I'm a Reincarnation Stream Player

"Not necessarily. But barring an emergency, we should stick together. I'm guessing there'll be some kind of countdown before the mission starts. No matter what the other two are doing, they'll have to join us."

The three of them unanimously agreed. They'd spent an entire instance huddled together for warmth, and they weren't used to going solo.

They happily settled the matter. As for a team name or mascot, those were unimportant, and there was no need to waste time on them here.

"Second, there are more ways to use enhancement points and specialization points now." Yuki hefted the greatsword, then pointed at the revolver at Hayasaka Ai's waist. "Take another close look at the Death Knell Revolver. Is there anything special about it?"

He'd already noticed the mosaicked sections on the equipment panel. Presumably, the permissions he'd gained by clearing the newbie instance had unlocked them.

[Chaos Item: Bloody Chainsaw Sword (Chaos Grade), forged once]

[As killing continues, slightly enhances the user until reaching the Limit. Forging Effect: Overload Mode]

[Side Effect: As enhancement progresses, the user's perception grows increasingly frenzied. After reaching the Limit, it begins to cool, causing feedback in the form of fatigue.]

[Description: Killing brings pleasure, and killing excites. But once the pleasure fades, endless fatigue will follow.]

Hayasaka Ai drew her gun and took a close look. "Oh, you mean enhancement points and specialization points can be used to forge equipment."

She'd received the notification too. This was a third way to use the points, besides improving skills and enhancing equipment: strengthening an item without changing its grade.

The Death Knell Revolver had also been forged once. That was where its unlimited ammunition in normal mode came from.

Common Grade, Alienated Grade, Chaos Grade, Transcendental Grade, Arcane Grade, Chaos Grade, Abyss Grade.

"Uh, it might be easier if I just describe them as Levels One through Seven. Anyway, seven is the highest, and Level Three items undergo a qualitative change."

Yuki rubbed his chin, deciding to explain it in simpler terms.

Just as a skill went from Proficient to Excellent, an item went from Chaos Grade (Level Three) to Transcendental Grade (Level Four). The enhancement points required would skyrocket, and it wasn't simply a matter of choosing whether to do it.

Knowing how this game worked, the item's power would surely increase when it went from Chaos to Transcendental, but its side effects would skyrocket too. Yuki wouldn't dare use an Arcane Grade item (Level Five) even if someone handed him one.

"Enhancement points can be used to forge items. The results are random: they might gain an extra ability, or have their side effects reduced. That limits the growth of item-focused players." Yuki sighed. Another dream shattered.

If he didn't want to kill himself, he'd have to gamble a large number of enhancement points on forging. It was like grinding for substats in some game. Who knew when it would finally end?

"Don't be upset. This is normal. Items can be stolen from other people, while random skills aren't necessarily useful." Mai Sakurajima wasn't particularly bothered. She comforted him, "It just means the enhancement points have to be spread around."

"No, this actually gives players more freedom," Hayasaka Ai chimed in. She clearly had plenty of experience with online games. "Physical strength, Ego Traits, items, and skills are all useful, and they all have a cost."

Focusing on one thing required a lot of resources, but focusing too much made it hard to handle different situations?

Yuki rubbed his chin. Since there was no way to find a flaw in the game itself, he thought about his two specialization points and two enhancement points. He wanted to spend them on everything, but didn't have enough for any of it.

"Back to the original question. Don't you think Li Dan's luck was a little too good? His main weapon hasn't been forged, he spent a lot of points on other things, and yet the Death Knell Revolver is still this powerful?"

Hayasaka Ai was having trouble keeping up with Yuki's train of thought. Who knew how he'd gone from the fourth use for enhancement points to deducing this?

"You mean... either he got lucky and randomly drew an incredible item, or it was a special reward like your sword, or Chaos Items have other ways of being obtained?"

"For example, maybe they can be chosen or traded. He has too many items. Even if they were all S-rank rewards, it would be hard to get that many."

At that moment, it was as if someone had turned off the lights. The pure white space gradually darkened as the light drew inward, making it hard to see Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima's faces.

I just finished figuring out the permissions I unlocked, and time's already almost up? Couldn't you give me a little longer to cop a feel?

"Hurry up and tell us! What's the third thing?"

They were clearly only a few meters apart, yet Hayasaka Ai's voice seemed to come from far away.

"The most important thing is how to spend our two enhancement points and two specialization points. It'll affect our chances of surviving the next instance." Yuki slowed his speech, speaking at an unhurried pace.

"It's important, but there's no time to discuss it. Give me your contact info, and we'll arrange to meet in person."

