[Welcome to the Type-Moon System!
We offer our most sincere blessings to you, our user.
As a beginner, you'll receive our initial care—a single free draw with a guaranteed five-star.
Additionally, you'll enjoy a beginner's privilege: a guaranteed strategy draw (up to three stars) until your beginner phase ends.
Moreover, if you decide to become a player now, you'll receive a pocket dimension for storing your items.
You'll also be granted special transmigration privileges, letting you experience what it's like to be the protagonist.
So, what do you say? Are you interested in joining?]
The boy sitting in front of the computer made up his mind and pressed the "Confirm" button.
At that moment, his consciousness froze, and a black hole appeared before him, swallowing him whole.
In the dimly lit room, the computer screen still glowed, displaying an unsettling line of text, as if it had snared its next victim.
[Welcome to join us.]
...
[Hello, everyone. My name is Bell Cranel, but most people who know me just call me Bell.]
[As everyone knows, I'm an isekai transmigrator. Not because I got hit by a truck, but because my desire and curiosity clouded my judgment, and I ultimately chose the one-way path of transmigrating to another world.]
The white-haired, red-eyed fourteen-year-old named Bell Cranel was writing in his diary on his second day in this new world.
It's true—normal people don't keep diaries. They expose too much, and if someone else reads them, it's instant social death. But Bell had decided not to be normal.
Being alone in such a strange and magical world had completely shaken his worldview. To relieve the pressure and vent thoughts he couldn't say out loud, he needed an outlet.
Writing a diary was the best option.
The house barely had any furniture—just two beds, a table and chair, and a fireplace. Bell sat by the warm fire.
[The guaranteed five-star from the free draw—I thought I'd pull a Servant, but it turned out to be a Craft Essence. Thankfully, it's actually a great five-star Craft Essence for someone at my current level, and it's fully limit broken. Heh, I guess this is the system's biggest gift to me.]
As he wrote, Bell sighed from the heart.
["Personal Training": Gain a large amount of experience through battle.]
[Hmm, this is probably meant to replace "Liaris Freese", in case I can't awaken the Early Bloomer skill.]
[With this five-star Craft Essence, I should be able to grow fast, even without joining a Familia.]
At this point, his crimson eyes reflected nothing but frustration and annoyance.
[Gacha is my biggest headache right now.]
[Right now, I'm stuck at the beginner stage. The best I can pull is a three-star, and only Craft Essences. I won't be able to get any Servants until I clear this stage and lift the restriction.]
[What does that mean?]
[It means that for now, I need to get used to only pulling one- and two-star Craft Essences.]
[The silver lining is that the Type-Moon System lets me keep all the Craft Essences I pull, with no limit on quantity.]
[That works in my favor. As long as I've got enough Valis, I can power up quickly by spending.]
[Each pull costs 1,000 Valis for now, thanks to a discount while the restriction is active. But once it's lifted, a single pull jumps to 10,000 Valis. That's a serious funding gap.]
[So, becoming an adventurer is my only option.]
Having written that, Bell set down his pen and carefully stored the notebook in the four-dimensional space granted by the Type-Moon System. This way, no one would ever read what he had written from the heart.
The firelight cast a warm glow on Bell's face. He rubbed his hands together and held them close to the flames. The room wasn't very warm—without the fireplace, he wouldn't be able to stay in this wooden cabin at all.
"Next stop is Orario."
Still, a faint unease lingered in Bell's heart.
"I hope this is the right choice."
"Time to sleep. We have to leave early tomorrow."
With a mix of anticipation and nervousness, Bell quickly drifted off. The quilt was rough, but surprisingly comfortable—it was the only time his mind could go blank, free from thought.
They say people who don't overthink sleep best. Bell wasn't sure if he was one of them, but for the past couple of nights, he'd been falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow—nothing like someone weighed down with worries.
He slept straight through until morning. When he awoke, he felt surprisingly refreshed—more than he'd expected.
"My stamina's back, and I'm feeling good."
Getting up, Bell walked to the window of the wooden cabin. The wind was still howling outside, but the weather was actually quite nice. In fact, it had been good for days now.
With no rain recently, the ground was dry. That meant crossing several dozen kilometers of forest on firm ground would be much easier.
Knowing today was the best day to depart, Bell packed all the essentials into the four-dimensional space provided by the Type-Moon System. Not having to carry extra weight was one of his advantages, giving him more agility.
Early in the morning, he was ready to set off.
He wore a thick woolen coat. The forest was still cold at dawn, and it was unwise to expose too much skin outdoors. The bite of a venomous insect out here could be deadly.
Bell lived in a remote village, and adventurers rarely passed through this route. That meant effective antidotes were impossible to come by. Poisoning was one of the many dangers he had to be wary of.
Once everything was ready, Bell turned to look back at the wooden house.
"I probably won't see this place again for a while. I hope I'll get the chance to return someday."
"Goodbye."
Once a man has made up his mind, he shouldn't look back. Hesitation breeds doubt, and doubt demands reevaluation—something that, in the end, leads nowhere.
At the crossroads of life, what matters is making a single choice. Too many options only bring confusion.
When you've chosen your path, just move forward. Don't let hesitation slow you down—overthinking will only trip you up.
Forget the other paths. Stay true to the one you first chose.
Bell didn't look back. With a mix of hope and anxiety, he set off toward the future.
In the distance stood the towering Babel Tower—his goal.
There was no need to think about anything else. All that mattered was continuing forward.
Leaving the village was like heading from a tiny rural town to a county seat—or even a big city.
The only problem was the transportation. If only there were vehicles, the trip wouldn't be so bad. A few dozen kilometers would just take a short nap in a car.
"That's the downside of the countryside. You can't even find a horse."
With a horse, he could cross the forest in half a day. But walking like this, who knew how long it would take?
Either way, camping in the forest at night would be suicide.
He had to make it through the forest by nightfall and find a plain to camp on.