"And that's about it." Sandra said.
"That's the entire story?" Will asked.
"Basically… we touched the staff, he told us what abilities we have, Josh is the only hero of our time to receive two abilities. Basically it. Oh! Before I forget, do you remember Pete, Henry, Victoria, and Britney?" Sandra asked.
"Oh, god, ugh, Victoria is here?" Will said that in disgust. He remembered looking at the photo where all the heroes stood, but did not see her there. It might have been because the heroes were bunched up and most of them couldn't be seen properly.
Victoria is the school's bully. Everyone hated her because of how she treats people. She would steal their stuff, insult them in every way especially those who were of a foriegn race. She was a bit shorter than Will, but she was fat and ugly and strong physically. It's like her actions reflect on her appearance. And just every other school, the bully never gets in trouble.
Will was one of her countless victims, until one day he stood his ground and she never bothered him again.
"I thought you would react like that." Sandra chuckled at his face.
"How could I not? I hated her. In fact everyone in our class hates her." Will obviously did not like Victoria at all.
"I know, same here. But, if you see her, please don't fight her."
"Why not?"
"Her hero ability… she is able to transform into any animal. Even into a dragon. She's too powerful."
"What a cliche power… but that actually suits her well."
"How so?"
"I mean that she can actually transform into a pig. If she does it wouldn't be that different from her usual self."
"Pfft! Hahaha!" Sandra started to laugh with a bright smile on her face.
"About Britney, Pete, and…"
"Henry?" Sandra asked.
"Yeah, why did you mention those specifically?" Will asked. There were a hundred heroes and she only specified those four.
"Because those four, the kingdom considers them the strongest, right next to Josh. Because of the huge potential they possess." Sandra said.
"What abilities do they have?" Will asked. The kingdom has made sure to keep their powers a secret as best as they could, which is why he doesn't know about their abilities yet.
"Britney… you remember her, right?"
"Big breasts, blonde, smart, kind and sex-...y?" Will accidentally told her his thoughts. Sandra looked at him with a deadpan expression in her eyes.
Britney is one of those girls who liked to show off her charm and skin to everyone in the world. She got into various problems at her school for breaking the school's dress code various times. She was infamous in her school for it.
"Yeah, that's her alright. Her ability is sucking the stamina and strength of everyone she touches. If she does it long enough even a dragon could die from her sucking."
"Pfft!" Will accidentally let out a chuckle.
"..." Sandra realized it the moment she said it.
"Sorry… the way you said it. Ahem! So, what about Henry and Pete?" Asked Will after restoring his composure.
"Pete can communicate with monsters. He could probably command monsters weaker than him if he wanted to." Sandra said.
"That doesn't sound like a destructive power, Sandra." Will said.
"That's what people thought about aquaman at first before he released his movie. The Great Sage realized this and saw his potential."
"Ohhh, right! Good point!" Will now completely agreed with her.
As for Pete, Will could not remember who that was.
"And lastly Henry. If I remember correctly, the Great Sage said that this is the first hero to have this sort of ability, the ability to copy other heroes abilities."
"Copying other heroes abilities? Sounds like an amazing power."
"It actually is. Some people think he could easily surpass The Great Sage in due time." Sandra said.
"Wow…" Will was amazed but did not know who Henry was either.
"Now Will, why did you ask if heroes had a system? Do you have one?" Sandra asked. She was sharp.
'Crap. I should not have said that.' Will thought. After so long, he honestly thought that every other hero had a system like him. Only now did he realize that it wasn't the case.
"You haven't told me your hero ability, yet, Sandra." Will did not want to say anything. He trusts her, but is afraid that if the Great Sage reads her mind, he would know that Will is not a hero but something else.
After all it's how the Great Sage was able to find out about Will, because he read Jasmine's mind.
'Just what am I?' Will asked himself because he knew that the system is not going to tell him anything.
"My hero ability… is this." Sandra produced thin clouds from her hands and body. She wasn't too proud of this ability as it could be seen on her face.
"It seems like I can produce smoke as much as I want. It's… not a great ability." Sandra couldn't help but cringe when showing him her ability.
