Even though they all agreed to participate in a war, Hajime's class only new as much about fighting as a group high school students. No matter how many superpowers they got, your average Devil could still grind them into the dirt without so much as breaking as sweat. As they were, fighting in an open wouldn't end well for their side.

However, the church and other parties involved seemed to be mysteriously aware of the fact that their summoned heroes wouldn't know how to fight. As Ishtar said, this church is located on “God’s Mountain” and at It's base is the “Hairihi Kingdom”, where arrangements for their combat training had already been made. The kingdom had close ties with the Church, the god that they worshiped was the God of Creation Eht and this country was founded by the family of Charm Byrne, who ran the church.

The students were led out of the front gates of the church and found themselves gazing at the summit of “God’s Mountain”. A sea of clouds greeted them as the majestic church gates opened upon vast scenery. The grand scene of the blue sky, the sparkling sun, and the sea of clouds opened before them like the curtains to a play, where the actor waited for them to come on stage. Even at their altitude, the air wasn’t any thinner or colder than the inside of school they came from. Maybe it was some kind of magic that made it more comfortable.

Ishtar urged them to proceed while boasting about something Hajime didn't quite hear. Eventually a circular white pedestal surround by fences came into their view. The beautiful corridor made of the same material as the cathedral floated on the air like the clouds around it.

The pedestal itself had grandly beautiful patterns carved into its base. Presumably these were magic formations that their local "priest" was non to keen to boast about. The students restlessly crowded onto the strange device, the fantasy of the world around them and their own curiosity overriding their common sense.

When everyone was on, Ishtar started to chant.

“The road that leads, opens for the faithful, “Tendou”.”

As soon as he said that, the magic formation started to shine. The pedestal moved smoothly, like it was on invisible rails that slanted diagonally towards the ground. Hajime watched as the “chant” empowered the magic formation engraved into the pedestal, noting that although the priest made a grand performance of it, he didn’t seem to be putting any of kind of power into the formation itself. For most of the students though, seeing magic the first time made them too excited to think of anything else. They caused an uproar when the pedestal broke through the layer of clouds, revealing vast green hills and grand cities of marble and granite.

They could see villages woven into the hills in the distance, a grand iron castle that was built into the mountain, and the castle town of stone and brick that spread over the scenery. This was the Hairihi Kingdom. The pedestal stopped on the roof of one of the many iron towers that was connected to the royal palace.

Hajime laughed at the production value that had been put into their arrival. They were descending from the heavens through the sea of clouds to be presented as the Chosen of God. They weren’t just looking present the students in a good light, but also the members of the church as some grand inheritors of gods will. It reminded him of stories about pre-war Japan, when religion and politics were so closely tied together that the emperor himself was worshiped as a god. However, this world was probably alot worse about its religion. After all, they had the power to touch other worlds, all the while following the “Will of God”.

The possibility of them returning, all relied on the whimsy of an alien god. While looking over the Capital city and its glorious view, Hajime suppressed the uneasiness he felt. Anyway, he was going to do what he could.

* * *

When they arrived at the Royal Palace, they were presented to the throne room straight away.

As they walked through the corridors, they couldn’t help but notice the lavished decorations that filled every room. Banners of silk woven with gold lined the walls, grand ornamental suits of armor stood along the walls like guards, and they even saw someone dressed up like a knight commanding the servants in their duties. They passed by maids, butlers, guards and pages, every one of whom was fully uniformed in silk and cotton cloth. They looked at the students with awe, and the students looked back in kind. Hajime felt uncomfortable though, so he stuck around at the end of the group. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, so he kept his mouth shut.

They soon arrived at a set of gold and jewel encrusted double doors. Two Soldiers stood at attention on both sides of the door when Ishtar and the party came, and without waiting for an order, opened the doors as if the king himself had greeted them. Ishtar just leisurely entered like it was the natural thing to do, the students filing in closely behind with uneasy expressions (with the exception of Kouki, who was walking confidently in front of the group).

When Hajime finally entered, the first thing he saw was a red carpet that led from the entrance down the length of the room to a luxurious throne. There sat a middle aged man that practically radiated ambition and dignity through every fiber of his body. Beside him sat a beautiful woman, possibly the queen or a consort, who eyed the lot of them like she was gauging how much our souls would be worth. Next to her was a 15-16 year old girl he could only guess was the first princess, a 10 year old boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, and a small 7-8 year old girl that accompanied them. There were people that looked like civil officers on the right side of the carpet, on the left were what looked like to be military officers.

