A moment after everyone disappeared from Don Quijote, Kio opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by white space as far as the eye could see.
"Welcome, traveller. Please choose your class."
Hearing somebody speaking to him, Kio looked at his surroundings. However, there was nothing he could see aside from empty space everywhere.
'What's going on? Is the person speaking to me invisible or did he completely blend into the white background?'
Confused, Kio shouted out loud, "Who's there!? Who are you?"
"After taking a look at your memories, the only things that would somewhat describe me would be a God or System Administrator."
"What? Is this because I've read too many novels and watched too many animes during my spare time? So… did I get isekai'd?" Kio asked, with visible excitement in his eyes.
However, that brief moment of joy quickly dimmed as he remembered what happened prior to entering this space.
"Excuse me, where are my friends Riko and Yuki? What happened to all the other people around us and the zombies?"
"Everyone that got summoned were moved to a similar space as you. Although you aren't able to see anyone right now, in a few minutes, once the summoning is complete, you will all get transported at the same time."
"I see. How come you chose to speak to me? Am I going to be something like the so-called hero of this new world?" Kio jokingly asked, since most isekai stories he knows involves summoning or reincarnating a hero of some sort into a new world.
"No. I split my consciousness between all 250 of you."
"Wait what!? There should've only been less than 20 of us in the store." Shocked, Kio didn't know how 250 people got summoned at the same time.
'Could it be that multiple summoning occurred at different places at the same time?' Confused, Kio thought this could be one of the reasons why 250 people were summoned.
"No. Only one summoning orb was used. A single summoning circle transported everybody."
"Eh? I'm pretty sure I didn't say that out loud earlier. Are you able to read my thoughts too?"
"Yes."
"I see. Hmm… Can you tell me if everybody that got summoned were humans?" Kio asked, after he theorized about the worst possibility that could explain the large number mentioned by this System Administrator.
"No. Two of them were animals."
"Oh shit…" Hitting the nail on the head, he could already predict the answer of his next question, "Since you could read my memories, are the majority of the summoned beings… zombies?"
"Yes."
"Fuck! This is gonna be a shitty isekai world."
Frustrated at whoever used this so-called summoning orb, Kio proceeded to ask more questions, "Hey System Admin, you said I will be gone from this place in a few minutes. Can you tell me why am I here in the first place?"
"Everybody sent here is given the opportunity to choose a class. After choosing a class, they will each be given a 'starter pack', as you would call it."
"I see. What kind of classes can I choose from?"
"That is for you to decide on."
"Is there a list of the available classes?"
"No."
"What if I choose the hero class?" Knowing how bad the situation will be in a few minutes, Kio wanted to pick an overpowered class.
"Rejected. Hero has already been chosen."
"Wait what? Somebody already chose it? Dammit! Can each class only be chosen once?"
"Yes."
"Shit, I guess I wasted too much time asking questions." Although he was too slow in picking the hero class, Kio knows that information gathering was essential to staying alive in the future.
"Ok what about… magic swordsman? Being able to use magic while wielding a sword should be pretty powerful."
"Rejected. Magic swordsman has already been chosen."
"Shit, what about sage? That should be the stronger version of a magician…"
"Rejected. Sage has already been chosen."
"Fuck. Don't tell me only common classes are left, like swordsman or something."
"Swordsman is available, will you choose the swordsman class?"
"No! I don't want such a basic class."
Assuming that this class can't be changed in the future, Kio wanted something that will be useful in staying alive in the present and future.
"Hmm, I should see if anyone chose some of the other common classes. Is Magician available?"
"Rejected. Magician has already been chosen."
"What about the priest class?"
"Rejected. Priest has already been chosen."
"Ok. Looks like people are choosing their classes pretty fast. I don't think I have much time left here right?"
"There are 4 minutes and 21 seconds left before you are transported."
"Alright. What will happen if somebody doesn't choose a class before they get transported?"
"That person will become classless, and they will have to choose a class from one of the methods used in Shaea, the world you are all being summoned into."
Reading between the lines, Kio could see the silver lining in the clouds. 'If my assumptions are correct, that means the transported zombie would be classless because they can't choose a class.'
"Hmm… I wonder what class would be good." Thinking for a short while, he then asked, "What about assassin?"
"Assassin is available, will you choose the assassin class?"
"Yes."
"Assassin class confirmed. Your starter pack has been delivered to your inventory."
"Sweet. What is this inventory?"
"Everyone who has chosen a class will receive a 4 cubic meter inventory space along with a starter pack."
"Cool. How do I retrieve or store items in my inventory?"
"You can either visualize a space pocket in your mind or shout out the words Inventory! Immediately after, a small portal will appear in front of you.