Being in a team was more like receiving a strategy invitation. There were no restrictions, but they also lacked any private means of communication. Li Dan and Thomas had relied entirely on their spore puppets, and the three of them had no way to exchange information in the real world either.

Yuki dangled the bait, but heard no response. He waited, brimming with confidence. The fish would bite eventually.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you? You saved the most important thing for last!" Mai's voice rang out, her embarrassment and irritation making her sound as if she'd been tricked.

"Senpai, I still need to look into it." Yuki made his case, laughing. "Besides, it wouldn't be hard for me to find either of you. I just didn't want to show up unannounced and make things awkward."

One was a famous actress, and the other wore a Shuchiin uniform. He wasn't lying in the slightest.

The dark space fell silent for a moment. Hayasaka Ai gave him her phone number first, as if she were afraid he'd show up at her door. Then Mai Sakurajima reluctantly gave him her contact information too.

Yuki memorized both numbers. By then, he could no longer hear anything. All that remained before him was darkness and deathly silence.

[Choose a return location: Entered Area or Random Area]

As the prompt sounded, that familiar sensation of blurring came over him. His smile faded without him noticing. He fell silent for a moment, closed his eyes, and raised his hands, stained with countless traces of blood.

The Living Corpse, Li Dan, the Giant—one figure after another flashed through his mind, as if etched into his brain. He waved his hand, and the nightmare-like shadows vanished.

He opened his eyes, his gaze blazing.

"Home!"

Chapter 3: Enhancement! (Revision)

Screee—

The sound of cicadas in summer crept into his ears, followed by a salty sea breeze brushing his face. The sun shone brightly, and several banyan trees cast mottled shadows along the corridor.

The sunlight made his red pupils contract. Yuki stood there in a daze, gazing into the distance.

A lawn, a harbor, the sparkling blue sea, several ferries sounding their horns. Each sight reflected in his eyes, filling him with the feeling of a hot, peaceful summer day.

He was back?

Yuki blinked repeatedly, his frozen mind gradually coming alive. He slowly lowered his head.

Gray jacket, white shirt, casual trousers—the same clothes he'd worn when he went out. He turned around slowly, and the shabby apartment door, covered in small advertisements, came into view.

He was back. Just as he'd chosen, he'd returned to where it all began, as if it had been a dream. He'd opened that door, entered a strange corridor, and when he looked back, the door had already changed.

Yuki raised a hand to cover his face. He wanted to laugh, but couldn't.

It had happened less than forty-eight hours ago, yet he'd already had to use the word "memory," as if it were all so far away. But just as Mai had said, it really had been a long time.

"The last two days and nights were more exciting than everything I experienced in the ten years before them combined."

Yuki muttered to himself. Only after returning to the corridor did he realize how unreal it all felt.

Running, fighting monsters, killing people, even gaining teammates. Yuki had always wanted to play games with Mai Sakurajima and Hayasaka Ai. He'd finally gotten his wish, though the game had changed from a strategy game to a reincarnation game.

He took a step forward, and the whole world changed. Even though everything had returned to normal, he could see his character panel and those Chaos Items if he focused.

I don't think I can go back.

Yuki placed his hand on the doorknob, but couldn't bring himself to turn it. An absurd question came to mind:

What would Li Dan be like if he'd returned instead?

That veteran player had left a deep impression on him. Li Dan's obsession with survival and supernatural power, his willingness to betray and use anyone without the slightest scruple—and it was precisely that lack of scruples that had given Yuki a chance to turn the tables.

"If he'd trusted Thomas, if he hadn't seen me as an unpredictable threat that had to be eliminated, we could all have survived, and things would've been easier."

Yuki shook his head to himself. He could guess how Li Dan felt about returning. He'd seize every second to train himself and wouldn't interact with anyone in the real world.

Because in his eyes, ordinary people were an inferior species that hadn't evolved. Anyone could become a player, and then a stumbling block to surviving the next instance.

Then why let players return at all? Why didn't the Reincarnation Game just keep them in that pure white space?

He had a vague, curious feeling. Maybe it was because Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima were there that he'd seized the rare chance to catch his breath as Boar's Head.

So aside from having one more experience under his belt, his mentality hadn't twisted, and his personality hadn't darkened?

Ding-ding—

The sudden ringtone startled Yuki. He pulled out his phone and saw that it had regained its signal. A message had come from an unfamiliar number.

[I got home safely.]

She even knew to let him know she was safe?

Yuki smiled without thinking. He lowered his head to reply as he unlocked the door and walked into his apartment.

[Senpai, does everything feel unfamiliar?]

[Yeah. I still haven't quite come to my senses. I'll probably need a couple of days to recover.]

