Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Official Opening and Mishappen Senses

It was eight o'clock in the morning. Miu fidgeted, as she was eating toast for breakfast.

"Hey, why are you being so restless. It's going to start at eleven o'clock right?"

"Yup. That's why make an early lunch please, and we have a gaming marathon afterwards."

"Rejected. We're going to have a proper meal at twelve o'clock. Also, we're not going to spend that much time playing."

Hearing my serious declaration my little sister let out a *booo—* in complaint.

I thought of saying 'you should at least help out with housework during summer holidays, but after considering that she only would get in my way I remained silent.

"Good grief. All right. Then let's have simple fried rice."

"Yaay! Thank you Onii-chan."

I muttered 'Geez what a kid.'. After that I finished the housework and started wondering as I prepared lunch.

For dinner tonight I'll just make something hot with soumen. I considered the nutritional balance and something that can be prepared by boiling in water. It would be nice to have banbanji chicken for the fried food as well as pickled eggplant. If I make Miu's favourite shrimp and vegetable fritters she will definitely come down from the second floor. In order to immerse in the bliss of eating something crispy she would even put her gaming time on hold.

I want Miu to eat it as soon as possible, I thought of spoiling my little sister like that.

And at eleven o'clock I put on the VR gear and laid down on the bed. When I started it up, the hypnotic induction began. The feeling I had, was that of my body falling asleep and my head becoming really clear. After that my field of view spread out, and I appeared in a pure white space.

『"Choose a name."』

After I was prompted by a female mechanical voice, I typed in a name on the semi-transparent keyboard that appeared in front of me. As I wasn't accustomed to VR, I carefully typed in my own name - 【SYUN】 and confirmed it. The semitransparent screen switched and a selection of tutorials appeared. Since I obtained information from the guide sites ahead of time, I didn't need it. If there is something I need, I'll just ask Shizuka-nee or Miu. I chose to skip it. [1]

——And then, a spectacle appeared before me.

Around me, there was a flood of people. A lot of people seemed to have logged in. And for me who arrived in the VR world for the first time, it was a very strange experience.

Well, I didn't feel any VR-specific discomfort but... for some reason my hair was longer, and my butt felt somehow more round... what's this about?

An icon appeared in on the edge of my field of vision, I quickly looked towards it and selected the audio input.

"Chat open."

『"Ah, Onii-chan. Did you connect?"』

"What. It's Miu huh. You surprised me."

At the moment, I was unable to assess the current situation, and my thinking was being interrupted. However, I calmed down when I recognized the caller's voice as Miu's.

『"There's too many people here so we can't find each other. Onee-chan and I arrived at the cathedral on the north. We'll wait for you there."』

"Got it, I'm going there now."

I moved from the spot immediately. I hated crowds, moreover, many of them were staring at me.

In front of the cathedral there were many people meeting up with each other, I looked for Miu among them.

『"Hey Onii-chan, have you arrived yet?"』

"Yeah, I did but... where are you?"

『"Under the church's statue. White hair. Onee-chan has light blue hair."』

I finally found her. Certainly, her hair was white. Next to her there was a person who wore a magican's robe and had light blue hair. It was a beautiful woman with slightly droopy eyes and a mole under one of them. The colours were different, but it was a person I was familiar with. I called out to them.

"You're Miu right?"

"Eh, yes. I'm Myu, but... who are you?"

"It's me. Your brother, Shun."

"Umm? Shun-chan? Onee-chan hasn't met you for a while so she doesn't know, but when did you change your gender?"

"No, Onee-chan, that didn't happen! That's not the problem here! Why did Onii-chan turn into Onee-chan?!"

After being called 'Onee-chan' I placed my hands on my chest and lightly stroked it. Although there was almost no bulging in there, the palms of my hands felt something soft. When I slid my hands lower, I felt a soft reaction from my slender waist. I felt embarrassed feeling my soft and elastic chest even through the clothes.

"No, I don't even want to think about it, but when you don't modify your body after your figure is captured by camera, an automatic body correction is applied. Mainly it works in the direction of adding femininity."

I don't want to think of about it but I do have a feminine face! This is terrible. It's a system bug. How did this happen! And so, I cried out in my mind.

"Also, isn't Onii-chan's voice higher now? Somehow, it's a quite cute voice."

Certainly, my voice was slightly higher than before. It was close to the so-called anime voice.

I had an uncomfortable feeling, it seemed possible that I could let out the same voice in real if I were to try it.

