Here it is, my second chapter, and here's a quick recap:
In my last chapter, Kazuma and Av'Rick accept slaying the Devil King from Aqua and recieve a boon from her.
Av'Rick got Self Supremacy whilst Kazuma chose Aqua. Yes Aqua, the girl who gave them the quest (no surprise there).
Moving on, when all three got transported, Kazuma and Aqua got separated from Av'Rick, who landed in a different part of Axel, the town of beginners.
The events that will play out will be very different from canon, when all three become adventurers, thanks to my oc, but there will be certain events that will play out the same way.
And with that, let the story continue.
Chapter 1: A Helping Foot
Adventurers Guild - A place for Drinks and Quests
Outside a large building, the locals of Axel can see two strangers standing close to the doors of the Adventurers Guild building. One, a brown haired teen in green clothes they've never seen before. The other, an attractive blue haired girl, with a very short miniskirt.
After, realising that Av'Rick isn't with them when they arrived in this world and Aqua still whining about being here with him, Kazuma decided it's a good time as any to go to the adventurers guild. Because what would a fantasy world be, without an adventurers guild?
Opening the door, the duo are greeted by an interior, decorated with skulls and well crafted woodworks. There are also tables to the side, indicating that the guild doubles as a tavern.
Walking in, a barmaid, carrying a tray of drinks, greets them. "Welcome, if you're here for a drink sit anywhere you like. If you're here for work, please go to the registration desk." She said, before walking away to pass out the drinks.
"Hey you." A buff guy with a mohawk calls out. "Never seen you two before. Those are some strange clothes you have."
"Yeah, we're new here." Kazuma replied cockily whilst smirking. "Heard you needed help slaying the Devil King."
The mohawk man smirked back. "Well aren't you confident." He started to smile wildly at the brunette. "Welcome to the gates of hell! Registrations over there tough guy." The man went back to his drink.
"Wow! How did you that?" Asked Aqua, while she and Kazuma walked to the receptionist desk.
"It's like an MMO, so I just have to do things in this world , I'd do in a game."
"I don't know that much about games, so I'll just stick with you, since you seem to know what you're doing."
"Thats the spirit!"
"You're so smart Kazuma. I'm surprised that you're a Shut-in NEET with no friends or a girlfriend." Aqua said nonchalantly.
"H-hey! Don't just point out my flaws. I have other qualities too!"
The air headed Goddess and the flustered teen arrive at the reception desk, and see the receptionist wiping the desk.
She had blond wavy hair, tied up in a bun with gold coloured eyes. She, is wearing a red ribbon around her neck and an off the shoulder top which reveals a lot of her... well endowed... assets...
Moving on!
The duo approach the desk and the woman stops cleaning when she sees them, her expression being a business like smile.
"Welcome to the Adventurers Guild. My name is Luna, how may I help you?"
"Hi, we would like to register to become adventurers please."
Luna gave Kazuma a closed eye smile.
"Wonderful, just give me the registration fee and we'll get started."
"Eh?" Kazuma responded, then turned to Aqua.
"Hey Aqua, did you bring any money with you?"
"How could I have done that?! I was dragged into this world all of a sudden! I didn't have time to grab my purse!"
Just before Kazuma is about to tell Luna they'll come back with their money later, a medium sized pouch lands on the desk with a loud thud and a dark skinned hand attached to it.
"Here's the fee for all three of us." Said a bland voice that belongs to the owner of the hand.
That owner, being AvRick.
"Hey it's you! Uh..."
"Av'Rick." He sighed.
"Av'Rick!"
Deciding to ignore Aqua's forgetfulness, he turns towards Kazuma.
"Hello again." He said.
Kazuma looks at him then towards the pouch filled with a LOT of coins, then back to him.
"H-how did you get that much money?! I thought we never started out with any!?"
Earlier
To answer Kazuma's question, let's go back to when the stoic black haired teen arrived in this world.
"So this is a new world."
Av'Rick looks around admiring the architecture, some reminding him of the medieval-era, others that can only be found in a fantasy world, such as the tall towering structure, with a lots of brass coloured, megaphone-like instruments surrounding the top, indicating it to be some sort of announcement tower.
