"So that damn grandma stole my items again!?" The man sighed, seeming utterly defeated. "Sorry for dragging you all the way to my store. You're not the one to blame anyways."

  "It's okay, sir," I replied.

  "My name is Enomoto Atsuta."

  !!

  What kind of luck is this?

  Enomoto Atsuta is one of the most important characters you'll need if you want a weapon to last. He's someone who can forge weapons that grow with the user. In the main storyline, he made the famous Kusanagi sword and helped create Excalibur with other legendary blacksmiths.

  In the game, he's known for being big-headed and bad-tempered, so I didn't expect him to apologize to me like that. This is interesting.

  "I am Amemura Ryoshu, a first-year student at Spiral Academy."

  He looked at me with tired eyes, sizing me up. I decided to stick to my priorities for now.

  "Is there anything special about this mask, sir?" I asked, pointing to a detailed mask resting on a nearby shelf.

  "It can partially conceal the existence of its user by infusing Mana into it." He took the mask and placed it on his face. "Like this."

  Suddenly I couldn't see him—no, wait—he was still standing in front of me? My perception seemed to flicker between seeing him and not seeing him at all.

  That mask is a good item.

  Already, several ideas on how to use that function were forming in my mind.

  "I was in the middle of making this hat when I realized it was gone," he muttered, gesturing to an unfinished project. "Damn that grandma!"

  This must be one of the new story-related additions to the game. I decided to press my luck.

  "Do you sell skill books, sir?"

  "Oh yes, what skills do you need?"

  "Do you know the skills [Good Memory] and [Fast Reflexes]?"

  Both skills seemed useless at first glance, appearing to only be useful in non-combat fields. But I've played long enough to know these two skills would become essential for me in the future.

  "Hmmm, [Good Memory] and [Fast Reflexes]?" He scratched his head. "I'm too old, so I'm absent-minded. Let me go to the warehouse and try to find them."

  Well, he's already over a thousand years old according to the lore, so he's indeed quite old and forgetful.

  "Okay, I will wait here."

  "But do you have enough money?" he asked, pausing at the doorway.

  "Umm, I think I only have about 100 RC."

  "Hmm, that's not enough, kiddo."

  I knew it wouldn't be enough. In Rainfall Disorder, there are two ways to learn new skills:

  The first way, which is also the hardest but free, is through practice. Repeating one certain action eventually creates new skills. With a teacher to instruct and guide you, skills initialize more quickly and level up faster.

  The second way is to use skill books. Basic books can be bought in bookstores, but they're expensive because skill books are primarily found in dungeons.

  However, I knew another way—the reason I came to the black market in the first place.

  "How about [Memory Orb]s?" I asked.

  Yes, the trading of memories. By using Memory Manipulation magic to transfer a portion of one's memories to another, new skills could be learned. Memory Manipulation is banned magic due to the dangers it poses, but the price of a [Memory Orb] is much cheaper since it can only be used once.

  Enomoto stared at me for a long moment before sighing heavily.

  "I do," he admitted reluctantly. "Follow me."

  We descended to a hidden basement, dimly lit by lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Mr. Enomoto reached out to a section of wall and pushed down a concealed lever.

  The adjacent wall instantly split apart with the sounds of metal mechanisms sliding and colliding. Inside lay a hidden warehouse where Enomoto kept his special items—just like in the game.

  He entered and retrieved two blue orbs that pulsed with an ethereal light, making them difficult to look at directly.

  "These two cost 105 RC," he stated flatly.

  "I only have 95 RC now," I admitted.

  Atsuta stood there, looking at me with astonishment before his expression turned thoughtful.

  "How about..." he began, deep in thought, mumbling to himself. "You owe me a deal and you can have your items? In return, I will not take even a dime from ya, kiddo."

  Here it was—the hidden quest from the game.

  "Can't believe I just did that," he muttered under his breath.

  "Deal?" he asked more loudly.

  Despite my hesitation, those two items were incredibly cheap compared to my life.

  "Okay, but I want to add more conditions," I ventured.

  He began grumbling silently, but I could read him well.

  "What is that?" he asked warily.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  "I just need some basic ingredients." I listed the materials I needed.

  "I don't understand why you need those things," he said, shaking his head. "But since they're pretty cheap, I can accept your conditions."

  He stored all the materials in a storage ring. Storage devices like this could hold numerous items in another dimension. The more expensive ones had greater capacity—you get what you pay for. But they were too convenient to pass up.

  "Besides that, what else do you need?" he asked.

  I considered whether to expose his identity outright.

  "I should have a weapon anyway," I decided. "I would like to borrow a weapon from you, Legendary Blacksmith Enomoto Atsuta."

  "Who... who are you?" His eyes widened.

  I continued as if he hadn't asked, "I see these weapons are forged in a very meticulous and elaborate way. I can even see the souls in your crafted weapons."

  I touched a random sword hanging on the wall and met his gaze. He seemed speechless again.

  "You are absolutely right," he finally conceded.

  I had won this round.

  "I can lend you a weapon," he offered.

  That was all I needed. I had achieved my purpose with the old man.

  "That's what I meant," I said with a smile. "So, which weapon do you want?"

  I contemplated various weapons but hadn't settled on one yet.

  A [Sword]? Not a bad idea, since I knew quite a few powerful swordsmanship techniques from the game. However, I had no actual close-combat experience.

