Chapter 5 - White Room and Skill Design

“U…Uh…?”

How long have I been asleep?

I awakened my hazy consciousness and opened my eyes.

It is a white room.

A pure white room with no doors and not a single stain.

I was wearing white hospital patient-looking clothes, and was lying on the floor.

“Am I alive…? Hospital…?” (Hikaru)

There’s not even one bed if this really is a hospital room.

There’s a desk and a chair, and on top of the desk there’s something that looks like a computer.

“The wound…” (Hikaru)

I reflexively touched my back, but I couldn’t feel anything resembling a wound. Or maybe I was hit by a blunt object and there was no stab wound in the first place?

Whatever the case…I am alive.

“…No, am I in the world of the dead?” (Hikaru)

That would sound more plausible.

“…I died…no, I was killed. Just like Nanami… Nanami…” (Hikaru)

I had flashbacks of what happened before.

The fact that Nanami was killed weighed heavier than my own death.

With me being in this mysterious room, the death of my childhood friend was more saddening and painful than my own health.

“Everything was a dream…? There’s no way that would be the case, huh…” (Hikaru)

Even when I am in a mysterious place like this, I could say for certain that what happened there was without doubt reality.

The stench of blood that overwrote the scent of Nanami’s room.

The sight of that expressive Nanami turning into a motionless body that had its life cut off clean.

“Guuh…ugh…!” (Hikaru)

Tears overflowed.

I don’t know if it is because I am sad about Nanami being killed, or because I am sad about being killed, or maybe both.

Being overwhelmed by a feeling that I can’t even describe in words, I couldn’t get up for a while.

Why was there a need to kill her?

Nanami was the kind of girl that couldn’t even kill a bug.

Why…Why…Why…

Memories of Nanami crying saying she didn’t want to go to the parallel world.

Memories of the culprit that’s a student of the same year who I don’t even know the name of.

Why am I even in a place like this?

The inside of my head was a mess.

Sadness, questions, and resentment were buzzing around inside my head, and I curled up for a while without moving.

I don’t know for how long I was like that, since there was no way to tell the time here.

There were no signs of someone coming to the room.

After crying myself dry, I stand up unsteadily and look at the screen of the computer placed in this room.

What was written there was plenty enough to cool down my head.

“…You gotta be kidding, right…?” (Hikaru)

This is what was written.

[You have been chosen to be transferred to a parallel world. Finish allotting your Bonus Points and let’s depart to the parallel world.]

…Looks like my life still continues.

◇◆◆◆◇

“Why…? Why was I chosen…?” (Hikaru)

Are you telling me her right passed to me since I was the closest to Nanami?

No…that theory should have been refuted already.

When a Chosen from a country somewhere was killed, a person from a different country with absolutely no connections with that person would be chosen. In other words, if a Chosen dies, they simply do the lottery again.

Of course, it is not like there’s zero chance that I coincidentally was chosen in that lottery after Nanami died, but…that’s a chance of 1 in 7 billion. It is a number I even considered as being zero, and in the first place, I should have died before that.

There was still 1 hour before the arranged time for the transfer when I was stabbed and had lost consciousness. I find it hard to believe that I survived for 1 hour after that.

There’s also the chance that I was caught in the re-lottery of someone other than Nanami…

“…Could it be that Nanami is also in a different room from me?” (Hikaru)

I, who supposedly died, am now here, so there’s the possibility.

The one doing the parallel world transfers is God after all. A literal God.

It could be that the dead Nanami was actually her empty shell, and the real one had already been healthily transferred to the parallel world a long time ago…

Or maybe Nanami was still alive.

It is not like I checked for her pulse. She might have just looked dead.

I remember reading somewhere that humans unexpectedly don’t die that easily.

Also, right before dying, I prayed to God.

Maybe God heard my prayer and saved both me and Nanami from the unreasonable death.

Even when I know that’s just naive hope, I still wanted to cling to that possibility.

Nanami and I haven’t been killed and the two of us will explore this parallel world…

Just how fun would that be…

I smack both of my cheeks, and grab the mouse.

Now that I have decided that, I must survive at all cost and reunite with Nanami.

The moment I look at the screen with renewed resolve…

A *pon* sound resonated, and a message was displayed on the screen.

[3 minutes before transfer.]

“Eh?!” (Hikaru)

Now that I look closely, there’s a timer on the top right of the screen, and those numbers were slowly going down.

Most likely…no, most certainly, that timer had begun counting down the moment I appeared in this place.

“With just 3 minutes, I can’t…” (Hikaru)

Anyways, I can’t take my time choosing.

I should choose instinctively, and if I have the time, I will adjust it… That’s the most I can do.

I must avoid at all cost the scenario of getting troubled over a choice and ending up choosing almost nothing.

