Disclaimer: OP protagonist and trashy generic isekai plot, click off if you don't want to read. This is just a little something fun to read with your brain turned off. Character dynamics and relationships are most likely completely different from the main story. The main story will return after this chapter, so don't fret if you don't like this type of genre/story. Once again, click off if you do not enjoy generic isekais. You have been warned.

—

"...Wake up..."

A faint voice calls to me while my mind is drifting in between a state of being awake and asleep.

"Takei... I'm giving you one more chance to get up before I forcibly drag you out of bed."

I shutter at the thought of my little sister's threat because I know that she is the type of person to make good on her word.

"Alright you got me, I'm getting up."

Airi looks satisfied as she watches me slowly getting up.

"Alright I'm off to school, make sure you get to school on time today!"

"I will, I promise."

"I also would wish you would stop staying up so late and playing video games," Airi hurriedly said, as she walked out.

"No can do," I murmured.

Airi doesn't realize that I work a bunch of part-time jobs after school to help our family out while doing my homework at night to keep up with my classmates.

Our family of three is composed of me, my mom, and my sister. My father died of an illness when I was 11 which automatically made me the man of the house.

My mom struggles to put food on the table to feed all three of us, so as soon as I turned old enough, I started to pick up some odd jobs I could do to get some quick cash to help out.

I haven't told Airi about the jobs yet because I don't want her to worry and also want to get a job like me since her education is much more important right now than getting a job.

"I shouldn't be talking," I said, chuckling to myself.

That reminds me...

"Oh shit!"

I look at the clock and realize that it is now 7:35 a.m.

"I'm going to be late for school!"

I hurriedly put on my school uniform and grab my school bag as I dash out of my room.

When I reached the kitchen, I saw my mom eating breakfast before she leaves to go to work.

"Sorry mom, no breakfast today, I'm going to be late to school if I don't hurry."

"Takei, you need to start setting alarms and not relying on your younger sister to wake you up," my mom said, in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry."

"It's fine, I'll be making your favorite food for you when you come back from school today," my mom said, cheekily.

My mom knows all my weaknesses as well as my favorite food, so there is no winning against her in my book.

"I'll be looking forward to it, bye now!" I yelled, as I sprinted out the door.

The high school I go to, Shirakawa High, is only a 10 minute walk from my house so usually I leave pretty late, but my gut feeling was telling me to take my time today.

I strolled slowly to school until I spotted an all too familiar blonde-haired girl also walking to school.

"Hey Akari! Wait up!"

The girl in question turns around surprised to hear me yelling for her, but smiles nonetheless.

The girl was none other than Akari Akazawa, my childhood friend that I've known all my life and my classmate at school.

Both of our moms were best friends, so it's no wonder that both of their children also got along well.

It probably also helped that we were the same age and went to the same schools too.

To be more specific, we're both 16 years old and in our second year at Shirakawa High.

"Morning Takei, I see you're as energetic as ever" Akari said, while smiling gently.

"Nothing much, I've just been sleeping and working all day."

"If you don't get any hobbies, then you won't ever be popular at school" Akari frowned.

I have a reputation at school as the quiet kid in the back of the class who has no presence at all.

My interaction with others is subconsciously limited to only when it's necessary and when the situation calls for it.

Throughout the years, I've been able to make a couple close friends so that was good enough for me.

I don't do any clubs or extracurricular activities because I spend too much time working after school.

Another reason for why I don't do anything school related after hours is that I despise expending energy on unnecessary things. There is just no good reason why I need to waste my energy on things that won't matter as much in the future.

As I get consumed by my thoughts, Akari notices the change in my expression and immediately tries to comfort me.

"I hope that you're able to find your passion for competing in sword fighting tournaments again" Akari asks, concerned with my well-being.

My father was a major battle nut who was also my instructor in learning the ways of the sword.

Very early on, I learned that I was a very talented individual who could easily rival grown ups that have been practicing for years on end.

I was able to win many tournaments due to my talent and rigorous training.

That soon ended when my father died.

It left a bad taste in my mouth to participate in a tournament without my father there watching.

I eventually quit participating in any tournaments, but still kept up with my sword training everyday to make sure I didn't become rusty.

"Maybe sometime in the future, but right now I'm focused on school and having a good time at the peak of my youth," I said, cheekily.

"Whatever you say..." Akari said, while losing interest in the conversation.

