Heart of Akasha

A/N:

Thank you for your reviews, merendinoemiliano, kewllewk and vkg313.

Hi, guys and gals.

As of Thursday I accidentally deleted the last 20 000 words of this story while I had been trying to secure my progress. As you can imagine, this put quite a damper on my enthusiasm in continuing this story. So I have decided instead of first completing the whole next world, I would finish the nearly completed chapter I still had and then publish the current progress instead. Maybe that will give me some motivation. Still, if you found me glossing over something, it's because I have to get back the time I've lost, if I even decide to do that much.

But for now, onto the story:

Chapter 11: It's a Small World

"And that's the last of them", mused Ji-Han as he put the [White Smooth Pillar Candle (5cm x 7.5cm)] back into his inventory and took a look and the pieces of paper scattered over the table he was sitting at in the canteen. The pieces of paper all held information to Heartless, one for each. After he had woken up this morning, Naofumi had told him he should sort his inventory to have an easier time selling his stuff to the right shop when they finally reached Traverse Town that day. While doing so, he had gotten the idea to write down which Heartless had dropped which item, in case he was thinking about farming for a specific item.

Now he just had to gather all the pieces of paper and sort them properly.

Shadow: Pureblood;
Drops: Lucid Shard
Location: Traverse Town

Darkside: Pureblood;
Drops: Lucid Shard, Recovery Potion
Location: ? (was in home world that got destroyed) (dealt with)

Awake Instinct: Pureblood, digital version of Shadow
Drops: Data Fragments
Location: File Island – all areas

Soldier: Emblem;
Drops: Scrap Iron, Scrap Aluminum, Scrap Lead
Location: Traverse Town

Air Soldier: Emblem;
Drops: Tanned Deer Leather – Brain, Chrome, Vegetable
Location: Traverse Town

Bizarre Archer: Emblem;
Drops: arrows – wood, some kind of yokai…
Location: Traverse Town

Guard Armor: Emblem; (multiple pieces)
Drops: Guard Armor, Recovery Potion, Munny
Location: Traverse Town (dealt with)

Dire Plant: Emblem; legless plant
Drops: Bullet Seed; flower pots
Location: File Island – Forest, Lake

Creeper Plant: Emblem; legged plant
Drops: Bullet Seed, Creeper Root
Location: File Island – Forest, Lake

Houseless: Emblem; slug, resistant to Fight
Drops: slug mucus – healing item; ingredient
Location: File Island – Forest, Lake

Bug Bite: Emblem; wing shockwaves
Drops: bug shells
Location: File Island – Forest

Shaky Applause: Emblem; seal with cymbals on hands
Drops: Northern Fur Seal Skin, different cymbals (brass)
Location: File Island – Lake, Primary Village

Red Nocturne: Emblem; fire FF-wizard
Drops: Blaze Shard – fire Lucid Shard
Location: File Island – Temple Ruins, Desert

Blue Rhapsody: Emblem; ice FF-wizard
Drops: Frost Shard – ice Lucid Shard
Location: File Island – Ice Area, Ghost House

Turnaround: Emblem;
Drops: Scrap Stainless Steel
Location: File Island – Temple Ruins, Ice Area, Ghost House

Roll Over: Emblem; beach ball
Drops: Chicken Eggs, Blaze Shard, Frost Shard, Thunder Shard
Location: File Island – Primary Village

Two-Story Toy: Emblem; giant teddy bear; half white, half black
Drops: Short Staple Tree Cotton, American Pima Cotton; Long Staple Upland Cotton; Plushie Coupon
Location: File Island – Primary Village, Ice Area

Aerial Knocker: Emblem; bird with boxing gloves
Drops: feathers – domestic turkey, stellar's sea eagle
Location: File Island – Desert

Little Bite: Emblem; small black T-Rex with red markings
Drops: coal, multiple types
Location: File Island – Desert

Trick Ghost: Emblem; ghost able to go upside down and change pattern; immune to None and Fight
Drops: candles (white, smooth, pillar); Hogwarts Candle
Location: File Island – Ghost House

Not quite the most detailed accounts, but that should be enough if anyone ever gets interested. Even if the two and a half-days-trip to File Island was a bit long without any form of entertainment. But maybe he could find some of the Heartless on other, closer worlds and then farm the items there. At last he really hoped, the Two-Story Toys would, since one of their drops, the Plushie Coupon, an item that transformed into a different plushie dependent on which world it was used, tickled his collector's spirit. Unfortunately Naofumi had vetoed them grinding for it and so his only hope was that it showed up in a different world. Considering that it did show up in both Primary Village and the ice area, did hint in that direction.

Nevertheless, with how long this whole thing had taken, he wouldn't be surprised if they would soon reach Traverse Town. So he went to the bridge to check the time: {000:00:02:44}

So, two minutes and 44 seconds. Too short to start anything new. Maybe just grinding some skills like Hidden Key. That was generally what he used his MP for after he had managed to bring Night Eye to level 30, decreasing its cost to 36 HP for every 36 seconds. At this point he was able to fight in darkness for 5 minutes and still have enough MP for some Power Strikes. Not Stun Impact, but considering that the skill Ji-Han got when Keyblade Mastery hit level 36 cost whooping 500 MP, he was hard-pressed to use it even once. Speaking of, how were his skills in general?

"[Skills]!"

{Food Preparation – Lv17
English Listening – Lv2
Blunt Weapon Mastery – Lv48
Keyblade Mastery – Lv39
Observe – Lv21
Power Strike – Lv8
English Reading – Lv3
Physical Endurance – Lv5
Guard Break – Lv1
Guard – Lv28
Throwing Mastery – Lv1
Power Throw – Lv1
Dodge Roll – Lv11
Night Eye – Lv30
Hidden Key – Lv18
Meditation – Lv13
High Jump – Lv5
Death Claw – Lv5
Heart Key: Close – Lv1
Stun Impact – Lv1}

{You have reached your destination [Traverse Town].}

And in the end, looking through every skill and its level had taken all the time left before they reached Traverse Town. So, nothing left to do but to use up all of his MP for Hidden Key while he was waiting for his party members to gather on the bridge. The last time he had been in Traverse Town he had made sure not to use up all his MP before setting foot in the city world. But that was then. Now he was level 14, Shua was level 11, Naofumi was level 23, they had increased some of their stats through training and he got the title [Combat Apprentice] when they beat the Music Cup, which gave him 4 points in all stats instead of two, and while the Heartless in the City Cup had too much defense and HP for them to get the next title, the Heartless in Traverse Town where low-level and could thus be easily defeated with normal attacks.

