It was still rather early, a few hours before dawn. But the group had gotten enough rest, and they wanted to get moving. As they were packing up their camp, they had been chatting about their plans for the day.
“So this dungeon is supposed to be nearby, right?” Yarkin asked for the fifth time already.
“Yes, Yarkin. That’s why we are getting such an early start. We should be able to reach it just before dawn,” Kirk explained again.
“And what sorts of treasures are we going to find?” The Halfling asked for the third time.
Kirk sighed in annoyance, but it was Dalia who answered. “Supposedly, the dungeon rewards are based on the individuals that clear it,” she explained. “We should get a decent amount of coin in addition to at least one [Rare] grade item that will be beneficial to each of us,” she concluded.
Yarkin pondered this for a few moments before speaking up once more. “So, does that mean it will be an item that any of us can use, or would we each receive our own item tailored to our needs?” He asked, wanting to clarify the wording Dalia had used.
“Tailored to each of us. For instance, Kirk might get a better sword. I might get a [Wand of Healing]. Vesryn might receive an MP orb, and you..,” she was cut off by Kirk.
“You might receive a personality,” the leader of their group stated. This elicited laughs from the others, except for Yarkin, who just grumbled and rolled his eyes.
The group’s laughs were quickly cut short as they heard rustling nearby, and they all prepared themselves for a possible fight. However, what stumbled out of the trees wasn’t a monster, but a man. He staggered toward them, his hand outstretched before he fell forward. His head lifted and he extended his hand before uttering a simple plea for help. The man then seemed to pass out as his head and hand dropped once more.
“Dalia!” Kirk called out.
“Already on it!” She replied as she activated her [Heal] ability.
The wounds that the man had quickly vanished. Kirk moved forward cautiously, his sword drawn as he lightly poked the man with the tip of his boot.
“Why’s he naked?” Dalia asked, not having had time to take in the full scene.
“I’m not sure, but he seems to have passed out,” Kirk replied.
Yarkin clicked his tongue in annoyance as he approached the other side of the unconscious man. “Well, this sucks. Can’t even loot him!” His comment received an annoyed look from Kirk.
While the others were in discussion about the man’s appearance and why he was naked, Vesryn simply watched silently from the side. He had noticed something strange just before Dalia healed the supposedly injured man, though he wasn’t sure exactly what it was he saw. So, for the time being, he planned to just observe to see if the naked man was someone they could trust or not.
Kazumichi decided to pretend to be unconscious for another 20 minutes so he could just listen to the others. The party of adventurers had moved him closer to their camp and covered him with a blanket as they discussed what to do with him and how it would affect their plans. Kazumichi found himself already hating Yarkin the Halfling, as he insisted they either kill him or just leave him for dead and continue on their way. Fortunately, Kirk and Dalia were both against doing that and opted to wait for him to wake up before deciding what to do from there.
He also learned some interesting information about a possible nearby dungeon, though they seemed to try not to speak about it too loudly in case he overheard. He inwardly chuckled to himself at that, knowing that it was futile for them to try whispering around him.
When he finally decided to end his facade, Kazumichi opened his eyes and sat up suddenly with a gasp. Pretending to still be scared, he looked at the others, doing his best to look confused. “W-where am I? Who are you people? Where are my clothes?” He asked in rapid succession.
“That’s what we’d like to know,” Kirk was the first to respond. “You came out of the woods, bloodied and bruised, asked for help, then collapsed. Can you tell us what happened?” He questioned, speaking in a soft and friendly tone.
Kazumichi was surprised at just how nice the man was being. This made him realize that they probably really were adventurers, except maybe Yarkin who seemed to just want to kill and loot him.
“I.. don’t remember,” Kazumichi said, bringing a hand up to his head as if trying to recall some horrific past event. He did recall a horrible past event, however, and decided to lean into that as part of his story, to make his acting more believable.
“I was attacked,” he said, drawing on how he had died in his previous life. “Four men with.. daggers. They attacked me, took all my belongings, and then left me for dead,” he didn’t go into detail, wanting to remain somewhat vague. Kazumichi then glanced up to see all the adventurers staring at him. “D-did you heal me?” He asked, already knowing the answer.
Dalia stepped forward and nodded to his question, offering a gentle smile. “I did,” she said softly. Her gaze then shifted over to her brother, who stared back at her as if they were having a silent conversation between them. After only a few seconds, Kirk let out a soft sigh before looking toward Vesryn.
“Hey, you two seem to be about the same height and build. Do you have some spare clothes this guy can have?” Kirk asked, though his tone suggested it was more of an order than a request.
Vesryn narrowed his eyes a little and exhaled through his nose before reaching into his pack to pull out some simple clothes and toss them toward Kazumichi.
Catching the clothes tossed to him, he inspected them for a moment before getting dressed. They were a pair of brown pants and a white shirt, both from a material that Kazumichi couldn’t identify. “Thank you,” he said once he was finally dressed.
“So, uh.. Who are you people?” Kazumichi asked. Even though he knew their names, he wanted to get the official introductions out of the way.
“Oh right. I’m Kirk. This is my sister, Dalia. That’s Yarkin, and that’s Vesryn,” Kirk said, introducing everyone. Dalia was the only one to wave at him when introduced. “And who might you be?” He finished with a question of his own.
