I looked on in horror as the little girl disappeared, and her form gradually changed into the most horrifying creature I had ever seen. I did not know how to describe it — there were far too many options. I felt my sanity break trying to understand what I was looking at.

  That creature, floating in the air, started moving closer to me. "Now is there—."

  Before I could finish hearing what they had to say, the entire world turned black. My sanity recovered, as if what I had just experienced was but a bad dream, being replaced with a strong sensation of deja vu. "This familiar feeling. It couldn't…" I had closed my eyes from the shook, but when I sensed light again I slowly opened my eyes. In front of me stood a priest.

  He coughed. "Now this is unexpected. Welcome, otherworlder. You have been summoned to the kingdom of Boreas to save this planet from demons. I know you might be scared, but—."

  "FUUUUUUUUCK!!!"

  - Rachel, the twice summoned

  "Previously on Tom's EPIC ADVENTURE: Tom found out he got isekai'd! Due to some misfortune, he did not get OP powers, but a boring effort-based class called an observer. He met some obvious side characters: a saintess, beastkin prince, demon spy, and a powerful witch; and found a weak talking sword that—."

  "What are you doing?" Trash hummed.

  Tom rolled his eyes. "What does it look like? I am doing a recap of my adventure thus far."

  "That is interesting and all, but are you sure you want to be seen talking to yourself in public?"

  He looked around and noticed people whispering amongst themselves as they walked past him.

  This was nothing. Just one of the drawbacks of being the main character. "Whatever. Let's go to train with Zev."

  Finally, he would have something everyone sought: a master. Since he didn’t fit the being-transported-to-another-world-with-OP-powers-from-the-get-go trope, he had to settle for the next best thing. Being taught by a more experienced side character was a common trope in fantasy stories. They could help you to train without wasting time, and be the gateway to becoming OP.

  Tom arrived at the training room on the first floor of the commander's buildings. The two giant wooden doors were already open.

  "I know what I saw! When I went on one of my early morning jogs, I saw a ginormous dark … something, approaching the camp."

  Zev held out his hands trying to calm down the female soldier. "Letis, perhaps you are mistaken? There—."

  "I took some days to read about your achievements, and the light that came after has to be one of your aura swords: Lightbringer. I am sure of it. The Hero has noticed our transgressions!"

  "Now, now."

  Tom tried to get a better view of the special cutscene event. The floorboard creaked under his step and they both looked at him.

  Fart. "Don't mind me, Zev and random background character. Continue speaking."

  The girl clenched her fist and took a step closer to Tom. "Who are you calling a background character?"

  Zev quickly moved in front of her. "Do not beat up the boy Letis. He is just here for some extra help."

  "Extra help as in me being very good," Tom quickly added.

  The girl rolled her eyes. "Sure." She fixed her gaze on Zev. "Do not take me for a fool. The Hero has noticed us, and there is no way I am going to die just because of the decision of dumb nobles… And my ancestors for that matter."

  With that said, she stormed out of the building leaving Zev massaging his temple. "Perfect. Now how do I deal with this?"

  "Erm. Is everything fine?"

  Zev nodded. "Do not worry. Little Alice will fix this problem. Now, to teach you." He gestured to his front. "Get over here."

  Tom walked towards Zev, and immediately tripped and fell on the floor.

  "Haha. Nice one," Trash hummed.

  He looked up to see that Zev had appeared beside him. "What did you trip me for?" Luckily the floor was made of soft material.

  Zev chuckled. "Reflexes are a matter of life and death on the battlefield. If I was an enemy demon you would have been dead." He gestured towards the center of the room. "Ready to get stronger?"

  "Yes," Tom hurriedly replied, getting up and being tripped again. "Are you going to keep doing that?"

  ***

  Tom lay down on his bed. It had been days since Tom started training with Zev. Learning to avoid being tripped did take time, but he managed to train his reflexes to take a step back when his footing felt odd. Although he wasn’t always successful. He was surprisingly enjoying the training sessions. Zev would try and trip him, and make him pick up a blanket he threw on the ground repeatedly. Occasionally he would tell Tom about his amazing potential. Wise master stuff.

