Versatile Champion

[Sometimes I wish the world would end. And I don't mean the 'repent and you will join his kingdom' kind. I mean an apocalypse, and I think I've figured out what my ideal one would be.]

Gray had to write slow; with as little movement as possible, or risk Ms. Dikinya, who was currently lecturing on electrostatics at the front of the class, catching on to him.

Two of his journals had already fallen into her clutches, and he certainly wasn't about to let her have another. Especially not this one; this was his 'thought' journal.

[A magic meteorite crashing into Earth is at the top of my list. I imagine we'll all get powers of some sort. Zombie outbreak second, but only because I've been planning for such an event for so long.]

The girl sitting to his right gave him a judgemental glare, clearing her throat a little too loudly before focusing her attention back on the blackboard.

He stopped writing and feigned an attentive expression before continuing only a moment later.

[My point is, if one of these things happen, I wouldn't have to sit through Dikinya's lessons anymore. No, maybe I'm underselling it. 'IF' one of these things were to happen, my life would be somewhat interesting.]

"Mr Gray, since you're paying so much attention to my lecture today. Would you mind answering the question on the board?"

Gray's posture stiffened, and he instantly shut his journal. It took him a moment to process what was happening.

A few of his classmates were giggling, and the girl sitting next to him had a satisfied look on her face.

~Fuck, what the hell is the question? ~

His eyes scanned the numerous equations on the board, searching for anything that somewhat resembled what Dikinya had been talking about before he zoned out. He settled on a sketch of a sphere, with several variables written beside it.

"Mr Gray?" Ms. Dikinya had a smug smile on her face.

~With a smile like that, someone would think you 'wanted' me to fail.~

As he approached the board, he tried to recall the method used to answer this sort of question. It was a simple one, but Dikinya was very particular about how she wanted her questions answered. Any 'creative' methods were deemed incorrect.

Which was much of the reason why the two of them butted heads so often.

Ms. Dikinya passed him the chalk, and he got to work. The question was about a conducting sphere with uniformly distributed charge.

He solved it in a matter of seconds, using the exact methodology Dikinya seemed to think came from god himself.

She looked over it, and as the smile on her face disappeared, the one on his grew.

"That is correct, Mr Gray," she said reluctantly.

The class began clapping in response. It wasn't because they liked Gray, they just didn't like Dikinya.

"Since it was so simple for someone only paying half their attention to the class, then it'll be a breeze for everyone else. For today's homework, you'll all do sections three through five," she announced.

The class groaned but this was quickly shut down by one of her infamous death glares. Unable to vent their frustrations, they turned their attention to Gray, who was still walking back to his seat.

"Nice one," one of them muttered.

"Why'd you have to provoke her man," another whispered.

~She was going to give us that much anyway,~

Dikinya was already carrying on with her lesson by the time he got to his seat. ~Wait, where is it?~ he thought, noticing that his journal was missing.

"Magic meteorite," he heard someone whisper behind the class, followed by a round of giggles.

"Ms. May, is something funny?"

Gray's face felt hot. ~The least you could do is not get caught, ~ he thought. However, it seemed that his wishes would go unanswered. Ms. Dikinya was already walking towards the back of the class.

~Now I really wish the world would end. ~ He slouched into his seat, hoping that it would swallow him whole.

『Planet 4052B has been conscripted as a Vassal world.』

~Huh?~

『A high level of chaos has been detected within you.』

『You have been chosen as one of 4052B's champions.』

『Please wait while your champion data is being processed.』

Gray stared at the floating words in frozen shock. It took him a moment to calm himself enough to actually read them, but it seemed he'd completely forgotten how to comprehend simple English.

He reread them several more times, as slow as his racing heart would allow.

~Wait, System Interface? Like fantasy novel System?~

His heart thundered like a drum in his ears. He felt light-headed from the excitement, yet at the same time, he still struggled to believe what was happening.

He read novels regularly; he knew what this was. A system notification. But the question remained, was it really there, or had he finally gone insane?

He was more inclined to believe the latter.

"C-Can anyone else see the floating words?" someone at the front of the class asked.

Ms. Dikinya was currently trying to wrestle the journal out of May's hands; she was way too busy to entertain another class clown.

"Stop looking for attention," the girl beside Gray shouted. She seemed to be in a good mood today.

~Then I'm not the only one who sees this, right? It's really happening,~

Gray's heart thundered even louder. He wasn't crazy, and what's more, he seemed to be part of a special few.

~Wait, what about my parents? If I'm a champion or whatever, does that mean that something's coming?~

So many other thoughts raced through his mind. He wanted to calm down, but his body wasn't having any of it.

~What's that sound?~

Something screeched outside the classroom, like metal grinding against metal. His blood ran cold, and his thundering heart seemed to halt in that instant.

 He turned to look out the window.

Chaos.

The window blew off its hinges. A bright light ripped into the room, and a flash later, the entire front portion of the class was gone. A roaring rumble came right after; followed by a gale that sent the remaining desks and chairs smashing into the walls.

###

Everything hurt. He was sprawled across the ground, his nose pressed against what pieces remained of a wooden desk. He wasn't breathing, it felt like something had punched his lungs.

He tried to inhale, but all that came was more pain. When air finally broke through, clumps of debris invaded his throat... it burned. Despite that he continued to suck it all in; sweet, sweet air. 

His hearing was muffled, but he could still make out screaming from right beside him.

『Processing complete.』

『Champion talent selected.』

『Unique Rank Talent: 'Universal Citizen' has been awarded to you.』

『Congratulations on your conscription. You will serve well.』