[ 3 days until the next wave ]

A day had passed since Tanuki unlocked the Brook’s Brush. Since then, a lot has changed.

After realising the brush consumed mana to work and that it was quite expensive to use, Tanuki looked for an exploit to abuse the item’s ability. In doing so, he remembered the grid token and tried painting over it. To his surprise, the token accepted the ink and turned into a [Blue Grid Token]. Tanuki could finally use it and redeem a new type of grid.

[ Water ]

[ Level: 0 ]

It was the same size as the field, forest, or hill grid, but instead of reaching toward the sky, it turned towards the void and lowered the depth of his world by adding a knee-height pool of water with mud at the bottom. Dirt surrounded its sides that led into the void, ensuring the water would not waste away into nothingness.

The system rewarded Tanuki for this achievement and gave him an extra expansion point which he used to put a small pool next to the mountain, away from the road. Edgar was not happy about the new grid providing easier access to his plot, but Tanuki propitiated him by providing a way to water the plants.

Since then, they spotted small clouds flying over the realm. Though the midday sun heated the water surface and it vaporised, the grid replenished itself so that it may never run dry. Edgar felt relieved that it was a permanent solution and that he would never again have to worry about droughts.

The rest of the tokens were used to extend the road. Tanuki wanted to ensure there would be no way for invading enemies or spawning mobs to disturb his people. For the latter, he thought more about his idea of an island specifically made to farm spawning monsters, and decided he would want it further away from the Gaia Core than previously imagined. That meant he needed more expansion points, thus a need to go clear dungeons.

Even though his idea was far from coming to fruition, as the road expanded, the previously chosen slimes began spawning. The first time he saw them was on his pre-nightly patrol he did to ensure the realm was in order. He stood at the last of the road, looking back at the far-away crystal when he heard something wet from his right.

“What the hell?” he whispered while drawing his sword. Upon seeing the small blob of green no taller than a rabbit, he did not strike it down but squeaked like a dog toy from how cute it was. The monster had grape-sized black eyes that appeared on its outer membrane, its insides transparent viscous goop.

He picked up the monster with hardship as his hands penetrated its outer layer after holding it for too long, causing no damage to the creature but trapping his hand in the snot. Still, he freed himself easily and fought until the creature was by his chest and he could give a big hug. The monster tried to retaliate against the horrible attack but it could barely move as the tight grip of its assailant nearly squeezed its eyes out of their sockets.

Tanuki wanted to bring it home but after every few steps, it would slide out of his arms. He remembered the crude wheelbarrow Woodrow crafted for transporting wood and such and went to snatch it for a ride.

Unfortunately, the monster was gone by the time he got back.

“It must have hid in the tall grass,” he thought, and after a few minutes of searching, he accepted it might be for the best to leave it be.

On the way back to the village, he considered how the system would expect him to hurt something so cute.

“If anything, I would make it my pet. That harmless little snotball…”

He walked away leaving a deep sigh behind. Unbeknownst to him, the grass on the trail blazed by the slime slowly burnt away, and the powerful acid charred the sleeves of his robe.

He spent little time sleeping. Edgar was upset about the damage caused to his home and Tanuki vowed not to disturb his sulking that night. So, as soon as Edgar fell asleep, he sneaked into the snoring man’s house and played the NPC slot machine until dawn. As the first beams of sunlight crawled up the horizon, he had not won once.

Despite the rough start, not all things went to waste that day. Though he slept way less than healthy, the thought of enriching his world kept him energetic.

First thing in the morning, he opened the [Research] tab. Since yesterday, he studied the corpses of one nestman and one skeletal deer. The latter had an interesting effect on the world, one Tanuki was not expecting.

[ Congratulations ! ]

[ “Firefly” creatures now spawn in your world ! ]

The nights would never be dark again and Tanuki gladly accepted that. What he did not understand was how fireflies related to undead deer.

Eventually, he found a possible explanation.

