Hello everyone. I'm back! I'm sorry for leaving, again,but I'll explain more at the end of this chapter in another AN. I do not own either the Persona franchise or the korean manhwa 'The Gamer' and I'm not going to say it again. I've found that it grows tedious.

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Telepathy"

"Shadows"

Windows/Skills

Arc 1: Jester's Folly: Chapter 1: Awakening of power

… There is only fog… Blinding every inch of this world… It's so thick that some parts of this fog is solid. Unpassable. Clearly, this is no ordinary fog… no… This is the fog… of the mind. Two bright lights cut through the fog and blind a boy wandering in the fog. He covers his eyes, the light of truth is too much for him at the moment… In time… He will be ready…

"With our help of course"

The boy slowly opened his eyes to see that he was in a limo. At least, he thinks it's a limo. He's never been inside of one before.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

The boy's head shot towards the voice and there he saw three people. The one on the left seemed shorter that the rest, wearing an all blue dress with an all blue cover on her head. Her hair is much like the boy's own, but her eyes are an eerie yellow. The boy looked to his right, and saw a woman dressed in the same attire sans the cover, her hair the same color as his, but much longer, and she had the same eerie yellow eyes. The boy then looked in between the two others and saw an old man with a VERY long nose, wearing a Bespoke suit, and is crossing his arms in front of him.

"Do not be alarmed. You are fast asleep in the real world. This place is a place between dream and reality. Mind, and matter." The man suddenly smiled so wide, the lights in the limo seemed to darken a bit. "My name is Igor… I am delighted to make your acquaintance" Igor motioned towards the woman. "This is my assistant Margret."

Margaret nodded. "It is a great pleasure to meet you."

"Ahem… excuse me… Master?"

"Ah yes. I apologize. Usually I only have the privilege to introduce one of my assistants. This is Elizabeth."

"Hello."

The boy waved slightly in response.

"This room… It is a room that only those bound by a contract may enter. It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future." Igor seemed to straighten up slightly. "Now then… Why don't you introduce yourself?"

The boy hesitated for a moment before closing his eyes. 'I don't know where I am… or how I got here… but… can these three be trusted?'

"I know what you are thinking." Elizabeth spoke up. "'Can these complete strangers be trusted?'Your arrival here was unique. Instead of us bringing you to our realm, you entered it yourself first, and we brought you here after. Most interesting… But I can assure you that you can trust us."

The boy shakily nodded. "Narukami Yu."

"Hm… I see." Igor nodded slightly. "Now, let's take a look into your future, shall we?" A stack of nine cards appeared in the middle of a table on the other end of the limo. "Do you believe in fortune telling?" He waved his hand over the cards and they spread out into a perfect square formation. "Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the results are always different." He chuckled "Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?" Igor made a flipping motion with his hand and the card closest to Yu on the right flipped over. "Hmm? That's odd…"

"What is?" Yu tried to leave his seat, but found that he couldn't move.

Margaret looked at the card as well. "It is strange… The master drew a blank card."

"Most interesting… It appears that I cannot foresee what is to come. That card represents your immediate future. I have no explanation for this. No matter. The card indicating the future beyond that is…" Igor made the flipping motion again.

"Blank again." Elizabeth got up and stared at the cards. "Well, as we cannot foresee his future, may we take a look into his past?"

Margaret looked at Yu.

"Oh… yes. Go right ahead." Yu nodded.

Elizabeth smiled and sat back down.

"Well, we usually do not do this type of reading, but, as you have given us permission, I will take a look into your past." The cards reshuffled and the one in the exact center was flipped. "The Hermit, in the Reversed position. Any card in this placement represents your personality. The card in this position itself… It can mean either stubbornness, suspicion, or loneliness. Now, would you mind if we asked you to elaborate?"

Yu shook his head. "I do mind, but I think that suspicion and loneliness is what it means for me."

Margaret's eyes seemed to soften for a fraction of a second.

Igor nodded and waited for Yu's approval to flip another card. Which he got. The card that was flipped was the one closest to Yu on the right side. "The Devil, in the Reverse position. As you know, this placement for reading your future was the immediate future, and this, is the immediate past. The Devil card in itself has a negative meaning, however, it was drawn in reverse. This means that you have broken free of something quite recently, and are free to choose your own future." The cards faded. "It seems that you are lonely, but at the same time, suspicious of everything. This was caused by whatever you have just broken free of." Igor paused for some reason. "In the coming days, you will enter a contract of some sort, after which, you will return here. The coming year is a turning point in your destiny. I cannot tell you what you must do however, but…"

"If you fail to complete whatever task it is that brought you to us, your future will be forever lost." Margaret looked Yu straight in the eyes. "Our duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen."

