A high school boy is summoned to another world. But it must be a dream, right?EVERY DAY, I spent the lunch break reading a book. But don’t call me a loner! Although if you did, you wouldn’t be wrong.Everyone else in the building just kept on chattering endlessly. How could they say so little and talk so much? I was almost impressed. Even though we were sophomores, the topics of conversation were always so juvenile. As if that wasn’t enough, some of them were playing with their phones while they were blathering. I was sitting in the middle of the large classroom, unable to focus on my book because of their cacophonous squawking.I didn’t get how my classmates sorted themselves so neatly. Everyone was stuffed into one room—the problem kids and the model students. The elite sports teams hung out by the window, and the sporty girls sat closest to the hallway. They were all stereotypical enough to show up as extras on a TV show.In the middle of the classroom, the straight-A students, the super-talented artsy girls, and the spoiled rich kids all crowded together. The delinquents sat in front, shouting and roughing each other up. The fashion-obsessed mean girls hung out by the window and chirped at each other in loud voices.The geeks who always got bullied sat in the back, whispering to one another. It was like our class had a caste system. But if you asked me, you might as well put the delinquent bullies and the bullied geeks in the same group. They were all equally loud and insufferable.16 | P a g eI didn’t hate everything, though. I liked books. I’d read nonstop ever since I was a little kid—even picture books. You’d expect my eyes to go bad from all that reading, but I’ve never needed glasses. I’d look awful with glasses, spare me ever having to wear them!It was too loud here. I couldn’t focus. Would I have to stoop to the level of my classmates and talk to them? It was too loud, loud, loud!Then I felt something strange.Huh? What…what’s happening?Suddenly, the floor started to glitter with unnatural light. Looking at the glowing floor, I could see layers of round discs and strange figures inscribed with riddles and characters. Wait—is that a magic circle? No—yes, it has to be! I mean, if I imagined a legit magic circle, it would have looked exactly like this. From my perspective, the sudden appearance of a magic circle seemed way more plausible than having a pop quiz in math. Bring it on!I rushed to the back door. It wouldn’t open. I kicked it. It didn’t budge. In a panic, I grabbed a chair and hurled it against the window, but the glass didn’t break. No doubt about it, we’re definitely in a magic circle. I jumped on top of the lockers lining the back wall of the room and scrambled up to the tall locker full of classroom cleaning supplies. Concealed above that locker was an emergency hatch. I jumped up toward the hatch and grabbed the handle. Shoving with all of my weight against it, I broke free to the open sky. I made it; I’m safe!The shining magic circle intensified even more, and the whole classroom filled with blinding white light. Now on the classroom roof, I started to crawl away. But wait…that magic circle must have summoned everyone to another world, right? I thought that only happened in anime, manga, and light novels. There was no way that this could really happen. Plus, I would much rather if the rest of 17 | P a g eJapan just went to another world without me. I kept crawling on the roof away from the light. At this point I should be far enough—I got sucked into the vortex of light, screaming all the way.18 | P a g e19 | P a g eDamn it! It got me! I found myself in a completely white room.With a light that awful and blinding, it couldn’t have taken me to a regular sword-and-sorcery fantasy world. This had to be some sort of sci-fi space invasion. I hoped I didn’t end up in some horror-genre ghost world. But sci-fi didn’t have magic circles, did it? I was brought here by magic, right? No way, that was impossible. Getting whisked away to a fantasy world wasn’t some normal everyday experience, especially not by a magic circle that sucked in an entire class. There wouldn’t be some god that showed up all, “Howdy, I’m just a local neighborhood self-proclaimed god. You’re headed to a fantasy realm! Have fun! Tee hee!” No, this had to be some sort of weird geometry that just resembled a magic circle. But what kind of world would that take me to? A math world? Now that would be a miserable place!If you asked me what something like “prime factorization” was, I would just stare uncomprehending.I suddenly realized that I was totally alone. If this were a light novel, someone would have greeted me when I arrived. It’s a basic trope of the genre—and basic hospitality, seriously! Were they out somewhere? If you’re not going to welcome me, then don’t summon me here in the first place!Nothing to do. Why couldn’t you have summoned me to a bookstore or something, at least? Does Amazon deliver to fantasy worlds yet?Huh? I saw some old guy appear, and he was looking my way. He looked clueless, wandering around like that. You can’t just end up in another world because you got lost looking for your own house! No, no—could this be a world that focused on the stories of confused old people with dementia?“What in the world are you doing here, young man?” he cried.20 | P a g eUh, Gramps, are you hungry or something? You seem kind of grouchy.