Hello there.
Since this Chapter turned out so long there will be a Chapter Breakdown after the A/N at the end because I have no faith in my ability to properly convey whatever I had in mind when writing this... even if most of it is taken directly from the Novel.
I know it's a lazy solution, but I'm not going to proof-read this thing for a 12th time.
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"Talking." - Talking.
'Thinking.' - Thinking when ended with a (. ! ? etc.).
'Emphasizing' - Emphasizing when ended without a (. ! ? etc.).
"*Cough*" - Sounds (Coughs etc.)
[Skills] - Skills etc.
Chapter 4: To The Beginning I Go
Once I accepted the [Secret Mission] the circle began shining in a bright crimson light which eventually started to shine so brightly that I had to shield my eyes from it.
When I could open my eyes I found myself in a modern looking... City? Town? I wasn't sure, but what I knew for sure was that the [Secret Mission] has begun.
Taking a better look around I saw that it was actually more of a city than a town and it was also quite populated with mostly black haired people whose average height I estimated to be around 171cm for men and nearly 160cm for women.
Not gonna lie, I looked extremely out-of-place with my 183cm height, my snow-white hair, my Blood-red eyes, wearing a blood-stained coat without the shirt and wielding a huge sword in my hands, and yet no one seemed to even spare me a glance.
Gathering all information I could using eyesight I found out...
'Looking closely they seem Asian, specifically Japanese, so I guess that this Secret Dungeon is based around Japan?' I asked My Guide.
Correct
I smirked at being proven right.
'So what do I have to do? Fight Godzilla?' after I asked this the objective of [Secret Mission] was revealed.
[Secret Mission]
"To The Beginning"
Main Objective: Learn more about 'your' past.
Side Objective: Find Hidden Objects scattered throughout The Secret Dungeon.
Rewards:
-New Title
-5 levels into (Synergist) [Class]
Secret Dungeon Effects:
-Time Dilation(14 : 1)
-Limited Space
-Stunted Exp gain
I raised an eyebrow at the Secret Dungeon Effects.
'Does [Time Dilation] mean that 14 minutes in here equals one minute in the real world?'
Yes
'It doesn't take a genius to figure out what [Limited Space] means and [Stunted Exp gain] probably means that I can't gain Exp in here correct?'
Yes
I scowled for a second before gaining a neutral expression.
'Then what does it mean by "learn more about 'my' past"?'
Take an educated guess 'genius'
It didn't really take a genius to figure out what it meant.
'*Sigh* You want me to learn more about Hajime's past don't you?'
Smart man
'What's the point? I watched the Anime, read the Manga, Light Novel and Web Novel, hell I even re-read them a couple of times, and wrote a Fanfiction about it, not to mention I even got his memories a few days ago... I practically have the whole story memorized, so why?'
Why not?
I couldn't argue with that assessment.
'*Sigh* Fine then, where is he?' before I could start the game of "Spot the protag" I heard something which saved me a ton of trouble looking for Hajime.
"Hey granny. These are vintage jeans, you know that? Do you have any idea how much they cost?! An apology won't cut it, old hag! You better pay me back for this!" I could hear and see a group of delinquents harass an old lady and what appeared to be her grandson.
"Really, I'm so sorry. I'll pay the cleaning costs, so please..."
"Didn't you listen to a word I said!? No amount of dry cleaning can fix this!"
'Judging by the terrified look in the grandson's eyes, a stain on delinquents pants and spilled takoyaki on the ground I deduce that the boy stained the pants with his food and now the delinquents try to extort his grandma, quite sad really, but in the end not my problem.'
An amused smile crept it's way onto my face.
'While it's not 'my' problem per se 'I'm' technically going to get involved in a certain sense, so all that's left is to wait.'
I walked over into the gathering crowd of onlookers and decided to check something.
I got close to some random person and waved my hand before their eyes... getting no reaction from them at all, so I started snapping my fingers... and I still didn't get any reaction, so I decided to do what any rational person would do and I swinged Rebellion with full force at them to see if that would gain their attention... it didn't do anything, as the sword passed through the person dealing no damage whatsoever.
'You can look but you can't touch, huh?' I arrived at the conclusion that all of the people here were just projections of past events, and since I'm here to 'learn more about 'my' past' I won't be able to change any of the outcomes.
"Hmph, I'm getting tired of this shit. Just hand over your wallet, you hag. I bet you don't have enough money on you to pay for this. We're gonna go to the bank so you can transfer me what I need. I need your wallet to make sure you don't try to run away." the delinquent continued to harass the old lady.
"B-But..."
"Hey, it's your job to clean up the mess your little brat made! You better not be trying to talk your way out of this!"
I was impatiently tapping my foot, waiting for the events to escalate.
Looking around I could see that nearly no one made a move to help the old lady, no one except two individuals whose identities I knew very well thanks to reading the Novel. #MetaKnowledge.
One of them was a young pretty girl who looked like she was in middle school, she hesitantly took a step towards the commotion... it was Kaori.
The other one managed to walk up to the group of delinquents before Kaori and he was the most average and unremarkable looking young boy(he also looked like he was in middle school) you could ever imagine... it was Hajime.
When I looked at the projection of my predecessor I felt a very complicated feeling that I couldn't quite name, it was something similar to looking back at the embarrassing things you did as a kid and wishing you could turn back time to redo your life, and frankly speaking it was weird as the events shown were only a fiction to me not too long ago.
"Umm... Don't you think asking for her wallet is a bit much?" Hajime's projection asked this with a troubled smile.
"Huh!? You've got nothing to do with this, so scram before I beat your face in!" the leader of the delinquents threatened 'Hajime'.
"Uh well, I guess you're right that I don't have anything to do with this... b-but you know... I think it'd be best for everyone involved if you just took the cleaning fee and left it at that..." although he seemed pretty scared, 'Hajime' wedged himself between the old lady and her harassers, he then bowed deeply to the delinquents.
'Despite looking like the biggest wimp the world has to offer he's quite bold... stupid yes, but bold nonetheless.' I couldn't help, but feel slightly impressed by 'Pre-fall' Hajime's courage... even if I considered what he did to be stupid.
'Hajime' was purposely being evasive in an attempt to defuse the tense atmosphere, but these were a clichéd group of delinquents/thugs he was up against so all he succeeded in doing was making the group even madder.
"Fine then, you pay for her. It'll cost 10k for the cleaning." the head thug said this to 'Hajime' clearly indicating that he switched his target.
"Sorry, I don't have the money." the projection of Hajime gave a simple reply, his troubled smile starting to look even more troubled.
'*Sigh*...What an idiot.' I facepalmed at 'Hajime's' apparent lack of Survival Instinct.
The delinquent grabbed 'Hajime' by the collar and lifted him up, the poor fool's face paled and sweat began pouring down his forehead.
'Hajime' tried to talk his way out of it, but the delinquent just angrily thrust him to the ground. The delinquent looked even angrier than before and the look in his eyes clearly indicated what he was going to do next.
"Gah!" 'Hajime' grunted, while the delinquent had already started kicking him.
The weirdest part about this [Secret Mission] was that I seemed to vaguely feel whatever was happening to the body of Hajime's projection, which while immersive as fuck was incredibly annoying in a situation like this.
I gritted my teeth at the slight pain my body was experiencing.
'What a stupid gimmick.' I was not amused by the fact that I felt pain despite not being hit directly.
I mostly tuned out whatever was happening with the projections of the onlookers(including Kaori), but they seemed to finally think about calling the police.
The old lady said to Hajime's projection that he did enough, while her grandson was silently sobbing.
The projection of Hajime just stood up grimacing in pain, he then opened his mouth and spoke to the delinquent.
"Please, can't you be satisfied with just the cleaning fee? If not, I have another solution in mind..." he trailed off, which could be interpreted in one of two ways:
-In a not-so-wholesome way.
-As a challenge.
However I knew that it was neither of the two.
'Oh boy here it comes.' I inwardly prepared myself for what was to come.
"Oh, you wanna go? Fine, bring it!" the head delinquent cracked his knuckles menacingly. He seemed more than ready for a fight.
He was in for one hell of a disappointment.
"I'm truly sorry for all of the trouble I've caused!" the projection of Hajime interrupted him by apologizing at the top of his lungs and prostrating himself before the delinquent in an exaggerated manner.
'*Sigh* I'm going to repress that memory hard.' I failed to notice that I referred to my 'fake' set of memories like I was the one who actually lived through them.
The delinquent was at such a loss for words that he took a few steps backwards, the crowd of onlookers just stared at the scene.
What followed next was a spectacle of 'Hajime's' incredible manipulation of human mind as he earnestly begged the delinquents for forgiveness to the old lady and her grandson for, and I quote, "Such a fiendish act as staining someone's pants." and a few similar things, equally overblown to the limit.
It went on for a good few minutes gradually becoming more and more embarrassing for everyone involved(mostly for the delinquents) and by the end of it the delinquents just decided that it's not worth it and fled the scenery.
'*Sigh* Finally it's over.' I sighed in relief because finally the Mission could advance further.
'Hajime' then went and picked up the wallet of the old lady, which fell on the ground sometime during the whole thing, and after that he dashed off into the crowd.
I immediately started following him for quite some distance before I was stopped by an invisible wall.
"The Hell?!" I was understandably confused because the goal of The Mission was to learn more about 'my' past, so the obvious thing to do was to follow the projection of Hajime.
But the Secret Mission had other plans in mind.
[Attention!]
Changing scenery...
I didn't have a lot of time to think about what it meant as the whole world seemed to be dyed in a brilliant light, which I'm sure you can guess was quite blinding.
When I could open my eyes the scenery has completely changed, instead of some city in Japan I found myself before some school-like building.
'Let me guess, that's his high-school?'
Correct
'Why didn't the Mission show me what happened after he fled the scene earlier?'
So you want to see his entire life?
'No, I'm just curious.'
Then answer is: Whatever happened after he fled the scene wasn't deemed important enough to be shown in the Mission.
'*Sigh* Fair enough. Now where is he?' when I finished my thought as if on que a certain boy walked past me.
He somewhat resembled Hajime's projection from earlier just aged, but he also bore an uncanny resemblance to myself(except for the height, the hair and eye color and he also had a softer look in his eyes compared to me) which made sense considering that I'm currently inhabiting his body.
I leisurely followed him into the school building.
Whenever he passed some other students they just glared at him, which would be funny to watch if not for the fact that I also vaguely felt the same glares, however unlike LN 'Hajime' who just waved them off I felt annoyed by said glares.
Once we were inside the building he changed his shoes, because Japan remember?, while he was in the process of changing I decided to look through the lockers in hopes of finding something useful.
