(Ting!)

I yelp in girlish surprise as the light chiming noise resounds again, this time accompanying a much larger floating text box. Where are these things even coming from!?

[ NEW MISSION ACQUIRED ]

[ TUTORIAL ]

[ Begin your journey by learning the basics. Follow the prompts and read them carefully in order to complete your first quest and discover more about your new and unique abilities! ]

[ MISSION PARAMETERS ]

[ Open the Menu ]

[ ???? ]

[ ???? ]

[ Reward: ]

[ 100 EXP ]

[ ???? ]

[ ???? ]

Staring at the pale gray pop-up panel in front of me, a scowl slowly creeps up onto my face. Why are there so many blank spots here? Does it not show me what to do next until I complete my current task? Annoying. With a huff, I whip my hand out and instinctively swipe the box away like I would with a smartphone. It takes a moment, but another small panel takes its place.

[ TIP: Swipe your left hand downwards to access the menu. ]

My hunger is forgotten in the face of these new developments and I find myself quickly absorbed in the thought of some sort of odd, new mystical power. I grin gleefully, forgetting completely the mystery of my sudden awakening in this dream-like World, and bring my left hand upwards before swiping downwards quickly.

A string of rounded icons appear where my hand had waved, creating a floating menu. Each button is labeled properly and has an accompanying picture displayed upon it for simple understanding.

In my ear, there is a quiet ring of success before my Mission page pops up again, along with an overlapping little box.

[ MISSION DETAILS UPDATED ]

[ MISSION PARAMETERS ]

[ Open the Menu ]

[ View Status ]

[ ???? ]

[ ???? ]

[ Reward: ]

[ 100 EXP ]

[ 100 EXP ]

[ ???? ]

[ ???? ]

Very simple. I swipe the two pop-ups to the left to reveal my menu is still open. With a tilt of my head, I bring my hand down and scroll through the options to get to the Status page and click on it. It really is a lot like playing around with a smartphone which is a little weird. They don't have smartphones in this world, I think.

[ STATUS ]

[ Himuka ]

[ No Title ]

[ LV 6 ]

[ EXP 12% ]

[ HP 230/230 ]

[ CP 74/74 ]

[ STR 6 ]

[ VIT 6 ]

[ LIF 10 ]

[ INT 11 ]

[ WIS 9 ]

[ CHK 7 ]

[ DEX 4 ]

[ AGI 2 ]

[ LUK 9 ]

That…doesn't look that bad? I mean, my Agility is pitifully low, but everything else looks okay. And how did I get to level six anyways? Doesn't the hero always start at the very bottom of the bottom?

Fuck it. I won't complain about an extra five levels.

[ MISSION DETAILS UPDATED ]

[ MISSION PARAMETERS ]

[ Open the Menu ]

[ View Status ]

[ View Inventory ]

[ ???? ]

[ ???? ]

[ Reward: ]

[ 100 EXP ]

[ 100 EXP ]

[ 100 EXP ]

[ ???? ]

[ ???? ]

Humming thoughtfully, I seek out the Inventory button in the menu and hit it lightly to open up a new screen. This one has an odd, slightly darker grey look to it when compared to my other menus and it makes me frown. Does that mean I can't use it?

[ TIP: Your Inventory becomes accessible once a STORAGE ACCESSORY is equipped. ]

Well then. I scoff in annoyance and swipe both panels away. That's stupid. What even is a "storage accessory" anyway? Like, a backpack or a purse or something? I guess that makes sense, but… I still grumble unhappily, utterly unsatisfied with the concept.

[ 1 Intelligence ]

…eh?

What the heck is that for? Because I kind of figured out the storage accessory thing? I guess that means I was right about it, then. That's cool.

I wonder how to equip stuff though, if I don't have an inventory until I actually equip a backpack.

(Ting!)

[ MISSION DETAILS UPDATED ]

[ HIDDEN OBJECTIVE UNLOCKED ]

Uhh…?

[ MISSION PARAMETERS ]

[ Open the Menu ]

[ View Status ]

[ View Inventory ]

[ View Skills ]

[ ???? ]

[ ???? ]

[ Find a Storage Accessory ]

[ Reward: ]

[ 100 EXP ]

[ 100 EXP ]

[ 100 EXP ]

[ 100 EXP ]

[ ???? ]

[ ???? ]

[ 150 EXP ]

Oh, hey, that's kinda cool. Guess I can change the mission a little bit by doing and thinking about certain stuff? And it gives me more experience than the normal objectives, which, score!

Heh, I want to try all kinds of crazy shit to see if it'll unlock hidden bonus stuff now.

But, I think I'll leave that alone for a minute since the next objective it gave me is one of the best.

Cue the wicked grin.

I start scrolling through the menu again to find my Skills and click on it, bringing up another light-colored panel. It's just a little thing; a list with less than a handful of things on it right now and I'm a little disappointed. I'm definitely going to change that as soon as I can.

[ SKILLS ]

[ Scan ]

[ HD Create ]

[ HD Escape ]

Quirking my mouth into a pensive kind of grimace, I click on the HD Create skill, since Scan is likely to be pretty self-explanatory. A smaller screen pops up to overlap my main skills list, giving me some insight on what the skill does.

[ HD CREATE ]

[ LV MAX ]

[ UNIQUE SPECIAL ACTIVE ]

[ Creates a Hyper Dimension within the user's level range. ]

[ Enemy and Drop factors subject to change. ]

[ Duration 6 hours ]

[ Time Warp Ratio 1:5 ]

A skill to make my own dimension?!? And it's filled with monsters and loot!?! That's the coolest thing ever!

But, like, what's that "Time Warp Ratio" thing mean?

Shrugging it off for the moment, I move down to the other weird skill.

[ HD ESCAPE ]

[ LV MAX ]

[ UNIQUE SPECIAL ACTIVE ]

[ Teleports the user outside the confines of the current Hyper Dimension. ]

Pretty straightforward on that one, that's good. Guess I'll take a look at Scan too.

[ SCAN ]

[ LV 001/100 ]

[ EXP 0% ]

[ ACTIVE ]

[ 15 CP ]

[ Swiftly observe the world around you, focusing in on a singular target to learn about it. ]

[ Displays target NAME, RANK, TITLE, HP CP ]

[ Displays target ITEM NAME, DESCRIPTION ]

Just about what I expected, honestly. It has a high level cap for a starter skill though, which is weird.

Welp, might as well give it a go.

I look around myself for a moment, searching for something interesting to Scan. My eyes land on that stupidly large stack of papers Naruto had brought and I squint at it curiously.

"Ehh... 'Scan'…?"

My head jerks in surprise as a little denim-colored pop-up appears this time.

[ HIMUKA'S HOMEWORK ]

[ A fat stack of homework assignments from Iruka-sensei to make up for all the classes Himuka has missed by skipping school. ]

Ah? I was skipping class? Oops…