Because of this voice I was made to compete in the costume competition at school's festival. I was forcefully cross-dressed into wearing a fancy dress and characterized to look like a famous voice actor, after which they forced me to stand on the stage... with the audience unaware I was a man, I ended up winning.

If that dark past of mine were to be made public, I would have no choice but to hang myself. By the way, that's what Takumi blackmailed me with to help him deal with his homework.

"Hmm. You've turned into a real beauty, Onee-chan's really happy for you. Shun-chan, no, how about Yun-chan now?"

...what?

"Cause, isn't it written 'Yun' on your name tag?"

"Err, ah. That's true. Yun-oneechan?"

I should have typed in SYUN, but it seemed like because I was unfamiliar with operating the VR, I entered it wrongly. The first letter 'S' was missing and YUN was left over——and the name I ended up with was Yun.

"Argh! Come on! I'm going to erase this character!"

"Calm down, you can't play as opposite sex in this game so I think it'll be a good experience. Yun-oneechan."

"If you erase it——Onee-chan will order for your dark past to be exposed."

Uwahh, Shizuka-nee. No, ——right now she's Sei-nee, and she's serious. Whenever Sei-nee is serious, it turns scary afterwards. She's pretty stubborn. Although she usually is quite gentle, whenever she's being selfish she can be very thorough.

"I-I get it. Well, I'll do it, as long as I don't have to do any acting. So, did the two of you acquire your Senses yet?"

"Yup. When you acquire the initial Senses, you also get an initial weapon."

"All right, let me get the Senses as well then."

I asked the two of them to wait for a moment and as I picked up the Senses.

"Hey, what's Yun-oneechan's Sense build?"

"Hm? My build is: 【Bow】 【Hawk Eyes】 【Magic Talent】 【Magic Power】 【Alchemy】 【Enchant】 【Taming】 【Synthesis】 【Mixing】 and 【Crafting Knowledge】."

Somehow, Myu opened her mouth agape and Sei-nee made a troubled expression.

"Yun-oneechan, what are you aiming for?"

"Hmm, something like a support? I looked at the template and properly took the mandatory skills, that's 【Magic Power】 and 【Magic Talent】. Also the magic corresponding to it I took was 【Enchantment】——"

"...O...nii...chan's an IDIOT!! Why would you stack up trash Senses like that!"

Yeah, I knew they were trash and I tried to aim for industrial gap, I tried to argue with her but——

"Listen okay?! The 【Bow】's cost to performance ratio is the worst! 【Hawk Eyes】 only allows you to look at distant objects and isn't an unique Sense at all! Also, 【Alchemy】's material transformation conversion rate is horrible! 【Enchant】 is half-assed. 【Taming】's success rate is very low so it's a dead Sense. You can't survive just by having magic-type and crafting-type Senses! And here I wanted us to adventure together!"

"Umm, to be exact you can't use 【Bow】 if you don't have a set of arrows which are consumable items. 【Hawk Eyes】 isn't useful aside from predicting incoming enemies. 【Magic Talent】, 【Enchant】 and 【Alchemy】 can be picked up, but they're inefficient. Something like that?"

Sei-nee explained it to me politely.

In other words, even though I decided to pick support Senses as not to become a burden on them, but I didn't manage to. Moreover, what was next said finished me off.

"The items one can create by using 【Synthesis】 and 【Mixing】 are also sold in the shops. That's why in early game they're unimportant."

Yes, any significance of my existence has disappeared. That's why, with everyone's eyes focused on me I fell into a slump.

The amount of gold every starting player was in possession was 1000G. In order to prepare the equipment we walked around the town.

One set of arrows which numbered thirty for the 【Bow】 cost 30G. I bought four sets for 120G. Also the initial production kits for 【Synthesis】 and 【Mixing】 cost me 300G each, 600G in total. 30 Potions for beginners cost me 150G. ——In total 870G, I still had 130G remaining.

In case of using a normal build template, after obtaining the Senses and buying weapons as well as consumables in the store they still had 500G left over.

So, the low cost to performance ratio of the bows is because of the arrows' cost. Arrows were consumables and the arrow that was once shot cannot be recovered. In case of the early game's enemies, they are defeated after being hit by three arrows. The drop items from such an enemy is at most 3G and in the worst case 1G. Even if all the arrows hit the target, there's still no profit.

Even if I use my crafting Senses to change a drop item into a different item, I won't get any big profit out of it.

"...in other words, the poor performance to cost ratio is the reason."

