>>> >>> >>> Unknown Time – Unknown Region
“…ster Senna!”
‘Hm…?’
“Big Sister Senna!”
I open my eyes, still drowsy from being… asleep?
‘What an interesting way to start a game….’
I lift my right arm and place a hand to my mouth, yawning lightly.
“You’re finally awake!”
I turn my head to the feminine, perky voice and find myself looking at a girl a few years younger than me. She’s twelve years old and energetic, a cute little girl that has helped me over the years….
‘Huh? Where did these memories come from…?’
It looks like I am an apprentice Shrine Maiden at the start of this game. The perky little student Miko is Miyase Kotori, assigned by the head priestess of this village as my assistant and student shrine maiden. Kotori is a perky, happy girl whose personality is more akin to a ball of sunlight than a human being. This little student Miko has a head of medium-length, soft brown hair that is curled inwards at the end. This gives her a cute, lovely look that matches with her big, caramel brown eyes. Her fair, oriental skin tone makes her already adorable look even younger.
Kotori’s student Miko uniform is a miniature version of the official shrine maiden uniform. Instead of the long red hakama, she is wearing a shorter, one that only reaches down halfway of her thighs and have small white strikes on it. Her white silk socks just reach above her knees. Her wide-sleeved, white haori is much shorter, reaching above her elbows instead of flowing over her arms to her wrist. She has a pure red hair ribbon tied in a bow on a bang to the left side of her head.
Kotori herself will be assigned a student shrine maiden after my “coming-of-age” ceremony as an official Miko as Kotori will be promoted to apprentice shrine maiden after her exam.
“Virtual reality has sure come a long way even though it only has been ten years since the conception of full-immersion technology….”
I unintentionally ponder aloud, though Kotori seems to be ignoring my words. The girl pulls me away from the futon, takes off my sleeping yukata and undergarments, before heading to the door, leaving me kneeling on the floor, half-asleep and completely naked.
Being 155cm (5’1) tall, my slender build makes my body quite doll-like and petite. Kotori is only 135cm tall though she is only ten years old.
I hear Kotori knock on the door twice and it slides open, revealing five shrine maiden assistants that shuffle into the room with various equipment, clothing sets, and a large tub.
The women quickly pulled me up then placed my body into the tub before pouring in hot water, hot enough to be comfortable. Two of the assistants scrub my hair with a fragrant soap while another assistant rub and massage my body with another fragrant body-wash in the comfortable water.
‘Ah… I feel like I am melting in comfort… what a way to start a game.’
I simply cannot believe the service I am receiving. Although I can do the same everyday in real life due to my familial status and wealth, I would rather spend my time doing productive work than waste an hour or two for such comfort. Maybe indulge in it once or twice a month, but not so frequently. Even without modern technology, this cleaning service, regardless of the sacred meaning, is very nice.
After approximately forty-five minutes of cleansing, the assistants carry me out of the tub and place my body in to a layer of white towels. They then open a glass bottle containing some sort of cream and start drying off my body before applying the whitish-beige cream to my body.
‘If only I did not promise those five that I would try my best to achieve any of Top 100 ranks…. Top 100 Overall, Combatant? Healer? Well, it does not matter which ones, just one of the ranking players.’
The assistants apply a thin layer of cream to my body. The cool, soothing feeling permeates my skin, spreading throughout me and relaxing my muscles. I assume this is some sort of magic cream.
*ding!*
My newly acquired fox ears flick, irritated by the sharp sound.
‘I guess
I can hear another bottle being opened. This time, an assistant spreads another type of cream on to my face, lightly patting and rubbing the cream that smells of cherry blossoms into my face. I close my eyes and feel another person helping me comb and maintain my long, modified hime-cut hair.
At this moment, shadows ebbed into the visible world, staining everything into a darker shade of itself. It is as if the world dimmed, the light from the sun blocked by a partial eclipse. Everything stopped moving, at least, that is what I am perceiving right now. I open my eyes and blink, realizing that I cannot move anything other than my head and eyes. A window appears in front of me with no ear-jarring “ding”.
‘I see, so this state is where the brain’s perception and working speed multiplies to the point where even a single second can last for years. Even though this time dilation does not harm the person, technology nowadays can only maintain it for ten minutes or so in real life and must cool-off for five minutes before reactivating it.’
Basic quests to start off at this location are quite simple. They seem to have implemented a tutorial without splitting it off from the game itself.
‘Status Check.’
*ding!*
My fluffy fox ears flick again. I am slightly annoyed with the sound. With the increased sensitivity to sound, I decide to adjust the sound setting and do so immediately. It feels weird that my human ears have stopped working while I am in my race’s regular form….
