Chapter 1 - Beginning!
(PS: The backstory of the MC will gradually unfold in upcoming chapters. Kindly stay engaged despite the initial mystery.)
(PS: The main character takes a temporary leave from the world of Asterisk War around chapter 50-60. If you're here for Danmachi, feel free to start reading from that point. However, I strongly advise reading from the start, as skipping may result in overlooking crucial details and potential confusion in later chapters.)
"Oh, I'm utterly drained."
Within the confines of a simple, unadorned room, Luke's eyes fixated on the settlement panel ahead. Despite his youthfulness, his features resonated with the classic traits of an Asian individual.
[Agent: Luke]
[Task: Newbie Task 3]
[Mission Difficulty: C]
[Rating: Perfect]
[Reward: 10,000 redemption points, one C-level treasure box, one B-level treasure box]
Looking at the word "perfect" on the settlement panel, Luke was slightly relieved. He stood there and waited for a few seconds. As expected, there was another prompt.
[Newbie Achievement: Genius Perk (Completed)]
[Agent Luke's authority has been increased. Welcome back to the Main God Space, authority holder Luke.]
As these mechanical words ended, Luke instantly appeared in his house in the main god's space.
"The novice period is finally over, and three achievements with perfect evaluations have been obtained. It's finally time for the official mission."
Luke opened his personal panel and planned to open the two treasure chests he had just obtained.
[Authority Holder: Luke Ashburn]
[Agent Level: C+]
[Epic Title: Swordsman (the wearer obtains swordsmanship qualifications and a substantial increase in power. If there is an identity implant during the mission process, the relevant identity will be automatically obtained based on the agent's level)]
[Talent: Swordsmanship Prodigy (Swordsmanship qualifications are greatly increased)]
[Skills: Swordsmanship: Shigure Soen Ryu, Swordsmanship: Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Sword Qi, Sword Intent]
[Equipment: Taichi - Shimizu (Grade D, extra stamina is consumed to produce flowing water when swinging the sword)]
[Ding, you have opened C-level treasure box x1, B-level treasure box x1]
[Special permissions detected, you obtain Reverse-Blade Sword - Soul Nourishing, Swordsmanship - Dual-Life-Sword]
[Reverse-Blade Sword - Soul Nourishing: Grade C, when equipped and using this weapon, it has the effect of weakly nurturing and nourishing the sword's will.]
Luke was not surprised when he saw the special permission bonus prompted when the treasure chest was opened. This was one of the benefits of becoming an authority/permission holder.
After becoming an authorized person, when opening random rewards such as treasure chests, the authorized person's current talents, skills, props, and other information will be automatically retrieved, and there is a high probability that you will receive matching rewards.
The achievement of "authorized person" is the prompt message that the system automatically pops up when Luke completes novice missions with a perfect evaluation after he inexplicably came to this main god space.
This main god space is different from the main god space that Luke imagined. There are countless agents in this main god space, but each agent comes from a different universe.
The tasks that each agent participates in are derivative worlds unique to their own world. This also means that if a team is not formed in advance or is not invited by a certain agent, then an agent will never encounter other agents when performing tasks.
Of course, if there are agents willing to form a team, the difficulty and rewards of the tasks will be increased.
Luke's current agent level is C+. In the main god space, equipment, props, etc. are all graded in five stages from D to S.
Level D and below are ordinary equipment or ordinary people.
There will also be relatively special + and - signs. + represents an overwhelming advantage over the same level, while - represents a huge disadvantage.
What is worth noting is that if you hold a B level weapon and can fully utilize the weapon's capabilities, then no matter if you are physically D level or C level, your combat power is B level, or at the very least you are B- level.
However, whether you hold one weapon or ten weapons, even if you maximize all ten B level weapons, you will not become A level.
Therefore, even if they are of the same level, the gap in combat power is huge, and the level can only be used as a reference.
A new agent will generally go through three novice missions. These three missions have nothing to do with the agent's world. A trial world generated by the main god space and it is mainly used to evaluate new agents and give them the resources necessary to carry out official tasks.
However, how much benefits you can get from the novice missions purely depends on the individual.
The selection of agents is not random. The main god space does not have any mandatory requirements for tasks. On the contrary is the selection of agents. Each agent is a talent accurately selected by the Main God Space. Although they may not all have unparalleled qualifications, they all have one thing in common.
That's faith.
Only those selected by the Main God Space who have successfully completed three novice tasks and all received a 'qualified' rating or above can officially become an agent.
It is precisely because of the existence of such an audit mechanism that, with very few exceptions, agents will not be lazy.
