The realization that this isn't your typical, get summoned into the world to be hero's trope dawned on me. This world is dark, the situations are dire, and the likely hood of survival is relatively low. It's a game for those who are "Gods". A game where we aren't the players, but the pieces...
The goddess walked closer to me.
The light which covered her body was less bright and I could see that she is wearing a long green dress which her black hair draped down over he shoulders. She wore a golden metal band around her head with a green gem in the shape of a snake at the center. She towered over me. I'm over 6ft yet she literally towered over me like an adult looking at a child.
Her body changed and suddenly she was only a foot taler than myself.
The lower half of her face was covered by a white vale but I can tell she is beautiful, perhaps all the goddess were. If you had power, why not make yourself into a beauty? In a world of magic like this, I shouldn't limit the possibilities within my head as to what can and can't happen. Not until I have more information.
She walked behind me and crossed her arms along my chest.
"….Why don't we.... make a deal…. You give up your innate B, C and D rank skills, as well as one S+ rank. I'll even give you one A skill in compensation. In return, I'll make it to where no one with an F rank can start on the orc/goblin continent."
She turned me around and asked,
"Do we have a deal? Don't worry if you don't want to, maybe one of your classmates can... Oh wait… they're already finished and none of them chose to do so when given the same deal. Pity. Do you risk it?"
I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do that for them. While I'm not really close to any of the other classmates I have. Those in my group are like family, my only family. I cant allow them to go through that.
I guess they all expected the next person to do it so no one did. They were just being selfish, it is hard to believe that Akira didn't chose this himself though... Sigh. I have extra skills, I should be the one to do this anyways. Plus I get a Rank A skill in return. It's not a bad deal at all. The question is... which A rank skill should I take? Which S+ Options should I give up...
I weighed my options and finally made my choices. It doesn't feel to particularly bad to lose my lower ranked skills, but the S+ one, that really stings..
S+ Rank Skill Options
Phoenix Blood - Does not Age past 25, Partially Immortal. Once a year if mortally wounded you are reborn from the ashes.
Demonic Dragon Blood - Can take the form of a mighty Dragon, Significant Boost to all stats, 100000+ Year Lifespan, Heart of the Dragon.
Fenrir's Mark - Can take the form of a mighty wolf) (Moderate Boost to all stats) (1000 Year Lifespan.
Hellfire Affinity - Depending on the level of your demon bloodline, you will be able to utilize hellfire.
Helios's Sword - Owner of the Helios Blade, able to harness the power of the sun.
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S Rank Skill Options
Concealment - Conceal your Abilities completely
Dark Elemental Affinity - Born with the affinity for darkness, given the ability to raise your status as a magus using the dark element.
Light Elemental Affinity - Born with the affinity for light, given the ability to raise your status as a magus using the light element.
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A Rank Skills
Concealment - Conceal your Abilities from assessment level A or Lower
Water Affinity - Born with the affinity for water, given the ability to raise your status as a magus using the water element.
Fire Affinity - Born with the affinity for fire, given the ability to raise your status as a magus using the fire element.
Earth Affinity - Born with the affinity for Earth, given the ability to raise your status as a magus using the earth element.
Wind Affinity - Born with the affinity for wind, given the ability to raise your status as a magus using the wind element.
Veteran Blademaster - The blade is your ally, affinity and proficiency for bladed weapons increased significantly.
Scholar - Success chance at learning new skills increased by 40%.
Linguist - Learns languages much easier by hearing or reading them
Magical Bloodline - Nearly infinite mana pools
Master trader - 30% off of shop purchases
Assessment - Ability to analyze other people's stats in Avalon who have A rank or Lower concealment
Poison resistant - Ability to Neutralize all toxins
Heavy Pockets - Start with bag of gold
Greater Assessment - Ability to analyze other people in Avalon who have A rank or Lower
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B Rank Skills
Concealment - Conceal your Abilities from assessment level C or Lower
Lesser Assessment - Ability to analyze other people in Avalon who have C rank or Lower
Veteran trader - 15% off of shop purchases
Second Generation magus - Doubled mana pools
Poison Specialist - ability to neutralize most toxins
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C Rank Skills
Engineer - Born with an eye for detail, and a magical blueprint. You're invaluable to a kingdoms economy and would be welcomed anywhere.
Holy Magic Affinity - Born with the affinity for Holy Light, given the ability to raise your status as a magus using the Holy element.
Weaponsmith - Greater success chance at creating weapons, starts with the 'legacy of the great weaponsmith Zion tome.
Armorsmith - Greater success chance at creating weapons, starts with the 'legacy of the great Armorsmith, Xanthax' tome.
