When I opened my eyes the next day, everything was the same.
"Huuu…"
A deep sigh escaped from within my chest.
It had been quite a while since I quit smoking, but this was the first time I wanted to smoke this badly since losing my 6-star party on the 80th floor.
I decided to accept it.
Enough with the childish whining fit for a kid. This was the world of Pick Me Up, and I had been summoned as a natural 1-star hero.
My pathetic stats compared to Shea's.
The Novice class, lacking even the basics.
Absolutely no skills. This was me now.
I washed my face in the bathroom and boiled ramen. The pot I ate from yesterday was still there. While the water boiled, I did the dishes.
As I vigorously scrubbed the pot with a soapy sponge, I thought.
What kind of game is Pick Me Up?
If someone were summoned as a Pick Me Up hero with the game rules applied exactly as they are, how could they survive?
There are two ways a hero can be annihilated.
Dying in battle and disappearing through synthesis.
And I was a 1-star.
What does a 1-star hero mean in Pick Me Up?
To most Masters, 1-stars are consumables. The lowest grade of consumables, at that. Their base stats are poor, and their growth potential is also very low. And, as if being infuriatingly difficult to use wasn't bad enough, they frequently suffer status effects, lowering their combat power.
The situation is similar in other mobile games.
That's how characters obtained from free summons are usually treated.
I slurped down the noodles.
Somehow, I found myself holding paper and a pen. They were items I found in the drawer next to the bed. I don't know why things like this are in the room. If I can use them, I will.
'Goal.'
I scribbled the word on the paper.
First, a goal. The primary goal is obvious. Survive in this world.
And I need to set detailed objectives.
If this had happened in another mobile game, I would have given up. A character's growth potential is fixed, and their skills are set. No matter how much I struggled, I wouldn't be able to escape my origins.
But Pick Me Up is different.
Depending on the development method and the hero's individual abilities, even a natural 1-star can be reborn as a hero rivaling a natural 5-star.
That's because of the unique potential assigned to each hero. Beyond the visible status window, each hero possesses other abilities. These are not displayed numerically and must be grasped by the Master while observing battles.
Even starting with the same stars and abilities, completely different heroes emerge.
Therefore, to become an expert in Pick Me Up, one needed a 'discerning eye' to pick out the 'promising sprouts'.
The pen scratched out the words.
'Goal. Get stronger.'
I must get stronger.
Surviving, getting revenge, going back – none of it is possible unless I become stronger.
Not just physical strength. I need to change mentally too.
With the same complacent mindset I had on Earth, I'll never survive.
I don't know how things will proceed from now on.
If I just panic and fluster like yesterday, can I really survive?
'No.'
If I don't adapt, I die.
If I can't accept it, I'll be devoured.
I've experienced this kind of situation before.
Now, I'm just an ordinary young man you could find anywhere, but it was different in the past.
Childhood. I recalled the annoyed gaze of the orphanage director looking at me. Back then, I had nothing. No parents, no relatives, no friends. Everyone was an enemy, and I was alone.
I clawed my way up. To live a life like others, I lived a life like a war.
'It's okay.'
I'm used to absurdity.
The important thing is to calmly assess the situation and accept it.
The absurd fact that I fell into the world of the game I used to enjoy.
In a situation like this, I can't trust anyone.
The only one I can trust is myself.
After eating ramen, I went out to the plaza.
The plaza was still empty.
"Isel, you there!" I shouted.
After a moment, the small fairy appeared in mid-air.
"[Ah, what now! I'm busy!]"
Says she's busy, but comes out readily enough.
"[No matter how much you ask, I won't tell you, so just know that! If you're curious, climb the tower. The answer's in there. Ah, of course, there's no way trash like a 1-star like you could ever reach the top, kyahahahat!]"
Isel clutched her stomach and burst out laughing.
I didn't get angry. Now that my mind was much calmer, I could check this kid's level.
[Isel Lv.257]
Level 257 is boss-level for the late 80s floors.
"I have a question."
"[I said I won't tell you.]"
"This status window, is it only visible to me?"
"[Status window?]"
Isel perked up her wings and spun around once in the air.
"The Level 257 floating above your head."
"[Ha, you, so you can see this? It hasn't even been researched yet. How annoying, so annoying.]"
Judging by her reaction, it's certain.
For now, the game messages are only visible to 'me'.
"[Is it because existence got mixed up? Anyway, that person also did something troublesome... Whoops! What am I saying!]"
Isel looked around furtively, then quickly fled.
Existence got mixed up? Doesn't matter.
"Equipment window!"
[Han Israt (★)]
[Main Weapon: None]
[Sub Weapon: None]
[Armor: None]
[Accessory: None]
As expected.
The iron sword I used in the tutorial was standard issue automatically provided when a hero has no weapon. Shea, being a natural 4-star, had basic weapons and armor.
'Good.'
I clenched my fist.
Although I'm a 1-star, I've obtained a special ability others don't have.
The ability to observe my own condition from a Master's perspective.
It will be a great help for my future path.
