifies Null, meaning you currently do not have a rank with said magic or skill. The rank can be easily increased by leveling up by slaying monsters or by simply training. Every person has at least one unique skill determined by their race, we call this the racial skill. Us humans have [Adaptability] as our racial skill and most [Epic] classes have at least one additional unique skill, sometimes two. Because of being forcefully summoned to this world, all of you should possess at least one unique skill in addition to the racial skill and the [Experience Boost] skill that the [Otherworlder] title provides, regardless of your class rarity. Sir Simon, please head over to the knight and stand behind him. Next person, please."

My classmates went up to the Status Crystal and were subsequently assigned to either the knight, mage or cleric, the orb taking on the color the person's mana whenever it displayed their status, according to the princess. Frontline fighters and tankers were assigned to the knight, spell users and supports were assigned to the mage, and healers and production classes were assigned to the cleric. Surprisingly, nobody had gotten a class below [Rare] yet, but 4 additional [Legendary] classes popped up. One by one, the number of unassigned students dwindled, that fact unchanging, until it was finally my turn to go. I walked up to the crystal orb, already mentally preparing myself for whatever abuse would be hurled my way once my status was displayed.

I glanced at the system update notification in the corner of my sight in hopes that it'll reach 100% any second now, but sadly, the update was only 31% done. I resigned myself to my fate and placed my hand upon the orb. I felt an unfamiliar energy leave my body for a brief moment, the orb took on a purple hue and then displayed my status.

One second passed. Silence.

Two seconds.

Three.

Four.

Five seconds have now passed in absolute silence.

"Th-this can't be right." The princess broke the silence after five whole seconds with clear confusion in her voice.

"Please try placing your hand on the Status Crystal once more."

I did as the princess asked of me, but the result was, unsurprisingly, the same. I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment.

"I'm afraid it is right. My status looks exactly the same as when I say 'Status Open.'"

"Ahahahaha! I can't believe it! Loser back on Earth and a loser in another world as well! Princess Alicia, there is no need to worry about trash like him. He's been a worthless loser even back home, so it isn't surprising that he's worthless even here."

Simon didn't fail to kick me into the mud when I was already on the ground, but I'm not all that surprised.

"No, but… hrnng."

The princess furrowed her browns and put her hand on her chin, her eyes scrutinizing me with a troubled look. She then sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Very well, shan't dwell on it any further. The summoning spell has not been attempted in millennia, it isn't entirely out of the question that the spell hasn't functioned properly for everyone. Since your class is warrior, go stand behind the knight."

I did as she told me to and went to the knight's side.

"Hahaha, how's it feel, trash? Hmm?"

Simon didn't waste any time and wrapped his arm around my neck. Back on Earth, I wouldn't have much of a problem shoving him off because I exercised regularly, but here, due to out status difference, I was barely able to move his hand. A wicked smile appeared on his face as he realized I could no longer stand up to him without him taking a few punches back.

'65% left until the system update is finished, I pray whatever it brings is worth it, otherwise I might just be in for a hellish future.'

Simon and his goons continued shoving me around and making fun of me. Back on Earth, my classmates would at least occasionally stand up for me and tell him to stop, but now that they were confused, scared and unsure of what to do, they couldn't stand up to Simon, who's been confirmed to possess one of the strongest classes and has already gotten into the good graces of the princess, the biggest person of authority we have witnessed so far. Going against him would be the same as actively shooting themselves in the leg and they instinctively understood – it's better to close your eyes and pretend you don't know what he's doing if it means they'll get to survive. I couldn't blame them for it, but I sure as hell don't plan on forgiving them for it either.

Soon it was Mark's turn, and the reactions were similar. The princess told him to go stand among the mages, since his [Common] class was 'Scholar.' The remaining students also went up to the Status Crystal and were assigned to one of the three groups. No more [Legendary] classes appeared, but what really caught my attention was James Neumann. We weren't on bad terms and we occasionally talked, so I'd consider him closer to a friend than most of my other classmates who were at most acquaintances. But that wasn't the reason he caught my interest. He caught my eye, because just like me and Mark, he had a [Common] class called 'Soldier' and his only unique skills were [Adaptability] and [Experience Boost], with no magics or other skills. Which meant that he was very likely going through the same problem I and Mark were going through.

