The World of the Dark Ages

...

It was a beautiful day in the city of Magnolia.

Birds were singing, and flowers were blooming.

On days like these, families were having breakfast together to prepare for the long day that awaited them.

... Though, that wasn't exactly the case for every family in the city. There were some that were doing... something a bit different.

"Jack... Jack?! Where are you?"

Inside a certain house in the middle of the said city, a certain black-haired woman with amber-colored eyes could be seen walking back and forth while calling for a certain person called Jack.

-Rustle...-

And, a few meters away from her, a black-haired man of a dangerous and threatening appearance, similar to that of the typical thug, was lying down calmly on a sofa while checking up on a newspaper without a care in the world. Not minding the loud shouts from the woman while she continued to call for the person called "Jack", and simply focusing on the contents of the paper in his hands.

-Tap, tap, tap, tap-

"...?"

It wasn't until the woman walked up to the man and tapped her foot impatiently on the floor audibly enough for the man to hear, that he finally put the newspaper down, and turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Anything wrong, honey?"The man asked while forcing a wry smile on his face realizing that the woman in front of him seemed a bit... impatient at that moment.

-Sigh...!-

Upon hearing his question, the woman sighed in an exasperated manner, before she then pointed towards a table full of dishes which was in the room next to them, and groaned in apparent anguish while she explained to him the reason of her grief.

"Well, the breakfast is ready—"

"Really? That's great! I was starving..."

However, before she was even able to finish speaking, the man stood up with a happy smile after hearing her words and began storming towards the dishes on the table with a hungry look in his eyes. Ready to devour them all in one swoop.

Unfortunately for him, he was rapidly forced to come to a stop when someone suddenly pulled him by his clothes and prevented him from moving any further.

"Huh?"

After that, a low and confused grunt was all he was able to muster before he looked behind him and saw how the calm and collected woman from before now had a terrifying face similar to that of a demon, and was looking straight into his soul.

"Where do you think you are going, you bastard?! I ain't finished speaking yet!"

After hearing those words from the woman, the man visibly paled up in fright at the apparition and tried to run away.

"...?!"

However, before he could even take one step forward, the man was suddenly pulled back with great force, before he eventually found himself trapped in between the woman's arms, in a tight lock that was restringing his movement and asphyxiating him bit by bit.

"Kgh... Ack...!"

The woman was quite thin, so normally one would think that such a lock would not be able to decimate the man, who looked like he would kill you if you looked at him for more than one second.

However, in reality, as if her frail and thin appearance from before was a lie, the arms that were holding the man were now all bulked up and veiny. Resembling more the arms of a bodybuilder rather than those of a lady like she appeared to be just a second ago.

"Gkh... I'm sorry honey... I yield I yield!"

In the end, it wasn't until the man tapped the ground a few times and screamed in desperation that the lock loosened and he found himself free.

"Huff... Huff... You are scary honey..."

After gasping for air for a few seconds, the man turned to look back at the woman, who now had a normal appearance and was smiling as if nothing had happened at all, and sighed in relief once he saw that her anger seemed to have cooled down.

-Rustle...-

After that, he fixed his clothes seeing that the stunt from before had messed them up quite a bit, before he then let out a fake cough and asked her.

"Ahem... So, what happened?"

Seeing that the man was now finally paying attention, the woman nodded her head with a satisfied smile on her face, before she answered his question. Frowning a little as she began to explain.

"Well, as I said, the breakfast is ready... However, I can't find Jack anywhere... He isn't in his room, and neither is he in the living room... Do you have an idea of where he went?"

"Hmm...."

Upon hearing her question, the man raised an eyebrow in response, before he looked down and caressed his chin as if in deep thought.

Then, after a few seconds passed, his eyes widened briefly, before then an answer came out of his lips. Making the woman frown a little in response.

"I think I saw him earlier this morning. He said he was going running for a bit"

Hearing that, the woman let out an exasperated sigh and began massaging her temples with an annoyed expression on her face.

"That kid... he is at it again? I thought yesterday he said that he was going to take a break today..."

"Honey, you know him well. He said the same thing last week... and the week before that, and the week before that other week... Actually, he says that every week. You should already know that he never keeps his word when it comes to running in the morning" The man said while shaking his head with a wry smile on his face.

"Hmph, I don't know if that's a good thing or not... He should at least eat some breakfast before doing that kind of thing" The woman said while she pouted. Making the man let out a sneer as he crossed his arms and smiled proudly.

"Well, at least he will have some good legs to run away if he ever finds himself in some kind of problem"

Hearing that, the woman chuckled for a bit, seemingly finding his comment funny, before she then patted her own clothes and began walking towards the table full of dishes as she continued talking to the man, who was following behind her.