No, the question currently on his mind was, if they should go and sell the item drops or go and report to Zenkichi first. In the end it was practicality that made his decision. The earlier he sold his stuff, the earlier he could buy stuff and the earlier the shops could restock. He might not have used up a lot of the stuff he had bought because he had rather been using the Oumukade Meat to grind his Food Preparation, but he did hope to change that in case they would have to feed a bunch of people again, just like with the DigiDestined.

So when Naofumi and Shua reached him, he teleported with them first to The Smithy. Just like the last time, Arai and Kousuke were around, the former working on some kind of armor, the latter was resting again, only giving them a short nod as greeting, before setting his head down again. Did that guy do something else besides sleeping at all?

The answer to that question came once a Soldier had decided to venture into The Smithy while they were doing business. Before either of them could react, a rectangle wooden block with drawings resembling a head appeared next to Kousuke, opened in between the row of white square teeth and bit down on the Heartless, evaporating it in an instant and vanishing right afterwards, too.

Then Kousuke, who had just stretched out his hand, but it back under his head and went back to resting. That was pretty much proof that his job was to protect The Smithy, as he only got active just long enough to deal with the threat.

Nevertheless, after that little excitement they continued with the business. In the end, Ji-Han told Seikuu all his scrap aluminum and iron, all the feathers, all the coal and all the bug shells, with the restriction that Naofumi would get part of the large Soft Bug Shell for his shield to absorb. Ji-Han had thought of selling the cymbals as scrap brass but since even the largest of them did not even give 300 Munny for that, he'd rather sell them at the Leon Shop. And even without those he had already gotten over a million Munny, though a lot of that would be used to buy a healing ability from Tohko.

Just not now. He still had other shops to go to. Namely the Leon Shop and… Michiru and Mitsuyo. He wasn't looking forward to that one. After all, the last time, he had seen them, he had told them about Akari's death and they had told him to get out.

Just what was he supposed to say? Would they refuse to do business with him? Probably not. He didn't actually hurt Akari on purpose and they had been separated for a week, which should have been enough time for them to calm down. Maybe? He still felt guilty about it, even though most people agreed that it wasn't his fault, so they might think the same. But no matter what, it would definitively be awkward.

Turns out, he was right.

"Welcome", Michiru greeted them as they entered the clothing store, only for her to stop dead in her tracks as she realized just who it was that had set foot into her shop.

"H-hello", greeted Ji-Han, shuffling awkwardly around. "I am back…"

The words escaped him as he tried his best to meet the woman's eyes, yet averted his gaze every time he did so.

Luckily for him, he was not alone.

"Tch. We're here to sell some stuff", Naofumi disrupted the atmosphere, allowing both of them to leave their personal issues aside and do business.

"Right this way" Michiru told him and Ji-Han followed her, before bringing out his goods, different kinds of cotton and Northern Fur Seal Skin.

"This seal skin", Michiru mused. "That comes from you Gamer-ability, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because I wouldn't accept real seal skin", she explained. "And you should probably get a certificate that yours is magically created from the Hero Union. It is illegal to sell real seal skin in a lot of worlds."

Wait. It was?

"Really?"

"Yes, not so much in worlds in the Middle Ages or post-apokalyptic, but those with a healthy international communication have communities who don't like people killing seals for their skin."

"Right. Thank you for the advice."

"You are welcome. I will pay you 23 129 Munny for your cotton and seal skin. Is that acceptable."

"Yes. Thank you very much."

"Thank you for your business."

With one step crossed off from his mental list and one added, Ji-Han left the clothing store and went to the general store, to pawn off all of the rest of the drop items they didn't need. Then he bought some Milone Toast, Milone Butter, Traverse Town Salt and Mineral Water. Basically everything they used up during their travels so far. Anything else he would see once they bought the healing skill.

But to their surprise, Tohko wasn't at the book store Book Girl. Instead it was a different young woman lazying about in a chair, one of her legs on top of the counter. She had yellow eyes and long purple-blue hair that besides a cowlick, stood to the side above her ears, giving the impression of additional ears, fitting to the cattish impression on her face. Her tomboyish clothes reminded her of his Noona, extemerly short orange trousers and a loose green tank-top that revealed her stomach. But as she did remind him of his Noona, he quickly looked somewhere else. Poong Sae-Young had always been quit to physical violence and he did not want to risk it with this woman.

[Glutton of Opportunity
-Book Girl Employee-
Lv18 Natsukawa, Kuina]

The woman had not yet noticed them, so absorbed was she in the book she was holding. So absorbed in fact, that she didn't even notice them staring, when she suddenly ripped out the page and brought it towards her mouth, only to stop dead in her tracks. She looked at the page she had torn out and cursed.

"Not again…" she mused as she tried to put the page back at the right place, still not noticing her audience. Ji-Han felt like he just witnessed something he shouldn't have and got uncomfortable, not knowing if he should say something.

Naofumi, however, showed the second time that day, he had no trouble speaking up in this situation:

"Oi, we're here to buy stuff", he called out, making Kuina freeze and slowly look up towards them. It took a moment for her, but then she realized they were not just standing there right now, they also had to have been standing there for a bit.

"I wasn't going to eat it, honest!" She quickly spoke up, downright panicking as she put down her leg and literally jumpted up. "I've just been gripping the page too hard when I turned it, so I accidentally ripped it out. Really! I don't eat paper. At all."

"It's alright", Ji-Han reassured her. "Tohko-Ssi already told us about literature girls, you don't need to hide it."

Her mouth hang open for a moment, before she gathered her wits.

"Right, right", she acknowledged. "I am a literature girl. Of course I eat books, because that is what literature girls do. Eat books. Nothing unusual about that. Nothing at all."

Now Ji-Han was confused. With how insistent she was, it sounded more like she wasn't a literature girl. Yet she still had nearly eaten the page. Was she that embarrassed about eating books?

"Back to business", demanded Naofumi. "We are here to buy a healing book. The most expensive one."

