When it rains it pours

It's been 10 years since I've been on this, different earth. And shit there are a lot of differences. For one there is magic. Honestly just the thought of the possibility of using it made me feel giddy with excitement. The feeling was akin to mama taking us to the Yankees game for my 15th birthday. Upon learning more of this world I've been placed in. Things immediately went downhill.

This world is know by the residents as Genkai. Which sounds like a Japanese term but I'm not really sure. I was too busy shooting and getting shot at in 'Nam to figure out the difference. The bases in Japan helped me pick up a few things, mostly women and booze but I heard a bit of their language to make out a few words here and there. Anyway, there's also gods. Not God, Big G or Yahweh. No, the mythological and pagan gods that had stories, myths and legends told about them. Here they are real. Now I don't know much about exact details but I recall that all of them were rapists and incestuous bastards. So I decided to stay the fuck away from them. Unfortunately my parade got rained on when I found out that monsters also exist. And the gods provide the several different races with the means to protect and defend themselves. Something called Falna and Excilia. Whatever. I learned that my parents were both part of what is a Familia. A gods 'children' whom said god patrons for wealth, service and power. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement when done with a competent god.

My parents were both supporters. They picked up dropped items from the monsters the adventurer's killed. My mother was ill due to coming in contact with a poisonous item. She was thankfully healed but was considerably weakened. My father was a supporter for the Hera familia. He died in the attack against the Black Dragon. All the 2 strongest familias managed to do was poke an eye out. So now it's known as the One Eyed Black Dragon.

'Wasn't that Sgt. Wade's name in Tokyo?' Whatever, moving on, so yeah now I'm stuck in this pseudo medieval world with no plumbing with absolutely no idea of what to do and how to make a living. I mean there's the most obvious choice which would be hunting monsters and such. But for that I need to find and kill them first. Also the merchants who buy from villages aren't to most trustworthy cunts. A merchant will screw you over, but these fuckers will kill you if you get too uppity.

That is now my dilemma. There's nothing like firearms in this world. I guess when you have magic and magical tools and appliances you don't develop a way to throw rocks faster. My mother told me that magic casters need time to chant their spells and it uses your mind or mental power to do so. So basically a mage is useless when casting. Then there are fighters who use weapons. Swords, shields, spears, bows and crossbows are the most common ones. But personally I don't want to swing a stick around. I miss my Diana. She was a beauty. M14 repurposed for sniper and force recon operations. And my trusty M40 Melissa, which was continually upgraded through the years to the M40A5. The new boys get all the cool toys. The M82 and the M40A6. And the M27 rifle, is basically an improved M4 but that's the beauty of it. It can handle most environments beautifully. It can serve as a sniper security weapon in a sniper team, or be the main platform in an urban environment. I miss blowing shit up.

So that's what I'm stuck with. Do I want to kill monsters? If yes, how do I get myself a select fire rifle? A bolt action is no problem, it's just that you need a company of trained riflemen to do anything with them. The British in WW2 were a testament to this fact but in all honesty, within 130 (100 metres) yards you need full auto. Fighting in Vietnam has taught us at least that much. If I do make the rifle how am I going the make the literal shit tons of ammo required to actually train with it and use it? Magic might be a solution but I need to learn how to actually make something with it. I asked my mother and the people in the village about different kinds of magic. They didn't know much but told there are several categories: attack, defence, healing, enchanting, crafting. I think enchanting and crafting magic would be most useful.

In the meantime I'm enjoying being a kid again. Going out to play, swimming in the river, and just doing whatever I want, whenever I want, as long as we don't get out of hand. I begrudgingly took up weapons training and martial arts from a retired adventurer. It helps keep me fit and helps me grow. At 10 years old I'm already 5' tall to yeah, at least I have my height from before. Hopefully I'm a bit taller.

Things continued in a routine, until mama died. I noticed her getting weaker over the years but didn't think she'd suddenly drop. And never get up. I don't care which one, my previous or current mama. Mama was mama, she loved me and took care of me. She whopped my ass every now and again but that's what you get for being an uppity little shit. I didn't know what to do. I mean I'm only ten in this world. Yes I have the past experiences of 75 years but I don't know this world. I have something to build on. But what do I build? And is it even worth it? I mean I saw my fellow marines die and all they left behind was pain and debt. The only thing to do now was survive and find a way to make a living.

Looks like my childhood is over. Again. Man growing up sucks.

*****5-years later****

It's been 5 years since l lost mama. We couldn't find out how she died. I helped around the house. And mama only did the cooking. I couldn't boil water to save my life.

