A/N: I have made an email and a Reddit account with the same name, so if you see me there, say hi! Links to them are on my profile. Looks like I'm starting to get reviews asking for chapters, does that mean I made it as a fanfic author? XD
Answering your reviews:
Shady Mo: Thanks for your advice, will take it into account. Regarding the King piece, thanks for the reminder!
Sin Danimal: I won't leave this story unfinished!
Kenrio: I understand your viewpoint, but Sona is working with incomplete information right now. What's she supposed to believe? Issei suddenly knowing how to use mana, then learning how to hide his mana, all within 2 days? Or someone else is doing all that? He had never shown signs of magic until now after all. :P
Concor the great: Wish you the best of luck getting back into writing!
Cleddyf: I agree with you that Issei has his moments, but what I mean is that Issei will never create complex strategies like Sona does. His first instinct is always to overpower the enemy, until he grows to become a leader of course. Even then, he will never be a Sherlock Holmes.
Guest: I want to be able to write long chapters too :(
Chronostorm: Thanks for the reminder!
And thank you to everyone who said that they liked the story!
Thank you to all the rest of the reviewers! I'm reading each and every one of them, so keep 'em comin!
Story Start
This fanfic is inspired by various Issei with The Gamer's power fanfictions.
High School DxD is a Japanese light novel written by Ichiei Ishibumi, illustrated by Miyama-Zero, and published by Fujimi Shobo. The Gamer is a webtoon written by Sung Sang-Young, illustrated by Sang-Ah, and hosted by Naver Webtoon. I do not own any of them.
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
'Ddraig'
[BOOST or Game Text]
Issei had lunch after coming home with Silk and spent his afternoon rather peacefully. Although he seems to have alerted Akeno that he wasn't a normal human, yesterday also proved that when concentrating he was able to hide his powers. That meant that he wasn't in any danger, and with any luck, he would be able to live out his life without any more interactions with the devils!
'Pin-pon!~' The doorbell rang.
Issei may be dumb, but he wasn't an idiot. Seeing Akeno's suspicion of him yesterday, and today 2 new people came to visit him, claiming that Sona was "too busy" with her student council work? How dumb did they think he was?
Sat opposite him in his room was Kiba Yuuto. Evidently, Issei didn't hide his suspicion well enough, but Yuuto misunderstood the reason for it. "Well Shitori-kaichou and Rias-buchou are childhood friends, so Shitori-kaichou asked for a favor from her. Nevertheless, I'm glad to see that you've recovered so quickly."
Seeing the school's white knight smiling brightly at him made his jealousy bubble up, but he squashed it down. No point in antagonising someone who was most likely stronger than him.
['Acting' has leveled up]
Making small talk with Yuuto, Issei snuck a peek at his partner beside him. Toujou Koneko was even cuter up close, but she was completely ignoring him in favor of nibbling some snacks his mother brought up. He didn't mind though, her coldness was part of her charm!
"I'll go get more drinks and snacks, be right back." Issei stood up and walked to the kitchen. He hoped that leaving them alone would let him gain some information about their reason for being here. As long as he didn't use mana he shouldn't get detected right?
While Issei was rummaging about the kitchen for more snacks for Koneko, he concentrated on his Hyper Auditory Sensitivity, spying on their conversation.
"... Koneko-chan, is it safe?"
"Unn. No spells. Only traces, like Sona-kaichou said."
"That's a relief. What about Hyoudou? Any changes on him?"
"Dragon scent stronger. Maybe awakened. But no mana from him."
"I see… Looks like it is like Sona hypothesized."
"... Maybe."
Issei sighed. There was a part of him that was hoping it was just a coincidence, and he wouldn't have to deal with any more supernatural shit for a while.'That confirms that they aren't normals. It would be too convenient. iF i'M lUcKy I wOn'T hAvE tO dEaL wItH dEvIlS aNyMorE. Fuck.'
Ddraig was tired of his host's self-deprecating thoughts and decided to cut them off. 'That would never have happened.'
'Huh Ddraig? What do you mean?'
'No matter how weak, you have a connection to me, one of the strongest dragons in the universe. And no dragon ever lives a peaceful life. All dragons draw the strong to them, whether as allies… or as enemies.'
[The perk 'Sekiryuutei' has been updated with new information.]
[You have gained the skill, 'Draconic Aura']
['Gamer's Mind' has been activated.]
Issei's rage at the unfairness turned into a muted simmer thanks to Gamer's Mind, allowing him to prevent his reaction from alerting the two unknowns above. 'It wasn't Ddraig's fault, he said all dragons had this power, and from how he said 'no dragon ever lives a peaceful life', they had no control over it either. Also, without Ddraig he would have died in the accident.'
'Thanks for telling me, Ddraig.'
[Reputation with Ddraig has increased.]
The other dragons weren't able to control that aspect of their power, but he swore to do so, to regain his uneventful daily life.
[You have received the quest 'Action-Adventure to Slice of Life'.]