They had, after all, enough Munny for either of the three that Tohko had showed them the last time they were there, so why shouldn't they get the best one possible? They had no other way to restore HP besides the Recovery Potions and some nearly useless Slug Mucus and buying the least expensive one, only to find out that it was useless, would suck. Theoretically that could by the case for the most expensive one, too. But if the cheap one was bad, they still had to buy the expensive one in hopes that it would be better. So, why not buy the expensive one from the start?

Unfortunately, their plans were put on hold as Kuina didn't even know what they were talking about.

"We have books on healing?" She inquired. "I didn't know that."

"It's one of the magic books that no one else can use", Naofumi explained. "Didn't Tohko say anything about that?!"

"I don't know anything about that", she refuted. "You'll have to ask her when she gets back."

"She's not here at the moment?" Ji-Han asked and Kuina shook her head. "No, she's currently out. Don't know when she's getting back."

"Then we'll come back later", decided Naofumi, before turning to Ji-Han. "You wanted to report to Hitoyoshi-san, didn't you?"

"Right", Ji-Han agreed. "We'll just report to Zenkichi-Ssi first and then come back." It wasn't like the Heartless in Traverse Town could give them enough damage that healing was necessary. And with the quick-travel thanks to the spaceship, they would even have less opportunities to stumble upon the monsters.


"Ah, welcome Han-san, Iwatani-san and Shua", Zenkichi greeted them. "It has been a while, hasn't it? Do you have some urgent business or do you mind if we eat while talking?"

As his words suggested, he and Mikage were currently in the middle of eating from some lunch boxes. It seems they had caught them on their break.

"It's nothing like that, Zenkichi-Ssi", Ji-Han thus quickly reassured the leader of Traverse Town as he and his party members sat down. "I just wanted to tell you how my first world went."

"Indeed? From your expression I assume you managed to seal the keyhole."

"Not just that", exclaimed Ji-Han. "I've also met the… world? Administrator? Something that wants to make sure the world is not destroyed. Something that called for some Chosen Ones to save the world. At last from threats that are from that world. It told me that it then called out to me for the exact purpose of closing the keyhole, to protect the world from the Heartless. It then showed me the keyhole and my Keyblade closed it. On its own."

"That is good", noted Mikage. "This sets to rest our worries that you would not be experienced enough with the Keyblade to close the keyholes."

Ji-Han nodded.

"And now I've got this skill that allows me to replicate the effect. So we won't have the problem of it not working later on."

"Another piece of good news", commented Mikage. "Unless the power of the skill would be too low for the next one?"

"Shouldn't happen", Ji-Han refuted. "I mean, sure, it says that it reduces the resistance to being locked by 3 percent, meaning that it can be resisted, but for that you have to want to resist it. And just like before, I just got another world asking for help, so they shouldn't want to resist."

"Does that mean you have to wait for worlds to reach out to you before you can save them?" Inquired – holy shit, where did that guy come from?!

[Ghost on the Field
Lv31 Kuroko, Tetsuya]

He was a middle-aged man with short light blue hair and eyes of the same color. He was wearing a casual white sweater and blue jeans. And most of all, he was sitting next to Zenkichi as if he had been sitting there the whole time. Considering he had spoken up during their conversation he probably had. And Ji-Han still hadn't noticed him up until he actually did spoke up.

Just like Akari.

Ji-Han flinched as the pain of losing the girl became raw again. This old man, was he like Akari? Cursed to be ignored by people? Cursed to be forgotten?

"Is something the matter?" Tetsuya's inquiry brought him out of his musings and Ji-Han shook his head to gather himself.

"Sorry, just remembered something. What was the question again?"

But instead of repeating the question, the old man instead said:

"I understand. You can talk to me, if you want to, alright?"

"…right."

"Back to the question", interjected Naofumi. "It would be better for Ji-Han if he went to the worlds who have reached out to him first, before you give some suggestions. With those we know that they actually want his help. Otherwise, the world might react… hostile to the Keyblade wielder."

"Right", agreed Ji-Han. "The Seeker of Truth told me that my own world used to kill people it didn't like. No reason to take that risk while I still got other things to do."

"That makes sense", agreed Zenkichi. "Some worlds are quite hostile to anything alien. An invitation should go a long way."

"Yeah, and even then, the world didn't automatically guide me to the keyhole", remembered Ji-Han. "I don't know if it couldn't or if it was testing me, but we first had to deal with Devimon before the keeper of balance showed itself and the keyhole. So, I wouldn't be surprised, if the next world is the same."

Zenkichi nodded.

"It would not be wrong to prepare for the next quest with this in mind", he declared. "With that said, is there anything else, you would like to report?"

"Oh, since we are already at it, I got something called a keychain", Ji-Han recalled. "Check this out!"

The Gamer held out his hand and summoned his Keyblade. But while it still looked like a Keyblade, it didn't look like the Keyblade they were used to. It was simple in design, a "1" as shaft and upwards teeth and a "0" with a diagonal bar on the inside as the handle. Only that the 0 was tilted, so that the diagonal bar was in line with the shaft. Its color, however, was something special. It was in a darker shade of green that was glowing and surrounded by a black outline. As in, no matter from which direction you looked at the Keyblade, it was always green outlined by black.

"It's called [Binary Spirit]", Ji-Han explained happily. "It doesn't have any ability like the [Gaia Key] but it has 8 more damage and normal attacks with it are treated as having a Data-Element. Cool, right?"

Ji-Han was really proud of it. Partly because he had trouble finding the place to change keychains at first. The new keychain hadn't shown up in his inventory, after all. Luckily, whenever he opened his inventory, on the left side was also a figure to equip things with. And with it the panel for keychains. He only had two for now, but just being able to switch between different equal weapons depending on the situation was awesome!

"Is this the transformation ability that our research pointed out?" Wondered Mikage. "Where the larger transformation just an exaggeration or a different feature?"

"Unfortunately, I suspect we will only find out the answer to this question, if it is confirmed", assumed Zenkichi. "The Keyblades are such mythical weapons that we will never be able to dismiss any supposed features as definitively not possible."

Ji-Han nodded. Yeah, his Keyblade was crazy like that.

"Anything else, you wish to report?" Mikage asked him and, after giving it some thought, shook his head.

"No", he told them. "I think that should be all the important stuff. Unlike you think there's something to talk about?"