Only a few were open, but they didn't have anything in them and this would probably be where you stopped the looting in a game, but this wasn't a game so I decided to use [Transmute] to open more of the lockers and my persistence was rewarded with something...
After opening locker number 33 I found some shiny purple rock, or rather what looked to be a fragment of a bigger stone.
'[Perception].'
[Perception]
Purple Orb Fragment - fragment of a magical purple stone consisting of crystallized magic.
Collecting 4 fragments results in 1 Purple Orb which increases Magic by 100.
I couldn't help but smile at the fact that my annoying habit of thoroughly inspecting every nook and cranny for some hidden items has finally benefitted me in real life situation.
My Spirit of a Gamer(not the Skill) who will take everything that isn't nailed down and can be taken away was going on full throttle.
I touched the fragment and when I did it shined in a purple light before disappearing, the only thing that stopped me from succumbing to despair was the notification right in the middle of my vision.
Purple Orb Fragment collected (1/4)
I smiled in relief and continued to search through the lockers, but I wasn't fast enough and 'Hajime' was already done with changing his shoes.
He started walking so I followed him, but when he turned around a corner I decided to check something.
I got to the corner, hugged the wall, and used [Witcher Senses] it took a while to get used to the heightened senses, but I managed, and I tried to pick up on the sounds of footsteps, but I didn't hear any, but when I looked behind the corner 'Hajime' was walking and I could clearly hear the sounds of footsteps, so I asked My Guide about this, and wouldn't you know the answer was:
Figure it out yourself
It would seem that The Guide was slowly stopping to hold my hand.
I did some testing and found out that unless I look at 'Hajime' he's going to stay in place, I did this by looking behind the corner and seeing 'Hajime' walk and immediately ducking behind the corner and counting for a few seconds and after that once again looking behind the corner to see 'Hajime' in a state of motion, despite not moving an inch from earlier.
Of course when I learned this I immediately went to continue searching through the lockers... but I didn't find anything, so with a depressed mug on my face I chose to follow 'Hajime' to his classroom.
When 'Hajime' opened the doors he was greeted with a multitude of disdainful glares and annoyed tongue clicks, and I felt them by proxy.
After that the Asshole 4, but mostly just Hiyama, began bullying 'Hajime' by saying things like: "Sup you gross Otaku. Stay up all night playing video games again? I bet you were playing eroges the whole time!" and the like, but I tuned out almost everything because I already knew how this scene would play out thanks to Meta Knowledge.
Kaori Shirasaki(The Yandere Bitch) came to greet 'Hajime' and after her so did the rest of 'The Big 4'(well not really 'greet' as only one of them did and the rest just shitted on 'Hajime') which consisted of: Kouki Amanogawa(The Big Dumbass), Ryutarou Sakagami(The Dumbass), and Shizuku Yaegashi(The Waifu Bait).
I couldn't help, but look with sympathy at the projection of 'Hajime' as I am more than familiar with the concept of popular kids beating the little guy that nobody likes, that's just the way things are...
Backstory time
I, just like Hajime, was friendless, so of course I made for an easy target to bullying, but unlike Hajime who just waved the bullying off(and the fact that his 'bullies' were mostly just using verbal abuse), my bullies were malicious little bastards who seemed to enjoy themselves and they were much more creative than I'd like in both their physical and verbal abuse, but unlike Hajime I fought back and much to my chagrin that in turn lead to events where everyone and I mean everyone turned their backs at me.
The teachers? I had incredibly low grades and seemed like a ruffian, so they always favored what the popular kids who seemed like model students said whenever there was conflict between me and them.
My parents? The same, they believed that since they're such good students that they couldn't have been bullies and those who started the conflicts, so they'd rather think that their own child was the perpetrator.
The other kids? They never liked me, but most of them didn't hate me either, they just didn't want to get involved because they were certain that there was no way I'd ever win, so what's the point of fighting a losing battle?
Eventually I lost all drive to keep resisting and I noticed that the bullying didn't stop, so that was when I realized...
There is no 'right' response to bullying.
If you resist then you'll just be inviting more bullying, because sometimes kids can be just as, if not more cruel than adults.
If you don't resist then you're just going to look like an easy target, which would be just inviting more bullying.
After I graduated middle-school and high-school began I stopped getting bullied, but that was just quiet before the storm.
The popular kids approached me with a lot of bystanders nearby as witnesses and apologized to me for everything they did in middle-school, they even looked genuinely sorry and while I am an unforgiving person I was forced to accept their apologies because if I didn't my social life would get destroyed, and it didn't help that I used to be a person who got easily pressured by others, all of the witnesses had gazes which seemed to say "Look they matured you can't stay in the past forever, so forgive them" that was why they did it with many witnesses.
Crafty little bastards.
Everything seemed to be working out fine for me for a few months, even one of the popular girls wanted to get to know me better...
That was when I should have realized that something was wrong, but since I was a hormonal teenager(technically I still am since I'm 17 and only couple weeks away from 18) I was too stunned to even think about any foul play going on back then.
When I began thinking that things were too good to be true it was already too late.
One day I was invited to a party organized by the popular kids because they 'learned' that my birthday was not too long ago so since I didn't tell anyone they wanted to throw a birthday party for me, I accepted like an idiot because I honestly believed that they did...
At the party there was Alcohol... lots of it, and since 'I was the main reason for the party' I was understandably being tempted by everyone to drink the most.
It took a while, because as it turned out I had a great tolerance for alcohol, but eventually I got wasted and blacked out.
When I woke up I was naked, had a hangover, was covered in feces mixed with honey and nearby a beehive...
...Yeah, not a great place to be in those circumstances, but if there's one silver lining is that I developed quite high pain tolerance thanks to this.
But that wasn't the worst of all because as it turned out those motherfuckers took several photos and spread them to everyone they could.
Once I learned about it it took a while to understand it but when I did I started to laugh hysterically, as I found it to be genuinely funny.
Funny that I let myself be played.
Funny that everyone thought that it was a hilarious joke.
Funny that I chose to believe that people can change with time.
In hindsight I got a lot out of that experience and I regret nothing about it.
I got extremely distrustful, which lead to me becoming very careful about what I say and to who I say and I also got incredibly perceptive as 9 times out of 10 I'm able to discern someone's intentions.
I stopped caring about what people think, which made me a little out-of-touch with social interactions, but it also meant that I could no longer get pressured by others.
I alienated myself from everyone including my family who never seemed to take my side anyway, which lead me to want to do everything by myself never relying on anyone.
The popular kids were so unnerved when they learned that I didn't break out crying after the incident and instead that I just laughed it off and came back to school completely unbothered by murmurs and whispers with a serene smile on my face that they just left me alone(it would seem that what I did was so far off their expectations that they didn't want to risk turning me into a vengeful sociopath) but I didn't really care about them and neither did I care about anyone else, I just wanted to go through my empty fucking life day by day until I'd find something interesting to do.
And since I stopped caring about anyone, with time I even started to forget people's names especially the names of those guys who set me up in the first place.
End Backstory
When 'The Big 4' was done 'talking' with 'Hajime' and he went to his seat the bell rang signaling the beginning of the lesson, and with it came the Pedo-Loli teacher Aiko Hatayama.
I in the meantime scouted the entire classroom for anything useful and the first thing I did was try and take one of the books from the students who pulled them out of their bags, but when I reached to them my hand just slipped through them.
'Alright, what about the ones they're not using?' I reached into the bag of some random student and took a textbook on Geography which I could apparently grasp.
'...Nothing? Wasn't I supposed to get Skills from books?'
'Hmm, maybe it's just that I can't learn anything from geography specifically?' to test my little theory I rummaged through countless books of several students only to find out that I can't learn anything from their textbooks.
When all hope seemed to be lost I searched through 'Hajime's' bag and found Volume 1 of Berserk, which aside from showing me that the cultures of my world and Arifureta World were similar if not exactly the same(in hindsight I could have confirmed that just by looking at my second set of memories), also gave me a notification when I picked it up.
[Attention!]
Learn [Battle Continuation] sub-skill [Guts]?
Yes/No
'...Hehe, Yes.' when I accepted the notification the Manga started to shine before disappearing in a flash of light.
[Attention!]
[Guts] sub-skill has been learned.
I brought out the UI to see the sub-skill for myself.
Class(Spare levels: 16):
-Synergist(Common) Lvl 5
Skills: Transmute[Rank:D]
-Berserker(Rare) Lvl 2
Skills: Mad Enhancement[Rank:C] - Battle Continuation[Rank:E(Guts)]
-Monster Hybrid(Unnatural) Lvl 9
Skills: Mana Manipulation[Rank:E] - Iron Stomach[Rank:E] - Lightning Field[Rank:E] - Intimidation[Rank:E] - Air Dance[Rank:E(Supersonic Step, Aerodynamics)]
'Maybe some quick summary of the skill [Battle Continuation]?' I was curious about what the skill does.
Battle Continuation[Rank:E] - when activated prevents your HP from dropping below a certain number for a period of time.
Activation consumes Mana.
Sub-skills:
(Guts) - Your body will remain functional no matter the injuries(doesn't require Mana).
'Good to know.' I then dismissed the UI.
The lesson itself was incredibly boring, so I tuned it out and collected everything I can into my [Inventory] and started to wait for the bell to ring.
Once the bell rang 'Hajime' woke up from his slumber, which he entered once the lesson started, and took out his lunch eating it in literal seconds which was equally as impressive as it was scary.
After that Kaori went to him opened her mouth and started talking something about Hajime surprisingly being in the class during lunch break and the like, yada yada...
I of course tuned out the whole conversation because I already knew what it was about and waited with baited breath for the magic circle which transports all of these idiots to Tortus.
After a few minutes, and watching the self-righteous dumbass Kouki get friendzoned by Kaori, the Circle finally appeared in the classroom and it began rapidly expanding until it covered the whole room, once it stopped expanding it began shining in a blinding silver light which seemed to dye the whole world white.
I shielded my eyes with my arm.
[Attention!]
Changing scenery...
When I could open my eyes they were greeted with a mural... a very huge mural might I add, which stretched for about 10 meters, it depicted a faintly smiling androgynous figure, said figure had both arms spread wide in a welcoming gesture, and was wreathed in a divine-looking halo, their blond hair was flowing freely behind them. In the background there were plains, lakes, and mountains, overall it was a very good painting if I could say so myself.
'Shame it's depicting such an asshole.' I immediately connected the dots and realized that right now I'm being shown Hajime and co. first day on Tortus.