"Yes. Moreover, while magic-type Senses obtain functions like tracking as they level up, the bow has nothing like that. The trajectory of arrows is always straight. That's why the bow alone is heavily dependant on player's own skill."

"...w-well, there's the motion assist so even beginner are able to do it. So don't look so down Yun-chan."

"S-sure..."

I was being lectured by Myu who just a moment ago was happy about going on an adventure together with me. I wondered if she was really that bothered with me picking up trashy Senses. No, well, I asked her about builds and yet took this. No wonder she was angry.

"It's fine, let's just go hunting. We should hurry up and finish the tutorial battle. I'm going to go on a hunt with my friends in the afternoon."

"...s-sure."

Sei-nee, help me. I sent her a glance, but the only response was a bitter smile.

We went outside of the initial city——nicknamed 'first city——and moved to the plain near the outer wall of the city. On this map, all the mobs on the plains were aiming for the novice players. There were roads leading towards north, south, west and east.

According to the guide, in β version north and south roads led to high level zones, they were unexplored and there was nothing written on them in the guides. In the west, there was a lot of collectibles but the balance of enemy mobs seemed to be bad.

"Lets try defeating an enemy to see first. Onii-chan will attack with the bow, Onee-chan please attack with magic."

"Understood."

"Got it."

After that we've hunted for a while, my little sister brandished her sword and cut down the mobs named after Herbivorous animals, Sei-nee was releasing bullets of water. And I shot an arrow but...

"It's not hitting!"

Sei-nee was able to easily hit the enemy from 2 metres of distance, the same range as I was in, but I didn't manage to hit. Moreover, the arrows that were used were disposable. Not good. Cost to performance ratio is very bad.

Moreover, after the arrow was released it had to be replenished from the inventory one by one.

"This is annoyinggg!"

I released more and more arrows without aiming properly, but there was no sign of hitting. I advanced forward to a position from which hitting would be easy.

"Onee-chan, if you go in front like that——"

"If it's from here, it'll hi——"

I was startled while drawing an arrow, the beast was coming after me. After taking half a step back to avoid, I fell down on my butt.

"——Be careful! 《Aqua Bullet》."

A bullet of water was launched towards the animal that was about to ram into me, and the Herbivore disappeared.

"Yun-chan, you can't approach them that closely. Are you all right?"

Sei-nee came over and bent over to look at me as I fell on my butt. That's when a glimpse of her smooth collarbone and white nape appeared from the gap in her robe, I removed my line of sight from the spot. So people change after becoming university students after all? I felt a little bit of sex appeal from Sei-nee.

"Grr, that's because you took such trashy Senses. You used up all the arrows haven't you. Now then, the special moves——【Arts】. Perfect, my 【Sword】 just leveled upped to 5..."

Somehow, as if to rouse me up she raised her voice. I stood up from the ground.

Myu approached the Herbivore slowly and poised her sword as she's gotten closer, when I started wondering what is she doing she released a flowing triple attack. The sword's trajectory was tinged with a pale silver light.

"This is 【Arts】. If Yun-oneechan intends to raise the 【Bow】's Sense then you better remember it. But I recommend switching the Sense out as soon as possible."

"By the way, every ten Sense levels you get one Sense PointSP. For the high level Senses it has to be at least of level 30 to get a point."

"Got it, thanks."

The three siblings continued to hunt. The items I obtained weren't enough to cover the arrow's cost. I no longer had the money I placed aside for the crafting, it feels like I need to make a full Sense replacement.

●

I separated from Sei-nee and Myu and went back to town while checking the status.

My Senses were like this:

Possessed SP0

【Bow Lv3】 【Hawk Eyes Lv2】 【Magic Talent Lv1】 【Magic Power Lv1】 【Alchemy Lv1】 【Enchant Lv1】

【Taming Lv1】 【Synthesis Lv1】 【Mixing Lv1】 【Crafting Knowledge Lv1】

The result of the hunt was that I've barely grown. Myu's 【Sword】 was at 5, her 【Armour】 at 3. Since she occasionally used recovery magic her magic-type Senses also were growing. Sei-nee's 【Magic Talent】 went up to 3, her MP was at 30 and her 【Water】 element was at 5. That meant my level was quite low.

I sat down on the plaza on the outskirts of the city and tried a lot of things.

The first thing I tried was 【Alchemy】 Sense.

The feature of this Sense was——Matter Conversion. However, in actual fact it was far from its name and was treated as a trashy Sense. To try it, I took out the items I obtained from Herbivores, Gallstones, Fur and about fifty Bones. It was my sister's pity for me.