There wasn't anything, so Naofumi urged them out to prepare for the next world. Which really only meant getting the healing skill and refilling their empty water bottles. And once they had finished with the latter, Tohko had already been back at the book shop, so that they soon were in the possession of the healing skill:

{[Wind Magic: Breeze of Regeneration (active) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]
Cost: 20 MP/s
Sends out gusts of wind that heals wounds
they come into contact with.
Heals 1 HP for every second of contact.}

1 HP each second didn't sound much, especially considering that one needed to pay 20 times the amount of MP to use it, but that was alright. It was only level 1, after all. It was to be expected that it wasn't overly strong. And even if that meant that for now he couldn't use it in combat, just having the ability to regenerate his HP outside of combat without actually sleeping, was already incredible! He had to try it out right now!

Or at last, as soon as they had exited the book shop. Using any kind of wind magic next to a bunch of books was just asking for trouble.

"Alright, Shua", he told the Pokémon. "Hit me!"

"Smear!"

{-175}

"Ouch!"

PING!

{[Physical Endurance]'s Level has risen by 1.}

"Damn, your Power Strike hits hard", noted Ji-Han as he picked himself up from the ground. "Alright, let's try it out! [Status Window]. [Wind Magic: Breeze of Regeneration]!"

Ji-Han held out his two hands and from the palms flew out two streams of green-colored winds, going as far as two meters, before dispersing into nothingness. Ji-Han eagerly looked at his Status Window – and nothing. No change in HP. Only his MP was going down each second.

Could it be… the Breeze of Regeneration only healed other people?!

"Oh, come on!" He cried out, throwing his hands into the air – and the winds followed.

Surprised Ji-Han observed how the green winds where now flying upwards, still in the direction his palms pointed. Seeing this, he brought his hands down, palms towards him. {+2} It worked! {+2} But wasn't it supposed to be one HP instead of two? {+2}

Ji-Han pointed one hand away from him and now the regeneration dropped to one HP.

So he could either send out the winds into two directions, or focus them on one point for double the effect?!

Ji-Han laughed.

"Oh man, I am awesome!" He declared, making Naofumi snort.

"Sure", the Hero of the Shield responded. "How's your MP by the way?"

The answer to that question was {3}. In other words, he hadn't enough MP to continue using the skill, making the green winds evaporate.

"Okay", Ji-Han conceded. "I will become awesome. Better?"

"Only if you manage to grind the skill to useful levels before we hit the new world", Naofumi responded. "Which means you also have to be prepared to take a lot of damage."

Ji-Han winced. Even if he didn't get any permanent damage, getting hit hurt at that moment.

"At last I can grind Physical Endurance at the same time", he tried to see the positive side of things. "After I regained my MP through Meditation."

"You can do that once we have started the journey", Naofumi interrupted. "Or do you have anything else you still have to do in Traverse Town?"

Ji-Han shook his head.

"No, we've bought everything we need", he agreed. There was the possibility that the journey could take longer than they had prepared for, but in this case they could easily delay the departure and got more stuff. Maybe even go back to the Digital World if it took that long.

But once they actually got to the spaceship and locked in the destination, they've got quite the surprise:

{Estimated Time of Arrival: 000:02:01:15}

"Two hours?" Read Ji-Han out loud. "The other took three days, why does this world only take two hours?! Are their neighbors or what?"

Naofumi shrugged.

"Who knows?" He responded. "Maybe the Digital World was just extremely far away. Important is only that we will have to adjust our schedule."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because two hours are hardly enough time to grind your healing skill."

"True. So what are you going to do while I hole myself up in the spaceship?"

"I'll probably do some side jobs to pass the time", Naofumi mused. "Meanwhile Shua has to stick with you to reduce your HP. Which means he'll only be able to grind… which reminds me, we still have to get more books for studying."

"Right", acknowledged Ji-Han. "Can I leave that to you? And maybe get some playing cards while you at it?"

"Playing cards? Are you trying to grind your luck?"

"…Right", Ji-Han agreed quickly. "That's exactly why I want playing cards."

But the Hero of the Shield wasn't fooled.

"You just wanted them to play around when you got bored of studying, didn't you?" He accused.

"…Yeah."

"No matter. We should try and see if it works nonetheless. But for now you'll focus on the healing skill!"

"Yes!"


{You have reached your destination [114-11-8315-yvy-epxpz].}

"Huh?"

Once again Ji-Han had been meditating when they reached the new world and so, once again, it took him some time before he realized where he was. But once the confusion had worn off, he quickly activated [Wind Magic: Breeze of Regeneration] to restore the HP that he had lost from Shua's last Power Strike. Say what you want about the attack's usefulness against their enemies, if you didn't had an insane amount of VIT, getting hit by a CRIT hurt. Even though Physical Endurance had leveled up like crazy because of the large damage the Power Strikes did, it still hadn't managed to reduce the damage below 800. Thus he always had to make sure not to let Shua attack him when his HP was under 1000. It would have been really tragic if Shua killed him because of grinding.

But so far they had no trouble with that and besides Physical Endurance at level 16, Meditation and Breeze of Regeneration had been grinded until level 15 with that method. Especially the latter was important as they didn't start the journey until he had managed to restore 10 HP every second with each hand and that had only increased to 14 HP every second in the time it took them to travel to the new world. Which meant that currently it took him a maximum of 40 seconds to get to full HP if he didn't do anything except heal himself, if you ignored the fact that he didn't have enough maximum MP for that.

Nevertheless, with his current level it was deemed useful enough that they could go out into the field. Or rather, down onto the world. Just like on File Island, they had decided to not scan the world and go in blind first. Which meant that the first act after teleporting down was to look at their surroundings.

Once the green light receded, they found themselves in a small groove of trees surrounded by green fields of grass. Once they left the groove they saw not too far in the distance a white stone wall blocking part of the scenery. It varied in height and was broken up by a gate which a stone-paved road lead to.

"It seems we have landed on a western fantasy world", surmised Naofumi as he took in the situation. "Just like Melromarc it has fresh air, wide open fields and simple roads. The white wall looks like a walled-off town. Which only makes sense if they are able to stop someone from intruding, meaning a lot of the danger the people here face does not come from weapons that make walls pointless. Furthermore, Shua still looks like a Smeargle, which means this world has fantastic creatures."

"You have experience with these kind of worlds?" Inquired Ji-Han and Naofumi shrugged.