Taking a good look around I saw a huge chamber entirely made of polished white stone, presumably marble, huge pillars with detailed sculptures carved into them that rose all the way to the ceiling, me and the projections of Hajime's class were on top of a pedestal raised above the immediate surroundings, which was surrounded by around 30 or so people that appeared to be priests on their knees praying.
The projection of their leader, an ancient looking man with a long beard, wrinkles which seemed to have wrinkles themselves, dressed much more lavishly than his peers in what appeared to be popes robes and popes hat with an ornate staff, approached the pedestal.
"Welcome to Tortus, brave heroes. It is our pleasure to welcome you here. I am the pope of the Holy Church, Ishtar Langbard. It is an honor to make your acquaintances." the shifty-eyed fuck said with a good-natured smile, but even without my meta knowledge I wouldn't buy any of it, mostly due to the fact that I'm as distrusting of others as one man can be.
His wrinkliness then led the confused group of students into another room that was furnished with numerous chairs and long tables, saying it would be easier to speak calmly there.
I almost followed them until my eyes fell upon one of the walls of the chamber, it was slightly whiter than the other walls, normal people would probably dismiss it as nothing important...
I was not a normal person.
'My Gamer Instinct is tingling, there's got to be something behind it.' I detached myself from the group of lambs that were about to be emotionally slaughtered and used [Transmute] to break down the wall.
It may have been my Gamer Instinct that told me that something was off with that wall, but when one thought rationally about it then they'd realize that this place was a chamber of the temple of Ehit or something like that, and thanks to reading the Novel I knew just how fanatical Ehit's worshippers were, so there was no chance in hell that they'd leave one wall to be cleaner than the others.
And what did I find behind that wall? A Purple Orb Fragment.
Purple Orb Fragment collected (2/4)
I then run to the group of students with a content grin on my face.
When I got there a number of carts entered the room, pushed along by a retinue of maids.
I leaned against a wall and watched the spectacle unfold as when the maids entered the room the male half of the projections began undressing them with their eyes, which earned them icy glares from the female half.
When the projection of my predecessor was about to ogle the maid who started serving him a drink, he felt a glacial stare piercing his back, how do I know this? Because of 2 things:
1 - I read the Novel.
2 - I also felt that piercing stare and it was not a pleasant feeling.
After a moment, he risked a glance back in the direction he'd felt the stare from, only to see Kaori beaming happily at him.
A cold bead of sweat was traveling down my forehead because I realized something...
'Shit! What if Kaori notices something's off with her Hajime-kun using her [Hidden Skill: Totally not Yandere Obsession with Hajime-kun Sixth Sense of the Outer Path-3000] when she sees me?' I was honestly scared and [Gamer's Spirit] didn't do anything about my fear of what could happen as Kaori might literally be the only person able to tell that something's off with her Hajime-kun, or at least some paranoid part of my mind had thought so.
'Calm down! There's no way anyone would be able to tell the difference, even if they'd have an unhealthy obsession with Hajime, and besides we can just blame the shift in personality on the time spent in The Abyss.' a more rational part of my mind caused me to calm down somewhat.
Before I could continue having a mental breakdown the projection of Ishtar began explaining the situation to the students and, just like with most things that happened today, I tuned it out instead letting my gaze wander around the place.
While my gaze wandered around the place I spotted something curious on the sidelines where no one(except me) was looking...
It was a nun... not just any nun, she had a certain otherworldly beauty to her and was as expressionless as it was physically possible which allowed me to immediately identify her as one of Ehit's mass-produced Fake Angels, her blue eyes were cautiously looking at someone... that someone being Hajime.
I conducted some tests earlier in the Secret Dungeon which showed me that I can't use [Perception] on projections which slightly limited my source of information, but my deductive skills were still quite formidable, or at least I like to think so.
And yet I couldn't quite comprehend why an Apostle, a literal powerhouse compared to most of Tortus's population would eye warily some random nobody who might I add had average stats, or at least my 'fake' set of memories told me so.
'This is... curious.' my mind immediately went into overdrive trying to come up with some possible reason as to why she'd be wary of one of the people who Ehit 'blessed' with a Job...
My eyes widened in realization.
'What if Ehit's not the one who gave Hajime my Job?' I gave it some thought.
My IQ 530,000 mental CPU(Aka: Le Brain) produced only one conclusion: It was highly possible since Ehit's the one who distributed the Jobs to Hajime and his classmates, but I met a Random Omnipotent Being who let me take over this 'Hajime' after I customized a few things to be more to my liking, which meant that he could have easily been as strong as if not stronger than Ehit, and Ehit was, let's face it, an idiot who would let anything pass as long as he deems it amusing, that's the reason The Liberators were allowed to even begin their little rebellion in the first place, so it made sense that he'd let some Irregular on his chessboard as long as nothing goes against his plans.
'This may complicate things later down the line.'
Coincidentally when I was done wondering about the origin of my Job Ishtar was done with his explanation, which meant that a certain someone should be starting to shout right around... now.
"You can't possibly be serious! You're telling these children to go fight in a war!? That's absolutely unacceptable! As a teacher, I cannot allow it! Send us back right this instant! These kids all have families back home who must be worried sick! You can't just kidnap them like this!" the Loli-Pedo Aiko displayed her Survival Instinct which was equivalent to a particularly suicidal lemming by angrily shouting at Ishtar who just finished explaining how their god used Magic, FUCKING MAGIC! to summon them... I would have understood if she was angry under any other circumstance, BUT SHE LITERALLY SAW EVERYONE GET ISEKAID VIA MAGIC CIRCLE!
'Honestly what kind of an idiot would start to resist the pope when it's quite clear that he holds all of the cards? The correct way to handle things should have been to be obedient and slowly gain more information and once one was confident they're capable of resistance then, and only then, they should protest.' it took me about 5 seconds to come up with that plan of action, but I'll admit I had the benefit of meta knowledge so under normal circumstances it would take me, give or take, a few minutes to realize just how profoundly, unequivocally, and absolutely fucked the circumstances really are.
After Aiko several students voiced their protests, but they missed a key part of Ishtar's explanation... I didn't even listen to his explanation, but I still remembered what he said...
"I understand your feelings, however... I am unable to return you to your world at present."
"Wh-What do you mean... you're unable!? If you called us here, you should be able to send us back, shouldn't you!?" Aiko desperately tried to find a hole in Ishtar's statement... which I didn't quite listen to.
"As I stated earlier, the one who summoned you here is Lord Ehit himself. The only reason we were in that room at all was to greet you heroes, and to offer up our prayers to Lord Ehit. We humans do not possess the power to interfere with other worlds, so whether or not you can return also depends on His will." Ishtar stated these words for what they were, the truth.
Everyone who voiced their displeasure has been silenced immediately, with Aiko just slumping in her chair saying.
"N-No way..."
'Hehe, clever bastard.' I noticed the particular choice in Ishtar's words "whether or not you can return also depends on His will", he definitely tried to find someone who would pick up on it, feeding everyone hope that if they do what Ehit says they would go back home.
While everyone despairs I spare a glance at Ishtar and see him calmly looking at the students with a well hidden contempt behind his eyes.
'*Sigh* Those religious nut-jobs sure are a handful.' I smiled bitterly to myself knowing that in the future I'll have to confront some of Ehit's fanatics, which I was not looking forward to because me and relligion don't mix very well(too much hypocrisy).
Kouki stood up amidst the hysterical group of students and slammed his fist down onto the table with a bang which managed to get the attention of most of the kids. Once he had confirmed that everyone's eyes were on him, the hero wannabe began his self-righteous speech.
"Everyone, there's no point in complaining to Ishtar. There's nothing he can do about it now. And... And I, at least, have decided to stand and fight. These people are about to be annihilated. Knowing that, how can I possibly leave them to such a tragic fate? And besides, if we've been summoned here to save humanity, it's possible we'll be allowed to go back once we've saved them... Well, Ishtar-san? Do you think that's possible?"
'*Sigh* Moron.'
"It is as you say. Lord Ehit is not so unkind that he would ignore a request from his chosen heroes." I knew for a fact that Ishtar was lying, after all Ehit didn't care about anyone other than The Hero-wannabe but only because he was meant to be his vessel.
"And we've all gained some amazing powers, right? Ever since I arrived here, it's felt like I've somehow grown way stronger."
"Yes, that is correct. It would be safe to assume that each of you have the equivalent strength of anywhere from a few to few dozen regular men."
"Alright, then we should be fine. I'm going to fight. If we save everyone, then we can go home. So just you watch! I'm going to save everyone, including us!" Kouki clenched his fists tightly as he said that clichéd line.
At the same time, his charisma, which I suspected would be at EX rank had he the same mastery system I have, started working it's magic. Students who were despairing moments ago began to regain their composure. They all looked at Kouki with wonder, as if he was hope itself. Most of the female students had adoration mixed into their gaze as well.
'Fools.'
"Heh, knew you'd say that. Still, I'd be worried letting you go off on your own... Which is why I'm coming with you."
"Ryutarou..."
"Looks like that's the only choice we have right now. It pisses me off that we don't get any real say in the matter, but... I'll help too."
"Shizuku..."
"I-If Shizuku-chan's going to fight, then I will too!"
"Kaori..."
In the end, everyone seemed to agree to help fight in the world's war. However, most students probably had no idea what war was really like, nor did they even want to fathom it. In a sense, they might have just been trying to escape from reality to preserve their own sanity.
'Idiots. The whole lot of them.'
Me? I knew what war was on paper, but having never experienced it myself I could only guess about the more practical side of it.
After everything was done Ishtar began leading the students out of the temple and into the outside, I in the meantime scouted the surrounding area for 2 reasons:
1 - To at least have a vague sense of where everything is.
2 - To notice something which may lead me to some Hidden Object(sadly I found nothing).
After exiting the temple, I was greeted with... clouds, a goddamn sea of clouds which reminded me that the church was built on The Divine Mountain.
Ishtar lead everyone to some kind of a pedestal and after using some very cringy chant about faith showing de wae, the pedestal glowed and started floating, it was que for me to decide whether to follow them or go back and inspect every nook and cranny of the temple I could, and as much as I wanted to do the latter I also wanted to just get this [Secret Mission] over as fast as possible so I chose the former.
I went onto the pedestal alongside the projections and it started descending just like a fantasy cable car, the students all started clamoring excitedly as they saw their first display of magic, I couldn't really blame them as I had a similar reaction the first time I Transmuted something.
The moment the pedestal landed atop the royal palace the escorts appeared and lead everyone to the throne room. The hallways on the way were every bit as intricately detailed as the temple had been, minus the religious flavor which meant that it was much more appealing to my eyes.
'Nice.'
