《World Merge》 [Prologue] Chapter 1: A New World Key: ( ) = Speaker/Side notes { } = POV [ ] = Titles Note: There are differences between the history of this world and our own, so just because I¡¯ve mentioned something that happened in our history(ie Great War), the specifics of said war may differ.
Location: Tokyo, Japan {Rex Yamamoto} Date: 0 days since Merge Today marked one of the greatest changes to face our world. This morning, I got out of bed thinking that it would be your average, ordinary day. Well, who wouldn''t have? Who in their right mind would''ve predicted that our world would merge with a game world! And so our tale begins.... My name is Rex Yamamoto, an average 15 year old high school boy. Well, that¡¯s a bit of a lie. The experiences that I¡¯ve had in the last 10 years wouldn¡¯t necessarily be considered ¡°average¡±. An orphan at the age of 5, followed by my attempts to adapt to my new life, much of my upbringing was shaped around the constant irregularities during my childhood. I had come from a lower middle-class family. We¡¯d lived in a 2 room apartment, with a common space(living room and kitchen) and one bedroom. I can¡¯t remember much of what life was like back then, but I do remember that I had always been happy. My parents had taken good care of me uptil the day they died. When I was 5 years old, I witnessed my parents'' murder at the hands of a serial killer. The serial killer was an escaped mental asylum patient. I had found out later that he was a war veteran of the last Great War, and had gone mad after witnessing the torture and death of his squadmates. He broke into our apartment in the middle of the night. My father had heard him open the door from our bedroom, and motioned for my mother and I to go hide. My mother began to hide us in the closet, but before we had managed to close the closet doors, he had found us. He held a butcher knife in his hand, and stared at us with bloodlust filled eyes. My father was killed while trying to fight him off, and my mother was killed shortly after as she attempted to protect me, hugging me close to her body. After having killed my parents, he walked toward me, ripping me out of the embrace of my now deceased mother. A psychotic grin was plastered on his face. I had tried to resist, but within a few seconds he had already pinned me to the ground. As he moved the blood-soaked knife toward my throat, I remember thinking, without a doubt, that I was about to die. However, at that moment, instead of feeling the agonizing pain of having my throat torn open, I heard a single gunshot. The next thing I knew, the serial killer toppled over, a single bullet hole had appeared at the back of his skull. The man who had shot that bullet was the same man who would soon become my new father, Takeru Yamamoto. Takeru Yamamoto, a young police sergeant who had only been a part of the police force for a little over two months, decided to adopt me after the murder of my parents. He was a man with decent looks and a pretty good physique. He had long, jet black hair which almost reached down to his shoulders. He had bangs that covered his right eye and part of his left eyebrow. He had a pretty well built body, but not to the point that the only thing you could see were muscles. Based on what I had seen of him so far, I thought he was a hero. A brave, selfless, caring individual who would help those in need, and I was partially right. He was pretty good father while I was growing up, and pretty much took care of me till the age of 13. During the first 4 years of my life living with him, we had moved a total of probably 5 different times due to his work. We moved to Russia, then China, then London, then the U.S., and ultimately ended up back to Japan. By the time we had returned to Japan, I had already developed a third culture kid(TCK) mentality. Although I had still spent the majority of my life in Japan, the 4 years I spent abroad had greatly affected my cultural identity. I felt like an outsider within my community. I was unable to relate to the experiences that my classmates had gone through. Furthermore, they were cautious whenever we started a conversation, afraid that they would unintentionally bring up some bad memories. By the time I was 13, the majority of my classmates had stopped talking to me.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Well, at least I had a good life at home with my step-dad, right? Wrong. At the age of 13, Pops, decided to become a NEET, and refused to work on anything he wasn''t interested in. Why is that you may ask? Well, in his own words, ¡°Look, you¡¯re a man now right? You¡¯ll be able to take care of the both of us!¡±(Takeru/Pops) My step-father, with a happy-go-lucky attitude and a cheeky grin on his face, said that to me on my 13th birthday. Now I¡¯m stuck with doing all the housework, which includes taxes, repairs, cooking, cleaning etc. What¡¯s worse is his spending habits! Spending almost 1,000,000 a day alone on anything he can find on online shopping sites, I¡¯ve had to change the password to our bank account so that we don¡¯t end up broke! That bastard! Well, I can¡¯t really do anything about it. Anyways, even though he¡¯s a NEET, we¡¯re still getting by economically. Pops has got a huge stash of money deposited in the bank. I¡¯m actually not that sure of what type of job Pops had before meeting me. All I know is that every military or high-risk related organizations, from private bodyguard companies to national armies, wanted him to work for them. Of course, now that he¡¯s a NEET he¡¯s rejected all those offers. When I asked him what he did before, he would always try to change to topic. In the end, I just gave up on asking, cause if he didn¡¯t want me to know, I wouldn¡¯t bother him about him. Regardless of how he¡¯s acting now, he¡¯s still been a good father to me. Plus, he still does gets us an income every week in the form of gambling. He¡¯s been gambling even before he took me in, and has become a sort of legend within the gambling world. Yes, most say that gambling is not an economically suitable way of earning money. In most cases I would agree, but Pops just has an inhuman amount of luck when it comes to gambling. He walks in with probably 100,000 yen, and walks out with at least twice that amount. There¡¯s even a rumor that he caused a casino to go bankrupt. The owner had challenged him to a game of blackjack and decided to put the casino up for collateral. In the end, the owner lost the game in 10 turns, each turn being a win for Pops. How accurate is this rumor, I won¡¯t say. Now, lets return to the present. I woke up this morning in a complete daze, and slowly lifted my body out of bed. My entire body was aching after having participated in a hellish training course for my martial arts classes. It''s been 10 years since that incident where my parents were killed. Due to the trauma that came with watching my parents'' murder, I developed Marie Antoinette Syndrome. It''s a condition where, after an extremely traumatic situation, a person''s hair will lose its color and turn white. However, in my case, only the hair on the right half of my head became white. The left half had gone from jet black to a dark grey. I had a slightly built body that continued to grow due to the various punches I''ve taken during the course of my martial arts training, which I had been forced to take by Pops because he wanted me to be able to defend myself. While my head was still in a daze, I began walking toward the living room so that I could make myself a cup of coffee, a task that I''ve become accustomed to after having to take care of both Pops and myself over the last 10 years. When I got there, I saw Pops sitting on the couch with a serious expression while staring at the T.V. What''s this? What could''ve gotten him so worked up? Usually I¡¯m the first to wake up in the morning. Even when he does wake up first, he¡¯s usually laughing his ass off to some funny T.V. show. I took a look at the T.V. and see a live news report, and I soon found out why Pops had had that serious expression on his face. "Government officials have stated the Earth''s size has increased by at least 3 fold, and new land masses have appeared throughout the globe. Scientists have yet to come up with a reason for this unnatural phenomenon, but are said to be working around the clock so that they may find some answers. What can be confirmed, however, is that our world''s geography has completely changed, and civilians are warned not to venture out into these new regions until a proper survey of the area has been completed. The government has mobilized the military to set up a defense line over all Japanese territories..." said a reporter. The Earth had increased in size? What the hell? You can''t be serious. But after looking at the reporter''s serious, and somewhat panicked, expression, my doubts soon began to fade away. The screen soon changed, and a map of what would now be our new world appeared. Portions of the map were marked in green, representing our original world, which would later be known as Old Earth. Portions of the map were also marked in red, representing these new land masses the reporter had been talking about. Within minutes, I had realized what had caught Pops''s attention. The map closely resembled the map of the world of an MMORPG we played. Confirming my suspicions, his face having changed into one of disbelief, Pops said, "It''s Jukaria..." For a moment, it was as if time had stopped entirely. Our facial expressions remained in a state of disbelief as we processed everything we had just learned, unsure of how we should react to the new information we had just recieved. However, a devious smile began to form on Pops''s face, and I knew that he had developed some sort of plan. With a sigh, I realized that starting from today, my life would become even more hectic. [Prologue] Chapter 2: Start of an Adventure Key: ( ) =Speaker { } = POV [ ] = Titles
Location: Tokyo, Japan {Rex Yamamoto} Date:0days since merge The game world that had merged with ours was known as Jukaria. It came from a game known asEndless Adventure, an online fantasy MMORPG that had become popular around 3 years ago. It had many features that were similar to other fantasy games, such as a guild system and dungeons. These features could pretty much be found in any kind of fantasy based MMORPG, however, what made this game stand out was the massive class system that the developers had created. Ranging from jobs such as Knight to Smuggler, the game gave you a great amount of freedom in terms of how you wanted to play , with over 72different classes already implemented into the game since launch. You weren''t even restricted to one class! You could take on and learn as many class''s as you wanted as long as you had fully mastered the class or classes you had already chosen. It sounds completely unbalanced, right? Well, not necessarily. Although you could become extremely powerful in game, the amount of time it takes to master a single class accumulates to around 120 hours. That''s 5 full days of non-stop gaming, and when taking into account that the average gamer can only play for a maximum of 4 to 5 hours a day, it would take them around a whole month to complete one mastery. Not only that, but to prevent farming, players who had multiple classes were faced against monsters who''s stats had at least been doubled, and this essentially doubled the amount of time it would take for you to master a class.. Thus, many decided not to as they believed it was more tedious than it was worth. Pops and I had managed to get our hands on a couple of pre-order copies and became addicted. Up till now, I''ve only managed to complete and master 5 classes. Even Pops, a NEET who spends a large amount of his day just playing the game, has only mastered 14 classes, though that in itself is already absurd. Now we see that world in front of us. I was shocked at what had happened overnight, however I could onlyscowl at Pops''s next words. "Hehehe, this looks like it''ll be fun! Why don''t we head out there and go on some adventures? Let''s make a name for ourselves in this new world, ok Rex?" (Pops/Takeru) "Oi, what''s with you? Suddenly bringing up the topic of leaving to go on an adventure.... don''t you know what the hell is waiting for us out there?" (Rex) "Fortune, fame, glory, I don''t see the problem in leaving this place to go make our name in this new world. You should know that I only pursue thingsthat interest me." (Pops/Takeru) "Have you forgotten what else is out there? From what it looks like we''re in the middles of the Scorching Wastes. The Wastes are home to sand scorpions, basilisks, cockatrice,and even the occasional herd of sand-burrowing giant centipedes! If we met encountered any of these monsters while we''re out there, we''d be dead!" (Rex)The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. "Hey hey, calm down, all we need to do is get to the Paradisial Plains and we''ll be safe!" (Pops/Takeru) This cocky bastard! The Paradisial Plains are most likely a few hundred kilometers away! How does he expect us to get over there!? "Course we can''t take the car. Although it''s a hummer that was specifically made to drive off-road and could probably get us across the Scorching Wastes, we would eventually run out of fuel, andI don''t really fancy the idea of abandoning it out there. It would just be a waste. Wecould bring extra fuel cans with us, but if we ever encountered a dragon or any other monster that could breathe fire, those extra fuel can would most likley become a hindrance. With that in mind, I guess we''ll just have to hoof it!" (Pops/Takeru) I gave him a good sock to the head after that last comment, yelling "Put some more thought into your plan! Don''t just wing it!!" "Ok, ok! I get it! Like you said, if we encountered any giantcentipedes or basilisks, we definitely wouldn''t survive the encounter.However, we could still probably take on a cockatrice or sand scorpion. Those are still around the size of a cow, and it''s still possible to penetrate their skin with a regular sword. I''m a master at using both a katana and pistol, while you specialize at close combat due to the various martial arts styles you''ve learnt in the last few years. Of course, those close combat skills won''t really help in terms of fighting these two, but, it does at least raise our chances of victory against them.Since I actually have a katana and a desert eagle still safely locked away and hidden, the chances of victory are even higher. Furthermore, assuming some of the game''s rules still apply, the chances of encountering a basilisk is less than 10% due to the rare items they drop, and the chances of even seeing a giant centipede, let alone a heard of them, are less than 0.01%. This gives us a pretty good chance of making it to the Paradisial Plains. Now hold on a second..." (Pops/Takeru) Pops left the couch and headed toward his room. After a few minutes he came back with a freshly printed map of the new world. "According to this map, and assuming the measurements aren''t off, we''re around 1,200 km away from the plains, and if we did decide to use the car, it would take us at least 12 hours if we drove at 100km/hr. However, due to the unnatural terrain given that the Scorching Wastes is pretty much a desert, the distance is probably greater. We''d also have more likely a chance of getting there safely if we walked rather than drove, as the chances of the car tipping over are a lot higher. Given this information, if we walked a total distance of 100km or so a day, we could still arrive there in a bit under 2 weeks. So what do you say Rex? I know you want to head out as well..."(Pops/Takeru) Damn him, 100km per day in that scorching heat will be tiring as hell,and we would probably start slowing down after the first few days. But, he was right, like him, I too wanted to explore the new world that had appeared before us. This world we live in had nothing left to offer. Around a century ago, everything about this world had practically been discovered. The only places left to go were the bottom of the ocean or into space. Neither of those frontiers really appealed to me, mainly due to the fact that if anything went wrong, your chances of survival would be null. Suffocating to death was definitely on the top of my list of "Ways I Don''t Want to Die". Furthermore, discovering anything of interest was pretty low with the world''s current level of technology. Chances of finding other civilizations within our solar system were pretty much confirmed to be impossible, and the bottom of the oceanjust didn''t appeal to me, mainly due to my own fear of drowning. This new world,however dangerous, still had much to offer in terms of satisfying one''s yearning for adventure. A childhood fantasy that tends to fade with the passing of time, that fantasy now had the chance of truly becoming a reality. And so, I made up my mind.With our minds made up and plans finalized, we prepared for the journey. 3 days later, we set off into the Sorching Wastes. I will take that childhood fantasy, and turn it into my reality. [Prologue] Chapter 3: The Void Mage Key: ( ) = Speaker { } = POV [ ] = Titles/Move names
