Prologue 2
“Gotta work... Tabuchi, progress report...”
Deep in the forest, Ryoma woke up in the shadows of the overgrown trees.
He had the appearance of a young boy, just like the gods had said, no older than 10 and dressed in linen clothes, slumped against the trunk of a tree and fast asleep.
After muttering some words oddly out of sync with his appearance, he squinted through the sunlight filtering through the trees and looked around sleepily.
“A forest? It’s not... a dream, right...?”
As he sat there smelling the scent of the dirt, forest, and wind, he gradually recalled how he came to be there.
“That’s right. This is another world. Hmm?”
His eyes landed on the leather bag and diary-sized book by his waist.
When he picked it up to look at the cover, he was met with the word “letter” written in symbols that clearly weren’t Japanese.
The senders were the three gods that invited him to this world.
“Gain, Kufo, Lulutia...”
After reading aloud the naturally written names, he recalled his memory of the gods.
They were polite and considerate enough to provide me with all the knowledge to live before sending me, but they’ve even supplemented that with a letter... Though at this thickness, it’s more of a manual than a letter...
He turned the page to see three things written there.
First, that he was in a world called Seilfall, in the Rifall Kingdom’s Forest of Gana. There were no particularly strong beasts or monsters here, so it was a comparatively safe place to live.
The second was that it wasn’t completely safe, so he was to confirm the movements of his new body and relocate somewhere safe to live.
A small map had been carefully included.
The last point to conclude the first page was to “read the rest of the letter once you’ve moved somewhere safe.”
A faint smile appeared on Ryoma’s face at how thoroughly the gods left their instructions, but when he tried to get up, he felt a strong displacement within his body.
“I really am a child now... Me, Takebayashi Ryoma. Systems engineer. 39 years old and single. It’s as though my memories were transplanted... Reminds me of a certain child detective.”
Though he had listened to the explanation, Ryoma was surprised to actually feel the change in his body and confirmed there were no abnormalities.
Once he checked everything was fine, he took a breath and started to move his body.
He bent and stretched his arms and legs, going through each part of his body with simple warm-up exercises that gradually grew more intense.
Then, only after checking each and every martial art form his father had relentlessly beat into him in his previous life, did his movements stop.
“...”
The moment after his eyes locked onto a narrow tree beside him, he dug a sharp kick into its trunk.
“Peep!”
“Chirp chirp!”
A light tearing sound echoed through the quiet forest.
Despite the tree being alive and healthy, the trunk cleanly snapped in half and fell to the ground, stirring the birds resting their wings in the nearby greenery.
Seeing that result summarized the rest of his movements up until then for Ryoma.
Weird... My strength is that of my previous life or better. It doesn’t suit my frame at all. My body’s so light I move like a breeze, and the length of my limbs should go without saying. My distance, perception and senses are out of tune. I don’t think I’ll have problems with basic movements like walking or running, but... I guess I’ll have to get used to it bit by bit.
Having reached that conclusion, Ryoma returned to the base of the tree he had been sleeping against and checked for his current position on the map. He picked up the bag and put the letter away, at the same time finding a knife to keep by his side as he started walking towards the destination the gods had marked.
Two hours later.
Ryoma had spotted several small animals and creatures that didn’t exist on Earth, but they were all weak monsters that either fled of their own accord or ignored him completely.
While traveling took a little more time with his child legs, the journey itself wasn’t dangerous and even allowed him to gather herbs and edible plants using the knowledge the gods had bestowed upon him in advance.
Thus, Ryoma eventually walked into the depths of the dimly lit forest.
The trees parted before a cliff face of bare rock.
Ryoma looked around to confirm his safety before quickly putting down his belongings and sitting down to read the continuation of the letter from the gods.
“Hmm, so there’s a river nearby. Looks like the perfect place for a home base.”
Ryoma muttered to himself as he read more of the letter, showing no signs of heading towards civilization nor intent to actually leave the forest.
Like he had told the gods, he planned on starting from living as a recluse in the forest.
“Apparently there’s a tent among the supplies, but a cave would be safer when up against monsters...”
The safety of a tent wasn’t very reassuring.
With that thought, Ryoma approached the cliff face and poked the bare rock with his right hand before moving his eyes back to the letter in his left hand.
The page on top was an explanation of how to use magic.
“First, calm your heart and focus within your body... Like this? It feels like there’s a water balloon under my skin... Gross...”
Despite calling it gross, the tone of his voice was a mix of excitement and delight, and his expression also softened faintly.
However, no matter how much of an interest he had in games and light novels, even if he had thought of countless fantasies between the breaks of his busy work life, he still had never used magic before.
Because of that...
“Umm... Once you feel the magical energy within your body... Move while imagining that magical energy flowing out of your body, yup.”
He checked each and every step along the way.
He was almost the spitting image of an elderly person with an instruction manual in one hand while struggling to keep up with modern-day technology. But once he imagined the magical energy flowing out of his fingertips, it slowly but surely started to happen.
For the record, the twelve elements of magic were: Neutral, Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Ice, Lightning, Wood, Poison, Light, Dark, and Space.
