"Satou Kazuma-san, welcome to the afterlife. Unfortunately, you've died. It might've been short, but your life's now over." A woman spoke to a boy in a pitch-black room. The boy was about 5'4 with spikey brown hair and dark brown eyes. His name was Satou Kazuma.
"I am the goddess Aqua, and I will be guiding your path after death," Aqua said.
"Wait... how did I die?" Kazuma asked.
"Y-You... you died so pathetically it was hilarious!"
"But what about the girl I knocked away? Is she okay?"
"She has a fractured leg... but she would've been fine if you hadn't! Haha!" Aqua explained, laughing. Kazuma took in her appearance. She was better-looking than any idol he'd ever seen, having long and silky blue hair with a pair of bright azure eyes. Kazuma's eye twitched in irritation. She had the air of a pompous goddess, feeling as if she was better than everyone.
"They rushed you to a hospital, but the doctors couldn't save you because they were laughing too hard! Then your parents heard and they burst into laughter without even grieving you!" Aqua exclaimed, howling in laughter.
"Wait wait wait, why were they laughing?" Kazuma asked. "Wasn't I hit by a truck saving a girl?"
"No! The "truck" was a slow-moving tractor! They were laughing because you died of shock and peed yourself!" Aqua responded through gasps of laughter.
"You're quite the unflattering goddess," Kazuma rebutted immediately, making Aqua swiftly turn to him in disbelief. Kazuma winced, realizing he just angered a goddess.
"Take it back!" She exclaimed childishly. Kazuma deadpanned but decided to keep his mouth shut about how she could probably obliterate him.
"No. Now tell me what "guiding" you're doing," Kazuma said.
"Why you..." Aqua growled, trailing off. She took a deep breath and sat back down. "I am offering you two options. One is to go to another world with all of your memories to defeat the devil king. The other is to just go to heaven."
Kazuma thought for a second. "Can you like, explain both options a little bit more?"
"Well, heaven is something your shut-in ass won't have any fun with. It's so mellow with no entertainment of your kind. So no computer or TV or phone or anything," Aqua explained. "In the other world, you'll be immediately able to read and speak the language due to the godly power, but none of that entertainment either. You'll also be given an item from a set of items to be chosen from. In that world, there's magic and monsters and a devil army and a bunch more stuff!"
Something about the look Aqua gave when she talked "excitedly" about the alternate world option made Kazuma skeptical.
"Alright then... I choose the first option," Kazuma said.
"Ok," Aqua said, snapping her hands. A bunch of cards fell to the floor and Kazuma stared at them. "Go look at them."
Kazuma gritted his teeth and knelt on the floor to look at the cards, knowing Aqua was relishing his bowed form. He picked up the sixteen cards on the floor and read each one.
Magic Sword Sylph
Description: Blade forged from the Sylph Spirits. Offers three spells, plus a six-fold attack strength and eight-fold boost in intelligence and magic skill. Is bound to the wielder.
Spells:
Wind Blade: Costs 50 mana to use. Launches arch of pure wind power, instantly annihilating any enemy in one attack.
Wind Storm: Costs 100 mana to use. Fires off a tornado at enemy, instantly clearing a large amount of area and shredding all enemies in radius to bits.
Drift: Allows user to fall to the floor slowly and safely, even letting them hover. Requires 20 mana per minute.
"That's a pretty decent sword," Kazuma muttered to himself.
Dragon Flame Rope Dart
Description: Rope dart forged in the heart of a volcano, using the dragon's tooth as the bone and the tooth as the blade. Has four spells. Multiplies attack strength six-fold. Also offers an eightfold boost in intelligence and magical skill. Is bound to wielder.
Spells:
Dragon Bone Storm: 100 mana to use. Fires storm of sharp dragon bones at enemy. Can not be dodged, but can be reflected.
Absolute Firestorm: Depletes all mana, but launches a pillar of pure fire and death at up ti six enemies, guaranteeing a kill if they're not undead.
Transform: Transforms rope dart into skeletal dragon that can be flown on. Costs 100 mana to activate and 100 to deactivate.
Fire Whip: Blade of rope dart becomes a fire-cloaked weapon, increasing deadliness. Costs 20 mana per minute.
Kazuma was interrupted from his thoughts by Aqua. "Quit taking so long!" She groaned loudly, making Kazuma glare and say nothing, but clench his fist. He turns back to his cards to focus.
