Chapter 3: Masked Hero? No, no, no it’s Shinobi
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The moment student + 1 teacher landed on atop of castle, they escorted to the throne room. The hallways they passed on their way were bit as ostentatious as the temple had been. Along the way, they passed by knights, servants, maids, and government officials. Everyone who passed gazed at the students with a mixture of awe and wonder. It seemed that most people 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 whoever 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 Kouki and his friends, who were 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 armor and uniform, on the right, a line of civil officers; altogether, there were probably around thirty people waiting in the room. Yuuya felt the presence behind the throne and upper, they probably members of the intelligence force of this kingdom.

 

Once they were directly before the throne, Ishtar left the students and went to stand beside the king. He then proffered his hand to the king, who took it reverently and kissed it with the slightest brush of his lips. It looked like the pope was even more important than the king. Hajime sighed inwardly, as he was now certain that “God” ran the kingdom while Yuuya noted about the relationship of kingdom and church if what his religious informant said was true, the church in this world was in their corrupted stage.  

A flurry of self-introductions followed after that. The king’s name was Eliheid S. B. Heiligh, and his wife the queen was called Luluaria. The blond boy was the prince Lundel, and the girl the princess Liliana.

Then come introductions for the knight captain, the prime minister, and other important dignitaries. As an aside, the fact that the young prince’s eyes were glued onto Kaori the whole time made it clear that her charm worked on the men of this world as well.

Once the introductions had finished, a huge feast was laid out and the students were able to enjoy the dishes of a parallel world. Though, for the most part, it was kind of a different version of western food on earth.

After the meal finished, they introduced to their instructor they would be training with in exchange for participating in the war in this world. Their instructors had been chosen from the ranks of active duty knights and court magicians. The king probably wanted to strengthen the relationship between the students and his kingdom for the inevitable war to come.

Once dinner and introduce finished. They would be escorted to their individual room but it seemed Shizuku has a different plan in her mind. On the way to their individual room, she asked Aiko-sensei to be in the same room as Yuuya which made Aiko-Sensei lectured both Shizuku and Yuuya about sex education. Shizuku felt embarrassed when Aiko-Sensei talked about how the baby was made. After all, she only wanted to sleep together not made baby yet, before she blows up though Yuuya sends help relief.

“Sensei, Shizuku probably shook with today's event. So can you let us sleep together just for tonight,”

“She can sleep with Kaori, right,”

““Please Sensei”’

Aiko watched both of them lower their head and sighed with her favorite student request; both respected her as their teacher. Especially Yuuya, he never once called her ‘Ai-chan’ unlike other students, something she really grateful for. So watching both of them request her with sincerity was really hard for her, after thinking for a few minutes. She reluctantly accepted their request.

“ONLY for today okay”

“” Thank you, Sensei””

After Yuuya and Shizuku send off Aiko-Sensei, but when they back to their room the awkward atmosphere descends unto them. They could only look at each other, the first one who breaks it was Yuuya as he slowly pulls and hugged Shizuku, feeling the warm she used to; Shizuku silently cried as she hugged him back.

“Are you afraid?”

“*hic *hic yeah,”

“Its alright, you are strong, my Shizu-chan has a strong heart, Now, now, and tomorrow our training will begin. So let sleep”

Yuuya gentlely wipe Shizuku’s tear, as he saw her face; he couldn’t help but kiss her lips. At first, Shizuku was bit shocked when she felt Yuuya’s lip, but she soon slowly enjoying their first kiss; when they separated their lips, Shizuku couldn’t help felt embarrassed. As if he didn’t satisfied with her bashful face, he carried her in bridal style and slowly put her in a huge bed with canopy in their room, “That nice expression, Shizu,” feeling Yuuya just tried to cheer up her with his teasing, she only muttered, “Baka,” as she uses a pillow to hide her face from him. Yuuya was holding her hand and hug her body as he lay beside her and that how they sleep together for the first time in another world, Tartarus.

