Chapter 5 (1/2)

“Let’s drop by the temple for a bit.”

“A temple?”

“Yea, you can find out your job at the temple like the one over there.”

Even if you wanted to buy a gear, it differed depending on your job. Though, for armour there were only leather armours for selection.

“So I just touch this?”

In the middle of the tiny temple made of stone was a large slab of granite. Once Seki touched it, something rippled across the surface of the stone and formed letters.

Seki Midori

Age 16

Job: Priest

Warrior Rank: Newbie

Acrobat Rank: Newbie

Monk Rank: Novice

Mage Rank: Newbie

Seki seemed to be a priest. It was one of lower end jobs, but wasn’t bad either. Since it was easy to train for the Warrior Rank, it was better to start with lots of mana than not. For the weapons, blunt damage weapons like hammer would be perfect for him.

I extended my hand to check as well.

s.h.i.+njo Wataru

Age: 16

Job: Middle Fighter

Warrior Rank: Apprentice

Acrobat Rank: Newbie

Monk Rank: Newbie

Mage Rank: Newbie

Middle Fighter for myself. It was a low end job, but not bad in terms of balance. What really worried me was the fact I had zero rank related to magic. I took out a flask and prayed with all my heart while chanting “[Lo Den (Beginner: Stamina)]”. It was the spell to make the simplest recovery potion.

“Phew, lucky.”

There were a couple of drops of brownish water in the flask. I seem to possess a miniscule amount of mana at the least. If I had mana, no matter how little it was, I could use gems to supplement myself while growing my mana pool.

There were occasions where Middle Fighters or Heavy Fighters started out with no mana whatsoever. Compared to that, I was lucky. If you started out with zero mana, there was no other way to raise it up other than by wearing mana-giving gears and levelling it up.

Since those kinds of amulets didn’t exist in the shop, you would generally need to use a mage’s wand, which warriors had no proficiency for, while fighting. It was a pain in the a.s.s to switch gear and wait for mana to recover every time, which would waste huge amount of time at the start.

“Eh, s.h.i.+njo-kun, what’s that?”

“Ah, this? It’s recovery magic. If you repeat after what’s written on this scroll, recovery potions will appear inside the flask. What I just made was Stamina Potion. It recovers stamina just like the name implies.”

I gave the scroll I just bought from the General Store to Seki. I actually bought them to just cover my a.s.s and already knew all the spells. Well, it didn’t matter whether I knew all the spells if I didn’t have enough mana. They would fail if I didn’t have sufficient rank in the first place. I would just need to slowly progress forward.

“[Lo Lis (Beginner: Health)]. Whoah! A blue liquid really formed in the flask!”

“Yea, that’s the health potion. You can rank up your mage skills by successfully using magic like that.”

The ranks were: Newbie, Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Craftsman, Artisan and Adept and so forth. The rank above Artisan was Master. Master lead to Expert and Lore Master, but it took large amount of time to reach those ranks, so there was no need to explain it for now. If you wanted to just clear the game, levelling your ranks to Expert was enough.

Thus, everything above that was for your own enjoyment. That was what Genocide Reality was like. It was an extremely difficult games with lots of limiting factors, but a warrior could train on mage rankings and be the master of all trades.

So, it was possible for a player to rank up everything about your character to become the ultimate char and do a solo-adventure. No, it should be said it was a game that encouraged solo-adventures.

The genius game creator who made Genocide Reality was the mysterious “Road Knight”. He was the masked creator who loved being alone. He used such a ridiculous nickname and avoided doing any interview.

It’s my personal theory that he made the game so he could go into a cold and damp stony dungeon by himself and play for all eternity. For me, who was so absorbed into Geno-Real that I made a walkthrough website for the game, Road Knight was my idol. I almost felt like I understood him.

In exchange for food and shelter from my parents, I went to schools I didn’t want to go and did things I didn’t want to do. It was an 18 year sentence until graduation from high school. I would endure until I could do things by myself. My only escape was the game.

Now, I was liberated from the gloomy existence of everyday life and had the possibility to spend my life in the game. I was beyond thrilled.

It didn’t matter how or why I was transported here. I was freed from the chains that bound me. This murderous world that I love, I could live freely by myself in this game world.

“Say, s.h.i.+njo-kun. Let’s go shopping.”

“Right, right. We need to buy some clothes and gears.”

I was going to go on a trip soon. Without anything to hold me down, I will descend into the dark labyrinth, but for the one who was the only bright point in my dark student-life, I was going to take care of my only friend. The very minimum I could do for Seki was to teach him the tricks and ways to survive in this world.

“For armour, hard leather armour for everyone in the group and the same for the pants and s.h.i.+rts. Let’s grab some leather knee protectors and boots, as well.”

Inside the Armour Shop, there didn’t seem to be any sizes. It seemed to make a statement “you adapt to the armour, not the other way”. I was afraid what the girls might say, but we bought 5 sets either way. We equipped ours and tied the girls’ armour around our bodies with a rope. Next was the weapons.

“For weapons, a samurai blade for myself, a holy mace for you, Seki and since k.u.miko said she likes spears, a long spear for her.”

I thought about buying weapons for that gigantic breast gla.s.ses, Saeki and bob cut, Tachibana, but the loads were heavy enough already. Since we were low ranks, we couldn’t move if the load was too heavy. It was also a pain in the a.s.s to come back for another trip, so I’d just give them some money and they could buy whatever they wanted.

“I should at least buy a “Screamer Shark” though.”

It was a heavy blade that was about crus.h.i.+ng with weights than cutting. It was the worst kind of weapon, but there was a reason why I bought it.

“It’s so big and shaped so weirdly.”

“Hold it for a moment, Seki.”

“Is this thing good?”

“It’s the most primitive, dull and heaviest weapon in the shop. Haha, don’t make that kind of face. It might be a trash weapon, but it has its uses.”

I’ll explain to him later. When Seki and I returned to the inn with all the stuff, the girls had finished their bath. They weren’t naked and were properly wearing the white gowns…. probably with underwear on beneath the robes.

What should I say though, the smell of girls after a shower was irresistibly sweet. I didn’t have any plans to attack them, but I could understand why Seki was hesitant to share a room at first.

Despite wearing those thin gowns, the smell that wafted over from their wet hair, the provocative way their b.r.e.a.s.t.s pressed against their clothing, and their thin and stretched out legs were hard to take your eyes away from for a young man.

It was best not to think about them. I didn’t want to get tied down to a girl I knew nothing about and it would only pile on problems.

In situations like this, if you were nice to a girl and kept her safe, something good might come your way later. However, I will leave that to guys who were good at those sort of things. I was awkward around girls and an interesting adventure (game) was more attractive for me than any cute girls.

“You guys can use the bath now.”