Kazuma noticed the similarities in the two weapons, as well as the differences. Kazuma began skimming over the other cards, noticing immediately there were three that seemed to offer some true promise.
Summoner's Blade
Description: Grants immediate knowledge of how to use the weapon to the user. Slashes always are performed perfectly, and all physical traits are enhanced sixfold. Created in the wizard's tower for the ability to cast magic out of a blade. Grants seven abilities.
Ritual Slash: Magic enhances the user to extreme lengths for a single slash. Costs 10 mana per use.
Blood Summoning: When the user pressed their thumb to the tip of the blade hard enough to draw blood, the blade summons an ally that can either help restore mana, fire various spells of various types, or be a form of knight. The summon disappears after two hours. Costs 40 mana to summon, though more can be used to increase the power.
Harmonious Revolution: User, when fighting against overwhelming odds, (As of current level, 1 vs 16) is granted sixteen various positive buffs of a weak variety. Skill increases as level does.
Learn: All mana in reserve of user is used to learn how to use any sword and teach to any person.
Skull Slash: When fighting undead, sword grants increase to attacks by ten-fold. Passive.
Holy Charge: Costs 100 mana on use. Grants user with buffs for the entirety of a battle and until they've been incapacitated or the enemy has.
Fury Blade: Allows user to send a mana slash cloaked with a random element. Costs 40 mana.
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Teacher's staff
Description: Teaches any skill known. Only has one skill, but grants great physical strength and great mental power.
Teach: Learn any skill. Incapacitates user for the remainder of the day after.
Lord's Necromancy Wand
Description: A weapon of unknown origin that offers the ability to summon three different kinds of undead and one boss undead.
Skeleton: Summons a basic skeleton for a minute. Costs 10 mana.
Skeletal Knight: Summons a skeleton in full knight armor with a beautiful sword. Costs 30 mana.
Skeletal Brute: Summons a giant skeleton in full armor with a giant shield and enormous broadsword.
Skeleton King: Summons a skeleton king, who can summon a bunch of normal skeletons and skeletal knights, as well as a few skeleton brutes. Costs 50 mana per minute, but its summons stay for twenty minutes after initial cost of 2000 mana and listen to whatever the user of the Skeleton King spell says.
"So these are my top options," Kazuma spoke, reading the three repeatedly. Eventually, he settled on the Summoner's blade. "And I choose the Summoner's Blade!"
"Very well. Go on to the other world, and best of luck!" Aqua said, sending him to another world.
Kazuma landed in the other world, looking around. "Well, time to look for the adventurer's guild. She did make it sound like my video games, after all."
Kazuma began walking, only to realize something was on his belt. He looked down and noticed the summoner's blade was on it. Kazuma pulled it out and was surprised at the lightness. The blade was a normal pointed sword with a pure black blade and a bright red crystal in the hilt, with a handle that had a leather grip on it. The sheath on his belt was a basic leather scabbard that glowed slightly with enchantments and words on it that he could immediately read that said "Unbreakable."
Kazuma walked around and finally found the adventurer's guild. He walked into the huge building, immediately being greeted by a stand at the front. A little bit farther behind the stand was a group of enclosed stone stalls. To the right of the stalls were two boards and even farther down, a large number of tables and chairs of different sizes and variations. On the left, there was a bar area and a staircase, which lead up to nowhere. Kazuma walked up to the stall, which he assumed was where to sign up due to the girl who was managing the stall and the star on her shoulder that no one else had, which indicated to him that she was in charge. The woman wore a white blouse with leather straps across the front with a collar colored blue, had blond hair and hazel eyes, and had two bangs framing her face with the rest of her hair up in a messy bun.
"Hey, can I get an adventurer's license?" Kazuma asked.
"Sure. It'll just cost you a small fee," She said with a smile. Kazuma deadpanned.
"Wait... there's a fee? Well, can you tell me if there's anything I can do to make money so I can pay the fee?" Kazuma asked.
"How about slaying some monsters? If you can kill five giant frogs, that'll be enough money to give you three nights here at the adventurer's guild as well as pay off the fee for the license and a fresh dinner, on the house! Just finish it by today! One frog is worth the equivalent of one meal, one night's stay, and one license. So five should be sufficient!" The woman at the front explained.
