1 『New Realm』

"What should I do?" A person sighed.

We all have thought like him, being devoid of anything to do. But this was different, it wasn't just about not having anything to do, it was more of not knowing where he should go moving forward in life.

"Everything is so common and mundane." as he said that, he closed the door behind him.

"...and the people are too one-dimensional." He continued, thinking back to what had happened earlier.

This is Ozawa Naoki, a third year at Futsuno High School. He had just come out from the faculty office and had just finished getting career advice from his teacher.

"IT? Engineering? What a joke. Why would I want to live the rest of my life doing the same monotone tasks or sit at a desk all day?" He, of course, didn't say that to his teacher.

It was the second semester and he was graduating soon but he had still not made up his mind about what he should do after high school. The teacher had advised him to take on a job based on his strengths but Naoki had no interest in any of them.

"I just want to spend all my time doing my hobbies..."

Despite his lack of interest in any job, Naoki had various hobbies; most of which have been inherited and influenced by his late mother, but those were not gonna get him a proper career.

<<----------->>

"It's so cold tonight."

"Yo, Naoki!" A guy stopped him before he exited the school gate.

"What is it again? you got rejected?" Naoki said mockingly.

"That's mean! And here I was inviting you to hang out with us."

"Nah, not today. I'm going to visit my grandparents tomorrow so I have to prepare." He waved his hand and continued walking.

Naoki had always been close to his grandparents, especially more so after his mother died. He often visited them every month and would stay there for the whole weekend.

"Are you sure?? Kaede is going too." He said teasingly.

"..!"

"...I'm fine, you go on ahead and tell everyone that I'll go next week," Naoki said.

"Got it!"

Naoki had quite a number of friends but it was more of a "Hang-out" group rather than friends that he could rely on and trust. After thinking about various things, Naoki was walking towards the station since he lived quite a distance from school.

"I see, Kaede..." He said nostalgically, a tinge of regret in his tone.

<<----------->>

"That's..."

Upon reaching the station and waiting for the train to arrive, Naoki spotted a familiar face. It was the Student Council President Fujiyama Kaori. He had often seen her on his way home several times but he was never recognized since Kaori didn't know him.

"...isn't that the character from the light novel *******?" Naoki said, referring to the acrylic keychain.

"..? Hoh? You know of this? It is quite a niche novel after all."

"That's right, it is indeed one of my favorites."

This was their first-ever interaction, and all of it was due to the newly added keychain on Kaori's bag.

"You are?" She asked.

"Naoki, Ozawa Naoki, from class 3-B."

"I see, I am-"

"I think everyone knows already who you are Fujiyama-san" Naoki chuckled.

"That's true." She sighed.

Kaori could not help but smile slightly because even she knows that everyone can already recognize her.

"You do know what kind of character ***** right?" Naoki asked, referring to the character of her keychain.

"Some people hate her, but I think that her way of doing things and her personality is what makes her interesting."

"Heh? I thought so too. But don't you thin-"

*Silence*

"..eh?"

It seems that the moment he blinked, everyone was gone. It was all as if he was alone in the train station.

"What?" Naoki was confused.

The train had suddenly appeared there but it wasn't moving and the door was still sealed shut.

"Za warudo." He said, only able to joke at such a bizarre situation.

After a while, the door opened but contrary to what Naoki expected, it didn't show the interior of the train. It was just a bright white light that cannot be seen through.

"Grandma always tells stories about supernatural phenomena like these but I hope I won't be haunted by ghosts or spirits." He laughed nostalgically while trying to touch the white light.

"Wait... isn't touching this thing would transport me to some other world?"

"No way, right?" He grinned, asking particularly no one.

*Thud*

"...Guh!" Naoki groaned.

Suddenly an invisible force pushed him towards the white light as if it had run out of patience from Naoki's weird ramblings.

"....just like the other one, a lost lamb. May you find what it is that you ought to seek..." A voice echoed.

