‘Answers, finally.’ Raito’s mind kicked into hyperactive mode as he began to ponder. After a day filled with suspicion, danger, and the unsettling feeling of being manipulated, he felt agitated, worried, and sick.
“I really want to know how I look like an insect to you.” Inoichi poked Raito’s forehead twice, then smiled. “But it really was a great defense, Raito. Keep doing your best.”
‘Even though it doesn’t make sense,’ Inoichi thought to himself, choosing not to voice his doubt. Instead, he offered Raito a trusting smile and some pointers before allowing him to leave.
"Thank you, sensei." Raito bowed respectfully and hastily made his way out of the room, out of the building, and towards his sanctuary—his home. The new message had stirred something within him.
In hurry, he didn’t even see or feel how many people he had bumped into. People shouted, threw things, and cursed but, he ignored them all. Nothing was important than this.
After locking the house, Raito sat on the sofa and looked around nervously. He even swept the area with his ‘Chakra Sense’, although it was a mere 30 meters, it gave him a sense of safety.
Taking a deep breath in, Raito called out. “Message.”
[Message (1)]
[The Original Gamer Han Jihan]
Without even a shred of hesitation, Raito clicked on it. However, instead of the expected message box, a sudden flash of bright light engulfed the room.
“Hello.”
Raito slowly opened his eyes and looked at the figure standing in front of him. Messy hair, athletic physique, casual attire—an ordinary-looking man, with a woman shrouded in darkness by his side.
Jihan glanced back at Sung Ah, obscured in shadows. With a wave of his hand, a few magic circles flickered to life but accomplished nothing. "I thought it would be enough, Sung Ah."
“Man, and I thought that it was perfect.” Jihan scratched his head and turned his attention towards Raito. “Yoshizawa Raito, right? My name is Han Jihan and I am the original gamer, the one who gave you your powers.”
“Han Jihan? This Gamer power is from you?” Raito looked at Jihan, his voice calm, strangely so. Despite the dangerous situation of a stranger appearing in his room, dressed oddly and conjuring circles in thin air, Raito remained composed.
“Yup.” Jihan looked around and smiled. The technology was a bit backward but there was a shelf full of games that he wanted to see.
Raito looked at the ‘Sung-Ah’ then at Jihan and asked, “So, why have you given me this power, and what do you want from me?”
"That’s the Gamer’s mind in action. Normally, an average person wouldn’t be this calm." Jihan gazed at Raito, impressed by the tranquility provided by the Gamer’s mind. "Most people would be a mess... but not you."
Raito contemplated Jihan’s words but persisted with his question, “My question was-”
“I know, I know. Let me answer all of those for you, for what time we have left.” Jihan waved his hands and sat on the comfy-looking sofa.
“The reason why you were chosen was that you came closest to the person, who can understand these powers and also someone that can help me fulfill my request.”
“Request? If it’s a request then you could have asked the Hokage-sama about this. This village is mercenary for hire, you know.” Raito looked at Jihan strangely and tried to reason. “Depending on the mission’s difficulty, I’m sure you can-”
"I wish it were that simple, but the consciousness of your world wouldn’t allow me to do such." Jihan tried to move, but Raito noticed the chains intermittently binding Jihan and the woman in dark, appearing and disappearing.
"Wait! Did you just say ‘my’ world? ‘World’s consciousness’? What are you talking about?" Realization struck Raito, and he hurriedly questioned, taking a couple of steps forward until he stood chest-to-chest with Jihan.
Jihan raised his hand and a staff appeared, which gave a blue glow, then said, “Simply put, I am someone from another world.”
“…That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.” Raito looked at Jihan and thought for a while, ‘Genjutsu’.
“I can prove it.” Jihan took out a mobile phone and snapped a picture of Raito then showed it to him.
“It’s a camera? A lot smaller but it’s a camera, right?” Raito looked at the picture and asked Jihan.
“Not just picture, it can even record a video.” Jihan played some video from his world and showed it to Raito.
"So many people! Is that juice? And what’s that on top? So fast! There are people inside that thing." Raito watched video after video with Jihan’s assistance. They displayed not only street scenes but also various things like planes, cars, magic, and technology.
Once the excitement subsided, Raito stared at Jihan, dazed, and asked, "Um, I don’t understand."