"Ah! The cart!"
Av'Rick stopped looking around and turned to the source of distress.
A cart carrying an assortment of sewing materials has one of its back wheels stuck in a small pothole, with a horse and an elderly couple are trying to pull it out.
Deciding to test to see if his Self Supremacy works, Av'Rick approaches them.
"Do you need some help?" He asks dispassionately.
The old lady turns to him.
"Oh yes! Could you please help young man, our cart and we can't pull it out."
"Yeah, you! Get over and help your elders move this damn cart! " The old man shouted when he noticed Av'Rick.
"...Ok."
With that Av'Rick got behind the cart, layed down and used his legs to push the cart up from the pothole, shocking the couple, not because he lifted with his legs (literally) but because of how heavy the cart is.
Remember how the cart is full of sewing materials, I forgot to mention that it's also filled with various logs, under the sewing materials, making it much heavier for a teenage boy to lift.
Av'Rick is capable of lifting the cart lifting the cart due to his Self Supremacy, through a technique known as Strength Concentration. This allows him to focus his strength into a single point of his body, in this case, his legs.
"Thank you young man. It's so nice to see the young being so helpful." Said the lady.
"I could have done that! Kids these days..." Muttered the old man.
"No you couldn't dear, but I appreciate your effort."
"Hmph." And with that, the old man turned away from his wife, blushing. What a tsundere.
"Oh my! By the looks of your clothes, you don't seem to be around here." The old lady concluded, staring at Av'Ricks clothes while he dusted of the dirt on his back.
"No I'm not. I come from a place very far away and have come here to try my luck at defeating the Devil King and his armies, and trying to help people."
"HA! You're going to defeat the Devil King? That's rich!" The old man laughed, before his wife stomped on his foot.
"Yeowh!" He grabbed his foot and hopped in one place.
"Well, that's such a nice goal to have, helping others; you remind me of myself when I was an adventurer and went around helping people. Ah, to be young again." The old lady said holding her cheek, before going to her cart and pulling out the pouch seen earlier this chapter.
"Here, for helping me and my husband." She said.
"Are you sure, this seems a bit much." Av'Rick hesitated, despite having no money on him.
"I insist, we have enough Eris on hand anyway, and defeating the Devil King is going to take all the help you'll need."
The old man calms down and looks to him seriously. "Take it kid. My wife doesn't do this to just anyone, she's a great judge of character. Personally, I don't see what's so good about you."
Av'Rick slowly takes the pouch and holds it under his arm to carry it easily. "Thanks, I guess. So, could you point me to where the guild is." He asked, he figured a world with monsters would have an organisation made to deal with them, such as an adventurers guild.
"Oh, it's just over there." The old lady pointed, the building being a few metres away from them.
As she did, Av'Rick can spot a familiar duo standing in front of the door, about to enter.
"Thanks. Guess I'll see you around."
"Goodbye young man, stop by our shop. I run a clothes shop, while my husband is a carpenter. Here's the address." She hands him a piece of paper, gets on the cart with the old man - now old carpenter- and drives off, down the road.
And with that, Av'Rick walks towards the guild.
Back to the present
"Hey! Didn't you hear me, I said where'd you get that much money!" Kazuma yelled, waving his hand in front of Av'Rick, who was staring into space, remembering the last few minutes.
He couldn't believe that, not only did he get any money or starting gear but now the other guy suddenly shows up with a pouch containing a lot of money that's needed for the apparent registration fee.
"Huh? Did you say something?"
"...Nevermind." Kazuma sighed.
"Hey! Can we just move on and get this over with!" Aqua exclaimed.
She's tired of being ignored by these two. They should be praising her. She's pretty sure if she asks a priest for some money then she'll recieve a small fortune in return. After all she is a very important Goddess (If only she knew).
"Um... I think we should move on now." Said Luna, getting the attention of the trio.
The busty receptionist gestured them towards a magical apparatus, which resembles a globe.
"Just put your hand over the orb and it will record your information. This will let us see what class is best suited for you."
Kazuma went first. After putting his hand on top of the globe/orb, it glowed and a laser beamed down on a card, writing down Kazuma's information.
