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dopewastelandbarbarian · 4 years

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How to Survive Being Reborn Into an RPG, Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

How to Deal With a Blue Slime

In a spacious backyard, many children were playing; Most in groups, others alone. All were under the watchful and caring eyes of the Priestess who ran the orphanage. Near a large stump, in a corner hidden away from the others, a pair of children were conversing. From a distance, it may have looked like they were playing with dolls.

"I... Don't really get what you're saying, Mayumi." Said the young, half-orc, boy. He scratched his head, bald save for a thick but short Mohawk of wavy black hair, in consternation. "That sounds like a really weird dream." He had a simple face, but it was open and honest. His skin was a light green complexion.

The girl beside him sighed heavily. "Grom. Are you even paying attention to what I'm saying?" She asked, leveling a glare at him. Her red hair was bright in the midday sun, long and flowing like a gentle flame. Her green eyes held far less excitement and emotion, and far more wisdom and experience, than there should be in a child's eyes.

"This wasn't a dream you dolt. I'm telling you this happened. Like, in reality."

Grom scratched his chin. "Run it by me again?"

Another heavy sigh from Mayumi. She picked up the makeshift doll made of straw and twine once more. "Fine. Like I said; this isn't my original body. Back in the other world-"

"Like, across the sea?"

"No! Uhg... It's a different reality. I guess... I think. Anyways, it definitely wasn't on the same planet as this world. Also, stop interrupting. So, back in the other world I was a boy. In fact, I was a 26 year old man."

"But you're a girl. We bathe together so I know!"

"Stop interrupting." Mayumi grabbed the doll and moved it around a little. "Back in the other world, I was a 26 year old man. There was technology, and computers, and all kinds of awesome stuff. Personally, I liked my life. I pretty much lived at home, by myself. I worked from home, and had everything delivered. I never even had to go outside. Haaa... it was great... Hey!" She snapped her fingers in front of Grom's face, who had clearly started to check out if the glazed look in his eyes was any indication. "Pay attention, damn it! Geeze, you're dense!"

"Hahaha! Yeah, I am, aren't I?" He chuckled.

Another glare. "I wasn't praising you, dummy... Anyways... Even though it was pretty awesome in it's own way, I was still kinda depressed, you know? I was lonely. I didn't have any friends to rely on."

"You got me though! I'm your best friend, right Mayumi?"

For the first time, she smiled. It was subtle and small, but it was genuine. "Yeah, dum dum, you are." She poked his forehead. "Stop. Interrupting." She picked up the doll again and made it walk. "So, one day, I decided to go for a walk for once; To clear my mind. While I wandered, I eventually found myself at the top of a really tall building." Here she put the doll atop the stump. "I guess they were doing construction or something because the guard rail that's normally around the edge of most buildings that tall wasn't all there. I went to the edge, mostly out of curiosity. I hadn't looked off the edge of a building or cliff since I was a kid." She moved the doll on top of the stump, near the edge. "Well... I guess I had been way more depressed than I realized... because while I was up there I kept thinking about how easy it would be to just... let go and jump."

She looked up and saw Grom making a face at her. "Hey, hey, don't gimme that look... I'm not gonna do anything stupid like that, okay?"

"...Promise?"

Sigh. "Yes. I swear. And even then, when I was thinking those things, it just made me angry at myself. I swore that I was gonna start over and make a better life for myself." Mayumi puffed her chest out a bit, proudly. Then she looked sheepish. "But... I guess a really strong wind kicked up... It, ah... blew me right over the edge."

"And then?"

She made the doll fall slowly to the ground. "And then... I died, I guess... I remember falling, and the ground coming up at me really fast... and then... the next thing I knew, I was a baby in this world."

There was a long silence as Grom took it all in. Then he looked up at her.

"I, uh... still don't really understand it all though... I mean... Couldn't that all have been a dream or something?"

