To Another World... with Land Mines! Volume 1, page 1
Prologue
“Hey! I’m an evil god, but I’m not actually evil!”
What? If I had to describe how I felt at that moment with one word, that would be it. In front of me was a young boy, chilling with his hands behind his head. He looked like a kid who had just started elementary school. My surroundings were pitch-black, so the only things I could see were him and a vast number of floating souls. Hold on, floating souls?!
“Ah ha ha, it looks like you’re all very confused,” the young boy said with a laugh. “Of course, of course. After all, you are humans! Or perhaps I should say...were humans!” No sooner had he finished his sentence than the young boy burst out laughing again.
What’s so funny?! I’d like an explanation here!
“Don’t worry, I prepared some slides to explain things to you guys! Look over here!”
I looked at where the boy pointed, and a white display screen came up in the air.
Nice. He sure is well prepared.
The first slide appeared, and the screen displayed the words:
•School field trip
Oh, yeah. We had been in the middle of a school field trip. Specifically, we had been on a bus on the way to the airport.
The memory had just come back to me when the screen continued to the next slide:
•Bus accident
•Everyone died
•BAD ENDING
Only four slides?! And no pictures at all?!
I was fairly sure the floating souls here—most likely my classmates—were all thinking the same thing: WHAT THE HELL?!
“Yep, quite easy to understand, if I do say so myself!” the boy continued. “Huh? Give more details? Show a video? Nah, no can do. That’s some R-18 material right there. I’d get in trouble with the Film Classification and Rating Organization if I showed it. Besides, the content’s blurred out completely, so, y’know?”
Why is the FRO involved?! Wait, no, hold on. If the video footage was R-18 and needed to be blurred, then that meant everyone’s deaths were very gruesome. Everyone...
How did we all die, then? A normal traffic accident shouldn’t have been that gruesome.
“Hmm? Don’t remember what happened when you guys died? Yeah, I erased those memories. There’s no point in reliving pain and suffering. And, well, I doubt you guys would be in any shape to talk if you did remember.”
Ah, yeah, true. Maybe we burned to death or something similarly painful.
That aside, was this person really an evil god? All he had done so far was answer questions, but I hadn’t heard any voices other than his, not even my own.
“Why am I called an evil god? I’m not too sure. All I’ve ever done is offer a new career path to people who die young, whenever I feel like doing it, but I guess that rubs some people the wrong way.”
Career path?
“Yeah, a new life in a different world for people who die young. Oh, your teacher and the bus driver already lived good, long lives, so I returned them to the cycle of rebirth. So yeah, all the souls here are just students.”
I looked (?) around and counted the floating souls. There were a total of thirty-two. If I remembered correctly, my class was evenly divided between sixteen boys and sixteen girls, so the number definitely matched. That meant my childhood friends Haruka and Tomoya were probably here as well. It was impossible to tell which souls they were, though.
“Yep! This is exactly what one fourth of you think it is! Your entire class is getting transported to another world! There are things like stats and level ups in the new world you’re going to, so it’s kind of like a game world! Congrats!”
“Congrats”?! You sure are lighthearted for an evil god! I mean, if you’re transporting people over from another world, then it’s no wonder some people might consider you evil! Also, I’m really surprised to find out that so many people in my class enjoy light novels! I’m one of them, but still!
“You’re not being reincarnated, so you’ll be the same age you are now. You’re not being summoned either, so you won’t have to complete some impossible task or be enslaved all of a sudden! Congrats!”
Ah, yeah. There are definitely some light novels like that where the characters get summoned against their will, get the title of Hero thrust upon them, and then get forced to kill other people. What are those characters thinking, just blindly trusting the words of their summoners and going to war based on nothing more than that? Well, I guess there are some variations where the characters have no choice but to fight in order to survive...
“What about an otome game world? Nah, no can do! Those aren’t real games, so there’s no plot to follow! But hey, it’s possible to create a similar situation with your own charms! Don’t worry, the difficulty is about the same as it was back in your original world! Congrats!”
Yeah, uh, that’s impossible, then. It’s definitely not happening if it’s about the same difficulty. I mean, none of the girls in my class are stunners, and they definitely don’t have the finesse or charm they’d need to play handsome men like a fiddle.
“Harem? Same as the previous question! It’s possible if you’re attractive enough and have money!”
Again, not happening.
“Any cheat skills? Nope, none at all! I’m only transporting you on a whim, and that’s it! Oh, but don’t worry, I made sure that you’ll all be able to read, write, and communicate in the new world! Consider it a huge freebie from me! All right, is that it for questions? Let’s get started with the transportation process, then!”
The boy waved his hand, and something that looked like an interface window popped up. At the very top was a line of text which said 150 Points, and below that was a table of skills and races, each listed with the number of points required to purchase it.
