"Help me. Someone please help me!"
"I'll definitely kill you all. I'll kill you all. I'll kill..."
"I'll protect you all"
...
"AHH!!! What the hell was that"
I woke up to a weird dream that i've never seen nor experienced.
"I feel dizzy... Can I go back to sleep?"
"Oh right, I'm in a different world."
I completely forgot that I was in a completely different world.
Yesterday, I was transported to this world and almost got mauled by an alligator crab thing. I couldn't really give it a thought.
I couldn't help but sigh and stretch my legs and arms.
"Damn, my hair is a mess...Humu... I should get some armor and a weapon to fit in with the people. A T-shirt with a jersey that probably doesn't exist would attract attention." While looking at myself in the mirror.
"I can't seem to take my mind off something. I have a weird feeling. It feels more quiet in my head and my movements are synced instead of all over the place like yesterday. I have memories of different people and different events happening where I wasn't even at. "
"I'm talking to myself but it seems like a different person. How do I explain this in basic terms...? It feels like I'm constantly debating with myself..."
"Well, I have always debated with myself and talked to myself when I wasn't 1 person so this feels pretty normal."
"Enough of that. I have to gather information about this world. I still don't know what happens when I die. I don't know what is happening at this world or what is this world. I still have no purpose and have no idea what to do. Why am I even transported here?"
"The Town Hall is near the Adventurer's hall. Aslong as you see one, The other one is bound to show up" While trying not to stress myself out more, I remembered what Hanachiryou-san said.
Ahh, What an angel, I want her to be with me
"Closet pervert" A sudden deeper voice than mine spoke at the right side of my conciousness
"Have you seen Hanachiryou-san? She's basically a goddess!" Followed by a higher voice at the left side.
"Not my type though"
"Well she'll be your type when we are one!"
"Wait, what even is our types when we are one?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know!"
I don't feel the same as when I woke up. The voices are louder and everything about me seems different. I'm losing memories. Who even am I?
"Oi Zei, What's happening"
I was going back and forth within the room knocking items and I stumbled to the floor.
"Like I told you, How the hell am I supposed to know!?"
"Can we get this over with and just get our elemental things"
"Yes! but we don't know how!"
"Move the body to the bed and rest for a while."
I sat at the bed and closed my eyes for a few moments
...
All the loudness in my head faded slowly.
"I think no one heard the ruckus I made. I better clean this up first"
After cleaning up the mess I made. I went outside
Taking a whiff of the fresh air. All I could sense in myself was satifaction and happiness.
"Ahh! A new world! Interesting and scary at the same time."
I took my mind off the separation thing that happened.
"I get the gist of it. Whenever one of us doesn't agree with an action completely. I would seperate"
"What if it's just a minor thing though like the color of the clothes? Ahh! Why is this world so cruel! Can't I just be transported in another world in a peaceful way without a combined body and the 2 of us finding party members adventuring together and solving problems abd after getting money, just sleep and do nothing all day"
"These stares of judgement... I get them everywhere. Ahh! I hate this!." Realizing I was talking to myself louder than expected. People were staring at me. My clothes contributed to this too
I ran to the road leading to the townhall to escape the stares of judgement
After the staring was gone, I calmly walked and kept a low profile.
I continued to walk towards that town hall and sudden questions came up into my mind.
"For starters, I should get gear first, but the problem is I don't have money. I can't really ask Higoyokuhi-san or Hanachiryou-san since I don't have a clue where they are. Humu, Humu. I should get my element tested out first then get money by doing an easy quest in the adventurer's hall. They would probably show us how to use them right?"
I see some of the familiar faces that were selling their wares and advertising their stores, and adventurers walking.
I decided to follow them so I won't get lost.
"Sigh... Nothing interesting is happening. I'm so bored...Ahh! How about solving problems that can save me time in the future. Right! Like my name."
"My name... My name, huh...? It should be a combined name between Zei and Kaideru. It doesn't need to have a last name. Zeideru? Kazei? Ahh! What is with these bad names!"
The frustration made me scratch my head.
"Humu. I got it! Zeikai! Hahaha! The perfect name. I am such a genius."
After figuring out my geniusly made name. I see a glimpse of a building with a guild symbol of a human girl, an orc and a wolf facing each other in a triangular position at the center of the building"
Many of the adventurers pass by it, and go to the direction of what I assume the adventurer's hall is located.
The building with the guild symbol was the town hall.
I walk towards it and withstand multiple weirded out looks from the people from the markets and the adventurers.
"Ahh I really need new clothes. These clothes attract too much attention"
I was worrying about my clothes when I forgot another important factor.
"I haven't eaten food yet! They will surely have food in the adventurer's hall right? Well I hope so..." My stomach grumbled loudly.
