Reborn As A Cripple - Chapter 5
Five years have passed since my engagement to Reyna.
For the past five years, I’ve been doing my best to improve my growth, practicing sword fighting to gain skills, and reading to learn about the differences and similarities between the strategies of this world and [JRO].
I reincarnated in this world as a [JRO] nerd, and I wanted to be the strongest! But I was never the kind of person who was bored with anything in my previous life, and no matter what I did, it never seemed to last.
Swordsmanship was exhausting, and the act of raising growth rates was tedious in a way.
And yet, I can say with certainty that it was because of Reyna that I was able to continue my efforts for five years, in one way or another.
Reyna Hermenea in [JRO] was a strong character with one of the highest physical stats in the game. She was strong, aggressive, and hated losing.
It was also the reason why I’ve been challenged more than a few times these past few years. I was also almost defeated more than I could count. And every time I was about to lose, I felt chills a lot of the time.
…Somehow, I felt that if I lost even once, Reyna would lose her affection for me.
I had a feeling that the engagement would be canceled if I lost. I’ve never lost a single match before, so maybe I was just overthinking things.
Still, I would certainly be terrified that Reyna would think of me as someone who didn’t amount to anything.
Maybe it was because every time I won a mock battle, I was happy to see Reyna acknowledge me with a frustrated look on her face and say, “You’re my fiancée, aren’t you?”
I, I like Reyna as she is because she still acknowledges and even continues to associate with me.
This was the reality of the world of a game called [JRO].
For people of my previous world to seriously fall in love with Reyna, who was just a character in a game, I was beginning to think of myself as crazy.
But I have never been able to love anyone in my previous world before.
It’s been 10 years since I was born into this world. And 5 years since I’ve met Reyna.
Lately, I’ve been thinking. I’ve been wondering if the previous world I saw was just a dream I had as a baby. My looks weren’t pleasing, my attitude was disappointing, and I couldn’t speak well. My parents and teachers denied every move I made from the bottom of their hearts, and because of this, I became uncomfortable with talking to others.
Have I finally awoken from that dream? Or have I really reincarnated?
There’s no way of going back, no way to know for sure, and no way to prove it.
But…
“Reyna. I’ll become stronger. Will you still be my fiancée as long as I don’t lose to you?”
“Don’t worry. You may be stronger than me, but Heid is still my fiancée.”
I see. At the same time, I felt a little relieved to hear that, but at the same time, I knew that I had to at least become the strongest man in the world so that I wouldn’t be considered unworthy of such a strong and kind Reyna.
“In fact, I’m determined to become stronger and love Heid as much as I can, so please don’t worry about losing!”
As soon as she said that Reyna struck me with her wooden sword as hard as she could. I used the [Magic Barrier] which was now stronger than it was five years ago, to block the blow and keep my distance.
I take back what I said!
I’d rather love Reyna than be loved by her, so I can’t afford to lose even once!
So, I think it’s time for me to start leveling to get stronger.
Lately, my [Growth Rate], which has been increasing at a much faster rate than in [JRO], was starting to hit a plateau— but [JRO]’s main focus was leveling!
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In this world, at the age of fifteen, a person is given a [Job] and is recognized as a full-fledged adult, although the details of such a setting were not disclosed in [JRO].
However, in [JRO], players were given time to level before they get a [Job]. And yes, it was the tutorial.
Of course, because this world was real, there weren’t instructions on which buttons to press or instructions of what attribute was the weakness of a monster in front of you.
However, fighting techniques are taught as martial arts, and the weaknesses of monsters are taught as a form of learning. Furthermore, there is a custom in this world that when a child reaches the age of ten, they are made to defeat monsters to raise their level a bit.
The reason why I felt that there was a lot of increase in the [Growth Rate] I experienced there, and I’ve considered it on my own, was that the main character’s age at the time of the tutorial in [JRO] must have been more than 10 years old by this world’s standard.
If the starting age of an avatar in [JRO] was 10 years old, then that avatar would have 10 years already of living. It would be strange if the [Growth Rate] didn’t rise up to a certain extent.
In other words, the five years between the age of fifteen and the time you get a job, especially the five years after the age of ten, could be called a tutorial in this world, right?
If so, then this world has already begun like in [JRO].
That’s why I decided to visit the hunting grounds for the tutorial.
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I mentioned that it was customary in this world to have children fight monsters to raise their level when they reach the age of 10, but in reality, it was a traditional event where the children are accompanied by their parents or hired knights or even adventurers to watch over them and stab dying goblins or kobolds that have been prepared in advance.
However, in [JRO], to prevent power leveling, monsters that are damaged slightly by someone higher leveled would decrease the experience.
Therefore, even if players killed a dying goblin in that event, their level would not increase by one.
As the eldest son of a noble family, I’ve already gone through the traditional event, that was nothing short of complete!
Well, I understand that defeating monsters properly was safer and more efficient when having a [Job] with strong skills and powerful stat corrections.
However, as a hardcore player of [JRO], I wanted to level up before I got my [Job]. If possible, I’d have liked to level up to level 10, which was the limit of the [JRO] tutorial.
That’s why I’ve been bludgeoning the goblins and kobolds that inhabited the hunting grounds with the wooden sword I brought from home.
Goblins were dwarf-like monsters that were about a meter tall.
The design of [JRO]’s monsters wasn’t too strange, they were just small, dirty, common goblins with green skin.
It didn’t bother me through the screen, but its smell was as strong as it looked.
Other than that, it was pretty much the same as [JRO], especially since most of the motions were rush attacks, and I had to fight back against the goblins who were trying to hit me with their wooden swords, so there was little to add.
And so, by the time I turned 15, I had successfully leveled up to level 10, the tutorial limit.
In [JRO], there were many strong characters in the Hermenean Kingdom, so demons didn’t live there, and even though it was a mid-range map, there were hardly any demons living there, which was strange in reality, and as a result, the experience efficiency was lower than other maps.
On the other hand, the dungeons owned by the Kingdom of Hermenea have monsters of the recommended level of 40 or higher and could be used to level up properly.
All of this would be after I get a [Job].
And this year, I am 15 years old now. I’m finally old enough to get a [Job].