Edwin Seeker, an eleven year old boy, sits in a carriage drawn by magical beasts. He is pondering a question no else in the world is asking. Why? Why was I, a 31 year old otaku, reincarnated in a fantasy RPG world? Why am I the only one in this world with memories from another life? But just like the many other times he had been lost in this thought, he was brought back to his new reality. This time, by a quiet voice behind him.
“Hey, you’re Edwin right? Can I sit with you?”
Edwin spun his head away from the repetitious view of the dense forest outside the window towards the aisle outside his booth. A boy with long golden hair wearing first year academy mage robes stood at the threshold beaming at him. “Sure. No problem.” Edwin replied as he gestured to the seat across himself. “The more, the merrier as they say.”
The boy nodded excitedly as he pushed his luggage into place beneath the seat across from Edwin. He then promptly offered his hand in greeting. “My mom told me the ride wouldn’t be long but that I should try to meet you.”
Edwin smiled and tilted his head in confusion, not yet taking the outstretched hand. “I’m sorry but do I know you?” he asked.
“Oh no, I don’t think you should. But my mom told me all about you.” The boy continued to beam at Edwin, with his hand still in the air.
“So, fellow future spellslinger, are you going to tell me your name?” Edwin asked, raising an eyebrow.
The boy’s face flushed with red as he stumbled over his words, “Y-yeah, I’m sorry. M-my name is Gilbert Walden. My parents trade with yours from time to time – is what my mom said. N-nice to meet you.”
“Ah, nice to meet you too, Gilbert Walden, I’ve actually heard about you too.” Edwin smiled and grasped the boy’s hand that had nearly gone limp. “ Edwin Seeker, fellow first year mage in training, pleased to make your acquaintance.” Edwin was surprised by the firm handshake of the small boy. I guess he’s been eating his vegetables, Edwin chuckled to himself as he released Gilbert’s hand.
For the first time Edwin took a moment to get a proper look at Gilbert. Gilbert's clothing mirrored Edwin’s. The two boys wore clean deep-purple robes with a crest upon the lapel. The crest of the Military Mage Academy stitched in gold and green declared them first year mages in training. Gilbert’s long golden hair draped down over his shoulders. Edwin himself had long hair and was enjoying every minute of it. In his previous life, Edwin had developed male pattern baldness by the age of 20, much to his dismay.
Gilbert pushed the bangs that fell in front of his face behind his ears and shyly giggled, “Mom was right, you do talk like an old person.”
Edwin wasn’t surprised by the comment, but it did stun him for a moment. Damnit, really? “Aha, yeah, Gilbert. I get that a lot.”
“ My mother said that you are very talented. She said I should get to know you and maybe I’ll learn how to study properly.” Gilbert's already red face deepened a shade. “And please call me, Gil. Only mom calls me Gilbert..”
Edwin couldn’t keep himself from laughing at the poor lad. “ Gil, then. Well I hate to break it to you, but I honestly don’t know if I can help you study. Teaching others isn’t really my specialty. I’m really only good at showing people how I do.”
“Then let me watch you! I’m sure it will help.”
Edwin shifted in his seat. “Well I’m not sure if…”
“Please!” Gil leaned forward and pressed his hands against knees and did an awkward sitting bow.
Edwin looked around the carriage, there wasn’t anyone nearby but he lowered his voice anyways. “Will you tell me your level?”
Gil nodded and his eyes dilated as he activated what was known as “System Blessing”. This happened anytime a person accessed their own system to check their own status. “I’m… level 4. Most people are level 6 or higher but I got let in because of…” The boy fell silent and his eyes returned to normal.
Edwin, pretended to not notice the boy’s obvious trepidation. Gil was visibly shivering, but Edwin knew it wasn’t from cold. Edwin was not unfamiliar with the Walden family and the tragedy that befell them. “What level are people at the academy, Gil?” he asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
Gil let out the breath he had been holding. “Well. I heard it varies but most people are expected to be level 5. Apparently this year there’s a level 20 first year. I bet they’re super powerful.”