‘I see… I guess the spirit and willpower stat are from the Apprentice Miko profession. The other four should be from my race.’
The physical modifiers are at 115%, meaning that I am 15% more vulnerable to the four types of physical damage.
‘That 1000% Void weakness… maybe it is actual void magic, not neutral…. Hm, so players in this world have the rank of “Pioneer”….’
I close the window after musing for a moment.
‘Next…. List
A small bell-like tinkle resounds in my mind; courtesy of the system settings.
‘There are so many starting skills… and there’s the identify skill. I am guessing that these skills and knowledge learned is from a female aristocrat from the fantasy version of the medieval age. The
There are ten “Circles” of proficiencies for skills and knowledge. From the beginning to the end; Basic, Novice, Intermediate, Adept, Advanced, Expert, Master, Grandmaster, Pinnacle, and Limit Break. Each Circle has ten ranks before it upgrades to the next Circle.
For example,
‘Most of the skills cannot be used at this time… I guess this is a variant race that becomes much better in another setting.’
More work for me to deal with.
I close the windows exit the grey space. The world returns to its former brilliance and time moves at its original pace again. I close the quest completed window immediately after it appears.
The assistants soon finish with my hair and body. One of the female assistants bring out a set of formal Shrine Maiden outfit and the rest start to dress me in the clothes. I examine each piece of clothing with my newly acquired
‘I’ll deal with the items I received from the limited edition purchase when I get a magic bag.’
Magic bags come in many sizes and are the standard bags for adventurers and long-distance travels. They are expensive and difficult to make, requiring a magic user specializing in
Once they finished clothing me in the outfit, they lift my body up and dust away any particles of unwanted grit and lint.
Standing up, I find my fox tail being hidden underneath the red Hakama. I frown slightly and think about
With a soft, whirling sound and a flash of pinkish white light, my hair color changes to a midnight black. The fox ears and tail are now absent while my eyes return to the crystal blue it had been before I picked the
How do I know this? There is a mirror directly opposite of me. I wobble a bit due to the missing tail but quickly acclimate to “becoming” a human again. One of the assistants giggled slightly when I nearly fell over. I notice Kotori walking into the room with a smile on her face.
“Big sister Senna! You look amazing!”
I smile before raising my hand to pat the top of the adorable student Miko’s head.
She utters an soft ‘eh heh…’ while closing her eyes and smiling.
I pet her head like a cat for a while before Kotori squirms away, giggling.
“All right,” the girl announces, “let’s get going!”
Kotori and I thank the assistants for their help and leave to head to the main ceremonial hall of the temple I am currently in.
The memories inserted into my character gives me a mental map of the entire village, allowing me to navigate anywhere that is not private property without getting lost. The temple I live in… well, my character’s life before I started playing, is quite spacious, constituting eight buildings surrounding the central, main ceremonial hall. All of the buildings are made in the style of historical Japanese Shinto shrines and temples.
The building to the south-east consists of two large living blocks, the first of which is for apprentice shrine maidens, like myself, and their assistant student Shrine Maidens. The second block of the temple’s living area is for official Miko.
The building to the south is a smaller block that is reserved for the Head Shrine Maiden, three elder shrine maidens, and their assistants.
The infrastructure north of the main ceremonial hall is the public ceremonial hall which exclusive visitors can get services from the shrine maidens. There are blessings, curse removal services, and a gift shop for accessories that have magical traits. Apprentice shrine maidens and student Miko usually manages the gift shop while official shrine maidens perform the blessings and curse removal services.
West, south-west, and north-west of the main hall are storage structures. The uniforms, clothing, and ceremonial equipment are in the west building. The building to the south-west of the main hall is used to create and store the trinkets and accessories for sale. The north-western building contains the heavy duty equipment to fight and protect against powerful supernatural entities.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
To the east is a training hall for shrine maidens to train themselves in the art of dance, song, exorcisms, and blessings. The final, north-eastern building is for education and instructions for student and apprentice shrine maidens.
We will reach the main hall and perform the formal ceremony for the end of my apprenticeship….
… … …
… …
…
An Hour Later…
“Now, you are officially a Shrine Maiden of our Sacred Lunar Village.”
I rise to my feet as the Head Shrine Maiden finishes the ceremony. With the two of the three elders to witness – the last elder shrine maiden is visiting a noble for an exorcism – the ceremony, I am now an official Shrine Maiden.
‘I see, even though I have become an official shrine maiden, I have yet to obtain the full power of one. It looks like I have to complete the four trials before I can head out to explore the world.’
