Ch 2: Level 1

5 years have passed...

The time here seems to pass by like that of earth. There were 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 52 weeks a year.

'Alan, dear, don't you want to go outside and play?' my mother said.

It has been quite a long time since I arrived in this world. Though I was curious about the world outside, I haven't gone out much since I'm... let's see, what's the word for it? That's right. I'm lazy. Always was and always will be. Besides, even though our home is pretty small, I enjoy spending time here more than I think I would outside.

All that I see when I look out of the square hole that's supposed to be our "window" is the farmland that is spread out in this farmer's village. I sometimes see other kids laugh around and chase each other for no apparent reason (I can't figure out what they're actually playing).

'I'm fine, mom. I'll just help you around the house,' I said whilst still looking out of the window.

I then heard my mother sigh behind me. I turn around to see her sitting on our only chair, which was made of wood, and creaking everything you sit on it. She was sewing one of Lila's clothes that had a hole on the side. Her no longer soft hands were carefully patching up the hole.

Looking at her worried expression, I felt a pang of guilt. Was she disappointed in me for not being energetic like the other kids? Would she have been happier if I was more "normal"?

As if she could read my worries with just a glance, she quickly smiled. That soft smile that said that everything was alright in the world showed.

'I just thought you would be happier playing around with other kids your age. But knowing that you want to help me also brings me joy.' She then beckoned me to come nearer to her with a wave of her hand.

As I stepped down from a small wooden box that I was standing on to look out the window to go to her, something struck me at the back of my head.

'Oww!' I turned around to see my sister, Lila, holding a stick of wood. The same one that my mother uses to hit my father.

'What was that for?' I rub the back of my head where she had struck the wooden stick to prevent further bruising. Lila looked at me with daggers in her eyes.

'Stop bothering mom! You need to go out and meet people.' She then grabbed hold of my right arm and pulled me harshly towards the front door of our house. I wanted to fight back, but she was stronger than me. After all, she was around 8 years old. Slamming the door open, she pulled me along with her and towards where the other kids were. Only when we had reached them did she let go of my arm.

Once she did that, I only just then realized that this was the very first time that I had left the house since I arrived in this world. I stumbled a bit and looked towards the ground, which was coated with the greenest grass I'd ever seen. Too bad they had been stepped on countless times by the kids in the village.

Slowly I stood up on my two feet again.

'This is my brother, Alan,' my sister announced to the group of kids in front of us. There were currently three kids, all of them boys, but I don't know their names since I have never spoken to them before. I didn't dare to look at them directly, so I looked slightly downwards at the green grass below me.

'He looks weak.'

'Yeah, he's so skinny.'

'Why have we never seen him before?'

The air became quiet. I didn't really want to answer why I'm so unsociable. Thankfully enough, my sister seemed to pick up on my mood.

'Well, now you have seen him. Let him play with you.'

The boy who was the tallest of the three stepped forward and said, 'We don't take orders from a girl.' He snickered at the last part of his sentence, which made me a tiny bit annoyed. At that moment, I held up my chin a bit higher to glare at the kid.

I now notice that he has red hair that was disheveled. Left to him was a fat kid with yellow hair. Right to him a skinny kid with green hair. Well, not as skinny as me, but still.

'C'mon, Lucas. Be nice.' Compared to me, my sister is much more confident. Even among boys, she stood with her back straight and looked them right in the eyes.

'Fine,' Lucas apparently said with a sigh. Wow, that was quick of him to change his mind. 'What's his level?'

At that word, my ear gave a twitch. Level?

'This is his first time outside of the house. Be understanding.'

'Sis, what does he mean by level?' I look up at Lisa. Her blue eyes that she got from our mother seemed to widen with surprise. She brought up her hand to her mouth.

'Dad never taught you how to see your status? Why I ought to smack him when we get back home!'

There's another word again. Status. I'm quite familiar with these terms. They're typically used for games, right? Now that I remember it, didn't I reincarnate in a world of magic? Does this mean I could be a super strong hero that everyone looks up to?

Too many questions were popping up in my head, but probably seeing how confused I was, my sister quickly pulled me back to the real world.

She grabbed my arm and said, 'Say "Open Status"'.

With no time to spare, I said those words, and a faint white light seemed to appear before my eyes. There was suddenly a text in front of me writing these words:

-----------------------------------

Name: Alan

Age: 5 years

Level: 1

Class: Villager

Health: 10/10

MP: 1/1

Attack: 1/1

Defense: 1/1

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I blink. Then I blink again.

WHATTTT?

Don't tell me. I've wasted five years in this world and was just a level 1 villager? I feel a bit faint... A voice in front of me appeared again during my confused state.

'So he must be level 1 then. In that case, you will be our servant,' the boy with red hair said.

'Lucas!' My sister seemed to be getting angrier by the second as her eyes glared at the red-haired boy.

'What? What do you want me to do? He's only level one, for goodness sake,' he seemed to mumble a bit towards the end. 'C'mon, Alan, was it? You will be our servant when we play together. Don't worry, you're just playing a role in a game.'

I reincarnated, for goodness sake! And now you want me to play servant to a little boy? No way, I should be meeting other great heroes who will teach me how to slay a dragon and kill the demon king. This is absolutely unacceptable!

I opened my mouth as I was about to tell them off, but then there was a sudden loud screech that came from the forest in front of me and behind the three boys. The screech seemed not to be made by that of a human being. The three boys turned around and whirled their heads towards the source of the sound.

'Run!' Someone screamed. I wasn't sure who, but my body was frozen in place. My sister grabbed my wrist and pulled me along, running back towards the direction of our house.

'It's too far away! We're not gonna make it!' The fat boy with yellow hair shouted. At this time, I was still not sure what we were running away from, but it seeing that this is a fantasy world, was it some kind of monster? I would say that's a fair assumption to make.

I'm not sure why I'm very calm inside. Maybe it's because I've never seen an actual monster before to know how dangerous they are. Still, everyone else seemed to panic, and by the way they were speaking, they should be at a higher level than me. Hence stronger than me, right?

They have to be. What with my stats at rock bottom as it is.

As we ran, I was able to hear the sound of many quick footsteps chasing us from behind.

'Someone help!' My sister wasted no time shouting. This captured the attention of some farmers in the field carrying their tools, such as hoes or rakes. Immediately, they saw that we kids were in danger and headed towards us with their tools up in the air.

'Argh!' A young male voice shouted. I turn my head to see what looks like a goblin scratching their sharp fingernails at the fat boy with yellow hair. It managed to reach the boy and left a big gash on his back. He fell face first to the ground due to the attack, and the other goblins were able to catch up to him.

My heart started to race, is he going to die?

Luckily enough, the farmers that were running towards us reached us just in time. A hoe was thrown towards the goblin on the front. It hit him right in his face causing him to fall back. He didn't get back up.

That leaves us with a total of four more goblins. Each one at around the same height as me. Lucas and the green-haired boy dragged the fat kid with them, but my sister never stopped running and pulling me along with her.

I soon see the farmers ganging up on the four goblins, and a cry of war broke out.

Before anything happened, a set of hands seemed to make its way over my eyes and block the scene from sight.

'Alan, don't look.' A trembling voice from behind me said. 'Everything's going to be okay. Just... follow me and don't look back.'

I then turned my head and followed Lila all the way back to our house.