“Oh really? And that’s not normal?” Edwin asked.
Gil looked up at Edwin, incredulous. “No way man! Someone like that is on the level of a 3rd year mage or a silver adventurer. It’s totally unheard of. Even the royals that attend are barely above level 10!”
“Woah – yeah man, that's totally crazy. I wonder what that guy eats.” Edwin restrained himself from bringing up his own system menu. “Umm, sorry I didn’t ask before, but is it rude to ask someone their level Gil?”
“Oh, no. Not really. Most people wear their level like a badge of honor. It's not something people usually lie about, but people that are low level aren’t always eager to share that information either.” Gil looked down at the floor. “I want to be stronger too.”
Edwin leaned back and thought to himself. Two years ago the Walden’s lost their eldest son while he was studying at the academy. Now their youngest son, Gil is entering with less than half the regular preparation. A family is supposed to only send the eldest of the family to the Academy unless they are royalty. Edwin watched as tears began to drip from the shriveled eleven year-old boy’s nose onto his robes. Without another thought Edwin reached out and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “That’s what we’re here to do, Gil. I promise you’ll get stronger.”
“Really? Do you mean it? Will you help me?” Gils eyes glimmered as he looked up at Edwin.
“Yeah, of course I will. We’re all in this together, right?” Edwin smiled at Gil and gave him a tap on the shoulder which made the boy wince and sit upright. “Besides, my parents would kill me if I was the reason we lost your mom as our customer. Mrs. Walden drives a lot of business.”
Gil once again beaming as he did when he walked into the carriage wiped the last of the tears from his eyes. “Thanks Edwin. She said I could count on you.” He rubbed his shoulder where Edwin had given him a tap. “That kinda hurt by the way. What level are you, Edwin?”
Edwin activated his system blessing, looked at the screen and thought for a moment before answering. Whoops. Edwin knew he had gone above and beyond with his jump-start into grinding experience points, but he was beginning to wonder if he had taken his preparation too far.
|Edwin Seeker AP: 123 |
|Level 25 EXP: 123/123456 |
|Strength - 25 /164 |
|Agility - 20/164 |
|Vitality - 35/164 |
|Insight - 50/164 + ? |
Edwin sighed to himself as he remembered the long hours and thousands of days it took to get only this far. Eleven years of grinding . Twenty five levels. I thought that this system was crazy… I guess the reality is that I’m the crazy one.
“Uhm, I’m not sure if you’ll believe me if I tell you, Gil.” Edwin said.
“My mom said you might be around level 15 or higher. I don’t think you’d lie about it, Edwin. I have a feeling I can trust you already.” Gil smiled at him.
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“Well you’re mom is right, I’m at least level 15” - edwin
“At least level 15?” Gil’s eyes widened and his mouth state open.
Edwin let out another sigh and looked out the window. “How high of a level is too high?”
“What does that mean?”
“Well. Umm. I think I may have gone to hard grinding.” - edwin
“Hard grinding? What is that? Were you building something?”
“N-no. Well yes kind of.” Edwin could feel his cheeks burning at the awkward phrasing.
“I’m not following, Edwin” Gil asked.
Edwin cleared his throat and fixed his composure. “Okay so, grinding is what I call it when I’m working on leveling. I’m pretty high level right now.”
“Most people just call that training. But tell me already, how high have you gotten your level?”
“25.” Edwin stated flatly.
Gilbert slapped his knee and buckled over in laughter. “25?! Yeah right. You’re hilarious. Good joke, be serious.”
Edwin just nervously coughed and turned his attention to the trees out the window.
“Oh my god are you serious?”
Edwin nodded without looking at him. “Yup.”
Gilbert also turned to look out at the trees and didn’t respond right away.