Cook - Greater success chance at cooking monster meat with stat benefits.
Sleight of hand - 60% chance to pickpocket unnoticed.
Charming - Ability to sway people
Apprentice trader - 10% off of shop purchases
Athletic - High stamina
Full pockets - Starts with bag of silver coins
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D Rank Skills
Lucky - Better luck than the average joe, dice, and gambling usually work out
Open Tab - ability to open a tab anywhere for food and drink and pay back at any time later without penalty.
Brawler - Expert fist fighter during the nighttime.
Army Training - Basic combat knowledge.
Drunkard - Likes booze to much, can hold his liquor without getting a hangover.
Kleptomaniac - Likes to slips things in his bag without others noticing.
Fit -Medium Stamina.
Found Steed - Starts with a mount.
Full pockets - Starts with bag of bronze coins.
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F Rank Skills (Negative Skills) Randomly assigned at spawn
Bandit Start - Start as part of/ or captured by a bandit crew
Jungle tribe Start - Start in the jungle away from more modern society, in a land where you don't speak the language.
Orc/Goblin Continent Start - You don't want this one.
Slums Start - Start in the slums alone in a distant town.
Slave Start - Start as the slave in a distant noble lord/chieftain.
The Goddess looked at me puzzled with my choices yet she didn't comment.
She waived her hand and a large burst of green light enveloped me, blinding me temporarily. To my surprise I was teleported to a room with the other students.
I looked around the small white cobblestone room with an empty stage at the north side of it. Not to far from there were a few of my club members, Akira and Sora.
"Guys! Are you both ok?"
Akira looked at me,
"Yeah, this is all pretty wild. Yuki you look..."
I sighed,
"It's a long story..."
A sigh of relief left me.
They both seem to be keeping it together, which should mean they aren't the ones who got F ranked skills. If not them, then who?
Mina and Hino both walked over. Hino's legs shivered every step as she inched closer and closer to us.
Akira walked over embracing her in his arms,
"It's going to be ok Hino, I swear."
A sobbing Mina ran over grabbing my arm,
"Yuki, there you are, I was worried."
I smiled, grabbed her hand and reassured her,
"It's fine, we're going to be ok. We won't end up like the other summoning's did."
Mina nodded, wiped her tears and looked at the rest of the group.
" I'm glad the rest of you are ok. I didn't know what to think when we were forced to chose classes and skills for this new world. I didn't know if I was alone, or if you all were here with me."
Her voice started to shake as tears began running down her face again. She seemed to recall something tragic.
"Yuki I... I... oh never mind. I was worried I wasn't going to see you again. I… this world is horrible… the places it can send you…"
She though to herself,
There is no need to worry him over it....
Holding her seemed to do little, tears were streaming down her face. I sat her against the wall to gather herself. She wiped her tears, her mind was going in all sorts of directions.
"What are we even doing here? Some stupid book abducted us… I would be more excited if we didn't read about what happened to the others. I used to enjoy dark themed manga because it was edgy and different. I never wanted to be here myself! In dark manga there are people who make it through everything, but they're usually so battered by the end it doesn't feel like a victory....they showed those awful F rank skills... What if we get sent to that orc continent!"
She started to get hysterical.
My heart dropped.
Did she get one of those F ranked skill–
She tried to hold back what she had for breakfast but couldn't, she turned her head and began puking in the corner of the room.
She wiped her mouth and sat back against the wall saying,
"Guys.. We're in trouble. Hino, Hinabi, Emelia, we especially need to be careful. This isn't a safe world….Oh my… I… bleh"
Somehow the puke magically disappeared moments after, disintegrating into magic essence moments later.
Hinabi walked over to Mina taking her hand,
"Don't worry, we will watch each others back out there… I…."
Hino collapsed to the ground, starting to mentally break down herself. Hino was easily overwhelmed and influenced by others, not that it was unreasonable to do in this situation but still she was easy to influence.
"She's right, all those students that came before us died! Some were burnt, eaten…. I don't want to die!"
*Sob*
Akira stepped over to Hino grabbing and shaking her shoulders. Uncharacteristically he raised his voice and looked Hino directly in her eyes,
"Get yourself together. We're all struggling here! We need to keep calm now more than ever. From what we can tell this world is just like an RPG. All we need to level up, get stronger than anyone else here. If they ask something impossible of us, we will run. If they try to hurt us we will fight. We have done this a thousand times in games, now we will just have to do it with our own bodies. I know it's not ideal but wallowing in our own despair won't help anything."
Hinabi took a deep breath and started giving an encouraging speech to the group but I was lost in thought.
What about our other classmates? Over 10 people in our class are musical prodigies, never played a game in their lives, never seen them in any sports either. The only one who is slightly active is their leader...
