1 We're Almost A Hero!: Chapter 1: I Want to be a Hero!

Hero

A person fated for great things

A person that can do things that are too grand and dangerous for a normal person could handle

They are the embodiment of good against evil

But what's the difference between a hero and a normal person?

Is it just fate?

Is it power?

Is it morals?

Or just simply dumb luck?

No one knows, yet they know if a person is a hero

So what does it take to be a her-

"EARTH! SNAP OUT IT!!!" an elder man shouted at the daydreaming boy

"Huh?" Earth finally notices the fire on the grill in front of him

"Oh SHII-!!!" Earth tried to contain the small kitchen fire he made

The elder man sighed as casts a spell

"<Douse>" the elder man's hand blasted the grill and the boy with water, putting out the fire and soaking the boy wet

"T-Thanks, Uncle" Earth replied weakly as he looked at his drenched clothes

Earth has a charcoal black hair with a medium height body. Some may call him scrawny but dependable

The elder man sighed, "How many times do I have to tell you? Stop daydreaming while at work!" He scolded Earth angrily

"Hai..." Earth said before he looked at the charred remains of the meat he has been cooking

The elder man stomped off and attended to his business

Earth sighed tiredly as he threw the burnt meat in the garbage as he brought another piece of meat to cook

While he was cooking, he saw a few adventurers walk by. They're probably passing by after a long quest

All of them looked professional, with fancy equipment, face full of battle scars and an aura that's practically saying that they're powerful individuals. Yup, typical adventurers

Adventurers go outside the kingdom to do quests and such. Defeating monster and keeping the populace safe

The world is full of monsters that only adventurers can only defend against. This world is called Fantasia, a world full of monsters and magic

In Fantasia, there are 3 main kingdoms

One of them is called Oykuos

That's the kingdom where am I now. I came here to become an adventurer. I wanted to be someone that combat evil and establish good

Simply put, I wanted to be a hero

But there's a problem

Every being in this world is born with a specific class. A <Knight> is a class that specializes in blade-wielding, A <Mage> is a class that specializes in magic-wielding and many more

A class dictates what is your role in this world. Most of the classes are suited to being adventurers, but me?

Well...

"Oi, Chef! I need another Reef Stew here!" A customer said in front of the Earth's cooking station

"Uncle! One Reef Stew for the dude in a black suit" Earth shouted, the elder man nodded and began to cook the stew

I'm a <Chef>

A class that specialized in cooking ingredients into edible food. A class that is considered one of the so-called "commoner classes"

+++++

"Earth" LV 1

Class: Chef

HP: 100

MP: 50

STR: 5

AGI: 7

MAG: 3

DEF: 4

Skills:

GIFT: Consume

+++++

People can't change their class, only upgraded. Even if he'd level up, Earth would probably get a class that is still a commoner class like <Gourmet> or something

But wait! There's still hope on us commoner classes

There's another power in this world where it would be possible for a <Farmer> to become a hero

This power is called GIFT

Like Class, everyone has a GIFT to some degree. This power gives the user abilities that could easily make or break a person

And my GIFT is called "Consume"

This ability allows me to eat food and infuse their flavor into the food I make.

Like if I eat bread, I can infuse its flavor in a soup or juice

...

Yeah

Definitely not hero material

Which leaves me in this dead-end job as a Chef

I still want to be a hero. And I swear in my name, that'll I will become a her-

"EARTH!!!" the elder man shouted again at the daydreaming boy

The meat his been cooking has caught on fire again

"OH SHIII-!" Earth screamed as the elder man <Douse> him and the fire again

-o-o-o-

"Seriously, Earth?! Blanking out twice while cooking?! It's a miracle that haven't fired you yet!" The elder man scolded Earth while the boy hung his head low

"Sorry Uncle, it won't happen again" Earth apologized repeatedly

"Hmph! You better be! Cause I'm lowering your allowance this month" the elder man said