“Wow seriously? 25. That’s unbelievable. I know what my mom said but I thought she was exaggerating.” Gil’s eyes just about popped out of his head. “Teach me how!”
Edwin shrugged. “Sure, it’s pretty easy. The problem is actually doing it.”
“I can do it I promise I’ll do my best!”
“Hmmmm. I dunno if you can.”
“Of course I can.”
“Alright, the first lesson in leveling up is… do everything ten thousand times!”
“W–What?”
“Yup. Easy as that. Just do anything you’ve never done before a bunch of times and you’ll level up like I did.” Edwin nodded..
“I don’t get it. What are you talking about? Isn’t that just the normal way to level up?”
“Indeed. But it’s important to always remember lesson two. Be efficient.”
“Isn’t that obvious though? If you are faster then you can level quicker.”
“But there’s more than being quick when it comes to being efficient.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hmmm, I’ll walk you through an example. Open your achievements and tell me what your Traveller achievements are.”
“Walking: 35,000,000 steps taken. Distance Traveled: 15,000 Km. Traveling in Style: 1”
“Right. Is that all? You don’t have “Heavy Traveler”?”
“I don’t have that one. So that means I haven’t done it right?”
“Perfect. That means you can maybe get a level up on this journey.”
“What, really? How is that possible? The road to the academy isn’t even close to 10,000 long.”
“Time for your first lesson then. Stand up.” Edwin gestured for the boy to stand. As Gil did, Edwin picked up his own bag and shoved it into his arms. “Alright now stay standing until something happens.”
Gil - “Woah this is heavy what’s in here?”
“It doesn’t matter. It just has to be ‘heavy enough’. The rules are pretty flimsy and a lot of times you have to use trial and error to figure it out. Thankfully the first step is always the shortest so it’s pretty easy to operate by the process of elimination.”
Gil - “Uh… What? All I understand is that this… is… heavy.”
“Just hold on, you’ll be fine. It should happen in the next 5 minutes.”
“Hey, I was wondering. Why don’t you do this with me? We can – train together.” Gil struggled as his hands dipped down with the weight over time.
“Just focus and hold on Gil, you want to level up and get stronger don’t you?”
“Y-yeah” Gil fell silent except for his breathing which became heavier with each passing breath. His arms began to shake and quiver but he closed his eyes and concentrated.
“You can do it, Gil, hold on, you're almost there.” Edwin felt nostalgia as he encouraged Fil to push past his own limits.
Another few seconds passed and Gil let the bag drop. Edwin swiftly caught his bag out of the air with one arm and he pat Gil on the shoulder with his other. “Good job, Gil. How’d it go? Did you make it?”
Gil tried to lift his arms but found he couldn’t and slumped down into the seat. Without raising his arm he gave a thumbs up as his lips pulled back into a smile through his heaving breaths. “I–did–it.”
“Catch your breath and tell me all about it.” Edwin reached into his bag and got out a bottle which he handed to Gil. “Have a drink, it’ll help.”
“Thanks” Gil gulped down the green liquid between breaths and by the time he finished the container he had regained his composure. “Thanks again. That’s incredible. I’ve never thought about it like that. 1 point in “heavy traveler” and another point in “light deadlifting” whatever that is. I’m level 5 now.”
“Congrats! Now you can do it 9,999 more times right?”
Gil eyes sunk into his skull at the thought. “Uh. Right now? I don’t think I’ll survive.”
Edwin laughed at his own joke, “Nah, nah. There’s less than 9 left to the academy anyways, you wouldn’t be able to get the Experience. You could work towards it though if you feel like it.”
“Maybe after I take a nap.” And with that, Gil took no waiting in laying down, closing his eyes and softly snoring.