Walking towards us was none other than him,
Speak of the devil..
The leader of their musical click, Ayumi, at least runs track. Yet overall they weren't that active. Even in gym class they're always off talking, not even the teachers would discipline them. They were untouchable because of their musical abilities.
Since our first year, the only conflict we had with them was when they wanted Hino to hang out with them instead of us. It's understandable, they probably felt we were holding her back, her musical abilities were above even seasoned musicians. Ayumi also seemed to have a crush, but no one really knew if he was into her or just didn't think any of us were worthy.
Ayumi Nakamoto, a genius conductor, leader of the musical kids faction at the school. Son of a famous Japanese musician. Thought to be the next big conductor of this lifetime. I always got along with him, never really had too much in common with him though.
A different group of our classmates shoved me out of the way and walked toward the front of the room.
Seijun declared to the rest of us,
"New World Order coming through! Not everyday you get superpowers and to run around in a video game fighting monsters."
Seijun Nakamoto, Brother of the musical genius Ayumi Nakamoto. Second to Kenji in the kendo faction of our class. No talent for music but came in second at the Kendo National Championship. He lives his life struggling to come out of his brother's shadow. In music he couldn't rival his brother, only finding his way with a sword. Yet even then, he only fell into Kenji's shadow right after.
Seijun put his arm around Hino, his eyes filled with desires unspoken.
"If you need someone to protect you…."
He started to reach for Hino's hand as Akira shoved him off.
"What the hell do you think you're doing asshole?! We all get summoned to this new world and you act like this?"
Seijun sized Akira up and then laughed,
"Easy Pal, was just offering, it's going to be hard over here. It's not meant for everyone. What can your dorky literature club even do?"
Hinabi lashed back at them,
"Whats this Seijun? Did you finally find a way to get out of Ayumi and Kenji's shadows? You seem to be really calm about all of this. Why's that?"
Seijun glared at Hinabi,
"You bitch, if you saw the skills that I got you wouldn't be talking to me like that. With my abilities, this is going to be a cakewalk. I've seen this Isekai shit in my brother's goofy animated TV shows. We get there, get the girls, kill the dragon and live to be heroes. I've been practicing kendo and martial arts for my whole life, who would have thought a day like today would come? Never before would I have the opportunity to put what I've learned into practice to this degree. My master always said I had some anger issues, I figure killing some monsters will be a good way to release some of that anger."
Seijun's eyes widened and he smirked at Hinabi,
"You're pretty cute as well Hinabi why don't…."
Kenji walked up interrupting Seijun,
"Come Seijun, we have plans to make."
The kendo club leader Kenji Kajio. Son of a wealthy politician in town. Competed and won first place at the Kendo National Championship. Now the leader of our school's Kendo club of 9 members. He was a force to be reckoned with. In a world of this type, those who can fight can rule the world.
Seijun sighed and started to walk away,
"Yeah, whatever."
Seijun looked back at Hino.
*Wink*
"Later Hino, see you soon"
Neglecting to make eye contact with any of us they both walked off to join the rest of their kendo friend group.
Sora walked over to comfort Akira, yet his voice was also shaky.
"What a bunch of jerks, don't pay Sejiun any mind.. I hate to say it but the Kendo club members should at least be able to defend themselves and help us if we really need it."
Oddly enough, I don't know why but at this moment I feel calm. I had wanted something like this to happen ever since I read about it…with everyone at my side. We should be able to overcome whatever lies ahead.
That's an optimistic way of looking at this situation.
Who the… Who is talking other than myself in my head…
You may call me Akuma, only daughter of the original demon emperor.
Of course… Why wouldn't there be a damn demon in my head? This is the first time I've ever introduced myself in my own head but yes.. Good to meet you. wait what.. EMPEROR?!? so you're some kind of bigshot huh...
You could say that, you have to be one special individual to have the compatibility we did. In order to get a demon contract of this level you need a bloodline purity of over 99%. You're the first summoned one in history to get this percentage. You need to keep the fact that you're a demon to yourself. Since you got concealment rank S no one will be able to notice unless you demon out in front of them.
You want me to lie to my friends? What do you mean by demon out?
There is a lot of information to tell but now is not the time. Still, remember these words, those people may be your friends from your past life but this is a new world. Power changes people, corrupts their mind. My life is tied to yours now, if you die, so do I. You need to be cautious, even around those you hold dear. If you need me just ask, Master.
Did she just call me..
I did, Master. The contract is in your favor. It's determined by potential power level. I was surprised, your potential is almost god tier.
This is a lot to take in. Can I have my head to myself for a bit?
I suppose.