For the main god space, it is only necessary to simply urge the agents to carry out new tasks.
…
After sorting out the rewards obtained from the novice mission, Luke pushed open the door and went straight to the training ground of the Main God Space.
He needed to learn about the newly acquired Dual-Life-Swordsmanship as soon as possible.
He has never acquired other types of skills, so he doesn't know much about them. However, sword skills cannot be used directly after being learned in the main god space. If you have learned it and want to use it perfectly, you must practice diligently yourself.
As for the three sword styles that Luke has learned so far, he knows nothing about the Dual-Life-Sword because he just obtained it. Shigure Soen Ryu has halted progress due to special restrictions, and only Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu is still optimistic about its progress.
He walked all the way through the trading area without stopping too much, and went directly to the training area.
It's not that Luke doesn't want to visit the trading area more, but because the time between novice tasks and official tasks is very short.
Generally speaking, there will be a ten-day rest period between each task, including novice tasks. Besides as an authority-holder, Luke can have fifteen days of rest between each task, a full half month.
But there is one exception to this rule.
That is the period from the end of Novice Mission 3 to the beginning of the first official mission. It is only when rest time is 3 days, and it cannot be extended by using redemption points.
And everyone, including those with authority, are no exception to this rule.
In fact, if possible, Luke would really like to take a stroll in the trading area. After all, with three perfect evaluations in hand, Luke has quite a lot of redemption points.
…
"Welcome to the training ground, please set up the detailed training items."
Luke walked into the training ground and was immediately transported to a small room, with the usual mechanical sound coming from his ears.
Without any intention of responding to the mechanical sound, he directly operated on the panel that popped up in front of him. After all, this was not Luke's first time coming to this training ground.
"Setup completed."
[Opponent: Himura Kenshin]
[Difficulty: Automatic adjustment (real-time)]
[Mode: 1V1 battle]
(Yes/No)
Luke did not plan to practice Dual-Life-Sword directly from the beginning but chose to have a battle first.
Because compared to learning new swordsmanship, Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, which had just made some progress, needed more time to familiarize with.
…
Time flies by, three days pass by, a little more than two days to be precise.
It wasn't enough time for Luke to familiarize with new swordsmanship. He just practiced it a few times and barely memorized the stance.
In the remaining time, Luke visited the trading area and bought some props and medicines that he could use.
There are only two items worth mentioning.
[Props: Portable pocket]
[Class D]
[Effect: It can be attached to clothes or walls to form a convenient pocket for storing items.]
[Props: Portable computer]
[Class D]
[Effect: Bracelet-type portable general-purpose computer which can connect to the basic network under normal conditions.]
These two props were specially prepared by Luke. The internal space of the portable pocket is not large, about the size of a bookcase. He can divide the areas according to his needs.
A portable computer is prepared for his convenience and just in case the next world is a modern world.
In fact, Luke's main purpose of visiting the trading area was to find one or two better swords.
Because of Dual-Life-Sword, Luke's need for weapons has changed from one to two. Although he's not in a hurry right now, he still hopes to be prepared in advance; otherwise, he'll have to make do with the reverse blade if needed.
The effect of the reverse-blade sword called Soul Nourishing that he obtained before is indeed very important to Luke, but it is still a bit inconvenient to use against enemies.
As for the other sword Shimizu, to be honest, the swords in the market are ten times better than Shimizu.
However, because of Shigure Soen Ryu, Luke, who currently has no special powers of his own, must rely on the water flow effect of Shimizu if he wants to exert the power of Shigure Soen Ryu.
What's more, in places with water, the power of Shigure Soen Ryu can be increased.
So whether he wants to get a second sword or temporarily use Shimizu, various factors must be taken into consideration.
Unfortunately, due to time constraints, Luke could not find a suitable weapon in the trading area, so he could only buy a few ordinary swords with no effect and put them in his portable pocket as a backup.
…
As the three days of preparation came to an end, Luke, who was resting in his room, was transported with a white light to a small empty room where the previous mission was settled.
[World: The Asterisk War]
[Mission difficulty: C level]
[It is detected that the agent has special permissions, and the agent's identity will be implanted.]
[Please choose a camp.]
Luke looked at the interface in front of him and once again felt the benefits of privilege.
As for the camp, if possible, Luke would certainly want to choose a familiar protagonist camp.
However, for the current Luke, there is a more suitable choice than the Seidoukan Academy where the protagonist is.
"Choose, Jie Long Seventh Institute."
Without too much hesitation, Luke made his choice directly.
[It is detected that the agent holds the title 'Swordsman', which will affect the identity implantation.]
[Beginning the mission!]