After thinking about so many things, I felt completely exhausted and eventually fell asleep.

  I woke up when sunlight streamed through the glass window and hit my eyes.

  Still half asleep, I sat there in a daze, trying to gather my thoughts.

  Suddenly, someone knocked on the door and called my name.

  I quickly got up and opened it, it was one of the palace maids.

  She asked me to follow her to the palace dining hall for breakfast.

  When I arrived, I saw a massive rectangular table with chairs lined up along both sides.

  Jayden, Lisa, and Alice were already sitting there, eating the breakfast prepared by the servants.

  Even the king was present and eating with them.

  I gave the king a respectful nod before sitting down in the chair prepared for me.

  The food wasn’t too different from what I normally ate. There were vegetables, fruits, meat, and bread.

  Although I had never seen vegetables shaped like this, or fruits that looked like that, I figured it couldn’t be poisoned if the king himself was eating the same thing.

  "Morning, Bayu. You sure took your time waking up. We're almost done eating here," Alice said cheerfully. The others seemed lively too. Am I the only one who thinks our current situation is actually dangerous?

  "Good morning Alice. After breakfast, can we talk for a bit? Jayden, Lisa, you too. Let’s have a quick chat," I said while taking a bite of the meat and vegetables prepared for us.

  Jayden nodded. "Sure, let’s go to my room. I’ve got a few things I want to show you guys too."

  Huh? Since when did the resting room become your room? Well… no way I’d say that out loud in front of him.

  Once we finished eating, the four of us headed straight to the room Jayden had been staying in.

  After we entered the room and closed the door behind us, we began talking about everything that had happened since we were brought to this world.

  "I still can’t believe we were summoned here to save the world. I mean, we even got superpowers like in my favorite fantasy novels," Jayden said, holding out his palm. A golden light instantly surrounded his hand.

  "Right? And we also got these status screens that show our personal stats, just like in RPG games. All we have to do is say 'Status Open,' and the screen pops up in front of us," Alice added excitedly.

  "The status screen also shows our class and the skills we have. This really feels like we’re inside a game," Lisa said in a calm but enthusiastic tone. "Even though our classes and stats are different, I’m pretty sure we all have the Translation skill and the 'Chosen One' title, right?"

  "Ah, right! Bayu, what's your class and skill? I'm really curious!" Alice suddenly leaned closer, holding my hand as she asked.

  "Well, that's a secret, haha," I replied with a light chuckle.

  Alice instantly pouted and began lightly hitting my shoulder in protest. It felt more like a massage, so I just let her do it.

  They didn’t know the truth: I didn’t have any status screen, class, skills, or anything like that. I couldn’t even understand the language used in this world. From the very beginning, ever since we met the priest, I’d only been guessing what people were saying by watching their gestures and facial expressions.

  "I'm a bit tired, so I’ll head back to my room and get some more sleep. I rarely get a proper vacation anyway," I said, chuckling softly.

  It seemed like they were too busy talking about skills and whatever else to really pay attention to me.

  When I got back to my room, I closed the door behind me and started processing everything that was actually happening. Damn it. Not only do I not have any special skills, but I also don’t even understand the language everyone’s using. I had suspected something was off from the beginning, when Lisa spoke to the priest at the stone altar, she used a language I’d never heard before, and yet Jayden and Alice understood her perfectly, like they were all speaking our normal, everyday language. What the hell is going on? Why am I the only one like this?

  I sank deeper into my thoughts, not realizing how much time had passed. Before I knew it, the sun had climbed higher into the sky. Then suddenly, a servant came knocking at my door. I guess it was time for lunch. I followed the female servant down the hallway to the same dining room where we had breakfast earlier. Alice and the others were already there, almost finished eating.

  “You’re late again, Bayu. Aren’t you hungry?” Alice said while looking at me, a little concerned.

  “Yeah, I guess I’m just not that hungry. I’ve just been lying in bed all day anyway,” I replied casually.

  But something about this felt strange. This morning, they called me only after everyone had nearly finished eating. And now, it’s the same thing again. That can’t be a coincidence. Are the people in this castle deliberately trying to separate me from Alice and the others? But why?

  "Alice, could you come to my room after this? I want to talk to you for a bit," I said while grabbing a glass of water and starting to eat. Alice nodded and waited patiently for me to finish. Strangely, Jayden shot me a sharp, irritated glare right after I spoke to her. I ignored it. I had way too many things to worry about than whatever that guy’s problem was.

