Chapter 385

An overwhelming sensation of weightlessness struck Haruto the moment the teleportation magic activated.

The journey was far rougher than anything he had experienced using his own teleportation spells. Distorted, kaleidoscopic lights twisted around him as his body hurtled through space at an astonishing speed, seemingly falling toward some unimaginably distant destination.

The distance involved was far greater than Haruto had anticipated.

In fact, this didn’t feel like ordinary teleportation between two locations at all. It was more like crossing the boundary between two entirely different worlds.

As Haruto considered his situation, an emotionless, mechanical voice suddenly sounded inside his mind.

[Confirmed.]

[Skill: Temperature Control successfully acquired.]

Haruto’s expression changed slightly.

’What the hell was that?’

A voice had spoken directly inside his head, and it was announcing that he had acquired a skill?

Haruto was beginning to think he’d been a little too reckless this time.

He had assumed the magic circle was merely a teleportation device. Instead, he had stumbled into something far more complicated, and the most unsettling part was that he couldn’t detect anything unusual no matter how thoroughly he examined himself or his surroundings.

The teleportation continued, and the mechanical announcements kept coming.

[Confirmed. Skill: High-Speed Regeneration successfully acquired.]

[Confirmed. Skill: Physical Attack Resistance successfully acquired.]

[Confirmed. Skill: Elemental Attack Resistance successfully acquired.]

[Confirmed. Explosion successfully converted.]

[Confirmed...]

Haruto’s expression grew increasingly serious.

He could clearly sense that some subtle transformation was taking place within his body, although he couldn’t yet determine its exact nature.

Then the voice spoke again.

[Confirmed. Unique Skill: Energy Conversion successfully acquired.]

[Analysis complete. Individual Suzuki Haruto identified as a Gourmet Lifeform.]

[Confirmed. Additional Unique Skill: Gourmet successfully acquired.]

With that final announcement, the sensation of weightlessness abruptly disappeared.

Solid ground returned beneath Haruto’s feet, and the blinding lights surrounding him faded.

He immediately began examining his surroundings.

A gigantic circular magic formation, nearly twenty meters in diameter, covered the floor beneath him.

Intricate dark-red runes flowed slowly along channels carved into black obsidian, their patterns so complex that merely looking at them was almost dizzying. Faint golden light pulsed through the grooves, illuminating different sections of the formation in succession.

Three pale-faced students stood within the magic circle alongside Haruto.

The boy on the far left was the tallest, his muscles visibly tense and his expression filled with suspicion. The boy in the middle was looking around frantically, his fingertips trembling slightly. On the right, a girl clutched the hem of her school uniform, her lips drained of color and her eyes wide with fear.

Haruto recognized all three.

They had been inside the classroom when the teleportation circle activated.

However, there had been more than three students in that classroom.

The others were nowhere to be seen.

Apparently, they hadn’t survived the violent spatial forces involved in the journey.

A magic circle capable of transporting people across such an immense distance was already bound to have a miserably low success rate. Considering that the students had originally been ordinary humans with no special abilities, it was remarkable that three of them had managed to arrive safely.

Beyond the magic circle stood thirty mages arranged in neat formation.

Every one of them wore a dark-gray robe, and faint blue magical light connected their positions, forming a continuous field that kept the tremendous energy fluctuations of the summoning circle firmly contained.

Behind the mages stood two rows of heavily armored soldiers carrying long spears.

Their polished silver armor reflected the flickering torchlight with a cold metallic sheen.

Several nobles dressed in elaborate embroidered garments stood at the front of the soldiers. They were whispering among themselves and pointing toward the four newcomers, openly examining them with curiosity and judgment.

At the center of it all was Edmaris, King of the Kingdom of Falmuth.

He looked over Haruto and the three students as though inspecting a newly delivered shipment of valuable goods.

Then he turned toward the man standing beside him.

"Razen, I never expected us to summon four Otherworlders at once! This is excellent!"

The king’s delight was entirely genuine.

Edmaris knew better than most how difficult it was to summon people from another world.

Over the years, he had secretly commissioned more than twenty summoning rituals without informing the neighboring nations.

Most had ended in failure, with the magic circle merely flashing briefly before going dark.

Even on the rare occasions when a ritual succeeded, the results were frequently disappointing.

Sometimes the summoned individual was an elderly person in their seventies or eighties. Other times, it was a child who hadn’t even finished growing.

Even when such people acquired Unique Skills from the Voice of the World, those abilities were often useless in combat.

Some skills were simply too weak to provide any meaningful advantage, while others came with severe side effects that made them almost impossible to control.

People like that were hardly suitable for the battlefield, much less for helping Edmaris expand his kingdom’s territory.

