Slightly recovering from the shock of suddenly being dropped into an [1]otakus wet dream, Ice decided to just continue gathering more information because he deemed it was currently the best course of action he could take at the moment. Floundering around blind or acting all confused won’t get him anywhere after all.

As for his earlier behavior, Ice just went with the tried and true “Identity Amnesia” trope. Because of the fact that it was an incredibly contrived excuse, Ice was somewhat taken aback that Sea readily believed it.

“Hmmm… So you remember absolutely nothing apart from your name and the names for countries and continents used in your homeland. Philippines, was it? What a weird name ehehe.

Do you perhaps remember where it’s located? East? You mean the uncharted lands to the Far East?

That certainly would have been a perilous journey if you came from there to Valis. But then, why would you want to travel all the way to Valis in the first place?…

I guess it’s a little pointless to ask that to someone with amnesia huh?”

She continuously asked several questions at a fast pace and Ice tried to answer each one to the best of his ability while trying to cover up the little white lie he made. He was, however, a little worried about Seas’ apparent lack of tension upon meeting a highly suspicious individual (Ice) in a highly suspicious way.

“___Is she the type to easily fall for scams?…”

Realizing that his thoughts were going off track, Ice decided to go back to the main concern at hand.

“If you wouldn’t mind Sea; I’d really appreciate it if you could tell me more about this world. It’s really quite depressing not knowing practically anything apart from my name…”

“Ah. Yes, of course. This is kinda exciting! I’ve always wanted to become a teacher you know. It’s kinda nice to relive your childhood dreams huh.

Don’t you just hate it when things don’t really turn out the way you imagined it when you were a kid? I was pretty depressed when the System suddenly decided I wasn’t fit to be an ‘Educator’. I was really sad and ended up sulking for days. I’m pretty much used to it now though. And I learned to love my current class…”

“Uh-huh…”

Ice answered indifferently, with a tone that seemed to imply ‘please just get on with it miss’, and looked at her with half-lidded eyes.

“Uuh… E-hem! Without further ado then…”

Sea coughed awkwardly and started her explanation.

And so, Ice learned about this unfamiliar world (which was apparently called El Fabula by the locals) and the various nations that existed here. He was currently in a continent called Valis which was considered one of the major world powers in El Fabula.

However, it was not unified under a single government or ruler and is instead divided into a total of seven principalities; each under a particular noble family who ruled independently.

There were originally a lot more territories; but after years of war, it was reduced to the current seven.

The present situation, while still relatively tense, has settled down a lot compared to the time of rampant territorial wars. The various ruling families have even started to hold annual councils to discuss their various ruling policies, decide on trade agreements among other things. They also agreed to hold a united front if an outside force ever threatened the continent.

Of course, there were still lots of shady goings on beneath the all the calm; and several of the principalities (or rather, their rulers) were constantly trying to one-up each other (discreetly or otherwise).

But that’s politics for you. Even in another world; it never changes.

Maleena, the village Ice was currently in, is situated between the borders of two principalities which have been quite friendly with each other since their founding – the principalities of Ricksvale and Gran Sirius. There have also been political marriages between the two so tensions were really low and locals were generally laid-back, friendly folk.

It was also pretty well know as a spa resort just as Seas sales pitch mentioned earlier. It enjoys patronage from a majority of people in the Valis continent and is very popular with the nobles. Thus, it is regarded as neutral territory where everyone is entitled to relax and enjoy regardless of where they’re from. It also attracts customers from other continents.

“Okay! We’ve just about covered all the basics regarding the Valis continent. Next, I’m going to lecture you about the other two major continents in El Fabula – Ehvenlande and Shaturia. Make sure to pay attention.”

Seas eyes were glowing with excitement, making her enjoyment for teaching quite apparent. But even though she was all fired up, Ice was a different story.

“Eh? Wai- wait! Now just hold up a bit. My head’s kinda spinning from all that info dump you bombarded me with. Let’s go over those some other time. Still though, you weren’t kidding when you said you loved teaching. You’ll make one heck of a teacher.”

“Really?! Ehehe. I’m kinda happy to hear you say that. I’ve always loved teaching after all.”

Sea scratched her cheek with her forefinger and blushed slightly from embarrassment after hearing Ices’ compliment(?); a trace of longing appearing on her face soon afterward.

“Weren’t you planning to pursue it as your primary profession?” Ice inquired a bit hesitantly after noticing the change in Seas mood. Sea gave a bitter smile but replied readily.

“Unfortunately, no, I didn’t. Or rather, I couldn’t. The System has already picked out a proper class path for me so that’s that. It’s not so bad though. I still get to mentor the ‘Initiates’ so I’m still kinda reliving my dream.

Besides, without the proper Skill sets, I won’t be able to match the overall efficiency of a person who has ‘Educator’ as a proper class.”

Ices’ interest was piqued by this statement. His instinct was firing up; his gamer instinct that is.

“This ‘class’ thing… Could you please elaborate further…”

“I thought we were going to take a break? Were you just not interested in geography and history? You can’t just pick your favorite subjects to study you know.” Sea replied with a bit of scolding for her unruly student (Ice).

