“That hero.. he must be really worthless,” a guard glanced over at me.

“I hear that he had stats that even a level 5 guard could achieve,” a guard next to him laughed. I looked over at him and he stopped laughing. Ever since that day, my life in this new world came to an abrupt stop. I had nothing to do but roam the castle, as the other’s that came with me were training with the recruit of the holy forces. Dammit, why do I always get kicked while I'm down. I looked up at the sky, the blue, endless sky, birds flew around freely without any care in the world. I wish I could be like them as well.

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When we were in the Citadel, the king ordered his guards to take me to the outer castle. He wanted me to be kicked out but with the help of the “strongest hero” he easily succumbed to letting me be their pack mule… I was pretty much cut off from everyone else there, everywhere I went I was ridiculed for having low status. Some of the servants that served in the outer castle were even better treated than me. The rest of the group of heroes were treated with care and even stayed in the inner castle where the royal family stayed. Since I had nothing else to do I usually stayed in the outer castle library. If this world was like the games that I grew up with, maybe I could figure out how to gain power or something through a rare book that just happens to be placed on a common bookshelf.

Over the next few weeks, my level and stats changed. I gained experience through reading, who knew someone could do such a thing? I learned some common knowledge about the world as well. This world is called Lofath. The area that I’m currently in is one of the five kingdoms called the Tyal Kingdom. This kingdom is the largest, but to the east is a Huge wall that spans thousands of miles that blocks demons from coming in easily. The land to the east is called Demonic Lands, and doesn't have any kingdoms. The only power there is is the Demon King who currently has been dormant for the past 150 years.

“Hey, Dante!” a voice resounded from the entrance behind me. I looked up from my book and turned my head. It was Elizabeth, the girl who was summoned as a hero as well. She has been the only one that has left the inner castle since arriving to come see me.

“Hey, Elizabeth,” I smile,”So how are things going in the inner castle?”

“We have decided the date when we are going to the dungeon. We will all be leaving in three days.” She frowned, “I’m sorry though, Nick said that you had to come to carry our stuff.”

Nick was the leader of the hero group, the one who all the servants adored the most and the noble ladies aimed for. I hated him.

“I don’t even have combat experience, who will protect me if I get in danger?” I was worried, I didn't want to end up being reduced to a lifeless sack of meat with flies surrounding me.

“I’m pretty sure that Nick and James will being doing most of the work, so Sean and I will probably be in the back with you.” She grinned. Damn, why is she so cute? By the way, Sean is the blond one and James is the redhead.

ID CARDName:DanteRace:HumanHealth:120/120MP:40/40Alignment:NeutralEXP:22%Class:HeroLevel:4StatsStrength34Intelligence20Endurance17Magic5Agility19Luck1Active SkillsBall of Light - (5 MP) : a ball of light is casted upon the area where the user resides lighting up the area around him.Passive SkillsA Hero’s blessing: Since you are a hero, you have a 25% experience boost.EquipmentNone.

“Come on, get up you worthless hero,” a foot nudged my side, and as I awoke I saw the guard who usually woke me up. He was one of the superior guards and he was rather unhappy about being assigned to me.

“Can’t you wake me up normally?”, I sleepily rubbed my eyes. I got up and shifted the curtains in my room aside. The sun breached the window and filled the area with light, “Ah, such a beautiful day! Time to get ready.” I walked towards a crate filled with the clothes that I got from the king. They were commoners’ clothes but they were better than wearing the same thing everyday.

“Such an annoyance. Come to the inner castle courtyard when you are finished to meet with the others,” the guard turned and slammed the door. Well, it’s not like I asked him to be the one to attend to me anyway. I hate being watched. After I put on clothes, I left the room.

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When I arrived, I saw a team of five guards, their armor reflected the sunlight. They were a part of the inner castle garrison, the elite guards. They looked incredibly strong, they carried black, steel broadswords on their backs. I read about them in the library, this force has lasted for years and the lowest level elite guard is level 50. Standing next to them was the other heroes and the priestess. She’s still quite an eye catcher. She was explaining the levels of the dungeon to them. Thanks for starting without me.

“... And on the fifth level, there are battle wolves. They are vicious creatures by themselves, but in a pack, they can’t be rivaled up to the seventh level. They are around level 26.” She was probably worried about sending the heroes to go to the dungeon, if they died then their summoning would be in vain.

I went and stood next to Elizabeth and began listening from then on. There was a lot of information, but I already knew a lot of it. I didn’t spend weeks in the library for nothing.

As the information finally stopped flowing, the priestess looked around. “Ah, Dante, you finally arrived!” She grinned, I’ve been here for the past fifteen minutes…

“Alright, well if no one has any concerns, then let’s go,” A man with a broad face and short hair stepped up. He had a scar through his left eye, which was clouded. He looks as if he has been through many battles. He was probably the highest level here. He looked like the acting leader of the elite guard group. I guess they are here to protect us if we get into any trouble. It shouldn't matter though, the other heroes have cheat abilities that took the guards forever to master.

“You are right, let’s go,” Nick waved his hand so we would follow. We aren’t your pets you know.

The dungeon was called “The Forest Den”, it was to the north of the castle. The travel would take a few days. For the trip, we grabbed horses from the stables and left. We planned to stop at the town an hour out from the dungeon so we could gather some extra supplies.

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James yelled out, “So, how much further do we need to go?”

“We are about one hour from the town, at least.,” I proudly exclaimed.

“Shut up, I wasn’t asking you pipsqueak,” James stared at me, as if he wanted to get rid of me. It’s not like I wanted to be here anyway.

“James, why don’t you be nice to him,” Elizabeth stared at him with a pouty face.

“Fine, but it’s because of you, not him. He won’t be of any help at all,” James looked ahead.

An hour later we arrived at the town. The town’s walls were towering more than 10 meters high. It was a large town. We stopped by the inn and grabbed our rooms first before checking the market place for our supplies. “You heroes can call me Fang. I am currently the leader of this group of guards,” the guard who had a scar on his eye spoke up, “I have coins here, so divide it up among yourselves.” He handed Nick a bag. “We will be going to the inn to rest. Please get some sleep before we head out, we don’t want any problems, do we?” he laughed and turned around. The other guards began to follow him.

“What an asshole,” Sean laughed, “So how many coins did he give us?”

Nick Smiled, “40 gold coins and 20 silver coins.” He stared at the bag of coins, “Alright, here’s how we will divide this. I will get 10 gold coins, as well Sean, James, and Elizabeth.”

“Hey, but what about me?” I was confused, how much would I get?

“You can have these 20 silver coins,” Nick handed me the small pile of silver coins. What?

“Haha, he thought he would get more just because he’s a hero,” James laughed.

“James! I thought you said you were going to be nice!” Elizabeth yelled at him, her face was red.

“I can’t stand him, he is a hero as well but he is just so damn useless!” James slapped the pile of coins out of my hand and walked away. My anger began to boil, I grinded my teeth. I kneeled down to pick up the coins, Nick and James walked away while laughing about me actually picking them up.

“Come on, Elizabeth leave him be. You’ll just get picked on too,” Sean motioned Elizabeth to follow.

“But…” Elizabeth stuttered a bit, while she looked at me.

I looked at her, “Elizabeth, it’s fine. Sean is right.” I finished picking up my coins and walked off towards the market place.

***********

Thanks to 'Son of Kasei' for being a sweet editor!

This will be a weekly release for now.