Arriving in front of the throne, Hajime’s group stopped while Ishtar walked up to the King, who tentatively kissed the Pope’s hand as a sign of respect. Apparently, the Pope was the top dog here, meaning that the country was run by “God". A terrifying thought considering they were just in the middle of reviewing the Spanish inquisition at his school.

From there, they introduced themselves. The King’s name was Erihido S. B. Hairihi, Luruaria was the Queen, 1st princess Liliana, Randell the prince, and 2nd princess Maribelle. After, the prime minister, Knight commander, and other high status people introduced themselves. It seemed that Kaori’s charm was universal as the young prince seemed to take a liking to her.

After the king was done with the pleasantries, he called for a banquet to honor their arrival and to introduce them to this world’s cuisine. The appearance of the kingdom was a strange mix of olden Europeans, Arabian sultans, and the imperial dynasty of china, a random mix of alternate versions of Earths cultures. Even some of the food and drinks they served were strange, like one that was pink in color but glistened like a rainbow (though it was very delicious).

The prince seemed to take a bit more than just a liking to Kaori and a lot of the class boys got upset over it. Hajime didn't expect much chance for the prince, though. He was just 10 years old and Kaori had a bad habit of pretending to be as dense as Kouki if she wasn’t interested in someone.

In the royal palace, they were introduced to the instructors that would train them, and arrangements were made to provide shelter, food, and clothing for all of them. The instructors were handpicked from the Knights, Imperial Court Mages, and much more, allowing them to develop close ties with their would-be heroes early on.

After they were finished with the dinner, each person was lead to their own room and everyone was was amazed by the exotic beds and furniture that glittered with expensive cloth. Though many people were uncomfortable in such luxurious rooms, most of them either didn't care or were too exhausted to complain about first world problems. Hajime just quietly laid in his bed and he slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Training and lectures began the very next day.

First, each of the students were each given a silver plate that was 12 cm x 7 cm, though most of them just stared at it in bewilderment. Knight Commander Meld Loggins just told them to wait until everyone was ready before he explained.

Beside Meld stood the Deputy Leader, who just laughed and said it was going to be alright. Well the Deputy leader may be alright.

“Yoshi, did everyone get one? These plates are called Status Plates. Literally, it was a term created the first summoned to this world. The plate serves as an identification card and will give a measurement of the users current strengths and weaknesses. As long as you have this, you cannot get lost, so don’t lose it.”

Hajime thought Meld had a very carefree way of speaking, he just casually told them that not only were they not the first people to be summoned, but also that they’ve probably been doing it for a while now. At least they knew he was honest, since they were going to be comrades that much is important. He advised that they talk to each other in a normal manner and to feel at ease, though the students didn't feel comfortable around so many strangers.

“There are magic carvings on the plate. In order for them to function they need a drop of blood from the user. Just use one of the daggers on the table in front of you and cut one of your fingertips. A drop of your blood on the magic formation is all it takes to activate it. Once the owner is registered the status plate won’t take anyone else’s blood. If you say “Status Open”, the plate will display your abilities in the form of numbers. I still have to advise you to be careful with the daggers, we have priests with healing magic all over the castle, but we don’t need you traumatizing yourselves before your first battle. Any questions?”

“Why do we need these, can’t we just train without them?”

Kouki asked as he was used to working out with Ryu normally, to him the status plates seemed unnecessary.

“This artifact is a powerful tool if used correctly. The status plate was designed by a combination of the greatest minds of other worlds with the greatest mages of ours. It allows a user to simultaneously measure their strengths and progress while at the same time getting a gauge of their weaknesses in a way that’s easy to understand. It also provides a measurement of the body’s stress in the form of experience. When a body builds up enough stress, one can employ the service of a priest. That priest will cast a very special form of healing magic that allows a person to “level up” or increase the body’s natural abilities. It also acts a very convenient ID card. ”

After meld finished explaining, the student’s began excitedly poking their fingers with the daggers and smearing their blood onto the plates to activate the innate magic. Hajime did the same with his plate, and the magic formation shined red for an instant before displaying this:

NameNagumo HajimeAge16 Years OldGenderMaleLevel5ClassMagician (Affinity Earth) Strength 15Vitality10Resistance10Agility10Intelligence60Wits65Magic20Magic Resistance20Skills[tr]

[tr][td100]• Transmutation

• Language Comprehension[td100]

Stats were displayed on it like the character sheet for a video game. The other students were looking over their status seriously, though Hajime was pretty sure non of them knew what they ment strength-wise.