[Please allot your Skill Points. Your total Bonus Points are: 73.]

“73 Points, huh.” (Hikaru)

I can’t really tell, but I feel like that’s a lot -unexpectedly.

There wasn’t that much preliminary information about these points.

What I know is that your initial points are decided by a V shaped graph with 24 years old as the lowest.

In other words, you could say God prioritized your current ‘experience’ and ‘body maturity’ over the ‘potential of youth’.

According to God, the higher effectiveness an ability has, the more points it will require…

Anyways, there’s no time. I must allocate my points quickly.

Name: Kurose Hikaru

Age: 15 years old ▼

Gender: Male

Special Ability ▼

Physical Ability ▼

Resistance ▼

Spirit Ability ▼

Items ▼

Transfer Point ▼

Disadvantageous Factors ▼

Remaining Bonus Points: 73p

It was unexpectedly simple.

With this, I might be able to choose properly even with only 3 minutes.

I hovered the cursor over the places and explanations showed up.

For example; in the Special Ability one, it showed [Special Powers that surpass human intellect].

It is straight to the point, but that must be the intention of God as well.

I skim through each one of them.

First, the age. To my surprise, it can be changed.

When I click the ▼ mark, a window opens. By plussing my age, I get points; and by using points I can lower my age (in other words, I can be younger!).

I am currently 15 years old.

Depending on the situation, it might be a good idea to raise my age a bit to increase my points.

Next, I open the Special Ability window.

“Ugh…! There’s such high point requirements?!” (Hikaru)

●Special Ability

・Courage 20p

Gain the ability to face fears and difficulties, and advance forward.

・Super Concentration 30p

You can concentrate and forget about sleeping and eating.

・Detect Presence 15p

Gain the ability to detect the presence of living things.

・Night Vision 15p

You can see even in places where there’s practically no light.

・Intuition 20p

You can somewhat choose the option that will lead to advantageous situations for you.

・Breathless Activity

You can act at full potential without breathing for 2 minutes.

With training, you can stay underwater for around 15 minutes.

・Wide Vision 10p

Have a wide vision impossible for a human to have.

・Communication 30p

You can communicate with animals.

・Affection of Spirits 30p

All Spirits will love you.

・Charm 50p

You will have a constitution that makes the person you are interested in like you.

・Parallel World Language 0p ▼

You will be able to speak and write the common language of the area you are teleported to.

It is true that they all sound important, but the descriptions are, how to say it…vague.

For example; for Courage and Detect Presence, there’s differences depending on how good they are. If what you thought was Courage ended up being just foolhardiness, it wouldn’t even be funny, and if Detect Presence doesn’t actually detect anything until they are super close, then it would be pointless.

By the way, when I opened the ▼ of Parallel World Language, it showed [If not chosen, you get +20p]. Not being able to communicate is a complete landmine. This alone is definitely a no.

I glance at the time and 1 minute has passed.

I think for a bit and choose [Night Vision] and [Affection of Spirits].

It is 45 points for the two, and I am now all the way down to 28 points, but these two are clearly things I can’t achieve with effort.

And most of all, my instincts were telling me they were important.

It is also because I remembered my youngest little sister said: “In these kinds of games, taking the things with the highest cost is the safe choice. Also, there should be a number of abilities that have a low cost, but are pretty important abilities, so you should choose those too”.

I don’t know if she has a basis for that or not, but my little sisters are actual geniuses.

It should be okay to trust them.

I open the next one, the Physical Ability tab.

●Physical Ability

Increases physical ability regarding Spirit Energy.

・Physical Strength Up. Level 1~5. 5/7/10/15/20.

・Vitality Up. Level 1~5. 5/7/10/15/20.

・Spirit Energy Up. Level 1~5. 5/7/10/15/20.

・Eyesight Up. Level 1~3. 3/7/10.

・Hearing Up. Level 1~3. 3/7/10.

・Smell Up. Level 1~3. 1/3/5.

・Taste Up. Level 1~3. 1/3/5.

The numbers at the right seem to be the cost as the level goes up.

In other words, if I were to choose level 3 of Physical Strength Up, I would be using 10 points.

I read the notes of Physical Strength Up.

[Level 1 is 2 times, Level 3 is 5 times, Level 5 is 10 times the power. Recommended in close combat. Even in other scenarios, it is one of the basic human strengths, so it is recommended to take at least Level 1 of both this and Vitality].

The explanation for Vitality was…

[Vitality is hard to show in numbers. You are harder to kill and have more endurance, you will also be more tenacious mentally. In gaming terms, it would be the equivalent of HP. For the ones that don’t want to die].

It says it includes your mental fortitude, so I feel like this will be quite advantageous when acting in an unknown world.