Along the way there were knights, servants, maids, and government officials and each and every one of them gazed at the students with a mixture of awe and wonder. It was quite obvious that most people were well aware of who the students were.
I found nothing particularly out-of-place which could be a Hidden Object... well nothing until we arrived in the throne room.
Ishtar and the little party of 'heroes' finally found themselves standing before a pair of massive double doors, into which many beautiful designs had been engraved. Two guards were standing at... well guard duty on either side of the door, they loudly announced the group's arrival to whoever was waiting within. Then, without waiting for a reply, they swung the doors open.
Ishtar leisurely passed through the entrance, clearly at ease. All of the students timidly followed behind him, with the exception of Kouki, his friends, and me(but that's because technically I wasn't even there) who were seemingly unaffected by the splendor surrounding them.
Within the room stretched a long red carpet that ended at the far wall. At it's end was a magnificent chair(throne). Standing in front of the throne was a middle-aged man who radiated an aura of solemn dignity... buuut I didn't care about any of that as I went and thoroughly inspected every nook and cranny while the officials were introducing themselves.
And wouldn't you know, I found an Orb behind the throne, but it wasn't a Purple Orb Fragment it was...
'[Perception].'
[Perception]
Golden Orb - magical golden stone created through an unknown process.
Golden Orb allows for resurrection after death of an individual.
I just grinned.
'Jackpot of Jackpots.'
When I returned my attention to the projections I saw Ishtar has approached the throne and extended his hand to the king, who took it reverently and kissed it with the slightest brush of his lips.
It looked like I made it in time for the introductions, which was good as I never bothered remembering the names of the princess, the prince, the king and the queen, and the others(except Meld) because they were just background characters so I saw no reason to ever bother with committing their names to my memory.
The king's name was Eliheid S. B. Heiligh, and his wife the queen was called Luluaria. The blond boy was the prince Lundel, and the girl the princess Liliana.
After them began the introductions of other big shots, but I tuned them out... all except for the knight commander Meld Loggins.
My face took on a complicated expression.
On one hand Meld was one of the only 3 human characters who I genuinely liked in the Novel(the other were Endou and Gahard).
On another I was well aware that he was going to die a little before the demon invasion on the kingdom, and there was little I could do about it.
Ever since 'the incident' in my high-school I learned to never make decisions based on feelings, because that's how most idiots screw up, but even then I couldn't help but think if there's a way to keep Meld alive.
'Doesn't matter, I'll deal with it when I get to it.' I shook my head before I started to over-think things again.
After introductions were over then came the dinner.
I decided to take a few sweet treats(yes I could, it's the same as the books earlier: as long as a projection isn't using it then it's fair game) for myself to occupy my mind with something because almost everything up till this point was boring.
And because I am somewhat cautious I used [Perception] on the food and found out that it restores (Dismal) amount of HP... that's right, it's not percentage based or a static number it just says (Dismal) so I can only guess that it restores a tiny amount of health, which is always good to know.
Once dinner and introductions were finished, everyone was led to their own individual rooms, and I was forced to follow the projection of Hajime by some sort of invisible walls which blocked any other paths.
The room was luxurious, and I could feel that Hajime was slightly overwhelmed by it, but the day he experienced would be quite exhausting for normal people, so he flopped down on his bed and fell asleep almost instantly as the exhaustion caught up to him.
I in the meantime was watching him not sure what to do now because when I tried to open the door I found it not only locked, but also I couldn't open it with [Transmute] or brute force, so I was forced to stay inside the room.
'Maybe I can improve the rank of my skills since it's not Exp based?' I decided to test out this theory by taking out some materials from my [Inventory].
I took out Monster Leather and Taur Ore and began working on something using [Transmute].
What I began working on were a pair of holsters for Ebony and Ivory and a sheath for Rebellion(I later found out that Rebellion can just stick to my body like a magnet to metal, but I still chose to use the sheath), to complete my DMC 3 Dante look.
It took some time, but I managed to do it and now I won't need to open the [Inventory] to get my weapons... or at least for now.
When I was done with that I began Transmuting Taur Ore into various different things to see if I could increase the rank of [Transmute].
A few hours later.
Class(Spare levels: 16):
-Synergist(Common) Lvl 5
Skills: Transmute[Rank:C(Ore Appraisal, Precision Transmutation, Ore Perception)]
-Berserker(Rare) Lvl 2
Skills: Mad Enhancement[Rank:C] - Battle Continuation[Rank:E(Guts)]
-Monster Hybrid(Unnatural) Lvl 9
Skills: Mana Manipulation[Rank:E] - Iron Stomach[Rank:E] - Lightning Field[Rank:E] - Intimidation[Rank:E] - Air Dance[Rank:E(Supersonic Step, Aerodynamics)]
As it turned out I can increase the rank and gain sub-skills despite [Stunted Exp Gain] which was a very good thing for me since I could exploit [Time Dilation].
As a side note this is the state of my [Skill Trees].
[Skill Trees]
Magic:
Alteration - 34
Conjuration - 15
Destruction - 15
Enchanting - 15
Illusion - 15
Restoration - 15
Stealth:
Alchemy - 15
Light Armor - 15
Lockpicking - 15
Pickpocket - 15
Sneak - 23
Speechcraft - 15
Combat:
Block - 15
Heavy Armor - 15
Marksman - 15
One-handed - 15
Smithing - 46
Two-handed - 15
They got quite high and I still had Mana to burn, so there was no reason for me to stop using [Transmute] and yet I did. Why? Well...
What got me out of my grinding was a faint feeling of unease coming from Hajime's projection as he started shifting uncomfortably in his bed(he was still asleep).
I got curious so I started looking around the room to locate the source and wouldn't you know, I found it...
It was an otherworldly beauty with an expressionless face staring through the window... which mind you, was located quite high off the ground.
It was still slightly before dawn, which served to show the amount of time I spent Transmuting, and yet The Fake Angel just floated there as if she were there the whole time.
I just blinked in confusion.
'Was she there the whole time or did she just get here?' I furrowed my brows in thought.
'No, she had to be there otherwise there would most likely be a notification of 'Changing Scenery...' if nothing important happened, so I probably just didn't notice her.'
'I think this is enough proof that Ehit was closely watching this Hajime.'
I then went back to grinding for the rest of the time I had before 'training' began.
Later.
When 'Hajime' woke up he went to the dining hall for a breakfast with his fellow classmates and after that they all went outside for training.
When everyone has gathered they were handed a twelve centimeter by seven centimeter silver plate. As the students stared at those strange plates, the knight captain, Meld Loggins, began explaining their function, but I already knew it so I tuned it out and only started paying attention when the actual Status was being shown.
When 'Hajime' activated his plate by pricking his finger with a needle and smearing his blood on the circle located on the plate, it shined in sky blue light for a moment before revealing...
Hajime Nagumo Age: 17 Male
Level: 1
Job: The Gamer
Strength: 10
Vitality: 10
Defense: 10
Agility: 10
Magic: 10
Magic Defense: 10
Skills: Gamer's Spirit - Gamer's Body - The Game - Game UI - Class - Inventory - Level Up - Party - Music Player - Language Comprehension
...Complete and utter mediocrity in terms of stats, but a Job no one has ever heard before.
'Huh? So he got [Uncapped] after eating Monster Meat.' I noticed the lack of the sub-skill for [Level Up].
I then went and took a look at the Status Plates of people who matter(Aka: The Big 4 and Endou).
The Hero Wannabe bitch:
Kouki Amanogawa Age: 17 Male
Level: 1
Job: Hero
Strength: 100
Vitality: 100
Defense: 100
Agility: 100
Magic: 100
Magic Resistance: 100
Skills: Elemental affinity - Elemental Resistance - Physical Resistance - Advanced Sorcery - Swordsmanship - Superhuman Strength - Armor Proficiency - Foresight - Increased Mana Recovery - Detect Presence - Detect Magic - Limit Break - Language Comprehension
The Waifu Bait:
Shizuku Yaegashi Age: 17 Female
Level: 1
Job: Swordmaster
Strength: 50
Vitality: 60
Defense: 50
Agility: 100
Magic: 80
Magic Resistance: 80
Skills: Sword Proficiency - Foresight - Sense Presence - Invisibility - Language Comprehension
The Muscle-bound Oaf:
Ryutarou Sakagami Age: 17 Male
Level: 1
Job: Monk
Strength: 80
Vitality: 90
Defense: 100
Agility: 50
Magic: 50
Magic Defense: 50
Skill: Iron Fist - Supersonic Step - Physical Resistance - All Elemental Resistance - Language Comprehension
The Yandere Bitch:
Kaori Shirasaki Age 17 Female
Level: 1
Job: Priest
Strength: 50
Vitality: 70
Defense: 50
Agility: 50
Magic: 100
Magic Defense: 100
Skills: Recovery Magic Affinity - Light Magic Affinity - High Speed Mana Recovery - Language Comprehension
And lastly the hentai protagonist:
Endou Kousuke Age 17 Male
Level: 1
Job: Assassin
Strength: 50
Vitality: 50
Defense: 50
Agility: 100
Magic: 50
Magic Defense: 50
Skills: Assassination Technique - Presence Manipulation - Shadow Dance - Language Comprehension
And that would be all of the people I deemed 'important enough' to commit their Stats and Skills to my memory, the rest had some random Jobs I didn't care about and varied stats, but none below 50... yeah, sucks to be Hajime.
After that nothing noteworthy happened and everything went more-or-less the same as the Novel, except I wasn't about to let the chance slip and picked a thing or two during training.
Two weeks later.
Two weeks. TWO GODDAMN WEEKS!!! I have been in this accursed Dungeon for that long, there was no time skip for me, much to my dismay, and it seemed that these two weeks were deemed important enough to be shown.
But I'm not going to lie, the only reason I'm even complaining is the fact that I can't Level Up in here so it feels like I'm just wasting my time.
But in fact I've grown considerably.
Class(Spare levels: 0):
-Artist(Common) Lvl 2
Skills: Visualization[Rank:C(Precise Image, Superior Imagination)]
-Synergist(Common) Lvl 10
Skills: Transmute[Rank:B(Ore Appraisal, Precision Transmutation, Ore Perception, Ore Desynthesis, Ore Synthesis)]
-Berserker(Rare) Lvl 4
Skills: Mad Enhancement[Rank:B(Berserk)] - Battle Continuation[Rank:E(Guts)]
-Heavy Knight(Rare) Lvl 1
Skills: Physical Resistance[Rank:E] - Block Mastery[Rank:E]
-Assassin(Very Rare) Lvl 2
Skills: Assassination Technique[Rank:E] - Presence Manipulation[Rank:E(Presence Isolation, Laughing Ghost)] - Shadow Dance[Rank:C(Shadow Step)]
-Monk(Very Rare) Lvl 3
Skills: Iron Fist[Rank:D] - Unarmed Combat Mastery[Rank:D] - Natural Weapon[Rank:C]
-Swordmaster(Very Rare) Lvl 2
Skills: Blade Mastery[Rank:C] - Blade Dance[Rank:D] - Focus[Rank:D(Battle Aura)]
-Monster Hybrid(Unnatural) Lvl 9
Skills: Mana Manipulation[Rank:C] - Iron Stomach[Rank:E] - Lightning Field[Rank:C] - Intimidation[Rank:E] - Air Dance[Rank:A(Supersonic Step, Aerodynamics, Steel Legs)]
Unfortunately I used up all of my Spare Levels to unlock some Classes.
