We arrived at the large ruined house that had been assigned to us. I said goodbye to my companions before hurrying off to find my new room. I picked one at random, no name on the door. Why bother?
A faint smell of dampness lingered in the room, but I couldn't have been happier. My first room, just for me! I felt like a kid. It was a major upgrade from my last cage... and the one before that, too.
I wanted to jump on the bed to celebrate, but I stopped myself. It would probably collapse under my weight, even if I was skinny. The slats were barely holding together.
More than anything, I was eager to try out the collar, which I quickly reached up to touch.
A small holographic screen appeared in front of me, making me jump. I hadn't expected that at all.
-----------------
[Name] : [#8]
[rank] : [/]
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[Physical] : [6]
[Magic] : [/]
[Resilience] : [18]
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[Affinity] : [/]
[Glyphs] : [/]
-----------------
In the end, I barely understood anything. The attributes were pretty self-explanatory, though I had no idea why some values were crossed out. Hopefully, our instructor would explain it tomorrow. Worst case, I'd ask my new slav— I mean, partner.
But as for "affinity" and "glyphs," I had absolutely no clue.
Still, whatever. I wasn't going to spend my first day locked in my room overthinking. I had something much more productive in mind.
Sleeping.
*
I felt a light tap on my shoulder.
"Mmh..."
Again. This time more insistent.
"Five more minutes…"
And then suddenly, all the air was violently forced from my lungs.
I jolted awake, sitting up almost instantly.
Klaus stood beside my bed, his fist still clenched, eyes sharp.
"Hurry up. You're going to be late."
"Couldn't you wake me up more gently? Like Sleeping Beauty, maybe?"
He ignored me and left the room, leaving me alone with my overwhelming urge to go back to sleep.
I got up slowly, stretching my still-sleepy muscles.
I put on the same dirty orange clothes from the past few days — I didn't have anything else anyway — and rushed out of my room toward the classrooms.
Outside, the deserted atmosphere from the day before was gone. Hundreds of people of all ages and appearances were moving about like ants. Some ran, others walked calmly. But they all had one thing in common,
They were all heading toward the classroom building.
But something caught my attention — I was the only one still wearing my prison clothes, standing out sharply in the crowd. Everyone else wore a black uniform embroidered with a red emblem resembling a book and a quill. Probably the symbol of these so-called Blood Scribes. And more importantly... none of them were wearing collars like ours.
Strange but I didn't had the time to think about it.
It took me a few minutes to reach the already packed classroom.
The moment I crossed the doorway, I felt the air chill slightly. The teacher shot me a death glare.
"A few more seconds and you would've been late. And believe me, you don't want to find out what the punishment for that is."
Phew. Made it just in time.
I quickly found a random seat and waited for my first class to begin.
"I speak. You listen. No questions unless I explicitly allow it."
"Good. As you may have guessed, you're no longer on Earth. We are currently on Antareth, a planet located at such an immense distance from Earth that you can't even imagine it. This world is governed by three factions: the Rakan, the Zelnh, and us Humans."
A history lesson? Seriously?
"Officially, an alliance between our three peoples has been formed — and for good reason, the Skarns."
For the first time since the lesson started, the board lit up, projecting a horrifying image of something that vaguely resembled an insect.
It had a humanoid shape, its back covered by a thick shell like a cockroach's. Two antennae with small hooks sprouted from its monstrous head. It had four hexagonal eyes, and a mouth lined with several rows of razor-sharp, worm-like teeth. Its six arms made its appearance even more grotesque. A tough brown exoskeleton covered its body like an impenetrable armor.
Gasps of disgust and surprise echoed through the room.
"They vary greatly in appearance. This is just one example among many. But for reasons unknown, they all share similarities with insects."
The teacher paused, her lip curling in disgust.
"For hundreds of years, they've been trying to invade this planet, and we've been stopping them. This endless war rages on without pause. Which brings me to my next point."
She looked at each of us, one by one.
"You are the ones who will fight the Skarns. Your role is to battle and drive them back with everything you have. You will give your lives for this land."
A laugh almost slipped out.
Maybe I misheard? She wants me to sacrifice myself for a planet I couldn't care less about? For people I don't even know? In what world?
Well, I guess as long as I have this collar, I don't have a choice.
"No need to remind you that this is not a right — it's an obligation. You can blame your bad luck for being selected. Consider this your mandatory military service."
She seemed to relish the terrified expressions spreading across the room.
"Let's move on to the main subject of this lesson, your training program. You'll spend three years in this camp. You'll mainly learn politics, strategy, combat, and marking."
No magic?
"You're probably wondering why there's an art room in a place like this. The answer is simple. As you may have seen upon arriving, some people can do what you might call 'magic.' However, the human body is incapable of storing what we call 'Ith' — you might know it as mana. We've searched for ways to allow humans to use this energy, but biologically, it was impossible — unlike for most other races."
She paused to catch her breath.
"We eventually found a way, markings. We inscribe marks — also called glyphs — into our skin, much like tattoos. This allows us both to store and use Ith. There are different ways to do this, which you'll learn in time."
She checked her watch.
"Well, we're almost done. Any questions?"
Everyone was still half-stunned by the flood of information. Then again, who wouldn't be?
"All right then. 2 p.m. — Meditation Room."
The woman left the room in a hurry, leaving us alone with our thoughts.
So, to sum up, we're in a military camp on another planet, and we have to fight giants bugs using magic?
This is even better than I imagined !