The usual group of friends all chimed in their support for Hayama. Swept along by the flow, the rest of the students naturally all agreed to fight as well. Aiko-sensei was conflicted but she also gave in.

In the end, everyone agreed to help fight in this world's war. However, no one knew what a real war was really like. In a sense, they might have just been trying to escape from reality to preserve their own sanity. They were in a state of shock after all.

Hachiman observed Ishtar out of the corner of his eye. He had a rather satisfied smirk on his face, something Hachiman took note of.

Since they had chosen to assist the humans in their war, they now needed to learn how to fight. No matter how amazing their newfound powers ended being, they were still kids. Children that never faced any kind of hardship in such a country like Japan.

Ishtar seemed to have prepared for that eventuality as well, since he explained to the students that there were people ready to receive them in the Heiligh Kingdom. Said kingdom was apparently at the foot of the divine mountain, and the temple they were currently in was the head temple of the Holy Church that stood at its summit.

The kingdom had very close ties with the Holy Church. According to Ehit, one of Ehit's progeny, Sharam Vaan, had founded the kingdom. Of all the human kingdoms, it was apparently the one with the richest history. The fact that the Church's most sacred temple was in the kingdom's backyard spoke volumes about how deep their connection ran.

Hachiman and the others headed for the temple's front gate. They were about to embark on their journey to the kingdom below. As they walked through the grand triumphal arcs that comprised the main gate of the temple, they were greeted by an endless sea of clouds. Because no one had suffered from altitude sickness, they hadn't realized they'd been up so high up. It was assumed that unknown techniques were making the environment around the temple habitable. They all stood in wonder as they stared at the clear blue sky and the waves of clouds sparkling in the sunlight.

On a barren land millions of kilometers away from Earth stood a man drawing his last breaths. Hundreds of evolved terraformars laid dead around him.

It was a glorious dawn, rays of sunlight were starting to appear from the clouds and the sky was turning blue again.

Reaching for the fading night, he yelled. "Glory to mankind!"

No matter the world I am in, the blue sky seems to always follow me.

Ishtar looked on proudly as everyone gawked, before urging them onward. As they made their way forward, they came upon a massive white circular pedestal that was surrounded by a fence. They walked through a majestic hallway made of the same white stone as the cathedral and stepped up onto the pedestal.

Engraved within the stone of the pedestal was a large magic circle. On the other side of the fence lay a steep drop to the clouds below, so most students huddled as close to the center of the pedestal as they could. But they were unable to restrain their curiosity, and timidly glanced around their surroundings despite their fear. As they were looking around, Ishtar began to chant.

"Faith is the key that opens the road to heaven- Celestial Path."

The magic circle began emitting a blinding light as he finished chanting. The entire pedestal began gliding down toward the ground, as if attached to some invisible cable. It appeared that Ishtar's chant had been an activation signal of sorts. It functioned exactly like a fantasy cable car. Some students started clamoring excitedly as they saw their first display of magic.

Once on the other side, the students could finally make out the ground below. Directly below them was a huge city or a rather small kingdom. A huge castle that looked as if it was jutting out of the mountainside lay at its center, with the rest of the city spreading outwards in a circle. The capital city of Heiligh. The magical cable car seemingly ran from the Holy Church down to the roof of one of the castle's towers via some aerial pathway.

It was a rather extravagant theatric. The entire journey had clearly been crafted to resemble 'higher beings descending down from heaven' or a similar feat. Some would call this ostentatious but it was a superb way of raising morale.

As they approached the royal palace sonorous cheers from huge crowds that sang their welcome could be heard.

The moment they landed, they were escorted to the throne room. The hallways they passed on their way were every bit as ostentatious as the temple had been.

Along the way they passed by knights, servants, maids, and people who looked like government officials from their uniforms. Everyone who passed gazed at the students with awe and wonder. They seemed to be were aware of who the students were.

Ishtar and the party of heroes finally found themselves standing before a pair of massive double doors, into which numerous beautiful designs had been engraved. Two guards were standing at attention on either side of the door, and they loudly announced the group's arrival to whomever was waiting within. Then, without waiting for a reply, they swung the doors open.

Ishtar leisurely passed through the entrance, clearly at ease. All of the students timidly followed behind him, with the exception of Hayama. Seemingly unaffected by the splendor surrounding them.

