"I got something called solar flames and spear user."
"I got earth master, air manipulator, and shield techniques."
"I got lightning magic."
"You only got one skill? That sucks."
"Nah it looks like it's a type of magic you can typically only get if you manage to evolve air, water, and light magic at the same time, so I'll be able to use all those on top of lightning spells."
"Oh hell, that's pretty cool."
When Ben arrived at dinner everyone else had already gathered. It looked like he was delayed from spending so long verifying that this was another world, and they were already discussing the skills and abilities they had received. It seemed like a few were still pretty down to learn that they had died and there was no going back home, but many were at least ignoring that fact for now with the excitement of the situation.
He took a seat between Steph and his pal Will and chatted with them as a priest brought him a plate to eat.
"How is it?" He asked them, looking at the unusual purple mush beside some far too yellow-looking meat.
"Not poison." Will was quick to say.
"It's not bad. The taste is a little weird but who knows what it came from so I guess we'll just have to get used to these sorts of meals from now on." Steph said a little sadly.
Now that there was food in front of him he was feeling pretty hungry and wanted to dig in, but the looks of it still made him cautious, so he started with a small bite. Steph was right, a little weird but overall not bad. The meat was slightly spicy and the texture was unusual, but he could stomach it. The purple mush with it sort of made him think of berries mixed with mashed potatoes, but not in a bad way. It had a mellow sweetness to it.
As he was working his way through his plate Will popped the question that he was dreading. The question everyone else seemed to be talking about.
"So what skills did you get? I ended up getting unarmed master, tough skin, and advanced enhanced strength, probably because I do some boxing."
"And I got spacial master, time controller, and high life magic." Steph chipped in.
"...I got crafting, enchanting, and focus."
"That suits you to a T."
"Those skills are super on the ball with you."
"Thanks guys, but the priest who was talking to me didn't seem very positive about them at all, not to mention my other stats apparently suck."
"Well how bad could it be?" Will asked, so Ben pulled out his card to show them both.
"Oof, okay that's pretty bad."
"Will don't be so negative, let me see...oh… well your resistances are incredible at least!"
"Yeah, and that stamina is great too, mine's only four hundred."
"Thanks for the encouragement guys, but I've already been told I'm far from great. Unneeded skills, pretty average attributes, and from what Lehie said, the worst affinities she has ever seen, I'll just have to see how tomorrow goes." He then asked to see their cards, thinking that he might as well see how far he falls in comparison after all. They both looked a bit sheepish at the request but they gave him their cards to take a look at.
With the exception of his stamina, they dwarfed him in all of his other attributes with values over 1000, not to mention that they also had high magic affinities.Even Will, without any blessed magic skills, could probably learn magic in a pinch if he felt like it. They also already had some passive and active skills, probably because they had higher forms of their blessed skills automatically. They were definitely the sort of people this world was hoping for when they were brought here. He gave a long sigh and was about to give them back when one thing caught his eye.
"All of your skills are at level 0?"
"Yeah it looks like you at least got lucky with having one level automatically in a couple of yours, from what I was told the skills go from 0 to 9, and if you meet the conditions will evolve at level 10 into a new level 0 skill." Steph explained to him.
"Well even if I'm not needed at least I can probably enjoy crafting to an extent."
"Don't be so down. I was told they were looking for strong fighters, but even if your skills aren't for combat that doesn't mean you won't be of any use, don't let it get to you."
"Yeah don't worry, my skills aren't really combat oriented either but I was told they should be useful for healing and helping supply troops, I'm sure they could use someone who could do things like make tools or weapons."
With the motivation of his friends his mood started to improve a bit. Sure his stats weren't exactly incredible, but there must be some way to use them. He would just have to wait and see how tomorrow would go.
After dinner Lehie led him to a small library at the back of the church. It really gave him a sense of scale for the place as they made his way there. It was large. Ridiculously so. With every wall lined with statues and paintings of different figures, some humanoid, some he would be more inclined to consider monsters.
"What are all these?"
"Representations of the various gods."
"What? We must have passed a few hundred."
"Yes, and there are a few thousand total."
"Why would one world possibly need so many gods?" He asked curiously, a development Lehie seemed pleased with.
"Good question, It all goes back to the founding of the world." Lehie said, starting her story.
It seemed that this world didn't start out with thousands of gods, and hundreds of races to go with them, but it happened as a result of circumstance. The threat they had been brought to fight was an ancient one, destroying and conquering hundreds of worlds over the millennia. The gods of those worlds gathered whatever survivors they could and brought them to this far away land, to rebuild with other races whose worlds have been ravaged. In that time the gods joined forces to help strengthen all the residents of this world, and worked together to create the status system. A means for them to grow stronger and for their work to yield greater efforts, all so that when invaders came for their current home they would be ready.
"Wait, and that's what we're here for? To fight against a force that had destroyed countless worlds, you guys summoned twenty something heroes?"
"Well other locations summoned other heroes from other worlds, but from what I understand reaching beyond the edge of one universe into another is a difficult task, there shouldn't be more than 200 summoned heroes from various worlds who had been brought to different communal churches throughout the land."
"Still 200 isn't a lot, how long until these invaders come?"
"The various prophet gods are in some disagreement on the matter, but the general consensus is between three and twenty years."
"...Well I guess I'll hope for twenty then."
"Hope for twenty but plan for three." She told him with a gentle smile. "Anyway here we are. You should have no trouble understanding the written systems of this world thanks to your skill, but if you have any issues I'll be in the corner reading myself to pass the time. Now let's find you something about your skills."