“Ugh, where am I?” I voiced my concern while looking around. I was inside a room with everything made of gold.

“Welcome, mortal. We finally meet.” A woman sitting on the golden throne greeted me.

“...I see! I died, and now I’m on my way to becoming a hero, aren’t I?!”

Due to getting called an idiot every time, I was glad I could finally answer confidently and not feel ashamed. I got this information from a manga I read.

“No. You’re wrong.” The woman blatantly told me I was wrong with my deduction.

“Huh?”

“You did die, but whether you will rise up and become a hero of that world depends on your actions. I won’t force you to become one.”

“O-oh…”

After hearing that, I realized the outcome of this situation was the same as a slice-of-life genre manga.

“S-so now, you will provide a screen for me to select skills from it for my upcoming new life, right?!”

This time, I was extra sure I would be correct.

“No, you’re wrong.” She blatantly struck down my deduction once again.

“You will instead have the opportunity to select 1 skill among the five skills which will appear soon enough.”

“O-oh…”

This was a situation I didn’t come across in the dozens of manga I read which surprised me. Then, 5 skills with descriptions about them appeared, surrounding me.

“The Bonus Effect provides an extra effect on the skill when your general level reaches level 20. As for the Limit Breaker, an item is needed to take effect. You will know of it when the time comes.”

I knew that the skill I chose would definitely be a huge impact on my life. Moreover, the skill will be with me until the day I die, so I scrutinized each one of the skills to assure that I won’t leave behind any regret.

“You can get another remaining skill among the 5 after reaching General Level 40. That’s why, you can still obtain the skill you deemed will be useful in your new life but failed to get.”

After she told me that, what I could do was pick a random useful skill and hop onto the new world, then reach level 40 to get the skill I truly needed. But I didn’t do so since I might not achieve level 40. Hence, I did a bit of thinking and finally made my final decision.

“I choose this skill!” I declared loudly. The skill I chose was Quick Cash.

Quick Cash is a skill that lets me get extra 2% earnings. This skill can increase up to 20% when max leveled. It can also do a critical hit, multiplying the percentage by 5 times. The higher the money, the greater the chance of getting a critical hit but can never reach over 50%. When Bonus Effect is triggered, I have less than 1% chance of decreasing the cost of value by half while the max level will have less than 3% while Limit Breaker can increase the chance of critical hit up to 85% and the Bonus Effect will increase to less than 4% chance or less than 7% at max level.

The description wrote one more thing about the skill, but that wasn’t important for now.

“Your judgment of each skill is terrible.”

“Huh?! What do you mean?! I can get another skill among these 5 sooner or later anyway! Right?!”

“Alright, I will now send you to the other world.” She dodged my complaint and moved on with her duty. I didn’t pursue further because it wasn’t necessary for what was about to come.

“Wait, this time, this time for sure!” I pleaded to the woman and voiced out my thoughts.

I used my brain power to the fullest at this very moment and I thought of the one outcome with the highest percentage of getting it right.

“You will send me somewhere in the middle of the forest, right?!”

Yes, that’s right. I must be right. I must for sure be right.

Why? Because when I was looking at the skills, I realized I was completely naked. So there was no way she would send me somewhere with people around me.

“No, you’re wrong.”

Fuck. I cursed in my mind.

“Okay, okay! Before you send me there, you will bid me goodbye and wish me the best of luck! No, pray for my safety and bless me with great fortune for what is about to come too! Right, right?!”

I could feel my eyes were going to pop out of my skull, but I still stared at her intensely and silently, patiently waiting for my answer to be answered.

But rather than answering me, she just opened a portal behind me and it sucked me into it.

“Wait, wait! You have yet to answer me!” I pleaded while my entire body slowly got sucked into the portal and my vision was completely enveloped by the portal.

“No~” The portal then disappeared from the room.

The woman, who is the goddess, then sighed and spoke to herself.

I hate my job so much. I hope the foolish mortal ruminate about the final moments and suffer because of it. Why did he want to be acknowledged for the weirdest things?