Now let's talk about how it even works, well... I need to fulfill some requirement to have the ability to unlock a [Class] but I can fulfill all of them to unlock it without spending a level which shows that hard work is rewarded.
The exception to that rule are the (Common) Classes because they can be unlocked right off the bat... but they're pretty weak... most of the time.
Now as to my Skills... well, from what I understand I get a few random Skills that are compatible with a Class whenever I unlock a new Class and aside from that I spent a lot of time in the library, so I picked a few skills from the books(unfortunately many of them were blank for some reason).
Moving onto some good fucking news...
Attributes:
Strength - C
Defense - C
Dexterity - B-
Intelligence - A-
Willpower - B-
Luck - A
My [Attributes] finally increased, so in the end I managed to get stronger despite not being able to gain Exp, which in turn meant no leveling up(Aka: The Best way to get stronger).
Name: Hajime Nagumo/? Male
Title: [Subhuman]
Age: 17
Level: 21
Job: The Gamer
Strength: 250
Vitality: 350
Defense: 245
Agility: 425
Magic: 500
Magic Defense: 400
Skills: Gamer's Spirit - Gamer's Body - Game UI - The Game - Class - Inventory - Level Up(Uncapped) - Party - Music Player - Perception[Rank:D] - Language Comprehension
My Magic stat increased, but it's only because I found the remaining Purple Orb Fragments.
As a side note, nothing noteworthy happened during these 2 weeks... like seriously, absolutely nothing interesting, maybe except the fact that Hajime was monitored by an Apostle on an almost constant basis and the fact that Hajime was actually treated pretty well by everyone except his classmates who seemed to have an even bigger hate boner for him than ever before, but that's definitely because of his never-before-seen Job.
Speaking of Hajime's classmates my eyes were currently subjected to the very kind treatment Hajime received from his 'comrades'.
"Tch, I can't believe you're so weak, are you even trying, Nagumo?" Hiyama lazily kicked Hajime in the stomach as he said that.
Yep, Hajime was getting bullied by Hiyama and his cronies away from prying eyes(even if the rest of his class saw them drag him there), I in the meantime was reading a book I took from the library, only paying attention to the scene from time to time.
Now, I hear you ask "Didn't you say that you're feeling whatever Hajime's projection is feeling but vaguely? If so then how can you read your book in a situation like this?" and you'd be correct, but to answer the second question I'll ask another: "How do you think my Willpower went up to B- rank?"
The bullying continued until a certain group showed up.
"What do you think you're doing!?" an angry girls voice could be clearly heard... it was Kaori, along with the rest of 'The Big 4'.
"Umm, please don't misunderstand anything. W-We were just helping Hajime with his training..." Hiyama looked for some form of excuse.
"Training, huh? Wouldn't you say that was a bit too one-sided to be called training?" Shizuku uttered those words in an icy tone.
"We were just..."
"Save your breath, as unfit for combat as Nagumo is, he's still our classmate. Make sure you don't do that again." Kouki calmly reprimanded the bastards.
"If you've got time to be messing around, then work on your own damn skills instead!" Ryutarou bellowed.
Hiyama and everyone else started giving different excuses as they smiled awkwardly and beat a hasty retreat. Kaori cast some healing magic on 'Hajime', and he(as well as me) felt the soothing sensation of healing magic.
"Th-Thank you, Shirasaki-san. You saved me." 'Hajime' smiled painfully and Kaori shook her head at his words, her eyes filled with tears.
"Do they always do things like that to you? If so, I'll..." Kaori glared angrily in the direction Hiyama and the others ran off to, but 'Hajime' hurriedly stopped her.
"No, no, it's not always this bad! I'm fine, really, so please don't mind me!"
"But..."
Kaori didn't seem fully convinced.
"I'm fine, really." 'Hajime' smiled and said that and at those words, Kaori reluctantly gave in.
"Nagumo-kun, if anything else happens, please, for Kaori's sake too, tell us right away." Shizuku said that with a sidelong glance at Kaori, a strained expression on her face all the while.
All seemed well, but someone had to ruin the mood.
"But you know, Nagumo, you need to put in some effort of your own. You'll never grow strong if you keep using your weakness as an excuse. I've been hearing that you're spending all your time in the library when we're not training. If I was in your shoes, I'd spend every spare moment training to get stronger. I really think you need to start taking this more seriously, Nagumo. Don't you think Hiyama and the others might have done this because they were trying to fix that frivolous attitude of yours?" the self-righteous idiot clearly thought those 4 wanted to motivate Hajime by kicking his ass.
This actually stopped me in my reading and I just silently glared at Mr. Popular's projection.
'The stone, the stick, and the audacity of this prick.' if I ever needed more proof that people are assholes by nature then I bore witness to it because in the Novel it was mentioned time and time again that this idiot can't fathom the idea that people can be evil, so he'd rather blame the victim for angering the bullies than the bullies themselves.
"Sorry about that, Kouki at least means well." Shizuku sincerely whispered an apology to 'Hajime' for her dumbass friend's behavior.
"Ahaha, yeah, I know. Don't worry about it." 'Hajime' smiled and slowly stood up, brushing the dust off of his clothes.
'Why does he keep smiling is something I'll probably never understand.' I couldn't understand how anyone could smile mere seconds after they got bullied, and why didn't he hate anyone responsible until 'The Fall' and even then he became apathetic shortly afterward.
1 - If you expose a man to Pain long enough he will feel Anger.
2 - If you expose a man to Anger long enough he will feel Hatred.
And 3 - If you expose a man to Hatred long enough he will plan Revenge.
I know I would go through that process, because I already went through it, but couldn't deliver on the 'Revenge' part because I stopped caring anymore.
"Anyway, it's almost time for training to start. Shall we head back?" 'Hajime's' suggestion to the rest of the group managed to break me out of my thoughts.
They then went through their usual training routine(while I was just reading my book and took a day off of training), but after they were done something unusual happened(or at least 'unusual' for them).
Normally after training the students were given free time until dinner, but Captain Meld held them back after training had ended on that day. The students all looked at him curiously, while I looked bored out of my mind, and once he had their attention, he proclaimed loudly...
"Tomorrow as a part of your practical training we will be going on an expedition to the Great Orcus Labyrinth. I'll prepare all the necessary equipment you guys will need, but don't think this is going to be anything like the monster hunts you've been going on outside the capital! You guys better prepare yourselves! Get as much rest as possible tonight so you're ready! That's all, dismissed!" He kept his announcement brief, then left right after he had delivered it.
'Only a little while more and this [Secret Mission] will be over.' I was of course overjoyed that I'd be able to continue going through the Orcus Labirynth.
[Attention!]
Changing scenery...
"Fuck yeah!" upon seeing the notification I shouted these words in absolute bliss for 2 reasons.
1 - This meant that there will be a time skip(I didn't know to when, but it at least meant I won't have to wait the whole time).
2 - It also meant that nothing 'important' would happen.
As the world was dyed in white I just grinned from ear to ear.
When I could finally open my eyes they were greeted with something I wasn't expecting.
What I expected was being shown the scene between Kaori and Hajime which then caused Hiyama to fire a spell at Hajime in jealousy(you know which one I'm talking about), but instead the sight that greeted me was something that looked like the entrance to a museum, complete with it's own receptionist counter. A girl in uniform was checking over the people going in and out of with a smile... that's right, it was the entrance to Grand Orcus Labirynth.
'So I get to skip the boring bits and finally see some action?' I thought for a moment before grinning.
'Bitchin.' I was glad that I'd see something interesting, even if I won't be able to join in on the fun, but at least it wouldn't be nearly as boring as mindlessly swinging a sword for hours, which would tire any lesser men *Cough*Hajime*Cough* but since I had a working [Gamer's Body] I could swing a sword all day...
Speaking of [Gamer's Body] and the rest of The Gamer Job Skills, from all of the observations I conducted on Hajime's projection through those 2 weeks I found that he seemingly couldn't use most of them.
I wasn't sure about the accuracy of this, but I began thinking that perhaps he didn't have a Guide like me and when I asked My Guide about it... it didn't respond to me, which was pretty suspicious.
How he unlocked Synergist Class without the help of The Guide was beyond me, perhaps he was meant to have a Synergist Class the whole time and spent his Levels on it unconsciously, but that was just one of the theories I came up with, which I wasn't sure about the likelihood of it being true since it slightly conflicted with what was shown in my second set of memories.
Taking a good look around I saw all of the students gawking like country bumpkins as they followed Meld in single file, so I promptly followed them.
Once we passed through the museum-looking entrance in front of us was a passage that was a little over five meters wide and even though there was no obvious light source, the entire labyrinth was dimly lit, enough that one could vaguely make out their surroundings without the help of a torch or other light sources... it was because seemingly the whole Labirynth was covered in a mineral called Green Glowstone.
The party all filed into ranks and slowly advanced through the Labyrinth and after a few uneventful minutes, the passage they were walking down opened up into a wide plaza.
Towering seven or eight meters above was a dome-shaped ceiling. The students were all looking around curiously, when suddenly a number of gray creatures resembling furballs burst out from cracks in the wall.
"Alright, Kouki, your team's up front! Everyone else fall back! I'll have you switch in after some time, so stay sharp! These monsters are called Ratmen! They're quick on their feet, but not all that strong. Keep your cool as you fight!" Meld gave advice to Kouki's group.
The Ratmen were quite fast, and rushed at the team with alarming agility. Pairs of dark red eyes gleamed with a ghastly light from within the balls of fur, but something was off...
A few of the Ratmen were seemingly passing through other projections and were rushing in my direction.
At first I thought that they just decided to attack someone close to me, but my instincts screamed at me to "DODGE!" so I did by using [Style:Trickster] and [Air Dance] and saw a Ratmen pass clearly through some random projection of a student just like I can do which lead me to one conclusion...
...These were real Monsters.
I flashed a predatory grin at them.