Both of us walk side by side and eventually reach the school. We share the same homeroom and route to school so it's not uncommon for us to walk into class together.

As soon as we enter the class, Akari is immediately surrounded by other girls which is unsurprising because she is very popular due to her beautiful long blonde hair and bright personality.

This is completely fine with me, seeing as it makes it easier for me to reach my seat without being noticed.

As soon as I sit down though, I spot another group forming very near to my desk.

Eiji Hosegawa is the one in the middle of that group who is being surrounded by both boys and girls.

He is essentially the king of our class due to his good looks and charming personality.

Personally, I've never talked or associated myself with him to avoid making myself stand out more than I do.

"Wow, Eiji... you're so smart! I can't believe you got a 92 on that last exam, I struggled with it a lot," Daisuke Ishikawa happily buttered Eiji up.

Daisuke is a devout follower of Eiji who also happens to be his right hand man.

"Don't worry, if you study hard and do your homework then you can easily get a higher score than me," Eiji humbly stated.

Everyone looks at Eiji in awe as the bell starts ringing to notify all students that classes are starting.

All 30 students in our class begin to move to their assigned seats and sit down.

Typically our teacher is always late to homeroom because he goes to parties at night and gets wasted which then results in him arriving at school late due to a hangover.

Today seems to be no different than any past school days until...

"What the fuck is that!" one of my classmates yelled.

A massive magic circle was spread out on the floor of the classroom.

The circle contained symbols that even I, a bookworm, did not understand. Those symbols seem to be not from this world.

Then, the circle started to slowly rotate and the magic symbols started lifting up into the air.

I'm not sure if I was in the best state of mind, but I swear I heard a distant voice of a girl chanting something I couldn't understand.

Suddenly, a white blinding light appeared out of nowhere and ended all of our confusion in an instant...

***

"Where am I..." I muttered, unconsciously.

I slowly opened my eyes and a grand castle like in medieval times filled my vision along with a luscious field of grass.

All of my classmates were also regaining consciousness as they slowly got up.

"Where are we?" Akari mumbled.

"I don't think we're in our classroom anymore..." Eiji said.

"..." I said nothing as I was soaking up all the information into my brain to help deduce where we ended up at.

"Welcome, summoned heroes! I am King Roland Maxwell of the Kingdom Fowl and I have summoned you because we are in dire need of your help."

This seems pretty standard for all of those cliche isekai novels that I read when I was in my otaku phase.

There is a big chance that they've summoned us here because they want us to defeat the demon lord to save their world from his tyranny and therefore we have no way to go back to Earth until we defeat him.

A short girl in a royal dress came out and formally addressed us. She seems very well-mannered and refined as if she's been doing this her whole life.

"I am the king's daughter, Emilia Maxwell, please heroes follow us into the audience chamber."

Emilia looks about as tall as my little sister. They seem similar in age so I would assume Emilia is about 14 or 15 years old.

My whole class started following the king and the princess along with the knights in tow to the audience chamber.

We all then stood about waiting for the king to explain the situation.

"You all must be very confused, but my court magician has summoned you heroes to this world to help us vanquish a long-time foe of ours," the king said, solemnly.

"Where are we? How did we get from our classroom to here?" Daisuke said.

"This world is called Ilandis and it is simply a completely different planet than the place you call Earthl."

The king then snapped his fingers and the torches that lined up the walls immediately burst into flames.

"How did you do that?" another one of my classmates asked.

"I assume your world doesn't have magic because I used a very simple fire spell just now and you looked at it as if it's your first time seeing magic," the king said dejectedly.

It's true that our world does not have magic, but rather science prevails as it is the driving force behind all innovations.

"Mana is the life force of all things and the reason why magic exists at all in the first place. The use of magic draws mana from the user's body as the body is used as a conduit. Everyone has a limit to how much mana can be stored in their body. It can vary depending on the person and their class," the king explained.

In terms of science, the explanation makes enough sense to call it plausible. The reason why there is no magic on Earth could very well be the difference of mana in the atmosphere between these two worlds.

I can feel the difference in the air next to me compared to the air on Earth. There is another element in the air on Ilandis and I'm almost positive that the element is a strong concentration of mana.

"There are nine classes: hero, knight, healer, tank, necromancer, archer, mage, assassin and summoner," the king explained. "If you use your left hand and cut the air vertically, it will show your status bar with what type of class you've been assigned, as well as your health pool, mana pool, and magic affinities. Give it a try."

