How was he suppose to explain this to them?

Did they already know about it?

Could they see it too, if so why hadn't any of them spoken up about it?

It had happened early that morning around breakfast time, they had been eating. He had slept in by accident; missing his breakfast duty but Manato had told him that it was okay. He felt bad about it, but there had been nothing he could do. He was exhausted after fighting the goblins in the forest. They had been talking, Manato the one everyone in the group looked to as the leader of their small band of outcasts.

Manato had been explaining how they were inexperienced which was a no brainer; they were green as grass. Barely a day out of training and they had gone to the forest to see what they could do. No team work, no prior strategy. Nothing. Goblins were the supposed weakest creatures in all of Grimgar yet here they were, unable to beat a mere single Goblin. However, as Manato had speaking he brought up a phrase that seemed odd it happened sometimes and soon it just faded away like the others, Haruhiro had questioned him on it. Being intrigued by what Manato had said at the time.

"This isn't a Video Game."

That's when the change happened, to be honest; Haruhiro didn't notice it straight away. However as the day progressed, getting ready to set out, heading across the town, out of Altana and into the Forests and not finding a single loan goblin for them to go up against. Haruhiro could no longer ignore the fact that something was very different. He could no longer play on the fact that there was something wrong with his eyes, or that he was still drowsy from the exhaustion of yesterday. No, Haruhiro could no longer make excuses for what he was witnessing. He wasn't hallucinating them either; at least he didn't think so. Above everyone's head was a name along with a LV number. People he had never met before, he knew their names. He had confirmed this when overhearing a conversation between two people and they had used one another's names just as the name written above their heads read.

He had no idea what he was supposed to do about it. Manato had clearly seen that there was something bothering him and while curious to know he hadn't pushed Haruhiro into revealing the strangeness of the situation. Haruhiro was glad about that, he had no idea how he was even supposed to explain it. So, once he was given the opportunity, Haruhiro went for his bath, where he was now. It was really the only place he could think for a period of time without having Ranta bother him about something pointless and annoying. As he looked into the reflection of the water, he could see it above his own head also clearly written in blue.

The Gamer

LV 2 Haruhiro

His party weren't much different either. Manato was LV 3, however everyone else was LV 2 was it because Manato was the leader, or was it some other reason? He had seen some more experienced Volunteer Soldiers that had levels far surpassing ten and even twenty and he had even seen some where it didn't show the level only; ? It only confused him even more when he saw that. Everything had started after Manato had brought up that thing, a video game, whatever that was. Haruhiro had thought he had recognised the phrase that morning, but now no matter how much he tried to think, it was impossible to remember what a videogame was. Maybe if he could remember what it was, then he could figure this whole thing out, but no matter what he couldn't reach the memories. They were forgotten to him, just like everything else before he came to Grimgar.

"How am I supposed to figure this out?" Haruhiro questioned quietly sinking back into the bath, to where the water came up just below his nose. He had wanted to ask Manato more about the whole video game thing, but that would be just as hard for Manato to recall as it had been for Haruhiro, not to mention Manato would probably question Haruhiro why he was so interested in the whole thing. It's not that Haruhiro wanted to keep it a secret, it's just he had no idea how to tell anyone. He didn't know what the whole deal with the names and levels were but he wanted to figure it out more on his own before telling anyone. It was just, how was he supposed to figure it out? Before he could think anymore, a knock came from the door.

"Haruhiro?" It was Manato calling out to him. "I'm just heading into town; Moguzo thinks if we pick up a few cheap items we can have more verity to the menu. I'll be back shortly."

"O-Oh, Okay." Haruhiro called back. "More to the menu, huh. Well, given our status, cheap is the way to go." Haruhiro breathed out, since coming to Grimgar food had been an issue and none of them wanted to splurge through what little money that they did have. However, as Haruhiro muttered the word Status. A blue screen popped up in front of him, surprising him to the point he jumped back slightly in the bath, the water splashing about as his back hit the stone causing him to wince. Looking at the screen that had appeared through one eye as he rose a hand to his back, hoping he hadn't cut it any on the stone. The small screen that had appeared in front of him drew his attention since there was no damage to his back, or more so the information that it held drew his attention.

Name: Haruhiro

Job: The Gamer

Level: 2

Next Level: 64.57%

Title: None

From what Haruhiro could tell, the information was accurate, or at least as far as he could tell. He would probably consider his job more so a Volunteer Soldier. But he wasn't about to question the strangeness and figured whatever it was, knew what it was doing or he at least hoped that it knew what it was doing. Although he didn't know what the job title of 'The Gamer' meant. Looking closely at the screen, trying to figure out the rest of the information. The percentage of the Next Level, was that how far he was to achieving Level 3 or was it how far he had left to go? Deciding to move onto the next section of the information he frowned, still not knowing what to make of it.

