“Potential Mushrooms: Food. Latent power up.”
So, they boosted my latent power, whatever that was. Something latent inside of me? Let’s not encourage whatever lurks in the heart of an unemployed shut-in loner.
I walked toward the mushrooms. While there was only one bunch of Potential Mushrooms, there were more edible mushrooms nearby. The forest floor was dotted with clusters of endurance-boosting and magic-boosting mushrooms, and some that recovered HP and MP. I supposed there wouldn’t be any magic potions growing on trees, but good food would probably keep me healthy enough.
I didn’t have anywhere in particular to go, so I kept heading in the direction of the mushrooms, collecting a ton of them as I went. It was fun to use Appraisal and pick the mushrooms, so I kept doing it without really thinking much. I collected way more than should have been able to fit in my small bag, but it didn’t feel heavy at all.
Sorry, Villager A, for thinking your bag was crappy. It was really a bag of holding. The ability to understand the language, an appraisal ability, and an item bag that’s bigger on the inside—it was a surprisingly solid start.
The 50-point Generic Villager A set still seemed a little too expensive, but maybe that was the price to pay in this world to get all these valuable basics.
If only I could’ve just taken the Generic Villager A set and ignored all the other bizarre skills. Then the old geezer wouldn’t have given himself an aneurysm shouting at me. I wondered if the other gods were getting him professional help now.
I even had medicine, and there was still more in the bottom that I hadn’t inspected yet. I really lucked out with this bag! I mean, I probably should have realized that something was up when it produced a three-foot stick and knee-length leather boots. This bag should’ve been way bigger. I wanted to stay calm, but I was internally freaking out. The bag that broke the laws of physics pushed me over the edge. Now I have to figure out where I am, I thought.
I continued to appraise everything as I explored the area around me, waving my stick through the air as I walked. I’m definitely dead meat if monsters show up. My weapon was a literal stick. My weapon skill was supposedly Cane Mastery, but I wondered if stick swinging even counted as a fighting style.
I narrowed my eyes. The way ahead was bright; I was finally leaving the forest behind. It really is awesome to be able to see so far! It was like my eyes had built-in optical zoom. Thank you, beloved contacts!
Soon, I reached a riverbed. A river—water! But I couldn’t drink unboiled water, so I kept walking.
Besides, I don’t have anything to draw the water with, I thought, but as I reached into the bag, the words “Cup,” “Canteen,” and “Pouch” all floated up into my head, and I pulled out a canteen full of water! I drank it. Delicious mineral water! I guzzled it down. This stuff would be expensive if you bought it from a vending machine. If I could just do online orders, I could get the best mineral water and all my books, too…
Maybe I could get books if they were put right in the middle of the magic circle that summoned us? I figured if a cat or something wandered into the circle, it would end up coming here, but the same wasn’t necessarily true for books or an Amazon box.
I could see fish in the river. So…baked fish and mushrooms for dinner, I thought. I stood next to the river with my stick primed and ready for an epic piscine battle.
The baked mushrooms were tasty. As it turned out, I couldn’t catch fish by standing knee-deep in a river waving a stick. I could have thrown it at the fish, but then I would have no fish and no stick.
I walked on until I found a cave of some sort. Or was it a cavern? Is there a difference? Maybe there was some sort of cave boss, some monster waiting to ambush me if I went in.
I crept up to the mouth of the cave and peered inside. Phew, nothing there. No cave boss.
“Excuse me?” I walked inside, calling out like a customer in an empty store.
It felt like trespassing in someone else’s house. The cavern was wide and deep, maybe even 20 feet by 20 feet—much bigger than my 100-square-foot room back in Japan. It was pitch-black inside.
Standing at the entrance, I opened my bag. It was definitely bigger on the inside—I reached in and pulled out an entire tent. I guess that isn’t too weird in a magical fantasy world.
“Magic Tent: When activated with magic, opens and closes automatically. Room temperature. Bug and monster repellant.”
Hah, so monsters are no better than bugs?
“Magic Lantern: When activated with magic, switches between On, Off, and Blink settings. Bug and monster repellant.”
Take that, monsters! It could even blink. I could use this lantern to signal in a car without taillights, not that there were any cars here. But how was I supposed to “activate with magic”? I’d never used magic before, but it was worth a shot.
“O magic power that dwells within me, I unleash you unto the world—anything?”
What if I was having some sort of fever dream? What if I just shouted that out loud in the middle of class?
The Bag of Holding was big enough, so why didn’t anyone think to pack an instruction manual? Lantern in hand, I continued my experiments.
“O magic power, I command you to light the lantern!”
Still nothing? Please, please tell me I’m not insane…