Isekai Kansha - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Fun with Character Creation

"All right, machine setup complete! Now, the real fun begins… heh, I can’t wait."

With a grin that deepened the wrinkles on his face, the old man sat down in front of the monitor.

Displayed before him was his pre-registered personal data—taken back at the hospital—rendered in 3D. A near-naked figure of himself, standing there in nothing but underwear, like a strange figurine. The sight made him chuckle as he began fiddling with the settings.

"First, age… yeah, gotta make myself young again."

Sliding the age dial down to eighteen, he watched as the 3D model rapidly de-aged, wrinkles smoothing away, body regaining vitality. Since this was VR, he went with the age he felt at his best—his first year of college.

"Next, let’s lengthen the legs a bit, bump up the height, slim the body a little, but keep it toned…"

As he adjusted, he thought back to his younger days, when he had been 175 cm tall and weighed 89 kilos. Now he was even fixing some old complexes that had nagged at him in the past.

He muttered a lot to himself, but that was just a habit of someone who had lived alone for a long time.

"As for the face… maybe just even out the symmetry, get rid of the weird quirks."

On the monitor, the elderly figure had transformed into a lean, healthy young man. Not exactly a heartthrob, but good-looking enough—above average, or maybe just barely average, he thought with satisfaction.

"Yeah… not bad at all."

The result was a body far removed from his current age, yet close enough to his ideal self. He left his race as the default Human, and didn’t change his hair or skin color either.

In this game, character appearance could be customized extensively. You could make yourself a completely different person—handsome or beautiful—or pick from other races. Beastkin, for example, came with choices like dog, cat, or rabbit ears, plus tails or even full-on fluffy forms.

Fairyfolk had their own options, from elves to dwarves, while demons could become anything from dark lords to vampires. The possibilities were nearly endless.

The old man toyed with a few options—turning his Human self into a dwarf or trying out a fluffy Beastkin—but in the end, he stuck with Human, deciding it felt the most natural.

Of course, the game also allowed gender-swapping… which he had, out of curiosity, tested. And regretted.

The memory of his briefly feminized self was swiftly and firmly buried.

"Ugh… I creeped myself out. Moving on."

With the appearance model settled, he moved on to skill selection.

There were four types of skills: Talent Skills, Correction Skills, Gift Skills, and Ability Skills. You were given fifteen points to allocate at the start.

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《Talent Skills》
(Require 10 points each)

• Martial Talent, Magical Talent

• Sword Talent, Spear Talent, Axe Talent, Staff Talent, Bow Talent, Martial Arts Talent

• Fire Talent, Water Talent, Wind Talent, Earth Talent, Light Talent, Dark Talent

(Require 6 points)

• Creation Talent

(Require 5 points)

• Blacksmithing Talent, Sewing Talent, Alchemy Talent, Mixing Talent

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《Boost Skills》
(Consume 1 point per level, up to Lv.5)

• HP Boost, MP Boost, STR Boost, VIT Boost, INT Boost, DEX Boost, AGI Boost

(Require 3 points)

• Body Control Boost, Mana Control Boost

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《Gift Skills》
(Require 1 point each)

• HP Regen Boost, MP Regen Boost, MP Cost Reduction, EXP Requirement Reduction, EXP Gain Boost

• Resistances: Charm, Paralysis, Petrification, Poison, Curse, Confusion, Sleep, Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Light, Dark

• Health, Luck, Wealth

---

《Ability Skills》
(Consume 1 point per level, up to Lv.10)

• Swordsmanship, Spearmanship, Axemanship, Staff Techniques, Archery, Martial Arts

• Fire Magic, Wind Magic, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Light Magic, Dark Magic

• Dual Wielding, Parry, Evasion, Defense, Leadership

• Blacksmithing, Alchemy, Mixing, Cooking, Sewing, Music, Farming

• Riding, Taming, Tracking, Presence Detection, Mana Detection, Hawk Eye, Presence Concealment

• Trap Disarming, Appraisal, Insight, Negotiation, Intimidation, Concealment

---

"Man, that’s a lot."

No surprise, given the game’s selling point was its freedom of growth. And this wasn’t even the full list—just the basics.

There were also derivative skills, fusion skills, and even hidden skills, unlocked by fulfilling specific conditions.

For example, if you trained only with greatswords until your Swordsmanship reached level 10, you’d automatically gain a new sub-skill: Greatsword Mastery Lv.0. This would give you bonuses when fighting with greatswords, making combat easier and opening up more unique playstyles.

And while you only had 15 points to spend here, it wasn’t the only way to gain skills. Sometimes, just repeating relevant actions in the game world could unlock new skills.

Even without the Swordsmanship skill, swinging a sword repeatedly might eventually unlock it. Of course, the exact conditions weren’t revealed, and there was no guarantee.

But that kind of discovery—that thrill of stumbling upon something new—was part of this game’s true charm.

"Alright then, first up is the Talent Skills."

Talent Skills cost a lot of points to learn, and you can only choose one.
But whichever you pick, you also get a bundle of extra skills worth more than the points spent, so it’s actually a pretty good deal.

The downside is that because they’re expensive, you’ll have fewer points left for other skills—but for beginners, choosing one is strongly recommended.

This is the part that decides your entire playstyle, so the old man braced himself and checked carefully.

〔Talent: Martial〕 – 10P
A talent related to martial arts and physical activities. Boosts growth, success, and acquisition rates. Slightly weaker than specialized talents.
Comes with:
〔HP Boost LV3〕〔STR Boost LV3〕〔VIT Boost LV2〕〔DEX Boost LV2〕〔AGI Boost LV2〕〔Body Control Boost〕

〔Talent: Magic〕 – 10P
A talent related to mana and mental power. Boosts growth, success, and acquisition rates. Slightly weaker than specialized talents.
Comes with:
〔MP Boost LV3〕〔INT Boost LV3〕〔DEX Boost LV2〕〔Mana Control Boost〕〔MP Regen Boost〕〔MP Cost Reduction〕〔Mana Detection〕

〔Talent: Sword〕 – 10P
A sword-specialized talent. Boosts growth, success, and acquisition rates.
Comes with:
〔HP Boost LV3〕〔STR Boost LV3〕〔VIT Boost LV2〕〔DEX Boost LV2〕〔AGI Boost LV2〕〔Body Control Boost〕〔Swordsmanship LV1〕

〔Talent: Fire〕 – 10P
A fire-specialized magical talent. Boosts growth, success, and acquisition rates.
Comes with:
〔MP Boost LV3〕〔INT Boost LV3〕〔DEX Boost LV2〕〔Mana Control Boost〕〔MP Regen Boost〕〔MP Cost Reduction〕〔Fire Resistance〕〔Mana Detection LV1〕〔Fire Magic LV1〕

〔Talent: Creation〕 – 6P
A talent related to all forms of crafting. Boosts growth, success, and acquisition rates. Slightly weaker than specialized talents.
Comes with:
〔HP Boost LV1〕〔STR Boost LV1〕〔VIT Boost LV1〕〔DEX Boost LV4〕〔Appraisal LV1〕〔Negotiation LV1〕

〔Talent: Smithing〕 – 5P
A smithing-specialized talent. Boosts growth, success, and acquisition rates.
Comes with:
〔HP Boost LV1〕〔STR Boost LV1〕〔VIT Boost LV1〕〔DEX Boost LV4〕〔Appraisal LV1〕〔Negotiation LV1〕〔Smithing LV1〕

"Hmm… tough choice, but I’ll go with Martial Talent after all."

Even when he was younger, he’d never been particularly athletic. And now that he was older, his body hardly moved the way he wanted anymore.

But this was virtual reality—he wanted to swing his body around to his heart’s content.

If he already had a favorite weapon, maybe a specialized talent would’ve been better.

But he’d never touched a weapon in real life, so he wanted to try out a bunch of things.

Besides, that one line in the Martial Talent description—‘applies to all kinds of physical activity’—had really caught his eye.

It felt like it’d make him more athletic overall, and just that thought lifted his spirits. That, more than anything, was why the old man decided.

For him, the point was to have fun. Efficiency or being the strongest didn’t matter.
In fact, picking a Talent Skill didn’t automatically equal "the strongest.” What counted as strongest varied from person to person, and in the end, it all depended on how you combined skills and grew with them.