Igor looked over at her and nodded. "We shall attend to the details another time. Until then, farewell…"

Yu's vision faded…

Yu woke up on a bench at Port Island Station. 'Oh. That's right. I'm leaving today.' Yu stood up and walked over to the platform and his luck decided not to bite him in the ass for once, seeing as the train just showed up. The train ride to the Okina station was longer than he thought it would be.

"We are now approaching the Yasogami terminal. All passengers who are leaving please move to the other side of the platform"

Yu stood up, grabbed his bag, and left his seat to stand. Apparently his luck was holding out because as soon as the previous train left, the next train showed up. 'Well, there goes my luck for the year.' Yu boarded the train with only a few people, which was good. He didn't like large crowds much. Halfway through the ride, Yu closed his eyes to see a static-y scene of a woman being attacked, like he was seeing it on TV. He then saw Margaret, Elizabeth and Igor, they looked like they were… thinking. Yu's eyes shot open, and he realized that he had fallen asleep. He looked out the window and saw that the train was nearing the station. He grabbed his bag… again, and waited for the train to stop. As soon as is stopped, Yu wasted no time in stepping out of the train and quickly exiting the station. As soon as he left the building, he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He looked to the left and saw something take a sharp right behind the building.

"Hey! Over here!"

Yu looked over to his right to see a middle aged man calling to him with a little girl hiding behind him. He walked over to the two, with a shockingly blank face.

"Welcome to Inaba. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be looking after you." Dojima rubbed the back of his neck slightly. "Let's see… I'm your mother's younger brother… and that about sums it up."

Yu vaguely remembered his uncle. He was always nice. "It's been a long time."

Dojima chuckled slightly with a small smile. "I'll say. You've really grown. I still remember when you were in diapers…" Dojima looked back at the girl. "This here's my daughter." Dojima had a rueful expression on his face, even if it was for a split second. "Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousin."

Nanako looked down nervously as she stepped forward. "... 'lo." She quickly retreated and hid behind Dojima.

Dojima chuckled. "What're you so shy for?"

Nanako suddenly had an angry/pouty face and hit Dojima for… whatever reason.

"Ow." Dojima laughed it off. It looked like it hurt him much more emotionally than physically.

"..."

Dojima sighed. "Well then, let's get going. My car's over there." Dojima walked to his car with Nanako following close behind. Yu turned to follow as an Unfriendly looking girl walked by. Unknown to Yu, a slip of paper fell out of his pocket.

"... Hey." Yu turned around to see the girl picking up the slip of paper. "You dropped this."

"Huh? Oh! Thank you." Yu walked up to the girl and took the slip of paper.

The girl scoffed. "Whatever. All I did was pick it up."

Yu looked down and saw that it was the note he made that had Dojima's address on it. "Still, thank you."

"... Hey….H-Have we….met before?" The girl held her head, seemingly in pain.

Yu stepped forward in concern but was waved off.

"I-I'm fine. I just thought that you looked familiar." The girl shook her head and walked off.

"What's wrong?" Dojima called from the car.

Yu shook his head and walked over to the car. 'Who was that girl?'

Yu opened his eyes and saw that they were pulling into a gas station called Moel. An attendant immediately ran out and greeted them. "Hi! Welcome to Moel!"

Dojima looked over at Nanako. "Can you go to the bathroom by yourself?"

"Uh-huh." Nanako nodded and then the two stepped out of the car. Nanako asked the attendant where the bathroom is.

"It's in the back, to your left. You know which way's left? The side you don't hold your chopsticks in."
Nanako had a wry face. "I know… Geez…" She then ran off to the back of the gas station.

Yu stepped out of the car to take a quick look around. The gas station attendant looked over Dojima's shoulder slightly. "Are you taking a trip?"

Dojima looked back at Yu with a sigh. "No, we just went to pick him up. He just moved here from the big city."

The attendant donned a thoughtful look. "The city huh…?"

Dojima looked into the car to see that the gas tank was almost empty. "Fill up my car while you're at it. Regular's fine."

"Right away, Sir!"

Dojima dug into his pocket for something. "Good a time as any for a smoke…" Dojima walked to the sidewalk and pulled a box of cigarettes.

The attendant walked up to Yu. "Are you in high school?"

Yu was slightly confused and his face showed it.