“No, I am not!” he barked at me.Great. He could hear my thoughts. This crazy old guy was thegod who brought me here.“Watch your mouth, boy! I’m not some senile old man!”Hah, this guy will be easy to mess with, I thought. He’s so senile that he starts screaming for no reason.“I’m not senile! Listen, boy! This is important!”But no one actually believes they’re crazy, especially not crazy people.“That’s enough! Stop already! Just tell me why you’re here!”What? He was the one who summoned me here. Why was he asking me? And by the way, it’s pretty hypocritical for someone who’s constantly peeping into my private thoughts to tell me to stop.We were in an epic tale of old people with dementia aimlessly milling about. The title: The Demon King Hasn’t Had Breakfast Yet?!The latest smash hit!“Why won’t you take this seriously?” The old man sighed. “Everyone else is already over there. Why weren’t you with the rest of them?”Uh, how was I supposed to know that it would make a difference if I was out of the room?“I wanted to summon all of you at once,” he said. “But you’re the only one out of place.”Is that supposed to be my problem?! You’re the one who decided to bring us here! I recalled my escape from the classroom.“What in tarnation? You got to the roof through a hidden hatch?” The old man was exasperated.21 | P a g eI chuckled. I’d eluded the clutches of an all-powerful god by climbing a locker to reach an emergency hatch. What a stupid oversight on his part.“Why would I know about some escape hatch?” he shouted. “I don’t have time to mess around with architecture!”So why wasn’t I safe after I got out of the building? It should have worked.“I summoned you all according to a wavelength that matched the number of people. If one person was missing, the waveform wouldn’t line up. But it all worked out in the end and you got here just in time…”So, he really could read my thoughts. That meant…Amazon probably didn’t deliver here. I’d have to settle for whichever book stores franchised in this world.“I’m not summoning anything big like that just for your entertainment,” he said. “I can’t just make the latest volumes of your favorite series vanish from the store shelves and appear here every time they’re released. That would inconvenience the employees.”He was quick to find faults with my plans. And I realized he was even reading my subconscious thoughts. But talk about inconveniencing someone! He was treating bookstore employees better than me! He could stand to treat me a little better, considering everything.“Unfortunately, it’s my judgment upon your world to summon your group here according to the wavelength I sent out. I didn’t choose to summon you in particular.”Damn him. I had no clue what he was rambling about, but if it meant I couldn’t read books, then that was just the worst! It seemed like this world wasn’t satisfied with just making life hard forbookworms; they wanted to stop us from reading altogether. So I 22 | P a g eguess this is a battle royale scenario? I was summoned to this world to take them all down! I thought.“Wrong!” the old guy said. “You’re not here to fight your school buddies. If you do that, it’ll just be you bearing a grudge.”Is he telling me to forget—“Just shut up and listen to me!”So then get on with it! The old guy kept prattling on and on. Just hurry up with the “Howdy, it’s me, a self--proclaimed god. Now go fight with swords and magic in a fantasy world! Tee hee!” already.“What do you mean, ‘tee hee’?! And I’m not self-proclaimed either! Everyone else is done preparing and already on their way. If you don’t hurry up, you’ll get to the other world utterly alone. Then you won’t be able to meet back up with your classmates. You’ll be left behind, gosh darn it!”So everyone else was together. I could tell this was going to be some cliché Middle Ages world. That meant no books, and definitely no chain bookstores. Who knows, maybe I could still get something delivered by Amazon.“Of course there’s no Amazon delivery!” the old guy yelled. “People would order things left and right! Just what are you hoping to do in a fantasy world with a bunch of chain bookstores and books you ordered on Amazon?”Dude, I just want to read books, I don’t want to do anything else at all. And what was so wrong with books, anyway? It wouldn’t’ve been so bad if he decided to summon all of the aspiring novelists to one place—“Be quiet! That’s enough!”The old guy started explaining stuff, but I didn’t listen to most of it. It sounded like the usual clichés; a typical fantasy kingdom filled with monsters and legends and all that junk. This explanation is so bo-o-oring, at least you could do me a favor and write it down? Then 23 | P a g eI’d have something to read. I doubted the old dude would be much of a writer, but still.“So, let’s get started with the preparations,” he said.Oh great, I felt like I’d been here all day and we were only getting to preparations now? Just how long was this going to go on for? Were we going to have a food budget? Did we have to argue over which restaurant to eat at? Were there even restaurants in this world?“Choose your skill. It’s first come, first served,” he added with a sigh.“First come, first served?” I screamed. “You useless old geezer!”