Picking it up, Luna began reading his information out loud.
"Lets see... Kazuma Satou. Mostly Average stats -", Kazuma flinched at that, "- intelligence above average, and incredible luck, but that last one isn't important. Hmm... I recommend you become a merchant instead." She said with a contempt smile.
Kazuma deflated after hearing those words. "W-well I still want to become an adventurer anyway."
"Well, you can always change your class when you level up." Luna selects 'Adventurer' on the card and hands over to Kazuma.
Now it's Av'Rick's turn.
"Hmm... Av'Rick Mephilis... Oh! Aside from your average luck, your other stats are above average, especially your intelligence and wisdom and you even have a skill already; very unique skills. I recommend you choose one of the magic user classes."
As Luna was saying that Kazuma began to sulk at the fact that Av'Rick started out better than he did. First he gets a lot of money from somewhere, and now he has better stats than him? They're supposed to start off in this world at the same time, where's the good luck he's supposed to have? This is so unfair.
"No thanks, I'll just choose 'Adventurer' like him." Av'Rick said, his expression still stoic. His stolid declaration got Kazuma out of his sulking to look at him incredulously. Even the eavesdroppers, who were listening in on the newcomers were surprised. Why would the newbie choose Adventurer, the weakest class, when he has the option to be something better? Sure, he already has a few skills already, but are they really worth so much that he'd choose to be an 'Adventurer'?
"O-oh... Okay then." Luna chooses Adventurer for Av'Rick, whilst smiling wryly.
Now it's Aqua's turn.
"W-what's this!" Luna said, surprised.
"Aside from your abysmal intelligence and luck, all your stats are maxed out."
"Does that mean I'm amazing?"
"Amazing would be an understatement. Aside from wizard, which requires high intelligence, you can be anything you want."
As Luna said that, many adventurers began to be excited at such a promising individual joining their ranks (HA! They wish) when they continued their eavesdropping.
"Hmph, well since there's no class for Goddess, I suppose I should settle for Archpriest." Aqua said in a haughty manner.
"I think thats a wonderful idea!" Luna exclaimed. "Archpriests specialise in healing and support and are powerful enough to be on the front lines."
Meanwhile the adventurers started to voice out their excitement.
"Wow, those two rookies are amazing! Even if one chose the weakest class on purpose."
"The Devil King better watch his back!"
"A level one Archpriest and a weak Adventurer with higher stats than other beginners. Incredible."
With each adventurer praising Aqua and Av'Rick (even if they are passively insulting him), Kazuma began to sulk again, and realise how it was such a bad idea to take someone who is both dumb and unlucky. Even if they are a Goddess whose other stats are high.
"We look forward to working with you, Lady Aqua." Luna said, before she and some of her colleagues bowed to her.
Later, the trio sat at a table to order some food, using the coin pouch Av'Rick has whilst checking how their cards works from Lunas explanation earlier.
You defeat enemies to accumulate experience points to level up and earn skill points. These skill points are then used to learn new skills or upgrade preexisting ones; repeated use can also increase the skills level. These skills vary from class to class, from wizards learning spells to fighters learning combat techniques. However the Adventurer class works slightly differently. 'Adventurers' can learn virtually any skill from any of the other classes. Whilst this does make them seem jack of all trades, the reason many people look down on this class is because any skill learn, is weaker than the original. For example, an 'Adventurer' learning Fireball is less powerful than a wizard learning Fireball.
Av'Rick stares at his card very intently, not that you'd know since his face still seems impassive. He is looking at the skills Luna mentioned. They were Self Supremacy Lv. Max, Anatomical Intuition (Self) Lv. Max, Tranquil State Lv. Max, Efficient Body Lv. Max and Strength Concentration Lv. 1. He knows Aqua gave him Self Supremacy, but that's it, nothing else. He decides to tap each of the skills to see what they do.
Self Supremacy: Allows the user full control of their Body (Supremacy) and Mind(Shifting), which create skills based on manipulating or altering certain aspects of the Body and/or Mind.
Anatomical Intuition (Self): A skill created through Body Supremacy, which enables the user to understand the inner workings of their own body.