Completely unbeknownst to me, she hoped for such a thing to befall upon me.

But entirely unbeknownst to the goddess, I was living the life of my lifetime since the last time I met her.

This was something that would happen as I journeyed into the new world.

 

***

 

“You have a couple more chances before the victrola arrives. Why are you naked? What are you trying to accomplish?”

“I don’t know why I’m naked either!”

“Sigh… I met so many criminals in my 20 years of service, and you’re the weirdest one.”

Every day, my view of myself becomes lower and lower.

A day had passed since I last met the woman and now, I’m behind the iron bars of a jail cell.

When I exited to the opposite side from where I entered, I landed on my head and fainted. The next thing I knew was that I was in this cell right now with my hands cuffed.

“Hey, the thing is being used by another squad.”

“I see. I hope you will reconsider your answer for the time being.” He told and walked off with his partner. I rethink my life while in the cell about where it all went wrong.

The neighboring cells were all empty and I was all alone. While slowly wasting away in the cell, I could hear the sound of footsteps entering the basement of the prison minutes after my brief encounter with the 2 men.

“So, this the guy?”

“Yeah, he’s naked after all.”

“Don’t identify me as the naked man!” I complained to the other 2 men different than the pair I met. They were wearing green outfits.

“So, naked man, mind telling us why you are naked?” He provoked me on purpose after I told him not to.

“I don’t know.” I said with confidence.

When the 2 other men entered previously, I answered frantically. That must be why they don’t trust me. So, if I replied with my body standing strong, innocent eyes brimming with purity. they will definitely-

“Alright, guess we have no choice but to use the hard way.”

Every day, my sense of confidence becomes lower and lower.

“I’m telling you I don’t know!” When I died, I appeared in that most probably a torture room of that woman while naked. After hearing my proclaim, the duo smiled devilishly and showed me the victrola shape of a megaphone.

“If you truly don’t know, then you don’t mind if we use this device on you, right?” I felt chills after hearing him say that. The device they spoke of was the one the previous two pairs talked about.

“What, what are you planning to do with that?”

“Obviously, to make you spill the beans.”

“No one has ever lied through this device ever since its discovery!”

Upon hearing that, I gulped, causing their smiles to widen.

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re backing out now?”

“I thought you said you were oblivious about your situation?”

I could immediately tell the 2 were verbally attacking my pride and baiting me into agreeing with them.

Without hearing my replies, he started rotating the handle of the victrola. I could feel the air being sucked into it.

“Contract!” He yelled excitedly. A paper appeared in front of me and the other 2.

“Even if you back out now, it’s useless when we’re the one in the losing position.”

“Ha! Although the points I can get from you are lower than a slave, points are still points. Double Points!” When he shouted those 2 words, I could feel the air around him change

“Come on, you should use Double Risk with me, man!” The air changed around the other man as well.

“Who cares when we will still get double the points regardless? Now then, do you swear that you truly don’t know?” He said with intimidating eyes and a creepy smile on his face while waiting for my answer.

“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?”

“H-huh?! No, of course not!”

“Then swear and answer us, why are you naked?!”

“I… I really don’t know~!”

“Hahaha! He went and said it!”

“You could have only lost half of what you’re currently losing if told the truth!”

“Ugh, no!” After exclaiming, one stopped turning the handle and both waited for something to occur while grinning happily.

Lifespan, a fragment of my soul, or is it my intelligence?! Anything but the last one, please!

I prepared myself for what was about to come. But contrary to my expectation, the 2 people in green were in complete disbelief.

“I, lose 10 of my points!”

“You lost 10, I lost double! Even my Personal Value is lowered by 3!”

I didn’t know what happened, but what I do know was that whatever they tried to do backfired on them. So I intentionally shown smirked at them.

“You, what did you do?!”

“What kind of skill did you use?!”

“I did absolutely nothing and only told the truth.” I said with a grin which agitated them.

“What’s going on here?” Then, another person joined the party. The 2 told what happened, and he walked up to me with a serious look.
“You… why are you naked?”

Just how many times do I need to say I’m not doing nude model?!

