Hell Mode: Volume 1, page 6
The weakest is a rabbit with a horn on its forehead, right? I still remember how delicious it was.
Rodin had managed to bring one of these home on two occasions. They had been the size of regular dogs from Allen’s past life. Apparently there was an unwritten rule that these monster intruders belonged to whoever caught them, so there was always a scramble in the village any time one got in.
“Awww, Allen!” Theresia was so touched by his response that she reached over and wrapped her son in a tight hug.
“Is that so! Is that so!” Rodin joined in and tousled his son’s hair, filled with pride at the courageous young man that his boy was growing into.
Theresia let go and looked into his face. “Of course, you’ll be protecting Krena too, right?”
“Mm-hm!”
The truth was Rodin and Theresia had both heard from Gerda that Krena was already far stronger than horned rabbits. This was why it was her making the trip to their place every day instead of Allen.
“You’ve been having fun playing knight with Krena every day, so who knows? You just might have a Talent! I can’t wait to see the results of the Appraisal Ceremony when you turn five!”
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll do fine, honey.”
Hold on, new word! What’s that? “Apprezelseremonie?”
“That’s right, Allen,” Theresia replied. “When you turn five, the gods are going to tell papa and mama whether you have a Talent or not.”
She continued to explain that in this world, all children who reached five years old had to undergo a ceremony that examined them for inborn Talents. Allen’s parents assured him that many people did not possess a Talent and to not get his hopes up, but to him, it looked more like his parents were the ones getting their hopes up. From the sound of it, possessing a Talent was one of the few ways through which a serf could rise through the social ranks.
And so the days passed with Allen continuing to throw stones in the morning and play knight with Krena in the afternoon. In addition to helping Theresia out where possible, he also diligently converted his MP into Skill XP and conducted further experiments during whatever time remained. Time flew by in the blink of an eye.
＊ ＊ ＊
It was currently March, the time of the year when the last vestiges of snow melted away and green sprouts budded throughout the expansive fields. Allen, now four years old, was standing in front of the tree in his yard and staring at his grimoire. Specifically, he was staring at the line written in gold on the cover that represented his year and a half of unceasing effort.
It finally leveled up again!
Allen had successfully obtained Throwing as a skill and raised it to Lvl. 3. He updated the part of his memos where he had been recording the number of throws he had made.
Number of Throws Made (Cumulative):
10,000 times → Lvl. 1
20,000 times → Lvl. 2
120,000 times → Lvl. 3
Looks like there are certain rules behind obtaining skills. These specific numbers might be unique to Throwing, but they’re too perfect to be random.
Allen continued noting down what he could derive from these three numbers.
In order to obtain a skill, the associated action must be repeated a certain number of times.
In order to reach Lvl. 2, the skill must be performed the same number of times required to obtain it in the first place.
In order to reach Lvl. 3, the skill must be performed ten times more than the number of times required to obtain it in the first place.
There was now a circular area on the surface of the tree that had been chipped away after being hit with rocks a total of 120,000 times. Allen had started out doing only a hundred throws each day, but when he reached Lvl. 2 and confirmed that the leveling system was, in fact, related to the number of repetitions, he had ramped it up to three hundred throws.
Which means if I’d been in Normal Mode and not Hell Mode, it would’ve taken only a hundred throws to get.
The description for Hell Mode had mentioned that gaining and leveling up skills would take a hundred times more effort. Allen concluded this was because the number of repeated actions required for both acquiring and leveling skills was literally a hundred times higher.
Hmm, do I actually want to aim for Throwing Lvl. 4? It’d presumably take a million throws. Three hundred throws a day means it’d take me over nine years. But even if I quit, it’s not like I’d have anything else to do. Should I continue until something else comes up? If I do 100,000 or 200,000 more throws and the skill doesn’t level up, then it’d support my theory that the needed XP is indeed one million.
While mulling over what direction to go next, Allen checked his Status.
* * *
Name: Allen
Age: 4
Class: Summoner
Level: 1
HP: 16 (40) + 26
MP: 1 (20)
Attack: 4 (10) + 26
Endurance: 4 (10) + 6
Agility: 10 (25) + 10
Intelligence: 12 (30) + 4
Luck: 10 (25)
Skills: Summoning {2}, Creation {3}, Synthesis {2}, Expansion {1}, Sword Mastery {2}, Throwing {3}, Deletion
XP: 0/1,000
Skill Levels
Summoning: 2
Creation: 3
Synthesis: 2
Skill Experience
Creation: 1,846/100,000
Synthesis: 1,325/10,000
Creatable Summons
Insect: G, H
Beast: G, H
Bird: G
Holder
Insect: G x 2, H x 2
Beast: G x 13
Bird: G x 2
* * *
Although Summoning rose to Lvl. 2 when Allen was a year and ten months old, it had not gone up since despite him now being four years and five months old. He had only been able to start training Creation Lvl. 2 and Synthesis Lvl. 1 after he turned three and his max MP increased to six. By now, however, both these skills had gone up by a level each.