Around an hour after we were summoned, all 29 students were assigned to one of the three people that represented their respective departments– 10 vanguards to the knight, 11 rearguards to the mage and 8 healers or production roles to the cleric.

"Now that we've checked everyone's status, you'll hear more about what is expected from you from my father, His Majesty the king. Please follow in a line after the person you're assigned to."

At the princess' signal, the two knights closest to the door pushed it open. The princess started walking forward with the three people representing the three departments following shortly after her, and us after them. The knights formed a line on either of our side and the clerics and mages walked behind us. It all felt eerily unsettling to say the least, it felt like we were prisoners caged here to do their bidding, instead of 'heroes' to save them from doom.

After about five or so minutes of walking, we arrived in front of a huge decorated door.

"The first princess, Alicia Secrux Hosefelie, and the summoned heroes make their entrance!"

One of the guards standing next to the giant door shouted loudly and after a few moments, the door opened from the inside. Once the doors were completely open, one of the knights that opened the door from the inside repeated the guard's words to the letter and only then did the princess resume her walk.

The room beyond the door was huge, enough to fit at least five hundred people, with massive decorated pillars on the left and right sides of the room. Large flags on which a massive sword was stabbed into a dragon's skull hanged from every single pillar in the room. Probably the kingdom's flag, or maybe the royal family's crest. A great crystal chandelier hanged from the center of the ceiling, a myriad of glowing orbs nestled upon the chandelier lighting up the room in warm, sun-like light. The throne, an artistical piece of red silk and gold, sat on the far end of the room in an elevated position.

The princess stopped shortly before a set of stairs leading up to the throne. The knight, mage and cleric motioned for us to stay where we were and left to return to their ranks. The princess kneeled and some of us were smart enough to kneel right away, just like the princess. Those less versed in fantasy and medieval settings were a bit tardy, but quickly got the hint the followed the rest of us into kneeling.

I'm not sure about the others, but I saw the princess hanging her head down, looking at the ground, so I did the same. The sound of a door being opened was heard from beyond the throne.

"His Majesty, Arthur Secrux Hosefelia III, has arrived!"

A loud and resonant voice announced the king's arrival. I could discern a group of figures walking towards the throne and the person in the lead then sat upon it.

"Raise your heads."

I did as I was told and saw a middle-aged man with long brown hair, a full beard and an extravagant golden crown adorning his head. He wore a brilliant robe made out of red silk and radiated the aura of a monarch.

To his right stood a man with red eyes, round glasses and neatly styled black hair and a man that resembled a younger version of the king, just with blonde hair instead of brown. To the king's left, a man in heavy armor, with a scar over his left eye, short grey hair and a moustache stood imposingly, along with a young looking black haired, black eyed man in a pitch-black robe.

"My name is Arthur Secrux Hosefelie III, king of the Hosefelian Kingdom, and the person responsible for your summoning to this world. I believe the crux of the matter has already been explained to you by my daughter, Alicia, but I will explain once more. Our kingdom is in great peril due to a prophesized threat, the Demon Lord. He has yet to make his public appearance, but we do know he has already been born into this world. Our forces are nowhere near enough in dealing with such a being, so we were forced to resort to summon heroes from another world, for if the Demon Lord appeared within our kingdom first, we would surely fall within a fortnight. As per the nature of the hero summoning, all of you should now be blessed with unique skills and rare classes. All of you will become the pillars of strength for our nation in the upcoming fight with the Demon Lord once you level up and grow more powerful. Should you succeed in vanquishing this foul creature, glory and honor and wealth shall follow without fail. If any of you have any questions, please, there is no need to be afraid and you may ask. We will answer to the best of our ability."

Silence. Everyone was most likely too scared of talking with actual flesh and blood royalty. Not surprising, as the knights and mages eyed us with wary eyes. One misstep could have fatal consequences. Well, that's at least how I imagine the others were feeling. Each second felt like it could stretch to forever, the atmosphere growing tenser ever increasingly. Then, Sarah, James' twin sister, raised her shaky hand.

"U-umm, if we defeat this… Demon Lord, can you send us back home?"

The king looked at Sarah with a sad smile.

"I'm terribly sorry, but we do not have a way of sending you back home. Otherworldly summoning magic is like fishing. You throw out a bait and when something catches, you pull to secure your catch, but returning the caught fish back to the exact place from whence you caught it is impossible. However, in apology, we will provide you with housing, water, clothes and food for free. You will also receive guidance and training from the nation's greatest swordsman, general Bakecria, and the nation's greatest mage, head magician Maddo."