"The world I had been summoned to, was like that", he explained. "Even if the towns were not usually walled off."

"Does that mean that this world is more dangerous than yours?"

"It at last means that the town was in danger of being attacked when it was created. Not that any Heartless is going to be stopped by a wall."

"Right", exclaimed Ji-Han. "Let's go and see what's going on in this world."

If it was just like the digital world, they would have to do some stuff before the world contacted them and then showed them the keyhole. Though for that they first had to find stuff to do. And for that they went to the single interesting thing: The city.

Surprisingly they had no trouble getting into it. With the metal gates and five-story high walls, Ji-Han had expected to be held up before they could enter. Like guards calling them suspicious or demanding an entrance fee. But there hadn't even been any guards. No restriction whatsoever regarding their entrance and the people inside not even giving them more than a passing glance.

To be fair, the latter was not that surprising, considering how colorful the citizens were. Hair in all colors of the rainbow, cloaks and pointy hats, full plate metal or bikini armor, simple peasant clothes or priest outfits, swords, bows, magical stuffs or even some pointy ears or animal ears on top of their head. All in all in looked like a fantasy MMO come to life.

Which mean that there might be a place where people looked for quests, like a tavern. Or, as it turned out after asking around, an actual real adventurer's guild. Which had a tavern inside.

"Welcome", greeted a black-haired waitress, realizing that they were new to the city. "If you are looking for work, go to the counter. If you are here for a meal, please take an empty seat!"

At the counter there were four receptionists. All four were currently free so Ji-Han went to the closest one, a tall guy with broad shoulders, a round face and nose, small eyes and short brown hair that resembled a military haircut.

[-Adventurer's Guild Receptionist-
Lv14 Nox]

"Hello, what can I do for you?" Asked the guy with a polite yet firm voice.

"Hello", greeted Ji-Han back. "We are new here and so wanted to ask some questions."

"Go ahead."

"Right, ehm… have you ever heard of something called the keyhole?"

The receptionist looked at Ji-Han thoughtfully.

"I cannot say I have ever heard of a keyhole mentioned outside of their common use in doors and chests", he answered finally. "Do you want to put out a quest for information on it?"

"No need", interjected Naofumi. "It was a long shot anyway. We have better chances of success by looking for any special monster that has shown up recently."

"If you are looking for quests, the quest board is to the left", Nox pointed out. "However, if you are looking for a special monsters, a Heartless called Underground Monkey has appeared three days ago… excuse me."

With that he turned around and called out towards his colleges:

"Is the Underground Monkey Quest still free?"

To which the answer came:

"Sorry, this one has already been cleared."

Nox turned back towards Ji-Han and his party.

"As you've heard, the Underground Monkey has already been defeated. I am sorry, but it appears you will have to wait until it comes back."

"How do you know that the people were telling the truth?" Inquired Naofumi. "As you've probably realized, they do not leave behind any proof of their defeat."

Huh. Come to think of it. The people here not only knew of Heartless, they also knew that they could not be defeated permanently. But they still had no idea about the keyhole. It was quite different compared to Traverse Town with the top knowledge and File Island, where no one had any idea what they were.

"That is what the adventurer's card is for", Nox answered Naofumi's question, interrupting Ji-Han's thoughts. "Whenever you defeat a monster, the adventurer's card stores how many monsters one has killed and of what type. It is the same for Heartless."

"That's convenient", noted Naofumi drily. "How do we get one?"

"You do not have one yet? You get one when you register as an adventurer. Do you want to register now?"

"Might as well", declared Ji-Han and Nox nodded.

"Very well. The registration fee is 10 000 Munny per person."

10 000?! That was… normal, actually. He would have never been able to effort that at the start of the journey but now he had cash in a digit higher. Now he could effort it.

"[Status Window]", Ji-Han opened his status window and chose the right amount of Munny. But as the money fell into his hand, it was not the orbs he had come to know in Traverse Town, but a paper bill and a gold coin. That was the first time he had seen the transformation of Munny in person. Not to mention that he didn't even know what the currency was called since he got the monetary values automatically translated to Munny.

"Thank you very much", Nox responded as he made to take the 3 copper coins. But he hesitated for a moment, looking around Ji-Han and Naofumi until his gaze fell upon Shua. Then he took the coins without any hesitation and took out three forms. "Now please fill in your name, height, weight, age and distinctive physical features."

"What if we don't know our weight?" Inquired Naofumi and Shua nodded. It seemed like the people in Traverse Town did not often measure their height and weight. Not that Ji-Han still remembered his own features.

"Just an estimate is fine", Nox quickly reassured them, allowing them to fill out the forms without any problem. "Good, now these are your cards."

Nox handed out three flat objects the size and shape of driver's licenses. But when Ji-Han wanted to take Shua's, Nox shook his head and bended down to give the Smeargle his personally.

"The cards have to be touched by the owner first", he explained. "And then given back to me so that I can lock in your class." He took the card back from Shua.

"Now let's see. Shua. Strength, Vitality, Magic, Agility and Intelligence seem all to be average with Luck slightly below. With these stats you can't actually specialize for now so you will have to take the basic Adventurer class. It allows one to learn all skills but at the cost of more skill points."

Wow. That sounded just like a video game. Ji-Han's main selling point was his Gamer ability and here the whole world worked on a principle like that. Speaking of, how would it interact with his Gamer? Unfortunately, he had to wait as Naofumi hadn't been distracted and given Nox his card.

"Naofumi Iwatani. What the- what kind of Vitality is that?!"

Nox's outburst brought forth the attention of every person in the building. Most of the receptionists and some of the people in the guild went over and Naofumi became quickly the center of attention.

Comments like "I've never seen a Vitality that high on that level." and "Are you sure you are a newbie?" filled the room. Though while someone else might have basked in the attention, Naofumi wasn't the type.

"Get on with it", he instead demanded annoyed and Nox quickly did as he was told.

"Right. Besides Vitality and the Strength, which is downright abysmal, all your other stats are average. So I would advise you to become a Crusader."

"Sure."

"Okay. Now, last but not least, Ji-Han… Han? Except your above average Strength and below average luck, you have all average stats. Besides Adventurer, the only other class would be Fighter… wait. You already have a class? It's called… Gamer?"

"Pffffffffffffffffffff!"