“I don’t know.” He stared at me thoroughly at my face before telling one of them to turn the handle of the victrola.

“Do you have any ill intention for being naked?” He switched the question but still related to my stark-naked body.

“No?”

“Question mark?” He blurted out, looked over at the victrola but it stayed silenced.

“Doesn’t seem like there’s any hint of lies evidently as per the victrola.”

“It, it must be some sort of skill!”

“Yeah! I refuse to believe I’m in the wrong!”

“Have you guys been confined to oblivion all this time?” He uttered while unlocking the cell door and told me to come out. He asked for my hands and released the handcuffs.

“Wait, sir! Are you sure?”

“Just look at him! It’s a flagrant violation of the law!” They tried to make him change his point of view but it was futile.

“No? Besides, someone found him fainted, right? He probably went drinking too much and fell asleep.” Before the man could say anything, he continued to speak.

“Your pride just got hurt. Admit it.” Shutting them up with his statement, he told me to follow him to provide me with some clothes. While walking, I could feel their stares and anger directed towards me. I turned my head, looked them in the eyes, gave them a mocking smile and used my lip to call them a dumbass silently.

They raised their stick and launched at me.

I became unconscious once more.

 

***

 

“Wow, so this is the other world.” I uttered my amazement with the view of the surrounding town in my sight.

I was given casual clothes, including a pair of boots and a small pouch of gold believing I got robbed by someone, the man referred as sir then told me to head to the marketing area to purchase some food to keep myself fed. Upon arriving there, the place was built the same way they were drawn in the books I read.

The place wasn’t hustling and bustling, crowded with people, but wasn’t a place to seek tranquility either. The hawkers were selling their merchandise on the street behind their wooden stands. I could see customers and sellers were exchanging golds and goods respectively with satisfying faces.

Without asking for directions, the delicious smell of food guided me to where it was, and I reached to a food stand selling meat skewers. One for 3 while pair for 5 was written on the sign. The dark-skinned bald man was frying sliced meat on a grill turned his body upon noticing me.

“Hey little kid, plan on buying?”

“Yeah, I want 2 please.” Then, I showed him the 5 gold coins on my hands which surprised him, but he smiled afterward.

“You don’t need to prove to me you can buy them, don’t you know?” He said while handing me to 2 skewers.

“Oh, your right.” I laughed awkwardly, recalling the victrola I saw before and gave him the golds. I said my thanks and walked off. I took a bit of the meat; tender and seasoned with pepper. It was great. I enjoyed myself while strolling along the street with no destination in mind.

Following the street signs, I ended up at a park with a water fountain behind the bench I was sitting on. I thought about what goals and objectives I should create for myself with this new life I was given. Then, I came across an adventurer guild and pondered about becoming one like the books, until I made a realization.

Wait, I know I chose not to become an adventurer because although the protagonists always become one eventually, in reality, it’s a job that I will be facing life or death situation.

But, things had always gone to the opposite of what I had believed in. So, essentially, if I think that adventuring is a tough job, in reality, it’s a job so easy that even a baby can accomplish!

While extremely glad to discover my hidden power, I took heavy footsteps, held my head high, and proceeded to the adventurer’s guild. I pushed the door, and the inside was mostly filled with empty seats, only 3 groups of young people were inside doing their own things. The counter was a few footsteps away from me to my left. I sat on the empty chair and spoke to the girl in her teens behind it.

“Excuse me, I can become an adventurer if I register here as one, right?”

“Yes, I will need you to touch this piece of paper.” She brought out a white sheet. I touched it with my finger and words started forming on it. She told me to wait as she went to the back with the paper.

Behind the counter were a few drinks prepared on the large shelves, I looked around and the place was big with about 15 tables. The place could hold adventurers in the tenths but doesn’t have a lot of adventurers currently occupying the place.

After a minute or so, she came back to the counter with some stuff in her hand. When she looked in my direction, she was a bit surprised but went back to her work mode.