When I opened the menu I've found the 【Matter Conversion】 skill. After selecting 【Matter Conversion】 I moved on, and select Gallstones from the target list.

The consumed amount the screen displayed 'Gallstones x 10'. It meant that this item would be consumed in the process of Matter Conversion. I started it without hesitation.

And the result of item conversion was a Medicine Stone, only one.

No, well. The Gallstones became a Chinese medicine. Okay, it's just a game so I won't retort to that.

Furthermore, converting ten Furs resulted with one Large Fur. As for Bones, I could make a choice between 'consuming ten Bones to make one Big Bone' and 'turning one Bone into two Bone Powders'.

"Why am I able to change target item for Bones? Did my Sense level increase?"

I thought my level has increased and confirmed the status, but the level remained on 1.

"The number of items consumed changed. In case of ten Bone Powders——"

First I changed Bone into Bone Powder, and then I subjected Bone Powder 【Alchemy】 once again. It resulted with turning back to Bone.

After studying I found that there were two types of results from 【Alchemy】's Matter Conversion. It was dividing the Matter into higher and lower level. To produce a higher level Matter like large Fur or Medicine Stone you needed 10 items of lower level to make one.

And for a Bone to become a lower Matter there was a doubling conversion rate.

If the Sense level ups, the conversion rate might change and a new target item might become available for creation. However, currently there wasn't enough items to level up 【Alchemy】 Sense as it is now.

"If I can't hunt and defeat enemies, how do I collect items. Well, let's think about it later."

I postponed it for later and tried the 【Enchant】.

Speaking of 【Enchant】, buffs and enchantments were classic RPG's basics, commonly called 'buffs' they were a magic-type Sense raising the status.

To try it, I set the enchant's target to myself.

Unlike the 【Matter Conversion】, I only needed to be aware of the target and recite the magical skill's name that was in the skill list.

Not only was almost all my MP used, the effect was nearly insignificant. It's duration was short and lasted only for 60 seconds, it was questionable whether it can be used in combat. However, if the MP consumption is large, then the growth of 【Magic Power】 will be equally big. I tried out other enchantments.

After subjecting my own body to speed increase and defence increase enchantments, the effect expired very fast. I just noticed but, if I sit down and rest the MP recovery is slightly faster than when I stand.

I sat down and didn't move, as I continued to cast enchantments on myself the 【Magic Talent】 has increased to 2 and 【Magic Power】 has increased to 4 before I noticed.

There were three kinds of enchants, the red one for ATK, blue one for DEF and yellow for SPEED. As the Sense level increased, the stats increase rose and the time the effect lasted was also extended. If I find time to cast enchants properly, it would easily grow to at least level 10.

As for 【Taming】, it was a death sentence. As I am now, I have no confidence at all in defeating a mob.

And for 【Synthesis】 and 【Mixing】 I didn't have the required items. Hmm, no items huh. What should I do?

That's when, *pon*, a chat invite came. The people who knew my mail address could start a chat with me as long as they were registered in this game.

The chat's host was Takumi.

『"Yo, did you log in?"』

"Yeah, what is it? I'm doing something now."

『"How about we meet up? We need to register each other on friend list. By the way, my name's Taku here."』

"All right. Then the place's..."

And then as I waited for Takumi, I continued to cast enchant, the level went up by one.

『"Hey, Shun. Where are you?"』

"A character named Yun. Black hair and casting enchants. Right now, emitting red light."

Even I thought it was surreal as my gaze met with a boy I was acquainted with. He stared and me and said.

"O-oh. 'Yun', you... why a female character."

"...no clue. Machine's misidentification."

"He, ever since I last saw you your beauty level increased by 20%, you're a pretty girl now. A bit flat though——*fuohh*"

While still having attack enchant on me, I did a body blow into Taku's flank. Although he received it like it was planned, his simple and tough armour repelled my fist. If anything, I've hurt my hand.

"Obediently let me beat you up... I'm bothered by that as well. You damn hardcore gamer."

"Fine. But why did you choose a name like 'Yun'. Isn't that feminine. Your appearance too is..."

"I mistyped."

I know it. My eyes are even larger than usual, anyone would say I have a girl's face. My body too was one of a girl.

"Try imagining it. The moment I've been called 'Onee-chan' by my little sister. Chills ran down my spine."

"Oh, my condolences."

"Moreover, after daring to aim for industrial gap my little sister has demanded for me to change it."

