Chapter 5 White Room and Skill Design
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nTLN: Hey guys, Reigokai here!
nAnd here we have it, 5 chapters! From here on, the schedule of this story will normalize a bit. I am still not sure about the schedule for this story, but I will probably be posting about it once I catch up with Weakest Mage.
nAnyways, hope to enjoy this story together with you guys!
n“U…Uh…?”
nHow long have I been asleep?
nI awakened my hazy consciousness and opened my eyes.
nIt is a white room.
nA pure white room with no doors and not a single stain.
nI was wearing white hospital patient-looking clothes, and was lying on the floor.
n“Am I alive…? Hospital…?” (Hikaru)
nThere’s not even one bed if this really is a hospital room.
nThere’s a desk and a chair, and on top of the desk there’s something that looks like a computer.
n“The wound…” (Hikaru)
nI reflexively touched my back, but I couldn’t feel anything resembling a wound. Or maybe I was hit by a blunt object and there was no stab wound in the first place?
nWhatever the case…I am alive.
n“…No, am I in the world of the dead?” (Hikaru)
nThat would sound more plausible.
n“…I died…no, I was killed. Just like Nanami… Nanami…” (Hikaru)
nI had flashbacks of what happened before.
nThe fact that Nanami was killed weighed heavier than my own death.
nWith me being in this mysterious room, the death of my childhood friend was more saddening and painful than my own health.
n“Everything was a dream…? There’s no way that would be the case, huh…” (Hikaru)
nEven when I am in a mysterious place like this, I could say for certain that what happened there was without doubt reality.
nThe stench of blood that overwrote the scent of Nanami’s room.
nThe sight of that expressive Nanami turning into a motionless body that had its life cut off clean.
n“Guuh…ugh…!” (Hikaru)
nTears overflowed.
nI don’t know if it is because I am sad about Nanami being killed, or because I am sad about being killed, or maybe both.
nBeing overwhelmed by a feeling that I can’t even describe in words, I couldn’t get up for a while.
nWhy was there a need to kill her?
nNanami was the kind of girl that couldn’t even kill a bug.
nWhy…Why…Why…
nMemories of Nanami crying saying she didn’t want to go to the parallel world.
nMemories of the culprit that’s a student of the same year who I don’t even know the name of.
nWhy am I even in a place like this?
nThe inside of my head was a mess.
nSadness, questions, and resentment were buzzing around inside my head, and I curled up for a while without moving.
nI don’t know for how long I was like that, since there was no way to tell the time here.
nThere were no signs of someone coming to the room.
nAfter crying myself dry, I stand up unsteadily and look at the screen of the computer placed in this room.
nWhat was written there was plenty enough to cool down my head.
n“…You gotta be kidding, right…?” (Hikaru)
nThis is what was written.
nYou have been chosen to be transferred to a parallel world. Finish allotting your Bonus Points and let’s depart to the parallel world.
n…Looks like my life still continues.
n◇◆◆◆◇
n“Why…? Why was I chosen…?” (Hikaru)
nAre you telling me her right passed to me since I was the closest to Nanami?
nNo…that theory should have been refuted already.
nWhen a Chosen from a country somewhere was killed, a person from a different country with absolutely no connections with that person would be chosen. In other words, if a Chosen dies, they simply do the lottery again.
nOf course, it is not like there’s zero chance that I coincidentally was chosen in that lottery after Nanami died, but…that’s a chance of 1 in 7 billion. It is a number I even considered as being zero, and in the first place, I should have died before that.
nThere was still 1 hour before the arranged time for the transfer when I was stabbed and had lost consciousness. I find it hard to believe that I survived for 1 hour after that.
nThere’s also the chance that I was caught in the re-lottery of someone other than Nanami…
n“…Could it be that Nanami is also in a different room from me?” (Hikaru)
nI, who supposedly died, am now here, so there’s the possibility.
nThe one doing the parallel world transfers is God after all. A literal God.
nIt could be that the dead Nanami was actually her empty shell, and the real one had already been healthily transferred to the parallel world a long time ago…
nOr maybe Nanami was still alive.
