I found myself in a large and decorated throne room. In front of me sat an old man wearing a golden crown. To his sides were guards. To my sides were dozens of children who looked equally as confused as I.
“I welcome you, travellers from another world.” The old man had a deep voice that resounded through the spacious room.
I pinched my arm. This had to be a dream. Maybe I was in a coma? My eyes focused on the old coot. Above his head there was some text that read:
[King]
[Age: 78]
[Level: ???]
Below that text there was a green bar and a blue bar. All of this was just floating above his head. I looked around and saw that the children around me also had similar writing sitting on their heads. Strangely though, their ages did not seem to match their appearances. Visually they looked like schoolchildren, but the numbers above their heads ranged from eighteen to twenty-nine. In fact, all of them were young adults according to the text.
I looked above my own head. There was nothing there. I looked down at my body. It was small. Much smaller than it should have been. Was I in the body of a child too?
“I, King of Humans, have summoned you all to help defeat the Demon King.”
What was this codger on about? He summoned us to kill another king? I didn’t ask to be drafted into a war. Before I could say a word of protest, the boy sat next to me erupted.
“Yes!” he screamed. “Yes! Yes! YES! I’ve always wanted this to happen.”
What on Earth was he so happy for? We had just been informed that we were becoming child soldiers or something. I looked at the others near me, and they were all smiling too. Was I missing something here?
“Unfortunately, until you have slain the Demon King, I cannot send you home.” The crowd of children around me chirped happily about the situation.
“I can’t accept this!” I yelled out. I had to bring some sanity to the situation. “You brought us here out of the blue and expect us to do your bidding? Are you nuts? Some of us have responsibilities we need to attend to.”
Murmurs came from the surrounding kids. “Wait, look at his age. He’s forty-five.”
“He’s the oldest here by far.”
“He probably has a wife and kids to take care of back on Earth.”
“I feel sorry for him.”
Clearing my throat, I shouted out, “Today is the draw date for the national lottery! I was going to win big today, I’m sure of it. You just took millions from me for the sake of army recruitment.”
The audience released a collective “huh?”
“So he doesn’t have any responsibilities?”
“He’s just a gambler?”
I quickly corrected the speaker, “The lottery isn’t gambling. It’s completely different. I’ve been abstinent from gambling for a decade. And I said some of us have responsibilities. I didn’t say that I had any.”
People squinted their eyes at me. More murmurs came. Somebody said, “I understand how he feels, though. I didn’t get to see the ending of One Piece.”
Another said, “I never got to watch my oshi perform live.”
“I won’t ever have the chance to play Half Life 3.”
Somebody interjected, “Neither will the people on Earth, bro.”
The King continued, “You have all been summoned as heroes to save this kingdom. As such, by the will of the System, you have been given the title of Hero. My royal knights will help you complete your first mission for your Hero questline. Check your Systems. You should all have the same initial task.”
The kids around me opened floating screens in front of their faces. Was I supposed to know how to do that? I peeked over at the girl next to me to try and read her 2D, blue, flying, screen thingy. At the top it read, ‘Quest Log’. Before I could see any further, the girl covered it with her hands. “Hey! Read your own.”
“I don’t know how! How do all of you seem to know what’s going on? Was there a briefing I missed? Did I sleep through the orientation?”
A boy tugged at my elbow. It was the boy who shouted out in joy, previously. “I can help. Try to imagine the idea of creating a journal for jobs to do, and it should pop up in front of you.”
I did as he instructed and voila. My very own quest journal appeared. I tried to touch it, but my hand went straight through. “Woah. What kind of technology is this?”
The boy next to me laughed. “It’s not technology. This is the System. I’m not really sure how to explain it to a normie, but it’s kind of like magic that details things for you.”
Normie? What the heck was that? It sounded derogatory, but since the boy was being nice to me, I didn’t make a fuss. “Thank you. My niece usually helps me out with computer stuff like this.”
The boy raised an eyebrow at me. “May I ask you a question, Yarm?”
Wait, how did he know my name? Oh right, he could probably see floating text above my head too. “Ask away, Loftus.” It felt a bit rude calling someone by their name before they even had a chance to introduce themselves.
“Are you really forty-five years old?”
“That I am,” I admitted. “Are you really twenty-five?” I asked while staring at the number denoting his age.
“Yeah.”
“Why do you look like a child then?” I looked down at my own small body. “And why do I look like one too?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a pretty common trope.”
I had never seen a movie with a trope like this. It felt like the more questions I asked, the more confused I was going to get. I looked at my blue quest log thingy.
