“Hey! Wake up!”

Jerry felt himself being pushed awake by someone. As soon as his eyes opened up, his entire body tensed up. He really didn't like being touched by other people, even if the said people were his friends. It made him feel like his personal space was being violated. But as he tried to find out what was going on, he found his sight blurry.

Odd. He thought he had his glasses on. Confused, he reached toward his glasses and was surprised to touch them. He quietly removed the glasses and realized he could see perfectly clear. It was as if his nearsightedness was completely gone.

“Jerry! Do you hear what I’m saying?” The voice that woke him up continued.

Jerry turned around and found himself facing a short brunette. Alex was his friend from school and the last person he was talking to when he...passed out? He didn't exactly remember what happened. All he knew was he lost consciousness and then woke up in this place.

Speaking of this place, he looked around and found himself no longer inside his classroom. Instead, he was in the middle of...a forest? He could see trees and bushes all around and he could hear birds chirping and bugs buzzing. What the hell just happened to him?

“Jerry!” Alex’s cry drew Jerry’s attention back to her.

“What happened?”

“How am I supposed to know? I just woke up a couple minutes ago.” Alex replied. Her tone could be considered rude, but neither her nor Jerry rose a question. One thing about them was that neither of them cared too much about formalities. This meant they didn't have much friend, but it also meant they were perfectly fine with each other. “But we’re not here alone. Maybe they know something.”

Jerry looked around and found dozens of people in a similar state. All of them were familiar faces. They were all part of the same class: the class they were in when they were all kidnapped and brought here.

Fear started to grow at the bottom of Jerry’s heart. He wasn’t a robot. Being brought to the middle of nowhere with no understanding of what was going on was terrifying, but he tried his best to calm himself and think logically. Silently, he told himself fear, or any emotion at all, could only keep him from making the right decisions. Right now, he needed to be perfectly logical and observant.

Ok. Start thinking.

Who would want anything from 30 teenagers? Money? Leverage? Wouldn’t there be better targets? Plus, why kidnap them just to dump them in the middle of a jungle? He wasn’t foolish enough to think it was a reality show or a prank because it would cause an outrage and lead to severe legal consequences. But what could be a possible explanation?

The other students reacted differently. Some knelt down and started sobbing in fear. One girl punched herself in the leg to see if she was dreaming and was disappointed to realize she wasn’t. One large man, an athlete, picked up a heavy tree branch and waved it around like a weapon. Jerry hated to think he might need to defend himself. A tall, quiet boy looked around with obvious distress in his brows. His hands were shaking heavily.

Finally, everyone got up. After a wave of confusion, they finally came together.

“I’m assuming no one knows what’s going on.” A blonde asked. Her name was Sophia. She was rather famous due to her academic achievements and her ability to get along with everyone. Hearing the question, everyone shook their head in response.

Sophia lowered her head and started thinking.

Suddenly, as Jerry was still glancing around, he saw what could only be described as a transparent interface appear in front of him. It had white edges and a stack of words and numbers in the middle. He frowned and touched the interface. His hand went through. Stabilizing himself, he read the content of the interface.

Name: Jerry

Gold: 100

Merit: 0

Tier: 1

Available units to summon: Villager. Militia.

Press to upgrade to tier 2.

“What the heck?”

Jerry snapped around and found Alex also staring into the empty space in front of her. This reminded him. A scan around the entire group told him they were facing the same thing. Whatever was happening, he wasn’t alone.

The field remained silent for a few seconds as everyone started to mess with the interface. Jerry tapped on the word militia, and a secondary interface appeared.

Militia:

Definition: Basically villagers with a few weeks of training and uniform spears as weapons. They still don’t have any armor. They are slightly more durable in a fight than villagers, but if they are in a difficult fight, or even an even fight, they would turn and flee.

Comment: Just because they have a somewhat decent weapon and know how to walk in a formation don’t make them soldiers.

Cost: 15 gold. 0 merit. 10 minutes.

Summon: {Enter number}

Is that information on a soldier? Curious, he tapped on the word villager.

Villager:

Definition: They are the most basic cannon fodder. Armed with pitchforks and spears, they can do some damage if they have overwhelming numbers. They don’t have any armor or steel weapons. Their morale is as low as morales can be. Perhaps they can stand and fight a little longer if they have no other way out, but they don’t stand a chance against a professional army.

Comment: If you are relying on them to win a war, then you deserve the defeat that will soon come...

Cost: 10 gold. 0 merit. 10 minutes.

Summon: {Enter number}

“Are you seeing this?” Alex turned to Jerry and demanded. Jerry nodded slowly.

The crowd went through the initial moment of shock and started discussing. Jerry felt his head buzzing as every single one of the twenty eight other people seemed to want to say something. He was never a fan of social situations, but he kept his mouth shut and tried to analyze the situation logically. Unfortunately, he didn't have long.

“Everyone calm down!” A voice called out. It was from a man named Patel. He was friend with Sophia. Jerry knew he was the president of a ton of clubs Jerry himself didn't bother to learn about. Point is, he’s a natural leader. Usually Jerry didn't enjoy being told what to do, but in this situation, having someone be the head might be the ideal option.

The crowd went quiet as they looked at Patel and wondered what he had to say.

“Let’s process all the information we have.” Patel continued. “We are in a forest in an unknown location. We have screens in front of us that are seemingly invisible to others. Has anyone tried summoning the units?”

“Yes.” The large man with the club spoke up. His name was Christopher. “When you were busy chatting, I tried to summon a villager. I can see a time bar in front of me. It has three minutes until completion.”