nIt is not like I checked for her pulse. She might have just looked dead.
nI remember reading somewhere that humans unexpectedly don’t die that easily.
nAlso, right before dying, I prayed to God.
nMaybe God heard my prayer and saved both me and Nanami from the unreasonable death.
nEven when I know that’s just naive hope, I still wanted to cling to that possibility.
nNanami and I haven’t been killed and the two of us will explore this parallel world…
nJust how fun would that be…
nI smack both of my cheeks, and grab the mouse.
nNow that I have decided that, I must survive at all cost and reunite with Nanami.
nThe moment I look at the screen with renewed resolve…
nA *pon* sound resonated, and a message was displayed on the screen.
n3 minutes before transfer.
n“Eh?!” (Hikaru)
nNow that I look closely, there’s a timer on the top right of the screen, and those numbers were slowly going down.
nMost likely…no, most certainly, that timer had begun counting down the moment I appeared in this place.
n“With just 3 minutes, I can’t…” (Hikaru)
nAnyways, I can’t take my time choosing.
nI should choose instinctively, and if I have the time, I will adjust it… That’s the most I can do.
nI must avoid at all cost the scenario of getting troubled over a choice and ending up choosing almost nothing.
nPlease allot your Skill Points. Your total Bonus Points are: 73.
n“73 Points, huh.” (Hikaru)
nI can’t really tell, but I feel like that’s a lot -unexpectedly.
nThere wasn’t that much preliminary information about these points.
nWhat I know is that your initial points are decided by a V shaped graph with 24 years old as the lowest.
nIn other words, you could say God prioritized your current ‘experience’ and ‘body maturity’ over the ‘potential of youth’.
nAccording to God, the higher effectiveness an ability has, the more points it will require…
nAnyways, there’s no time. I must allocate my points quickly.
nName: Kurose Hikaru
nAge: 15 years old ▼
nGender: Male
nSpecial Ability ▼
nPhysical Ability ▼
nResistance ▼
nSpirit Ability ▼
nItems ▼
nTransfer Point ▼
nDisadvantageous Factors ▼
nRemaining Bonus Points: 73p
nIt was unexpectedly simple.
nWith this, I might be able to choose properly even with only 3 minutes.
nI hovered the cursor over the places and explanations showed up.
nFor example; in the Special Ability one, it showed Special Powers that surpass human intellect.
nIt is straight to the point, but that must be the intention of God as well.
nI skim through each one of them.
nFirst, the age. To my surprise, it can be changed.
nWhen I click the ▼ mark, a window opens. By plussing my age, I get points; and by using points I can lower my age (in other words, I can be younger!).
nI am currently 15 years old.
nDepending on the situation, it might be a good idea to raise my age a bit to increase my points.
nNext, I open the Special Ability window.
n“Ugh…! There’s such high point requirements?!” (Hikaru)
n●Special Ability
n・Courage 20p
nGain the ability to face fears and difficulties, and advance forward.
n・Super Concentration 30p
nYou can concentrate and forget about sleeping and eating.
n・Detect Presence 15p
nGain the ability to detect the presence of living things.
n・Night Vision 15p
nYou can see even in places where there’s practically no light.
n・Intuition 20p
nYou can somewhat choose the option that will lead to advantageous situations for you.
n・Breathless Activity
nYou can act at full potential without breathing for 2 minutes.
nWith training, you can stay underwater for around 15 minutes.
n・Wide Vision 10p
nHave a wide vision impossible for a human to have.
n・Communication 30p
nYou can communicate with animals.
n・Affection of Spirits 30p
nAll Spirits will love you.
n・Charm 50p
nYou will have a constitution that makes the person you are interested in like you.
n・Parallel World Language 0p ▼
nYou will be able to speak and write the common language of the area you are teleported to.
nIt is true that they all sound important, but the descriptions are, how to say it…vague.
nFor example; for Courage and Detect Presence, there’s differences depending on how good they are. If what you thought was Courage ended up being just foolhardiness, it wouldn’t even be funny, and if Detect Presence doesn’t actually detect anything until they are super close, then it would be pointless.
