When I opened my eyes, there were huge trees surrounding me.
'Hmmm, it seems that I am in a forest right now...'
As I was wondering what in the world I was supposed to do, I heard a voice behind me.
"Hello, Jeffrey, are you ready to explore Napreshan?"
"Who?!" I looked back and saw a cat looking creature similar to that of Kyubey from Puella Magi.
"What are you?" I asked while poking the creature's face.
"Jeffrey, I would have to ask you to not poke my face," the creature said with a monotone voice.
"Goodness, alright. So let's get serious here. What are you?"
"My name is Navi short for the word navigation. I am your guide for your adventure in Napreshan,"
"Alright so why do you look like this?"
"It was either this or a little ball with wings on it so the system decided that this would look a lot better,"
"I see," I said. "So what are you going to help me with?"
"I am going to introduce the system to you first. Firstly, in order for you to access the system, all you have to do is think about the function you want and a hologram will appear in front of you. If you want to see the entire setting to see what other functions are there, just wave your finger in whatever direction you want and a little bar that shows the functions will appear. The system has many functions. Some can be here with you right now and some can be unlocked later on. As long as you do a proper procedure, the locked functions will be accessible to you. However, for now, there are 4 main functions: Status, Item Box, Skills, and Map. Status allows you to see your status as well as other people's status. With this function, you may think of it as a top-rated Appraise that allows you to be able to see through anything. However, you are warned that if you look at the Status of someone that has a level difference of 10 or higher, they will be able to notice that you are probing them. The Item Box is fairly simple. You are able to store items and all money that you make will be put into the money section on the bottom right hand side. There are no limits to the amount of items you can put and as long as you think about what item you want, you are able to bring it out and automatically equip it or if you want you can de-equip it as long as you think about removing it. The skills function is pretty self explanatory. You can see what skills you currently have and also upgrade your skills using SP. SP is given when you level up. Map is also self explanatory and if I have to explain it, I will lose all respect towards you. From now on, I will communicate with you using telepathy. I have come out once to show you my form and only when the time is needed will I come out again which should not be the case the entire time you are here. Well I hope you enjoy Napreshan and its beauty,"
With that, there was a poof sound and a pinkish smoke appearing where Navi was and with that, Navi disappeared.
"Alright, let's check out all the uses,"
I swiped my finger to the left to see a bar that looked similar to the one in SAO. There were quite a bit of grayed out boxes and the words on those gray boxes were illegible. However, there were 4 white boxes which read the 4 functions Navi mentioned.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The first thing I checked was the Map. A hologram appeared in front of me showing the map of a large sized country.
"The Forest of Death... What a wonderful place. Looks like I know where to put my vacation home. So the town nearby is Blueberry Town. That is one terrible name. I wonder who thought of it, the Blueberry Family? Alright so this place is the Kingdom of Piton. God these names are atrocious,"
After checking out this kingdom, I took a look at the Item Box. Once again a hologram appeared showing tiny squares right next to each other. I noticed that on the bottom left were 3 0's with one next to a copper coin, one next to a silver coin, and the last one next to a gold coin. On the first box was a sword. I tried to do what Navi told me and thought about the sword appearing in my hand. Like magic, the exact same sword appeared in my hand startling me a little.
'Even if Navi explained it, it still is scary being able to summon any item I want in my hand,' I thought before trying to look at this sword's stats. At first I didn't know what to do, but once I thought about seeing the stats of the sword, a hologram appeared in front of me once again.
Basic Katana (w/ Sheath) Rank 0 Item: Bound by Jeffrey D.
+10 STR (Strength)
+10 DEX (Dexterity)
+1% CTR (Critical Rate)
An item that is bound to Jeffrey D. due to it being a gift from the Goddess.
|Rank up available when Adventurer is level 10|
'Navi, what is a Rank Item?' I asked even though I'm a little embarrassed about it since Navi just left.
