“I...see.”
I let out a sigh. To think I’d already be lamenting my life in a video game. Here I was, wondering why they never asked me what appearance I’d chosen... As it turned out, they’d already rewritten my data yesterday.
“That’s not all.”
“Hmm?”
“We’re going to be living in this world for months, maybe even years. I wanted a connection, something to tie us together.”
“Sis...”
She had a reason, apparently. No, wait, is that any reason to turn me into a girl? Isn’t this a case of unauthorized access on my computer? And wait, I have to keep this up until we’re done with this game?!
“And...”
“Go on.”
“When we introduce ourselves, don’t you think calling us the three sisters rolls so well off the tongue?”
I just stared at her for a moment in silence. Am I supposed to laugh here? I’m pretty sure this is where I get mad.
“Fine... Whatever. I guess going with a different gender will really make this feel like I’m living a second life.”
Being the only boy among my female siblings, I’d experienced this unfairness several times before. This was supposed to be a fun game, and shouting at my family was only going to put a damper on that.
“So what are you going to do now?” my little sister asked me.
“Hmm, well, for starters, I’ll get a fishing skill and start fishing.”
“You really love all that side content, don’t you, Kizzy?”
“Kizzy...”
What is this? This indescribable discomfort? Why does it feel like they’ve stationed me as the youngest of the three sisters?
“At least continue to call me big brother.”
“Aww...”
“You already turned me into a girl. It’s the least you could do.”
“Urgh, well, have it your way.”
And why does it sound like she’s being forced to make a huge concession?
“I plan on going out to hunt. Same old. What about you, Kanade?”
“I haven’t decided what type of gear I’ll be using yet, so I’ll have to start at the shops.”
“Then we’re going to be going our separate ways?”
“Right. I’ll call you...I mean, message you later.”
“Sure.”
The chat cut out, and my hearing returned to normal.
All right, I guess I’ll go fishing. It’s what I was originally planning on, in any case. If I remember right, you unlock skills as you go.
I concentrated on opening up the status, skill, and item screens from the menu.
Name: Kizuna†Exceed / Race: Spirit
Energy: 1000 / Mana: 50 / Serin: 500
Skills: Energy Production I, Mana Production I
Items: Beginner’s Weapon Box, Beginner’s Energy Potion x10, Spirit Manual
I chose the Spirit Manual from my inventory, causing a palm-sized book to manifest in my hand. Flipping through it revealed lines upon lines of text that were not in Japanese, yet I could still read them regardless. The language was apparently called Spirit Tongue.
“Let’s see here...”
The manual read: “Unlike the other races, Spirits do not have a concept of level, HP, MP, STR, AGI, INT, MND, DEX, or LUK. These values are all combined into a single value called Energy. The more energy you have, the stronger you will become. If your energy increases, you will in turn take less damage from enemy attacks. However, caution is advised, as taking HP damage, and doing any actions that deplete MP will also use up Energy.”
I see, it’s quite an odd race.
The short of the matter was that raising a single superstat would boost offense, defense, HP, and MP, along with everything. But this even included level. Using too much Energy would effectively mean losing levels.
“Mana is an equivalent to the skill points and proficiency levels of other races. Consume Mana to acquire and upgrade skills as needed. Skills are divided between those that consume Energy on use and those that constantly consume Energy. As with other races, new entries will be added to the list of available skills when you perform the corresponding actions required to unlock them. For Spirits, Mana must be used to purchase and upgrade skills from the list. Acquired skills can be maintained by consuming Energy. When a skill is no longer needed, you can downgrade the skill and refund half of the Mana used to upgrade it. If your total Energy drops below zero due to skill cost, randomly selected skills will be downgraded until the Energy value is positive again.”
It seemed that energy management was an important aspect of the Spirit race.
Well, I’ll just take it as it comes.
I closed the manual and shoved it back into my inventory.
Next, I picked out the Beginner’s Weapon Box. The box was lined with all sorts of weapons and—as one might expect from the beginner label—they all looked quite plain.
I pulled out a one-handed sword—it was hard to go wrong with swords, after all. As I tested its weight in my hand, a simple description of the weapon appeared before me. I skimmed it before returning it to the box.
Although there were plenty of weapon demonstrations on the official website, I didn’t know which one was right for me; and so, like my big sister Kanade, I had yet to decide on anything. In fact, out of the three of us, it seemed only Tsumugi had a good idea of what she wanted.
“Oh?”
I spotted an interesting weapon among them. Let’s try taking it out.
Weapon: Beginner’s Dismantling Knife
Description: A knife made for taking apart the spoils of the hunt.
Dismantling Weapons—A category of weapons made to take apart flora and fauna. Increased item drops after defeating monsters.
What a short description. The sword one talked about how it could be used with a weapon and the characteristics of the skills associated with it. This isn’t giving me anything.
Yep, let’s go with it. It seems interesting.
With the dismantling knife in hand, I selected “confirm.”
Do I just need to hold the knife to equip it?
The status screen showed Energy and Mana, but it didn’t have any entries for equipment. It was hard to tell whether I’d gotten any stronger or not by holding it. With that said, it was pretty common in VR games for anything held to be counted as equipped.
Forget about that. I’ll need a rod if I want to fish. Now where can I find a rod? The tool shop seems like a safe bet. I selected the map from the menu. The town I’m in right now is... It’s called Lurolona. I searched for a bag-shaped map marker and began walking toward it.
The tool shop was a gray, square building, the sign next to it depicting a drawstring bag. The place was already packed with Humans, Demihumans with dog ears and tails, pale-skinned Elves with pointed ears, and Jewels with blue gemstones embedded in their chests. The clientele came in all shapes and sizes.
Is it just my imagination...or are Spirits the only ones I don’t see?
Entering the tool shop, I found a plethora of items on display. From healing potions to seeds, to dirty paper, copper, hammers, pots, frying pans, mortars, hoes, pickaxes, shovels, and fishing rods.
Oh, fishing rods.
The rods they had were nothing more than strings tied to wooden sticks; they were shabby little things that looked like they’d come straight out of a shonen manga. But what choice did I have? I couldn’t fish without a rod.
Now on to the price...
It was six hundred Serin.
Oh, so that Serin thing on my stat screen was money.
I was, as it turned out, one hundred Serin short.
Do I have anything to sell...? I checked through my inventory. There was the dismantling knife I’d just obtained, my Beginner’s Energy Potions, and the clothes on my back. Judging by the feeling on my skin, I was wearing undergarments too, and even if I had no clothes, I could just buy some later. It seemed that one Beginner’s Energy Potion could sell for twenty Serin.
“Could you buy these off of me?”
“Certainly. There are Beginner’s Energy Potions, correct? One of them will sell for twenty Serin. At five Beginner’s Energy Potions, your total comes to one hundred Serin.”
There was the ding of a cash register, and the amount of Serin in my possession shot up to six hundred. I got the fishing rod and headed straight back to the counter.
“One Worn-Out Rod, is it? That will be six hundred Serin.”
Hey... I know this is a game, but are you really going to call the things you’re selling from your own shop worn-out...?
One of the Humans browsing the store even let out a nice, audible, “Pfft.”
“Look at this, Therese. It says Worn-Out right here.”
“How awful.”
If I’d actually been transported to another world, I’d never shop at this place again... But retorting to an NPC was an exercise in futility. I contained the feelings welling up inside of me and claimed the Worn-Out Rod as my own.