nBy the way, when I opened the ▼ of Parallel World Language, it showed If not chosen, you get 20p. Not being able to communicate is a complete landmine. This alone is definitely a no.
nI glance at the time and 1 minute has passed.
nI think for a bit and choose Night Vision and Affection of Spirits.
nIt is 45 points for the two, and I am now all the way down to 28 points, but these two are clearly things I can’t achieve with effort.
nAnd most of all, my instincts were telling me they were important.
nIt is also because I remembered my youngest little sister said: “In these kinds of games, taking the things with the highest cost is the safe choice. Also, there should be a number of abilities that have a low cost, but are pretty important abilities, so you should choose those too”.
nI don’t know if she has a basis for that or not, but my little sisters are actual geniuses.
nIt should be okay to trust them.
nI open the next one, the Physical Ability tab.
n●Physical Ability
nIncreases physical ability regarding Spirit Energy.
n・Physical Strength Up. Level 1~5. 5
/7
/10
/15
/20.
n・Vitality Up. Level 1~5. 5
/7
/10
/15
/20.
n・Spirit Energy Up. Level 1~5. 5
/7
/10
/15
/20.
n・Eyesight Up. Level 1~3. 3
/7
/10.
n・Hearing Up. Level 1~3. 3
/7
/10.
n・Smell Up. Level 1~3. 1
/3
/5.
n・Taste Up. Level 1~3. 1
/3
/5.
nThe numbers at the right seem to be the cost as the level goes up.
nIn other words, if I were to choose level 3 of Physical Strength Up, I would be using 10 points.
nI read the notes of Physical Strength Up.
nLevel 1 is 2 times, Level 3 is 5 times, Level 5 is 10 times the power. Recommended in close combat. Even in other scenarios, it is one of the basic human strengths, so it is recommended to take at least Level 1 of both this and Vitality.
nThe explanation for Vitality was…
nVitality is hard to show in numbers. You are harder to kill and have more endurance, you will also be more tenacious mentally. In gaming terms, it would be the equivalent of HP. For the ones that don’t want to die.
nIt says it includes your mental fortitude, so I feel like this will be quite advantageous when acting in an unknown world.
nAnd so, the unknown power for us that is Spirit Energy says this…
nSpirit Energy is the power that is expended when using Spirit Abilities. Increases the aggregate amount of Spirit Energy that you can have in your body. The Spirit Energy a person can have in their body differs by individual, so it can’t provide a fixed amount, but if you are going to be using Spirit Abilities, it would be best to take Spirit Energy Up.
nIt is hard to understand, but if they mention Spirit Energy differs by individual, it most likely means that…if a person with low innate MP increases it, it would be bad…
nSpirit Energy has that fantasy element to it, but it looks safer to put points in Physical Strength and Vitality.
nIt takes an unexpectedly long time to read the explanations.
n1 minute and a half remaining.
nWhatever the case, there’s a high chance that I can ‘increase it later’. The Level Ups that isekais are so famous for. In that case, I should consider whether to take it first or not.
nBefore putting any points, I decide to check Resistance.
nThere’s times when you can’t get resistances naturally or they are incredibly difficult to get.
n●Resistances
n・Poison Resistance. Level 1~3. At Level 3, Poison Immunity. 3
/7
/10.
n・Disease Resistance. Level 1~3. At Level 3, Disease Immunity. 1
/3
/5.
n・Aging Resistance. Level 1~5.
nAt Level 5, Eternal Youth. Level 3, aging speed reduces by half. 3
/5
/7
/10
/15.
n・Natural Recovery Up (Wounds). Level 1~5. 3
/5
/7
/10
/15.
n・Natural Recovery Up (Spirit Energy) Level 1~5. 3
/5
/7
/10
/15.
n“The cost for eternal youth is cheap!” (Hikaru)
nThis might be what my little sister Karen said about ‘the required points are low but it is an important ability’.
nAnyways, the required points are low compared to the other areas.
nI can easily reach Level 5 even with my remaining points.