“Excuse me, I am a god,” he snapped. “I’m not just some old geezer! Your thoughts are bad enough, why does the first thing out of your mouth have to be an insult?!”There were forty-three people in my class, which meant all the best skills were undoubtedly taken. It was the worst-case scenario. He still hasn’t even shown me the list of leftover skills…“Just choose your skill already.” He sighed. “I never thought the day would come when some brat would tire out a god.”Finally! A large blackboard covered in words was floating in front of me. It took him long enough to get to the point. What a selfish god. Ugh, why couldn’t he just hand me a tablet or something? Could he not figure out how to turn one on? Maybe the old man was so out of touch he didn’t know tablets existed. I vaguely heard him muttering something. “Stop making fun of me… Stop making fun of me…” He was probably reciting some obscure Chinese poetry. I decided to ignore the senile old geezer and take a look at the list of skills. I read them all in one fell swoop. There were tons, but almost all of them were taken. Did I have to go without a skill?24 | P a g eI saw the following text at the top of the skill list: “You can allocate 1 point to each stat. Alternately, you can set your stats by rolling dice (10 points for two dice).” I had 50 points to allocate. Obviously, it would be better to have a higher number, but all of my base stats were 10. Even if I allocated all my points to a single stat, that would only get me to 60. I couldn’t do that, obviously. I didn’t know what the maximum would be after leveling up, either. “1 point each” was grayed out. As for rolling the dice…screw that. If each roll of the dice cost 10 points, and the best I could roll was a 12, the odds of doing better than just spending all 50 points normally were abysmal. Next I read, “Weapons/Armor/Items: 5 to 50P each.”Disposable items like potions and antidotes were about 5 points each. Weapons and armor were between 5 and 30 points. And a set used up all 50 points. I wanted medicine, but it was an inefficient way to spend my points. I should try to learn healing magic. It would be pretty scary to start the game without a weapon, but those jerks had snatched up all the basic weapons and armor anyhow. Picking last is completely unfair!Out of more than a hundred items, the only one left was the “Generic Villager A Set.” I saw “Holy Knight Set,” “Archsage Set,” and “Armor Tank Set,” all for the same price of 50 points—the right price for a powerful set. But I had to settle for Generic Villager A, also 50 points. What a total rip off!“Contact Lenses (Better eyesight): 30P.”I definitely wanted those contacts. Bad eyesight would be a huge handicap. I would buy them in a heartbeat if they only cost 5 points, and maybe I wouldn’t look like I was glaring all the time, but 30 points was just ridiculous! I supposed if your eyesight was really bad then they’d be worth the price. There was a good chance that this world didn’t have any glasses. But 30 points!25 | P a g eNext, I read “Combat Skills: 10P.”That sounded fair and reliable. And the price would leave me with points to invest elsewhere, too. I saw Fencing, Sword Fighting, Polearm Mastery, Archery, Whip Mastery, and every other type of martial arts that I could imagine. All sold out.The only one left was “Cane Mastery (The ability to wield a cane or staff): 10P.” I’d need a cane, but 10 points wasn’t so bad. But how could I survive a fantasy world armed with what was basically a stick? I wasn’t a kid trying to harass a bunch of turtles at the beach! And even then, a stick wouldn’t be enough. Not that I would ever bully turtles, I’m not a weirdo!The last category read “Abilities: 10P ~ 30P.” Not cheap, but this is where secondary world fantasies really stood out. They were practically cheat codes! There was the crowd favorite, “Experience Boost.” There was “Black Magic.” “Bandit’s Plunder”—what the hell? There were even psychic abilities like Clairvoyance. I saw so many awesome abilities—damn it, they were all taken! And the ones left, my god, they were abysmal!The first one in the list was “General Health: 30P.” I could see that being really useful. There definitely wouldn’t be any hospitals over there. But I couldn’t ignore the price. Sure, I could try to lead a peaceful, healthy life in a fantasy world, but what good is health if I can’t even win a fight against the first monsters I meet? 30 points was just too rich for my blood.Next up: “Walking (The ability to walk exceptionally well): 30P.” Again, it seemed practical but not worth 30 points. In a world with “Experience Boost,” how could being able to walk exceptionally welleven compare? Was everyone else just stumbling around like a bunch of drunk toddlers? Was some accursed demon king just playing a prank on this world? Could this next skill be any better?26 | P a g e“Calisthenics (Skilled at exercises): 30P.” Calisthenics?! Please don’t tell me that guy who does the exercises on TV is in this world? I couldn’t handle it. What a total joke.Last and perhaps most terrifying: “Sensitivity (Your body becomes more sensitive): 30P.” They had to be kidding me. How could they possibly make teenage boys more sensitive? What was this, a boys’ love universe? I didn’t need sensitivity! Although half the students were girls, anyway; was this some weird sex world? To be totally blunt, I don’t think any girl would want to practice this kind of skill with me, but should the impossible happen, I’m ready and willing.Until I saw the fourth category, they may as well have been sending us to the dark ages. “Magic: 10~30P.” Jackpot! The Four Elements, Lightning, Healing. These are perfect, but they must all be taken, right? Seeing those skills made a warm swell of emotions flow through my chest. I’m not crying, you’re crying! I noticed that the old guy had averted his eyes from me.Only four types of magic remained. “Heat: Magic that raises the temperature 30P.” That would be pretty handy if I were reborn as an otherworldly vending machine. Yes, I’ll take another coffee, thank you! At least people would pay me for that.