Within the room stretched a long red carpet that ended at the far wall. At its end lay a magnificent chair, or rather throne. Standing in front of the throne was a middle-aged man who radiated an aura of solemn dignity.

Next to him was presumably the queen, and next to her were a boy and a girl, both with blond hair and striking blue eyes. The boy, who was the younger of the two, seemed no more than ten years old, while the girl must have been around fourteen or fifteen. On the left side of the carpet was a line of soldiers, all clad in a decorated uniform-armor. On the right, a line of officers. Altogether, there were probably around forty people waiting in the room.

Once they were directly before the throne, Ishtar left the students and went to stand beside the king. He proffered his hand to the king, who took it reverently and kissed it with the lightest brush of his lips. As expected, the pope held more power than the king in this human society. Hachiman sighed inwardly.

Self-introductions followed after that. The king's name Eliheid S. B. Heiligh, and his wife the queen was called Luluaria. The blond boy was the prince Lundel, and the princess Liliana.

Then came introductions for the knight captain, the prime minister, and other important dignitaries. As an aside, the young prince's eyes were glued onto Yukinoshita the whole time.

Once the introductions had finished, a huge feast was laid out and the students were able to enjoy the dishes of a parallel world. Thought, for the most part, it wasn't very different from western food back on Earth.

Prince Lundel spent most of the meal talking to Yukinoshita, with Yuigahama checking on her every once in a while. Hayama was engaged in a conversation with the a minister, who seemed to be pleased by the amount of knowledge he seemed to possess. Hachiman chose to remain silent and savor his food listening to many different conversations.

Their lack of dining manners didn't faze the royal family. Which was curious. Hachiman remembered some bits and pieces from dealing with U-NASA higher-ups, but he abstained from showing it.

After they finished their meal, Hachiman and the others were introduced to the instructors they would be training with in return for being clothed and fed by the palace. Their instructors had been chosen from the cream of the crop. The best of the best they had to offer.

Once dinner and introductions were finished, everyone was led to their own individual rooms. Hachiman was certain that more than one would have been surprised by the huge canopy bed he found in his room.

Sitting on the edge of the bed he reviewed everything that had transpired. Eventually, drowsiness kicked in and he closed his eyes to prepare himself for a new day.

As it was an unfamiliar place, he didn't have a proper rest. But the luxurious bed somehow made up for it. The material the bed was made of was heavenly. Or perhaps enchanted.

Training began bright and early the next day morning. Everyone was handed a twelve centimeter by seven centimeter silver plate. As the students stared at those strange plates, a knight captain, Meld Loggins, began explaining their function.

He seemed quite happy to oversee their training, as he said "This has finally given me a reason to push all the paperwork onto my vice-captain!" with a hearty laugh.

"Alright, you kids all got your plates? We call them status plates. As their names suggests, they take various parameters and qualify them for you. They also make for great identification cards. So long as you've got these, you'll be fine even if you get lost somewhere, so hang onto them tight, you hear?" The knight captain had a very informal way of speaking. When asked about it, he simply said "We'll be comrades fighting together on the battlefield, so no point in being so stiff with each other!" and even urged them to speak casually with all the other knights.

Hachiman didn't know what to make out of him though. His instructors had been devils, they had to be like that, in order to train youths to perform under fire and the threat of death. No matter how much someone trained a set of moves, it would be useless if they froze up in the middle of a battle.

"You will see that one side of the plate has a magic circle inscribed on it. Use the needles I passed out to prick your finger and drip some blood onto the circle. That will identify you as the owner of the plate. Then, if you say "Open Status," you will see your current stats being displayed on the plate. Oh, and don't bother asking me how it works. I've got no clue. These things are artifacts left over from ancient times."

No technological innovations in centuries?

"Artifacts?" Hayama asked, stumbling over the unfamiliar word.

"Artifacts refer to powerful magical items that we no longer have the technology to produce. They were supposedly all made during the age of the gods when the creator's descendants still walked the earth. The status plates you all hold are all artifacts from that era as well, but they're the only artifacts that still see widespread use to this day. Most other artifacts are coveted national treasures, but there are enough of these plates that even average citizens own one. It's helpful since they make for very reliable identification."

Keyword: 'Very'. So it's deceivable?

It seemed that the artifact that produced these status plates still existed as well, and every year new plates were produced under strict supervision and control of the Holy Church.

