Chapter 3: What is Status?

【Status】 Name:  Shinichi Tanaka Age:  17 years old (56 years old) Race:  Homeless Occupation:  Homeless Magic attribute:  No Attribute Magic:  None Skills:  Appraisal (Beginner), Pressure Point (Beginner)

This is the contents of the status.

It’s absurd, but for now, I understand that this is reality and decided to take a look. The first thing I was interested in was my age.

Looks like I have turned back to 17 years old. Of course the one enclosed inside (), 56, is my real age. No wonder, my current body is youthful and full of strength. So, this information can be taken as a fact.

It’s hard to believe but there’s no other explanation.

The next thing that took my interest was the race. I thought it should be human, but apparently it was a homeless race.

I see… I see…

―As if there’s such a thing!

I have always been a human. If you are certified as homeless from the time you were born, you will make your parents cry! I would like to offer a firm protest to this information!

Fu……  (deep breath)

However that’s fine. Since my race is homeless, it’s necessary to watch the situation first. This is not the real world. Perhaps in Hell, the deeds during one’s lifetime were reflected and became one’s race. I decided to think so.

Next is occupation.

It’s also homeless, there is no objection to that. I am certainly homeless, it was my livelihood. It may also be called work. In this case, it’s the correct information in a sense.

Next is the Magic Attribute.

Having magical attributes simply says that magic exists. It’s a lie right? Is what I’m thinking but after seeing those monsters, there’s no denying it –for sure, there’s magic here.

There are times I longed for magic and extra-sensory perception. I also have those dark history. However, I’m 56 years old now.

Trained in a tough society, I wore common sense and reality as an armor, but now it’s magic!

―I was so happy that my hands were trembling! I want to see magic quickly! Give me some magic!

Oops, I was too excited. Calm down. Information is still being collected.

The next thing that catches my eye is Magic. Seems like I can’t use magic yet because it says None. When I look closely at the magic attribute, it is written as “No Attribute” instead of “None”.

I can understand that I have no attributes. Eventually, I want to be able to use magic without attributes.

Now for the Skills, I feel this is the most important part. What has been learned are Appraisal (Beginner) and Pressure Point (Beginner). The red dot from before is probably the effect of this skills…

I’m not too sure, but somehow my intuition is whispering.

The question is which of these two displayed the red dot. I think that Appraisal skill taught me the weaknesses of the enemy, but it is also possible that it’s the Pressure Point skill that taught me of the weak point. From there, I decided to try using the two skills.

Let’s try it out on something.

“Hmmm… What is this giant’s race?”

Words come to my mind when I used appraisal skill on the giant.【 Appraisal Result: Orc 】

It’s a success!

However, the monster I thought as a giant was from an Orc’s race instead. Speaking of which, I feel like there was such enemy too when I played the game. Enma-sama seems to like games after all.

“Okay okay, this time I’ll use Pressure Point skill.”

When I tried it in my own body, a green glowing dot and a red glowing dot appeared throughout my body. I already tried the red dot on the orc earlier so now I’ll try the green dot.

When I hit the green dot at the bottom of my foot, I felt strangely light.

The fear and excitement I had before settled down, and my calm thoughts began to rotate rapidly… If this is the effect of pressing the dot, it is amazing.

Not to mention running a massage shop, I could even be revered as the god of massage.

“It’s definitely determined that the red dots appeared due to this skill. But in both cases, it means that there would be intermediate and advanced levels. Hmmm…I think it’s better to train the skills somehow.”

When I tried appraising the knife, unexpected results were displayed.

【Appraisal Result: Mithril knife】

Hmm? What kind of metal is Mithril?

I’m not too sure, but I think it’s a good metal. I thought I would see “steel” after the appraisal but… It seems that Hell is full of things I don’t know yet.

I stand up and decided to cut off the right foot of the orc with the knife.

There are very few dried meats and breads on hand. So I decided to feed on the orc. I don’t like cannibalism, but I can’t be picky in a place where food is scarce. Orcs have the shape of a person, but they are clearly different from humans. If I have to say, it is only a humanoid pig.

Upon cutting the orc’s meat, a beautiful pink color comes in sight. With the surface’ rough skin, it doesn’t look delicious, but the meat inside is certainly like pork. I know that this meat is not so bad.

“I can only carry one leg. If there could be a backpack somewhere…”

Looking around the room, I found a person carrying a backpack amongst the human corpses. It has a little blood on it, but it’s not unusable. Looking inside, there was some water and food left.

“Sorry, I’ll take your belongings.”

I placed my hand on the corpse as I say sorry, I then took the backpack and carry it on my back.　There were tools as well as food in it. I may have found a good one.

Looking at the corpses again, all of them were strong men wearing leather armor. Most of the figures I could see are those of white men, some are of yellow race while others where dark men.　With their swords on their hips, they feel like they’re out of from a fantasy world.

“There are no Japanese…”

There was no Japanese figure in the corpses. I suddenly felt a sense of isolation in my heart. Even when I became homeless, I was still surrounded with Japanese people. Some of them even became my friends and shared with my loneliness. That’s why I may have forgotten my true loneliness.

I’m the only one here….

“Heh! I’m lonely! I’m homeless! I have accepted that long ago!”

I plunge the foot of the orc into the backpack and explore further inside the room.

“Oh? Stairs?”

I found a staircase in the corner of the room. The end of the stairs is dark, and moist air is blowing up. I could also hear a faint water sound. I’m a little lost here…

If there is a ground floor, I don’t know whether to go up or down.