I won't fall behind. Never.
I resolved myself once more.
But,
what if the Master quits like this?
"..."
The accident the Master caused yesterday was no ordinary mistake.
They synthesized a 4-star into a 1-star. The probability of getting a 4-star from a paid summon is about 1%.
Luck that might happen once in a hundred tries, that guy blew away with a single misclick.
Pick Me Up is linked to the phone, so restarting was impossible.
'Let's stop thinking negatively.'
I can think about that when it happens.
There's no need to waste mental energy on something that hasn't happened yet.
I immediately holed myself up in the room and scribbled on paper. The drawer had more than enough notebooks and pens. Things I thought I needed would sometimes appear even if they weren't there before.
What I'm making is a strategy guide. I write down and organize all the information I remember about Pick Me Up so I won't forget it over time.
A week passed like that.
[Welcome to Pick Me Up, Master Amkena!]
With a cheerful sound, the hologram window appeared.
I shot up from my chair.
[Loading Complete.]
[T O U C H !(Selected)]
[1. 100 Gems a day for 10 days! Get 1,000 Gems total!]
[2. Special item only new Masters can purchase! The New Package is available for purchase. Get 5,000 Gems and 300,000 Gold for just 65,000 Won!]
Announcements appeared, listing the ongoing events one after another.
I had memorized most of the events, but these were ones I didn't remember.
The announcements were soon skipped.
During the tutorial, I was too out of it to observe properly, but it's different now. I need to know the Master's tendencies to formulate a survival strategy.
Whether they are a free-to-play user or a paying user.
A casual user or a hardcore user.
I focused my attention on the system messages.
[Master, please check the tutorial rewards!]
[500 Gems, 200,000 Gold Acquired!]
'500 Gems is one paid summon, 200,000 Gold is twenty free summons.'
[Pop-up! Would you like to purchase the New Package for 65,000 Won?]
[Yes / No(Selected)]
'They're not buying.'
Are they at least a free-to-play user for now?
Maybe they're still evaluating.
It would be nice if I could see the actual game screen, not just the system messages, but unfortunately, I wasn't given that function.
Now, what will they do?
In the current situation, I'm the only hero. So, in this situation, what the Master would do is obviously...
[Hero Summon!]
[Summon heroes with Gold or Gems. Try summoning the infinite heroes generated by Moebius Summon!]
Infinite heroes, my ass.
If my hypothesis is correct, things like the Moebius Summon or unique hero AI are all lies. I only realized this after falling directly into the game world.
[High-Grade Summon]
[Performing High-Grade Hero Summon.]
[1 Summon - 500 Gems]
[10 Summons – 5,000 Gems]
[Summon]
[Performing Hero Summon.]
[1 Summon – 10,000 Gold]
[10 Summons – 100,000 Gold]
As expected, Amkena tapped the Summoning Chamber.
It's natural. Unless they're completely crazy, no one would try to progress through stages with just a single 1-star hero.
The top one, using Gems, is commonly called the 'Paid Summon,' and the bottom one, using Gold, is the 'Free Summon.'
Amkena tapped Summon, the 'Free Summon.'
[Master, starting 10x Summon. Excited to see which heroes will appear!]
[Clack, Dururururu.]
[Tada-ran!]
[Common!]
[Master 'Amkena' has acquired the hero 'Lyle (★)'!]
[Common!]
[Master 'Amkena' has acquired the hero 'Toby (★)'!]
[Uncommon!]
[Master 'Amkena' has acquired the hero 'Mormont (★★)'!]
[Common!]
[Master 'Amkena' has acquired....]
A total of ten messages popped up. The summoning was finished.
Silently, I began to count slowly in my head.
From 1 to 100. Counting helped calm my mind. No matter what happened outside, I wouldn't get agitated. I wouldn't panic.
After finishing the count, I went out to the plaza.
The Summoning Chamber was open, and 10 men and women were gathered near its entrance.
They were murmuring in a corner of the plaza with bewildered faces.
"Where are we? Is this a dream?"
"Ah, and right during harvest season...!"
"Maybe we were taken by a wizard? For experiments..."
"Don't talk nonsense!"
Their ages, genders, and appearances differed, but they had several things in common.
First, their race was the same. Probably Caucasian.
Second, they spoke the same language. Not Japanese or Chinese. Not Spanish or French either. They spoke a language similar to English yet subtly different, and I could understand its content. I could probably speak it too.
And the third and final point,
they are human.
"Now, now, meeting like this must be fate. Let's start with introductions."
A middle-aged man with a stylish beard stepped forward. He wore a leather tunic and worn pants.
The middle-aged man gestured to me, standing far off.
"You come here too, young man."
I trudged towards the group.
A girl with long red hair pointed at the Summoning Chamber door and shouted. The door was already closed.
"This guy, he didn't come from that door, he came from outside! He's different from us! Maybe he knows something!"
"Is that true?"
"Yes, I saw him."
Making trouble for me, huh.
I said.
"I'm the same as you all. I came from that door."
Immediately, people started whispering.