[Hero Questline]
[Kill your first monster.]
“Oh no!” I raised my hands and clasped the sides of my head. “It’s just as I feared. We’re being conscripted into an army to kill other innocent humans for the sake of a bloodthirsty king.”
Loftus pointed at my quest. “No, we’re not killing humans. We’re killing monsters.”
“Don’t be so naïve, boy. They use that terminology to dehumanise their enemies. They call them monsters but they’re only human just like you and me. They’re sending us to war. Oh, heavens no…”
The boy placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Yarm, we are definitely killing monsters. Evil vicious monsters that don’t have a shred of humanity.” He sighed. “I guess you don’t understand any of this because you’re old.”
“Who are you calling old? I’m a young forty-five.”
Loftus gave me a look of pity. “Uhm, sure. I guess we’re all around the same age now anyway, or at least our bodies are.”
A woman in armour walked out and took centre stage. “There are one hundred of you here, so we’ll split you into five groups. Each group will have a royal knight like me and a few other guards to keep you safe.”
I did not hear a word she said. She was so beautiful that my ears ceased functioning. Her long red hair seemed to glisten as she spoke. Her ruby eyes drew mine like magnets.
[Hyde]
[Age: 45]
[Level: ???]
We were even the same age. Surely this was meant to be. I scanned her fingers. No wedding ring! So, there was a chance. Surprisingly, she began walking over to me. Had she sensed my love for her? If that was the case, then there was only one thing left to do. I stood up and reached my hand out towards her. I tucked her hair behind her ear and caressed her chin. “You’re gorgeous, I’m gorgeous. Let’s get married.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t account for the fact that I was much shorter, so instead, my hand actually ended up painfully tugging her hair. Her face was brought downwards into what should’ve been my gentle caress but was more of a slap to her cheek.
She hit me with a look of profound disgust, as if retching at the sight of dog poop that clung to her shoe. Her fists clenched tightly, and I’m sure the only thing her mind focused on was preventing herself from punching me.
“Uhm… sorry.”
Hyde gathered about twenty of us and addressed us as a group. “You lot will be coming with me to complete your first quest.” She and four guards escorted us out of the castle.
As we walked, I noticed the others avoided me. Only Loftus stood by my side. “Yarm, what was that? Why did you do that?”
“It was an honest mistake. I was attempting to charm her like in those romance movies. You don’t get many chances like this when you get to my age. Plus, I’m like ninety-nine percent sure I’m in a coma so there’s no real harm in shooting my shot.”
“No. What I’m asking is why would you go after someone like her? She’s old, she has wrinkles and scars, and she’s way too muscular.”
“A young man like you wouldn’t understand. As Audrey Hepburn used to express, a woman’s beauty develops with her age.”
“Audrey Who-burn?”
“Never mind.”
“What I’m saying is that you can do better. You can get with someone much younger. In this world you could even have a harem if you wanted.”
“Doesn’t strike my fancy.”
Loftus shook his head as we walked out of the large castle doors.
Outside was a world that my wildest dreams couldn’t fathom. “Wow.” My mouth was agape. “Clear blue skies. I’ve heard tales but this is my first time seeing the sky any colour other than grey.”
I brought my sights back down to the ground only to be met with an even rarer sight. “Aaagh! An alligator.” A bipedal alligator was wearing guardsman armour and patrolling outside the castle.
He lifted his finger in the air, or would that be his claw? “Um, actually, I’m half-crocodile.”
A snicker came from one of the kids. “Straight up nerd emoji.”
I didn’t know if I was more astonished by the talking croc or that my fellow Earthlings seemed to be completely accepting of this new world. I took in all the sights: the beautiful azure sky, the stone streets, the strange people. We walked along a lovely flowing canal. My eyes darted from a bird-person to a fox-person to a fish-person. The majority of passersby were human, but my mind was preoccupied with the exotic.
The streets were bustling with vendors selling all sorts. There were countless conversations. Some people haggled; some chatted on quaint chairs. The world seemed so alive. It made me start to believe that this world was reality. I could feel pain from the pinches I inflicted on myself earlier. I could smell the flowing water and fresh air. I could feel the gentle breeze against my skin.
A cute black cat meowed at me. The cat’s paws had green fur. I felt like it was beckoning me towards the shop it currently resided in. Next to the cat was a woman wearing a large black hat, similar to the ones worn on Halloween. Her establishment was full of curious trinkets and colourful potions. “She’s like a witch,” I whispered.
“That’s because I am one,” the woman replied.