'Equipments such as armor and weapons are separated into 2 categories: Set and Ranked. Set items are ranked into bronze, silver, and gold level items. Once an item goes beyond gold level, it goes into the level of Ranked or as the people of this world calls it Saint level. It is evolutionary and as long as supplements are given to it once you have reached a certain level, it can evolve into a better weapon,'
'So basically, this is a really good item,'
'That depends. If you leave it at Rank 0, it's only as good as Bronze level items, but as long as it is Rank 5 or higher, the item can be counted as a national treasure that would be fought over by kingdoms,'
'Wait so if I got this item to be Rank 5, I need to be extremely careful so that the army doesn't fight me for it?'
'Do not worry. Firstly, let me say that there are 10 levels to it. Like you saw, each rank requires you to be at a certain level. Once you are leveled high enough to have a Rank 5+ item, the country wouldn't be willing to offend you. The groups that you have to watch out for, however, are secret organizations and the Church of Lucifer. Unlike a kingdom that has to worry about each and every move they play, these two types of groups do not care for the sacrifice, but the results. As long as they get the item, they are willing to sacrifice tens or even hundreds of people. Therefore, the system has decided to conceal the presence of all Ranked Items that you own until you are able to level your weapon to Rank 7 as the minimum requirement of that would allow you to fend for yourself,'
'Alright then, thank you,'
'No problem,' With that all was silent.
With this revelation, I was a lot more anxious about what was to come.
'Goddamn it, Maplestory didn't prepare me to go against a goddamn church or secret organizations,'
After that fiasco, I checked my Status.
Status:
Name: Jeffrey D. Age: 17 Gender: Male
Level: 1
Race Human
Job: Beginner Swordsman
HP: 35/35
MP: 30/30
STR: 15 (Strength)
DEX:15 (Dexterity)
INT: 5 (Intelligence)
CTR: 2% (Critical Rate)
Defense: 10
Magic Defense: 10
Speed: 20
Luck: 15
Equipment: Cotton T-shirt, Jeans, Basic Katana, Socks
Achievement: N/A
Skills: N/A
Passive Skills: Double Blessings of the Goddess (1/30th of EXP needed to level up and 30x EXP given)(This is a gift from me. I didn't say, but you weren't really supposed to wait an hour there. I accidentally made a mistake and summoned your soul to my Realm, but in reality Navi was supposed to tell you most of the things I said to you. So yeah, you got lucky and here is the reward for being patient. This message will disappear after you close your stats so the next time you see your status, this won't show up.)
EXP needed to level up: 1
'Holy shit, this is a cheat. I knew it. I knew I wouldn't come here with just a crappy sword that I probably need to spend a lot of time leveling up. I don't even have goddamn shoes so this cheat is the perfect replacement. Thank you Goddess!'
Finally, I checked out my skills. On the left corner was a roman numeral I and on the screen were 5 skills, a title, and a description of the skill set.
I. Beginning Swordsman Skill Set: As a novice, you must learn the basics of the sword.
Draw: As an Eastern style Swordsman, the draw phase of the sword is important. When drawing the sword, you slash at an enemy while rushing towards them which does 20% more damage than a basic attack. MP used: 5 SP: 0 Max: 10
Slash: Blade is swung at any direction creating damage towards hit enemies. Adventurer is able to make a 3 hit combo with each hit being 10% stronger than the previous strike. MP used: 0 for first slash 5 for second slash and 10 for 3rd slash SP: 0 Max: 10
Conceal Aura: Adventurer is able to conceal his presence, but can be detected by Detect II or any second level of Detecting Skills. Adventurer can also hide his strength making him seem harmless, but this cannot be used against others that are 5 levels ahead. MP used: 0 (Can be toggled on permanently) SP: 0 Max: 5
Counter: Parries a strike and immediately returns the blow which does 15% more damage than a normal attack. MP used:10 SP: 0 Max: 10
Point Rush: Rushes to an enemy and stabs the sword towards the enemy dealing100% more damage than a basic attack MP used: 20 SP: 0 Max: 10
SP Remaining: 5
5 SP given per level increase
'God these skills are so basic. They're no fun at all...' I thought dejectedly. However, that was what I got and I immediately put in 1 SP for every skill and quickly set off to the journey that the system has planned out for me.