nThe Disease Resistance being strangely cheap must be because it wouldn’t be fun if the Chosen were to die from a disease. Or maybe because it is a world without that many diseases.
nI feel like the Natural Recovery Up is especially important, but this also falls into the category of ‘it depends on how good it is’. For example; if taking Level 5 can recover you from even fatal wounds after a while, there’s point in taking it, but if it is just recovering faster from small wounds, it would be questionable.
n“There’s no need to doubt here.” (Hikaru)
nI take Aging Resistance Level 3 (7 Points), Disease Resistance Level 2 (3 Points). And then, I immediately opened the age tab and raised my age from 15 to 17.
nI got 6 more points from increasing my age by 2.
nMy lifespan increases by twice with Level 3, so it is a pretty fair exchange.
nBy the way, I don’t have the resolve to take Eternal Youth. I have a bad feeling about it.
nWith this, I have 24 points remaining.
nI am pretty low on time already, but I should also check the Spirit Ability tab.
nYou can obtain 1 of any Spirit Ability. Any of them are useful in their own ways. The only one that doesn’t have attack methods is Healing Magic. You can only make a contract with 1 Spirit Ability and it won’t be at peak performance.
n●Spirit Ability
n・Fire Spirit Ability: 10 Points.
n・Water Spirit Ability: 10 Points.
n・Earth Spirit Ability: 10 Points.
n・Light Spirit Ability: 10 Points.
n・Dark Spirit Ability: 10 Points.
n●Magic
n・Healing Magic: 50 Points.
n“50 points?” (Hikaru)
nOnly Healing Magic is ‘Magic’. I don’t know what’s the difference, but there might be a difference in rarity. 10 points is quite the normal cost until now.
nFor example; Spirit Ability can be obtained even when you are over there, but healing magic is pretty difficult to get? Or maybe plain impossible.
n…Anyways, 50 points is too out of reach.
n“How about Items?” (Hikaru)
n●Items
n・Basic Items Assortment for the Chosen: 10 Points.
n《Money (Medium)・Assorted Recovery Potions・Beginner’s “Ability” Scroll Pack(Fire Spear ×1 Wind Blade ×1 Earth Wall ×1 Water Healing ×1 Phantom Light ×1 Dark Fog ×1 Small Healing ×3 Medium Healing ×2 Large Healing ×1 Dispel ×1 Fear ×1 Short Teleportation ×1)・First Aid Kit・Map of Surroundings・World Map・Compass・Adventurer’s equipment set(Shirt・Cloak・Pants・Belt・Underwear x3・Socks x3・Boots・Hat・Leather Gloves・Leather Chest Guard・Short Sword・Short Spear)・Note・Writing Set・3 days worth of food (boxed lunches
/water bottle)・Long term food storage set・Tableware Set・Towel x5・Handkerchief x5 Pocket Tissue x10・Knife・Blanket・Lantern・Oil・Match・Hand Mirror・Portable Shovel・Rucksack・Belt Pouch・Nylon Rope・Wire・Cloth Tape・Sewing Kit・Hemp Bag x2・Every type of Spirit Stone x1》
nThere’s items you can’t obtain anywhere but in the Basic Pack, so be careful when not choosing it.
n“I see, can’t just go naked after all. Or more like, if you don’t choose the Basic Pack, I would be going there with these hospital clothes?” (Hikaru)
nThat would be Super Hard Mode.
nBut 10 points is too heavy. I only have 24 points left.
nIf we start in a city, clothes and money are more important than the Adventurer Pack.
nIt is most likely cheaper than buying one of each of those items, but 10 points is still too much.
nThere’s a variety of items below the Basic Pack, and it seems like you can exchange for anything you want.
nI skim through them. There’s weapons, armor, tools, magic scrolls, potions, maps, bags, and even money can be exchanged.
nThere isn’t that much variety in the weapons and armors, but it seems like you can exchange for items that match the size of the Chosen.
nThere were magic swords and armors, but they were all 10 points, and I don’t think I will be able to get them.
nWhichever the case, if it is the items with low cost, I can just get them later.
