My summon to another world was even weirder than I expected

Mana is the essence of the world, the primordial concept from which the gods created everything in existence.

Due to being the initial material of the universe, it can be found everywhere— in nature, in cities, in animals, and even in humans.

Those who can use mana to alter reality are called magic users.

In a library located in the building assigned for magic classes, four students stared at the books in front of them with furious concentration.

"Ahhh! This is useless! We’ll never finish in time!" shouted Austin.

"Why do we even have to study? We're in another world! We’re supposed to be living adventures and fighting monsters, not studying! I’m fed up!" Austin said, exasperated. Shun and Miyu didn’t seem much different.

"Do you think you’ll do it with your head?" Shun said. "If we don’t know a single spell, how do you think we’ll fight? We’re mages, not warriors. If we don’t learn to use magic, the moment they send us to fight, we’ll be dead!"

"Do you think I don’t know that?!" Austin retorted.@@novelbin@@

"Stop it already!" said Miyu. "This isn’t what I had in mind either when I found out about my class, but Shun is right. If we don’t understand what’s in these books, we’ll never be able to use our classes."

Austin and Shun looked at each other for a moment before returning their gaze to the list the mage had given them.

"But how are we supposed to learn if we don’t understand what’s written in these stupidly complicated books?" Austin asked the others, looking at words like mana, spirit, and elemental particles. The four had been subjected to modern education, and most of these concepts, which frequently appear in pseudoscience, were unfamiliar to them.

Zack sighed as he looked away from the book he was reading and glanced at his companions.

There was nothing wrong with the books Albert had asked them to read. These books described the concepts of magic, its characteristics, how it works when a mage interacts with mana, and even the techniques through which mages absorb, purify, and store mana in their bodies.

They were ideal books for beginners— every magic user should know them before they start using mana to cast spells.

The problem was the number of books on the list.

The list Albert had given them wasn’t small; there were a total of fifteen books. Reading and studying fifteen books isn’t a week’s job; it’s a semester’s worth of work.

Zack thought these books were used as material for first and second-year students, mages who had just obtained their classes. It was material for 8- to 10-year-old children learning about magic. Instead of studying math and geography, children with magical classes are taken to academies founded by the kingdom to learn these concepts. But that doesn’t mean an adult who has never learned these concepts before can learn two years’ worth of material in a month, let alone in a week.

Also, there was another problem.

"Hey, have you seen them?"

"Yeah, they’re the heroes."

"They look... normal."

"They’re not that impressive."

They weren’t the only ones in the library.

Zack looked around and saw groups of people in robes staring at them from afar, some with curiosity, others with disdain, and some even with a challenging look.

Since they sat down to study, intermittent murmurs had reached their ears from other mages who were about to search for and read the books.

Honestly, all of this made Zack feel like a zoo animal. The worst part was that the books couldn’t be taken out of the library, so they had to endure these murmurs while trying to complete an impossible task.

Albert definitely wouldn’t expect them to have studied all the books on the list by the next time they saw him. Most likely, he would ask them questions they couldn’t answer, mock them, and give them more time.

Still, not everything was bad.

Due to having studied continuously for a period of time: Int +1

This was the second time this notification appeared for Zack. Clearly, there were additional benefits to learning magic that helped continue the study.

Zack looked at his status.

Status

Name: Zack Mayima

Age: 18

Race: Human

Title: Bookworm

Class: Mage Level: 1

Stats:

Strength: 9

Endurance: 8

Wisdom: 12

Luck: 10

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 15

Charm: 11

Skills:

Fast Reading Level 4

Memorization Level 2

Universal Translation

The crystal ball in the throne room is a magical instrument that allows you to show a summarized version of your status to others, but details like the individual values of your attributes are not shown.

Apparently, attributes also exist in this world. When Zack learned about them in one of the books he read yesterday, he was left speechless. This was starting to look more and more like a video game.

Each of the attributes has a unique function:

Strength, endurance, and luck are self-explanatory.

Agility indicates how fast one can move, but it also refers to reflexes and reaction ability.

Intelligence shows the ability to process and retain information.

Wisdom is more abstract; it not only indicates how much knowledge you possess but also your insight and ability to use that knowledge.

Contrary to what one might think, Charm is not about how attractive you are. Charm is your ability to interact with people and make them trust you. An example of this would be a merchant trying to convince customers that their products are better than the competition. An average adult has 10 in each attribute, so the attributes of each person indicate what kind of life they’ve led.

Zack has never been much of a fan of sports and has always preferred to read at home rather than go out, so it was to be expected that his physical attributes would be low. But there was something he didn’t understand.

"Why is my luck 10?" Zack wondered to himself.

The fact that he had been dragged from his world to participate in a senseless war in a magical world should be considered ‘lucky.’

Zack couldn’t believe his luck was so... normal. That was even more amazing than discovering that he could increase his attributes without leveling up.

The other three also received a notification each, which renewed their enthusiasm for studying... for about half an hour.

"Ahhh! I can’t take it anymore!" Austin said aloud as he stood up from the seat. The others looked at him, startled by his unexpected outburst.

"Where are you going?" Miyu asked him.

"To get some air," Austin replied as he walked away from the group. Once Austin left, the library restored its calm for a while until Shun stood up from the table.

"I think I’m going to take a break too; I’m feeling a bit dizzy."

Seeing that Austin and Shun had left for the moment, Miyu also stood up and said, "I’ll go with you."

Zack was left alone at the table. Around him, the murmurs grew louder as they saw the others had left, almost mocking him for still being there. Noticing this, Zack grabbed a book from the table and... continued reading.

Zack knew exactly the situation he was in. Not only had he infiltrated the Tier 2 magic classes, where he could be discovered at any unexpected moment, but in an unknown time, he was going to be sent to a battlefield where there was a high chance he wouldn’t make it out.

He didn’t have time to waste nor the energy to endure any feelings his companions might be having about this situation.

Every minute counted, and there was no time to lose.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to see more chapters, check my patreon: