Chapter 6: A Mistaken Another World Life
"Hm? Did I fall asleep without noticing?"
When Jin opened his eyes, the clear blue sky stretched above him. Still lying on the grass, he gave his body a light stretch.
"That felt pretty good. Never thought I’d actually fall asleep inside a game, though."
Chuckling at himself, he stood up, stretching his arms wide and rolling his shoulders. Normally, his body would be plagued with stiff joints and pain—but here, all he felt was refreshment. Once again, Jin marveled at how wonderful a healthy body was.
"Alright then… let’s get going."
Muttering that, he turned to look for the door that should lead into the main story. But no matter how he searched, it wasn’t there. In fact, his surroundings were completely different from how they had been in the tutorial.
From the small hill he stood on, Jin could see a walled town far off in the distance, with a road stretching toward it.
"Huh? Did the main story already start without me?"
He figured his post-tutorial nap must have triggered some kind of time-out, forcibly advancing the scenario.
When he took another, closer look, he was stunned by details he hadn’t noticed before. Warm light poured from the sun in the blue sky. The breeze brushing his cheek carried a faint earthy scent. In the flower fields, insects buzzed as they searched for nectar. Green plants brimming with vitality grew thick, with the occasional withered stalk mixed in.
This was a level of reality far beyond what the tutorial had shown him.
"So the tutorial wasn’t pulling out all the stops, huh? Virtual reality really is amazing!"
A faint sense of wrongness stirred inside him, but the surge of excitement quickly drowned it out.
"Fu fu fu… now this is what I’ve been waiting for. Let the adventure begin!"
Buoyed by his mood, Jin set off toward the road.
At that moment, he failed to notice several strange inconsistencies. The game’s starting point should have been the Starting Town of Alesta—not a grassy hill far from civilization. Even the tone of his muttered words carried a youthful vigor, unlike the weary voice of an old man. His mind remained that of an elder, but his reactions and mannerisms were distinctly younger.
Many other impossible things were happening too—but Jin wouldn’t realize any of it for a while yet. Not that it was all bad.
"Humm~humm-humm♪"
Humming an old RPG field theme to himself, Jin strolled happily across the grass. Every so often, he’d stop to jump, or draw his wooden sword and strike a pose, thoroughly enjoying his body’s freedom and the feel of this world.
There was no trace of the wistful air he’d shown when parting with Chris. But on his right hand’s middle finger, the Ring of Regeneration gleamed proudly.
After walking a few hundred meters closer to the road, something moved in his field of vision. Sobering, Jin drew his sword and narrowed his eyes.
What appeared before him was a slime.
But unlike the gummy, cartoonish blobs from the tutorial, this one was a dull gray gel, dirty and unpleasant to look at.
"Whoa! They even changed up the design after the tutorial? That’s some attention to detail."
Shaking off his surprise, he shifted into a battle stance. Thanks to all the practice in the tutorial, there was no fear or tension in his movements.
Seizing the initiative, he dashed forward and brought his wooden sword down hard on the slime. His strike landed true, slicing it cleanly in two. The blow had landed more perfectly than he expected—maybe it was a critical hit? Either way, he didn’t dwell on it.
The slime split in half… but the pieces didn’t dissolve into glowing particles and vanish. They simply sat there, quivering. No matter how long he waited, there was no sign of the usual disappearance and item-drop effect.
"You’ve got to be kidding me. Even this part’s different from the tutorial?"
Confused, Jin unconsciously rubbed the ring on his finger as he recalled his earlier experiences.
Cartoonish jelly-like slimes versus this grimy gel mass. Tutorial monsters vanishing into light, versus corpses that lingered behind. A stark contrast between gamey convenience and immersive realism.
"…I see."
After a moment of thought, he came to what seemed a reasonable conclusion.
Too much realism carried danger—but as long as safety was guaranteed, of course, higher realism was preferable. That must be why the tutorial had limited the information and simplified monsters, easing players into VR. Then, once they were comfortable, the main story would unlock the full realism.
At least, that’s what Jin believed. He hadn’t taken any damage yet, but he assumed the system wouldn’t alter damage processing too drastically—since that was directly tied to player safety.
Having convinced himself with this entirely mistaken reasoning, Jin felt satisfied and calmed down.
"Still, this drop system’s a bit of a pain."
He found a lump of 〔Slime Jelly〕 inside the corpse—but only after rummaging through it. Honestly, it was gross and bothersome.
The tutorial had told him 〔Slime Jelly〕 was worth only 5G, the cheapest of all drop items.
After a short inner debate—thrift versus disgust—the "too gross, not worth it" side won.
Apologetically pressing his hands together in prayer for the slain slime, Jin left the corpse behind and started walking again toward the road.
"Chris was right—I’ve got a lot of things to prepare."
