[Scene opens in Takeru Kenji's high school classroom – rows of wooden desks, posters of popular anime and k-pop groups plastered on the walls, the afternoon sun streaming through the windows in warm golden beams 🌞✨. Takeru is hunched over his desk, sketching characters from his favorite isekai manga in a worn notebook, his messy black hair falling over his eyes as he mumbles to himself.]
"And then the hero should use his hidden skill here—obviously the author's been foreshadowing it since chapter three..." 📓✏️
Suddenly, a loud THUMP echoes through the room as Kaito Sato—leader of the class bullies—slams his hand down on Takeru's desk, making the poor boy jump so hard he nearly drops his pencil. Kaito grins maliciously, his cronies Ren and Aya snickering behind him 😈💢
"What're you drawing, otaku freak? More of your weird cartoon nonsense?" 🗣️😏
Before Takeru can stammer out a response, a gentle voice cuts through the tension. Sakura Miyashita—with her pink hair tied in twin tails and warm brown eyes—steps forward, holding a tray of freshly baked cookies 🧁🌸
"Leave him alone, Kaito! Besides, I made extra cookies for everyone today—you'll get stomach aches if you keep being mean!" 🗣️❤️
Kaito rolls his eyes but backs off anyway—even he can't say no to Sakura's baking. As Takeru whispers a quiet "thank you" and accepts a cookie, Rina Kurosawa cracks her knuckles from across the room, sending a glare that makes Ren shrink back slightly 🥊⚡
"Yeah, lay off him, Sato. Last time you tried something, you ended up tripping over your own feet and face-planting in the cafeteria pudding tray. Want me to help you recreate the look?" 😠💪
Chihiro Yamamoto pushes her glasses up her nose and adds calmly, not looking up from her textbook 📚💡
"Statistically speaking, bullies who target introverted students are 37% more likely to experience embarrassing public incidents. The data doesn't lie."
Kaito's face turns bright red as the whole class laughs, and he storms back to his desk muttering about "know-it-all nerds." Takeru lets out a shaky breath, feeling grateful for his three friends—they're the only reason high school isn't completely unbearable 🤝👭👭👭
Just as their teacher, Ms. Tanaka, walks in to start afternoon math class, the entire room begins to glow with a blinding white light ✨💫. Everyone screams and covers their eyes as strange runes appear on the floor, walls, and ceiling, spinning faster and faster until they merge into a single massive portal that swallows the entire classroom whole!
[The next moment, everyone finds themselves standing in a vast, gleaming white room that stretches on endlessly in all directions. Floating platforms hover in the air, each displaying a glowing skill name in bright, colorful letters. At the far end of the room, a massive floating robe—embroidered with gold stars and silver moons—hovers in mid-air, two glowing blue orbs serving as eyes 👁️👁️🧥.]
"Greetings, young summonees!" booms a voice that sounds like it's coming from everywhere at once 📢✨ "I am Zorathar, Administrator of the Dimension Room of Skill Selection! You have been chosen by the Divine Church of Aethelgrid to save our world from the terrible Void Plague! Each of you will select ONE skill from the available options before being transported to our realm to begin your training as heroes!"
The class erupts into chaos—everyone talking at once, pointing at the most impressive-looking skills with wide eyes and excited grins 😱🤩
"LOOK! 'Dragon Slayer Sword Art'! That's SO cool!" 🗣️⚔️🐉
"I want 'Holy Healer's Touch'—I'll be the most important person here!" 🗣️✋💛
"'Storm Mage's Command' for me! I'm gonna be the strongest one!" 🗣️⚡🌩️
Kaito shoves his way to the front of the crowd, pointing arrogantly at a platform that glows with fiery red light 🔴🔥
"I call dibs on 'Inferno Titan Fist'! No one else touches that one!" 🥊💥
One by one, Takeru's classmates rush forward to claim their skills—each picking something that sounds powerful or impressive. Sakura chooses 'Gentle Light of Restoration' (which she says "sounds like it can help people"), Rina grabs 'Thunder God's Kick Style' (because "it sounds like it can kick serious butt"), and Chihiro selects 'Arcane Archive Eye' (since "knowledge is power"). Even Aya picks a skill called 'Crystal Rose Dance' that looks elegant and deadly 🌸⚔️
Takeru hangs back, feeling awkward as always, and waits until everyone else has made their choices. By the time he finally works up the courage to step forward, only ten platforms remain—each with a name that makes his heart sink into his stomach 🤦♂️😰
"Butter Knife Swing"? "Clumsy Punch Form"? "Useless Jab Combo"? Are these jokes?! 🤣❓
He walks slowly from platform to platform, reading each name with growing horror. When he reaches the last one—"Failed Magic Theory"—he can't hold it in anymore. He spins around and waves his arms at the floating robe that is Zorathar 🗣️💢
"HEY! This is a mistake, right?! All the good skills are gone! You expect me to fight monsters with Butter Knife Swing?! That sounds like something my grandma would use to cut cake at family gatherings!" 🧈🍰
Zorathar's glowing eyes blink slowly—if a floating robe can even be said to blink 🤨
"Young one, the skills were chosen based on your classmates' desires and compatibility. What remains is what the system has deemed suitable for you." 🗣️⚖️
"Suitable?!" Takeru sputters, pointing at the "Clumsy Punch Form" platform with a trembling finger 🤬💥 "This one says it looks like a drunk's fighting style! I don't even drink! How am I supposed to be a hero if I look like I'm stumbling around at a karaoke party?!" 🎤🍺
A few of his classmates turn around and snicker—even some people who aren't bullies are laughing at the ridiculous skill names. Kaito calls out mockingly from across the room 🗣️😆
"Looks like the otaku got exactly what he deserves! A bunch of trash skills for a trash person!"