Training began bright and early the next morning. It seems everyone didn’t know Yuuya and Shizuku sleep together last night. Everyone was handed a twelve centimeter by seven-centimeter silver plate. As the students stared at those strange plates, the knight captain, Meld Loggins, began explaining their function.

To think they ordered knight captain to oversee our training, it seems the kingdom really serious about this, Yuuya thought, as everyone wondered if it’s alright for knight captain to train them.

Captain Meld himself seemed to be quite happy to oversee their training, as he laughed heartily and said, “Besides, this gives me a reason to push all the boring paperwork onto my vice-captain!” It seemed the captain was perfectly content with his role, though the poor vice-captain probably was not.

“Alright, you kids all got your plates? We call them status plates. As their name suggests, they take various parameters and quantify 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 had 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.

Hajime and the others found his friendly attitude pleasant. They would have found it awkward to have people far older than them showing them respect anyways.

“You’ll 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’ll see your current stats displayed on the plate. Oh, and don’t bother asking me how it works. I’ve got no clue. These things are artifacts leftover from ancient times.”

“Artifacts?” Kouki asked, stumbling over the unfamiliar word. 

“Artifacts refer to powerful magical items that we no longer have the technology to reproduce. 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.”

It seemed that the artifact that produced these status plates still existed as well, and every year new plates were produced under the 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 magic circles flared briefly as the blood touched them.

Yuuya saw his status plate flared up briefly as well, and like ink spreading through wool, his plate was slowly dyed crimson. Yuuya was taken aback. The other students also looked on in surprise as their plates changed color.

 

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

 

Crimson huh, am I Nobunaga descendant? Yuuya laughs as he remembers a certain historical figure from Japan who becomes female in certain gacha games. Yuuya looked at Shizuku status plate which changes to the deep blue of lapis Lazuli which suits her really well; His best friend, Hajime’s was Sky blue, Kaori’s was light purple, Ryutarou’s was dark green, and Kouki’s was pure white.

“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 sense and they gave Meld a brief look before hurriedly checking their stats.

Yuuya returned his own gaze back down to his status plate. On it, he found written—

============================================================================

Yuuya Yaegashi Age: 17 Male            Levels: 1

Job: Masked Hero [Shinobi]

Strength: 200 (300)

Vitality: 200 (300)

Defense: 200 (300)

Agility: 200 (300)

Magic: 200 (1000)

Magic Defense: 200 (1000)

Skills: All Elemental Affinity — All Elemental Resistance — Physical Resistance — Composite Sorcery — Swords Proficiency [+?????] — Dagger Proficiency — Close Quarter Combat Proficiency — Projectile Proficiency —Atlas Strength — Armor Proficiency — Perfect Vision [+?????] — Supersonic Step [+?????] — Increased Mana Recovery — Detect Presence —Detect Magic — Invisibility ([+Status Concealment]) — Limit Break [+?????] — Transmute — Language Comprehension — ?????

============================================================================

—the above information. Yuuya felt that he’d almost turned into some kind of video game character he played with Hajime as Yuuya looked at his stats. Everyone else was also absorbed in reading their plates. Seeing that, Captain Meld began explaining the different stats.

 

“Everyone got a good look their stats? Alright, let me explain them from the top. First, we have your level. See it? That 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 realized. 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 level 100, though.”

 

So it wasn’t exactly like a game, since raising your stats increased your level and not the other way around.

“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 other stats. Later on, you’ll all get to choose equipment that corresponds to your individual stats. The items in our treasury will be yours for the taking! You’re the 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.

 

“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 skills box at the bottom, and your job determines the kind of skills you can learn. Few people possess a job. Jobs are split into combat-based and non-combat-based disciplines. Combat jobs are rare.

Only one in every hundred, thousand, or ten thousand depending on the job, people have a combat-based job. Non-combat jobs are technically rare too, but... well, one in every hundred people has one. Some of them are even common enough that one in every ten people has one, actually. There’s a lot of people who have non-combat production-related jobs.”

