53 Level 0

"Huh? Base stats?"

No response.

Why did the System answer him this time?

If level 0 is his base stats, then that meant strength of 0 is his base strength. Similarly, the agility of 0 is his current running speed. So this meant that he wasn't stronger after getting the System, but if he leveled up…

'Does that mean if I level up, I double in strength? So level 2 is three times my strength?'

Maybe. It depends on how many points he gets for each level up to add to his stats.

"Thanks for helping me System…"

There was no answer as expected.

Elijah continued reading the rest of his status screen.

[Skills]

Passive Skills:

Goddess of Fortune's blessing (luck boost) -Show Info-

Pain Reduction: 1% -Show Info-

Active Skills: None

So these were the two new skills he acquired. Although he didn't know how he got them. Maybe they were startup skills that came with the Hero System.

Elijah focused on the show info with his mind. It opened up more information.

Goddess of Fortune's blessing (luck boost)

-You've been favored by the Goddess of Fortune. A little of her essence emanates from you. 100+ luck.

"100+ luck!" Elijah said out loud in disbelief.

He wasn't sure what he did to earn the Goddess' favor, but he was grateful for it.

"Thank you, Goddess of Fortune!" He said to the sky.

A ray of light shined into his eyes for a brief second. He looked around and found a rectangular mirror leaning against an electric pole on someone's lawn, that was dumped there for hard waste collection.

'Was that the Goddess of Fortune sending me a sign or a coincidence?'

Elijah didn't know but since passive skills are always on, that meant his 100+ luck was working right now.

Elijah was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw an Asian girl approaching him. The status screen went away.

She was already looking at him when his eyes met hers. She had a curious look on her face.

They both looked at each other's school uniforms. For Elijah, her uniform wasn't peculiar, although he hadn't seen it in these parts whereas, from her point of view, Elijah's uniform was too Western.

'Is he an exchange student?' Aimi thought.

Elijah was wearing a burned orange-colored vest that looked almost like a bright brown color. He wore a shirt with a red tie and gray slacks.

The summer uniform for Aimi was plain simple as it is mercilessly hot and humid in spring.

She wore a short-sleeved white shirt and a gray skirt. At her school, girls wear red bows and guys wear red ties but only for the winter uniform.

Aimi had long black hair and a simple fringe. She looked innocent and cute. Aimi is definitely Elijah's type, but she didn't elicit any feelings in him because Alyssa had already made a home in his heart.

Aimi shied away from the prolonged eye contact and walked by him.

"Uhh, excuse me."

"Yes?" Aimi turned around and said with a surprised look on her face.

"Sorry, do you know where this place is? Uhh, I got lost."

"Umm, this is near the convenience store over there."

Elijah looked to the convenience store about 3 minutes walk across the street. Elijah's eyes bulged out when he saw the sign which wasn't in English, but he could read it.

ニューヤマザキデイリーストア

New Yamazaki Daily Store

"We're about 12 minutes walk from Kirigaoka junior high. May I ask which school you are from?"

Elijah didn't even hear her question as he looked around nervously.

All the places and shops had Japanese writings on them. He was confident that it was Japanese because of his 3 years of experience of watching English subbed anime.

Aimi gave him a strange look. His eyes were darting around and he was sweating. She thought he must have gotten terribly lost because he was looking at his surroundings as if it was an alien planet.

"Are we in Japan?"

Umm…

"Yes, this is Japan… Yokohama City. Are you okay?"

Aimi was visibly confused.

She thought he got lost in a street rather than a whole other town, but he sounded like he got lost in another country!

How was that possible?

Aimi had thought that this foreigner was just pranking her, but it was more likely that his Japanese-speaking skills were poor.

"Yokohama city?" Elijah asked, sounding disorientated.

He only knew Tokyo city. Anywhere else, he was clueless!

"Yes. Do you speak English?" Aimi said in English.

"Huh? Yes?" Elijah was confused when she had suddenly put on a Japanese accent when she was speaking perfect English earlier.

"Wait. Weren't you speaking English before?"

Aimi's eyes widened. She just realized that Elijah was speaking perfect Japanese.

"No? I was speaking Japanese until just then."

Elijah understood now that the System was translating the Japanese writing and speaking to his understanding. He could still hear the Japanese pronunciation when she spoke, but he understood it.

Whereas, from her perspective, she was hearing Japanese and not English.

Aimi concluded she was being pranked, so she looked nervous as she thought about how to deal with this.

"What's the date today?" Elijah asked.

"The date is March 24th."

"Oh, I see… And the year?"

"… 2021"

"2021…" Elijah said, looking lost.

She bet he was doing one of those time traveler pranks inspired by Back to the Future.

"Uhh, thanks for helping me, I just realized where I am now."

"Have you? That's a relief. Sorry, my parents are waiting for me to come home. Goodbye."

"Goodbye…"

The year that Elijah knew was March 2020. He had traveled one year into the future, but since this was a parallel Earth, it didn't matter.

He realized it didn't matter where he was now because it sent him here for a reason. Not only that, but he needed to complete his mission and there were going to be quests popping up any second now.

"Ugh!"

A middle schooler deliberately bumped into him.

"Move it Gaijin!"

The guy turned back to give Elijah a look of disgust before spitting on the ground.

Elijah was upset, but he cowered under the guy's fierce stare. It was a tall guy, so he didn't want to intimidate him, so he lowered his head.

The guy sneered and walked away.

[New Quest available]

Elijah opened the quest menu.

[The Hero stands up for himself]

Mission: Defeat the middle schooler who insulted you.

Rewards - 25 exp

[Will you accept this quest? (Yes/No)]

Elijah blinked twice and took a moment to absorb the information.

Then his eyes shone green.

"Yes."

Author's note: Gaijin = Foreigner

The world building and characters are done! Its time! The Silver Age is coming.