Learn to control your draconic aura.
Quest Requirements: Reach level 100 in the skill 'Draconic Aura'
Quest Completion Reward: ?, ?, 150,000,000 EXP, ¥100,000,000
Failure Conditions: Fail to do so within 1 year.
Quest Failure Penalty: Never have more than a month without events.
Quest Rejection Penalty: Never have more than a month without events.
Do you accept? [Yes] / [No]
The quest appeared right as he swore to control the dragon's power, so it was obvious who the quest giver was. Not to mention the quest's name… Looking at the rewards made Issei's eyes bulge in shock. He had never seen that amount of money before! How does that even work, where's the money coming from?! And the exp! What level would he reach if he got that much! And there's still 2 more mystery rewards!
However, after taking a closer look at the requirements and conditions, Issei's excitement died. The rejection penalty and the failure penalty was the same, the complete opposite of what he wanted, so it was impossible to reject. Thus the only option is to try his best, complete the quest. "Yes"
[You have accepted the quest.]
'Sure, 1 year to do what dragons can't, how hard could i- Nope, no more tempting Murphy!'
[For respecting Murphy's Law, you have increased LUK by 1]
Issei released another sigh.
Returning back to his room, he saw Silk outside his door. She had run off after Yuuto and Koneko entered the house, and Issei had to play host so he wasn't able to go searching for her. He planned to search for her after the two had left, figuring that Silk was afraid of strangers, so the last thing he expected was for Silk to be peeking into his room. She was peering through the open door with its tail raised in caution, while Koneko stared back at Silk, and lastly, Yuuto doing his best to contain his grin at the both of them.
Issei went into the room and put down the snacks and drinks before he went back out and grabbed Silk. Surprised at the sudden movement, she struggled for a moment before she realised it was Issei and relaxed into his arms, allowing him to return to his seat with her in hand.
He cradled Silk while talking to them. "Her name's Silk. I rescued her yesterday from a roadside shrine. I didn't see any other foxes around her, and she was dying of hunger so I brought her back home."
[Reputation with 'Kiba Yuuto' has increased.]
[Reputation with 'Toujou Koneko' has increased.]
Yuuto's smile turned melancholic for a while, before returning and saying "You did a good thing, Hyoudou-kun."
Koneko stayed silent for a while before speaking up. "Has she been trained?"
Issei was taken off guard. She hadn't spoken a single word to him in school before, so her addressing him all of a sudden was something he had never expected to happen.
Seeing his stunned face annoyed Koneko, so she spoke up again. "Has. She. Been. Trained." Somehow, without a single tonal shift in her voice, she was able to inject all the ire she had at Issei, causing him to flinch.
"N-no. I only just found her yesterday after all."
Standing up, Koneko walked over to Issei and sat down beside him, lifting Silk over to her lap.
"I'll train her for you."
Both Issei and Yuuto gave her an incredulous stare, but Yuuto realised her reason and gave her an understanding nod. He spoke up and said "She's very good with animals. Since we're going to come every other day to pass you the schoolwork, if you don't mind we can help train her."
Since his reputation with the both of them increased from him telling them that he rescued Silk, he reasoned that both of them approved of her, and letting them teach her should be fine, but did he really want to give them a good reason to come to his house repeatedly?
Oh who was he thinking, a safe way to get info, while keeping incognito? Of course he would say yes. And if a cute girl comes to his house regularly? That wasn't his main reason, of course. No siree!
"Of course! I appreciate the help."
[Reputation with 'Toujou Koneko' has increased.]
[Reputation with 'Kiba Yuuto' has increased.]
Yuuto and Koneko had just left. They had spent the afternoon helping him teach Silk the basics of living in his house, i.e. the toilet is here, no scratching, no random yelling, etc. The minor stuff. They were pleasantly surprised at her learning speed since Silk only had to be told a few times before she learned everything. She earned LOTS of treats.
Now that they were gone, Issei thought about tailing them and using [Observe] further from home, but Issei didn't know how good Koneko was at sensing, so doing that was a bad idea. Disposing of that thought, Issei brought up his menus to see what the new information changed, and why he suddenly got a new skill.
Sekiryuutei – Grants [Boosted Gear], [Draconic Aura].
It seemed that his stat increases from the 'Sekiryuutei' perk disappeared, and he gained the 'Draconic Aura' skill. However, the stats in his page had no changes, and he had a feeling where they went.
"Skills"
Draconic Aura - Passive Lv 1 06%
Aura of dragons. Attracts strong beings.
CHA + 3, LUK + 3
Skill will grow depending on its level.
As expected, the stat increases from the perk relocated into the new skill. It seemed that the stats were originally from the skill, but because he was missing information he hadn't unlocked the skill, thus the stat points went into his perk. But now that he unlocked it, it relocated itself back into the skill.