HP: 100/100

MP: 100/100

Haruhiro had no idea what to make of that particular section and continued on.

STR: 9 (+) 0 (-)

VIT: 8 (+) 0 (-)

AGI: 11 (+) 0 (-)

INT: 9 (+) 0 (-)

WIS: 8 (+) 0 (-)

LUCK: 9 (+) 0 (-)

Finally, something he understood. Or at least he believed that he understood what he was looking at here. If from what he could go off what he already knew, this was obviously his own personal status levels, this being a Status Screen of some sought. His Strength, Vitality, Agility, Intelligence, Wisdom and of course Luck. He probably wouldn't have understood had Luck not been there while all the other status was abbreviated. He had to look at the scores of each with a little pity for himself; he was below average it seemed.

His highest score was for his Agility and that had been a meagre 11. Was it because he had joined the thief guild? Would his strength have increased if he had joined the Warriors Guild instead? Girls liked strength didn't they? Why did that matter? Yeah, there was no way Haruhiro would be above average or even just average. He was just a thief. Shaking his head from his thoughts he continued on. Surprising him was the next box, it was completely empty but obviously had room for something to be there, what, he had no idea. Haruhiro without a second thought to what might go into the empty box, he moved onto the final segment of the window.

Point: 0

Money: 0 Gold 1 Silver 73 Copper

It even had his exact amount of money he had. He already knew he was low on funds; this strange window telling him such only forced that fact home. He having any gold? Yeah right, like that was a possibility, he was still struggling with the ten silver that Commander Bri had given all of them when they had agreed to become Volunteer Soldiers.

Eight silvers had gone to joining the Thieves Guild; he didn't even have enough money for new underwear something that was driving him to the brink of insanity. He had to wash his underwear every night and the weather in Grimgar was fickle so he wasn't always wearing dry underwear. However, slightly damp underwear was the least of his problems at the moment. Eyeing the strange screen before him, he frowned how was he suppose to make it disappear. He had said status to open the window, how was he to close it? Did it even close?

"Status?" He spoke softly, however nothing changed the window was still present. "Close?" He offered, still nothing. Pursing his lips slightly trying to figure a way to close the window. "Close Status." Just like that, the window was gone leaving Haruhiro in the dim light of the bathroom. Leaning his head back he let out a breath as he once more sank down into the bath water, this was surely insane right? Physically being able to see these things shouldn't be possible, right? There had to be some explanation, no matter how strange it was he would accept it, because it was to strange to not know what was going on. Sighing beneath the water caused bubble to rise up in front of him. Raising his head from the water he leaned back, looking up at the ceiling.

"I'm rather calm about all this." He breathed out a sigh, unaware why he was so calm. "If there is a status screen... wouldn't there be one for skills? I mean the skills I picked up with Barbara-sensei weren't shown anywhere." Sitting upright he opened his mouth to speak.

"Status." Just like before, the screen appeared out of thin air, nothing on it had changed. Raising a hand to his chin in thought, he opened his mouth once more. "Skills." He spoke, and just as the first one appeared, a new window appeared. A small growth of accomplishment rose in his chest however he dismissed it, starting figure out this new screen. Instead of written words, there were several strange pictures. Confused, not knowing what each one was he looked at it from several different angles but still nothing. Looking down at his wet hand he rose a finger up and attempted to press the first picture fully intending for his hand to pass through the screen, instead it acted as if a button and an information screen popped up.

[Gamers Mind (Passive) LV: MAX]

[Your mind recognises the reality as a Game and keeps your mind calm. Immunity to mental disorder.]

Haruhiro was stunned at the information that the first skill he clicked on offered, no wonder he was calm about the entire situation if what was written was true. Now that he thought about it, even earlier today when he had been scouting the forest ahead of the others in his party, he wasn't as nervous as he had been the day prior. This skill really kept his mind calm and clear, allowing him to think rationally in most probably even dire situations. But now that he thought about it, was it okay to take that away from him? Fear was a human element; all emotion was a human element. Did he still feel like a human? Deciding that was something much too troublesome to think while in the bath, he continued onto the next skill.

[Gamers Body (Passive) LV Max]

[It provides your body to live the reality as a game.]

Haruhiro really didn't understand this skill. His body was supposed to recognize reality as a game, what was that even suppose to mean? With no knowledge of what the 'game' was or even how it was supposedly played, he had no idea at how these skills were suppose to effect him. He understood the Gamers Mind more easily, after all this should be more concerned about the effects that this was having on him, instead he was rationalizing it all, which was freaking him out more than all of this.

