“Orrin, don’t pout. Wave to them.” Madi elbowed him and waved to the crowds.

Only two weeks had passed since one of the members of the ruling class of Dey had tried to kidnap Daniel, Orrin’s best friend and the [Hero] of the magical fantasy world they’d been summoned to. Now, Orrin and Madeline Catazano, the only member of their party that remained, were stuck on an open-backed carriage, being paraded around as members of the [Hero]’s entourage. Daniel waved in front, smiling at everyone.

Orrin slunk down further into his cape, trying to avoid the cheering.

Madi’s father, Silas Catanzano, one of the lords of Dey, had been preparing this celebration since right after Lord Wendeln’s fall from grace. His argument had been that the people needed something positive to focus on. The fact that a [Hero] was in Dey had become common knowledge overnight.

At first, the people revolted when they found out that a lord of Dey had been killed. It had taken a few days for the other lords to put down the looting and restore order. The news of what really happened had been circulated. Wendeln had tried to attack the city and the [Hero] had saved them all. Nobody talked about the attempted kidnapping or the monster that the younger Wendeln had set loose on the city. Nobody talked about the dozens dead or maimed. Yet, the entire city whispered for days before the parade and almost everyone turned out to witness the event.

Orrin had tried to get out of this. He wanted to remain incognito. Silas had ignored him. Madi had ignored him. Even Daniel hadn’t fought too hard against the rising popularity.

“Stop trying to hide,” Madi hissed.

Orrin groaned and leaned against the side of the carriage. They’d already been up and down four streets. The city guards were marching behind and in front, wearing mostly the Catazano colors. The common folk cheered for the [Hero] and his party. Flowers were thrown. Orrin swore he saw underwear tossed toward Daniel, too. Madi had quickly shoved those under the bench.

An hour had passed and when the driver waved, Orrin leaned forward to hear his conversation with Daniel.

“-to go around again. The people are pushing and climbing over each other to see you. Is that okay?”

Orrin punched Daniel in the side at the lopsided grin on his face. “Don’t you dare say yes.”

Daniel smirked. “Tell Lord Catanzano that we would love to make another pass for the people.”

Orrin fell back and pulled his cape over his head again. This day was never going to end.

Three hours later, Orrin pulled himself out of the bath. They’d traveled the streets of Dey to let the people catch a glimpse of their savior, the [Hero]. What nobody had told him was how much dirt would get kicked up by the carriage. When they had rolled back into the Catanzano estate, Orrin was covered in grime. Luckily, the staff had hot baths ready for them.

Orrin dried himself off and pulled on his backup outfit. He still had the basic clothes that Daniel had bought months ago when they’d first been summoned here.

“If you call being run over by a truck being summoned,” Orrin thought grimly.

After waking up naked in a forest, the two friends had managed to learn a lot about the System that granted different stats, like Strength and Intelligence, as well as magical abilities. Daniel had been given the class [Hero], along with Quests for him to perform. Instead of being given a class, Orrin had encountered multiple loading errors. He’d been granted the ability to create a class, [Utility Warder], and had unlocked something called Administrator Access.

He was still learning about that.

Despite their best efforts, Daniel’s status as a [Hero] was quickly discovered. Their relationship with the Catazanos had started off rocky, with a test to discover Daniel’s powers turning deadly. Then Silas had tried to keep Orrin and Daniel apart. He still thought Orrin was a native of this world. As did everyone except the mind mage, Tony.

Orrin had thwarted one kidnapping attempt of Daniel and the two had decided to go on a rescue mission for the family members of a teammate. Orrin had unwittingly helped release a monster on the city. The culprit behind the scenes had been unmasked and the lords (and lady) of Dey had an epic battle in the streets. Daniel’s status as a [Hero] became common knowledge and already, emissaries from Veskar and Odrana had arrived to give gifts and assurances that the [Hero] was welcome and expected to make appearances before all the ruling members of the two countries.

Orrin looked at his Status. In his efforts to rescue Daniel, he had used a new ability. By sacrificing a point of his own Constitution, he had stolen ten points from an opponent they’d had no chance of beating. He’d had to use that skill twice.

Orrin

Utility Warder Level 13 (380/4,000)

AP: 14

HP: 70/70

MP: 380/380

Strength: 9

Constitution: 7

Dexterity: 9

Willpower: 28

Intelligence: 11

He had yet to figure out a way to gain Constitution with his Administrator Access skills. Of course, he hadn’t had too much time to himself to experiment until recently.

The only good thing about being thrust into the limelight was the leveling. Each of the lords of Dey had sent Orrin, Daniel, and Madi out with a full retinue of guards to take down monsters. Orrin had been carried an entire level in only three days. The downside was it was getting harder to go out. Everyone from the local baker to the stableboy wanted to witness the great [Hero] Daniel take down a monster. They hadn’t been able to go out for days now.

Orrin started working through his list of daily ‘chores.’ He used [Analyze] on himself while cycling the smallest amount of mana he could muster. Just as Tony had promised, he was starting to see some results, including a new counter of how much daily mana he’d used.

