Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Kurena had a talent for master swordswoman. Gelda and Rodan were both solidified in place with a shocked expression on their faces. Allen just calmly recorded Kurena’s status on his memo even in this situation. 

(I kinda had a hunch. To be honest, I didn’t think a normal swordsman would have such absurd strength.)

It had been 2 and a half years since he started the game of make-believe with Kurena. He had wooden swords made over 10 times during this period as they just kept breaking. Even he made the wooden swords recently. 

After the judgement of 31 kids, the status at the moment was the following:

Master Swordsman – 1 (Kurena)Axe Wielder – 1 (Commoner)Priest – 1 (Serf)Merchant – 1 (The chief’s son)Talentless – 27

(Most of them are talentless, huh? Speaking from percentages, there’s about 1 talented kid out of every 10 kids)

“And finally, Rodan’s child, Allen, put your hand on the crystal.”

I was the last, eh? I went up and stood in front of the crystal with Rodan and put my hand on the crystal like the priest instructed. 

(I see, so my parents will find out that I’m a summoner with this, eh? Well, it is God's teachings, after all. I’m more surprised seeing that the God who sent me the letter was the God of Creation.)

During these 5 and a half years, Theresia turned countless of my locusts' into light but I didn’t tell them that I am a summoner out of my own accord. One of the reasons behind this was that he couldn’t really explain much if they were to ask him about it. Besides, the situation didn’t require him to reveal it to them either. 

And while he thought of such things, the crystal let out an amount of light like never before. 

“””Wha–?!!”””

The elderly priest, Rodan, and everyone else were shocked. The light was even more intense than it was during Kurena’s appraisal. As if they had just looked at the sun directly, everyone covered their eyes with their hands. 

The light subsided and silver characters started carving up on the jet black metal plate. 

“Th-this is…… it can’t be…”

The priest looked shocked out of his mind. Doubting his own eyes, he rubbed his eyes and took a second look at the plate. 

“Umm, priest-sama. How was the appraisal?”

As Rodan couldn’t read, he asked the priest for the result. 

“Eh, ah, no… he doesn’t have any talent.”

“I see…”

Rodan had seen Allen play knight make-believe with Kurena numerous times before. He had thought the way Allen handles the sword wasn’t ordinary. It seems he had expected Allen to have the talent of a swordsman. 

(Hmm, dad seems to be quite depressed. Well, leaving the talentless-ness aside, what even is this appraisal result? Can it be that the God of Creation slacked off on his job or something?)

Allen looked exasperated as he stared at the metal plate. 

«Name» Allen

«Strength» E

«Mana» E

«Offense» E

«Stamina» E

«Agility» E

«Knowledge» E

«Luck» E

«Talent» □□□□□ 

(Is it just me or do the letters for my talent look kinda corrupted?!!)

On the black metal plate, all the status ranking was E and his talent was corrupted. It seems the priest couldn’t read it either and declared him to be talentless. 

It seems there were some commoners there who could read. Although he didn’t have any talent and that wasn’t really much of a surprise to them, they were quietly whispering about his status ranking being so low. As it was getting a bit noisy, those words also reached Rodan’s ears. He looked at Allen thinking, “is my son’s appraisal result that low?”. 

“Ahem, Rodan, Allen is your son. Raise him well.”

It would seem the priest’s memo was also over as the characters on the metal plate slowly disappeared. It looked like they were keeping a record on all of the children’s talents. Even Allen’s appraisal result was recorded. 

Looking a bit down, Rodan left the church behind. Allen also returned with him. 

(So they will send Kurena back just like that even though she can be the master swordsman, eh? No, maybe they discuss stuff among themselves after the appraisal?)

Although Gelda and Kurena also left the church following Rodan, the priests didn’t do anything. It seems it is fine to let them leave like the rest. Gelda tried to cheer up Rodan along the way. However, Rodan had next to no reaction. 

The ceremony had begun at 9 in the morning. Even after explaining how it works and appraising 32 kids, it was still before noon. And on their way back, they separated with Gelda and Kurena. We returned to our respective homes. 

“You’re my son. I will raise you well, so rest assured. But your mom might worry so let’s only tell her that you didn’t have a talent, alright?”

Rodan started talking to him once it was only the two of them. It seems he thought Allen was depressed. In other words, putting the talent thing aside, Theresia might worry if she got to know that Allen’s normal abilities were low as well. However, Allen was just thinking stuff over to analyse the appraisal result. 

“Eh? Okay, papa.”

As Allen replied with a smile, Rodan patted his head and they started on their way back again. 

After returning, when they told Theresia the result, she gently caressed his head. Even Theresia said that he was their child. 

For his afternoon nap, Allen went to the kids’ room. Allen lied down beside his 2 year old younger brother, Mash, who was sleeping soundly. The bed had changed from being a wooden one to a futon. His parents treated him really kindly and so it really filled up his heart. 

(No, this has gotta be a mistake from the Gods’ or the staff’s side, right? Judging from the fact that the word itself got corrupted, I assume the metal board didn’t even have the information of a Summoner to begin with.)

Before taking a nap, he reviewed the results of the appraisal once again. It was to properly make records in his grimoire. 

(Well, I do feel bad about making my parents worry but I guess I’ll stay silent about being a summoner for the time being.)

As nothing came up in the appraisal result, he will have to hide from his parents and his little brother when analysing his summons here on after as well. After compiling his thoughts, he moved on to a page he recorded in the past. 

(Even still, all my ability stats were E, huh? I was able to confirm one of the inspection results thanks to that.)

During these 5 years, he had made plenty of hypotheses which he just had to confirm. Thanks to the judgement ceremony, he was able to draw out an answer for one of them. 

It is true that it ended with him not being able to live up to his parents’ expectations, all his ability stats being E wasn’t that much of a bummer to Allen himself. 

(I found out if I’m the only one in Hellmode or not.)

While looking at one of the corners of the grimoire’s memo page, he recorded the result of a hypothesis. 

Allen’s Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1 – The Hellmode setting affects everyone in this world. 

Hypothesis 2 – The Hellmode setting only affects Allen. The people in this world are in Normal Mode.

He crossed out hypothesis 1. 

(I was able to find out that I am the only one in Hellmode here. After all, it would be weird for all my stats to be E otherwise.)

Allen was nearly done with inspecting the appraisal results in these few hours. First, his ability stats are more or less what he expected. They’re all 5 years old. There isn’t probably that much of a difference in status from person to person. They’re also probably level 1 just like Allen. The status ranks increase with level ups and this rank is a display of their growth. 

If so, then why are Allen’s status ranks all E? It can be assumed that that is because Allen is the only one in Hellmode. Not just growth and expected value, the growth speed is also taken into account, and so it was assessed as 1/100. 

Hellmode’s growth rate is 100 times slower than normal mode. 

After lamenting about the trend flowing into nuregames, he had ended up reincarnating in another world. Such a world where only he was in hellmode. Truly a hellish world. However, something welled up inside of Allen. He could feel a destination, an objective, gushing forth within him. 

“I see, so this is also a battle against nuregames, eh? Fight with nuregames with your life on the line and demonstrate the true worth of speedruns, huh?”

Seeing how he ended up saying that out loud, Allen reflected on his actions and went for his nap. 

And that day, like usual, he played knight make-believe with Kurena at 3 PM. However, that day didn’t end with just that. Saying that they have some business to take care of, both of his parents went out in the evening. However, only Theresia returned early. Rodan returned over an hour later. 

“Eh? Wh-what happened, Rodan!?!!”

There were bruises all over his body and face. Seeing him like this, with his face all swollen up, Theresia couldn’t help but let out a loud voice.