A group of three young people - two girls and a boy -dressed in ragged clothes and covered in mud, stepped inside a building. Groups of burly men - and a few women -paused their meal to glance at the newcomer, before going back to their food and drinks.
The group of three approached a receptionist, and the boy started speaking. “We’d like to register as adventurers, please.”
It was a cold but beautiful afternoon in January, after school ended. The sun was already set. Three students were basking in artificial light, waiting in front of a door. “I can’t believe we received a detention for being in the hallway!” exclaimed one of them, a girl.
“Well, rules are rules, Fauna,” lamented another. The voice belonged to a boy. “We weren’t supposed to be there and we got caught.”
“Ashton is right. Although it was your fault we got caught,” said the last student.
“Xia! That’s not fair, I was hungry!” cried out Fauna.
Before Ashton was able to sigh, a monitor came to the group. “The three troublemakers of middle school, isn’t it a surprise?”
“It’s Fauna the troublemaker, Nikolas.”
“I know that, but you’re always with her.”
“Hey”, exclaimed Fauna. “I can hear both of you!”
“Come on, get inside.”
“Nikolas, where are the assignments we have to do during detention?” asked Xia.
“Oh,” shouted the monitor, “I forgot them. Get ready while I go get them.”
The monitor left them alone in the detention room, so they sat down wherever they wanted, although close to each other.
“Hey, why don’t we just run away?” asked Fauna.
“We’ll get into more trouble than this is worth,” explained Ashton after letting out a sigh.
Before Fauna could ask more of her stupid questions, the ground started to rattle. The light flickered for a short moment.
“What’s happening?”, wondered Fauna.
“I don’t know, was there an earthquake somewhere?”, questioned Xia.
As the three began to wonder if something had happened far away, the ground shook violently. Their pencils fell onto the ground, followed shortly by Ashton going under his table.
“Get under your table,” shouted Ashton, “that’s an earthquake!”
“An earthquake?” questioned Xia with surprise. “In Oakham?”
The girls quickly ducked under their respective table in panic.
“Shouldn’t we run away?” asked Fauna.
“It’s safer here. If something falls on us while we’re leaving, we could get seriously hurt,” said Ashton, trying to sound calm.
As if on cue from God itself, Ashton’s worst fear came to be. The fake roof of the room fell on the tables near the door. Fauna let out a yelp, and Xia started to panic. “What if we die? I can’t die!”, cried Xia. Ashton ran to her table and took her in his arms, trying to calm her down.
“It’s ok. We’ll be fine. Plus, it’s the fake ceiling Fauna broke while backflipping. Remember?”
This drew a chuckle from Xia, who started to calm down. The calm didn’t last long. The lights flickered again, then stopped working. The tremors grew even more violent. This time, a table and its chair from the classroom above crashed on the table Ashton was hiding under earlier.
Then, another tremor.
Xia looked up, “Fuck.”
Xia opened her eyes, or… well, she felt like she opened her eyes.
Before her, there were two white orbs. She felt like she knew them.
Are they Ashton and Fauna?
“You woke up,” said a voice.
I don’t recognize that voice… Who are you?
Xia tried to ask the voice who it was, but she couldn’t talk. Wait, am I an orb as well?
“The three of you died far too young. It was not in our plans for you to die. Let me make amends. I will give you another chance to continue your life, in a different world.”
Another world? Really? Will it be a fantasy world, like those Isekai stories?
“Yes, little souls. You will have powers. Now go, I have a group to reincarnate.”
Xia fell asleep peacefully, without even realizing.
Fauna woke up in a forest. Realizing where she was, she sprung onto her legs. Now on her feet, the first thing she saw was Ashton, making a fire.
“Ashton? Where are we?”
“Don’t you remember? The whole Spanish classroom fell onto us.”
“Oh… Right... Did you also see…?”
“The God, Goddess or whatever that was? Yeah.”
“So… We’re in a new world?”
“Most definitely. I saw a bird shooting a water spear at another.”
“You saw what?”
“A bird shooting a water spear at another.”
“It was rhetorical.”
“I know.”
“Where’s Xia? Did you see her?”
“She woke up a bit before you, she’s looking for berries. Something to eat and hydrate us.”
“I see… Why did that god send us in the middle of nowhere?”
“I dunno.”
“Didn’t the God say something about power, as well?”
“It did. Say “Status” and it should show up. It’s the first thing I tried doing when I remembered what God said.”
“Status.”
A dark red window appears in front of her, with white lines forming letters.
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SYSTEM
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NAME : FAUNA LEE
AGE : 15
LEVEL : 1
CLASS : BERSERKER
SYSTEM POINTS : 30
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STATISTICS
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HP : 86/86
MP : 50/50
STRENGTH : 25
VITALITY : 20
INTELLIGENCE : 80
AGILITY : 10
TRAITS
BLOODTHIRSTY
CRUSHING BLOW
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SKILLS
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
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INDOMITABLE
All damage will be reduced by 25%, at the cost of 1 MP per second.
