Chương 2: Zircodina Kingdom
In Zircodina Kingdom Palace Hall, twenty people were standing while watching a glowing magic circle closely. The hall looked magnificent with golden decoration both on the left and right. And a red carpet stretched from one side to the door on the other side.
A middle-aged man was standing on the ground slightly higher than the rest. He had a white mustache, sharp blue eyes, and long braided brown hair with white hairs on some parts. He wore a red shirt, silk black long pants, and a long red robe. In every clothes he wore, a pair of golden swords embroidered on it. He sat down on his golden throne, looking down on the hall.
A few white pillars stood tall to support the entire hall. In between them, there were a few middle-aged men and old men. Their clothes were not the same as the one who sat on the throne, yet they still gave the aura of a socialite with extravagant style. Each of them felt proud enough to be standing in this place.
All of them stared at a glowing magic circle in the middle of the hall that shone in golden color as if it was doing something.
Suddenly, five people appeared from within as the shining light dimmed down.
There were two men and three women, this was Alexander's group who got sucked earlier. Without the shining light, this group could finally see and realize that they were no longer at school. Utter shock appeared on their faces as they looked around only to find a room filled with strangers.
John, who thought he was the first in this group, shouted to everyone in the room. "What happened? Where are we?"
The middle-aged man finally rose from his throne and raised his hand before saying in a pacifying tone. "Welcome! Welcome to my Kingdom, Zircodina, o' four heroes…"
Suddenly, he fell into silence. Even the other people in this room tilted their heads in confusion.
"Four heroes?" All of them muttered when they saw there were actually five people.
"Where are we? What do you want from us? What do you mean by four heroes?" John snarled while retreating two step backs as if he was scared.
"True, what do you mean by four heroes when five people are standing here?" Maria asked after John since she realized that five people were coming out from the magic circle. It was rather suspicious and she wanted to know the reason behind the stranger's statement. Something had already gone wrong when they were sucked into the magic circle. She was afraid something worse would happen next.
Sandra and Ayaka couldn't control their fears. Their body began shaking as they hid behind John.
Only Alex could maintain his silence. He had seen the worst thing in his life yesterday, there was no reason for him to fear this too. For him, his life was already at the stake with his current situation. He had even thought about committing suicide, so the thought of dying here already numbed his sense of fear.
"Let me repeat." The king coughed to regain his composure before continuing.
"Welcome. This place is my Kingdom, Zircodina. And I'm the current king, Faras de Andalla Zircodina. We have summoned you to help us fight the demons that want to destroy the world. Please, help us defeat the demons and achieve world peace."
"No, no. I don't want to help you. Send us back to our world. I'm sure you could do that too since you can summon us here, right? Please, I don't want to deal with anything in your world!" Sandra screamed while clutching her head.
The king closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm very sorry. We can't send you back to your former world. The magic circle that we use to summon you is a one-way trip magic circle. There is no way to go back."
Alex felt nothing bad would happen to them after hearing this conversation. He had hit rock bottom, so better to move forward with all the risk. That was what he had been doing for these past few years anyway.
He finally took a step forward before asking. "If you can't send us back, what shall we do next then?"
"Oh!" Astonishment filled the king's face as he nodded. "I would like to ask you to place your hand on the crystal ball in front of you to get the necessary tools of this world. However, I wish to give you some basic information about this world first.
"This world's name is Agar. There are three factions in this world: Human, Demihuman, and Demon. There are actually more complicated explanations about the three races, but to keep it simple, we will only talk about the Human right now.
"We, humans, have three kingdoms. Zircodina which is the kingdom you are currently in is known as a military superpower with thousands of soldiers. The second kingdom will be the Acacia Kingdom. This kingdom is famous for its academy named Acacia Royal Academy. Many elites in this world hail from this place. Last but not least is the Holy Kingdom. This kingdom is known for its Holy Church and Religion."
"Now, the peace between the three factions has been disturbed and our faction might lose to the Demon Race. Many bad things could happen if they defeat us, they will kill and rape our family brutality. That's why I wish you, heroes, can fight for us and win the war."
The king finally finished his explanation, letting Alex and the others process the information in their mind.
John was the first one to react. Considering he was the one with the most ability in this group compared to Alex and the others. After hearing the entire explanation, he felt like he wanted to be the hero. He changed his mind as quickly as he changed clothes. He stepped forward with excitement, gradually reaching the orb on a small podium not far from the king. The crystal was transparent as he could even see what was inside it.
He placed his hand on the crystal as soon as he stood in front of it, it suddenly shone with rainbow colors.
*Pop!*
A yellow colored card mysteriously appeared from the thin air, floating above the crystal. The rainbow light then shot to the air, projecting John's status.
Name: John Penn
Job: Hero
Rank : 0
Level: 1
STR: 100
AGI: 100
VIT: 100
DEX: 100
INT: 100
This looked like an RPG game for John. Those statuses must stand for Strength, Agility, Vitality, Dexterity, and Intelligence. Strength should be about his power, agility would be his speed, vitality must be for his health, dexterity would be his nimbleness while intelligence was his magic power.
John took the card and saw his status. Although he understood the meaning behind these statuses, he didn't know whether this number was good or not.
His answer came in the form of shouting and excitement from the people around.
"He… Heroes!!" Cheers erupted in the hall, livening the tense situation from earlier. "We have gotten a hero now!"
"Look at that status! One hundred points each at level 1," said one of the old men while pointing at the status.
John's body shook once he heard it. He was happy that he had 'Hero' as his job, but the statuses were quite worrying. Hence, he looked up to the king and asked politely, "Is… Is there any problem with my status?"