Location: Scorching Wastes {Rex Yamamoto} Date: 8 days since Merge How, how did it come to this... During the 3 days before we set off into the Scorching Wastes, we had been preparing for the journey. The first day was mainly dedicated to researching what we needed. In terms of travel wear, we ended up settling with a T-shirt and shorts so that we could reduce the effect of heat on our bodies. We also planned to wear a yukata over the T-shirt and shorts, as it''s light and covers a decent amount of the body, protecting those areas from the sun rays. For that same reason, we also planned to wear a shemaghs around our heads. Of course, we still decided to bring sunblock along just in case. We''d wear hiking boots and gloves as well due to the terrain. We''d also bring a pair of long pants, long sleeved shirts, and pillow to use during the night. It actually took us around one and a half hours to decide this, as we were trying to find clothing that not only suited the journey, but would also allow us to react quickly should we come across any monsters. Next was food. We settled on 17 days worth of nutrition bars and a couple of dried fruits, anything else would most likely spoil along the way. The additional 5 days worth of food just in case the journey took longer than expected, which it most likely would. Now came the hard part, water. We had planned to pack both the water and food in one duffle bag that was filled instant cold packs. We knew the cold packs wouldn''t last too long, but they would at least buy some time before water started heating up. We planned to fill several 24 ounce thermoses with ice so that the water would stay cool for a longer period of time. However to stay healthy, the average human needed to drink 64 ounces per day to stay healthy. To even carry the amount we needed for the expected duration of the trip, which was 12 days, would require us to carry 32 bottles each. That would not only not fit into the duffle bag, but would 22 kg to our total weight. We ended up only being able to fit 19 bottles into the bag. If were to drink the 64 ounces a day, we''d only have enough to last us a week. Thus, it seems like we''ll have to ration the amount we drink to around a bottle a day. However, this still ended up adding around 13 kg to our total weight. In the end, our duffle bags, carrying both our food, water, and sleeping supplies, weight around 18 kg. The second day was spent buying these supplies. You''d probably expect that after being placed in the middle of the desert, stores would be crammed with people trying to buy supplies to survive what would, by the majority, be seen as the apocalypse.However, that wasn''t the case. Although Japan had ended up in the middle of Scorching Wastes, parts of Japan were still connected to the ocean, and farming land remained fertile. It seemed like the Scorching Wastes had no affect on the overall environment of Japan, meaning Japan''s food supply and sources would remain unchanged. How does all of this make any sense? I don''t know, it probably has something to do with game logic being applied to the real world.Kind of like how there are safe zones for beginners, where player killing is banned and hostile mobs don''t spawn. Well, as long as everything''s alright for now it doesn''t matter that much. Anyways, we managed to buy everything we needed in roughly 12 hours. We spent another hour picking up Pops''s weapons, doing maintenance when needed. These weapons were kept in a special warehouse not far from where we lived; only half an hour from where we lived. Of course, I''m assuming the reason that Pops is allowed to even store and posses these weapons relate to his former proffesion, but as I said before he doesn''t want to tell me what he didso I won''t ask. Out of theweapons that were stored in the warehouse, we decided to bring along were a katana, desert eagle, and brass knuckles. There were better weapons stored, however they would only add to the large amount of weight we were already carrying. Speed and efficiency were at the top of our minds right now. Any more weight, and we wouldn''t be able to cross the Wastes before our supplies ran out. The third day was spent making sure we had everything we needed. Once we did, we set off into the Scorching Wastes. Or at least we tried to. The Japanese Special Defense Forces, aka the JSDF, had set up a perimeter around the entire city of Tokyo! We spent the entirety of that day just looking for a gap through that defense, and we found it at around midnight. Although they''ve been trained to be hardened soldiers, this situation would still cause any normal person to feel anxious. Thus, mistakes do occur. A gap in the perimeter started to form, and we took it as our chance to escape. We dashed at full speed out into the Wastes, only slowing down when we were at least 2 kilometers away. It would suck if we were mistaken as enemies and got shot. Our journey then began. Now back to the present. It''s been around 5 days since we set off into the Scorching Wastes. Up till now, we haven''t faced many problems. We have come across a few sand scorpions, but we''ve managed to slip by them. There was an incident 2 nights ago where a cockatrice appeared during the night. Luckily, Pops had been keeping watch and woke me up as it began to approach us. We both charged at it, and while I took the lead, Pops stayed close behind. The moment I came within its range, it drove its beak towards me with the intention of piercing my chest. I managed to dodge its attack, and Pops quickly followed up by slicing its neck. With that, the cockatrice let out a death cry and collapsed on the ground. Killing it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. However, the cockatrice''s death cry attracted unwanted attention. A basilisk suddenly emerged from a sand dune around 20 meters away from where we were. It must''ve used that sand dune as a makeshift nest so that it wouldn''t be attack in the middle of the night. We began to run as the basilisk made its way over towards us. Luckily, it seemed to be more interested in the cockatrice corpse than us, so we managed to get away unscathed. After that night, the next few days up till today were uneventful.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Today, we came across another one of the few beasts we hoped we wouldn''t come across while we were out here. A single Giant Centipede emerged from the ground and faced us, its lower half still buried beneath the sand. It''s exoskeleton as strong as the frame of a tank, acid oozing out of its gaping mouth lined with rows of razor sharp teeth, this was a monster that couldn''t be taken lightly. Well, couldn''t be taken lightly is probably an understatement in our current situation. I feel like the words impossible and suicidal would be more precise. With just a katana, desert eagle, and some brass knuckles, we had no chance of winning. Guess lady luck wasn''t smiling upon my step-dad today. We both took a battle ready stance though, as escape was still a possibility. Giant Centipedes around 100 meters in length and 15 meters in width, making there range of attack to be pretty large. However, their overall speed was still slower than our fastest sprint. If we just managed to dodge its attacks and look for an opening, we still had a chance to get out of this alive. However, that chance never came. The Giant Centipedes tail emerged behind us. Barbed in poison covered needles, it charged straight toward us. Approaching at a speed that was faster than we could dodge, our chances of survival had become null. Well, that was until he arrived. "[Black Hole]!"(Unknown) Following the sudden and unexpectedvoice, a black vortex appeared above the centipede''s head. The centipede was sucked in without a chance to resist. We looked at where the voice had come from, and there appeared a man donned in black templar knight armour. "Hey! Are you guys alright? I''m glad I managed to get to you in time!"(Black Knight) At the black knight''s voice, Pops was the first to respond. "Yup, we''re all good here, thanks for the save! But who are you? Furthermore, we can understand you, but you''re definitely notJapanese..."(Pops/Takeru) An air of caution was mixed in with Pops''s words. The stranger''s response, in contrast, hada much wamer tone. "Huh? Ah, I see, you must be from one of those new cities that appeared. I''ll explain it to you later. Where are you heading? As newcomers to this world, I don''t mind helping you out a bit, especially since you''d most likely die if I left you out here."(Black Knight) The stranger laughed following his last comment. This guy is way too friendly! Offering help to strangers without even asking about who they were. This guy is either dangerous or way too naive. However, the fact that he''s dressed in all black is definitely leading me to believe that he¡¯s dangerous. I mean, all evil villains where black right? Am I being too stereotypical? Probably, but in this situation, it¡¯s probably better to be overly suspicious. Thoughts such as those ran through my mind. Luckily for me, I have what people call a resting bitch face (RBF, or what some might call "resting bastard face" for guys), so my internal panic wasn''t shown. However before I could say anything, "Thanks for the offer! We''re planning on heading to the closest town.¡±(Pops/Takeru) I turn to look at my step-father, and his gaze told me to just trust him on this. So, I kept my mouth shut and continue to listen. "Ah, that would be Runscav, a small town not far from the border to the Scorching Wastes. I was planning to head back there myself when I saw you guys, so this works perfectly for me."(Black Knight) "I see. Might I ask what you might''ve been doing out here? With armor as thickas yours, it couldn''t be that you were just merely taking a stroll," Pops joked. The stranger laughed while replying, "Of course not, I was out hunting Giant Centipedes. Actually, meeting you two helped me out. I was having a hard time finding another one after the first few. With that one, I''ve finally finished my quota of 50 Giant Centipedes." 50!? What the fuck!? He''s a monster!! Once again, my internal shock was disguised by my RBF. With that, he turns and stretches out his right arm and says, "[Gate]"(Black Knight) With that, a gate appears before us that opens to what looks like the outskirts of a town. "Step right through and we''ll be at the outskirts of Runscav," the black knight said in with cheerful tone. "Thanks!" Pops quickly followed up with another question, as if he had just realized he had forgotten about it. "Ah, but we still don''t know who you are?" The knight was surprised at the question, but soon began to laugh heartily. "Hahaha, that''s right! I''d almost forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Lance Brygld, also known as the [Void Mage]. I''m a mage who specialize in creating voids, a rather uncommon power even amongst all the mages of the various different kingdoms and empires. I hope we can be friends newcomers!"(Lance) Dammit, this guy is acting way too friendly! For all we know, we could die the second we step through this portal! However, our chances of making it through the Scorching Wastes aren¡¯t that great either. Hell, based on the recent events, it looks like we wouldn¡¯t have even lasted a week out here. I glance at Pops to see what he thinks we should do, and he just nods his head. Seems like we had come to the same conclusion. At Lances invitation, we stepped through the gate, and in the next moment we had arrived in the town of Runscav. [Prologue] Chapter 4: The World of Jukaria Key: ( ) = Speaker { } = POV [ ] = Titles/Move names Location: Runscav, Paradisial Plains {Rex Yamamoto} Date: 8 days since Merge We followed Lance toward the town of Runscav. When we got to the perimeter of the town, I noticed that there were guards standing watch. A moderately tall wall stood behind them. They wore armour that had definitely seen better days. Dented and chipped in various different locations, it seems that these pieces of armor had been through quite a few battles. It wasn''t just the armor either, the shield and sword each guard carried were also chipped and dented. It caused me to wonder how this town was doing, and more importantly, how safe it was to stay in this town. As soon as they saw Lance, they made way for us and escorted us toward a large building known as the Adventurer''s Association Hall. As we walked through the town, it seemed that the residents of this town were pretty lively, and they all had cheerful expressions on their faces. This only added to my already growing anxiety. The attitude of the people living here is the complete opposite of their soldiers'' equipment condition. I take a look at Pops, and it looks like he''s noticed it too. Something wasn''t right about this town. However, we continued to act naturally. We couldn''t give off any signs of hostility, otherwise we''d be dead. Lance could kill us both in an instant, so picking a fight with him wasn''t even considered. We also realized if he had wanted us dead, he would have just let the Giant Centipede kill us. So, we continued as if nothing had happened. On our way here, Lance had asked us if we would be interested in joining the Association as adventurers. Since we needed work, we readily agreed. ¡°Great! Let¡¯s had to the Hall to sign you up!