  Hopefully, he would be taught some hidden cheat techniques. Zev said he would teach him the secret whispers of the world or something. He hadn't learned anything useful yet, but from his knowledge of watching 'The Karate Kid' he knew there had to be some secret meaning.

  "We are going to train with the instructors now," Mark said. "And remember what I told you about the electives?"

  Tom nodded. "I will look into it." He was in fact not going to do that, but he had learned Mark was persistent.

  The door slammed shut.

  He had been training with Zev after every morning assembly, but he didn't have much to do after that. Some of the soldiers continued training with their preferred instructors, while others picked electives. It basically sounded like clubs to Tom.

  Being a soldier was not what he expected. Of course, Zev made him train, and so did the other soldiers, but the atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed. Rather than a military encampment, it felt more like a summer camp.

  Tom picked up Trash and left his room. "Might as well take a walk."

  Tom walked close to the training grounds and observed soldiers running laps. One soldier was being screamed at by an instructor for messing up his stance, and another sat on the ground reading a training manual. "I’m glad that’s not me."

  He noticed Ilona standing on the sidelines. She was walking around offering her help, but people would shake their head and avoid her like the plague. When she noticed Tom, she walked up to him.

  "Tom!" She smiled. "How is your training with the Vice-Commander going?"

  He crossed his arms. "Swimmingly. Zev says I am talented, so it’s just a matter of time until I become the strongest soldier in this camp."

  Ilona nodded. "Glad to hear you’re committed."

  "You’re going to become the strongest soldier in the camp?" Someone said.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Tom turned and saw a bulky-looking soldier. He held a claymore like it weighed nothing and was sweating from a hard workout. "Why don’t we have a friendly sparring match?"

  He looked at Ilona. "Don’t worry, I will heal any injuries during the duel. That is why I am sitting here."

  Tom smirked. "Good. Would be a shame if he got too hurt." He looked at his opponent. "Let’s do only skills since I’m not that adept with the sword yet."

  "Fine by me."

  They both walked to the side a few meters apart. At Ilona's signal, the fight began, and Tom quickly jumped to the side when a flying blade of air almost cut him. The blade was as big as his body and dissipated after missing him.

  "What was that?"

  His opponent smirked. "It’s my skill: wind cutter. Impressed?"

  "Horrible. You’re supposed to say your skill name in brackets when you use it! It breaks the immersion otherwise."

  "Say the skill name? I guess that’s ok for a friendly spar, but how do I say it in brackets?" He asked, confused.

  Tom shook his head. "Whatever. Let’s just continue." Using the momentary confusion he tried to grasp his opponent's aura. It had a strong hint of a greenish-blue. A soldier, a brute, obsessed with training. Tom had a clear image of his opponent in his head. "[stabilize]."

  His opponent aimed another wind blade at him, but it dissipated before it could reach Tom. "Huh? Whatever, that was just a simple skill." He stabbed his claymore in the ground and jumped. "Wind current!" Small holes in the ground appeared around Tom, and the moment his feet landed on the ground a huge upward current of air launched Tom into the sky.

  Tom screamed as he was thrown several feet in the air, and closed his eyes bracing himself for the pain. However, he didn’t slam onto a hard surface, but it felt more like a soft pillow. He opened his eyes to see that a fluffy cloud had formed on the ground, and after a few seconds, it disappeared from reality, slamming his body onto the gravel below.

  "That was embarrassing," Trash quietly hummed.

  Ilona healed Tom with a white glow emanating across his body. "Are you alright?"

  "Sorry about that," his opponent said, scratching his head. "My skill normally just makes someone lose their footing and fall. I have no idea why it acted that way."

  "I believe it was because of Tom’s skill. Some skills depend on multiple affinities. Even though the high wind affinity was reduced, since wind current also depends on earth spirit affinity by trapping wind in pockets below the ground, the effect of the skill improved."