Without realising it, I had already wandered over. Now that I was closer, I could see under her hat. Her face was human but unnaturally pretty. Her straight black hair fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were green, just like the cat. Her long pointy ears were her most inhuman feature. They ran along the brim of her hat. Would it be rude to ask what kind of creature she is?
“So, cutie, are you in the market for something magical?”
I looked around, wondering who she was addressing, but her eyes were fixed on me. “You’re calling me cute? Are you being sarcastic?”
“Not at all. You’re adorable. Ah—” She caught her tongue. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you’d prefer being called handsome, wouldn’t you, little man?” She gave me a wink.
I saw my reflection in one of the mirrors she had for sale. My dishevelled hair half-covered my eyes. I wasn’t balding in this world. I wasn’t a forty-five-year-old man in this world. Here, I was cute.
An uncomfortable feeling formed in my stomach. This wasn’t me. This woman thought she was talking to a child. Whoever she was talking to was not me. I felt like an imposter. As I came to this realisation, I had a thought, ‘Oh well, who cares?’ There was nothing I could do about it, so there was no point in worrying about it. I was never one to dwell on things.
Loftus appeared in the mirror behind me. His golden hair and amber eyes were striking. He also looked like a child, but he wasn’t one.
“Hey, Miss. Are you an elf?” he asked forthrightly to the shopkeeper.
She frowned. “I am half-elf.”
“Cool. Since we’re new here, can we have some freebies?” He looked up at her with puppy dog eyes. His demeanour was completely different than before. He acted like a real child begging for something from his mother.
“Sorry, boy. I can’t give magic items away for free.”
Loftus puffed his cheeks. “What about this sandwich?” He pointed at a rather delectable sandwich sitting on a plate.
“That’s Miyuki’s dinner.”
“I’m sure this Miyuki person wouldn’t mind if I took half, right?” Loftus brought his hands together in a praying pose. “Pleeeeease?”
“Alright, take half and scram.” She shooed the both of us away.
The two of us jogged to catch up with the group. A lone guard was keeping watch over us while we dilly-dallied.
Loftus took a bite of the sandwich and immediately spat it out. “Pwuh! This tastes like cat food.”
“Maybe Miyuki was the name of the cat,” I guessed.
“Since when do cats eat sandwiches?”
“Maybe it was a magical cat. It did have green paws.”
Loftus threw the rest of the sandwich onto the stone streets.
“What are you doing? That’s littering.” I considered picking up the sandwich, but a stray dog arrived to devour it.
“Lighten up, Yarm. We’re in a different world. You don’t need to worry about rules. Live a little.”
“You seem to have assimilated quite quickly, Loftus.”
“Of course I have. This is just like all my favourite anime. Shield Hero, Mushoku Tensei, Re:Zero, KonoSuba…”
“These are friends of yours?”
“No, they’re anime. You know, like animated tv shows.”
“Ah, so like cartoons?”
Loftus glared at me. “They’re anime. Not cartoons.” This was the first time I saw him genuinely angry.
“Alright, alright, they’re anime. Is this ‘anime’ the reason all you kids seem to know what’s going on?”
“For me, yes, but I’m not sure about the others. Well, considering we’re all around the same age, I bet they’ve seen this kind of thing through either anime, comics, novels, or video games.”
My shoulders sank. “So, I’m the odd one out, huh? This generation gap is crushing me.”
Loftus gave me a pat on the back. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you adjust.”
I heard my red-haired soulmate call out, “Everyone onto the carriage.” Her commanding voice was music to my ears.
The carriage was quite spacious. I assumed several horses would drag it, but at the front I only saw a man with a large box full of bones. I watched him whisper some arcane incantation while cradling the box. Black and purple energy started whirling around. The bones floated up and formed two skeletal horses. The man began attaching them to the carriage.
I walked up to him. “Woah. That was amazing. How did you do that.”
The man looked at me with dead eyes. He had dark bags and a tired look on his face. “Magic.”
“I mean, I assumed that much.”
Loftus appeared next to me. “Yarm, he’s a necromancer.”
“A necro… Oh my gosh! What a scumbag! You should be locked up for that! Don’t you have any respect for the dead? You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Loftus pulled my arm. He looked annoyed. “Get off your high horse, Yarm. He’s no different from us. I didn’t expect you to be one who looks down on the dark arts.”
“The dark arts? That’s what you call it? It’s sick is what it is.” I pointed my finger up at the tired-looking man. “Back on Earth you’d be in jail for that, you weirdo!”
“Calm down, Yarm.”
“How am I supposed to be calm when we’re about to travel with a guy who does naughty things with dead bodies?”