¡±(Lance) Thus, we ended up going to the Adventurer''s Association Hall, and in it was an even more lively scene than that of the town. The noise of drunken laughter and shouts filled the hall. We managed to find a seat in a corner of the hall. Before doing anything else, we wanted some questions answered. "We''d like to ask you some questions. Mainly about this world, about this town, and about you, if you don''t mind us asking that is."(Pops) "I don''t mind at all. Ask as many questions as you like, however, in return, I also expect my questions to be answered as well."(Lance) "Huh?"(Pops) "Well, just like you I am in need of information about your world. So wouldn''t you consider it a fair trade?"(Lance) We hadn''t even considered the fact that he might want to know more about our world. Our minds had been in disorder due to his sudden appearance and strength. However Pops quickly recovered and responded. "That''s fine, it''s reasonable for you to want something in return. Anyways, onto our first question. What is this world and how does it work?"(Pops) "Ah, starting off with a pretty broad question aren''t we? This world is called Jukaria. Residing in this world are various different species of both monsters and people. The monsters in this world, can sometimes raise havoc in populated areas. However, the regulation of monsters was something that was hard to manage. For instance, let¡¯s compare the regulation of the monster population between a large city to that of a village. The city would be able to raise a large enough force to maintain or even wipe out surrounding monsters. However, a village would only be able to send maybe 2-4 experienced fighters and a number of volunteers. This would, as you might have guessed, lead to not only minimal reduction in the monster population, but the attacking party would also sustain a large amount of casualties. Thus, the Adventurer''s Association was created to send support to towns that didn¡¯t have a large enough force to deal with the local monsters. That was the original purpose behind the creation of the Association. Now that monster levels have become more stable, the Association has broadened the list of jobs it takes. These include jobs as small as helping the locals, such as building a shed for a farmer or helping out a local restaurant as a server, to jobs that affect the whole region, such as military support or royal escort missions. The Association holds a large amount of influence among all the kingdoms and empires of Jukaria, as it has become a necessity due to the wide range of services it delivers. Before I continue with talk about the Association, let¡¯s talk about the people of this world. It¡¯s imperative that you know the situations behind the various races of this world. There are a number of beings in Jukaria with levels of intelligence that are equal to or even greater than humans. These beings are categorized under 5 races. Firstly there are us, the humans. The humans are by far the most technologically advanced, however they are also considered the weakest race in terms of physical strength. We are the second largest in terms of population. Next would be the undead. The undead are a race that has ancestral ties with monsters. They had originally been monsters and had evolved and gained intelligence. Examples of the species that fall under this race would be skeletons and dullahans. In terms of population, this group is by far the smallest. Contrary to popular belief, those of the undead race have trouble repopulating their ranks due to the fact that the only way to add more members to their ranks is to wait for an undead monster to gain intelligence. This occurrence only happens, on average, around twice a week, therefore they are unable to refill their ranks as quickly as any of the other races. However, they are by far the most resilient. After all, they''re already dead, so there aren''t that man ways to "kill" them. Next are the beastmen. The beastmen are a humanoid race with various animal-like and fish-like characteristics. A few examples of the types of species that fall under this race would be: bearmen, rabbitmen, fishmen, and lionmen. Strong and prideful, they are the strongest race in terms of physical capabilities, examples being flight and the ability to breath underwater. The various monster species are also gifted with various different physical capabilities. The beastmen¡¯s mastery over their gifts is what sets them apart. From a young age, beastmen go through intensive training to learn how to use their abilities. By the time they are adults, they have full mastery over their abilities. Their population, however, is never stable. Although they boast the 2nd largest population among the 5 races, the beastmen population is static due to many internal conflicts. The beastmen are a warlike race, and part of the intensive training that they go through when they¡¯re young is training so that they can become warriors. This is the main weakness of the beastmen. Next is the monster race. These monsters were not classified as undead, and had evolved a millennia ago and gained intelligence. The monster race''s strongest attributes are their inhuman abilities. Examples of these abilities would be breathing fire and petrifying their enemies into stone statues. As you have probably guessed, the species under this race include dragonmen and gorgons. Their race¡¯s biggest weakness is their intelligence. Although some among them, such as vampires and gorgons, do possess above average intelligence, the majority of the beings of this race actually have low intelligence, making negotiating with them both extremely easy and difficult.¡± ¡°Wait a second. If there is a monster race, what do you call monsters like that giant centipede?¡±(Pops) ¡°Those are referred to as demonic beasts. I¡¯ll go into more detail about them later on, but for not I will explain the last of the races. The last race, the fairies. This race¡¯s most identifiable traits are either their wings, long lifespan, or they''re beauty. Examples of species that fall under this race include elves and valkyries. They''re lifespan is probably their greatest strength. Able to outlive any other race, they have seen and lived through many different major events, causing the beings of this race to hold be unrivaled in terms of knowledge. However, their weakest attribute would most likely be their beauty. It may sound stupid, but in their beautiful appearance is a double edged sword. Due to their unmatched beauty, they''re in high demand in the slave trade, and, well, I don''t think I really need to explain any more than that....." "Yeah, I think we get the picture."(Pops) "So let''s get back onto the topic of the Association."(Rex) "Ah, so the boy finally speaks, by the way, you two have yet to introduce yourselves. It only seems fair since I gave you my name."(Lance) "Ah, right, my name¡¯s Takeru Yamamoto. This here is my stepson, Rex."(Pops) "Takeru and Rex huh? Those are definitely unique names around these parts, I''ll tell you that much. Anyways, how about we sign you up first, it''ll be a lot easier for me to explain how the Association works once we''ve done that."(Lance) We left our table and headed toward the Association registration counter. Once we had filled out all the required forms, Pops and I were given a metal wrist cuff. I took some time to inspect mine before putting it on. At the center of the wrist cuff, there was a copper plaque. Not only that, there was something strange about these cuffs. At first glance, they looked like regular metal cuffs. However, the inside of these cuffs felt more, well, alive. I called out to Lance to try to figure out what it was. "Hey, Lance, what''s the inside of this thing made of?"(Rex) "Ah, it''s a preprogrammed parasite. Once you put the cuffs on, the parasite will merge with you. Around two centuries ago, the heads of the Association''s science department were able to get the parasites to adapt, or upgrade, the user''s body. You''ll see what I mean when you put it on."(Lance) "Hey, is this gonna hurt?"(Pops) "Yeah, it''ll sting a bit but that''s about it. Well anyways, hurry up and put them on."(Lance)If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Although I was a bit hesitant, I attached the cuff onto my right arm. "Gah!"(Rex) Damn, that did sting! It''s like a nail was just hammered into my arm! However, I noticed something had changed. A menu had suddenly appeared on in front of me. "Ah, I see you''ve finally noticed it. What you''re seeing is the menu for managing and keeping track of both your skills and stats. Only those who where these types of cuffs are able to access them, and the only way to get them is through joining the Association. The Association also hands these out to affiliated governments so that they''re military and artisans have access to the various skills related to their jobs. How it works is that you have to select what you want to see with your mind. Not gonna lie, it''s a pain at first, but you eventually get used to it."(Lance) Huh, so that''s how it works. I select the stats page to see my current stats. Currently, they look like this:
Name: Rex Yamamoto
Strength: 120
Dexterity: 135
Agility: 125
Intellect: 110
Vitality: 100
Luck: 105
Charisma: 100
Huh, so these are my stats. I wonder how it works though. "Hey, Lance, could you explain to us how the stats system works."(Rex) "Sure. First, the stats system shows your an overall assessment of some of your traits and characteristics. These should be displayed to you, but I''ll say them just in case it may be missing. The traits and characteristics that are listed should be as follows: strength, dexterity, agility, vitality, luck, and charisma. Strength is pretty self explanatory, it''s a measure of your physical strength. Definitely something you want to keep track of if you''re thinking of going into a profession that requires heavy labor. Dexterity is a measure of how nimble you are, which is a pretty important stat you need to keep track of if you''re thinking of going into a profession that''s more, well, secretive. Agility is a measure of how quick you are. Another good stat to keep track of if you''re going into professions on the more illegitimate side. Vitality of how tough your body is. The higher the vitality, the longer your lifespan. It also shows the overall amount of damage your body can take before you kick the bucket. Definitely something you might want to invest some time into. Luck, is a measure of your, well, luck. It''s not really something you can change though unless you master certain skills that boost your overall luck. Charisma is measure of your ability as a leader. It pretty much shows how well others will react toward you and if you''ll be any good in a profession with more responsibilities. The average number for any of these categories, in terms of human standards, should be 100, and there aren''t any limits to how high the numbers can go. Although, I haven''t ever heard of anyone with stats that surpassed 500. However, I wouldn''t be surprised if they were slightly higher, since I did find you traversing the Scorching Wastes."(Lance) "Yup, you''re right, all my stats except for vitality and charisma are higher than 100."(Rex) "All of mine are above 100, although charisma and dexterity are only slightly above it."(Pops) "Hah, that definitely met the expectations I had for you two."(Lance) So all of Pops''s stats are over a hundred. Well, that''s to be expected. Pops doesn''t really like to talk about his past that much, but from what I could tell, it was pretty rough, so this didn''t really surprise me. However, there was one skill in particular that I wanted to find out about... "Hey Pops, what''s your luck stat at?"(Rex) "My luck? 247."(Pops) 247! What the hell! No wonder you''ve been able to get so much money! With a luck status like that, he would have probably survived the Giant Centipede''s ambush! It took me a few minutes to calm myself down from the initial surprise of his luck status. I then asked Lance to explain the skill/class system as well. "The class system is split into two categories. One passive, and one offensive or support. You can pick one class from each of these categories. Each class comes with its own unique skill, however various classes do have similar skills. Once you pick your preferred classes, they''ll become your new class. You can end up having more than one, however, you''ll have had to completely master your current class to be able to do so. You can also switch classes, but you''ll lose any progress you had made in that class. Your interface should also recommend a class for you based on your stats."(Lance) Huh, so that''s how it is. I scroll through the list and see that I''ve been recommended the offensive class of [Ninja] and the passive class of [Hunter]. After reading through a description for both of them, as well as the skills obtainable through that class, I decided to choose them. Pops ended up going with [Swordsman] and [Blacksmith]. He chose [Blacksmith] as his passive so that he might be able to produce his own bullets and do maintenance on his weapons. These classes were actually pretty good choices to start off with. "Ah, a ninja hunter and a swordsman blacksmith, a good pair if I do say so myself! Anyways, I''ll be give you my final bit of information now, and then it''ll be your turn. What I''m going to be talking about next is the Associations ranking system. The Association places ranks on both demonic beasts and adventurers. In terms of demonic beasts, they''re listed in terms of threat level. Threat levels are assessed by how much damage they can cause. From smallest to greatest threat level, the ranks are scavenger, raider, warrior, plague, and apocalypse. Scavengers tend to just be pests or nuisances that townspeople want eliminated. Raiders level demonic beasts are those who have begun to raid village supplies, which may or may not have resulted in the death of several civilians. Warrior level demonic beasts are those who have killed around 20 civilians without having been subdued. Their skill level is equivalent to that of a knight. Plague level demonic beasts are those who have begun to to wipe out several settlements. Their skill level is equivalent to that of a platoon of a kingdom''s royal knights. Apocalypse level demonic beasts are those who have wiped out cities. These demonic beasts require at least two kingdom''s armies with a decent amount of mages in each to kill them. Now, the adventurer rankings. These are based off of one''s own skill. There is a certain amount of tasks and quests you must have completed before you are eligible to take a promotion test. If you pass the promotion test, you will be promoted to the next rank. These ranks include copper, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, iron, obsidian, cobalt, titanium, quartz, and diamond. As you can see, it takes quite a while to reach diamond rank. I myself have managed to get there, but it did take me quite a few years, even with my power as the [Void Mage]."