“Oh, okay. Cute gimmick. I get what this is. This is one of those ‘Hey, look at how NOT like your original world this is’ moments to drive the point home. Yep, doesn’t get much more not-my-original-world than this.”
Almost immediately after stepping through the gate of light that materialized beside the young girl who called herself God, Renya found himself in a forest somewhere. He was standing on well-trodden ground that appeared to be a road. Deep woods flanked the road on both sides, and there was nothing to see in either direction but trees. Above him was a clear sky, beautifully blue. Renya glanced up. If he still harbored any doubts about whether this was the same world in which he previously lived for 94 years, they were dispelled by the two suns glowing brightly overhead.
While the existence of two suns definitely shocked him, he found some relief from the fact that the sky was still blue. It was at least a familiar color. If this alternate world had decided to show up with a purple sky or something, he would have had to either accept a disturbing new reality or part ways with his sanity. He did not want to find out which would have happened first.
He looked at the trees surrounding him. He had no idea what any of them were, but then again, he was no connoisseur of trees. Judging from their basic appearance, however, they did not seem too different from the ones in his old world. It seemed that some of his common sense was still applicable here, and that made him feel better. The reset may have wiped his memories clean, but the skills and experiences ingrained in him were a good deal more resilient.
He was wearing a clean white shirt along with pants and simple leather shoes. Realizing that he had forgotten to ask about how dangerous this place was, he checked around and found that he was not armed in any way. Walking around in an unknown forest of a foreign world with nothing but the clothes on his back seemed like a bad idea. Just then, the word “Inventory” appeared in his field of view. He focused his gaze on it as though selecting it with a cursor, and a semi-transparent window appeared before him. It was the same kind as the one the young girl had used to show him the map. A fifteen-by-fifteen grid was displayed on the window. There were tiny little icons in some of the spaces. One of the icons looked like money, so he touched it with his finger. Immediately, information began to stream into his head.
《 Currency: 10 Gold Coins 》
Apparently, it really did mean money. Figuring that this was some sort of parting gift from God, he examined each of the other icons. In total, the items he found in his inventory window included: ten gold coins, twelve packets of emergency rations, six basic medicinal herbs, three bandages, one bamboo sword, one set of leather armor, and one water bottle — water included.
While the leather armor made sense, he could not for the life of him figure out why there was a bamboo sword. As he poked at the icon, a passage of explanatory text flashed across his mind.
《 Bamboo Sword: Class 10 (Artifact), “Indestructible” 》
He raised an eyebrow, wondering what “Artifact” meant. The answer appeared almost immediately.
《 Notification: Help Activated - Artifacts are lost relics. They refer to handicrafts of a quality unachievable by the hands of man. All such items are categorized as class 10 without exception. 》
Well, that’s convenient. I think I can get used to this, thought Renya to himself as he took a moment to appreciate his new body.
Apparently, the bamboo sword hailed from the land of God and, despite its conspicuous bamboo-ness, was of a correspondingly high level of quality. Following that line of logic, he tapped the icon of the leather armor, as well, wondering what godly wonders lay therein.
Well, then. So much for being utterly invincible. Feeling a tad disappointed that his armor was mere garden variety, Renya moved his hand to the top of the inventory window and double-tapped an icon there. Two indicators appeared: “Equip” and “Take Out.” He immediately selected Equip. The leather armor icon vanished from the inventory, and his body began to glow faintly. When the light faded, his torso was protected by a chest piece that appeared over his shirt, and arm guards were covering his arms from elbow to wrist. Apparently, they came as a set. His head and lower body remained unguarded, which he was not entirely satisfied with. As the saying goes, however, beggars can’t be choosers, so he put it out of his mind and equipped the bamboo sword as well.
The sword turned out to be exactly the same as he remembered. It was a little over a meter, a length known as “Sankyu.” The term meant three-nine, which referred to its length in traditional units of measurement — three shaku and nine sun. This put it on the longer side, and such a sword would normally be employed by taller people. Regardless, it remained light and easy to wield. Therefore the longer the better, in Renya’s opinion.
As he held it in his hand and regarded it, the question came back to him: why a bamboo sword of all things? In response, a message appeared in his mind again.
《 Notification: Help Activated - I actually wanted to give you some kind of short sword, but all the weapons around here are class 10 and the angels refused to let me grab one. I figured that since you had kendo experience in your previous life, you’d feel right at home with a bamboo sword, so I sent you one instead. —From God 》
After reading the explanation from the help function that apparently moonlighted as some sort of messenger service, Renya felt a little less miffed by the piece of bamboo in his hand. There was, after all, some thought put into it. He had to give her credit for that. It did not explain why there was a bamboo sword in the land of God, but that question was likely to remain unanswered in the foreseeable future, so he pushed it out of his mind and started thinking about what his next step should be.
As soon as he set foot into this world, he had basically completed the girl’s request already. Oh, wait, “God’s” request. He insisted on putting air quotes around that word in his head. All that remained, in a manner of speaking, was to chill for a couple of decades and wander around, disseminating these so-called Resources that were somewhere in his body. His goal was a long stretch of an empty highway away, and he had cruise control. With that in mind, he figured he might as well enjoy these few decades ahead of him. To that end, he was going to have to procure the things necessary for a nice and easy life.