Level Eater

Chapter 5: This Place is…

"Good work" (Ai)

"You too." (Tatsuro)

After finishing the after-work SOP, they opened their system to check this time's spoils of war (which is mostly just experience).

Name: Ai Yashiki

Class: Martial Artist

Level: 5

Ki: 1220

Mana: 3

Strength: 240

Durability: 240

Agility: 190

Magic: 1

Magic Resistance: 1

Mana Control: 1

|Acquired Skills|

[Valkyrie], [Unarmed Combat Lv.3], [Staff Art Lv.1]

[Throwing Lv.6]

Skill Points: 15

|Titles|

None

"Everything went up significantly except the magic-related ones, huh. This isn't the stats screen of a Lv 5 anymore!" (Tatsuro)

"Really? What about yours, then?" (Ai)

"Mine? Mine is normal. N-o-r-m-a-l." (Tatsuro)

Name: Tatsuro Hasami

Class:

Level: 3

Ki: 60

Mana: 60

Strength: 20

Durability: 20

Agility: 15

Magic: 20

Magic Resistance: 20

Mana Control: 15

|Acquired Skills|

[Level Eater]

Skill Points: 24

|Titles|

None

"Wait a minute! Why do you have 24 skill points while only being Lv 3?! That isn't normal at all!" (Ai)

"Ah. That You see, I can convert an enemy's skill level into skill points for myself. In total, I got 6 from leveling up, and 15 from the caterpillar." (Tatsuro)

(So That means, from the Lv 3 skills, I got 6 points each while the Lv 2 skill gave me 3 points. It works just like an arithmetic sequence, then.) He thought

Right after Tatsuro mentally deduced the math, Ai started talking.

"Hey, if it's like that then can't you just grab any skill you like?" (Ai)

"Well, I'm glad my unique skill is a cheat too. If not, I'd be worried when the gap between us gets too wide." (Tatsuro)

"Uuu. I knew your skill was better. I should have had that too" (Ai)

"No use in asking for the impossible. By the way, Ai Hmm?" (Tatsuro)

While caressing the sulking Ai's head, Tatsuro noticed some movement in the corner of his eye.

"What is it? You can keep going like that, you know?" (Ai)

"No, well, I'd love to, but Something's still moving over there." (Tatsuro)

"Eh?" (Ai)

Hearing that, Ai stopped rubbing her head on Tatsuro's chest and looked towards the place that Tatsuro pointed out.

"Oh? Looks like there are still a few survivors, huh?" (Ai)

"I'll be going out for dessert then!" (Tatsuro)

"Uuu I don't want to get close to that thing. Think you can go alone?" (Ai)

"Looks like it's about to die anytime soon even if we leave it so it's fine." (Tatsuro)

"Then, come back ASAP, okay?" (Ai)

"Roger that!" (Tatsuro)

Swinging his arms nonchalantly, Tatsuro broke into a jog as he headed towards the wreckage. There, he saw a lone dying caterpillar and activated [Level Eater].

Level: 12

Skill(s): [Body Slam Lv 5], [Thread Weaving Lv 5], [Bite Lv 5], [Leadership Lv 1], [Regeneration Lv 1]

"Whoa! Isn't this guy a lot stronger than me? Now that I look at it, isn't this guy a bit bigger than the others? It might be their boss or something. I don't know if it would survive if we left it alone because of [Regeneration] but Thanks for the meal!" (Tatsuro)

Level: 1

Skill(s): [Body Slam Lv 0], [Thread Weaving Lv 0], [Bite Lv 0], [Leadership Lv 0], [Regeneration Lv 0]

For a moment, he thought about leaving the [Regeneration] skill to let it live but He came this far and there's no backing out now. He didn't know its circumstances but this wasn't the time for him to show mercy to a dying insect.

After finishing his work, Tatsuro now has 71 skill points.

"Well, then. Farewell, unnamed caterpillar." (Tatsuro)

He clasped his hands together and offered his regards to the dying soul before turning back.

"Welcome home, darling! Would you like to have dinner? Or would you like to have a bath first? Or maybe" (Ai)

"I'll have the third option, please!" (Tatsuro)

"That was fast! I didn't even get to say it yet!" (Ai)

"Third option, please!!" (Tatsuro)

"Wai, eh? N-n-n-now?" (Ai)

"That's lovely," whispered Tatsuro while holding the flustered Ai in his arms, as if preventing her escape.

"Ehh No, not here but if you'd like it here, then maybe no, I want our first to be somewhere with a better ambiance" Her mumbles went softer and softer until it was barely audible.

"Uhh Sorry for making you think that far but that was a joke. No sane person would want to do that in the middle of scattered caterpillar corpses." (Tatsuro)

"T-t-t-that's true. O-of course I knew that. H-how w-was my a-acting skill?" (Ai)

"Yeah, yeah. It was an act, alright." (Tatsuro)

"Muu I already told you, yes is just one word" (Ai)

"Yes, ma'am." (Tatsuro)

After a minute of cuddling, the two finally let go and discussed their next course of action.

"Then, first things first. With your current skill points, you could grab the map skill, right?" (Ai)

"Yeah. I want to say something first, though. I have an infinite number of skill points, so I want you to save yours for later. Is that okay?" (Tatsuro)

"But the map skill looks convenient I want one too" (Ai)

"Fair enough. Still, how accurate would the map be, and when can we use it We won't know until we try." (Tatsuro)

"If you say that, then" (Ai)

"Ah, what if we can share it with the party too, like our stats panel? If we find skills like that, I'll prioritize learning those first." (Tatsuro)

"Uuu I'll be in your care, then old man!" (Ai)

"Just leave it to me, who's the old man?!" (Tatsuro)

As their situation eased, the two continued their casual exchange.

"Then, I'll be learning [Map]." (Tatsuro)

"Whoop," said Ai while clapping, as if she were a parent encouraging him to take his first steps.

Ignoring her, Tatsuro opened his system and went towards the skills section to learn his first acquired skill. After learning [Map], a new selection appeared on the system's home screen.

Status

Gold:

Party

Skill

Map

Help

Though Tatsuro wanted to check the map out as soon as possible, he concluded that knowing the name of the forest that they were currently in would help him out later. As such, he opened up the Help function.The sourc𝗲 of this content nov(𝒆l)bi((n))

(Where are we? [The Great Forest of Amneri, Heldamud] Where is that?! Then, how far are we from home? [Does not exist] How about Japan? [There's the country of Japonercion] Isn't that completely different? Then, are we on Earth? [Does not exist] Earth isn't even in your vocabulary, huh?) He pondered.

Learning more about their current situation, he hid the system and faced Ai.

Looking at Tatsuro's expression, Ai felt the gravity of the situation and quickly straightened her posture.

"Uhh I just learned some unfortunate news." (Tatsuro)

"" (Ai)

"Japan doesn't exist in this place. Actually, I'm not even sure if we're still on Earth." (Tatsuro)

"I thought so" (Ai)

"-Looks like we got isekai'd." (Tatsuro)