Jackson's PoV
It was just another crazy Friday evening, the best time of the week, it's a time to get absolutely high, high on knowledge that is. While other people may be out partying and getting high on drugs, I'm getting high on the smell of old library books. So anyways, Friday night. Usually, on Fridays, there's close to no one there, so there's a better overall environment to read and study in. But today seemed different. I didn't know whether it was just me but the library just felt... emptier. I shrugged it off. I walked to the History section of the library and started browsing for a new book. I had read pretty much every single book in the section, so finding a new one required great luck and faith in whatever great being was above. And lo and behold, I found... Nothing.
Well, not entirely nothing. Between 'American Engineering in the Second World War' and 'Gefechtsausbildung der Panzergrenadiere', was a thin, untitled book which seemed to be made out of some old kind of paper. It appeared old, but since I had nothing to read, I decided to try reading it.
The book was story about how a nice, peaceful country called the Kingdom of Auveria was under the threat of the 'Demon Race'. The great and wise King and his advisers consulted with the Grand Sorceress of Auveria to obtain an ancient Summoning Relic from the Divine Rosmanian Empire. Finally, the Kingdom of Auveria managed to gather enough funds from its loyal people and managed to complete a transaction with the Rosmanians and obtained one of the usable Ancient Summoning Relics from an ancient civilisation and begin the ritual to summon a 'Champion' from another world to help save the free Kingdom of Auveria.
"And thus, the ritual began as the Grand Mage and his Crown Mages poured forth their mana into the relic, a great magic circle appeared and..."
"Huh? That's it?" I tossed the book aside and It landed on the ground. Then it happened. I remember turning to get up and search for a book when a bright light-green light shone from where the book had fallen. It was blinding, but I did manage to catch a small glimpse. The book was gone, instead, there was what one would call a 'Magic Circle' from fantasy or satanic cults. This Magic Circle was light-green in colour, and I could feel the air around me turn cold and swirl like a miniature tornado.
"What in the hell kind of-" I was cut off as suddenly, I was sucked into the middle of the magical circle.
I fell through a tunnel for about a minute and finally, I found myself on the floor of a well-decorated room in the middle of a magic circle similar to the one I saw previously. I opened my eyes and saw men in red robes on their knees clutching what looked to be staffs in their hands.
"It worked! Finally! Auveria has a champion of its own!" I heard someone exclaim. The men in robes and a few other men armed with pikes jumped in glee and hugged one another with the spirit of celebration. I looked around, confused when I saw a beautiful girl with an hourglass figure looking to be about my age in a red and gold robe, clearly more extravagant compared to what the others were wearing, approached me and stood over me. "No one will mess with Auveria again! Long live Auveria! Long live the King!" he yelled, prompting the others to shout "Long live Auveria! Long live the King!"
"Umm... Where am I? What's going on?" I asked. The girl looked at me and smiled, making me blush a little as I tried to keep my eyes on her face. "Do not worry, your confusion will be alleviated once we bring you to meet the King. I am Arianna, the Grand Sorceress of Auveria. I welcome you to our world, otherworldly Champion." 2 guards lifted me up on my feet.
¨Follow me, the King awaits your presence in the throne room with his advisers, we must not keep them waiting!" I followed the Grand Mage to the throne room. On the way, a million thoughts flooded my mind. Was this really happening? This is like one of those cringy isekai anime thingies from Japan! Finally, I can become someone important! Will I get magical powers or something?
We reached the end of the hallway, where I faced a big wooden door. 2 guards opened the door and I was greeted to a room full of people dressed in attire from the late middle ages. On the throne sat a chubby man who I could only describe to be what a Caucasian Kim Jung Un would look like if he were a European Monarch from the 1300s.
"Welcome to Auveria, champion." he said from his throne. "What is your name?" he asked. "Jackson Hawkins, sir." I reply. "I see. I have been awaiting your arrival! With you by my side, Auveria will be able to crush our inferior neighbour, the Kingdom of Silvestria!" the people in the room cheered as he said that "Now that we too have a Champion of our own, Silvestria will be a part of our glorious nation, under my great leadership... You shall help us in our upcoming invasion of Silvestria."
"Wait... I thought I was brought here to fight demons? Now I'm supposed to invade another country? What the hell?" the room turned silent, and the King stared at me, then laughed "Oh don't worry about that. The demons haven't been seen in decades! I promise that if you help us, we'll shower you in riches and slaves!"