(Lance) So there are 11 different ranks for adventurers, well that explains what the copper plaque on the cuff is. Wonder what level of mission each rank is allowed to perform. Furthermore, Lance is actually a top rank adventurer. Well, I guess it''s to be expected. His powers speak for themselves. Anyways, right after telling us this, he asked us to tell him about our world. We told him how our world''s technology was much more advanced than that of this world''s. He was pretty excited about the mention of our world¡¯s weapons. We gave him a brief description of our world''s military power and said we would give him a demonstration of how a gun works later. He was pretty excited about it, guess weapons were something of a hobby to him. While we were discussing about our world¡¯s weapons, we ended up on the topic of weapons of mass destruction. We began to discuss about the ability of our world¡¯s nations to fight back should any nation from Jukaria decide to invade. When we brought up how a nuke would most likely not be effective due to void magic, Lance suddenly said, "Oh, there''s no need to worry about that. I''m actually the only void mage around. Like I said earlier, I''m rare among my kind, the mages. That''s because, unlike the other mages, I had obtained my powers through conquering the dungeon."(Lance) When he saw our puzzled looks, he seemed to have understood we had had some sort of misconception about mages, and began to explain how both magic and mages worked in this world. Magic in this world isn''t like the traditional kind you find in fantasy books, where it''s some sort of energy that''s everywhere and can be easily manipulated. "Magic" in this world is more like a physical enhancement to one''s body. Like how an adventurers cuff will upgrade their bodies as they unlock new skills, magic is something that will change the very structure of one''s being so that they are able to control it. In fact, once you become a mage, a new class and skill tree will appear in your class screen, and will give you the appropriate skills for the type of mage you are. The powers you can get from becoming a mage are inhuman, however, the chances of obtaining such power are quite low. Magic is something you can obtain through a magic gem, which can only be obtained after completing a dungeon. However, the success rate of conquering a dungeon are less than one percent, and entire 64 man raiding parties have been completely wiped out in their attempts to gain said power. Lance had been a part of one of these raiding parties, and he was the only survivor. Nowadays, it''s more common for these powers to be passed down within a family, as the child of a mage is able to inherit their powers. The child of two mages have a possibility to gain both their parents'' power, and those that do tend to become mages who are unrivaled in this world. Another method is for a mage to transfer some of their power to another. However, if the person who is receiving the power is incompatible, there''s a 90% chance that they''ll die. Therefore, in the case of nobility, mage''s rank at a level only second to that of a monarch. However, power that are passed on will never be equal to that of the original. When magic is passed on through any means, those who are able to attain that power receive a weaker version. An example Lance gave us would be fire magic. The original user of fire magic is said to have been so strong that his fire could melt iron armor within seconds. His disciples¡¯ and children¡¯s fire magic, on the other hand, was much weaker. At best, it was only half the strength of the original. Although it was still a deadly magic, it could never reach the high temperatures that the original could. After he stated the drawbacks, Lance revealed to us one of the advantages of transferring magic. ¡°Luckily for us, magic doesn¡¯t degrade any further after it¡¯s been transferred from the original user. This means that we can keep various types of magic alive.¡±(Lance) After this explanation, he told us, who he had already guessed might have wanted to become mages, that another raiding party would be attempting to conquer the dungeon in around 4 months time, and if we wanted to have a chance of surviving, we''d at least have to reach cobalt rank. Before we parted ways, we asked Lance one more question. "Lance, what''s your relation to this town, or better yet, Draacia Kingdom?"(Pops) "Ah, I''m one of the mages in service to the monarch of the Draacian Kingdom, however, I requested to be able to stay in this town when not needed, as this is my home town. Due to it''s location being quite close to the Scorching Wastes, we occasionally get the stray demonic beast that arrives at our city. Ever since I was given permission to stay here, the casualty rates have dropped, as I''m able to repel all intruders with my void magic. Well, anyways, it was nice meeting you two. If you ever need any help, or have anymore questions, just come find me. I''ll be at the town hall."(Lance) With that, Pops and I parted ways with Lance. We headed to the Associations inn and ended up sleeping till the next day. With all that had happened today, I think a good, long rest is the least we could get. As we awakened the next morning, our first days as adventurers began. [Arc 1] Chapter 5: Questing and Promotion to Bronze Key: ( ) = Speaker { } = POV [ ] = Titles
Location: Runscav, Draacia Kingdom, Paradisial Plains {Rex Yamamoto} Date: 9th to 15th days since Merge 120 days, that''s how long we have to rank up to Cobalt if we want to join the dungeon raiding party. It''s now the morning after the day we had arrived in the town of Runscav. As I looked out the window of the small room we had in the Association''s inn, I noticed that a light mist had enveloped the town. We ate a small breakfast comprised of some of the left over dried fruit and water we had packed for the trip across the Scorching Wastes. We were still broke, so that was really the only option we had. Hell, we were lucky to have even found a place to stay the night. The Association''s inn only requires you to pay either after you check out or, for those who plan to stay at the inn for several weeks, at the end of each week. Thus, we were able to get a room without even a single coin to our name. We knew the first thing we needed to do was solve our financial problems, and since it was still pretty early in the morning, we had a pretty good chance to complete a few quests by the end of the day. So, after we finished eating breakfast, we decided we would head for the Association hall to take a look at the quest board. However, before we left, we attached a metal collar to our necks and attatchedan earpiece on our right ear. Apparently, these tools had been the reason we were able to communicate with Lance so easily the other day and, right before we parted ways, he had given us a pair. It was called an Translation Collar and Traslation Earpiece, a tool that had been created long ago by a mage with an analysis ability. It is not only possible to transfer one¡¯s magic to another person, but it¡¯s also possible to transfer it to certain objects. Thus, he imbued the collars and earpieces with his analysis ability, which resulted in these collars¡¯ ability to translate one''s voice to another language, and the earpiece translates voices of unknown origin to that of the user''s native tongue.The mage had given an explanation to how it worked, however, most of the scholars of that day couldn¡¯t comprehend some of the concepts he had spoken of. Moreover, the speech he gave was incredibly long-winded, thus many of the scholars fell asleep before they could hear the full explanation. Those who did manage to stay awake decided to copy down everything he had said, and let the future generation decipher what he had said. Till this day, scholars are still unable to decipher what he was saying, and there are even reports of scholars falling asleep while reading said speech. Wow, how boring and long-winded must that speech have been to be able to put people to sleep just by reading the transcript? I decided then that if I ever got a chance, I would take a look at the transcript and see how bad it was. Luckily, the mage had descendants who have continued the practice till this day. Getting back to the topic at hand, since the Association¡¯s inn is directly connected to the Association hall, it didn¡¯t take us that long to get there. Unlike yesterday, there was barely anyone in the hall. It seems everyone was either still asleep or eating breakfast at the Association¡¯s cafeteria. We walked over to the quest board and took a look at the various jobs that had been posted. From what I saw, copper ranked adventurers were given jobs that primarily focused on their passive class rather than their offensive or support classes. We eventually found jobs that were related to our [Hunter] and [Blacksmith] classes. I took a job which required me to hunt down 35 boars from the nearby forest and bring them to a restaurant in town. Pops took a job that required him to complete 15 sets of templar armor and deliver them to an armour shop in town. Both of these quests needed to be finished within 7 days. However, since neither of us had any experience doing these sorts of jobs, we decided to begin immediately so that we could finish on time. With that, we headed toward the Association¡¯s reception desk to formally accept these jobs.
That was what we had decided 6 days ago. It¡¯s now the 15th day since the two worlds have merged, and both Pops and I were bronze ranked adventurers. How did this happen? Well, I think it¡¯d be best to start from when we had accepted our first jobs. When we got to the Association¡¯s reception desk to formally accept these jobs, Pops and I received both the equipment and training required for the jobs we had chosen. Apparently, most copper ranked adventurers aren¡¯t expected to have much experience with the jobs they had chosen. Since most new adventurers come from poor backgrounds, they have almost no experience in any of the jobs that are posted on the quest board. Thus, the Association has made it their job to not only stock up on extra equipment, but also hire trainers to provide training for the jobs that new adventurers have chosen. My trainer was a man named Thomas Aldsworth, a professional hunter who appears to be in his mid-30s. Pops¡¯s trainer was a dwarf named Craust Donstroff, a master smith who¡¯s serious expression gave off an aura that revealed his years in the trade. With the bow and arrow I had been given my the Association¡¯s receptionist, I was taught the basic techniques of using a bow and setting up traps. Pops was given a set of blacksmith¡¯s tools and was taught the various techniques of shaping metal. One benefit of having these classes is that they make it easier for you to learn and master skills that are related to that class, otherwise known class boost. Thus, after having killed my fourth boar, I began to go on a killing spree, and ended up reaching my quota of 35 boars by nightfall. I¡¯d completely mastered the use of a bow and arrow. A similar situation ended up happening to Pops. He picked up the techniques he was taught rather quickly, and, at the local smithy, he completed his quota of 15 full sets of templar armor by nightfall as well. Now, most people aren¡¯t able to learn these techniques that easily, even if they have a class boost. That was something we had learned from the receptionist¡¯s shocked expression when we said we had completed the quests we had accepted that morning. However, both Pops and I were already quick learners before we received our class boost, so we assumed that our learning speed must¡¯ve increased exponentially with the added effect of the class boost. After we had turned in our goods, our quest papers were given a stamp of approval by the quest givers, a sign of proof that we had completed the tasks we had been assigned. When we turned in these papers, she gave us 250 copper coins as the reward for the job¡¯s completion. As a side note, the money in this world is ranked in the same order as the first four ranks in the adventurer¡¯s ranking system. It goes from copper, to bronze, to silver, to gold. A bronze coin is worth 100 copper coins, a silver is worth 500 copper coins, and a gold is worth 1000 copper coins. To give you an idea of how much this is actually worth, a full set of top tier gear for either the [Ninja] or [Swordsman] class is worth around 25 gold coins. This means we¡¯re still several months away from getting the best equipment for our offensive classes, which is reasonable. If we were able to acquire enough money to buy them within a few days, I¡¯d be suspicious about the quality of those products. However, a regular meal at the Association¡¯s cafeteria only costs 10 copper coins, and a week long stay at the Association¡¯s inn costs 25 copper coins. With that in mind, it could be said that we just earned a weeks worth of labor in a day. The next 5 days went by pretty quickly. We found out from the receptionist that although jobs with week long deadlines did pay quite a hefty amount, the highest paying jobs were those that had large quotas over 50 that were required by the end of the day, or priority jobs. These were jobs posted by people who needed a large bulk of these goods delivered quickly, usually for a last minute event of some sort. These jobs were relatively few, but they were pretty much untouched as most would see the deadline for the given amount as absurd. For most people it would be unthinkable to fulfill that quota within a day, however, with our skills, Pops and I could probably do it. What was especially attractive about these jobs was the reward for completion. Over 2 gold coins were being offered for the completion of any one of these jobs. For those 5 days, Pops and I chose one of the priority jobs that related to our class and completed them by the end of each day. In total, we earned around 14 gold coins, which is enough to keep a roof over our heads and our stomachs satisfied for at least a couple of months. This morning, the 15th day since the merge, as we were walking toward the quest board to find another quest, Lilica called us over. Lilica is the name of the receptionist who worked at the reception desk. Over the course of the last few days, we had gotten to know her pretty well, and she¡¯s definitely given us a lot of good advice since we got here, such as where to find the best food in town for the cheapest price or where to get the best equipment. She even helped me find the best hunting spots for some of my quests. As expected of someone who works at the Association. Due to her help, we were able to get all the money we had acquired up till now, and have even managed to upgrade our current gear.