"No, it's your fault for taking trash Senses."

Kuh, that's why they are hardcore gamers, they only focus on efficiency.

"By the way, how are your current Senses?"

"Ah, they're like this."

I showed the Sense status to Takumi——and the first thing he said was this.

"Uwah, horrible."

"I'll cry! Is it that horrible?!"

"Among combat Senses the 【Bow】 is synonymous with inefficiency. The 【Alchemy】 is completely pointless as it's ineffective. And 【Taming】 is... hurry up level something to 10 and change one of them"

"Uhh... I can't earn money in combat, and all I have now is 130G."

"You, aren't you playing casually without any restraints?"

Absolutely not. In the first place, I had no such intentions.

"Damn it. I've been demanded to change by little sister, and Shizuka-nee gave me a bitter smile. I've lost all the confidence."

"In the first place, there's no such thing as self-confidence for someone who just started playing the game."

"Grr, that's where you should console me. I have something called a older brother's dignity to protect."

I sat down and held my knees, I glared at Taku who was standing next to me, but his only reaction was scratching his cheek.

"I won't console you... you must be glad to be a pretty girl. The easygoing beauty-type Sei-san, energetic-type pretty girl Myu-chan. And now you are a cool-type pretty girl aren't you?"

"Shut up. I'd rather if you didn't try to console me rather than give me this."

Also, there's no way that's true. As I glanced at the players surrounding us, everyone turned away all at once. ...no, that was a coincidence. A coincidence, it must have been.

"Hey, there's something I want to consult with you, is there an efficient way to earn?"

"Hmm. Do you mean the leveling? Or maybe gold?"

"Both. I have neither money nor skills now."

Taku folded his arms and started considering it. That's when I started emitting a blue light from enchantment. I thought it was quite a strange combination.

"There is. If you're not going to engage in combat, then you can collect items in the forest after you advance to the west from the plains. Since you have 【Mixing】 you can both process it to level up and then sell it, can't you?"

"I see, thankyou~. I'll try that. Any other advice?"

"There's not much enemies during the daytime, but more of them appear at night. So watch out then. Rather, what you gonna do? Want me to help out?"

"No, the advice's enough. Thanks. Though, going alone is probably impossible."

"This much should be fine. All right, let's register ourselves as friends. I'll help you level in my spare time, I was the one who invited you to this game after all."

Geez, in real life he just continues to trouble me, but he turns reliable in-game. That makes me a bit dissatisfied.

"Then I expect a lot of you."

"I'm not a hardcore gamer like Myu or you so that's impossible."

We exchanged light jokes and separated from each other. With a lighter pace than my earlier one, I headed towards the city's west gate exit. My aim, was collecting items.

I ignored the Herbivores on the plains and rushed past. Apparently they were non-active——even as I approached them, that type of mob doesn't attack——or so it seems.

Thanks to that, I was able to advance through the plain while ignoring them.

Occasionally I proceeded while using the speed enchantment which released a yellow light. Moreover, I used 【Hawk Eyes】 at the wide plains and mobs in order to level it.

The level increased in just a moment, it was rising at a pace comparable to how Myu's and Sei-nee's did during combat.

Along this route there seemed to be no items to collect. I squinted while looking at the back of the forest with Hawk Eyes, there seemed to be a collection point in there. Now, harvesting time.

I felt there was an item on the ground at the base of the tree. My consciousness was naturally drawn to it, it was a strange sensation. I wondered if it was the Sense's correction.

The items I've collected started with tree branches, mushrooms, herbs, stones, wildflowers and bird feathers. There was an abundance of types. I've gathered roughly ten of each. After that, from the soil in a specific location I've recovered——mulch. Whether there was a purpose for it or not was unknown.

I've gathered quite a lot of different item types. I couldn't be thankful enough to Taku who told me about this.

And then I went to non-combat area——a safety area——and took a break.

I didn't enter into 【Mixing】 immediately, I was staring at the menu devouring it with my sight.

As I looked at the skill columns, I still didn't have any combat skills - 【Arts】. Other than that, the skills from 【Synthesis】 and 【Mixing】 - recipes were there.

By the way, the status of my Senses is as follows——

Possessed SP0

【Bow Lv3】 【Hawk Eyes Lv5】 【Magic Talent Lv4】 【Magic Power Lv7】 【Alchemy Lv1】 【Enchant Lv6】

【Taming Lv1】 【Synthesis Lv1】 【Mixing Lv1】 【Crafting Knowledge Lv1】

It was hard to say it was going well, but it's better than the initial misery. Now then let's try to stretch up the 【Mixing】 and 【Synthesis】.

