I started a new story in which the protagonist was reincarnated into the lowest-ranking villager but became an Unrivaled Magic Warrior.
Please take a look if you like.
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8951ex/
The snowy mountains.
A spectacular place, full of thrill and romance.
At least, that’s what Ryuji Yamada thought.
This time, he visited with three male friends and was now enjoying skiing with a group of three girls they had picked up.
“I’m not very good, could you teach me?”
The girls asked in sweet, childish voices.
Their actual skiing skills were irrelevant. What mattered was the situation of a man and a woman being alone together.
The men instinctively understood this and gladly offered one-on-one instruction. Ryuji did too.
After discreetly confirming that their target girls didn’t overlap, they split into three pairs. Ryuji, full of anticipation, enjoyed skiing with a girl named Misaki.
Then, he was caught in an avalanche.
Perhaps the only fortunate thing was that he was able to save Misaki. As his consciousness faded, he heard a voice calling him from somewhere.
“Ryuji! Ryuji!”
“Ryuji-kun!”
The voice of his friend Kazuhiko, and Misaki’s voice, with whom he had just been together. Ryuji couldn’t distinguish who was calling him, but he somehow understood he was being called by someone.
(Am I suffocating? Or freezing to death?)
While thinking such out-of-place thoughts for someone dying, Ryuji breathed his last before being dug out. Or at least, that’s what should have happened.
(That’s what I remember, anyway.)
Ryuji was bewildered. He found himself not on the snowy mountain nor in a hospital, but by the shore of a lake. He judged it to be a lake because it was so vast that he couldn’t see the opposite shore, yet there were no waves, no sandy beaches, and no smell of the sea. Many clouds floated in the sky, and a gentle breeze occasionally brushed his cheek. Forests spread out to his left and right, rustling in the wind. And a yellow sun and a red sun illuminated the land.
(A red sun, it’s just like Fantasy Adventure Online.)
He thought of the MMO game he was hooked on before his accident. The Sun God was a twin, and it had a setting where a red and a yellow sun appeared. In that game, he was a wizard named Marius Tubaan. He formed a guild with like-minded companions, cleared the Grand Quest, and continued playing the bonus extra event afterward. The immediate thought of the red sun must have been due to how deeply he was invested in the game. Thinking that far, Ryuji realized that his current attire was also strikingly similar to Marius Tubaan’s in FAO. The deep crimson robe looked like the extra item “Purgatory Robe,” the golden staff in his right hand like the unique item “Dragon God’s Staff,” and the ring on his left index finger like the extra item “Ring of Divine Words.” If this were real, it meant he was wearing the same equipment he had when he last logged out.
(Reincarnation into the game world, or a world similar to it.)
Fortunately or unfortunately, he had read many novels of that kind. He was somewhat amused by himself for calmly accepting and analyzing his situation, but he kept his mind working.
(It’s pointless to think about how this happened. What matters is what I can do and what I should do.)
This led him to wonder if he could use the same spells if his equipment was the same. It was worth a try, at least. The most important thing, however, was his own condition. He needed to check the details and status of his equipment. Equipment and items could be identified with the tenth-tier spell, Appraisal. Of course, that was assuming he could use it.
“Show me the value of it, [Appraisal]!”
When he cast it, the appraisal results floated into his mind.
Dragon God’s Staff—Unique Item.
Purgatory Robe—Extra Item.
Ring of Divine Words—Extra Item.
Necklace of the Archangel—Unique Item.
And his status showed his name as Marius Tubaan. His current level was two hundred and twenty-eight. His Life Points were thirty-three thousand, and his Magic Points were eighty-six thousand. In FAO, the level cap was two hundred, and players had to advance to the extra event to go beyond that. Ryuji, now Marius, seemed to have been reincarnated as an extra player, for whom the game company had declared, “We are not responsible even if the game balance collapses.” What concerned him was that his item pouch was empty, and his own name appeared in the appraisal. The fact that his name could be identified through status appraisal suggested the possibility of a partially identical game system. The reason for the absence of items was unclear, but he figured thinking about it wouldn’t help, and with the abilities of an extra player, surviving wouldn’t be extremely difficult. His next step was to confirm the magic he could actually use. Magic was classified into thirteen tiers and twelve systems, and Marius could use all of them, holding the title of “Sage,” making him one of the highest-ranking mages. He decided to try attack magic first. Thinking thus, Marius raised his right hand holding the staff.
“Burn the enemy with fire, [Fire]!”
Fire was ranked at the lowest, twelfth tier. That’s why he chose it casually, but the fire that shot from his right hand was white, a ball the size of an adult man’s head flying towards the trees.
“Huh?”
