“Your tutor should arrive in a few days, are you looking forward to it Haru-chan?”

Harkui's head snapped up, suddenly wakened from his thoughts. “Yes, Okaa-san.”

He hadn't quite gotten used to having a new set of parents yet, plus he wasn't all that talkative to begin with. He'd decided to keep his sentences short and concise, so he'd be less likely to blurt out something too adult for his age. He wanted to avoid unconsciously snapping out a sarcastic retort or a bad joke.

“The last thing I need is my parents thinking I'm any weirder...”

“Otou-san was looking for you too. He wanted to talk about your training.”

As Haruki's eyes lit up, Ayako shook her head and chuckled.

“Boys...”

It wasn't the sword training that he was excited for. He was still was rather uncertain about fighting, despite his previous dream. Even in school, he had been overly passive. In 3 fights, he'd taken 3 all-out-punches on his iron jaw, simply shrugging in response and coldly asking “Can I leave yet?” each time.

Despite not enjoying violence, he refused to stand down. Since the punches didn't hurt, he was able to stay calm, making the tactic extremely effective at rattling his opponents. Everyone who fought him never threw another punch and eventually, no-one in the entire school bothered him. He was rumored to have a head made of bricks, while some girls half-jokingly called him the 'Big Friendly Giant' behind his back.

The real reason he was so excited was that he was also getting an introduction to MAGIC! He was a big gamer throughout his life and many a year was lost to a certain fantasy MMO. He even tried out just about every free MMO out there! Even the grindy Asian ones! His whole life he'd wished magic was real, but it was a neglected wish buried deep under many layers of cynicism and reality.

But today would be the day he would achieve that dream!

He pulled on his muddied boots, buckled his rough leather belt tightly then eagerly rushed over to the door. As he opened it, he hesitated for a moment.

“What's wrong Haru-chan?”

“If Otou-san goes berserk, please save me. I beg of you.”

He bowed with a cheeky grin towards his mother, before turning to escape quickly through the door.

Ketrel was waiting outside, dressed in a set of cheap leather armour. On his belt were two iron long-swords, their pommels glistening roughly in the morning sunlight. Before Ketrel had married, he had been a gold-ranked adventurer in his Barbarian homeland, Stonehaven. The rankings were the same as the money – Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum. Achieving Gold rank was something many people respected and feared.

He would often tell Haruki stories about conquering dungeons or slaughtering monsters before bed-time. While it was a little awkward for Haruki to be getting bed time stories at his age, they still left a deep impression on him. He also appreciated any new information, regardless of how embellished the stories were.

“I wouldn't mind being an adventurer. Especially now that I finally have a body that won't fall apart on me!”

As Haruki excitedly sprinted over, Ketrel nodded with a serious look towards his son. “It's time to learn the basics of sword and sorcery, Haru. However, if I hear you've been beating up other kids with this, I'll end you myself.”

Haruki quickly nodded his head. “Don't worry Outo-san, I'll become a great adventurer like you!” he said proudly, dying inside slightly after playing the over-zealous child act for his father.

“BWAAAAHahahaha! That's my boy! Now come over here and pick your weapon. If you direct your magic towards it and say 'inspect', you can see things like damage or bonuses. These are all low quality white weapons though.” Kestrel pointed to a rack with many different weapon types. Mace, axe, short and long swords, a spear, halberd and even a gigantic claymore.

Thinking for a moment, Haruki picked up a small iron dagger with his left hand. He had long since noticed his magic and even learned to direct it around his body, to some effect, so this was easy enough.

“Inspect”

Fine Iron Dagger 25/25 (White)

15-20 physical

Fast attack

35% armour penetration.

A well made, but cheap, iron dagger.

Level 5

The small, unadorned dagger fit well in his hand, causing him to reminisce back on the times he'd trained in knives with his original father. Feeling such a sense of comfort, Haruki immediately attached it to his belt.

“Mm, a good choice. It's light and you are still young. Perfectly fine to start with. We can train you with swords when you get older... er”

Haruki snatched up a short sword in his right hand. He turned to make a few swift movements, getting used to the feeling and weight of his new weapon. Thankfully, they weren't TOO heavy, because he still had the muscles of a child, albeit a strong one.

“Inspect”

Fine Iron Short-Sword 35/35 (White)

20-30 physical

Average Attack

15% armour penetration

A well made, but cheap, iron Short-Sword.

Level 5

Seeing his son pick up a sword as well, his eyes shone. “Dual wielding, eh? I suppose we can give it a go. At least I know a few things about that...” and he drew both of his long-swords in a swift, flowing motion.

Haruki was struck dumb for a moment as Ketrel showed off a few lightning quick movements. The swords looked as if they were dancing, giving off violent shock-waves with each attack. As Ketrel finished his performance, he suddenly vanished. Haruki looked around in shock for a moment, then felt the heavy impact of his father's hand on his shoulder, followed by a piercing laughter.

“Gotcha. BWAAAAAAHaaahaahaha!”

Ketrel was standing behind him, savoring the look of surprise on Haruki's face. “That last move was the one I'm planning on teaching you later. It's called “Windstep”. It's great fun at parties!” and he roared with laughter again over what Haruki assumed was some inside joke.

“Not sure I want to ask...”

After learning some basic movements and how to practice them effectively, Haruki trained them again and again, until his arms refused to move any more. Even age 6, he was still remarkably fit. Probably more so than his old body at his prime...

"The universe can be too cruel..."

During the midst of his existential crisis, Ketrel came over from where he had been watching. “Seems you have the aptitude for duel wielding, your movements are quite good for a beginner. I'll train you each day after your morning chores from now on.”

