Chapter 2

The room was large and ornate, much more like you’d see in a fantasy setting than a real medieval setting. Two of my nerdier classmates explained that this must be a classic isekai story. I had seen a few mainstream stories like this, but I wasn’t an otaku, so it wasn’t like I was an expert on the subject. I didn’t know what being a transmigrator implied, but between the King and his consorts, it was explained to all of us.

We were summoned to another world. King Brit wanted us to help him fight against his enemies. I was angry at first, but then the King brought out a chest full of treasure. He promised if we fought for him, we’d be awarded riches and status beyond what we could ever obtain at home. He also mentioned we could obtain beautiful women and status, living like celebrities in this world.

This argument naturally worked better on the boys than the girls. The girls in the class shot the king stony looks. I kept my face blank, although Kate and Willow both shot me unearned glares. I had never mention anything about wanting another women. There were a few guys in class who openly wore perverted faces though as they clearly fantasized over King Brit’s promises.

“There is one catch.” The prince spoke up. “No one works for free. As long as you’re useful, you will have the support of the castle, but if not…”

He let the threat hang in the air. A few people swallowed, and one girl even broke into tears. Thankfully, there wasn’t an idiot loudmouth who started shooting off about fairness. I had already looked around, and we were surrounded by armed guards. Even if being transmigrators meant that we had the potential for high status and a unique skill, it didn’t mean we could fight our way out of this place. In short, we were at the kingdom’s mercy the second we were captured. We were in an unknown world. We might have the potential to be heroes, but until that day happened, there was no use arguing about things.

It wasn’t a bad deal for the kingdom either. Even if one person caused trouble, they had nineteen others to use.

“Now, I will read what power you’ve gained in the transfer.” A priest declared, holding some kind of device that looked like an abacus.

Since all of the students were shivering, it was the teacher who walked up to the front first. “Test me first.”

I had always thought of Ms. Diane as a bit immature, so I was surprised that she was able to step forward. However, she had a look like this was her duty. She walked up to the priest. Her lips were tight, and I could see she was shaking slightly. However, she didn’t wince as the man walked up to her and held his device toward her. He moved the beads back and forth on the abacus. I had no clue how this was telling him what her ability was, but after about a minute, he nodded to himself and looked up.

“You can control emotions.”

“Huh? What?”

“Are you sure?” The King said, leaning forward.

He nodded. “I’m certain. Her emotions are capable of influencing other people’s emotions. With some time, she will be able to control the emotions of an entire audience.”

“Is this… good?” She asked worriedly.

“Indeed.” King Brit nodded. “You can incite an army’s fighting spirit, or throw another army into despair. You can smooth our trade negotiations and clear the minds of those in training. You can improve the morale of those on our side, and destroy the morale of those on the other side.”

“Ah!” She let out a noise, her eyes wide.

However, she closed her eyes, took a breath, and then turned back to the others. “Come now, get in line. Each of us must be tested.”

The group ended up forming quickly. One at a time, the priest would bring out his abacus, move it around like he was calculating something, and then make an announcement.

“He can control lightning.” He announced to one guy.

“Hey! I’m like Thor! Awesome!”

This caused several people to chuckle, and the atmosphere started to improve.

“You have the ability to levitate objects.” He told one of the girls.

“Telekinesis?”

“I don’t know that word, but with time and practice, you will be able to lift heavier and heavier items. Eventually, that will include yourself.”

“I’ll be able to fly!” She said, her eyes turning dreamy.

More and more students got their abilities.  Some of the abilities were physical, some of the abilities were magical, and some of the abilities were mental. One guy just got extra strength, another had speed. A few of the girls ended up with talents in one magic or another. It was common in this world that every magician could only use one element, so they were guaranteed to be powerful mages in their respective elements.

“You have a powerful ability to heal.” The girl in front of my girls, a shy girl who doesn’t talk much, had stepped forward.

“I’m a healer?”

“Ah… no.” The priest shook his head. “You can heal from any damage rapidly. You could even regrow a limb.”

Her face turned a sickly green, and she looked afraid. Although it sounded like a cool ability to many guys, being able to heal quickly only was useful if you planned to get hurt badly. Who would want to be in pain?

“Don’t worry.” I gave her my best smile. “We’ll make sure you don’t get hurt.”

She looked back at me and returned the smile. “Thank you…”

She then moved to the side to join the rest. The next girl to go up was my girlfriend. I felt a little anxious, but also really excited to find out what she could do. He did his measurements, and then made a noise of surprise.

“All magic?” He worded it like a question.

The prince perked up at this. “What did you say?”

“She… has the rare ability to be able to use all magic. Every element, amazing!”

Several of the other girls who found out they could only use one element looked over at her with envy. The prince had looked mostly bored before, but now his eyes were locked on her deeply. Kate blushed under his intense stare.

“You’ll have to excuse my son. He is also a mage. He was born with three magical abilities. While doubles are very rare, those that have two elements, he might be the only triple in the kingdom.” King Brit explained. “You are the first person he’s met with a similar ability.”

“Perhaps…” he took a step forward. “I should teach you? Would you like to learn how to use your magic in tandem?”

I didn’t like the way he was looking at my girlfriend, but if I tried to say something now, I’d only embarrass her and cause trouble for everyone. I kept my mouth shut, and Kate gave a smile and a nod. Of course, she’d want to learn magic from a master who knew how to use not just magic, but multiple magics at once. It just bothered me a bit that it was this pretty prince who had to do it.