Not just new equipment—he’d also need gloves for handling gross monsters, water and towels for cleaning up, maybe even a monster guidebook. His mental shopping list grew as he made his way to the road.
Fortunately, he encountered no more monsters and soon reached the highway safely.
The road was paved with stone, wide enough for two lanes of traffic. On either side, tall three-meter pillars stood at intervals of about a hundred meters, stretching along the way. Some kind of magical device, maybe… Jin guessed.
That guess was spot on—the pillars were barrier generators, set up to keep monsters away from the highway. Of course, they weren’t perfect, but they fulfilled their role well enough. In practice, monsters rarely appeared along a road protected by these devices. That said, not every road was equipped; in fact, the majority were still unmaintained.
Jin started down the highway again toward the town, and thanks to the barrier, he encountered no monsters. At the same time, since most travelers likely departed at dawn, he also came across no other people under the midday sun blazing directly overhead.
So, Jin strolled along at a leisurely pace, enjoying the scenery, and after about an hour, he finally reached the town.
The town was surrounded by sturdy stone walls, and at the gate stood a lone guard. As Jin approached to enter, the man called out.
"Traveler, are you? You’re awfully lightly dressed."
There was a note of exasperation in his voice, tinged with a touch of suspicion.
"Good afternoon. Well, yeah, I admit my outfit’s a bit lacking. I was planning to stock up here in town."
Jin greeted him with a smile. He wasn’t lying or making excuses; he truly meant it.
"Fair enough. This town does gather a lot of good goods from all over. So then, you got anything to prove your identity?"
Apparently satisfied, the guard dropped his casual questioning and returned to duty.
"Sorry, no, I don’t."
Surprised that documents like that were required, Jin nonetheless admitted honestly.
"Hm? With that getup, I thought you were an adventurer. Lost your card or something?"
"No, I’m planning to become an adventurer from here on out. Still weak now, though."
Jin scratched his head as he answered. That, too, was just him being himself.
"Well, if you made it this far alone in that outfit, you don’t need to sell yourself short. In any case, promising adventurers are welcome here. All right, I’ll need to hold a deposit of one small gold coin. You’ll get it back when you leave the town, or once you’ve registered and I can confirm your guild card."
Only 1 gold for a deposit? That’s cheap, Jin thought, relieved that entry was no issue. He pulled out 1G from his bag’s gate and handed it over.
"Whoa, a large gold coin? What are you, some rich kid? Hold on, I’ll have to exchange this. Just so you know, they’ll charge a fee."
Calling over another guard, he jogged into the town. Jin was left behind, baffled.
"Large gold coin? Exchange…?" he muttered, then decided there was nothing to do but wait.
Before long, the guard came jogging back, a little winded from running in his reinforced leather-and-iron splint armor.
"Sorry for the wait."
"No, I should apologize for the trouble. Thank you for hurrying back, even running like that."
Jin’s initial guilt gave way to genuine warmth at the man’s earnestness, and he thanked him with a smile.
"Nah, don’t worry about it. It’s my job."
The guard, looking to be in his mid-thirties, seemed a little embarrassed. His face carried the pride of a man dedicated to his duty. A respectable guy, Jin thought honestly.
After catching his breath, the guard handed over three small pouches.
"All right, here you go: eight small gold coins, nine silver, and fifty copper. I’ve already taken the fifty copper as the exchange fee. Please confirm."
(Wait—did the money actually increase!?)
Stunned, Jin accepted the pouches and tucked them into his bag without thinking. His storage gate never even crossed his mind. For something that should’ve been the lowest-tier currency in the game, 1G was being treated like a huge amount. Jin couldn’t hide his confusion.
"What’s wrong? Nervous about losing your prized big coin? Relax—this should be enough to get you some proper gear."
The guard teased him lightly.
"Haha…"
Jin could only laugh dryly. He couldn’t exactly say he still had more than seven hundred of those coins.
At that moment, another guard called out from the town side.
"Sorry for the delay, Burke. Time to switch. Go grab some lunch."
"Oh, right. Ah—damn, I forgot to record your name. Hey, what’s your name?"
Snapping out of his daze, Jin hurried to answer.
"Ah, sorry. It’s Jin."
"All right, then just—"
"I’ll handle it. You’re hungry, right, Burke? Think of it as an apology for being late."
The replacement waved him on, shooing him toward his meal.
"My bad. I’ll leave it to you, then."
Burke gave a wry smile, bumped fists with his colleague, then turned back to Jin.
"All right, Jin, let’s go."
"Huh?"
"You haven’t eaten yet either, right? Come on, I’ll take you to a tavern I like."
"Th-thank you very much. I’d appreciate that."
Jin still hadn’t wrapped his head around the situation, but he was grateful for Burke’s thoughtfulness.
First, eat. Then calm down, he told himself, setting aside his questions for now.
And so, thankful for Burke’s kindness, Jin followed him toward the tavern.
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