n“With my remaining points, I will get clothes and money. Then, I will put all the rest of my points in Physical Strength and Vitality to finish it.” (Hikaru)
nThere’s only 40 seconds remaining in the timer, but it looks like I will somehow make it in time.
nJust in case, I open the Transfer Point tab.
n●Transfer Point
n・Transfer to a relatively safe place: 27 Points.
nA place with low danger and has been worked by humans to a certain extent. There will be a human village closeby.
n・Transfer to a safe place: 30 Points.
nA place where most dangerous wild animals have been exterminated. There will be a city in front of you.
n・Random Transfer: 0 Points. (It is the default choice)
nThere’s no knowing where you will be transferred, but you won’t be transferred to instant death places like the sea, lava, or the very center of giant forests. However, if you are really unlucky, it is pretty dangerous.
nThe lucky ones have the chance of being transferred close to a human settlement.
nFor the early laughs. Not Recommended.
n“E-Eh?!” (Hikaru)
nI couldn’t understand what was written there for a second.
nThere’s two pretty costly choices? Is what I ended up thinking carefreely.
nAnd then, I understood after my second reading.
nThe default is Random Transfer.
nTo think there would be a trap like this set.
n“How many points do I have left?!” (Hikaru)
n24 points remaining.
nIt is only enough for the ‘Transfer to a relatively safe place’.
nI have to redistribute my points or I will be transferred randomly to the parallel world at this rate.
nNow that I think about it, the people in the whole world will be watching in real time.
nI should have thought about the possibility of God setting something like this playfully.
n“This is bad this is bad this is bad! It doesn’t matter what, I have to redistribute the points!” (Hikaru)
nAt this moment, I was in a complete panicked state.
nIf I had calmly operated it, I should have been able to make it in time.
nAnd yet, I didn’t remember what I put points in and ended up opening the Physical Ability tab.
n“Ah?! Eh? Which one did I put points in? If I remember correctly, it was Physical Strength Up and Vitality—” (Hikaru)
nMy mistake was only for an instant.
nI soon noticed I still haven’t put points in Physical Ability.
nThe lost time was most likely around 5 seconds.
n—But those 5 seconds were fatal.
nI immediately closed the Physical Ability and opened Special Ability again.
nI was about to erase Night Vision and open Transfer Point…
nBut at the corner of my vision, I see the remaining time at a single digit.
nErasing an ability to increase something else.
nIf I don’t make it in time, I would have simply lost one Special Ability pointlessly.
nThe moment that possibility flashed in my mind, I stopped moving the mouse.
nThe number of the timer had coldly reached 0.
nIt is now time for the transfer. If there’s remaining points, you can resume your build after the transfer. Some of the abilities can’t be selected after the transfer.
nThe screen grew darker, and that message was displayed mercilessly.
nAnd then, just like that, the PC didn’t respond at all as if it froze, and only the words Remaining time for transfer: 30 seconds were showing there.
n“…I should have placed more importance in my feeling of 73 points being a lot.” (Hikaru)
nMy whole body was chilling at the reality that I will be teleported randomly.
n“If I remember correctly, I stopped in the middle of my point redistribution, so I have 24 points remaining, right…?” (Hikaru)
nYou could say it is the fortune within the misfortune that I can still exchange my points even after the transfer.
nThere was also the possibility that all remaining points would be lost after all.
n—Anyways, the dice has already been rolled.
n10 seconds remaining.
n5 seconds remaining.
n1 second.
nNow then, have a wonderful life. May fortune be with you.
nAnd then, I was covered in a blinding light.
n・Name: Kurose Hikaru
n・Age: 15 years old ▽
nAdded Years – 2 years 6p
n・Gender: Male
n・Special Ability ▽
n・Night Vision: 15p
n・Affection of Spirits: 30p
n・Physical Ability ▼
n・Resistance ▽
n・Disease Resistance: 2 -3p
n・Aging Resistance: 3 -7p
n・Magic ▼
n・Items ▼
n・Transfer Point ▽
n・Random Transfer: 0p
n・Disadvantageous Factors ▼
nRemaining Bonus Points: 24p
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