Earth immediately brought up his head in surprise as he heard his allowance getting deducted

"Uncle! Please forgive my idiocy!!!" Earth bowed in front of the elder man intensely

Luckily for Earth, his pleads managed to convince the old man

The elder man sighed, "You're such a pain to deal with. Now... GET BACK TO WORK!" The elder man punched the top of Earth's head

Earth rubbed his head to ease the pain. Uncle Dan is maybe a bit too hard to him but Earth know he's worried for the boy

Uncle Dan had grey hair with a bit of stiff body. He was clearly in his 60's but he still has the strength to punish Earth whenever he makes a blunder

Uncle Dan has been his boss/guardian here in Oykuos. He's the owner of the restaurant that Earth's working at, "Dan Delicious Diner"

"Uncle's strict as usual" Earth sighed

He looked at the nearby clock and saw it's almost noon

"Crap! I almost forgot!" Earth hurried to the kitchen

"<Cupboard!>" Earth chanted one of his Chef skills

A small rectangular rift opened in front of him as he stuck his hand inside and grabbed 2 objects

"Right! My trusty tools!" Earth held both a cleaver and a kitchen knife

+++++

[Standard Iron Cleaver] (Clive)

DUR: 1200

ATK: 10

AGI: 4

MAG: 0

{Earth's trusty meat chopper. He named it "Clive". What a weirdo}

[Standard Iron Kitchen Knife] (Knive)

DUR: 900

ATK: 7

AGI: 6

MAG: 0

{Earth's trusty food slicer. He named it "Knive". What a weirdo}

+++++

"Clive and Knive. Time to cook!" Earth said in a cool manner, only to realize how lame it is to name a bunch of knives

"Ok... brushing off that embarrassing moment. I better start making lunch" He said to himself

He brought a large piece of meat and placed it in front of him. Earth held his cleaver as he activated of his skills

"<Butcher>" Earth's eyes glowed an ominous blue as he saw the innards and the structure of the meat and cut the ligament and muscle tissue in a neat and organized manner

The <Butcher> is a standard skill for a Chef. It allows the Chef to see the inner makings of the meat to efficiently cut the meat into manageable sections

He separated the lean meat from the bone in a clean form

Next, he used his skills <Cut> and <Slice> to mince and dice the vegetables

He started to cook the meat along with the cut vegetables. After a while, Earth finally finished cooking lunch. He prepared 2 Bentos to store the lunch

"Ha... It's finally done" Earth said as he looked at his work in pride

+++++

[Earth's Special Steak with Veg Bento] 2x

Quality - (Uncommon)

Effects:

+10 HP

{A special bento for a pair of friends}

[<Butcher> has leveled up!]

Butcher LV 3 --> 4

+++++

"Ah, finally. One of my skills leveled up" Earth noticed the notification he got

Normally, it would take months or even years for a commoner to level up one of their skills

He packaged the 2 Bentos and prepared to leave the restaurant

"Uncle! I'm going to take my lunch break!" Earth shouted as he heard a grunt from the old man as a confirmation

He walked outside as he basked in the hot noon of the big city

-o-o-o-

Oykous is in its summer season. While the climate is more temperate here, summer is hot enough for people to complain

Earth walked the paved road of the city, occasionally greeting children playing on the streets and chatting with a few adventurers asking directions

Wait a second...

Am I turning into one of those "NPCs?"

