On the surface Jo Remy seemed like a reserved introvert, but it would be more fitting to call him a hopeless idealist. After high school, Jo enrolled into college and moved into a dorm payed for by his parents. Little did his parents know that only after a few weeks of school, Jo voluntarily withdrew from all his classes. He didn’t agree with how fast everything was moving; it was as if the world would end if students didn’t get a degree. As he rushed to do his assignments he wondered, Is this stress necessary to learn? Won’t a calm mind better facilitate learning?

He particularly didn’t agree with argumentative essays. As he wrote down his opinion he wondered, Is this not just repeating my research in different words? So what if it proves my understanding; does that not only require a mind? Even more so, he didn’t agree with class presentations. As he nervously spoke in front of the class he wondered, What’s the point in presenting knowledge I just learned? Won’t the confidence to speak publicly naturally come with confidence in one’s knowledge?

As such, Jo dropped his classes unable to shake the feeling that there was something wrong with the system. But he didn’t give up on learning. His dream was to become a game designer and thus, as he was technically still enrolled in the school, he used the resources available to students and took several books from the school library, and planned out his own curriculum along the way. He learned when he had the energy and played games to relax his mind, not hindered in any way by time restrictions.

Unfortunately this leisurely and, according to Jo, the most ideal learning method didn’t last more than a couple weeks as Jo’s parents discovered what their son was doing. They angrily lectured their son on the phone and stopped paying for his expenses. In Jo’s confusion, as his parents didn’t instruct him to come home or force him to go back to classes, Jo carried on with his life.

Depression hit him, and Jo’s desire to learn receded, simply continuing to play games all day, hoping to forget his situation and escape reality. Eventually he ran out of money to pay for food, but in Jo’s stubbornness he refused to resign to society and get a job, and continued to play games.

As he played, tormented by hunger and his refusal to sleep, perhaps his mind broke as he eventually forgot everything. Under the stress of his current situation his mind completely forgot everything else and to Jo, all there was, was the game; there was no hunger or sleep deprivation or abandoning parents. He played, and played, and played.

To a psychiatrist, Jo was undoubtedly ill, but maybe, just maybe, his soul simply didn’t belong on Earth. Maybe the society he belonged to adhered to different norms that allowed him to thrive. Unfortunately that place wasn’t here.

And so, eventually, Jo died as he played that game. It was a sad and pitiful death, but maybe it was a suitable death, and maybe, a death filled with hope, as unbeknownst to Jo, he would be reborn.

“Hmm? Why isn’t he crying?” A man dressed in furs asks as he looks at the newborn baby in his hands and its sleeping eyes. “Hey, wake up! What a lazy child.” The man calls out, slightly shaking the baby.

“Hmm…” The baby involuntarily hums as he opens his eyes. What the fuck? Jo thinks. What’s going on? He wonders as he looks at the fur-dressed man.

“Is something wrong?” A woman calls out from a bed. “Give him to me. Let me see my son.”

Son? Have I been reborn? Jo wonders, his eyes widening in shock.

“Hmm… His stats seem to be alright and he doesn’t have any disabilities. He should be fine.” The woman says with relief. “From now on, little one, your name will be Zellin. Zellin Arathea.” She says with a smile.

Stats? Zellin? Where the fuck am I?

Time passes by. As a baby, Jo, or Zellin, was practically hopeless. He was told when to sleep, when to eat, and he couldn’t stop himself from shitting himself. It was horrible.

Eventually, he got use to the name Zellin. He actually thought it was kind of cool. His name kind of sounded like a mage class name he would play in an RPG.

The first time he got a chance, Zellin snuck away from his mom and explored the house. He ended up finding a little study with many books and ended up picking one out.

Hmm? Basic Gameplay? This place has games? Zellin thinks as he reads the book. Luckily, it seemed to be in a readable language. As he read the book he couldn’t help but think the game seemed pretty cool. But as he read some of the instructions on the book, his playful mind couldn’t help but try some out. So he tapped the book twice and suddenly an item information screen popped up.

Name: Basic Gameplay

Type: Book

An introduction to the basic gameplay of the world.

The fuck!? This shit’s actually real!? Zellin thinks, his eyes widening as he exhales a breath.

“There you are.” Zellin’s mom, Recca, calls out as she came into the room. “Come back to the living room; I still have some sewing to do.” She says as she picks up Zellin.

Back in the living room Zellin suddenly made a decision. He’s going to talk.

“Momma.” He says, testing the waters.

Recca suddenly gasps and tears started to flow from her eyes as she picks Zellin up. “You called me Momma. Oh my, my baby’s a genius! He can speak and he's not even one year old! Your intelligence stat must be quite high. Maybe in the future you can become a grand mage!” Recca calls out excitedly.

