24 Hearts

“It can’t be all that bad,” I muttered to myself.

If I wanted to survive – and escape – this world, I had to understand Arche’s strengths and exploit them for all that they were worth.

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「Status Window」

[Name: Judah Arche]

[Title: None]

[Level: 1]

[Specialization: Black Claw _ Shadow Magic Swordsman (Hidden_A)]

[Number of resurrections: 0]

[Strength: 20(D) / Potential A]

[Health: 15(F) / Potential S]

[Agility: 15(F) / Potential SS]

[Magic: 30(D) / Potential B]

[Magical Resistance: 50(C) / Potential S]

[Luck: 75(B) / Potential A] ◀ Special

[Points remaining: 0]

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「Ability Grade Table」

0-19 F

20-39 D

40-59 C

60-79 B

80-89 A

90-99 S

100-109 SS

110 SSS

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I decided that my stats were acceptable for a level one character, with great potential for growth. The luck stat also caught my attention. I had somehow missed that it been upped to a potential of A where I knew that Arche had always had it capped at D. I suspected Xian’s meddling but appreciated it nonetheless as it would be of great help against tougher enemies.

Even if the First Lords had manipulated my stats, the fact of the matter was that this was my reality now. Death was death, even if I could return to a save point. I would need to gain skills that staved off death in some manner or another. With this thought, I called up my skills screen.

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「Talents 3/10」

[Player] – Rank: S

[Determination] – Rank: S

[The First Lord’s Protection] – Rank: C

「Skills 2/10」

[Shadow Justice]-Rank: A

[Shadow Swordsmanship]-Rank: A

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[Talent Descriptions]

[Player]-Rank: S / Workmanship: Master

Resist fear in emergency events and in combat.

100% resistance against curses such as mind manipulation

[Determination]-Rank: S / Workmanship: Master

Gifts you with a natural aptitude for battle.

The most effective offensive and defensive movements in battle are employed by instinct.

Reaction speed and sight are buffed.

Strength and Stamina increased by 10.

Once your Stamina is exhausted, you gain a second wind, which enables you to fight on for a few seconds.

[The First Lord’s Protection (Growth)]-Rank: C

You have gained the protection of Xian, First Lord of the demonic realm.

Your experience gain rate and the speed at which knowledge is absorbed is increased.

Due to your low level, the higher functions of this talent remain inactive.

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[Skill Descriptions]

[Shadow Justice/Swordsmanship]-Rank: A / Workmanship: 3/10

Grants visions from the long-forgotten knights of the empire, ‘The Black Claws’.

Agility and Magical Resistance increased by 5.

Shadow Justice (邪法)

└Shadow Justice Form 1 – Spreading Shadows

└Shadow Justice Form 2 – Magic

└Shadow Justice Form 3 – Remnant

└Shadow Justice Form 4 – Lower Black Arms Manifestation

└Shadow Justice Form 5 – Guard Young Wall

Shadow Swordsmanship (劍法)

└Shadow Swordsmanship Form 1 – Potential Liberation

└Shadow Swordsmanship Form 2 – True

└Shadow Swordsmanship Form 3 – 1 point

└Shadow Swordsmanship Form 4 – Illusion Sword

└Shadow Swordsmanship Form 5 – Imitate

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It was I who had created Judah Arche. I pitied him now, despite being the architect of his fate. His comrades betrayed him at every turn, the protagonist destroyed everything Judah had achieved, and he had even lost the one he had grown to love. Even if he was able and handsome, life had been an unfair thing for him.

I swore then that if I ever returned to my world, I would completely rewrite his character arc. Of course, I only felt this way because I was inhabiting his body. The way I had written my story, only the main character had truly had a chance of gathering all the fragments. In fact, my lore and story arcs had become so complex that I had to kill off a great many strong and able characters just to make the writing and coding manageable.

I shook my head, resigned to my fate. I would deal with things as they develop. One thing that was advantageous about having Judah being the antagonist was that he possessed skills of stealth and subterfuge, namely the Shadow Sword and Shadow Justice paths. These were his – and my – strengths, and I planned to milk them for all that they were worth.

The First Lord’s Protection talent did not have any special abilities, yet its XP boost would come in very handy, as experience points were the bread and butter of RPGs. I relished the opportunity of unlocking its hidden features, as any boon granted by one of the demonic monarchs had a massive effect on both the character and the world. I had never before encountered the Player talent, as I had not created it. I suspected it was another instance of Xian boosting me, and I could not complain about that. Being completely resistant to mental manipulation was a great talent to start the game off with.

