Chapter 2

The detailed version of this chapter is in the next chapter.

(Where am I? ... Ah, it's a nostalgic room. Is this Akira's room...? Why am I here?)

I was trying to figure out why I was in my middle school friend Akira's room with a dazed mind.

Akira's room was empty except for me, and on the kotatsu (a low table with a heater underneath) that was always there, there were the rulebook for TRPG (Tabletop Role-Playing Game) and two ten-sided dice.

(Ten-sided dice. How nostalgic... What's this? The title is "Tunnels & Dragons," abbreviated as "T&D." It's quite bold to copy like this (Note)...)

(Note: Upon seeing the title, I thought it was a copy of the famous TRPGs, "Tunnels & Trolls" (T&T) and "Dungeons & Dragons" (D&D) combined.)

"Hey, Yata, Yatarou. Hurry up and create your character. You're so slow!"

Suddenly, Akira's voice was heard.

I couldn't see him around, but I didn't particularly mind and responded.

"Sorry. But I haven't even read the rulebook yet. Can you wait a bit longer?"

"Alright. Just get it done quickly."

I opened the T&D rulebook and started reading.

As I read on, I realized it wasn't much different from the TRPGs I knew, so I skimmed over the parts that didn't interest me.

(What's this? Choose a race, set your stats, and determine your character points (CP). CP can be used to learn skills and enhance stats... Choose skills, and then select your birth environment. There are classes from royalty to slaves. Whether your family is prosperous or declining, whether you were born in a city or a frontier... I see. It's surprisingly detailed. Everything is determined by rolling ten-sided dice.)

I started reading the section on stat setting.

There were ten stats: Strength, Reflexes, Physical Control, Endurance, Magic, Spirit, Intelligence, Craftsmanship, Appearance, and Charm. The stats were determined by rolling two ten-sided dice to get a number between one and one hundred.

(I understand Strength and Reflexes, but what's Physical Control? It only says, "Affects hit rate and success rate of movement-related actions." I guess I need to refer to the "Combat" section for more details...)

I skimmed through the explanations of the other stats.

The rulebook stated that for a typical human NPC, the average stat value is fifty with a standard deviation of ten.

(A standard deviation of ten means three sigma is between twenty and eighty, and five sigma is one hundred. Randomly selecting from this means you can end up with a character with a wildly unbalanced set of stats. Well, since it's an RPG protagonist, I guess that's okay...)

Then, I found an interesting rule.

(You can re-roll the dice once when setting your character. However, you must decide on the spot. You can also allocate CP to your birth environment. In that case, any roll below the CP spent is invalid, and you can re-roll. Essentially, the CP you spend acts as a "floor." If you spend thirty CP, any roll of thirty or below is invalid, and you can re-roll. That's how it works.)

Understanding the rules, I picked up the ten-sided dice for the first time in decades.

(How nostalgic. These dice roll so well. As usual, I'll try to get a "0" on top...)

I had a habit of holding the dice so that the highest number would face up.

Feeling a bit amused that I hadn't forgotten this habit, I started by deciding my race.

(I'll choose a race by rolling two ten-sided dice for a random number between one and one hundred... Dragonkin 100, Demon 96, Elf 91, Dwarf 81, Beastman 66, Human 1... Two-thirds are humans. Since CP isn't determined yet, it's completely random. I'd prefer a non-human race.)

I felt a bit nervous about the first roll.

With determination, I rolled the dice on the kotatsu.

The result was "41."

(Human... I could re-roll, but re-rolling to get another human would be silly. I'll just go with this.)

Next, I decided to set my character points before setting my stats.

Character points are the product of three dice rolls, so they range from one to one thousand.

(If I roll normally, I'll probably get a number between one hundred and two hundred. It's better to use the re-roll here. A higher CP means I can adjust my stats and learn more skills. Plus, I can use it for my birth environment.)

I started by rolling the dice one at a time to determine my CP.

The first roll was "9." I made a fist in excitement.

The second roll was "10." This secured me a minimum of ninety CP.

For the third roll, I shouted, "Go!" and rolled the dice.

The ten-sided die in front of me showed a "2."

(What? A "2"... Well, it's fine. I'll re-roll. The chance of rolling lower is one in ten, and the chance of rolling higher is eight in ten. The potential gain far outweighs the risk...)

I canceled the third roll and chose to re-roll.

I gathered my determination again, focused on the ten-sided die, and rolled it.

The die rolled and stopped with a "9" facing up.

(Yes! Nine times ten times nine is eight hundred and ten. Even if my stats are low, I can recover. I'll make a cheat character. Hehehe...)

I smiled to myself as I looked at the number.

Akira's impatient voice was heard, "Hurry up. You're so slow."

"Sorry. I got a bit carried away."

I quickly started setting my stats.

I began with Strength.

With determination, I rolled the dice, and the results were: Strength 35, Reflexes 82, Physical Control 83, Endurance 20, Magic 96, Spirit 41, Intelligence 99, Craftsmanship 45, Appearance 87, Charm 81.

(Not bad. Just looking at these, it's a clear magic user. I'll leave the physical labor to someone else.)

Feeling good about the numbers, I moved on to the skill acquisition section.

The rulebook stated that there were "Talents" and "Special Abilities," and both could be assigned to the character using CP.

Talents were related to innate abilities in martial arts, magic, production, etc., and acquiring a talent didn't mean you could use it immediately. It required training, practice, or education to become usable.

Special Abilities included things like toughness, disease resistance, poison resistance, and more obscure ones like "Past Life Memory" and a "Reference" function, which were truly "special" abilities.