The king gestured at the two men to his left.

"I am the chief general of Hosefelia's army, duke Zurkman Bakecria, head of the Bakecria ducal family."

"And I am Giar Maddo, Hosefelia's head magician. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Zurkman puffed out his chest and Giar bowed his head lightly.

Then, another hand was raised.

"Are we allowed to spar amongst ourselves?" Simon's yes showed hint of sadistic excitement as he asked the question.

"As long as the spar does not result in death or severed limbs, it should be fine, but make sure to spar only within designated arenas and always have a high-ranking healer on standby."

"Understood, Your Majesty."

I sighed for the umpteenth time today because of Simon. The other goons he surrounded himself with also had look with barely hidden hostility as they looked at me and Mark.

A few more miscellaneous questions followed, mostly about how we'll live here and what kind of training we're going to undergo. Once there were no more questions we were each provided with a personal maid that would make sure we wouldn't get lost in the castle and that all our needs were met.

"Please follow me, Sir Hero, I shall lead you to your chambers."

Following the maid assigned to me, Aileen, I was guided to a beautiful room. It wasn't extremely spacious, but it was still more than enough for a single person to live in comfortably.

"Sir Hero, is there anything I could do for you? Bring you something to eat? Prepare a bath? Or perhaps, if you so desire, something else?"

As she gave me a lascivious look and pressed her hands together to emphasize the size of her assets, the meaning behind the last sentence could only be misinterpreted by someone denser than a black hole. While she was certainly a beauty, I still didn't trust the kingdom we were in fully yet, and her attempt to seduce me further ran a stake through my trust towards the kingdom, as this was a very obvious honeytrap tactic. 'Do as we ask of you and we'll provide you with food, shelter and a beautiful maid you can use however you'd like!' is what I was getting out of it. Certainly not a bad trade by any means, but I feared there was far more to it than what met the eye.

"No, I'm fine. I'd like to be alone for now."

"Very well, if there is anything you wish for, simply ring the bell that is on the table and I will come right away."

Aileen smiled as she bowed lightly, trying to hide her disappointment, and left the room. I crashed on the bed and sighed deeply into the pillow. Summoned to another world, Simon getting the highest rarity class possible, an uncomfortable feeling that something was amiss, my status board giving me an error the second I opened it. Many things happened in the past three hours, not all good. I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling. Well, not really the ceiling. I was intently watching the update percentage, which was now sitting at 91%.

"Status Open."

I decided to open my status and read up on what the titles I held do and what my currently held skills do.

First, the titles.

[Common] – Your class is of common rarity. All your stats are set at 10 on Level 1 and you gain +14 automatically distributed stat points on Level Up.

[Otherworlder] – You're a person from a different world. Grants the [Language Comprehension LV. MAX] skill and [Experience Boost] skill and grants [Lifestyle Magic] and [Null Magic]

[Language Comprehension LV. MAX] – You can perfectly speak, write and understand all languages.

Only after reading the entry for [Language Comprehension] did I realize none of us spoke a word in English since we arrived in this world, but instead spoke in a language I never heard before, yet somehow knew how to speak it without a problem. A few more unknown languages sat in the back of my mind, but I didn't know their names, just that I was able to use them fluently. It was a weird feeling, as if someone suddenly uploaded knowledge into my brain without me noticing. The language the people of Hosefelia spoke reminded me of old English, with some hints of Latin. [Lifestyle Magic] and [Null Magic] seemed to be mostly miscellaneous spells to help with everyday life.

[Experience Boost] – Multiplies your XP gain by 5 times.

Oh my, this by itself is a ridiculously broken skill. Language Comprehension has amazing effects as well, but it's still not utterly broken, just useful beyond measure. But this… is plainly broken. Five times increase in experience gained is META defining. The perks of being an otherworlder are truly immense.

Lastly, [Adaptability].

[Adaptability] – Increases tolerance to extreme temperatures. Slightly increases resistance to diseases, infections and poisons.

An insignificant but nice to have buff I guess. It's not broken like [Experience Boost], but it's still nice to have.

98%.

I looked at the percentage slowly increasing in the corner of my vision.

Bzzt.