Nox next words were drowned out in the sound of someone spluttering and coughing. His interest aroused, Ji-Han turned around to look at a table close, where a lone person had just choked on their drink and send it flying.

He was a young man similar to their age with short brown hair and green eyes. Besides the white shirt, dark pants and leather boots he also wore a gold-trimmed green mantle that mostly covered his back.

[Lucky Thief
-Adventurer-
Lv9 Satou, Kazuma]

Seeing as everybody was now looking at him, he quickly waved his hand.

"Don't mind me", he spoke up shyly. "Got something in the wrong pipe."

Naofumi narrowed his eyes in suspicion but the rest got redirected their attention back towards Nox.

"Be it as it may", he spoke, "as you already have a class, the registration is finished. With this you are now officially adventurers. The guild looks forward to your continued patronage."

"Likewise", responded Ji-Han and the crowd of people dispersed. "Now let's see what kind of jobs they have…"

"What about that suspicious guy", Naofumi inquired quietly. "Who is he?"

"The guy who choked?" Asked Ji-Han, glancing towards the person in question who had gotten a towel to wipe up the drink he had spilled. "He's called Satou, Kazuma. Level: 8. Class: Adventurer. Title: Lucky Thief. Why? You really think he's suspicious?"

Kazuma had finished cleaning up and looked up, met Ji-Han's eyes and then quickly looked away.

"He's a Japanese guy in a western Fantasy world who recognized your class and then tried to cover it up", Naofumi pointed out. "Suspicious doesn't even begin to describe it."

"That is true", Ji-Han conceded. "But what are we supposed to do about that? My only stealth-skill is Hidden Key and that is only for Heartless. Unless you want to confront him, we can't really do anything about it."

"…You are right", admitted Naofumi. "We'll have to confront him."

With that Naofumi went towards Kazuma. Ji-Han could only let out a half-hearted "wait" while Shua was already running ahead. Their target meanwhile was staring intensively at his drink, doing his best to pretend he hadn't noticed their approach. That even continued when Shua was tugging on his sleeve. But once Naofumi addressed him directly, he couldn't pretend anymore:

"Oi, what do you know about the Gamer?"

Kazuma sighed and looked up to him.

"You are not going to leave me alone until I answer, won't you?"

"No."

Kazuma sighed again.

"Okay, but not here. Let's go somewhere else."

They waited patiently while Kazuma paid for his meal and then followed him out the guild building and into a near yet secluded alley.

"That should be enough", declared Kazuma as he turned around. "Now, before I am answering your question, I want to clear something up first. You." With that he pointed towards Ji-Han. "Are you the guy with the Keyblade?"

Ji-Han was dumbfounded.

"How do you know about that?" He inquired and Kazuma snorted.

"Of course I know about it", he proclaimed. "Finally we've got something that can kill Heartless for good. The BBS is all over you, you know."

BBS? Wait.

"You are a member of the Hero Union?!" Exclaimed the Gamer excitedly and Kazuma nodded.

"Active Hero, Lucky Thief of the Kingdom of Belzerg, that's me. But don't spread it around."

"Huh? Why?" Wondered Ji-Han. "Do the people here have something against the Hero Union?"

"That's not it", refuted Kazuma. "But this world gets a bunch of people reincarnated as heroes, who all become members of the Hero Union because they all get the same mission: Defeat the Demon Lord. But when I was supposed to pick my cheat, I messed up and ended up with that useless goddess instead. So now I don't want people to pester me about the demon lord when I can't even defeat a giant frog without someone acting as bait."

"That is understandable", exclaimed Naofumi. "Unless you decide to move against us, I think we can agree not to tell anyone."

"Thanks", responded Kazuma. "But since we are already talking, you should tell the guild that you've got the Keyblade. They should pay a lot more for you killing Heartless if you tell them you can kill them permanently."

"Right", acknowledged Ji-Han. "Thanks for the tip."

"Oh and…" Kazuma continued but then hesitated for a moment. "…Can I join your party while you are here?"

"Huh?" Ji-Han exclaimed dumbfounded. "Why? Don't you have a party?"

"We are currently acting separate because Beldia has scared off all the weak monsters", he explained. "And the Heartless are a nightmare to fight against with our party. They mostly ignore our Crusader and rather go after our Arch Priest who has trouble hurting them at all. Our Arch Wizard cannot hit them without hitting us and it's too dangerous for me on my own. But if this continues, I'll end up using up all of my savings. For now I still have a small buffer, but if you have nothing against it, I would like to increase it while I got the chance. So, can I join you for now?"

PING!

{A quest has been created.}

{Quest Alert

Grinding for Money: Who Doesn't Want to Be a Millionaire?

Being a hero is not always fun, especially if you don't have enough money.

Help Satou Kazuma gain at last 100 000 Munny by defeating heartless and monsters, be it directly or through selling drop items, before you close the keyhole.

Bonus Objective:
1: Help Kazuma Satou gain at last 200 000 Munny by defeating Heartless and monsters.
2: Help Kazuma Satou gain at last 500 000 Munny by defeating Heartless and monsters.
3: Help Kazuma Satou gain at last 1 000 000 Munny by defeating Heartless and monsters.
4: Help Kazuma Satou gain at last 10 000 000 Munny by defeating Heartless and monsters.

Completion Award: +2 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
Increased reputation with Satou Kazuma.
Decreased reputation with Aqua, Megumin and Dustiness Ford Lalatina.

Bonus Award:
1: +2 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
Manatite Crystal (inferior).
Increased reputation with Satou Kazuma.
2: +2 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
Manatite Crystal (normal).
Increased reputation with Satou Kazuma.
3: +4 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
Manatite Crystal (superior).
Increased reputation with Satou Kazuma.
3: +10 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
Manatite Crystal (premium).
Increased reputation with Satou Kazuma.

Completion Failure: +1 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
Decreased reputation with Satou Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin and Dustiness Ford Lalatina.}

But while Ji-Han was distracted by the quest alert, Naofumi responded to Kazuma's question with one of his own:

"And why should we add you? By your own account you are too weak to defeat the Heartless on your own. How do we know you won't just be dead weight? Can you even hurt the Heartless at all?"

"I can", Kazuma insisted, taking out his sword, "Aqua might be a useless goddess, but even she can bless weapons so they can hurt Heartless. And my Ambush-skill still works on them."

"Hey", Ji-Han interjected to get Naofumi's attention. "I got a quest to help him get some Munny with better rewards for more Munny?"