  A [Magic wand]? Even though my Mana was currently zero, I could fix that. But being a mage might feel restrictive for someone who valued mobility like me.

  A [Spear]? Again, close combat wasn't my forte.

  I walked among the displayed weapons, recognizing some from the game while others were completely new.

  Suddenly, I spotted a bow with an intricate design that appeared unfinished.

  A bow seems quite reasonable.

  I picked it up, though without the System to appraise its stats, I couldn't tell its quality.

  "[Formless Bow]," Atsuta remarked.

  "Huh?"

  "This is a craft that my friend made in the past," he explained. "But he only finished half of it before getting bored." He laughed softly. "Then he just threw it at me."

  He looked at the bow with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

  A bow not from the game? Perhaps I should be an archer this time. I lacked combat experience, so attacking from a distance made sense. Bows offered flexibility and mobility, though learning proper archery wouldn't be simple either.

  "Have you decided yet?" Atsuta asked.

  Why overthink it? I'll be an archer this time.

  As I walked toward the old man, I tripped over something and nearly fell.

  I should be more careful. But what did I stumble on?

  I grabbed what had caught my foot—an iron chain? Why was it in this hidden room?

  I pulled at it from the cluster of weapons, but it stuck. Applying more force, I suddenly yanked it free. At the same moment, a sharp knife flew toward my face, nearly grazing my eye.

  Schwing!

  The knife was deflected and clattered to the floor.

  My heart pounded as I realized the old man had just saved me.

  "Do you know how to hold a weapon?" he asked, exasperated.

  "Huh?"

  "Can't believe I trusted this kiddo," he muttered, his personality now fully matching that of a traditional elder.

  "It's a rather uncommon weapon these days." He retrieved the chain with its attached blade—the same one that had nearly killed me.

  He began to manipulate the chain, making the blade dance around him as if by magic.

  "This is a Dart Rope," he explained while demonstrating. "A powerful and dangerous weapon in the right hands."

  To emphasize his point, he sent the blade flying toward the wall. Instead of bouncing off as I expected, it pierced straight through, cracking the surrounding stone.

  What the hell? How can that blade be so sharp?

  "Although this weapon is effective at both close and long range and offers mobility, it's difficult to master. There aren't many martial arts styles that complement it well."

  Despite his warning, I felt strangely drawn to it.

  "Old man... Can I borrow both weapons?" I asked.

  "Don't call me old," he snapped. "This chain is nothing special—just something I made for practice. And that bow isn't even properly finished." He sighed. "Plus, what I'm asking you to do is difficult enough that I'd feel embarrassed giving you inferior equipment. So I'm giving both to you. Don't worry about paying me back."

  "But old man, that—"

  "Don't try to change my mind! And don't call me old man again." He thrust the weapons toward me. "Take them and give me your phone number. When I need you, you must come right away!"

  "Yes!" I agreed eagerly.

  This was incredible! I'd only planned to get two skills—[Good Memory] and [Fast Reflexes]—but this trip had yielded far more: materials, two decent weapons, and most importantly, a connection with the legendary blacksmith Enomoto Atsuta.

  What a pleasant start.

  He unexpectedly handed me some scrolls.

  "You can leave this place with these," he said. "Just to be safe. I don't wanna waste money just like that, kiddo."

  They were teleport scrolls, usable only once but still worth at least a thousand RC each.

  I needed to write my destination on the paper. Initially, I planned to go home to test for bugs, but realized I didn't know my own address.

  Damn, no wonder I felt like I was forgetting something.

  After thinking briefly, I came up with another idea that would save time and money!

  "Thank you very much! Goodbye, old man!" I called out.

  "Do not call me old man." He sighed again, but I caught a hint of a grin. "Be careful and remember what I said."

  "Okay, I will remember," I replied, holding up the [Good Memory] orb meaningfully.

  "Will?"

  "You know what I mean, right?" I shook the orb in my hand.

  "No," he said flatly.

  I rolled my eyes and stored it inside the space ring.

  "I'm just kidding... Whatever. See you soon, old man."

  "Hey, call me by my freakin—"

  I tore the paper apart before he could finish. Magical characters emerged from the void and encircled my body.

  1:20 P.M.

  I materialized in front of a temple gate. Temples are where Players fight monsters and overcome challenges to receive rewards and experience points for faster leveling. Since I'm not a Player, levels don't apply to me, but anyone can receive temple rewards.

  I had written down the location of this Hidden Temple earlier. This place was known for various bugs that could be exploited.

  First, I needed to have the two [Memory Orb]s interact with the Temple gate. After rubbing the orbs against the gate for a while, something unexpected happened.

  == [Detected an error!] ==

  == [Review: it can seriously affect the World!] ==

  == [Initiate the debugging process immediately!] ==

  Is the System talking about me?

  == [The bug has been completely annihilated!] ==

  What?

  [The system has detected an entity that does not belong to this world.]

  What's happening?

  == [Unable to access this particular instance's information!] ==

  [...]

  I felt as if someone was looking directly at me, observing me.

  == [You have been given a new Authority "System"!] ==

  == [From now on you have access to a small portion of the Player World System] ==

  Isn't that great? I've partially become a Player now?

  Something still felt off about this so-called System. It felt more like a sentient being than a machine... perhaps a higher being of some kind.

  "Stop thinking too much," I told myself. "Now I have to focus on my work."

  "Status Bar," I commanded.

  == [Your information has been added to the World Data] ==