I haven't eaten any food when I got transported here.
"I'll first enter the town hall and get my elemental powers. I'm surely a prodigy and have overpowered powers." I said to try and stay optimistic.
"You're setting up a flag again you idiot!"
Thump
"Shut up, I'm not, Why are we transported here if all we do is die?"
Thump
"Wasn't there an anime about someone dying over and over and respawning. What if we suffer the same fate idiot. That's why you don't set up flags!"
Thump
I didn't realize it but I already fell to someone's shop selling vegetables. The loud voices got me distracted.
"So I was right. It is when we argue. Which happens a~ Ouch"
"Yo kid. That's a heavy fall there huh. You alright?"
"Y-Yeah I'm fine"
"Good because you're cleanin' up this mess you made"
"Ho? Why should I do that" I try to sound calm and collected
"YOU COME HERE STUMBLIN' FROM THE GROUND FOR NO REASON AND BREAK ME STALL, FIX THIS STALL RIGHT NOW OR YOU AIN'T GONNA PAY WITH MONEY!" This man said to me while cracking his fist
SCARY! THIS MAN'S SCARY!
I uttered no words while picking up the vegetables that fell to the ground and putting them neatly and orderly back to in the stall.
I left afterwards
"Ahh what is this badluck. Wasn't my past self Kaideru good luck?"
I enter the town hall and realized something terrible was happening.
"WAIT, WAIT A MINUTE! THEY'RE ALL KIDS! THERE'S NO TEENAGERS HERE! HANACHIRYOU-SAN!! WHY! WHY!" I shouted loudly inside my mind.
I get more stares from the adventurers looking cool with their weapons and armor while having a smug face and taunting me with weird expressions.
"Ahh damn it, just wait you pieces of shits"
I quickly enter the townhall to remove my social anxiety and searched my surroundings first
"Ahh, What a nice townhall. It isn't too fancy too take away the old timey look and it isn't to bright to hurt your eyes. It isn't too gloomy to scare away people and people that looks like priests, nuns and cultists roam with a smile on their faces. People that look like cultists or worshippers roam aswell."
So this was the townhall. According to what Hanachiryou-san said, This is where you get your elementals and your card. She also said you needed this to work as an adventurer in the adventurer's hall. As an addicted gamer myself, this wasn't normal in RPGs, but I guessed it was a different world afterall.
At the corner of my eye, I saw the receptionist with a disgusted face. She quickly averted her gaze.
"Umm.. Hello, I came here for my element stats"
"Please wait for your turn you are 8th in queue. On the meantime please tell us your name"
"Zeikai, Thanks"
I roamed the place a bit more and seeing info boards about what elementals are. It looks like it's for kids that have 0 knowledge about elements, and one of those kids was ofcourse me. All I knew were the elements. I had no idea how to use, get or activate them. I had no idea if people had a mana capacity, levels or stats. I was as naive as these kids,
"There are 6 elementals on this world. Fire, Water, Nature, Dark, Light and Lightning. What will be yours" It had a smiley face at the bottom
"To learn spells for your elements. You can learn them from another person who uses that spell or buy a scroll from a scroll shop" With a smiley face at the bottom
"What are these! Game tips? I don't need this!"
Usually I would have read them as game tips was seriously useful, but it felt like it was hurting my pride since it was mainly used for little kids.
I ignored the tips and sat down at a nearby chair.
"Onii-san. U-umm I have a question" A little girl walked up to me and asked me
She's so cute!
"What?" I said with a cool, casual voice.
"My mother said only children get tested here, S-so I was wondering why you're here."
"..."
"Uhh, I'm from another country and I went here recently"
"B-But don't all humans get tested at an early age? W-Why does Onii-san not know his? Why are you so old coming here? Is their other countries safe to live like this country?"
I'm only 17 you child!
"Honey, It's your time to get tested"
"Okay, mom, I'm coming!"
I thank you with my utmost respect, mother.
"Zeikai-san!"
After about 5 mins while I was half asleep sitting on the chair. The receptionist called out my name
I walked up to her
"Zeikai-san. This is the headpriest. He will be the one to tend to you to figure out your elements" The receptionist was with a man that looked like a priest
The headpriest was an old man wearing a long, loose and cumbersome of a priest with a long white beard and long white hair. The typical old people in anime that I always see.
"Young boy, Please follow me"
That sentence sounds like something you'd hear in a horror movie
...
"Ooo~ A huge hourglass"
At the end of the hall is a massive hourglass about 7 meters that is made of metal, wood and glass and at one of it's directions is a small fountain connected with a tube. The hourglass' contents weren't falling to the bottom and all the sand remains on top
A pathway is spread leading to the middle of the fountain and the room while the huge chandelier hangs above it reflecting light off it and making the hexagon pattern at the middle of 6 poles that have some sort of element revolving around each pole.