“Does everyone see their screen? Let me explain. First, let go over “level”. The level will increase slowly over time as you mature, and increases faster as you train your skills. While the normal human maximum was originally 10 before stats would degrade with age, the use of status plates and the specialized “level” magic of the churches priests have pushed that maximum to 100. In other words, the level shows the base and potential that a human can reach. When you reach level 100, then you have achieved the potential of humans. It is very rare for someone to reach that though.”

As meld continued to speak, the students found out that unlike games, leveling wasn’t a base number of points you can spend on any stats. All leveling up did was increase the stats you trained to gain experience, like a body-builder lifting weight to gain muscle. All priest did was use the magic to accelerate the process, and in some cases improve it, by infusing one’s body with mana.

“Your stats can be raised by training, magic, or magical tools. Also, someone with a high magic stat allows other stats to increase faster. Although we don’t know all the details, it's believe that magical power somehow assists the physical body's to improvement.

After we're done recording stats we're moving to the armory to choose your starting gear. After all, when you become heroes, the national treasury will be open to you!”

From what Meld said, just because you kill a demon or monster doesn't mean your stats will go up. The stats will improve steadily with practice and experience.

“Next we are going to cover “Class”. Simply this is the talent you have. The skills you have at the end of your status are directly linked to the class you have. People who have a class are not rare, but they are so diverse that it’s hard to find useful one’s. The classes can be divided into two category: combat classes and non-combat classes. A combat class make up 1 out of 100 people with classes, Non-combat classes are the other 99 out of 100 people. Out of those non-combat jobs there are about 1 out of 10 that have an extraordinary class. Most of the people in non-combat classes have some form of magic, support, or manufacturing class.”

Hajime took a look at his stats. His class was “magician”and he was gifted the ability to “transmute”, not that he knew what that ment. Well, they were from a stronger world, so naturally he should have higher specs than a normal person from Tortus. However this thought was destroyed the moment Meld started to explain more about the stats.

“So…let’s see everyone’s stats. For example, the average person has stats of around 10 at level 1. Well you guys are older so most of your stats should be higher then that. Please give reports on what your status plate says. This is so we can develop a training regimen that fits each of you.”

The average person at level 1 has stats around 10. Hajime’s stats had a mean of 24, meaning while he had pretty high intelligence, he hadn’t improved much over all since birth. Hajime tilted his head and scratched it as he let that thought sink in.

(What? No matter how you look at it, These don’t seem like front-line hero stats. What about everyone else? If this becomes a trend we’re definitely going to have a problem.)

Hajime looked around to see if anyone had similar problems. Everyone else had a bright face, probably thinking about what monsters they were going to fight in the future.

Immediately responding to Meld’s request, Kouki stepped forward to report his status first.

NameAmanokawa KoukiAge17 Years OldGenderMaleLevel5ClassHeroStrength 100Vitality100Resistance100Agility100Intelligence25Wits20Magic100Magic Resistance100Skills[tr]

[tr][td100]• Aptitude All Attribute

• Resist All Elements

• Resist Physical

• Complex Magic

• Swordplay

• Herculean Strength

• Quick Movement

• Foresight

• High-speed Magic Recovery

• Sign Perception

• Magic Perception

• Limit Break[td100]

Though his stats were more hero-like, Hajime noticed that his low intelligence meant he was only twice as smart a young child. A fact that would seriously impede him in the future if he met something physically more powerful than him.

“Ho, truly a hero. Your nearly the same strength as me at level 1…I’m a little depressed actually. Usually a person only has 2 to 3 skills…unbelievable. ”

“Aha ha…”

Kouki scratched his head in embarrassment as the classes girls joined in with more praise. By the way, Meld is level 62. His stats average at around 200, and this is considered top-level in the world for a human. However, Kouki is already at half his stats at only level 5. At his growth rate, he's almost monstrously powerful.

By the way, starting skills are the same as natural talents and actual skills are something that takes a long time to create. A skill takes time and effort to build, as an apprentice working for years to become a proper black smith. The only exception is a “Derivative Skill.”, this comes from polishing one skill to a point that one can use it in unique ways. It sounds easy, but it means polishing one skill over a long period of time until you understand it so well that you can improve it.

It wasn't just Kouki either, some others had superior stats as well, although not as good as Kouki's. People like Kaori, Ryu, Shizuku and the most talented/popular in the class had amazing stats. A lot of the classmates had combat classes too, though the vast majority of everyone’s stats were around Hajime’s. Hajime just looked at his class name. When trying to imagine his class, on one hand It didn’t seem like much of a combat class and on the other hand he only had two skills. While both of them seemed useful, he wasn’t entirely sure what they did. Hajime just gave a dry smile as he handed his plate to Meld.

