Ch 4: A hundred miles journey begins with a step

Although he wanted to ask her to give him beginner's advice and a starter pack, he understood that the level difference was so huge that he should begin at the beginners village so to speak. At this moment, he really had the urge to straight up show at his friend's door and make him spill the beans and demand compensation for his hurt feelings by giving him a place to stay(read protection) and showing him the ropes and guidance(read leeching off). But he knew better than rushing head first without considering what could happen. Although he trusted his best friend partly because he knew him for a long time and mainly because of what was shown on the relationships tab. Some would have called him overly cautious and cold for thinking of his friend like that but the abyss as he now calls the super natural world is a new place for him and the rules may be as unforgiving as an open world battle field.. and Sun-Il's opinion may not be his faction/clan's opinion.

After thinking things through and the fact that his mom told him to go there meaning there is no real threat to his safety, he decided to invite his friend for lunch and discuss something with him without going into the details on the phone...

~lunch time~

There were 2 reasons he chose his own home as the meeting place. The first and obvious one is privacy for discussing what could be considered a dangerous topic. The second is to not have a repeat of the morning situation.

"Hey Jee-Han, what's up? Calling all of a sudden... why do you look surprised and staring over my head? Is something there?" Said Sun-Il with metaphoric question marks above him. The surprise on his face is obviously fake. He had the nagging suspicion that his mother's identity is a secret otherwise, he would have known even before awakening his ability. So he had to play it as if he doesn't know his background..

"It's just.. how to explain? Something weird happened to me today and I thought I needed someone that I could trust to discuss it. Come on in, we'll talk inside" although he was puzzled, Sun-Il entered as told and proceeded to sit down at the table. "Look, it may sound crazy but i have a super power starting from this morning." Sun-Il instantly turned serious and started examining his friend from top to bottom but he couldn't detect anything unusual so he asked " what kind of power?" Jee-Han was relieved this didn't turn to a drama. Seeing his expression which he willingly showed, Sun-Il thought that he was just nervous that he wouldn't believe him.

"You took that pretty well, huh... guess what I'm seeing above your head is real after all. To make it simple, I became a video game character."... with a 😐face he replied "I see...".

Since the silent treatment began to make him feel like a retard, he just said "voice chat Sun-Il" as always a blue box appeared in front of his friend [ voice chat invitation from Han Jee-Han. Accept? Y/N]

Sun-Il changed from a 😐 to a 😵 face and started a mumble jumble that only he could understand. Jee-Han smirked and enjoyed his flabbergasted expression before starting to explain his power but not going into crucial points since he wanted to keep them secret for now just in case.

~one explanation later~

" so let me get this straight. Your life is now a video game, you see basic icons above people's heads telling you their names, levels, and even titles, and your status window tells you that you have something called mana?"

"That's pretty much it. And judging by what your level and title say, you're not normal either.. every one I saw this morning when buying groceries had no more than 2 levels and a police officer had level 4 above his head." Sun-Il just sighed and looked at the ceiling 'what a drag..'. Meanwhile Jee-Han used the silence to check his friend's stats for a comparison :

[ Name: Shin Sun-Il

Level: 25

Rank: rare

Title: Chunbumoon's heir

Age: 17

Race: human

Hp: 480 (Hp reg: ???)

Mp: 150 (Mp reg: ???)

Sp: 480 (Sp reg: ???)

Str: ???

Agi: ???

End: 48

Int: 12

Wis: 12

Perc: ???

Lck: 15

Personal information: ???

Skills: ???]

Jee-Han wasn't surprised that most of the status window came out as question marks considering the level of his skill and level gap. But he did note that mp was calculated differently. He had an idea but it was too soon to conclude. He needed more data.

"So what do you intend to do? Stay indoor and continue being a shut in playing games ignoring this anomaly, or stepping into another world? Remember that once in, there is no turning back. You may as well become another person by the end of the day.." Jee-Han thought that having people care about you even if it became annoying really made the world a bit warmer. "If something as weird as this can happen, there is no telling what may come next. This isn't a matter of if but of when trouble comes knocking on the door. Being ready for it or not will determine my fate." Looking at his determined face, Sun-Il had to admit he had a point and that his concern clouded his judgment for a second.

"I have nothing to say to that. Alright, since you made your choice I'll help you as much as I can. That's what friends are for, right?" Seeing dollar signs instead of eyes on his friend face told him that he may have said the forbidden...

~late afternoon~

"...Alright, I'll think about it and give you a reply when we meet at school next week. Thanks again for the crash course and be safe!" As Jee-Han waved off Sun-Il and closed the door, he began making a schedule to maximize his stats and future skills based on what he learned today. First and foremost, this part of the city is usually peaceful due to being the territory of Sun-Il's clan so he shouldn't expect trouble coming for him from out of nowhere, but he will still limit outside interaction until school starts since with his protagonist aura, who knows? With the skills he asked for (read extorted) from his sweet sweet buddy -Sun-Il shudders out of nowhere and quickly scans his surroundings but finds nothing- he can focus on specific attributes and ignore the rest.

Moving to his gaming room -because yes he does have one- he sits on his comfortable chair and concentrate on the mana inside him that he ignored until now. A few moments later:

[Due to specific action, a new skill has been created 'internal mana sense':

Internal mana sense (lv 01~exp 1.00%)

Allows the user to sense the mana inside him. Prerequisite to obtain 'mana manipulation' skill]

~15 minutes later~

['internal mana sense' level up!

'internal mana sense' is now level 10(max)!

Evolve to 'mana manipulation' ? Y/N]

Mentally pressing Yes, the skill he was waiting for finally appeared:

['mana manipulation' has been acquired!

Mana manipulation (lv 01~exp 0%)

Active: Allows the user to manipulate mana and use it. Higher levels allow for more complex operations.

Passive: 0.5% increased effect and 0.5% cost decrease in mp related skills.]

'I can finally build the foundation of my power!' "ID create!"