One is burning hot with fire. One has water twirling and dancing around it. One has vines strangling it and earth particles coming from the ground. One is being struck with lightning. One is emitting brilliant light and one is pure black making things that surround it a little blacker, while sucking items closer like a vacuum.
"Young man, please go to the center of the totem"
So this was magic. I got excited and nervous at the same time
I walk up to the hexagon made with the lights and the atmosphere made me a little hot.
The old man went beside hourglass while facing me and chanted words with a language I had no idea what was.
The hourglass started to spin. It spun 2 times before the sand started to fall/
I close my eyes while kneeling
A minute passed away like an instant and the sound of sand was still lingering.
"Huh? Nothing is happening"
The heat from the chandelier up above me was getting hotter, While something is trickling my body. I could feel my clothes becoming damp. I decided to open my eyes.
"WHAT IS THIS!"
The poles reacted to me and I was attracting them.
The elements that are almost touching me are lightning and water, The trickling feeling was the electricity touching me, while the water damps my clothes a little. The other elements aren't even halfway to me
There were 2 nuns watching and they started whispering to themselves.
"Is that a bad thing? Ahh this is a bad time for social anxiety, Zeikai! Get yourself together!"
The oldman was still chanting and the hourglass is close to dropping it's last drop of sand.
As the last grain of sand drops, the elements go back to the poles like a snap.
"Young man, You are done now. We just need to write up the stats of your elements. If you are planning to be an adventurer. If not, this can be used as your ID and will need this to enter many places. This is one of the most important things to own."
"Please get your card at the receptionist" The nun said with a relieved expression
I headed towards the receptionist and asked for my card.
"Hi, The headpriest told me to come here for the card"
"Zeikai-san. This is your card. Please do not lose it. The first one is free. The next one will cost money."
The card that was needed to become an adventurer, an important item to enter many places in this world. Something that you would practically be dead if you lost. Was the size of a drivers licenese.
"It's so tiny and important how can I not lose something like this!"
"Please fill some of your information like Name, Height, Weight, Age, Race and other details"
How do they do these things so quickly, must be magic. Wait Race...? Does this mean ogres, elves and goblins exist? How come I haven't seen one yet.
"Name is Zeikai, Height is 170cm, Weight is 65kg. Race is Human. Black Hair, Blue and Yellow eyes. Likes t~"
"That'll be fine. This card will display your elemental power and skill points.
This was the time for me to be a prodigy and get overpowered powers.
With a heart full of expectation and tense emotions. I slowly looked at the card
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ZeiKai
Fire : ===
Water : ============================
Earth : ====
Dark : ====
Light : ===
Electric : ===========================
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fire - (3)
Water - (28)
Earth - (4)
Dark - (3
Electric - (27)
I was guessing you could upgrade your stats the more you level up or fight, so this kind of stats wouldn't be impressed, and the receptionist didn't show an impressed face, so I was guessing this was normal
"Thank you very much"
I went outside and looked at the card under the glowing hot sun
"Well, powerful stats or normal stats. I won't do anything too ambitious or too heroic anyways,"
The Adventurer's hall was just at the east of the town hall after going outside. It wasn't long walk but it looks huge.
The Adventurer's hall or it adventurer's guild in-game standards. A place where adventurers take up quests, a staple in games. An organization that supports adventurers and do their jobs. In this world, it was a large establishment, because monsters roam this world. This world was dangerous and adventurers are the one to protect it while they get money.
The fragrance of beer and food drifted from within
I enter without hesitation.
"Free beer for everyone"
"Yeah~!"
"Miss one more beer please"
"Coming!"
This particular adventurer's guild doubled as a bar. Groups of people with heavy armor, mage's clothing, swords, axes, bows, and anything else that is normally in an RPG.
Seems like a normal guild for adventurers. They looked like they were also having a party at the moment. A man was buying beer for the adventurers. This is rowdier than the market outside. I didn't like beer so I just ignored everything and didn't try to get one.
"Welcome! If you are here to dine then please take an empty seat. All beers and wine are free for the day. I haven't seen you in these areas yet, so I expect that you are here to register as an adventurer. Please approach a counter.
A lady that seemed like a waitress recieved us warmly
There were 4 counter members. 3 of them was female. 2 of the lines were recieved by beauties with large breasts and were full of male adventurers.
I approached the counter member without a queue to save time.
"Hello, How do I become an adventurer?"
"Ahh first. I need to take a look at your card and when your stats are high enough then you can become an adventurer."
So not everyone can be an adventurer... What a cruel world.
