“Shit, shit, shit, shit! Sorry! I’m so sorry! Move, please—sorry there!”
It was a small town near the forest border. Its walls were made out of wood, and its buildings too. The buildings were the longhouse type, raised off the ground on stilts. Several livestock, like chickens and pigs, could be seen taking shelter under the houses in terror as Yuu clumsily crashed through that town in an attempt to stop himself, destroying everything in his path.
Fortunately for him, most people who lived in that town have been evacuated. Unfortunately for him, there were still stragglers in town. Most were lucky enough to notice Yuu in time and get out of his way, but the unlucky ones Yuu tore through them like a cannonball tearing through paper, splattering their body parts everywhere.
Yuu naturally came to a stop with his face kissing the ground. He sat, looked back, and saw the destruction he left behind.
Oh, God… What have I done?
The default clothes that Yuu came with during reincarnation were mostly teared up. Basically naked and covered in guts, the weight of guilt he instantly felt made Yuu want to curl up and wail in despair, but there was no time. He had just come to a stop in front of the demon that was rampaging through the small town.
A system window appeared in front of his face.
[ Starting Quest: Defeat the Failed Chimera! ]
Defeat the failed chimera that’s attacking the frontier town of Tiga!
It’s not as strong as a normal chimera, but a failed chimera is still a chimera.
Be careful!
Yuu closed the window after only glancing at the quest title, noticing that a party of four adventurers was facing the failed chimera. They had seemingly decided to stay behind, buying time for civilians to escape.
Normally, Yuu would have been hyped over the spectacle, as this was the first genuine adventuring party he had seen with his own eyes. However, with the guilt of killing another human being and causing so much destruction weighing on his mind, it was impossible for him to feel that way. Instead, he simply stared at them with a blank expression.
Yuu was, by all means, mentally shaken.
***
Based on their equipment, the adventuring party members consisted of a shieldbearer, a swordsman, an archer, and a magician.
Despite fighting with their lives on the line, all of them had noticed Yuu. The shieldbearer even shouted at him while fending off the demon’s flurry of attacks with his large shield.
“Hey, dude, are you okay! We saw you coursing the town like a—” a big scorpion tail attack coming from the chimera stopped him mid-sentence, staggering him for a second before coming back to his senses.
Overseeing the situation, the archer shouted at the shieldbearer as he nocked an arrow in his longbow, “Oi, did you really think we could afford distractions right now! Let that freak be, and focus on the fucking demon in front of us!”
“Just shut up and shoot your damn arrows, you asshole! I’m doing my best here!”
“Your best suckass, you dumbass!” The archer unleashed his arrow, and it landed on the chimera’s left eye.
A little bit stunned from the sudden sharp pain, the failed chimera became enraged, and let out a huge roar.
At the same time, the magician, who had been casting a spell with his eyes closed, finally opened them and shifted his stance. The swordsman, who had been closely guarding him against the chimera’s stray attacks, noticed and promptly shouted to the others, “Everyone! Get down!”
[ BURNING FIREBALL! ]
The magician unleashed a massive burst of fire from his hands as the other members of the party dropped to the ground, pressing their stomachs against the earth. The fire covered the chimera whole for a few seconds before dissipating.
Everyone thought the battle had come to an end at this point. There should be no demons out there that could survive the destruction force of the fire magic. However, the battle hadn’t concluded yet. The chimera had survived the attack despite having most of its skin melted.
It leaped towards the party who hadn’t stood up from dropping themselves to the ground. All the party members thought it was the end for them, but then the chimera appeared to explode from the inside out while still in mid-air.
The party was left agape as they were rained down upon by the chimera’s insides. None of them could have done it, so they naturally turned their attention to the only other person present, but that person had already vanished somewhere else.
***
[ Quest Completed: Defeat the Failed Chimera! ]
[ Calculating Rewards… ]
[ Error: Cannot claim material drops due to user being too far away from the target. ]
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[ Recalculating… ]
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[ Leveling up… ]
[ Error: User already hit max level! ]
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
[ Recalculating… ]
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[ Increasing Stats… ]
[ Error: All of user stats is maxed! ]
[ Recalculating… ]
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[ You won’t receive any new reward/s. ]
[ Calculation Complete ]
[ You have (1) unclaimed reward/s. Would you like to claim it? ]
***
The reason why Yuu was able to move despite being mentally shaken was because he knew deep down that he couldn’t let the first adventuring party that he encountered perish before his own very eyes. He knew he wouldn’t be able to handle that additional guilt.
So, when he saw that the failed chimera failed the fire attack, Yuu instinctively jumped from his position and punched through the chimera mid-air, killing it instantly. However, the moment Yuu did it, it came back again. The voices. The desperate call for help from the people. It wasn’t as bad as the first time, but it still assaulted his ears and conscience enough to force him to go to the source of it.
***
It took Yuu less than ten minutes to see his next destination. From afar, this destination seemed to be similar to the previous one: A small town surrounded by wooden walls, and filled with wooden tall longhouses. If anything was different, it was the farmlands scattered on the outskirts of the town, and the obnoxiously tall, wooden watchtower in the middle of the town.
