"So that damn grandma stole my items again!?"

He sighed and seemed speechless.

"Sorry for dragging you all the way to my store."

"You're not the one to blame anyways."

"It's okay, sir."

"My name is Enomoto Atsuta."

!!

'What kind of luck is this?'

Enomoto Atsuta is one of the most important characters you'll need if you want a weapon to last.

He is someone who can forge weapons that grow with the user. In the main storyline, he made the famous Kusanagi sword and helped create Excalibur with other legendary blacksmiths.

Oh, and in the game, he is kinda big-headed and bad-tempered, so I didn't expect him to apologize to me like that.

"I am Amemura Ryoshu, a first-year student at Spiral Academy."

He looked at me.

But for now, let's just buy the ones I prioritize.

"Is there anything special about this mask, sir?"

"It can partially conceal the existence of its user by infusing Mana into it."

Then, he took the mask and put it on his face.

"Like this."

Suddenly I don't see him anywhere? Huh, no, he's still standing in front of me? I'm not sure.

'That mask is a good item.'

I have a few ideas on how to take advantage of that function.

"I was in the middle of making this hat when I realized it was gone."

"Damn that grandma!"

This must be the new story-related additions to the game.

"Do you sell skill books, sir?"

"Oh yes, what skills do you need?"

"Do you know the skills [Good Memory] and [Fast Reflexes]?"

Both skills are seemingly useless and are almost only useful in other fields.

But I've played long enough to know that these two skills are essential for me in the future.

"Hmmm, [Good Memory] and [Fast Reflexes]?"

"I'm too old, so I'm absent-minded, let me go to the warehouse and try to find it"

Well, he's already over a thousand years old, so he's indeed kinda old and forgetful.

"Okay, I will wait here."

"But do you have enough money?"

"Umm, I think I only have about 100 RC"

"Hmm, that's not enough, kiddo"

I knew it wouldn't be enough.

In Rainfall Disorder, there are 2 ways to learn new skills:

One, it's also the hardest way, but it's free - practice.

Repeating one certain action creates new skills.

But if there is a teacher to instruct and guide you, it will initialize the skills more quickly and level up faster.

The second way is to use skill books.

We can buy basic books in bookstores, but the price is also expensive because we can only get skill books in dungeons.

However, I also know another way, which is also the reason I came to the black market.

"How about [Memory Orb]s?"

Yes, that is the trading of memories.

By using Memory Manipulation magic to transfer a portion of one's memories to another, new skills could be learned.

However, Memory Manipulation is a banned magic because of the danger it poses to the users.

In return, the price of a [Memory Orb] will be much cheaper since it can only be used once only.

"..."

He looked at me for quite a while. And he sighed again.

"I do"

"Follow me"

We went down to the hidden basement. If it weren't for the lanterns hanging everywhere, I would have barely seen anything.

Mr. Enomoto reached out to a secret wall and pushed the lever down.

The wall next to it instantly split apart with the sounds of metal shards moving and colliding with each other.

Inside is a hidden warehouse where Enomoto also hides his special items in the game.

He goes in and then takes out 2 blue balls. The two orbs showed up and off continuously, making it pretty difficult to see.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"These two cost ‌105 RC"

"I only have 95 RC now"

Atsuta was standing there, looking at me astonished.

"How about?.."

He thought deeply and began murmuring.

"You owe me a deal and you can have your items?"

"In return, I will not take even a dime from ya, kiddo"

Here it is, the hidden quest in the game.

"Can't believe I just did that."

He murmured silently.

"Deal?"

Despite that, those two items are too cheap compared to my freaking life.

"Okay, but I want to add more conditions."

"..."

He began grumbling silently, but I knew it all.

"What is that?"

"I just need some basic ingredients."

"One .."

"I don't understand why you need those things."

"But... since it's pretty cheap, I can accept your conditions."

He stored all the materials that I needed in a storage ring.

Storage devices can store a lot of things in another dimension.

The more it costs, the more space it has.

'You get what you pay for.'

But it's too convenient and easy-to-use to miss buying it.

"Besides that, what else do you need?"

Hmm, should I expose his identity?

"Yeah, I should have a weapon anyways."

"I would like to borrow a weapon from you."

"Legendary blacksmith - Enomoto Atsuta."

"Who... who are you?"

I kept carrying on my monologue as if he hadn't asked.

"I see these weapons are forged in a very meticulous and elaborate way."

"I can even see the souls in your crafted weapons."

I touched a random sword hanging on the wall and looked at him.

He seemed speechless again.

"..."

"You are absolutely right."

I defeated him.

"But I can lend you the weapon."

That's all. I have achieved my purposes, old man.

"That's what I meant."

"So, which weapon do you want?"

I thought a lot about different weapons, but I still haven't chosen a certain weapon.

Hmm, how about [Sword]? It's also not a bad idea since I know quite a few powerful swordsmanship in the game anyways. However, I don't actually know how to deal with close combat.

[Magic wand]? Even though the amount of Mana I have in my body is now zero, I can fix that pretty easily. However, being a mage might be awkward for someone who likes mobility like me.

[Spear]? Well, close combat is not my forte, so again no.

I just walked over and looked at every single weapon here.

Some of them are items in the game, but there are some fresh faces too.

And suddenly I saw a bow with a pretty design, but maybe it's not finished yet?

'A bow is also quite reasonable.'

I picked up that bow.