"... Well, I guess you are right. Anyway, since he is outside, I suppose we can have breakfast for now and I will just store him some food for when he comes back. Those early runs of his really make him hungry"

Hearing her comment, the man nodded his head with a serious look on his face as if agreeing with her words. Though, he muttered something in a low voice as he followed behind the woman.

"Yeah, that kid eats like no other. I bet he took that from you"

Unfortunately, his mumble was easily overheard by the woman.

"What did you say, you bastard?! Come on, say that again!"

-Slap!-

"A-ack, I was just joking honey!"

...

°

°

°

|Somewhere else, MC POV:|

...

"I'm fucking dying..."

Currently, I was standing in the middle of the road, ignoring the several curious gazes that the people passing were shooting me, with my hands rooted to my knees, and breathing heavily as I muttered those words with excruciating pain evident in my voice.

"Huff... Puff..."

Why was I like this, you ask?

Well, the answer was actually pretty simple.

I was this tired because I had just finished completing the daily quest that the system had given me.

...

﹀

『Daily Mission: Jog around for 30 minutes』

[Description: Dunno, Jog around or something. I don't have time to bother about this shit.]

Progress: 30/30 minutes.

『You have been awarded: +1 status point』

[Note: Wait until tomorrow to do the quest again, you little shit. You should be grateful for receiving 1 status point per day.]

︿

...

-Sigh...-

Yeah, I bet you are thinking of something like "Huh? Wasn't this the mission that he received when he just got reincarnated?".

The answer to that question, my bored friend... Is yes.

Ever since I woke up in this world, the contents of the mission never changed.

Even if I kept doing it day after day, the requirement stayed the same.

Just jogging around for 30 minutes was enough to receive the status point again and again.

It seemed like that ROB was actually so fucking lazy that he didn't even bother to make more than one mission for the system.

Not that I'm complaining. At least, it wasn't asking me for unreasonable things while telling me that if I failed I would die.

That would have been the worst.

However, do not be mistaken. Just because the mission was simple and repetitive didn't make it any easier for me. Especially considering that I was currently just 5 years old.

The fact that it never changed just meant that it never got any harder... Or on the other hand, any easier.

-Sigh...-

I'll be honest with you. The only reason I have been able to complete the mission every day until now was because the quest allowed me to take rests in between. Apparently, I just needed to be at it for 30 minutes in total, and not 30 consecutive minutes without stopping.

Otherwise, I would have died of a heart attack by now.

However, now that you heard me say that, I bet you are thinking "Heeeh...? Then why are you so tired if you can take rests in between? Weak ass wimp".

The answer to that, my friend, is that the ROB that designed this shitty system didn't even put an effort into doing it properly.

The typos were the first sign.

After that, came the lack of functions and the scarcity of missions for me to do.

At that time, I thought that had been all. After all, with how simple this system was, how many things would he have possibly fucked up?

...

Turns out, that ROB was even more incompetent than I expected.

Because of how badly this system was designed, the actual action that I had to perform in order to receive the status point was running... Not simply jogging.

In which world does a fucking system provide a misleading description of its missions?!

How could that asshole fuck up something as simple as writing "Run" instead of "Jog"?!

-Sigh...-

Anyways. Leaving aside the several bad reviews that I had stored in my mind for this system, I suppose you can imagine how torturous the mission was for me.

To run again and again until the 30 minutes were completed... And with the body of a 5-year-old at that.

A body that couldn't even run for 5 minutes straight before collapsing dead in the middle of the road.

Yeah, that was how weak I was currently.

It is hard to notice when you are just a kid and haven't been an adult before to compare both physiques, but since I have been one before, the difference was very obvious.

Curse this childish body...

And I have been doing this shitty mission every single day, since three years ago, when my parents finally allowed me to go out of home without supervision.

It has been a long and hellish road since then... So many strains... So many torn muscles... So many beatings from my new mother for arriving home half-dead... However, it all paid off in the end.

I had, after all, accumulated a great fortune of status points thanks to my great struggle.

You can check for yourself, and get amazed at my riches.

...

﹀

Vitality: 45

Magic power: 10

[Status points: 1,034]

︿

...

Amazing, right?

And, before you reproach me for spending so many points on vitality instead of magic power, in fact, I haven't spent a single status point ever since I arrived in this world.

Yep, not even one.

And, how did I resist the temptation of spending my status points like a madman, you may wonder?

Easy.

Well, it's not really that easy. Even now, I'm really tempted to spend every single point on vitality and make my next daily quest a lot easier.

