Chapter Text
Ren Kisaragi hurried home after tuition, eager to catch the release announcement for the sequel to his favourite MMORPG when he felt an extreme headache causing him to stumble and seemingly stumble into someone. Quickly trying to apologise, he opened his eyes only to find what can only be called an abandoned village in the middle of a mildly grassy field. Thinking something was clearly wrong, he rubbed his eyes hoping the village would magically turn back into the familiar city but alas the village remains.
"What in the world?", Ren muttered to himself.
A bright light high in the sky suddenly caught Ren’s attention. Looking up, Ren could only stare in shock at the swarm of meteors floating high in the sky. This would surely be a beautiful sight one would wish to see at least once in their life other than one simple fact. Those meteors are currently flying towards the ground at incredible speed.
The sky roared.
A deafening tremor shook the ground as burning streaks of light tore across the heavens.
Before Ren realized it, he was already running. His legs moved on instinct as the meteors descended toward the ground. The earth shook violently beneath him, causing him to lose his footing and crash onto the grass. As Ren looked back, all he could see was a large cloud of dust and debris about to crash into him. To protect his head and body, he instinctively covered his head and curled up on the ground while closing his eyes waiting for the incoming danger.
After waiting several moments of nothing occurring, Ren opened his eyes only to see the dust cloud seemingly stopping a few feet away from him like it was being contained by an invisible barrier.
"I see. I am surely dreaming right now" Ren said to himself while raising his hand up high and slapping his face as hard as he could.
"OUCH!!" screamed Ren as he felt burning pain on his cheek and hands after stupidly slapping himself.
"So, this is not a dream?" Ren whispered as he looked at the huge dust cloud behind the barrier.
After taking a while to get his mind in order, Ren slowly reached his hands towards the barrier that is still holding back the dust cloud that is beginning to settle down. As his hands came into contact with the invisible wall, Ren was surprised by the appearance of a translucent windows reminiscent of a video game console page appearing in the air.
[Dragon Valley Barrier] was shown on the window.
"What the hell, did I get isekai-ed into some kind of video game world?" Ren thought to himself
With another idea coming to his mind, Ren spoke out loud, "Status."
Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly a similar console window appeared in his eyes with the following:
_____________________________________________________________________
Name: Ren
Age: 16
Race: Human
Tittle: None
Affiliation: None
Class: Commoner
Level: 1
Skill Points: 10
HP: 50
MP: 10
Skills: None
Unique Skills: Game System
Bounty: None
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"What the hell? Isn't this the status page from Freedom Fantasy?" Ren thought to himself as he found himself looking at the familiar looking console page from his favourite game.
Further testing with the console page shows that he can toggle the different pages on the console page through sending a mental command without needing to speak out loud which is a relief considering Ren no longer has to look like a lunatic talking to himself while using the skill.
Thinking to check the other functions from the game, Ren found that other than the missing [Logout] function, the other functions were working as it does in the game.
With [Map], Ren was able to view a top down view of any location he has visited before with the rest of the map under a "fog of war" like effect. Currently the map only shows the area near the abandoned village, which is called soldier stronghold, where he had appeared in.
[Storage] also seem to work with Ren testing it by storing various items from the village ranging from small items like chairs to even an entire house. To retrieve items, Ren had only need to mentally think of retrieving the item and it would appear in the specified location. While testing this, Ren was happy to find a small sack of coins consisting of mostly copper, some silver, and a few gold coins which had relieved his anxiety about not possessing any money in this weird world.
[Friends] which is empty now despite Ren originally having 300 friends on his account made him a little depressed.
Lastly, [Store] which works the same in the game where players can exchange specific items with in-game points which can be earned in game or bought using real currency. Ren was even more depressed when he noticed that he had 0 points left from all his hard work. That is until he found out that coins from the sack his found earlier was able to be exchanged for points with the following rate:
1 Small Copper= 1 Points
1 Medium Copper= 10 Points
1 Large Copper= 100 Points
1 Small Silver= 1,000 Points
1 Medium Silver = 10,000 Points
1 Large Silver= 100,000 Points
1 Small Gold = 1,000,000 Points
1 Medium Gold = 10,000,000 Points
1 Large Gold = 100,000,000 Points
Thanks to this discovery, Ren was able to satisfy his grumbling stomach with a bowl of fried rice(5) and a bottle of water(1) as well as arming himself with a high quality magic gun(1,000,000) that shoots something akin to a red magic projectile in exchange for 1 MP per shot.
Deciding that he was prepared enough, Ren decided to head towards an unknown area marked on his map with a question mark thinking that if the system works just like the video game, the marker should lead him somewhere important or to the starting town where beginners begin their journey. Days passed as Ren trekked through grassy and sometimes hilly terrains as he approaches the marker.
