First Time Leveling
Five years have passed since I got engaged to Reina.
During these five years, while continuing my daily routine of raising my Growth Stat, I worked hard at swordsmanship training to acquire skills, and diligently read books to learn about the differences and similarities between this world and JRO’s strategy guides.
As a hardcore JRO player reincarnated into this world, my desire to become the strongest hasn’t cooled down yet! But still, in my previous life, I was the type of person who got bored easily and couldn’t stick with anything for long.
Swordsmanship is tiring, and the act of raising my Growth Stat is quite a hassle.
Nevertheless, I can confidently say that the reason I’ve somehow managed to keep up my efforts for these five years is because Reina was there.
In JRO, Reina Hermenia is a strong character boasting some of the highest physical stats in the game. Such a girl was strong, belligerent, and hated to lose.
Therefore, over these five years, she challenged me to mock battles countless times. I came close to losing many times. And every time I was about to lose, I was put on edge.
…Somehow, I feel like if I lose even once, Reina will lose interest in me. I feel like our engagement might be called off. Since I’ve never lost before, it might just be my imagination, though.
Still, I was definitely terrified of Reina recognizing me as an “insignificant existence.”
That might be because every time I won a mock battle, Reina, despite her frustrated expression, would acknowledge me, saying, “As expected of my Fiancée,” and that made me happy.
I—might actually quite like Reina, who still acknowledges me even after interacting with me for a fair bit.
This place is reality, but it’s also the world of a game based on the original work called JRO.
For me to genuinely fall in love with Reina, who is merely a character within it, people from my original world would probably think I’ve lost my mind.
But in that world, I never once managed to fall in love with anyone.
It’s been 10 years since I was born into this world. 5 years since I met Reina.
Lately, I’ve started to wonder. Maybe my previous world was just a phantasm I saw as a baby. “I don’t like the look in your eyes,” “Your attitude is irritating,” “Your language is improper.” My parents and teachers denied every single one of my actions from the root, and because of that, my past life, where I eventually became bad at talking to others, was nothing more than a nightmare, wasn’t it?
Did I finally wake up from a dream? Or was I reincarnated?
With no way to return to my original world, there’s no means to confirm it, nor any way to prove it.
But…
“Reina. I’m going to get much stronger. Will you stay as my Fiancée, at least for as long as I don’t lose to you?”
“Please rest assured. Even if I become stronger, Haito is my Fiancée.”
I see. Hearing that made me feel a little relieved, and at the same time, I thought that to avoid being seen as unworthy of such a strong and kind Reina, I had to, at the very least, become the strongest man in this world.
“Rather, I intend to become stronger and dote on Haito to my heart’s content, so please lose with peace of mind!”
As soon as she said that, Reina struck at me with her wooden sword with all her might. I parried it with my Magic Wall, which had become sturdier than five years ago, while creating distance.
I take back what I just thought!
I’m the type who wants to dote on Reina to my heart’s content rather than be doted on, so I can’t afford to lose even once.
Therefore, I think it’s about time I started leveling to get stronger.
Lately, my Growth Stat, which had been increasing significantly compared to my JRO days, is starting to hit a plateau—and the main part of JRO is leveling, after all!!
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Such detailed settings weren’t revealed in JRO, but in this world, when you turn fifteen, you are given a ‘Profession’ and recognized as a full-fledged adult.
However, in JRO, you’re given time to level up before you can obtain a ‘Profession’—yes, the tutorial.
Of course, since this world is reality, there’s no explanation of which button to press to attack, nor will it tell you the weakness attribute of the monster in front of you.
However, you learn how to fight as a martial art, and monster weaknesses are taught as one of the subjects of study. Furthermore, in this world, there seems to be a custom where children, once they pass the age of ten, are made to defeat monsters to raise their level a little.
The reason I felt that the increase in my ‘Growth Stat’ was large there, based on my own analysis, is that I think the protagonist’s age during the JRO tutorial was 10 years or older by this world’s standards.
If we assume the JRO avatar’s initial age is 10, then that avatar has 10 years of life. It would be strange if their Growth Stat wasn’t already raised to some extent.
In other words, couldn’t the five years until one turns fifteen and obtains a ‘Profession’—especially the period after turning ten—be considered the tutorial in this world?
If so, then it can be said that this world, like JRO, has already begun.
And so, I decided to head to the tutorial hunting grounds.
◇
I mentioned that in this world, there’s a custom where 10-year-old children are made to fight monsters to raise their level, but in reality, it’s a ceremonial event where they are accompanied by their parents or hired knights or adventurers who watch over them as they deliver the finishing blow to pre-prepared, near-death goblins or kobolds.
However, in JRO, to prevent power leveling, the experience points from monsters that have taken even a little damage from someone of a higher level are set to be reduced.
Therefore, even if you kill a near-death goblin in that ritual, your level won’t actually go up by even 1.
As the eldest son of a noble, I’ve already completed that ritual, but… that was far beyond just feeling unfulfilled!
Well, I understand that it’s safer and more efficient to properly defeat monsters after obtaining a ‘Profession’ that grants strong skills and powerful stat bonuses, but…
Still, as a hardcore JRO player, I want to level up even before obtaining a ‘Profession’. If possible, up to level 10, the limit that can be reached in the JRO tutorial.
And so, I was bludgeoning the goblins and kobolds inhabiting the hunting grounds to death with a wooden sword I brought from home.
Goblins are small, humanoid monsters about 1 meter tall.
The monster designs in JRO aren’t particularly eccentric, so they’re your typical dirty, green-skinned goblins.
I didn’t notice it through the screen, but true to their appearance, their strong odor is a drawback.
Other than that, they’re mostly the same as in JRO—especially since most of their motions are charge attacks, I ended up being rather intimidated by the goblins practically throwing themselves onto my wooden sword, so there’s not much else to say.
And so, by the time I turned 15, my level had safely and properly risen to level 10, the tutorial limit.
In JRO, the area around the Kingdom of Hermenia had many strong characters, so monsters didn’t settle there. As a result of pursuing a strange kind of realism where, despite being a mid-to-late game map, hardly any monsters inhabited it, the experience efficiency was overwhelmingly lower compared to other maps.
Conversely, in dungeons owned by the Kingdom of Hermenia, there were appropriately strong monsters with recommended levels of 40 or higher, so you could level up properly there.
But all of that is a story for after obtaining a ‘Profession’.
And this year, I turn 15. I’ve finally reached the age where I can obtain a ‘Profession’.