Mayumi shrugged. "I guess it's possible... but I have such vivid memories, and... if it were a dream, how would I know all the things I know about this world? I mean... This reality is basically an Role Playing Game."

"I don't... know what that is?

"Yeah... I know... but... look!" She held her fist out in front of her, then spread out her fingers. Instantly, a flat, transparent window appeared in front of her. "This! This is a status window! How do you explain this?!"

Grom looked at her like she was crazy. "Everyone can do that, though. It's just natural. Sister Lana says the gods gave us the ability to see within ourselves. It's called the 'Reflection'."

"Yeah, I know what it's called, but seriously. It's JUST like a status window in an RPG. It shows you your health, stamina, magic reserves, equipment, items... Everything! Hell, in this world, people can literally gain experience points and increase their attributes and abilities! We can select items we're carrying or equipment we're wearing and equip or un-equip them instantly! How does that make sense to you?!"

"I'm telling you, that's just normal!" Grom huffed.

"And I'm telling you it's not!" Mayumi glared.

The two friends sat there, glaring defiantly at each other for a moment. Mayumi narrowed her eyes and seemed about to say something when she noticed Grom's eyes widening and wandering to just over her shoulder. She started to turn to see what was behind her, but her friend tackled her to the ground just before a thin, gelatinous blue tendril shot past her face.

The two children scrambled to their feet and backed away quickly from their surprise assailant, Grom dragging Mayumi to safety. When they moved away a good distance, Grom positioned himself between Mayumi and their attacker. From behind, she poked her head around for a better view.

What greeted her was a blue, opalescent, translucent blob vaguely oval in shape. It was roughly half their size and, now that they had backed away, wasn't making any overt movements towards them.

"What's a Blue Slime doing this far past the Wall?"

Grom looked over his shoulder. "Mayu, get back! I'll protect you!"

She gave him a flat look. "Look, I appreciate you getting me out of the way and all. Seriously, that was cool. But the Blue Slime is an ambush predator. Now that we're aware of it, it's not particularly dangerous." She stepped out from behind him and furrowed her brows as she scrutinized the slime.

Grom grabbed her arm. "Then... we should go get Sister Lana, right? She can take care of it... Or she can get a guard from the Wall."

She shook her head, not taking her eyes off the slime. "We're about as far away from the Wall as we can get. It would take forever. And Sister Lana's a Priestess; she uses healing magic, so she wouldn't have any affect on it."

Grom snatched up a nearby rock with a grunt. "Then... I'll just smash the thing!"

"Wait, Grom! Don't do tha-!"

With a grunt, the boy hurled the rock at the slime. It hit it's mark dead on, and seemed to splatter the thing. "Ha! That wasn't so hard! I bet I could be a guard at the Wall!"

His celebration was short lived, however, as the slime began to reform quickly. As soon as it did, it began moving towards him.

"All slimes are basically immune to physical attacks, doofus! I tried to tell you that was gonna be useless..."

"Bu... but why is it coming towards us now?" he stammered, backing up while still trying to keep Mayumi behind him.

"Cause you're sweating."

The comment made him take his eyes off the slime to give her an look of incredulousness. "Cause what?!"

"Slimes all hunt using different methods. Blue Slimes hunt by sensing bodily fluids coming from their prey. That's how they hone in. Now... how do we take this thing down..."

Grom looked back at the slime, and twisted up his face in thought. Then he smiled and started snorting like he was trying to clear something out of the back of his throat.

"Ew. Grom. Cut that out, I'm trying to thin-"

Suddenly Grom spat out a thick mouthful of mucus off to the side. He was quite proud of the distance.

"Gross! What's with y-..."

Mayumi grew silent as she watched the slime change directions towards where Grom's unhygienic projectile had landed.

"Hey... that was really smart! It's attracted to your... well... yeah... Anyways! That gives me a great idea! Grom, keep it distracted, okay?"