“Packing (Magic that can pack boxes): 30P.” Oh, so I can go work in an Amazon warehouse?“Weight (Increase or decrease the weight of objects): 30P.” What, to lower the postage on my shipments?“Movement (Assistance when moving): 30P.” Huh? How wasn’t this the same as that walking ability? These abilities were all awesome if I wanted to work at the goddamned post office!The fifth category was “Special Abilities.” Things like sword mastery, magic mastery, lowering the amount of experience 27 | P a g erequired for certain tasks. If you grabbed one of those skills alongside the “Hunting Experience Boost,” you’d basically have a cheat code for leveling up. Surprising no one, both were taken. There was seriously nothing left…“Corporate Initiative (Skill at reporting, contacting, and consulting others).” Others being who?! Your fantasy regional manager? Were we in a businessman universe? If you leveled up enough, you’d become the CEO of a multinational corporation? Were the dungeons furnished like office buildings?“Master of None (Slower level-up rate).” Now that was a straight up penalty! Who in the world would take that? Was it a trap for anyone who somehow misclicked?“Blockhead (Get worse as you level up).” Another trap option! Why would anyone purposefully choose abilities that made them worse as they spent more time in the world?Maybe “Master of None” meant that you leveled up more slowly, but you had an easier time acquiring skills. But that still didn’t explain “Blockhead.” Was it for idiots? Or people who just wanted to cheer on another player? Truly a fate worse than death.The final category was “Titles.” They were all cheap, about 10 points, but none of them seemed like they had any obvious use. They probably just helped determine your job.But even if a title didn’t give me an immediate buff, it might be the most effective option in the long run. Looking through, I saw options like “Master Swordsman,” “Guardian,” “Grand Magus”—goddamn it! What the hell! Even these options were sold out! These were the kinds of titles that spoke to the heart of a dweeby twelve year old. Yet they were all taken by my classmates, who were ostensibly mature high school sophomores! I guess being called a “Master Swordsman” in a fantasy world isn’t as unspeakably lame as it was when I went through that phase in junior high. Still, even in a 28 | P a g efantasy world, I couldn’t go around giving myself an over-the-top title. Good luck trying to live up to the expectations of the titles you picked.But at least those titles were kind of cool. The only two titles left were the absolute worst!One was “Shut-In (Doesn’t leave their home, protected by their dwelling).” So a recluse who lives with their parents. Uh, but weren’t we summoned to another world? There is no home here to refuse to leave! It would be impossible to be a proper shut-in even if you tried. Maybe if there was book delivery. But there’s not!The final title: “NEET (Unemployed).” Shouldn’t we all be more concerned about getting killed by monsters than whether we have day jobs?Those were all the ways I could spend my stat points. The list was over. My life was over. This old man must’ve gone completely senile. Just what in the world did he expect me to do?“Hey, Gramps,” I called to him, “look at me, won’t you? Don’t you have anything to say to me? Why don’t you stop pretending I’m not here and look me in the eye?”No matter how much I tried to get his attention, he kept his gaze turned away from me. From the moment the blackboard popped up, he acted like I had become someone else’s problem.Some time passed. The old dude was sitting down a few feet in front of me, just asking me over and over again what I wanted to do.He had taken us high school students out of our normal lives and brought us here for some mysterious reason. It was the will of a god, divine providence, whatever you wanted to call it. You’d think that there would be a good reason for that happening, but hey, maybe it was just some unavoidable coincidence. Since you couldn’t 29 | P a g ejust throw kids into a fantasy world arbitrarily, you sweetened the deal by giving them a bunch of special skills. Sure, that made sense.If it was all a big mistake, then the least this god could do was give us all skills to help us survive in the world. That was the role of a god, after all. And if there was no mistake, if there really was some reason why we all got summoned here, then the skills would be necessary to help us survive and accomplish our hypothetical quest.Either way, that was the point of the skill list that the old guy kept asking me to choose from. But none of the remaining skills would help me survive here. None of them would help me fulfill any particular mission. You aren’t doing your job as a god! So what’s even the point?He tried to stammer out an excuse, and I glared at him. He sat down cross-legged and I glowered at him. I put all the anger I could into my stare.The old man’s eyes grew shiny with tears. As they dripped down his face into a puddle, he explained himself.