I frowned at the familiar sound. Turning my head to the side, I saw that a fly had entered my room through the open window. The outside was full of greenery and bright light. Judging by how warm it was even inside the castle, I imagine this world was also in its summer months, just like Earth. Or perhaps we were close to the equator, if this world had any similarities to Earth, but I had no clue at the moment.

I sighed and sat up, thinking of how to get rid of this unwelcome invader. Flies and mosquitoes are very high on my list of things I absolutely despise for the sole reason that they are so goddamn loud and annoying. I've been driven nearly insane by mosquitoes buzzing around my room in the middle of the night on more than one occasion. I grabbed a pillow from the bed. Slowly making my way towards the pest, which was now sat on the table, I prepared to strike.

Whoosh. Smack!

The pillow made a whooshing sound as it slashed through the air and landed squarely on the invader. I lifted the pillow to check on the fly. Thankfully, the pillow was clean. The fly was still alive, but some of its legs and wings have been mangled by the pillow strike. I threw it off the table and stomped on it, ending the fly's miserable life.

[You have gained 5 XP]

A notification popped up with a 'ping!' A few seconds later, the percentage reached 100% and another notification took its place.

(?)

Race: Human

Trait: Humanoid

Age: 18

Sex: Male

Class: (?)

Level: 1 (5/10 XP)

Titles: [(?)] [Otherworlder] 

HP: 100

MP: 20

VIT: 10

DEF: 10

STR: 10

AGI: 10

DEX: 10

MAG: 10

Magic:

[Lifestyle Magic I] [Null Magic I]

Active Skills:

Passive Skills:

[Language Comprehension LV. MAX]

Unique Skills:

[Adaptability] [Experience Boost] [UNKNOWN] [UNKNOWN] [UNKNOWN] [UNKNOWN]

[System Update – Complete]

[The status will be partially restored upon the next Level Up]

[Further restoration will be possible with subsequent Level Ups]

I smiled lightly. A ray of hope finally descended upon me, as four new entries appeared in the Unique Skills section. The flame of anticipation had been rekindled once more. I was a little scared by the question mark where my name used to be, but I'm sure it's not going to be anything significant.

'The restoration will be applied only once I level up, huh.'

I looked out the window at the vast and beautiful garden. And then at the squished remains of the fly that gave me half a level worth of XP.

'Hmm.'

○○○

After taking a quick nap, I had Aileen take me around the castle grounds, giving me a good idea about the castle's layout. Right now, though, we were in a gorgeous garden, the same garden I saw from my window earlier. My goal was very simple – find an insect, any insect, and turn it into XP.

"This garden is truly beautiful."

"Do you like flowers, Sir Hero?"

Aileen questioned me upon my off-passing remark. I stopped in front of a purple-white rose and gently touched it.

"Well, yes, I guess. I've never tried taking care of any flowers beyond having a fern plant in my room, but I do like them."

After a while of walking, I finally spotted my target. A small millipede scuttling around on the gravel pavement. Without hesitation, I stepped on the unfortunate insect that will become the foundation of my level up.

[You have gained 5 XP]

[Your level has increased by 1]

[Partially restoring previously stored data]

[Class rating restored to 'Mythical']

[Acquired 'Abnormal Status Immunity LV. MAX']

['Curse of Subservience' and 'Suggestion Weakness' successfully negated]

['Experience Boost' upgraded to 'Extreme Experience Boost' due to the influence of 'Mythical']

['Seraphim' successfully restored]

['Rewind' successfully restored]

[Acquired 'Health Regeneration LV. 1']

[Acquired 'Mana Regeneration LV. 1']

[Acquired 'Mana Control LV. 1']

[Acquired 'Mana Sense LV. 1']

[Due to data corruption, the user's name couldn't be restored]

[Please manually enter your name]

I quickly opened my status window in anticipation before I even properly read through all the messages, and what I saw made me nearly pass out.

[?]

Race: Human

Trait: Humanoid

Age: 18

Sex: Male

Class: Godslayer

Level: 2 (0/35 XP)

Titles: [Mythical] [Otherworlder]

HP: 490

MP: 72

VIT: 49

DEF: 38

STR: 55

AGI: 55

DEX: 32

MAG: 36

Magic:

[Lifestyle Magic I] [Null Magic I]

Active Skills: 

Passive Skills:

[Language Comprehension LV. MAX] [Abnormal Status Immunity LV. MAX] [Health Regeneration LV. 1] [Mana Regeneration LV. 1] [Mana Control LV. 1] [Mana Sense LV. 1]

Unique Skills:

[Adaptability] [Extreme Experience Boost] [Seraphim] [Rewind] [UNKNOWN] [UNKNOWN]

'WHAT THE FUCK?!'