But we all have to learn. And life is an asshole of a teacher. I can roast meats and veggies just fine. But making anything complicated, forget it. I also focused more on learning martial arts and being proficient with spears and bows. Swords are too short range and using a heavy shield with a spear just works. The bow is the only thing that gives me an option to fight at range. There are crossbows, but they are too front heavy. And take too long to reload. I did odd jobs around the village to earn money. There were a few goblins seen around the borders of the village but they were repelled and killed by the villagers. I didn't see any action. There were only 7 goblins total. What I found interesting was that when monsters are killed they disperse into dust and leave behind a magic stone. And enchanting the stone can create desired effects. Like a burner on a stove top, lighting, cleaning tools. So I'm considering learning enchantment and crafting magic.

It's a day before my 15th birthday. It feels so lonely without mama. My friends and I have drifted apart over the years. But that's life. I need to go to the city of Orario and become a craftsman. I will only step into the dungeon with my Marine kit. Fuck swinging a stick around, this isn't baseball.

I woke up on my birthday. And there was something I thought I would never see again in this life. A phone, not the land lines and Nokia bricks. But an honest to god smartphone. Now I was old, but I could at least figure out those things were pretty useful. You can read the news and watch footage from a battle and see what the hell is going on. You can also call your daughter's dog. (A/N A heart warming story of a father leaving a message on an answering machine. The dog listened to it every night before bed.)

It was in a box. I opened the box and picked it up. It had no markings on it. It was pretty big, had a single camera on the front and back. The power button was on the right side and volume on the left. No button on the front. So it's a full screen display. The box also had wireless earphones and a protective case. Upon closer inspection, the phone had no charging port or a SIM card holder thingy.

I turned the power on and the display read:

{Welcome Cassius Jordan, to the Geriatric Dimensional Chat Group. Would you like to join?

Yes. No.

}

'What in the actual fuck?!'

Dude if I get a phone and something to store intel on {Yes}.

{Thank you for accepting.

Initializing…

Complete.

Would you like to merge or keep the device separate?

Merge. Separate.}

'Hmm, it would seem weird to walk around with what is basically a library in my pocket. And if people stole phones in the 21st century. I'm damn sure they'll kill me here to get their hands on it.'

{Merge}

{Merging…Complete}

The phone and the earphones disappeared. And I felt something moving inside my head. My eyes and ears felt like I was underwater. And I suddenly had a very itchy scalp. In about 3 seconds the felling was back to normal. But I still scratched my scalp. It just made me feel better.

'Ok that was weird, wait am I a phone now? How do I type? Do I just poke my body? Wait I didn't think this through. Shit.'

{Thank you for your patience. You can now use your thoughts to control the functions of the phone and to interact with other users. You can directly type what you think. The features of the Chat Group are:

Chat - send and receive messages and media.

Stream - upload what you are doing to the server for other to view in real-time or later.

Map - map of where you are currently. Map only shows areas explored. Possible to update internal map by looking at maps of unexplored areas. 500 meters radius from you.

Library - store notes and knowledge

Shop - buy things from the worlds you have visited

Inventory - store items in stasis

Mission - a mission board, missions can pop up as required, or can be requested by one of the members.}

'Holy shit! That's insane I can think and type?! Where was this when I needed it?! And Shop, I've been to Earth so does that mean…'

I mentally selected Shop and several categories showed up along with a search bar. I immediately thought of my M40 and lo and behold it was there. There were also better, more refined versions of it. Looking at the prices there were 3 options. Buy in Valis which is the global currency here. Buy in cores. So basically kill monsters and use the cores to buy what I want. Finally, gift. I'm not really interested in giving other people things without knowing them.

Damn these are way too expensive, honestly it's five times the price! But wouldn't currency conversion come into play? Can't really complain, one shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. So I need a lot of money to get what I want. Let's look at food and supplies. Need those before I can even think about other things.

I went on to explore the different categories available. They are:

Weapons

Armour

Magic

Tools

Supplies

Food

Appliances

Vehicles

Miscellaneous

With the little money I had all I could afford was a simple wooden spear. I already had my training spear so I'll hold off on that purchase. Also I could buy two weeks worth of rations for the same money so I'll hold off for now.

{Admin: Thank you for accepting the invitation Mr. Jordan. Please be patient as the others accept or decline my invites.}

{Genryusai Yamamoto has accepted invite.}

{Edward Newgate has accepted invite}

{Master Roshi has accepted invite}

{Zeno Zoldyck has accepted invite}

{Bang has accepted invite}

{Makarov Dreyar has accepted invite}

{Madara Uchiha has accepted invite}

{Odin Allfather has accepted invite}