"Finally some action!" I charged at the group of Ratmen with reckless abandon... I also subconsciously activated [Intimidation] which made the group of Monsters freeze for a second, so they made for an easy target.
It wasn't even a 'fight' it was more like a 'chore' and even then I couldn't gain Exp so I ended the fight quickly... but I was still glad that something remotely approaching 'excitement' happened.
Even then there was something different with these Monsters because once they died they all started disappeared before leaving some Red Orbs on the ground, but a few small Red Orbs didn't disappear when I walked near them so I decided to check what they are.
'[Perception].'
[Perception]
Monster Pill(Ratmen) - a pill containing essence of a Monster(Ratmen).
Grants a Stat boost and Unique Magic of a Monster(if it has one).
I smiled for a second before my face took on a determined look.
'I hope it tastes better than the meat.' when I thought this I popped one pill into my mouth and bit it, the taste was... bland.
'I'm not sure what I was expecting.' I had mixed feelings about the taste(or lack there of) of the pills, but I dispelled these thoughts and brought out my Status.
Name: Hajime Nagumo/? Male
Title: [Subhuman]
Age: 17
Level: 21
Job: The Gamer
Strength: 250
Vitality: 350
Defense: 245
Agility: 435
Magic: 500
Magic Defense: 400
Skills: Gamer's Spirit - Gamer's Body - Game UI - The Game - Class - Inventory - Level Up(Uncapped) - Party - Music Player - Perception[Rank:D] - Language Comprehension
'A 10 points increase to Agility huh?'
"Wow, well done! Alright, the rest of you will be up next, so don't relax just yet!" Meld said this to the group of students.
It seemed that when I was done checking my Stats the projections seemed to be done with fighting the Monsters as all of the Ratmen had been completely annihilated, not even ash was left behind.
"Oh, and... while you don't have to worry about it this time since it's training, in the future try and kill Monsters in a way that preserves their mana crystals. What you did back there was overkill."
The students blushed at Captain Meld's words, realizing they may have gone a little too far by destroying the Ratmen.
'Hmm, I wonder if the Ratmen that attacked me disappeared because the projections completely annihilated their Ratmen, or it's because they were specifically spawned in a Secret Dungeon.'
The group then proceeded further into the dungeon, so I followed them.
The group smoothly advanced through the floors of the labyrinth, rotating the vanguard between battles, while I fought a couple of weak monsters until eventually we arrived at 20th Floor... which meant that the plot could finally advance.
And this is how my Status looked like after that.
Name: Hajime Nagumo/? Male
Title: [Subhuman]
Age: 17
Level: 21
Job: The Gamer
Strength: 300
Vitality: 400
Defense: 245
Agility: 485
Magic: 550
Magic Defense: 450
Skills: Gamer's Spirit - Gamer's Body - Game UI - The Game - Class - Inventory - Level Up(Uncapped) - Party - Music Player - Perception[Rank:D] - Language Comprehension
As for the Monster Pills I got well... they gave me a Stat boost, but no new Skills/Unique Magic so far.
Once the group arrived at this floor they took a small break.
"Alright everyone, from this point on, monsters won't come at you just one species at a time. They'll coordinate with each other and attack in large groups. Don't let your guard down just because we've had nothing but easy victories so far! Today's training will conclude once we clear the twentieth floor, so let's end things with a bang!" the voice of Meld's projection echoed throughout the room.
Up until that point, Hajime's projection hadn't done much of anything. He'd once taken on a monster the knights had weakened for him, trapping it in a pitfall created using [Transmute] and stabbing it to death with his sword, but that was all.
And while everyone was taking a short break, Hajime glanced over to the front lines, and his eyes met Kaori's. She was smiling at him, and Hajime looked away embarrassed, as he realized she had been probably watching over him the whole time.
Kaori pouted a little when she saw him look away. Shizuku chuckled softly as she watched their little exchange out of the corner of her eye, then softly spoke.
"Kaori, why do you keep staring at Nagumo-kun? Don't you know it's wrong to pick up guys in a dungeon?" Shizuku said that in a teasing manner, but Kaori blushed, and angrily rounded on Shizuku.
"Oh, come on, Shizuku-chan! Could you please not say strange things like that! I was just wondering if Nagumo-kun was okay!"
I looked at the exchange in extreme disgust while also feeling a glare dripping with hatred aimed at Hajime's projection which only added anger to the disgust I felt at the scene.
After that the idiots continued exploring the twentieth floor until arriving at a place resembling a limestone cave, but made of ice. Icicles protruded from the walls, some of them melted, creating a complex topography.
Eventually, the two people at the head of the party, Kouki and Meld, came to a halt, the students prepared for battle as they looked around. It seemed that they had encountered a monster.
"It's camouflaging itself! Keep a close eye on your surroundings!" Meld shouted at the group of students, but it was also a que for me.
As I scanned the area for Monsters a couple of protrusions suddenly changed color and began to move. The creature that had assumed the shape of a wall was actually a dark brown color, and it stood there on two legs. It began beating it's chest, it would seem that the monster was a gorilla that could camouflage itself like a chameleon.
'Mm, Monke. Now which one is which.' I used [Perception] to identify which Monke was a projection and which one was out for my blood.
Once I located the Monsters I started blasting with Ebony and Ivory because I had no patience left for this [Secret Mission].
When all of the 'gorillas' dropped dead I saw that the group of projections has barely just began fighting, so I went and picked the Monster Pill in the meantime.
"A Rockmount! Watch out for its arms, they pack quite a punch!" Meld's voice resounded throughout the cavern.
Kouki's party prepared to engage the enemy, Ryutarou repelled the Rockmount's enormous arms with his fists, meanwhile Kouki and Shizuku shuffled to either side to flank it, but were unable to properly surround it because of the rough terrain.
Realizing it couldn't get past the human wall that was Ryutarou, the Rockmount fell back and sucked in a deep breath.
"Graaaaaaaaaaah!!!" seconds after breathing in, it looked back and roared so ferociously that the entire room shook.
"Guh!?" "Uwaaah!?" "Kyaaah!?" although the shockwave of sound that hit the students did no harm, it made everyone, except me, stiffen in fear.
I in the meantime calmly popped the Monster Pill(Rockmount) in my mouth.
[Attention!]
Unique Magic [Intimidating Roar] has been assimilated by the Skill [Intimidation].
'So [Intimidating Roar] is this thing's special magic huh?'
Kouki and the others who took it head on seemed unable to move, and anyone would expect to be attacked while stunned, but the Rockmount sidestepped past them, picked up a nearby boulder, and hurled it at Kaori's group. It flew cleanly over the heads of the immobile front line and headed straight toward its intended target.
Kaori's group pointed their staves at the boulder and prepared to intercept. There was no space to dodge, but they stopped their chant midway, the sight of what was coming toward them shocking them so much that they forgot to.
The boulder the Rockmount had thrown was a second Rockmount, it somersaulted in the air and spread it's arms wide, heading straight for Kaori. The way it spread it's arms out had an uncanny resemblance to the Lupin Dive, it had the bloodshot eyes and heavy breathing down. Kaori's group all screamed in terror and forgot to keep chanting.
"Oi, what do you think you're doing in the middle of a fight!?" Meld swiftly cut down the Rockmount that was diving toward the girls.
They all apologized while their faces were all pale, you'd probably think that it's because of a 'close brush with death', but I think that they all paled because of how disgusting the sight of a panting gorilla really was.
A certain someone completely snapped when he saw how rattled the girls were.
That's right! The one and only retarded hero wannabe... Kouki Amanogawa!
"Bastard... How dare you hurt Kaori and the others... I won't forgive you!"
"Soar unto heaven, O divine wings - Celestial Flash!" pure white mana began leaking from his body as he chanted the spell, and in response his holy sword began to glow.
"No, stop you idiot!" Meld shouted at Kouki, but he was too late as Kouki raised his sword up high, and swung down with all his might.
He finished chanting his spell the same instant, and his holy sword unleashed a dazzling blade of light, the curved light passed through the Rockmount without a hint of resistance, cutting it cleanly in two, and stopped only after crashing into the wall.
There was a loud rumbling, and pieces of the wall began to rain down. Kouki breathed a deep sigh, then turned to the girls, a lady-killer smile on his face. He had defeated the big bad monster for them.
Meld, who was smiling angrily with veins popping out of his forehead, walked up to him and delivered a punch straight into the face of the self-righteous idiot... it was an amazing sight which brought a genuine smile to my face.
"You damn fool! I understand why you got angry, but you can't use skills like that in a narrow passage! You could've brought the whole cave down on us!" Kouki apologized awkwardly. The girls all smiled wryly and tried to comfort him. Then suddenly, Kaori turned to look at the crumbled section of the wall.
"What is that? It's all sparkly..." At her words, everyone turned to look in the direction she was pointing.
There was a strange mineral emitting a pale blue glow, protruding from the wall like a flower in bloom. It looked like a crystal with Indigolite buried in it's center.
'Only a while longer.' I think, immediately recognizing the stone as the trap that sends everyone to 65th floor.
"Well that's a Grants Crystal, a big one at that, those are rather rare." Meld said this before he started explaining that Glanz crystals were a type of raw gemstone, though they held no special properties, their luster and radiance made them popular among the noble ladies and their daughters. They were often processed into rings, earrings, pendants, and such other jewelry to be given as gifts. Apparently most girls were overjoyed to receive glanz jewelry as gifts. It was among the top 3 jewels used in proposal rings.
"That sounds so lovely..." Kaori blushed when she heard Captain Meld's explanation, and was further entranced by the stone. She then stole a glance at 'Hajime'. It was so quick that it almost went unnoticed.
However, Shizuku and one other person most definitely did notice.
"In that case, I'll go grab it for us!" Hiyama suddenly ran forward after saying that. He swiftly climbed up the debris of the crumbled wall, heading toward the glanz crystal as fast as possible.
"Hey! Don't just run off on your own! We're not even sure it's safe yet!" Meld chased after Hiyama in an attempt to stop him.
At the same time, one of the knights pulled out his Fair Scope, which was an item meant to confirm the presence of magical traps, and scanned the area around the crystal. A moment later, his face went pale.
"Captain! It's a trap!"
"What!? Stop!" However, both Captain Meld and the knight's warning arrived a moment too late.
The second Hiyama touched it, a magic circle appeared in the center of the crystal. The magic circle glowed bright, then grew large enough to encompass the entire room. It was just like the one that had summoned everyone to Tortus, except it was Copper Red.
"Crap, retreat! Everyone get out, now!" Meld's words spurred everyone(except me) into action, and they all scrambled for the exit... but they didn't make it in time. Light filled the room, and before long Red was the only thing anyone could see.