I somehow managed to not scream out loud and kept the utter shock inside. All of my stats massively shot up, a bunch of skills were suddenly added and my class rating was [Mythical], a rating that wasn't even mention by the princess before.

In my stupor of happiness, I opened the explanation for the [Mythical] title.

[Mythical] – Your class is of mythical rarity. All your stats are set at 30 on Level 1 and you gain +85 automatically distributed stat points on Level Up. Grants the [Abnormal Status Immunity LV. MAX] skill. Increases the likelihood of obtaining a skill through training and everyday actions. Increases the likelihood of obtaining higher-rank skills through dungeon conquest. Only one person of a specific mythical class can exist at a time.

"What?!" This time, I wasn't able to hold my surprise inside. I mean, who would be?! I thought [Experience Boost] was stupidly broken before, but this… this is a whole another level. This goes straight into the cheat category.

"Is something wrong, Sir Hero?" Aileen was perplexed by my sudden outburst.

"Ah, uh, no, everything's ok. I just realized something back from Earth, don't worry about it."

Did this assuage her curiosity? The worried look she had was quickly replaced with a gentle smile. I smiled back at her and then turned my attention back to my status window, as well as the plethora of messages thrown in my face.

First of all, what the hell is with my class name... 'Godslayer' sounds so goddamn edgy. Can't say I don't like it, but it sounds so hyper-chuuni it makes me cringe a little. But it's still really cool. And where the bloody hells did a class like that come from. I cleared my mind and turned my attention on to my status points, which all at least tripled, some even quintupled. This alone was a massive headache, because I was now easily at least twice as strong as Simon, if not thrice as strong. It was assuaging I wouldn't be overpowered anymore, but it would also bring too much attention to me. After all, a [Common] class warrior easily overpowering a [Legendary] class? Yeah, no way. Guess I'll just have to grit my teeth and bear with the pushing around and bullying, at least until an opportunity to escape presents itself. I'll have to speak with Mark about that in detail later.

I didn't obtain any magics or active skills, but there were quite a few new entries in my passive skills.

[Abnormal Status Immunity LV. MAX] – Completely negates all negative status effects, such as: poisoning, disease, petrification, charm, mind control, curses, possession, decay, environmental damage and sanity loss

Alright, that's overpowered as fuck. Again. The mentions about successfully resisting the 'Curse of Subservience' and 'Suggestion Weakness' made me realize where the uncomfortable feeling I felt the entire time since we got summoned was coming from. Something was definitely wrong with this summoning, and my gut was telling me to absolutely not let anyone know I managed to undo whatever was put on me.

[Health Regeneration LV. 1] –Recover 5% of your HP per hour

[Mana Regeneration LV. 1] – Recover 1% of your MP per hour, amount recovered is multiplied by ten times while asleep

[Mana Control LV. 1] – Increase the control over your mana, increasing the speed of your casting and a slight strength increase to your spells

[Mana Sense Lv. 1] – Allows the user to sense mana in a certain radius around them

Alright, all of these skills are great to have but nothing absolutely broken, unlike the previous entries. Last but not least, my unique skills.

[Extreme Experience Boost] – Increase your experience gain by 10x, last-hit XP bonus is given to all 'Party Members' regardless of who delivered the last hit

'Hmm?!'

I nearly shouted out in surprise again.

'What the hell is this? Tenfold the XP gained? What even is a last-hit bonus? Does that mean the person who delivers the killing blow gains more experience than the rest of the party?'

<Correct, Master.>

'Ah, I see so I was ri-' I froze my train of thought as my brain processed the fact that the female voice that just spoke to me was one I did not recognize. I carefully looked around, but saw nobody around me except for Aileen, who was looking at me quizzically.

I had an inkling of who, or what, just spoke to me, thanks to the rather substantial number of isekai stories I read back on Earth, but nevertheless, I checked the next skill just to be sure.

[Seraphim] – An auxiliary skill with a consciousness, capable of high-speed computing and limited access to the system

Yup. Right on the money, I had a fantasy version of an AI living in my brain, soul? Whatever.

'Well, nice to meet you, um, Sera?'

