章 45: Transcendent Warrior

About a week ago…

"What is this divine presence?!"

One of the warlocks probed as he watched the sight in front of him along with a few others.

The kingdom of Romanus. Unlike the kingdom of Paragon, demi-humans, beastmen, and other species are treated like humans; equally.

In the chamber where heroes are summoned, 7 out of 8 have already been assembled and their titles are given. However, only one has yet to be evoked.

"Why is there such power coming from this one?" Another one spoke.

"I don't know, but such power!"

The circle began flashing and shined even brighter until the entire room was plunged in light. Then a tremendous force poured out, sending everyone flying.

"GAAAAAH!!"

The force was powerful, powerful enough to cause the entire castle to shake. One could mistake this as an earthquake but it was not. To be exact, this was the vast amount of one's inner potential or a god.

Eventually, a man appeared in the middle of the circle, crouching down like the terminator.

"Jeez, what a flashy entrance. Why couldn't I have had that?" Said one of the other heroes.

The man stood up and swept his hair back.

"W-welcome… eeh…?" One of the warlocks tried to greet him but when he turned towards him, he flinched.

The man had a striking appearance. It was so stunning that it would make you think he only appears in novels or mangas. He had hair both black and white, eyes silver and diamond, tattoos all over his slim athletic body, and 190 cm tall.

"Hmm…"

He looked around and inspected the chamber. The look in his eyes was similar to a person that is prudently watchful and discreet in the face of danger or risk.

"Where am I?" He asked, turning to one of the warlocks.

"Y-you have been summoned here by the goddess, Kuruna. You are tasked to help rid the demon king from this world."

The man rubbed his chin and thought about it.

"Kuruna? Was that who she was?" He mumbled before shrugging.

"May you please place your hand on the mirror?" The warlocks asked as they presented the mirror to him.

He walked over to the mirror and placed his hand on the mirror. However, instead of words appearing, the mirror only fractured, eventually giving up and splitting into many pieces.

Shatter!

As the pieces fell onto the floor, the warlocks gasped in surprise while the man only tilted his head in confusion.

"Was that supposed to happen?" He asked, turning to the warlocks.

"N-no. P-please wait here, we'll get you a new one this instant."

The warlocks exited the chamber, leaving him with the other 7 heroes.

"Hmm, strange."

He crouched, picking up one of the pieces of the mirror to inspect it.

"H-hey."

Someone tapped his shoulder and he turned. Standing in front of him was a young teenager. He had black curly hair, green eyes, and a pair of black glasses.

"W-what's your name?" He asked nervously and the boy tilted his head.

"Giuseppe Valentino, but you can call me Joseph."

"M-my name is Tadashi Tomo."

"Tadashi, huh? It's nice to meet you. By the way, why don't you go back to them and tell them to talk to me themselves?" Joseph said as he pointed to the three watching Tadashi in the background.

"Wait, how did yo-?"

"For now, you should stick with me if you don't want to get bullied."

"I see…"

"By the way, what was that about?"

"Oh, that mirror you somehow broke is supposed to show your status. Like what hero and level you are. Though I think all of us start at level 1."

"What hero are you?"

"Oh, I'm the Bard Hero. Basically, all I do is support while playing music."

Tadashi tried to keep up a smile but inside he hated his role. The others around him got better titles such as Sentry Hero, Sorcerer Hero, Enchanter Hero, Trickster Hero, Knight Hero, and Witch Hero.

Despite not visible, Joseph could sense the uneasiness inside him knowing he didn't like his role.

"Don't worry, if I get a better title, I'll be sure to protect you."

"Heh, thank you."

After a while, the warlocks returned with a brand new mirror.

"Alright, may you?"

Joseph smiled and he placed his hand on the mirror once again.

Letters began forming, but somehow it was different than the rest. The glass had shattered once again but then it was as if time had reversed. The shattered glass floated and the mirror fixed itself. Then the words appeared, and what was on it surprised the warlocks.