"Does it surprise a city boy to see how little there is out here? There's so little to do, I'm sure you'll get bored fast. You'll either be hanging out with your friends or doing part-time jobs." The attendant's eyes seemed to glint slightly. "Speaking of which, we're actually looking for part-time help right now." The attendant walked up to Yu. "Give it some thought, why don't you? We don't mind if you're a student." The attendant held out their hand.

Yu smiled slightly and shook the attendant's hand without a second thought. "I'll give it some thought." The two made small talk for a few seconds before Nanako came back from inside of the gas station.

"Oh. I should get back to work." The attendant walked off as Nanako peeked over the hood of the car.

Yu suddenly felt a sharp pain appear. 'What the… this wasn't here a minute ago…'

Nanako walked up to Yu with a concerned look on her face. "...Are you okay? Did you get carsick? You don't look too good…"

Yu shook his head. He suddenly felt exhausted for some reason. Maybe it was the long trip finally taking its toll? Yu stumbled a tiny bit, suddenly getting a dizzy spell. Just as he straightened up, Dojima walked back over to the car.

"What's wrong? You okay?"

Yu nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just felt a little lightheaded."

Dojima nodded with a thoughtful look on his face. "That's understandable. It must have been a long trip for you." He thought for a second before looking back up. "Why not take a little walk, get some fresh air?"

Yu nodded. "Sounds good."

"Okay. Just let me know when you're ready to go."

Yu nodded and walked away from the gas station.

"Oh, one more thing."

Yu turned around with a questioning look on his face.

"The shopping district is near the house, so you should know where all the stores are. Okay. Go get some air."

Yu nodded again and walked away from the gas station.

Now Loading…

'Huh? What's this?' A blue window popped up in front of Yu's face, which looked oddly like a loading screen. Yu rubbed his eyes a bit and the window was still there. "I must be seeing things."

Load Complete. Now Installing… 1% … 2% …

(You can run this in the background. Would you like to do so?)

[Yes/No]

"Umm…..Yes?"

The screen disappeared and was replaced with another blue screen.

Installation is now running in the background. Thank you for installing 'Fate Changer' software. Assets will be implemented during your next reset.

[Note: Reset is when you sleep.]

'Okay… Don't freak out, you're going crazy, but you can deal with this later when you aren't surrounded by people and WHY WON'T THIS GO AWAY?!'

Seemingly at Yu's thought, the screen blinked out of existence.

"...Huh. Well, that helps… I think…" Yu looked around and saw that girl from the station. He walked up to her and noticed that she was looking down, seemingly in thought. "Hey. It's you."

The girl looked up. "Hm…? Have we met before?"

'Does she really not remember?' "Yeah. We have. What were you doing at the station?"

"The… station…? Oh. That one time." The girl looked away. "...Nothing. I just went… I… don't have anywhere to go." The girl looked down again and fell silent.

'She's homeless?' Yu tried to think of something to say, but he was drawing a blank, so he just decided to leave the girl be. He stepped away from the girl and then looked down the street. There is an old lady standing outside of what seemed to be a weapons shop, two high-school students bickering about… something, and a man with a grey shirt staring into a general store. Nothing really of note. Yu nodded slightly and walked back to Dojima.

"How're you feeling? Ready to get back in the car?"

Yu nodded. "I'm ready."

Dojima also nodded. It seems like a thing with guys… "Alright, let's hit the road then."

As the car pulled up to the house, Yu was still tending to his headache and didn't notice that they had arrived until Dojima looked back at him. "Alright. We're here."

" …Huh? Oh. Right… thank you." Yu grabbed his bag and stepped out of the car with Dojima and Nanako. As they walked into the house, Yu paused to take a look at the outside of it. It's a smaller, two floored house, but it seems a little big for just Nanako and Dojima. There is a concrete wall surrounding the house save for the front entrance, which has a sliding door, unlike the doors that were in that were in the big city. 'This will be my home for the next year…' Yu slightly nodded to himself and walked inside, setting his bag down at the entrance. He decided to look around the house for a bit, just so that he could remember where everything was. He took his shoes off at the entrance before stepping onto tiled(?) carpeting. Immediately to his right was a small kitchen, that was seemingly kept separate from the rest of the house just by a table. Directly in front of him was a living room with a couch up against the wall, another table, and an average sized tv. To the right were what Yu assumed to be the bedrooms. He looked at the living room again to see Dojima and Nanako sitting down at the small table. It seems that they eat on that table instead of the other one, which, after actually looking at it, is cluttered with newspapers and paperwork. 'I wonder what that's about…oh well…not my place to ask…' Yu walked into the living room and for some reason, he blacked out.

