Masa calmed down after I convinced him I was a normal person despite sorta, kinda, maybe, having mysteriously wealthy parents, We sat on the wooden floor of the living room and compared notes. I offered to create a sofa, but he said he was more comfortable on the floor so I just made us a couple of seat cushions.

"So, you mentioned meeting a so-called 'guide' who taught you about this game?" he asked, looking thoughtful. "In my case, there was only a welcome screen giving me some basic info."

"Huh. Wasn't there some sort of test for you to pass?" I asked him. "You seem to be very successful with your levelling and increasing your Skills though."

Masa turned his gaze to the ceiling as he tried to recall. "Perhaps finding the gate to this world had been the test in itself. And unlike you, I already had some Skills that were not in brackets when I first used Inspect."

"Really? What were they? Maybe they were already skills that you had," I suggested.

He nodded in agreement. "That is what I suspect too. The Skills were Swordsmanship 5, Evasion and Language 2. It's kinda sad to see my hard work learning English displayed as such a low number though," he said with a self-deprecating smile.

"That's already pretty amazing," I protested. "I am relatively fluent in English and Chinese, but my Language is still at 1, you know."

Incidentally, my status looked like this:

Rynn Tan

Experience: 55% to next Level

Race: Human | Age: 16

Level: 22 | Condition: Normal

Attack: Normal

Endurance: Normal

Agility: High

Speed: Normal

Intelligence: Normal

Mana: High

Skills:

Inspect 2, Swordsmanship 2, Map 1, Language 1 [Evasion] [Stealth]

Magic:

Light, Class 1 - Healing, Shield [Blessings] [Dispel] [Immunity]

Conjuration, Class 2 - Storage, Creation, Multiplication, Conjuring, Uncreation

It wasn't surprising how Inspect, Swordsmanship and Conjuration had gone up, since I used them so often. The only difference I noticed was that I now didn't have to think so hard to inspect something, and using my swords came more easily to me. I still hadn't managed to unlock or acquire any new Skills though. Maybe this system was unlike those in popular fiction where the main characters could get tons of Skills.

Masa seemed to agree with my opinion, and he suggested that we focus on training those Skills we already had rather than trying to unlock new ones. As we talked and came to know each other better, I became convicted that he could be a good party member who could watch my back. He was calm and cautious, unlike my somewhat impetuous personality. He could pull me back whenever I went too far, and he had lots of interesting ideas. It was certainly not because he was good-looking, all right? ...Well, maybe a tiny bit.

Now, the issue was how to broach the question. Would saying "Could we form a party?" be too direct? I didn't want him to have an impression that I was brash, but then, come to think of it, I had already asked to see his status when we first met. Anything worse than that would probably be something like "Would you marry me?" or something. I chuckled to myself at the thought until I noticed that Masa was staring at me with an awkward expression. I stared back at him, and then slowly turned red. "Don't tell me I just spoke all my thoughts aloud?"

He nodded twice, slowly averting his gaze. It might have been merely my imagination, but his ears looked slightly pink. "I-I don't mind forming a party with you, but we just met today, so talking about marriage is a little..."

Eep! He was actually taking me seriously!? I hastily explained that I was just kidding and he relaxed visibly. "I'm sorry for misunderstanding what you meant," he said, bowing his head a little. "I had heard that girls were far more proactive overseas, but you're the first one I have actually met face to face, so you bore the brunt of my assumptions."

"I don't usually think out loud like that either," I told him, shaking my head. "I must have gotten the habit from being so long on my own over here. Please do tell me whenever I start rambling again so I don't embarrass myself any more. And," I stretched out my right hand towards him. "Thanks for accepting my party request. Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu."

He smiled back at me and shook my hand firmly. "You don't need to be so polite to a party member. Kochira koso yoroshiku."

Now that Masa was officially a party member, I introduced him to Eins and Deux. Introducing might be a weird way of putting it, but that was how it felt. The talkative sabre actually spoke to him just as I was beginning to think I was the only one who could hear it.

"Finally, someone with proper skill to wield me," said Deux, "What a relief!"

Annoyed, I offered Masa the sabre, but he demurred, saying he already had two swords and that having one that could speak would be distracting in the middle of battle. "What! I'm going to be stuck with this amateur? Anything but tha—" I shoved it back into my Void before it could finish talking.

In return, Masa allowed me to inspect his two swords as well. For some reason, both of them had proper scabbards.

Roku

Maker: Masamane

Type: Uchikatana | Age: 39

Attack: High

Durability: High

Description:

Inflicts damage inversely proportional to the force used or in the opposite direction.

Syv

Maker: Masamane

Type: Two-handed sword | Age: 37

Attack: High

Endurance: Normal

Description:

Inflicts lightning damage during a storm or rain. The magnitude depends on the intensity of the rain.

"Wow," I couldn't help saying. "Your swords seem much more useful than mine, even though they're also made by the same weirdo swordsmith."

Masa simply gave me a wry smile. "I actually came upon the two of them at the same time," he said. "I had just entered Shyi'eld and saw them placed beside a grave. I just paid my respects to it when the introduction window popped up and told me to take the swords."

WHAT!? Why was his version of the game in "easy" mode?! I want a redo!!