Chapter 4

The moment I felt as if my consciousness was floating upwards, I found myself in a grassland.

The first thing that surprised me was the fact that I could smell.

The scent of grass and flowers. The scent of the earth. These were the scents that gave me a sense of standing in a grassland.

This was a system that none of the games I had experienced over the past two days had.

"Welcome to WorldLive-ONLINE."

As expected, a voice came from behind.

When I turned around, there was a woman in a navy blue habit.

She was known as the Navigator, a tutorial character who always spoke from behind to players who had just landed in this game for the first time.

"I am Iris. I have come to bestow you with a guide."

Along with her words, she handed me a card that resembled a piece of iron.

This menu card, as it was called, was an item prepared for players who could not operate the game through thought control. It was also used as an identity card and a wallet in this world.

"Try to think of displaying the menu. The menu screen should be projected. If it doesn't work, rubbing the card twice will display the menu."

"Huh... Ah, it appeared."

The menu screen appeared with a hard-to-describe sound, "Fwoon," and it seemed to be made of a hard material, much like a smartphone screen, with a similar feel to operate.

Well, it might be better than being asked to operate a semi-transparent hologram.

The screen had no menu items yet, only the four characters "Initial Settings" in the center.

"Let's start the settings. First, choose your race."

When I pressed the initial settings, two items appeared.

Human and demi-human.

Regarding the demi-human, there seemed to be a tree of options available.

I opened the demi-human category and searched for the race that I had decided on with Rin among the numerous options.

There were famous races like elves, beastmen, and dwarves, and special avatar races unique to VR, such as fairies. Even though I had known about them beforehand, I was overwhelmed by the sheer number.

After scrolling through once without finding it, I went back and scrolled again, finally selecting the race I was looking for.

It was the Oni race. A very specialized race with a very skewed performance.

"Once you have chosen your race, please decide on your avatar's appearance."

Following the Navigator's words, my avatar was displayed on the menu screen.

Black hair, red eyes, and a small horn on the forehead.

My height was the same as in real life, 155 cm. My modest body was also the same. I felt like crying.

Oh, I can increase my breast size... No, no, I feel like I would lose if I did that. If only I had the same as Rin...

Somehow resisting the temptation, I changed my hair length from short to medium.

Rin said she would keep hers as it was, so I didn't need to change it much.

"Once you have decided on your avatar's appearance, please choose two skills. Currently, the popular skills are the One-Handed Sword skill and the Lightning Attribute Magic skill."

She even told me about the popular skills among previous players.

It is a fantasy world, after all. I can understand the desire to use a sword, and magic is a dream.

However, I had no intention of choosing them.

Or rather, I couldn't choose one of them.

Specifically, the magic skill. When I started this game, I had completely given up on this option.

The reason being, the Oni race has extremely low magic-related stats.

To put it simply, the three stats required for casting magic—MP, intelligence (which affects magic attack power), and magic defense—are extremely low, and they have a -75% growth rate.

This means that if you would normally gain 20 points when leveling up, you would only gain 5.

In exchange, there are significant growth bonuses for strength (which affects physical attacks), toughness (which affects defense), dexterity (which is essential for crafting), and agility (which affects movement).

In short, a physically specialized, highly specialized character.

That was the Oni race.

Since I couldn't choose the magic skill, I selected the Blunt Weapon skill, as I had decided.

Why not the One-Handed Sword skill? I'm not good at handling bladed weapons...

It's not exactly "a demon with a golden club," but I find clubs and bats easier to use than swords.

Moreover, for a Japanese person living in modern times, blunt weapons are likely to be easier to use.

After all, you can fight just by hitting, and the entire weapon can be used for attacks.

Swords can break if you hit the wrong spot, and you need to hold them correctly to cut.

While I don't think the game will require perfect sword techniques, for me, who is not used to games, an easier weapon is more convenient.

The other skill I chose was the Throwing skill.

The Oni race can hardly use magic.

This means they lack long-range attack options.

This skill is to compensate for that. It seems that even rocks can be used as weapons, which might be useful if my weapon breaks.

"Once you have chosen your skills, please allocate your initial status points."

Following the flow, I tapped the screen, and the status screen opened up.

---

PN:

Race: Oni

Occupation:

Money: 1000 Iri

Status

HP: 39

MP: 0

SP: 26

Strength: 13

Toughness: 13

Dexterity: 13

Agility: 13

Intelligence: 0

Magic Defense: 0

Luck: 10

Remaining Status Points: 10

Skills

Blunt Weapon: Proficiency 0

Throwing: Proficiency 0

---

Looking at this, I could roughly grasp the growth bonus for the Oni race.

30%. That seems to be the growth bonus.

From this, it is clear that HP and SP also have growth bonuses.

If there were no status bonuses, the base values would be 30 for HP and 20 for SP.

By the way, SP stands for stamina, which is consumed by actions such as using skills, attacking, dashing, and dodging.

Unlike MP, it recovers automatically, but using it recklessly can leave you unable to move during combat.

In other words, stamina management is essential in WorldLive-ONLINE.

Regarding the magic stats, the initial values were as expected. An initial value of 0 is almost refreshing.

Luck, which is sometimes called luck in games, was left at its initial value.

I allocated the remaining status points equally between strength and dexterity.

Apparently, increasing dexterity improves the flexibility of avatar control.

I tried a forward bend, and my body was much stiffer than in real life. Adding 5 points didn't seem to make a noticeable difference.

"Once you have decided on your status, please choose your initial equipment."

I think this means to choose beginner equipment that matches the skills I selected, so I chose a club.

Looking at the club's stats, I confirmed that it was categorized under Blunt Weapon.

"Once you have chosen your initial equipment, please select a name."

A name. I think it's an important part.

Some people might choose names like "Absolute Shadow" or "Pitch-Black Fallen Angel."

A black history for life.

I didn't usually play games voluntarily, but when I did, I always used the same name.

It was a gift that Rin had thought of using all the knowledge she had just learned when she was little.

"Sukuna." That is my player name.

Fortunately, among the 10,000 early players and the second wave who had likely finished the tutorial before me, no one had used this name.

While thinking about how later players are at a disadvantage in games that don't allow name overlaps, I decided on my name, and the menu screen disappeared silently.

"Traveler Sukuna. I pray for your journey."

A magic circle flew to my feet from her slowly waving arm with a smile.

After a moment of darkness, I was thrown into a bustling area.

The "City of Beginnings." I had finally set foot in this nameless city.