The carriage-driver and Loftus both gave me a look of utter confusion. “Yarm… you’re thinking of necrophilia. Necromancy is reanimating dead bodies. Not fiddling with them.”
I felt my cheeks heat up. “Ah, my mistake. I’m sorry.” I rubbed the back of my head.
The carriage-driver tutted. “You’re forgiven, child.” He continued to buckle the horses.
I decided to help him as a form of atonement. Loftus sat by and watched. Curiosity about this world plagued my mind. Everything here was so different. “May I ask you a question, necromancer?”
He grumbled an affirmative.
“Why don’t you use real horses to pull the carriage?”
“What? Why would I do that?” He scratched at a wart on his forehead. “Using live horses is cruel. Besides, skeletons don’t need to rest or eat.”
“That makes sense, I guess. But if you can use your magic to move the horse bones, why don’t you just use your magic to move the cart instead?”
“Because I’m a necromancer.”
I wanted to ask him to explain his answer, but I didn’t want him to look at me like I was an idiot again.
We finished setting up the carriage and set off. Loftus and I decided to sit at the front with the carriage-driver. It was a little cramped.
“It’s more comfortable in the back. Go sit with your friends,” the necromancer insisted.
Loftus pestered the driver with questions. “So how is necromancy? I was thinking of becoming one. Before I make any decision, I want to first learn more about this world’s power system.”
“It’s easy money if you have the talent for it,” the old man replied.
“But are necromancers meta? Is it better to spec into melee or ranged? Is multiclassing viable?”
Loftus’ questions made my head spin. I had no idea what he was on about and, for half of the questions, neither did the driver.
The view from the carriage gave me a better perspective on the city we were in. It was much larger than I had first thought. Most houses were made of stone. The architecture was impressive for what looked to be a medieval world. There were intricate patterns carved into rock and statues of animals guarding homes.
Looking at this wondrous place made me less and less confident that I was in a dream. The rattle of the carriage wheels against the stone path was too real. The people and the conversations they had were too real. Everything was too real.
The skeletal horses’ hooves made a satisfying clacking sound against the ground. As we left the walls of the city, that clacking turned to light thudding. The path was now dirt, and we were heading straight towards a distant expanse of forest.
“We’re going to speed up now. You two go and sit in the back.”
I couldn’t tell if the driver wanted us to sit in the back for our safety or to escape Loftus’ endless questions. At the back, everyone had already made friends and formed groups. There was plenty of space for me to sit. I raised my hand to ask a question of Hyde but then I realised I wasn’t a schoolboy on a school trip.
“Hey, madam royal knight. Where are we going and what exactly are we doing?”
“Weren’t you listening? We’re taking you to kill some monsters for your quest.”
She had a cold attitude. It felt like she was angry that I had the audacity to speak with her. So hot. “What kind of monsters are we talking about? Something like the Jabberwock?”
“Slimes?” someone else asked.
“Maybe zombies?”
She sighed. “You’ll see when we get there.”
I didn’t really like that answer. “Why should we even do this so called ‘quest’? What’s the purpose?”
“You’ll get experience points and progress your questlines.”
“Uhm, okay. Assuming I know what that means, what will that accomplish?”
“It will aid you in defeating the Demon King.”
“And why would I want to do that?”
The woman sneered at me.
A fellow Earthling said, “Oh, come on, Yarm. They went through all the trouble to summon us. The least we could do is help them out.”
“The least?” I almost popped a vein. “That seems like the most we could do! What reason do we have to fight?”
A boy with folded arms answered, “It’s fine if you don’t want to. That just leaves more XP for the rest of us.”
What the heck was XP? He surely wasn’t talking about Windows XP, was he? I slumped in my seat. It was exhausting being the only one so confused. I listened to the conversations around me to try and gain some semblance of understanding.
“I hope it’s not orcs right off the bat or we’re cooked.”
“Did you see that minotaur blacksmith back in town? He was lowkey a snack.”
“Anyone else think the king had aura? He was dripped out.”
It was hopeless. I couldn’t understand this world, and I couldn’t understand my fellow Earthlings. Dejected, I sat and imagined what I would have done with my lottery winnings. Well first of course, I would’ve paid off my mortgage. Then I’d buy a nice car. Then I would… I wasn’t really sure what I’d do after that.
“We’re here.” Hyde stood up and opened a crate. “There are shortswords and shields in here. Grab one of each and follow me.”
The children eagerly grabbed their weapons. I was the last in line. By the time I got to the crate, there were only shields left. I looked around. Someone was holding two swords and yammering about ‘dual wielding’. Whatever. A shield was fine.
