Haruki's skill levels quickly rose with his daily training. His aptitude for dual-wielding mostly came from his past life; One of his hobbies was drumming, while his other was gaming, so his co-ordination was already better than most.

“Status”

Name:

Abe Haruki

Age:

8

Level:

8

Health:

1000

Mana:

340

Class:

Title:

Professions:

Strength: 65

Magic: 60

Dexterity: 90

Endurance: 75

Wisdom: 50

Intellect: 50

“Skills”

Combat:

Dual-wielding Proficiency: Level 4 12% Increases attack speed by 8% while dual-wielding

Short-Sword Proficiency: Level 3 64% Increases damage with Short-Swords by 15% and durability by 15%

Long-sword Proficiency: Level 1 49% Increases damage with Long-swords by 5% and durability by 5%

Bow Proficiency: Level 2 23% Increases damage and range of Bows / Crossbows by 10% and durability by 10%

Dagger Proficiency: Level 4 33% Increases damage with Daggers by 40% and durability by 20%

Light Armour Proficiency: Level 3 16% Increases Light Armour strength and durability by 15%

Magic:

Windstep: Level 4 59% Allows a range of 20m - 150MP

Passive:

Blessing of the Sun Goddess: Uses 3

Neutral:

Sprinting: Level 4 87% Sprint 20% longer, lose stamina 20% slower while sprinting

Swimming: Level 4 13% Can swim 20% longer and hold your breath 10% longer

Climbing: Level 3 17% Chance of spotting good footing increased by 15% - Stamina usage reduced 15%

Riding: Level 1 27% Mounted speed increased by 5%, stamina usage reduced 5%

From what he'd learned, most people in this world start out with 1000hp and the only way for it to grow normally is by wearing rare items with added HP. Stats and levels continue to grow steadily with your age, until 15.

At that moment, the 'age of ascension', you can finally start to learn a profession and gain a class. Stats also stop growing by themselves, usually around the 150-200 range for an average person. After finally going through the ascension ritual, the world considered you as an adult. It was a widely celebrated milestone in most cultures.

Classes are offered at random based on your stats and personality, but you can always choose to reject one you don't like.

Even the gear was exceptionally gamey. It had a colour ranking and everything! Trash items are Grey, White are normal, Green are magical and start giving stats. Blue is Rare, Purple is Epic and Orange is Legendary. Haruki was growing more and more suspicious of the world every day, but since there was still nothing he could do about it, eventually he stopped worrying again.

Suzu once knocked on his door to see if he was home and Ketrel answered with a guffaw. Staring daggers at his father, Haruki walked outside and said hello.

“You wanna head down to the spot and hang out for a while then?” he asked, glaring back at the house with a pained look.

Suzu nodded.

“Ahh, I'll grab you those books too, wait here.” and he walked back inside.

The whole time his parents were silently juding and grinning, adding to Haruki's internal anguish.

'If I'd known it would be like this... Then again, I should have thought instead of blurting something out like inviting a young old girl over...'

Taking the teasing as his punishment, he grabbed the promised books and ran back outside in record time, shutting the door loudly as his parents erupted into laughter. A vein popped up on Haruki's forehead, but he took a quick breath and calmed down.

“All good, Suzu, let's go.”

While Suzu had also reddened from the teasing, she nodded and happily skipped over to his side.

“You often talk to me like an adult speaking to a child...”

“Ghu...?” He had no response to that. It was true, he'd often caught himself slipping into a slightly childish tone when he spoke. It was an unconscious thing for someone of his age dealing with someone her age.

“I sometimes wonder. Are you older than you look?” Suzu asked, her unwavering eyes growing larger.

“Uh, I've heard it called an 'old soul' before...” Haruki tried to divert a little, coughing awkwardly and shifting his gaze.

At this point of the day, the sun was low and the shadows of the tree were covering Suzu's face in darkness. The effect was almost eerie. She gave off the feeling of a stalking panther staring at meat from the shadows...