The king took a deep breath. "We have nothing but joy when seeing your statuses. Let me compare it with level 1 children. They usually have ten status points each, while the average adult has thirty points each, but their levels are usually fifteen to twenty. In contrast, your status is far above them to the point it is unattainable for anyone in this world."
"Great!" Sandra excitedly shouted. Seeing John become an important figure in the king's eyes, Sandra who now carried a status as John's girlfriend should have some assurances to go through this hell.
John glanced at Sandra for a second and made a smug face. That smug face was actually directed to Alex, the only other man in this group. Although he wanted to mock him, he decided to wait until he knew about Alex's status first. Hence, he turned back to the king and asked, "Your… Your Majesty… May I know about this rank? Why is it telling me I have rank 0?"
The king nodded. "To answer that question, you need to know about status and level first. Each level usually gives you 5 status points that increase corresponding to your job. As for the specific, you need to experience it firsthand and see which status is increasing.
"As for the rank, this world divides the rank into ten which is from 0 to 9. Your rank will increase every one hundred levels, and there will be a benefit each time you advance a rank. For normal people, the benefit is status points, but I am not sure if we are talking about heroes. Nonetheless, it should be something great.
"With the status benefit, no one is usually able to defeat someone who has a higher rank. However, your status is equal to the status of rank 1 warrior, allowing you to fight with them right now. This already makes you an exception, as expected of the hero." The king finished his explanation with a satisfied smile, increasing John's pride once more.
"Only rank 9? There should be level 1000, right? Or rank 10?" John felt weird about the king's explanation of the ranking system. If one hundred levels equal to one rank, why didn't they have rank 10?
The king shook his head in disappointment. "According to the legend, only one person managed to reach rank 10 and ascended. Currently, no rank 9 present in the world. The last one appeared four hundred years ago. He said that when you reached rank 9, it was very hard to advance even on level. The difference was like Heaven and Hell."
John thought for a moment and smiled from ear to ear before asking the others. "How about you guys?"
Although the rest of the people in the group looked hesitant, they could only move forward. The matter of going back to their home could be discussed later as to not make this situation worse.
Sandra ended up coming first and shocked the entire hall with her status and job. Her status almost reached John's level and her job was Archmage. The king quickly arranged a teacher for her, who was the strongest magician in the Zircodina Kingdom. Sandra couldn't care less about it as long as she could get more protection for herself.
The same applied to Ayaka. She was a Sage and got the same teacher as Sandra.
Maria's turn came right after, but she still asked Alex to go first. Yet, the rest urged her to go first since they were curious about her status and job.
The entire room filled with silence for a few seconds when Maria's job was revealed. She was an Arch Priest, and the king immediately ordered the guards to send information to the Holy Kingdom.
The room's atmosphere changed abruptly as the ministers began congratulating the king. One of the princes had offended one of the church's archbishop, so their relationship wasn't good at the moment. Having Maria on their hand would repair the broken relationship.
Maria couldn't understand the arrangement, but she was glad that her job and status at least had some importance to the kingdom. Alex had yet to get his turn. Hence, she turned around and said softly to Alexander. "I have finished, now is your turn, Alex."
Alex had no interest in his mind. Remembering that the king was confused about why there were five of them instead of four, Alex could somehow imagine what kind of result he would get. He thought, 'In the end, I'm going to be useless again, right?'
Having no expectation for himself, Alex placed his hand on the crystal.
Name: Alexander Sirius
Job: Commoner ( A person who got dragged to another world )
Rank : 0
Level: 1
STR: 5
AGI: 5
VIT: 5
DEX: 5
INT: 5
*Thud!*
The brake hit too hard as the king almost stumbled. On the other hand, Alex simply looked at his status with no emotions as if he didn't care about it.
"Haha… Alexander, you are the best." John said sarcastically.
"You can't beat a child with that status, Alexander. Either in the previous world or this world, you will always be a loser." Sandra put more salt on his wound.
Alex sighed while taking his card and stepping back. He might speculate the result, but his heart still wished he would get something better. At least, he could abandon his identity and live peacefully in this world. Although it felt like a disappointment after one and another.
"Mr. Alexander… This is also our fault for forcing you to come into this world. At the very least, I can provide you a place until everything is over." The king softly apologized.
"You don't need to apologize… Your Majesty." Alex shook his head. His face looked tired and disappointed. He said, "I'm sorry if it sounds rude for me to ask, but can I request a place to rest? I'm a bit tired."
The others didn't take this lightly and wanted to snarl at him. Luckily, the king stopped them by saying, "Of course. We have seen the proper conclusion about the summoning. The heroes also need time to adjust themselves to this new world. Hence, we shall end this meeting and let the heroes rest. Guards! Guide the heroes to their rooms."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" A few guards came into the room, knelt, and followed the king's instruction. They walked toward the heroes and stretched their hands, pointing in a certain direction.
"This way."
In the hallway, right after they exited the room, John and Sandra couldn't control themselves any longer.
"I know you can bring me some laughs, Alexander." John mocked him with that smug face.
"A loser will always be a loser no matter which world you are in." Sandra looked down on him and snorted.
"You two! You shouldn't treat him like that. We have been teleported to another world, so we should stay united." Maria stepped in to protect Alex. She sympathized with Alex a lot because she believed that even though he had poor performances, he still had his own strength. At the very least, he didn't deserve this cruel treatment both from John and Sandra.
"Come on. You should join and tell him how useless he is." John shrugged.
Maria shook her head helplessly.
Seeing Maria didn't want to join them in mocking Alex, Ayaka also refrained herself. She didn't have any issue with Alex to the point she needed to mock him like this.
On the other hand, Alex simply ignored them and chose to follow the guards. Maria gritted her teeth and asked herself, 'Why did this happen?'
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