"It's not bad… I think…" Will didn't know how to say it. Compared to the other amazing hero abilities he heard, it wasn't outstanding.
"It's alright. What about your hero ability? What is it? I'm curious."
"Secret."
"..." Sandra looked at him. She smiled and rested her head on her shoulder and hugged him.
"I missed you so much." She said.
"I did, too."
"Hm?" Sandra sensed something behind her hiding behind the trees.
"Will, stand behind me!" Sandra took out a small knife. She had a sniper rifle but if she were to take it out whatever was lurking in the forest would attack her.
"What's wrong?" Will couldn't sense a thing.
Then vines sprouted from the ground and coiled around Will as if it was trying to protect him.
"WILL!" Sandra yelled as she jumped towards him, but the vines pushed Will away from Sandra.
Then Adaline came out and hissed at Sandra.
"An organic creature?" Sandra has never seen a creature like Adaline, and it shocked her due to its size and abnormal appearance, It was made from only organic matter which is indeed abnormal to any person from her world.
"Adaline! Stand back and let me go. She's a friend." Will commanded her before they fought.
Adaline kept her guard up but backed away slowly. She loosened her coils around Will.
"Wait, you tamed an organic creature?" Sandra asked.
"Didn't I tell you I tamed a creature called Adaline?" Will walked up to Adaline and gently patted her head to comfort her.
"Yeah but I thought it'd be something cliche like a giant wolf or something."
"Taming a wolf is a cliche?" Asked Will. He has never read manga so he doesn't know that it's a common cliche in most isekai stories.
"Pretty much. But, looking at… her?" Sandra asked.
"Adaline is indeed a 'she.'" Will said.
"Looking at her closely, she's indeed a wonderful creature." Sandra still found Adaline's appearance weird, but she had bright flowers on her body which she found it just a tiny bit attractive to her.
Sandra got closer in an attempt to pet Adaline.
*Growl*
Adaline didn't like Sandra at all. When she got close enough, Adaline attempted to bite her hand.
"Ah!" Sandra retracted her hand at the last second.
"Hey, no biting." Will said a bit firmly. But Adaline kept growling and hissing at Sandra.
"I don't think she likes me."
"She's usually like this to strangers. Give her some time to warm up to you." Will said with a smile. Adaline was like that to him the first time they met.
Will gently patted Adaline's head to calm her down. She used her head to rub his stomach as a sign of affection.
Seeing that giant creature being so fond of Will made Sandra's heart melt. It was too sweet.
"Will, where do you-"
Then she sensed an unfamiliar presence coming towards them from above. A flying creature landed beside them while carrying 3 elves on his back. Sandra took out her knife just to be safe.
A man got off of the creature's back and hurriedly ran towards Adaline completely ignoring Sandra and Will.
"Adaline, are you hurt?" Arbor asked worriedly in elven tongue.
"Friends?" Sandra asked Will as she got closer to him.
"It's hard to tell at this point." Will still hasn't completely forgiven them. And the only reason they're here is because Arbor cares about Adaline.
Grace and Rias noticed the girl beside Will.
"Hero?" Grace asked in her elven language. She realized that Will has been learning how to speak in their language, but most likely can't communicate properly in long sentences. It takes years of practicing and learning to learn a foriegn language. Grace knows this because it's how long it took her to learn english.
"You don't need to speak in elven tongue, Grace." Will said. He put on his helmet and mask to be safe.
"Ah, this is where you guys were." Bruce appeared before them. Despite running at full speed at such a long distance to reach them, he barely broke a sweat.
The area was quiet, and awkward. No one spoke a word for a while.
Sandra took a good look at Grace, Rias, and Arbor. They were elves and Sandra was weary of them. They had the ability to charm their opponents, which works mostly on the opposite sex. Sandra knew they were elves because Will basically gave away their identity when he said 'don't speak in elven tongue' which obviously meant that they were elves.
"What do you want with Will?" Sandra asked in a bit of a hostile manner.
"Um." Grace didn't know what to say.
"They're here for Adaline. They're the ones who took care of her when she was born." Will said.
"Oh…" Sandra looked at Adaline at how fond she is of Arbor, but not as overly fond as she was with Will.