But the four standing before him were different.

All of them were young and appeared physically healthy, making them ideal candidates for developing into powerful combatants.

Hearing the king’s enthusiastic voice, Haruto glanced toward the raised platform.

A red velvet carpet covered the dais, where Edmaris was rising to his feet with one hand resting on an ornate scepter.

The king wore a golden crown and deep-crimson royal robes, his face practically glowing with unconcealed excitement.

Haruto briefly extended his senses through the chamber.

Among everyone present, only one individual possessed enough strength to pose any meaningful threat to him.

Even that person, however, was still someone he believed he could handle.

Having reached that conclusion, Haruto lost interest in the king and returned his attention to examining the changes within his own body.

Meanwhile, Razen, the most powerful mage in the Kingdom of Falmuth, bowed respectfully toward Edmaris.

"This success is entirely thanks to Your Majesty’s wise guidance."

"We adjusted the energy distribution throughout the summoning formation according to Your Majesty’s instructions. Without those adjustments, we could never have achieved such outstanding results."

After thoroughly flattering the king, Razen straightened and turned toward the four people standing within the magic circle.

The respectful expression disappeared from his face, replaced by unmistakable arrogance.

"Now, tell me your names and the abilities you received from the Voice of the World."

As he spoke, a faint purple light appeared at his fingertips.

An invisible magical fluctuation spread outward like ripples across the surface of a pond, sweeping through the entire summoning formation.

It was a form of truth-compelling magic.

Anyone with sufficiently weak willpower would find themselves involuntarily speaking the truth under its influence.

Against Otherworlders who had only just arrived and supposedly knew nothing about magic, such a spell should have been more than sufficient.

When the magical wave passed through the three students, their bodies trembled simultaneously.

Their eyes immediately became vacant, and their expressions went blank.

However, when the same wave reached Haruto, it was as though the spell had struck an invisible reef.

The magical energy dispersed silently without affecting him in the slightest.

Haruto didn’t even bother looking up at Razen.

He had much more interesting things to think about.

During his examination of the changes within his body, Haruto had finally noticed something extraordinary about the atmosphere around him.

The concentration of magicules was astonishing.

It was more than three times greater than the magical energy concentration he had encountered in the world of Frieren.

That realization immediately caught his interest.

With so much energy permeating the environment, the plants, animals, and monsters inhabiting this world would almost certainly contain enormous quantities of magical power.

Ingredients raised under such conditions should produce dishes exceptionally rich in energy.

For Haruto, that was an incredibly appealing prospect.

He couldn’t help wondering what world he had entered.

There was also the matter of the summoning itself.

Otherworlders being forcibly transported into an unfamiliar world, a mysterious voice announcing the acquisition of skills...

All of it felt strangely familiar.

’Where have I heard about something like this before?’

Haruto searched his memories, trying to identify the world.

Just then, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Shogo Taguchi. Ability: Diamond Body. Unique Skill: Berserker."

The tall boy on the left was speaking.

His eyes remained completely vacant as he mechanically recited his personal information, apparently unable to control his own mouth.

"Kyoya Tachibana. Skill: All-Seeing Eye..."

The boy in the middle followed immediately, his voice just as lifeless.

"Kirara Mizutani. Unique Skill: Bewilder."

Finally, the girl on the right revealed her information as well.

Only after they finished speaking did the three students regain control of themselves.

Shogo’s eyes widened in shock.

His face flushed bright red, and he clenched his fists so tightly that the muscles in his arms bulged.

In his fury, he unconsciously activated Diamond Body.

A faint metallic sheen spread across his skin as the ability strengthened his body.

He glared furiously at Razen and practically roared, "YOU BASTARD! WHAT DID YOU DO TO US?! WHY WERE WE FORCED TO OBEY YOU?!"

Kyoya’s expression was equally ugly.

Kirara stumbled backward, tears spilling from her eyes as fear overwhelmed her.

For all three of them, the sensation of losing control over their own bodies was terrifying.

Being compelled to speak and obey against their will was almost worse than the thought of being killed outright.

"I merely used a little magic."

Razen gave a disdainful chuckle, showing no concern whatsoever for their distress.

He casually brushed at the sleeve of his robe before continuing in an entirely matter-of-fact tone.

"Besides, you’re summoned individuals. Naturally, you are expected to obey the commands of those who summoned you."

Then Razen’s gaze shifted toward Haruto.

The other three had obediently revealed their names and abilities.

Only Haruto had remained completely silent throughout the interrogation.

In fact, he hadn’t so much as glanced in Razen’s direction from beginning to end.

As far as Haruto was concerned, the kingdom’s most powerful mage might as well have been part of the furniture.