"Seriously?" Inquired Naofumi. "How much?"

"100 000, 200 000, 500 000, 1 000 000 and 10 000 000."

"What about the rewards?"

"In EXP we've got 2 000, then for the next two an added 2 000, for the one after that an added 4 000 and for the last one an added 10 000. Additionally each bonus objective gives us a Manatite Crystal of higher quality. If we fail, we just get 1 000 EXP and a decrease in reputation."

"You really are a Gamer, aren't you?" Noted Kazuma and Ji-Han smirked with a pleased expression on his face.

"I suppose there is no harm in accepting the quest", mused Naofumi. "If he proves useless, we can still kick him out and fail the quest on purpose."

"Hey", complained Kazuma, but Naofumi ignored him.

"Alright, then welcome to the team", Ji-Han told him as he accepted the quest. "Kazuma, [Party Invite]."

"What?" Exclaimed Kazuma surprised at the panel appeared in front of him. "And here I was thinking you were a Gamer before."

PING!

{[Satou, Kazuma] has joined your party [World Salvation Party].}

"Okay", exclaimed Ji-Han. "To see your stats say 'Status Window', for your skills 'Skills' and for your perks 'Perks'. Under 'Party Options' you can see the current HP and MP of your party members and activate the 'Voice Chat'."

"[Party Options]. Wow, you actually have a voice chat. Does that mean the thing about getting drop items from defeating Heartless is true, too?"

"Yep."

"Cool. Does it depend on luck?"

"I think so, why?" Kazuma grinned.

"Because luck is my best feature", he proudly declared, making Ji-Han raise his eyebrow.

"Really? How high is it?"

"[Status Window]. Oh, 725."

"Bullshit!" Declared Ji-Han. "There is no way someone who has a level under 10 has a stat of over 700!"

"I already had high luck when I was level 1", he defended himself. "And I am really successful with my Steal."

"Why don't you prove it", suggested Naofumi and Kazuma nodded.

"Alright, here goes!" He shouted and held out his hand towards Naofumi. "[Steal]!"

An orb of glowing light appeared within his hands and after the light receded, revealed a simple leather bag.

"You literally took all the money I had", mused Naofumi as he held out his hand to take his money bag back. "Is that what you meant with your high luck?"

"More or less", confirmed Kazuma. "Steal normally takes a random item the person has on them, even counting clothes and equipment. But because my luck is so high, I take the most important item."

Naofumi narrowed his eyes.

"Are there many people able to use Steal?" He asked and Kazuma shrugged.

"It's one of the basic thief skills", he explained. "That is pretty much a given."

"Then can you try to steal from Ji-Han?" He asked. "I doubt you can steal his Keyblade, but maybe you can bypass his inventory. We also have to take the Guard Armor from Shua."

"Gle, smeargle!" Shua protested but Naofumi had nothing of it.

"You have no pockets to where you could put some random stuff", he pointed out. "Any Steal would automatically target your Guard Armor. If you don't want to lose it against the first thief, you will have to go without it!"

Shua was pouting, but he did as he was told and took of the helmet, making the armor on his body disappear and the helmet transform into the body piece in its original size.

"You even have resizable armor", exclaimed Kazuma surprised, but Naofumi shook his head.

"Only the Guard Armor", he clarified. "It was a rare item drop that has this as its own ability. The rest of his clothes don't. Now the steal?"

"Right", Kazuma acknowledged. "[Steal]!" And suddenly Ji-Han felt a chill around his legs, making him look down.

"Did you just stole my Chinos?!" He exclaimed aghast as Kazuma handed him his trousers back sheepishly.

"At last I didn't stole your underwear", the Lucky Thief pointed out, making Naofumi raise an eye-brow at him while Ji-Han used his inventory to redress himself without his feet leaving the ground.

"Did that already happen?" He inquired, making Kazuma uncomfortable.

"It's not like I am targeting their panties on purpose", he defended himself. But he wouldn't have needed to bother. For the Hero of the Shield was just interested in whether or not he used that to end fights instantly. Which he hadn't, since he was only fighting against monsters. But he did think about stealing someone's weapon so that they wouldn't be able to fight.

"That aside", interrupted Ji-Han as he had put the Guard Armor in his inventory. "We should start on our quests."

"I think today it's a bit late for that", Kazuma mused. "I don't exactly have a clock, but I know it's already afternoon. It should get dark soon."

"Then we should try our own against random Heartless near here", Naofumi suggested. "That allows us to practice fighting together and maybe get some drop items."

"Sounds like a plan", responded Ji-Han while Shua let out an affirmative "Smear".

"Right", acknowledged Kazuma. "We should stumble upon some if we just loiter outside the gates…

Which they did. The Heartless in question being mostly Shadows, Soldier and sometimes a Bizarre Archer, supported by Red Nocturnes, Blue Rhapsodies or Yellow Operas. So, practically all Heartless they already fought against. Because of this they had not too many troubles eliminating them. Kazuma meanwhile was fighting like a thief, hiding his presence and then striking at distracted targets, or another warrior, another body to split the attention of the Heartless.

But where Kazuma really excelled, was with the monster drops. He proved that the drop rate was connected to one's LUK, as nearly every enemy decided to spill their guts upon being defeated by Kazuma. In fact, even though those were all enemies they already had fought against, Kazuma had managed to acquire items that had not dropped previously, like the Wolf Yokai Arrow from the Bizarre Archer and Scrap Stainless Steel from the Soldier.

As a result they had decided to split the ownership of Kazuma's drop items in half. 50% going to Kazuma for his high luck drop and 50% going to Ji-Han because without his ability they would be no drop items. To do that Ji-Han paid Kazuma half of what he expected to get if he sold the item, a value calculated out of the base-value that Ji-Han saw with his Observe and his experience with the shops in Traverse Town. If Kazuma got a drop item that he wanted to keep, he would have to pay that half instead.

Though they hit a bit of a snag when it turned out that the lowest piece of currency, the copper coin had the value of 50 Munny, as that meant that they couldn't completely give out the exact value. So whenever they would get a value that wasn't able to be divided by 50, Ji-Han would keep the rest and add it to the next item he "bought" from Kazuma.