The Head Shrine Maiden, Miyagi Shiina, is a young woman whom looks like a genuine Japanese shrine maiden with her traditional hime-cut, silky black hair and the generic dark brown eyes of oriental humans. Her clothing consists of the official shrine maiden outfit like the one I am wearing but it has gold threaded borders in place of silver and white ones. She also wears an outer cloak of red and gold that sparkles mysteriously.
The two elders wear the same outfit but has a white and silver cloak instead. Sakuga Mayuri is one of the two elders, standing off to the left side of Shiina (my perspective’s right). Her long black hair is done in a simply pony tail, tied up with a white-and-red ribbon. Next to Mayuri is Hashiyama Akane, the second elder shrine maiden. Where Shiina and Mayuri are at similar heights; both stand about 170cm (5’7) tall, Akane is a bit shorter at 165cm (5’5).
Akane, like her name suggests, has a head of fiery red hair that matches her crimson red eyes. Her hair is done in a long pony tail like Mayuri, but the former’s fiery hair is tied up with gold ribbon instead.
“Now that you are an official Shrine Maiden,” head shrine maiden says in a soft voice, “you will have to prepare yourself to visit the four sacred shrines.”
Elder Shrine Maiden Mayuri continues the head shrine maiden’s speech.
“The first shrine you will visit is the
Elder Shrine Maiden Akane cuts into Mayuri’s speech right when the latter pauses. Akane’s voice is stronger and clearer than both Mayuri and Shiina’s voices. It is as if her fiery-red hair and eyes result in her more forceful way of speaking,
“…you will have to obtain the
Akane stops speaking as Mayuri continues to the fourth shrine’s explanation.
“The fourth and final shrine is located to the west of this village, hidden deep in the Mountains of Temperance. This is the
The fiery-haired elder shrine maiden resumes speaking after Mayuri stops.
“To enter the
“Other than that,” Head Shrine Maiden Shiina says, “it should not take long for you to complete each visit. The three of us are confident in your abilities, Senna. You are one of our best shrine maidens we have trained.”
“Here,” Akane holds up three books; where she got them from is a mystery, “I will unlock and remove the limitations on the three spells you have learned ever since you became a student shrine maiden.”
The three books shone with a soft white light before disappearing. The world becomes grey and frozen again as it enters the tutorial mode again.
*ting!*
‘Hm… let me see….’
I open my list of magic up and open each spell’s information window open.
‘The spells seem a little underwhelming….’
I close the windows and exit the tutorial mode.
“Here is your equipment,” Mayuri speaks up and walks over to me, “this haraegushi and mirror will be part of your professional equipment.”
Elder Shrine Maiden Mayuri hands me two objects; a wooden wand with a couple of white, zig-zagging, paper streamers attached to the top and a medium, circular mirror attached to a light brown, wooden frame. The haraegushi or “lightning wand” is named for the zig-zagging paper streamers attached to the beige, wooden wand. The mirror itself has a slot which to slide one’s hand through. It kind of looks like a miniature buckler when equipped on to the off-hand.
A small window opens without entering tutorial mode.
‘I guess the system will not annoy you will endless greyed-out world tutorials….’
The head shrine maiden then walks over to me while the two elder Miko step back.
“As your congratulatory gift, here is a ten silver coins for you to purchase what ever you like in the village or in the town nearby.”
She hands me a small red and white pouch containing eight silver coins, seven copper cards, and twenty five copper coins.
The common currency of this world is measured in “Astra”, where one coin is the size of a modern day American Dime. There are five main coin values: one copper coin is 1 Astra, one silver coin is 100 Astra, a gold coin is equal to 10,000 Astra, one bluet coin is worth 1,000,000 Astra, and finally; the jade coin has a value of 1,000,000,000 Astra.
This means that 100 coppers are equal to 1 silver, 100 silver becomes 1 gold, 100 gold becomes 1 platinum, but 1,000 bluet coins are equal to a jade coin.
There is also currency “cards” made of the same material, slightly larger than the coin and is in a rectangular, card-like shape with rounded edges. One copper card is worth 25 copper coins, one silver card is worth 25 silver coins, one gold card has the value of 25 gold coins, and so on.
I tie the string of the pouch to ribbon that fastens my hakama to my waist. Until I get bag or item that can hold items like the “space bag” famous in so many games, I will have to hold items on my body.
“Thank you very much, head shrine maiden.”
I thank her for the gift and the three shrine maidens dismisses me. I cannot meet up with Kotori at this time until two days in game after; she is taking a test to discover her specialty as a student shrine maiden and will be promoted to an apprentice Miko after the test.