[Attention!]
Changing scenery...
When I could open my eyes I saw... the same closed-off cave I woke up in some time ago.
'Wait what?' I was dumbfounded, after all what should have come after Hiyama touched the trap was The Behemoth fight and Hajime's descent into the Abyss.
And instead I found myself in the cave Hajime should be in after The Claw Bear chops off his arm... or rather in this case, after he manages to run away from The Claw Bear.
I arrived at the same conclusion when I got transported right in front of the Labirynth from the training grounds.
'Well that's a shame. I wonder if there'd be a second Behemoth for me to fight. I'm curious what Magic would I get from it? Something like [Scorching Hand] or maybe [Erupting Burning Finger]?...' I pondered what was the possible Unique Magic for The Behemoth, but something brought me out of my musing... a certain feeling.
Despair.
Not just any despair.
The despair as I know it is just a feeling of no motivation and a complete lack of drive to do anything.
But the despair I felt right now felt like drifting in the ocean all alone with no salvation coming from any direction.
Looking around I saw projection of Hajime who just quietly said...
"Someone... anyone... please save me..." he was just huddled in a fetal position, begging for salvation that would never come.
Anyone would feel pretty hopeless in a situation like that, after all he just experienced a close brush with death a couple of times after getting betrayed by his supposed 'comrades' right after risking his life to save them.
'Fuck this stupid gimmick.' the despair I felt via Hajime's projection sapped all drive to do anything from me so I couldn't even exploit [Time Dilation].
Day 4 - Despair continues
It's been 4 days ever since that feeling of overwhelming despair washed over me.
The worst part about it was the fact that it sapped all motivation from me, so even thinking was exhausting.
At the same time Hajime's projection had barely moved, drawing the sustenance he needed from the Divinity Stone.
He couldn't sleep because of the pain and hunger, and I felt both despite [Gamer's Body] supposedly negating my need for food, so whenever 'Hajime' drank more Ambrosia, all it did was clear his mind to let him and me feel the pain more vividly.
Over and over, his fatigue brought him to the edge of consciousness, only for the pain and hunger to draw him back. And then to escape the pain he would drink more Ambrosia, which only invited further pain for both of us. He had repeated that cycle more times than I bothered to count.
At some point, Hajime stopped drinking the Ambrosia altogether. He had chosen the fastest way to end his pain.
"If all that awaits me is eternal pain... then I might as well..." he muttered to himself clearly defeated, and let his consciousness slip away.
Day 7 - Calm before the storm
It's been 7 days since the overwhelming feeling of despair washed over me.
The pain which had passed a certain threshold had abated for a while, but it was only just beginning.
'Hajime's' starvation came back in full force, and excruciating hunger pangs continuously wracked his and my stomach tormenting both of us all the time. It felt as if fingernails were slowly being peeled off one by one, and then salt was dumped in the open wounds.
"Grrhhg! Fuck this gimmick! Fuck it hard!" I cursed the stupid gimmick through gritted teeth.
Day 8 - Hatred is born
Around the 8th day since I got here, a strange shift in 'Hajime's' mentality had begun so I also felt it.
Shifting between wishing for death and praying for salvation, his mind had begun to warp, and dark thoughts began welling up from 'Hajime's' subconscious which were unconsciously mirrored by my some of my own, but I knew the answer to a few of my thoughts very well.
'Why do I have to suffer...? - Because I chose to 'take over' Hajime.'
'What did I do to deserve this? - I humored that Random Redditor.'
'Why me...? - I don't know.'
'Why did it end up like this? - Because that's the way things went in the Novel.' this thought gave me some pause.
'...Why did things went that way in the Novel? - Because Hiyama was jealous of Hajime.'
'Why was he jealous? - Because Kaori kept hanging around Hajime.'
'Why did she kept hanging around him? - Because of that incident with delinquents and the old lady.'
As my questions were getting more and more answers so did my anger began boiling.
Anger at Hiyama for shooting that fireball at Hajime.
Anger at Kaori for hanging around Hajime.
Anger at Hajime for helping that old lady.
And anger at myself for choosing to 'take over' Hajime of all people.
Thinking rationally about it, there was no reason for me to be angry at any of those people...
There was no reason for me to get angry at Hiyama, Kaori and Hajime because they were nothing but fictional characters to me, until recently.
And there was no reason to be angry at myself because I specifically asked to 'take over' after 'The Awakening' to avoid this whole process...
But I couldn't think logically at the time due to all of the anger I felt, and even then it was probably a fraction of what went through 'Hajime's' mind.
There was a time when I was already past the point of 'hate' and I just didn't care about anyone, but with all the rage I felt I went through the same process I already experienced.
Pain eventually turned into Anger which then turned into Hatred.
But unlike the first time I went through this process, this time the feeling was much more intense, and lasting.
The hatred clouded my reasoning and I could no longer differentiate between my 'fake' set of memories and my actual memories.
Day 10 - Motivation
For the past 2 days my dark thoughts were getting much more intense, while those of 'Hajime' were getting less and less until eventually they vanished.
The reason for that was because Hajime was a person that had trouble hating someone as well as these thoughts would do nothing about his predicament so he stopped bothering, but I was incredibly unforgiving and while it's true that I stopped caring about anyone else it didn't mean that I'd ever forgive anyone who wronged me.
While my hatred was getting more and more concentrated, 'Hajime's' will to live was also growing, but at a much more impressive rate.
For once since this whole [Secret Mission] began I was glad for the stupid gimmick that made me feel whatever 'Hajime' felt(even if vaguely) because as a result of mixing Hajime's will to survive and my unjustified hatred something awakened inside of me.
The one thing someone needs to gain more power.
The one thing someone needs to survive.
The one thing someone needs to recognize a threat.
Instinct.
A killer Instinct to mercilessly crush, shred, and slice my enemies.
I didn't think too much about it at that time, but whether it was because I possessed Hajime's body or because I went through the same thing(even if vaguely) he went, I unknowingly mirrored Hajime's "I mUsT kIlL mY eNeMiEs." policy.
But where we differed was the goal behind it... even if the difference was minimal.
Hajime's goal was: Survival, so he'd kill, get stronger, and devour his enemies to accomplish his goal. There was no Malice there, only the will to live in it's purest form.
My goal was: Power, so I'd survive, kill, and mercilessly crush, shred and slice every obstacle between me and my goal just to accomplish my goal. There were a lot of feeling there, but there were two which greatly overshadowed anything else: Anger, and most importantly... Motivation, something I always lacked.
Like I said earlier "The difference was minimal.", but it was still there.
In the meantime Hajime's projection dragged it's weakened body over to the cavity where the Ambrosia had spilled, then lapped it up like a dog.
I knew that his hunger and pain still remained because I felt it vividly, but his body regained it's vigor. Then he roughly wiped his mouth, his eyes sparkling ferociously as a wicked grin spread over his face. His canines peeked through his cruel smile.
"I'll kill them." Hajime stood up, and began muttering these words like a mantra while he Transmuted the ground.
Later
Twin-tailed Wolves are without a doubt the weakest Monster in the Abyss, which was why they were the only Monster 'Pre-Awakening' Hajime could defeat.
'Hajime' had spent each day in ceaseless training, ignoring his pain and hunger. The Ambrosia extended his life and restored his mana, so he was able to focus on his Transmutation twenty-four seven, but the hunger didn't vanish and I felt it the whole time. He worked on his speed, his precision, and his range. It wasn't hard to imagine that if he had gone outside with his current level of skill, he would have died instantly.
And he just managed to trap a few Wolves by using [Transmute] to create a pitfall, and after they fell into it he closed it off.
He could have just waited for them to suffocate, but his hunger had sapped all patience he had, so he created a drill-like spear and made a small hole in the pit and began to drill it into the wolves one by one killing them.
For the last few days when Hajime's projection was training it's [Transmute] I was training my Willpower by trying to remain calm despite the Pain and Anger, because all of the Pain and Anger I felt was starting to get annoying... ironic, I know.
These are the results.
Attributes:
Strength - C
Defense - C
Dexterity - B-
Intelligence - A-
Willpower - A-
Luck - A
I also unlocked a derivative skill for [Gamer's Body].
Name: Hajime Nagumo/? Male
Title: [Subhuman]
Age: 17
Level: 21
Job: The Gamer
Strength: 325
Vitality: 410
Defense: 260
Agility: 485
Magic: 550
Magic Defense: 460
Skills: Gamer's Spirit - Gamer's Body(Dull Pain) - Game UI - The Game - Class - Inventory - Level Up(Uncapped) - Party - Music Player - Perception[Rank:D] - Language Comprehension
[Dull Pain]... I doubt I need to explain why this sub-skill allowed me to reign in my Anger(which was caused by Pain).
"Alright, with this I finally have some food." 'Hajime' smiled happily as he began peeling away the fur of the now dead Wolves.
'Why does he keep talking to himself?' I thought to myself, while mentally preparing for what's to come once he eats that meat.
After that, driven by hunger, 'Hajime' began to devour them. He cut a ghastly figure as he tore into their flesh, illuminated dimly by the green light of the crystals inside the closed-off cave. He greedily devoured the wolf, every edible bit of the animal he had just killed.
"Agah... Gah, tastes like shit!" he spat curses, but that didn't stop him from eating the wolf.
A few hours later
Hours passed, and still he continued to consume. He gulped it all down with Ambrosia, and around the time he was finally starting to feel full, Hajime began to notice a change occurring within his body.
"Ah? Gah!? Agaaaah!" searing pain shot through his body. It felt as if something were eating away at him, and by extension me, from within. As time passed, the pain only grew worse for him... but not for me.
'Thank God for [Dull Pain].' for the first time in the two weeks(I think) I was here I smiled in relief, and it's true that I felt the pain, but it wasn't nearly as bad as 'Hajime's' screams made it out to be.
"Guaaaaaaaah!!! W-What's- Gaaaaaaah!!!" with a trembling hand,' Hajime' pulled a stone vial out of his pocket... which I wasn't sure why I didn't find any of the vials when I woke up in this cave, he then ripped the cap off, and poured it's contents down his throat, The Ambrosia did it's work and the pain began to recede, but then eventually it returned once more.
"Hiii... Gugaaaaaah! Why... won't it heal...? Gaaaaah!" along with the pain 'Hajime' began to feel his body throb, it began to pulse, like one big organism, and curiously enough, you could even hear his body creaking.
It was mildly uncomfortable for me, but above all else it felt... ticklish.
"Fuhahahhahh!" my whole body felt like it was being tickled, and the pain I felt was easily ignoreable.