  His opponent's eyes lit up. "Wow! My earth affinity is the worst of all of my affinities. I have heard of the skill used by observers, but not that it could be used like this. I honestly thought it was bogus, but it seemed like teamwork does make you stronger." He slapped Tom on the back. "You’re not bad. Perhaps you can join the group I made to prepare for the next tournament? We train and encourage each other to get stronger. By the way, my name is—."

  "Hold up," Tom interrupted. "I don’t do side quests. So, bye."

  "Oh … alright? The offer is always up," he said confused, before leaving.

  When he was gone Ilona helped Tom get back on his feet. "Are you sure you’re alright? Hanging out with the other soldiers: that is a nice offer."

  Tom had no plans of being transported to another world, having the luck to become an isekai protagonist, only to become someone's support. If he was going to do this properly, he had to become an OP main character. Tom shook his head. "I prefer to train by myself. And I don’t need more side characters. I got you and the others in the squadron. That's enough."

  "I don’t quite understand what you mean by a 'side character'."

  Tom sighed. "Just think of it as a close friend."

  "Friend…"

  "Anyway, why is my skill so useless? I can only average out someone's affinities, but if I accidentally make someone stronger then isn’t it useless? … Ilona, are you listening?"

  "Sorry, yes." She was silent for a moment. "Normally your skill wouldn’t have been so strong, but I presume your aura sword improves your understanding of the skill to such a degree that it might be too effective. I’m sorry. I think only another observer could help you there. Reducing one type of affinity compared to all at once, one would have to rewrite the laws of the world to do that."

  "Thanks for explaining. I … don’t know much of the basics because of—."

  "Don’t worry. Vice-Commander Zev told me of your predicament. Suffering an injury and losing your memory is a terrible experience. I am sorry you have to go through that."

  That was the excuse they were going with? "I’m fine. Don’t worry about it." If she did think he had amnesia, he might as well ask a question that had been bugging him for a while. "Anyways, I was wondering something. Are you sure I can't change my class?"

  "Yes—or, it's complicated. Classes are given by the World-Rune. Initially, no one has a class, but when you turn 16 you visit the World-Rune, or one of its many forms such as the one in the new capital, to be given a class. The only instance of being given a new class that I know of is when one is blessed by a higher being."

  So it's them higher beings again.

  "By receiving your class your aura is … you could say molded? And that changes the signature you give off. I used a mirror orb to see the reflection of your auras signature, and then by comparing with a book filled with different color-frequency combinations I can find out your class."

  "A color-frequency combination? That sounds complicated."

  She shrugged. "The touch of the divine cannot be easily understood. Normally one would instinctively know one's own class, but it seems amnesia ruins that. Luckily the color of an observer is the easiest to recognize, so I could quickly tell you yours."

  "But is there no way to categorize the powers of people?" If there are classes, at least there should be some sort of leveling system?

  "Soldiers strength are usually deemed by their achievements. But perhaps the easiest metric is if they have reached a Breakthrough. Class bearers become stronger by following the ideals of their class, and improving their prowess over time. But once someone reaches a certain degree of … strength you could say, your ability to progress in your class is capped. That is why Hiro for example is recognized as a strong knight, since he has reached the first Breakthrough."

  This Breakthrough concept sounded similar to a leveling cap. "And how is someone supposed to move past this Breakthrough?"

  "Going to the grand church in the capital and offering a prayer of course," she answered. "Then he will be given a choice to pursue different aspects of his class — I belive you already mentioned that he was a samurai. However, I doubt he will choose to pass the Breakthrough, even if he is given the opportunity."

  "Why not?"

  She shrugged. "Just something that is normal in the north. There is a saying that once you reach a certain stage after your Breakthrough, your ambition will be reflected on the night sky as a star. Most of the stars in our sky are reflections of powerful individuals living in the South. Its where most of the human kingdoms border each other, and … they have their own problems. In the north, people tend not to move past their first Breakthrough. When the Hero first rebelled, he started of by executing all of the kingdoms most powerful knights. And people are still scared that he will kill them if they try to progress to this day."

