My name is Yahakuro Shidijima. Yes. Such a simple beginning. I live in the year 2023, and I am... ironically enough, tired of life. I am twenty-two years old, but I work three jobs just to provide for myself. It is incredibly exhausting, and I have practically no time left for anything for myself. One day, while resting after work before heading to sleep, I stumbled upon a certain game.
It was called "Cain's Valor: World War." When I read the description and the history of the world, it impressed me, and I decided to download it. The loading process was long and seemingly eternal, but after two minutes, the percentage suddenly jumped from 1% to 100%.
Surprised, I clicked "Open." A loading background appeared. On the screen were characters unknown to me: from skilled swordsmen and gunmen to beautiful maidens, sorceresses, and so on. The game loaded. A black screen. A character selection menu opened before me. There were choices for gender, appearance, attribute, and weapon type.
Well, let's start the selection. I didn't think twice about the gender and immediately chose male. Appearance... things were much more complicated here. I was surprised that for choosing the character's appearance, there were literally billions of buttons, colors, and even options for moles on the leg. Hair color? Well, let's say, ash. Short length, with a white sheen. Skin color will be simple, slightly tanned. Regarding the eyes... I settled on grey eyes—there was something magical in their steel glint. I set the height slightly above my own, a solid 182 centimeters. I chose an athletic physique: not a mountain of muscle, but rather the lean figure of a fencer.
All that was left was the clothing. I chose a black turtleneck, a white jacket with a turned-up collar featuring iron buckles, black belts, dark grey lines, and a silver eagle badge on the left side of the chest. Black jeans and matching shoes. It seems to me it turned out just great.
My character looked like a strong and cute teenager with a determined gaze and the ash of grey eyes.
Now, let's move on to what I will be applying in the game itself. Attribute. There were more than a dozen options: Water, Fire, Darkness, Light, Nature, Air, Earth, Lightning, Energy, Sound, Illusions, Space, Time, Particles, Quantum, Physical, Spirit, and Consciousness.
My eyes wandered amidst the abundance of variants... there was everything for every taste and color. Ideas were aplenty, for example: Water represented the obvious ability to control water. For those who understand chemistry, this was a gift, because water was everywhere: from the human body to the weather and even the air.
Fire speaks for itself.
Overall, all the elements were quite powerful, but among the interesting ones, I personally liked Darkness, Light, Energy, Illusions, Particles, Spirit, and Consciousness. I liked Light the most. You could come up with many possibilities with light, but Darkness wasn't far behind. The concept of light itself seemed brighter to me, so I chose it. At that moment, a sphere of light appeared above my character's head on the left. It looked cool.
Now, the weapon type... from simple swords to cannons and crossbows. I thought that since this is a game, I could experiment. I chose swords. With them, my character looked the coolest.
I wasn't satisfied with how the swords looked at that moment. I made them long and thin, with a guard suitable for a firm grip, and the color was a simple, metallic one. Clicking "Next," a window popped up in front of me: "Create a name for your character." I thought about it, and a great idea came to mind. I loved mythology very much, so I chose the name "Cain." After typing it into the field and clicking the button, an error appeared: "Not enough letters in the field. Must be at least 8 letters, including first and last name." Hmm, it was strange, but I typed "Cain Bloodbound" into the field.
After typing the name this time and clicking "Next," the screen dimmed, and the loading background began to process. I saw my character in all his glory after finding myself in a forest location: graceful, tall, slender, with a determined gaze and a cute face bordering on beauty. A sphere hovered above his head, and swords sparkled in his hands. I noticed a label above his head: "Lv. 1 Cain Bloodbound," but what surprised me was that there were no health, strength, or speed points anywhere.
When I wondered what the point was, a neon-blue holographic panel appeared before me, saying: "The game uses a real-world system. In this game, instead of a game system, real precision, biology, speed, and so on are in effect. By hitting an enemy's neck with a bullet, you won't take away 10 health points; you will kill them forever, as oxygen will no longer be able to reach their brain. Here is a simple example. All the best."
Wow. I'm seeing such a system for the first time, despite the level label hanging over Cain's head. Well, I won't overthink it.
I noticed an arrow leading somewhere in front of Cain's feet. I ran in the direction it was pointing. Along the way, I remembered that I hadn't inspected the location: I was in a deep, dense forest, and judging by everything, it was currently spring. There were massive trees everywhere, a light breeze, and fairly hot weather. How do I know this? It's written in my character's sensations. There's even that here. I suppose the character can die from hunger, cold, or something like that.
I already like this game. While I was thinking, the arrow led me to a person. I approached him, inspecting him, but suddenly heard: — Who are you? Don't come any closer! — he suddenly pulled out a pistol and aimed it at me. The distance between us was 10 meters; I was sure I wouldn't be able to dodge.
— But I wan... — I didn't have time to finish as he shot me, hitting my shoulder. My character spoke on his own, somehow projecting my thoughts. For some reason, this didn't surprise me, although usually, it would have blown my mind. By the way, after the shot, Cain cried out in pain, clutching his shoulder.
— I said, don't move and don't speak! — the aggressor shouted.
I understood the point of the arrow calling me here. I suppose this is the first quest. Somehow deal with a person using swords. As I understood, I can click on the sphere. Yes, it literally says "Click on me" right there. Clicking the sphere, Cain in the game touched it, and his body glowed with light. The aggressor started shooting, but his bullets flew right through Cain.
I understood what was happening and ran to attack the aggressor. The result was obvious, meh. I couldn't attack him while in this state. But I realized that I could trick him into using up all his bullets.
While I ran around him and swung, and he shot all his bullets into me out of fear, they ran out. The trigger just clicked with no reaction, and then I returned to a physical state, delivering a sword strike to his heart. Of course, he died instantly. I didn't perceive his death as something terrible since it's a game, but despite that, a shiver ran down my spine. It was as if I had killed a real person, but I pushed the anxious thoughts away, turning my attention to something else:
I was pleased by what I saw: Cain's level bar began to glow by a third, and I think it's related to the level increase. But I was still worried that blood was flowing from my shoulder. Since the world here is like the real one, it means I could die from blood loss, which is not good. Of course, this is much better than dying in reality from lack of sleep and exhaustion, but still dangerous. Here, at least you can eat properly... though I don't feel the taste, but whatever, it's just a game.
I ran through the forest, looking for something that could save me. Along the way, I observed that the forest seemed endless. Deciding to stop and rest since Cain's stamina had run out, I noticed sheep nearby. Hunger was also almost at zero. I quickly killed them and snorted irritably. To eat, I had to fry them, but on the plus side, I made a kind of bandage out of their wool, wrapping it around my shoulder, which stopped the bleeding. This would extend my life.
Knowing that I possessed the element of light and theoretically could concentrate light in one hand to form a hot sphere, I asked the system. "The current level does not allow for controlling light with such skill." Understood. It's even thought out to that extent. Well, nevertheless, nothing prevented me from starting a fire. Placing two stones together, I began to sharpen a twig between them, tossing in some dry grass, leaves, and branches. Surprisingly, the fire started much faster than in the real world.
From the branches, I fashioned a sort of roasting rack and laid the meat on it. It's going to take a long time to cook... a very long time. While I wait, I'm thinking about...