So why didn’t Summoning increase to Lvl. 3 even though Creation leveled up?
As Allen studied his status, this familiar train of thought—one he had wrestled with countless times—rose unbidden to his conscious mind. He speculated that, because Summoning had yet to level up, no new available Summons had appeared. Considering how Bird G unlocked when he obtained Summoning Lvl. 2, he would likely need higher Summoning skill to gain access to higher-ranked Summons.
The problem is, I have no idea how to raise my Summoning skill.
This world had neither walkthrough sites nor online forums, meaning Allen had to figure everything out on his own. After racking his brains, he had decided to try raising Synthesis to Lvl. 3. He was hoping that raising both associated skills to Lvl. 3 would naturally cause Summoning to also become Lvl. 3.
Despite having leveled up, Synthesis still cost 5 MP to activate. It seemed likely that this was going to remain a fixed number unaffected by skill level, unlike Creation.
As for Sword Mastery, it had gone up naturally through playing knight with Krena daily. After a year and a half, it had now become Lvl. 2.
Allen had noticed this with Throwing as well, but having a skill—and what’s more, having it at a higher level—made a significant difference in accuracy and power. Skills corrected the user’s form so that the associated motion would become smoother and more natural. The power of the stones he threw and the sword strikes that he dealt had both increased with each successive level up. Although there were elements that made this world seem like a swords-and-magic video game, it was still very much real. There were no visible damage counters, so Allen had no way of knowing for sure, but he could feel the damage he was dishing out had indeed risen.
Accordingly, Allen had noted in his grimoire.
Effects of Leveling Up:
Corrects the body’s posture
Increases the damage dealt
“Allen, can you help me with lunch?” Theresia suddenly called out.
“Of course, mama.” Allen obediently headed back into the house. He walked up to stand next to his mother, who was shouldering a toddler, and helped out where he could with the cooking.
In December of the year before last, Theresia had safely given birth to her second child. The fifteen-month-old baby was now flapping his legs vigorously, indicating that he was awake.
While handing cooked potatoes and the pestle and mortar to Allen, Theresia slowly rocked him back and said in a sing-song voice, “Mash, yum-yums will be ready soon!”
“Yaaah!” the baby replied in a drawn-out voice as saliva dribbled from his mouth. Allen’s younger brother Mash had brown hair, green eyes, and features that seemed closer to Rodin’s rather than Theresia’s.
Once again, Rodin had been the one to decide the child’s name, and he had done so basing it on another monster. His inspiration had been the murdergalsh, a creature that he described as “a lone wolf that roams the world wherever it pleases.” He had put plenty of thought into the name, and his earnest hope for his son to grow up free and unshackled came through crystal clear. But in the same way Allen’s name was supposedly derived from “albaheron,” Mash’s name bore little resemblance to “murdergalsh” either.
When Allen asked, he learned that the murdergalsh was a Rank B monster, two whole ranks higher than the albaheron. Hearing this, he turned away and muttered under his breath in a silly, villain-like voice, “Like hell a younger brother can surpass his older brother!” before chuckling a bit to himself.
Since Mash was currently being weaned, Allen diligently and thoroughly crushed the potato into a paste that his baby brother could safely eat without choking. Although he had yet to help out in the fields, he had become quite involved with the housework by now.
Here’s to hoping you eat more and grow up big and strong, little brother.
“I’m home!” Rodin was back from the fields, so the entire family gathered around the sunken fireplace to eat lunch. Halfway through the meal, Rodin shared, “Oh, yeah, they’re naming the village ‘Deboji Village’ next year. When I went to the well to refill our water jug this morning, some of the villagers told me a messenger from the feudal lord came and announced it.”
Theresia did not look particularly surprised. “So our village is finally getting a name...”
I guess we’re developed enough to no longer be “just a frontier village,” Allen thought.
This year was the ninth year since the village’s founding. Both its expansion and production had largely evened out, so for its tenth anniversary, it was to be officially named.
“Yep. Makes sense that it’s the village chief’s name. No surprises there,” Rodin chuckled.
Oh? Our village chief’s name is Deboji, huh? Wonder what he looks like. Allen recalled how Rodin had explained before that most frontier villages were named after the most famous person of the village. Normally, this was the first-generation village chief.
After he finished lunch, Rodin said, “Well, I’ll get back to it,” and stood up. Before he actually went back outside, though, he made sure to plant a kiss on Theresia’s cheek. Back when Mash was still an infant, Theresia had to stay with him all day long, but now she could step out during his afternoon nap to help Rodin out a bit in the fields.
Watching his mother playfully smack his father in response, Allen thought, What a peaceful family. He turned toward his younger brother, who was struggling to feed himself some mashed potatoes with a wooden spoon but was ending up with most of it on his face. Mash, it looks like we might be getting another sibling soon.
A recurring thought popped up in Allen’s mind then: why had he been reincarnated?