Ice made a pleading expression and clasped his hands in front of his face as he begged.

“I’m sorry ma’am. I’m just really interested in the System and ‘classes’ so could you please teach me about those. Pretty please?”

“Oh, alright. But I’m giving you some homework afterwards okay.”

“Okay ma’am”

Somehow it really turned into a student-teacher role play but, surprisingly, Ice was actually enjoying it.

He was never really that attentive in class. Maybe it’s the difference between a cute female teacher and a 40-something stern faced male professor?… Sea was enjoying it too so he saw no problem with it.

***

Ices’ hunch proved to be spot on. The things Sea talked about really were similar in essence to a certain type of game Ice was very familiar with – MMORPGs.

Classes greatly resembled common job classes in a number of traditional MMOs like ‘Warrior’ or ‘Mage’. There were, of course, corresponding skills a person can learn that were exclusive to their class. There were also common skills that people gain when they become an ‘Initiate’ – sort of like the Novice or Beginner class in some MMOs.

You become an Initiate either by submitting an application to the Class Qualification and Management Association (CQMA) and passing the preliminary interview or getting a letter of recommendation from a certified CQMA examiner in order to directly take the class change test. It sounded pretty formal and organized and was pretty similar to applying for a job back home.

One major distinction, however, was the existence and overarching influence of ‘The System’.

No one knew how exactly ‘The System’ came about but there are countless tales and speculations made. A popular tale was that long ago things like job classes didn’t exist. However, people were plagued by a constant threat of dangerous and aggressive ‘monsters’.

None of the weapons or armor they made was of any use. The most seasoned warriors were of absolutely no match to these foul creatures.

But then, hope came in the form of ‘beings’ that descended from above; bringing with them knowledge that transcended anything the people had ever known. They taught the people how to use this knowledge to enable them to fight off the monster threat.

They were revered as gods. But after some time, they suddenly disappeared without a trace; leaving behind their greatest legacy – the birth of ‘The System’ and the advent of ‘Job Classes’.

Pretty much, your standard fantasy MMORPG back story.

This aforementioned ‘System’ is basically what allows people to change to a Class and has absolute authority over the entire process; including the eventual outcome.

It was the one which ultimately decided the results of the class change test. There are even some instances when it grants you an entirely different class than the one you were gunning for.

Say for example, a person who took the test was aiming to become a Warrior. He or she would take all the necessary steps and give the appropriate answers which pointed towards becoming one (the methods and answers have been already compiled since the test itself generally remained constant except for a few rare instances and are made available by guilds who are aiming for fresh recruits). But sometimes ‘The System’ would present an entirely different result such as granting Priest instead of Warrior.

There are many speculations on why this happens. One that garnered the most attention theorized that there were hidden factors that were used by ‘The System’ to judge the aptitude of the person taking the test, and, by combining the aggregate scores from the test and these hidden factors, it would then assign the class it deemed the most suitable.

As for what these hidden factors were – they remain largely undetermined. Many are rumored though: build, disposition, sex, blood type, hobbies, ones favorite food, ones favorite catch phrase… the list goes on and on.

For some, this could be quite a bitter pill to swallow. It’s a bit better for people back on Earth since they could still generally have a say on what they want to become (granting things like ‘parents’ don’t get factored in). It wasn’t always the case here. It was sometimes coldly pre-determined.

Of course, this didn’t always apply to everybody. The ratio for people who attain their coveted class and the people who don’t were at about 70%-30%. Meaning, a majority of people still get what they want but an unlucky few would not.

Unfortunately, Sea was of the latter category as she was aiming to become an ‘Educator’ but got something completely different (she hasn’t disclosed what it was though, saying that it was “pretty embarrassing”). She was apparently really depressed about it at first. But she, like many others, had come to accept it as an inevitability of life and moved on.

One could still live a relatively good life without having a class. A person would just lack the various perks and abilities that come with having one.

For example, one could still teach without having Educator as a class but will not have access convenient abilities such as the dreaded “Commanding Attention” skill.

Commanding Attention: Educator/Active – [Ensures the complete and utter attention of the affected party in a set probability within a set time period. Number of affected persons, rate of success, duration and mana consumption varies with each level up. Not effective on medium, large and boss monsters. Some Beast Races are slightly resistant due to them having shorter attention spans than usual compared to humans.]

Shuddering at the thought of possibly not being able to turn ones attention from a very boring lecture, Ice decided to call it a day for the crash course in El Fabula 101.

Still overflowing with curiosity, Ice asked if he could go take a walk around the village to familiarize himself a bit. It was a nice morning and the air was crisp; which made it perfect for a walk. And seeing everything around him rendered anime style was a pretty novel feeling despite the weird circumstances.

Sea readily agreed and offered to show him around and introduce him to the rest of the villagers.

And so, Ice took the first step in exploring this unique and unfamiliar world.

-El Fabula End-

[1]Otaku – Otaku (おたく/オタク?) is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests, commonly the anime and manga fandom. It could refer to a number of other hobbies though. i.e. book otaku, film otaku, food otaku etc.