Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 1 (Premium) Read online

  Once on the other side, the students could finally make out the ground below. Directly below them was a huge city, or rather a small kingdom. A huge castle that looked as if it were jutting out of the mountainside lay at its center, with the rest of the city spreading outward in a circle. The capital city of Heiligh. The magical cable car seemingly ran from the Holy Church down to the roof of one of the castle’s towers via some aerial pathway.

  Hajime smiled sardonically at the extravagant theatrics. The entire journey had clearly been crafted to resemble “God’s disciples descending down from heaven,” or some such feat. It was quite likely that with a display so ostentatious, some of the more ardent believers would come to worship not just Hajime and his companions, but the priests of the order who had escorted them down as well.

  Hajime recalled what he had read in history books about pre-war Japan. A time when religion and politics were very closely tied to each other. And it was those very ties that had brought about a great tragedy. In the end, it was quite possible that this world was even more twisted than ancient Japan was. After all, this was a world in which a supernatural being powerful enough to interfere with other worlds existed. It wouldn’t have been surprising at all if the whole world literally revolved around God’s will.

  This entire world, including everyone’s chances of returning home, all rested in the palm of God’s hand. As the outline of the capital grew more detailed, Hajime felt an inexplicable sense of unease well up inside him. He shook away the oppressive thoughts and reminded himself that he had to focus on doing what he could for the time being.

  The moment they landed atop the royal palace, Hajime and the others were escorted to the throne room. The hallways they passed on their way were every bit as ostentatious as the temple had been. Along the way they passed by knights, servants, maids, and government officials. Everyone who passed gazed at the students with a mixture of awe and wonder. It seemed that most people were aware of who the students were.

  Hajime’s sense of unease continued to increase, and he furtively followed behind everyone at the end of the procession.

  Ishtar and the party of heroes finally found themselves standing before a pair of massive double doors, into which numerous beautiful designs had been engraved. Two guards were standing at attention on either side of the door, and they loudly announced the group’s arrival to whomever was waiting within. Then, without waiting for a reply, they swung the doors open.

  Ishtar leisurely passed through the entrance, clearly at ease. All of the students timidly followed behind him, with the exception of Kouki and his friends, who were seemingly unaffected by the splendor surrounding them.

  Within the room stretched a long red carpet that ended at the far wall. At its end lay a magnificent chair—or rather throne. Standing in front of the throne was a middle-aged man who radiated an aura of solemn dignity.

  Next to him was presumably the queen, and next to her were a boy and a girl, both with blond hair and striking blue eyes. The boy, who was the younger of the two, seemed no more than ten years old, while the girl must have been around fourteen or fifteen. On the left side of the carpet was a line of soldiers, all clad in armor and uniform. On the right, a line of civil officers. Altogether, there were probably around thirty people waiting in the room.

  Once they were directly before the throne, Ishtar left the students and went to stand beside the king. He then proffered his hand to the king, who took it reverently and kissed it with the slightest brush of his lips. It looked like the pope was even more important than the king. Hajime sighed inwardly, as he was now certain that “God” ran the kingdom.

  A flurry of self-introductions followed after that. The king’s name was Eliheid S. B. Heiligh, and his wife the queen was called Luluaria. The blond boy was the prince Lundel, and the girl the princess Liliana.

  Then came introductions for the knight captain, the prime minister, and other important dignitaries. As an aside, the fact that the young prince’s eyes were glued onto Kaori the whole time made it clear that her charm worked on the men of this world as well.

  Once the introductions had finished, a huge feast was laid out and the students were able to enjoy the dishes of a parallel world. Though, for the most part, it wasn’t very different from western food back on earth. The pink sauce and rainbow-colored drink that they sometimes brought out was especially delicious.

  Prince Lundel spent most of the meal talking with Kaori, and all the other boys stared on at them worriedly. Hajime secretly hoped the brunt of their jealousy would move away from him and onto the prince instead. Though he didn’t really expect a ten-year-old boy to have much of a chance with Kaori.

  After they finished their meal, Hajime and the others were introduced to the instructors they would be training with in return for being clothed and fed by the palace. Their instructors had been chosen from the ranks of active duty knights and court magicians. The king probably wanted to strengthen the relationship between the students and his kingdom for the inevitable war to come.

  Once dinner and introductions were finished, everyone was led to their own individual rooms. Hajime was certain he wasn’t the only one who was dumbstruck by the huge canopy bed he found in his room. The room was so luxurious that he couldn’t fully relax, but he’d already experienced quite the hectic day, so he was tired. He flopped down on his bed and fell asleep almost instantly as the tension drained out of him.

  Training began bright and early the next morning. Everyone was handed a twelve centimeter by seven centimeter silver plate. As the students stared at those strange plates, the knight captain, Meld Loggins, began explaining their function.

  Hajime wondered if it was really alright to have the knight captain be the one to watch over their training, but he supposed that it would be bad for both their image and lives if the kingdom left the party of heroes’ training in the hands of some amateur.