Until now, Meld had a great expression from seeing all the special status plates his friends had. To be able to have so many strong comrades was a joy. Meld’s expression retained its smile as he had when looking over the others, but he obviously wasn’t as impressed. After a quick glance, he returned the plate to Hajime with an average smile and took the next average plate as the majority of people started filing in.

“Ah, it's impossible for everyone to have such amazing abilities. If you think about it, everyone here is still remarkable compared to the people of this world….”

Meld tried his best to sound as excited as he did when he saw Kouki’s plate, but everyone knew he wasn’t nearly as impressed. Hajime’s class in particular was clearly a non-combat class. As meld described it, magicians were a magical class with many “branches”, each one linked to a specific magic. While some could be used effectively in combat, others were linked to a magic that was either to slow or hard to control to work. Earth magic for instance was both, during combat it would take too long to make an effective weapon, but it was very useful for building or sensing traps outside of combat.

While grinning, Hiyama Daisuke screamed out.

“Oi, Oi, Meld. What powers does a swordsman have?”

“Well, a swordsman is able to attune himself to the mana in his blade and armor, allowing him to easily cast magic through them. Talented swordsman can even freely enchant and change the enchantments in their equipment mid battle.”

“Oi oi, Meld-san~, What about my class?”

The room was suddenly filled with students asking about their classes. While everyone was distracted, Hiyama looked Hajime dead in the eye for the first time in years and stuck his tongue out as his former “friend”. None of the others seemed to notice as they scrambled to hear about their classes.

*sigh*“Daisuke, rubbing your class in my face just when no one notices? In a few more years you’ll be almost as manipulative as I am.”

Hajime said to himself quietly, it’s not like he didn’t deserve it, but he could have at least done a better job trying to “get” to him. Hajime then blinked as he realized how cynical he was getting lately. He’d just recently been transport to a land of magic and adventure, something he had always dreamed of. Why was he letting past-world problems interfere with this one?

“Kora-! Nagumo-kun you shouldn’t get so down just because you’re a non-combat class! I’m sure you’ll be just as amazing as anyone else.”

Aiko-sense’s voice broke into his thoughts and roused him from his daydream. From what she said, he gathered that he’d been letting his emotions show on his face and she had misinterpreted his cramped expression as depression.

Aiko-sensei tried to cheer Hajime up by tapping his shoulders.

“Nagumo-kun, don’t mind it all. I’m also a non-combat class. Just like my class, my stats are average. You’re not alone, Nagumo-kun.”

At that, Hajime was handed Aiko-sensei’s plate.

NameHatayama AikoAge25 Years OldGenderFemaleLevel8ClassMagician (Affinity Earth)Strength 10Vitality10Resistance10Agility5Intelligence95Wits100Magic80Magic Resistance10Skills[tr]

[tr]• Soil Management,

• Soil Restoration,

• Range Cultivation,

• Growth Stimulation,

• Selective Breeding,

• Plant Appraisal,

• Fertilizer Production,

• Mixture Development,

• Auto Harvest,

• Fermentation Operation,

• Range Temperature Adjustment,

• Farm Barrier,

• Abundant Rain,

Hajime look at the plate with dead-fish eyes.

“Huh, what’s the matter? Nagumo-kun!” Aiko-sensei started trying to get Hajime's attention as he got lost in his thoughts. Yeah, her stats overall were average and her class was also non-combat. Though her intelligence was pretty high, that was probably due to her past job as a teacher and the fact that she was higher level than anyone in the class. She also had quite a number of skills, but most of them seemed to deal with plants and cultivation. Resources were a big problem in wars, but like him she probably wasn’t going to see much action.

This didn’t affect him much, but he didn’t want to offend someone who was trying to cheer him up. So he tried to smile as he handed the card back.

“Ara Ara. Sorry, I was just lost in thought. Anyway thanks Aiko-sensei, I apologize if I worried you”

“Nagumo-kun, Are you okay?”

Aiko-sensei expressed her concern, but Hajime just smiled like it was no big deal. He simply continued to respond with what she wanted to hear, that he was fine and comforted by the knowledge that someone was like him, until she was satisfied.

Hajime didn’t think anything bad about her, in fact he was grateful for her kindness, but there had more pressing issues at hand.