“Here’s your identification card and a picture book. Everything is camouflaged except your name when others see the card. As for the book, one star and two stars monsters are displayed. It also tells you how many you kill and the amount of gold you will gain for each kill.” She handed them to me and I received them. I looked at the ID, and it displayed a few things regarding myself.

What the hell?! Why is my name Idiot?! And why do I have a title called Idiot Expertise!

I cursed in my mind, but then I realized I don’t even remember my own name after being referred to as an idiot every time. Even my father filled in the school’s student enrolment paper with my name as Idiot.

“Uhm, is there a problem?” She asked, making me think whether to thank her for not questioning the origin of my name or curse her for acting normal.

“Thanks, is that it?” I asked her and decided not to think much. She answered affirmatively and nodded. After that, I went to an empty table to know a bit about the monsters in the book before I embarked on my journey. When leaving, I heard her sighing behind me and spoke very softly.

“I knew it. There’s just no way.” I was going to turn and ask, but since she spoke very softly, the matter shouldn’t concern me greatly. So, I sat on a chair and looked through the picture book a bit.

One-star monsters were shown on the front pages, the weakest was a monster that looked like a plushie. When died, it drops one shard with a value of 0.2 gold. I wondered what the decimal meant but seeing the plushies monster made me accidentally giggle devilishly and silently.

I see, I see! So, I was right all along! An adventurer is such an easy job that even a baby can do it like I was right! That’s why there are only children with their profession as an adventurer!

There were a few reasons I thought so. First, the groups in the guild right now looked very young. Besides that, there wasn’t anyone alone and children like to play together. Those were the reasons.

I can’t believe it… finally, finally! I got something right for once! I must get as much money as possible and celebrate my once-in-a-lifetime achievement!

After only looking at the plushies, I was satisfied and didn’t flip to the next page. I got up and prepared to leave.

Since I’m 15 and look young, I don’t have to worry about being a laughingstock by everyone! Children can’t restraint themselves, but I have the mentality to handle such criticism. Yes, this is just perfect!

But, I asked the attendant a question before I embarked on my journey.

“Before I leave, can you recommend a place that sells good armor and weapons?”

“All the shop sells cheap but brilliant quality goods, so you should take your time visiting each shop to match your preference.” After she finished, she smiled. Her smile made me realize intuitively she was promoting all the weapon and armor shops. So I didn’t question her further and decided to leave after bidding her goodbye.

“Eh?” She let out a sudden voice before I headed out, I turned and questioned her.

“Uhm, may I know if you’re in a team with anyone?” At this very moment after her question, my brain moved at light speed and came out the only possible reason for her question.

“No, I’m alone. Is that a problem?”

Shit, shit! Don’t tell me…

I was thinking that despite the monsters being one-star only, they are strong enough to defeat a novice adventurer like me. I was sweating profusely internally but my deduction was wrong. Instead, her eyes gleamed upon hearing me say that.

“Really, really?! You’re all alone?! Do you have any friends that want to be an adventurer or any adventurer friends?!”

“Eh? No, my friends aren’t adventurers.” The friends I spoke of were from my past life. They were great people.

“This… this is a miracle!” She dashed to the back room.

“Eh?” I waited until a man with muscles and brown hair in his 50s appeared.

“Is, is this the guy?!”

“Yes, he is, guild master!”

Eh, eh?! Guild master?! What is going on?!”

“I see. Young man, you have a bright future ahead of you, I can tell with this one wise decision of yours!”

“You’re right, guild master. I’m the same!”

Wasn’t the atmosphere supposed to be light and easy-going?! What’s with this sudden change of event?!

“I’m glad there’s someone taking precedence on cautiousness rather than pride! Young man, you can have the training ground for free! Permanently!”

“Ah, yes?”

“Quick, Michelle, bring him there and tell your father to train him thoroughly. His training is of great importance and is our guild’s top priority.”

“Yes! I will contact my father immediately!” She dashed away. The guild master guided me to the training ground. A group of 3 boys was training together and a girl was cheering on them at the side-line.

“Do I train with them?”

“No, they’re all friends. I guess I will tell you a bit about the rookie adventurers while Michelle brings her father here.”