“It’s a completely different world, so it’d be almost impossible for you to adjust if I transported you just as you were before. This is another freebie from me. On top are the points you guys have to spend. They’re more or less the same for all of you. Some of you might have a different amount depending on your attributes and actions before you died, but it’s just differences like whether or not you worked out or studied hard. Effort will never betray you. Good advice!”
Hmm. I can’t tell if 150 Points is a lot or very little, since there seems to be no way to talk with my classmates to compare. My grades weren’t that bad. I wasn’t bad at sports either, but I had no idea if those mattered for the evil god’s criteria. I didn’t care about where I ranked relative to my classmates, but I would be happy if I had more points than the average person from our old world. Social welfare probably doesn’t exist, so I’ll need all the advantages I can get to survive in a completely new world.
“Hmm. Well, even the person who has the fewest points of anyone here has more than an average person from your old world, so I’m sure things will work out if you put your heart into it!”
Put our hearts into it, huh? We weren’t getting any cheat skills, so it would probably be impossible to live a chill and easy life. I should keep that in mind while deciding what skills to get.
“You want skills that aren’t in the list? Hmm, all right. Go ahead and tell me what you want. I’ll add them to the list if they’re reasonable. Plunder? Sure, I guess! Copy? Sure! A 2x EXP skill? I’ll add in a 4x and 10x variant as well! Skin Lightening? Really? Well, okay. Heroic Aptitude? What, do you want to become a hero?”
Well then, it seems like everyone’s just throwing out all kinds of requests without holding back at all. I was just about to request some safe and sensible skills, but I guess I lost my chance...
The evil god (at least, that was what he called himself) didn’t reject many of the requests, and a lot of new skills were added to the list in the interface window. The skills that seemed useful required a lot of points to obtain, and the ones that didn’t required very few. These skills look fair and balanced at first glance, but I wonder...
“Oh, yeah, one more thing—If you don’t have enough points to obtain a certain skill, then that skill won’t be displayed for you. If you don’t see the skill that you requested, then there’s your answer!”
Based on what he said just now, a lot of skills were added, and I’m assuming that a decent percentage of them require more than 150 Points. What I really need right now, though, is some sort of tutorial or help guide. The descriptions for these skills are too brief.
“Ah yeah, I guess not all of you are familiar with this process—especially girls who don’t play real video games. I’ll add a help guide.”
Oh, that’s convenient. Let’s see—20 Points required? Wait, what? Do I need to spend points to unlock the guide? Isn’t that also kind of expensive? Wait, is this a onetime thing?
“That should be all, right? Take your time and choose the skills you want. You have about an hour to choose. There are no cheat skills on this list, so choose carefully!”
The number of skills that were listed in my window had more than doubled as a result of all the skills that the boy added from my classmates’ requests. Are there really no cheat skills here? Some of these seem ridiculous. There are definitely some skills that seem like they could be overpowered if used properly. One skill that stands out to me is the Copy Skill, which requires 100 Points to get. Again, is this really balanced?
★★★★★★★★★
All right, what skill should I get first? The Help Guide seems like a good choice.
The description for the Help Guide was this:
Detailed explanations and advice will be displayed. Cannot be removed after purchase.
Yeah, it makes sense that you can’t remove the Help Guide after obtaining it. The price would be pointless, since you could just get a refund after getting the information you wanted. Should I get this?
Yeah, of course. Sure, 20 Points is expensive, but it’s definitely worth the cost. I mean, it’s better than blindly grabbing skills without any advice or any foreknowledge of the world I’m getting transported to and then ending up with an awful, gimmicky character build.
It would be especially bad if I chose a race that was oppressed in the new world. I could also say the same for traits and skills that were easy targets for persecution. Common sense from the old world won’t apply here at all, so nobody’s going to save me even if I yell “Hey, that’s racist!” or “I’m being discriminated against!”
I told myself that this was a necessary expense to guarantee my own safety and obtained the Help Guide before I hesitated any further.
Oh, the display changed.
The skills that I no longer had enough points to buy disappeared, and more text was added to the description of the Help Guide. The new description text appeared within parentheses:
Detailed explanations and advice will be displayed. Cannot be removed after purchase.
(Some explanations and advice will remain accessible for browsing after transport.)
Oh, that’s convenient if I can still use this even after being transported. I guess this was a good deal after all. All right, next up is to pick my race. It looks like the Human race doesn’t require any points to choose.
A race with average potential and abilities.
(Cannot use magic if not born with magical aptitude.)
The Elf race looked like an attractive choice. It cost 20 points.
A race highly adept at magic, with a life span twice that of the average Human.
(Can learn and use magic without expending additional points on magical aptitude, but has less physical strength than a Human.)
Next up was the Dhamphir race. The name alone really appealed to my inner middle school fantasies. It cost 50 Points.