Shadow Justice and Shadow Swordsmanship, my two skills, each had up to fifteen sub-skills. For now, though, I could only access five of these in each path. I knew these skills would help me in the beginning and mid-game but would be almost useless once the epic challenges of the endgame were faced.

The challenge that faced me next was how to activate my skills. A sliver of understanding entered my brain as I spoke the words:

“Shadow Justice Form 2: Magic, activate!”

At that very moment, a tingle spread through my brain as the general form of the skill was revealed to me. My eyes hurt for a few seconds, and as that pain faded away, something felt different inside of me. I had not directed the skill at an enemy, so the effects of the magic could not be observed. I thought about ending the skill, and that immediately happened. So whether I spoke it or thought it, I now knew how to use my skills.

That had been the easy part. The hard part would be to activate them in an emergency situation, forming the images in my mind while my life was endangered. The very instant that I closed my skill screen, a new one popped into the air. I reeled my head back in shock, yet the screen’s position relative to my body never changed. Its message was quite clear.

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[Character: Judah]

[Start Tutorial: Y/N]

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“Huh, Xian said this is a game and yet not a game, so I should have expected a damned tutorial. Ah well.”

It was time to start my adventure. Did I dare to take this first step? Yes, start the tutorial, I thought.

At that very moment, something struck at the door. I spun about, immediately seeing a bloody ax striking again and again at the planks until a man burst into the room. He wore leather armor that struggled to contain his muscled mass, and his face was harshly set.

“Hey there, little boy. Were you sleeping? I’m sorry if I woke you, I’m just taking a look around, see? You can go back to bed now.”

Little boy? I almost scolded him for this insult, but the fact that I was indeed a child soon re-asserted itself into my mind. Terror at my own helplessness seized me as he stalked into the room. He glanced at me, the command for me to be silent written in his eyes. He hastily searched through everything I had thrown to the ground, then started ripping out drawers, upending the bed, and even cutting open the mattress. What was he searching for?

“Damn it all, it ain’t here either!”

It was then that our eyes met. I was frozen with terror with not a single muscle so much as twitching.

“Huh, you have your father’s eyes. That over there is your father, as you don’t seem to know what’s going on here,” he said, pointing at the hall he had come from. A body lay slumped near the shattered doorway, pieces hacked from it with the very ax that this man now carried.

“Yeah, that’s your dad. Getting a feel for things now, boy?”

Getting a feel for things? I could not figure out head nor tail of the situation as it was. The only instinct that coursed through me was the instinct to get out of this predicament. I haven’t even gotten used to this reality, and already my parents were dead, and if I was not careful, I would soon be following them. My heart thudded in my breast, yet strangely I was not trembling with fear. Despite my nervousness, my thought processes remained clear. There was a conviction within me that everything was going to be all right. The fact that I was calm made me feel like an idiot, and I started to suspect that I had lost any sense of reality.

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[Hint:]

[Considering your current attributes, being able to kill the enemy before you is very improbable]

[Your best chance of survival lies in the use of your skills]

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I read the words, knowing that it was easier said than done. How could I take the life of another being? I gulped down a sob, staring at the floor and avoiding the man’s gaze. The axeman burst into laughter as he witnessed my timidity.

“Hey, Jacques! Did you find it?” Came a shout from downstairs. So this man had not come here alone.

“Nah, not yet! Give me a few minutes, I’ll come down when I’ve got it!”

“I don’t have time to wait here, man!”

Jacques merely shrugged and turned to me once more.

“Did you hear that, boy? We don’t have time. You might annoy us later, being alive and all. So, I have to kill you now. Don’t take it personally, little guy,” Jacques said as he slowly started to walk towards me. The wooden floorboards creaked under his weight as the bloody ax was lifted above his head.

This can’t be real.

My instincts told me to flee, to turn tail and run away. There was no way out of this. I would die here, and what happened then? I watched as he slashed down toward me, closing my eyes at the last second.

I heard… Nothing. All was silent. My eyes opened, seeing the ceiling above me. I felt no pain. The events that had occurred mere seconds ago rather felt like distant echoes in eternity. They did not feel real.

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[You have been resurrected]

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* * *

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[Hint: ]

[Talents can be fully developed at the start of the game, being a reflection of your innate abilities.

They can also be improved through effort.

There is no cap on the number of talents that you can have]

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