“Up until now, I’ve only ever summoned about thirty people at once. There were always plenty of skills to choose from. A lot of people even saved skills for the people who came after them. But this time, I had forty-three people, so even the ones at the end had to scramble for the best skills.“I’ve never dealt with someone far enough from the summoning circle that they arrived after everyone else already left,” he continued. “All of the skills here are the remnants of people who have achieved something in this world, recognized by the gods. That is a list of all the talents that have earned the recognition of the gods—talents that belonged to heroes who became gods, or even surpassed us. And it’s not just a list—these are actual remnants of those heroes’ souls, each one alive with its own feelings. 30 | P a g e“Even a god cannot fully understand someone who’s surpassed him. It’s up to you to choose a skill, feel its soul, understand its way of life, and receive the power it bestows upon you. Each skill here comes from someone who has achieved greatness, you see? True mastery comes from understanding the soul of a skill—how its original bearer achieved what they did. If you can’t do that, then even the most powerful skills become meaningless, or even an annoyance.”The old fart continued between overwrought sobs, “Even I don’t understand all of this. There are so many skills that I’ve never seen before. However, each skill has some meaning, some purpose. They wouldn’t be on the list otherwise.”Tears streamed down his cheeks. He stood up at times for emphasis, but his legs trembled like those of a baby fawn. This is bad, his eyes look totally deranged! It was like a demon had possessed him; he was practically foaming at the mouth. And what he said about those skills—that was crazy! The concept was way too dangerous! He was talking about souls that surpassed gods! Souls?! These were more than souls, they were straight up demons! Old dude, you’ve got to get out of here, too!“They surpass the truth that I know and the providence I dispense, even as a god,” he said.That’s messed up! You can’t surpass a god!“This perilous position is a golden opportunity! Over the precipice I go!” he shouted wildly. “Here it comes! Here it comes!”This is bad. He’s gone off the deep end.“Here it is, this is the truth!” he cried.Did he have a nervous breakdown?“Here it is! I’m baring my soul! My gift!”What was he talking about?31 | P a g e“I’m giving you everything!” he wailed.Everything? Even delivery service for all my books? What was he talking about now?“All the skills! You can take every last one!”Every last one?! Was he giving me everything…no, was he trying to surpass his god form and become one of those souls—or demons—himself?! Even a god shouldn’t go that far!“Hang on, hang on!” I yelled as I realized what he was doing. “I don’t want them, dumbass! That’d be like playing on nightmare difficulty!”“Hah! Do you suffer? Laugh through the pain!”You stupid old man! He was raving mad. “Farewell!” he roared.As the world faded to black all I could do was scream, “Farewell my ass!”I was in the middle of a forest. My head hurt. He really did send me to the other world.There was no one around. I didn’t want to look at my stats, but I couldn’t avoid it any longer.“Status,” I said.“Please roll your dice,” said a voice inside my head.Oh, so now I need to roll the loaded dice? Hang on—he really did give me all of those skills?! I wanted to scrub the stench of those garbage skills off of me.Two dice manifested in my hand. I chucked them blindly. Both of the dice landed on a side that read “M.” “What the hell is going on?!” I shouted.“Please assign your first roll to an attribute,” the voice said.32 | P a g eWas M some sort of ability modifier? If my ability scores were 10 points by default, how many points would M add? It must raise my stats, it has to. Unless M was short for minus? There was only one way to find out.“I’m betting it all on luck,” I said.After all the misfortune of today’s events, I was desperate for some luck. I didn’t have time to worry about strength.“Luck plus M,” the voice said. “Please assign your second roll.”Was that the most it could boost my luck? If M meant minus, then that meant my luck just dropped to 0.Worst-case scenario, it could go negative. But I had to choose luck—If my HP went to 0, then I’d be dead. Any other stat was just as risky. Plus, I could use as much luck as I could get. Maybe it would even reduce damage dealt. I’d have to deal with the consequences down the line, but I was desperate.“Luck,” I said.