<Likewise, Master. How may I be of help?>

'Uh, let's talk once I'm back in my room. I fear I'll accidentally speak out loud when communicating with you here, my head is a mess right now. Too much information to absorb.'

<Understood. >

I cut the conversation with [Seraphim] short and turned my attention to the last new entry on my status window. I of course didn't stop walking and looking around, admiring the flowers, in order to not make Aileen suspicious of me. Thinking back, I should've said that I was just surprised by some of the to me otherworldly flowers in the garden instead of saying I just remembered something back from Earth. Ugh, whatever.

[Rewind] – Once a day, if you take lethal damage (lose more than 60% of your HP in one hit or your HP drops below 10%) stop the flow of time for 15s and recover all of your HP and MP

'Fuck. If I wasn't already numb from the previous bullshit I definitely would've cursed out loud at this skill. What the hell.' How is having a free survival card even allowed? What kind of broken system is this?

I managed to keep on a fake smile as I pretended to look at the flowers. Aileen kept on following silently a few steps behind me like a ghost.

The system also said that it wasn't able to restore my name and that I should enter it manually, but I decided to hold off on entering a name for now. Because I was no longer under the influence of whatever the people that summoned us used, escape greatly rose to the top of my current priorities. I'd decide on what to do next after talking it over with Mark and choosing our next course of action. However, for that, I first needed Mark to also level up. If my guess is right, he should also have a [Mythical] rated class, seeing as he apparently had the same problems I did.

Shortly after, Aileen informed me that dinner would be served shortly and that it would be advisable to start heading for the dining room, so we did precisely that.

Entering the dining hall, the first thing that struck me were the evenly spaced tables, each capable of seating ten people, five on each side. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling and illuminated the dim insides of the hall, as a scant few windows let through light from the setting sun.

Mark was already seated at one of the tables. Most of the class was already present, it seemed like I was one of the late stragglers. I sat down next to Mark and Aileen went to join the other maids in standing near one of the walls.

"Yo, where were you? I went to your room, but you were nowhere to be seen."

"Ah, I went for a walk in the garden."

"The garden? Since when do you like flowers that much?"

"I'll explain once we're done eating. Too many ears here."

Mark instantly understood I wasn't in a joking mood by the tone of my voice and my serious face, so he also tensed up. I took a glance around and saw Simon and his goons smirking at us, an unpleasant feeling crawled all over my skin.

'Yeah, it's best we leg it the first chance we get.'

Once it was confirmed everyone was present in the dining hall, servants pushed a large amount of food on carts into the hall. The maids assigned to us brought the food to the tables and were told we could dig in at any time. The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything exactly stellar, either. Felt just like your average Central European dish. Chicken, bread, some vegetables and some good alcohol to go with it. I abstained from partaking in the alcohol, as I'm not a big fan of the taste.

During the dinner, princess Alicia paid us a visit and told us to gather in the training grounds tomorrow morning, where the system would be explained to us further and in greater detail.

Afterwards, I and Mark went to my room, where we could speak openly. I believed they wouldn't spy on our rooms, as they already had the assigned maids monitoring us practically all the time, not to mention the 'Curse of Subservience' that is supposed to be affecting us as well.

"We can finally talk. First thing's first, let's get you to level up right now."

I reached into my pocked and pulled out a napkin with a millipede and an ant inside it. I managed to snatch them when Aileen walked in front of me while guiding me to the dining hall.

"Just stomp on these. Thanks to [Experience Boost], it should bring you to level 2 right away."

The ant was already half dead from me carrying it in a napkin in my pocket, so I hoped it wouldn't take away any of the XP from Mark. He wordlessly took the napkin from me, threw it on the ground and stomped on it. A second later, his eyes went wide. He probably received a stream of messages the same way I did.

"Don't get too shocked yet, read through some of the title and skill descriptions. Try to keep it down when you do, though."

"Sure, if you say so- WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Yep, there's the reaction I was expecting.

"Mythical?"

I asked Mark in a flat tone.

"Y-yeah, but, uh, what the hell is this?"

"The main character buff?"

I answered half-jokingly, but couldn't properly come up with a more believable explanation.

"Honestly, I myself am unsure of what to make of this. It's just so stupidly… broken. Not that I'm complaining."

Mark then read through the explanations of his skills and we shared what our skills did. His skills were mostly the same as mine, except for the unique skills [Menu] and [All Magic Mastery].