Yu groaned as he woke up...somewhere. This wasn't his uncle's house...or the….what was it? The Velvet Room? Anyways, it didn't look like that at all. He slowly stood up and as he looked around, it seemed like he was on a road….but it was hard to tell, considering the immense amount of fog that was blinding him.

Install complete!

Welcome to your new life! Free from the shackles of Fate!

"Ugh…..w-what is this..?" Yu tried to will away the window, but it refused to leave.

You have been transported to a secure realm of the mind so that you cannot be harmed. You are currently asleep in the real world Player. Now then….Insert your name now.

Another window appeared with a transparent keyboard attached to it. On the window, it was the standard Character selection but the stats were all set at 5. Only the name was blank. Yu hesitated for a moment before typing in his name. As soon as he hit enter, the keyboard disappeared another screen popped up in front of the first one.

Registering…...Registration complete! Welcome to your new life Yu-kun

Would you like to activate the tutorial now?

[Yes/No]

Yu tilted his head slightly in confusion. "...Well….if it has answers to what this is….then….why not? Yes."

Initiating tutorial.

Welcome Player, to your new reality, free from the limits of humanity! This gift has been granted to you specifically by %& $(ERROR!)#&$^ * simply by chance. Lucky you! Afraid that you'll completely change because of this? Well too bad! You just happen to be one of the pitiful suckers put in the drawing, and happened to luck out! Anyways, this guide will be showing you the basics of this skill, the rest...well...figure that out on your own!

"...I can already tell that this thing is going to piss me off…"

PING!

! QUEST ALERT !

Gaming for Dummies!

Main Quest: Learn how to use your Gaming ability

Hidden Quest

Main Quest rewards: + 1 Level

Hidden Quest rewards: ?

Failure: There is no chance but in case you do...You lose your ability and are stuck in this realm for eternity…..

Quest is mandatory

What you have just received is a 'Quest'. These are tasks appointed to you by the game. Upon completion, they give you rewards according to the difficulty and situation you are in when a Quest is given to you. Some quests have optional sub-quests in them that if achieved, will give you greater rewards. These 'Side Quests' are completely optional and have no penalty if they are not completed. Sometimes you will get a Quest with a hidden objective in it. Like side-Quests, they are entirely optional, however, because you don't know what the objective is, there is more guessing around, so the reward is greater than normal side-Quests. You just acquired a Hidden Quest. Good luck~

Now then, back to the main topic, as this guide progresses you may see a slight shift in your way of thinking, instead of having an outburst, you're thinking this through, making sure that this isn't your eyes playing tricks on you or something. That's because of your Status as The Gamer. Now, what I want you to do is open your Character screen. To open it, just say 'Status' all major commands are vocally activated, but if you happen to say the word in normal conversation, it won't appear. You have to have the intent to open the window for it to work!

Yu stared blankly at the screen. He considered himself to be a smart person, maybe smarter than others his age, but he didn't really do much. Wasn't allowed to. One of the two solaces he had in life were video games. He played them in secret, because he couldn't exactly buy them, so the ones that he played most often were MMORPGs just because most of them are free. "So if this is how I think it is...then I should also have an Inventory as we-"

You rebel! Just now you have completed the Hidden Quest, but we'll view it later. For now, open your Status window.

"Heh...okay..that was kinda funny. Even though I didn't mean for it to happen. Status." A window overlapped the first one and it showed the standard RPG layout for a Character screen.

Name: Yu Narukami / Shoji Seta

Job: The Gamer

Title: None

Arcana: Fool/?

Level: 1 Next Level: 0.00%

HP: 125/125

SP: 125/125

STR: 5

VIT: 5

DEX: 5

INT: 5

WIS: 5

LUK: 15

Stat Points: 0

Perks:

The Fool: +10 to LUK, allows usage of multiple ? and their ?

?: Not Unlocked

'Why is THAT name there?!'

This is your status screen. As you can see, you have two names. You thought that you could fool us with a fake name. Nice try, but if you like you can hide that bit later, if you get a quest for it~

"Hell no! You're going to tell me how to get rid of that on my screen RIGHT NOW OR EL-" 'What…is this…?'

You are now experiencing the effects of 'Gamer's Mind'. And geez. We didn't know that you'd get so worked up about it…It's called a joke. Learn to live a little. But if you really want us to get rid of it… Done. We don't want our Player to not like the Game over a Status screen "error". While we're on the topic, enter your Skills window.

"...Fine. Skills. And that is my real name now." The Status window disappeared and was replaced with a screen with a single grid on it. On that grid were two images that were placed right next to each other.