"I mean, if you can grant me powers from a completely different world, why don’t you simply take what you need? I doubt anyone could stop you with those incredible abilities. You wouldn’t even need to hire ninjas." Raito’s curiosity got the better of him. The videos he had witnessed demonstrated that Jihan possessed far greater strength than anyone he knew—calling meteors, growing colossal trees, splitting mountains, and summoning giants. These feats were akin to bedtime stories told to children, like the legendary battles between Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Jihan let out a small smile and said, “Raito, it’s not like I don’t want to do that but I just can’t come to your world.” Moving his staffs, illusory chains appeared as Jihan continued. “As you can see, even here, in this forsaken parallel time space pocket, similar to your world, I am bounded by these chains that keep me from going any further.”
Confusion furrowed Raito’s brows as Jihan introduced new terms. He turned his head slightly to the right and noticed that the world beyond the window was unusually dark with hints of red.
Jihan looked at Raito’s confusion and said, “Right now, we are in something that is called an ‘Instant Dungeon’, a pocket space, devoid of many laws of the original world.”
‘Original world? But this…’
Raito stood up in anger. “I am in my world, this is my house and this is my living room.”
Noticing Raito’s readiness to bolt, Jihan swiftly used mana ropes to restrain him. "Calm down," he urged.
“Gamer’s mind will help you calm down, anytime now.” Jihan assured him.
‘Spatial laws are a bit different here.’ Jihan played with a clump of mana, stretching it, compressing it, and expanding it.
“I-I am calm. I am calm now.” Raito said after the short burst of struggle.
"Good." Jihan created a globe of mana and looked at Raito with a serious expression. Cutting through the chit-chat, he said, "It’s a trade-off. My gamer powers for 0-0-0."
"What?" Raito flinched, feeling a sudden burning pain in his head.
“You can’t hear that?” Jihan’s eyes widened as he stood up in shock and anger. ‘This world is already starting to reject me already.’
“What’s happening?” Raito looked at Jihan’s angry and asked.
“The world is rejecting me.” The sphere of mana in Jihan’s hand hovered in front of Raito’s hand. “Take it. I am afraid; I no longer have the time.”
The previously invisible chains now glowed brightly with gold and purple.
Raito quickly grabbed the ball of light and watched as the space twisted in front of him and sucked in Jihan and Sung Ah.
Raito turned his head and looked around but found that he was still in the ‘Instant Dungeon’. ‘How am I going back?’
Previously, Raito had only extended his hand and the ball of light was still hovering above Raito’s hand. Seeing no other options, Raito grabbed the light ball and waited. It did not disappoint as the ball of light melded into Raito’s chest.
[Guide Activated]
[Improvements on the Gamer powers are being implemented in the background.]
[New functions are being added. Please wait patiently.]
A new window appeared in front of Raito.
[Congratulations on being chosen as the Gamer of your world.] *clap clap clap*
[Welcome to introduction]
[The Gamer is a privilege given to one in a world chosen by the Gaia, the world’s consciousness, and the choice always precedes great changes.]
[The ability of the Gamer, ‘Gamer’s Body,’ allows a player to live their life as a character in a game. The ‘Gamer’s Mind’ allows the character to think calmly and logically as though they are a gamer playing a game.]
[Gamer ability lets you use several features such as Status, Skills, Inventory, Quest, Info-book, and Options, each one having their various bonuses.]
1. Status – The status window lets you see your physical, mental, and supernatural parameters. Your Physical, Mental, and Power levels are numbered according to your capability but now you can freely increase them according to your choices with stat points. Physical aspects can be improved through strength, endurance, and stamina training. Likewise, mental aspects can also be improved through mental challenges.
2. Skills – The skill list tab lets you see the numerous skills you have learned, including your proficiency level.
3. Inventory – The inventory box is a famous feature where you can store whatever you want, such as weapons, medicine, furniture, and more. The inventory box is space-time frozen, so the items you put here will not age.
4. Quest – Quest is the tasks ranging from small to big, which provides the character with experience points, skill books, or money.
5. Info-Book – The info-book is divided into categories such as Countries, Villages, Humans, Monsters, Weapons, and Techniques. Information is gathered automatically when the character encounters them.