"Slaves? Slavery exists here?" I ask, shocked. Now the atmosphere in the room turned tense "Hmph, you sound like one of those western bastards trying to take away our slaves to 'liberate' them. It seems that you are uncooperative! Guards! Banish him to the forests!" he yelled.
"But your majesty! We only have this one summoning relic!" interjected one of the mages. "Ah... that won't be a problem." said Grand Sorceress Arianna, "Through my travels, I met an old classmate who said that he would be able to supply me with another summoning relic in a few weeks, a better one at that. It won't interfere with our invasion plans. From what I've observed, this 'Champion' has no traces of magic at all, and his physical strength is weak. It wouldn't be a loss to execute him." she said, grinning whilst staring at me.
"Hmm... Very well. Execute this trash of a hero and throw him into the lake!" announced the King. What the hell? I thought I was going to help these people! Not be a part of some arms race! I don't want to die!
"Wait! You don't have to do this! Can't you just send me back? I'm sure it-" I was unable to finish the sentence as I was knocked out from behind.
A while later
Jackson's PoV
I was woken up by the feeling of someone splashing water into my face. I found myself kneeling on the side of a river with bruises all over me, signs that I must have taken quite a beating in the throne room. I looked behind me and found myself surrounded by armed guards and those from the throne room just now, as well as countless peasants.
Third Person PoV
The Grand Sorceress stepped forward. "Hmph, so much for being a champion, whatever world you come from must be truly pathetic to not have magic," she said.
The crowd jeered Jackson, calling him things like a 'False Champion' and a 'Magicless Animal'. A few even threw stones and threw rotten food. Jackson could only grit his teeth as he awaited his fate.
"In the name of majesty the King, I execute you on charges of high treason against the king and the nation. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" announced Grand Sorceress Arianna, raising her staff to cast the spell to end his life.
Jackson looked at her, then at the water. It was flowing very violently, but he probably had a greater chance of survival. "Yeah, go to hell bitch!" he yelled as he pushed the guards aside and dived into the water. The guards tried to chase after him but the river was flowing too fast.
"Oh leave him, downstream is Dark Forest. Even if he doesn't drown, he can't possibly survive all the dark creatures without magic," said Arianna, laughing. "Not having magic must make one a fool."
What she didn't know, was that her and the other's actions today, would make them the fools of tomorrow.
A few hours later
Jackson's PoV
I finally awoke and coughed out water, I found myself lying on the bank somewhere downstream from the river. "So it wasn't a goddamn dream..." I muttered. I got up to survey my surroundings. It looked to be almost the evening, and there didn't seem to be any sign of civilisation in the area.
"Aw man... what do I do now?¨ I asked myself as I clutched my injured arm.
< Champion System [CS/56-JH-E] has been activated. Welcome Champion [Jackson Hawkins] of [Earth]! >
"What the hell?" the sudden emotionless female voice in my head took me by surprise and I stumbled backwards. "Who the fuck was that? This isn't funny!"
< I apologise for startling you champion. >
I flinched upon hearing the voice again. "What the shit..."
< Opening interface. >
Suddenly, a black and white coloured panel about the size of a tablet appeared before me. I reached out and found that I could touch it. "W-what is this?"
< Interface has been modified to Champion's preference. Allow me to reintroduce myself, I am your Champion System that has been installed into your neural system upon your arrival to this world, my System ID is [CS/56-JH-E]. The purpose of my existence is to serve and assist you in your time in this world. >
"Holy fuck so it is like one of those isekai shits... I guess it's cool? That's a weird name though." I respond.
< Would you like to edit the System ID? >
"I can do that? So I have like administrator perms or something?"
< Champion [Jackson Hawkins] possesses full permanent, untransferable ownership over Champion System [CS/56-JH-E]. Champion System [CS/56-JH-E] has been fully modified and updated to fit your world. >
"Yeah, I'm just going to call you Viv since you seem like an AI assistant from my old world."
< System ID will now be [Viv]. >
"So uh... Now what? How are you supposed to help me? I don't suppose you could fix my arm?"
< Champion [Jackson Hawkins] is currently at Level 0. Loading stats: >
A UI like from an RPG game appeared before me.