“Uh, you've gotten scary all of a sudden.” he smiled meekly.

Suzu shook her head. “You're like me. You were reborn here from another world, right?”

“Gack....” Haruki's soul was leaking out of his mouth at this point. She really was a predator...

“Nn. Knew it.”

It took a moment for Haruki to fully register the words that were spoken. She was reborn here too?

“Did you come from Earth?” Haruki asked, filled with the slight hope of meeting a comrade.

“Nn.” Suzu nodded grinning.

A huge weight lifted off Haruki's shoulders as he finally learned he wasn't alone. So many strange things were suddenly explained in so few words. His heart grew still as he felt a sense of peace wash over his normally frantic mind.

“What country? I'm from Australia.”

Suzu looked strangely at him for a moment, as if bothered by something. “Japan...”

“So what were your favourite games?” This was easily the most important question he. He NEEDED to know.

'She can't be a gamer, right? That'd be too perfect! At least she likes reading, so we can talk about manga or novels! '

At this point he was probably grinning far too much. Suzu stared at him blankly, slightly confused.

“Ohajiki...?”

Haruki blinked for a moment at the strange word.

'I feel like we totally missed each other on that one...'

“Do you know what a video game is?” His heart lurched into his throat as he asked, desperate to hear a response.

“Vi...de..oh?”

“Shit...” He had just gotten his hopes up...

“...?”

“Nevermind. What year were you born in the old world?”

“Year? I grew up in the Nin'an era.”

Haruki paused for a moment, scratching his head pensively while he replayed her responses over and over in his mind.

'My Japanese History is a little rusty, but that would mean she's definitely pre-computer, right? Bah... I had a real desire to nerd out with someone too...'

Haruki sighed, slightly dejected. As he was lamenting, a thin finger softly poked his cheek, bringing his mind back to the present.

“Sorry, I thought you might have been from my own time. As far as I'm concerned, I should be calling you Oba-san.” he grinned devilishly, but received a prompt punch on the arm. Suzu's small fist certainly wasn't as delicate as it looked.

“If you're older than 6, then you should know not to joke about a woman's age...” she said with a pout and just a hint of bloodlust.

'Is it my imagination or can I see an ethereal panther roaring in the air behind her? Scary!'

Haruki shivered at the strange apparition. It almost felt tangible.

“I would never dream of such a thing M'lady. It's just that I was born at LEAST 300 years after you were...”

Silence.

“Haruki baka...” and she turned back to reading her book with a half smile.

Haruki chuckled to himself. Life was good.

They spent more time talking unreservedly about themselves over the next few days. Now that they both knew the other wasn't a child, they finally felt completely comfortable together.

Haruki spent some time explaining some of the more notable inventions that she'd missed out on. She was especially curious about cars, fascinated that humans were able to travel faster than 200km/h without magic. He also tried to give a brief history of modern Japan, though he'd never really studied much about it, so it was extremely brief.

As for Suzu, she had been one of the few female warrior's of her time. She trained from youth with a long bladed polearm called a Naginata, as well as daggers. She spoke a little about her early life, her strict father and her desire to fight.

She spoke of many her battles, her capture and even being married off afterwards. As she mentioned the marriage, she visibly flinched, so Haruki decided to not probe any deeper.

'It's so hard to believe, but then again, I'm also in a world with magic and level ups... And she doesn't seem the type to lie about that sort of thing. Am I meeting some famous historical figure? There weren't that many female warriors of that level in Japan from what little I know...'

“I never did anything that interesting. I'm hoping this time is different” he clenched his fist while saying it, as if to show off his determination.

Suzu nodded with a sly grin. “Nn... We're going to be big adventurers like your Otou-san some day!”

Harkui buried his face into his knee's as he remembered every awkward word he'd spoken in the past.

“Bah, I thought you were six...” he muttered under his breath.