  Once I finished eating, Alice and I walked together to my room. Jayden was still giving me that look, but again, I didn’t care. After Alice entered, I closed the door behind her.

  "Alice, this morning in Jayden’s room, I remember you saying something about 'saving the world.' Why do you believe we’re the heroes meant to save this world?" I asked her in a calm tone.

  Alice leaned in a little closer and replied, "Of course, Bayu. Didn’t they already explain all the basics to us last night?"

  Alice explained that shortly after she entered her room, a palace maid dressed in luxurious clothes and carrying a thick book came to visit. The maid then gave her a long, detailed explanation about where we were, why we were summoned, a brief history of the kingdom, the meaning behind "the chosen ones," magical powers, special skills, and so on.

  "Well, I guess I was too sleepy, so I didn’t really catch most of what she said," I replied with a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  After that, Alice left my room, saying she wanted to take a walk around the palace. This was the perfect time to piece together the information I’d just learned from her explanation.

  First, this world is called Luminate, named after the goddess of creation and life, Lumi. There is also a god who symbolizes death and destruction, Zakan. Humans and other humanoid races like elves worship the goddess Lumi. Then there are beast, like races with human level intelligence called Beastmen, and they worship the god Zakan.

  There’s also the demon race, which is divided into two types: demons who resemble humans, and demons that look more like beastmen.

  A distinct trait of the demon race is that their bodies are infused with black mana, cursed mana. Demons are unable to worship either the goddess or the god; they are rejected by both. The divine message delivered by the deities of this world is clear, the demon race is cursed, and they must be eradicated from existence.

  Despite being denied divine blessings, demons are incredibly powerful. That’s why the greatest human kingdom, serving as the main stronghold against the demons, initiated the Hero Summoning Ritual. Heroes are chosen individuals summoned from another world, already blessed with unique skills that make them far stronger than the demons. It is foretold that these heroes will lead the armies of all other races in the world to fight against the demons and ultimately wipe them out.

  But why hasn’t any servant or anyone from the castle told me about all this? I need to find out more.

  While I was talking with Alice earlier, she happened to mention a place in the castle that looked like a library. Apparently we, those chosen, are allowed to enter freely. I immediately made my way there.

  When I arrived, I was greeted by a guard standing at the front entrance. Since I didn’t understand the language spoken here, I simply walked past him. He didn’t stop me, though his gaze was noticeably cold.

  The library was vast, even spanning two floors. Massive bookshelves lined the walls neatly, and in the center were tables and chairs for reading. I began browsing through the books, until I suddenly realized something.

  “Damn it... I forgot I can’t even read these letters. How could I forget something so basic...?” I muttered, disappointed. It was strange, completely unlike me to overlook something so obvious. It felt as if my body had moved before my mind had caught up.

  In the quiet of the library, I suddenly sensed an unpleasant emotion spreading through the air. It was faint, so faint I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t been focusing. I believe it was coming from the second floor.

  I slowly made my way upstairs, carefully searching for the source of that strange feeling. After some time, I found it, tucked away at the farthest bookshelf on the second floor. The presence seemed to be coming from beneath the shelf.

  When I crouched down and looked between the bottom of the shelf, I saw an old book with eerie patterns on its cover. It gave off a sinister vibe. But despite that, I felt a strong urge to pick it up.

  The moment I stood up with the book in my hands, the room suddenly felt… dead silent. No, not just silent. It was as if every sound had been erased from existence. And then, an icy chill began to fill the space, growing colder and drawing closer with each passing second.

  When I turned around, I saw nothing, but I knew something was there.

  Then suddenly, a cold hand gripped my shoulder. Reflexively, I spun around… and saw a woman floating in front of me. She had pale skin, wore all black, and hovered eerily in the air.

  “Well, well… What is this? A human touching me and still alive? Who are you? No, what are you?”

  The ghost didn’t speak with her mouth. Instead, her voice echoed directly inside my head, like telepathy.

  “I should be the one asking. What are you? And what do you mean I touched you? I’m only holding this book, I never touched you,” I replied as calmly as I could, though my voice still trembled slightly from the overwhelming pressure and this damned cold creeping into my bones.