< Name: [Jackson Hawkins]
Age: 21
Level: 0 | SP Gain +0% | SP Capacity: 100
Champion Modifiers:
- [Student of History] (Research Speed +15%)
- [Military Affairs Expert] (Summoning Capacity +10%)
- [Magicless Earth] (0% Magic)
Champion Statistics:
Strength: 5/10 (Average)
Stamina: 4/10 (Below Average)
Leadership: 6.5/10 ( Above Average | Spawn Capacity +10%)
Intelligence: 7.5/10 (Over Average | Research Speed +20% )
Magic: 0/10 (None | SP Gain +0% | SP Capacity +0% | Magic Permanently Locked)
Prestige: 0/10 (None | 0% Prestige boost)
Summoned Individuals:
0/60 (Summoning Capacity: Base 50 (Lvl 0), +10% (Leadership), +10% (Modifier))
Summoning points:
100/100 (SP Gain: 15/h | Base 15 ) >
"Wow... that's a lot... Wait... I can't have magic, ever?" I ask.
< Yes. Unfortunately, you come from a world without magic. Hence it is impossible for you or your summoned individuals to acquire magical ability. >
"Damn... Wait...it says 'Summoned Individuals', does it mean I can summon people?"
< User has the ability to spawn in custom, unique individuals and other objects technologically available. >
"So uh can I get a friend? No offence, but it's lonely not having a friend to speak to."
< Generating summoned individual (1/1). 10 SP spent. Remaining SP: 90 >
A glowing figure of a woman appeared in front of me. The light dissipated and I found a girl in a grey military uniform (Not the no-no Germany kind) and cap with long black hair with an American Colt M1911 in a holster on her hip.
"Good evening, Mr Hawkins. Lieutenant Elina Becker reporting for duty, sir!" she said, saluting me. I saluted her back.
< Loading Summoned Individual [ Elina ] Statistics... >
A window appeared on the interface.
< Name: [Elina Becker]
Age: 19
Status: Armed Forces Lieutenant
Profession: Military Officer, Secretary
Summoned Statistics:
Strength: 6.5/10
Stamina: 7/10
Intelligence: 7/10
Magic: 0/10 (Permanent Lock) >
"It's a pleasure to be able to serve you Mr Hawkins sir." she said "I advise that you summon more of my comrades so that we may be able to protect you. From my observations, there may be predators in this forest, and in case whoever or whatever gave you those wounds may come back."
"Those motherfuckers." I quietly muttered "Yes that would be a good idea. Let me see..." I explored the interface and found a tab labelled 'Summoning'. I saw a list of things that could be summoned, ranging from personnel, vehicles, weapons, food, and even buildings. Two things caught my eye: First, some of it was expensive, I saw my SP counter which showed that I had spent 10 SP summoning Elina and that I was gaining 25 SP per hour. A box of rations costs on average 4 SP while a military jeep costs 30 SP. The next thing I noticed was that most of the things I could summon came from the First World War. To be more specific, things up to 1918. "Wait why can I only summon things from World War 1, Viv?" I asked.
< You can advance further along your world's technological timeline by research or gaining levels. >
"Damn... I wanted to get an Assault Rifle or something. Well, I guess I'll get some more companions and supplies." I summoned 4 soldiers, costing 40 SP, each equipped with an American M1903 Springfield Rifle. I chose the Springfield as it was a very reliable weapon, which saw service from the first World War to even the Cold War. I also summoned a few boxes of rations, which consisted of canned goods for another 8 SP, as well as a British Webley Mk V Revolver for myself, which cost just as much as the food.
< Summoning. 56 SP Spent. Remaining SP: 34 >
At once, 4 more figures and a few boxes appeared. 4 soldiers, 3 men and 1 woman, with rifles slung over their shoulders, appeared and saluted me. They were dressed in a grey combat uniform with a tin helmet similarly designed to modern helmets. One of the men stepped forward and saluted me and Elina. "Corporal Jordan McAllister reporting for duty sir. It's a pleasure to be serving under you, Mr Hawkins, Lieutenant." I shook his hand and the other soldiers introduced themselves as well, then ordered them to set up a small camp and survey the area. 2 of them would scout out our surroundings, while Lieutenant Becker would coordinate the setting up of a campsite for us to stay the night.
I looked over to the boxes of supplies and walked over to the smallest one, I opened it and found my Webley Revolver, fully loaded, inside a complimentary holster (Which to my surprise was a modern one). There were also 2 dozen extra .45 ACP rounds. I smiled as I inspected the gun, the last time I had fired a gun was during my visit to the Shooting Club. Now I had a gun of my own. I put on the holster and holstered my revolver, then went over to help set up the campsite. After that, it was time to get to work.