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

It had been a year and 10 months since Allen reincarnated into this world. He will be 2 years old in 2 months time. Being blessed with good parents, he was growing quickly. While they were certainly poor, these days, he was starting to find happiness in it as well. 

As his parents are serfs, Allen was also a serf. From his general knowledge of the real world, Allen had thought that there are two main restraining factors to being a serf. 

You don’t have the freedom to select your occupationYou can’t own any land

He had several other theories as well but these two were the main ones. It’s a system which was adopted by a great number of people till the 19th century in the real world. There were countries which still had similar systems. 

During this month, Allen came to know that in this world, the calendar also had similarities with the real world. 12 months make a year, 30 days make a month. However, the difference was that 6 days makes a week here. He slowly learnt more and more about this world. 

Moreover, there are also 4 seasons here, spring, summer, autumn and winter. And in winter, it snows a lot. Since their house is directly built into the ground, his second winter here was very cold. 

Like a revolving lantern, he looked at his memories and events of these past 10 months. 

Right now, the message function on the grimoire’s cover is making that happen. Although the cover of the grimoire is jet black normally, when Allen summons something or his status changes, it displays messages like a log.

And this log is generally in silver but this time it was amber. And from hereafter, there’s no doubt that this color would be the color of happiness to Allen. 

«‘Create’ skill experience reached 1000/1000. Level increased to 2. ‘Summon’ level increased to 2. In addition, ‘Synthesis’ skill acquired. ‘Extension’ skill acquired. Memo function added to the grimoire.»

“Whooooooaaaaa!!!”

It was the moment which is the most rewarding to gamers. Meals or the cold, these things became inconsequential. The time being in the middle of autumn, Theresia and Rodan were working in the fields. Thanks to that, he could comfortably let out a warcry. 

(H-holy shit, I am curious about a lotta things but first, let’s check the status.)

And indeed, there were many things which caught his attention in the log but first, he checked the status. 

«Name» Allen

«Age» 1

«Occupation» Summoner

«Level» 1

«Strength» 4 (40) + 8

«Mana» 0 (20)

«Offense» 1 (10) + 8

«Stamina» 1 (10) + 2

«Agility» 2 (25) + 2

«Knowledge» 3 (30)

«Luck» 2 (25)

«Skill» Summon <2>, Create <2>, Synthesis <1>, Extension <1>, Delete

«EXP» 0/1000

Skill Level

«Summon» 2

«Create» 2

«Synthesis» 1

Skill EXP

«Create» 0/10000

«Synthesis» 0/1000

Create-able beasts

«Insect» GH

«Beast» GH

« – » G

Holder

«Insect» H – 2 cards

«Beast» H – 8 cards

« – »

(Th-this is…. There’s “ – “ extra there…? What’s this?)

There were so many things he was curious about that his mind went blank. 15 minutes went by as he just sat there, grasping the grimoire tightly with his small hands. 

(C-calm down. It seems ‘Create’ level increased, as well as ‘Summon’ level, and I can summon G rank beasts now? Is it that the number of summon-able beasts increases if the rank increases?)

He surmised that the Summon and Create level increased and a new summon-able beast was added. 

(For now, I would like to summon the new added beast but I don’t have enough mana yet so I guess I’ll have to check out the rest of the stuff.)

He looked at the ‘Synthesis’. He guessed it would probably allow him to synthesize the summoned beasts. It probably means that he can now synthesize the cards since these beasts can be stored in card format. 

It would seem that G ‘Create’ and Synthesis required mana so he went on to look at the other stats. His level went up as he just used up his mana. 

(Even still, 10,000? Why do I need to gain 10000 EXP to level up now?)

At this pace, even if he were to ‘create’ 3 times a day, it would take 4 and a half years. At this rate, it would always take a long period of time. Allen’s level itself was still only 1 and so he thought he must think of a way to increase his max mana. 

(Next is the extended functionality of the grimoire but… oh! The holder space for cards… umm, it has gone up to 20! In other words, I will be able to stock up 20 cards. In other, other words, I will have twice the divine protection!! Uhyooo!!!)

Since the stock limit increased from 10 to 20, he could now stock double the amount of cards. As he got divine protection for each beast he made into a card, he would get double the protection now. 

