To my utmost happiness, the rooms for the boys and the rooms for us girls were separated by quite some distance. Now I didn't need to fear running into Blake or his friends when lounging around or going to the baths, which luckily were separate as well. The other heroes of the past, whom the king was talking of repeatedly, probably were to thank for that.
Ms. Edelwei? didn't give us any instructions for the rest of the day. Apparently we were holding a class meeting first thing in the morning the next day, deciding on how to proceed from here. The next day is also the day we are supposed to meet the instructors for some more intel on this world and the system behind it.
Maybe I was still a bit shocked from everything that happened, but everything didn't really feel real right now. Just a good hour ago, I was still sleeping on my desk in school. Now, however, we were in a different dimension, realm, or whatever, being tasked with saving this world from a gruesome end at the hand of some monster. Maybe I was still dreaming at the desk, and Ms. Edelwei? waking me up was just part of the dream? I never had a lucid dream though, and I don't think my mind is capable of conjuring up something so alien to me.
With nothing better to do, I finally did what that king told us to do. I closed my eyes and imagined a computer window displaying my 'status' floating in front of me. When I opened my eyes again, I saw a transparent blue rectangle floating in front of me. Neat.
[Name: Hanah Mayflower
Race: Human
Level: 1
Mana: 100/100
Achievements: [Hero Candidate]
Class: Firefly (Uncommon)
Active Skills:
[Candlelight Lv. 1]
[Flash Lv. 1]
[Minor Fireball Lv. 1]
Passive Skills:
[Photo-Thermic Synthesis Lv. 1]
[Minor Fire Affinity]
[Minor Light Affinity]
General Skills:
[Identify]]
I knew it. I mean, what did I expect? I wasn't ever lucky with anything, why would this be different? At least I didn't get a common grade class, though 'Firefly' doesn't strike me as the strongest class there is. My skills also didn't carry the most imposing names. Shouting 'minor fireball' or 'candlelight' at any enemies wouldn't invoke any fear at all, right? Well, I didn't even know if you needed to shout the names of the skills for them to activate, but I sure hoped you didn't. Otherwise, my embarrassment would kill me faster than any enemies could. The chances of that being the case are probably close to zero though. If I could call up the status page through pure intention, why shouldn't the same go for activating skills? Seemed pretty obvious to me.
As a last tip for us, one of the guards that escorted us to our room explained to us that [Identify] was a system-given skill that every being possessed. The skill could apparently be used to get some information about objects and entities. Identifying myself to try out the skill returned [Human, Lv. 1]. At least it appears like nobody else could see my weak class unless I explicitly told them myself. Not like anyone in my class was going to talk to me anyways.
Identifying inanimate objects around me just returned very unhelpful names like [Bed] or [Carpet]. The only thing [Identify] didn't appear to work on was the status window itself that was still floating in front of me. Now that I think about it, the king told us how to open the window but not how to close it again, even if that should be pretty obvious from the way I called it up. Wanting it gone, it immediately disappeared from my sight. Wanting it back, and it was right there again, floating in front of me.
On a whim, I tried identifying the [inspect] skill on my status sheet. To my surprise, it actually did something. Another window opened, displaying an apparent description of the skill, though it was just as curt as any other descriptions created by this skill:
[Identify:
Receive basic information about any targeted being or object. Can be used to view explanations on aspects of the system interface.]
Identifying my name, race, or level also didn't work. What did work, was identifying that one achievement I seemed to have gotten from the summoning. It wouldn't be called [Hero Candidate] if it came from somewhere else.
[Hero Candidate:
You were summoned to fulfill a difficult task. This will support you on your journey.
x1.5 total Experience gained
Upgraded Class to at least Uncommon]
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Wow, so my class is actually of the worst grade possible for me? Great, I hope I'm at least not the only uncommon grade among us. That would really suck.
I then went on to identify all of the other skills apart from [Identify] that I had, three active and three passive ones, apparently.
The passive ones were not really that impressive. [Minor Light Affinity] and [Minor Fire Affinity] supposedly 'slightly increases affinity with fire/light aspected Mana', whatever that is actually supposed to mean.
[Photo-Thermic Synthesis] on the other hand, was more interesting. The description said that it helps 'slowly regenerate Vitality and Mana from light and heat'. That seemed quite useful, at least if the 'Vitality' referred to some kind of healing. That was always good. More mana was also nice, apparently mana was quite the important thing here. Having more of that available couldn't possible hurt, right?
My active skills sounded a bit more lackluster. [Candlelight]'s descriptions literally stated 'Control a malleable flame', nothing more and nothing less. Casting the skill created a generic-looking flame above my hand. Through intent, I could freely mold it into whatever shape I wanted. The manipulation itself felt really intuitive and surprisingly took zero mana, or at least such a tiny amount that it didn't reflect in mana status.
However cool it felt doing real magic and manipulating this little flame, it didn't seem like it really had any offensive potential. I could shape the flame but not make more of it. With how little of it there was, it could at most function as a light.
[Flash] on the other hand, did exactly what it promised. Casting it produced a blinding flash of light. While this could definitely stun any light-sensitive enemies for some time, it didn't help that it stuns me as well. The flash of light was so bright, it affected me even through my closed eyes.