  Captain Meld himself seemed to be quite happy to oversee their training, as he laughed heartily and said, “Besides, this gives me a reason to push all the boring paperwork onto my vice-captain!” It seemed the captain was perfectly content with his role, though the poor vice-captain probably was not.

  “Alright, you kids all got your plates? We call them status plates. As their name suggests, they take various parameters and quantify them for you. They also make for great identification cards. So long as you’ve got these, you’ll be fine even if you get lost somewhere, so hang onto them tight, you hear?” The knight captain had a very informal way of speaking. When asked about it, he had simply said, “We’ll be comrades fighting together on the battlefield, so no point in being so stiff with each other!” and even urged them to speak casually with all the other knights.

  Hajime and the others found his friendly attitude pleasant. They would have found it awkward to have people far older than them showing them respect anyways.

  “You’ll see that one side of the plate has a magic circle inscribed on it. Use the needles I passed out to prick your finger and drip some blood onto the circle. That will identify you as the owner of the plate. Then, if you say ‘Open Status,’ you’ll see your current stats displayed on the plate. Oh, and don’t bother asking me how it works. I’ve got no clue. These things are artifacts left over from ancient times.”

  “Artifacts?” Kouki asked, stumbling over the unfamiliar word.

  “Artifacts refer to powerful magical items that we no longer have the technology to reproduce. They were supposedly all made during the age of the gods when the creator’s descendants still walked the earth. The status plates you all hold are all artifacts from that era as well, but they’re the only artifacts that still see widespread use to this day. Most other artifacts are coveted national treasures, but there are enough of these plates that even average citizens own one. It’s helpful since they make for very reliable identification.”

  It seemed that the artifact that produced these status plates still existed as well, and every year new plates were pr
oduced under the strict supervision and control of the Holy Church.

  The students all nodded in affirmation as they listened to his explanation. Once it was finished, they all gingerly pricked their fingers and rubbed the blood that welled up onto the magic circle of their plates. The magic circles flared briefly as the blood touched them. Hajime, too, rubbed some blood onto his plate.

  His status plate flared up briefly as well, and like ink spreading through wool, his plate was slowly dyed a sky blue. Hajime was taken aback. The other students also looked on in surprise as their plates changed color.

  Captain Meld continued his explanation of the plates after that. Apparently each person had their own distinct color of mana, and when their information was entered into their plates, the plates changed color to match it. The reason they were able to serve as such reliable identification cards was because their color and the color of their owner’s mana were always the same.

  So wait, my mana’s light blue? Or I guess closer to sky blue? It’s real pretty.

  Glad that his mana wasn’t pitch black or anything along those lines, Hajime looked around and saw that everyone else was also busy staring at their own colors. Kouki’s was predictably pure white. Ryutarou’s was dark green, Kaori’s a very light purple, and Shizuku’s the deep blue of lapis lazuli.

  “I realize you’re all impressed, but don’t forget to check your stats, okay?” Captain Meld smiled wryly as he reminded the students to confirm their stats. His voice brought them all back to their sense and they gave Meld a brief look before hurriedly checking their stats.

  Hajime returned his own gaze back down to his status plate. On it, he found written—

  * * *

  * * *

  Hajime Nagumo Age: 17 Male Level: 1

  Job: Synergist

  Strength: 10

  Vitality: 10

  Defense: 10

  Agility: 10

  Magic: 10

  Magic Defense: 10

  Skills: Transmute — Language Comprehension

  * * *

  * * *

  —the above information. Hajime felt that he’d almost turned into some kind of video game character as he looked at his stats. Everyone else was also absorbed in reading their plates. Seeing that, Captain Meld began explaining the different stats.

  “Everyone got a good look their stats? Alright, let me explain them from the top. First, we have your level. See it? That number grows as your other stats grow. The highest level is 100, and when you’ve reached that you’re at your limits as a human being. In other words, one’s current level shows how much of their full potential they’ve realized. Reaching 100 means unlocking all of your latent potential, and is a cap beyond which you cannot grow. Very few people manage to make it to level 100, though.”

  So it wasn’t exactly like a game, since raising your stats increased your level and not the other way around.

  “Your stats will naturally increase as you train, and you can also use magic or magic-imbued items to raise your stats. Also, those with a high magic stat will naturally grow faster than others. No one knows exactly why, but we assume it’s because a person’s mana assists in the growth of other stats. Later on you’ll all get to choose equipment that corresponds to your individual stats. The items in our treasury will be yours for the taking! You’re the heroes who are going to save our kingdom after all!” Judging by Captain Meld’s explanation, defeating a monster wouldn’t magically increase one’s stats. Everyone just had to train the old fashioned way.

  “Next up, do you all see that little box that says job in it? Put simply, that refers to your natural aptitude. It’s directly linked to the skills box in the bottom, and your job determines the kind of skills you can learn. Few people possess a job. Jobs are split into combat-based and non-combat-based disciplines. Combat jobs are exceedingly rare. Only one in every thousand, or ten thousand depending on the job, people have a combat-based job. Non-combat jobs are technically rare too, but... well, one in every hundred people has one. Some of them are even common enough that one in every ten people has one, actually. There’s a lot of people who have non-combat production related jobs.”

