Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Chapter 11: Younger Brother

The seasons passed by and Allen turned 4 years old. It was March and spring was coming around. The snow slowly decreased day by day and the fields budding with greenery once again. Allen was sitting alone under the tree in the front yard.

It had already been one and a half years since Allen started throwing stones. And on the grimoire’s cover, a ‘level up’ log was displayed with yellow characters.

«Throw leveled up to 3»

(‘Throw’ finally got to 3, eh?)

Allen had successfully acquired the skill ‘Throw’ and leveled it up to 3.

He confirmed the count of stones he threw by looking at the grimoire’s memo.

(As I thought, there’s a fixed rule to acquiring skills. Just about ten thousand, it seems.)

The count of stones he threw during this time (accumulated count)-

(This might just be limited to the throw skill but there’s a fixed condition to acquiring skills.)

The tree surface which was on the receiving end of 120,000 stone throws had been cleanly peeled off in a circle. He had decided on 100 times a day at first but once he got to level 2, he understood that the ‘number of times he does the action’ matters a lot more. Since then, he increased it to 300 a day and here we are.

(So it probably would have been fine if I had it at 100 a day if this was the ‘normal mode’ and not ‘hell mode’)

One needs to put in 100 times the effort to level up and grow skills in hell mode than they need in normal mode. His guess is that this relates to all the growth related stats, such as the skill’s growth as well as the experience point.

(Now then, what about ‘throw’ level 4? If the number of times I need to throw to get to level 4 is 1,000,000, it would take me 9 years even if I throw 300 times a day. I mean, I got nothing else to do in the meantime. I guess I’ll keep throwing until I decide on something else. If it doesn’t level up by the next 10~20,000 throws, I’ll most probably need 1,000,000 total throws)

He pondered about the future while gazing at his status.

«Name» Allen

«Age» 4

«Occupation» Summoner

«Level» 1

«Strength» 16 (40) + 26

«Mana» 1 (20)

«Offense» 4 (10) + 26

«Stamina» 4 (10) + 6

«Agility» 10 (25) + 10

«Knowledge» 12 (30) + 4

«Luck» 10 (25)

«Skill» Summon <2>, Create <3>, Synthesis <2>, Extension <1>, Swordsmanship <2>, Throw <3>, Delete

«EXP» 0/1000

«Summon» 2

«Create» 3

«Synthesis» 2

«Create» 1846/100,000

«Synthesis» 1325/10,000

«Insect» GH

«Beast» GH

« Bird » G

«Insect» G – 2 cards, H – 2 cards

«Beast» G – 13 cards

«Bird» G – 2 cards

Although he had gotten to summon level 2 by the time he was 1 year and 10 months old, he’s still at the same place now when he’s 4 years and 5 months old.

He started leveling up create and synthesis after becoming 3 years old and now they level 3 and 2 respectively.

(About how summon didn’t level up even though ‘create’ leveled up…)

Whenever he’s checking his status on the grimoire, this thing always stays on his mind.

Maybe because his summon level didn’t increase to 3 that his summoned beast count didn’t change. G rank bird was unlocked when he got to summon level 2. To summon high rank beasts, he needs to increase his summon level.

(I don’t know what to do to level it up, though…)

An isekai reincarnation without a guidebook or a walkthrough. There’s no choice but to proceed through trial and error. Ultimately, to level up summon, the solution he reached was to get synthesis to level 3. Maybe if all his skills leveled up, summon would also be pulled along with them to level 3.

Moreover, the ‘synthesis’ skill still takes 5 mana even though it leveled up. It seems there’s a chance that the consumed mana for synthesis is fixed, unlike create.

And about ‘swordsmanship’, since he played knight make-believe with Kurena almost everyday, it leveled up naturally. It got to level 2 in one and a half years. Throw leveled up quicker as he increased the count.

This applies to all the skills but with acquiring and leveling up skills, the power of the skill changes altogether. Whether it is throwing or swordsmanship, a ‘correction’ takes place in the action. The body corrects itself to move in a more proper form, in a more natural flow. And it also feels like the power of his throws and sword swings have increased.

Acquiring and inspection of skill levels

Although there’s swords and magic here, it’s not a game — it’s a whole different world. It’s not like he can see damage numbers appear so he can’t be sure how much it increased but it definitely did increase.

