Volume 1 Chapter 1 Part1 (1/2)

I thought absentmindedly about why I was Akira's room. Akira was a friend of mine when I was in middle school.

Where am I? . . . ah, this room feels quite nostalgic. Isn't this . . . Akira's room? Why am I here?

There wasn't anyone else in the room besides me.

The manual for a TRPG (tabletop roleplaying game) and a pair of ten-sided dice lay upon the kotatsu in the room.

Ten-sided dice huh. How nostalgic . . . wait a second, ”Tunnels & Dragons”? ”T&D”? Isn’t this outright plagiarism?

I couldn't help but smile at the t.i.tle that combined two famous TRPGs (TL: Tunnels & Trolls is combined with Dungeons & Dragons).

Suddenly, I heard Akira's voice.

”Hey, Yatarou. Hurry up and make your character. You're the only one left.”

I looked around but still couldn't see anyone. Without particularly minding it, I reply.

”Sorry. I still haven't read the game manual yet, give me some more time.”

”I guess it can't be helped then. Make it quick.”

I opened T&D's manual and glanced through it. As I read it, I realized that T&D wasn’t very different from the TRPGs I'm familiar with. I quickly skipped over the trivial parts and focused my attention on the important information.

Hmm. First, my race needs to be chosen. After that, I have to configure my status by allocating Character Points (CPs). CPs are used to acquire skills and strengthen the status. I’ll also be configuring my initial starting environment. This is where my social cla.s.s is going to be decided. There’s quite a variety of outcomes. The possibilities range from being part of the royal family to being a slave. In addition to my social cla.s.s, the prosperity of my family is also going to be determined. Finally, I can also configure the location of my birthplace. It’s possible for me to be born in places like the city or the countryside . . . Wow. It's unexpectedly detailed. Ultimately, all of this is going to be decided by the ten-sided dice huh?

It seemed like the next section was going to explain how the status works.

My ten statuses would be a.s.signed a number ranging from 1 to 100. The numbers were determined by my rolls with the two ten-sided dice. The statuses were: physical strength, reflexes, body manipulation, stamina, magical power, emotional strength, intelligence, dexterity, appearance and charm.

I know what it means by physical strength and reflexes but what the heck is body manipulation? Saying ”this status affects the accuracy and success rate of physical movements” isn't really an explanation.

It's also written in the manual that the statuses of NPCs (non-player characters) generally have an average value of 50 and a standard deviation of 10.

Based on the three-sigma rule, having a standard deviation sigma of ten means that there is a 99.7% chance that an NPC’s status value lies in between 20 and 30. Which is basically basically 100% if we use the five-sigma rule. Since everything is randomly decided, it might be possible for me to make an unbalanced character? I could the protagonist of an RPG or something . . .

I suddenly discovered an interesting rule.

It's possible to re-roll the dice when creating my character. However, I can only re-roll once. CPs can be used in combination with the re-rolls. For example, if I roll a number that’s less than the number of CPs of I've used, that number is also re-rolled. The point is that I can eliminate unfavorable options by spending CPs. If I spend 30 CPs and end up rolling a number less than 30, then that number is invalidated and I can roll again. I see.

Having understood the rule, I pick up the ten-sided dice. It’s been a long time since I’ve even touched a die. The cold plastic surface causes me to remember the past.

How nostalgic. Ten-sided dice usually roll pretty well, if I remember correctly. Let’s turn the side with the zero up like usual . . .

Holding the dice with the zero facing up was a peculiar habit of mine.

I felt a bit amused by the fact that I still haven't forgotten that habit. It was time for my race to be chosen.

The six races consisted of the draconians, demons, elves, dwarves, beastmen and humans. I could choose from any of those six by allocating CPs into one of them. However, I chose not to allocate any. Therefore, this was going to be a completely random selection.

Other than the human race, I was fine with all of them. There was some anxiety since this was my first toss.

I stiffly toss the dice and watched as they fell onto the tabletop of the kotatsu.

They lightly roll around for a while on the tabletop and finally come to a stop. Based on the number combination in the manual, the human race has been chosen.

I'll be setting my status next. However, since I didn’t care about my race, I didn’t roll for my CPs yet. Now’s a good time for to roll for it. The value is calculated by rolling one ten-sided die three times and then multiplying the three numbers of each roll. That basically means that the resulting value can range from 1 all the way to 1000.

Three typical tosses would probably give a value between 100 and 200. For this, it would be better for me to re-roll if I get a low number. Having a lot of CPs allows me to have more options when improving my status and choosing skills. I could also spend the points on configuring my starting environment.

I rolled the single ten-sided die.

The result of the first toss is a ”9”. I clench my fist in a guts pose and a.s.sumed that this was a good sign.

The result of the second toss is a ”10”. With this, I'm guaranteed at least 90 CPs. It's finally time for the decisive third toss. I softly shouted, ”Go!” and rolled the die.

The number shown by the ten-sided die was a ”2”.

Eh? Two? . . . well, whatever. Let's roll again. There's a 10% chance the next number will be lower than two and an 80% chance it will be greater than two. The reward definitely exceeds the risk here . . .

I rejected the number from the third toss and decided to roll again. Once again, I carefully tossed the die.

The ten-sided die rolled while softly clicking and clacking and then stopped after a few seconds.

The number that appeared was a ”9”, causing me to once again display a guts pose no one could see.

Let's go! Multiplying 9, 10, and 9 gives me 810 points. Even if my status turns out to be too low I would still be able to recover. Sorry everyone, let me have this cheat character. Fufufu . . .

I gaze at my number while snickering.

Akira suddenly urges me, ”Hurry up. You're so slow.”

”Oops, sorry for getting carried away.”

Feeling slightly fl.u.s.tered, I return back to configuring my status.

I decided to set my statuses in the order displayed on the manual, starting with physical strength.

The dice were tossed with my usual fighting spirit and the results were: Physical Strength: 35, Reflexes: 82, Body Manipulation: 83, Stamina: 20, Magical Power: 96, Emotional Strength: 41, Intelligence: 99, Dexterity: 45, Appearance: 87 and Charm: 81.

Those values are good enough. Based on these values, my character is definitely a mage. I do get the feeling that I will need to leave the physical labor to other people though.

Feeling satisfied with my status, I s.h.i.+ft my attention to the manual's section on the acquisition of skills.

According to its explanation, skills can be granted to my character by spending my CPs on ”abilities” or ”special abilities”.