  Great, so the Hero was an unavoidable obstacle. He could deal with him later. Tom was kind of understanding this progression system now. You focused on understanding your class, reached a Breakthrough, go to the church to move past this cap to evolve your class into something more specific, and then get stronger. In the end your ambition is reflected on the sky by creating a star. "I think I get it, but it is difficult to visualise strength without some sort of metric. There must be something like that. This world used to have a lot of otherworlders, surely they must have categorized their strength somehow?"

  "Please do not speak of otherworlders so casually. We only mention them when something bad is about to happen. A superstition, I suppose. And about a metric, that—." She hesitated, deep in thought. "For the most powerful, I have seen the observers categorize people under a strange system. They say that once someone has a deeper understanding and is more adept with their class, a ring forms around their soul."

  "A ring?"

  She nodded. "Why don't you try and observe?"

  Tom closed his eyes and tried to focus on his own aura. A human. An epic isekai protagonist. The main character. He felt like he could visualize something in his mind, but it was just a bunch of messy colors.

  Having no success on himself, he tried looking at Ilona's aura. Focusing and visualizing her as a saintess, he saw the same beautiful white color she emits, but then he noticed something: several translucent rings that contrasted widely with her fine aura. Seven rings to be exact were surrounding her aura and encasing it, making it look like a fine ball. That was not all. At the bottom of this ball a stream of aura was leaking out.

  "I think I see the rings, but they are encasing your aura. Also, there is some leakage."

  "The rings encase my aura since I am already at max progression, being blessed by the archangel. In order to pass after the seventh ring there is supposed to be another Breakthrough one has to pass. And the leakage you are talking about is just a natural mechanism to avoid mana poisoning."

  Tom sighed. "Alright. So when rings apear around my aura that means I have gotten stronger. But how do I get stronger as an observer then?" Seeing Ilonas aura was easier due to the contrast, but his ability to see his own aura was far to mediocre. "Perhaps I should ask Zev about my powers as an observer?" There was bound to be some hidden knowledge to be learned from him. If that wasn't the case, finding a higher being to be blessed by was his only choice.

  Ilona nodded. "That sounds reasonable."

  "See you later then." He started walking away.

  "Wait."

  Tom stopped. "Yes?"

  "About—."

  "Hey, Miss Ilona!" Someone shouted. "There’s an injured soldier that needs help!"

  "… It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it," she quickly said and ran to the injured soldier.

  Tom shrugged and walked away.

  ***

  "I am afraid only an observer can help you there," Zev answered.

  Tom sighed. "Then can't you teach me something more interesting and useful already? I have to defeat the demons, somehow — apparently. And that Hero is probably also going to be mad at me for ultimately stealing his spotlight and title."

  Zev coughed. "Now, now. Learning the fundamentals is important."

  ***

  "Could we learn something new now?"

  Zev shook his head. "You’re not ready."

  ***

  After a week had gone by, Tom was annoyed. He could be learning an OP skill, but a weird gut feeling told him it wasn’t the case. In order to go on his EPIC ADVENTURE, and possibly deal with this Hero that could some day try to kill him, he had to hurry up and get stronger.

  Tom raised his sword and pointed it at Zev. "Forget about the exercises. It’s time to duel!"

  Zev looked taken off guard by his straightforwardness. "In this world challenging someone to a duel is a serious battle to settle a disagreement, but I understand what you mean." He held out the palm of his hand and a blue sword materialized in mid air. "This should be enough."

  Another aura sword? Looked like a water type. Tom unsheathed Trash and readied himself. "Now bring it."

  Perhaps in his old world focusing on the fundamentals would have been worth it, but being in an isekai was all about cheating yourself to OP status. His biggest potential adversary was another otherworlder after all, so wasting time on details was useless; it wasn't like he was fighting some kind of eldritch primordial being or something.