"What the hell…" Ethan saw that screen and got completely confused.
Though he was happy that he could finally understand something, the houses and the board outside this building were all in a language that he found very foreign.
"Good, I can understand you now." The woman spoke in a professional voice, making Ethan feel surprised.
"Wait, you can speak English?" Ethan's eyes sparked with happiness. This was it. He could finally talk to someone.
"No, you can just understand this world's language now. When your stats generate, I will look at your starter skill and record it before assigning you to a department." The woman asked while tapping her finger on the table in a bored state.
"Wait, we are going too fast. First, where are we?" Ethan spoke in disarray.
"I don't get paid enough to give you the whole explanation, Ethan. When you get assigned a department, we will send you a book explaining everything." The woman spoke.
"What department? And what makes you think I want to join it? I am employed." Ethan asked without caring if it was dumb or not; he could tell she herself was waiting for that answer.
But his statement only made him wonder whether he was employed or not; he couldn't remember it, but it only felt right to say, as if he was, but just couldn't remember it.
She looked at him for a moment before completely ignoring him.
"Can you at least tell me your name?" Ethan asked with a sigh.
The woman did not even look at him but still spoke, "Liora."
Ethan didn't expect her to actually give her name to him, but he nodded and waited there patiently. Clearly, she had no care for his question.
'She seems some sort of a government official, if I ignore that… dress and stick of hers.' Ethan thought while he looked at the hologram again.
"Eroth-ra huh, I don't know any place like that on Earth. Which country is it in?" Ethan spoke again.
The woman, clearly annoyed now, finally spoke up, "You really think you're in some country on Earth right now? Haven't you felt anything weird till now?" She asked with an almost judging tone.
Ethan looked at her and took a deep breath. He was happy his trick to get her speaking worked, but it got him thinking again.
'Not on Earth? That's such a ridiculous thing to say…'
"Why can't I remember anything of the past? Did you guys drug me or something?" Ethan tried provoking her again.
And this time, he saw a vein pop at the side of her forehead. He realized he went a little far with the aggressive questions, but wasn't the situation asking enough to make him like that?
Before she could say or do anything this time, the screen elongated, making many a list-like text come forward.
*
*
*
Ethan Smith [Status Effect - Dimensional Displacement (Stabilizing)]
Race: Human (Earth Origin)
Level: 0
Title: [New Arrival]
Class: None
Primary Skill: Geomancer [F-Rank]
[ATTRIBUTES]
Strength: 8
Agility: 10
Endurance: 9
Perception: 14
Intelligence: 15
Willpower: 13
Mana Pool: 120
Geomancy Affinity: 42%
[SKILLS]
Geomancer (F-Rank)
Grants limited control over terrain within 3m.
ABILITIES
Earth Pulse (Lvl 1)
Sense shallow density, tremors, and hollows.
Ground Sketch (Lvl 1)
Visualize terrain cross-section for 10 seconds.
Lesser Terrain Manipulator (Lvl 1)
Slowly raise, lower, or compact soft ground within a short radius; weak and shallow, but useful for shaping terrain.
*
*
*
Ethan took his dear time to read to the last, and when he looked up to see what Liora had to say about this, he was surprised by the frown on her face.
"Another prospective mage gone down the drain…" She spoke with a click of tongue.
"Though your stats are more or less suitable to go to the frontier zone to start your duties." She stated again, and Ethan opened his mouth to say something, yet she started again.
"All I can tell you right now is that you were segregated from the baser normal crowd due to your ridiculously high mana pool level. Unfortunately, your base skill isn't good enough to get you into any good department." She spoke with a disappointed sigh. "Anyways, your data has been collected. Please leave this room and then the building, find the frontier zone department, and tell them you were selected there."
"If you do not get there by the end of the day, you will be caught and imprisoned for 3 days. Farewell." Liora spoke and stopped channeling her mana inside the orb.
"You're going too fast, Liora. I want to know what is—"
"Guards, take him outside the building please." Liora gave a light shout, making the two familiar guards enter the room again.
"Ugh, he was such a pain to escort before. We had to carry him half the way 'cause he just wouldn't walk." One of the guards spoke in frustration.
"Just take him."
"Alright, come here." The other guard grabbed Ethan by the shoulder again, but Ethan just wiggled to the side without letting him get the grip he knew he weirdly could not get out of.
"I can walk on my own." Ethan got up and straightened his shirt before giving Liora a cold stare.
Liora only looked at him with a plain, bored look before moving her face away, making a vein pop in Ethan's head.
Both guards looked at each other and struggled to hold their breath.
Ethan moved out of the room with the guards, leaving Liora alone in that room.
"... Another dud."
"I can't believe you got Miss Liora as annoyed as us. Just what did you do?" The guard to the left spoke.
Yet Ethan did not respond; he got out of the building soon enough, making a cool breeze go past him.
"Where is the frontier zone department?" Ethan asked in a bad mood.
The guards yet again looked at each other before moving their gaze to Ethan again. This time, there was a look of pity on their faces.
"Forget it, I will find it on my own." Ethan quickly moved away from them, and the guards kept staring at him before he went down the road.
"I hope he survives, wasn't annoying enough to let him just die in the frontier."
"Don't keep your hopes up." The other guard just patted his shoulder before they moved to the circular, tower-looking building again.
Ethan didn't like the way not only the woman interacted with him but also the guards. There was something about these stats of his that changed things for the worse when they were only bad.
He saw a small board on the side which stated 'Frontier Zone Department' and he walked toward it.
When the people around noticed that, they started murmuring to themselves.
It seemed as if Ethan was directly moving toward his own misfortune by himself.
But soon enough, reality fell again—he didn't know where he was, he didn't know how he could magically read everything in this foreign language, nor, much less, speak with them.