“This research focused not on the animal but its state of being. It was undead, and so the system tried to reel in something related to this aspect. Undeath. The fireflies must have some attribute that relates to it. It could mean they contain some part of death in themselves that can be extracted by some means. Alchemy, for example. Maybe an alchemist could mix fireflies with other ingredients and create a potion related to undeath.”

While it was fun to find ways to expand on this theory, in case of rewards that had an impact on the present, the research of the nestman corpse bestowed him with the ability to cast a new ritual.

[ Ritual: ‘Create Ring of Nest’ ]

[ Requirements: ]

[ 1x Ring ]

[ 12x undead insects ]

[ 1x sharp stick ]

[ 1x Potion of Poison ]

[ 1x Dark Gem ]

[ Method: When the moon reaches its highest point in the night sky, impale twelve dead insects on a sharp stick and place that into the gem’s place in the ring. Drink the poison and swallow the dark crystal. Stab yourself with the stick so your blood pours down on the dead bugs onto the crystal. Grit your teeth. ]

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

For how much it required and how brutal its creation was, the Ring of Nest was an item that had very little to cause harm. Once equipped, it would allow the user to summon a spectral image of a nestman that could assist in basic tasks while remaining near the user. It had a maximum range of ten meters, and any further than that the creature would slowly blink out of existence.

It had very little power, being tied to a realm other than the physical. It would not be enough to kill even something as weak as a soulless husk.

Still, it was far from useless. The nestmen could walk on walls and ceilings. If he needed to grab something beyond his reach, something too high for example, he could use the creature to assist him. It could hardly assist in a fight, but it was never meant to do that. The spectral nestman was there for utility, to help him carry heavy loads, scout ahead, and see where he could otherwise not. Its usefulness grew even more once Tanuki realised, the ring would allow him to see through the creature’s eyes. Or rather, its ears.

Echolocation. If there was ever a situation where his eyes would deceive him, he could rely on the nestman’s superior hearing to locate anything invisible.

“It’s settled. I’m bringing you to my world,” Tanuki thought, then set the other deer corpses to be researched. He redeemed the first milestone reward for them, and once at least four more were done, he expected an even greater reward for the second milestone.

He thought about the ring for a while. Dark crystals, poison… he expected the game to hold some surprises in store, but it was only then he began to wonder about its size. What he called the game was also a universe itself. It was vast and contained realms he could not even think of. All of them had something that he could take, learn, or befriend. Though many were hostile, he had to remind himself certain realms had people much like him and they should not be treated viciously. Even if this was a game of survival, he did not want to let go of his morals.

Yet he hoped the next dungeon would only feature monsters. If they were evil or puppets of the system, he would have a much easier time killing them.

While on defence, he remembered the [Card] interface and quickly glanced at it. With its levels all unlocked, he could return the Swordbearer class and make it into a card.

“That would leave me classless,” he thought, and after a little while, remembered something, “The last time I made a card, I was given a new class token. The system never said anything about giving one when I make a class into a card, but thinking back on it, there were three beginner classes…”

It would make sense if the system allowed him to try every beginner class before leaving him to find his playstyle, and there was a third he had yet to touch.

Bowbearer.

When he was little, he had the chance to use a real bow. To this day, he remembered his surprise when the arrow was put in place and he tried pulling back the bowstring, only for it to resist his weak hands. Archery was not an easy thing and its masters did not sleep on exercise. To be a good ranger, one needed muscle, which Tanuki lacked.

Sure, he could stab a sharp sword through his unarmoured opponent, but it was easy to accomplish. He would put his entire weight into launching the attack, which made it feel like stabbing a kitchen knife through paper. Child’s play. Archery was a completely different beast and there was no telling he would be good at it.

But he had to try. If not for an experiment, then for the future of his realm. He had to get through this tutorial before he could specialise in something he was truly good at.

After seeing the requirements for evolving his Swordfighter class to the next tier were way out of his reach, he braced himself with a sigh and chose to turn his class into a card.

[ ‘Create Asset’ ]

The card he got was much like the Staffbearer Monk. It displayed a squire with a sword, walking a dirt road.