6. Options- Various game options are present there but not the difficulty level though.
[Attributes]
Strength (STR):
The Strength attribute determines a person’s overall strength and affects the amount of damage dealt. It also affects a person’s ability to reduce damage when blocking.
Vitality (VIT):
Vitality determines a person’s overall health and stamina. It also affects a person’s ability to regain health outside of combat.
Dexterity (DEX):
The Dexterity attribute determines a person’s overall movement. This attribute affects a person’s accuracy, evasion, reflex, and ability to land critical strikes.
Intelligence (INT):
The Intelligence attribute determines a person’s overall ability to memorize and think quickly. It also affects the amount of their chakra and the density of chakra.
Wisdom (WIS):
The Wisdom attribute determines a person’s ability to understand information and use it correctly.
Luck (LUK):
Luck is unique compared to all the other attributes as it is capable of influencing anything from finding or looting random items, winning money while gambling, to encounters and outstanding successes/failures (such as critical hits).
[Repeated relatable actions increase the stat.]
"Alright, the difficult part is definitely the LUK stat. For STR, I’ll have to do a lot of strength training. For VIT, I can push myself to the limit. For DEX, I’ll tackle some insane obstacle courses. And for INT, I’ll bury myself in books, and solving mind-bending puzzles to boost my WIS." Raito grinned, feeling excited about the challenges and his new powers.
In most of the games he played till now, he needed to level up and add stat but there were some where he could interact with certain objects and gain stats.
[Stat points]
Stat points are obtained after every level up. You can get up to 5 points per level. Stat points can be used to increase the character’s attributes.
[Scrolls/skill books]
Special books or scrolls which allow the character to learn new skills are called skill books. The character absorbs the book, learning its content and destroying the book in the process. If the book is too valuable, then it is advised to make a copy of it.
Raito took a deep breath and contemplated everything that had been dumped into him.
After confirming that there were no more new tabs popping up, Raito waved his hand and closed the tabs.
‘This is an infraction, but I think it’s necessary.’ Jihan’s voice sounded beside Raito as a new tab appeared in front of him.
*Ding
[Skill Learned]
[ID Create Lvl 1(Active) Cost 50 CP]
This skill allows the user to create a small pocket dimension containing various scenarios.
#Wasteland-Empty
Note – At higher levels, new dungeons can be unlocked.
*Ding
[Skill Learned]
[ID Escape Lvl 1(Active) Cost 50 CP]
This skill allows the user to escape from the previously created pocket dimension.
“I got it.” A smile spread across Raito’s face as he absorbed the knowledge of the skill.
“[ID Escape].”
Suddenly, Raito found himself back in the familiar world he knew, but his knees felt weak from the transition. Taking a moment to regain his composure, he deactivated the seals on the house and stepped outside, leaning against the wall as he surveyed his surroundings.
‘There are people here.’ Raito heaved a sigh of relief as he found a couple walking by.
“Aren’t you suppose to block this kind of emotions?” Raito grumbled, straightening his clothes.
Putting all the overwhelming information behind him for now, Raito decided to take things as they came. He grabbed an apple from the fruit basket and picked up the scroll from the table, a small smile playing on his lips as he perused its contents.
"My observations… ANBU records… Inoichi-sensei’s confirmation… Mari-nee’s record. It’s almost complete," Raito murmured to himself.
“I need to complete this mission.”
“Just wait for me, Naruto.”
Raito moved his finger up and down with specific words in his minds. Blue windows appeared, scrolled down then disappeared one after another. ‘Finally, I know what all this is really about.’
Closing all the tabs, Raito grabbed all the scrolls and walked upstairs.
Another World
“Gamer, you should not have done that. It has violated our contract.” Said a muffled voice.
Han Jihan waved his hand dismissively. "I was just going to give him some tips. There was no need for your interference."
Seeing that they were activating their magic to talk, Jihan slammed the arm of the chair with his mana and shouted, “Thirteen people died because they thought they are invincible. If the same thing happens again, I don’t think I can handle it. All this preparation for nothing…”
“You already knew what would happen when you decided to do this, so believe in them and if there is any more connection you will pay for your actions. So, understand the boundaries and watch peacefully.” The muffled voice seems to have ignored Jihan’s emotional outrage as he continued. “Restrictions have doubled.”
Chains with a dark glow emerged from the ground, enveloping Jihan and Sung-Ah, locking them in place.