However, what made me able to put up with such a temptation was a particular detail that I noticed around five or four years ago, while I was still a baby and unable to complete the daily quest.

And that detail was that my vitality stat, which seemingly represented the strength, resistance, and a few other parameters of my body, somehow seemed to grow continuously as time passed.

Yep, you heard right. My vitality was increasing passively without me needing to do anything!

Maybe the reason was that the useless ROB had fucked up something in the system, and I was continuously growing stronger day by day without limit as a result of that error.

It was also possible that he had done something nice for me for once in a while, and had given me a passive where I gain strength continuously.

Though, I doubt that is the case.

Or... There was the sad option where my growing vitality simply meant that I was growing up.

...

But hey, a man can dream. Who knows, maybe this is the start of my super OP cheat that will make me the strongest person in the world by the time I become an adult.

...

Right?

I-I mean... My vitality is already 45!

Surely, it's a really high number... Right?

...

Right?

...

-Sigh...-

Anyways. That was the reason why I wasn't spending any status points for now.

Since my vitality was increasing on its own, I didn't know if it would come to a stop at some point, or if it would continue increasing indefinitely until that useless ROB noticed the bug and fixed it... If he ever noticed it, that is.

With how carefree that guy was, I bet he had already forgotten that I existed.

Anyway, back to the point.

If my vitality was indeed increasing indefinitely, then that meant that I would use the status points that I was saving up as a card under my sleeve if I ever were to be in danger. Storing them until I needed a power boost.

Like, imagine this situation:

I am suddenly fighting a super-strong guy... Let's say "Boss Villain A". And I, unable to defeat him, use my status points and become stronger in just a second.

He would go "Impossible!", and I would reply "Possible".

Hehehehe...

It would be like becoming a super saiyan... Though, with a permanent increase in stats, and with no rebellious-blonde hair.

Though, this was all just under the possibility that my vitality would be growing constantly from now on. If I was wrong, and my increase in vitality was just a result of my growth over the past 5 years... Then, that would actually lead to another even more important reason as to why not spend any status points for the time being.

Human limits.

If my vitality stat had instead increased because of my growth, then it would also probably mean that my body worked like that of any other human. No gamer body, nor any other bullshit.

And as such, that would also mean that I could increase my vitality stat on my own by training. With no need of using my status points for a while.

However, at some point, I would probably reach a limit on how much I could grow.

Either my progress would slow down, or it would simply stop completely.

After all, human bodies have a limit on how much they could grow. And while I don't doubt that in this world that limit is higher than in my original world, that doesn't mean that such limit doesn't exist.

Which is where the saved-up status points would come to play. As they would help me go further and beyond.

Though, after hearing all that explanation, I bet you are wondering "... But what about the Magic Power stat?"

Elemental, my dear imaginary spectator. There's something that I need to mention before I reach that part.

After living 5 entire years in this parallel world, I think I discovered in which world I was.

And yes, by those words I mean that this world was a work of fiction in my past life, and I actually knew which one it was.

Though, it wasn't all that much to my liking.

"Fairy Tail..."

Muttering those words with a complex gaze in my eyes as I still breathed heavily, I looked up, before I then squinted my eyes when a certain building with a familiar logo entered my view.

There, several kilometers away from my where I was standing, the Guild building that I had seen quite a few times in the anime was now visible and displayed in all its majestic glory for everyone in the city to see.

The most prominent guild of mages (that I remember) in the world of fiction.

The most infamous guild of mages that caused destruction wherever they went.

The guild where it was a requirement to have friendship running through your veins, instead of blood.

The guild where, somehow, no one died.

Yes, I had been reincarnated into that Fairy Tail World.

This was also a reason why I shouldn't spend status points on magic power for the time being.

Why? Because I didn't know anything about the magic system that they had in this world.

I thought that first I should learn a little bit more about it, and then make a decision of which stat is more valuable.

Otherwise, who knew if I would come to regret adding points blindly into magic power just because?

My gains of status points weren't exactly huge. And as such, they were priceless.

It was better to plan properly how to spend them wisely before doing anything rash.

With the shitty system I had, doing rash things was the last thing I could afford to do.

'Fucking ROB... You will see, I will have my revenge one day...'

And, as for why I said that this world wasn't all that much to my liking... Well, it's pretty simple, actually.

It wasn't that I disliked that Anime. I remember liking it a lot when I watched it.

However, it was an anime that I watched during the Dark Ages...

Aka, puberty.

Being here, in this accursed world, reminded me of those dark times that I wanted to forget with all my being.

If I had been reincarnated into the DxD world, then I would have the same problem as I have here... Well, maybe even worse. That Anime was way worse when it came to fanservice... A lot worse.