Hyde directed us to a cliffside. She pointed below. “There’s your enemy.”
I peered down the cliff. There was a small village. Actually, it was more like an encampment. It was shoddily built from scavenged materials. Several tents encircled a large campfire. The inhabitants of this site were small green humans. They were ugly and definitely needed the services of a dentist. I couldn’t smell them from this distance but by sight alone I knew they didn’t bathe. I watched as one picked their nose. I saw a mother breastfeeding her child. Two of them played a game of catch.
“Wait.” The realisation hit me. “You’re going to kill them?”
While I was looking down, the others had already begun descending the cliff by means of a side path. They charged like trained soldiers.
“Oi! Oi! This is a joke, right? They’re not going to fight them, are they?” I got up and ran to catch them. Running was hard in this body. My legs felt foreign. I was so much lighter but also weaker. I tripped and fell several times. I reached the village in time to see a massacre.
Loftus sliced the protruding belly of a green creature and its guts fell out. A girl cleaved into the skull of another. One Earthling stabbed at the eyes of his enemies. Blood soaked the ground from deep wounds. The swords were sharp. The dual wielder lopped the head off a green child. It landed on the ground with a thud and rolled towards me.
I felt the urge to puke. The sight was ghastly. It was horrific enough alone, but the gleeful smiles on the faces of my peers was worse. They smiled as they killed. With each death I saw, a number appeared.
[+12 XP]
[+19 XP]
[+3 XP]
“Ugh, the children barely give any XP,” someone complained.
“Don’t worry. It looks like we’re all sharing XP because we’re in the same party.”
I heard one of the green creatures scream out in pain. An Earthling had pinned it to the ground and was repeatedly punching it. It took about a dozen blows before the thing stopped screeching. “Ahh, that was satisfying. I hope there’s a brawler class.”
One girl dissected one of the bodies with her sword. “They don’t have much loot. Can we sell parts of them?”
“Doesn’t look like it. They’re just low-level mobs.”
“Everyone, check the System. I levelled up five times! The reward from the quest gave us so much XP.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. “What is wrong with you people? Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
They all looked at me as if I was the crazy one.
“You just committed a mass homicide for no reason! What is happening? Why would you do that?” I was nauseous from the gore. “Are you all psychopaths? How can you kill so easily?” I was on my knees pleading for an answer. Not a single one of them looked the least bit guilty. “You’re all deranged. You’re sick in the head.” I looked at the lifeless corpses at their feet. “You’ll never be forgiven for this.” I grinded my face into the dirt and shouted obscenities.
“Calm down.” That was Loftus’ voice. “They’re just goblins, Yarm.”
“Just goblins? Loftus, you’re demented. You’re not normal. None of you are!”
“Yarm… have you never played video games before?”
“You and your video games can go to hell. I may not know about XP or levelling up, but I know cruelty when I see it.” I composed myself and picked up my shield. I lifted it high and struck the ground. “You’re savages, murderers. You don’t have hearts. To commit an atrocity like this, you surely don’t.” I hacked at the ground repeatedly.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m digging graves for them.”
“Yarm, don’t be silly.”
I ignored him and continued to dig. It was irritating how he seemed to have more sympathy for me than the goblins he killed.
“Otherworlders, gather up and get on the carriage. Now that you’ve completed your quests, we’re going back to the city.” That was Hyde’s voice. What a horrible sounding voice it was. One fit for a demon that commanded the deaths of innocent creatures. I looked up at her and made no attempt to hide my animosity. Her blood red hair was sickening. Her icy expression was aggravating.
The others climbed the path back. I stayed and dug my hole. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the bodies while I struck the ground.
“Get up. We don’t have time to waste,” Hyde said.
“Speak for yourself.” A shield was a horrible tool for digging but thankfully the ground was soft enough to allow me some progress.
“Get up.” Hyde stood directly in front of me.
I glared at her. “Make me.”
The woman placed her hand on the sword strapped to her waist. “Get up, now.”
“Are you going to kill me? What’s one more murder on your conscience, after all?”
“Captain!” One of the guards stopped Hyde. “Remember our orders, Captain. You go and take the others back. I’ll stay here and keep him safe.”
“No,” she said. “I’ll stay here. You take the others.”
“Understood.” The guard climbed the path and after a few moments the thudding of horse hooves was heard.
I kept on digging while Hyde watched me silently. It took hours. My hands hurt. My arms felt like they were going to fall off. I cursed this world and this tiny body. The dirt I dug up clung to the sweat on my skin.