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. I now wore a set of light, black armour that I had purchased at one of the local armour shops. It had was covered in armour plating, yet, it was still extremely light and easy to move in. That¡¯s because of the material used for the armour. Dragon scales. As hard as diamond and resistant to heat, armour made primarily of this material are ranked as top tier armour, so the going price for such a set is usually 25 gold coins. Usually, the dragon scales that are used for these sets of armour are extremely thick, and large amounts of them are used to reinforce the body by lining the armour with various layers of these scales. However, since I didn¡¯t need the scales to be that thick, nor did I need as many of them as I was still smaller than the average male adult, I managed to cut down the price to around 8 gold coins. The scales that I used were around 1/3 of the thickness that would normally be used, and instead of having several layers of dragon scales, I only had 1. Furthermore, this armour didn¡¯t make a single sound when I moved around in it. That¡¯s because these dragon scales were taken from a Nightstalker, a type of dragon that is famous for their ability to silently move around, making them especially deadly during the night. Their scales had adapted so that they wouldn¡¯t make a single sound if they rubbed together. I also attached a small hood to the back so that, when needed, I could hide my face within the hood. This armour was, in my opinion, best suited for those who have chosen the [Ninja] class as they¡¯re offensive class. Being able to move around in complete silence was definitely an advantage that could only be provided by this armour. I also ended up switching out the bow and arrow that the Association had given me with a compound bow that Pops had made. In the past, Pops had taken various different combat related classes. In an archery class he had taken, the bow he had used was a compound bow. After experiencing how the bow worked, researching it¡¯s construction online, and tens of hours lost due to the process of trial and error, he created a replica. We still have said replica, but it¡¯s in storage, along with all the other replicas Pops has made throughout his life time. You remember that katana and desert eagle he had in storage? I just learnt that those are replicas as well! Apparently he devoted a large amount of his college years studying various different weapons and how to replicate them. I let out a sigh when I learnt about this. Really, this guy is probably the genius of his generation, but he¡¯s a NEET¡­. Anyways, getting back on track, I now equipped myself with a compound bow and carried a quiver on my back that held around 30 arrows. For close combat, I replaced my brass knuckles for a pair of steel kusarigama, a weapon composed of a kama, a sickle like tool, and a kusari-fundo, a metal chain with a heavy iron weight at the end. I was quickly learning how to use the weapon due to my trainer John Malice, a retired adventurer who had mastered the [Ninja] class, which the Association had, once again, provided for me. Although he was only meant to teach me the basics, it seems that my accelerated learning rate applied to the use of the kusarigama, or kusarigamajutsu, as well. Because of that, he was impressed, and ended up teaching me various advanced techniques as well. By the end of my training session with him, I had completely mastered the basic techniques he had taught me, and also made some progress in mastering the more advanced techniques. Both of the kusarigama and the compound bow costed only a 3 silver coins to make, as we only used steel to craft both weapons. Pops now wore a black trench coat made of dragon leather which, although expensive, is much cheaper than dragon scales, and only costed him around 2 gold coins. It¡¯s much more flexible than dragon scale armor and also has resistance to heat, but it¡¯s durability is much lower than that of dragon scales. He wore a black flared top hat with a ribbon of red silk that was used as a hatband. He forged a second black katana using various different metal, which costed him a single silver coin. He wears a single scabbard on each side of his waist, and has a shoulder holster for his desert eagle. In total, these upgrades costed around 12 gold coins, or 12,000 copper coins, leaving us with 2 gold coins, or 2,000 copper coins. You know, we really should thank Lilica for her help some time. Maybe we¡¯ll treat her to dinner one of these days. Anyways, when we reached the reception desk, which was where she had called us from, she began our conversation with a question we didn¡¯t expect to hear so quickly. ¡°Morning you two. I just want to ask if you two are thinking of taking the promotion test to bronze class?¡±(Lilica) ¡°Wait¡­.what?¡±(Rex) ¡°What? You two didn¡¯t know? You¡¯ve completed the necessary requirements to take the promotion test for bronze class.¡±(Lilica) Again, what? What the hell!? We¡¯re already able to take the promotion test to bronze class!? Isn¡¯t this too fast? No, it¡¯s definitely too fast!? I thought that there must¡¯ve been some mistake. Maybe the translation collar isn¡¯t working. Yes, that must definitely be it, I¡¯d just misheard her! So I tried to clarify the situation by saying, ¡°But it¡¯s only been a week. We couldn¡¯t possibly have met the requirement already¡­.¡±(Rex) But before I could finish, Lilica interjected, saying, ¡°True, the requirement to pass to bronze rank is to complete around 12 week long quests, and the average time it would take to finish that many quests would be around 4 months. However, since you¡¯ve each completed 5 priority quests and a single week long quest as is, you¡¯ve pretty much completed the equivalent of having done those 12 quests, making you eligible to take the promotion test.¡±(Lilica) I was stunned. It hadn¡¯t even been a week, and we were now eligible for a promotion test to bronze class, a feat that usually would¡¯ve taken months to accomplish. While I was trying to process what we had done, Pops had begun laughing. ¡°BWAHAHAHA! You hear that Rex! We just completed something that should¡¯ve taken 4 months in less than a week! Ha!¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°Oi, what are you laughing about you bastard! What we did is strange! No, it¡¯s too strange! We¡¯ll start gathering too much attention toward ourselves and, because of that, there¡¯s definitely going to be a lot of trouble ahead of us!¡±(Rex) ¡°Well, if we do run into any trouble, I¡¯ll just let you handle it! HAHAHA! Gah!¡± I dropped kicked him as soon as he started laughing at the misfortune that awaited me, and began beating him yelling ¡°Don¡¯t leave you problems to me you bastard!¡±(Rex) While I was beating him, a voice called out to us from the woman we had begun to ignore during our family squabble. ¡°Um, if you two don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d still like to know if you two are planning on taking the promotion test or not.¡±(Lilica) We turned toward the receptionist and, after a glance at each other for confirmation, we told her, ¡°If it¡¯s possible, we¡¯d like to take the test today.¡±(Rex and Pops/Takeru) ¡°Today eh? Well, it looks like you¡¯re in luck, the examiner is actually here today. If you want, you could actually take the test right now.¡±(Lilica) After that, Lilica took us to a large dojo-like building where our promotion test to bronze class was held. Honestly, there wasn¡¯t that much to say about the test. All they wanted to see was that we had mastered our passive class, and we passed with flying colors. I was made to hunt down a boar in a labyrinth within 15 minutes, while Pops was made to create 3 sets of Templar Knight armour within an hour. I completed my test within 5 minutes, easily tracking the boar and killing it as soon as I had sight of it. Pops finished his test within 20 minutes, easily crafting 3 complete set of Templar Knight armour. Since we¡¯d been taking on quests which had quotas over a hundred for that last few days, our skills have increased exponentially, and tasks of this caliber were nothing for us. The examiner seemed somewhat surprised, but Lilica, who had been observing the test alongside the examiner, just smiled at us as we complete our tests. ¡°Well done you two. With the completion of your tests, you have now been promoted to bronze rank adventurers.¡±(Lilica) As she said this, she walked up to us and grabbed our adventurer¡¯s cuffs. She then placed her Association badge on the copper plaques that were attached to our cuffs, and they began to change color from copper to bronze. ¡°This plaque is made from a special metal call Aurorium. It¡¯s a special type of metal that¡¯s well known for its ability to change color. We use these metals for the plaque so that we can easily change the plaques color should an adventurer pass the promotion test.¡± (Lilica) With a warm smile on her face, she, once again, taught us something new about this world. Aurorium huh? This could actually come in handy during stealth missions. Wonder where I could get some. I¡¯ll ask her on another day, I think we¡¯ve bothered enough this week. Pops and I invited Lilica to dinner with us to celebrate our promotion to bronze rank, which, after begging her that we needed to repay her somehow, she accepted. With that, we ended the day buy having dinner at one of the more expensive restaurants in town, and continued to celebrate until midnight, when we decided that we¡¯d partied long enough and, after saying our goodbyes to Lilica, went back to our room in the inn and crashed for the remainder of the night. [Arc 1] Chapter 6: Suspicions Key: ( ) = Speaker { } = POV [ ] = Titles/Move names
Location: Runscav, Draacia Kingdom, Paradisial Plains {Rex Yamamoto} Date: 16 days since Merge 114 days left till the the dungeon raid. Actually, since it¡¯s been a full week since we first heard about it, today makes it 113 days, doesn¡¯t it? Pops and I managed to get to Bronze class in a relatively short amount of time, which definitely means we¡¯re making good time. However, we definitely can¡¯t start to slack off just because we managed to get ahead by a few weeks. But, I definitely shouldn¡¯t be talking about being proactive in our training considering how our day started off. Pops and I woke up at around noon today. I¡¯m guessing it may have been because we partied a bit too much during our celebration last night. We got dressed and went down to grab a quick meal at the Association¡¯s cafeteria. The meals they make at the cafeteria are quick too eat but extremely filling, and that¡¯s because it¡¯s served in the form of slime. Now hold on a second, I know it sounds gross, and it definitely takes some getting used to, but it¡¯s not as bad as it sounds. The slime that are served are from tamed slimes raised on farms that are close by to the town of Runscav. These are massive slimes that are around the size of cattle, but are far easier to take care of as they don¡¯t really have that many physical needs aside from being fed. As it continues to eat, however, it will begin to grow in size. To make sure that the slime doesn¡¯t grow too big, some of its slime is extracted and sent off to be sold in the markets. And before you get any ideas, no, this extracted slime does not develop its own consciousness, it¡¯s just slime. Extracted slime only develops a consciousness if it¡¯s the same size as a calf. The portions that are delivered to the market are only big enough to fit on a plate. The cooks here buy the slime, and then mix it with an actual meal, for example a steak or fried rice. The meal is completely dissolved by the slime, but the taste and heartiness of the meal remains. Thus, while you¡¯re slurping down the slime, an action I have only just gotten used to, you will feel as if you¡¯re eating the meal that had been dissolved in the slime. As a side note, slimes aren¡¯t considered demonic beasts in this world. The words ¡°demonic beasts¡± are given to hostile creatures that do not have any intelligence and will attack anything that comes close to them. Sure, some form groups, but demonic beasts that do form groups are also known to betray one another. Now, some may argue that this is normal behavior for any predator. However, predators only kill anything that poses a danger to them, or if they need to satisfy their hunger. Their are reasons behind why predators kill. This is not the case for demonic beasts. They kill merely for the sake of the action itself. Those that aren¡¯t strong enough to kill hurt others merely because they feel like it, and those that can kill will kill just because they can. That is what a demonic beast is. Getting back on track, while Pops and I were eating our meal, I began to wonder something about Lance. ¡°Hey, Lance said that when you become a mage, a new skill tree opens up for you, right? Wouldn¡¯t that mean he has skills from another class besides his [Void Mage] class?¡±(Rex) ¡°Yup, and based on his equipment, it looks like he was probably a knight before he became the [Void Mage]. However, like he said, you can also have more than on class by mastering your last class, just like in Endless Adventure. Based on the description of the dungeon you¡¯d need to beat to get the powers of a mage, I assume he probably had mastered at least 4 classes. I know that we¡¯re a bit of an exception, but if you consider how long it took us to master the basic skills of our offensive classes, it shouldn¡¯t take more than a few months to master a class. Furthermore, most people aren¡¯t as impatient as you and I, and would most likely prepare years in advance before taking on that dungeon. The members of those raiding parties definitely had to be high leveled, otherwise the dungeon wouldn¡¯t have gained its infamy through the their deaths. I¡¯ve asked a couple of the smiths at the smithy about the people who go into that dungeon. Apparently, one of them had mastered 3 offensive classes, and he died on the fifth floor of that dungeon.¡±(Takeru/Pops)Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Wait, how did they know he died on the fifth floor?¡±(Rex) ¡°Well, the dungeon kind of keeps a tally of those who have died on each floor. A scoreboard is located right above the entrance to the dungeon. I guess that, in a sense, the dungeon is kind of like an arcade game. Tons of people play it, but only a few will ever get the top score. Of course, in this case, not getting the ¡°top score¡± means you got killed. Every single person who has died in that dungeon is listed on that scoreboard, their names placed in a box that corresponds to the floor they perished on.¡±(Takeru/Pops) ¡°Huh, so there are game-like aspects like that in this world huh? Damn, that dungeon is twisted as hell, listing the names of the dead as if it were just a game¡­¡±(Rex) ¡°Well, that¡¯s just how it works. Any world has some twisted aspects to it. Even our own world did. Crime, corruption, wars, all of those led to a lot of suffering.¡± Pops then leaned closer toward me so that only I could hear what he was about to say. ¡°Anyways, we need to talk about Lance.