Satisfied with his reasoning, the old man picked Martial Talent. Along with it, he got several bonus skills:

• 〔HP Boost LV3〕 – Raises base HP and growth rate. Higher LV = stronger effect. (Max LV5)

• 〔STR Boost LV3〕 – Raises base STR and growth rate. Higher LV = stronger effect. (Max LV5)

• 〔VIT Boost LV2〕 – Raises base VIT and growth rate. Higher LV = stronger effect. (Max LV5)

• 〔DEX Boost LV2〕 – Raises base DEX and growth rate. Higher LV = stronger effect. (Max LV5)

• 〔AGI Boost LV2〕 – Raises base AGI and growth rate. Higher LV = stronger effect. (Max LV5)

• 〔Body Control Boost〕 – Assist function helps with smooth and efficient body movement. The clearer your mental image, the better it works.

As stats increased, so did their related abilities and assist functions. Things impossible in real life, like sprinting 100 meters in full plate armor in 13 seconds, became doable.

But with only 5 points left, the old man decided not to invest in any more stat boosts.

〔Body Control Boost〕—it was basically the image of gaining athleticism. That alone delighted him. And if that existed, maybe the counterpart 〔Mana Control Boost〕 was also an important skill worth checking.

• 〔Mana Control Boost〕 – Assist function helps with smooth and efficient mana control. The clearer your mental image, the better it works.

"Yeah, this one’s a must."

Even if martial arts were his main focus, it was still a fantasy world. He definitely wanted to try magic too. But being magically clumsy would ruin everything. Magic was mysterious enough already—without this, his slower adaptability compared to the young would hold him back. So, to him, it felt essential.

He spent 3 of his remaining 5 points to take it.

"That leaves only 2 points. How should I use them?"

Looking over the remaining Gift Skills and Ability Skills, he organized his thoughts.
Gift Skills always applied passively and had no levels.

Ability Skills seemed to fall into two types: technical ones like 〔Swordsmanship〕 or 〔Fire Magic〕, and innate-ability ones like 〔Appraisal〕 or 〔Presence Detection〕. Both could be raised up to LV10, but it felt like the technical ones leveled up more easily.

And with technical skills, leveling up meant learning flashy techniques—like sending shockwaves with your blade. Cool and fun, but also practical in battle. That’s why he thought it best to have at least one weapon skill and one magic skill.

After a long while of agonizing, the old man made his picks:

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Final Choices

• 〔Talent: Martial〕 – 10P

  • 〔HP Boost LV3〕

  • 〔STR Boost LV3〕

  • 〔VIT Boost LV2〕

  • 〔DEX Boost LV2〕

  • 〔AGI Boost LV2〕

  • 〔Body Control Boost〕

• 〔Mana Control Boost〕 – 3P

• 〔Health〕 – 1P
  Resistant to illness, recover from injuries faster, and automatically recover from status ailments after some time.

• 〔Appraisal LV1〕 – 1P
  Allows you to view information about a target. Effectiveness depends on LV.

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In the end, he chose Health and Appraisal for his last two skills.

Ever since being diagnosed with diabetes in college from his reckless eating habits, health had never been his strong suit. Just recently, he’d even been hospitalized for nearly a year due to a serious illness. So even if it was only in-game, he couldn’t pass up on Health.

As for the last point, after much thought, he went with Appraisal. Harder to pick up later, but undeniably useful.

And honestly, with his memory worsening with age, being able to check the names of people and objects seemed quite practical.

As for combat skills, his Martial Talent would make weapon skills easier to learn anyway. And with magic, well, that was something he could enjoy learning naturally within the game. That thought made him smile.

"Alright, done at last! Took longer than I thought, though."

By the time he finished his setup, over an hour had passed.

"Heh, but that was fun. This really is something else."

Not a trace of fatigue showed on him. Only the satisfaction of a dream coming true.

"Okay then! Bathroom break and a drink, and then… It’s finally time to log in! Can’t wait!"

The old man’s very first VR game was about to begin.
His smiling face, full of innocent excitement, was like that of a young boy again.

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