“Why are you doing this?” Hyde hadn’t spoken a word in hours, so her question startled me.
“You don’t bury the dead here?” I asked.
“We do, but we don’t bury monsters.”
“I suppose you won’t get a burial then?”
She raised an eyebrow. “You know these goblins would never do the same for you, don’t you?”
“If you love only those who love you, what reward will you have? Do not even tax collectors do the same?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s a famous verse in my world. It doesn’t matter to me if they would do the same or not. This is the least I can do for them.”
I heard the clinking of armour as Hyde stepped over to a goblin’s severed head. She placed her foot on top of it. “There’s no human alive that doesn’t have at least one story about themselves or a relative being ambushed by goblins. They’re vicious creatures. They attack from the shadows and kill without remorse. I’ve personally read through thousands of accounts detailing their brutality. So, when I see a worm like you showing mercy to them,” Hyde’s foot crushed the goblin head, “it really pisses me off.” Goblin brains leaked out of the broken skull.
I shuffled over and scooped the bloody remains into my arms. “If I was a goblin, I’m sure I’d hate you just the same. How was this any different than one of their ambushes?”
“The difference is that they started it.”
“Even that goblin baby over there? Too young to walk. They started it?”
“It would grow up to be just like them.”
“Your answer just changed.”
“I don’t expect someone from another world to understand. It’s the nature of monsters to be evil.”
“If you say so.” I went back to digging.
Hyde clicked her tongue and leaned against a tree. Time passed and hunger set in. My arms felt like jelly and my mouth was dry from thirst.
It took the whole day, but by evening I finally finished. I dug one grave and buried a single goblin. With what energy I had left, I moved a rock to act as a gravestone.
[-4 XP]
Only two dozen or so graves left to dig, I thought. I could see scavenging animals all around. They were waiting for their chance. If I left now, there would be nothing left to bury. Though, I wondered if that would be so bad. There was no real significance to this act. Burying them did not make their deaths any less painful. A grave was only significant to the living. And the only one that cared about these goblins’ deaths was I. So in essence, the grave was to soothe my own feelings. Beyond that it was meaningless.
“I’ve humoured you long enough. It’s time to go back.”
I started digging another grave. I actually did want to return to the city, but I disliked the idea of going along with Hyde’s orders. I also disliked that she may have been right. I didn’t know about this world. Goblins could very well be bloodthirsty savages. By killing them here, the deaths of innocent humans might have been prevented. There was no way for me to know.
Hyde walked over to me and picked me up by the collar of my shirt. I felt like a puppy being carried by the scruff of my neck. She lifted me with ease and started carrying me back to the city. I didn’t really have the energy to fight her, but even if I did, I wouldn’t have.
“Not going to complain?”
Softly I replied, “No. There’s no point now.”
“Good. Being quiet suits you.”
The walk was tranquil. The orange evening sky was just as beautiful in this world. I listened to the hoots of owls as I was carried like a bin bag.
It was night by the time we arrived at the city. She took me to a large building on the outskirts and threw me inside. Without a word said, she walked away.
A hundred or so of my fellow Earthlings were inside. The building was large enough to accommodate us all with room to spare. They were all so full of joy. You’d think they’d have some reservations about being stripped from their world and being made to fight. That wasn’t the case. They all formed groups and chatted happily.
“Yarm! Are you alright?” Loftus shouted out. The room quietened down as people looked my way.
“No. I’m not alright. I don’t understand why all of you are so pleased about our current situation. Think about it. All the conveniences we had on Earth are gone. We’re in some sort of medieval world. We won’t even have lightbulbs for God’s sake.”
Loftus tilted his head at me. He drew my attention with his finger and pointed upwards. On the ceiling was a circle of strange writing. At the epicentre of the letters was a bright yellow glow that illuminated the room.
“Alright, they may have lights in this world but think about it. There’s no plumbing here so we can’t have showers. We’ll have to bathe in cold rivers outside, with no privacy.”
A bunch of others tilted their heads along with Loftus. The blond-haired boy pulled me along to a separate room filled with wooden cubicles. He took me inside one and showed me a small circular ring of blue writing. It was connected by a line to another larger ring of blue writing that hung overhead. He demonstrated that by pressing the smaller button-sized rune, the larger rune would spew water.
“Alright, they might have showers, but there’s one thing you haven’t thought about. They don’t have toilets here. We’re going to have to defecate in an outhouse. Have you kids ever used one of those before? They smell awful and…”
Loftus interrupted me by taking me to another section of the building filled with stalls. He pushed aside a stall door and inside was a standard toilet. In the toilet bowl, where the water should have been, was a purple ring of strange letters. In the middle of the letters was a miniature black hole. A small blue rune on the side acted as a bidet too.