2 days later, just as Ren was finishing his usual meal, a large screech from a winged creature that looks like a dragon attracted his attention. AS this was his first time seeing a monster ever since he arrived in this new world, he ran towards it while trying to avoid being detected. It seemed like it hurt its wings somehow as its flight was slightly unstable before flying somewhere to his left. Squinting his eyes, Ren found a large army led by a large individual in knight armour in a distance. Thinking out to test out his newly obtained weapon and to also ingratiate himself before meeting the army, Ren ran a short distance before taking aim with his gun only to barely grazed the dragon-like creature near its wing as it was about to sweep down to attack the army which caused it to drop down unexpectedly near the army, allowing them to pin it down with their weapons.
>Skill obtained [Shooting]
Ren suddenly heard a female voice. However, there was no one around after looking around so Ren decided to investigate the voice later on.
Just as Ren was walking towards the army, the commander of the army shouting. "!@#$#$%^&*!". Before the dragon-like creature broke free after smashing several of the nearby soldiers.
Just as he was getting worried about being unable to understand the language of this world, he heard the same female voice in his head speaking.
>Skill obtained [Shigan language]
Deciding that there was nothing he could do now, Ren tried looking into unknown voice that mentioned something about skills which could help with the current situation.
Checking his status page, Ren found that the skills section now lists 2 skills called [Shooting] and [Shigan Language] which are currently greyed out with a button to add points on its side.
To test things out, Ren allocated 1 point into the latter skill.
"Everyo$^! $^&^ %( - q#$ckly"
The words sounded like broken gibberish, yet somehow Ren could vaguely understand fragments of them. Deciding that it would be more important to being able to converse with the natives, Ren added 3 more points which had allowed him to comfortably comprehend the language. "All hands, anti-wyvern formation! Quickly now! Magic Soldiers prepare your spells!"
"So that is a Wyvern?" thought Ren as he finally figured out the identity of the dragon-like creature.
Pouring 3 skill points into the [Shooting] skill, Ren tried aiming the magic gun again and found that he somehow able to track the creature's movement with more stability. Before Ren could find the current moment to shoot, a group dressed like typical magicians near the centre chanted something that sounds like a song and ending with the word "Air Hammer!"
>Skill obtained [Wind Magic]
Said the female voice again, Ren decided to call the voice "Announcer" for it shares the same purpose as the announcer in the video game as well.
Apparently, it is surprisingly easy to obtain magic skills in this world, thought Ren.
Just as the weird chant ended, the area above the wyvern shifted downwards, almost bringing it down. The wyvern shriek aloud in surprise before it regains its stability and attempted to fly towards a nearby cliff.
"Stop that thing! Zena!" the commander shouted, in Ren's mind, a rather ridiculous command at the magicians.
"Yes sir!" responded a female voice within the group. Meanwhile the soldiers guarding her readied their spear against the ground to stop its approach.
Ren commanded the group for their bravery for he would be running away if he were to be in their shoes.
He tried to help by shooting his magic gun at the wyvern several times which landed but did not seem to deal any major damage to it nor did it help stop its charge towards the soldiers.
"... [][][] Air Cushion!" chanted the magic soldier as the wyvern approached quickly before crashing into an invisible wall a few feet away from the magician. Like its namesake, the spell had somehow halted the impact from the wyvern. However, it does seem that magic has its limitations as the magic soldier was knocked back quite a distance away from the momentum of the wyvern.
"...[][][] Lightning Bolt!"
"...[][][] Resist Fall"
>Skill obtained [Lightning Magic]
Two spells were released in tandem with the former finishing off the wyvern with a flash of lighting while the latter seemed to be a spell to slow the fall of the magic soldier who was sent flying through the air. However, due to the horizontal velocity. the magic soldier flew over the cliff as disappeared from sight.
>Levelled up!
Ren heard from announcer but was busy running towards the cliff to help but was stopped by a nearby group of soldiers armed with crossbow aimed at him.
"Stop approaching and drop your weapons! Who are you! Why were you doing at this location!" shouted one of the soldiers.
"M-my apologies, I am a monster hunter as well as a traveling peddler. I was wondering around the area as I was stranded after my horse ran away after the meteor swarm a few days back. I came over because I saw your army in the distance fighting the wyvern and thought I could do what little I can to help." Ren explained after dropping his magic gun
>Skill obtained [Fabrication]
"Meteor swarm? Do you mean the starfall? Also, could you have gotten lost so far away from the highway?" questioned the soldier, clearly not fully believing the story?
Quickly allocating 3 points into the newly gained [Fabrication] skill, Ren instantly produced several plausible excuses.