There was a rule that allows adventurers to skip ranks if they killed a strong monster higher than their current rank. Because of this, lots of ignorant people that plan on becoming an adventurer would venture the places with powerful monsters for the sake of fame. That’s why, all guilds changed the rule to coincidentally killing a powerful monster. Despite that, the majority of the rookie adventurers still register at the guild swarming with such monsters due to them being prideful of their own strength.

The town I’m in doesn’t have strong monsters, only groups of friends would register at this guild, resulting in any lonely adventurers who wanted to register here not being able to form a team with anyone and had no choice but to do so at the other guilds.

I was going to say, then why don’t you change the rule to whoever defeats a guild’s training instructor stronger than you to skip ranks? But since they didn’t, there must be a valid reason. On the off chance they don’t know, I’m still not gonna say it. I’m sure someone out there will realize such a way and inform the guild about it.

Besides, right now, there was a problem more important than the lives of many unknown strangers.

“Did… a lot of them die?”

“Yes, the death count continues to increase every month even though the number is in the single-digit.” The moment he said that, I could feel excruciating pain shocking inside me out of nowhere, realizing that my deduction was wrong once more, and yet again.

Should I tell him about the method and regain my image?! No, if they indeed discovered such a way but problems would arise so they didn’t create such a rule, I would look like I’m trying to exploit them! They will then think I’m someone that extorts people!

“Wait, wait. Aren’t the monsters supposed to be weak?! Are you saying that plushies are actually strong?!”

“Oh, no. All one-star monsters are weak. Two-stars will have more difficulties, but still possible if you have a team with you.”

“O-oh…” I was a bit cheered up when he said I could deal with the plushies.

“Guild master, I brought my dad.”

“Great! Young man, her father is a retired strong adventurer. You will learn much from him.”

A tall man was walking over to me. He was thinner than the muscular guild master.

“You… so you’re that kid! Don’t think I didn’t realize your scheme! You’re trying to win my daughter’s affection, aren’t you!”

You’re the father?! You look like you’re in your 20s!

“I will beat the crap out of you until you realize how wrong you are making an enemy out of me! Don’t think you can win against me even though my right leg is not in good shape!”

You just exposed one of your weaknesses!

“Alright, take this stick.” The guild master handed me a wooden cylinder stout stick, just like the one the pairs in green had during my time in the prison.

“Watch me humiliate you in front of my daughter!” He ran to the other side. The daughter cheered for me pissed him off and continued to curse at me.

I hold my stick tightly and rethink about my current situation. Just what went wrong that brought me to this situation?

“Are you ready, Michael?”

“Prepare to die, you fuck!” He charged at me with great speed. He swung his stick from above and I panickily blocked his stick with mine barely. I was pushed back and my hands were almost numb.

What the fuck~! Is this even allowed in a training session?!

“Fuck, why did you block it?!”

“Why would I not block it?!”

“Just accept your fate!” He swung his stick and I lowered my body to dodge before running away from him.

“Amazing, he blocked my father’s attack!”

“I knew he has a bright future ahead of him the moment he decided to register here.”

“Damn you! Is this part of your scheme?!” His daughter just added fuel to the fire. Now he’s even faster and stronger.

“Wait, wait~! Slow down a bit!”

“You want me to slowly torture you rather than a quick death?! What are you plotting you piece of shit?!”

“Just what lead you to that conclusion?!” After some more running, my back finally faced against the wall. He smiled devilishly.

“Can’t run anyone more, can you? Sonny boy.”

Shit, my arms can still manage one or two more attacks from him. Can I somehow slip past him?

“Attack his right leg! It’s not in good condition right now!”

You’re allowing me to attack his injured leg?! What’s wrong with this family?!

No, wait, I see now! She thinks that I’m sorry about his leg so she’s permitting me to-

“Michelle! How could you expose your father's weakness?!”

You exposed it yourself first, dumbass!

“No, wait, I see now! My daughter exposed my weakness to show this dimwit I can still win despite my weakened body! You’re the best, my lovely daughter!”