  Hajime looked back down at his status plate. His job was “Synergist.” Which meant his talents had to do with synergizing, whatever that was supposed to be.

  Ishtar had said that Hajime and the others came from a world superior to their own, and that they possessed better abilities than the humans of Tortus due to that fact. Then it’s only natural that I have a job, thought Hajime as his lips curled up into a smile. There was no person who wouldn’t be happy to be told they were gifted with a special talent.

  However, at Captain Meld’s next words, Hajime’s smile vanished and was replaced by a cold sweat.

  “Next... well, your stats are simply what they say they are. The average for most stats at level 1 is around 10. But you’re all heroes, so you surely have far higher stats than that! Man I’m so jealous of you guys! Oh yes, don’t forget to report your stats to me. I’ll need to know them to decide how to best train you guys.” The average stats for someone at level 1 were around 10. And each and every one of Hajime’s stats were a perfect 10. His mind raced furiously as cold sweat poured down his back.

  Huh? Doesn’t that mean that my stats are totally average... like completely and utterly mediocre? I don’t have any godlike cheat powers? My power level isn’t over 9000? Wh-What about everyone else? Maybe everyone’s just like this at the start... Hajime clung onto this last sliver of hope as he furtively glanced around at the other students. Everyone’s eyes were sparkling as they looked at their stats. Not a single one of them was breaking out in a cold sweat like Hajime.

  Kouki was the first to step up and show his stats to Captain Meld. His stats were as follows—

  * * *

  * * *

  Kouki Amanogawa Age: 17 Male Level: 1

  Job: Hero

  Strength: 100

  Vitality: 100

  Defense: 100

  Agility: 100

  Magic: 100

  Magic Defense: 100

  Skills: Elemental affinity — Elemental Resistance — Physical Resistance — Advanced Sorcery — Swordsmanship — Superhuman Strength — Armor Proficiency — Foresight — Increased Mana Recovery — Detect Presence — Detect Magic — Limit Break — Language Comprehension

  * * *

  * * *

  The guy was a living personification of cheat skills.

  “Whoa, you really are a hero. You already have stats in the triple digits at level 1! And most people normally only get two or three skills! You’re way beyond normal. What a reliable hero!”

  “Well, you know how it is... Ahaha...” Kouki blushed and scratched his head as Captain Meld praised him.

  As an aside, Captain Meld was level 62. His stats were all within the 300 range, and he was one of the strongest humans alive. But at just level 1, Kouki was already a third of the way to his strength. If his growth rates were just as high, he’d overtake the captain in no time.

  In addition, it seemed as if your skills were basically the innate talents you were born with, so there was no way to increase them. The exception being derivative skills. Those were skills that were acquired by spending a lifetime polishing one’s talents, something one acquired by surpassing their limits in a certain field. Put simply, it was when someone suddenly discovered the trick to doing something they’d always struggled to before, and rapidly increased their proficiency with it.

  Hajime had hoped Kouki was just somehow special, but everyone else also had overpowered abilities, though none quite matched up to Kouki’s. And it looked like everyone else had a combat-based job without exception.

  Hajime stared at the word Synergist that filled his job box. From the name alone, he found it hard to imagine it was a combat-based job. He only had two skills too. To make matters worse, one of them was Language Comprehension, which every summoned being had. In other words, he effectively only had one skill.
Even Hajime’s stiff smile began vanishing from his face. Finally, it was his turn to show his stats, so he presented his plate to Captain Meld.

  Captain Meld was ecstatic after having seen how ridiculous everyone’s stats had been. He was probably elated to have so many overpowered allies. But his smile froze in place when he saw Hajime’s plate. He muttered “Did I just misread it?” and began rapping the plate with his knuckles, then shone some light on it. After staring at it for a long time, he finally returned the plate to Hajime with a complicated expression.

  “Umm, well, you see... A Synergist is basically a blacksmith of sorts. It might come in handy if you plan on opening a smithy, but otherwise...” Captain Meld muttered out a poor explanation of Hajime’s class.

  Hajime was certain the boys in his class who all hated him would jump at this new chance to belittle him. A blacksmithing class was clearly not a combat-based job. The rest of his classmates all had combat-based jobs, and he highly doubted his particular job would be of much use in battle.

  Daisuke Hiyama grinned wickedly as he hollered out to Hajime,

  “Hey Nagumo. Don’t tell me you seriously got a non-combat job? How’s a blacksmith gonna fight monsters? Hey Meld, is this Synergist or whatever a rare job?”

  “No, not particularly. One in every ten people has the class. In fact, all of the craftsmen the kingdom employs have the job.”

  “Gimme a break, Nagumo. You’re gonna fight with something like that?” Hiyama folded his arms provocatively as he said those words. As Hajime looked around, he could see that most of his classmates, the boys especially, were all laughing at him.

  “Who knows. You never know until you try.”

  “Show us your stats then, if you’re so confident. They better be way high to make up for your shitty job.”