Lighten up~!This is your skill list! The overall layout is not able to be changed, however, you can create new tabs and move your skills in between each tab. The last player complained about not being able to automatically sort the skills so we added that in as well. Currently your skills are sorted by experience. You should probably change that~

Yu nodded and looked around the grid and saw a 'Sort' button. He pushed the button and it showed a list of things that would waste too much time as he's only going to change it from time to time. "Let's go with… A-Z" He tapped that setting and the two skills he has switched places. "This could be handy… later."

That's pretty much it for the menu for now. Well, there's an options menu, but that doesn't really work. W-... It's being worked on. Right now, you can access it and the few options you can get are either music, and...that's pretty much it.

Yu looked at the screen in confusion. "If this is what I think it is...then shouldn't there be a party system in this thing?" Yu checked out the settings and saw that every setting in there was locked except for the music setting. He turned that on and he heard the music that he was hearing from the Velvet Room. He shook his head and turned it off. As much as he liked music, he didn't think that he wanted to hear it 24/7.

Well~ The previous Gamer decided to try and somehow hack into this and he pretty much mucked up the entire thing, so we're still working on it. Had to take out the Pause feature though. So….you won't be able to take breaks in battle to think…

"Wait. Battle? Why would I be fighting anything at all?"

I mean, you don't have too, but eventually your skills will simply stop growing as they are, so eventually, you WILL have to fight to get stronger. Oh, and if you work out, don't worry. You can focus on a single arm and your whole body will gain the effects of the training as you gain a stat point.

"Okay. That clears that up. So...if I train my DEX stat my flipping around say….a pencil, then my reflexes and overall speed will be enhanced as well?"

Yep! And because you figured that out, have a point in WIS!

Yu lowered his head in thought. "So I get WIS points by making wise actions….so strategy games would work with that. I should be able to get INT by reading, VIT by...pushing myself far beyond my limits, and Luck…I guess by getting lucky…? So flipping a coin… or winning at betting games…"

YES! You got it! Have another point in WIS AND a INT point for figuring this out!

Yu just stared at the screen and chuckled. "Well, you seem to be awfully generous with these points. Not that I'm complaining, but isn't this supposed to be challenging?"

Well, that's the thing. Your stats are really low. They're average for normal people, but trust me, it'll get harder as you progress them. Most people cap at 7, but they don't have your ability. But you should probably wake up now. We can go over the specifics later. Bye!

Yu quickly faded from the foggy realm, without a word in edgewise.

A silhouette slowly formed in the mist. "...He's going to be eaten alive without our help."

"Shut it. You aren't the one who has to deal with the recovery of the data."

Yu opened his eyes to see that he was still in mid step going into the living room. A window appeared right in front of him as he finished his step.

! QUEST COMPLETE !

Gaming for Dummies

Main Quest: Learn how to use your Gamer ability: COMPLETE!

Hidden Quest: Defy the Game! Pave your own path: COMPLETE!

Total Rewards: +1 level, +1 point to all stats

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE GAINED YOUR FIRST LEVEL!

You have gained +5 stat points

(This Alert will not be so...annoyingly large in the future.)

Yu stumbled in place as he felt his body and mind...change. He felt stronger...faster...healthier even. Even if it was a very small change, it still messed with his equilibrium. As for his mind, well, at first, it felt sharper, then it felt clearer, like some fog had thinned out.

"I… art I."

A light ringing ran through Yu's head, and he was barely able to hear three words through it. 'What was that? It wasn't the...whatever this whole thing is.' Yu shook away the ringing sound and walked through the rest of the house. It wasn't as large as his one back in the city, but it felt more like a home then just a -prison- house. He brought his bag up to the spare room, where his belongings, which...weren't much, were up there, neatly packed in boxes. He had just begun to unpack, when Dojima called him down for dinner. '...This is going to be a long year…'

Igor sat in the Velvet Room, contemplating his new guest. He was not able to read his future, which had never happened before. At first, he thought that it was going to be exciting, but not 10 seconds after his new guest had left, he felt the seeds of worry begin to grow in his soul. If he could not foresee this young man's future, then how would he be able to guide him properly?

"Worry not Igor."

Igor slowly opened his eyes to see a man with dark brown hair tied in a high ponytail sitting where his guests would usually be. Though, the hair wasn't the part that caught the master of Persona's eye. It was the mask that the man was wearing. It was purely white except for the left edge of the mask, which morphed into a golden butterflies wing. "Master Philemon, you have returned. What brings you here, to my room?"