[For making an intelligent inference, you have increased INT by 1]
It was an amazing skill. 6 stat points from the first level? As expected of the dragons, the apex predator of the mystic world. He couldn't wait to level it up and make the skill even stronger! What would happen once it reached level 100? Would he be able to shapeshift into a giant dragon? Not to mention the rewards he would get when the quest was completed!
But he couldn't.
"Dragon scent stronger. Maybe awakened. But no mana from him."
His draconic abilities had been detected by Koneko. Not only that, they knew of it for a long time. They knew of Ddraig. Previously, he was content to hide his new powers and work on it slowly until he was strong enough to protect himself and his family, but they knew of him.
Luckily, they didn't seem to have the intention of fighting him. Not yet, at least. But he didn't know what would happen if the "dragon scent" got even stronger. Would they come and reap his life like crops ready for harvest? Would they enslave him and turn him into devil worshippers, causing him to sacrifice his family?
No, it was too dangerous to grow his draconic powers. For now at least. Not without a way to hide them.
Lucky for him, he had a second power they hadn't detected.
It was time to take the initiative.
There were 3 ways to become stronger that he did regularly.
Gaining new skills, training his stats, training his current skills.
All 3 were slow but definite ways for him to grow. They were long term options as well since he didn't need anything to do them. But now time was of the essence, and he was thinking of the 4th.
"Quest"
[Quest]
Active
[Action-Adventure to Slice of Life]
Learn to control your draconic aura.
Quest Requirements: Reach level 100 in the skill 'Draconic Aura'
Quest Completion Reward: ?, ?, 150,000,000 EXP
Failure Conditions: Fail to do so within 1 year.
Quest Failure Penalty: LVL reduced by 3
Quest Rejection Penalty: Never have more than a month without events.
Do you accept? [Yes] / [No]
Completed
Delivery for Matsuda
Home For Lunch
Every gamer knew the best way to get stronger was to level up, but he didn't have many sources of EXP thus far. It wasn't like he was going to go murder some hobo in an alley just to see if he got EXP from that. So the only way he knew how to get EXP was from quests. So far, he had acquired 3 quests. 1 from his mom, 1 from Matsuda, and 1 from his thoughts.
The one from his mom was a typical quest, the quest giver comes up to the character and hands them a quest to do stuff.
The 3rd option was interesting. He thought of some stuff that might cause quests to appear, but not all of them worked. He thought of going to the store to pick up some stuff like a typical fetch quest, nothing happened. He thought of doing 100 pushups, nope. He thought of completing his homework, nada. The only one that worked, was when he thought of reaching level 10.
[You have received the quest 'Baby Steps'.]
Reach level 10
Quest Requirements: Reach level 10
Quest Completion Reward: ?, Buff:'EXP Boost', 7,500 EXP
Failure Conditions: None
Do you accept? [Yes] / [No]
Obviously, he accepted the quest, he still needed to find a way to reach level 10. And that's where the 2nd option came in.
Previously, when Issei got the disc, he told Matsuda he would return it for him, and the quest appeared for him the next day. If his idea was right, he could replicate this by asking other people if he could do stuff for them. Essentially, going up to the quest giver and asking for a quest. Except everyone in the world was a quest giver.
Making his way down, Issei called out to his mother. "Hey mom, I'm going to the nearby supermarket. Do you want anything while I'm there?"
Miki head peeked out of the kitchen and said "Well we're running a little low on salt and flour. Could you buy some?"
[You have received the quest 'Grocery Run'.]
Buy some flour and salt from the supermarket.
Quest Requirements: Salt and Flour
Quest Completion Reward: Increased reputation with 'Hyoudou Miki', ¥1000, 100 EXP
Failure Conditions: None
Do you accept? [Yes] / [No]
Excellent. "Sure, mom."
[You have accepted the quest.]
It seems saying yes to the quest giver was enough. Convenient.
Changes:
Skill: 'Acting' 1 ➤ 2
Perk: 'Sekiryuutei' Remove CHA + 3, LUK + 3
Skill: 'Draconic Aura' acquired
New quest: 'Action-Adventure to Slice of Life'
Stat: LUK 5 ➤ 6
Reputation: 'Kiba Yuuto' Neutral 0 ➤ 55
Reputation: 'Toujou Koneko' Despised 2114 ➤ 2254
Stat: LUK 10 ➤ 11
New quest: 'Baby Steps'
New quest: 'Grocery Run'
A/N: As you can see above, from now on, I will add the changes to Issei above. To help both you and me keep track of the changes each chapter. I may go back and edit the earlier chapters, depending on how busy I am.
Kiba isn't affected by the rep decrease of the Pervert perk. It isn't an error.
Props to all the other authors out there, holy shit it's so hard to write.
Feel free to give your reviews! I'm reading all of them!
EDIT: Apparently greater-than symbols (shift + .) aren't allowed, but arrow symbols like ➤→➢🠊🠞 are. The hell?
EDIT2: Forgot to change EXP value of quest.
Posted on 28/10/2020 (GST +8)