"I actually did try following the highway, hoping a passing caravan might take me to the city but perhaps due to the meteor, I mean starfall the other day, a small group of wolves had appeared near the road. To avoid them I had tried taking a long way around but had accidentally gotten myself lost, haha." Ren said while scratching his cheek to make him seem more believable.
> Skill obtained [Acting]
> Title obtained [Liar]
You got to be kidding me! Thought Ren at his newly gained title.
Luckily, the soldier had seemed satisfied with his answer for now and told him to gather up with the other civilians to prepare for the ride back to the city. However, the soldier noted that he must temporarily keep the magic gun until he can identify Ren using the Yamato Stone back in the city gate.
Ren not wanting to argue with the soldiers looked towards the cliff to try point out about trying to save the magic soldier who feel over the cliff but stopped when he saw the magic soldier, who was a rather beautiful girl, being carried by a black-haired teenager who was approaching another group of soldiers.
Deciding that he was no longer needed, Ren went towards the group of civilian looking group, as ordered by the soldier, who was dismembering the fallen wyvern to wait for the wagon heading to the city.
Now that Ren was closer to other people, his appraisal skills was finally in range, and he found that the average level of the soldiers was 7 with the highest being the commander at 31. Based on their levels and skill levels, Ren deduced that the natives of the world gain on average 4-5 skill points per level compared to his 10 per level. Speaking of levels, Ren had also found himself at Level 3 now that he had help bring down the wyvern by shooting at its wings with his magic gun which was enough to share experience rewards from defeating the wyvern.
While sitting on the ground while pretending to look at the engineers breaking the wyvern into small pieces suitable for transportation, Ren inspected his status page again.
_____________________________________________________________________
Name: Ren
Age: 16
Race: Human
Title:
[Liar]
Affiliation: None
Class: Commoner
Level: 3
Skill Points: 20
HP: 70
MP: 22
Skills:
[Shooting] LVL 3
[Shigan Language] LVL 4
[Wind Magic] (not active)
[Lightning Magic] (not active)
[Fabrication] LVL 3
[Acting] (not active)
Unique Skills: Game System
Bounty: None
_____________________________________________________________________
Seriously, what are you supposed to do about a title like [Liar], thought Ren. Possessing a title like this is surely a recipe for trouble regardless of how one looks at it. Just as Ren was feeling like all hope was lost, Announcer appeared in his head.
> Skill obtained [Hide Status]
Seriously? Is the world somehow listening to my mind, shouted Ren in his head. Glaring around for any signs of the GM (Game Master) who might be listening in to his thoughts but finding no one suspicious.
Now that he has more skill points, Ren added 10 points into the new skill to max it out which allowed him access to a new console page where he could customise his profile as he liked. It was weird he could set his name to [None] as well but considering there is not much use for that Ren decided to keep it in mind for now.
After solving the issue, Ren went and experimented with adding points to his magic skills but did not seem to have any major effects due to him not knowing the right chants for the spells so Ren only allocated 1 skill point to each for now while allocation the rest of his skill points.
After distributing his remaining skill points, this is his status.
_____________________________________________________________________
Name: Ren
Age: 16
Race: Human
Title:
[Liar]
Affiliation: None
Class: Commoner
Level: 3
Skills:
[Shooting] LVL 7 [Shigan Language] LVL 4 [Wind Magic] LVL 1 [Lightning Magic] LVL 1 [Fabrication] LVL 6 [Acting] LVL 1 [Hide Status] LVL 10
Unique Skills: Game System
Bounty: None
_____________________________________________________________________
while this is his "public" status he prepared to show the public to fit in with the natives
_____________________________________________________________________
Name: Ren
Age: 16
Race: Human
Title: None
Affiliation: None
Class: Commoner
Level: 3
Skills:
[Shooting] LVL 6 [Shigan Language] LVL 4 [Wind Magic] LVL 1 [Lightning Magic] LVL 1
Bounty: None
_____________________________________________________________________
After sorting out his status, the wagon finally arrived and Ren joined the same group of soldiers who had interrogated him earlier in the same wagon. During the journey, he conversed with the soldiers and the coachman and found out that the army was sent out to investigate the area for any major movements from the wild monsters who might have been startled by the starfall the other day. When questioned on whether he had observed anything unusual, Ren explained that other than the wolves on the road he encountered a few days ago, he had not encountered any monsters other than the wyvern the army fought which was enough for the soldier's report for his captain.
As Ren was enjoying the conversation the wagon slowly approached the city surrounded by high walls which was also the location marked with a question mark on his map. Feeling like he was about to begin an epic adventure like those popular fantasy writings, Ren cannot help but to feel scared but excited at whatever he was going to face in this new world.