Strategy Guide Chapter 2

Worst Status

This is what was shown in the Status that appeared in my mobile terminal.

————

Takashi Takasugi Lv1

Apprentice Lv1

HP: 10/10
MP: 5/5

Strength: 9

Magic Power: 12

Agility: 7

Vitality: 13

Mind: 8

————

I don’t know what I am an apprentice of. 

It seems like it is possible to see these numbers inside your head if you get used to it. 

This is really a game, but there’s no explanation as to how it works. 

Also, it seems like it is possible to equip things like Skills and do Class Changes inside your mind too. 

I hear people at the front saying stuff like ‘I have 60 Strength at Level 1’ and ‘48 Magic Power? Wow’. 

“Hey yo.” 

I suddenly heard that voice at my side. 

I thought it was the groaning of an unknown animal, but it was actually a classmate talking to me from the neighbouring seat. 

He for some reason was peeking at my mobile terminal without reservation. 

“I’m impressed you managed to enter this academy with a Status like that. Aren’t you cursed? There’s a limit to terrible.” 

I was distracted by the vibrant green mohawk for a second there, but when I peeked at the mobile terminal of this guy that looks like a hoodlum, his stats were mostly around 30. 

It seems like having those stats is normal even if you are not the protagonist. 

I am already facing a despairing development here, but I had no time to feel down here, and I was hit again.

“Hey, everyone, look. The Status of this guy is crazy!” 

The hoodlum stole away my mobile terminal and went to where all the others were as he shouted this. 

I desperately flipped the pages of the strategy guide as if trying to escape from the hard to accept reality shown in my own mobile terminal. 

‘There’s no way that’s the case, there’s no way that’s the case’ -is what I unconsciously mumbled as if chanting an incantation here. 

Forget becoming strong, this development is going to lead me to die like trash. 

I flipped the pages while sweating buckets and the title of one column caught my eye. 

—The Ultimate Build, no rerolling required. Capable of soloing the final boss. The fastest unquestionable conquest chart that you definitely won’t regret. All necessary items covered. Revised Edition (Writer: Tony Sanpei)

Preface:

If you follow what’s written here, whether it is the protagonist character or a custom character, it is possible to raise them into the strongest character. 

This is the path to creating the strongest character —one that can dish out max damage and even allows you to take down bosses solo.

First of all, let me state clearly: the dual-wield Swallow Reversal with Rapid-Cast Spellblade is the strongest ability in the game. 

Of course, I understand that some might argue a magic-focused build is better, or that there are easier setups if you just want to clear the game.

I get that—but to be blunt, all the commonly recommended builds out there are so ridiculously lame they make me sick.

There’s no true perfection in an easy road.

That’s why I will show you true power!

Even without bringing the game lore into this, you would still understand that levels are everything in this world. 

That’s why obtaining a stable way to gain experience is the most important piece of information.

You readers who are holding the scriptures, I promise you that I will be instructing you thoroughly in that front. 

(I am truly grateful to have gotten comments like ‘I really became super strong after trying it out’. This is the Revised Version that has trimmed out more of the unnecessary points.) 

When I checked the back of the book, it said this is the 4th Edition.

Fortunately, it seems like this book has been somewhat polished with each passing edition. 

My cold sweat had withdrawn at some point in time, and I was reading the column in a trance. 

I already am in the mood of ‘I will follow Master Tony!’.

I will become the strongest, reign supreme in the world, and maybe even create a harem while at it ---is what I was thinking as my eyes were glued on the writing. 

Gufu…Gufufu… 

I was reading this while chuckling like that, and a charming voice suddenly rang in my ears. 

Pretty and slender fingers were holding out the mobile terminal that the neighboring mohawk man took away from me.

“This is yours, right?” 

When I raised my head, the person standing there was one of the heroines shown in the Strategy Guide’s front cover. 

The heroine standing grandly on 1st place in the popularity rankings: Reika Hanagasaki.

She brushed her thin hair while looking at me with an angelic smile.

The moment her face entered my vision, I felt as if the air around me had been purified.

“Y-Yeah…”

No matter how beautiful she is, she is in the end just a game character, and yet, I stuttered, and could only respond with what sounded as if I were in delirium.

She was about to say something more, but she simply directed a cold gaze at me and fell silent.

She must have wanted to say something about my stats, but she probably reconsidered saying it out loud.

Her bluish-purple eyes cold like ice were a bit scary, but when thinking about how she might have seen my Status too, the embarrassment won instead. 

“It seems to be important, so make sure not to lose it.”

She simply said this and left after placing the mobile terminal on my desk.

Even though the only thing she did was speak to me, I felt fluffy inside, and I was entranced by that frail and slender back figure of hers. 

Her black hair that shone purple with the light felt smooth like silk. 

I snap back and drop my gaze to my hands, flipping the pages of the Strategy Guide.

Reika Hanagasaki

The daughter of the count from the renowned Hanagasaki Conglomerate. Nickname: Hana-sama or Reika-sama.

Her initial gear is quite exemplary, and she grows into magic specialization.

She is cute when she is all lovestruck, but until then, she is the true definition of an ice queen. 

You could say she is an indispensable character if you want to create a magic party.

Anyways, she is a beauty with a hard to approach aura. 

She is a character that even I know despite not having played this game, so that speaks volumes of her popularity. 