I fell to my knees. “There’s no way… This world has better toilets than our own?”
“Yeah,” Loftus answered. “And plus, there’s no need to flush. Just don’t fall in.” He chuckled. “There are also chilling runes for the fridge and freezer. There’s a flame rune that can be used as a hob in the kitchen.” Loftus began counting on his fingers. “A rolling rune for the washer, a wind rune for the dryer, a vibrating rune for…”
“Ok! Ok! I get it. This world is amazing. Where does the electricity to power all this come from anyway?”
“The person who makes the runes puts enough magic in them to last the warranty period. If one runs out of power, you can call a rune-smith to refuel them.”
I exhaled all the air in my lungs and then drew in a deep breath. “One last question for you. Is there a lottery in this world?”
“Uhm, yeah, probably. At the market, I saw something like those tickets you scratch on Earth.”
“They even have scratchers?” I slowly walked back into the large hall where most of my Earthling brethren sat. I raised both my fists into the air. “This world is the best! I love this world. It leaves nothing for want. I’m never leaving.”
My proclamation was met with cheers from the crowd.
“We may not have chosen to come here but we can make the best of this situation. Let’s live our lives to the fullest in this new world.”
I was met with more cheers.
“Let’s all go buy lottery tickets tomorrow.”
A cheer began but half-way through it quickly dwindled into confused noises.
Loftus pat me on the shoulder. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, Yarm. I was worried about you.”
I slapped Loftus on the back. “Don’t you worry anymore. So, what kind of food do they have here?”
I quenched my thirst with some fresh water, filled my belly with a sandwich, and took a shower. After the shower, I got an unobstructed look at my body in the mirror. I touched my scalp. I didn’t have any grey hairs. I noticed my vision was better too. My eyes drifted down. My shoulders were less broad. My arms were so much skinnier. I no longer had a beer belly. My gaze drifted even lower. “Little brother… how you’ve shrunk.”
I hopped into some clothes that Loftus kindly bought me and rejoined him in the main hall. “What were you lot doing while I was away?” I asked him.
“We all went out on a tour of the city. The guards gave us all some pocket money to go shopping with too.” Loftus threw a pouch my way. “Here’s your share. Hope you don’t mind that I spent some of it on your clothes.”
“Not at all. Thanks for looking out for me.”
“All of us are familiarising ourselves with the System, right now. I’ll give you a tutorial based on what I know at the moment. First, try to imagine a status screen.”
I didn’t even know what a status screen was but somehow my attempt was successful. A blue screen appeared in front of me.
[Name: Yarm] [Age: 45] [Level: 3]
[HP: 100] [MP: 10] [XP: 337]
[Body: 0] [Mind: 0] [Soul: 0]
[Titles: Hero] [Skills: None]
“I don’t know what any of this means.” I sighed.
“This is basically a general overview of you as a person. Your level is kind of like how strong you are. HP stands for health points, MP for mana points, XP for experience points. Body, Mind and Soul are your stats, or at least I think they are. We’re all still trying to figure this out.”
“Very interesting.” I said while stroking my chin. “I don’t like this blue colour. Can I change it to yellow?”
“Uh, no. I don’t think so. I was doing some asking around earlier, and I was told that the System’s colour has meaning. Heroes like us have a blue UI. Normal humans have a green interface. Monsters have a purple System.” Seeing the disappointed look on my face, Loftus switched topics. “But you can bring up the settings menu. There, you can change things like opacity, UI scale, and font. You can even disable the HUD if you don’t want to see other people’s names and ages floating above their heads.”
I leaned back in my chair. “This is so confusing.”
Loftus smiled. “It must be since you’ve never played a video game before. Here, try clicking on your Hero title.”
I moved my finger towards the writing and tried to press it like a touchpad. My finger went through, but the click registered. A descriptive annotation popped up next to it.
[Hero: Increases XP gain.]
“That’s it?” I asked.
“That’s an incredible buff. Upping your XP rate is something you usually pay for with microtransactions. We just got it for free. It gives us a huge leg up over everyone else in this world.”
“If you say so. You’re the expert, after all.”
Loftus pointed at a corner of my System. “You can navigate to the other menus using this sidebar. Try pressing this button that says party.” I pressed it.
[Party (100)]
[Yarm (3), Loftus (5), Ilford (5), Sutto (5), Minst (5), Bourn (5)…]
A list of a hundred names appeared.