Naoki had passed out, and was unable to hear the rest as he falls in a bottomless pit of pure white.

<<----------->>

*Ping*

"Oh? another two lost souls." A figure said, inspecting the two formless particles.

"...This is? A human male? Did Elize mistakenly send this soul? Surely not." The figure went on, reading a message.

It seems that the soul of the human male had a message that has been brought along.

"Hah... that Elize, did he take pity on this person? Anize-sama is not going to like this but..."

"I'll spoil you this time."

As the figure said that, they chanted cryptic words one after another which could not be understood by any language. The figure noticed something peculiar...

"Elize..." She said worriedly as if a mother thinking about their overbearing child.

"You owe me more than one for this."

Soon lights enveloped the soul and after several seconds of a flashy parting, the soul had disappeared.

"This other soul as well..."

<<----------->>

*Groan*

"Where... am I?" Naoki spoke weakly, slowly opening his eyes.

"Hmm? you're awake."

"Don't move too much, your soul is a bit damaged." He continued.

Besides Naoki was a particularly muscular man who appeared to be in his 30s. It seems that Naoki was in some sort of bed.

"Lily! Go hunt a monster right now. We need it to repair his damaged soul."

"Roger!" The girl said gleefully.

The shout from the man had woken up Naoki. He could tell, even if his thoughts were still a little foggy, that...

"This is definitely not Earth..."

"Hmm? As I surmised, you are indeed a Stray."

"Stray?" Naoki asked, confused.

"We have heard gossip from traveling peddlers that a few people from "Earth" have been appearing recently and that they are called "Strays" by the kingdom."

"I see," Naoki said, seemingly not that surprised by the whole situation.

Naoki could already guess what happened to him, he was transported to some different world. The fact that he often reads these kinds of stories and the architecture of the house he was in was enough to make him think that he was in some other world.

"I thought I'd never get to see this happening my entire life." He thought, mixed emotions written on his face.

"I've brought it!" A particularly cheerful girl entered the room.

"Good job, now hand it over to him."

"Ehehe, here you go mister!" She gleefully handed over a pebble-sized colorless crystal to Naoki.

The one who gave Naoki the crystal was no more than 8 years old but it seems like this girl was capable of "hunting" a monster, or so Naoki thought.

"Go clean the house Lily and papa will treat you to some skewers after."

"Yay! Skewers!"

"What am I supposed to do with this?" He asked, confused.

"Try feeling the soul fragment in your hand and absorb it as if you are breathing in air."

"I see... got it."

As Naoki took a deep breath, he could feel a force welling up in his arm and it flowed through the rest of his body. The slight pain he felt had also disappeared.

"This... feels great."

"But for some reason, a bit sad." Naoki thought to himself.

"Great, your soul has been repaired. Try to check if it still hurts anywhere and use the remaining energy from the soul fragment to mend them."

"Oh! That's right. I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Robert and this is my daughter Lily. How about your name?"

"Naoki, Naoki Ozawa." He said, making sure he said his name first before the last name.

Naoki had known that people would introduce themselves with their first name before their last names to foreigners. Since this was a similar situation, he had done it like so.

"You have a lineage eh? Just like the nobles. I've heard that Strays always have one."

"Is having no last name here common?"

"It's very common for us commoners who have no lineage, there are some who create their own but it won't be official."

It seems that this world was similar to a world of medieval fantasy where nobles and commoners exists. Although, in the part where they talked about the "soul", Naoki had no clue as to what they meant and how it worked.

"I see, can you explain my current situation?" Naoki asked.

"Sure, when you arrived here-"

Robert went on to explain everything. When Naoki arrived in this world, he was found unconscious just outside their village. Apparently, Robert was the village chief. The one who found Naoki had brought him to Robert to decide what to do with the sudden appearance of an unconscious person.

"The Lizea kingdom is gathering all the strays that appear in its land and I heard that they have been welcomed by the kingdom by taking care of their soul cultivation. I'd normally suggest you go there but..." Robert said with a worried tone at the end.

