[A catalyst is required for the location [Earth].]
Looking at the barren wasteland he was in, he was back to that place where he was first transferred in.
The only difference was he couldn't feel anything. It wasn't hot nor cold, it was just bright as the sun's light reflect on the sand.
[Warning: You have left the safe zones. The Barren Wastelands are areas prone to monsters and player killing.]
There was a prompt that popped in beside the quest that was on the corner of his vision.
It was obvious that such places would be PVP-enabled and had monsters. It wouldn't surprise him he was attacked anytime now but he was high key wishing that it doesn't happen.
"I need to get out of here!"
Just as he spoke, there was another prompt that pops up.
[Warning: After a few years, the Barren Wastelands had now become toxic due to the monster energy residue in the air. Your HP decreases by 10 every hour.]
[Notice: Skill Adaptation Lv. X is active. Damage reduced by 90%]
[Warning: Your HP has decreased by 1.]
The Barren Wasteland was a toxic area. Spending any longer here would be dangerous, he thought to himself.
"But wait... How many HP points do I have?!"
In the game Tentetsuki, although there was a status bar, the HP bar is distinctly separated from it due to the visual cues it had to show the player.
With the help of the help command, he was able to see the command needed to show his HP.
"[Self]-[Durability]"
[Notice: Once your health decreases below 25%, all stats will decrease by 10%]
"H-Huh. A self-debuff? That was never in Tentetsuki!"
There was a prompt that showed before the health points he had, but as he collapsed that prompt, he could only break out in a cold sweat.
"I gotta..."
[Ichiro Mushibami: Durability: 4/5]
It was just five. He had max health of five, and with the previous prompt that had almost taken away his life, he finally realizes the dangers of this area had.
He would die in four more hours if he doesn't manage to get out of the wastelands.
Without delay, he began to run to the east.
He ran and ran without stopping. Although he couldn't feel the scorching sun and heat, his body was still affected by the physics.
[Warning: Your HP has been decreased by 1.]
[Warning: Your HP has been decreased by 1.]
[Warning: Your HP has dropped below 25%, your stats will decrease by 10%]
[Warning: Your HP has been decreased by 1.]
[Warning: You are extremely low on health.]
It had been three hours since he had been running and yet, there was still no sign of any cities.
He had one hour left until he dies.
It might have been the Adaptation that kept a piece of his cool and prevent him from panicking all this time but this was a grave danger to him.
"I—I don't wanna die."
He had already forgotten to collapse the panels before him, circulating him around and covering almost a third of his vision.
*Growl*
"I... I wish I can eat before I die..."
He gloomed over his stomach as he heard its loud growl, but somehow that vibration felt detached. It felt like it came from the ground and not his stomach.
Just as he thought of it, the ground suddenly rumbled and burst out, exploding as a fiery worm screeches out its high-pitched voice.
"A-A monster!"
He shouted as he fell back on his rear, but with his stats being low, he was incapable of running. He quickly crawled away with his life but the monster would only tower itself high in the sky, with its mouth then finally aims at Ichiro.
"Please, please, please! Don't kill me!"
He shouted as he crawled and grabbed the soil, dragging himself forward, wanting to get away from the worm.
He couldn't even think straight anymore. His stats had dropped drastically due to his health being below 25%.
He was struggling in a hopeless case, only stalling his time of death.
If only he had been transported to a safe place, it would be a different story.
"T-That's it!"
Suddenly, he remembers the skill he had [Travel.] It exists even in this world, and thus, it must work without a catalyst to link them together unlike when he tried the skill.
"[T-Travel!]"
He stammers as he shouts, but it would only prompt another.
[State your des—]
[Nora!]
Before the prompt would even show up, he had no time to waste as the worm grew closer to him.
[Commencing local transfer. Transferring to Nora.]
"Quick! Quick! Quick!"
He repetitively said as he slammed the ground where he slowly began to be enveloped by a beacon of light.
"Hah!"
He snorts out as the prompt vanishes, but as he turned to look at the monster behind him, it was about to eat him.