It's what some adventurers call commoners

Huh, what weird nickname. Too bad those adventurers are too powerful to insult back

Earth finally arrived at the destination. He looked at the old building made out of wood

The library

He entered and the scent of paper instantly flooded his senses. The quiet atmosphere gave him a bit of comfort

The woman in the front desk noticed Earth's presence

"Oh! Earth! Are you here for Plina again?" The woman said

"Yup, that bibliophile needs to eat lunch on time" Earth replied

"What a good boyfriend you are!" The woman put her hand on the side of her cheek

"Don't make false suggestions, Mrs. Heinsworth" Earth brushed off the tease before going to the certain desk in the far off corner of the library

He finally saw the book-obsessed girl reading one of the books she would surely read in just a minute. She had a short brown hair with a medium built slightly smaller than Earth

"Plina! I'm here for your lunch!" Earth beckoned the girl

The girl named Plina flinched in surprise at Earth's call

"Earth? Why are you here?" Plina softly asked

"It's already lunch, you idiot" Earth brought the bentos in front of her

"Lunch? I thought it's still dinner" Plina wondered

"Wait, how long have you been reading Plina?" Earth questioned

"Um, at least I had dinner?" Plina nervously replied

"A single fruit isn't a dinner and it's already the next day Plina!" Earth noticed the half-eaten fruit in her desk

"Sorry..." Plina apologized

"Just eat" Earth gave her one of the Bentos

They started to eat, Earth watched her eat in bliss. Plina is his childhood friend ever since they first came here in Oykous. While they were kids, Plina is always this shy. But she's quirky once she gets comfortable with the person

He'd always bring her bento every day because of her habit of always forgetting to eat due to her non-stop reading.

People started to dub her as the "Devourer of Knowledge", which is ironic because she doesn't eat until I make her a bento

We originally came to Oykous to be adventurers, but like me, she got a "commoner class". And her class is...

+++++

"Plina" LV 1

Class: Librarian

HP: 90

MP: 70

STR: 2

AGI: 3

MAG: 9

DEF: 1

Skills:

GIFT: Linguistics

+++++

To be fair, she's definitely a high skilled librarian. As expected for the Devourer of Knowledge

"Hey Plina, can I ask you something?" Earth said

"What is it?" Plina replied

"Do you still want to be a hero?" Earth asked

Plina expression turned into a forlorn one, "Earth, you know that's impossible. Our classes are not suited at combat" the girl replied

"I know! But... can we just try to level up to get stronger?" Earth suggested

"Earth, even we can't hurt LV 1 Slimes. How much so for a stronger one?" Plina said

In this world, people level up by defeating monsters. In each level up, they get stronger little by little

That's why adventurers with a high level are so strong while commoners mostly stay at LV 1 throughout their lives

"How can you be sure with that? We haven't seen a slime up close" Earth rebutted

"Um... there is no documented case of a commoner fighting slimes and winning against them" Plina said

"Then it settled! Let's go see slimes this afternoon, to confirm if it possible to defeat one!" Earth said

"Eh? But I still need to read all this and compile it to the library!" Plina gestured at the mountain of books beside her

"Plina, you've been reading for 2 days straight. A little break is much needed for you" Earth deadpanned

Plina sighed, "Ok, let's do it" she replied

"Great! Let's meet in the old fountain in the city. It would be just like the old times! You and me together in an adventure!" Earth said

Plina slightly blushed at "you and me together" part

"Uh, Sure. I'll meet you there" she replied while hiding her face behind the book

-o-o-o-

Earth walked home to prepare for their plans in the afternoon

"It's been a while since I've hung out with Plina. This will be a great chance to cheer her up!" Earth thought

He accidentally bumped into a running villager as more villagers ran away

"Huh? What's going on?" Earth looked at they're running away at

He saw a few boars charging the streets, destroying anything in front of them

"Boars?!" Earth said in shock

+++++

"Boar" LV 2

HP: 50

MP: 0

STR: 15

AGI: 10

MAG: 0

DEF: 5

{Small pigs that love to roll in the mud and destruction}

Skills:

+++++

Earth stared at the boar charging towards him

"<Cupboard!>" Earth quickly said as he grabbed his knife to defend against

"I need to stop at least one of them!" He thought

The boar used <Charge> and <Agile> to boost it's own speed, leaving Earth no time to dodge

The boar tackled Earth right in the chest as he grunted and thrown backward. Earth landed to the ground as he gasped for air

