Astral Corps

The interior of the room was just as ornate as the doors had suggested.

Real wooden floors. A working fireplace with real plants in pots across the mantle. And at the centre of it all, a heavy oakwood desk atop a gold inlaid carpet with the man himself sitting behind it.

Like everyone else I had seen so far this man had elf-like ears and his skin was a vibrant pink colour.

However, almost mimicking his position of power, he looked much stronger than anyone else I had come across with a big barrel chest and arms that were so muscly they looked like they would break free of his purple jacket if he flexed them even the slightest amount.

"Ah, my daughter," He exclaimed as we entered the room, smiling but not getting up from his chair, "And of course, the human who has caused her to storm into my office without knocking."

As he turned his attention to me it felt like I had been pinned to the ground by a wave of immense pressure. His eyes twinkled in the firelight as the corners of his mouth twitched up into a smile.

Noticing the look he was giving me, Niva gave an aggrieved sigh and shook her head before slumping angrily into one of the fancy sofas that were next to the fireplace.

"I still don't understand why you had me bring him up here," Niva said, "He's human, that means he could be dangerous. Just having him in here with you is a security risk."

Niva's dad rolled his eyes, "Niva, sweetheart, we haven't been at war with the humans in over fifty years! You must let the bias and bigotry of the past fade away, you weren't even alive at the time!"

Niva only huffed in response.

"Come, Otherworlder, take a seat," Niva's dad said, nodding to the seat that was opposite his desk, "We have much to discuss."

I'd never been good in official situations.

That was probably why my life back on Earth had mostly been a failure.

Every time I got into a meeting with someone high up the chain of a business I always stumbled over my words and panicked to the degree that they never wanted to meet with me again.

As I took my seat I felt that all too familiar panic bubbling up through my chest again.

[Panic Status Negated By Skill: Steady Mind]

And then it was gone in an instant.

The system? It had negated my panic in an instant, just before it threatened to bubble up and out of me. That was… terrifying.

[Fear Status Negated By Skill: Steady Mind]

Okay, so it seemed any extreme negative emotion was immediately brought under control by the steady mind skill baked into my system.

Ordinarily, that would have terrified me. I'd always been leery of things messing with the way my brain worked. Now I was literally incapable of that emotion.

It filled me with-

[Existential Dread Status Negated By Skill: Steady Mind]

Well, that was just rude.

"You mean like how I was accosted by your daughter and her security team for seemingly no reason?" I asked, the lack of panic and fear allowing me to speak my mind to someone in a position of power for one of the first times.

"Yes, I do apologise for her actions," He replied, "Niva has always been distrustful of humanity due to the way they have acted previously in this universe. Not that any of that should concern you, considering you were summoned from another universe entirely."

Niva gasped and sat up rigidly in her chair.

"Father, what is the meaning of this?" She asked, her eyes wide as they flicked between myself and her dad.

I hadn't expected this.

When I had been told that I was being reincarnated in another world I hadn't been informed that I was being summoned to another world for some reason.

What could such a high tech civilization even want with someone like me, anyway?

"I'm sorry," I interjected, "You know? About me being reincarnated from another world, I mean."

"Of course I know," The man before me smiled, "Allow me to introduce myself formally, my name is Coralinus Oma, commander of the Astral Corps, and I authorised your summoning to this place to help defend our universe against its gravest threat yet."

And then the leader of the Astral Corps began to explain, both to me and to his daughter who was now enraptured in the story.

He told me a tale of a man who arrived from another universe once before. A man who had been given more power than an exploding star itself.

He told me about how that man had battled countless battles across the multiverse itself, attempting to save all of creation from the beings between dimensions.

About creatures who feasted on magic, devouring anyone and anything they came across.

About how he had managed to break the militant doctrine of a hostile human race and bring them into the galactic circle as a civilised species for the first time.

And about how, eventually, he had fallen in battle. Victorious, but he himself defeated. Finally able to pass on.

Or so they had thought.

The being that the previous otherworlder, Jacob Lyre, had fought against had backup plans surrounded by backup plans just in case it had ever been bested and now, according to soothsayers and future lookers across the galaxy, that very same creature was building its strength once again.

The MAW reborn, ready and waiting to devour souls at the bottom of reality once again.

"But there is a problem, of course," Coralinus said at the end of his story, "You are not Jacob Lyre, and you do not share the unique quirk that allowed him to command such astronomical power. Your… System, he called it, is different to his and works near identically to the magic that pervades our universe with some extra quirks."

"So what does that mean?" I asked, all panic erased by the system.

"To put it simply my boy, I'm sending you to school," he replied, "And then you will join the Astral Corps!"