Takeru's face burns bright red, but he squares his shoulders and keeps arguing with Zorathar 🗣️💪
"And this one—'Scaredy-Cat Reflex'?! People are gonna think I'm a coward! I'm already tired of being called that at school! Plus 'Broke Farmer's Blessing'? I can't even keep a houseplant alive! My last succulent died because I watered it too much!" 🌵💀
Zorathar lets out a long-suffering sigh that sounds like wind rushing through ancient scrolls 💨📜
"Young summonee, appearances can be deceiving—"
"DECEIVING?!" Takeru cuts him off, now pacing back and forth in frustration 🚶♂️😤 "What's deceptive about 'Air Slap'?! That sounds like something you'd do to shoo away flies! And 'Cheap Blacksmithing'—so I'm gonna be making weapons that fall apart mid-fight?! And don't even get me STARTED on 'Grandma's Cooking Skill'—I thought we were supposed to be heroes, not short-order cooks!" 🍳🤷♂️
By this point, Zorathar is clearly losing patience. The glowing eyes narrow, and the floating robe starts spinning slightly faster in irritation 🔄😠
"Enough! You have been complaining for SEVENTEEN MINUTES AND TWENTY-THREE SECONDS about skills you know nothing about! Every other summonee has already been transported to the Divine Church of Ainsheart to begin their training—you are holding up the entire process!" 🗣️💥
"But—!" Takeru tries to protest, but Zorathar doesn't let him finish 🚫🗣️
"You want to whine about getting stuck with these so-called 'trash skills'? FINE! Take ALL of them! Maybe then you'll stop your incessant nagging and realize that power comes from how you use what you have—not from how impressive it sounds!"
Before Takeru can even process what's happening, all ten remaining platforms shoot forward like glowing comets, slamming into his chest one after another! He stumbles backward, clutching his heart as a bright rainbow light explodes from his body, and a strange, transparent screen appears floating in front of his face 📱✨
[SYSTEM WINDOW ACTIVATED - UNIQUE COSMIC RESONANCE DETECTED]
As Takeru stares at the system window in complete shock, Zorathar waves a sleeve-like appendage dismissively 🧥💨
"There! Skill capacity set to ten—maximum possible for any being in Aethelgrid! No more skills can be added, so you'll have to make do with what you've got! Now GET OUT before I decide to send you straight into the Void Plague itself!"
A swirling black portal opens up behind Takeru, and a powerful gust of wind shoves him backward into it. As he tumbles through the darkness, he hears Zorathar's voice one last time, sounding almost regretful 🗣️🌌
"May the cosmos have mercy on both you and Aethelgrid... and may those skills be as useful as you need them to be..."
Takeru lands with a painful THUD on soft, damp earth, rolling down a small hill and crashing into a thick patch of ferns 🌿💥. He groans and pushes himself up, rubbing his head and looking around—wherever he is, it's definitely NOT the gleaming white halls of a divine church.
Towering trees stretch up into a sky that's a strange shade of purple and blue, their leaves glowing with faint bioluminescent light. The air is thick with the scent of damp earth, wild flowers, and something else—something sharp and predatory that makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up 🦉🌙✨
"Ow... where am I?" he mutters, pulling out his phone—only to find that it's completely dead, the screen black as pitch 📱🔌*
He pulls up his system window with a shaky hand, scrolling through the information until he finds what he's looking for 📊👇
CURRENT LOCATION: Whispering Woods
REGION: Borderlands between the Human Kingdom of Ainsheart and the Elf Kingdom of Silverleaf
MONSTER LEVEL RANGE: 1-10
DANGER RATING: MODERATE-HIGH – "Home to wolves, bears, giant spiders, and other creatures that view humans as either food or threats. Proceed with caution."
Takeru's face pales as he reads the warning. Just then, he hears a low growl from the bushes behind him. He spins around to see a massive grey wolf—easily twice the size of a normal wolf—stepping out into the clearing, its yellow eyes fixed on him hungrily. Above its head floats a small status window of its own 🐺⚠️
MONSTER: GREY FOREST WOLF
LEVEL: 5
HP: 250/250
SKILLS: "Pack Hunter's Bite", "Swift Forest Step", "Fear Howl"
The wolf lets out a loud howl, and Takeru can hear more growls echoing through the trees—there's an entire pack out there 🌳🔊
Panicking, Takeru starts backing away, tripping over a root and nearly falling on his butt. As the lead wolf lunges forward with bared teeth, his hand flies up instinctively, and he yells the first skill name that pops into his head 🗣️🛡️
"FLUFFY SHIELD TECHNIQUE—BEGINNER TIER!"
A transparent, fluffy white barrier materializes in front of him just in time—BOOM! The wolf slams into it with all its strength, but instead of tearing through Takeru, it bounces backward like a rubber ball, yelping in confusion as it rolls across the ground 🤯💥
Takeru stares at his hand in amazement, then at the wolf getting back to its feet, looking even angrier than before. His mind races as he scrolls through his skill list, his gamer instincts kicking in 🧠💡
"Okay... okay, think, Kenji—you've got ten skills, you can adjust their tiers... let's try something..."
He takes a deep breath, standing his ground as more wolves emerge from the trees, circling him slowly. He toggles "Clumsy Punch Form" to INTERMEDIATE tier and "Scaredy-Cat Reflex" to ADVANCED tier, then activates "Air Slap" at BEGINNER tier—his movements suddenly becoming blur-fast and completely unpredictable as he starts swinging his arms wildly 🕺⚡
"I don't know if this is gonna work—but HEY! AIR SLAP!" ✋💨
Invisible shockwaves shoot out from his hands, slamming into two of the approaching wolves and sending them flying into nearby trees. The lead wolf charges again, but Takeru's body moves on its own—dodging left, then right, then spinning around in a way that looks completely ridiculous but somehow lets him avoid every single bite 🌀💨
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" he yells at the wolves, now also activating "Butter Knife Swing" at INTERMEDIATE tier and slashing at the air in front of him 🧈⚔️
A glowing golden arc cuts through the air, and the lead wolf's fur and skin split cleanly open despite the fact that Takeru didn't even touch it. The wolf lets out a pained yelp and backs away, its pack mates hesitating as they realize this strange human isn't as easy a target as they thought 🤔❓
Taking advantage of their confusion, Takeru turns and runs—using "Scaredy-Cat Reflex" to automatically dodge around trees and roots as he bolts deeper into the Whispering Woods. He doesn't stop running until he's sure the wolves are no longer following him, finally collapsing against the trunk of a massive tree and gasping for breath 💨💦
He pulls up his system window again, staring at the list of skills that he'd thought were completely useless just an hour ago. A small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth as he toggles "Grandma's Cooking Skill" to BEGINNER tier and looks around for any edible plants 🍳🌱
"Butter Knife Swing cuts through anything... Clumsy Punch Form makes me impossible to hit... Air Slap shoots shockwaves... Maybe Zorathar was right... maybe it's not about how impressive the skills sound..."
As he spots a patch of wild berries nearby and activates "Broke Farmer's Blessing"—watching in awe as they grow instantly and glow with a faint green light—he hears a rustling in the bushes beside him. He tenses up, ready to fight again, but instead of a wolf, a small girl with pointed ears and silver hair steps out, holding a bow and arrow pointed at him cautiously 🧝♀️🏹
She's wearing leather armor decorated with leaves and flowers, and her eyes—bright green like new spring grass—widen in surprise as she sees the glowing berries in his hand 👀✨
"A human... in the Whispering Woods... and you're using elemental growth magic? But... that skill was lost centuries ago..." she whispers, her accent strange and melodic 🗣️🌿
Takeru freezes, the berries still in his hand. He looks from the girl's pointed ears to the bow in her hand, then back to his system window—his adventure in Aethelgrid is only just beginning, and he has a feeling that his so-called "trash skills" are going to turn his whole life upside down 🌀🌟
"Uh... hi? I'm Takeru. I... uh... just got here?" 🤷♂️👋
[FADE TO BLACK]
END OF CHAPTER 1.