Again, just what lead you to that conclusion?! You’re strong enough to beat me regardless of your damn leg!

“Die with regret for molesting my daughter with your damn eyes!”

Are you implying that ogling people is an act of molesting?!

He raised his stick high, preparing to swing it down. At first, I was indeed going to kick his leg and not even care if I inadvertently fractured it. Now, I had decided.

He swung his stick, I intercepted it with my stick from below. Then, I moved my right leg, planning on kicking his leg.

“Your too young, boy!” He also moved his leg but the left one to block it from kicking his right, but he missed.

?!

“Your too young, old man!”

My plan required me to kick his left leg to begin with. With his left leg swung to the right, my plan became even easier.

I bent down and released my stick, causing his upper body to move to the right. With his balance broken, I forcefully push his legs to the left, making him fall down to the ground. I quickly grabbed my stick by stretching my arm and pointing it at his face while standing upright.

“Too bad, old man. It seems like today’s victory will be claimed by me.” I smiled at him mockingly while sweating profusely.

Thank god my hands aren’t numb yet. If they are, the battle might continue since he is not be deemed dead and can still get back up.

“Not bad, kiddo. He was a former adventurer with Rank 4!”

“I’m Rank 3, not 4!” He exclaimed while still lying on the ground.

The hell are you talking about? I questioned him in my head.

“Alright, boyo. I watched your performance and you have the strength, but not enough to challenge the cruelty of the world. Come here a week later and I will teach you how to fight. But, for now, keep the stick and swing it at least 200 times every day.”

“Ah, okay, got it.”

“No, I won’t allow him to come back! Who knows what he will do to my lovely daughter?!”

“I’m not planning on doing anything to her!”

“Liar! I can see the lies hiding deep within your eyes!”

Again, the hell are you talking about?!

“The victrola isn’t making any noises.” Then, out of nowhere, a young woman appeared with a victrola in her hand.

“Oh, that’s great. Now you don’t mind, do you?”

“I’m- impossible! There must be a method to bypass the victrola and he did so!”

“My dear, why don’t you just compensate him already?”

“Ugh! Fine, come on, tell me what you want! I doubt I would need to pay up my daughter’s hand in marriage!”

“Hahaha, you just can’t go against your wife, can you?”

I was going to complain about how old did these two gave birth to Michelle, but his weird statement made me forget about it.

“Then, can you buy armors and possibly a weapon for me?”

I wondered if I asked for too much. Instead, he was staring at something else in my direction.

“Tch, your compensation isn’t enough. What else do you want?”

“Huh? Uh, hmm… a temporary place to stay?”

“You fuck! You think I will let you live under the same roof with my daughter?!”

“N- no! I want an inn, inn!” I told and his anger subsided. He looked at something again but was finally satisfied.

“I can pay up an inn for you to stay in for 3 weeks only.”

“O-okay, thanks.” I do not know what is going on but one thing for sure is that I, Idiot, had finally come out on top! I made a fist pump in my mind.

“Dear, how much Personal Value and Personal Points have you lost?”

“I lost 15 in points but gained 2 in value.”

“Oh! I’m surprised you will get any in this situation.”

“Seems like the theory of how points are gained and lost will always be a theory.”

“Fufu, you’re right. Guild master.”

I didn’t know what was going on, but one thing I did know was that I could see my own profile written on a game window by saying menu in my mind. I said the magic word, but nothing happened.

Eh, eh? Am I wrong? How?! All the protagonist says menu to open the window screen!

I was confused, but the victory I achieved just now made me happy once more. I tried with personal value and something did appear. Both my Personal Value and Personal Points were displayed.

I collapsed to the ground and smacked it with my fist in utter sadness.

“What’s wrong?!”

“I see. He’s just upset that someone with talent like him couldn’t earn more value than Michael.”

“Huh? Is that true? Just so you know, a greenhorn like you can’t match with a Rank 4 like me in a serious one-on-one match.”

You lot aren’t making things any better for me! And I didn’t earn any value from the fight just now! And didn’t you say you’re Rank 3 instead of 4?!