"Aaagh!"
Ichiro shouted as he closed his eyes with force, flinching back with both of his hands extended, but as a moment passes by, he realizes that he was already transported.
[Transfer complete.]
The ground was not sand but rather bricks and tiles. However, it was just a bit dusty as he expected.
"I'm finally safe!"
He shouted, standing up with his feet that felt like noodles.
He was thirsty, and even if the Adaptation Skill was active, his body still needed to drink water nonetheless.
However, just as he decided to look around, there was no one around.
"H-Huh? Where is this..."
He looked around, but as he stepped back, he bumps into the central fountain that had no water in it.
This place was somewhat familiar, no it was without doubt.
"This is Nora?"
This was Nora. The City of Adventurers.
It was now abandoned, a grey-ish city that had been weathered off in a few years.
"Wait, that's impossible. Just a few hours ago, I was here and this was a lively city!"
He turned around, but the once lively city has become a ghost town.
[Notice: The City of Nora had become an unnamed city, the skill [Travel] will become unavailable for an unnamed location.]
[Warning: Your HP is extremely low.]
[Notice: The passive skill Healing Factor Lv. 1 is active.]
[Notice: Your health will increase by 1 every hour you are out of combat.]
The prompts began to appear again, collapsed out of his vision again to observe the city that had been out of commission.
"This is..."
As he walked in a certain direction, he entered a building with a sign that said [Adventurer's Guild]
The roof was riddled with holes and the foundations had even begun to fall and collapse over another.
"This must be the front desk, where they put the items in..."
Slowly, he vaulted over the front desk and opened the drawers, only to see decayed and rotating objects that were unrecognizable.
"Ugh! That must be some kind of monster parts."
He steered away from that drawer, closing it before opening the others.
In a certain drawer, he was able to hear a bottle clang, opening it quickly only to see a crimson color inside those circular potion bottles.
Immediately, he knew that these were health potions, opening them quickly as he took a sip.
[Fae's Health Potion: Restores 20 HP]
[Your HP has been restored. 5/5]
His mind became clearer and his thirst was gone, however, that potion tasted like water that had both dust and blood.
"Yuck. Potions do have bad tastes."
He uttered under his breath.
But under the smaller desk, there were larger drawers below, and Ichiro opens it, there were both weapons and equipment that had been abandoned.
It became obvious that if he was going to survive, then he must make do with protection.
[Mammoth's Leather Chest Armor:
A sturdy leather armor made out of Mammoth hide. It is effective against blunt and collision attacks.]
[Black Hare's Leggings: Made out of a Black Hade's hide, these leggings increase the user's agility by 2%. Allows the use of the skill [Rush].]
[Berserker's Greaves: An artifact left by its original owner, a gladiator, these greaves had been blessed with the effect to increase strength by 1.5x. It is also effective for blocking and attacking due to its compact nature.]
[Thief's Leather Gauntlet: Allows the fluid motion of hands without being entangled with each other. Provides an extra 1% agility and attack speed. You feel an incredible urge to pickpocket someone.]
[Black Hare's Dagger: A blade out of a Black Hare's light but strong bone. It is light and sharp, an ideal weapon for assassinations. You feel a slight urge to stab someone.]
"They might sound shady, but this will do."
Despite that, there was no equipment system in the game he played, these items had looked similar to the ones that some troops of his had used.
[Two similar set items were detected. First level bonus is applied. Agility 5% ^]
"Whoa, set a bonus?! I didn't know about that..."
[You feel a bit faster, yet more sinister. The Black Hare watches you from afar.]
"..."
As another panel appears, there was a message that had been dyed in red. It made Ichiro's words trail off, finally grasping the situation again.
But he needed to move forward. His intelligence that was above average was not just for show. He had to make use of what he had.
"In any case, this bastard quest of a tutorial should be easy."
He had followed the instructions that taught him how to open and collapse the status, including things he had yet to even know himself.
It only took him half an hour to finish, whereas a prompt appeared with a shower of light particles.
[Quest Complete. Distributing rewards.]