Before his eyes, which widened in disbelief, the white fireball incinerated the trees.
“Shit…”
He had forgotten about the powerful items he was equipped with and his high level. Ten or more trees were felled, and the fire was spreading everywhere. It was a situation that could undoubtedly lead to a massive conflagration if left unchecked. He needed to extinguish it immediately. Water, a spell of equivalent rank to Fire. If he cast it as he was, it would likely be a repeat of what just happened. However, lacking any basis for a spell cast after removing his equipment being able to extinguish the fire, he had no choice.
“Shatter the enemy with water, [Water]!”
As he expected, a massive amount of water appeared, and what could only be described as a great flood flowed over the trees before him. However, the fire was extinguished, and there was no sign of it turning into a conflagration. He breathed a sigh of relief for avoiding the blunder of accidentally causing a massive fire. Though he intended to switch gears, his composure hadn’t fully returned. He took a few deep breaths and lightly tapped his cheeks twice with both hands to psych himself up. The partially scorched forest could probably be dealt with using a spell that accelerated tree growth. The next problem was how to get food. Since his item pouch contained nothing, he had to procure food himself.
(More importantly, not a single living creature fled despite the loud noise…)
Noticing the unnaturalness, he used a spell to detect living beings.
“Show me the signs of life, [Detection]!”
Detection, an eleventh-tier spell. Although it was a rough spell that could only determine if living beings were present, its accuracy in finding them was unparalleled. That spell coldly informed him that there were no living creatures within a radius of several hundred meters.
(Alright, let’s look for some fruit.)
Marius headed into the forest. Since he could use magic, he could identify if poisonous substances were present and, even if he accidentally ingested something, he could detoxify it. The problem was where he currently was. The world of FAO was the fictional continent of Barnam, and it was the same even in the extra event. And there shouldn’t have been any lakes there.
(Could it be the Taliant Continent?)
He thought of another continent that was only mentioned by name. It was generally understood among players to be a setting created to broaden the world’s scope, but it wouldn’t be strange for a lake to exist there.
(For safety’s sake, I should be careful.)
He had the mindset of accepting his death once, but he didn’t want to die again. Since he didn’t know the level of the monsters in this land, it was best to be cautious. Standing at the entrance to the forest, Marius used Detection again. As expected, no signs of life were detected. He could only hear his own footsteps and the sound of the wind rushing through the trees. Looking up, he saw clusters of dark, grape-like fruits hanging. His undershirt beneath the robe was similar to his old world’s, and the boots were of an unfamiliar brown type, so it was probably best not to climb the trees. He stored the Dragon God’s Staff, the Ring of Divine Words, and the Necklace of the Archangel in his item pouch and raised his right hand. If he cast magic normally, the trees and the fruit would be blown to smithereens. He omitted the incantation part and simply stated the spell’s name. This was the “chant omission” technique that existed in the game.
“[Wind]!”
As he chanted the twelfth-tier spell, imagining a gentle breeze, a gust of wind erupted from his right hand, breaking off a large number of branches and rushing upward. Broken branches, crushed fruits, uncrushed fruits, and scattered leaves all fell at once. It seemed that omitting the chant significantly reduced the spell’s power. This part also seemed faithful to the game’s settings.
“[Slow]!”
He cast the spell that slows down targets, slowing the descent of all falling objects. He slowly moved away from the falling objects, which were now moving at a slow-motion speed, slowed to the limit. Many of the leaves were scattered, and about half of the fruits were crushed. The countless wooden fragments were likely broken branches. It seemed he had managed to reduce the power to some extent by being conscious of the moderation. He selected only the uncrushed fruits and put them into his item pouch. When he readjusted the pouch after finishing the task, he noticed that the weight of the pouch remained the same. In FAO, there was a weight limit system, and the item pouch was often used as a loophole for that system. However, there was a limit to the number of items that could be put into it.
(This isn’t the FAO item pouch?)
Given the fact that he had been sent to an unknown land, he couldn’t deny the possibility.
(No, first I need to secure food.)
He shook his head and dismissed the thought. He had the lake, and if necessary, he could create water with magic. In his previous world, he had experienced impromptu overnight stays while traveling, so sleeping arrangements weren’t a major concern. The grass was thick, and there were no insects, so it would be much more comfortable than sleeping on a gravel road full of bugs in midsummer. If the fruits on the trees were edible, the immediate problem would be resolved. First, he used magic to confirm that they were not poisonous, and then he took a bite. The fruit was sweet, tasted very similar to grapes, and its juice instantly filled his mouth. There was something hard inside, which seemed to be a small seed, but he spat it onto the ground. Marius was a little pleased by the unexpectedly delicious taste. In any case, he now had a prospect for survival.