"Be careful of those people, Sandra. I think they're elves. The weapons that man carries look like elven wood like the ones in the pictures I saw in the kingdom." Bruce said cautiously.
"I know they are elves. Do not look them in the eyes, that's how they use their 'charming' ability people." Sandra responded.
"We can hear you, you know." Grace said loudly. "And there is no reason for us to do what you said. We only came here to check up on Adaline."
"But-"
"Sandra, those elves are only here because they are like a family to Adaline. And no they never used their charming ability on me if that's what you're wondering. I don't think they're bad, but don't leave them alone at your house, they might break not only your walls but your trust in them."
"Are you seriously that petty?" Grace asked.
"Next time you invite me to your house and I'll destroy the walls using mining tools."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry, too." Rias said in an apologetic manner.
Meanwhile…
Inside the Reyes kingdom.
Two heroes were having an argument.
"And you never did the one thing I told you to do?" The Great Sage asked Shaun loudly using telepathy.
"Gah, shut up! I can hear your voice ringing in my damn head!" Shaun felt like there was a speakerphone on his head.
"Why didn't you warn the heroes of the elves, and the enchanted forest? One hero has already made it to the enchanted forest and was thrown out. The next time another tries to force themselves inside the enchanted forest, they will become fertilizer."
"Live and learn. It's how we did it in the military." Shaun said.
"This isn't like back in our world, Shaun. You've been here for over a century and I expected you to do a better job to mentor these heroes. I'm not complaining about their training since it's going great, but you need to teach them the true dangers of this world."
"I am teaching them, but in my own way. If I told them about the enchanted forest they would still have gone there anyway. But if they experience it themselves, they would never even attempt to look in that direction ever again."
"You're risking their lives by putting them in dangerous situations. They're ordinary people, they're kids." The Great Sage said.
"No, they lost their right to become civilians when they were summoned in this world. And besides, they're heroes. They're going to die either way, either by a dragon, a bullet, a cyclops, or due to time. It's a job where people die young. I can give them all the warnings in the world, and I can train them until they break down, and the king can supply them armor and tools that could protect them all the way to their teeth, but they will still die. Just like my..." Shaun didn't say anything else.
The Great Sage rubbed his forehead with his fingers.
"Don't let them die, Shaun. Promise me."
"I can't promise you that. The only one who can promise you that is God. I'd expect you'd know that by now, Sage."
The Great Sage teleported to a different location.
Shaun stared at the direction where the Great Sage was.
"Why is he acting like he cares? I don't think he even cared when the last group of heroes died. Hypocrite."
Above them, a group of young heroes were spying on them in the tallest room.
"What did they say?"
"I dunno. I think something about hippos. It's hard to hear with the wind."
It was a group of three heroes, two men and one woman. They were Henry, Britney, and Pete.
"We didn't get any information about them, oh well. But what do you guys think we should do?" Henry asked, he was a young man wearing glasses and all black. He had short, black hair, and also for some reason an ear piercing on his left ear.
"I dunno about you two, but I'm staying in this room until I die." Pete jumped on a queen sized bed. It was a rather large room that could fit several beds.
Pete appeared to be an old man with a thick beard and a mustache, like a 30-35 year old, but he was still in his early twenties. He didn't like shaving but always kept the hair on his head short and clean.
"That sounds boring, Pete." Henry said.
"Didn't you see the size of that dragon that attacked the kingdom when the noble was about to get executed. Yeah I didn't sign for that shit. No way in hell that I am ever stepping foot outside of these walls."
"Pete, nobody here signed up for this. And we used to play dungeons and dragons. Imagine this is something like that."
"DnD? HA! Those were merely figments of our imagination, make believe. But THIS! This is real! Our lives are actually on the line if we fight those beasts."
"I say we put it to a vote." Britney, who had said nothing spoke up. "Those who want to go outside raise your hands."
Britney is a tall, sexy girl, with charming aura. She wore tight clothing that showed all her curves. She also had long blonde hair.
Britney and Henry both raised their hands.
"The majority won." Britney said to Pete.
"I don't see how that's my problem."
"It's my problem, Pete. I am not leaving you here alone."