To avoid repeating the same mistake he made last time, Yuu planted his feet while he was still several dozen meters away from the town, drastically reducing his speed. When he was close enough, he kicked the ground with all his strength. The resulting upward force stopped his forward motion and instead launched him high into the sky.
From that extreme height, he easily located the demon that was attacking the town.
[ Starting Quest: Defeat the half-Cyclops! ]
Defeat the half-Cyclops that’s attacking the frontier town of Dua!
It’s not as strong as normal cyclops, but half-cyclops is still a cyclops.
Be careful!
Given that the half-cyclops was only attacking the buildings in town and that there were no stragglers seen panicking on the streets, it seemed like the evacuation of the area had been completed.
Weird. I didn’t see any civilians here, let alone adventurers who stayed behind to buy time. Why didn’t that demon leave the town and pursue the evacuees, I wonder... Hmmm...
Yuu formed some deductions in his mind but abandoned them when an idea came to him.
***
As Yuu fell, he realized he was strong enough to kick against the air, allowing him to maneuver his trajectory. So when he hit the ground, he launched himself up once more, and manipulated his falling trajectory towards the cyclops.
Oh, man… I’ve been wanting to do this for real since forever…
He positioned himself so that his feet would be the first point of contact with the cyclops, took a deep breath, and screamed;
[ HELMET BIKER: FALLING DRAGON KICK! ]
A shockwave mixed with a mist made of blood spread through the town the moment Yuu crushed the half-Cyclops into smithereens.
***
[ Quest Completed: Defeat the Failed Chimera! ]
[ Calculating Rewards… ]
[ You won’t receive any new reward/s. ]
[ Calculation Complete ]
[ You have (1) unclaimed reward/s. Would you like to claim it? ]
***
Yuu, who was sitting on top of fresh half-Cyclops’ remains, felt excited that he was able to perform the finishing move he often saw on TV. However, when all that excitement died down as he took a moment’s rest, what awaited him was the guilt of not being able fully control his power, resulting in needless victims and destructions.
Yuu somberly looked at his bloody hands. He found himself having mixed feelings toward the power he now had. On one hand, he was excited because it’s an unmatched power with unlimited potential. On the other hand, with one wrong move, he could cause so much unintended destruction to the very people he might care about.
The voices that compelled him to help people in danger for whatever reasons didn’t come anymore. Only silence.
***
Yuu washed himself with water from a nearby well. He also took some clothes from a random house nearby and put them on. He chuckled at his reflection in a bronze mirror atop the dresser as he took the clothes from it.
To think that with all the powers I had now, I ended up having to steal clothes from someone’s home.
Yuu felt a twinge of bitterness as he walked onto the front porch of the house. Outside, an old swinging chair awaited him, and he eased himself into it. His body didn’t feel tired due to his maxed-out stats, but his mind did. So, he decided to take a nap.
***
Yuu woke up in the evening, drenched in sweat and his heart racing. He felt like he’d just had a nightmare, but when he tried to recall it, he saw only darkness, as if something was blocking him from remembering.
[ You have (1) unclaimed reward/s. Would you like to claim it? ]
Oh, right… the reward. I know I have it since earlier, but how do I claim it? There’s no button or any—Wait. Since I don't hear any voices now, I suppose I should quickly look at my own stats and skills first just in case the voices want to come back or something.
“Status Window Open.”
***
[ Opening Status Window for the first time… ]
[ Calibrating… ]
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[ Calibration Completed ]
[ (1) Reward/s has been automatically claimed! ]
[ Status Window ]
Hoshino Yuu | Level 99 (MAX!)
HP 10.000/10.000 (MAX!) | MP 100.000/100.000 (MAX!)
STR 99 (MAX!) | AGI 99 (MAX!) | RES 99 (MAX!)
Skills: [Unlimited Dimensional Storage Lv.MAX (Inv: 1)] [All Language Comprehension Lv.MAX] [All Weapons Comprehension Lv.MAX] [Magical Knowledge Comprehension Lv.MAX] [Fire Magic Lv.MAX (Spell: 0)] [Water Magic Lv.MAX (Spell: 0)] [Wind Magic Lv.MAX (Spell: 0)] [Earth Magic Lv.MAX (Spell: 0)] [Light Magic Lv.MAX (Spell: 0)] [Darkness Magic Lv.MAX (Spell: 0)] [Spirit Magic Lv.MAX (Spell: 0)]
***
“Is that all?”
I thought there’d be at least ten pages of skills for me to choose from, but what’s this? Did the gods made a mistake and just gave me all the magic attribute skills without any of the actual spells? That’s so useless… Well, at least I still have the soundingly cool all weapons comprehension. But still, if it’s like this, aren’t I just a muscle-head character?
O Gods! I wanted to use magic! Give me some spells! Give me some spells! Give me some spells! …
Yuu was throwing prayers to the Gods for several minutes to no avail.
He let out a sigh, and muttered to himself: “Welp. I suppose I need to learn magic spells by my own, then.”
Let’s see my reward…
“Open Dimensional Storage.”
[ Unlimited Dimensional Storage ]
Inventory: [ ??? Cube (Lv.1) ]