(Umm, and what was that about the memo at the end? Oh? There are 10 pages titled ‘Memo’!! Oohh! I can make memos of stuff just by thinking! Yess!!)

Just as the name suggested, the memo function allowed him to make memos at the end of the grimoire on the blank pages. 10 blank pages for memos. The grimoire itself was as thick as a dictionary so he could possibly make memos of anything he wanted. And it was automatic. Quite convenient. 

(Now then, since my mana is 0 at the moment, I guess I will have to take a nap and then check out the rest later.)

Knowing that the blessings he received due to leveling up was quite a lot, the 1 year old Allen happily went back to his nap. 

Rodan and Theresia came back to the house. They left the farm tools in the dirt floor room and washed off the dirt from their limbs with the water jug, and then appeased their thirst. The water in the water jug is filled by Rodan every morning from the well. With this water, they also cook and wipe Allen’s body. 

“Allen, have you been a good boy?  I will make dinner real quick, just wait a bit, alright?”

“Yes, mama.”

Theresia’s baby language had decreased quite a lot. It seems to be for the child’s growth after the lactation period. In the Rodan house, they didn’t season the food much and so they just needed to boil or roast the food and it’s complete. It was Rodan’s job to mash vegetables, beans, potatoes and the like for Allen. 

Without a ‘Itadakimasu’ or any prayer of gratitude for the food, their meal time had begun. As it was inside a closed off village, their conversations weren’t really anything new. 

“That reminds me, our neighbors are quite troubled as Kurena is a tomboy. Gelda was asking for a playmate.”

“Eh?”

(Ah, right, we had a neighbor. I haven’t met them since the great boar’s dissection, though.)

He recalled the pink-haired baby Gelda was carrying. 

This reclaimed village had quite a lot of fields inside it and so it was quite big. Although they are his neighbors, a baby who isn’t even 2 years old shouldn’t go outside, said Theresia and so Allen abided. And as such, there’s really not many opportunities for them to meet. 

“Right, she might become your bride in the future so you have to get along with her.”

Theresia, who was about 20 years old now, seems to like such conversations. She happily participated in the conversation. The world is a small place, they say. His parents also knew each other and were of the same age. It’s normal for serfs to find marriage partners like this. They can’t go outside so it can be said that there’s no other way. 

“Eh? I can go outside?”

“Hmm~ I would say it’s a no until you’re 3 years old.”

Although they are his neighbors, the restriction will continue until he’s 3 years old. 

The family happy circle time had also come to an end and he returned to the child’s room. 

(Fufufu, my mana has replenished. I guess I have no choice now, huh? What shall I do~ G ‘Create’ or ‘Synthesis~? I guess I will try out the new skill, ‘Synthesis’, for now.)

The grimoire appeared. Probably because he thought of ‘synthesis’, it auto flipped through the pages. 

(Oh, a new page appeared in the grimoire! There’s only 2 hollow cut-outs in the middle. Oh! It seems there’s only 1 on the next page. Does this mean that 2 summoned beasts are made into one? I don’t really know the conditions for synthesis so I guess I will try synthesizing two H rank beasts for now.)

He inserted two H cards into the hollow space. 

(Alright, ‘synthesis’!)

However, the 2 cards remained the same and nothing changed. 

(Eh? Did I mess up somewhere?)

He checked the grimoire cover’s log. This is quite a useful reference. Messages were coming in. 

«Not enough mana for ‘Synthesis’ 1.»

“Wha! Not enough!!”

‘Oops’ he went, realizing he let out a loud voice just then. It seems his max mana, 2, was not enough for synthesis. 

G

(Eh? Is this perhaps, checkmate? I can’t synthesize ‘cause my max mana is too low? Then, what about the G rank creation?)

He came to the conclusion that he couldn’t perform synthesis as he didn’t have enough mana. 

And so, he challenged G rank ‘create’. He didn’t quite know what « – » is, and so he tried creating that. 

(Beast rank G, ‘create’!)

However, still nothing happened. Thinking that this is also because of the same reason, he looked at the cover again. 

«Not enough mana for G rank ‘create’.»

(N-no way, you’re telling me I can’t synthesize or create G rank beasts with my current mana? Is my max mana just too low?)

He was puzzled. It would seem that even though he leveled up, there are still many things he couldn’t do. 

Sheesh. That’s tough, that’s tough.