Ugh... Just remembering those years triggers my PTSD.

Okay... Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit.

However, that doesn't take away that those were times that I would rather forget...

But... well, such is life. One has to get along with their past, otherwise, one will never be able to gaze into the future.

I just made that up, by the way. I was kinda feeling poetic.

But, either way, I think that as long as I don't meet any of the female cast from the series, the Vietnam memories from my dark ages won't come back.

Hopefully.

Though, I suppose I should work on that part of my mind later... I don't want to be on bad terms with the world I fucking live in.

Anyway, that was just the first reason why this world wasn't to my liking. And, to be honest, it wasn't really an important one. Just a small dislike for its connection to my past.

The second reason, on the other hand, was much more reasonable as to why I would prefer to be in another world.

And that reason was... That I barely even remember how the show went.

Sure, I remember a few key points from the series... Like, you know... Jellal having a clone... Or was it three clones...?

Or... well, Igneel appearing at the end of the series because... for some reason that I don't quite remember.

I also remember Erza having a mother... Though, if you ask me where she came from...

...

... There was also Lissana being alive... Somewhere...

Uh... Some old rival of Gray doing something bad with a demon?

...

Jellal doing something related to Zeref in a tower in the middle of the ocean...

...

Huh...

Well, now that I think about it... Maybe I didn't pay much attention to the series at that time.

But who would with so much fanservice appearing on the screen constantly?!

I was a teen in the middle of puberty at that time, man. You couldn't ask me to pay attention to the plot behind the series when there were a bunch of humongous gazongas bouncing on the screen.

My mind wasn't exactly set on reading the subtitles when the sound effects were going "boing, boing" all over my earphones.

-Sigh...-

But well, I guess it's too late for regrets.

At the very least, I still remembered that the Guild was frozen in time or some shit like that after fighting that Dragon Chronologia.

Though, I don't know for how long.

Anyway, that was the reason I wasn't feeling that pleased.

I would have preferred to go to a world where I at least remembered more of the story.

But well, I guess this place wasn't all that bad.

As far as I recall, the world never went all apocalyptic so that I would have to fear constantly for my life in the future, and the protagonists somehow always won as well, so I didn't have to worry about them losing to anyone in the future either.

I could simply live my life calmly on the sidelines, enjoying a peaceful life while saving up enormous amounts of status points, and they would deal with the world-ending threats or their own.

Huh? Join their Guild? Are you crazy? Why should I do that?

Tsk, tsk, tsk. That's a problem that I've always had with the proactive protagonists of fanfics that like to mess with the plot. Haven't they heard of the butterfly effect?

Most main characters in stories win because of the plot armor... Which, in other words, are a bunch of coincidences that always allow them to prevail over their opponents. No matter how high the gap is.

So tell me, what would happen if someone completely unrelated and who was never supposed to exist joins the plot and does whatever he wants?

The answer: There's a high chance that the conditions for those coincidences will never happen!

Most stories end in a happy ending, and most of the time, those happy endings are related to the world being saved!

Who in their right mind would risk the future of an entire world, just for the sake of joining and fangirling their favorite characters?!

The answer: Not me.

And, besides, I don't even remember well the plot. So I'm even more prone to fucking things up if I get involved in their matters.

So, besides maybe watching their antics from afar for the fun of it, I decided to not get involved with them in the slightest in the future!

I mean, how hard would it be not talking to them?

What, a flag? Don't be stupid. Those things only happen in fanfics.

How would I, a normal guy among thousands of other people living in this city, coincidentally get to know a member of the main cast? It is more likely that the ROB upgrades my system than that I get to know someone from the guild.

And that, my comrade, is the synonym of Impossible.

I assure you, my dear imaginary person watching my adventures that is probably a product of my schizophrenia, that the most action that will happen between me and those guys will be maybe to walk past them on the street.

...

Though, I will avoid eye contact just in case.

One never knows, right?

"Alright... Enough of thinking that there's actually someone listening to my introspection... I should go home and eat something... I'm starving already..."

Grumbling those words as I caressed my hollow and empty stomach, I took in a deep breath to regain my energy a little bit, before I then let out a sigh of resignation and began walking in the direction of my house. Hoping that the breakfast would be ready.

"Ouch..."

Though, I couldn't help but stop my walk when I noticed that my legs were shaking like they were at a party.

"..."

Huh... I wonder if I will be able to reach home before my legs collapse.

Let's just hope I do.

...

〖To be continued...〗

(A/N: Me and my perfectionist personality... Somehow, this chapter ended up having 4k words after countless revisions and corrections.

These days I'm also having problems reading and concentrating on what I write... I wonder why.

Let's just hope it passes soon.)