“Momma can you tell me about the world?” Zellin asks with the straight face of a baby.

“AHHH!” Recca calls out in fear, accidentally dropping Zellin, causing him to fall and land on the couch before rolling to the floor. “Oh my god!" Recca exclaims before picking Zelling up and seating him onto the couch, somewhat not wanting to touch him. "Zellin, how can you speak? Are you actually a demon disguised as my baby?” She asks with shock and fear.

“No, momma. It’s just that… I’ve been reincarnated.” The baby says, trying to sound honest.

Recca picks Zellin up again, lifting him into the air. “Really? My baby’s a reincarnator? Then what’s four plus four?” She asks, curious if the child could do math.

“Of course it’s eight.” Zellin replies with a smile.

“Oh my.” Recca couldn’t help but exclaim. The idea that her baby had already lived another life was startling.

“Mom, can you tell me more about the world?” Zellin asks again.

In this way, Zellin learned about the world, finding out he really was in some sort of live role-playing game.

Hey, at least this world is more interesting, he thinks with melancholy.

From then on, after finding out their son had an adult mind, Zellin's mom allowed him to read in the study and would sometimes bring her to the library to read.

And in this way 5 years passed, as Zellin learned various things about the world.

Today was a special day. Today, on Zellin’s 5th birthday, he would get his first experience points. This was usually an occasion for one’s 6th birthday, but since Zellin was so smart, his parents thought it would be better to get an early start.

As Zellin watched his father, Zol, approach him in their backyard with a caged rabbit, he didn’t know whether to be excited or horrified. Zellin had never killed an animal before. Though he wanted the experience points, he was really reluctant to kill.

His father took out the little bunny rabbit and tied it to a rope which he attached to a wooden peg that he pierced into the ground. The harmless bunny rabbit looked around, not knowing what to think, making Zellin’s brows furrow.

“Isn’t there any other way to get experience points?” Zellin asks, hoping for a way out of the situation.

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“Stop being a baby. Aren’t you a man? Here, take this.” Zol said, handing a dagger to his son. “You know what to do.” As Zellin was a reincarnator, they had long treated him as an intelligent human being.

Zellin took the weighty dagger with hesitation, silent for a while before a look of determination appeared on his face. I can’t back down from this. For my dream of being a super mage I must push forward! He thinks resolutely. Zellin approaches the cute bunny rabbit and ends its life.

As the bunny dies, a confused look fills Zellin’s face. After the bunny collapses its body shatters into white light which disappears into the air and a silvery energy enters Zellin’s body. Left behind by the bunny rabbit was a copper and a piece of rabbit leg; already skinned.

Zellin raised his hand and a book appears with the words Character Info on it. He opens it up and under where Level 0 was written, there was a place that displayss his one experience point. Zellin grins slightly. It’s a start, he thinks.

Zol suddenly laughs out loud. “Quick and decisive. That’s my boy!” Zol says, rubbing Zellin’s head with pride. “Soon, I’ll have to take you out hunting.” He says with a smile.

From that day forward Zellin’s father continued to bring many low-leveled animals for Zellin to kill, and eventually, Zellin gained 300 experience points and became level 1. His Dexterity and Agility stats even rose slightly.

After Zellin became Level 1, his parents’ decided to buy him a basic skill book. Since Zellin was kind of lazy, he wanted to choose the Summoner class when he reached level 5. In this way, he wouldn’t have to do anything when battling and just send an endless wave of monsters out. That would be best, Zellin thinks, nodding his head in approval.

As such, Zellin asked for the basic Summoner skill, Contract. It would allow a Summoner to set up a contract with a beast. It was a basic Summoner skill and would usually be used with either baby beasts or beasts one had a high compatibility with.

After getting the skill, Zellin suddenly regretted the decision because he had nothing to contract with. But one day, Zol brought home a Level 1 Wolf Cub and set it in front of Zellin. As he was afraid the wolf would immediately ravage his son, he watched and waited, wondering how his son would conquer this beast.

Zellin looked at the wolf cub and a big grin grew on his face. He fearlessly went up to the wolf cub and let it smell his hand. The wolf cub then started to rub his head against Zellin’s hand. It wasn’t long before they were happily playing.

Zellin didn’t contract the cub right away, though. Every day, he would play with the cub, and every day he would be the one to feed it. After building enough of the cub’s trust he finally contracted it, while the cub resisted slightly, it still allowed it.

It wasn’t long before this pair went out to hunt level 1 beasts under Zol’s supervision. In this way Zellin was even able to find a spider egg that he managed to contract, resulting in him receiving a Level 0 Poison Spider Hatchling, which Zellin went on to feed some live rabbits and chickens to increase its experience.