I handed out my card to her
"High! They're high" She uttered some words, but I really couldn't make out what it was because of the loud people.
"What's high? That weird person drinking beer and flailing panties around in his hands, wait how did he even get that? Can you teach me that skill?"
The lady left and put my card in a strange-looking box and it came out a hole. It was colored a little brighter than usual.
"Welcome to the Adventurer's Hall. We hope you can enjoy your stay"
The lady completely ignored my question, but I guess it's expected since the noises were loud. She probably couldn't hear it well.
or... it was such a weird question so she ignored it completely.
I sat down at a far table without anyone there in order to think.
"Hmm, First I need to get money for food. After that, I need a stable income either as an adventurer or anything really to live a leisurely life. I don't need too much and I can't have too little, All I need is to live comfortably. Saving this world isn't why Im here. Probably... I'm not even blessed with overpowered stats, Why would I need to save this world. I don't need comrades but it will be good to have some people teach me how to use magic."
"Regarding information. I should be safe because I could ask the counter lady or the waitress."
"Okay, let's do this 1 by 1 Zeikai. First, take on an easy quest to test out my abilities and get even a little bit of money for food."
"But I don't know how to use my abilities yet"
"I could go on an adventure with other people and they can teach me how to use it"
"That would hurt my pride though, yet I think I might do it."
"Ahh no, If I have to save this world, I don't wanna build too long relationships with people. If I have to go back..."
"But what if I don't have to save this world. I don't know the reason myself why I was transported here. Maybe someone is trolling me? Save the world? To save someone? To die?"
"Okay easy quest first, I can get the bare minimum equipment like a shortsword, even without magic, I can still defeat a low level monster."
"Wait, but I can't even get a sword without money... Can I punch them to death? How do I even earn money? What the hell is the currency in this world!"
As minutes go on. The adventurers got drunk and the noise reduced. This is when I realized I was talking to myself.
"Am I really this lonely. Sigh. I guess it's fine. I've decided! I'll just do an easy quest and get some money!"
I walk up to the quest board which was opposite of me
"WHAT THE HELL! Why is there no easy quest! They all look really hard! Arigifin? That huge alligator creature I almost died to before for 50000 of their currency!? Serpent's Fang?! The hell is that! It looks scary! Where're the slimes found in RPG or something!"
"I don't even know the value of money here! Ahh damnit! I know nothing about this world. I need information!"
I go to the same counter lady I asked before
"Oi, where's all the easy quests. I want to do a warmup before I go" I said with a casual, cool voice.
"Umm~, All easy quests are not available for now. It's the season of Arigifins and they scare away other monsters, but for a person of your caliber. I think even they will be a good warmup."
"What! I'm only level 1!"
"Level 1? What is level 1?" She innocently said with a finger on her cheek.
So levels don't exist in this world. How do people get stronger? Also she said person of my caliber. That could either mean my stats are strong or she is mocking me.
I wanted to ask some more info, but this conversation would be awkward. The innocent face with a finger on her cheek contributed to me not wanting to make her day worse.
"Ahh nothing, nothing. Forget what I said. Thanks anyway"
I went back to the lonely table.
"I'm... So... Hungry..." I slam my head into the table quietly a few times
Well, I guess I have no choice. there's a recruitement board beside the quest board. I'm sure that I can get into a high level party and earn some money. I can learn how to use elements and will be able to live leisurely for a while.
"Needing recruitment for light archer elementalists."
"Needing recruitement for fire swordsmans users"
"Come join us, We are a party of 3 and need an earth user any class is fine"
"I am an electric user. Come join. I want friends. Please...? Anyone join my party?"
"I AM A WATER PRIEST THAT CAN HEAL EVERYONE! I HAVE ONE OF THE BEST WATER ELEMENT IN THE WORLD! COME JOIN NOW. WE HAVE LOTS OF BEER AND EVERYONE WAS REALLY HAPPY WHEN THEY JOINED US. 'Oh when I joined this party i was blessed with happiness and money', 'This party rocks!', 'The priest was so godlike and there was this 1 perverted party member that keeps stalking us'
"What the hell. That last one sounds like a massive scam. I don't see anyone I can join because i'm a water fistfigher...? .I should try again tomorrow."
The only place which I can wallow in despair was the lonely table. The adventurers are already drunk at this point and they're all becoming pretty quiet.
"Ahh damn it! I just transported into this world and It's already so stressful"
I slam my head onto the table several times then rested on my arms
I took a deep breath and released all the stress.
I was slowly dozing off and was almost asleep... When suddenly. a dangerous presence behind me appeared. Chills resonated throughout my body and realization shot my head..
Before I could turn around, Someone with cold hands that penetrated through my clothes touched me. Right after, someone with a cold, calm, and distant voice spoke.