First I removed the basic 【Mixing】's toolset and arranged it side by side.

What appeared, was a bowl-sized mortar. A small container used for heating supported by a tripod and a mysterious heat source for heating it up. Also, a box with glass containers and paper for wrapping around the medicine.

When I took out a glass container, a new one was born in its place. It ceased to exist if I didn't put anything in the container I took out, and was replenished in the box.

"In these aspects it's really game-like. Truly a fantasy."

With a chemical kit like a middle schooler would use, I brewed classical fantasy herbs and boiled them. I tried practicing it earlier, after I took a look on the guides website.

And what I created was a Beginner's Potion. An item that costs 5G was created for free.

A Beginner Potion can be created from a single herb. The conversion rate was much better than that of 【Alchemy】's. As expected of a crafting skill.

Well, I guess Alchemy would be classified as crafting as well.

After that, there was a change in the skills column. The Beginner's Potion 【Recipe】 appeared.

I selected that 【Recipe】 and created Beginner's Potions.

When I looked through the selection screen same as the one from Matter Conversion's, I found that a Beginner Potion can be made by using MP in the process. I see. So the reason it required Magic Power Sense was this.

In the other recipe lists the things like Large Fur, medical stone, or Bone Powder were now categorized.

The rule is that if you create an item once with 【Mixing】, it's automatically added in as a recipe. And next time it can be created just by using the skill.

If Alchemy was the same, that meant it applied to any crafting professions. To try, I created a Beginner Potion, but I changed the process slightly. The name of the creation was also Beginner's Potion, but there was a slight difference in the amount it recovered.

And the recipe content was updated. It has been updated to a Potion with a higher amount recovered.

"In other words, the mass production is standardized depending on your skill, you can improve the quality by preparing it manually huh."

So that was the advantage. When I made ten Beginner's Potions my Mixing Sense went up. Now that I know how to level up my Senses, next up is 【Synthesis】.

The Synthesis' Sense created a new material from two different materials, in other words creating a new item from two different items. This one seems to consume MP from the very beginning when synthesising. Anyway, let's try it.

I took out the synthesis kit, I placed items on the left and right of the picture with a magical circle drawn on it.

"First, let's try something basic like combining potions."

I placed novice Potions I made earlier in the designated positions, and activated it.

Momentarily, after releasing a white light the two potions disappeared and... a somewhat dark potion was completed.

"W-what's this? D-did it succeed?"

No, based on the appearance it was a failure. I've checked the item, it was poison. It was causing an abnormal state which continuously damaged HP.

Well, it might be useful for something later. And while thinking that, I put it away in my inventory.

"Crafting failed huh. Certainly, it seems like my crafting level is too low. Well, I've gotten experience for that so I guess it's fine?"

While talking to myself, I selected two more Beginner's Potions and synthesized them.

This time, it was a Potion of a different colour from Beginner's Potion, it was dark green. It's name was 'Potion'.

It was a success this time, and it was also added to recipes.

And like that, I synthesized Potions until I reached level 2, then I compared the Potion and Beginner's Potion.

"It's the potions left over from the ones I bought together with Myu and Sei-nee."

I bought some beginners Potions, but thanks to the two who wanted to level their 【Recovery】 Sense I had some left over. I wonder what will happen if I use Alchemy to do higher level conversion of Beginner Potions. Something like an experiment.

The result of conversion was——unfortunate, it has also became poison. Alchemy failed.

"...50G turned into poison."

Alchemy Sense leveled up to 2, the Magic Senses also rose by one, that wasn't bad. However, the expense hurt, it was painful. But all I could do is to ignore my worries.

I tried it out again, Alchemy's result was——a Potion was created. It gave me an incredibly lethargic feeling...

"Ah, what a waste. I should have changed them into Potions through synthesis, and Synthesis level would be raise as well."

However, I confirmed one thing. There was a performance difference between Potions created by 【Synthesis】 and 【Alchemy】.

The Synthesis' Potion was close to the one made by the default 【Recipe】, but the Alchemy's Potion recovered 10% more than the default Potion. In other words, Alchemy's Potion was of higher quality.

In terms of the performance of the items crafted by skills it was: Alchemy＞Synthesis＞Mixing. However, in terms of efficiency it was just the opposite. Moreover, as I was crafting them, two of them have failed.

That's a quite good balancing. Even so, these are quite ridiculous Senses.