[Menu] – A secondary status window, granting the [Menu] specific sub-skills: [Map], [Analyze] and [Inventory]

[Map] – In the menu, you can open a map of the surrounding area from a bird's point of view

[Analyze] – Show information about a chosen target

[Inventory] – A sub-space created by [Menu] where you can store items

Just this skill was already amazing, but [All Magic Mastery] was honestly even more amazing.

[All Magic Mastery] – Guarantees affinity for all non-racial locked magics, increases the mastery of all magics by 2 times and increases the strength of all magic spells by 2 times

This meant that not only would all of his spells always hit twice as hard as compared to other mages, he would also be able to increase the level of his magics twice as fast as others and he's guaranteed to have all of the non-racial magics possible. This was simply ludicrous. I almost had my jaw drop to the floor. If it weren't for the shock [Mythical] and [Rewind] gave me, I would undoubtedly be cussing about what kind of bullcrap he managed to get.

[Menu] seemed to be pure utility, just like my [Seraphim], with no real offensive capabilities.

"With these kinds of skills and stats, I think we'd have no problem surviving even outside of the castle, but let's gather more information first. Honestly, I'd like to get out of here right now, but that is unfortunately not feasible. We've got next to no knowledge about how the outside world operates, so let's try to hit the library and get some much-needed understanding of the world."

"That does sound like the best course of action."

"Also, no fighting back against Simon and his gang if they try anything. We need them to think we're weak up until the last moment when we make our escape. We cannot draw suspicion on ourselves."

Mark nodded, albeit reluctantly. Drawing unwanted attention to us would most likely lead us to our early graves.

"As for the names…"

I trailed off, unsure of what to do about them. Mark decided to voice his idea, as he saw I was at odds on what to do.

"I think it'll be better if we put in different names than what we go by now. If we do escape to the outside world and we're forced to use another Status Crystal, it'd be better if we're known under a different name."

It was indeed a solid idea. Even if the knowledge of some [Mythical] classes is spread, it'd be rather unlikely that the authorities would draw the connection to us if a different name showed up on the Status Crystal. Not to mention, whichever nation figured it out would most likely try to keep a tight lid on it and curry favor with us.

"Oh, right, Sera? Might as well try and ask, do you have any knowledge about the outside world?"

<I'm afraid not, Master. I can tell you hidden details about certain skills, but cultural and geopolitical knowledge is outside of my field. My apologies.>

"Nothing to apologize for. What kind of hidden details can you tell me?"

<That [Mana Regeneration] considers 'sleeping' and 'unconsciousness' as two separate states. Simply meaning, being forcefully knocked out will not activate the multiplier. These kinds of details present in skill explanation.>

Mark awkwardly stared at me talking to myself. He knew I had [Seraphim], but it still must look surreal to see someone engaging in a full conversation with somebody they can't see. I must look like a schizophrenic to him, so I quickly conveyed what Sera told me. And as a side note, I decided to permanently refer to [Seraphim] as simply Sera.

"Is there any way for Mark to also be able to hear you? It'd be a pain to always relay any new information you give me."

<There is, Master. You must simply form a 'party' and I will be able to communicate with all your party members. Thanks the effect of [Extreme Experience Boost], can hijack mana line speak>

A window then appeared in front of my face, asking me if I wished to send a party request to '?'. Sera did all the status logistics for me. I of course accepted and Mark then pressed something on his status window and another notification popped up, informing me that '?' has joined my party.

"Seeing a question mark in place of a name is super weird. Let's put in the names we'll go by under from now on. I'm already decided on my new name. What about you?"

Mark put his hand on his chin and contemplated my question for a few short seconds.

"I'll go with Merlin Wisteria. I'd say it's rather fitting."

I smiled at that. Looks like I'll be partners with Merlin the Sage from now on. Haha, that tickles my nerdy heart just right.

"I'm going with Astoshan Vikra."

"Oh, isn't that the name of one of your favorite tabletop characters?"

I merely nodded in affirmation. The character in question is what introduced me to tabletop roleplaying games after I read through the story of that campaign, so it holds a special place in my heart. We input our new names in and our status windows quickly changed the question marks into 'Astoshan' for me and 'Merlin' for Mark.

"I just hope there aren't any more Status Crystal checks from now on."

I muttered to nobody in particular, realizing only belatedly that I just raised a flag. Sigh.