“Luck increased,” the voice said. “Displaying Status.”NAME: HarukaRACE: HumanLV: 01JOB: —HP: 10 MP: 10VIT: 10 POW: 10 SPE: 10 DEX: 10 RES: 10 INT: 10LUK: Max (Above Limit)SP: 0COMBAT: Cane Mastery Lv1MAGIC: Heat Lv1, Movement Lv1, Packing Lv1, Weight Lv133 | P a g eSKILLS: General Health Lv1, Sensitivity Lv1, Calisthenics Lv1, Walking Lv1, Consultant Lv1, Servitude Lv1TITLES: Shut-In Lv1, NEET Lv1, Loner Lv1ABILITIES: Corporate Proactiveness Lv1, Master of None Lv1, Blockhead Lv1EQUIPMENT: Cloth BagMy luck was above the max limit. Which means that M meant Max! Why not just write the damn word, it’s only three letters! I should’ve used it on power or speed. I screwed up.It wasn’t a total waste. Luck was also a necessary attribute. And since I didn’t know what “M” meant at the time, it was the right call. I couldn’t just gamble my life on those dice.But after Max it read “Above Limit.” Was that a good thing? I’d never seen that before in a game. It had to be good. I assumed that I was rolling regular six-sided dice, but I rolled an M. That was the best roll, a perfect roll. Any other result would have spelled disaster. At the very least, I knew that luck was on my side.So even if I leveled up, my luck wouldn’t go up anymore. Max stats came up pretty often in the light novels I read. And looking at my status, the geezer really did dump all the leftover skills on me. They were all trash, but two of them were new to me. Did I somehow earn them with my lucky roll? I took a look.“Loner: Lives alone without companions. Cannot form a party. Wields Servitude.”“Servitude: Shares experience.”So nothing’s changed, huh? You didn’t need to make it my ability!34 | P a g eI came here alone and friendless to begin with. Somewhere deep down, my inner pervert had been praying that this was a harem universe. I stifled my inner pervert’s tears.“Servitude” was an extra skill granted by “Loner.” I assumed it meant that I could at least collect some monsters who’d join me. Overcome with sadness and loneliness, tears of gratitude stained my cheeks. At least there will be some fluffy monsters to cheer me up.I almost forgot about my bag! It was the Generic Villager A equipment set. I had no way of knowing how safe I was in this forest. I would feel way more secure if I had a stick in my hands.I emptied the bag. These rags would be a hassle to wear but I was definitely grateful for the leather boots—wearing indoor shoes in the forest could be hazardous. The cloak was also better than nothing, and I could use it for defense if necessary. Since it was black, it would also hide me from monsters at night. Surprisingly, Generic Villager A’s gear wasn’t half-bad.The leather gloves were nice, too. Digging deeper in the bag, I found a ring. Generic Villager A must have worn it, and it might have some effect, so I put it on. I was glad the bag had so much gear. Who knows what else I might find in here? Despite its light weight, it was full of useful stuff.I looked around and didn’t see anyone. Not a trace…Did my classmates get summoned to the same area? I couldn’t decide whether to bother looking for them. I was sure the rest of them were all together, and there is safety in numbers. Also, unlike me, they got all those ridiculous cheat skills. If I wanted to stay in one piece, catching up with them might be a good idea. Except…my main worry wasn’t whether they were strong enough. The problem was that they were my classmates.35 | P a g eI was a Loner anyway, so I couldn’t join any party. Even if they were strong, they wouldn’t be able to help me. Plus, I knew I couldn’t rely on them. There were too many bad eggs.So, going it alone as usual? Yeah. Tracking down my classmates would be a total chore, anyway.The forest was too dense to see much. The dappled sunlight filled the undergrowth around me with ominous shadows. There might be monsters hiding in those shadows. My eyes struggled to focus. Did I need glasses? Wait a second! If I got everything, where are those expensive contact lenses? When I rummaged through my bag, I found a small container—and inside it, a glass bottle filled with some sort of fluid. My search turned up two other similar bottles. Maybe one of them?It was my first time putting in contacts, and I was in the wilderness. These weren’t exactly sanitary conditions, but if I didn’t put them in, I might never escape this forest—and honestly, not being able to see was pretty scary. On the other hand, if I dropped the contacts, I would really be stranded. Okay, I could spread out a cloth first so I wouldn’t risk losing them. Why was I so anxious?I put the contacts in. “Ugh…” I moaned. A headache suddenly bloomed behind my eyes. Was it the contacts’ fault? I didn’t have any friends who wore contacts in school, so I didn’t know what to expect. I just have to get used to it, I guess.When I turned around, I could see everything around me in eerie detail. The scene instantly impressed itself onto my mind.I could even see bugs on the leaves of distant trees. Having good sight is pretty gross, I thought. With eyes like this, it’d be easy to travel at night. I also had the Walk ability. Let me just clean this up—huh?!Just when I went to put the contact solution away my fingers brushed against the two other bottles, and I saw the labels pop up—36 | P a g e“Potion” and “Antidote.” So that’s what they were. I took another look at my status and saw a new skill.“Appraisal Lv1.”So, I had an appraisal ability? But why did it suddenly appear? That was strange… It must have been an added bonus from the contacts. Sadly, I couldn’t appraise my contacts while they were in my eyes, so I couldn’t confirm my theory.Still, I needed whatever benefits I could get. Before the old geezer became totally incoherent, he told me I would be able to understand the language in this world once I got here. And now, with Appraisal, I felt ready for whatever the world threw at me. Well, if I’m not, game over.I used Appraisal on my surroundings as I walked through the shadowy woods. It was almost fun, like a virtual botany textbook. I got a notification that some mushrooms nearby were edible. Appraisal really will come in handy!