Of course, in a bad meaning of the word 'ridiculous'. Thinking of it normally, the reason why 【Alchemy】 is being avoided is it's inefficiency when it comes to crafting, the 【Synthesis】 and 【Mixing】 were more efficient, overall the three Senses I've had in my equipment were quite unbalanced. However, my objective now is to level up my Senses.

The herbs were mainly used for 【Mixing】 Sense. And other items were used for 【Alchemy】 and 【Synthesis】. I continued to collect and craft repeatedly, leveling up the Senses until the time to prepare the dinner came, and learned a bit.

The stones couldn't be selected in Alchemy no matter how I tried. What I concluded, was that they are a named item that needs to be appraised. Also, if the wildflowers, herbs, and mushrooms were to be taken through steps such as drying them before the name 'dry' would appear and their effects doubled.

However, as mushrooms were food items, they couldn't be changed any further than drying.

In the end, when I tried synthesizing Crow Feathers and Tree Branches, what I got was something one level below Iron Arrow——a Wooden Arrow.

Surprisingly, two of them could be made from a single branch. I've had two sets of sixty arrows now and I was relieved to see how my worries about arrows disappeared.

Currently my Senses were——

Possessed SP0

【Bow Lv3】 【Hawk Eyes Lv7】 【Magic Talent Lv6】 【Magic Power Lv9】 【Alchemy Lv2】 【Enchant Lv6】

【Taming Lv1】 【Synthesis Lv4】 【Mixing Lv4】 【Crafting Knowledge Lv3】

A bit more and Magic Power should hit 10. Leveling the Senses is quite easy at the beginning, it's great that I'll be able to easily fix it. First of all, I'll remove 【Taming】, and try getting a new Sense.

It looks like it's about time. Once again I changed location to safety area and logged out.

●

In the game world the dusky sky could be seen, but in reality's midsummer the bright sun was still high.

Even so, since it was past six o'clock in the evening, a slightly cool wind was blowing. Although soumen was slightly cool, there was another reason for the atmosphere to feel cold.

When the time has come, Miu came out of her room.

"..."

She sat beside the table and sipped the noodles in silence. Her glare was sharp, and the atmosphere was bad.

"W-what is it?"

"Nothing..."

Normally she's an energetic little sister, but occasionally she's sulking. Well, she's in her third year of middle school, in middle of puberty. And when I thought about that, I realized why was she feeling grumpy today.

——It's because of my Sense build.

"Um, sorry."

"...why are you apologizing?"

"That's... in the game... sorry for troubling you."

I didn't get it too well, but I apologizes for the time being. It was a way to avoid problems.

Miu took a big breath and made a grand sigh.

"About that, I'm sorry Onii-chan."

"Oh, you're calling me 'Onii-chan' now."

"Come on, don't react to something like that."

Grr... the emotional scars left behind by my little sister calling me 'Onee-chan' were deep.

"It's not like that. The people with whom I've been playing ever since β version of the game brought a new person, and I'm on bad terms with that person... sorry to put you in a bad mood."

"Is that so. Well, I'll gladly hear your complaints."

"Sure. That person's a show-off, although we were still recovering they proceeded forward and died. After we gathered again, that person called our support terrible, so I'm kinda angry."

"Oh, I see. So... it must've been hard."

"On the other hand, without that person our exploration proceeded without any problems. As expected, one wouldn't enter a party in which they died."

"So, what happens if you die in the game?"

"There's a death penalty. The death penalty's effect is decrease of status for one hour."

"That sounds like a pain. However, in case of my crafting professions, if I use the time to craft items the time won't be wasted."

Ah, I told her already what direction I intend to go in.

"Since I can't fight, right now I'm increasing the crafting Senses."

"That's a shame. Since Yun-oneechan is such a beauty, I wanted her to enter the party and boast about her."

"Spare me from that. Well, as far as combat goes, I'll hunt single mob's for item collection. I want to increase the Bow Sense too."

"Hmm. So Yun will continue playing solo."

For the time being I want to concentrate on steadily harvesting and hunting mobs. That's why I don't want to take others along for such roundabout errand. I asked another question to change the topic.

"Miu, how do your Senses look like now?"

"Hmm, 【Sword Lv12】 【Armour Lv11】 【Attack Power Increase Lv6】 【Defence Power Increase Lv6】 【Fighting Spirit Lv4】 【Magic Talent Lv10】 【Magic Power Lv14】 【Magic Power Recovery Lv7】 【Light Element Lv5】 and 【Recovery Magic Lv7】, something like that?"