Mana Use: 320/???

It was both exciting and disheartening to see the progress. He could expand his Status screen to see a full retinue of useless information about himself. His age, height, and even his weight. However, he knew how far he still had to go.

“At least I’m making some progress with my project,” he thought with a smirk.

The mana ticker had only appeared two days ago and still gave no indications that it would eventually tell him anything more useful but Orrin had a good feeling that he was on the right path. Maybe he could even control how much mana he could cycle. Tony had theorized he could work out his daily mana capacity like a muscle, pointing to mages from rich families who gained the ability to drink an extra potion a day. They usually had to drink their weight in mana potions to be able to do so.

“But they don’t have my blood cycling.”

One of Orrin’s skills, [Blood Mana], allowed him to exchange his health points, or HP, for mana points, or MP on a one-to-one ratio. He also could heal himself for less than the difference, giving him a seemingly infinite mana glitch. Except using that much mana in one day would kill someone.

Enter Orrin’s second skill, [Mind Bastion]. The system-given skill that was a blessing and a curse. The ability made him more in control of his mind and thoughts, allowing him to analyze and process situations and outcomes but without emotion. It also delayed the backlash of using too much mana… something he’d had to suffer through multiple times already. If he hadn’t found Tony when he had…

Overall, the two skills let him use spells without care of the cost. He’d already spammed his current spells to the maximum multiple times, something that took regular people years to do. Looking over the abilities, Orrin started his internal debate again. The one that had kept him up at night more than the impending parade.

“I can’t level anything,” Orrin muttered as he pushed his screen around. “Should I get something new or just keep focused on what I’m doing?”

Using his math skills, Orrin had figured out that he could stretch his 380 MP pool into a little over a thousand total points a day without any side effects. He’d pushed himself daily, using his own [Increase Intelligence] skill to make spells cost less and his experience for each spell go further.

In the end, Orrin had been able to add over 17,000 points of experience across a few spells.

[Heal Small Wounds] Level Three was sitting at 5,740 /10,000

[Increase Intelligence] Level Three was at 3,370/10,000

[Increase Willpower] Level Three was at 5,950 /10,000

[Increase Strength] Level Three was at 1,945/10,000

[Increase Dexterity] Level Three was at 1,620/10,000

[Camouflage] Level two was at 2,210/10,000

[Remetabolize] was at [150/1,000]

He had made good progress but Orrin knew it would be another few weeks before he was able to max out his spells. Something most mages would take years to do and he was pissed at his prodigious rate of growth.

Orrin heard sounds of talking from downstairs. Someone had worked Madi up.

With a sigh, Orrin looked around the room to make sure he had everything packed away in his [Dimension Hole]. The ability to store everything he needed in a magical subspace was still probably the coolest thing to him. He’d annoyed Daniel more than once by just making things appear from his pockets.

Orrin opened the door and started down the hall. Madi and Daniel were standing in the entryway with a young boy, a messenger most likely by the clothes he wore.

“What does this mean? Why does the Guildmaster think she has the right to demand Daniel’s presence??” Madi all but screamed at the poor teenager who had delivered the message. He stumbled back from the fury of the daughter of the lord of Dey.

“I-I just deliver the messages, ma’am,” the boy said, clutching his satchel and backing toward the door. “I don’t know what’s in them.”

“What’s going on?” Orrin asked as he came down the steps. The boy turned his back and split through the open door as soon as Madi turned her back.

“Damn,” Madi spat. “He ran.”

Daniel chuckled. “I’d have run, too.”

Madi put her hand on her hip and tilted her head at Daniel. “You do realize that we have been keeping low at your request? You’re the one who asked for a break from all the politicking.”

Daniel’s smile faded.

“Can I see the letter?” Orrin reached out a hand. Madi practically threw it at him.

The outside envelope was addressed to Daniel, in the care of Lord Catanzano. The letter inside was written in a steady-flowing script.

To the [Hero] Daniel:

Too long have we gone without meeting. I am looking forward to our dinner tonight at eight o’clock. You may bring your party, as after pleasantries, a request will be offered.

Signed,

Jennifer Pritus, Guildmaster of Dey

“It doesn’t really sound that bad,” Orrin said, folding the paper back up. “Does this Jennifer chick have enough clout that it would be a problem if we just don’t show?”

“Guildmaster Pritus. She’s a relatively good politician, according to my father. She’s got almost as much say in the running of the city as the lords do. She’s probably on the list of people who have been denied an audience with Daniel.”

Daniel stood with his back against a banister, looking off into space. The hallmark look of someone reading their own status. Completely oblivious.

“Are you even listening?” Orrin kicked his friend in the shin.

“Hmm?” Daniel didn’t react to the kick. “Oh, sorry. So, we have to have dinner with the leader of the Guild, right? Can they give us a quest to do? I want to get out of the city for a bit.”

Orrin slapped his forehead. “You think everything will just work out that easy?”

Daniel pushed his status screen away and smirked, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Doesn’t it always?”