Just the fact that I am in the same class as her made me close to forgive the unreasonableness that has befallen upon me. 

But this game is also popular for having a high difficulty. 

It is a game that even had the selling point of having a harsh world where characters would die, so I really might end up dying if I just take it easy. 

Even the protagonist’s party has the risk of dying, so it would be more so the case for me. 

According to the Strategy Guide, there’s several conflicts intensifying in this academy for the sake of influence. 

That’s why I have to become strong enough to protect my own life at least. 

Once the ruckus of the initial Status calmed down, the students that wanted to get their Champion Crest gathered and moved classrooms. 

A Champion Crest is a magical sigil that allows the use of magic. When you engrave it on your body as a tattoo, you can obtain specific spells. 

The homeroom teacher said that, for this occasion only, the upperclassmen of the research department will be engraving us one for free. 

Only me and a few others raised their hands for this, and the others seemed to already have a Champion Crest. 

It is pretty pricey, but they must have engraved them by paying out of their own pocket because it is quite an important thing.

There were beds lined up at the classroom we moved to, and several labcoat people that are probably upperclassmen were waiting there.

I immediately followed the teachings of Master Tony and decided to get the Lightning Strike I Champion Crest engraved on me. 

“Tch, only these many? Even though you are a trash class, there’s a good amount of people in that class that have haughtily gotten theirs engraved outside, huh.” 

One of the upperclassmen was complaining about that, but honestly speaking, the quality here is bad for engraving, so they all must have had a specialist engrave it for them. 

There are students with no money too, so it is simply the reality that there’s people who have no choice but to have it engraved here. 

Families of nobles and large-scale guilds hire exclusive engravers, and even if you are not in that category, you can still choose better ones from the champion crest stores in the city. 

Not only would it affect your initial build, you can’t reengrave, so it is normal to be careful.

That said, they are useless unless you put in a bit of EXP <Experience Points> on it, so being too careful is also not that good. 

I personally have business with a Champion Crest that’s not that big of a deal, so I won’t complain about the skills of the engraver. 

Hell, I even went to the upperclassman that looked like they had the worst skill and had no motivation to get my Lightning Strike I Champion Crest engraved. 

Lightning Strike I is apparently one of the most basic ones called the 1st generation, and it is a Champion Crest that was found at the beginning stages.

According to the Strategy Guide, there’s cases where power increases with the generation, but the tradeoff is cooldown for power. That’s why it is not unconditionally good just because it has increased its generation.

If you have the Lightning Strike Champion Crest, you can use the Bolt spell no matter what Class you become, and you can learn this skill from the Apprentice Class you get in the beginning. It also strengthens the Magic I Skill Bolt. 

Classes are basically like the Jobs you find often in RPGs.

If you raise this Champion Crest, it can turn into pretty decent spells, but right now I only have business with the spells that can be used in the first stage. 

At any rate, aren’t the students in this academy discriminating way too much the people that have lower levels than themselves?

It feels like they truly believe levels are everything in social status. 

The type of arrogant attitude that screams it is natural for people of lower levels to become their servants. 

When I was asked where I wanted it engraved, I answered with ‘the normal’ and was made to lie face down. They began to engrave it on me using ink on my back without any rough draft first.

Pain strong enough to induce cold sweat assailed me. 

“I am already on the level where I have a contract with a high ranked guild. Hold pride in the fact that you are having yours engraved by me. You are one lucky bastard.” 

That doesn’t bring me any joy. 

Why are you telling me that after you have begun engraving? 

If I knew, I would have chosen someone else. 

But as long as it is Lightning Strike I, the skills shouldn’t matter.

The classmates that hadn’t decided yet who to have the Champion Crest engraved began to line up in front of my bed, most likely because they heard what they said. 

I can’t see it because I got it engraved on my back, but the Champion Crest was engraved after 15 minutes. 

After it was all done, there was no pain and no odd feeling left. 

It is true that, even if an enemy attack were to injure me, it won’t end up in a situation where the Champion Crest would be harmed, and I won’t be able to use magic, so you could say this is logical.

That’s why the place where it was engraved was by no means bad. 

I was hit with the desire to use magic at once, but I endured the excitement and returned to the classroom.

When I went back to the classroom, they were already heating up with talk about who to party up with. 

If I want to follow the route of the Strategy Guide, I can’t group up with anyone, and I would like to avoid doing things that might affect the scenario as much as possible, so I have no choice but to sit down silently at a corner. 

If possible, I want to go solo. Or more like, there’s way too many things in Master Tony’s chart that can only be done solo. 

Within all this hustle and bustle, I was silently laying my head down. 

It is as if I am being isolated here, but the reality is that my Status is already widely known, and there shouldn’t be anyone who would want to party up with me. 

My classmates are already discussing heading to the dungeon after classes. 

I would also like to enter the dungeon too, so I moved to reading the Strategy Guide in order to plan my future moves. 

The Strategy Guide doesn’t tell me anything about who to get my Champion Crest engraved from, so there’s probably no such choices in the game. 

That’s why there should be no problems for me to have Lightning Strike I.

Was it a mistake to have chosen the upperclassman that said has a contract with a big guild? 

I want to believe that’s not the case. 

The Strategy Guide is not for me, but for the protagonist, which is my biggest worry here. 

That’s why, even if there’s no choice showing up, there’s no assurance that I have made the right choices.