Tranquil State: A skill created through Self Supremacy, which enables the user to be calm at all times, and possess a high endurance to stressful situations.
Efficient Body: A skill created through Body Supremacy, which enables the user to have their Bodily systems be as efficient as possible. This skill passively increases all of their stats by 100% x original stats, except luck, reduces the cost of any skill by 50% and increases any skill that involves enhancing the user in any way by 50%.
Strength Concentration: A skill created through Body Supremacy, which enables the user to focus their strength into any point of their body. Higher levels increase damage dealt using this skill.
It looks like that by using Self Supremacy, he can create new skills that are connected to having full control over his mind and body. This means he doesn't even need to use skill points to get new skills, and enough creativity could let him simulate the skills of others, without using his class.
While he is thinking of the possibilities Self Supremacy could grant him, Aqua is making another commotion by frantically choosing her skills.
Meanwhile, Kazuma has put his head on the table, still upset at how he's the weakest of the three.
"Hey Kazuma, what's wrong?" Av'Rick asked, impassively, after finishing his contemplation.
"Oh I'll tell you what's wrong!" Kazuma started, lifting his head up with an angry look. "You and Aqua start out with better stats than me, I have no latent abilities in this world, and to make things worse, that useless Goddess is an idiot and unlucky!" He exclaimed, gesturing to said idiot, who is performing a party trick with her new skill Nature's Beauty, to which everyone not named Av'Rick or Kazuma cheered her for.
"Well, everyone has a rough start. Look at me, I had no money like you, before I helped an elderly couple with their cart and they rewarded me with this coin pouch."
"Wait! That's where you got that money?! Why didn't I think of that?!" Kazuma exclaims. In many isekai animes he's seen, the hero performs a heroic deed and gets some sort of reward.
As he was getting shocked by the obvious, their food arrived.
Aqua returns to the table with some Eris in hand from her performance. "Yippee! Our food is here!" She begins to scarf down her meal.
Kazuma and Av'Rick also began to eat their meal, while discussing what they should do next.
"I think we should buy you a sword Kazuma." Av'Rick proposed. "Since we're going to fight monsters, you're going to need a weapon."
"Really? But, what about you? Don't you need a weapon too?"
"I have Self Supremacy, that's going to be enough for me to fight monsters."
"Okay... But how exactly will your skill help you?"
As they were talking, Aqua decided to interject, being irritated at the duo not praising her.
"While we're on the subject of buying things necessary to defeat the Devil King." The duo turn to her. "You should have bought me some wine to go with this meal you bought for us, I am a Goddess, and I deserve to be spoiled." She whined to Av'Rick.
Kazuma glared at her. So what if she's a Goddss? She hasn't done anything useful since they got here in this world.
"Aqua." Av'Rick said, staring at her very sternly, causing her to flinch. "We need this money for more important things other than satisfying your vices; and being a Goddess does not give you the privilege for others to do what you want. We need a weapon for Kazuma, since he can't fight without a weapon, and wine would only benefit you and not the party, understand?
Aqua looks like she is about to cry, but huffs and turns away.
"Moving on." Av'Rick turns to Kazuma. "We go to a blacksmith, buy you a sword and find an Inn we can sleep for tonight, sound fair."
Kazuma nodded at the basic plan. Sounds exactly what you'd do when you start an RPG game.
Aqua still grumbled but still nodded as well to his logic.
Just like that, the trio left the guild, went to a blacksmith to buy Kazuma a cheap sword, since they're starting to run low on funds, and to find the cheapest Inn for the night.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day.
That's the end for this Chapter. As you can see, my oc is starting to pack quite an arsenal. As for his stats, he doesn't possess anything too high, most his stats are only around twice the value of Kazuma's with his Intelligence and Wisdom being the same as Kazuma's Intelligence.
Speaking of Kazuma, I hope I captured his pessimism properly when he realised he's not very special compared to Aqua and my oc.
Next Chapter introduces how he does against the giant frogs and when the trio meets Megumin. The Chunibyo will have no idea how to react to the stoic teen.
As for updates, they will be rather inconsistent. My life problems prevent me from constant updates so don't expect too much from me.
And with that, I shall see you in the next Chapter.