My classmates started doing the gesture of motions that the king instructed us to do and soon enough status bars were popping up in front of them.

"I've been assigned the hero class!" Eiji yelled in surprise.

"I got the knight class!" Daisuke yelped.

"Looks like I got the healer class," Akari sighed.

Since the status bars were visible to everyone in the near vicinity, I decided to move into the corner of the room to check mine in private.

"What..."

[Voidwalker]

"This wasn't any of the classes the king listed off. Is it possible that I have a hidden class?" I murmured at a barely audible level.

None of my classmates are acting differently. Therefore, I think it is safe to assume they all got normal classes and no one got a hidden class like I did.

"If you look down lower, it will show what type of magical affinity you have. The affinity you have will dictate what type of magic you are best at. All four affinities are representative of the four elements: fire, water, wind, and earth," the king explained.

I look down to see another surprise awaiting me...

Affinity: [Void]

"Tch...Another irregular ability," I clicked my tongue in irritation.

Some of my classmates are yelling in amazement having received the fire class as they believe that it is the strongest class due to it's sheer destructive power.

I'll just pretend I have the assassin class and the earth affinity for now so I can research the true extent of my powers later on.

"Recently, the demons have started to invade human territories at a horrifying pace. Therefore, we would like for you heroes to help us vanquish the demon lord that has been invading our lands," the king pleaded.

"I will do my best to save your world!" Eiji heroically roared.

"Yeah, what he said!" Daisuke yells.

"..." Akari and I stay quiet while our class gets riled up to take down a demon lord as if he's a villain from a video game.

I have no intention of helping this world with its troubles since this world is not my home, combined with the fact that I need to return home as fast as possible to take care of my mom and sister.

I grabbed Akari's hand and pulled her aside to have a quick discussion with her about the future.

"Even if they're not doing it intentionally, it feels like they're forcing this job onto us..." Akari whispered immediately.

"I think we need to research as much as possible on this world and leave to find a way home. I don't like abandoning people, but I have my own worries at home," I quickly added on.

"Agreed, I feel the same way about abandoning these people, but our magical kidnapping makes it much easier to part ways with them," Akari says with a mischievous smile.

"Stay low and research as much as you can about this world. We will be leaving as soon as I figure out all the small details."

"Understood," Akari quickly responds then joins back with the group.

I then noticed another tab in the user interface.

The king didn't say anything about this tab so I figured I should have a quick look.

-Skills-

[Jack of all Trades]

"Have the ability to wield and master all affinities"

I somehow have a skill already without doing anything as I've just arrived to this world, and a powerful skill at that.

This is grounds for an investigation seeing as all these weird occurrences keep on happening to me.

"My knights will bring you to your rooms and we will reconvene in an hour for dinner," the king said.

I followed the knight that led me to my room and collapsed on the bed trying to gather all my thoughts together.

"Where do I go from this..." I unconsciously said.

Every castle must have a library so that might be a good place to start.

I snuck out of my room and sneakily roamed the castle to try and find the library.

After 15 minutes of walking, I eventually stumbled upon the royal library.

I walked in and saw no one there, so I hastily grabbed as many important books as possible.

Some of the books were on history and the others were on the use of magic.

As soon as I was satisfied with the amount of books I've accumulated, I ran back to my room with all the books in hand.

I started reading the history books and found out that the demons have been at war with humans for years on end now. The main reason that we were summoned was most likely due to their recent rapid advancement into human territory.

The currency of this world seems to be a hierarchy of bronze, silver, gold and platinum. 10 of each coin equals one coin of the next tier apparently.

I flipped through the magic book quickly and took advantage of my [Jack of all Trades] skill and memorized as many spells as possible from each affinity.

I attempted some of the spells which were very easy to handle so I at least have a grip on chanting spells and controlling them.

Some light knocking started at my door.

"Sir Hero, dinner will be ready soon. Please be at the dining hall in five minutes," the knight said.

"Understood," I replied.

I guess I'll have to leave the studying of spells for tonight. I still need to figure out how to use the void attribute since it is not listed anywhere in the magic books.

I then slide the books under my bed and proceed to make my way to the dining hall.

On the way there, I bumped into a girl accidentally.

"Oops sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's fine, I don't believe we've met so I'll introduce myself. My name is Elisa Motoha and I am the court mage of this kingdom."

"My name's Takei Tanaka, I assume you're the one who brought us here?"

"Indeed I am. It was no trivial task transporting 30 people between worlds."