  “Ahaha, what an adorable little human, trying to act tough while you’re clearly trembling like that,” the ghost woman said calmly, a hint of amusement in her voice. “Relax. I’m not going to hurt you. On the contrary, I’m very curious about you. Just what are you, really? You’re clearly not from this world… and with a body like that, you should’ve been dead the moment you set foot here.”

  “You’re right. I’m not from this world,” I replied. “I was suddenly summoned here by those deceitful people.”

  Then I told her everything, how I was suddenly summoned, the stone altar with blood symbols, the clear crystal orb, the strange behavior of everyone I met, the legend of the heroes, and everything else I had pieced together so far.

  “Aww, poor little thing,” the ghost woman said, her voice full of sympathy. “You must be so lonely. Come here, let mommy give you a hug.”

  She hugged me from behind, gently stroking my hair.

  “Wait, how did you suddenly become my mom? And also, what are you, really?” I asked, trying to wriggle out of her embrace.

  She then explained that she was the manifested spirit of the book I was holding. She had been trapped under that shelf for hundreds of years, and she was truly happy that I had finally released her.

  “Come now, sweetheart. Don’t push away your mother’s hug or I’ll be sad…” she said, looking like she might cry.

  “Alright, alright, you can hug me. Just don’t cry, okay?” I gave in.

  She hugged me and kept stroking my hair for quite a while until she seemed satisfied.

  “You know,” she said teasingly as she floated and spun around me, “you actually like being hugged and patted like that. Why pretend like you're just putting up with it, huh?”

  Well… she wasn’t wrong. It did feel comforting. After all, I had grown up completely alone in a slum filled with crime and misery. Feeling anything even remotely close to parental affection was something I had long accepted as impossible.

  I looked at the ghost woman, confused. “So, what exactly is this book I’m holding?”

  “Oh! That’s right, you don’t know yet, do you, sweetheart?” she said with a cheerful tone, still floating lazily through the air. “The book you’re holding is one of the Eight Cursed Books that exist in this world. Isn’t that amazing? Your mommy here is very famous, you know.”

  “Wait, cursed book? That doesn’t sound like a good thing,” I said as I brought the book closer to examine it. “What do you mean by ‘cursed’? Like... it places a curse on whoever reads it? What kind of curse? You need to explain everything.”

  She floated down a little, then spoke in a more serious tone. “Long, long ago, eight cursed books suddenly fell from the sky and scattered across the world. No one knows where they came from or who created them. I’m one of them. The only memories I have begin from the moment I became a book, nothing before that.”

  “As for the curse,” she continued, her voice slightly colder, “any living being that touches one of these books… instantly dies. Their body vanishes without a trace.”

  “So… anyone who touches you is supposed to die?” I asked, my voice laced with curiosity and a tinge of unease. “Then why am I still alive?”

  She smiled softly, floating upside down for no reason. “That’s because you don’t have magic, my dear. Every living being in this world is born with mana. Without it, they can’t even breathe. Mana is like air here, essential for life. But you… you’re different. You breathe normal air without absorbing a single trace of mana. Your body outright rejects magic.”

  That explains it. Why I didn’t receive any special skills. Why I felt so… disconnected from everything magical. My body hadn’t changed at all since I arrived in this world.

  “By the way… do you know how they summoned us here? And is there a way for me to return to my world?” I asked, hoping for even a sliver of good news.

  The ghost woman stopped spinning. Her voice turned somber. “You can’t go back. Hero summoning rituals are one-way only. There's no return. And as for how they summoned you… well…”

  She paused for a moment before continuing. “To summon a hero, the king’s wife, if she has given birth to more than three children, must be sacrificed. Her blood is used to draw a star shaped symbol on the altar. Then, the blood of her first child is used to draw a circle around the star. Finally, the blood of the second child is used to write incantations around the edges. The ritual requires royal blood… and a lot of it.”

  Damn it, they’re all insane! I need to get out of here. Fast.

  “Can you help me escape from this place?” I turned to the ghost woman, the only one I could trust right now. “I don’t know the language of this world, I can’t read their writing, and I have no idea what lies beyond these castle walls.”

  She floated closer and smiled gently, brushing my hair with her cold, ghostly fingers. “Of course, my dear. I’ll help you escape. But first, I’ll teach you the language, the writing, and the basic rules of this world. Once you’re ready… we’ll leave this place together.”

  Fine. Just watch me.

  No matter what it takes… I will escape from this cursed castle.