"Awesome! Hey uh... what's your name?" Kazuma asked, his confidence boosted by the thought of being the protagonist in a game, his previous neet-ish tendencies disappearing.
"Luna," the girl responded.
"Alright, thanks!" Kazuma said, leaving.
Kazuma followed a bunch of signs in the small town, which he learned was called "Axel" because of a shop that said "Axel's Croquets." He eventually made it out to the field, where a sign held a warning saying that it was dangerous to be in the field.
Kazuma pulled out the sword, finding five frogs. As he stared at the first one, he kept tapping the blade.
"How do I activate this thing's ability?" He wondered, staring at it. He looked off into the distance and saw a team of people yelling out their spells as they activated. He decided to try it out, recalling the name of his spells off of memory. He stared down the first frog that approached him.
"Ritual Slash," he muttered, his sword poised to slice outward as if it was natural. Kazuma jumped forward, his body moving for him. He slashed the sword outward, slicing the frog in half. Kazuma grinned and switched targets, killing the five frogs in no time, even eliminating a sixth for good measure.
Kazuma walked into the Adventurer's guild. "Done," he said as he walked up to Luna.
"Okay! Let's get started! Please place your hand on the crystal ball," Luna said, bringing out a device. Kazuma placed his hand on the ball and it pulsed with bright blue light before emblazoning some stuff onto a card. Luna looked at it.
"Oh my! All of your stats are phenomenal! You could become a Rune Knight with stats like these!" Luna said.
"Alright then! Make me a rune knight!" Kazuma exclaimed. A crowd of people gathered as Kazuma grinned at the attention. A symbol was emblazoned onto the card and he picked it up. "Hell yeah!"
As the group of people watching Kazuma dispersed, he finally turned to Luna.
"Hey uh... Luna. Can you tell me where the rooms are?" Kazuma asked.
"Sure! Head up the stairs and you'll be at the rooms! You'll have the farthest room on the right," Luna said. Kazuma grabbed the key she held out to him and headed to the room, offering his thanks as he went up.
Three days later
Kazuma looked at the quest board. His time was finally up for the three days he had in the inn, and he decided to take a quest, the last frog having been enough to pay for his food as well.
"So... anyone can grab these quests?" Kazuma asked Luna as he walked down the stairs to the main lobby. He'd bumped into her while she was leaving the staff dormitory. Apparently, most of the staff lived in the guild's building and were also paid, which made Kazuma wish he'd worked as their cook for money instead.
"Yes, that is correct. Though I do wonder why you hadn't better used the time those six frogs got you," Luna mentioned.
"Oh... good point. You know, I think I'll try to level up then!" Kazuma exclaimed, finding a mission to kill twenty giant frogs for a total reward of 200,000 eris, only rewarding 100,000 due to the import cost.
Kazuma ran to the field and found five frogs, all of them hopping toward him menacingly. One of them threw their tongue out, but Kazuma jumped over it. Another frog flicked its tongue out at Kazuma, attempting to catch him. Kazuma twirled with his sword out, slicing the tongue, sending blood and the frog's saliva flying everywhere. Kazuma landed and immediately, the first frog sent its tongue out again. Kazuma sliced the tongue and dashed at the frog, killing it in one slice. He then went to the second frog and sliced it in half before jumping back, staring down the three frogs.
"Fury Blade," Kazuma spoke, sending a slash of fire at two other frogs as they jumped at him, causing them to fall out of the air, sliced in half. Kazuma shouldered his blade easily and the last frog ran, making Kazuma begin chasing.
Kazuma finally caught up to the frog, only to find he was in a frog den, where sixteen frogs and five tadpoles were. Kazuma smirked, realizing his passive ability "Harmonious Revolution" activated, as evidenced by a golden glow around him with a magical coat of arms appearing above his head, colored red with his sword in the middle. Kazuma dashed in, excited to fight.
As Kazuma walked back to the guild, he finally realized he just made 100 grand. However, as he thought to himself, he realized he'd need party members if he intended to get farther than just killing frogs. He wrote out a notice and read over it, proud of his work.
"Rune Knight Kazuma Satou Requests the aid of any adventurer to join the party. Must be above age 12 and have some special skill. Auditions will be held out in the plain filled with monsters just outside of town. Starts in the morning every day for one week. Will be taken down once no more auditions are needed."