"I was wondering if the spell could take us back to our world?" I asked, inquisitively.

"Unfortunately, it is a one-way spell and currently there is no way to travel back to that world," Elisa states solemnly.

"Is that so..." I responded, grimacing.

"I get the feeling that you're reluctant to fight the demon lord," Elisa questioned.

"It's hard to get motivated to solve another world's problems when you have problems of your own."

"I see... I can understand why you would think that since technically we did kidnap you guys from your world," Elisa smiled, apologetically.

"Returning to my world is my main priority right now and nothing will stop me," I quickly stated. "I will do everything in my power to leave this sh*tty world and return home."

"You do realize that you would need an immense amount of power to be able to return home, right? The journey to find a spell to return home will be a long and rough one."

"I have full faith in my ability to adapt to any scenario be it combat or magic" I quickly retorted.

"You seem very confident in your magic abilities even though it hasn't yet been a day since you've been summoned. Is there really no magic on Earth?"

"I'm afraid not, I've just been studying a bit and practicing."

"Very well, I shall test your mettle tonight after dinner to see if you are as capable as you say. If you are capable enough, then I will talk with the king about your departure. Please meet me at the courtyard later tonight, Takei."

"I'll be looking forward to it, Elisa," I said, while grinning brightly.

Both of us then arrive at the dining hall and slowly enter.

"Hey Takei... what took you so long?" Akari beckoned for me to come and sit next to her.

"Sorry, I was busy studying."

"We're in another world and instead of looking in awe of everything, you're studying instead," Akari smirked.

She is keeping up the ignorant act admirably well, as expected of my best friend.

"Eiji, here have a bite of my food!" Rosalie Sato yelled out loud.

"Thank you, Rosalie, that was tasty," Eiji said.

Rosalie is a bubbly girl in my class who is mostly popular due to her outgoing personality so that's why she and Eiji get along so well seeing as they both have similar personalities.

She's tried to talk to me many times, but I would always give her vague responses to her questions to lightly brush her off.

I don't like associating myself with people I can't fully trust yet. It's just the nature of my personality.

"Ah, it seems that everyone is here. Let the dinner commence!" The voice of the king boomed throughout the hall.

"Tomorrow, sword training as well as magic training will start. For now, eat to your heart's content," the king continued.

It looks like the king will have his knights train us at sword fighting while his mages train us at magic.

His knights don't look too shabby, but I'm confident I can easily beat them since I've been practicing swordsmanship my whole life. The mages on the other hand might be a bit more difficult. If I focus on studying and practicing more, then there's a good chance I can beat them even if they are more experienced. Researching ways on how to harness and use my void affinity is also at the top of my priority list.

Dinner went through without trouble so I quickly returned to my room after everyone finished eating to avoid causing suspicion.

I read some more magic books and learned some offensive spells while I was at it until I noticed something outside.

I looked out my window to see the mages training in the courtyard before heading to bed. They seem to be using only one affinity each. I assume that most mages can only use magic from the affinity they're best at. That's good for me, since...

I'm not like other people.

***

The long hand on the clock has almost reached the desired time.

"Looks like it's time for me to start heading out to the courtyard," I muttered, feeling especially excited.

I step out of my room and after strolling for a bit, I approach the courtyard entrance.

As expected, Elisa was already there waiting for me.

"You wait long, Elisa?"

"I just got here myself, but thanks for the consideration," she smiled lightly.

"Since you're new at magic, I'll give you a hint. If you look under your magic affinity, there is a brief description explaining how that affinity works"

I did as she said and surprisingly enough there was a description for my void affinity.

[Void]

"Time-space manipulation"

Huh, if I can manipulate time and space...Would that make teleportation a reality?

I wasn't able to give it much thought as Elisa was about to start the battle.

"I'll start first with some low level spells to see if you're able to keep up," Elisa stated.

"Alright, I'm ready."

Elisa began to count down."The battle will start in...3...2...1... BEGIN!"

"[Fireball]" Elisa chanted.

Looks like she's of the fire affinity. I'll start using only the earth affinity and stay on the defensive until I get an opening.

"[Rock Shield]"

A torrent of rocks then rose from the ground blocking the fireball and protecting me without a single scratch on my uniform.

"Oh, so you're an earth user," Elisa observed.

"Something like that..." I responded immediately.

"This is an even matchup for both of us, but let's see how much you can handle," Elisa smirked.

