The Rise from Max Level 1: How I, the Lowest Level, Became the Strongest in Another World

“Welcome, brave heroes. You have all been summoned into this world through a great, secret art.”

I thought a bit more about the meaning behind that word.

“Summoning.” It was a word that often appeared in manga, anime, or light novels and was otherwise meant to mean summoning someone to a different world. Truth be told, while I had mulled over the possibility of going to another world to live a different life, having it happen to me in reality was a complete slap in the face.

Was this even real life? Couldn’t this be a dream or something? Assuming it was, in fact, reality, I had no explanation whatsoever for this being-summoned-to-another-world thing.

The woman wearing robes continued to speak:

“My name is Miem, a magus in service of the Kingdom of Arbus. The state of the kingdom is quite dire at the moment and is on the verge of collapse. I was called upon by royal decree to summon forth all of you, but this is quite strange… I only summoned four people, but there are six here… Regardless, let me continue.”

Miem started explaining the situation in detail after that.

In this world exists a number of different species like elves, dwarves, and orcs, each one living amongst several different tribes. They’re currently in a territorial conflict and have been in an outright battle against one another about it for years on end. Within that circle of conflict, the humans have lost one battle after another in war and their own territory has been shrinking to the point that it might lead to their very destruction. Being that they’re in such a tight spot, that’s why they wanted us to help fight for them.

They want us to help fight? I wasn’t someone even built for war, and while I was thinking about it, how were we even understanding what this woman was saying? Whatever. There were so many things I wanted to say, but I couldn’t form words for a single one. Even though I couldn’t, that wasn’t true for the blond hoodlum over there.

“Get the fuck outta here, lady! Send us back home!” he tried to threaten.

Miem’s expression never once changed as she rebuked, “My apologies, but it currently isn’t possible to send you back where you came from.”

According to her, each hero had parameters or objectives they had to meet to go home and would be sent back once they did fulfill those. There was no other way to return home unless they satisfied those parameters.

To be clear, the objective at task was reestablishing human dominion. Humans used to possess land many times larger than at current, and once each and every last square inch of land was back under human control, we would be allowed to go home.

How could I possibly agree to that? Even so, there was nothing I could really complain about with their methods.

The hoodlums on the other hand were full of them.

“Go fuck yourself!”

“I’m gonna kill you, straight up!”

They kept up the yelling and whining for a while before finally falling silent.

“Now then,” Miem spoke up, “we shall evaluate your Max Level.”

“Max Level?”

“What the hell’s that?”

The hoodlums were bursting with questions.

“Allow us to evaluate your levels first,” Miem continued. “Your level is a numerical value based upon your accumulated combat and training experience. The higher the level, the better your stats, so to speak, and the stronger the skills you gain. Levels are not infinite, and will not grow further for as long as you live. That is what I mean when I say ‘Max Level’.”

Stats? Levels? Sounded like a game to me.

“Heroes who are summoned will, by far, have greater Max Levels than an ordinary person, and that is strength we can better utilize. On that note, the levels we evaluate now for those summoned will only be half of what your Max Level actually is.”

Huh, that so?

She started calling us up one by one.

“I’ll begin the evaluation. When I use my spell, I will be able to easily identify your levels.”

Miem first began with the blond kid, calling out, “Level Search.”

As soon as she said that, a large guy in the back shouted out, “Whoa! The summoning was a success!”

Just then, a man wearing a crown and dressed from head to toe in magnificence entered the room.

“Attention! The king has entered!”

With that, every person in the room bowed down their heads.

Guess that guy was the king, then.

“Well, well,” the king began. “I had heard there were four young people who would be summoned to bring salvation to our lands, but yet I see six in front of me.”

“We aren’t sure what happened, Your Majesty, but six people were summoned. Their Max Levels are being evaluated as we speak.”

“A grand event! The more, all the better! I look forward to the results.”

The king sat down on his throne.

“That said,” Miem began, “let us get back to it and begin your evaluations.”

She cast her spell.

“Oh my! Your Max Level is 99!” Miem cried out and the people in the room let out a cheer.

“What a wonderful value! Humans typically fall around a Max Level of 25, and at most, 60. A Max Level of 99 is beyond expectation,” she continued, looking joyous as she started evaluating the other hoodlums.

Two of them ranked at 95 and 98, but were still pretty far up there in value.

The highest level came to a whopping 125, and it just happened to be from the leader of the pack, the one with long hair. And, just as expected, the other guys were super excited for him, with their cries of “Yama” this and “Yama” that.

Miem tested the girl with us next.

“Hm? Your Max Level comes to 48, which, while still high, is far too low for a hero. How odd.”

“Explain yourself,” the king demanded.

Miem thought to herself for a moment. “I believe these four were the heroes summoned for our cause, and the other two were somehow dragged along, sire.”

Whoa, say that again? So, you’re trying to say I’m not strong, right? That means I can go home then… Right?

Eh, whatever. Back home, I lived a trash life, and it’d be nice to start anew. Plus, hey, that girl was pretty cute, too.

“Hm, well that is a pity,” murmured the king.

“This is a first for me, sire,” said Miem. “Regardless, I’ve wronged both of them, but these two can’t return home despite that.”

Wronged? How is your pity going to help me?

The king frowned. “It’s a shame they can’t go back, but 48 is still reasonably high. She may be able to aid in the effort.”

“I agree, sire.”

Are you guys serious? We couldn’t go home, so we were going to fight anyway? For a country in a world we know nothing about? Well, neither of us were the type to assert ourselves, so we’d probably go along with everything anyway.

“Now then, you aren’t a hero, but we will still go ahead and evaluate your Max Level.”

She cast the spell for the last time on me.

“…Oh, dear,” Miem whispered, looking shocked.

Oh? Does that mean my Max Level is super, duper high then?

“…His Max Level is one.”