But even so, he had no idea how the Gamers Body was suppose to affect him. He didn't feel any different, not physically. Perhaps he'd figure it out as her continued on, after all, it was new and confusing and he highly doubted the answers would come to him while taking a bath. Looking through the other skills, he found what he had learned through Barbara-sensei in his seven days in the guild.

[Pick (Active) LV 1 - Next LV: 0.00%]

[Lockpicking speed efficiency: 5%]
[Pick usage efficiency: 5%]

[With this skill you now know how to pick locks.]

[Slap (Active) LV 1 - Next LV: 0.00%]

[Unbalancing efficency: 5%]
[Chance to disarm: 5%]

[With this skill you can make your opponent lose their balance or drop their weapon if aimed at their wrists. Like all Thief skills, this works best from behind or by surprise.]

The two skills that he had learned from his time in the thief's guild, just as Barbara-sensei had explained to him, there they were with the same information she had given. He had spent seven days learning both of these skills, yet they were still both at LV 1. However, he had just gained this strange ability to few all of this today so perhaps his earlier use of the skills didn't affect their level? Or maybe because it was just training he wasn't able to gain any experience with them, simply gaining the skill.

That just meant that he would have to use his skills to increase their level should he want to increase them. Strange, even seeing how low his levels were he already wanted to get them to a higher level. Was that a part of the Gamers Mind skill? To realise life as a game, then one would obviously be content to raise their own level should they be playing the game, right?

"Close Status, Close Skills." He spoke and just like before, the screens disappeared leaving him with nothing too out of the ordinary, just the reflection of his own level above his head. Deciding it was time to get out of the bath he rose from the water, grabbing the towel offered by the caretakers of the volunteer soldier barracks. Rubbing his face with the towel, he missed the new screen that appeared before him until his vision was clear. He had to blink slightly at the unexpected pop up in the right hand corner of his vision.

[Towel acquired]

"Weird." He mumbled before continuing to dry off his hair before going about gathering up his own clothes, each coming up with an acquired item pop up. Haruhiro frowned, was that going to happen every time he picked something up, not that it hindered his vision but wouldn't it get annoying? Shaking his head he pulled on the loose cream coloured shirt along with the brown pants. Unfortunately, underwear had to be forgone so he could wash them. Throwing the towel over his shower, under strict instructions of the barracks caretakers all towels must be cleaned for further use. Exiting the bathroom he instantly heard Ranta shouting causing an annoyed look to cross Haruhiro's face. The loudest member of their team and by far the most annoying was shouting about dinner and how he wanted more meat again. Like they could afford anything that luxurious. They were still picking up vegetables that Yume found safe to eat when they return from the forest.

"Haru!" Yume's voice called out causing Haruhiro to turn to see Yume in a tree, why she was in a tree Haruhiro didn't nor why Yume had become so familiar to call him Haru, not that he had brought it up, the atmosphere for Haruhiro at least was still awkward, maybe he was just awkward. Yeah, that was probably it. Yume waved at him, getting an awkward wave from Haruhiro in return and Yume went back to climbing her tree, seemingly just saying hi. Walking out into the main area of the Barracks he could already smell Moguzo's cooking. While it didn't have any meat, Moguzo had made it smell good and with Manato going to get some other things, probably spices, Moguzo was probably going to make it better.

"Smells good Moguzo." Haruhiro spoke up, at least showing some praise to Moguzo instead of Ranta's constant assault on him about wanting meat.

"Thank you, Manato should be back soon." Haruhiro nodded as he sat down at the table, using the towel to dry his hair off only to be shoved forward as Ranta pushed him.

"Oi, oi, oi! Tell Moguzo that there should be meat on the menu! Tell him!" Ranta urged pushing Haruhiro further onto the table.

"You tell him." Haruhiro grunted as Ranta's weight became more forceful, not wanting to get dragged into anything that had to do with Ranta; he really couldn't deal with Ranta's personality.

"I have been! He won't! Stingy Moguzo! Lord Ranta deserves meat! Meat!" Ranta exclaimed releasing Haruhiro and continuing to shout at Moguzo who tried his best to ignore the Dread Knight and focus on his cooking. Ranta didn't let up, not even when Manato came back from his small outing into town. It only got worse when Ranta found out Manato had brought no such luxury back. The night carried on and since everyone was tired and since they had planned to go back to the forest in the morning, everyone headed to bed with much change in the routine. However, Haruhiro gained a new skill before going to bed.

A new skill was created with a specific action

A new Skill [Laundry Cleaning] was created.

[Laudry cleaning (Active) Lv1: 00%]
[With this skill, you are able to clean everyday clothes]

[Scrubing speed efficiency: 5%]
[Soap usage efficiency: 5%]
[Water usage efficiency: 5%]

"Yeah, that skills going to come in real handy in Grimgar." Haruhiro breathed out sarcastically before heading to bed.