I lamented from the hidden truth of myself. Even the victory I achieved just now doesn’t feel like an achievement anymore.
While the wife was giggling under her breath.

 

Final Part

 

“Alright, is everyone ready?” The leader, Alec, said and 4 of us gave him an affirmative answer. We then journeyed onto the open lands.

For the past 3 weeks, I have been training with the guild master. During my time there, the 4 group of friends that witnessed my fight

against the doting father a month ago invited me to join them. Apparently, the old man was quite well-known in the town but wasn’t relatively a celebrity like the other adventurers in the town.

They thought the strength I demonstrated was my natural strength without any prior training and believed I was a strong individual, so they invited me. But in reality, after my father became an alcoholic because of my stupidity, I had to do the house chores every day. So I decided to build up some muscle since it’s a tiring work.

Even if I’m strong, I was worried that I might endanger them during our taverns together, but they said it’s fine. So we decided to venture together after 1 week.

“Hey, is this your first time going on an adventure? You seem very happy.” A girl named Eve asked Michelle and she nodded.

“I have always been working behind the counter. I’m glad I can finally go out and explore!”

“Make sure to thank me later, Michelle.”

“Hmm!”
Guild master told her to join me since I was alone before the group invited me. Saying that I was the guild’s most valuable individual.

Although he said I’m valuable, my Personal Value said otherwise, so I wasn’t glad at all.

After 6 or 7 minutes, we finally reached the field where the one-star monsters would be. We hiked up the short slope beside the path and reached the meadow. The air quality was fresh and healthy with the wind blowing at us, slowly settling down soon after.

The monsters here are all roaming around the meadow alone, so we all split up except the 2 girls. Michelle said the 3 weakest one-star monsters were enough for one person to fight them one against many. That’s why we decided to split and experience fighting against a monster in our own way for the next hour.

I decided to face against the weakest among the weak, which is the plushies. I moved close to it and it turned, facing me with its unmovable smile. The rabbit plushies started walking and when it was close enough to hit me, it raised its arm.

I blocked it with my wooden sword. Then I sliced it in half horizontally easily because the rabbit was made of cotton. The body of the rabbit released a random bar transition effect and a shard appeared on the ground. I picked it up and put it in my pouch. If I killed 5 of them, I would get one gold from the guild. The picture book records the amount I killed for each monster, so I don’t have to worry about keeping track.

I continued to chase down and kill rabbit plushies. Finally, after reaching 10 targets, I decided to face against the third weakest monster, which is the sponge man. I was very interested in this monster because I always wondered how a sponge is stronger than a plushie.

I finally met the sponge man. It was a faceless yellow monster shaped in a rectangle. It fought the same way as the plushies. I intercepted its attack, the punch was indeed stronger than the plushies, making me question reality. I tried to slice it, but the sword didn’t manage to go through, only his side cracked a bit. It took me over 2 minutes to kill it different than the rabbit needing only 30 seconds.

I killed another 7 and earned 4 golds from all the sponge man I killed. I rested for the second time while waiting for the other to finish. The leader returned then the other male member before the 2 girls.

“Hey, hey! We got 7 gold!”

“Seriously? I only got 5!” He told Michelle, then Eve told him a sad truth.

“What’s the fuss? We would need to split the amount anyway!” She replied and looked at us, waiting for our answers.
“I got exactly 6.”

“Seems like I’m the winner then. I almost got 7.”

“Leader is too strong.” Noah said and the 2 girls nodded.

“Hahaha. Anyway, I’m sure we got a bit of experience from our fights just now. Let’s fight against the stronger monsters to learn how to coordinate well in a group.” He told and we followed him to a monster, the third strongest one-star monster. There are 6 one-star monsters while two-stars have 9.

The leader became the vanguard while Eve and I became the left and right flank respectively. Michelle stood at the backline as the shooter while Alec made Noah the vanguard. We fought pretty well on our first battle in a team effort.