Each element was sorted into a difficulty level referred to as lower elements, middle elements, or higher elements.
Furthermore, the element of a magic type was changed based on what someone imagined as they released their magical energy, and could be activated by chanting the spell name of the magic.
Having read this sentence in the letter, Ryoma decided to select one of the earth magics recorded on the page and test it out.
“The magical energy flows into the rock of the cliff, breaking it into dirt... Break Rock.”
The cliff touching the end of his fingertip crumbled slightly, creating a small hole in the face.
The hole was roughly three fingers wide and as deep as his first knuckle.
It was more of a dent than a hole, but Ryoma just looked at it and laughed quietly.
How long has it been since I felt this way? A life where overnight shifts and overtime was normal, where I was either at work, home, or out drinking with my bosses. It’s not like I didn’t have any fun at all, but... It’s been so long that I’ve forgotten this feeling...
While remaining alert of his surroundings, he continued to use Break Rock with a smiling face for some time.
But after he was satisfied with his first use of magic, Ryoma muttered to himself.
“This isn’t very efficient.”
All this effort and I only have a hole large enough for both my hands... I won’t even be done by sunset at this rate. And there should be a limit to how much magical energy I can use anyway.
With that thought, Ryoma decided to take a break and retrieve water from the nearby river. Once he returned, he started to read the next part of the letter.
It’d be nice if there was something useful... But at worst, I’ll just use the tent. Back on Earth it wasn’t rare for me to do two to three all-nighters in a row, so I should be able to last that long without sleeping... Oh!
Ryoma had turned the page in search of a solution to his problem and came across a table where all his current abilities and statistics were displayed.
My status, huh? This is useful. I can check what I’m currently capable of with this.
On the page, these words were written.
Name: Ryoma Takebayashi
Gender: Male
Age: 8
Race: Human
My name and gender are unchanged from my previous life. Aside from how my family name comes last now. And I’m eight years old... I wonder what kind of child I was back then? I can’t remember anything other than training under my father. Well, whatever. Next.
Physical Energy: 10,486
Magical Energy: 102,300
Note: The average adult male has a physical energy of around 1000, while adventurers, soldiers, and others that have undergone training have an average of 2000-3000.
“Wow, am I a musclehead?”
I knew I could move around more than my bosses and the youngsters these days, but was it always this big of a gap? I can understand my magical energy increasing because of the transfer process, but... I don’t recall asking for increased physical strength.
A similar note was written for magical energy, where the average person had 100. Warriors that used supplementary magic had 500-700. Normal magicians had anywhere from 1000-5000, while royal sorcerers had an average of 10,000-50,000.
Well, I suppose it doesn’t hurt to have more. The rest are my skills and abilities, huh?
Everyday Skills
Housekeeping 10, Etiquette 7, Performance 3, Singing 3, Calculation 5
Combat Skills
Unarmed Combat 7, Sword Mastery 7, Dagger Mastery 6, Hidden Weapon Mastery 7, Spear Mastery 4, Bow Mastery 4, Staff Mastery 6, Chain Weapon Mastery 4, Throwing Weapon Mastery 7, Stealth 6, Trapping 4, Body Control 5, Energy Meditation 5
Magic Skills
Taming Magic 1, Barrier Magic 1, Healing Magic 1, Alchemy 1, Fire Magic 1, Water Magic 1, Wind Magic 1, Earth Magic 1, Neutral Magic 1, Lightning Magic 1, Ice Magic 1, Poison Magic 1, Wood Magic 1, Light Magic 1, Dark Magic 1, Space Magic 1, Magic Detection 1, Magic Control 1, Magic Recovery Speed 1
Crafting Skills
Medicine 6, Blacksmithing 1, Architecture 2, Woodworking 2, Modeling 3, Painting 4
Resistance Skills
Physical Pain Resistance 8, Mental Pain Resistance 9, Health 7
Special Skills
Life Enhancement 3, Super Recovery 3, Stamina Enhancement 6, Mental Concentration 5, Survival Arts 3
Titles
Rise from Below
Ended an Unfortunate Life
Apprentice of the God of Military Arts
Apprentice of the Sage
Beloved Child of the Gods
Protections
Protection of Gain, the Creator
Protection of Kufo, God of Life
Protection of Lulutia, Goddess of Love
So the number following the skill is the proficiency level of that ability. Learning the basics is level 1-2, level 3 is established, level 4 is experienced, level 5 is top-notch, and level 6 and above is mastery... I guess my 39 years of experience came through. Most of these skills are from work, school, or the part-time jobs I did. Abilities like programming don’t seem to exist in this world, so they’re not written here... And titles and protections don’t seem too useful to me right now... All right, let’s see how I can dig a hole with these skills.
For the next ten minutes, Ryoma glared at the explanations of the skills written on the next page, reading them carefully.
Then, he spotted a certain skill.
Energy meditation — an ability that enhances the physical body using life force.
By focusing the mind on the energy within oneself and circulating it around the body like magical energy, the physical functions of the body could be improved as a whole. It could also be used to enshroud a weapon in energy and increase its sharpness and might.