¡±(Takeru/Pops) ¡°You don¡¯t trust him,¡± I replied in a hushed tone, guessing what Pops¡¯s next words would be given his nature. Although he can be pretty lazy and carefree at times, he isn¡¯t one to just trust someone so easily. That¡¯s why I had been a bit surprised at his quick acceptance of Lance. But, I had quickly realized that that wasn¡¯t the case due to the look he had given me. ¡°Why would I? I know you don¡¯t. He was way too friendly!¡± Pops had also replied in a hushed tone. We continued our conversation through whispers, knowing that Lance was held in high regard around here. ¡°Then why did you so easily accept his offer?¡±(Rex) ¡°Simple, our situation would¡¯ve been much worse if we had refused. I know you came to the same conclusion as me about our chances of survival out in the Wastes. If we had stayed out their, our chances of survival were pretty low. Stepping through that ¡°gate¡± he had made also posed a great risk, however, based on his previous actions, it didn¡¯t seem like he would just kill us off. Unless he¡¯s some sort of sick sadist that enjoys killing others himself, he wouldn¡¯t have bothered to save us from that Giant Centipede. Furthermore, if we had refused, he might¡¯ve just finished us off right there. That¡¯s the outcome I¡¯m beginning to believe would have most likely occurred if we had refused. It¡¯s obvious from our conversation in the Association hall that he really cares about this place, so it¡¯s probably safe to assume that he¡¯ll eliminate anything or anyone that might harm it. For all he knew, we could¡¯ve been scouts from an enemy kingdom that were looking for a suitable invasion route into the Draacia Kingdom, which would¡¯ve also placed Runscav at risk. Thus, I decided that our highest chances of survival would be to step through the gate. Now, I still can¡¯t really discern what that guy¡¯s really like. However, I can tell you this much, he¡¯s definitely got something planned. He isn¡¯t your stereotypical hero who¡¯s naive and helps just because they believe it¡¯s the ¡°right thing to do¡±. That¡¯s become more evident since his description of the dungeon. Someone who¡¯s survived a dungeon that has a survival chance of less than 1% couldn¡¯t have survived with such naive beliefs.¡±(Takeru/Pops) ¡°I agree, no one could¡¯ve come out of there without having gotten rid of such beliefs. I know I haven¡¯t believed in them ever since my parents died. Anyways, we should carry on this conversation at another time. It seems more people are coming in for lunch, and they might get suspicious if we keep whispering to one another.¡±(Rex) With that, we ended our conversation and finished our meals. We then headed off to the Association hall to see what type of jobs we could now acquire as Bronze ranked adventurers. When we got to the quest board, we saw that all Bronze ranked jobs were demonic beast subjugation missions. It seems that Bronze rank is meant to train your offensive class. We took one of the easier jobs, taking down a Gigaboar that had appeared in one of the nearby forests. We decided we would take only one job for now, because although we learned our offensive skills'' basic techniques relatively quickly, we have yet to actually see how well we''ll do in actual combat. We showed Lilica the job so that she could mark them as a job we had taken, and once she had done so, we quickly set off to track down the Gigaboar. Taking down the Gigaboar was pretty easy. The Gigaboar was the size of an elephant and had tusks that were easily 6 meters long. It charges at its target at great speeds, however, its movements were clumsy, and we used that to our advantage. Although it was fast, I was still able to easily dodge its oncoming charge. I then caught both its front legs with my kusari-fundo and attached the kusarigama to a nearby tree. The chain tightened and the Gigaboar lost its balance, allowing Pops to get close to it and finish it off by piercing its skull. We harvested the Gigaboar¡¯s tusks and hide, but left its meat behind, as another characteristic of a demonic beast was that its flesh is extremely poisonous. As we began to make our way back, we heard a small cry coming from the woods to our left. We quickly made our way towards the sound and discovered a goblin leaning against a tree stump. Its arms were broken and its body had been pierced in various different areas. Blood was flowing out of his wounds, and much of the area around the goblin wasdyed in red. As it slowly lifted its head toward us, I noticed its eyes were bloodshot. It face was covered inboth blood and tears. One of his eyes was had been severely beaten, and his nose was bent in an irregular way. Then it said, with a weak, desperate voice, ¡°Please, help me¡­.¡± [Arc 1] Chapter 7: The Goblin Key: ( ) = Speaker or side notes { } = POV [ ] = Titles/Move names Location: Runscav, Draacia Kingdom, Paradisial Plains {Rex Yamamoto} Date: 16 days since Merge ¡°My name is Brutus. I¡¯m a goblin of the Yarik clan, and was on my way here to become an adventurer,¡± said the goblin. Those were the first words to emerge from the monster-man¡¯s mouth after he had woken up. After we found him in the forest, Pops immediately rushed back to the Association hall to get some help for him. Evening was approaching and several of the Association¡¯s workers would be heading home for the day, including the medical team that was stationed at Runscav¡¯s Association hall. They would be switching shifts with another group of doctors who worked the nightshift. Said nightshift doctors would be signing in for their shift not long after their colleagues had signed out for the day. However, it would still take time for these doctors to get fully prepared for work, and if they took too long, or Pops took too long to finding help, the goblin would die. He¡¯s got at least 2 lacerations on each arm, and both arms are broken. He has 3 stab wounds on his stomach and his face seemed to have been brutally beaten. His legs seemed to have suffered the least damage, with only minor cuts appearing here and there. He had been bleeding profusely, and although we did manage to stop the bleeding, he had already lost at least a liter of blood. To put this into perspective, an average human adult has around 5 liters of blood in their body. This goblin was half my size and height(I¡¯m 5 feet and 1 inch tall). A typical human can only lose around 2-3 liters of blood, or else they¡¯ll die. I¡¯ve heard that the monster race is much hardier than most of the other races, however, considering that goblins are also regarded to be almost as weak as a human, I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll(I don¡¯t know its gender yet) be able to hold out for much longer. Luckily, within another 15 minutes Pops had returned with Lilica, who he had managed to catch as she was about to head home for the day. Aside from her role as the Association hall¡¯s receptionist, she was also in charge of the medical division that was stationed in Runscav¡¯s Association hall. We didn¡¯t know the full details of how she had managed to acquire such a position, but we decided that it would be best to ask her later. She began by transfusing some blood into the goblin from the blood bags she had brought along with her. Afterwards she started to clean the wounds that it had attained and stitched them together. She bandaged wooden splints onto its broken arms and bandaged an ice pack onto its face. Pops had grabbed a stretcher from the medical department of the Association hall and brought it along. We gingerly lifted and set the goblin onto the stretcher and began to head back to Runscav. Along the way, I decided to ask Lilica about how she had ended up as head of the medical division. ¡°Hmm? How I ended up in charge of the medical division?¡±(Lilica) ¡°Yup. I mean, you¡¯re the receptionist of Runscav¡¯s Association hall, yet you¡¯re also the head of its medical division. I just feel like its an unusual situation.¡±(Rex) ¡°I¡¯ll have to agree with him there Ms Lilica, usually a receptionist doesn¡¯t have that type of power.¡±(Takeru/Pops) ¡°Hey, what have I told you about calling me Ms Lilica. We¡¯re friends, aren¡¯t we? Just call me Lilica. Anyways, I ended up with the position because I used to be a doctor for one of the noble families in the Draacia Kingdom. My skills weren¡¯t famous or anything, but they weren¡¯t unknown either. During my time as a doctor for that family, I gained a pretty good reputation for my skills in the medical field, and was one day offered a position in the Association¡¯s medical department. I had to take several different tests to not only determine if I was up to par with the Association¡¯s standards, but to also see where I would fit best. Apparently, I had passed each test flawlessly, and ended up with my current position.¡±(Lilica)If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Interesting. So you had that type of backstory. Anyways, it looks like your people have quite a few of the same medical techniques as ours. However, ours still seems to be more advanced due to your people¡¯s technological limitations.¡±(Takeru/Pops) ¡°Yes. From what I¡¯ve heard about your world from both you and Rex, your world¡¯s medical research and technology is vastly superior to ours. If you don¡¯t mind, when you have the time, I¡¯d like to ask you about it in detail.¡±(Lilica) ¡°No problem. It¡¯s the least we could do after all you¡¯ve done for us.¡±(Takeru/Pops) As the conversation came to an end, we managed to reach the Association hall. We¡¯d left the goblin in our room and had waited there for it to recover. It¡¯s been about 3 hours since then, and he¡¯s finally woken up, which now brings us back to the present. After he had woken up, we had given him a short recap of the situation he had been in and who we were. Afterward he had proceeded to give us that short self introduction. Although I didn¡¯t really find anything wrong with what he had said, Lilica had a different reaction. ¡°¡­.Are you sure you really want to become an adventurer?¡±(Lilica) ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure. I know the dangers that come with the job, especially for us goblins.¡±(Brutus) ¡°Lilica, what are you guys talking about?¡±(Rex) Lilica looked like she was both anxious and uncomfortable about the current situation, and the question that I had given her. But she, being he reliable receptionist that she was, gave me the answer to my question. ¡°Goblins are looked down upon and bullied by many of the other adventurers. Although the Draacia Kingdom itself doesn¡¯t hold any prejudice towards any of the races, not all adventurers come from here. As I believe Lance has already told you during your first meeting in the Association hall, the Association was originally created to combat the rise of demonic beasts. The Association, however, did not originate from just a single nation, but was coalition between the hundreds of different nations from the various continents who were being oppressed by the demonic beasts. Although it was created by various nations, the Association itself has managed to remain independent. However, it also means that we cannot impose any rules that may go against any one nation¡¯s belief or principles, otherwise the Association claim of neutrality would be worthless. Thus, as you may have already gathered, there is nothing that prevents adventurers from placing prejudice on one another merely because of their race or looks. Although killing and dealing grievous harm to other adventurer¡¯s is prohibited and punishable by death, injuring them is not. Your adventurer¡¯s cuffs will only log kills, thus adventurers injuring or dealing grievous harm to another adventurer is still hard for us to keep track of.¡±(Lilica) ¡°What the hell¡­. that¡¯s one really flawed system.¡±(Rex) ¡°I know, but it¡¯s just something we all have to put up with, there¡¯s no way around it without possibly causing an international incident.¡±(Lilica) Pops, who¡¯d remained silent till now, shifted his gaze toward the injured goblin. ¡°¡­.Hey Brutus, why do you want to become an adventurer?¡±(Takeru/Pops) ¡°¡­.It¡¯s because I want to become someone that¡¯s strong enough to protect those that are important to me, and to also get rid of the stereotype that goblins are weak. Becoming an adventurer is the only way to do so.¡±(Brutus) ¡°Could you just join the military?¡±(Takeru/Pops) ¡°There are no wars to fight currently, the Draacia Kingdom is currently at peace. The only way to gain the fame that I¡¯m looking for would be through participating in military campaigns. Since that isn¡¯t an option, becoming an adventurer is the only option that I¡¯m left with.¡±(Brutus) ¡°¡­.Then why not join us?¡±(Takeru/Pops) At the unexpected response that came from Pops, everyone in the room turned to face him with somewhat confused expressions. ¡°What? You don¡¯t have any problems with this right Rex? We won¡¯t get that far if we keep our party size at two people you know.¡±(Takeru/Pops) ¡°Yeah I know, and I¡¯m not against it, it was just unexpected.¡±(Rex) ¡°Hey, are you guys sure about this? You may get into a lot of trouble from now on.¡±(Lilica) ¡°We¡¯ll be fine Lilica. Those who hold prejudice to other people, especially those who are in a situation which is worse than their own, are just narcissists that are looking for a way to boost their own self-esteem. We¡¯ve got nothing to fear from those types of people.¡±(Takeru/Pops) Pops grinned at Lilica after giving her his response, and then turned toward Brutus. Still grinning he asked, ¡°So, will you join us Brutus?¡±(Takeru/Pops) It took a while for Brutus to understand that Pops was serious about his request for Brutus to join. When he finally understood that Pops was sincere with his request, a big smile began to spread across the goblins face, and he said, ¡°Yes! I¡¯d be honored to join your party.¡±(Brutus) With that, a new member had joined our party. [Arc 1] Chapter 8: Brutuss Promotion Key: ( ) = Speaker or side notes { } = POV [ ] = Titles/Move names