He nodded enthusiastically, happy to get praised by Mayumi, and began leading it around by spitting on the ground.

Meanwhile, Mayumi opened her status window again. "Ever since I began learning how this world worked, I've been pouring every last experience point I could scrounge up into my Magic Stat..." She mumbled to herself. "Granted, it's barely been anything; being an orphan and a child doesn't really present a lot of opportunities for monster hunting. But even rats and spiders give XP. So! Let's see if I can pull this off!"

Grom looked at her with concern. "Sister Lana said your not supposed to use that, Mayu! It's dangerous!"

"Just keep spitting! I'll be careful!" She opened up her list of Spells. Of course, she only knew one at the moment, and it was barely a spell at all. More like a trick to light candles and fireplaces. "But... If I pour a whole bunch of Mana into it... I might be able to get a nice effect." She looked up to see Grom struggling to work up any spit. "Okay. Enough talking. Lets bag some XP!"

She selected her "spell" and aimed it at the slime. "Gentle flame, guiding light. SPARK!"

With just the tiniest amount of mana, Spark could light a candle or other such item. But Mayumi poured every last bit of her miniscule mana reserve into it, creating a much bigger flame that swept across the body of the slime. The slime burst again, but this time quickly dried up and withered into nothingness.

SLIME DEFEATED! GROM AND MAYUMI GAIN 10 EXPERIENCE POINTS!

Both children saw the words pop up on their status windows and smiled.

MAYUMI HAS GAINED A LEVEL! LEVEL 2 APPRENTICE REACHED!

"Hmm... So I guess it's true that a kid doesn't get to choose their class levels, huh?" Mayumi frowned. Then she suddenly slumped to the ground as a wave of exhaustion came over her. Grom ran to her and helped her up.

"Are you okay...?"

"Ah... yeah... I forgot about Mana Drain. But I had to use it all up or I couldn't be sure to take it out. I'll be fine after I rest. Thanks Grom."

"Of course! I'll always be there to help you out!"

This made her smile again as she put an arm around his shoulder to stabilize herself. "Apprentice... I've heard that when kids grow up, they can retrain weaker class levels into stronger ones. If that's the case, I'm already on my way to becoming a mage. Just like I wanted, heh."

"Hey, Mayumi? How'd you know your Spark would kill it?"

"Oh. Well Blue Slimes need a lot of moisture to survive. Fire dehydrates slimes like no one's business."

"You sure know a lot about monsters, Mayu."

"Well, I've been reading up on all kinds of creatures ever since we got those books donated to the orphanage. Plus, I do have all of my knowledge about games from my previous life. It helps."

At about that time, the Priestess he children knew as Sister Lana came around the corner. "There you two are!" she exclaimed in a mildly reproaching tone. She daintily lifted her dress enough to walk quickly. "I've been looking all over for you two! Come inside, quickly. We just got word that a couple of small monsters may have slipped past the Wall and made their way into the village. It isn't safe for children right now." The kind young woman tilted her head. "Why on earth are you two grinning at each other like that? And Mayumi! You look exhausted! You've been playing around with your magic again, haven't you! Oh, you two are just..." She sighed the heavy sigh of one who deals with troublesome children on a daily basis.

She bent down and lifted Mayumi into her arms. "We'll talk about that later. For now, come in. Grom, get in the bath with Mayumi and watch over her will you? That's a good boy. Mayumi, after you get clean you're to have supper and then it's straight to bed for you."

"But I-!"

"No buts! I recognize Mana Drain when I see it, missy! Bath, supper, bed." She said the last word in a tone that brooked no argument, while lovingly brushing a stray hair from the girl's face.

Sister Lana carried the girl into the orphanage with Grom close on her heels. The two children looked at each other ruefully.

'If I had to be reborn into a strange new world...' thought Mayumi, 'I could have done a lot worse.'

#Novel #self publication #fantasy #chapter 1 #genderbend #RPG

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