Philemon chuckled. "I believe that you know, old friend. It's about your new guest. As you know, Nyarlathotep and I had a...bet of sorts years ago, which was to see if humans were able to reach enlightenment. I had you grant the power of Persona to that young group of people who played the game I created. In return, they created the forms of shadows that we see now. And as you also know, I won, and they were sealed away. But, I forgot to take one thing into account. It's that Nyarlathotep is a sore loser. So, even when he was sealed away, he still influenced the shadows to take the forms of people's suffering and hidden thoughts.

And, as such, I was forced to create a separate dimension as a place to contain the mass of Shadows. The Dark Hour, as some called it. I figured out his plan quite early on and knew that it had to be stopped, so I had Ryoji awaken the Wild Card of that fiasco. It was almost a mistake on my part, but I had no idea that the boy would bond with a facet of Death so easily. Which brings us to our new guest." Philemon sighed. "The Elder God of 1000 forms wanted to steal him away, and they personally had a hand in his suffering. They broke the rules of the cosmos, so...I broke them as well, and freed the boy of said torment myself. That little balancing act tore him completely from the tapestry of fate and, in doing so, unleashed a dormant power that alters reality as it progresses.

I can count the people who have had this power on one hand, and they have all done great things with it. And, they are all of the same reincarnation cycle. His soul is so similar to those two, that it gave him the same ability. There is no telling how far he will go with his ability, as there's no limit to it until he dies. Until then, do not worry friend, and simply do what you wish of this new guest. I can already tell that he's going to be a very interesting Wild Card." Philemon started to laugh lightly as he faded into a swarm of golden butterflies.

Igor stared at the dissipating swarm of butterflies and then laughed, wearing a real smile instead of his unnerving grin. "Yes...he most certainly will be an interesting guest."

Aigis slowly reactivated on a bed, which she was still not used to, and quickly went through her daily routine. It was, activate, perform a system diagnostic, then report in for her next assignment. It was monotonous, but it gave her a distraction from the person she missed the most. 'No. I cannot allow myself to think of him like that. He would not wish for me to simply waste away in sorrow.' "...System diagnostic complete….error...emotional subroutines malfunctioning...ocular cameras leaking fluids.." 'Minato…'

The headpiece on a desk next to the bed crackled. "Aigis. It's me, Mitsuru. This is your mission. Take the next week to work all of your emotions out. It isn't healthy for you to bottle it up like you're doing right now."

Aigis put the earpiece on. "Understood Kirijo-san….Thank you."

Tohru Adachi was having a shitty day, as usual. Since his partner Ryotaro Dojima decided to take the goddamn day off, he was assigned on guard detail for this bitchy, self-entitled announcer Mayumi Yamano. Sure, she had her looks going for her, but she had such a stick so far up her ass it should've been coming out of her mouth! Keyword, HAD! "Hahaha..! Wow! So people really can go all the way inside! That's...Heh…" Adachi stared at his hands with a sick, sadistic grin on his face. "With this power….I could have so much fun with this thing!" He looked at his reflection in the TV screen, and saw glowing yellow eyes rapidly fading. "I am thou, and thou art I! Ye be the one who seeks pleasure and chaos in life, I bestow upon you the power of Magatsu Izanagi!"

A blast of fire came from the right as long, red headed woman launched it an a man enshrouded in a brown robe. It knocked the man away violently, burning his cloak to cinders. The man tumbled on the ground and then used a staff that was hidden in the cloak to pivot himself on the ground and flip into a crouching position. He pointed the staff at the woman. "Vocat te! Clavum aqua!" A large spike of water formed at the end of the staff and shot towards the woman, who jumped over it and rushed towards the man with a trail of flames following her path. Fire quickly engulfed her form as she ran faster at the man. The man kept firing the same spell over and over again, like a one trick pony, and the woman just kept dodging out of the way. She quickly closed the distance and right when she was about to finish the man off, he smirked. "Vocat te! Aqua carcerem!" A large sphere of water surrounded the woman and rose into the air. The man slowly stood up with a groan. "You bitch...You burned my favorite cloak. Well, have fun drowning." The water mage laughed as he limped away.

The woman thrashed around for a few seconds, then just floated there with her eyes closed. 'I won't die here...Flames! Come forth!' The sphere began to steam, then slowly boil. The woman opened her eyes as she felt invisible flames explode from her, completely shattering the prison. White flames flowed freely from her arms as she fell. She had fire shoot from her feet in short bursts, propelling her towards the cocky water mage. The woman dropped to the ground and dashed towards the man. She threw her arms out to the side and two whips made of white fire formed. She lashed out with one, making it extend far enough to wrap around the man's neck.

