"It's because of that rip that we're in this game-like world right now～～ that's a good one but where's the punchline?" (Ai)
"The punch line is… I still can't believe it." (Tatsuro)
"Really? Then how else would you explain our situation? There's VR but… I don't think technology has advanced enough for it to be this realistic yet." (Ai)
Saying that, Ai started tapping the system panel with the back of her hand.
Unable to refute her words, Tatsuro let out a groan.
"Not even Sonar from PlayStation 4?" (Ai)
"Nope. Be it Sonar or Hall of Endurance, both are impossible at the present." (Tatsuro)
While exchanging words that made little sense, they both continued fiddling around with the system and discovered the show/hide function for the system panel.
Believe it or not, all it took for them was to think about closing or opening the window. After learning about that, the two could easily guess that this wasn't any available technology from Earth anymore. It was something much more advanced.
At that moment, one sudden thought came to mind.
"What if we used Help?" (Tatsuro)
"Would it still work if it's not related to the system? Still, we have nothing to lose so why not just try it out?" (Ai)
Tatsuro quickly brought up the Help screen and pressed his hand on it.
(Where is this place? …Ahh that's pointless to ask as we don't have a map. Then, how do we get a mini-map function on the system? …[Skill required]… We need to acquire some kind of skill for it.) He thought
"So… what does it say?" (Ai)
"There's a skill that gives a map function, it seems." (Tatsuro)
"Eh, really?!! We don't need a GPS anymore, then!" (Ai)
"Probably… Skill… Skill… There…" (Tatsuro)
When he touched the Skill button on the home screen, various buttons appeared as follows: Martial Arts, Magic, Life Skills, Special Skills, System Upgrade, and Others.
While his eyes were drawn in by the others category, he held his curiosity back and selected the System Upgrades button. There, amid the many skill names, he located a skill named [Map].
"Ah, I found it! Alright, learn!… Eh?" (Tatsuro)
"It says not enough skill points." (Tatsuro)
"How many do you need?" (Ai)
"How many do you have now?" (Ai)
"That's a no-go, then." (Ai)
"Right, no-go it is. Help-san, what do we do now? ………… Apart from some special methods of acquisition, we get skill points for leveling up. Looks like it's 3 skill points per Lv." (Tatsuro)
"Alright, then. We just need to Lv up twice." (Ai)
"Then what are we waiting for?! Let's start the grind! Slime, I choose you!" (Ai)
|Skill [Unarmed Combat] acquired.|
Ai, who was pretending to be shadow-boxing, suddenly stopped.
"Did a slime really appear?" (Tatsuro)
"Nooo, it's not that." (Ai)
"Then what?" (Tatsuro)
Curious about what Ai had just seen, Tatsuro gazed over to where she was looking. Ai, on the other hand, had already brought her system panel up to confirm what she just heard.
"Wait a bit. Hmm, try checking my system." (Ai)
Hearing that, Tatsuro opened up Ai's status screen from his own panel.
Class: Martial Artist
[Valkyrie], [Unarmed Combat Lv.1]
"Huh, your class changed to [Martial Artist] and you got the [Unarmed Combat] Skill too. And your stats too… What did you do?" (Tatsuro) ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ NoveI[F]ire.net
"What did I do … I just went and…" (Ai)
Ai repeated the shadowboxing she had done earlier.
|Skill [Unarmed Combat] has leveled up to Lv 2.|
"Ah, it's Lv 2 now." (Ai)
"It's true… And what you just did earlier, you're starting to punch like a real boxer." (Tatsuro)
"Eh, really?! Tei, tei, tei, te— Heya!" (Ai)
Hearing that, Ai started punching the empty air again.
Being taken in by the flow, she started adding kicks in too, making it look like some martial arts demonstration. Those movements, too, didn't look like an amateur's.
|Skill [Unarmed Combat] has leveled up to Lv 3.|
"Level up again! Come on, you try it too, Tatsuro―!" (Ai)
Seeing Ai in high spirits, Tatsuro picked up a random branch off the floor, found an open area, and started swinging it around.
"Whatcha doing?" (Ai)
"Experimenting. Can you try doing what I just did?" (Tatsuro)
"Hmm? Well, I can, but… Ehh, here goes nothing." (Ai)
|Skill [Staff Art] acquired.|
"Eh, I just learned [Staff Art]… You too?" (Ai)
"Nope, nothing at all. For you to learn skills so fast, it looks like it's because of your [Valkyrie] skill." (Tatsuro)
As he said that, Ai clasped her hands and replied
"Ah… My skill description said that too. Then, what will you do? To level up, you need to fight, right? Wouldn't it be great if you had a self-defense skill right now?" (Ai)
"True… Well, since we already have you as our big and strong vanguard, I'd like to try using magic." (Tatsuro)
"Not fair! If there's magic, I'd like to be a magician too!" (Ai)
"Not fair, you say… Didn't your skill already state that you can't use magic? In exchange for that, you get to be a cheat martial artist so isn't that fine already?" (Tatsuro)
Stroking the head of the sulking Ai to comfort her, Tatsuro used his other hand to navigate towards the skills shop panel.
Upon reaching the page, he filtered it to only show magic skills. In an instant, only magic classes and attributes were left displayed on his screen.
"Let's see here… Fire, Water, Air, Earth… These are the basic ones. And then there's Nature, Lightning, Ice" (Tatsuro)
"What about the others???" (Ai)
Ai's eyes were sparkling as she said that. In response to the enthusiasm, Tatsuro hurriedly continued scrolling through the screen.
"Life, Curse, Information… I don't really understand what these are. I'll just ask Help-sensei after. Next is Light and Darkness, which includes Gravity and Space-time— It has this thing too?" (Tatsuro)
"I don't really understand the previous ones much but, I wanted to use Light and Darkness magic. If you learn them, don't forget to show me, ok!" (Ai)
"If I learn them, sure. Ah, but those two cost a lot more than the other attributes. The others only require 1 skill point to learn the Lv 1 skill, but Light and Darkness start at 11 points. Eh, Gravity Control costs 500 and Space-time costs 1000… Doesn't it feel impossible to get even one of them already?" (Tatsuro)
After taking a brief look at the standard magic attributes, Tatsuro shifted his focus towards the Life, Curse, and Information magic.
The life attribute has healing and restorative magic; the Curse attribute contains all the buffs and debuffs; and the Information attribute contains magic used for gathering information, including detection and analysis.
"The ones that look the most useful right now are… Life, Fire, and Water, huh?" (Tatsuro)
"Right, in a forest , getting injured is scary, fire will be convenient for us too, and drinking water is… You have 3 points so why not take Lv 1 for all three? By the way, my magic list says learning magic will need 999 points for me. Does that mean I still have a chance?" (Ai)
"Really? [Valkyrie] isn't kidding, huh? Alright, let's try this out, then!" (Tatsuro)
""Giii?"" They chorused
There should have been only the two of them here and yet, they heard the voice of another. Similar to a horror film, they were greeted by the source of the voice when they turned around to look behind them.
It was a caterpillar.
In a forest, it would be quite normal to see a caterpillar crawling around. That is if one deemed that a 50 cm long caterpillar is within what people call ‘normal'.