COLOSSAL RAGE
Attack is boosted by 250% at the cost of 10 HP per second.
incompatible with healing magic when activated.
BLOODY RAMPAGE
Agility and Strength get a 300% boost.
Intelligence and Vitality are set to 0 while activated.
Cost 10 HP and 2 MP per second.
LYCAN
User transforms into a wolf-human hybrid.
gain 10% Agility, Strength and Vitality; lose 50% Intelligence.
Cost 30 MP to transform.
“Wow…”
“Can you show me? Just think of showing me the window.”
“Sure.”
The same window appeared in front of Ashton.
“Let’s see… Berserker? The traits do seem to match one. Stats seem pretty good for a level one, but I don’t have much to compare to except mine and Xia’s.”
“How do I know what the traits do?”
“Just think of seeing their descriptions.”
“Ok, let’s see the traits first.”
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SYSTEM
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BLOODTHIRSTY
By killing an enemy, the user regenerates health equal to 25% of the remaining enemy HP just before death.
“Is that good? I’m not sure I understand correctly.”
“Yeah. I think it is. If I do understand, if you killed an enemy with 100 remaining HP, you’d regenerate 25 HP”
“Wow. That’s good!”
“Yeah, for you it could be good. What’s the other one?”
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SYSTEM
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CRUSHING BLOW
Strength +15% when unarmed.
Agility -50% when wielding a weapon.
“Hmm… You’ll probably need to fight with your fists. Bare fists, even.”
“That’s… Annoying.”
“A little bit.”
Fauna lets out a sigh, before saying “At least they pair well with my skills.”
“Yes, it seems that Colossal Rage and Bloody Rampage needed Bloodthirsty. At the very least, Colossal Rage.”
“What’s yours?”
“Here.”
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SYSTEM
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NAME : ASHTON BEAUMONT
AGE : 15
LEVEL : 1
CLASS : CLERIC
SYSTEM POINTS : 0
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STATISTICS
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HP : 100/100
MP : 80/80
STRENGTH : 10
VITALITY : 20
INTELLIGENCE : 150
AGILITY : 15
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TRAITS
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ZEALOUS HEALER
BUFF LOVER
GREAT MAGE
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SKILLS
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BLESSED BARRIER
Casts a barrier around a target. the barrier has the same HP as the caster.
Last 60 seconds, or until barrier HP reaches 0.
Cost 20 MP.
ABUNDANT ENERGY
Remove the target’s tiredness.
cost 20 MP.
HOLY BLESSING
Remove the target’s ailments.
Works on Poison, Sleep, Paralysis, Confusion, Silence.
Cost 50 MP.
HAMMER OF JUDGEMENT
Double the user’s Strength for 60 seconds.
Only works if user holds a Hammer.
Cost 50 MP.
GOD’S HAND
Raises all stats of an ally by 50%.
Cost 5 MP every 2 seconds.
ELEMENTAL ARROW
Shoots a magical arrow of the designated element.
Available elements : Ice, Water, Fire, Electricity, Earth, Air, Holy.
Cost 5 MP.
“How come you’re faster than me?”
“I was more fit than you were.”
“Tsk.”
“Fauna! You’re awake!”
“Xia! Show me your status!”
“Huh? Ok?”
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SYSTEM
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NAME : XIA LIN
AGE : 15
LEVEL : 1
CLASS : DARKSTALKER (ASSASSIN)
SYSTEM POINTS : 30
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STATISTICS
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HP : 32/32
MP : 126/126
STRENGTH : 15
VITALITY : 20
INTELLIGENCE : 130
AGILITY : 50
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TRAITS
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MURDER MACHINE
SHADOW RADAR
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SKILLS
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GHOST GIRL
Cost 60% of the user MAX MP.
The user becomes intangible and invisible for 5 seconds.
Can only be used once a day.
RELEASE
Unleashes all accumulated energy.
Strength +50%, Agility +200% for 60 seconds.
Needs 24H to recharge. No MP cost.
“Murder Machine? That’s so ominous! Are you ok?”
“Yes, it’s a trait that allows me to combo enemies in a dungeon. The more I kill, the stronger I become.”
“Woah, that’s awesome. But you don’t have a lot of skills, unlike Ashton and me.”
“It’s fine. Ashton used his points to buy a few skills.”
“Yes, Elemental Arrows and Abundant Energy. They were 15 points each.”
“That’s not a lot, for two skills that are that good.”
“I don’t know, it’s not my choice to put those prices.”
“Yeah. You’re right. Anyway, what’s the plan for today?”
“The sun was starting to get down, so the goal was to make a makeshift camp, then set out tomorrow toward any city. Or, at the very least, out of the forest.”
Fauna looks up, searching for the sun. For the first time, she realizes that the light is getting orange, with a touch of pink visible on the clouds.
“Ashton, do you want to take the first shift?”
“The first shift?” asked Fauna.
“To watch the camp. Make sure nothing’s coming. And yeah, I can take the first shift.”
“Great! I also found a lot of berries so let’s have a feast tonight.”