Because it was a skill acquired naturally through prolonged training of the body in combat abilities, it could sometimes be used unconsciously.
This must be why my body’s been moving so fluidly. It seems like it’d be useful once I understand it fully. There was also an earth magic somewhere... Oh, there.
Basic earth elemental magic, Rock.
A spell to harden dirt and turn it into stone or rock.
The shape could be controlled by the caster’s will.
“Rock.”
Ryoma cast the magic on the crumbled earth from the cliff and instantly turned it into a pebble.
“All right. Rock, Rock...”
He used the same magic to create a short spike out of the dirt, then Break Rock to shape the tip of it into that of an animal fang.
Once it was done, Ryoma grabbed the spike with an overhand grip and faced the cliff once more, taking a deep breath to use energy meditation.
“Hah!”
He wrapped his right arm and the tip of the spike with energy, then swung it down on the surface of the cliff with all his might.
The single collision between the towering cliff and energy enhanced spike made of the same material caused a groove as deep as the second knuckle of a finger to be carved into the cliff surface.
“All right!”
Seeing that result, Ryoma continued to swing his stick into the cliff, digging a hole at a pace exceptionally faster than when he was using magic.
“Ah! It’s broken. Rock!”
By fixing his tool each time it broke, Ryoma had dug a cave with enough space for himself and his belongings by dusk.
However, since he had been continuously using a power he was unfamiliar with, he also felt a faint sense of fatigue.
I guess I’ll stop here for today.
Ryoma turned to take his gathered food and water inside the completed base for the time being, when his eyes caught sight of a scenery that left him speechless.
“Wow...”
The outside view was colored in the fiery glow of the sunset.
The leaves in the trees were dyed crimson, while a bright green spread through the undergrowth and on the leaves out of the direct sunlight.
While his eyes were captivated by the beauty of the scenery, the sky gradually transitioned from dusk to a starry night.
How beautiful... There’s so many stars. It’s been so long since I’ve seen this many stars. No, when was the last time I even stopped to look at the scenery?
Even as he stared at the sky, he had no answer.
However, Ryoma was able to carry his belongings into the cave with some sense of satisfaction.
Taking a blanket out of his supplies, he made a place to sleep against the wall, then reached inside his supplies again for food.
Because he had chosen fruits and plants that could be eaten raw, there wasn’t much in his portion.
But he was able to fill some of his stomach with half his total portion.
I’ll save the rest for tomorrow and sleep for now. I’ll start gathering food and other things I need to survive starting tomorrow. There’s lots to do, but it’s all worth doing.
He blocked the entrance of the cave for safety, leaving only a hole for air.
“Gain, Kufo, Lulutia... I am truly grateful to you all for your kindness.”
Having finished his work for the day, Ryoma wrapped himself in the blanket and whispered his passing thoughts of his life to come, the words echoing into the darkness of the cave before disappearing.
Several minutes later, he was breathing peacefully in his sleep.
■ ■ ■
Meanwhile, three pairs of eyes peered at Ryoma’s sleeping face from the divine realm. Their owners were Gain, Kufo, and Lulutia... In other words, the gods that had sent Ryoma to Seilfall.
“Looks like it’s going well so far.”
“Yes, he had no problem receiving the powers either.”
“And he’s made shelter for now. It seems like he’ll be fine.”
The three of them showed relief in the endlessly wide, white space that they stood in.
“Indeed. But let’s keep watching over him for a while. Even with consent, it would pain me to see him suffer. And I’m a little curious anyway. Would you agree, Kufo, Lulutia?”
“Yup, I agree with Gain.”
“Me too. But honestly, what was Earth’s god thinking? Interfering with the fates of the living for no reason.”
While Kufo approved of Gain’s suggestion, Lulutia went on to express her clear disgust for Earth’s god.
“Calm yourself, Lulutia. There’s no point in wondering about that now.”
“But doesn’t it bother you too, Gain?”
“Of course. He’s a fine specimen of a human, but you definitely don’t see many humans who have their fates tampered with like that. Not even a god would dare interfere with fate so flippantly. For one to take a person’s happiness is, quite honestly, reprehensible.”
“I can’t imagine why one would go out of their way to use trials to do that.”
Trials were a type of salvation originally meant to be presented by the gods managing the world onto a large collective such as a race or a kingdom in times of great, imminent danger. The decision to present the trial and timing of when to do so was entrusted to the judgment of the world’s gods, but overcoming the trial meant a befitting power could be obtained. Many of the heroes spoken of in legends had used the power they gained to drive away the threat just like this.
“The goal was to present hardship, but a trial is still a trial. Overcoming that hardship would result in receiving a power...”
“It seems like each occurrence was continuously suppressed at the level of everyday misfortune or bad luck, and for an awfully long time at that...”
“They say that enough dust can make a mountain, after all. The fact that the power he received was useless for his work and fortune was also rather wicked. Well, it was fortunate that his body was strengthened instead, I guess. If not...”
“We only realized it because of that, after all. And from what I can see of his memories, his father also...”
The gods continued to chat until the completely oblivious Ryoma woke up.
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