Location: Runscav, Draacia Kingdom, Paradisial Plains {Rex Yamamoto} Date: 17-25 days since Merge Well, I can¡¯t say it was easy, but we managed to get Brutus to rank up to bronze within a week. Brutus had been stuck in bed due to his injuries, which had prevented him from moving for 2 whole days. During those 2 days, we gave a proper introduction of ourselves to Brutus, explaining to him that we were from a different world and how our worlds had combined. We also told him of our experiences since the Merge, such as how we ended up as adventurers. However, on the third day, we were shocked at what we saw when we entered Brutus¡¯s room. His body had completely recovered! His broken bones and wounds had been completely healed! We were dumbfounded by the speed of his recovery, and asked him for an explanation about his rapid recovery. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right, you¡¯re not from this world, so you wouldn¡¯t have heard about a goblin¡¯s special monster attribute. For goblin¡¯s it¡¯s known as [Recover]. It¡¯s a special skill that is given to all goblin¡¯s when they¡¯re born.¡±(Brutus) Now let¡¯s pause here for a second and once again go over the monster race. In short, what we¡¯ve already covered about the monster race is that their strength is their inhuman abilities and their weakness is their level of intelligence. These special abilities can range from fire-breathing to herculean strength. However, this doesn¡¯t mean that their abilities are limited to offense. For goblins and other -- let¡¯s call them ¡°low leveled¡± -- monsters, their special abilities tend to be more oriented toward helping them survive. In the case of goblins, this would be [Recover]. Recover doesn¡¯t help goblins to instantly recover from their injuries, however it does speed up the rate of recovery to 5 times of what it should be. For example, an injury that would usually take up to a week to recover from will only take around 1.5 days. Also, any broken bones and wounds will also mend themselves, making it seem like the injuries were never there.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Goblins don¡¯t commonly have any scars on their bodies due to [Recover]. However, it is possible for a goblin to be scarred, however those scars have a completely different meaning. Whereas a scar on a human may mean that they had some sort of injury and it just never fully healed, a scar on a goblin represent a near-death experience for them. A goblin can only be scarred if their wound was due to a fatal attack. Although most goblins will die due to a fatal attack, those with higher ability in [Recover] can sometimes survive a fatal blow. This will, however, leave a scar on the area where the fatal wound had been. In goblin culture, a goblin with many scars is usually called a [Revigast], a goblin that should have been dead but is still walking among the living.(Note: We learnt about all this from both Brutus and Lilica) Now, after he had recovered, we had to choose a passive class for him(note: he had already been registered by Lilica while he had been injured). After much deliberation on what would class would best fit Brutus and would also benefit our party, we finally settled on the class of [Harvester]. As you might¡¯ve guessed from the name, it¡¯s a class that¡¯s main role is to harvest raw material. This can range from gathering herbs in the forest, to mining raw ores from mines. For the next 7 days (not including the time he had spent being tutored by the guild given instructor), we would get him to take priority quests to quickly raise his rank within the guild. Once he had met the quota, the guild offered him the chance to taken the promotion test, which he accepted. His test was in the same dojo-like building that we had taken our promotion test in. The interior had been completely altered, and now looked like the innermost part of a rainforest. Brutus¡¯s test was to harvest as many resources as he possibly could within an hour. The least he needed to gather was 20kg worth of resources. By the end of the hour, he had managed to harvest 35kg worth of raw resources. At the end of his test, the test proctor came up to us and said, ¡°Congratulations, it looks like you¡¯ve added another odd one into your party.¡±(Test Proctor) I don¡¯t know if that was meant to be complement or an insult. He had said the words with the utmost sincerity, however his face had remained expressionless. With the test complete, our party celebration of another member of our party (of course, we invited Lilica as well). We are now, once again, prepared to take on Bronze level quests. [Arc 1] Chapter 9: Unique Skills and the Iron Beast Key: ( ) = Speaker or side notes { } = POV [ ] = Titles/Move names
Location: Runscav, Draacia Kingdom, Paradisial Plains {Rex Yamamoto} Date: 25-26 days since Merge Today we finally decided on Brutus¡¯s offensive class. Based on his small size and relatively quick reflexes (which he¡¯s developed due to some side training we gave him), a quick, agile class like [Ninja] would perfectly suit him. However, since I already hold that position, we decided that it would be better for him to pick the class of [Thief], as not only were his physical abilities in line with this class, his [Harvester] class also gave him a boost in the ¡°gathering¡±(stealing) department as well. At first he was pretty disappointed by his class, and wanted to switch to another, more ¡°noble¡± role. However, we told him that it wouldn¡¯t work with his current abilities and skills. The guy is amazing at close quarter combat (again, due to the side training we gave him), however that is pretty much the only combat he has any skill in. He has no accuracy whatsoever when it comes to ranged weapons. He managed to miss the target by 20 meters at a range of 30 meters, and do note that we had originally started at 60 meters, and that the target itself is 20 meters in diameter. Also, his physical attributes would make him a poor vanguard as well. He can¡¯t become a swordsman as he is still generally weaker than the average human male. Although he is still strong enough to pierce through iron armor, even if he tried to block it, he wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand a blow aimed toward him. Honestly, I do feel sympathy for the guy, but it just can¡¯t be helped. For those of you wondering this is what his stats are, here they are. Furthermore, for those of you wondering what a regular goblin¡¯s stats look like, an average goblin¡¯s stats are usually around 75.
Name: Brutus
Strength: 87
Dexterity: 105
Agility: 105
Intellect: 80
Vitality: 75
Luck: 79
Charisma: 100This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
My stats have increased a bit as well, but nothing significant has happened yet, so I won¡¯t bother mentioning it. Pops seems to not want me to take a look at his own stats, and I believe that it¡¯s because I may find out something about his past. However I won¡¯t pry into it, as he¡¯s the man who saved my life and adopted me I owe him. If he wants his privacy, I¡¯ll let him be. There was, however, a significant finding that we had come across this morning. While looking through our own stats, both Pops and I noticed that we had an alert on our skills page. When we took a look, we noticed a new feature on the page. A section called [Unique Skill]. As usual, for anything about this world that we didn¡¯t know about, we went down to the Association¡¯s Hall and asked Lilica about it. From what we gathered through our conversation with her, unique skills are skills that adventurer¡¯s can attain after a set amount of levels have been reached. In our case, that is level 5. You gain levels through the experiences you go through as an adventurer. It¡¯s pretty much the same levelling system you can find in any game, with an experience bar that progresses as you gain experience, and resets once you¡¯ve gone up a level. The more impactful an experience is, the greater your progress will be. For example, completing your first quest as an adventurer. If you¡¯re at level 1, this experience may cause your experience bar to reach the halfway point, but it won¡¯t be enough to clear you of level 1. On the other hand, let¡¯s say you killed your first demonic beast. Depending on the beast, that could either fill up to ? of your experience bar, or could even cause you to go up several levels. After all the missions we¡¯ve completed, we¡¯ve gained quite the amount of experience points (I¡¯ll refer to the progress gained from certain actions and events as experience points to make it easier to understand). In addition to these missions, the Gigaboar we took down seemed to have gained us a level or two. The skill I attained was [Quick Equip], which allows me to quickly switch between sets of clothing, armour, and weapons that I currently have with me. The switch doesn¡¯t require you to say the words [Quick Equip], out loud, you can just think about switching your equipment and it¡¯ll happen. This means that I no longer have to wear my armour and carry my weapons all the time. I could just put them in a satchel and quickly switch into them should anything happen. Pops seems to have gotten one as well, although it seems like it has something to do with his past, because he won¡¯t tell me anything. This is another distinct feature of unique skills. They tend to relate to your class or your past experiences. It¡¯s easy to see how [Quick Equip] would relate to the [Ninja] class. It allows you to slip away pretty easily and allows you to stay anonymous. Again, I won¡¯t press him for the details. Anyways, today we were given a special mission by the Association. Apparently it was under the recommendation of Lance that we take this quest. An iron beast has crashed and ¡°perished¡± in the Zerko Plains, which are around a day''s travel by horse from Runscav. He¡¯d given us the job, thinking that it might have come from our world. It was said to have had a loud roar, and came crashing down from the sky. Pops and I had a pretty good guess on what it might be, but we decided to withhold that information from Lance for now. Depending on what type of ¡°iron beast¡± it is, it could prove to be too beneficial for the Draacia Kingdom. Although we did leave Japan, it is still our home. We can¡¯t just give another nation our military arsenal without thinking of the possible consequences it may have toward our country. After acquiring the horses from the Association, we began our journey toward the the Zerko Plains. We made it to the Zerko Plains early the next morning. As Pops and I thought, the ¡°iron beast¡± was an aircraft from our world. We didn¡¯t expect it to be a military aircraft though. It¡¯s a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, a military transport aircraft. It seems to be a part of the Royal Air Force based on the insignia that¡¯s been painted onto the tail. We got off our horses to investigate the crash and see if there were any survivors. As we approached the plane, we knew something was off. ¡°Hey, where are the corpses?¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°The thing is still mainly intact, but I do see what you¡¯re getting at.¡±(Rex) ¡°Even if the plane hadn¡¯t been carrying any passengers, we should¡¯ve at least seen the corpse of the pilot from the cockpit window, but it¡¯s completely empty. Something isn¡¯t right about this.¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°Could it have been wild animals?¡±(Brutus) ¡°Uh uh, no markings whatsoever.¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°Bandits?¡±(Rex) ¡°What would bandits need an entire corpse for? They¡¯d usually take anything of value and just leave the rest, but I can¡¯t even find a single indication that this place has been raided.¡±(Brutus) ¡°You¡¯re right, it¡¯s too clean¡­!¡±(Pops/Takeru) Just as Pops finishes his sentence, a clicking sound grabs our attention and we immediately point our weapons toward the direction of the sound. There stood a man with pure white hair and a scruffy beard and mustache. What was in his hand, was a shotgun, fully cocked, and aimed at us. [Arc 1] Chapter 10: A Ghost from the Old World Key: ( ) = Speaker or side notes { } = POV [ ] = Titles/Move names
Location: Runscav, Draacia Kingdom, Paradisial Plains {Rex Yamamoto} Date: 26 days since Merge The tension between our two groups was high. With weapons drawn, neither party dared to move. Although it was one man, the weapon he carried was definitely not something to be taken lightly. The weapon that the unknown man carried was a Remington model 887 pump-action shotgun. We may have had the numbers, but at this range, he would definitely be able to kill at least one of us before we took him down. I could feel beads of sweat starting to form on my forehead. Pops had an annoyed expression on his face. Brutus, having picked up on the apprehension we both felt from having seen that weapon, had already began to sweat profusely, but had somehow barely managed to keep his composure. ¡°Tch! Sorry boys, but it looks like I messed up.¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°H-h-h-hey, don¡¯t blame yourself Takeru.¡±(Brutus) ¡°He¡¯s right Pops, just because you¡¯ve had the most experience out of all of us here doesn¡¯t mean that you would have been able to find someone just based on their presence. That stuff only happens in stories.¡±(Rex) ¡°Hey, don¡¯t make fun of me by trying to comfort me with something as half-assed as that! Anyways, old man, who the hell are you!?¡±(Pops/Takeru) The old man glared at us for a few more seconds before he decided to respond. ¡°The names Malcolm, who the hell are you?¡±(Malcolm) ¡°That accent, you¡¯re scottish aren¡¯t you? No, that¡¯s a pretty stupid question, with that heavy of an accent you couldn¡¯t be anything but scottish. Now my next question, what was the purpose of your unit. Based on the insignia of this plane and on your uniform, you¡¯re Royal Air Force, what the hell is UK¡¯s military doing so far out here?¡±(Pops/Takeru)Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°The UK? So you¡¯re aren¡¯t a native of this region I take it. Only people from the old world would know what the UK is.¡±(Malcolm) Another period of silence followed as Malcolm seemed to ponder over the new information he had just received. After a few more moments, he lowered his weapon. ¡°Come inside, I want to talk to the two of you, but the little green man stays out here.¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°If you¡¯re scared that whatever you might say will be leaked to the natives of this region, don¡¯t be. All of us, Brutus included, aren¡¯t related to the military of the Draacia Kingdom, the nation that governs this region.¡±(Rex) ¡°Although you may vouch for him, boy, I still don¡¯t trust him. He stays out here.¡±(Malcolm) ¡°And you¡¯re under the assumption that you have a say in the matter. If you want to talk to us, he¡¯s coming too. If you still want to exclude him from whatever it is you might want to ask us, then we¡¯re done talking, and we can just go right back to aiming our weapons at each other.¡± (Rex) I began to move into a more offensive stance to make sure he understood that I wasn¡¯t joking. Brutus seemed to be happy at the fact that I was fighting for his inclusion in the discussion, however Pops seemed to have gotten annoyed at what I said, although I can¡¯t blame him. Considering the situation we were in, what I had done probably wasn¡¯t the smartest choice. However, Brutus is one of my teammates that I¡¯ve put my trust in, and is also someone that I want to become closer to as a friend. He¡¯s the same age as I am, but all his life he¡¯s had to live with disrespect and cruelty, just because he¡¯s a goblin. Pops was about to say something, however Malcolm responded before he could. ¡°Find then, the monster can come with, however, if I see even the slightest hint of aggression from him, I won¡¯t hesitate to kill him, or you two for that matter.¡±(Malcolm) With those words Malcolm began to guide us into the wreckage of the aircraft, where we would learn of the state of the world, but at the same time that this all occurred, another event had transpired without our knowing of it.