[You still want to recover?]

[Of course. Getting back to my old life is what kept me going. Even if I have nightmares for days, at least I still get time to wake up, right? Don't tell me you actually enjoyed that Bloodthirsty Red Moon.]

Hmm, that was an unusual way to look at it. Did she see being a player as nothing more than an identity?

Enjoy it? Other than making all the preparations I spent ten years on feel worthwhile, it made me want to throw up.

Yuki sat on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, then lowered his head to type.

[You've given me something to think about. Holding on to yourself instead of becoming the game's plaything—that's how you avoid turning into someone like Li Dan.]

[Who's Li Dan? You really do think about a lot of things. You came back from that terrifying red moon to live a normal life, didn't you? Anyway, I'm going to take a shower.]

[If you're lonely or scared, senpai, I can come over and keep you company in bed.]

There was no reply for a long time. A few seconds later, she sent a sticker of a cat getting beaten up.

Yuki grinned even more happily. He tossed his phone aside without thinking, then froze on the sofa. After blinking a few times, he gave a wry smile and covered his face.

Just a moment ago, he'd been outside the door thinking about life. Before he knew it, he'd come home and settled into his most comfortable, familiar pose on the sofa.

"She really was right. I do think too much."

Yuki rubbed his face. The Reincarnation Game had granted his wish; at last, all the effort he'd put in over the years hadn't been wasted. And Mai's words had awakened something deep inside him.

All these years, I've been waiting for supernatural phenomena and silently preparing for everything. But did I really crave adventure or power?

"No. I made preparations in silence so I could survive the changes, and I wanted to survive so I could have the life I dreamed of. When I entered the Reincarnation Game, I felt relieved. It was completely different from the wild joy I felt when I was reborn."

Yuki asked himself the question and answered it. He looked around the empty room. All the clues and diagrams that looked like they belonged in a crime movie had been wiped away. On the coffee table sat a fashion magazine featuring a photo of Mai Sakurajima and a promotional flyer for a certain diving club.

That's right. If I hadn't entered the Reincarnation Game two days ago, I should have left the past behind and started a completely different life.

"Too bad I still have to spend these points, then spend time thinking about them." Yuki splashed cold water on his face, sat down on the sofa, and opened his personal panel.

Player: Yuki (Simple Template)

Instances Experienced: Bloodthirsty Red Moon

Physical Strength: Human (Excellent)

Storage Space: 0.5 square meters

Ego Trait: Vestment of the Unknown (LV.1), randomly draws a vestment, one-day cooldown.

Equipment: Chainsaw Sword +1 (Chaos Grade); Reinforced Long Blade (Alienated Grade)

Items: Distortion Kaleidoscope (Chaos Grade); Soil-Offering Contract (Chaos Grade); Limitless Rope (Alienated Grade)

Supernatural Skills: Reinforcement Magecraft (Mastered), Vitality Shift (Mastered)

Important Skills: Firearms Proficiency (Mastered), Combat (Mastered), Bladed Weapon Proficiency (Proficient), Self-Hypnosis (Mastered), Biological First Aid (Mastered)

Enhancement Uses: 2

Specialization Uses: 2

Mm, Chaos Grade was a Level Three item, and Alienated Grade was a Level Two item.

For a newbie, these were undoubtedly powerful, especially the Chaos Items. He had five of them, and most people wouldn't gather that many even after two or three instances.

And he'd obtained them under the unusual conditions of the instance. That gave Yuki even more confidence and made him think Li Dan might have had a point.

If Bloodthirsty Red Moon was just an ordinary-difficulty instance, wouldn't I be farming points while carrying a girl, like some overpowered hero on the fast track to the top?

That would be a little boring. The Reincarnation Game couldn't be that pathetic.

Yuki gathered his thoughts and looked over his panel again and again.

An item-focused build? He understood that too many items could be a bad thing, given their side effects.

A skill-focused build? Going from Mastered to Proficient took one enhancement point, and going from Proficient to Excellent took two. No matter what, he didn't have enough.

He'd only been through one instance, and he still didn't have enough cards in his hand. After thinking it over, Yuki decided to improve his combat power as much as possible.

"I'll spend my first specialization point on my physical fitness."

As soon as he spoke, nothing astonishing happened, but Yuki's gaze sharpened. He felt that something had changed, as if his vitality had been invigorated.

He immediately stood up, picked up the exercise equipment in the corner, and lifted weights. Then he went outside for a long run and finally banged his head against the wall. When he returned to the sofa, he was unusually excited.

Amazing. I've gotten stronger just like that. My speed, strength, stamina, and recovery have all improved.