In his previous life, he had wished from the bottom of his heart for a game challenging enough that he could really dig his teeth into it. Due to this, he did not regret having come to this world of swords and magic. Although his parents in his previous life were still alive, he was already thirty-five and had no girlfriend or spouse. He figured that the overall impact of his coming here was quite minimal.
However, during his first year or so in this world, he had wished that he had been reincarnated as an adult from the get-go instead of starting all the way from birth. That way, he could have lived a life unbeholden to anyone and focused solely on his progress as a Summoner. Immediately upon arriving here, he could have headed to the nearest town and registered as an adventurer, then dedicated himself to increasing his levels and skills through hunting monsters. His playstyle had always been to constantly seek out the most powerful equipment and max out his levels as quickly as possible, and he had originally intended on doing the same thing here.
But a family’s pretty nice too. At the very least, I should free them all from serfdom. Though I still don’t really know how to do that.
Now that he had a younger sibling, there was more for him to consider. He had goals aside from simply leveling up.
Chapter 4: The Appraisal Ceremony
Five and a half years had passed since Allen was first born into this world. It was now spring and halfway through April. Today, Theresia and Rodin had been quite restless ever since the morning.
“Don’t make trouble for the father, okay?”
“I understand, mama.”
This exchange had already taken place more than ten times since yesterday. Allen stood patiently as his mother brushed dust off his outfit again.
“Theresia, Allen’s a smart kid. You know he wouldn’t do anything he shouldn’t. It’s time. We’re off.”
Today was the day of Allen’s Appraisal Ceremony.
My parents sure are gung-ho about this, he thought as he reflected over what he had been told the past few days.
The Appraisal Ceremony was an occasion to appraise each individual for their innate Talent, if they had one at all. It was law in this kingdom that everyone, from royalty to serfs, must undertake this ceremony when they reached five years of age. Depending on the Talent, the child could be promised a government job in the future, regardless of social class. This was one of the few ways for serfs to escape their lowly station.
Allen found himself making his way to the center of the frontier village. It was just him and Rodin; Theresia had stayed behind to take care of Mash. As his father led him down the farm road, Allen heard a very familiar voice.
“Alleeeen!” Krena shouted, energetically waving her arm as her pink hair fluttered in the wind.
Thinking about how long it had been since he last saw her without a wooden sword, Allen replied, “Hey, Krena. You’re going to the Appraisal Ceremony too?”
“Mm-hm! I’m gonna get Swordswoman! And then I’m gonna become a knight!” Krena replied with a bright smile.
Krena was also going to take part in the ceremony today. It was held only once annually in April for all the children that turned five within the year. The Church was hardly going to make the arrangements again and again for each child’s birthday.
Beside Krena was the burly Gerda. The two families began walking together as a group of four. Before long, they had left the fields behind and arrived at the area of the village packed with buildings. Along the way, Krena went into detail about her dream of becoming a knight, practically repeating word for word what she had told Allen yesterday and the day before.
Even after Allen was born, the population of this village had continued rising. By now, the village center was quite well-developed. The last time Allen had been here was when Rodin brought him to watch a great boar butchering when he was one year old. Back then there were only a handful of buildings, the memory of which proved a sharp contrast to the current state of the village.
The ceremony would be starting at 9 a.m. Although it was still a bit early, there was already a crowd of nearly a hundred in front of the building that was very clearly the church. What Allen first noticed about the people was the cleanliness of their clothing. Although everyone was wearing hemp, there were some—serfs—with conspicuous brown stains on their clothes, presumably from working frequently in the fields and having no easy access to soap. The stains served as a conspicuous visual mark of the difference in accessibility to various resources between social classes.
Whoa, the difference between commoners and serfs is that obvious, huh? Wait, so the commoners are appraised together with the serfs?
When the nine o’clock bell clanged, the large double doors opened and clergymen emerged, wearing full-body robes of matching design.
This is gonna be my first time entering the church, Allen thought as he and his father were guided inside by the clergy.
The exterior appearance of the building seemed to imply that there were two floors, but it turned out to be a single floor with a vaulted ceiling. At the far end, pure white statues—both male and female, similar in style to the ones made of Greek mythological figures—towered over all who drew near. There was little doubt that these were representations of this world’s deities.
Let me guess, this one’s holding what looks like a rice plant, so he’s probably the God of Bountiful Harvest. And that one is holding a weapon, so...Goddess of War, I’d guess. But the one standing in the middle and farthest in the back...that’s definitely the God of Creation.
The statue of Elmea depicted him as a man in his late twenties with waist-length hair, a toned build, and fair features. Both of his eyes were closed and the top half of his body was bare. None of the deities had wings. Allen thought back to when he turned one and received a message from Elmea through his grimoire. He had not received any other contact since.
The group of parents and children were instructed to sit together in a group on the ground. When they were all settled, the one who appeared to be the most senior clergyman came forward.
“Thank you all for gathering today for the Appraisal Ceremony.”
The serfs started when all the commoners bowed their heads, then quickly mimicked what they saw. The commoners apparently visited the church frequently—at least, enough to have a basic grasp of the etiquette involved. Of course, Allen obediently followed suit as well.