I think I will head to the first shrine immediately after I purchase a few important items from in the village general store. As I exit the ceremonial hall a quest window appears.
*ting!*
‘It’s a story quest….’
I check the wand and shield-like mirror I have equipped.
'My stats…?’
I close the equipment window and open my status information to check what had changed after my profession change.
Nodding, I close off my status window and head out of the Sacred Lunar Temple area.
The sun is shining, a gentle breeze blows past my face… this is such a lovely day.
The Sacred Lunar Village is a small, traditional Japanese-style settlement with many thatched-roof houses, wooden shacks, and a couple of solid wood and stone buildings. The layout of the village is in a circle, surrounding the temple I just came from. As I walk towards the market region of the village near north-west portion of the village.
On my way to the marketplace, I greet the villagers that I pass. Memories of each villager, the mental map of the entire village gradually appear in my mind.
‘I see, so my character has memories of her life before I started to play… I wonder, system call!’
I continue to the marketplace as I call for the A.I. that manages the system.
‘Oh, Aria, hello. I’m fine, thank you. I just wish to ask if other players start like this.’
Aria pauses for a moment.
‘I see…. Anyways, thank you for answering.’
‘No, I am fine now.’
I mentally give a farewell to Aria as I arrive at the general store of the village.
I enter the small, quaint building, brushing past the bamboo-like screen that covers most of the entrance.
“Welcome! Oh, it’s apprentice shrine mai... oh right, you are an official Miko now. Congratulations!”
“Thank you, Ryoko-san,” I thank the shopkeeper, “I wish to purchase a basic potion set, three basic antidotes, three rolls of bandages…”
The memories reveal the general store’s list that my character….
‘Huh… I guess it should still be me even though I did not start until now.’
…I have seen many times when purchasing goods from the village.
Ryoko-san, otherwise known as Amenara Ryoko, is the owner of the general store in this village. Despite of the small, rural-looking shop, Ryoko sells a diverse amount of consumable and utility items with level recommendations of level one to level fifty.
Ryoko is a gentle, young woman in her early twenties. Her medium length black hair, common to people whom are oriental-type in this world, is in a simple tied-back style. Wearing a rather subdued, soft green kimono with a few white and soft yellow flower decorations near the bottom half of the long kimono.
The store itself consists of a light brown, wooden counter top that spans from one end of the shop to the other. There is a wooden panel that opens and closes, allowing Ryoko to enter and exit the store from the front. On the left wall of the shop has three wooden shelves that are lined with glass bottle filled with liquids of different colors. The bottles are small, rounded cylinders that holds about 35ml each.
They are quite small and easy to carry, unlike the unwieldy, large, rounded glass bottles seen in many other roleplaying games.
The red colored ones are clearly marked as medicine that restores health. The blue ones restore mana while the green ones increase one’s stamina. There are bottles of purple liquid medicine that are marked as antidotes of different strengths and types, yellow liquid medicine that are for curing electrified status effects, and many other concoctions with different purposes.
‘I do not understand how these potions really work… I really wish to break down the materials and see the biochemistry interactions….’
“…and three empty bottles.”
The store also sells a small bag that can hold up to twelve potions and a small pouch attachment for the bag to hold other items. I buy the bag and pouch as well to carry the basic items. There are magic bags sold in this store as well but even the smallest one, containing eight inventory slots, costs exactly ten silver coins.
Ryoko places the merchandise I ordered on to the wooden counter. There is a small wooden rack with 3 Minor Health Potions, 3 Minor Mana Potions, and 3 Minor Stamina Potions placed in the slots. Near the rack is a set of three Basic Antidotes that can be used as a cure-all for most weak poisons. There are three soft bandage rolls, two small tins of basic hemostasis salves to cure minor
“The total comes to 281 Astra.”
The basic potion set in this store costs 125 Astra. I do not know the average market price for these items, but the store here sells minor health and minor stamina potions for 15 copper coins, and minor mana potions for 20 coppers. It is a 25 copper discount to purchase the set rather than buying each potion individually.
A single basic antidote costs 10 coppers, a roll of cloth bandages costs 5, the two small tins of hemostasis salve costs 15 coppers each, and an empty glass bottle costs 2 coppers each. The small bag costs 50 coppers while the pouch attachment has a value of 25 coppers.
Giving Ryoko three silver coins, she returns 19 copper coins to me as change.
After placing the potion set and antidotes into the bag, I place the potions and antidotes into the bag, the empty bottles, bandage rolls, and salve tins into the pouch. I then attach the satchel-like bag to the left side of my waist, on the ribbon-like sash tying my hakama.
