Chapter 3

Glancing at my clothes, I notice that I'm clad in a simple white t-shirt and boxers; which had me concerned that I'd have to walk around in this until I leveled up and purchased new clothing.

Worried, I step out of the bathroom and quickly checked the other two doors. One led out of the bedroom and into a hallway, while the other opened up into a massive walk-in closet. To my immediate relief, there were several sets of what look to be a school uniform inside; including a single pair of black jeans, and a black backpack.

Leaving the uniforms and backpack for now, I pull on the black jeans over my white boxers, reminding myself to get more clothes later. I am not doing the cliché school uniform look every day. It might look good on women, but for guys it just gets tacky after a while.

Satisfied that I'm at least somewhat presentable, my thoughts are interrupted by a new voice in my head.

Greetings!

'Um…what?' The voice sounded feminine, and a bit on the young side at that. I don't think it's a Sacred Gear, because I doubt I got that lucky.

I'm not a Sacred Gear, silly! My name is G.A.I.A!

It's short for:

Gamer Artificially Intelligent Assistant

'That's…nice. It's good to meet you Gaia, any chance you can tell me what's going on?'

Sure can!

Her bubbly, youthful voice is like a breath of fresh air compared to the silence of the obviously empty house and the monotony of listening to my own thoughts.

You see, every once in a while, someone gets picked to receive the Gamer System.

When that happens, they're given an assistant to help guide them through the Universes.

That's me!

I chuckle softly at her enthusiasm. Even if she sounds young, at least she's got spirit.

There's a lot of scary stuff out there, so I'm here to support you!

'That's…actually really great. Despite everything I've read about in stories and through playing video games, I doubt things are going to be easy, so having some help is wonderful. Thank you.'

No problem! It's why I'm here!

'Not to be rude, but I've noticed that you sound really young. Have you helped other Gamers before?'

Nope! I was created specifically to help you, and only you.

Aren't you lucky? :)

'I guess I am…' So, she and I are going through this for the first time together? I guess that isn't so bad. 'So Gaia, what's first?'

Well, as a Gamer you obviously have the Gamer System.

Which means you get Quests!

Quest Received:

[Learning The Game]

Objective: Learn how to access the Game Menu.

Reward: [?]

O-kay, the text box randomly appearing in front of me is going to take some getting used to. But it's fairly straight forward as far as quests go. Looking around, I notice a small note on top of a black journal that's now resting on the bed.

That wasn't there before…right?

Reading over the note, it's a short message with just two words written on it.

Say 'Menu'

"Menu?"

Blinking, I stare at the new text box that appears. These textboxes popping in and out of my sight better not become a common theme that happens every few minutes, because I'm going to be increasingly frustrated if it is.

Menu:

Status

Skills

Perks

Inventory

Relationships

Alright, that looks familiar. Let's start at the top. "Status."

Status:

Name: Sora Sakai

Level: 1

Race: Human

Rank: Normal

Title: None

Level 1? I knew it was going to do that. 'My luck really is terrible, Gaia.'

Sorry!

I tried to do something about it, but these things are hard-coded into the Game.

Grumbling, I try not to think too much about it as I move on to the other menu options. "Skills."

Skills:

[Observe] (Active) - Lvl. 1 (Novice)

Enables you to see information about a target.

Passive Skills:

[Gamers Mind] (Passive) - Lvl. MAX

Protects your mind from being read or manipulated.

[Language: Japanese] (Passive) - Lvl. MAX

Allows you to understand, speak, and write the language: Japanese.

So…I've got the standard [Observe], and the [Gamers Mind] but no [Gamers Body], and fluency in Japanese.

That's…really not good. I'm so weak right now, that someone could practically breathe on me and I'd die.

If nothing else, I believe in you!

'Thanks, Gaia.' Do I at least have any perks? "Perks."

Perks:

[Humanity] (Perk)

As a regular human, you are indistinguishable from all other humans.

You are completely ordinary to the senses of the supernatural.

-Warning- Perk is removed at Level 10.

A perk that protects me from being noticed for the first 10 levels? That's not terrible…Maybe I've got something to help me out? "Inventory."

Inventory:

…Empty…

…I'm starting to regret everything. "Relationships."

Relationships:

…None…

Of course…why would it be anything else?

It takes me longer than I'm proud to admit before I figured out how to close the Menu. I just had to think about closing it, and the textbox went away. Useful, but I wish I hadn't looked like an idiot trying to tell it to close while waving my hands over it.

It was a little funny.

Deep breaths, Sora…and again, I really need to get used to my new name. Otherwise, I'm going to look like an idiot when someone calls it out and I don't pay attention.

Glancing down at the journal, I give my new ability a try.

"[Observe]."

[Gamer's Manual] - (System Item)

Contains information regarding the Gamer System.

Not exactly an essay, but it gives me some idea of what's in it. There's actually a long list inside, with a useful explanation on how leveling works in this Universe.

Leveling is Restricted by Race:

Human (Normal): Level 1 - 100

Human (Sacred Gear User): Level 1 - 500

Angel: Level 1 - 500

Fallen: Level 1 - 500

Devil: Level 1 - 500

Yōkai: Level 1 - 500

God: Level 100 - 900

Dragon: Level 1 - 999

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