"But?"

"Your soul is too weak, even weaker among men."

"I'm afraid I can't follow anything you said." Naoki blankly stared.

"Ah! I forgot that you are not from this realm. You see-"

According to Robert, in this realm, the "soul" defines your strength. The soul can be nourished by absorbing other souls. Although every individual had a limit on how much they can absorb at a time and absorbing too much will strain your soul and make it unstable. It is said that a newborn's aptitude and the limit are determined by the amount of desire and passion they will possess in the future, but whether that is true or not is still not totally proven.

"If that is so, do people kill each other for their souls?"

"Not necessarily, absorbing other sentient souls will only damage you since the soul being absorbed still has some will to disrupt your soul. At worst, it can even kill you." Robert said sternly, making sure Naoki did not do anything of the sort.

Apparently, most people cultivate their souls through soul fragments, which are formed when killing monsters. Monsters are different in that when they die, part of their soul condenses into a crystal that people can use to nourish their own souls.

"-and as for your soul being weak, I do not know. Normally, even we males in our teens are strong enough to match the weakest monsters."

"Is that so? Then if absorbing soul fragments strengthens the soul, how do we know a person's strength?" Naoki asked, a bit disappointed to hear that he had not been blessed with any overpowered skills.

Robert continued, it seems that one's soul is defined by Soul nodes. The more Soul nodes one has, the more powerful their strength will be. They are also further divided by Soul Rank, a person with Soul Rank I have a soul that can get up to the 10th Soul node—although it depends. Incidentally, Robert had unlocked his 3rd node and is trying to unlock the 4th.

"It gets harder to unlock more Soul nodes as you proceed so what people do is condense their souls and increase their Soul Rank."

He further explained how increasing Soul Rank will sacrifice all Nodes but doing so will be worth it since the speed at which you can unlock nodes and your overall aptitude will increase. According to Robert, there are some rare individuals who were born with a Soul Rank II.

"Your soul is weak to the point that only a tiny fragment of your first node has been unlocked..." He said worriedly.

"But... all this weird information must be foreign to you, for now, you should take a rest and take your time"

"..."

"No, if it's possible, I'd like to nourish my soul," Naoki said resolutely, his eyes filled with excitement.

"Oh? That's the spirit! Kid, why don't you join my daughter then? she's going to show you around and kill some monsters right after." Robert said, a smile on his face.

Naoki wasn't sure what to feel about an 8-year-old teaching him but he knew that he would need to become strong in order to protect himself and the people that will soon be dear to him—he couldn't let something like that happen again, after all. For the longest time, Naoki had finally something to work with and something that he considered not "monotonous".

"I'm sure mother, wherever she is, would have wanted something like this." He thought to himself.

<<----------->>

"Here! Here! Mister, this is Grandma Ku's apothecary. " Lily said jovially, tugging Naoki's sleeves.

"Ohoho, you are the youngster that was brought earlier?"

"Yes, thank you for taking care of me." Naoki said genuinely, bowing his head.

"Oh? It's rare to see such a respectable young child. Most young'uns nowadays are too brash and often forget about their family." She said bitterly, appearing to say it from experience.

"I see, that is indeed true for most, even back in our world." He laughed wryly.

Naoki had a soft spot for old people, mostly due to the fact that he was close with his grandparents ever since he was young.

"We are off Grandma Ku! I still have to show mister around." Lily said, with a big smile on her face.

"Take care..." Grandma Ku smiled back.

"Next up... Oh, I know!".

<<----------->>

"Oh? Lily-chan, what is it that you need today?" A person smiled.

"Good morning Uncle Drake! I'm here to show mister the way around." She said, smiling back.

"I see! It's you, HAHA! everyone in the village was so worried about how you were lying unconscious outside the village. Even my wife was troubled about how to help." He laughed, but his tone is full of sincerity.

The person standing in front of Naoki appeared to be a warm and hearty uncle. It reminded Naoki of his neighborhood back in the countryside, where his grandparents resided. It seems this was a blacksmith where the villagers buy their weapons.