A moment later the Ambrosia kicked in again and began repairing his body. Once the healing finished, the pain returned. Then he was healed again. Thanks to the Ambrosia, the poor fool couldn't even faint. It's healing powers had backfired on him, but for me? It became even more ticklish.
"HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!" tears began forming at the corners of my eyes, and I began rolling on the ground.
'Hajime' screamed incoherently, smacking his head against the wall over and over, but the pain showed no signs of ending. He begged for someone to end his pain, while I was still laughing like a maniac from all of the ticklish throbing my body felt.
Eventually 'Hajime's' body began to morph, which showed that the [Secret Mission] was nearly complete.
The color was bleached from his hair and his distinctively Japanese black hair slowly turned snow-white. Then, his muscles and bones began to grow slightly. Red tattoo-like veins ran down his body. And lastly he grew in height from his laughable 165cm to a whapping 183cm I currently have.
This cycle was dubbed 'Overcompensation' in the Novel, where Monster Meat destroyed Hajime's body from the inside, but The Ambrosia quickly healed it.
Hajime's screams and my cackling were the only sounds in this cave for a few hours until Hajime's projection lost consciousness underneath The Divinity Stone which was lodged in the ceiling.
Once he lost consciousness I stopped feeling ticklish, but more importantly the whole world was dyed white and it remained like that, until I felt a familiar headache.
I then got all of the memories I had before I entered The Secret Dungeon, I supposed that it was some form of a fail-safe in case I spend too much time in a Dungeon and forgot about everything I was doing before entering it.
'Well, if that will happen every time I do a [Secret Mission] then I give it a few weeks before I go insane.'
When the white was no longer the only thing I saw, I took a good look around and noticed that I stood in the same place I entered The Secret Dungeon, but this time in front of me was a screen with a notification.
[Secret Mission]
Congratulations! You have completed Secret Mission "To The Beginning".
Main Objective: Learn more about 'your' past(Completed).
Side Objective: Find Hidden Objects scattered throughout The Secret Dungeon(Collected 5 out of 7).
Rewards:
-New Title(Omega)
-5 levels into (Synergist) [Class]
My mind went blank for a few seconds.
'Hold up. I spent all this time in the Dungeon, and I didn't even collect all of the Hidden Items?'
Yes, and you can't repeat a [Secret Mission]
It took me a few seconds to register what My Guide has told me, but when I did...
"GRGGHHGGG!" I started growling, while desperately trying(and failing) to suppress my frustration, I even unconsciously used [Intimidation].
My Spirit of a Gamer(not the Skill) who will take everything that isn't nailed down and can be taken away was going into a blind rage.
"FUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKK!!!" the nightmarish shout I released could be clearly heard throughout the whole floor before I succumbed into my blind rage and went on a rampage throughout the whole floor.
But that's a story for another time.
End Chapter
Hi
If there's something I regret then it's the fact that I decided to write the whole [Secret Mission] in only 1 chapter, but hey, I managed somehow.
Question of the Chapter: Do you sometimes read the reviews on Fics that aren't yours? I do, one day I spent around 2 hours reading 2k reviews... it's not something I'm keen on repeating.
As always, don't feel pressured to answer it.
CHAPTER BREAKDOWN
So firstly there's a brief recap on the circumstances of the MC which is followed by him quickly realizing that:
-He's in a City not a Town
-It's somewhere in Japan, as evidenced by the Japanese 'people' surrounding him
It's entirely possible to tell the difference between the Asians... even if it's not easy, which shows that either:
a) The MC is very perceptive
b) [Perception] is increasing the perception outside of activating the skill.
The MC then asks his Guide to explain his objective which revealed the objective of the [Secret Mission].
It's also revealed that Secret Dungeons may have some special effects, in this case [Time Dilation] [Limited Space] and [Stunted Exp Gain].
After questioning The Guide the MC learns that he's supposed to learn more about Hajime's past(I mean... what were you expecting from a title "To The Beginning"?), which then begs the question I'm sure many are going to ask "What's the point?" and the answer that I as the author have is "I wanted the MC to inherit a few traits from Hajime because they were my favorite part of the Novel."
Then the MC sees the scene that caused Kaori to hang around Hajime, with no changes from the Canon version.
What's important here is what the MC thought about the scene, which was:"Not my problem." as well as his later thoughts about Hajime "He's quite bold... stupid yes, but bold nonetheless.".
I hate goody-two-shoes characters(with a few exceptions) and it shouldn't have come of as a surprise.
Remember what were the MC's thoughts regarding if he should free Yue? They were "Should I free her, or not?" not "Oh my gosh I need to save her, I'm such a nice person." and in the end he decided that he'd save her because he literally had nothing better to do, so while he will think about his next move he will also act on impulse if he's bored enough.
The MC then conducted a few tests to see how do the 'NPC's' for a lack of a better term react to him, and he found out that he can't do anything to influence the events shown in the projections.
Fast forward to the moment when Hajime's projection is kicked by the delinquent and it becomes clear why [Secret Missions] are typically harder than regular [Missions].
Hidden Gimmicks... in this case the MC feels whatever Hajime's projection would be feeling, which comes back to bite him in the ass later on.
And when Hajime's projection started kneeling on the ground the MC felt for a moment as if he was the one who did it in the past, which shows that the memories he inherited from Hajime in Ch1 are so well done that if one were to, I don't know... suddenly stop thinking logically, then they would have issues with differentiating which set of memories was the real one.
After the whole thing was done the MC tries to follow Hajime's projection, but is stopped by an invisible wall and it's shown that the [Secret Mission] won't show something which isn't deemed 'important enough' which is confirmed by The Guide.
Later the MC is being shown the day Hajime and his class is sent to Tortus, but he also explores a few nooks and crannies and finds a Hidden Object (Purple Orb Fragments which are from Devil May Cry 5).
The MC then did a few tests and learned that the events shown by the projections will only advance if he's around to see them.
After that the MC follows Hajime's projection to his classroom and is being shown what was the first thing shown in the Novel, but when 'The Big 4' shows up his thoughts on them are being shown by the nicknames he gives them.
And when they shit on him(it's been shown in countless Canon rehashes so you should know what I'm talking about) we see that the MC feels sympathy for Hajime on account of both of them being friendless weebs.
We then get to see the BS backstory for the MC that I came up with during my shower thoughts, but the point of it is to show a few characteristics of the MC:
-He's distrustful.
-He's perceptive.
-And most importantly, he's a loner.
Also I didn't give him a name for a reason.
Once the short backstory is done then we see that the MC started to scout the classroom for any useful items and we see that when he tries to pick up a book used by a projection his hand passes right through, but when he tries it with something they don't use then it's fair game.
Once he picks up some random book(I chose geography because I was writing this bit while doing some homework) and we see that not all of the books will yield in some Skills, as later shown by my little Berserk reference.
Everything after that is filler, until the Magic Circle appears.
The MC gets transported at the same time in order to see the first day on Tortus.
The MC does some stuff before joining back with the projections to see the events transpire.
Nothing important happens, except the MC gets a little scared that Kaori would notice that something's off with her Hajime-kun.
After that the MC notices an Apostle where no one else(except him) was looking. He then theorizes a bit before coming to a conclusion that Ehit had Hajime on his watchlist because of The Gamer Job, which he also theorized wasn't granted by Ehit.
And as an Author I'll say that his guess was surprisingly on point.
After that Aiko started shouting like she did in Canon, so we see what the MC thinks about it.
The usual shenanigans ensue and when Kouki gives his self-righteous speech we see that the MC doesn't like him... unoriginal, I know, but then we see that he doesn't like the whole class(with one exception) when they mindlessly agree with whatever Kouki said.
I only saw one Fic(not counting my own) in which the MC didn't like the rest of the class, or at least that's what I felt about that MC(The Fic is "Supreme Demon King" by NephalemDC).
After that my MC scouted the area before following Ishtar and allowing the plot to advance.
Everything else is filler until the throne room.
The MC is shown to like ONLY 3 human characters in the entire Novel(Meld, Endou, and Gahard).
Some near-unimportant events later, the MC was in the Hajime's quarters and the simple fact that there was no (Changing scenery...) notification should tell him that there was something off, but he instead decided to exploit [Time Dilation] which was also a smart move.
Also the MC made holsters and a sheath to complete his DMC 3 Dante look, and up until that point he was just wearing the coat without the shirt so he made the same belt-like strip which was on Dante's chest in that game(if you saw Dante's DMC 3 default outfit then you know which one I'm taking about.).
The MC spent a few hours just grinding his skills before he noticed something was off, and that's when he noticed the Apostle observing Hajime from the window.
The next morning the MC sees the start of the training, and a few Status Plates and aside from that there's really not much else that was interesting, except the MC picked up a thing or two during training.
We then get a Two week time skip where the MC has gotten quite the number of new classes(some unlocked with levels and others by fulfilling all requirements).
The MC was reading the book while Hajime was getting bullied, and until 'The Big 4' showed up he was pretty disinterested in the whole thing.
Then, once the whole thing was over we get a time skip(Via: Changing scenery... notification) to the entrance of the Labirynth, which showed that nothing important happened in between(Aka: Hajime wasn't observed by an Apostle).
Then the MC entered the Labirynth and a couple of Monsters were spawned for him, but their corpses vanished when they were killed(unlike monsters outside of the Secret Dungeon) so he wondered whether the monsters in a Secret Dungeon disappeared because they were spawned inside of it, or if it was because the projections obliterated the corpses of their monsters leaving nothing behind(The Answer is of course the former).
Then nothing too important happened until Hiyama activated the trap.
I skipped The Behemoth fight for 2 reasons:
-I wanted to be done with this Chapter quicker.
-But more importantly, I didn't want to make the MC too OP too quickly, and there's literally no way for him to win a fight with Behemoth if his stats are only slightly higher than Meld's(I know that in the earlier chapter I said that [Attributes] work as multipliers, but even then let's assume that it wouldn't be enough).
After that the EDGELORD phase of the MC begins.
I wanted some EDGE in this Fic, but I also written the bit where the MC narrated that "The hatred clouded my reasoning and I could no longer differentiate between my 'fake' set of memories and my actual memories." to foreshadow a possible Identity Crisis(hence the lack of a name for the MC).
Later nothing too important happens, except the whole Instinct shtick.
After that literally nothing too important happened until the end of the mission when the MC discovers a failsafe in case he spends too much time in the Dungeon and forgets his memories, which as he put it "I give it a few weeks before I go insane".
And then he went on a rampage when he discovered that he didn't collect every single Hidden Object, as well as discovering that a [Secret Mission] can't be repeated.
And I think that's all for this breakdown.