After hearing Meld's explanation Yuuya wanted to retort his “Masked Hero” job. Not mention, it seems there additional job besides what was shown on his status plate, since when he asked Hajime to saw his status plate, Hajime didn’t saw his “Shinobi” job. Yuuya didn’t miss Hajime shocked and lament expression when he saw Yuuya’s status plate. So he asked Hajime to show his status plate. On it, written -

============================================================================

Hajime Nagumo Age: 17 Male Levels: 1

Job: Synergist [+?????]

Strength: 30

Vitality: 30

Defense: 30

Agility: 30

Magic: 30

Magic Defense: 30

Skills: Transmute — Language Comprehension — ?????

============================================================================

- Again, it seems he the only one who saw something besides the job and skill. Now, Yuuya knows why Hajime was shocked, all of his stats were 30; He probably hopes everyone had the same status as him, like some starter character. The next explanation of meld gives the final blow to Hajime.      

 “Next... well, your stats are simply 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.”

 

Hajime clung onto this last sliver of hope that Yuuya’s stat was an exception. Yuuya was a definition of a cheater than Kouki for him. As he furtively glanced around at the other students. Everyone’s eyes were sparkling as they looked at their stats. Not a single one of them was breaking out in a cold sweat like Hajime.

Kouki was the first to step up and show his stats to Captain Meld. His stats were as follows—

============================================================================

Kouki Amanogawa Age: 17 Male Levels: 1

Job: Hero

Strength: 100

Vitality: 100

Defense: 100

Agility: 100

Magic: 100

Magic Defense: 100

Skills: Elemental affinity — Elemental Resistance — Physical Resistance — Composite Casting — Swords Proficiency — Superhuman Strength — Armor Proficiency — Foresight — Increased Mana Recovery — Detect Presence — Detect Magic — Limit Break — Language Comprehension  

============================================================================

“Whoa, you really are a hero. You already have stats in the triple digits at level 1! And most people normally only get two or three skills! You’re way beyond normal. What a reliable hero!”

“Well, you know how it is... Ahaha...” Kouki blushed and scratched his head as Captain Meld praised him. He snares at Yuuya. His job clearly stated “hero” with this he could defeat Yuuya and prove it to Shizuku that he can protect her better than him.

 

As an aside, Captain Meld was level 62. His stats were all within the 300 range, and he was one of the strongest humans alive. But at just level 1, Kouki was already a third of the way to his strength. If his growth rates were just as high, he’d overtake the captain in no time.

In addition, it seemed as if your skills were basically the innate talents you were born with, so there was no way to increase them. The exception being derivative skills, those were skills that were acquired by spending a lifetime polishing one’s talents, something one acquired by surpassing their limits in a certain field. Put simply, it was when someone suddenly discovered the trick to doing something they’d always struggled to before and rapidly increased their proficiency with it.

While others already have shown their status to meld, Yuuya waiting Shizuku turn as Yuuya escorted Shizuku to show her status plate to Meld, Kouki was felt a bit irritating as he watched Shizuku holding hand with Yuuya.

================================================================

Shizuku Yaegashi Age: 17 Female Levels: 1

Job: Swordmaster [Kunoichi]

Strength: 80

Vitality: 100

Defense: 100

Agility: 150

Magic: 200

Magic Defense: 200

Skills: Sword Proficiency — Supersonic Step — Foresight — Detect Presence — Invisibility — Limit Break —Language Comprehension

================================================================

Captain Meld was ecstatic after having seen how ridiculous everyone’s stats had been. He was elated to have so many overpowered allies but he was still shocked to know this girl has outclassed the first guy with “Hero” Job in 3 Stats. Not mention, he could felt powerful aura from the boy who holds her hand and after he checks Yuuya’s status plate, he could only wonder about this boy's monstrous talents.

 

Then comes Hajime turn, when he was presented his plate to Meld though, Meld smile froze in place when he saw Hajime’s plate. He muttered “Did I just misread it?” and began rapping the plate with his knuckles, then shone some light on it. After staring at it for a long time, he finally returned the plate to Hajime with a complicated expression.

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