My childhood friend Willow walked up next. She had a confident stride and seemed very excited to find out what she got. After a little bit of abacas work, the priest let out a noise and nodded to himself.

“You have athleticism.”

Her cocky demeanor fell a bit. “That doesn’t sound very exciting.”

“You shouldn’t let the name of it bring you down. You have a natural aptitude in all fitness. With training, you will be stronger, faster, and with more stamina than even our best knights. Although it will take more effort, you could be just as fast and as strong as those two.” The King explained, causing the boy who had strength and the boy who had speed to lose their cocky smiles. “Of everyone here, you have the greatest potential of being a great warrior and hero. It is just as rare as all magic.”

Those words cheered Willow up, and her peppy smile returned. She shot a smile, and I gave her a thumbs up. As she walked away, it was Riley who was supposed to go next, but she seemed frozen in her spot. I had to nudge to get her to walk up to the priest. She looked a bit frightened. He did the abacus test.

“You have an aptitude of alchemy. With training, you’ll be able to make potions.” He put on a gentle smile. “You’ll be working closely with the priesthood then. Healing potions are the backbone of an army.”

She let out a sound of relief.  She must have been frightened that she’d have an ability that would put her on the front lines. Sitting back with the church and making potions to help others was far closer to what she wanted. Being able to save lives seemed to brighten her day.

Finally, I was up. I tried to keep a brave face as I walked up to the front and let him scan me. After a moment, he made out a cry of surprise.

“Wh-what? Is it good?” I asked, growing a bit excited.

“It is!” He nodded. “This is something we’ve desperately needed. You have True Sight!”

“Huh?”

I had been expecting some kind of cool thing. A small part of me had even been hoping for something like ‘hero’ as my skill. True Sight seemed like some level one support skill.

“You can see into things.” He responded.

“H-how does that help me fight?”

He blinked. “Well, you’d be able to ascertain an enemy’s strengths and weaknesses. You could know exactly where to strike and when.”

I started to cheer up when he said that. It did sound pretty badass. “Cool.”

“However, it’d be a real waste to use someone with True Sight on a battlefield. Your abilities are much more useful here.”

I blinked. “What do you mean?”

“You can see into items. That means you can identify things. You can tell what magic items do, as well as identify potions. You can also quickly ascertain if food is poisoned. True Sight has many many uses.”

My expression fell.

“Don’t look so depressed. This is very important work. As the war goes on, we have an entire armory filled with unidentified items. We need to know what is safe, what is dangerous, and what we can use. Plus, you’ll be able to keep my family safe from assassins! This is very important work indeed.” The King nodded.

“Also, with training, True sight can allow you to see through walls. You’d be able to tell if people are lying. You would make a deadly spy-” The King suddenly cleared his throat and glared at the man and he quickly changed what he was saying. “A-a-ah… but, as a sentry and magic identifier, you’d be your most useful to us.”

I felt like I had the potential for so much more, and they were just dumping me into a support role.

A hand patted my back. “It’s okay, brother, I’ll have an awesome ability!”

I stepped aside and Faith took my spot. The priest began to play with his abacus for several minutes.

“You have the ability to emit… smells.”

“Wh-what?”

“You can release… various smells. You can release any smell from your body you want.”

“D-don’t worry, we’ll find some use for you…” The King looked puzzled.

I couldn’t help but break into laughter, but my sister looked completely defeated. I helped pull her aside. I thought my ability was bad, but the ability to smell was the worst. The remaining few students went through the process, and afterward, we were given a banquet. The King left at this point, but the prince and princess stayed behind.

The prince ended up sitting right next to Kate. I didn’t have a choice of the seating arrangement and ended up sitting next to my sister and the teacher. The prince leaned uncomfortably close to Kate and spoke excitedly the entire dinner. She nodded and smiled politely, occasionally throwing me a look. I tried not to look jealous, even though I felt it. I wanted to tell her that even though I played with Willow, that didn’t mean she could cheat on me, but that sounded douchy in my head.

I spent the dinner trying to cheer up my sister, who was down about her ability. Some of the students had seemingly already figured out their ability, and we demonstrating during the dinner. I even saw Kate create a small flicker of flame with the help of the prince, who was now holding her hands, supposedly to help her make the flame.

Riley was talking to the priest, who was answering her questions about potions, while Willow was bragging about how she was going to beat the crap out of the bad guys and wield two weapons, one in each hand.

I tried my True Sight. I stared at the food. I knew what it was… but I knew that anyway. I didn’t feel like it was poisoned. Was that True Sight? Sister saw me and then tried her ability too. Her cheeks were puffed and her face was red, and I thought she was going to fart, but then I noticed a strong scent.

“Th-that’s mom’s perfume!” I cried out.

She let out a breath panting. “I-I can make scents! I just remembered it, and then made it. It happened when I started to calm down.”

“That’s me!” My teacher said from behind. “I tried to make you feel calm, and it must have worked!”

I congratulated my sister fully, but I didn’t really see her ability as all that impressive. As I patted her on the back, my eyes locked on the king. He was watching my sister with a bit of interest. He made a gesture, and a soldier in armor walked over and he whispered something into the man’s ear. I wished that at the time, I could have foreseen what they had in store for us, but I was clueless. It was only too late that I realized the malevalence that hid behind those regal eyes.