However, I don't know how good it is since I don't have a System to appraise its stats.

"[Formless Bow]." - Atsuta snapped something.

"Huh?"

"This is a craft that my friend did in the past."

"But he only finished half of it and he got bored."

"Haha. Then he just threw it at me."

He looked at it, and he seemed sad.

A bow not in the game? Should I be an archer this time?

I don't have any combat experience anyway, so it's more effective to attack from a distance, right?

And a bow can be quite flexible and mobile.

But also, learning how to handle and shoot an arrow properly... It is not a simple task either.

"Have you decided yet?"

"…"

'Okay, why think too much? I'll be an archer this time.'

I was walking towards the old man when I tripped over something.

I almost fell.

'I should be more careful.'

'But what did I stumble on?'

I hold what I just tripped over.

'Is that an iron chain?'

'Why is it in this hidden room?' - I pulled it out from the cluster of weapons in the room but it stuck.

I put in more force to pull it out.

Suddenly I could pull it out, and at the same time, a sharp knife flew towards me.

It almost touched my eyeball.

Schwing!

The knife popped out and fell to the floor.

It was only when my heart sank that I realized that the old man had just saved me.

"Do you know how to hold a weapon?"

"Huh?"

"Can't believe that I believed in this kiddo." - He started murmuring yet another time.

His personality may have developed to be like a traditional elderly.

"It's a rather uncommon weapon these days."

He went over there and picked up the chain.

The blade attached to the end of the chain almost killed me.

He took the chain and started dancing with it.

The blade flew around him like some kind of magic.

"This is a Dart Rope."

He continued these martial arts while mumbling.

"A powerful and dangerous weapon in the right hands."

After saying that, he manipulated the blade so that it hit the wall.

But instead of bouncing out like I expected, the blade pierced through the wall and cracked the surrounding wall.

'What the hell?'

How can that blade be so sharp like that?

"Although this weapon is both powerful at close range and long range and is mobile, it is difficult to use and it has no martial arts that are too strong to combine with it."

However, I found it to have an unusual attraction.

"Old man... Can I borrow both of your weapons?"

"Don't call me old."

"This chain I give you is just fine because it has nothing special about it."

"It is just the weapon I made for practicing purposes."

"And that bow is not even a perfect bow."

"Plus, what I want you to do is also difficult, so I would feel quite embarrassed when I give you something that is not half as good as the other ones."

"So I give both of them to you."

"Don't pay it back though."

"But old man, that-"

"Don't change my mind! And don't call me old man again."

"Take them away and give me your phone number."

"When I need you, you must come right away!"

"Yes!"

Great! At first, I was only going to get 2 skills [Good Memory] and [Fast Reflexes].

On this trip, I have "bought" additional items.

I have gained a decent amount of materials and even 2 medium-quality weapons.

Not only that, I still preserved my precious money for other things.

And most importantly, I found and got acquainted with the legendary blacksmith, Enomoto Atsuta.

'What a pleasant start.'

He unexpectedly gave me some scrolls.

"You can get out of this place by this."

"Just to be safe."

"I don't wanna waste money just like that, kiddo."

It turned out to be a teleport scroll, which can only be used once, so the price is quite cheap.

It's cheap, but that is when compared to a freaking portal. At least it must be more than a thousand RC.

I write where I want to go on the paper.

At first, I was going to go home to test the bug, but I didn't know the address of my house.

'Damnit, no wonder I thought I kept forgetting something.'

After thinking for a while, I thought of another idea! It even saves a lot of my time and money, right?

"Thank you very much! Goodbye, old man!"

"Do not call me old man."

He sighed again, but after that, he grinned a bit.

"Be careful and remember what I said"

"Okay, I "will" remember."

I took the [Good Memory] orb and showed it in front of him.

"Will?"

"You know what I mean, right?"

I shook the item in my hand.

"No."

I rolled my eyes and stored it inside of the space ring.

"I'm just kidding... Whatever. See you soon."

"Old man."

"Hey, call me by my freakin-"

Then, I started tearing the paper apart.

Magical characters from the void appeared and circled around my body.

* *

1:20 P.M.

And right after that, I was already standing in front of a gate of a Temple.

Roughly, the Temple is the place where Players will fight monsters, and overcome challenges to receive rewards and experience to level up faster.

But since I'm not a Player, there's no such thing as a level.

In return, anyone can receive the reward of a Temple.

Earlier I wrote the location of this Hidden Temple down.

This place can do a lot of different bugs.

First, I will have to have these 2 [Memory Orb] interact with the Temple gate.

After rubbing the two orbs against the gate for a while, something I didn't expect happened.

== [Detected an error!] ==

== [Review: it can seriously affect the World!] ==

== [Initiate the debugging process immediately!] ==

Is the System talking about me?

== [The bug has been completely annihilated!] ==

'What?'

[The system has detected an entity that does not belong to this world.

What the hell is happening?

== [Unable to access this particular instance's information!] ==

[...]

I feel like someone is looking directly at me.

== [You have been given a new Authority "System"!] ==

== [From now on you have access to a small portion of the Player World System] ==

'Isn't that great? So I've partially become a Player now?'

But still, I feel like there's something not quite right about that thing called the System.

It feels more like a being than a normal machine...

It's nothing but a higher being though.

"Stop thinking too much, now I have to focus on my work."

"Status Bar."

== [Your information has been added to the World Data] ==