Location: Runscav, Draacia Kingdom, Paradisial Plains {Lance Brygld} Date: 26 days since Merge I had been sitting in my office like any other day when I received a notification from my secretary(yes, I do have one), Ida, that I had an urgent message from the Association. She came into my office and left the letter on my desk. The letter had been enchanted through the power of a mage, sealed in a fashion so that only the designated recipient could open the letter. If anyone else tried to open it, the letter would burst into flames and would be lost, along with whatever message it had been trying to send. I opened the letter and read over its contents. Its contents gave me a bit of a surprise. ¡°Well, this is a little bit of a setback now, isn¡¯t it? But I can¡¯t let them find out about this, not until they¡¯ve finished this mission.¡±(Lance) I looked toward the drawer that held the request that I had been given all those years ago, the mission that I myself can¡¯t complete, but believe that they can. ¡°I¡¯m putting all my hopes on you two, for her sake.¡±(Lance) [Arc 1] Chapter 11: The Current State of the Old World Key: ( ) = Speaker or side notes { } = POV [ ] = Titles/Move names
Location: Runscav, Draacia Kingdom, Paradisial Plains {Rex Yamamoto} Date: 26 days since Merge We were taken into what must¡¯ve been the cargo bay of the aircraft. This portion of the plane seemed to still be relatively intact as it was dark and dank, however bits of sunlight still managed to light up certain areas due to small cracks in the fuselage. ¡°Hey, why is the ground here so damp? What is this stuff? It¡¯s not water, I can at least tell that much. I mean, water isn¡¯t black and doesn¡¯t smell like this, even if it has gone foul.¡±(Brutus) ¡°It¡¯s fuel, you know, oil.¡±(Malcolm) ¡°Oil, why would you be carrying oil in this thing? Did you need to light fires for light or something?¡±(Brutus) ¡°I thought we told you this. In our world, we¡¯ve managed to find a way to use oil to power different machines. You know, kind of like how magic is needed for some of the tech we have is needed to work, like these earpieces for example. Without magic, these things would be completely useless.¡±(Rex) ¡°Ah, I see. But, that doesn¡¯t explain why it¡¯s all over the place.¡±(Brutus) ¡°The fuel tank was pierced when we crashed and the remaining fuel it had been carrying leaked out. This entire area is now covered in fuel, so if you don¡¯t want to die a fiery death, I wouldn¡¯t recommend lighting any sort of fire in here. I¡¯ve had to use the emergency lamps we had been carrying to provide some light in here.¡±(Malcolm) Soon we came across a makeshift camp. Malcolm motioned for us to sit on a few crates that were nearby. Once we were all settled, we began our discussion. ¡°So, based on your knowledge of our insignia, you should be from the old world, am I right?¡±(Malcolm) ¡°If what you mean by the old world is Earth, then yes, we¡¯re both from that world. Both Rex and I, Takeru Yamamoto, are from Japan.¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°Japan huh? You two don¡¯t look like military, what are you guys doing all the way out here?¡±(Malcolm) ¡°Well.. we-¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°We both came out here in search of something to kill time. This guy over here convinced me that we should do it, and since he¡¯s my dad, I had no other choice but to follow him. If I didn¡¯t, he would probably be dead by now.¡±(Rex) ¡°Oi! That isn¡¯t the full story! Hell, half of that is made up! You came willingly with me, and I could¡¯ve survived on my own! And what are you trying to do, that story makes it seem like I¡¯m the bad guy here!¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°Well, that¡¯s the gist of it isn¡¯t it?¡±(Rex) ¡°Ahem. Anyways, from what I understand of that little spat you just had there, you came out here on a whim?¡±(Malcolm) ¡°Yeah, pretty much.¡±(Rex) Malcolm had somewhat of a bewildered look, but soon returned back to normal. Wait a second, does that mean he just thinks that ¡°oh, well these guys look like they¡¯d do this type of thing¡±. Do we really look that reckless? Really? ¡°It¡¯s not like we came out here not knowing what we were getting into though, we knew the entire geography and landscape of the area before coming out here, and what dangers we probably would¡¯ve encountered.¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°Ah, so I assume you played that game as well? Yes, most of the top brass have been informed that this world is similar to that of a video game. How do they know this? Apparently, a governor¡¯s son was an addict, and immediately saw the resemblance. Anyways, how long have you guys been out here?¡±(Malcolm)This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°Probably 22 to 23 days now I think? We left around 3 or 4 days after all this happened.¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°Ah, you mean the Merge. That¡¯s what everyone¡¯s calling it now since our world has pretty much mixed with another. Anyways, since you¡¯ve been out here for almost a month, what can you tell me about this world.¡±(Malcolm) We proceeded to tell him of everything we knew about this world of Jukaria and the Draacia Kingdom. We also told him about what we had experienced during our days out here, and explained to him who Brutus was. I mean, this was sort of an information swap, since we were somewhat interested in learning of what had happened to the world while we were gone. ¡°Huh, I see, so we beat them in technological superiority, but they have magic on their side, as well as thousands of different mythological races? Well then, Brutus was it? Based on your background, and having finally talked to you for a bit, I must apologize to you, I had the wrong idea about you.¡±(Malcolm) Malcolm gaze has seemed to have softened after having been told Brutus¡¯s past. He also seems to have relaxed more since having the situation explained to him. ¡°Uh, no, it¡¯s quite alright.¡±(Brutus) ¡°*Sigh* so you want to know about what¡¯s going on back in our world right? Well, I can tell you, it ain¡¯t pretty. All nations are now under martial law, and the border for each country have been heavily reinforced. Hell, some countries are even building walls now to define their borders. Surprisingly, no appeared close to any of the new nations and empires of this world, although we wouldn¡¯t really say that everything''s alright. Several nations have spotted large armies heading toward their borders, and some are already engaged in combat. Regular citizens are being conscripted to bolster their ranks. Even in countries that aren¡¯t under attack, looting and rioting have begun to occur more frequently since the Merge. I think the only countries that are doing somewhat ok are those island nations, like Japan and the UK. Although unlike Japan, whose entire western border is connected to a vast desert, The UK is now in the middle of the ocean, hundreds of kilometers away from any landmass.¡± ¡°What about boats and planes that had already departed when the merge happened?¡±(Rex) ¡°They¡¯re all gone. Any boat or plane that wasn¡¯t within a certain radius of a country all crashed or sank due to technological failure or environmental anomalies, such as giant whirlpools or tornados. And before you ask, there weren¡¯t any survivors, believe me, we¡¯ve looked, there no one left.¡±(Malcolm) ¡°Ok, so what were you guys doing? How¡¯d you plane crash?¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°My group was enroute to Japan. We were heading there to deliver some personnel in accordance to a new world treaty formed by all nations of the old world. Since both our countries are pretty much out of harm''s way, we¡¯ve been assigned with logistics. We¡¯d been transporting a logistics team to Japan to help them out, but, as you¡¯ve probably already guessed, they¡¯re dead. Our plane crashed due to an unidentified creature which attacked us. It tore our right wing off and then left us for dead. Now that I think about it, it probably must¡¯ve been a dragon when I look back to that disaster. I¡¯d caught a glimpse of it when I went up to the cockpit. It was one dangerous looking bastard I¡¯ll tell ya. Only reason I¡¯m still alive is due to sheer luck. We slammed into the ground head first. It wasn¡¯t a nosedive or anything, but the cockpit was the first thing to come in contact with the ground. I¡¯d managed to strap in before all this, and was just lucky that the seat I¡¯d chosen hadn¡¯t been the area where the fuselage tore in half. Everyone else either died due to either not being able to strap in properly, or because they had been thrown from their seats and died due to the force that was placed on their bodies due to the impact. I don¡¯t think you saw it on your way here, but the left side of the cockpit window is smashed. The pilot was thrown from his seat through the window and, well, you get the gist of it.¡±(Malcolm) ¡°Damn, sorry for your losses. So, what do you think you¡¯re going to do now?¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°Well, I think I¡¯ll be joining you guys.¡±(Malcolm) It took us a bit before our brains fully processed what Malcolm had said. ¡°Eh!?¡±(Rex¡¯s party) ¡°You heard me, I¡¯m joining you guys.¡±(Malcolm) ¡°But, don¡¯t you have a job that you need to do!?¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s right! What about getting to Japan and helping the logistics team there?¡±(Rex) ¡°Ah, well you see, I was actually conscripted into the army, and believe me when I say I hated every single fucking day of it. This gives me a way out of that. I mean, you adventurers are in a sense just freelancers that do odd jobs and get paid, not to mention the fact that you pretty much get powers and such from doing those things, right? I mean that¡¯s what you told me earlier. So why not let me join you guys? I¡¯m a mechanic that was placed on this team because my skills are unmatched! Wouldn¡¯t you like to have a teammate like that?¡±(Malcolm) ¡°He brings up a good point. Having more skilled people in our party never hurts. What do you think guys?¡±(Pops/Takeru) ¡°Although I think it¡¯s a bit hasty, I don¡¯t really see the problem with it. I mean, we did let Brutus into our group a few minutes after meeting him, didn¡¯t we? I say welcome to the party.¡±(Rex) ¡°Well, since I joined you guys only just recently, I don¡¯t really think that I have much right in deciding this, but since you guys seem to agree on letting him in, I see no problems with it either.¡±(Brutus) ¡°Since that¡¯s settled, how ¡®bout we head back to wherever you came from? We¡¯ll scavenge what we can from this wreck and head back to that town you were talking about, and once we¡¯re there, head to the nearest bar, cause I really need a drink after all this!¡±(Malcolm) And so, another member has joined our party. With his self-proclaimed unmatched ability in his job as a mechanic, he may prove to be a useful member. ANNOUNCEMENT Hi there! So for those of you reading, I will temporarily halt the release of new chapters till possibly the middle to end of March. This is because of 1 major reason. I will be rewriting all the previous chapters. Why am I doing this, well, it''s because when I was writing this story at the very beginning, I somewhat rushed through the beginning, which ended up screwing up the rest of my story. Rewriting and reorganizing the plot of this story will take some time, and I''m already busy as it is, so that''s why I said that you should probably expect it to only be finished by mid-march at the earliest. What can you expect when you return? Better developed plot, backstories, intros, and longer, more detailed chapters! To those of you who have been following this story for some time, I thank you, as it helps keeps me motivated to write new chapters since I know peopleactually find them interesting. Anyways, for you guys, the majority of the overall plot will remain the same, however character''s relationships(such as between Brutus and Rex or Rex and Pops/Takeru) will be better developed, and each of their backstories would have been improved. Also, Rex and Pops''s backstories may face a somewhat minor change just so that they seem more, well, real. As it stands right now, they''re living off of gambling, which is pretty unreal and hard to relate to, which I have come to understand is important for a reader to even develop an interest in a story. The entire introduction of this story will be completely revamped, so I''d recommend you guys to reread these stories start just so that you won''t get lost. Luckily, there aren''t too many chapters to read yet!Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. When will you know that I''ve finished? Well I''d have just posted a new chapter, simple as that. Hope you guys have a good one!