Well that was an interesting distraction. I didn’t expect him to find me as soon as he got on the carriage. I’ve hardly had time to look out the windows. Edwin thought to himself as he let his attention wander to the world outside their booth. It’s taken 11 years in this world for my first trip to the city. Surprisingly, I spent more than half the ride chumming it up with the Walden’s boy instead of taking in the sights. Edwin smiled but it faded quickly. A 31 year old man revived in a fantasy world getting chummy with a bunch of pre-pubescent teens. Holy God of Man, what am I getting myself into? I know I’m eleven in this world but my mind feels like it’s 40. At least this kid seems alright. Edwin sighed and frowned. I hope he doesn’t attract trouble like his older brother did.
Edwin activated his System Blessing and with a thought brought up his new notifications.
| New Timed Quest available. |
| Traveling in Style 1/1 +25 Exp |
With another thought Edwin made the notifications disappear while bringing up his active quest log.
|Quests Complete ? |
|Active Quests: 4 |
| Save Humanity 0/1 - Humans are slowly going extinct. Save the people. |
| Become a Bronze Mage - The Trial of Ascendency occurs once per year and requires completion of the first year of Mage Academy to attempt. |
| Where’s Walden? 0/1 - A boy in a neighboring town went missing several years ago. Aid the Walden’s seeking closure. Time Limit: ? |
| *New* Train Gilbert Walden - Gilbert Level 5/10 Time limit: 1 month |
Edwin wasn’t entirely sure how the quest system worked, but he was working off the presupposition that the “God of Man” was somehow involved. The quests themselves appeared without cause or warning, but were typically all related to gratuitous good deeds or solving other people’s problems. What made the system confusing were the times where quests had been completed for seemingly no reason at all without even appearing in the first place. The quests often lacked descriptions and when they did it often just stated the obvious. The “Where's Walden?” quest for example simply states that “One of the walden’s boys has gone missing. Find him.”
Edwin’s confusion regarding the system only grew when he considered the Achievement system as well. Occasionally he would receive points but have no indication as to how they came to be. For every instance of random increase, Edwin had put in 1,000x the effort though, so the notifications were in fact more of an annoyance and hindrance than they helped him.
The one quest that was noteworthy was one that had boosted his level a considerable amount. After Edwin took up a hobby of gardening when he was young, his first difficult quest arrived that he honestly didn’t think he could complete. He had been tasked to “Create a stable food crop”. He had accomplished his goals after 7 years and the reward for it was immense. The problem was that Edwin had reached a level where normal tasks like the ones he suggested to Gil wouldn’t put a drop in the bucket he required for his next level.
As well as that, Edwin had completely neglected leveling up his Attributes while he pursued more experience points. As for how the attributes increased, it seemed to be a bit of a mystery as of yet to Edwin, but it seemed to be something that was gained through applying insight in the real world. Every time Edwin leveled he would watch as his stats shrunk against their denominators. Over time he noticed a pattern in his attributes, the maximum was always raised by .
The leveling system wasn’t too difficult to understand in Edwin’s opinion. Every 10th level there’s a huge jump in the required exp to level up. At the start just walking and doing almost anything would grant an experience point. But there’s only so far one experience point goes after you need more than one thousand experience points to level. Edwin was part way through his current level. But he was more than ten thousand experience points from a level. If Gil could get his hands on that much experience he would be at least level 16 in an instant.
That’s the whole reason for going to the Magic Academy. Edwin was hoping to discover new ways of raising his level and expanding his knowledge of the strange new world he found himself in.
After putting his own mood through a rollercoaster ride with his introspection, Edwin shifted his attention from worrying about the future to focusing on the present. The sight outside made his frown turn back into a small smile as he set his sights on the horizon. They had left the shelter of the woods and a vast sun-swept plain took its place. Far in the distance rising from the horizon Edwin could see the steeple of the Holy Church. Pure white, the building stood out among the black mountain slopes that encircle the valley of man.
It’s incredible how this nation manages to stand with death looking down upon us at all hours. Edwin chuckled as he realized his own naivety. I guess with the Blessing of Resurrection, they’ve always had hope. Just throw a few years of your lifespan and memories away and -Pop- you’re good as new.