1 A White Flash and Then I'm In a Forest?!

Walking through the dimly lit streets back to my apartment, I stretched and yawned as I thought over the dull and boring day I'd had to deal with today.

Another day of writing reports and making coffee for my seniors...another soul draining day.

Sighing, I wiped my eyes, thinking about how much I sometimes hated Japan's respect for seniority as a nation. I mean, I enjoyed it when my juniors had to do stuff for me, but when my seniors wanted me to do stuff...ugh, I hated it. But it was the life of an adult, I guess. An office workers way of life in Japan.

I'm just lucky I have robust enough a body to keep up with this work schedule. A lesser man would've already collapsed from exhaustion.

I jokingly puffed out my chest as I thought this before I nearly tripped over and onto my face.

Even if I no longer practiced martial arts, my reflexes hadn't slowed even a little and I easily and quickly steadied myself by grabbing the nearby guard rail. Letting out a sigh, I looked down at my right foot. Or the prosthetic that served as my right foot.

Bringing my right leg to support me, I kneeled down and made sure the prosthetic was properly fitted and secured. It always did this on the way back on for some reason.

Chuckling, I thought to myself that this thing was lucky it didn't mess up chances with women or I'd never use it. Become a NEET and stick around at home all day watching anime and virtual livers*. Ah, what a life~

(*A/N - A virtual liver, also known as a virtual streamer, is a person who uses one of those anime chicks or guys as a face/persona when they stream on YouTube or Twitch. If you've never watched them, give Hololive a watch. Pekora is the best girl, as well, so make sure to subscribe to her. Peko.)

...But I knew I'd never be able to do that. I needed to stay active. I was beginning to think I had ADHD or something at this point. Even if I couldn't practice martial arts, I still did some exercise just because if I didn't, I'd get too restless. I blame the monks who raised me - they made it so I have this odd physiology. If I don't train or exercise, I feel too energetic. Like a kid who's had too much sugar.

Well, dad only did what was done to him when he was a kid. He'd adopted me and taken me as his own, so I guess I was doomed to get the same treatment, huh?

Shaking my head, I made sure my shoe was tied properly and fit to my prosthetic properly as well. Once I'd done that, I stood up and began walking again. Though before I could even make it a step further, a white circle appeared below me and from the circle, a barrier of light burst upward toward the sky and trapped me inside.

I pressed my hand against the light and felt the warmth of it. But other than being warm, it was harder and more solid than any material I'd ever touched. Harder than metal, easily. There's no way I could get out of this...but more importantly, there was no such technology on Earth.

Looking down, I saw symbols rapidly being drawn on the sidewalk below me.

Instantly, I felt a feeling of terror spread throughout my body when I saw these symbols despite having never seen or heard of anything like them before.

Along with the symbols, new circles were being drawn and the whole thing was shaping up to look a lot like...a magic circle?

My questions were left unanswered when the symbols along the inner edge of the circle made a full lap themselves and a burst of light came from below me and blinded me, covering my body in light. Then I felt like I was being moved somewhere, extremely fast. I also felt like I was moving through some sort of sludge. Like jello or pudding.

Then, just as quickly as it happened, I found myself falling. My eyes recovered from the light exposure and I quickly reacted to falling, just in time for me to roll forward as I impacted with the ground, killing off my momentum.

I continued rolling for a little while before I seemed to hit something.

Looking around while in the awkward position of having my back against whatever stopped me, I saw that what stopped me was a tree. Looked around even further, I saw that I was in a forest.

But what caught my attention the most...my foot. It--it was back.

Rolling backward, I saw my prosthetic lying a few feet away from me. Looking down, I saw my foot. I wiggled my toes and instantly I felt like I'd been hit in the chest by a 50kg barbell. I felt breathless. The foot that I'd lost in a car accident...the loss that cut off my martial arts career before it'd even started...it was back. It was fucking back!

Momentarily forgetting my surroundings for a second, I stood up and for the first time in six years, I felt my superb balance return to me. I could feel my weight and support it with both my feet. The foot that was without a shoe right now could feel the soft grass below it...and I felt a tear fall from my eye.

Since that day, I'd given up hope. I'd resigned myself to just being some office worker that worked a soul-draining 9 to 5 job. But now I had my foot back!

I was elated.

But such elation only lasted so long when my vision was covered by some sort of dark blue screen, filled with white writing.

[Welcome to the Death Game! A game that, surprise surprise, is filled with death! Think Darwinism! Think animal kingdom! The food chain! The strong survive and thrive while the weak die! You, Mikhail ''Mike'' Miyamoto, have been chosen to take place in such a game! We've healed any injuries and conditions, crippling or not, and we've purged your systems of any drugs so you can be at the top of your game for THE game! Ha! We're gonna give an innate ability to you that suits you, along with making three of your previous skills into passive abilities! We'll even gift you a weapon that you're most used to! We only ask that you survive in this forest or die trying! Haha! Good luck! And don't disappoint! You've got the whole multiverse watchin' ya!]

The screen disappeared and what happened next could only be described as painful.