"[Flare]"

I saw this in the fire affinity section of that magic textbook I borrowed. This spell blinds opponents for a couple seconds to allow the user to either quick-cast another spell or rush in for close combat.

Since I didn't see this spell coming, I was easily flashed and blinded. The sounds of footsteps helped me realize she was rushing to challenge me in close-quarters combat.

I heard her on my left and got on a defensive stance as she tried to aim for my solar plexus.

"Too slow," I replied while blocking her fist.

Elisa then tried going for my feet, but it was too late for her because my vision had already returned.

"[Earthquake]" I chanted.

She immediately backed off as cracks in the ground started to appear at her last position.

"Looks like you're more proficient than you look. The combat skills you exert are far superior than mine, but I still have the upper hand in magic!" Elisa pridefully stated.

"Are you sure about that?" I replied, with immense confidence brimming inside of me.

'How is he so confident?' Elisa thought to herself.

"You're too proficient at defending with your earth affinity and I have duties to attend to, so I guess I'll have to pull out my trump card to end this fight fast," Elisa replied.

"No earth user has yet successfully defended against this spell so brace yourself."

I wonder what type of spell she has up her hand to be able to have that much confidence.

"May the holy bird of divinity engulf everything in flame and destruction so that it may be reborn anew..." Elisa chanted.

"[Phoenix]"

The magic textbook classifies this spell as a legendary-type spell that is capable of mass destruction. If I'm not careful then this spell will be the end of me. The bird launches enormous fire balls that earth magic can not defend against without the user taking significant damage.

A massive bird made of fire then arises and sets its eyes on me.

It's now or never.

I need to show off some of my hand or I'll lose this battle instantly.

The phoenix then launches a fireball at me.

Let's put my theory about time-space manipulation to test.

As the massive fireball is about to reach me, I use my secret affinity and reveal my hand.

"[Teleport]" I bellowed.

The fireball engulfs the spot I was previously at in pure fire.

I then reappear a safe distance away.

"Wha...What is that spell you just used!?" Elisa questioned me in shock.

"Something that can only be used by me," I slyly grinned with pride.

Elisa stands still frozen in shock.

"It's time to end this, [Fireball]."

She quickly dodges my spell, but some of her clothes were clipped by the fire itself.

"You can use more than one affinity?!" Elisa looked at me in shock.

"I can use all of them," I scoffed at her.

The drawn out talking and weak magic has put me in a bored state. I thought I would be able to see high level magic and unparalleled skill when fighting the court magician of this kingdom, but I was wrong.

"[Tsunami]"

A wave of water then swallows Elisa up, restricting her from the ability to chant any counterspells.

As expected though, she cuts through the water using her own mana as a blade by giving her mana a physical form.

"[Fire Rain]" Elisa chanted, as she went on the offensive.

Time to test out another theory of mine.

"[Fire Wall] [Rock Shield]" I yell out having successfully double casted for the first time.

Using the flow of mana inside of my body, I combine the spells together rather than let them be executed separately.

"A double cast!? Impossible!" Elisa shouted.

A massive rock covered in flame rises from the ground and blocks all of the fire rain.

The idea of combining spells and double casting seemed to be a pipe dream until I realized I had an ability to help make it reality.

[Jack of all Trades] enabled me to master all affinities which in turn granted me the ability to double cast since I have perfect control of all the affinities. I then used the mana in my body to reshape the spells so that they were able to work in harmony with each other.

After toying around with Elisa for a bit, I decided to finish this battle.

"This is checkmate, [Wind Slash] [Firebolt]" the two spells were chanted right after the other.

The wind slashed at her body, reducing her ability to move, then [Firebolt] pierced her chest knocking her out into a near unconscious state.

I picked her up and laid her unmoving body against a wall.

"Wow, his embrace is so warm..." Elisa thought to herself.

I then relayed a message to her.

"Don't try to stop me, I will use any means necessary to achieve my goals..." I whispered into her ear.

That feeling of sheer willpower was ominous enough to send a shudder down Elisa's back.

However, there was more than one emotion in that statement.

"He tried to sound serious about any means necessary, but there was just a hint of kindness behind that rough voice. I can tell he is a kind man behind that mask," Elisa smiled as she drifted off.

Walking away from the scene, I pondered many things. If the court mage of Fowl was unable to stop me, I wonder if anyone else can...

I tried my best to think of any possible obstacles as I silently walked back to my room during the peaceful nighttime.