Shaun already gave them permission to go outside the kingdom's walls whenever they like, but that was up to the heroes when they wanted to leave.
But they wouldn't leave each other. They figured they would be stronger together and have a higher chance of surviving with a group of three than a group of four.
Britney sat beside Henry.
"Now what do we do?"
"I don't know. We tried everything."
"I don't care what you guys do, but there is no force alive that is ever, and I mean EVER going to make me go out there." Pete said, determined.
"Excuse me, young heroes?"
The king acted like a timid child in front of the heroes, he slowly opened the door as he made his presence known.
"Your king!" Henry, Pete, and Britney stood up.
"At ease. I only came to you three for a special request."
"What do you need?" Asked Britney.
"Well, one of your fellow classmates has a hard time finding a group who would welcome her. I was wondering if she could join you guys." The King slowly pulled a pudgy, ugly woman into the room. It was Victoria. She had a terrible and ugly expression on her face.
"Well, your majesty about our group-"
"What a coincidence!" Henry interrupted Britney. "Britney and I were just about to head out and explore the world. My classmate, Pete, is in dire need of a party memb-"
Pete got behind Henry and held his mouth with his hand.
"I'm sorry your majesty, but we were just leaving to venture to this… amazing world, filled with amazing, giant, horrifying monsters." Pete said with a smile, but inside he was angry and scared.
He dragged Britney and Henry to the door to leave, but Victoria was there, staring daggers at them.
Victoria stroked her neck with her finger to send them a message/death threat to them 'I'm gonna fucking kill you.'
"Oh, it's such a beautiful day, I think I'm going to jump out the window." Pete was the first one to jump out of the kingdom, which was more than 10 stories high.
Henry and Britney followed suit and jumped out the window. A fall of that magnitude is nowhere near enough to kill them.
10 stories is about 100 feet, and 100 feet is 30.48 meters. A normal human can survive a fall of 20-25 feet (6-8 meters) anybody attempting to jump higher than that could be injured or die.
The king looked out the window.
"As expected of the heroes. Their bravery knows no bounds. Now, to find you another group."
"Tsk, whatever."
The king dragged Victoria to look for any group that would take her.
Britney, Pete, and Britney landed safely on the ground.
"I think I popped a bone. But it was worth it." Pete couldn't feel pain anymore after a while. A hero's regeneration is nothing to scoff at.
"We finally got you out here, Pete… now what?" Henry asked them.
"I dunno. I never expected us to get this far." Britney shrugged.
"...you dragged me out here, for nothing?" Pete asked.
"Do you want me to fetch Victoria?"
"How about if I go get our weapons first, and then we decide what to do. Deal? Deal." Pete ran inside the kingdom at a fast pace.
Pete would much rather fight a dragon or any giant type of monster than to talk or even look at Victoria.
"..." Henry.
"I think we should invite Victoria to the group." Britney said.
"Huh?"
"I feel bad for her. She has no one that cares for her, and we downright rejected her."
"It's her fault. Trust me, we're better off without her."
"Maybe she's misunderstood or something."
"Misunderstood? She ripped your sweater off and your shirt in front of the whole classroom and exposed you to the classroom,,, more than usual, and YOU were the one who got in trouble with the school. She even tried to do the same thing with your pants!"
"I know, but-"
"And do you see this?" Henry showed Britney a burned scar on his hand that looked in the shape of a science utensil.
"Right before COVID happened, I got paired up with her during a science lab because no one wanted her, I was forced to be with her. She purposefully burned a metal… I forgot what the name was, but when she handed it to me, I didn't notice she burned it and when it touched my hand, this is what happened. And the school labelled it as an 'accident' and I still got an A on that subject, but SHE ALSO GOT THAT A BECAUSE OF ME!"
"..."
"And, don't ever ask Pete what she did to him."
"No, I remember what she did to him now. It was brutal. Sorry I wasn't thinking about you guys."
"It's fine."
Henry looked at his hand.
'Wait, a hero's ability is that we can regenerate any kind of wounds, even burned wounds. So why hasn't this scar healed?' Henry didn't put too much thought into it anymore. It was now just a scar that was sort of healed.