Honestly, Jerry would never do something like try to summon the units without knowing what would happen, but he was confident Chris didn't share the same concern. Chris was a brute. Legend says he got expelled from multiple schools before getting into the one Jerry was in. He was the type of student that if a gunman wanted to shoot up a school, he would hide around a corner and ambush the gunman and play the hero.

“Very well. Nice job.” Patel nodded. “Now we just have to wait. If nothing happens when the timer is complete, then we’re probably just being played or something. If something is indeed summoned, we are in big trouble.”

It wasn’t the smartest plan, but it was better than no plan at all. None of the students were in the mood to think of some sort of master plan either. Three minutes passed in the blink of an eye. When Christopher announced his timer has reached zero, everyone looked around him with their lips tight and their fists clenched.

In an act of magic, a figure appeared in front of Christopher. One second the space was empty. The next second the figure was simply there. It was a man. He wore a white piece of clothes that looked like it was from the medieval ages. A long spear was in his hand. Most of the spear was made of wood, but the tip had a tad bit of metal.

Despite not existing a minute ago, this figure looked like a living, breathing human. He quickly turned to Chris.

“General.”

“Wow.” Jerry’s mouth hung open in shock. It took him a few seconds to regain control of himself. “So, if this... interface is real...”

“Then we can have control of our own personal army.” Alex finished it off. A look of ambition appeared in her eyes. “Just one thing. How do we get these gold? Do we literally find gold and...put them into the interface?”

Patel and Sophia were also paralyzed. As smart as they were, they simply couldn’t comprehend what just happened. A man just appeared out of nowhere and called one of them general. How? Last time they checked, soldiers don’t just magically appear.

Suddenly, before anything else could be said or done, the sound of loud thumps appeared from a distance away. It was rapidly closing in.

“That’s not a car or a plane,” Sophia noted. Everyone looked around in a mixture of fear and curiosity. “Are those...footsteps?”

One of the crowd suddenly froze. Her eyes widened in shock as her lips trembled and formed a few words.

“But...that’s impossible.”

Patel turned to her and demanded. He had a bad feeling about what was going to happen.

“What is it?”

“You know, my parents own a racecourse. My ancestors were cowboys. I occasionally helped my parents out with the work and stuff…”

“Get to the point!” Sophia cut the girl off. They really didn't have time for this.

“Horses.” Finally, the girl replied. “A lot of horses.”

A distance away, countless riders approached. All of them wore bright red armor and helmet. They all had swords in sheaths attached to their belts and were holding onto spears. Some of these men were equipped with bows or crossbows. Each rider was at least a meter away from his comrade. Their expressions couldn’t be seen under the red metal face shields that were a part of their helmets.

Suddenly, the leading rider saw something and raised his hand.

“Halt!” His lieutenant saw the command and screamed. Obviously, the entire cavalry force couldn’t see the leader’s signal. In fact, only the few riders close to the leader could. But the leader had to be elegant, so he, as the lieutenant, had to do the screaming.

The rider gradually slowed down. None of them completely stopped their horse immediately. Horses weren’t as smart as human. If the first line came to a screeching halt, even with the meter or so of cushion, those in the back might still run into those in the front. It would be a mess and it might be costly.

The leader turned to the forest by the road. For a few seconds, he didn't say or do anything. The riders waited patiently. Apart from the occasional impatient snarls of the horses, everything and everyone were dead silent, displaying a truly impressive level of order and discipline.

Finally, the leader saw something. He pointed at the treeline not far away and turned to his lieutenant.

“There are people inside the forest. They might be spies. Hunt them down.”

“My lord, they may just be ordinary farmers or hunters.” The lieutenant frowned and protested at the order.

“Ordinary farmers or hunters wouldn’t try to hide from the mighty warriors of the Sullivan Empire. Do it, lieutenant.” The leader of the cavalry squad didn't wait for a response from his subordinate before bringing his horse into motion again. As he rode down the road, most of the riders followed him.

The lieutenant sighed. Of course ordinary hunters or farmers would hide from the soldiers. The Sullivan Empire wasn’t known for being fair to its people. His leader, the commander of the nearest city, Maynard City, wasn’t a fan of justice either. If a soldier raped a woman, the soldier would not only be innocent but might also be rewarded for his bravery and cruelty. If the woman tried to take the soldier to court, she would be called a whore and a seductress and tortured and executed. It wasn’t that surprising. The Sullivan Empire was known for its brutality and reliance in force. To the commander, the loyalty of the soldiers was much more important than something as vague and as meaningless as justice.

But he had his orders. If he was to let these innocent people go, he would be the next on the commander’s chopping block. The commander, like any general, didn't allow even a strand of disobedience of his subordinates.

“Ride them down. Kill them quickly.” He ordered, believing a quick death would be the only mercy he could afford, before suddenly remembering something and changing his mind. “Actually, chase them down, capture them, and bring them to the mines. The commander talked about not having enough labor for the mines. I will solve that problem.”

"But...sir." One of the riders left with the lieutenant, a member of the lieutenant's own squad, couldn't help but raise a question. "The commander gave his orders to ride them down..."

"Perhaps, but I am acting on the good of the Empire, and even the commander can't criticize me for working to help solve the lack of labors in the mines. Plus, it's not like I'm letting them go. Once these people are sent to the mines, it will just be a matter of time before they are worked to death. It will make no difference."

The rider was about to say something else when the lieutenant tossed him a look that clearly said this was the end of the discussion. And so the rider lowered his head in obedience.

“As you wish.”

One by one, the riders turned their horses toward the forest and launched their charge. As the riders left, the lieutenant sighed once again.

Whoever was in the forest were simply out of luck.