"That's quite a growth. You've gotten 4 SP too."

"Onee-chan's about the same as me. Also, if Onii-chan gets 【Attack Power Increase】, won't you be able to reduce arrow consumption? Isn't it better to replace the Senses early?"

"I'll do it step by step. Currently I'm being self-sufficient in the forest to the west."

"Well, I want to go on an adventure with Onii-chan, so hurry up and raise your level okay?"

Even though that was what I was requested to do by Miu, I don't know whether making a total replacement of all Senses or raising the Senses I have now to a level where I can fight would be faster.

Hmm. Although normally I can keep my act as an older brother, in the game I'm a bit overwhelmed.

After the dinner Miu went to take a bath, I prepared a meal for my parents so that they can eat it when they come back and cleaned up the dishes. Next I went into bath as well and leisurely enjoyed it, after which I once again logged into 【OSO】.

I continued from the forest's safety area, that's where I started.

In the game it was pitch black night. This place was lit up by bonfires, however when I looked further it was quite dark and occasionally I could see flickering shadows that looked like bats flying up.

Hmm, the night sky was beautiful. I looked at the stars which looked like Milky Way. I stared at the sky dumbfounded and when my consciousness returned I used 【Hawk Eyes】 to zoom up as if I was using an astronomical telescope.

The 【Hawk Eyes】 seemed to be growing. I enjoyed the time spent in this game now.

I was in a daze for about thirty minutes. In the meantime 【Hawk Eyes】 reached level 10. Yaay, and I rejoiced like that over the fact that my expectations that 【Magic Power】 will reach level 10 first were betrayed. I didn't think 【Hawk Eyes】 would be the ones to reach level 10 first.

Moreover, when I looked around while spacing out, I realized that I see farther in the darkness than I did a while ago.

I decided to hurry and get a new Sense.

There was plenty of Senses that were available early. Since I already went in the direction of crafting, I thought it would be good to find a matching crafting type Sense.

After 【Smithing】, 【Sewing】 and 【Woodworking】 the last one I found was——【Craftsmanship】.

Rather than a main 【Craftsmanship】 is being treated as a bonus, and 【Smithing】 was a more commonly used Sense which handled a bigger amount of items. Effect of 【Craftsmanship】's Sense was creating accessories. 【Smithing】 created armours and weapons used in battle, 【Sewing】 was used to create leather armours and clothing used by magic-type players, 【Woodworking】 was used to create bows, staffs and wands. Accessories were only supplementary. This too, was another one of decisions I made with my starting policy——to become a support and aim for the industrial gap, and I decided on it quickly. I felt like I chose something good.

Even so, I thought that the Sense system was very deep.

I thought 【Hawk Eyes】 only provide far sight, but there's also an effect giving a night vision. It gave about one metre visibility per level. And in case of Bow Sense's correction, it was a fairly short range.

Speaking of which, I've got arrows, and even though there's no enemies I can still practice with the bow. I thought.

I took out a wooden arrow and have drawn the bow to its limit. The released arrow disappeared in the darkness beyond my visibility range. I continued to release disposable arrows into the darkness. The Bow's Sense increased when I used it, were there to be an enemy the Sense might have leveled up faster.

I carefully shot one arrow after another. Since I've never had any practice using a bow, there was no other choice but to increase the hit rate myself by doing this repeatedly. By using 【Hawk Eyes】 far sight and night vision I continued to aim at a tree trunk and learned how to shoot.

For now, my hit rate was 2 out of 20 so I've had a long way to go.

The 【Bow】's and the 【Hawk Eyes】 Sense increased considerably. I was curious and took a look at the 【Bow】's skills and found 【Arts】 there. It was named simply 《Long Range Shooting》.

To test it, I tried using the 《Long Range Shooting》.

In exchange for a longer time of bow's charge-up, a more powerful sound than ever before has sounded and the arrow was gone far away in an instant, even 【Hawk Eyes】 was unable to perceive it so far. What was the extent of the effect, it was still unknown to me.

"Myu said it was mishappen and I shouldn't use it, but I need to confirm it myself at the very least. I got a proper reaction from it now. Now then, it's about time so let's go to sleep and continue tomorrow."

I logged out with an intention of continuing to raise my crafting tomorrow.

↑ To be exact his name is pronounced Shun, It's a pretty sketchy process of romanization, 峻 --> しゅん – シュン (syun) (still pronounced shun in english) --> ュン (YUN).