Second Draft - Reincarnated Into a Game in Impossible Mode

"Time to go to my new room, huh?" - Ryoshu, after admiring the garden a bit more, began to walk on.

His destination was the boys' dormitory of Spiral Academy.

While walking leisurely, he admired the beautiful scenery around him. And of course, along with the beautiful scenery came the bustling sounds of people, plants, and animals.

On the way to the dormitory, Ryoshu could see small groups chatting happily with each other. Everyone wore bright smiles on their faces.

'Even if the results weren't what you wanted, being able to share and be heard by others can make your mood better, huh? I wonder when I'll be able to say everything that's in my head...'

He looked at people talking intimately with envy but couldn't do anything about it.

Ignoring his jealousy, Ryoshu entered the grounds of the Class A boys' dormitory. The building was constructed with oak panels, creating a rather antique space. But it didn't look dirty at all; on the contrary, it looked as luxurious as a five-star hotel.

Then, he went into the dormitory lobby along with countless other nameless figures. Ryoshu found his name on a nearby list and looked up his room number.

"315, huh." - He searched for the key while reading the number several times to not forget it. Although that wasn't really necessary since it was connected to his birthday. But he was a strange person, so it didn't matter much.

He skipped the stairs and immediately got into the elevator, pressing the number 3, which was also the top floor.

'Third floor... not too bad. If anything happens, I'll have a pretty good chance to escape.'

The boys' dormitory was divided into 5 sections according to classes. Each section had four buildings adjacent to each other, and each building was dedicated to an entire school year. Ryoshu was currently in the first building.

'Since the fourth year students have just graduated, there's a high chance we'll all have to do general cleaning duty tomorrow. But whatever, that's tomorrow's problem! Now I'll head to my room to rest.'

Admiring the antique hallway with its deep red carpet, he entered the room marked with the number 15, which also had an empty nameplate.

"I can fill that in tomorrow, right?"

When he inserted the key, the door opened quite easily. Inside was an empty bedroom with an unremarkable bathroom. It only had the most essential household items like a toilet, a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe.

Ryoshu went to the bed to check if it was comfortable enough. And it completely exceeded his expectations. Just sitting on it, he almost sank right in. At the head of the bed were two uniforms, one short-sleeved for summer and one long-sleeved for winter.

"Great. So I have more clothes to wear now." - Ryoshu had burned all his previous shirts to erase traces of himself. So now he only had the one set of clothes he was wearing.

Next, he took out the necessary items from his ring and placed them on the desk right next to the bed to make it look less empty. The desk was conveniently placed right in front of the window for viewing the scenery.

After admiring the room for a while, Ryoshu went into the bathroom and washed his face. During times like this when he was alone, he often started thinking about many things.

He had become a bit bulkier than before. But those loose baggy clothes had concealed most of his muscles, so he still looked quite frail.

"Even better. So from tomorrow I officially begin Part 1."

But the joy didn't last too long.

'The responsibility I'm carrying is perhaps much heavier than I thought. At first, when I just arrived, I didn't think too much... but today I realized a very... very big problem.'

The smile on his lips gradually faded.

'The world doesn't have what's called a Player.'

Ryoshu looked straight into the mirror and tried to maintain his composure.

'Although I also have some Player privileges... I am not a Player.'

Players, though not the strongest entities, have the ability to evolve and develop their skills to the extreme. Simply because they have what's called "Levels."

Unlike rank or class, Level is the most advanced and absolute privilege of a Player.

Simply put, although Ryoshu is also a kind of Player... he might not necessarily have that Level. But once someone possesses a Level, they are definitely a Player.

Gamers might think what's so terrifying about Levels?

But think about it, the privilege that can make humans many times stronger after each level up. And especially in this Rainfall Disorder world, the game difficulty will always be high. Therefore, Players need to be able to level up to accelerate their progress, to make boss battles more feasible.

'Yet I don't have that privilege.'

That was a harsh truth. This world doesn't have a Player, the only one who could make the world more balanced.

'I'm not a Player... I'm also too weak to save this world. Not to mention the world, I can't even survive on my own.'

His heart grew heavier. Disasters would soon hit the city... and more dangerously, on a universal scale.

"Normally people would advise you to just try your best and everything will be achieved, but I think more accurately, you need to assess your own abilities first and then face challenges... not everything can be achieved just by trying, right? That's no different from picking stars from the sky..." - Ryoshu recalled the words of his teacher. She was one of the people who supported him a lot when he was still studying at school.

And that statement of hers had helped him realize quite a few lessons.

'But looking at the main plot... I really don't have any choice. I must save this world... Only then can I survive.'

It sounds paradoxical, but upon closer reflection, it makes perfect sense.

'But my head still has a big price of half a billion RC... my movements must be extremely careful...' - Ryoshu thought while holding up his mask.

'Quite a few people know about my mask already. Perhaps I should give up using it. Who knows, those agents might have found some clues already, then I'd die early.'

But when he remembered the absolute security and defense of this academy, he felt a bit less worried.

'Although it's true that within the grounds of Spiral Academy I won't be harmed... that's only for attacks from outside. If spies have already been planted here, it's hard to guarantee my own life.'

Ryoshu was pulling his hair out because no matter how much he thought, he still felt his current situation was very dangerous. It was an extremely heavy responsibility weighing on the shoulders of a miserable person.

'So this is how Haruki feels... a ten-year-old boy who has to carry on his shoulder is very difficult... even an impossible mission to save the world?'

Tears had somehow already rolled down his gaunt cheeks from lack of food. Suddenly Ryoshu felt something warm surrounding him.