A race of half-vampires endowed with strong and resilient bodies as well as an aptitude for magic. They possess an innate resistance towards light due to being half human.
(Their lust for blood is stronger than that of pure-blooded vampires, and they thus require a daily sustenance of Human blood amounting to at least 400 cc. Most are unable to control their urges and end up draining the blood of their victims to the last drop. They are hunted down on sight due to the nature of their race.)
Yeah, no. This is definitely way too gimmicky. I’m glad I decided to get the Help Guide!
As I read through the Help Guide for more information, I learned that almost every race that was special in some way also had some weaknesses written in the additional information. This Dhamphir race definitely seemed like a good choice just based on the initial information given, but knowing their weaknesses changes that completely. Those 20 Points I spent on the Help Guide had definitely been worth it. Why’s important information like this hidden in the Help Guide, though? Is it because that boy is actually an evil god, or is there another reason?
Let’s see, are there any other safe choices here? Choosing the Dwarf race would make me short and stout and give me a thick beard. Choosing the Halfling race would make me really short, all the way under 120 centimeters. I wouldn’t mind if this was just a game, but this is real life, so I think I’ll pass on these choices. I do like animal ears, but I’d rather be the one petting them than put a pair on my own head. Well, I’ll go with the Elf race after all.
I now had 110 Points left to use, and next up were skills. A lot of skills had been added, so it was going to take some time.
Plunder (80 Points required)
Steal target’s skills. The levels of the stolen skills will remain the same they were originally. You do not need to designate which skill you want to steal. The stolen skill will be returned to its original owner upon the death of the user.
(The user’s life span will be reduced by 4% x the level of the stolen skills, and that total amount will be transferred to the target. This formula treats skills without levels as Level 5.)
This skill definitely seemed like a cheat skill at first glance, but it had a ridiculous drawback tagged on. Well, you are stealing the product of someone else’s hard work and time with this, so I guess it’s kind of fair that you have to give up your own “time” in exchange?
Copy (100 Points required)
Copy a skill from the target. Does not affect the target’s skills. However, you must know both the name and level of the skill you want to copy.
(The copied skill will be reduced to Level 1 and its status will be changed to Sealed. The status effect will be removed upon learning how to use the copied skill from its original user. Cannot copy skills that don’t have a level.)
There were no drawbacks for the copy target, so it made sense that the drawback for the user was not that severe either. You could use a copied skill at Level 1 right away if you actually got permission from the original owner. This might actually be a pretty decent skill.
2x EXP (50 Points required)
Experience gained from combat and training is doubled.
(The number of Experience Points required to level up will be increased tenfold.)
10x EXP (120 Points required)
Experience gained from combat and training is increased tenfold.
(The number of Experience Points required to level up will be increased tenfold.)
Heroic Aptitude (80 Points required)
Grants you the innate aptitude to become a Hero through training and effort.
(Your chances of getting involved in trouble are increased, and you will often end up in life-threatening situations.)
Magic Aptitude: Omni (80 Points required)
Grants you innate aptitude for learning all kinds and types of magic.
(The difficulty of learning any and all magic will be greatly increased.)
Mana Capacity: Ultimate (80 Points required)
Grants you an overwhelming amount of mana.
(Your physical strength and endurance will be greatly reduced. Controlling your mana will also become very difficult.)
Charm (50 Points required)
You become very alluring to the opposite sex and mesmerize them. Your outward appearance will not change.
(Targets under the influence of Charm will become very controlling and possessive and will want to keep you to themselves. You are unable to designate a target for this skill.)
Extremely Attractive Appearance (30 Points required)
You become the very description of perfect beauty. No one can resist your looks, including both the same and the opposite sex.
(Useful for those pursuing a same-sex relationship. This skill is extremely dangerous if chosen by an Elf, however, due to their natural beauty, so it is recommended that you avoid this skill if you are an Elf.)
Ack! Based on the extra info, almost all of these skills are traps! Now that’s more like it for an evil god! I mean, okay, he did say there weren’t any cheat skills, and it was kind of suspicious that he casually added most of the requests, but still! I bet the guys that didn’t get the Help Guide probably think some of these skills will make them invincible, but they’re just gonna die, aren’t they? Well, actually, I guess that only applies to the idiots that choose Plunder without thinking.
All it would take for Plunder to kill the user instantly was for their target to have a combination of skills with levels that added up to at least 25. Each of the other skills was risky in its own way, but none of them could kill the user immediately. I didn’t see any point in choosing the EXP skills, but given that they did cost points, perhaps there was some kind of secret gimmick behind them. All right, what about the skills that were already in here before the requests?
Robust (10 Points required)
Your body becomes much more resilient and durable.
(You will become resistant to injury and diseases. However, this is a different world, so there may be pathogens that didn’t exist in your previous world.)
