My Isekai Life in Hard Mode

Reality

"Clang!"

The metallic collision reverberated through the underground cavern. The knife flew out of his eye and clattered onto the heap of weapons strewn across the floor, adding another sharp sound to the cacophony. It was this noise that brought Ryoshu back from the brink of death.

Suddenly, Ryoshu's heart surged with a newfound vitality, like a jolt of life had been injected into his seemingly lifeless body. Only then did he realize old man Atsuta had appeared beside him.

And when had he acquired the chubby form of a three-colored fur cat perched on his shoulder? Ryoshu couldn't comprehend what had just transpired, and before he could make sense of it, the old man was standing right before him.

He looked into the cat's eyes for insight, but its indifferent gaze offered little help. 'Well, at least it's cute... though a bit chubby.'

Somehow, Ryoshu sensed a hint of fierceness behind its recent contemplation.

'It's not just an ordinary cat, is it?' Before he could finish his thought, its sharp claws emerged from its plump fingers.

'So it's not just an ordinary cat... huh?'

The proud three-formed cat turned away without sparing him another glance, then leaped back to its previous sleeping spot.

"I can't believe I trusted that brat of yours," the old man muttered again with an incredibly calm face, as if what had just happened was nothing.

He seemed a bit more irritable in the VR version compared to his original personality. Ryoshu couldn't help but admire the Rainfall Disorder developers for making their game even more realistic than the previous version. Even though the previous version had received plenty of praise for its character depth in the main storyline.

While Ryoshu was still lost, Atsuta interrupted, "Forget it, it's over now. That weapon almost killed your foolish self is a rather rare weapon nowadays. You might have never seen one before."

Atsuta pulled the chain up, and it gracefully flew to him. But unlike Ryoshu's amateurish attempt, the blacksmith expertly grabbed the dual-bladed knife attached to the end of the chain. This very knife had nearly taken Ryoshu's life, but instead of feeling fear, Ryoshu felt impressed by the old man's mastery over such a peculiar weapon.

Moreover, the old man began to dance with it. The blades swirled around Enomoto as if performing some sort of magic. Even Ryoshu, someone who had never wielded a weapon in real life, could sense the masterful skill of this blacksmith.

"The ancients called this weapon the Chain Slicer."

As he spoke, he continued his captivating performance. Ryoshu didn't say anything but silently admired and tried to absorb the martial art into his greedy flesh. But that was impossible with his mortal body.

"A powerful and deadly weapon in the hands of a master."

After speaking, Atsuta directed the blade towards the wall. But instead of rebounding as Ryoshu expected, the blade pierced through the wall, slowly cracking the surrounding pieces. It was as if the blade had pierced through Ryoshu's narrow-mindedness and widened his perspective.

And even the silly cat was inadvertently nearby, jumping up and hiding behind the door. It stared fiercely at its owner.

'Ahem... never mind the cat, but what in the world was that? How could the blade be so sharp?' While he was wondering about the potential and usage of that weapon, it was Atsuta's turn to monologue.

'He's probably still annoyed from earlier,' Ryoshu thought like a fool. His ears turned red at the thought of acting like that in front of someone else. And Ryoshu's thoughts became a reality as he now witnessed someone else's monologue.

"Although this weapon is powerful up close, long-range, and agile, it's challenging to use and lacks any powerful martial arts to complement it."

Ignoring his embarrassment from earlier, he swallowed his saliva and asked the old man while glancing at the Formless Bow he had just demonstrated.

"Do you mind if I borrow both of these weapons?"

"I don't mind giving you this Chain Slicer since it's nothing special. It's just a weapon I made for practice. And that bow isn't even a perfect bow."

He picked up the bow on the ground and held it in one hand while holding the demonstrated Chain Slicer in the other.

"I find it difficult to trust someone like you, so when I give you something, it might be useless, and you might die in vain."

He sighed and then stretched out his hands, reluctantly saying:

"So I can give you both."

Especially that Formless Bow, he held onto that beautiful weapon tightly. Ryoshu couldn't predict the emotions flooding that weathered face. But he also felt a bit sad because it was the first time he had heard the story about Atsuta's friend.

"And don't return them; take good care of them for me." He emphasized each word, especially "take care" and "good." But Ryoshu didn't realize he also said "don't return" explicitly.

Although the weapon seemed impressive, Ryoshu's conscience struggled to accept it. Nevertheless, his hand gravitated towards it, unable to resist his desire.

"But sir, that's-"

"Don't try to change my mind!" Atsuta pressed the weapons into Ryoshu's arm, his push almost knocking Ryoshu over.

Despite his hesitation, Ryoshu reluctantly accepted them.

"Take them and give me your phone number to contact you. You must come immediately when I call!"

"Yes, sir."

"Amazing! At first, I only planned to learn two skills: Enhanced Memory and Quick Reflexes, but I'm lucky to receive these bonus items."

But most importantly, he had met a character crucial to the game's plot and obtained valuable resources, including two high-quality weapons.

"This might be one of the luckiest starts I've ever had... if only I had Mana... Almost perfect."

However, the question remained: would these items truly help him? The answer was uncertain. Despite six years of gaming experience, Ryoshu knew the locations of rare items, but they wouldn't significantly aid him in completing the game.

