I was walking along the sidewalk, thinking about finding a convenience store to grab something to eat, when I spotted three high school girls walking toward me. Two of them, with dyed hair and skirts so short they could barely be considered uniforms, were chatting away. A step or two behind them was a girl with black hair in twin braids and thick-framed glasses, walking silently.
As we passed each other, the sidewalk suddenly lit up with a pale blue glow under my feet. Pale blue rings of light surrounded me and the three girls, slowly rotating. Upon closer inspection, the rings were actually intricate patterns forming a circle. Could this be a magic array?
Just as I was wondering if this might be a portal to another world, everything went pitch black, and I lost consciousness.
...
When I regained consciousness, I couldn't see anything. It wasn't that there was no light around me; I couldn't even tell if my eyes were open or closed. It felt like I had lost my vision entirely. In my hazy state, a mechanical voice echoed in my head:
'Skill Point System installed.'
Was I transported to a game world? As these thoughts crossed my mind, my vision gradually returned, and I could finally see my surroundings again.
Looking around, it seems I'm in some kind of grand hall. The floor is stone, and there's a large magic circle painted in a glowing blue substance right in the center. Inside the circle, standing alongside me, are the three high school girls I just passed by.
The three of them look clearly bewildered as they scan their surroundings, but for some reason, they're not looking my way.
A few steps away from the magic circle, there's an old man dressed in a fancy robe embroidered with gold on a red background. On either side of him stand four men who seem to be his underlings. Behind them, about ten men who look like soldiers are lined up, swords hanging at their waists. The old man's attire looks like some kind of ceremonial robe, and he's speaking to us.
"△＄〇％..."
I have no idea what he's saying.
In typical otherworldly transfer stories, you'd usually already know the language or gain it through skill points, but here we are.
Suddenly, I hear a 'Pi-ro-lon!' in my head, and a blue, semi-transparent board appears right in front of me.
Judging by how no one else seems to notice this board, it looks like only I can see it.
On the board, it says,
"Do you want to use 1 Skill Point to learn the language of this world? Yes"
There's no "No," huh? Well, I'll go ahead and learn it. Click 'Yes.'
The term "language of this world" might be a bit simplistic, but since I'm the main character, it must be the language of my new world.
"I used one skill point to learn the language of another world. I have 199 skill points left. Wow, that's surprisingly a lot—I guess I started with 200. Not that I'm complaining though.
"…And so, that's why I summoned all of you. Let's check your jobs and skills right away. We'll do this in another room, please follow me."
The three high school girls and I were escorted by soldiers to another room. It felt like they were making sure we wouldn't try to escape. I had a really bad feeling about this.
We walked down a long hallway and entered a room at the end. In the center was a single desk with a black box on it, containing something that looked like a crystal ball used by fortune-tellers.
"If you touch this crystal ball, your job and skills will be projected on the white wall behind it. Let's start with you," he said, gesturing to one of the girls with brown hair. She was wearing a navy blazer and a gray skirt—wonder which school uniform that is? Upon closer look, she had piercings in both ears. Best not to get involved with her.
Name: Keiko Yamada
Age: 17
Job: Hero
Skills: Swordsmanship: Lvl 3, Magic: Lvl 2
Her job and skills were displayed on the white screen. She's a hero, but aren't those skills a bit underwhelming for a hero?
"Oh, a hero! With swordsmanship at level 3, that's almost saint swordsman level. And magic at level 2, that's magician level. Truly, we can expect great things from you, Lady Hero."
---
Next up is another blonde-haired character. She seems to be quite close to the previous hero, Keiko Yamada—they even call each other by their first names.
Name: Ichia Tahara
Age: 17
Job: Ranger
Skills: Swordsmanship: Lv2, Magic: Lv1, Exploration: Lv3
Hmm, not too impressive. They were talking about becoming a Sword Saint at Lv3, so maybe the max level is around Lv4, and Lv3 is already pretty good?
"Wow, another summoned one! This is promising. Exploration Lv3, just like that great adventurer!"
Seems Exploration Lv3 is on par with a great adventurer.
The third person has black hair in twin braids and wears glasses—she looks like the perfect class representative.
Name: Hana Sanzenin
Age: 17
Job: Sage
Skills: Magic: Lv4, Alchemy: Lv1, Appraisal: Lv1
"Wow, this is fantastic! Sage is a profession I've never seen before. There's actually a Magic Lv4? That must be beyond the level of a Mage Lv3, making it a High Mage level. Impressive!"
Hey, old man, all you do is praise!
It looks like all three of them allocated their skill points before coming into this room. How efficient. I didn't have that kind of time. Actually, it's more likely that their skill points were automatically allocated. Furthermore, there's a chance that only my skill points follow a manual allocation system.