The skill at least had some potential for combat, but its usefulness for me right now is rather questionable. I don't think they have any sunglasses lying around here. Not that I'd want to wear them in any combat situation anyways.
My final active skill, [Minor Fireball], I wasn't willing to test out inside of my room. Casting it here felt suicidal, no matter how 'minor' it's supposed to be.
Playing around with [Flash], I tried reducing and increasing the brightness and duration of the flash but only got mixed results from that. It felt like the skill had some leeway for change, but it felt really rigid when casting, almost as if opposing any changes. It was basically the complete opposite of how [Candlelight] felt.
While repeatedly casting [Flash] rapidly burned through my mana, it leveled up to Lv. 2 on the last cast my little remaining mana permitted. I wonder if it was from trying to change the way the skill executed, or simply from pure repetition. Maybe something to ask the instructors about tomorrow. If they don't explain it from the get-go that is, it does seem like an essential thing to know about after all.
Apparently exhausting all your mana makes you really tired, they should have told us about this. I'm more than certain that I'm not the only one experimenting with their abilities right now. Since I was tired and it was already getting somewhat late, I decided to go to bed for today.
An hour or so ago, thankfully, a maid, or something like that, came over and brought some dinner. It was some kind of stew along with some bread that tasted moderately well. I wasn't that picky about food in general. The stew had some meat in it, though I didn't ask what kind.
As I lay down on the bed, I couldn't help but think that this bed is more comfortable than the one I had back at my home. It's definitely bigger than the old one. All in all, I kind of like it here. Nobody has come to bother me since we were escorted here either.
Even if the old one didn't, maybe this world has a place for me. It almost feels like a second shot at life, though it would have been even better if I were the only one who was brought here. I'm not sure if I want Blake and his vicious group of friends here, even if this whole Will of the World thingy does finally give me a chance to fight back. Since they can't go back home either, Blake has no more leverage over me. Apart from pure power, that is.
Though the opposite could happen as well. While my class does have some combat capabilities, it's only an uncommon grade. Who knows how much stronger rare or epic classes are? If they end up with strong classes, I'm not sure how much of a chance I'd have against them. I don't even want to think about the possibility of one of them having the legendary [Hero] class; That seems like a nightmare in the making.
Well, all of this thinking won't bring me much further. I'm sure that I'll find out tomorrow when I inevitably meet my classmates again anyways. Hopefully, the day tomorrow will be a good one.
With my thoughts straying further away, I slowly drift off into a dreamless sleep.
---
I woke up to rays of sunlight shining onto my face through the window. The sun had already risen, but they don't seem to have any clocks here, so who knows how late it actually was.
Taking a quick peek through the available clothes I was given along with the wardrobe, I settled on a casual white shirt, a very generic-looking black skirt, and a comfortable light blue cardigan.
Looking into the mirror that was conveniently placed on the inside of the wardrobe door, I took a second to inspect myself. The black and white combo of shirt and skirt fit well with my long black hair, while the light blue of the cardigan somewhat matched the sky blue of my eyes. While I had been getting bullied for my unusual eye color way back in the day, it has really grown on me.
Time to go see my classmates, I guess. With the key they gave to us when we arrived at our rooms, I locked the door behind me and made my way down the long hallway towards the big central room that sat right between our side and the boys' side. That's where Ms. Edelwei? said we would meet up first thing in the morning.
Walking into the room, I could see all my classmates sitting there already eating breakfast and chatting excitedly. Damn it, was it really that late already? How long exactly did I sleep yesterday? Was it because I spent all my mana? I should be more careful about that in the future.
"Ah, Hanah, there you are!"
Ms. Edelwei? had apparently noticed me and called out to me as I walked into the room.
"Good that you're here, we're complete then. I was just about to send someone to go fetch you, but nobody knew where your room was."
As Ms. Edelwei? stood up from her seat to finally start the class meeting, the conversations quieted down as everyone turned to face the teacher.
"Everyone here heard what the king told us yesterday. We were summoned to this world as a group of heroes, tasked with resolving the ever-growing threat of magic beasts that are continuously eating away at the human lands. No matter whether or not we want to fight, there is no way back home. I'm sure that is a hard pill to swallow for all of you. We were suddenly pulled out of our own lives and were thrown into this one together. At first I didn't understand. Why us? Why now? Couldn't they have gotten someone else? I still don't have any answers to those questions. However, I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter in the end. I have made up my mind. We're stuck here now, and the only way out is forward. Despite what I hoped for, my class is pretty much made for combat, with a strong focus on defending and protecting. It leaves me no choice but to fight alongside you. I have overheard all of your eagerness to go fight and explore this world to its fullest. As your teacher and guardian, I could never, in good conscience, let you go out to face this threat alone. Nevertheless, I implore all of you to be cautious. Fighting is extremely dangerous, it is a constant struggle between life and death. The chance that any of you may die is unfortunately extremely real, even if I will give my all to prevent that."
Ms. Edelwei? stopped for an artistic pause, hopefully letting all of us feel the weight of the situation alongside the ever-looming threat of death.