The students all nodded in affirmation as they listened to his explanation. Once it was finished, they all gingerly pricked their fingers and rubbed the blood that welled up onto the magic circle of their plates. The circles flared briefly as blood touched them.

His status plate flared up briefly as well, and like ink spreading through paper, his plate was slowly dyed an icy blue. Hachiman was taken aback even if it wasn't reflected in his face. The other students also looked on in surprise as their plates changed colour.

Chief Meld continued his explanation of the plates after that. Apparently each person had their own colour of mana, and when their information was entered into their plates, the plated changed colour to match it. The reason they were able to serve as such reliable identification cards was because their colour and the colour of their owner's mana were always the same.

Once again, blue.

"I realize you're all impressed, but don't forget to check your stats, okay?" Captain Meld smiled wryly as he reminded the students to confirm their stats. His voice brought them all back to their senses and they gave Meld a brief look before hurriedly checking their stats.

On his, he found written:

Hikigaya Hachiman

Age: 17 - Male - Level: 1 - Job: Alchemist

Strength: 35 (?)

Vitality: 33 (?)

Defense: 34 (?)

Agility: 43 (?)

Magic: 42 (?)

Magic Defense: 44 (?)

Skills:

Transmute - Elemental Affinity - Language Comprehension

Everyone felt that they were transformed into some sort of video game characters as they read their plates. Seeing that, Meld began explaining the different stats. "Everyone got a good look at their stats? Okay, let me explain them from the top. First, we have your level. See it? The number grows as your other stats grow. The highest level is 100, and when you've reached that you're at your limits as a human being. In other words, one's current level shows how much of their full potential they've reached. Reaching 100 means unlocking all of your latent potentials, and is a cap beyond which you cannot grow. Very few people manage to make it to the level cap, though.'

"Your stats will naturally increase as you train, and you can also use magic or magic-imbued items to raise your stats. Also, those with a high magic stat will naturally grow faster than others. No one knows exactly why, but we assume it's because a person's mana assists in the growth of the other stats. Later on you'll all get to choose equipment that corresponds to your individual stats. The items of our treasury will be yours for the taking! You're heroes who are going to save our kingdom after all!" Judging by Captain Meld's explanation, defeating a monster wouldn't magically increase one's stats. Everyone just had to train the old fashioned way.

There's quite an awful lot of things you all don't seem to know. Is it to prevent us from possessing more knowledge or does the Holy Church simply consider the study of science heresy?

"Next up, do you all see that little box that says job in it? Put simply, that refers to your natural aptitude. It's directly linked to the kind of skills you can learn. Jobs are rare and they can be split into combat-based and non-combat-based disciplines."

Ishtar had said that the group came from a world superior to their own, and that they possessed better abilities than the humans of Tortus due to that fact. While some students, mainly the nerds, were very happy about this fact; other felt that something was not quite right.

"Your stats are exactly what they say they are. The average for most stats at level 1 is around 10. But you're all heroes, so you surely have far higher stats than that! Man I'm so jealous of you guys! Oh yes, don't forget to report your stats to me. I'll need to know them to decide how to best train you guys."

Hayama was the first to step up and show his stats to Meld. His stats were as follows:

Hayama Hayato

Age: 17 - Male - Level: 1 - Job: Hero

Strength: 100

Vitality: 100

Defense: 100

Agility: 100

Magic: 100

Magic Defense: 100

Skills:

Elemental Affinity - Elemental Resistance - Physical Resistance - Advanced Sorcery - Swordsmanship - Superhuman Strength - Armor Proficiency - Foresight - Increased Mana Recovery - Detect Presence - Detect Magic - Limit Break - Language Comprehension

A valuable ticket to a smooth sailing indeed.

As an aside, Meld was level 86. His stats were all within the 400 range, and he was one of the strongest humans alive. If everyone's growth rates were as high as what Meld claimed them to be, they were going to turn into the backbone of humanity very quickly.

In addition, it seemed that skills were 'innate' attributes your magic was suited for. There weren't numbers indicating levels behind these skills as magic didn't seem to work based on a system of levels but one of proficiency.

The Captain was very ecstatic at everyone's 'ridiculous' high stats and jobs. Starting immediately to instruct the students with some basic exercises.

Ekfreet

If nothing goes wrong like me dying from the corona I will be updating once a week the Sundays.