(There are over ten martial arts talents. There are eight attributes for magic. Oh, there's an option to get all eight attributes. With eight hundred and ten CP, I can take as many as I want... Hmm? Talents have levels. Level 1 is the best in the village, Level 2 is the best in the town, Level 3 is a master, Level 4 is a genius, and Level 5 is a once-in-a-century genius. It's a bit confusing. Oh, there are examples. For example, in baseball, Level 1 is a star in amateur leagues, Level 2 is a high school champion, Level 3 is a second-tier professional, Level 4 is a top-tier professional, and Level 5 is a Hall of Famer in the MLB... The higher the talent, the faster the skill level increases... For a main character, Level 3 or higher is ideal, and Level 1 is sufficient for regular use.)

I decided to take more magic-related talents to leverage my stats.

(I don't quite understand the "Magic Power" talent. It costs fifty CP, and it's only useful for production-related skills... I'll skip it.)

I tried to acquire as many physical enhancement talents as possible. I also decided to learn some martial arts skills for self-defense.

The talents I acquired were:

Martial Arts: Swordsmanship 1, Unarmed Combat 1, Evasion 5

Magic: All Attributes, Magic Efficiency, Magic Defense

Production: None

Others: Body Control 3, Horsemanship 1, Training 1, Negotiation 1, Perception 3, Stealth 3, Traps 2

Special Abilities: Toughness, Disease Resistance, Poison Resistance, Mental Resistance, Enhanced Vision, Extra Effort, Past Life Memory, Reference

After acquiring all these skills, I had 570 CP left.

(I set Evasion to 5, so I can dodge and cast spells elegantly. "If you don't get hit, it's no big deal" is a fitting line for this character... I've covered the essential skills for adventuring, so next is the birth environment. Let's start with the social class.)

The social classes ranged from royalty to slaves, with 70 or higher being the ruling class (knights and above), 40 or higher being merchants, 15 or higher being farmers, and 5 or below being slaves.

(I definitely don't want to be a slave. I want to allocate CP to my stats, so I'll be satisfied with anything but a slave. The balance between family lineage and home environment is important. Even if I'm a farmer, if the environment is favorable, there shouldn't be any issues with growth. I'll just avoid being a slave. Still, the probability of rolling 5 or below is one in twenty. It feels like a waste, but it's a cheap insurance...)

I used 5 CP to invalidate any roll of 5 or below.

I rolled the dice and got "03."

(Phew! If I hadn't used CP, I would have been a slave...)

With determination, I re-rolled and got "71," making me a knight in the ruling class.

(Good! I was born into a knight's family. Being a magic user in a knight's family sounds tough. I'll reconsider my martial arts talents later.)

Next, I decided on the family situation.

The environment ranged from favorable to declining, and I used 30 CP to ensure a minimum of 30.

The result was "38" for "Declining."

(Despite using 30 CP, I only got 38. It feels like a loss. But being a declining knight's family is a plausible character background. I became an adventurer to rebuild my declining family. It's a believable setting.)

I thought about this casually.

Then, I chose my birthplace, which ranged from the capital to uncharted wilderness. I didn't use CP for this.

The result was "Frontier."

(A declining knight's family in the frontier. A protagonist who sets out to seek fame and fortune. A perfect setting...)

With the birth environment decided, I had 250 CP left.

(Should I allocate this to stats or acquire more talents... Let's reconsider my martial arts talents first.)

Considering I was born into a knight's family, I raised Swordsmanship to 3, and acquired Throwing and Shield Defense. I also decided to add the special skill "Martial Magic," which allows the use of magic for attacks.

(Now I have 140 CP left. Should I raise my stats...)

I read the rulebook again.

The section on talent and skill acquisition explained that to learn a skill by the age of fifteen (the adult age in this game), training was necessary.

The success of training depended on the home environment (whether the family could afford a teacher) and a success roll. The success roll for childhood training was based on a number equal to or below Spirit, and the number of training sessions per year was equal to Endurance.

(In other words, the learning speed in childhood depends on Endurance and Spirit... A healthy and persistent person can complete the training. It feels very realistic... Both my Endurance and Spirit are low. I'll raise them boldly...)

I raised Endurance from 20 to 80 and Spirit from 41 to 80.

(Now, should I improve my weaknesses or enhance my strengths? I've taken enough talents, so I'll use the remaining CP to raise my stats.)

I raised Strength from 35 to 50, Reflexes from 82 to 90, Physical Control from 83 to 90, Magic from 96 to 100, Intelligence from 99 to 100, Craftsmanship from 45 to 50, and Charm from 81 to 82.

In the end, my stats were: Strength 50, Reflexes 90, Physical Control 90, Endurance 80, Magic 100, Spirit 80, Intelligence 100, Craftsmanship 50, Appearance 87, Charm 82.

The talents I acquired were:

Martial Arts: Swordsmanship 3, Unarmed Combat 1, Throwing 1, Shield Defense 1, Evasion 5

Magic: All Attributes, Magic Efficiency, Magic Defense

Production: None

Others: Body Control 3, Horsemanship 1, Training 1, Negotiation 1, Perception 3, Stealth 3, Traps 2

Special Abilities: Toughness, Disease Resistance, Poison Resistance, Mental Resistance, Enhanced Vision, Extra Effort, Past Life Memory, Reference, Martial Magic

I used all my character points and reviewed everything.

(Hehehe... The average stat is eighty. Two stats are five sigma (one in ten thousand), and six stats are three sigma (one in a thousand). All other stats are above average... Hehehe, a perfect cheat character. The talents are also rich, and it's a character with great potential...)

"Akira, I'm done..."

Just as I was about to tell Akira I was finished, I suddenly slumped onto the kotatsu and my consciousness began to blur.