“Potential Mushrooms: Food. Latent power up.”So, they boosted my latent power, whatever that was. Something latent inside of me? Let’s not encourage whatever lurks in the heart of an unemployed shut-in loner.I walked toward the mushrooms. While there was only one bunch of Potential Mushrooms, there were more edible mushrooms nearby. The forest floor was dotted with clusters of enduranceboosting and magic-boosting mushrooms, and some that recovered HP and MP. I supposed there wouldn’t be any magic potions growing on trees, but good food would probably keep me healthy enough.I didn’t have anywhere in particular to go, so I kept heading in the direction of the mushrooms, collecting a ton of them as I went. It was fun to use Appraisal and pick the mushrooms, so I kept doing it without really thinking much. I collected way more than should have been able to fit in my small bag, but it didn’t feel heavy at all.37 | P a g eSorry, Villager A, for thinking your bag was crappy. It was really a bag of holding. The ability to understand the language, an appraisal ability, and an item bag that’s bigger on the inside—it was a surprisingly solid start.The 50-point Generic Villager A set still seemed a little too expensive, but maybe that was the price to pay in this world to get all these valuable basics.If only I could’ve just taken the Generic Villager A set and ignored all the other bizarre skills. Then the old geezer wouldn’t have given himself an aneurysm shouting at me. I wondered if the other gods were getting him professional help now.I even had medicine, and there was still more in the bottom that I hadn’t inspected yet. I really lucked out with this bag! I mean, I probably should have realized that something was up when it produced a three-foot stick and knee-length leather boots. This bag should’ve been way bigger. I wanted to stay calm, but I was internally freaking out. The bag that broke the laws of physics pushed me over the edge. Now I have to figure out where I am, I thought.I continued to appraise everything as I explored the area around me, waving my stick through the air as I walked. I’m definitely dead meat if monsters show up. My weapon was a literal stick. My weapon skill was supposedly Cane Mastery, but I wondered if stick swinging even counted as a fighting style.I narrowed my eyes. The way ahead was bright; I was finally leaving the forest behind. It really is awesome to be able to see so far! It was like my eyes had built-in optical zoom. Thank you, beloved contacts!Soon, I reached a riverbed. A river—water! But I couldn’t drink unboiled water, so I kept walking.38 | P a g eBesides, I don’t have anything to draw the water with, I thought, but as I reached into the bag, the words “Cup,” “Canteen,” and “Pouch” all floated up into my head, and I pulled out a canteen full of water! I drank it. Delicious mineral water! I guzzled it down. This stuff would be expensive if you bought it from a vending machine. If I could just do online orders, I could get the best mineral water and all my books, too…Maybe I could get books if they were put right in the middle of the magic circle that summoned us? I figured if a cat or something wandered into the circle, it would end up coming here, but the same wasn’t necessarily true for books or an Amazon box.I could see fish in the river. So…baked fish and mushrooms for dinner, I thought. I stood next to the river with my stick primed and ready for an epic piscine battle.The baked mushrooms were tasty. As it turned out, I couldn’t catch fish by standing knee-deep in a river waving a stick. I could have thrown it at the fish, but then I would have no fish and no stick.I walked on until I found a cave of some sort. Or was it a cavern? Is there a difference? Maybe there was some sort of cave boss, some monster waiting to ambush me if I went in. I crept up to the mouth of the cave and peered inside. Phew, nothing there. No cave boss.“Excuse me?” I walked inside, calling out like a customer in an empty store.It felt like trespassing in someone else’s house. The cavern was wide and deep, maybe even 20 feet by 20 feet—much bigger than my 100-square-foot room back in Japan. It was pitch-black inside. Standing at the entrance, I opened my bag. It was definitely bigger on the inside—I reached in and pulled out an entire tent. I guess that isn’t too weird in a magical fantasy world.39 | P a g e“Magic Tent: When activated with magic, opens and closes automatically. Room temperature. Bug and monster repellant.”Hah, so monsters are no better than bugs?“Magic Lantern: When activated with magic, switches between On, Off, and Blink settings. Bug and monster repellant.” Take that, monsters! It could even blink. I could use this lantern to signal in a car without taillights, not that there were any cars here. But how was I supposed to “activate with magic”? I’d never used magic before, but it was worth a shot.“O magic power that dwells within me, I unleash you unto the world—anything?”What if I was having some sort of fever dream? What if I just shouted that out loud in the middle of class?The Bag of Holding was big enough, so why didn’t anyone think to pack an instruction manual? Lantern in hand, I continued my experiments.