[ Swordbearer Squire ]

[ Tier 1 ]

[ F Rank ]

[ Description: User gains the ability to use Maneuvers. A maximum of three can be learnt, but the user may choose to forget moves to learn new ones every time he goes to sleep. Forgotten maneuvers can be relearned but only made active while the user is asleep. ]

It was a valuable card. Adding to it the bonuses he earned by levelling up, the Swordbearer class proved its worth. As a first-level bonus, it increased Tanuki’s max health by two, and his strength by one. After clearing the Yoshimura dungeon, he got another two points of strength as a third-level reward. Thanks to it, his overall STR value increased by fifty-percent.

Looking at his stats reminded him of his first day in this world and how far he had gotten since. A smile crept up his face.

[ Name: Hachiro Tanuki ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Modifiers: Staffbearer Set ]

[ --- Stats --- ]

[ HP: 9/9 ] (+1)

[ ST: 6/6 ] (+1)

[ Strength: 9 ]

[ Agility: 4 ]

[ Intelligence: 11 ] (+2)

After the Swordbearer Squire card occupied one of the three remaining card slots, a message popped up in front of him. It was a congratulation from the system and a reward with no explanations attached. Despite that, Tanuki knew already why the system would grant that to him.

It was the last class token he would ever get from turning a class into a card. He had chosen the Bowbearer class long before, so while casting the token he felt little excitement. Still, the system managed to surprise him.

Classes appeared in the shape of constellations. One was the Bowbearer’s, bearing three stars for the three levels that could be unlocked. The other constellation also displayed three stars, but no name, only three question marks.

[ ??? ]

All constellations were shaped in a colourful mist relating to the attribute they would improve. Strength was red, intelligence was blue, and agility was green. This mysterious constellation bore a yellow colour.

Tanuki tried to imagine what it could resemble. “No attribute I have, that’s for sure,” so he chose to think of classes. Perhaps it related to the sun and the class he would get was a paladin or a monk. They would be nice, due to the abilities that would heal his friends. At least, he imagined those classes would be able to do that. There was also a very high chance the mystery class would just give him another sword and declare him something like a holy knight. While that sounded good on paper, it would not be able to increase his agility, and falling behind on any stat seemed like a bad move.

He had to make the mysterious class sound less cool in his head because, at that moment, all he could think of was the allure of the unknown.

“Piss! It is the colour of piss! I would become a pissmancer!” he shouted while covering his ears from the seductive thoughts. His attempt was effective, though it made the nearby plantfolks turn in confusion.

As such, he chose the Bowbearer class with a peaceful heart. Immediately, new items appeared in his inventory, a longbow and twenty arrows.

[ Class selected: Bowbearer ]

[ Quality: F ]

[ Levels: 3 ]

[ Description: A bowbearer’s duty is to carry the bow. This class hones the user’s archery while improving agility. ]

After selecting his new class, Tanuki spent the day training with the bow. As expected, it was hard to draw. Much of his time was spent with exercise focusing on arm muscles.

During the afternoon, he stopped after properly tiring himself and plopped into the pond for refreshment. Voidgliders played around him, paying little attention to his presence or Edgar’s, as he continued to shout about Tanuki staining their only source of fresh water.

“Like the birds haven’t done that already,” he grumbled under his breath and closed his eyes to relax.

It was nice, taking in the dark.

It lasted a few seconds, till something appeared in the corner of his vision.

[ New message ! ]

The last time he saw something like this was when the Professor messaged him.

“It must be him again.”

It would have made sense. He had yet to appear as a star in the night sky for the Dark Essence. Tanuki never forgot about his promise, he buried the Dark Essence behind the Gaia Core so nobody might steal it.

Focusing on the message to open it, he expected to see the Professor’s name. To his surprise, the system sent it.

[ Invasion tournament starts at 18:00 ! ]

[ Number of challengers: 4 ]

[ Would you like to spectate ? ]

[ Yes ] – [ No ]

His eyes opened wide, but the message remained. More surprising than the idea of a tournament was his lack of ability to join in. Not that he would have, but the notification raised a question…

“Who are they trying to invade?”

… and answered it immediately.

“Me?”