And so, the unknown power for us that is Spirit Energy says this…

[Spirit Energy is the power that is expended when using Spirit Abilities. Increases the aggregate amount of Spirit Energy that you can have in your body. The Spirit Energy a person can have in their body differs by individual, so it can’t provide a fixed amount, but if you are going to be using Spirit Abilities, it would be best to take Spirit Energy Up].

It is hard to understand, but if they mention Spirit Energy differs by individual, it most likely means that…if a person with low innate MP increases it, it would be bad…

Spirit Energy has that fantasy element to it, but it looks safer to put points in Physical Strength and Vitality.

It takes an unexpectedly long time to read the explanations.

1 minute and a half remaining.

Whatever the case, there’s a high chance that I can ‘increase it later’. The Level Ups that isekais are so famous for. In that case, I should consider whether to take it first or not.

Before putting any points, I decide to check Resistance.

There’s times when you can’t get resistances naturally or they are incredibly difficult to get.

●Resistances

・Poison Resistance. Level 1~3. At Level 3, Poison Immunity. 3/7/10.

・Disease Resistance. Level 1~3. At Level 3, Disease Immunity. 1/3/5.

・Aging Resistance. Level 1~5.

At Level 5, Eternal Youth. Level 3, aging speed reduces by half. 3/5/7/10/15.

・Natural Recovery Up (Wounds). Level 1~5. 3/5/7/10/15.

・Natural Recovery Up (Spirit Energy) Level 1~5. 3/5/7/10/15.

“The cost for eternal youth is cheap!” (Hikaru)

This might be what my little sister Karen said about ‘the required points are low but it is an important ability’.

Anyways, the required points are low compared to the other areas.

I can easily reach Level 5 even with my remaining points.

The Disease Resistance being strangely cheap must be because it wouldn’t be fun if the Chosen were to die from a disease. Or maybe because it is a world without that many diseases.

I feel like the Natural Recovery Up is especially important, but this also falls into the category of ‘it depends on how good it is’. For example; if taking Level 5 can recover you from even fatal wounds after a while, there’s point in taking it, but if it is just recovering faster from small wounds, it would be questionable.

“There’s no need to doubt here.” (Hikaru)

I take Aging Resistance Level 3 (7 Points), Disease Resistance Level 2 (3 Points). And then, I immediately opened the age tab and raised my age from 15 to 17.

I got 6 more points from increasing my age by 2.

My lifespan increases by twice with Level 3, so it is a pretty fair exchange.

By the way, I don’t have the resolve to take Eternal Youth. I have a bad feeling about it.

With this, I have 24 points remaining.

I am pretty low on time already, but I should also check the Spirit Ability tab.

[You can obtain 1 of any Spirit Ability. Any of them are useful in their own ways. The only one that doesn’t have attack methods is Healing Magic. You can only make a contract with 1 Spirit Ability and it won’t be at peak performance].

●Spirit Ability

・Fire Spirit Ability: 10 Points.

・Water Spirit Ability: 10 Points.

・Earth Spirit Ability: 10 Points.

・Light Spirit Ability: 10 Points.

・Dark Spirit Ability: 10 Points.

●Magic

・Healing Magic: 50 Points.

“50 points?” (Hikaru)

Only Healing Magic is ‘Magic’. I don’t know what’s the difference, but there might be a difference in rarity. 10 points is quite the normal cost until now.

For example; Spirit Ability can be obtained even when you are over there, but healing magic is pretty difficult to get? Or maybe plain impossible.

…Anyways, 50 points is too out of reach.

“How about Items?” (Hikaru)

●Items

・Basic Items Assortment for the Chosen: 10 Points.

《Money (Medium)・Assorted Recovery Potions・Beginner’s “Ability” Scroll Pack（[Fire Spear] ×1 [Wind Blade] ×1 [Earth Wall] ×1 [Water Healing] ×1 [Phantom Light] ×1 [Dark Fog] ×1 [Small Healing] ×3 [Medium Healing] ×2 [Large Healing] ×1 [Dispel] ×1 [Fear] ×1 [Short Teleportation] ×1）・First Aid Kit・Map of Surroundings・World Map・Compass・Adventurer’s equipment set（Shirt・Cloak・Pants・Belt・Underwear x3・Socks x3・Boots・Hat・Leather Gloves・Leather Chest Guard・Short Sword・Short Spear）・Note・Writing Set・3 days worth of food (boxed lunches/water bottle)・Long term food storage set・Tableware Set・Towel x5・Handkerchief x5 Pocket Tissue x10・Knife・Blanket・Lantern・Oil・Match・Hand Mirror・Portable Shovel・Rucksack・Belt Pouch・Nylon Rope・Wire・Cloth Tape・Sewing Kit・Hemp Bag x2・Every type of Spirit Stone x1》

There’s items you can’t obtain anywhere but in the Basic Pack, so be careful when not choosing it.