[+27 damage] (73/100 HP) Earth

Earth looked at his health drop. Even for a low leveled monster, he was easily hurt by this furry beast

"Damn it! If I can't defeat a boar, how am I supposed to become a hero?!" Earth thought as he looked at boar in

Before the boar could tackle him again, an ax came down and instantly killed the beast

"Are you fine? Why didn't you run away?" An adventurer with an axe said

"I'm fine, just a little hurt that's all" Earth replied

"Gaia, heal the injured while we kill the rest of the boars" the ax adventurer said as he joined his allies

Earth and the other hurt villagers were healed by the priest as the rest of the adventurers finish off the boars

The villagers cheered the adventurers while Earth looked at the adventurers with a bit of envy

Suddenly, he realized something

"Hey, boars only attack if they're threatened, they shouldn't have entered the city. You guys should investigate where did the boars came from" Earth said to adventurers

"Huh? Sorry kid, but we don't do low leveled quests. We going to a wryven hunt this afternoon" the ax adventurer said

"Yeah! They don't need any weak level quests!" A villager agreed

"Hey, I know that guy! He's the Chef who tried to fight the boar!" Another villager added

"Seriously? What a loser" the villagers started to laugh at the boy who tried to be a hero and failed

Earth looked in disbelief and just ran away in shame, "Damn it!" He cursed to himself

What so wrong on trying?

-o-o-o-

Earth finally arrived at the restaurant and started to do his job. He felt like shit remembering how lame he fell defeated against an LV 2 Boar

"Oi, brat" Uncle called out for him

"What?" Earth turned to face the elder man

"Heard what happened in a town nearby. You okay?" Uncle said with a straight face

"Its... nothing. I'm okay" Earth said before continuing to cook the orders placed

The elder man looked at him for a bit before sighing, "Just don't do anything stupid" Uncle said before walking away

"Is it really that impossible for me to become a hero?" Earth thought

It was his long-time goal ever since he has a kid. It's the reason why he even came in Oykous in the first place

Before Earth could think any further, he heard a scream, as he saw people running away from... something

Earth went outside the restaurant and went to the nearest running villager

"Hey! What's going on?" He asked the scared villager

"There's an orc in the central town!" The villager quickly said before running away

"An orc?" Earth thought why there's an orc in the middle of the city

Until the shock of the realization hit him

"That's where the old fountain resides!" Earth remembered his promise with Plina

(Let's meet in the old fountain in the city. It would be just like the old times! You and me together in an adventure!)

(Uh, Sure. I'll meet you there)

"Plina!" Earth quickly ran towards the direction where the old fountain is

He can hear Uncle yelling where he's going. But Earth just ran as fast as he could and hoped that Plina would be okay

Earth finally arrived at the old fountain and saw the orc rampaging in the city center

+++++

"Orc" LV 7

HP: 250

MP: 25

STR: 32

AGI: 6

MAG: 0

DEF: 15

{A big green-skinned humanoid that could easily lift a tree or boulder}

Skills:

+++++

He saw guards and some civilians hurt and quite possibly dead on the ground

Earth noticed the broken wall nearby. It was the same direction where the boars came from

"So that's why the boars came into the city earlier! They were scared off by the orc!" Earth thought

"But where are the adventurers?" He thought

(Huh? Sorry kid, but we don't do low leveled quests. We going to a wryven hunt this afternoon)

"Those bastards! They didn't even think of the possibility of an attack!" Earth cursed those arrogant adventurers

"Earth...?" He heard someone call out

Earth faced the direction of the voice and was shocked at what he saw

"PLINA!" he saw Plina in the orc hand. Her body slowly getting crushed by the Orc's grip

"Earth... Run..." Plina weakly said

"Run?! Like hell I would!" Earth said in anger as he towards them

"<Cupboard!>" Earth shouted as he grabbed both his cleaver and knife

[+5 damage](245/250 HP) Orc

[+7 damage](238/250 HP) Orc

He slashed the orc with his blades, but it did nothing but make the orc even angrier