A heat flooded me, followed by a chilling cold, followed by the quaking of a stampede--multiple different sensations you don't want in your body, flooded mine, wrecking it inside and changing it. How did I know that? A fucking screen popped up and told me.

[Innate and passive abilities are being molded into your body, please wait and bear with the pain~!]

...Smug bastard.

But, compared to the training I'd gone through as a kid? This wasn't too painful. Sure, it was a shocking experience after not having done any of that tortuous training in years but it wasn't like I'd never experienced this type of pain before. At the very least I was doing better than if some normal person was in my position experiencing this.

Before long, it was over and I saw what seemed like my status.

[Name: Mikhail ''Mike'' Miyamoto]

[Age: 27]

[Race: Human]

[Health: 100%]

[Stamina: 100%]

[Aura: 100%]

[Abilities: {Bestial Physique Lv1}, {Sword Mastery Lv6}, {Martial Arts Mastery Lv6}, {Natural Born Warrior LvMAX}]

...Huh.

Sitting up, I instantly found that my body was...strong. Stronger than it should've been. I found that I knew how to check my skills out - i just had to mentally click on them when my status was opened. And so I did that on all of the shown abilities or skills or whatever they are.

[Bestial Physique Lv1 - Boosts all base physical abilities by three times, permanently. Gives the user enhanced senses and enhances their natural instincts. But the main power this ability gives is that once every five levels, the user can consume the heart of a Danger Beast and gain their strengths and abilities.]

[Sword-Saber Hybrid Mastery Lv6 - Boosts the power and speed of sword-saber hybrid based attacks by 60%. Having this skill naturally helps a person know how to use a sword-saber hybrid weapon in combat and boosts already existing skill.]

[Martial Arts Mastery Lv6 - Boosts the power and speed of unarmed attacks by 60%. Having this skill naturally helps a person know how to use their own body in combat and boosts already existing skill.]

[Natural Born Warrior LvMAX - Boosts the learning speed of all combat related skills by 100% and gives the user keen battle instincts that help them during combat. Naturally boosts the limit a person's physical capabilities can reach, allowing them to go beyond what is normally possible. Physical training is 200% more effective and gives more results per training session. This ability gives the user access to Aura instead of Mana and gives them a bigger amount of starting Aura.]

Just as I looked at screens that described my innate and passive abilities, a weapon I was all too familiar with appeared in front of me.

A sort of hybrid between a nodachi and a saber. A weapon with the size of a nodachi but with the thickness and width of a saber. A heavy, brutal weapon that was designed to easily go through armor and kill the enemies horses, evening the field between the cavalry and the infantry.

Reaching out, I grabbed at the handle of the weapon and it felt like it'd been perfectly made for me. Which I suppose it had been.

As soon as I made contact with it another screen appeared.

[Sword-Saber Lv1 - A growth-type weapon that grows with it's user. While made to overwhelm opponents with it's weight and power rather than to cut through things, this specific sword-saber has been modified to fit the user 'Mikhail Miyamoto' and his style of fighting and has a sharpened edge alongside it's imposing weight. A weapon made for a specific fighting style that combines strength and speed.]

...A weapon I'm most used to, huh?

With this thought in my head, I stood up and carried the sword-saber with me. Heavy. That was my next thought. Even with how strong my body felt, the sword-saber was still quite heavy. I lifted it and gave a simple downward slash - the air trembled as the blade cut and crushed through it.

Nodding, I recognized that this truly was a heavy weapon. But that was good. Remembering my training with my dad, I remembered what he said, "You don't want a light weapon that you can effortlessly swing. You want a sword that's heavy and takes energy to swing, so you value the swings, so you don't make the wrong swing and risk not being able to swing again. Part of how you swing such a heavy blade comes from a strong body, yes, but the other part comes from technique and skill," what he said then rang through my head and I gave a sigh. I'd truly gotten rusty with my skills.

If this truly was some sort of death game that's broadcasted throughout the multiverse...then I need to up my skill as quickly as possible. In a forest, with possible unknown beings here, I can't afford to waste too much time training...so I need to do it the hard and fast way, huh?

I still hadn't come to terms with where I was or why I was here--or even what I was doing here. But could I sit around and question everything right now? No. Stagnating...my instincts scream at me that that would be suicide. A quick way to getting killed. I need to advance forward, even if it's only a single step forward, it's better than standing still. Sadly, that means I won't have much time to think about my situation and be able to come to terms with it...but I'd rather be alive, honestly.

Hearing a growl off to the side, I raised my weapon and looked to source of the sound. Walking out of the brush to the right of me, was a blue furred wolf about 5 feet tall at the shoulder and easily 10 feet long. Maybe even longer.

It's mouth was dripping with saliva and filled with dagger-like teeth. It looked itching to tear into me.

But despite the danger, despite the fear of the unknown blazing inside of me...my grip on my sword-saber only got tighter, and a smile spread across my face. A wild, primal excitement bubbled up inside of me as I dug my toes into whatever was under them. One digging into the bottom of my shoe and the other into the grass and dirt below.

I ain't an office worker. I just ain't suited to it. Because other than being in this situation I'm in right now...what good is a battle and adrenaline junkie like me good for?!