“Yes, Otou-san” Haruki bowed his head slightly with a grin, then collapsed onto the ground in a heap of exhaustion and sweat.

Ding! Unlocked:

Dual-wielding Proficiency: Level 1

Short-Sword Proficiency: Level 1

Dagger Proficiency: Level 1

Haruki smiled at the messages.

“It couldn't be a more perfect world for me! The weapon information even popped up like I was wearing AR glasses or something!”

“While you're gathering up your strength, I'll tell you about the very basics of magic. The rest, you can learn at the academy when you're older.”

Haruki shivered with excitement and pulled his partially liquefied body back into a solid state to absorb the lesson.

“Within magic, there are 8 elements. Earth – Water – Fire – Wind – Lightning – Light – Dark – Nature. Each person is born with an affinity for at least 2 elements. There's a good chance you have inherited our wind affinity, so we can work with that. If you didn't have an affinity for it, you wouldn't be able to learn the magic, let alone use it, but both your mother and I have wind so it should be almost certain...”

“Now, Windstep. It's a basic movement ability that lets you move a short distance like before, for a moderate cost of MP. In battle, speed is highly important. Any false step can end your life, a single stroke can cut down many lives.”

Haruki nodded. It sounded like his HP bar didn't amount to much, so he was probably just as vulnerable as the last world. If you moved last, you'd probably die. A hardcore-mode RPG world. Haruki shivered slightly at hearing how fragile he was. Even a single critical strike to a vital area could be enough to leave you mortally wounded and bleeding out.

As time went on, it became apparent that Ketrel wasn't the greatest teacher, but since he had mastered the skill he was teaching, he was able to directly transfer most of the knowledge of the spell itself. Putting his hand to his head, Ketrel concentrated and gathered a small bubble of yellow magical energy.

“Normally, you'd have to study a scroll or become a Spell Crafter to learn a spell, but direct teaching techniques like this are also fairly common. But since it passes on almost everything except muscle memory, most people will only use this method to teach talented students, friends or family.”

The bubble of magic silently shot forwards, blasting into Haruki's consciousness like a brick. Totally unprepared, he let out a small grunt and almost collapsed. Just barely catching himself, he straightened up and closed his eyes to concentrate on the sudden assault of new information.

He instantaneously knew how to perfectly manipulate his magic towards his feet and how to modulate it. He knew the range of the spell, how to cast the spell to the desired location and even examples of his fathers memories, showing the spell in use in a variety different ways. In under a minute, he completely understood the theory behind the skill.

Ketrel looked slightly worn down. It seemed the transfer had a pretty heavy physical price.

“Someday, this spell could save your life, so practice it every day from tomorrow. The more you train, the more powerful a spell will become, so never slacken. If you get an abilities level high enough, it will even evolve a little and become stronger.”

Haruki nodded, absorbing as much information as possible while his father smiled proudly as his son.

“For now, we'll end the lesson with a quick mention of the status window.”

“Oi oi, STATUS WINDOW!? STATS!?”

Thankfully, he managed to keep his face from splitting itself apart with a grin.

“You've probably heard people randomly saying 'status' before, right? It's as easy as that. Give it a go while you're resting and tell me your stats during dinner. I'm exhausted after all of that, so I'm off to snuggle with your mother for a bit.”

“I guess I shouldn't be surprised, this really is an RPG world...

What kind of weirdo makes a universe like this!? I mean, besides someone like me... But I'm not a god!

And I'm not complaining, but this is all too suspicious...”

Ketrel sighed at the spaced-out Haruki, leaving alone with a quiet nod.

“Status” Haruki felt sufficiently nerdy as he quietly spoke the word.

A window quickly faded into view:

Name:

Abe Haruki

Age:

6

Level:

6

Health:

1000

Mana:

300

Class:

Title:

Professions:

Strength: 45

Magic: 40

Dexterity: 60

Endurance: 50

Wisdom: 35

Intellect: 40

I EVEN HAVE LEVELS!?!

Haruki was breathing quite heavily at this point, from sheer excitement.

“Might as well happily accept this new world, or I'll probably go insane from worrying over it... I've always wanted a world like this anyway, so why should I hesitate now that I'm finally here?”

He spent another hour training his Windstep ability and was able to teleport a short distance a few times successfully. He confirmed that the bars were HP / Stamina / MP and that low stamina will weaken your sword swings immensely, as well as slowing you down. Thankfully, it recharged quickly and was relatively easy to manage.

After finishing up with training for the day, Haruki went to grab some lunch, but flirtatious giggling wafted out from his parents room, followed by stifled laughter and some pink clouds.

"Ahh, right. They were 'snuggling'. I'll leave those two alone for now..."

He attached his new dagger to his belt, instead deciding to relax down at the nearby river. It wasn't terribly large, but it was enough to provide for the large town nearby, as well as their little farming village. On the North side of the river, a road ran parallel, east to west. The other side of the river faced into a massive forest, known as “Wolfswood”.

He was allowed to go there on the promise that he would never cross the river. The namesake wolves rarely left their forest and preferred to avoid humans where possible, so he considered himself safe. He could probably handle one or two wolves on his own anyway, as they were relatively weak individually.

Haruki settled down under his favorite tree and took a relaxed resting position among the many gnarled roots. The sound of gently running water mingled with the whispering of the wind through the forest, gently washing away the day's fatigue. He loved this spot, since it was usually quiet and untraveled. He could be alone, in peace with his thoughts.

Today, however, there was a small girl.