It was like when he hugged that white-haired girl.

He remembered her face, red as a gourd. And not only that, those red eyes had somewhat wavered before the hug forced by Fumiya.

'I forgot to tell her about that... Well, next time I'll have to explain clearly. Otherwise, it'll be so embarrassing.' - Ryoshu put his hand on his chest and tried to suppress the throbbing heartbeat.

"It's all because of you that I suddenly have this extra task, Fumiya!"

But it didn't seem to understand its master's intentions and only focused on snuggling around him.

"You're too cute for me to hate you..." - He sighed and turned back to look out the window.

If not for its ability to absorb and integrate weapons, he wouldn't have any technique strong enough to touch that serious teacher Kenzo.

Actually, he had just discovered this skill this morning.

----0w0----

At that time, he was putting away kitchen knives in their proper places when suddenly Fumiya rushed out and "swallowed" several knives.

Ryoshu momentarily was ready to escape from there with the Stealth Mask. But the sand with a rather satisfied expression suddenly transformed into a blade several times larger than the size of an original knife. And not only that, its material and durability also increased significantly.

"Umm... Fumiya, can you try to transform back into a bow for me to see?"

Without waiting long, Fumiya immediately spat out all those old knives and transformed into the familiar golden bow.

"Let's try more? Can you turn back into a knife?"

It immediately shook its head rapidly.

"So your ability also has limits, huh? You can only transform into one type of weapon at a time, and except for the original bow form, for the others you'll need a physical weapon. And not only that, you can combine weapons too..."

Fumiya didn't understand what he was saying so it rolled on the floor and turned into a pile of sand.

"... A bit hard for you to understand, huh? But anyway... you have a great ability, Fumiya! I can already see some ways to use it."

----0w0----

Back to the present, he was writing in his journal about the next target in the coming time. And on the paper was a title that was quite large and made it look rather eye-catching.

The Complete Grimoire.

Unlike ordinary skill books, it contained all the knowledge in the world since the universe was formed. And for that reason, it was also one of the World Treasures.

Basically, Treasures are mythical items for the residents of the Rainfall Disorder world. But for Players, they aren't even considered items because all those items are just items that serve the plot!

That's the reason why Ryoshu was so surprised when holding the Black Dragon Elixir, which is also one of those Treasures.

'It needs another catalyst that I don't know, of course. For this elixir to reach its peak... perhaps... if I can get that Complete Grimoire... I'll know how?'

'Even if I wanted to use the incomplete form, I still couldn't because my Mana core is still very small. At the very least, I need to create four cores before doing anything. Yet now I only have one core and it's not even fully saturated. Maybe tomorrow I'll saturate it and make the next core next week... if there's time!'

In the plot, the Final Boss of Part 1 had possessed the Grimoire about halfway through that part. But Ryoshu would still have to use all his abilities to find it before he could touch it.

'Currently the Grimoire is somewhere under the grounds of Spiral Academy. Exactly where... I don't know.'

He had only heard about it from NPCs, so he was completely clueless about its exact location. Although he knew a lot of information about the game, he didn't know everything about it.

'I've decided. My goal in the upcoming Part 1 is to steal... no, borrow is more accurate! I will borrow that Grimoire at all costs.'

Only then would the difficulty of Part 1 be reduced from impossible to possible for him.

"But... I wonder if that blacksmith is still okay? I also want to meet that fat cat again. I'm quite curious about what breed of cat it is to be so formidable."

He recalled the scene where it sat on his shoulder without him being able to feel anything.

"Not to mention it was terribly fat, so that's impossible...!" - Ryoshu, in a brief moment, seemed to have felt a strangely chilling sensation from behind his back. That reminded him of when he also badmouthed the calico cat like that in front of it.

'Perhaps I shouldn't insult it like that anymore...'

"Oh right... I still have that iron dart chain, don't I? I haven't had any chance to test it at all."

Ryoshu pulled out an iron chain with a sharp knife tip attached at the end of that chain. This was one of two weapons he received from that blacksmith. One was the bow that could change shape, Fumiya. And the other is a dart rope.

He examined it for a while and then put it back into the ring.

'I should probably take it to the training room properly to try later... but I still haven't figured out how to apply it in battle. The mobility and practicality aren't high at all. This problem is quite headache-inducing, no joke.'

He let out a long sigh and tried to breathe a bit.

'I need some air...'

Going to the window and opening it wide, Ryoshu leaned his hand on the windowsill and gazed at the moon one last time before preparing to sleep. The cool breeze of summer blew into that empty room, giving him an indescribable feeling.

But it didn't matter because Ryoshu knew he still had time to learn about it later.

"Oh..." - He leaned forward a bit to see more clearly.

All the main characters in the story at this moment were directing their gazes to the same place.

They were all gazing at the moon at the same time as Ryoshu. Because today, somehow, the moon shone much brighter than usual.

But they quickly dismissed that silly thought. After all, it was just their subjective but romantic view.

The wind blew the curtains apart, creating a perfect scene between humans and nature. Ryoshu could feel a bit of dampness from those winds, so his body unconsciously got goosebumps.

This cool feeling was similar to the day he took the lives of two rabbits for the first time. The more Ryoshu tried to forget, the more vividly it appeared in his mind. Although bitter, it was also a warning to him about that.

'In the future, I will have to kill many more things, including... humans. Just to save the world... and to survive.'

But at this moment, the exquisite scene before him was the most vivid thing. Ryoshu had already prepared part of his psychology for the future ahead. He took a deep breath and reminded himself,

"So the first week has ended, huh?"