“Thank you for your patronage! Please come again!”
I say farewell to the shopkeeper and start heading towards the north of the village as discreetly as possible. There are many villagers in the streets at this time, walking and browsing the fresh produce, hunted meats, and other food items in the stalls outside. Only the stores that sell exploration and combat gear are in small buildings….
… … …
… …
…
After several dozen greetings and congratulations from villagers who knows me, I finally exit the village from the north entrance. The village’s farms and pastures are located east of the village, towards the town of Asayama. The north side, where my first goal is, contains beautiful green fields with several of copses in the area, leading up to a forest where the shrine is located.
The memories from my character contains most of the mystical region. Before my “advent” in the character, the apprentice Miko visited many places within the region with official shrine maidens and others. There are animals, monsters, and other creatures out in the fields that roam about. Some of them are non-aggressive creatures while others will attack targets on sight.
At Level 1, I should not have any problems defeating the creatures on my way to the shrine. As I walk slowly and steadily down the dirt path, I smile and observe some of the smaller animals scurrying about. I spot a couple of white rabbits hopping about… some of them are walking on their hind legs and are carrying....
‘…memories did not contain information of what creatures are out here. But aren’t these moon rabbits?’
Yes, there are two rabbits carrying wooden pestles in the shape of two cylinders connected by a wooden rod.
‘Identify.’
The rabbits hopping about normally are regular white rabbits… even though they are strange since it does not look like it is winter at this time. The rabbits walking around normally carrying wooden pestles are actually moon rabbits.
‘…cute.’
I end up walking towards a small rabbit by itself and kneeling on to the lush grass. The rabbit notices me and turns my way, curious about me. I hold my left hand out, with my palm facing upwards. The rabbit hops cautiously towards my stretched hand and sniffs my fingers a little before nuzzling its adorable head against my hand.
*internal cuteness squeal*
I giggle softly and smile, petting the rabbit a little before standing up. The rabbit looks up at me for a moment before hopping away. I wave goodbye to the cute rabbit before returning on my journey to the
A few minutes of walking and enjoying the scenery, I come across several white foxes frolicking about on the rolling, green hills.
These are regular foxes that are playful and curious. One of the noticed me walking down the dirt path and stops playing, watching me as I observe them.
The foxes suddenly stop playing and one of them sniffs the air. All six foxes scamper away, clearly afraid of something. Looking towards the direction opposite to where the foxes ran, I find a slightly larger creature that seems a bit hungry….
Its level is lower than the foxes, but the health points is twenty five points higher. The
I am not excluded from the list of people who would freeze up in fear, but my mind and body are quite unusually adaptive to high-risk situations. A second before the snake bites into my throat, I acclimate and leap into action.
Side-stepping, I wave the equipped shrine maiden’s wand and smack the snake in the head.
‘Oh, come on….’
I immediately use a system call command to shut off the notifications for outgoing damage unless I deal a critical hit. The snake hisses as it lands on the dirt path a meter or so away from me. Twisting its body around, the grey snake tries to launch another attack on me, only to find a
I quickly check the serpent’s health points before preparing myself for another attack.
The
I let out a small cry, more from the surprise than the pain. Reeling a bit due to the strike, I nearly lose my balance, stumbling back two steps. Fixing my balance, I twist around, swinging the wand diagonally. The wand strikes the serpent’s head, which was close to biting me, and smacks the snake slightly off-course.
Before the snake can recover, I cast the
In this game, standard actions can count as attacks. My stomp did a high amount of damage and was even a critical due to it being hit in head. The starter manual also stated that it is possible to create your own skills, techniques, and spells…. I doubt anyone can figure out how to do so without luck and/or true skill and intelligence in real life.
The snake squirms under my foot and tries to attack with its tail, only to get stomped on once more before the tail could hit me. This reduces the tail’s strength and the attack I receive does only a single damage to me.
A moment later, the snake wriggles free from under my right foot, the one that had stomped down twice. Angry and mad, the snake attacks my ankles, clearly attempting to disable my motions. Of course, being a level 1 creature, it is obviously not too threatening.
I hop away from the snake’s biting attacks and cast another
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- Miyagi Shiina’s name means “Shrine Fortress” and “Ocean Seven”. This is the proper meaning for this character (though there are other kanji combinations).
- Sakuga Mayuri’s name means “Blooming Fang” and “Magic Lily”.
- Hashiyama Akane means “Mountain of Bridge” and “Deep Red”.
- Amenara Ryōko means “Rain Oak” and “Helpful Child”.