"I see, I've troubled you all," Naoki said embarrassingly.

"Uncle Drake, we are going hunting after this, can you give him a weapon to use?" She said looking with fish eyes.

"HAHA! No problem! Anything for you Lily-chan." He said, signing to Naoki that he could choose anything he wanted in the shop.

"Thanks, then..."

"I've heard that your soul was fairly weak lad, so I would recommend those." Drake pointed.

He further explained how some weapons have certain Soul requirements in which the weapon will not be able to unleash its full strength if the person's soul is not strong enough. It seems that Soul Weapons were the norm in this world.

"-Those are basic iron weapons and even someone who has no soul cultivation whatsoever can use them."

"Honestly, going with the sword is quite common in these settings, spear might be nice but..." Naoki thought to himself.

"Got it, I'll take this bow," Naoki said, taking it from the weapon rack.

"Oh? HAHA! Lad, you remind me of my daughter. She would not even care about using a sword."

"Yay! Mister and Orphelia Onee-san are the same!"

Naoki was unsure who they were referring to but he decided not to pry because right now, he just wanted to cultivate his soul.

"I would have given you some soul fragments but... it's rare to come across pure soul fragments." Drake said regrettably.

"Pure soul fragments?"

"Robert didn't explain it to you? Essentially soul fragments will expire after a certain amount of time so people can't store them—but in rare instances when killing monsters, you can get a pure soul fragment that is of higher quality and will never wither."

"Oh? That's interesting, how would I get those consistently?" Naoki asked.

"Actually no one knows, HAHA!"

They continued talking for a while and meet a few more people. But soon after, they headed outside the village.

<<----------->>

They went on to the nearest plains. Naoki was still unsure about an 8-year-old protecting him but he knew that his common sense isn't necessarily applicable in this world.

"That's...?"

"Hmm? Oh! That's... papa told me it's the Sky Tower!" She said, stretching her hand up as if to show how majestic it is.

In the far distance was a huge tower that is so tall that Naoki couldn't even see its peak. It was not an ordinary tower as it was pure white and had a spiraling shape that looked like vines. To say it was majestic is an understatement as it even gave Naoki a strong feeling of its presence.

"Papa told me that it's where mama and onee-chan are right now." She said a bit disheartened, her face showed that she missed her mother dearly.

"When will they come back?" Naoki asked, wanting to confirm something.

"Well... they left recently so they should be back next year!" She jovially said as if regaining back her cheerful energy.

"I see..."

Naoki sighed in relief, he wasn't sure if Lily had meant that they were there or that they had passed away since she had looked so unhappy.

"Wait... why are they away? Couldn't you and your father go there as well?" Naoki asked, uncertain as to why they traveled so far and will stay there for so long.

"Papa always tells me I'm too young but as for papa... he is weak." She said while pouting.

"Pft!" Naoki burst out laughing, he didn't expect the last part.

Naoki wasn't sure if calling their own father "weak" was fine in this world but he could not help but get even more confused since Robert had looked as if he was very strong physically. Naoki surmised it must have something to do with Robert's soul.

"Ahaha, I'm sorry—but why do you say so?"

"Well... Papa told me it's... what was it again?" Lily paused for a bit, her pointer in her mouth as if thinking long and hard.

"Ah! That's right! I heard that the goddess doesn't like papa! Oh, and also Uncle Drake as well!"

"Eh...?" Naoki chuckled but was unable to hide his confusion.

Naoki had a few ideas as to why—it seems that women were more favored in this world; that would explain why her mother and sister are able to venture far away and not Robert who was labeled "weak" by his own daughter.

Unbeknownst to the two people talking in the midst of the plains, a shadow skulks. It had eyes locked on the two and Its eyes glowed as if it was the crimson death of hell. As Naoki looked towards the majestic tower in the distance, the creature was inching closer.

How will they conquer this adversity? One can only wonder.