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Chapter 2: The High and Lows of a Leveling Game

Before he met Hera, Taiyou was a very normal high school student.
For exams, he usually studied in the last minute which allowed him to avoid failing. For physical exercise classes he could barely keep up with the track and field students so that he wouldn’t be a hindrance. His face was also average looking………Additionally he thought that there was no chance he would get a girlfriend and each year on Valentine’s Day and Christmas day he would be alone.

He fantasized about having a childhood friend whom he would promise to marry or it was even alright for him to get summoned to another world by a pink coloured beautiful girl (bishoujou) and getting treated as a pet dog. If those were to happen it would be like hitting a home run for Taiyou. Unfortunately for him there was not a single event that could spark his life. (I think the pink haired girl is a reference to an anime called Zero no Tsukaima)
Therefore as usual today, for him the: sights, taste, smell, feeling and hearing he will experience are going to be just like any normal day…… At least it was supposed to be.

In the morning, Taiyou was wearing his school uniform and walking on his way to school whilst playing on his smart phone.
He just acquired this smart phone yesterday, and it was advertised from a net source as the newest model as a sturdy phone with a great customer guarantee.

The screen did not have a single scratch, and on the display was female swordsman in a western style fantasy background, this female warrior was moving very fluently whilst fighting a metallic coloured monster. Whilst walking Taiyou effortlessly maneuvered the character, and one after another he defeated the metallic coloured monsters that popped out.
In the corner of his display, his character’s level was seen. She was a whopping level 254. For him, the fact his level was so high represented that the game was very close to being cleared.

「Good morning Natsuno, playing that game again? 」 (Note: Natsuno is main char, in Japanese people are referred to with their last names for politeness at least until they become very good friends)
「Hm? Oh it’s you Nakajima. Good morning」

Because a voice called out to him he raised his face from his phone, and standing next to him he saw his classmate Nakajima Katsuki.
He isn’t what you would call a close friend/buddy, Katsuki was just a friendly person in general and he would to talk everyone, Taiyou also got used to Katsuki casually talking to him.
As he keeps walking side by side with Katsuki, he dropped his gaze back to his smart phone and continued to walk.

「What ya playing? …..hang on, you’ve been playing that one for ages, is that a net game? 」
「Nope, it’s just the usual RPG roleplay. There are barely any online functions available on this fellow」 (Note: they are both talking in impolite form, so I am also trying to use more casual words instead of rigid ones)
「Hee, Can you really play a normal RPG for such a long period of time? …..Huh, your level is freaking high ?!!」
「It ain’t too bad」

Seeing the shocked face of Katsuki, he was pretty satisfied with the reaction he was getting, and he felt a little proud so he responded smugly.

「This game can only go up to a max level of 255 before the counter stops going up. Most likely I think I can do it by tomorrow」
「That so? It seems to take a lot of dedication to level up. That’s amazing, if you leveled up that much the last boss must be a piece of cake」
「Eh? There is no such thing as defeating a last boss ya know? 」

Taiyou raised his face and had an expression that said, 「What are you on about? 」

「You can’t defeat the last boss? Then what’s the point of raising your level? 」
「……..Because there is experience points to grind? 」
「I don’t understand the point! It’s even more confusing than climbing a mountain! 」

Katsuki fiercely pestered Taiyou.

「I mean, if you can’t even defeat a last boss, why do you try so hard to raise your level? Is it really that fun? 」
「It’s really fun, because when you increase the level in game, you become that much stronger! 」
「Well that fact is true, after all a game is made to be that way」
「That’s the reason I am playing」
「???」

Hearing Taiyou’s response, Katsuki tilted his head and had a totally confused expression on his face.
Although it wasn’t such a complex matter, When Taiyou tried to explain to others in detail all he got was weird looks in return, therefore Taiyou did not explain any further.
He just became silent, and whilst walking, went back to grinding out those experience points.

The female warrior in the game continued to defeat the dark grey colored monsters.
Although the amount of experience this monster gave wasn’t that high, this particular monster was easy to defeat, and within this game it was the most time efficient way to grind out experience points.
Although he didn’t count properly and cannot say for sure, the amount of times he has defeated this particular monster can be approximated to be over 10,000 times.
Knowing such a fact, rather than a game, it was closer to calling it a chore. However, Taiyou didn’t mind this fact at all.

Even if it was a chore, if it allowed him to raise his level, he would gladly and continuously repeat the action.
He was just that type of human being.

Although Katsuki walked side by side with Taiyou who was focused on his game, for a brief moment. He soon discovered his many close friends, and he raised his hands to wave at them.