Finally, it's my turn.
Name: Zenjirou Iwanaga
Age: 27
Occupation: None
"Oh, I don't have a job. It's true that I don't have any occupation right now, and I don't have any skills either."
Grandpa: "…"
Even Grandpa has nothing to say about this. He probably lost for words. Grandpa gave some signals to the soldiers.
Two soldiers grabbed my arms from each side and started dragging me away.
The three people who were highly praised by Grandpa were looking at me. The two with brown hair had an expression as if they were looking at garbage. While I'm not used to being looked at like that, there's no point in worrying about it in this situation.
"I'm going to get some skills now!"
"I have so many skill points too!"
I turned my head back and shouted, but no one paid any attention to me. This must be what it feels like when your protests fall on deaf ears.
Leaving the trio of high school girls behind, I was taken to another room—no, dragged away.
At 27 years old, this is my first real taste of being manhandled. I demand to be treated like a civilized person!
Since I wasn't quite sure what was happening, I decided to stay calm and go along with the soldiers.
The room I was brought to was a dusty, makeshift storage room.
We came down one flight of stairs to reach here, which seemed to be at the bottom of the staircase. I'm not sure if this is the first floor or the basement. While it would be troublesome if it were underground, there was a high window on the wall opposite the door, so it seems we're not underground after all.
I was walking down the street, thinking about grabbing a bite to eat at some shop when I got whisked away to another world. And it seems like I've been deemed an unwanted uncle. What's going to happen to me now? Oh, and by the way, I'm still hungry.
The room they brought me to was dimly lit, with only a small high-up window in the back wall providing any light. Once the door closed, the room grew even darker, and it felt dusty. There were dusty wooden crates scattered around, so it was clearly a storage room. Sitting on the floor with my back against the door, I started to think.
So, what's next? Those guys must be trying to use the people they kidnapped from Earth for something. Since I, unemployed and skill-less, have been labeled as unwanted, it's clear that occupation and skills are important to them. That much is probably right.
But then, what will they do with me, the unwanted guy? If it were me, I'd dispose of unnecessary things. But if they just dump me somewhere, there's a chance the kidnapping would become known. Unless they regularly kidnap people, which I doubt, they wouldn't want that information getting out. So, not only would they need to get rid of me, but they'd also need to silence me. These are people who can easily kidnap others. They'll surely try to kill me soon.
Alright, I just need to escape before that happens. So, let's grab some skills that will help me bolt from here. The first thing on my list? The classic "Item Box." I mean, who wouldn't want that? I can't even use skills properly yet, so not having it would be a real bummer. There's even a chance I'd end up wasting my skill points.
Thinking it over, I silently hoped, "Please let me get the Item Box."
*Ding!*
That familiar blue, translucent board appeared in front of me.
"Would you like to spend 1 skill point to acquire Item Box Level 1? Yes or No?"
Of course, I picked "Yes."
"You have spent 1 skill point to learn Item Box Level 1. Remaining skill points: 198."
"Would you like to spend 2 skill points to acquire Item Box Level 2? Yes or No?"
Once again, I chose "Yes."
"You have spent 2 skill points to learn Item Box Level 2. Remaining skill points: 196."
From my gaming knowledge, I knew that as you level up skills, they tend to come with better benefits and effects that surpass their level differences. So, I kept leveling up my Item Box.
...
"You have spent 10 skill points to learn Item Box Level Max. Remaining skill points: 144."
The maximum level for the item box was 10, and I found out that it takes skill points equivalent to the level to increase it by one level.
Even if I plan to run away, being penniless in this world is still a problem. It would be great if I could find something valuable before I leave.
With that in mind, I started lifting wooden boxes around the room one by one, but they all seemed to be empty. No such luck there.
Well, maybe I should check the next room, which seems to be unoccupied.
I somehow sensed that the wall separating my room from the next one is about 30 centimeters thick. I've never had this kind of feeling before, so it must be the effect of the item box skill.
Without saying anything aloud, I thought, "Storage!" and the 30-centimeter-thick, two-meter-square wall material was stored in the item box.
I stepped through the newly created square hole into the next room. It was about the same size as the storage room I was just in, and it also seemed to be used as a storage space. There were various wooden boxes placed around, all covered in dust, suggesting they hadn't been touched in a while.
Next to the door, there was a wooden stick about my height leaning against the wall. When I picked it up, it felt quite heavy, indicating it was made of dense wood.
A message popped up: "Consumed 3 skill points to learn Staff Mastery Level 3. Remaining skill points: 138."
---
Before I knew it, I had reached Level 3 in staff skills. I did it without even realizing. Now I'm like Goku with a staff. Yeah, right.