In both of his hands, there was a bag of money that seemed to have appeared and a gray orb on the other.
"If only I knew this earlier... [Status]."
As the status panel opens up again, he dropped the bag of money into the panel, where it vanished upon touching the screen.
In his status panel, another subcategory was added.
[Inventory:
•500,000 Gen/Yen.
•19 Empty Slots.]
His status can do more things than show him his statistics and description. It could act as personal storage where everything would be stored but can be dropped if the user dies.
He had another 19 slots more to use, but there was no need to store the skill orb.
"Alright. [Inspect]."
[Random Skill Orb:
Destroy to unlock a randomized skill.
All rarity is randomized.]
"Destroy it, huh. Hup!"
Without hesitation, he threw it into the ground as it scatters yellow light particles that floated into him.
[Congratulations! You have acquired the skill [Blink].]
As the prompt appears, he could only yelp in amusement and laugh precariously.
It was a skill that speaks for itself. A self and short teleportation skill that allows a user to teleport to a short distance.
He didn't even have to view its description to know, but he just had to experience it.
"[Blink!]"
He uses it once, suddenly switching positions as he finds himself bumping into aboard.
"Whoa...! Awesome! Again! [Blink!]"
[Error: Skill is on cooldown for 00:30:59:987]
The prompt was in red, indicating the cooldown to be 30 minutes. It would make sense that such skill would have a cool down, and having it without one is akin to an overpowered skill.
"30 minutes?! That's absurd! Even in the games, I've played this is...!"
As he was just about to throw a tantrum, in his field of vision, the board he had just bumped into had papers tacked into it.
It had a list of missing people, an illustration of what seemed to be a map, and a paper that says...
"War is imminent. The Empire of Alteria will attack the Kingdom of Lucia."
He was able to see the illustration of the map. The Empire of Alteria was labeled on the top right while the Kingdom of Lucia was on the bottom left.
Nora was at the middle ground, yet a front of the Kingdom of Lucia.
Some of the papers had begun to crumble and become dust, indicating the wear and tear over the years.
It means that Nora had been completely deserted as the war happened, leaving only an empty city.
However, how can this be? Ichiro thought to himself, it had only been two hours since he was last here and such a gap in time was incomprehensible.
That is until he considered the chance that the two words had different time flows, whereas this one flows faster than Earth.
If that is true, then in just two hours, years might have already passed by in this place.
"..."
He took the illustration of the map that was written in thin leather. Rolling it up he prepared to store it in his inventory.
However, as he was about to speak, the door to the abandoned Adventurer's Guild burst open.
"Don't make any funny movements!"
Two figures rushed in, one that held a staff and prepared a magic circle in front of it, seemingly a fire element.
The other had a long blade, aiming at Ichiro's throat in proximity. One wrong move and he would risk his throat being sliced off.
"P-Please! I don't want any trouble!"
Ichiro dropped the map as he raised both of his hands, threatened by the neck as it pokes into his skin.
"He might be a spy from the Empire! We should just kill him now!"
The blade pushes him back against the board, making his throat bleed as its sharp edge cuts his skin slightly.
"Wait. Don't. He might have some useful information for us."
Ichiro couldn't move, he was overwhelmed by the blade before him. If only he hadn't used his blink, then maybe he could escape these two crazy people.
"...!"
"Huh. Your clothes. They look different."
Noticing his clothes, the middle-aged woman inquired.
Although Ichiro had equipment, most of his clothing was still visible except for his pants and sleeves that were under the gauntlets.
"H-Hah? This? This is just my uniform."
Ichiro said whilst staggering, trying to keep his cool.
"A uniform? How are you... Some kind of High Scholar...?"
In the middle of her words, she heard another voice overlap with the exact words and intonation.
It was Ichiro who said the same words as her, copying her as if he knew what she was gonna say.
Even though they had aged drastically, he was able to recognize them both.
"Kyori...? Ron?"
"——?!"
Both of them were met with shock.
They were called by their names. However, those names had only existed when they were still adventurers, 10 years ago.