“O magic power, I command you to light the lantern!”Still nothing? Please, please tell me I’m not insane…I kept trying. I sat cross-legged and focused. I tried to sense my magic power. Take it, control it. But nothing felt different. Damn it, I don’t know how to use magic! Did I need to use a specific spell orchant? I didn’t want to give up yet. I wasn’t crazy. This was definitely a magical world.“Just turn on, you piece of crap!” I shouted.The lantern flicked on. “Turn off,” I commanded, and it turned off. “Turn on” turned it on. That’s all?If that was all it took, why didn’t the description just say so? Instead of all that ostentatious “When activated with magic” twaddle they could’ve just written “Pick it up and tell it to turn on.” I had 40 | P a g ebeen on the verge of inventing ritual dances for nothing. Though Iguess acting like a mighty wizard is kind of fun.So all I had to do to use magic was to touch whatever I was commanding and tell it what to do. There was no need for “Undying light of the firmament, I summon and bind thee!” or “By the ancient blood of my ancestors, bring forth your gross incandescence!” or any fancy incantations at all. Honestly, it would be way cooler if I had to say that stuff.I took the tent out of the bag and said “Open.” It sprang right up, even though I had thought up all sorts of fanciful spells to try. I’m glad it opened, but I want to say something like “Against ravenous beast and creeping vermin, offer me your solace!” Magic was almost dull without that kind of thing.It was getting dark outside. I’d traveled as far as I could today. It’s not like I had a destination in mind, so this was as good a place to stop as any.Not knowing what to do with myself, I stared at my hands for a while and noticed that ring. That was an item, right? If it was Villager A’s engagement ring, I wanted to give it back. Villager A was really saving my butt.“Appraisal,” I said.“The Ring of the Destitute: For the soul of the abandoned life. Lifesaving. ? ? ?”Huh? Is this ring cursed or something? That sounded terrible! Other than “lifesaving,” it had question marks where the actual effects should be. And what did “lifesaving” mean?“Lifesaving: Immediately before HP reaches zero, restores MP and HP to full.”Wow, I can even use Appraisal on descriptions. In any case, lifesaving was an amazing skill to have. It would protect me against 41 | P a g eeven mortal wounds. But did that description mean it saved your life at the cost of your soul? I didn’t get it.I gathered some firewood from the nearby forest. There wasn’t a lot of dry wood, but I found enough to start a fire. I wanted to repel monsters, and the cave was damp, so I definitely needed to get one going.I started by using my Heat Magic to raise the temperature of the wood, a method I’d figured out to bake the mushrooms earlier. Eventually, something sparked. I nearly cheered before I realized it was just the kindling. I pushed the temperature even higher, and finally the wood started to smolder and burn. I felt like my Heat Magic level must’ve gone up? When I checked my status, I saw “Fire Magic Lv1” and “Heat Magic Lv2.” Not only did my skill level improve, but I learned basic Fire Magic, too! So starting one fire was enough to give me that ability? I had no idea how skill acquisition worked in this world. Maybe Fire Magic was part of a skill tree connected to Heat Magic?Until now, my only plan for fights was to swing a stick at the enemy, so Fire Magic sounded good to me. I wanted to practice more, but I could barely keep my eyes open. Before I drifted off to sleep, I checked my status one more time.NAME: HarukaRACE: Human LV: 01JOB: —HP: 10MP: 10VIT: 10 POW: 10 42 | P a g eSPE: 10 DEX: 10 RES: 10 INT: 10LUK: MAX (Above Limit)SP: 0COMBAT: Cane Mastery Lv1MAGIC: Heat Lv1 Movement Lv1, Packing Lv1, Weight Lv1SKILLS: General Health Lv1, Sensitivity Lv1, Calisthenics Lv1, Walking Lv1, Consultant Lv1 Servitude Lv1, Clairvoyance Lv1, Presence Detection Lv1, Enemy Tracking Lv1TITLES: Shut-In Lv1, NEET Lv1, Loner Lv1ABILITIES: Corporate Proactiveness Lv1, Master of None Lv1, Blockhead Lv1EQUIPMENT: Tree Branch, Clothes Set, Leather Glove, Leather Boots, Cloak, Contact Lenses, Ring of the Destitute, Cloth BagI figured I must’ve gotten Clairvoyance because while I was wandering around, I kept focusing on faraway objects. Thank god for my contacts. Good eyesight really was a blessing. Who knew how badly I would’ve done without Appraisal and Clairvoyance.Is it just me, or is this more like a survival game? Normally you’d get summoned by some princess or a beautiful sorceress, right? I just got dropped in the middle of a forest. Divine providence brought us all here, so it must have done so for a reason. Were we destined to start new lives in this world, no strings attached? No, there had to be monster-slaying or some ridiculous quest involved. I wouldn’t mind just living here, I thought. However…if this is a survival game then I’ll be stuck in these woods for the rest of my life. Oh no!43 | P a g e“Presence Detection” and “Enemy Tracking” were also new skills. I guessed that I got them because I was so paranoid about monsters ambushing me. Was it really that easy to get new skills? Maybe all the skills offered in that white room were overrated after all. Just what did that old geezer do to himself, anyway? No, I shouldn’t think about it. He said that skills came from beings greater than the gods. That sounded dangerous.My first day in this new world came to an end. Now to dream of online book delivery…