“I see, can’t just go naked after all. Or more like, if you don’t choose the Basic Pack, I would be going there with these hospital clothes?” (Hikaru)

That would be Super Hard Mode.

But 10 points is too heavy. I only have 24 points left.

If we start in a city, clothes and money are more important than the Adventurer Pack.

It is most likely cheaper than buying one of each of those items, but 10 points is still too much.

There’s a variety of items below the Basic Pack, and it seems like you can exchange for anything you want.

I skim through them. There’s weapons, armor, tools, magic scrolls, potions, maps, bags, and even money can be exchanged.

There isn’t that much variety in the weapons and armors, but it seems like you can exchange for items that match the size of the Chosen.

There were magic swords and armors, but they were all 10 points, and I don’t think I will be able to get them.

Whichever the case, if it is the items with low cost, I can just get them later.

“With my remaining points, I will get clothes and money. Then, I will put all the rest of my points in Physical Strength and Vitality to finish it.” (Hikaru)

There’s only 40 seconds remaining in the timer, but it looks like I will somehow make it in time.

Just in case, I open the Transfer Point tab.

●Transfer Point

・Transfer to a relatively safe place: 27 Points.

A place with low danger and has been worked by humans to a certain extent. There will be a human village closeby.

・Transfer to a safe place: 30 Points.

A place where most dangerous wild animals have been exterminated. There will be a city in front of you.

・Random Transfer: 0 Points. (It is the default choice)

There’s no knowing where you will be transferred, but you won’t be transferred to instant death places like the sea, lava, or the very center of giant forests. However, if you are really unlucky, it is pretty dangerous.

The lucky ones have the chance of being transferred close to a human settlement.

For the early laughs. Not Recommended.

“E-Eh?!” (Hikaru)

I couldn’t understand what was written there for a second.

There’s two pretty costly choices? Is what I ended up thinking carefreely.

And then, I understood after my second reading.

The default is Random Transfer.

To think there would be a trap like this set.

“How many points do I have left?!” (Hikaru)

24 points remaining.

It is only enough for the ‘Transfer to a relatively safe place’.

I have to redistribute my points or I will be transferred randomly to the parallel world at this rate.

Now that I think about it, the people in the whole world will be watching in real time.

I should have thought about the possibility of God setting something like this playfully.

“This is bad this is bad this is bad! It doesn’t matter what, I have to redistribute the points!” (Hikaru)

At this moment, I was in a complete panicked state.

If I had calmly operated it, I should have been able to make it in time.

And yet, I didn’t remember what I put points in and ended up opening the Physical Ability tab.

“Ah?! Eh? Which one did I put points in? If I remember correctly, it was Physical Strength Up and Vitality—” (Hikaru)

My mistake was only for an instant.

I soon noticed I still haven’t put points in Physical Ability.

The lost time was most likely around 5 seconds.

—But those 5 seconds were fatal.

I immediately closed the Physical Ability and opened Special Ability again.

I was about to erase Night Vision and open Transfer Point…

But at the corner of my vision, I see the remaining time at a single digit.

Erasing an ability to increase something else.

If I don’t make it in time, I would have simply lost one Special Ability pointlessly.

The moment that possibility flashed in my mind, I stopped moving the mouse.

The number of the timer had coldly reached 0.

[It is now time for the transfer. If there’s remaining points, you can resume your build after the transfer. Some of the abilities can’t be selected after the transfer.]

The screen grew darker, and that message was displayed mercilessly.

And then, just like that, the PC didn’t respond at all as if it froze, and only the words [Remaining time for transfer: 30 seconds] were showing there.

“…I should have placed more importance in my feeling of 73 points being a lot.” (Hikaru)

My whole body was chilling at the reality that I will be teleported randomly.

“If I remember correctly, I stopped in the middle of my point redistribution, so I have 24 points remaining, right…?” (Hikaru)

You could say it is the fortune within the misfortune that I can still exchange my points even after the transfer.

There was also the possibility that all remaining points would be lost after all.

—Anyways, the dice has already been rolled.

[10 seconds remaining].

[5 seconds remaining].

[1 second].

[Now then, have a wonderful life. May fortune be with you.]

And then, I was covered in a blinding light.

・Name: Kurose Hikaru

・Age: 15 years old ▽

Added Years – 2 years + 6p

・Gender: Male

・Special Ability ▽

・Night Vision: 15p

・Affection of Spirits: 30p

・Physical Ability ▼

・Resistance ▽

・Disease Resistance: 2 -3p

・Aging Resistance: 3 -7p

・Magic ▼

・Items ▼

・Transfer Point ▽

・Random Transfer: 0p

・Disadvantageous Factors ▼

Remaining Bonus Points: 24p