[Giuseppe Valentino, the Warlock Hero(Lvl 100)]

Instead of starting at level 1 like all the other heroes, he was already at level 100.

"This is… truly-!"

"Fascinating…"

"To think that we would have a warlock hero… and already level 100!"

Joseph took his hand off the mirror and the moment he took it off, the mirror shattered again, this time into more pieces.

"W-what…?" One of the heroes from the group that was bullying Tadashi a while ago was stunned.

"How…?"

Joseph noticed this and smirked.

"Wow… amazing," said Tadashi.

"Well then, what do you know?"

"Heh, to be honest, I'm a bit jealous that you got a better title than me."

"Honest? You are probably really jealous aren't you."

"Heh heh, yeah…"

"Ahh don't worry, as long as you stay near me, nothing will happen to you… probably."

"Yeah… wait what?"

As these two continued to talk, the three from the group started to get jealous. Why? Well when you have a group of three hardcore otaku's that have a hero complex, they'll obviously want to be the center of attention. Not to mention that the three other heroes are girls.

"Wow… he's handsome isn't he…?"

"Yeah…"

"I want to talk to him..."

The leader of this group: Fujita Botan, was glaring at Tadashi and Joseph, mainly Joseph though.

"Tch, he thinks he's better than me just because he has a boost? I'll catch up to him in no time. After all, I am the Knight Hero! I'll have all the bitches love me!"

"Yeah, the Sorcerer Hero is with you bro!" Said the short fat guy next to him.

"The Sentry Hero is also at your side!" Said the tall muscular guy also next to him.

As the three cheered, they didn't know they were getting a face of disgust from the three girls.

Joseph shook his head as he chuckled and went on first to follow the warlocks out of the chamber.

They were brought over to the king, August Romanus. He gave them all a warm greeting and even threw a party for them. It was a fun time for everyone and August was fascinated by the heroes, principally Joseph due to his talent.

"I can't believe that someone like you was summoned to me!"

"Well, you must've done a good deed in order to have me here."

It was true. Of the five main superpowers on this continent, only Romanus doesn't have a history of violence. It was vast in both military power and wealth. August Romanus has done the best for his country and has almost most of the other kingdoms backing him up.

After the party was over, everyone was brought to their rooms, and the next day, their training began.

The trio; Knight, Sorcerer, and Sentry hero were sparring with each other to raise their levels. There are many ways to level up other than slaying monsters. You can spar with others or consume relics to level up. The thing is they won't level up as much.

The king had his own arena where he keeps monsters for knights and mages to train against, that's where the other heroes were.

After training for 2 hours straight, they were already around level 30.

"I think that's enough sparring, let's head over to the arena!"

When they arrived at the arena, they spotted Joseph leaning against the wall watching the others train.

"Not training huh? Are you confident in your abilities?" Fujita said in order to provoke Joseph but all he did was laugh.

"What are you laughing about?" Fujita questioned.

"Why don't you just use Analysis on me huh?"

The heroes were gifted with a scroll that granted the skill Analysis before they started training so they can keep track of other's progress.

Fujita used analysis and his draw dropped upon viewing his status.

[Level 312; Class: Warlock; Title: Warlock Hero]

{Abilities}

Passive Skills: Analysis, Explosion Magic, Disintegration Magic, Transcend

Active Skills: Aura of Incineration

Skills: Scornful Orbs(Lvl.3), Dissipating Sphere(Lvl.4), Burning Curse(Lvl.3)

------------------

"L-l-level 312!?"

"Hmm, I think I'm slacking on skills a little bit. I should learn some tomorrow. Good thing I have access to the library."

"What!?"

The king allowed the heroes to go anywhere they want, except the library. The reason why is because the library holds scrolls and knowledge that should not be exposed to the public. It's only accessed by those that the king allows and the king himself.

"Why the hell is he getting special treatment?" An enraged Fujita mumbled under his breath before walking away to train.

Another day had passed and Joseph was given a title by the warlocks and the king himself.

That title was Transcendent Warrior.