“Allen, help me with preparing lunch~.”

It will be lunch time soon. Theresia called out to Allen, who was in the front yard. And so he returned inside the house to help out his mother.

“Yes, mama.”

He went and stood beside Theresia, who was carrying a baby on her back, to help prepare lunch.

Theresia had safely given birth to her second baby boy. As she gave birth the year before the last, the baby on her back was already 1 and a half years old. Maybe because he had woken up, the baby was flapping his legs.

While rocking the baby on her back lightly, Theresia passed the steamed potatoes and the wooden pestle to Allen.

“Mash, lunch will be ready soon, alright?”

“Aiii.”

Mash replied, drooling all over her back. Allen’s younger brother was named Mash. He had brown hair and green eyes and looked more like his father than his mother.

And of course, Rodan was the one who named him, again from one of the magical beasts of this world. From a wolf-like beast called the Madergarsh. It is said that the beast is roaming the world as he pleases, all alone. One can feel his father’s strong wish for his son to live freely from his name.

As with Allen’s name taken from Albahelon, most of the letters are cut off.

He got to know that the Madergarsh’s rank was B, two higher than the D rank Albahelon. There’s nothing like a more capable younger brother.

(Eat lots and grow big, lil bro.)

He squashed the steamed potatoes such that they wouldn’t get stuck on his brother’s throat. And although he hadn’t yet started working on the fields yet, the amount of help he does around the house has increased.

“I’m back~.”

Rodan had returned from the field in front of the front yard. They all gathered around the sunken earth and had lunch. And for cultural reasons in this world, the lunch for serfs was quite light.

Rodan mostly returns to the field after stuffing about 2 steamed potatoes in his mouth.

“That reminds me, I heard this village will be called Deboji village from next year. The landlord’s envoy notified the villagers it seems.”

Rodan talked about what he heard from his fellow serfs when he went to get water from the wall this morning.

“So the village will finally have a name, huh?”

(So the development has progressed enough for it to have a name, eh?)

Currently, it has been 9 years since the village was claimed. As the development and production from the village has settled down, it seems like it has been decided to be given a name in its 10th year.

“Yeah, well they say it’ll be named after the village mayor. So I guess it’ll be named without any change.”

(Deboji mayor, eh? Never seen him.)

He recalled what Rodan had told him once before. For villages like these which are going through development, they are named after the most famous person in the village. Generally it’s mostly named after the first generation mayor.

‘Well then, I will get going’ said Rodan before heading out again. Theresia gave Mash uninterrupted attention until he turned 1. Now she goes out to help Rodan in the fields while Mash takes his afternoon nap.

(A happy family…)

Rodan went out after giving Theresia a kiss on her cheek. ‘Geez’ said Theresia happily. Allen looked at Mash, thinking a third kid might come soon enough. Dirtying his surroundings, Mash frantically had his food with the wooden spoon.

He sometimes wonders, ‘why did I reincarnate?’.

He had wished from the bottom of his heart, to speedrun through a game with obsolete settings. And as such, he didn’t really have much regret about coming to this world of swords and magic. Leaving that world at the age of 35, he thought he didn’t really deal that much damage to his surroundings, considering how he wasn’t married and didn’t have a girlfriend. Although he might have saddened his parents.

However, the first thing he thought when he came to this world was — “I am glad I was born with an adult’s mind instead of a newborn’s”.

He wanted to focus on his growth as a summoner, not being restrained by anything. Be reincarnated, maybe go to the nearest city and become an adventurer, hunt all the monsters you can and just devote yourself to leveling up.

That was what Kenichi had first thought — finding the best equipment available, reaching the max level in the game. That’s how he had been gaming all his life. He wanted to do the same in a different world as well.

It will be Allen’s 4th year in this world. He doesn’t even know the name of this country yet. It doesn’t come up in his parents’ conversations and neither does he go out of his way to ask. For now, the only thing he does know is that this is a kingdom and that this village is part of a baron’s land.

(Sitting together happily like this is also nice… Maybe I will release everyone from being a serf, at least. Although I have no clue as to how yet.)

Ever since he had gotten a brother, Allen started to think more about his family. Now, he had gotten a new objective other than just leveling up.