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“Nice to meet you all. My name is Kazumichi,” he said truthfully.
The group stared at him for a moment before exchanging glances with one another. “That’s quite the unusual name, Kazumichi. Where are you from?” Kirk asked, his arms folding against his chest as he stared at the once-naked man.
Crap, did I mess up by giving my real name?
“It is? I’m not really sure where I’m from. Things are a bit jumbled up there at the moment. Sorry,” Kazumichi replied, rubbing the back of his head as if to prove his point.
Kirk stared at him for a few moments in silence, before eventually speaking up again. “I suppose that’s alright then. I guess we have no choice but to let you tag along until we can get you somewhere safe,” he said with a friendly smile. The rest of his group, however, looked at him in shock.
“What?!” They all exclaimed in unison.
“Yeah, we can’t just leave him. He might get attacked by those bandits again, or a beast or monster. This forest isn’t exactly the safest,” Kirk explained.
“But, what about... you know..,” Yarkin spoke up, trying to tell Kirk something he didn’t want Kazumichi to know about.
“He’ll just have to come with us,” Kirk said flatly.
“I don’t want to be a burden,” Kazumichi began but was quickly interrupted by Yarkin.
“Good. See, even he says he’ll be fine. Let’s go,” the Halfling said quickly.
“This isn’t up for discussion,” Kirk narrowed his eyes at Yarkin. Then, he swept his gaze over each of the others, including Kazumichi.
Kazumichi could tell that none of them, including Kirk and Dalia, wanted him to go with them, but since he had arrived naked and unarmed, they seemed to feel responsible for his safety now. Internally, Kazumichi was grinning to himself. He was curious to learn more about this dungeon they had spoken of before, and wanted to see what kind of item he would get from participating in clearing it.
“Well, if I’m going to be going with you, I suppose I should know where exactly that is,” Kazumichi finally said, breaking the silence.
“A dungeon,” Kirk said, not offering more than that. However, Kazumichi just quirked an eyebrow, hoping the man would elaborate.
“There is a dungeon around here somewhere, that is said to always grant a [Rare] grade item, specific to each person that helps clear it. But it is also rumored to be very dangerous since very few ever return after finding it. We were tasked with verifying these claims, as well as clearing the dungeon if possible,” Dalia said, giving far more details than her brother. “Which, in order to know if we’ll even be able to attempt it with you, we need to know your level and class,” she added.
“Oh, um. I’m a level 2 Sorcerer,” he lied.
“Can you verify that for us, please?” Dalia asked.
“How do I do that?” Kazumichi replied, tilting his head a bit in confusion.
“Hm, I suppose you forgot how to do that too? All you have to do is say or think ‘share status screen with’ and then the person’s name,” she explained.
This will be a good test for [False Identity]. He thought, before making some quick changes to one of his empty false status sheets. Kazumichi then thought the command she told him, and a prompt appeared in his vision.
You are about to share your status screen with Dalia and Kirk. Would you like to use one of your fabricated status sheets instead of your true status sheet?
Yes/No
He selected yes, then chose the one he wanted to share.
Name: Kazumichi
Race: Human
Primary Class: Sorcerer - Level 2
Experience: 1,046/1,500
Stat Points: 0
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 20
Constitution: 20
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 46
Luck: -10
HP: 20
HP Recovery: 12/second
Physical Attack: 12
Physical Defense: 12
MP: 46
MP Recovery: 14.6/second
Magical Attack: 46
Magical Defense: 46
Movement Speed: 4 feet per second
Accuracy: 1
Evasion: 1
Critical Hit Chance: 1%
Critical Hit Damage: 1%
Unique Ability: [Bad Luck]
Racial Ability Points: 0
Racial Abilities: [Swift Recovery - Lv10], [Magic Adept - Lv20]
Ability Points: 0
Abilities: [Perception - Lv10] [Arcane Bolt - Lv20]
Skill Points: 0
Skills: [Cooking - Lv10], [Alchemy - Lv10], [Spellcraft - Lv10]
Kazumichi could see the status screen they were looking at, and was happy that he had gone with something that wasn’t too outlandish as he noticed the looks on their faces.
“Interesting. So you haven’t been level 2 for very long. What does your unique ability [Bad Luck] do?” Kirk asked, but quickly received a slap on the arm from his sister.
“Kirk! You know it’s rude to ask people about their unique abilities,” she admonished.
“I know, and normally I wouldn’t ask. But this is something we need to know before we decided if we’re going into the dungeon or not,” he explained.
“I don’t mind,” Kazumichi chimed in. “It just turns my Luck stat negative,” he explained as he pointed to the status screen again to show them the stat in question, as well as the other attributes that had it as part of their calculation.
“Hm, that is unfortunate for sure. But it shouldn’t be too much of a detriment in the dungeon. You’ll just have to hang back a bit more,” Kirk explained.
Kazumichi nodded. “So, I can still go with you guys? Will we take on the dungeon? It sounds really fascinating,” he inquired, hoping he hadn’t ruined the chance with his false status sheet.
The siblings glanced at each other for a few moments, before looking back at him and nodding together. “Yes, you can come with us,” Kirk said as Dalia smiled beside him.