The only problem was we were too cautious of engaging the monster, afraid that we might hit our teammate, especially the leader. The female duo did well as a team with the battles a quite ago, but Michelle had to be more aware due to the increase of members. Noah was given the vanguard position to protect both vanguard and rearguard, but except for one 2-stars monster, all one-star and two-star monsters are in singularity, so he was completely useless for the time being and complained about it.

We fought another few more times before calling it a day. When we were planning to take a brief rest before heading back, we accidentally went too close to a witch, the strongest one-star monster. Only the leader reacted quickly to the situation, while my reaction was delayed by a second. The others took their position after the leader yelled to do so.

“We only just fought against a plushie! I’m too tired for this!” The plushies he said was the second stronger plushies. There are 3 plushies, with the rabbit as the weakest.

“Hey! We all agreed to face against it! If you have the strength to speak, stop yapping and kill it!” She complained and we took our stance. Michelle doesn’t need to do anything because she ran out of arrows to shoot.

The leader engaged the witch, but she parried him with her stick I used before but longer. I dashed to attack the witch but she leaped backward, preventing her from hitting the leader the second time. The girl tried to damage her, but the witch blocked the sword. The witch quickly kicked her away before blocking an attack from her left and another attack from Noah afterward.

“Ugh, she’s good!” After Noah’s comment about the witch, I tried attacking her while she was occupied, but she moved her body and spun her stick, letting the leader’s body moved forward and pushing Noah’s sword to the left. I barely stopped myself from hitting him. At that moment, the witch quickly thrusted her stick at Noah’s neck and hit Alec right after. Alec hit me and we both fell, including Noah.

Eve got up and attacked the witch, but she leaped backward again. The witch then moved the stick under her and flew upwards. Water balls started flying out from the tip of her stick, shooting at Eve before aiming at us next. Eve blocked them with her sword but eventually fell and got hit a couple of times. She yelled in pain that the water was hot. 3 of us got up, either running or blocking the shots.

“I can’t do this! I’m way too tired!” Noah complained while running away, breathing heavily.

“Leader, let’s get the two hold her off while I get you to safety for now!” I told the leader while defending him from the water balls.

“No, I can’t. She’s too strong for them to handle!” He said while blood was flowing out. The attack from the witch just now caused it.

“Don’t worry, they just need to hold her off, not kill them!” I told him then water splashed on me. It was hot.

“What? I don’t think that’s the wise option here.”

“Ha, ha, I know you want the witch to wear out from the continuous fighting, but we will be the one to suffer from it first!” Eve yelled at me while running in our direction to escape the water balls. I told her it wasn’t the case and had a plan, saying we just needed to hold on for another 10 minutes or so.

After a continuous struggle against the witch, Michelle’s father came and killed the witch for us. I knew that we were exhausted from all the fighting, so I told Michelle to bring her father over here. Her mother came soon after and bandaged us. We got a good scolding from the old man. The guild master did the same when we went to turn in the shards for golds. We had to rest for 2 days.

“Alright everyone, we’re all rested up and are now perfectly ready, right?”

“Yeah, I’m all good. I’m quite sad about missing the journey with you guys a couple of days ago.” He said while smiling happily. He was the other team member but was bedridden because he overate.

“That smile of yours is telling me you were glad you escaped from the disaster. And since we learned how to coordinate with each other, we won’t get destroyed easily. Which means you won’t have to worry about getting beaten black and blue, isn’t it?!”

“Hahaha, what are you talking about? I truly couldn’t join you guys on that day. I just got lucky and am glad about it.” His smile became wider while her fury became hotter.

“Hahaha, I’m glad to see everyone is energetic so early. Now then, let’s venture onwards to the battlefield!” The leader said and we marched to the field once more.

While we were on the road, I thought to myself about how my life in this world is more fun and livelier than my previous life. Even though there were never ups and downs, only the downs continue to occur, and my personal value continues to haunt me in my dreams, I truly like the new life I’m going through right now.

I hoped on that day, I would live till old age and tell myself that although I’m an idiot through and through, I can still live a wonderful and joyful life.

When we reached the field, we got destroyed.

Because he couldn’t keep up with us.

And kept on causing problems.