But back to the skill Observe, considering how often Ji-Han needed to use it to get the item value, it should come as no surprise that the skill leveled up. Unfortunately there was another skill that made an appearance: Slashing Weapon Mastery. Normally getting new skills was always good, but as the name implied, Slashing Weapon Mastery was like Blunt Weapon Mastery for slashing weapons. Which meant that his new keychain Binary Spirit transformed the Keyblade from a blunt weapon to a slashing weapon. And while that was good if they met enemies resistant to blunt force, he now couldn't use any power up from his skill Blunt Weapon Mastery and had now to grind the other Keyblade separately to get it back up to the damage output of the other weapon. At last Physical Endurance and Breeze of Regeneration were coming along nicely.

Nevertheless, before they could get to more grinding, they stumbled upon another problem:

"Smeargle", Shua tried to get Ji-Han's attention by pulling on his sleeve.

"What is it?" Wondered the Gamer and Shua mimicked a yawn, followed by a real one. "Are you perhaps sleepy?"

"Smear…" He responded and nodded affirmatively.

"Already?" Asked Kazuma. "But it's still bright."

"It's jetlag", Naofumi interjected as if it answered everything.

Which it actually pretty much did. After all, if one world could have multiple time zones; that should definitively hold true between worlds. And Ji-Han also knew how the length of a day varied from planet to planet, too. Heck, Ji-Han knew some stories where not even the actual passage of time was the same, with one year passing in one place while in another only five minutes went by.

And Ji-Han knew that they hadn't slept in Traverse Town before they came to this world, so it wouldn't be surprising if they got tired soon. Especially since they fought so much that Shua had leveled up again. So, yeah, understandable.

"Looks like we'll have to cut it short for today", mused Ji-Han as he turned to address Kazuma, who nodded in response.

"I'll be looking for you tomorrow in the adventurer's guild", he told them. "If you are first, you can already pick out a quest. Just make sure to start with something smaller like Bone Pickers or Houseless instead of a Wyvern or a Dark Sphinx. I am not going to fight against one of those monsters."

"What about the Underground Monkey?" Inquired Naofumi, making Kazuma choke on his own spit.

"Are you crazy?!" He finally shouted. "That thing takes a team of Veteran adventurers to defeat. I am not getting a mile near it."

"Then I really hope this world does not expect us to defeat it", he mused as he turned to Ji-Han. "Because you know my stance on wasting your life."

"As if I could forget", snapped Ji-Han. Even if Naofumi had probably saved his life against Devimon, it still had been a reminder that Naofumi does not have to follow his lead. He just chooses to.

"As long as you remember", the Hero of the Shield responded and turned back to Kazuma. "Do you need an escort or can you get home on your own?"

"I can do that on my own", the Lucky Thief claimed. "As long as it's just hiding from Heartless, I have no trouble on my own."

"Then we will leave now before another group of Heartless shows up while Shua is tired", he decided as he made his way towards the Gamer, who took The Pokémon's hand.

"Right", he agreed. "Then we'll see you tomorrow, Kazuma-Ssi."

"Yeah, bye."

With that they left Kazuma alone and went back to the spaceship. But they did not actually went to sleep as fast as possible. Disregarding that they still hadn't had dinner yet, if they went to bed now, they would be just as tired on the next time at the same time. To combat jetlag it was better to get into the rhythm of the other time zone as much as possible.

Which meant staying awake until it was time to sleep there, too.

And while they did not have a clock for the other world, since it was still light down there. But on the other hand it had been too late to go and look for a quest, so they figured they would be alright, if they went to sleep around one or two hours later.

Naofumi had also send Shua running, so that the physical activity would keep him awake while Ji-Han had decided to grind his Food Preparation with the new stuff they had bought in Traverse Town, as well as with some more pieces of Oumukade Meat. Being on a lucky streak, Ji-Han had then tried for Oumukade Rolled Egg Omelet. The first went well, but the second got burned, reducing the HP it granted to 5 out of the original 15, not to mention make it taste bad.

So he went back to grinding with stuff he didn't mind to or couldn't mess up. That went on until Shua came to him quite dead on his feet. That told Ji-Han to stop for the say, tuck Shua in and then headed to bed himself.


A/N:

And that's it for this chapter. Since in Traverse Town didn't happen enough for a single chapter, we get part of the second world already. However, first to the new people of Traverse Town: Natsukawa Kuina and Kuroko Tetsuya. The former is not actually a Yokai like Tohko, which makes a lot more funny putting her in the book shop together with the "real deal". Especially after they met Tohko first. And the fact that the opening of Hinako Note literally calls her a "Bungaku Shoujo" makes it all the sweeter.

Kuroko, for those who didn't notice or remember, had already been mentioned once. As the one who taught Akari how to use her low presence in combat, including the Vanishing Dive, which Ji-Han saw her use once. Unfortunately, getting better in stealth was a tragic miscalculation on Akari's part. The only lucky break is that Ji-Han hadn't noticed their connection or he would be off even worse in his presence.

But with Traverse Town out of the way, we now finally get to the second world: Konosuba. Well, technically that's the franchise name but you get it. Though talking about it, if you know what the world of Konosuba is called, I would like you to tell me. I've only ever found it as "Fantasy World". And as it is a world where the Hero Union BBS has a presence, getting the real name would be good for any interaction on the BBS since otherwise I'd have to either make up my own, or go with the largest administrative level. Currently I have chosen to go with the latter for worlds I don't know the name of, because that way people have actually a chance of realizing where that hero is from.

But the same rules preventing people from helping Ji-Han, also prevents the Hero Union from helping the heroes of Konosuba, Kazuma included. Speaking of him, yes, he is our Guest Star Party Member for this world. And the only one at that, as the others really aren't much help against Heartless. And with him looking for easy money, I always wanted to have him the reason for a quest abusing the game mechanics.

Lastly, we've got our first instance of time lag, which had to appear at some point and would definitively appear some more times as they have no idea how late it is in a world before they arrive.

So with that finished, I only want to again advertise the Heart of Akasha Discussions Forum. Even if you do not think you can help me with my story, there should be some topics that interest some of you. Like which characters could show up as Nobodies or members of the Hero Union. Or if you are curious what other characters might show up in Traverse Town (though that one is naturally a lot more spoiler-heavy than the other two). Or just give me some tips on how to improve the forum. I've never done something like that before, so I welcome any well-meaning hint.

Gashadokuro Amanojaku