To access your inventory, simply reach into the space pocket and you will be able to grab the item you are thinking about.
To store items into your inventory, open your space pocket and place the item into it. You can also simply touch your item, and if you desire to store it, the item will automatically disappear into your inventory. If your inventory capacity has been exceeded, the item will not be stored."
"I see. Is there anything that can't be stored inside my inventory?"
"Living creatures cannot be stored in the inventory."
"That's… pretty normal I guess."
Finished with the questions about his inventory, Kio decided to look at his so-called starter pack.
After following the steps mentioned by this System Admin, he opened a space pocket and began to think about the starter pack while reaching his hand inside to grab something.
When he pulled his arm back out, a small transparent crystal was grasped within the palm of his hand.
A second later, the crystal shone brightly and disappeared.
"Huh? So, what happened to the starter pack?" Confused, he decided to ask more questions.
"You have claimed your starter pack."
"Eh? That's it? What was in the starter pack?"
"The starter pack contains three passive abilities, a Teleportation Crystal, and 7 ration cubes that will sate your hunger and thirst for 24 hours with each consumption."
"I'm guessing the ration cubes and Teleportation Crystal are already in my inventory?"
"Yes."
"What is this Teleportation Crystal anyways?" Leaving the skills for later, Kio decided to ask about the crystal first.
"The Teleportation Crystal will allow the user to teleport to a place they have been to before or teleport one person to the user's location if that person doesn't reject it."
"Wow really? Does that mean I could use it to go back to my old world?"
"Yes."
"How does one reject it if they get targeted for the teleportation?"
"Having the intention to reject it would suffice."
"Alright."
A spark appeared in his eyes as he realized that he could use the crystal to bring Kaori over here. However, he didn't want to use it immediately after he gets transported to the new world because he knows there will be zombies surrounding his group.
There's also a potential problem to his idea. What if Kaori decides to reject it when he uses the Teleportation Crystal?
Running short on time, he decided to worry about this later.
"So, what kind of skills did I receive from the starter pack?"
"Everybody has been given the same skills for the starter pack. The skills are: [Inspect], [Universal Language Translation], and [Minimap]."
"Cool. Who came up with these names?"
"The skill names were decided after reviewing everybody's memories from the summoning."
"I guess I wasn't the only gamer and web novel enthusiast. So, what do these 3 skills do?"
"[Inspect] allows the user to receive detailed information about an item or person. The amount of information gained will be based on the user's level.
[Universal Language Translation] automatically translates written words and oral speech into a language the user or target is familiar with.
[Minimap] allows the user to see his party's location on a transparent film at the corner of his field of view."
Picking up the keyword 'party' from the description of [Minimap], he decided to try it out later.
"Looks like these are all passive skills in game terms. Is there a way to see my status or something?"
"Yes. Use inspect on yourself."
"Oh. That sounds simple enough." Not wanting to embarrassingly shout out the names of the skills, Kio calmly voiced out in his head, '[Inspect], myself.'
Name: Kio Nakai
Age: 22
Level: 1
Class: Assassin
Skills: [Inspect Lvl 1], [Universal Language Translation Lvl --], [Minimap Lvl --], [Stealth Walk Lvl 1], [Haste Lvl 1]
"Oh? Looks like there's no strength, dexterity, or other attributes in my status. Hmm, 2 of these skills probably came from my class. [Stealth Walk], [Haste], and [Inspect] all have Lvl 1 beside it, so they must be able to get better as it levels up. [Universal Language Translation] and [Minimap] should be one of those skills that would remain static in the future."
Satisfied with the inquiry of his items and skills, Kio had one more question he absolutely had to clarify.
"What is this summoning orb you mentioned earlier? And how is it related to us being summoned?"
"In the world, Shaea, there is a single Dungeon located in the continent of Krichez. The summoning orb is one of the rarest items that could be found in the Dungeon, and it was used in the summoning ritual to transport all of you over there."
"What are some of the other rare items found in the Dungeon?"
"Restricted information."
"..." Dumbfounded, Kio became speechless for a moment.
All of his other questions had been answered thus far, so when he didn't receive an answer this time, he felt like this Dungeon had a mystery surrounding it.
"Well uh… what else can you tell me about the Dungeon?"
"The Dungeon… You have 10 seconds left before the summoning. Any further questions will not be answered. Please prepare yourself."
"Well fuck… at least I got enough information."
Although he hoped to know more about this Dungeon, Kio knew he didn't have much time in the first place.
After 10 seconds passed, his body started to fade away.
…
As the sunlight shone on his body, Kio slowly opened his eyes and looked around.
He could see Riko and Yuki directly behind him, and Jay's group closeby.
And as expected, they were surrounded by hundreds of zombies a few tens of meters away from them.