The orc smacked the boy with its big strong arms. Earth was thrown back again

[+79 damage!] (21/100) Earth

"Earth! Ahhh!!!" Plina tried to shout at her friend, only for the orc's grip tighten and crushed her body

[+11 damage] (3/90 HP) Plina

But despite his health dangerously low, Earth stood up and pointed his cleaver at the orc

"I'LL BUTCHER YOU ALIVE IF DON'T LET GO OF HER!" Earth shouted at big green monster

As soon as he said that, he accidentally activated his <Butcher> skill and saw the innards of the orc

"Wait, what?" He saw the muscles and the organs of the orc

"<Butcher> works on living creatures?!" Earth thought in shock

He looked at tendons and ligaments inside the orc's hand that is holding Plina

"That's it! I can save Plina!" Earth said as he dashed towards the orc. The orc growled as he tried to smack the boy away

"If I get hit, I'll be dead in an instant! But Orcs are slow, I can definitely outpace him!" Earth thought as he jumped to dodge the Orc's smack

"<Butcher!>" Earth activated his skill as he precisely cut the ligaments and tendons in the orc's hand

[+27 damage!](211/250 HP) Orc

The orc howled in pain as it's grip loosen and lets go of Plina

Earth caught the girl and placed her down safely

"Earth? What are you-" Plina saw the Orc holding it's injured hand and Earth with a determined look on his face while both his cleaver and knife covered in the Orc's blood

But the Orc was far from giving up. It can still use its other arm

But Earth just bravely charged through the Orc with his blades

"<Butcher!>" Earth activated his skill again as he accurately stabbed the Orc right in the heart

[☆CRITICAL☆]

[+211 CRIT damage!](0/250 HP) Orc

The Orc howled its last yell before falling backwards defeated

[You have defeated an Orc, +500 EXP]

[You have leveled up!] ×3

[<Butcher> has leveled up!]

Butcher LV 4 --> 5

"Earth" LV 1 ---> 3 (200/400 EXP)

Class: Chef

HP: 100 ---> 115

MP: 50 ---> 55

STR: 5 ---> 7

AGI: 7 ---> 9

MAG: 3 ---> 4

DEF: 4 ---> 5

Earth looked at the corpse of the Orc, "I did it. I killed a monster even though I'm just a Chef" he said to himself

Earth remembered the reason why he defeated the Orc

"Plina! Plina are you okay?" He went to his friend

"Earth? Why did you protect me? You could have just run into safety" Plina weakly asked

"Why? Because you're my friend, you idiot!" Earth replied

Plina let out a small smile, "Is that so? Then I'm glad" she said before falling unconscious, her body is already pushed to its limits

Earth looked at his sleeping friend, "Don't worry Plina, I promise I'll protect you" he said

"I want to be a hero!" Earth screamed to the heavens

-o-o-o-

Author Notes:

For those unfamiliar to game elements, here you go

LV or Level

- a measure of power in a certain individual. Can rise or leveled up when gaining EXP

EXP or Experience Points

- a point gained when killing enemies or achieving a certain milestones

HP or Health Points

- the user's capacity of vitality/health. It shows how much damage they could take before dying

MP or Mana Points

- the user's capacity of magic. Necessary when using spells or any magic-oriented skills

STR or Strength

-the user's top physical power. It measures how strong a user is

AGI or Agility

- the user's top speed. It measures how fast the user can move

DEF or Defense

- the user's capacity to resist damage. It reduces damage inflicted to the user

MAG or Magic

- the user's magical power. It measures how adept the user to magic

DUR or Durability

- an item's limit before it breaks

ATK or Attack

- weapons' power to induce damage

Skills (<Skills>)

- a specific move or ability that can be used and leveled up by the user

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