「Good morning, Kazane-chan, Kotone-chan and Suzune-chan. Even today the loveliness you three girls display is multiplied by 3! Oh by the way, I happened to overhear the conversation the other day, I heard that because you guys are identical triplets, you guys all like the same guy, is this true? 」

Taiyou raised his head and glimpsed at them. The people Katsuki was talking to just then was precisely the three girls. Although they are identical triplets, they are a bit different from other triplets, this is because they are very famous girls. Not only are they really cute, they are very popular and have a celebrity status.
Hearing Katsuki’s words, Taiyou thought, if only I could get a girlfriend as beautiful as these girls……but he quickly shook off those thoughts out of his head.
After all he was just the average Joe whilst the other party were very desirable, he thought this privately for second, before he went back into his own game world.

Even at school Taiyou, spends his free time trying to level up.
Even if there was only a minute of break time, he would immediately pull out his smart phone, peta peta pochi pochi (sounds of him pressing buttons on his phone) he would dedicate his time to slaying the same monster with the female warrior over and over.

After long years of arduously leveling up, even when he started a new game he would soon find some sort of leveling loophole whereby he would find and defeat the monster that gave the most experience.
Even now, he found himself the perfect hunting grounds. Which gave him the highest amount of experience points, and he would focus all his efforts on grinding out his levels.
Right after school, the amount of experience he accumulated in his character finally exceeded 99%. He calculated that he could level up every 30 minutes following his crazy methods.
For him clearing a game doesn’t entail achieving a completed story or by defeating the final boss, it was about achieving the highest level possible.
In other words, because he was so close to clearing the game in his eyes, his tension naturally rose to the limits.

Just like how he went to school, he took the same path on his way home, he was walking as usual whilst playing on his smart phone.
(Just a bit more……….99.51, 99.52, 99.53……..)
With each monster he defeated he gained 0.01% EXP, in the beginning this piled up very quickly, however, now that he is so close to his goals, every percent was counted down. His heartbeat began to quicken, and he did something he normally wouldn’t do, which is confirm each time he gained an experience point.

He became excited, and it became all that could fill his head.

Because of this, the things he would normally do coincidentally slipped from his mind, and he ended up not doing them.
The thing he was doing until just recently was completely neglected.
That is watching where he was going.

——-DONN! (Crash sound effect)

Suddenly his vision darkens/blurred out, he bumped into something right in front of him, and at the same time a small shriek was heard.
In that moment of excitement, his smart phone slipped from his sweaty hands and vanished.

「ahh……」

His smart phone flew away like a parabola flying through space and he saw all this happening in slow motion.
It’s almost as if his world had stopped and a feeling that something bad was about to happen.

He understood that with his intuition, he desperately reached out towards his phone strap with futility.
However, His body could not keep up. Although his brain was in an accelerated state, he was nothing more than a human being.

Slowly his phone strap left his fingers. His intention is to grab his phone, but his body won’t react.
Only in his mind was he able to grab his phone. Before long, the smart phone which has exceeded its trajectory, begins to fall down—-
——–DOKA ! BAKI BAKI BAKI! (Sound effects of phone tumbling)
The phone which fell into the road, was run over by a truck and smashed into small little pieces, he couldn’t believe his eyes nor process the information, so all he could do was stare dumbfounded at the broken pieces.

He did not have a recollection of how he returned to his own room. Before he realized it he was in his own 6 squared one room complex, and the shattered pieces of his smart phone was left on his desk whilst he blankly stared at the pieces.
His most prized possession moved no longer, it was because the damage the phone received was nothing like a cracked glass which resembled a spider’s web, it was fatally and thoroughly grind to dust.

Suddenly, something entered his field of vision.
It was the thing that existed on the other side of this table, inside his wooden bookshelf. In that shelf there was a large quantity of games and save data’s memory, not only that there was also the previous generation of smart phones which he had used.
All the things had one thing in common, that was, it contained all the data that he had accumulated, and every single smart phone device had a character which was max level in it.
Seeing his prized treasures, the feeling of depression which dropped him to the bottom was replaced with a burning motivation.
He stared intently at his shattered smart phone.

「This time round, I won’t fail to raise to the highest level alright! 」

This, he pledged. Thereupon, as if was responding to his oath.

「Do you want to increase? 」
「Eh? 」
「Do you want to increase in level? 」

As if he misheard, he was hearing an echo of a woman’s voice inside his head.

「Wh, who is it? Who’s talking to me? 」
「Its’ me, It’s me, Hey over here〜」

It was as if someone was playing tricks on him.

「Where are you, show your form! 」

Taiyou rapidly stood up and dashed towards the broom which was nearby in his room, he proceeded to take a vigilant stance with it in hand.

「Okay, Please wait a minute〜」

Immediately after, the shattered pieces of phone which were on his table began to glitter/shine. After that, shattered pieces gathered together and spun around in high velocity like a tornado, before long it changed into particles of light. The particle of light continuously merges into a solid like shape………it was turning into something very human like.
If one were to describe it, it was like one of those fantastical beings, the being called a fairy.
Taiyou was completely bewildered and he lost his words. What used to be before his eyes was a real smart phone, but unbelievably it turned into a real living fairy!