The crystal glowed in a soft light as it displayed it's status.
Name: Ethan Oswald
Job: Commoner
Level: 0
MP: -
STR: 10
AGI: 11
VIT: 10
DEX: 15
INT: 12
Ethan stared dejectedly. It wouldn't be a lie to say he had a tiny bit of hope that the question marks would reveal themselves as something awesome when the crystal ball tested him. However, not only had the question marks not been revealed, they had completely vanished from the crystal's description. Even his MP stat was seemingly suggesting that he had no mana.
He could still see the hidden question marks part on his own status pane but frustratingly no one else could know as the crystal was showing something entirely different.
'Trash really does remain as trash, even in another world,' quipped Kelsey. The truth was, both James and Kelsey were currently relieved. James was worried that if Ethan had a superior ability, Kelsey might leave him and go cozying up back to Ethan . Meanwhile, Kelsey was worried if she'd made the wrong choice. What if Ethan could get a better status after coming to this world?
Seeing his 'commoner' status however, they both were ridiculing him reassured. They weren't the only ones. Even the king and the few people present were avoiding looking at him. They'd been expecting another powerful job but their expectations were shattered as they read his only job was commoner. Moreover, there simply was nothing remarkable about his stats and he also was a level 0 with no magic power!
'Ahem! Let me explain a few things about the stats and ranking,' the king hurriedly changed the topic as he realized that his court members were about to voice their opinions on banishing the commoner, which may insult the hero or the mage..
'The levels in your stats are unknown in this world but they are probably to track your progress, and as of now the correlation between your level and our ranking system is not known. Most of you have high magical power and most people with such attributes choose to earn by hunting, becoming mercenaries or by taking on missions posted in the adventurer's guild which is there in each country.
The ranks for these are divided into 7 divisions namely S, A, B, C, D, E, F. Both mercenary groups and individuals are ranked such. However it's been years since an S-ranked individual emerged so its mainly treated as a mythical rank.'
Hearing the explanation, everyone nodded. The king proceeded to explain that while almost everyone has magic power, they only have a few meager points. Some warriors use it to fortify their body by circulating mana but most don't have enough mana to manifest a spell.
Everyone also has elemental affinities. All priests have an affinity with the holy element which is the light element. While it is possible to use magic not belonging to your own element, it needs to be done by the help of artifacts which are extremely rare and have limits or by spell stones which only allow a one time use.
Ethan had to admit this was informative. While the grey spirit had told them most of this, information about ranks and using elemental magic without having an affinity for it had not been covered. He knew he'd have to prepare measures against this if he had to survive in this world. After all killing someone without any status wouldn't even matter in a country with nobility and flawed laws.
As he thought about this, he recognized reality. He really had come to another world and left everyone behind. Waves of tiredness rushed over him and he craved the warmth of his bed and the liberty to just forget about everything that happened as he slept.
'All this is a lot to take in, is there a place we could rest for now,' Lenne asked the king at this very moment. She must've been feeling tired too, Ethan thought. The king nodded in agreement and motioned to the guards to show them to their chambers for the night.
It was then they realized that while it was morning when they were in their world it was almost midnight here. Tired, they followed the guards to their respective chambers after bidding each other goodnight.
Unbeknownst to Ethan, James and Kelsey were still in the hall. They seemed to have reached some kind of silent agreement but were hesitating to say it aloud. Seeing they had not left, the king asked if they needed something.
Kelsey hesitated and looked up at James' face, latching fearfully onto his arm. 'We want to request something from Your Majesty,' spoke James as he glanced at Kelsey. 'The truth is Ethan, the guy who tested at the end, has an abnormal obsession with my girlfriend Kelsey and has always made her life difficult in our world. We're afraid he might do worse things now, as the rules are different in this world..' he trailed off.
The King considered this statement. While he didn't know whether it was falsified or not, he really couldn't care less. After all Ethan didn't have any particular ability, and moreover he was worse than a normal commoner as he didn't even have magic power. Saykut lamented about this fact, he'd spent a great deal of money and used up several top grade mana stones to summon those 4 but he'd gotten a rotten egg in the basket.
Thinking about all this, he was not at all inclined on paying gold and taking care of the expenses of a useless deadweight. In fact he himself was looking for a way to drive him out from the castle on the pretext of hunting monsters but now an opportunity had presented himself which not only allowed him to get rid of Ethan but also allowed him to please the Hero and the Priest who were beneficial to the Kingdom.
'Very well, your safety is a priority, so I shall fulfill this request,' he announced. Hearing this, both of them thanked him and left. If anyone had looked at Kelsey as she left, they would've seen the sinister smile carved on her face.
A slight chill ran down Ethan's back at this moment. He was presently lying on the soft bed in a chamber in the palace but for some reason he couldn't sleep. The time he'd spent till now in this new world had been really tiring, and he had a feeling it wasn't gonna get easy any time soon. This was supported by the feeling that the scheming duo would try to trouble him in some way or the other.
'I wonder if monster meat and holy water would produce the same effect as what Hajime did and give me instant abilities,' he mused darkly.
After a while passed as he was thinking about his fate, Ethan rolled over in his bed. Far, far away, in a natural tunnel made in the rocks, a crack appeared.