The woman pulled on the extended whip and lept forward, flipping over the mage as one the free whip morphed into a blade. As soon as she landed, she swung back with the blade and cut the man in half. Yet he was still alive, as his wounds were cauterized very painfully by the heat of the flames. The woman turned around and stared the man in the eyes as she cracked the whip,snapping his neck and turning his body into two weapons flickered away and she sighed. She looked around and appeared to be in a small town. "...Okay….WHERE THE HELL AM I?!"

Yu fell backwards onto his futon with a sigh. Dojima was called to work during dinner, so he passed the time with Nanako, getting to know her more. It was nice, and he found out that she really likes the store called Junes. They...don't really have much for entertainment around here, so he guessed that Junes was where Nanako went to have fun when she was alone. He checked his phone, no new messages from anyone, so...at least there was that. He looked around for...no reason but to steel his nerves and he opened his Inventory with a thought. He picked up his bag and his eyes widened with shock when he saw it disappear and be replaced with a single box in his inventory. He nervously reached towards the floating box and saw his hand reach into it.

He gasped, then frowned when he couldn't find his bag. As soon as he thought about the bag though, he was holding it in his hand. He pulled it out and he saw that there really wasn't any change. Though when he unzipped the bag, the clothes that he had just thrown in there were neatly folded up. He tossed the bag back onto the ground and stared at the ceiling. "...Status" Yu's status window opened with a soft pinging noise.

Name: Yu Narukami

Job: The Gamer

Title: None

Arcana: Fool/?

Level: 2 Next Level: 0.00%

HP: 125/125

SP: 150/150

STR: 6

VIT: 6

DEX: 6

INT: 7

WIS: 8

LUK: 16

Stat Points: 5

Perks:

The Fool: +10 to LUK, allows usage of multiple ? and their ?

?: Not Unlocked

He closed it after a few seconds of looking it over. "...Okay...If this is real, then...I'm really weak. Weaker than the average NPC. I'm going to need some way to train."

! QUEST ALERT !

Become competent!

Main Quest 1: Discover a way to train without breaking the area around you!

Main Quest 2: Train All stats to at least 10.

Side Quest: Train at least 1 stat to 20

Reward: 50 EXP, Title: Dungeon Crafter

Do you accept this quest?

[YES/NO]

Yu tensed when he saw the window pop up, then groaned. "This is going to be a regular thing now...isn't it..?" He tapped 'YES' and the window faded. He then closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.

Yu slowly stood up on a path of red blocks that had black outlines. He went to hold his head, but then found that he was holding a Katana of some kind. A yellow screen then appeared in front of his face.

You have entered the Sub-Dungeon: ?

Dungeon affect: Sense of Dread [Negated by Gamer's Mind]

Yu took a step forward and the block under him shimmered blue, before becoming red once more. He looked down in confusion before taking the katana in both hands, as it was heavy, and ran forward. After only a few more steps, a voice rang out.

"Do you seek the truth…?"

Yu shook away the ringing and ran forwards again holding his katana tighter. Another few steps, and the voice called out again.

"If it's truth you desire, come and find me…"

He just kept running forward, ignoring the ringing. Soon, a door made of red and black material came into his field of vision. Yu went to open it, but felt...something, behind the door. A blue screen appeared in the corner of his eye.

You have learned the skill: [Sense Danger]

A red screen appeared as the blue one flickered away.

Sense Danger (Passive): LV1 EXP: 0.00%

A natural survival instinct

It allows the user to sense any form of danger directed at them.

The higher the level progresses, the earlier the user senses it, and can pinpoint the source of the danger more accurately.

Yu stared at the skill and smiled. "My first skill, and it's really useful too. Skills." The skill window popped up and Yu tapped on [Sense Danger].

Sense Danger (Passive): LV1 EXP: 0.00%:A natural survival instinct. It allows the user to sense any form of danger directed at them. The higher the level progresses, the earlier the user senses it, and can pinpoint the source of the danger more accurately.

Warns the user of danger 1 second in advance.

Allows to sense the form of danger from up to 15ft

Yu then sweatdropped at the uselessness of the skill. "Well…..at least it'll get better if I get into a lot of battles…What am I talking about?! I don't want to fight anything." Yu swiped away both windows and pressed his hand to the red square in the center of the door. It opened in a spiraling motion to reveal a room just covered in fog. Yu walked into said room and saw a floating silhouette of a person in the middle of the room. He stepped into a stance that allowed him to hold the katana more easily and he felt something snap in his mind.