“All of us who have been teleported to this world are in a party. If we’re in the same vicinity, we share XP.”
I heard a commotion nearby. “I don’t care, I’m leaving the party,” said a boy with long black hair.
A girl argued against him, “But why? It will be more advantageous for everyone if we all stay in the same party and share XP.”
“I see no reason to split my XP with others. I’ll keep the rewards of my own labour. I don’t need anyone else’s XP, and I don’t want to share mine.”
“Don’t be so rash. It will be easier to defeat the Demon King if we all cooperate.”
“I feel no compulsion to do that anyhow.”
“What do you mean? Weren’t you listening to what the guards were telling us? The Demon King wants to destroy all humans. If we don’t stop him, everyone in this kingdom will die.”
“Even if the sky was to fall, someone taller would hold it up.” The boy pressed a button on his System. I looked at my own System, and the list became one name shorter.
“Can you believe people like that?” Loftus whispered to me.
I raised my voice a little. “I’m afraid I’m going to follow suit. I don’t like the idea of killing to get this XP crap. It feels awful knowing that I have somehow benefitted off the death of those poor creatures. I’m leaving the party.”
“No way…” Loftus said softly.
“Can you show me how to leave? Do I have to press a button or something?”
Loftus reluctantly showed me how. Many more people decided to leave as well. Around fifty people left the main party. Most invited their friends to smaller parties. A few decided to go the lone wolf route.
When midnight struck, a message appeared on my System.
[+3 Level-Up Points]
I looked at Loftus and his System said he had five points. In fact, everyone got the same message.
“Oh my gosh, look!” someone shouted. “There’s a menu to spend the points from levelling up, now!”
Everyone immediately rushed to open it and spend their points. To me, it didn’t feel right to use these points gained by contemptible means. But I was still curious about what the menu looked like. I clicked the new popup on the side bar and my system morphed before my very eyes.
It changed into a slot machine. There were three rewards visible for me to roll for. Stats, titles and skills. “So, the nightmares of my past follow me into this world,” I said. I was a gambling addict and now I had a slot machine right in front of my face. I closed the System.
I looked at Loftus. He was staring at a web of hundreds of little circles with symbols on them. He pressed one of the circles and a message appeared.
[+1 Mind]
[Confirm selection. Y/N]
He pressed no and then clicked on another circle. This one was further away from the centre and a little larger.
[+10% Damage with daggers.]
“It’s a skill tree!” he said with a look of utter glee. “And it looks like it expands infinitely. I’m going to spend all night looking for the best route!” Loftus began pressing and reading new messages over and over. He looked like he was having fun. I got up and looked around at everyone else. They were all fixated on their Systems.
One girl was sat with her face in her hands. I walked over to her. “Are you alright?” I asked. Her System had a bunch of handsome-looking cartoon men on it. They had big letters in a bold striking font next to them.
[R]
[SR]
[SSR]
The girl responded, “I’m not alright. I played too many gacha games and now my levelling-up system has become one.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said.
“Sorry?” She pulled her head out of her hands and looked up at me. She had a twisted smile, drool ran down her chin, she was blushing fiercely and breathing heavily. “What do you mean sorry? This is the best day of my life.”
I slowly backed away.
A scream came from across the room. “No! I just lost my level-up point for nothing. Why did my game have to be Flappy Bird?”
As I scanned the room, I realised everyone was playing games. The function of spending your level-up points was done through games. Everyone had their own individual game and mine was slots. Why couldn’t it have been darts instead?
The front door slammed open and a guard walked in. “Why are you all still awake?” he shouted. “You should be in bed by now. You have a long day tomorrow.”
Loftus explained, “We were all just exploring the System.”
“There’s no need for that. Everything will be explained in due time. Go to your rooms and turn off the lights by ten minutes time. You’ll all be going out to select your slaves early tomorrow morning.”
“Slaves?”
“Yes. All of you heroes will be given a personal slave to attend to your needs, free of charge.”
The room erupted into cheers.
“I hope I can get a rough and brooding older guy!”
“I’m gonna be on the lookout for a caring mommy type.”
“Knowing my luck, I’m going to get an old, withered hag.”
They all discussed the type of slaves they wanted. They were talking about people like merchandise. All of us were from Earth, that much I confirmed. Yet somehow, they were completely accepting of this new world. They had nothing to say about the concept of owning people as property. They carried over no morals from their previous lives. Perhaps they didn’t have much to bring in the first place. The sickening feeling from earlier returned to me.
The people around me were monsters.
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