As a Summoner, it naturally takes much longer to level up, as Zellin and his monsters share experience. So it wasn’t until a year later that Zellin and his wolf cub, Rocky, reached level 2. As for Leggy, he also rose to Level 2.

It was also at this time that Zol approached Zellin and told him, “Little man, it’s time for you to go to school.”

“Ah? School? Why do I need to go to school?” Zellin asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course, it’s to learn basic battle and survival skills. Skill books are expensive to make so many basic skills are simply taught. Don’t whine, come along.” Zol says in a no-nonsense manner before walking out of the house. Zellin frowns and reluctantly left with his father along with Leggy and Rocky.

Zellin lives in the mid-size town of Florn. In Florn, there was only one school, the Immortal Huntsman Academy. It was mainly a school for hunters, like Zellin’s dad, but they naturally taught other skills too. This was where they were going.

Zol simply dropped Zellin off at the gate, giving him a badge with a bow and arrow on it before patting his shoulders and saying, “Bye.” With that he left, leaving Zellin feeling confused.

Nervously, Zellin approaches one of the guards at the gate and simply stood there for a while. The guard looks down at him and his beasts and raises an eyebrow. Zellin didn’t know what to say at first, but eventually he spoke up. “I’m here to attend the school.” He says, a little nervously.

“Are you a new student?” The guard asks.

“Yes.” Zellin replies.

“Follow me,” the guard instructs, leading him through the gate and into the school courtyard. The guard leads him into a building and to a door inside before saying, “Go in and wait.”

Zellin went in and saw that it seemed to be a lecture hall. It could probably fit about a hundred students but at the moment there was only about 40-50 people inside; most of the kids looked to be his age. Zellin sat on an empty seat in front and in the corner. He allowed Leggy and Rocky to lay down in front of him.

Off to the side was a little boy who couldn’t help but be curious about Zellin’s pets and went to sit next to him. Rocky eyed him warily as he approached. “Hey, are you a Summoner?” The boy asks.

Zellin looks at the boy. Seems friendly enough, Zellin thought. Since he has never really interacted with the people of this world other than his parents, he was curious whether they were any different from Earthlings. “No, not yet. I’m only Level 2, but I have the Contract skill.” He responded.

“Wow! You’re already Level 2 with 2 pets! You must be pretty hard working. My parents are farmers, so after learning the Preserve skill they allowed me to butcher some of our livestock. But still, I’ve only recently turned Level 2.” The boy says with a smile.

The Preserve skill was a skill to keep animals from dissipating after they died so you can harvest their fur and meat, turning them into items that can be stored.

“I’m Zellin.” Zellin says, lifting his hand to shake the boy's hand.

“I’m Reyal,” the boy replies, shaking Zellin’s hand. “Looks like we’ll be classmates from now on.”

“What class do you want to be when you turn Level 5?” Zellin asks, curious.

“Me? I want to be a powerful mage! Then people will respect me.” Reyal replies with enthusiasm.

Zellin nods his head in approval. “Good choice!” He replies. “I, too, want to be a powerful mage.”

Reyal laughs. “Good, good. In the future we should adventure together and conquer the land with our powerful magic! Hahaha!” He says, expressing his desire.

Zellin laughs too and agrees. “We’ll be the Emperor Mage Brothers and we’ll rule all that we set our eyes on!” Zellin replies with a laugh.

“Who’s going to rule?” Came a voice from behind them. “You twerps? Mages are the most cowardly of classes. Only a warrior can truly rule the land!”

Zellin and Reyal turned their heads. “Who are you?” They ask.

“I’m Liu and in the future I’m going to be a powerful warrior!” The scrawny kid replies.

Zellin and Reyal look to each other before bursting out laughing. “Hahaha! A scrawny kid like you? Fat chance! Your Strength stat is probably zero!” Reyal mocks.

Liu's face instantly turns a shade of red. His Strength stat was quite low for someone aspiring to be a warrior, thus he was pretty embarrassed. “What do you know!? Your Intelligence stat must be -100! You wouldn’t recognize a powerful warrior even after being beat half to death!” Liu retorts with some anger.

Reyal’s face also turns a shade of red. His Intelligence stat was quite low for someone aspiring to be a mage, thus he was quite embarrassed. As Zellin, this clever kid, saw all of this, he instantly burst out into laughter. “You two are quite alike.” He says with amusement.

“Quiet, everyone. Quiet.” Called out a middle-aged man as he walked into the classroom. “Everyone, welcome to the Introductory Survival Class of the Immortal Huntsman Academy.”