However right now, not to mention water, there is no food left. Moreover, I don’t have enough power to fight monsters such as wolves and orcs head on.

I was just lucky to win the previous victory. It may have been me who was killed instead.

“I’ll go down here for now. If water is there, I can’t throw the possibility that there are people there too. First, I must secure a living area.”

Once I’ve decided, I go down the stairs without any hesitation.

◆◇◆

“Buwahahahaha! The water here is delicious!”

I scoop up the clean water flowing in the water canal and drink it up. There was a water canal down the stairs.

The appearance of the dungeon has also changed, the brick wall has become concrete, and a water canal was installed on the floor. It’s more like an old water supply. The width is about 3m, but the depth is not so much, it maybe up to my lower leg.

But what’s with this degree of clearness?

The water is very transparent and it has no odor. I was wary of raw water, but I’m not against thirst. When I took a sip, that’s when I noticed the delicious taste.

“Phew, it’s been a long time since I drank such delicious water.”

Satisfied, I leaned my back against the wall. There are passageways at both ends of the water canal. I checked the floor that I have descended from again.

The passageway continues along the water canal, a candle stand was similarly installed on the wall. The small crystals placed on top of the candle stand gives off a pale light. It’s a fantastic sight.

“This water is nice. It might be okay to build a living quarter around here. I’m sure there’s someone else here.”

Taking out the water bottle, I draw water from the water canal just in case. It is important to secure water because I do not know how far this water canal goes.

The reason the homeless set up their bed in the park is because of the toilets and water supply there. Securing water is one of the basics of a street life.

“Now, I have to find a place where I can live. But I’m alternating on whether I should aim upstream or downstream of the water canal.”

Naturally, if I aim upstream, I could reach the water source. Probably, going downstream would be a sea or lake. So I decided to aim downstream.

If I’m lucky, I could probably meet people once I can get out of here.

As I start walking, the saucepan and water bottle inside my backpack collides. It was good that I got something I needed from rummaging thru the corpses but the sound is too noticeable. If there are monsters on this floor, I think I’ll be a good prey.

I continued to walk just beside the water canal, and after walking for an hour, I found the end of the water canal.

“I see, it is like this…”

The water canal was cut off here while darkness spread beyond the area.

The water in the water canal pours into a huge vertical hole –like a waterfall. I looked into the bottom just in case, but the darkness was still widespread. Moreover, I can’t even hear the splashing sound of the falling water, I’m scared on how deep it is.

 “I give up… I wonder where I’m really at. I thought I’m in Hell, but maybe I’m making a big mistake here…”

As I was looking in the dungeon, I gradually realized that the major premise was different. I thought that this is the world after death but what I saw were still very different from my imagination.

Above all, I really did rejuvenate! I don’t know what I look like without a mirror, but I definitely know that my body is that of a young man.

In that case, one more hypothesis crossed my mind. Speaking of death, it’s not just about Heaven and Hell. There also reincarnation.

I may be reincarnated rather than rejuvenated. If that’s the case, I can consent, since I actually died once.

The problem is this place. If this is still Earth, I can return to Japan one day. After that, I want to know what happened to Tokyo. However, if this is a faraway place that I don’t know of, I cannot return to Japan –forever…

I looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Thinking again and again about the uncertain elements like this is my bad habit. I keep thinking about avoiding risk.

I don’t think such a man will be attractive. I’m that unappealing that even my wife turned away from me. It’s been over 20 years since then.

Is our son fine?

“Show your spirit, Shinichi Tanaka! You’re already a certified homeless person! When you’re this worried you can’t do anything!”

I inspired myself and decided to return the way I came. When I arrived at the starting point, I start walking upstream again. I feel like three hours have passed since I got down to this floor.

It’s about time to eat, but I want to avoid being caught off guard especially in this place where safety cannot be ensured. I continued walking the opposite direction and after an hour, I finally came to the water source.

Large amount of water are discharged from the mouth of a lion-like stone statue that is about 3 meters long. The water poured into the water canal gently and beautifully filled it. It feels like a sacred place because of this water source.

“So there’s a lion head facing the walls at both ends huh… these three lion’s head looks pretty cool.”

I approached the statue of the lion, which is the source of water, and I stroked it a little, it was smoother than I expected.

I could also predict that the craftsman had carved the lion from a block of rock without a seam. It can be seen that the craftsmanship is sophisticated and made by a very skilled craftsman.

This time, I felt strange when I approached the lion’s head faced on the wall. The left eye has a hole. Looking at the lion’s head opposite each other, both have eyes properly placed.

This is strange after all.

I was curious about it so I decided to put my finger in the eye’s hole.

“I felt a protrusion at the tip of my finger…”

It felt like a button so I tried to push it in, then I heard a clank sound from somewhere right after. A little vibration ran on the floor, looks like something is starting to move.

Garagaragara-  Gakon!

With such sound, I look at the water canal closely, a chain that hangs from the ceiling appeared before me which looks like a mechanism for a hidden door. I am deeply moved. There’s a device in front of me that I could only see in movies. I forgot myself and ran into the hidden door.

 “Wow?!”

The previous dark view was suddenly enveloped in light. It appears that the thing which looks like a light stand works automatically. A warm brown light illuminated the surroundings. When I finally get used to it, I was able to confirm what this place was.

In a nutshell, it was a place that could be called a warehouse.

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