"But without these small advantages, the game's early stages would be incredibly difficult..." Ryoshu shuddered at the thought of the monstrous bosses he would face later on.

"Here, take this as well... consider it an extra gift from me."

Atsuta then unexpectedly handed him three identical scrolls pre-enchanted with Teleportation spells.

"Perfect for someone like me who lacks Mana!"

The old blacksmith had more advice:

"Now you can use these scrolls to escape from here. It's safer than wandering around in this dangerous place. I don't want my investment to fail due to negligence..." He spoke casually, but his voice suddenly lowered when addressing Ryoshu directly.

"Even though it was quite risky to trust an unreliable person like you..." After a few coughs to mask his expression while Ryoshu stared at him, Atsuta cleared his throat. "Ahem, anyway, rest assured, I won't charge you for this, because it's cheap."

Ryoshu refrained from showing too much excitement, casually storing the scrolls in his spatial ring and borrowing a pen from Atsuta.

Initially, he intended to head home immediately to check if the game glitched, but he realized he didn't know his home address.

"Darn it, no wonder I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something. How am I supposed to get home now?"

After pondering for a moment, he came up with a much better idea. Ryoshu, like an eager child with crayons, enthusiastically began scribbling coordinates on a piece of paper.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Enomoto! Goodbye." Ryoshu waved farewell to the blacksmith with his usual disgruntled expression, but this time, the corner of Atsuta's mouth twitched into a slight smile.

Soon after, the cat also came over to bid farewell to the weakling. It climbed slowly onto its owner's back and then settled itself on top of the old blacksmith's head as if perched on a throne.

Atsuta paid no attention and simply let out a long sigh.

"He must be used to it by now. Haha." Ryoshu absentmindedly raised his hand to pat the adorable cat's chin. A radiant smile unintentionally spread across his lips.

The blacksmith remained silent, allowing Ryoshu to play with the cat for a while before reminding him once more before he left.

"Be careful and remember what I told you."

Ryoshu scrutinized the blacksmith's face once again to commit it to memory. Although that was impossible since he was exceptionally good at remembering faces. It was one of the abilities he was highly confident about.

And of course, he didn't forget to divert his attention to the suspicious triple-formed cat, which was sitting conspicuously on top of the blacksmith's head.

"I'll inquire about this later... But for now, I'll remember Mr. Enomoto Atsuta well. I'll never forget this favor."

Though he couldn't hear Ryoshu's thoughts, Atsuta nodded in agreement and waved his hand to signal him to leave quickly.

"Even at the last minute, he's still the same. Truly a cantankerous old man... Take care, old man... we'll meet again soon." Ryoshu smiled and nodded at the old man before quickly tearing the piece of paper into two.

Magical characters suddenly appeared from the void and circled around Ryoshu's body. After a moment, they glowed, converged, and formed various circles. These circles gradually contracted, enveloping his body. The light they emitted grew brighter, dazzling anyone who looked at it.

And then, Ryoshu felt that nauseating sensation once again. And a while later, he stood before some kind of temple gate. Right now, he was in a somewhat curved stone wall. He could see sunlight shining through the forest foliage and weeds from below the wall.

The foul stench of the Black Market had been replaced by the scent of a cave, along with the damp scent of the grass. Somehow, Ryoshu's sense of smell had become strangely acute.

"Maybe because I've gotten used to the foul smell of the Black Market... so coming out here and breathing fresh air feels completely different."

In the game, the Temple was where Players would battle monsters, and overcome challenges to earn rewards and experience points to level up faster. Though Ryoshu didn't have what was called a level since he wasn't a Player. But anyone could receive the Temple's rewards after completing its challenges.

Previously, in the basement of the old blacksmith, Ryoshu had written down the coordinates of this Hidden Temple. There were many game glitches that could be exploited with the Temple's gate.

First, Ryoshu took out two Memory Orbs and interacted with the Temple's gate. Interaction, in this case, meant that he took the pair of orbs and rubbed them against the Temple's gate for a while. But what happened afterward wholly took him by surprise.

== New Error Detected! ==

== Evaluation: Could Have Serious Impact on the System! ==

== Commencing Error Fixing Process Immediately! ==

"The system is talking about me, right?"

== Error Completely Deleted! ==

"What's going on?"

== The System has Detected an Entity Not Belonging to this World ==

"What in the world is happening?"

== Unable to Access Specific Information of the Subject! ==

...

Ryoshu felt like someone from nowhere was staring straight at him, like a child caught by an adult breaking a neighbor's window with a soccer ball.

== You have been granted a new Authority: "System"! ==

== From now on, you have access to a very small part of the Player System ==

"So that's a good thing... right? Because now I'm sort of becoming a Player... am I?"

However, he still felt something wasn't right about the System. It seemed more like an intelligent creature than a normal, lifeless machine. But surely it couldn't be an ordinary creature. Because the System is what controls and maintains balance in the universe.

"Don't dwell on it too much, now I have to focus on the current task."

"Status Update"

== Your information has been added to the World Data ==

A blue window appeared before Ryoshu, but it wasn't coming from the wristwatch.