You have temporarily gained the power of ?

You have temporarily gained the skills:

[Zio]

[Cleave]

Yu willed away the window and stared up at the figure.

"So… you are the one pursuing me…" The figure chuckled. "Try all you like…"

Yu felt like testing his new skills, so he decided to test [Cleave] first. He expected his body to move, but instead, a transparent card floated down in front of him. He took it in his hand and crushed it, causing a shadowy figure to rise from his shadow. He looked up at it and saw it swing a blade of some kind. The blade hit the target dead on, but Yu felt a slight pain in his chest after it happened, only for a moment.

HP: 119/125

'So that takes health to cast huh? Guess I shouldn't abuse that then.' Seeing as the voice isn't going to say anything, he took the opportunity to cast [Zio]. The figure crackled with electricity and then launched a bolt of lightning at the figure.

SP: 146/150

'And it looks like elemental stuff takes up my SP.'

The figure hummed. "It seems that you can see a little, despite the fog…" It cocked its head slightly to the side. "I see… Indeed, you possess an interesting quality…" The figure chuckled. "But… you will not catch me so easily…" It then crossed its arms. "If what you seek is 'truth', then your search will be even harder…" The figure became engulfed in an even thicker fog, which then spread around the battlefield.

Yu ran over to where the figure was, the shadowy thing following him and he swung the sword at where it was, not hitting anything. He swung again, and again, but the figure didn't seem to be there.

"Everyone sees what they want too…" The voice echoed from everywhere. "And the fog only deepens… Will we meet again…? At a place other than here…" The figure chuckled, it's voice lightening a bit. "I look forward to it…"

Yu stumbled in place, and began to feel lightheaded. He panted heavily as he felt like he was about to collapse, then in a split second, he felt none of that.

Effect [Hypnosis] blocked by [Gamer's Mind].

"Oh…? You're much stronger then I took you for… then… perhaps a little parting gift is in order…"

A blank card floated down in front of Yu. He stared at it intensely, attempting to figure out what it was. A window then pinged in front of him.

A special skill has been created through a special action!

Through the not at all tedious process of looking at things, the skill [Observe] has been created!

Observe (Passive/Active): LV1 EXP 0.00%

The ability to look past the surface of an object. This skill allows the user to see ally and enemy status pages, and quite possibly discern true intentions.

Yu smirked. "Observe."

Dark Arcana Card of the Underworld:

The Dark Card of ?, will corrupt whomever touches it in one way or another.

Status Effects: Aura of Greed: Negated by [Gamer's Mind]

Yeah. Yu was really glad to have [Gamer's Mind] right now. He didn't really get the whole arcana part of it, but anything that has the word 'corrupt' on it has to be bad. "No thanks." He stepped away from the card, causing it to disappear. "I might not know who you are, but I won't let you corrupt me."

Wisdom begets Wisdom! For making a wise action about the entire course for your life you gain +1 WIS!

'And that seals it.' "Whatever you're up to, it won't succeed. People are going to come after you, and when they find you, they'll stop you. Hell, I might just be one of them. So, I'll see you around. Maybe when we see each other again, we can have a nice little chat." Yu closed his eyes and forced himself awake, causing him and the shadow thing to disappear.

Okay… I know that it isn't as long as the original ones, but I think this one flows better, even if it's just slightly. So, before I start explaining, I would really, REALLY like to thank the three people who gave me both the need to create fanfiction, and who I...kiiiinda see as the kings of the craft. And those three are Piro-san, Ryuuji, and Legend of the Kyuubi. You three are the reasons why I'm even writing this right now, so thank you, and if you're reading this...umm...hi? I really wouldn't know what to say if you three were reading this clusterfuck. So, onto the explanation on why I took….ANOTHER break. I had a severe panic attack, which quickly evolved into chronic anxiety. I couldn't leave the house, so I was forced to drop out of school, stay off of social networks, and stay inside or I would just pass out. That's one of the reasons, because I've been focusing more on recovery than anything else. That was the reason I left in the first place. The reason why I took another break is a combination of holidays, depression, and laziness. Not a really good reason to leave, I know, but I am getting better. So...to anyone out there who's reading this that has depression or anxiety, or both, just know that... you aren't alone. I know what it's like, and if anyone needs to say ANYTHING to me, if you need to get something off your chest, talk to someone about your stuff, or just plain ramble, I'm pretty much free 24/7, unless I'm dragged somewhere against my will or asleep….so...yeah! I hope that you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope to see you guys reading the next one! Until then, have a great time!